Soooooooo……my sis and I were never really into the same activities when we were younger. We both played sports recreationally but they weren’t really our “thing”. Cheerleading was her thing and baton twirling was mine.

Once we got older, our “things” changed. Mine somehow turned into running and hers turned into fashion.

Well, now I’m happy to say that our “things” are finally the SAME!

It started back in September of 2010 when we ran the Chicago Half Marathon together (which I’m not even sure how we decided to sign up – but it wouldn’t surprise me if I pressured her into it).

She was amazing and ran like it was no big deal.

See, she’s in front of me here. I think this was around mile 9? Rockstar.

I swear she didn’t even hurt after the race. I look tired and she looks happy. Not fair.

And then when I was the running coach for Team Challenge, she joined the Team to run Vegas with us.

We couldn’t run the race together since I was the coach, but she totally killed it. Seriously, she almost beat my PR with like no effort at all. Again, kills me.

So, I finally did it. I convinced her to put her natural running ability to the ultimate test.

Because last week she got an email identical to this one:

We’re both registered to run the Chicago Marathon this year and it’s going to be A-MAZING! I can’t wait to share the experience of 26.2 miles with my sister. She already shares her love of fashion with me almost every day (I need the help!), so I’m totally excited to share my love of marathons with her.

Though, if she beats my PR I may have to kill her.

What was your “thing” growing up?

This is not an advertisement. I promise. I’m just here to tell you about my most favorite headbands EVER. And, trust me, I’m the queen of headbands. When I ran my first marathon in Pittsburgh last year, my support “crew” all wore headbands as a joke (which I didn’t find very funny, btw).

My first requirement when it comes to a headband is comfort. That sucker must stay on my head and NOT MOVE. My second requirement is sweat absorption (a definite must!). And, thirdly, they have to be cute.

Well, bondi bands meet all three requirements! You can find me wearing them all the time.

To the gym:

On family days:

And most definitely during running:

And since we all know by now what a sweaty beast I am, it will come as no surprise that the Heavy Sweat Wicking headbands are my ultimate fav. Without a doubt. I won’t even tell you how many I have because then J would know and I still try to tell him I only own 2 – hehe.

Well, when I was looking for headbands for Team Challenge this season, I saw that Bondi Band had a “Crohn’s Sucks” headband! I died. It couldn’t be more perfect.

I contacted Bondi Band right away and they immediately offered to send me one of these headbands for each member of our team. SO NICE!

Everyone wore them differently, but they all looked great!

We got so many compliments from Team Challenge participants and staff – they were definitely a hit! Plus, it helped our team stand out on race day – we were identified as Team Challenge in our orange jerseys and identified as the NorthEast Ohio chapter in our headbands. O-H-I-O!

So, what do you think? Want to win a bondi band of your own?? I’ll send you a “Crohn’s Sucks” headband and one of your choosing. Here’s how to win:

1. Leave a comment telling me your most favorite headband for working out
2. Leave a comment with what Heavy Sweat Wicking headband you’d pick from Bondi Band
3. Tweet about this giveaway (for example “I just entered the @bondiband giveaway on @heatha262 most super awesome blog. Check it out!” and link to this page), then leave a comment telling me you did so

Good luck!!

p.s. This giveaway is of my own free will. Bondi Band is not supplying me with the product. I just believe in them that much that I want to spread the headband love.

Now that I’ve confessed my fears from the weekend, this post should be fairly easy!

Warning: this is going to be a long and picture heavy post!!

Our alarms when off bright and early at 3:55am. Since Jay and I had laid our stuff out the night before, getting ready was easy peasy. We were dressed, ready, and downstairs waiting for our team by 4:20am!

The hotel provided boxed breakfasts for the runners, so we received a bagel, peanut butter, banana, nutrigrain bar, peanuts, and yogurt. A lot of food, but it really provided variety for the participants since not everyone eats the same pre-race breakfast (obvi).

The race for our early starters began at 6:30, so the bus taking them to the start of the race was leaving at 5:10. We rushed to take some quick team photos before they headed off.

Shortly after it was our time to head to the buses!

(see me in the background? )

About 45 minutes later we were there! It was time – no backing out now!

The start line is that yellow banner in the background.

Since this was a relatively small race (2,200 runners – 650 of which were Team Challenge participants!), there were no assigned corals. There were signs with estimated finish times so you kind of knew where to line up but that was it.

We wasted time by doing team chants and taking pictures, of course!

There was a little delay to the start, but we were finally off at 7:30!

I love this picture because you can see all the runners making the turn a little ways up the road:

The weather couldn’t have been any more perfect. It was about 70 degrees with a nice breeze when we started. And the scenery was beautiful.

