Cheesy Rice, A Birthday & Stinky Socks

How about a recap of what's been going on in the life of a Dewey this past month?

Lots of fun activities, food making and eating, running, enjoying the outdoors now that it's not 150F degrees outside (hello Arizona). So for your picture viewing pleasure, please enjoy.

Warm tea any time of day is still great. Even if we still have temps in the 90s in October.

Cheesy zucchini rice. I could eat the whole pan. But I didn't.

Oktober Fest at Tempe Town Lake. Had a blast!

Coffee love from my Gal Pal Jess at work. Can't get enough PSL.

Recovering after a 5.5 mile run few weeks ago in my Pro Compression Socks & fueling with Nuun. Addicted, yes.

Someone had a birthday back in September. A 2nd birthday. Oops, I haven't recapped that either?!

Jackson turned 2 in September. When asked how old he is, he's admitted to "Seven".

PSA: Shirt was custom made from a friend. Check out her Etsy shop. Highly recommended!

Now that the summer Monsoon season has come to a halt, I should have more time to do anything I want catch up and write some blog posts. I won't forget the cooking and recipes and I absolutely need to post more pictures of these two guys. Can't get enough of them. Except when they gang up on me :)

#MarchGoal

Halfway through March already. Spring is nearly here. Of course "spring" in Arizona means 90°F days are coming fast. It was 95 on Thursday.

Halfway through March also means we are halfway done with the #MarchGoal challenge. Did you participate? How is it going for you?

For me, my initial goal was to run/log 30 miles for the month. I got off to a good start with a half marathon on March 2. Bringing my total up to just over 15 miles. I'd say I have some work to do! Another goal I have, but never really "technically" declared it a goal, was to eat healthy every single day. So far, I've done great. Aside from 3 days when we had company, I even did well on those days. I have been doing a combo of push ups, crunches, lunges or squats each day and as always a plank everyday. 

Checking out some 'goodies' at the finish line of the Phoenix Marathon

A good handful of people have joined this challenge. Some through twitter, some through facebook and some just have mentioned it to me. 

There are no hard rules to this challenge. Pretty cool, huh? So why not join in. There is still half a month to go. Plenty of time to start making a difference NOW.

13.1 Miles farther in life

After running my first ever half marathon in January, I must have been sick in the head to run another less than 6 weeks later. Ok, maybe not sick in the head, but addicted right?

Refueling post race with Nuun. Is this a post race face or what?!

While trying to sign up for the race and finding out it was already capped, a friend offered her bib to me as she had last minute plans change. Sweet! Now, I really had to get my butt in gear and get ready for this race. I think I had it in my head that I was already in "half marathon shape" from the previous one and didn't do much training this time. Oops! I did some, but not as much as I should have. 

The Phoenix Marathon series is pretty new and young, and it was a smaller race. Smaller than the PF Chang's Rock 'n Roll Marathon that travels all over the place.  A more local race and smaller capacity, this one was fun. Starting super early at 6:30am meant a 3:30am wake up. The beautiful thing about running in late February/early March in Phoenix: the weather is approaching the upper 70s and morning low temperatures are in the upper 40s/low 50s. Could this not be more perfect?! No snow on the ground here. Sorry Colorado people. 

Check out those temps this morning. 50s and 60s for race time.

I started off running with a friend from college. We both had about the same time goal in mind, and we actually finished very close to those goals!

The atmosphere for this race was great. Everyone was friendly, so many volunteers and people cheering and bonus, the lines to the port-a-potties were fairly short!

According to my GPS runner app, I finished at 2:35 which would put me the same time as my PF Chang's half. Not too shabby as I was expecting somewhere around 2:45 for my poor training. Hold the watch! Just checked the official results page (yep, I refreshed and waited) and I finished at 2:32! Holy smokes! PR for me while not training very well ?! Alright, I'll take it. However, my knees are sore now, but I do actually feel good.

I wore my green sparkle Bic Bands headband. Super awesome headband! It does not move at all.

From a training run, not the race.

My pink Pro Compression Socks, which helped my legs feel great. Still feeling great after the run.

Again, from a training run, not the race. 

My Brooks running shoes, GTS 12's. Haven't let me down so far.

Fueled up with Nuun before and after. Fav flavors including but not limited to: Tri-Berry, Grapefruit Orange, Blueberry Pomegranate, Citrus, Lemon Lime, Grape. I'm limiting myself to how many I drink today, don't worry :)

So, what's next? Not sure. No more half's on the schedule as of now. Looking for a few 5k fun runs up ahead with a pretty snazzy lady. And I'll keep working out, running and eating better.

Anyone see my #MarchGoal post? What is your goal? How will you get there?

