Back In the Saddle

Seeing the title I just chose, I kind of wish I could go horseback riding. I love horses and I've always wanted to know how to ride one. Maybe it's my inner cow-girl coming out.

Anyway, it's been a very long week... and it's only Wednesday! Let's start at the beginning, shall we?
Last weekend was the 100th year Anniversary Jubilee celebration for the Girl Scouts (the organization I work for). I spent part of Friday helping set up, all day Saturday working it, and then Sunday I went back to help take down (though there wasn't much to do). Saturday was a blast! Hectic, but fun! We had around 9,000 people show up to the event. I got up bright and early and was at the fairgrounds by 8am. Around 10:30am I helped lead the opening parade. By 11:30 I was tossed into the food booth to help field orders because the lines were over an hour long! Ahhh!!! After a few hours of that, I made it to the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) stage to help load and unload the performers. I also got to MC and introduce the acts as they came out. Rock on! By 6:45pm, we started breaking down everything in the STEM area as the day was finally over. I left the fairgrounds a little after 7pm, got home, had dinner, and went to bed.

Sunday they didn't have much of anything to do as far as clean up, so I headed home. Later that evening, we had to rush my father to the hospital. he had been having severe abdominal pain and couldn't move. At first, they thought it was his appendix. Turns out, it was his gallbladder. They ended up having to do emergency surgery on him Monday morning to remove it. He is still currently in the hospital (he developed a fever yesterday and is still in a lot of pain, but he's doing better), and we hope he is going to come home tomorrow.

I did manage to get in a very nice run Monday morning before I went back to the hospital. I did 2 miles in 28:02. I ran the first 6 minutes straight, then maintained a 2 run: 1 walk ratio the rest of the time. I chose that method for multiple reasons; 1. I haven't been running like I was last year, so my muscles and everything need to be re-conditioned before I start upping the ante, and 2. I chose to run faster for those two minute spurts and try and push myself more than if I tried to run 5-7minutes straight. I plan on doing the same thing tomorrow for my second run of the week.

I've also been trying very, very hard to keep track of what I eat every day and have been keeping up pretty well with MyFitnessPal (again, feel free to add me biggergirlsrun2). I've made a couple of new friends on there and hope to make even more! I'm a firm believer in the more support, the better. Since I first reported that I had gained a good portion of weight back, I'm happy to say that I have lost about 4lbs. Hooray! I'm sure once I really get into my training schedule, I will lose more. And I'm super psyched about that!

One of the forums on MyFitnessPal.com asked people to list what their summer fitness goals were. I thought that was pretty nifty, so I decided to share mine here and see what goals y'all might have as well.

My summer fitness goals are:

to train (intelligently) for my 2nd half marathon,

to run at least 50 miles,

to go rock-wall climbing (inside),

to go ziplining,

 to go for at least 3 really nice hikes,

and to try a new Zumba place.

What do you think of my goals? What are YOUR summer goals?

Gluten Free 3

Happy Weekend Everyone!

SOURCE

Is anyone else glad the work week has finally come to a close? I know I am!
The only small down side is that my long run outside tomorrow will have to be postponed because we are supposed to be getting 6-8inches of snow throughout the day. Yeesh!

Anyway, work has been crazy as usual, but I love it. I got to meet 4 new groups of girls this week and so far, they all seemed to like the activities I had planned out. (Did I mention I work for a non-profit group?) It's been keeping me busy busy busy! But, I still managed to get in 1 night of Zumba and 2 nights of Wii Just Dance 3. Hooray! Sadly, no real running this week, unless you count all of the running around I did for work... *insert drum hit here*. Corny, I know. I can't help myself sometimes.

In other news, week 3 of gluten free is going pretty well. I went out to hibachi/sushi with a group of friends the other night for a birthday dinner and managed to make some very good, gluten-free choices. For those who may not know, I LOVE SUSHI/HIBACHI!! However, going gluten-free means I cannot enjoy terriyaki or soy sauce.. so I had to be smart with my choices. No hibachi for this kid. I did, however, enjoy two very yummy rolls- spicy salmon and an ocean roll that had practically every type of sushi in it rolled in white seaweed with cucumber and avocado.

 SO YUMMY!!

I also passed on the fried ice cream (seriously, I'm SO proud of myself for that- I should get a medal or something).

