Why Tuesday August 13th was AWESOME!

Some of you may have seen my post on FB saying what an awesome day it was last Tuesday. Well, I'm here to spill the beans...

I'm.... pre...

pretty excited to get matched through the I run 4 Michael group!

Yeah, you thought I was pregnant didn't you? no? ok.

Anyway, I run 4 Michael is a group I found through another blog, Skinny Runner. I checked out the website and was so touched by what they were doing, that I wanted to be a part of it. Plus, I was going to sign up for a 1/2 marathon in November and what better motivation than to dedicate my runs to someone who can't run themselves?

So, who did I get matched with??

Sweet little Miss Emma from Milwaukee Wisconsin!

 Emma has CdLS. CdLS a genetic disorder present from birth, but not always diagnosed at birth. It causes a range of physical, cognitive and medical challenges and affects both genders equally. CdLS does not discriminate—it’s seen in all races and ethnic backgrounds. The occurrence of CdLS is estimated to be 1 in 10,000 live births.

Emma loves pink, is in love with Disney princesses, likes to do arts and crafts projects (perfect for me right?!) and is starting school soon! She sounds like such a fun little girl.. I can't wait to get to know her more along this journey!

If you are a runner (or someone looking for their child/cousin/nephew/granddaughter.. whatever, to have a runner) and are interested in being matched with someone, check out the I run 4 Michael FB page or website and sign up! I'm so glad I did :)


I map quested, then photo shopped how far away we lived from each other! My goal is to run 403 miles by this time next year! Only 401 to go!

I'm off to run a few miles this afternoon... day 3 of 1/2 marathon training is today! wish me luck!

The one where I visited Shannon & started the Whole30

To start August off right, I headed to Huntsville Alabama to visit my friend Shannon! We hadn't seen each other since my wedding!!  I'm so glad we put it on the calendar & nothing got in our way! Our plan was to craft, shop, catch up on life and start The Whole 30!

I only took a few photos but we had lots of fun!

Little Digby was there to supervise all of it. He is so cute!!

We got up on Saturday and headed to an Antique place where I bought a ceramic boot. Yes, you did read that correctly haha! I have a plan for it but for now, it's staying green with nothing in it. 

After lunch at Chipolte, we headed back to the apartment for some crafting! We both worked on our pinterest-y projects while watching fun movies like Hairspray and Legally Blonde. Shannon sewed a instagram pillow for her honey which turned out so neat! I decided on a star burst mirror. I've always wanted one and this was the perfect time to do it! 

I just bought a Hobby Lobby mirror and 3 packs of skewers. I evenly spaced the skewers around the mirror where I wanted the longest ones to be.

I did 6 on each side next to the first one I laid down. I just eye balled how far back to place them. Digby made sure I didn't miss any and occasionally played with a stick :)

And this is the semi finished product! I need to spray paint it but not sure what color yet since I don't know where it's going in the house.

What do you think?

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During my trip, Shannon, her boy  Justin and I decided to take on the Whole 30 together. Lots of you have asked about it and I will tell you... its hard but worth it (so far). Basically, it's rethinking the foods you are putting in your body.

Yes, that's a ton to cut out (bread, cheese, chocolate, DIET COKE!?!) but if you read on their website, many great things can come from changing your habits. There is a huge science behind it all. Check out their website and order the book if you are serious about trying it!

I'm on day 13/30 and I am sleeping SO much better, I can see a difference in the bloat I had in my belly, I feel full faster and my mind is more focused while I'm at work. Plus, Tyler and I have cooked pretty much every night which makes us feel much better than just ordering a pizza! I know what's going in my body and I'm learning to try new foods like dates & plantains. I've even made healthy mayo and ranch!!

I measured and weighed before I started and I can't wait to see the results in 30 days. They don't want you to measure or weigh during because it isn't about that; its about how you feel.

The first few days were hard for me because I had to cut diet coke out, but I made it through. Look how yummy my first day  was!

 So that's pretty much it! I will try to post the rest of my meals as soon as I get them all organized!

My trip ended with church on Sunday and eating Panera salads with our Whole30 approved ranch!

Thank you Shannon for such a fun weekend! I'm so thankful for your friendship! We will have to do it again soon!

Do you think you could do the Whole 30?
What is your favorite food you would miss for 30 days?
Have you ever made a star burst mirror?

Until next time...

I'm back!!!!

I've been a little out of commission lately with running. The night before my 1/2 marathon the outside of my foot was aching but I couldn't really do much about it and sucked it up anyway. After, I was a mess! Felt like I was in the Nutty Professor.. "you walkin' over here but you gonna be limpin' back!" 

100% truth. 

So anyway, I toyed with the idea of going to the podiatrist because for about 2 weeks after that run, it hurt every morning I woke up and off and on throughout the day. I stayed off of it for a while and it magically stopped hurting. Well, I should add, after many massages from my boo and propping them up at night, it stopped. I did google all of this and I think I had some stress fractures? They must have been tiny b/c so far I'm feeling good after some miles this weekend and Pure Barre. ( I went all alone...@ 8am...on a Saturday... that's dedication people!)


This weekend I decided to kick it back into high gear for my  "lets fit into that wedding dress/look good in engagement photos" plan. I did a lot of this:

ahhhh pretty day!

Rose colored glasses... 

I read in Allure to poke a hole in your bottle so you dont create wrinkles around the mouth.. never can start too early!

cool dude hanging out in the sun

ready to run!

Red face after!

   

 And I also did a lot of this:

Ice Ice baby!

Best salsa on the planet!

Roody was exhausted too

cuddle time with roody man!

