You can't? That's crap!

Hello There!

I am sorry this has taken me so very long! Things have been a mad house in my small little corner of this big wide world! Oddly I have had more conversations about health and goals in the last month than I think have in my whole life! It's crazy and there has been a single common theme....

"I can't do (enter goal here), not like you can/did!"

Well, here's my response? Why not? No, seriously... Why not? You don't need a miracle product and a thin body to be healthy! You need a little determination, a goal (not an end result) and ALOT of peer pressure!


When I started this journey, i was counting my lucky stars in I could run for 2 minutes straight- 
without dying. And that was a shuffle pace! I am talking 18 minute miles people! (And I was jiggling so I was running). But I kept going! And here's how....

First, I was determined. How much more whining over my ice cream while watching Biggest Loser could my husband take? Seriously? It was pretty sad and pathetic people! One day- enough was enough! I set out to be a little more determined that i could do this!

Second, set a goal. something that you have to physically be able to do and a timeline. In my humble opinion, a size 2 jean size, isn't a goal. it's an end result. Completing a 5k, is a goal. It is something that is going to set you towards a healthier lifestyle and get you moving! I am a fan of public events- and this is one of the main reasons why... It's a deadline in which i have to be ready by! If I miss a run I cant just shrug it off-- I NEED TO COMPLETE IT! And even more amazing, you will surprise yourself with your goals! After the first one is complete- enjoy the spotlight- and set another! Keep going! Those end results you want, will come, and you wont even be thinking about it! For me, to focus on weight, acceptance, clothes or anything else materialistic in nature- it has always ended in a failure! 


Make it public! Come out of hiding and make it known that you are going to complete a 5k in one hour! Who cares if someone does it faster than you- there will always be someone faster than you! But as a wise woman i know once said- "Don't let the act of comparison steal your joy- that is all it's good for!" Post pictures, shout from the mountain tops when you're training, people will hold you accountable- even when you don't want them too! 

YOU CAN accomplish any goal you choose- set it up, plan for it and achieve it- but you can. In my opinion it is more a matter of will you. Do you want to? Accept the challenge and get out there! Need a goal? let me know! I have alot you can choose from :)

And here is my final thought... For those of you that don't know yet... I am signed up for the Rugged Maniac obstacle course that will take place in August! 

Looking for adventure?

How about a day filled with 25 epic obstacles, rockin’ music and plenty of beer?  Rugged Maniac Obstacle Race has you covered!  Here’s how it works:  Sign up for the race and you’ll get a chance to run our 3-mile course where you’ll climb towers of shipping containers, rocket down a 50′ water slide, bounce on trampolines, crawl through underground tunnels, leap over fire and more!

Let's be honest, they had me at "beer", but aside from that i am super excited! I added my training plan at the end of my rant for this upcoming madness- I am excited to be switching it up from straight cardio! As we all know, that's not my favorite thing to do! I hope it's something you can utilize and I will keep you posted!

Lesssssbihonest..... Some of these workouts are definitely going to be humorous! Especially when the first time I had to jump on a box (very small one) I missed and wiped out- and yes I looked around to see who had witnessed! :)

Can't wait to hear from you and I hope you are working on a goal for yourself!

Much love, sore muscles and peer pressure!

~K

Rugged Maniac Workout Plan

(Or Rugged Madness :))

Endurance Week 1

Run 2 minutes then stop and do:

10 Squats

10 Push-ups

20 Mountain Climbers (10 each side)

10 Lunges (5 each leg)

10 Plank to Push-up

Do 10 rounds total, with little to no rest between rounds.

Strength Week 1

Do the following exercises for 10 meters each: Skip, Side Shuffle, High-Knee Run, Buttkicker Run, Grapevine, Walking Lunge, Walking Lunge with Overhead Reach, Walking Knee-Hug, Walking Hamstring Stretch, Walking Quad Stretch and Walking Foot Lift, then do 15 push-ups, 15 Band Pull-Downs and 20 Band Rows (10 each arm).

