Run.Chew.Sparkle

Happy Halloween!!! I hope everyone is having a fun and safe one. Over here in my world it is kind of blahhhhh!! I had a great day off yesterday but it has left me in all sorts of ways today. My stomach is kind of yucky, probably due to the most amazing sangria ever! And my knee was bothering me while I slept last night, so it kept me up. I didn't sleep great and just woke up exhausted. Like I mentioned before, work is crazy and it just seems to be getting crazier. I am working and traveling all weekend and today it kind of just hit me. I had a plan to run and go to the gym after work, but man I got home and the couch was just calling my name. I knew this week was going to kick me straight in the face. So I plan to make a great dinner, watch a Scary movie with James and get a good night sleep. I need it. Then tomorrow I plan to double up with a run and a gym work out, which I know my body needs that too. A nice relaxing night and some serious couch time is what I really need...

Good Thursday Morning!! One I can not believe that it is the end of the month already, one more day to go and October is over with. Geez where did it all go??!! But I have to say October has been my favorite month of the year!! As you can imagine. I am off from work today, which I am extremely excited about. It has been a rough week and like of course mentioned before, it is only going to get tougher, especially next week. I am traveling for work a bunch next week, which a 8 hour work day, turns into 10 hours, for 3 days straight. I will be really forcing myself to get my runs and work outs in. Which by the way are doing okay. I rested on Monday, after my overaly stressed day and then Tuesday, I had a long work day and when I got out of work, seriously all I wanted was a nice glass of wine. I tell ya, for going months with very limited drinking occassions, now I am really enjoying a glass of wine after work. Listen, I have no shame in admitting, this might just get me through the...

So this is how I felt today after work.. Yup and that's exactly how I felt with zero *beeps* given! And that is how my day started! I woke up late, which just set my whole day off and I just felt very overwhelmed. As much as I tried to catch up, more piled on and in reality it will be like that for the next few months! Sigh, the reality of retail! I probably should have worked out tonight or ran but I just couldn't wait to just lay on the couch and veg out. Because at work I had so much going on, I didn't eat much, so when I got home, carrots and laughing cow cheese was the best snack and one too many pistachios. And now enjoying the Monday night football He is lucky I love him so much. Having him home now and we are watching football, is making my night even better!! Hope everyone else's Monday is much better.

Good Sunday Evening!! Had to post because I had another pretty fantastic day off today and got my mind frame back in action!!  I hit up Bath and Body Works after my last morning. Darn them and their awesome coupons they send me. I hate to see a coupon not be used 😉 Then I went to Panera Bread for lunch. I really wanted the Autumn Squash soup but I looked up the points and it is 7pp for a cup!! While it is delicious, for a lunch 7pp for one item is a bit high, since I wanted a salad too. I had originally pre-tracked my lunch. Woohoo for me getting back into the swings of things. I had picked the Fiji Apple salad but when I walked in, I saw on the pick 2 you can now have the power chicken hummus bowl as a YPT!! What!! I was ecstatic! It is one of my favorite salads. The hummus is soooo good! I immediately went with that choice and chicken noodle and an apple. After I had my love affair with Panera I went across the street and took myself on a date to the movies to see Best of Me....

Happy Sunday Morning!!! It feels amazing again, sleeping in a bit and just brewing a cup of coffee and relaxing in my Pj's! I love my Sunday morning long runs but I am really enjoying these easy Sunday ones too. James and I even sat on our back porch this morning and had coffee together. We have never been able to do that!! It's these little moments that make my heart sing!! I will get a run in later after I enjoy my afternoon seeing a movie and a little shopping. I vowed to take at least one of my days off a week to just let myself enjoy whatever!! Some other things that made me happy this week are... This 5pp dessert. I sautéed some honeycrisp apples in coconut oil and cinnamon and then crumbled  3 pretzel crips and some cool whip! Heavenly Putting my magnets on my car! Makes me feel very bad ass!! Still have my timing chip on my shoe. I think I might leave it on there forever! Got a free NatureBox code and trying it out!! Those cookie crumble cashews taste awesome, going to ...

