A long and healthy life

In the last 2 years I have been on a journey to better health and well being. And during this time I have heard many success stories and testimonials from complete strangers who have made changes for good health. Today I got to hear another - and it came from none other than my dad.

My dad was pretty active when he was young. He grew up on a farm in Kentucky so he was no stranger to a hard day's work. During his adult life he played basketball alot and when he wasn't doing that you could usually find him swimming. He was an engineer for 30+ years, and like most Americans he packed on some pounds as he got older. His diet has always been pretty good because he grew up in a time of few processed foods, therefore he loves to eat fresh fruits, veggies, and meats. The problem is - he's a big guy with a big appetite so he eats way too much. My mom said he used to order 2 dinners any time they would go out to eat. Yikes. Finally ...he has been a lifelong alcoholic. After nearly dying from alcohol poisoning twice he has kept his drinking to a minimum. He will be 80 this year (my mom is 71, I was a late baby) so he's had his share of injuries and health issues. 

Despite dealing with a lifetime of alcohol addiction and a ugly divorce, he keeps on truckin along every day. He lives alone in a crappy apartment and works as a pizza driver. Yet he maintains a positive attitude. He's always friendly and sociable with his pizza customers and will stay until 1am scrubbing dishes and taking out the trash while the 20 year olds stand around and complain. He swims every day and spends his spare time working on his old cars with a mechanic friend of his. He is one of the most active 80 year olds I have known, second only to his 84 year old sister who still plays basketball. 

My aunt, my dad and me -2009

When I talked to him this morning he mentioned to me he has lost about 10 lbs. He's already pretty active so I wondered what he had done to lose the weight. He said he has been eating less - a necessary change for him since he does tend to overeat - and he has also been much more active this summer. He's spent alot of time fixing his cars, going to junkyards and hauling around big heavy car parts and what not. Being a mechanic forces him to bend, stretch, and support his entire body as he gets up under those cars. He's using all kinds of muscles in his body just to do this type of work. He swims every day, sometimes twice. And you would think a pizza driver doesn't do a whole lot, but he has to help out in the kitchen when he's not driving and he helps close the store. Alot of manual labor involved there, and he'll be the first one to volunteer to do the grunt work. 

Then he said this - losing a little bit of weight and all that hard work has made him stronger. He can now do all of these things with much more ease. He feels better, stronger, and is able to tolerate the summer heat much better.

I was thrilled to hear my dad say these things. For someone who is almost 80 and has hit rock bottom before, just hearing him say this made me incredibly happy. He says he delivered a pizza to the nursing home in town and saw other people his age who loved it there because everything was done for them. This idea is unacceptable to my dad. He is happiest when he can stay busy and do things for himself. But he fears one day he will suffer an injury or a health problem and that it will all be over. And yes, one day it will happen. But I told him that in order to stay out of that nursing home as long as he can, he just needs to keep on doing exactly what he's doing. Be active. Do things for yourself. Keep on working your job and tinkering with your cars. People who are sedentary are usually the ones who wind up with injuries and health complications. By using his muscles he is strengthening his knees, back, shoulders, etc so he is less likely to injure them. He's keeping his heart and lungs healthy so he can stay out of that nursing home. He's still ridiculously intelligent - he'll talk about mechanics or science for 10 minutes and I have no idea what he's talking about because it's so beyond me. He's doing the best he can do with his life. I'm really proud of him.

I feel this is a lesson we can all benefit from. If we stay active into our old age, not only will we be able to do things for ourselves but we will still be doing the things we love, instead of sitting in a bed hooked up to a bunch of tubes. Our minds will still be sharp. We'll still be sharing stories with our families. 

I hope I'm still active when I'm his age, and I'm gonna try my best to make sure I can be.

Battlefrog Official Pics

I have my official pics from Battlefrog!

Jerry Cans! As much as my arms were burning at the end of this long uphill climb, I couldn't help but smile at the camera!

Oh hello!

Not a photogenic monkey bar climber

I'm in the background behind James

9 miles. Navy Seal obstacles. Victory!

Super awesome teammates!

I'm still tending to the blisters from hell. But they are getting remarkably better. My hope is to go running maybe next Tuesday. I'd like to get in a workout over the weekend, then the plan is to hit the gym with my husband on Monday night. I'm hoping we can make that a regular thing so he can help get me accustomed to some heavy lifting.

Also - it's officially a SuperBeast. Carolina - Spartan Beast on Saturday, Super on Sunday. I'm terrified. But I am running it with some of the fabulous people I ran Battlefrog with - Lil' Sarge's Soldiers/Team RWB! The next few months will be a crazy journey ending in an epic Trifecta finish!

