Giveaway - FREE Race Entry

It's about time I offer a giveaway for Sea to Shining Sea Virtual Races.  I'm going to skip right to the point and make it easy for you.

Below you will find a Raffelcopter form with several options to enter. Select one or all, or come back daily to earn additional entries, that's it!

NOTE: If you have already registered for this race and you are the winner you will be refunded your original registration price and be given the free race entry.

Above pictured is the medallion and t-shirt you will earn for participating in the race. For those who know what a Virtual Race is, here is the Rafflecopter to enter. For those who need additional information on this race, scroll down below to find out more.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

How does a virtual race work?
You register for a race distance, then train and come event week you run, walk or hike your way to your goal. You pick your own course, and you can complete the distance at ANY pace you prefer fast or slow it is entirely your choice. In return like a street race, you will be provided with a race t-shirt, finishers medallion, and race bib to show off your accomplishments. Need more details? You can learn more HERE.

Also, Virtual Races are not only fun motivation for yourself, but they can also be fun for the whole family. A healthy competition among friends or co-workers or a great way for your kids to have fun being active and earn a finisher's medallion for their accomplishments.

Are you already training for a big road race this fall? Virtual races can be great motivation to stay on track and earn some extra bling for your long training runs!

Want a guaranteed spot in the race? REGISTER HERE and use promo code FUNRUN15 for 15% off the registration price.  Or learn more HERE. If you register now and are the winner of this giveaway as stated above you will be refunded your registration price.

Click to Tweet and Share a Little Twitter Love

Love to run, walk or hike? Come and enter to win a FREE race entry @runwybridlplanr https://goo.gl/3UJRuv

Cliff Jumping, Bucks and a Few Updates

I've been so busy with putting my thesis paper together and all the things I have needed for the thesis project, I've neglected my own blog. Decided I needed to create a quick post today and share some updates.

First, I want to thank so many of you who have been so kind to help me promote the Sea to Shining Sea Virtual Race. I appreciate every little or big thing you've done more than you know. It's meant a lot to me that you were willing to help me! I will always be there for you if you need help some day with things and projects you are working on in life!!!

While I have been kept indoors for the past two weeks (mostly) and I have another week to go, because my thesis paper for the project is due this coming Friday. Well technically it's due next Tuesday, but I have a personal goal to have it all done by Friday because this girl needs some vacations before the fall semester begins in a few weeks!!!

What have I been up to? Took an evening to go cliff jumping with some friends a while back, had a great time and my friend took this awesome photo. You may have seen it on IG, but I love it looks like I'm running through the air, LOL

My parents are in town so they can help me with my thesis paper, we took a break last night and went and check out some wildlife. The images aren't great but we did see a beautiful 6pt buck and two 4 pt bucks.

Tonight we are taking another break to go see a Tuacahn Broadway in the desert play Disney's Newsies, I've been looking forward to this a while. We bought season tickets this year and this is the first time we have been able to get together to use them!

You may have noticed I had to edit the design on the finishers medallion for my virtual race.

Apparently, the vendor told me that my original design while they would do it it may open me up to liability if a child had gotten the piece and broke off one of the small objects??  Who knew parents let their kids suck on finishers medallions?? But then I guess in today's world nothing surprises me, so when I did the re-design had to make sure the same idea and components I loved about the first medal were in place and it is less of a liability?? LOL LOL LOL

Also, the ribbon design and the t-shirt colors were determined. So in the above, image you can see all of it, exactly as they will look as the iron cast is being created right now by the vendor!  I really love how it all turned out!! That says a lot because normally I stare at my work in design so much I'm tired of it before I show anyone. But I created a medal I'd be interested in earning! Yes, I am excited to participate in the Half Marathon in my own Virtual Race.

Today is actually the last day to register before the price increase. FUNRUN is the promo code to save 15% off. If any of you are interested in registering, you can HERE.
But please don't feel like you have too, I am just over sharing this right now because well my life sort of resolves around it right now, LOL Don't worry there is an end in sight, LOL


But I will say you may think a Virtual Race, not much too it LOL They are far more work to put together, organize and promote than you'd think. Seriously, it's been like a part time job on top of the school, LOL
Oh, well it could have been worse. I could have picked a boring project, at least this one has held my interest!

I created one more slide show video for the project, you can see it above. My sister, her kids and her trail running friends helped me with a photoshoot to obtain all the images. You've probably seen some of the other images they helped me as I included them in several blog posts that I created to guest post on other blogs. LOL Yes, that's another reason why you haven't heard from me, I wanted to make sure all the blog posts on other blogs were different or worded differently to avoid google rankings blacklistings or anything with copied posts! (Yup, I would never do that to my friends!!)

