Happy Monday!!

Oh Monday, the day everyone loves to hate! Well, the sun is actually shining right now, after a big rain storm, so that makes me happy :) I am also excited about a few things happening this week!! But first let me tell you a little bit about the 5K I ran on Saturday.

I signed up to run the 5K b/c a friend of mine from church was putting it on. It is for a small Christian school & I wanted to do it to support my friend and the school :) Well, I am SO happy that I did!! I got a PR for the 5K! I started out in front & a girl ended up catching up with me, so instead of let her pass me, I ran with her at her pace. It turned out that we finished the first mile in 8 minutes! That is WAY faster than I normally run, so I held back a little back & went down to a 8:20/8:30 minute mile for the next few miles, but when we got to about 2.5 miles, I started picking up the pace, knowing that the finish would be coming up quickly. I ended up finishing the 5K in 25:59!! WHAT?! That is insane!! A few years ago, my goal was to finish in 30 minutes & I blew that out of the water! I was telling my sister last week that I could probably finish in 27 minutes, so that was my goal this time around, even that goal was demolished! I am SO happy :) I never thought I could run that fast!!

SO- about this week....I am starting another challenge, this time it is with a respected fitness competition coach, Cathy Savage. I bought some Isagenix products from her, there is a pre-workout & post-workout supplement, some protein & a bunch of other stuff. I am excited to have this opportunity to learn more about how to use supplements b/c I have only just started using them and am only using protein right now. I definitely want to learn more!! Anyways, she is also providing a grocery list, a nutrition guide & a workout guide as well. I am really hoping to see some great results b/c I know her girls kill it on the fitness competition stage :) I would LOVE to compete someday, but Nick isn't 100% behind that, so for now I am just training & hoping to change the composition of my body to be more muscle mass & less fat.

The OTHER thing I mentioned in my last post that I was excited about was becoming a Body FX rep. I signed up for FREE!! Body FX is a new fitness company that launches TODAY!! I was really excited about it b/c the products are all gluten free, they use natural sweeteners such as Stevia for their products & the main DVD they are selling now is JNL Fusion by Jennifer Nicole Lee who was a contributor to Bodybuilding.com AND was a fitness competitor!! How amazing is that?!?! I am seriously behind this company ALL THE WAY, but Nick didn't want me to be a rep anymore due to the fact that he was worried I would be pressuring friends & family to buy the product. My approach would not be to pressure people but to be so enthusiastic that they would want to try it out themselves! Anyways, I had to step down from that b/c I respect my husband & what he wants for me & our family....BUT I believe I can still sign people up to purchase if they want to?? I'll have to check in on that. Here are the DVDs that will be available & I'll see if I can find a link to the supplements. BodyFX DVDs Here is an amazing video about the supplements!! It gets me excited :) BodyFX Supplements

Those are the things that are getting me excited this morning!! I hope you are excited to begin a new week, a new DAY to work hard & meet your goals :)

Paleozoic 25K & future races

Things have been crazy around these parts lately! I wasn't home at all last week, so I apologize for the lack of updates. Anyways, yesterday was a fun but exhausting day. I ran my first trail run!! I have been training on the trail for over a year, but have never done a trail run. It was an intense experience.FOR.SURE! It was rainy/snowy a lot this week, so I knew the conditions of the trail would be rough, actually the official website for the race said that it would be "challening" after going over the route Friday night. It was EXTREMELY muddy, I even heard my friend running at one point b/c the mud was so thick!! It was also snowy/icy at some parts & there was even standing water here & there too. Our feet were definitely wet & muddy! These are my feet, they were muddy THROUGH my socks & shoes. GROSS!

The best part of trail runs are the aid stations. We went through 3 and folks, there is CANDY at the aid stations!! At some longer runs they even have pop along with the standard gatoraid & water. I definitely took the M&Ms & gummy hearts at each aid station LOL If you can't eat candy when you're running, when CAN you eat candy?! 

