These are a few of my favorite things...

As a runner and a running specialty store employee, I often find myself or others asking me "what's the best of the best?" Well, this post is intended to answer that question! The list will be pretty small at first, but it will definitely grow the longer I run .

Apparel

• Spandex shorts - Under Armour 7" Compression Shorts . When I get the infamous chub rub and it's so bad Body Glide won't work, I wear these suckers and they work wonders!
• Spandex Crops - lululemon's run: inspire crop ii . These are the BEST crops you will EVER WEAR! SO comfy - they have flat seams so they don't chafe, awesome reflectivity, and a cool pocket in the back for key/credit card/cash. The one big thing for me that was the major WOW factor was that they don't fall down (which is exactly the problem that I've been having with my Under Armour Crops). They don't ride up either! Perfect sizing. I have them in the "we are from space" plum color and ahhhh I love them so much! Go buy a pair! 
• Long run shorts - Brooks Versatile 5" Woven Short. These shorts don't ride up and they give you plenty of breeze on long runs - anything 6 miles or longer. You can wear them for shorter runs too !
• Socks
• Balega Hidden Comfort - Just the right amount of cushioning and compression
• Underwear
• Patagonia's Active Hipster . Wedgie free, most comfy and dry wicking undies I've owned! 
• lululemon's mula bandhawear bikini . These things stay put! Yes, they are $18, but they are really really comfy. I bought them on a whim and am very pleased with them (Patagonia's are still my favorite ; ) ).
• Sports Bra - Armour Bra - easiest bra to get on & off and most dry wicking, non-chafing & supportive that I've tried.  I've tried Moving Comfort bras, but had problems with chafing....I swear by Under Armour!
• My favorite hat - North Face Better Than Naked Hat . This unisex hat is super lightweight and comfy. Unlike every other running hat I have in my closet, it has a unique adjustable strap on the back which makes it easy to adjust as you're running and also is more comfortable than that funky velcro closure most hats have.
• My favorite shirt - lululemon's run: swiftly tech v neck . I bought this shirt because a manager at a lululemon store I was interviewing at was wearing one and loved it! I've run in it 4 times and haven't had to wash it yet (the silverscent keeps the stink away). I like this shirt better than any other shirt I've had! 

Injury Prevention / Treatment

• Hydration on the run? Fuel Belt - by far most comfy hydration belt I've tried and easy to grab the bottles from while you're running!
• Losing Toenails? Pro-Tech Toe Caps - While training for my first marathon, I found my toes getting blistered. No matter what size shoe or what type of sock I was wearing, I kept getting blisters and I was worried about my toenails falling off, so I picked these up! You just slip one over your "toe of concern", slip on your socks, and away you go! I swear by them (Charm City Run and REI sell them)
• Got dat plantar faciitis? Feetures Plantar Faciitis Sleeve - When I had Plantar Faciitis so bad I could barely walk, I slipped this sock on and I felt immediate relief . I haven't run in it, but I do wear it on a regular basis, and even with flip flops when I want to take a ride on the wild side
• Chafing? Try Body Glide . I saw track girls using this in high school and grabbed a stick for myself and use it for every run in the summer. I just did a 10K last week with it on and had no chafing - even after running through sprinklers! Just an FYI - there really is no difference between the ladies version of Body Glide except it's more expensive and you get less. If Body Glide doesn't work for you, try Under Armour 7" Compression Shorts . When I get the infamous chub rub and it's so bad Body Glide won't work, I wear these suckers and they work wonders!

Nutrition

• Clif Shot Bloks - I've tried Gus, bars, you name it. Shot Bloks are the only thing that sit with my tummy well, regardless of what I've eaten. Favorite flavors : CranRazz, Strawberry, Tropical Punch, Mountain Berry, and for my long runs in the summer the Margarita one is great (3x the sodium).

2013 Arbutus Firecraker 10K

Almost two weeks ago I lost one of my best friends, Lew Goode, to brain cancer. When his family and I were talking about ways to commemorate him, we decided to do the Arbutus Firecracker 10K in memory of him. I had always steered clear of this race because of the heat and the hills, but this year I decided to give it a try.

The sky looked a little iffy before we started - I thought it was going to downpour but the sun wound up coming out right at the start. I wound up "running into" a lot of runners I've sold shoes to at Charm City Run - kinda cool to see them enjoying something I helped them pick out! I even ran with one customer for a good amount of time. Throughout the race we were greeted with sprinklers and old ladies squirting us with hoses. This was an AWESOME race and I would recommend it to everyone - it is definitely one I will do every year. At the end of the race, there was a bunch of food - hot dogs, watermelon, oranges, you name it. Great race, fast times.

