Its here, its here, its here, its finally here!!!!!

The Marine Corps Marathon is tomorrow.

Currently I'm laying on the hotel bed getting ready to go sleep. I've showered, stretched, prayed, and laid out my clothes and gear for the morning.

We (my friend/coworker/partner in crazy racing adventures Missy) drove up to DC yesterday morning because we registered for a Runner's Symposium course associated with the Marathon that we can use for continuing education courses for work. We went to that yesterday afternoon and this morning, and when we weren't in the course or getting lost trying to drive ourselves around DC we were hanging out at the expo. I don't know about you, but I love race Expo's! You're surrounded my hundreds of people all hoping to accomplish the same thing, all motivated to do their best and even some competing to be THE best. I always spend way too much money at Expo's because the race gear is always super expensive, but I allow myself 1-2 things as a souvenir from each race that I do. This race was a T shirt and hoodie. I love them!

I'm so excited that Mark drove up this evening just to be there for me at the finish line tomorrow. Isn't he the sweetest? The poor guy has sat for countless hours at finish lines over the 5 years we've been together. I keep trying to tell me he'd have more fun if he'd run the race with me, but he says he's good with just watching and waiting. : )

Anyways, its 9:45 and I am ready to sleep because we will be trying to catch the shuttle to the starting line at 5:30 tomorrow morning!

The Marathon Taper is in full swing here. After the surgery of course I pretty much rested from ALL intense physical activity (read as: anything more than walking or jogging only to catch up with a puppy, family member, what have you...)

 I had my follow up with the doctor last week and she gave me the go ahead to start running again! It's been a weird tapering experience for a couple of reasons:

1.) I've never really tapered leading up to a race before. I've always heard that I should but I just never felt confident in myself to stop training. It's never really been a problem for me before - but its possible I could've done better in previous races if I had let my body rest.

2.) I was sort of forced to taper thanks to my surgery. And usually taper doesn't mean take 2 weeks off and do absolutely nothing. So I took 2 weeks off and then had this week to get in 1 last semi long run, and some good quality shorter runs before more of a rest next week, with only very short easy runs, leading up to the Marathon. So my training has kind of looked like - TRAIN really HARD -> rest completely -> Taper? -> Run Marathon! Normally the taper should come before the "rest completely".

 I did run 12 miles yesterday (the semi-long run) and it felt good. I was nervous I would be deconditioned after the 2 week rest and barely be able to get through but, it wasn't bad. It took me a while to get into a good breathing rhythm and muscles were tight during and sore afterwards but I'm okay with that. I finished easy, feeling very encouraged that I can complete this 26.2 mile race in 10 days! Not only am I excited about reaching all of my training goals, I have met and actually exceeded my fundraising goal for 24:50 Inc. Little Sikelele will have education, after school care and health care for another year! I am so grateful to the friends and family members that made this possible. It will definitely be the motivator for me during the race when my body is rebelling against those last few miles.

This is probably going to be one of the most honest blog posts I've ever written, well maybe not honest, but I guess the most "real life" post. It's also one of the longer ones. You may or may not be interested, but I feel like documenting this past weeks experiences anyways. So here it goes.

This whole surgery thing took a lot more out of me than I thought.

I took Monday off of work for the day of the surgery and Tuesday off as a "get better" day and thought I'd be back on my feet by Wednesday for sure. As I got closer to the surgery, I was reading a few horror stories online from women who had the same procedure I was having done and so reluctantly I took Wednesday off as a precaution. A "just in case" day with the thought that if I was feeling good on Tuesday I could always go in to work on Wednesday anyways. I seriously doubted I was going to need 3 whole days to recover from this outpatient procedure.

I'm just going to admit it here - I was wrong.

