EYELASH EXTENSIONS WINNER!!!

Alright friends, by entering all your entries onto a fresh Excel spreadsheet with assigned numbers and by Random.org, drumroll please...

Our winner is POSH PETALS!!!!  Yay Amber!  Email me and I will schedule you for your free eyelash extensions!

Now, if you are disappointed you didn't win I have a special offer just for you that entered!  A full set of eyelashes for $75!!!  That's an extra ten bucks off of my holiday special!  Call, email or text me and I'll get you in before your holiday parties or pictures! 

Thanks to everyone for entering - I'm sure I'll do this giveaway again.  : ) 

Happy Wintery Monday!

Just a few glimpses of my backyard this morning...  I woke up early to head out to the gym and since all roads were still covered with several inches of snow I quickly settled back into my warm bed.  It's still November but a nice snow storm sure makes it feel like the Christmas season!  I'll try to make it to the gym tonight. : )

Hopefully everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving break.  We had an amazing week filled with food, family and fun.  We had two big Thanksgiving dinners!  So great.  Working on my turkey noodle soup for dinner tonight.  It's the perfect day for soup and rolls.  Mmmm. 

I'm sure a lot of you did local Turkey Trots - it was 12 degrees here on Thanksgiving morning so I opted for the gym instead.  Did anyone go to their gym on Thanksgiving morning?  Holey moley it was like someone said it was the last day ever to go to a gym.  Every machine was in use.  A bit like New Year's Day at the gym.  Everyone gearing up to get their eat on.  ; )

It's officially December in my books.  I'm once again tapering.  It really is an odd feeling to go from recovery week immediately into a taper week.  I'm pretty sure I don't have it down quite right.  I ran 11 miles on Saturday followed by a killer training session with my trainer.  I'm super sore today.  We only did a 30 minute session, but everything was 60 second sprints - tricep dips, deadlifts, bosu push-ups, squats, burpees, sit-ups, and sprints on the stairs.  I'm tellin ya, I'm still hurting today.  Love it!

I've got a crazy week coming up, which I'm sure I'll say every Monday this month, but I will definitely get my miles in. 

Tomorrow morning I'll have the winner for my eyelash giveaway!  You still have today to enter!!! 

Don't be shy - I promise you'll love them! 

And a new giveaway tomorrow - a perfect gift for any runner!  

So fun!

On my to-do list this week...update the blog once again - falling leaves is sooo last season.

Training Tip Tunesday

I have had this song on repeat for the last week. I love it. I'm sure it's going to get old pretty soon, but for now it's putting a little extra kick in my step. While you're watching...check out her awesome lashes. : )

And while we're talking about Rihanna, notice her new red hair...does that remind you of someone?

Uhhh, yeah, I was all over the red hair just a month ago.  If I only knew that I should have added a little more neon red I would have been right in fashion for the winter season.

And today's training tip is really a race day tip...

When running a long distance race, let's say a marathon, even the Rock n Roll San Antonio Marathon, around mile 13 the volunteers start handing out things besides water and sports drink.  Be alert.  Be smart.  If someone hands you something on a large tongue depressor - it's petroleum jelly, not GU.  I had witnessed first hand someone grabbing the stick, looked at it, took a taste, gave it a funny look, shrugged his shoulders and ate the rest!!!!  Haha!  He was a few people up from me so he couldn't hear me giggling from behind him and I couldn't stop him.  That is classic.  Please people, vaseline will not give you the carbs you need to get you through a race. : )

Be safe in your holiday travels this week!  We have a blizzard warning here in affect til tomorrow morning - everyone to stay off the roads and bunker down for the night.  I'll be sure to take pics to share!

And don't forget my giveaway here!  Happy running...

It's Giveaway Time!

