Birthday Weekend at the Nike Women's Half Marathon DC!

I can't even begin to put into writing how awesome this race experience was! I am so grateful for everyone who made this race amazing! Thank you to Brandy, Nike Running, Nike Women, Lydia, the volunteers, Ellie Goulding, Robin, the Crews, and everyone I met at the expo! You know how to make a girl feel special and how to put on a race.

The race weekend began with a trip to the expo. One of my pictures from Instagram was featured throughout the event on their live photo stream. It was fun to see everyone's training and race weekend photos. There were so many strong and empowering women there. 

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Friday morning I volunteered at the expo. I was in charge of checking racers in and giving them their race packets, assigning their bibs and answering any questions they might have had. It was a fun experience and really exciting to see how excited everyone was for the race. I also got a fun grey long-sleeve Nike Women's Half Marathon Volunteer shirt! Woohoo!

Friday was also the night of the VIP party at the Nike Georgetown store. Brandy and I went to the event together and had a lot of fun. We took our pictures by the wall of names and met some of the girls from the San Francisco Runway Crew! They are super nice and very inspiring. 

Found my name on the wall!

I was able to find my name on the wall and had to snap a photo to remember. Then we headed into the party. There were refreshments, chocolate covered strawberries, shopping, and Olympians Shalene Flanagan and Joan Benoit Samuelson presenting the Tiffany's necklace finisher's medal! I enjoyed checking out the party and meeting up with some friends and Nike employees I worked with as an ambassador for the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco last year. After the party Brandy and I headed back to the hotel to try and get some rest before more exploring on Saturday.

 Shalene Flanagan and Joan Benoit Samuelson

Saturday morning Brandy and I headed to the expo. We couldn't resist taking some photos in front of the expo tent and really taking the experience in. This banner just happened to be all about my birthday so I had to snap a photo. Thanks Brandy for the great pose idea! Moments like this don't just happen every day and I had to take advantage of every opportunity. After some more photos around the expo we headed inside to check out what Nike had to offer. As always, the expo delivered fun for everyone. 

Throughout the day they had contests and activities and gave away awesome prizes and race gear. I was in the tent at the time they asked everyone to pull out their Nike Running apps and show how many miles they had run with it. I happened to have the most at the time, with a total or 1500 miles and won a hat. They also did a brief interview with me on why I love the Nike Running app. It was a fun experience and a great reward for all my running. They also did some live Nike Training Club sessions where they gave away some NTC towels just for doing the workout with them. This was my favorite. I love the NTC drills and it was great to be able to do them with a group of energetic women. 

Saturday afternoon Brandy and I did some touring around town. We saw the White House, Washington Monument, Treasury, and many other buildings and areas or interest in DC. We must have walked nine miles that day before the race. After taking a lot of photos, we headed to the private Ellie Goulding concert especially for VIP's, Crews, and Nike Running and Nike Training Club Superusers! I  really like Ellie's music and she is even more lovable because she is an amazing runner! The concert was great and very real. 

 Ellie Goulding and I after the concert!

After the show I got to meet Ellie Goulding as a special treat from Nike Women and Nike Running! She was super sweet and down to earth. Thanks Nike for letting me meet this amazing artist and runner. After the concert we headed to get some supper and then went to bed to prepare for our early morning race!

Sunday morning Brandy and I woke up around 5:30. We got ready, ate, put our race bibs, corral bracelets and running gear on and headed to the race! We walked about a half mile to the race from our hotel and then headed to our race corrals. I was fairly close to the front and could see the Capital from the start line. After waiting for about a half hour we did a quick warm-up with Deanna Jefferson, a Nike Training Club instructor, had a quick wave from Shalene and Joanie and then Jay Blahnik did a final countdown and started the race! 

 Running by the Capitol. Photo by Nike

The race course was absolutely beautiful. The temperature was in the 60's and the sun was shining brightly. I could not resist snapping some photos as I ran. It's harder to do than you would think. We ran by so many landmarks, across bridges, the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, the Capital. Each one was amazing. The race had great water stops, fueling stations and the crowd support was incredible. The last few miles the streets were lined with spectators cheering on their friends, family and strangers. They definitely helped to push me to the finish. I crossed the line in 1:55:03. I was happy with my time, especially considering the course. 

After I crossed that finish line I was so happy! I had made it and in under two hours. I picked up my Tiffany's Finisher Medal, grabbed my Finisher's shirt, snacks and then headed to take a few photos at the photo booth. The girls behind me in line were kind enough to snap a few photos for me because Brandy was still racing. After the photos I went to the stretching tent to give my muscles some recovery and sipped on some Jamba Juice smoothies! They have never tasted so good. Yum!

After the race Brandy and I went back to our hotel to change and then headed out for some more sightseeing. The day started to turn a bit cloudy and we were even rained on for about 30 minutes. We treated ourselves to ice cream and a little shopping. Then we went to see some more sights. We walked all around, almost ten more miles after the race. We took photos around the reflection pool and many other monuments. 

This is a really powerful photo to me. It really shows how much the times have changed. Women are an integral part of our country and know how to work as a team. This race was a testament to the strength and power of women from across the country and around the world. I met so many strong and inspiring women, I could not have asked for a better weekend. 

One of my favorite pictures. Reflecting at the Lincoln Memorial.

Turning 26 was an amazing experience. If all my birthdays are this fun in the future I can't wait to see what is yet to come. This race was one for the record books and I can't wait to take over San Francisco on October 20, 2013! Until then, follow my training journey here and if you did the Nike Women's Half Marathon or any other race this weekend, let me know how it went in the comments below! 