Monday morning came bright and early and Mark took me to the hospital at 6am. I had been nervous about the surgery ever since we decided to go ahead and have it. You see, I had a very large endometrioma on my left ovary. They found it shortly before Mark and I got married but I was hesitant to have it taken out because there was a chance I would lose my ovary along with it. It wasn't really causing me pain, much to the Dr.'s surprise, and they weren't worried about cancer, so I figured there was no harm in leaving it alone because I really didn't want to lose an ovary at my age. Because well, it seemed like a big deal, losing an ovary in prime child bearing age. Unfortunately it did start causing me problems this last year and we found out there were risks involved with getting pregnant having that large of a cyst sitting there. Anyways, after a lot of praying we decided it was best to go ahead and get it taken out. I felt sure about the decision but still nervous about the surgery just because I've always had an intense fear of being put under anesthesia! My whole life I've considered that to be the scariest thing ever! I just didn't (and still don't) like the thought of being that out of touch/out of control. It's one of the only things that literally made me freak out if I thought about it. Needless to say, I had to do alot of praying. And Monday morning as we checked in at the hospital, I was as calm as could be. My blood pressure was normal, which surprised me, because it always jumps up when I'm nervous at the Dr's office. But you know what? I shouldn't have been surprised. I had been praying for peace and assurance and God is ever faithful, isn't He? I don't know why I get surprised when He reveals His presence. We also did a lot of praying that my ovary would be able to be saved, but also that if it couldn't, we would be at peace with what ever had to happen.

After the surgery, while I was still coming out of anesthesia (which wasn't as scary as I thought it would be) Mark told me they did in fact have to take my ovary. Mark said I cried when he told me - I'm not 100% clear on that memory thanks to the drugs I was on, but I do remember being in pain.

And this pain continued. Monday, Tuesday and into Wednesday I was hurting. I was only comfortable laying on my back. Any movement requiring my abdominals to work just about put me to tears. And also, in an unexpected turn of events, the government shut down this week which meant Mark was furloughed. Are we happy about this? Nope. But was I glad he was home to take care of me when we hadn't planned for him to be? Absolutely. I would've been in trouble with out him. I did finally return to work on Thursday an Friday but it was hard. I struggled for sure. I couldn't believe how naive I had been about this procedure. But I made it through.

The pain is lessening during the day now and I was finally able to sleep on my side last night! Woohoo!  But now I am just feeling frustrated. I am ready to feel better and be 100%. Tomorrow I was supposed to run/walk a 1/2 marathon with a good friend, its her first 1/2! So I am super disappointed that I won't be able to do it with her. I went shopping with my mom and sisters tonight and had to take severalrest breaks thanks to pain. Once again, I over estimated my ability to recover from having a small organ removed from my body.

This experience has been humbling; the 3 little scars on my abdomen serving as a reminder that I can in fact be knocked down, despite my mental resolve to stay on my feet. And that maybe I should listen to my Dr.'s and family members when they tell me that planning to run/walk a half marathon only 6 days after a surgery is a bad idea. haha

So what next?

I have a follow up with my Dr this Tuesday to go over pathology results, (just to make sure the cyst was in fact benign like they think it is) talk about recovery and also discuss fertility. I still have one good ovary though, so from what she told me in pre-surgery appointments we shouldn't have an issue trying to start a family. Which is something we are thankful for.

I'm praying next week finds my body healing faster than it did this week, but if not, I pray that I have patience with my body. I am eager to get back into my housework routine, workout routine and just feeling 100% again!

I have been slacking on putting up the last few weeks of my training. After my run rest, where I switched my long runs from Saturdays to Wednesdays, I have done an 18 mile run and a 20 mile run. The 18 miler was pretty bad - I walked ALOT, it took me way longer than I wanted and I felt awful afterwards. I mean, it felt like I was coming down with the flu, I had a headache and my body was achey, but I spent the rest of the day that day at my moms in the pool before heading in to work - which seemed to cure most of my ailments. :) The following week I ran a 20 miler and felt 100x better... didn't have to walk at all and better managed my fluid intake - I felt so good that I wished the race was happening right then and I could just run 6 more miles and be done with it! Thankfully this week's 22 miler was just as nice!

