One Year Old

Well this week marks one year of blogging. I don't want to point out the actual day, because like the extremely punctual writer I have been lately, that day has since passed.

Welcome to new readers and thanks to all of you for reading my insanely interesting posts over the past 365 days ;)

In honor of this occasion, I thought it might be fun to write about the Traffic that visits this blog. In Blogger, you can see your blog's stats: how many people have read your blog, what countries they are from, what images and posts are looked at the most.

A sampling of where Go Girl Go's readers come from:

United States

Canada

Russia

United Kingdom

Germany

Australia

Ukraine

Netherlands

India

Spain Sweden Finland Israel Thailand Vietnam Sri Lanka Very multi-cultural, I love it!

Though I need to work on breaking into the South American market :)

Top 10 most read posts:

Let's Hug It Out Bitch

Princess Half Marathon Weekend

Adios Black Toenail

Disney's Expedition Everest Challenge

Disneyland Half Marathon Race Recap!

My first Group Run

Disney Marathon Weekend!

Guest Post... Little Fruit Fly in Rainbow Colored ... runDisney Meet Up & Eat Up

Boston Marathon Weekend

I am sure it does not surprise you that 6 of the 10 posts are about running Disney.

Now let's take a look at some of the search terms that lead people to my blog...

Let's Hug It Out Bitch, Let's Hug It Out, Ari Let's Hug It Out... really any combination of these words:

This picture has been viewed hundreds of times more than anything else on Go Girl Go

2nd and 3rd toes webbed:

Gross... I can't believe this is my third most read post. 

2 year old girl with red eyes:

Um... ok... 

Princess marathon freak

Clearly. 

Drunk+drunk+drunk+drunk+bitch

LOL, that's funny.  We were tipsy that night, but I wouldn't call us drunk.

There was a new search term that popped up last week:  Dumping Cocaine

That search led them to my post on Trash in the Trunk.  I referenced the documentary Cocaine Cowboys, so I assume that is the connection????

Unfortunately for that drug user, I was not able to provide any solid advice for their task at hand.

My "Bling!" tab gets a ton of hits.

I am happy to provide the public with that service.

You are welcome.

So that wraps up year one of Go Girl Go.
Thanks again for reading!

21 Miles... D-O-N-E!

Yesterday morning I completed my last long run (and longest run ever) before the Disney Marathon - 
21 miles!

Oh my fucking hell, it was HARD!

This was my Facebook status yesterday:
Finished my last long run (21 miles) before the Disney Marathon. My thoughts... Running and walking can go f*ck themselves. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
Surprisingly, I got several "Likes" and comments on this :)

Why... no, HOW, can people run multiple marathons?
I was in the worst pain of my running life during miles 18 to 21.
If I had another 20 or 22 miler planned before January 8th, I simply wouldn't do it.
I am over the marathon distance.  Over it.
Give me back my happy little world of half marys and lets call it a day.

I had been dreading these long runs since I signed up for the marathon in April.  I thought signing up for a running group would help me to get through them.  Unfortunately my running group ran their 20 miler last Saturday when I was coming home from vacation.
Clearly I did not do a great job of prioritizing the marathon training, so this left me to run 20 miles on my own.

Here are the basics of the run (many of these places will mean nothing to you, if you are not familiar with Miami, but just know it is a popular running area)...
I drove over to Bayshore Drive and did the first half of the run out on Key Biscayne.  5 miles out and back for a total of 10 miles.  Key Biscayne has several public bathrooms and water fountains, so it was nice to know I could go to the bathroom if I had to and refill my hand held if necessary.
At mile 10 I was back at my car where I had a banana, rubbed some Icy Hot on my hips and knees and refilled my hand held with an electrolyte drink.
For the next 11 miles, I ran in the opposite direction, through the little town of Coconut Grove with the turn around point on Edgewater Drive.  3 miles away from my car was the Starbucks at CocoWalk, so I knew that would be a good half way point (in either direction) where I could use the bathroom and get water or shots of espresso as needed.  I stopped at Starbucks twice.

The good things about the run
-It's over
-The first half actually went really well
-My left foot and knee, which had been bothering me, were fine and are fine today!
-My mom sent me all these Hammer Nutrition things to try: Gels, Endurolyte pills and electrolyte drinks and none of them made me poop my pants, yipee!  The Montana Huckleberry Gel was especially good!
-Calf cramping comes on later and later as I run longer (is this a good thing?)
-The lady who rung me up at Starbucks is training for the Miami half marathon so she was all excited & supportive to hear I was running the Disney full.  Thanks Starbucks lady!
-In a twisted way, I am now SO EXCITED for Marathon day (WTF is wrong with me?!)

The bad things about the run
-Insane pain for miles 18 to 21
-Weather at start of run was 68 degrees (nice) with 100% humidity (kiss my ass)
-Weather at end of run was 82 degrees (kill me now) with 90% humidity (kill me again if 80 degrees doesn't do it)
-For whatever reason, unknown to me, I had the worst pain in my hips and ass (both cheeks) that I have ever felt.  I don't know why... I have never had pain there before.  It came on at mile 8 which was even stranger since I have been running so many 10 & 13 milers in the past 3 months.


Things I learned
-Should have brought another shirt to switch out half way through, mine was soaked!
-Unless it rains on Marathon day, I feel confident I can deal with whatever the weather is... high humidity or not
-I will take GU every 4 miles during the marathon... only took two yesterday, so I will definitely up that number January 8th

Once that shit show was over, I spent the rest of the day I switching between here...

and here...

