Wednesday's Weekly Wrap-up (June 19-25)

(With my wrap-up posts I try to update each Wednesday about my week in review. I include pictures posted during the week from my Instagram @lilrunner1485 as well. Why Wednesday instead of Saturday or Sunday? Well, it just works better for me on this schedule. So, Hump Day it is!)

Hello friends! Hope you all are having a good week so far. We’ve already made it to Hump Day, which means the weekend fun is just around the corner! This past week was busy as usual followed by a pretty great weekend.

Immediately after work last Friday I planned to get a quick run in and then change in the car before heading to Huntington with the husband. Sometimes I wonder if West Virginia has been channeling its inner-Florida as of late with these random torrential downpours that occur for a few minutes followed by bright and sunny skies. I say this because my weather app indicated no change of storming/rain prior to my run Friday. While the sky did look a little overcast, I brushed it off thinking “well, it might sprinkle a little, but it should be ok.” Just in case, I grabbed my little running belt pack, aka my running fanny pack lol, and stuck my phone in there. As a precaution I put it in a sock since I didn’t have a plastic bag. Crafty! Well, I got about 400 meters into my run when the sky pretty much fell out unleashing basically a monsoon on me. I panicked because of my precious iPhone 5S, which was in just a regular case (not a protective one). I turned around and sprinted back to the car already soaking wet and my phone thankfully escaped this incident unscathed. I ended up finishing my run without my phone by doing laps at the park (boring yawn). The good news is that the rain shower distracted me from how hot it was! Always look for the silver lining folks!

WV 5K Fun!

After my shower, I mean run, we were on our way to Huntington to pick up our race bibs and swag for the West Virginia 5K Championship. We explored the race expo and then decided to have a quick dinner date at Olive Garden. I love Olive Garden salad and breadsticks. What I don’t love is them continually changing their menu as of late. They recently took my favorite dish off the menu and now the husband’s favorite is gone as well. For shame, Olive Garden, for shame. Don’t you just hate when restaurants take away your go-to order? First world problems indeed! It was still a great meal and a fun evening out. Saturday we woke up entirely too early for a non-work day for the race. You can read my full West Virginia 5K Race Recap here. Other than me badly rolling my ankle, which made the race itself not so great, it was a fun morning.

Blonder hair for summer plus a new
Run Disney Mickey for my desk! 

We continued our weekend fun by sticking around Huntington after the 5K to get some things done. We had a quick breakfast at Starbucks (my favorite!) before heading our separate ways for the rest of the morning. I had a much needed hair appointment for a color and a trim. I love getting some hair TLC and I always feel fresh and renewed after a color touch up. It takes a while, but getting my hair done is super relaxing. It’s nice to be pampered! For the summer season my hair stylist made my hair a bit blonder, which I really like. It felt nice to get my layers and bangs trimmed as well. Bangs that have grown to be too long are one of the most annoying things. I’m sure many ladies can attest to that! After my much-needed girly time, I met back up with the husband at the mall. We had planned to get in some shopping but he was completely exhausted and I was having trouble walking thanks to my ankle snafu, so I only made a quick stop at Macy’s to get some makeup. Before we left Huntington we decided to have a late lunch at Chipotle, which recently opened in town. The husband had never experienced Chipotle awesomeness before and I was happy to introduce him to it! I absolutely love Chipotle! It was a really fun lunch date to close out a great day. The rest of our Saturday was spent icing my ankle, napping and being couch potatoes!

Now for a quick RWRunStreak update: Tuesday marked Day 30 of the RWRunStreak Summer Challenge! Fellow streakers, we are now in the HOME STRETCH! We’ve got this! I am very pleased to report that my ankle is feeling much better since Saturday’s 5K. It’s not at 100 percent yet, but with the help of an ice regimen and KT Tape I’ve been able to continue running to keep my streak alive! More importantly, thus far it’s feeling better with each day. Hopefully I continue to stay on the mend!

KT Tape is helping keep my RWRunStreak alive! Winston has also deemed himself my bodyguard since he knows I haven't been 100 percent with my ankle snafu lol! 

