So I’m down with the whole ‘We’re Tagless’ thing. You know, tags make you chafe and it seems like everyone is steering away from them. It’s awesome. It’s awesome until you realize that they STILL have tags. Um, so what’s the point people? The whole tagless thing doesn’t work if you had tags!

I realized this after a recent run in my Lucy shorts that I love. I usually only wear them for about a 3-6 mile run because I opt for booty shorts for runs longer than that, but I wanted to wear them. I get about to mile 6 and I realize there is going to be an issue. It’s that moment when you realize you are chafing and there is nothing you can do about it. It’s awkward because you know it’s happening and you’re going to have to keep going. Chafing hurts like nothing else and it just keeps getting worse as you go. It’s literally rubbing your skin off. Awesome tags. Awesome.

So then this is what I see when I got these shorts. Yay! Tagless shorts. Cool! I love shorts with no tags because then they don’t rub and chafe.

Then this is what happened.

Tag hidden on the leg totally chafed me! I was really bummed about this and imagine my surprise when I realized that something was rubbing me the wrong way and then I looked to see what it was and it was a tag. Kind of annoying, especially since I think the whole tagless thing was so that there were no tags? I just maybe don’t understand. We all know that now this is a giant scab on my leg too. Even better. Ugh, chafing is seriously the worst.

So I took a picture of the tagless cool tech printed tag and then the hidden leg tag. I guess I am going to have to double check things before I go out. Sometimes on longer runs thing that you’ve never had problems with before blow up in your face. Hence my saddness in the lucy shorts. Now the tag is ripped out I will have to give them a second try, but I wonder, why print the tag and then stick another on inside the short. I then went on the hunt for another ‘tagless’ option, which were my new Nike booty shorts. They have the printed tag and a tag as well. Weird, but at least this tag is right next to the other printed tag and I can just cut it out easily!

Love that it’s the worst sewing job I’ve ever seen too. Awesome Nike. So I guess the moral of the story is to check your tags before taking off! Chafing sucks.

On a good note, I am right on track with my training and haven’t missed a run. Yesterday on my hardest day of the week I got in a good 6 miler. My paces were those of a bell curves. 9:06 (I’m sooo tired why did I get up this early! I can’t run fast in the mornings.) 8:46 (Starting to feel better. I can do this.) 8:14 (Weeee back in the groove) 7:46 (I am going too fast! I can’t keep this up for the rest of the run!) 8:18 (Ahhh this is much better) 8:23 (Finally back home! Now give me some water!) So that was promising. I feel okay about that run. :) Tomorrow I’ve got another ‘quicker’ run and I am going to do it in the morning so it won’t be so hot.

xoxo

So this past weekend I had one of those runs where I struggled a lot. It was with my good old friend bathroom issues. I swear, if this doesn’t get figured out this training round I might just start carrying toilet paper with me everywhere, it’s beyond ridiculous. So anyways, I’m ramping up mileage and getting back into the routine of things and though I was a tad nervous about the distance I was running, I figured if something happened I wouldn’t be that far from home since I was just doing an out and back. I took off around 7:30 am with my garmin, my handheld, and just was ready to cruise. I knew that the riverbed is a long track so I figured I would just run 6.5 out on that and then back home. Besides some douchey bikers, it was a good route. Another plus is that it travels past some nice, kind of scenic areas.

A lot of the trail is a fenced in from the parks and areas surrounding it. It starts by a Walmart and then travels along by a huge nursery of plants on the other side. These are what riverbeds look like in Southern California.

I usually stay on the right hand side and I like running in the dirt area. It’s much easier on my knees and I think long term it will be much better for me. A homeless man was walking on the path and he said that I was doing the right thing, he was a long distance runner a long time ago. Awesome. Thanks homeless man.

The path continues on and I really like the wide dirt area. It also keeps the douchey bikers from yelling at me as well. Double Win.

This is the area where the riverbed runs into the ‘river’ that drains into the ocean a few miles down. I remember riding bikes down this path when I was little to get to the beach!

It’s kind of a little, dirty, weird, ecological area. There are lots of ducks and weird animals and sometimes fisherman can be found here. Which is gross, I would NEVER eat anything out of that river.  It is something a little different to run by though. I was turning around and heading home at mile 6.5 and I ate some sharkies right then as well. It was right around mile 9ish when I started to feel a little sick. Oh that lovely familiar feeling. Ugh. I knew at least I was on my way home right?

