Where did June go?

So today is the last day of June, I didn't get the memo... One whole glorious month of summer gone. At the beginning of the month I talked about my goals for the month. This was my first time setting monthly goals, so let's see how I did.

1. Log at least 60 miles this month. Walking or running. I logged 41 miles on daily mile, plus I'm doing 4 tonight. So let's just say 45. I didn't do a great job logging the miles, but I'm happy that I did this well. Next month I'll pick a new miles goal and have a tag-along goal of logging them all. Like they taught us in school, if you didn't document it, it didn't happen! 

2. Finish reading the new rules of lifting for women, and figure out a plan to realisticly get it going. This was an epic fail on my part. I cracked the book and made it halfway through the intro. And that is all. Not only did I not read it, I got a fat overdue book fine from the library. Nice.


3. Track my weight watchers points. Have a solid month of losses. (that's technically two i guess). Well this one is a little a lot embarrasing. It probably warrants its own post but that would be even more embarrasing. My first three weeks were golden. Slowly but surely I quit tracking. At my fourth weigh in I should have been on track to hit my 5% goal. And I gained 3.2 pounds. That was the total of my losses in week 2 and 3. SHUT THE FRONT DOOR. As you might imagine, this sent me into major depressive mode. So what did I do? I ate all day and thought, get it out of your system, tomorrow is go time. Then I repeated that for 6 days. Which brings me to today, I'm supposed to weigh in. NOT HAPPENING. But I am getting my life in order, throwing all the excuses out, and 'starting over'. I will weigh in next week. Come good week or bad week. And I will not let the number on the scale dominate me like it has over the past week. Done and done.

4. Wash my face before and after I run. I'm really good about the after, not so much the before. I've done really well with this goal. I even visited the Clinque counter last week and got set up with a new skin care regimen that I'll give the deets on in a later post.

5. Plan my half marathon attack and get it started. This is a win for me too. You can follow my training for the Asheville Citizen-Times Half Marathon here. I'm two runs in, with a third tonight.

I'm a list maker, and this goal setting for the month was really good for me. If you know me in real life you've definitely heard me say, "If I don't write it down, it will not happen." That's usually me alluding to my superior ability to forget anything and everything, but it also has to do with me being me. It helps me so much to write things down then be able to check them off and feel accomplished.  Emily pointed out that today is the halfway point for 2011. She used it to evaluate her yearly goals and see where she sized up (that chick is amazing). I think I'm going to post July goals as planned, but also some goals to complete by the end of twently eleven.

ToughMudder what the...

So my little brother (four years younger than me but an ELITE powerlifter, so not so little) is trying to talk me into doing this bad boy with him. Electrocution, really??

I think it looks pretty awesome and I think it would be so fun to complete this with my brother. He won't do races with me because he says he'll get bored. The down side is that the closest one is in Virginia, about 6 hours or so away. And it's expensive! So I can't decide.

I got to googling to see what other races are out there like this one. I found two near me: 

The Gauntlet is in Boone, NC on Sept 24. That's about 2.5 hours from me. The Warrior Dash is in August and it's in NC as well. I really wanted to do the Warrior Dash but we'll be in Hawaii that week. Yeah for HI, boo for not being able to do this race.

What do you think of these obstacle course/mud runs?
Ever ran one?

Summer Movie Line Up

So in my spare time (apparently about 3 hours a week) I love to read and watch movies. B-rad and I frequent the brand spanking new Regal that's at Biltmore Park.

It's just as expensive as all the other theaters around town, but they have a loyalty club, Regal Crown Club. It gets me free popcorn, drinks, and tickets. Pair that with the fact that it's about 5 minutes from our house and I'm sold.

We watch a lot of movies in the winter while it's nasty out, but in the summer we try to do other things outside. But of course there are the handful of summer movies that I can't pass up...

Did I mention I'm a Harry Potter nerd? I cannot freaking wait to see this movie. Then afterwards I'll be super sad it's over.