I can't wait to be done with everything on my thesis! Fingers crossed I survive the week!!! Not playing for 3 weeks of the summer at all, is slightly killing me LOL *Keep telling self, it will be worth it LOL*


Tell me something you've done that I've missed while having to be a thesis writing hermit this past month?

Can I Be a Guest Blogger on Your Blog? - I Need Your Help

While you've been hearing a lot of this the past month, I hate to ask, but I need to. So for my college thesis project, I need to show the various type of influencer promotional work. I have some going on with influencers, but I need A WHOLE LOT MORE and I have two weeks to gather it all to include it into my final write up.

This is where I am asking for those of you who follow me who may want to help me in this. Honestly, if this was for self-promotion I wouldn't ask. But this really is entirely for my college thesis project, and to be honest I'm literally breaking even with it on costs at this point, so trust me I'm not even making money off of it!

Basically, I'd love to write a blog post for you, if you would allow me too. It would be a simple post, and it would be marketing the Run Sea to Shining Sea Virtual Race Event. I can send it in either HTML or Word... Any format you would like! (If I do this on several blogs, I'll send different images and use a little bit different verbiage on each so they don't look all exactly the same!)

Oh, and it doesn't matter if you have small, medium, or large blog. I need as many bloggers who will let me. I really just need links to show within my thesis project and screen shots of Influencer posts so if you're willing blogs of any size, I'd be so grateful!!!

I will do all the work for you, all you would have to do is set it into a blog post to go live by the 31st of July.

OR

If you'd rather, you can write your own short blog post and I'll provide you with ANY images or information you'd like!

OR

If you don't want to run it on your blog, I'd take any social media mentions you will offer. I'll even send you an image that you can choose to write text in your post or just share the image. Then I can include these links within my thesis project.

Just FYI your blog can be any size, large or small. I just need to be able to showcase influencer blog posts.   Thank you in advance for anyone will will consider this!!!

I should mention, I can't compensate you for letting me a guest blogger if you choose... Sorry!

I also totally understand if your not interested.

You can let me know in the comments below if you'd like to let me do this. Or feel free to email me at Runawaybridalplanner@hotmail.com

I'm Looking For Influencer's Who Want to Earn a Free Race Entry

As many of you probably know I am hosting a Virtual Race for my Senior Thesis project in college. One of the challenges set for it is only utilizing Influencers to help promote the event.

The first phase is using influencers who are interested in earning a FREE entry into the race of their choice, see below if you are interested.

Run Sea to Shining Sea is a Half Marathon, 10k or 5k Virtual Race event.  You can find more information about the race on the website Runseatoshiningsea.com

If you'd like to help me out with this event, by sharing it with your followers I'd love any help I can get! I'm looking for Influencers of ANY kind and you don't need to have a large following.
This could mean any of the following: Bloggers, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram anyone who uses any form of social media with friends family...


While I'd love to be able to give everyone who helps promote it a free entry, I am not that rich because the t-shirt, medallion, and shipping cost more than you'd think. However, I have set up a reasonable way to EARN a FREE ENTRY for those interested in doing so.

It's Simple

If you'd like to see if you can get 6 of your followers, friends or family to sign up under a unique discount code you can use to promote the event (the unique discount code is for tracking purposes) you earn a free entry!

More information and the sign-up can be found at the link below.

INFLUENCERS SIGN UP FORM CLICK HERE

I want you to succeed, in addition to your unique promotional code which will allow your followers to earn 15% off the list price.If the person who uses your unique code is willing to promote the event on their own Facebook page (during registration) they can save an additional amount to make the total discount 25% off the list price.

You will also be provided with marketing materials, tips (which I have learned through the research phase of my thesis on Influencers) to use to help maximize your promotional and influence abilities.


NOTE: Promotion for this event is from now throughout August 1st, I may have other opportunities coming up , this is phase one of the marketing plan in my thesis challenge. While it is not required, anyone who signs up to help promote this phase will have the first word about other promotional or free entry opportunities before I announce them to others.

ALSO,
I'm looking for runners who will let me feature them on my race blog. (You don't need to be a participant. I will be linking to your blog from it. If you are interested in this, fill out this form HERE and I'll be in contact!

Thanks, everyone!!

First Mid-Distance Race in my Comeback, Finishers Medallion Sneak Peak

I received an incredible opportunity thanks to Meranda over at Fairytales and Fitness to run the Utah Valley Half Marathon and I was happy to take it, thanks friend!!

