Santa Sighting 5K

The Sighting 5K

SO excited to participate in this race!!  It was a rainy Massachusetts morning, but a mild 54°

There were a lot more up-hills than I was prepared for, but overall it was still a great run and the Christmas spirit kept us all going strong!  We even enjoyed an after-race meal and cocktails at a local Mexican favorite spot!!!  Definitely a new tradition for my friends and I :)

16 weeks to go!

16 weeks to the half marathon. Not exactly on track :/ I'll be keeping a record of every day that I run each week, distance and time

11/26/12 - 3 miles, 36 minutes

11/27/12 - 3 miles, 38 minutes

Week total: 6 miles

Cue the flu.... Pretty annoyed...

First 5K

(Wow!! just found this post that I never published, needless to say that means I haven't been keeping up with this :/  I will be posting weekly from here until the half-marathon, possibly with entries in-between)


Last weekend I participated in my first 5K.  It went well, as far as I am concerned!  A close friend of mine asked me to run it only a week before, so I think I did pretty well!  We had a blast and decided to sign up for another one!

Committed

It's official!  I have 6 1/2 months to train for the 2013 New Bedford Half Marathon and I am so excited to get an early start on training this year.  One thing that I plan to do is more total body workouts, not just cardio.  As much as I love the way that running makes me feel, I want to have a better total body fitness in 6 months.  I think that it is a very realistic goal.  My sister is now home from college and dedicated to workout out, as is my mom, so I hope that we can stick to a plan and see the results together!

This a schedule I found for a half-marathon training program.  I think I will test it out for a few weeks and decide later if I will stick to it.  The duration is only 12 weeks, and I have twice that to prepare, so maybe I will take 10-12 days for every week of the program.  We'll see.

I am really excited to get back into running as an every day occurrence, not a chore.

Tough Mudder 2012

AMAZING.  Seriously can't believe I completed Tough Mudder for a second year in a row and lived to tell about it!  That was one of the most incredible things I have ever done and honestly feel so accomplished.

  Our team name was Run Like A Girl, my sister and I were captains with 7 boys!  We had so much fun, and we were definitely one of the crowd favorites ;)  My Uncle's bedazzled jock strap probably helped our publicity a bit!  My mom and aunt were the best supporters out there!  They were at as many stops along the course as they could go, which was quite a hike for them considering they weren't even competing.  They had an endless supply of Gatorade, peanut butter crackers, and baby-wipes for our eyes!

This year's event was so different from last year!  Last year was cold, wet and really really muddy.  This year was HOT, DRY and not very muddy.  It has been such a dry, hot spring/summer that I can only imagine how difficult it was to keep the course slushy and muddy.  It was somewhat disappointing, but still SO much fun.  Proud to say that we completed all but one obstacle as a team.  The second to last obstacle was the 1/4 pipe which was MUCH taller than last years, with about a 20 minute wait.  By that time, we could see the finish line and decided we were happy to be alive with no missing appendages, so a few of the boys gave it a go, but the rest of us decided to sideline and watch.  The run through the finish line was painful after taking a serious digger just as I was coming through the electric field!  So worth it though, to get that orange headband and a beer :)

I am so excited to find out where the Boston event will take place next year, and start getting my team ready!  We will be back :)

To find out momre info about Tough Mudder visit their website or Facebook page

I'm Back!!

Hey everyone!!
I have been SUCH a slacker :(  After my last "10 day pledge" I struggled with "end of the semester" craziness and then immediately left for vacation.  I had an AMAZING time in Aruba with wonderful company and came back rested.

The lat 2 weeks however, I can't make excuses for.  As of right now I have just over 4 weeks until the Tough Mudder event on Mt. Snow in VT.  I am so excited about making this an annual event!  Last year was my first race and it was such an incredible experience.  This year my team is so awesome and I cannot wait to kick that mountain's butt!!

