Thursday, February 23, 2012

3TT- Life as I Know It

1. I AM NOT nor will I EVER be a perfect person. Is any one really a perfect person? What defines a perfect person? I guess that everyone has different images of what they consider a perfect person but in all honestly no one is perfect. I have done a lot of soul searching and thinking this weekend and have come to the conclusion that I don't have to be perfect for anyone other than myself, its time to make me happy but is it ok to worry about me if it may possibly not make someone else happy? Is it wrong of me to feel that way?

2. STRESS- I have had my fill of stress for a few months and again over the past weekend my eyes have been opened up to one of the major and most important issue I have been stressed about and I think and HOPE I am completely over it. What's meant to be will be, right?? 

3. MISTAKES/FEELINGS- Everyone makes them and has them~ some mistakes are minor some are major some things maybe aren't mistakes but just  feelings that take control of you and cause you to make mistakes. Is it right for us to let our feelings get the better of us? No probably not. I have been the type of person that lets it all build up then explode all at once on everyone about everything. Let out some built up frustration on the neighbors last night, they deserved it though AND it has totally helped me feel so much better along with  my soul searching I did this weekend. I will work  this year on being a better person to "me" and "speak up" when something is bothering me instead of holding it all in. Is it wrong of me?

I woke up happier this morning than I have for a few months even though I may have lost a very great and special friend to me, I am going to be the Happy and carefree  person I am and once was:)

Hope EVERYONE is having a WONDERFUL week thus far!!! (Told ya I am working on being an obnoxiously happy person :)

Monday, February 20, 2012

WIR- Virus' & Stress Not a Good Week

Around our area here in Central Ky several people have been sick and struck with  nasty virus, well it hit our household this week~ Ugghh!! It started with the hubz last week, I started feeling ill Saturday missed work on Monday, then the youngest daughter came home from school with it Wednesday!! Oh and actually the oldest daughter started it all the week before the hubz had it!! But finally it has been through all of us~ thank goodness!!

So here is how my sorry week went:

Thursday 2/16- Run 4mi/39:10
Saturday 2/18- Run 10mi/1:47:52

Yep that's it!! Oh well it happens some weeks LIFE! I have been dealing with  multiple stress this week on all different aspects of my life, you know what they say "When it rains it POURS!" and that is what I have felt like this week. However I think (and very much hope so) I have made a turn around. This weekend I have done a LOT of thinking, thinking of why I am feeling down and what can I do about it to make me back to the happy go lucky person I am. The best answer I came up with is RUN! I never made a goal post for this year because it seems like I didn't do so well last year so instead of setting myself up for let down for the year I decided this year I will take it day by day, week by week or month by month! And there is no time better to begin than the present!! I stated earlier this week that I went on a 5am run and that really did something for me so I hope to continue them often. And I know I have a very challenging half coming up so I will be focused on training for that and one month after that half I will be running another one in which I will be hopeful for the sub 2!!! FOCUS + STRENGTH= HAPPINESS!! Beware I may become one of those obnoxiously happy people, LOL!!

Here's to EVERYONE having a GOOD WEEK!!! I am off for my first run of this week:)

HAPPY RUNNING!! :)

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Three Things Thursday: 5am runs & Winners

1. I went on my first ever 5am run with some friends. Once again Sarah asked me to join in on the 5am run, a few of them have been meeting up. Lucky for me, my first time was in a nice light drizzle! I wasn't too sure if I would like it or not but to my surprise I LOVED IT!! There ended up being six of us this morning and everyone broke off into their own pace and such. I am just really amazed at how much I enjoyed it! Can't wait to start that on a regular basis. Sarah Thanks girl I think you will but please keep on asking you are helping me get off my rump:)

1. The lucky ROADID  winner is Whitney from Running with Whit!!

3. The lucky GU Mixis Holly from The Pioneer Apron!!

Ladies EMAIL ME your mailing info and Congrats!! Thanks to ALL for entering and following MY JOURNEY!!

Thanks to Scott @OutsidePR for providing the prizes!!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Regret Signing Up?

I left my last post with a to be continued, well here is the rest of the story!