I've never seen any x-men movie, but as soon as I saw the preview for this one I knew I had to see it. As I might have mentioned here, James McAvoy is a favorite. I really liked it. It was pretty long but went by really quickly because of all the action.

Have you seen the previews for this movie? Do yourself a favor and go watch it here.  Let me just tell you, I do not like Steve Carell, I think he's super annoying. Like Jim Carrey annoying. I can't watch half the stuff he's in because he annoys me that much... That being said. I think this will get me though it. Or at least offset it.

Yep that should do it.

This one is out right now but I can't find it on anywhere near us. I think Freddie Highmore is adorable and I really hope this is as good as I think it's going to be.

I was skeptical of this movie, because as much as I love me some Ryan Reynolds, I don't really see him as a super hero. I thought it was an ok movie. Don't really care to see it again.

I'll probably see this. And this:

Even though it'll probably be just like No Strings Attached. Do you think Mila and Natalie ever realized that they were making the exact same movie right after making Black Swan together? But hopefully this one will be cute.

What movies are you excited about this summer?

Half Marathon Training Plan

Today I spent some time checking out the Asheville Citizen-Times Half Marathon Website. It got me super pumped for the race. This week I have taken it super easy as far as running goes (not so much as life goes), and I'm ready to get back into the swing of things.

One of my  June Goals was to get my half marathon training plan figured out and I've been feeling really unaccomplished  so I thought I'd go ahead and check this one off the list (I'm OCD and love checking things off lists, it relaxes me).

I'm going into this training with a comfortable running base of about 10-15 miles per week. I've never had that before, and I've always thought it was a major contributor to not finishing training. I also only wanted to run 3-4 times a week. I did not want to burn out again.

I will need your all's help to get through this. Being as this is the third time 'officially' starting half marathon training, I've got this huge cloud of doubt in the back of my head telling me, "you've tried this twice and failed, what is going to make this time different?" So time to quit listening to my head and overthinking every little thing.

I posted the plan under one of my pages at the top. Let me know what you think. Looking it over it seems kinda easy. My longest run is 9 miles. I may tweak it, but it's posted in its original form, as the Runner's World Smart Coach spit out for me.

Have you ever used the Smart Coach?
What training plans do you like?
Do you like your long run to be as long as the actual race?

Randomsauce

i really need a catch up day. like, immediately. i am running out of clean socks/underwear.

b and i have been trying to plan our august vacation for the past two weeks. at least we have plane tickets. and i plan to eat lots of shaved ice. those are all the plans so far. we're going to maui... any suggestions?

i have to weigh in tomorrow... it's gonna be ugly.

i'm doing something really cool on saturday (non-running cool).

my brain is way too tired to come up with any good posts. (sorry for the silence, but honestly it's way better than any craptastic thing i can write about).

hope you're having a way better week than i am (which isn't saying a lot!).

Just a typical Friday grocery run at 730am...

This morning I had to get up super early (for a day off) and run errands before leaving for KY. I had a hair appointment with my awesome aunt at 2pm so I had to get going. On the agenda-- Weight Watchers weigh in, grocery store, and pick up breakfast for my silly face husband who was in bed the whole time!

I lost another 0.8 lbs. Not awesome but a loss none the less (is that all one word?). Then I treated myself to Panera for breakfast. I made smoothies to go with.

If I was a good wife I woulda taken this up to B-rad in bed... But I'm not so I woke him up by throwing a pillow at him instead. Mature, I know.

While my cinnamon crunch bagel was delicious, the best part of my morning by far was taking this buggy (yes I'm from the south and they aren't shopping carts) through the checkout:

Awkward much?

Hope you all have a great weekend!

i just went on an iTunes shopping spree...

Workout:  Ran 3.1 miles (31:13) and walked another mile.

I am sofreakinghappy that I'm off work for the next three days! B-rad and I are heading to KY tomorrow, so I just blew up iTunes so we'd have some jams for the ride. Here's a sampling of what I purchased:

 Yeah, like I said. Blew up. Then I found this gem:

69 cent Michelle Branch songs? Yes please. Although I'm not sure what happened to her.

