If Girls Ran the World {Free registration giveaway to run/walk challenge}

Through my partnership with Fit Approach and SweatPink, I was given the awesome opportunity to learn about and participate in the If Girls Ran the World program.  Their tag line is "Run Because you Care."  If you follow my blog or me on social media, you know that I am ALL about empowering women and girls to do whatever they want to do, dream big, and realize their full potential. 

I LOVE supporting women in athletics so I'm excited to share some information about this virtual running challenge for girls. This October, thousands of women like me, around the world will be logging miles and running virtually around the world to benefit charities that empower girls around the world.  I pledge to run 100 miles in October! 

When you register for $25 you not only receive access to the month-long challenge in which you can track your miles running or walking as well as your own personal fundraising page but also insipring emails with tips and recipes, access to in-person and online running groups, and the opportunity to take part in weekly fitness and fundraising challenges.  

When I registered for the event, I choose from a list of charities which one I wanted to support through my running and fundraising with a goal of raising $250. I choose the Women's Refugee Commission Inc because I think that empowering refugees especially in today's world, is so important.

Without getting too political, while there is gender discrimination in this country, women in other parts of the world and especially refugees aren't afforded the same basic necessities, freedoms, and opportunities as women are in the U.S.  $250 can provide a family with training and livestock so they can earn the necessary income to pay for their daughter's school fees and supplies, think about that impact.  

Baltimore Bred: Wild Kombucha {by Mobtown Fermentation}

I'm starting a new little feature I've wanted to start for a while on the blog called Baltimore Bred in which I highlight a local Baltimore brand, company, or product that I love and want to share. First up we have Mobtown Fermentation. 

Baltimore Bred #1: Wild Kombucha by Mobtown Fermentation 

As a fan of Baltimore small businesses and local brands, I was excited to visit Mobtown Fermentation’s new digs in Lutherville-Timonium just over a month ago. I love supporting local businesses, and it was a great opportunity to learn more about this awesome company and get a behind-the-scenes look at their company. 

{Source}

The three founders of the company, Adam, Sergio, and Sid, had recently moved their brewing operation from Hampden to this new, bigger space in order produce more of their delicious Wild Kombucha.  

Kombucha is a fermented tea beverage made of green tea, distilled water, probiotic cultures (bacteria and yeast) and natural fruit juices or sugars.  I’ve been a huge fan of kombucha for a while because I love that it’s a bubbly and carbonated beverage yet packed with probiotics.  Since kombucha is made with probiotic bacteria like yogurt and is said to have healthy benefits such as aiding in digestion and boosting the immune system-both things I could benefit from. 

Adam and Sergio, who are stepbrothers, were familiar with kombucha and the brew process from their parents’ own kombucha creations growing up. Mobtown Fermentation was started in May 2014 by the three childhood friends after experimenting with brewing their own delicious kombucha. Currently Wild Kombucha is available in three flavors including elderberry, ginger-grapefruit, and mango-peach. I can’t choose a favorite flavor! Their brand of kombucha is a little sweeter and less sour than some brands I’ve tried which makes it more accessible to those wary of trying kombucha. 

Chicago Marathon Training Weeks 10 &11 Recap

Things have been way more hectic in my training now that graduate school has started again for the semester. The weather has been bouncing around between cooler mornings and the usual hot & humid weather which has made how I feel on runs more variable than usual.  Here's a recap of weeks 10 & 11 of my Chicago Marathon training. 

Marathon Training 2016 Week 10 (8/22-8/28)
Monday: morning run with 3 tempo miles thrown in the middle, 6.0 miles
Tuesday: speedwork run with 4x 1 mile repeats, 5.4 miles
Wednesday: November Project-Baltimore workout and some extra miles , 8.0 miles 
Thursday:  easy morning run, 4.25 miles
Friday: Rest
Saturday:  long run in NJ that felt great and my 18 miles for the day eneded up being 20 with two tempo miles at the end 

This run was such a surprise! I met up with some people from the Run856 Facebook group and ran with some people who all had different distances. This guy ended up running the full 18 with me which was great, and with some water fountain stops and different little loops I ended up feeling like I could keep going and at the end finished the last couple of miles fast around my tempo pace just to see. After refueling with Wawa donut and coffee (which makes me SO happy) and then having a big breakfast when I got home, I napped! 

Sunday: recovery run on treadmill and some core, 3.1 miles

Total miles: 46.75

#PranaFallStyle: Prana Fall Product Review

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by prAna through my partnership with FitApproach. I was provided with free product from prAna. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

I know some people are all pumpkin-crazed and ready for fall, but I am not one of those people. Give me some more summer, please!