Do 4 rounds of the following exercises, resting 30 seconds between each (no rest between rounds):

Moderate Height Box Jump (12x)

Renegade Row with Push-up (12x)

DB Step-up (10x each leg)

Pull Down/Pull Up (15x/8x)

Band or Cable Rotation (10x each side)

Endurance Week 2

Run 400 meters 6 times, resting in between runs for as long as it took you to run the previous 400 meters.

 On a scale of 1 -10, you should be exerting yourself at a 6. In other words, you shouldn’t be able to talk because you’re out of breath.

Strength Week 2

Do the following exercises for 10 meters each: Skip, Side Shuffle, High-Knee Run, Buttkicker Run, Grapevine, Walking Lunge, Walking Lunge with Overhead Reach, Walking Knee-Hug, Walking Hamstring Stretch, Walking Quad Stretch and Walking Foot Lift, then do 15 push-ups, 15 Band Pull-Downs and 20 Band Rows (10 each arm).

Do 30 seconds of each of the following exercises, resting only 15 seconds between them:

Fast Feet on a box

Inchworm Push-up

Jump Lunge

DB/KB/Band Row

Mountain Climber

Squat Shoulder Press

Speed Skater

Burpee

Do 3 rounds total, resting 2 minutes between rounds.

Endurance Week 3

Run 3 minutes then stop and do:

 12 Squat Jumps

12 Push-ups

24 Cross-Body Mountain Climbers (12 each side)

24 Split Jumps (12 each leg)

12 Plank to Push-up

Do 10 rounds total, with little to no rest between rounds.

Strength Week 3

Do the following exercises for 10 meters each: Skip, Side Shuffle, High-Knee Run, Buttkicker Run, Grapevine, Walking Lunge, Walking Lunge with Overhead Reach, Walking Knee-Hug, Walking Hamstring Stretch, Walking Quad Stretch and Walking Foot Lift, then do 15 push-ups, 15 Band Pull-Downs and 20 Band Rows (10 each arm).

Do 4 rounds of the following exercises, resting 30 seconds between each: 

Broad Jump (12x)

Overhead Stone Throw (4x)

Shotput Stone Throw (3x each arm)

Spiderman Push-up Variation (6x each)

Weighted Explosive Step-up (8x each leg)

Jumping Pull-up and Hold (12x)

Standing Diagonal Chop (10x each side)

Endurance Week 4

Find a hill 50 meters long and run up and down 6 times, resting 20 seconds at the bottom each time. Exertion Level 7.

 Strength Week 4

Do the following exercises for 10 meters each: Skip, Side Shuffle, High-Knee Run, Buttkicker Run, Grapevine, Walking Lunge, Walking Lunge with Overhead Reach, Walking Knee-Hug, Walking Hamstring Stretch, Walking Quad Stretch and Walking Foot Lift, then do 15 push-ups, 15 Band Pull-Downs and 20 Band Rows (10 each arm).

Do 45 seconds of each of the following exercises, resting only 15 seconds between them:

Lateral Obstacle Hop

Linear Push-up

T-Drill (shuffle, carioca, sprint)

Box Squat Thrust

Gate/Box Ski Jump

Bear Crawl (on a hill)

Lateral Bound (on a hill)

Do 3 rounds total, resting no longer than 2 minutes between rounds.

Endurance Week 5

Run 4 minutes then stop and do:

 14 Spiderman Push-ups

14 Squat Thrusts

14 Wide Mountain Climbers

28 Lunge Jumps (14 each leg)

14 Plank Alt Horse

Do 10 rounds total, with little to no rest between rounds.

Strength Week 5

Do the following exercises for 10 meters each: Skip, Side Shuffle, High-Knee Run, Buttkicker Run, Grapevine, Walking Lunge, Walking Lunge with Overhead Reach, Walking Knee-Hug, Walking Hamstring Stretch, Walking Quad Stretch and Walking Foot Lift, then do 15 push-ups, 15 Band Pull-Downs and 20 Band Rows (10 each arm).

