how do you ragnar?

ragnar has come and gone.

and let me tell you i miss it. like i cried 3.5 times at work yesterday. serious withdrawals right there.

but it was absolutely one of the most amazing things i have ever done. and i will get to that. but this post is dedicated to the clothing that i wore.

oh and thank you TN for starting in the 60s and then dropping to the 20s. those were fun. not. two night runs in the freezing cold. woof.

leg one:

target tank top. oiselle shorts. procompression socks. add in some gloves in there and you have my leg one race wear.

those are my favorite shorts ever. and i can't say enough about procrompression. they are amazing.

this outfit was perfect for my first leg that was straight uphill. the weather was just warm enough to not warrant sleeves. but my fingers were cold so at the last minute i wore gloves. it was the perfect combo. 

leg two:

head tennis skirt. nike combat long sleeve top. procompression socks.

this leg was in the dark. so add a headlamp and a sweet reflective vest with tail light. but i hate running in tights. and my teammates made fun of me because as they said i was wearing a mini skirt and tall socks and it was a whopping 30 degrees out or so.

this was my fastest leg by far and at first it was a bit brisk, but i wasn't really cold except waiting for the handoff.

leg 3:

based on our predicted time i should have been running at about 8 am or so. well that got moved to about 445 in the morning. so again, reflective wear and a head lamp.

the pink top was an add on since it was bloody freezing. like below freezing, freezing.

oiselle shorts - first time i've worn these and i love them. target tank top. target pullover. halloween procompression socks.

holy crap this leg was cold. but once i warmed up, my legs weren't all that cold.


i can't say enough how much procompression socks are my favorite thing ever. i have so many pairs of them and i really think they are the best compression socks out there.

stay tuned for the stories that come out of 6 girls being in a van together for 2 days. delirium ensued, a brownie taste test happened, lots of giggles, and so much peanut butter.

judgment day.

judgment day is upon us.

and is it judgement or judgment? are they both correct? dafuq.

tonight at 7 pm myself and 11 other girls + 2 drivers + 1 dog will be on the road to chattanooga.

it's ragnar relay time folks.

now here is how i prepped.

don't sleep for a week and then panic.

ha. not really. but sort of really.

i will say it requires about a gajillion ziploc bags.

but if you pack diligently you get this:

that my friends is some serious precision.

for real though ziploc bags are your friends. pack each leg in a separate bag labeled accordingly. have another ziploc bag for extra clothes that you may want to run in because the temps will vary from 25-58. (ha.ha.ha.ha that's us...). another ziploc bag for extra underwear/clothes to wear once your clean and out of the van at the end/clothes for the ride home.

and lastly stress bake snacks.

follow along instagram and the twittbox.

team name: #carlosdanger

let's.get.weird.

ragnar-ing

yesterday was the Nike Women's Marathon and Half Marathon in SF. i was in atlanta.

i had grand plans of running this race. even got accepted. and trained for it. held out hope until about 2 weeks ago that i would figure out a way to make it there.

but yesterday i woke up in atlanta. it just wasn't in the money grubbing cards to make it happen. i am pretty upset that i couldn't figure out a way to make it happen.

like any good runner though, i have drowned my sorrows in an ungodly amount of carbs (and beer) and signed up for a new race.

by signed up for a new race. i mean i signed up about 2 months ago.

for a ragnar relay.

that runs from chattanooga to nashville.

with 11 other girls that i knew approximately 1 person.

logistics:

12 girls. 2 vans. 2 drivers. 1 dog.

196.3 miles. 36 hours. 3 legs each.

i am runner 2. and apparently an idiot. here are my legs.

oh it gets better.

bahahaha that's straight up hill. STRAIGHT UP HILL.

and then my second leg.

and then my easy leg....

welp. here's to not dying....

t-rex arms?

a few weeks ago i went rock climbing. inside. although outside is a whole crapton of fun as well. but this was indoors. seeing as i haven't been rock climbing in over a year and a half, to say i was a wee bit nervous was an understatement.

but then again, i am strapped to a wall by a harness that is attached to my waist and a rope that is looped through right at my crotch. what could possible go wrong?

well i will tell you. and no i didn't fall off the wall or get launched into oblivion while belaying.

tra la la la let's play hooky from work and go rock climb. yes please. (side bar: can you play hooky when your boss is with you AND the one that suggested it?)

we roll up to Atlanta Rocks! and see all these camera trucks there. whadafuq?

turns out this little show that you may or may not know called Property Brothers was filming there for the day. fun fact, my boss also works for HGTV. so needless to say this happened:

oh hi there drew.

we signed some waivers and climbed some walls. well i climbed approximately 2. and that one in the background kicked my ass.

speaking of my ass, they decided to film right as i was climbing (flailing) up said wall.  so my ass is going to be hgtv famous. so look for the girl falling of the wall and trying not to yell profanities loudly. (i may have mumbled them into the wall when i missed a hold for the, oh i think, 4th time.)

and that my friends is how you wake up with t-rex arms and derriere that may become famous...

sandwitch. sandwhich. sandwich. there it is...sandwich.

so lately i have been actually doing this whole running thing. crazy. i know.

