New Skirt - Disco Style!

Emma totally photobombed the pic.

That's right, Leah over at Sparkle Skirts has done it again!  Here's yet another fun new print - the Disco Skirt. As a fun treat to psych myself up for the Marine Corps Marathon, I used my birthday gift certificate from my parents to purchase this new skirt and it arrived tonight!

This picture doesn't do the Disco justice at all. It looks INCREDIBLE in person. I feel bad even posting this terrible in-the-mirror camera phone pic, especially considering I've got some serious post-mexican food bloat going on. But I was so excited getting it and trying it on that I wanted to share immediately. The small clear sequins (although I hesitate to call them sequins - they're like small clear dots on the fabric) add the perfect amount of shimmer when the light hits them with movement.

I tried it on with the following colored tops:

• aqua
• blue
• pink
• raspberry
• purple
• green

Each top highlighted that color in the skirt and really pulled it out to make it seem like the dominant color in the skirt. It looked great with all of them, but my favorite two were this aqua one and the raspberry color (but these are usually my two faves anyway, so I'm definitely biased on that).

I'm going to wear it on my TM run tomorrow and try to remember to snap another pic then to share.

*****Ok, I know what you're thinking at this point - she talks about these skirts A LOT.  She's got to be getting something in return, right - money, skirts, something?  Wrong.  All my Sparkle Skirts were bought and paid for by me.  So why all the hooplah?  I just really love the skirts.  They fit better than any other running skirt I've ever worn, they're made in the USA, and the owner, Leah, is one special lady whose customer service is phenomenal.  So I like to give them/her a little shout out whenever I can.  If you haven't tried a Sparkle Skirt yet, give them a try.  They are worth every penny! *****

Be CHEERful: A Follow-Up Post

You may remember my rather tongue-in-cheek post last month titled What To Do When You're NOT Running a Race That All Your Friends Are?.  It was about your options for dealing with FOMO when all your friends are running a race that you're not, which, in this instance, was all my ROTE friends participating in the runDisney Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 10-Miler.  This is just a quick and funny follow-up to that post.

In response to that post, my friend Megan (check out her great running blog here: Elbowglitter) tweeted me the following pic of her cat, Pippin, telling me I needed to convince the cats to cheer with me:

Megan's cat, Pippin, "cheering on" our friends Katie & Kim from afar.

Which, of course, sparked an idea...what if I could come up with some funny signs for the cats that I could then text/tweet to my friends as they were running?  And, what if I could convince others to join me???  That's when another friend, Kim (check out her great running blog here: TriAndTrue) stepped up, volunteered her dog, Flynn, and helped me start planning.  Here's what we came up with:

My cat, Junebug, "cheering."

My cat, Emma, "cheering."

Kim couldn't get Flynn to keep his signs on long enough to snap a picture, so we "doctored" a few old pics of him to send.

Overall, I think we did a pretty good job of virtually cheering!  Kim and I worked out a schedule where we alternated sending our pet cheering pics to our friends throughout the night, and from their responses, I'd say we were a success!

It just goes to show that FOMO can turn into something fun, funny, and helpful.  Even though I wasn't running the race, I still had a good time that night tracking and cheering!

• Have you ever virtually cheered on friends/family when they run out-of-town/state/country?
• Do you take any of your pets along when you are physically there to spectate/cheer a race?

21...and Done!

Saturday morning was my last truly long run before MCM.  21 Miles.  Wowsah.  While I was not exactly looking forward to a run that long, I knew I could do it, with 20 and 16 milers under my belt in the last 6 weeks.

So, in the 5am darkness on a muggy, rainy, morning, my group and I took off.  Although the humidity was brutal, the first loop around the lake was no big deal.  Then we turned off the lake and went up into the neighborhoods and hit the hills.  (And this particular area has a set of hills known as "The Dolly's" in reference to Dolly Parton's rather generous...curves...ahem.  LOL.)  Still, we persevered and made it back down to the lake at mile 12.  We took a quick bathroom and re-fueling break, then headed back out for one more loop of the lake...and yes, it was still raining.

I hit a really rough spot mentally around mile 18, and I found myself fighting back tears.  I was tired, soaking wet, cranky, and seriously doubting my ability to run the first 20 miles of MCM at the needed "beat the bridge" pace.  However, my awesome group got me through it and we continued on, finally getting back to our cars and post-run golden oreos (yum!).

3 of my group members & me post-run...and dripping wet (even though it doesn't look like it in the pic)!

Photo proof!  21 done!

I got home, examined my new blisters (even with tons of lube, with all that rain, blisters were inevitable), took an ice bath, and put on my recovery/compression gear.  We opened the doors to the now rain-cooled temperatures and let the cats explore the backyard a bit while I relaxed on the couch.  I spent the rest of the afternoon watching a couple movies and the Longhorn football game, virtually "cheering" on a bunch of my friends running the Disney Tower of Terror 10 Miler, and finally I crashed hard around 11pm and got some sleep.

So, now those super-long runs are done for this particular training cycle!  It's taper, taper, taper from here on out!  The next 3 weekends call for 12, 10, and 8 milers, respectively.  Thank goodness - those are going to be some very full weekends anyway, even without trying to squeeze long runs in!

• Do y'all ever have trouble mentally pushing through a run when you know your body can do it?
• How do you deal with race-related fears?
• Any helpful ideas for coping with the stress I'm feeling worrying about pace for MCM?