Tiny Thunder Running

At the beginning of the month I had my first run-date with my friend Amanda. Our story is a somewhat odd one being that we met through a common client while she worked at a county MHMR (now, MHIDD, thanks political correctness) while I worked at a local provider called CPARC (which I believe is still not politically correct as it stands for Cumberland Perry Assoc for retarded Citizens). Anyway. So after our last run we decided to plan for another get together at the end of the month. Today was the day. The hot, humid, DAY. More humid than hot. But seriously. I had decided we would run down to the river, run  along the river and then make our way back up. I guess I should have clocked this run a little more before, because she wanted to go 5+ and we sure did the + haha. 7 miles clocked as we ran up to the door. In my defense I am notoriously terrible at judging distances. OOPS! I had run this course (kind of) a few times previously, but didn't remember exactly how many mile...

Life has been pretty busy again since Thursday. Friday night I enjoyed some scrapbooking time (my other hobby love) and then got up early to run with team in training for the first time since my 10k back in April.  I am not running anything for TNT anytime soon but they still encourage "Alumni" to come back out- I did just that. As you can see..... there was QUITE the MOB that came out Saturday to run It was great to see familiar faces - two in particular- Nate who blogs over at  Wags the Runner  and Mandie who both were training for spring runs when I was.  It is amazing how much you miss seeing certain faces and catching up with the friends that are TNT family. Anyway, so Mandie and I caught up over 7 miles of hot sweaty running.  It wasn't always easy, but it was totally worth it and a good time I haven't been good at taking pictures lately, but this is a pic from after tonights crazy 3 miles in very hot and humid conditions. It didn't make it ...

I was serious when I said I am trying to stick to a treadmill routine, once per week, preferably Thursday. Don't ask why, I like the sound of "treadmill Thursday" and it works for me. via Either way.. here's this week's story. I was up at 6:45am this morning (pretty early for me!!) to head to take some kiddos I babysit for from their home to their school summer camp which is literally 2 minutes from my home. I was at their house by 7:40am and there were dropped off about 1 hour later. Being pretty exhausted, I really was second guessing my plan for the rest of my morning before work.  Last night I had packed my bag with shower supplies and clothes for work. The plan was to go do my Thursday treadmill workout at the gym at work, shower, then head upstairs for my shift. I was really questioning this plan... but made a protein shake, loaded myself back in the car and headed to my work building. Moral of the story? I was glad I did. It was a great wor...

Last week got skipped because I was off work Tuesday and Wednesday and both realized too late Thursday was in fact Thursday.. and also as mentioned yesterday, I didn't really care to sit and write much last week. Where am I going with this? This week I am going to switch it up and a little last minute too because of  a message sent to me Wednesday afternoon over facebook chat on my personal account. The irony was not lost on me, that just yesterday I posted this next quote-ism on my personal facebook page as well as the one I have for this blog So I guess really the only thing I want to make sure everyone takes "home" with them is this- Whether you realize it or not.. want to or not.. you are probably inspiring others. We all take our own paths to fitness and leading a health lifestyle. Some started out being overweight, out of shape, and with lots of obstacles and challenges. Others of us may have kind of drifted in and out of shape over the years, but w...

Ever since the Monday after my  Glow Run  and running with my friend, I had a weird pain on the outside top edge of my foot. I would get it loosened up and then it would feel a little better... until I sat down for too long, or ya know, went to bed and woke up the next morning. About a week and a half later (last Thursday), it finally felt better!! I was so excited!! I went for a run Thursday, Friday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. I felt like a new woman... no seriously, I did. It was so weird. Thursday was treadmill day and I ran 3 miles on the treadmill and another 1 mile on the elliptical. Friday I ran 3.1, Sunday 3.26, Monday 4.02, and Tuesday night a whopping 5.23.  I would say I am feeling better :) One view from a "new" park I ran to. I say "new" because it is a well known park in the area, I have been past it before, but never run to and in!! My heart was so happy looking out over the river.  Shot from another area of the park.  The runner an...

Every time I went to the grocery store, I pondered buying coconut water but didn’t know where to start.  I saw ones with pulp and natural. I had no idea what that means! And I didn’t want to spend the money and then hate it (pretty common for me). So when the opportunity came up for free samples through being a Sweat Pink Ambassador, I jumped on it!! I was not compensated for this review other than being sent the products for free. And here are my thoughts on what the lovely folks @ Zola sent me. I totally didn’t even know when it was coming but saw other SPAs getting theirs and low and behold mine arrived. I opened up the box and was excited to see this: (instagram)   (real camera.. much better)   Inside were bright green sunglasses, two coconut waters (one with pulp, one without) and a Pomegranate/Acai juice. I have finally just tried all three so I wanted to share my thoughts. First, I tried the coconut water without pulp. Definite...

Hope you are all having a great week and if you need inspiration, it is that time of the week again! via (set your goals high and set out to get there. don't set your sights too low that you don't have to work for it) via (i really.. REALLY love this one) via (at least not without work... get out there and do it.) via (that they do. but don't totally deprive yourself of certain things, your body will crave them and you will cave in big time if you don't have the willpower. it is all about creating control over them!) via (haha ok seriously, who doesn't love these things? they will never get old) And even better, tomorrow is Friday.. who is excited?!?

Even though it is the end of the day, I wanted to get in on the fun and share why I run. We all see pictures all over filled with different reasons for why we run: to eat what we want, stay in shape, stress relief, escape, time to ourselves and the list goes on and on via via via For me it is about lots of things- the constant challenge I can give to myself. To go further, faster, relax, get stronger, be better at pacing, run somewhere new, run with someone new, run a race I have never run before. All of these things are such a huge part of why I run. But what really made me dedicated to running and the release it allows was going through some serious rough times. It wasn't until I had run through smiles, tears, fears, worries, emotions that I don't even have a name for- that my true dedication and reason for running became apparent. It can be a lifeline, a best friend, a soft place to land and really whatever you allow it to be. It really is cheaper than thera...

So I might have found a way to recover those photo, keep your fingers crossed. For now, I am here with a few phone photos and my race recap. I took a major gamble on signing up for this race- it was a first year and a night race. But, it was a GLOW run, and this I could not resist. I set out and posted it on facebook to see if anyone else was interested. Two of my friends- one, my childhood dental hygentist, the other a friend from team in training. We signed up back in March (or something like that) so the suspense was killing us! Who wouldn't seeing this fun banner with info about what was going on. So the day  night came and I made plans to meet up with each of them, once we arrived. My husband and I rode the motorcycle up and it was so hot that it was such a wonderful ride.  Unfortunately, we were barely there and got our packets picked up, and my husband had a very bad reaction to some nearby onions. Yes, he is deathly allergic and just being near them makes ...

You might have all been expecting my Glow run recap, but I can't post it quite yet. You see, I am hoping I can find the answer to my photo conundrum prior to posting. What is that, you ask? Well. I showed my parents the pictures literally last night and now tonight they are no where to be found on the camera card and there are just .CTG files remaining.. if anyone can shed some light and guidance, please do!!! (I do have a few phone photos, but so not as fun as the ones captured on my canon) anyway.. on to the main attraction... BAMR BANDS I was very hesitant when I saw yet another headband promising to be “non-slip.” But, BAMR Bands had super cute patterns such as the ever popular Chevron and even a peacock design so I couldn't resist. With a price tag of $10 I thought this was reasonable enough to give it a try. Plus, $1 from every band goes to Every Mother Counts which is a great charity- go read up! I ordered a purple chevron band and the peacock (because it was ju...