Clearance and Muscles

Posted on May 16, 2013 by

Happy Thursday, everyone!  Hope y’all have been having a great week.  I’ve had a lot of free time this week so I took advantage of some outlet shopping with my Momma and really racked up on some deals.  We have a Nike clearance store in the town over from us so we hit up the sales earlier this week and Momma was nice enough to buy me some new clothes in honor of  my graduation!  Thanks, Momma!

I’m not sure if any of you ladies wear Nike tempo shorts, but they are my go-to running item.  They come in so many different colors and pair great over a pair of compression tights.  I wear them pretty much at all times.  However, I am also blessed with larger “child-bearing” hips and Nike tends to run small so their largest size (XL) often doesn’t fit right on my body.  Plus, I wear my shorts high to sort of cover my mid belly pooch so the shorts often are WAY too short for my liking.  But Nike also offers extended sizes for these shorts but can usually only be found online.  I was so fortunate to find some hiding at the Nike store this week and grabbed two pairs since they were only 14 bucks!!  They will make great additions to my running wardrobe and I can wear them with confidence and not worry about them being too short or tight.  nikeclearance

We also bought a pair of Pegasus shoes for walking or just wearing out to the mall or something.  And I scored a new compression sports bra, which is very necessary when it comes to holding the girls down.

With all the free time I’ve had this week, I have been able to get in a three-mile walk every single day.  On Monday, Yvonne joined Momma and I and we went over five miles then late we went back and did three more by ourselves.  I love walking so much and although it isn’t running, it still works my leg muscles and burns calories.

Yesterday, I was able to get in a fabulously sweaty three-mile walk with Momma and I also hit up the gym.  I don’t have a gym membership, but just use the small fitness center at the local country club.  When I did have a gym membership, I would always take group exercise classes and never really focused on individual weights unless I was with a trainer so sometimes it can be very intimidating.  I just did some bench pressing, some resistance machines, some Bosu ball stuff, and dumb bell training.  No specific plan, just did what felt good and left feeling strong.  Of course I didn’t magically wake up this morning with new muscles, but I feel slightly sore and know that what I did yesterday was effective.  C’mon muscle tone, work with me here.  Hopefully I will hit the gym again tomorrow and try some more new things.    gymtime

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I’m a College Graduate

Posted on May 15, 2013 by

I’ve always been one of those kids who loved school.  Does that make me a nerd, a Mathlete, or an overachiever?  No, but it has definitely paid off for the past twenty-two years.  I was fortunate enough to go to an extremely small and close-knit elementary school where learning was encouraged and teachers were able to give individual attention due to class size.  Hey, George W. Bush even came to visit our school when I was a fourth grader.

My middle and high school days were filled with taking honors classes, dipping my hands in basketball, track & field, and golf, plus trying to be in as many clubs as possible.  I graduated high school with the 19th highest GPA out of 427 seniors.  Not too shabby for a small town kid.

Thanks to my hard work, I was fortunate enough to continue my education in pursuit of a college diploma.  Not many kids from where I live do go on to college.  I attended a private liberal arts college my freshman year and was on the golf team.  I soon discovered that small school life just was not for me and as a result I adopted poor study habits and bad decision-making skills.  Following freshman year, I decided to go to community college rather than take “time off”.  I was able to get back on my feet, work hard, and then I transferred to my alma mater, the University of Tennessee.  UT became home sweet home and I loved the feel of a huge school, especially an SEC with a copious amount of school spirit.  At UT, I worked very hard in taking a maximum number of hours and even a session of summer school to make sure I would have a diploma in the four years since I had graduated high school.  All my hard work paid off and I was able to walk in the spring graduation although I still have to take a class this summer to complete my major so my diploma date won’t officially arrive until August.  But, I did what every college student dreams of.  I walked.

UT hosted a number of activities for seniors iy.n the week leading up to graduation.  Monday night was the senior reception for those graduating in my major.  Tuesday was Aloha Oe, a night for all seniors at the university.  It was cap and gown attire and we even got to process in which made it like an informal graduation.  Condredge Holloway, the first black quarterback in the SEC, spoke to us and had everyone laughing.  The ceremony ended with  a reception of Hawaiian food.  Then of course graduation came and I was so happy to have so many family and friends up in the stands yelling for me when I proudly walked across the stage.  Following graduation, my family went to fill our bellies with a breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  Perfect end to a college career.

This fall, I will be starting graduate school where I will obtain my Master’s of Education and become certified to teach high school English in 18 months.  Lots of fun headed this gal’s way.

Here are some photos of graduation week.  Thanks for reading!  And if you know anyone hiring, send them my way!

my sweet Momma and I at the reception held for students in my major.

my sweet Momma and I at the reception held for students in my major.

My daddy and I at the Aloha Oe ceremony.

