ashleyd /

Thank You Giveaway

Happy Friday friends!

There is so much to be happy about today.

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  • My 15 mile long run is already complete. Yup, I woke up at 5:30 this morning to get my run done bright and early. Six hours of sleep and a restless night didn’t make waking up easy but man do the views make up for it! I can’t lie, I have a little bit of swagger in my step during the day when I know I ran 15 miles while most of my colleagues were eating breakfast.
  • I get to unexpectedly travel to Athens, Greece this weekend. A last minute business meeting requires me to be in Athens early Sunday through Tuesday evening. As Bo nor I have been there before, we are heading there tomorrow morning so we can squeeze in some sight seeing before my meetings start!
  • You all amazing people helped me reach a social media goal this week. I haven’t shared my goals with many people but one of my top goals for this year was to increase my reach on a few social media sites. My first focus was Twitter as this is my favorite form of social media. Over the years it’s helped us gain tips and tricks while traveling, introduced me to one of my best friends and provided me with a wealth of knowledge. My big, hairy audacious goal was to reach 6,000 followers, naturally. I say naturally because we all know that these days you can pay for anything. I wanted to spend more time, when possible, engaging with followers and building a relationship. The focus paid off and yesterday morning I crossed the 6,000 follower mark.

In honor of this and to thank each and every one of you for your support these past few months, I wanted to host a giveaway today. This giveaway is one that I’m paying for out of my own wallet. It wasn’t planned until my 12 of this morning’s run.

This giveaway includes a few of my favorite things for the RUNNERS who follow along.

  • A bottle of your favorite POWER NAIL POLISH COLOR.  I fully believe that every goal race needs to include spirit nails. I already know that I want to wear OPI Deutsch You Want Me Baby on my nails for the Berlin Marathon.
  • One year’s subscription to either Runners World or Women’s Running magazine in your country. If you already have a subscription to both of these then take this opportunity to gift it to a friend!
  • An I RUN THIS BODY shirt or tank from Dorothy’s Dream Big, Run Long shop. This is the perfect shirt to wear for any occasion – cross training, running, recovery, expos, or just running errands. You even get to choose your favorite color!
  • A RUN ALL DAY shirt or tank from Pavement Runner’s shop! I am in love with the purple t-shirt and can’t wait to wear this come November.

One lucky reader will receive all of these items. Please note that the RUN ALL DAY shirts ship in November, so there will be a delay in when you receive this.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Fall Fashion 2014 – Fabulous Sales

The last thing I want to do when Bo and I are back in the United States is spend time shopping. Don’t get me wrong, there was a time when I loved nothing more than spending the afternoon with a girlfriend shopping. After my first trip back the US last October where I spent nearly a half day looking for a pair of tall brown boots only to realize that finding a pair of wide calf size 11 boots in stock is virtually impossible, I’ve switched almost entirely to online shopping.

I have done very little shopping over the past year, instead choosing to spend money almost entirely on travel. But, my Fall wardrobe needs a few key pieces along with some pops of fun thanks to fluctuating sizes. I’ll never complain about losing weight or getting leaner, especially during marathon training, shopping can get expensive.

When I saw that three of my favorite stores (Nordstrom, JCrew Factory, Piperlime and Ann Taylor Loft)  were having Labor Day sales, I immediately clicked over and spent an hour last night perusing their sites. Below is what I ended up adding to my closet for Fall. What is on your wish list?

You can click on each image to go directly to the site.

Some of the links above are affiliate links via ShopSense. I thank you for clicking and hope that this method of featuring fashion items makes shopping the selection easier for you!

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Berlin Marathon Training–Week 6

The month of September is just around the corner. I can’t believe the marathon is this close! There are moments when I’m excited and then there are other moments when my fear of failure replaces all the positive emotions. Anyone who has been reading this blog for a while knows that last year’s marathon went less than stellar. My first, NYC in 2010 was incredible. My 3rd, 2012 Philadelphia Marathon, was so much fun even after the Sandy craziness. So, since I seem to have an every other year trend going with marathons enjoyment and performance, this year, number 5, is meant to be great.

Right now, I’m spending time planning our trip to Berlin instead of stressing over the marathon. We’re looking at the river cruises as a Saturday activity since it will be SEATED and I refuse to kill my legs touring Berlin the day before the marathon. Did you know Berlin has more than 900 bridges?

So, let’s take a look back at last week’s training, shall we?

Monday: I woke up unexpectedly sore EVERYWHERE so I took an unplanned rest day other than my 5 minute workout.

Tuesday: I didn’t expect evening speed intervals to go well but this workout surprised me! In fact, the repeats felt a bit too easy so I know I need to increase the pace this week! 1 mile warm-up, 3×1000 meter repeat with 200 m jog/walk between, 1 mile cool down.

Wednesday: In my effort to focus on my cross training, especially my arms and abs, I did my 30 minute arms & abs workout again at the office during lunch. I increased the weights this week on the hammer curls to 15 pounds which is proof the weekly workout is helping!

Thursday: The 6 miles I had on my schedule didn’t come easy but the early morning views were worth it!

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Friday: A complete rest day which included working from home, soaking my feet in a tub of Dr. Teal’s Epsom Salt foot soak, lots of foam rolling, my favorite 20 minute yoga sequence, and sporting compression socks all day.

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Saturday: As mentioned in Sunday’s post my 20 mile long run was a tale of two cities. I felt incredible for the first half but then basically hit a wall at mile 15. It was a great reminder of just how crucial pacing is and it gives me a great focus for these next few long runs. As people pointed out, I am blessed to have gorgeous scenery to take my mind off the struggle miles.

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Sunday:  My legs were feeling tight but the gorgeous weather was to nice to not enjoy. I hopped on my bike for a relaxed, 1 hour ride around the lake. My normal path was a bit crowded for my liking but it still felt great to enjoy fresh air and shake out my legs. I also spent some time on the foam roller Sunday evening while we watched Friends.

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How about you? How’s training going? What did you learn from training this week?

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