Have you found any good music lately? You really need to download 'Talking to the Moon' by Bruno Mars. Soo good.

Biltmore Baptist VBS 5K Hero Run

This weekend started out with a 5K race at my church. I wasn't expecting a whole lot, mostly because the point was to raise money for one of our missionary families that works with an orphanage in Haiti. 100% of the proceeds went to the orphanage. I thought it was a wondeful idea and I was really happy to be a part of it.

It was also great that I set a new PR! 31:37, shaved a whole minute off! I started strong and the first mile was actually right around a 9 minute mile. That's unheard of for me! Then I got hot and I got bored. The race was three laps around the church, and I'm not complaining, but midway through the second lap I got passed by the kid who won the race... A little depressing!

I walked some, but tried to keep it at a minimum. I also reaffirmed what I supsected:  It is not a good idea for me to drink the night before a race. I was super dehydrated. After the race we got free strawberry smoothies, delicious! I also grabbed a coupon for free chick-fil-a chicken minis for b-rad.

I'm hoping at some point to break 30 minutes this summer. I'm also hoping to run a full 5K at some time this year :)

Five Things Friday

1.  I lost 2.4 lbs this week! I weighed in today and it was such a great feeling! I was afraid that I would gain or have a crappy week because I lost so much last week, but another good week!

2. I'm running a 5K tomorrow at my church, Biltmore Baptist. It's called the VBS Hero Run and all the proceeds (if you want a shirt it's extra) are going to a children's orphanage in Haiti. I'm not sure how great the race will be, but it really feels great to know the money is actually going to something worthwhile.

3. I got these in the mail today:

These are so freaking comfortable! Are they the cutest shoes ever? No. But I love what they stand for and and they are so comfortable.

4. B-rad and I saw the new XMen movie the other day. I haven't seen any of the previous ones, but I really wanted to see this one for some reason. Some reason being:

I love some James McAvoy. And Jennifer Lawrence was great in Winter's Bone and she's set to play Katniss in the Hunger Games. Plus, by no means is she not skinny, but I'm loving that she isn't a stick figure. I thought it was a great movie.

Ah, James McAvoy.

5. I signed up for another 5K yesterday. The 32nd annual Bele Chere 5K at the end of July. Bele Chere is a street festival held in downtown Asheville. I've been both years since we moved here, and B-rad has had to work both times. This year we're both off and I'm looking forward to him getting to experience it. There is great artwork, jewelry, shopping, and that amazing atmosphere that Asheville is known for. There are all kinds of live bands, food, and you can even have open containers. I figure if I'm going to eat my weight in funnel cakes, sno-cones, and liquid calories, I can at least run a little 5K.

Who are your favorite actors?
Running any races this weekend?

Give Up The Funk

Obviously I've been in a bit of a funk. Work is yuck. But I had today off and I was determined to make the most of it and 'give up the funk'.

B-rad was off as well, and he's been itching to go fishing. So I took one for the team and got up at 5am to join him. (He did bring me an omelette and berries in bed to wake me up, score!) But this was my view as the sun came up:

And here's my, I love my husband and I love to fish, but I'd rather be asleep face:

Puffy eyes, puffy face. Oh well. We caught a lot of little fishies. We also fed a lot of fish, minus the catching. B-rad won the award for smallest fish...

Tee hee.

Then we came home and had the most glorious 4 hour nap. I'm telling you, it was the best, and I needed it. I hate to sleep the day away, but sometimes you just need to listen to your body.

When we got up, we made a trip to REI and the store. I might have spent a lot of money. Maybe. I'll get into that in another post. You can probably guess what I bought, well at least one of the two. Normally I'd beat myself up about the money. But I even talked to B about it and I'm justifying it based on the fact that I've worked a crap ton and that can pay for it. So done.

I got the new Runner's World at the store. Love.

