What else do you want to know?

Versatility and more... that's me :) And Megan from WatchMeGoRun spotted it from across the room and has tagged me with that killer award...

Thanks, girl :) 

In case you didn't know, Megan and I were the two Leg 12 runners on the Nuun Hood to Coast Relay teams... we bonded :)

The rules of this meme (for those of you who are unfamiliar or have forgotten) is that I am to share 7 random things about myself and then tag 15 more bloggers with this thing so that they can share 7 random things about themselves. This makes for a lot of random sharing...the dilemma for me is always how far or how random to take it.

This time I'm not going entirely random. I've made selections that exemplify my versatility :)

Let's start...

Numero Uno... way back when the dinosaurs ruled the earth and I was rowing (it is a lie that humans and dinosaurs didn't exist at the same time... they did... I was there),

source

See? Proof.

it was customary to row on either the starboard OR the port side (meaning your oar stuck out of the boat on your left or your right)

OR to scull (meaning you had a smaller oar in each hand).

I did it all. Major versatility points.

Number Two... another prehistoric versatility tidbit from The Land Before Time and also rowing-related: Not only did I row three ways, but I rowed as both a lightweight (under 130 lbs) and open. Additionally, I coxed (steered the boat and yelled at the rowers, generally in a very motivational and engaging manner). And I won or medaled at some US national championships between 1986 and 1992 in each category. You might think I'd have gotten a little respect. But no... read on.

#3... despite my seeming-prowess as a rower, if you were to ask anyone from my rowing days about me, me being awesome as a rower is not the first thing that would pop into his or her mind. They would be more inclined to remember me as being a total pain in the a** with a loud, foul mouth who was just too small to amount to anything and couldn't understand why I beat my head against the rowing brick wall for so long. And then they might tell the legend of the legendary grapefruits whose perfection was the stuff of legend...

Just ask MissZippy :P

Numéro Quatre... by the end of my sophomore year in college, I had 27 add/drop sheets on file. Versatility... or indecision?

Cinco!... When I sing any tune, it is entirely UNrecognizable. However, when I was 35, I was in a play and had to sing a solo. I didn't know this when I auditioned and still didn't know it until about 4 weeks into the rehearsal process...at which point I kind of freaked out. For every one of the 8 performances, every time I stood up and opened my mouth, I was completely and utterly terrified that it would be horrible. It never was. In fact, it was good! In fact, my whole family was totally amazed because they all know how lame a singer I am. But as soon as the play was over... lame singer once again :(

Sei... I love to drive. I can drive a car with a manual transmission... and right- or left-hand drive... and even on the wrong side of the road (or the right side, if you're in one of those countries who do that). I can drive a big truck...not like an 18-wheeler, though I would love to try that... as well as a 'regular' car. I would love to go to the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving...or something like it.

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Lucky Number Seven... I've had awards like this bestowed upon me before, and you can see 7 more random things in each of those posts by clicking here, here, here and here :) And to prove that I am good at math I will tell you that's 28 more random things. I like sharing!


I'm giving the 15 tags to new Taking It On followers... I need to know more about you people! Are you weird? Are you normal? Are you boring? Are you psychotic? Do you know how to make toast? Do you swear like a trucker or are you judicious with your language? Why do you do what you do?

1. bobbi at Zero to 26.2
2. Heather @ Just a Colorado Gal
3. The SF Road Warrior
4. Rain who is Going the Distance
5. Lauren the Running Cook 
6. Ali Mc who is Running w/ Spatulas
7. Susie of Footbeats
8. Gidget Goes Running
9. Kathy at Just Keep Running
10. Mike of Just a little run...
11. Erica from FreeFringes
12. through 15. anyone who wants to play... I didn't not name anyone on purpose! I like knowing more about everyone :) ... and tell us in your comment that you are going to do it!

Moving Comfort Juno Bra Review and Demonstration...because seeing is believing!

Did you know that the sports bra is just a little over 30 years old? I am old enough to remember this... as in, I was old enough to need one when they were invented. I found this great article about the history of the sports bra... I especially liked it because they use the expression shooting for the moon :)

Back in the olden days, I hated running. Hated. I think my newly-sprouted D's were part of the problem. And as that article says, the newly-invented Jogbra wasn't doing the trick for more voluptuous women... or adolescents. By the time I was a freshman in college, Lily of France had a great sports bra on the market... but I still needed to double up to get it to work. Thus began what I thought would be a life-long necessity... double-bra-ing for runs.

I have always been protective of my breasts. Adequate support is imperative if you don't want to end up looking like those scary boobscarves as seen in my first Running Bra Report. I thought I had found the perfect bra combo... those two different granny bras pictured in that same report. They served me well in the past but were getting tired and needed to be replaced.

Over the summer I purchased my new bra. It came with the saleswoman's reassurance and insistence that I would only need ONE. People always say that... but they don't really know what it's like.