Wearing these... so thankful for compression socks!

And watching a crazy amount of 'Friends' reruns...

Kudos to all of you who have trained for multiple marathons.  You are impressive.
People may say that about half marathons, but come on, those are easy... :)

P.S.  Can someone tell me if marathoners cry when they cross the finish line because they are proud of what they have accomplished or if it is because they are so unbelievably relieved  it is over?
There may have been a teary eyed moment filled with relief when I got back to my car and could take my sneakers and socks off.

Two Posts in One Day!

Can you even believe it?!

After neglecting the blog for so long and having no trip planned for two weeks, I have lots of time on my hands and lots to talk about!

First, thank you to all the bloggers from Team Rudolph for your Christmas cards, kind words, poems & treats! 

Next, the new runDisney race was announced yesterday:

Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 10-Miler

Who's in?

I definitely am.  
10 miles is my happy place.  I feel like I have had a great workout, yet do not feel as fatigued or sore as the longer runs.  Thank goodness I live in Florida so it is very easy for me to attend these fun events!

In 2009 the Tower of Terror 5K was my very first race ever, and it was such a fun night (even though I was really sick).  I am so excited for their 2012 revamped version!
Can I also tell you that several people have found my blog today searching for "10 mile tower of terror medal".  Patience folks.  We all know the medal will be awesome, why do you have to see it the day after the race was announced? 


Last,  my newest addiction are the books in The Hunger Games series.  
OMG.  They. are. so. good.

I read the first two books last week during vacation and I am currently on the third (and last) book.
As I was reading the first book it intrigued (great characters!) and disgusted (what the Hunger Games actually are and the reality TV aspect of it) me all at the same time.  It had me thinking the author was a complete lunatic.  I Googled the books when I got home and found out that they are loosely based on Greek and Roman mythology.  Ok, I can see that.  And now I no longer think the author is a psychopath.  Plus she invented Katniss Everdeen and she is a definitely a character you want to route for!
The Hunger Games movie comes out on March 23rd and I am really looking forward to it.  The trailer looks great, I hope the rest of the movie is as well.  The casting seems to be spot on and I can't wait to see Lenny Kravitz as Cinna, Woody Harrelson as Haymitch and Elizabeth Banks as Effie.
Did you noticed that cute, little Kindle in the picture above?  My sister gave me that for Christmas.  While my heart will always belong to Apple, the only thing that bugs me about my iPad is that I can't read outside.  My favorite weekend days involve sitting outside and reading, so I figured the Kindle would be a good gift.  It is amazing and I love it!
They are not kidding when they say it reads like a book.

Love Polka Dots, Hate White Font

Yup, changed the look of the blog again.  I hated the white font and it practically terrorized me every time I wanted to post something.  To be fair, it worked like a charm when I was on my Mac at home (obviously, Apple rules all) but was totally lame when I tried to post something on my PC while I was at work.  PCs suck, but maybe it was telling me to not post at work.  
No, no... PCs just suck.
Want to give a shout out to my friend Wade and his wife Brynn, who finished their first half marathon this morning.  Great job Haskells!

Whoa... what course was he running?!
P.S.  Wade, hope you don't mind I stole this off of Facebook ;)


P.P.S.  How do you other bloggers get cool blog title designs with pictures and stuff?
I want one too, help! :)


*After I first hit publish and then re-read the page, it made me laugh that the blog is relatively girly with the polka dots, teal, coral, etc.  and then there is a picture of a guy all bloody and stuff.  I love irony.
**Wade is a super tough jiu jitsu/cage fighter/whatever kind of fighter and this is where the photo comes from.  This photo was not a result of running a half marathon :)

3 Day Weekend!

Wwwweeeeeeee!!!  I love me a good 3-day weekend!  Makes me feel so free!

I am heading up to Maine tonight to enjoy a weekend of sun, sand, lobstahs and family, can’t wait.

I am slightly annoyed/irritated/pissed off though because the airport's website is saying my flight will be leaving at 11:27 instead of 9:57...I am desperately pressing refresh hoping this will change.  We'll see.
I usually have very good luck when flying so I am just trying to take this in stride and not overreact like a crazy person.  We'll see about this too.
What are you up to this weekend?

****Blogger Love****

If you find yourself relaxing and lounging around this weekend, take a look at some of the other blogs I like to read, they’re great!

Blogs by people I know:

Amanda writes Rise to Run.  She is a runner also and will be moving from Boston to San Francisco in August.  You know she will have a lot of stories to share!

Martha writes Martha's So-Called Life, where she has recipes, reviews books, points out awesome handmade items on Etsy and talks about her life.

Wade writes The Crazy Thing About It All and takes amazing wildlife and landscape photographs.

Trish writes Living La Vida Lum and talks about the adventures of her two-year-old daughter.

Lorraine writes Run Wifey Run and she manages her family and her marriage all while training for a marathon!

Blogs by people I have never met (just in the bloggie world), but think are great!

365 days of awesome

(Just) Trying is for Little Girls

Anywhere There’s An Airport

Blonde Ponytail

Finding Happiness in Health

Little Fruit Fly in Rainbow Colored Socks

Running Peanut

Happy 4^th of July weekend!!!