2012 - A Year for the Record Books

2012 was an amazing year! If I had been asked in December 2011 what I expected 2012 to look like, it would not have been nearly this exciting. As a fitness enthusiast, I could not have asked for a better year. I can't believe what an amazing journey it has been and I am so excited to see what 2013 holds. Here's a look back at what made my 2012 spectacular!

I ran my first Bay to Breakers 12k race in San Francisco! I love running in San Francisco and this race is a beautiful short run throughout the city. A must run event on any serious runners race calendar!

I got to run with ultra endurance athlete Jason Lester on his journey across the country with the Nike Journey for a Better World Campaign. This was such an inspiring run and I can't believe I got to meet him and run with him. Dream come true!

I had the chance to work this summer for the Sacramento Capitals World Team Tennis tournament as their marketing coordinator and I had the privilege of meeting some top ranked players, like Sam Querrey and Mardy Fish. As a tennis player and enthusiast, this was such a neat opportunity and I really enjoyed working with this team on their digital marketing, definitely something I want to pursue in the future (hint - Nike - I'm ready to be part of your social media team!)

The Nike Women team featured me in one of their campaigns for my achievements with the Nike Training Club App! The workouts on this app totally changed my body for the better and I am stronger and more toned because of these drills. Thank you Nike for recognizing my hard work!

In October I got my Black Belt in Taekwondo the week before I ran my 2nd marathon. I have been working on this achievement for so long and I made it to the big day! I was so honored to have put in the work and achieved this ranking, I can't wait to continue my journey in martial arts in the future. 

In October I ran my 2nd Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco and got to meet my favorite trainer, Marie Purvis! She is the developer of the Nike Training Club workouts and I was in awe of her, seriously, such an amazing trainer! She created my customized training plan for the Nike Women's Marathon and I PR'd!

Nike Women selected a group of five ladies to train and dote upon with Nike gear for the Nike Women's Marathon and I was one of the chosen ones, along with Renisha, Elizabeth, Tiara and Nerissa. As Nike Women's Marathon 2012 Training Ambassadors we were given elite training gear, a personalized training plan, a photo shoot in San Francisco and an all expenses paid weekend at the race. Nike made my year with this one. I will never forget this experience and hope that it is not the last time that I get to work with them. This is a picture of the group of us before the race!

Crossing the finish line at the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco! Such a proud moment. Thank you for making this possible Nike!

I found out about a month ago that I was accepted as a FitFluential Ambassador and while I haven't done much yet with them, I know there will be incredible opportunities to participate in campaigns with them and improve my blog and fitness knowledge in 2013. Thank you for believing in me FitFluential!

I got to visit the Nike World Headquarters campus in Beaverton, OR and participate in a live NTC workout. This was a dream come true, I flew to Beaverton, slept for 4 hours and then got up at 5:30 in the morning for this workout with Nike Elite Trainers. I was impressed with the workout and the facility. I have made myself a promise that I will work here someday soon, currently it's on my 5 year plan. Get ready Nike, here I come!

A group of my friends from work and I did The Color Run in Sacramento. This was such a fun race, not necessarily for time, but just a really fun event for the whole family to enjoy. I would recommend this to everyone! Find one in your city this year, you won't regret it!

I ended 2012 with a trip to Sun River, OR for a snowboarding trip at Mt. Bachelor and it was a blast. So fun to try out different sports. While in Oregon I went for a run in the snow, snowboarded and got in an evening of iceskating. 

2012 was a year of many adventures, running events and training. Thank you to those who believed in me and those who are supporting me now and in the future. Thank you Nike, Nike Running, Nike Women, Nike Fuel, Marie Purvis, Leah Kim, Tiara, Elizabeth, Renisha, Nerissa and FitFluential for making this a year to remember.

Watch out 2013, I'm stepping out of my comfort zone and going for big goals!

Marathon Finish Photos

Tonight I just have a quick post sharing pictures from Brightroom Photography from the Nike Women's Marathon! Enjoy! 

The Start Line. Thousands of women. One Goal. #runnwm

 Focused!

Running Fast!

I made it to the top of the hill!

Success! 

 The Finish!

 Bringing it home!

You will be missed San Francisco!

Nike Women's Marathon Race Weekend

This weekend's events began on Thursday with my flight to San Francisco. After a 3 hour delay I finally arrived in San Fran to discover that my luggage had been misplaced. Since I was late for my photo shoot I signed up for luggage delivery to my hotel and off I went to the Sir Frances Drake hotel near Union Square. 

