I'm dreaming of a Weekly Wrap......November 12

I was so excited to watch the NYC Marathon last Sunday. I mean who would think that watching people run on TV would be exciting, but it is! I mean let’s face it, it’s the only time you’ll ever see anybody run the entire marathon course. I love being a spectator from my couch! I mean being a spectator in person is pretty cool too but you only get to see a portion of the race.

I must have been overly excited because the night before I had a running dream. This was the ONLY running that happened for me all week! I rarely dream about running. The last time I had a running dream was during the time I was training for the Tower of Terror 10 Miler at Disney. I was coming back from an injury and I would have this reoccurring dream that when the starting gun went off, my legs would not be able to run so I would have to walk. Thank goodness that dream did not come true.

So in my dream on Saturday night/Sunday morning I was going to run the NYC Half Marathon. Of course dreams aren’t always what they seem, right. In my dream this NYC Half Marathon actually started on a country road somewhere, clearly not NYC. When I got to the start line I realized I did not have my ipod. How would I run 13.1 miles alone without my music?  I did not want to go back for it so I thought I would make do. I also realized that there were not a lot of people at this race. Come on, this is NYC (or was supposed to be) where was everybody?  As I stood around with the handful of other runners, I got word that the race was going to be delayed. It was delayed again and I was starting to get annoyed. Then a lady told me that this wasn’t a half marathon, it was only the 500 meter dash! What???  But instead of being annoyed that I wasn’t running the half marathon, I gave a sigh of relief and said “O, well, then that’s perfectly fine that I don’t have my ipod”.  I do not remember actually running that race because my dream then switched gears.

On another country road they were starting the Full marathon and at one point they were letting people jump in to run some of the course if they wanted too. My mom decided that she was going to run some of it. I really wanted to run with her but I looked down at my feet and realized I was wearing flip flops. My sister also was wearing flip flops so she wasn’t going to run it either.  But then I looked down and saw my mom was wearing moccasins and she was still willing to run. I told her I would stand at the bottom of the hill and try to get a picture of her running as she headed toward the river (see, clearly not in NYC either). I waited for my mom and tried to get a picture of her running. That is wear the dream ended.   So weird right?  I wonder if those dreams were trying to tell me something?

I did not have any other dreams the rest of the week. In fact, the rest of the week was pretty boring. Work was busy and at home we spent a LOT of time picking out fixtures for our new kitchen. Our appliances were delivered this week and I am actually liking the stainless steel and don’t miss the white we had.

On Saturday my mom and I went to Make a Blanket Day for Project Linus. This is a charity we’ve been participating in for a few years now. We meet at the church and make blankets for the children’s hospital. We do the cut and tie fleece blankets but some of the more talented ladies make quilts.  ~M

We are linking up with Tricia and Holly for their Weekly Wrap!

Fashion Apps to check out!

Sometimes my brain doesn't always think in sets of 5.  So instead of forcing a Friday 5 on you that does not feel natural, I wanted to share with you a little bit about some cool Fashion apps I've been using even though there was only three!

 As a fashion columnist, I was naturally curious about this app called Stylebook when it started showing up in social media. I couldn’t even browse through Pinterest without seeing several advertisements for it. So, I finally caved and decided to download the app. 

When I went to the app store, I saw several similar apps that were free of charge. After digging a little deeper to see what they were about, I decided to download three freebies.  I figured I would see what I was able to do with the free apps before purchasing one. 

The three apps I downloaded were GlamOutfit, Closet Love, and Pureple. 

 I get the impression that GlamOutfit is more about the sharing aspect. You can put outfits together by uploading photos of items you already own or choosing from a preselected list of items. When you curate your own outfit, you then publish it to the site. When looking for outfit inspiration, you can browse through the site. There is also a shopping aspect to this app. While browsing, if you see an item you like, you can purchase it right from the site. What I found interesting with this app is that it also gave you links to see how the item was worn in real life, and how others styled it. So for instance, if you see a shirt you like and you choose to see how others styled it, it will show you all the outfits that other people put together using that shirt. This app has some cool features but I didn’t really care for how it was set up (not very user friendly) and it wasn’t really what I was looking for.  Also, I noticed that you can open other features by either earning or purchasing credits. You can buy 100 styling credits for $1.99.

