I'm Baaaaaaaack!

*makes triumphant return to VStR*

Oh, hey everyone. Long time no post! Kudos to Louie for holding it down for us since I went M.I.A. in October. Grad school has sort of taken over my life these last 6 months and blogging (and even running -_-) has been the first few things to be put on the back burner. If you're wondering what I've been up to, check out my personal blog, FivEleveNinety! But here's a little update on my running life:

• I did survive Hartford and had an amazing time running my first marathon! There were a few disappointing aspects of the event itself (no shirts, medals, and wrong bibs), but the actual race was great. Here's the vlog from the day of the race and my immediate post-race review:

• I ran another half in December with little to no training. I finished, but GOD it was miserable, haha! Do not recommend it at all!
• Took a few month break from racing, but ran a 5K with Louie on his birthday.
• I volunteered at the Fool's Dual half, which Louie talked about here!

The past few months I've been less focused on running and a little bit more focused on getting any kind of exercise in that I can when I can find the time, as well as stretching much more. My schedule is so jam-packed with items for work and school that pulling 12 hour work days is the norm for me, and sleep is the main priority. I'm hoping with the school year coming to the end toward the tail end of May I'll be able to focus more on getting back on my running game. (I do have a multi-distance race and a marathon coming up this year, so I gotta get my act together!)

I'll try to be better about posting more frequently here, as I'm sure I'll be running more frequently, at least in the summer months! See you guys soon. :)

Race Review: Color and Glow 5K

Louie and I ran in the Color and Glow 5K last weekend! It was so great to participate in a fun run type of race instead of something super duper challenging like I have been this entire race season. I wasn't nervous about the distance, I wasn't worried about my time, and I wasn't concerned about coming in first place (but let's be real - I'm never too concerned about coming in first place, because I know it'll never happen :P). I was just there to have a good time!

One complaint we both had about the race was packet pick up. Participants only had 2 options - the day before the race (which was a work day) from 11 AM to 7 PM at an off-site location, or on-site the day of the race from 10 AM to 12 PM (the race started at 7:30 PM) only if you were travelling more than 80 miles to the race. A. That's super inconvenient for participants who live close but work weird hours (like me) and can't get to an off-site location, and B. What are the participants that are travelling from far away supposed to do for 7 hours after they pick up their packet? A race like this always needs pre-race packet pick up as an option. Seriously, that's a no brainer. The only time races should be allowed to get away without race day pre-race packet pick up is if there's tens of thousands of participants and it's physically impossible to hand out all of the packets right before the race. Judging by the amount of people that were at the race, I think they could have handled at least one registration tent.*

The race was held at Brockton Fair Grounds in Brockton, MA. We showed up about an hour early (which is TOTALLY unlike us) and we were able to just hang out and take in the atmosphere before lining up. The race MC was tossing out glow-sticks at the starting line, so we weaved our way to the front of the pack to catch a few and get decked out for the race.

Before the glow sticks...

...and after!

The race was scheduled to send the first wave out at 7:30, but it didn't start until about 7:50. We got a little antsy for the start of the race, but it also gave us the opportunity to take in the atmosphere, rack up out glow stick collection (I think I wound up with about 12 or so, haha), and get excited for the race to come!


Personally, I was expecting more lights along the course - kind of like the Electric Run - but the route was, for the most part, pitch black and since the majority of the race was through a field, I was super worried I was going to step into a hole (which I did a few times) and injure myself. For this reason, I was extremely careful about my footing the entire race, which definitely took away from the fun. I would love to see this course more well lit (bonus points if it's colorful lights!) in years to come.

I would like to have been covered in more paint, also. I sign up for races like these to be doused in color. We were in the first wave, so I understand that they had to conserve for the other runners, but adding in some more paint stations along the course would be awesome. (Side note - they didn't tell the voluteers not to shoot paint into the runner's faces. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the other runner got their eyes painted, because I certainly swallowed some. >_>)

Either Louie and I totally beasted the course, or it wasn't a full 5K. I think we finished in about 22 minutes (neither of us timed it because we were just there for the fun!) which is extremely fast for both of us. I wasn't too surprised about the short distance (we experienced the same thing for Color Me Rad) because these types of events are more about the fun experience than completing a true 5K, which I think is awesome. I love that there are events like these to encourage people to get active and introduce them into the running world with something fun!

Post-race glow!

The race bling was really cool - colorful glow in the dark medals! It's definitely one of my more unique pieces of race jewelry. Our originally-white bibs also got totally covered in glow paint, which gave them a cool splatter effect. Loving that I have some color on my bib wall now! :)

This was a really fun race with a LOT of potential. They need to add a few things to make this a truly great event, but I think with each year this race will improve and become bigger and better. I can't wait to see where it goes! If you're looking for a fun, unique approach to fitness and night life, definitely check Color and Glow out!

P.S. Check out my video from the event! :)

To find a Color and Glow 5K event near you, visit their website www.colorandglow.com!

