Where did the summer go?!

I can not believe that I go back to work on Monday.  I have been in three days this week getting set-up so that I won't feel as overwhelmed sitting through meetings next week. Our first official week back allows for some time in the classroom and planning but is also filled with meetings, meetings and more meetings! Which means I spend most of those meetings thinking about the 1,000,000 other things I need to be doing! I have taken on a lot of extra responsibilities at school this year including team leader, IST co-chair, mentoring, student teachers, and oh yea...teaching! With all of that being said, I know that this is also a time of year for me where I tend to slack off on exercising and eating right because I am busy and overwhelmed and tired from settling back into days filled with chaos after having weeks of relaxation. So...I decided to bite the bullet and I signed up for a 90 Day Team Beachbody challenge! My very own Chalean Extreme DVD set came yesterday with my first month of Shakeology :)! I have a Team Beachbody coach to check-in with and a group that I am a part of to help hold me accountable. I hoping this will help me get through my Fall slump and settle into a routine of getting up at 5.30. Blah...I used to swear that I would never get up before 6.00. 6.00 is OK but 5.59...too early! But I know how easily I will be able to convince myself to sit on the couch and do nothing when I am getting home from tutoring at 7.00 at night. By the time I ate dinner, it would be 8.00 and if I exercise at 8.00, I will be awake until midnight. See I am convincing myself out of it before I even have to do it...haha! I am actually planning to start the 90 Day challenge on Saturday just so I can go through one of the workouts before 5.30 on Monday morning! I am also hoping with my new routine to be able to get back into blogging and reporting on here how I have been doing with the 90 Day Challenge!!

Update on the 1/2 marathon training...I'm still running but without as much pressure because I am unable to sign up for any races in the Fall because of weddings, bachelorettes and bridal showers. I originally didn't have anything the weekend of the Baltimore Half but now do so unfortunately, I will not be able to run it so I have shelved that goal for now :) Maybe I'll give the Frederick Half a whirl in the Spring :)!

Off for a fun-filled day of shopping with my Mom and Sister at the outlets!!!

Happy Thursday :)

Emily

13.1 Training

I officially began training for a half marathon that I probably won't be able to run on Sunday. I downloaded an app and it trains using a run/walk method. So far I'm liking it. The only thing I'm not liking is it's EVERY DAY except 1 day is a rest day. 2 days are cross training. I have been having issues with not pushing myself too hard on the cross training days. This morning I took Libby for the run/walk and she wasn't having it so it turned into a fast 45 minute walk. She isn't a running dog. She continues to prove this to me every time I think I'll try to kill two birds with one stone. I am OK with doing today's workout as a fast walk because yesterday was only supposed to be 30 minutes of cross training and instead hubby and I went for an hour long bike ride. I don't want to push myself too hard at the beginning. I may have a bachelorette party the day of the half so I may not be able to do it but I felt like training for it would at least keep me motivated to do something this summer. So far I haven't been stressed about how far I am going just trying to go. For whatever reason I have been feeling run-down this week. There is really no excuse for this since it's summer and I'm not working but I have been very unmotivated and feeling incredibly lazy. Hoping next week will be better.

Yesterday was the 4th. I went to a friends house then to my parents house. I ate too much. I have a love/hate relationship with cookouts. Open food tables is a danger zone for me. I always end up eating more than I intend to and then I get mad at myself. I did OK yesterday but still ate more than I would have on a normal Wednesday. Cookouts are definitely something that I need to work on. They are beginning to stress me out like eating out stresses me out. It can just be so hard to make the right choices when you are being so tempted. And I do all of the tricks that are recommended like drink a big bottle of water (I drink a lot of water all of the time...so this one doesn't really work), eat something healthy and high in protein before going (doesn't seem to work...I'll still eat to the point of uncomfortable) and I've tried various other things but nothing seems to work :(. Suggestions are welcome on how to not overeat at cookouts :)!

Here is a pic of my favorite little man on his first holiday!

Happy Thursday :)

Emily

Summer Days :)

Today I got out of bed to 65*, breezy weather! Woohoo! Ran 3.5 miles in a little under 30 minutes not very fast but I was definitely enjoying the weather! I came home and dined on a Kashi Peanut bar, drank some coffee then headed up to sister's! I enjoyed the day staring at my nephew and being the most wonderful Aunt I know how to be :)! Went to the grocery store and stocked up on some Kashi cereal, Kashi bars and various things to try and make some green smoothies. Very mixed emotions regarding these green smoothies...I just don't know how I'm not going to be able to taste the spinach. But I'll give a go. I used it as an excuse to buy myself one of those plastic cups with a straw :) Came home from there and walked with my next door neighbor. We think we did a 3.5 mile walk around the neighborhood while enjoying this amazing weather! I love getting in exercise while enjoying myself! Trying pizza on the grill for dinner tonight. I bought a whole wheat pizza crust from the grocery store, layered it with diced tomatoes mixed with green pepper and onion and mozzarella cheese! Definitely looking forward to seeing how this turns out :) Sweet potato fries on the side. Yum! Off to enjoy that fun now!!!

Emily

Busy Life

Where to begin. In the past week and a half I have run a 10 miler, became an Aunt, worked some, worked out less and basically have no idea what I did the rest of the time. So let's back track to the 10 miler.