Another app I downloaded was called Closet Love. I had high hopes for this app because the layout made it look very user friendly. I was able to easily upload a few pictures of my own items, but quickly learned that if I wanted to add a new category such as “dresses”, I had to pay to upgrade to the Pro version of the app. There were actually several features that required the upgrade. I found this app hard to use because it would frequently freeze up or shut down.

The final app I downloaded was Pureple. This app is the closest to Stylebook that I have found and I’ve had a lot of fun playing with it so far.  You start off by creating your closet. You can use the preselected clothing to represent pieces you already own or you can photograph and upload your own.  I didn’t feel that there were a lot of options in the preselected category so I chose to photograph my own pieces. This is probably the most time consuming (and maybe not so fun) part.  Having previously held a job as a stylist where I had to photograph clothing for catalogs and websites, I actually enjoyed this part.  I realized that if a piece wasn’t worth my time and effort to photograph and upload, then it was probably a piece I wouldn’t want to wear. This was a great way for me to eliminate items from my wardrobe.   As you are uploading each item, it will ask you to categorize it (shirts, sweaters, pants, jeans, dresses, shoes, accessories, etc.). Now comes the fun part, putting the outfits together. After selecting the pieces you want to wear together (don’t forget to add the shoes), you then label it by occasion such as work, active, night, weekend, or special occasion. You can then go a step further and label it by season or type of weather.  If you want a second opinion on your outfit, there is an option to share it with friends or the Pureple community. 

Playing with this app and putting outfits together has made me more aware of my shopping habits (AKA I do not need any more black shirts).However, I also noticed  that I have several shirts that need matching pants and several outfits that need the right shoes. Having your wardrobe at your fingertips makes it easy to determine what you already have at home and if what you have will match the item you want to buy.  Even though I am happy with what this app has to offer for free, there is an option to upgrade to Pro. When you upgrade, you get access to Style Stats. Style Stats will allow you to show outfits on your calendar (in case you want to know what outfit you wore on what day), and show you your most worn items and least worn items. It will also show you your Value Per Wear. This could be a great thing if you got an awesome deal on pair of jeans you wear often. However, it could be upsetting if you spent a small fortune on a sweater and only wore it once in the last year.  These upgraded features come standard with the Stylebook app.

There are of course other features for each of these apps, and many of them I haven’t used yet.  So far, I have been happiest with the free version of Pureple.   -M

An InLinkz Link-up

Workout Wednesday and More

I had another busy week this week.

 Monday morning I took a Body Step class followed by a Body Pump class. I must have had plenty of energy after my class because when I got home I ended up running 11 miles (while listening to another podcast). That evening I met some friends out for her birthday. 

Tuesday I had to teach my spin class in the morning followed by my Silver Sneakers class. Since it was Halloween I wanted to be festive and wore my Halloween tights and brought some yummy brownie bites in to share with my class. That evening I met up with a friend that has a neighborhood block party and walked around with her two young girls trick or treating. 

Wednesday I had to teach back to back body pump classes (within 2 hours of each other). Since I knew I had to teach two classes at two different gyms there was no way of going home between classes, so I splurged and met a friend at Dunkin Donuts for a Pumpkin coffee and Pumpkin muffin. It was delicious! After teaching two classes, I decided to take the day off from running. 

Thursday I taught another Silver Sneakers class. I also signed up to run a last minute race on my birthday!

Friday I had to run some errands and they were close to this trail that I never get to run on so I ran 9 miles. It was a beautiful fall day out! After my run I stopped in to the Verizon store to buy another phone case.

 Earlier this week I dropped my phone on concrete and it really did a number on my phone. Well so I thought. I wanted to purchase another case at the store so they could put it on. When he removed the current one, there was not even a scratch on my phone. Even though the cases are expensive, they are much cheaper than a new phone so in my opinion so worth the money. I even got an extra discount because I get a discount through my employer on my monthly bill.  

That evening we went to the grocery store to find some more of that yummy pumpkin popcorn that we had the other week. But unfortunately they were sold out. I did however find some pumpkin Hershey kisses that are pretty tasty! Afterwards my sister and I went to Starbucks where I got my first eggnog latte of the season (I know it’s probably too early for that). It was ok, but I think I will try another flavor next time.  

