It’s time for another update on my progress towards achieving my summer racing goals! As a reminder, I announced last month that I am participating in the Under Armour What’s Beautiful Challenge and running a 5K mud run on my birthday (June 16) and a 15K trail race on July 21.

I think I’ve done all I can to get ready for the mud run. Remember my last update post with all of the crazy climbing, jumping and running with strange objects? My ex-Marine friend tells me I need to be practicing my “low crawl” in order to make it to the finish. Oh dear. What have I gotten myself into?

My focus now is on the trail race. Not only have I not been logging much time on the trails but I also rarely run over 5 miles these days. I predict that the race is going to be quite a challenge for me given the combination of trail running, the distance (9.3 miles) and the fact that the race is in late July (so hot in the south).

We are fortunate to have the U.S. National Whitewater Center right outside of Charlotte. I am happy that I can do some of my training runs on the trails that I’ll be racing on. It makes me feel much more prepared for race day – for some reason I am experiencing major butterflies about my first trail race!

I headed out to the Whitewater Center with Sullie a couple of weeks ago on a Friday afternoon for a training run. We covered about three miles on a beautiful trail that ran alongside the river. The trails happened to be set up for another race so I got a taste of what race day would feel like. It was also nice to discover that it feels a lot cooler under the tree cover of the trails.

The best part about the Whitewater Center? They have a great restaurant with a fun selection of craft beers. I celebrated my trail run with beers and handstands!

My goal is to get one trail run in weekly for the month leading up to race day. I am also planning on incorporating one 5+ mile run into my training each week. My goal for the trail race will definitely be just finishing since this is a new experience and challenge for me.

Switching the focus to gear now, I was recently sent the new Armour Bra to test. The Armour Bra is Under Armour’s solution for ill-fitting, one-style-for-all sports bras. The Armour Bra has a customized fit based on bra size. For example, the cut/style is totally different for an A cup versus a D cup (which it should be!).

My Armour Bra arrived packaged in a cool box. When I removed it for further inspection I found the bra to be extremely well-constructed. Universal features of the bra include:

– superstretch technology for a customized fit – it hugs in all the right places
– bonded soft edges around the neck and armhole, anti-chafing, seam free
– power-mesh underarm extensions – this was awesome to prevent chafing
– anatomical molded cups with HeatGear fabric for moisture management
– removable cups on the interior – this is a must for me being so small figured
– power mesh back ventilation zone

The A cup bra features a racerback design but all of the larger cup sizes have a padded hook and eye closure system. I wore the Armour Bra on a very hot run and loved it. It felt very supportive but also did a great job wicking away sweat and keeping me comfortable. It’s a great performance bra for more high-impact activities like running.

I encourage you to check out the What’s Beautiful Challenge site if you haven’t already. I would love for some of my readers to join me this summer in working to achieve new fitness goals. Goal setting is so motivating, and it’s fun to share your journey and progress towards reaching your goals with others. It’s nice to step outside of your comfort zone sometimes and to know that others are doing the same and achieving amazing things!

Now it’s time for another $500 giveaway from Under Armour. To be entered for a chance to win, tell me how you keep motivated to achieve your personal fitness goals? What is motivating you? What makes you feel strong and ready to reach new goals?

SWEEPSTAKES/GIVEAWAY RULES

Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet (public message) about this promotion, including exactly the following unique terms in your tweet message: #whatsbeautiful #sweepstakes; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post. To comply with FTC Guidelines (see http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm), entrantsí blog posts must disclose that they are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post.
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
Entries from all participating blogs will be pooled for winner selection; only two entries per household. This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 6/12-6/30.
Be sure to visit Under Armour’s page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggersí posts!