Battle wounds

So it's been a few days since my epic weekend at Battlefrog, and I'm finally feeling less sore! Still enjoying the post race sense of accomplishment and reliving the day with my teammates on Facebook. However, I have a slight problem.

Remember the new trail shoes I got recently? The Inov8 Trailroc 226?

I love the shoes. They are comfy and work well on the trails. When I first got them I had the sneaking suspicion they were slightly too small. But I did a few runs in them and they seemed ok.


At about mile 3 of Battlefrog we had just finished a very long trek through a stream. I noticed my shoes were full of some very sandy/gritty dirt and it was creating mounds in my shoes. I've dealt with this type of dirt before and it's never caused me problems. I really should have stopped to empty them out. I guess at the time I didn't think it was a big deal. But as the race went on every step was becoming agonizing. All the hill climbing in the last half of the race made it hurt even more.


Warning - nasty pic ahead!!!

Yeah. This is freaking painful. Worst blisters I've ever had by far.

I am returning the shoes. Luckily the place I bought them from accepts used returns, so I cleaned them up real good and will ship them back asap. I want to get the same shoe in a larger size. I really do like the shoes, they performed excellently and were comfy aside from the blister thing. I am just convinced it's a sizing issue. I also think that hiking the race made it worse. I never blister while running, but in the past I have wound up with some pretty nasty blisters after long walks and hikes. My toenails also took a beating - another sign of a sizing issue

Nasty post-mud run feet

I was pretty sure I was gonna lose this toenail. I lost one a few years back and it turned this ugly reddish purple color, so I was pretty sure this one was a goner. But it's looking much better now and it no longer hurts.

Wish I could say the same for the blisters. They're still incredibly painful and itchy. I don't think I'll be able to run for at least a week. It sucks, but what can you do. I'm actually kind of glad for this experience, because I have learned never to settle for a shoe you think might be too small, and I also learned that sometimes it's best just to stop and get the crud out of your shoes to save yourself alot of pain. 

Guess I'll see how things feel in a few days, then hit it hard as soon as I can!

Battlefrog Carolinas

Hello!

This is what I did yesterday!

I ran the Battlefrog 15k (9 mile) obstacle race at Carolina Adventure World!

Battlefrog is a newcomer to the obstacle racing world, but after hearing rave reviews about their first ever race in Atlanta, I met up with some folks running for Team RWB out of the Augusta/Columbia area.

The team!

The plan was to run at 12 - way later than I'd normally run a race if it was just me. It was 95 degrees yesterday! But I came prepared with sunscreen and lots of water and I didn't have any issues. Ran in my sunglasses (don't usually do for OCR's) and I didn't lose them!

Before we started the race - our teammate James ran the Tadpole (kids race) with Keenan - James runs for him through a group called I Run 4 where you dedicate your runs/workouts to children and adults with disabilities. After they ran the kids race, James "promoted" Keenan to Staff Sgt. We all stood in formation and had a little promotion ceremony, complete with a very official looking award and his own set of ACU's. James gave him all the patches he wears on his own uniform, plus some Battlefrog logo patches and some "Lil' Sarge" nametape. It was so cool! 

Promotion ceremony - I'm the only one not in ACU pants!

After the ceremony we wasted no time lining up at the starting line and taking off to the sound of fake gunfire. They were doing helicopter flights over the course, so you'd randomly hear or see one while you were out running. Within the first minute of starting our race we encountered a nice pool to cool off in. Then we ran into the woods and encountered some log hurdles. I did NOT fall off of them this time, because they were not covered in mud like the ones at Marine Mud Challenge! Got over them easily and was on my way. The 3 teammates behind me asked if I was going to run ahead with the rest of the team and I said yes. However it became clear I wasn't going to be as fast as them. With how hot it was outside I didn't want to run so fast early on. 

A-frame climb

I climbed the 12 foot ladder wall, ran up a hill, and found some other teammates waiting. We waited for the 3 that were behind me to show up. They said they were going to hang back and take it slow because one of them didn't have much to eat and was feeling very weak, plus she was recovering from an injury. I opted to stay back with the 3 - James, Jasmine, and Delaney. Even though we would be going slower than I wanted to, I didn't want to kill myself trying to run fast and I figured I should stick with the team I signed up with instead of going off on my own. There was a traverse wall kind of like Spartan Race, except it was angled and it had a rope to hold onto. Looked intimidating but it wasn't too bad. The next obstacle we encountered an A-frame ladder where the rungs were really far apart, not so friendly to my crappy inflexible hips. James and I ran ahead a bit. It was nice and cool in the woods with alot of downhill running. We came up to some 6 foot walls with a stream immediately next to them. It felt amazing. 