Saturday my mom and I were planning to run a local 5k race. We tried to sign up Friday online but the website was down so we called and asked about it.  The lady said she would look into it and call back. Well she never did which was very frustrating. We could have signed up the day of, but the price was a big increase and we did not want to do it that bad!  So I decided to just run 6 miles by myself. 

 That afternoon I went to my first Escape room. My sister had mentioned that she did it with some friends the previous week but there were several different rooms and she wouldn't mind doing it again, so we did it with our family for my birthday.  Our room was called Pirate Abduction and it was very challenging. Even my sister said it was harder than the one they did the week before. We were separated into two different cells and we had to find clues that were really for the other cell to use to get out and vise versa. Then once they were out, they had to find another clue in order for them to unlock our cell and let us out.  Well needless to say we did not get out of the room in time. The guy working there said it was the hardest room and only a few do make it out within the time frame.  Not to mention that our room was accidentally missing one of the clues and the host had to come into our room and switch things around for us. 

That evening we had a birthday dinner of scallops and steak at my parent’s house with an ice cream cake that was very tasty!

 My sister bought me a Gel nail kit. I bought her one the other year and she seems to love it. So I am looking forward to trying it out myself.   -L

How was your week?  

She's coming back...with some distractions

I mentioned previously that I was starting to run with my mom again.  Many of you commented that was great that we were running together.

However, those of you who have been reading this blog since the beginning may remember that my mom trained with me for my first half marathon and then ran it with me. She trained with me for my first full marathon, but than said that's where she draws the line, she wasn't running a full marathon!

She continued to run a few more half marathons with me, including Disney World, Disney Land, Las Vegas, and several races along the ocean front.  She then had to stop due to some nagging hip and piriformis pain. Last month was the first time she has run in two years so we started out slow.  We've been consistently running three miles the past few weeks.

This past weekend my mom took her run to the boardwalk.  When she got back I asked her how it went.  Her response was funny so she said I could share it here.

Just on those few miles of the boardwalk I had so many people distracting me.

First, I ran by a guy vaping.  As I ran by him, he looked me right in the face and decided to blow his vape at me. Rude much?

Second,  I had a guy on a bike jump of and put his phone in my face. I was startled. He said "here, take a picture of me".  What?  First of all, I didn't even know this guy, secondly, didn't he see I was running.  Of course I was polite so I stopped my Garmin and took the man's picture.

Lastly, I had a group of girls come up to me (while I'm still running) and ask me what time it was.  This time I was not stopping so I just said "I don't know," and kept running.  I'm sure the girls saw that I was wearing a watch, but since I had my Garmin set up to keep distance and pace, I didn't have access to see the time on this screen anyway.

When I was finishing up the last mile I ran by a cafe where I saw some of my friends having breakfast. They saw me too and waved their bacon at me as I ran by!

When she got back home she told me "Apparently the universe does not want me to be running, or at least these people on the boardwalk didn't think I should be running".


Do you ever have people distracting you on a run?  I've been annoyed a few times when I run through town and people stop me to ask for directions. I know it shouldn't bother me but when I'm in a groove I don't want to stop!    -M

                                           We will be linking up with the gals from TOTR.

Weekly Wrap ...Nov 5

I'm hoping to do a Turkey Trot and some kind of Holiday/Christmas themed race between now and the end of the year but that's kind of it. I'm not really training for anything so the next couple of weeks posts will probably be less running related and more about life in general. However, I know Lacey has some exciting running related stuff coming up in the near future so hopefully she'll be able to entertain you!

This week I enjoyed coming home after work and not rushing around to change into running clothes and head to the trail. I did some foam rolling, stretches, and watched lots of Judge Judy!

There is a person inside that Dinosaur.  It was the funniest thing watching it walk down the street!

On Halloween I hung out at my parent's house for a little bit and watched the trick or treaters.  When I walked up on their porch, they had this creepy Halloween music playing. I asked where it was coming from and here they had stuck their Google Home behind a plant on the porch. I thought that was clever!  My dad is so funny, he barely waits for the kids to ring the doorbell and say Trick or Treat. Instead, he opens the door first and HE is the one saying trick or treat!  If you've ever watched the show Modern Family, our dad is like Phil Dunphy. We say that all the time.

