Komen Race Recap - #6!

On Saturday I ran the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure for the 6th time. Here's my 2015 recap, which apparently corresponded with Triangle Restaurant week last year too. Also, here's the 2014 post. 

Looking back over the posts, I got a little bummed because my face looks a lot smaller in 2014. Grrrr... I was also a little salty because the shirt I wore the last 2 years wasn't working Saturday. I'm just a little frustrated that even after losing 11.5 pounds, I still am not where I was last year. Such BS.

This was the 6th time I've ran this race and it's special because this was the first 5k I ever did, 5 years ago. On Friday when I was leaving Jenny, my consultant told me that "nothing matters, just do your best and try to finish". I was taken aback, this is my 6th year, I've done countless 5ks, a bunch of  10ks and 3 half marathons. I might sleep in and decide not to run, but if I go to a 5k, I'll finish, Walk, run or a combo of both, I'll finish even if I have to drag myself across the finish line.

I thought back to the first time I did Jenny. I started as what Kev likes to call "a sedentary indoor gal". (He's lucky I like him.) But he was right. I never went to the gym, I didn't care about the outdoors, well, I still don't, there are bugs and hot outside.

The majority of my time at Jenny, I was finding my fitness. I went to the gym, but only walked on the treadmill or did the elliptical. Then I moved to group fitness classes in March-ish of 2015 and started couch to 2 5K. Five years ago, the first time I did this race, even though I was 30 pounds lighter there was a definite question as to if  I'd finish. This year, there wasn't a question. 

I haven't been running, I've ran maybe 10 times this year. MAYBE. But I wasn't missing this race. 

outtake

This year the race moved from Meredith College to RTP. I was meh about the change

Cons: 

• Lack of communication. I received 1 email when I registered and nothing else. 
• Getting off the exit and trying to find the Park and Ride was a pain in the ass. There weren't any signs and it wasn't easy to find
• Meredith is a super quaint campus and it's a really nice setting. This one was in a parking lot. It really lost a lot of the charm.
• In the previous years, you run through neighborhoods and there's a LOT of support and spectators along the route. This one was ran on the road, in an industrial park. I saw maybe 3 groups of people on the course to cheer us on.

Pros:

• OMG IT WAS SO FLAT. I SWEAR IT WAS THE FLATTEST COURSE I'VE EVER RAN SINCE I STARTING RUNNING.

I do love me a flat course. I could have done well if I'd been running at all.

Industrial park

Even though it had moved, and there was still a good turn-out. I heard 8,000 people? I know there were 20,000 a few years ago though.

I hope they get the planning together and there's better participation next year.

I finished in 37 min and change. It's fine, mile 3 was a little tough. Again, I should run more, but overall I was pretty pleased with my time.

I saw my chiropractor Monday after the race and we were both pretty happy that I didn't hurt myself or throw my hips out of place. I had my adjustment and asked what kind of activity I could do this week. He said that normally he'd say that spin class was fine because it's lower impact than running, but since I keep throwing my hips out of place when I ride, go run on the treadmill.

I keep asking him if I can wear a weight belt to the gym. a la Hulk Hogan and he said no. I do have my Hulkamania shirt ready for when he agrees. Oh, I'm totally going as Hulk Hogan for Halloween this year.

Boy, this post has certainly taken a tangent. I did run tonight, on the treadmill, and it was surprisingly good. I didn't cry or die or hurt myself. It's a good day.

When it's hot as heck outside, what do you do?  Treadmill, suck it up and go outside or don't run until September?

Linky!

Scenes from the weekend

Before I get started, I need to acknowledge the tragedy in Orlando. Yes, this is a mass shooting, but more than that, it's an act of hate. Hatred of someone who's not like you. Hatred because someone doesn't love what you love. Hatred that fills and grows and causes fear and distrust. We are better than this.

For the last few Monday's I've been posting my weigh-in recaps, and while I've liked it, I don't get to recap the weekends. I don't know, it seems kinda dumb to post the recap on Tuesday. So, this week I'm going to swap them and do the weekend thing first and the weigh-in tomorrow. 

Alrighty, My weekend re-cap starts on Friday. I actually weighed in Friday morning because I had a 5K at 730am and actually getting weighed afterwards seemed like a really bad idea. 

When I was meeting with my conusltant I told her that I was having the oddest craving for a Subway veggie sub. I'd wanted one for the last 3 weeks and hadn't acted on it. The last time I was on JC, the Subway veggie sub was my go-to "I'm out and holy shit I'm hungry, what am I going to eat" option. She told me to get one and that translated one to one for lunch.

