Saturday, June 30, 2012

beat that heat. or not.

So after my slacker ways last week I was determined to be a better worker-outer this week.  But I def eased into it and made sure I didn't overdo it on Monday :)  I also was determined to run outside more.  Despite the 90 degree temps with high humidity...thanks Uncle Ger for making me feel bad about my treadmill running :/  Just kidding.  I needed to hear that.

Monday
Easy run
Outside 2.4 miles
25 mins, 312 calories

It was gorgeous out today.  Perfect weather to ease into the running outside.  Glad I only had to do 2 miles though cause I had a big Wiffle Ball meeting to get to at 6:30!  Chicken, Guns & Rubbers are looking to rally this year!  Need to make up for the lack of runs scored last year :)

Tuesday
XT Elliptical
Rolling hills, Level 7
30 mins, 2.7 miles, 271 cals

For some reason today's workout was tough!  Maybe cause it was a billion degrees outside and it felt like a billion and one degrees in the gym.  I had another busy evening so I made sure I at least got 30 good mins of Cardio in.  Post workout I met these folks for dinner and to cheer on Kara at her Hockey game:
Me, Molly and Andy 
(my freelance stylist and photographer friends)

"Oh hey Andy, it's gonna be cold in there might wanna bring an extra layer."
Should have specified long sleeves would be good...

Kara tearing it up in the orange!


Wednesday
Easy run
Outside 5.0 miles
60 mins, 626 cals

Today was supposed to be a Tempo Run day but I decided to run outside in the 90 degree temps and take it easy.  I don't think I could've ran the times I needed to in this heat.  Not yet at least.  Maybe after some more training.  And I don't have a good watch to use to do this.  So instead of taking my workout to the gym and doing it on a Treadmill I ran 5 miles outside and sweated to death.  Literally.  Look at me.
gross.  I know.  

But at least I found this!
I wasn't going to pick it up cause I thought it might make some kid happy to find it then I realized I might die if I didn't get some water so I picked it up in case I needed to make an emergency pit stop at the gas station.  

I was pretty spent after my run.  The rest of my evening consisted on grilling a steak with some asparagus and websiting with my bro.

Thursday & Friday
Rest Days

Thursday was our hottest day of the year yet.  It was bad.  You were covered in a film of sweat just by stepping outside.  So since there were so many warnings to not be outside I decided to post pone my 2 miler for today and go have a Bloody Mary at Cafe Hollander instead.  And then I followed that up with dinner:
What else do you have when it's 100 degrees out?!

And Friday I went and saw Ted with some friends.  Hil-arious.  For realz.  If you like dumb-funny movies then this is a must.  

Saturday
Easy run
Outside
ran 2 miles, walked 2 miles
413 cals

I wanted to try and get up early and run but that didn't happen.  Instead I slept in, got some brunch, hit up the Farmer's Market, took a siesta and then attempted to run.  In prime afternoon sun.  Not smart.  Once I started I knew there was no way I'd last 8 miles.  So I decided to make today my make up run from Thurs and only ran 2.  And then continued to walk another 2.  It was about 91 degrees out and sunny.  I was instantly sweaty.  And I hate having eyelid sweat.  And I did not properly hydrate for these running temps.  Again, not smart on my end, I know.  Luckily at mile 2 I spotted a Bruegger's Bagels and stopped in there for a cold cup of ice water, on the house.  Big timer.  I know.  So now I have my long run still looming over me.  I really need to do it.  If I can't get to 8 then I at least want to attempt 7 again.  Forecast isn't looking good for me though.  Another 90+ degree day tomorrow.  So let's hope I can make this happen!

Sidenote:
An excellent healthy snack!  Look for it at World Market.  
Thanks for introducing me Kara :)


better late than never!

