Wordless Wednesday- Things that make me happy edition

1. Registration complete!
 

 This will allow me the below medal for the Heavy Medal series

Dear Lisa Jameson, Congratulations! You are now registered for the 2011 Dodge Rock 'n' Roll San Jose Half Marathon - Half Marathon. Please check the event's website for updates. Please note: Each participant must pick up their own race number at the Health & Fitness Expo presented by Power Balance. Go to the Expo page of the race website or times and location of the Expo. Good luck with your training! Cytomax, official on-course electrolyte drink. GU, official on-course energy gel. Follow us! Facebook Twitter Dodge Rock 'n' Roll San Jose san-jose.competitor.com 800-311-1255 rnrsj@competitorgroup.com

Registration Details Registration ID: R-00R9SRQ8 Participant: Lisa Jameson Date: 10/2/2011 Location: S Almaden Blvd & W Santa Clara St San Jose, California 95113 Category: 2011 Dodge Rock 'n' Roll San Jose Half Marathon - Half Marathon

2. Got my roundtrip air fare from  Nashville to San Francisco (my family will be making the drive from San Jose to come get me!)  

Trip Summary

Flight Summary From: Nashville, TN , US (BNA) To: San Francisco, CA , US (SFO) Depart: Thu, Sep 29, 2011 09:05 am - 01:59 pm (1 Stop) Return: Tue, Oct 04, 2011 10:46 am - 06:26 pm (1 Stop) Airline Confirmation: Frontier Airlines : JHQBYX  Select Seats   Traveler Name Ticket Number Meal Preference Special Request   Awesome, Lisa (rockstar) 4228708526660 E-Ticket Any meal —­­­

3. I won this in my Dave Ramsey Core class (new program that they're test piloting to replace financial peace) today for going 'above and beyond' our lessons- woo woo - actually in talks with becoming a facilitator for future classes held in the area! 

4. My Vegas Relay Team - "2 Legit 2 Quit" accepted my idea of crazy spandex (finally!) I have narrowed it down to 2 options:

OR

Thoughts?!?!?! Actually might get both because for those who have done a relay- its nice to have clothes to change out of! 

5. Last but not least, to make my day extra complete, there was birthday cake! Before you ask, yes, I do monitor my sweets. Right now I'm doing all sugar, fruit, and starches before 2pm. Hard, but manageable and makes a HUGE difference  on the waistline :) 

Chicago race report coming soon! 

Three Things Thursday

1. Went to a new bar/restaurant last night for drinks after work- saw this sign and thought it was hilarious!

guess you learn something new everyday.

2. B and I are leaving after work tomorrow to break our Chicago trip up- thus staying the night in Indy with my relatives. In the meantime I get to catch up with a 'blast from the past' co-worker from Dayton who lives in Indy now. Heather is from a life I left behind, so never really thought I'd see her again :) 

once upon a time, I had short hair

3. Both B and I always wanted our picture with 'the bean' in Chicago- We just got the message from the infamous Dave Mari that we are taking our Half Fanatic photo before the race in front of the bean! And as an added side bonus- just checked the weather for Sunday - high of 79- I haven't seen those temps since spring! 

and just for fun, some half fanatic / marathon maniac photos from past races. 

Disney Princess 1/2

 Little Rock 1/2

 Go! St Louis 1/2

Flying Pig 1/2

Run for the Health of it 1/2

Geist 1/2

Wordless Wednesday- Travel Edition

okay so maybe this post is a bit wordy...

Travel Zoo- Ever heard of it?!?! If not, I HIGHLY recommend checking it out. For those fellow runners that like to do destination races here and there, this site is extremely beneficial. Every Wednesday they release what is called their Top 20  deals- this could be cheap air fare, hotels, restaurants, getaway weekends... my favorite option- european cheap travel!!! (I'm in process to see if I can find a race in Italy so I can stay with my friend while hes stationed there) 

I live in Nashville, so when there is a deal that is directly related to me, it sends me link. A few weeks back they were doing round trip air fare from Nashville to San Diego for $147... AFTER taxes. Unfortunately I was still new to travel zoo and although the air fare was good all the way through November travel, you had to purchase it within a week. I procrastinated and when I decided to buy, that deal was sold out. 