Truth be told, I didn't actually train for this Half Marathon, not like I should have.
I had been training for hiking the Grand Canyon and put most of my focus on that. (Which I did and will talk about soon!) But since I had been running a few shorter runs 3-5 miles 4 days a week and a couple of weeks ago I went out for a 12.5-mile run and it felt pretty good. I figured since I trained to hike 54 miles, I should be able to knock off a half marathon with less than adequate training. In theory, LOL

Due to a few circumstances on my hiking trip, my feet were very blistered, I had 4 blisters half the size of golf balls and 3 the size of quarters and zero skin left on the bottoms of my feet in addition to 3 other smaller blisters.
Thankfully, my dad is a medical genius with patching up blisters to the point you can hardly feel them, it took him over 30 minutes to patch mine up the night before. Then I just hoped for the best the next morning!

I met up with a few blogger friends before the start, it was fun to get to know them from virtual into reality! Leave it to me, to not take a single picture of us.. I am terrible at this I know!

I had two goals for this race: Have fun and not walk LOL (Yeah I wasn't aiming too high!). So I settled into my "I can run nearly forever at this pace, " and went for it. I possibly had my worst ever Half Marathon time, but I didn't train so I was happy with any fun finish! I did complete the goal of having a great time and not walking. But then again my "I can run forever pace" is pretty slow and called that for a reason, because well yeah I can nearly run forever at that pace LOL.

This race I never had run before, I traveled up north for it, stayed with my parents about an hour away and drove down for the race last Saturday morning!  Beautiful course, very easy rolling hills, nearly as flat as a Utah race can get really. I have to say, I'd do it again possibly in the future, but I think I'd like to run the full marathon and run the entire canyon next time!

On a side note, a funny fact: this is actually only the second different half marathon I've ever run. Sure I've run the Canyonlands Half Marathon in Utah many times, but none other halfs. I'd been a marathon gal for so many years I only had 26.2 on my mind. So yeah, the half marathon race on different courses is all new to me!

Second side note, at this race, they gave us the cutest and best race jacket I've seen in a race yet, I love mine!!!

LAKE TIME

My trip up north to run the race ended up with me catching a summer cold. I stayed a few days longer just to heal up a little before the long drive back home.
I've kinda laid around not doing much, by Saturday I was bored and I needed to get out even if I didn't have the energy to do much of anything.

I did stop at the library on my way out to the lake and thankfully they had the book I wanted to read checked in! Very relaxing way to spend the tail end of a summer cold!

Additionally, since it was 110 degree's outside Saturday, I took a like a little higher up so it was a bit cooler, only 105 LOL. (In case your wondering, temps like this make a lake bathwater warm. But it's still a good place to cool off!)

If you think 110 is hot, Sunday it was 112 and this week we are supposed to hit 115 nearly every day, possibly even warmer than that. (Heat wave coming) Oddly, I love the heat and my body loves the heat so don't think for a second that means this week I'll be indoors under the air conditioner. In fact, if you follow me on Instagram, you'll be in for some visual eye candy, I've got some great hikes planned. Better yet, some are ones I've never been on.
So I am staying fully hydrated and ready for a week of outdoor summertime hotter than hades fun, LOL

ADDITIONALLY

The Virtual Race that I am putting on for my Thesis Project this summer for college is up and running and accepting entries. You can check it out: Runseatoshiningsea.com

I'm doing my best to keep the prices as low and reasonable as possible and still offer higher quality items as far as the shirt and finishers medallion go.

Above, I've finished the first DRAFT of the finishers medallion, it will look similar to this, though you will have to use your imagination as it will be in Metallic and only a Blue Accent highlight. Feel free to tell me what you think! I worked hard on it because I know the medal is the only reason for someone to enter a virtual race.
However, I can take criticism, so if you think it is horrible let me know.
FYI, it will be a normal size medal, 3.5 inches wide and 3 inches tall. With a satin ribbon (design still in creation.)

I'll be reaching out to some of you soon who expressed interest in helping me spread the word about this race. There is an Influencer factor in this thesis project, one of the main experiments is I can only advertise this recreational event through influencers.

I cannot pay, as I have no funds, but I can comp entries for some or allow influencers to earn free entries by getting at least 5 people to sign up under discount codes I will give them to share the message with. If you haven't already told me and you might be interested let me know and I'll be sure to reach out to you soon! (I'm just waiting until I have the medal design and t-shirt designs finished.)

