October GOALS

A new month means some new goals..

I struggle hardcore with goals. I set them either too high or too low. For example: lose 20 pounds in a month. HAHAHAH yeah right, maybe when pigs fly.

This month Skinny Meg started a new challenge and will only be 4 weeks. Yesterday was day ONE and I took my measurements and weighed myself. Catherine and I are both doing it – when she sent me the text that we got into the challenge my heart skipped a beat. But no, seriously, Skinny Meg is the coolest chick on the block. Check out her blog to be very inspired.

But goals….

Put ME first. Focus on ME.

2 long runs until the marathon (WHICH IS LESS THAN THREE WEEKS AWAY. Can I get an OMFG?)

2 short runs/week until marathon

Sprints 1/week

ONE REST DAY A WEEK ß (rest days are my struggle. I feel lazy and like I will gain 5 pounds if I rest, which is so untrue, I need to let my muscles rest so they can grow more)

Water – keep drinking like I am a fish.

Keep working on IIFYM. I love iifym, but when I get off (go away or out of town) it is hard to get back on track. But it seriously works….

Limit money spent.. I bought a few massages for the month of October, but I do not plan to spend one more dollar out. No Lulu runs, no Target sprees because I am bored, no PSL, no Chipotle. Nada, I can save my money.

Continue to inspire, encourage and reach out to others.

What are your goals for the month?

Dancing Heart

This past weekend something big that I have been dreaming about for over 3 months finally happened….

My Troopers ran their first 5K!

I remember talking to my friends about how to start something to get kids running. Do I start my very own thing? Go through the studio I work for now? How do I do it?

Well I decided to go through Trumi, which was a fabulous decision. The kids are already asking for another race which I LOVE.

What just makes my heart so happy is looking back to 8 weeks ago (it was an 8 week training program). I kid you not these kids were struggling to run for 10 minutes. I definitely was thinking to myself, “oh shit what did I get myself in to?”

But as the weeks went on and we built up mileage/time it seemed to get easier. They were smiling while running. They did not want to do sprints; they just wanted to ‘long run’.

We never trained over 2.4 miles so I was a little nervous to see what 3.1 would be like. But DANNNNGGG they were on fire. There were a few different pace groups, the first group of us finished in 32:13 --- like seriously I am amazed. That is around a 10:30 pace… AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING. These kids ranged from 5 to 10 year old.

Their smiles were priceless. I am so so so proud of them!

Catherine was able to do the race and help out -- along with a few other helpers -- THANK YOU!

Delicious, Quick, Easy Meals

When I cook I like my meals to be tasty but simple. I have a pretty busy life so I do not have time to slave in the kitchen for hours everyday.

Lately I have been shopping at Super Target. The Archer Farms meats and prepared veggies have saved my butt.

And I mean multiple times a week I eat their products.

My favorites are the chicken, steak or pork fajitas and then the Parmesan chicken.

It is super simple. Get the prepared veggies and grab the meat of your choices, mix on the stove and bam you have a meal. What I love about the chicken parm is I can mix it with spaghetti squash and sauce, which makes it taste like I am at an Italian restaurant. Not even joking.

These meats are high quality and super delicious with salads too.

I found them by the produce and bread. They are all fresh, precut and ready to eat!

Describing Life Through Art

I had to describe my life through art for a class I am in.

Immediately I was upset because I stink at art. And when I say stink, what I really mean is I know how to draw stick people and color in the lines but that’s about as good as I get.

What was even more frustrating was the supplies. It was $26.47 for paint, a canvas and a brush. What.

I came home and was dreading starting my project. I then said to myself that I have two options: suck it up or keep being negative.

I chose to suck it up, complete the project and be glad it was over.

Honestly, I am pretty happy with how it turned out! And it actually does a good job at explaining my life. It is titled “The Chaotic Life” and each color on the canvas is a different part of my life. I included my family/friends, fitness/running, school, work, health and life itself.

It is so simple. Yet can say so much at the same time.

When I was writing my paper explaining my work, I kept saying that everything seems to be thrown at me at once. Life gets chaotic, life gets stressful, there comes a point when you just want to curl up in bed and cry from stress. But at the end of the day, life is so beautiful and I have it pretty darn good.

If you were asked to create a painting of your life, what would it look like?

To The Girl Who Chomps Her Chips

Have you ever wanted to throat punch someone? Yesterday in my night class I had about ZERO patience’s left and I was getting pretty irritated.

Fact #1 about me: I hate when people crunch. Or just do not have food manners. Like did your mother never teacher you to eat with your mouth closed? Or not crunch your chip before it is in your mouth? My mom did a damn good job at teaching me table manners.

So last night at about 7:30 PM this girl whips out some goldfish. The multi-colored ones, so not even like the whole grain stuff (I had been up since 4:45 and going strong ALL day, so I was a little exhausted.) In my head I said, “I hope she has good manners”. Ha! No. After she got down crunching her chips she pulls out her pop. And swishes it in her mouth to get the gold fish out of her teeth! Are you fricken serious? Why did this chick choose to sit behind me? I am about to pull all my hairs out.

Then we had a break, so I regroup myself and think only two more hours. She could not possibly have more food, who eats dinner this late anyway?

She went to the vending machine to get chips and skittles. I thought I was going to die. First off, I did not understand why someone would eat all that or how he or she could possibly be so thin when they eat crap. I look at a bag of skittles and gain 5 pounds. Totally not fair.

But the best part was the chips. She would take a chip out, only eat half of it, and crunch it with her mouth open. Yup, I officially lost it. I gave her the nastiest white girl glair that said, “put those fricken chips away or I might scream.” She obviously did not listen or care about my glare.

But the rest of the class I had to bite my tongue so I would not freak out. Wednesdays will be the death of me between little sleep, class, work and hearing a bitch chomp her chips.

Do you have any big pet peeves?

I thought this fit… A little blurry but totally fits!