Cargo climb

We sat in the water and waited for the 2 girls. Once they showed up we pretty much all decided to stick together the rest of the way. I pretty much walked this whole race. There were times in the beginning where I wanted to run, but the desire to stick with the team outweighed that. We were also accompanied by a group of 4 - a mom and daughter, an Asian girl, and this young hillbilly guy. At this point most of the course took us through a stream. The water felt awesome on such a hot day. Unfortunately Jasmine lost her camera - so we spent a good 15 minutes looking for it but with no success. As I said we weren't really going for a fast race time here. We were walking through the water for what seemed like an eternity but I didn't mind. I love OCR's with alot of water. We entered a swampy area with a cargo net climb - the kind that's supported by trees with alot of slack in the ropes. Delaney and I tackled this while the other 2 teammates were farther back. Then we started to climb a very long hill. It curved to the left and kept right on being a hill. Then it curved again and it was still a hill! I could see the rest of the team plus the other group of 4 way down below in the swamp, so I shouted "Hi!!! Allow me to predict your FUTURE!!" Then as we get further up the hill, all Delaney and I hear is the hillbilly kid yell "AWW SHIT!!!" as he has clearly seen the massive hill ahead of him. The climb was pretty rough but by the end of it all 4 of us were back together again. There was a rope climb in here somewhere. I gave it 2 attempts. I actually got up the rope a little (all my previous rope climbs resulted in me not moving) but I couldn't seem to get over the second knot. Even though I didn't get it I have at least made some progress!

12 foot rope wall

We entered a sunny area where Jerry Cans filled with water were waiting for us. Each of us had to carry 2 of them down and up a very long hill. My arms were burning by the time I was halfway through but I soldiered on with a smile on my face! Delaney was not looking so great by this point and we were all worried about her. But she was stubborn and said she was fine and wanted to keep going. I know I'd do the same if it was me. The next obstacle for us was the 12 foot rope wall. A vertical wall with a rope, pretty much the "Balls to the Wall" obstacle from Tough Mudder. This was the one that gave me a nasty leg cramp at Tough Mudder, one so bad I couldn't complete the obstacle that day. But this day I was going to do it. I used the side support to help me get up to the first foothold. Getting from the first foothold to the second one was the hardest part. I moved my foot up, leaned back, and held onto the rope for dear life. And there it was. Cramp in my left hamstring. But I ignored it and moved the second foot up to the top rung. I was kind of curled up into a weird ball but I was able to grab the top of the wall and push myself over. Stretched out the leg for a bit while I waited for the others to cross and it ended up being totally fine. 

We rounded back towards the festival area where they had their own brand of energy gel. It did not taste great but it was much appreciated. I was feeling pretty good at this point - I had walked most of the race and the obstacles hadn't taken too much out of me yet. But all that was about to change!

Rope Traverse

Back up by the festival area we crossed some over/under/through walls, some hay bales, and then we were back in the woods once again. Many many hills! At one point we were approaching a hill and James says "Karen, why don't you and Jasmine sprint up that hill?" Jasmine said she didn't want to, but I was watching her closely expecting her to suddenly take off. And she did. She was ahead of me for most of it but I closed in on her towards the end. Gave it everything I had and we reached the top at about the same time. They said I won but I'm not sure. And right smack in front of us were 2 10 foot walls. Bad planning! We caught our breath and then tackled the walls. Next up was a log carry in the hot sun. The logs weren't too heavy. I hydrated more, ate some chews, and moved on downhill for a bit before we reached the rope traverse. Spartan calls it the Tyrolean Traverse - usually found at Beast level races. I've been curious about this one as I will be facing it this year. This thing was effing HARD. I gave it two attempts. Made it farther the second time but it just wasn't happening. It was like gravity was saying "COME INTO THE WATER!!!" as the weight of my entire body constantly threatened to pull me under. It's also very hard to move on these. The pros make it look so easy. They actually made us do 8 count body builders as a penalty (similar to burpees) before we could move on.

Cargo net climb

I was getting tired. My feet were in pain (I'll explain more about that in another post...) The traverse took alot out of me. And right after it we faced the biggest damn hill I have ever seen. It had to be nearly a mile long. It was ree-dic-u-lous!!! That hill wore me out. At the top of it was a cargo net climb. Easy stuff. However once again, this obstacle is a real challenge for some of the newbies. Those who haven't been around the OCR block a few times sometimes struggle with fear of heights. So I cheered people on while waiting for my team. This obstacle was followed by some serious downhills and uphills. The last half of this course was so crazy with hills! At the top of a hill I pretty much had to climb using my hands were the monkey bars. Now I have this weird magical gift when it comes to monkey bars. But this time I honestly feared I wouldn't be able to do them. They were placed at mile 8 and between all the upper body work and the hills, my energy levels were starting to tank. I wiped my hands off real good and just went for it. I used my momentum and just tore through it as fast as possible, because I knew that was the only way I would be able to get across. And I did! Another monkey bar victory.

