28 Things...

28 Things to do before I turn 28!

1. Go on a 1 year anniversary trip
2. Blog fairly consistently for one year
3. Sell jewelry at a craft show
4. Move to a better school district
5. Get Lasik Surgery
6. Pay off 50% of debt
7. Run TWO half marathons
8. Get my license to be a personal trainer
9. Sky Dive!
10. Completely organize my house
11. Attend a Beth Moore conference
12. Attend a wine/cooking class
13. Complete a scrapbook of our wedding and honeymoon
14. Open and start contributing to a college savings account for our future children
15. Learn to drive a standard
16. Learn to plan and shop for a months worth of meals
17. Have new couches
18. Do an MS-150
19. Sit down with my Grandpa and talk to him about his life and chronicle it in some way for the whole family
20. Go to wine country
21. Go camping for a week
22. Take a class on my Digital SLR camera
23. Take home improvement classes at Home Depot
24. Get a facial
25. Road Trip with Andrew
26. Talk about, be trying to get or be pregnant
27. Win the lottery :)
28. Have quiet time with God every day by myself and with Andrew

Running in the rain

So, I had a first yesterday evening. I ran in the pouring rain with thunder and lightening. I know, I know... not the smartest, but trust me, it was better than waiting until the rain ended and going out. I definitely would have found some reason NOT to run after that.

It was great!! It actually brought me back to my soccer days. Playing in the rain. It was refreshing and brought back a lot of good memories and helped my 20 minute run FLY by! I actually ran faster, too. I think it was a great workout! I am planning to run again today and then I have my Saturday early morning training session with my personal training.

I actually look forward to running next time it rains. Am I crazy?? :D

Getting back into the groove

Hello all!

I have been slowly getting back into the groove of real exercise! I have been watching what I am putting into my mouth and making sure I keep moving all day. Burn those calories!! :)

I am still doing the whole run/walking thing. The other day I ran 2, walked one, ran 2, walked one, ran 4, walked one and then ran 4.5, walked one. I am talking about minutes here, people...not miles! Ha, I wish! I will get there one day....

I am working out with my personal trainer 2x a week. Tuesday or Wednesday mornings at 5AM and Saturday's at 8AM. People, this means I am in the gym no later than 4:25 in the morning doing my cardio and small exercises before my training session begins. Dedication, I tell you! I need a prize for this. Oh wait, my prize (hopefully) will be looking AMAZING in my wedding dress. Some days that is the only thought that gets me outta bed at 4AM to be honest with all of you.

On a completely random note... I got my belly button pierced as a Senior in high school and up until 2 mornings ago, I still had it in! Not like anyone ever saw it, it just became a part of me. Well, I took it out two mornings ago and ever since then I feel like my stomach looks weird. I think I need to put it back in. LOL... I will have to revisit taking it out one day though. Most likely when I get pregnant... because who wants to see a big bulging belly with a jewel in it?? Classy! ;) That's only if my belly button doesn't pop out. Oh, the horror! ;)

Anyhoo - just a random post to keep everyone up to date!

13.1

Yup, in 177 days 16 hours and 22 minutes I plan on running 13.1 miles. That's a half marathon, people!!

If you had been wondering where I went off to, I kinda fell off the bandwagon for about 4 weeks. No running. Just being plain lazy, I suppose.

Well people, I came to the realization a few weeks ago that I plan on fitting into a beautiful wedding gown in 107 days. That got my heart pumping again. No more laziness for this girl! I have signed up for 32 sessions with my old trainer at 24 hour fitness and I work with him 2x a week.

Tuesday or Wednesday mornings at 5AM (TOLD YOU I WAS SERIOUS!!!) and Saturday at 8AM. I will be doing some major calorie counting for a bit to drop the extra few pounds of body fat I could stand to use. Then gain in all back in lean body muscle! Not that I want to look like SheHulk or anything, just nice and toned.

