Category: fitness friday

Badass Dash Las Vegas Race Recap

This past weekend I ran the Badass Dash for the first time at Sam Boyd Stadium.  I ran 2 other Badass Dashes a few years ago, both were at Silverton Casino and they were lots, so I was looking forward to checking this race out.  I ran with a team of 4 others, 2 girls and 2 boys, plus me! The Badass Dash is a 7K (4.4 mile) obstacle course adventure race.  

We had a 9am start time and by then it was pretty warm outside and we were ready to get started.  Unfortunately, they don’t stagger wave start times the way Spartan Races or larger marathon events do.  So, there were hundreds of people lined up for the 9am start.  They couldn’t let all hundreds of us go at the same time since that would cause major congestion on course, so they let us go about 50 at a time every 5 minutes. It worked out great because there was no bottlenecking at obstacles however we waiting in the sun for almost an hour and that was no fun. I would suggest they give us staggering or wave start times, so we don’t have to just wait in line for so long! That would help us prepare a lot better and we wouldn’t have to wait an hour in line! 

The Badass Dash is not intended to be a super intense race like the Spartan Races or Tough Mudders.  They are geared towards having fun and are a great introduction to obstacle course races.  They have over 40 obstacles, from super easy to difficult, throughout the course which is nice! I felt like the walls were challenging but also achievable for most, so that was a big plus!  Being in a stadium, I was totally expecting the stairs to be part of the race, and boy did I feel the burn on those! Once we got through the up and down of pretty much the entire stadium stairs + all the ones outside, they set up the last 10 or so obstacles in the middle of the field.  I really thought that was pretty neat and totally different for me, since I haven’t ran a Spartan Stadium Sprint yet.  Lastly, they cooled us off with a fun car wash/spider web obstacle before crossing the finish! 

Once my team was finished, it was then time for the kiddos to race! They were running with their friends which made it super fun for them.  Both Diego and Elysse did the 2K (1.2 mile) Kid Dash.  Remember those killer stairs I mentioned? This was also part of their race and I am so proud that they pushed through on those! The rest of the kid obstacles were also all in the middle of the stadium.  They did most of the same last 10+ obstacles we had during our race as well.  All 4 of them finished strong and had a great time, even if they did complain a bit about the heat! 

I would totally recommend this race if you’re new to obstacle course racing and even if you are an OCR junkie! It’s challenging and fun 🙂 Go out there and give it a try.  You just might surprise yourself 🙂 

 

Preparing for the LA Marathon

For the past 12 weeks, I’ve been training for my first marathon, the L.A. Marathon and it’s finally (almost) time to go out there and see what I’m made of.  I’ve been a bit of a mess this week.  I’m really excited and anxious to get out there and get it done.  But, at the same time I’m nervous and of course, I’m questioning my training.  I skipped a few runs and didn’t make it to the long run of 21 miles that I wanted reach.  At this point, though, all I can do is trust that I can finish strong because not finishing is not an option.  

Aside from getting myself mentally prepared to tackle 26.2 miles, there’s actually a lot of “stuff” needed for race day.  Here’s a quick list of what it’s going to take for me to get out there on Sunday.

And now it’s time for me to get a little bit mushy.  I am seriously awed by all the amazing people in my life.  From encouraging messages to waking up at 4am to run with me, I am so grateful to everyone who’s been with me through these crazy training weeks.  My hubby and kiddos who never doubt that I can do this.  My sister who is coming to L.A. to cheer me on, I may or may not have guilted her into it 😉 I just couldn’t do this on my own, that’s for sure. Thank you so much!  I’ll be thinking of ya’ll big time while running through the streets of LA on Sunday! XO 

Race 14 of 2014 | Changing of the Year 5K

I am such a procrastinator!  I seriously waited until the last day of 2014 to complete my 14th race. Not only that, I didn’t even register for the race until the day before.  Honestly, I’m not usually this bad at procrastinating.  With the Spartan Sprint being postponed in Temecula in September, it throw off my schedule.  My last race should have been Trails of Glory.  So, I was stuck trying to figure out how and when to add a race to an already very busy end of the year schedule.  I was going to settle for doing a virtual 5K, but I honestly don’t love “virtuals” so I held off.  Finally, it was down to the wire and I had to find something.  Like I said, Dec. 30th I finally signed up for the Changing of the Year 5K put on by Jus Running.  It’s held at the historic Floyd Lamb Park in Las Vegas.  It’s a nice park with lakes and pathways, so it made for a pretty location for sure.   

