Color Me Rad Tampa Recap

I did it! I ran my first color run!

Yesterday I had the opportunity to run Color Me Rad at the Florida State Fairgrounds. If you don't know anything about CMR, it's a 5k where you're pelted with various dye (colored cornstarch) at different parts of the course.

You're advised to wear white so the color shows up well because you WILL leave a rainbow mess at the end of the race.

I headed to the Fairgrounds pretty early since I figured this race would be packed, and it was. My wave didn't get started until 9:10 so I waited around for a little while. There was a stage at the race and the organizers were playing music and dancing around, all while throwing "color bombs" to get everyone pre-dyed before the race.

Check out what I looked like BEFORE the race...

And another photo of me in front of the massive hashtag (I am a huge Twitter user so this was perfect for me!)

I headed to the start line and got ready for the race. Oooh, it was so hot...

Eventually we were off! Did I mention it was REALLY hot outside? Don't be fooled by the 9 a.m. start time. As soon as the calendar flips to May in Florida, 9 a.m. might as well be like stepping in the fires of you-know-where.

So, with the heat, I honestly wanted to get the race over with. So I ran the whole time.

Running was sort of frustrating actually since there were SO many people here and they were walking all over the course. Usually walkers stay to the right, but I guess since this was a "fun run" that didn't really apply.

Running through the stations was pretty intense. I ran through yellow, orange, and finally got some relief when I hit blue since it was colored water. I'm not kidding when I say I was drenched in sweat. The course felt like it went on for forever. It felt like it was 5 miles vs. 3.1.

Eventually I crossed the finish line. Whew! That was a toughie.

Aftermath:

I think this race would have been way more fun if I hadn't have gone solo. I didn't know anybody there and usually do races alone, but this seemed like one that was not nearly as much fun alone as it would be with some friends.

The race entry for CMR is steep ($40-$50) but something I think runners should get into if they're looking to add some color (pun intended) to their runs!

Have you ever done a color run? What'd you think?

Best Damn Race registration blitz!

Happy Thursday (wish I could say Friday) everyone!

I'm writing this post because I'm super happy right now. 

Yesterday I found out about the registration blitz going on for the Best Damn Race in Safety Harbor. Safety Harbor isn't too far away from where I live and I've been looking to do some more local races in the future. I loved the Sarastota Half Marathon but the drive was really boring going all by myself.

I found out there would be registration blitz at 12 p.m. Basically, you refresh the registration page at that time and your price is decided by which number in line you are. I was #26, which means I only had to pay TEN DOLLARS to register for a half marathon. 

Well, I wasn't really planning on running this race in particular but for $10, why not? 

So this medal will be mine on February 7, 2015! 

Have you ever done registration blitz? 

Bucket List

I used to think having a bucket list was weird. Why couldn't people just "do things" without making a long list for it? Then I got older and realized maybe I had a bucket list of things I wanted to do, too.

So, here it is, my bucket list of things I want to do, see, and experience in my lifetime.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter, everyone!

Today my boyfriend and I headed to a new spot for brunch, the Rusty Pelican. Boasting gorgeous views as well as an awesome Sunday brunch, I knew we had to go. This place has been on my list of "must visits" in the Tampa Bay area, so I'm glad we were able to try it out.

Pretty nice, right? The Rusty Pelican offered a large breakfast buffet (two rooms) that was chock-full of seafood, a carving station, cheese, omelets, and tons of desserts.

I know I wrote about my sweet tooth getting smaller in my last post, but I had to sample the desserts since they looked super tasty.

A lot of the desserts were just okay, but the carrot cake and the apple cobbler were divine. The good thing about buffets is that you can try just a little bit of each item! 

Overall it was a really nice, relaxing brunch experience and I'd definitely go back. Wish they had some Cadbury eggs though...

How did you spend your Easter?

Taste of South Tampa

Hi everybody!

Today I had the amazing opportunity to attend the ninth annual Taste of South Tampa event in Hyde Park Village! My boyfriend won tickets on Twitter so we were super excited to check this food festival out.

Hyde Park Village was swarmed with people and tons of different food and drink options all over. We started at the entrance and made our way to pretty much every area. The tickets included all-you-can-eat food and drink, which was excellent!