And I also bought a few the whole box of Zone Bars. Don't believe me?

I love, love, love these strawberry yogurt bars. They are my fav, but I have trouble finding them. Apparently because someone else likes them as much as I do and buys them all. So I beat them to the punch today. Booyah. And they were on sale. BOOM.

can you ever just be whelmed?

please tell me you know what i'm talking about.

today i'm whelmed. actually i have been for the past week. i've worked way more than i should have and i've got too much on my plate. for instance:

1. work is a mess right now. i'm working too many hours and have no time for myself.
2. i never just have a day off. i always have something else going on.
3. i need to make a half marathon training schedule.
4. i need to execute the training schedule.
5. i need to plan our vacation (which is and will be fun, i just have no time).
6. i need to work on my photography course (self-paced -- my self pace is slower than my running pace)
7. i need to work on this blog.
8. i need to clean this house
9. i need to plant my vegetable garden.
10. i need to read my Bible more.
11. i want to read more books for fun.
12. i want to plan a long weekend trip to a beach.

i think that's it. sorry for the boring post, but i think sometimes it helps to just type it all out. or hug it out. whatever.

anyone have any tips on how to get my life in order? my other problem is i'm constantly trying new ways to keep my life in order so at any given time i have three diferent calendars that i need to consult for my schedule. none of which are complete because i don't have time to fill them all out/consolidate.

i need to get it together.

Run On The Wildside 9K Trail Run

I was up bright and early this morning to take on the Run on the Wildside 9K Trail Run. I was super nervous about this run because it was my first race >5K. I didn't know how 'serious' it would be. I was kind of afraid they'd be like, "oh we went ahead and took down the finish line because you were so slow." Yep, I was scared.

On Thursday I thought I had convinced my running buddy to join me, but she changed her mind (for good reason, she's coming back from an injury and would have just been doing it to support me). Then I thought B-rad and the brown dog were gonna come cheer me on. But they slept in. So I did it by my big bad self.

I also had trouble choosing an outfit (noticing a trend are we?). This is what I laid out last night:

Overkill much? What's funny is that I cut out the three pairs of socks that I couldn't decide between either. I have issues. So I chose the blue shirt on the far right if you're wondering. I wore my new hat that I picked up last week at FootRx. Here's a pic of it on before I went running on Thursday:

I pretty much love it (more than I love my scraggly pony and awkward self portrait). I was very skeptical of the white because I sweat like a fat kid a lot. I'll keep you updated on that front. But otherwise it's a great hat. It's light and soaks up all my sweat. I also really like the fit. Thanks Mizuno.

So anyways, let's get down to the race. The race was at the NC Arboretum, like the Biltmore Classic. However, for this race we had to park at our church, Biltmore Baptist and ride a shuttle over to the arboretum. Made sense in theory I guess.

I arrived at Biltmore around 7am and went to the registration desk. Keep in mind that I pre-registered for this race. Two ladies in front of me were filling out their registration forms, then the guy asked what size shirts they wanted. They said medium and he said congrats you got the last ones. I wasn't thinking much of it because I pre-registered and I could see packets already made. I stepped up, gave him my name and he asked me what size t-shirt I wanted. It took everything in me not to say, well see here on my bib where I selected a size when I registered... MEDIUM. Oh well. I smiled and asked for a large. I'm not passive aggressive at all.

After sulking back to my car with my new redneck lingerie sleep shirt I joined the line for the shuttle. It was about 715am at this point. And we waited... And waited. Finally a bus shows up around 730am (the first time I've seen it since being on the property for 30 minutes). It couldn't hold us all. So we waited some more. I was on the next group that boarded the bus at 755am. The race was scheduled to start at 8am. I hadn't stretched or warmed up. And you know I needed to pee. Lucky for me, there were still about 30 people who couldn't fit. So I knew I'd have time to get it all done. As I get off the bus a man makes an announcement that there was one more load of runners and that the race should start around 830am (yeah right). He also said something to the effect of, "thank you all for being on time, those others should know better." That kinda irritated me. It kinda irritated a lot of people from what I gathered. Anyways.