I am not a cold weather runner.  I live in Vegas and we have pretty mild winters, plus if it’s cold I run inside or change up my workout!  I’m a bit of a chicken when it comes to the cold.  So, I was pretty nervous about the weather for the race, since all week the forecast was for snow! Brrrrrrrr!!  I ended up purchasing a pair of fleece lined leggings and a beanie to cover my ears.  The rest of the stuff I already had and layered!

On race day, we did have some flurries in the morning by my house, but the temps rose to upper 30s and the wind calmed down by the time the race started at 4pm too!  My family came with me to the race, they too were bundled up.  I did feel kinda bad for them because I knew that once I got running, I’d warm up, but they were just going to be waiting for me at the finish line.  They didn’t even complain about the cold.  I love them so much for always supporting me.  My children and husband are just too good to me!  I also met a few runners before the race from my facebook running group, so that was super nice!  It’s always great to actually meet people you interact with only on social media.

Here I am with Emily, from Our Knight Life blog and my little Elysse!
Here I am with Emily, from Our Knight Life blog and my little Elysse!

I am not a huge fan of 5Ks because it usually takes me about 2 miles to warm up and find my running groove.  I’ve only ever done a few fun 5Ks with friends like the Color Run, Bubble Run, and some trail 5Ks.  My time for the trail races was not so good and of course, we weren’t running for time on the fun ones!  So, when the race started I wasn’t going for any PR, I just wanted to give it my best, push myself to take off faster than my usual pace, and see what happened.  I forgot to take a whiz of my inhaler before the race started, so 3 minutes in or so, I pulled off to the side to take my puffs and move on.  A little after mile 1, I saw the first person heading back to the finish and that’s when I realized how much I don’t like out & back courses.  I can see all the faster runners coming back and it’s a little disheartening.  It killed my spirit during the Wild Land Fire Awareness Trail 5K and I was starting to get that same feeling during this race, but I didn’t let it creep in.  This was my race, not anyone else’s and I shook it off.  I made it to the turn around and started to lose steam.  The gap was getting wider between me and the small group I was behind.  I’d also been having some calf pain all week and it was acting up.  I slowed down a bit and even took a 10 second walking break before I took off running again.  I knew I was close to the finish line and I really wanted to push myself to run faster.  I saw my son at the sidelines and he started running alongside me.  That was the best thing ever! And when I looked up a the timer and saw it was at 29 minutes, well that was just gravy!  I ended with an official time of 00:29:24 with a pace of 09:28.  I was 6th in my age group, 14th female, and 28th overall.  Woohoo!! Not only did I finally get a sub 30, but my family was there with me cheering me on and supporting me.  It’s such a great feeling to have your kiddos say they’re proud of you!  I was so happy with how I ended my year of 14 races in 2014!  

Friday Five | Things I’m Loving Right Now

I’m really looking forward to this weekend!  Tonight I have book club with my girls and it’s our 2 year anniversary!  I can’t believe we’ve lasted this long but I’m so glad for it because it is something I look forward to each month.  It’s just a fun time to indulge a little in yummy food, wine, and especially good company!  You can read more about why I love book club and how to start one of your own book clubs HERE!  So, number one on my list of 5 things I am really loving right now is gonna be my book club!  

Two more thing I’m really loving right now are my new facial cleanser and moisturizer.  I’ve always just bought facial cleansers and moisturizers at CVS or Target.  Nothing fancy.  However, as I’m getting older I thought it would be a good idea to invest a little more in my face, being it’s the first thing people see, right?  I went to Sephora a few weeks ago and although I felt quite overwhelmed, I ended up purchasing the Philosophy Purity Made Simple Cleanser.  I normally would buy cleansers with some sort of exfoliation because I felt they got a better clean, but like I said, I’m getting older and I thought something a little more gentle on my skin would be best.  I really love that it’s a one-step cleanser.  It is great at removing makeup and it’s gentle enough to use everyday after my workouts.  The best thing is that my skin doesn’t feel dry or tight after using it, like other cleansers I’ve tried.  I stuck to  Philosophy and also purchased their Hope in a Jar moisturizer.  So far, I’m really liking it too!  It’s light and airy and hasn’t made me break out! YAY 🙂 I purchased the original, but I’ll be sure to get the one with SPF next time.  

Another thing I can’t get enough of lately is Vita Coco Cafe.  This stuff is so refreshing. It’s made with coconut water so it’s packed with electrolytes.  Add a shot of espresso and a splash of milk and it makes for a great pick-me-up!  I like to have one before/after a long run or well, just because they are delicious!  If you haven’t tried it, you must!  

