New Year - New Me!

First, I apologize for the blog being so dormant over the holidays.  We had my in-laws over for dinner the Saturday before Christmas, left for my parents on Christmas eve and have been hanging with them ever since.  I will write a more detailed post about our holidays once I get home (we're at their cabin in the north Georgia mountains).

Sitting around here has given me a lot of time to think about what I want to accomplish for myself next year.  I can't believe that it's been 9 months since I made the decision to pick up running again with a goal to complete my first half marathon (which is only 53 days away!!!!)  Now that 2013 is literally just around the corner, I have begun to make new goals for myself -

Be Better About Meal Planning

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I did okay off and on throughout the year with this last year, but next year I want to make this a priority for both J and myself.  It takes the guesswork out of the infamous "What's for dinner?" question and will cut down on the amount of times I have to stop by the grocery store (which J hates!).  It will also lead to more healthy choices for us.  Making and taking my lunch also falls into this category - I need to minimize the amount of times I eat out during the week!

Lacing up a minimum of 3 days a week

Once daylight savings time hit and the temperatures began to drop, so did the amount of time I would spend outside running.  It didn't seem like that big of a deal....until I ran a 10k after running only once in a two week period.  I'm by no means fast, but I could really tell that I was struggling throughout the run.  They day after was even worse - my hips were killing me, my ankles were sore, and I felt like I had been beat up.  This was a huge eye opener that I cannot let my training runs slip and expect to do my best.  I absolutely HATE the "dreadmill" so in order to make this happen I plan to go back to taking my clothes to work and stopping at the Greenway on my way home to get in my two training runs during the week, and then leaving my long runs for the weekend.

Add strength training to my routine

I have been wanting to try Crossfit for some time now, and earlier this month Sharon and I bought a Groupon deal for a Crossfit gym.  We plan to start next week and I will definitely be documenting my journey.  I have hopes that this will help me increase my stamina with running as well as building muscle for my first Warrior Dash in May!

Lose Weight

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Ah...the cliche New Years resolution that about 90% of the world's population set as a goal.  I do not have a goal weight in mind, but I want my body to feel better and I want to feel better about my body.  Doing the things I have already mentioned will help me chisel off this weight.

13 in 2013

I joined a challenge to run 13 races in 2013, and so far I'm already registered for five (SeaBee 10k run, Locomotive 5k, Princess Half Marathon, Georgia Publix Half Marathon, and Warrior Dash), AND I have my eyes set on a girls "runcation" to California to participate in the inaugural Dumbo Double Dare.  As long as I'm able to remain injury free, I should be able to check this resolution off this time next year!

Beat my PRs!

In participating with Crossfit, running more, and eating better, I really hope to surpass my PRs in both the 5k and 10k distances.  Since the Princess half marathon is my first, I won't really use that as a PR goal to break as it's just a fun run.  The Publix half marathon in March will give me a better idea of what I will need to do to break its time, whatever it may be.  :)

Blog More and Up my Social Media Presence

There were times this past year where I went a little too long without posting, so next year I want to set a goal for myself to blog at least 3-4 days a week.  I don't feel that my life is interesting enough to post every single day, but 3-4 days is a more realistic goal for myself.  I also want to be more active on my Facebook Fan Page (if you haven't already, please go and "Like" it!), Twitter, and Instagram.

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I know for a fact that every single one of these goals can be easily met if I just put my mind to it.  I'm looking forward to what 2013 brings!

Do you have any goals for yourself?  

Until next time,

Jen

From Our Family To Yours....

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

From Jason, Jen, and Guinness

RunDisney Announces the Dumbo Double Dare!

While I haven't gotten my first taste of a RunDisney race yet (my first will be the Princess half marathon in 2 months), my friend, Amanda, and I have already started to plan to get our Coast to Coast medals by running the Disneyland half next Labor Day weekend.  Neither one of us has ever been to Disneyland before, and it will be a fun girls weekend "runcation".

