Where's the Beach?

I wish I had some fantastic blog birthday giveaway to share. I don't. I truly just wanted to thank everyone who continues to read my blog. Four years ago I started this blog with no real clue as to where it would lead me. I had hoped to make extra money. That never happened. That's not to say the blog hasn't made me rich in other areas. I've made some incredible friendships here. I've been incredibly inspired by so many amazing bloggers. I feel like my life has definitely been enriched. There were times when I wanted to quit the blog. It's time-consuming. I don't always feel inspired to write. I've definitely been slacking with recipes. I don't even always share my workouts any longer. I may be blogging a little less frequently, that's not a bad thing is it, but I cherish the comments I receive. You guys make me smile with your support, encouragement, and just general conversation. If you had asked me where I would be in four years whe

I wanted to write some fantastic, funny, witty race recap. I always enjoy those. Apparently I don't pay enough attention to the details during my races though. So, here's my race recap from the Soaring Wings Half Marathon as best as I can tell it. Saturday morning started off super early, dark, and cold. We woke up around 5:30. I wanted plenty of time to wake up, get breakfast down, and allow for any delays. Let's just say Jason can be hard to get out the door sometimes. After lots of debating, I ended up wearing shorts and a long-sleeved top and throw away gloves. It was about 40 degrees out, dry, little wind. I should have gone with short sleeves, but I just couldn't convince myself. At least I was able to push my sleeve up during the race. I also ditched my water bottle for the first time. I feared this would be my undoing for my time goal. PB & Bananas for the win The race was about 30 minutes away. Not a horrible drive, but just enough to make me

Marcia (Marcia's Healthy Slice) did a fun post the other day - Runfessions . Her post definitely got me to thinking about my own running confessions. Rather than ramble on about nerves for tomorrow's Half Marathon, I thought it would be fun to share a few of my own Runfessions for Fun for Friday. Dumpster diving - I am always on the lookout for things I might be able to go back and get to take home and restore. Sunday it was a headboard. Sadly it was broken beyond repair when Jason and I went to pick it up. Wednesday I stopped long enough to try to peer into a dumpster in front of a house. It was too dark and I was too short to really check it out properly. I've gotten Jason and Amy both in on this one. Jason has brought home a chair and table on his own accord. The chair still needs painting and a cushion, the table has already been painted and is acting as my new office desk. No training plan  - nope, I didn't follow a training plan for this half, not in the

I thought it would be fun to do a special Halloween workout. Things get a little spooky around Halloween and make you kind of jumpy. And so will this workout. Have you already had a few handfuls of seasonal M&Ms? What about those cute little candy corns. If you've already indulged, or you plan to, give this "jumpy" interval workout a go ... if you dare (said in spooky voice of course). Feeling Jumpy Warm up for 10 minutes with a brisk walk and dynamic moves. Complete as a pyramid where you'll move up the pyramid then back down. Begin with the first exercise for 15 seconds, then rest 15 seconds, move to the next exercise adding 5 seconds all the way to 40 seconds then begin moving back down. Rest 1 minute then repeat once unless you're not spooked, then repeat twice. 1/2 turn squats right - 15 seconds Low jacks - 20 seconds Air jacks - 25 seconds Squat jumps - 30 seconds Lateral hops - 35 seconds High knee jogs - 40 seconds Speed skaters

I don't have anything for Tasty Tuesday, or even Taco Tuesday, so how about Taper Tuesday? Ok, it's technically taper week for me. But, Taper Tuesday sounds good together. Sorry for the weird smile, I take terrible selfies - any pointers from the pros? Saturday I got in my last long run - 12 miles - before my upcoming half marathon. Saturday I'll be doing my 6th half, Soaring Wings . This will be the 3rd time running this course. I'll be honest, this one is a tough one for me. The first year I ran it, I had not been doing hill work. The city is flat. Well, so I thought. They apparently found the only hills in Conway. The first 4 miles are reasonable, but then they just start coming at you. Mile 12 is literally on a hill. Thankfully the last mile is down and then flat, but it's the longest mile of course. Also, this tends to be the coldest morning of the fall. Right now the temps are looking to be between 40-45 depending on what meteorologist I follow. I