This was the inaugural race, so there were some kinks to iron out. One of the most glaring is that the trail was not properly marked all along the way. At one point my friend & I came to a fork in the trail, we were about to turn left, when a whole group of people came from that way saying they were 60% sure we needed to be going the other way! lol So we followed the group, not even knowing if they were right or not, but the chance seemed to be in our favor ;) My friend & I ended up cutting of 2 miles from our run though. There was a "back" 5 miles that we were supposed to run, and at another fork in the trail we started going left when we saw flags to the right. We had been told the trail would be marked with orange flags, which we saw to the right, so we ended up going right instead of left & cut off a couple miles from the run!! But we are proud of our awesome run & good finish :)

I have to say, now that it's over, I'm sad we lost those miles, but at the time, I was totally fine not doing them LOL It was a hard race, the trail was yucky & muddy, it was cold & there were a lot more hills than I was used to. When we ended up shorter than we were supposed to, I was OK with being done lol I definitely had a good experience though & I could see a trail run being really nice in the fall, when the weather is a little better. I was delighted by the aid stations & I LOVED the small atmosphere of the race along with the friendly people. I made a few friends standing in line for the porta potty LOL It was really cool & I'm glad that I did it!! I'll have to do a few more trail runs this year for sure.

Next up, I am going down to Kentucky for a half-marathon. I am planning on going down with my sister & staying our older sister. I am excited for the race b/c part of it on the Kentucky Derby race track! SO fun, right?! Then I found a marathon in May that I still need to register for & I have another half-marathon coming up in June. I'm excited to be busy & keep up running and working out. I always need a reason to keep doing it, so I like to register for as many races as possible :)

Last Day of Whole30 Challenge

Today marks Day 30 of the Whole30 Challenge. I honestly can't believe I made it through the challenge! I really nervous to take it, I definitely didn't think I would make it through! The rules are pretty strict:

I think the most daunting thing for me, heading into the challenge was giving up sweets & grains. I am not a big milk drinker, I don't love legumes & I know I can go without alcohol. I was also worried about MAKING all of my food. Prior to the challenge, I would make maybe 3 meals a week, but for the challenge, I've made breakfast, lunch & dinner (at least for myself) almost every day. There were a few times where we went out on the weekends, but other than that, I was making everything. I can't believe I found out that I actually enjoyed that part about it!! Some meals were flops, especially with my kids, but I definitely found some new meals that I liked. I even surprised myself & found out that I LOVE warm kale/spinach/swiss chard salads. YUMMO!! 

What helped me stay motivated & on track was the book that goes with the challenge: It Starts with Food. I HIGHLY recommend it to ANYONE!! SO interesting about what our  modern diet is going to our bodies & how our bodies respond to all of the added sugar & processed foods that we eat. Even a modern "healthy" diet is wreaking havoc on our bodies. If you want the science behind it, READ.THE.BOOK! 

I think the best way to make it through the challenge is to remember WHY you're doing it. Your motivation has to be strong, especially during the first week or so, those are the crazy withdrawal days, where you will be cranky & irritable. I found that it really did become second nature though. I honestly don't even crave any of the foods that I "can't" have anymore. I am loving the energy I have & how good I feel, I don't want to go back to how I was eating before the challenge. I think I've said that before :)

The other thing I think is ESSENTIAL in completing a successful Whole30 Challenge is to have a buddy! My sweet friend, Blair, helped me along the way. I am SO thankful for our texts, supporting each other, asking each other how we were doing. She passed along some of her successful recipes to me, I shared some recipes with her. I couldn't have done it alone & I was blessed to have her support. Blair, I wish we could get together & celebrate when this whole thing is over for both of us!! *hugs* 

All in all, I'm glad that I challenged myself, that I stepped out of my comfort zone & did something I thought was impossible. I learned some things about myself, ate new foods & am feeling better than ever! I even lost 7 pounds, although that is not the whole goal of the program, I am glad for that side effect! I even took a before, middle & after pic, but I am not brave enough to share those with the internets. I'm just glad to have some evidence of how far I have come in 30 days. :)