Gasparilla re-cap and I love you.

Race day was great.  There is just something about sleeping terribly before a race that makes it special- I need tips on pre-race day sleeping, I just can't even wrap my brain around it- file that under a lot of other things (quantum physics, calorie free french fries, a world without Sweet Tomatoes....the list goes on and on...).

I'm so thankful for my Team FCA teammates and sponsors.  You all rock my toe socks off.  I'm so blessed with amazing friends, old and new, who took time this year to train, donate, pray, and read about this organization.  I can't even express how incredible you all are.

It doesn't look like I love them but I loved them enough to distance my "just ran 9 miles funk" a bit.

It was so hot on Saturday, for those of you who donated to my race, please be content in knowing I definitely got my sweat on for those dollars.  I raised over $400 for FCA and you should know I kept repeating "people paid money for you to finish this" over and over throughout the race.  It was tough, I've never run in temps that hot and it was brutal.  I'm a total running wimp when it comes to heat.  You'll see me running in the gym and spinning around the end of March when running outside in Tampa gets swampy.  At the end of the 5K there were volunteers handing out bags to throw up in, it was that miserable.  Thankfully the sun wasn't out and it was cloudy, otherwise I may have taped my bib to another runner to kill it for me.

From the starting line......

A morning run with 5,000,000 of your friends.

Camille and Rachel C. 

Meet Camille, my office mate and all around amazing person.

Camille: "Make a strong arm" Rachel: "I don't know what a strong arm is and I don't have one"

Camille and Tiffany before the race and I hadn't finished changing into my shirt.  Gross.

I've known Rachel for 13 years.  That's crazy.  If she wouldn't kill me for it, I'd post her finish line picture.  It's amazing.

Last year I ran just the 15K and I don't remember it being as crowded as this year, but it was packed.  It took about 5 minutes after the start to actually cross the starting line, there were so many people running.  For the first 4-5 miles, there was hardly any room to move and control my pace- it was a lot of stop and go and lots of being cut off which wasn't very fun.  I think there is something to be said for getting there early for a spot closer to the front.

So many of our runners for FCA were running their first 5K and I'm so proud of them for showing up, raising money for us, and giving their all.  It brought tears to my eyes to see them running on the course and doing something they didn't think they'd ever be able to do.  If you've never run before I challenge you to complete a 5K.  From children to the elderly, they were all represented.  I saw some pregnant women running which is unreal.  I don't like running with my car keys because it hurts my arm with extra weight.  I can't imagine a baby.

My next race is a trail race at Hillsborough State park if anyone else wants to join in.  It's April 13th and a 10K but the entry fee is less than what I spend on lunch downtown and it's through the woods so it's cool and a really small race with awesome people.  I did it last year.  If anyone is up for it, let me know.  The sign up is here.....

http://www.active.com/10k-race/thonotosassa-fl/river-n-rapids-10k-and-fun-run-2013

Saturday was an all around awesome day because Matt and his drummer, Nate, got to come home (home for Matt, not for Nate) for the weekend to preform at a festival in Downtown Orlando so I got to pick them up from the airport.

My second home.

We went straight to pick up our new van and Matt and Nate agreed to fulfill my cravings for Sweet Tomatoes which was nice.  Big high five to me for showing Nate the "best of" Tampa's local culinary scene.

The show downtown was great.  I don't know if this is a monthly thing but I wish Tampa would pull off something like this.  Andy Grammar and All American Rejects also played, there were tons of local restaurants, a brewery, and wineries to sample from.  It was awesome. 

It was overcast so the heat wasn't unbearable but it was fun watching Matt perform songs from the new album.  Free food, beer, and wine wasn't that bad either.  We also got to see our Orlando friends and attempt to convince them to move in next door to us so we can be neighbors.  Friends for life.

We did get to Taco Bus so Nate got to experience at least one local gem.

 He doesn't look like he is enjoying it but he knows he did.  He's from California so taking him out for Mexican was a bit of a gamble but he wasn't too pretentious about it.  He only brought up San Diego shrimp tacos once.  We'll forgive him.  And he didn't judge me for downing one bottle of Taco Bus hot sauce.

Don't drink the water. Ooops.

It's race day! Luke and I had a nice slow jog through the neighborhood last night which was refreshing.  It was breezy out and cool and helped with the pre-race jitters.  I am so excited.  Thank you to my sweet friends that sponsored this race and the incredible support I've gotten.  I can barely contain how much love I have for you all.

The expo was fun and I bought some Nuun hydration drink to bring with me on the course because it is going to be so HOT.  Like unbearable.  I've only run the Gasparilla once before and it was the hottest race ever.  Tomorrow is supposed to be hotter than last year so yeah, blech.  Hey Tampa, let's move this party to January, yeah?  Like it would have mattered this year though, I remember some days in January that hit the high 80s.  Southern Living.

I have a very strict race day schedule that includes waking up at the crack of dawn to make sure my breakfast digests before the start.  Oatmeal with a banana and cinnamon is my go to.  Paired with a cup of coffee it's always been the perfect pre run meal for me.  Every single race I've had the same thing and it has never let me down. Or come back up.