What’s on tap for the rest of the week? Friday I will be volunteering for Habitat for Humanity! I volunteered with Habitat this past November and as cheesy as it sounds, it was a very fulfilling experience! I look forward to helping such a great cause again. We are still kicking around our weekend plans, but hopefully we will do something fun! I hope everyone has a wonderful, enjoyable rest of the week!

Race Recap: West Virginia 5K Championship

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! One of the major highlights this weekend for me was the West Virginia 5K Championship, which was held Saturday in Huntington. This 5K coincides with the state’s birthday, which was the day before the race on Friday. I’ve never seen other states so passionate about their state’s day of birth, and this is one of the many reasons why I am so proud to be a born and raised West Virginia gal! All day on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram I saw numerous posts from many people regarding West Virginia day! Yes, that’s right world, West Virginia is its own state and has been since 1863. We are NOT, I repeat NOT part of Virginia. You wouldn’t believe how many people I meet that don’t know West Virginia is a state. It’s truly appalling.

WORD!

Hello, basic geography anyone?! Well, now that I’ve got that little rambling rant in, I will continue to talk about the race itself!

The West Virginia 5K Championship is an event that promotes fitness and an overall healthy lifestyle. West Virginia is usually sited as an “unhealthy state,” and Huntington, specifically, was deemed one of the most “unhealthy cities” a few years ago. This race in particular is an effort to change that unfortunate stigma by welcoming runners and walkers of all fitness levels to participate. Proceeds from the race are donated to the United Way River Cities and used to help fight childhood obesity. Anything that encourages fitness as well as works to turn a negative statistic into a positive one is great to me. This was my second year running this race with the husband. Things didn’t exactly go as planned this year race-wise, but that’s life. We must take the setbacks, accept the challenges and work to overcome them!

On Friday we picked up our race packets and checked out the expo. Normally for races that aren’t Run Disney I wait until the morning of to get my race gear, but since we don’t live in Huntington, I didn’t want to wake up any earlier than I had to Saturday. Not to mention, they were giving away WV 5K 2014 pint glasses to the first 500 participants to pick up their race stuff. Well, obviously I love me some race swag and especially LOVE my WV 5K 2013 pint glass, so this was a must-have item. We didn’t really spend too much time at the expo itself since we were hungry. Also, I hate to be *that person* but Run Disney has really spoiled all other race expos for me. It’s just not the same! The expo for the most part was well organized, with the exception of some chaotic congestion near the bib pick-up area. Runners were to pick up race bibs by knowing their race number, and most, including myself, did not know theirs. The swag was pretty great for a “local” 5K: the coveted 2014 pint glass and best of all, a tech shirt! Tech shirts are so much better than cotton because I can actually get use out of them! We had a quick dinner date at Olive Garden after the expo before heading home to turn in early for the night.

Tech Shirt and Pint Glass! Love the race SWAG!

Saturday we got up earlier than we even do for work (yuck!) and headed to Huntington. We only had some Clif Gels for breakfast, but that was fine for us. I know many runners are shaking their fingers at us for not “eating enough” but we both tend to get sick easily if we don’t have much time between eating and running. Pardon me if I don’t feel like waking up at 3 a.m. to eat a bagel and/or Clif Bar. I only do that crazy crap for Run Disney! The energy before the race was great and I was happy that while there was 100 percent humidity it didn’t feel as sweltering hot as last year. I wore my lime green Team Sparkle running skirt, which got many compliments but some weird looks too. It’s all good. Haters gonna hate! Lol! I’m a proud skirt runner! After taking a huge pre-race “selfie” with the mayor of Huntington, the group of 600 plus runners, including us, were off!

The first mile was going decent until the dreaded rock that I happened to step on in the middle of the street. I didn’t realize there was rock there until I stepped on it and managed to BADLY roll my ankle. If it hadn’t been for the husband catching my arm, this would have easily resulted in me face planting right into the pavement! Upon next step, I immediately knew I did more than simply tweak my ankle like I often do on runs. Usually I might turn it a bit, which is due to it already being weak from an old high school cross country injury. Normally when I “tweak it” the pain only lasts for a split second and I’m good to go. I quickly realized this wasn’t the case as each step I took got more and more painful. It was even more irritating that it happened before we even approached the first mile marker! The husband asked if I was ok, and I decided to tell him it was fine and tried to do my best to ignore the pain hoping that if I did it would go away.