Worst.  Blogger.  Ever.  I don't know how I'm ever going to get rich in the blogging world if I only have 7 followers and can't even keep up with posting once a week.  Must work on this.  Anywho, I not only took a little break from blogging a week ago but I also took a break from working out for a few days.  I was having a busy week, had some fam in town as well as a friend's bday so had to change up my priorities a bit and have some fun with them!  And it was a great 5 day break!  So to quickly recap, beginning with 2 weeks ago:

Monday (6/18):
Easy Run 2 miles
Treadmill, Elevation 1.0
2.1 miles, 21 mins, 231 calories

Tuesday (6/19):
XT, Kinetics 235 workout class
35 mins
High repetitions of strength training with burst of cardio

I took this new class at the gym and it was AMAZING!  I was super happy with it and my body hurt for the next 3 days (part of why I decided to take some time off from workin out).  They have an abbreviated 20 min class and an extended 50 min class that I'm also hoping to try out but for now the 35 mins was perfect.  I struggled to even finish the last 7 or so minutes of the class.  I'd compare this workout to Sean T's Insanity mashed up with CrossFit, both excellent ways to burn max calories for time spent working out.

And that was it for the week!  I had intentions to at least work out on Wednesday but then a better offer came along...girl time with Molly.  So I passed.  Plus I could barely walk normal from the excessive amount of lunges I had done the night before so attempting to run hurt just thinking about it.  I really don't remember what I did on Thursday besides make some "baked potato dip" for our 'chips n dip' luncheon on Friday...I think I did nothing.  I was having one of those days.  Plus I was really suffering from the effects of that special time of the month (another reason I didn't want to run/workout).  Oh!  I did watch J Wow and Snooki's new show...so dumb.  30 mins down the drain.

Friday was a busy day.  As I mentioned above it was "chips n dip" day at work.  It was also the first Sounds of Summer at the Studio and Sam Llanas from the Bodeans performed.
Staying active during lunch.  

Yard Games.

Homemade Photo-themed Washers.

Gorgeous day out for some lunch time fun.

Sam Llanas from the Bodeans.

Recycling R&R signage.  
They also used these to try and throw footballs through.  

Friday evening my bro, Aaron, and his rad gf, Catie, were in town so we enjoyed a little family dinner at Tazinos.  My dad had a Groupon so it made it somewhat affordable for the 11 of us to eat.  They've got quite the salad bar, pasta bar, pizza buffet and best brownies around.  For realz.  It's worth going there just for the brownies.

After dinner Aaron, Catie and I went glow golfing.  And surprisingly it was a lot of fun! (minus Catie getting hit in the head with a golfball)
Kara giving Aaron some golf tips.

Catie and I.  This is what the course looked like.  
Who'd have thought golfing in the dark with glow accessories would've been so fun!

Catie and I with the flash on.

Kristi, the beer cart girl.

Then Saturday day we hit up Strawberry Fest in Cedarburg to show our love and support for Elly, who had the best photo booth in town.  
Again, raddest booth in town :)  Click here to purchase her beautiful photos!

the Kohls Klan visiting Elly's booth

And that evening the glow festivities continued for Emi's Birthday!  She booked the Pedal Tavern for her bday and it was a blast.  Picture 16 people, pedaling their way around town on a portable wooden bar.  
The Crew.  

Needless to say, after the weekend I had Sunday was filled with a lot of R&R.  Definitely no working out allowed.  But hey, at least I rode a bike around town for 2 hours the night before!

Game on this week though.  Since I did a bad job at staying on schedule this week I'm going to redo this week on my training schedule.  So it should look something like this:

2- 2 mile runs
1- 5 min tempo run
1- XT day
1- 8 mile long run
2 rest days

Ok.  Recap from how I actually did this week coming tomorrow.  Hopefully.  






Sunday, June 17, 2012

do you know who your emergency responders are?

The highlight of my work week definitely happened this past Friday.  Our Loss Prevention Team held a Corn Roast over the lunch hour where we could meet our local emergency responders: firemen, police officers and EMTs.  These photos pretty much sum up the hour:
 Corn=Amaaazing.  We had the option to make Mexican Style Corn- mayo, butter, salt, parmesan cheese & a limey-red pepper like seasoning.  I had everything but the mayo and def would do this again!