Do 4 rounds of the following exercises, resting 30 seconds between each:

Body Complex To Sprint [Deadlift (4x) - Rear Deadlift (4x) - Squat-Push Press (4x) then sprint 20 meters]

Stop Lunge (5x each leg)

Wall Muscle-up (4x)

Narrow Squat to Switch Press (8x)

Inverted Row Variation (15x)

Dip with Hip Flexion Variation (12x)

Endurance Week 6

Run 600 meters 6 times, resting for 30 seconds LESS than the time it took you to run the previous 600 meters.

Exertion Level 8.

Strength Week 6

Do the following exercises for 10 meters each: Skip, Side Shuffle, High-Knee Run, Buttkicker Run, Grapevine, Walking Lunge, Walking Lunge with Overhead Reach, Walking Knee-Hug, Walking Hamstring Stretch, Walking Quad Stretch and Walking Foot Lift, then do 15 push-ups, 15 Band Pull-Downs and 20 Band Rows (10 each arm).

Do 60 seconds of each of the following exercises, resting only 20 seconds between them:

Pendulum Wall Jump

Reverse Kosak

Move The Mountain

Weighted Swing (on a wall)

Lateral Obstacle Burpee

Hill Jump with Half Twist

Speed Skater (on a wall)

Push-up Lateral Walk (on stairs) or Plyometric Push-ups (on stairs)

Do 4 rounds total, resting no longer than 2 minutes between rounds.

Endurance Week 7

Run 5 minutes then stop and do: 

16 Plyometric Push-ups 16 Single Leg Burpees (8 each leg)

32 Wide Half-Push-up Mountain Climbers (16 each side)

28 Lunge Jumps (14 each leg)

16 Lunge-Squat Lunge Combos

Do 8 rounds total, with little to no rest between rounds.

Strength Week 7

Do the following exercises for 10 meters each: Skip, Side Shuffle, High-Knee Run, Buttkicker Run, Grapevine, Walking Lunge, Walking Lunge with Overhead Reach, Walking Knee-Hug, Walking Hamstring Stretch, Walking Quad Stretch and Walking Foot Lift, then do 15 push-ups, 15 Band Pull-Downs and 20 Band Rows (10 each arm).  Do 4 rounds of the following exercises, resting 30 seconds between each:

 Tall Box Jump (8x)

Pistol Squat with Single-Arm Press (5x each leg)

Suspended Medicine Ball Push-up (10x)

Squat Jump to Rocky Pull-up (10x)

Overhead Squat Variation (8x)

Inverted Row with Alt Leg Raise (12x)

Endurance Week 8

Find a hill 50 meters long and run up and down 10 times, resting 30 seconds at the bottom every other time. Exertion Level 9.

Strength Week 8

Do the following exercises for 10 meters each: Skip, Side Shuffle, High-Knee Run, Buttkicker Run, Grapevine, Walking Lunge, Walking Lunge with Overhead Reach, Walking Knee-Hug, Walking Hamstring Stretch, Walking Quad Stretch and Walking Foot Lift, then do 15 push-ups, 15 Band Pull-Downs and 20 Band Rows (10 each arm). Do 75 seconds of each of the following exercises, resting only 25 seconds between them:

180 Jump to Wall

Muscle Dip to Pike-up

Stability Squat

Double Turkish Get-up

Stair Spiderman

Walking Wall Push-up

Weighted Lateral Step Jump

Boulder Dash (up a hill)

Car Push

Do 4 rounds total, resting no longer than 2 minutes between rounds.

Week 9 Endurance

Run 4 minutes then stop and do:

10 Squats

10 Push-ups

20 Mountain Climbers (10 each side)

10 Lunges (5 each leg)

10 Plank to Push-up

Do 5 rounds total, with little to no rest between rounds.

