Sharkies giveaway winner!

Hello all and thank you for your patience with this! I am officially a Washington state resident now! We arrived on Friday! More to come on that later. But! Without further ado,the winner of the Sharkies gift pack was comment #8 (I used random.org to choose) Christy at http://beingmorethanmommy.blogspot.com Christy- email me at erikamsu1@gmail.com and send me your address! Thank you again to Sharkies and thank you to all who entered!

Sharkies review and...GIVEAWAY!!!

Special note: Thank you to Sharkies® for providing free product sample and the special gift packs!

So I have NO IDEA what happened, but this blog post has disappeared and I can't get it back :( I went to add in a line and everything I wrote got deleted.I had done a great review of all of the Sharkies products and how much I love them... Ugh!  I'm really upset about this so I'm doing my best to re-post.

NOTE: For those who have already commented, you will STILL BE ENTERED in the contest. For those would like to enter, please see rules below!

via www.sharkiesinc.com

They have been my energy chew of choice for my triathlons, including my half Ironman last year, and will be for my Ironman this year! I highly recommend trying them, especially if you've tried something like Gu or Shot Bloks and aren't a big fan. You'll love these - they taste great, they are gummy but not too gummy so you can take them without water if needed.

The products are great and come in a ton of flavors and even better:



USDA Certified Organic

No High Fructose Corn Syrup

No artificial dyes or flavors

No Trans Fats

Free of Wheat, Gluten & Nuts

The company graciously sent me a box of goodies to review and also gave me one to give away!
Here is the picture of all you'll get as well as some information about the product.

A ladies fit Under Armour shirt (!!)

A water bottle with a freezer stick to keep your drink cold

2 boxes of Organic Fruit Chews

2 boxes of Smart Twists

4 packets of Organic Energy Sport Chews

You can enter multiple times by leaving a separate comment here for each of the following:
1) Follow my blog - leave a comment
2) Follow @SharkiesChews on Twitter - leave a comment
3) Tweet to @SharkiesChews and let them know @ErikaMyers sent you - leave a comment
4) Like Sharkies Inc on Facebook - leave a comment
5) Tell me how you would use Sharkies - during a training run, race, etc... - leave a comment

Thanks again to Sharkies for supplying me with these products. I was not paid for my review but was supplied the products free of charge.

Good luck - and sorry again about the original post getting deleted - arg!

Ironman training week 11 recap and the next chapter begins

Happy Friday, everyone!

This is going to be a quick one today, because after a very long, stressful and often times difficult 6 1/2 months, my family is finally going to be back together today!!!

Rob flies in from Seattle this morning (he took the red eye) to help finish packing our house, the movers come on Monday and we officially move to Seattle next Friday! It's amazing that this time in our lives is finally almost over and we can look forward to the next chapter. It's going to be an emotional time especially saying goodbye to family and friends here, but I am so thrilled to have him back - and that Julia has her daddy again!

I know I've used this picture before but it's one of my favorites of us -

from our anniversary last May!

So here is my quick recap of my training last week:

• Ran: 17.3 miles (including back-to-back 10k/5k races)
• Biked: 101 miles
• Swam: 2.75 miles
• Total time: Just shy of 10 hours
• Total miles: about 121

I wasn't feeling well Sunday/Monday so I actually took my first rest day since JANUARY on Monday! I skipped my scheduled 1600 meter swim workout that day to try and rest and it did help me to feel better. I am going to have to adjust quite a bit over the coming days due to the move, but I'm going to do my best!

via Google - I thought this chubby baby was cute!

In other exciting news, I got my hair done yesterday and feel like a new person - love it! I'm going to miss Scott, my hair dresser so much... I may have to figure out a way for him to fly to Seattle to do my hair!

AND! Julia can finally reach the pedals on her trike so she was riding around (often backwards, but hey!) our driveway for an hour yesterday!



she looks like such a big girl!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Questions for you:

1) Are you racing? If so, good luck!

2) Have you faced a challenge in your training (i.e. injury, getting sick...)? How did you adjust?

3) Anything fun to share?

 
 



Wordless Wednesday (totally stealing this...)

So I'm stealing this from Tonia at Racing with Babes but I couldn't resist - it made me smile today!