Storms were beginning to roll in, so despite how tired and in pain we were we pushed onward to try and get done before they shut things down. There was an inverted wall that was in the water, but right as we approached it we saw a huge flash of lightning in the distance so we walked around that obstacle. No point in being stupid.

Tsunami

We approached the festival area once again, and an onslaught of obstacles before the finish line. A paintball challenge - 3 chances to hit the target or face a penalty. It took me 1 shot to figure out how to aim it (there were no crosshairs) then on the second shot I hit the target dead in the chest. After paintball came this beast of an obstacle - Tsunami. This is one of those that just gets worse as the day goes on. We got to it 5 hours after this picture was taken. The whole thing was just covered in mud and basically a giant slip and slide. I gave it my 2 attempts using 2 different ropes. The shorter rope to the left was easier, but I just did not have the strength left in me to get over this thing. I politely bowed out and proceeded to the next obstacle - an incline wall followed by a nice little tube slide into a pool of water.

Incline wall

The final obstacle was a muddy low crawl under wires (not barbed) which was pretty hard for how short it was. There were rocks in there and there wasn't much room to move around. We all wriggled through the battlefield and then the finish line was finally ours! Medals were given and pictures were taken! We reunited with the rest of our team and just reveled in the moment for a little bit before getting cleaned up. All of us met up for a post race meal - it was just Wendy's but it tasted magical after 9 miles of insanity.

I had a great time with Team RWB - even though it was my first time meeting this group of people we shared many laughs, stories, and we all endured that course together. I got to meet Keenan and be a part of his experience that day. He was all smiles - from running the kids race, the promotion ceremony, and all the cool Army souvenirs he got. The whole day was an awesome experience for me.



And it seems that all those great reviews about Battlefrog were no lies. This was a truly well done obstacle race. Checking in was easy, they had tons of food/souvenirs/promotional tents, a kid's course with inflatables to bounce around in, a huge tent with tables and chairs for the spectators (big big plus on a hot day, no other OCR's have this!) and the only downside for me was they had a ticket system - you had to purchase tickets and then pay for food/merch with the tickets. Kind of seems like an unnecessary step to me. The music kept us pumped up, plus they had SEAL demos, helicopter flyovers, and a very excellent staff that got the crowd motivated. I'm pretty sure we also met the founder out there on the course, at the Jerry Can station. He was asking us how we liked the race so far and genuinely cared about putting on a great event. The obstacles were challenging and unique. And obviously Battlefrog made excellent use of the terrain at Carolina Adventure World - lots of twisting trails, mud, tons of water, logs, and hills after hills after hills! It was far from boring. All the obstacles were well built and I was never concerned for my safety.

Plus the medals are awesome - really high quality!

I will definitely run a Battlefrog again next year, or whenever there is one near me. I'd recommend this race to anyone seeking a challenging obstacle/mud run. I wouldn't be surprised if Battlefrog becomes a major contender in the world of OCR because they are off to a great start!

The battle is about to begin!

Howdy to all, on this Thursday eve!

I've had kind of a so/so week in the fitness world. Got a few workouts in, except for one morning where I was just dead tired. These past couple days I've been resting up for Battlefrog.

So here's the cool thing. I've really ramped up my strength training and even my running over the past month. Prior to now I wasn't training as much because I was doing back to back races. I have also cleaned up my eating because let's be honest, I got kind of lazy there. Lately I've been mindful of calories, not over eating, reducing sugar and junk food. Really just being more aware of what I'm putting in my mouth. Thinking "Do I really need to eat this?" and abolishing the "I DESERVE IT!!" mentality that I kind of fell into for awhile. It seems to be working - my cravings are much fewer and far between.

And even though it's only been a month I am still noticing some slight changes. I've lost even more fat off of my hips, which I'm not sure how that's even possible at this point since they're pretty nonexistent to begin with. 36", that's pretty dang small. I think I've lost some fat along the sides of my stomach - the stubborn pouch is still there, but it seems to be slowly getting smaller. I feel much "thinner". The muscles in my arms have gotten much larger. However I still kind of have "bat wings". The front of my arms is all muscle but the back is all flab. It's kind of weird, but I do feel like the flab is starting to go away. I know that if I stick with it I'll eventually be pretty cut. And I'm going to work even harder over the next several months. I want to get rid of these last few reserves of fat, get stronger and faster, plus - I have a Spartan Super and Beast to train for! I'm really anxious to see how my training will pay off in obstacle racing.

Speaking of obstacle racing....

