The Great Race Shirt Debate!

Ran a 5K this morning with my son!  We both had PR's...kind of...but let me leave that craziness for the race recap tomorrow!

You may want to sit down...So, this is us.  In our RACE SHIRTS.  Yep.  The tech shirts they gave us last night when we picked up our packets. 

Ok, so don't stop following me just yet!  I'm seriously not a horrible person!  Let's back up a bit.  I had my race day outfit pretty much figured out, although I was slightly worried that my sleeveless tank was going to be pretty chilly in 49 degrees.  We showed up for packet pickup and to my surprise, they were tech shirts!  Cool! I didn't really expect that since first off, this was a TINY race.  Seriously.  Think as tiny as you can get and then think even smaller.  ;)

Dallas said he wanted to wear his shirt and I thought about it for a moment and decided it would be really fun to support this local non-profit group for children of inmates by wearing their shirt to their race.  It wasn't cotton, after all, and I thought that this was the main reason that people did not wear race shirts to races.

Little did I know until I got home, and started doing some research, that this is not only a horrible offense, but people get REALLY upset about it.  Like REALLY upset.  I am terrified to even post this because I'm guessing I will lose readers for choosing to wear this race shirt.

So, first let me explain why I chose to wear my race shirt this time (and probably would not for most others).  First off, this was a tiny race.  I live in a town of 4000 and this was in the town of 19,000 next to us.  It's the biggest town for 100 miles.  I'm not even doing my 10K out here, I'm driving into Saint Louis, because they rarely if ever have 10Ks.  Anyway, they said 60 people were registered.  So this is how my thinking went:

This is a tiny 5K, it's not timed, it's for a small local charity for children of prisoners.  We want to support them and this would be a good way to show our support.  I'll admit, the 2nd reason was that I'm pretty sure there will never be a race that I will match Dallas.  How often do you get to have a match-match picture with your nearly 18 year old son?  Here is a picture of people lined up to start at this race.  Almost everyone was wearing the shirt, btw.  Sure, it makes them look like noobs (according to someone on a debate I was reading) but isn't everyone a noob at some point?  Shouldn't people coming out to support a charity wear the charity shirt?

(there were a few more people after this, but this was basically the gist of the race.)

So, I can hear you now saying it's superstitious and what if something happens and you break your ankle???  Here's the thing.  It's not a FINISHERS shirt.  Somewhere back in history, these shirts were meant to be worn or they wouldn't give them out before the races.  They would give them out at the finish.  If I break my ankle, the shirt will remind me of STARTING the race and doing my best.  I don't really see race shirts in that way though.  Medals, sure!  They give them to you for finishing, at the end.  I totally understand that.

In any case, I doubt I will do it again only because I prefer to wear my tighter sleeveless tanks that show off my tattoo.  ;)  I thought it would be fun for something small like this and I do think that anyone should be able to wear what they please in a race,  race shirt included, but that's just my (very rare and unpopular opinion)  LOL.

I hope that this isn't something that would make you not read my race recap or get super angry about, hopefully my explanation will show the other side of this debate.  I want to know your opinions though, it's always important to me to hear everyone's perspective on things that bring out hot debates!

Included in tomorrow's race recap:  Dallas taking off like wildfire and leaving me, crazy hills, and is this a 3.1 mile race or a 3.01 mile race??? 

Let's hear it!  Does it make you insane when people wear the race shirts?  Do you not care?  What is your opinion on this hot topic! 

Wide-angle Wednesday

Glad it's Wide-angle Wednesday!  You KNOW I won't be posting more photos of myself, we've had enough of those to last a bit! ;)

This was one of those perfect moment shots. The stars aligned.   It was during a time when I carried my camera with me nearly everywhere I went.  I was leaving a client's house and passed a clearing and saw this little sweetie.  Grabbed my camera right off the passenger seat and got the shot.  It would have never happened otherwise.

Wide-angle Wednesday Reminder:  Please contact me if you want to use any of my photos.  I do not mind if people share/use them (love it, actually!)  but please ask first. Thanks! ~Karen

Help me pick!!

Thank you so much for the kind words yesterday, it means a lot!  So, since the verdict is in and I'm not vain...why not take even more pictures of myself?!? Haha.  Rey laughed a bit when I told him about my blog post yesterday and then ten minutes later wanted him to take multiple photos of me! ;)

So, instead of Tempo Tuesday (because I'm doing some hills today instead!) I need some fashion advice for my races.  I live in a small rural town, so my race schedule has been non-existent, really.  I have three races coming up in the next two months.  One is a Glow Run and I already have that outfit picked out, but the two that are coming up I'm unsure!

