Please help out Shut up and Run!

Scrolling through Facebook last Sunday the news of a missing runner caught my eye. Turns out, it's Beth's (Shut Up and Run) cousin Sherry Arnold.

Sherry went out on her morning run last Saturday 6:30 AM in the town of Sidney, Montana (USA), but hasn't returned yet. The news makes me sick to the stomach. You can read more about Sherry here, and this the link to the Facebook-page dedicated to Sherry Arnold: here. Please help Beth out and 'like' the page. And spread the word!

Do you remember the day I placed 3rd in my AG?

Yeah...me neither. Since I missed the actual 'ceremony'. Heck yeah...

Rewind. Last Saturday. Running buddy John and moi met up to run a fun 25K race (Florijn Winterloop, Woudenberg, the Netherlands) together. I did a 5K hill work out as a warm/up and John had 24K on deck for the next day, so...we were going to LSD the heck out of this baby. Oh yeah, how slow can you go, baby. Of course, the excitement got to me and we ended up running the course at marathon pace-ish (for me, that is...John is super speedy).

It was fun running together, but the course ended up being kind of boring. There's only so many farm land a girl can handle on a 25K run. Then again, the volunteers were amazing - very well organized!

Finished the run in 2:11:49. Fun long run. Oh, and this is what we looked like at the finish line. I sure messed up those pics, huh?

Photo courtesy Wim de Bruijne

I ran out of the pink K-tape. Note to self: get new pink K-tape!

After the race, I chatted a bit with other runners and then hopped into the car on my way home. Might have stopped to get french fries. Just might have. ;) Threw my pack (with my phone in it) in the back of the car. 20 minutes later, my phone was ringing. Didn't bother crawling all the way to the back of the car to get it. Turns out, it was John - trying to tell me that I'd placed 3rd in my AG. What the bleep - I've never placed in my AG. I'm too freaking slow. Apparently there was an award ceremony going on. And they were looking for me. That's me...always late for the party. Luckily, John was sweet enough to get my prize, medal and bottle of wine for me.

Oh, and in case you were wondering whether or not 'slowpoke' has managed to turn into 'not so slow-poke' - no worries, there weren't a lot of girls in my AG. ;)

So, what's your story of the weekend?

Three Things Thursday

1. Oh Ryan: Okay, Ryan Hall rocks. Enough said. And Ryan Reynolds is pretty easy on the eye. Uh-huh. ;) So...you'd say that putting those two together would be a great thing. Well, think again. Am I the only girl out there that doesn't think this commercial is funny?

2. Text WIND OFF to 1234: Not sure what the weather is like in the rest of the world, but it sure is windy, and unseasonably warm in the Netherlands. And when I say windy, I mean WINDY. I guess headwinds make a great interval work out, right? Right? And since I'm already whining and b*tching about this - it's too freaking warm to wear a windstopper jacket. And too windy not to wear one. Okay, done complaining. Thanks for listening. ;)

3. Runner porn: SALOMON WILL HAVE THEIR S-LAB RUNNING PACK IN A 12 LITER VERSION THIS SPRING. Can you tell I'm excited? Hiding it well, huh? ;)

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday - Lululemon or LuluDemon?

A blog buddy forwarded me this article on Lululemon in the Huffington Post (it's from a couple of months ago): here.

Short excerpt from the article:

"It took only a year for Lululemon to step into an even larger controversy. In 2006, the firm rolled out a line of "Vita-Sea" apparel bags that it claimed were made with seaweed fiber, and had health and medicinal effects for consumers, including stress reduction, through the release of amino acids and vitamins into the skin's natural moisture. But skeptics, including the New York Times, decided to sponsor lab tests, which revealed that Lululemon wasn't just misleading consumers: it was lying. There was no seaweed of any kind in the bags the newspaper tested. There was no difference, in fact, between the Lululemon bags and other bags made of cotton - except that Lululemon's, of course, were a lot more expensive."

I don't own a single piece of Lululemon clothing - it's pretty hard to get your hands on Lululemon in the Netherlands, so I'm unbiased on this subject. Really curious to hear what your thoughts are on this subject. Please do share!

Tuesday Tidbit: check out active.com!

Woohoo! I'm featured in this article on active.com:

http://www.active.com/running/Articles/Women-on-the-Run.htm?cmp=17-7-1825

It's the same article as the one in Women's Running Magazine. For those of you that didn't get their hands on a copy of Women's Running Magazine, go check it out. :) No pressure. ;)

Here's to life!

Funny how a single year can change the way you feel about your life. Yet, that's exactly what 2011 did for me.

I kicked off 2011 setting one A-goal for the year: the Swiss Alpine Marathon K78 (50-miler). Little did I know that even just working and training towards this race would give me a heck load of breath-taking moments. 'Blessed' would be an understatement. Plus, I learned a thing or two about myself while training for this race.

While I was training for the SAM I ran several marathons. Training marathons that made me love running marathons even more. Smiling at mile 25 / 40K of the Amsterdam Marathon - priceless. :)

I did back-2-back weekends. I did a couple of 30-milers (50 K's) on Sunday's. And a lot of 20+-milers. I ran through Holland's unseasonably hot Spring and wet Summer. I ran hills. I ran mountains. I spent some serious hours on trails. I even found a new love: cycling. And spent hours on my road bike to add extra hours of training to my schedule.

The out-of-this-world support running buddies and especially my mom gave me during this journey...is more than I could have ever wished for. Blessed. :)

I spent most of my non-working hours 'outside'. Training for the SAM made me appreciate nature in a way I didn't think I could. Who knew the sight of a squirrel hopping through the woods (instead of the sight of the Hermes Birkin Bag) could make me smile? ;)

The 'This is so cool! Can I do this again?' moment I had at mile 45 of the SAM was an amazing gift. I was out there, in high alpine terrain, covered in mud, in this freezing cold, and I was having a blast. That's pretty special to me. :) After all, I'm just a girl in a skirt...a girl that knows squat about running. :) Then again, winging it is kind of fun!

It has been a good year.

2011...you've been good to me. Sure...not all of it has been fun, but it's the fun and breath-taking moments that I decide to take with me. Fingers crossed that the beast I call '2012' can live up to your legacy. ;)

So, how about this? Let's have some fun kicking that beast in the balls Silly Girl Running style?:)