C is for CUPCAKES!

I have been making cupcakes like a madwoman. Maybe that is why my blog has gotten so neglected. Here are some of my latest creations.

My daughter's 5th! Red Velvet Cupcakes with Pink Old Fashioned Boiled Icing and Rainbow Sprinkles.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream and sparkling sugar.

Candy Corn inspired cupcakes.

Vanilla Cupcake with Vanilla Buttercream and Spider Mix Sprinkles.

So proud of this little beauty!

Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese.

More Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese.

Can you guess my most popular seller?

There you have it! Cupcakes are running my house :) And I have five dozen to create this evening. 

God Bless.

HCA Va Richmond 8k

My races have been limited since I got hurt near the end of the Nike Women's Half in DC, but I have still be racing. I just took a large portion of the summer off. 

My husband and I raced the Picasso Trail Race 10k last month. We both did pretty well. I earned a 10k (even on a trail!), fourth overall female and first in my age group. My husband hit first in his age group and completed his first 10k race. 

This past weekend I raced the HCA Va Richmond 8k that is in conjunction with the Richmond Marathon and Half Marathon that I ran last year. My running partner from the half marathon last year was registered for the full marathon and since I didn't want to push myself to hard after coming back from an injury I signed up for the 8k. One week before the race my friend injured his calf and backed out of the full marathon.

Race shirt.

I woke up at 3:30am race morning to be dressed and ready for a 4:30am pickup time. Race time wasn't until 7:00am but we knew that we would have to fight for a parking space. We arrived in Richmond about 5:25am and immediately found an awesome parking space. We left the car and headed into the lobby of the Omni hotel to stay warm and dry (it was misting). We found a table and just hung out. I ate my Honey Stinger Vanilla Waffle, one of the few things that I can eat before I run and then just waited. About 6:15am I peeled of my cheapy (like $3) warm up pants, headed to the bathroom and started to get race ready. 

We left the hotel and walked out to realize that it was raining. The rain was predicted to quit at 6:00am so we weren't expecting it. As we walked up the hill towards the Capitol Building the rain got harder. I found my wave (wave 1, never had that happen before) and began to warm up. My friend told me that I didn't have to bag check that he would hold my stuff. Later he told me he did this so I could stay in my sweatshirt as long as I possibly could so my singlet would be dry as possible before I started running. The announced told us "three minute warning" so I peeled off my wet Oiselle trials sweatshirt and handed it over to my friend to stuff inside my Oiselle spike bag. I said goodbye and focused on the start line. I was a ways back from the start line even though I was in wave 1 but I knew that I would be ok since it was chip timed. 

Race outfit, though I decided against the armwarmers just before the race.

The gun went off, I made my way to the start line and took off. It was raining pretty steadily and I immediately started having a side ache but told myself I was pressing on. I began praying in my head "Lord, help me make it safely through the race." I had my calf and SI joint taped with KT tape for extra support. I wasn't in pain but the support was a precaution. About a mile in I was thinking about how great my calf felt, and how blessed I am. The rain had dramatically stopped at this point, but then I realized my shoelaces where banging me in the shins. I can't even tell you that last time I had to stop mid race to tie my shoes! I hurried over to the edge of the road and retied both my shoes then got back to racing. 

See my spiffy Oiselle temp tat? I'm a sucker for temps even though I have two real ones.

At about mile three I realized why I had a side ache. I hadn't used my inhaler pre-race which helps regulate my breathing pattern and generally prevents my side aches. I threw up a quick prayer thanking God that the side ache was my only issue from not using my inhaler and that my breathing itself was fine. I really felt like I was in my race groove at this point. I started picking out people in my mind that I wanted to pass, and I did.

The last portion of the race is a good downhill. It can be really hard on your quads and shins but it is so great for your time ;) I knew it was coming and couldn't wait to fly down it to hit the finish. As I rounded the corner for the downhill I threw it into high gear. I crossed the line at 45:05. I had set my goal time for this race to  be anything under 48. Not my 8k PR but a great race for an injury comeback. My last mile was also my fastest mile I have ever clocked for a race 8:12. It was a great day and I feel truly blessed to be making a comeback.

Love the medal.

God Bless.

My apologies.

My blog has been severely lacking and for that I apologize. I can't even fully explain why I have been behind, I just have. But check back early next week for a full cupcake update (maybe all the cupcakes are why I am so behind!) and an HCA Va 8k race update.

God Bless and Happy Friday!

Playing catch up

I have been planning this post for about five days now but my husband came home from a trip sick and so now it seems like everything has gotten out of whack. I feel like I am playing catch up in every aspect of my life right now, so let me just post my two big things that I had in mind.

