Life lately- July 2016

Ive been blogging a lot about Europe lately and am not even close to done, but I wanted to update the blog on what we've been up to lately for the last two months.

A lot of our time thees last two months has been spent working hard at our jobs, which is boring, but essential.

Fun date planned by my husband, flowers, picnic and walking around one of our favorite neighborhoods. 

Lots of boating and crying that these people left us for med school! 

Birthday dinner with these girls. Me and Jamie had matched twice in one day.... we are the same person. 

We also spent 3 weeks getting our yard in! So many friends and family have helped us get this done, we are so grateful for everyones help! You will all be invited over for dinner when its done- one more weekend to come extending our patio out! Also can't wait for our fence- fences make good neighbors ;)

4th of July weekend was a blast! We went boating Friday Night, did stadium of fire Saturday night, had my family and grandparents over for dinner at our house sunday night, did a family tennis tournament Monday afternoon, and dinner and fireworks with Travis' family Monday night! It was an action packed weekend and so much fun!

Lots of running and bike rides to train for my half marathon in september- not pictured- several 5pm after work runs with megan, and lots of complaining from me about the temperature.

My journey to running

My journey to becoming a runner is kind of odd. I didn't just love running from the outset. In fact, I really hated it. I would occasionally go on runs with my mom in high school and after abut a mile id head home cuz I couldn't take much more than that.

I didn't get into it until I had friends that were enthusiastic about running half marathons, and encouraged me to try it. At this point in my life, the longest I had ever run was probably a mile and a half and it wasn't fast. haha

My friends Xan and Megan got me to jump on the bandwagon. We ran together 3-5 times a week when training for my first half. It was honestly a blast, and I looked forward to our runs (almost) everyday.

It was a time to talk about life and figure out where we were going. To be honest I don't remember much running those couple months. Which is why this method worked for me. I trained without really feeling like I was training!

Plus I got two incredible best friends that I really don't think I would have become so close with without running. Ive been on trips with these girls and they were in my wedding. I love them so much!

Now I'm 3 halfs in and still loving the way running makes me feel. I still run with my friend Megan when we can, but life has gotten way crazy for both of us with full-time jobs, so its not quite as awesome as when we had so much free time back in the college days.

Those moments when I realize I am exercise crazy

1. Running in 40 degree's and pouring rain and loving it.

2. Waking up at 6 am on a work day to go to a spin class.

3. Using my free time to attend some kind of exercise class after work instead of watching tv.

4. Waking up early for yoga on a saturday.

5. Getting new long yoga pants and a sweatshirt from my work and my first thought being, "I want to try these out running outside in the cold."

I don't know when I became this crazy person, but here we are. Its even worse now that I work full-time sitting at a computer 50+hours a week. My body craves exercise!!!

Also, I loved these treadmill tips from HRG this week!

My Thanksgiving Half

I haven't reported on my half yet, which is a shame.

I am so glad I ran the thanksgiving half. It was beautiful weather, a beautiful course, and so much fun! I'll be honest it had its hard parts, but for the most part it was wonderful.

Unfortunately my mom dropped out that morning, but my wonderful husband ran it with me.

The first 6 or so miles of the race were tough. I wasn't feeling great, and it was difficult to keep running and not give up and walk. At about mid 5, Travis left me because my pace was hurting his knees. It actually helped for him to leave me, because I focused more on what felt good to me.

At about mile 9 I really hit my stride. I started running harder and faster, and it went by a lot quicker. about the last mile I was struggling to find the energy to continue, so I switched my playlist to christmas and it got my spirits up :)

I finished the race strong and less than 7 minutes before Travis. Eventhough Travis didn't train at all and was coming off an injury it still made me proud to be that close, I mean he's a foot taller than me so his stride is so much longer than mine.

The minute I found Travis again he said oh my gosh that was HORRIBLE. haha pretty sure he will never run one with me again, but I was happy to have the one experience once. He was a pretty good sport about the whole thing.

We immediately ran to the food table and gobbled down multiple rolls and hot chocolate. We walked around for a bit to keep away the soreness from immediately coming on.