Although the top 20 deals released today weren't as appealing, the 'airfare' option was. It just so happens I'm running the San Jose Rock n Roll in October, and my uncle said I could fly into San Fran and he would pick me up. Originally when I looked at prices it was in the high $300s, now I can go after taxes for $285! I know I know, its not that great, but flying across the country isn't cheap. If your city is a 'featured' city, its MUCH cheaper than 285, but sadly Nashville wasn't so its slightly discounted. 

Hope you all can find some great travel deals out there! 

For all my PNW followers- they always have amazing flight deals leaving from that area. 

Why having a PT as your roommate is AWESOME

So end of July I went to a music show with a few friends and the next day after reviewing the photos I noticed something...

Do you see anything wrong with me?!?!?

Close up-

Look at how uneven my knees are! Back in February the chiro told me I had 'short leg syndrome' and my left leg was longer than my right, but with regular adjustments it could be fixed. After a solid month of chiro + 2 months of 'taking it easy' with running, I felt fine / 'normal' aka my right knee no longer made its presence WELL known while running. 

Fast forward to yesterday. I decided to do my first run in my new shoes: Saucony Mirage

Although its a lightweight shoe, its still a stability shoe. It was too hot to run outside, so the plan was to run for 40 minutes on the treadmill- my right knee started bothering me + my quads were tight so I cut it down to 30 min. 

All day today my right knee was feeling slightly tender, but I wanted to get a longer run in, so I decided to do 5 miles in my normal saucony guides- although it was manageable, I definitely noticed my right knee being a little more 'sensitive'- PLEASE don't let it be my IT Band again. 

Get home and decided to seek the advice of my roommate. 

Meet Adam- my wonderful, easy going, physical therapist roommate. (and his niece) 

I had him take a look at my legs and in literally 5 minutes I found out the following:

My left tibia is about 1/3 of an inch longer than my right, and somewhere from beginning of my femur to my hip is also longer (he couldn't pin point without doing a bunch of tests) thus my left leg itself is about 1/2 an inch longer than the right, which is why the right leg / knee/ it band gets messed up since it has farther to 'come down' on the pavement with every stride I take. 

Then we have my hips- ah my hips. Left hip is higher than right and after doing a few simple tests he found that my trunk compensates for the height difference, thus what is causing some of my back pain I experience DURING the run. 

So the potential solution?!?!

He recommended I check out Fleet Feet to see if they have a slight running lift to even out my legs.

Has anyone ever used these or know someone who has had success with a lift suitable for running?!?!

So why the pain now?!?! Basically when I run on the treadmill, I go much faster than my normal ability- aka around a 7:30 min/mile once warmed up- this allows me to really open up my stride and focus on my form. What it also means is that there is more 'bouncing'  and 'pounding' than normal which puts extra stress on legs- hence why it started acting up last night and was still tender today. 

To make me feel better, Adam got out his massage table and gave me a deep IT Band and  around the knee massage- IT.WAS.AMAZING! I told him I would cook him dinner all week if he did this for me once a week... we're working out an agreement. 

Dealing with IT band this winter was enough of a lesson to not want to have to go through that again, so I will be resting until Chicago Rock n Roll 1/2 on Sunday. 

Please send happy INJURY FREE thoughts my way! 

Since I've been gone

Last week was hell week for me. If you're my facebook friend, you've probably been able to piece together what was going on. Aside from having an additional stressor to deal with, I was not able to run outside alone, for my own safety, and to be honest I had zero motivation to go to gym- thus no exercise.

Now that everything *seems* to be taken care of, I do plan on a few runs before the Chicago Rock n Roll this weekend.

In the mean time, since I've been away from blog land, there actually were a few positives!

• we had our 'kid block' at work. Basically for a few hours all the employees can bring in their kids and we have a mini fair for them out front. Although I'm not a kid, I still had some enjoyment!

Yes that is cotton candy, and a balloon turtle bracelet on my hand!