The other day, I stocked up on some more gluten free foods at Ocean State- some more pasta and crackers, along with some ginger snap cookies and gluten free granola! Holler! Even though I do have some cracker/cookies/granola... most of my snacking has actually been fruits and vegetables/hummus. I've had salad for lunch 3 of the 5 days this week and, overall, I just am feeling healthier. I may extend my gluten-free expirement another 30 days, just to see if there continues to be improvement in energy/digestion/etc.

How is everyone else doing with their goals so far?

Check Me Out!

Ok, so I'm no where in that photo. But aren't my models amazing?! 

Virtual round of applause for them, please!

My brother, his girlfriend and my sister were nice enough to model the new shirts that just came in for my fundraising efforts. As you may remember (cause I've mentioned it about 10000000 times) I'm raising money for the National Stroke Association in honor of my mother. She's also the reason that I'm planning on running my first half marathon. So, in order to increase donations, I decided to design and sell tshirts! WOOT!

The tshirts are $15 and half of the proceeds go to the NSA. 

I have included one of the shirts in my fundraising give away HERE which ends Sept. 29th!

TOMORROW IS YOUR LAST DAY TO DONATE AND GET ENTERED TO WIN MY GIVE AWAY

So I'm begging one last time to please please please please find some spare change somewhere and donate to a great cause and get the chance to win some pretty nifty stuff!

On another note, I did another double duty workout today. I went to the gym this morning with Tina again and we both did an hour of cardio. Then I did about 20 minutes of machines for my upper body. I had to run some errands- got my oil changed and brought my tap shoes to get fixed because the sole was separating from the taps. Then, I went to work. When I got home, I headed out to try a new Zumba class with my mom's friend Heather. It was a lot of fun! I've done Zumba before, but this was a different instructor and place. We had more room, louder music and a better atmosphere. I loved it! (I love anything that's like dancing) My back is already starting to hurt though, so I may break out the icy hot in an effort to make sure it doesn't get worse come tomorrow. 

Did anybody else have a rocking workout? Or, better yet, do more than one workout today?

Exercise, Zumba and Meditation

The past few evenings I've been trying to keep myself occupied so I don't feel so utterly alone. I mean, I've gone to the gym, even started taking Zumba classes (which are utterly amazing and SO much fun, I'd like to add) just so that I'm not sitting around the house twiddling my thumbs. I had said that I was going to focus my energy on me and that's what I'm attempting to do now. I don't mind going to the gym by myself- it's actually better that way because then I can stay however long or short I want. And the exercise makes me feel better all around- makes me happier, makes me feel healthier, look better, have better self-confidence. I think I'm going to like this "me" time I'm investing into.

As for Zumba, tonight was my first class. My friend and I went to a place a few towns over. The class was held in a dance studio and it was a ton of fun! Everyone was really nice and even though most everyone knew the routines already, it was still an enjoyable time for us newbies as well. I can't wait to go back. I'm sure I'm going to be beyond sore tomorrow but I don't care- I had fun! I also picked up the studio's fall semester schedule and there's a beginning jazz dance class I would love to take as well, though doing Zomba 2-3 times a week, on top of the gym is probably going to kill me haha.

I've heard people say that exercise can make you feel happier but I guess I never really experienced it for myself until now. Now that I'm not stressing over certain things *cough men cough* it's easier for me to enjoy my workouts. I just put on some rocking music and get down to business or turn on the television and before I know it, I've been working out for over an hour! Friggin sweet! Now I think I just need to work in some meditation into my day.

I took a meditation class in college and it didn't go so well. I mean, I like being able to sit and relax and just breath but I have two huge problems when it comes to meditation:
1. I cannot get my mind to shuttup! My thoughts always start out being focused on a word or a color or a scene and then they pole jump from topic to topic and I get lost in my thoughts. ANdI try to bring myself back to a focal point but a few minutes later, the same thing happens. Correct me if I'm wrong but I was under the assumption that when meditating, one was supposed to be able to quiet the mind and free it from all thought. If so, I fail. Epically.
2. If my mind is not jumping from one lily-pad of thought to another, it's because I fell asleep. I just get too relaxed I guess and I drift off (probably from the sheer exhaustion of trying to reign in my thoughts). It was actually rather embarrassing to be caught snoring when I was supposed to be meditating. Ugh.

Oh well, I suppose like all things, it will take some practice. Maybe I can find a guided meditation and follow that for awhile before trying a quieter, more focused one. Here's hoping!