The Color Run Recap and race tips!

I ran the happiest 5k on the planet, The Color Run. This wasn't the first time that I ran The Color Run but this time it was even better than the first time! I met up with a few women from my Mom's Run This Town chapter. We were wearing white and ready to run.

We lined up at 9am and waited for our turn to start. Finally at 9:10 the DJ who was entertaining us while we waited said we could start. For those of you who aren't familiar with The Color Run let me explain it, it is a 3.1 mile race where, at evenly spaced places in the race, they throw powder color on you. It is a blast! The first color we got to play in was pink. I put my arms up and yelled more color at the wonderful volunteers. After running a little bit more we came to the next color. Orange was splashed all over us!  I'm glad I was wearing my sunglasses because they got me pretty good. This year they did a lot better job on spacing out the runners so we weren't bottle necking at all the color stations.

After we ran a little bit more we hit the turn around point for the out and back course. Soon after we turned around one of the ladies I was running with informed us that if she runs the whole 5k it will be the furtherest she has ever ran. Well you can't hear that from someone and even think about walking! So we ran! Next we hit yellow. I was still loving life and ready for more.

The last station on the tour of color was blue. In my opinion, blue is the best color at The Color Run. It is so vibrant and covers your clothes and face so nicely.  After we got smurfed we picked up the pace for the rest of race. We finished with big smiles and one proud lady who ran her first 5k!

As soon as I crossed the finish line, I dashed to the start line to meet my husband and kids. I gave him a quick kiss and told him good luck and watched him start his first 5k while my kids and I cheered from the sidelines.

After my husband finished, we went to the stage for the color throw!

We were the happiest, most colorful family on the planet!!

I love The Color Run and plan to do it next year when it makes it way back!

Tips for running a color run:

-Wear sunglasses (nobody wants colored powder in your eye)

-Take pictures (before and after of course)

-Wrap your camera or phone in cling wrap to protect it from color. Don't unwrap it until you are in a clean place (ie home or the car)

-Hang out at the race after you run, you don't want to miss the color throw. 

-Run with friends - this race would not be as much fun alone! 

-Have fun!!

Have you ran The Color Run? Did it make you happy? 

The Color Run Is Coming To A City Near You!

The Color Run is coming! The Color Run is coming!!! 

The Color Run is the reason I started running! I saw it on Pinterest last year and decided I wanted to run the whole thing!  I started training and "liked" it on Facebook when they only had 18,000 "likes". Now they have soared over 1.8 million "likes". It is known as the Happiest 5k on the planet! As someone who tested this theory, I can tell you that it really is. I smiled the whole race and wore my color proudly the rest of the day.

My kids and I after I finished The Color Run 2012

If you have been living under a rock and have no idea what The Color Run is well let me educate you. You show up race day wearing all white, you can wear a white tutu, a wedding dress, white coveralls, white wig, etc. Then you run through the 5k course (3.1 miles). Randomly through the course they have color stations. The wonderful volunteers throw color on you, it's more like a cloud of color as you approach. After you go through a few different color stations you arrive at the end where they do an awesome color countdown every 15 minutes welcoming you to after party and congratulating you on finishing. IT. IS. AMAZING!!!!! 

Last year I ran it as an individual with another friend. This year my Moms Run This Town chapter has created a team. The greatest part about a team is you save money, $5 off if you sign up with 3 or more other people. My BRF is actually flying back from Georgia early just to run this race with me and the rest of the MRTT team that is how much fun getting covered in color is! Plus each location benefits a different local charity, help the community while having fun! This race isn't just for runners, walkers are welcome too so grab some friends and see why 1.8 million people "like" love this race! 

Thankfully they still remember the little people who made them so popular so here is a promo code for $5 off any location for The Color Run: COLOR5OFF Remember 1.8 people "like" this race so make sure you sign up before your location is sold out! Sign up with a team and use promo code and save $10 total!

Have you participated in The Color Run before? Does the idea of being colorful for 3 miles give you chills? 

See Jane Run Half Marathon Race Recap

Yesterday was my second half marathon and my first flat one. I knew that since my last half was up a mountain this one I should get a PR easily. I was right! I PR'd by 41 minutes!!! Super excited about that number.

Now back to all the exciting stuff about the race. The race started nice and early at 8am. I was running the half with a few of my sorority sisters and some fellow MRTT members. Given that we like racing and dressing alike we all wore sparkle skirts!

The race started right on time and we were off! The race started on the Boise Greenbelt and after about 7 miles it switched to sidewalks through a subdivision. The sidewalks were rather annoying since they were so windy. After 2 miles we were done with the subdivision and back on the Greenbelt (YAY!). There is so much more to look at on the Greenbelt then winding through a subdivision.

Very shortly after the mile 11 sign my leg decided to hate me. All of a sudden my left leg felt super heavy and numb. I had to walk immediately. I sent my running buddy ahead because I didn't know how long I would be walking. After a minute or so I started running again. My leg seemed to be better then it happened again. I started walking again. After about 30 seconds this wonderful woman came and gave me encouragement. She reminded me that we were close to the end and told me to run with her. She was exactly what I needed at that moment plus she even shared some water with me, a complete stranger. The last mile and a half flew by. Finally I see the 13 mile sign. I am thrilled and picked up my pace so I would finish strong then my leg went crazy again. I refused to walk the last .10 of a mile so I started a limping run to the finish line. I finished with the time of 2:33:52. Not the goal time of 2:30 that I was hoping but very happy with that time considering my leg went crazy.

