Race Promo Code! and holiday themed races

This morning I was invited to be a race ambassador for the Denver Winter Distance Series!

Series discription:

“It’s difficult to keep training through Colorado’s harsh winters, but the Winter Distance Series helps by motivating thousands of runners to keep moving. The series offers three events in Littleton. The first race is the Santa Stampede 5K/10K (formerly Rudolph’s Revenge 5K/10K) in December, followed by the Frosty’s Frozen 5 and 10 Miler in January, and then the Snowman Stampede 5 and 10 Miler in February. Each race offers a party-like atmosphere with flat and fast courses along the banks of the scenic South Platte River. Run a great race, and then toast your friend’s finishes with a cup of steaming coffee or hot chocolate. Register for the whole series, or just one or two races.”

…how great does that sound???

The series schedule:

Santa Stampede 5K & 10K
December 14th, 2013

Frosty’s Frozen Five & Ten
January 18th, 2014

Snowman Stampede 5 & 10
February 22nd, 2014

Seriously what better way is there to kick off the holiday season than with a race called the Santa Stampede?? I hope PRO Compression comes out with some elf themed or candy cane striped marathon socks for the season! I feel that as a race ambassador its my duty to dress up and fully enjoy embarrass myself for these races.

Best of all, being a race ambassador I have a promo code for everyone! Just use “WDS1” when you register to receive a discount! 

****don’t forget to enter my giveaway too! Ends this Friday 10/11****

---

Do you race in the winter? 

Ever do a themed race? Did you dress up??

Giveaway!! I’m a runner who sweats- Sweat Pink that is!

A few weeks ago I was invited to be a Sweat Pink ambassador, and look what came in the mail yesterday!

I had a run with my Luna Chix last night, so I brought them all some laces! They loved them – who doesn’t love free pink stuff??

That being said, I have some extra Sweat PInk laces and am holding a mini-giveaway for one lucky funfitgirl reader!

Sweat Pink’s mission:

“We believe that kicking ass is best done in pretty shoes. We’ve learned that real women sweat, and sweat hard. We know that assertiveness, strength, and ambition are the ultimate feminine qualities. We concede that sometimes it takes hours to get ready, but we’re also no strangers to just rolling out of bed and going. We’re convinced that we run faster in pink shoelaces. We believe in pushing ourselves, and we believe in giving ourselves a break, too. We’re all about the rush of endorphins and the thrill of the challenge. We’re all for looking great and feeling even better. We’re committed to finding our best fit, and making it stick. Sweat Pink with us.“

I think I live up to Sweat Pink’s mission because I like to have fun, but I also know when to put in the hard work. I like to run fast and get stronger, and I like to eat fro-yo with lots of sprinkles. It’s all about find the right balance in your life. That’s how I Sweat Pink.

To enter, follow funfitgirl and leave a comment about how you live up to Sweat Pink’s mission! I will randomly select a winner this Friday 10/11 at 6 am MST. Winner’s name will be posted in a “Sweat Pink Giveaway Winner” post that morning.

Winner will receive 2 pairs of Sweat Pink shoe laces – one for them self and one for their favorite running buddy :)

*bonus entry! follow me on twitter (@aimee_newman) to get an extra entry! If you already follow me, leave an extra comment that you do!

*winner must reside within the US, I will mail laces via USPS to winner. All thoughts and comments are my own, not from Sweat Pink or Fit Approach, LCC. 

13.1 in 13 days

…I thought that was kinda catchy, cool and that I should totally take advantage for a quick post.

Would it be super lame if I got one of these after my half?

probably…
still going to do it.

hey, at least its not a tattoo.

13.1 thoughts about this craziness that’s happening in 13 days

1.  What did I get myself into…this is really happening in less than 2 weeks!
2.  Don’t worry – you’ve done all the training and you’ve definitely seen improvement…hey    you PR in a 10K  just yesterday!
3.  Wonder what I’ll wear…gotta look cute in those pictures for my blog!
4. How gross will my feet be afterwards?
5. What if I have to use the potty?
6. What will Jonah do while I run around Denver for 2 hours?
7. I hope it doesn’t snow…
8. I hope a band is playing Bon Jovi “Livin’ on a Prayer” at the half way mark
9. PRO Compression marathon socks or Zensah calf sleeves???
10. I hope my participant shirt fits
11. I need to think of a cool way to display my race medals
12. hope I don’t step in goose poop while running through city park
13. finish with a smile and remember, so long as I finish, this race will be a PR :)

.1 don’t poop your pants at the start line

Golden Gallop 10K

Howdy Folks! Welcome to Golden! – yeah this picture sums it all up.

well…this picture helps sum up the course…no this isn’t a picture of a roller coaster at Disney Land…this is the elevation profile for the 10K.