They just released the course map for Battlefrog. Oh mah gahd. This is gonna be hard - but it looks so awesome!!! I'm really excited to meet up with my team and tackle this beast of a course.

Battlefrog is a 25+ obstacle course race inspired by the Navy Seals.

"BattleFrog courses are comprised of exciting obstacles in water, air and land, as well as “Boot Camp” military-inspired fitness exercises (such as mountain climbers, push-ups, jumping jacks, and burpees).

There will be mud, running, climbing, swinging, crawling jumping and swimming that will challenge your strength, endurance and motivation. Our courses are designed to test your body, mind and spirit, regardless of your fitness and experience level, in an endurance race unlike any other.

Our courses are tributes to the Navy SEALS and all those who have served and continue to serve in harm’s way.  Each obstacle is unique in its name and design to honor the SEAL community. Like SEAL training and operations, though well planned there is always an element of the unknown, so the courses incorporate mystery obstacles that will not be announced ahead of time. This element of surprise means your training must be versatile to prepare for the unexpected, in the ultimate test of your physical ability and mental determination.

SEALs instill the values of teamwork and the buddy system. You will need this for some of the obstacles whether you plan on entering as a team or single participant. Remember you are only as fast as your slowest teammate. You may also encounter positive motivation by real Navy SEALS and other Spec Warfare members throughout the course."

Yes! On Saturday I'm going to head up to Carolina Adventure World to run the 15k Battlefrog with Team RWB. I'm preparing, aka HYDRATING since it's going to be 90+ out there and the team doesn't run until mid day. It's gonna be epic!!

Finishing the job

I'm glad to say that I finished what I attempted to start 2 weeks ago. This morning I went out to Blanchard Woods again to run the hills, and this time my car didn't break down! Yay!

However, I kinda get the feeling that the universe didn't want me to run Blanchard Woods.

First my car breaks down while trying to go for a run here
So 2 weeks later I go back out for attempt #2. And about .5 miles in I see this

Yep! The whole place is kind of under construction at the moment - it's a soccer park with cross country trails, and apparently they are supposed to be adding a skate/BMX park. Just really hoping they aren't sacrificing the running trail to do that. I'd find that hard to believe, as this place is insanely popular with runners. Maybe they will just add onto the trail elsewhere.

Hill #1

I wish people would stop killing my trails! First my neighborhood destroyed half of our walking trail to build new houses, now Columbia county is killing Blanchard Woods's trail??? It's madness!

Anywho, I made the best of this by repeatedly running the same stretch. This meant I missed out on most of the hills, but there were 2 of them right at the front of the trail for me to use. I ran the .5 mile stretch out and back 3 times, then ran up the 2 hills 3 times each. Grand total of a little over 4 miles. My pace was 10:30, not bad for hill training I'd say. It was pretty tiring. The .5 mile section was pretty much one long hill, so on the way out I'd be running downhill, but that meant the way back was all uphill, followed by the 2 big hills. This was a pretty good workout!

Hill #2

Wish I could have done the steeper hills out here, but hey - something's better than nothing. 

This is an extension of hill #1, at the very beginning of the trail right before you get into the woods.

Sadly I may have to find another spot to run hills. With the majority of the trail being out it just doesn't make much sense to come here. Maybe the next time I go to FATS I will do a few hill repeats.

Can't fight the addiction

Well... in addition to the plans I revealed in my last post, about me working towards one day becoming a personal trainer... a whole bunch of other good stuff has happened!

I got my Jeep back!

It was in the shop for a week and a half! Working with the dealer was a big struggle and we really had to push them hard to get results, but now my baby Jeep is back where it belongs :)


This year I will be completing my Spartan Race Trifecta - where you run a Sprint, Super, and Beast in one year and get a special medal. I'm signed up for the Carolina Beast which is pretty close to my home. But then I had to register for the Super in Virginia, a healthy 6.5 hour drive from me. I wasn't thrilled about this, but it was the only option I had to get that blue medal.

So they just announced that there will now be a Super and a Beast on the same weekend in South Carolina. Meaning you'd run the 13+ mile Beast on Saturday, then the 8+ mile Super on Sunday.

Holy crap. This is awesome yet terrifying at the same time.

I'm not sure if I can handle a Super and a Beast in one weekend. I haven't even done a Super yet, just Sprints. But logistically this makes much more sense. No going all the way up to Wintergreen, I'd just have to stay the night around Winnsboro or the Columbia area. Plus I'd have until the end of October to train, and I wouldn't be climbing black diamond ski slopes - just smaller hills at an ATV park. It makes way more sense to transfer to the SC Super. And I more than likely will. But.. whooooh... I am not prepared!!! Time to train my life away!