Strength Week 9

Do the following exercises for 10 meters each: Skip, Side Shuffle, High-Knee Run, Buttkicker Run, Grapevine, Walking Lunge, Walking Lunge with Overhead Reach, Walking Knee-Hug, Walking Hamstring Stretch, Walking Quad Stretch and Walking Foot Lift, then do 15 push-ups, 15 Band Pull-Downs and 20 Band Rows (10 each arm).

Do 3 rounds of the following exercises, resting 30 seconds between each:

Tall Box Jump (5x)

Renegade Row to Press (10x)

Pistol Squat (8x each leg)

Pull-up (8x)

Standing Diagonal Chop (8x each side)

Endurance Week 10

Run 200 meters 6 times, resting twice as long as it took you to run the previous 200 meters. Focus on speed.

Exertion Level 9.

Crushed it!

The final leg of the series is FINALLY complete… Running with the cows is over and I couldn't be happier! It was a windy, hot and HILLY race, but let’s focus on the important part… I finished!

The last five weeks have been a journey, scratch that, the last year has been a journey! Both personally and on fitness level! I am finally at my wedding weight (ohhhhh yea) and I am finally starting to get a grip on who I am supposed to be! But let’s not get to deep here; let’s focus on what you came to find out… What is our topic of discussion this week? Well, I am feeling wiser so let’s talk about what I learned over the months of training, weekends of racing and my smaller pants!

13.1 things I have learned over 39.3 miles…

1) Support is important!

I am not just talking about your bra, I am talking about the people in your life that encourage you do accomplish big tasks!

This is one of my favorite pictures- grasping the support I had at the finish line-(3) people
They are my husband, sister in law and sister in law (who just finished herself)

My parents, and the duck- and you can see that duck from anywhere! Seriously- miles away! And even cooler, fellow racers remembered the duck and were glad to see the support from someone they didn't even know!

At the end of my final race (in Bucyrus, KS—think WAAAAAAAYYYYYYY out there), I rounded the last corner and saw a very special lady in my life standing there ready to cheer me in—and then she ran into the finish with me!

And endless messages of support from my dearest friends and family!

My sister. I can’t really go any further without tears- but she ran in the finish with me after her race was over and has just been a rock! (I let her beat me on the final leg—she deserved it…
and by letting her beat me, I mean I was very slow and she is just very fast)

Last, but not least…. Your bra is actually pretty stinking important… I recommend a good one.

2) Prepare for the worst- and then achieve the best

Race #1 was 100% humidity, Race #2 it rain/hailed at mile 5 (I am calling it hail because the rain hurt so bad—or maybe I was running so fast….), and Race #3 was hot and windy. You have to simply be ready for it all and know that it won’t last forever. You’ll have blisters, sunburn, more salt on your skin then you think possible and more than likely you will hurt some muscle you didn’t know you had…. Just accept it before you start and it will be that much easier to get over when it happens!

3) Have a goal!

You can’t finish a race that you didn’t sign up to start! What is your goal? I have learned that my monthly calendar mapping out my running schedule and what my end goal was (surviving) was really what I needed! And for these last few days, prior to starting my new adventure, I have felt LOST without one! Have a goal; share your goal and then you will find how much easier it is to achieve it!! I promise!

4) You can do it… But will you?

You have no idea how many people comment like the following:

“I don’t know how you do it, I could never do that!”

“I can’t run”

“How do you run that far? I can’t do a 5k!”

You get the point, right? Here is the thing, you CAN do it, the question I pose back—do you want to? I would say this for any health adventure. Half Marathons are a beast, yes, but it is all about one foot in front of the other! Do you know most races I start with a prayer for safety and strength, yet by mile 10 I am praying that I can simply continue to put my left foot in front of my right? You CAN do it! Choose too and I think you will surprise yourself!

5) Ice it and move on

I have poor knee strength. It’s one of those blessings of pounding the pavement with the extra weight I carry around. It’s one of those catch 22’s—it will go away if I lose the weight, but I run to aid in that endeavor. But instead of making it a crutch, I just ice it and move on. In my final race, it was too much to bear and I ended up walking my last three miles- but that was ok with me! I finished (<- important part) and my knee survived.

