running

Rock ‘n’ Roll Raleigh Recap

| cheriarmour

Before I dive right into the recap, please take a moment to think about the two men that lost their lives at RnR Raleigh.  That is really scary, and my heart goes out to their families.

Let’s recap the race.

So I told you a little bit about the expo on Friday, and that continued throughout Saturday.  This time, I worked the Brooks tent, which was absolute madness between the shoe fittings and the folks scrambling for novelty items and last minute items they’d forgotten for the race.

DSC_0230Check out our fitting rooms.  I kept expecting them to smell like an actual port-a-john, but they were clean, promise.

Saturday night, I cleaned, and straightened up, and tried to go to bed early, but it was a bust, so I watched 21 Jump Street until I could cobble together 3 or 4 hours of sleep.  I woke up bright and early on Sunday morning (around 4am), showered, and headed downtown early before the streets were closed to traffic.  I beat it all, parked in my expo spot, and hit the VIP suite to do an early pre-race breakfast.

photoMe and a friend, Mimi, of WRAL hanging out.  We noshed on a half a bagel, some fruit, and I took a swing of a Coke for a little bit of sugar.

The race started about 10 minutes late to allow time for folks that were stuck in traffic.  The waves went off and I was a bundle of nerves, but I remained pretty focused and started and finished pretty strong.

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This was the first of many, many hills of that race.  Credit to Austin for the photography with our fancy new camera!

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Finish line!

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Coming down the chute!

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Gotta blow a kiss!  After this, I utilized the full length of all of my legs and cranked it out for the final lap.

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There was a huge fence separating us from the spectators, I’m guessing due to security reasons.

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Here, I was trying to block Austin from making that shot.

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We found fun Mateo (Matthew) after the race!

 

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And the best photo of the entire afternoon?

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So my review of Rock ‘n’ Roll Raleigh?  

The expo:

DSC_0222Incredibly well-done, and well organized.  Besides parking, which was kind of annoying if you weren’t familiar with the city, you could get in and out relatively quickly if one of the booths didn’t suck you in.  Some examples of vendors included Brooks (where I worked one day), Gu (where I worked another), Garmin, Tom Tom, City of Oaks, and Hoka, just to name a very few.  I even caught sight of some of the brands I rock on the regular!

Race Day Logistics: 

Awesome, if you followed instructions and did what you needed to to avoid traffic jams.  I left early, had a plan for parking, and was where I needed to be by 5:30 am.  For other folks, parking proved to be a little more difficult, especially if they did not get to where they needed to be before 6am, when they blocked the streets off.  Once the race started, the waves were really done excellently, and miles were marked extremely well, and from what I could tell, extremely accurately.  There seemed to be a ton of medical personnel on the course, and a lot of bathrooms.  Water stops were well-manned, and there was an excellent variety of Gatorade, a Gu stop for us, as well as water.  I was especially impressed with how clearly the split between the marathoners and half marathoners was defined – there was no way you could get confused on that.

The course. 

So. Hilly.  I mean, I run in Raleigh, I looked at the course beforehand, but that course was really really hilly, and really challenging.  It was not a day for a PR, and it was pretty much, to date, the most challenging race I’ve ever done.

The finishers celebration.

DSC_0298Very cool, and done in a HUGE venue, where you could cop a squat anywhere.  There was pizza, chocolate milk, bananas, and cold bottle waters for finishers, as well as some food trucks parked.  I kinda wish there were more food trucks, but there was adequate stuff to eat.

Overall?

Competitor has done it again, as far as pulling off a great race.  It’s streamlined, it’s neat, and people really come out to spectate these races.  Raleigh would be remiss in its duties to not allow them back.

That said…

The day was darkened by the loss of two of its competitors, participants in the half marathon who tragically lost their lives.  This was due to no fault of the race, and I truly wish for swift healing for the families of those participants lost.  That said, as I go forward and run in the future, I will be extra vigilant with keeping my body healthy, especially on a hot, hilly day like today was, and I plan on running this race again in the future.

