Miles and Chapters....

Look at the back of my car peeps - Yep I am officially a runner.  I have the sticker and a Garmin now.  WOO HOO! 

Miles and Chapters...I have been stepping up my completion of both of these items :)  Got some new fun things to share about my new favorite book find.  LOVING Carol Riterberger!  The first book I stumbled across is "Managing People, What's Personality Got to do With It?" and I have moved on to her book on how your personality affects your health.  I think the amazing thing these books do are open your eyes and raise awareness to watch yourself in different situations.  I think I have bought the book as a gift for atleast 3 people and recommended it to a dozen more in the last few weeks.  LOVE IT!  I thought about doing a little comparison on what I learned about me from the book and what it says about my personality type.  Not today though as that will take some prep ;)

Also gave a solid update on the running.  Conclusion in a nutshell = KETTLEBELLS rock!  I have not gotten in the miles I wanted to again but the kettlebell work I am doing has made all the difference in me being ready in 2 weeks for another 13.1 miles!

30 minutes....

Well this has been my theme to kick off my 2011 running.  I have to do 30 minutes or 3 miles.... and I (drum roll) DID COMPLETE running 3x this week.  Hell and Chicago have now both frozen over.  One thing I don't mention in my vlog below is the other source of Motivation I have found is a fun little read.  It is called Run Like a Mother, I love the book.  It is great to see two moms balance running and the constant battle in their mind and priorities.  It also has some amazing quotes that I have used more than once to get me moving.  My all time favorite is "...the irony of running is that when your body and spirit need it most, your mind wants to do it least..."  AMEN!  

I did do a vlog last week and never posted the darn thing so I am a little longer here and catching you up on my week and happenings.  Really happy with my work and was also consistent with stretching.  I have not made it to Hot Yoga though in awhile so I need to get there and start pretending about my vacation to come away from the Chicago snow.  

This month is the birthday of my sports bras.... I went and bought the first replacement at Dick's Sporting Goods this weekend.  I didn't think I needed them until I put this new one on... WHOA!  Do you guys switch yours out?  Or is this just another thing companies do to get you to buy stuff more often? :)  I seem to do the same with running shoes.

Well I gotta run and do some work.  Kettlebells are on the agenda for today and I need some coffee and music to get me ready to kick some butt!

Cheers!

Ready for RockNRoll VEGAS style!

That is Bret waiting for me at the finish line this weekend in Vegas :D  He has been coaching me on how to keep my cool with pre-race jitters and then he is going to sing me Every Rose Has It's Thorn :D

Wow I blinked my eyes and November is gone.  I lost my grandfather the Monday before Thanksgiving to cancer and that made for a whirlwind week.  And it took 1 day of excess (Thanksgiving) into 4.  I am writing on a plane while kicking off a 9 day travel mess of 4 cities and a half marathon.  The PRO is I will not focus on not feeling “ready” to give my best performance in Vegas …while the CON is that I will not have any time to log some miles to get my legs to remember that they need to run 13 miles in just a short 6 days.  

I have kept up well on my cross training.  Mostly with kettle bells and a couple days with Insanity videos.  But for the most part I think out of my 12 weeks of training mapped out for the half marathon, I stuck to 5.  Hmmm lesson learned that next time I am going to start 4-6 months out so I can have a couple false starts and get back on track ;) NAH… that would be planning to fail and I DON’T do that.  I am going to plan how I am going to incorporate running for FUN into the next quarter.  I believe I am going to get more 3-5 miles enjoyment runs in vs. the I have to do INSERT PLAN HERE.  

My video talks about how I am ready to rock and roll this weekend and how I worked through my pre-race anxiety this week.  Also includes a cameo from TJ on what he did for the key points on guiding me through race prep.    

Let me know what you have been doing to kick it lately!  I love getting motivated from you all too!

TGIF spent with Kettle Bells!

WOO HOO! What a great day and workout - I even gave some great clips of my workout for you today in my vlog.  Let me know what you think besides the fact my brother needs to add some serious lightening to my basement so you can see us working out down there.  I love the videos I have started and getting the space functional.  Makes me feel like the house got so much bigger by using that unfinished area. It's late on a Friday night (ok so not really late but I guess I am showing age) so not going to write alot.   

Let's make sure I run tomorrow... haven't even got more than 1 run in a week lately so tomorrow GOTTA DO IT!

Cheers!!

 UPDATE:  - Got some questions on that kick butt song.  I found it in this YouTube video by my friend Scott Herman.  He posts alot of awesome workout videos and inspired me to do mine yesterday.  I LOVED THAT SONG TOO and downloaded it off Itunes.  It is by The Veronicas - called Untouched.  I have to be careful not to have it too early in my Ipod shuffle series or I go too fast ;)  You can't help but feel PUMPED up when you hear it!!

Well I am off to do some Insanity abs and who knows.  Not feeling fired up yet for a run so I need more coffee :D  Have a great weekend!

Recharge Weekend

I am recharged for a week and had tons of stuff to tell you AND I still didn’t say in my vlog how I did on the run this weekend.  

I ran 7 miles in like 1:20 or so... fast for me.  My friend was so quick that I had to slow her down multiple times by just stopping :D  But I was so thankful to have company as those first few miles are such a chore until the adreline kicks in.  I was so sore after in the knees.  I really felt that my joints aren’t taking running in the cold as well as I would hope. (is it the climbing age?) Not sure so I started Sunday with fish oils and daily dates with the foam roller to see how that helps.  T minus 2.5 weeks until 13.1 miles!!!

Another random chatting on my weekend was how great I feel after having a weekend where I had nothing required to do.  WHAT A JOY!  I highly suggest we should ALL do this once a quarter.  I caught up on some blogs, reading, playing, cooking and running.  All made me a happy camper with alot of perspective this morning.  Shared my variation of this recipe today in the vlog.  I made and froze breakfast burritos.  I love them because they are homemade but fast and can really come in handy after a hard workout.  I pop them in the microwave and ready in less than 2 minutes.  Would love some links or ideas on what you do to eat healthy fast!!  This one helped me sooo much today in not eating raisin toast for my post workout meal. 

Also had a little chat on energy vampires in my vlog.  Seems more of them are popping up lately... So don’t forget some extra garlic -ha!!

HAPPY MONDAY!