I was browsing Facebook yesterday when I saw that RunDisney had posted a video with an announcement

I got soooo incredibly excited!!  AND....they're doing a mini-Goofy like challenge and calling it the "Dumbo Double Dare" - you run the 10k on Saturday and half marathon on Sunday!  You get a medal for each race and then a special medal for completing the Double Dare.  Those, along with our Coast to Coast Challenge will make 4 medals!  Talk about some serious bling!

I was debating on going Goofy in 2014, but I think being in an inaugural race would be way cooler, so Goofy is going on the back burner for a few years...maybe I'll wait and run it during the 25th anniversary of the WDW marathon...who knows!

Registration opens on January 22nd, but if you're attending the WDW marathon weekend you can sign up early at the expo.  You can find all the information here. (Make sure you save me a spot!)

So...will you be doing the Dumbo Double Dare?

Until next time,

Jen

Peachtree Corners 10k recap

This past Saturday I completed my final race of 2012 - the Peachtree Corners 10k.  Sharon and I decided to meet up the night before for a pizza dinner to get some carbs before the race.  I did my usual pre-race ritual and laid out what I planned to wear -

I set my alarm for 6:45 (the race wasn't too far from my house).  When it went off I swore I hit snooze, but I turned it off and woke up at 7:45!!  Nothing better than to start the race day off in a panic!  I threw everything on and ran out the door to pick up Sharon.  Thank goodness the race didn't start until 9:15 so we were okay on time.

We got there and parked, hurried to get our things together, and speed walked to get our bibs.  We didn't have a ton of time, so stretching was fast and probably not enough of it was done.  We did see this guy waiting for the race to start -

 Props to him!  I'm not sure I could run in his costume!

Finally they had us move up closer to the starting line, and we were off!  The course was a loop, so the 5k'ers did it once and the 10k'ers did it twice.  Sharon and I stayed together for a few but then I broke away from her.  The first mile is always tough for me as I try and get into my groove, and seeing that I have been a bad runner and not really doing my training runs like I should, the race as a whole was especially tough.  I even debated on doing the 5k and not the 10k on race day, but I pushed through.

The course was pretty nice..a few hills that I wasn't a fan of, but it did go through a neighborhood, and some of the residents were camped out on their lawns and porches and cheering for the runners.

Between miles 4 and 5 my legs really started to feel fatigued.  I did more walking than I would have liked to have done, but once I got out of the neighborhood on the second loop they started to feel a little better.  I'm not the fastest runner, so by the time I finished the race they had already turned the time clock off!  At least there were still a few people there cheering.

Per my Garmin, I was 6 minutes slower than my last 10k, but considering my lack of training I didn't think it was too terribly bad.  I waited a couple of minutes for Sharon, then walked down to get my finisher's shirt, and as I was walking back up I saw her cross the line.  She went and got her shirt and we walked to the car to head home, but had to get a couple of pictures first!

My awesome mom made the skirt for me, and it was pretty easy!  I can't wait to make more in different colors and add a little sparkle to my runs :)

After the race we made a pit stop at Panera as there wasn't really anything left for us at the race.  A bagel and some water really hit the spot.

 I went home, showered, and took a nap on the couch for a couple of hours.  We had a tacky sweater party to go to that night so I had to get ready and bake my dish.  I'll post pictures of the party later, but it was a lot of fun!

Sunday was rough...my hips were KILLING me.  I was walking around like an old woman.  This was the kick in my ass that I needed to get motivated to run more.  I simply cannot not run and expect my body to bounce back after running a 10k!  Today my body finally feels almost back to normal, so I'm going to crank out a 1-2 mile run after work.

I would really love your help!  I am trying to win a month of Crossfit from a local Crossfit box.  If you could go here and "Like" my comment I would appreciate it.  You don't have to "Like" their page...just my comment.  The contest goes until next Friday and the person with the most "Likes" on their comment wins! Right now I'm falling behind!