I have already signed up for Run the Bluegrass half marathon, actually my mom signed me up as part of my Christmas present Thanks Mom:) This is the third year for the half and they decided to change to course to an entirely new course. They also offer practice runs on the course a couple of times a month. Early last week, one of my fairly new running buddies/friend (just started kinda hanging out at races last summer :) Sarah asked me if I would like to go to the practice run. OF COURSE! If I have a chance to learn the course I definitely want to do so. Then a couple of days later she asked if I wanted to do the entire course. I have NOT had high mileage for a LONG time and haven't had many long runs plus this run made my third day in a row of running, so I told Sarah that I would gladly do the entire course but I will be very slow.
There was about 15 people that showed up all of which was already familiar with the course, you could tell they always attend the practice runs. Every one was really nice coming up to us asking our names and such. The race director asked if we had reviewed the map, of course NOT, no problem he said "when you see the chickens turn left". Chickens??
Off we went, not everyone was doing the entire course some was only doing 7mi. The weather would have been perfect if the wind would have stopped blowing, our faces were so cold. The first mile went by and we felt pretty good. I was worried about having tired legs but was feeling confident. Then right at the end of the first mile was the first MONSTER hill! I am talking about one you have to lean into! That was just the beginning....the entire course is nothing but hill after hill after hill!! Thinking back I heard someone say while we was waiting 21hills in 13 miles, I didn't count them but there may have been more than that! And they aren't just small steep hills they are long steep hills. About 3mi in we started doing run/walk thankfully my tired legs was starting to feel it. For about the first half of the course you don't get near as much down hill as up hill, and sure enough at about 3.9mi there is a house with chickens running around in the road must be where we turn left! The second half of the course has hill after hill after hill but it has just as much down hill with the up hill which really helped us not to take 3hrs to finish the crazy thing!! We ended up walking up the hills and running down them as far as we could and walked completely the last 2mi. My legs were so sore I was so ready to be done! I know I wasn't ready by no means to tackle something like that but I am proud I had the courage to try!

While we was out there struggling to finish I made the statement" This is awful, if I had known it was going to be like this I probably wouldn't have signed up!" That nice encouraging Sarah said "No we will be there together and complete it together!" Thank You Sarah :) Now I know what I need to be training for HILLS!!! Which leaves me to ask.......

Have you EVER regretted signing up for a Race? Why? Did you Run it anyway? Any Good Advice on training for 21 large hills in 13 miles? (Oh yea and the course was way long, not sure of the exact ending location but all the way back to the car was 13.68mi)

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

WIR- From 10mi to 25?? Crazy??

Hooray for me, I finally got a FULL week in:

Monday 2/6- Run 3mi/27:41
Tuesday 2/7- Step & Tone (Aerobics)
Thursday 2/8- Step & Tone (Aerobics)
Friday 2/9- Run 6mi/56:30
Saturday 2/10- Run 5k Race(3.10mi)/28:00
Sunday 2/11- Run 13.68mi/2:38:25

Except for the fact that it is stupid & crazy to take your weekly mileage from 10mi to 25 in one week, last week was a pretty good week!

Monday I wasn't really feeling like running so I was thankful that I was scheduled to meet Shalan. I left it up to her how far we wanted to go we happily agreed on 3. I felt slow and sluggish until half way through it. We was also scheduled to run again Wednesday but the hubz got sick at work and went home early so I went straight home after work to be with him (being the awesome wife I am:). Friday's weather was forecast for snow, I was excited it was going to be the first run in snow as we just haven't had any. Sure enough it flurried the entire 6mi:) I stopped for a potty break at the gas station we came back out and the flakes doubled in size WOW what a difference a couple of minutes make! It was really pretty, just didn't enjoy getting hit in the eyeball with flakes! The weather man said we was going to get about 2inches of snow which is big for us, well that didn't happen we ended up with a bunch of slick spots and only a dusting of snow in the grass.

Saturday was another race day (Heart Glove & Sole 5k), I was expecting snow on the ground there has been the last two years that I ran this race so why not this year, the was only a little in the grass areas but there was several slick spots on the race course. I really wanted to place in this one in my age group but having run 6mi the night before, the extreme cold & wind(20* with 25mph wind made the wind chill feel like 10*) I was happy to finish in 28mins flat although I didn't place! While waiting for the race I heard a gentleman beside me talking about how he wanted to finish the race in 27mins or under, so I just asked him if that was his goal for the race. Come to find out this was his first race ever and since that was also my hopeful plan to finish 27 or under he decided he wanted to line up and stay with me!