As if planning a wedding, working, cleaning house, counting calories and weight training wasn't enough, I added a half marathon to the list in January 2010. GREAT!! Mind you, I've never probably run over 3.5 miles since High School!! This should be interesting.

I PLAN (keyword) on keeping this updated a bit more. It should be rather comical to see how well I handle all this.

Wish me luck!!

He works hard for his money...

I am still desperately trying to get used to Andrew's new work schedule. Nights. He could get home anywhere between the hours of 3:15 AM to 6:15 AM. I wish it were more of a set schedule, because honestly, sometimes I get a little frantic if I wake up at 5 AM and he's not home!!

I guess I should just feel blessed he has a job, right? I do, in all actuality.... just hard to make the adjustments.

Pointless entry... but I feel better after typing that. LOL

Who knows!!

Rough spot

So, I finally hit my rough spot. I guess it couldn't ALWAYS be easy and fun, right?? Yup.

I hit a few days (5) where I didn't run and I preferred it that way. I had spent so much time and effort running, planning my runs, thinking about it, preparing for it that it became more of a chore than something I was enjoying. Yuck.

So, I took the days off. I tried not to make myself feel bad about it. Some days it worked, some days it didn't.

I had a few fun, carefree days.

Then today hit.

I wanted to run again. So what did I do? I got home from work, turned on the sprinklers and took off. I didn't wear my iPod shuffle... I felt like I just needed some time to pound the pavement with my own thoughts and the sounds of nature.

It was nice. Actually, I ran for 30 minutes today. Sure, my pace slowed waaaayyyy down, but it didn't matter. What matters is that I was out there because I wanted to be.

I'm not gonna lie... I felt pretty awesome running for 30 minutes, though. LOL!!

I dunno what I will feel like tomorrow, but today was nice.

Peace!

Silly shows

There are some silly shows that can keep me up. For example, Andrew and I are still up watching Purina's Incredible Dog Challenge. Haha! Oh well, tomorrow is Friday, right? :)

Well, I got home and honestly, after my bad run on Tuesday, which I didn't blog about, running was the last thing I wanted to do. But you know what I did? I put on all my gear and got out the door and that was the hardest part. My horrible Tuesday run was followed by an awesome run this evening. I ran 29 full minutes (30 seconds longer than my longest to date) and ran a 9:30 min/mile pace the whole time. I like this. That means I am definitely increasing my stamina since I didn't slow down at the end. Hooray!!

I feel bad, it's late and I really don't want to shower right now and I am STINKY. Do you think Andrew will mind?? ;) Poor future hubby!!

In other news, Ang held a auction today to benefit the Canadian Cancer society and she raised an incredible amount of money. Go Ang!!! Everyone wish her well in her first 10k this weekend.... I know she'll do great! Did I mention I won one of the bids? ;) Hooray!!

Well, I really should try to get some rest.

Night everyone!!

Lazy Sunday

Well, it's almost time for bed... I have the hardest time sleeping on Sunday nights and don't get tired until late. It's weird because I don't stay up late and sleep in really on the weekends. Odd.

Anyhoo, I ran both Friday and today. Friday's run was actually a Personal Best for me. I ran a 5k (3.1 miles) in 28 and a 1/2 minutes. Hooray. I was DRENCHED. :)

Saturday we went to Kingwood to a pampered chef party and then hung out with Andrew's parents and had dinner and left for home around 8. I can't wait to get my pampered chef stuff in...most of all, my pizza stone and pizza cutter!! I have been dieing to make my own HEALTHY(er) pizza's! :)

Today we returned some running headphones I had bought for my new shuffle. They just didn't fit my ears and I found a pair that works. YAY!! Then we went to Macy's to start our Registry for our wedding. Also, for all who care to know, (Which better be all of you!! hehe) today marks 5 months until our wedding day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :) :) :) We did pretty good starting out registry. We didn't bicker too much about who liked what and who didn't. LOL

Then we came home, I ran and came home tirrrreed. I also ran too soon after we had a late lunch. It was a ROUGH run. But I made it through. I ate some leftovers and then we watched "Bride Wars."