After the race I enjoyed an awesome massage, champagne, chocolate and completely frozen chocolate coconut milk. I was really bummed that the chocolate coconut milk was frozen because I was really looking forward to chocolate milk after the race. I also had the opportunity to meet Sara from house bella. She is also a SJR Ambassador. This was her first half and she rocked it! I also had the pleasure of meeting Lori, Owner and CEO of See Jane Run. I wasn't able to find Tanya from Running in Boise, another SJR Ambassador, after the race but I did see her running far ahead of me at one point in the race. All the people who put on the race and the volunteers were great, very friendly and helpful!

Thank you to See Jane Run for a great race with some great friends! Can't wait to run for Champagne and chocolate again next year!

Did you run this weekend? Do you know what happened to my leg? 

National Running Day, Get your Run On!

Today is National Running Day!!!! How are you celebrating this day? Are you running with your running buddies? Or running all alone to reflect on your running journey? I am meeting up with some of my Mom's Run This Town friends. A few of them happen to be my sorority sisters as well. It is awesome to have two of my favorite things (my sorority and running) blend together. We also have two Couch to 5k moms coming to join us in a run for the first time. I am thrilled at the idea that we get to spend National Running Day with them as they are on the journey to become a runner. I get inspired by new runners, runners who have stuck with running for years, people who get PR's and people who don't give up on running despite injury! I can't wait to run with all the above tonight!

How are you celebrating National Running Day?

Race For the Cure and P.S.A.

Busy week! Thursday I helped a friend get ready for a hilly 10k that she has coming up by hiking up to Table Rock. The plan was to run when it wasn't too steep but we ended up just walking most of it and catching up. We saw lots of bugs and two huge snakes. We are both outside runners so you would think we wouldn't freak out over every snake we saw or super giant bugs, but we did!

Today I walked the Race for the Cure 5k with my husband and my two kids. I had way too much fun making the costumes. My talented husband designed the shirts and I was in charge of the tutu, headbands and my son's hat. I think they turned out awesome! My kids are great sports about letting me dress them up for all sorts of events. They once won $100 for best Blue and orange outfits during a Bronco parade.

Before the race we met up with some of my fellow Mom's Run This Town members. A few of us brought our children and planned to walk this event. Breast Cancer affects one in eight women so most everyone knows someone or has a family member that is affected by this awful thing.

My family has the BRCA2 gene mutation which has already brought Breast Cancer to my mother and grandmother (both survivors) and taken my Aunt. Since Cancer and my family have such a bond we decided we had to make Race for the Cure a family affair instead of just having me run it solo. I stole the picture below from Komen Idaho Pinterest page but I agree with it's message.

Time for my P.S.A. Find out your risks, take action and be the healthiest version of yourself that you can be. Talk with your doctor about when you should start getting mammograms, don't sit around doing nothing until you hit that magic age when you need to start getting checked. Take action! A few steps you can do to help lower your risks are exercise regularly, maintain a healthy weight, limit alcohol, don't smoke and eat healthy. You can do all those things NOW!

Did you run any races this weekend? Are you taking steps to be the healthiest version of you? 

7 day updated, MRTT, and hills oh my!!

The last seven days I participated in a cleanse. It basically involved lots of fruits and vegetables (easy), lots of water (easy), no grains (pretty easy), no dairy (hard), and no meat (hardest). I love meat! That was by far the hardest thing about the challenge. Oh and the headache for the first three days. Yep that sucked to and not having as much energy at the beginning. By the end of the challenge I was kind of bored of my food. What do I do to it to make it more exciting? I had a variety of meals throughout the seven days but clearly it wasn't enough. The sixth day I could not wait to eat normal again. My mind was racing with all the possibles of what my first meal after the cleanse would be. On the seventh day I was feeling good inside and out and seemed to have energy again. It got me thinking, I feel good but I don't like feeling so restricted on what I eat so how should I move forward? What things should I introduce back into my diet and what things should I only have in moderation? I will introduce meats for sure. I want to continuing staying away from grains, I actually tried to avoid them before the cleanse so it will not be much different than what I was doing, I think I will limit my dairy though. Indulge every now and then but for the most part avoid. What are your thoughts?

Saturday was my monthly group run and meeting with my MRTT chapter. It was a cold windy day. The meeting was short because it was so cold but I did win a race entry to BoGlow on April 6th. I am so excited about this black light and glow stick race! Tons of friends are signed up for this race and I can't wait to cheer on one of my friends run her very first 5k! At our group run we did a short 4 mile run but due to my crappy knee it wasn't a pleasant run.

My running buddy is finally back in town. My ankle and knee were feeling better. It was time to run some hills! It was a beautiful day Sunday morning so we ran part of the course for our hilly half marathon coming up in a month. ONE MONTH!!! I am freaking out! My first half marathon!! Anyway back to the hills, we did an easy 4 miles. The scenery was beautiful, the weather was perfect, friendly people every where, and challenging myself with hills. It rekindled my love with running!

What to you do to keep the spark with running alive? What would be the first thing you indulge in after a week long cleanse?