Denver Hot Chocolate

Denver Hot Chocolate race day is here. I applied to be an ambassador for this race and was actually chosen. I was pretty excited but then in the end it sort of sucked. They had 8 of us in the Denver area and 6 of us are members of MRTT and lived right in the same area . Made it tough to get your 50 registrations under your name for your free race. Being that I was so new here, I had a really hard time and in fact most of my registrations came from postcards I put on car windows at random race events. I was 2 away from the free race and got lucky when Josiah told me he would comp my race anyway. Thank you Josiah . Would I do the ambassador part again ? Nope. It's a super fun race and I always have a blast but the ambassadorship isn't really my cup a tea on this one. It's a for profit race and all about the money. They give out random discount codes meanwhile the ambassadors are busting butt to try and make the 50 person quota. Just makes it frustrating. Will I do this race again? Heck yes !! I love it. The atmosphere is amazing, the swag is super awesome, the food is delicious and the friends are priceless. Maybe next year I can talk the kids into the race with me. I also helped out at the expo and definitely would do that again. 

I ended up running with my friend Melanie. Thankfully she drove us down there. It's in downtown Denver and we all know how me and cities don't mesh well . She is used to driving there and knows her way around AND has a car rather than the dang bus. We managed rock star parking ( a block away for $5... no way !! ) and the weather was perfect. I did this race in Seattle last year and will say Denver did it better. The marshmallow stops, the chocolate stops, the crowds and race support.. absolutely awesome. I only had 1 marshmallow ( strawberry ) at mile 4 and a piece of chocolate at mile 6 AND regretted them both .. ugh why did I do that . Note to self... always indulge AFTER the race . 

Token MRTT meet up picture. I love that at every race I met someone new . It's also fun to put names to faces and then we can cheer each other on when we see them out on the course. Melanie and I actually played leap frog with Herdis ( Purple shirt 2nd row on the right ) the whole race so that was loads of fun. 

Melanie and I going to find our coral spots 

Bling and treats well earned . 

Seriously look at this delicious stuff 

Bling, chocolate and post race banana.. perfect 

Anything over 5 miles always leaves me FREEZING when I'm done. So it's always nice to come home to a HOT bath with usually fruit and a good book . 

My race jewelry. I always run with my Road ID because you just never know what will happen. I also always have my Momentum Jewelry on . This one was actually a gift from my friend Carleeh for my first half marathon in May and I love it. That little reminder that I can do pretty much anything I set my mind to. Thanks for that Carleeh . 

Colfax Half Marathon course pictures came in

Oh my gosh these pictures came out awesome!!! And free download to biot, heck yes.  

I am still on my Half high . 

Colfax Half Marathon 2015

Okay so today is the big day. It's 4:30 am and I'm awake and waiting for Brittni. Seriously only crazy people wake up before the sun to go on a 13.1 mile run....for fun....and pay for it. 

I'm sick .....like really REALLY sick. No voice, can't stop coughing,  hard to get a good breath, fever sick. Oh joy. Just my luck right.  I'm NOT missing this damn race. I've trained in rain, sleet, snow, wind and hail. I'm NOT missing this race. I've loaded up with cough drops and jolly ranches to suck on and keep my throat moist.  Here goes nothing . 

Our first task was parking. Thank you BrittnI for 1) owning a tiny car 2) offering to drive us and 3 ) being a Rockstar driver in congestion.  I would have panicked,  ran someone over and smashed into cars while trying to park. Bless you Brittni you saved us and many innocent people and cars. We actually found good parking pretty quick . First obstacle conquered.  

I planned to meet the other MRTT ladies near coral N for a group picture at 6:15. They have a special skirt that makes them easy to spot. I can't wait to get mine and be among the cool kids. I spotted the skirt on Mary right away and found my other crazy people. The running groups....crazy, nice, loud, funny,  encouraging and sweet. That sums them up for you. Brittni and I ended up laughing so hard at them. One gal was yelling as loud as possible " MRTT LADIES OVER HERE FOR A PICTURE " Over and over . She was a riot. 

my shameless selfie at the start line 

my motivation bling. Both bracelets from Carleeh and my sole sister beads from my IG pal Tracy who was running a half the same day. 