I felt bad for the last group, they literally got off the bus and five minutes later the race was starting. Not ideal for them I'm sure. The race itself was great. Beautiful course. Good mix of uphill/downhill. Almost all trails inside the forest. Three water stations. The miles were marked with these:

I want one so bad. But here's the weird thing, when I saw the first one, my Nike+ said 0.80 miles. Then from that point on the jeep were consistently 1 mile apart according to Nike+. (And yes, Nike+ is known to give me mixed data sometimes alot.). So I'm questioning the length of the course now.

There was a lot of good post race food:  water, bananas, Roly Poly wraps and fro-yo, Chick-Fil-A sandwiches (reason number 23947802 that B-rad should have gotten outta bed), and juices. After the race I started walking. I was ready to get home, bus or no bus. Luckily I timed it well and I got to ride the bus back to the church and get home in a reasonable amount of time.

We got a lot of great stuff for running:

I really like the shirts. We got these right after crossing the finish line: 

So even though I didn't like the whole shirt/shuttle situation, I still really enjoyed the race itself. All the proceeds went to MADD.

Goal number one was to not finish last. I wasn't.
Goal number two was to finish in under an hour. And I did! Barely, but I did. I'll post times and stuff whenever it goes up.

I walked a lot, but tried to limit it to the hills. I made up a lot of ground during the downhills and held steady during the flats. I definitely need to work on my endurance and continue to add mileage. I've been so obsessed with trails the last two weeks that all my workouts have been about them (gaining the ability to run hills, not adding mileage). I've not run in my street shoes in two weeks.

My plan is yoga in the AM then hopefully a flat two or three miler after work.

Did you race this weekend?
How did it go? What do you need to improve on?

i wasn't last!

more on the Run on the Wildside 9k later. i'm off to enjoy this beautiful day with my boys!

my june goals

1. Log at least 60 miles this month. Walking or running.
2. Finish reading the new rules of lifting for women, and figure out a plan to realisticly get it going.
3. Track my weight watchers points. Have a solid month of losses. (that's technically two i guess).
4. Wash my face before and after I run. I'm really good about the after, not so much the before.
5. Plan my half marathon attack and get it started.

I don't want to have more than five at a time, and who knows, maybe 5 will be too much. Might scale back to 3 next month, I'll see how it goes. I have a huge problem with setting goals and following through in a specified time period. My goal for the last two years (almost three) has been to lose weight. Yes, I have a goal weight in mind, but I'm afraid to say it aloud (like he who must not be named).

I also tend to take on way to many things at once. This has ALWAYS been a problem for me. I want to spend time with my husband. I want to spend time with my family. I want to have to work. I want to become a better runner. I want to spend more time with my photography. I want to read so many books. I want to continue reading the Bible. SO OFTEN I try to do it all and I get worn out and I don't complete anything.

So I've gotta learn to prioritize. Immediately if not sooner. So at the end of the month I'll see where I'm at and set some new goals. Hopefully this will allow me to concentrate on one or two things at a time, and it'll also give me a time period to evaluate. Instead of just cruising along for two years repeating the same patterns that are not good for me.

Do you have any goals for this month?

Do you overwhelm yourself with things you want to accomplish? How do you cope?

can't put down the jif long enough to blog

i've got one hand going back and forth between the PB and my mouth so i'm typing with one hand. so talented that girl.

i weighed in at WW today, and guess what? i'm down 5 lbs!!! boom! (and if i don't quit eating the jif this will slowly quickly be more like +2. must stop.

ok i quit. the lid is on! i just back from a quick 5K trail with my buddies. i'll do yoga tomorrow then race on saturday. i've got some good posts coming, i just have no time to sit my booty down and type them out. i've already worked 60 hours since saturday and i've got another twelve coming tomorrow. yuck. i'm so buying something awesome the extra money. take that dave ramsey!