rearview mirror:::: january 2013

running:::: 

i finished january with 137 miles. that's the most i've ever ran in a month! i ran my first 30k, my first 20 miler, and ran a new PR for the 10k. 

i've been very happy with my marathon training so far. i can't believe i only have a month left. i've missed a run here and there, but i've hit all my long runs, and even hit a little higher mileage earlier than what was on the plan [which allowed me to put in a second 20 miler, which i'm happy about]. 

weight training::::

i miss this... a lot. i made the decision to run this marathon back in the summer, before i started training with fitness poynters. it's really important to me and i want to see it through, but i do miss feeling strong  and toned. i know running burns calories, but for me and my body, i think lifting makes me feel better and gives me better results for my time. unfortunately i haven't figured out to manage my time enough that i can do both.

reading::::
i finished the matched series by ally condie. it was okay, passed the time and attaches you to the characters like most series do, but it wasn't a must read.

i started reading ulysses by james joyce, to get a start on one of my 2013 goals, and it might not have been the best choice, but i'm trying to get into it.

as far as Bible reading goes, i'm in isaiah now and i'm doing pretty well at studying beth moore's 'john.' the only problem is that i'm working in it when i'd normally been just reading the Bible, so my Bible progress has slowed.

2013 goals::::
i crossed off one thing here this month when i completed my 30k for my 30th birthday. i came thisclose to getting my sub hour 10k, but almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, right?

i'm doing terribly with the computer time goal, which may have been a 'bit' unrealistic. i did deactivate my FB profile halfway through the month to see if that helped, and while it did, it hasn't made as much of a difference as i'd hoped.

brad and i went to a new connect group at church last sunday and again today. we really like it so far and i hope we can continue to attend and make new friends!

life::::
january was a difficult month, for all the usual reasons plus some. i always fight the urge to get depressed in january, i think it's a combination of the holidays being over and the weather. the holidays are so busy, we're usually surrounded by family, have all the happy decorations up, then you have to take it all down and everyone goes back home... it can get depressing!

rear view mirror:::: september 2012

running::::
after a slow two months, i picked it up [a little]. finished with 38 miles for the month, but more important than the numbers, i finished my first half since july. i was beyond worried that i would struggle [new meal plan, new workout plan, etc] but as Jill mentioned to me, apparently cross training suits me! 

i finished the cherokee harvest half marathon, which was number 7 of 12 in 2012. it really hit me this month (the one year anniversary of my first half marathon) how far i've come. this time last year i'd just finished my first half and who knew i'd have finished 8 total now! it really is proof that you can do what you want. i used to think running a half was crazy talk. now i've signed up for my first full [and that IS crazy talk! lol]

weight training::::
september wrapped up my 11th week of my new training plan. i am losing the weight slowly but surely. it's crazy how strong i feel though! i really wish i had one of those things to measure body fat percentage... I think it'd be very interesting to see how much that has changed. another interesting thing, i actually weighed what i do right now around april of this year [then managed to gain back the 18 pounds i'd lost plus some] but my clothes fit SO differently from how they did then. i put on a pair of capris yesterday and they literally almost fell off. it was awesome! so even though the scale might be moving a little slower than i'd like, i know i'm gaining lean muscle in the process and that's VERY important to me!

reading::::

crossed:  i am really enjoying this series but unfortunately the last book doesn't come out until november. it's a cross between the hunger games and the maze runner series. set in the future where the government has decided that we are overstimulated and it keeps us from reaching our full potential. so they get rid of so much  art, writings, etc and leave them with the 100 paintings, 100 songs, so on and so forth. they also match them with their mates and kill the citizens on their 70th birthdays. but there is an uprising and a love story involved. 

this is why you're fat: i downloaded this book while i was in tybee in june. i was out of books and i was also mad at myself for how i'd let all the weight i'd lost come right back. i quit reading it when i decided to try the fitness poynters plan. i went back and finished it when i realized that the third book in the crossed series wasn't out yet! it all made a lot of sense, but i didn't agree with everything in it. her meal plan is pretty good though. if you want it though, i'd recommend getting it in printed form vs. the digital copy. it's a book you'd need readily available and want to be able to flip through it. 

left behind & tribulation force: i am really enjoying this series. i'd started reading it a few years back [my mom had read them and recommended them] but honestly they scared me and i wasn't ready to read them. now i can't put them down but when i do it's mostly to spend more time reading the Bible. i know they're just one person's interpretation of the end of times, but i've really enjoyed them and they've helped me to become more focused on my walk with God. 

