Running Skirts

Halloween Theme Nights at Running Skirts

2011-10-18T16:50:00.002-04:00

October is always a fun running month at the RunningSkirts store. Each week has a unique fun theme for our run club to dress up in their best running costumes! We also have a RunningSkirts costume contest online through the month of October. To enter, email a photo of you in your runningskirts costume. All photos will be made into an album on our Facebook page for our skirthusiasts to view and help pick the winners. 5 lucky contest winners will be receiving free runningskirts gear!

Here's a few pics from the last theme fun runs!

Retro night!

Runaway Bridesmaid night!

We hope to see you at this weeks' fun run at RunningSkirts!
Join our Meetup group for details!

Animal Theme Night

Catching up to do

2011-06-16T17:28:00.003-04:00

Wow - where did the last 6 months go?
Unfortunately with a pre-schooler, a bun in the oven and Running Skirts evergoing expansion & growth, new web shopping experience and mobile apps, our blog took the back-burner through the winter & spring. We'll do our best to recap the last few months of Runningskirts events and happenings in the next few posts. First & foremost....we'd like to introduce our newest member of our RunningSkirts family....baby Ryder.

Skirt Bar to Rock the Expo Circuit in 2011

2011-01-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

Check out the footage from today's Fox 5 morning show

We are thrilled to announce our new expo concept our RunningSkirts "Skirt Bar", coming to an expo near you!

Running Skirts Bootcamp Night Fun Run

2010-10-14T21:00:00.000-04:00

We kicked off our RunningSkirts weekly fun run running group this fall which meets every Thursday @ 6:00 p.m. at the RunningSkirts flagship store in Encinitas. Each week we have a different workout/theme. To celebrate the arrival of our new SkirtCamp Camo Collection, tonight we had "bootcamp" theme. We ran 2 miles to the EZIA Human Performance gym where they lead us through some great core & strength training drills. Then is was another 2 mile run back to the store, where icy Ultima Replenisher and great running skirt prizes awaited. Special thanks to WOLF Studio Massage Therapists for the massage prize donation & EZIA for a great workout! We look forward to many more. What's next week's theme going to be? Hmmmm.....it is October afterall!

Where did summer 2010 go?

2010-09-30T07:00:00.000-04:00

Wow - where did the summer go?
Aside from a busy travel schedule to Rock n Roll San Diego, Seattle, San Francisco Marathon, Rock 'n' Roll Chicago, Surf Monkey Oceanside, Outdoor Retailer, AFC San Diego, Disneyland Half...., it seems like summer literally sprinted by this year. It doesn't make it any better that we had the coldest summer in something like 40 years!

Now that the leaves are turning, the weather is cooling and the kiddies are back in school (or starting preschool for my little guy), it's time to get caught up with with the blog. So many fabulous running experiences of late, so little time.

It's been a roller coaster ride of a summer with great highs and lows. Our previous warehouse manager Jaimee Baker Renfrow (Christy's niece) tragically lost her battle with cystic fibrosis in August. She was only 23 and a bright shining light in our running skirts world. We will forever miss Jaimee and all that she brought to our lives, but we are also forever blessed with her memory and the legacy of her amazing positive attitude and faith in God.

Jaimee and company at the Reindeer 5k this year

After Jaimee's passing, we quickly assisted in support of a 5k fundraiser "Jaimee's Run" in her memory on her birthday in September. We had an amazing turnout at the inaugural 5k and plan to hold a race in her honor every year on her birthday week. We have since received some very touching customers emails expressing their own intentions to also fund raise for Jaimee's Run foundation in their annual marathon fundraising campaigns and we've also had many runners dedicate their marathons and races to Jaimee. Jaimee is surely smiling down from heaven as her new found friends run and race in her memory.

How about a few of the highlights?!

During our July 4th Holiday Weekend we had the pleasure of registering for an impromptu race in Lake Tahoe. Christy & I opted for the Run to the Beach 10k trail race of the Big Blue Tahoe series. We had only been there for a few days and were struggling just to do easy morning runs at the higher elevation. This was one tough trail race with lots and lots of incline and a few wrong turns resulting in going from being in the front of the pack to the mid-pack on single track terrain. We finished up a respectable 2nd and 4th female overall. On our drive from the race to starbucks, I started experiencing black spots in my vision and numbness in my fingers and arms. It was the strangest sensation ever and I was slowly losing my vision. Christy informed me that I was experiencing an onset of a migraine. (i've only had 2 in my life, but she gets them often). We chalked it up to too much elevation, effort and caffeine at the time.

Over the next few weeks, my runs continued to feel more difficult then usual almost as if I was still running at Tahoe elevation, yet Christy was back to her normal strong running self. After huffing and puffing my way through our easy trail run 5 miler along the San Elijo Lagoon trail, I started to have an idea of what might be going on. Sure enough, one pregnancy test later, my suspicions were confirmed. Our little guy is going to have a sibling. Turns out, the migraine in Tahoe was probably my first clue!

That weekend, I noticed a few raised eyebrows and questioning glances when I changed my SF half marathon entry to the 5k race. I was looking forward to running the 2nd half of the SF marathon and getting the summer's pr for the half, but after the taxing effort during my recent shorter training runs, I decided it would be best to stick to shorter distance races - at least for the remainder of my first trimester.

baby#2 ultrasound at 9 weeks
I've been running every day of the pregnancy so far (at least 3 miles) and hope to continue the streak throughout the pregnancy. With my first pregnancy, I was lucky and able to run all the way to the end (or past it) as the little guy came almost a week late!

Me and "my little passenger" have run several races so far in this pregnancy, more on that in the next post. Wishing you all a wonderful fall racing season!

Outdoor Retailer Running Skirts Knock Your Shorts Off Fun Run

2010-08-04T00:11:00.005-04:00

Running Skirts™ Rock Outdoor Retailer!

Check out the video from this mornings fun run:

What a day! We started with an early rise (up before the sun) to get all set for our Good Morning OR Knock Your Shorts™ Off Run. After the magic skirt tent was up, Ultima mixed, coffee, bagels and fruit spread in place we started transforming running wardrobes. Surprisingly (or not so much) we had just as many men eager to "Knock their Shorts Off™"! What a scenic fun run!

Then it was off to the show...Day 1 of Outdoor Retailer...the show of all shows of everything outdoor! We had a super exciting fun filled day including great meetings with buyers, journalists & skirt-lovers from all over the world. The launch of our new fall/winter collection was met with rave reviews and super excited customers. As we prepare to enter our 6th year in running skirt world - its exciting to present our expanding fitness apparel line (8 different skirt styles now!). Running Skirts aren't just for running....tennis, paddling, golf, cycling, hiking, climbing, firejumping, scuba diving, weddings....(true we have the new "What do you do in your runningskirt?" video & photos to attest).

We wrapped up the afternoon with a wine & cheese happy hour in the Runners World booth for our Running Skirt demo party. Running Skirts were flying as curious customers took our skirts for a test run on the Runners World treadmills. It's so fun to see the reaction of a "skirt-virgins" as they experience our comfy athletic skirts for the first time. After the show we wrapped up the day with another wonderful meal at Wild Grape (one of our SLC faves) with the skirt gang and Dane Rauschenberg (honorary skirt). All in all, a fabulous first day at Outdoor Retailer, can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Tomorrow - Running Skirts Knock Your Shorts Off Fun Run Version part 2 - meeting in front of the Salt Palace South Plaza area. Can't wait to run that beautiful route again up to the Capital and on the scenic mountain road beyond and then back down the hill along Memory Park....gorgeous. Looking forward to meeting new runningskirt fans tomorrow!

Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Marathon

2010-07-07T22:50:00.012-04:00

Next stop on the RunningSkirts whirlwind marathon tour....Seattle!

Here I am in front of the famous Space Needle as we hit the streets of seattle for our morning run. We took in the beautiful sights along the waterfront trail. The first morning in Seattle, we were blessed with a perfect bluebird sunny day and the views of the surrounding snow-covered mountains were breathtaking (unfortunately didn't have the camera in tow that day).

Christy stopping to smell the roses on the morning run through the rose garden on the waterfront.

Had a great fun chat with Meb and his brother Hawi at the expo- great guys. Check out the video clip below of Hawi claiming he was faster than Meb! Super excited about Meg's new book coming out soon - we are hoping to schedule a book signing at the RunningSkirts store. Maybe we can have him lead our fun run....ahahahaha - we'd be able to stay with him for 20 meters at best!

Seattle Rock n Roll expo was awesome. We got to meet a lot of our favorite running bloggers and long-time customers. People always ask us what the best thing is about starting the running skirts business. By far, meeting our customers and hearing their amazing stories of accomplishments in running, goals and overcoming the various challenges is our favorite way to spend Running Skirts time! "Working" expos is so much fun, we laugh that we really call it work at all!

Unfortunately we hadn't signed up in time for this race and were unable to get entries....booo! We'll be running for sure next year though - only hear awesome things about the Seattle race and course.

Here's what Meb & his brother had to say about who's the speedy one in the family:

Thanks Seattle for another great visit & rock 'n' roll event! See you next year!

Rock 'n' Roll Marathon San Diego Running Skirts elvis team

2010-06-26T12:33:00.005-04:00

Elvis lives!
WE are super excited that Rock 'n' Roll series added a Half Marathon to their San Diego event. What better a way to run the inaugural half marathon course than to rock the elvis look.

Running Skirts joined the rock 'n' roll marathon elvis team. I have to say our white running skirts, performance tank & blinged out accessories were a great lightweight alternative to some of the other costumes out there....we've got to hand it to "spongebob elvis" for running 26.2 in that costume - wow!

Here's the How to on getting the running Elvis look:

solid white Running Skirt or Athletic Skirt....check!
White or gold strappy top.....check!
White performance mesh tank.....check!
Gold lame cape....check!
Gold Sequin belt.....check!
Gold chains, the more the better......check!
Gold rimmed aviator sunglasses - the bigger and bling-ier the better....check!
For the elvis bouffante - craft your bangs into a big bump - snooky style, then put the rest into a pony tail....check

and - voila! running skirts elvis is in the house!

We had a great time running the new half marathon course in costume. For those of you runners who have never run in a costume - we highly highly recommend trying it at least once. It makes for excellent fun along the course, tons more crowd support and commentary. We made a point to channel our inner elvis & respond to each cheer and "go elvis" with a deep-voiced response "Thank you.....thank you very much!

After coming off the 2 marathons in april and trying to recover from our injuries, we didn't really have PRs in mind for this race. I wanted to kick myself for leaving my garmin at home since I would now have to be running "naked" as we commonly refer to running without timing device. With all the fuss in pulling together the elvis costume, I had completely snoozed it and left the garmin on the kitchen counter. This was surely going to be a recipe for disaster pace-wise for me since I'm infamous for going out too fast and paying the piper later in the last miles of the race. As the gun went off and we charged out trying to work our way through the crowded start, I tried to settle into a good, yet comfortable pace. Passing the 2 mile clock in 12:10 was a big "uh-oh" moment for me and I immediately slowed to what I guessed was a better sustainable pace for the running-shape I'm in (or lack thereof).

The costume was my saving-grace as it provided great crowd support and entertainment throughout the course. I was thrilled to hear "Great job - first elvis!" all along the course. As the wheels came off the bus around 9 miles or so and I started losing position one female at a time, I reminded myself that this was merely supposed to be a fun run. I instead turned my goal from a finish time into merely being the first "elvis" to finish. With a few miles to go, I was passed by "steve-0" from our 10 Mile Wednesday group. He shouted some much-needed words of encouragement and off he went. I plodded along trying to keep him in sight as we approached the sea world finish line, all the while, eyeing the occasional runner that passed me to make sure they weren't wearing white polyester or gold lame!

The roar of the crows was amazing as I came down the finish line chute - what a fun way to finish a rock 'n' roll race....in an elvis costume that is. First Elvis! YES! Christy-elvis and Brooke-elvis finished hot on my blue suede shoes and then the other running skirts elvi came sprinting in one by one. We made our way through the finish-line celebration and were thrilled to discover a few of the UPS gear check ladies, sporting Running Skirts - see photo below!

After we finished the half we re-convened at mile 20 for our "Rockin Otter Pop Stop". We had a great time passing out icy cold deliciousness to all the marathon runners as they passed by the course on their way to the fiesta island portion of the marathon route.

Check out the video of our Rockin Otter Pop Stop! Congrats to all the Marathon finishers - can't wait for next year! Who's up for joining the running skirts elvis team next year?

CW6 Morning Show San Diego Running Skirts segment

2010-06-25T12:00:00.000-04:00

Wow - what an amazing summer it's been so far. I'd like to start this post by singing the praises of Virgin America Airlines.....This airline rocks! Great friendly service, painless check in, leather seats, mood lighting, and internet access and normal power plus under each seat! woohoo - its blog catch up time as we fly home from the seattle rock 'n' roll marathon.

San Diego Rock 'n' Roll marathon will always be one our favorites. Not only is it in our hometown, it was one of our first major marathon expos so it will always be near and dear to our runningskirts hearts!

We kicked the week off with a fun segment on the San Diego local morning show - check out the clip here (you have to search "running skirts" on this video page and click the "running skirts" link (sorry I can't figure out how to link it directly). We had a great time showcasing the new summer collection and talking about some of our "giving back" initiatives including Chelsea's Light foundation (100% of the sales of all orange running skirts go to the foundation), our "skirt camp" camo collection which benefits "Marine's Helping Marines" and our Purple plaid skirts which benefit "Sunshine Kids", the foundation Audrina Patridge was fundraising for when she ran in the 2010 LA Marathon.

We surprised one of the morning show hosts with a cheetah fitness skirt of his own!
After the live show we headed straight to Running Skirts headquarters to start the party preparations for our Skirtacular Summer Party. All the skirthusiasts were on deck to assist with turning our warehouse and back parking lot into a pinkalicious running skirts heaven!

Pink velvet ropes & carpet, carbo-cupcakes served by our male "hosts". Brooke from Ultima Replenisher was there mixing up another fabulous selection of "ultima-tinis" including a delicious cocktail using their new oh-so-yummy grape flavor.

As we approached partay time, the line outside the door and down the hot pink velvet carpet grew and grew down the street and around the corner! We hurried to get the final touches on our special event and were super excited to get to meet a lot of our local running skirt customers. Oh what a night - check out the footage from the party here

Boston2BigSur Challenge and 2010 Big Sur Marathon

2010-04-25T21:57:00.013-04:00

Boston 2 Big Sur Challenge.....2 marathons, 2 coasts, 6 days......check! After our return from Boston on Tuesday, we drove up to Monterey for the Big Sur Marathon expo. We set up the running skirts booth Thursday and had some free time to check out the wharf and cannery row. We brought grandma along this trip so it was great family time!

Booth set up complete so we had time to relax and enjoy an awesome lunch on the Monterey wharf! or "wofe" if you say it like my Thomas the Train obsessed 2 year old. The hubby and I have a fun little game where we make each road trip location a place in his favorite dvds. For example: photo shoot in palm springs was a trip to "radiator springs" from the Disney Pixar Movie Cars. This time the Big Sur trip was a visit to "Sodor Wharf"! After our lunch we took a nice mile walk down the waterfront bike bath to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and did a quick visit before they closed for the day. Check out the jelly fish video!

Christy was back at skirt headquarters in San Diego trying to recover from a boston-induced chest cold before the 2nd marathon in 6 days. She was hoping to recover quickly and drive up Saturday afternoon for the marathon on Sunday. Unfortunately her chest cold and cough grew worse instead of better and she made a smart choice to say home. (boo for me!). She was so bummed I was still planning to run and she couldn't - as was I. During one phone conversation on Saturday a.m., she tried to talk me out of it...."you don't want to hurt yourself or do any permanent damage, maybe you shouldn't run". I'll admit it was a very very very tempting thought to sit out the marathon, but the "challenge" of it all was till hanging over my head and I had to at least try! The thought of doing a "changed my mind", "chickened out" or "dnf'd" video kept me in the game. Nothing like a good full mental & physical challenge!

I was working the booth solo - sans Christy as planned - and it was crazy busy. At one point - I had the hubby in the booth (in a skirt of course) to help "skirt" all the ladies for Big Sur. It was a frenzy, the ladies were laughing hysterically, taking photos and doing some heavy groping! I think he enjoyed it way more than he should of! If any of you have photos - please email em - I'd love some new blackmail material haha!

The 2nd day flew by and the next thing I new I was having my traditional (superstitious) post-race dinner (grilled fish, rice & asparagus) and dreading the 3:45 a.m. alarm clock! I was seriously doubtful that I'd finish the race - hearing the horror stories of all the hills didn't help. I carefully packed my sweat check bag (Arma style) tylenol, salt capsules, gloves, money for cab, blackberry, camera, bodyglide, extra gu, sharkies, kt tape....it was bulging at the seams. I wanted to be prepared with it all with the thought in the back of my mind that I might be discreetly leaving the course mid-run to call a cab.

As usual - I didn't get much sleep the night before the marathon. Regardless of the fact that I was absolutely weary and not nervous about getting a certain time, etc. I actually had those wierd dreams over and over again about waking up, getting dressed (making sure I used the restroom) and getting on the bus. AAAAAH! There's got to be a better way to quickly fall asleep before a race - do any of you have any non-pharmaceutical secrets?

Bing! Bing! Bing! the alarm went of at 3:45 and I quietly got up, quickly dressed in my planned fave skirt (fleurs) tank top & long sleeve with my Boston Hoody and off I went. I had a hard time deciding what shoes to wear Newtons or my heavy Mizuno trainers, and I opted for the trainers in light of the strained plantar.

The bus ride was long, dark & quiet as we made our winding way along Hwy 1 from Monterey to Big Sur. It was a little over an hour drive or so it seemed. As we arrived the sun was starting to rise and I received a warm greeting from the race announcer Rudy. "there's Cindy from Running Skirts getting off the bus to run her Boston 2 Big Sur Challenge!". So much for discretely leaving the course later.

As I made my way to the start line, I had the pleasure of chatting with tons of fellow "skirts" which really helped ease my nerves. I had no idea where to line up for this race, my only plan was to finish, cross the line and get my special medal & jacket! I decided to seed myself around the 3:30 pace group and start off slower.

As the first few miles flew by (mostly downhill) I became really nervous with my nagging sore right quad. All I could think about was the chance I'd cramp up (or "igor" as our friends from 10 mile wednesday fondly call it) later in the race like in Boston. When I caught sight of the Pacific Coastline, I was conveniently distracted by the sheer beauty of the beautiful blue ocean and the vibrant green mountains - it was breathtaking!

The miles seem to fly by quicker than last week in boston! The Big Sur Marathon course is pretty secluded as far as spectator support (they close the roads in the early morning and there is no way to get out there unless you live there), there was plenty of great entertainment along the course. Great school bands, a beautiful harpist, the famous pianist, japanese drummers and many many other great distractions were strategically located along the ever-so-hilly course!

Here's some more footage from the top of the largest incline toward Bixby Bridge above - and here I am below at the top of the hill

the final approach to Bixby bridge did not disappoint - you could hear the beautiful piano over the crashing of the waves hundreds of feet below. You'll never guess what song he was playing as I crossed the bridge.....the theme from Charlie Brown Peanuts! Awesome!

After passing the half way point, I knew the real work was ahead and I was cautiously optimistic that I might actually finish this challenge. I took some more salt capsules at the halfway point and along I plodded. The 3:40 pace group would pass me each time I stopped to take a quick video or photo and then I'd pass them again once I started back along the course.

Here I am at the 20 mile mark, I'll let the videos tell the rest of the story!

Resorting to some brief walk breaks as I climb the hills. Interesting enough, I'd keep passing the same runners as I started back running again - a little proof in the pudding for those wondering about the Galloway Method.

More entertainment along the course welcomed the runners as we approached the finish. Strawberry hill was a wonderful surprise - tables of fresh clean & cut strawberries! Yummy!

the final few miles weren't quite as painful and difficult as I had feared. Actually & suprisingly, they were much easier than Boston. Luckily I teetered on the brink of "igor-ing" but it never happened (thanks to the salt) and I finished fairly strong and with a big smile on my face. The hubby met me as I approached the finish line and ran me in. I think he just might have been more excited than me to see me cross the finish line (he had big doubts too!). It was an amazing finish - stunning race course and a beautiful day - I'll be back next year....with Christy of course! Who's joining us in the 2010 Boston 2 Big Sur Challenge?

Check out the footage of the special Boston2BigSur Challenge & Grizzled Vets finishers tent - posh digs complete with ice cold beer, delicious pastries, fruit and the hard-earned "special special" Boston 2 Big Sur finishers jackets & medals!

Celebrating with other challenge finishers:

Enjoying a refreshing therapeutic salt water soak post-marathon!

Boston 2 Big Sur Challenge 50% complete

2010-04-23T10:37:00.007-04:00

FREE Compression socks this weekend - with purchase of $100 or more!
Great for recovery! Compression = happy muscles & legs

Boston Marathon Completed! Recovery underway!
We finished in 3:30 as planned....next challenge: finishing the 2010 Big Sur Marathon which will also finish our Boston2BigSur Challenge.

26.2 miles of up & down challenging course in Boston........check!
We are half way done with the Boston 2 Big Sur Challenge and headed to Big Sur on some really tired & sore legs. (can't remember legs being this sore from Boston last year....the 3 days of expo legs standing on the hard cement floors of the convention center took it's toll). Boston was amazing, but we both had cramping in the last few miles - it was a struggle at minimum!

We actually emailed Dean Karnazes to see if he could give us some tips on recover! Ice baths, Arnica and compression socks....done, done and done. Still having a hard time walking and bending down to collect things that alwasy seem to drop on the floor after a marathon.

Big Sur is allegedly one "gnarly" course - hillier than Boston. What on earth were we thinking. Our plan is to simply finish - cross the finish line in one format or another....run, walk, crawl...even considered pushing each other in a BOB Jogging Stroller (too bad no strollers allowed).

Off to the expo - swing by and say Hello and let us know if you have any tips for speedy marathon recovery - 48 hours till the gun goes off!

Speaking of recovery - we are running a special at runningskirts.com this weekend - FREE Swift Sox Compression Socks with any purchase of $100.

Boston 2 Big Sur Challenge 2010 underway

2010-04-14T19:52:00.017-04:00

We are off! Boston bound...following the boxes and boxes and boxes....of runningskirts gear shipped for the RunningSkirts booth at the 2010 Boston Marathon expo.
We're gonna video blog the journey along the way. Please send us your energy on marathon monday & healing prayers (we are booth battling some minor injuries still).

The first video was after a loooong day in the skirt mines making last minute preparations for Boston.

Packing up & heading out!

Arriving at Grandma & Grandpas!

Be sure to follow our video journey - see you in Boston & Big Sur!