My new Friend!
We walked and talked to the starting line, I learned all about him, he was a talker :) as we were standing there waiting to start he looked down and found 2pennies and a nickle tried to pick them  up but they was frozen to the ground in which he kicked the pennies free and said "here ya go a lucky penny for you and me!" Wow thanks! When the race started so much for staying together cause he took off FAST!! Had I not ran 6mi the  night before I maybe could have stayed with him as I could see him ahead of me the entire race until the very end. Lucky for him on his first race he placed 2nd in his age group!!

Then Sunday came along and I had already agreed to go practice the upcoming Run the Bluegrass half marathon course with Sarah (another friend met through running:) and well I think I will save that for another post all on its own........................................... *to be continued**


Oh yea I look like a "serious" runner, LOL!!


Friday, February 10, 2012

Gift Ideas for Your SweetHeart (+ A Giveaway:)

 So I had a few more items I should have reviewed during Christmas for great Holiday Gift Ideas (and I kind of fell of the blogging wagon for a while) and Christmas has come and gone so how about Valentine's Day!!!

 Safety is Important- I have recently been forced into running alone on most of my runs something I rarely have done in the past so safety has been an even more important issue to me. And you DO want your SweetHeart to be safe......Enter RoadId RoadId offers a wide variety of "safety" items like a WristId, AnkleId, ShoeID & FixxId. 

RoadId  also makes a ScoutId for your dog!! I think this is a wonderful thing as an animal lover!
Along with all of the variety of Id's available, RoadId also has an awesome selection of Firefly Products (High Visibility Gear) to choose from!
I used a Clear Firefly Light during our Bourbon Chase 200mi Relay. These blinky lights are the coolest things ever and VERY helpful on dark evening runs!


Energy & Fuel are just as important for your SweetHeart during long runs! And what better way to energize and fuel your run than with GU Energy Products!!
GU Energy offers a great variety of different flavors and products for your energy needs! Some of my favorites are:
New Peanut Butter Energy Gel- OMG if you like PB you will LOVE this :) tastes just like getting a spoon from the jar!
Island Nectars Roctane Gel- A nice fruity taste that is just plain YUMMY!
Pineapple Roctane Gel- Same opinion as the Nectars, fruity and YUMMY!
Blueberry Pomegranate Electrolyte Brew- Gives plain ole water a little more umph and tastes GREAT!
Recovery Brew- I enjoy both flavors available!

Want a chance to WIN some of these GREAT products?? One Lucky winner will win a RoadId "e-Card" AND One Lucky winner will will a "Mix" of GU Energy products!! (It's up to you if its for yourself or your SweetHeart if you win:) Here's how to ENTER:

**Follow this Blog! This one is a MUST!!
**Like RoadId on Facebook
**Follow RoadId on Twitter
**FollowGU on Twitter
**Like GU on Facebook
** I usually have stomach issues when I take GU's and have thought about taking one a day while at work to maybe get my stomach "used" to them??? Give me your thoughts, Think it will help?? How do you combat stomach issues??
**Spread the Word- Link this Giveaway to your Blog :)

A winner for each will be selected on Valentine's Day February 14! All info above is my opinions and not paid for!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

WIR- A Race - A Review- And some Randomness

Last week was an ok week, still not much in the running department as far as miles but I am finally feeling focused on getting my mileage up! Here is how my week went:

Monday 1/30- Run 2.38mi/21:44
Tuesday 1/31- Step & Tone Aerobics
Thursday 2/2- Step & Tone Aerobics
Friday 2/3- Run 5mi/50:05
Saturday 2/4- Run 3.15mi/31:27

Along with most parts of the US, we here in Ky have had some wonderful winter weather, temps in the 50's with sunshine although windy most days. Monday was one of those days, I text the Hubz to see if maybe he would be interested in going for an easy run and he DID :) He doesn't run all of the time just when he wants to, my legs were tired from the miles from the day before so I wanted an easy run. He was running like a SPEED DEMON, well to me anyway! I was glad though because it made me push harder than I would have alone~ thanks again Hubz Love Ya :)  I have been doing "long runs" with my friend Shalan, I should be at a much longer run by now but I am just thankful to have someone to run with. Anyway she stated that she was maybe interested in the run/walk method for the half and she is doing her first marathon in Chicago this fall, so we tried it out Friday. I enjoyed the run/walk method but wasn't too happy with the overall pace (10:00). Which makes me wonder~ Is it possible to complete a Half in under 2hrs using the run/walk method? Any tips on how to do it?