The road is empty because J took these when he was with the early starters.

Here are some action shots from during the race:

And my most favorite picture from the weekend:

I wish I had a different angle because you can’t really tell how steep the hill in the background is from where I was standing when I took this picture. But I love how Becky played it up!!

J and I really lucked out with the early start. He got a good lead on us so that when we started I ran about 5 miles or so with Angela and then let him know she was coming. I turned around and ran back to pick up the next participant, ran about 3 miles with her, and then let J know she was coming next. We did this the entire race until we were both left with the very last participant on our team.

It’s great because there are Team Challenge “cheer stations” set up on the course so when J and I couldn’t be with a participant, he or she was being cheered on by other Team Challenge staff. It was perfect!

Seventeen miles later (for J and I!) we saw the finish line!

Despite my fears, everything went according to plan. Amazingly, I had absolutely NO problems with my IT band during the race and I felt great! Even though my legs felt heavy towards the end (but whose wouldn’t after 15 miles??), the adrenaline “racing” through my body kept me going.

It was a good day.

Later on that day I felt so silly for doubting myself all those days leading up to the race. Coaching is so much more than being able to run fast – it’s encouraging and motivating and leading these people towards their goal. Something that I can say I’m REALLY good at.

I can’t even put into words how proud I felt after this race. The members on our team exceeded my expectations and really brought it home. They were amazing. I’m honored to have had this opportunity – it was absolutely life changing.

Has their been someone or something that has made such a big impact on and changed your life?

First of all, thank you thank you thank you for all the support you all showed regarding the Fitfluential Ambassador application! It really means the world to me! Thank you!

But today is all about my weekend at the Virginia Wine Country Half Marathon. Team Challenge training finally reached it’s peak and it was go big or go home time.

I wasn’t really sure how to approach the recap, as it’s really hard to put into words the emotion and effort that goes into race weekend.

So since I am always honest on the blog, I thought I’d give you my own personal coach’s perspective. A completely honest and raw recap.

Despite it being my first time as a Team Challenge coach, I was 100% confident when the Vegas race came around this past December. I was healthy and confident in my training. But this time was completely different.

First of all, I was terrified of how my IT band was going to hold up. Second of all, I was terrified because I hadn’t been training because of my IT band injury. Could I even run this race and keep up with the participants? Thirdly, I had come down with a horrible sore throat/head cold the Wednesday before we left. This left me totally questioning my coaching abilities as we drove to Virginia Thursday morning.

I’d like to say that as soon as we got to the hotel and started running into our teammates that my self doubt quickly disappeared. I had my game face on, but my head was constantly questioning my coaching. I remember looking around at the coach’s meeting Friday morning and seeing one of the coaches with a Boston Marathon jacket on. I doubted myself even more and almost cried. I kept thinking that I didn’t have any business being a coach.

I even ended up at the CVS minute clinic Friday afternoon due to my sickness. Talk about bad timing.

But I didn’t have any time for self pity. This weekend was not about me. It was about these amazing people who donated their time and efforts into training for a half marathon (with some of them never even running a 5k!) in order to raise money to help cure crohn’s and colitis. It was time to man up and get the party started. Half of the job is making sure the participants have a good time and that race weekend is an “experience”. Luckily, I genuinely care about every single one of them so they made this part of my job pretty easy.

Besides the actual race, my most favorite part of the weekend is the inspirational pasta party the night before the race. I get to be silly and cheer on participants as they enter for the party.

I’m really good at this part of the job. It’s easy bein’ cheesy.

Plus, we got to hear about the amazing fundraising that took place (2.3 million dollars this season – hollaaaar!), with the top 3rd fundraiser actually coming from our team! It’s quite the experience and a great way to get the participants (and coach’s!) revved up for race day.

I left the pasta party feeling energized. When the coach’s were recognized as a whole, our team gave J and I a standing ovation. I can’t even put into words the emotion I felt at that moment. It really put everything into perspective. I was going to do this. And I was going to be good at it. Period.

I went to bed that night nervous, excited, worried, and almost sick to my stomach. But having this guy…..

(bahahaha!!!)

……at my side (and a little help from some Nyquil!), helped calm me down and I slept like a baby. Things were looking up.

Big race day post coming tomorrow!!

Do you ever doubt yourself? If so, do you fake it til you make it like I do??

Thanks for bearing with me with all the inconsistent blogging lately. Things have just been so crazy around here the past week or so. I didn’t mention this on the blog yet, but I started teaching again this month! I agreed to one day a week for now. So Monday nights I’m teaching Group Step and so far it’s been awesome. A little stressful, but that’s my own fault for putting pressure on myself. It will get easier again once I get back into a routine.

Anyways, this post isn’t about me, it’s about Team Challenge!

