13.1 Miles- Half Marathon

My half marathon is coming up and for each mile I plan to run it for someone else. Someone who has pushed me and encouraged me!

Mile 1: God, He has been my strength and kept me going! "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength"- Phillipians 4:13 I spend a great amount of time while I am running talking to God and getting things all worked out! If I need to connect with God I tend to go run!

Mile 2: Jody: You are one of the best cousins I have! You have pushed me and motivated me every step of the way! Thanks :) I can talk to you about all the crazy workouts I do and you don't think I'm crazy! I can talk to you about my struggles and cry and complain and you always have something amazing to say! Thanks for being awesome and marrying my cousin!

Mile 3: My mom: She has listened to me talk and talk and talk about running for hours on end. I'm sure she is tired of it! She keeps me going and makes sure I go on my runs if I'm feeling extra lazy. She motivates me every step of the way :)

Mile 4: Angie and Allison: You two always have amazing things to say! Okay, I use you for your advice and awesome compliments! Angie scares the shit out of me when she's teaching a class I am taking which makes me work harder! She doesn't take my "I'm tired" crap and reminds me to work until I'm exhausted! Allison always has a compliment on how far I have come and keeps pushing me! This one is for my favorite trainers at the Y even if one moved to far away Chicago and left us! After this run count me in for a bodypump class!

Mile 5: My Uncle Shaun: He talked me into this. I told him I didn't think I could do it. He told me he thought I could so I did it. I signed up. He has run a few miles with me along the way too :) He motivates me and helps me plan my runs! I really coun't have done any of this without him!

Mile 6: Chad! Oh my goodness! Chad has pushed me and helped me become a better runner! He has also run a few miles with me too! He has helped me develop better stretching which I am SO thankful for! I sucked at stretching before I met you!

Mile 7: My sister! She is well, crazy! I love her so much and want to do this so she knows she can do ANYTHING! Olivia needs to know that if I can run 13.1 miles she can do whatever she wants in the world nothing can hold her back! She is going to be what get's me through mile 7.

Mile 8: Josh and Kenny: My big brothers! I love my big brother :) I don't know what I would do without them! They are always there for me and I think I could talk to him about anything! We don't get to see each other often but they are the best brother a girl could ask for!

Mile 9: Nick: You are an amazing cousin! I am running this mile because you push yourself so far to protect me and this Country! You work your butt off everyday missing those amazing boys of yours and I can never thank you enough! I am so proud of you! I tend to tell people about my awesome cousin Nick a lot! Thanks for being amazing and sticking by me! This mile is going to be hard one for me I'm sure so it's for you!

Mile 10: Aimee: My second Mom! I love you! Thanks for pushing me to prove everyone wrong! You provide motivation and help keep me strong in my faith!

Mile 11: Nini- Aunt Nini! This one is for you! I am SO proud of how far YOU have come! You motivate me and encourage me daily! Thanks :) I wouldn't be the woman I am today without you! I can't wait until you come back to Ohio to visit so we can workout together! I know I will always have my Nini to talk to! I know I can come to you with anything! There is something different about talking to your aunt about something than talking to your mom! Thanks for listening to me talk all the time and always giving the best advice!

Mile 12: Molly: You provide me with the best coffee dates and talks! I love talking with you because it just brightens my day! You are the person I hope to talk to when I am down because you always seem to know how to brighten the day! I am running Mile 12 for you because I know it will be a hard one for me. You have been through so much lately and I know that if you can make it through then I can finish mile 12!

Mile 13: Sue, Ian and Charlie: Sue provides me with comedy about my runs. I know she will be here in Lima to greet me when I finish! You guys are a package deal! You have been there for me through so much and I can't thank you enough! Cousin, you are my favorite cousin :) Don't stop being you! I know if I need anything these three will always be there for me. Mile 13 is for you!

.1- I am going to rock the heck out of this .1! It is for me and me only! This whole run is about me and how far I have come! I will run this thinking back to when I could barely run for 30 seconds! I am going to finish this proving all that doubt I can finish WRONG

Goodybag Giveaway!

Over at Eggface she is doing another giveaway! This time she's giving away: 2 - (3 lb tubs) SEI Nutrition Max Protein. One Chocolate and one Vanilla. 

1 (1 lb tub) - CLICK Espresso Protein Powder in Mocha flavor.

2 (6.5 oz jars) - PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter in Regular and Chocolate flavor

5 boxes of Sugar Free Jello Pudding Mix - in SF Pistachio, SF Lemon, SF Butterscotch, SF Cheesecake, SF Banana Cream 

3 single serving packets of Celebrate Vitamins ENS (each shake contains a high potency multivitamin, 500 mg of calcium citrate, 4 g of fiber, and 25 g of whey isolate protein in each serving, one of each flavor Vanilla Cake Batter, Chocolate Milk, Strawberry) 

4 - 150 ml bottles of Sugar Free Torani Syrup in SF Raspberry, SF Hazelnut, SF Caramel, and SF Vanilla.

1 Yellow 20 oz. Blender Bottle Shaker

and a $25 Amazon Gift Card - Use it toward a blender or a protein ice cream maker or whatever your heart desires.

All for her Birthday and Surgery Anniversary! Shoot over there and enter and tell her happy birthday! 