Until next time,

Jen

National Blogging Day of Silence

13 in 2013...Are You In?

A couple of fellow bloggers, Jill and Jen, have partnered up to create the 13 in 2013 challenge. 

The goal of this challenge is simple - to run 13 races in 2013.  You can choose from any of the distances - 13 5ks, 10ks, half marathons, marathons, trails, or a mixture of them all!

I chose to do the mixture.  I've already registered for four races for 2013-

SeaBee Run - Honolulu, HI (Feb)

Orlando, FL (Feb)

Atlanta, GA (Mar)

Mountain City, GA (May)

I have more planned in my head, but I'm officially registered for all of these.  This year I have participated in 12 races this year with one to go!  If I can do 13 races in 2012, I should most definitely be able to do it in 2013!

Have you joined the challenge?

Until next time,

Jen

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I'm still here!  Sorry for the lack of posts...I feel like I'm apologizing a lot lately, but I truly do feel bad.  And welcome to my new readers!

Once we got home from my parent's cabin after spending most of Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving week with them, J helped me set up our new faux Christmas tree that we bought on Black Friday.  We didn't get up super early and go with everybody else shopping, but we still got 20% off the tree.  I wasn't crazy about the idea of not having a real tree, but it makes more sense for us since we're never home on Christmas morning.  Once we have kids, that could change though.

I took the Monday after Thanksgiving off to give me some extra time to get some decorating done.  I got the tree decorated as well as our mantle and the table in our foyer.  As I was decorating I noticed that we don't really have that many surfaces to display things on! (That's probably a good thing though)

Our Christmas tree!

 Here are the elements to the mantle as well as the overall finished product -

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

We don't ever use our fireplace so I wanted to spruce it up a bit.  I found an idea similar to this on Pinterest -

I bought some pinecones from Target and layered them with a strand of white lights.  Then I put fresh fraiser fir clipping in the basket with them.  I think it needs a little color to it so I'm going to wrap a red ribbon around the basket.

The whole fireplace

I also found on Pinterest (you see this is becoming a pattern, right?) a very cute red burlap wreath, and I knew I wanted to try and make one for our front door.  Last year I had a major fail trying to make an ornament wreath, so I had my fingers crossed that this one would work out much better...and it did!

 And here's the completed look for the front door -

I'm still in the process of hanging wreaths on the windows.  I got the two downstairs done last night and will get the two upstairs hung this evening.

And here is the table in the foyer - 

I'm trying to convince J to put a couple of things in the yard, but no such luck yet :P

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I've signed up for a couple more races for next year.  While we're in Hawai'i, I'll be running a 10k on Ford Island, which is part of the Pearl Harbor Naval Base.  I'm really looking forward to this race as it will help me prepare for the Princess half marathon that happens two weeks later!

I've also signed up for my very first Warrior Dash!  It's next May, and since they had a Cyber Monday deal, I jumped on it.  I'll be running with a couple of friends and while I'm a little nervous about it, I think I have plenty of time to prepare.

Next Saturday I have a Christmas 10K that Sharon and I are running in.  I've been working to put together my outfit and found the perfect socks - 

I think I'll pair them with a red sparkle skirt, black shorts/capris (depending on the weather), and a green running tank.  Just need to decide if I want to wear anything on my head and I'll be good to go!

Some of my fellow bloggers have gotten together and come up with a photo challenge for Instagram.  It's called the Holiday a Day challenge.  Each day you take a picture of whatever item/theme matched up for that day, post it on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc, and make sure you use the hashtag #holidayaday.  It's been fun to see what everyone is sharing!  Here's the schedule in case you're interested in joining in a little late -

 

I've got a 5 mile run on the schedule for this weekend.  It will be my last long run before the 10k, and I'm hoping to shave some time off my 10k for a better corral placement in the half marathon.  Fingers crossed!

Until next time,

Jen