The past two weeks have been pretty exciting. Two weeks ago we had a certified pilates instructor come in and guide the participants through some great yoga and pilates for runners. Mostly to strengthen and stretch the hamstrings.

The timing was perfect. It pretty much downpoured the entire “class” and then was just an on and off drizzle during our run!

And then this past Sunday (Mother’s Day!), a new friend of mine and 2011 Boston marathoner(!!), Molly, was generous enough to come and talk to the Team about her journey to Boston and about never giving up on yourself.

Her story is pretty incredible – you should check her blog. She recaps all her races from her journey to Boston and how one time she missed qualifying by 17 seconds!!

The Team was pretty enamored with Molly (as was I!) and she stuck around afterwards to run with us. It was a great way to start Mother’s Day!

We even got flowers.

And, even better, I was reunited with 2 of my Vegas participants:

I seriously love these guys. They rocked Vegas and we really created a bond that weekend that will last a lifetime. This program is the bomb. If you ever get a chance to run a race for charity with a team I highly recommend it. It will change your life.

Team Vegas 2010!

The past 2 weeks of training have been the best so far. The participants have made such great progress and we have our longest training run this coming Sunday. We’re so close!

Random question: What’s your favorite flower? Hands down, peonies rock my world.

Hope you had a great day!

Thanks for all the encouragement on the NYC Marathon! I still can’t believe it. For realz. And now I’m in complete sticker shock when I look at the hotel prices for that weekend. Maybe I can convince J that since it’s my birthday he should treat?? I wish.

But, seriously, if anyone has any advice/recommendations on where to stay marathon weekend that would be great. Help a (clueless) sista out. This will be my first time to the Big Apple!

Anyways, this update is a little late, as it’s a recap of our training run this past weekend for Team Challenge. Unfortunately, we only had a small crowd show up since it was Easter weekend. But we still had fun!

I was going to teach a core workout prior to training, but it was drizzling and the ground was pretty much soaked. So we postponed the workout until another day when we’re finally blessed with nice weather (which could be never the way Cleveland is going this year).

Halfway into our run (110 minutes!) the sun came out!

And everyone was in good spirits:

They even sprinted to the finish!

The fundraiser of the week now gets this fun cape to wear:

She’s such a good sport.

The race is 1 month, 1 week, and 1 day from today!! It’s going to be here before we know it. Race weekend/day is my favorite part of the entire season – I can’t wait!

Have you ever been to NYC? Where’s your favorite place to stay?

Hey everyone!!

Today was the BEST TEAM CHALLENGE TRAINING RUN EVER!

Wanna know why………..??

Bahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!

These two crazies promised to run dressed in girls running gear if we had so many participants commit to the race by a certain date.

Luckily they don’t take themselves too seriously.

This little gesture really lifted the early morning Sunday mood and kept smiles on everyone’s faces the entire training. (though, how could it not? – seeing the reactions on stranger’s faces was seriously priceless)

Despite all the excitement, we managed to have a great training session. Before our run I demonstrated a few strength exercises geared specifically towards runners to help with coordination, balance, and overall form. Sometimes I think runners forget that strength training is great for injury prevention. The stronger our muscles the less chance we have of injury. A strong base is where it’s at, people.

We then set out for our 90 minute run/walk and it was a success! Everyone is really starting to embrace the spirit of the Team and train for a half marathon while still having fun. My motto.

All in all, another great week in the books.

Hope you had a great Sunday!

Are you willing to make fun of yourself for a good cause?? Me? Always. I have no shame.

p.s. Stay tuned this week – I have my first giveaway coming!!

Thanks for all the comments on Biggie, everyone! I feel so lucky that this little guy was brought into our lives. He’s just so innocent and FUN!!

What a pimp.

But today’s post is all about Team Challenge!

This past Sunday was a milestone for MANY of our participants, as we had 80 minutes on the schedule. This meant they could end up running 8 miles (or more!).

Before our run we discussed the topic of “Should You Run When Sick?” and updated the participants on all our upcoming guest speakers. There are a few in particular that I’m really excited about! You’ll definitely be updated on all the fun stuff as it happens.

The most exciting thing this past Sunday was that we FINALLY had nice weather for training!

It was 58 when we left the house and PERFECT running weather.

I ran the first half very slow to make sure my knee was OK and just enjoyed the fact that I was RUNNING.

I ran/walked the second half, covering 5.75 miles total. Not too bad for this lady with a bum knee.

I actually had headed back a little sooner than the rest of the Team, though, so that I would have some extra stretching time before everyone finished up. Besides, I like to be at the finish to cheer everyone home.

And also to see the participants race J to the finish line.