life::::

• my best friend got married last month! we traveled to ky for the beautiful ceremony which was in a vineyard. it was so wonderful to celebrate with friends that have become family over the years.
• we were able to drive up to cincinnati after the wedding and watch the reds play with brad's parents. they're in the playoffs so brad's pretty pumped. 
• i held a bridal shower at my house for another one of my friends that's getting married. it was the first thing like that i've ever hosted and i was pretty pleased with how it turned out. 
• i got to drive home and see my family and also my sweet aunt who is battling breast cancer. i always love time with the fam and it was especially great to see sherri. she's an amazing person who's fighting a battle right now. it would mean the world to me if you all would keep her in your prayers.
• brad took me to the pumpkin patch (my favorite fall activity)!

rear view mirror:::: august 2012

running:::: 
16 miles.... oh yeah, it was that bad! but honestly, running has not been my priority the past couple of months. my priority has been in the gym and i didn't have any races coming up, so i'm okay with that. september is the month that it changes though, i'm running a half on the 29th [it'll be #7 of 12 in 2012] so it's time to get the running bug again!

i also met another amazing person at lululemon last week, mara. i'm excited to meet up with her [not only because she's so awesome] but because she has a lot of great ideas about the asheville run community. her vision for the local run community is so in line with mine and hopefully we can get something together!

weight training::::
i just finished week 8 of my training plan! it's crazy, but i actually really enjoy it [well except for ab work.. some things never change!]. i like the way clean eating makes me feel, and the workouts make me feel really powerful! who knows, maybe i'll even be able to keep up with matthew at the spartan sprint next year [yeah right!].

reading::::

the virgin suicides - on my long list of older books that i wanted to read. glad i read it but it was just okay. a little weird but i mean, what did i expect?
the beach house - pretty typical jane green, everything ties up with a neat bow at the end.
cold mountain - really good and also very cool how a lot of the book takes place near where i live.
where we belong - i was really excited for this book, but it was just okay. i really felt like she ended the story just when it got really good. maybe she'll continue it later?
matched - young adult trilogy but i kept seeing it everywhere so when i saw it at the library i scooped it up. very easy to read but it's actually an interesting story. i'm reading book 2 now.

life::::
gearing up for my favorite time of year!! love the cooler weather, the football, the pumpkin patch and apple orchard! fall is really beautiful in the mountains, if you're thinking about visiting asheville, now's the best time in my opinion!

Rearview Mirror::: July 2012

running::::
july was not a good running month for me. first i had the firecracker 10k (aka the chaffing experiment) and second i had the xterra harbison half marathon (aka the longest 13.1 miles of my life). these were my first two races following my decision to register for the Asheville Marathon in March. needless to say, i was crushed. i also changed up my meal plan and i felt it made it so hard for me to run (might have been all i my head). i finished the month with 23 miles. holy crap.

weight training::::
during the second week of july i decided to make a radical change. i joined up with steve poynter of fitness poynters and he created a training and meal plan for me. steve worked with my brother a year or so ago and matthew has always raved about how great his plan worked for him. he personalizes the plan based on what you want to achieve (my goals are to lose fat and gain lean muscle). the training plan is pretty intensive, so i've been putting a huge amount of time in at the gym. i just finished week three and i'm very happy with the results so far.

reading::::
this month i read these books:

a book that was a lot about baseball but even more about life.  i  can't decide how i feel about it. it made me really sad. 

i've had this book on my to read list forever. i  ended up listening to it in the car and while i  found it to be a little frustrating, i ended up liking it a lot. 

really liked this one. chris kyle is a bad ass. it jumped around a lot, but was a good one. 

while i don't necessarily love some of his personal views, i still have a lot of respect for lance armstrong and find a lot of inspiration in his books. this one was no different. 

i finished the first two books of the maze runner trilogy and i'm  in the middle of the third now.  they're pretty good. a little out there, but good nonetheless and i love the characters. 

this book inspired me to start volunteering again. the salwen family decided to sell their home to move into one that was half the size and they donated the profit to the hunger project. slow in parts, but an inspiring story. 

life::::
i took some time off from the blog, i feel like my blogging is intertwined with my running and i already explained that one! for whatever reason, july was a hard month for me and while i'm pretty transparent on here, i just don't like putting all that negativity out there. but it's a new month and i'm already working to make it a better one!

if you don't already know, Suz and Allan are hosting a virtual race for a great cause, the Wounded Warrior Project. i can't describe the amount of respect and love i have for our military and i think the WWP does a great service. check out the details for the race here and there you can find a list of the amazing prizes here.