My daddy and I at the Aloha Oe ceremony.

the cap I wore for graduation. Had to throw in a blog plug.

the cap I wore for graduation. Had to throw in a blog plug.

my handsome fella.

my handsome fella.

my best friend Ashley and I after many many years of friendship.

my best friend Ashley and I after many many years of friendship.

what up, real world?

what up, real world?

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Race Recap: Be a Factor 5k

Posted on May 6, 2013 by

Knoxville has a huge racing community.  Most local 5ks usually have upwards of at least 500 people per race.  It is so great to know that so many people are dedicated enough to wake up on a Saturday and pay to run some miles to better themselves.  But sometimes, a smaller race can be good, too.  My goal for the year is to run one race per month.  I had already had a May race picked out but a few days ago I found out that the race fell on a Saturday that I would be at the beach.  The search was on for a great 5k to fill my Saturday.  The greater Knoxville area had at least four races going on this past Saturday so it was tough to narrow it down.  I stalked last year’s results for the Be a Factor 5k and decided that since it was a very small race, I might as well run it and try to maybe get an age group placement.

Race morning came early and I woke up feeling energized, but very untrained.  I have never fully trained for any race, but I’ve spent the last two weeks working my way back into running and still get excited if I am able to run more than three minutes without a walk break.  A 5k was a big feat for Saturday.  Nonetheless, I still managed to get ready and be out the door on time.  It started to rain on the way to the race and I began to get nervous.  Rain running just ain’t my thing.  We arrived at the race site and from the amount of cars, you would have thought it was cancelled.  Nope, just a super small race and only ended up having 103 runners.

The race benefited a local little boy who had hemophilia and the race was very community oriented.  It started on a track at the high school and went out and around town.  After leaving the track, we headed onto a road and up a hill.  The hill wasn’t steep, but it was definitely long.  I was able to run the first .75 miles without stopping which made me so proud.  I was trying to look around and get a feel for who all was close to my age and tried to gauge if I would have to “pick off” anyone to have a chance at placing in my age group.  After the first mile, I took another walk break and just tried to not freeze to death.  From there, it was off and on running and walking, but I managed to run harder than I thought I would be able to.  There were several slight grades out on the course, but not really any serious hills.  There were two huge downhills that I just let loose on and tried to make up for lost time by flying down them.  Probably a dumb move, but I was able to pass a few people and didn’t feel any tightness in my legs.

start and finish on the track

start and finish on the track

Around the 2.5 mile mark, I came upon a young kid who was walking and I decided to take one more walk break.  He said “man, we are making AWESOME time, aren’t we??”.  Bless his heart.  I told him yes we were and he went into a funny story about how he took a Zumba class the previous night.  Such a sweet kid.  I decided to leave him and continue running and after that point, I did not stop.  I knew we had to make a final lap around the track to finish so I was looking forward to being able to get a glimpse of the finish line.  I’ve never done a race where we got to run around a track so it was pretty cool and made me feel like an Olympian.  I didn’t go all out at the finish line or even sprint but I definitely finished strong.  Another great thing about small races is the crowd support.  The announcer made it a point to yell out every person’s name and number and encourage the crowd to cheer.  The finish line was really exhilarating.

almost there!

almost there!

I didn’t really have a goal for the race, but it was important to me to finish faster than any of my other three 5ks I’ve ran this year.  In order to do that, I would have had to run a 35:49.  Not even remotely close to a PR, but still faster than I was earlier this year.  I ended up clocking in at 34:10.  It was a great feeling to knock over 1:30 off my previous time and I’m confident that next month’s race will be even faster.  Walking down that time to get to where I used to be.   OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The post-race refreshments included some amazing homemade cupcakes.  Of course I had to have one, but it was a little sweet so I only ended up eating about a fourth of it.  We took shelter under the football stadium and waited for the results to be called.  When my division was announced I held my breath.  I knew my time wasn’t amazing or anything but it was a small race so I still hoped to walk away with something.  The third place got called and it wasn’t me so I figured I had blew my chance.  But just when I had lost hope, they called my name for first place.  I let a slight squeal and ran up to get my flashy medal.  It is pretty sad that I ran a 34:10 and still placed first but I am so so soooo excited that I placed top of my age group.  First time that has ever happened with there actually being someone else in my age category.  Pretty exciting day for me.

umbrella and a medal make for a happy runner.

umbrella and a medal make for a happy runner.

Overall I’m glad I picked this race and proud that I stuck it out in the rain and was able to knock 1:30 off my last time.  It makes me excited to run some more this week and work harder on getting fast(er).  Happy day after Cinco de Mayo!!