You know how sometimes you haven't had something for a while and the first time you do, it's like the very best one YOU'VE EVER HAD? Yea, that was this sandwich. Good lord it was good.

Then I had my grande skinny vanilla latte (1 pump SF vanilla) because you know, milk serving. 

OK, one of the benefits of weighing in on Friday is that you have an extra day to work it off. :) The other craving I'd been having was for sushi. There were still a few days left in Triangle Restaurant week and I talked Kevin into going to Ajisai Japanese Fusion. It's in Cameron Village and I'd never been there before. I was pretty impressed.

Started with a Cosmo, obviously.

During Restaurant week you get a 3 course meal for $30.  Kev and I both started with the seared tuna that had some sort of delicious roe on top and a drizzle of a lemon oil? My brother got the Rock Shrimp which was almost like a less breaded, less saucy Bang Bang Shrimp.

It tasted a lot better than it photographed

I went with the sushi platter. I'll be honest, I don't remember what was in it, but I got the sauce on the side and it was super tasty. It was raw fish and rice and little spicy. Yum...

For dessert there was a choice of mochi ice cream or tempura banana. Kev and my brother got the ice cream and I went with the banana. Everyone agreed that the banana was way better than the mochi.

I don't like bananas. Even deep fried and covered in whipped cream, still don't like 'em.

I had a relatively early night since I had to wake up at 6am and leave for the race. it's not all that much earlier than I get up for work, so no biggie.  It was in a new location this year, and I have some thoughts on that, which I'll share in another post.

It was supposed to be in the 90s here, but thankfully they moved the race earlier this year (8:30 last year) and it was still in the 70s when we started and finished. For someone who's run fewer than 10 times this year, I did pretty well and didn't die. 

On my way home I stopped at Jenny and got my food for the week. I paid for my order the day before. I was doing some reflection when I was there, I ran my first 5k when I was almost at the end of my first Jenny loss and here I am again, 5 years later. More on that later. 

I got home, showered ate, and we all headed to the Durham Farmer's Market. I'd have pictures, but by the time we got there, everything was pretty much sold out. I got some zucchini though.

We got home, whined about the heat and later I went to the mall to look for some new shirts. I'm in an odd place where my old stuff doesn't fit yet, some does, but some is too big and I swear I don't remember what I wore last year. Maybe nothing but dresses? Because I have no shirts right now.

So, off I went to try and find something that wasn't too flowy because I'd only have a few months to wear it. I was looking for something not too tight, but would be wearable maybe after I lost all the weight. Yea, not an easy task.

I wanted to kill myself and everyone else in Old Navy and left with 0 things. I did score a top at the Limited, the NY &Co outlet and 2 sparkly tanks at Express.

But perhaps my biggest haul was at Bath and Body Works. Every year they release some retro scents from the archives. Well my friends, this year they released a staple of 90s Lara. Sun Ripped Raspberry! I went last week and they'd released it early, I bought 6 bottles and they gave me a coupon for $10 off $40. When I got there, all the retro scents were ONLY $3.75!!

So that happened.

I could finally get my Country Apple and Cucumber Melon.

I'm stocked up now.

The rest of the night was spent watching some random documentaries. 

Sunday was laundry / cleaning the kitchen / grocery shopping. 

I saw this at Target, has anyone tried it??

I have to say, is anyone else sick and tired of everyone trying to push the Target Red Card on you? I don't want it. Yes, I know I can save 5%, I understand there's a debit and a credit card. They try to overcome my objections to the card by telling me about the $ I can save and how it's not a credit card. I DON'T CARE. That's not my objection to the card, you can't sell something if you don't understand why someone doesn't want it. Target, I don't trust your security. I was effected by the breech in 2014 and it was an inconvenient pain in the ass. The absolute last thing I want to do is give you direct access to my bank account. There's no way in hell I'd get a credit card from Target either. I already have a credit card, I don't want another.

This time, the lady behind me in line tried to sell me on the card. Honestly, it makes me not want to go there anymore. Me saying one time that I'm not interested should be more than enough for you.

Since I was annoyed at Target, I needed to go to yoga and relax.

Me and Biggie heading to yoga.

Now I'm blogging and watching the Tony's. Just waiting for Hamilton to slay every category.

How was your weekend?

Best retro Bath and Body scent??

Linking up with BLoved Boston!

