Tag Archives: Saucony

Apr20

#FindYourStrong

Posted on by
Standard

Happy Friday! Even though I’ve only worked a short week I’m ready for the weekend.  In the days following a marathon I always feel like a big mess.  I’m usually over tired from the weekend and the race, and without having to train I’m faced with the to-do list of things I put off until after the marathon.  And at this point those things aren’t being juggled nicely in the air instead they are in a big old pile on the floor.  So this weekend will be spent playing a bit of catch up and getting organized and studying for my upcoming Personal Training Exam.  Hopefully soon I’ll feel all caught up and will be able to relax stress-free!

Last Friday night I was able to attend Saucony Presents: An Evening of Running Inspiration with an All-Star Panel.  It was held at the Cyclorama in Boston, they did up the inside with projections of all the #FindYourStrong tweets, photos and more.  The first part of the evening included a tribute to Caballo Blanco.  His friend, Luis Escobar spoke about his friendship and the legacy Caballo left with the Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon.  After there were inspirational talks by Bill Rodgers, Mark Herzlich and Karen Smyers.  Hearing each of them tell their stories was incredible.  Mark Herzlich is a Boston College alum who just won the Superbowl with the NY Giants.  He was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma which is a type of bone cancer.  He spoke about his battle with cancer, how running helped him find his way back to football and accomplish his dreams.  Karen Smyers is a World Champion Ironman and also holds seven National triathlon titles.  She suffered a severed hamstring in a crazy window accident, got hit by an 18 wheeler while training on her bike and survived Thyroid Cancer.  She is tough and inspiring.  She talks about her mantra of, “Passion. Perseverance. Positive Attitude. Perspective.”  I really liked her and admired her tough attitude and ability to never give up.  Bill Rodgers spoke last.  For those who don’t know he is a four-time Boston Marathon winner.  What I found most interesting was he actually spoke more about his 8 DNF’s than he did about his victories.  Sometimes  our bodies are smarter than our minds.   I also found it so interesting that all 3 of them are cancer survivors.   Each of them were compelling and funny in telling their stories and I could tell they each wanted to accomplish their goals with every bone of their body and they would let nothing stand in their way.  Hearing them speak definitely made me excited for the marathon!  Many thanks to Saucony for hosting such a great event!

#FindYourStrong Saucony Speakers

After the talks by the presenters there was a chance to mingle and enjoy some delicious food and an open bar.  Each of the presenters were available to talk to, ask questions and have autographs signed.  I wanted to take the opportunity to speak with fellow FitFluential Dorothy Thorn Beal from Mile Posts as she is the new face of Saucony.  I was really excited to meet her in person and talk running and more.  As you may recall from this post, I’m a big fan of her and find her incredibly inspiring.  She’s just a regular mom, going out and accomplishing her goals!   I was also able to meet Pam from Sparkly Soul at the event.  We had lots to chat about it!

Mile Posts, Myself and Sparkly Soul!

The whole event really got me thinking about what #FindYourStrong means to me.

For me, finding my strong is all about digging deep within myself and finding that mental strength where nothing can stand in my way.  It’s the place where I will accomplish all of my goals no matter what the obstacle is.  I can’t really describe it.   But after years of seeing me compete my parents and boyfriend tell me they can see it on my face when I’ve gone to that place, when I’ve found my strong!

What does Saucony says that #FindYourStrong means?

 Strong can be found in every runner.  Personal.  Powerful.  Insanely motivating.  We find strong in others.  We find it in ourselves, and when we share it, we all get stronger.

Saucony will be giving away 100+ running shoes and other great prizes to passionate runners who participate in the Find Your Strong Project over the next 12 weeks!  Can we say awesome?!  There will be a new challenge each week where readers can enter…with 10 winners chosen each week! From now until April 24th the contest is to upload a photo a person, thing, state of mind or body that inspires you to find your strong!

Entering is easy! Just visit the Find Your Strong Project website and click to enter! Personally I think the website is AWESOME, it’s filled with all of your tweets and photos using the hashtag #FindYourStrong!  Definitely worth checking out!