Rear View Mirror::: June 2012

running:::
i finished June strong with 52 miles. when i looked at my daily mile total on the 22nd i realized i'd only ran 28 miles so far. it was the smack in the face i needed to get going. honestly i don't know if this is just what happens in life or what but i feel like i turn around and then i realize i haven't ran in 4-5 days. it's crazy and i don't realize it. 


i haven't strictly followed a training plan since my first half and i have really enjoyed running when i want, how much i want. i've managed to keep a comfortable base that has allowed me to concentrate on weight training three times a week but also keep working towards my goal of 12 half marathons for the year.


i ran one half this month, downhill at dawn and it was a new PR for me!






weight training:::
i am still weight training three times weekly. this month i started following stage 1 of the New Rules of Lifting For Women. i am really enjoying the workouts, although i sometimes feel like i'm not doing enough. the authors mention this and encourage you to trust the program and not add to it. i'm trying to do that. i am continuing to run, which the author does not recommend in the first stage. 


reading::::
this month i finished two books:

the latest sookie stackhouse book came out in may and i've been saving it for an easy beach read. quick tangent:  i just got into these books last summer and i read them straight through. of course i was addicted and had to watch all the true blood episodes. now i'm so confused as to what's happened in the show vs. the books (the show just started back a few weeks ago too). this drives me crazy. end tangent. the book was kinda boring. 

i cannot even describe to you how amazing this book is. seriously, it's the first (non-running/workout) book i've recommended in a LONG time. the author has a wonderful way with words and the book is truly inspiring. basically, he does humanitarian work during his undergraduate and post grad work (he was a Rhodes scholar!) but realizes that you have to be willing to fight for what you believe in and he believed in helping and protecting others. so after he finished his PhD program at Oxford he enlists in the Navy and becomes a SEAL. i can't say enough about this book. read it and you'll understand. you'll highlight it and recommend it to everyone. 


weight:::
i'm just going to be honest... I literally just got back from a week of vacation and i have no idea how much i weigh. when i left i was sitting at -11 since January. we're going to go with that. i ate what i wanted and i'll get back to it this week (i also exercised more than i ever have on vacation so to me that's progress). i have joined up with Run With Jess to lose a marathon so hopefully that will provide me with the motivation i seem to have lost since the challenge at my gym has ended. 

life:::
i just got back from a family vacation in tybee island, georgia. it was an amazing week! brad and i and my family (mom, dad, brother, and brother's gf) all drove down on sunday and brad's fam (his mom and dad and brother and brother's gf) joined us on wednesday. i'll definitely do a post or two about the week, but i couldn't have asked for a better week. so great to see the fam, i miss them. 

Rearview Mirror: April 2012

running and training:  I'm not sure what the heck happened to my mileage this month (41 miles), but it plummeted. I think this was a weird month for me because I didn't have anything super challenging coming up. After the Spartan Sprint then the two halves in one weekend, it was hard to take training for the Pig seriously. For May I really hope to get my mileage back up in the 60+ range. 


This month I got three strength training workouts in each week. I was really happy with that and will definitely continue. I have fallen in love with strength training. I love feeling strong!


races:  The only race I did this month was on April 1st, the Knoxville Covenant Health Half Marathon. 

blogging:  If any of you are going to be in Cincinnati for the Flying Pig let me know if you'd like to meet up before the race or something! Also the blog makeover is coming up soon, right in time for my one year blogiversary!


reading: 

• Dune Road by Jane Green - definitely not my favorite book of hers. Boring, all over the place, and pretty predictable. I don't recommend it. 
• Fifty Shades of Grey series - I finished books 1 and 2. OMG. I had no idea what I was getting myself into! Definitely not the Hunger Games, but still fun to read. I'm in the middle of the last book now. 

weight loss journey:

So i hit the dreaded plateau this month. I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later... but YUCK. I don't feel like I'm close enough to my goal weight to hit the big P, but here I am. I ended up gaining a half a pound this month (-16 pounds total since January). I started the month well, but then gained and lost the same 5 pounds at least twice. I'm not going to lie, I'm FRUSTRATED. But I'm sticking with it. Hopefully I'll have a big loss next month!

have you ever hit a weight loss plateau? how did you get through it?

