Got Freedom? 10k

Now that I have committed to my half marathon, I am trying to do one race a month to get me ready.  Training is going fine, but since I'm new to races, I still get a bit anxious before and also want to make sure my pre and post race routines are good before the big one.

Sunday I ran in a 10k in Arlington Heights called Got Freedom?  There was a 5k walk/run on part of the same course. It wound around the residential areas of Arlington Heights.  We did need to cross some big streets a few times but there were police officers at each of those blocking traffic, so never had to slow down.  

I had two goals for this race - run the whole thing without walk breaks (which I did) and in a perfect world finish in under an hour.  My usual 5k is just under half an hour but I knew I was going to have to slow my pace down to not have to walk any.  Final time was 1:01:48.  

Not bad.  Would have been better if I hadn't gotten stuck in line for the 5 portapotties (yep only 5 for over 400 people) before the race.  I started behind a bunch of walkers so it took me a little bit to get my pace up, not making excuses just know I need to stage better next time.

Also another mistake I made was assuming the finish line was at the same spot as the start line.  I sped up at the end thinking I was close but the actual finish was about half a mile further.  I didn't run out of gas but close. The expo at the end was well done.  Lots of different things to refuel with - bananas, bagels. energy bars, jelly bellys and of course water.  

I had never heard of Salute Inc before this but they sound like a great organization.  They help military families who may be struggling at home while their spouse is deployed and help veterans when they come home with rehab or whatever else they may need to transition back to life back home.

As proud as I was of my own mini accomplishments I saw two recent veterans come across the finish line.  One was a 20 something woman using a walker for the 5k walking with her mom.  The other was a young man in a wheelchair being pushed by his Mom and accompanied by other family members.  I don't know the nature of their injuries but assume they were wounded in action and working to rehab.  They were greeted with a load round of applause by the assembled crowd.

As usual there were a bunch of stands promoting upcoming races and I found my August race - Fort To Base It's a 10 nautical mile course - 11.45 miles to us landlubbers.  The course goes from Ft Sheridan to the Great Lakes Naval Station.  The base is usually closed to the public but is open from the start of the race until noon.  It's a bit far from our house, but it sounds like a cool race, will be right at the mileage I should be at at that point, and I think it'll be cool for the kids to see the base. Also they hand out medals to all the finishers.  I've done a few races now but haven't done one that gives finishers medals yet. I doubt I'll ever place high enough to get a winners medal so look forward to a finishers medal.

Now I just need to find my July race.  I'm thinking of doing another 10k in Arlington Heights as it is convenient, and since I'm working on increasing my distance a 5k doesn't really seem worth it.  Also I'm curious to see if I make the changes I listed above if I could finish under an hour - the only tricky part is we'll be coming back from vacation shortly before that.  I wish there were just one website that listed all the races in my area.  I've checked a few different sites and they all list different races.  Any one know of a good 8-10k in July?

We Survived Dance Week

My daughters both take dance.  Little Reader took Ballet/Jazz this year, and Little Hugger took pre-hop. While I would have preferred they had taken the same class I didn't want to push it, although both in one class would have been more convenient.  They both took their classes through our local park district but because they have so many classes they have two recitals and of course we ended up having two different recital times.  Which meant two different days for pictures, two different days for dress rehearsals, and two performances for my husband, Little Man and I to attend.

It was a crazy and tiring day with only and hour and a half in between shows.  Luckily the recitals were at a school which had a nice playground in the back so they were able to burn off some energy and have some fun between shows.

 Little Reader danced to Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend"  I told her to give me attitude for this one

Little Reader danced to Khachaturian's "Dance of the Rose Maidens" so I told her to give me a "ballet" pose.

They both did a great job and had a lot of fun over the course of the year.  Thankfully, Little Reader decided that she would rather do a contemporary class next year and she has decided to take a class with her sister, so next year we will hopefully have an easier May :) 

Confessions of a Lia Sophia Addict

A friend of mine  had a Christmas party four years ago and had a Lia Sophia rep there.  I had never heard of the jewelry and even though I don't consider myself a jewelry person (I used to wear the same pieces almost everyday, and even though I got my ears pierced when I was 12 I hardly ever wear earrings) I really liked what I saw in the catalog.  The advisor played "Deal/No Deal" with us and I ended up winning a piece of free jewelry and a party of my own.

My party was small but I still took advantage of all the free, hostess and half price deals I could.  Since then every February and August I eagerly await the new catalogs.  I've ordered a few individual pieces directly through advisors.

I check out the list of retired pieces in July and January to make sure I don't miss something.

I check for new specials at the last Monday of every month.

I have "liked" numerous advisors' Facebook pages based on the fact that they have giveaways/ deals/ headsups on upcoming specials.

I have the Lia app on my phone.

Shortly after the new catalog came out in February I came up with a wishlist of almost $700 worth of jewelry.  I called the advisor from the most recent party I had attended and booked a party.

I earned a ton of new items after that party, but still have a long wish list.  I will be attending a party next week (that will be my 5th Lia Sophia party attended in four years and I have hosted 2).

I know I said I don't consider myself a jewelry person but I really like this line.  They have a wide variety of styles and while there are always plenty of pieces that are not my style, there are many that are.  I've gotten in the bad habit of throwing clothes on the morning, when I take a little extra time to think about what I'm going to wear and accessorize, I feel better about myself.  When I bump into someone I know in town I can hold my head high knowing I look good, instead of thinking I should have taken the extra couple of minutes getting dressed that morning.

Bottom line - I have seriously been considering selling Lia Sophia.   I've made a list of every woman I know and came up with over 150.  I ran the numbers to see how much I would have to sell before I would earn commission.  I have come up with a month by month plan of how to grow my business.  I came up with a list of ways to market the business.  I scoured the internet and managed to find some unprotected "advisor-only" documents.

The problem is I don't want to do home parties.  I know this is the basis of Lia Sophia's business, but I'm way to introverted to do it.  Lately I've seen some catalog and on-line shows.  I'm not sure how viable those really are though?  I think those are usually extras for busy advisors who do the usual home parties.  To be fair I'm going to start by asking the advisor who ran my last party, and if she thinks I'm insane I'll check with some of the advisors I found through Facebook.  I know this is not how the company wants their advisors to do things as everyone makes more money doing home parties, but my main goal is free jewelry for me, not paying the bills.

Any Lia or other jewelry reps out there, I'd love your input.  Am I crazy to think this could work, or can I make this work?