One, I am now officially on the Oiselle athletes page. You can check me out here. I hope to have a race picture in my Oiselle singlet in the next couple of weeks.

Two, I was asked to be an Esprit de She ambassador again. Look forward to some more race information for next year and some race swag giveaways.

Have a great Tuesday.

God Bless.

Pretty Muddy + Sweat Pink Sisters + Oiselle Gear = Pretty Awesome!

Saturday morning I set out bright an early from Emporia to head to Pocahontas State Park in Richmond. I was on my way there for Pretty Muddy Richmond, where I was a blog ambassador.

My race bib.

My friend from Emporia told me to allow about an hour and a half to get to the park. And Pretty Muddy said to get there an hour before start time. Well let me just tell you, I arrived with plenty of time. Got on one of the hayride shuttles and headed off to packet pick up. I had so much time that I hung around and watched the first wave of women before I headed back to my car.

.

The first wave of women!

The first obstacle. "Better than a dirty martini"

I sat in my car for a while, answered some emails that needed attention, played a few games and then packed up my bag for the after-mud clean up.

Keeping warm in the car in one of my fave Oiselle 50/50 longsleeve tees.

At about 8:45am I finally decided I would head back to the race start, check my bag, potty and just hang out and watch. I was waiting for the next hayride shuttle and I happened to see a Sweat Pink tank coming towards me. My friend that was supposed to run with my backed out very early on because of work commitments. So I was thrilled to see two faces I knew. I met Darlena and Cara back in April at The Nike Women's Half Marathon with Team in Training. I knew they were coming and I was just hoping that I could find them.

We had to get a pre-mud picture!

We were all wearing our matching Sweat Pink tanks. I have my new Oiselle race singlet but I was not about to sacrifice it to the mud. I did wear my Oiselle Lesley Knickers though. They were the perfect choice. The longer leg kept my knee mostly scratch free and the fit kept mud of out of unmentionable places.

We headed towards the race start and waited a few minutes. Before I knew it were we off and running. We had to run 3.1 miles with 11 obstacles. Every obstacle had volunteers to give you the necessary instructions and to help you if needed. Each obstacle also had the option to go around it if you just couldn't handle the mud.

Here are the obstacles and the run down:

1. Better Than a Dirty Martini: A tunnel with bubbles.
2. The Original Mud Slide: A giant blown up slide with mud at the bottom. I lost my shoe in the mud and had to go back for it!
3. So Over It: A wall that kid of looked like a pallet on it's end.
4. Totally Tubular: Crawling through a muddy tube.
5. Over and Out: We had to climb over one wall with a small ledge, then got to another wall in the middle of a mud pit and climb over it. It had no ledge though. Thankfully Darlena gave me a leg up.
6. So Over it: Again.
7. Social Networking: A giant A-frame rope climb.
8. A Leg Up: High knees through a ropes section then under a ropes section.
9. Wood You Rather: We had to run/walk with a log on our shoulders.
10. Over and Out: Just like the last time, but we had to go under the second on submerging us in mud.
11. Mud Bath and Beyond: Crawling under ropes while the mud got deeper and deeper.

We were Pretty Muddy by the time we go to end but it was oh so fun! We crossed the finish to be greeted with a finishers medal, a drink and a protein bar.

PRETTY MUDDY!

And again!

They had cleaning stations with hoses set up for about thirty women at a time. The line moved pretty quickly. Then we headed to the changing tent. They had about 16 private sections to change your clothes in. There were some food and beer vendors set up for post race, along with pretty muddy gear. We decided to head home to our kiddos instead of hanging out though.

I was pretty happy with all of the race amenities. I only have two complaints about the entire experience.  One complaint was that we didn't see the photographer very often. We'll see what my pictures look like. Two, was that at the finish they handed us Propel water, it was strawberry kiwi. I asked if they had other flavors because I am allergic to strawberry. The only other flavor they had was berry so I opted to pass. This is only annoying because the non-flavored water was a really tiny cup versus a full bottle of propel.

My medal with my clean Oiselle distance shorts.

Such a fun race experience. I got to get muddy, which I normally don't do. I ran with two other girls that I don't know all that well but got a chance to have fun with. And I got to introduced them to Oiselle which they had never heard of. (By the end of the day I had worn four different Oiselle pieces. My long sleeve shown above to keep warm, my knickers to race in, my distance shorts to come home in and my runfinity scarf with my clean clothes after my shower at home.)

How was your weekend?

God Bless.

