I have really been working hard to get back into the fitness swing of things. Being a lucky bird and having three weeks off from work, I know I can get back in the groove and I’m really excited about it. I ran Friday and Saturday morning, IN THE RAIN. Big step for me. I also went to the gym both those days. The good soreness is back and I’ve officially kicked off training for the LA Marathon! I will go over my plan and schedule in an upcoming post and will post tomorrow about my upcoming race, the day after Christmas.

This morning I had another encouraging run as well, and beat the rain and only ran in the drizzle. With 4.5 miles under my belt and another great workout session, I know this time off will really allow me to start training right and I’m really excited about it. Back to the grindstone and it feels great!

The other day I was tweeting a picture of my tree with all the pretty presents underneath. There’s one for my friend Tara under there so I text it to her so she could see it before I mailed it to her.

I told her to look under the dangly legs of the Flamingo and it was right there. I didn’t realize it but I have been collecting flamingos/flamingo themed things for a while. It was something that my mom and I liked because they were pink and we made them kind of represent Breast Cancer Awareness. So we liked them a lot and somehow this transformed into getting flamingo ornaments after she passed away from a few people, mostly my aunt. After Tara saw one, I told her I would take her on a Flamingo Tour of my tree! I had NO idea I had so many Flamingo Ornaments, but I LOVE them! So I thought I would share them with everyone!

First off, we have present flamingo with the Santa Hat. I don’t know why but the eye kind of creeps me out on this one.

Next is a little flamingo with a wreath around it’s neck, how festive and fitting on the tree!

Then we have a little flamingo who is out fishing and even has a fish and little flip flops.

Then we have his match carrying his fish and dressed in a bikini, with flip flops and a little grass skirt.

Another swimming flamingo in an inner tube and little goggles and flippers!

Santa is getting in the flamingo mood with a flamingo inner tube and some flippers!

Another innertubed flipper clad flamingo, this one has a little lei and a bikini too.

The ballerina flamingo! I love how sparkly this one is and I love the little crown. It’s even got little ballerina shoes!

A little fluffy flamingo with feathers!

Then we have dangly legs! This one is SO heavy that it looks like he’s hanging himself :(

Lastly, I have just a regular flamingo!

I love all the ornaments and really realized that this is a tradition that I have and I gladly am going to be looking for more flamingos to add to my flock!

Merry Christmas from my flock to yours!

xoxo

On December 10th, I posted this post about becoming Number 2034! It has been a crazy year and I haven’t raced as much as I have wanted too, only doing two full marathons this year, but next year I have plans to come back with vengeance and run at least four full marathons! March shall be deemed Marathon Maniac March and I’m excited about the races that I hope to be running in March. More on that in the beginning of the year, when my plan is finalized.

I remember over the weekend in Portland two weeks ago, I was thinking about how I ran CIM the previous year and how I did miss being up there with all the girls like I was last year. Even though that was the hardest marathon I had run to date, it was one of my most memorable ones with Tara. I also thought a lot about how I really wanted to have a great training season and go into March strong next year. I also thought about this crazy girl, who is my maniac sister number 2033!!

So the winners of the iFitness Belt are…..

Jennifer

Jamie

annnnd

Seattle Runner Girl

Congrats guys! If you can email me at [email protected] I’ll be sure to put you in touch with the person who can help you pick your color you want and then get it in the mail for you! So the next giveaway is from my FAVORITE Compression company, Zensah! If you haven’t tried out their stuff, you MUST. Here is the compression shirt review, the arm warmer review, and the sports bra and compression sock review. I am so excited to have a $50 gift card to giveaway and also a sports bra. Another great giveaway for the Holidays! The winner of the sports bra will be able to pick their size and color.

I am such a spoiled brat now about sports bras and only run in their bras. I love the way they feel and they are the softest sports bras I’ve ever worn. I also swear by their compression socks. I’ve tried out four brands, and they were hands down my favorite. Check out the review I did on both those products. Lastly, hello new and fun bright colors that they have! I have the light pink one, green one and the black one and just added the orange and yellow one to my collection! WEEEEE Makes me sooo excited to run! So make sure to enter by leaving a comment on this post. You can also tweet the giveaway for another entry, include @zensah and @chicrunner in the tweet and you’ll be counted!

Worked out last night at the gym, so sore I can barely move at all. A good feeling and ready to get back out there. I’ll be sharing my March Marathon training plan as soon as I finish it up, which should be later this week. I can’t believe that Christmas is already almost here! I already wrapped some gifts and am so excited to start Christmas vacation next week and be holly and jolly!

