Loving Larabars!!

Last week a good friend from high school came for a visit! We grew up one town apart, but now she lives on the other side of the country. I hadn't seen her since I was pregnant with my daughter, who is now 7!!

It was a great visit! She is also a runner, who recently finished her first marathon and is training for her second. We even got to go for a run together, which was such fun!

While she was here, she introduced me to Larabars and I am now head-over-heels in love! I bought these flavors last week and loved them all!




The main ingredients are nuts and dates. There are VERY few ingredients in each one, but that taste delish! For example, the pb&j one has dates, peanuts, unsweetened cherries and salt....and that is it!! I ate one for a quick breakfast on the go this morning and it was delish and filling. I HIGHLY recommend these....gotta get more at the store tomorrow!

Running at Night

First of all, thank you to everyone for all of your positive and encouraging comments about my back injury....they made me feel so much better and motivated and inspired me...you guys rock!!!!

I ran 5 miles on Sunday with little to no back pain....yeah!

This summer has been CRAZY trying to fit everything in. There are so many things I want to do with the kids and only so many hours in the day. Tonight by the time I was able to get for a run it was getting dark.

Luckily....I was just down in NYC to visit my sis and picked this up at a running store:

An Amphipod light! The light I had been wearing around my arm was not very bright. I got it for free at a race and knew I needed something brighter. This light looked great in the store and when I got home and compared the 2 side by side the amphipod was clearly MUCH brighter. I wore it around my ankle and it was very comfortable.

My neighborhood is very residential so I am comfortable running at night. My only issue is making myself as visible as possible to drivers. I wore the amphipod light, carried a flashlight and wore a reflective vest. My only issues with the vest is there is very little reflective surface on the back and although I run on the left side of the road, I still worry about the cars coming up behind me.

Anyone else run at night??? Any helpful tips for me???

My back

So...I have talked about having back problems before and figured I would share some details. I wonder if anyone has gone through anything similar.

About 2 years ago I was reaching forward and felt something pull in my back and all of a sudden my back was in spasm. It was really painful and difficult to walk, but resolved itself after a week or so. The same thing happened in January during training for my half, but this time took at least 2 weeks before I was back to running.

After my half I started having back pain again, but not the same kind as before. I am a PT, but currently taking a few years off to stay home with the kids. I was able to successfully treat myself the first 2 times. This time I was just not seeing enough improvement and decided to go see a friend from school work is an orthopedic specialist and works with a lot of athletes.

He evaluated me and decided my problem was currently with my SI (sacroiliac) joint. I have a lot of weakness in my back, hips and abdominals and his theory is that after running a few miles I get the pain because my muscles are fatiguing and my form gets bad. He taped me and I went for a run and it helped a lot, but I found out I was allergic to the tape. :(

Right now I am wearing a soft brace for running and activity. I am doing a LOT of strengthening work for my hips, back and abdominals. When I go for PT, once a week, the PT stretches me and does some joint mobilization.

I do see an improvement, but I still get the pain at times. Speed work is difficult to do...I have to only speed up moderately or else the pain starts. I know it will take a while, but I am so not patient!!

Anyone else ever have to deal with back pain and a running injury???

Winners!

I apologize for the delay in announcing the winners....things have been CRAZY here! End of the school year stuff has been keeping me busy...I just can't ever seem to say "no". Anyone else have that problem?? Also, Bubby turns 4 this weekend, which means 20 kids at an inflatables party and then family/friends/neighbors over for a BBQ...so busy!

On to the winners!!! Since I am totally low-tech, I put the names in a hat and had my husband pick 2.

And the winners are.....






Beth and Alanna!!! Beth, your name was picked first, so contact me and let me know which Bondi band you would like. Alanna, you get the remaining Bondiband. Please e-mail me at:
sazpt1 at yahoo dot com with your address and I will send it out to you. Congrats ladies!!!

My First Giveaway!!!

I recently bought a Sweaty band and posted about how much I loved it. I figured to be fair, I would also try a Bondi Band.

I got mine in the mail the other day, just in time for some REALLY humid weather. I have curly hair, which tends to get WILD in the humid weather. So..I put my hair up in a pony, slipped on the Bondi Band and headed out for 5 very sticky miles.

The result is...I LOVED it!! It is wider than the sweaty band, but did a very good job of keeping my crazy hair in place. It was very comfortable to wear and stayed right in place.

Here I am rocking one after my run.

So...in honor of the fact that I am shocked to now have 109 followers...I am giving away 2 Bondi Bands!!! One is black with pink dots and one is a blue zebra.

To enter, just either be or become a follower and leave me a comment to let me know. For another entry, post a link to my giveaway on your blog and leave me a comment to let me know.

You can enter until midnight on Friday and then I will draw 2 winners. The first name I draw with get first choice of which one you would like and the second name gets whichever one is left.

Hooray for Bondi Bands!!

Rail Trail 5K race report

This past Saturday I ran in a local 5K. The location was the rail trail where I normally train, so I know it well. I had debated all week about whether or not to run it, given my current back injury. I had had an awful run the Tuesday before and had to stop due to back spasms. On Thursday I had a fair, but slow, run.

Last year I had PRed at this race. It was difficult to go back this year and run it knowing I would be much slower. But...I decided that the day I don't do a race because I worry it won't be my fastest is the day I need to hang up my running shoes. I need to remember that I run because I truly love it and not let my competitive self get in the way.

I decided to go ahead and run it and try to stuck to around 10 minutes miles, because it seems the faster I go the worse my back is.

I arrived to the race about 20 minutes prior to the start. It was a very small race...just over 100 people and completely flat, out and back course. I grabbed my packet, put on my number and started my warm-up.

Before I knew it, we were off. It was very hard at the start to stick to 10:00 miles. I wanted to take off and run my best, but didn't want my back to give out in the middle, so I stuck to my pace.

By the time I made it to the halfway turn-around I was sore, but it was manageable. I kept on chugging along. By the time I hit 2 miles I picked up the pace a bit. I ran the last 1/2 mile at my normal 5K pace and was sore but able to finish it. My final time was 29:42....a far cry from last year's 26:52. But, I was glad I got out there and stuck it out.

About 1/4 mile from the end there was a man collapsed on the side of the course being loaded onto a golf cart to be taken to the ambulance at the finish. He was a tall, built guy and was a complete rag doll at the time...4 large men struggled to get him on. My guess is dehydration. It was very hot and humid. Kind of a scary finish to the race.

So...not the most interesting race report. I have since the race been fitted for an SI support and ran with it yesterday and my back felt great, which is awesome. I will talk a little more about my back injury and PT in my next post. :)

Here I am after the race:

I won!!

I actually won a giveaway!!! Julie, over at Julie's Running Blog, hosted a giveaway and I won one of the smaller prizes. The package arrived yesterday and let me tell you, it made my day! Presents in the mail just rock!!

The package had everything below...a sweet card, 2 gels, beans and a Starbucks gift card, which will certainly come in handy, since I am there every day! Thanks Julie!! If you don't already follow her, check out her blog...I love reading it!



I have been to PT twice now for my back pain. After the first session of stretching, manipulation, modalities and taping, it felt great. Unfortunately I am allergic to the tape and have to stop that. By yesterday I had to stop a run after 2 miles. I was disappointed, but determined to stick with the treatment plan and my exercises.

I have been doing more cross training. I have a hybrid Trek bike and took it out for a ride today. I really enjoyed it! I need to invest in some gloves and cycling shorts. Anyone have any suggestions for the cycling shorts?? I am definitely a bike newbie.