• Are you a half-marathon queen?

• Do you laugh in the face of 13.1 miles?

• Do you need the motivation to finally tackle that half?

Well….if you answered YES to any of those you should enter to win this 13.1 Running Hat Giveaway.  The hat is white with 13.1 embroidered on the front and is super lightweight.

How to Enter

• Leave a comment telling me about your favorite half-marathon

• Leave a comment telling me if you are prepping for your first half

• Leave a comment telling me about any race training you are doing

• Or just tell me that you want the hat

Winner will be announced on Friday!!!

My graduation dress–my friends forced me to buy color and I loved it!

This morning my mother sent me a text message telling me that someone had done something nice for her and that she wanted to do something nice for me.  My mom put some extra money into my account in order for us to buy some hiking/camping gear (which we have none of right now).

Because someone did something nice for me today, I want to do something nice for you.

Summer Care Package Giveaway

Please leave me a comment on how you would Pay It Forward. I will randomly choose a winner and send them a little summer care package.

You all know what time it is…

Friday Fun Facts

• I hate watching the news. It is really depressing, especially in Houston.  Let me sum up the news this morning:  people were murdered, a cop was shot, and all of the schools are laying off their teachers.  Yeah…so it was a depressing way to start my morning.

• I think Skippy Natural peanut butter is amazing!  I would go so far as to say that it is my favorite PB.  I have bought a couple different Organic variety lately and they just don’t compare!
• My favorite meals revolve around the concept:  everything but the kitchen sink. Wednesday’s dinner was roasted carrots & zucchini, sauteed chickpeas, and small tilapia fillet all drizzled with roasted red pepper dressing.  Yum!
• My obsession this week has been what I like to call hummsa, a dip made by combining regular hummus and fresh chunky salsa or pico de gallo

• I get a Hoffman birthday card every year from my friend Anna.  Seriously, every year a card from the Hoff and this year it is sound card so the Hoffman himself tells me Happy Birthday.  You can all be jealous.

• Tomorrow morning at 7am I will begin the first day of the MS 150.

Map_Route

BP_Breakpt-Mileage

There is just a little preview of what our weekend looks like…I may be tired just looking at it!

Remember to enter the last MS 150 Giveaway to win soy candles! I had originally planned on  announcing winner tonight…but I have to go pick up my new car (!!!!) so I am extending the giveaway until Monday.

Just realized that I didn’t title the Giveaway Post correctly so you might have missed the final MS 150 Giveaway.  If you want to win some great clean burning soy candles then Click Here to enter!

Please remember that the MS 150 Giveaways are used to support my MS 150 Ride, MS Research, and to show some love to my wonderful grandma!

Holy cow this weekend was crazy!!!!!!  Saturday we planned to go test drive a few cars (because we are considering getting rid of one of ours).  As with anything I had researched all week, organized a sheet by location & vehicle, and then we planned a driving route.  Yeah…our plan pretty much failed.  We left the house around 10:30am on Saturday with 5 locations to visit.  We ended up arriving home a little after 10pm and only visiting 3 of our 5 locations!!!!

Anyway, we ended up being up until a little after midnight Saturday night prepping everything for our bike ride on Sunday.

Sunday morning we were up before 5 for our 80 mile (78.4 by my Garmin) Space Race Houston bike ride.  Sunday was a disaster! We left the apartment nearly 20 minutes later than planned.  We got about 10 miles down the interstate and realized we left our glasses!  You cannot ride a bike, let alone for 78 miles, without glasses.  Anyway, we ended up having to stop at a Walmart at 5:30 in the morning in the Third Ward….scary! I stayed locked in the car while the hubby ran in to buy some glasses.

We finally arrived at the ride and things just continued to be a disaster.  Lost the safety pins for our bibs, forgot my Cliff blocks, water bottle slipped out of my hand while riding, headwinds for at least 50% of the ride, and my hubby’s boss who is training with us got 2 flats!

Anyway got home Sunday and collapsed on the couch.  We ordered pizza and I literally ate back 78 miles worth of calories in pizza, breadsticks, and chocolate chip cookies.  Healthy…I know.  (Hmm…I wonder why I can’t shake that Texas Ten….).

