I'm sorry, I'm NOT sorry! :)

So this is going to seem like perhaps a little rant/rave, and I dont care! :) As some of you know I have begun a new little adventure with BeachBody and I AM LOVING THIS! You all know my heart will always be with running, however, about a month ago I decided to try to kick up my workouts with Asylum AND running. You know, so I can get these chicken wings looking right! :) hahha (and YES, Asylum is CRAY-ZEE, and I love love love it!) I have been at this for about 2 weeks and 3 days, and I am going to go ahead and brag a little but I had set some goals before I started, and this weekend I took my measurements to see where I was half way through, and I hit ALL of them already! :))) It is CRAZY! (Asylum is only 30 days long) And if any of you know me, knows that in college I was the first to NOT want to lift on weight days. But for some reason this is hitting it on the head with me! Obviously I am not about to go try out for the Olympics after all of this. But I just feel a sense of achomplishment seeing how much I can better my body!
*WARNING! WARNING!* This is going to be the rant portion of my blog, but the obesity problem in America makes me so "angry". I'm not sure if ANGRY is the right word... But I dont like it, and I dont care how many times I hear the excuse: "I can't help it,it runs in my family". You CAN HELP it! YOU CAN HELP YOURSELF! I am not sitting here saying every person needs to weigh 100 lbs! I DON'T WEIGH 100 LBS! Not even close. But what I get angry about is the excuses! I work 10.5 hour days EVERY day and sometimes will get suckered into babysitting after. I still make the time! You know why? Because I AM important to myself. I only have one chance to be the person I want to be. I do not ever want to get to a point in my life where I get winded from WALKING up a flight of stairs. I grew up an athlete and I am very competitive when it comes to certain things still. And perhaps that is what keeps me going so fiercely. I really just have a passion for this subject/topic. It is very hard to stick to something such as a workout, or eating healthy, especially when you may have 34895738957 other "important" things to do RIGHT now. But all you need is an hour every day! Use 30 to MOVE and 30 to FUEL! And fueling your body isnt just shoving some crackers in your mouth. I think it was about 3 months ago I saw a clip of Dr. Oz (NO i do not watch that show, I was flipping through and stopped on this) and he was having people guess ingredients in BREAD... and I was amazed by how much SUGAR was used to make bread! And that is what got me to really re-evaluate what I was eating daily. As you may know, I am a nanny to the Children Three, and I am always shocked on Mondays after thier mom has gone to the grocery store... Instead of fresh fruit and veggies, mom will buy "veggie stick chips" and "fruit snacks" instead. But if people really started looking at the ingredients and the AMOUNTS of junk in these "healthy" snacks that DO NOT KEEP YOU FULL, you may start to reconsider what you eat as well... So since my Dr.Oz shock, I have made a big effort to eat more "clean". I very rarely will eat chips or pretzels, instead I buy peanuts and almonds. When I go to the grocery store I will also stay away from the middle aisles that are full of OVER PRICED, OVER PROCESSED junk. And I can hear so many people now saying "eating healthy is expensive"... I wrote my college thesis on obesity in American Cities, I can understand where people are coming from...HOWEVER, no one said you had to buy a 7 day supply of salad stuff at a time. I buy enough for about 3 days. That way I am not throwing away rotten food and wasting money. We have also made vegetable dishes and frozen the leftovers for future meals. (hello gluten free eggplant parm that was so yummy! (: ) While on my little revamp of my food, I stumbled upon a blog of a woman who did a "no spend month", which one month a year her, her husband and daughter only had $250 to spend on EVERYTHING (not mortgage, but food, actvities, gas etc) Her husband and daughter also had celiac and was allergic to dairy. AND she shopped at Whole Foods! AND SHE DID IT! After reading that blog, and seeing Dr. Oz, I have just been trying to simplify, perhaps you may say channel my inner hippy :),  my spending and food and health. I know people think I may be crazy, but this is just important to me, just as perhaps, football is important to one person, or stamp collecting is important to another... I am not here to preach to people either. There are days when I eat some Goldfish because I am just in the mood for them. I am not claiming to be perfect!!! I just want to share my feelings and to let people know THEY CAN change thier habits to healthier ones and its NOT as hard as you may think. It is a mind game, but once you are ready to change, and make yourself important, you can do it! This subject has become a passion for me, and thanks to one of my buisness partners, Nina (among the others)  I am just loving that maybe I can help just 1 person, or 100 people. :) PS Nina is a mother to five, YES 5, young children and she still makes the time! :)
So here was another one of my random rants and raves. I'm sure there will be plenty more to come. :)
But just take this quote for what it is worth:
"You will either find a WAY, or you will find an EXCUSE"...
I'm sorry, I'm not sorry :)))

