How do you take your coffee?

Let me just admit something... I love coffee.

 I always make sure I wake up in enough time to have it before runs. I have it almost everyday as I drive into work and enjoy some as I start my day at work.

One thing I do not like is coffee black.

April Photo Challenge Day 17: Something you don't like

 Today while picking up a few things at Wal-Mart I found this:

April Photo Challenge Day 18: Bottle

The best part 0 points plus.
If you love to flavor your coffee this is a must try.
Just don't use too much. The bottle suggest 1 TBSP for a cup of coffee. I didn't even think you needed that much. They also sell several other flavors.

How do you take your coffee?

Success Blooms

Final results were posted and I couldn't be happier....

April Photo Challenge Day 16: Flowers

10th place out of 32 Females Age 20-29

108th place out of 332 finishers of the Half Marathon minutes to avoid lactic acid in muscles in my legs. Tomorrow I will probably attempt a few recovery miles.

What kind of success are going to blossom?

Success

Today I ran my first half marathon of 2012 in Lowell, IN.

The morning started out with breakfast. Some runners can change up their breakfast but I cannot. Since this started really working well for me I have stuck with it...Typical banana and PB sandwiches water and coffee.

Then I set out to Freedom Park in Lowell. There was a horrible rain/wind storm about 30 minutes before the race was supposed to start so they delayed it about 10 minutes... We got in a few quick pictures of our hard working training groups many of whom where running a half marathon for the very first time.

All of the runners including myself did really amazing today. I am so proud of all of them. Sometime as runners we have goals and sometimes they are just to finish the race. Today I had a particular goal for this race. Last year I didn't properly train and I finished in 2 hours 8 minutes and 47 seconds This year I was really pushing to train hard and finish in under 2 hours.  Around the 10.4 mile marker the wind really picked up and it started to rain causing the wind to blow the rain pretty hard. At this point I knew I was still on pace to finish in the time frame I wanted but I was feel pretty rough. The high winds and hilly course had really tired me down. I just kept pushing and when I made the last turn onto Cline Ave the wind was absolutely brutal. I knew I only had just over a mile to go and when I made that last push up the hill and made the turn back into the park the down hill into the park carried me to the finish line and by the skin of my teeth I made it...
1 hour 59 minutes and 58 seconds. I was 10th place in my age group...

Sweet Success Feels good.  No one can take how you feel after a race. Crossing that finish line feels amazing. (April Photo Challenge Day 15: Sunset)... remember a few weeks ago when I showed the picture of the Moon I asked you to make a promise to not let a another sunset without making a plan to get what you want. Today the sun will set and I will have successfully crossed another finish line.

Prepare

As a runner you have to be prepared in so many ways. For the most part we have to train weekly by running several times per week. Fuel properly which normally begins the entire week before a long race. Sunday marks my first half marathon (13.1 miles) of 2012. I ran the Crossroads of Indiana Half Marathon last year as well. I am really looking forward to seeing if I can get an improved time.

April Photo Challenge Day 13: Something you found

Fueling properly is really one of the most important parts of running longer races. I enjoyed some pizza hut pizza last night for my carb up dinner since I normally like to do it a couple days before the big event not the night before...  I discovered we must have been really hungry because the boxes were empty at the end of the night. Some pizza before the concert we attended and some after of course.




Today was also extra important for getting ready. I started out with a breakfast from Cracker Barrel including egg beaters, turkey sausage, toast and of course coffee. Then this afternoon I had a peanut butter sandwich with banana and a granola bar.

Something else I have really become fond after making a few mistakes in the past. Making sure I have everything ready. After picking up my race packet I came home and began to put all the pieces together.

April Photo Challenge Day 14: Today's Mood.... Nervous/Prepare

Race outfit including my shirt, shorts, shoes, hat, running belt, and I pod. I still need to grab my water bottle and of course my mangoes for fuel as I run. I also have my awesome green jacket set to the side since I do not know if the rain is going to come during race time or not.

Now I am off to my pasta dinner. I will not eat as much for dinner tonight as last night. Since last night seems to be when I do most of my important carbing up.

Tomorrow Race day and breakfast will be my normal peanut butter sandwiches with peanut butter and coffee.






What kind of meal would you have to carb up or is pizza really just that awesome?

Steps

When attempting any kind of weight loss plan we take steps:

April Photo Challenge Day 12: Steps

Deciding we want to take action

Making a plan of how or what we will do to lose weight

We lose weight

Hit a goal

Maintain weight loss

















The problem.... those steps in the middle. The losing weight and getting to our goal. There are struggles, difficult times, good times and successes.

Reaching the top of the stairs though always feels good.


What stair are you on and what is it going to take for you get to the next one?

Dream Breakfast?

April Photo Challenge Day 11: Where you had breakfast...

I have the breakfast 5 days a week at this same place... work. I normally eat a small something before I leave the house at around 4:30am.

This is what I have almost everyday around 8am: Oatmeal which I almost always add a few scoops of canned pumpkin to
I also have a banana

Is this ideal... well no.


What is your dream breakfast and where would you go?

I think mine would be at place that had a view much more like this:

What would my dream meal be... well that is much tougher because breakfast is one of my favorite meals of the day so it would be hard to choose:

Who doesn't love pancakes






















Or a good old fashion eggs, potatoes and toast






















Although I must admit my ultimate dream breakfast would be wathing the sunrise here





















Enjoying these

















What is your dream breakfast?

Burr...

April Photo Challenge Day 10:

This week in my weight watchers meetings we talked about our activity plan B... There are a million excuses to get in daily exercise but what if we stopped making them what if we just did it?

Today I did...
2.13 miles
20 Minutes
The darkness, cold weather and my cough/cold bug= me not being able to attempt much more.



My quote this week was "It pays to plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark." This is true. You can have a 100 umbrellas, rain boots and even a rain jacket but if it never rains it doesn't do you any good. You don't have to belong to a gym to get in a good workout. There are so many ideas out there you just have to be willing to find them. Today I set out to see what I could find simply at my finger tips... Here is some easy stuff I found:

Pintrest/Fitness: Pintrest is the latest craze and there are tons of at home workouts that can easily be found here.

Magazine websites such as Good Housekeeping, Fitness, Shape, Women's/Men's Health all have free ideas on their website.

There are so many more ways to get in even 15 minutes per day... What are you going to do get in your 15 minutes this week?