Womens Running Store San Diego Encinitas Solana Beach

2010-04-04T19:16:00.007-04:00

For those of you that couldn't make it to our grand opening skirtacular celebration - check out the video footage! We are thrilled about the recent opening of our flagship in the San Diego area - our new store is located in downtown Encinitas a block west of the new Whole Foods development. Where's Encinitas? Just north of Solana Beach and Cardiff in North County area of San Diego.

Not your average running store, we call it "a unique boutique for the stylish athlete"! Just running skirts? Oh no, we carry Spira Shoes, Newton running shoes, Sweaty Bands non-slip headbands, GU Energy, BOB Jog Strollers, Ultima Replenisher, Bart Yasso's book "My life on the Run", Kathrine Switzers autographed books, The Stick, Feetures socks and more! Our new Run Love summer collection of running skirts, triathlon skirts, tops and compression socks are now in stock!

Boston to Big Sur Challenge

2010-04-04T18:51:00.003-04:00

Last weekend Christy and I managed to hobble through 15 of our planned 20+ miler in preparation for Boston! Sadly enough, are both battling injuries right now (Cindy has strained plantar in the left foot and Christy has pain behind her right knee) and have been sidelined from our scheduled speedwork and hill work in prep for 2010 Boston Marathon. We decided to pull the plug on our last long run sunday when we reached 15 miles since we were both in pain at that point and didn't want to risk further injury.

As if our premarathon confidence wasn't already a bit on the low end, what did we get in the mail this week? A beautiful white technical long sleeve tee reminding us of the Boston to Big Sur Challenge that we had registered for months ago. At the time it seems like a wonderful way to experience the beauty of the Big Sur Marathon (voted one of the 3 best marathons in America by Runners World magazine!) I guess I should say "we" registered....Christy found about this grand idea in a roundabout way (a registration confirmation email courtesy of me-oops!).

(Photo of the long sleeve tech shirts that arrived in the mail this week.)

Needless to say, when I opened the package to find the Boston 2 Big Sur Challenge shirt, I felt a little queasy. With Boston less than 3 weeks away and now battling annoying injuries, the challenge is really living up to its name. Our biggest challenge now is getting healthy and recovered enough to finish boston and toe the line at Big Sur.

Have any of you run Big Sur yet? I hear it is a hilly beast of one amazingly gorgeous course! BTW Running Skirts will be at the 2010 Boston Marathon expo so be sure to swing by the booth and say hello & check our our new surf gold boston color running skirt gear!

Audrina Patridge runs 2010 LA Marathon for Sunshine Kids in RunningSkirts.com purple plaid running skirt

2010-03-22T14:23:00.007-04:00

After a whirlwind week of high-mileage Boston marathon training and trying to dig out of the mountainous stacks of our new summer running skirt shipment, we had the pleasure of escaping up north to catch the 2010 LA Marathon on Sunday. We headed to Santa Monica and found a great location right around the 24 mile marker of the marathon. There were lots of running skirts out on the course and everyone seemed thrilled with the brand new marathon course that ended at the beach.

Audrina Patridge of the MTV hit show "The Hills" ran a relay leg of the marathon on behalf of The Sunshine Kids organization. She was rocking the purple plaid runningskirts.com skirt. We had the pleasure of meeting Audrina and her running partner Morgan and The Sunshine Kids team prior to their leg of the relay. Audrina has been fundraising to benefit this wonderful organization that helps children in cancer treatment across North America. We are honored to be joining Audrina in these efforts and will be donating 5% of all sales of the purple plaid running skirt Audrina wore in the race to The Sunshine Kids.

Audrina Patridge wore the adorable purple checkered skirt (plaid) and Morgan was sporting the new RunLove floral print running skirt!

Check out the race photos of Audrina & the Sunshine Kids & please join us in support of these wonderful children!

Watch video of Audrina Patridge running LA Marathon relay for Sunshine Kids

Chelsea's Light and Run for Chelsea Take Back the Park

2010-03-10T15:45:00.005-05:00

As most of you are probably aware of, the story about the missing teen runner Chelsea King ended in tragedy as her body was found in the park where she ran regularly. As runners and moms of running daughters ourselves here in the San Diego area, this story touched us deeply! Chelsea's family has started a foundation Chelsea's Light in her memory and a local running club 10 Mile Wednesday has organized a "Run for Chelsea - Take Back the Park" on March 20th at Lake Hodges.

In memory of Chelsea RunningSkirts is donating 100% of the proceeds from all sales of our Orange Running Skirts (Chelsea's fave color) to Chelsea's Light foundation. Please join us in hopefully turning this horrible tragedy into hope and the fight against crimes and criminals of this nature.

Our hearts & prayers go out to Chelsea's friends and family in this very difficult time.

(all proceeds donated to Chelsea's Light)

Desert Triathlon, Lake Cahuilla, CA

2010-03-09T13:27:00.016-05:00

This weekend was the much-anticipated triathlon debut of "Lance Fallstrong" and "Greg Landswrong" - the running skirts husbands as they tackled their first triathlons.

How did the running skirts husbands garner such clever nicknames you ask? Well, here's the cliff's notes version:

Hubbies decided to take on the multifaceted & challenging sport of Triathlon!
Hubbies bought themselves shiny fancy-schmancy (lance armstrong and greg lamond worthy bikes for Christmas)
Wives purchased hubbies first triathlon entries for hubbies for Christmas
Hubbies took several rather embarassing, yet hilarious tumbles while learning to ride new bikes in bike shoes
Wifes concocted nicknames "Lance Fallstrong" and "Greg Landswrong" over a glass of vino one night....accompanied with belly aching laughter and happy crying and a post on facebook with their photos in their "dedunt-dedunts" as we affectionately refer to their skin-tight cycling outfits.

Right, now onto the race report!

We were looking forward to a weekend in the desert with no racing pressure of our own as well the promise of a brand new location for our long runs (don't get me wrong, our rancho santa fe trails are awesome, but after back to back repeated long runs over the last several weeks, new scenery is in order!). We stayed at a family friendly resort in Rancho Mirage called Rancho Las Palmas which was ideal for the kiddos. They had an absolute blast playing in the massive pool complete with sandy beach, winding water slides and a lazy river that ran around the resort. We were all in unanimous agreement that what seemed as a pricey room rate was actually money very well spent as it not only entertained the kids completely and kept them busy swimming and playing (they need their cardio too), but it also brought them to the dinner table each night completely subdued (physically spent) which made for wonderful relaxing poolside days and great relaxing dinners complete with uninterrupted adult conversation and actual enjoyment of a good bottle of vino too!

Early Saturday, before the families woke up, Christy & I scouted out the great "palm desert" trail system and headed out for a 2 hour long run. We made our way along a trail next to a canal and quickly found our way onto the Hopalong Cassidy trail. It was a gorgeous sunny and clear morning and the view from the top of the trails were amazing. We even spotted a few road runners (for real) and quickly attempted to snap a few photos. Unfortunately the road runners lived up to their reputation (and like the classic cartoon) "meepmeep" and they were gone...too fast for our cell phone cams.

Long run done, we made our way back to the resort on weary legs and found the families already poolside having another great time! The hubbies were chomping at the bit to get to the race expo and pick up their packets, etc. The nerves & pre-race jitters were starting to emerge! It was a nice change to be sipping on a pool side refreshment while the guys ran out to pick up the race packets for a chance. We had to chuckle as they departed and looked at us with puppy dog expression and said "are you guys sure you don't want to go to the tri expo (you know how we love our expos) and leave the relaxing bliss of the sunshine warming our poolside bodies behind, we're gonna have to pass on this one". And then they were gone......for hours!

Dinner that night was again more peaceful and relaxing than the previous night and we all headed back to the hotel for an early night's sleep in preparation for the early start of the Desert Triathlon. We headed out at 5:00 a.m. to beat the traffic to Lake Cahuilla. Greg Landswrong (cindy's hubby) was doing the sprint distance and his race started first. It was a crisp cool morning without much wind but had the potential for rain. The Sprint tri went off without a hitch, and the hubby did a great job, out of the swim in the first half of the pack & by the time he got off the bike, we was in the top 20. He lost his position a bit on the run portion, but still finished in the top 30 and took 2nd place Age group - woohoo! As he was finishing the run portion, "Lance Fallswrong" took off in the International distance. He also did awesome! He was in the first 20 out of the water, lost a little positioning on the bike and then rocked the 10k in 38 minutes. .....which brought him in 11th place in the run and completed the entire triathlon in a downpour of rain! Way to go boys!

The Desert Tri was a great event - very well organized! The guys are already plotting and planning their next tris! It's great watching them become motivated to train harder and get faster, but with that said - it can be challenging now that we are juggling training schedules and kiddie patrol. At the same time, we are excited that our children are getting exposed to multiple sports and fitness activities and can't wait to watch them in their first "iron kids" race soon!

26.2 with Donna Breast Cancer Marathon Jacksonville Beach

2010-03-03T22:03:00.006-05:00

I've been super excited about my first visit to Jacksonville, Florida and the 26.2 with Donna - breast cancer marathon. The weekend was filled with tears, laughs & great times! We've been looking forward to participating in this event all year. As an avid supporter of the fight against breast cancer, we were excited to be an participant in this years event. After expo set up on thursday evening, I squeezed in a brief treadmill workout in the hotel gym. While I was hopping on the treadmill in the new hot pink polka dot running skirt, I was greeted by a young woman on the treadmill next to me. She said a quick hello and mentioned that she was in town for the 26.2 with donna event and we chatted about the upcoming weekend. Soon, I learned that she was recovering from a double masectomy from 2 weeks prior! She was so inspired by Donna's story and her perseverance in the fight against cancer, she booked a flight from her current residence in Rochester, Minnesota (she's undergoing treatment at the Mayo Clinic up there) in hopes of meeting Donna herself at the expo the following day. We had a great "dreadmill" visit, she was walking while I jogged and she told me her story about learning she had breast cancer and being left by her boyfriend immediately after he heard the news. It was very disturbing and even after I returned to my room later that evening, I couldn't get her out of my mind. Meeting her really brought the whole weekend and purpose into perspective, and Donna's race slogan "finish cancer" really hit home!

We had a great time at the race expo! The Smile Stylist stopped by the booth on Saturday with his beautiful family who wholeheartedly embraced the spirit of the race by donning their own pinkalicious plaid running skirts! They guys who participated in this event were amazing, whether it was in honor of a spouse, friend or family member battling breast cancer, we had at least 5 or 6 guys sporting the pink skirts out on the course on race day!

Robin (our Florida sales rep) and myself had a great time working the skirt booth and enjoyed meeting all the runners and hearing their stories and why they were running. The expo was amazing - lots of great girly girl buys to be made, unfortunately for us, the skirt booth kept us too busy to shop!

Race day started early - had to catch the bus at a jacksonville hotel in the wee morning hours (5:00 a.m.-5:30 a.m.), it was chilly too! I made the mistake of not wearing my cozy warmups or any throwaways, so I was shivering as we stood in line waiting for the shuttle bus to take us to the start line. I have to admit though that I was super excited about my pinkalicious outfit - the new pink plaid running skirt paired with our new "love line" long sleeve tech shirt complete with reflective hot pink heart on the sleeve, finished off with my hot pink newton racers of course. I've never been so happy to get on a race bus before...aaah the heat was a heavenly reprieve from the freezing morning temperatures (in the low 30s). The start line area was great - lots of vendors, bag check, coffee, refreshments and booths to keep the runners busy while we all waited for the call to line up. The also walked the runners out to the starting area in a very organized fashion, slower to faster so that the race participants were lined up without corrals. After my group was lead to the front of the starting area, I decided it'd be a good idea to warm up. After about a mile or so of easy jogging, I realized I just wasn't going to warm up in these temps, and found my way back to the starting line. Donna gave a great motivating send off followed by the national anthem and then with a pretty explosion of pink confetti, we were off!

I knew going into this race, my legs were dead tired from a previous week of airplane travel, and standing at the expo booth, so my plan was to go out at medium pace and see how I felt after 3-4 miles. As we approached the 2nd mile I was recognized Joan Benoit Samuelson as she came up beside me. I congratulated her on her amazing half marathon at Toronto International Marathon back in October and we chatted for a mile or two. (She ran 1:22 in toronto - amazing!) I realized as the pace was getting faster, that I'd have to let Joan move on as her pace was going to be too aggressive for my legs this day. I told her so in as many words and wished her a great race and watched in amazement as she sped ahead into the distance.

Now that the sun had reason, it was getting warmer out and it turned out to be a perfectly sunny race day. I was starting to warm up finally, but my legs weren't feeling energetic in the least. I was wondering where I'd bump into the hubby and little guy and promised myself it was going to be a better race than Carlsbad. The course was nice, while presenting a few challenges of the arch bridge and then the 2 miles of running on the sandy beach, fairly flat and scenic. Right as I made the turn onto the beach portion of the run, I spotted the hubby and little guy on the side of the course. I gave them a quick wave as I turned the corner and then I hit the sand. The wheels came off the bus at this point (in hindsight my mile splits were significantly slower in this portion). While advertised as hard packed sand, I found I had a really tough time getting traction in the loose sand I was becoming quite exerted! I think this was the point where I could not longer see Joan's silouette bounding along ahead of me, and now the gap between me and the girl in front of me was increasing. After our sandy stretch, I was so grateful to be making the "half marathon" turn and felt genuinely sorry for the marathon runners that had to continue down the sandy beach further.

As we made the turn and headed back to the start I was feeling ok and holding my pace. I knew we had to get back over that arch bridge and the thought of it was daunting. I tried to stay relaxed and hold my pace and chugged along all the while thinking of my friend on the treadmill and how lucky I was to be blessed with my health and wonderful family. The miles seemed to go by a little quicker on the way back in and before I knew it I was making my way back over the arch bridge and headed down and around the corner to the finish. I was excited to hear from spectators 5th women, as I neared the finish and picked up the pace a bit to hold my position. My legs have never been happier to cross a finish line, wow that last climb over the bridge was brutal! After exchanging congrats with the finisher ahead of me, I caught up with Joan again and learned she had finished in 1:25 - amazing! When I grow up and am running in my 50s I want to be just like her! :o)











Race Results:

Open Women
 4155     1    1 W50  Joan Benoit-Samuelson, 52, UsA           45:13     1:25:43    1:25:39    6:32
3014     2    2 W35  Sarah Raitter, 37, Reno, NV              44:21     1:27:59    1:27:56    6:43
3029     3    3 W35  Julie Breuer, 37, Jacksonville, FL        46:03     1:28:20    1:28:17    6:44
3452     4    4 W25  Libby Bergman, 27, Saint Augustine, FL    46:26     1:29:07    1:29:04    6:48
3526     5    5 W35  Cindy Lynch, 38, Cardiff Bythe Sea, CA    46:21     1:29:20    1:29:17    6:49

My splits (all over the place):
6:42
6:28
6:38
6:34
6:37
6:56
7:13
6:48
6:56
6:48
6:57
7:01
6:38

More race photos here!

Running Skirts Store Grand Opening

2010-02-03T23:48:00.008-05:00

Whew - it's been a crazy busy work week - lots of exciting news in skirt world! All the grand opening prep & festivities provided a much-needed distraction from the less-than-stellar Carlsbad race last week!

Now that we are into our 5th year in the business, it was a natural progression to open a beautiful boutique for our local customers to shop. No longer do our local skirt fans have to maneuver the shipping box mountains and rolling rack obstacles in the "skirt mines" in order to pick out a new skirt, make a quick gift exchange or purchase. With our new expansion and storefront renovation, now there's a pinkalicious fitness boutique we now affectionately refer to in the skirt mines as "the happy place" to shop in.

The grand opening was awesome! Ultima sports drink was on site serving up there oh-so-yummy "ultima-tinis", Bart Yasso stopped by for a book signing, even the mayor was on hand for this skirtactular celebration. One more ultima-tini and we would have had him in a skirt too!

Check out the photos below!

Our guest of honor, Bart Yasso was the first to walk the hot pink carpet....he walked in in jeans!

And came out in a running skirt!

That's what happens when you visit Running Skirts - our unique boutique for the stylish athlete! Our super comfy & cute skirts are irresistable!

Meet the San Diego running skirts team!
From left to right (Honorary Skirt Brook (Ultima), Rachel, Louise, Christy, Becca, Cindy, Pam & Katri!)

Be sure to stop by and say hello and check out the new digs @ 676 2nd Street in Encinitas, CA (1 block west of the new Encinitas Whole Foods building). In addition to our Running Skirt line, we are carrying all our favorite running & fitness products... Spira shoes, Newton shoes, Sweaty Bands (non-slip headbands), The Stick and other must-have fitness products like (chocolove chocolate bars). You can even pick up an autographed copy of Kathrine Switzer's book "Marathon Woman"...keep us in mind when you are looking for a great place to pick out a gift for the favorite running or fitness nut in your life. Stop by and say Hi - we promise it will be like no other athletic store experience you've had! Don't forget to check out the "skirt-envy" pinups in our powder room!

Carlsbad Marathon, Half Marathon & Kids Mile 2010

2010-01-26T22:04:00.006-05:00

Louise, Dave & little Speedy make their way through legoland!

Marathon Madison rocks the keebler kids mile at legoland!

Here's a group shot of the under 4 year old heat of the mile race!

When people ask me to recommend a marathon in San Diego and they've already done' the Rock n Roll race, I always recommend the Carlsbad marathon. It is by far one of the prettiest ocean view courses I've ever run! The last time I ran this half marathon was 2 years ago right after my little one was born and I remember it being one tough welcome back half! I remembered it being pretty hilly and quite challenging. Christy assured me that it would all be different this time since we have been training and in fairly decent half marathon shape. I agreed with her that it definitely would be better this go-round.

We were just coming down from a few back to back high mileage weeks (we had run an 18 miler in the hills of rancho santa fe on sunday) and have been running decent hill runs during our 10 mile wednesday group runs too, so we were pretty confident that the race would go fairly smoothly.

As the gun went off, we took off gunning for our goal paces and charged up the first mile which is mostly uphill. Normally it takes a few miles to get everything warmed up and get into the groove, only this time....that never seemed to happen. By mile three, I knew it was going to be a tough race. The legs felt like stumps. I wasn't really winded or breathing hard, and I felt pretty relaxed and all, but my legs....oh boy were they heavy. I chugged along and slowly counted down the miles: 6:40, 6:22, 6:46, 6:36, 6:48 (uh-oh), 6:45, 6:54 (uh-uh-oh), 6:48, 6:51, 6:56, 7:28 (family stop), 7:04, 6:47! I was hoping to have my splits closer to the 6:30s, but as you can see the hills and my heavy legs just didn't get me at that pace.

One of my favorite boosts (especially during a tough race) is seeing my family on the sidelines. I new the hubby and little guy were out there somewhere and I was looking for them. I missed them the first time around mile 4 or so - but here's a few shots they got. I did hear some great shout outs along the course and spotted the cheering squad from 10 mile wednesdays! Thanks guys! Shortly after I made the turnaround, I spotted Christy and started screaming go go go. She heard me and met my gaze with a blatant thumbs down gesture while sticking out her tongue. I recognized this expression as "don't expect me to be making any PR's today and don't be waiting for me!" (we twins do that you know - read each others minds) Oh no - she was having a bad race too!

At mile 10 on the way back in, I finally spotted the hubby and my little cheerleader. I gratefully met their open arms and scooped up my little grinning & cheering cherub. I gave the hubby a hug and kiss and he pulled me away and looked me in the eye and said "What the heck is wrong with you?!" While he enjoyed the affection, he recognized this as very odd behavior coming from his normal competitive spouse. I told him in as many words "I'm dyin out here!", set down my little man and off I went hoping the little pitstop gave me a little breather and a little more wind in my sails. The wind never came and I found myself walking a few steps through the next few aid stations and wanting to sit down on the curb and rest my sobbing head in my hands paula-style. Honestly, I can say I've never wanted to quit a race until this moment. I was depleted and the roctane gus just weren't working today. While I felt like my pace was slowing by the minute, I counted down the last 2 miles.

With one mile to go and headed up yet another hill, a kind girl came up beside me and said "come on let's go!" I remember thinking to myself...."Hey- those are my lines! I'm normally doing the pep talking and now the pep-ee. I mustered up just enough energy to tuck in behind her and chug my way over the last overpass around the bend and in the final stretch. As we rounded the corner to the finish, I picked up the pace and tried to finish strong. WHEW - thanking God the whole time for getting me there at last!

I waited at the finish line and met Christy and a fellow 10 mile wednesday member "Jimbo" at the finish (Jimbo ran a smoking fast 3 hour-something marathon - superstah!). I put the medal around Christy's neck and we pretty much commiserated about our lousy races all the way to the sidelines. She relayed an almost identical recount of her crappy race and told me how she stopped and picked up my baby and mile 10 and asked my hubby for a ride back to the finish. He looked at her and said "Your sister just said the exact same thing...what's wrong with you guys today?!".

After discussing our race and our training leading up to the half marathon, we concluded that the moderate 18 miles of horse trails in Rancho Sante Fe the week prior probably wasn't exactly condusive to our race plans today. Oh well, live and learn. We've got Surf City Marathon in 2 weeks to hopefully seek a little redemption. Hope to see you there!

Disney Marathon Weekend 2010

2010-01-10T08:00:00.002-05:00

The Happiest Place on Ice....oops - we mean The Happiest Place on Earth!
Congrats to all the skirts that braved the icy temps in Orlando and finished the Disney Half Marathon, 5k, Marathon and Goofy Challenge. We tip our mouse ears to ya all! Whew! was it ever cccccold!

We've been looking forward to this trip all year and planned to bring along our families as a bit of a mid-winter holiday getaway. It's the perfect scenario, Christy & I working the skirt booth while the running skirt hubbies & kiddies enjoy the Disney Parks. Little did we know we would be flying them straight into one of Florida's rare cold snaps....sans coats. That's right - not a lot of warm & fuzzy sub zero clothing needed here in San Diego. Our kids were virtually popscicles in the parks....but they were the happiest popscicle kids we've ever seen visiting Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot, etc. We had to admire the resourcefulness of Christy's daughter "marathon madison" who took her mom literally when she advised her to "wear everything that you have" when asked how to dress for the chilly temps. We were doubled over with laughter that evening at the dinner table when she demonstrated her 9 layers (tee shirts) that she had on. She literally put on everything in her suitcase. :0)

We had a great time at the Disney Events....the expo was awesome, deals galore! It was so much fun chatting with all the runners and meeting more of our loyal running skirt customers. Congrats to all you expecting runners who stopped by to scoop up our new fit momma maternity running skirts and the new maternity long sleeve tech top. Congrats on your healthy pregnancies!

We will have photos soon....Looking forward to returning for the next Disney Marathon event!

Oasis Montreal Marathon, Half Marathon and 10k

2009-10-05T20:55:00.006-04:00

Montreal is my favorite Canadian City. It will always hold a special place near my heart, maybe it's the European charm, (or maybe because it's where my husband and I fell madly in love with each other)...or Both! Either way, I was thrilled to be making the Running Skirts debut at the Oasis Montreal Marathon expo.