Vanessa, Molly, 2 of our local Firemen and myself.

Ohh heyy V!  

Molly fully suited and ready to put out some fires!

My first time in the back of a Milwaukee Police Car.  And hopefully the last time!

I'm guessing people usually aren't this happy looking when "getting arrested."
Another first for me (and hopefully last!).  

Everyone we met were super friendly and definitely team players.  It takes a lot to distract us over the lunch hour and keep us from eating (thank goodness for that corn on the cob!).  I should also note that we talked with the Forensics Photographer.  It was pretty interesting considering they were visiting a photo studio.  He didn't seem to think it was that funny though when we asked him if he was looking for a stylist to work with...

Here are a few other pics from my Friday O'Fun!

Saud (an Art Director I work with) and I tend to (unintentionally) coordinate our outfits every now and then.  Here we are a few weeks ago:
Ketchup & Mustard

This past Fri in our bright blue pants!

Friday night kicked off HartFest so Katie, Elly, Bryan and I decided to pay a visit to King Solomon:

The rest of my week was filled with some of this from 9-5, M-F:

John, the videographer & Jen, the handbag model
This is what you actually see online if you opt to watch a product video of a handbag.  

Then post 5PM it was filled with this:
My Website! (still in progress)

My AWESOME brother is building my website for me and last week we made HUGE progress.  I should note that I've had my domain for over a year and a half so this is a big deal to actually have images and functioning galleries up.  Thanks for all your hard work Aar!  I really, really appreciate it.  And soon enough it'll be complete and I won't have to annoy talk to you on a daily basis :)  And if anyone needs a website, def get in touch with my brother!

And of course the rest of my time was spent workin' on my fitness.  I had a great week of work outs for the crappy mood I was in.  I did NOT want to work out at all last week but forced myself to do all my scheduled work outs.  

Monday:
Easy Run 2 miles
Treadmill, Elevation 1.0
20 mins, 220 calories

Walk Hills .6 miles
Treadmill, Elevation 1.0-8.0
10 mins, 60 calories

Stair Stepper .5 miles
16 mins, 117 calories

These 2 miles weren't so bad.  So much so that I decided to keep at it and walk some hills and climb some steps making for a pretty productive Monday night.  I think it wore me out cause after I got home and showered I passed out on the couch by 8 PM!  This was not good though since I had to start getting my images together for my website.  So needless to say once I woke up from my cat nap, it made for a pretty late night.  

Tuesday:
XT Bike 12 miles
Rolling Hills, Level 7
45 mins, 320 calories (3:45/mile pace)

Not going to lie, I was feeling super lazy (regarding working out) today and really did not want to go to the gym.  The only way I justified going to the gym was by telling myself I'll do a bike ride for my day of Cross Training since that meant I got to stay seated the entire time!  No joke.  It works every time I'm not feeling up for a work out.  Staying seated and all I still ended up having a pretty good, sweaty ride and was able to beat my goal of riding under 4 min/miles.

Wednesday:
Tempo Run
Treadmill, Elevation 1.0
5 miles, 53 minutes, 558 calories

I was dreading today's run more than my 2 previous work outs mainly because I didn't want to run but especially because I didn't want to run 5 miles.  And to be honest with you, I'm still not sure how I actually made it to the gym.  I even sat in my car, in the parking lot, hoping someone would call me that minute and have some major plans for me.  But that didn't happen so I checked out my i.TV app and saw that "A Cinderella Story" was playing, jolted out of my car, changed into my workout clothes, got on that treadmill and turned on ABC Family.  I proceeded to run 5 pretty consistent miles without many problems.  In fact, I didn't even stop to walk at all until after mile 3.  And that was just for a couple minutes to check my heart rate and then I was able to strongly finish my last mile.  Lesson of the night: when all else fails, ABC Family will prevail!