I am so proud of myself for running my third half marathon and once again, not slowing down to a walk. Running is such a mind game for me. If I tell myself I refuse to walk I can make it 13.1 miles without walking. During training I could barely go 2 miles without walking, I just don't have the same drive during training.

My after Half workout plan

When I am training for a half, I almost exclusively run, mostly because I feel more confident that way and I don't have 2 hours a day to exercise.

During the "off season" I like to switch it up.

Here are my plans post half:

Monday- 25 minutes running/15 minutes weights
Tuesday- Evening Yoga
Wednesday- Evening Yoga
Thursday-25 minutes running/15 minutes weights
Friday- Afternoon yoga
Saturday- Run/yoga if I can get it in

Now lets be honest, this isn't going to happen every week, but I love working out everyday and I love having goals. Being healthy is super important to me. I'm a huge believer that we create habits when we are young that will either help or hurt us throughout the rest of our lives.

Exercising is one goal I will always focus on because it makes you feel good, gives you endorphins (to make you happy and happy people just don't kill their husbands-Legally Blonde), and wards off disease, I mean how could I say no to that?

Say hello to my new running shoes

I am beyond excited to finally have new shoes that should help me run better and without pain! Turns out when you get into serious running shoes they aren't quite as cute (i've been nike loyal for years, but they don't cut it anymore). I am hoping they help me succeed in my Half and my future running goals.

These shoes were also kind of expensive, but the great thing about Brooks Shoes is that they have a 30 day satisfaction guarantee. Meaning you can actually run on them for a month and if they aren't working out you can return them/exchange them, no questions asked. Thats kind of what sold us.

I have only like 2 weeks left before the half, and I am kind of nervous after basically 3 weeks of down time.

Time to hit the pavement hard these last two weeks and really dedicate myself.

What are your go to running shoes?

My fav exercise clothes

Since I have been been doing some type of exercise 5-6 days a week i feel like I spend more time in my work out clothes than anything else. Which I am good with, they are more comfortable than regular clothes anyways, and I am becoming quite obsessed with some different brands and styles.

Nike shoes: I got these beauties for my birthday, and while I just did a strike analysis test and found out that I shouldn't run in them anymore because I over pronate and they aren't stable enough, I still love them and will wear them to other exercise.

Albion fit: Their workout clothes and swim is so comfy and beautiful! I have both of these pieces and wear them every week.

Fabletics: this is a new one for me. Its a workout line started by jennifer hudson. Its a monthly subscription, which you can skip or buy a full outfit each month. The clothes are well made and so soft, Ive never worn such comfy yoga pants!!! They are incredibly cheap since you become a VIP member (monthly subscription) with your first purchase ($30 for this tank, these pants, and a great sports bra). You can skip purchasing as many months in a row as you want.

I almost can't help buying new stuff because having cute/comfortable clothes makes it even easier to get out and run or head over to a yoga class.

Listening to your body during training

Last weekend I ran hard and my ankle started hurting. I cut my run in half because i didn't want to hurt it. I then took the next week off from running. going for more walks and still doing yoga. I think I am going to have to take this week off too. I ran on saturday with my mom and my shins seemed to start hurting too... I don't know whats going on, but sometimes you need to listen to your body and take some time off.

Travis thinks it may be something to do with my shoes not supporting the arch in my foot, so I am going to look into that before the week is over. Hopefully thats the problem because I really want to be able to run my half.

Yoga lover

So its official. I am yoga's biggest fan.

I started thinking about getting a yoga membership when a friend asked me if I could possibly attend a friday class around 4:30. I brushed it off saying I probably couldn't get off work that early consistently (LIE for no reason). Then after a couple weeks I was like what am I doing I an get off early and could get great use out of the lunch hour classes too.

The awesome thing is that my work just barely started offering a hugely discounted yoga pass to the same studio and it literally takes me 5 minutes to walk to from my office. SCORE.

Last friday I did my first class. It literally kicked my butt. My whole body was sore for 5 days. I can't remember the last time I was that sore. But it was incredibly satisfying. Tonight I went to another class that was much more gentle and all about relaxation (let me tell you, I need that in my life).

I keep trying to think of more classes I should try/fit in. I LOVE IT.

