Fifty Shades of HOT

YES, I jumped on the bandwagon. I just finished reading the Fifty Shades of Grey series. I have to admit… I seriously LOVED it. Yes, some parts were very sexually intense and yes, I felt like a perv reading it… But that didn’t make me put the book down. In fact, I read the whole series in just a couple days.

I loved the passion and chemistry in Christian and Anna’s relationship. I loved how volatile they were. I loved how imperfect they were as individuals. But most of all, I loved how perfect they were for each other. I did not want the series to end.

All of the negative attention this series is getting kind of drives me crazy. It is being pulled from shelves of libraries for being too racy. REALLY, people?! Are we not all adults here?!?! It is a book! Who cares if it is graphic. Guess what… Life is graphic! Since when did we become a bunch of prudes?! Okay, I am stepping off my soapbox now.

In a related topic, Ian Somerhalder NEEDS to play Christian Grey in the movie. Like… Seriously HAS to play him.

There is no way you can tell me that you don’t picture exactly him when you are reading the book.

For those of you who haven’t made it to the final book yet, don’t stop reading. The final book was BY FAR my favorite. You feel so incredibly invested in all the characters at that point. It definitely gets more tame as you go along. Either that or you just get used to the type of sexual relationship that Christian and Anna have. Either way, I consider this a must read. I just don’t recommend having a book club meeting for it with your mother. Awwwkkkwwwaaarrrddd!

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I have fallen a bit behind on my weekly training recaps. Last week was a bit of an odd week (I’ll explain more later), but training is still going really well. In fact, I’d say it has been my most consistent training cycle yet! 20 days until the RnR SD! More details to come tomorrow.

 

Have you jumped on the Fifty Shades of Grey bandwagon?

Miles and Margs!

Thank you SO much for all of your fabulous comments on my last post. I am still in complete and utter shock that I will be running Ragnar in just a couple short months. I am so stinkin excited!!

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This past weekend, some FABULOUS lady bloggers and I met up in West Seattle for ‘Miles and Margs.’ We were set to run 5 miles (on Cinco de Mayo; how appropriate) and head to Cactus after. Since I needed to get some extra miles in, I headed out an hour early. I didn’t quite leave myself enough time, but I got 4.4 miles in before meeting up with the girls.

Zoe, Nicole, Rebecca, TriGirl, Allison, Erika and I all started running along Alki in the most perfect running conditions. It was BEAUTIFUL out. It was somewhere around 55 degrees and sunny. Perfection.

[Picture shamelessly stolen from Emily... it was too gorgeous not to share!]

I was able to keep up for about a mile or so, but fatigue started to catch up to me and I had to slow down. Rebecca stayed with me and we casually chatted and got our miles in. I got a total of 8.51 miles in along Alki (1.49 shy of how many I needed). It was time to head to Cactus to meet up with some other ladies, so I decided to finish my miles after. That turned out to be a fabulous decision because my last 1.5 margarita fueled miles felt FANTASTIC.

Pensive Pumpkin, Robyn, and Emily met the rest of us at Cactus. We were able to get a huge table right away thanks to Pensive Pumpkin getting there RIGHT when they opened (thanks, girlie!). I immediately ordered a margarita chocolate milk. It was GLORIOUS. It was EXACTLY what my body wanted. THEN, I ordered my marg.

(All the girls. Emily, Pensive Pumpkin, Robyn, Nicole, Zoe, Allison, Rebecca, Me, TriGirl, & Erika!)

I was SO incredibly excited because a local company called Run Pretty Far heard about our meetup and wanted to share some local runner love by sending us some goodies. I kept it on the down low so that it would be a fun surprise for everyone. Just look at all the goodies they sent!

Everyone got arm sleeves, a headband/bandana, and a sticker that said “Run Long & Eat More Cake.”

I LOVEEE my arm sleeves. I plan on REALLY testing them out this weekend on my long run since it is supposed to start out a little chilly and get HOT. I plan on wearing them to Rock N Roll SD because last year it was so cold at the beginning.

Thanks so much Run Pretty Far! You made a lot of bloggers extremely happy!

We all had such a fabulous time chatting and getting to know each other. We absolutely need to do this more often. I can’t wait for the next one! It will probably be right before RnR Seattle!!

BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!

PLUS

EQUALS

I AM RUNNING THE RAGNAR RELAY NORTHWEST PASSAGE ON TEAM NUUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was contacted my Nuun yesterday asking me to join their team! This is what went through my head…

“Holy cow, me?! BUT I’M SLOW!”

HAHA Apparently they don’t care that I am slow as molasses, because they asked me anyways! I am so incredibly excited!!! This is a HUGE bucket list item for me. It will be an experience I will NEVER forget. More details to come, but THIS IS THE BIG NEWS!!! AHH!!!!!!!!!!

Have you ever ran a relay?

April Recap

Where the hell did April go?! I know I say that every month, but holy moly April seriously flew by. Here are some stats for you.

- Miles ran: 46.18!!!
- Average pace: 11:16
- Total time spent running: 8 hours 40 minutes 37 seconds

That’s a lot of running!! There were many ups and downs this month. I ran my first mile repeats and also had some flops. Overall, I can’t be mad with 46 miles!!!