Thursday:
Easy Run 2 miles
Treadmill, Elevation 1.0
2.3 miles, 23 minutes, 239 calories

Surprise, surprise I didn't want to work out again today!  And I was feeling pretty sore from going at it pretty intensely the past 3 days so today I told myself all I had to do was get in there, run 2 quick miles and then I could leave.  And that's exactly what I did.  Then I burned a few extra calories power shopping at Kohl's with my Friends & Family extra 20% off!  I guess I wouldn't really call it "power shopping" since all I got was a pair of clearance JLo Sunglasses for $6, a new beach towel for $5 and a hat for $10.  But I was proud of my finds and in Kohl's terms I saved like $178!  Ha.  

Friday:
REST DAY

Saturday:
REST DAY

Decided to sleep in a little today and by the time I woke up I didn't have it in me to try and hammer out 7 miles in the 80 degree+ humidity, so I didn't.  Instead I had a lovely day seeing Madagascar 3, eating at Cafe Hollander and had a few Summer Shandys with some very recently engaged friends! 

Sunday:
Long Run
3 miles outside, 33 mins, 371 cals
4 miles treadmill, elevation 1.0, 44 mins, 459 cals
TOTAL: 7 miles! 77 mins, 830 calories

I can't believe I actually ran today.  I honestly didn't think it was going to happen and then I'd have to come on here with some elaborate excuse as to why it's ok that I didn't do my weekly long run.  BUT I did it.  Probably because I was regretting eating that chocolate brownie and cupcake at our Father's Day celebration...but whatever it was, as soon as I got home from spending the afternoon with the fam, I got my running clothes on hit the road...and the gym.  You guys are going to think I'm a huge dork (but I'm sure you've already thought that) but I knew tonight was Oprah's special with the Kardashians which I could not miss.  So I quickly got 3 miles in outside and then I hit the treadmill for the last 4 since while I watched Oprah grill the Kardashians.  And overall, my run went really well.  AND, I hit the half way hump!  It's all downhill from here right?!  I hope so...cause to be honest with you my last 3 miles felt better than my first 3 and I probably could've kept going if I had to tonight.  It 100% made a difference that I ran later in the night than early in the morning.  I've been saying all along that I'm a much better evening runner than a morning runner and that was proved true again tonight.  But the biggest thing was that there was a nice evening breeze and not just early morning sunshine and humidity.  How I'm going to ever overcome this, I do not know.  But it was so much more enjoyable to run in comfortable weather rather than in the humidity where sweat constantly is running into my eyes.  So keep the pointers coming if you guys have any!  How do I stay comfy during runs in hot temps?  Do you carry water with you while you run?  If so, how much do you drink?  

This week my work out sched looks very similar to this past week's with a mile add on to my long run. Yayyy....

Ok, well Happy Father's Day to all you amazing dads out there!  I hope everyone had a great weekend and an even better upcoming week!


Sunday, June 10, 2012

fun in the sun!

I can't believe it's been a week since I've blogged last!  It was a busy but good week.  Work was good.  I worked on a shoe mailer all week which made the days fly by.  Here are a few behind the scene photos:
 Carolyn mastering the painting in white.

We had 6 systems going in a pretty tiny area.  Look at all those stands!

 Carolyn doing it again a few days later!

The fun part about shooting cupcakes is that you get to eat them at the end!

In addition to my busy work week, I did awesome at keeping up with my workouts for the week!  In fact I did each one I was planning on so my goal was met and even exceeded a few times.  Here's a more thorough look at my week of working out:

Monday: (w/Molly)
Easy Run: 2.3miles
Outside, 25 mins, 411 calories (total: run/walk)

Walk: 1.5miles
Outside, 20 mins

I enjoyed breaking my non-workout slump with an easy run and with a friend.  Having her there definitely forced me to do a run that I was not looking forward to.  And actually once we got going, we were so caught up in conversations that our 2 miles was up in no time!  And it was such a nice evening out we decided to keep walking for a bit and burned some extra calories.

