National Running Day!

Happy National Running Day! I normally don't post on Wednesday's but, hello! It's one of my favorite holidays!

I've talked about it before but I haven't always been a runner. Actually, for most of my life I haven't been a runner and didn't start until about 10 years ago, when I was 18, 200+ pounds, and not happy with how my life was going at the time. I wasn't motivated, I didn't have goals, I was just cruising along hoping that I'd figure out my life when I got to college.

Flash forward to today and my life is completely, TOTALLY different. Running completely changed my life. And I mean that with 100% honesty. Running has never been easy for me and it's something I've always had to work my butt off for.

So, in honor of National Running Day, I'm sharing why I run.

I run because...

...who needs coffee when you can get in a good 9 miler before work?

...the feeling of accomplishment is like no other feeling in the entire world.. seriously.

...runner's high. Enough said.

...it makes me feel like an athlete again.

...I really, really like chocolate.

...I was running low on t-shirts. ;)

...hitting a major PR means all of that hard work paid off.

...even on days when 3 miles feels like 13, I feel better once I'm done.

...my mind has never been stronger.

...I love the reaction from others when you tell them you're training to run 26.2 miles.... for FUN.

...I like winning. A lot.

...you can never have too many medals.

...I like having that time to myself.

...at one point I couldn't run.

...going from a 2 hour+ half marathon to running it in 1:36 and some change feels damn good.

...being in the top 100 (#52!) of the female division in a race with over 6,500 women feels even better.

but mostly, I run because running has been my outlet for the last 10 years of my life. I've run on good days, bad days, my wedding day, days when life seemingly wasn't going in the direction I'd planned... I've ran through it all. It's taught me the value of hard work and perseverance. It's made me realize that my body is capable of some impressive stuff. I've learned that the old adage "you can do anything you set your mind to" is 100% true. It's given me confidence. It's given me a community of awesome people who enjoy hearing about the crazy blister on my foot or the fact that I have 2 toenails missing. It's made me a goal digger. It's made dreams come true. It helped me land the love of my life.

It's made me the best version of myself.

If you run, why?

TOTR

It's time for another Tuesday's on the Run! This week's topic is one of my favorites: treadmill running.

I know, I know. This is a sore subject for many runner's. Some love it. Some hate it. Some think you're not a real runner if you run on the treadmill. I get it.

So where do I stand?

Well, I'm a runner. I do what I have to do to run. Period. And to be completely honest, I think treadmills can be a great training tool. Not only that but I'll be the first to admit that I HATE running in cold weather. HATE IT! And whereas that may make me a wimp, it doesn't mean I'm not a runner. 

I know others aren't as lucky to have state of the art treadmills at their fingertips like I do (perks of the job!) but even so, running on a treadmill is all about tricking your mind to just do it. I come in every morning before work and get anywhere from 4-10 miles in before stepping foot into my office. Some days it's awesome. Some days it sucks. Some days it flies by and others I'm doing every mind trick I know possible to get the clock to tick just a little bit faster. The point is, I'm running. And when I get outside, I haven't lost my "mojo" and my long runs don't seem quite as long, which is nice. 

People always ask me how I can run on the treadmill for so long without dying of boredom and I have a few tricks up my sleeve. 

1. Pick a good workout and you won't notice the longevity of your run. If I'm not doing a long run, I'll find some fun speed workouts to do. This keeps my mind focused on those 2-3 minutes at a time and not the bigger picture. One of my favorites is one I found on pinterest a few years ago. It's a one minute fast paced walk, 30 second jog, and one minute full on sprint. Repeat as many times as you want. I typically make it a full on hour but you don't have to.

2. Like I said, I have really awesome treadmills at my disposal and one of the cool features on ours is a goal setting tool. If you're going after a goal, it makes it a little easier to get on there day after day. 

3. TV! Ha. Okay, I won't lie. This is my biggest not-so-secret. On the weekends when I do my really long runs/workouts, I check ahead and see what's going to be on TV. I love the Food Network (ha) and always schedule my workouts around a good block of shows. It breaks everything down into 30 minute blocks and commercial breaks. Weird but it works for me.

So, these are my tips. Not mind blowing by any means but they work for me. :) 

What are some of your tricks and tips for running on treadmills?

Happy Tuesday!

Sarah

PS--we got another snow day! :) Now.. if I can just figure out a way to get to the gym and get on the treadmill..... ;)

Birthday Weekend

Well, I'm officially 28. And two days in, it's not so bad after all. I haven't broken a hip (yet), I haven't forgotten anything TOO important, and to be honest, I feel pretty darn good! I was thinking back to my 18th birthday and how exciting that was but I have to admit, 28 feels much better. In fact, my 28 year old self could totally kick my 18 year old's butt. I'm in the best shape of my life, I have more energy than ever before, and life. although crazy and unpredictable, is pretty fantastic. Do I wish I knew what I was doing? ALL the time. But right now, I'm just enjoying going with the flow for once. (Let'st just hope I'm this optimistic when I'm 30. Or God forbid, 38)

And now, a picture dump. Because Monday's are crazy.

