Recap of the 2nd Annual Brandon Feyler Memorial 5k

I had an awesome time at the race yesterday and I think all the racers did too! This was the second year of the race, but I still found a couple things that I want to change for the following year. There weren't any problems throughout the day though and the rain held off!

If you missed the post previous to this here's the link: Brandon Feyler Memorial 5k  That will fill you in a little on why I direct this race :)

Last year, the first year we held the race, was hotter than @#$! even though we started fairly early for a Maine race. It was 90 degrees by the time the runners were coming in around 8:50/9:00 a.m. We only had 24 people register last year.

This year it was misting heavily all morning. (The sun came out when we got home!) The temps were low 60s, and we had 30 people register. I think we would have had more if there wasn't nasty weather. (However, there was also another 5k that day in a neighboring town which drew a decent number of runners too.) We did have walkers at this race too, and I'm thinking of advertising to gain more walkers next year and having a start time for the walkers separate from the runners.

Before the morning even started I was woken from my deep slumber by my 4 year old, Elijah, crying in my bathroom because he had gotten sick. Still not sure what it was, but we both ended up with a short-lived stomach bug. Mine didn't show up until late morning. Needless to say I was up and down all night with the little guy not feeling well and ended up with 4 hours total of sleep. Good thing I wasn't racing! This was a hard way to start the day though.

The boys and I were out the door to head to the school by 5:45 a.m. They were wide awake too! 

My parents, my aunt & uncle (Brandon's parents), Lynn and I set up the tent, tables, water station, the coolers full of water & freezer pops, sliced oranges and set out granola bars. (Thank you to Hannaford for the donation of food & water!)

We had all the packets out and ready, but it was misting so heavily we had to keep them heavy so the waivers people had to sign wouldn't be too hard to write on.

Racers showed up early to register and a couple who had pre-registered DNS, I'm assuming due to weather. The first 25 that registered received a race tee. We did not do race tees last year since it is a big expense if you don't have sponsors to cover it. Since we had more racers this year, I think we will try and get sponsors for next year so we can give out race tees to everyone.

My hubby showed up around 7:45 (he works at night, but was still a trooper and helped out at the water station) and headed down to help my dad.

The race started at 8:00 a.m. sharp at the sound of me yelling "Runners, on your mark, get set, go!"

The course is an out and back run on the road that the high school is on. It's a quick run with some small hills. It's a fast course though. 

Unfortunately I do not have any photos

of the 5k racers/walkers in action. :(

Photos post race:

Handing Darren his gold medal ( he came in at 19:20!)

1st place female:

2nd place male:

2nd place female:

3rd place male:

 My friend Meigan won 3rd place for the women, but she had to leave early. She did awesome though!

 My Gram drawing names for the raffle winners

Laughing because she drew her nephew, my cousin, 

behind her who one the G.C.

Funny kiddos!

We gave out medals to the top 3 male and top 3 female racers. 1st place male and female racers recieved a Nathan Sports water bottle that had Island Boost (I'll be doing a review on this product this week), Nuun, and pink laces (#sweatpink!!). I also raffled off a few more pairs of pink laces, a handheld water bottle, and a $25.00 G.C. to Maine Sport Outfitters (which my cousin ended up winning). 

We also had a kids fun run which my boys, 2 of my cousin's kids, and my Uncle's granddaughter ran in. We gave out participation ribbons to the kiddos at the end.

Kids giving it their all on the fun run:

Brie & Noah pushing it!

Seth running hard

Elijah coming in 4th

Cordelia keeping with it following her dad!

So happy she made it with the "big" kids! :)

All in all we had an awesome time and look forward to next year's race and hopefully having more runners!

This is the link to the results that I loaded for the race: http://www.coolrunning.com/results/13/me/Jun29_Brando_set1.shtml

Do any of you direct a race?

What did you all do this weekend?

                                                               xoxo,

Brandon Feyler Memorial 5k

Tomorrow I direct the 2nd Annual Brandon Feyler Memorial 5k. I started planning this race in the spring of 2011. Originally it was going to be a September race starting that year, but where that was so close to the date that Brandon, or BJ as we called him, passed, we moved it to late Spring of 2012.