I need to get tired soon!!! Boo for Monday!!!

Awesome Possum

Upwards and onwards, my friends.

Guess who ran a full 28 and a 1/2 minutes tonight!!! :) Boo yah!

I know, loser. LOL

I felt good. For some odd reason my left groin was hurting during, but oh well. I pushed through and ran. I could have still run at the end, but I am doing the whole 10% increase a week thing. No reason to push it and injure myself, right???

Dinner is in the oven and on the stove. I think Thursday I will do my "speed" interval thingy. Maybe. Or maybe I will just run another 28.5 :) Only time will tell.

Later Gators!

Blah Blah Blah

I am still here. I've been a bad blogger lately, though.

Let's see... I ran Thursday and instead of running my steady 27 1/2 minutes, I decided to switch it up a bit. After about a mile and a half, I started "sprinting" between light posts on the side of the road. I say "sprinting" because I know at this point it wasn't a dead out sprint, but I definitely picked up the pace a lot. I continued this for about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile and then ran at a steady pace back to the house. Instead of the usual steady run, I mixed it up a bit and shortened the time by about 3-4 minutes. I really got my heart rate up and I was impressed that I could finish up my run after all those "sprints".

Saturday we had a garage sale at the house and made some money. We did pretty decent. We got rid of furniture that was just eating up space, so that was really great. I didn't run Saturday because I was just plain exhausted. After the garage sale and being outside for 6 hours all we did was eat lunch, nap and see a movie. :)

I got up this morning and ran my steady 27 1/2 minutes and burned almost 400 calories.... I guess I ran faster?? Who knows!

I do not want to go back to work tomorrow! Boo Mondays!

Missed a few

Sorry for a few missed posts!

I've still been running, though. No worries! I upped my time by 10% and now I am running for 27.5 minutes at a time.

Doing pretty well, too. I am not completely DEAD by the end. The outside of my right foot it starting to really hurt. Let's hope it's nothing serious. :(

Had a great Monday off! The fam all went to my sisters house and the kids and adults swam and cooked out. It was relaxing, but after getting up early to run and spending the whole day in the sun, I am wiped OUT!!

I SHOULDN'T have any issues going to sleep tonight :)

Night!

Ultimate Dream

Yup. One day.

Fat Talk

Please watch this video.

We should enjoy and love our bodies the way they are. There is a difference between wanting to be "healthy" and wanting to be "skinny". Unfortunately, most women hide behind "I want to be healthy" when what they really want is to be "skinny". Every woman's healthy is different from the next.

Let's end FAT TALK together!

Go on over to Caitlin's blog for more information on Fat Talk. She's done a wonderful job covering in this week!

Timestamp

Did I fix it!!!?

"Me" time

Me, myself and I had some nice "me" time on my run. :)

I did another 2.7 in 25 minutes. I kept a pretty steady pace so I am happy about that. I think I am slowly building my stamina up.

I am going to try and slow my pace down on my Friday or Sunday run this week and run for longer. I really want to see if I can run at a decent pace for about 30 minutes. If so, it will be the most I've accomplished since High School. :)

I've got this crazy drive in me right now. I am loving it.

Don't ever give up.

Speedy

That was me tonight. Instead of the usual 2.5 miles in 25 minutes, I ran 2.74 miles!! I kept between a 9:15-9:59 min. mile pace. I am pretty proud of myself. It probably helps that it was considerably cooler outside and windy, but I will take what I can get :)

I am waiting for "The Hills" to come on now... it's my guilty pleasure show :) That and the new 90210 :)

Loserville, I know!!

Ciao!

It's killing me!

I hate sitting at this desk all day long. All I have thought about all day is getting out there and running. Is that sad???

