Let's play catch up shall we....

So it has been 2 months!  It has been a whirlwind at work with year end and in life.  I started this blog as something to track my food, fitness, and adventures and the last few months life has been getting in the way of many of those things.  But I want to get back into it and start to share the new things that have been keeping me busy!  So what have I been up to the last 2 months....

1) Graduating!!!  I had finished up my classes but I finally got my diploma and it was the best feeling in the world.

2) Job hunting, planning a move, trying not to freak out!  Yup this is a daily battle.  I am still planning on moving early next year to MN to be with the BF so right now I am trying to find a job and an easy way to transition out of the one I am in.  I know I have plenty of time but I am still stressed and keeping my fingers crossed that I find the perfect job for me!

3) Running a marathon relay!  The Detroit Marathon Relay was an absolute blast!  It was so fun to be running with 4 of my favorite people and it was a really fun but long day.  Since I was the last leg I had to wait about 4 hours before it was my time to run, thankfully we had heated charter busses that I was able to sleep on.  Overall we didn't finish at our goal time but it was still a great experience.  Oh and I had the best view from my leg start!

4) Putting on a tutu and celebrating halloween!  My girlfriends and I decided to be tutu superheros this year and I think it turned out super cute.  We also did pumpkin carving and learned that some of us are better at it then others lol

5) Celebrating 2 amazing years with the BF!  I cannot believe we have already been together for 2 years... it is one of the cliche feel like you know them forever but still have those early on butterfly feelings that is just too good to be true.  Since we are apart we decided that the best way to celebrate would be to meet in the middle in Chicago.  We did the classic touristy stuff, attended a Second City comedy show (which was hilarious) and went to soldier field for my first ever bears game.  I was seriously like a small child I was so excited.  It was a perfect weekend with the man I love!

 

 

 

6) Ran my first trail race!  It is called the dirty duel mud run and last year it was sponsored by Red Bull.  It took almost an hour to complete the 5K course and it was all natural obstacles like large hills and sand dunes.  I was sore for days but it was one of the coolest races I have ran.

 

 



7) Thankgiving!  This year I flew out to MN and spent the whole weekend with just the BF.  His family was in Florida but we couldn't coordinate it in our schedule so we decided to spend the long weekend with eachother and good friends.  I made enough food for a small army but the BF was happy he didn't have to cook the rest of the week.  We also ran a 5K around gorgeous Lake Calhoun which has a perfect view of downtown Minneapolis... too bad it was only 5 degrees that morning so I didn't take too many pics!

 

8) Recommitting to fitness!  My knees haven't been doing so well with running so I decided to fall in love with some other forms of fitness.  I joined a gym in my area and take 3-4 classes a week.  I am obsessed with Barre (probably since I have a dance background) and have been taking TRX, yoga, tabata, and bootcamp classes.  I have really seen a transformation in my body and I am loving how much it is mixed up.  I have slowly started getting back into running after taking a few weeks off and I just bought a brand new pair of shoes.  I have even told myself that I will be running a Marathon in 2014 so we will see how that goes!!!



 So that is my life in a nut shell!  Now I feel caught up and can get back to it!

Happy Friday!



SNQANA4JDRFRRFTHC 5K

So the only productive thing that we did on our vacation was the:

Second, Not Quite Annual, North American 4th of July, Drunk Run Fun Run Race for the Hangover Cure.... or for short the SNQANA4JDRFRRFTHC.  I can't take credit for the name, it was created by the BFs friends a few years ago when they all decided to run drunk one morning.  The race is actually called the Nisswa Firecracker 5K , it is sponsored by PBR and it is held in the super cute little town that is next to the lake we stayed on.  All of us are pretty good runners, but no matter how good you are, after a week of drinking and sun that last thing you want to do is run.  So we decided to keep with the past and pound twisted teas beforehand.  The course is super pretty and winds though a few parks and lakes, and at the end we all got to enjoy a crawfish fry and unlimited PBR!

I can't really consider this a true race, but in my book any physical activity during vacation drunk or not should count LOL

 

Happy Birthday America!

So I was lucky enough to spend the entire week of the 4th in northern Minnesota at the BF's lake home.  It was a perfect week and we were lucky enough to have a bunch of friends make the trek to join us!  Independence Day is by far my favorite day of the whole year (and it's also the BFs which is how I know were meant to be HA).  The whole point of the holiday is to soak up the sun with a drink in hand surrounded by your friends.  So we did exactly that!

I figure a picture is worth a thousand words so it will probably be better then me writing a novel!

 

Weekend update!

Seriously could not have asked for a better weekend!  The weather, company, and activities were all perfect! 

Friday night the BF and I cracked down and got our entire apartment organized and cleaned.  It feels so nice to finally have everything in a place.  Even though I was really nervous at the beginning I am now loving every minute of being in "our" place.  All of the cleaning and such made us super boring and we ended up in bed by 11.