They should call this race the “Golden Gallop Up and Down every Hill in Town!”

That being said, I actually had an awesome race.

My friend from Luna Chix also raced. She kicked butt as usual.

Yes, it was FREEZING…but I have a thing about racing in capris or long sleeves- just can’t do it. Anyways, after those first 3 miles of nothing but hills I had worked up quite the sweat.

Getting the Garmin ready, heaven forbid I not know how many more miles until I can collapse and die.

rockin’ the new fully customized funfitgirl HeatSweats visor. loved it.

Off I go! Clearly, I take getting a good, strong start very seriously.

I looked very under dressed compared to my fellow runners. I was honestly really comfortable though – my PRO Compression marathon socks kept my calves warm which is really the most important thing for me.

Since this was a ballon shaped course, my camera man (aka the sweetest fiance ever) couldn’t get any shots out on the course. He didn’t like the idea of just “jogging” along side me to get some great action shots.

So we took this great action shot instead.

super speedy, I know.

here’s my finish

the only thing other than the massive hills and that the Newton Running tent was not handing out free samples  that annoyed me about this race was the fact that they didn’t quite time the timing of the 10K and 5K start correctly to have all the 5K racers finish before the 10K. So I ended up bumbling into a bunch of the tail end of the 5K-ers and I couldn’t really tell who was in the 10K vs 5k  so I didn’t have a clue how many people I had to pass to get 1st place. And this 5K girl photo-bombed me with an epic long stride out to the finish.

All in all, it was a great race. I came in at 50:38, 6th in my age group. Not too shabby for a first road 10K.

Big thanks to this guy for going straight from working until 6am to going to my race to take pictures of me and tell me on the way to the race, “now just remember, if you’re not 1st, you’re last” – such a great pep talk.

I came home and used my new blender for the first time to make myself a post race margarita mixed berry with vanilla protein smoothie.

   

---

How was your Sunday Funday? 

Best pep talk you’ve gotten?

Friday fav five – snow is not one of them.

It snowed this morning here in Denver. not happy about it. This is my Friday least favorite thing.  At least I have an excuse stay in on a Friday night, drink tea and blog/ have a netflix marathon….like I really needed an excuse for that :P

Now for my actual Friday Fav Five

1. I got my corral number for the Denver Rock’n’Roll Half Marathon…lucky #7! This also makes me feel really nervous/excited because it’s getting really close to race day and it’s kind of hitting me that yeah, I’m running a half marathon in 16 days. crazy.

2. my totally awesome mom read my blog post about pain in my arches and sent me this great “happy feet” care package. Having a mom who is a personal trainer definitely has its perks.

3. That same awesome mom also remembered one of favorite things about fall is that the Oh Henry candy bars come back on the shelf for a limited time…yes I know they’re neither dairy or gluten free, but once a year they’re worth the trouble.

4. I personalized my HeadSweats Velocity visor. Thinking about going back to add a little something else…maybe a cupcake with SPRINKLES

5. I have a 10K this weekend! YAY for race weekends…I look forward to the extra early bedtimes and eating my go to pre-race power meal of wild rice and broccoli (I’m pretty sure that Oh Henry bar negates that healthy stuff)

Happy Friday Everyone :)

---

What’s everyone up to this weekend? Race, long run, shopping trip???

How do you handle pre-race jitters?

favorite candy bar?

Moving Comfort Running Skirt Review

My Moving Comfort Sprint Tech Skort came today!

Here are my thoughts…

love the fabric weight and texture…the actual skirt is light weight and the boy shorts are a nice soft spandex/stretchy material with little rubber grippies on the legs

has two pockets in great locations – one up front with an open top and a zippered pocket in the back. I like that the pockets are actually a size that real stuff will fit in…a lot of women’s running shorts and skirts have ridiculously small pockets that could probably only fit a chapstick – like yeah I want to run my chapstick :P no thank you, give me pockets big enough for GU, my inhaler and car key. thank you.

cute patterned shorts underneath the skirt

there are adjustable chords on the side of the skirt as well as in the waist band, so you can cinch it up nice and tight.

the only downside (for me at least…this really isn’t a technical problem)…it is a semi-fitted skirt. And for me, I really like things that fit nice and tight. I ordered a Small and it fit probably perfectly for a “semi-fitted” style, but I would have preferred something a little snugger on my waist and the shorts underneath being tighter- I kinda felt like they moved a little while I ran – like shorts more so than spandex. SO I just ordered an XS to see if I like the fit of that size a little better (Yes i am that crazy indecisive person who should probably never buy online because I like to try on ALL the sizes and styles 20 times). I’ll let you know how the smaller size feels.

