I know just last week I was complaining about the chaos in my personal life.  All along I kept telling myself, “Things have to get better, right?”

This week is a total 180 from last week!

I’m super proud to say the following:

WE ARE OUT OF CREDIT CARD DEBT!

Woo hoo!  This is huge for me.  In college, I was a compulsive shopper well on my way to Becky Bloomwood status.  When I met Brandon, I began to realize that I had to start budgeting and saving.  I got a little better.  My financial tipping point was when we started looking at buying a house.  I knew my spending habits were still not what they should be, and we started cutting back and aggressively saving.  Thanks to Mint.com and a lot of reminding myself “No, you really don’t need that”, we now we have our beautiful house and zero credit card debt!

Since moving to Jacksonville last fall, Brandon has actually been working about an hour or so south of Jacksonville in Palatka, Florida.  After months of interviewing, let downs, and hour-long commutes, he has finally been promoted! And the best part?  The promotion is in the Jacksonville office!  His new office will actually be only 10-15 minutes away from mine, and his commute will only be about half an hour.

In celebration, we hit up the nearby Chili’s for dinner and drinks.  One thing I absolutely love about Chili’s: 2-4-1 Happy Hour All Day, Every Day.  How can you resist?

Since we were celebrating his promotion, I let Brandon pick the drinks for the evening.  His first choice?  The Classic Mojito:

I’m always a little leary about ordering a mojito.  It is very hard to get this drink just right.  One of the best Mojitos I’ve ever had was at Viera, Florida’s Pizza Gallery.  Made from scratch with real sugar cubes (not just regular sugar) and fresh mint, it was easy to forget just how many you’d had.  On the other hand, often you’ll find a pre-mixed Mojito that tastes more like a sugary, minty margarita failure.

Verdict on the Chili’s Mojito?  A little too sweet, but overall had a great mint flavor.  Maybe a splash more soda water would’ve done the trick, but it definitely wasn’t a disappointment!

Next round?  Margaritas, of course!

Very rarely will you find a restaurant that makes a house margarita from scratch.  Of the pre-made mixes, Chili’s definitely has one of the best – not a kick in the face with tequila and not to sweet.  Good lime to sour mix to tequila ratio.  Nice work, Chili’s.

I was so excited a few weeks ago to find the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 9s on sale at DSW.

And in a new color too:

I love when I open a new box of shoes and see how white and bright they are.  I love how there’s no dirt, and they’re so clean.  I love the extra bounce in my step I get because I’m used to worn-down shoes.

What I don’t love is how the GTS 9s are a little different from my trusted GTS 8s.

Or how they make my feet and shins scream.

I decided to wait and try them after the Tour de Pain.   Now that the tour is over, I figured an easy 3.5 miler would be a great test run.

Sadly, the shoes were torture from the get go.   I made it about a mile before I turned around and headed home. I threw on my old shoes and finished up my mileage.

Time to go in search of a new shoe.  Any suggestions?

Missed my Tour de Pain Part 1 Recap?

If you ask pretty much anyone that ran this 5k, they’ll say the same thing: WORST 5k EVER.

It was insanely humid for 7:30 am.  And my stomach was ridiculously mad at me for running this event.

I’d ran the exact same course back in May for the Marty’s Run 5k, so I knew it was flat and somewhat shaded.  I also knew it was super boring.

Humidity + Stomach Issues + Boring Course = Worst 5k Ever.  Pretty simple.

Despite having the weight of the world against me, I managed to push for 3.14 miles in 36:35.  Not a PR by any stretch, but not too shabby either.  I finished a sub-12 minute mile pace, which is as you may remember my goal for the Tour de Pain.

I spent the rest of the day dreading the final leg: the Road Mile.

All that dread?  For NOTHING.  Cause I PR’ed that shit.

1.11 in 9:52 (8:53 pace).  What?!  I know.  I can’t believe my short legs ran that fast.  When the gun went off, all of us started sprinting.  I looked down at my Garmin about a tenth of a mile in and thought, “7:31 pace?  Oh shit, I gotta cool it or I’m going to crash and burn!”

I eased off it a little bit, and stayed between 9:00 and 10:00 until I came around the last corner.  I saw the finish line and I ran for my life.

And you know what?  I can’t wait to do it again next year!

I just want to thank Lauren for being an awesome running buddy and being so supportive throughout the whole series.  I definitely wouldn’t have done so well without her.  Thanks, Lauren!

