It's my birthday and I'll post if I want to!

Okay so I know today is Saturday and this blog belongs to see Sam run... 

But it's my birthday and I'll post if I want to!

This morning at 7:44 AM (yes I know it right to the minute), I, Healthy Little Me, jumped into my 25th year of life. And to be honest, I don't feel any different than I did yesterday.

Except for the fact that I was inundated by birthday love today via texts, phone calls, and Facebook posts. And man, that felt great!

I am actually working out in the middle of nowhere today on my birthday so it's been kind of difficult to even acknowledge the fact that today is remotely special.

But it is.

In 25 years, I've done some cool shit. And this year is going to be even cooler.

Eventually, birthdays stop being exciting and start reminding you how old you are.

But old age doesn't mean you have to be less-awesome. It's quite the opposite.

This year I am going to run a half-marathon. No more I might or I want to. That's it. I'm committing to it and I'm DOING it.

I'm also going to continue to maintain a healthy lifestyle by eating foods that nourish my body and staying away (95% of the time) from junk that does nothing good for me.

I'm going to stay as active as possible.

I'm going to work on myself in order to make me a better friend, relative, co-worker, and human being.

Thanks for reading along! This blog is still new to me (established December 2012) and I'm really enjoying the chance to reach out to others who are also aspiring to be awesome people and getting feedback from all of you.

Happy Saturday ya'll! 

see Sam run Saturdays: Back at the Gym

First things first....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEALTHYLITTLEME!

So last week we left off with the completion of my (and HealthyLittleMe's) very first 10k race. And the following Sunday there was to be a 5k race. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to run in that race [Enter Pouty Face Here]. Stupid leg! My hip flexor has been sore/tired/give-out for a few weeks and I continued to run on it anyway. I wasn't going to NOT run the 10k and so after that race was over, my leg said:

"Hey dummy, no more running for you until I heal!"

Yes. It said that.

It's been one week since I've ran, and I never thought in a  million years that I'd utter these words, but, 
I MISS RUNNING!

 I straight up miss it. I see people out running and I am jealous. My leg still hurts when I walk, but it is feeling less tight, so a few more days and I should be good to go. I think.

Anyway, in leiu of this leg drama I decided that just because I'm out of the running game for a minute, doesn't mean I can or should slack all together. So I got myself to the gym.

I haven't been to the gym in a few months because I've been running so much and doing Insanity occasionally. It felt good to return! I started out with 20 minutes of rowing (I love rowing, have we talked about this?) worked up a good sweat and then hit the free weights. I did three sets of an arm workout HealthyLittleMe introduced me to, which essentially includes: overhead presses, standing rows, bicep curls, lateral raises, and tricep work. I used both 8 and 10lb weights and did some extra tricep, bicep, and shoulder work. After my arms felt nice and jello-like I jumped on the stationary bike (the reclined variety) and cranked out 10 hard minutes. I followed that up with some squats (not weighted) 60 deep reps and 20 pulses. I feel every bit of it today. Feels like... VICTORY!

I also indulged in some cupcake and cookie action at work, but I don't want to talk about that. Let's pretend it never happened. Ok? Ok.

Happy Saturday! Make the most of it!

-see Sam run

Tuesday, 24, Ohio, and other shit I want to blab about.

This is officially my last week of being 24 years old. And I think it sucks. I'm not really dreading 25 as much as I thought I was going to but I am going to miss 24. It was a great year for me. 

I started my first big girl job.

I bought my first legit car.

I traveled. A lot.

I went to Devil's Tower, swam in the hot springs in Thermopolis, went skiing for the first time. 

I celebrated four years with my love, ran a 10k, lost almost 20 pounds.

I got stuck on a snowy mountain and lived to tell about it.

I finally developed the nerve to wear colored skinny jeans.

Yep, 24 was good to me.

But as of this Saturday, 24 will be a distant memory. I'll move on to 25. A QUARTER OF A CENTURY, people. But don't you worry - I have plans.

I'm going to keep running. 

I'm going to run a half marathon (although the thought still makes me nauseous as I sit here typing this). 

I'm going to watch my sister becomes someone's wife.

I'm going to keep moving onward and upward in my career.

I'm going to laugh a lot. Mostly at myself

I'm going to eat well.

I'm going to bring back the expression YOLO because, well, I don't think it got enough attention.