Running down next to the river to complete my last miles. Right around mile 11.5 the wheels fell off and rolled away. Other than feeling sick I was running really well and feeling strong, so that was a good confidence booster. I got the mileage in but had to walk the last .8 of a mile in search of a bathroom. Awesome. It happens though and I don’t feel totally defeated, so that’s good. I know that is my biggest issue. I actually wasn’t sore at all the entire afternoon either, which was good. I am glad I felt confident and strong before mile 11.5 as well.

So the new route I ran was actually rather nice and I like running along there a lot. I think I will test it out again soon for another long run. The dirt path really adds to the ease of the run on my body. So it wasn’t the perfect easy run, but these bad runs have to happen every now and then so I guess I was due.

The rest of the weekend was spent preparing our house for the fourth of July Party we are having this weekend! It’s coming along, we actually got a lot accomplished. I am in debate with myself to run a slow 3-5 miler this afternoon, but we’ll see. I know that tomorrow I really am going to push on my run so I am leaning towards just waiting until then.

xoxo

A staple of Long Beach is Roscoe’s. Perhaps you’ve seen it on Snoop Dogg’s TV show, or on some food network channel. Well let me tell you, I love the LBC and a when a trip to Roscoes with my good friend Billy, Rachel and Ryan was mentioned I was super stoked! I love chicken and I love waffle, put those two together and you have got a winning combination!

Pulling up, Roscoe’s looks a little random, but I tell you, the food is what matters at this place. It has some of the best chicken around!

The menu is pretty small but we all opted for #13 – Carol C. Special. One piece of chicken and one waffle. Yum! I also got a side of mac and cheese because I love it so much.

Told you, one piece of chicken and one waffle. The waffle is sooo good, I almost think it’s cinnaminny. MMM, I love chicken and waffle!

Hungry! Man, this dinner kept me full for a day! So fun to finally be reunited! I hadn’t seen Billy since LA and it was so fun to catch up. He cracks me up and we always sit around laughing at each other when we hang out. Glad he brought Ryan and Rachel out too.

On the running front, yesterday I got in my 5 miles and in the beginning my legs felt good, and for once they weren’t tired. They are finally starting to get used to running again! I really feel like I am getting back into a routine and my body is adjusting back to working out a lot.

On a sad note, my friend’s grandma went into the hospital this weekend for some chest pains and after a few tests, they found cancer in her liver, lungs, and colon. Today she has to have life-threatening emergency surgery. Please pray for her and their entire family.

xoxo

So this weekend was the garage sale. Man, I’ve never experienced something like that before. People are crazy bargainers! I thought that having our nice Starbucks travel mugs at a dollar was a bargain, and when people scoffed, I was shocked! I guess the going rate for those is around 50 cents. We had two tables there that were probably around 500 dollars a piece. We sold both, two for twenty, and the guy haggled over that too! All our clothes were a dollar, and by the end of the day, we basically had everything going for a dollar. We just wanted to get rid of it. It was a good experience overall and we made almost $300 dollars which we are going to put towards our fourth of July party fund. There were some very weird moments of the day though, some guy pulled up with three coolers in the back of the car and came out yelling, Tamales! Tamales! He was trying to sell Tamales at OUR garage sale! We were so confused. We ended the afternoon with the ice cream man going down our street and we both looked at each other and sprinted down the street and got ice creams. What are we? 12?

After our long day on Saturday, I was pretty prepared to get my 10 mile run in on Sunday. I was a little nervous that I wouldn’t make that distance, since I haven’t ran that far or anywhere near that distance in over a month, but Sunday morning I got up at 6:45 and took off. I have been working on running new routes and this was kind of an exploratory run. I ran around and found a nice little trailish area along the river bed and then ran to the park and turned around at 5 miles and came back home. It was a great little 10 miler, even though I was a little tired those last three miles. I’m glad I finished though and got it done. It was pretty warm during the run, man I love it when it’s warm though.

Overall, the training last week was a success, with all my runs completed. Today is a rest day, but I might hit up the gym after work and tutoring to work on my arms. Then I have 5 miles tomorrow morning, which is a good way to start off the day. I like running those small distances in the morning. So the weekend was good and I’m back in training mode finally!

xoxo

This maybe just made my life.

Happy Friday!

Last night I got in my 6 miles and it was awesome,  hot, sweaty and awesome! Right on track for training week numero uno. Yay! The USA came back. More happy duck dancing from me. :)

Garage sale in the morning! 10 miles tomorrow. Win!

xoxo