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Getting in the groove

Posted on May 3, 2013 by

It is no secret that I’ve struggled over the past couple of months.  I stopped running, I stopped exercising, and I gave into a heavy addiction of food.  But, as most of y’all know, I’ve been working hard to take baby steps to progress.  And I’ve been doing good.  In the past, I wanted to change everything at once.  Go all out, go hard or go home.  But through intensive therapy sessions, we have slowly focused on making minor changes and getting used to them and then adding in other changes and repeating the process.  Self improvement takes lots of time and learning to do things slowly and not get burnt out has been a tough pill to swallow.

Two finals stand between me and my college graduation and I’m finally in a place where I am confident and feel good.   Sure, I do look in the mirror sometimes and am not completely satisfied with the way my body looks, but I keep my head tall and am proud of where I’m at.  Since school is winding down and I have time to breathe, I’ve been focused on finding my groove again.  I made mention in an earlier post that I am looking to back off the half distance and focus more on 5ks.  But starting over is no fun.  I’ve spent a lot of time outside this week working on getting my legs and heart stronger.

Monday I did a three mile walk with running intervals mixed in.  I recorded the time that I actually spent running and unbelievably was able to hit 22 minutes of running.  Mind you, it was not a consecutive 22 minutes and 6 minutes was the longest I ran without stopping but 22 minutes is a start. After running I went to the gym and spent about 20 minutes doing dumbbell and bar bell exercises.  When I got home, Momma came outside and we did a few tire drills.  We took turns flipping the tire across the yard and then got a sledgehammer and beat that tire hard.  Needless to say I was sore the next morning.  Tuesday was the same thing: a 3 mile walk with bouts of running.  I was only able to run for 15 minutes on Tuesday but was still stoked.  When Momma got off work that day we went for another 3 mile walk.   tire

Wednesday was a fairly busy day for me but I was able to go on an evening walk of three miles.  Can you tell that I love walking three miles?  Thursday morning, I met Momma after my final for yet another three mile walk.  It was ridiculously muggy outside but at least it wasn’t terribly hot.  After our walk, I had to make a cake for a local bake sale and ended up licking the spoon and bowl.  I ended up feeling guilty about this so I hit the greenway for one more three mile walk to sort of offset the dang cake batter and I sure did feel better.   hey i ran

Tomorrow I have a 5k.  I haven’t signed up yet because there are two I have my eye on and can’t quite decide which one to actually do.  It won’t be a PR by any means, but I’m hoping to at least set a PR since I’ve been “back”.  My goal is to walk down my time from New Year’s Day (37:24) and consistently get faster each race I do.  By December I would like to be back in PR shape.  I had only been consistently training for four months when I took my 5k time from 39:53 to 28:36.  We’ll see if I can at least get a 35:48 which would beat my time from January’s Race Against Racism.  If I don’t hit it, I won’t be mad.  I’m just getting back into adding running into my walking.  This stuff takes time, don’t it?

Hope everyone has a good weekend and thanks for being so kind as I work to find my groove!

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It’s Gonna Be May

Posted on May 2, 2013 by

Hellloooo May.  Although it is no longer my birthday month, I have welcomed May with open arms.  I shared a giveaway with y’all yesterday but other than that, it has been a while since I have written here.  So I apologize in advance if this post is just nothing but a Thursday ramble with lots of stream of consciousness writing.

I usually would not be caught dead without some sort of no-slip headband on.  I’m partial to the skinny sparkle ones from BICband but also love the SweatyBand brand.  But really, I love any headband that doesn’t slip and keeps my hair out of my face.  My sweet Momma found a headband site called RazzyRoo and ordered me an awesome Boston Strong headband to wear.  It came in two days and I was so excited to wear it.  After posting a photo of it to Instagram, a few ladies asked me where I had purchased it and even ordered one for themselves.  Lots of Boston love going around lately.   bostonstrong

This past weekend I was the director of a local 5k here in Knoxville.  This was my second year directing the Dogwood Classic 5k and it was even more fun this year.  We had a 100 percent chance of rain forecast but my prayers worked and the rain began to pour literally as the last runner left the parking lot to go home.  I was so thankful to have so many volunteers come out to support me and support our runners.  We needed lots of people to help with our 500 runners but thank the Lord Tennessee is the Volunteer State and we had a surplus.  My friend Brittney drove over an hour just to help out and while we were waiting we got to talking about next year’s marathon and basically came to the executive decision that next year her, her husband, I, and an unknown person are going to do the four person relay event.  It is the shortest event you can do while still getting a medal. Sign us up.   volunteers

Speaking of next year’s marathon, marathon season has finally winded down.  We had a great volunteer party at Calhoun’s and our race director presented the staff with great plaques for all of our hard work.  This weekend he is taking us to a really popular Italian restaurant to feed us for being so diligent to get through race season.  Most of us do it for the food, right?  trophy

The weather has been so crazy lately.  It will be mid-80′s and sunny one day then high-40′s and rainy the next.  I’ve been taking advantage of the sunny and hot days and even went for my first swim of the season.  No matter how hot it is outside, the river will always be cold.  Brrr.

river recovery

I hope all of y’all are enjoying May so far and that the weather is cooperating for you wherever you may be at.

