New Year, New You

So I know New Years isn't until next weekend, but work is deserted so I figured I would get a head start... I'm usually terrible at New Year's resolutions, so last year I actually wrote them down on an excel sheet so I could check up on it throughout the year. If you know me you prolly rolled your eyes and said "of course you did" because I am an excel guru and seriously LOVE it. So anyway, my list will probably remain the same, since they are good things to live by. I'll put my comments in puple:

Find a new job making more $$ - Completed!!!
Eat healthier - For the most part my diet has made a change for the good. I now eat beans and almost all seafoods and even pasta sauce... things the younger me would rather starve than eat!
Join a co-ed softball team - Did not complete, but already talked to people about playing next spring/summer
Join a kickball team - Played in both summer and fall leagues, working on a team for spring. Who knew kickball was so freaking fun?
Never leave the house wearing sweatpants - Never is a relative term, but I have cut down on the number of times I wore sweats outdoors... spandex are the new sweatpant.
Apply more SPF - I've always been good with this one, but it doesn't hurt to have a friendly reminder.
Don’t go grocery shopping in big, baggy shirts - I think this was the first week all year that I looked unpresentable at the grocery store. I have this fantasy about bonding over broken eggs and falling in love at the grocery store... I have issues.
Wear high heels more often - I was doing pretty well with this one, until I broke my feet last weekend. Too much dancing in heels... don't worry, they'll be back after Christmas.
Smile! - I have a natural frown, it takes effort to smile.
Drink less - ehh if anything, I drink more. Can't win them all.
Eat less junk - Good, unless there's cheesepuffs around.
Say yes to being set up - People have offered, I have said yes, haven't been on any blind dates though :(
Say no to men who are only out for themselves - Peace out Matt and Brett.
Don’t waste more than one date on a bad prospect - Peace out Steve.
Be naughty - Get your head out of the gutter.
Pursue hobbies - I don't know that I have hobbies, but I am sure I pursued them ha.
Exercise more - First half of the year was WAY better than the last, but I'm about to get back into it.
Read more books - So many good books!
Borrow a dog and go to a dog park - We all knew this would never happen because I hate animals... but I did help my friend Jenna walk her dog a bunch when I visited... and I pretended to like Matt's cats when we were dating. That should count for something?
Work on savings, 401K, etc. - I started my 401k in July and my savings account was piling up until I bought a new car, but my Christmas bonus replaced a lot of that!
Learn to cook - Lasagna is my new specialty dish.
Keep my room clean - Never gonna happen.
Be sweet and don’t criticize men - Also, never gonna happen.
Befriend girls - I would be doing better in this category if I wasn't so attracted to men with girlfriends.

So all in all, this year was a success, but now it's time to really challenge myself. On top of keeping up with the above, I have decided to run a half-marathon this year and I am giving myself plenty of time to train for it. The half-marathon I am running is the "Flour City Half-Marathon" (Rochester is the flour city for those of you wondering wtf is that?!?). It is scheduled for May 1 so I have 17 weeks. The plan is to add one mile every week until the end of March when I will be at 13 miles... we all know I am bad at running, so this gives me a few extra weeks for slack (Yes, I just referenced an inventory management term, but I am at work and that is what I do at work, so it's only fitting. Thank you Rochester Institute of Technology for turning me into the biggest nerd). Anyway, this seems doable and if I keep it up, I might even be ready for the Rochester full marathon in the fall?!? - Okay that's a lie, I don't have enough of an attention span for that kind of thing.

XOXO

Countdown. 16 Days.

Register. Check.

Run. No Check.

But don't worry, I have found a way to beat the system. My dad agreed last year that he would do the turkey trot with me this year. Since my dad hasn't run since... (well actually I don't know that I have ever seen him run) we're walking it. Considering my run pace and walk pace are about the same, I don't mind. 

XOXO

Turkey Trot

Well it's November, which means that the Turkey Trot is just a few weeks away. Last  year at this time, I had been training a whole lot for this event, however, as you've noticed, I haven't posted since March... and that is because I think I may have ran a total of 3 maybe 4 times since then. Yeah, I've been THAT lazy. Don't worry though, I will pick it up, because this race is just 21 days away... and I've already registered so I can't back out now. Girl is too poor to be wasting money like that.