Tuesday:
XT: Elliptical
30 mins, 3.3miles, 273 calories, Level 7

Bike
31 mins, 7.8miles, 183 calories, Level 7

Today was a big day.  One of my fav shows, Pretty Little Liars (yes, it's on ABC Family and I LOVE it!) had it's Summer Premiere.  Oh yeah, and it was Election Day.  So after I went and voted I hit up the gym, turned on ABC Family and sweated it out for an hour.  It felt good to do something besides run.  And the time flew since I was so into what I was watching!  

And later that night, while doing some reading outside look what I caught Donnie doing:
Naughty Donnie.



Wednesday:
Speedwork: 4.03miles
Treadmill, 42mins, 457 calories, Elevation 1.0
(10 min/mile x2; 1 mi warm up & 1 mi cool down at 11min/mile)

I was a bit nervous for today's run since I hadn't tackled a 4 miler in a week and I hadn't had any real great runs in awhile.  BUT for some reason, I felt mentally prepared for it, excited to do it and even more excited to get it done.  So I just went for it and it felt like it was done in no time!  And it actually felt good.  I didn't feel like death and I didn't even feel the need to really stop to walk at all.  Thank goodness for this run because I was almost ready to throw the towel in regarding this whole run-long-distance-thing.  And as a bonus, it just so happened to be National Running Day so what a perfect day to have a great run!


Thursday: (w/Molly-in the AM!)
Easy Run: 2.5miles
Outside, 27 mins, 320 calories

I did it!  I didn't get two morning workouts in this week (mainly because I knew I was going to have lots of available time in the evenings this week) but I did get one in.  And not going to lie, coming off a great 4 mile run the night before did not necessarily mean I was guaranteed to have another great run so shortly after.  I think it's the whole adjusting to the morning thing but it felt a lot harder to do 2 miles at 6AM than it felt to do 4 miles at 6PM.  And Molly and I were still both in the process of waking up that we barely could chat throughout our run (note: we also had a hard time chatting cause we were too busy panting!).  No bueno.  BUT, on a positive note, we knocked a whole minute off of our miles from our Monday evening run.  So maybe that's another reason it felt a bit more difficult??

Thursday was the one night I had some bigger plans.  We (another bridesmaid and myself) were going Wedding Dress/Bridesmaid Dress shopping with Katie!  She had made an appointment for us at Miss Ruby's Boutique, a super cute shop in the Third Ward.  And we had such a good time!  And not to mention some great luck!  Both the first dress Katie tried on and the first dress I tried on we all absolutely loved!  Here's a sneak peak at our bridesmaid's dresses (but won't be in the color shown):
I look like I'm drowning in the dress.  Thank goodness for tailors!  But I really like it.  And I think it has special super hero powers...we just might be able to fly in these dresses ;)  None of you get that now but just wait til Katie and Ryan's wedding!!  And Katie looked GORGEOUS in the dress she tried.  And I have some pics.  But I will not post them cause that's some confidential information! And she actually is in the process of making a pretty tough decision.  She loved this dress but also fell in love with one of the first dresses she tried on back home with her mom.  And in all honestly, no matter what decision she makes, she's going to look AHHH-MAZING!  Both dresses are incredible and there's no wrong decision to be made.  

To celebrate our successful night of dress shopping, we went across the street to Cafe Benelux and enjoyed one of these:
I forget what this is called.  But it was a Raspberry Beer.  And it wasn't too sweet.  I liked it.

Friday:
Rest Day

I actually was a little tempted to get up and work out before work but then I remembered one of my Golden Rules: no working out on Fridays.  So I didn't.  