Fall is lovely, but let’s be honest it’s a small jump away from a long, freezing winter so I’m good with sunshine and shorts for now. I may not like bundling up and pants in general (unless they are of the yoga variety), but I do love cozy sweaters and scarves. At least when cold temperatures arrive I’ll be a little more ready thanks to a package of warm & comfortable clothes I received from Fit Approach and prAna recently. I was sent the Lucia sweater in natural and the Kara jean in denim.

The pieces arrived so neatly folded and wrapped!

In case you missed my previous post, prAna’s mission is to inspire healthy, active, free-spirited living and create versatile, stylish, and sustainable clothing and accessories (for men & women!) to wear during every adventure.  I also love the brand because they use sustainable practices in the creation of their apparel such as using fair trade materials-the Lucia sweater I received is made from recycled wool too! 

 

don't mind the glasses glare!

The Lucia sweater is a wool-blend to keep me warm, dry, and comfortable through all my cold-weather adventures. I also appreciate that it’s wrinkle resistant and wearable besides being so absolutely chic-looking. 

I love the subtle herringbone pattern on the color and sleeves as well as the fact that the sweater is lined and even has some jersey material on the collar and sleeve cuffs so there is NO itchiness with this wool sweater! It feels very high-quality and looks really quite stylish on.

Chicago Marathon Training 2016 Weeks 7,8,9 Recap

I know I keep being shocked that Chicago is getting closer and closer, but I seriously cannot believe that October is just about a month away. I've been trying my best to stick to my training plan despite lots of travelling and have been feeling pretty good with all of the running I've been doing, despite pretty much sweating buckets every time I workout. Honestly, that's really nothing new. Here's a recap of weeks 7-9 of my Chicago Marathon training. 

Marathon Training 2016 Week 7 (8/1-8/7)
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: solo speedwork: 6x yasso 800s, 7.25 miles
Wednesday: November Project Baltimore workout and run, 5.5 miles
Thursday:  track Thursday run and 30 minute of strength, 5.0 miles
Friday: AM November Project Baltimore hills run & PM BOMF relay race, 6.8 miles total
Saturday: hot & humid easy paced long run #sportsbrasquad, 17.0 miles
Sunday: easy and hot recovery run, 4.0 miles

Total miles: 45.55<-- made it into the 40 mile club for the week! 

Marathon Training 2016 Week 8 (8/8-8/14)
Monday: strength/lifting at the gym
Tuesday: AM tempo run, 8.0 miles
Wednesday: AM November Project Seattle workout, PM trail run in Seattle at Discovery Park, 7.6 miles 
Thursday:  waterside run in Seattle, 5.5 miles
Friday: November Project Vancouver pop-up workout 1.1 miles
Saturday:SEAWHEEZE lululemon half marathon (Half marathon #20!), 13.2 miles
Sunday: post-Seawheeze recovery run, 4.0 miles

lululemon Seawheeze Half Marathon 2016 Race Recap

If you don’t read anything else, I’ll just let you know that the lululemon SeaWheeze Half Marathon was AMAZING. It is WELL-worth the money and the trip if you can make it a little racecation/vacation in my opinion. If you are interested in more of the details, let’s continue. Also I’ll just say that I have a lot to say and thought about splitting it up into expo and race but figured I’d put off the post if I did that so here’s my attempt to not be too wordy yet give you all the details. 

Registration for this race was $128 Canadian which is like $95 ish dollars US. That’ pretty much the cost of a lot of the bigger half marathons these days AND instead of a race shirt I may or may not ever wear I got a pair of awesome lululemon shorts in a special edition Seawheeze print (I chose the speed shorts because I love them) plus extra goodies before even running the race. ) which are like over $50 in store anyways. I received my entry through a giveaway last minute so I picked up my shorts at the expo but other people had theirs mailed to them ahead of time which is sweet.

Pre-Race

I took an Amtrak train from Seattle to Vancouver (first time to Vancouver or BC!) for around $34 with an early bird fare which had pretty views and was nice because I could relax and nap too. Friday morning I went to the November Project-Vancouver Pop-Up workout which was super fun-so many tribes were represented!

The event has a Showcase Store of lululemon items in a special limited-edition print. It opened to runners from 7-11 and then to the public and apparently people camp out. The line was ALL the way around the building at 6:29 when the NP workout started, and we all high-fived everyone in line. 

I even finally met this lady Carlee at the NP-workout! 

After the workout I grabbed my gear at check-in at the race expo area at the Vancouver Convention Center which was super-fast. You received a wristband, a really cute, nice mesh bag for gear check as well as sunglasses, a tube of Nuun, a water bottle and your race number which was two timing chips for your shoes and a number for your bag-no traditional bibs for this race! 

They also had lots of little tents outside with the vendors and hair-braiding stations, places to get temporary tattoos, and more-it reminded me a lot of the Nike race expos which don't have any non-sponsor, more traditional race vendors. 

#WeirdWorkout Campaign with Prana and Organic Valley & Grouse Grind-ing.