It's been far too long!

Wow, I just realized how LITTLE I've been blogging! Well the usual excuses are that my summer was busy, I had stuff to do, blah blah blah. :) But I guess it's time to fill you all in on my super exciting life, as I am sure you all have been DYING to hear about it. ;)

I think the last time I wrote I had mentioned some running goals I had. I have run a few races this summer, and they were great! It has been a lot less pressure not training for a full marathon, but I cant lie, in the back of my mind I am wondering if I should try another this spring... Perhaps just to see if I can do better??!? I am still wanting to do a race each month, so I am still trying to figure that all out.
Along with running, I have been sucked back into some strength training as well. If you read any of my old posts, you all know I quickly fell in love with the boot camps I was doing. But this girl is trying to save her pennies and quite frankly my schedule isnt optimal to drive to bootcamp after work... So I tried to decide what to do, because anyone knows that this girl doesnt "lift" at the gym! Come on now! :) So as of last week I started my first round of Insanity: The Asylum, which is the next program after Insanity. And let me tell you, it has been a good year and a half since I last did an Insanity workout and my body immediatly wanted to go into survival mode! But I kept up with my running despite my legs and knees begging me each night to just sit down and watch TV. So for the first time in FOREVER I actually did double workouts! :) I was pretty pumped! And I know my BFF would be proud to know I was doing double duty! :)

But besides that one super exciting tid bit of info, my summer came and went in the blink of an eye! I was able to take some vacations and had one of the best summers of my life! Things both in my personal and professional life are in full gear and I am so so so excited where things may end up within the next year! :) So stay tuned! Perhaps now you are all on the edge of your seat waiting for my next blog as to what is to come next! MUAHAHAHAH :)

Well look who it is :)

I haven't written on my blog for a long time, but a lot of changes have been occurring in my life abd I needed time to let things play out... For the first time in over 4 years I can finally say I am truly happy and back to the "old me". I find myself smiling all the time these days and I am so thankful for getting back to this place. I just have such a new outlook on everything. I don't want to say I regret the past 4+ years, but I am thankful that I am getting the chance to get back to ME. Maybe that's the new wise, older, days-away-from-being-30 me :). Hahah. I am also beyond thankful for all of the support from my family and friends. And I know I have apologized to many of you, I also want to thank you all for putting up with me for the past few years and knowing that the old Lynne would come back (thanks mom!!) :)  Despite everything I was dealing with starting in February/march, I was able to continue training for my first marathon in May. Although I finished 18 minutes slower than I wanted, I still finished and I'm pretty damned proud of that. I can't say that I will NEVER run another marathon, but I think my knees would be ok with me not doing so! The last 6 miles of that marathon were the most painful miles ive ever run, but like I said in my first few posts, I refused to quit. And I wont lie, as I was running the last .2 miles I let out a few tears. Not only had my life flipped a few weeks before that race, I realized that I just finished one of the toughest goals I'd set for myself despite everything that I was going through. On the back of my shirt that day I pinned a note that said "no matter how slow you run, you are still lapping everyone on the couch". I kept that in mind as I was running by mile marker 18-26. I refused to let the drama that was my life leading up to that day, stop me from fulfilling my goal. Plus my BFF "made" me get 26.2 tattooed on my foot on thanksgiving so I couldn't give up knowing I was permanently scarred :) ahahha.  I had so much support the last few weeks before the marathon and I thank all of you for either running with me, carb loading with me, sending me a running package, or sitting at the finish line for over 4 hours waiting for me! I seriously have the greatest people in my life right now and I love you all! In the holy Grail of running it spoke about the runners high and what to do after the race. Well, for me, that was a big question I had. Being days away from the dreaded third decade I decided that another full marathon isn't an awesome idea right now. So... I have decided to run a half marathon every month for the entire year (knees pending). I would love to prove to myself that I can obtain another physical goal ive set. I'm not going to run for PRs but rather to enjoy the experience and races for what they are: a chance to prove to myself that I am strong, even when others try to knock me down, I know I will be strong enough to finish a 13.1 mile run. To enjoy new races that I've never run before and to stay in good physical condition. I'm going to try to blog more about this process for the next year, but as I learned a few months ago, life happens. So I'll do my best to chronicle my runs and races. :) Thank you again everyone! For more than supporting my crazy marathon goal, but for just being unbelievably awesomely great people! :)