Martin & I at the finish...
I finished in 55:44 and came in 50th place!

Overall rating? A.

Main complaints? None

Favorite parts? The friendliness of the crowd!

Communication before the race? N/A (I signed up at packet pickup)

Expo? N/A

Premium? B+. Red tech tee- off brand, sleeves were awkwardly long, but the design was nice!

Water Stops/Aid Stations? A+. The aid stations, sprinklers, and hoses made the course bearable on such a hot day!

Finisher's Medal? N/A

Finisher's Festival? A. Thanks for the fresh fruit!

Would I run this race again/recommend it to anyone? Definitely! Great local race for the 4th

2013 North Face Endurance Challenge DC: Half Marathon

Have you ever questioned your reasoning behind signing up for a race? You know it's going to be a tough race when that happens. When I signed up for the North Face Endurance Challenge, I know it was going to be hard, especially since it was a trail run. But did I really know what I was signing myself up for? I don't think so. First, we had to part in some random business park to be bused to the park where we would run (right by Great Falls) and then from there we had to walk about a mile to the start. Once the race started, we ran through the woods - all trails, which was really nice because we were out of the sun. There were only two aid stations the entire run - which left quite a few runners in a pickle that were running this as their first half marathon. Luckily, I stopped by REI the night before and picked up a water bottle belt that had two huge water bottles and a pouch for treats. Those margarita flavored shot bloks really were great when I was quite parched out there on the trail. There was a girl that was breathing really heavily and couldn't catch her breath, so I stopped and gave her one of my water bottles and some shot bloks. Hope she was okay!

The uphills were so intense that you had to walk up most of them, and by the time you got to the top, you had no option but to walk the downhills to catch your breath! There were course markers, but no mile markers (which was fine with me) so I felt like I was in the woods literally forEVER. At one point I even felt like Forrest Gump! Ha!

I loved my Brooks Cascadia 8's that I ran in, too. This was my first long run in them. Loved them! They came in handy on the trails and when we had to run across streams. There was one point in the run when a lady had a brand new pair of Saucony Ride's on and kept slipping on her way up the riverbank, so I had to literally pull her up the hill. PHEW

Me at the finish

finished: 486/773

finishing time: 3:00:23

finished: 486/773

finishing time: 3:00:23

" There is a God!"

The finish line was great - until it started to rain :(. After getting some pretzels and my free beer, I hopped on the bus to go back to the random business park we were parked in. I think they could have done a little better of a job with the tech tees we got and also our medals were kinda junky. Oh well, there's always next race :). ALSO! Turns out the race was 14.5 miles... there was apparently trail maintenance that none of us knew about but they emailed us the Thursday after the race to tell us...thanks?

Overall rating? B. It was a trail run so it was kind of hard to base it off of anything else

Main complaints? The course was long, the premium & medal could have been better

Favorite parts? The views and it was a branded North Face run

Communication before the race? A

Expo? C . It was a pain in the badonk to drive into Georgetown on a Thursday or a Friday to pick up my packet at the North Face store. 

Premium? C. Okay, they did give us a free pair of Smartwool socks, but don't make me drive way out of my way and then tell me if I want my shirt screen printed I could pick it up after the race...

Water Stops/Aid Stations? D. If you didn't have your own hydration/nutrition, you were basically screwed. They had one water stop at mile 2 and one at mile 11.

Finisher's Medal? C. Paid an awful lot of money for a boring medal

Finisher's Festival? A.Thanks for the beer!

Would I run this race again/recommend it to anyone? Not to newbies, but definitely for someone who is looking for a challenge.

2013 Maryland Half Marathon

This year was the first year that I ran consistently throughout the winter months. Maybe it was because I graduated from college back in December and needed an outlet for all of my stress... or maybe it's because I started working at a running store? Who knows! But. I must say, I'm not sure it was the best decision because I wound up getting a bad case of plantar faciitis and was confined to pool running (literally running in the deep end of the pool) for almost 2 months. It sucked! I was able to keep my fitness up so when I was able to go back and hit the pavement again it really wasn't that bad.