A shot of the boy along the riverfront in Old Montreal

Since the hubby was away on work travel of his own, I was lucky to have the company of grandma who flew out from California to hang with me and the boy in Montreal....Hooray for Grandma! I was also quite lucky to have the company of our speedy skirt Josiane (still recovering from her injury at Quebec city 2 weeks prior) and also Annie and Isabelle from the Quebec City Marathon as my skirtthusiast french translators in the booth. Great times had by all in the running skirt booth! Or should I say "Jupe de la course"!

After running the half marathon in Oakville the prior week, I decided I was going to opt to run the 10k on Sunday. I was feeling pretty good post half marathon race and hoping to PR the 10k if all systems were a go. Upon consult with expert Josiane, I was informed that the course was not flat, but instead pretty challenging with a big uphill climb toward the last half of the course.

On race day, again we were blessed with great weather cool, yet not rainy or windy thankfully. I met some fellow skirts in the subway and we chatted our way to the start line location. I got there nice and early and had plenty of time for a good warmup and some strides before the gun went off. It was a crowded start and I quickly lost track of the women ahead of me, but tried to maintain a good pace and close the gap between myself the the next women ahead of me.

I passed a few ladies at about the 5k mark and wondered if that was a smart decision knowing that the dreaded climb was still ahead and once again, wondering if they knew something that I didn't about this course. Once I arrived at the top of the hill, I felt pretty strong and picked the pace back up and I began my journey to the Olympic Stadium finish line. The next women ahead of me was nowhere in sight! She had a great lead! All I could think about was finishing strong and greeting my mom & son at the finish line. My mom has only seen me run a few other races, but this would be the first podium finish she'd witnessed. Aw...a proud moment for me - proud that I could make her proud that is!

The Montreal Marathon course finishes in the Olympic Stadium - the last 200 or so meters is run on Stadium track - very cool. As I entered the stadium and approached the finish I heard my name over the loud speaker along with "dosieme femme" (second woman).

Here are my splits: 5:52, 6:09, 6:18, 6:39, 6:17, 6:04 - finish time 38:31 woohoo a new 10k PR!

Photo after I crossed the finish line

Podium award ceremony

Getting my silver medal from Bruny Surin, Gold Medal Olympic sprinter in the 4x100. Bruny has his own clothing and supplement line and was in the booth next to Running Skirts at the expo. As he put the medal around my neck he exclaimed a bit surprised "Hey! you are the skirt girl - great job!". (I think it surprises a lot of people that we Christy & I actually run the events after working the expos!) We truly are blessed to have our careers and our passion be one in the same.

Here's a great shot of one of our running skirt customers crossing the finish line on the jumbo tron!

Congrats to all the finishers of the Oasis Montreal Marathon, Half Marathon, 10k, 5k & kids marathon!

Canada Army Run

2009-09-21T08:08:00.002-04:00

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Finally - it's here....Army Run Weekend and......Skirt Camp Running Skirts!

We designed this fabulous new digital camo print with the Army Run and Marine Corps Marathon in mind. We were inspired by the high tech digi camo of our soldiers own uniforms and created our own digital camoflage print complete with our digital running girls logo in hot pink. The outcome....a very tough, yet feminine hot new skirt print! Wait, it gets better! 15% of all the sales from this new "skirt camp" line benefit wounded soldiers and their families! What a great way to show your surport of our trops and look at feel great at the same time!

Our skirts were unveiled on The A Channel Weedend Edition in Ottawa before the expo openend. It was a great way to launch the new line and announce that sales would benefit the Soldier On and Military Families Fund. The Army Run Half Marathon sold out quickly again this year - this is the 2nd year for this event and the numbers are growing! It was great to meet all the soldiers and servicemen & women at the Expo. So many camo running skirts were out on the course.

The race was fantastic! As I was lining up for the half start, I shared some words of encouragement to awesome amputee runner Rick Ball (we was going for another world record, this time the half marathon distance - he needed to beat 1:21:46). We lined up behind the row of soldiers for the national anthem and then we were off.

It was a great race! Tons of fun and it was great to see all the runners out showing their support to our military members! It was a sunny day, yet not too warm and the course was fairly flat out and back along the Rideau Canal to Hog's Back Road, Dow's Lake Pavillion and back. My legs weren't feeling too fresh after the previous 3 weeks of races, and I struggled to maintain my pace. The crowd support was awesome especially in the final stretch.

Check out the cool dog tag medals!

Rick Ball finished strong in 1:20:44 nabbing yet another world record! What an inspiration event.

Special thanks to our troops & their families for all that they do! Can't wait for 2010 Army Run!

Oakville Half Marathon and 10k

2009-09-08T08:00:00.001-04:00

After a hard 10k effort at Quebec City Marathon last weekend, I wasn't sure I was ready to tackle the 13.1 mile distance. After all, my last half marathon was several months ago at the Mississauga Marathon post Boston in early May. I decided, if nothing else, I'd get in a long run since it'd been a while since I'd covered the distance and I could use a challenging workout. I was a bit excited about running a race without expo-leg-a-citis (tired leg condition from working expos and long days of standing on hard cold cement in the skirt booth). We had a short event on Saturday in Ottawa at the Canadian Triathlon and Running Event and a bit of a car ride back to Toronto from Ottawa, but other than that, the legs were pretty rested.

It was a great day sunny, yet not too warm in Oakville. I did a quick warmup with Michelle and then headed to the start line where I met up with Arma and Andrew. I shared with them my race plan to go out strong and try to hold on to my pace as long as I could. (I ran a 1:26 something half marathon exactly a year ago at Disneyland Half Marathon and was hoping to better that time by a minute if I could). I knew in order to do that, I would have to run a 6:30 mile pace which was a bit more agressive than my hilly 10k pace from the week prior. I was confident the first half would be easy on the flat course, but as for the 2nd half...I was certain there would be some pain & serious concentration necessary in order to hold the pace.

The gun went off and so did the pack...quite fast...especially the 1:30 pace bunny (more on that later). I sprinted out of the gates and quickly reined myself in and back to my planned pace....mile 1 - 6:24, mile 2 - 6:19 (oops a bit fast), as I settled back into my race pace I was distracted by a guy on a bike that kept cycling up near me, then falling back and then back up on my right. I was wondering to myself what he was doing and why he wasn't falling back to watch for people in need of aid, or move ahead and help with course marshaling, etc. Mile 3 - 6:27 still on pace and then guy-on-bike started talking to me. I looked over and recognized him immediately - it was Pete from Boston! Pete was one of the fellow Boston runners that shared our wonderfully warm, dry & cozy bus ride on the way out to Hopkington startline of the Boston Marathon. (He's a super fast marathoner and had just finished an ironman the week prior and is planning to pace 5 consecutive marathons leading up to a final sub 3 hour race at the Hamilton Marathon.) As I started chatting with Pete I realized (duh - he's a volunteer and a pace bike - the placard on the front of his bike read "2nd female". (yes, I'm a rookie at this and not used to being in the front of the pack...thanks for staying home today all you elite girls!) We chatted a bit and he informed me that I was currently in 2nd place with a pretty good lead over 3rd. Mile 4 - 6:34. I asked him about the course and he said it was flat as a pancake and I tried to relax and stay focus. It was great chatting with Pete - a bit of a distraction that kept me relaxed and made the kms go by faster. I remember giving him a hard time as we rounded the corner and faced a bit of a hill at mile 5- 6:43...I was a little discouraged by the incline but charged ahead trying to hold the pace...It was one of those sneaky little race course inclines that seem to go on forever. Thankfully pace bunny Pete kept me distracted with small talk until the hill was finally behind me.

All along I was also wondering if my garmin was deceiving me because the 1:30 pace bunny was about 200-600 meters in front of me the whole time. I wondered to myself, does this pace bunny know something about the course that I don't? Is he planning to go out fast and the slow down for some unforeseen challenges on the back half? I knew what my splits needed to be for a 1:25 half, and he was way ahead of me...I was taunted by the 1:30 bunny ears for the next few miles and I honestly convinced myself that my garmin must be off and that I was probably running too slow.

(me with pace bunny pete on the back half)

At about the 14k point ( if my memory serves me), we were closing the gap on 1:30 pace bunny (who was now running all alone)....as when his lead was reduced to about 100 meters we saw him remove his ears and tuck them into his back pocket.... I exchanged puzzled looks with pace bike Pete and asked him "Are pace bunnies supposed to quit?" and continued to close the gap. A moment later I passed 1:30 pace bunny and couldn't resist but ask him "A little fast aren't you?" He quickly retorted "only a minute or so".

I continued to plod along now starting to feel a bit of exertion and beginning to wonder when this 6:30ish pace bubble would pop....and then another friend from the Boston Bus approached on his bike. We exchanged hellos and I think he snapped a photo and shouted some great words of encouragement and then he was off to check on another comrade in the pack. At this point, I realized I was starting to close in on the lead female and it looked like I might actually catch her. It was about 13-14k into the race at this point when I was surprised by my hubby and son that had maneuvered their way to this point in the course. I wasn't expecting to see them and it was a nice surprise. I think my hubby was equally as surprised to see me being accompanied by the bike pacer in 2nd place. It was perfect timing and gave me just the boost I needed to push myself to give a little more.

With about 6k to go, I passed the first female and pushed on. I tried to pick up the pace a little and get a good strong lead, but wasn't sure if she was going make another charge or not.....again, this was all new & unchartered running waters for me. At this point I parted paths with Pete the Pacer and met a new kind man on a bike with the placard that read "1st Female". Unfortunately, I was too winded to carry on much of a conversation at this point, but grateful for his company nonetheless. I counted down the last 5k of the race which seemed to take an eternity and thought about my husband and son at the finish line and how proud I would make them if I actually won the race. As my legs and lungs screamed, I reminded myself that this was probably a once in a lifetime chance and that a little bit of pain would be so worth the victory and accomplisment of a new personal best half marathon time. (There's nothing worse than finishing a race with a little extra energy in the tank and wondering what coulda shoulda been). I committed to give it my all and tried to hold onto the pace. As I rounded the corner and started approaching the park of the finish line with 1k to go I had stretched my lead out to a nice comfortable distance and it started to sink in that I was actually going to get a PR in the half marathon and win the race! I'll never forget the feeling of accomplishment as I looked up at the time clock, broke through the tape while hearing the cheers of the crowd....woohoo a great race indeed & a course record for women!

Mile Splits:
6:24, 6:19, 6:27, 6:34, 6:43, 6:35, 6:20,6:27, 6:27, 6:27, 6:26, 6:16, 6:28
Finish time 1:25:25 - a new course record!

Sweet victory - I get my name engraved on this trophy....I wanted to keep it!

Me and the super duper fast Pedrag sharing the victory trophy (or was it tug-o-war?)
Congrats to speedy skirt Arma for a great race! Nice way to get a PB during your "Training Run" too Michelle!

Top 10 womens:
name gun chip km pace
LYNCH CINDY 1:25:25.7 25:25.7 4:03
SHARLENE COBAIN 1:27:43.3 27:40.4 4:10
JULIE CUMMINGS 1:31:26.5 31:22.0 4:21
CHRISTINE ROSS 1:34:25.8 34:18.9 4:29
CATHERINE KELLY 1:34:54.0 34:49.6 4:30
VICTORIA UPSHAW 1:36:40.0 36:37.0 4:35
ARMA AFSAR 1:36:47.8 36:40.9 4:36
NICOLE OKO 1:38:37.2 38:19.0 4:41
SHARON PAPADIMITRIOU 1:38:57.7 38:40.2 4:42
KARI VAN CAMP 1:39:09.2 39:04.6 4:42

Michelle (my warmup buddy today)

ouch - bet he's not smiling later when he hits the shower!

Special thanks to all those customers & volunteers who cheered "go running skirt lady!" along the course - it's those words of encouragement that help me dig down and push my physical limits.

Congrats to all those who ran the Oakville races!

Quebec City Marathon, Half Marathon & 10k 2009

2009-08-30T17:00:00.001-04:00

Our skirt calendar is over booked this weekend....Disneyland Half Marathon, Chocolate Half Marathon and the Quebec City Marathon, Half Marathon and 10k!

Here's a few highlights and photos from the weekend in Quebec City!

Our "speedy skirt" Josiane Oboungono and Cindy in the skirt booth at the Quebec City Marathon Expo. Josiane was back in Quebec City to defend her reigning half marathon champion title....this would be win #5.

View from the Marathon Reception

(shot from the finish line stretch)

Race day was a bit chilly & wet. We took the bus out to the 10k start and huddled in the covered shelter until the start time approached. This is a very well organized events, lots of porta potties, refreshments and entertainment (listed in order of my own priority, haha).

I still conquer that Quebec City marathon hosts the most beautiful course that I've ever run. If' you've never run or visited Quebec City, I highly recommend adding it to you "must run" bucket list! Don't get me wrong, the course can present it's share of challenges....it is hilly and sometimes you get a bit of a headwind on the second half running back along the river toward the finish line. But the views along the way are well worth the suffering!

Sharing the podium with the other 10k winners.
gun time chip time pace/km 5k

ANDREE-ANNE DUMONT

38:51.1

3:54

19:14

ANGELICA MARTINEZ

39:20.4

39:18.9

3:57

19:14

CINDY LYNCH

39:50.8

39:50.3

4:00

19:47

Unfortunately our speedy skirt Josiane had a pre-existing injury flare up during the race, yet still limped in to take 3rd women in the half marathon. Congrats goes out to super mom Krista Duchene for another great race and victory! We wish Josiane a speedy recovery!

Running in Manhattan Central Park

2009-08-24T18:08:00.008-04:00

We took a trip down to NYC this weekend for a little R&R (can you R&R in the city?). We had a great time checking out the latest in fall fashion and visiting all the local Manhattan specialty running stores. One of the (ahem) giant athletic companies is now selling polka dot skirts.....wow, while aggravating, it is also quite flattering to see this famous international athletic company following our design lead!

Unfortunately I could not find any running events in nyc this weekend, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that they actually close park avenue from the Central Park all they way to the Brooklyn Bridge every other weekend in the summer for runners & cyclists to allow them a safe place to workout and with cleaner air. It's called NYC Summer Streets - and it's every Saturday in the month of August from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. - Very cool!

Sunday, I headed to Central park for my long run. They hubby rented a bike with a baby seat and kept me company on my double loop around the outside of the park (12 miles total). It was another warm and quite humid day - I think I probably sweated a few pounds in water. Central Park is such a great place for runners - nothing like doing your long run with thousands of others on any given weekend day with convenient refreshment vendors.....water, gatorade, popsicle, etc. a marathon runners oasis! (They would make a killing if they added Gu & sport beans and Ultima replenisher to their offerings!). We had to bribe the baby a bit by the second loop around the park - he was getting tired of his backseat view of daddy's rump.....a chocolate & vanilla Hagen daaz did the trick. However, I think more of it ended up on the hubby' running shorts than in baby's mouth. I decided not to tell hubby what was going on in the backseat with the ever-melting ice cream until after the run. Central park is a great place for training - there are some great rolling hills that would also work for hill repeats. The loop around the resevoir is my favorite - great cityscape views from one side of the loop. Saw lots of NYRR jerseys and some other training groups along the route. No doubt in the midst of New York Marathon Training which is now only a few months away.

We "heart" NY! See you in November!

Skirt Envy Contest Running Skirts

2009-08-24T18:01:00.002-04:00

We launched our new Skirt Envy Contest at America's Finest City Half Marathon last weekend - oh what a fun expo that made. Here's the deal - bring your man by the RunningSkirt booth at any Skirt Envy event (check out our calendar here) and get him to try on a skirt and pose for a skirt shot and you'll get 15% off your running skirt purchase. Get this, if he's a manly man (military, construction, or can drop and give us 20) we'll up that discount to 20% Check out the photos from the first Skirt Envy event - ladies, lock up your skirts!

Check out the skirt envy contest pics Enjoy!

Island Girl 10k Toronto Island

2009-08-24T17:08:00.003-04:00

Autographed Book & prize basket for 2nd place

Last week was our first event as a sponsor of Multisport Canada Running Series. This new all womens' run series hosts all womens events on Toronto Island and Wasaga Beach. The island girl 10k was a great event from start to finish. My start was at about 6:00 a.m. as I drove down to the vehicle loading dock for the ferry to Hanlan's Point. This was my first experience of being in a vehicle on a ferry - I actually drove my car onto the ferry and sat in the drivers seat at the front of the boat as we traversed the lake over to Hanlan's point. Then I drove off and around the island to the start/finish area of the race to set up the skirt tent.

It was a beautiful, but quite warm & humid day and luckily - rain free. I had a great time working the skirt booth and chatting with all the loyal skirt fans that stopped by to check out the new skirt gear. Most of our speedy skirts (Josiane, Aynadis, Judika, etc) were over at the Beamsville Bench 5k race - part of the Niagara Running Series (that we also sponsor) since they are in the running for top placings in series. I decided that I might as well run the race since I needed a workout (it was saturday after all) and I could tell it would be an awesome course. The race went off at 10:30 a.m. and I quickly crafted a sign that said "Out Running, Be Back Soon!" and then abandoned the skirt tent temporarily just in time to toe the start line. I normally like to do a 20 minute or so warmup before 5 & 10k races, but this time - my warm up was the 200 meters from the skirt booth over to the start line.

And then we were off.....I took off a little under a 6 minute pace following a very speedy one in front of me and quickly drew in the reigns. Since I've been recovering from the arch strain, I haven't been doing any speed work at all so I knew this was going to be a tough run - especially in the heat (it was about 35c (90f) and 80% humidity. I took it down to between 6 and 6:30 pace as I watched the speedy girl increase the distance between us - after the 1-2k mark she was nowhere to be seen.

Whew - it was hot - there wasn't a lot of shade on the course and I was feeling the humidity. As a California native, I used to train with the Fleet Feet Sacramento racing team in the warm Sacramento summer weather (could get into the triple digits), but it's a dry heat there. Humidity is humbling.....it's almost like trying to breath underwater, above ground and does a number on the heartrate and core body temperature. So, yeah, it was hot...and lonely out there and it was tough to talk myself through the last half of the race. It was a beautiful and flat course around the island though - great city & lake views and a well marked course. I made sure to douse myself at each water stop to try to cool down a bit. I maintained my pace to the best of my ability and prayed for the finish line to appear. Finally - as I made my way down the finish line stretch I spotted the speedy girl about 100 yards from the finish - she was congratulating me on my run (she was already comfortably positioned among the other spectators at this time).

I got some fluids in me and doused myself again and thanked the organizers for a wonderful race course and then headed back to congratulate speedy girl on my way back to the booth. Turns out - her name is Megan Brown and she is one of Canada's fastest middle-distance runners and one of Canada's top prospects for 5000 meters event at the 2012 Olympics in England. She finished a full 4 minutes in front of me 35:59! Way to go Megan! I chatted with her briefly after the race on my way back to the skirt booth and she told me about her athlete training business. She mentioned that she trains with the Brooks Marathon group in High park and also at UofT Track.

I made my way back to the skirt booth in time to start welcoming all the "skirts" back in from the run. It is so much fun chatting with the runners and hearing their race experiences. I especially love the ones that tried their new running skirts out for the first time during the race! I love the "I told you so's" that I get to repeat over and over again as each new skirt convert comes back to report and rave about how extremely cool and comfortable her new skirt was.

Best Race Bag ever! Click to zoom in and check it out!

There are too many highlights about this event to list them all, but here are some of the top:

* each women gets "lei'd" at the finish line - beatiful leis in lieu of medals

* best race bag ever (had full size mac eyeshadow, loose face powder, gover girl eye shadow compact, cute heart shaped mirrored compact,secret antiperspirant and more)

* great powder blue & white tech tee race shirt

* awesome steel drum band at the finish line

*great race prizes (aside from the free running skirts to top finishers of course, top winners & masters recieved amazing Fruits & Passion gift baskets and autographed womens book.

*wonderful beneficiary - "look good feel better" (assisting women with cancer)

This was my favorite race so far this summer - I highly recommend fitting it into your Toronto Running Event calendar for 2010! It will surely sell out quickly after word spreads about how well organized and fun this race is.

Will post a few pics as soon as I can. See you at the island girl next year!

Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon

2009-08-10T20:36:00.004-04:00

Running Skirts rock the Rock 'n' Roll Chicago half marathon! Oh, what a wonderful event in one of our favorite cities of all. We had a great time at the inaugural Chicago Rock 'n' Roll event. The expo was great - we had a blast meeting all of our Chicago area skirt fans. It was such a pleasure meeting you and seeing you all show up at our booth in your running skirt gear.

I had the pleasure of working the expo booth with Louise, a Chicago local and the newest member of the Skirt pack. We had a great time "skirting" all the ladies together. The funniest comment of the day was from a skirt convert who said "I don't know if I can wear a skirt to run....I have to run in my thong!". ?!? (And she was serious!)

For those of you who were quick to register (the event sold out months ago), not only did you get lucky enough to get a race entry and join the other thousands of runners, but you scored a beautiful clear sunny and wind free morning. I was one of the unfortunate many who didn't register in time.....Probably wouldn't have been the best of ideas anyhoo as I've been nursing a plantar strain in my right foot that struck post 5k races and in the middle of some hill sprint workouts. Instead of lining up with you "lucky ducky's" (as my 1.5 year old would say), I slept in & strolled up to the finish line Dunkin Donuts Cofee in hand and cheered on all the skirts!

What an amazing finish to see Kara Goucher win the race....yes, even the men! Goosebumps & Chills - what an amazing inspiration. You rock Kara - way to rock a "tune up" run. Looking forward to seeing more fantastic running at the world championships in a few weeks.

Congrats to all the finishers of this years Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon! Looking forward to returning to Chicago soon!

Magic Shoe 5k & High Heel Dash Newport Beach

2009-06-26T17:04:00.012-04:00

Three 5ks in 3 weeks - whew! That's one way to face your nemesis of distances.
After a week in San Diego at skirt headquarters and follow up to the tough Iron Girl 5k race, we decided to strap on our pumps (in hind sight they should have had straps), and line up at the Magic Shoe 5k & High Heel dash in Newport Beach. This is a very well organized event run by coach Bill Sumner of Corona Del Mar Track & Cross Country teams. There is a 5k event as well as a 100 meter "high heel dash". Luckily the 5k was the first event in the lineup.

A few days before the 5k race in Newport Beach, we hit up Nordies for the perfect pair of pumps. How does one pick out high heels for a race?

Hmmmm - we decided it was go big or go home, and went with the hot pink 4" stiletto numbers below.

Here's a shot of Cindy test-driving the pink stilettos - note the ladies reaction in the background.