Now it is Monday.  I have finals in 3 weeks and haven’t even begun to study!  Yikes! The MS 150 is this weekend! I will be giving you details of the ride, what I am doing to prepare, etc throughout the week but for now here is the final MS 150 Giveaway!

MS 150 Giveaway-  Soy Candles

Although I have already reached my minimum fundraising goal for the MS 150 ride I would love to show my grandma even more support by going over the goal!  You can read more about why I am riding for my grandma here and you can find out more information about MS here.

The Giveaway:  2 Double Bar G Ranch homemade soy candles:  Artic Air & Autumn Harvest

To Enter: Please leave a comment for each of these that you do!

• Support my ride and show my grandma some love. Please leave a comment for every donation of $1. (Your donation will also give me a reason to keep going when I have to get back on my bike after riding 100 miles the day before)

• Support MS Education and Research by reading through the FAQS page, National MS Society’s website, or joining their Facebook page and then posting a fact/awareness message as your Facebook status or on Twitter.

• Leave me a comment sharing how MS has affected your life.

Let us all work to find a cure! Winner will be announced Friday evening!  ***EDIT:  Winner will not be chosen until MONDAY!!****

The winner of the giveaway and better biceps is…

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Diane (from STCL)  says:

Hey Karissa! I just stumbled on your blog today. One of my best friends has MS, so I’d love to find a cure too! Your grandma seems pretty awesome – I’ll make sure to donate to your ride  Good luck!

Saturday morning I got up and hit the gym to cross train.  Since the marathon I have not really run a whole lot (minus the Rodeo Run 10k & Seabrook Half Marathon) but tried to do general cardio at the gym.  Since I haven’t any IT band issues I think the cross training is really helping.

Saturday afternoon I went to the above pictured wedding shower.  A fellow 3L is getting married in just two weeks and her mother threw a wonderful shower.  They rented out the entire restaurant and we all enjoyed unlimited food and open bar at Benjys.  It was an entire shower filled with fellow law students and practicing attorneys…talk about woman power.  The food and drinks were delicious and I got the chance to talk to some practicing attorneys (always nice to know how the real world works).

After the wedding shower I picked up the hubby and we went to another law school gathering.  We went to a pool party/cookout.  We watched the game (really wanted VCU to win the whole thing but not sad that an Indiana team is going to the big game!), ate a lot of food, and drank beer.

We made it home Saturday night and my husband made us stay up to make cinnamon rolls (from the can).  I had one only to realize I like the regular icing more than the cream cheese icing…very surprising!

Sunday rolled around and we slept in as much as we could.  Since Trooper refused to let us sleep past 8am we ended up taking him for a walk, running errands, eating lunch, then getting in 20 miles on the bike.

The rest of the night was spent cleaning (ugh!) and researching.  I cannot officially say what we are researching yet, but I will announce it this week!

Try and enjoy your Monday!  Look out for the next MS 150 Support giveaway this week!

Happy Friday everyone.  Lets get started!

Friday Fun Facts

• My blogging has been a little lackluster lately because my life has been crazy.  There are a lot of big things happening, a lot of life decisions to make, and big changes to come!  That being said…I am freaking out a bit…I am a creature of routine.  Of planning.  Of scheduling. I have had my life outlined since 5th grade.  This is where blogging comes in…bloggers are a great community of support (even if they don’t know it). Even if you don’t reach out, just reading about others’ struggles, triumphs, and life changes can make you feel supported.  I have been following Lisa and Astrid because these women have the courage to make a change in their life and the strength to allow themselves to be happy.

• Unfortunately I am a very serious person…all the time…so there will be no April Fools jokes from me this year.  I have pulled off an April Fools joke one time. Right when my husband (then boyfriend/manfriend) started seeing each other we decided to April Fools all his roommates.  I spent nearly all my time over there with the guys and beer pong was a nightly occurrence.  [I was in college...give me a break.] Anyway on April Fools day I casually said I would play but that I didn’t want to drink.  As the queen, seriously, of beer pong this was a bit odd but they thought I just didn’t feel like beer.  Anyway I continued to say no to any type of drinks or food all night.  One of my husband’s friend asked my husband if I was okay…then he planted to seed that I might be pregnant.  Being the good friends that they are it spread like wildfire and soon they were concerned about where I would live, what we do, and if we were getting married.  Anyway, one of them finally came up to me and asked where I replied, “April Fools…geesh do I look fat or something?”  Yeah…probably not that funny, but we all have weird senses of humor.  [**Please do not take offense to this April Fools joke:  I was young & had/have a sick sense of humor.  Pregnancy is a serious issue so please don't think I take it lightly**]