When I was looking for a half marathon to run in May, I was debating between doing the Maryland Half or the St. Michael's Half. Hills vs flat. Who would choose hills? I guess I did haha. I've run the Baltimore Half three times before and people told me that if I could handle the hills in Baltimore, I could handle the hills in the Maryland Half -- LIES. The Maryland Half was by far the hilliest half that I have run in my entire life. I actually cried on one of the uphills. I also learned to not eat my typical Saturday morning bagel with cream cheese and iced coffee with skim milk from Dunkin Donuts -- that came back to haunt me at about mile 5.

At about mile 10, we returned to the Maple Lawn community and I have no idea why I thought we were done the race... we definitely weren't. It started to downpour at mile 11 and then we finally made it to the finish. There was free beer at Looney's afterwards for all of the finishers, but I don't think anyone really knew about it because there were only 10 of us from the race there.

Finished 407/1084

Finish time:

02:09:03.5

Finished
407/1084

Finish time: 

02:09:03.5

Although the money for the race did go to a good cause, I don't think I would ever do the Maryland Half again. Too hilly! (I'm not usually the one to complain about hills, either!) Also, the race was longer than it was supposed to be - was 13.35.

Overall rating? B

Main complaints? Super super super hilly. 

Favorite parts? The premium and free beer at my favorite local bar (Looney's) afterwards! Dunkin Donuts was even there with free donuts

Communication before the race? A

Expo? Packet Pickup in your local Charm City Run store

Premium? A. Under Armour gender-specific tee

Water Stops/Aid Stations? A .

Finisher's Medal? N/A

Finisher's Festival? A. Free beer and donuts and the usual bananas etc

Would I run this race again/recommend it to anyone? Eh.. it was okay...

2013 Sole of the City 10K

My good friend Katie & I at the start of the race

In the wake of the bombing of the Boston Marathon, many of us runners were wondering what we could do to help those directly affected. Some of us prayed, others of us donated money, and some of us even just laced up our good ole running shoes and went for a run.

The Sole of the City 10K was about two weeks after the bombings up in Boston, so obviously security was a little tighter. It was pretty much the same course as years past, and I did set a personal record for a 10K in this race. Woohoo! Of course I enjoyed the free beer afterwards! The sandwiches weren't as good as they were last year, but I love the premium - so comfy and can be worn everywhere!

Finished:  884/2770

Time:

56:26.3

Finished:  884/2770

Time:

56:26.3

Overall rating? A

Main complaints? None

Favorite parts? The premium!

Communication before the race? A

Expo? Packet pickup at your local Charm City Run Store

Premium? A. Under Armour long-sleeved embroidered full zip yoga jacket - super comfy!

Water Stops/Aid Stations? A . Definitely frequent enough and well stocked! Wish they had used paper cups instead of plastic cups

Finisher's Medal? N/A

Finisher's Festival? B. The beer was great, but we had weird wraps .. not boxed lunches like last year :(

Would I run this race again/recommend it to anyone? YES Defeinitely.

2013 Kelly Shamrock 5K

Before the start

My first 5K in almost 2 years! Just like the Baltimore Half, I helped a good friend and his family train for this 5k. I stayed with him the whole time! We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather. The post race beer was exciting , too . Thanks Charm City Run!

I finished 1891 out of 4241, my bib number was 2513, and my time was 31:03

Downhill at the start

Me with Ellen & Katie, two XC running buddies from high school!

Overall rating? A

Main complaints? None

Favorite parts? The fun atmosphere

Communication before the race? A

Expo? A. Packet pickup was at your local Charm City Run store, which was very convenient 

Premium? B. Brooks tech shirt, gender specific, but the women's cut is always short...

Water Stops/Aid Stations? A. Just the right amount for a 5K. Wish they had used paper cups though!

Finisher's Medal? N/A

Finisher's Festival? A+ . Unlimited beer :)

Would I run this race again/recommend it to anyone? Yup, especially since the St. Patty's Day parade is right afterwards

Philadelphia Marathon 2012

If there was any race that I feel like I did everything right for, it was the Philadelphia Marathon 2012. It all started with my train ride up to Philly from New Carrollton ... it was my first time taking the train from New Carrollton (normally I would metro from College Park to Union Station and pick up Amtrak there). Well let me back up a little bit .... my 21st birthday. The Philadelphia Marathon was on November 18th....my 21st birthday was on November 13th. When I first signed up for the race, I told myself that I was going to wait to go out for my 21st until Thanksgiving. Why? I have no idea. After talking with my friends, they guilted me into going out for my 21st and boy oh boy - that was the best idea all of training! Thanks to Looney's Pub of College Park, MD for a great night. 