Take that 18 year old Sarah. 

Weather was AWESOME for my birthday so of COURSE I had to run! 9 miles in the books!

Scenery from my run. Umm, can I move here?

My "cake". I wanted to indulge but not TOO much so my  mom made this awesome, semi-healthy pie! It was delicious. I may or may not have had 6 slices..... hello, cheat day!

Props to my niece for helping me blow out the candles. 

That's right--I'm officially team Fitbit! 

Bring it on 28.

Sarah

Treadmill Tuesday

So, I'll be honest. You'll find a LOT of runner's out there who are totally against the treadmill. But me? It's been my saving grace lately. Of course given the choice, I'd rather run outside but working at a health & wellness facility and sometimes being at work for 12+ hours a day, having a treadmill (well, several) at my disposal, has been an absolute LIFESAVER!

I rotate in and out of a lot of treadmill workouts but this is by FAR my favorite. When I need to get some decent mileage in but need a break from the monotony, this is my go-to routine.

A few of my other tips for treadmill runs?

-if you have the option, take the workout time off of the treadmill! It will drive you crazy!
-if you're lucky enough to run on treadmills with a tv attachment, find a show you like and run during the show, walk during the commercials
-do an interval workout! This ALWAYS makes time fly when I'm running.

Don't ever let anyone make you feel bad about running on a treadmill! :)

Happy Tuesday!

Sarah

Monday, Funday

Happy Monday everyone!
Brain dump today!

Not much news to report on my end. I had a pretty low-key weekend, which I'm totally okay with. About the most I did was go for a couple of nice long-ish runs Saturday and Sunday morning. Otherwise, I relaxed a WHOLE lot--something I normally don't get to do during the week.

On Friday, I made this cookie dough dip and it was so, so SO good! I highly recommend it and will most definitely be making it again. I also made roasted red pepper hummus yesterday and I'm pretty proud of how that turned out too. I've been trying to do more around the kitchen in 2015 and so far, so good. I can now cook a mean chicken breast, let me tell you. (That's how helpless I usually am--luckily I have an amazing husband who loves to be in the kitchen!)

Saturday I watched the Louisville-Carolina game--it was AWESOME! My boys came back from being 18 down to win in OT! Love exciting games like that! I'm hoping the birthday fairy will produce tickets to this Saturday's game at UVA. If I have to ring in the year 28, might as well do it watching my Cards play, right? Riiiiiiight.

Speaking of my birthday, I'm hoping to get the new Fitbit Surge tracker. I'm kind of obsessed. I've had my Nike Fuelband for about 2 years now and although I love it, I'm ready to join the rest of the world. The surge looks like a good fit for me--it has a GPS tracker in addition to the new HR monitor feature and of course, step tracker. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

And finally, the Super Bowl. Although I'm not really a football fan (unless Louisville is playing), I have to admit, I watched the game in it's entirety. If a football game can keep my attention, then you know it's a good one. I can't say I was really pulling for one team or the other but I've always liked Tom Brady so I guess I'm glad New England won. And my favorite commercials of the night? Of course the #LikeaGirl campaign from Always--I've seen this one before but I loved that they played it during the middle of the Super Bowl. And then I was STOKED to see this one from Reebok--it made me want to go out and run 8 more miles in addition to the 8 I ran yesterday morning. It's my mentality down to a T.



#BeMoreHuman today.

Have a great Monday!

Sarah

Thinking Out Loud Thursdays

Linking up with Running with Spoons for this one!

1. Why have we seriously had no snow this winter? Zilch. Nada. Nothing. Working at a college has many perks and snow days are typically one of them. We've had ZERO this winter. Come on mother nature--just give me a few inches here.

2. Advocare Chocolate Meal Replacement shakes are the BEST. I've never really had a true milkshake before (WHAT) but I imagine this would be what they taste like. I'm almost done with the 24 day challenge and will be ordering more ASAP. I've heard the chocolate mocha is awesome too. Anyone tried it?!

3. I've officially ran over 200 miles this month. Well on my way of 2,015 miles this year! And to top it all, I feel awesome. I just got in Advocare's O2 gold and if you're an endurance athlete, this stuff is MONEY. If you're interested, let me know!

4. I teach Insanity on Thursdays so I'm typically at work from 6:30am-7:30pm. It's a long day and generally by the time I get to Insanity, I'm ready to go home. But as soon as I walk into the room, I get pumped to help people reach their fitness goals. That's what being a group exercise instructor is all about.

5. My name is Sarah and I'm addicted to low sugar ketchup. We're not even going to talk about how many bottles I've been through while on the 24 day challenge. Eggs, veggies, chicken, pickles... yep, I  pretty much eat it on everything. No shame. It's delicious.

