9 miler + Happy Halloween!

Yesterday's 9-miler can be summed up with this graph:

It started out rough, slow, and sluggish, but I pushed through and just enjoyed the beautiful sunshine-y morning.  Around mile 3 my knee started to hurt.  I knew this would be my longest run in a while and I didn't want to risk another ITB injury, so I stopped and stretched my IT band and legs.  After that I felt great!  Miles 4, 5 and 6 ticked by and I was feeling great!  Then around mile 7, my legs started to tighten and tire.  I only had a few more miles to go and decided to throw in some short walk breaks (about 1 minute every 5-10 minutes).  Finally I made I saw my house and sprinted the last bit home.  My legs weren't happy with me, but post-run foam rolling helped a ton!  I'm really happy with myself that I got it done :)

And of course, today is *HALLOWEEN!!!*  Tonight will be spent studying for my midterm on Wednesday, but the girls I work with and I did dress up at the office today.  Can you guess what we are?

You can't really tell, but I'm even wearing my old retainer!!!

I'll give you a hint:

Happy Halloween!!!!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

After a week of being sick followed by a few days of struggling to wake up and run in the morning, I finally got my bum out of bed this morning!  It took me a good 20-30 minutes to finally get my feet out the door, but I did it, and man, it was COLD**!  It definitely felt like a winter morning.  And since we haven't changed time yet, it was still pitch black too.

Pitch black + cold weather = not my ideal running condition

Because it was so cold** though, I just darted out the door.  No warm ups, just running.  I knew it would get my blood flowing and I'd warm up sooner or later.  1/2 mile later, I felt warm.  I only ran 2 miles with a short 30 sec walk in between, but it was nice to get out.  I'm still fighting a cough, which signals the tail end of a cold for me, so it wasn't my best run, but it sure as hell wasn't my worst.


Tomorrow I have a 9-miler.  With my lack of running in the past 10 days, I have no doubt I'll throw in some 30 second walk breaks here and there.


How do you stay warm when running in the winter?


**Disclaimer:  When I say cold, I mean Cali-Cold.  For us southern Californians, we adorn ourselves with coats, scarves, gloves, and hats when it drops to the 40s, and this morning it was 45 degrees.  Brrr.  I know, I know.  Anyone in the midwest or on the east coast must think I'm nuts!  Well, I DID live in NY for 4 years so I do know what true cold weather is like (i.e. snow, blizzards, ice, wind that literally chills you to the bone, etc.), but since moving back home 3 years ago this Cali girl has re-adapted.  Cold (for me) now = 50 degrees and below :-P

Three Things Thursday!

1.  On the running front - this weekend I have a 9-miler scheduled.  I'm looking forward to it and dreading it both at the same time.  Last week I came down with a horrible cold and couldn't even get out of bed for a couple days, let alone run.  This week I ran once because my body is still fatigued and I can't seem to drag my @$$ out of bed before 6:30-7am for a pre-work run.  So, my 9-miler might prove to be a little challenging, but in the words of Nike, Just Do It!


2.  Wedding update! - the BIG DAY is almost here!!!!  We are BEYOND excited for it!!  Tonight Sean and I are meeting with our DJ to go over some things ("must play", "do not play" songs, sequencing, etc).  We're into all the little details now!  So fun!!!


3.  Halloween - like I said in my last post, I LOVE Halloween!  It's so fun to dress up and hang out with friends, and you can't beat "13 Nights of Halloween" on ABC family (I'm a sucker for all those movies, ESPECIALLY Hocus Pocus, which I grew up on...it's on of my favs).  I'm sad to say, my love for Halloween has only manifested this year in our house decorations...our house looks awesomely spooky!  But I haven't made Halloween plans nor have I given thought to what I'm going to be!  I've been so preoccupied with work (which has been crazy busy (in a good way) with our quarterly earnings), school (gearing up for a midterm next week), and of course wedding planning!  It's all great things that have taken priority.  Quite frankly, I can't even believe Halloween is here!  I woke up the other day thinking I still had plenty of time before realizing it was a week away!  Yikes!
Does anyone have any fun and easy to put together last minute costume ideas???

Bridal Showers Galore!

This past weekend my future in-laws threw me a Spooktacular bridal shower!  I love Halloween, and when I was asked if they could throw me a Halloween/Nightmare Before Christmas shower (I love that movie btw) with Halloween just a week away, I said why not!

I already had a fabulous pink and zebra bridal shower that my cousins threw me last month for my side of the family (his mom, grandma and aunt of course came to that though :) )

My wonderful cousin who threw me this shower, my Cali bridesmaids (2 are in NYC)

and my future Sis-in-law

My mommy and mom-in-law <3

 Pink cupcakes with "Sean" and my name tattooed on his bum!