Some background to help you choose the 2 outfits: 

-This upcoming Saturday Dallas and I are running a 5K called Run4Hope.  It's not chip timed and is in the town next to ours, so a pretty small race.  I suspect 50 or less people.

-I am a little insecure about getting all decked out for either of these races, I don't want to look silly when it's such a small race?  I don't know why I'm worried about what people think of me, but there it is.  Sigh.

-The 2nd race is on June 8th and a bit more important.  That's my 10K, I need the chip time to submit to RunDisney for the Princess.

-The 10K is in a suburb of St. Louis(100 miles from me), I looked up the race info from the last couple years and there were about 200 people at that one.  Again, nerves about looking "silly" and also wanting to make sure I'm really comfortable so I can give it my all.

-The only thing I know for sure is that the 10K is called "Creve Coeur Heart to Heart 5K/10K" so I want to wear my black heart compression socks.  I like them better than the striped ones.

Without further rambling, I need you to choose 2 outfits, one for the 5K this weekend,  and another for the 10K.  They don't have to be these exact outfits, it could be mixed and matched from the three shots below.  I did my hair 3 different ways as well.

Rey is trying to veto your votes on hair, saying it's pigtails all the way, but I suspect for the 10K I will do a ponytail with my bangs back like in the 2nd shot.  I liked running with pigtails, but the 10K is more "serious" and it seems weird to wear pigtails. 


I'm over-analyzing this, yes?!!

 
Post your votes below!  Help a girl out.  Do you have specific outfits for races?  Should I worry about looking silly?  Do you think I'm just over-analyzing this because I'm nervous?  LOL!

(in all seriousness, I'm not that stressed about this, it's just for fun!)

Me in May

I've waffled a bit on posting this.  Ok, a lot, not a bit. 

I can't even really identify why, only that I don't normally like the term "Before and After" photos.  First off, I was never a BEFORE, I was just me.  I was still happy, fulfilled, blessed with an amazing family and surrounded by friends. I just knew that there was more for me physically.  I wanted to be healthier and comfortable.  Also, I don't feel like an After either.  I'm just me and I like who I am...just like I did before.

I don't see the "before" as a sad time, but when I look at pictures of myself a year ago, I do like seeing the physical changes I have made and what I see is a difference in health.  I FEEL so much better physically and in some ways mentally as well.  Running has changed how I see the world (but I have already rambled about that here.)

After all that explaining, I still feel like it's nice to gauge my progress on how my body has changed and I feel proud to have worked so hard and have my outsides matching my insides more.  I should be proud of the progress I have made.  That's not vain, right?  Maybe it's because I have spent so long making sure people know that I am who I am, regardless of my weight...or that you shouldn't focus on your looks so much...but it FEELS GOOD to look at this change in myself.  I see not only someone that has lost weight, but a strong, athletic body, and I should be proud of my achievements. AND, I am changing on the inside as well?  I am.  I don't think it's really the weight though, it's the triumph I feel because of running.  I just need to stop rambling and post it.  I'm not ashamed to say I'm happy with the changes I have made.

Same shirt,  different year.

I'm going to hit publish before I lose my nerve.

Sunday Wrap-up

I should probably call it Sunday hangover but more about that later...

My week was pretty good, maybe even a bit too good. By Friday I made myself rest because I felt like I had pushed it too much and my knees and feet were hurting.
 
 Monday- Rode 9+ miles of hills with Rey in a little over an hour
Tuesday- Ran 3.1 tempo run
Wednesday- Ran approx. 3.5 miles but didn't time or log distance (#runfree4me challenge)
Thursday- Cross training, used the weight machines at the gym on arms and legs, bike for 15 minutes and elliptical for about 8  minutes before I realized I was just too tired and sore and pushing my limit.
Friday- Mandatory rest for me!
Saturday- 5.37 miles in 60 minutes on the TM. Followed by copious amounts of wine...see below!
Sunday- another rest, this time alcohol induced.  ;)


Yesterday my BFF and I went to Sip-n-Savor, possibly the only cool yearly event in my little town of 4000.  It's a wine & beer tasting even for the local Wineries in Missouri.  I got my run out of the way in the morning because I thought I might not feel like a run today.  I was correct!  It was a fantastic run, in case anyone is wondering.  5.37 miles in an hour.  I was stiff starting out and my knees were a bit sore, but it was a nice long run for me.  Dallas ran as well and seemed to have a good run.  I was really happy for him that he pushed past whatever has been holding him back!

 But I digress...back to wine!

My house is about .5 mile from Main Street where the event was being held, so my BFF, Hope, came to my house and we walked up to town.  It was unseasonably cold for May, but we warmed up quick, I ended up putting my coat in my bag 20 minutes after we arrived.