Rearview Mirror: March 2012

I have so much catching up to do but I can't seem to sit still long enough to write a coherent post! Hopefully I'll get around to writing about this weekend soon, but honestly I'm still trying to find the words to describe how amazing it was! It's a lot easier to just do my monthly review post instead.

So March madness...

running & training....I ran 64 miles this month! That's more than I've ran in any month since I started in April of last year. I'm so happy with this I can't even describe it! I haven't been following a strict running schedule since January and I've also been spending more time with weights than ever. I really thought my miles would suffer because of this but I'm really glad I got them in! I've been training at least twice a week since January and I'm going to try to log those workouts on DailyMile as well. I really like the feeling of accomplishment that I get looking back over it all.

races... I ran two races this month, the Spartan Sprint Carolinas and Run The Bluegrass Half Marathon. The Spartan race scared the crap out of me but it also challenged me and left me feeling very empowered. I've already signed up for 2013! The Run the Bluegrass was definitely the prettiest half marathon I've ever run.  It was a challenge also (hills, hills, and part 1 of my 2 races in 1 weekend) but as I'll get to in my review later, it ended up being a new PR!

blogging...I got to meet some amazing friends at the Run the Bluegrass, which was really great.

Coy from First in Philly. Seriously if you don't read her blog you're missing out! Every post makes me laugh!  She rocked out a new PR while running 'naked'!!!

Bobbie from Journey in Running.  She ran the race with a group of friends and they killed it!  Funny story, I also got to meet Bobbie's mom, Ruby, who was my sock swap partner this past Christmas! 

It was so nice to put faces and voices with these women! I was also supposed to meet up with Andrea from Bluegrass TriChick but unfortunately we missed each other after the race, I hope to meet her soon!

I am also in the process of getting a blog makeover! That's why it looks so plain right now, but hopefully over the next month  that'll change!

reading...I did some very challenging reading this month. I read 'Assholes Finish First' by Tucker Max and then re-read the first two Hunger Games books to get ready for the movie. AFF wasn't as good as Max's first book (I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell) but it was pretty funny nonetheless. Very similar to Chelsea Handler's books.

movies... I saw the Hunger Games twice because I'm crazy. We also saw Project X (it was okay) and 21 Jump Street (hilarious).

weight loss journey... I had another pretty successful month. I lost 4.5 pounds, making my total loss since January 16.5 pounds! I definitely started to plateau this month but I tried not to let it get me down. I'm still right along with my goal of losing 5 pounds per month and I'm just going to keep at it. I added a new tab to the top of my page (the weigh it is) so that's there if you ever want to check it out.

Rear View Mirror: February 2012

I ran 54 miles this month, up 9 miles from last month. I'm hoping to get up to around 65 for next month and stick with that as an average for a while. I ran one race this month, the Strawberry Plains Half Marathon, where I got a new half mary PR!!!


I read two books this month:
Through My Eyes (Tim Tebow) - What a great book. I'm definitely no Florida Gator but I'm a big Tebow fan. He's fun to cheer for (and fun to look at!) and I love the example he's setting for kids today. It was fun to read about his upbringing and family and a lot of his opinions were really insightful. I'd definitely recommend this book!


The Best of Me (Nicholas Sparks) - I love me some NS books but this one was a little much for me. I thought it was depressing and too predictable. I don't want to spoil it for you if you want to read it, but I'm definitely glad I just bought it on my Kindle vs. hardback. 




I saw four movies this month:  Safe House, Act of Valor, This Means War, and the Vow. Act of Valor and Safe House were my faves. Didn't like the Vow and This Means War was just okay. 


I lost 7 pounds this month, making my total 12 pounds lost since Jan 1st!! Pretty pumped about this and hope to keep cruising along!




What did you do this month that you're proud of?

Rear View Mirror: January 2012

I ran 45 miles this month. Considering I was sidelined with shingles and bronchitis for the first week and a half, I consider this to be a great big accomplishment. I didn't race any this month and I only ran outside twice. 


I finished reading 2 books this month (The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest). Really enjoyed this series. 


Oddly, I only saw two movies at the theater:  Haywire and One For The Money. 


I got to go see my mom and have dinner with her one night and our friends from KY (Becca and Sam) got to come visit for a weekend. 


I have become obsessed with some new TV shows:  Big Bang Theory and Gossip Girl. 


I lost 5 pounds this month!!! 






Did you read any good books this month?