I wanted to start this race as a way to honor my cousin, and the funds will be used to provide scholarships to students that will be going into any ocean studies majors in college.

BJ, who was only 17 years old, was on the Candy B II (a scalloping vessel), along with three other crew members, that was lost at sea about 8 hours out from Provincetown, Massachusetts in mid-October of 2003. Various scenarios have been mentioned such as possibly a larger vessel hitting the boat and sinking it, the dragging equipment fetching up and taking the boat under, or possibly a large wave capsizing the boat.

However, nothing was ever found and we will never know what actually happened, and this October will mark the 10th anniversary of this tragic event.

Time seems to have flown by.

On a lighter note...

My cousin was very involved with sports and loved working out at sea, so doing a race in his name and providing scholarships to kids going into ocean studies seems fitting.

The race starts at the high school he attended and is an out and back run on Manktown Rd. in Waldoboro, Maine.

Last year we only had 24 people race and walk the run. With it being the first year of the race, I wasn't sure what to expect, so I was happy with the turn-out. Only 2 people pre-registered last year, everyone else registered the day of the race.

This year we have had 12 people pre-register and I know of quite a few people coming that are going to register that day. I hope that this is a sign that we will double or even triple the number of registrants compared with last year.

We are giving out medals to the top 3 male and female racers and we have prizes that will be raffled off at the end of the race.

We also made up race tees for the first 25 registrants this year as a way to entice people to sign up. (I think it helped!)

I hope to take lots of pictures tomorrow and give you a recap of the race from my perspective. Not as a racer, but as a director.

Wish me luck!

                                                             xoxo,

Oh, You Mad Cause I'm Stylin'?

Just wanted to let everyone know that -

I finally did it. I went on to www.GoDaddy.com and purchased my own domain www.brittsrunningstyle.com !!!

99 cents for a year! Who can beat that?

I'm glad I did it. However....

I was a little confused on how to get everything to work. It took me a couple hours to finally figure out where to put what codes. After I did it I realized that was a lot easier than I thought and it shouldn't have taken me that long.

I also used www.picmonkey.com to make a more eye-catching header. Like the laces I added on?

Later tonight I am going to put a post up about what I have going on this weekend.

That's it for my quick check in this morning! Thanks for stopping in :)

Have you purchased your own domain?

                                                               xoxo,

Too Much Fun = Delayed Long Run

Friday I got out of work and went to the beach! My first time to the beach this year. It was great. It was really quiet there, maybe 10 other families. Chris, Elijah and I went for the afternoon when I got out of work. The weather was perfect. I had one of Shipyard's Melonheads. It was delicious. Chris & I relaxed in the sun while Elijah ran around collecting crabs and building sand castles. We spent a few hours that way.

Pizza @ Luscia

Getting some sun on these pasty white things

Pure Beach Happiness

On the move! Looking for crabs in the seaweed

After this we went home and did some chores around the house followed by more relaxation. It was a good way to end the day. 

I did not run on Friday. It was a pure rest day!

On Saturday chores ensued again. This was followed by an evening downtown in Rockland celebrating the Summer Solstice. The street gets closed down and it's a big PARTY! There are vendors along the street. All the shops stay open late and there are various bands and entertainers for all ages to listen to and watch. At this point we got Noah and the four of us had a blast eating fried dough, french fries & ice cream. Have to indulge once in a while, right!?

Crowd on Main St.

Ladies doing Zumba in the street :)

Kids looking at the boats and getting balloons

This year they had the first Summer Solstice 5k. They plan on making it an annual event and the funds raised go to the Go! Malawi fund. In 2012 this organization provided private tuition for education to 60 orphaned children under the care of mid-coast native, Janet Littlefield, including 2 who attend Hebron Academy where Janet and her husband Bill now teach. 

There are actually a series of races throughout the year in this area that the funds go towards. It's an awesome organization!

Shot of the racers

I did not race this because I had the plan of running 10 miles the next morning fairly early.

However, this did not happen. The kids and I never woke up until 9 a.m.!

I don't set an alarm on the weekends because I always am up by 6 or 7. By 9 it was way to hot out to run 10 miles. I decided to put it off until the evening. That was a mistake.

