Back!

Hey hey girls and guys! Well, I am back...this time I PROMISE! I didn't have Internet for a while, which made it pretty difficult to post on a regular basis. But, now I'm all set up and ready to go!

What have I been up to? Running, running, training, grad school, work, work, running, school. Sound busy enough for you?! haha

I just started back to grad school, one semester down, three more to go. So far its going pretty good and its GREAT to have an awesome gym at my university to go to for free.

Im about 3 weeks away from my second half marathon! I don't feel 100% ready for it, but I really wanted to do it because it is the very first half marathon that is being hosted in my home town. Gotta represent!! As part of my training I have been running small races just about every weekend. This past weekend I ran a 5K called "Run for the Hill". It was hosted by my old highschool, so you KNOW I just had to do it.

The boy came for support and took some GREAT pictures!

Pretending to cross the finish line while we waited for the race to start.

At the starting line

Taking off at the start! Im the one in the gray top and the black shorts

The start of the race was an awesome down hill start, but that was a tease, the rest of the race was ALL UP HILL!!

action shot!

Starting up the hill

Racing for the finish!

Thumbs up after the race!

I ended up with a time of 26:02, which I was happy with. I was hoping for a sub 25 time, but with all those hills, I thought my time wasn't too far from my goal. Hey, there is always next time! I also got 2nd place in my age group, so that was even better! :)

This Saturday I have another race that is a 10K. I am trying to get more noticed in the running community and make more friends that are runners. Does anyone have any suggestions as far as getting sponsors, or running for certain charities? Please let me know if anyone has any experience with this!

Hope everyone is having a great day and I'm sooo happy to be back and start to catch up with everyone again!

Love, Em.

Blue Plum 5K

Every year the city that I live in has a HUGE festival for the first weekend of June, called the Blue Plum. Don't ask me why...I have no idea! Anyway, its always TONS of people, TONS of drinking, and TONS of fun. And on top of all that fun they throw in a 5K on Saturday morning!
Now, I am going to start out by telling you that I had NO intentions of running this race. And here were my reasons why:

• I usually don't like short distance races, because they are too fast for me. I would much rather run long distances and keep a nice pace, then flat out sprinting for 3 miles! VERY intimidating!
• The race was scheduled for 9 AM...I was scheduled to be into work at 10AM
• I had already planned on taking advantage of the before mentioned "TONS of drinking" the night before

All those reasons had made me pretty much decide against it, even though a small part of me really wanted to do it. Hey, it was a race, it was close, and it was cheap...and you got a free t-shirt!
I guess that little part of me decided to jump on out when I accidentally asked my cousin Matt (who runs races with me usually) if he wanted to run with me on Saturday. I was kind of hoping that he would say NO, but he was SUPER enthusiastic about it. So, I got myself stuck.
You would think that knowing I had to wake up at 8AM for the race, I would have taken it easy last night. Yeah, you would think. I managed to only have a few beers, but my cousin and my roommate had a few more than that...which meant we didn't get home until after 2AM in the morning.
A brief 6 hours later, I was up, lacing up my running shoes, and pinning on my race tag.

My cousin Matt and I ready to run!
30 minutes after that I was standing at the starting line wondering if I could make it without falling asleep mid-stride.
The announcer came up to the start, mumbled something about the race...the which the guy beside me mumbled to me "so basically just start running when everyone else does, right?" Yep, he had it figured out.
Annndddd we were OFF! And let me just tell you it was HORRIBLE!! And here is why in a nice bulleted outline:

• wayyyy tooo fasssttt!!! haha. maybe I am just a weakling, but I am just not good at short, fast distances (like I mentioned) I am much more comfortable with long, steady distances. When we started out I ran the first mile in 7:32. Again, WAYYYY TOOOO FAAASSSTT! And the thing was I kept telling myself it was too fast, but for some reason I didn't slow down! haha
• It got HOTT and HUMID quick.
• those beers I drank the night before were NOT helping me in the least
• headphones were not allowed. this was the first time that I had ever ran without headphones. AWFUL! I had to listen to the people beside me breathing all heavy and worrying if they were gonna pass out right beside me! This makes me nervous. And nervous running = no good.

We finished, grabbed a water and a banana, and took off back home so I could shower and be ready for work in 45 minutes!

