Cooper River Bridge Run

Tomorrow, I'll be running the Cooper River Bridge Run - the largest race in the state. Who knows what my time will be but I'd be ecstatic at 60 minutes so we'll see.

Here are some pics from last year when my hair was straight up wild.

we made our own t shirts and they were awesome!

I seriously walked around Charleston with my hair like that - for real

I mean, I can't stop looking at it. WTF? 

okay, let's just move on now from the haircut

My friend Jeanne & Lori 

Mom & I & a better version of that haircut

This really is a fun run. It's mostly flat (my fav) with one major hill close to the beginning. 

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I don't know these people but I mean, why not throw a Clemson flag in here, right? 

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Namaste y'all!!

Thank You!!!

To everyone who has been contributing to my Rwanda fund,

 I really appreciate your support. Thank you so much for your donation! I'm so excited about my trip - and amazingly, I am meeting so many people that are traveling to or have just come back from their trip to Africa. It's amazing!!!

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Namaste Y'all! 

I Love TV

I am surprised by the fact that I don't watch anywhere near as much tv as I used to - but there are a couple of shows that I watch right now that I absolutely can NOT miss. Here they are - let me know if you watch any of them - 

1. Whitney

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Ever since I saw Whitney Cummings on Pam Anderson's Roast - I have loved her. She is shockingly funny and is not afraid to cater to the ladies. Her show had a slow start, but through sheer determination, I forced myself to watch it until it got better. And it did. My favorite character is Lily - she is this airhead hippy with no financial stability and is the ex fiancee of Neal, the gay Indian guy. Sounds awesome, right? Definitely a must watch. 

2. Up All Night

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It took me a minute to catch on to this show simply because I didn't want another one to record. But Maya Rudolph is so amazingly funny, I couldn't resist. I have also been a fan of Christina Applegate since Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead. Every character contributes to the hilarity of this show, every single one. It's really funny. 

3. The Real Housewives of Atlanta

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There's not really any kind of talent or reason for this show, I just love it. They have done some things that made me mad (Africa) but all in all, it's my favorite housewives show. I have a special love for Nene Leakes and Ms. Phaedra Parks

What do y'all think? What are your fav shows?

Stoix Training - day I don't know

Total Mileage - 3.4 miles
Total Time - 45 minutes (I think, I don't have my garmin)

Warm up - .75 miles at a 10:30 pace
6 sets of out & backs
Cool down - walk .25 miles

I actually READ THE INSTRUCTIONS for my workout today and I think I actually did it right. Another thing that's kind of funny about it, I started out real slow because today was my "taking it easy since I have to race saturday" day. What happened, I ended up doing it the way I was supposed to.

The first 3 sets, I started off slower than I thought which was around a 9:30-9:45 pace. I was returning at around a 9:15 pace. By the last 3 sets, I was running out around a 9:15-9:30 pace and returning at around a 8:45 pace. Let me explain -

Out & Backs - "the objective is to control your pace on the way out and then return 2-5"/minute faster on the way back. i.e. if you ran out for 2', then your return trip shouldn't be faster than 1:50. If so, then run out harder on the next set. The recovery is 60". "

Each set should get further like when we perform strides/repeats. So I should be negative splitting all the time. And I actually did it today. The last set, I was done. I didn't want to do anymore. So that's mean I did it right! Yay!


My other issue for this weekend - 


I am doing the Cooper River Bridge Run. I have not been training for a 10k distance. My longest run since my last half marathon (at my own pace) has been 3 miles. So, what to do. Should I attempt to run the whole thing or should I split it up into a run/walk?

THE DREADED WALK/RUN


If I walk, then I'm not a runner
Only casual runners walk
blah blah blah


I hear this so many times but I will say some of my PR's have come from a walk./run. To quote Jeff Milliman:

"Why do walk breaks work? 

By using muscles in different ways from the beginning, your legs keep their bounce as they conserve resources. When a muscle group, such as your calf, is used continuously step by step, it fatigues relatively soon. The weak areas get overused and force you to slow down later or scream at you in pain afterward. By shifting back and forth between walking and running muscles, you distribute the workload among a variety of muscles, increasing your overall performance capacity. For veteran marathoners, this is often the difference between achieving a time goal or not.

Walk breaks will significantly speed up recovery because there is less damage to repair. The early walk breaks erase fatigue, and the later walk breaks will reduce or eliminate overuse muscle breakdown."

Last year, when I ran this race, I ran the whole time at just under a 10 minute pace BUT I had been half marathon training, so my long runs were typically longer than 5-6 miles. This year, I'm not in that same shape, so I'm thinking walk/run. I think my ratio will be run 3 minutes/walk 30 seconds. I can always adjust during the race. 

So I'll report back on Monday and let everyone know how it went. My ideal time would be under 60 minutes but since i haven't been training for it, I can't get that upset if I don't hit it. In my mind though - we're going 59:59. 

What would you do in this situation? 

Namaste, y'all!

WILW - makeup & skin care

Yay Jamie!

I've had to buy some make up lately, so I thought now might be a good time to talk about some of my favs! 

Skincare - Let me start by saying that I never had any issues with acne or skin problems as a child/teenager. It wasn't until I started in the workforce that my face began to break out. I don't know if this is a culprit of stress, hormones from Birth Control, or even an increase in working out (especially with makeup). I started using ProActiv which did a really good job of clearing up my skin. So why did I want to change? Because it used to bleach my wash cloths and I thought, what is it doing to my skin? Also, Proactiv has a policy that you have to be a part of their club & they would send you the refills automatically. I didn't like that. You can return it but I don't want another errand so I started to search out an alternative. At one point, I tried Arbonne which broke my skin out so badly that I was actually embarrassed to go anywhere. It was really really bad. So FINALLY, after some seeking, I found a couple of products that I absolutely adore. 