Well, before we approached the second mile marker it became evident my ignore tactic wasn’t working and we had to unfortunately slow our pace way down. We even had to take a moment to stop at the water station and see if I could stretch it. We didn’t stop long at all, but this is something I NEVER do and have NEVER DONE in a 5K! That’s when the husband really knew something was definitely wrong. He asked if we should stop and then my stubborn nature really kicked in and I replied “absolutely not! I never quit!” I sucked it up and pushed forward. By the time we had a little over a half mile left, I was in a lot of pain, but you better believe when we came to the finish line stretch that I somehow reached deep in my gut and pulled out a pretty fast finishing kick. I passed a lot of people down that last 100 meter stretch so much so that someone shouted “get it lady!” at me haha! That finishing kick was two-fold: a will to be done ASAP so I could sit down and assess the ankle damage and because I was frustrated with how the race had gone and at least wanted to enjoy a good sprint at the end!

As soon as we finished the husband said his feet were bothering him most of the race since his new shoes still weren’t quite broken in, but he didn’t want to mention it while we were running because he knew how irritated I was over rolling my ankle. I must thank him again on here for putting his own discomfort aside to be the positive motivator that I needed during the race! Usually I am the cheerful one when doing races together, so this was a role reversal! Back to the race and time for my one major complaint: we saw absolutely no trainer, medical tent or place to get ice post-race. The husband and his crafty skills ended up finding a bag and taking ice from a water cooler to create a makeshift ice bag for me to use on my ankle. After the post-race ice debacle, I limped to the area where the Brown Dog Yoga instructors were offering a free post-race yoga stretch. I enjoyed the post-race yoga, except of course the parts where I had to balance on my right foot since well, the ankle clearly wasn’t feeling it (obviously.)

Fun at the West Virginia 5K 2014!

Overall despite my ankle snafu, I had a great time at the West Virginia 5K Championship. Most races this would have likely ruined the whole experience for me, but this 5K is really enjoyable and I still had fun. It was FAR from my best time, but considering the circumstances I think we did pretty well. After finishing and feeling the pain that came from simply walking, it was clear to me that my adrenaline and stubborn nature fueled me to the finish. The Marshall Men’s Basketball Team also made the race enjoyable and kept me laughing the whole time. They were hilarious! The entire team ran the race, and it always impresses me to see coaches not only value running as conditioning but to also show support in the community where their university is located. As members of the team finished they stuck around the finish area to high five everyone as they completed the race. I was very impressed with their demeanor. I am a WVU fan FOREVER, but this team endeared themselves to me so much so that I’m going to have to cheer for them too (except when they play my beloved Mountaineers, of course!)

It was a fun weekend and a fun race. I love doing races with the husband and even though I badly rolled my ankle, I am still glad we did the West Virginia 5K for the second time. Sometimes not all races are sunshine and rainbows and we have to overcome a little adversity along the way. Who else raced this weekend? Who else has dealt with injury either before or during a race? How did you work to overcome that challenge? I’d love to hear all about it and I commend those of you that have had and conquered the many challenges that come with running!

(Update: Since people have asked and for those wondering, my ankle is still pretty sore but feeling much better today. As of now, I am still forging on with the RWRunStreak because I am soooo close to being finished that I can’t fathom stopping at this point. I’ve been icing A LOT to help with swelling and on Sunday and today I did very light runs at an easy pace. Sunday’s run was quite unpleasant, but in a way the running seemed to help make my ankle less stiff. Believe me I would have sucked it up and stopped if it was absolutely too painful to keep going. I’ve also finally used the much talked about KT Tape, so expect a future blog review on that! Hopefully my ankle continues to feel better! Fingers crossed!)

Ice Ice that ankle baby!

Wednesday's Weekly Wrap-up

(With my wrap-up posts I try to update each Wednesday about my week in review. I include pictures posted during the week from my Instagram @lilrunner1485 as well. Why Wednesday instead of Saturday or Sunday? Well, it just works better for me on this schedule. So, Hump Day it is!) 