Here's what my work out weeks been looking like:

Saturday 9/21 - P90x legs and back
Sunday - 3 mile run with Piper
Monday - ACL Class (My final class, so I'm going to need another form of exercise on Mon/Wed)
Tuesday - Rest and body prep for the long run. This includes some stretching, rolling out the tight muscle with "The Stick", and some carb loading. My routine carb load dinner is 2 slices of cheese pizza from Papa Johns and 2-3 bread sticks! I'm hoping I can find a Papa Johns pretty easily in DC the night before the race. ; )

Source - No afilliation

Wednesday - 22 Mile Run! I ran a 10 mile loop, stopped at the house to quickly use the bathroom and grab some Gu Chomps, ran another 10 mile loop, then stopped to get little miss Piper for the last 2 miles. That probably wasn't the best idea seeing as she had way more energy at that point than I did, haha, but she made sure I ran those last 2 miles with all I had left. Afterwards I was sore and achey, but just the legs, so I was super happy. Unfortunately I had mad blisters on my toes, they are still hurting today, but other than that I felt great!

Source

Friday - Rested - oops. Definitely should've done an arm workout or something! I'm a slacker...

I took a rest from my long runs this weekend for a couple of reasons. One, I have to switch my long run days from Friday mornings to Wednesday mornings because of a change in my work schedule and Two, I knew my legs needed a rest! For the past 4 weeks I've increased my mileage by 2 miles a week, 10,12,14,16.... plus I've been adding more strength training for my legs and I could just tell they were getting fatigued. I was originally planning to do a 10 miler on Saturday and then 16 miles on Wednesday but when I woke up Saturday morning my legs felt heavy and tired before I even got out of bed! I knew it wouldn't be a good run and it was about time for a step back week anyways, so I'm just saving up some energy for a good long run on Wednesday : )

Monday - Labor Day - We went canoeing on the James river with family for Labor Day. We were out there for 4 hours, so I'm counting that as my workout today.

Tuesday - P90x Legs + Ab Ripper X

Wednesday - ACL Class

Thursday - 3 mile run with the Pipes.

Friday - P90x Chest and Shoulders + 300 Abs (an Ab workout from pinterest)



Saturday - 1 Mile quick run with the Pipe's in my new shoes!!! So excited that Sports Authority had all of their Asics on sale! My regular $115 shoes were only $69.98!

(I'm not affiliated with Sports Authority in anyway.)

Sunday - Rest, but I did take the pup for a walk this afternoon, it feels good just to get outside and move, even if it's a leisurely walk.

The first part of this next week will be pretty light as I rest and body prep for Wednesday's run. Still debating on whether it will be a 16 mile or 18 miler! But I'm glad I will have my new shoes to take with me :)

Mark and I were gone for the weekend visiting family for the last summer holiday so I'm a little behind putting up my workout schedule from last week. I have to say I'm in like with putting my workout schedules up on the blog here, It's keeping me accountable because it makes me think, Hey! I have to be able to say I did something! So here's what last week look liked on the exercise side of things.

Monday: ACL Class

Tuesday: 3 mile run

Wednesday: ACL class

Thursday: Rest (body prep for Friday's run - included lots of water and some carbs. My favorite pre-run dinner? 2 slices of cheese pizza and a couple of plain breadsticks.)

Friday: 16 mile run! And it was SO much better than last week's 14 miler. I know I said I was going to back it down this week and try 16 miles next week, but I knew my legs were feeling better than last week since I took Thursday off to rest and I didn't want to waste a good day on a shorter run! I did take my ipod with me which helped my motivation tremendously. And I decided to do 10 miles, make a pit stop at the house to grab a quick drink and some energy chews, and then left for the last 6. It made a huge difference I think! My 10 mile time: 1:40. 13.1 mile time: 2:14:40 (1/2 marathon split time!). 16 mile time: 2:49:37

My mantra during my run on Friday!