This was spooky because you didn't know which characters were fake and which were real people! 

Later that evening my mom and I went to a nearby neighborhood to see this creepy haunted house. It wasn't a house that you walked inside of, it was just a guy that has a production company and he put on something like live theater out front of his house with a bunch of displays and scary music.

By Thursday I just couldn't stand it anymore, I had to go for a run! It was just too nice not too and I hated the thought of letting this perfect weather go to waste!

Friday I ran errands after work and then headed to Starbucks for my usually Friday night happy hour!
The new holiday flavors are here and I got the Chestnut Praline Frappe! I still can't bring myself to ordering a hot beverage yet! 

Speaking of Holidays, it will soon be time to do the Blogger Holiday Card Swap. Should we continue with this tradition?  This will not be an official "sign up" but let us know in the comments if you might be interested.

Saturday we did some errands for our Kitchen since we are doing a slight remodel (which I am slowly regretting) and then the rest of the day was spent celebrating with my sister for her upcoming birthday.   So as I said, not a lot of running or other workouts going on, but that's okay.  It's good to take a rest sometimes and focus on other things!  -M


We are linking up with Holly and Tricia for their weekly wrap series!

Monster Dash 5K

Last Saturday while Lacey was running Wicked, my mom and I ran the Monster Dash. This was a local new to me 5K race.

1. Packet pick up was available the night before, which I was glad it was, because this prevented us from having to be there an hour earlier on race morning.  I think everyone else had the same idea to come on Friday evening because the lines were long.

This was the t-shirt we were given.

I did not know that our race registration included a race T-shirt (because few local races do), but when I got to the counter the nice lady informed me that I did not mark a size for the shirt so they took the liberty of ordering one for me which was nice, but they ordered me a LARGE!  They did not know me so I guess how were they supposed to know.  My mom also missed the shirt part on her registration as well but they ordered her a medium. We switched shirts when we left packet pick up.

Race morning.

2. Yes, I too am disappointed in my race day outfit! Me of all people who loves making race costumes did not have an actual “costume” for this race. Making a costume was the main reason I wanted to do this race!  I literally threw this outfit together Friday night.  I don’t mean to make excuses because it’s not like I didn’t know about this race for over a month now, but I do think all my energy was consumed with Baltimore, which was run just the previous weekend.  I knew as soon as I laid this outfit out that I was going to be dressed too warmly, and I was!

3. When we got to the race, it was such a festive atmosphere.  There were festive decorations and they even had Halloween music playing from their sound system.  There were a lot of people dressed up. Some were in costumes and some had on just festive attire like myself. I saw a lot of orange pumpkin shirts.

4. Home base for the race was at a local elementary school and that is where the start and finish lines were.  The route left the school and looped through a neighborhood with many rolling hills.  The course itself was even festive. It was marked clearly with orange signs that had monsters painted on them. And at most of the intersections there were costumed volunteers to make sure you stayed on track.  This was the first race I ever ran that was marked in Kilometers instead of miles (which obviously makes sense since it is a 5K) but was still new to me.  Every few kilometers they had obstacles, like jumping through hoops and such. We did not stop to do any of the obstacles but I did read that if you did, you time would be adjusted to reflect that.   Since my mom had been suffering from planter fasciitis, we decided to just do a run walk and not worry about our time anyway.

 

This was the finish line for the kids race. The adults had just a regular blow up arch..

As we ran in towards the finish there was a slight down hill and the path leading to the finish line was lined in pumpkins which I thought was cute! 

5. A lot of people stuck around at the finish area. The Halloween music was still playing and they had snacks and drinks. We hung out for a little bit and talked to a yellow lab puppy and her owner. The lab ran the race dressed in a soccer jersey!

It was sunny this morning and really a great day for a race.  My mom and I both enjoyed running it and will consider running it again next year. Perhaps we will bring my dad along next time.  Oh, and I will try to actually come up with a costume next time too. Hmm, maybe a group costume???  -M

An InLinkz Link-up

Wicked 10K Race

This past weekend I ran the Wicked 10k. I have run this race the past few years and it is always one of my favorites. It is a race where people dress up and just have fun.