Week 5

It has been quite awhile since my last blog. I am sure everyone has been eagerly aniticipating my next entry. Ha. Just kidding. It's been a busy month with a little scare here at the end of it. 

First, last week my dad was brought to the hospital from work where it was determined he needed to get 3 stents in his heart... The doctor told us he was a cheeseburger away from a major heart attack... Needless to say, this shook me quite a bit. He is doing great now and has met with a nutritionist and he and my mom joined weight watchers. This is a great example of how someone who doesn't appear to be obese may not be healthy! I have decided to TRY to eat a little better. We all know I enjoy my food so I am going to try to cut down on my cheese and fast food comsumption. So far so good. I was craving mcdonalds last week and I never went :) go me. It was just a shock to me that my dad is actually getting older. Both of my parents were fairly young (my mom more so) when I was born so I never think of them as their current age. Obviously i know my dad is not invincible, but I just never would have thought this would've happened. After all it's not really 1999 anymore, although I do think so when I say "oh like ten years ago". :) 

Along with that, I am currently in the 5th week of marathon training and I am loving it more and more :). This past weekend I ran 9 miles!! It was a little bit of a struggle towards the end but I wasnt afraid to walk here and there. I have to find less hilly routes for my way back, that's for sure... And I finally have a pair of running shoes that are NOT giving me blisters! I am back to asics. I should never have tried a different brand! Nor gone up a size and a half!! These are only a half size bigger and so far so good, knock on wood. I also have been using an electrolyte replenishment powder for my water which has been working wonders for my shaking and hunger feeling. I also have tried to make sure I am eating carbs about a half hour before I run, chased with 2 shot blocks. Paul, the boot camp guru, told me I need to see a nutritionist because no matter what the big dawgs say at PR running, they are not close to being qualified to tell me about my shakey and starving feeling when running. I guess I should look into it. Oh and incase you missed it, I have started to do boot camp/insanity once a week for my cross training days. I did insanity yesterday and boy were my hamstrings on FIRE! But I love it. 

I have thought of a somewhat "resolution". Since we all know I'm not a fan of that, I guess I will say lifestyle changes. :) with the dreaded 30 slowly creeping on me I have realized I need to take better care of my skin. Espicuallu since this past week it looks like I am a 15 yr old waking up from a his first wet dream. My skin looks horrid! I have tried everything under the sun: noxema, clearisil, nuetragena, proactive, and bare minerals face junk. Nothing works. If anything bareminerals made my skin worse. And since we all know I am a slave to the sun once April comes my face could use some taking care of. I guess the one thing I have going for me is that I don't wear makeup?! Who knows. It will be a work in progress so I won't have to get Botox for my 30th birthday. :) 

