Apparently I am in marathon training mode again.

Yeah, I just signed up for this yesterday. And I'm going to do it alone.

Let's see what I'm really made of, shall we?

T-minus 14 weeks.

Find your happy pace: Mermaid East Bay Half Marathon

Mermaid Series: Best shirts ever!

After last week's Western Pacific HM, I felt pretty lousy, physically and mentally. I ended up being sick the entire week with a bad cold/sore throat, and I didn't work out at all except for an 8am CrossFit class on Monday (which was awesome, because I PRed my deadlift at 225lbs!!) - no running and no further CrossFit. I was feeling pretty miserable and depressed. My work wife/bestie Lisa kept telling me, "You know this is your body's way of telling you that you've been working too hard, right? You need to stop doing EVERYTHING and just rest." I grumbled about it, but forced myself to rest. (Well, actually, I tried to run Thursday morning. My body just wasn't having it.)

I was even dreading today's race a little bit because of all my time off, and because I was still feeling awful yesterday, and also because I knew it was going to be in the high-80's again, despite the strange cooling off we had this week, and again, Quarry Lakes just doesn't have a lot of cover. But of course I wasn't going to skip it, because 1) my bestie Rebecca was going to be there, and we haven't raced together since Disney World, and 2) I felt like I needed to restore my good name or something. I didn't want to let Quarry Lakes beat me.

Well... I am proud to say that I finished in 2:44:36, which is a brand-new PR!!!!!

How in the HELL did I drop fifteen minutes off my half-marathon time from last week (and ~2:30 off my previous PR)? Here's what was different:

- The weather. It was hot, yes, but a teensy bit less so, and there was a breeze (a SMALL one) that would pick up every now and then. There was also a bit more shade because...

- The course was different. The course in general went in the opposite direction of the WP race course, so we were running in the absolutely-shadeless gravel area early on instead of at the end, rejoined the same trail until mile 5, where it crossed a bridge and ran on the OTHER side of the creek from the WP race course - the tree-lined, asphalt side. Oh glory, hallelujah!! When I saw the turn-off for the bridge, I wanted to kiss the ground. Pavement. SHADE. We stayed on that side of the trail pretty much until mile 12, and I think that was a key difference for me.

- I ran a 5/1 interval. Considering how I've never run this interval before in any practice runs, I think this worked out really well for me. Last week, I had it set to 12/1, because I essentially wanted to take walk breaks only at every mile marker, and that was a colossal fail. I definitely wasn't ready to do that, especially not in that heat/sun. I actually really like this 5/1 interval because it's long enough for me to HAVE to find a comfortable pace I can sustain, but it's not interminably long either. (I have been known to push too hard on a 3/1 because it's pretty short, and then wear myself out because of it.) Aside from hills and water stops, I stuck to my interval pretty strictly until mile 9, stuck to it mostly until mile 11, and then pretty much took it easy for the last two miles. In the future, I'm hoping to be able to stick to it the entire time.

I'm feeling pretty good. I was definitely feeling the heat those last four miles, but aside from that and a little tiredness, my legs feel great. I do have a yucky blister on my foot though, and my throat is super scratchy right now.

I feel quite proud of myself. Considering how horrible I have felt since last weekend, this is a great pick-me-up :) Actually, it would seem that I bookended my week with a pair of PRs :) EXCELLENT.

The announcer lady had a heck of a time trying to figure out my name :)

Me, Becca's friend Tracie (this was her first HM!!), and Becca

Finisher's necklace... though, they didn't give us a chain...

HELLZ YES

Me and Amanda, who ran the 10k

LIKE A BOSS, YO

Next up on the race calendar - the Vibha Dream Mile half marathon in June.

Half marathon #8 on the year... IN THE BOOKS.

For the record, LISA, you were right and God bless you.

Race Recap - Western Pacific Half Marathon

Half marathon number 7 on the year - in the books!