The Running Skirts booth was rockin at the Corona Del Mar track on race morning! We barely had time for more than a 2 lap warm up on the track before we headed to the start line. After the somewhat disappointing / challenging 5k the week before in Del Mar, we were convinced to get PRs today.

I realized that I left my garmin behind at the house that morning and decided to just run on feel and hopefully catch the splits from a neighboring racer. There is definitely something to be said for racing without your garmin, I find that I always run better times without it. I think that not having the garmin on allows you to get out of your comfort zone and run on feel vs actual watch time. No garmin, means no distraction and time wasted on looking at your wrist when you should be focusing on maintaining good running form and running. That was my theory for Magic Shoe 5k and I was going with it.

I like to say the best thing about running a 5k race is that they are over quickly. Every time I race a 5k, I say "never again" until I cross the finish line and say whew - glad that's over....that was fun....I can run faster next time....let's do another 5k soon! (Isn't every race like that?) I normally like to get in a good warmup before 5k races along with some stretching and strides. Unfortunately, we didn't have the time for such a warm up today, and went straight from the skirt booth around the track and out to the start line. I tried to maintain what I thought was a good steady pace (remember - no garmin) and pass any female within range. The last 1k was utterly excruciating and I reminded myself to stay relaxed and that the end was near. I was thrilled to see the clock time as I entered the track for the last 200 meters of the race. I finished in a new personal best 18:08 time (woohoo) shaving 29 seconds off my last 5k from 2 weeks ago. Christy also finished strong just over 20 minutes - a big pr for her also. We ended up 7th and 20th women, and 2nd and 3rd place a/g in a very fast field of runners (one of which was uber-fast mother of 6 kids- Ceci St. Geme - I am quite proud of the fact that I finished 12 seconds ahead of her...! Ceci has always been an inspiration to me over the years of following her running career in addition to super mom to 6 (yes that's not a type) children - she's 46 and still running fast as ever! I account this big PR to not wearing my garmin and trying to keep up and stay in front of Ceci.

After the event we had a chance to chat with Ceci and I reminded her of a race I saw her win up in Sacramento 5-6 years previously....she literally signed up for the race that morning since she happened to be in town and then proceeded to blow away the field! It wasn't just a win....she was literally minutes ahead of the whole race pack in that 5k. I felt honored to "skirt" Ceci with a cheetah pink running skirt - I can't think of a more appropriate model for our "fast cat" print running skirt. Thanks for the inspiration Ceci - keep it up!

. (read more about this amazing super mom runner Ceci in this Runners World article here)

After the 5k event we slipped out of our racing flats and into our racing stilettos?! Here's a pre-high heel dash shot!

The high heel dash was hilarious. Unfortunately, Christy and I both sprinted right out of our heels (in hindsight or for future reference.....-pumps with straps are key for high heel dases). The girl who won was wearing platform sneakers (cheater! haha)

Check out the bling bling red stiletto trophy

.....you're going down next year sneaker pump girl!

5k Rotary Fun Run Barrie Reality Check

2009-05-30T18:44:00.011-04:00

After missing out on the Ottawa Race last weekend, I decided a mid-week 5k would be just what I needed for a good (much-needed) speed work session. The last 5k I ran was in 2005! I had no idea what to expect one month post-boston, but my goal was to finish sub 20 minutes. I wasn't really mentally prepared for this race (just found out about it the night before) and after 24 hours of pouring rain, I was ready to scrap it altogether. At 5:45pm after a call from Val who was headed down to the lake shore to cheer on Trisha (see Boston blog post) I laced up my Brooks ST racers (haven't been worn since Marine Corps) and also loaded up the BOB jogger and headed down to the start line. I was planning on at minimum running with the baby jogger (if they were allowed) since the hubby was still en route from his city commute. I resolved that if the hubby arrived before the start, I was going to race the 5k, otherwise it would be a fun run for baby and me.

I met up with Val and learned that she had already run 15k earlier that day and wasn't planning on racing, but instead cheering along her sis Trisha & her running partner in the race. I talked her into adding one quite energetic 18 month old to the pack of kids she was already watching during the race, rolled I the BOB jogger in her direction and bolted for the start line before she changed her mined.

Right before the gun went off I looked up to see my hubby at the start line giving me the thumbs up and off we went.

My first glance down to the Garmin reported a 4:57 pace - yikes - slooooow down or you'll be sorrry I quickly put on the brakes. By 2k into the run, I remembered why I don't particularly love running 5k races.....it's hard work! I managed to relax myself and hold my pace around 6:00 minute mile or slightly under pace through the first hair-pin turnaround. As I made my way back along the out & back course, I was noticed the 2nd women was about 150 meters or so behind so I tried to pick it up a bit and increase my lead. By 3k I was feeling the exertion, but I talked myself into holding the pace and tried to stay relaxed as we made our way back down the lakeshore to the finish area. Seeing the 4k marker brought relief that the end was near and I talked myself into holding the pace for a few minutes longer (vowing to my tired body - ok, no more 5k races for another 5 years I promise if you just finish strong). As we neared the starting line, I heard looked for my number one fan & cheering section (hubby) and expected to hear cheers and congrats as I passed by. He shouted "go pass those 2 guys - you can get em!". I looked in front of me and saw the first 2 men were about 40 and 125 meters or so ahead of me. Not a chance I thought to myself (so much for positive thinking!) It was then that we realized that the start line wasn't actually the finish line also. Instead, we had to run past the start and make another hairpin turn and then return in order to cross the finish (cruel, sick race course planning!!). I saw the male leader turn in to cross what we thought was the finish line and then he popped back out as he was redirected back to the proper course. This realization that the finish wasn't quite as near as I thought sucked some more wind from my sails and I turned the 2nd hairpin corner and headed for the finish line. As I made my way down the final stretch, I saw the clock and realized that I could possibly get a personal best if I stepped on it. I finished in 18:36.....my last race in 2005 was 18:36...no PR today. After I caught my breath & narrowly averted losing my lunch on my white ST racers, I said - wow - I love 5ks! They are over so quickly! (sorry legs, I predict another 5k in the near future).

Freihofer Womens Run 2009

2009-05-30T18:12:00.009-04:00

RunningSkirts is bi-coastal this weekend at the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and the Friehofer's Womens run 5k event in Albany, NY. This weekend marked the 31st annual Friehofer's Run for Women event.

This event brings out the fastest of the fast women from around the world. I had the pleasure of meeting Benita Johnson of Autstralia (three time winner of the Freihofer's 5k with a best of 15.22). She complimented me on the camo haute pink skirt and mentioned that she too runs in skirts!

Check out the top 50 results from todays run - this is one speedy 5k:

  1   1/416  F2529 15:26.1#  4:59 Teyba Erkesso           26     3 Ethiopia          
2   2/416  F2529 15:29.8#  5:00 Mamitu Daska            25    21 Ethiopia          
3   3/416  F2529 15:38.4#  5:03 Rose Kosgei             27    16 Kenya             
4   4/416  F2529 15:40.8#  5:03 Genoveva Kigen          27     8 Kenya             
5   1/296  F2024 15:52.7#  5:07 Ashu Kasim              24    15 Ethiopia          
6   1/385  F3034 16:00.0#  5:09 Benita Johnson          30     1 Australia         
7   5/416  F2529 16:06.4#  5:12 Jane Gakunyi            29     4 Kenya             
8   1/489  F3539 16:06.7#  5:12 Dulce Rodriguez         36     9 Mexico            
9   2/296  F2024 16:09.9#  5:13 Millicent Gathoni       23     5 Kenya             
10   6/416  F2529 16:13.6#  5:14 Rene Kalmer             28    19 South Africa      
11   2/385  F3034 16:15.3#  5:14 Mariya Konovalova       34     2 Russia            
12   7/416  F2529 16:22.3#  5:17 Salome Kosgei           28    24 Kenya             
13   8/416  F2529 16:24.1#  5:17 Tera Moody              28    22 USA               
14   3/296  F2024 16:30.3#  5:19 Diane Nukuri            24    17 Burundi           
15   9/416  F2529 16:37.3#  5:21 Natalia Sokolova        27    12 Russia            
16   1/354  F4549 16:38.9#  5:22 Colleen De Reuck        45    42 Boulder CO        
17   1/433  F4044 16:40.0#  5:22 Anzhelika Averkova      40    44 Ukraine           
18   2/489  F3539 16:42.2*  5:23 Elva Dryer              37     6 USA               
19  10/416  F2529 16:43.7   5:24 Marina Ivanova          27     7 Russia            
20  11/416  F2529 16:45.3   5:24 Adriana Pirtea          29    14 Romania           
21  12/416  F2529 16:53.0   5:27 Allison Krol            25  2956 Pittsfield MA     
22   3/489  F3539 17:15.1*  5:34 Sheri Piers             38    49 Falmouth ME       
23  13/416  F2529 17:16.4   5:34 Mariko Holbrook         27    26 Somerville MA     
24   4/296  F2024 17:23.4   5:36 Kaitlin O'Sullivan      23    56 Syracuse NY       
25   1/262  F5054 17:27.3*  5:38 Joan Samuelson          52    52 Freeport ME       
26   2/433  F4044 17:32.7*  5:39 Trina Painter           42    46 Flagstaff AZ      
27   1/332  F1519 17:37.3*  5:41 Jillian King            19  2351 Scotia NY         
28   2/262  F5054 17:42.3*  5:42 Carmen Ayala-Troncoso   50    43 Austin TX         
29   5/296  F2024 17:47.6   5:44 Jen Adams               23    59 Gansevoort NY     
30   3/385  F3034 17:52.0   5:46 Mendy Taylor            32  2562 New Paltz NY      
31   1/422  F0114 17:52.0*  5:46 Keelin Hollowood        14  2697 Saratoga Springs NY
32   6/296  F2024 17:56.1   5:47 Toni Wiszowaty          22    25 Plattsburgh NY    
33   7/296  F2024 17:57.1   5:47 Alyssa Recny            24    57 Cortland NY       
34  14/416  F2529 17:58.9   5:48 Vanessa Martell         26  2552 Penfield NY       
35   3/433  F4044 17:59.4*  5:48 Paula Wiltse            41    41 Canada            
36   2/332  F1519 18:04.9*  5:50 Cassandra Goutos        17   234 Saratoga Springs NY
37   3/332  F1519 18:07.5*  5:51 Brianne Bellon          17  2543 greenfield NY     
38  15/416  F2529 18:09.5   5:51 Maria Varela            28  2551 Brighton MA       
39  16/416  F2529 18:11.6   5:52 Trisha Byler            25  2578 Rochester NY      
40   4/489  F3539 18:11.9   5:52 Hayes Murphee           35    58 Marathon NY       
41   4/433  F4044 18:15.7*  5:53 Lori Kingsley           43    83 Wysox PA          
42   4/385  F3034 18:23.6   5:56 Karen Blodgett          33  2555 Fairport NY       
43   5/385  F3034 18:24.6   5:56 Jory Waldman            33  3915 Slingerlands NY   
44  17/416  F2529 18:26.2   5:57 Lara Johnson            28  3693 Boston MA         
45   4/332  F1519 18:30.6*  5:58 Sydney King             15  1852 Saratoga Springs NY
46   8/296  F2024 18:36.1   6:00 Jessica Snyder          24  3624 Rochester NY      
47   6/385  F3034 18:42.0   6:02 Eileen Combs            31    82 Schenectady NY    
48   9/296  F2024 18:47.1   6:03 Ashley Gorr             22  2229 Albany NY         
49  10/296  F2024 18:53.6   6:05 Brittany Heninger       20  1894 Bristol CT        
50   2/354  F4549 18:55.9*  6:06 Charlotte Rizzo         46    98 Broxvill

Teyba Erkesso 26 year old winner!

I didn't have the opportunity to run this 5k since the expo hours ran through race day today into the afternoon. Colson, however, had his 2nd race (50 meters) for 4 years and under and had a great time. (video coming soon).

This is a well organized outstanding event for the first time runner, race-walker or fitness walker up to the elite runner. There are also kids runs by age after the 5k. Fun for everyone. We were surprised by the charm and beauty of Albany - the architecture, river and parks are beautiful! I definitely recommend this as a destination race if you are looking for a speedy 5k and a chance to run with the fastest women in the world.

Good luck to all the runners at Rock n' Roll Marathon this weekend - see you at mile 18-19 at our Rockin Otter Pop Stop!

Mississauga Marathon 2009

2009-05-26T22:10:00.008-04:00

Can you tell spring race season is here? We are way behind in the blogging - sorry for the brevity, but here's a brief recap of the last few weeks.

Mississauga race weekend was amazing. This is the first spring marathon in Ontario 2 weeks after Boston. Here are the highlights - Judika finished 3rd women in the 10k event Saturday night. Josiane finished 3rd female in the half marathon.

(Judika wearing navy haute pink - 3rd female - 10k!)

I love this race - it has a lot of gradual downhill, some rolling hills, but overall it's a really fun and scenic course to run. I'll always have a special sentiment for this race as it was the first (only) marathon I ran with my husband*. I ran in 2004 with Arma in hopes of pacing her to a qualifier. (she had itb problems the last portion and just painfully missed a BQ by less than a minute or so). Her hubby also ran in 2004. This is a separate story with a whole belly busting comedy life of it's own - I'm gonna leave it at that for now*.

I wasn't sure how the legs were going to do just 2 weeks post-boston and mere days post 7 week holiday in Hawaii! After working the expo with weary legs on satuday p.m. I was ready to write off the race on Sunday, when I received a text message from my friend Patric "Are we still running?". Several months ago I had persuaded hin to run & train for missisauga and had completely forgotten. This text message was the little push I needed to get into the mindset for running the half on Sunday. I inquired of his race plan and he responded he wanted to run around 1:35 or so.....perfect!

We agreed to carpool down to Toronto - Missisauga race morning and we picked up Patrick on our way out of Barrie. Much to my surprise, I was informed that this was to be his first half marathon 21k run ever! Wow - a half marathon virgin who planned to run around a 1:35. Normally, I would be seriously doubtful, but I know that he is an amazing hockey player and I've seen him doing speed work on a treadmill before, so I took it in stride as we made our way to Mississauga. We started chatting about our pre-race rituual and race nutrition. When I asked him what he ate/drank before a race, he burrowed into his bag and pulled out a "Red Bull" energy drink and informed me that he never drinks when he runs as it causes him cramps. Uh-oh I thought to myself, this could be bad. Patrick informed me that his longest race was a 10k, double uh oh I thought to myself.

We were lucky to have decent weather for Ontario in May (this race always gets cool sunshine). It was a bit chilly as we lined up at the start (i wore the technical long sleeve with a technical tee over top) and my navy haute pink running skirt. Val and Arma were no where to be seen, so I started off a solo skirt along with Patrick. As the gun went off we made our way down the course. Patrick was outta the gates like a bat out of hell - I could hardly keep him in sight. I looked to the garmin and immediately slowed the ponies down over a 6:00 minute pace back to my 6:30-6:45 that I wanted to run. RJ - a co-worker of Val's and amazing speedy runner passed by me and informed me that Val was about 40 people back. I was feeling the urge to make a quick pitstop at the porta potty between 1k & 2k (full bladder) and figured Val would catch up and we could run together. I made a quick stop - in & out - and didn't see Val anywhere when I emerged. Patrick was also gone. Darn - got some ground to make up. I cruised along on pace wondering what the legs were going to do and tried to relax and enjoy myself. I caught up with Patrick around 7-8k I think -when we were approaching the school. We ran together around the bend of the school and at starting up the hill. As we were climbing the incline up out of the school area toward the next aid station I was singled out by one very large Canadian goose. I'm not sure if it was the haute pink technical tee shirt that I was wearing or what, but he took one look at me and charged toward me - beak wide open in attack mode. I still am a bit dumbfounded at what I did to set him off, but he was obviously on a mission to bit my arse! I squealed and did my best hurdle and whew! thankfully cleared the 20 pound ball of feathery fury. This pleased Patrick and everyone in the crowd and water aid station as there was an eruption of laughter. I took a minute to bow to the water stop peeps and shout out my pleasure to entertain them all and off we went up the hill. I grabbed a cup of water and noticed Patrick didn't take any. I asked him if he had anything to drink yet, and he reminded me that he doesn't drink during cardio as it causes cramping. I strong-armed him into drinking the rest of my water and reminded him that he's never run this far before and that he probably would benefit from a little water. Off we went up the hill. I was still feeling ok at this point and remember a few sizeable hills that I didn't recall from previous years races....funny how we forget or block these out. I do remember getting a nice shout out from Peter of "my next race" as we were almost down to the lakeshore. I had about 8k to go and was starting to feel my boston-weary legs twinge a bit. My goal at this point was to finish without horrible cramping and injury. With about 5k to go I was passed by another female, I questioned whether I should turn up the pace or let her go. I heard my coach in my head (he didn't think I was ready to race again) and didn't want to risk an injury. I pulled ahead a bit and held pace for the next km or so. Legs were screaming at this point, so I eased off and away she went and then 2 more. It was all I could do to finish the last 5k near pace and finish...just didn't have the juice in the tank anymore. I finished in 1:27:55 - a PR for Canada, so I'm happy with that.

Patrick finished in 1:32 - wow - an amazing time for a first half, no water or energy gels, etc.

Here a few more pics from race day.

Arma sporting her Boston singlet with the new "gold/maize" running skirt also PR'd the half marathon course! If that wasnt' enough, she ran back and helped run her hubby Andrew in for a BQ marathon 3:16:47! Nice work you two! Check out the video
& turn up your speakers - it's funny!

Honolulu Marathon Clinic Run

2009-05-13T20:34:00.006-04:00

I had a chance to re-connect with Dr. Jack & Donna Scaff on a recent visit to Hawaii. They run a huge running & marathon training group called the Honolulu Marathon Clinic.

Jack is the man who started the Honolulu Marathon many years ago! Donna invited us out for their weekly long run on Sunday- they meet at Kapiolani park and then run various lengths up & around Diamondhead. We were staying on the North Shore during the weekend and made the early morning trek back to Waikiki to meet up with the group. We arrived just in time to catch Dr. Scaff's 10-minute talk about weight distribution and it's affect on running. ( He was one of the first physicians to prescribe running as treatment for heart disease. ) Good stuff!

Then the group broke into various smaller groups based on ability. Donna quickly pointed me to a group that was already taking off up Diamond Headand so off I went in hot pursuit (my boston legs still a bit heavy). As I made my way through the the group a familiar face shouted "Hey- what are you doing here?" I looked over an recognized my friend Jeff (from the Disney running gang).

The last time we met we were taking funny photos of "mara-thongs" at Jeff & Donna's Honolulu marathon party! We had a quick chat and then he pointed out a few others that had recently run Boston and off I went to chat with them about their races. I had a nice visit with Rosie -who had just ran her 2nd Boston PR (for those who train in the crazy heat & hills of Hawaii), apparently Boston is "fast course". We chatted about her recent races, training & PR's and tried to keep up with Jacque, who was leading the pack. Before I knew it we were headed back over and down Diamond head toward the picnic waiting at Kapiolani park. Check out the photos - we got some great action shots of the group to - you can see them on our facebook fan page here.

2009-04-29T13:35:00.026-04:00

Congrats to everyone who ran this years Boston Marathon!
It's hard to believe it's come and gone already. Ever since NYC Marathon, we've been counting down the months, weeks and finally days until our trip to Boston. This year Christy & I were finally able to run the race together - in previous years either she or I had been pregnant or new mothers or our qualifying times had expired, etc. Val & Arma were also qualified, registered and ready to go....a girls & mommy getaway waiting to happen!

We kicked the weekend off with a quick visit to the expo to check out the latest and greatest running fare. This year the official jacket was a cornflower blue and gold and there was also a wind jacket in navy & gold. We scooped up the jackets in navy/gold which was a perfect match to our new navy/gold running skirts and some "future qualifier" tees for the kiddies.

Next stop was the Marriott Copley the location of our Skirts Rock Boston party & trunk show! We had a great turnout of all our local Boston "skirts" as well as those customers that were running the marathon. It was great to meet more customers in person from around the globe and share marathon stories, great eats (including kick ass cupcakes), cocktails and fun! We had a great time sipping Ultima-tini's ,

(Brooke of Ultima Replenisher)

who could resist with names like the Ultima Raspberry Goodness, Ultima Deram'alicious and Ultima Lemon Drop to name a few. Special thanks to Brooke of Ultima Replenisher for co-hosting the cocktail party!

"Ultima-tinis & Carbo-Cupcakes from Kick Ass Cupcakes in Boston.

We unveiled our "Boston" inspired collection of blue & gold, navy & white skirts & tops. The white technical tee that reads "Skirts Rock Boston!" on the front and "You've been passed by a skirt!" on the back was the biggest hit! With the skirt tunes rockin, ultimatinis flowing and skirt gear prize drawings constantly - who knew we were all going to be running 26.2 in a few days.

Sunday morning we headed over to the Boston Tea Party, hosted by MyNextRace.com at the Cottonwood Restaurant and Cafe. We saw the 5k runners flying by during our walk over to the cafe from our hotel. The Boston Tea party is a great get together for Canadians who have traveled to Boston for the marathon. We enjoyed the great breakfast buffet (they even had gluten free bagels & bread) and Canadian camaraderie. We had a chance to chat up Alan Brooks (Canada Running Series) and got the low-down on the new Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon course (no more spit portion of the course) more beaches instead. We left with awesome goody bags that included Tim Hortons traveler mugs, full size power bars, etc. Check out the shapshot we captured with Obama!

Great times had by all at the Tea Party!

Peter from My Next Race & Cindy at the Boston Tea Party

After the Tea Party and another trip to the expo to pick up some last minute "I wish I would have bought(s)...." we headed for the famous duck boat tours. A great way to see the city and learn about it's history while staying off your feet (what you are supposed to do before the day before a big race). We had a great time on the tour and got some great photos of the cityscape from the Charles River and all the sites! We made sure to get an early dinner reservation in high hopes of getting a good night's rest before Marathon Monday!

Christy, Cindy & Val enjoying our ritual pre marathon meal of grilled salmon, brown rice & veggies! Val drove down from Toronto with her sister Trish (who is a saint btw - more on that later). Trish is a casual runner and mother of two, who was I think conned into coming along to Boston on the premise of it being a great girls getaway. Any marathoner would know that a Marathon Weekend in Boston rooming with 3 runners is anything but a typical girls getaway (cancel marathon shopping, late nights, dancing & cocktails). I think this realization started to sink in after we drug her to back to the expo for the 3rd time in 24 hours and were all in bed by 10:00 p.m. the first night.