Saturday was my first race of 2012, I mostly do 5k races we have lots in our area and I LOVE EM' :) The weather forecast for Saturday wasn't looking too great at all it was showing 90% rain oh yea first race of the year in the rain?? Lucky enough it stopped raining in time for the race BUT when I arrived at the race I found out it was the HORRIBLE cross country course that I despise! Great and it had been raining this will turn into a muddy mess sure wish I had my old shoes! Thank goodness the rain made for a small crowd but that didn't really matter to me I had already decided I was taking my time so I wouldn't hurt myself. There was terrible sink you in the ground mud out on the course and I did take my time but I was proud of myself for only taking two short (15seconds) walk breaks! (Normally on this horrible course I walk lots) Once again I finished with a 10:00 min pace for a finishing time of 31:27 with a small crowd I was the only one in my age group so I walked away with a 1st place ribbon! I was mostly just happy to be at a race, I love going to the races and seeing all of the runners we are kind of a pack here locally ;)
Like several other bloggers I was contacted by Emily with Pure Fit to try out their "All-Natural Award Winning" Bars. I am not a huge fan of protein bars the consistency usually grosses me out and I can't swallow them and the taste usually isn't all that great either. I looked at the web site to get a little info before I agreed to try them out. The flavors sounded yummy and they were invented by a runner so I decided what the heck. I was sent the sampler pack (Purchase your sample pack HERE for only $9.95) shown above with all the flavors: Granola Crunch, Almond Crunch, Berry Almond Crunch, Chocolate Brownie and Peanut Butter Crunch. I gave the Chocolate Brownie to the Hubz so I can not comment myself on it but his reply to is it good was"Its ok tastes kind of like protein powder." On the other hand I CAN comment on the other four flavors= AWESOME!!! I actually really liked these bars!!! I must admit I was shocked that I did like them so much. It would be hard for me to choose my favorite but I think the Berry Almond Crunch had a nice little sweet flavor that I enjoyed. I did not use these PureFit Bars on a run I ate them as part of my breakfast but I don't think I would enjoy it while out I needed water or some liquid to wash them down while eating them. I am also not a good eater or look at the "gluten-free, no dairy vegan" info but I do agree that it has to be better for you and works best on your stomach before or during running.  I believe Robb Dorf has done a FABULOUS job in creating these great tasting PureFit Bars~ Thanks Robb I look forward to purchasing more of them in the future! ( I also like the fact that they encourage you on their packages to Adopt your next dog or cat:)



I was sent the sampler pack of PureFit Bars to try out and give MY opinion on them NOT paid to do so!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

WIR- January is Done

So yea last week was another WEAK week but anyway here is how mine went:

Tuesday 1/24- Aerobics (Step & Tone)
Thursday 1/26- Aerobics
Friday 1/27- Run 4mi 38:40
Sunday 1/29- Run 6mi 58:28

As stated in my last post, I am now the mother of an adult~ holy cow time flies! But anyway I had birthday stuff to deal with this week so that is my excuse for another crappy week! (Crappy in my opinion anyway) I am finally starting to understand and pick up on some of the step aerobic moves, its about time since I have been going for a couple of months. Now to just work in a running schedule along with aerobic classes, I am getting there though!

What am I training for anyway???


This is a regular half for me. It was my first half and  the first one held in Lexington, Ky March 2010. This will be the third year for it and they have changed the course this year. I was hoping that this would be my under 2hrs half but after looking at the elevation chart for the new course I am not so sure about that! But there is still about 2months left to train so we shall see what happens!

I had really hoped to get my act together for January and really produce some numbers, not only in mileage but weight loss as well, however neither happened for me :( I ended the month with 49.38miles and actually about +1.5lb ~UGGHHH! I am really hoping the pound+ is the forming of some muscles from the aerobics and such but somehow I just don't think it is! Trying NOT to beat myself up about all of this I am looking forward on to February and hoping for some better numbers!

I am in NEED of SIMPLE EASY good recipes for dinners and snacks?  Unfortunate for me I am not a lover of good for you food which makes it hard to eat healthy! I am trying and maybe if I had some ideas I could work the foods I do like into them:)