I have decided to go back to a modified "real food" lifestyle from now until the event.  I am not looking for weight loss, but I really did like the mentality of better food choices.  I don't have a whole lot of will power when it comes to snacks, so I am better off if I say no from the start.  I will be training for the event in many different ways including cardio classes such a zumba, as well as rollerblading, running, and maybe even swimming, mixed in with strength training.  My sister and I are the only girls on the team, so we are getting ready to pull our own weight!! 

Zumba class tonight.  Can't wait, I haven't been in weeks!!

Post 10 day challenge

WOOPS!!  So this is a post that  forgot to upload from my days following the 10-day pledge!  I am going to load it now, with another update!


After 10 days of 'real food' I've lost a total of 6.5lbs. Crazy!! I expect to gain a little bit back, but I hope not because my school schedule is FINALLY going to calm down in the next week and I can exercise the way I want to. I have three weeks until Aruba and I have some Vicky Secret bikinis I need to do some justice in!! Haha

     Well I have done a pretty good job staying on track. My friend Katy and I spent an entire day shut in her apartment doing papers and presentation prep on Wednesday and Thursday so we had some time to make some pretty yummy food. A chicken and veggie stir fry with onion, green and orange peppers and bean sprouts. I found an organic, gluten free soy sauce... Holy crap it was expensive!! But if I intend to stay with 'real foods' for an extended period of time it wi be worth it.

  For dinner we made a margarita pizza with handmade whole wheat crust and organic tomatoes basil and mozzarella. One thing I am psyched for is the warm weather to come around and fresh herbs out of the garden. Because they aren't cheap!!! When I get time, I am going to make it a point to post actual recipes for everything I have made in the course of the challenge and after.

     Friday I met my mom for lunch and had chicken salad with raisins walnuts and craisins over a small bed of romain. It was at a cafe in town so I was able to confirm that everything was made fresh and really the only component that was 'off limits' was the mayo... Not too bad. And SUPER flavorful. I love salads with fruit and nuts. One of my favorite chicken salads I've ever had was at an Einsteins Bagels in Florida. I'm not sure they even have chains in the northeast. It was made with grapes, apples and walnuts. Amazing. And easily replicable at home, I just never think of it!! Maybe this week sometime. I was good the rest of the day having fruit and granola for snacks.

     Dinner time was another story.  I was really good during the 10 days avoiding tempting situations and saying no to the wrong things and in the end I was really satisfied with my decisions.  I felt like that Yoplait commercial about "swapertunity" haha Friday night was not a swapertunity kind of situation though.  I went to dinner for a friends birthday, and while waiting to leave for the restaurant I had quite a few corn tortilla chips.  They were "organic" but lets face it, they were chips.  I didn't dare look at the ingredients.  Strike one.
     The restaurant was really nice, a Chinese food place in Taunton.  I shared a scorpion bowl with Randy... which I am sure wasn't made with organic, no sugar added juices.  Strike two.  I shared an appetizer of steamed Peking ravioli... strike 3.  For the entree, I was good.  I had ordered off of the "light" menu which was steamed jumbo shrimp with a HUGE helping of veggies.  Unfortunately they didn't have brown rice, so I had a very minimal amount.  There was enough food that I didn't need the rice anyways.  It came with a ginger soy sauce that I didn't much care for so I used some duck sauce for flavor.
     Moral of the story?  Don't go out to restaurants.  I am not huge on self control, especially when it comes to Chinese food so I was pretty proud of myself that I didn't get anything fried, but still.  Not a success by any means.  When I am home, I can make as much food as I want and I know what is going into it and I feel good about it.  Also, I was a pretty bad stomach ache all night.. too much too fast.  My system was so conditioned to good food, the sugary juices and everything else did not go over well.
     I am pretty bummed that I let myself go overboard with "little cheats" that added up.  I am still continuing with "real food" until further notice and that was absolutely the last time I will do anything like that.

Until next time, happy running! :) xo