but i also have been doing a lot of living this whole life thing. crazy. i know.

so you all are in for a photo rendition of my life for the past month or so....

macarons from savannah. can't stop. won't stop.

i don't even know who i am. i hate country

all the foods? what foods? tell me which food!

tough life.

just a little 11 miles in the morning.

if you look closely you can a. see me and b. see bio cleaners. wtf?

birthday weekend starting with bingo.

lemur kitty.

beach birthday. round one.

birthday dinner. yes i ate everything pictured...

tomato pie.

lobster mac & cheese with scallops and spinach

some sort of fish creation that was amazing.

reeses cheese cake.

funfetti pancakes. believe it.

birthday dinner date!

i have no arms...

rocking the fannie pack on tybee.

eating all the foods.

funfetti pancake with frosting AND sprinkles

being weird and pigeon toed.

leaving savannah

running in a skirt. hell has frozen over

sweet chew toy you have there...

keep it classy target. gross...

beach birthday sunset. round two.

jack attack

the boseman :)

duh.

beach sunset rainbow colors.

i'm basically twitter famous.

if you have to leave the beach, mumford and sons is good enough i suppose

oiselle love

the dirty guv'nahs

spelling is tough.

headphones vs. no headphones

personally i am a no headphones girl.

here are my super scientific reasons as to why i don't run with music/headphones.

1. this morning i went to get the monster and take her on my run with me. we were coming to a stop light where another runner was standing idly taking up the ENTIRE corner. she was wearing headphones, there was traffic so having her actually hear me wasn't going to happen. i tried to get in her line of vision before i passed her so that i didn't scare the bejeesus out of her. #fail

i ran right next to her and scared the bejeesus out of her. as in she screamed. i apologized, but i mean i could hear her music....

when i run with the monster you can hear her collar jingle. so it's not exactly like we are sneaking up on you. it's basically like having a backup beeper attached to you. hard to miss us.

2. i have seen numerous people wearing headphones who almost get hit by a car. i know, i know that technically the runner has the right of way, but sometimes (in atlanta it's more likely than not) the driver isn't paying attention to you, they are paying attention to traffic. still there fault, but really who loses if you get hit by a car? not the car...

people who run in headphones seem to completely disregard the need to at least check the crosswalk before they go barreling through it. not saying i don't do it too, but i can at least hear a car coming to hit me.

3. i am a morning runner. which translates into i run before my person is fully awake. as in roll out of bed, brush teeth, tame mop (hahahahaha that never happens), lace shoes, and go. i'm sleepy enough as it is, i don't need anymore distractions.

i also am not a nervous runner, but morning running can be a bit scary. i like to have all my senses about me. or at least as many as i can muster in the early morning...breathing is difficult people. seesh.

4. the headphones hurt my ears. plain and simple. i've tried about a million kinds and without fail, about 30 minutes in (if that) i want to rip them out of my ears because they start to bug me.

5. i really like having that one song on continuous loop that i only know about 4 complete words too. okay, that's a lie...

so that's my story and i am sticking to it.

meaningful miles

i've mentioned this before, but somedays when i can get my butt out of bed i will go and run for a better cause with Back On My Feet. it's an amazing organization that empowers people through themselves. i am a big proponent of making yourself a better person.

this past saturday BOMF held their second annual Meaningful Miles 5k. my friend bari was in town and i suckered conned got her to join in running the race with me. a few of the girls that i am running the ragnar race with in october were also going to run the 5k and follow it up with a few miles. (did i mention i am running a ragnar...oh yea, i guess i should write about that).

matching tank tops and all. we do this a lot.

bari and i made the executive decision to eat some pizza and a salad the night before and then get up early in the morning and run before the race. running after the race sounded awesome, but we both knew we would rather be done once the 5k was over. so at 530 in the morning we awoke groggy, but ready to pound out some miles. bari doesn't do hills. she lives in savannah, there are no hills.  we started a loop out of my house - straight up hill - and around the the beltline - gradual uphill - to a downhill into O4W park for the start of the race. just over 4.5 miles.

the race was very well organized. we picked up our packet about 10 minutes before the start, because someone, ahem me, forgot to pick them up beforehand. i had no idea of the elevation of the course, but the website should have said run uphill, run a plateau, run a small downhill, run another uphill, then finish downhill, instead of putting the course map online. but the comradery throughout the race is amazing.

i told bari at the first hill that i wouldn't leave her since i roped her into running the race. but she so graciously let me sprint and finish the end of the race. i cheered her into the finish line and completing her second ever 5k. i was one proud friend!

we then hit up the bananas and apples. the apples. can we take a minute. holy. they were absolutely amazing. we also got some yogurt samples that are currently sitting in my fridge with about 20 other yogurts waiting to be consumed. soon my lovelies. soon.

we walked the mile back to my house and were home before 9 am. 7.65 miles before most people are up on a saturday.

we couldn't have asked for better weather for a really truly honorable race to be able to run.

the rest of saturday was spent wearing matching clothes, going to see a movie like the stars at phipps, eating popcorn for lunch, rice bowls for dinner, and a whole lot of people watching.

cuffed denim, chacos, white tank? you bet.