Preview of Race Day!

The Flying Pig will be here in 6 days!  Let's hope the weather takes a turn for the better and the rain stops, it sure would be nice for race day!  My wonderful family has sponsored my race day outfit.  They have been wonderful throughout this entire training and fundraising adventure.  I am so thankful for everything they do for me and all the support they give for my running and everything else I do.  I wanted to give everyone a preview of the costume (at least of one of the items).  There will be more but this is just an idea.  My mom made this and it is being modeled by no other than my wonderful father!  He has threatened that if I don't reach my fundraising goal he will show up in the tutu instead of me on race day!

There is a new cop in town!

It was a nice morning for an early run through Hyde Park/Mt. Lookout.  Erin and I were lucky to get it in before the rain started!  Of course it was in another costume!  A big thank you to my wonderful co-worker Clint for sponsoring today's run.  He brought in a variety of hats for me to wear and when I saw the one that looked like a motorcycle cop from "Chip's" I knew it could make for a great costume.  Combine that with some accessories and I think you have one good-looking cop!  For some reason today I forgot my GOTR tiara!  I am not sure what happened, I am going to blame it on the early morning.  So the picture and run is without the tiara (this is a first).  However, once I got back to the car and realized it, I made sure to put on the tiara and get a shot!  6 days to the pig!  I will post a preview of my race day costume later this afternoon!

Buzzzzzzzz

Ready for the last long run before marathon day!

Check out those wings and stinger!

There was no blending in with the crowd today!  It was the last long run of spring marathon training so I went out with a bang....or a buzz!  The bumble bee costume was courtesy of Steve, Robert and Laurie....thanks for a great costume and sponsoring today's run guys, I really appreciate it!  I think an appropriate name for today would be "Queen Bee".  I will say this costume was very toasty.  The sunglasses were nifty with the option to have the shades up or down but they didn't stay on very well so I carried them most of the way.  Then there was the hat with the antennas it that was a bit warm.  I made it until about mile 8  but had to ditch the hat at the water stop and finish the last two miles with just the bumble bee outfit.  I do think it was a great costume and perfect for the last long run before marathon day!  Thanks again to everyone for the support.  

The GOTR Easter Bunny

The spring training season is winding down.  It sure has flown by fast but it has been so much fun and I wouldn't trade it for anything.  This past Wednesday we had a very hilly run from Ault Park with a training group cookout after.  Of course this was the perfect opportunity for a costume!  A big thank you to my GOTR family for sponsoring Wednesday's run- Erin, Carter, Mel and Jessica- you are the best!  They have been so supportive during this training and with all of my outfits.  I couldn't ask for a better group of people to share running and GOTR with.  So, this outfit became a combination.  I was an Easter Bunny with a band jacket on?!?!  It made for a great costume!  I got lots of looks and great comments.....especially about the tail.  Erin showed up with the bunny costume, Mel came with the band jacket and sombrero for a mariachi band costume and Jessica's costume never made it there (I think she was stuck in traffic).  So we combined the bunny with the jacket for the lovely outfit you see here.  Don't worry about Jessica's missing outfit, if she still has it I will wear it to another run!  I do think the best part of the evening was when an adorable little girl just started starring at me.  Her mom says, "She wants to talk to the Easter Bunny".  So, I bent down with my basket and she took a piece of candy then quickly decided she wanted another!  Then of course she had to give the Easter Bunny a kiss.  It was so sweet!  Overall the costume was a hit, especially the chocolate and GOTR information I handed out after the run.  Thank you again GOTR family- you rock!

I'm running in the rain, just running in the rain....

Well today's costume is compliments of no other than my wonderful running friend, Tisha Way!  This costume has been talked about on a few runs, and we she has just been waiting for the perfect rainy day.  Today was the day and the costume was a hit.  This is definitely a contender for the overall costume winner!  I was well prepared for all the puddles and flooded roads that we encountered today and received lots of encouragement to go for a swim from others.  I will say that this outfit took some effort to keep everything in place and I used lots of  body glide on the arm floaties!  The goggles were much more suitable for the turtle instead of me.  They squished my eyes a little bit....maybe because they were "Hello Kitty" goggles for children!  The bubble wand made for some fun water stops as well, all captured on film by Kent. Well, another 16-miles down and two weeks away from race day!  A big thank you again to Tisha for today's sponsorship and her support during this entire fundraising process!

Play Ball!

With baseball season in full swing, I decided to pay tribute to America's favorite past time.  This run came from a couple of different inspirations.  While at Target searching for costumes one night with Matt (my husband), we saw some Red's sweatbands.  Matt, being a huge baseball fan and coach thought that I should be a baseball player for one of my runs.  I hadn't used the baseball idea yet but with some GOTR inspiration I was ready.  At our GOTR race committee meeting on Monday, Erin was sporting the newest addition to the race day fun for the girls.  We had GOTR "eyeblack" stickers!  You can see the pink and green in the picture but they also have the New Balance logo on one and the GOTR logo on the other.  So with these the outfit was complete.  I didn't want to show too much favoritism to one team so I went with a combination of Ripley (where Matt coaches), Detroit, the Red's and of course GOTR.  I think tiara's should be a new addition to baseball uniforms!  I must say, baseball pants and a batting helmet are not meant to run speed repeats in!  The outfit was a little toasty but I made it.  Surprisingly, it was hotter than the baby chick hat!  A big thank you again to everyone for their support and to everyone I run with for putting up with the girl in the outfits every week!

Happy Easter (a tad early)

Ready for a 22-miler with the baby chick!

Post run with the chick!

A big thank you my wonderful co-worker, Michelle Eversole, for sponsoring today's run.  I must say at first I was a little nervous about a 22-mile run in the baby chick hat, especially since it was supposed to be warm today.  However, my worries were not needed!  The weather turned out to be perfect for running and I was able to run the whole thing in the chick hat with the tiara on top of course!  The chick hat was a hit with everyone and you could spot me coming a mile away.  I had a great 22-mile run and now it is taper time.  Bring on the Pig on May 1st, I am excited and ready!  A big thank you again to everyone that has supported me and given encouragement along the way.  I am having a blast but couldn't do it without everyone's support!

Put a little ROAR in your step!

Wednesday night was an evening of hill repeats on the dreaded Cliff St.  To survive the run I decided what better but another outfit of course!  I have had a lot of donations from wonderful supporters that have told me I don't have to wear an outfit or I can pick my own so that is what I did.  In honor of Milosh, "The Lion Prince" (my co-worker's son who just had a successful heart transplant on Tuesday) I went for the lion outfit.  I must say the mask was a little difficult so it ended up around my neck for most of the run but it was all in good fun and to honor Milosh!  

Aloha

This Saturday proved to be another fun costume run!  Thank you to Rich Kruze for his donation and sponsoring me today!  Rich allowed me to choose the outfit of my choice today so this is what I came up with.  I had my fastest long run today even in the coconuts, grass skirt and lei!  Who would have thought that this would make for fast running attire.  It was another great opportunity to talk about Girls on the Run with a lot of runners.  I must say that I got a lot more looks on this run that the last one, I think the coconuts took everyone by surprise!  A little tip....if you ever run in a coconut bra they also double as storage for your gu's, blocks, etc!