Mission Accomplished

Well, I did it! I finished my very first half marathon and aside from all the aches and pains I am feeling today, including the feeling that I have completely thrashed every muscle in my lower body, I feel happy!

I should tell you, it was the most physically and mentally challenging thing I have ever done, but also incredibly rewarding! I learned a lot that will most certainly help me do even better next time.

And by the way, as I was running yesterday (at about mile 8 or 9), I honestly thought to myself, "I must be absolutely insane to want to do this again!". I had serious doubts I would even want to train for a full, but once it was all said and done and my "runners high" kicked in, I quickly realized that the sense of accomplishment that comes with crossing the finish line is so worth the pain and hard work it takes to get there!

Thanks for all of your sweet comments and support!

Happy Running

Happy Friday! Any fun plans for this weekend?

I am running my first half marathon this Sunday! Thank goodness Sunday is shaping up to be a beautiful 72 degrees! And not to mention I have my new Lululemon running crops for race day (I'm obsessed!). I'm getting so excited and hoping this race will continue to motivate my training for the full marathon in July!

And Sunday evening we will be celebrating Chris' best friend, Brads birthday at Buca di Beppo. Looking forward to a great few days!

Have a lovely weekend!

A Friendly Distance?

As some of you know, I am currently training for a half marathon this April (and possibly a full in July). While I am thoroughly enjoyed the training process, I've also been chewing on something I read recently. I am following Hal Higdon's training program and on his website he mentions that a half marathon is a "friendly" distance for a runner. At first I laughed, because as much as I love fitness, running has never really been my thing (until now anyway!). But I kept asking myself, at what point does one feel like 13.1 miles is a "friendly" distance? Because let me tell you, very rarely have I looked back on a run and called it friendly...

Until recently, that is. Coming off a pretty tough and busy week (read: shorting myself on a few workouts!) , I thought my long run was going to be awful! But I was pleasantly surprised when I completed it and afterward found myself actually saying the words, "That was a friendly run!". Who knew?!

And just like that I am totally encouraged that when I complete my half marathon in a mere 7 weeks, maybe I too will be calling it a friendly distance. Let's hope!

Fall Frenzy

Good morning and Happy September (the official month of the beginning of FALL!). I've got so much to talk about and very little time to talk about it...never a happy combination! I think after today things may slow down (fingers crossed!!).

Tonight I start training a friend of mine and I'm super excited about it! You should have seen me the past several days experimenting with new exercises and blasting loud music:) The distraction of personal training (including studying) is honestly getting me through these long days.

Funny story: because I knew I'd be really busy yesterday I planned a crock pot chicken and barley stew for dinner. Perfect way to save me time, right? Well I completely forgot about it until I walked in the house last night and inhaled the amazing aroma of my already finished dinner! It was such a giant relief! Silly that I forgot I put it together that morning. Guess that's what happens when you have a lot on your mind. It was a clean eating recipe and my husband couldn't stop going on about how tasty it was:) I'm so looking forward to the leftovers for lunch!!

Everyone wins when an easy dinner turns into an easy lunch, making me a very happy girl! Can I get an Amen?!

And did I already say we are 21 days from FALL?! I'm so giddy and already planning our wine tasting trip to Amador County and our annual trip to Apple Hill! And how could I forget our trip to see my adorable siblings in October?!

Wishing you a glorious day!

And So It Begins!

I just finished my first study session and I feel great! Although my next six weeks or so will be very full, it is so nice to look forward to this at the end of the day! Who knew someone could get so excited about the acromium process or the anterosuperior iliac spine? Well actually, I did, but it's kind of my little secret:) Wow I'm excited to re-familiarize myself with this terminology again! The first few chapters were just basic review of anatomy and physiology, but Wednesday I get to read about Biomechanics:( Not exactly my strong point, but that's why I'm studying, right?! Just wanted to share as I begin this six week journey:)

Good night and pleasant dreams!

Since I've Been Gone

Hi friends! I'm back from a much needed and well, necessary blogging break. The truth is, I've missed it!

The last several days have been packed, mostly with work, and it doesn't feel like anything will be slowing down soon! This week I will be working some overtime, which is good and bad. But enough with the boring stuff!

I do have some very exciting news to share! I just paid for my ACSM personal training certification exam!! My current certification is not one I'm really impressed with and I finally decided to just get the one I really want! I am feeling so inspired to start training again:) It will definitely be a nice distraction from my current full time job! This will hopefully be the beginning of a very nice transition to doing something I am passionate about again:) Yay!

Last week was pretty much a blur of work, workouts, errands and just trying to get to the weekend. Not a feeling I am very fond of! Chris knew I had been feeling tired and just plain worn out so he surprised me with a really fun date Friday night to dinner at Bella Bru Cafe, where they had live music on the patio! It was exactly what the doctor ordered! We listened to Blues while we enjoyed a delicious meal:)

So here we are, it's Sunday night and I'm trying to prepare myself for another hectic week. Although, I am a little more ahead of the game than I was last week. Because my Aunt was here last week and we spent a lot of time with my family, I wasn't really home to catch up on laundry, grocery shopping, and cleaning, which made this week feel a bit more chaotic. Not that I'm complaining, as we has such a great time with my Aunt!! But now that I've had a whole weekend to catch up, I say "Bring it on Monday!".

Okay, my hubby just brought in my hot tea and reminded me of the time, which means we should probably decide on the movie we're going to watch before I turn into a pumpkin:)

I'll leave you with some photos of the week...

Our delicious wild mushroom bruschetta appetizer at Bella Bru!


Relaxed as can be with his 'Down Town Brown' :)


Look at that Goodness of Tiramisu!


It deserves it's own picture:)


I was out shopping this afternoon and snagged these cute plum colored flats for only $4.90!! Oh how I love good sales:)


I also made a trip to Trader Joe's and picked up some favorite goodies of ours:) This Pesto Torta is oh so good!


And so are these scrumptious treats...dark chocolate covered espresso beans and almond coconut chocolates:)


And finally, their Vodka past sauce...mmm, mmm good!



Stay tuned, I've got some good posts for the week!

Mildly Obsessed

I have found a new reason to love Sunday nights: CSI Miami marathons! It truly is an obsession. I can seriously watch 4 episodes in a row and I'm not even a big tv watcher! It may be that I am trying to savor every last drop of the weekend, but I just can't get enough!


Uh oh, I'm becoming more and more like my husband as the months pass:)And in case you were counting, Saturday marked 9 months. Can you believe it? I can't. We are coming up on a year! Yay, more things to celebrate!! Crazy wonderful!

Also, Sunday was the beggining of my fourth week of training. I am feeling so good and trying to convince my friend, Parris, to train for the marathon with me! It would be awesome to have someone to do this with:)

As I was running on Sunday afternoon I kept thinking of a saying I used to hear from a group fitness instructor I took classes with. He would always say, "Sweat is just calories running scared!". Don't you just love that? It always makes me smile and push just a little bit harder when I picture that:)