*It was pointed out to me that there was a registration table at the event, but it wasn't advertised at all. We were both under the impression we had to go to the times on the website. So frustrating!

Training Update: Lazy Long Distance

With a little under 7 weeks to go until Hartford, I've been swinging between long distances and complete laziness. Marathon training has been tough and has definitely brought out the whiney couch potato in me.

"But I don't WANNA go running!" -Me. Almost every day. Also I think I heard a two year old saying something similar just the other day...

I'd like to sound noble and awesome and tell you that I've gone out on every single run my schedule has told me to do, but then I'd be lying (and that's the opposite of noble and awesome). The truth is that I usually skip at least one scheduled run every week. Sometimes my body is just not up for it, so I make up excuses in my mind and I can't get myself out the door.

I am, however, going on my long runs. Like, high-teen mileage status. Because I'm slacking on my mid-distance days, they're probably a lot more difficult than they should be, but they're getting done, none the less. I am still pretty apprehensive about this whole 26.2 business. So far I've only made it up to 17, and 18 is in the cards for me this Saturday. Those are long distances, and I'd still have an additional 8 or 9 miles to go on top of that come race day. I'm not sure how I'm going to do it, but I guess I've just got to trust my body and brain to push me across the finish line.

(Here's my vlog from my 17-miler. I seem cheery mid-run, but the next day update makes it clear I was struggling!)

With these critical last 6 and a half weeks of my training colliding with the busiest possible time of year for me professionally, it's definitely going to be a challenge to get my booty out the door when all I want to do is hide under my blankets watching Netflix during my down time. But these 6 weeks are going to go by in a blink, so I'll be strapping the Nikes on and pounding the pavement and looking forward to October 13th when I can be lazy and not feel guilty! :P

Blogger turned Vlogger

HEY EVERYONE! I figured the ol' running blog needed some dusting (considering I haven't written in about 3 weeks... >_>), so I wanted to drop by and say hello!

There's a million excuses I could give you for not blogging here, but I'll save you the other 999,999 and give you the only excusable excuse I can think of - I've been logging all of my training on my YouTube channel via vlogging!

I told you guys a while back about my vlog project for the last 16 weeks of training, and I've stuck with it so far! Unfortunately, it's leaving me a little less motivated to utilize this beauty of a running blog, but I'm hoping to change that. I can't let another blog of mind wind up in the internet cemetery for under-utilized websites! :P

To tide you over until I can come up with some fresh material, here's a little training update:

1. I ran the Foam Fest 5K with my parents on the 13th! It was a lot of fun, and is on my to-do list of race reviews, but until then, here's the video!


2. I still have yet to officially register for Hartford (These damn bills acting like they're more important. Pshhhhh) but I'm still training for it like I am. Eventually I'll scrape up the money to get myself a bib, and I'm hoping that's within the next few weeks or so!
3. I'll be honest and admit I've missed a few runs, and in an attempt to make them up, I've totally stressed myself out. Since stressing myself out during this training is the one thing that I want to avoid, I decided to ditch the make-up workouts and stick to the schedule. It feels like the world's been lifted off my shoulders!
Hope you guys haven't missed VStR too much! I'll try to make a better effort of giving this space some love. In the mean time, check out the MaraVLOG playlist on my channel!

Race Review: Havard Pilgrim Finish at the 50

Last week Louie and I (along with Nick and my parents) ran the Finish at the 50 races. My dad ran the 5K, while the rest of us ran the 10K in 90 degree weather with 85% humidity like crazy people. The event was A LOT bigger than I expected, and hands down the largest race I've ever run. I'm used to about 2,000 people tops, but this was the kind of race that if you split up, it was almost impossible to find each other again.
I was not properly fueled for this race. I had worked all day before hand, and couldn't really hydrate properly (I work retail and you can't have a water bottle on the sales floor) and between working and packing for the holiday weekend, I didn't eat all that great throughout the day. Needless to say I was feeling it! I finished in 1:02:41, though, so I'm not too upset about it!
I was a little disappointed in how the race was run. The water stops, though nicely spaced out throughout the course, weren't long enough to accommodate the amount of runners, and there was a huge back up at every station. You also couldn't get back into the stadium once you stepped foot off the field, which was super annoying. I think the runners should have been able to come and go as they needed as that was the only place with post-race water.
The event itself was fun, though! It was so cool to be on the field at Gillette. I know that there are various NFL sponsored races that have the same idea as this one, so be sure to check for races near you! :)
Check out the video from the race below!

16 Weeks to Go!

Whattup y'all!

GUESS WHAT. There's only 16 weeks (even less now!) until Louie and I run the Hartford Marathon! That means it's time to kick our training into HIGH GEAR! 

I've decided that I want to vlog my training throughout these 16 weeks to document my journey. I just posted the first video on my YouTube channel this morning, in which I talk about my training plan and the vlog project itself. Make sure you subscribe and check back every Sunday for a new video! :)

P.S. You can find the training programs that I talked about in the video here!