Until then I am off to take advantage of this freakish warm weather and get ready for my half marathon in a few weeks :)

And Lynne keeps running, running, and running, running :)

Week 2 is half way done and I am loving this more and more... (talk to me in a month and a half and see if I feel the same way! Ha) 
I went over to the big dawgs yesterday to get some insight on my eating/shakey issue. Thank goodness for the people there! Super friendly and knowledgable! And instead of the awful texture of GU they introduced me to Cliffbar Shot Blocks... O.M.G! So good! Haha they are basically squares of "nutritious" gummies that you break off while you run. The big dawgs said something similar to Tony the tiger from boot camp, and said I just seem to go through my calories and glycogen stores quickly. So they recommend I eat 1 block every 30 minutes instead of 45-60. I ate one before I went for my 3 mile run outside and it was all good! Knock on wood! :) They also said to make sure I am eating more complex carbs vs protein an hour before I run because I am burning through the protein too quickly. (obviously replenish with protein post runs). They also told me to try an electrolyte powder for my water to also replenish those especially if I am at the gym sweating my brains out. Ahhh. I am so thankful for the help and that I am recognizing these issues with time to tweek what will work with me NOW and not 2 weeks to go. I was joking with the big dawgs and said I can't run with a cooler full of sandwiches, and they said I could cut up PB&J sandwiches into squares to put in my fanny pack for when I'm running ESP for my longer runs. Hmmm I may have to test it out after my half marathon next month. Does anyone else do this?? 
On a running note I got all bundled up last night for my first "cold weather" run. Because let's face it, my patience with the people at my gym is definately wearing thin. I purchased a saucony bright pink light weight running vest yesterday that came with a rechargeable small light for the dark. And I coupled it with a tank top and under armour jacket thing and 2 pairs of pants. And I was actually SWEATING a smidge when I got home :). Love it!!! And I don't know if it was the cold weather or just my super incredible athletic running ability (har har har) but I ran my 3 miles in 26 minutes!! (Including using my route with burncoat mountain!!) I was excited about that!  Anytime I have a pace below 9 minutes I will be a happy almost over-the-hill runner :). It's the small things right?! :) 
Two more runs for the week! Bring it on 7 miles Saturday! I am waiting for you! :)

“If the hill has its own name, then it’s probably a pretty tough hill.” - Marty Stern 

"Goals are not only absolutely necessary to motivate us. They are essential to really keep us alive." -Robert Schuller

Week 1 is in the books :)

Week 1 of training is done, and I am happy to report I am still excited about everything!
Saturday was about 60 degrees in January so of course I ran my 6 miles outside! Loved it!! But I am seriously debating calling a nutritionist or not... I choked down half of one of those GU things before I went to run (and I had an egg and cheese burrito and protein shake) so I thought id be good to go hungry wise... Not so much... I was running at a local park so after mile 3 I ran to my car to choke down some more of the GU but after running that next mile I still felt really shakey... So I ran to my car AGAIN and the only thing besides water I had was a day old Coke that I drank the rest of and finished the next 2 miles of my run fairly well... What am I honestly supposed to do about this?? In my fanny pack, I mean hydration belt, I wont be able to pack a few sandwiches to take along. There's only 17 more weeks of training to get it right... I'm going to head over to the Big Dawgs at PR running and ask them for some advise before I call my doctor. 
I have had this quote stuck in my head lately: "no matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everyone on the couch." I keep that in mind when I look at the calendar and see that by the end of the month I am already going to be running 10 miles at a time. I have to admit that although I am excited to just be able to run this marathon, I do want a good time. And I get a little anxious about the whole time thing. I guess it's the athlete in me and I have to keep in mind no matter what there are sooooo many people who didn't choose to do what I am doing...
So you know you are old when you pluck out 4 grey hairs and still see plenty more but stop because you're too afraid to pull out the brown hair... Cripes this is depressing! Last week my hairdresser told me I shouldn't think about dying my hair until it's 20% grey... ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? Sorry, hairdresser Lynn but I may be going to get a second opinion even if I've been going to you forever! 
Until then I am off for week two! Some changes in the days because of work but i will get my milage in don't you worry :)

"If you aim for nothing, you'll hit it every time"

Oh you resolutioners you!!!