Yoga is going to be a great cross training activity for my half. I am seriously so in love with the classes at 3B yoga. There is so much more motivation to push myself in a class as opposed to watching a tape or something.

Also, yoga clothes are the cutest and I want to buy everything from Albion Fit. Luckily I am working and event at their store in city creek for The Shine Project on Saturday so i'll probably get some discounts!! :) seriously dream collaboration.

Namaste. 

My fit bit stats

my big birthday present last week was a Fitbit. It's awesome. It tracks your steps, active minutes, distance, sleep and you can also track things like how much water you are drinking throughout the day.

Since I a training for another half marathon and want to be healthy in general this was a great gift for me. It has also made me a lot more aware of how much I sit during the day and some of my unhealthy habits.

Here are my stats from the last week:

Monday- Steps: 10,866, Active minutes: 63, Sleep: 7 hours and 7 minutes, Water: 74 oz
Tuesday- Steps: 14,722, Active minutes: 64, Sleep: 7 hours and 39 minutes, Water: 41 oz
Wednesday- Steps: 9,537, Active minutes: 42, Sleep: 8 hours and 11 minutes, Water: 58 oz
Thursday- Steps: 8,436, Active minutes: 42, Sleep: 7 hours and 42 minutes, Water: 49 oz
Friday- Steps: 6,624, Active minutes: 12, Sleep: 7 hours and 19 minutes, Water: 51 oz
Saturday- Steps: 13,160 Active minutes: 46, Sleep: 7 hours and 45 minutes, Water: not logged
Sunday- Steps: 3,005, Active minutes: 4, Sleep: 8 hours and 21 minutes, Water: not logged

I only made it to my goal of 10,000 steps 3 days this week. My new goal is to make that no matter what, which means I will be going on a lot of walks after work!!

I also want to make sure I am getting at least 8 hours of sleep which means I need to be in bed at 10pm because Travis and I always talk for at least a half hour and sometimes more.

If I see some improvements this week I'll make some new goals!

I started a little running group

Since I am training for a half marathon I have to be running 5 days a week, and its hard for me to run by myself. Especially when I need to run, which is in the morning.

I decided it would be fun to start a running group with some people in my ward because I have been wanting to make some new friends. We've done it twice this week and its been a blast!!! I love having a running buddy and getting to know some new girls in our ward.

One of the girls even introduced me to an awesome trail that is right by our houses that I hadn't noticed! way better than running in the streets or on the broken sidewalks!

I also feel great at work after I've run, since I sit at a computer all day. I really hope this continues, because it makes my day that much better.

Runnin with my Boy!

We found this gem on our run tonight. Cute little bridge and a little house with the coolest eating area almost hanging over the river (not sure how safe it is).

I am loving my half training. I have 18 weeks to be in the best shape to beat my PR (which I need to look up). I even convinced my mom and sister to run it with us. So basically my evil plan of getting my whole family healthy is working! :) 

My husband has always insisted that he doesn't enjoy running with me (apparently I talk to much and take too many breaks) so we have only gone together twice in the last year. but we are going to change that attitude cuz last nights run was SO MUCH FUN!! I just love being around that guy, talking and laughing with him. The time also went by really fast because of this, and when you are just starting to get back into running you need that. 

At the end of our run Travis was like, "man you know your running shoes were dirty when they are cleaner at the end of your run than they were at the beginning." hahaha

Oh yeah, and this happened, its official!!

Miles this week: 8.5

Miles this Year: 56

Redneck Air Conditioning

I got these cute photo decals from paperculture.com not only do they have cute stuff like this but they plant a tree for every order on their site! Cool Huh? I found them on Groupon and it was so fun to decide which 16 photos I wanted to document the last year of life. I decided not to include any wedding pictures since those are EVERYWHERE in our house already. 

After 3-4 years of service it is time to retire my running shoes. I bought these back when I had ZERO money but wanted to start running more. They are super cheap nike's, but they did the trick. I managed to train for and run 2 half marathons. Planning on getting some new ones on my shopping/wicked weekend with my mom and sister!

Also, we have officially gone hillbilly. This is our reaction to no air conditioning. Looking up crazy DIY solutions. haha but it works great.