1. Clinique Acne Solutions 

Clinique Website

I use the foam wash, the toner and the lotion. Because the acne lotion can dry your skin out, I also use 

2. Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel

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I use this in the mornings and I straight up love it. 

3. 7 Day Scrub Cream Rinse-Off Formula

order here

I use this in the morning too. It seems to really help my breakouts if I keep my skin clear and do a daily scrub.

 I have to use all of the above, but when I am consistent and do this - my skin stays clear

A few other favs in my make up bag - 

4. MAC Concealor

order here

I straight up love this concealor. I have never been able to find anything to replace this. It's the perfect coverage, perfect consistency, everything. Love it. 

5. MAC Lipglass in PRRRR

aqui

Best lipgloss ever. It stays on well, it's a little thicker and stickier, which I like because, again, it stays on longer. 

So - those are the things I can't live without in my makeup bag!

Namaste, y'all! 

Finding Happiness Within

Let me start this post by saying I'm not a big fan of the new blogger interface, but I guess it's time to convert since it will be happening soon anyways. In the meantime, I'm going to have to get used to it and figure out the differences from old and new. I also was thinking about getting one of those programs for writing blogs instead of having to write them in blogger - does anyone have any suggestions? I have a MAC so that does make a difference.

Anyway, yesterday, I was sitting at my desk and I just had that icky, restless feeling. I think I've gotten those feelings a lot over the years, but have never really been able to identify it. I immediately started thinking of ways to "fix" that feeling. I tried eating something. Then I started fantasizing about a different job. But really, I can't think of another job I would want to do. And then, for the first time ever, I thought, maybe I am just feeling like this right now and it doesn't have anything to do with anything going on around me. I don't really understand why I have that feeling. It doesn't happen often, or who knows, maybe it does and I just don't realize it at the time. Maybe I just decide to eat candy or I pick a new project to become obsessed with.

I keep myself busy. It wasn't until the end of last year that I decided it was time to slow down. And honestly, because of that, I've had to make some sacrifices. I've had to miss out on interesting workshops, trips, time with friends but I realized that I can't be in 20 different places at the same time and that I'm just straight up tired. So, I've made a concerted effort to SLOW DOWN and be more present in everything I do. I think what I've realizes is that there is a REASON that I keep myself so busy & maybe this "icky" feeling is one piece of it.

Here's my question - what causes that? Why do I feel that way? Well, actually my first question is usually "HOW DO I GET IT TO STOP?" Yesterday, I realized maybe the questions should be the ones above - why do I have that feeling? I talked to my husband about it and he said that he thinks everyone has them. He said, we're just not supposed to feel joy all the time, it's not reality. But that's why we do things chasing that joy. We look for it in places that tend to be unfulfilling, i.e. a new job, money, food, etc.

So my new goal for now is to just learn to sit in the discomfort until 1) it passes, 2) I figure out why it happens or a combination of the two. I really think this is something that all people struggle with (consciously or unconsciously) and the ones that find true happiness are the ones who know that they aren't always going to feel good. So we'll see!

Namaste, y'all

Health Activist Writer's Month

Workout for yesterday -
Run
Total Time - 46 minutes

The workout was to run for 30-40 minutes with 1 mile at goal 5k pace. My goal 5k pace is 9:40.

Mile 1 - 10:30
Mile 2 - 9:39 (success)
Mile 3 - 11:13 (not success)
Cool Down walk with the hubby - .68 miles, 15 minutes
I was torn up after that fast mile, so the last mile was a disaster! I will mention that I live in the hilliest part of Greenville (at least I think so). 




Workout for Today
Run
Total Time - 44 minutes

Warm up drills
4 minute warm up job
5 sets of 45 strides (30 second repeats)
5 sets of 90 strides (60 second repeats)
5 sets of 45 strides (30 second repeats)

Total Mileage - 3.08 miles

I just let the watch run continuously and hit lap for every repeat

I just signed up to do a challenge with Wego health. It'll be interesting to see what exactly it is, but basically, they send you a topic to discus every day for 30 days. If you're interested, here is the link -

Health Activist Writer's Challenge

I can't wait!!

Namaste Y'all!

A Weekend in the Garden

I've gotten to the point in my life where I actually have to schedule time at home. If I don't, I'll end up committing myself to a million different things and I won't ever get anything done. So, this weekend was scheduled time at home to work on my house.

Projects to be tackled - the front yard & the yoga room closet


The more fun of the two happened most of the time, the garden. I'll do another post on the closet.

Because no one had lived in our house for a while before we bought it, and even the people living in it before didn't really do much to the yard, so I don't think it had been touched for at least 4 years. Azaleas were bunched up in the corner, a japanese maple was too close to the house, a crepe myrtle was in an odd location and there were some wild vines that had grown throughout the flower beds. So a lot of time was spent on clean up. Luckily, after the major mess was done, we were able to plant a new cherry tree, a butterfly bush, two hydrangeas, and two random bushes. We were able to salvage 4 azaleas, a hydrangea and some random bush. I also redid the flower boxes on the windows.

Before - the random bunch of azaleas 

After - a bright green bush, a hydrangea, a darker bush and a butterfly bush

Before - our oddly placed Japanese Maple

Stargazer lillies, hydrangeas, and a cute little frog

It pained us both to cut down the Japanese maple but there was not really a good way to salvage it. So sad. 

Before - randomness

After - just a few bush changes, but I think it makes a difference once you see it all together

Before - dead flower boxes

After - lots of color!

Before - not bad, but just kind of bland

After - salvaged azaleas

Before - bland

After - new life in an empty yard!

It will obviously get better as the bushes/tree grows, but I feel better already. Whew!

Namaste