One of the questions I get asked a lot is, "How can you afford all these races?"  Well honestly we can't.  So earlier in the Spring I started looking for ways I could earn extra money to pay for races and other running odds and ends.  I had a friend that introduced me to eyelash extensions.  I went to a training class, practiced for many hours, tested and certified.  So now I am a certified eyelash extension professional.  You can take a look at my website to get all the details of how it works.  It's been really great and I've been working on building my clientele list.  Here's a few endorsements I've received so far...

"Dawn is the best out there.  With my beautiful eyelash extensions you'd never know I'd been up all night with my twins.  Oh and my nanny has them too cause she's really the one up at night..."

"With my eyelash extensions it's so much easier to wave them bye-bye to that idiot Tony and say hello to all the other hot dudes out there that think I'm super hot."

"Because of Dawn and my amazing eyelash extensions I sold 180,000 albums this week."



Ok, so maybe I don't live in LA and I don't have celebrity clients - but I have done dozens and dozens of lash sets and they turn out as good as all these.  They're super fun and perfect for all those holiday parties and family pictures this winter season.  My favorite thing about them is that I can just get up and go to the gym, the grocery store, carpool or wherever and I look like I'm ready for the day without a lick of make-up.  Huge time saver and they look better than mascara!  So the good news...

I'm giving away a free of set eyelash extensions! 

A full set usually costs $100!  The bad news...you have to live near me to get them put on.  Or if you're doing a race or live in an area I'm doing an upcoming race at, I can bring my supplies and apply them there!

Here's the rules...Leave a comment for each entry.

Mandatory:

1.  Become a follower of Racing Dawn or tell me that you already are.

2.  'Like' Eyelash Candy on Facebook.

Extra entries:



3.  Post this giveaway on your blog, post it on your facebook wall, tweet it, make an airline ticket and tell me you're on your way...entry for each.

4.  Tell me where you would show off your eyelashes!

The winner will be picked on Monday, November 29th, 2010 at 11:59 pm by random.org.

And fellas don't be afraid to enter and suprise your special someone with a super fun gift! : )

For all you that want to book your appointments now, I'm also running a holiday special now through New Year's.  $15 off a full set and $5 off a fill.  Book now to get in before your holiday parties!

And I promise I won't make you look like this...

The Decision Has Been Made...

I'm off to Arizona for my December race.  Yay!  The warm weather will be wonderful!  The big reason I choose this one...check it here.  I'm not going to lie.  I'm looking for a PR here people.  I need a good strong race before the holidays hit.  I think it's going to take a serious downhill course to give me what I'm looking for.  This race also gives me an extra week to rest/train.  The logistics of Death Valley Trail Marathon was a just a little more than I wanted to deal with this month.  Also the trail/race course can change the day of the race because of weather conditions.  Well and of course I want to have a first hand witness of Emz's belt buckle...  : )

So now we're just deciding who is going with me!  My husband, maybe my mom, maybe just by myself.  I don't know.  December is a hard month to travel - too many festivities going on!  Now on to find a hotel reservartion...

And I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week!  I've been meaning to put my Gratitude List together all month and the time just slips by.  Next week will be my week of gratitude. 

Hope you have a great weekend!

San Antonio - Part II

Now I knew that San Antonio had to be more than the race course that RNR showed me.  So before we left town we decided to go see The Alamo and do a quick tour of some of the historical sights as well as visit The Riverwalk.

I wish we would have gone there at night and see it all lit up but it really was pretty to stroll down the walkway and see all the different restaurants as well as the pretty gardens.

We didn't go on a riverboat cruise but it looked fun.

Don't forget The Alamo.  It was a lot smaller than I thought it would be.  I was suprised how short the surrounding walls were.  Crazy enough, I love history so much more now that I'm older, compared to those high school years.  It was interesting to have a reminder course on Davie Crockett, John Bowie and the battle at The Alamo.

We visited a couple of the missions in San Antonio.  I know it's far away in the pic but it was beautiful to see. This one is Mission San Jose, closed for renovations.

This is Mission Conception.  I believe they said it was the smallest and one of the last built.  Everytime I heard the tour guide say Mission Conception all I could think of was Sister Encarnation from Nacho Libre.  So silly.  And I had the tune...'I am a singing at the party...'

