6 Miles and a Happy 4th!

First off- Happy belated 4th of July everyone!

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I hope y'all had a safe and fantastic Independence day- I know I did! I got to spend my day at Mohegan Sun Casino. They have an amazing fireworks show at the end of the night, and wouldn't you know it but my boyfriend was on the pyro team! Woot! Anywho, we got to the casino around 1:30 and the fireworks didn't go off until a little after 9pm, so while he was working away and playing with explosives, I did laps around the casino, gambled a little, did some shopping, and then headed to the garage roof party to wait for the show. I walked around for about 6 hours! Holy crap crackers!

In other news, I've been keeping up with my training as much as humanly possible with my new summer hours. Today I was hoping to do a 6.5mile run, but I only managed 6 miles before I had to shower and head out for work. On the up side, I did those 6 miles in 1:29:50! Just under one and a half hours! HOORAY!! I'm kind of proud of myself, if I'm going to be honest. I was really feeling tired during mile three, but I managed to continue to push myself. I played around alot with my intervals. I mostly stuck to run 3, walk 1.5. But sometimes I would switch to sprint 2, walk 3 just to give it a little extra oompf.

My legs and back are already starting to feel a little sore, but I'm planning on going in my pool today after I get out of work at 12:30. Hopefully, the weightlessness and the refreshing coolness of the water will help relax my muscles while keeping them active. My next run I'm moving to Monday morning because Tuesday I will be very busy with work. It's only a 2 mile run so it shouldn't be too bad at all.

One thing I'm trying to do for myself this summer is to make sure that I have at least 5 out of the 7 days where I have done some sort of exercise- Whether it's a short swim, a run, a walk, Just Dance on the Wii, or even cleaning- I'm trying to fit something in. I've been stuck at 209-210lbs for the past 3 weeks and it is killing me! So, not only am I trying to increase my calorie burns, I've decreased my daily caloric intake. normally I stick around the 1770 range, I've dropped myself down to 1600 calories a day (this is not taking exercise into considerationg- with more calories burned, I can add on more calories to replenish my system). I'm also trying to more diligent about increasing my daily water intake. I keep a water bottle with me wherever I go, I just have to remember to keep drinking it throughout the day. Ugh!

I would like to be under 200lbs by the time October hits. Not only because that is when I have my half marathon, but also because I will be going on vacation to Las Vegas! I feel that this is a very do-able goal- I just need to stay motivated. Sometimes I get into these funks where I practically convince myself that I will never get through this plateau and under 200. Any advice on how to break that habit?

http://pumpkintoprincess.blogspot.com/2012/07/firecracker-5k-to-benefit-leukemia-and.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PumpkinToPrincess+%28Pumpkin+to+Princess%29 posted an awesome motivational status on facebook the other day and it really applied to me:  "The BEST muscle to work for weight loss?? Your brain. Change the way you think about food and exercise and it's affect on your health & you WILL change your body." I love that! Also, while I'm talking about Amy- check out her blog and register for her Firecracker 5k Virtual Race to benefit the LLS. You get an awesome engraved finisher medal too! Great stuff!

Anyone have any fun and exciting plans coming up for the summer?

Summer!

It's Warm!

It's practically SUMMER!!

I went out for a run yesterday afternoon- no destination in mind, no time crunch to worry over. It was warm out, which was nice, and I fell into a nice, steady pace. I hit my mile marker and decided to turn back around to head home (I needed to shower and get ready for work). When I hit my street, I checked my watch and did an instant double-take. There was no way my clock read 23:09! What!? That's craziness! That means I did a sub 12 minute mile FOR TWO WHOLE MILES! I'm officially patting myself on the back for that. I mean, it's not a pace I could hold for 13.1 miles right now, but I'm impressed I was able to do it for two miles.

Also, now that it's finally warmer out, a magical, wonderful thing has happened.

Our pool is open!!

Ok, so it's kind of green still and definitely not ready to go swimming in, but at least it's open again! I can't wait to go for a long run and then hop directly into my pool (running clothes and all- minus my shoes and iTouch haha). I'm not a swimmer by any means, but a refreshing dip after a hot run sounds amazing! And who doesn't love lounging in the pool every now and again?

In other news, I went to a friends concert the other night (he's a music teacher and his kids had their final concert of the year- they were Phenomenal!). His school is in a different part of the state, so I headed up there a little earlier than I should have and did some shopping at EMS (Eastern Mountain Sports). It's the first time I had ever gone in there so I did a lot of perusing. They have some awesome wool running socks that I may go back and purchase. They also had a large amount of GU and other energy gels, so I got some. 

I bought a Powerbar gel in Vanilla, a Clif bar gel in Vanilla, and an 8 pack box of GU in Lemon/SubLime. I can't wait to try it out! Anyone ever use any of the above products?  If so, how did you like them? If not, do you use something different that you prefer?

Also, don't forget to enter my Bondi Band Give Away HERE!