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to get ready for a 5K.  It started at the park across from our apartment so even though we didn't hear about it until Friday we still had no excuse to skip it.  The race supported the Mind Over Matter (MOM) Foundation which raises money for suicide and mental health awareness.  Sadly both of these issues hit very close to home for the BF and I so we were really excited to be able to participate on such short notice.  Ended up finishing just under 34 minutes which was right where I should be with my current pacing.

After the race I went to get my hair done by my hair god Danny!  Seriously he just does amazing things and I have never felt prettier then when I walk out of the salon.  We then had all of our friends over for a "Quatro De Mayo"/housewarming party.  It was a perfect day for bags, beer pong, flippy cup, and eating too much Mexican food!  Everyone stayed until way after dark and it couldn't have been a better day.

 

Sunday the BF woke up early to head golfing which left a whole day for me to do whatever I wanted.  Even though living together is going amazing it was awesome to wake up and have no agenda but my own.  I had brunch with some friends, and then stayed productive the whole rest of the day with cleaning and homework.  I have a 10K next weekend and I have been totally unable to do any type of structured training.  I haven't ran over 4 miles since the Disney race so I knew I needed to get in a long run.  I headed out about 7:30 and was able to get in the full 6.2 miles!!  I did it in 72 minutes which is under my goal time of 75 so I should be perfectly set for this weekend!!!

 

I am not horribly sore today but I know my body needs a little break.  I hope to get in 30 minutes on the eliptical and then a full body toning workout from TIU!

Birthday and a Runch

First of all I need to mention that today is my amazing baby sisters birthday!!  So crazy that she is 23 years old today.  We weren't always super close but now she has truly become my best friend and the person in this world that I could never survive without!   I am so proud of who she has become, she will be starting her big girl job in just over a month and having so many new and crazy adventures in Nashville!  It will be crazy once we both move since we will go from 2 hours apart to a 2 hour plane ride but I know we will be able to stay just as close!

Yesterday my whole body was super sore from my full body TIU workout but I knew that I needed to get a run!  Thankfully it was a perfect day and I couldn't wait to get out on my lunch our for a "runch". I work on a very large complex so I was able to change at my desk and get in about 3.5 miles total.  I only ran 2.5 and then did a 1 mile cool down a) because I was super sweaty and didn't want to be totally gross when I went back to work and b) because I didn't want to go back to work yet lol!  It was crazy because I remembered fully why I actually started to like running in the first place.  Last summer I started training for my first half marathon and as much as it sucked I really did love getting out and enjoying the beautiful (and not so beautiful) summer days.

 

 

After that my body and especially my legs were done!  As soon as I got home I threw on my new compression socks, which I'm not really sure about but figured it couldn't hurt and cleaned.  The BF went to a tigers game but as soon as he got home I made him take a long walk with me so that I could try to stretch out a little more.  Tonight I am hoping to get in some time with the foam roller and do some upper body work since that is the only part of me that isn't super sore today HA!

 



 I look like a hot mess and he looks like a goon ^ ... yup basically this is everyday lol

Bottomless anything is not a good idea!

This was supposed to be a 4 day weekend for me thanks to my Bi-weekly Friday off and MLK JR day but it ended up into 3 days of weekend fun!

Friday I ended up putting in 7.5 hours of work on my day off but when I get to turn that into vacation time it will be well worth it.

Saturday started off with a lunch in downtown and car shopping.  I actually test drove 2 of my top 4 cars and I have officially written one off my list.  I am pretty sure I will be buying the Chevy Equinox but I still want to look at a few more before I really decide!  Saturday night I decided it had been far too long since I had danced so a big group of us went to a new club in downtown Ferndale to shake it.  The club was a classic dance club which didn't make the boys too happy but us girls had a blast.  I also was able to wear my new statement necklace which I bought on a whim and am still trying to convince myself that I don't look like a freak wearing it!

Sunday Fun Day!!  A big group of us had made plans to meet up at a local brunch place and have a good long day of drinking.  The restaurant offered bottomless mimosas and bloody marys and my oh my did we get our fill.  We stayed at that bar for about 4 hours and I lost count of my refills about 10 in!    Needless to say the rest of the day is a little blurry... we went from there to another bar and continued until about 5.  That means we clocked in a full 7 hours of drinking... I haven't drank for that long since I was in college and boy did I feel it.  It was an amazing day with some great friends but I can tell I am still paying for it today.  I'm not sure where the random lion was but this picture is pretty much one of my favorite of the day!

Thank goodness I didn't have work this morning and I made it count by sleeping in until about 10 and getting in a bunch of relaxation.  I did finally get my booty to the gym and got in a solid 4 miles on the treadmill and a full upper body lift.   I can't believe that the run is coming up in about a month and I have to get my butt into full gear if I hope to run at well as I want to.