Garmin en route

In two days my Garmin will be here! I'm so excited!!!!

I ordered the Garmin Forerunner 305 from Amazon, which had the best price I could find. I did find a few other sites I never had heard of which were a few bucks cheaper, but I figured I'd go with what I know. Plus there is free shipping. I also signed up for a free trial of Amazon prime, which gets me free 2 day shipping for a month.

Tina and I are planning for a run after kick-off on Saturday so I will get to try it out then!!

Disney Swag

Just a quick post to show off some Disney swag! My mom and I went to the expo on Friday and she spoiled me with some good stuff. She's so proud of me!

An absolutely snugly hoodie. They also had this nice Donald Duck half marathon tech shirt the day before, but it was already sold on on Friday :(

This is a really nice hoodie, which does not come up too high and choke my neck.

Half marathon visor

This was the race shirt we got for free at packet pick up. Nice because it's long sleeve, and tech fabric. I wore it today on a short run and it was perfect, breathable and kept me warm.

A Mickey Mouse Bondi Band for my hair. I wanted the half one but it was white, and since I dye my hair it would be red in a short amount of time. This band is great! Vicky had one on at the Friday morning run. Since it's so wide it efficiently keeps all my little bird feathers (the short little fly-aways around my face) from sticking to my sweaty face when I'm running. This will be essential in the humid weather.

Merry Beleated Christmas!

10 days until Disney!!!
It's been quite a crazy holiday season! Between the end of school, papers, running, and getting ready for the holiday it has come and gone faster than ever before. Matt and I decided not to go crazy with gifts this year. Santa brought some nice running gifts for me!

I was wanting a pair of Race Ready shorts to wear in Disney. They are not super attractive in this photo (and they are black, but look blue). These suckers have five great mesh pockets on the back for keeping everything you possibly need on race day or on a long run with you. The pocket in the middle is larger than the others. Inside there is a credit card sized pocket on the inside for super safe keeping.

I had heard about them in the beginning of the season, but I wasn't sure about them. They can only be ordered online from Race Ready. I really do not like ordering clothes online unless I can try them on somewhere first, but one of the mentors on the team, Vicky, wears them all the time to practice and *swears* by them. So I trusted her and got them, and they fit perfect. I wish they were a tad longer, but they will be perfect for running in some nice Florida winter weather! Trust me when I tell you they look much better on you than in the photos on their website.

While we were Christmas shopping I got this Under Armor winter hat and kinda used it a few times before Christmas. It's great! The ear flap come down nice and low and the back also comes down low to keep my neck covered. It also fits my big head and hair nicely. Something that many hats I tried on do not do. And of course it has nice UA wicking fabric in side, so no longer will sweat be dripping down my face.

Also got a training diary to use for the next year. It has some nice calender pages for planning your training. It's nice too because it you get to fill in the dates. Good for taking some time off for recovery.

My mom got Matt and I the entire Curb Your Enthusiasm box set! And the first season of The Office on the BBC! I'm so excited to start watching them, especially since I have no school and now am tapering!!

My Dad's whole family came over for Christmas day. There were 30 of us all together! The house was so crowded, but it was so nice to everyone over. We do a Yankee Swap grab bag every year. I bought a NY Giants snuggie, and my Dallas loving cousin picked. Look at the fake smile. It's great! I got this very cool electric griddle in the swap. Now I can make some breakfast in bed. All I could think of was the episode of the office where Michael grills his foot on the George Forman grill trying to make breakfast in bed! So how was Santa to you?

Super 8 Saturday

"Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired in the morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired.

- George S. Patton, U.S. Army General, 1912 Olympian

Saturday morning: 29 degrees with a wind chill making it feel about 19 degrees. Not exactly the conditions you expect to have the best run ever in!

I've been hurting, my feet, my legs, my back. Last night I came across an article on Runner's World about how after an injury, pain can present it self mentally even you've healed. You can become hyper-vigilant to injuring yourself again. I'm pretty sure that's what's been going on with me. Every little ache or pain has become a reason not to run.

Last night I said screw this, I am running strong and having an awesome run tomorrow I don't care- and I did!

I met up with the other half of the team today at a place know as "the dump", which used to be- a garbage dump. Now it's a secluded park preserve with some amazing views. There is a two mile loop around the base and about two and half up the big hill and down.

This morning I saw cute little guinea fowl, the sunrise over the beach, ran on a boardwalk, saw a windmill, had an awesome view of Manhattan from the top of the hill, and saw goats on the way out. It was quite a day. I did a 3:1 interval and while I was tired during the run it was a great eight!

The cold doesn't even matter anymore. Okay, yes I did wear two of everything today. But after the first two miles I was sweating.

After the run I stopped at Starbucks and had myself a well derserved chai latte.

This afternoon, after my post run siesta, Matt and I went Christmas shopping. I picked out some nice running goods for Christmas.

I also ordered my Race Ready shorts. These shorts have about four pocket sewn into the back of the shorts to carry you're things on race day. More about those when they arrive.

25 days until I leave for Disney!!