Esprit de She

Esprit de She race is an amazing feat in the running community. It is created/sponsored by Athleta and Lifetime Fitness as a "premier athletic events series for women." The events range from solely running or cycling, as well as duathlons and triathlons. And they are all over the country! Dallas, San Francisco, Atlanta, Tempe, and many other cities across the United States! You can also volunteer if you don't think you can participate this year.

I will be participating in the Dallas duathlon on October 26, 2013. The distances for this race are:
Distances
Run 2 miles • Bike 9 miles • Run 2 miles 
Run 3.1 miles • Bike 18 miles • Run 3.1 miles 

And of course, the swag you get for participating! Look at these medals! 

And you also get a shirt, which is not just any shirt! It's a Moxie cycling shirt. 

Prices for this race are $75 for an individual, $65 for a Lifetime Fitness member, and 130 for relay teams of 2-3 people. I have to say, the duathlon and triathlon athlete's get the best swag for sure! 

Moms Run This Town Virtual Race

Sign ups for this race are officially over if you wanted the medal (which I did because it was super adorable!) but you can still register to run it for free if you want. Just click here. You can print out a race bib, sign up, and report your times/runs. I'm doing 13.1 but spreading it out. All times are due by the end of the month so it's doable if you need some extra motivation. And there are prizes! 

Moms Run This Town is a group of women, mom's and some not mom's, who love to run and be active. Many cities have local chapters; I think they are up to almost 500! My city is fairly small and there is one here as well. It's a way for Mom's, and runners, to connect, be kept accountable if you need it, and find out about other races. If you want to find out more about local chapters, click here and enter your zip code.

If you're not interested, but you love running and running gear, on the top of their page is a link of discounts and specials related to fitness. Not just for gear, there are codes for races as well!

The medal is awesome!

Interesting Health/Fitness Kickstarters

I was looking around Kickstarter after someone posted a link on Twitter and found a few interesting ones, so I thought I'd share.

First is a small, almost backpack like thing to keep your ipod in, and headphones attached to for easy access.

It's called a SpyderGrip and you can look at it here. It helps keep your headphones from getting snagged. My only concern is it chafing your underarms with the straps.

Another one, and the reason I ended up on Kickstarter, was the Ring Cozy! I wear gloves sometimes, but might back it regardless because it's pretty neat!

It seems interesting! If you don't wear rings, don't lift, or wear gloves, might not interest you, but I think it's a pretty cool concept. The link to the Ring Cozy Kickstarter is here! For $10 you get one in the color of your choice, and for $28 you get three. I know I've caught my finger on things before when wearing rings so this actually interests me!

The next one I was interested in, until I saw how much they were going to cost, and how much they were doing for Kickstarter. Maybe it's worth it but I'm not sure. It's called Night Runner (link on the name) and are clips with lights you can attach to your shoes while running in the dark. Looks really neat, but unlike most Kickstarters, they are charging an additional price for shipping, and a very small discount, which with shipping, is expensive. The minimum donation to get the lights is $50 plus $8 shipping.

National Geographic sells something similar for $20. It's uglier but it would work! 

And on the go Yoga mat/rug is next. It seems good, and if goals met, will come in about 6 colors. It is called the YogoMat (Redux) and for $45 you receive a mat, sticker and personal note. It folds up for convenience, so it isn't bulky or heavy.

This one looks fun. It's called Pedal, Stretch Breathe: The Yoga of Bicycling and it's yoga with your bike! To  get a copy, it's only $10 and sounds interesting. It shows yoga positions that include your bike. May sound simple but also sounds pretty neat. She's a yoga teacher and cyclist and originally had done an e-zine, smaller edition that sold out quickly.

Rogue Running ATX

I saw that Rogue Running was having a Midnight Moontower Run (Dazed and Confused reference). Link to the Facebook event HERE. It sounds fun! They have it split into a 7-mile, and a 16-mile. Plus a party thing afterwards, and giveaways. My boyfriend has even agreed to do it with me! I'm a new runner, so this may kill me but I figured it was worth a shot. If I can walk 10 miles in flip flops, I can run/walk 7 miles in running shoes!

The maps are available here:
7 mile run
16 mile run

Goes through the middle of Austin, but honestly it sounds like a lot of fun! It says a supported fun run, so I'm assuming they will have drink stations and what not.