Since I wasn't working out today I felt like I needed to eat relatively healthy (for lunch at least).  Plus I had that beer the night before that had me feeling a little bloated.  So for lunch we went to Sendiks and look what we stumbled upon:

June is National Dairy Month here in the good 'ol state of Wisconsin.  So Kara got to milk a cow.  For realz.  And then we got stickers, cow pencils with milk jug eraser toppers and free fat free chocolate milk.  And let me tell you, chocolate milk is delicious!  I forgot how good that stuff is.  And to go along with it (although I'm not sure I'd normally pair these two items together) I had the brown rice spicy tuna sushi roll.  

Another reason I wanted to eat semi-healthy for lunch was because I knew I'd be doing a little splurging at dinner.  Friday night we went out for Elly's birthday.
The Birthday Girl.
Megra.

We hit up La Perla's rooftop and had some Strawberry Margaritas on the Rocks.  None of us had ever been here before but loved the rooftop.  It was super cute, very colorful and for a minute I felt like I was back in Mexico (until I looked over the railings and got a nice glimpse of National Ave).  And since I wasn't starving I just ordered an A la Carte item for $3 and felt completely satisfied.  Which was great.  I didn't overeat or overindulge as much as I was planning on.  Go me!  Ha.  But for real, it's hard to have that kind of self control sometimes.  Especially with all of that delicious cheesy food right at your fingertips.

AND when I got home my monthly Birchbox had arrived!  If you like getting monthly gifts in the mail you should check this out www.birchbox.com.  And use me as a referral!  I first heard about Birchbox through my brother's gf, Catie, and have been getting it for about a year now.  It's $10 a month and each month you get a box filled with beauty samples (everything from lotions, cleansers, nail polish, perfume, mascara to bandaids, granola bars and fake eyelashes).  And if you like the samples you can buy the full sized items that month only online for a discounted price.  It's a pretty great way to try some incredible products that you normally would never just stumble upon.  Here's this month's box:
It included:
* Apothederm Stretch Mark Cream
*Clean Well Individual Hand Sanitizing Wipes
*Scalisi Skincare Anti-Again Moisturizer Broad Spectrum SPF 30
*The Balm Cosmetics Stainiac in Beauty Queen (2-in-1 lip/cheek stain)
*Band-Aid Cynthia Rowley Dress Up Band-Aids (20 of them!)
*Birchbox Man Cologne Sample (in honor of Father's Day)

I'm pretty pumped to try out the moisturizer and stretch mark cream.  Lately I've been a bit obsessed with the whole topic of "aging" and the products to "fight" it are so dang expensive that I'm glad I got some samples to try out!

Saturday:
Long Run: 6 miles
Outside, HOT, 72 mins, 727 calories

This morning's run was a bit brutal.  Mainly because it was SO HOT out.  I had every intention of getting up as early as I could so I could beat the heat but when morning role around I was just too comfy to get out of my bed.  So I didn't hit the streets until 9 AM.  And it was already in the 80s.  Boo. But Max rode his bike with me while I ran and we suffered through it.  We did stop a few times to walk his bike up a pretty killer hill and to take some water breaks when we passed the golf course (2 times).  Our motivation was to get this run/ride over with so we could hit up the Farmer's Market for some Fresh Apple Juice and then head over to the Tosa Pool cause what else do you do when it's going to be 90 degrees out!  I didn't overdo it during today's run but I definitely think I probably could have pushed myself a bit harder.  I just wasn't in the mood too.  And I was scared to overdo it and feel crappy the rest of the day.  So we moved at a very comfortable pace for the both of us.  

So even though I did not enjoy my run I felt really good when it was done.  I was also happy to be able to not have to think about working out for the rest of the weekend!  And we had a great Saturday at the Farmer's Market, pool, running some errands and grilling out.  Perfect Summer Day.  

Sunday:
Rest Day

Boating with the ladies: 
I copied your photo Elly :)

Chillin' on the back of the boat.  That's Kara, Elly and I in the mirror.  Thanks for the pic Eleanor!

Great day with some great company.  What a difference one year makes.  Last year we wanted to have a boat day for Elly's bday but it was barely 60 degrees out and today it was almost 90!  