Overall, this is a really cute and well made skirt PLUS its on sale right now – I highly recommend it.

I did an easy 3 mile warm up for lifting. My first time running in my Pro Compression marathon socks. I liked the extra support and circulation through my ankles and feet (more so than my Zensah compression calf sleeves) but I felt like they didn’t have as much focused compression on my upper calf where I get cramps and bad knots. I think it’s going to take a longer run in them to really see if I like them better than my calf sleeves or not.

lifting at the gym…obviously I’m super serious.

ALSO, I got this today – I think I foresee an all margarita healthy smoothie diet in my future.

---

what’s your favorite smoothie recipe??

Running Wardrobe Malfunctions – they happen

I had 5 miles on the schedule tonight, and Jonah had the evening off from work so I was able to run with my favorite running buddy – YAY! I like running with him because it makes me push the pace a little, which I think is good every once in while.

So off we went for a 5 miler, and right around mile .36 (yes I remember looking at my Garmin) I knew I was in for some running skirt troubles. I wore one of my older, less “runner friendly”, skirts on this run. Aka it doesn’t have leg grippies and no way to tighten the waist band. So i had two issues going on – my little shorts underneath were riding up (creating the dreaded chafe) and the skirt part was falling down off my waist – thank god my thighs are huge and kept it up.

Exhibit A:

this was a super cheap Champion sale item from Target – I guess you pay for what you get sometimes :P

So for about .5 miles I was trying to pull down/pull up my skirt and Jonah was having a good laugh – and finally I just gave up and just rolled with it and had probably the most uncomfortable and distracted run ever. BUT I ended up having a decent run considering it was just suppose to be an easy day after my Yasso 400s. As you can see that first mile was slower – tends to happen when you’re running while trying to adjust one’s skirt. The last mile was 8:32.

Lesson learned: wardrobe malfunctions happen to runners all the time. We have disgusting feet, we chafe, we get boob sweat, and our running skirts sometimes just don’t want to stay in place – BUT what we need to remember is that if we can get past the uncomfort and embarrassment, we might just end up having an amazing run/race. Also, in the future I will probably never wear a running skirt without the leg grippies.

What made this run end on a great note was that when I got home and checked the mail, these were waiting for me!

I had to try them on immediately of course.

Pro Compression Marathon Socks…and my small collection of Newtons in the background

I’ve only ever worn my Zensah compression sleeves, so I’m new to this full sock thing. But so far just chilling around the house, they feel AMAZING. I like how tight they are and I really like the feeling of compression on my arches and ankles – this could be a winner folks. I’m going to take them for a test run and then possibly race in them for my 10K this weekend. I’ll let you know how the tester goes.

Have a great Thursday everyone – just think, tomorrow is FRIDAY :)

---

Worst running wardrobe malfunction? 

lets talk compression – full socks or sleeves? Favorite brand?

Yasso 400s and Race Week Thoughts

So I tweeted Bart Yasso today and now we’re basically BFFs as far as I’m concerned.

Our convo went like this:

me: “speed workout tonight – do Yasso 400s work for a #halfmarathon? @BartYasso @runnersworld”
mr. yasso: “@aimee_newman @runnersworld Yes I always did 20 X 400 with a 200 recovery. I did the 400s in my half marathon time.”
me: “@BartYasso @runnersworld thanks!! I can’t wait to try that out tonight…absolutely gorgeous day here in CO for some #Yasso400s”
mr. yasso: “@aimee_newman @runnersworld Let me know how it goes.”
me: “Beautiful evening on the track for some Yasso 400s #successful #halfmarathon #funfitgirl @runnersworld @BartYasso pic.twitter.com/s1L14pAl9m”
mr. yasso: “@aimee_newman Wow looks like a perfect night to hit the track @runnersworld”

see, clearly we are now running buddies for life and will be planning future runs together in beautiful places asap.

…back on planet earth, I ran some Yasso 400s this evening on the local track and it went really well. The basic theory behind this workout is you run a bunch of 400s at the time you expect to run your half marathon in. For example, if you were running a 1 hour and 50 minute half, you’d run a bunch of 1 min 50 seconds 400s. I’m sure there’s a more scientific runner’s theory behind this but this is how I understand it best and it works for me.

I also wore my shirt from my last 10K for the first time – I thought it was appropriately edgy for this workout

shirt reads “no fire, no mud, no color, no bubbles, no obstacles…just trails!”

yes I know I wasn’t on a trail, but it still seemed appropriate.