My boyfriend's runner friend saw we were going (he ran the Austin marathon a while back) and decided to go too! I might've backed out if it hadn't been for that now, but now I'm actually really excited to participate!

They partnered with Fit Approach for the Pub Run during SXSW, and I know they all had a blast, so I'm looking forward to being around so many runners, and especially at night when Austin is fully alive! Oh, and this even is also FREE! What better way to test my limits, so where I need to improve, and what works best during runs, than a free, supported run.

I'll let you know how it goes. My boyfriend may have to carry me back!

Pretty Muddy Women's Mud Run!

I registered a couple of days ago and will be in the 9:30 wave for the Dallas Pretty Muddy Women's Run. This is their first year in Texas, and Dallas will also be the first race of the new season. The other events will take place in Sacramento, CA, Chicago, IL, Columbus, OH, Richmond, VA, Atlanta, GA, Tampa and Miami, FL. I'm excited for this race!

This race is unique, in that, joining what seems to be a popular scenario, it is a race just for women to run. It is also untimed, so it's more laid back and a fun environment, as opposed to "we have to finish these obstacles as quickly as possibly!" I really like this mindset, especially for my first mud run. You can even redo an obstacle if you really like it! Here are a few pictures from previous mud runs. Lots of mud, costumes, and smiles!

I'm excited for this run, and excited to see what kind of crazy obstacles they bring to Dallas this year. Anyone want to join me?

Disclaimer: I was selected, along with several other Sweat Pink Ambassadors, to blog about the race before and after, in exchange for a free entry into the race. But I am so excited for this race that I would have paid for it if I hadn't been selected! All opinions are my own, and pictures taken from the Pretty Muddy website.

Nike Running App

Pictures from the Nike Running app I used earlier. It doesn't allow you to change to walk, it's all just running but that's okay. My son and I went on this walk earlier and yes it took a while because we stopped to investigate stuff; a neighbor's chickens, flowers, talking to older neighbors, confusing stares at the LARPers at the park (the people in Role Models if you've ever seen that). It was a fun, leisurely little walk.

Main page.

Of course they have a shopping tab. If you use another Nike device, it will sync it up with it.

Each run will be listed here. I've only done one while using the app so far.

The different types of runs. Select these and each will take you into an additional menu where you can choose specifics for your run.

The specifics for the distance run. After each run, a map is displayed that is color coded to your speed and shows your route. (Not sure why I left out that picture, oops). It's a good app so far. Let's see how it does against the other 4 I have to try this week! 

Running apps!

This coming weekend, through the next week, I am going to test out various running apps I have on my phone. Everyone seems to have a different favorite and I want to try them for myself! I am a fairly new runner but training for a few races I have signed up for as motivation. If anyone else has any recommendations on these, or others I haven't mentioned, please let me know!

Runkeeper

Nike+Running App
I have a FuelBand, so this one I'm curious about and want to see how well it syncs up with the band.

Runtastic
This one is offered across many more platforms than any app I have ever seen!

MapMyRun
This one I have used before on hikes (solely for the map feature) and I know it pretty well. They also have  training plans that will integrate the calendar with your phone to remind you. They were free but are now charging so I'm bummed about that.

Zombies, Run!
I also own this app and have for quite some time but have only used it once. I feel like it might be distracting but supposedly can be used in conjunction with other training/running, apps.

^This is how I feel like running is going to end for me...

App reviews

Over the next few months, I'm going to do some app reviews, specifically for iPhone but I believe most of them will also be available on the Droid platform. The apps I plan on reviewing, and utilizing, will be among my favorites (and I'll throw in some not so favorites) that I currently use or have used in the past. I like to alternate my workouts, so often, I will delete apps off of my phone until I'm ready to use them again. Here are the apps I know of so far:

• JEFIT
• My Fitness Pal
• Nike Training Club
• Gym Boss
• Map My Run
• Runtastic
• Map My Training
• Nike Fuelband
• Fitocracy
• StrongLifts 5x5
• Zombies Run
• Fooducate
• Lose it!
• C25K

A couple of these I will be using for a month, or until certain completion dates, such as C25K. I'm not a runner, and trying to get back into it and thought, so many people have had success with these apps, why not try it!