I'm going to make sarcastic comments a lot (see YOLO comment above).

I'm going to make sure that 25 is as much of a BLAST as 24 was.

But now, my 24 year old self is sitting at an airport waiting to board a plane to Ohio. **Disclaimer: if you or someone you know lives in Ohio and/or you love the state of Ohio - don't take this personally. You actually might want to skip this part, it may piss you off.

I HATE the state of Ohio. I've worked out here several times and every time I get sent, my skin kind of crawls. Please know that my impressions of Ohio are limited. I have been to Canton/Akron and the Amish country to the east. Maybe if I were to visit some cooler areas of the state, I would change my mind. (I'm open to suggestions, ya'll!)

What's wrong with Ohio?
It's gray.
It's usually rainy and therefore muddy.
The gym sucks in the small town I work in.
The people are just... not my type.

I guess that's really it. Maybe I'm being overdramatic here but I'm bummed that I had to leave my boyfriend and sleeping dog and perfect weekend full of running to hop over to that dreary place and crank out a week of work. 

Did I mention I'm going to spend my 25th birthday in Ohio, too? Oh yes. It's almost poetic in that sense. At least I know that from this day forward, the only way I can go for the rest of the year is UP.

And now for a random thought: you know those moving sidewalk things at the airport? Have you ever jumped on one only to figure out halfway through that it's broken and not moving but you've already committed? Yeah, that JUST happened to me.

Happy Tuesday, ya'll. I've got to get back to people watching at the airport.

Runnin' runnin' and... Re-Cap 2: 5k

By the way, I hope you guys are getting the Black Eyed Peas references in these titles... If not, you need to flash back for a minute, turn on your Pandora Black Eyed Peas (will.i.am will work fine for this) radio station and GET WITH IT. I need you on my level right now.

So Saturday - 10k, check. 
No big deal. Except it kind of was. 

And Sunday - 5k, check.
Except I had to fly solo.

see Sam run was in PAIN after Saturday. She somehow managed to crunk up her leg before the 10k and gritted her teeth through that race because, uhhh, we don't give up that easy. But on Sunday morning, she decided that for her own good - she needed to quit while she was ahead. So I, Healthy Little Me, had to forge the rest of the path for the two of us.

The boyfriend drove me to the 5k - it was about 20 minutes away at the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher (which is set in a really pretty place on the beach). It was really nice to have him there for many reasons.
A.) He could cheer me on.
B.) He could take my picture at the finish line.
C.) He would motivate me through the whole race. He's never seen me run in a race before and just the thought of him waiting at the end made me want to push hard and finish strong.
D.) He could take me out to breakfast after. HOLLA!

The race seemed long for a 5k. But the weather was WAY nicer than the day before - sunny, kind of windy, but not really cold. And I'm not sure how or why my legs didn't jump off and play dead after the hell I had put them through the day before, but they didn't.

Same deal with every race - I never start in the front. Except yesterday I did. And it was a bad decision because for the first two minutes, I was trying to avoid being trampled by faster runners that had somehow managed to get behind me. Once the crowd thinned out and I quit psyching myself out, I relaxed at a comfy pace and got to workin' it. Mile two I kicked it up (thanks again, Beyonce!) and mile three I kept it up. This race was easier to get a better time in because I didn't have to sustain the fast pace for quite as long.

I PR'd my best 5k time with an overall time of 32:07. My third mile I ran at a pace of 9:33 per mile. No wonder I almost barfed on the finish line. Either way, I showed up. I did it. I drank my luke warm gatorade, kissed the boyfriend, and headed off to a delicious breakfast. No biggie. Except I did miss see Sam run, but I know she had to make the best decision for herself and I think she did.

Runnin' Runnin' and Runnin' Runnin' and... Re-cap 1: The 10k

IT'S OVER! The 10k/5k weekend is not only finished, IT WAS OWNED. 

And I loved it more than I thought I would.

I was actually dreading running last week. And last Friday. And Saturday morning on the way to the race. But the Healthy Inner Me grabbed the other me, shook her, and reminded her that she was ready for this and would kill it. Thank God she came along.

So, uhh, let's re-cap.

Saturday morning. It's early. It's raining, like pouring down raining. 

It's kind of cold, especially for North Carolina. 

We drive along the race route on the way in. 

We see puddles. Giant puddles.