Waiting for the plane in SF. 

Luckily for me the Nike Women team had me covered as far as clothes go. I can't think of a better time to lose my luggage then when Nike is giving me clothes. After a quick change in my room and styling by Robin from Team Epiphany, I was off to a rainy photo shoot in historic San Francisco! 

New gear from Nike! 

After a few scenic pictures around local historic spots, Nike chose this fierce pic of all us ladies in the streets of San Francisco. This is a great shot of the city in the background. We were all so cold by this time since the rain kept sprinkling down on us, we were ready for a warm dinner that evening.

Fierce photo on the streets of SF!

Following our dinner out with the other four Nike Women Ambassadors, Lydia (our Nike Women rep)  and Robin from Team Epiphany, we came back to our rooms and discovered that we had all been given the limited edition Nike Tiffany's shoes! 

Limited Edition Nike Tiffany's Shoes

Friday morning we had a stretching session with Nike Master Trainer Marie Purvis at the pier. It was a gorgeous morning and we had a great photo shoot around the city with Nike Women and the Nike+ FuelBand team. I learned some great new stretches from Marie that I am going to use from now on. 

Stretching at the pier.

After our stretching session it was time to check out the Expo in Union Square. We picked up our racing bibs and goodie bags and I found out I was a VIP for the weekend! That meant an invite to the exclusive Nike Ice Lounge event on Friday and access to the VIP tent pre and post race on Sunday. After packed pick-up I headed over to Nike Town SF and found my name on the wall as a racer in NWM 26.2! Fun to see my name up!

My name is on the wall at Nike Town SF!

Our group also had fun finding our tweets and Instagram photos in in the live Nike+ Fuel Stream. Each photo tagged with #runnwm had a chance to be featured. You can see mine in the middle of this picture. Very fun to see my name up in lights! We were also followed around by the Nike Fuel team from Nike and interviewed about how we use the Nike+ FuelBand to track our daily activity and compete with our friends. 

Photos from Instagram tagged with #runnwm

We went to the Expo quite a few times throughout the weekend and there was always something new and exciting there. I got to see Olympian Allyson Felix, Kara Goucher and Joan Benoit Samuelson! It is so inspiring to see such great athletes here enjoying the event and inspiring us to push ourselves on race day! 

Elizabeth, Tiara and I at the Expo!

We did another photo shoot in SF and had a lot of fun working with the photographer and practicing our fierce faces. Some of us never quite got it. The buildings in San Francisco are gorgeous and the hills are so steep. Building must have been a challenge!

More photos for Facebook!

Friday evening we attended the Nike VIP Ice Lounge event at Nike Town. It was a fun event where Nike had Ice Sculptures and Nike Shield Trainers encased in Ice. It all ended with a special unveiling of the Tiffany's finisher necklace by Joan Benoit Samuelson! Dressing up in cocktail attire and shopping in Nike Town being treated as a VIP with food, drinks and waiters in Nike Cold Weather gear was a great experience.

Fun at the Ice Lounge!

On Saturday morning we had a shake-out run with Marie Purvis. I had a blast running with her and she gave us great race day advice. She is so down to earth and cares about how we do on the race. It was great being able to work with her over more than just Twitter and email. She is so knowledgable and motivating!

Shake-Out Run with Marie Purvis!

After another photo shoot of stretching at the bay with the Nike Fuel team we were off to enjoy the rest of the afternoon pre race. These ladies have been amazing to work with and were great company before the race and incredible motivators.

Bring it on NWM!

 Stretching and loosening our muscles for the race tomorrow!

Saturday afternoon I toured some of San Francisco with my parents who came to cheer me on during the race. We checked out the wharf and the Golden Gate bridge. It was fun to get out and take in some of the sights.

Enjoying the bay with my parents!

Sunday morning race day arrived all too soon. After a quick pre-race Fuel Check and picture with the ladies we were off and running! Tiara and I ran the full 26.2 and Elizabeth, Nerissa and Renisha ran the half.

#Fuelcheck

The lovely Nike Women Ambassadors before the race! We all set out to crush San Fran and I am so proud of everyone who completed the race! I was able to finish in 4:29 and set a new PR. It was a weekend to be proud of and I made new friends and am ready to set and crush new goals. 

Best group shot of the weekend. Heading to the start line.