I didn't get to stay for the official results since I had to be at work so I was anxious all day to find out my time and placing.
As soon as I got home I jumped on the computer to check the results...I was rrrreeealllyyy hoping for a time of under 25 minutes and was SUPER bummed when I saw that my official time was 25:04.
However, the "bummy-ness" quickly turned around when I clicked on the link for age group placings. And saw this:

Female 20-24
Place O'All Name Bib# Age City St Time ===== ===== ========================= ==== === ===============  
1 120 Emily Harvey 486 24 25:04                              
2   151 Ashlee Jenks               197  24                                                                
3   196 Jessica Jones              550  20

Yep thats me! FIRST PLACE IN MY AGE GROUP!!! :)
I have never placed in a race before AND this was a PR time for me. So I guess all in all it wasn't so bad after all! And I am sooo glad that I decided to do it and not back out because of stupid reasons! In the end I bit the bullet, took the challenge, and came out on top. And even though I barely missed my goal of under 25 minutes, I still couldn't be happier with the race!
No its nap time and then another night out for Kelli's 21st! Hope everyone has a great weekend!
<3 Em

It's Officially Official

Good morning everyone! Its hump day which mean we are officially half way through the week...which mean I am half way through the last week of my single life. Come Monday I will FINALLY have my long distance boyfriend of 2 years LIVING WITH ME!! In case you are new to the blog and don't know, the boy lives in California...I live in TENNEESSEE! Yes, that right on the complete opposite side of the country! Not for long though :)
I have also been informed that it is officially National Running Day as well!

Click on the link to learn more about how you can participate, even if you are a non runner. You best believe I will be throwing on my running kicks for a nice little run today. Update on that later!
Continuing with the "official-ness" of today, last night it was officially my best friend Kelli's 21st Birthday!  This is exciting news, because I am 24...so it has been verrry difficult having a bestie that is not 21 yet! No longer will she have to worry about getting caught sneaking a sip of my drink or not being able to get into a place where we are all hanging out! It was a HAPPY day FO SHO!
And little Miss BIRTHDAY DIVA went all out! We had a fancy dinner at our favorite sushi restaurant. Her boyfriend and myself went early to decorate the entire restaurant for her 21 guests yes, she made sure to have 21 guests! haha. It turned out so cute and she had a great night!
 
This was my substitute date, since my boyfriend still lives on the opposite coast line for now. Cory is one of my very best guy friends! he came early to help set up too!

The birthday girl and I. Her hat has a huge "21" on the top and says "Where's the Bar?" haha.

The table all set up! We had 3 DOZEN BALLOONS!

My date and I

This is Tanya, my boss, and one of my very best friends

Kelli made everyone party favors...they were plastic martini glasses filled with margarita flavored jelly beans and dots gummies for the olives, pretty clever huh?!

me, the birthday girl, and tanya

Kelli and her boyfriend Jimbo. He did such a great job with everything! What a sweetie!

A shot of the whole table

Her first "legal" drink! hehe

Cheers to the Birthday girl
 
the birthday cake

blowing out the candles!
What a fun night! Everthing turned out just as planned and it was great! Happy Birthday KELLI!
<3

5th Grade Graduation

Good morning my dears! Sorry for the lack of update for a bit! I leave for California a week from today, so I have been running around like crazy trying to get everything ready. And I really only have a one track mind! haha.
Any ways, running hasn't been #1 the past couple of days, and my knee is still giving me a little trouble so I have been trying to stay off of it as much as I can. There is no need to push it and cause something REALLY bad!
In other news, my little sister graduated from 5th grade this weekend! I went to her graduation, and it was just the cutest thing you have ever seen! All the little boys were wearing suits and ties, and the little girls were all dressed up too.
Just a little fact that you should know about my little sister...she is a GENIUS! And I'm not just saying that. I swear she is 11 going on 30. Its kinda crazy. So at the graduation I think they called her name somewhere around 563729 times to receive awards! haha


can you see the resemblance?! Probably not. I'm pretty sure that I was the milk man's baby. Everyone in my family has dark curly hair and I'm the oddball. Oh well, I like being different :)
In other news, my BIG trip to California is only 5 DAYS AWAY! I would be lying if I didn't say that I was FREAKING OUT! Mostly about packing for a two week trip (50% of that will be in the car) the other 50% would be meeting the boy's ENTIRE family, friends, etc.
What are some of your best tips for packing for a long trip?
I have been making list after list of things to pack, things to do before I go, things not to forget, blah, blah, blah. I just need to calm it down! haha.
Tonight is my best friend Kelli's 21st Birthday! We are throwing her a huge party at her favorite restaurant, so that should be fun! I mean what 21st birthday isn't fun?! I'll update with pictures tomorrow :)
Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend!
<3 EM

