HerbNRun

General Reminder: The American Family Half Marathon taking place in Richmond Virginia on November 12,2016 is not only the main reason we have all come here today, it is also the reason the blog was started and the original focus of it. So let us recall this, while appreciating all the the Petersburg Halloween Half Marathon has taught us, We have less 2 weeks left until I am running Richmond!!                              💚💛 Leadership  I got my bib number and was quickly smacked back to reality. My body is finally starting to feel normal again as all the soreness is FINALLY subsiding. Note to self: Never you go horseback riding and canoeing the week of a half marathon. The soreness is real!!! Now that I feel like moving its time to stop thinking about Bryan Park and finally go see what these hills are like. I'm so excited. I'm even thinking of moving my wave up. Right now I'm at 2:30 however, I...

A friend asked me to write her an email about my half experience and this is what I wrote:  So let’s start with all the nerves that bubbled up in my stomach lol! You know I’ve run a half marathon before, 13.1 miles of torture and mental strength, but I did it with my best friend and this time around I was alone! IT WAS COLD! And I am not a fan of the cold so at 530 am I had to readjust my entire outfit for the race, which of course brought more nerves and uncertainty. Either way I got it together and headed out. The race stated at 7am. Cold, dark and alone I head to the start which had 100s of eager and less nervous runner. This started to release some of the fears I had. When they called for runners to line up, the excitement kicked in. I had a goal to beat the old me and that was what I was going to do! I found comfort next to an older man, he reminded me of Carl. He had on the same bright green shirt like me but had these words written on his back,” I can do all things th...

So I've talked about the rough time I had after my first half marathon.You may recall me passing out and clinging to box of orange juice praying that God wasn't ready to take me home. Well clearly He didn't and well I learned a lot of what not to do! So here is a look at the things I did differently.  Don't recall ...  Read about it here  But did you die?  First, I was not on a restrictive diet. The "Herb" part of my name on Ig and this blog aren't coincidence.. it was a well thought out play on words. Herb, short for herbal.. which brings use to holistic or at least thats where it brought me. I have for the past 4 years been moving to being more Holistic, an organic, natural way of living. No I am not a vegan, but I do enjoy oil pulling over brushing my teeth and avoiding medications by eating more organic and not indulging in preservatives and non natural foods and juices. With all that said, I eat cleaner than I use to and i don't consider it t...

What an amazing race day!!! Let's talk about. Petersburg Halloween Half Marathon I was awoken by the sound of barking dogs, my alarm, at 5:30am. Based on the weather report, I  was expecting temps in the mid 40s. So when I open my eyes and checked the weather app imagine my surprise when I see that it's 35 but feels like 29 and boy did it! I had to readjust my outfit choice and switched from my dri- fit cool Nike long sleeves to my under armour cold weather top. I'm so happy I did cause all the way up until mile 10 I was cold. I ate a banana while I got dressed and had a discussion with my husband about my nerves. Took his reassurance that I could do this, grabbed my cold weather hoodie and got to the car. Nice and toasty leather seats awaited me... thank God for that! Drove the 15 minutes into downtown Petersburg and found a close parking spot with 20 minutes until race time. I stumbled around with my running gloves, later electing to leave them and hopped ou...

I's FriYAY!!! It's racing weekend for me and I'm excitedly scared out my mind  to run this half. This race wasn't even in my radar until my ever so sweet husband continually pushed, much like my best friend did in January, that I experience 13.1 prior to racing it. Name a better way of running.. I couldn't think of any other so a race on my 13.1 long run day is exactly what I decided to do. The Petersbug Halloween Half Marathon As a mother of 2 on a budget, I choose races that tend to be cheaper in cost. (Richmond was a tad bit more, almost $40 and yes I was late in registering.) Although this is the cheapest Half I've entered in it offers more than the Sentara Colonial Half Marathon did. Or so they are saying. They are offering, according to my email, a free bag check inside of  Union Station, which is also the start and finish line. There is 500 free parking spaces just 100 yards away from the start. Water and Gatorade at miles 2,4,5.8, 7.5, 8.5, 10, 12 ...