Alright I survived my first full week back in the real world. Meaning, getting off of the cloud 9 of my marathon. Hahaha. Who am I kidding?? I sat on that cloud all week and then some. My Proof pictures came in, I got frames at work and have been putting up pictures all over the apartment. Thankfully James really doesn't care how I decorate or what I do with the apartment. I decorated for Halloween and he didn't even notice one bit. So me putting up pictures, here and there, he wont even notice. I am seriously obsessed with the fact that I have ran a marathon. I want everything and anything 26.2. Hint, Hint to all my friends and family reading :0) I did go back to WW this week. I weighed in on Tuesday, bad idea, it was not the best weigh in. I gained. BUT not as much as I thought I would. I have been working hard this week to get back on track, but good old mother nature invited Aunt Flo over for the week. I mean really??!!! And Aunt Flo is a total Beeoch!!! I tried t...

Alright so it has been almost two weeks since I ran my first full marathon and to say I am still sitting on cloud 9 is an understatement. I am constantly thinking about it still. It was such an amazing experience and weekend and day for me, I seriously do not think I will ever forget it. And when I look on Instagram, I get all of these warm and fuzzy feelings about it again, because so many people I follow and are friends with are gearing up to run their very own full marathon also soon. Such as the NYC Marathon on November 2 and my dear friend, Nanci, running her full on November 30th. I am so excited for all my friends and cant wait to see how their experience was, hoping it is just as fantastic as mine. I figured, since I am now a Marathoner, I can give some tips that helped me have a wonderful weekend and even better Marathon experience. Now, again, I am not an expert, these are my opinions, based on what I experienced. They might not work for everyone, just some tips and tricks ...

This post is sponsored through WIN detergent and SweatPink. I was given 2 bottles of WIN Detergent for testing purposes. My opinions are 100% my own. Having a healthy lifestyle can be smelly. Training for a marathon and running a marathon, lead to clothes that just darn right stink and are caked with sweat. And when traveling for a marathon and leaving your stinky, VERY Stinky clothes in your suitcase, amongst other clothes, leaves so stinking too. That's where WIN Detergent came in and saved my smelly clothes. My clothes were so bad, that it made all the other clothes in my suitcase just reek. I wasn't sure how I was going to get the smell out of them. WIN Detergent has made that possible. My boyfriend golfs and he can work up quite a sweat, and it worried me how I was going to get our clothes smelling good again. Because even in the regular laundry, that sweat smell really never comes out, especially when it is caked on. After unloading all my clothes into the ...

Last night after work, I opted to surprise James at Happy Hour. We haven't had a night of happy hour or me enjoying dinner with a beer or wine in FOREVER!! I always said no because of the training. Last night after work, I had a bit of a craving for a ice cold beer. So I gave in and met him for dinner and drinks. I had a blueberry ale with fresh blueberries in it. Amazing by the way! And grilled chicken breasts for dinner and maybe 1 too many pieces of bread. We had a great night and our good friend, Larry joined us too for the fun. After dinner and probably because I hadn't had alcohol in forever, I was pretty exhausted and went to bed around 10:00! Super early for me! I figured since I was going to bed so early, I would be up today at 6!  Yeah, I ended up sleeping in until 9:00! 11 hours of sleep! Granted I felt great today from all the sleep and finally felt well rested. So I set out to do 2 miles.  My first post marathon run!! It felt good, I wasn't sore but getting my ...

Well I can say I am feeling pretty good this week so far. After my amazing day off on Sunday, I mean it was amazing. I went and got a massage, which was a gift from my Mom and my Aunt for completing the marathon. And when I tell you it was fantastic, isn't even a lie. But I will post about that later, because it is worth a post all its own. After feeling so relaxed and my muscles nice and warm, I went and got a pedicure, which oh man did I need one. I seriously don't know the last time I got one, it has been that long. Then I spent the after relaxing, laying on the couch with a book, Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult, which is one of her older books, but it is really good. I have also been sleeping great lately. I mean so good, that is getting harder to get up. I have been so tired in the morning and I think the reason is because last week was so busy, I mean I had no down time last week after the marathon, I was a busy bee. So I think it is all catching up with me, which I exp...

So I had this crazy thought, that once I was done with the marathon, my life, energy, etc would all go back to normal. Like, I would bounce right back.... Yeah, that does not happen. This whole week I have been dragging for sure. Not that I have had much rest anyway this week. Right after the marathon and days after, we were on the go, still on vacation. I have had one full day of rest, which was Thursday, which by the way was fantastic! I mean I laid around all day long, napped, and laid around and caught up completely on my DVR. It was glorious. And then Friday, bam right back to work. Friday was a travel day at another store and it ended up being a 10 hour day. And then Saturday, finally back in my home store, with another 10 hour day. My body felt it yesterday. I am not sure if it was because of the flats I had on or just my tired legs, but they were killing me. I mean sharp pains up and down my left calf. It hurt so bad, I was hobbling around my store and had tears in my eyes....