I ended up only running 3 miles that evening. What the heck was I thinking?! 

I only had this long run and one more to complete before my half on 7/14/13. I needed to get it in. 

Come Monday morning I was determined that I would fit those 10 miles in somehow.

On my lunch break I was able to pump out 6.5 on the treadmill. This was perfect and I ended right when my 1:00 patient was showing up. I was able to slip into my swim suit, rinse off & jump into the pool with her. 

I wasn't able to run outside because I wasn't sure if I would make it back in time. Having a gym at work is super handy. 

Last night I fit my additional 3.5 miles in outside on a loop near my house. By this time it had cooled down and wasn't so humid. There was a nice cool breeze coming in off the ocean for the entire run. It was perfect.

After this I was finally able to relax with the rugrats and cool down with a freezer pop!

Popsicles! So hot!

We don't have an A/C unit. :( The hot days are so far and few between it just doesn't make sense to have one in our house. So we cool down with fans and popsicles!

Have you tried Shipyard's Melonhead?

Do you have an A/C unit in your house?

Have you ever skipped a long run and had to make up for it on a work day? Do you ever break your long runs up into two parts like I did?

Does your town have a Summer Solstice Celebration?

(Lots of questions, but I love reading your answers!)

                                                                xoxo,

This Always Makes Me.....

I was looking through funny running memes tonight on 

Google and came across this one:

Elf always makes me laugh. I don't know how many times I've seen it. And I usually watch it for the first time as soon as Halloween has gotten by us. (I love Christmas!) 

It got me to thinking that doing a post on things that always make me feel a certain way would be interesting and a unique way for you to get to know me a little more. 

So, without further adieu:

This always makes me laugh:

I can't get over this part. I really want to know what it feels like to

squish pop-tarts into spaghetti covered in Hershey syrup. hehe

This always makes me relax:

My favorite flavor is made by Twinings - Chamomile Honey & Vanilla

This always makes me feel @ home:

This is an obvious one. Love him!

This always makes me cry:

I have watched it a few time and really liked 

Michael Clarke Duncan as an 

actor. He will certainly be missed!

This always makes me tired:

I think my lunch starts to finally settle around this time,

and then I'm usually in the pool for a couple hours on 

some days at this time with patients. It's hot in there, I start

to yawn, and I just need to go take a nap. It's ridiculous!

This always makes me sick to my stomach:

If it was a smoothie without milk I might feel differently.

But strawberry milkshakes always make my stomach

ache. I think I had the flu once when I had one. Bad

memory association or something!

This always makes me feel great:

This is an obvious one too, and I assume most of you would agree :)

Pick one or two or all of them and let me know what always makes you feel a certain way!

                                                                xoxo,

Aspiring to Inspire

I am now a sweat pink ambassador as you can see from the upper left corner of my blog! :)

I love that we can connect on so many social networks and use these companies to inspire and affect other people's lives.

In just a few short months I have gained a good group of followers on here, Twitter and Facebook.

Not only do I try to inspire and encourage through these sites, I use them to motivate myself.

I read a few (or a ton of) blog posts each morning or night and I am continually motivated to get out and be fit, sweat, feel the runners high, and be overcome with an excellent feeling of exhaustion.

I never feel more in the now than while I'm running, and I never feel more at my best than right after my run has ended.

In addition to being inspired to keep putting one foot in front of the other I have been shown that I need to branch out and cross-train to keep this body fit.

I have found a love for weight training and yoga, and I hope to be getting back into cycling soon.

(I think this is my very first post sans photos.)

Tell me what you have found a love for fitness-wise.

When do you feel your best?

                                                               xoxo,

Healthy Habits

Here is a little recap of yesterday:

They actually did it and initiated it! :)

Chris had a good father's day :) He enjoyed his foot rub and breakfast sandwich that the kids helped make. He was very impressed with their homemade gifts which I failed to take a picture of to show you :/ .....And

he was very happy with his new chain saw.

