My friend Ralph

 Today has just been one of those days. It's my first day off in over a week. I was super excited to start it off with a good workout and then see a movie and maybe do a little shopping. Well, that did not happen. Instead I ended up spending my afternoon in the veterinary clinic with my dog. Luckily she's fine, just not the day off I imagined.

  And my workout...

So the trainers at my gym got this new workout called "The Dirty Thirty". It's 30 exercises, 30 reps of each in 30 minutes (or as fast as possible). Since at the moment I'm no where close to actually surviving the whole "Dirty Thirty" I did a slight variation, only 15 reps of a majority of the workouts. Now, this may have been ok if a sane individual were doing it. But no, it was me...

 I don't think I have mentioned my competitive problem  before. Well, I am super competitive. Sometimes insanely so. Why? I have no clue. And most of the time it is with the weirdest stuff.  Well, as I was doing my little workout there were 2 trainers also doing the Dirty Thirty. And for whatever reason my mind was all like, "C'MON! YOU ARE JUST AS GOOD AS THEY ARE!!!! GO FASTERRRRRRRR! FASTERRRRR!" These were trainers... They get paid to be in shape! And me... I'm slowly getting in shape. Even though my trainer was telling me that it wasn't a race (my brain ignored this) and I could take me time ("Yeah right!") I did not listen. To make a long story not so long, I ended up having to "Call Ralph" in the middle of my workout. Now, having gone through some truly hellish workouts in my younger days, this was the first time I ever vommed while working out. Now, it was a hard workout and all, but I was not expecting the sudden call from Ralph. It has been a weird day...

On the bright side, I did get a good workout in, even if my competitive edge threw me off course a bit, and I did get to spend some quality time with my pup.

I did not wear the right bra for this...

   When is the last time you did a jumping jack? Me? It was at least 7 years ago, if not more. Well, jumping jacks were on my trainer's list for my monthly evaluation. My first thought when he told me was, "I did not wear the right bra for this." Which made him really nervous and embarrassed. I was half kidding, but my "girls" were not. I was never a member of the itty-bitty-titty-committee, I have always been large and in charge. And those of you out there who are blessed with "a rack" know that you have certain bras for certain activities. I was not wearing my heavy duty, secret service sports bra that is really necessary for jumping activities. After some internal debating on whether I would take BW up on postponing the jumping jacks I thought, "Screw it! Do I really care what anyone in here thinks about my jiggly boobies?" No, I did not care one bit. And it was only a minute's worth of jumping jacks, so right sports bra or not, it wasn't going to kill me...
Ok, so back to the actual jumping jacks. BW asked if I had done jumping jacks, I laugh, "Of course I have!" Then the moment came to do one... And I froze. It was like spelling a really simple word and getting all confused because it doesn't look right. I knew what to do it just seemed all wrong. It was a tad bit embarrassing. Oh well, if my life wasn't embarrassing I would have no good stories to tell you!

As I said it was an evaluation day with my trainer. This time I got to see what my max out weights were. I actually surprised myself quite a bit. Having not formally lifted weights in almost 5 years I was really unsure where I was at. Well, I benched 115 lbs, which is more than I ever did in high school, and squatted 145 lbs! Now that I know where I stand I am excited to beat my record next during next months evaluation!

Now the biggest area of improvement was my plank. On the first day I started 2 months ago I could only hold a plank for 24 seconds. And they were 24 seconds of pure hell.

TODAY I HELD A PLANK FOR 55 SECONDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I more than doubled my plank time! My trainer was super excited! It is so exhilarating finally being able to see and feel real change!

That first half mile...

That first half mile... Man is it a bitch.

If there is anything that keeps me from running it is usually that first half mile. It is terrible. My inner fat girl has plenty to say during that time. "You could be watching tv right now..." "This is no fun, just go home and lay on your comfy couch" or "Do you realize how ridiculous you look running" and "Let's just go eat some ice cream and call it a day."

If the first half mile is so terrible why do I keep running? I ask myself this every run. And the answer is simple: I run for that second half mile, and that second mile, and the third, and the fourth... Once I power past my inner fat girl, excuses, achey feet, and get into that second half mile I hit my groove. I feel like I could run forever. I love hitting my stride. It is one of the best feelings.

So whatever your first half mile may be, power through, the other side is beautiful!

COLOR ME RAD!

 I haven't forgotten about you! Since my 5k on the 27th life and work has be super busy. I've finally gotten a bit of free time to tell you about my first 5k!

It was honestly more fun than I could have hoped for. Everyone was in a fantastic mood, there was music blasting at the starting line and everyone taking pictures. And this was all with not so favorable weather conditions. That morning it was a bit on the cooler side with a 100% chance of rain. It actually did start to rain about half way into the race. The rain made for an interesting mix with the color. By the end of the race I had never been so colorful in my life! It was so much fun!

For my first 5k I am pretty darn proud of myself. My time actually surprised me and was better than I was expecting! And I ran the entire time! Finishing was honestly one of the best feelings in the world! I am all signed up and ready to go for my next Color Me Rad in July. By then I hope to shave at least 5 minutes off my time, if not more! In between that time I hope to find some smaller races to to run as well. Each day I can see and feel the progress I'm making. It's amazing and so worth all the time, sweat, and soreness!

Before the race.

Crossing the finish line!

I came, I ran, I conquered.

The finished product!