In other news - I signed up for the Battlefrog 15k obstacle race next weekend in SC! I missed the inaugural race here in GA but I heard amazing things about it. It's a Navy Seals themed OCR, and believe it or not it's actually at the same venue as the previously mentioned Spartan Super/Beast, so I get to scope it out a little early. There was a discussion about this race on the Spartan Chicked Facebook group, and it turns out one of the chicks is running a team and lives in Augusta. So I'm going to run with Team RWB and meet some local Spartan Chicks! I can't wait! Good thing too, I've been kind of jonesing to run another race lately.

And something weird but kinda cool happened today. I was at work and had to carry a bunch of file boxes downstairs and put them in a closet in this hot ass room with no AC. So I got to work hauling them down there - they weren't very heavy to me so it was a breeze. My coworker who is overweight was struggling the entire time, but for me it was like a nice little warm up. So my body thought "Oh, it's time to work out now!!!" and I could feel myself kind of go into "workout mode" as I got this little burst of energy. No no, it's not time to work out. In fact, it was time to do the exact opposite and go back upstairs to sit in my office with AC and stare at a screen for 5 more hours. This was so strange, I've never had anything like this happen to me before. I was like pumped up and ready to go. But sadly it was a false alarm. Spartan problems ....

A new adventure

I have a confession to make.

I hate my job.

This is something I have kept quiet about to all except for my husband. I work for a manufacturer - well, let me back up - I'm a temp and have been for over a year. I've known people who have been temps for 4 years or more. They don't hire you on unless there's a job opening with the company, and that all depends on who you know. I won't go into too much detail, I'll just give you the simple version. The work itself is ok, except for the fact that things change constantly and no one tells me. It's impossible for me to do anything right. I'm told to ask questions if I don't know something, then when I do I get criticized because I should have known the answer. There is one person in particular who just plain does not like me. I can't ever do right in their eyes. I am a hard worker. I don't screw up all the time, if I did I wouldn't be working there. But when I do screw up it totally outshines everything I do right. Now, I'm an adult. I can handle criticism and I don't need a pat on the back for everything I do. But I never hear "Good job!", I only hear about what I do wrong. This is not the way to keep someone motivated and enthusiastic about their job. And it's starting to wear on me.

I've always been one of those people who never knew what they wanted to be when they grew up. I took some college courses years ago, but nothing they offered really resonated with me as a solid, enjoyable career choice. I had a good job for 5 years, working in Accounts Receivable for a nationwide company. I was even a supervisor there. But when we moved to Texas I had to leave because the nearest location was over an hour away from our new town. Since then I just kind of bounced around to various jobs. I kept telling myself maybe one day I'll go back to school, but I never saw the point. It's horrendously expensive and it seems like nobody can find a job once they get out of school. Plus I still didn't know what I would truly be passionate about and would be worth all this hassle. So I just figured I'd keep working and see what happens. There was a time when I thought maybe I would stay at my current job and one day get hired on. But lately I have come to a realization. I don't want to be hired on by the company. I don't believe they take good care of their employees. No one seems to be happy. More importantly, why am I sitting here in a musty ass building from 8-5 staring at a screen? To help a company make profits? What difference does this truly make? I don't want to be stuck behind a desk my entire life. This is not what I was made to do. So I'm a-movin' on. 

I can't just up and quit. We need to keep our income the way it is right now. My husband will be getting out of the Army within a year - or sooner, all depending on when his medical paperwork goes through. Once he's in the civilian world he will make at least twice what he makes now, if not more. So I got to thinking - this will really free me up and give me a chance to do what I really want to do.

And over the past few months, I have done some soul searching and came to a realization. I finally know what I want my career to be.

I'm going to become a personal trainer.

Fitness has become my passion and I want to share it with others. I can't think of anything more rewarding than helping someone reach their goals.

I've seriously become one of those people who loves to exercise. I go crazy without it. So I think this could be my dream job - one that I would love doing each and every day. And in a country where 1/3 of the population is overweight, more and more people will be seeking an answer to that problem. That answer is fitness. There is a wall that we all have to get past - the point where working out is no longer a chore, it's something you genuinely look forward to. I want to help people get over this "wall" and show them that exercise can be fun. That the feeling of victory is worth the struggle. Victory may be running an extra mile, being able to complete an extra rep, fitting into your old jeans, shaving 1 minute off your 5k, graduating to heavier weights, finishing your first race, getting off your medication, losing inches off your waist, feeling more energetic every day - there are literally thousands of positive results that come from working your body hard. I want to help people experience them.

Yes, alot of it may be sales depending on what gym I work at. It will probably take me awhile to get a good client base and start making decent money. This will be a job where I have to work my way up from the bottom. But that's ok - we will be in a good financial situation so I won't be desperate for the money.

