Look who won a Handful bra

Thanks again to Handful for giving ladies everywhere a chesty boost and especially thanks to them for providing one randomly selected reader with one of their awesome bras. 

Sam from Breaking My Runners In won the handful bra. Congrats, Sam! Email me at yomommaruns at gmail.com with your contact info and what color and size you would like. 

Redneck rolls and running gear sales

*Last day to enter to win a Handful bra.

Workout: Yay, yay, yay, I finally went running today. Sometime while I was eating my second dinner at Moe's last night, I decided that I would get up early and run ten miles. Otherwise the heat and dealing with kids would leave me unmotivated to hit the skreets. I laid out clothes and the Garmin before bed so that I wouldn't be banging around as much in the morning, and I managed to sneak out without waking anyone up. The results: 10 miles in 1:22. It feels so refreshing to have that done before breakfast.

I veered off the neighborhood track for just a moment, until I ran into a junkyard dog on the loose and a strange fellow on a motorized bike. Not a motorbike, a motorized bicycle. But for a minute, it was glorious.

Humidity causes foggy glasses.

The best news: negative splits!

Some even better news -- the x-rays showed that this guy does not have a broken foot. Just really bruised, but his hobbling has already lessened.

Though in a twin fight, he goes down first because his balance is suffering.

Other than squabbling and pushing each other, the kids stay busy eating all of the great snacks we've got going on around here. We call this special recipe Redneck Rolls. Roll bologna and processed cheese and stake it with a corn holder.

What do you do when your carrots dry out? Rehydrate.

After a long day of swimming (and more swimming), the kids settled down with some more salty snacks and a movie, while the ladies took off for girls' night.

My daughter had her own girls' night with her friend twin.

We met this adorable baby for the first time. Picture perfect little innocence.

So of course I tried to creepily sneak in and steal her.

And on to some of the great running deals I've been seeing online lately.

Today's Schwaggle deal is $30 for $60 worth of SLS3 compressions socks. I haven't tried this brand, but half off is a good deal, and they have these snazzy butterfly socks.

I know some of you love Skirt Sports, so I wanted to pass along this info about their mega sale, where you can save 50-70%. Also, with the coupon code ACTIVESKIRT you can save an extra 10% plus get free shipping. The sale lasts a couple more days until July 2nd, and the coupon code is good until July 25th. 

When I looked this skirt was on sale for $24 before the extra percent off. Pretty cute. Sizes are limited though. 

Less running, more bubble gum apples and rabbit gardens

Workouts: Monday was a rest/driving day. Tuesday, I ran a five-mile progression run, but I bonked on the last mile and decided to make it a cool-down mile. My finish time was 39:??. It was really hot and humid outside, but there was one little spot of rain that felt nice. Then Wednesday was another rest day. Oops, I didn’t really mean to do that many rest days.

Being on vacation has not meshed well with my running (non)schedule. Because I have four young children and a husband who’s back home working, it’s almost impossible to find a good time of day to leave the kiddos at my mom’s house and go running. How do people do this on a regular basis? I would try waking up early, but my kids wake up if a feather lands on the carpet beside them. So I’m pretty sure that my clumsy-half-asleep getting dressed in the dark will wake them up. Did I mention that we’re all sharing a room? Oh, also I’m not a morning person, so maybe I’m making excuses to not wake up before dawn. But based on my regularly scheduled Saturday early morning runs, the slightest creak will wake up my kids.

Also, I don’t want to take up too much time finding a route, so I end up running through my mom’s small neighborhood a hundred times. I exaggerate, but one loop really equals .45 miles. The roads just outside of her neighborhood are really busy with no shoulder, and I’m not really into getting run over on vacation. All of this is making me sound like a super running wimp. Seriously, e-friends and especially e-moms, how do you make running work on vacation?

Today’s fun, a possible fractured foot from a hand weight being bounced off a trampoline onto a toddler’s foot. We’re in the express care waiting for an x-ray as I write this.

Other than trying to get admitted into the emergency room, our other adventures include swimming, swimming and swimming. We like to change it up. Fun game: how many floaties and noodles can you fit into the pool? Why would you even get in the pool if you didn’t have every single noodle and floatie in there already? 

Lifeguarding.

Miniature horse farm, anyone? Don’t mind if we do. 

As long as it is attached to a miniature rabbit statue garden. Can you tell which ones are fake and which ones are real?

