Hi, I'm a Mac...

Hello from Springfield, MO.

Last week we were in Chicago for the World's Largest 8k race...the Shamrock Shuffle! It was pretty exciting, but definitely made me jealous that I wasn't running it!! It's a race I'll keep in mind for the future though...anything with beer at the finish line is a win in my book! I even found a cute sticker at the race that says, "Will Run for Beer" ...pretty much sums up why I run. Well, that & my love for cupcakes & ice cream...and not to mention runners are awesome. :)

So, while in Chicago I made an investment purchase...I BOUGHT A MAC! I definitely needed an upgrade on my computer, although I have to say my Dell PC got me through almost 7 years with nearly no problems...but it was very outdated & SLOW. Anyway, I made the decision to buy a Mac back in January during training, but decided to hold off so I could save a little money, do some research & make sure it was the right purchase for me...three months later I own a 15-inch MacBook Pro and I LOVE IT so far! I haven't done a whole lot on it yet...and certain things I'm still clueless about, but I love learning new things!

One awesome feature is in iPhoto there is a thing called, "faces" where it recognizes faces in ALL your photos...so for the last two days I've been tagging faces so I can search for photos of all my friends by their own face folder (for example, if I chose "Megan Collins" it would open a folder that had all the photos that I'm tagged in!) There are so many cool things, but like I said, I'm just learning, I can't wait to be a Mac Pro myself!

Other than that little diddy...I haven't had anything too exciting going on. Our event in Missouri is the "Rockin' Ribs BBQ Festival" at the Bass Pro Shop! I'm excited because I'm sure there will be some meat eating fun times ahead! Springfield is Kevin's hometown...so we have had the privilege of meeting his mom, great aunt, grandma, sister & some friends and his mom made us a DELICIOUS feast of Korean food while his grandma made us an array of blueberry desserts! It's nice to have a home cooked meal, that's for sure...not to mention it was SO YUM.

As far as running goes...I'm on day 6/100! I took the two days off that we worked 10+ hours last week (and I don't count those days) so I look forward to adding a few more days on before the event this weekend. I'm still struggling a bit with food though, so many good choices out there & by good I mean HORRIBLE for you...but tasty. I need to really focus on practicing self control!!!

That was just a quick update on my life...hope this post find's y'all well. Hopefully next time I'll have something more exciting to talk about! :) Until then, love you! Muah!

100 Days of Running

Hello from Cleveland!

So, as summer approaches, I'm like any girl...I think about shorts, tank tops, swimsuits, etc. All that is great...warmer weather, sunshine & tans, but it also means more visible skin! Last year at this time I was training for a half marathon & sprint triathlon and I've never been in better shape! (My photo is after I finished my triathlon in August 2010 with my reward: Oberon mini keg!) This year I'm traveling the U.S. with a fairly unpredictable schedule, changing climates & uncertainty of a gym in the area. Thankfully, most hotels at least have at least a treadmill in their "gym" and my team also signed up for an LA Fitness membership & have full access to their gym when we're in an area where they have one.

However, as you can imagine it is pretty easy to get side tracked, to lose focus when your life is so sporadic. Eating is a huge struggle for a couple reasons, location, limited use of the car, agreeing with two other co-workers, etc. But, I'm done making excuses...I want to reach my goals & I'm going to do what it takes to get there! So I've created this challenge to myself...and I'm determined to stick to it!! So, here is the deal:

My goal is to do 100 days of running in a row. Here are my rules...

1. Minimum distance is .5 miles
2. If I miss a day, my count starts back at one
3. The allowance for a missed day are

• Drive day of up to 10 hours
• Work day of up to 10 hours
• Injury

I made this goal up two days ago...and already missed running yesterday, so I'm starting over again today & I did run! Tomorrow is a long work day, so I'm off the hook...unless I feel like it when I get back to the hotel. If I don't mess up, this goal will bring me to mid-July & will hopefully kickstart a weight loss spree! Lately I've been hovering around the same weight, still my lowest ever...but I need to break out of this funk. I know if I count my Points+ and exercise, I can make it happen. I'm hoping that even though my life is a giant road trip right now, I can still find a race or two to do this year! Our next event is actually the Shamrock Shuffle in Chicago & although I wish I could run it, I'm happy to be working it & cheering on my good friend Shelly!!! I'm keeping my eyes out for a race that fits my schedule!

Speaking of Weight Watchers...I went to a meeting today for the first time in a MONTH!! I actually only had a small gain which I was thankful for, but the leader of the meeting was hilarious! It was my first meeting with a male leader & although I didn't know his story, I could tell by other comments & his dedication to the program he had a success story! One woman had a 1.6 lb loss & a total of 248 lbs loss & another member made his 100 lb milestone at the meeting! Even though I don't know these people, their stories are extremely inspirational!! Also, the meeting coincidentally was based around the Walk It 5K Challenge...and the final quote of the meeting really spoke to me in my new goal. It was a quote by Jim Rohn, "Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going." So, I hope I've encouraged y'all to make a goal of your own & set rules that get you motivated to form a habit that keeps you going! Until next time...MUAH! <3