Lastly, I’m really diggin’ my Garmin Forerunner 15 with hear rate monitor!  It was an anniversary gift from my mom & sister in August and it totally rocks.  It gives me all the stats I need for my runs and workouts (when used in Indoor mode) and also serves as a step counter during the day.  I promise to give a full review soon!  

So, there ya have it!  What kinds of things are you loving right now?  Sharing is caring 🙂 

How to Encourage Kids to Eat Healthy & Be Active

OOPS, so I haven’t blogged all week.  I feel bad about it.  I really enjoy blogging and it helps keep me sane.  But sometimes, life gets crazy and there aren’t enough hours in the day to do what needs to be done and work, laundry, dishes, all these things tend to pile up on you…BUT, that’s for another blog post because I finally did carve out some time this morning to share a bit of my family life with you.  
Most of you know, I’m a mom of two kiddos!  I blog about them a ton, especially when it comes to doing fun stuff together and going on family vacations and adventures!  Today, though I want to talk about how important it is to lead by example and how to encourage kids to eat healthy and be active.  When I started this weight loss journey and began exercising regularly I did it for me.  I mean, yeah, I wanted to be able to run around with my kiddos and not be out of breathe, I wanted to be a good example to them about eating healthy and keeping active.  But guess what?  These things don’t happen by osmosis.  Kids don’t just become interested in eating kale chips because you are.  They won’t trade video games for jumping jacks because you tell them they should be more active.  Nope.  You have to engage children.  You need to get out there and do these things with them.  They not only need to see you go for a run, they need you to invite them to join you.  It took me a little bit to realize that while I was enjoying the benefits of a healthier, more active lifestyle, my kiddos weren’t as involved as I wanted them to be.  So, I made a conscious decision to change that!  And for the past year or so, we’ve been making changes for the kiddos too!  

Here are a few things we do & you can use to help you and your family eat healthier and be more active:

Making easy Lexi's Clean Kitchen no-bake nut-free Powerbites! Check out the recipe  :) Kids love these!
Making easy Lexi’s Clean Kitchen no-bake nut-free Powerbites! Check out the recipe  ðŸ™‚ Kids love these!
  • Cook together!  Having my kiddos help me cook dinner or a healthy snack helps a ton when trying new things.  It doesn’t mean they’ll love it, but they will at least try it because they helped make it.  And, even if they don’t like a certain dish or vegetable, it’s still a great way to spend time together and talk about the benefits of healthy foods verses junk food.
  •  Make Exercise Fun!  Kids are kids.  You can’t pop in a workout DVD and expect them to love the burn!  You gotta make it fun for them and for us, that means taking it outside. Whether we’re going on a family hike, a bike ride with daddy, or a 1 mile run I like to let them know we’re not just having fun but also exercising.  We’ll do fun little “boot camps” or challenges at the park.  Jason & Diego will play football or basketball.  The important thing is to stay active! 

  • Be Sneaky!  Yup, I am not above tricking my kiddos into eating healthy.  I mostly do this by adding spinach & chia seeds to all our smoothies and making fresh juices with both fruits & veggies!  Smoothies are usually a few spoonfuls of greek yogurt, a banana, milk, berries, a bunch of spinach, and a tablespoon of chia seeds.  One of Elysse’s favorite juices is made with 5 carrots – 1 cucumber – 4 celery – 2 big handful of grapes!  It’s fun to experiment and try new combinations and of course, have the kids help 😉   
  • Share your Passions!  I love to sign up for races and my favorite are obstacle races and lots of times my hubby runs along with me.  It’s fun to take the kids to watch us run and cheer us on.  By race day, they are super excited because they saw how much we trained for that day.  They see us put in the work and then see the results of our hard work.   Nothing like your kid see you succeed and be proud of you! 
  • Get them Involved!  Not only do we sometimes take the kids along to see us race, we also sign them up for their own races!  Of course, there is nothing competitive in these races, it’s just a ton of fun for them and that’s what we want.  There are lots of races that have fun 1 mile family runs or are kid/stroller/walker friendly.  We want our kids to enjoy a healthy, active lifestyle now and as adults!  

How do you encourage your kids to eat healthy & be active?  Feel free to share your tips too! 