Some of the participants are really gunnin’ for him now. It’s really fun, actually. It gets the whole Team involved and cheering!

After some stretching and a brief wrap up, the majority of the Team headed to Panera for some post run food and to chat. It was a pretty great Sunday morning!

As soon as I got home I rolled out my leg and iced it, too, but it’s still a little sore. It definitely didn’t hurt, but it’s been aching pretty bad ever since. Luckily I have another appointment with my PT this week. I’m feeling confident, though – 4 miles (pain free) is a great accomplishment!!

Hope everyone had a great Monday. One day down and only four to go…….!

Hey guys!! I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Ours was busy, but quite fantastic. Saturday was my first Saturday in FOREVER that I didn’t have to teach. We all slept in and had pancakes for breakfast before C’s first outdoor soccer game of the season. It was SO NICE. I can’t even tell you.

We also got to hang out with some really great friends (coming soon), but today I want to recap our weekly Team Challenge training!

We finally had decent weather – the first all season. It was 40 degrees and sunny this morning!

Before we took off I talked about the importance of fueling during our long runs (now that our Sunday runs are over an hour long). We’ve had a few participants with tummy issues so I’m hoping we can get those issues cleared up before the big race. That’s what training is for – practice, practice, practice!

Everyone’s spirits were high this morning so we were all still feeling good at the halfway point.

Just a quick stop for fuel and then right back at it. I may or may not have had to push a few people to get going again.

J and I actually got to run/walk a little bit together today and I probably ran a total of 2 MILES!!!!!! WAHOO!!! It felt SO GOOD! I had absolutely NO PAIN in my knee, but I definitely took it easy. Anytime I felt any sort of twinge or ache I stopped running right away and walked. It hasn’t hurt all day, but it’s definitely achy. I tried to explain to J that it almost feels like I have arthritis on the outside of my right leg – that’s how it aches. So I’ve been stretching it all day and it has seemed to help!

So, last season we used to have some fun at the end of the run and would race the coach to the finish (I would lose miserably because I am NOT a sprinter!). Here’s proof:

Hehe.

But, since I can’t run hard yet, J had the racing honors today:

Look at that stride!!!

Then check it:

Two races were enough for this guy. Ha! I think once I’m back at 100% we’re going to have to have a coach’s race!

All in all, today was a great training day. We ran hard and played hard at the same time. Win win in my book!

What did you do this morning? Were you up and at ‘em early, or relaxing with breakfast in bed??

I love how many people watch Dexter!! J and I watched the season 4 finale today while eating dinner and I still can’t believe it. Wow, totally unexpected.

Anyways, last week I didn’t get a chance to do an update on Team Challenge so I’m lumping both weeks together today. Despite the frigid cold temperatures (it was 23 Sunday morning!), we’ve had great turnout for the weekly training runs. It definitely helped that last week Katie made a guest appearance to talk nutrition.

She does a great job of breaking down the basics and explaining everything at a beginner level, without being boring! I got lots of great feedback from the participants, and if you want a rundown on what was discussed, you can check out the first time she came to Team Challenge here.

She then joined us on our 55 minute run and proceeded to run MORE after training to get to 10 miles. Total rockstar.

Thanks, Katie!!

This past Sunday we discussed S.M.A.R.T. goals and had everyone mention one SMART goal they wanted to achieve this week. J said that his goal is to get my shoes organized in our bedroom so he’s not tripping over them (not gonna happen). My goal is to bake him some of his favorite brownies to butter him up so I can get another pair of shoes this week (totally gonna happen!). Hehe.

If you want a breakdown of S.M.A.R.T. goals, check out Angela’s blog. She did a great recap of the topic. She also did a great job on her run!

Sorry, Ang, I know you told me not to post this but it was just too cute not to!!

Things are really starting to heat up this week, as recommitment is this coming Monday. This is when the participants decide once and for all if they’re in for good or not. We have such a diverse Team this season that I really hope they all sign on. This past week’s training was a blast, and the shenanigans are just beginning!!

Obnoxious.

It doesn’t seem like we’re that close to the race yet because of the cold weather, but we’re already halfway through our training! I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like running a half marathon on June 5th in Virginia. I have to somehow find some major sweat resistant clothes. The dri-fit I already own just won’t cut it for me in that heat.

Sweaty beast after 3 miles (and this picture is from October!).

I actually read in Fitness magazine this month that “women sweat 20 to 30 percent less than men at the same exercise intensity level, even though we have more sweat glands.” Hmmmmm…….a hundred bucks says I sweat more than J and Ryan (above) combined on June 5th. No joke.

So, for all you sweaters out there, what’s your favorite shirt, shorts, capris, and/or sports bra to run in when it’s HOT?? HELP!!!