MS Run The US Recap Day Before It All Started!

Happy Monday! We had a great weekend filled with hiking, kayaking, cooking, and sleeping in (finally)! It was perfect weather here (mid 70's) and while I decided not to do the half marathon here on Sunday (decided I'd rather spend $ on a race in a few months that I haven't done yet and one that my body would be better prepared for), I did get out for my first run post-relay on Sunday (7 miles). It felt amazing to be back out there and I'm already dreaming big about my next goals! How was your weekend?

I was going to start my relay recaps on day #1, but I wanted to recap the day (and morning) before the relay started because preparation is important too ; ) Because I lived where the relay was starting, I opted not to spend the night before in the RV (I feel like a majority of the runners before me spent the night prior in the RV because they flew to their start lines). Alex was still away and I wanted to at least catch up with him before I left for the week.

SO let's rewind a bit shall we?

For the few weeks prior to the relay, I'd been feeling pretty anxious. I was following the relay on social media (they do daily "live" videos with current runners) pretty intently and just wanted it to be my turn! I was also feeling a bit nervous (typical taper nerves...wondering if my training was enough, if I could conquer the mountains ahead of me, hoping my body could cover the distance etc.). I think it's probably pretty typical "pre race nerves/jitters"- I feel slightly similar prior to most marathons that I start. The one thing that was different- I had the recurring nightmare that I was going to get run-over. I pictured myself along the highway on my relay route and a car not paying attention and just completely plowing into me. That was definitely my biggest fear leading up to the relay. 

Because of all of these nerves, I kept myself extremely busy when Alex was away (he was gone most of the week before the relay start). I cleaned/ organized/ did a bunch of gardening/ got a massage/ pedicure/manicure etc. I didn't really let my emotions set in. 

The relay runner for segment #6 (the one before me) was set to come into Steamboat at noon on Sunday May 20th, so Stella and I came into town to meet her and the relay crew! We did a 2 mile shakeout run prior to the relay runner finishing and got to see her cross the finish line (and hand the baton off to me). I think this was a perfect way to be introduced to everyone! It was so inspiring to see her finish and it got me so excited. The road crew seemed so great. They asked if I wanted to go grocery shopping with them (I had previously sent in a list of food that I like to eat before/during/after running) and because it was pretty warm and I was in charge of Stella, I declined but thought it was so great that they offered! 

Shakeout run!

After getting the baton passed along to me and some smalltalk, Stella & I headed home to relax for the afternoon before Alex was expected to get home. I had noodles & butter for dinner (and lots of water) and heated him up some lasagna. I slept pretty well (thanks melatonin) and reality definitely sunk in when I woke up the next morning! I was going to be running 175 miles over the next 7 days and tackling Rabbit Ears Pass TODAY! I was honestly SO nervous that I couldn't eat a thing before we left home (this is really out-of-character for me. normally during the morning of a marathon, I feel excited/ a tad nervous, but always am able to get some food in me). I also was so happy to have him home, that I was absolutely TERRIFIED I wouldn't make it back home. I broke down crying before we left (also totally out of character) and then once again when it was time to start my relay.

There was a nice crowd of people at my start line at 8am (some from my work/ honey stinger/ past relay runner/ the woman who has MS and husband donated to my fundraiser..so great to finally meet her), which was so great, but also kinda intimidating. I just wanted to start running rather than make small-talk. If it was not about having a "start line", I honestly would have wanted to start at 6am (before my mind could process all that I was setting out to do ; )....). 

SO, that's where we where when I crossed that start line and said goodbye to my friends and Steamboat!

How was your weekend?

How do you handle pre-race jitters? 

MS Run The US Week 22 RUNDOWN!

Happy Humpday! Last training week rundown before my relay is HERE. I can't believe it. It feels like I've been prepping for this event since November... oh wait, I have ; ) YAY! The taper was in full-effect this past week and I only tallied 14.64 miles! It felt so bizarre to have multiple days off of running, but also really nice to have some extra free time to get those chores done that I've been neglecting for MONTHS! I took advantage of the taper and got a massage on Friday and a manicure/pedicure on Saturday. I didn't foam roll as much as I liked, but I also didn't have any real aches/pains (besides phantom pain in weird places thanks to my not running as much..). Elevation gain wasn't very much, but that's exactly what I wanted! I did 3 solo strength training sessions (no pilates this week) and focused mainly on just some pre-hab exercises!

Monday: 5 miles easy 870' elevation gain/ 30 minutes of strength training. I've worked up to holding my regular plank for 3:45! Getting closer to my 5:00 goal!

Tuesday: 5 miles easy 81' elevation gain

Wednesday: 15 minutes of easy stationary biking/ 30 minutes of strength training

Thursday: Rest Day

Friday: 2.64 miles easy with Stella (who ended up throwing up towards the end of our run..hence not getting completely to 3 miles) and 30 minutes of strength training; 1 hour massage

Saturday: Rest Day/ manicure & pedicure!