I did get my 8 mile run done early (before the kids got up)! I was out the door by 6:30 to meet S & it ended up being more like an 8.5 miler.  My foot went numb around mile 4 & so changed my stride & tried pushing off with the ball of my foot more, that made the numbness go away for the rest of the run. 

Then, around mile 6 my hip flexors started getting sore. I haven't been the best about my strengthening. I need to do it more than 1-2 times a week. I also need to stretch the hip flexors daily, which in all honesty I have probably been doing once a week.

My boys have started doing a little workout each night too. They listen to me talk about healthy habits a lot and hopefully see that I lead by example. We talk about eating right, getting 5-7 servings of fruit and veggies into our bodies every day, & about how drinking water/milk is good, but that we should avoid juice and soda. They love playing sports & are very active. I always praise them for this & let them know how happy I am that they are so healthy. 

So I think it was Tuesday that they initiated this workout. They want to do push-ups and sit-ups every night. I said that was fine and that they should pick a day where they rest. They decided on Monday.

Everyday they add 1 push-up on and 1 sit-up on. Yesterday Elijah did 16 push-ups and 20 sit-ups. Noah has been doing whatever he feels like for sit-ups - usually around 40 - 50!?!(One day he did 100 & I told him he probably shouldn't do that too often. lol) of them and he does the same number of push-ups as Elijah.  

Just doing these over a 6 day period they have improved so much. Noah's endurance with the push-ups and his form are great and Elijah is improving too.

I love that they are starting to enjoy exercise and look at it as a fun thing to do. It helps when they can see they are getting better at it and they feel stronger. We write on the calendar what the goal is for the next day, but I don't push them on it. I never want them to look at exercise as anything but fun. I'm LOVING their new-found love of exercise!

If you have kids, do they like to do any exercises?

When did you start looking at exercise as something you enjoy?

                                                                  xoxo,

Super Saturday Style

This is our Super Saturday Style for this weekend:

Woke up late :) Thank you Noah and Elijah for letting Mumma sleep til 8!

I meandered down the hall to see what they were up to and they were playing so nice a quiet. However how did they make this humongous mess without me hearing it?!

So, time to clean up and organize. This took them longer than it should have, but it's all good. Out to the bar to eat some cereal. Saturday always seems to be the day where they finish off the last of some boxes and we get to empty some new cereals into the containers. Today we added Kashi's Heart to Heart Cinnamon and Mom's Best Raisin Bran. Yum :)

Does anyone use these clic-tite containers?

(Found at T.J. Maxx :))

I sent the boys down the hall after to do their usual morning routine:

1. Brush teeth
2. Make bed
3. Get dressed

They did all without a fuss and proceeded to play. Then the arguments and fighting ensued. So, guess what?

Time to kick them outside!

The played outside for hours and did so well we 

decided to make it a picnic lunch at their play-set.

They picked me some flowers too :)

(We are trying to get them to turn purple w/ a little food coloring.)

Chris works at night, as you may have read in previous posts, so trying to get the boys to stay fairly quiet so he can sleep in is a must. It is also very hard to do!

When Chris got up, he left for the day with his bf Colin to go get fitted for suits for Colin's wedding in August. They decided to buy suits instead of rent tuxes. Every 30+ year old should have a suit in the closet right? 

So with Chris gone for the day my run is not going to happen until this evening.

However, this leaves the boys and me time to plan for tomorrow without Chris overhearing.

Tomorrow is Father's Day. My parents are camping so I won't see my dad until the afternoon. However in the morning Elijah and Noah have a whole series of things planned for their daddy, including:

• Making breakfast (of course) for the family
• Massaging dad's feet with some lotion (this was their idea, good thing Chris isn't ticklish with those little hands touching him)
• Giving their homemade gifts and cards to him
• Doing chores for him

We are going to cook breakfast sandwiches and make some corn muffins and some fruit salad.

Have you bought this mix at Trader Joe's?

(So Good!)

I also am meeting my bestie tomorrow morning very early to pump out my 8 mile long run I need to do before our Father's day adventured begin. Looking forward to this run!

Super Saturday Style may be sticking around :) 

Let me know what your Saturday Style is.

Do you have anything planned for tomorrow?

Tell me about your runs too!

                                                                 xoxo,