Happy Birthday Shelly! 

When I'm dripping with sweat...

I feel like a Badass!

I have been struggling recently with my diet and exercise. Especially running. Okay, all of it.

Exercise: Running wise I have been trying to do the dreaded 20 minute run on c25k but I keep starting too fast. Yesterday, I hopped on treadmill next to a cute guy. He was running at a level 7 so I thought "hell, I can run at a 6" I did my warm up and started in.  BAD IDEA! Hello girl! You are running for 20 minutes straight start out slow. He then bumps it up to level 10!! Holy hell. This guy is intense. I started walking. Feeling defeated by this super monster of a man. I found myself mad. Completely pissed off because on top of it all my ankles got tight. I had to stop and stretch. Ugh. I'm going out of town until Friday tomorrow but I'm hoping to get a run or two in. We will see though.

Food: Let's not go there. It's terrible. I have failed us all miserably! I have ate crap!!

I don't plan to weigh until then 2nd of July so we will see how that goes.

I went to go get paid by a family I babysat for last week (The mom was out of town) and she kept raving about how good I looked. She was saying how when she first met me I just didn't look healthy but now I am looking like I am making progress. It's pretty awesome when someone says how good you look! She just kept going and going and told me when I was ready to learn more about nutrition she was there for me. It's awesome to have her support.

Time to turn this girl into a complete badass!

A Letter

I've seen a lot of people post letters to their younger selves. Here is one to the 15 year old me.

Dear 15 year old me,

Don't date that guy. He isn't worth it and will cause you pain and suffering. He doesn't deserve you at all! Don't go back. Stop eating. It gets you no where and doesn't make you feel any better! Actually, I take that back it does get you somewhere. It gets you unhealthy! Start running. Seriously. You'll love it! Start getting serious about your grades because when it comes time for college they are what matters. Just go ahead and deal with the fact that you are going to be a teacher. You try to tell yourself God doesn't want that and you really want to be a nurse but it isn't right. You will be an amazing teacher! You will find out next year that you really want to go to Cedarville. It's another reason to get good grades. You'll end up at OSU lima because your grades weren't good enough for Cedarville. Start making better choices for yourself because you are so worth it. No one can tell you different!

Love,
Your 19 year old self.

Long week

So I've been sick for over a week now. That means no running. It started as just a sore throat and turned into bronchitis. I'm feeling mostly better now though other than being tired and having a cough. I think I may start running again tomorrow at least lightly. I really miss it.

I had an upsetting day. I had a job interview that just didn't go well at all. It wasn't all my fault though the hours she needs someone isn't really going to work with me going to school. She was up front about it but told me we would continue the interview. It was just crappy. I don't feel like it went well at all. I really really like this guy at church okay? So he was flirting with me last week and I finally got the nerve to ask him if he wanted to hang out. He said yes and would check is schedule. I haven't heard from him again. I've been bumming about that today too. I'm not waiting around for a guy but I really like him so it's kind of disappointing. I was told by someone else that he is really spontaneous and she is sure he will just randomly text me. I was holding onto that all week. I just don't know what to think. Part of me thinks he likes me and part of me thinks he doesn't. Now, onto the real reason I'm pouring my heart out. I resisted the urge to make brownies for about an hour and gave in. I kept thinking "this will make you feel better" Yeah right! It didn't. It wasn't even worth it to eat those brownies. Now i'm going to go over my calories and I'm still not happy. It's been awhile since I've had a bad day of just sulking and wanting to cry so I had my afternoon of watching glee and sulking. Now I'm picking myself up and getting back on track. There is no "start over tomorrow" it's start over RIGHT NOW! I'm not waiting around for some guy. I'm living my life and being happy! I'm making myself better :)

Runners World Quote of the Day from today seems like a good one to keep me going today and a good one to end this post with!

"Running along our journey doesn't only teach us how to keep moving forward through what life throws at us, it also makes us into the best version of ourselves" -Ashley Erickson, freelance fitness writer/editor

Ready for summer

I'm so ready for summer. I'm tired of school. I find myself skipping class more and more often. 2 more Child development classes and a 4 pages paper to do for that class 1 1/2 pages done for that. 5 more sociology and stats classes. Skipping Soc is a norm for me. We can't stand the guy. He sucks. I'm going to the first hour and most likely leaving during the second hour. Sadly it's to get donuts with a friend. I refuse to stay fat forever though so I'm budgeting it in!

Here is me complaining for the night: I'm sick. I feel like crap. I'm tired of feeling like crap. I want to work out so bad. I miss it! I want to run!!!!! It's currently a chore to walk around the store. I feel so out of shape but I know that's just because I'm so congested.

It's been awhile!

I have been running for a month now! Woohoo! A whole month! I can run for 6 minutes straight now! YAY! I have a long way to go though! I made the decision tonight to start eating cleaner. If you have any advice please share! More fruits and veggies! I need to fuel my body for all the running I'm doing.
I found this on Pintrest today and I'm sticking to this!

I also added this to my bucket list today:

Weekly Goals:
Eat more Vegetables 3-4 servings a day
Eat more fruit 2-4 servings a day
No Pop
No Fast food
Run a total of 10 miles