Saturday + Sunday: Vacation! I took my running gear with me, and probably should've gone for a run, but I was enjoying family and sleep just a little too much. (Priorities right? :))

My workout schedule was a little different this week. I started teaching an ACL injury prevention class at work on Monday and Wednesday nights, which focuses on strength and balance training, and plyometric and agility drills. Because of the class setting I get to work out along side of the high school girls I'm training and since I don't get home on those nights until about 8:30, those workouts have to count as my work out for the day!

Monday: ACL Class

Tuesday: p90x plyometrics. I actually got the husband to join in with me on this one! He was pretty sore the next day but was glad I talked him into doing it. : )

Wednesday: ACL Class

Thursday: 1 mile jog - I was meeting a friend for dinner and thats all I had time for!

Friday: 14 mile run! And it was miserable! I mean. I was struggling. I had to stop and walk twice for about 2-3 minutes each. Which I guess when you're out there for 2 1/2 hours total walking for less than 10 minutes out of that time isn't bad, but I'd prefer not to have to walk at all. My ipod has officially gone to the dogs. It didn't work for me again this week. 14 miles without music to help you stay motivated is extremely difficult. Not to mention my right leg had this awful feeling of being achy and heavy. It was something I hadn't experience before but after some stretching after mile 6 it seemed to help a bit. Anyways, I guess I'm making excuses for why it was so hard haha but I eventually finished it. I think next week I'll back down to a 9-10 mile run to give my legs a little bit of a break and then the following week try to complete a 16 miler. We'll see how I'm feeling. :)

Saturday: I'm resting today, thanks to my legs being so tired after yesterdays run plus I spent the rest of my day off yesterday doing yard so I think my legs are grateful for the rest today.

How were your workouts this week?

Did you do anything to change it up?

Its official!

I'm all set up to run my 2nd full Marathon in October! October 27th to be exact. :) It's the 38th annual Marine Corps Marathon in D.C. I am of course anxious about running another full, but this one will be totally different from the first because this time I am running for something/someone bigger than myself.

I have teamed up with the Non-Profit organization 25:40 to raise money while I train for the race. This charity is actually a ministry based on the Scripture Matthew 25:40 “Whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” It is run in South Africa, in the poverty stricken Eastern Cape, whose mission is help children survive the devastating disease of AID/HIV and poverty. When I decided to run the Marathon through a charity group I deliberated very carefully over the available groups to team up with. When I came across 25:40 it didn't take long before I chose them whole heartedly. You see, in 2004 I had the opportunity to visit South Africa on a Missions trip. I got an up close look at the poverty these children are living in. I held the children infected with HIV, I played with them and talked to them. I visited their homes in the squatter camps. These memories will be forever etched in my mind - South Africa will always have a special place in my heart. 

In order to run with 25:40 I have to raise $600. The money I raise will go specifically towards a young, 11 year old girl named Sikelele. Sikelele, whose name means "bless" is in 2nd grade and lives at home with her mother and younger sister. She has cerebral palsy and used to be ridiculed at the government run school because of her delayed speech and different gait. Thanks to 25:40 she now receives speech therapy regularly along with emotional and spiritual counseling and she is thriving in 24:50's after school care. I'm hoping the money I raise for her will continue to give her hope and a brighter future.

I am so excited to be able to use my passion for running to make a difference in someone else's life. I will not just be running for my own enjoyment but every step I take on October 27th will be in support of 25:40 and Sikelele. Hopefully it will provide motivation up and over the hills!

Its so hard to get back in to a workout routine after vacation, isn't it?? It's way more tempting to sleep! Sleep feels so good on vacation you just want it to never end...

Its official. I finished my first, and possibly only, triathlon.

And I just want to say it was waaaaayyyy harder than I thought it was going to be.