Toddler (meaning from a toddler not to one) tip of the day: if you get hungry during a photo shoot, just reach down and eat whatever your hand finds. Rabbit pellets? Sure.

With the healthiest sister who ever existed, it’s been easier to stay on track with feeding the kids (and adults!) a healthy selection. 

Here’s the lunch buffet.

It’s nice to feel so great from eating decent foods on vacation. We easily slip into snack mode on vacation, and when those snacks get sugary, especially for the kids, we melt down regularly.

Weirdest thing we saw yesterday: a bubble gum flavored apple. What the? Even though it lists “natural flavorings” as the only added ingredients, I’m pretty darn sure there’s nothin’ natural about it.

Have you tried flavored apples?

Give me your tips to stay on track with running while on vacation! I need them pretty desperately.

What is your favorite healthy road trip snack?

Vacation station

*Did you already enter the Handful bra giveaway? Go here to enter.

Florida, here we come. Other than trying to drive through hurricane winds, our trip was smooth. I don't know what it is, but there's something special about winding down roads and seeing our country's terrain change from one state to the next. Good thing I love it because with a million kids we are pretty much never going to fly anywhere.

Alabama's skies were blue.

That changed once we crossed into Florida. Hurricane/tropical storm Debby was not kind to us on the roads. There were several points during the drive that I had to put my hazard lights on because of the thrashing horizontal rain. 

Now that I'm here with my mom and sister in Florida, it's pretty much Healthy Town, USA, because my sister is amazing with nutrition.

Just today, we chugged herbal tea,

swirled some chia seeds in water,

watched the seeds separate and expand, then swirled again, 

and finally gave that glass of seeds a good chugging.

Then in our staring at my sister's new bathing suit, I noticed that the top (also a sports bra) is reversible. Would you trade a reversible bra for a padded bra? 

All those chia seeds gave me energy to go swimming, except the water froze my legs before I could even jump the rest of the way into the pool. 

This dude has the right idea. Don't let the freezing water touch you in any way. 

Now for the celebratory first picture of froyo on my blog. I'm pretty sure I wasn't even a real blogger until now. We got this at my most favorite frozen yogurt spot on earth, Mochi. Mine, on the left, was taro and coconilla with blueberries and blackberries. I'm normally a chocolate person, but not with froyo.

And that, folks, is our vacation so far. 

Are you taking any trips this summer? 

Do you run while on vacation? I'm trying to get in at least three runs this week. We'll see if that happens.

Nine kids and orange compression socks on sale

Just the socks are on sale, not the nine kids. 

Did you want to know what nine kids and fun looks like? Well, here you go anyway. 

When you already have that many kids in the house, you don't have to invite over extra friends for a birthday party. 

Happy third birthday!

I still need to learn how to actually decorate cupcakes, but lately, I've been using a cream cheese frosting recipe from my friend at Indulge With Me. It makes me want to lick the whole bowl, before I take anything out of it, and it's so easy to make, with only three ingredients.

Cream Cheese Frosting

6 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

4 1/2 to 4 3/4 cups powdered sugar

In a medium mixing bowl combine cream cheese and butter (softened on the counter, not in the microwave!). Beat with mixer on low to medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually add 2 cups powdered sugar, beating well. Gradually beat in additional powdered sugar to make frosting that is easy to spread. (Add more powdered sugar if you will be piping.)

We tried to balance out the junk food with some delicious omega-three-ness. My husband used his grill skills to whip up this salmon. He made his own sauce by mincing garlic and mixing it with olive oil, lemon zest and soy sauce. It was very simple but so delicious. He also grilled it on cedar sheets to give it some more flavor kick. My friend who hates salmon loved this salmon. 

After a week of fun, our friends had to head out. Bye, lovey friends. But who will we have to stick our toes up their noses now that you're gone?

 We'll miss you. 

As I was wiping the tears from my eyes over our friends leaving, I got this email that changed me into a happy person again. 


Three words: orange marathon socks! Remember how orange is the best color ever. Tangerines, Halloween and the Florida Gators agree. I might have even prayed a couple times that a sock company would produce orange compression socks. Pro Compression, answering prayers of runners everywhere.

Not only are they orange, but they're also on sale. My two favorite things in one. Until July 10th, 2012, you can use this coupon code for 40% off and free shipping: SOM610. 