6) What goes up… Goes up

The term “Gentle rolling hills” is officially a four letter word in my vocabulary! Check out what they considered gentle rolling hills….

It was a constant up and down and up and down… Never trust the description…. In light of how they described it- I took the liberty of rewriting the last course for your consideration…

 “Enjoy the horrible rolling hills of Kansas. We picked this wonderful location because it was the hilliest we could find! Once you achieve the first hill, don’t worry you can enjoy another (and then another and another)! And just when you finish up and see the home stretch—we made sure you have to run UP it to complete your race! Yay for hills! Now, who wants to sign up?”

7) Look back and see how far you have come!

I found out that in the past few years I have made these comments on social media! And I am remember thinking that way!

I am a HUGE advocate of making sure you remember where you came from so that you know how far you have come! (Awwwww SNAP that should be a bumper sticker!) Nobody came out fast, chiseled and amazingly attractive—but they did work to get there!

8) You are racing yourself

You can’t compare your journey to anyone else’s. This is a tough one for me, and over the last few weeks it really rang true! I had to be so careful to not get bummed out that people I knew were SMOKING me on the trail—and even when the urge to trip them came on strong—I refrained and congratulated them! I was still smoking what I did the last time I ran, and that was what was important! And I looked hotter in my running pants than I did the time before… That is what is really important here!

9) Watch what you do when you are hot and someone gives you water

Sorry for the men reading this- it may be an overshare. For many reasons, I wear a maxi pad when I run. Especially after having children, many things tend to be out of my control and unnecessary wetness is a very bad thing on a 13 mile course. Although wearing the pads is not a new lesson learned for me, what I did realize though is how absorbent they are! At mile 10 I was so hot, I took one of the water cups and dumped it down my back, which in theory was a good idea… until the water got to the back of my pants. All of the sudden there was something growing in my pants. VERY ABSORBENT!

10) You miss it

I know that sounds odd, and who in their right mind would miss killing themselves on a trail just to prepare for an already too long race?? I took a week off and I miss it!! (Maybe I just miss the calorie burning, but either way missing it is missing it!

11) There IS such a thing as toooooo much water!

Drink for thirst- not for convenience. At one point, I felt like a waterbed on legs I was sloshing so much! I was 100% grateful for the abundance of water stops—but you really should only drink when you feel thirsty.

12) Make other people do it with you!

Yes, that means I will go out on a limb and say MAYBE I know why my sister continues to talk me into these things!

Race #1

Race #1

Race #2 

Race #3
CRUSHED IT!

13) It’s a mental thing

Yes, the runners I know, including myself, are mental and the ability to finish a race is mental…. There is an ability you have to fine tune of making sure you don’t talk yourself out of things. Not just negative self-talk, you have to be able to remind yourself that you CAN finish, and that you will! 13.1 miles is a LOOOOONG ways and you will easily find at least 100 reasons as to why you can’t complete the task you are out there to do (I usually find my first 100 by mile 4). Find sayings, prayers or the right songs to remind yourself you CAN, you WILL and then you will see that you DO! (Man, I am telling you—I could write bumper stickers for a living!)

.1) If for no other reason, I know I will always run for beer

39.3 Heartland Series-- NAILED IT! Will I do it again? I say no, but then my sister will somehow convince me it is a good idea! We shall see-- lets leave it at that-- i feel safe with that statement!

 I will be starting a new type of healthy adventure next week- and the results promise to be more than blog worthy!

I cant wait to hear what you think, what you are achieving and if I can help support you!

Lace up and do it!

~ K

13.1 things you need to know!

So leg number two, of the long three legged beast referred to as the Heartland Series is complete. The Garmin Marathon was a beast, but by far the best race I have ever run! Not only was it a PR (Personal Record) for me by 16 minutes—yea that’s right I shaved off 16 whopping minutes—but I was only 5 seconds, 5 SECONDS behind my sister. It was a sprint to the finish and she took the upper hand. Ah well, one more race to go and who knows what may happen! 





