2013 Favorite Things Giveaway

This year, more than ever, I am thankful for my blog. This blog has brought new friends into my life in both Geneva and London, which has helped tremendously with the adjustment. In addition, you all have helped me train for one marathon, two half marathon, a 10k race, and a 5k race three of which were personal records. Your emails, comments and interactions on social media have helped me discover new cities, countries, workouts, recipes, and inspire me on a daily basis. Therefore, similar to last year, I want to thank you all through a Favorite Things Giveaway.

2013 Favorite things

This year, there will be 5 lucky winners, each of whom have a chance to win one of the above gifts.  I will use Random Integer to choose a winner number for each prize. This contest is open to US and UK residents.

There are 2 ways to enter:

1) Leave a comment letting me know what you want to see more of on the blog in 2014. More training? Workouts? Fashion? Beauty? Travel?

2) Share via Twitter: I want to win @healthyhappier Favorite Things Giveaway including @yurbuds @kindle @baublebar! http://goo.gl/Zt5Xe4 (Leave a comment letting me know you shared via Twitter)

The giveaway will end at 11pm on Tuesday night. I will contact all winners via email and if I do not have a response within 48 hours I will choose another winner. 

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Nativity Run 5K Race Recap

Over the past few years, Bo and I have enjoyed kicking off the holiday season with a holiday themed race. For the past few years our race of choice was the New York Road Runners Jingle Bell Jog which brought thousands of runners to Prospect Park for a jingle bell filled 3-5 mile race depending on the year. In fact, last year’s race was a huge PR for me, the first time I ran sub 9 minute miles for a NYRR 4 mile race.

This year I wanted to keep the tradition alive and therefore started looking for local holiday races in London. Luckily back in October Leah and I discovered the CAFOD Nativity Run which features a 5k and 10k course. The name of this race is one of the big differences we’ve noticed about the holiday season in London and Geneva. People still greet people with Merry Christmas versus happy holidays and there are religious references in many different events such as this run.

The race, which takes place in Clapham Common, encourages runners to kick off the season by running the race in Nativity themed costume or other holiday costume and stick around after the race for mulled wine, hot cocoa and mince pie. Since it is a more casual race, the start time of 10:30 was also a welcome change especially since so many weekends kick off with holiday parties on Friday night. The entry price of 5 pounds (5k) or 10 pounds (10k) included chip timing, race number and post race festivities. Almost every runner was in full costume ranging from nativity characters to spandex Santa costumes.223

Leah who has organized Team Naturally Run, a group of London bloggers who attend events together and organize things through a very active Facebook group, suggested we make a celebration out of the race. Not only did she organize the group but she also ordered engraved race medals for each of us and elf costumes! The elf costumes, which were made of felt, were actually quite warm and comfortable thanks to a cinch waist feature. The felt was a bit too warm while I was running but while we were waiting and socializing afterwards I was thankful for the extra warmth since I was only wearing shorts and compression socks underneath. 770 So let’s talk about the race itself. When Bo, Emily and I registered originally the plan was to race the 10k and hopefully go home with a shiny new PR or PB, personal record or personal best as the gals in UK call it. Well unfortunately the three weeks I’ve been fighting an ongoing cough and cold, which has limited my workouts. This week I decided it best to drop to the 5k considering the distances I’ve run recently and I’m still not feeling 100%. The organizers were super understanding and even refunded us the price difference, though we never requested nor expected this!

Using Athlinks I found that my 5k PR was from 3 years ago and was a 9:35. With this new goal in mind I asked Emily if she wanted to help pace me to a sub 9 since I feel like I can do anything for 3 miles even when sick. My fellow Team Naturally Run girls laughed when they heard this yesterday as they each warned that this wasn’t a very race friendly course. The course, which at times felt like it was shaped like a snowflake, felt like something a little kid drew on paper.

It went through woods, huge mud puddles, piles of leaves, up hills, and across the common, rarely running on the paved path. We can only imagine that the course was as twisty as it was in order to make the distance but it was still a humorous experiences. During the run I couldn’t help but laugh out loud to Emily that I couldn’t believe we were doing this. Every time we encountered mud I had a vision of me becoming a mud covered elf if I slipped.  Our shoes were covered in dirt by the end!225Regardless of the terrain for each of the 5 kilometers we pushed on as fast as my lungs and legs could considering the elements. Luckily the one thing in our favor was the weather as it was a gorgeous, clear day around 40 degrees and sunny! We had no idea what are pace was as we ran Garmin free. When we crossed the finished we high fived each other, proud that we’d still given it our best effort but were definitely thankful we didn’t have to run another loop for the 10k. We later found out that our effort resulted in a shiny new PR of 28:38 or a 9:13 pace. While this isn’t the sub 9 that I was hoping for it is still a huge improvement from my previous 5k time and has me excited for half marathon training this Spring when I can focus a bit more on strength and speed! 231

These London bloggers know how to organize events, that’s for sure!The fifteen of us had a blast yesterday catching up, celebrating the holidays and Leah’s recent engagement! These ladies even brought champagne to toast with afterwards! 230

I’m also thrilled that Bo, who also ran the 5k,  was able to meet each of them!228 

Have you ever run in full costume? What was it?

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Winter Beauty Essentials

Winter has officially arrived in Geneva after a longer than normal Fall. This morning I walked out to 25 degree temps and frost so thick it looked like a blanked of light snow. After skiing all weekend in Verbier my skin is screaming for help. My nose is peeling and my lips are so chapped they are bleeding!  I have a spa day booked with my mom and brother’s girlfriend in two weeks when I’m home in Savannah but between now and then I’m trying to winterize my skin routine as much as possible.

Dry, parched skin isn’t pleasant to experience and it sure as heck makes applying makeup and lipstick ten times harder! Peeling skin? No thank you!

Below are my favorite winter beauty essentials which fill my medicine cabinet from December through April. Many of these items could also make great stocking stuffers for anyone and everyone on your list. I even pinned Bo’s favorite lip balm so you can find a little something for the mister on your list!

winter beauty

Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip BalmOrigins Incredible Spreadable Smoothing Ginger ScrubFekkai PRX Reparatives Intensive Fortifying MaskClinique Moisture Surge Extended ReliefClinique More than Moisture Gift SetBlistex Medicated Lip ConditionerPeter Thomas Roth Mega-Rich Body LotionFresh Sugar Lip TreatmentL’Occitane Hand Induglences SetFresh Sugar Lip PolishL’Occitane Shea Butter Hand CreamAveeno Active Naturals Moisturizing Body Wash

Your turn! Am I missing any of your favorites?

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