We all finished the race with great times and celebrated in the finishers village! I can't wait to come back again and improve my time! Way to go ladies! Best race I have done by far. Great atmosphere and great people made for an unforgettable experience. I will be back SF!

Tiara, Elizabeth and I at the finish!

A prize well worth those 26.2 miles! 

Moments Matter

Our lives are made up of moments. I am 25 years old and I have had some of the best moments of my life these past six months training with Nike Women. This evening I powered through a three mile run on the treadmill and I had one of those moments. I can't explain how or why, but I was having a rough day and to be honest my last week of training for the Nike Women's Marathon has been tough. When I got on the treadmill I wasn't expecting much. I surprised myself with how good my run felt today. I forgot my GPS watch and my iPod and was able to just run and get lost in my thoughts, or no thoughts at all. It was one of the best feeling runs I have had in a while. I wasn't trying to be something I'm not or run too fast or slow, I was just in my comfort zone.

I hope that this feeling lasts throughout my 26.2 on October 14. I think sometimes I am over-thinking training and how I am running. Sometimes I just need to let go. It's so important to just live in the moment and let it play out. Today I was present where I was and focused on putting one foot in front of the other. I was living in the moment.

As the ten-day countdown to NWM begins tomorrow I plan on living in the moment and working on mentally being present when I run. Focus, determination and mental toughness are huge during race performance and I need to get into the racing mindset before race day. 

This weekend I am packing for my race, working on planning my nutrition for the weekend and focusing on the upcoming race week. I have one nine mile long run planned for Sunday and then a fairly light running week. I plan to make the most of every moment these last ten days.

As race day looms near, how do you prepare for the big moment? 

Two Weeks to Go!

Today marked the final two week countdown to the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco! At this time on October 14 I will have officially completed my second marathon, but this time with the Nike Women team backing me up along the way. I have learned so much about training, recovery, fueling and the power of motivational training partners through these past few months. I can't wait to see all of my training come together on race day.

Gorgeous path for a long run

My second to last long run was today, 11 miles and it went very well. I was able to complete it in under two hours and at this pace should be able to reach my goal of a four hour marathon. With only six more runs, NTC and yoga left on my training schedule, race day is just around the corner. It's hard to think about other things throughout the day and a part of me doesn't want this journey to come to an end. Luckily for me there is always another race around the corner!

Nothing like stairs, stairs, stairs!

On April 28, 2013 the Nike Women's 1/2 Marathon is coming to Washington DC! I have never traveled there and know that this race will be a perfect reason to go. Plus, the race is on my birthday, what a perfect sign that I'm meant to run this race. I'm already making plans for this weekend. Washington DC here I come!

Planks from #NTC

Today was a great day for a bit of a photo shoot to remember my training and show how far I have come. It was a gorgeous day for running and for enjoying some sprint and NTC training at the track. Even as training is winding down, I am feeling more excited for race day and looking forward to focusing on speed work during the fall. 

The power of stretching

Training has really taught me the value of stretching and yoga. It does amazing things for keeping injuries at bay and keeping tired legs healing quickly. I got a good amount of stretching in this Sunday and I planning on focusing on healing my body for the next few weeks through yoga and stretching. I want to be at 100% by race day and rest, recovery and tough mental thinking will get me there. Bring it on San Francisco! I am ready to #runnwm and rock this race! 

NTC and NWM Training

Here's my random rant post of the night. I may be jumping around a bit, but I just had too many things to share and couldn't focus on just one!

Training Update

These past few weeks of NWM training have been tough. I have been having a hard time juggling my time and the taper. I don't want to taper too much, but I don't want to run too much either. Since my knee has been acting up I have been focusing more on my speed. I want to really kill my last few track workouts so I can power through those tough moments during my 26.2. 

NTC Milestone

I also finally made it to the 12,000 minute mark on the #NTC app! Woohoo! I really enjoy all the exercises on this app and can truly see a difference in my endurance and flexibility when using this app. My next goal is to get to the 20,000 minute mark! There is a lot of training in my future. 

Move More, Live More

The Nike Women's Marathon just shared this link on Facebook from designedtomove.org. It really got me thinking about the state of our generation. Watch the video and let me know what you think. I want to live those 5 extra years. I think this movie is just more proof that I should think more seriously about becoming a personal trainer. After all, if only one person were to live an extra five years, it would all be worth it. How about you? What are you doing to move?