Nice.

Have a great day! 

"Wet Turkey" race and weekend recap

Happy Monday, all! Hope you had fabulous weekends and enjoyed your racing, long runs, training sessions, etc!

Julia and I had a good weekend overall. It was our LAST ONE without Rob! YAHOO!

We started Friday by celebrating my mom's 65th birthday! Took her to lunch and then met up with her and my dad for dinner.

Yummy Baskin Robbins cakes - so good

Saturday after my early morning bike ride, we did some shopping and met up with my friend Marcie for lunch. It's always good to catch up with her and I will miss her terribly! Julia settled right in next to her to show off her iPad games!

Saturday afternoon we went with Nancy to get our race numbers for the Big House Big Heart race on Sunday. The expo was at my old high school so I of course had a bit of nostalgia while I was there. I showed Nancy the trophies from my swim teams back in the day. I was surprised to see our names were engraved on the state championship trophies! How fun. Can you spot my name?

I was lucky enough to win a free entry to this race thanks to Renewal by Andersen window company! They provided us with shirts too with this on the back:

Classic!

Sunday morning I woke up at 6am to sounds of POURING rain. I immediately texted Megan and Nancy to see if they were still in for the race. Megan decided she was not, Nancy said she would leave it up to our friend Melissa to decide.

I called my dad and after about 1/2 hour of debate, I decided to go for it. Julia was up so we hustled out to the door to get to Ann Arbor. I of course was proudly wearing my Spartan gear, since the race started and finished at Michigan's football stadium!

The rain continued, at times with downpours. I started to question why I was doing this at all but I figured once I was wet, it wouldn't matter!

My dad dropped me off and I made my way to the Renewal tent set up near the start line. Those of us who won entries were huddled inside the tent trying to stay warm and dry. It was 57 degrees but felt a lot colder with the rain.

About 10 minutes before the start time, I wandered over to find Nancy and Melissa who had just arrived. Melissa was doing the 5k, which started an hour after the 10k so she left to seek shelter and warmth! Nancy and I headed to the start line and off we went.

The puddles were crazy and we spent most of the time looking down to try and avoid the knee-deep ones! After about a mile, we were absolutely soaked. But we had a great time and just kept going. The 10k was 2 loops and the rain would subside at times, and then downpour at times - it made the race go by quickly though as it always gave us something to laugh/talk about! 

The finish was at the 50 yard line of the stadium so we entered through the tunnel to the sounds of the Michigan fight song...to which I was trying to yell "GO GREEN" as loudly as I could! No one heard me.

Nancy had quite the kick at the end and finished in just over 53 minutes. She was aiming for 55 so she killed it! So happy for her, and I had a blast running with her!

We found Melissa and headed back up to the start line for the 5k - seemed to be a ton more people in this race and the rain stopped too which was nice. I decided to also run the 5k so I could get in the 9 miles I had on my training schedule. 

I left the ladies and the race started. I was feeling good but my shoes, socks and shorts were absolutely SOAKED! I just decided to run as fast as I felt comfortable and dealt with the squishy socks as best I could.

I finished with an un-official time of 23:48 for the 5k which I was happy about considering I had just finished the 10k about 5 minutes before the start.

Nancy dubbed it the "Wet Turkey" race which I thought was perfect, since we had done the same 10k/5k combination back in November called the "Iron Turkey"! Patent it, Nancy!

Melissa did great and finished in just over 32 minutes and she felt good which is key! I can't wait for her next race where she's going to break 30 minutes!

Overall the race was fun despite the monsoon-like conditions! I had a blast with Nancy and Melissa and I would have been sad to have missed it - my last race in Michigan :( Strange to say that...

Because of the rain none of us had our cameras/phones with us but here is a picture of Nancy, Melissa and I from last summer. 







Thanks, ladies, for a super fun day!

Hope you had a great weekend as well!

Questions:

1) Do you ever race when there is a massive downpour or snow storm?

2) Have you ever won a race entry? I was so excited to win one!

3) Do you ever re-live high school days? 

Ironman training week 10 recap and TTT

Happy Thursday, everyone!

