Happy Father's Day & A Winner!

Wishing all father's out there the best father's day ever!  Especially to my own dad and husband.  Those two men are the best I know!


But I know why you are really reading tonight - to see if you won!  Congratulations to Amanda and Run To The Finish!  You are the winner for the Oral B Deep Sweet Triaction.  Mine came on Friday after I posted, and it is amazing!  I hope you like it too!  I'm sending you an email!  

#powerofdad: Power To My Dad (and a giveaway)

With Father's Day just around the corner, I find it fitting to post about my dad.  He is an amazing man.  He's overcome quite a bit in the past 7 years.   Within a week of each other, his mother and wife passed away.  What could have broken him only made him stronger.  This man rose from the devastation and has found a new outlook on life - running.

This past January, when Gary Allen made his 700+ mile run from the top of Cadillac Mountain to Washington, DC, my dad ran with him for a portion on the back roads of Freeport.  

I haven't run with him, yet.   But I will be at his first race to cheer him on, support him and take tons of pictures on July 4th at the LL Bean 10k.  

I am proud of my dad.  He is a true inspiration to me and proof that it is never too late to start running!  

Seeing my dad smile again warms my heart more than words can describe.  

I love you, dad.  Happy Father's Day!  

How has your father made you smile?  

As part of Oral-B's #powerofdad campaign, one of my lucky readers has the chance to win their own  Oral-B Deep Sweep TRIACTION™ 1000 power toothbrush (retail value of $64.99).    I will be receiving one as well.  

To enter, please comment below with your own #powerofdad moment.  

For an additional entry, share your #powerofdad moment on facebook, instagram, or twitter with the hashtag and share your link below as well.  

This giveaway will close at noon on Sunday, 6/16.  I will post the winner on the blog.  

#spon: I'm required to disclose a relationship between our site and Oral-B. Oral-B may have provided us with content, product, access or other forms of payment. All opinions are my own.

#diettogo: Common Sense Healthy Eating

Ahhhh....summer break is HERE!

10.5 weeks of absolute bliss:  lots of time with the kids, husband, running, beach.  The only downside for me is that when I'm home, I have a tendency to frequent the refrigerator and pantry, a lot.   Because I have more time to prepare my meals and more time to eat, I usually eat more.  Which is why I am more than excited that I received this today:

Talk about perfect timing!  

As a Diet-to-Go Ambassador, I am excited to announce that as part of their Summer Shape Up campaign, Diet-to-Go is hosting a bunch of great giveaways and promotions.  This gives you the chance to win free meals, gift cards, a FitBit Flex Wristband or even a gift card or cash!

Diet-to-Go Facebook Sweepstakes 

First go to Diet to Go's Facebook page and "like" them.  Then enter the sweepstakes here.  There will be one grand prize winner to win an entire month of free meals from Diet-to-Go and 5 runner up winners will each receive a week of free meals.  Please check out the official rules here.  

Diet-to-Go Diet Bet
Join in on the weight-loss challenge on Diet Bet with Diet-to-Go.  If you lose 4% of your weight in 4 weeks, you win part of the pot!

Diet-to-Go on Google+
Join Diet-to-Go's Google+ community "Common Sense Healthy Living" for easy and common sense approaches to eating healthy.

Diet-to-Go Twitter Chat
On Tuesday, June 19th, at 9pm EST Diet-to-Go will host a twitter chat discussing losing weight for the summer using common sense methods and practices.  Participants will be eligible to win 1 FitBit Flex Wristband and 1 week of free meals.  More information coming on this soon.  Be sure to follow @Diettogo and use the hashtag #diettogo.


Keep in touch and come back here for more information as I share my thoughts on my new meals and a giveaway.

Now, which meal will I choose first?  And the bigger question, will I share?

Disclaimer:  As a Diet-to-Go Ambassador, I am promoting their sweepstakes and promotions.  As part of the promotion, I will be reviewing a week of Diet-to-Go meals.  All opinions expressed on my blog are 100% my own.  

What The Dr. Ordered....

Last Friday I made the trip to my monthly chiropractor appointment.  Usually when Dr. Jen asks me how I'm doing, my response is "great!"  But this time, I said "not good, I hurt.  I went on to explain where I hurt."  She just looked me and shook her head.

She went about doing her business with my adjustment and then got to my legs.  She said "are you rolling?"  I admitted I hadn't.  Ooops.  I knew it.  I know better.  I just got lazy.  She did her magic, told me to roll and take it easy, and to come back in a week.

I went home and immediately began rolling.  I rolled for about 45 minutes.  It hurt so much, but I felt fabulous afterwards.

I rolled everything I could:
- back
- glutes
- hamstrings
- inner thighs
- quads
- calves
- inner calves

The entire time I kept singing to myself "rolling with my foamie" - mostly because I'm a dork, but because it made me smile thinking about Terry, my yoga instructor, during my first classes with her while training for my 1st marathon.

Since Friday, I've rolled every single day and I am no longer in pain.  No weird aches, no pains.  I feel great!  But I'm NOT going to go crazy and jump back in like I want to!

I'm going to ease back in and be smart about it.  Or about as smart as I can be, knowing that GCI is 45 days away!

On Sunday, I set out for an 10 mile run.  Around mile 7, my knee felt achy and I didn't want to push it so I finished up at mile 8, came home and rolled.  It was a slow run too.  I wanted to go fast.  I wanted to crank through the miles, but I knew I shouldn't.  I just took it easy and enjoyed being able to run.  It's all about recovery right now and training for that ultra!

I even stopped to admire my favorite places along the rail trail.

