A late ode to Coeur Sports

Remember how last year I was an ambassador for Coeur Sports? I bet they loved that choice, signing on a girl who had the skill to manage two hip surgeries in one year. Sorry about that, Coeur.
I didn't reapply for the ambassadorship this year, because I knew during the application window that I would be having hip surgery and miss half of 2015. But I do want to talk about the company a little bit, anyway.
I waited to write this post, because I wanted to not only be honest, but be perceived as honest - and neither is easy when you are receiving free clothes from a company! Now that my ambassadorship is over, I'm sharing the whole scoop - what I think about the ambassadorship, the clothes, the company.
First up, the ambassadorship. 
You might have noticed that I don't have a lot of brand loyalty. I buy lots of different products, and even try the clothes and shoes of companies whose marketing I roll my eyes at (for example, Brooks lost sight of serious running and got into a lot of silly tutu nonsense, but let's face it - that's where the money was at. I still wore Brooks Pure Cadence for over a year). For me to want an ambassadorship with a company, there would need to be a strong reason - and that reason was that I got a very good recommendation from a friend who works in athletic clothing sales. She raved about what she saw (at a trade show, if I remember correctly), so I applied. As an ambassador, I got a great discount plus a "kit" - which was really a huge box of great clothes. They gave you a set dollar amount and told you to order what you want, which is great! Now, I actually never got all my clothes. I would have gotten two bras, two shorts, and a tank - but I never got the second pair of shorts. I didn't mention it, because - free, you know? But it was a great program, and we never had obnoxious, restrictive rules about other clothes. We were just asked once that if we had a profile picture of us racing/on a podium/with a medal, it would be nice if it were in Coeur. A big benefit to the ambassadorship was that we made a Facebook group, and it was fun to keep up with everyone's training and racing. It was a very positive experience, and I was happy I'd applied and was accepted.
Second, the clothes. 
Two words: run shorts. Fell in love. I didn't expect this, but they are perfect for me - stretchy, short, vented but modest, pockets, flattering (I know. Leave me alone, I need flattering now. I'm getting old). In general, I liked the clothes for attention to detail (obviously designed by athletes - seam placement, pockets, material, etc all point to this), the fact that they're made in America, and that they aren't neon (petty, but I'm sick of neon). I didn't actually like the run shirt, because it was more like a triathlon top - tighter, thicker. It's too hot here for tight and thick, and honestly, I run in jog bras most of the summer because it's ten billion degrees on an average early morning. But the bras - POCKETS - and shorts were really awesome. Great fit, great comfort, great performance. The bras are a nice in-between of comfort and restriction. To me, Target bras are too stretchy - comfortable, but useless. And some high-impact bras (a Brooks bra I have comes to mind) are so tight and inflexible that I can barely breath, and the straps cut into my shoulders. Coeur managed to make a bra that moves comfortably with you, but holds your boobs in place without bounce.
Third, the company. 
If I'm going to support a company, I want to agree with its major tenets. During my year of ambassadorship, I learned a lot about Coeur from their blog. Here's what I really liked:
- The personal touch: handwritten notes in your order; free returns (no questions); personal emails.
- The pursuit of excellence. This isn't a company taking on runners who want to sit around and run the same 5k time for 5 years, or athletes on the decline, or people who do the Color Run (sorry, my bias, not theirs!). They encourage hard work and impressive results.
- The interest in issues in athletics, without being pompous jerks about it. Well-thought out articles on gender equality at Kona interest me, even though I wouldn't know a triathlon from the Trianon. It's not a "girl power" rant, it's smart thinking.
- Their ability to support female athletes without what I call "minimizing to feminism". I find so many companies or events take a male or gender-neutral thing, minimize it, and call it female. For example, all-girl races that have lipstick stations, or women's running clothing advertised primarily for its pink color scheme rather than performance design. When you do that, you are implying that women require modifications to reduce challenges in order to perform or compete. That bothers me, especially when the same event or company proclaims that it is feminist or supports women. Maybe you stereotype women...that's not the same thing.
- The don't take themselves too seriously, they have a sense of humor, and they're intelligent. And the vague "they" refers to whoever writes the Coeur blog, which is good reading whether you're an ambassador or not.

Thanks for reading this long post. I just wanted to put into words why I enjoyed my ambassadorship with Coeur, and why I continue to enjoy the company and the clothes.

My nephew looks like Charlie Brown

In the cutest way possible.

Grace's rules of running

I have learned a lot of what not to do in my brief running experience... and precious little else. But here are my rules of running (applicable only to me!):

1. Speed work once a week, max. Any more than that = instant injury.
2. Drink a full glass of water before running to keep your stomach happy.
3. If you feel great, it's time to back off. Ramping up = instant injury.
4. Spend equal amounts of time strengthening as hard running.
5. If it hurts, stop.
6. See a doctor first.
7. If you're short on time, cut time off the run, not the pre- and post-run strength routines.
8. Dr. Jordan Metzel's Iron Strength workout will always, always, always, always result in an injury.
9. Strong runners have strong cores and glutes.
10. Even the tiniest nibble of food before a run creates a stomach nightmare.