I tried to get the top to look like a heart.  Nailed it!

If anything does come back up its because I drank a lot of tap water before hearing of the boil order for Tampa's water supply. I drank a lot.  Oh and then after sleeping for 4 hours after finding out I preceeded to make breakfast with it.  Whoops.  I searched everywhere to see what it could have been contaminated with but couldn't find anything.  So I'm pretty sure it's probably sewage.  

Happy Margarita Day!

I did ring in five o clock with a freshly squeezed orange margarita. I left on the skin when juicing for some extra vitamin C. It has a very strong flavor and not for everyone but I'm down. It also made me feel better about the tequila. Not great the night before a race, but who am I to protest a holiday?

It did make it easier to get through the three ton load of laundry that had been growing for weeks. Matt does our laundry so when he's away...it doesn't get done. It is my least favorite chore. So now that's out there.

But it was nice to have clean running clothes to completely drench in sweat tomorrow. Another pre race habit, lay out race stuff! Safety pins, socks, bibs, bras, head phones and water bottles all tend to spread out in the house so it's much easier to corral that stuff together so no worries about leaving your lucky socks in the dryer and missing that PR by two seconds because you weren't wearing them.  Trust me, the socks you are wearing make all the difference. *

*they don't

Happy Race Day! 

We've got a Situation on our hands.

Today is the Gasparilla Expo!  I love expos.  Just walking around from booth to booth surrounded by runners and running stuff is heaven.  I actually expect heaven to be better than that.  Like mountains of well behaved Labradoodle puppies better. 

Today is the last day to sponsor my 20K for FCA run....you can do that here...if you want. 

www.grouprev.com/rachelhires

Fun fact.....in the 6th grade I became obsessed with carrots.  It was a little nuts.  My mom was buying huge bags of baby carrots to keep my cravings satiated.  In turn, my palms turned orange.  I was the coolest 6th grader around, that's for sure.  Not. 

In a last ditch effort to give myself some color before the run so Gasparilla spectators don't mistake my blinding white legs as the Apocalypse, I'm downing some serious carrot juice today.  As much as I love carrots, I'm not a fan of carrot juice.  I just can't take it straight up.  It gives me the shivers even thinking about it.  But add in other stuff and it doesn't bother me at all.  Aren't you glad about all you've learned about Rachel Hires?  And no, you can't get back those 30 seconds. 

Cheers to developing a New Jersey glow by tomorrow!

Chop fruits/veggies.

Be careful when cutting beets.  Orange Jason is right around the corner....



File this under creepiest photo on blog.



Juice and whisk in foam.



Pre Whisk



Post Whisk



Enjoy looking fabulous!

One star for two stars.

I'm still sore from stair climbing.  I guess my dream trip to the peak of Mt. Everest just isn't in the cards for me.  Unless I hire a really strong Sherpa.  Hmm.  Matt Hires?

 A short run was all I had in me today and it felt good and my sweet little pup got some fresh air.  Win win.  Two more days until the 20K for FCA so I don't want to do anything else crazy like climb 5,000 flights of stairs.  Nice and slow walks from here until Saturday.  Don't tell Luke, he doesn't know what "nice" and "slow" mean. 

 There are two more days to sponsor me for my run if you want.......if you already have, I am seriously and completely in love with you.  Hide yo' kids, hide yo' wives, that kind of love.  You rock.  If you would like to throw some money towards kids in area high schools, click the link below. 

www.grouprev.com/rachelhires 

My night was considerably lazy.  I had to catch up on responding to emails and while I'd rather have watched my dog chase his tail for two hours, one of my co-workers had given me the DVD of the critically acclaimed* "Burlesque" staring Cher and Christina Aguilera .  So I watched it.

*not critically acclaimed

Oh yeah.  Matt dodged a bullet with this one.  But at the very least now I can honestly testify to my coworker what it was about.  She really liked it and now we can chat about the fun corsets and pasties that each cast member wore.  You know, water cooler stuff.

But let's talk about how much Christina Aguilera looks like Taylor Swift here......

Right?  

image source www.instyle.com

I know.  The movie turned me into the queen of observation. 

So my first word of advice is to skip this one.  My next advice is to make these cookies. 

Ginger snaps are my most favorite cookie and ginger snaps sounded like heaven after watching that movie.  I used this recipe which is  my favorite vegan ginger snap recipe on the planet.  I make these a lot and when paired with almond milk, watch out.  For Thanksgiving last year I used it as my crust for a vegan pumpkin pie.  I always omit the cloves because those aren't my thing and I used whole wheat flour because that's how I roll.  I bet the oil could be replaced with some kind of fruit puree but I've never tried because they are so perfect as is.  I also halved the recipe because I'd probably eat the whole batch if I made the whole thing.  It's hard to stop at two.  The halved batched made about 15 cookies.  More or less an episode of Parks and Rec.   

Happy EP Release Day!

In honor of this nationally recognized holiday I'd like to allude to a surprise that no one is going to really care about except for me and Luke.  And probably Matt.  Here's a hint.  It's a really good hint.

