Run.Chew.Sparkle

"This is a sponsored blog post. Influenster provided me with complimentary Victoria's Secret products to test and review as part of a contest." I love everything and anything that deals with healthy living and fitness. When I was given the complimentary items from Victoria's Secret to test and review as part of Influenster and for this contest, I was beyond thrilled. I received a pair of their new line of VSSport wear. Which by the way, I have been eyeing up like crazy, every time I would go into the store. I was also given a new Sports Bra to test and review too. The first bra I was given, didn't quite fit me well, so I was instructed to go into the store and exchange one that would. The manager was actually the one to help me and she was WONDERFUL. She was happy and eager to get me to try one on and feel better about my selection. She opened up a drawer to let me choose which ever color or style I wanted. The style I originally was given, wasn't at their...

Okay panic and excitement and a little bit of everything in between is starting to set in!! 11 Days until I am standing at that starting line! I feel like I have so much to do before then and not sure when to get it all in. For example, packing! Packing is stressing me out a bit, only because I am not sure what to wear. I am looking at the weather all the time, keep in mind. I will be dropping 20 degrees in temperature before the race. I don't have a lot of those clothing. So I think what I am going to do is literally pack my whole suitcase and I think, I will be hitting up the Thrift store this week to get another suit case to go along with me. We are flying Southwest, so James and I each get two a piece. One of mine alone will be just for running stuff. Which brings me to my next stress, what the heck am I going to wear the day of. Oh Jesus, I have had 5 months to think about this and I am waiting the week of. Anywho, enough about my stressing. I thought I would do a post a...

I haven't posted something other than running, in a long time. Even when I do, running sneaks it's way in. What can I say, its my life. But today, I have an awesome recipe for you all! Chocolate Caramel Pumpkin Brownies inspired by Hungry Girl I have been wanting to bake or cook or do something on a day off for a long time now. But my energy and lack of motivation has been super low when it comes to that. Today though, I have been feeling pretty great. My 2.5 hour nap probably has a lot to do with that too. I love naps. Last night, I pulled out my Hungry Girl Just Desserts book and found her Caramel White Chocolate Brownie recipe. Well I didn't have white chocolate chips, BUT I did have Pumpkin Spice ones. WIN!!! HEAVENLY!!! Okay, so here it goes. You need: 1 Box of Devils Food Cake Mix 15 oz can of PURE pumpkin  5 tablespoons of Pumpkin Spice Chips 1/4 cup of Sugar Free or Low Fat Caramel Syrup ( I use Walden Farms because it is no sugar, no...

Sunday Runday was today. I set my alarm for 4:00 this morning and surprisingly got up with no hurt, pain or argument in my head. Probably because I knew I was meeting Nanci and Corinna for the mileage. These early mornings are really hard to tackle these mornings. I can not wait for the weather to break so I can sleep in a bit and it still be cool enough to just run whenever before breakfast. Plus shorter mileage is a bit appealing too. We headed out around 5:30 to start our run. They were doing 13 miles and I only had to do 7. So I ran with them until 3.5 and then turned around and waited for them to finish at the end. I love running the Clearwater bridges, even though it kills me at times. I do love the challenge of those 4 bridges, even if I am cursing it the whole time. And the humidity was so crappy again this morning. While I waited for the ladies, Caitlyn came down and waited with me and we caught up on life and got to know each other a bit more. Caitlyn just like Nanci ar...

14 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy Macaroni and Cheese Balls!!!! 14 days, two weeks until the big day. This time in two week, I will hopefully be falling asleep and getting lots of rest for the big day. To say I am a nervous or excited is an understatement, really right now I am just trying to make it through the days now. This morning I woke up feeling icky. I had a sinus headache and cramps. So bad, so I figured after work, I was going to run. I had to get 4 miles. I was just praying I would get out at a decent time. We were busy at work today, so busy, I didn't eat anything until 2:30. Seriously! The joys of retail. I gobbled my protein bar down so quickly. I was starving. I got out on time but of course it was down pouring, thundering and lighting. Yeah not happening for me. Which meant, I had to get my mileage in on the dreadmill. I HATE the treadmill and running. I don't mind walking on it but something about running it, throws me completely off. I hate staring at myse...