I signed up for the 10 miler before school was over and thought it sounded wonderful. As Saturday (6/16) approached, I got more and more nervous. That whole week leading up to it some muscle in my thigh was driving me crazy so I was nervous to run but then I was nervous to not run. Being the inner lazy girl that I am...I convinced myself resting it would be good for it and didn't do much besides walk that week. By the time Friday rolled around, I was trying to find ways to induce labor for my sister so I wouldn't have to do it. She was having contractions that Friday afternoon and I thought I had found my golden ticket but then the contractions stopped. By the time Sat at 5 am rolled around...I knew I had to do it! I hadn't slept well the night before. Libby barked the whole night and it was H.O.T in my bedroom (and Megan...I mean hot as in temperature...get your mind out of the gutter). I got up...ate my Cliff bar and headed on my way. I was so nervous. I knew that I would finish but I didn't want to take forever. It took minutes into the race before I got into my head. I started out wanting to finish then I wanted a decent time. Then I really wanted to beat 1.30 which I did! This girl finished her first 10 miler in (drumroll please) 1 hour and 29 minutes!!!!! My average pace was 8:59. Had it down to like 8:30 at one point but those last two miles were s   lllll   oooo   wwwww miles! But I did it and I maybe wouldn't mind doing it again!

Sadly though I didn't sleep much Friday and then Saturday night I slept 0 hours because we were awaiting the arrival of the most precious baby boy to be born into this world! That's right...1 week late we welcomed Scott Alan into our family! All 9.1 lbs of him :) My sister did great and is doing great! She is so strong and adjusting to Mommyhood quite well! I haven't missed a day of the sweeties life yet! I love how close we live to each other! I am constantly finding an excuse to pop up just for a few precious moments of snuggles! Can't believe the little guy is already over a week old! Crazy how time flies!

After Scott arrived, time seemed to fly. I have found time to run to Target like 600 times but can't seem to manage to clean a single toilet. ha. priorities. I would just rather buy new toilets then clean the ones I have ;)! I leave you with all of this chaos and hope that I can find the balance to begin posting regularly and not just to update on my life but about my daily life...eating and exercising because I do do both :)

Emily

What happened to Me?

I started this blog out so ready to go and I did great the first few weeks...then life happened. The end of school, one of my best friend's wedding, waiting for my sister to pop, etc. etc. But I'm back! With nothing but time on my hands. Aside from an online grad class and 6 hours of tutoring a week, I have no commitments and I couldn't be happier! Hubby and I have actually eaten dinner together every night this week at a time that is appropriate to eat dinner! The weather has been so amazing that we ate on the deck the past two nights and tonight we even got in a walk with our cute, lovebug Libby after dinner :) Life in the summer is grand! I have plenty of time for exercise now and I am super happy about that. I am running my first 10 miler on Sat (assuming Baby T doesn't make his/her grand appearance @ the time of the race)! I am super nervous but super excited at the same time! I tried to take it easy this week but I am nervous because my running the last week of school was lame because I was so busy and preoccupied! Wish me luck on Saturday! I will be sure to give a post-race report :)! Scroll for pics from the wedding and the last day of school :)



We clean up well ;)



We got a workout trying to avoid being photo bombed!

Groom Stalkers ;)

Love working with these women! It is mandatory to take a picture of the team in this spot on the last day...I wonder whose crazy need that is ;)


And I will leave you with this pic to sum up the amount of fun I had at the wedding :)

Life has been good but hectic and I am glad to be able to spend more time dedicating myself to my blog and my various other goals! Happy Summer!

Emily

Random Thoughts while Running

I have learned some things about running over the past few days!
#1: It's never a good idea to stuff your face with granola and drink a bottle of water and then head out for a 3 mi jaunt. Cramping will happen.

#2: Running in the evening is far more difficult than running first thing in the morning...c'mon summer!!!

#3: Faster songs make running easier. I never remember any of the songs I hear when running though...

#4: I hate getting out of my neighborhood. There is no way to avoid beginning on a hill.

#5: Beginning on a hill will make the rest of the run difficult.

#6: Running on flat ground is WAY easier than running up and downs hills.

#7: I need new shoes.

#8: Stress makes running more enjoyable :)

#9: This was not intended to be a running blog but that all I seem to blog about.

#10: I needed a #10 because I didn't like the idea of ending on 9.

3 miles today!

Happy Wednesday :)

Running in a Thunderstorm....not a good idea!

So while sitting at tutoring...I noticed it getting darker and darker but I hadn't packed clothes so going to the gym wasn't in my plans for the evening. I wanted to come home and get in a quick run for the Runner's World Challenge. I wasn't hoping for much mileage tonight since my body feels like it's a Monday and I never get in much on Monday's. I decided as  I was driving home that if it hadn't started raining by the time I got home then I would go to the municipal park and run there so my car would be close by. I got home and shoveled in some Love Grown granola, changed my clothes and headed over to the park. It was getting really dark at this point but hadn't started to rain yet. 1.5 times around is a mile so I was hoping to squeeze that in. I got about 3/4 of the way around and then the rain hit. At first, I thought I could do it but then it started raining really hard. It wasn't worth the risk of my iPhone getting ruined in the rain. I hopped in my car but was unsatisfied with the knowledge that I wasn't going to get in a full mile on the 2nd day of the challenge. I wasn't liking the idea of driving the rest of the way to gym, sprinting in there only to do another mile or so and then leave. Fortunately, a friend lives nearby and has a treadmill so...I sent her a text and she responded right away! I got to chat with her while running an additional mile on her treadmill which allowed me to get in 1.7 mi for the day. Not much but better than it would've been had I let the rain keep me inside!!! Happy Tuesday :)