I scoffed...even though she looked like she might know.

She was right.

The Juno bra by Moving Comfort is IT.

I am so excited to show you THE bra...

if you are tired of seeing and hearing perfect fitness models and small-breasted women touting what they are calling 'the best' sports bras (nothing against these ladies but they have different needs),

if you are looking for a substantial yet comfortable and attractive sports bra,

if you want a sports bra that isn't scary-looking but WORKS for C, D and DD all by its lonesome...

Inside-out, you can see the seamless, chafe-resistant construction. 

It has molded cups to prevent uniboob.

The chest band is soft for comfort, wide and minimally stretchy for stability.

Close-up of the waffle-y wicking fabric that lines the cups...

super comfy!

The straps are NOT STRETCHY! 

Awesome bonus for us more busty women because...

stretchy straps = bouncing boobs

But they are adjustable because they pass through loops

and then velcro where you need them!

I found that I get the best control when I tighten these up as far as they will go. This velcro feature would also be pretty fantastic if you are a nursing mom who works out. I remember the contortions I went through trying to get my babe to the boob when it was trapped beneath two old-school sports bras :P

It is not scary to look at! It looks like a normal sports bra!

And it comes in a bunch of colors...they even have bigger sizes in pretty colors :)

I can talk and write all I want about this thing... but we all know

seeing is believing.

So, to that end, here is the Juno in action...

yeah, yeah... shot kind of close... that's so you can't see my lack of core work :P

Isn't it true? Look through the pictures of sportsbras... how many of us are fitness models? Ummmm... maybe just Sandra. We want to know how these things are going to work on our 'normal' everyday bodies. Are my D's or her DD's really going to be adequately contained?

With the awesome Juno, the answer is...

YES!!!!

Double-bra wearers of the workout world unite! 

You have nothing to lose but that stupid extra bra! 

You have a race to win!

******************

Note: these do run true to size in my personal experience...if you know your real bra size and aren't just guessing or going by habit. I was lucky enough to try my first one on at a Title Nine store.

** I bought my first Juno bra and was so in love with it that I bought two more so that I would have one for each leg of my Hood to Coast experience (I know you were wondering how I'd work that in). I then received one as a gift from Moving Comfort as a member of Nuun Platuun! How stoked was I to get my most very favoritest piece of running equipment as a gift? SO stoked! This review is solely based on my personal experience with the Juno bra and other sports bras, and I have not been compensated for it in any way.

***And definitely... definitely click on this link to vote for my insanity... I really really really want to win free ad space on another incredibly awesome blog. Please click the link here and then find my Einstein-hair picture or my Maxfield Parrish sky photo or both and then click the little yellow stars under them :) It ends Thursday at midnight... like, as in today!

Pleeeeeeeeease? 

Badass {babe-a-licious} Blogger Meet-up!

So next week I am running in this thing... this relay. It's called the Hood to Coast Relay. Have I mentioned it?

I am running as part of a team composed entirely of female bloggers (except for 2 very awesome company staffers) ... a team that was chosen and is sponsored by NUUN... operation hydration ;-)  Have I mentioned this?

I wasn't sure... because there have been all these posts about boobs. Well, there's been one post about boobs... but it really overshadowed my entire blog since I posted it. Seriously, folks... put 'boobs' in your title and you suddenly become pretty popular. Have pictures of awesome bloggers' boobs and, well, for a New York second you feel like the belle of the ball.

But now that New York second is over and we can get back to the important stuff...

Hood to Coast and my team, Nuun Platuun.

Last night I got to meet two of my teammates in person! For the first time! We had ramen. Not like Top Ramen... like good ramen. Genki Ramen in San Francisco. If you're a ramen connoisseur and you are ever in the foggy city by the bay... Genki is all that. Go.

Here we are:

the mom and her daughter and her daughter's friend :P

I am seriously old enough to be their mom.

Commando, Capt. Underpants and Capt. Cupcake...

reporting for ramen.

pay no attention to our weird glowing eyeballs or my nearly-revealing shirt...

it was a wild time ;-)

Cupcake was the person I tried to spectate in the San Francisco Marathon last month... remember?

 The one I didn't see but who saw me? 

So we had been within 20 feet of each other before last night. 

It was an awesome meet-up. They were super fun and easy to talk to. They were really nice to me and said I look way younger than I am (they sounded wayyy sincere, so I love them) and said that I am totally not mom-like... which they assured me is a super-score.  :)  I am a weensy bit bummed that they get to be in Van 1 together while I am in Van 2... but I am excited to be in the "forgotten" van and running the anchor leg. 

Capt. Underpants blogs under the pseudonym The Faster Bunny. She is super smart, very cute and gunning for a 19:xx 5K... GO, UNDERPANTS!