Tip and Tricks

So last night my roommate (nonrunner) sent me a text on her way home from work that said a little something like this:
"I want to go for a run when I get home!"
Music to my ears! I just love introducing people to the wonderful world of running and helping them get more into it. Although, sometimes I'm not so good at it. The last time she asked to go on a run with me I told her we were going 2 miles and I think we ended up somewhere around 4.5. That was about a year ago and she has not asked to go for a run with me since.
This time I was not going to push it, I was going to make sure that she stayed at a comfie pace and didn't try to do too much the first time. She is active and does go to the gym a lot, just doesn't run, so I figured she could probably handle 2 miles. I told her that we would run down a path that I knew of that was pretty flat, for 1 mile and then turn around.
 source
This picture is probably exactly what I looked like (on the left). I keep giving her thumbs up, smiling, and telling her "YOU CAN DO IT!" I'm sure she probably wanted to punch me in my cheesy grinned face! haha.
The run started out great and she was shocked when I told her that she had almost ran the whole first mile without stopping! She said that she felt good, so we went another .5 miles before turning around (making our estimated total 3 miles instead of 2). After the first mile we ran an average of about .5 miles before stopping for a walk break, but those were never longer than a few minutes and then we would pick it back up. We ended up with some pretty good stats for a beginning runner. Maybe I have a marathon training partner now?!....or maybe we should just stick with building up slowly. haha

Total Miles: 3.31
Total Time: 42:35
Total Calories Burned: 253
Average Pace: 12:52
Mile One: 11:14
Mile Two: 13:05
Mile Three: 12:15

I happy to say that I think she enjoyed it a lot more than last time! When we got home she was asking me questions and I was giving her advice on things that have helped me run better. This gave me the idea for the blog, so I decided that I would put some of my little tips and tricks that I have picked up over the years with all of you!
*Disclaimer*: These are things that work for ME. Everyone is different and everyone will have different running styles and techniques. These are just a few things that I have picked up that have really helped my running. So, with that said....herrrreee weee goooo.....
Em's Two-cents Worth of Tips and Tricks for Beginning Runners:

• Always run in clothes that you feel comfortable in and that you like to wear. Having cute AND comfy workout gear always motivates me to put it on, and once its on...well, you HAVE to workout! haha.
• Set small goals and take baby steps. Starting with an over ambitious goal when you first start to run can burn you out and make you hate running. Start small and build your milage over time when YOU feel you can.
• If you set a goal of 2 miles and still feel good after you have ran that far, add half a mile or even a whole mile. Pushing yourself just a little more is what builds up your endurance.
• However, don't push yourself TOO hard, this can lead to burn out or injury. Know your body, what it can do, and what it's limits are.
• It always helps me to set smaller goals within your run. Such as "run until the end of this song" or "run until you get to that lamp post" more often than not, once that song is over, or once you reach that lamp post your fine to keep on a truckin'
• DRINK PLENTY OF WATER (DUH!)
• Pay attention to your breathing. I find it best to breath through my nose and out my mouth. If you are finding it impossible to control your breathing, it is time to take a walk break and get it back under control.
• Pay attention to your stride. Longer strides make you run faster without putting the pounding pressure on your legs that smaller strides do.
• TRIM YOUR TOENAILS! (learned that the hard way)
• Stretching before a run (before the muscles are warmed up) can lead to pulling a muscle. It is best to warm-up before you stretch, or stretch after the run.
• Don't overlook the importance of stretching! Stretching can help you become a better runner in so many ways. It helps with flexibility, keeps muscles lose, and prevents injury.

So now that I have put my two cents worth in, what are your favorite tips or tricks for running?

Weekend Recap

Hey guys! Sorry for disappearing over the weekend. It was my roommates birthday on Friday, so we pretty much celebrated all weekend! So here is a recap of all the things that made up my weekend. Including birthdays, running, and good times with friends :)

FRIDAY:

The roomie's birthday was today and we had a full day of activities planned, so I woke up early for a run. It was a GREAT run. I had originally planned to run 5 miles, but once I got to five I felt awesome, so I added on two more. Don't you just love those days?! Too bad every run can't be like that. I also did a pretty good job of keeping a nice steady pace and didn't come on too fast at first. This is something that I have noticed that I do, so I think pacing myself really helped too and could have been why I felt fine to add on two more miles, because I hadn't worn myself out. Here are the stats:

Total Miles: 7.13

Total Time: 1:06:43

Total Calories Burned: 600

Average Pace: 9:21

Mile 1: 9:11

Mile 2: 8:59

Mile 3: 9:10

Mile 4: 9:30

Mile 5: 9:09

Mile 6: 9:26

Mile 7: 9:32

I think that I have found my comfortable pace (around 9:20 miles) so once I start getting 100% into training I'm going to try to work a little bit harder on speedwork so I can increase my speed a little more.

So after heading home, showering, and throwing on some new clothes I met my rommie and her stepmom for birthday pedicures. If you remember from the previous post I was in desperate need of one!

After that we speed home to get ready and all dressed up for dinner. I had gone to the restaurant beforehand and gave them a cake with candles to bring out after dinner to surprise. I worked out great and she was TOTALLY surprised!