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Endorphin Warrior Training Bracelet and Giveaway

Posted on May 1, 2013 by

Last August when I ran Hood to Coast, Endorphin Warrior gave our runners a Warrior Training Bracelet.  Each bracelet has a word or phrase on it that represents healthy living and positive thinking.  When I was a rower at Tennessee, our team chant was “Relentless Today, Fearless Tomorrow”.  The word relentless always stuck out to me and I was constantly striving to attain that attribute in my life so I chose to have RELENTLESS on my bracelet.  There are so many other inspiring phrases like fearless, believe, courage, and even some that have the half and full marathon distances on them.  Choosing a phrase was the hardest part.   endorphin

Let me also say that I am usually not a big fan of jewelry because usually it tends to be flashy and gaudy, but this bracelet is so neutral that I can wear it in day-to-day life or even add it to a wrist stack if I’m wearing something other than spandex type clothing.  The plate that the phrase is inscribed on is made of nickel, so you could sweat on it or swim in it all you wanted and it would still never rust or tarnish. I have worn it almost everyday since leaving Hood to Coast and I often get compliments on it and people ask where I got it from.   The best part about it?  Only 20 bucks!  I’ve had my eye on quite a bit of “running” jewelry here lately but they all usually run (no pun intended) at least fifty bucks, and to me that is not worth it.

Wearing my Endorphin Warrior bracelet is sort of a fashion statement, but it is also a reminder.   I love looking down during the day and seeing the word relentless and being reminded to persevere and to not give up on my fitness goals.  I have to use my hands to reach for chips and cookies but when I reach out and see my bracelet on my wrist, then I slowly back away.  It definitely is a great reminder.

my bracelet and my wrist

my bracelet and my wrist

After being so in love with this bracelet, I contacted the owner of Endorphin Warrior, Eric, to let him know.  He was so kind and encouraging and I could really tell how much he loves what he does and how much he stands behind his product.  I asked if I could host a giveaway for my readers and he emailed back right away and was so generous and was so happy to offer a training bracelet to one lucky reader!  So here’s the nitty gritty of the giveaway:

What: An Endorphin Warrior Training Bracelet of your choosing

How: Go visit their website then comment here telling me a cool fact about yourself and which word or phrase you would select if you won.

When: You have until midnight on May 10 to enter.  A winner will be chosen using random.org

Additional entries: You can earn additional chances to win by liking Endorphin Warrior on Twitter (@EndorphnWarrior) or sharing the giveaway on your blog or Twitter (my twitter handle is @thegogirlblog)  All additional entries are optional.

Thanks to Endorphin Warrior for allowing me to share in this exciting opportunity for y’all. I may have been provided this bracelet at no cost, but I would not hesitate to spend 20 bucks to purchase it for myself and I was offered a bracelet to give to one lucky reader at my own request.  All these wonderful thoughts are of my own free will.  Happy training, y’all.  

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Hittin’ the Track

Posted on April 22, 2013 by

On the day of my 22nd birthday, I woke up much earlier than I would have liked.  I was feeling rather sad based upon the Boston events that had just happened the previous day.  But I woke up and met Jess at the track.  Our plan was to run 2.2 miles to celebrate my 22nd, but we also ran with the intention of remembering those in Boston.

so thankful to have a friend who will run for Boston with me.

so thankful to have a friend who will run for Boston with me.

We decided to alternate running each lap, so we walked the first one, ran the second, walked the third, and so on.  It felt really good to just run.  My legs felt light and my breathing wasn’t completely terrible.  We got to chat about the craziness of Marathon Monday and talk about future running goals.  After doing eight laps (two miles), we decided to run the very last lap for time.  When I was rowing, I could consistently bust out a 1:47/400.  Doesn’t sound fast to most, but for me, it was really working hard and leaving it all out there.  That day we were able to run it in 2:13.  Not as quick as I used to be, but just enough to really make me feel good.  That one 400 really made me miss weekly morning track workouts and I’m really hoping to be able to incorporate some regular track session parties into my training soon.

2.2 track miles

2.2 track miles

Speaking of training, I am still working on a training plan.  I’ve decided to give the half marathon distance a break and focus on shorter distances.  It is embarrassing to me that this time last year I could run 8 miles without stopping and feel great and now I can barely make it a quarter of a mile without stopping.  I’m still tinkering with ideas and stuff but I’m leaning more towards the Couch to 5k program.  We will see, and I’ll be sure to update here once I make a final plan.

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