- Miles biked: 15.6

I only had two biking sessions this month. I decided to focus on my abs instead for my cross training. I was still proud of a 1 hour biking sesh.

- In April, hubs and I took James (my car) on his first long drive all the way to Spokane, WA.

- Hubs and I got to go celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Space Needle.

- I ate WAY too much delicious food and could NOT tame the ravenous beast inside of me. I HAZ THE HUNGER!

April, you were a FAB month. Not gonna lie though, I’m SO excited for May!

How was your April?

RnR San Diego Training: Week 7

I just want to start by saying YOU GUYS FREAKING ROCK!!! More on that later….

 

For the most part, last week was absolutely STELLAR when it comes to my training. That is, until my long run flops that you can read about here. This is how it went down:

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Ran 4 miles (3×1 mile repeats, finished up til I hit 4 miles even) in 41:29 (10:22 pace), Biked 1 cool down mile
Wednesday: Biked 14.6 miles in 1 hour
Thursday: Ran 3.07 miles in 34:51 (11:21 pace)
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 3 miles in 35:11 (LR flop #1 – 11:44 pace)
Sunday: 5 miles in 59:36 (LR flop #2 – 11:55 pace)

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Total Mileage for week 7: 15 miles Ran and 15.6 miles biked

You can even tell in the pacing that my body was just not cooperating with me this weekend…

Thanks so much for all of our kind words on my last post. You guys are giving me the confidence that I CAN do this even if I have had a few bonked long runs. My training plan calls for 6 miles on Thursday and 10 this weekend, so I think I am just going to stick to my plan and not stress so much. The more I stress about it, the more pressure it puts on me, and the bigger chance there is of my stomach not cooperating. I need to remember that if I have to adjust my goals, it is NOT the end of the world. I just need to go out there and have fun. Plus, I will be running half of my LR with people this week which automatically makes it 49835793845 times more awesome.

OH and this week also calls for some Yasso 800s! I have never done them before, so I am kind of REALLY excited about it. That will be on Tuesday.

In totally unrelated news, my lulu top came in the mail!!!! I am SO glad I ordered the size I did. I ALMOST ordered an 8 because that was a Medium, but I ended up ordering a 6. ANY bigger and it would have been too big. VICTORYYYYYYY!

Johnny Drama, anyone?

So, all in all, not a bad week. I am SO looking forward to long run redemption on Saturday, though!

The Post Where I’m a Downer

This weekend was super tough mentally for me. I had not one, but TWO long run flops, both for different reasons. It is making me start to feel VERY nervous for the races coming up.

Saturday, I set out for 10 miles and my legs felt like absolute lead. I was working 5x as hard as normal to go way slower. 3 miles in I called it quits in hopes of a better day Sunday.

Sunday, I set out for 10 miles and my stomach decided to act up from the get go. It was torture. I got 5 miles in before I had to quit in fear of shitting myself. At 4.98 miles I was running hunched over begging my stomach to cooperate until I hit the 5.0 mile marker. It did… Barely.

I have to admit, I am starting to freak out a bit. I only have 3 more long runs and one taper long run before the race. I should be in tip top shape right now but my long runs have not been reflecting that. I am giving it my all on those runs but the numbers disagree. I have only made it 8 miles once so far and I have made it to 6 a handful of times. That is not enough.

Dear body,
What the hell is wrong with you. I have been feeding you properly, giving you rest, and hydrating you. Why won’t you cooperate with me?! I know I ask a lot of you but sheesh… Stop being a little bitch.
Love,
Your Master

What do you do when your long runs start going down the shitter?

Do you try them over again during the week? I’m debating trying for 10 on Tuesday, but I don’t know if that’s smart or not. Ugh.

Please tell me I’m not gonna die in June.

Seattle Blogger Meetup Deets

I have been in touch with several of you in order to plan a blogger meetup run and margarita consumption. I figured the best way to give you all the deets would be to just do it right here.

 

Where: Run along Alki Beach in West Seattle followed by snacks/drinks/etc. at Cactus on Alki.

When: Saturday, May 5th – Run starts @ 10:30 am, Cactus starts at 11:30 am

Who: Any bloggy buds living in the Seattle-ish area that can make it out to Alki

 

At 10:30 am, let’s meet across the street from Cactus (2820 Alki Avenue SW, Seattle, Wa 98116) in front of the Washington Monument Replica. Yes, there is one. There is a Statue of Liberty replica as well.

Let’s plan on a 5-ish mile run along the beach path. It is pretty easy to extend the run for those of you who are speedy and want to get more miles in. I, on the other hand, plan on running nice and slow.

We will do an out and back so that we end up right at Cactus when they open at 11:30!! The turn around point will be right around where you get on the Water Taxi.

There is tons of free street parking in the area. If the weather is nice, it can get quite busy, so you might want to arrive a few minutes early just in case.

If you plan on going, comment here (or email me @ skippinginseattle@gmail.com) to let me know if you are running AND going to Cactus, just going to Cactus, or just going to run. I want to make reservations ASAP, so let me know as soon as you can!

If you have any other questions, let me know!!!!