What's Your Dream?

Hey Y'all! Just a friendly reminder that the Seattle Hot Chocolate 15k/5k is on the way! Use promo code: SEATTLESWAG5 at registration !  I love this race, it is just the right length and the chocolate is amazing! Come join in on the fun! Keep on Running!

Sunday, February 12, 2017 Save 10% with code IRONHORSELOVE My Better Half Marathon   is a celebration of running, romance and deliciously bad bad rom-coms. You will run through the  new, bigger, and better  tunnel of love in one of four categories: Bromance (two guy friends), Besties (two girl friends), Lovers (romantically involved) and Lonely Hearts (self-explanatory). In addition to a romantically good-time, you will receive a custom, long sleeve zip running shirt (similar to last year's quality), a new twist on finisher medals (what could  THAT  mean???), free professional race photo downloads (because we know you heart da glamour shots), and a catered post-race hot meal (yum!) Who knows???   Maybe  we'll see a wedding proposal this year.  WHAT?  A Half Marathon, 10k and 5k running event!  Available in Individual, Couple, and Relay Flavors. WHEN?  February 12th, 2017 at 8:00am WHERE? Seward Park, ...

Hello everyone! I am super excited to announce that I have been selected a a Hot Chocolate Ambassador!  I have run two Hot Chocolate 15ks and last year I even paced the Seattle Hot Chocolate 15k !  The Hot Chocolate 15/5k series began in Chicago in 2008. The owner of RAM Racing was looking for a fun, holiday event to end the year since the Chicago Marathon was the last major running event of the year (October). Something that wasn’t Christmas or Santa-themed that people would really enjoy. While a Starbucks fanatic, hot chocolate is the only thing he’ll order and as he was pontificating holding a cup of cocoa the light bulb went off! That year there were 3,000 runners. In 2009 that number grew to 12,000. 2010 – 30,000 runners. 2011 – 40,000. 2012-13 we have hovered around 40,000+ runners, making it the largest race in the city of the Chicago. In 2012 RAM Racing expanded – taking the race to Washington D.C., Dallas and San Diego. Each year we have added...

That's right! It was color run time yet again! It is now officially a tradition to run the color run! This year wasn't quite a fun... I was really really sick but I had to get out there! And it was freezing and rainy :( But I loved the color this year, it was so much better than before! I think this is the 6th color run that I have run. And they are just getting better every time.  Pre race selfie! I was freezing! Color!!!!  This is still the best 5k I have run. The music, the color, the people! It's so wonderful! Keep on Running! 

One of my runner friends asked me to be the bunny at the Beat the Bunny 5k! I was super excited and of course said yes without hesitating! It was one of the coolest things that I have ever done. But also one of the hardest. It was by far the hardest 5k I have ever run, as it turns out, it's hard to run in a giant bunny suit!   The best part of the whole race, taking tons of photos with the kids! Run Bunny Run! Pre Race Selfie!  Yes, I am the blue bunny and yes, I had to run the full 5k in that suit! I would gladly do it again in a heart beat if I could have a different mask. That one was just a bit... hard to breathe in.  Love my running adventures! Keep on Running!

Before the winter break I was running the fastest I had ever run. I even made a sub 9:00 pace for my 5k PR at the ESR First 5k . (Which I highly recommend to anyone who wants to PR on a 5k.) I came in second for my age group as well! Not too shabby. My friend Michelle took first in our age group. ;)  Prema, Jordan, myself and Michelle before the race. :) My run today was not so happy. I pushed extremely hard and pushed my pause button several times on my watch to "get this pace". This pace is still 13 seconds slower than that 5k and that 5k I wasn't about to die.  I am still working at it and I will get back to that old pace and better! Hopefully without getting sick on the trail! lol 

Run run run as fast as you can! That was the theme of this entire run for me, strangely it started way earlier than the race did. My friends and I all carpooled to the race however, none of us thought to look where to park. Why? Because we thought there would be signs directing us to park, and there were... except we parked in a parking lot dedicated to another race that was happening that day and we had no clue.  We arrived about an hour before the race was to start because we had to pick up our race packets and we wanted to have enough time to get settled in before the start. We piled out of the car and wandered towards the race start (so the signs indicated), about a mile of wandering we found a group of race volunteers and they directed us towards the race start. After about another mile and half we realized that we had be misdirected by a group of volunteers for the wrong race! We found yet another group of volunteers and they were the correct ones this tim...

Happy New Year! I can't hardly believe it but New Years has come and gone! For New Year's Eve Anthony and I went downtown Seattle and celebrated the New Year at the Space Needle! How exciting is that?!?! We were able to watch the amazing firework display from directly under the Space Needle. It was completely amazing! This year I realized I am not so much into resolutions but more into goals. The goals that I have for 2015 are ones that I have been working on for months already and didn't just decide to do the week of New Year's. Yes, my goals are in the traditional "fitness" fields but they are things that I have been planning for months now. I started off my new year with a 5k Resolution Run and Polar Bear dive at Magnuson Park in Seattle, WA hosted by Promotion Events. The same company that has hosted the last several races that I have run.  It was below freezing the morning of the race but it was a beautiful clear day. The event was hosted in a g...