13.1 Miles. No big deal

While many people were enjoying their morning coffee, reading up on the news, perhaps going out for breakfast or brunch...I ran 13.1 miles. No big deal. I was done by 10:30am and on with the rest of my day. Which, consisted of ice, stretching and resting.

I ran my first Half Marathon on Jan 20th 2013 at the PF Chang's Rock 'n Roll Marathon. It was a girls weekend get together that had been planned since June 2012. A group of us decided we would run it together, though we all ran different times and distances, all because one of the ladies had a birthday. What a great group of ladies I am now friends with (those didn't already know). It was a great time getting to know each other, training, talking about how we were doing and to accomplish a goal I had always wanted to do. Next on the list? More half marathons and someday a full. Here is the weekend at a glance. Oh yeah, the results. Spoiler: 13.1 miles in 2:35 min. PR for me! Avg 11min/mile. Not bad! I only walked 2.5 total miles and did great. Goal: get the time down to 2:30 and keep going down from there. 2:20 and someday 2:00.

At the Rock 'n Roll Expo, downtown Phoenix.

At the expo. Only 26.2 miles to go!

Carbing it up the night before with some fellow weather nerd ladies.

Best Gal Pal Jessica :) and fellow Weather nerd!

At the start, waiting for that gun to go off.

At the start line. New best buddy Emma!

A quick shot as we head east. Around mile 2. 

TOAST! To the finish!

Hydrating with Nuun :) I love.

A bowl of protein goodness: Choc protein goo, PB, coconut cookie dough crumble & cinnamon flatout bowl. All from Stuftmama's recipes. Yum!

Just crossed the finish and was handed a medal and asked to take my picture. Atleast I'm smiling!

And after chugging some water. 

Gal Pal ladies from work & Jackson. We are ready to rock!

The whole group of ladies that ran (minus 1). Some ran the full, some ran the half marathon and some ran the half relay. We all accomplished goals and kicked butt!

 What a great weekend. Happy Birthday to Miss Leslie. She ran her first ever full Marathon and kicked some serious butt! What's next on the list?

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{Have been MIA from blog world, oops! Life has gotten in the way and blogging has gone to the back burner. Hopefully I can find some time to get back into things.}

Remember that Juneathon stuff?

Try hard to remember back to June.
Lots of running, biking, working out. 100+ degree days. Crazy me running outside. Remember? Well the fun doesn't end there. There is a challenge for January!

Janathon

Why not start the year off with being active? You know I'm down for this! As before, I will probably not be blogging every single day. But I'll post the highlights and weekly updates. It does help that I'm running the P.F. Changs Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon this month. Woot, woot! My first ever half marathon. Actually, my first ever race longer than a 10k. I'm excited!

Anyone else want to join in the Run-Fun that is Janathon? 

You know you want to join the fun!

I use RunKeeper as an app on my phone for tracking my workouts/runs. I also double check that with Google maps and make sure to note the time I start. I've been known to have GPS tracking issues and a random 52 mile run is logged for me. Ambitious but not correct!

Anyone have any cool apps they use? GPS wrist watch recommendations? I need one, just don't have the cash for one.

Happy Active-ness Month!

October Challenge: Who's in?

Over the summer I've done a couple Fitness Challenges and challenged myself to do others. I'm on track with eating healthy and have done well (for myself) in losing all of the pregnancy weight and then some after having my son a year ago. Wow, a year. Anyway, now I'm training for a half marathon in January. So excited! I think that being active and keeping a regular fitness routine of some sort is important in every day life. Whether you're training for a marathon, a 3 mile race, a friend's wedding, the holidays, a family get together or you just want to become more active; you have to fully commit and stay on track.

The idea behind these challenges for me have been to keep me accountable. If I have something I "have to do" or am "supposed to do" then I am more likely to do that activity. 

Source: fitsugar.com via Mary on Pinterest

So why not create another challenge? If you'd like to participate, leave a comment here, or on my facebook or tweet me your progress every day. It's like a journal entry to keep you accountable. I will do the same.

Source: 2012lastfatyear.blogspot.ca via Samantha on Pinterest

October Challenge: 10 + 1 every day

I thought about previous challenges and how they were geared towards doing a workout/run every day of at least 30 minutes. I still like that idea but want to change it up a bit. How about some core strength movements? Don't forget about cardio, that is still important.

Source: get-thinspiration.tumblr.com via Samantha on Pinterest

10 + 1 every day: Choose either push-ups or lunges, or alternate. On the first day (Oct 1) do 10. The next day, do 11. On the 3rd day (Oct 3) do 12. Each day adding one more, and by Oct 31st you will have 40 push-ups or lunges to do. 

I have faith that you can do this! So, who's with me?

Source: google.com via Samantha on Pinterest

Augustathon Recap

Let's get down to business.