  
We did buy some souvenirs for our kids.  Some T-shirts for the boys and jewelry for the girls.  I really wanted to buy a some Nacho Libre masks but the hubby talked me out of it...

My boys would have probably taken wrestling to a level that I don't need in my house.  So, instead, I can just tell them, 'Go...go read some books.'  : )

With that, adios, San Antonio.

So what did this race teach me?  A couple things that I can think of right now.  First off, I'm a tree-hugger.  I will no longer deny it.  I love trail running, scenic race courses and nature.  I don't mind carrying my own water bottle and I want to save the planet.  I even have some old tie-dyed Grateful Dead tees stacked in my closet somewhere.  I don't mind having to run longer on a gorgeous course.  The race directors said RNR SA was flat and fast.  Nothing could have been further from the truth for me.  I learned that I don't love running along freeway frontage roads, along railroad tracks and old worn out residential areas.   And apparently flat does not equal fast for me.  One thing I'm a little unsure about is whether or not having two races so close together played a role in my poor performance.  I felt I was ready for this race but everytime I tried to speed up there was just nothing there.  Hmmm.

Up next...  I'm not sure.  So here's what the choices are for December.  In three weeks I can do RNR Las Vegas - pretty sure that's not going to happen, Death Valley Trail Marathon, or California Internation Marathon (I missed the registration deadline for CIM, so for a mere $300 I can still register - so basically that's out.)  And then the week after that there is the Tuscon, AZ Marathon.  It's really coming down to Death Valley Trail Marathon the first week of December or Tuscon the second week of December.  I'm thinking I'd like the extra week to rest/prepare/train.  We'll see, I've got to decide in the next couple of days before they sell out those races too!  Any opinions out there on which one I should do?  Or maybe one that I should take into consideration for December?  I'm open for suggestions...



Marathon #6 - Check

Prepare yourselves.  With much council and thought, I've decided not to sugarcoat.  You want the truth, right?  Sorry ahead of time to the people of San Antonio...

My husband travels for work and so one of the reasons I choose this race was so I could travel with him during a work appointment and fit a race in.  This was one of the biggest redeeming qualities of this weekend.  We arrived in San Antonio Saturday afternoon and had to make a mad dash to get to the Expo at the Alamodome before they shut down.  Looks like we made it.  That Expo was crazy busy with people everywhere.  I wasn't much for crowd surfing, so I didn't look too close at all the boothes. 

Before I go any further I have to say that this race took a little more coordinating than the others because I got a weekend away with my husband for this race!  We left our five kids behind with my mom and sister!  I can't thank them enough!  

Back to business...

We had a blogger dinner planned with Tricia, Leah, Crystal, and Adam at an Italian restaurant right in San Antonio.  It was so fun to meet new friends but I wished we could have spent a little more time together because I didn't get to chat with everyone... make sure to check their race recaps too!  Tricia actually got to interview Meb at the Sony booth during the Expo and finished her very first marathon.  So cool.  Hopefully I'll see them at a race in the future!

During dinner I had one of those killer headaches that make you feel like you're going to throw- up.  I know, yuck.  So I didn't even really eat my dinner and took it back to the hotel.  A few hours later and after some doses of tylenol & advil, I felt a ton better - and I was starving.  So we ordered room service and I had a decent carb dinner - club sandwich and fries.  Yeah, I know, not the greatest, but I made do...

Race morning - I got ready on time, arrived at the runner drop off on time and found my corral #.  I was supposed to be in 12 but while at the Expo I visited the Pace Booth and they moved me up to 7 for a 4 hour finish pace group.

Here's the view looking ahead to the start line.  All the hotels downtown had their balconies filled with spectators. Fun.

 

View from behind me.  And the corrals actually wrapped around to the left for another block or two.  30,000 people is a lot.