What you eat during this week can help or break your half marathon. Well thinking back on my first half as well as everything I read it's really what you do the whole training time. For some that's over the last 16 weeks for me, that's only over the last 6 weeks as this Half is an impromptu sign up to push me through the Richmond Half in November. Back in December of 2015 when I made the decision to run the Sentara Colonial Half Marathon  in Williamsburg Va, I was already training for over a month. I was also on an active weight loss program. In which  I was on a low carbohydrate , no sugar, no bs kinda lifestyle change  or "diet." Can you imagine going into a half marathon with no carbs. Now that I think about it, even as a sprinter we had huge high carb/ high protein meals all the time. So what I was thinking is so lost to me! Mannnnnnnnnnnnn... I recall weighing myself before and after the race, I suggest more people actually do this, I had lost over 10lbs ...

1 week is all I have left and I will be facing 13.1 miles in Historic Petersburg, VA.The same streets I walked as a college student brand new to the south. Even running through some of the places I once lived, partied and ran before. To think I will pass some of the same areas in which I've documented  with my then 6 year old for her cousin's "Flat Snai" project. It's exciting to finally run a place I once called home, a place I feel familiar with. Petersburg Halloween Half Marathon All that said I'm still kinda nervous about running 13.1 miles again. I know I physically can do it. I have faith that mentally I will find the inner endurance to silence the negative thoughts and push through but I am still nervous. In trying to shake the nerves of the Richmond Half is what got me here in the first place. So although I'm trying to the calm the noise I won't be doing anything too drastic. In taking on this race, The Petersburg Halloween Half M...

" "I'm feeling stronger than yesterday.." sings over and over in my head. Never more than " I got stamina. Don't give up I won't give up, don't give up. No No No." "Back in the day when I was young," I fell in love with music. I mean, " Music makes you lose control. Music makes you lose control" and  I realized pretty early that no matter what I was feeling there was a song that did a better job than I could to explain how I truly felt.  So when running music helps me through the hard times., it penetrates my soul as well as my sole and truly makes me move my feet!  I've explored different running stations on Spotify as well as Pandora's Running (Radio Mix) Radio, Rap Strength Training Radio and Pop and Hip- Hop Power Workout Radio. If I had to choose Pandora beats Spotify every time. I just like that its simple.Although I like Pandora I love my Nike running app and it and Pandora aren't really friends. However,...

Sooo, today was a rest day. Which fell right in line with Hurricane, tropical storm Matthew. Like many rest days before  I've spent the day stretching,taking the kids to gymnastics, laundry and normal Saturday low key productive things. This almost always including searching Pinterest and google for tips and deals on running things. As I often do I looked to see what half marathons where coming up in my local area.  I stumbled on the Petersburg Halloween Half Marathon and low and behold it's on a Sunday!!! Yay!!! Insert running dance!!!!   Yeah I signed up! Quick fast and in a hurry, only the next 12 paid $65.     It's a relatively cheap race and the bling and tech shirt convinced me pretty easily plus, I could use the miles. After talking it over with the husband and making sure, unlike the American Family half marathon, I made sure I didnt have much or anything going on for that day. I grabbed my debit card, searched for a discount code and alth...

Where did you fall in love with running? My answer is simple, the first time I out ran a boy! DAH lol! I've always been an active child participating in dance and soccer since a young age. My parents are from the island of Jamaica and although they are not big on participating in sports they made sure that we were. When I realized that I could out run my male cousins I didn't want to go to dance class anymore.  So i didn't.. I continued soccer and added other sports to the mix such as volleyball, cheerleading, basketball and softball. It took one time from home plate to first base for the softball coach to tell me to grab my stuff and head to the track. I fell deep in love that day! It was my sophomore year at Springfield Central High School. I stepped foot on my school's black, tar paved track and was introduced to the 100 m, 200 m, 4x100m long jump and triple jump and well I never turned back. I had always looked up to Jackie Joyner-Kersee as she was not only an Af...

Hello OCTOBER!!! The leafs go wild, " awww, roooooooooooaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrr!" The breeze is here, the sun is taking its seat in the background as fall springs itself upon us all.  Runners paradise.. well at least this asthmatic runner's paradise. I've not only put the chest cold behind me, well as behind me as it can be as its effects still linger in my lungs, I've also put summer's heat behind me and now I'm praying for some strong tail winds as I start some serious work in preparation for the race on November 12th. " What does that all mean?," well I'm glad you asked lol. This is my first American Family Fitness (Richmond) Half Marathon. I've heard so many good things about this race. I mean when the marathon  connected to it is deemed the " Friendliest Marathon" how can you not be excited right, wrong. In all my research about this race the Bryan Park Loop is going to be well.. a beast. I've heard it's a loop full ...