How does Monday roll around so darn quickly? This weekend was a good one. We didn't do too much, just enough to feel productive. Friday, my sister came up with my niece so I could take her shopping at Justice for her birthday. I have never seen that kid more excited. She's really becoming a girlie girl. She loves purple and sparkles, and was like a kid in a candy store when we walked in. She ping-ponged from one side of the store to the other and back again. The first shirt that caught her eye was one that had a hear (shiny of course) and "Dance" in huge letters. But then she found the "extras" (aka accessories). Um, when did notebooks become $15 by the way? Thank goodness everything was 40% off. She had a mighty large stack going until I told her we had to add it all up and see how much it really was. She had a gift card from her mom plus the money from me. She had to make tough decisions on what to put back and what to keep. It was really kind of funny

Happy Friday! I'm excited today because I get to take my niece shopping for her birthday. Well, excited and a tad nervous. Nervous probably isn't the right word; I just don't know what to expect. This year she's decided to shop at Justice. She's getting girlie girlie. It'll either be lots of fun or we'll be in there for a very long time. Ok, it won't be bad really either way because I get to spend time with her and she cracks me up. I love seeing her personality emerge and her excitement of getting to shop with me. Last year she wanted Toys R Us and warned me multiple times when we got there, "Aunt Heather, this could take a while." She was so very serious about it too. I'd rather it take some time vs just running in grabbing something and being done. The good thing is that I love to shop for clothes. Just not sure how shopping with a 9-year old will be. That brings me to Fun for Friday - Pros and Cons Edition. You noticed that there w

Thursday Thoughts is very appropriate for the day. I feel like my thoughts are all over the place today. Well, this week really. I think that's apparent after yesterday's post . Thoughts on Running This morning I was up in plenty of time to go out for my scheduled 7-mile run. However, after recent incidents (like seeing a body, armed man, and falling), I've been really reluctant to run solo in the mornings. It's dark. The kind of dark that spooks you for no reason. The only hint of light is from the stars and moon, if it's clear, and street lamps. While there aren't often as many vagrants out on the streets at that time (they usually are out and about much later I've noticed), it's still a bit unsettling. I hate that I feel fearful, nervous, jumpy. I don't want to feel that way. I've gone through spells before where I felt suddenly fearful of running alone. Always wanting someone to run with me. Of course, when I do get out there and get

I'll just apologize in advance for this semi-rant. Today I had meant to do a light-hearted post. I mean, it's Hump Day after all. And I swear something's in the air making everyone view this as the longest week ever already. But, I had posted something on Facebook last night then read Laura's (Sprint 2 the Table) fantastic post,  Here's to the Kids . She talks about being judgmental, both happening in real life and also things being posted on social media. And she's so right about that. Definitely check out her post. Last night I posted that I had been more absent from social media because I was so sick of the negativity. The bashing of others (judging basically), the constant negative "woe is me" and "FML" posts, the political ranting and raving. It gets old. Really old. And kind of sad. Is your life that bad that you have to say, "FML?" I hate that acronym just about more than any other. And if you don't know what it

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Many of you are lucky enough to be off work today. No bragging please. It was another good weekend. Mostly low-key. Saturday morning I got in a crazy run with Amy. I wasn't sure how far I could go because of my knee. When I've run, I keep it uncovered and that sort of helps ease any pain. Anything that touches it hurts. And it might sound crazy to get out and run after that fall, but it does actually help to loosen my knee up. It gets really stiff and achy fast. It's still a little swollen, but the road rashes are really the worst part. And running doesn't seem to aggravate it any more. So... I met up with Amy at her mile 3. We were enjoying a really good run. It was about 65 degrees, with a cool-ish breeze. Heading east the skies were gorgeous. We stopped at one point to get a picture. To the west, however, the skies were growing dark and ominous. I had looked at the radar before the run, and was sure we had about 2 hours bef

Just a quick follow up regarding my fall yesterday, I ended up going to the doctor today because my knee is swollen. I just wanted to be sure nothing was torn or broken. Luckily, no broken or chipped bones. He thinks it's just a really bad bruise causing the swelling plus the cuts/scrapes. If it doesn't start to improve in about a week or so, then he'll order an MRI to make sure that the meniscus isn't torn. So, for now, ice ice baby ... and ibuprophen ... and bandages. Now let's talk about something that's cause worthy. The other day I came home to a box on my porch. I opened it up and this is what I found inside. YUM! Chocolate doesn't tempt me, cakes and pies? Meh. But chips? Oh I love chips. And I love chips that are for a good cause. Food Should Taste Good has a non-GMO commitment, chips are also gluten-free and all natural. Just check out their ingredient labels - you can actually read and identify the ingredients. How's that for a nic