The weather report kept changing throughout the weekend from rain, to showers, to partly cloudy and then back to rain. Everyone was on pins and needles - but we all hoped for anything but headwinds! After our pre-race dinner of the traditional salmon, brown rice & veggies with an awesome ahi & crab appetizer, we headed back to the hotel. As we stopped off at rite aid to pick up some water, and other supplies, Val started making a weird throat clearing "ahem" noise over and over again. I looked at her questioningly, and she said "I think my throat is closing - I might be allergic to something I ate". Immediately I questioned whether it might be the shellfish or something, which sent Trisha into a dither demanding that we pick up some Benadryl for the allergy. I kind of chuckled to myself and told her "snap out of it - you're not having a shellfish allergy" we are all running a marathon tomorrow and you are just wiggin out." I said "besides, are you really going to take Benadryl now? the night before you run Boston? What if you don't react to it well? " She agreed instantly and then we were on our way back to our room (Trish saying "were going to bed NOW?" it's 8:00 p.m. REALLY? GUYS? FOR REALS?) where the three of us immediately engaged ourselves in the methodic pre-marathon dance: laying out running skirt, matching tops, lacing up chip on shoe, getting race bags together, changing race outfit, re-lacing up shoes, adjusting bib, mixing ultima drinks, selecting gu flavors, etc etc etc dilly dallying with may-needs and must-haves while Trisha sat back and watched (I'm certain in horror). She exclaimed "I don't know what I was thinking coming away for the weekend with you marathon runners". We quickly answered - for support and to take photos of course! If I remember correctly we were all in bed by 9:00 p.m.. As anyone who has ever run a marathon knows, it's almost impossible to get decent sleep the night before a race. After 2 busy days in Boston on the go and not enough rest, I was feeling pretty tired and confident I wouldn't have a problem getting some zzzs. We all lay in silence for at least 30 minutes, and then Val's sighs started. You know the type - the deep sigh when you can't sleep and you want everyone else to know it! Then came pee pee relay started...first Val would get up to pee, and then Christy - of course if Christy & Val both went I figured I must need to go to....hence, the pee pee dance which continuted until at least 11:00 p.m. at which time Trisha exclaimed "AGAIN?" every time one of us would get up to go. I think I finally started to doze off (Christy said I was snoring) around 11:00 and then heard another Val SSSIIIGGGHH followed by serious stiff sheet shuffling and a big rolling flop. I quickly informed her "Don't worry Val - none of us are asleep yet!" which brough a hearty chuckle outta of all of us. "OK good", she responded. This sigh, sheet shuffle, peepee relay went on all night. Poor Val was a mess and suffered from a serious case of pre-marathon insomnia....at one point I think around 3:00 a.m. I woke to here her exclaim "That's it, I can't run today, I haven't slept.....we're gonna get up and drive back home before the race!" Poor Val didn't sleep all night ( I think Christy and I may have got 1-2 hours). When the alarm went off at 5:00 a.m., Val was laying in bed near tears and said "I'm not running - I didn't sleep - I'm going home". I took one look at her and said "Yeah - right - give me a break! Buck up buttercup - you ARE running Boston today - as if you are really going to drive home and not run with us! Get up and get your skirt on sister!" I reiterated that no one ever sleeps the night before a marathon and that is just the way it goes. Apparently my little pep talk was the push that she needed to get up and grab her pretty yellow running skirt and head for the bathroom AGAIN.

By 6:00 a.m. Arma was came bounding into our room with a race bag the size of Texas stuffed full like no other. Somebody's excited to run their first Boston we teased her she shared with us the contents of her bag....dry clothes - check, bananas - check, bagel - check, camera - check, gloves - check, hat - check, umbrella (?) - check, full roll of toilet paper (??) - check. She had it all! We headed down to the lobby to wait for our shuttle bus & left poor exhausted Trish to catch up on some sleep before she headed down to meet us at the finish line later.

The bus ride out to Hopkinton seemed a lot longer than I remember it from the last time I ran. We arrived in time to mill about to the porta potties and watch a film crew tape Los Angeles Police Vetern Kristina Ripatti (she was paralyzed from the chest down when shot during a robbery in 2006) who was hoping to finish the marathon in under 2 hours by hand cycle. As fellow police officer herself , Val explained to us her story and then blurted out "I guess I shouldn't be complaining, if that women can finish Boston, so can I". We headed back to the bus to get race ready and relinquish our warm hoodies, jackets, long sleeves, etc. that we didn't intend to run with. It was chilly sunny and windy morning. We were told to expect headwinds all the way into Boston along the course....boo! By the time we make our way through the crowds to our various bag checks, it was time for the first wave to start. We snapped a quick pre-race photo together, shared good luck hugs and wishes and then headed off to our respective corrals.

After a goose-bump rendering of the national anthem, and air force jet fly-by we were all pumped and ready to run! It took several minutes to cross the start line and I was pleasantly surprised by a "Go RunningSkirts!" shout out by the announcer, who turned out to be Sue from the Disney Running series. Thanks Sue - great work on getting us all pumped up at the start!

As expeced, the marathon did not disappoint, and despite the chilly temperatures and strong winds, the crowds prevailed and cheered us the entire course. Our "You've been passed by a Skirt" technical tee was a great conversation peice along the course. I loved hearing guys explain "ouch - that hurts" and "Oh - love the outfit" by the ladies as we ran along. As I reached the halfway point a few minutes ahead of even pace and the screaming girls at Wellesly College, I realized the real race was about to begin. I don't know if it was the increasing hills or the increasing head winds or a combination of them both, but that last half of the race was very difficult this time. Here are my splits - you can see where the hills really started to hit home
mile1-7:25
mile2-6:56
mile3-6:52
mile4-6:57
mile5-7:03
mile6-6:55
mile7-6:57
mile8-7:05
mile9-7:02
mile10-7:10
mile11-7:11
mile12-6:59
mile13-7:02
mile14-7:06
mile15-7:15
mile16-7:04
mile17-7:30
mile18-7:33
mile19-7:24
mile20-7:42
mile21-8:06
mile22-7:27
mile23-7:37
mile24-7:20
mile25-7:37
mile26-8:00 (no finish line "horse to the barn" sprint this time! It was all I could do to keep jogging across that finish)

Here's our official stats:

8701

Cindy

Barrie

CAN

USA

Checkpoints	5k	10k	15k	20k	Half	25k	30k	35k	40k
Checkpoints	0:22:06	0:43:57	1:05:58	1:28:13	1:33:01	1:50:31	2:13:51	2:38:02	3:02:06
Finish				Pace	Projected Time	Official Time	Overall	Gender	Division
Finish				0:07:22		3:13:06	3258	234	195

10411

Val

Barrie

CAN

USA

Checkpoints	5k	10k	15k	20k	Half	25k	30k	35k	40k
Checkpoints	0:23:36	0:46:27	1:09:30	1:33:03	1:38:11	1:56:46	2:21:48	2:48:22	3:14:39
Finish				Pace	Projected Time	Official Time	Overall	Gender	Division
Finish				0:07:52		3:26:17	6143	847	700

11820

Christy

Cardiff

USA

Checkpoints	5k	10k	15k	20k	Half	25k	30k	35k	40k
Checkpoints	0:25:02	0:49:49	1:14:29	1:41:37	1:47:06	2:06:33	2:32:11	2:57:33	3:22:54
Finish				Pace	Projected Time	Official Time	Overall	Gender	Division
Finish				0:08:10		3:34:08	8478	1668	1294

Bib

Name

Age

M/F

City

State

Country

Ctz

12331

Arma

Toronto

CAN

Checkpoints	5k	10k	15k	20k	Half	25k	30k	35k	40k
Checkpoints	0:25:10	0:49:24	1:13:37	1:38:34	1:43:59	2:03:37	2:29:21	2:55:52	3:21:14
Finish				Pace	Projected Time	Official Time	Overall	Gender	Division
Finish				0:08:06		3:32:22	7961	1468	1161

As we all met up at the finish line, we were freezing! We headed back to the warmth of our hotel (decided to skip the ice bath) for now and treated ourselves to warm showers and a big hot meal of cheeseburgers & fries accompanied by a bottle of bubbly.

It was great to see all the Running Skirts out along the course - congrats to all on finishing a challenging marathon! Hope this finds you all enjoying a speedy recovery. Cheers & Happy Running!

2009-04-06T16:50:00.005-04:00

The 30k Around the Bay road race is "Older than Boston" as printed on the back of the long sleeve tech race shirts. This year they are orange and I was pleasantly surprised with the nice fit! No unisex one size fits most - they were male & female versions of the long sleeve tech race shirts. Nice! This is one of my favorite distance events in Canada, I'm not sure if it's because it's the first long race of the season in Ontario or if it's the challenging course or massive crowds of racers, but I just love this race. Last year, it was my first long race after having the baby, I finished strong, but 2 minutes shy of getting a "gold" finisher medal. I remember vowing, "next year....gold medal". The medals silver, bronze & gold are awarded based on finish time. This is also a great "last long run" chance at race pace before the Boston Marathon. I was scheduled to run 21 miles, but I think 19 miles a bit sub-marathon pace is sufficient.

Since Shamrock weekend, I've been feeling a little depleted, run down and energy-less. I even had a check-up and blood work done to make sure I wasn't anemic /low on iron stores. I've beefed up my supplements with some great vegan multi-vitamin/anti-oxidant supplements, trace minerals, magnesium, vitamin A&D, etc. (Christy got me onto her new supplement regimen since she's been feeling great lately). I started taking them about 3 days before the 30k race last weekend - and was starting to feel a little refreshed and recharged prior to race day. She warned me that she had a few minor "stomach issues" as her body adapted to the super-antioxidants & trace mineral supplements. I remember her saying it hit her on the 2nd or 3rd day of taking the vitamins.

The weather on race day was less than optimal - pouring rain, cold & windy in Hamilton. Not a great mix with the already challenging & hilly course. I decided to ditch the tights I was wearing under my running skirts before my warm up - I figured the less fabric to get wet and heavy the better. I wore my new camo haute pink running skirt, black long sleeve and my haute pink performance tee, run nyc marathon hat (for luck - It reminds me of running with Christy and having a great time NYC marathon) and some "glove love" running skirts gloves.

I was completely drenched by the time the starting gun went off, but was relatively comfortable - thank goodness for running skirts in the rain! They don't hold the moisture and stick to you like running shorts. One of the guys I was running near at the beginning of the run exclaimed, "That is hands down the best outfit I've seen today!".

The first part of the course is pretty fast and flat. I was cruising along a bit ahead of pace until about 4 miles into the run I started to have some stomach cramping "issues". Oh No - I heard Christy's warning in my head from the previous day that she had some stomach qualms on the 2nd day of taking the new supplements...uh-oh gurgle gurgle. My body picked a crappy time to decided to "detox" (no pun intended). Whatever it was, it slowed down my race time by at least 3-4 minutes as I had to make emergency "pit stops" about every 20 minutes along the course. I would like to take a moment right now to say thanks to all the girls along the course at the relay stops that let me "jump" the porta pottie lines & cut to the front so I could get back to the race quickly. I'm sure the look of desperation on my face spoke for itself. I survived the rolling hills and giant neverending hill on the back half of the course and finished in 2:12. Whew - I was glad to be finished with that one & thrilled to get my gold medal this year. If only I hadn't had those pit stops, I'd have had an even better race time.

The finish line is in Copps Colliseum, it's cool to watch the runners on their finish approach on the jumbotron & it's a great place for friends and family to wait & cheer where they can stay warm & dry.

Last long run done - check! Now it's taper time and off to Boston we go!

2009-04-02T10:46:00.003-04:00

We had a great time in Virginia Beach at the Shamrock Sportfest. I had an entry for the half marathon on Sunday, but in the end I took my coaches advice and skipped the race on Sunday. It was a hard thing to do, but I was absolutely wiped after the long road trip and working the expo Friday & Saturday. We really enjoyed meeting all our customers from Virginia, DC, Baltimore and NY that were there for the event. We were even surprised to meet one of our customers from my own home town in Barrie, Canada. We weren't the only road-trippers. The Shamrock Marathon is a very well organized event -with a beautiful course in Virginia beach. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a spring marathon on the east coast.

This event will always hold a special sentiment for me personally as it was my little guys very first foot race! There was a kids marathon for the wee ones - they ran the last 26.2 yards of the marathon on Saturday morning. Checkout the photos below - he was so proud of earning his very own race medal or "pretty" as he likes to call it. I was working the running skirt booth at the expo, so Daddy got to enjoy all the race day glory, but I insisted he be one of those over-the-top parents with camcorder in tow....I will get the video footage up soon - it's priceless. It was more of a toddle than a run, but nevertheless it brought great joy & tears of happiness to my eyes. So cute & mommy couldn't be prouder.

Congrats to all those who completed the marathon, half marathon & 8k - there were a lot of PRs and Boston Qualifiers on Sunday. It was a chilly morning, but sunny, wind free - perfect running weather. We caught a lot of snapshots of Running Skirts - you can see them on our facebook page here. If you haven't seen the new green running skirt yet, it's called "clover-treuse" - it is a beautiful shade of green. I wore mine with our new featherweight silky technical tee in chartreuse. Love it!

2009-03-18T07:00:00.000-04:00

Spring running season is finally here! Its been a whirlwind the last few weeks since we kicked off our spring race season at the disney princess half marathon (our first east coast expo). Next stop is the shamrock marathon.

We really enjoy working the expos together when we can, but lately with different schedules on different coasts and in different countries (not to mention different kiddie schedules to boot!), we have been opting to divide and conquer so that we can literally be in 2 places at once. We'd love to add more events as our travel schedules permit, so keep the suggestions coming. Its so much fun to meet all the runners and share your in the excitement and passion for running. I met a woman at disney expo that shared with us she had just taken a pregnancy test that morning and it was positive! She hadn't even shared the surprise with her hubby yet! As mommies ourselves, we love meeting all the other mommies and little future runners. You running mommies are all an inspiration and reminder of why we love our business so much.

I am looking forward to introducing my little guy to the sport of running this weekend at the shamrock marathon. There is a kids run - I think its something like 26.2 yards.
He will be sporting his "mommy runs faster than daddy" onesie and his super white new new balance trainers. Photos to come. I made the hubby promise to capture it all on camera since mommy will be workin the expo when the "diaper dash" goes off. Christy's 3 kids have all taken to the sport so I'm hoping mine will as all. I always joke with friends and say "running isn't optional" In our family. All joking aside, we both believe as parents it is our job to introduce our children to a healthy lifestyle and multiple sports and support them as they take an interest.

Boston is less than 5 weeks away now and we are also at the peak of our training. Training is going ok, but I just don't have that "baby juice" as Arma refers to it. Baby juice was that extra burst of energy or second wind that used to come mid workout or midrace last spring/summer. The weekend of the princess half, I was scheduled to run a 21 miler. - opted to race the half instead and postpone the long run the following week.

2009-03-10T14:09:00.007-04:00

Woah! I just looked at the calendar & realized we have less than 6 weeks till Boston! Who's going this year? Let us know if you'll be running Boston - we'd love to invite you to our "VIP Skirt Party!" saturday night. Time to crank out a few long runs...this weekend 21 miler with Val. Thank goodness the snow is almost entirely melted - I'm hoping we'll be able to get off the roads for a change.

Last weekend was the Disney Princess Half Marathon in Orlando. What a great event. Katri flew out from our California skirt headquarters to help me at the Expo and we both ran on Sunday. Katri is a die hard Disney Running participant. She's run the Disney marathon several times, including the "Goofy" event (the half marathon followed by the full marathon the next day), the Disneyland Half Marathon in Anaheim and of course the Inaugural Princess Half Marathon on Sunday.

We had such a great time at the expo - as our first US East Coast event, it was great to finally meet all of our East Coast running skirt fans and customers. We finally got to meet a lot of ladies from the Disney Running boards and it was really cool to put faces with names after years of emails and telephone calls. We loved all the feedback, photos & skirt chat. We take our customer comments and feedback seriously and thank you all for stopping by to say Hi. Our new "princess" inspired skirt collection was a huge success. The "bling" tiara on the front of the skirt was the perfect complement to our running skirts & athletic skirts. Even non-skirt fans stopped by to pick up our limited edition performance tank with the sparkly tiara on the front. On race day it was a sea of "princess pink", "cindy blue" and "snow bell yellow" - so much so that our camera crew had a really tough time getting photos of them all. We did get a lot of photos - checkout our facebook fan page & tag your photo if we captured you! We are thrilled that you all loved the princess collection and the princess tiara logo on the front.

While I worked the expo, Daddy & baby bear hit Disney World's magic kingdom and a few other parks. I've attached a few photos of some of the weekend highlights.

As for the race, it was a great course and pretty flat. The morning was cool and sunny - with the clocks springing forward - the 7:00 a.m. race start actually felt like 6:00 a.m. It was dark and chilly as they race started, but after about 2 miles or so, I was feeling perfect (aside from the nagging sinus cold I've been battling that is - It's hard to get your waters and gu down when you have to breath from the same orifice while maintaining a running pace). I ran pretty conservative, probably too conservative since I still had some kick with 3 miles to go, but was happy with my results. Katri also had a great race - a PR for her. The course went by super fast, with bands, disney characters and princesses at every mile! I tried to high five every princess and character in sight as I cruised through the course.

Results:
Agegroup/Gender Overall / Racer M/F Age/ bib/ Final/ Pace
1 / 11 / Cindy Lynch 37/ 7/ 1:28 / 6:44
83 / 580 /Katri Sjoblom-Snyder 41/ 684/1:59:06/ 9:05

Post race celebration

The hubby got some great action shots of me from the monorail on his way to the next "meeting point" along the course. I always say it is more of a race for him trying to navigate along the marathon courses to capture the action shots - good job honey!

Coming out of the princess castle (I think this was around mile 5-6)

Running through Magic Kingdom. Of course I wore my tiara! I remember being energized by the cheers along the course and hearing "first tiara" and "first skirt" as I ran. Even the princesses along the course thanked me for being in full princess flair.

Katri in finish line stretch (with her award-winning PR smile!)

Katri celebrating her PR & princess bling bling medal with a little hoola hoop & refreshments!
It was great to be out of the freezing temperatures for a few days. The weather in Orlando was amazing - in the low 80s. It was hard to get back on the plane and fly north. Hopefully we will bring the warmth back north with us.

My little lion prince! (I have no idea how Daddy got him to stay still for this face painting! I have a feeling he was asleep or there was some physical restraint going on!)

We will be in Virginia Beach next weekend for the Shamrock Marathon and Shamrock Sportfest - hope to see you all there.

Disney Princess Marathon Video

2009-02-28T10:34:00.003-05:00

We took a quick trip back home to Northern California to visit the fam this week & most importantly visit our father who has been quite ill and recently admitted to the hospital. After seeing his grandchildren (Christy's 3 and my boy) all running around his hospital room tearing things apart, he had a quick recovery - or at least feigned one so that he was released to go home to continue his recuperation and enjoy the company of his visiting family.

It was beautiful there - the first thing I noticed was how green everything was. It was raining quite a bit during our visit, but the temperatures were quite mild compared to what we are used to. Christy and I got in a run along the rail trail near my parents home. It was great to be out in the running skirts (without the tights, mittens, tuke, etc.). My little guy was thrilled to walk in Grandma & Grandpas garden and see the birds in the trees. His favorite activity was picking oranges out of the trees so that Grandma could make him fresh squeezed orange juice. Now after living in Canada for 3+ years, I am starting to miss the simple pleasures that we took for granted living there....like walking out and picking a fresh orange off the tree...yum!

It was a quick trip to California and unfortunately I didn't have the opportunity to hook up with my old running friends from Sacramento and the fleet feet racing team. I was hoping to maybe get in my favorite runs around lake Natomas or along the American River Trail too. Next time!

We are back in the "north pole" as I fondly refer to it. It's almost March 1st and it's -29 below outside. I have my first official run of the season tomorrow in Burlington, Ontario - it's called the Chilly Half Marathon (wonder where they came up with the name?). I'm running with Arma and Val as a training run so it should be good times. I did 30 minutes easy on the treadmill this morning to loosen up the joints after 2 days off and lots of air travel. I always tell everyone that I can't wait until my son can run with me and that I hope he inherited my passion for running. Well, my dream came true (sort of) today, as he went for his first treadmill "run" with mommy.
Check out the pics (oh - yeah - check out our new orange running skirt coming for spring).

On his baby treadmill (he has to push to make his belt go)

Stretching with mommy

Daddy was getting jealous and wanted to realize a dream of his own!

playing "hock" with Daddy

It's never to early to involve your children in fitness and sports, right?

Will have a run report from the Chilly Half Marathon and some new icicle face photos for you all after tomorrow. Next week we will be in Orlando for the Disney Princess Half Marathon. I'm so excited! This will be my first race of the season - in a cute little princess skirt too! I can't decide which one I want to race in....probably Cindy Blue (cinder-elly) or maybe Snow-Belle yellow (since I'm a brunette). They are all super cute - gotta love the princess "bling" sparkly tiara on the front.

See you at DisneyWorld!

2009-02-15T08:14:00.005-05:00

Hola! It's been a while since I've had a moment to update the blog. I was lucky to escape the freezing sub zero temperatures, treadmill and the 200 meter indoor track I've been training on in Toronto with a last minute getaway to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. It's about a 4 hour flight from Toronto and a great place to escape the winter wonderland.

We booked a last minute all inclusive trip to a resort called Gran Bahia Principe Bavaro which is on the eastern side of the island of Dominican Republic. It was a huge resort, with about 5 or 6 ginormous pools, a beautiful beach and tram (trolley) which ran all day to transport people from the lobby, restaurants, pools and beach. I had flashbacks to my last visit to the dominican (it was to the other side of the island - Puerta Plata) and doing a 20 mile long run in the rain in a 1.5 mile loop, they recommended tourists stayed within the compound at that resort. I woke up at the crack of dawn the first morning there and put on my running skirt with delight and was pleasantly surprised by the size of Gran Bahia Principe resort especially since I found if I ran around the entire perimeter of the resort, It was about 5k. After my first 5k loop, I was really feeling the humidity, whew like running under water. For my long runs every other day, I opted for 2 loops and occasionally threw in some 150 meter pick ups at the end of the runs. I ended each morning run with a plunge into the warm carribbean waters - aw - heaven! That was the extent of my training last week.

The new cheetah haute pink skirt & cheetah strappy top were great in and out of the water. I'm amazed at how quick they dry. The first 4.5 days of the trip were very rainy all day....pretty much a downpour, but luckily the sun made an appearance for the last 2 days of our trip. It was so nice to simply wear a running skirt & strappy top (no tights, mittens, tukes) that I didn't mind running in the rain at all. I am a warm weather runner - give me the heat any day over the cold. I swear my muscles and joints just perform better when they are warm.

So now - as I type this post, I'm am back in the great white north, looking outside at the snow and ice and trying to motivate for another sub zero run. It's 14 below right now, but if I wait a while the temperature might get up to 7 below (that's a difference between having to wear one or two pair of tights). I really do need to start ramping up my mileage and workouts since the spring running season for me is about to begin. Races on the horizine for me include, the Chilly Half Marathon in Burlington on March 1st (as a training run) and then the following week the Disney Princess Half in Orlando (really looking forward to that one!). We have great new "princess inspired" skirts & tops that we will be revealing at the Princess Half Marathon. It's the first year for this great womens running event and it's gonna be awesome. After that, I will be running the 30k around the bay (which is the oldest road race in North America - even older than Boston) and then of course, Boston!