Scenes from the Weekend

Another Monday. Oy.... This week most of the other managers are in Scotland and they left me and the HR Manager in charge of the place. Lord help them... I kinda wish  my boss had left behind an "In case of emergency" sheet, You know, with the names and numbers of the vet, next of kin and that sort of thing. 

Before diving into the weekday, let's take a look back at the weekend shall we? 

Friday night Kev and I had reservations at Bin 54 for Triangle Restaurant Week. Restaurant Week is the bomb. A bunch of restaurants have price fixed menus for $25 or $30 per person for a 3 course meal. As soon as Restaurant Week is announced, we go onto Open Table and make reservations at Bin 54. 2 people can easily drop $150 there, so the restaurant week deal is pretty sweet.

I obviously started with a Cosmo and Kev some wine. We both got the same thing, wedge salad, fillet and strawberry shortcake for dessert. I'd had a spectacularly awful week and enjoyed 2 of these beauties. The meal was awesome, as always. 

Unfortunately we couldn't stay out too late since I was running the Susan Komen Race the next morning. 

I talked about this race last year where I apparently had a pretty run. I talked about it before but this race is super special to me because it was the first race I ever did... Five years ago! It's still hard to believe that I've been running that long. That's just crazy to me. 

This year they made some changes to the race that I wasn't a fan of, The biggest is that the competitive runner's start time was moved back an hour to 8am. The last 3 years we took off at 7am and the recreational runners / walkers at 8am. There's a HUGE difference between 7am and 8am on a super hot and humid day. I've never ran in hotter temperatures. If it wasn't the Komen race, I would have stayed home.

I was glad when I got there, it's always so inspirational to see 1000s of people coming together to fight against this terrible disease.

I wanted to die most of the race. Yeah, I haven't been running consistently but I think it was 82 degrees with 90% humidity. Hands down it was my worst time ever. I think I stumbled in at 38:00. But I did stop at the water stations and walked up the hills.

Immediately after I finished I ran into the super awesome Mindy Sopher. I've known Mindy through KD since I moved here 10 years ago. She's a 3 time breast cancer survivor and such an inspiration,

I was rocking some serious squinty eye

The rest of the afternoon I watched Netflix and refused to move. I think I sweat out 10 pounds at the race. Oh, and word of advice, if you haven't been eating gluten and then have 2 rolls at dinner, your stomach might not like you very much the next day.

Since I wasn't moving, Kev and I decided to christen our new fire pit and I invited some of my friends to join us.

I figured we were not only enjoying the outdoors but doing yard work as well. I'm going to burn all of those pine cones AND all of the random sticks in the yard. We might need a bigger pit.

For a while the smoke was blowing right on Kev and instead of move, he tried to blow it away.

It didn't work. Because we are fancy people we drink La Croix sparkling water beside the fire. Well, I had a cosmo in a solo cup.  I'd like to make a suggestion to the makers of marshmallows that they make single serving packets. I just need like 6 marshmallows. I have 3, Kev has 3 and we're good and no stale marshmallows. We didn't burn the house down so the fire pit was a huge win, Except I'd advise against having fire when it's 88 degrees at 7pm. It's stupid hot here.

Sunday morning woke up and Kev and I had breakfast before he had to leave. I headed over to the mall to see if I could find a black knit blazer for convention. Yes, I'm still looking for the last few pieces. I CAN'T believe I leave in less than 2 weeks! Convention packing post coming soon.

As I was looking I came across this Jessica Simpson military jacket at Belk on clearance. I had a gift card from an old return and ended up spending $3.17 out of pocket. Oh, and the Summer GYPO challenge starts tomorrow! I have my capsule all ready to go!

I think it'll be pretty versatile when it isn't as hot as the surface of Satan's ass here. Seriously, it's too hot to go to even go to the pool. 

I was browsing though H&M when a pair of leopard pants caught my eye. "Soft Pants" are in this season and even though I'm pretty sure I last wore "soft pants" in high school, I have a pair that I kinda love.

OMG, DO YOU SEE HOW LOW THE CROTCH IS?!?! THESE ARE HAMMER PANTS!!! 

No no no no no no no... These do NOT need to come back in style. No one looked good in them. No one.

I've been talking a lot about convention and how I'm pretty excited about it. I advise at both a national and local level and a lot of people think I'm a little insane. It gets a little hectic at times but I wouldn't do it if I didn't love it. I got this text from my advisee the other day and it made me smile.

How was your weekend???

Linking up with BLoved Boston!

AND

Why Can't They All Be Three Day Weekends?

