skirts head to the wine country

come visit us this weekend at the Napa-Sonoma Wine Country Half Marathon!

bananas

ok.  this isn't exactly running or skirt related, but I did have this little epiphany the other day, and since it is nutrition and weight oriented it at least seems somewhat appropriate here.
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The thing is.  I love bananas.  I could (and often do) eat them every day.  But the thing is, in my mind they are very high in calories and so I do try to limit my consumption. 
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But the thing that has occurred to me -- do they really have any more calories than some of the other junk (mostly empty calories) that I eat in their place???  For example, for a mid-afternoon snack, I could eat 2-3 bananas -- either plain, or frozen and blended in a yummy shake  and feel reasonably full on about 250 calories. 
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But often times what I'll do, is skip the banana and reach for a bag of snack food, either Trader Joe's cookies, peanut butter pretzels, or some other snack.  I can EASILY devour more than 300 calories in one sitting and feel less satisfied.  And to top it off, there is very little nutrition in bag of pretzels!  So then this begss the question, WHAT am I thinking???  Seriously. 
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Sure, you might "think" bananas have a lot of calories compared to say - WATER.  But, compared to some alternatively filling foods... come on! 
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Next time, I'm reaching for the bananas.  YUMMMM!!!!

checkout issues

hey gals
I regret to inform you that we are still experiencing difficulties as a result of the fire up in Seattle last week.  Unfortunately, our credit card processing service experienced a very large fire near the power source for their datacenter.  As a result, much equipment was damaged and service has been difficult.

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For the most part, if you place an order - it is going through, even if you don't get a confirmation page (instead, folks are getting an error page).  Please feel free to email me if you have questions whether your order did go through. 
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And rest assured, if you have tried to place your order more than once, we will only process it once. 
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We are monitoring their Twitter page for updates and are hopeful that this will all be resolved quickly.
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I apologize for the inconvenience, and thank you for your patience.

Celebrating Freedom with Free Shipping!

Hey gals.  Enjoy free shipping all month long!!! 

Happy 4th! and website issues

Hey gals!

First - a very very happy 4th of July to all!  I hope you are enjoying sunshine, BBQs, the beach, a bike ride... whatever it is that reminds you of the special Freedoms we are blessed with here, on our nations big Birthday.
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And second.  Our 3rd party CC processing agent - authorize.net has been experiencing difficulties over the past few days.   It appears from their twitter that service may be intermittent for some time to come.  This is also affecting our checkout function on the website.  If you experience difficulties here, I apologize!!  But please be patient and if you have trouble you can always email me and we'll work through it. 
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Also -- you'll note that Shipping is Free through the month of July.  We thought this would be a fun way to celebrate our Freedom.  Unfortunately, with authorize.net's troubles we cannot officially announce this yet...   but if you have gotten through on your order, you'll appreciate the Free Shipping!!

beware of the salad

WOW! Check this out!  I've always thought salads could really be deceptively unhealthy, but to see the cold hard numbers is still mind-numbing. 
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Seriously, if you consider the number of calories and fat in cheese, dressing, croutons, versus the amount in the lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers...  it is astonishingly unhealthy, with almost 80% of calories from fat.  And all under the guise of eating something "healthy". 
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YIKES!

sometimes, it's best not to run

Seriously.
I'd signed up to run the Double Dipsea months ago.  I can't say I trained all that much for it, as my athletic endeavors in recent months have primarily involved a mountain bike, but I did go up and preRun it, and have mostly maintained my weekly mid-distance run of 10-14 miles.  So, I figured it'd be fine.
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Unfortunately though, the timing for this race, which was set for last Saturday, was horrible!  Between getting a new mountain biking, having a birthday and the summer solstice, last week was a very long week full of some really awesome rides --  2 full days at the demo (a really kick butt, but super grueling local mountain biking playground), the monthly ladies ride, another shop ride... often followed by a few cold and tasty adult beverages, plus a few swims and a nice long birthday run, by the time I rolled home at 11PM on Friday night, I knew there was just no way I was getting up at 5 AM for the Double Dipsea. 
None.
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Ohhh... but I so wanted too!
And I made a valiant effort.
But as I laid there trying to rouse myself, I recalled the new pain in my knee I'd noticed the day before, and the tweak in my ankle that had returned after a several year hiatus and the strain in my back from the new body position on my bike.  And I thought about how terribly difficult the pancake flat 2 mile ride home had felt just a few hours before, and knew getting out of bed to go run 14 miles, twice up and over the ridge between Stinson Beach and Mill Valley -- the 1500 steps in between, would be a very bad idea. 
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Thinking about the conversation I'd had the day before with my friend that was running it injured "if I can run it with a torn meniscus"  (or whatever it is that's ailing her this month, I honestly don't recall)  then you can do it!  The truth is, yes, I probably could have.  And I probably would have ended up injured. 
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And so I stayed in bed.  With the benefit of hindsight, after watching my body refuse to do anything for 2 whole days, and feeling how hard it was to get back on the bike for even an easy ride last night, I know without a doubt that if I had pushed myself up that mountain, I would be more than just tired right now.  I would be injured.
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I'm quite certain that the disappointment of bailing on Double Dipsea is far less than would be the disappointment if I was injured and out of commission for a week, a month or more.  Instead, I get to ride my beatufiul new moutain bike at least 2 more times this week, swim and run today and again tomorrow with my good friend and favorite trail buddy. 
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If I listen real close, I can swear my body is thanking me. 

more commitments on the way

yes yes... I know that the size IV and V commitment skirts are looking pretty darn sparse right now.  I do have a handful of colors that AREN'T on the website (and probably will not make it there) but you can always email to inquire about availability. 
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Though I do have more on order - mostly with the "colored undershorts"  and they should be in in Mid-July.  Just in time for our appearance at San Francisco Marathon... 
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Thanks for your patience. 

has it really been six weeks?

OMG!  I guess this is what happens when one day leads into the next, leads into a week, and then a month...  oops. 
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I'd like to offer a really good reason why I've been so quiet lately, but I think the only two I have are facebook - which is a proven time sink - and my new mountain bike obsession. 
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Over the past two months I have been on many many blind mountain bike dates, and have ridden many great bikes in the process.  Dating mountain bikes though more physically dangerous (I have plenty of new scars to prove it) but it is no doubt more emotionally safe than dating men. 
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Anyhow.  I have finally settled on one -- and am proud to say it was Made in the US - by Turner Suspension Bicycles.  Being a US Manufacturer, this was a top requirement. And so I'm happy to report that there are indeed well made, viable American Made options.  As it once took me SIX months to buy an alarm clock b/c I could not find one made in the US - this made me infinitely happy.  
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I have also found the courage and grace tops to be an excellent choice for mountain biking apparel. 
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Well, now that I"m back, mentally, I promise not to stay gone for too long! 

GOOD LUCK at WST

Good luck to all Western States folks - I know it's been a long long wait and training period for this one!  Good luck and have fun.