This one was kind of a doozy, and quite unexpectedly so. I've run at Quarry Lakes before (a Mermaid 5k, and as I later realized, the Union City 10k also uses a large portion of the same trail that isn't inside the park area), so I was expecting a fast, flat race. It was definitely flat, and it would've been fast, except I absolutely did not take into consideration the fact that there is very little shade along the entire course. And with the spike in heat we've been experiencing lately, this race (which I had secretly been hoping to PR) became just totally brutal.

In fact, here's how much I did NOT consider the weather:

I don't think I've ever worn sunscreen for a race before (I know, I know!), and today was no exception. I'm actually not really burnt - no pain or anything, though my cheeks are a bright shade of pink. But I was definitely concerned for myself out there.

Even when I wasn't in the sun, it was still super warm, and I have never done well in the heat. I've always preferred colder weather. My one goal for this race was to run the first five miles, but with the relentless sun, I ended up needing to stop a lot. I pushed pretty hard for the first six miles, took it a little easier for the next three miles, and then the last four miles were just torture. I remember looking across the lake at where the finish line was and whining to myself, "I can see you but you're soooo farrrrr!" I was dumping cups of water on my head at the aid tents because I was overheating so much.

I finished in 2:59:02. I was feeling pretty defeated for the last half mile, but there was nothing I could do about the heat.

On the plus side, my legs feel fine. Strong, even. Again, many thanks to Paleo and CrossFit for making me durable.

Next week, I am running the Mermaid Half Marathon East Bay in the exact same place. The course isn't exactly the same, but it's similar enough. So, Quarry Lakes, we will meet again next week and you will be vanquished. I would very much like to finish closer to 2:50 next week. We'll see.

(And, yeah, no more back-to-back weekends after this, I think.)

Happy May!

My eye colors make me think of mermaids.

- UDPP
- UD e/s in Vanilla all over the lid
- UD e/s in Deep End in the crease (use a fluffier crease brush) and blended out with Naked
- UD eye pencil in Perversion along the upper lash line and Mushroom along the lower lash line
- Cover Girl Clump Crusher mascara

If I were to do this again, I would probably apply a white base underneath, just to make the yellow of Vanilla pop more.

Prom night for grownups

I chaperoned. I wanted to dress up, but didn't want to look like a student. I don't know, did I succeed?

Eyes

- UDPP
- Sugarpill Chromalust loose shadow in Tiara all over the lid
- Urban Decay e/s Gunmetal in the crease and a little in the outer corner
- Urban Decay e/s Venus (from Naked Basics) to blend out/highlight
- NYX Roll-On Eye Shimmer in Platinum dabbed onto the center of the lid (p
- Stila Stay All Day liquid liner in black along the upper lash line
- Urban Decay eye pencil in Mushroom along the lower lash line, topped with Mushroom e/s
- Maybelline The Rocket mascara




Lips

Funny thing - I had initially put on OCC Lip Tar in Super NSFW and then changed my mind, but of course, if you know OCC Lip Tar, you know that one does not simply wipe off OCC Lip Tar with a tissue. So I had some bright red residue still on my lips, and then I put on Urban Decay lipstick in Buzzkill, which resulted in the lip look you see here. I don't remember the last time I wore Buzzkill by itself, so I have no idea if it's that bright on its own :)

Face

- UD Naked BB cream
- BeneFit Boi-ing concealer
- UD Naked Skin foundation
- UD Razor Sharp HD powder
- Tarte Amazonian Clay blush in Blushing Bride
- Tarte Park Avenue Princess bronzer to contour

I'm a See Jane Run ambassador!!!

I am absolutely thrilled to announce that I've been selected as a See Jane Run Ambassador for 2013-2014. I'm a particular fan of their race series, and now I officially get to represent them!

Keep an eye out for my SJR blog posts, which will be tagged "See Jane Run," as well as my tweets, which will be tagged #seejanerun.  I am stoked to help support a brand that does so much to empower female runners.