Boston On My Mind

Monday was suppose to be a day of joy. I followed the Boston Marathon all morning long and was excited to see the elite runners push their bodies so far and achieve so much. I'm not sure if I'll ever be fast enough to cross that finish line or qualify for the race, but watching those that are, that have fought to get there, is always inspiring. One of my friends, Tiara, is training right now to get to Boston 2014 and she has made sacrifices and changes in her life that only following a dream will allow. She pushes her body every day to achieve greatness. She is my inspiration and the reason I have been thinking about seriously training to run Boston. The sadness, devastation, and destruction that the bombing created is inexcusable. It took lives, sparked fear, and brought a day that should have been about triumph and achievement into a small hell. It wasn't fair of the bomber to do, to crush dreams like that. 

The heroes that arose will never be forgotten. The power of the running community bonded through tragedy both in Boston and in the social media sphere is inspiring. Runners are a resilient group of people. We put ourselves through pain in training, make sacrifices in life, wake up at the crack of dawn all to train for just a few events in which most of us will never win. We do it because of the feeling we get from achieving our own personal best times and for encouraging others along the way.

Runners around the country and world are running today in remembrance of Boston. We have banded together as crews, groups, friends and individuals to honor those who could not achieve their dreams. We run to show the world that we will not back down. We are the strong, the brave, the resilient. We #RunForBoston. 

Life goes on and it would be a shame to ruin the moments that make runners who they are and not to share the triumphs. This week I had a personal design session set up with NIKEiD set for Tuesday. I have been excited about talking with the Nike design team and creating my own shoe for quite some time. It was a fun experience and allowed me to see how designers work and what they look for in their shoe inspiration. Today I built my own shoe via a video chat with a Nike designer. My design was inspired by my home state of Oregon and the Oregon Ducks and their green and yellow colors. Also, green is my favorite color and had to be in the design. The blue and grey reflect the Oregon rain and cloudy skies. I also wanted to include the blue and yellow tones to remember Boston, if only in a small way. I put my mantra "Run Fierce" on the shoes to push me onward in my training and remind me to push harder when I feel like slowing down. 

NIKEiD shoes take 4-6 weeks to arrive because they are custom made in the factory, so they should be here by the end of May. It is going to be so hard to wait! I can't wait to try the new Nike Free Run design and put them into my training cycle. Stay tuned for my review and for pictures when they arrive. Until then, I hope you are all running fierce!

The Shoes I Designed with NIKEiD!

I also got an exclusive email invite from the Run Nike Women DC series to attend a special Ellie Goulding concert the night before the half-marathon in DC. This is such a great early birthday present! I can't wait to attend and hear her in concert. I absolutely love her songs and attitude. She is an amazing runner and I know she will be inspiring to see pre-race. Be sure to follow my story and all the happenings in DC on my Twitter account @superwomankw. I'll also be running with blue and yellow ribbons in my hair to show support for Boston. Life must go on and racing must go on to show the world that we will not be scared away from doing what we love.

Ellie Goulding Running for Nike!

I wish you all the best in your race training and reaching your goals in life, whatever they may be. I hear back from Nuun Hydration on whether I get to run on their Hood to Coast team this year tomorrow so stay watching the blog for news. Win or lose, it has been a great experience sharing my love of running with Nuun.

~Karen 

Running Brings Me Home

Run Clubs, Crews, Sisters, Brothers, Friends - whatever you call it, running creates groups of people that become bonded by the act of lacing up their shoes and hitting the streets. Running is the easiest sport to pick up because all you have to do is step out the door and pick up your feet. Run! Racing and training as a Nike Women's Marathon Training Ambassador last year made me aware of the community running creates. It crosses borders, languages, religions, the past and present. Running is an equalizer and is something that has bonded me with my Sisters In Nike who I first officially met at the Nike Women's Marathon in 2012 and who I plan on meeting up with again in 2013. Running brings me ultimate joy and that is something I like to share with others. In just a few short weeks I will again meet up with crews from around the country and world at the Nike Women's Half Marathon in Washington DC. This race is going to bring thousands of women together for one cause. Nike employees, ambassadors, celebrities and elite athletes will be there to cheer us on and run side by side. One of these celebrities is singer, Ellie Goulding. 

Ellie Goulding's Custom Nike #Flyknit

Ellie Goulding is a singer and a runner. She has partnered with Nike this year to share her running story and to show how running keeps her fit. Running is how she clears her head and thinks. She will be running DC and inspiring us women to greatness. Elite trainers will be there and Olympic Gold Medalist gymnast Shawn Johnson will be tackling her first 13.1. This race has endless possibilities for excitement and achievement. I can't wait to run it and get caught up in the moments surrounding the race.

After the Nike Women's Half Marathon I hope to make the Nuun Hydration team to run Hood to Coast. This race is such an amazing event. A relay covering 197 miles of Oregon terrain that bonds teams together and creates community. I filmed my video application last weekend and will have it finished up this week to submit for the chance to run with twelve other amazing women and conquer this course. I've been in a conversation the last few weeks on Twitter with hashtag #nuunHTC. This conversation has led me to meet many other inspiring women hoping for the chance to run this race. It's amazing how athletic and driven these women all are and I wish them all the best of luck. I hope we get the chance to team up and race this coming August.

I have been exploring other running routes recently since I moved and found these convenient markings on the sidewalks of Ukiah. There are five walking routes through Ukiah and the sidewalks are marked so you don't get lost, genius! What we need next are marked running routes. I could go for a few of those. For example, a route for your long run day, and easy five miler. These would be simple enough to mark right? I know, I know, there's an app for that. Ukiah hasn't gotten there yet. My GPS still dumps me off in the middle of the woods when I'm headed to the grocery store. Oh well, my internal navigation will get better soon.

What crews do you run with? How has running changed your life? Let me know!

~Karen