• We are thinking about adopting another dog. I love Trooper so much and think that it may be good for him to have a brother.  Especially since I will be home a lot, but I will be studying for the Bar…thus the little guy thinks I am ignoring him.  I think it may be good for him to have a playmate.  Anyone adopt another dog after your first one?

• You still have time to win this dumb bell alarm clock! I am extending the MS 150 Support Giveaway until Monday evening!  You get one entry for every $1 you donate and one entry for your tweet.  To enter the giveaway click here!

• I am extending this giveaway because I don’t have the next giveaway ready yet! Yep, that is right, another giveaway!!! As you can tell this cause is really important to me, so I am willing to bribe to make it important to others.  Please check out the MS 150 tab on my blog or click on the links to the right-hand side: inform  yourself, spread the word, and support!

Happy Friday all!  Do you pull April Fool’s pranks?  What was your best one?

I don’t mean to sound disappointed (but I am) but the first MS 150 Giveaway is going less than great.  Anyway, I realize the prize may not be everyone’s cup of tea but just remember the giveaway supports an important cause.

Why I ride?  Because my grandma deserves support!

In hopes of getting some entries, I have lowered the entry amount to donations of $1

Please consider supporting My Ride and the path to finding a cure!

**If MS has touched the life of you or someone you know please contact me at cardiofoodie@gmail.com. I would like to feature some MS stories on the blog in the weeks leading up the the MS 150 ride.

**A new giveaway will be announced next week**  And it won’t require bicep curls!

One of my best friend’s sent me this article regarding Purdue’s research on the causes and possible treatment solutions for MS.

Please take a minute to check it out.

Here is a photo post-bike ride on Saturday.  My Garmin had us at 50 miles in 3:02:55.  50 Miles was rough and I really, really wanted to quit at the last rest stop!

Biking is not easy for me.  I am not very coordinated and my little chicken legs don’t pedal very hard.  Every time I am tired or want to quit I remember why I am riding.  For my grandma.  For MS.  For a cure.

I know it seems like I am bombarding you all with information about MS and pleas for support…BUT I am doing this because it is important to me!  It is my family and my life.  So I am not a big blogger, or a book writer, or a Twitter star…but I care.  I am asking for support & donations on my blog because I feel the blogging community can understand my cause, my hope for better health, and the amount of dedication I am putting into this ride.

With all that said…if you donate you get a chance to win a cool giveaway! So if you want to bypass the Starbucks today I will be riding a few more miles because of you.

With only 3 weeks left until the MS 150 I will be hosting a couple of giveaways to help raise money for my ride in honor of my grandma.

If you haven’t yet, please take a few moments to read about MS and the story behind my ride.

• FAQs about MS
• 150 Miles for My Grandma

Holding my Purdue University degree.  I am the first member of our family to graduate from college.  (My cousin is now a freshman at Purdue continuing on the tradition!)

My grandma (and grandpa) has been such a big part of my life.  When I was in second grade we had a big program at our school for Grandparent’s Day.  My grandma and I won the youngest grandma award!  It was such a special day that I can still remember the exact outfit I wore!

From second grade to college graduation to my wedding day my grandma has supported me every single step of the way.  This ride is a way for me to support her for a change.  So I ask for your help in supporting my ride.

MS 150 Giveaway

Dumbbell Alarm Clock

This ride is about health and awareness so I am giving away a gift that will help you give everyday a healthy start!  This alarm clock makes you do bicep curls before it will turn off!

To Enter:

Support My Ride by clicking Here

• For every $1 dollar donation towards my ride please leave a separate comment for entry.

• Spread the love on Twitter & leave a comment:  Support @KarissaReneeD MS 150 Ride http://cardiofoodie.com/2011/03/25/ms-150-support-giveaway/

My grandma reads my blog so please help me show her that everyone is working towards a cure! *Winner will be ANNOUNCED Friday April 1st*