Tiny Thunder Running

Since  I won't get to long run this week and I never got this posted sooner, I thought I'd share about this past Sunday's long 8 miler run.  I have written before that a friend of mine and I have been meeting up about once each month for a long run. When I decided to sign up for the Hershey Half as my FIRST, she jumped on the bandwagon. She has done others in the past but I was so excited that she signed up with me. Anyway, with last week being so hot (and subsequently me barely running) I met her at her house at 7am  and planned to run a good 8 miles. On the way she asked if I was ok with  9:15-9:30  miles. I told her I would probably be good for 9:30s but since it has been a while since I have run that fast for any length of time that would be about my max speed.  So the break down goes like this Mile 1:  9:36 Mile 2:  9:22 Mile 3:  9:27 Mile 4  9:15   ohemfreakingeeeeee*GASP* Took a quick walk break then onto Mile 5:  9:29 Mile 6  9:49 Mile 7 10:30

via  I really love this. You don't have to be a gymrat to get where you want to be. If you aspire to be great and give yourself the tools and ability to do so.. you can be. You can achieve what you want to! via  I think this one is so true across different realms of life- not just fitness. If you expect things to change, you can't keep doing the same thing- you need to change what you are doing too! via  Set out to beat yourself and you can win.  via  I think we all have the ability to rise with the energy and excitement to work out and do our best. Has someone inspired you this week? Or maybe you have inspired someone else?  Keep going :)

Well, yet again I was lazy and didn't get up this morning to run. I have gotten into the bad habit of staying up too late with hubby and then I don't want to get out of bed to do what I want/need to do in the mornings before work. Luckily, it was still super nice when I got home and I was able to hit the road and get 4 good miles in. About a month ago, I finally made my way to the beloved  Negley Park  and loved the views you see above. I finally decided it was time to make it back that way both for the wonderfully refreshing views, but also for a good old hill workout. Not my fastest run in my life, but boy did I get out there and get it. It felt great.  My plan for dinner was really grilled eggplant and the rest was TBD. This was quickly shot down when my eggplant was brown all the way through. Much to my dismay since I JUST bought it Friday. Whatev.  I came up with this instead, slices of grilled zucchini seasoned with basil/garlic perfect pinch with

First I have to apologize that this post took SO long to post and also that will probably full of things that may sound a little trite or exaggerated but they are so true and I am so serious. (and lots of pictures too, I love pictures!!)  This experience was AMAZING!!  This experience started off with probably the most fun and loud packet pick up EVER. Packet pickup was at the Sports Authority in KOP and quite honestly I was kind of sad I didn’t have time to look around more. They offered a discount on purchases which would have been really nice to take advantage of.  Of course I had to capture the awesome signs in there that were just the beginning of my happiness You see, we rode the motorcycle knowing full well it might pour on us part or all of the way down. And that it did. So by the time we got to pick up and knew we still had the dreaded Philly Friday evening traffic ahead of us – IN THE RAIN- I got in and out of the store as quickly as possible. Thank GO

It’s been a while, sorry!! But back for another installation of Inspiration Thursdays. This is kind of a mix between fitness inspiration and food inspiration. I know it is so easy to get caught up in working out and thinking you can eat however. But, as we all know it really does matter what you eat. It will make you look and feel better to not eat so much junk and bad food. Not saying never, just not as much and watching portions of it. Anyway, onward with the inspiration! via  (thanks Ryan!) via (do it. Don’t be the stereotypical American and eat junk and feel like junk) via (love this. Yay for water and especially on weeks like this when every day the min temp is 95!) via (seriously. You really can’t expect to look –or feel- good when you eat junk all the time. I can eat me a good wendy’s burger now and then but seriously this is maybe a handful of times per year. Taco bell on the other hand.. haha. No but honestly not eating much “fast food” does wonders- DUH!)

So this week has been odd and unroutine for sure... keeping me from posting my color run experience. I wanted to share just one quick pic in the meantime looking pretty rockstar, right? haha. Anyway, ready to head hom for the night, get my workout on #sweatpink style, fix some dinner, then try to demolish some things from my to-do list. and yay, tomorrow is Friday.. how awesome is that??

Whats that you ask?? THE COLOR RUNNNNNN!!!! via Yep. Hubby and I are headed to Philly as soon as he gets off work this afternoon. We will be enjoying the touristy things and some good eats until the fun begins Sunday morning at the buttcrack of dawn. I CAN'T WAIT!! I will be back Monday for sure with (hopefully) lots of amazing pictures.

Do you know about the Liebster Award?  I have been nominated at my  other blog  but never here and I am so excited to share a little bit of (strangeness) about me through this fun award. The Liebster award is not exactly an accolade, you aren't receiving a trophy but you are getting some love. Consider this a Blog Love chain letter for up-and-coming bloggers. The Leibster is given to ambitious bloggers with less than 200 followers The word "Liebster" in German means: sweetest, kindest, lovely, dearest, and beloved.  And if you know me, you know I love to spread love and acts of kinds. {If you follow me on Twitter you know} The Liebster may not award you with a plaque, but it does mean you are being recognized. You do not have to accept the Liebster, if you do not wish to.  Nominees who except must pass the love on. This award is a way to get to know fellow bloggers, and ultimately share kindness. If you decide to accept the Leibster Award, what are you responsibilities

I was kind of on the fence about whether I would run tonight or do something else in doors (read: out of the humidity). But then I got out work late AND remembered I needed to make it to the bank. If I opted to work out in doors, it would be even later than I really wanted it to be when I was done with everything I needed to get done in addition to the errand of getting to the bank. My solution?? Yep. RUN TO THE BANK. And that I did. It was hot, I had to stop more times than I like to because of crossing major intersections. But I did and kept a great pace @ 9:34 for about 3 miles. I don't know exactly how far I went because while crossing one of said busy intersections, I apparently double pressed my button to restart my watch after stopping for a light. Argh. In addition to the run, I came home and did 20 pushups and a 2 minute plank. I am going to make sure I stay in the habit of doing planks as close to daily as possible- I remember how much they do for my core and my arm

Yep, you heard correctly. Spontaneous 10k. Seriously, who does that?  A few weeks ago at the glow run, my friend Gwen had mentioned  this 5k/10k race they do every year as part of  Carlisle Summerfair . For those of you who may not know, Carlisle is the town where I grew up and lived until I was 23 years old. Lots of good memories in that town. Anyway. Gwen mentioned that the race was free and is always held the weekend after the 4th of July. I actually didnt think twice about it until the beginning of last week and decided to message her and get some more details.. Needless to say, I went back and forth over what mileage I was doing after my weird foot pain had made a reappearance after last weeks 7 mile long run. By the time I went to bed Friday, I had decided I would go for the 10k. Saturday, I woke up at 6:30am, got ready, made a protein shake and headed out the door. Because this is a free race, they allow race day sign ups and sometimes the line gets long if you wait too la

You know the one.. no not the racial slur.. NUTRITION. Do you get enough of the nutrients you need? via I think that when you a generally healthy and well-balanced diet, it is easy to ASSUME you are getting enough of all the things you are supposed to. But, if you have high activity levels (running, lots of excercise classes, biking etc) not only do you have to make sure you are eating enough calories to fuel yourself but not too many too make you gain weight.  Having become a little more serious (and by serious, I mean putting in more miles per week) about running since January I often found myself wondering whether I was really doing the right things for my body and activity level. For this very reason, when I got an email at work that they were having a nutritionist come to our office and there were open appointments... that I signed right up! They had offered these a few times before and I was never interested, but the last time I was and they filled up too quickly.