How was your race or run this weekend?

 

I don’t know what to say.

| cheriarmour

The race was awesome.  The course was hot and hilly, and I was a little scared going in because of how ill I had been with my allergies all week, but I crushed it.  It was no PR, but the race was crushed.

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Pre Race Photo

And then after the race, a cloud kind of drifted over our post-race celebrations, after we’d grabbed our free beer and headed out to a local bar (with terrible service) to grab some more non-free beers. After checking Twitter, our friend Jess found out that WRAL, the presenting sponsor, was reporting that two people had died at the race.

I don’t want to be funny, or silly, or crazy right now – I want to extend my deepest and most sincere condolences to the families of the two men who lost their lives today. I will catch you all soon ❤

I brought my neti pot to work.

| cheriarmour

You may feel as though I’m a very glamorous woman, seeing as how I spent the better half of yesterday and today filming for an ESPN show that primarily airs in Latin American Nations, however, that is not the case, and after spending the better half of yesterday outside with that yellow pollen stuff floating around, I officially feel awful.

No congestion just yet, but my throat is on fire, and I want to die a little bit.  All of this is going on three days until Rock ‘n’ Roll Raleigh.  Ah well.

So anyhoo, when I’m feeling terrible, I pack up my plastic Neti Pot.

imgresAnd I pack the little saline packet that comes with it, pack an extra water bottle (so it’s clean water that I’m using), and head to the secret bathroom on the third floor to get to work.

I flush a few times a day when my throat is really sore, in hopes that I can at least get some of the yellow powder out of my nasal cavities, and because the warm water feels amazing on the back of my throat.  Fun fact: someone once walked in on me and looked disgusted with me, but jokes on her, cause it made my throat feel amazing and now I will never share my pot with her.

I’m not a doctor, but I”m convinced that this this totally heals.

Anyone else neti? Know what I’m talking about?

 

So a Haitian, and two Argentinians walk into Fleet Feet…

| cheriarmour

Kinda sounds like a joke, right?

Well it happened.  Except I made a rookie mistake and I didn’t snap a selfie, so I just have to tell you what I was doing with an Argentinian camera crew.  So enjoy today’s favorite gif instead.

So a few weeks back Competitor Group, the group that puts on Rock ‘n’ Roll contacted me – ESPN Run, a division of ESPN that’s really big in Latin American countries needed a local runner, me to like, do what I do and let them film me doing it.

You would think that would make you feel like a boss ass bitch –

boss assBut really, I felt horribly dorky the entire time.

It was like…

…run – but run slow

…stretch slowly so we can see your muscles

…breathe into this mic

…stand still for three minutes, and stare in the same spot.

I’m really excited to see how this footage turns out, and I will snap a quick pic for you all tomorrow, because the guys are coming over tomorrow to film me making breakfast – through the magic of editing, they’re going to make it look like I’m prepping my breakfast in the minutes before the half, without stressing me out and actually following me around on Sunday morning.

So….what are you guys up to today?

The project is still in progress –

Race week! Rock ‘n’ Roll Raleigh!

| cheriarmour

It’s race week.  Which I almost forgot with everything going on around here, but I am so so so excited for the Rock ‘n’ Raleigh, but it’s so interesting to be doing races at a time in my life when I’m busier than I could ever have imagined, and all in positive ways.

This time last year, I ran these races with a very specific goal in mind, wanting to get better and better.  Now, I want to run fast, surely, but I also want to run strong, and feel happy and healthy throughout the race, and warp it up with a smile like this one.

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Without further ado, here are some of the things I strive for this week, and in the race on Sunday morning.

  • Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.  This time last half marathon, I was vomiting violently from a little stomach bug I’d contracted.  If we can stay healthy, hydrated, and not drink this week, that would be great.  I will certainly allow myself a beer the night before, but other than that, I’m gonna chill on what I drink, and focus on consuming a good bit of water.
  • Rest.  I’m not good at this.  I am going to sleep this week.  I am going to sleep this week, dammit, if it kills me!
  • Foam rolling.  From last week’s 15-miler, the lactic acid has built up into my legs, and during a little maintenance run yesterday, my legs burned the entire time.  I grabbed the foam roller after, and rolled, and need to stay on that in general, and not neglect my poor legs/quads/butt.
  • Compression.  Along the same vein, I need to be sleeping in my compression socks to keep my legs fresh and rested for the race.
  • Time goals? Eh, it’s funny where I am at this point in my life, but until I get married, I don’t feel like I’m gonna be too crazy about time goals.  As long as I feel good and strong throughout the entire race, I feel okay.

Anyone else running the Rock ‘n’ Roll Raleigh? Racing this weekend?  What are your goals leading up to/the day of the race?

Mud runs + a giveaway.

| cheriarmour

I have a love-love relationships with mud/obstacle runs.

My first race was a 5k, the Warrior Dash in the fall of 2011.  I’d read about them in a runner’s magazine, and decided that me and Austin should sign up for one in Virginia to run one and to see how it went, never having raced before in my life.

It ended up being a total blast, and was the gateway drug to my subsequent half marathons, and full marathons.

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And go Austin for letting me drag him to all of these things!

Okay, so that brings me to Giveaway Time (for something really cool, keep reading)!

Also, if you don’t win anything, I’m gonna hook you up anyways with a sweet sweet  discount code anyways cause I’m obviously obsessed with you if you read this blog.

So I’ve already signed up for the Reebok Spartan Obstacle Race in DC in July, and for you, I will let you pick your race of choice here, and I will let you decide where you want to race.  I’m giving away a free one!!!!  The cool thing about this race, which you will find out if you click on the landing page is that the race seems like it’s going to be more challenging than some of the obstacles races out there, and even has launched its own all-terrain shoe in the process.

So if you want a free race tell me your literal most embarrassing story about yourself.  I’ll choose the best one, write about it, and then YOU get a free entry to the race of your choosing!

If you’re too shy to share your most hair-raising stories, no prob, I’m gonna be generous and provide you with a discount code. http://bit.ly/spartanwarrior <- that link will generate a 15% off discount code to the race of your choosing.

How can you lose?

[Full Disclosure – I was given a race entry (minus the cost on insurance) to talk about this but all opinions are obviously my own since I have been running 

My running partner.

| cheriarmour

You guys remember when I introduced you to my running partner?

In case you forgot, my partner was Beagle, a foster Beagle who came to me about a week ago.   I tried to call him Nelson for a while, but I kind of fell into a habit of calling him Beagle, Poops, or Pooper Scooper for a while.  And despite the fact that I always knew he was a foster, in the week I had with him, I got a little attached.

Because he was really energetic, I got into the habit of waking up early to take him out to the dog run to hang out with him (and to let him poop).  That was our bonding time.  But I knew it would have to come to an end eventually, and I wasn’t sure how I would take it.

unnamedSo Sunday morning, a friend came over to look at him, and this friend and his parents had had a beagle for 14 years before Sam, the beagle passed.  It ended up being a love connection, and Steve and his parents decided that Beagle-Nelson was going to be going to a new home.

I wanted to be selfish and upset, but truthfully, the fact that Beagle was going to a home with a doting mom and a yard meant so much to me, and if they could give him something that I couldn’t, they needed to be the ones to give him that home.

So I’m blogging tonight, and there’s no beagle breathing on me, stinking up the couch, and creating a drool spot that just grows and grows, but I know that he’s doing that for someone else and making them very happy.

Here’s to my foster beagle getting a new home!

Weekend recap.

| cheriarmour

I hope you had a really really good weekend.  I would say that not only was my weekend good, but it was really really productive, and it’s high time that I’ve been productive on a weekend.  Unfortunately, that means that it kinda feels like I didn’t stop working all weekend, but at least I got shiz done, right?