I have had a great start to my day which is wonderful since I had a pretty crappy day yesterday. Ever have one of those days where nothing went right? Yea, that was yesterday for me! But after a good night's sleep (that's 3 in a row for those of you keeping score at home), I got up and was in a great mood, ready to tackle my day and got my bike and run in all before 10:30am - woot!

via Google

So here is my recap of last week's training - I had to skip two swim workouts due to my schedule and my bout with insomnia earlier in the week (sorry, coach!) but overall I did ok.

• Ran: 26 miles
• Biked: 81 miles
• Swam: 1 mile
• Total: 108 miles
• Total time: about 7 hours
• 3 double workout days

I'm racing a 10k on Sunday (decked out in full Spartan gear, thankyouverymuch) and thanks to the staggered start, I will run the 5k right after that as well to get in my 9 miles. It should be fun!

So without further ado, here are my 3 things for today:

1) I'm moving in 15 days - holy hell. It's starting to become real that I'm actually leaving Michigan to become a Washington state resident - yikes! I'm really looking forward to having this chapter in my life behind me and anxious to have my family back together! Rob arrives in 8 days so the end is near!

via Google - I can't believe I'm going to LIVE here! COME VISIT!

2) I'm a new "Sweat Pink" ambassador - more to come on this in a separate blog post but check out this website for details! Very excited to join this group of exceptional ladies!

3) I'm signed up for my first sprint triathlon of the season - in Issaquah, WA, near where we're going to (hopefully) be renting a house! The race is June 2nd and I'm really looking forward to it! I conned convinced my friend Christy to do it with me and am really working on TriGirl to join us too!

Enjoy the rest of your day - I'm heading to Michigan State to meet my mentee and have dinner with some fellow mentors from my college - love being back on campus!

Questions:
1) Have you entered a new race recently? Which one?
2) Big plans for the weekend?
3) Have you moved recently? If so, how was it? What was the worst part (so I'm prepared)?

Monday Mantra

We almost made it through the Monday after a holiday! Congrats - it's not an easy feat for sure.

Today was a rough one for me - the insomnia bug bit again last night and I was up until after 4am. No idea why. Every time I tried to fall asleep, I couldn't. My mind was racing, I started thinking about everything I should get up and be doing (even though it was 3am!). So I've been dragging all day.

via Google

via Google - this was SO ME last night!

I was supposed to do a double workout - swim and bike - today and I opted to only do my bike ride. I felt like my body wouldn't have reacted well to trying to push through a full work day, a bike and a swim (along with taking care of Julia too). I feel guilty but I really need to knock that off - I can't feel guilty about missing 1 swim when I'm still 220+ days out from my Ironman. I think I'll be ok!

So anyway...here is my new mantra:

via ViewSport

I found this yesterday when I was perusing Facebook and thought it was appropo as I prepare for our cross-country move in 18 days.

18 days.

Wow.

There is a lot to get done between now and the 27th but I am trying to keep everything straight. My list is growing by the day, but I'm trying to take it one step at a time and remind myself that I can do it.

So there you have it.

Hope you all had a great Easter (if you celebrate it) - Julia certainly did and was visited by the Easter bunny TWICE - once at our house, once at my parents' house. She was a lucky girl!

what a haul!

lots of eggs hidden outside!

Until later, have a great day!

Questions:
1) What is your insomnia remedy? I heard eating cheese works?!
2) Did you have a good weekend?
3) Are you racing this coming weekend?

Ironman training week 9 recap and TTT

Happy Thursday, all! Or in my case...it's like my FRIDAY today! You have no idea how excited I am to have a day off from work tomorrow. I can hardly stand it. I'm treating myself to a massage and maybe take some time to scrapbook too. I really have no plans all weekend either so will get some packing done, hide some Easter eggs and watch Julia enjoy getting her treats on Sunday!

via Google - this is one of my favorite cartoons!

Here is my recap of my Ironman week 9:

• Bike: 98 miles
• Run: 19 miles
• Swim: 4.42 miles
• Total: 121.42 miles (about 10 hours of training time) 
• 4 double and 3 single workout days

Overall it was a decent week other than my migraine on Tuesday! I'm feeling really good with my running and not dreading every time I have to go run - which is always a good thing! My pace has been feeling relatively easy around 8:20 per mile which is also reassuring. I know I'm getting stronger too so as my mileage continues to increase, my confidence is rising too.