• 2 of my good friends threw me a belated birthday dinner, drinks, cake, and presents!!!

cake was lopsided!!

• I got new running shoes + socks + gu for $100! It was tax free weekend here in TN. How it works is that any back to school items you pay zero tax on, as long as the item isn't over $100. You can spend over $100, just not on one particular item. The nice folks at fleet feet marked my shoes down, gave me free swiftwick wool socks ($17 value) and my gu!

• The shoe itself is a Saucony Women's Grid Fastwitch STABILITY racing flat- didn't know they made racing flats with stability!!! (I need stability since my knees pronate in) I'm excited to try them out this week, and potentially for sunday's race- haven't decided yet.
• My BEST FRIEND RJ got married on Saturday! The wedding itself was a small outdoor private ceremony- family and bridal party only, so I met up for the reception.
• They went with a 20s theme- all guys wore bow ties, the brides dress was 20s inspired, old style cokes, lemonade, tea, decorations- it was precious. I've been slacking on my photo taking ability and only got 3 photos from the whole thing (i know i'm bad, so I took some from facebook)

Rjs parents, brother drew, bride Allison

had a band walk them over to reception

Groomsmen Brian and I with our props to take our photo for the guestbook

sparklers! 

Every Saturday they have a huge dance at Centennial Park- FREE. Reception was right next to this. 

 after reception, drinking back at hotel. Can't believe hes married!

• Finally finally finally found a bed spread that works for my room. I had a mishap with the washer and 'thinking it would fit" a few weeks back. I have literally gone everywhere to find something reasonably priced and that I actually liked. After at least a dozen trips and many purchases / returns later, I finally settled on this...

I promise my room DOES have decorations on wall, just not surrounding my bed.

• Lastly the weekend was finalized with being able to lay out by the pool all day sunday and enjoying an excellent episode of True Blood!
• Looking back, despite the week having a major toll on my emotions, there was actually a lot of good to come out of it!

Tangent Tuesday

1. Got to see my favorite Nashville band in concert last week- had a much needed night out with some great friends

Stephen and I enjoying the show

Ashley felt like a shorty b/n the two of us--- take a look at my knees- I had NO IDEA there was that big of a difference in the height b/n the 2. May be time to revisit chiropractor to get that adjusted out. 

Kopecky Family band

2. Spent the weekend with my Louisville crew for my friends wedding- reminded me how much I miss my dear old partner in crime Natalie.

3. Got to visit the Dave Ramsey show this afternoon as part of our Financial Peace class- it was awesome!

Outside his office

Dave on the air 

Wanted a photo opp with him in the background

Just love this face- someone asked a question while he was signing autographs

Group photo of my class

4. Got this email from our fleet feet in regards to Tennessee's tax free weekend coming up- for those who are unaware, every year there is one weekend in august where everything that can be considered 'back to school' is tax free (clothes, shoes, electronics, etc) 

I had just decided that I needed new running shoes, so this was PERFECT timing! 

Shop TAX FREE This Friday & Saturday!      Here's your chance to stick it to Uncle Sam and pick up some great products at Fleet Feet Sports! This Friday & Saturday, enjoy TAX FREE purchases on: shoes socks sports bras & underwear hats all apparel We'll even have a clearance apparel & footwear rack with INCREDIBLE discounts! Per state law, your item must be $100 or less, but our primary concern is getting you in the appropriate gear. Is your favorite shoe the top of the line Mizuno Creation or Brooks Glycerin that costs more than $100? Not to worry - we'll discount your item to cover the tax!  FYI: Friday & Saturday are our 2 busiest days of the year - we'll have EVERY employee on hand to help! If you know what you need, PLEASE call ahead today or tomorrow (615.373.1123) and we'll be happy to put your items on hold for pick up this weekend!   Thats all the tangents for today!

Review of July and what to expect for August

So July had some ups and down, as anticipated, but nothing can be worse than June. My overall focus for July was to just get back into a routine- not break any records. I think I have a more solid base to build off from so I can finally start running the miles I would like for August. 