A few quotes I enjoy:

"There are clubs you can't belong to, neighborhoods you can't live in, schools you can't get into, but the roads are always open." - NIKE

"Enjoy your pain, you've earned it." - Anonymous

"Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks, months and years that they spend preparing for it. The victorious performance is merely the demonstration of their championship character." - T. Alan Armstrong

Any-hoo, it's such a beautiful day out! I am wasting it here!! 39 more minutes until I can leave and get out on the open road. :)

Sweet!

Busy Bee!!

Good afternoon, everyone!! It's been a really productive day today for us!

I woke up around 8 and went on my run and once again returned absolutely nasty, but I felt so good and accomplished!! I changed and we went to one of the doggie parks in Pearland. This was Bailey's first time there and we think he did pretty well!! In case anyone wants to see a pic of Bailey, our long-haired mini dachshund, here he is!!

So, the other weekend I was determined to get our back TV room organized. So, we bought a 9 cube system at target and come to find out, it was on sale this weekend, so we went and got money back....yay!! We also got some new Solar Lights for our front yard. :) Of course, it looks like it wants to rain, so we may not get to check them out tonight!!

We came home and made dinner together. Homemade chicken salad! It is chillin' in the fridge for a while before we bust out the crackers and bread. I cannot wait!

Tomorrow we meet with our first potential wedding photographers. I am excited to see what they have to offer!

I burned 351 calories on my run this morning...yippee!!

Adios amigos and amigas!!

It was sunny!

Today's run was very sunny. Not really complaining, but man, was it HOT. I think the "feels like" temperature is in the mid 90's. Yikes...it's only May!

I was a little worried about today's run because I am fighting with this cut on my knee. I am afraid it is becoming infected. I was worried it might affect my run. It hurt for the first 5 or so minutes, then either it went numb or I placed it in the back of my mind. Either way... yay! I ran 2.5 miles in 24 minutes, then walked, then ran, then walked until my 30 minutes was up. I kept a pretty decent pace, too. I was satisfied.

I was drenched, too!! Yuck.

I made myself a nice spinach salad with bell pepper and cucumber. It was refreshing.

Adios!

Here's what I have to say about that!

I've been wanting to write this post for quite a while but needed to make sure it didn't come out too "nasty" or "rude".

This is about my struggle with healthy eating, but I am sure there are a lot of people out there who feel just like me or similarly.

Why is it so hard to eat healthy these days? Why are we scrutinized about it?

It's so upsetting to be someone who is trying to change the way I eat and be surrounded by so many people who don't support a healthy lifestyle. You make small, simple changes in your diet (i.e. olive oil instead of butter) and all of a sudden you have an "eating disorder". You read the food nutrition labels at the grocery store and you're "obsessed with food."

Apparently these people cannot appreciate a healthy lifestyle.

Why do things like keep bad food around the house? You know you'll eat it if it's available! But, just because you have the willpower to NOT stock your pantry or fridge with these "unhealthy" foods, you've "gone too far".

Really??

I've gone too far because I want to properly fuel my body? You know what? I exercise. Fueling my body is imperative to ward off injury and illness.

Just because I am a "Food Nazi" when YOU see me eat, doesn't mean I am never going to have ice cream, cake, chocolate, etc. It's all about balance and if I've eaten healthy all week and exercised regularly, I deserve a treat!! I don't need a treat every day though. My nutrients are much better off coming from vegetables, NOT a candy bar.

I am going to continue to practice a healthy lifestyle. My body likes and deserves it. It works hard all day.

In fact, I am going buy myself a pretty lunch box to support all my nutritious food. I am going to smile at the waitress or waiter when I order double veggies instead of fries and I will tip extra when I ask for more veggies on my veggie sandwich.

I am going to keep fueling my body the way it should be and my body will thank me for it!

Poor bike & Running

I totally ate it on my bike yesterday... long story short, I went over the handlebars. Got a skinned knee, but that's about it and I need to take my bike in to REI to get fixed. Bummer.