Good luck and make sure to enter the Zensah Contest!!

xoxo

I have my life back! Well after this weekend I do! I am so excited that we finished our last event with flying colors, red and green colors that is. :) Everyone was in the Holiday Spirit and we had a great race yesterday. I’m so glad everything went well and have only heard good responses to the race.

It all kicked off on Friday when we traveled out to Pomona and started setting up to the Expo. It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas! We had a huge tree put up and everything was decorated to be Holiday themed. We had to be in Pomona at 6, so I left my house at 5, getting up at 4 that morning. Getting up during events, I’ve come to find out is always the hardest part of the event! And being on your feet all day long.

Our Kids Run Finishers Certificates arrived. I seriously LOVE when race related stuff starts arrived because I get a ton of boxes at work and it’s like getting a ton of presents! It’s so much fun. I loved the Kids Run theme and everything turned out great for them.

We set a lot of the Expo up and got ready for the Expo, 5K and Kids Run that would be taking place the following morning. Not without a little goofing around inbetween working though!

By some random topiary that we found throughout the Fairplex.

Leslie and the snowman with our Holiday Half sash!

There was SO much Garland, everywhere, that needed to be hung. It needed to be festive and now I have scratches all over my legs from it. I must say that the best invention ever is the zip-tie. Finally everything was hung and set up. We were ready to go and finally hit up dinner at 7 pm. I was starving and I got a massive steak, AND AT IT ALL. What a little monster.

Sleeping was delightful that night and we had to be back up and ready to go by 3 am. We were out making sure things were set and the course was ready for the 5K and the Expo was all set. When runners started arriving at 7, it was fairly easy and since the race was smaller, it was containable.I loved how the banners and garland came out and thought that the theme was good being Holidays and not too santa-y. We had debates on this in the office for DAYS. :)

The stockings were stuffed! Man, the cereal that we put in there was amaaaaaazing. I’ve been living off that in the office for about a week now and I can’t get enough! I also love the Dole Mango yogurt covered mango bites that we have here too. I could eat those all day every day.

The sign making area that I set up was AWESOME and many people made signs yet again throughout the whole weekend. I even made everyone on staff a little stocking :)

Here is the finish line of the 5K. We were so thankful for all the Marines present throughout the weekend. It was great working with them for Toys for Tots and they were so helpful passing out medals. The 5K and Kids Run were great and I got to see Maritza as her sister and brother in law ran the 5k! The day was pretty laid back after the races were over and we got to eat dinner at 5 and were in bed by 7. Thankfully we only had to be up at 2 am to be out there at 3 am for the Half stuff and to make sure everything was set. My big task of the day was to be in Marathon Command Center.

Basically, being up there meant I was the one who okay’ed the start of the race after checking with all agencies that we were good to go. There was one main person from each agency up there with me just in case anything was to go wrong. So there was fire, pd, medical from each of the cities that we travel through. It was pretty intense in the beginning because I was nervous but once the race was off and I knew that people were doing okay, I just hoped that all the runners were having fun and there weren’t any accidents. It was a very different side of the race but I was prepared and thankfully nothing went wrong.

After the race I snuck down to see Maritza, who ran the half! I was told numerous times, oh I was told to find a girl in the red socks. :) That was a good idea to do.

It was so much fun to see everyone out there and have the Holiday spirit going throughout the weekend. We finished up yesterday around 4 and I got home and went to bed and slept for 13 hours. Awesome. I’m glad that everything went great and now we have quite a while before our next big event! I have much more time to run and train now and am going to be more in the office for a while, instead of out not sleeping and setting up random stuff. So now it’s onto working on my training plan for a few upcoming half races and then Marathon March!

xoxo

I wanted to share a few of my favorite things with everyone on the lovely web. These are some of the things I SWEAR by when I run. Just a thought if you are making any last minute changes on your Christmas list. I got in a solid three miler this morning before heading to work and I’m REALLY looking to the next few weeks as work changes gear and I can get full swing back into training mode! I’m working on my schedule for next year and it’s making me more and more excited.

So below are just a few of my favorite things and our lovely tree!