Brittni and I at the start 

my crazy MRTT gals. 

 The race started about 7 for us since we ended up at the back of the pack in coral R. I knew we should have lied about our times dang it. The first mile went quick with all the Dodge and weave we had to do around the walkers. The 2nd mile was through the zoo so of course we had to snap some pictures. I'm here to have fun people.

Mile 6 and I felt Great. Brittni got her 2nd wind and we kept moving one foot in front of the other. By now Carleehs bracelet was coming in handy. I was reading them off at each mile. Thanks again Carleeh, what a great gift .

mile 11 was tough. Brittni had never gone past 10 so this was the moment it would test her will. I tried to encourage her and read off the words from Carleeh on my bracelet. 2 .1 left. We got this Brittni.  It was all down hill and we started to see more supporters along the route. Nothing gets ya jazzed like cow bells, signs and water guns right. Plus the dude in front of us was cracking me up. His conversation with his friend went like this:
1: your feet are slapping the ground. You need to pick them up.
2: I know they are slapping the ground. I'm F'N tired you're lucky I'm still standing upright.
1: well you should really pick them up .

Oh man I literally laughed out loud at them for the next mile . It only got better and guy 2 even pushed guy 1 . I was feeling his pain for sure.

 WE DID IT !!!! We made it 13.1 miles in under 3 hrs. I'm SO proud of myself and Brittni.  We laughed, we cried at the finish but we never once gave up, we never once walked more then our 1 minute interval and we had fun. I couldn't have asked for a better running buddy to spend the day with. Thanks for the memories Brittni.  Until the next one.

13.1 Miles....Half Marathon....oh Lord she's crazy

So I've decided to start my fitness/running blog with the BIGGEST milestone for me. Half Marathon.  I know how crazy right !! The girl who 2 1/2 yrs ago had trouble running for 3 minutes straight just ran for 2 hrs 57 minutes and some change. Holy crap !!!
When we moved to Colorado in October I was 2 weeks shy of the Everett Half Marathon and I felt I was ready...ish. I'd been training with a gal online and sometimes Carleeh would run with me. Then we moved anwell end of that Half Marathon dream . The first day in Colorado and I decided to go for a run. Here's how it went:
Put on shoes
stretch
walk to end of block
start Map My Run
run to end of next block
DIE !!!
Seriously I ran like 30 feet and wanted to die . What the heck ?!?! Then it hit me...elevation.  biggest forehead slap moment ever. I felt so defeated. I was ready..ish for 13.1 miles less then 2 weeks ago and now I can't make it down the block, for reals ? I literally had to start at ground zero. I was back to the C25K program and dieing at a quarter mile. This sucked. Long story short, I stuck with it, found my MOJO and slowly things clicked, I acclimated and was running again. Really running.
I joined a few locall running groups on Facebook  ( got to love FB ) and met up with a few runners at a couple runs. Enter Colfax Half Marathon.  I heard what a great race it was, how fast, flat a fun it was so of course ...I signed up . I got this, 31.1 no problem.  I talked Brittni into running with me. Poor girl just started running in December with me and here I am talking her into a Half Marathon.  She's definitely my kind of crazy right there . So let the training begin.  Did I have a plan ? Well not exactly.  I was running daily and doing 2 long runs a week usually Thursday and Sunday with Brittni. We added a mile each week to our Sunday run and before to long we hit 10 miles. 13.1 piece of cake.
Brittni had an injury and took a week off, I pushed on training with my new running friends from MRTT ( Moms Run This Town ) usually pushing G in the buggy . 31.1 I am going to own you on May 17th 2015.