Capt. Cupcake just ran the SF Marathon... with all its crazy hills... in 3:44 which was a huge PR and killed her goal time. She is also very smart and super cute and a ramen addict.  Her blog, Diary of an Average Runner, needs more frequent postings. I want to hear more about her.

Both of these fun women have are fantastic personalities... but both respectfully declined being featured in any upcoming personality matching-type contests ;-)  they are going to hate me for putting that in :P I think they'll also want to kill me for calling them 'babe-a-licious'... but I think they know me well enough now that I can get away with it without getting for real killed!

The Postman Rang Thrice...

Actually, it was the postman ringing once...

The UPS driver ringing once...

And the FedEx guy ringing once.

I knew what was coming... and I was so excited when it came!

If you've been paying attention this past week, you know that my husband left me.

He went to France to work with an amazing photographer... on the beach... at a naturist place. He says he's coming back. I wonder, though. He did leave me with a pile of money and a credit card... for emergencies, he said. But possibly, quite possibly, it was hush money. Leave the wife home feeling secure and financially taken care of for just long enough ... so as not to arouse suspicions. Hmmmm.... I hadn't even thought of that until I started writing this post... 

Anyway...

He often buys things without checking in with me. Starbucks, a burrito here or there, a new wallet... a really nice camera... or two... or three... and all the crap that you need to really use a really nice camera... or two ... or three. Oh, and in the old days... all that film processing and developing and printing that went along with creating an awesome portfolio and shareable body of work. Right. 

Me... grocery shopping. New school clothes and shoes for the kids. Toilet paper. Those are the things I buy without checking in. Until this week.

Remember what I said the last time he went away?  While the husband's away, the wife will play. Only this time it wasn't playing = working out.

This time... I bought stuff.

a super sweet new camera!

A new running bra!

and a new Garmin!!!

Seven Wonders of the Boob World bra

aka the Juno bra from Moving Comfort

...in green!

I liked my blue one a lot... 

still plan to write a review of that awesome support system :)

Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-TX10

tiny, waterproof, dust-proof, shock-proof, takes good pictures and video...

perfect camera for a running mom on the go!

my doodoo phonecamera will have to deal with 

its neglect issues on its own.

Garmin Forerunner 305

timing, GPS thingy to let me know how far and how fast...

no more piecing together distances with google maps or by driving around in my car...

no more gauging my pace by how fast I went from my mailbox to the lightpost 

halfway around the development...

unless I want to do it that way... 

which I might :)

Add to those super cool arrivals, my silly game from yesterday that became my all-time, second most-viewed post in less than 24 hours, skyrocketing me to fame and fortune for all of 10 seconds, and it was like Christmas or my birthday or something. 

And I'll tell ya, after getting my goodies and some attention, I feel a whole lot better about holding down the fort. Even if the attention was super contrived :P

Have you gotten anything fun recently? Do you have any of these things? How do you like it?

Remember to enter my giveaway for the Hood to Coast Movie DVD... contest ends Monday!

And you can still play the Match the Rack game from Boobs I Follow... that one ends Tuesday. There will be prizes for the correct guessers!

Boobs I Follow...

"She has a great personality."

What do you think when someone describes a woman to you thusly?

Often, one cringes.

How shallow.

Each of these blogging women I have chosen to feature today is fabulous, engaging, entertaining and intelligent. Each has... nay, is... a great personality.

They are charming and sexy. Energetic and daring. They take chances... they give themselves to the world. They welcome challenges... seek out challenges... thrive on challenges.

Maybe a being described as having a great personality isn't such a bad thing after all!

C.

A.B.   

F.   

D.                                                                               E.

  H.

 G.

In addition to being great personalities, these women all have something else in common... they are as strong, fit and lovely in body as they are in mind and spirit. Their inner selves shine through and are manifested in their outer selves.

This brings us to today's game...

match the rack!

1 >

< 2

3 >

 < 4

5 >

< 6

7 >

< 8

Can you match the face with the boobs? And then can you match the person to her blog from the list below? You can even use the links on the list to help solve the puzzle. All pictures were lifted from their blogs... with permission :)

• Absolutely Narcissism
• Blonde Ponytail
• If I can't convince you - -  I'll at least confuse you.
• Shut Up and Run
• Taking It On...yes, I follow my own boobs... they always precede me ;-)

All of the correct matchings that are put into a comment will be eligible for some sort of randomly-selected prize from a random selection of prizes... so you want to play so you can win... plus it's fun!


Submit your guesses by Tuesday, August 16th. Answers will be posted on the 17th along with the randomly-selected winner or winners of the randomly-selected prizes.

Disclaimer: all featured women consented to being objectified. No boobs or feelings were harmed in the making of this post. We're keeping it that way. Any and all comments that are not friendly and PG will be deleted by me... yes, censorship. Fine. Apologies in advance to those this may have offended. To them I must counsel... lighten up.