Purple People Eater!

I think my love of running may stem 50% from my love of work-out clothes haha. Maybe I just run so I have an excuse to buy cute things... hrm... o well, at least its a healthy habit ;-)

Our 1/2 Marathon is scheduled for November 5th, which I'm thinking is not going to be track shorts weather. I LOVE my new shorts for training and will wear them until it drops below 60 but I figured I may want something a little warmer for the race.

I found these lovelies on nikestore.com and knew they needed to be mine:

Nike low-rise running capri - so comfortable and super cute! I love that they come below my knee and are snug, have a zipper on the back waist band for my house/car key, and sit right on my hips and do not ride up at all. Fantastic all around!
Nike had them on sale for 30$ but they did not have my size. I found a coupon and went to buy them at Dick's Sporting Goods on my lunchbreak yesterday and found out they were on sale for 30$ there too - jackpot! I ended up getting a matching purple sports bra and the pants for the original price of the pants, what a deal! Super happy kid... now I wish it was cold enough to wear them!! :)

New favorite store - Delaware Running Company!

Last year Lukas and I went to Delaware Running Company and found out how we both pronate - one of us over and one of us under - and got new shoes that correct our issues. Mine took away most of my knee pain within the first week of running and his are pretty comfy too. 9 months and several false training starts later we are sticking to our half-marathon training and our shoes are holding strong!

Then, the DE Running Co. offered me a suggestion of the Feetures socks to solve my sore toes/sliding socks issue when I went in to browse/complain. I love them so much I bought a second pair on Saturday and refuse to wear any other socks while jogging.

And THEN, believe it or not.... to the rescue again came DE Running Co for my various shorts issues. "The legs ride up and my thighs stick, the top rides up way too high, if I roll them they are too short, etc." all solved by 1 pair of shorts! I bought these Adidas Marathon 10 women's running shorts on Saturday and took them out on a 5k that evening. It was super hot and the legs did not ride up at all - the silky material helped them slide on eachother and did not make my tighs stick together like my other shorts always do. They do ride up a little due to my exaggerated pear shape, but if I fold the band inside the shorts, they sit perfectly and feel great!

I ran another 5k with them today at work and decided I absoluately have to purchase another pair! DE Running Co had them on sale for 50% off and still has another color in my size so I'm going back today.

Happy happy girl with her new favorite store!

Thanks for helping me stick to my goals by solving my various wardrobe issues DE Running Company!

Love affair with my gym socks...

If loving my new socks this much is wrong, I don't want to be right! I tried my new "feetures" - multi-sport light cushion - socks out at the gym on Thursday. My feet felt like they were being snuggled on the elliptical and bike. My 2nd toe on my right foot always gets a blister right by the nail and it hurts everytime I work out. Also, last week during our "practice training week" the bottom of my feet were getting rubbed by my old socks and were really sore. I took these lovely new socks on a 6 mile jog yesterday and had no sore toe, no sore feet, and even when I stepped in a massive puddle my feet were dry within 5 minutes while I could hear Luke's shoes and socks squeeking and squishing for a lot longer than that. Amazing! If these give me the same wonderful results on Fri & Sat I will def. be buying another pair after vacation.

So yea... 6 miles yesterday... it was hard but awesome! We went to Glasgow Park in Bear, DE which has a 2.6 mile loop - way better for long runs than the 1.1 mile loop by our apartment. We finished our 6 miles in 70 minutes - averaging 11:40 per mile - way better than my 12-13 min average last week. Not too sore today so I think I will do some light crosstraining at lunch, a 4 mile jog on Friday, and we should be ready for our 7 mile long run on Saturday. So excited - that is a little over half of our total distance and if I can do that on Saturday already with 8 more weeks to train, we can def. get ready for this half marathon in time. Yay! It feels so good to accomplish something you've wanted to do for so long and push yourself farther than you've gone before... I'm def. getting addicted :)

Saturday we also happen to be hopping on a plane and flying to Fairbanks, Alaska for the week. Even more excited about that than my run that morning ;-) My good friend MC is living there and working on her PhD so we will visit her for the week, go check out Denali National Park while she gets ready for a conference, and generally just enjoy visiting a new state and having a week off work - woot woot! :)

I'll probably be too tired and busy to blog on Saturday, so lets just assume I live through the 7 mile jog and unless I get eaten by a bear, I'll be back in Sept. with lots of pics and stories of our Alaskan adventure. Happy Labor Day weekend everyone!

Good news, cheesecake, and gym socks - a winning combination!

First - the good news:

I passed my entrance exam for the NYU Certificate in Translation: German - English program! YAY! I was so worried that they were going to take a long time to evaluate them but apparently they had nothing better to do over the weekend :) So relieved and happy! I will probably postpone until January for my first class but I should still be finished with the 6 course program by the end of next year, yay!

Next - check out this cheesecake!

Its not even just cheesecake... its a recipe for oreo cream cheesecake cupcakes - wow, are you drooling yet? I know I am!

Luke and I are going to try a new recipe once a week for dinner and a new recipe each weekend for dessert. This is #1 on my dessert list for sure! Just have to force myself to wait to make them until we get back from vacation. Homemade mac'n'cheese might be first on the dinner list as well - I'll keep you posted on our "Kitchen Adventures" in September :)

Last night Gina, Lukas and I went to get fro-yo on Main Street. One thing I love about where we live, we can take a nice long walk to Main Street for dinner or dessert. It was a lovely cool evening and it was nice to take a stroll together. I've learned from one of my new favorite blogs - The Hungry Runner Girl - that Fro-yo and/or ice cream are essential parts of the training process ... who am I to doubt an expert? haha.

Next door to the fro-yo place is the Delaware Running Company - where we purchased our wonderful shoes last year. My feet have been getting sore in various places lately while jogging so I went in search of some new socks and came back with these lovelies:

Feetures multi-sport light cushioned socks. They have awesome ribbing around the center that hold onto your feet to reduce slippage, great cushioning in the heel, toes, and bottom, and are also moisture wicking to keep your feet sweat free during a long run. The great thing is they also have a lifetime garuntee. They feel like heaven on my feet just walking around the house - excited to try them out for cross training today. I'll let you know what my verdict is this afternoon - I'm expecting a lot from a $10 pair of running socks but the review all seem to be positive so I have high hopes.

Hope everyone has a lovely Tuesday!