2009-01-28T08:39:00.005-05:00

It's official! We have both registered for Boston Marathon 2009. Now that it's January -oops - almost February - it's time to get back into the marathon training. All the fun stuff that has been long gone....but not forgotten ( Yasso 800s, mile repeats and hill workouts!) For some of us (Christy) it's gonna be a bit easier to carry on with training in mild San Diego temperatures. Others of us (me) are faced with running in insane sub zero temperatures & freezing slippery surfaces Ugh! Luckily, I've talked my sister in law Val into registering also and Arma's been on board ever since she qualified in Columbus in the fall.

Val and I have been making the drive down to the indoor track at York University to work with coach Ken each week and test drive all the new spring running skirts. It's about a 45 minute drive (just to run - I know - crazy but true). We have been doing most of our other mid-week mileage on the treadmill. As for the long runs...aye aye aye - there lies the challenge! It's either pound away outside in -35c temperatures (why is it always 10 degrees colder on the weekends anyway?) or plod along on a treadmill (snore). I cannot tell you how much I miss our trail runs or even running on any surface that isn't coated with the icy white stuff.

Something I am enjoying is the countdown of days until Christy & family travel up for a visit to the great white north. Finally, she will get to experience training in my winter wonderland (don't worry I'll post photos). Actually - it is really beautiful up here once you learn to embrace the winter and when you have proper warm clothing. Speaking of embracing the winter - I am trying something new this evening: Snowshoeing! I'm actually really looking forward to it. Did you read the article about the snowshoe race in colorado in Runner's World - it sounds like a blast. They even make "running snowshoes" now - I've already added them to my Christmas list for next year. I've heard cross-country skiing is how a lot of triathletes up here keep their cardio conditioning through the winter. I have yet to try that also, but it's on my "embracing the winter list" .

This weekend is the Surf City Marathon & Half Marathon event - be sure to stop by our booth and say hi if your running. Hopefully it will better weather than the torrential downpour on race day last year. Good luck & Happy Running!

2009-01-10T11:53:00.011-05:00

It's a New Year! Our annual Hawaiian holiday of Mai Tais & chocolate covered mac nuts gluttony, as all great things, must also come to an end. That, and the countdown to Boston Marathon has now started. We just booked our hotel - hooray! This will be Christy's first Boston (she was pregnant when I went before) and we are running it together with my sister-in law-Val and good friend Arma.

Despite the extreme cold temps and snow up here, I've dived right back into winter training this week. I have been doing my mid week shorter runs on the treadmill and did one hill workout outside and a long run. With all the snow & freezing cold, it's better for me to do my quality workouts on a treadmill. I even started a great new evening yoga class that I think is going to be awesome for core strength and some much needed stretching in my injury-prone areas.

Today, being Saturday, is long run day for me. Val and I planned to meet at my house at 6:30 a.m. and run the lakeshore trail and back (it's about 9 miles or so round trip from my place). When she suggested the time, I shuddered knowing it was going to be cuh-cuh-cold at that time (my run the day before in the afternoon was -15 or so and it was sunny!). I agreed to the ungodly early running time quickly accepting the fact that it would be better to be freezing in the company of Val than almost as freezing a bit later......alone. Well 6:30 a.m. came and went and no Val, than 6:35...6:40 - still no Val. I could hear baby bear stirring upstairs in his crib so I figured I had better make my getaway while the getting was good. I sent Val a quick (where the heck are you) text message & told her that I was sticking to our original plans and out the door I went.

It was peaceful out, there was a huge golden full moon in the sky that illuminated the snowy surroundings almost as bright as if it were daylight. It was FREEZING - luckily there wasn't a lot of wind, it was a still morning (no wind chill thankfully). I realized after I had started out, that I forgot to position my headphones in my ears under my beanie and turn on my ipod. I decided it would be better not to take my hands out of the mittens at that time to put my headphones on since it was that cold. I made a mental note that I'd wait until I warmed up to bare the little paws for a second and turn on my ipod. Off I went toward the frozen lakeshore to the sound of only my breath and the extra crunchy sound of my footfalls on the snow covered road. I could tell by the oddly crunchier sound my feet made on the snow/ground that I was in for an extra cold run today. As I arrived on the lakeshore trail a few miles into the run I was surprised by a full view of a huge gold full moon still hanging low over the sky - it was so picturesque I was cursing myself for not bringing along my bberry so I could have snapped a photo. It was out of this world - a huge orange (harvest-like) full moon hanging what seemed like inches over the frozen lake - a sea of nothing but white snow covered ice. I was the only person out there (not even the ice fisherman were out this morning that early!). I soaked up the sight and trudged along catching myself from slipping in a huge ice patch...whew - close call.

I realized I didn't seem to be warming up as I normally do by this point in a wintery run. I kept wiggling my fingers in my mittens to make sure they were unfrozen. I passed another crazy runner and then another - I wasn't the only die hard out there! I made it to the turnaround point at the end of the plowed lakeshore path and stopped just long enough to quickly pull my ipod out of my pocket, position the earbuds and be back on my way. I was now sweat soaked and feeling even colder and slightly worried about the return trek home. I passed the same 3 die hard runners on the way back and was alarmed at their ice covered eyebrows, eyes, etc. Wow - I wonder if I look like that I thought...now feeling even colder...I looked down to find my garmin had frozen and was no longer working. For some reason the return trip around the lake was colder running in this direction. As I approached the last mile from home, I recognized a silver suv that pulled up next to me - it was the hubby & baby bear! He was worried about my running in the sub zero temps alone and went out looking for me. I gave him the thumbs up as he drove by. He stopped to snap a few snapshots of me and then trolled along next to me the rest of the way home. I climbed in the car as we rounded the corner to our driveway and off to Timmy's we went. I've never been so happy to see a Tim Horton's large milk & sugar! Check out the photos from this morning - take note of the 'ice mascara" and the white fluffy stuff on either side of my head - that's my hair FROZEN! I was worried that it might snap! Could you imagine?! All of a sudden the treadmill's not looking so bad now....oh yeah - it was 27 below (c).

2009-01-03T10:55:00.005-05:00

Happy New Year to you all!

Baby's been standing and taking one or two steps over the last couple of weeks, but he finally put it all together and took the leap of faith (look mum, no hands!). What a great way to start the New Year!

A child after my own heart! I always say I run to equalize my chocolate consumption!
Hope this brings a smile to your day:

2008-12-27T13:00:00.007-05:00

Snapshot in front of the famous surfing pioneer "Duke" statue in Waikiki sporting the new cheetah print running skirts - (Marathon Madison wearing our kids "mini skirt" running skirt in cheetah tnt purple).

WOW! What a busy December it's been. We just got back from the Honolulu Marathon & our annual family vacation! We were there for the marathon expo & race and then stayed on a bit for a nice family holiday. When we arrived in Waikiki before the marathon, it was raining (make that pouring) cats and dogs. Not your typical tropical isle weather. It was one of the biggest storms of the year for the islands - and poor timing to say the least.

As the rain continued day after day after day during the 4 day expo, we wondered if it was going to let up for all the runners on Sunday. To run....or not to run! That was the question Christy & I kept tossing back and forth. It's so hard to work the marathon expos without getting caught up in all the running energy and pre-race excitement. We always want to run on race day. Normally, if there is a half marathon event, that is what we run. Unfortunately (or fortunately for our marathon recovering bodies!), in Honolulou, there is only a full marathon and a 10k fun walk. Since we are both coming down from our marathons in DC & NYC, we decided to be smart about it and sit this one out.
Here are a few shots from the marathon:

Finish line! About halfway through the marathon, the rain stopped and the sun came out. We felt so sorry for all those super-soaked runners. It was pouring rain at the start and about an hour or so into the race. We were standing in front of our hotel at about the 5-6 mile marker and people were stopping taking off the shoes and wringing out their socks already - ouch! I can only imagine the blisters and chafing that was going on towards the end of the race.

Runner in traditional Hawaiian costume in Crocs? (smart guy to wear the crocs on this running day)! This race is a huge destination marathon for a lot of first time runners, Team in Training groups and also Japanese runners. In talking with some locals about the event, we were told a lot of the Japanese runners do not train for the event, but come over with tour groups, etc. and just go out on race day planning to finish the marathon. We met one couple that had just married and were planning to run the race together to kick off their marriage/honeymoon. Lots of cool stories and interesting people!

As we stood at the finish line watching the runners come in - there was one Japanese lady that collapsed or fell about 200 yards from the finish line. It looked like her legs were noodles and she just couldn't get back up! I had a flash back about my horrible cramping experience in DC and truly felt sorry for this runner. Other runners stopped to help her up, but at first she was pushing them away. She started crawling toward the finish line - bare knees and all. She would try to get up again and then collapse on her rubbery legs and crawl a few more paces. Other runners would try to help her and at first she continued to push them away (it was apparent she was dead set on finishing the race on her own). Finally she conceded and let a lady on the sidelines help her to her feet. Once she was vertical again and took a few steps, she got her legs back and the crowd cheered her like crazy all the way to the finish. WOW! That was definitely an example of mind over matter. If there's a will, there's a way.

Congrats to all the finishers in Honolulu! You earned those post-race Mai Tais!

2008-11-30T11:17:00.008-05:00

Happy American Thanksgiving!

I was sulking on thanksgiving morning as my husband left for work. It's hard to be so far away from home on the Holidays. I am lucky to be blessed to have married into an amazing Canadian family. They always go out of their way to make a special American Thanksgiving Dinner for me (turkey, potatoes and all the fixings!). (For those American readers - Canadian Thanksgiving occurs the first week in October). Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday of the year, and it's so hard not to be with the fam on this day. I used to start the day off every year with the Run to Feed the Hungry 5k or 10k race in Sacramento. This is the largest attended Thanksgiving day "Turkey Trot". It was a great way to start of the day and "earn" my apple pie! I've been living in Canada for years, but it's still very bizarre on Thanksgiving morning as my husband leaves for work and there are no parades on tv, etc. It's just another day here.

This, is a blessing though when you procrastinate your thanksgiving grocery shop to the last minute like I did this year. The grocery store wasn't too crowded - nice! I started my apple pie baking and there was a ring at the door. To my surprise it was a delivery man delivering a beautiful bouquet of flowers addressed to "Mommy & Colson". Aw - it melted my heart - what a wonderful surprise from the hubby. It also reminded me how thankful I am to my own little family here with my wonderful loving husband and adorable baby boy.

We probably got about 2 feet of snow within a 24 hour period which has created a lot of "cross training" for us - snow shoveling is an excellent source of cardio! Since I've been nursing my foot injury (not sure if it's a stress fracture or something else), I've been trying to limit my road runs outdoor to 1 or 2 a week and all other workouts post marathons have been on the treadmill. Snow has come early this year, normally we don't have this kind of accumulation until December - January. I was trying to postpone the treadmill reunion until later, but I finally succumed to it this week. I don't mind doing quick workouts on the "dreadmill" but it can get really boring quickly. People ask me how I can stand to run on the treadmill. One thing that helps - Lately, Ive been saving up the weeks worth of my favorite tv shows and watching them while I plod along on the treadmill. I go down to the basement and hop on the treadmill and watch Entourage while I plod plod along. I've also been trying to get into the gym for weight training 3 times a week. I am in rebuild and recovery mode after the marathon.

I am still doing a semi-long run each weekend. Yesterday I did 1o miles easy along the waterfront. Here are some shots of me goofing off in the snow in the new cheetah running skirt. The new long sleeve is awesome too - it's the perfect super light weight layering piece for under your running jacket.

Here's a few shots of the snowman we built yesterday too! Happy Thanksgiving.

I am counting down the days until our trip out west for the Honolulu Marathon Expo and annual family holiday! Yahoo. We are hoping to make a quick in Northern California to see the friends and fam and maybe catch the CIM marathon and watch our old running buddies in Sacramento (and Glorybelle) run the marathon & relay events.

Ready for some of that California Sunshine!

10 things I am thankful for:

Gods gift of our beautiful and amazing 1 year old!
My loving husband!
My health!
My family!
My friends!
Our troops fighting for the freedom we often take for granted!
Running!
My job - it is also my passion!
That I can work with my best friend!
Our awesome customers!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

2008-11-22T09:24:00.007-05:00

One week after NYC Marathon, Christy & I met up again in Dallas for The Running Event.

The Running Event is great event for all running companies and specialty running store owners to meet up. All the new running products and apparel are showcased and retailers can place orders for the upcoming seasons. In addition to the running conference and expo, there is also the Hall of Fame dinner (where running superstars are recognized) and the 50 Best Store Awards banquet. There were also organized runs scheduled for each morning, one of which was an actual 5k race "The Indie 5k". It was a great time meeting all the specialty running store owners and other vendors who all share the same passion of running!

Now about the 5k race. We weren't sure what to expect just days after NYC Marathon (and my Marine Corps marathon the week prior). I figured a speedy 5k wouldn't be too much of a problem since, if nothing else, it would be over quickly. We joined the "running group" who planned to jog to the race start line instead of taking the shuttle bus there. It gave us a cool quick glimpse of downtown Dallas - we even ran by "The Grassy Knoll" where JFK was shot. On the way to the hotel we ran past the place where JFK was shot. Our jog leader pointed out the 6th floor of the Book Repository where the gunman was located.

During the warmup, Christy and I both remarked on how heavy we were breathing for those slow easy miles to the start line. Uh-Oh, it wasn't looking too good already. We toed the line with other running company owners (all looking quite speedy), even Bart Yasso came out to run the Indie 5k. When the gun went off, so did we - looking quite speedy in our new Cheetah running skirts - what a great racing outfit! Unfortunately, it was merely an illusion, even the cheetah skirt couldn't help our tired legs. After the first mile, I realized that a PR was not going to happen today. (I have to get back the family record that I just lost to Christy's hubby Dave - he beat my 18:36 and now holds the new family record of 18:25 since the Light the Night 5k in San Diego a few weeks ago.) Before my first mile signal on the Garmin I felt like I was going blazing fast - at least a 5:30 mile or so, but when the garmin beeped I looked down and was shocked to only see a 6:06 first mile. My legs were feeling heavy and just slow after my back to back marathons, it's definitely time to rest and rebuild! My 2nd was 6:32 (I stopped for water!) and last mile was 6:13 for a 19:29 finish. Christy came in shortly thereafter. It was a great workout as any 5k and I was glad it was over.

Photo of the little guy in front of the The Book Repository Building across from the Grassy Knoll where JFK was shot.

2008-11-04T19:11:00.013-05:00

WE "heart" NYC!

Photo with Bart Yasso at the Marathon Expo. Lord knows his famous 800's were a staple in our training. His book signing booth was slammed. For those of you that haven't read his book yet "My Life on the Run", pick up a copy and check it out. It is very entertaining & inspiring. It's amazing story what one runner can accomplish in a (half of a) lifetime.

It's here! I have been looking forward to this race all year. I have been training for this race all year. Cindy and I ran it together three years ago (my first marathon) and it was soooo hard and painful so needless to say I was a bit nervous. Cindy was running it with me again this time so it was going to be a rematch of sorts, 5 bridges to take down with my twin soldier at my side. I was so happy that I would have Cindy with me as my pacer and sherpa. I was praying that after her speedy finish at Marine Corps Marathon last weekend that she would a bit tired and willing to run my pace...Best Case a 3:30 and More Likely Case a 3:40-3:45 which would qualify me for Boston (my running goal of 2008/2009).

It was going to be a super early start we planned to get up at 4:15 to catch the 5:00 am bus. The good news was we were gaining an hour with the time change that night. My alarm went off as planned and I was up and at em going through my prerace routine. I even threw in a few stretches for good measure. I was wasting time in my room waiting for Cindy to come knocking (she's always the first one ready and chomping at the bit to get to that race start line!). Well it was 4:40 and she still hadn't come knocking so I headed out the door off to her room. I knocked...and knocked...and knocked and finally a sleepy eyed Cindy answered the door in her underwear. She totally blew the time change thing somehow. At this point I starting barking orders...get your Running Skirt on! Get your shoes! Grab your Garmin...lets go. I was freaking out! It was quite unnerving that my Race Sherpa / Pacer was not getting us off at a good pace! Oh no...not a good sign. We raced out the door and headed out to the streets of NY to track down that bus when Cindy realized..."oh shoot....I didn't even brush my teeth!". She laughed it off and we joined the ranks of all the nighttime zombies in running clothes coming out of everywhere headed towards the Marathon Bus.

We got coralled onto the bus and made our way through the city and on to Staten Island where we got dumped off into the freezing cold Runners Village. We thought we were prepared for the elements with our extra layer of velour sweatsuits (what were we thinking!) and our gloves. We were 2 popsicles within 2 minutes of getting off that bus. Uuuugh this was going to be a very unpleasant 4 hour wait! We scurried off to find our Blue Start area. We spotted a big white canopy in the distance and decided that would be our best bet. Just about that time someone walking by ditched 2 long pieces of cardboard and Cindy ran over and swooped them up. I looked at her like she was a crazy person and she said "Trust me...you will thank me for this later". We got to the tent, which was jam packed full of bodyfatless shivering runners ridiculously huddled together on the ground. Some laying on blankets, trashbags, newspaper...whatever they could find or were smart enough to bring with them. (Why didn't we plan better???) We decided the warmest place would be right smack dab in the middle of them all where we got lucky and secured a prime 4' peice of real estate. Cindy quickly arranged our cardboard and we decided lying down on them next to each other would be our best bet. We were 2 spooning twins. It was still freeeezing cold though and we were wasting way to much energy trying to keep warm. The wind was breezing right through the tent and it was miserable! As race sherpa, Cindy decided she should go forage in the forest for some food. We had searched unsuccessfully the night before for some bananas, as apparently every other runner in Manhatten had beat us to them.

After an eternity Cindy came back bearing two tiny cups of Dunkin Donuts coffee and 2 oversized trash bags. I told her I wouldn't drink coffee before a race but then hastily grabbed it out of desperation for warmth and drank it down. After the freezing walk back to the tent it wasn't even hot but barely warm. Unfortunately while she was gone I had lost a big corner of our real estate to a large somewhat smelly intruder. Cindy was pretty miffed but I told her to take it easy because the big guy was actually putting off quite a bit of heat. Desperate times call for desperate measures! We climbed feet first into our trash bags and pulled them up over our entire bodies. Within minutes Cindy and the intruder were back to back all cozy and I actually felt warmer. Not quite warm but much more tolerable now. Those trash bags were a saving grace! We were lauging at how ridiculous and homeless we looked and snapped a few pictures. We stayed in the "warmth" of the tent as long as possible and almost missed our start. We had to sprint to get to the start huddle on time. On the way an angel from heaven walked up to us and said "you two look cold...would you like some handwarmers? " We both dropped our jaws and said "seriously?". She handed over two beautiful hand warmers. What a kind lady! Thank you handwarmer lady! We love you!

The winner of America's Got Talent sang the National Anthem...awesome...and then we were off! Uuugh my legs were not feeling good over that bridge.

Mile 1: feeling freezing cold and legs feeling very tired. Im thinking "uh oh...not a good sign" and just then my sherpa shouts out "don't worry if your legs feel tired...you are just cold and it will take a few miles to warm up". Ok...theres hope yet. Sure enough at mile 4 I was finally feeling my toes in my shoes again and the legs were there and all systems a go.

My faithful Sherpa was almost always about 4 strides in front of me. It was so crowded that it was virtually impossible to run next to each other for the majority of the race. That and everytime I got next to Cindy she would speed up. At least 80% of the race she was running in front of me with her head fully turned back to me yelling "come on...come on!" while pointing down to the pavement next to her. I don't know how she didn't run over someone or trip on one of the bazillion potholes or huge grooves in the course looking back like that. It was so funny and maddening at the same time. She was a great pacer though and set me off with a nice buffer. Whenever she asked me "how do you feel" I wouldn't answer because I knew if I told her the truth (I felt good) that she would speed up. I just wanted to save a little for those bridges because they were my downfall last time. I didn't want my wheels falling off the bus just yet.

Photo at mile 16 - check out our new Cheetah Running Skirts, "Cheetah Pink" & new technical long sleeve & tee shirts! All part of the new Running Skirts Spring line 2009! Coming soon!
At mile 16 the hubby was supposed to jump in and run with us to the finish, or as close as he could get to it. Well 16 came and went and there was virtually no way he could have jumped in to the race. The streets were completely baracaded and police were everywhere watching the course. I was a little disappointed but at the same time relieved because I didn't know if I could put up with his fresh legs and goofy mantras to the finish. Somewhere before mile 17 though he popped up out of no where clapping supper loud and shouting "you got it! you got it! woo lets go!" He had a 3:30 pace bib on and he was now a part of our mission. I now had a Sherpa and a Cheerleader. He was so loud and just kept yelling "you got it...you got it". I knew he had good intentions but I am sure he was driving all the other runners around us nutso!

About every mile Cindy would shout out some instructions:

"relax your shoulders"
"watch your heelstrike"
"shorten your stride"
"relax your arms"
"thumbs up"
"the hay is in the barn" (my favorite)

I could see other runners around us taking heed and following my Sherpa's instructions...it was funny! At one point my legs started feeling heavy and I was starting to think about it way too much then someone in the crowd shouted "winner winner chicken dinner". Huh? This was somehow hilarious to the 3 of us at this point and enough to distract me and carry me through.

On the beast of the bridge, with the rubbery covered grates, I tripped and almost wiped out. My nose was about a foot from the pavement when the Cheerleader and a runner next to me caught me by my elbows somehow in the nick of time. I jarred my back, ouch, but collected my parts and found my pace and carried on. I thanked the guy on my left and thanked my Cheerleader who was again shouting "you got it...you got it!" It was time for some new material! My Sherpa was way ahead in the distance looking back and pointing down to the pavement on her left.