Spring is one my most favorite times to run, mostly because it's like rediscovering life all over again.  New blooms, flower smells, running streams.  

Tell me, when is your favorite time of year to run?  What kind of flower are those in the picture above? There is a wall of them along the rail trail and they smelled absolutely fantastic.  I wanted to hang out there all day long.

When you return from an injury, do you play is smart and take it easy? or do you just dive right in?

Winner Winner & Another Giveaway!

As promised, I'm here to announce the winner of my 6dollarbands giveaway.

I think it was meant to be, Marcia!  Congratulations!!!!

Email me at runningwiththegirls at gmail dot com with your address so I can get your headband out to you as soon as possible!

Now onto another fun giveaway!  The folks over at TheSilverMaple.com have graciously offered a $100 gift card giveaway to one lucky winner.  They make personalized, handcrafted jewelry that would make an incredible gift or to keep for yourself!

If I had my choice, I'd have to choose this race bracelet:

Entry

-Form

Disclaimer:  I was contacted by SilverMaple to share the giveaway with my readers.  I was not offered compensation of any kind.  

I’m A Stress Eater

There you have it.  I eat when I’m stressed.  A lot.  Mostly chips.  I am lacking the shut off valve when it comes to them.  If I have an extra large bag of chips, I will mindlessly eat the entire bag.    Add that to the fact that I’m not running a lot lately and you’ll see that it’s not a good combination.

I’ve gained weight.

My clothes don’t fit the way I want them to, which makes me grouchy. 

I need a change.  A major change.   

What’s a girl to do?  First and foremost, I am going to journal what I eat beginning TODAY!  That was the best way for me to keep track of what I put in my mouth.  I’m not going to get any fancy apps to track what I eat either.  I’m going to do it with an old fashioned paper and pencil, in a notebook.  

 This is going to hold me accountable.  

I am also going to eat clean.  I have a great new book written by fellow FitFluential, Angela, to read tonight and this weekend with some fabulous, easy recipes in it.  Don’t worry, I will share my review with you next week.  I'm very excited by this.  Just glancing through the recipes, I know I'm going to love them!  

           

In addition, while I’m easing back into running, I’m going to increase my cross training.  My week has looked like this so far:

-       Monday: 

-       Tuesday:  45 minutes on stationary bike, 1 hr circuit training (back, arms, shoulders, legs), 2 x 1 min planks, 10 pushups

-       Wednesday:  1 hr circuit training, 2 x 1 min planks, 10 pushups

-       Thursday:  3 mile run, shoveled 2 large “scoops” of bark mulch (it counts)

3 miles done pain free!

The plan for the weekend is to run 5 miles on Saturday and then 15+ on Sunday.  This is down from the 8 miles/22 miles plan for my ultra training.  Right now it’s more important to not be in pain. 

Big boots to fill!  This is what we wear when we mulch! 

What have you done when you get in a funk?  I am refocused and ready to go!  

Happy Running Day! {Giveaway, too}

Have you claimed your National Running Day badge?  

I do enjoy a national day dedicated to a sport that I love.  I really do, but it does seem a little silly to dedicate only one day to running - because to me, everyday is a running day.

Well, except for me, right now.  I on the other hand will not be running today.  I'm injured.  Boo!

I'm not sure what's going on, but I do know the area just below my knee, to the inside hurts.  At random times, I'll get a sharp, shooting pain, but most of the time, it's just sore to touch and achy.  I'm resting right now, wearing Ward's Tommie Copper knee sleeve, icing, and stretching.

I want to run.  I want to run so badly.  I'm 8 weeks away from the GCI 50K and I want so badly to do this race, especially since it's the last year this race will take place.  Fingers crossed this isn't major.  Depending on how I feel, I'll try to go out for short run tomorrow and I have a chiropractic appointment on Friday.

Rather than be a downer about not being able to run on National Running Day - I'm going to reward one of my readers with a great new running accessory!

Will you be the lucky one?  

I was sent two headbands from 6 Dollar Bands - one for me to try out and one for me to giveaway to one of you!  The purple one above is the one that is being offered in the giveaway.   I promise I did not wear it!  Not even once.  I snapped a picture of it and put it away so Izzy wouldn't get it either!

As I said, I was sent two pairs.  I chose to try out the pink double band.

I've never seen a double banded headband before, so I was quite happy to try this one out.  I do love sparkly headbands too!  What I enjoyed about this one was that 6dollarbands are adjustable and they did not slip at all.  Each of their headbands are lined with velvet and are quite affordable.  As the name of the store suggests, most of the bands are $6, but they do have a selection of $8 bands as well.   A woman can never have too many headbands, especially if you have a daughter who likes to take them!
Needless to say, I love this headband.  And I received tons of compliments wearing it as well!

Now, the great part - how do you get your chance to win that purple beauty above?  You'll have 3 possible ways to enter and you'll need to comment below for each separate action.

- Leave me a comment telling me why you run.
- Follow me on twitter  and  6dollarbands and tweet "Happy National Running Day!  I want to win a new headband from @6dollarbands & @runningwtg http://www.runningwiththegirls.com/2013/06/happy-running-day-giveaway-too.html"  & leave me a comment with the link.
- Visit 6dollarbands store and tell me which print you would love if you bought one!

The giveaway will end Saturday 6/8/13.  I will announce the winner on Sunday 6/9/13.

Disclaimer:  I was provided 2 headbands at no cost.  1 headband was intended for a review and the other for a giveaway.  I was not required to provide a positive review.  As always, all opinions expressed on my blog are 100% my own.