 Friday afternoon I went and picked up my race packet at the expo. This was a smaller expo compared to the other races that they put on. I had no intention of buying anything but I found my favorite socks there and they were buy one get one half off so I grabbed some Experia socks then I was on my way.

The next morning I got  up and put my costume on. I was hoping that I wasn’t going to be too chilly. I ate my English muffin and I was out the door by 7 am. The race started at 8 am and I thought I would have plenty of time since parking is never an issue. I parked at the convention center and met up with my friends.

 I walked in to use the restroom but the lines were way long. There was announcement that the dry bags had to be dropped off in 7 minutes. I knew I was not going to get through that line within that time so I headed over to bag drop off. I dropped my bag off and headed back inside. While I was waiting in the line, I realized I forgot to grab my Ipod out of my bag so I walked back to the truck and luckily my bag was right on top and I was able to grab them. By this time there was no time to wait in line for the restroom. I thought the line for the porta potties would be much shorter, but that was not the case.

I stood in line all the way up to the start of the wheelchair participants. I was
debating to wait in line and just start back a few corrals but then I thought well maybe this will just make me run faster and be done sooner. So I went into the first corral and we were soon off.

I was so happy with my outfit decision. It was very comfortable and the weather was perfect. I didn’t have my Garmin set for any alerts for fast or slow pace. I was just going to run by “feel” and that is just what I did. I noticed that I was much faster than I thought I would be when I was got to the mile
markers but I was feeling good so I didn’t really pay attention to it. I passed some cool costumes when I was circling back through during the second half where we shared the road with the other runners going the opposite direction.

 All of the sudden I see this super hero (not sure which one) go flying by me almost sprinting. I thought to myself this guy is going to burn himself out. Not only was he sprinting, but he was in full costume from head to toe probably sweating to death. A few minutes later I passed him while he was walking. He must have lost all his power. About a half mile down the road he comes up behind me once again sprinting by. I thought is this how he does his run/walk intervals. So I passed him again when he walking and never saw him ever again throughout the race.

Up ahead I saw this lady I thought I knew running at a pretty good pace. I don’t know her personally but I see her every weekend running in the park with her running coach that rides a bike beside her. And here I am passing her never having a coach. I’m sure she was just doing this race as a training run preparing probably for an upcoming marathon, but it did make me feel good passing her(Even though she is probably 15 years my senior). Soon we made the turn to go onto the boardwalk for the last mile. Here was where they were giving out pieces of Krispy Kreme donuts. Last year I remember taking some while I was running with my friend, but this year I was running by myself and I just wanted to finish. I was hoping that there would have some at the finish as well, but unfortunately there was none.

While running on the boardwalk you can see the finish line way before you are close to it. I knew I had some more pep in my step but wanted to wait until I came closer to the finish. I kept saying to myself this is only a quarter of the distance you ran last Saturday so there is no reason I can’t speed up a bit.

There were a few runners in my site that I was hoping to pass before the finish and I did just that when the time was right and crossed the finish line strong. Afterwards I looked down at my watch and I thought I may have hit a PR but can’t recall what my other 10k times were when I placed. If it was, it was only within seconds. I finished in 45:15 with an average page of 7:17.

  

After I finished I hit the restroom finally then went back to the finish line to watch my friends finish. We enjoyed our celebratory beverages while listening to the band play on the beach and then watched the Costume contest. I saw this lady that wanted to get a picture with one of the winners so I asked her if she wanted me to take it. After I took the picture she asked me if I was Lacey. I said yes. I didn’t recognize her (mostly because she was in costume) but thought she may have been a follower on our blog. She told me her name and it clicked. She was in my running group years ago when I first moved down to Virginia Beach. Since she has moved but not that far from Virginia Beach and says she still comes down for all the races.

We caught up and she told me she’d look up our blog now that she knows we have one. After the race I met some other friends out for some Halloween festivities. It was a great race and a fun weekend catching up with friends.


                                                               The Goodies from this year.

Did you run a Halloween themed race this year? -M