Tiny Thunder Running

To add to the excitement of my weekend... I got an email that I was accepted to be part of the Girl's Gone Sporty Ambassador program. This is so exciting!! Not only do I get to meet even more wonderful ladies, but it also gives me more opportunities to grow and learn. I can't even hide my excitement for being able to join this amazing group of women and cannot wait to see what is in store for me!

For the first time in a while I had almost an entire weekend open!! Whaaaat? So what did I do with myself? It should be no surprise to anyone that I laced up my shoes and took off down the road. How did it feel? Freakin great!! I left my house at 9:10am and headed down to the River in Harrisburg and to City Island where they were holding Race Against Racism. I was originally supposed to be away this weekend so I wasn't signed up but my company was sponsoring and I knew a coworker and good friend was running so this was the perfect motivation to get out bed and into my shoes on this beautiful day.  As part of the "after party" this cool group of kids/teens danced. So fun to watch.. what a talented group. After the fun part, it was time to turn back towards home, but also up to one of my favorite spots. In fact one I have missed dearly since my injury and being freaking sidelined for MONTHS! Well ok not really sidelined for that long.. but then I couldn...

Its that time of week again... when we are all a little burnt out from the week and need a little extra motivation. via via via via via Hope you have a wonderful day and you are one step closer to your goals :)

This kid.. I mean. This kid is something else. He will be 7 in a matter of weeks and I hope that he just continues to grow and love life. He is a constant reminder of how many years ago I graduated college (GASP!!!) as my sister was beyond pregnant with this little guy at my college graduation.  Why am I writing a post about this??? Well. Sunday was Easter and this little guy and I took a 2 mile run together. He took a few quick walk breaks thanks to the beaming sun and us not being able to catch up to my sister and mother who had our water. I take them blame for this one.  More importantly is this kiddos determination and excitement. He was so stinkin cute the rest of our visit- asking how he did and whether he did a good job on his 2 miles. Every single time and excitedly told him what a rockstar he is. I am amazed at his spirit and perseverance to run with me. I know he was tired at the end ... and HOT and his hair was "sweating" but he did it and did a gr...

This post has nothing to do with fitness or food.. but a product that I received free to try from  Influenster  for their #FinditAtTarget voxbox.    Sadly, I could not personally use them so my husband happily took on the task. I do not have clear before and after pictures at this time because of that. I know he has been taking pictures along the way but I don't have access to them right now. I will edit the post with these as soon as I get my hands on them :) Basically he has told me that they worked pretty quickly and he noticed a difference after the first use.  His biggest frustration has been that they take an hour each application. This has been a huge issue for him trying to get through the whole series of the strips. One other thing he mentioned was that if he got even a little of the strip misplaced on his gum it did not feel too great.. aka.. it BURNED!! Overall, I think he has been pretty happy with the results of these str...

Just about 2 weeks ago, I was contacted by Rebecca at  FitApproach  saying that I was one of five winners of the  Aspen Yoga  sweepstakes. Pretty sure I entered in the 11th hour so I was very shocked that I won. The email instructed me to visit the website and email back with my selection and shipping information. This was easier said than done. I got sucked into the meanings behind each color and symbol and some deep thinking. Haha, yea pretty serious for a yoga mat. I ended up choosing turquoise as the color of the mat- "opens a connection between the heart and spoken word." and "serene color relating to happiness, friendliness and the enjoyment of life." I typically prefer purple colored (everything) but this little description seemed to suit me well. As for the symbol I chose  Aspen Leaf/Lotus Blossom, description from the site is as follows: The Aspen Leaf/Lotus Blossom combination melds the determination and strength symbolized by the Aspen Leaf ...

I missed a week or two where the day slipped away from me.. not today!!  via Remember to rest.. even when its SO DARN HARD.  via Been seeing this one a lot more lately.. and there is so much truth. via Love this. Training for a race, competition, or life.... via Easy to take it for granted.. .but don't. Appreciate every single time your foot hits the pavement! via It's true. I would much rather breathe fresh air any time of day than a sweaty smelly gym. Just sayin! Happy Thursday fitness loves!

