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