The weekend started with Friday off, remember how Mark and I were both off work? We decided, well I decided, it would be a good weekend to do some painting so Friday we went and picked out paint for our bathroom and master bedroom. I figured we'd have it done by the end of the night but boy was I wrong! The project went downhill quickly as we discovered the whole plaster in our bathroom needed to be scraped and sanded before we could repaint it... Anyways, long story short, I left Mark to finish the project that I wanted to do while I traipsed off to Williamsburg, VA first on Saturday for the race expo and checking in of the bikes and then again early Sunday morning for the race itself.


























He worked non-stop all weekend to give me the bathroom that I wanted while I was off finishing a bucket list race. He's a keeper for sure. : )

So what about the Triathlon???



Well, for starters I thought I was going to die. Literally.

The race started out with a 1 mile swim in the James River. The water was pretty warm but the temperature was still low enough to wear a wet suit. (I had rented a wetsuit the day before at the expo.) As soon as we got down to the beach to await our wave start I began to feel sick to my stomach. The large buoy's sitting out in the water that lined our course seemed much much further than I had ever swam before.


I started to get really anxious but tried to feign confidence the best that I could. Thankfully Missy was there to help encourage me! It was a beach start, so as they sounded the gun for our age group we headed into the water with the large crowd of blue swim capped females. As we got waist deep in the water I looked over, waved goodbye to Missy, knowing it would probably be the last time I saw her until the finish line, and started into my swim. Within seconds I knew I was in trouble. The water was choppy and the current was strong. Every time I lifted my head to breath I got a mouthful of water. People were all around me kicking and splashing past me. Suddenly my wet suit felt like it was constricting my chest and not allowing my lungs to take in air. Every 2 strokes I had to lift my head to try to breath. Unfortunately things continued to go downhill very fast those first 10 minutes. Before I even made it to the first buoy turn I had to stop at one of rescue paddle boarders to figure things out. I unzipped the top of my wetsuit which helped me breath a little easier and as I looked at the rest of course still left to swim I seriously considered my options. I couldn't believe I was actually thinking about quitting. I've never thought quitting to be an option, but in the middle of the James River, as I struggled to breathe, I was afraid quitting was exactly what was going to end up happening. In fact all around me quite a few people were being pulled out of the water into emergency boats. (I found out after the race that the water made the swim extremely difficult for even the professional athletes out on the course.) After saying a quick prayer I decided to just keep swimming. I wouldn't quit. I might drown lol but I wasn't going to quit! I eventually made it out of the water after 40 minutes (which actually wasn't as bad as I was expecting, Missy swam hers in 36 minutes, only 4 minutes faster than me which I was happy about!) But she was much quicker during her transitions so I never caught up to her.

The next leg of the race was the Bike.



24 miles of biking up and down hills. My quads were on FIRE! Not to mention other unmentionable places started getting very sore... haha this was definitely my slowest leg of the race... it took me about 1 hour and 32 minutes. I hated the uphills but just kept thanking God for the down hills. I was so so happy to make it to the second transition but as soon as I got off my bike my legs forgot how to walk/run normally lol. I'm pretty sure I waddled my way to my bikes rack spot. I switched my helmet for my visor and then I was off to finish the last leg of the race!

Only 6.2 miles to run, no big deal right? I mean after all I've completed 1/2 and full marathons. 6 miles is easy peasy. HA! The first 2 miles were the weirdest run ever!!! I just couldn't get my legs moving in a good rhythm, really I couldn't get them moving normally haha. My right calf and medial quad/knee were feeling pretty tight and painful. I stopped to stretch them out which helped a lot and by mile 3 I was feeling better and keeping up a better pace. I did run in to Missy as she was looping back to finish the run, she was happy to see that I hadn't given up yet ; )



As I came up to the end of the run it was exciting to see Missy there cheering me on. She got some pictures of me too so I was happy about that! They had a pretty sweet finisher chute where you pretty much finished all by yourself as the announcer called out your name. We get a free finisher photo too, but it hasn't come in yet! They had quite a lot of "professionals" racing the half iron man course and because they pretty much just ran the olympic course twice they were running/biking along side of me  passing me with ridiculous speed all day. But it was cool that I was on the same course as they were!