But seriously. My hubby took me seriously this year at Christmas when I told him all I really wanted was a new bike. Now I am no bike connoisseur and we are on a budget so a Walmart bike works just fine for me. (I do not like Walmart but they have good deals on bikes!) So off we went to pick out a bike. He never told me directly he was getting one, but I assumed he would because I was going to be pretty disappointed otherwise.  I even got on 1 or 2 and felt so super awkward that I am pretty sure I almost wrecked!! I get to unwrap a pretty white and purple bike and then sadly it sat in the basement for months on end.  I hated that every time I went to the basement for laundry or to visit the freezer down there- I could only look at it. Isn't she pretty? Pardon the mess and sad lighting as it is the basement. That ended Monday.  Because of my crazy schedule over the weekend, I asked a coworker to switch shifts with me which meant I worked 4p-midnight. This was the ...

This is most definitely not a complaining post.  I was going to be extra good and take a rest day both Friday and Saturday since I was SO sore for my workouts last week.  Friday was a rest day regardless because it was pay day which means grocery day before I headed to work at 11am. Saturday I didn’t expect to do much because I was babysitting for a family all day. We tried to go to an Easter Egg Hunt nearby, but they started a few minutes early and by the time I got parked and everyone out of the care- all the eggs were gone. Super LAME! On the bright side, I had packed some food for all of us and planned to find a nearby park to walk around/play at. I was excited to find that one of my favorite places, Memorial Lake Park, was the closest. I knew there were some trails over there, but no idea they were all connected AND there were some fun fitness challenges along the way. The youngest kiddo was the only one who thought it was super cool and did them all with me! I ...

On Sunday , we have my parents over for the afternoon and they stayed for dinner. The menu was pretty simple so we could enjoy time together versus having to fuss over getting dinner ready. I prepped the meat  Sunday  morning before they arrived ( 4 large chicken breasts)  by filleting them and trimming the fat to get them ready to marinate all day. I used a McCormick’s marinade seasoning packet (brown sugar bourbon) which I followed the directions on the back PLUS dumped what was left of our OJ in as well. Stirred all up and placed the meat in and made sure it was all coated and put in the fridge for later. I used my large pampered chef batter bowl which works so well for stuff like this- it has a lid and the glass cleans up easily enough so I don’t have to waste a plastic bag. via I had picked up some asparagus and mom brought potatoes (sweet for us, red skinned for the guys) and some tomatoes.  Needless to say, we had quite an awesome spread on the gr...

A few weeks ago I learned of the opportunity to review this pretty cool product called the   Halo Belt . I actually heard about it through a fellow SweatPink Ambassador and I could not be more grateful. Thanks to Gillian of  That's G  for sharing this review opportunity!! A day or two after I responded to the post that I was interested in reviewing, I received an email from a company rep to get my mailing info and a few days later... ba-bam! I had a halo belt in my mailbox. Here is my little picture wearing the belt. It is literally a waistband of reflection and light. It has two options- steady light and strobe. Hint: do not look directly at the belt and turn on the strobe light - it might blind you. I do not know from personal experience, but ahem, I might know someone who does. Me wearing the Halo Belt They advertise the belt to be used in many ways- running, biking, walking, and for kids. I love how simple it is to put on and the adjustable belt allows it...

While this news is a few weeks old, I still feel that it deserves a blog post of it's very own. In the fall of 201, one of my favorite bloggers- Maria of LilMysNinja - was doing a giveaway for these crazy things called  Energy Bits . I was intrigued and I really like Maria and she really liked these bits. I tweeted about really hoping to win the giveaway and little did I expect, but they offered to send me my own sample for review and to do a giveaway as well. I was sold. So my sample arrived, I tried them out and wrote up my  review and giveaway .  Through the whole process and even after, Jonathan from Energy Bits, kept in regular contact with me about my thoughts and the idea of becoming an ambassador for the company. The winter months whizzed by with holidays, colds, work, and even a surgery. Through it all Jonathan would check in and see how everything was going and ask if I had any questions at all. How could I NOT become part of the amazing family and sup...