I ALSO had a fun weekend with my momma doing lots of wedding stuff... more on that later!! Until then here is my wish list of crap I want/need. I got to thinking about it the other day when laundry was piling up and I had nothing left to wear for my runs... Buy if you must... I also need more socks!

 1. Garmin Forerunner 110
2. Pure Barre Shirt.. I just think this is cute.. not necessary
3. Active pants from Target
4. Under Armour Shorts
5. Victoria Secret Workout Top
6. Asics shoes

Any suggestions on good running socks? I have asics ones I love but they seem to disappear in the wash... I'll be reviewing some products soon too so stay tuned!

Disney Princess 1/2 Marathon Part 3!

It's on to part 3 people! Lots of pics coming your way!

At this point we starting seeing some interesting stuff on the route! I had to stop and do a photo bomb with my fellow villains.. Cruela Deville was there somewhere.. She was the best one! 

bomb.

On to the next mile... finally past a 5k! We could see the light... well the sunlight. *PS- don't  pay attention to the time on the clock, not our actual time :)

And how cute are those signs?! They had one at every mile. We didn't stop to take a pic with one till a little later.

That chick is super excited to be at mile 4.

It started to feel like a really nice, easy run once we got into the parks.. we also started seeing some interesting people along the way... Still trying to figure out who Sasha Fierce was dressed up as down below. I passed him and said "You look great!" with a thumbs up his way. And oh my goodness I wish I would have asked to get a picture from the front. He totally bedazzled the crap outta his face. Rhinestones galore. Man, I'm regretting not getting a pic for yall. It was epic.

In the park yo!

Go on with your bad self!

And then we finally turned the corner at what I think was mile 5/5.5 to see a huge crowd cheering us on and the one and only Cinderella's Castle. AHHH! Exactly what we have been waiting for. Stacey and I were totally geeked and picked up the pace so we could get there already!

Running on Main St. Disney.. SO EXCITING!

Gotta get a pic! Thanks random dude :)

People were in awe... no one is actually running

 Of course we had to get individual photos with the castle itself and the trash can. I swear it moved on me when I was next to it. I saw a video once where they had people in them to freak guests out. Candid camera was there. I was convinced.

Aw, Stacey looks so good with the castle!

yeeeep.

Our path to the castle took us through the back side of the park. We stopped to get a photo with Stitch's Great Escape for Stacey because of her cute puppy stitch! I then looked to my left after this and realized people were no dummies.. they were using the nice clean park bathroom! *Note to self for next time. No more porta potty parties for me!

 We rounded some corners and ran smack dab into the Little Mermaid. We were so in our element! Yay for fun picture opportunities!

                       

       

              It was finally time for the CASTLE! Stopping to take a few in action posed shots. You can imagine the crowd around this area but surprisingly, we got a clear shot!

What? This is how I run...

Stacey actually running.

YAY!

Under the castle & chick touchin' her booty.

We got a professional photo with the castle then went on for the rest of the race.. To be honest, they didn't have as much stuff along the roads as I thought they would. It was about 3/4 mile of nothing then you might see something like this CARS character + a DJ. Still fun though. Notice the Porta Party in the background. Always a good prop.

Then we hit this sign! And guess what was playing? Anyone? WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU MAKES YOU STRONGER! Thanks Kelly Clarkson for getting us through the half way mark! 

Up next for our musical entertainment... a bunch of hot men in suits that were singing (I think) Your Just Too Good To Be True. They kept saying things like "I love you!" "please don't go!" "We could be perfect together!" It was too funny/cute so we had to stop. Plus it was right after a water stop so, why not?

"Ok, I love you!"

Lilo and Stitch! 

he is trying to find his princess.. look @ that crown!

This guy in his full prince gear was crackin' me UP! So are the women behind him. Power walking to the extreme!

Accordion players... Way cute. 

My fav Disney movie! Again, ignore the time clock & potties.

Stacey and I are really good at photo bombing people. It was our specialty. Thanks to the wonderful lady who stopped to take part in our bombing fiasco.

Oh hey Jack Sparrow/Johnny. Sorry we couldn't stop to chat/kiss ;)

Jack Sparrow was at about mile 9/10. That tells you that we didn't take another picture till almost the end because we were near death & well, my battery was running low. There was one sharp corner we turned with a climb up an overpass and let me tell you, we were feeling it. Our feet hurt so bad.. pretty sure there was blood in my shoes.  WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU MAKES YOU STRONGER! Thanks again Kelly.

We finally made it into Epcot & heard tons of people saying "You are almost there! keep it up!! 1/2 mile to go!!" Along the way we saw plenty of awesome spectators. I saw a sign that said, "That's not sweat, its liquid awesome!"  However, my favorite one was a lady holding up a sign that said 'Hey total stranger, I AM PROUD OF YOU! I told her thanks for supporting as I ran past. It totally kept me going for that last little bit! So great to see others care. Seeing the finish was exhilarating. People were everywhere cheering! Stacey and I sprinted once we saw it and prolly beat another 30 people in the process. We were already running on stubs anyway, so why not? But in the end, all of the craziness was worth the 13.1 miles. A great experience :)

Us in front of the ball! woot!

And DONE!

I would totally do another run at Disney! It was very organized , fun and exciting. Only thing I hated was the price (no it did not include tickets to the park)

Do you think you will do a Disney run in the future (minus all the airport debocals and such we had)? Did you like our outfits? Anyone have tips on how to keep my feet from falling off? Was all this super boring to you?  Let me know. Feed back appreciated folks! Have a happy day!
It was a beautiful day in KY so I went running with friends! What did you do?