Then we were in the Bronx (a favorite spot on the course) and I was still on pace and feeling good. My legs were getting heavy but still keeping the pace. Whenever we would approach a water stop I would shout out "gatorade" or "water" and both my Sherpa and my Cheerleader would appear instantly with my refreshment of choice. I think it was becoming a competition between the two of them...who can get it faster :-) Needless to say I was spoiled and well taken care of. About mile 23 I began to slow up a bit. My Cheerleader starting using the kids to try and distract me. He started shouting out "I can doooo it! I can doooooooooo it!" which was our daughter Avalon's race mantra at the Keebler Kids Mile at Legoland this last year. It was funny to me but surely maddening to the other runners. I didn't respond because I didn't want to encourage him further but he was already on a roll and didn't need any more encouragment. "you got it! You got it! You got it! Clap clap clap" over and over and over and over. Finally I shouted out to him "quit saying that!". I was thinking of shouting so much more to him but didn't have the energy to waste. At mile 24 my Sherpa shouted it was "time to run". I knew what this meant but didn't think the legs would follow suit. I felt like I was runnng in slow motion but each time I looked down we were still on pace by some miracle. I noticed I was super thirsty all of the sudden...dying for water. At mile 25 my right hamstring started cramping...oh no! Ouch...keep the wheels on...keep the wheels on! "Come on Come on!" Sherpa was shouting back and pointing down to that spot on the pavement. Try as I might, the legs just wouldn't move faster and that cramping hamstring was slowing me down. Just then Cindy circled back for me and shouted "this is the last mile...horse to the barn". At this point I realized we were on track for a 3:30 and all was well. I ran as hard as I could (not much faster) trying to catch Sherpa and the Cheerleader (who was still yelling and clapping "you got it...you got it!). With the finish line in sight I managed to get next to Cindy (she must have ran backwards to me). She shouted out "Bellhops" and I grabbed her hand and knew what I had to do. A 1 - 2 - 3 jump to a bellhop finish. I'm not sure that my heels clicked off the pavement but in my head they did and it was a beauty!

Just like that is was over. I kissed my Cheerleader and hugged my dear Sherpa. I couldn't have done it without them.

Once I had collected my brain I asked the Cheerleader "why did you keep saying 'you got it!' over and over?" It turns out he thought he was playing the part of an official paceleader with that bib on and he thought that is what the paceleaders do. He didn't want to get kicked off the course so he was compelled to shout out "encouragement" to his "team" the entire time.

Our official time was 3:29:23. Boston Bound!

the cheerleader!

2008-10-27T20:58:00.011-04:00

The big weekend finally arrived! We decided to take a road trip down to Virginia to visit the hubby's sister and family (we would be staying with them in VA and commute into DC each day for the expo). It was a really long but fairly scenic car ride from Toronto to Virginia. The leaves are still turning down there and it was a beautiful sunny fall day luckily.

We had a great time at the 3-day expo. It was great to finally meet a lot of our east coast customers and running skirts fans. For those of you that haven't been yet, the Marine Corps Marathon Expo is gi-normous. You could easily spend a whole day or at least 4 hours walking around all the armory checking out all the latest running products, foods, drinks and gadgets. We were so busy, I didn't have a chance to walk the whole floor, but I did manage to make it by the Lara bar booth to scoop a few of the new flavor samples (yum!) and pick up a cute red white & blue long sleeve race shirt, hat and warm up jacket. There were marines everywhere! Working, running and volunteering. It was great to get to meet a few of them and hear about their lives, where they came from and where they are stationed, etc. I made a point to thank every one of them for their services.

After 3 long 12 hour days at the expo I commenced my normal pre-race ritual, salmon & rice dinner with veggies, ice bath & warm shower and stretching. My dogs were definitely barking after day 3 (most of our expos are 2 days). I tried to keep up a postive mental attitude and do a little visualization when I though of it. I think I kept getting interrupted by the hubby or baby before I actually visualized my finish!

I told myself as I put my weary aching bones to bed that I was NOT going to do the usual pre-marathon freak out and not sleep. As soon as I lay down, the nerves kicked in. If you've ever run a marathon - you know the feeling..your stomach starts doing flip flops and no matter what you do, you cannot relax and fall asleep! Throw in a baby that wakes up 2-3 times a night when hes not in his own bed and voila.....2-2.5 hours of pre race sleep. Par for the course for me. The alarm clock went off at 4:15 a.m. I quickly showered stretched and put on my camo running skirt and brooks racers. I threw my wave riders into my race bag just in case I made a game time decision change. (This would be my first marathon distance race in the lighter racers.) I've already done 3 half marathons in them so I figured I could pull it off. The less weight I have to carry the whole 26.2 the better. I woke up the hubby and baby bear and off we went to the city. We were meeting Val and a few of her police co-workers at the Hyatt Capitol Hill and then planned to take the Metro to the Runners Village at the start.

We arrived promptly at 6:00 a.m. (ok val, so it was 6:03) and then headed down to the Metro subway. By the time we got through the crowd in the Metro and checked our race bags & hit the porta potties, we had just enough time to weed our way to the start line. Val and I made our way up the 2nd corral for the 3 hour ish marathon finish time. The next thing I knew the gun went off and so did we. My race plan was to stay on pace for a 3:05 for the first half and then pick it up on the back half if I felt strong. The race started right off with some rolling hills and then more hills and then more. Wow - I had always heard the MCM was a great first time course, etc. etc. and didn't look into it too much. But, there is some elevation in the first half. I don't mind the uphill too much as it was accompanied by equal downhill segments. I was cruising along just under my goal pace - around 6:45-6:50 per mile.

I saw the hubby and baby at mile 10.5 as planned and was feeling great. We had perfect running weather - cool and sunny! I reminded myself that I needed to stay on pace and slowed down a bit. I crossed the halfway point in 1:29 something and was elated at how effortless it was feeling. I was relaxed and not feeling exerted at all. The goal of a 3:05 now seemed a sure thing and there was a glimmer of hope at even breaking 3 hours. All I had to do was hold on to my pace. The hubby was at mile 16 also, but I didn't see him. I was trying to stay relaxed and concentrate and didn't hear him yelling my name unfortunately.
(val at mile 10.5)

Mile 16 is when the wheels started to come off the bus. I felt a slight twinge in my right inner thigh and remember thinking - hmmm - that's new. I though about stopping to stretch but decided against it. I managed to ignore it until mile 18 when suddenly both of my hamstrings seized up on me. I yelled out in pain and stopped & bent over to stretch them out. When I bent over to stretch the hamstrings out quickly, my quads seized and then went the calves. I was jumping around trying to stretch one part, then another...it was a very bad predicament. I loosened myself slightly up and plodded along thinking - ok, I must need some more electrolytes. I also remember that I was feeling thirsty, which I've never felt before on a run when I have been hydrating ( I hit all the water stops as usual). At the next water stop I took both water and powerade and stretched some more and then forced myself to go another mile without stopping. Even after the water, another roctane gu and some power ade, the pain was getting worse. If you've ever had a charlie horse in a muscle you have felt this pain - only it was both hamstrings, both calves and both quads all at once. I couldn't believe this was happening to me. I felt so good and so strong! Then wham! I was a hobbling, moaning blob of gu. I realized at mile 18-19 that my visions of a sub 3 hour marathon were now history, I was still confident I would make it in by my goal of 3:05 or so. HA! The hits just kept on coming. I would stretch a bit, then walk for 30 steps and then slowly pick it up to a jog again, but after about 20 steps the legs would cramp up again and I would have to stop in my tracks, bend over and stretch again. This ugly cycle was repeated all the way to the finish line.

I was that guy - you know the one - the guy who is screaming out in pain and hobbling or standing stiff legged along the sidelines of a race. I always thought - oh, that poor guy - he must not have trained properly. Yep - I was that guy - talk about humbling! I remember at mile 24 thinking "how the heck am I going to make it 2 more miles like this?". At one point somewhere between mile 24-26, I remember that I had to walk dowhill backwards with my legs spread apart to keep from falling over. With all my mucsles cramped up I couldn't bend my knees and I had to wobble down the hill in reverse. I would laugh at myself, turn around and try again only to make it two steps and then there would be a stabbing dagger in the back of both of my knees, calves and hamstrings and I'd have to stop and turn around and put it in reverse again. I think I even scared some of those tough as nails marines on the sidelines.

I also remember at one point standing bent over at the waist stretching my legs trying to get them to release a bit so that my knees would once again bend enough to start walking and jogging again, some guy who passed by had the nerve to yell "suck it up"! Oh, that really got me going....I started jogging and yelling in pain and anger aaaaahhhh.....it got me going for about 10 strides until I was stricken stiff legged again. By now the only thing I could think about was crossing the darn finish line in one piece. I was afraid I would have to stop and get my first DNF and at the same time I was scared of how much worse the pain was going to get. I don't recall seeing any medics or I would have asked them for help - at least to stretch out a bit so that I could move better. I also knew the hubby would be really worried too since he expected me in sometime around 3-3:05, I remember the 3:10 pace group passing by at one point when I was bent over stretching. Unfortunately their words of encouragement did nothing for the uncooperative legs. I was overwhelmed by the realization that things weren't going to get better at this point. I just had to get to the finish one way or another. This is when the walking, stretching, standing, jogging cycle began. My last two miles took me about 22 minutes! Somewhere around mile 25 one of my old fleet feet team mates from Sacramento passed by me and yelled "Hi Cindy!". I was relieved to see a familiar face...for a second...I yelled to her "I started cramping up really bad..." and then she was gone. (As I went through my own post-race mile by mile replay of what went wrong, it dawned on me that this friend was the very same girl my running partner and I hooked arms with and ran her in - overheated, dehydrated and all - to the Boston finish line with us so that we could cross the line together as a team. Hmmph!
(photo of cramped legs at finish line stretch - note the behind the knee/calf/hammy area - ouch!)

As I walked my way to the final stretch of the last mile, I could hear the roar of the crowd and still couldn't get my legs to cooperate. I was still doing the walk, jog, stretch routine. I jogged halfway up the last hill to the finish line (what a cruel cruel joke on this course) and saw my sister in law holding my little baby in the stands. I waved to him and he reached out to me with both of his chubby little hands as if he was saying "come and get me mommy - I'm over here! Why are you running away?". I smiled and waved again & mustered up one last stretch of an attempt to jog across the finish line - and then it was over! 3:20 something was my final time - I will post my splits when I reconnect with my garmin - they are pretty funny.

All in all it was a beautiful day and a challenging course, but a very well organized marathon event. When I reunited with my hubby at the finish - he was worried that I had suffered an injury or perhaps even something worse. As he embraced me and I recounted to him my demise after mile 18, he said "oh, you must have been so upset, were you crying?" I chuckled and said - "no, why would I be crying?" I thought to myself, at least I have my legs to hurt and cramp up. There were so many amputees and wounded soldiers that were participating or volunteering at the race, it was very moving. I remember passing by a girl pushing her boyfriend or husband in what appeared to be a jog stroller from behind. As I passed her I realized that he was another amputee. It brought tears to my eyes. Thank God for these soldiers who are out there laying it all on the lines for us all!

(post 26.2 cerveza)

After a talk with my coach on Monday, we concluded that the 3 day expo work on my feet 12+ hours each day and being under hydrated and lacking electrolytes, surely the cause of the cramping. Lesson learned, all the training in the world won't help if you don't take care of your body in the days leading up to the marathon. I won't try to PR a race again after such a long week of travel and time on the feet.

(much needed ice bath...questionable toenail casualty on left foot)
Here are my splits: 6:57, 6:52, 6:32, 6:28, 6:41, 6:50, 7:08, 6:37, 6:49, 6:40, 6:51, 6:49, 6:50, 6:57, 6:58, 6:57, 7:05, 7:10, 7:12, 7:27, 7:43, 7:58, 8:10, 9:50, 11:06, 12:51.

Next up, NYC Marathon with Christy next weekend - yikes!

2008-10-20T10:00:00.007-04:00

The Toronto Marathon was a great event this weekend. We kicked the weekend off with the Health & Fitness expo at the Sheraton Centre in downtown Toronto. We were thrilled to be located directly adjacent from the Yo-Pro booth (yummy healthy high protein frozen yogurt) and right next to the massage booth. I was joined in the running skirt booth by our super star personal trainer & uber runner Judika Klose who helps me out in the skirt booth for the Canada events. Judika is a super mom of 5 kids (yes, that's not a typo...5!) and a personal training business. After her 5th child she was over 200 pounds and now look at her (she's wearing the lilac plum outfit in the video from our marathon Relay team this weekend). She's such an inspiration and oh so fast (she runs around a 1:20 half!) Despite recovering from a serious ankle injury she was able to take on 2 legs of our relay and ran a 38 minute 10k - sweet! One speedy skirt for sure. Thanks Judika - you rock the skirts!

We had a speedy marathon relay team made of up Krista Boylea 1-10.1k, Judika Klose 10.1-20k, Agnes Ngunriji 20-25k, Cindy Lynch 25-30k, Antony Mwangi 30-35k & Josiane Aboungono 35k-42k, finishing in 2:42. Unfortunately Jamie didn't make it up to the first leg in time to capture Krista (she had the big hill in the starting leg 10k!) and was flying! Josiane & Agness and Antony were all coming down from big races the previous day at the Oasis Zoo Run (see story below)

Getting a nice congratulatory hug from womens running pioneer Katherine Switzer.

The last 3 women of our relay team accepting our relay award at the finish. The awards were all presented by Katherine Switzer.

Oasis Zoo Run
While we were working the booth at the Goodlife Toronto Marathon Expo, our speedy skirts Josiane Aboungono was racing the last race of the Canada Running Series, the Zoo Run 10k. Josiane had a great race, she was in the lead when she took a wrong turn on the course and had to work to get back on the course & catch back up with the other leaders. Unfortunately, while she was re-passing the lead female Lioudmila Kortchaguina, according to Josiane and the other lead runners that were in the lead pack, Liudmila grabbed the back of Josiane's jersey and pulled her close and then (get this!) gave her a sharp elbow in the ribs. Josiane fell back and fought the rest of the way to the finish and still managed to come in 3rd female overall....she was not happy with the sportmanship of Lioudmila. Josiane & her coach reported this incident to the race officials, and were told, since it wasn't captured on tape or film it was "part of racing" and there was nothing they could do about it. Wow - when I heard this I was really sad. It's very unfortunate that this type of bad sportsmanship and apparently running combat (or hand-to-hand combat as the Canada Running Series race report termed it) is acceptable by these race officials. After talking to some other elite female runners, this apparently isn't an isolated incident with this runner - she has pulled other similar stunts to other top female runners. Shame on you Lioudmila! Maybe if she wore a running skirt, she could be a speedy skirt that wouldn't have to resort to taking combat cues from her husband on the sidelines.

Photo of Liudmila at the finish line.

To finish this recap on a positive note. Josiane's top finish at the Oasis ZooRun 10k this weekend landed her the points to finish out the Canada Running Series in first place. Woohoo! Congrats to Josiane, Nicole and the other top female finishers in Canada Running Series.

Women:

1st  Josiane Aboungono      Milton, ON      130 points   $2500
2nd  Nicole Stevenson       Toronto, ON     121 points   $1500
3rd  Lioudmila Kortchaguina Toronto, ON     105 points   $1000
4th  Nancy Tinari           Coquitlam, BC    96 points    $750
5th  Lisa Harvey            Calgary, AB      90 points    $500

2008-10-01T12:53:00.000-04:00

I can't believe the Toronto Waterfront Expo is here already! What a great marathon event - the course is known to be flat and fast and last year Daniel Rono ran the fastest marathon in Canada on this course.

Here's a great shot of Jamie & baby admiring the marathon trophies at the expo last weekend! I can't believe he will be 11 months old next week - crazy how this year has flown by.

Last year I was 8 months pregnant and ran the 5k with Arma who was 7 months along at the time. It was cool to hear all the comments as people stopped by the booth and it was nice of everyone to ask how the babies were doing, etc.
This year Arma and I were both planning to run the half marathon as part of our marathon training programs (she's running Columbus in 2 weeks) and I'm running Marine Corps in 3 weeks.

OK - on to my race report. We had a very busy weekend at the expo - with the new camo skirts and the mini dot running and athletic skirts back in stock, it was a skirt frenzy! I barely had a chance to snack on anything, but managed to keep hydrating at least. I did have a few lara bars and bananas on hand thankfully.

Saturday night after the long day at the expo, we had my husbands high school reunion. It was the 50 year anniversary for the high school so all the graduating classes for Richview Collegiate were invited to attend this giant celebration. The hubby was super excited to go to the event and see all his old buddies and classmates. By the time we got back to the hotel and cleaned up it was 8:30p.m. I was dragging my feet on going since I was already exhaused from working the booth the last 2 days, but I knew how excited Jamie was so I "took one for the team" and mustered up a little energy to get showered, dressed, do my hair, etc. (When I secretly just wanted to take my traditional pre-race ice bath, hot shower, stretch, have my pre-run salmon & rice and go to bed!) The reunion party was awesome - I even got to meet the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper (Richview Class of 1978) see photo below. He used to run on the cross country team at Jamie's school.
He seems like a great guy! (I was so glad I decided to venture out to the reunion instead of staying in and going to bed early.) I even indulged in one glass of red wine, but followed it up with several glass of ice water. I pulled the running a marathon tomorrow card and pulled a Cinderalla, sneaking out around 11:30 and catching a cab back to the hotel with hopes of being in bed fast asleep by midnight.

These hopes were all shattered (at least the fast asleep part). There was a bachelor party going on in the room across the hall from us and - get this - a bachelorette party 2 doors down. It was party central on our floor until 3:30 a.m! I finally got some sleep at 3:30 for about an hour before the little guy woke up at 4:30 for his early feeding. I had just drifted back to sleep when my alarm went off at 5:15 a.m. I had to get to the start early since I realized I had forgotten to get my chip activated. I jogged the half mile to the start line and knew I was going to be in for a challenging race. My legs didn't have the bounce in them that they should have!

I managed to work my way up to the front of my corral for the race start and spotted my coach in the crowd who gave me a nice 2 thumbs up gesture. As the gun went off, I found myself sucked in by the lead pack and I was berating myself when my garmin gave my first mile split of 5:54 mile. Uh-oh, I said . I immediately slowed down to my planned pace and plodded along waiting for the heaviness in my legs to ease up. Normally after working the expo for 2 days it takes about 5k to work all the lead out of the legs and get warmed up. Well, this never happened for me today. Even after my first roctane gu - I never got that energy boost! At the halfway point, I was trying to hold on to my pace and very nervous about my level of exertion already. I did everything I could to hold onto my pace, but I could feel myself slowing down each mile. It was sure mind power that got me to the finish line this time...my legs had nothing in them. Here are my splits: 5:54, 6:28, 6:38, 6:42, 6:42, 6:59, 6:41, 6:42, 6:53, 6:42, 7:05, 6:49, 6:40. I finished in 1:29:09. I have never been happier to see a finish line, but didn't have the normal kick left to sprint across with a smile. I was completely drained this time. Definitely, my day of reckoning. Lesson Learned. Don't try to PR when you don't take care of your body and get adequate sleep & nutrition. All in all, it was still a great race for me and landed me 3rd place a/g and a cool mirrored plaque award.

I'm proud to say that our "speedy skirt" Josiane Aboungono came in 3rd woman overall in 1:19:24.

2008-09-17T11:57:00.003-04:00

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month! Please join Running Skirts in the fight against breast cancer by making a kind donation or joining on of our RunningSkirts.com for the Cure team to run or walk the 5k event in your town on October 5th! Click here to make a donation!

2008-09-16T12:01:00.001-04:00

OK Ladies & fellow running mummies, here's some inspiration for you!
My sister has been babbling some nonsense about a girl she has seen running by the san diego office each day in a running skirt pushing a triple jogger. Christy told me she runs every day without fail with all three of her kids. I have heard of other people sighting this phantom wonder mom...she's just been somewhat of a urban legend to me. Until Now!

A few weeks ago, I was I was taking my new jog stroller out for a test drive up the coast (to see if I put it together properly). I was huffing and puffing and grumbling under my breath about how much work it was pushing my little chubby monkey along with me. I stop at a stoplight and look up and what do I see? The legend herself in person - triple jogger, pinkypink running skirt, three adorable kiddies in triple jogger crusing right along.

I greeted her with a hello and vocalized my adoration for her commitement and told her she was inspiration for us all. As I continued my jog I remembered that I had my new blackberry with me in the jogger so I stopped and grabbed it out quickly while I waited for the super mommy to run by. I stopped her and asked her a little more about her training and running with the not single, not double, BUT TRIPLE jog stroller and snapped a few pics. Her name is Alicia and she runs every morning without fail at least 3 miles. She said she has never run without her kids and was actually training for a full marathon until she discovered that there weren't any local marathons that would let her run with her jogging stroller. (I know this is probably a liability thing, but surely there must be local running events that allow jog strollers - why cant they start in the back?). She mentioned that her husband works the graveyard shift, so she takes the kids out each day for her runs. When I asked her if she ever runs without them, she quickly responded "NO, I never run without them!". Wow- I thought - imagine how speedy Alicia would be in a race sans jogger. I again gave her my kudos and accolades at being such an inspiration and let her continue her run (apparently if the kiddies are all on their best behavior, mommy stops at the park).

As I finished my own run, I silently reprimanded myself for being such a grumbly single jog stroller mommy and reminded myself that it was a way to continue getting in mileage and fresh air and also sharing my love for fitness & running with son. With visions of Alicia and triple jogger in my head, I reminded myself "it could be worse!...er um I mean better!".

Alicia - you are a super star running skirts mom - keep it up! If by chance you read this, please tell us how you do it?

2008-09-15T08:26:00.005-04:00

This week starts the 6 week countdown to the marathon! I'm happy to report I survived my first of a few 20+ mile long runs. Unfortunately my long run partner Val had hockey mom obligations all weekend and she did her long run Friday afternoon so I was going solo for this on on Saturday. The plan was to run the rail trail again for 2 hours and than pick up the pace at the end a bit longer this week (last week I survived 5k of tempo at the end). I was absolutely dreading the long run solo - especially since the rail trail is so desolate and remote. The hubby agreed to ride his mountain bike along with me & Grandpa agreed to have a go at his first babysitting gig with the boy. (I don't know what I'd do without my family to support me though these long training hours). I did give the hubby and grandpa a free golf pass for Sunday though in exchange for the ride-along. The run itself was pretty uneventful, long & slow. My legs were feeling pretty sore from a track workout on Thursday night too. I managed to go 4 tempo miles at the end of the 2 hours slow and then 2-3 miles cooldown which brought to 21 big ones. Whew - glad that's over.

Now, onto the more important big news....my niece Madi had her first real theatre "tryout" over the weekend. She was auditioning for a role in "The Little Mermaid" play in San Diego (she was hoping she'd land the part of Ariel). Christy took her to the tryouts Saturday which lasted for hours. I received a text message from Christy right before Madi went on stage and she said her hands were trembling and she was soo nervous as if she herself were going on stage to sing and dance for the panel. Apparently the competition was pretty tough and she was up against very talented singers and dancers of all ages. Madi had to sing a song of her choice (she chose something from Mama Mia). She did an outstanding job and also had to learn a quick dance number in 15 minutes and then come out with the group and show her stuff. The call backs were going to be posted later online. They headed home after the dance number and Christy ended up staying up until midnight (the night before her long run) until they finally posted the call back names online. Madi wasn't in the list! Gasp - the horror! Christy was dreading breaking the news with her the next day since Madi was certain she'd land the role Arial or another lead. So, to make a long sad story short and happy. The bad news was broken Sunday morning, life went on with softball games, etc.
I got a text message in the middle of the night that said "Big News". Christy had discovered that Madi's name appeared, not on the call back list, but actually on THE CAST LIST for not one, but 2 roles!!! A Singing Frog AND a Sea Creature....OH HAPPY DAY! was the message from Christy. Too funny. I'm sure when she is a famous superstar someday we will all look back and laugh about how she got her big breakout as her role as a "singing frog". The hubby and I had a huge belly laugh at the role title "frog singer", too cute! We are so proud of our budding superstar!