While I did very poorly to blog about my Augustathon challenge, I still managed to stay active and do something everyday. My cardio workouts weren't as extensive as I'd hoped but my push-ups/crunches/lunges regimen were strong (pun intended). Here's the breakdown.

 18 days of cardio.
31 days of strength/core.
48 miles.
4200 calories burned

Headband from Bic Bands - Aqua Sparkle

My workout buddy in the AM at the gym.

Lovely pink Compression socks from ProCompression

Stay active. Keep up with what you're doing. Stay hydrated.

Source: chasefear.com via Tori on Pinterest

Source: chasefear.com via Tori on Pinterest

Source: backonpointe.tumblr.com via Amy on Pinterest

Have a great weekend! Enjoy family and friends and time with loved ones. Remember all those who can not be with us at this time and all those who are not with their loved ones. Take a moment to remember all of them. Be safe.

Rock 'n Roll with Pots 'n Pans

Haven't been very regular about posting, oops. So here's a jumbled, random, picture full post.

Fun times in the laundry basket

So serious.

Oh we love our kitty Lucy

Watching some storms to the south with Lucy

Oh how he loves to play in the kitchen.

We've actually had quite the storms around the Valley the last few weeks, and the number of dust storms have actually gone down due to rain. Yes, rain! However, the humidity has been up, sigh. We'll take the rain though.

Augustathon has been kind of sub-par, especially the blogging part. Oops! Been keeping up with the facebook group that Leslie set up though. While the running hasn't been the greatest, I blame it on the heat and the fact I need new shoes, I have been doing at least SOMETHING every day. 

Push ups

Crunches

Lunges

Planks

Squats

Crawling after a little guy

And cross training

Doing what I can, when I can. Working towards a goal though. Hello January!!

I'm signed up for the Rock 'n Roll half-marathon. Ready or not, here I go! There are a couple other races this fall/winter I'd like to try. I like the idea of running in cooler weather. Oh I can not wait for cooler less than 110 degree running weather.

Here's to a great weekend!

Challenge: Accepted Part 2

Remember Juneathon? Do you MISS Juneathon? If your answer was yes, then come with me! 

My fancy pink compression socks from ProCompression which are amazing to help with circulation!

I was challenged/asked to start another challenge by a friend for this month. 

Augustathon?! 

Why not?! A month long challenge to keep yourself accountable and keep yourself motivated to exercise or workout each day. Whether it is a 10 mile run to start your day, or 15 push ups before bed, anything will do, so long as you are being active. Watching TV while flexing your ab muscles doesn't count, sorry.

My awesome post-run "red face". It was 100+ degrees outside!

I like to set my own standard of 30 minutes each day (minimum). I will do my best to blog about each day, though it may be a week re-cap. My schedule & family life is a bit busy so blogging isn't a top priority, sorry! I'm on a computer all day at work so when I get home I enjoy not staring at a screen any longer unless I need to (bills). 


Want to join in? All you have to do is BE ACTIVE! You can comment on my posts for what you've done or blog about what you've done. If you need to write it down, then do it. Setting goals is fun, it makes you work hard toward that goal and it is something to look forward to. It isn't fun when you start thinking you HAVE to workout and you aren't getting anything out of it. Set a goal that is reasonable. Like 30 minutes a day, or 10 push ups or crunches or lunges or jumping jacks or a walk around the block. Then increase it slowly. 

Maybe your goal is to do 50 push ups a week. Or 2 sets of lunges each day. Or to run 5 miles a week. Or to walk 5 miles a week. Set some sort of goal for yourself. In June I set a goal of running/biking 100 miles by the end of June. That's not a bad goal. I was close, I got to just over 60 miles. So maybe a stretch. SO this time, my goal is to get past 60 miles by the end of August. Pretty reasonable.


So here we go:


Augustathon Day 1:


Type: Running
Time: 30 minutes
Distance: 2.6 miles
Cals: 350


Total Augustathon: 2.6 miles


Hope you don't get bored! Thanks for reading along.

Get your sweat on!

It's back to work for me starting tomorrow, as my weekend is over now. What an enjoyable weekend it was with my little family. We had some great time swimming, being silly on the floor playing (that's a daily thing!), and we even got to take a trip to Target (big deal, I know) and we each got a few new items, yay! All part of being grown up and getting excited about small things.

I had a great workout today, after getting so much accomplished around the house this weekend.

Ran outside 1.7 miles / 22 min
100°F+ outside
45 push ups, 60 crunches, 30 squats, 3x45 planks & even some lunges. Wow!

It sure does feel good. Though, running outside, at 5pm, during the hot afternoon (& slightly humid) probably wasn't the best idea, it's one of my only options and I take what I can get.

Have a great week!

My running canal. And my post-run "sunburn or lack of oxygen" face. I've always had such a red face after running, strange. I promise I was breathing.