Zensah Sports Bra – These are my ALL time favorite sports bra and I only run in these. I have a few others ones that I wear to the gym, but I LOVE Zensah, you’ll see Zensah on another spot on the list as well. These sports bras are so soft, comfortable and really hold everything in place, they are the tightest sports bra that I’ve found and I really never worry about anything. I am also in love with some of their new colors that they’ve recently released! So bright and fun. (sports bra review)

Arm warmers – Now that the cooler months are upon us, it’s time to layer up. Layering up is one of the most important things while running because you don’t want to overheat. I love arm warmers! I have two different kinds that I love. The Zensah ones that are pink and made of compression material. I also like the Asics arm warmers that are heavier and more of a sweater material for the cooler mornings. Love arm warmers and their versatility. (zensah arm warmer review)

Lucy Half Zip – Le Sigh. Super expensive and one of my favorite materials.  It’s so soft and stretchy and not as heavy as some of my other ‘jackets’ that I have for running in cold weather. I hate buying expensive running clothes but every now and then Lucy has some sweet sales and make sure to check them out! I have this one and love it. Great for running and you can even get away with wearing it during the day, when you are just wearing working out clothes for fun. I also love the little thumb holes and how high up the collar goes.

iFitness Belt – Ever since I got this belt, I cannot even begin to express how much I love it, and you could be the lucky winner of 1 in the December 2 giveaway! I sometimes feel naked without it on my runs because I don’t have much with me without it. I can fit so much stuff in it and the neoprene is the best idea ever to keep things from getting soggy from my own sweat. Sick. If you are looking for a belt to shove all your stuff in, this is the one to get. (double pouch / single pouch reviews)

RoadID – Carrying a form of ID is a way to be identified in many different instances. Thought you never want to think that way, you must always be prepared for the worst. Make sure you have some form of identification on you when you run because you’ll never know what could happen. Road ID is an easy way to carry a form of identification on your shoe or bracelet or even necklace form. Check their site out and personalize your Road ID for safety! Visit the RoadID site here!

Some Kind of Face Protection – whether it be a visor, a hat or sunscreen, face protection is the KEY to running and being safe. I’m a prime example of this, as I have pretty bad sun spots/age spots on my face from running so much in the sun. I LOVE this sunscreen and  I love the visors ( I have this one in blue) because I look like a freak in hats, and really think everyone should pick something up to run in during the sunny months! Better safe than spotty like me!

Garmin 305 – I love my Garmin, Claude. It’s one of the pieces of ‘equipment’ that I must usually run with. I don’t do much else with the Garmin, though there are many other aspects, besides pace, time and overall time. I have never had any problems with it and really love running with him most of the time. (Garmin Review)

Ryders Sunglasses – Obsessed. Even when it’s cold, the sun is shining here in Southern California. Well sometimes. When the sun is out, sunglasses are on and nothing is better than a pair that doesn’t cost a leg and arm and stays up perfectly! I love these sunglasses and am SO glad that I found them and now cannot run without them. (Ryders Review)

Zensah Compression Socks – I love these socks, especially when I’m working a long event all weekend. They are the softest, best compression sock that I’ve tried and think the cushion in the foot really adds a lot to the sock as a whole. Love the softness of the sock as a whole and the “tightness” of these ones was the best. I’ve had these for two years and can’t imagine using any one else! (compression sock review) and now they have pink. SQUEEEEEAL!

Meb Keflezighi Book “Run to Overcome” – Recently read and reviewed, I really love this book. I’m half way through it again and I just love his upbeat outlook and positivity throughout his running career!

K-Swiss Shoes – I am addicted to these shoes now. Seriously, love working in them and running in them. I have heard some people not believing in the K-Swiss shoes since they are “newer” on the scene, but they have really done their research and I’m so glad that I gave them a try. I cannot imagine running in anything else and I know they are a great company because they keep their prices low and really look out for the athletes. Speaking of, I have another K-Swiss review coming up soon, but here’s the ones I wear.

Just thought I would throw some of my favorite stuff out there, and none of these companies asked me to do this, I just love their stuff so much! Last night, after a late night working for this weekend, Shea and I were able to get a tree!

Real or Fake! You decide :) We combined our ornaments and I think it looks spectacular and I love it! A lot of the time, the holidays are hard for me. I get sad and it’s hard as I realize things will never be what they used to be, but at the same time, there are brief glimpses of things that make my heart sing, like when I saw a reflection of our decorated tree in the window last night and the lights were sparkling. I know the holidays were my mom’s favorite time of year and even four, almost five years later, I am reminded of her all the time during this season. I remember her baking Christmas morning. That was one of the only times she baked like that. I think this year I will try my hand at baking Christmas morning, I’m sure it won’t be spectacular, but it will be interesting. I look around me to my friends and family and my life and am constantly reminded how blessed and lucky I am.

xoxo