So Friday night, I’m pretty sure I told you guys that since I went to body pump early, that I went to bed pretty much when I got done with work.  That was that.

Saturday, I headed down to Elon, about an hour away, to teach at Elonthon, a 24-hour Dance Marathon that benefits the Duke Children’s Hospital.  To say it was nuts (in the best way possible) would be the understatement of the century.

DSC_0214Since I get sort of nervous before I teach any class, walking into this group of spirited college students made me a little nervous.  But I hopped on stage, and as soon as I started my first song, I felt he nerves sort of disappear, and launched into 30 minutes of a class, that I hope pumped everyone else for the last 4ish hours of the marathon. As always, Elon kids continue to do amazing things, and I’m impressed by their spirit.

I managed to continue my little personal tradition, and go for a short little run around Elon’s campus, and as I was doing that, I couldn’t help but wonder if I looked old, and if folks could tell that my old ass didn’t belong there.

I’d planned to stop by the wedding venue since it was right down the street but as usual, I overbooked myself, and I didn’t have time to stop anywhere because I stopped by a few art stores to grab more buttons for a project that was to come later on this week.

And, to wrap up Saturday I headed to Raleigh Beerfest to drink, and to hang out with my hubby and his friends.  I drank enough until my old self was ready to go home and go to sleep.  God bless you folks out here in these streets who was able (proper southern grammar) to keep the party going after Beerfest, my hubby included, but that was not me.

10171077_10100299026849773_1888318097_nBeerfest!

And then on Sunday, once I woke up, I scrubbed the apartment (thanks to the foster Beagle, I had to scrub a few really ripe spots in the carpet), and then set out to getting down to wedding stuff.  Do you guys mind if I give you a little sneak peek into Wedding Wednesday?

10151197_10100299276958553_1782262188_nI spent a few hours creating a practice bouquet that will act as a template for my girls.  It took a while, but I’ve given myself enough time to make a unique bouquet for each and every one of my girls, and one to throw, so that they will have something to keep as a token from their time spent with me.  What do you think?

Okay loves, how was your weekend?

 

I’m running late…

| cheriarmour

To everything this morning.  My posts, which normally go up before you wake up, was not to be this morning.  I was late to work.   I had to find a sub for my Zumba class.  And yet, I’m feeling so rested and happy with my life, which feels like it’s been thrown into a completely beautiful state of chaos.  And along with the chaos, I present to you, the most beautifully random mess of things today.

1.  I’m still feeling the 15-miler I did on Monday.  I think this is for a few reasons, and one of them is the beautiful weather we’ve been having.  My body, my muscles, and my state of hydration are not used to the relative heat, and 15 extra hilly miles did its work on me.

2.  That said, running with friends > running Raleigh hills by yourself.  I literally remember running one of those hills a few Sundays back and feeling so defeated.  It was a completely different feeling with two friends to chat with through them, and I swear, the hills felt less jerky with the friends.

3.  This top knot. 

photo 2 (5)A few questions here.  Is it a top knot still if you’re loc’ed up?  Is it still a top knot if you’re in desperate need of a retwist?  Is it still a top knot if you only did it because your hair is dirty and you didn’t know what else to do with it?

3.  We picked our wedding bands yesterday, which I will tell you all about next Wedding Wednesday.  I also think I picked our caterers, but again, I’ll tell you all all about it next Wednesday.  Are you feeling suspenseful?  Suspended?  What would be the appropriate word here anyways?

4.  Thinking about that second pet?  Think about it long and hard.  You know, I’m fostering the best beagle in the whole world, right?

photo 1 (7)But lord, between him, the cat, and the dog, they are giving me a damn run for my money.  Here, Beagle climbed into my lap, thinking he’s the same size as Coco.  But he’s totally not.  My house has descended into a state of circus.  I kinda love it though, I really think I thrive on insanity.

Tell me one random thing about your day!