My parents also surprised us on the course, which was awesome! Yes, they have a duck- why? because no matter where they are, we can see the duck and we can find them in a sea of people- ingenious really.Plenty of messages of support (thank you, thank you, thank you!), and a great course!

I thought I would take the time to review the things you should know about running a Half Marathon so that the nerves you MAY feel in taking on this kind of goal will diminish.

Let’s do 13.1 things you need to know in the only fashion I know how… Humor mixed with a dash of emotional and a double shot of “Oh no she didn't!”

 1 – Beer. Does this reason need to be elaborated? Really? Most races offer their participants beer at the finish (choose wisely, they don’t all offer this). I have been told “I don’t think I would want a beer after running 13.1 miles”, well first off let me say that I don’t know if we can be friends anymore, and secondly- sit down, drink up and like it. Beer is awesome and you have earned it!

2—You will get bling at the end, and it’s a “Finisher’s Medal”, not only for those that are super human and can run a (5) minute mile (I don’t care if that’s you- it’s not normal and you should be tested for exposure to a spider, or maybe even kryptonite), but for everyone that finishes in front of the cop car clearing the course. <-- Yep, that has been me before while I was pregnant with baby #2! 




The medals have come a long way since I started! Look at the difference between my first KC Marathon Finisher and last year's medal! 


Crazy cool bling! And yes, maybe I wear it the whole day after the race when I get groceries. And maybe when I see people look at it, I say I won it in a mad dash to the finish. I am a rock star and I have the bling to prove it. (And soon, so will you!)

3—Try before you race with it. Don’t do anything new on race day- I promise it is a bad idea. I thought a new bra (on sale- BONUS) would look cute on a race I was doing with my new top. So I went for a mile jog in it and seemed to work out okay so I sported it on race day. When I say try it, I mean TRY IT! Take whatever it is on your LONG run, I had sores on my neck for days from where gravity helped cut that bra into my beautiful skin. Don’t do it- resist the urge- try it before you race in it!

4—Throughout the course, whether you see them or not, there will be photographers on the course. And they are SKILLED in getting the worst picture possible. I promise. No matter how you think you look while you’re running, this will rock your world! (Why do you think I always try to pose? Best to make fun of the world’s worst picture!) Let me show you what I mean by not flattering…. (And I am pretttttttty attractive, so just keep that in mind while scrolling!)

One of my very first 10k's....
Yea... I look so bad my headband is running away from my face!

Running in for the KC Half... Its just not flattering!

What in the world is so great?? It's the end of the race!

I love this photo, because you can't even tell I am moving! Pick up your feet shuffles!

I blame this on the layers....

AHHHHH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
I am not even running!

This picture perfectly captures PAIN

Disclaimer: Best to keep in mind that the photographer COULD from a newspaper hundreds read, so pose accordingly!

This was our great idea to "pose" for the camera....
Yea that camera was for the city wide newspaper... NAILED IT

5—No matter how you prepare, the socks you wear, the shoes you choose or the amount of duct tape you apply… Blisters will come. And they will make themselves known around mile 7, and disappear from thought around mile 10. This is most likely because you have completely rubbed them off of wherever they were. And I am not talking about just on your feet, if it rubs, it blisters.  No worries, everyone wants to have callouses and old blisters all over, right? I think of it like stretch marks, gotta have battle wounds my friend.

6 – Speaking of battle wounds, let’s talk about chaffing. Even in my longest practice run, I have never suffered from chaffing wounds as badly as I have during an actual race. I don’t quite get it, but trust me on this one. I ended up with two scars on my chest, right in front where my shirt hit, and the scars look like hickeys that you get in high school. Awesome. Buy the glide on stick- it will be your BEST FRIEND and liberally apply it. And when I say liberally, I mean if you could dunk yourself in a tub full of this stuff- then do it. Trust me, the bikini line, the bra line, and your heels, under your arms… If it rubs then you need to glide it!

