I have nothing but good news and love for you today! Let’s throw two hands way up to high five Friday! My long awaited results from the HMF Women’s Triathlon are official, I received winter ready KUHL clothes and, you know I’m always in favor of going too far but, not when it comes to certain things.
Let’s get the party started with Angela from Happy Fit Mama and five favorites from my Instagram this week:
Starting from top left: Making it count in the swim, on the bike and on the run at the HMF Women’s Triathlon last weekend; doing some much needed running shoe shopping at my favorite Fleet Feet in Longmeadow, MA and arriving at the Shangri-La of mom hood – – a Starbucks inside my local Target. I was there for several hours.
Race Results
Everyone can relax. My results from the women’s triathlon will stand and count as a USATriathlon Nationals qualification. Omaha, here I come! If you’re confused as to why this is news, you should read all about the race course debacle and disqualifications that ensued, culminating in lots of anger and confusion.
KUHL Clothes
I’m a proud ambassador of all that is cool and also KUHL, although some would beg to differ on the former, it’s all true.
Just in time for the Rise.Run.Retreat and also fall, I received three new pieces that I absolutely love! I can’t decide if it’s good or bad that I cannot actually wear them yet, but I’m very excited to test them out and then wear them all winter long…at Target/Starbucks.
Disclaimer: My kids took these photos which is why they are of the highest quality. I was also sweating to death and my neighbors were staring.
The Alina Flannel
Firefly Jacket
Daydreaming about snowboarding though white covered mountains…
And, although I couldn’t round up the boys for a picture (apparently two is their attention span limit), I’m pretty sure I’m going to live in these pants:
MOVA PANT
Pretend this is my bottom half instead of the legs of a 20 year-old model. Is that such a stretch?
[Tweet “Get your @kuhl_usa fall fashion preview here! #KUHLKid”]
Going to Far
As I already mentioned, I’m usually a fan of going too far however, some of these reads made me want to draw a line:
Young Women Get Buzzed, On Their Own Terms | Hayley Phelan | NYTimes.com
This was a great article about young women starting a new trend to shave thier heads. This is something I have been threatening to do for years because my hair is so unmanageable! The only thing that keeps me from doing it at this point is embarrassing my kids. Once they grow up a bit (or I stop caring, whichever comes first) I’m doing it!
This is filed under “going to far” since one woman in the article was quoted as saying “Women are moving away from that long, pretty bohemian vibe that was happening for so long and starting to take more risks. They’re not afraid to not look pretty.”
You had me right up until the “not look pretty” part. Does anyone else think she’s missing the whole point? #eyeroll
Alana Derksen, 22 (source) I mean the Mickey shirt throws me off but this girl is gorgeous.
Medal Mania: Are We Going Overboard with the Awards? | Susan Lacke | Competitor.com
In a word, YES! Enough already with all the crazy bling. I would rather have a better staffed event or even a better t-shirt. The medal is great but I’m firmly in the camp of keep the medals…or donate them or spend the money elsewhere.
Let us pause for those of you whose heads just exploded.
If your eyeballs have not burst into flames of hatred, please read this from the author:
“Perhaps we should return to a simpler time, when races handed out high-fives and bananas. A finish line should not be an endpoint, but a springboard for the next challenge: to go farther, faster, harder. A medal implies finality, as if one has reached the pinnacle of success as a runner.”
[Tweet “”A finish line should not be an endpoint, but a springboard to the next challenge.” @runcompetitor”]
I will leave you with that my friends.
Next up for me is a weekend with only running! What the…? Then, we have the Wednesday Round-Up and on Thursday I’m off to Vermont for the Rise.Run.Retreat.
See you on the other side…
What are you giving a high five to this week?
Which KUHL piece do you like best?
Agree or disagree about the race bling?
It’s a good thing you made nationals otherwise I would have had to go down to the race directors and give them a stern talking too. Lol. Love all our KUHL gear. I’ve worn my flannel once and I’m hoping to again this weekend when temps dip. And of course we’ll look super KUHL in Vermont in all our matchy matchy glory. Less than one week! And races? Get rid of the medals. I really could care less. And don’t even call it bling. #gag
OMG totally #gag to the #bling!!! We are soul sisters. 🙂
THANK. GOODNESS. that your time will stand. What a cluster.
On the medal note and the continuation of your training journey, I went to UVA, and Thomas Jefferson (who founded the school) insisted that we refer to ourselves as First/Second/etc years, rather than freshmen etc–the idea that learning should never have an end!
Total cluster…for sure and so glad it’s behind me!
Love the thought behind first, second, third, etc. Genius!!
Oh, I am so with you on the medal phenomenon. I’ve written about “participation medals”, especially for races shorter than a half. I’ve been at races where the 5k runners are upset because of no medals. While I get that running any distance is an accomplishment for a lot of people, there’s a big distance between 3 miles and 13 or 26! I do cherish my marathon medals, tho. Earned, not given, right?
Let the flames commence!