Those are the rules I run by. What are your rules of running?

I have nothing good to say

Besides that my street is finally finished!

We actually have street drains now. We never did before...just ditches that filled with rain water. 

Just a little November through May project to finish up three little blocks, that's all.

Anyway, so no posts lately. Or no posts of substance. The truth is, there just isn't all that much substance going on here. 

For one thing, I missed running for OVER A WEEK, unintentionally. It happened like this:

- Tried mild speedwork, so decided to take the day after off. I'm so responsible now.

- Then I realized that my final swimming lesson was coming up, so I went to the pool for the next three days to practice, so I could actually get something out of my exorbitantly priced lessons.

- Then I started thinking that my left leg felt kind of achy, so I didn't run for a few days. I'm telling you, SO responsible now.

- Then I slept in.

- Then I had early work meetings twice. 

And all of a sudden, ten days had gone by. And then when I started back running, I didn't do much, because I realized that if I were going to gradually increase my strength training by following Coach Jay's progression, I should also slowly progress running, or I would get injured from too much running and not enough strength. 

In other words, I am doing no interesting running at all, and have nothing to write about, unless a slow three miles in brutal humidity is somehow fascinating to you (although I did step on a large snake during my run this weekend, so that's interesting. I can't believe that snake couldn't get out of the way any faster.).

But I do have a new street, so that's kind of cool. 

VE Day

Last night, we had an opportunity to attend a panel discussion at the National WWII Museum in remembrance of VE Day. The panel included our friend Dr. Huxen and Mary Jean and Susan Eisenhower, grandchildren of Dwight Eisenhower. The event was free and open to the public, and it was packed. The panel focused on Eisenhower's personal history - his upbringing, his education, and of course, his role as grandfather. Both women shared anecdotes and stories from their memories of Eisenhower, and as both women are accomplished speakers, diplomats, and businesswomen, the presentation was fascinating. It was over an hour long, but I felt like we had just touched the surface of who the man was. 

Susan Eisenhower told the story behind the picture featured on our program: a famous shot of the general speaking to a soldier, known to her as "number 23". Years later she met "number 23" and asked him what her grandfather had been saying so intently. The soldier shared that he was from Saginaw, Michigan, and they had been discussing the fishing in Saginaw! She related the story to Eisenhower's ability to know when to be a commander and when to be a friend.

Since Eisenhower was instrumental in recording the atrocities discovered at Nazi concentration camps Ohrdruf and Buchenwald, David and I thought it would be fitting to view some of the footage when we got home. There is a Frontline record, Memory of the Camps, that includes coverage of several camps at their liberation.
Let me just warn you. While I think it is important to remember what happened in Nazi Germany, and to know that it was not so far removed from present day, the footage is chilling. You cannot prepare yourself for the death and cheapness of human life portrayed. After the film, David and I silently went to bed, too shocked to even speak. It was a very tough thing to view, but I think it is necessary to prevent such evil from reoccurring.

Post-run, post-surgery

A little while ago, I shared my new, super-short pre-run routine. Now I'll share my post run routine!
Pre-surgery: This varied. Sometimes I'd do nothing; other times I'd do a short stretching routine.
Post-surgery: I started using Coach Jay's post-run cool-down routines. He offers a progression of exercises here, and I'm following the rules and slowly advancing.

That means I've only gotten to video #2! I am a little confused about where to go from here. It doesn't really look like each video replaces the prior - are some additive? I really don't know. For example, videos one and two have several plank holds that aren't in the other cool-downs; there are planks with leg lifts instead, but to me those are actually easier. Surely he's not cutting out planks altogether?
Because of that, I'm not sure what my final cool-down routine will end up including, but I do want to continue to do Myrtles (included in the first video), so I might end up moving that to pre-workout. If I remember, I'll check back in once I've gone through the whole progression and report back.

Any of you do his workouts? Any input on what the final version should look like?

I love this: Revlon colorburst balm stain

It moisturizes, it goes on easily, and it stays all day without reapplying - like, 16+ hours.

I have Sweetheart, Rendezvous, and Smitten.

After all day at work (this is color Sweetheart). 

I never used to wear lipstick, because it's a pain in the butt. But these are actually balm stains, and the color stays the whole day, regardless of the number of coffees I drink. For those chapstick or lip balm addicts like myself, you can actually apply right over it: the color still stays.

Now let's see, let me relate this to running, since this is primarily a running blog...well, actually, it does relate to running. Running cuts into my morning-routine time, and I'm always looking for shortcuts in my already brief prep for my day. Sometimes that means skipping makeup. But now I can just smear some balm stain on in the car, and it looks like I sort of care. It's slightly more put-together than no makeup at all (see above... if it weren't for the hot pink lips, I'd look like I just rolled out of bed). So there you have it. Runners' lipstick.