Last thing, if you live in Birmingham, go over tonight and join Fleet Feet at Good People Brewing Co. for the Big Benefit Run. The event includes a 3-mile route through downtown Magic City, 1 mile fun run through Railroad Park, a free beer from Good People, gift certificates to Fleet Feet, the Cantina food truck, music, fun, and gear giveaway (including Brooks shoes!). Call 205-970-6620 with any questions. 


In case reading that in paragraph form is impossible with your ADD, here's a list. 


Where: Good People Brewing Co., 114 14th St., Birmingham
When: Tuesday, June 26th
Cost: $10 (100% tax deductible)
Runs begin: 6-ish p.m.

Handful bra review and giveaway

Ever wondered what you can do to avoid being mistaken for a twelve-year-old boy (unless you are one) during a race? Maybe you're one of the lucky ones who doesn't have to worry about that, but for the rest of us, there are Handful bras. I had only recently discovered padded sports bras a few months before I won a Handful bra online (thanks again, Running with Spatulas!).

Handful in white

First, I don't think I'll ever go without padded sports bras again. When you combine a traditional sports bra with a sort of clingy sweat-wicking shirt and a cold morning, the results can be awkward. But as I once learned from a Victoria's Secret sales lady, "Some people want that." I'm not one of those people, so I was super happy to figure out that padded sports bras existed. Plus after four kids and nursing them all, there was a lot of deflation, like worse than the Euro.

Handful in pink

So by this point you get that I'm not well endowed. It's not a problem that I'm normally worried about, but sport bras have a tendency to take whatever a small-chested gal might have going for her and make it disappear. Even padded sports bras can smash you flat. I like that Handful has the gathering in the center of the bra to promote a more natural looking chest line and less of a uni-boob. That feature probably helps big chests even more than it does flat ones, but I still like that it makes a more natural chest contour.

This is the only bra, even of the several padded sports bras I own, that I will keep on when I change my clothes after a workout. Usually I completely change everything because I'm a sweaty mess, but if I'm in a time crunch, this bra works perfectly all day. If I had more of them, I would probably wear them all day regularly. And now that I think of it, it would have made a great nursing bra.

Handful in nude

If you don't need pads or if you're one of those people who "want that," the pads are easily removable. I also loved the directions on the Handful pads. Easy to read and use. I still have a hard time figuring out which way is up with my Lululemon bra pads. And you can see in the picture below that each pad gives you a little added boost with extra padding at the bottom. I also read online that some people put more than one pad in at a time. I go with the single, but that has got me thinking about buying some extra pads for dates with my husband. Also, this is an approved mastectomy bra.

The opening for pad insertion is pretty wide so you don't have to contort your hand into a pigeon claw to get them in and out. 

The bras also come with a perfect little mesh bag for washing your bra. Even if you don't want to take your pads out when you wash, the bag is nice for catching any pads that work their way out during the wash cycle. I always wash my workout clothing in a separate load with cold water and lay it out to dry. That junk is too expensive to get ripped to shreds on a toddler-shorts zipper.

When I run, especially long distances, I like to use my bra as a backpack/purse/storage closet/trash can. The only problem I have with Handful is that with the v-line at the chest, I can't store as much. If I were creating a Handful marathon bra, it would come up slightly higher in the front and maybe even have some pockets for more junk. Edit: The people over at Handful gave me a great idea. Use the insert pockets for storage on long runs. I'm definitely going to try this.

One last note on sizing, I used the sizing chart to measure for my bra, and it worked out well, giving me a comfortable fit. It fits sizes 32A to 38C+, so you aren't required to look like a twelve-year-old boy to buy it.

And what about if you want to try it for free -- today is your day. Thanks to the Handful crew, one awesome reader will get to try a bra in their choice of size and color.

To enter: 

In the comments of this post, tell me your favorite sports bra for running.

For bonus entries (make sure to leave a separate comment for each so I can count them all!):

* Follow (or already follow) Yo Momma Runs via Google Friend connect. Leave a comment telling me you do.

* Follow (or already follow) Yo Momma Runs on Twitter. Leave a comment telling me you do.

* Follow Handful on Twitter. Leave a comment telling me you do.

* Like (or already like) Yo Momma runs on Facebook. Leave a comment telling me you do.

* Like Handful on Facebook. Leave a comment telling me you do.

* Share this giveaway via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or your blog. Leave a separate comment for each share!

I'll pick a winner (using a random number generator) on Friday, June 29th. 

And three of their bra colors (nude, pink and cocoa) are on closeout sale for $24, so if you want to try one out, this is a great sale. The regular price is $42.