Badass Dash | Race 9 of 14 for 2014

I’m officially signed up fro 12 races through September and I’m sure I’ll find 2 more to sign up for before the end of the year.  I am kinda surprised at how fast it’s going and how easily it’s been finding races!  Thank goodness for living social & groupon deals! LOL 

Our Pre-Race Selfie :)
Our Pre-Race Selfie 🙂

The Badass Dash is a 7K obstacle course race with about 30 obstacles throughout the course.  My hubby and I signed up through a great Living Social deal and although I had already ran the race last year with my sister, he hadn’t ran it, so I figured it’d be fun to run it together.  We also met up with some other running group friends when we got there.  Also, some Camp Rhino peeps who’d already ran elite heat decided to run it again for fun with us, now they’re badass!!  Having them run with us was a blast and helped push us through the tough parts!  The course had a ton of stairs, some water and mud obstacles, tunnel crawl, over and under hurdles, cargo nets and walls to climb.  Compared to last year’s race, I think the obstacles were a bit more challenging, so that was a tun of fun!   There were no race bibs, but they did provide you with a timing chip at packet pickup along with a tech race shirt.  The end of the race had the regular post-race goodies – bananas, orange slices, water, and a sports drink.  Oh and let’s not forget the beer!  LOL 🙂 

Yup, I ended up a little muddy and a few battle scars! But, that's part of the fun! 
Yup, I ended up a little muddy and a few battle scars! But, that’s part of the fun! 

Have you done any obstacle course races? Do you love or hate them?  I’d love to hear from you! xo

Update: My Fitness Bucket List

Back in July 2013 I shared my fitness bucket list with you!  You can read that post HERE!  I was thinking about it the other day and I wanted to see how much I had accomplished in the past 6 months.  So, here’s the update:

  • Do a pull-up (yup, just one for now) No progress!

  • Complete a half marathon (signed up for one in November)  YAY!! One thing off the list!! You can read about my Rock N Roll Half Marathon experience HERE 🙂

  • Run a 10K (Almost! I signed up for a 10K trail run for March 1) 
  • Complete a Super Spartan race No progress! There’s one in April, so we’ll see if I get to sign up….
  • Move up to 10 lb. dumbbells during P.I.T. class Sadly, I’m still struggling with 8lb. dumbbells, but one day!!!
  • Do 3 one-handed push-ups
  • 2 minute plank I’m getting close!! 
  • Learn to ride a bike (Don’t judge me) No progress!
  • Complete a triathlon (hence, the above item) No progress!
  • Bench press my own weight No progress! Actually, I haven’t even tried this one yet.  
  • Lululemon outfit (does this count? a girl can dream!) Oh yea, I got 2 outfits & a jacket! I know, I’m a lucky girl!! 
  • Learn to rock climb No progress! 

 

So, it’s not a ton of progress, but it’s something.  It’s nice to see a few things marked off and see where I’m headed to next!  How are you doing with checking things off of your fitness bucket list?  I’d love to hear them!

 

 

14 in 2014 Running Challenge | Fitness Friday

During my morning coffee and blog reading earlier this week I came across Jill Conyers 14 in 2014 Challenge.  Maybe it was the caffeine rush or the lack of sleep from the night before, but I signed up almost immediately!  It seemed like such a great idea and such a fun way to stay motivated.  Well, now that the initial caffeine rush has subsided, guess what? I’m still excited about this challenge! Yes, it’s a little scary for me to commit to running 14 races in one year, considering that last year I ran 6 and proclaimed it the Year of the Races!  Hello!!  But, it’s challenges like this that keep me motivated and moving forward, so I’m up for it! How about you?

Yesterday I started researching and writing down some races that I was interested in doing.  There will be some virtual races I’ll be participating in too, but so far I have 10ish tentative races on my list, 3 that I am pretty sure I am doing, and only 1 I’ve actually signed up for! Yikes, I’ve got my work cut out for me, huh?  Here’s what’s on my list, so far:

Jan:

Feb 1 – Death Valley 10K (Death Valley, CA)

Mar 1 – Blood, Sweat, and Beers 10K Trail Run (Las Vegas)

April 5 or 6 – Super Spartan (Las Vegas)

April 27 – Tough Mudder (Las Vegas) REGISTERED

May 24 – Trails of Fury 10K Trail Run (Las Vegas)

June:

July:

Aug 29-31 – Disneyland 10K or Half Marathon 

Sept 21- Sprint Triathalon (Las Vegas)

Oct:

Nov: Napa Valley 10K (date TBD)

Nov: 22: Valley of Fire 10K

Nov: 27: Hoover Dam Half or 5K

(There’s no way I can or want to do all of these races in 1 month, but they all have potential, so I hope to get one of them done)

Dec:

If you’re interested in reading more about the challenge or if you want to sign up, you can check it out HERE! If you know of any other races around Las Vegas, NV, Southern California, Southern Utah, and maybe even Arizona, please let me know!! I’d also love to hear about your upcoming races and fitness goals for 2014! Happy Running!!