I thought I felt pretty good that morning.  I did everything the same as I always do.  They staggered the race to help have a smooth start to the race.  However I did feel quite claustrophobic running so close to so many.  It seemed to me that this is what an open water swim in a Ironman race would feel like.  I probably got hit and bumped into over a dozen times.  I'd lift my arm to look at my watch and get hit.  I'd move a half inch to the left and get bumped.  The person to the side of me would check their watch and I'd get bumped.  And then not even a mile in we come to a set of train tracks...

Yes, that is a moving train blocking me and a thousand of my new BFF's trying to run a race.  Had to chill for a couple minutes wondering if this was a sign of things to come.

After the train passed and we started up again, I soon realized that the corral start was just about all for nothing.  Except that I learned that they did hold back at least half of the racers at the start line when they got word of the unscheduled train.  But so hard to run with thousands of people stacked up.

So onto the race.  My legs had no juice.  Even from the beginning.  The goal was 8:45's and 9:00's the first half.  If still feeling strong, continue with the same pace through the teen miles and give myself a little leeway of some 10's and 11's for the final 6 miles if necessary.  But truly I was hoping for a 4:00 to 4:10 finish time.  

I could not kick out faster than a 9:30 during the first 6 miles and by 10 miles I was at 10:00's.  My breathing was good, no pulled muscles, just no steam in my legs.  It was not good to feel that way so early on - the mental kicked in or off I should say.  

And note to RNR SA - the course was ugly.  Here's where the non-sugarcoating begins.  We were running along freeway frontage roads, under free overpasses and what I am sure is parts of town that I would not want to hang out on any given day.  We ran by the Alamo - that lasted all of 30 seconds  - and then off to more sad neighborhoods and  non-pretty scenery.  I tried to go to my happy place several times...

Only two weeks ago I was running through the gorgeous greenery of Napa and now I was out in middle of flat ugly.  Yes I was spoiled in Napa but I really was regretting not having done more research on San Antonio.  I figured it was a Rock n Roll race and that it would be perfect, I mean I did pay a grip of money, so it should be pretty near amazing and 30,000 others signed up too, so I wasn't alone.  

But to be honest, you want me to be honest, right?  I would not tell anyone to go do this race.  Is that so sad to say?  Am I going to be struck down by the RNR higher ups?  Probably not.  But it really made me not ever want to do a RNR again.  They were well staffed with great volunteers, water was there in plenty.  They advertised over 70 bands - I'm pretty sure I only saw a band every other mile.  That would make 13 bands plus the bands at the start and the finish.  And did I mention the finish was a huge ginormous cement parking lot.  So congratulations, you just finished running 26.2 miles, pull up a piece of asphalt and rest that tired body.  Seriously.

Calling it quits for the day on my soft piece of pavement.  I even wore my Red Rock Relay shirt to bring me good luck.  That couldn't even save me.

As we made our way back to our car there were lines of beer cans and bananas as far as the eye could see.  Didn't help the scenery...

We get back to our car and find this on it.

A nice little orange warning sticker over the driver's side.  I guess we missed that No Parking sign somehow.  I'm pretty sure it was supposed to read: 'Unless it is the weekend of the RNR SA'.

My husband subscribed to the text updates to know how I was doing along the course.  When I got back to the hotel we got the text that I had just come across the finish line.  Thanks for the update - an hour and a half late.

I finished with an unofficial time of 4:47 but on the website we can have a recalculated time because of the train.  So officially probably a 4:44 or 4:45.  Is that crazy or what?

After a quick ice bath, a shower, and a quick nap we went out to dinner with my cute cousin Kelli and her husband Alex and their kids.  She ran the half marathon, which was her first big race!  So proud of her.  She will back me up on the hard race day and the not so lovely race course.

So, luckily we were able to salvage the weekend.  I will have San Antonio Part II post later this week.  For now I'll leave you with this little ditty from our afternoon on the Riverwalk.  Love it!  Make sure to notice the guy on the violin - he was the best!