Over the next year, I will be learning as much as I possibly can about personal training. I'll be spending more time in the gym and experimenting with different exercise methods. Obviously I will be getting all my certifications as well. And in the process, I'll get myself into even better shape. 

I'm really excited and eager to learn. This will be the start of a grand adventure ...

Changing some things around

I need another weekend day. I'm getting Sunday-itis. Not because there's anything I need to do or recover from, just feeling like I want an extra day off :)

Stuff was accomplished this weekend. No hill running because my quad is still kind of angry. I got alot of errands done yesterday, including cleaning out our closet and taking a bunch of stuff to Uptown Cheapskate to try and make some cash. It wasn't much, but it was something, and I got rid of all the crap we no longer wear. I'm very much an anti-hoarder. Picked up a new pair of army green khaki shorts, and scored a UA heatgear top from their very limited workout clothes section - only 10 bucks!

Yesterday it hit me that fitness gear is slowly taking over my closet. So I have officially consumed *2* of the 5 sections with workout tops.

The entire bottom shelf is lined with more stuff. 

Pants and Capris!

A pile for shorty shorts and a pile for running shorts. And sports bras!

Between this stuff and all my race tshirts, I'd say fitness has consumed about 50% of my closet. I'm not a fashionable chick by any means. Never have been. These days I feel more comfortable in my workout clothes than anything else. Partly because I'm a "comfort first" kinda gal, and partly because I feel proud and awesome when I'm in my running shorts and finisher tshirts. It's what I wear because it's who I am!

Yesterday also included an awesome lunch at Laziza (a Mediterranean grill) - spicy shawarma with rice, jalapeno hummus and pita bread, and this amazing fluffy white sauce to dip the chicken in. Soooo good. Ended the day with a trip to my neighborhood pool, and went to my husband's restaurant of choice which was Outback. Got some kind of Teriyaki steak - wasn't impressed. Way too salty!

This morning I planned ahead. 

See, I knew I would be up late tonight watching Game of Thrones, and my desire to get up at 5am and workout would be pretty low. So I made today my triceps/chest/shoulders day! 

I'm going to try something a little different for my strength training warm ups. In addition to my regular warm up I'm also going to start going outside and running a mile. This is gonna be a good way to get my entire body warmed up, and a chance to get in some extra mileage on my non run days. I think it's a pretty smashing idea. I've also realized I should probably start wearing shoes for my strength workouts. Even though I'm working out at home, I still feel like it would be better to have some more support and foot stability while doing my moves. So, for the dual purpose of a running warm up and a home gym shoe, I give you..

My old Mix Masters! I got these last year and they don't really work for running long distances because I get "hot spots" in certain places on my feet. But they make great walking shoes and could serve well as a gym shoe/short distance running shoe. Perfect!

Now time for housework *grumble* and to make the best of my precious little weekend time!

Friday ramblings about life and quads.

It's Friday afternoon, and I am sitting here under the big tree outside my work. Sometimes I just have to come out here to get away sometimes. Get out of the dingy building and get some fresh air and sunlight, you know?

It's been kind of a frustrating and challenging week. A lot is on my mind right now. But things will get better. And I have the power to make them that way.

The good news is I got all of my workouts in except for 1 run. And it's been awesome. I think I'm starting to truly love strength training!

The bad news is - last night I pulled my quad muscle while I was doing a goblet squat. It didn't hurt - more like it started to tense up. I thought ok, it's time to stop now before I make it worse. It's not hurting very much today, just a bit more tender than normal. However I'm not sure if it would be wise to go running tomorrow. I'll see how I feel when I wake up. Getting tired of setbacks when trying to do hill repeats. I need to be ready for the Spartan Super in 3 months! But I can't injure myself worse either. So it is what it is I guess.

Time to go back to work. And ponder my future.

It's National Running Day!

Yay! It's National Running Day!

I did my part and ran 3 miles this morning :)

Thought I'd celebrate with a quick personal history regarding all things running.

2 years ago, I was 200 lbs. I was living with my mom temporarily while my husband was in South Korea. When he came home he had 2 weeks of leave before we moved to Georgia. He told me he had to pass a PT test once he inprocessed with his new unit, so we took a few days to hit the gym (I did ok with this for being 200 lbs, but it was painfully sore afterwards) One day he tells me "I need to go running" So we went for a run in my mom's neighborhood - in the middle of summer. I struggled to run for 30 seconds without taking AT LEAST a 2 minute walk break. We ran up a huge hill. He was so far ahead of me, and here I was huffing and puffing just trying to stay moving. He kept yelling "Come on sweetheart, keep running!" But I just couldn't. More importantly, I didn't want to. This was stupid. What's the point of suffering trying to run when I could just walk? This was my mentality on that day.