Lots of local restaurants I've been to were serving up food as well as restaurants I haven't tried before, which made this event a real treat since I got to "try before I buy," so to speak.

Some of my favorite items of the day were the chicken and waffles from Inside the Box, the delicious meatballs and eggplant from Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza and the awesome salad and meat roll from CDB's.

Austrian Peppers also had a pretty good array of food. I loved their sauerkraut. The schnitzel was alright but the sausage was really tasty and flavorful.

My boyfriend said his #1 choice were the Cuban sandwiches from The Floridian, which has been ranked as the "best Cuban sandwich!"

There were also desserts! Unfortunately all of the desserts from Alessi were all gone by the time I got there, which made me super sad but I snagged an apple crumble and some chocolate cake from Austrian Peppers, which were actually very good.

The Sweet Tooth Cakery also had a sampling of desserts too. I loved their cookies and cream cupcake!

Surprisingly, I did not have many desserts. I have been trying to back away from desserts lately and I think my sweet tooth has gotten a lot smaller over time...

There was a ton of free swag too. I snagged a tumbler, some cups and even a Tampa Bay Bucs towel.

My favorite item I got was probably this cool mug though:

I had a super fun time at Taste of South Tampa. The only thing I wish there had been more of was the Alessi desserts and maybe more drink stations. I only drank soda during the event and had to constantly go back since only one place was giving it out.

See you next year, Taste of South Tampa!

Kate Spade Friends and Family sale

Happy Friday everyone!

This morning I woke up to the best email ever -- Kate Spade is having a friends and family sale in stores and online until Sunday at 11:59 p.m.! I have had my eyes on these adorable Kate Spade Keds for a while but was hesitant to spend $75 on them. Hinting at my boyfriend didn't work either so the friends and family sale was an answer to my prayers.

Aren't they so cute?

You can use the code S14FFUS to get 25% off of your entire order from now until 11:59 Sunday.

Here are some of my other favorite items at Kate Spade right now!

One | Two | Three | Four | Five

What are your favorite items from Kate Spade right now? 

Rainy run at the TBT 3k Beer Dash

This past weekend my boyfriend and I decided to be adventurous and sign up for a race together! I was thrilled since I love races and my boyfriend is not a runner. I was excited to run together since it is something we have never done before. :)

We signed up for the Gasparilla Criterium 3k Beer Dash -- we mostly signed up because there would be free beer at the end of the run. I am not a beer drinker but my boyfriend likes beer, so we decided to put in the 1.8 miles to grab some at the end!

After checking the weather on Friday, it seemed like it was probably going to rain ALL day Saturday, or most of it. I was bummed because I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to get the run in and I had really been looking forward to it.

The 3k was part of a larger event where a bunch of cyclists rode around downtown Tampa in a "lap" process for different amounts of distances/times. I learned THAT'S why the event was called a "criterium." Sorry, I don't know a whole lot about cycling!

What a day for a run -- it was basically a monsoon outside. The 3k was supposed to start at 4:30 but since it had been pouring outside -- and yes, there were cyclists riding around IN the rain -- there was a bit of a delay. A lot of people must have been deterred by the rain too since there was basically nobody running the race.

We walked to pick up our shirts and bib numbers and after a lot of waiting (and watching the awesome cyclists do their races) it was time to run! The weather had actually cleared up around this time too. Woohoo!

The 3k was only three laps and I ended up going a lot slower than my usual pace since my boyfriend hasn't run in a long time. I'll admit, my feet were itching to go faster sometimes but I wanted to be there to support him and have us do the race together so I kept pace with him.

The crowd really loved him, by the way. While we were on the second lap somebody gave him a beer and everybody started cheering for him as he drank it while running. Some people use Gu, some people use Sports Beans, and some people use beer, I guess!

There was a horrible headwind going to the finish line but eventually we made it!  It seemed like it was over so fast. The crowd and our fellow runners were awesome and gave us high-fives at the end. I love the running community. Everyone is always so supportive, regardless of how fast you're running. :)

We stuck around to watch some other races, including a crazy relay race which seemed super fun.

After watching that, we headed home and then got dinner at the Mermaid Tavern, which was super tasty! Overall, it was a great day and I'm glad I was able to run it! 

Have you ever done a "beer run?"