Ok, I guess I understand how some people may have a new years resolution, but it really aggravates me when it is to crowd the gym for a month and make people who go to the gym every week every month throughout the year to wait to use the equipment. Chances are you have wanted to loose weight for a lot longer than new years day, so why wait until that one day to go for it? I can guarantee I won't see more than half of the skank dressed too much makeup wearing girls within a month. If you were serious about your fitness goals you wouldn't "dress up" to workout. You wouldnt care what you look like, because trust me, if youre doing it right, you won't be looking pretty after! GAWD, sorry for that rant...
Anyway, I was able to finagle a treadmill for the 30 minutes I needed it on day 1. 3 miles weren't so bad on the treadmill tuesday. And neither were the 4 I did Wednesday night. (yes I realized I looked at the wrong week and I did an extra mile last night). It is way too cold to run outside for me this week, 0 degrees isn't really something my lungs can handle. But not too much to report about my runs. I finished 3 miles in 27.57 minutes and 4 miles in 36.10 minutes, so that's good. On the treadmill I try to run between a 6.5 and 6.8. Sometimes at the end of a run I kick it up to 7.something to get the last few yards done. 

So it is official, people have the 20 mile "wall", but mine comes at mile 4... As soon as i approach that mile marker my body goes into starvation mode! I ate a banana before i went to the gym and yet again I was starving! It doesnt happen with a 3 mile run, but seriously it's the 4 mile wall! Should I go to the doctors or something and see what else I can do? I'm thinking I may bring some gatorade and water so I can get some calories by sipping on a little Gatorade... My next purchase is def going to be hydration belt for when I run outside!!  
I did realize that running longer distances are going to be tough on the treadmill. I usually don't mind it but if I got bored before I would throw in intervals to break it up, and I'm not so sure Hal wants me to be doing that on my regular run days. I'm hoping the weather stays on the milder side...
Oh oh oh! So guess who the guest speaker is at the Hyannis half dinner? Joan Benoit Samuelson! I'm still thinking about going to it... I may just have to break out of my shell and interact with people that night! :) I've never gone to one of the dinners at my previous races but id like to hear what she has to say... 
Just think after this Sunday, I will be down to 17 weeks! Eeek!

"Why are all these people following me?" ~Marathon T-Shirt

And it all starts today!! :)

Well it all starts today... The beginning of the end! Ha. I was prepping for almost 2 months and I have to admit I boycotted running the past two weeks. I had a lot to do for the holidays and just decided to rest before the next 18 weeks ahead. Santa hubby gave me my new running shoes and socks and Santa dennis and Santa mom-in-law were very generous and I can't wait to head to Dicks for a little shopping spree for some cold weather gear :)
Over the past 2 weeks I also signed up for a half marathon in Hyannis that falls on the exact weekend I need it to for my training. And I will be running the Boston tune up race in April in Upton that I ran last year, it's a nine mile race so I will have to run a little extra after. But I think that the more races I sign up for during training the easier it will be for me to get those long weekend runs in. I am really excited and a little nervous for all of this. As I wrote in each running day on my calendar I decided that it is do able. Even the dreaded 15, 18, and 20 mile Saturday's. I just really have to be mindful of the eating and keeping enough fuel in me. And I have decided that if I miss a Wednesday night run it won't be the end of the world. Dont get me wrong, I will be doing everything I can to NOT miss a run but life is life... If anyone ever wants to join me on my long runs I will more than welcome you! Afterall, I may need you to carry me after my knees give out! Ha.
So here is to a new year, a new challenge, and a new perspective! Happy 2012 everyone!! 

Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect. ~A. Cohen