** not sure what is going on with the font / spacing and random colors throughout- couldn't fix it**

Miles Ran: The original goal was 60. After making my goal I looked back on mileage from last several months: April-56, May-61, June-25. I figured I'd do 50 just to play it safe because increasing my mileage by 40 miles from 1 month to the next (Dec -66,  Jan 105) caused me to develop ITBS. For once I played it smart. I ended with 52. I told myself if I ran smart and got 50 miles but didn't go too far over than my reward was a running skirt- opted for a Triathalon Skirt since they are cheaper and don't have anything built in so I can wear my own compression shorts underneath.

The winner:

Mums in bloom! 

Miles forAugust- Since I ended with 52, I would like to up it to 75, so by the time fall comes I can comfortably be over 100 miles without worrying about injury. You do NOT want to mess around with the IT band ;) 

P90X DVD workouts planned/completed:  I did p90x for a solid 2.5 weeks, but then noticed it was hard for me to do that AND running, so I put it on the back burner for the 2nd half of the month. 

August- Realistically I would like to do at least 2 workouts a week. I thoroughly enjoy shoulder & arms, legs and back, and ab ripper x (which luckily is done after both workouts anyway) If I have an extra day to do another workout, I will aim to attempt their yoga. 

Highest Mileage Week: 14. I missed my goal of 20 due to high temps forcing a lot of my runs to be b/n 3-4 miles. 

August- I'm going to aim for 20 again. 

Races planned/completed: 2/2. Both didn't go as well as anticipated.   My first 10k Race was hot and hilly which resulted in a time slower than I've ever ran the 10k portion of a 13.1 race. Second was my 18 / 50 state for half marathons, Pennsylvania. No hills, but high temps and digestive issues. No where close to a PR, but also not a PW either. 

August: Just 1 thus far- Rock n' roll Chicago- half marathon. I'd like to see if I could find another 10k so I can redeem myself, or some local race (as long as its not a 5k, just hate that distance) 

Long Runs Planned/Ran: 2/4. I told myself at the beginning of the month that anything over 6 miles I'd consider as long distance. Unfortunately only my 10k and half mary were over 6 miles. I did a couple of 5s, but just had such a hard time with the heat and humidity I didn't push for anything farther. 

August- I'll for sure have a 1/2 mary under my belt. 2 of the weekends its my turn to work a saturday, and have to be at work by 8am. On those days I'd like to get in AT LEAST a 6 miler prior to work since I'll be up early, and then find another time to get in a longer 8-10 mile run. I'm shooting for 4 again. 

Current Book(s):

The Long Run: (still working on it) Matt Long, an NY fire fighter / marathoner, overcomes recovery from a terrible bus accident and getting impaled by his bicycle to become an elite athlete once again. He has his own website too [here]

The Total Money Makeover: Dave Ramsey's guide to get out of debt, investing the wise way, retire comfortably... and when time comes for me, saving for my children's college education. I'm amazed at how much I'm actually learning, because these principles don't come easy for me. 

Current Obsessions:  Peanut butter, nutella, finding a comforter (I ruined mine in the washer- learning experience- so in the process of finding one that 'speaks to me' ) and as far as running- planning my fall schedule.  

Current Drink: Water. Every morning have my Gloria Jeans Keurig  coffee pod, occassional beer. 

Current Song (s):  Anything by Kopecky Family Band

Current Weight:  (I'll be excited to eliminate this category when its not on the forefront of my mind) So last month I put that I started the month at 162 and I wanted to get down to 155 by end of month... ALMOST. I got down to 156 for a few days, but I'm holding on strong at 157. So same wish is for end of August to be down 155. (if i get down further- no complaints from me) 

Current Wish- List: Need to get a flight to San Franciso for the Rock N Roll San Jose 1/2 in October. New comforter, new running shoes, 15-20lb weights. 

Current Dislike:  unbearable 'sticky' weather. Just once I would like a day that its either low 90s, or preferably in the 80s. 

Current Goal: Sub 2 hour for Chicago 1/2. Would like to do 1 treadmill burst training run a week. Consistent pace for runs. 

 
Current Excitement:  RJs wedding this weekend, getting to explore Chicago in 2 weeks, get to see all California family for Labor Day.