Test 5k and new adventure...

Long time no post, huh? Last week was Spring Break and I got some fun work outs in. My friend and I decided to try our hands at some of the group fitness classes at our gym since we didn't have school getting in the way. ;) We tried Zumba first which was an interesting experience. My cousin has been taking zumba classes and has lost a good amount of weight and looks AWESOME so I figured it was at least worth a try. We had fun and I was definitely sweating after but I know I looked like a flailing idiot for the entire hour. It was nowhere near as bad as the step class we tried the next day. I could not figure the stupid thing out. Every time I figured out the footwork she would change it upon me and I'd be lost. It was infuriating. Needless to say, I will not be trying that class again. Ha.

I did get a couple runs in as well, the longest being Saturday. In my training plan I am up to the straight runs between 20-25 minutes. I had done 20 on the treadmill earlier in the week and since the treadmill is far easier I wanted to try outside to see how long I could go. Micah and I headed over to the route for the Berbee Derbee 5k and started running. It was great on the way out and the small cramp that I got was easy to work through. Then I turned around and the wind was CRAZY. Mother nature chose that exact moment to start pushing in a storm front and I was miserable. Plus, the way back has a lot more hills anyway. I was able to keep going until about 23 minutes and I had the worst cramp. I walked for a bit and then ran/walked the rest of the 3.1. I finished in 36 minutes and I was soooooooooo disappointed as I  had hoped to be a little closer to the 30 minute mark. I know the the wind sucked but I was trying not to make excuses.

Since I have to keep upping the length of straight running time, if the weather cooperates, I am hoping to keep running this course. That way I can gauge my progress and maybe even finish a practice 5k before the race (which is under 3 weeks away!!). I think I can get myself up to that point in the next three weeks and thankfully Micah is really helping me out by running with me when he's home. I have such a great husband. :)

In other news, I'm starting up a business and I'm super nervous. I'm not talking a little nervous when I think about it but like nervous all the time. I am starting to sell Arbonne which is a company that makes skin care, make-up and nutritional products.  I am starting it because I need to find a way to bring in an income this summer and while I student teach in the fall. Student teaching is a great thing for getting certified and teaching but not so much for the wallet since I get paid NOTHING - I actually pay the school. Haha. Since Micah is in school too, I have to figure something out and I really don't want to go back to waitressing and bartending since late nights and early mornings don't go well together.

Now Micah and I have been using the products for years so I'm not worried that the company is bogus or that the products suck because I know that's not the case. I'm worried that I'm not going to make enough or that I'm going to fail. I am stepping so far outside my comfort zone that I hope I can really do this. The timing of it is hard, too. In order for me to get started, I have to have my first parties (where I get trained) over Memorial Day weekend. Who wants to give up that weekend? However, if I don't get the parties in that weekend I may have to wait until late June because my trainer will be gone to Iceland for the Air Guard.  By that time we won't have had an income for a couple weeks, so that's scary. I am hoping I can make this work because I love the products and can learn some very valuable skills that would make me a better teacher, too (hello public speaking). Keep your fingers crossed for me. Good thing running relieves stress, right?

P.s. wrote this on the blogger apparently on my phone. Hopefully It works and I will edit for grammar and spelling later. :)

To detox or not to detox....

So I was looking into doing a 28 day detox. It's a program designed by Arbonne. If you haven't heard of Arbonne, look it up! It's a great, all natural company that has amazing products from skin care to make-up to supplements. Micah and I talked about it a little and decided to sort of tweek the program to fit our lives a little better. First off, it's not a cheap program to do it completely through Arbonne and it's just not an expense that we're willing to splurge on. Plus, part of it is a 7 day cleanse which I've already done and let's just say, wasn't the most amazing experience and I never want to do it again. So the plan (at least for me) for the next 28 days is less dairy, less to no wheat, less to no gluten, and no sugar. Doesn't that sound horrible? It's basically primal eating - which if you don't know what that is, look it up. A couple of our friends have done it and had wonderful results so I'm trying it. There are a couple of other reasons that I'm trying it, too. After larger amounts of wheat/gluten/carbs, I'm always so tired. I'm hoping this will help keep my energy up! Plus, there are so many great products on the market that have more nutritional value that I'd like to try like quinoa pasta, brown rice pasta, spelt flour/bread, etc.