7 – There will be various pacers for the race, easily spotted by the big stick they carry noting their pace. Don’t be afraid of them, even if you’re a lone wolf runner like me; let them do the hard work for you. Get behind them and keep up. Finishing this kind of distance is a mental thing. 100%. You have to convince your inner demon that you can in fact do this and that you will. My inner demon(s) have multiple conversations throughout my long runs. They often include discussions about slowing down, sitting down or wanting to die. Once you get over that hurdle, you can do anything. So try it. Find a pacer, stay with them and get yourself a PR!! (they are usually nicer than your demons anyways!)

8 – If you have followed my blog for a while, you have noticed that the best time to get ahead of my sister is when she stops for a bathroom break. She always has to go! Always. I have now learned that maybe if my bladder hasn’t sent the signal yet, I should still try to go. Sadly, I felt the effects of both my age and the hardships of running for a few hours at one of my last races. As soon as I crossed the finish line, it happened, I was going to wet my pants and there was nothing I could do to stop it. THANK GOODNESS for wearing a maxi-pad. Ladies, invest in the Always and wear them…. Always. If not for peeing, than for chaffing, SCORE double purpose!

9—Mother Nature is a fickle, evil lady. No other way around it. She will tell you to expect 60 degrees and sunshine and change her mind at mile 5. This year’s Garmin race was no exception. The weather was perfect and we were looking at 30% chance of rain after about an hour in. What that really meant was that it was going to DOWNPOUR an hour in. It rained so hard I thought it was hailing (or that I was simply that stinking fast that the rain hurt)! Be prepared for the 30%. I was in a tank top, and frozen to the bone by the finish, a t-shirt would have been better attire had I taken that 30% chance more seriously. Either way, enjoy what you get- although we were drenched, freezing and running through a flooded course- it was epic.

10 – Let’s talk about burning calories. Have you entered how many calories you burn if you run for 3 hours straight at a 12 min/mile pace?? Let me help you, it is a deficit of 2,340 calories! Now, I take that and multiply that by 5, because that is how many days AFTER the race I continue to eat at the pace of burning that many calories. Why? Because dangit, I earned it! Who cares if I have a beer and a brat for breakfast, I ran 13.1 miles three days ago- don’t judge me, join me!

11 – If you don’t know me very well, I will let you in on a secret… I am a cheapskate. Horribly. And running is NOT cheap. However, let me tell you one thing I don’t short money for is running gear. And when you run a half marathon you get the coolest gear, and don’t skirt around on money- you definitely get what you pay for! Plus, I think for every race, you deserve a new outfit, new compression pants, dri-fit socks, heavy duty bra (which I am STILL in search for one that keeps them in one place) and a fancy new running shirt. Hopefully you will wear them again, PLUS running pants are surprisingly slimming!


12 – I never thought this would come out of my mouth in a zillion years, BUT… Fanny packs are considered cool in running. Not a joke, they are very handy when it comes to the GU, car keys, Band-Aids and ibuprofen you have stashed for emergencies (which most likely you will need it all). Rock that fanny pack and stand tall! Yes, there is a gear check tent at every race, and you can turn in your additional gear for the race officials to hold until the finish, but I am way too anxious to part with my precious cargo, so fanny pack it up and join the cool kids!

13 – Running CAN be social. For me, is it? Nope. But I am not keen on social interactions when I am not running. However, you CAN meet 13 people, and you CAN make 13 more friends and you CAN enjoy all the social aspects of this sport. The sky is the limit when there are hundreds of people loaded into a chute just waiting their turn to kick some asphalt!

.1 -- I just think my new shirt says it all....

At the end of the day, don’t be nervous. This is something you will always have the bragging rights for finishing! Rock the pavement, finish strong and have a beer (or 6) because you deserve it! I am in awe of your accomplishment, just keep accomplishing!

One more leg to go, and I hope whatever you are gearing up for you are taking it head on! I would love to cheer you on- send me a message and let me know what you are up too!

May your fanny pack be full, and your inner demons be quiet!

~K