Today I ran for 30 minutes....20 minutes running, then run/walking. I burned a lot of calories and sweated buckets. It's getting HOT out there!!

I run so much better and longer when I have someone to run with. I found this out over the weekend during the PearRun. :)

I am now going to relax for the rest of the evening and eat dinner.

Bye!

It's been a long day...

But a good one! I was up and at'em at 5AM this morning. Today was 5k day!!

Got there early, had plenty of time to pick up my packet, tshirt and chip and walk around for a while. Jeni got there about 10 or so minutes before the race. We chatted for a few minutes before the siren sounded. Then we were off. When we crossed the timing mat, I started my Garmin.

Folks, we ran the entire time and chatted. We ran it in 31 minutes. We did a great job. I felt great afterward, too. Could have been that Everything bagel I scarfed while cooling down, but ya know!! ;)

I was pretty happy with myself...I ran the ENTIRE time. All 31 minutes. The longest I have run at one time before having to stop and walk before this race was 14 minutes. It definitely helps to have someone to run with!

The rest of the day was spent running errands. I got my oil changed, at lunch, went to Target and got some organizational stuff, bought Mother's Day presents and just finished cooking and eating dinner. I have been on the go since 5 AM and it's catching up with me!!

The rest of my evening consists of lounging on the couch with Andrew and watching The Goonies. :D

BTW, I burned about 374 calories.... 50 or so more than my usual 30 minute run/walks :)

NIGHT!

"Why the hell not??" :)

Now that we have food in the house :) I was able to get back down to business.

I signed up for a 5k on Saturday morning, so I really just wanted to get out there this evening and run. I didn't wear my fancy shmancy Garmin, just a digital watch. I pressed "Start" on it and went about my business. Run Run Run.....

I ran for 14 minutes at one time today. That is the longest so far. I started off run 1, walk 1 and have moved my way up from there. I am proud of myself. Feeling pretty good when I am out there killin' the pavement.

Still icing my ankles/feet when I get home and taking my L-Glutamine....my feet are starting to bother me, but let's hope that is just because I am increasing my running time and it's natural!!

I got an unexpected bonus at work the other day. I had every intention of putting it all in the bank, but sometimes money just burns a hole in my dang pocket. I only spent a small portion of it.
Yay!! I am an avid reader, so I figured, "Why the hell not??"

I cannot wait to get it... it is supposed to be shipped tomorrow.

Full review in another entry!! Be on the lookout!! =)


Xoxo

Bad day

Today was sooo incredible long. First I had to be at work for a 730AM meeting and then at the end of the (LOONNNGG) day, something kept me late. What a day!!

Unfortunately, I was supppppposed to come home, run and head to the grocery store. We had absolutely no food in our house. It was kind of pathetic actually. It was already late when I got home and there was no getting out of grocery shopping, so off we went. No running.

Tomorrow will be a run day AND a weight day. Sweet!!

Don't everyone be jealous!

Adios!

Is anyone out there?

Okay, I have made the decision to start my own blog. Again, I know. I was doing a blog with my sis-in-law and found that I blogged rather consistently, so maybe I can try this on my own! Kudos to her for wanting to use the blog to feel accountable for what she has decided to embark on. I just feel like my posts might get lost somewhere in there???

Anyways, I am really excited about this. I probably won't blog every day, but I was doing it at least every other day or so on the other one, so who knows!

I am getting married to my FH (future husband) on 11-7-09. I have always been athletic and enjoyed being outdoors. It's been a while since I have been part of an organized sport and I need to get back into shape. :)

This blog is mostly about me discovering a new love for exercise and all the ways I can accomplish this. Running, biking, walking, hiking, etc.! I cannot wait for this new journey!

I hope some of the people who were following me before will continue to follow me here! Also, please root for my sis-in-law who is doing a totally body overhaul!! :)

Cheers!