How do you #FindYourStrong? What does that mean to you? Have you entered this contest yet? What are your weekend plans?  Do you feel out of sorts like me after you run a marathon?

Apr19

The Boston Marathon Expo!

Posted on by
Standard

Hey Guys!  Thank you all so much for your support and wonderful comments over the weekend and on my Boston Marathon Race Recap.  They all mean a lot and you all made the experience that much more special!  It was certainly quite the race and honestly, I don’t think that post even does it justice.  The heat was definitely a major challenge and I think I did as best I could in the conditions.  There is a line between pushing it and pushing it to hard and ending up in trouble…I definitely walked the line.  Tuesday I tried to go to work but just wasn’t feeling well at all.  I spent most the day with an unhappy stomach and a horrible headache.  I wrapped up the whole weekend with a final victory party with all of my teammates from Team in Training.  It was fantastic to hear everyone’s race stories and say goodbye one final time!  I’ve been trying to play catch up here on the blog, at work, at home and with all of your blogs! 4 days away from my normal routine definitely has me a bit behind!

Marathon weekend was filled with so many amazing events and opportunities! I kicked off my weekend with a relaxing morning at home.  I slept in, ate a delicious breakfast, foam rolled, stretched and got a manicure.  A little me time felt so good!  I met my friend and running partner Lauren for lunch before meeting up with Bridget and heading to the expo.  I was so excited for the expo! And justifiably so, it was awesome. I really find that going to the expo on the first day makes for a much more fun and relaxing experience! 

The first order of business?  Picking up our bibs!  I was so excited!

Bib Pick Up at the Expo!

Afterwards we headed out to check out all the gear!  Since we are local and Marathon Sports carried all the official gear most of us had bought our race gear before hand so we were there more for the experience.  The first booth we visited was with Gatorade, they had a fun white board for us all to write messages on!

Gatorade Booth!

We wandered the expo and checked out all the gear.  We stopped for quite a while at The Stick to massage our legs and try out the different products.  I didn’t know there were so many styles and strengths of The Stick.  I have one of the thinner core ones which gives more of a surface massage.  I tried two with thicker cores and definitely got more of a deep tissue massage.  I may have to invest in a stronger one soon!  I also found this tee which is so close to my blog name!

Live Run Marathons!

I was surprised and beyond excited to see Lululemon at the expo! This was the first expo I’ve seen them at and was thrilled.  They had posted photos of the containers on Facebook so I wondered if they might be there.  They didn’t have any Lulu gear specifically for the marathon which was a little disappointing, I’d love to see them do tees or something for the big marathons.  We definitely checked out the lounge and I may or may not have struck a pose or two!

Tree Pose at the Lulu Booth!

The girls laughed pretty hard at my excitement over the Lululemon booth and then again when we hit the Nike booth and I found out they had limited edition Boston Marathon Lunar Glides. Michael bought the Chicago Marathon ones in the fall and I passed because I felt they looked too masculine.  Every time he wears them part of me wishes I had gotten them.  The Boston ones are blue and purple and so very me.  It was meant to be and I was psyched!

Boston Marathon Lunar Glides!

We also had to stop at the Saucony booth!  The new campaign was out in full force! Saucony had really cute marathon tees.  I ended up getting one and my friend Lauren also got one.  We were definitely fans!

Find Your Strong at the Boston Marathon Expo!

We visited the Sparkly Soul booth and I was able to meet Pam! They helped me out with my fundraising and I was so happy to say thank you in person!  The Puma Running booth had some cool gear and one of the local running stores was helping to run it so it was nice to see them as well!  I wrapped up the day by having a Nutrition Feedback Session with one of the scientists at the Gatorade booth.  More on that in another post with a little treat for you too!  Next up was the Saucony Find Your Strong Event….

Did you head to the Boston Marathon Expo? Did you enjoy it?  Do you like going to the expos early like I do? What are your favorite brands to see at the marathon expos?