Sometimes in the blogosphere and Twitterland, it’s easy to forget that you haven’t actually met someone before.  Like Caron – we’ve been tweeting one another for months now, and we have a lot of mutual friends.  And Emily – we found one another through Caron’s Twitter, and have been trying to plan a running date for awhile now.  And Lindsey – who just moved to Jacksonville, and I just met within the past week or two.

Me, Ashley, Caron, Emily, & Lindsey

Last night, we gathered at Cheesecake Factory along with Ashley, and had a fantastic dinner.  Mine started with wine, of course:

The Cheesecake Factory Cabernet Sauvignon by Robert Mondavi. It was okay.  Nothing special.  Just a boring Cab that wasn’t worth the $7.50 a glass price tag.  I’ve had better wine from WalMart (and I love my $2.97 WalMart wine).

And Ashley, Caron & I indulged with items from CF’s Small Plate selection.  My choices?  The Corn Fritters:

Amazing.

Oh yeah, and I was the loser food blogger who forgot her camera. Dark restaurant + iPhone + Photoshop App = grainy photos.  But I did decide on something new… I’m contemplating transitioning into a running/booze blogger.  Thoughts?

Sorry for the side track.  Let’s continue with the food.

Mini Corn Dogs:

Meh.  I took one bite and gave them to Brandon.

Sausage & Ricotta Pizzette:

Mmm.  (Note: if you reheat this in the microwave, it’s a total garlic bomb.  My officemates were probably not pleased with my lunch).

I also got a slice of Red Velvet Cheesecake to go.  Amazingly, I haven’t eaten it yet. I’m saving it for tonight after my sweltering 3.5 mile run.

Have a fantastic evening!

I SURVIVED!

I experienced a full range of emotions throughout this race series: Anxiety, relief, pain, frustration, disappointment, exhaustion, and sheer bliss.

The Tour began Friday evening at 7:30 with a 4-mile beach run. I hadn’t run on the beach in over 6 months, and before that, it’d been about a year. If you’ve never run on the beach before, then let me tell you: it isn’t this fun, whimsical thing that it’s made out to be in the movies. It’s hard. Really hard. It works your leg muscles in a completely different way than the pavement or the treadmill.

Starting around 4 pm, I began to have pre-race anxiety. I couldn’t sit still. I was fidgety and anxious. I scooted out of work a little early and Brandon and I headed out to the beach. The anxiety only continued to build:

My “game face” wasn’t so much intimidating as it was really unsure.
And then I saw this guy, and I couldn’t help but giggle:

Really? A beach run in JORTS?! Must be a Gator fan. Oh, and he was also sporting a fake moustache and aviators. Think Dangle from Reno 911. Nothing like a pre-race giggle. He actually ran the entire series in that get-up! I wish I would’ve taken pictures of him at all three races. Spotting him in the crowd became my own little game of “Where’s Waldo”. Anything to get my mind off the run, right?

Right before the race, I made the decision to do 5:1 run/walk intervals. Since I wasn’t used to running on the beach, I didn’t want to burn myself out in the first race. And thankfully, about 30 seconds after the gun went off, I ran into Lauren. She pushed me to run faster during the intervals, I timed our intervals, and we kept each other from wimping out. We ran almost the entire race together until she left me in her dust at the very end

I finished the 4 mile beach run in 47:01 clock time, but my Garmin tracked it as 4.15 miles in 47:01.

After the race, Brandon and I headed to European Street Cafe where I treated myself to a Shock Top (shocking, I know) and a Big Chef Salad:

My goal was to finish in under a 12:00 minute mile pace, and I definitely accomplished that!

Tour de Pain Parts 2 & 3 coming soon!

Its TOUR DE PAIN day!

I’ve been bouncing off the walls in anticipation today.  Yesterday, I went to pick up my race packet:

And was stoked to find a new tech tee in addition to an Adidas sack!

Today is all about fueling for the 3 races I’m about to run.

I’ve been drinking water to stay hydrated, and I started off my day with some Honeynana Chobani, Honey Nut Cheerios and an apple:

And I hit up the hot bar at Whole Foods for lunch:

My plate included:

• Pita bread
• Salad
• Corn
• Edamame
• Peas
• Carrots
• Cheese
• Brown Rice
• Cajun Potatoes
• Sunflower seeds
• Chick peas

Its okay to be jealous.  I know I would be

The only thing I’m missing is some chocolate…..

Wish me luck, y’all!  I hope I don’t die!

It’s not looking good, y’all:

I don’t know about anyone else, but I am having a much better week this week!