Here I am - 2 years later, 35 lbs lighter and 3 pants sizes smaller. I can run for over an HOUR without stopping if I want to. I have run 13 miles without stopping. I am faster than ever - my record time for the mile run in grade school was 9:30, at my all out absolute best. Like, I wanted to die when it was over. This morning I woke up at 5am, and within 20 minutes of waking up I did that x3, with no food in my stomach. Easily. Now my record for a mile run is more like 7:45.

I have run several 5k's, a 10k, a half marathon, some trail runs, and an armada of obstacle races. Now I look forward to running. Crave it, even. Does it ever get easier? No. But I have gotten better at it. I always strive to go faster, harder, longer (heh, heh) This summer I will be increasing my mileage once again in preparation for some upcoming distance races. I will be running on trails more often - and HILLS. So many hills.

Prior to now, I never DREAMED I would one day come to love running. And it wasn't easy. I had to (and still do) have to push past the suck and endure the uncomfortable. But in doing so, I get to be outside in nature, enjoy the sights/sounds/smells, clear my mind a little bit, MOVE my body the way it was MEANT to move, feel powerful and strong, feel my heart and lungs working hard - I get to feel ALIVE. And I always feel great afterwards. Runner's high - it's a real thing.

National Running Day - 2 years in, and hopefully many years ahead. I can't wait to see where the journey takes me.

Checking Form

Kind of a stressful Monday for me! Work was busy plus I got all this mess going on with my car. We're not really any closer to understanding what's wrong with it. Right now it looks like I'll have to wait a few days. Not cool!

So I came home and had tickle fights with my husband. After almost karate chopping him in the face (I have a really bad and uncontrollable reaction to being tickled) I did the responsible thing and made myself get up to go work out.

Today - triceps, shoulders, chest.

Also - a chance to try out my new experiment!

I got a mirror for my gym room! An over the door mirror that I didn't even bother to take out of the box. Yes. The point is to have a way to check my form. At this point I am not working out at a gym, so I don't have the advantage of being surrounded by mirrors. Tried this out today and it was really helpful. There were a couple times where I corrected myself. I'm thinking about getting a second mirror to put horizontally against the wall - so I have something for movements that are down on the floor.

The one thing I'm struggling with lately has been dips. I freaking suck at them. But in just 3 workouts I have noticed a big improvement! This is why I'm trying to be really consistent with my training - otherwise I won't see any results, whether they be physical appearance, strength, or muscle functionality. I will continue to work and I will get better!

Life Ran Me

It's been an interesting weekend to say the least

Friday night, after a particularly rough few days at work, my husband said we were invited to his Sgt's house. So within 15 minutes of me getting home I changed and got right back into my car to go over there. Turned out to be a handful of our friends and we were celebrating a (early) birthday. We had some good food and had no trouble entertaining ourselves with crazy shenanigans. And Cards Against Humanity of course. It had been way too long since we got together with everybody so it was much needed. We didn't get home until midnight though, so there was no waking up before the sun to go running. By the time I got up it was 8:30 and I had no desire to go running. And I have no regrets. Times like this take precedence over my Saturday morning running insanity.

So I got up this morning and proceeded to Blanchard Woods park to get my hill running on. I planned on running 4 miles with a bunch of hill repeats to get ready for the mountain that awaits me in Virginia this August. I'm on my way to the park and... my car starts acting really weird. I got there and wasn't sure if I should turn around and go back home. Would my car make it home? I'm here so I might as well go running right? But first let me park the car, turn it off, and turn it back on to see if the problem corrects itself. It starts and I back up. And I can't go forward. Great. But at least I'm in a park and it didn't die on the road, which I risked if I tried to drive it home. Husband wasn't picking up his phone. So I called the roadside assistance people at USAA and they got me hooked up with a tow truck. I notice the truck is leaking fluid - doesn't look like oil, it's more of a watery reddish brown. Transmission fluid. Not really sure why my 2012 car has transmission problems, but it's under warranty so to the dealer it went. Since all this happened on a Sunday, the dealer was not open and neither were any rental car places. So 2 minutes after I gave up and called for a cab, my husband FINALLY called back and came to my rescue. He took me down to the airport so I could get a rental car, and I'm calling the dealer first thing in the morning.

I never did go running. Once I realized how screwed my car was I knew it just wasn't going to happen today.

This weekend - life ran me. For better and for worse, it ran me. But it's ok. I had a great time Friday night, and I didn't die today - only my car did. And they're gonna fix it for free. Life is still good.

My turtle companion - he sits in my (dead) Jeep!

I'll continue with my workouts as normal this week and go hill running next weekend.