Maybe just one medal for the very first time you race that distance and be done! Money could be spent on so many other things…
I like the bling but I only have 5, I’m sure if I had Several collecting dust I’d feel differently. I will say the ice cold water handed to me at the end of the Pan Mass Challenge was definitely better than a medal. Yes that girl
Is beautiful!!! And you would be too!!! Do it GI Allie!
YES to ice cold beverages and plenty of them!
Ja ja! your kids are funny! Mine would have taken off running with the phone and taken 100 more pictures of his toys! And I be your legs are much stronger than the legs of that random 20 something model.
You know, I have mixed feelings on medals… I was recently at the Philly RnR half and a man in front of me picked up a medal the size of his head! I’m not even kidding! It was something along the lines of running 10 half marathons medal, which is pretty amazing, but I wondered to myself, what is he going to do with that medal? eat off it? it’s big enough to serve as a plate!! But I couldn’t complain too much, I was picking up one for running 3 RnR Half marathons… so mixed feelings, because that medal went straight to my drawer.
Oh yes, my boys take plenty of toy/Minecraft screen shots with their iPads and, thanks to the Cloud they all end up in my photos!! It’s insane. Speaking of… I know there are programs out there to donate medals and they give them to kids with cancer or other horrible diseases. I think I need to donate mine!!
Medals as big as a plate? No thanks!…although I’m sure you both earned it 🙂
I couldn’t agree more about the medals. Unless I win something (unlikely), I don’t really want one. I rather see that effort put into other areas of the event. Glad to hear your race time will stand. What a nightmare.
So glad you agree with me on that one! And yes, so glad the nightmare is over and it worked out 🙂
First of all, CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!! And second, I’d way rather have your legs than the 20 year-old model’s legs. Love those threads! They look good on you. HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!
You are the best!! Thanks for everything and I hope you’re somewhere having a beer and a donut right now 🙂
Nationals baby! You Rock! Secondly, you will love those Kuhl pants. I have the same style in capris and wore them all summer. So comfy and thirdly can we just say how excited I am to see you so very soon! We are going to have a blast next weekend!!!
I know!!! Seriously SO very excited to give you a huge hug. Be ready. 🙂
YAY!!!! I’m so glad your results are intact. You deserved that 100%.
My sister (the artsy one) shaved her head in college. It actually looked really good. It’s long now and I think it looked better before. My mom might disagree though.
Love that last quote. And the Taylor gif. #winning
That is so cool about your sister. Not sure if I actually have the balls to do it but, the older I get, the less I care! 🙂
Thanks Laura!!
oh yes I totally think you could could pull off a shaved head–you’ve got excellent bone structure and a bad ass attitude to match! So like, your kids took pics of you? teach me oh great one. I LOVE the clothes and it looks like I would live in those pants too–(not having to get all dressy every day is kind of amazing). I LOVE BLING. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT. But also I do very fancy races so like ive never gotten bling and a bad race shirt you know? Plus having bling with like the brooklyn bridge and etc is super fun, plus my kids love it too, so why not. My head didn’t explode though 🙂
I know you love your bling but, I give you maybe two more years and you will be ready for something else 🙂 And, do your two boys fight over your one medal like mine do?? Luckily I have more in the garage but then I find them in the yard!! So crazy.
Thanks Nellie!
Let’s hear it for the simple things in life and at the end of races! Great job, Allie, and I am so glad your results count. Maybe next year, skip that triathalon?! Thanks for being an inspiration and also for keeping it real.
Thank YOU and yes, I’m pretty sure I am officially done with that race!!
I am 100% behind you on the race bling. I have donated all my trophies, said, “No, thank you,” to the volunteer handing out a finishers’ medal at my last 5k (insert eye roll here – really? For a 5k?!?!?!) and refuse to give them out at races where I am the RD.
I had no doubt you and I would be like minded on this one. I need to donate mine to a good cause. Thanks Dani!
Mega congrats again for a stellar race and qualifying!! Now you can officially kick butt in steak country 🙂
I’m high fiving great care givers this week. I got hit hard early in the week with a major tooth infection and ended up with high fever and hallucinating pain. I’m on meds and the doc can fix it next Wednesday but holy mother of pain, it was an 11 out of 10. Had I not had some amazing helpers I could call on I would have been losing my mind and health even more. I need to be healthy for this baby stuff, it’s no joke. I can’t be juggling feedings, diapers, and wild cards if I’m not feeling great. Gotta get on to feelin go stat!!
I chuckle at the head shaving. Of course everyone that does it has been blessed with perfect cranium and bone structure. Ain’t no coincidence in my mind. I knew some gorgeous gals who did this and were considered so tough and hard core back in high school. These days I admire adults that do it because they’re not in high school and should know better. If you’re a grown up and made this choice, then bless you. I am too aware of my oversized melon head. I give back in other ways.
Happy Friday!!
OMG on the tooth infection!? So glad you’re over that and feeling better!!
And YES to having the head for shaving 🙂 I didn’t really think about that!
Hope you’re enjoying the last of the weekend…
Love the flannel and the jacket! I really need to try out some Kuhl stuff! I’ve never seen it anywhere but on you and Angela!