Happy Friday Everyone and the Beginning of the Weekend. What a crazy, crazy week this has been for me. I have put in some really long hours with work this week and I can feel it. Wednesday before I had to head to Orlando for my meeting, I got my 4 mile run in. My legs felt pretty good, but it was still so hot here, I am really over it. 5 months of this training and I have one good day of running, which was when I was home in NY. The rest have been hot, humid, hazy, rainy, you know typical Florida weather. But what can I do, you know. The 4 miles were good though, considering I hadn't ran since Saturday and I was worried, they were too rested. I know sounds crazy. But they felt okay. I had packed with me my running shoes and stuff to run in Orlando before our meeting began on Thursday. But the night before we were up really late, setting up the room and just unwinding a bit, that I didn't get to bed until 1:30, which is unheard of in my life these months. So needless to say,...

Okay well today I turned my day around! Was feeling all kinds of in a funk with waking up today and how my head and body felt! Thought it over and with lots of awesome advice from friends, rest was much needed! And switching around long runs and such, doesn't make me less of a runner. Geez this is only day 2 of tapering and I'm crazy haha.  I have decided to move the ten miles until Friday when I'm off of work all day. No rushing and it gives me a couple of days of sleeping in, which I so want. So tomorrow I'll do 6, Thursday, 4, Friday 10 and then a light XT on Saturday. I feel more at ease with that. See what happens when I work on A Sunday all hell breaks loose in my life.  To make me feel better, James suggested I'm come to his work and visit him and he'll take me to lunch and Froyo and Target. He treats me amazing. I think he is used to my crazy and obsessively asking him how I look. We went to the Hungry Greek for lunch.. I got the Hungry Greek pita with a...

I woke up today, just not feeling it. Sure, I wake up tired a lot, I mean it has been an ongoing occurrance for the last couple of months, but today I woke up just not me. I had set my alarm for 5:00 to run 10 miles, I kept waking up every two hours last night, then every 20 minutes, really weird. My mind and body were wired. I got up as if I was going to get ready to run, and I stood up and I just knew I had no energy whats so ever. I mean drained, just not there. I just fell right back into bed. I knew my 10 miles were not going to happen today and quite possibly nothing happening today. It has been my one day off where I just felt drained and over worked. My throat hurt, my legs were tired, my body ached, I had a headache and I just didn't feel like moving. The idea of doing anything, just kind of made my tired. I do know I am getting my TOM next week and this may have a lot to do with it. But it was strange to me this morning. I got back into bed and just relaxed, fell back...

Hey Ya'll!!! Not sure when I turned country but go with it haha. My life right now is all about the taper!! I am 19 days away from the marathon!! 19 days! In these 19 days my mileage weekly is going down and my runs in general. I'm concentrating on getting my mind and body in complete order. Drinking lots of water and keeping my hunger under control and fueling to keep my body strong. Even though right now I'm carb crazy.. Almonds and pretzel thins are making my life complete today in fact. Anyway I'm trying to keep my nerves in check too and not go crazy with thoughts thinking I'm doing to little or not enough. For example today is a rest day and yesterday I didn't run or work out at all but I spent 14.5 hours at work resetting my whole store. On my legs and feet for 14.5 hours, no rest that day. I felt it a lot too this morning. But I know the rest is what really matters for me.  This is the next phase in my journey!!!