I'm glad I finished it. It was definitely challenging but totally worth it. Its nice to see it checked off of my race bucket list, but its probably the only race I've ever done where I've crossed the finish line and thought "I don't think I really want to do this again!" Normally the excitement of the finish, the medal and the feeling of accomplishment pump me up and make me feel like I could do it all over again the next weekend. But not so much this time. I mean now that its a few days later and the fear of drowning from the swim is a fading memory I can kinda sort of see myself maaayyybbeee doing another one. Maybe. But I don't know. I'm definitely done with it for now. :)

When I first started my triathlon training I wasn't really concerned about practicing the swimming portion out in the open water. I felt like I was a pretty strong swimmer and I read about people who waited until race day for their first open water swim (OWS). I figured I could pull that off too. Well first of all, when I started training in a pool with actual lanes I realized I wasn't as strong of a swimmer as I thought! Secondly, I am so glad I had the chance to do an OWS today.


I met my co-worker and triathlon training buddy/coach at the Chesapeake Bay this morning. She's done several triathlons, her most recent a half iron man just last weekend, so this swim was a walk in the park for her. I was excited to just get out there and try it, we've been swimming over a mile in the pool so really my only concern was how cold the water was going to be! Thankfully she brought me a wet suit so I didn't even have to worry about the cold.




We waded out in to the water about waist deep and decided what marker we would aim for, about a 1/2 mile up the beach. I started out a head of her, and I knew we weren't going to race but at the same time I didn't want her to pass me! So I started out fast. My feet kicking hard and my arms pulling and it took about, oh, 5 seconds before my heart started to race because I realized I couldn't see A THING! In the pool theres a black line to follow to keep your self in a straight line, in the bay, theres just greenish, foggy water with the occasional black speck floating in front of your goggles! I tried not to panic and just kept swimming on. Trying to figure out how my rhythm of breathing and sighting (looking up out of the water to make sure you're still headed towards the target) was going to work. It didn't take me long to start tiring out, and then all of a sudden, as my arms were paddling and my feet were kicking I realized I must look like a helpless turtle just screaming out for a shark to come and eat me! Seriously.  I've never really been scared of sharks getting me when I'm in the ocean here in hampton roads, but today a totally irrational fear of being eaten by a shark completely over took me! I tried to force myself to stay calm and just focus on breathing... lifting my head every 3 strokes like in the pool. It seemed to be working for a while, that is until a piece of seaweed got wrapped around my foot and my arm knocked into something solid and immovable!



I literally had a mild heart attack! (Which is two in one week because I saw a funnel cloud during a tornado warning at work on Monday night - these heart attacks can't be good for my health!) Anyways, I started panicking. I started flipping around and pretty quickly realized I was in about knee deep water and the immovable object that my hand was actually the sand. Yea, as in the bottom of the bay. Woops! I had swum a little too close to the shore trying to make sure I didn't swim too far away from shore. Because there were probably more sharks out in the deeper water... Once Missy got to me, we rested for a few minutes and I shared my shark story. She laughed at me and assured me there were no sharks in the bay haha so we turned ourselves around and headed the 1/2 mile back.

I felt much more confident on the way back. My goal was to keep a better pace, find a consistent breathing/sighting rhythm, and think less about a shark biting my leg off. I think I did pretty good at the first 2, the last one was still a little bit of a challenge.

Anyways...I have a little over a week until my first triathlon. Thankfully we'll be swimming in the James River where I'm 99.9% sure there aren't any sharks. Hopefully all other river creatures will be scared away by the multiple people in the river splashing ahead of and behind me! Which the multitudes of people may produce another irrational fear of being drowned by people swimming over me, but... I'll cross that bridge when I come to it!

Last weekend I finished one of the most unique races I've ever done. I was going to say the toughest race I've ever done, but I think the marathon is still winning in that category!