After I got my race bib and my t-shirt, I wanted to get the freak out of there.

Thank God see Sam run and I were together, because I didn't.

I couldn't. We were going to do this damn thing together. Rain or shine.

In a magical miraculous turn of events, the heavy rain turned into a moist sprinkle about five minutes before we were set to start. And the heavy rain never came back. The weather was actually wonderful - not too hot, not too cold. 

Mile one. 

This one is always the hardest for me. And race days only make it worse. There is nothing more overwhelming than running in a huge crowd of people.. except maybe of course the first 0.1 mile of the route being in a spongy wet field of grass. After getting through that part, I just focused on pacing myself and relaxing. It's too easy to get psyched out and overrun yourself right out of the gate. I just needed to ignore everyone around me and get in the zone. The crowd normally thins out after the first .25 miles or less - the fast people take the lead, the slow people fall to the back, and the people in between find their spots.. so it didn't take long to get out of the crowd..

Mile two - Mile four.

After getting in my groove, the race got much better. I felt so comfortable. I felt so natural. And I started picking up the pace. 

And I started playing my favorite racing game: which person will I pass next? The rules are simple. Pick someone ahead of you (be realistic here) and guess how long it will take for you to pass them. This guess can be in the form of time (I bet I can pass that person by the time the chorus on this song starts again) or in the form of distance (I bet I can pass that person by the time I get to that tree up ahead). And it is SUPER fun when you actually get around them. 

My secret weapon to the passing game yesterday was Get Me Bodied by Beyonce. When I run to that song, I sync my feet to the beat and literally shave 20 seconds off my pace almost immediately. I literally passed about 8 - 10 people during this song. 

Mile 5.

The Beyonce song ended but my pace kept going. I was passing bitches LEFT and RIGHT. I loved it. This mile was pretty normal, except near the end of it I started cramping.

Mile 6.

I can work this cramp out - no big deal. I tried deep breaths through my nose. I tried increasing my stride but not my pace. I tried leveling off and slowing down some. But my body was used to this fast shit and I couldn't back off. And then I did. I had to. Around .25 miles into my final mile, the left side of my abdomen felt like someone had stuck a butcher knife right through it. I started walking.

My least favorite part about playing the passing game in mile two - four? Watching some of the people passed pass me back in mile 6. It was a total blow to the amazing ego I had developed the entire time. I walked it out, took some deep breaths, and told myself that no matter what I had a lot to be proud of that morning and that I needed to finish as strong as I could. When I quit feeling like death about 0.5 miles from the finish line, I picked up as much of a jog that I could and threw on some motivating tunes.

I finished the race in 1:09:31. My overall pace was 11:13, which is slow for me, but considering that I walked - I'll definitely take it.

Even though I got really frustrated at the end, I crossed that line with pride and excitement. This exact time last year, see Sam run and I were about to run our first 5k together. That 5k was HARD.. probably harder than that 10k was yesterday. It was just amazing to think about how far we had come in a year. And yesterday we decided that we are doing a half marathon this year. Yeah - runner's high is no joke.

I'll follow up and tell you guys about the 5k from this morning tomorrow in a Part II recap.

What's something that you can do now that you never thought you could? 

What's something you don't think you could ever do that you want to?

Happy Sunday, people.

see Sam run Saturdays: The 10k Champs

Oh, blog. It's so nice to bath in your milky glow once again...

So today was THE day HealthyLittleMe and I have been pumped (maybe some days more than others) to tackle. Today was the Oak Island 10k race.

It was rainy.

It was cold.

My hip flexor has been cray.

And Aunt Flow is in town (I'm keepin' it real).

But we KILLED it!

If you run often, you can probably knock out 6ish miles on a good day without too much effort. It takes a special kind of bad-assness to run 6ish on a crappy day. That's exactly what we did.

We felt proud.

We felt accomplished.

We felt like we could dropkick a dragon.

We felt... a little stiff after the car ride back home.

Then we looked at our results... and being the competitive Taurus' that we are, we felt a little angry. My pace was slower than average for me, HealthyLittleMe cramped up and had to walk for a tiny bit, and the rain, people, coupled with the fact that race day always gets in your head, we probably could have done better. However, we did finish the race.

WE RAN OUR FIRST 10K. And you know what, that's all that matters. We had a goal. We smashed it. And we're going to smash that 5k tomorrow!