My next 10K is this Sunday. This is my last race before the big one. Pavement Runner wrote a really great post about race week thoughts (you can read it here). Right now I’m feeling anticipation and excitement for this 10K because I think I am much better prepared, both physically and mentally, and I’m hopeful that I’ll PR. At the same time I’m feeling nervous because I know this is my last short race before the big one (my first 13.1).

At the end of the day, I need to keep reminding myself that my real goal for my half is to “finish with a smile” and enjoy it – you only get one first half marathon.

Real time update on the BFF tweets:

mr. yasso: @aimee_newman My new BFF, keep on running and blogging #funfitgirl  

…that just made my day

---

Ever done Yasso 400s or 800s?

What’s on your mind race week?

Best first half/full marathon memory?

baby prairie dogs are distracting on long runs…

seriously, two baby prairie dogs kissing – I melted (sorry the pictures are so blurry)

I ran 11 miles this morning. Wore my new running skirt and I can confirm that it is absolutely awesome. No ride up and it was super light – I seriously had to check a few times to make sure I was actually wearing bottoms because it was so light and comfortable.

This is definitely becoming my favorite long run route

another one of my cute buddies

I was really happy with my run – even running at my slow turtle pace for long runs, I’m on track to finish my half under 2 hours.  But really my goal is to have fun with this race since it’s my first half, so I’ll be happy if I just finish with a smile on my face.

I had an Arbonne chocolate protein shake after my run. Never tried one before, but one of my Luna Chix Ladies is an representative for Arbonne and brought us all a bunch of samples. It was pretty delicious – AND it’s gluten and dairy free, which means its tummy friendly for me. I really need to get better about refueling properly after runs, because it does make a huge difference in my recovery time.

having a snack drawer like this is perfectly normal right?

oh and this is how I carb loaded last night

the waiter always laughs at me when i order a gluten free pizza with vegan cheese and ALL the meat toppings. Yes I’m a confusing person.

---

Do you have a runner’s snack drawer? 

Favorite wildlife spotting on your long run?

What’s on your pizza?

Yes, I run like a girl in a skirt

…and by that I mean I run AWESOMELY (is that even a word? it is now)

This morning I ran with my Team Luna Chix and it was FREEZING..like hello we skipped fall and right to winter weather. It was a good thing I had my ladies to keep me company on my 5 mile pacer – otherwise I probably would have wimped out because I forgot my gloves and my fingers were becoming icicles. We fixed that problem by going to have our usual coffee date afterwards – I asked for an extra extra, “like as hot as you’re legally allowed to make it” (<–my exact words to the barista), soy chai latte.

I got these at our run today as a Team Luna Chix goodie, they are delicious
– I’m trying not to eat them off my lips.

After getting home and warming up, I went on a mission. I was a girl on a mission to find the perfect running skirt. Here’s what I ended up with:

Pearl Izumi Infinity Run Skirt from the Elite Series

perfect length shorts underneath

reflective lime green accents.

and yes that is a stuffed giraffe wearing a tiara.

I tired on about a million (okay probably more like 7) different brands and styles – which was really beneficial and time consuming because I figured out what I did and did not like in a skirt.

Things I now know to look for in a skirt

• a least one side slit, so I don’t feel like my stride is constrained, OR options to ruched up the side a little
• boy shorts underneath, at least 3 inch inseam
• those boy shorts need to have a grippy thing around your leg – I hate when shorts ride up
• well thought out pockets – big enough for my beloved Gu or car key (I don’t run with my phone now so that wasn’t an issue to look for), in a easy to reach location while on the go, and the zipper works well – no snagging please
• fabric type – a lot of brands I tried that a really heavy spandex/cotton type fabric that weighed a ton – I like to keep it light and flowy
• adjustable waist band – I don’t know about you but I like my running skirts to stay up and on, no mid-run wardrobe malfunctions
• look for sales, nice running gear can get pricey, but you can usually find great stuff on sale if you’re willing to spend a little more time looking and its totally worth it not to cheap out on your running gear – good quality products will take you through multiple race seasons

And MOST importantly – it has to come in cute colors.

I also really like the Moving Comfort Sprint Tech Skort – BUT they didn’t have it in the store in the color I wanted and size I needed, so I rushed home and ordered it. BONUS – the color I wanted was on sale and I got free expatiated shipping!

Moving Comfort Sprint Tech Skort in Twilight – on sale now for $33!!!

11 miles on the schedule tomorrow, I think I’ll try out my new skirt. I’ll let you know how amazing it was.

---

Is it starting to get colder on your runs now? What’s your favorite cold weather running gear?

What do you look for in a running skirt? Favorite brands?

Favorite “warm-me-up” fall beverage?