Have you ever heard of Tough Mudder? It's a 10-12 mile race full of obstacles inspired by the British Military special forces. Sounds awesome right?

I drove up to Pennsylvania where the race was with 2 of my coworkers and a long time friend of mine. I was excited about the race but not excited that I was leaving my husband again after a week of being gone and having to get back in the car after doing so much traveling the week before. Thankfully my husband is supportive of me and all of my bucket list races that I want to do this summer!

I was out on the course with my team of 4 for about 3 and 1/2 hours. No shade. Running (sometimes walking) up and down hills for 11 miles. Not to mention going over insane obstacles. We scaled 12-15 foot wooden walls, jumped off a +15 foot wall into freezing water, crawled through a series of tunnels in mud and water, carried large, heavy logs as a team, swung across monkey bars and rings over freezing water (i definitely fell into the water on this one!) and crawled and ran through live wires emitting strong electrical shocks if you hit the wrong one! Does it sound crazy? Why in the world would I do that?! Even as I list it all out it sounds ridiculous! It was hard, no doubt about it. It challenged me mentally (I'm a tiny bit scared of heights, so heights without any safety netting on those walls was definitely a mental struggle!) and physically, but I had a blast. And Tough Mudder emphasizes that this is an event, not a race. Everyone helps everyone. We lifted each other up over the walls and I had people I didn't even know pull me up over the dreaded "Everest" half pipe. Even when I missed it the first time, they stayed and helped until I made it up and over. No one cares about their time, everyone is a team encouraging each other to finish.

But still... why would I do this? I think its because every once in a while its good to face fears, push your body hard and complete things with a team. It builds character. :)


 Unfortunately we didn't get many pictures of us out on the course : / and the ones we did get from the professional photographers weren't worth the money they were asking for them. But here are a few from before and after...

Its been a little over a week since I decided to be a little more disciplined with getting my body back in shape after the holidays.

I did a soda fast for a week and completed the first week of P90X. Results?

0 pounds lost.

Bummer.

But 0 pounds gained. : )

Okay, I can go with that... its a start. I'm not going to be discouraged. I know it takes time to see and feel results so no getting down in the dumps after the first week. It's simply time to keep pressing on.

I did sip 1 or 2 glasses of soda over the weekend to end my fast but its time to keep that sugary stuff out of my diet during the week days.

I started the second week of P90X today and tried to keep my meals on the light and healthy side.

Breakfast? Egg and cheese sandwich on a bagel thin.

Recovery drink after the workout? Organic chocolate milk and of course some water.

Lunch? Strawberry's sprinkled with about 1 tsp of sugar and water.

Planning to do grilled chicken over some whole grain pasta tonight for dinner!

Here's to week 2 of staying healthy and fit!

My 7 and 1/2 miles on Wednesday went fantastic! Loved using my new watch to help keep me on pace so that I'm averaging a little under a 10 minute mile... if I'm able to keep that up for another 6 miles I'll be beating a personal record at the Shamrock, so I'm encouraged by that! I just need to stick to my training schedule and make training a top priority. But with that being said, I'm also reminding that physical training and self discipline should not be THE top priority in my life.

As I was having lunch with one of my dearest friends a couple of weeks ago, we were talking about our physical training and she brought up the fact that the time she was taking to shape her physical, temporary body was out weighing the time she spent training her eternal soul so she said she came up with the idea to take a new scripture verse or passage to the pool with her and to meditate and memorize the scripture during her swims.

I immediately thought of the passage in 1 Corinthians:


I loved her idea but hadn't put it into practice in my own training. Until now. This need to train my spirit along with my body has been a constant nagging in my mind over the last couple of weeks and I know God is inviting me to spend more time meditating on His Word. Because I don't want to turn down an invitation from my King, I'm going to try memorizing a new passage of scripture on all my long runs. And the first, because I've been struggling with having a true generous spirit, is listed below.