color me rad

{photo credit: nice people}

two weekends ago, a group of girlfriends and i got together for a good old fashioned colorful 5k. you know, the kind where you run and get pelted with colored cornstarch along the way. it was a total blast.

{photo credit: me and nice friends}

{photo credit: me and nice friends}

it was such a fun and stress-free race. there were no timing chips. they didn't have an official start time. you just showed up and started running. i didn't see one person with a water belt and no one was eating power gels. if there had been, they would have been laughed off the course by me.

{photo credit: me and nice friends}

{photo credit: me and nice friends}

there was not a clean body in the entire arena. as it should be. 

afterwards, we went to panera and had a lot of people tell us we looked "awesome!" a lot of people also just stared and didn't say anything, but i'm choosing to focus on the former. 

{photo credit: chelsea}

thanks, color me rad for the mostest funnest 5k of my life!

13.1

{photo credit}

i may have repeated the lines above to myself more than once during my training for the half. i especially needed some self-pep talks on days when i knew i had to run 8, 9, 10 miles. it's pretty awesome what you find out that you can actually do when you push yourself beyond your comfort zone. as each run got longer in distance and time, i gained more and more confidence until hello 13.1 miles!  

{photo credit: liz}

{photo credit: me}

{photo credit: kelly}

{photo credit: kelly}

{photo credit: me}

{photo credit: kelly}

i had so much fun on race days with all my girls. the best part was definitely crossing the finish line and throwing that heavy medal around my neck. although, stuffing our faces with bob evans farmer's breakfast after the race was a close second. 5,000 calories never tasted so good. mmmmm. 

if you've never done a race before, do it! they are so much fun, and if you train with a friend or two, you will have built-in cheerleaders. bonus? you get bragging rights for a long, long time. 

if anyone is interested in training for a half, this is the training program i used for both of mine. it's pretty easy to move days around if your schedule conflicts with what he has laid out. 

get out there and start moving! 

i run for fro yo

{photo credit}

i run for fro yo (and pizza and cupcakes and bacon and brownies). i run to stay fit. i run to good music. i run up hills and down. i run on trails. i run on busy roads. i run in cold weather. i run in the hot hot heat. i run when it's the last thing i want to do. i don't run when i know i should. i sweat a lot when i run. a lot. 

i recently signed up for my second half marathon. i did the same race with some friends a couple of years ago, and it was such a fun time. (when i say fun i don't mean the kind of fun you have when you go see a hilarious movie with your friends. i'm talking about the kind of fun that happens when you cross the finish line after 13.1 miles and your legs feel like dead tree trunks, sweat is stinging your eyes, and you're on the verge of feeling like you might need to puke. somuchfun!)

my friend liz is doing the race, too, and we have been racking up the mileage together. i've never really had a running buddy before. i'm used to running solo, but it's nice to have a friend next to me on my route. sometimes we gab. sometimes i'm too busy huffing and puffing to pay any attention to what's going on around me. 

i realize this post makes me sound like i'm a running fanatic. let it be known that i don't run when it's 100+ degrees out. i don't have bird legs. i don't have 2% body fat. i'm not one of those girls who run around in short shorts and a neon sports bra. sometimes i get butterflies before a run, but that's only if i have new music on my ipod. i wouldn't say i love running. i would say i like it just fine.

i would also say that one of the main reasons i sign up for/train for races is for the t-shirts. chyeeeahh. 

just work it out

{photo credit: weheartit.com}

you know how when you were a little kid, and you got new sneakers, you were convinced that they made you jump higher and run faster? when i say convinced, you and i both know that's honestly what happened. i swear as soon as i put on my hot pink, k-mart brand, tweety bird high tops, i was speed racer. this was key at nine years old because this is the age i started chasing boys. (one in particular i would chase around after church on sunday. i'd catch him by the collar and then hit him repeatedly with my bible. this is surprising to me on two levels. one: that i haven't been struck down by lightning because i used my bible as a weapon. two: he's still friends with me.)

years later, it's not the shoes that give me the power but the MUSIC. when i have a crazy good workout playlist, i can crank out another set of lunges or squats. i can pretend that i'm a meathead and grunt when i do my shoulder presses. if i've got some good jams blaring in my ears, i wipe the sweat from my brow and do 10 more girl push ups which really impresses the cute boy beside me doing one-armed push ups.

music is especially inspiring to me when i'm on a run. i'm sure i don't look nearly as cool as i think i do, but i feel pretty powerful when i've got jesse mccartney singing in my ears,

"you're banging like a speakerbox." 

yeeeaaah, still listen to him. 

sometimes, a good playlist is the thing that actually motivates me to go to the gym because as much as i like to exercise, i also like to sit around and eat bon bons. when i know that i have a stellar playlist waiting for me to rock out to, i'm more likely to put the bon bon down. or at least finish the bon bon and then go to the gym.

so, from my ipod to yours, here are several songs that give me that extra "pizow." that's really a word.

important to note: some of these songs are not appropriate for water aerobics class with your grandma. unless she's the kind of grandma who would take you to see a lil wayne concert. if this is the case, she probably doesn't participate in water aerobics at all. more like roller derby.

banquet : bloc party
steady shock : girl talk
black & gold : sam sparro
body language : jesse mccartney
coming home : diddy
triple double : girl talk
hold the line : major lazer
i can transform ya : lil wayne & chris brown
little secrets : passion pit
lost!: coldplay & jay-z
let it : machinedrum
you're a jerk : new boyz
1901 : phoenix
look at me now : chris brown
you be killin em : fabolous

do you have any suggestions for good workout songs? what's your style? rap, alternative, yonni, the soundtrack to high school musical? do you prefer to work out without music?

what do you like to do for good exercise? do you go to the gym? do you like to hike or take long walks? yoga? spinning classes? chasing down a good deal at tjmaxx? share! also, if anyone has a good recipe for bon bons, i'd be really interested.