Sunday: 20 minute shakeout run (2 miles)!

Positive Splits:

• Fit in 3 strength training sessions
• Easy paced miles
• Kept busy during the taper with lots of chores!

Negative Splits:

• Not as much foam rolling as I would have liked

How's your humpday going? Any plans for the weekend?!? I'm on Day 3 of my relay and have just 4 more days left!!!!

Fundraising Tips! How I Fundraised $10,581 for Multiple Sclerosis

Happy Tuesday! I wanted to share with you some tips for how I ended up surpassing my fundraising goal for MS Run The US. I think it's so important to share with others regarding fundraising because when I first began my journey, I had NO idea how I could possibly raise this much money! I still am a bit shocked that I reached over $10,000 in my fundraising. I mean that is A LOT of MONEY! I'm on day 2 of my relay and hope to check in on Thursday or Friday with a post about how's it going so far!! I'm optimistic that I'll have a bunch of energy and freetime after running each day to write to you ; ) haha.. I guess we'll see! 

OK so here are my TOPS TIPS for fundraising DO'S: 

• DO make a list of 100 people and businesses you know. I did this right at the very beginning and while not everyone donated (and some people on the list were silly to write down...like my mom!), it helped me keep track of who I reached out to and if I had received a donation from them or not. 
• DO reach out to your local grocery stores to do some tabling. This one really blew me away with how easy and effective it was! I think I raised almost a $1,000 just by sitting at a table outside our local grocery store for 3 hours on a few Saturdays!
• DO reach out to local personal trainers/ fitness studios. This was where 2 of my fundraisers came from and while they weren't the best $ makers, I think both donation classes still ended up fundraising me over $500!
• DO reach out to businesses more than once..twice...or three times! I think I *may* have received one donation from a business on the first attempt at asking, but most others it took me 3 or 4 TIMES of asking before I received a donation! I found that a lot of people just needed the reminder and wanted to donate, but forget to. I hated pestering them, but it really worked to my benefit. 
• DO tell people your story. My biggest donation came from a donor who just happened to be at my work and I told him of my relay that I'm participating in and why. 
• DO reach out to your local papers (AND hometown papers). My other biggest donations came from reaching out to my local (and hometown) papers. I actually had to reach out to my local paper FIVE TIMES before hearing back from someone. It was worth it. 
• DO one fundraising event per month. Whether it was tabling, fitness donation classes, organizing a local 5k, giving Tuesday in November, these events helped me reach my goal and keep me on track. 
• DO keep a monthly fundraiser goal tracker. Each month, I had my A, B, and C fundraising goals and worked my butt off with contacting/ reaching out to potential donors and keeping my friends/family informed with how my fundraising was going.
• DO start a Facebook Fundraiser page and keep it up to date. $25 doesn't seem like a lot from one person, BUT I would update and post several times a week in my Facebook Fundraiser and that helped both current and future donors keep track of my progress. I would post training updates/ fundraising updates/ positives or negatives about a run I just did/ monthly mileage etc. It REALLY added up. I think I ended up getting over $2,000 just in Facebook donations!
• DO update your supporters on social media channels regularly. This was a big one for people to keep track of my progress and have potential donors have a place to go to follow my journey! 
• DO a garage sale. I had myself and my family put things on eBay that they wanted to get ride of and we made A KILLING! I think I received over $1,000 just by selling things that we didn't want anymore! Super easy and you get to clean out your junk as well : )

THINGS NOT TO DO:

• DO NOT have a one and done mentality. I got over the fact that I was "bothering people" very early on because I realized that I wasn't really bothering them and that if they didn't want to donate, then they would let me know or just politely say 'thanks and we'll think about it' (then I'd follow up with them MULTIPLE times). 
• DO NOT feel sorry for sharing your story. I had some people who gave me a fundraising tip of "sharing my story", which honestly seemed really vague to me. I've never been a big sharer of my life to strangers, but that's a big part of what fundraising is! SHARE your story and hone it in. 

How's your Tuesday going?!?

Any fundraising tips of your own?!?

Goals for MS Run The US Relay!

Happy Monday friends! Don't worry, I've scheduled my posts for the week so I'm not stressing about getting my posts up on time during my relay. I hope you had a great weekend! I actually had a super long list of items to get done with Alex gone  (he got back last night from visiting family/meeting his 3 month old nephew in Mass.) and no running on my schedule, so I stayed pretty busy. A lot of cleaning/ packing/ gardening/ nails are done/ organized was done! I honestly cannot believe that my relay begins this morning! I got the baton passed to me yesterday at noon when Michelle came in and now at 8am EST today it's my turn! You can follow along on my journey on Instagram and I'll be journaling my thoughts so I can share them all with you on each day that I run come next week : )

I wanted to share with you some of my goals for my relay and daily goals as well because I think it's really important to be realistic about the journey I'm about to embark on (as well as have some lofty goals too)! I've had a lot of anxiety about my relay (mainly just wanting it to be here already and excitement/nerves), but on Wednesday or Thursday last week, it just turned to excitement (a bit of nerves but mostly just overly excited)! I can't wait to experience the rockies on foot and see so many beautiful things that driving in a car you miss. I've got an iPod nano to save my phone battery so I can take a lot of pictures! The weather looks like it should be good for the most part (maybe some thunderstorms in the afternoon, but I'm planning to be finished running each day by 1pm at the latest and starting each day between 6-7am).