The days leading up to the marathon I honestly wasn't too stressed out like I had been for my first full marathon. Training had gone really well and I had one 20-miler in the tank, and countless 13-16 mile runs. I felt ready to go! The day I was heading up to Philly (Saturday) was also the last Senior Football game at UMD and there was a huge senior tailgate before the game with free drinks from the school...so what did I do? Had my fill of bottomless mimosas :) . I ran into some old friends, got a picture with Testudo, and went back to my apartment and did some last minute packing for the marathon! My friend was supposed to pick me up and give me a ride to the train station....but he was over 20 minutes late, and I almost missed my train! By the time I got to Philly, I was ready for bed. I went to the Expo, got my packet, and then went to the California Pizza Kitchen and had some  yummy food & wine...then off to bed! 

I believe the race started at 7 - I was up at 5:30 and out the door by 6...at the start of the race by 6:30. Met some guy named Ben when we were in line for the bathroom and wound up running the race with him. I kept a 9:35ish pace the whole race! I didn't even run with music for the first half ( I had Ben to talk to), and I'm pretty sure I didn't munch on any Clif Shotbloks until after the 13.1 mark! Something that I found kind of odd was that the half marathoners & marathoners started at the same time...but then the half marathoners peaced out at mile 12.9 for the finish. I honestly wasn't the biggest fan of that because then you have to run the next 13.3 by yourself and that's kind of depressing to think about when you're only halfway done...

Mile 18; when I realized I was going to
break my life goal!

I was cruising. I hit mile 18, looked at the clock, looked at my split time sheet I had taped around my wrist, and then looked at the clock again -- I was ~20 minutes ahead of schedule...I was going to break my lifetime goal of 4:30!!!!!! We ran through Manayunk and a guy asked me if I wanted a beer and I said YES! From that point on, I just ran like the wind; never hit the wall and I felt amazing. Mile 23 was about the time my hip started to hurt and I was ready to be done running - I felt like I had been running forever.  I gave the last few miles all I had left and had a great finish - even high-fived the Mayor of Philly! Great post race party and tons of food. I even remember joking around with the one guy that was giving out Gatorade that I wouldn't accept any from him because he had Steelers gear on. I got my medal, found my friend, and off we went back to her house where I took a nice long shower and we went and had bottomless mimosas for lunch. I took a train back that night and it was kind of funny because everyone that had run the marathon was hobbling their way on the platform. It was kind of hard to get up the next morning - my whole body ached, but I was able to muster up enough energy to go for a ~2 mile run to loosen things up (at like a 13 minute mile pace). Would highly recommend this race!

Overall rating? A

Main complaints? No Under Armour tech tees (those are still my favorite :)) and I don't think there were Philly pretzels at the finish as promised (maybe there actually were and I'm forgetting 7 months after the run haha)

Favorite parts? My favorite two parts of the marathon were probably mile 13 and mile 26. Why? Because of the large crowds cheering for you! I also loved how they played music from Rocky at the start and the finish. It's fun to run through a big city with tons of people cheering for you!

Communication before the race? A

Expo? A. Tons of vendors!

Premium? B+. The color is kind of boring (gray), but I liked how it was gender specific and wasn't too busy (had the marathon logo on the front and the map of the marathon on the back)

Water Stops/Aid Stations? A . Definitely frequent enough and well stocked!

Finisher's Medal? A - pretty awesome! Nice ribbon, heavy medal!

Finisher's Festival? B+. Loved how it was right at the finish line, was kind of bummed there was no beer!

Would I run this race again/recommend it to anyone? YES!

Placed 6451 out of 11427. Bib # 11628 Age: 21 Official Finishing time: 4:17:31

Placed 6451 out of 11427. Bib # 11628

Age: 21

Official Finishing time: 4:17:31

Overall rating? A

Main complaints? None

Favorite parts? The entire race!

Communication before the race? C - I wasn't sure about packet pickup and I would check the website multiple times for answers...but they were never there. I eventually broke down and emailed the race director and had my question answered

Expo? A. Huge and had tons of vendors!

Premium? A. EnduraFit gender-specific long sleeve shirt with the course map on the back. The color was gray...

Water Stops/Aid Stations? A . Definitely frequent enough and well stocked! 

Finisher's Medal? A+. 

Finisher's Festival? B+. They didn't have beer :(

Would I run this race again/recommend it to anyone? YES!