2008-09-07T09:40:00.007-04:00

I just looked at the calendar yesterday and holy cats! My marathon is less than 6 weeks away. I've been training and running a lot of half-marathons, but haven't really cranked the mileage up like I should have by now. I think my longest run has been around 15-16 miles. Normally I wouldn't be having heart palpitations over this. However, this will be my first full marathon in several years and to say I'm a little nervous would be an understatement. I think I ran my last full marathon in late 2005 or early 2006 and then had to back off of the speed workouts and crazy mileage so that I could work on "project baby". I wasn't one of those lucky female runners that just (oops) turned up pregnant while they were training for their next marathon (like Christy who I refer to as "fertile myrtle"). I pretty much had to stop the long distance and competitive running and speed workouts (and eat ice cream and peanut butter) every day for lunch so that I could get my body back up to child bearing condition.

I had a chat with my coach yesterday about my concerns and the quickly approaching marathon. He reassured me that I could carefully get my mileage where it needs to be and talked me through how I needed to run my long runs. Val and I met for our long run yesterday (she was also coming off a fast half marathon last weekend). We decided to run the Oro Medonte rail trail since it's all hard packed dirt/gravel and completely flat. The only downside is that it is in the middle of nowhereville and there aren't any water stops or bathrooms along the way. Without going into too many unpleasant details, I'll just say that my body is till on PST (I just got back from California on Wednesday) and I wasn't quite ready to "do my business" before Val picked me up at 6:00 a.m. I was a little concerned knowing where we were running (in the middle of nowhereville) and knowing that the "poo fairy" was gonna arrive promptly on schedule pacific standard time (right about mile 6 or 7) so I stuffed one of my skirt pockets with Charmin extra soft just in case. I figured if I prepared for the worst, it wound't happen. (Kind of reverse-murphy's law mentality). I'll just say that that was wishful thinking and I was wrong and as Val described it - I took my running to a whole new level! Thank goodness for the dense forest. Val was giving me a hard time asking why I didn't come back out with a pocket full of tp? "pack it in, pack it out" she said. I reassured her all materials were biodegradable and then joked about our new marketing phrase for the running skirts with pockets...one for gu and one for poo. Ok, gross, I know but it entertained us for at least a mile or so....alrighty then, I'm moving on from this subject.

As for the long run - we ended up running easy and slow for 2 hours and then at the end of the 2 hours, we ran 5k pretty hard. This simulates the feeling you have at the end of a marathon and helps you gage conditioning for that distance. Here are my splits for this long run workout: 8:34, 8:15, 8:29, 8:18, 8:25, 8:14, 8:20, 8:31, 8:25, 8:22, 8:31, 8:37, 8:39, 8:28, (5k - 6:54, 6:36, 6:24), cool down mile 9:15 - total mileage 18.3

Ugh - my legs were feeling so heavy and dead just like they do at the end of a marathon, but otherwise felt injury free. We were very happy to have this workout behind us. I finished up with a nice hot cup of timmy's (coffee) while sitting in my ice bath for 20 minutes or so and then a warm shower. I was feeling pretty good after the shower. I also had a nice hot epsom salt bath at the end of the day before bed and it was heavenly. They sell these awesome giant bags of eucalyptus epsom salts at Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada - I recommend them if you can find them! I pour almost a whole bag in my big soaker tub...it's a minty hot fabulous almost spa-like experience.

This morning I woke up slightly stiff but otherwise feeling really great. Today is a rest day and then I'll do something easy tomorrow. We will run a similar long run again next weekend, only finishing with 6k-8k strong and keep bumping up the last portion of the run until we get to 10k fast at the end.

Now onto more important subjects - all you moms out there - when did your little ones start sleeping through the night? We had our little guy "ferberized" at 4 months. He would sleep all night until 4 or 5:00 a.m., but that all went to the wayside when he started cutting teeth. We have been traveling the last month and I have spoiled him by grabbing him and feeding him as soon as he starts fussing before he wakes up the whole house or hotel guests. Now that we are home again I'm ready to re-ferberize, but wonder if anyone else has any tips on this. The first night attempt didn't go so well - he cried for 10 minutes and wasn't calming so I walked into his room and found him sitting up in his crib (this is a new skill). So do you let them sit there and cry and will they finally lay themselves down? Or do you pick them up and settle them and try again? Please help - I really can't do this 8-9 times a night thing anymore. I'm a sleepless wreck. I am also still breastfeeding him and may have something to do with the waking. I know all my friends that have switched to formula already all have babies who sleep more. Any tips? please??!!??

2008-09-01T12:13:00.009-04:00

What a great family running event! Our weekend started off with the Disneyland Half Marathon and 5k Health and Fitness expo which took place in the Disneyland Hotel Convention Center. We were thrilled to have our new "mini dot" polka dot athletic skirts available for customers who have been waiting for the red & white minnie mouse version of the skirt with black compression shorts underneath.

The expo was tons of fun - Christy, I and Coach Katri worked the booth in full Minnie flair, mini dot skirts, black tanks, topped off with the famous mouse ears (mine of black sequin variety). There was great energy and everyone was out having a great time at the "Greatest Place on Earth". This is the perfect marathon event to bring the whole family - disneyland theme parks for the kids (and kids at heart) and a 5k race on saturday and the 1/2 marathon Sunday morning - all on labour day weekend...so you get a whole extra day for recovery and family time!

3 full days on the feet working the skirt booth at the expo leaves the legs achy and heavy so we always take our traditional pre-race ice bath to help flush out the legs. After having a fabulous traditional pre-race dinner at McCormick & Scmicks (salmon and brown rice for me), we headed back to the hotel and ro-sham-boed (sp?) on who was going to get the first ice bath? A few buckets and shopping bags of ice later Christy found her way into a splish splash bath of icy bliss....aw - can you see the relaxation on her face? I only regret that these photos don't have sound attached - the noises that came from her as she sat into the water were something of a cross between a moan/shreak and lamaze type breathing. Hi-larious. .

Christy carefully lowered herself into the ice bath (left) while I took the traditional method of quick immersion = less suffering and plopped right in.

We had the baby with us in the hotel room, so Christy got to experience first hand the challenges of waking up 4x night with him. Is my 9 month old they only kid out there that doesn't sleep through the night yet? Our alarm clock went of at 4:15 a.m. -ouch. The Disneyland half was scheduled to start at 6:00 a.m. nice and early to avoid the crazy heat problems that they had the previous year. For those of you that haven't heard about it - they race coordinators "black flagged" the race and told the runners their times wouldn't count, their chips wouldn't work, etc. in an attempt to get people to chill out and go easy to avoid heat problems. Here's a few shots of us waiting for the bus (we caught the last bus btw - talk about cutting in close!)

Christy & I waiting for the bus & Chisty & Katri (Tinkerbell) pre race.
We hopped off the bus and darted for the porta potties and then made our way to the first wave corral. We tried to get as close as we could to the front in hopes of getting good race positioning from the get go and have to do less maneuvering in the crowds. As we were nearing the start line the announcer "Rudy" called a runner up to the front by bib number, turns out it was his girlfriend and he brought her up with him on the platform and proposed...aw! It was so sweet, she said yes! Rudy does all the race announcing in the big socal & san diego running events and it was so great to hear his proposal. We kind of joked that we didn't think we were going to be starting the day off with tears. Thanks & Congrats to Rudy and his fiancee! She then hopped back into the pack as she was running the half marathon also (imagine how crazy that 13.1 miles must have been for her...euphoric!).

The race went really well except for the fact that I wanted to kill "Snow White" in the first few miles. Some clown was dressed up like snow white and veering back and forth in front of me at mile 2 and almost tripped me twice. I found myself yelling "Snow White - stop cutting people off!!" and finally made my way around him. I'm not sure if he understood english since he looked at me like I was crazy and continued his antics. So frustrating! I made a mental note not to get passed by Snow White again and held my pace. Here are my splits: 6:38, 6:30, 6:19, 6:36, 6:41, 6:36, 6:38, 6:38, 6:34, 6:26, 6:28, 7:02, 6:09. I finished in 1:26:40 - a pr for me which landed me 4th female and 1st place in my age group. I was a little disappointed that the overall awards only went 3 deep - they were the coolist gold mickey mouse trophies! But - how cool is my plaque with Micky on it!
After the race I ran back to the hotel and picked up baby in the jogger and ran back to the finish line, but unfortunately missed the award ceremony and photo op with Mickey. Christy collected my plaque for me - I told her she should have taken the photo with Mickey since nobody would really know the difference. All in all it was a really fun race, great flat course through California Adventure park, parts of Disneyland and around Annaheim Angels Stadium then back through Annaheim to Downtown Disney and the finish in front of the Disneyland Hotel. I will definitely do this race again and hopefully take the whole family next year! There were so many "mini dot" skirts in action - it was amazing and so much fun!

Post race Haagen Daaz!

2008-08-19T11:57:00.009-04:00

AFC Marathon

PRs all around! Woohoo. This is the second time I have run this race. I ran it a few years ago before the pregnancy and last year I ran the last 5k or so with Christy up the hill into Balboa Park.

Our day started out at the wee hour of 4:00 a.m. when our alarm clock went off. I had just put the baby back down from a mid-night feeding and snuggled back into bed. BEEP BEEP BEEP! Up again! We were on the road by 4:35 headed to the park to catch one of the buses to the startline. This year we got there in plenty of time to get a parking place and and early bus to the start line.....plenty of time to check bags, warmup, stretch and hit the "spankys" (portolets). We had a great time warming up and visiting with all the other "skirts" out there - so many customers from the expo were thrilled with their new skirts. Camopink and minidot were everywhere! It was so cool to have a minute to talk all of our skirt customers about their race plans, etc. and share "good lucks" and high fives with everyone before the race. This is the fun part about our business and we feel we are very blessed that our work and passion are one in the same.

We lined up toward the front of the pack and watched the elite runners in the "special" starting corral doing their warmup pickups and stretches. As the last 3 buses rolled in, they national anthem began...and still no Arma & Nassim (our plan was to meet at the front of the start line). I looked into the windows of the last buses rolling in wondering...hmmm - is Arma on that one? Did she make it? Next minute the gun went off and off we went! I must have blocked out the hills from the beginning....for some reason I remembered the course as being all downhill in the beginning for first 10k. But as we headed out from the start from Cabrillo Monument we had a few good climes up away from the point before the descent down into the city began. My race plan was to PR from my last marathon of 1:29:57 and make the most of the downhill miles since I knew the last 2-3 miles were uphill into Balboa park and I would most certainly be slower. It was a very challenging course with the hills and the heat and sun right in your face for most of the 13.1 miles. Here are my splits: 6:41, 6:38, 6:21, 5:56, 6:27, 6:37, 6:39, 6:37, 6:40, 6:41, 6:43, 6:45, 7:14 - finish time 1:27:42 (average pace 6:42). I am quite happy with this PR from my pre-pregnancy personal best of 1:29:15!

Here's a few shots team Running Skirts coming across the bridge into Balboa park about .5 miles from the finish line.
(Cindy coming over the bridge and running into the park across the bridge below)

Below is a great shot of Christy leading the pack of men along the finish line stretch - she also had a great pr race. Here are her splits: 7:07, 7:20, 6:46, 6:40, 7:26, 7:35, 7:35, 7:35, 7:32, 7:38, 8:20, 8:09, 8:16 - finish time 1:39:28 (average pace 7:36)

Arma even flew south for this great race! Here she is all smiles as usual looking fresh as a daisy in the home stretch. Arma also ran a PR of 1:39:57.

Arma's cousin Nassim from LA, joined Team Running Skirts on Sunday for a great PR of 1:54:24

2008-08-13T11:42:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday Cindy, Christy & Madi!

Wow - what a crazy fun-filled week! It's a family tradition to spend our birthdays together every year (Christy's daughter Madison shares our birthday too). Our birthday just happens to fall during the week of the America's Finest City Half Marathon also. The birthday theme for 9 year old Marathon Madison this year was "Rockin' Dance Party!"

Imagine 20 8-9 year old little girls rockin out and dancing their hearts out to ABBA and the latest Hannah Montana and Jonas Brothers tunes. Highlights of the evening included the "So you think you can dance-off contest", the macarena dance, freeze dance, the limbo and of course - ice cream cake! Birthday girl Madison even entertained all the guests with an enthusiastic solo performance or two. (I wish I had some video footage - so adorable!). By far the highlight of the whole night though hands down was when 4 year old Avi jumped on the "stage", grabbed the mike from the DJ and announced "I just want to say that this is the BEST DANCE PARTY EVER!!!!!!". Hysterical! Sing it with me "Oh, what a night!".

Now, onto the AFC report coming soon.

2008-08-07T07:00:00.000-04:00

While not as big as Muskoka Rocks, these two beauties might as well have been 2 geological wonders by all the ruckus they have caused.

Finally - they emerge! I have been waiting for these suckers to finally break through baby's swollen red gums all week. The poor little guy has had a fever for days and has been oh so grouchy. To think I complained about getting up with him 2x a night. During this momentous top teeth cutting week - we topped out at 8-10 soothing, lullaby singing, feeding sessions during the wee hours of the night. Coffee has been my friend this week!

Thankfully, now that they are out, he is back to his happy go lucky self and sleeping a little better again. I have to say, that I never took into consideration sleep deprivation when orchestrating my grand race plan for this year. I thought once the baby was out of the womb and I have daycare or hubby care covered, the training would be smooth sailing. HA!

Photo from Muskoka Rocks race this weekend. We were blessed with a gorgeous sunny day up in cottage country. This is a great event that benefits Camp Oochigeas. The race is very well organized and perfect for the whole family. There's a 5k, 10k and 1k kids course, refreshments, and even a live band at the finish.

Val and I toed the line for the 10k, not sure what to expect as we have heard over and over that it's a "challenging" course. The 10k course was definitely the most challenging I've ever run...very hilly, but the beautiful scenery and lake views made up for the pain of the hills. I was still feeling some soreness in my hamstrings from my last strength training workout, so I didn't really push the pace and just held my pace at a moderate effort. I pretty much ignored the garmin and ran on feel. Here are my splits: 6:26, 6:38, 6:41, 7:15, 7:06, & 6;34.

16  4685 cindy lynch    42:04 LF35-39    2/22      6  4:13   42:01
23  4801 Val Gates      43:21 LF30-34    2/16      7  4:20   43:18

Check out the race kit for Muskoka Rocks - one of the best I've seen in a while for a fairly small event....Race event flyers, spa coupon, salon coupon, lipstick, hair products, goody hair elastics, potato chips, m&ms, bottled water, locally made bbq sauce, sweat towel, toothpaste sample and magnet from Mynextrace.com

2008-08-06T17:18:00.006-04:00

Home again! What a great weekend at the San Francisco Marathon! The hubby and I had an entire "date weekend" after dropping the kiddles off at Grandma and Grandpa's. Woohoo!!! It was much overdue and I can't tell you how much we enjoyed ourselves. We started with some tasty "cow" at Fog City Diner on our way to the expo set up...we even enjoyed a glass of champagne (counter productive to expo set up!). Delicious and nutritious :-P We celebrated each night with an exquisite dinner out. My favorite was Boulevard where we had a forbidden encounter with a scrumptious basket of bread and some fabulous wine.

The San Francisco Marathon Expo was located at Pier 30/32 on the Embarcadero. It was a great venue with a nice layout. Bart Yasso's booth was right around the corner and we enjoyed watching the hoards of runners lining up for signed copies of his great new book "My life on the run". We had a super busy expo and it was great to meet all the Bay Area runners. I especially enjoyed working with one of our favorite "skirts" Glorybelle Lillie. Glorybelle, THANK YOU! Your rocked the RunningSkirts.com booth and you rocked the SF Marathon! You definately are a speedy skirt!

After two very busy expo days on my feet I took Cindy's advice and "indulged" in an icebath. We had room service bring up 4 buckets of ice, not to mention the water was already icy cold, and I settled in for my 10 minutes of torture. AAAaaaaagggggghhhhhh.....IIIIIII hhhhhaaaatttttteeeee iiiiicccceeebbbaaatthththththhhhhhhssssss! The torture! Once my dues were paid I popped into a nice hot super long shower and then crawled into bed and ordered up some room service. In hind sight Vietnamese cuisine is probably not the best pre-race meal. duh! We were staying at the Clift Hotel though and Asia de Cuba was the room service restaurant and I was so exhausted after 2 days of busy expo that I couldn't muster up the energy to blowdry and put on makeup. I would just so much rather get the extra much needed z's. I scarfed down my meals (yes plural...couldn't decide what to order) of Calimari Salad, Salmon (another one of Cindy's pre-race recommendations) and some baked plantain fries. Delicious but uuugh...full belly ache.

Wake up call came at 4:15 am although it was a pretty restless night. I forgot how loud it is in the theater district! There must have been 4 murders and 10 fires because there were sirens all night long! Anyway it was still very dark when I made my way to the huddles of the race start. I was sporting my CamoAqua Running Skirt and matching Tank and a fabulous pair of navy blue gloves...thank you Gypsy Runner! It was a bit chilly standing around waiting for the start but I made my way to the portapotty lines where it was substantially warmer. The lines were long and slow going and I had to scramble to find the Wave 2 start in time.

It was still very dark when the race started and I was wondering if I had made a bad decision choosing the First Half. I was looking forward to running over the Golden Gate and that was the specific reason I chose the hilly half and now I was realizing it might be dark. The race started good. I was running a little faster than planned for the first mile but it felt fine and my Garmin was telling me it was a 22 minute pace. My garmin stinks! I have got to upgrade to a new model! I overheard someone behind me say there were 3 big hills. I logged this in my brain and carried on. The first hill was a doosy going up the presidio to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a little bigger than expected and the legs were pretty tired at the top but I knew I had made it to the bridge so all was well.

The first half of the bridge was a big long uphill climb....it seemed to climb upward forever before leveling out for a second and then scooping down. It was super windy too...I didn't even think about the wind factor. It was a lot of fun having those huge gusts of wind at your back...weeeee. It was a different story though with the head winds. Yikes. I was blowing all over that bridge. It was the funniest thing and I was just laughing out loud as I blew side to side with the gusts of wind. I came close to blowing right into the oncoming runners. At this point I knew it wasn't going to be a pr day. Then I saw Bart Yasso. He high fived me and yelled out "good job". How cool...I was running over the Golden Gate Bridge while high-fiving Bart Yasso. In a runner's world, does it get any better that that? It was definately a highlight of my race. That, and I actually kicked a pigeon. It flew out of nowhere and landed right in front of my foot. It was so random and weird. There was not a lot of time to react and I thought it would move but it didn't so it got one of my new Mizuno's right in the hooha. Sorry little guy!

After running over the bridge we had a nice downhill into the Presidio. I love downhill! But I knew there was another hill to climb through the Presidio so I took it easy. That hill was a beast. I think it was a 10:45 on my Garmin...uuuughh. Should have done some hill repeats! Duh! There were a lot of people walking up it in front of me and that's not a good sign. I did make it to the top without walking (took all the mental power I had left) and then I realized I had just mounted 3 of 3 hills. (wrong!) I sped up to enjoy the last 4 miles of "downhill" finish. Weeee I love downhill and I picked up the pace. I passed a lot of other runners and I was wondering why none of them were picking up the downhill pace. Stupid! I should have known something was up. After turning a corner I see all the runners in front of me climbing another nice steep hill with no plateau in sight. Oh jeez...I thought it was a downhill finish. Well it wasn't. It was one climb after another.

By mile 10 I started having some stomach issues. Oh no. I think I have to go! I started scanning the route for portapottys because I was now in dire need. I've heard about situations like this from Cindy. She refers to it as the "goo poo's". I was trying out the new Gu Roctane and I'm thinking that might have been my problem. That or the Vietnamese food for dinner last night. Once I got up to the top of the latest hill though it seemed to subside. Then I saw a portapotty and thought about stopping for a second. No, I can make it. I feel better now and if I don't stop it just might be a pr day. Then another climb...and another stomach cramp. Yikes...should have stopped. Oh No! I was now scanning the neighborhood sidewalks for a makeshift "portapotty". I was freaking out that I was going to have one of those "lifes most embarassing moments" Paula Radcliffe style. This was such a huge distraction to my race. All I could think about was that I was going to have to go and it wasn't going to be pretty. Where are the portolets when you really need them and why didn't I stop at that last one?!

Then we turned into the park. I knew it was the home stretch and that I would make it, hopefully, across the finish line where I could dart off to a beautiful blue box. Whew! I sprinted it in passing everyone near me, not out of competitiveness, but out of the sheer urgency of my situation. I heard the announcer yell out "Christy Baker from Cardiff by the Sea" and I smiled inside because I knew I was finished and I knew it was a PR. Thank you God for letting me finish this race with my dignity intact. Of course, once I got through the shoot my stomach was fine.

All in all though I really enjoyed this race. The scenery was beautiful, the weather was perfect and it was a fun, challenging course.

Splits:
mile 1 7:45
mile 2 7:29
mile 3 7:36
mile 4 7:39
mile 5 7:40
mile 6 8:25
mile 7 7:23
mile 8 7:33
mile 9 7:40
mile 10 10:46
mile 11 4:22 ?
mile 12 8:13
mile 13 7:17
mile 13.2 1:33

2008-07-31T10:47:00.006-04:00

Big News! Camo Running Skirts are now available in both running skirt & athletic skirt style. A lot of you have been looking to get your hands on one before the Army run in Ottawa and other summer marathons & races. Get yours today, before they are gone again!

For those of you Californian's - be sure to come out and see Christy this weekend at the San Francisco Marathon Expo. Swing by our booth wearing your RunningSkirts.com gear and get a free gift! (no purchase required). If you are running the half marathon in San Francisco, you get to choose which half of the full marathon course you'd like to run. The first half goes over the Golden Gate bridge and offers amazing scenery, yet more incline/hills. The second half is flatter, but doesn't go over the bridge. Aw - decisions, decisions. Christy is running the first (scenic) half as a training run. For those of you running the full marathon in San Francisco - you rock! I ran the first year of the SF Womens Marathon several years ago before they changed the course and oh my goodness those San Francisco hills knocked the wind out of me. The weather in the city is always perfect for running - hopefully you all get another perfect running day this Sunday. Good luck & have fun.

P.S. Christy - we'll be waiting for your SF Half Marathon post and review!