GOALS FOR MS RUN THE US RELAY:

• ENJOY every moment. Take it all in. The beauty, the experience, the good, the bad ~everything
• SMILE at all times. Smile through the positives and negatives. 
• RUN FROM THE HEART ~ 
• 28 miles each day. Pushing it to 30 if I'm feeling great, but no more than that. 
• Recover like a champ. Legs up the wall multiple times. Foam roll like crazy. Lots of coconut water. 

What are your plans for the week?

DId anyone race this weekend?! How'd it go??

What I'm Packing For My 175 Mile MS Run The US Relay

Happy Friday! I've already been able to get SO many chores done that I've neglected for what felt like ~21 weeks~; ). It's amazing what you can get done (AND how much energy you have) when you aren't running 60+ miles in a week! I've got my manicure/pedicure scheduled for tomorrow and I'm still undecided on what type of nail design I should get! I normally only get them done either right before or after a big goal race. I love having them all beautiful looking when I'm running hard, but equally look forward to the leg massage that comes with a pedicure AFTER a race ; ) Someday maybe I'll be able to afford both (before & after a race)! I also want to get some gardening done and a full deep clean of the house, since Alex won't be back until Sunday evening. I'm basically packed for MS Run The US segment ~ -> I'll be starting my relay on Monday, the 21st at 8am MST so make sure to send good thoughts my way! My plan is to typically run for around 5 or so hours a day and starting between 6-7am because after 12pm it gets really hot (to me...) and I do not do well in the heat! 

Here are some things that I'm packing for my relay segment! 

• Believe Training Journal- I put together a quote or 'mantra for each day that I'm running my segment. I always have a mantra for each race and will sometimes write it on my arm, so I figured it would be helpful to have a focus for each day that I'm running. Something relatively short and gets me fired up for the day. I packed my outfit for each day I'm running into a ziploc bag and put the quote on the outside of the bag. I really love this journal to keep track of my training (along with also using this blog and my google spreadsheets because I'm an organization nerd ; ) ...) and will use it to put my feelings together after each training day and then share them with you on the blog when I'm finished! 

• Goodr Sunglasses - I actually wanted a pair of these sunglasses for so long because I heard great things about them and reached out to them to see about a possible discount code they could give me and they ended up sending me TWO free pairs! I absolutely love them and their fun colors and they're so well designed. I'm obsessed. They will definitely be going in my Ultimate Direction pack with me everyday. 

• Oofos Sandals- I literally LIVED in my oofos sandals last summer and wanted to get another pair before my relay, so like Goodr I reached out to them to see if I could get a discount code and they ended up sending me all of the below things! One outfit is basically ready to go (minus pants ; )...) and I know my feet will be happy to wear these after running 28 miles!

• Ziploc Bags with each outfit and one change of socks- After doing so many training runs, I know that sometimes it's nice to split it up and change my shoes/ socks/ outfit to help reset my mind (that may not work for everyone)...So I packed typically one pair of compression socks and one pair of non-compression socks in my ziploc bags with my outfit for the day. I also packed in 2 separate ziploc bags one with 3 various jackets (one for rain/ one for wind/ one for cooler temps) and another bag with 3 change of pants (two for warmth/ one for compression) so that I could easily grab them if the day looked like the weather may turn on me. 
• KT Tape - I really love KT tape. It gives me a bit of extra support in the areas where I need it (achilles and knee currently) and is really easy to transport as well! 
• 3 pairs of sneakers- I've basically switched between the Brooks Ghost 10 in almost all of my training runs (with shorter stuff in my Levitate and Launches), so I'll be changing between these three throughout my relay run. I'm planning to run 13 or 14 miles in one pair and then switch to another pair (both will have my superfeet insoles in them) to help give my feet some relief. 
• Chapstick x 2- I heard one of the other relay runners this year had trouble with sunburned lips, so I'm making sure this does NOT happen to me! One will be in my vest the entire time!
• Honey Stinger Gels/Chews- I'll be also fueling with pretzels and coconut water and nuun and peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, but Honey Stinger gels and chews have worked best for me throughout my training runs!
• 2 Hats/ Visor- I hate having the sun in my eyes, so either a hat or visor will be 100% necessary each day that I'm out on the roads. I'll also bring along my buff incase the weather gets too chilly and to also help keep the sweat off my face! 
• sunscreen- this really is a no-brainer when you live/run in a sunny state like Colorado!

What are some of your must-haves when running a long-distance race or relay? 

What are three things you're doing this weekend?!

Anyone racing this weekend? <-- GOOD LUCK!