Oh Tuesday, you're like a Monday. Especially after a lovely three day weekend, there you are, rearing your ugly head. Let's take a look back on the Weekend shall we, and remember what it felt like to have an extra glorious day off. 

Last month I participated in a Spring Fashion Challenge, GYPO or Get Your Pretty On. I'll chat more in my next post but one of the things it taught me was how to take a crappy selfie. (Actually this one is better than most). I take my selfies at work in the bathroom and I'm always on edge thinking that someone is going to walk in and catch me mid picture. 

I hurry up and try and smile but I just can't not look at the screen. I don't know why and I only have seconds to take my picture since ANYONE could have to pee at a moment's notice. At least there are far fewer women on the floor than there are men. I even tried to lock the bathroom door while I was taking my pix, but it doesn't lock. Weak...

Any who, this is what I wore to work and to a baby shower that night. I'm really starting to get on this maxi dress kick. I always thought I was too short to pull them off but they're working for me. I got this one last year and didn't like it with a short sleeved cardigan, but I LOVE it with the jean jacket. I've gotten a TON of use out of this jacket and it literally stat in my closet unworn for 4 years.

Saturday morning I was up bright and early to run a 5K. Earlier in the week I was looking for a Memorial Day 5k but you know what? There aren't any in the area which I thought was really odd. Instead I signed up for the Stubborn Girl Race. 

The race was one of the oddest ones I've ever done. It was only $30 to run but no t-shirt. I don't know that I've ever not gotten a shirt at a race. One time I got a pint glass, which was cool, but I've always gotten something.

There were maybe 75 people running the race and it was supposed to be all women. The course ran through the Dorthea Dix Campus in Raleigh which was nice. I'd never experienced this before but the race was "timed" but the timing consisted of a guy with a stopwatch. Literally a stopwatch. 

We took off running and the first mile was pretty good, nice and flat with a few hills. I started to get thirsty and the "water stop" at mile one was a guy with cups of water on the side of the course, You had to walk over and get it and he clearly didn't want you to throw the cup on the ground. I decided not to stop and that was probably a mistake.

In mile 3 there was a giant hill and a headwind and I had nothing left in the tank. Ugh. I also should have eaten something that morning. I was just full of rookie moves that day. 

Queen of the positive splits right here. I clearly started out too fast. The thing that really annoyed me was that the course wasn't a 5K, it was barely 3 miles. My Garmin clocked the race at 2.92 miles. :/ If it's supposed to be a 5K, map that course out and make sure it's a 5K. 

We did get this medal, which I'm pretty sure came from Oriental Trading.

I got my exercise in for the day but as far as races go, I'd pass on this one next year.

Kev went with me and after we got back he tore out some dead bushes on the side of the house and planted some new ones. After that we took a trip to the mall. I ordered some shoes from Nordstrom and they were too big. I am a solid 7.5 and I was slipping out of both pairs. Grrrr,,,, They were perfect for Convention and I was really hoping they'd work out. 

It was dinner time and we opted for Cheesecake Factory. I was shocked that on Saturday night and there was only a 30 minute wait which is like finding a unicorn. There's always at least a 2 hour wait there. Really though, who waits 2 hours for dinner? 

All I wanted a salad and a few fries.

That's a side of fries. This is why we're fat....

Chopped Salad, no cheese. Nom.

While we were waiting for the table, I snuck into the Kendra Scott store. It's my new happy place, Add that to the lululemon store that's a few stores down, I could so some serious damage there. I showed my MIL the awesomeness of the store and she treated me to a new pair of earrings. LOVE THEM! 

Sunday morning was pretty lazy. I was sore from my 5K, my hips are really bothering me. It's odd because my hips never bother me, I think it might be time to get some new shoes. 

While I was out running my errands, I stopped into Xpert Nutrition and found a new protein powder. It's just straight powdered egg whites which makes me super happy. No dairy, no artificial sweeteners, nothing but eggs. I've been looking for a powder that wasn't full of a lot of junk and I think I finally found one. The true test will be tomorrow's smoothie.

After I got home, it was time to make our first trip to the pool! We have 2 awesome pools in out sub-division and it was a perfect day to spend some time pool-side. 

I DID dangle my legs in the pool which is a BIG step forward, especially if you read my last post. Kev didn't help, he  just talked about how the pool was washing off all his sweat and sunscreen and swirling around in the pool. Thanks...