 A taste of the decorations :)

My wonderful cousin who threw me this shower

Now onto my Spooktacular shower!  Just as it’s bad form for a bride’s mom to throw a shower (a relative, family friend, or bridesmaids take on this task), it’s bad form for the groom’s mom to throw the bride one too!  So my wonderful mom-in-law asked her dearest friend to throw me one, and it was fun!  H and her daughter A came over the night before to decorate.  Side note:  they asked if I wouldn’t mind having it at Sean’s and my new house since we finished redecorating and everyone wanted to see it…of course it was no problem for me!

Here is the spooky table:

We had delicious cupcakes and cake pops, and croissant sandwiches and spinach dip.  And we had Miss M’s famous long island iced tea that she so kindly made and brought with her!  Also, my fabulous MOH made delicious jello shots, and Sean’s family friend also brought jello shots!  Needless to say, there was no shortage of food and drink.

Prior to my shower, H asked both me and Sean for a few Halloween pictures of us as kids and young adults.  Here is what I came up with on my end:

Singin' in the Rain!

 Me as a princess

 The Green Fairy (I hand sewed this costume btw!)

 Jeannie (my fav TV show growing up!)

 Lions with my little bro (I'm on the right)

Snow White (I couldn't find my Sleeping Beauty or Belle pictures

from when I was little *sad face*)

 Peanut Butter and Jelly with Sean at the Warrior Dash (a crazy mud run) last Halloween

 Princess Lei (Sean's fav!)

 Queen of Hearts one year in college

 Me and Sean as cowboys

And one of my favs....ZOMBIES!!!!

We also played a “favorites” game where everyone got a favorite sticker on their back and had to ask others yes or no questions, “Is it the bride?” “Is it the groom?” “Is it a favorite color?”  “Is it blue?” and so forth.  Sean’s cousin actually won and she had all “Bride” stickers!  I was so impressed, even though I did help her out with a couple, but shhh  ;)

Then came the gifts.  I can’t not express in words the gratitude and love I felt.  I was overwhelmed with the generosity and love of Sean’s family.  I’ve been a part of his family for years now, but this still blew me away.

 Me and Grandma C

  My MOH Lisa, me, my future sis-in-law Kathleen

 Some of the girls

Me with my mom and soon-to-be mom-in-law :)

I can’t thank them enough for their love, kindness, and warm welcome into their family.  I am so loved and so blessed.  Thank you :)

Weekends of Fun!!!

Last weekend was so incredibly fun!


I had my first official wedding dress fitting, and I love love love my dress more than ever!  It fits perfectly and only needs to be hemmed.  I tried on all my jewelry with it and of course my shoes (to get the right hem), and I felt like a princess :)

After spending a wonderful day at the bridal shop with my mom, I met my future Sis-in-law for dinner (we're marrying brothers!).  I took her to one of my fav restaurants, where we ended up talking, laughing and enjoying delicious food for nearly 6 hours!

Then Sunday, I woke up at ran 5 miles!  Friday night I fell asleep without setting my alarm, so when I woke up at 8:15am, I realized I had missed the 7:30am start time of the Chapman 5K I was supposed to run!  Oops!!!  So Sunday I got my mileage in.  I planned 7 miles, but the wind picked up and I was running against it (not so fun) so I ended it at 5 miles.  But I felt strong and glad I got those 5 miles in.

After my run, I cruised up to Manhattan Beach to meet D&L.  A girlfriend of mine recommended Simmzy's for brunch, and I'm so glad we went there!  The food was fabulous, their sangria is like elixir, and it's right on the water.  After stuffing our bellies with food and sangria, D&L and I walked down to the beach and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

This weekend will be another fabulous weekend!!  My future in-laws are throwing me a bridal shower!!!  I've already had two marvelous showers, one thrown by my creative cousins, and one by my NYC girls!  I'm so excited for my in-law shower today!  Pics to come!!

Have a great weekend!!

If I Were A Zombie, I'd Eat You The Most!

I love zombies and I love fun tees.  Put them together and this tee is my new fav!! 

Happy Friday!

PS-It's almost Halloween :)

Support in Love - Seal Beach

My heart goes out to the families of the victims of the Seal Beach Massacre.  This is such a devastating tragedy and it’s so unfathomable that something as horrific as this can happen in our quiet, quaint little beach town of Seal Beach.  Eight lives were taken, and even though I don’t know any of them personally, I have friends who knew someone.  It’s absolutely heart breaking.  My thoughts and prayers are with the families of loved ones lost on 10-12-2011.