Fresh off the finish line!

Happy Saturday! Go dropkick a dragon!

-see Sam run

Neglect and the 10k/5k weekend ahead.

Ya'll I have been neglecting you and this blog. {And see Sam run isn't exactly an innocent party, either.}

But I promise it's not what you think - I haven't been cheating on you with other blogs. I haven't been ignoring your phone calls. I haven't been trying to think of a way to break up with you. I've just been freaking busy.

And when I say busy, I mean busier than a one-armed wallpaper hanger.

Busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest.
Busier than a Jehovah's witness at a door store.
Busier than a whorehouse on nickel night.
Busier than Richard Simmons on a fat farm.
Busier than a gopher on a golf course.

Too much? Okay, one more.

Busier than a cat trying to bury a turd on a frozen pond.

Basically, I got randomly sent to some work-related training that devoured two weeks of my life. I ran some, ate decently healthy, and got my ass handed to me on work related assignments and evaluations. But guess what bitches? I'm done! And I'm back at ya. So we can all take a deep sigh of relief.

Tomorrow is the day. see Sam run and I are running a 10k. Dear Lord. What were we thinking when we signed up for that ish? As the time draws closer, I'm starting to panic. What if I don't do as well as I want to? What if I can't run the whole thing? What if I have to poop on the route? (These are serious things to consider people!)

But whatever - balls to the wall and we're doing this crap. And Sunday, we're topping it off with a little 5k action. 

We're coming for ya, 10k + 5k in one weekend. We will bend you over, make you our bitch, and take a t-shirt to commemorate our victory.

But for real, wish us luck! We might need it.

see Sam run Saturdays: April Goals

I gotta be honest. I was struggling to come up with a post today. I started this post last night (well, technically this morning) and I just sat and stared, slack jawed, into a blank, white abyss. Nothing was happening. Nothing profound came to mind. So, I decided to keep it simple this Saturday.

And without further ado...

It's the beginning of a new month and that means new goals.

I've set my goals for April, have you?

It's six days in and I've broken goal number one about three times already. I'm 5 miles into goal three, and I'm 10 push-ups (not the girlie ones, either) into goal four, and one pound into goal five. Boom.

HealthyLittleMe took me to the new Chipotle that opened in town and it was superb! That officially killed goal one, but it was totally worth it. I only wish my other cheats were as healthy. But you know what, those were MY decisions, I made them and I'm moving on. We shouldn't beat ourselves up so badly about not being perfect ALL the time. Move past it and do better.

Anybody else got any April goals?

That's it my lovelies. Have a happy, healthy Saturday. Get moving and be nice to yourself. You know why? Because we're awesome.

How was your run? Um, terrible.

It is definitely Friday. And it took almost the whole afternoon for the sun to show its face over here in North Carolina... but when it did, I took full advantage of it. Or, uh, at least I tried to take advantage of it. Let me explain.

I set out for a run today. I usually don't plan the distance ahead of time, I just try to run three miles and then go from there. (Yeah, it's kind of some voodoo psychology I do to myself. Just run three, I tell myself and once I hit three, I start conning myself into going further. C'mon - what's two more miles? And it usually works. But if I set out originally to knock out 5+ miles, I would psych myself out (trust me I've done it before) and barely get through two. My brain is a strange and peculiar little thing.) I secretly wanted to do another five miler (I did one the other day) but knew that I could settle for at least four.

The sun was out.
My running outfit was cute.
The shuffle on my running playlist was on point.
The birds were singing.
It was supposed to be awesome. 
It wasn't.

Let me explain something about running: the first two miles are ALWAYS the hardest. At least I can speak for myself here (annnd see Sam run agrees - we talked about this yesterday). You are trying to get your body warmed up and in running mode but really you are trying to talk yourself out of taking another step. You've done enough; just stop at one mile. It's kind of cold out here and it looks like it might rain - you don't wanna get sick! And other various bullshit excuses my brain and body try to convince me of. Once you get past that second mile, you are in business. Your body feels great and you're UNSTOPPABLE. Except when you aren't. And the run actually gets progressively harder. And that is exactly where I was today.