That night I decided to see what all the X-Files hype was about. There are something like 202 episodes on Netflix, should keep me busy for a while. As I was watching, all I could think about was how having cell phones would make their jobs so much easier, Ugh, always looking for a pay phone, trying to find a fax, and they didn't take pictures of anything. Pictures would have made a HUGE difference.

Monday morning I went to a 90 minute combo class. Body Pump, Step and Attack. I realized that I really, really, really hate step class, Like a lot. It reminded me of an 80s aerobics class. 

At least I burned some calories. 

The rest of the day included looking for a fire pit, which is harder than you might imagine. We went to 3 different places before finding one. It's still in the back of Kev's car though, so no pictures of fire yet. We have so many sticks in the yard that I don't want to pick up and aren't being reclaimed by the earth fast enough for my liking, Now we can BURN THEM ALL. :)

That's all for me, I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

First time running with a cape and probably not the last



Annnnd it's Monday again. I had a pretty low-key weekend, Kev was away at a conference Friday night and most of Saturday which left me to my own devices. I discovered that meant lots of laundry. I really don't mind doing laundry, it's the whole folding thing. WHY is everything inside out? I mean seriously, absolutely.every.last.piece.of.clothing. It adds a good 15 minutes to my laundry time.

 

We're also dog sitting for a few days. Our friend who watches Cleo while we're away is gone for a few days and we have her dog. Only problem, her dog is allergic to everything and can only eat special food. That means Cleo's treat parade grinds to a halt while her friend is here. She gets really excited to have a friend stay over but by day 2, she realizes that friend = no treats. On Saturday I didn't finish the chicken I was eating and Cleo waited until Lily's back was turned, came over to me, looked at me and the chicken and pawed my leg. I gave her the chicken and she kept sneaking glances over to make sure Lily wasn't paying attention.

 

Lily also likes to counter surf and in the past she's eaten a frozen steak and a stick of butter. We thought we locked everything up but she got into the trash under the sink and ate foil covered in bacon grease. Good times..

 

I got this mug for Kev, but really, it applies to everyone.

 

 



Saturday morning I wanted to make a treat for a friend who just had a baby. I settled on these Crumb topped pumpkin muffins. I found the recipe on Pinterest but can't locate the link right now. That's when I decided that there weren't enough foods in this world that had a crumb topping.  

 



 

On my way to her house I stopped at Bean Traders to get a coffee and I reveled in how I was such a basic white girl that day. Boots, leggings, flannel shirt and a coffee. All I needed to do was stand in a pumpkin patch.

 

 

Spent time with mommy and baby then I had to head over to Raleigh to get my bib for the Monster Dash.

 

On my way there I stopped at JC Penny to look for a new white dress. I need it for sorority ritual stuff and the one I have is impossible to zip by myself. I dislocate my shoulder every time because it has this odd band around the waist that the zipper always gets stuck on.

 

I found a dress on clearance for $20 (SCORE!) and this gem.

 

 

 

I also found my leather pants there for $22, YAY! JC Penny had a huge selection of leather pants, including several pairs that were pleated. No no no no no. Pleated pants should be outlawed, especially leather ones.

 

Sunday morning I still had some groceries to pick up and I headed to Target first thing in the morning. We're having a spooky food contest today at work and I needed a few more things for my dish, as well as the prize for the spookiest food!

 

I was also contemplating my costume for the race. I was supposed to do it last year but had last minute visitors and couldn't make it so I still had my Tardis costume that I never wore. Problem, it was supposed to be in the high 70s and the costume didn't really "breathe".

 

I found a Darth Vader shirt complete with a cape for $8 so I snapped it up as a back-up plan.

 

I was super sleepy and contemplating not doing the race. Then I drank a big glass of almond milk and protein powder (bad idea)

 

I get to the race, forgot my Garmin and my phone is currently jacked up and I can't make or receive calls and I have no data. Oddly, there weren't many people at the race. Usually it's a full one with lots of people in fun costumes. While I was waiting for the run to start this odd smelly guy kept getting closer and closer to me. I finally gave him some side eye and moved far away. I don't know what his costume was supposed to be because all he had on was a pair of running shorts and his old bare chest for the world to see. He was in front of me and I could tell he shaved his back but he had the longest armpit hair I'd ever seen. It was pretty disgusting. 

 

 

It was dang hot. I should have brought my water, and I really shouldn't have drank that shake. I felt like I wanted to vom most of the time. I was actually looking along the side of the course for a space. I walked a lot. Far more that I should ever need to and I was pretty angry about it. I still finsihed in 33:48 which is my fastest 5k in a while. Grrrrrrr. There was a good race in there if it wasn't for that dang shake.