Today I am linking up with  Nanci ,  Cynthia ,  Mar  and  Courtney  for the Friday Five! This weeks topic is Friday Favorites, which you can choose 5 whatever you want. Nanci had mentioned this to me on Wednesday and it is a hard one, she has an awesome one, they all do so check them all out. I am going to do my Five Shows I am excited about coming back this fall. Okay, I am a t.v. show junkie, I love DVRing shows, watching them, I have a show I watch practically every day. Hey, I love me some downtime, when I can kick back and just relax. Considering my tapering is coming up next week, this is perfect timing. I need something to distract me from my thoughts of slowing down. Even though I want to slow down, it scares me just a bit. So I can unwind with some of my favorite shows. 1. Big Bang Theory I just fell into this show last year some. I caught myself up on TBS and other channels that ran re-runs and religiously watched the whole season last ye...

Yesterday was an awesome day off!!! It rained for a lot of the day, which never happens here in Florida, usually it is for an hour or so. But all day was glorious. I got some blogging done. I finished the rest of my book I was reading; Silent Run by Barbara Freethy. Good book, not great, a little drawn out, but it kept me entertained for sure. I made my favorite cookies,  Hungry Girl Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Softies . Click on the link for details. I posted this recipe on September 10 last year and made them a week apart this year, how strange is that. I guess I crave around the same time of year. Then after a nice day of just doing a little bit of nothing, I went to do my XT with Nanci. We were going to a PiYo class in Palm Harbor, taught up our friend Caitlyn . I met Caitlyn back in May when I won her giveaway for the Color Me Rad race. She and Nanci are great friends and two people I love to have in my life. I tend to gravitate towards those who inspire, motivate and are just ...

I am completely obsessed with marathon training! I mean everything and anything about it. Literally it is all I talk about. I have realized this a lot in the last couple of days. Anything I do or say in a single day will revolve around the fact that I am training for a marathon. I am sure it sounds crazy but I think because it is coming down to the wire, it is all that is on my mind. As it should be. I have been spending time, looking at other peoples times and paces through Instagram, reading blogs about others Journey to 26.2. When drive by a MARATHON gas station, I light up with just the name. If I see others running or speaking about running, I have to chime in. My staff is probably sick and tired about all I talk about the training and the upcoming marathon. They have seen me so tired and moving around the store like a snail, complaining how my body aches or leaving to go to Starbucks just to get an extra coffee to keep me going. I bet they will be thrilled to have me done...

26 Days Until The Steamtown Marathon!! I was talking to a friend this morning and she asked, " How are the legs, are they used to 20 miles now.?" I laughed because you might just think that... But yeah they are not. I woke up this morning sore and so tired. I mean I was yawning for a good hour after I woke up and shuffling around our apartment like a zombie. I wanted anything and everything to go right back to bed. But I had to work at 8:30, I knew it would be silly to try to change my schedule and just suffer through it. Plus, work is a little bit crazy for the next 4 weeks, that I just cant afford to be out of the business more than my two days off this week and what I schedule myself coming up. So I grabbed my coffee and made it to work. It was tough because I never sit at my job, I stand eating, so my legs were a bit sore. But it felt good to keep them moving. I usually don't do a shake out run on this day, I take the day to rest and recover and with work to...

Can I just say that I can not believe today was a my last real long training run. I say real long because it was 20 and next week is 10, 10 is still long but 20, oh man that number has quite a hold on me. Yesterday I worked all day and planned to go grocery shopping right after. Well I had no time after work and really wish I did because we have no fruit or veggies in the apartment, it is killing me but I was way to tired to fight it. My legs felt really heavy yesterday at work and my feet were sore. I know it was because I was on my feet all day long and didn't sit down at work, but god they hurt. I already went into these miles this morning a little uneasy. I set my alarm for 4:00 and felt okay getting up. I for sure was tired and my legs were hurting me a bit, especially my calves, but I was excited to get downtown to see Nanci . She was meeting me to run 14 miles this morning. It makes such a huge difference when you have someone running along with you. We had a blast this ...