In my quest to like Greek Yogurt, I gave the Chobani Champions Honeynana flavor a shot:

The banana flavor is pretty intense (in a good way)!  If you turned banana Laffy Taffy into a yogurt, this is what it would taste like.  Mmm…   I think I found a winner.

Since the Tour de Pain is this weekend, I decided to take my runs outside to re-acclimate myself to the heat (and the pavement).  During my super sweaty 3.34 miles, I came across a herd (?) of Canadian Geese:

Confession:  I’m kinda scared of geese.  If you didn’t know, they can be really mean and aggressive.  Whenever I see them, I get very nervous and paranoid.  They have a mean nasty stare, and I’m a huge wimp.

For my run, I didn’t put any pressure on myself.  I went out there with the attitude of “Its hot.  Its going to be hard.  Just do it.  Don’t worry about the heat.”  Not putting pressure on myself really improved my attitude about the run.  Yeah, my pace was slower than usual, but I wasn’t trying to PR.  I’ve been focusing on getting rid of the mindset that I have to PR every run. Since then, I’ve started enjoying my runs a little more.

To reward myself for my successful run and not getting upset about a slower time, I rewarded myself with this beauty:

A Shock Top with an Orange Wedge.  One of my favorite summer beers!

Maybe I should reward myself for runs with that a little more often…..

How do you reward yourself for runs/workouts?

So… first “official” week of half marathon training was kind of a failure.

First, there was Lemon Bar.

Then there was the Suns game (Thanks, Stacey!):

And then, there was Body Pump (Note to self: trying Body Pump for the first time the day before a long run is a BAD IDEA.  Don’t do it.  Just skip it, and go for the run instead).

Here’s what my week ended up actually looking like (click pic to analyze):

Overall, it wasn’t terrible.  Since I was lazy, I doubled up my workouts on Saturday, which inevitably made my 6 mile run on Sunday dwindle into a measly 3.5 miler.   Honestly?  I’ve had a really stressful few weeks. There’s been multiple issues going on in my family, and I really don’t feel like making them public knowledge at this time.  Work has been crazy busy as well.  It’s just a lot to take all at once.

Here’s to hoping for a better week, for my family and for my fitness, this week.

This past Sunday, I met up with a friend for a longer run.  We decided to run around the UNF campus, skipping the trails.  I don’t mind running the trails in winter, but during the hot, muggy Florida summer, I’m terrified of running into snakes.  Last time I ran the trails (in April), I saw the very tail end of a very large black racer snake, and I nearly had a heart attack (too bad I wasn’t wearing my heart rate monitor, I would’ve loved to see that spike).  He looked a lot like this guy:

When I’m stressed out, I have nightmares about snakes.  I guess you could say I suffer from a mild case of Ophidiophobia (snake phobia) to the point where I’ve been scared to run on the trails at UNF… even with friends.

Whenever I go on runs from my mom’s house, there’s a certain stretch of road that I avoid like the plague.  Last summer, when I first moved to Jacksonville, I would see a snake on the sidewalk almost every single day.  Thankfully, I was able to alter my routes to avoid that particular section.  Irrational?  I don’t think so.  It’s just the beginning of my Evils of Running.

Even though our run began at 7:15 AM, the humidity was out of control.  By the second mile, I was drenched in sweat despite the leisurely pace.  The only saving grace was the overcast sky.  I don’t think I could’ve taken the sun beating down on me.  If you’ve never experienced Southern Humidity, be glad.  It’s like running in a fog — a very heavy, unbearably moist, evil fog that feels like you’re carrying around a backpack full of bricks.  Humidity is the devil and is my second evil of running.

One of the major side effects of running in the humidity and sweating as much as I did is chaffing – my third evil of running.  Practically every runner has experienced chaffing at one point or another whether it was thighs, armpits, butt cheeks or other various unmentionables.  The Sunday run actually got cut a mile short due to inner thigh chaffing. The worst part of it all?  Feeling my raw, chaffed skin touch other bare skin.  Ouch.  It definitely made lying on the couch reading a book pretty uncomfortable.  Usually, I put Body Glide, Vaseline or another anti-chaffing agent on my body, but I just forgot.  That’s what happens when you’re forced out of bed at 6 a.m. on a Sunday.  Ugh.

There you have it:  My Evils of Running, Part 1.  Keep an eye out for Part 2 as it will focus on Runner’s Trots, blisters and iPod death!

Til then, I leave you with: