Here We Go!

Ollo, GSR.

(Props to anyone who picked up on the Megamind reference)

Today, I promise a little running, art, music and, of course, my commentary on all three! ;-)

First up, THE RUNNING.

So, in case you have not noticed yet, this Saturday we have an unprecedented TWO events in one day!

Yes that is correct!

What a way to kick off December! Come out and party holiday style with us!

Starting in the morning at 9:00AM, we will be at the SLC Jingle Bell Run @ Trolley square! Rise and shine early with us, and come help raise money to fight arthritis!

Plus you get to run with Jingle bells... eh? Pretty awesome, right?

Well, come run with us, and you will see! Plus, you run around the charming Liberty Park and Trolley Square. 

Any way you cut it... this is not one you want to miss!

Speaking of races you won't want to miss....

We will be running the Utah Santa Run in Provo Utah later that day at 4:00PM. 

Yep, I will personally be running two races in one day! Why you ask? Because it's the holidays, and they are both that cool (no pun intended). 

In this race, everyone will be dressed as Santa! (Suit is included in entry fee.) And it just wouldn't be right if they didn't have milk and cookie aid stations as well!

Excuse me while I have a holiday joy overload !!!!

So whether you're in SLC or Provo, lace up this Saturday and come run one or both with Greensole Running!


Now onto THE ART.

Well, as most of you probably don't know...the inner workings of Greensole Running are coming along nicely. We now officially have our very own corporate bank account and have entered into the process of filing for 501(c)3 charitable status with the IRS, a process that in all likelihood will take several months... nevertheless progress!

Anyways, the point of all this is that with bank accounts comes money... and with money comes SWAG!

We just ordered mock ups of some potential T-shirts and business cards for GSR!

What do you think of OUR ART?

Business Card Front

Business Card Back

T-shirt Front

T-shirt Back

Tech-T Front

Tech-T Back

Pretty nifty right?

Who knew runners could be so artistic? ;-)

Well, we will reserve judgement until we have them in hand but... WE ARE EXCITED!

Finally, we move onto THE MUSIC!

As some of you probably noticed, we have a new TUNES section on our website. We would love to hear from you! What are your favorite tunes to run to? Let us know, and we will throw them up on our site!

Also on that note, to those of you in the SLC area, Yellowcard and We Are the In Crowd (both bands found on my personal running playlist) will be playing Wednesday, Nov 28th (aka tomorrow) in SLC at The Complex!

So, if you feel like rocking out to some awesome "Beach Rock" music, grab some tix and come rock out with us! We will be there (unofficially, of course, as this is not a real running event), but still come hook up and meet some cool Greensole Runners.

Tickets are about $25 with the service charge and can be bought HERE

With that, I will leave you with a pic of my run today and a little Yellowcard to motivate some running tomorrow.

Devoid of snow... for the time being. Run Because You Can!

Looking forward to having fun with all you Greensole Runners this week,

Geoff@GSR

STG Running

Good evening GSR,

I just wanted to share a few pictures with you today of beautiful St. George, Utah from the runner's point of view.

Right outside my parents' house in St. George. No Traffic. Warm. Awesome. Well, a little cold at first but really perfect running temperature this morning.

Running up and out of Bloomington, looking at Pine Valley Mountain and the old airport. A great 7.25 mile route we have.

Panoramic view looking north at the top of the run today. Such a beautiful suburban city.

We made it! ... We can see our house. :-)

Running down. Ending the run downhill always makes for a more positive experience.

One of my favorite views in St. George. Bonus points to anyone who knows where this is.

It is so nice outside down here in southern Utah. If you haven't got your run in yet, go lace up and get going. It's too good to miss out on.

Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday break!

-Geoff@GSR

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey GSR,

I want to wish anyone reading this a happy Thanksgiving.

 I just got back from running my "Thankful 13" with my favorite running partner in the world, my sister Monica! (And, man, does she work me!) As an added bonus, we got to run all around our beautiful hometown of St. George, Utah! Also, what an absolutely gorgeous day. We have so much to be thankful for.

So whether you're walking a Thankful 3 miles or setting a new PR on a Thankful 13 expedition, I want to encourage you all to get out there and take advantage of this awesome opportunity to connect with your family through a little time propelling your feet forward outdoors.

I can't wait pig out, play games, watch some football, and toss a little pigskin around with my family this afternoon!

I am truly grateful for all of your support, friendship, and running!

I owe everything at Greensole Running to you,

-Geoff@GSR

G.O. H.A.R.D.

Good morning GSR,

This one is a special shout out to my awesome sister Emily. I know how much she loves hugging.

Today is a holiday....well sort of. It is the Globally Organized Hug A Runner Day! (or GO HARD) What is that, you ask? Well it's a global celebration of running and love and our support for each other. This is definitely in line with GSR ideals and we fully support this event!

In order to properly celebrate this day I would encourage all off us to get out today and get our hug on!

What's that? You're a little shy about offering runners hugs... well, lucky for us, we have a little bit of a training guide, thanks to our friends at RUN THE EDGE.

1.  Interval Hugging: Try both long and short intervals and don’t forget to change leads with your hugging partners so everybody gets a chance to set the pace.  We recommend starting with 10 X 40-second hugs with ample recovery.  More experienced huggers may want to cut down on the rest between hugs.

2.  Long Slow Hugs: This should be a staple of your training program.  Set aside time at least once a week to share a hug lasting several minutes.  Up to 20% of your weekly hugging time can be spent in this one hug.  Be sure to choose your LSH partners carefully because this kind of training might scare off newcomers.

3.  Speed Hugging: Don’t overdo this especially in the early months.  Speed training is important but can lead to injury if huggers try to do too much too soon.

4.  Hug Visualization: To be at your best you must prepare mentally.  In order to be ready for anything, make sure to visualize hugging runners of all sizes, genders, ages, and ethnicities.  Unlike in running, we do not recommend hug visualization (HV) while engaged in interval hugging, (IH) speed hugging, (SH) or Long Slow Hugging, (LSH).  Leave hug visualization to moments when you are alone.

5.  Cross Training: Running couples may want to engage in some “cross training” activities.  In fact some of the above workouts (especially the LSH) can lead to cross training.  While not necessary, these activities can add a little spice to the day to day grind.

Sounds like a good plan to me. We don't have much time, so get out there. Let's all share the love of running with some hugs today!

Have a terrific Tuesday,

Lace up and GO GIVE SOME HUGS!

-Geoff@GSR

The Mondays!

Hello GSR,

I hope everyone's Monday is just joyfully jogging along. I know thus far, mine's been fantastic!

(Well, with the exception of it is monday, and I would rather be heading home for Thanksgiving...ugh grad school)

Check this out!

What is this you ask? It is my FAV running route...DEVOID OF SNOW! Joy to the world, peace on earth, and good will towards men! I can now run outside again sans frozen toes!

I guess we have a little more warm weather left up here in northern Utah after all!

It literally made my day! So much so that I am now telling you ;-)

Anywho, after running comes school, and that was not without its own events...

Just a little insight into where I spend my days and nights AKA my lab bench

Like joining the One Love Ski/Snowboard Club and getting my ski pass to Canyons!

Look at all the SWAG! Also taken in my lab... this time on my desk

So, if any of you are ski/snowboarders, hit me up, and let's shred the slopes together! (... is that the correct lingo? I'm still pretty new at this :-)

I think it should make a good cross-training activity in winter. So I would encourage everyone to join in on the fun!

OK, finally I have have to show you this... not because it is related to running in anyway. Well, I did find it while running. But look, it's a tractor pulling a leaf-picker-upper.... OK, that sounds less cool than it did in my head. I am completely fascinated by this and I don't know why.

Maybe the straight line it leaves. (Hehe, punny)

Hope you're all having just as good of a day as I am!

I will leave you with this... a little music to brighten your day! They are playing in SLC tonight so if you want to "hang out", buy some tickets and come find me! You know what I look like, but I don't know you, so make sure you say hi!

So lace up, and run because you can.

-GSR

SUSHI SUNDAY!!!

Hey GSR!

How about those race pictures? Nice right? Maybe I'll just drop out of grad school and become a photographer.

Today was a rest day. (*tear* See video below about how I feel.) Therefore there are no new runs to talk about, but I will talk about some other stuff... like food. Food is my favorite.

So as my brother (roommate) and I prepare to head home this week for Thanksgiving...

(And see my awesome sistas! *takes a 30 second dance break* )

...we realized that we were running (no pun intended) out of food in the house. We deemed this acceptable as we didn't want to go buy a whole bunch of new food only to see it go bad while we're out of town.

So the "no buy new food" man contract of November 2012 began...

...Only to be rapidly rescinded when we realized that one of these "foods" we were running out of was diet Pepsi. (aka lifeblood / oxygen / running fuel)

After a quick trip to my favorite store...Costco (and only a $30 trip... I deserve a medal for that) we were all set.

Figuring that the man contract had already been voided... I saw no harm in endulging in a little weekly tradition know as SUSHI SUNDAYS!

What is SUSHI SUNDAYS!, you ask? Well, it's where every Sunday, we go out and get sushi. ;-)

Sushi is basically running food, right?

It has become an awesome tradition, and I highly recommend it to all of you! So today I will leave you with another one of my amazing photographs and say...

Lace up and run because you can!

-GSR

Freeze Your Cookies Off

Good Afternoon, Runners!

How about this awesome weekend?

For those of you that were out running this morning, WOOT! Way to brave the cold (and rain if you were in Provo).

So, as promised, here are some pictures from our most recent event, this morning's the Freeze Your Cookies Off 5k!

It was a cold but more or less clear morning today. Perfect conditions for a quick hop down to American Fork and a nice brisk run!

Once down there, we speeded through checking and had a little time to kill. One of the few benefits of getting down there so early. So, we went through all of our race goodies and took a few picture with the race setting up in the background.

Pretty cool, right? One more just for good measure. 

After our brief exploration of American Fork and some snooping around the post race buffet tent, we soon began to line up for the race, which, as it turned out, was bigger than I thought, but still a cozy size. It was nice; the race had a very hometown feel to it.

Ready, Set, Run....quickly before you freeze! 

Seen below is a photo taken by me with the race leaders. *pats self on back* I got used to this view pretty quick. The mountains are gorgeous with just a touch of snow. This race was a fun way to reminisce about how I miss living in a neighborhood. Don't get me wrong, I love SLC and the University of Utah area, but I have to say I miss walking out my door and having a prefect running locale devoid of traffic for a little run.

The race started uphill and ended downhill around a park, which was great for two reasons: 1) It was downhill when we were tired at the end. 2) It had a nice long finishing stretch where you could see the finish line and race towards it. I find this final stretch view to be very motivating.... especially when there is a big cookie sign at the end ;-) 

I have to wonder if this was sent to the printer with a order that said *Big Cookie* above with FINISH below. And instead of getting a picture of a big cookie they got this

After our quick running adventure of 3.1 miles, we quickly proceeded to the most awesome thing about this race... The cookie and pie and hot chocolate buffet! It was awesome! Although I'll admit, after running my 3.1 miles, I didn't exactly feel like cookies right away.... but I got there! 

 And it was fantastic with a ton of selection! I like my cookies... Even in the cold and the light rain. It was a awesome way to kick off the morning and a fun little hometown race with a cool premise.

Hope to see you all at our next event, the Utah Santa RUN in provo on December 1st! 

Come run with us dressed up like Santa... with green soles ;-)

-GSR

Hello again, my long lost running friends!

It's been good to hear from more of you recently! Apologies for my tardiness on getting in touch with some of you, but I have been BUSY!

The website has been updated with everything to the best of my knowledge... so look it over and see if I missed anything!

Ahh life.

Between life, death, snow, cold, school, work, and drama, drama, drama, I have been in quite the mental funk recently!

Just check out what I have been existing in!

Yes, this is what I run in now

And this is how we roll rorr now.

But a few things always remain constant... friends, running, and support! For all of you that have run with me, sent in emails, given me pictures... THANK YOU! We (and more personally I) love hearing from you.

And everyone else.... COME RUN WITH US!

It is the most FUN you will have, and you meet some awesome people and make some good friends!

On to the inspiration for today's post!

THE EVENT TOMORROW!

The Freeze Your Cookies Off 5K! So awesome! A 5k with a cookie buffet at the end!

If you are anything like me, your perfection buzzer is already going off in your head :-)

It's going to be a blast tomorrow morning!

If you're in the greater Salt Lake/Provo area and love cookies and running as much as I do, come find me! And we will partake of deliciousness and joy together!

We will put our pictures up soon after, so if you can't be there, be on the lookout for those!

Looking forward to this and all of our future adventures together as Greensole Runners!

-GSR

p.s. We really need to find some fun activities to do in all this snow here... Perhaps a ski/snowboard outing? Thoughts? 

Run in the Park 5k Race Recap

Hello from Houstonia! (Or Houston, to those who would prefer the actual term as opposed to my personal favorite, the backformation from the demonym Houstonian.)

As a part of the diaspora from Utah, I miss out on a lot of fun races GSR puts together, but that doesn't mean I can't run a few races as GSR-Houston! As the inaugural GSRH race, I chose a 5k at Hermann Park, and it was a blast.

It started near the beautiful reflection pond in Hermann Park.

I got there early, so I was able to catch quite a bit of wildlife for a big city, including two swift-swimming turtles, a gaggle of geese flying south for the winter, and some proud and vocal ducks.

When it was bright out, the race began with an electric guitar rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. The race itself was very beautiful and wound around the golf course and the Japanese Garden. I wasn't able to snag any photos while running, so I guess you'll have to take my word for it or come down to Hermann Park to see for yourself!

Also, there was an awesome cheering section complete with little kids looking for high fives (my favorite) and high school cheerleaders. The kids also had their own 1k race directly after the 5k. 

Afterward, the post-race festivities included fresh fruit, bagels, tacos, massages, and the live band who provided some rock n' roll patriotism pre-race. 

Despite my running buddy sleeping in due to a stressful week, I did not feel alone with such a great and welcoming running community, which is what Green Sole Running is about. 

I had a great time. 

And supported a great cause! Run in the Park supports Hermann Park Conservancy, which works to keep Hermann Park as beautiful as it is.  

If you are in Houston next year, I highly recommend you try a Run in the Park!

-GSRH

Hey Everyone!

School and work are keeping me really busy this week!

But I will leave you with this motivation.

Get out there and run!

-GSR