Watch me cross the finish line...

Sunburst Races 2012 to be Streamed Live Online | Memorial Sunburst Races | Annual marathon, half marathon, 10K and 5K runs, and walks in South Bend, Indiana, benefiting Memorial Children's Hospital.

Be Brave

My sister Jenna bought me this shirt awhile ago

I love this shirt one because I love the saying behind it of no excuses. Many runners say we don't need to know the weather forecast we just go run. I suppose to some extent this is true. I think the key to me is being brave and not making an excuses.... which leads me to today

100 Day challenge May 31st Day 32
5.10 Miles
55 Minutes

My group started at the Ogden Dunes train station and did two separate loops which lead to just over 5 miles. It was raining, windy and even worse we went on the beach. The rain was painful coming off the lake. The best part... I was laughing/crying the entire time. If you are unfamiliar with the Ogden Dunes subdivision around here it is a great place to find some major hills. In fact an older runner told me the reason one of the roads is called ski hill is that it actually used to be a ski hill a long time ago. Afterward I was exhausted, cold and ready to get home. However the run was completed and no excuses were made.

What are you going to brave this week?

Be Proud

There are so many times when we don't realize what a big step we have taken. Almost everyday throughout our journeys we do something we should be proud of. Be proud of every mile, pound, meal, day, week, month, year. They are all steps that lead us to ultimate success.
100 Day Challenge Update
Wednesday May 30th
Day 31: 3.38 miles 30 minutes... A super fast pace with some really great runners


What will you be proud of today?

Race Prep Again

So if you are an avid reader you know I run a lot of races.

This weekend I am running this one:

Sunburst Half Marathon South Bend, IN

I am excited for a couple of reasons.

1. I have never run this race before and I love trying new races.

2. I love college football and even though I am not a Notre Dame fan this is a classic stadium and the finish line is inside the stadium.

3. Some of my favorite running friends are running in the event as well. In fact my friend Tim and I plan to try to finish together. 

I am also excited because it appears as though the weather is going to cooperate which I was not planning on.

The race prep has begun...

Drinking lots of water to begin to feel hydrated... 

And of course some additional carbs during the day... Although I really need to start finding some new ideas with marathon training season coming.

I am also really trying to get more sleep this week and get everything ready in advance. My friend Nora and I are setting out to South Bend Friday night.

Also some small easy runs: (100 day Challenge fully completed today)
Today: 3.30 Miles on the bike trail in Griffith 31:00 Minutes
There was a lot of sun, some annoying wind and very rude drivers with made for some traffic issues. I also felt pretty sluggish. I plan a slightly longer run tomorrow and shorter run Thursdays in prep for Saturday mornings race.

What are your favorite carbs?

I love long weekends!

I love to celebrate all these fun long weekends.

We started off Saturday heading to my friend Hilary's wedding...It really wasn't a bad drive down the toll road and we arrive in plenty of time to get ready and head to the wedding. Hilary arranged for the hotel to transport us to the reception so no one would have to drink and drive...These are all her friends that live here in Northwest Indiana.

We had a blast and I am so happy for my friend Hilary. Although the "free" alcohol really got the best of me...
100 Day Challenge
I am pretty sure I accomplished it by dancing my butt off...




Sunday we made a pit stop on our way home and hung out in Michigan City on my boyfriend's bosses boat. As you can tell from the picture... I was hanging pretty rough from the open bar wedding. However it was a great day to be out on the lake and we had a great time on the boat getting some sun.
100 Day challenge... unless you count the small amount of swimming or extreme amount of sweating I did it was a fail..







Monday... Memorial day! Today I went one of my favorite races the 12K Xtreme Trail Run in Portage, IN at Imagination Glenn. I love this race. I never go for pace or speed.... I go to finish. Parts of the race look like this...Check out about minute 4:11 and 4:48 and you can see me running it the first time I ever ran it.


All in all I had a great time running with my friends. My buddy Tim and I stuck together almost the entire race and our shoes took the worst of it... 12K in 1:26... I would say this completes my 100 day challenge for today!

What was the best part of your weekend?

Ready for the weekend

Are you ready?

Holidays like this weekend can get crazy... We often tend to do a lot of this... Cooking on the grill

And sometimes drinking too much of this...

Today I start the weekend off with this girl's wedding...

Congrats to my friend Hilary and her fiance Julian.










Being prepared is the best way to survive a busy weekend. Check back as the weekend develops for more updates on my busy weekend.

100 Day Challenge update:
Friday... hour long sprint to clean up my house before the busy weekend begins... this counts right??

Do you have an action plan this weekend? 

I'm back

I hope you didn't miss the blog too much... life can get crazy. The one thing that I have learned since I joined weight watchers though this something like this...

So what have I been up to...
100 Day Challenge Upate
Thursday I set out for a 32 minute walk before we went out of town
Friday I had a 40 minute walk with my mom
Saturday I ran in part of a 5K for Diabetes (see below)
Sunday I ran 7.4 miles and thought I was going to die from the heat
Monday I walked for 32 minutes
Tuesday... ZERO... but I got to see my brother (see below)
Wednesday... 10 mile run
Thursday... 3 mile run in a lot of sand
Last weekend started with a wedding... I am really happy for my Lyndsey and her new husband Steve. They had a really hot but beautiful wedding ceremony.

Then bright and early Saturday Morning I went to a 5K with my Uncle Shawn, Mom, sisters and niece for the JDRF... please support Juvenile diabetes research in anyway you can. My Uncle Shawn has now lived over 36 years with it and without support of research that probably wouldn't be possible.

I also got to spend an evening having some good old fashion fun downtown Cincinnati with my sister Jenna, her fiance and Jason.

Jenna and I at Toby Keith's... Beer in Mason Jars... awesome

 We finished off the amazing weekend with Jason's nephews 5th birthday party. Watching kids have that much fun reminds me of how simple life really is.

So far this week has been pretty typical except that my younger brother Jimmy had a four hour layover in Chicago Tuesday so I took him to Giordano's for his first deep dish pizza.

Now I am just preparing for a long holiday weekend...

What are your plans this weekend?