LAST

Grand Canyon was amazing, but the story has been hard for me to write to do it justice, which is my way of saying I'm still working on it LOL.
I'm almost done with it, and I can't wait to share with you the experience and story behind it all.
My goal is to get it up before an entire month passes, LOL I'm terrible right now. Busy working on my thesis project!


Okay, so what do you think of the finishers medallion I am creating? 

Is it hot where you are? Do you love the heat too, or do you sit under the cool air all summer?

Getting My Secret Out

Hope everyone had a fabulous Memorial Weekend, no matter what you did! Even though part of me hopes your weekend included getting outdoors and enjoying nature.

HIKING

I did get out, went on a few hikes this week. Didn't take my camera on one of them (I know shocker) I felt nearly naked without it. Bummer too because it was sunset and fabulously beautiful. But my friend had her GoPro and I may have to borrow a few shots from her later on.

Got eaten alive by bugs this week. The biting horseflies are out, got me nearly every day out running LOL always came back with trickles of blood down my legs.
Then Sunday the mosquito's took a liking to me, I am seriously going crazy with bites all over my arms and face (lovely I know, LOL)

A friend and I did a little let's just call it a little rock climbing, we had a rope some of the way left by another but forgot to bring our own to get us up one obstacle. So we took a detour up a dried waterfall area, oh my gosh the views up on top were stunning. (All the outdoor pics on today's post are from this climb.)

But leave it to me to not wear my hiking pants, and if you saw my legs you'd cringe. I got pretty scraped up and even got stabbed by something sharp in my calf filling my shoe up with blood. Nasty, and the funny thing is I don't even remember it happening LOL
So now my legs just look like someone kicked the heck out of me, oh well, LOL (I'll spare you the images, LOL)

RUNNING

Saturday morning I went out to just see how close to 10 miles I could get. After all, I've been training to hike long distances not run them, LOL. I'd only run up to 5 miles before this. But my legs despite all their cuts, scrapes and major bruises wanted to run. I stopped myself at 12.5 miles because I've got something coming up that I need fresh legs for and felt I had pushed it enough.
I was even more surprised I wasn't even sore from it, just my lungs a little tired. Guess this means, I can pull off that half marathon in less than 2 weeks now!

Weightloss - I'm at officially 32.5 pounds lost! Not easy, but I'm doing it!
On a side note, I rarely post pictures of me, (or so everyone says, LOL) but I had to do a few Maybelline selfies for a campaign on Instagram.

But on the plus side, the weight loss is definitely showing up on my face, even if not much elsewhere! (Ignore my hair, I literally woke up, put the makeup on and didn't realize until after I hadn't even combed my hair that morning, LOL LOL. I have long straight hair, it doesn't tangle much LOL)

Now for the details on my secret, I am getting out.

I was going to write a whole post about this, but I've decided to just condense it down. In short, I am working on my thesis project to go with the paper for my degree.

I selected a project that brings my Digital Design, Recreation Management and my research study on Influencers together into one idea.

(The catch, I can only use influencers to promote this race as part of my research study.)

I'm hosting a virtual race this September, I'm in the beginning planning phases. The name:

Run Sea to Shining Sea Virtual Races - Half Marathon, 10k and 5k

Although I do have the website up, even though it's not fully finished.
You're more than welcome to check it out and give me your honest opinion!

www.Runseatoshiningsea.com

Actually, I'd welcome some opinions!!
(But don't share the info of the race yet, I need another two weeks to finish the website and details)

If you want to register and you are an influencer, wait! Because I'm going to have some fun opportunities for discounts or free entries for those who would like to help me out and earn them.
I'll be rolling those out in a few weeks. But if you are interested, let me know and I'll make sure to reach out to you when the time comes!

T-shirt design, I am working on that now and designing it entirely myself. I've got a cute idea I am playing with, as well as a few others so I'll share the design with you in a few weeks when it's ready.

Medallion design, this is one I am having fun with. I am using a medal creator vendor who does a very nice higher quality job. I came up with the medal design before I even knew the exact name of the event, LOL
But I may tweak it a little after I get it done, after all right now the idea is only in my head, LOL

Logo, Still working on this!. It's not done, but this is the image I've put up so far on the social media pages I created quickly for them. But the official design will be similar but hopefully much better. I only had a few minutes in Illustrator with this one.

So I do have one more question for you:
I'm trying to set my Virtual Race apart from others and I'm kinda tempted to go after a more fun or unique t-shirt color(s).
What are your thoughts on that? If you could pick a race t-shirt color what would it be?