Today is special in that Matt is releasing his Forever EP today.  Make sure you wish him a "Happy EP Day!" because that's a thing and I'm sure he wants it on his Facebook wall.  I'm not really sure what EP stands for but in the past it's been an album pressing with less songs on it and it's cheaper.  His full length record comes out in May so this is just a teaser.  A cheaper tease.  That sounds dirty but it's not really.  And "EP" sounds a little more PC than "Cheap Tease".

So that is good news numero uno.  You can buy it here and it looks like this.  You can also get it at a show but Matt refuses to play in Tampa so you really can't if you live here.  If you are planning on going to any of the Matchbox 20 tour where Matt is opening, you can buy it there. 





Good news numero dos is that the first single off of the album, "Restless Heart" is the itunes single of the week.  Which means you can get it for free.  Which is also why I put it second.  Haha, you already bought it.  Just kidding.  You can get the free one and I won't care (or know).  When you see me selling my juicer on Craigslist and Luke feasting on Kibbles and Bits........you'll know what you did.  But seriously, get it for free. 

Then you can give it 5 stars because you are my friend and it's good to run to  <----try it!!!!

Tres is pretty cool but pretty dumb at the same time.  Matt has a new website that is great.  But it's dumb to get to and we can't figure out why.  There is this splash page that come up when you hit the link and you have to scroll down to the link where it says "Enter Site" to actually get there.  I need to dust off my html for dummies tonight. 

www.matthires.com   <----Mom and AC, that is a link, click that.

Good news numero quatro is that you guys are the best.  My friends have been so supportive of my 20K for FCA run and I even started to tear up thinking about them (honestly). 

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING ME!! 

I love these kids, and am so excited to work with them and can't do it without support and I'm humbled that you chose to support me.  I know there are so many places that need financial support today and I can't even express how overwhelming it is when you trust this ministry to help students.  I love you all so much.  THANK YOU!

Tomorrow starts my February juice cleanse.  It's pretty obvious I am no expert at diet and nutrition (or anything really except dog loving) but I honestly have never felt better (in body, mind, and spirit) than after a juice cleanse.  Key word being after.  I feel energized, lighter, clear headed, and more focused.  My skin clears up, any water retention is gone (and I'd like to believe 90% of my body fat is really just water retention), and I just feel good.  Food tastes better and I don't feel like eating a bowl of french fries with a Coke after I've finished drinking kale juice for three days.  Even if a full on cleanse is too much to handle (I get it), try incorporating kale smoothies into your routine.  Kale and spinach pretty much disappear into a smoothie with bananas and peanut butter (my favorite).  And your pee turns green.  (<---that's not true, but that would be wicked cool). 

Dark greens are going to be my valentine this year.  Matt is coping.  Luke is relieved.  

Super Sunday

I had an amazing weekend, I love football, and my dog is growing up. 

Ever play "two lies and a truth"? 

I had the best Sunday ever.  Super busy and I'm pretty sure I was in bed by 8:59pm and asleep by 9pm but it was worth it.  I went to Terrace Palms Community Church to talk about FCA, how to get involved in the Gasparilla Classic, and raising money for the organization.  I spoke too fast as usual and didn't give enough information sooooooo.... if you were there, the website to sign up is www.teamfcaflorida.com  .  If you don't want to run and still want to donate to FCA you can do that on my run site which is https://grouprev.com/rachelhires.  I have a special place in my heart for this little church and it was amazing to see old friends and chat with everyone.  So many hugs and smiles and I left with a full heart. 

 I did the same chat at Watermark with some other ladies the week before and we had tossed out the idea of a Watermark running group.  Last night was the first group meet up and many of the people that signed up were sick or out of town so I wasn't sure if anyone was going to show up.  After waiting about five minutes alone.....I had a super fun group of three dudes show up ready to run.  They were the awesome-est.  They were all really competitive which made their first run in a long time really fun.  It was fun for me at least because I got to show off all of my Jillian Michaels "encouraging" words along the way.  I'm pretty sure my voice will be the only noise they never want to hear again.  I can't believe I didn't get a group shot of all of us, but I'm so proud of them, they did great.  We ran three miles and kept a steady pace the entire run.  They definitely made it worth running in Tampa's terrible January heat.  Truth.....it was 85 degrees which is equivalent to 1000 degrees when you are running.  Now that I've made this special time with me sound incredible, I want people to come!  This is open to anyone and every level is welcome to join up.  We start at 4pm from Bayshore Blvd.

Also, you get to stay for this.... 

There is a free yoga class in Downtown Tampa at Curtis Hixon Park on Sunday evenings at 5pm.  You only need to bring a mat or a towel and it is the loveliest way to spend an evening outside.  I figured that because I'm a terrible stretcher post runs I'd hit up the class right after running (the dudes split, they laughed when I asked them about joining me but one day they will cave).  Turns out, starting yoga off sweaty and smelly and out of breath is the worst.  Give yourself some time to relax before starting, your fellow yogis will thank you.  Not only is the class the bees knees, you get to look at this while you are practicing.....

Certainly, running in Florida's heat kills the spirit, but being outdoors in a tank top and shorts in January while watching the most beautiful sunset makes it a little bit worth it.  Namaste.