September 23, 2014

Race sign ideas

A few days ago, I received a new little gadget to play with, courtesy of Icon Fitness and Runner's World. It's called the iFit Active, and it's an activity monitor similar to a Fitbit. I love my Fitbit, so I wasn't looking for a new activity monitor, but Icon is sponsoring a little contest between the bloggers who are doing the Runner's World Half & Festival next month.




They sent each of us one of the iFit Active bands to keep track of our steps for a three week period. We can earn entries into a drawing by getting the most number of steps per week. The prize? An iFit enabled machine of our choice!! That's an AWESOME prize, and of course when I learned about that, I wanted to get as many steps as possible. The challenge started yesterday.

I have no idea what possessed me to want to run on the treadmill instead of outside yesterday, but that's what I chose to do. I only had three miles on the schedule, so I did them at a nice, easy pace on the 'mill. I was curious if the iFit band would know to count the steps when on the treadmill, and my step count was very similar to what the Fitbit read afterward. After I wear it a little longer, I'll do a short comparison of the Fitbit and iFit Active.

Jerry was off work today, so after we got the kids off to school, he said he'd accompany me on my four-miler. Jerry wanted to try running somewhere he's never run before, so we went to run along the River Raisin. We just did an out-and-back route. It was so nice outside today! I wore long sleeves, but again, after a mile or so, I wished I'd worn short sleeves. When the sun is out, it always feels warmer than the temp reads (41 today).

It was a good run today, and we managed negative splits again.


When we were done running, we went straight to the Verizon store. I'd been due for a phone upgrade since May, but I was holding out for the iPhone 6. I had an iPhone 4S, and it was in perfect condition, so today, they gave me $200 credit for trading it in. The iPhone 6 (16 gig) was only $200 because I was due for the upgrade, so it was essentially free! I ended up paying a little out of pocket to get the 64 gig one, but it was still a great deal. I'm already in love with the phone--I can't get over how much faster it is than my 4S was!


Intuitive eating is still going well. I have a hard time on the weekends, though, because we've had busy weekends for the past month or so. We were in Punta Cana, and then my brother's wedding, and then Jerry's birthday. So what's been happening is that I'll lose about five pounds during the week, and then overdo it on the weekends and gain it back. I haven't been binge eating, because the intuitive eating has really helped me get a grip on that, but on the weekends, I've been eating more than normal or when I'm not actually hungry. So I'm really going to try to keep the weekends the same as the weekdays as far as my eating goes. There's no reason NOT to, because I'm not restricting my eating at all during the week.

I keep meaning to do some sort of "What I Ate Wednesday" post, to show what a day of intuitive eating looks like for me, but I always forget about it by lunchtime. I'll try and remember to do that soon. It's not super exciting, but it's definitely different than how I ate on Weight Watchers.


My brother's first marathon is in less than four weeks! It's actually been pretty fun planning how I'm going to support him during the race. My parents, the kids, Jerry, Jeanie (my sister), Kendall (Nathan's girlfriend) and I are all going to the race. I've run that race, and last year I spectated it, so I know a few good spots to go. We're going to go to the starting line, then miles 8, 15.5, 19, 22.5, and the finish line.



Kendall and I are going to get together and make some signs soon, and I want to do something creative. Anyone have any ideas for signs? Maybe signs you really liked seeing at races that were different from the norm? My two favorites are "Remember when you thought you couldn't do this?" (inspirational), and "Hurry up! The Kenyans are drinking your beer!" (funny). My brother would enjoy the funny signs most, so I'd like to come up with a couple more.

23 comments:

  1. My favorite sign I saw during my marathon was "This is a marathon, do NOT trust that fart." Crude, but it made me laugh out loud when I was at a low point. Plus it is true. ;)

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  2. One of my favorites I've seen said, "Chuck Norris never ran a marathon!"

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  3. I've always liked, "your feet hurt because you're kicking so much ass!"

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  4. At the WDW half last year there was a woman with a sign that read GO RANDOM PERSON. It was within about a mile from the finish and gave me a much needed chuckle.

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  5. My two favorite signs I've ever seen were "smile if you're going commando" and "you should've taken a dump before the race!"

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  6. Blisters are braille for AWESOME!

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  7. I would love to see a day of eating post! I started intuitive eating because of your previous posts and I would like to see how you do it.

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  8. At the Richmond Marathon, I saw "You're running better than our government" and "Run faster, I just farted" that made me laugh.

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  9. I saw a funny one on Pinterest that said "Run like you stole something" that makes me laugh.

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    Replies
    1. When I ran track in highschool a coach on a different team used to yell this at his sprinters.

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  10. I always liked "worst parade ever"

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    Replies
    1. This one is my fave! A lady had it about a mile from the finish of my half this year right when I needed a good laugh!

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  11. GoodLife Fitness had a bunch at the half I ran last weekend, including "Run faster, I just farted" and "Why do the cute ones always run away?"

    Someone watching had also made a "touch here for power" poster with an outline of a hand that people would run up and touch.

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  12. I did a sign for the Louisiana Marathon that said "Worst Parade Ever" in Mardi Gras themed colors. :)

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    Replies
    1. I was so bummed that I missed that sign and you during that race! I am thinking about going back next year and maybe doing the full (I can't believe I just said "do a full"). It was a great race, I highly recommend it.

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    2. Worst Parade Ever is HILARIOUS!

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  13. Great post! My sister and her husband are running their first half marathon in November - I definitely could use some ideas too! I'm going to take my nephews around the path and have them hold signs too.

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  14. I cheered for my dad in Boston this year. My mom has this giant, obnoxious cowbell, so we made this sign: http://instagram.com/p/nDREynufw_/

    I think people really liked it, and we were definitely the loudest group cheering anywhere near us. Our wrists were pretty tired afterwards though =)

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  15. One of the best race signs I saw was

    Trample the weak and hurdle the dead.

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  16. I saw a sign that said - You're feet are hurting because you're kicking so much ass!! I liked that one :)

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  17. My favorites signs that I have seen are "You are running better than the government" which was already mentioned, "The hardest part about running a marathon is picking out your race day outfit" which certainly applies to me, and "Rule #1: Cardio" from the movie Zombieland

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  18. I wish I could remember all the signs. I laugh out loud at some of them, but by the time the race is over I forget what they said. I did like one that said "Remember you paid to do this".

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  19. My favorite sign at a half marathon: "I thought you said 1.31"

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I used to publish ALL comments (even the mean ones) but I recently chose not to publish those. I always welcome constructive comments/criticism, but there is no need for unnecessary rudeness/hate. But please--I love reading what you have to say! (This comment form is super finicky, so I apologize if you're unable to comment)

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