XOXO

Morning #2

I texted Erik this morning to make sure he was up. He said he was headed to the gym, I said I was about to run. He really went to the gym. I rolled over and slept for another hour. Dear Erik, I sincerly hope you're not reading this or you will not be happy.

XOXO

Morning #1

My alarm went off at 6:45 this morning, and I was not happy. I thought about not running as promised, but within seconds of turning off my alarm, Erik texted me to make sure I was awake. I got up. Threw some clothes on and out the door I went. It was pretty uneventful minus almost getting run over by a girl who failed to yield a stop sign. I barely made it three miles (not good, since the race is getting closer by the second), but I did feel pretty good about actually getting up this morning.

I got back to my house, showered, made a breakfast sandwich and some coffee and was off to work. As I sit here now, I don't feel the least bit sore, I guess maybe I should push myself harder tomorrow.

XOXO

I Promise

So Erik and I made a promise tonight that we would get up every morning this week and run before work. Let's see how many days this lasts...

XOXO

Training Time

My legs finally feel better again, I got out of work at 2pm today (woo!!!), and it is actually a really nice day out. The sun is actually shining. It was God's way of telling me "Rachel, you need to run at least once before this race." So I listened to him and did. We had a huge snow storm one week prior to this, so even though it is nice out, it is not nice enough to melt all the snow and ice. So the sidewalks were filled with snow/ice/puddles of some melted snow/mud... basically it was gross and my white sneaks got real dirty. And everytime I tried to run in the street I almost got run over. It was a lose-lose situation, but I was determined none the less.

I made it a little over three miles (3.25 to be exact), which I thought was pretty good for my first outing... still not five miles, but we have a week left to prepare.

Minus the muddy sneakers, and a stranger catching me when I slipped on ice (I know it sounds like a romantic scene from a movie where I fall in love the stranger at the end, but it really was just awkward and weird and we both just continued on as if nothing happened), it was a good day. I felt really great about myself, especially since I ate the cheesiest stomboli for lunch and was feeling guilty.

XOXO

Told Ya

So yeah. Worse than I thought it would be. Can't walk. Wore heels to work. SO stupid Rachel.

Back in Action

So after a small non-physical activity hiatus that I like to call winter I am back and ready to entertain you with the misery and pain that comes with me being a novice workout warrior.

As stated in my original blog post, I needed motivation to get my butt off the couch so I signed up for two races around Thanksgiving time. Those were such a success that one would think I would be motivated to continue what I started, but you would be wrong. I had high hopes until December came, and since I live in Rochester, New York, those hopes quickly faded (read: it snowed, a lot). So once again I needed some motivation to run and Kat and I signed up for Johnny's Runnin' O The Green - a five mile race on the same day as the St. Patrick Day parade in Rochester. This seemed like the perfect way to not feel guilty about all the beers that will be drank (drunk? dranken? drunken? no idea?) on that same day. However, when we registered for the race last night, I thought I had more than a week and a half to prepare for it. Whoops.

So today I decided to start training again, except it was cold out, and I got home from work late so it was already dark, and I opted to do a workout video or two instead.

I turned my tv set to channel ### (I can't remember), which is Excercise TV On Demand. It's so great. It has tons of videos that I can do in the comforts of my own home without embarassing myself in front of others at a class in a gym. A gym that I am too cheap to pay a membership for I might add.

So I pick out the first video, a quick 10-minute abs segment. It was the perfect amount of time to start working those abs, without being in too much pain at the end. Since that went so well, I thought I would attempt to do another. Not wanting to have sore abs in the morning, I opted for a video that was called "Kim Kardashian Butt" and was from her "Fit in Your Jeans by Friday" workout video series. I thought this sounded perfect. Until I started. And spent the next 23-minutes, yes 23, even though it was in the 10-minute video section, minutes in a full sweat with burning thighs.

This did not just work your butt, but so many other parts of your body that the next day my shoulders, abs, legs and pretty much everything except my butt was sore. Strange because the video was called "Kim Kardashian BUTT." Anyway, the video was spent doing millions of squats and lunges and doing them fast and slow and twisting and turning and pretty much everything I used to do when I was recovering from ACL surgery in college. Too bad my body forgot about what a pro I used to be at doing that kind of stuff.

So here I am. In pain. And it's not even the next morning yet. What a joy getting out of bed is going to be tomorrow.

XOXO


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Days until Race: 10