 

I got home, showered and then we went to the Angus Barn for dinner. We always eat upstairs and split the 20oz prime rib. It's really one of the best deals around, they split it for you and you each get the side, no charge for the split. 

 

 

The pianist was there and I got to play my favorite game, "what the hell is she playing". All in all a great end to the weekend!

 

 

Crumb topping, yay or nay?

Did you get a run in this weekend?

 

Linky Linky with these awesome ladies!

I'm a high maintenance runner

This weekend, for the first time in a very long time, I did back to back runs. No, not like real people who run in the morning and again in the afternoon (crazy), but 2 days in a row. I signed up for the North Hills 5k on Saturday and had 5 miles on my training plan for Sunday.

It was still crazy humid this weekend but I knew I needed to man up and get my runs in. November 2nd will be here in no time and I need to build my base back up.

This is the 4th year I've done the North Hills 5k and I have a love/hate relationship with it. I love that it's 4 miles from my house and their shirt is seriously my favorite race shirt. I wear the ones from the last 2 years all the time. I hate the hills. There's one enormous hill and literally, most of mile 2 is on an incline.

This race usually starts the race season for me and it's the first one I'll do after spending most of the summer not running in the hot and humid, which means I'm always crying about how out of shape I am.

This year ran it in 36:15 which is better than last year and a little worse than 2012. Honestly though the humidity was killing me. I didn't feel that my fitness was off by all that much, but slogging through 99% humidity was awful. I don't know that I've ever been that sweaty before in my life.

Sunday morning I knew I had to get in 5 miles for my "long" run. I kinda blew off last week's 4 miler long run and I had to get on the wagon. I waited until 11am to head out since it was supposed to get a little less humid. Thankfully it did, the longer I went, until it was positively pleasant when I was standing in the Whole Foods parking lot... I should have started an hour later.

As I was getting ready the last 2 days I was thinking about how I'm NOT one of those pull on a pair of shoes and head out the front door kinda runners. For me, all the stars and moons have to come into perfect alignment for me to make it through.

I have a few must haves that I can't leave home without. Let's be honest, it's more than a few.

1. My shoes. I can't just pull on whatever shoe I have laying in my closet. I've tried several brands and styles and I'm a Saucony gal. Saucony, neutral support with inserts. I ran my 2nd half with the Ride 5s, my third in the Ride 6s and I'm currently training for #4 in a pair of 6s but might end up at the store to try out the new Ride 7s. They're the only shoes that don't give me knee issues.

2. My tunes. I can't be by myself with my thoughts for any length of time, I need something to listen to and distract me from what I'm putting myself through. I like running in my lulu capris because the butt pocket is big and stretchy enough for me to fit my iPhone. I don't like those arm bands, they never stay up on my arm and they get all sweaty and gross. I'd rather put my phone in a baggie and shove it back there.

BTW - I'm super excited to be a new Swirlgear Ambassador and their running pants also have a butt back pocket. I'll be sure to post my thoughts as soon as they arrive!

3.  A head band. Like I mentioned before, when I run, I'm a sweaty gal. I need something to keep the sweat from running into my eyes. Biondi bands are one of my favorites because they're big enough for my enormous head and they'll sop up a bunch of head sweat.

4. My Garmin. I'm type A and love numbers. Love all the numbers so much. I can't just go off and not worry about my time. I need to know how fast I'm going, how fast I should be going, how far I went, all that fun stuff. Kev bought me the Garmin Forerunner 10 2 years ago for my birthday. I love it. It's pretty affordable at $130-ish and it tells me what I need to know without a lot of BS.

5. Water. I get thirsty and I get really dehydrated and am a mess when I get home if I don't have something to drink on my run. This applies to all weather, all distances. Also, I need a place to stick my key and my chapstick and a few dollars in case I have to stop and bribe a small child for a beverage.

I have this one and it's OK. It only holds 10 oz and I had to refill it a bunch of times during my last half. I like that the big pocket holds all my stuff. but I could so with a few more ounces of water.

I used to have one that held 16oz and it was awesome, but Cleo ate it. :(

6. Sunglasses. If it's sunny, these peepers need a cover.

I'm sure people run past me and think, "Damn, girl, that's a lot of stuff!" Yes, yes it is. #sorrynotsorry.

Don't forget! There are still a few days left to enter my giveaway!

What are your running "must haves"?