Mile 1 - It's kind of cold out here. I shouldn't stay out long.
Mile 2 - That sun is bright and I didn't wear sunscreen... I should probably wrap this up.
Mile 3 - My hands are numb. And I kind of feel like I'm going to puke.
Mile 4 - Oh wait. I didn't get to mile four. That's right. I stopped at 3.96 because I couldn't take it anymore. 3.96!! Meaning, I looked at my GPS and decided that I couldn't make it another 0.04 miles. Nope. It wasn't gonna happen.

***PS. If you're a prospective runner reading this, IGNORE my melodramatic self. Running is NOT this bad. It's actually almost always pretty awesome.
And to make it even more annoying, the downtown area of my city (where I live and therefore my usual running route) was PACKED today. For some reason, everyone and their mother were out walking around - taking up the whole damn sidewalk and standing in the way. Let me run off on a rant for a hot minute about how much I hate playing chicken with sightseeing entourages when I'm running.

I know that you* and all your friends* are really enjoying the historic charm and riverside views of my city. Hell, I enjoy it too. But when you hear my HEAVY FOOTED self (seriously, I sound like an elephant when I run) run up behind you* and your* five-pack of friends are walking shoulder to shoulder taking up the whole damn pathway - GET OUT OF MY M#THERF#CKING WAY. And worse, if you* and I are about to cross paths and you* can clearly see me running towards you*, make some ROOM. I, Healthy Little Me, will no longer move out of the way of those who won't make room for me. I am not running off the sidewalk into a city flower garden anymore just because you* can't comprehend my presence. I am ONE person. And I am running. And I WILL run your* ass over. That is all.
*Of course I'm not talking about YOU specifically. Because YOU would never do that. 

So yeah, today's run sucked.. big ones. But I'm not going to beat myself up over it. I listened to my body and quit when I should have. I still managed to get a decent run in and I'll try for a better one tomorrow. You're not always going to have AWESOME days. Shitty runs happen sometimes. And you just have to roll with it. 

Let me give you the run-down: a re-cap of the week.

Ya'll, I would be writing a novel if I was going to give you a play by play of everything that's happened in the past week. I will say, this absence has not been in vain - my world got crazy for a hot minute. So let's just do a quick little re-cap, shall we?

Went to Cheyenne. Check.

• Got my oil changed at the Honda dealership
• Apparently Wednesday is "Ladies Day" so I got my oil changed for CHEAP 
• But also not so awesome because I had to wait for an hour and a half
  
  This was my view the WHOLE time.

Pretty amazing, huh? Yeah not so much. Moving on.

The next day:

• My favorite co-worker, B, had some time off with no plans just like me
• We decided to head out for an adventurous day hiking Laramie Peak 
• We did some research the night before the trip and found a lot of information about how to get to the trailhead
  
  We were stoked. This was going to be my first legit hiking trip - five miles up and five miles back and the views from the 10,000+ foot tall summit were going to be epic
   
• So we headed out with our packed lunches and jugs of water
• Except we got stuck in a snow pile 4 miles from the trailhead
• Annnnd we had to dig ourselves out with an extendable ice scraper while laying on a yoga mat
• And we never made it to the peak, which according to the lady at my hair salon the next day, would have been a TERRIBLE idea
• Did I mention that we ignored the part about "only going in the summertime" on the website?
• Yeah, the rules don't apply to us 
• Except they do
• We got off that mountain and had our share of cinnamon whiskey that night
• Thank. God. For. That.

SNOW. EVERYWHERE. UGH.

Wild horses.

And the next day, still hungover from the post-victory whiskey, I got a RANDOM week off. So I said screw it and booked a flight to head back to NC.

And NC has been just as wonderful. Let's re-cap that, too!

• boyfriend picked me up from the airport
• we went out to eat sushi
• he bought me an ADORABLE bracelet at this little boutique on the riverwalk

• snuggled with my dog
• me and the boyfriend took her for a 4.5 mile walk yesterday
• she. was. exhausted.

• ran twice (so far)
• ran in an M shape on the last run (which I didn't mean to do at all, but it's pretty cool because my first initial is M...)

• I plan to hang out with my best friends E and see Sam run later this week and the boyfriend's birthday is on Saturday so... this week will continually be WONDERFULLY hectic

I found this picture of myself in a photo box this morning. I guess I've always been kind of crazy. I'll get my shit together for the next post though, promise! Thank God see Sam run is posting relevant shit or this whole blog would be losing its mind.

Happy Hump Day, ya'll.