I took third in my age division at the  Get Your Rear in Gear 5k !  There I am! Third place in my age division. However, I feel like I was gypped yet again because I wasn't even given a ribbon. That is not the point, I had a ton of fun!  Jump up and celebrate! Tricia, Anthony and I got our butts out of bed early Sunday morning and headed down to Marymoor park for the 5k.  Waiting for the start! Cute Brooks shirts for this race! Getting ready to start! It was very well organized. I was surprised! For a small race it had wonderful aid, great snacks and free give away. The huge staging area for the race reception! Super Jock N Jill gave away probably a dozen gift certificates! I was waiting for Tricia to cross the finish line so I didn't get in on the give aways but it sure was fun to watch the contests!  Miss Tricia crossing the finish line, YAY!!! They had the cutest kids race! The kids chased vegetables and fruit!  Anthony made Tricia and I breakfast! How...

Over the next couple of weeks I am going to have a crazy busy schedule so I thought I would lay out a workout schedule to go with my work schedule and post it to help keep myself accountable.  I have set myself a couple of fitness goals through Jan. 1st. First, I am trying to up my mileage to around 30 miles a weak through the end of the year. Second, I'd like to lose 6 lbs by the end of Nov. Through my log everything and my 3 x 30 challenges I feel that 6 lbs could be possible! Two pounds a week is a lot to strive for but I believe I can do it. I have been pretty successful with my weight loss so far, my goal has been to lose 1 lb a week and I have been averaging about that, the last few weeks I fell roughly 3 lbs behind where I want to be.  As long as I don't stray from my plan I feel that I can accomplish this goal.   This is what I have planned for this week. Sunday - Get your rear in gear 5k (3.1 miles) Monday - 3 mile run 30 min strength Tuesday - 6...

Happy Halloween! So in order to be able to complete my first week of my 3 x 30 challenge I had to get up pretty early to get a workout in before work. But I did it! This is the work out that I did; Dumbbell Super Blast Workout for Intermediate Level by GymRa on YouTube. I watched several videos before deciding on this one and OMG I thoght I was going to die! It was such a good workout but had a lot more cardio in it than I thought it would. It was all weighted cardio too! So you are really getting an awesome workout. I highly recommend this for the more advanced people, not a beginners workout! But it is a full body workout and doesn't just concentrate on any one area. I did something pretty cool tonight, I was able to dress up for work and hand out candy. It went really well but I wasn't able to get a photo. There are some out there, maybe I can get a hold of one and post it later.  Tomorrow is my Saturday/Sunday -- because of my shift they are the same day! So my tomorrow I w...

My friend Tricia and I have been talking about ways to motivate our workouts. And we decided to come up with a workout challenge to keep us out there. After much discussion we decided on this: 3x strength training sessions of at least 30 minutes each week, in addition to our normal cardio workout routine. For me this comes at the perfect time because 1) I always put a strength training 2) I just completed a half marathon and I don't have another one for a few weeks 3) I have already decided that my next half marathon, which is the Amica Seattle half marathon , I want to give it my absolute all in order to do that I cannot just rely on just cardio and I need to add a lot of strength training sessions.  So in this challenge I can run as much as I want as long as I get at least 30 minutes three times a week of strength training in. Which doesn't sound like a lot but it's way way more than I have been doing. I average usually one strength training workout every two weeks and t...

On Sunday, Anthony, Tricia and I ran in the Rivalry Clash Huskies vs Cougars 5k/10k at Marymoore Park in Redmond, WA.  To get ready for the race I first laid out my outfit (because it's important to look better than those cougars!) And then I painted my nails very festive purple and gold theme, as shown below. Now I have noticed this new trend in the running world that people actually take photos of their race day outfits. So after thinking this is a little odd for a few months seeing people post and post and post their outfits I decided to give it a go this time. And this is what I came up with. Now one important factor for me about the races that I am able to do, is that they usually take place after I get off my 12 our shift at work. So I usually change at work and then head straight to the race, which thankfully, this time was right near my home so I didn't have to go too far out of my way and I didn't have to hurry to get there on time. But this also means that the rac...

I have a secret... I love... dressing up for races! Ok, maybe it isn't a secret but it's something I love to do!  This was my very first 10k, a group of us got together and made matching shirts! The girl on the right, all decked out, even won the costume contest! This was a 5k race for an animal shelter and we went as bunnies! It was Easter weekend, the race wasn't themed but we dressed up anyway.  This was a 10k night race, we had glow everything! I had hair extensions that light up and even LED shoe laces! This race was a 12k Christmas race, I went all out for this one, enough said! This one was a Color Run 5k, so I made sure to have white pants and we made our own shirts again, white of course. This race is the most recent, Huskies vs Cougars. I wanted to do it right and I even ordered a huskies jersey. Purple finger nails and eye shadows included! Dressing up is definitely a way to keep races interesting and is such a great way to bond with friends. There is a thrill of...

Running, running, running! So I love to run but it can be extremely hard to keep up with on my schedule. Working 12 hr shifts and then graveyard shifts! But one of the ways I keep motivated is by taking silly photos of myself and sending them to my friends for them to encourage me to keep going!  These are from this week.  After a 6.5 miler. I thought my running sweat looked like a waterfall.  After a really hard 5k run.  After a 5k run on very little sleep! Showing my exhaustion here. These are a couple older photos but ones that I still find funny.  Just one of the ways that I like to keep running interesting and fun! What ways do you find to keep thing different?