I'm not quite sure if Micah is going to get into it quite as much as I am but he's definitely interested. It's more just about eating healthy to us. I'll probably modify again after this is done but I would still like to keep any sort of processed food out of my diet. One thing that you're supposed to do is to stop all consumption of alcohol....we will not be doing this. :) I can only give up so much.

After Easter, because I have Spring Break next week, I'm also going to start to try to work out in the morning. Working out in the afternoon is hard for me because if I EVER have homework, then working out gets the boot. It'd be nice to be able to come home, do some homework, cook some dinner and have a relaxing night. I've tried this in the past and failed miserably but I am going to try it again anyway. Hopefully it will work a little better this time as I don't think I'll have to get up quite as early as previously. Hopefully, it'll warm up again and I can run outside in the morning which takes even less time than going to the gym.

So, do you think I can do it? Everyone thinks I'm crazy, but let's hope. I'm going to measure and weigh tomorrow or Friday and maaaaaaaaybe I'll post it. I'm hoping to see a difference before I spend 2 weeks in a bikini. :)

Happy Spring???

Is it really Spring? You wouldn't know it up here or I guess I should say that depending on the day you don't know it. Yesterday it was 50 and today it's cold, rainy and windy. YUCK! I was hoping that by this time I would be running outside more often but sadly, that has only been able to happen twice. Yesterday was one of those days, though and I found a wonderful (and free) new trainer! His name is Bascom and he's my 9 month old Golden Retriever (cutest on the Planet!). Micah had taken him out for a run the other day and since the dog was going stir crazy, I decided to take him with me yesterday. He was great. He pulled just enough to get me to run a little faster which was exactly what I needed. His favorite part was getting to the off-leash section of the park where he was able to run free and run he did....like the crazy dog he is. :)

Training has been going pretty well. I had to re-vamp my schedule a little as life had gotten in the way just a bit and I was about a week behind. No big deal, though because I'm perfectly on track for the 5k now. Runs are getting more challenging which is a little scary. This week I'm re-doing week 5 because it's supposed to be nicer so I can run outside based on distance as opposed to just time because I know that I don't run the 9 or 10 minute mile they expect. It's kind of nice that I have the ability to do that because this week is Micah's birthday week and there are a couple of nights out to eat that will mess with my schedule a little. I'm hoping to still fit a run in before dinner tomorrow night with our parents but I don't know if it'll actually happen with the longer school days now. I do feel good that I worked out 3 times last week. I was going for 4 but my spinning class was so hard on Wednesday that the instructor suggested we take two days off. I was sore and obliged. :)

I feel like I've been eating pretty well lately, too. We went out on Thursday and I ordered a great salad from the Great Dane. It is their take on Panzanella and Caprese Salad. It uses Pita Bread instead of a regular Italian bread and I think I only ate 2 of the slices of cheese, made for a pretty healthy salad. Tomorrow might not be quite as healthy as we're going for sushi and sometimes I just don't know how to stop with sushi. Tonight I was going to take Micah out for some yummy dinner but because his drill went soooooooo long he's just grabbing take-out from Granite City on the way home - still yummy! I am not deciding how healthy I want to be...pasta just sounds goooooooood.

I'm not seeing a lot so far as far as weight-loss but I am noticing that my pants and tops are fitting a little differently. I'm hoping that later this week I'll see a little more when I'm not retaining water. ;)

Anyway, I said I would throw a recipe in every time I blog and I will not back out on that promise. Last weekend I was craving chocolate but I didn't want it to be horrible for me. I found (this) recipe for some yummy and fudgy brownies that only have 132 calories per brownie. They were a great snack with some of the strawberries I've been hoarding now that they're on sale. Try them. They were even hubby approved. I highly recommend a high quality bittersweet chocolate and powder as it makes all the difference.

Anyway, off to grab a card and some candles for the hubby's birthday cake. I'll post a picture later this week. I successfully made a two tier cake and I'm VERY proud of myself. It's preeeeeetty. Have a good week all.