Here is the birthday girl sporting the tiara that I got her

Me and the birthday girl (I also got her the pin that says "its my birthday") yeah, I like birthdays. haha

And blowing out the candles on the cake!

After dinner we all went out dancing and such. The pictures stop at dinner. hmmm...I guess I have trouble holding on the ol' camera and dancing at the same time?

SATURDAY:

Saturday involved no running and was used as a "recover" day. Also, I worked all that day, so that was pretty much all I got done. Pretty boring Saturday huh?!

SUNDAY:

Back to running! I ran 5 miles today. It WAS blazin' hot outside, so unfortunately it was not one of those where I wanted to add more miles to my run! Here are the stats:

Total Miles: 5.28

Total Time: 51:16

Total Calories Burned: 440

Average Pace: 9:42 (a little slower than Friday)

Mile One: 9:07

Mile Two: 8:56

Mile Three: 9:47

Mile Four: 9:43

Mile Five: 9:28

The course I ran was a little but hillier than the one I ran on Friday, so that probably explains the slower pace. I still think I did a pretty decent job at keeping a nice steady pace throughout the run. YAY for me! Also, I noticed in both runs this weekend the second mile is the fastest. Coincidence? That might be something that I take note of.

What did I do with the rest of my Sunday you ask?!....

Well, I had a "double date" and by double date I mean myself and these two little hotties

Thats right, I watched the season finale of Lost DUH! Its only my favorite show ever and I am sooo sad that it is over! The finale was great though, I loved how they decided to end it. I was very satisfied with the conclusion! haha.

Is anyone else into Lost? If so, which one do you think is cuter? (if your not into the show you can just judge by the pics). I lean a little more towards Sawyer. I'm not usually into blondes, but you just cant beat those dimples! :)

Well, kiddos I'm out to start off my week!

Did everyone else have a good weekend? What did you guys do?

<3 Em

Let's Talk Music

Good morning dears! I hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far and looking forward to the weekend :)

Running this week has not been 100% because my knee has been acting up again. Nothing too bad, but I know that my knee can get really bad, so i usually try to catch it before it gets to the point. So the past two days have been spent icing, wrapping, heating, etc. to get it back into fightin' shape!

One things that always get me excited to go out for a run is when I have new fun music to listen to. I downloaded a TON of songs for my half marathon (3:30 hours worth, to be exact). But ever since then I have been in a music rut! I just can't find anything else to put on the ol' ipod and the half marathon playlist is gettin a little old.

My music taste is a little strange. I pretty much listen to just about everything. I stopped that whole elitist "I listen to great music and you don't" kinda thing after highschool. There is so much great music out there, just because its POP doesn't mean that its bad. My music taste ranges from rock to indie to bluegrass to pop. Just whatever kind of mood I am in.

My favorite songs to run to are songs I like to call "badass girl songs". You know the ones. Let's just say "Dont' Cha" and "Like a Boy" are the two best examples. :)

Say whatever you want, but I think the pussycat dolls are awesome! Don't judge. hehe.

So with that being said, here is my half marathon playlist (full of "badass girl songs")

• Ke$sha - Dinosaur* (Ok I have to admit, I kinda HATE Ke$ha, but this song has a really great beat to run to!)
• Jay-Z - Empire State of Mind
• Will Smith - Miami (I know, old school, right?!)
• E-40 - Wake it Up
• Black Eyed Peas - Missing You (anything by the black eyed peas pumps me up for a run)
• Ciara - Like a Boy*
• Ciara - Get Up*
• Lloyd - Track shoes (I randomly found this song through a friend, if you need a new running song PLEASE download this one, its amazing for running!)
• Kayne West - Anyone but Him
• Chromeo - Bonafied Lovin
• Ciara - Turntables* (hmm I'm starting to see a theme hehe)
• Dolla - Make a Toast
• Usher - OMG
• Wiz Khalifa - Mezmorized (this is another song that was introduced to me by a friend that by a new artist, his whole album is great!)
• Maria Carey - Obsessed*
• Beyonce - Sweet Dreams*
• Shakira - Hips Don't Lie*
• Outkast - The Way You Move
• Jay Sean and Lil Wayne - Down
• Destiny's Child - Jumpin Jumpin*
• Destiny's Child - Lose My Breath* (PERFECT for running)
• Destiny's Child - Bootylicious*
• Akon - Dangerous
• Kayne West - Overnight Star (one of my all time favorites)
• Shakira - She Wolf*

*Songs marked with a star are songs that are classified as "Bad Ass Girl Songs"

Ok, so there are alot more songs on that playlist, but it was gettin a bit long so I decided to tease you a little and save some of the others for another time :)

NOW ITS YOUR TURN! Help a girl out and tell me some of your favorite music to run to.

I'm in desperate need of some new music! aaannnddd GO!