For $20 you get a wine glass and you go around town to different businesses that host different wineries.

This is Main Street of my little town:

We had a fantastic day, tried lots of different wines

 

We took the free shuttle around to one of the wineries and a few other businesses that were doing tastings and met some really fun people.   We even tried some beer from the beer tent...yep, that's beer in our wine glasses! Apparently (according to Hope) I must have been flirting to get one of the beer servers to give me a whole bottle of beer.  I didn't even ask, he just handed it to me! LOL

You can tell we've had a bit compared to the first picture!  

 

So much fun, but oh my body cannot take drinking anymore.  I don't know if it's my age or what, but I'm glad this event is just once a year because I may not want another drink until then!  Hopefully I'll be back to feeling normal tomorrow when the new week starts back up! 

Do you feel like as you get older you can't really drink alcohol?  Do you have any fun yearly events in your home town that you look forward to each year?

TUTU Friday and a rest day

A MANDATORY rest day for me.  I'm grounding myself!  I know this is a common theme in my blogging, talking about overdoing it, but what can I say?  I overdo it and then I have to self-talk myself into resting.  I ran or worked out all week and yesterday it caught up with me.  I felt overworked, sore, and like I was about to come down with something.  Time for a rest!  It's the perfect day to rest, actually, since we are having record low temps today for May, coldest in recorded history...and rain/snow.  It's crazy!

What better to do on a rainy mandatory rest day?  Look at tutus, naturally!

 No, seriously.  LOL.

Who knew that running would allow me such an array of costumes and general silliness?!!  I think I would have started long ago if I knew that I could run in glowing tutus and princess costumes.

I'm shopping for tutus because I'm signing up for the KS 5K Glow Run at the end of June!

It's not timed, just purely for massive amounts of fun, and we intend to have some!  WE, meaning my friend Lora and I.  Lora and I go way back to when our girls were just wee babes.

We met on the internet and the first time we met in person, our girls were just 3 years old. (actually, looking at the July date on the photo, Savannah was still 2!)   

and I had BLOND hair!  

We live 4 hours from each other, so it was another year...and another hair color before we met up again!  I'm on the left, Lora is on the right.  Ironically, Lora now has blond hair. I think we finally have settled on our colors, but stay tuned...

That was the last time we saw each other, in  2004!  Our friendship drifted for quite a few years but when we found each other again, imagine my joy when I found out we were both involved in being fit and both starting to run.  Lora and I are not only going to run the KS Glow Run, that is just our test-race because Lora is going to WDW and running the Princess with me in 2014 as well!  I'm so crazyexcited about this!  What is more fun than dressing up, wearing tutus and pushing yourself beyond your physical limits?  Doing it with a friend!

and apparently the tutu love runs in the family...our girls are 12 now but they could rock the dressup too.  Like daughters...like mothers! ;)

Forgot to add my question!  Do you like to dress up for races?  What's your favorite fun thing to wear at a race?

Wide-angle Wednesday

Happy May!  I can't quite believe it's May already, we have had a couple warm days, but many cold days with more to come.   I can't handle just ONE photo for wide-angle Wednesday this week and this will be far from just a photo day.  I never promised that I wouldn't ramble on wide-angle Wednesday, after all.  ;)   The first shot I have for you...

What exactly is that?  

That is my wrist with NO GARMIN!  That's right, I went out for a run naked this morning!  Last month I took the Cross-training challenge and the month of May brings a new challenge.  The month of May I will be participating in  OliveToRun's Run Free for Me May Challenge.  This is a fantastic challenge for me because I can be very focused on my pace, my distance, and PR's at times.  This challenge will give me a chance to just focus on just the run and why I love running so much!  It's also a great way to add a 4th run into my week without the pressure of worrying how far or how fast.

So this morning I threw on my running clothes and shoes and grabbed my phone for some music.  It was kind of strange and new to not worry about my pace or distance!  I admit to looking at my wrist a few times.   I was in my head a couple times, telling myself not to think about how far I had gone (I can tell pretty much how far a mile in my town is now after running this area so much).  After a while though, I just focused on my form and the sun coming up around me.  It was gorgeous. Obviously I didn't have my good camera with me, but I stopped for a couple shots of the sunrise with my phone.   It was nice not to have to fret over how long I had stopped or pausing the Garmin.

What a joy it was to just relax and take in the beautiful morning!  I think this challenge will really keep me in touch with why I run.  It's not just about the numbers, it's about how running makes me feel! 

I admit, it was hard not to log something on my dailymile when I got home, but I don't have to know exactly how many miles I run in a month, do I?  I know I ran, I know it felt awesome...that's what matters!

Have you ever run without keeping track?  What do you think of a challenge like this, do you think you could do it?