This post is sponsored by prAna and Organic Valley through my partnership with FitApproach. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

I wanted to let you all know about this awesome giveaway hosted by prAna and Organic Valley that is happening because who doesn’t love winning things. Especially when the giveaway is offering 10 winners the chance to earn $300 in credit to use at prAna.com, a 2-month supply of Organic Valley, and lots of free swag. To keep it short and sweet, you can go right ahead now and find out more details and enter here. 

The contest runs from August 15^th through the 31^st , 2016  so hurry up and 

ENTER NOW!

If you aren’t familiar with both brands, they are great. I haven’t had the opportunity to own any prAna gear yet although I’ve tried some on at my local yoga studio. PrAna’s mission is to inspire healthy, active, free-spirited living (which is right up my alley) and create versatile, stylish, and sustainable clothing and accessories to wear during every adventure. 

 Organic Valley’s Organic Fuel shakes are made with only 9 ingredients with protein coming from real organic milk made by pasture-raised cows on Organic Valley family farms. Their product is lactose-free, gluten-free, and free from GMO’s and hormones too which I love.

You can also SAVE 15% on prAna.com purchase right away with my code PFS16BDAS, valid through October 31, 2016.

On Traveling Solo

I haven't posted in a bit because I was travelling out on the west coast. I had an amazing time at Seawheeze half marathon (more on that later) and fell in love with Vancouver, British Columbia. Who wants to move to the pacific northwest with me, haha? Taking the whole trip solo was a really great experience. I've done plenty of longer weekend solo trips including 2 last month, but this was the first time in a while that I was travelling solo for a full week.  

Of course everywhere I went people were asking who I was travelling with and were a little surprised when I said I was out here alone.  I'm assuming the feelings are the same ones I was having. People are scared of being lonely, feeling unsafe, or looking like they don't have anybody-similar to taking yourself out to dinner alone.  I have some social anxiety which makes it a little understandable for me but still, people are constantly on their phones and rarely just sitting anytime they are on public transit or waiting for someone. The beginning of the trip during my couple days in Seattle was still a little stressful for me. I had some things going on in my personal life still messing with my head and was feeling a little insecure about being out on my own. 

Obviously I had friends.acquaintances, and November Project people I met up with in Seattle and Vancouver so it wasn't like I was in a completely foreign place with no one. Still, there were a few days where the world was my oyster, and I had hours and hours to fill. I was also having a stressful feeling those first few days like "what am I doing here?" & "why am I spending all this money when I'm a broke graduate student?". There was also the big question of "What in the world do I want to do, today?" 

Eventually post-race in Vancouver, I spent a lot of time outdoors and with the amazing views that Vancouver has to offer and reached a really nice place of zen that I had not found in a while. It was a very centering experience and has helped solidify for me some things that I was feeling anxious about. I am an awesome person and settling for anything in life is not worth it. I may be paying off this trip for months, but it was freaking worth it. My saying that I always tell people is that I'll never have time and money all at once, so if I want to travel-I'm going to make it work. That has been my feeling really since the amazing experience I had flying across the country to go run Hood to Coast in Oregon 2 years ago this month. Flying solo and being able to stay in hostels or Airbnbs nowadays also helps keep things cheaper! 

Top of Quarry Rock in Vancouver, BC

Also travelling solo became really relaxing. My day didn't have to be jam-packed scheduled with things. I didn't have to worry about someone else's schedule or figuring out what they wanted to do. If I wanted to grab a coffee and pastry and leisurely window-shop for a couple hours, cool. If I wanted to check out this art museum that I really wanted to go to it was great. I didn't worry about if others were bored or how long to spend at each piece-I took my time.  Another perk was that pretty much any restaurant or place that had a bar meant not waiting for a table!  I got okay with sitting at a bar and grabbing a beer to watch the Olympics at night. I love planning, but I spent a lot of time living in the moment and letting the day take me where it would. Jumping into plans I was just invited to turned out to be the best times of the trip.  

As far as for Seawheeze I was in a Facebook group, and there were many "orphans" or people who were coming out solo for the race that connected and posted about meeting up for dinner or activities. I ended up meeting a fellow Baltimore runner lady for dinner after connecting on the Facebook group!

While travelling with family and friends is great, I really recommend that everyone travels solo even for just a weekend. I would also like to thank Google Maps and Starbucks free wifi for making navigating an unfamiliar place easy for a lady with a terrible sense of direction like myself. I saw an amazing part of the country and met some awesome people.  Now the hard part is being back in the real world with school, work, and stress and trying to keep this little piece of zen inside me. 

This quote at the top of Grouse Grind has become my mantra for the trip and beyond!

This post was linked up with my fave Friday Linkup ladies Courtney, Mar, and Cynthia  as well as Nicole and Amanda.

Have you ever traveled solo? Have you ever taken a solo race-cation?