So now that the marathon is over...now what??? It is weird but this is the longest I have gone with out running in probably over a year and all I have taken off what 4 days. I feel okay, I think probably because I am on a runner's high still from the marathon. I still feel like I am flying from all that I accomplished and did. But one nagging thought is now what?? What do I do now? For months and months, I have dedicated every single moment to training. I had a routine and I had schedule. I never questioned what the day was going to bring or how it was going to play out. My life was nothing but running. And now, I don't have a goal or dream to strive for. I guess that seems a little harsh, of course, I have goals and dreams to strive for, but nothing big like the marathon. I mean that training and big day was so far out of my comfort zone, where do you go when you reach the top??? I need to refocus on my weight loss for sure. I need to tone up what I have lost and get b...

So our vacation is over. We just got back to Florida today and now we are back to our lives and work. I am lucky enough to have tomorrow off, so thankful for that because I plan on using that day to catch up on my DVR, drink lots of coffee and tea, catch up on some blogging stuff and most importantly relax. Ever since the marathon we have been still on the go and my body kind of hates me for it!! Monday, we went up to our College again so we could check out the book store and grab some Keystone gear. James spoiled me this whole trip and that day was no exception. We went a little crazy in the book store and I love him for it. Then we decided to spend the afternoon at the casino. Wasn't exactly something I wanted to do, I would have much rather been relaxing in the hotel or getting a pedi but it was feeling good being out, with no real plans and moving around. I was soooo sore on Monday. I mean my Quads were on fire!!!!!! It hurt to sit down, it hurt to get up, it hurt to walk a...

Alrighty so here I go with my marathon recap. I thought I would get it done right away, because we have a day today of exploring and well resting. I have had my coffee in me and I am ready to recap the action. Please beware of my grammar, spelling and long winded sentences, when I am excited about something I go on and on and to be quite honest I could care less about grammar, which if you have read my posts before you know that lol. This will probably be a long post, hold on though, this is the last leg of the journey. So I suppose I should take it back to the day/night before, since I didn't post anything then. The day before (Saturday) James and I had a day together. We started at the Expo, which was quite small in comparison to other Expo's I have done too, but it was enough for me. It was inside a High School and they did have a lot of running stuff to purchase. I made sure to get a hat, a t-shirt, two long sleeves, two headbands, a running beanie hat, I picked up some G...

Okay amazing day!!!! I finished and got my medal and the honor to call myself a marathoner!!! I will post a super long post about today but right now I'm just gonna share some pictures. I'm beat and my brain is all over the place but I have never felt more amazing!!

Okay, two posts in the same day, this is crazy of me, but something came up and I just had to get it out on the line. ( major high fives if you know what movie that is from ). When choosing my marathon, I put a lot of consideration to it. Even though the idea of the Steamtown Marathon seemed so perfect, there are a lot of different aspects that make it PERFECT for me in particular. One because it was where I went to College for 4 years and then lived for a year after college. My first and favorite apartments were there. I had a lot of different firsts there. I graduated from there. I had my first real retail job here. Most of my amazing memories of my early 20's were in this area. I am an extremely emotional person, so stuff like this fuels me, it pumps me up. Second, I knew it would be a place my boyfriend would love to go and have a mini vacation with. He has a lot of friends still around these parts, since we went to the same college and like myself he hasn't been back...

So it is official, I have finished my last training run on my marathon to finish training plan with Jeff Galloway. This training plan has changed my whole outlook on running, exercising and life in general. It gave me structure, routine and seriously a purpose each and every day. I stayed to that plan through all the heat, the humidity, the early, early mornings, the runs before work, after work and all that happens in between, like life, love and vacation time frames.. Sure, I complained at times, but that never stopped me from getting out the door and hitting the ground running. The mornings, I wanted to just sleep in or the cross train days, where the idea of having to do something other than running made me cringe. The days when I did walks and I really wanted to run. I believed 100% in his program. His book I bought along with it, I drank the Kool-Aid and the Kool-Aid saved me. Every day I had something to do in the beginning and as the miles increased, I had flexibility to make...