6. No matter how much I try, my office is ALWAYS a wreck. Oy.

7. My birthday is next week and for the first time in forever, I have absolutely nothing planned. I thought about doing a race series in GA next weekend but the thought of driving 8 hours+ is making me think otherwise. I thought about going to Charlottesville to watch Louisville play (and hopefully BEAT) UVA... but the thought of potentially seeing them lose on my birthday didn't really appeal to me. ha. So.. now I'm trying to figure out how exactly I want to celebrate the 2-8. Yikes. Right now, going for a long run and having a nice dinner in with my family sounds best. I'm so boring.

8. Finally downloaded Trivia Crack. My life is over.

9. Debating on going the self-hosted route for this blog. Thoughts? Suggestions? Tips?

Happy Thursday!

Sarah

Monday Morning Thoughts

Happy Monday!

It's a pretty dreary one here but luckily we're not getting quite as slammed here as they are in the Northeast. But seriously--why haven't we had ANY snow this winter?!

Monday mornings are always one of my favorites. Weird, right? Most people dread waking up but for me, it's the start of a new week and start of the new possibilities. I'm not going to lie to you and say waking up at 5:30am is my favorite but once I get to work, hop on the treadmill, catch up with the news.. I'm ready to tackle whatever the day/week has in store.

This week should be a pretty low key one for me. Everyday is hectic when working at a gym (especially a brand new one) but now that systems are starting to be put into place, it's getting much easier (in a relative sense). I'm looking forward to some great workouts (already got a 8.5 miler in this morning!), some good eats, a great Insanity class on Thursday, and hopefully some down time if I'm lucky. I just started back for the semester on my online classes for a second degree to become a Dietitian and I can't say that I'm really enjoying biochem (YUCK) all that much but trying to realize that if I'm going to make my dreams come true, there are going to be a few not-so-fun obstacles along the way. This just happens to be one of them.

And now I suppose it's time to get to work. I'll leave you with a little Monday Morning motivation. Get out there and move! You won't regret it!

Sarah

Friday Favorites

To get back into the blogging world, why not start out with a linkup?

My favorites this week!

1. Advocare. I cannot say enough about the 24 day challenge. After a horrendous holiday eating plan, I'm back on track and feeling AWESOME. This is my second time doing the challenge and I can't even begin to tell you how focused I am on my goals. I have more energy, feel great, and getting back to my pre-holiday self. I continue to be impressed by this company and can't say enough about it. If you're interested in learning more, check it out. And uhh, yeah, pretty stoked with the progress I've been making on my arms.

                                       Taken after my 8.5 mile run. Best way to start a Friday!

2. Work! I'm so obsessed with my job right now. It's a madhouse opening up a wellness facility on a college campus.. especially one that's open to the public. And I'll be honest, there have been some trying moments in the last few months but getting comments about how awesome our facility is (it totally rocks for the record), makes it all worth while. And my Insanity class last night had 18 people! It was AWESOME!

3. Quest bars. Duh.

4. My new iPhone 6. I mean, it's not MUCH different from my 5S but.. I'm pretty much in love with it. I'm still trying to figure out the health app but I love having more storage!!!

5. My workouts this week! I've had some absolutely killer workouts. My runs have been amazing, energy level is good, I've been getting back to heavy lifting.. overall, I just feel like myself again. I'm to the point right now where I wish I was running a spring marathon... that's how good I feel! Guess I just need to save these legs of mine for November. :)

Have a great weekend!

Sarah

First Post!

I'm not much of a blogger. In fact, I've created more blogs in this life than I can probably count on both hands. Really the only successful one was the one I had from about 9th grade until my junior year in college. It was on livejournal. If that doesn't take you back, I don't know what does. And for the record, I did have readers.

So, why try again? Mostly because 2014 was an absolutely HUGE year and I wish I had documented it in some form or fashion. I'm KIND of hoping 2015 rocks too but that remains to be seen. I have a few huge things on the horizon so it certainly has potential. But those are for a different blog post (maybe). 

Why Sarah's on the Run? Well... anyone who knows me knows that I run... a LOT. I've ran more 5k's than I could ever possibly count, a few halfs, and will be running my first full marathon come November (Richmond!). I run when I'm happy, sad, stressed, overwhelmed, excited... you get the picture. I use to hate running to be completely honest. In fact, my mom had to PAY one of my former high school teammates to take me running after my senior year in high school when I found out I got a walkon spot with my college softball team. It's now my favorite hobby and something I'm starting to get pretty good at. So, hence the title. And plus, with my job as the assistant director of a college health & wellness facility, I'm pretty busy 99.9% of the time so it serves a dual purpose. 

I'm not quite sure yet the direction this blog will take but... here goes nothing.

Sarah