Three Things Thursday!

1.  Saturday I’m running the Chapman 5K!  As a grad student at Chapman, I was able to register for free!  What’s better than that.  I’m really excited because I’m running it with a couple of classmates, one of whom ran it last year with me.  I have no goals pertaining to the race.  Why?  Because this Saturday is a 7-mile training run, so I need to wake my bum up before the crack of dawn to get 4 miles in before the 8am 5K start, which I will cruise at my long run pace :)

2.  Pumpkins!!!  I LOVE all things pumpkin, and fall = pumpkins galore!  Pumpkin spiced lattes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin patches, pumpkin carving, pumpkin candles, etc!  What can I say, I heart anything pumpkin.  In fact, I discovered a new pumpkin treat at Whole Foods…it’s called “Pumpkin Pie” organic bar by Tasty Brand (and it sure is tasty!)

3.  Saturday is my first wedding dress fitting!  I tried it on when it first came in (and OMG I LOVE it!!!!), but this weekend I’m meeting with the bridal shop seamstress to get it hemmed.  Even with heels, it’s a little too long for my 5’4” stature.  I can’t wait to put that beauty on again, and even more for my future hubby to see me in it on our wedding day (so soon!!!)

Surf City 1/2 Training Plan

I started training for Surf City ½ a couple weeks ago.  I opted for a longer training plan to really build my foundation.  This plan also has a significantly longer “long run” compared to other plans I’ve followed, with the longest run being 17 miles.  I know it seems a little crazy, but I think if I stick with this, I can train my body to run distances more efficiently, and when the 13.1 that is Surf City comes, I’ll be more than ready!

It’s quite simple.  I run Tuesdays and Thursdays for 45 minutes, and Saturdays are reserved for my long run.  My long runs are as follows:

Week 1:  5 miles (DONE)

Week 2:  6 miles (DONE)

Week 3:  4 miles (turned into 6 miles with my dad!)

Week 4:  7 miles

Week 5:  4 x 800s on the track

Week 6:  9 miles

Week 7:  6 x 800s

Week 8:  11 miles

Week 9:  8 x 800s

Week 10:  13 miles

Week 11:  10 x 800s

Week 12:  15 miles (I might sign up to run the Holiday ½ in Pomona, and tack on two miles before that…I’m still debating)

Week 13:  HONEYMOON!!!!

Week 14:  4 x 800s

Week 15:  17 miles (this might come down to 13 or 15…we’ll see)

Week 16:  14 x 800s

Week 17:  11 miles

Week 18:  8 miles

Week 19:  5 miles

Week 20:  SURF CITY ½ MARATHON!!  13.1 miles!

I’m really excited about this training plan, and very happy with it so far (I might be singing a different tune after some of those long runs!)!  On top of running 3x a week, I’m going to the gym Mon/Wed/Fri to get in my strength training.  Sunday is my rest day :) 

So, there you have it!  My training schedule for the next 20 weeks!

What races do you guys have coming up?  What kind of training plans do you follow?

Breast Cancer Awareness month!!!

October is one of my favorite months because it's Breast Cancer Awareness month!!!  I am a very big supporter of this cause, and over the last few years I have personally raised close to $8,000 for the cause.  It all started with my Grammie who survived breast cancer more than a decade ago.  Over my 25 years, I have known many women to battle this terrible disease, and I try to be as active as I can to support the fight against it.


In 2008, I walked 40 miles for the cause with my dear friend Amanda.  At the time I didn't have my blog, but I later wrote a mini recap here.  We walked it again in 2010 and together raised nearly $10,000!  She is walking it again this year in New York, and she's walking for my Grammie which means the world to me.  She's very close to her goal of $3,000 and if you'd like to make ANY contribution she and I both would be forever grateful.  Amanda's donation page can be found here.  Thank you in advance for you support.


Around this time, I like to find fun items that are fabulous and help support breast cancer research!  Some of my previous posts can be found here and here.  This year I have a few more fun things to mention :)

Dogeared "Wish for a Cure" necklace - So delicate and sweet

Clarisonic Skincare Brush - I have this and it's wonderful!  I love it!

Essie Breast Cancer Awareness Nail Polish - I adore this color

Headband on Etsy - Pretty in Pink!

Pink Blender - this is just fun!  There are a TON of pink kitchen items available
with proceeds going towards breast cancer

iFitness belt - the best running accessory!!

Lucy racer top - simply cute

Oakley Sunglasses 

Please show you support this month and wear pink!  I'm wearing something pink everyday :)

Mags