I don't even have a great way to begin this post. Maybe, The Day I Fell? Or Playing it safe doesn't always pay off? I think I like that one the best.  Let me back up to Monday's run so you'll get an idea of why I felt this urgent need to play it safe this morning. I am hesitant to post because I don't want to worry family and friends. I was finishing up my run, 1 mile left tops, when I heard this lady yelling out. I tend to ignore people during my runs. I hear people call out to me, to others, whatever, so I ignore it unless it's a "hi" or "good morning." This was urgent, frantic.  I've passed this house countless mornings. The lady is often on the porch with her large, barking dog. I stay on the other side of the street. But she started rushing down her porch steps towards me. Of course I stopped immediately and also started to reach for my mace. Was she crazy? What the heck? She had what looked like a remote control in

Saturday morning I got up and headed out for a 12-mile run. My plan was to do about 3-4 miles in my Newton's , lap back by the house and change into my Mizuno's then grab my water. I am so tired of lugging around my water for runs of any length. It was already crazy humid and about 75 degrees when I set out on the run. I knew I was pushing my luck not carrying the water, but I was being stubborn about it. I fell into a great pace and rhythm and ended up doing just over 6 miles before getting to my house to change shoes. Oddly, I wasn't as thirsty as I thought I was going to be. I figured I'd made it 6 miles without it, I could drink up then go another 6. Switching into totally different shoes makes you feel really wonky at first I must say. I kept reminding myself to "pick 'em up and put 'em down." Finally, I hit my rhythm again and my speed was increasing. Part of me had that inner struggle of slow down, no don't, just go with it. I chose to

I was originally going to do this post as a Thursday Things and Thoughts, but, well...I didn't post yesterday. Instead it'll be a things from the week for Fun for Friday . On Tuesday, I got in my 10-mile run for the  Fall 5  or 10 Mile Virtual Race Series hosted by Laura at Mommy Run Fast. It was slower than my first run for the series, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I know I need to slow down my long runs a bit. On Wednesday, I got in a good 6-mile run with Amy. As much as I love summer, I'm kind of over the 70 degree, humid morning runs. Yes, that's sweat not rain water. And notice how dark it still is? Yep, over that too. Monday and again today, I ran part of my run in my new Newton's . Newton's shoe technology is vastly different from most shoes and is definitely ideal for my style of running, which is forefoot or for those looking to change their foot strike. Lady Isaac - Source I will say, you have got to ease into the sh

It's been a while since I shared a workout, so I thought I'd do that today for Workout Wednesday . I created this workout for a client, one that we could take to the park. I wanted the workout be fairly high intensity and incorporate both cardio and resistance training to maximize time. Tabata workouts are always amazing for revving up that heart rate and getting in a great fat-burning workout in a minimal amount of time. I've always used them for cardio workouts, but never for weight training. I thought it would be "fun" to combine the two for a total body, Cardio and Strength Tabata workout. This workout alternates between a cardio grouping and a strength grouping done more as a circuit - do the exercise for 20 seconds then rest 10 seconds, go to the next exercise and do for 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds. You do this for 4 sets followed by a 1-minute rest before moving to the next grouping or circuit. In this case, an example would be do jumping jacks for 20

Happy October 1st. What happened to September? I almost feel like the month didn't even happen it went by so quickly. However, I do think that I actually took time to enjoy it more. And sometimes being happy makes time fly by so much faster don't you think? I've been reading some really inspring posts lately. I never feel as if I'm all that inspiring or insightful. I either think too much or not enough. I haven't decided yet. One thing that has really stuck for me from September was the  Slow Down Challenge . I'm really trying to keep this challenge in mind and not let it have been just a passing phase. When I am reminded of slowing down, enjoying the moments, not rushing through life, it also reminds me of the whole notion of glorification of "busy." You see it, the brags on Facebook about how, "I'm just sooooo busy I don't even have time to eat." "I'm sooo busy I can't workout...visit friends...cook dinner...et