Struggles of a Small Town

I have lived in Emporia, Virginia for just over a year now. I enjoy most things about small town life. I grew up in a town smaller than this so I am used to most aspects of it. One thing I can't seem to deal with is the lack of runner friends. I have been here over a year and the only consistent runner friend I have is a man from our church. I'm not complaining about him in any way! He trained with me for my long runs of my first half marathon training plan, paced me through my first half marathon and helped me train for my second half marathon. 
 

Mile 11 of being paced. (I never realized how good I look in this picture until I saw the guy in the right background covered in sweat. Also, note my Oiselle distance shorts.)

But now, he is helping train my husband for his first full marathon. I'm already getting left in the mileage dust as they press farther and faster than I can hang. I could probably keep their pace and mileage right now, if I hadn't taken time off for my calf injury. But if I hadn't taken that time off I wouldn't be healthy enough to be running at all right now. I'm feeling a little runner lonely.

I have run with a few girls here and there while living here. I ran Esprit de She Cary with Ansley. I have done some training runs with Elizabeth, but she is finishing up her PhD in England so I only get to run with her when she is back for visits. **Sidenote** Elizabeth is the daughter of the man who trained and paced me for my first half marathon. And I ran the Special Olympics Torch Run with Brenda and Sharon.


I miss my girlfriends in Pensacola. I miss Tina, Dawn, Regina, and Emily. I miss the Phat Girlz run group. I miss knowing that every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday morning there would always be someone to run with it. I'm realizing now how much I took the girlz for granted.

With two of my dear runner friends, Tina and Dawn. (See my Oiselle Bum Wrap?)

I guess I need to take the initiative and seek out other women. I have discussed some possibilities of making my own run group with my husband. He is all for it, I just need to seek out some avenues to really get it going. I had some other options in mind but they have fallen through. I would love to create a women's group that meets for a quick Bible Study (like five minutes) and then goes out and runs. How fun would that be?

Some of my struggles might also come from my lack of real races lined up. I haven't had a race since June. And after that race was when I took my seven week injury break. Here is my set (registered) race plan for the rest of the year.

1. Pretty Muddy Richmond
2. Picasso Run 10K
3. Tacky Lights Run 6k

I had plans to run the Richmond 8k that happens the same day as the Richmond Half and Full but I have conflict with a church function the same day. But I am truly looking forward to these next three races because they will be my first as part of the Oiselle family. 

Ok, I already feel better after getting this out of my head into writing. I missed my morning run this morning due to a sweet small redhead calling my name. But I will set out some time today and get my run in.

Any suggestions for me about getting out of my lonely slump are welcome. 

God Bless.

29 years...

It's my birthday, I thought I would do a little looking back.

• 29 years ago today, I was born in Stockton California.
• 27 years ago, my parents bought a house in Linden California, just after my birthday.
• 14 years ago today, I ran my first two mile cross country race for Linden High School.
• 11 years ago today, I celebrated my first birthday as a college student without my family and long time friends. It was such a weird bittersweet day.
• 9 years ago today, I celebrated my first birthday while in a relationship with my future husband.
• 8 years ago today, my husband and I hit the town in State College Pennsylvania to celebrate my 21st birthday. This was my first married birthday.
• 7 years ago today, I was a bridesmaid for my fried Tabetha. My dad called while I was in the middle of getting ready. He sang to my voicemail, I wished I had saved it. He sang "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Dear Anna, OK I'm done! Love you. Bye."
• 5 years ago today, I said goodbye to my childhood dog, Missy. I celebrated my birthday with a dinner at Bud's seafood. My mom and Aunt (my hubs had an evening high school football practice that he couldn't get out of) took me out and I had my fave Bud's Beef Salad, yum! I was also waiting the birthday of my daughter the next month.
• 4 years ago today, I struggled through my birthday. I hated that my cousin Rachel had almost been gone a year. I never imagined my birthday would be so hard without her. But I loved celebrating the day with my almost one year old daughter. And my husband tried his hardest to throw me a surprise birthday party. I didn't snoop but at the last minute he just couldn't keep the secret anymore.
• Two years ago today, I celebrated my birthday in Pensacola Florida (where we were living at the time). We went to Bonefish Grill with our dear friends Meg and Charles of Meg Baisden Photography. Meg and Charles, come to VA so we can do Bonefish again up here!
• Last year my husband gave his first sermon at our new church in Virginia.
• This year, my husband grilled for me and the Lankfords last night. We had an awesome dinner and ice cream to follow. I gifted myself some new Oiselle running gear with the money my grandparents sent me. I had to get some new Oiselle gear, I'm a team runner now :)
• Who knows what next year God will bless me with.

I just realized that as a now 29 year old I have celebrated my birthday while living in four different states. Crazy.

I thank the Lord for the ups, the downs, the many blessings and friends He has given me along the way.

God Bless.