It was the perfect way to wrap up the weekend.  And we were done early enough for me to do some grocery shopping and loads of laundry too!  So all in all a good day.  

This week my workout schedule looks awfully similar to last weeks' except that I get to add a mile onto my Wednesday and Saturday run...yay.... :/  And I'm really hoping to finally do another TRX workout this week (which my fav blogger ever wrote a post about last week!).  I ran out of time last week so I'm hoping to fit it in...as early as tomorrow, hopefully.  

Ok, well hope everyone had a great weekend and didn't get sunburned!  

PS: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLY!!!!!


Sunday, June 3, 2012

well this is embarrassing....

So it's about time for another weekly post for me and well I'm a bit embarrassed that I don't have too many workouts to talk about!  And by not too many I mean I only have done one other run since my last post...last Monday...ugh.  To quickly recap, I ran 5 miles last Monday and then I ran 4 miles last Wednesday.  And that was it.  I was super busy all week long that I struggled to fit in any other work outs.  However, my being busy included a lot of physical labor so even though I wasn't at the gym I still woke up feeling quite sore a few mornings.  And to be completely honest with you.  I definitely had the time to do my 6 miler this weekend but I was soooo exhausted that I just couldn't do it.  Just the thought of running wore me out.  In the end I still got 9 miles in this week which isn't awful.  But it is down 4 miles from the week before.  The way I justified it was that I just completed the first 5 weeks of my training program without missing a beat and it was time for a tiny break.  I've still got 16 weeks of training left so I don't want to overdo it too much too soon that I absolutely hate running by September 22nd.

BUT this week wasn't a complete wash.  Those of you lucky enough to be my facebook friends already are aware of this but my Wednesday workout was super momentous- I WORKED OUT BEFORE WORK!!  4 MILES AT 5:30AM!  I've only gotten up to run before work 2 other times that I can think of.  And that was just to run some 2 milers.  This whole getting up early and working out thing definitely was not easy.  And I don't think I was very prepared.  I knew I wasn't going to be able to run after work at all last week so if I wanted to run it had to be done in the morning.  I didn't eat anything pre-workout because to me that meant getting up even earlier to prepare food.  And I paid for that almost a mile into my workout.  I felt like I was running on empty cause I basically was.  Do any of you morning exercisers have any tips for me??  What do you eat?  How soon do you work out after you eat?  Do you plan your entire workout out the night before or do you just wing it?  I didn't care for getting up early to run very much but I did love going on with the rest of my day not having to worry about working out later on!  So because of this, I'm going to attempt to keep doing at least 2 workouts before work every week.  Plus I think this will help me get into the mindset of running at earlier hours of the morning since the Half Marathon starts pretty early.

Because I didn't spend much time working out this past week, here are some things I did enjoy:
My sweet niece, Ava, Graduated from Kindergarten!

Spotted this at a local Fire Department.  Totally had to do a double take at first glance.

Enjoyed a Sushi Dinner w/Mal and my mom where Mal informed me that she still carries around pictures of my friends in her purse (their Christmas Card!)...stalker like tendencies....watch out ladies!
;)

A nice Saturday morning stroll to the Tosa Farmer's Market.

Brunch at La Reve w/my mom and sister.

Food Truck spotted in Tosa.  Hmm.

Saw our friend at the pool!  Bottom pic is Summer 2011.  Top pic is NOW.  Yikes.

Took a post-pool nap with Donnie.

And no pics to share but I also had a lovely dinner w/my mom, Mal and Lolo and Lola at Texas Roadhouse on Saturday as well as another great dinner with Kara and Kristi tonight.  

So overall I had a great week.  Super busy but loved every minute of it.  

And I'm definitely planning on getting back on track with my workouts starting tomorrow.  Here's a quick glimpse at what I'm hoping my week will entail:
*2 mile easy run
*XT
*4 mile speed work
*2 mile easy run/Strength
*6-7 mile long run

How about you guys?  Any big plans/goals for the week?