Happy Hump Day! I know so many of you are working for the weekend, but cheers and virtual high fives all around to making it to the mid-week! This will be my first “week in review” post, which I will hopefully be able to do on a weekly basis each Wednesday. I know Wednesday seems like an odd day to do a week in review, but hey, whatever works right?! Let’s get this first series post started! Last week was extremely busy for me work-wise. Plus, now that he is back safe and sound, I figure that it’s ok to say that the husband was also away in New Orleans on business. We certainly aren’t the type of couple that must spend every waking minute with each other, but I most definitely missed him! I am a social person so the extra silence is always weird when I’m the only human home! Luckily, I had my fuzzy child Winston to keep me company! While Winston missed his daddy, I think he enjoyed the time he got to have his mama all to himself! Other than finding a snake egg in my backyard (SCREAM!), not too many exciting things happened. I usually am an “after work runner” so my routine was pretty much work, run, come home, shower (duh) and then Winston and I just chilled watching Pirates baseball games and my Sex and the City DVDs. Yes, I know I live a glamorous life! I was and am still finding myself to be more exhausted in the evenings than usual and I blame that on the summer heat! Running especially in these hot and humid temperatures is a total energy drain!

Speaking of running, for all my fellow summer challenge streakers, last Saturday marked the official HALF-WAY point of the RWRunStreak! If you are streaking with me, virtual high five for a job well done so far! (You can read more about the RWRunStreak here.) I admit at one point on Saturday (Day 20 of the streak), I was thinking “really I still have another 20 days in a row?” Coupled with last week being exhausting in general, my legs are FEELING the streak and I can tell I’ve been running for several plus days without any actual time off. That being said, at the same time it’s nice to look at the glass half-full and know that I’ve made it this far! Now we have less than 20 days left! Fellow streakers: keep pushing through! I know it isn’t always easy and the past few days I’ve experienced those times when I’m just not feeling it, but I keep running toward that goal! I can say that I always feel better about myself after a run, even if the run itself isn’t pleasant. I like being happy, so that’s motivation enough to keep on streaking! Today marks Day 24 of the streak and we are over half way done guys! To quote Princess Tiana, “I’m almost there!”

Aside from the streaking madness and the work flow, after the husband’s return from the Big Easy we basically chilled out all weekend. It’s not unusual for us to go to the theatre to see a movie at least once a week because we love movies. There isn’t a whole lot to do in the area we live in, so we spend a lot of time at our local theatre. We ended up actually seeing TWO movies last weekend and stuck with a comedy theme for both of them. On Friday we saw A Million Ways to Die in the West and on Saturday we saw 22 Jump Street. We particularly enjoy stupid, raunchy, tacky humor, so of course we found both movies hilarious! The movies were a nice addition to our overall low-key weekend.

Sunday was Father’s Day. While neither of us got to see our dads on that day, we did call them to wish them a happy Father’s Day. I hope all you dads out there had a good one!

So far, this week has been busy as usual. I’d say while it has basically been a normal week, Tuesday was an exciting day for me and this blog! After being encouraged to do so via Instagram, I joined the Tuesday Link-up with hosts My No-Guilt Life and Run The Great Wide Somewhere. Both of these blogs are great and I urge you to add them to your reading list! It worked out perfectly that I had just posted about new running shoes on Monday because that’s what Tuesday’s link-up topic pertained to! The link-up was a great way to further connect with other runners in the social media community and it provided me with some great new blogs to add to my reading list! I will certainly be taking part in more link-ups! Thanks again to My No-Guilt Life for inviting me to join!

LOL! I hope I don't come off like this on social media!

What’s on my schedule for the rest of the week? The West Virginia 5K Championship! The husband will be joining me for this race. Our last race was clear back in April for the Pirates 5K Home Run. It’s looking to be a HOT and HUMID time for the WV 5K! Last year was no different and the painful parts of that race are all of a sudden coming screaming back to me! The race in general, however, is very well-run (literally…oh puns, come on hire me now Disney Jungle Cruise). Hopefully we can push through the heat and have a fun time! I hope you all have a good rest of your week! Remember Friday is just around the corner! Let me know if you have any race plans this weekend or if you have any fun things planned in general!