Okay so I think I am going to start each blog with a countdown left to go. 29 DAYS TO MARATHON DAY!!! I mean we are in the time frame now. It is so crazy and almost sickening. What the heck am I going to do after the marathon??!! How will my life be the same again?? Seriously I have been thinking about that A LOT lately. Especially with the challenge keeping myself busy, fit and reminding myself of eating habits. What will it be like to not be hungry all the time again?!? That will be a blog all its on. But for now, I am going to enjoy the next 29 days left of training. I have loved the training, even on the days where I cant walk or stand, kind of like today. My legs are hurting. Anyway today was a XT day. I was happy about that because I know my legs needed a little less pounding but need the movement. I got 6 miles in on the bike and did some weights. Okay, back to the after the marathon, I think I will focus a lot more on weights and toning up. Running has given me a sh...

It is Thursday but yet I feel like it is Saturday. Days off the beginning of the week really mess me all up. This whole week has thrown me for a quite a curve ball, but I am slowly getting back to things, before another week that will throw me off. I had to open for work today, so I opted to sleep in. I tell ya, on days I work, I hate getting up early to work out and work, but I also hate coming home after work to work out, it is a lose lose for me. But I slept in and then went to Weight Watchers to weigh in. To my very happy surprise, I lost 3.6 pounds. The week prior I weighed in and had gained 6.8, that was the week of my TOM and my 23 miles. My hormones and everything were crazy and considering the rest of the week, I attended a wedding, had ice cream for a lunch and was home in my hometown and flew, 3.6 was a nice loss. I hope this means I am doing something right. My hunger has been off the charts again lately and I am really trying to pull high protein items. So far so good....

Oh my god that title!! It excites me and frightens me all at the same time!! So much stress and busy stuff going on in those 5 weeks too. I'm trying everything in my power to not have it interfer with my training at all. BUT holy crap 5 weeks!! Remember when it was day 1! Seems forever ago and it really it was and is. 5 more weeks to go! Insane! It literally is the final countdown. Today was a bad and stressful day and despite it all I got my run in I needed this run even if I didn't want to do it and I'm so glad I did. Plus it proves even with my crazy life I will get this accomplished because me complaining and whining and laying on the couch with ice cream, which I would love to do, won't get me to that finish line. Picking myself up, shaking it out and putting on my running shoes will. Okay now that reality sets in, I'm making dinner and resting!!  Happy Hump Day

I am back from my long weekend away to my hometown!!! It was a beautiful, fun filled, exciting, exhausting weekend. But so well worth it. On Friday after my run in the morning. I caught my flight and a nice, relaxing one. I met my Poppy at the airport and we had some dinner together and then met up with my BFF, LeaAnn and started her sisters wedding weekend. We were staying in a hotel all weekend, and it was so nice. I loved being back home this weekend, the weather was so nice and a great change of pace. I laughed the whole weekend and was filled with love. The wedding was on Saturday. I did have a rest day that day, due to being so busy getting everything ready for the wedding. The day was so hot and humid, I was not excited about that because I was hoping for cool weather, but regardless the wedding was absolutely perfect. Cassidy, the bride looked amazing. The reception was a ton of fun, I enjoyed some glasses of wine and seeing people I haven't seen in years!! I am...

Oh thank goodness it is Friday. In 6 hours, I will be on a plane and heading home to NY for the whole weekend. I hear the weather is pretty hot up there too now, which I am not excited about, I would love some cool weather right about now. But I do get to see my Poppy the minute I get off the plane, which makes it all so very much worth it. So today I knew I wanted to get a run in of some sorts. Technically it could have been the one day I was able to sleep in, since no work and really nothing else going on. But I got up at 5 and went downtown to just run. I didn't want to follow a plan or anything, I didn't really have a mileage in mind, I just wanted to kind of run. I had done 23 miles on Sunday and I wanted to do another long run mileage, to just see how my body would feel and if I could do it. I set out and ran 8 miles. 8 is my magic number and really my favorite running mileage. I ran today to just clear my head and just release a bit. Today, would have been my Dad...