See you on the starting line, Janes!

Whole30 week 2

Checking in:

- Down two pounds, for a total of eleven pounds down. It was weird, I weighed myself every day this week, and it was exactly the same for five days. Then I didn't weigh myself Saturday or Sunday, and weighed myself this morning, and was down two pounds all of a sudden. The moral of this story is that I lose more weight when I'm not weighing myself? Bodies are funny things.

- I didn't really plan out my meals this week, as compared to last week, and luckily, I managed okay. I didn't like not having a plan (just didn't get around to making one), but I'm now glad to know that I can get by without one as well. I will go back to meal planning this week.

- Workouts were hard this week, but I can feel some improvement. I was able to keep a slightly faster pace on my weekday runs than the week before, but Saturday's long run was torturous - I think because I went to CrossFit the night before, and didn't get enough rest. (Normally I run on Sundays, which is two days after my previous run - Thursday - and over a full 24 hours after Friday night CrossFit.) I am recovering much more quickly and experiencing less soreness.

- If we want to split hairs, I wasn't perfectly Paleo this week: I've decided that GU just needs to be a part of my life. I know there are natural-food energy gel alternatives, and it's madness to think that they would irritate my stomach, but I am SO finicky about my running routine. And GUs were meant to be burned off right away on your run - it's not like I sit around snacking on them. Also, I made myself an "iced latte" with almond milk and Starbucks Via instant iced coffee, which does have sugar in it. I didn't drink the whole thing though, because it tasted kind of gross :( I'm sad I wasted so much almond milk. Also, maybe as a result of that iced coffee, I was having stomach aches, and the only thing that settles my stomach is Gin Gins ginger candy.

^ But other than those things, I've been perfectly Whole30. I was hoping to be able to maintain it strictly for an entire 30 days, just to complete the actual challenge on its own terms, but I have two races coming up these next two weekends, and adjustments need to be made. (This wasn't a problem when I did a Whole30 the first time because I wasn't running at the time.) Oh well. We do the best we can, right? Like I said, I've been perfect otherwise.

For fun:

I chaperoned prom this weekend, and wore this yellow dress that I bought ages ago. Here's a picture of me wearing it in December 2011 (two months before I started Paleo for the first time), and a picture of me wearing it again this past weekend (after a year of on/off Paleo, including these last two weeks of Whole30):

Comparison swatches - new Urban Decay eye pencils

Okay - I got a chance to swatch the new UD pencils I got against ones I already have (current and discontinued), and some of the results were surprising!

UD has other greens, of course, but I didn't even bother swatching them because they were nowhere near the same sort of green as Freak. Graffiti is the closest one and it's not even close.

Goldmine is really similar to Eldorado, but Goldmine is more yellow with a hint of sparkle, while Eldorado is more metallic. None of the other ones come close. (Honey is still my favorite though.)

I thought Invasion would look like Mainline, but it's definitely blacker and greener. It looks like the base for LSD, but again, greener.

I thought Scorch would be the easiest to match. Baked is pretty similar, but Scorch is more brown than Baked is. It's probably similar enough that you don't need both. All the other browns are definite browns, and you saw all the other golds above.

I decided to put Vice and Ether in the same swatch photo because they are both purpley. Vice is a deeper, more red-based purple than the other two that you can see here (and those were the two that I thought would come the closest to matching Vice.) Ether looks like Delinquent but with a lighter base and lighter-purple sparkles. Ether's base is actually REALLY REALLY light - lighter than Mushroom, probably, if you're just doing a couple passes. After a few passes, you can start to make it look like Uzi, but you'd have to really layer it on. It is amazingly beautiful though - I'm going to have to figure out how to work that into an eye look.

So there you have it. If you're thinking about getting one (or some, or all) of these particular shades, you can see how they stack up against other colors in UD's past and present.

I'll probably get the remaining six shades a couple at a time. You can expect that as soon as I get new ones, I will swatch them for you too :)