The Color Run & Girl's Weekend

Quinn and I headed out to Des Moines last weekend for the Color Run and a weekend of girl time with my college roommates, Ami and Heather. 

On our way out, we stopped by the outlet mall to use a few rewards and get Quinn a winter coat.  We hit up Old Navy, ended up buying two coats, using 3 x $10 rewards and only paying $6.  Bargain shopper right here.

We ended up getting to DSM around 12:30, met up with the girls and headed downtown for the run.  A lot of the streets were blocked off but we were able to whip down alleys, through other parking lots to a park only a couple of blocks from the starting line.  Awesomesauce!  Good thing we were in the hands of people who know that city because I sure do not. 

It's funny because my friend Ami says that she gets mixed up with directions when she comes over to eastern Iowa and I feel the exact same way when I head to Des Moines...it's so confusing.

If you never heard of the Color Run, it's a 5K run where they throw colored powder at you so that you're a pretty little rainbow once you cross the finish line.  It's not timed, it's fun a run and it's for charity.  I heard that there were around 27,000 people who participated in the races all together.  They ended up doing to races.  One at 1 pm and the other at 4 pm.

They started the first group of people at 1 pm and then released other groups in intervals.  We cheated, moved the gate and we're part of the 6th group to run (there were 18 groups in all, the last group started at 2 pm).  We couldn't run the entire thing, because 1) we had a stroller and 2) there were so many people walking that just held us up.

Before

After

After finishing the race, we waited around for the next "color bomb".  In our race packets, we each received a color packet to throw at each other.  We waited and a few thousand of us threw our powder into the air.  The only part I hated about this is some sonovabitches started throwing powder at each other, all by themselves and guess what just happened to be right behind them...my daughter in her stroller.  Some people are so stupid and you bet your sweet ass I yelled at them. 

Quinn was in 3 layers plus a coat and a hat (it was around 40's/50's around race time).  She ended up passing out in the middle of the race and didn't make a peep until we got to the car. 

I guess running makes her tired.

I am glad that I did the race and I was able to safely take Quinn along for the ride but I wouldn't do it again.  It was a lot of fun and it was for a great cause but I need competition and to know when I get done with a race, I got at least a good workout in. 

If it comes to a city near you, get a group of ladies together and do it!!

The rest of the weekend was spent going out to dinner with Ami's parents and then watching The 5 Year Engagement.

Guys, I have 7 teefers

 It was also a wear no make-up weekend.  Also, do you know how hard it is to travel with an impatient 15 month old solo?  It's hard but that's a story for another time.

Running Gear

I realized when I told you all that I was going to run my first 5K of this year and I needed new shoes, it sounded like I'm that girl who woke up one day with a profound thought to get up and become a runner.

I've always been a runner.  I have participated in many races since I was a little girl...as in when I started moving, I was running.  I have the trophies to prove it.

When I got to junior high, I of course joined the track team and did distance running.  Well distance running for track anyways is, at most 1500 meters.

High school came and during my first two years, I remained a distance runner.  I was never really good at it...I never won or probably even placed in any race. 

Come junior year, I decide to give up on distance and become a sprinter.  I became a hurdler.  It was my calling.  We went to state both my junior and senior year (3A - biggest division in Iowa for girls) in the shuttle hurdle relay.  I'm 5'1, mind you but I jumped those babies like they were nothing.  I also ran the 100M and 4X100M relay races.  I have the medals to prove them all.

Now, I have decided that I'm going to convert myself back into a distance runner and get back into the racing scene (I'm seeing a 1/2 marathon in my distant future).  Transitioning is proving harder than I thought it would be.  I still have a sprinter's mentality and it doesn't make for fun runs.  I want to sprint the entire time which causes me not to be able to breathe appropriately and leaves my leggies a wee bit tired.  The treadmill allows me to keep a steadier pace but the pounding kind of hurts my shins.

Anyways, I wanted to show you all the things that I use when I run because that is fun and I think you should know.

First up is shoes.  I went shoe shopping a few weeks ago and had my little heart set on the Nike Lunarglide 3.  They were both functional and fashionable. 

A cute running shoe but doesn't really have arch support.  I could basically bend the shoe in half which is not good for running.  So, I tried on the Asics GT-2160, which has a lot of support, on one foot and the Lunarglide on my other foot to do a comparison. 

Holy macaroni, I could tell the difference right away.  They were not even comparable.  So, even though my heart and fashion sense wanted the Nike, my brain and body told me the Asics were the shoes for me.

Since buying these, I've only ever worn them running.  I don't want to waste mileage on wearing them around casually.  I found out that a good running shoe can get me around 450-500 miles of use.  So, I have quite a few miles to go.

While running, I use the Nike+IPod device.  It's bomb dot com.  I know at all times how far I've run, my pace, calories burnt, etc., all while listening to musica.  I then synch it with ITunes which sends my runs to Nike to track and contribute to challenges.  I also synch to Daily Miles (widget on side of blog).

Finally and maybe best of all, I'll have the best running companion because I have this:

Thank you Craigslist!

It's been nearly impossible to get my runs in because hubs is working late all the time.  I've been to my parents to run, have run on the treadmill at 9 pm at night and even ran on my lunch break.  Now I'll be able to get my run in when I want without having to rely on someone to watch Quinn.

 What are your must haves when running?