So there you have it!

Here are my Three Things for this week:

1) Easter Candy is evil - I am slightly obsessed with SweetTart Jelly Beans at the moment. I could eat almost a whole bag in one sitting. Not good, but I recommend trying them if you haven't yet!

via Google

2) Good Friday = Good times - I'm so happy to have tomorrow off work! Have I mentioned that yet!?

via Google - YAY!

3) For those who celebrate, have a Happy Easter!



via Google - LOVE!

Enjoy your weekend!





Wordless Wednesday

Happy Hump Day, everyone.

I'm not feeling up to par today so I won't even attempt to write anything today - it will just be garlbeldy gook anyway

Here are a few visuals for you:

via Google

I guess if there's a bright side... (via Google)

via Google

That's all I got.

Hoping for a better tomorrow...until then, have a great day! 

Wait, it's April? How did that happen?

Happy Monday, all!

Hope you had a great weekend. I can hardly believe today is April 2nd. I feel like it was just March 2nd. Where did the time go? Oh that's right - to the craziness that is my life every day! I never even know what day it is much less the actual date!

Weekend was filled with a lot of fun stuff for Julia and me. We started out with our going away party on Friday night with friends and family at a local restaurant. It was such a fun time, and a lot of my friends were able to join us. I really appreciated it! I'll have to post some pictures once my mom and my friend Lia send them to me (I didn't have a camera with me - I know, right?!)

The 'rents

Saturday I hit the gym to get my 8 mile run in. I opted not to go outside because I didn't think Julia would handle sitting in the stroller for that long when it was chilly and gross outside. We then headed to a bowling fundraiser for the American Cancer Society that my friend Amber and her family put on! Julia and I bowled and had a blast. I even won a gift basket in the raffle complete with a s'mores kit, 2 bottles of wine and 2 of those smelly things with the reeds in them (can't think of the name!) Saturday evening we went back out to meet Amber for dinner and to watch the basketball game. Fun times!

Sunday I got up super early to do a 2 hour bike trainer ride (ouch!) followed by a quick 2 mile run. I bought Julia a ticket for "Breakfast with the Easter Bunny" so we headed there for a bit, but it was really crowded. So we didn't stay too long and instead headed to my mom's house for a bit.

We then went to a local park to watch the annual "Twinkie Run 5k" - yes, you read that right.

It is a fundraiser for ALS, and you have to:

1. eat a Twinkie before you start
2. run lap 1
3. eat another Twinkie
4. Run lap 2

They mark your number and you then get 1:00 taken off of your finish time for each Twinkie eaten as an incentive. Hilarious! Luckily no one puked which is good. I almost ran it - I would have won it too (dammit) - but I didn't have shoes, proper clothing, etc. Maybe next time. My dad was the "race official" too - it's always dangerous when they hand him a mega phone!

That's my dad in the hat under the "start" sign!

After an early dinner at Red Robin, Julia and I finally headed home. I think we were home for a total of about 2 hours both days - craziness. But it was fun.

And the most exciting thing to happen today?! I woke up realizing I don't have to work on Friday!!!! Such a nice thing to forget about...and Julia is in school in the afternoon so I may have an "Erika" day on Friday, maybe get a massage, do some scrapbooking....or do nothing at all. I haven't decided. But I could really use that day off.

via Google - I would like to be here right now.

Hope you had a fun weekend as well!

Questions for you:
1) Do you like April or are you sad to see March end?
2) Did you race? How did it go?
3) Anything new and exciting to share?

Medal hanger WINNERS!

Hello all!

I hope you had a great weekend - mine was super duper busy but fun - I think we were home a total of about 2 hours all weekend (not counting sleeping time of course!)

I'll post more tomorrow hopefully, but wanted to announce the winners of my giveaway!

The first winner via Random.org was:

My Steelhead buddy, Matthew Smith!
Here was his comment:

And winner #2:

Mary-Frances!
Here is her comment:

Please contact me at erikamsu1@gmail.com by Wednesday, April 4th to let me know what hanger you would like and I'll get the information to Gayle!

Thanks again for all of your comments and congratulations to the winners!

Have a great day -