Trail Running

This morning I decided to go for a little run because it was 10:00 am and it was 80 degrees outside. You know... because that's normal. There's this lovely little trail here called the Al Buehler Trail or the Wa/Duke (Washington Duke) trail. It's pretty much perfect: fully wooded (shaded), gravel trail, 3 miles, AND it makes a loop so you end up where you started. Today I tried to keep my usual intervals: 2 minutes walking and 3 minutes running. However, that proved difficult since this trail is HILLY! Oh, hello hills... nice to meet you! Anyway, I had fun, and it took me exactly 40 minutes to walk/jog the trail. It was lovely. After looking at concrete for my entire life, this is a nice change of pace. I'm thinking this will certainly become part of my weekly routine. I didn't bring Blazer this time, but I'm relatively certain he would think this was doggie heaven. Maybe he'll come next time.

It's almost magical!
Oh...just a little babbling brook that I ran by... you know...
I had that song from "Little Orphan Annie" running through my head... you know the one....(cue music) "I think I'm gonna like it here!!!!"

Wait... I Like Running??

Believe me, no one is more surprised than me. I am by no means a runner, and let's just be honest with ourselves - I will never, ever run a marathon. However, strangely enough, lately I have been trying my hand at running, and I'm glad to report that I really like it, and I'm not half bad!

I love walking, so that's my go-to outdoor workout. However, I knew that I needed to up the ante, so I decided to incorporate multiple one minute jogging intervals into my walk. At first I must have had terrible form because my calves and hips hurt so much I could hardly walk the next day. So I started focusing more on good form and the pain went away.

I've been building up, and now I have a 50 minute workout that is working great for me. I walk briskly or do the elliptical for the first 15 minutes. Then I do 35 minutes of 5 minute intervals - 2 minutes walking, 3 minutes running. Some of you are probably laughing at me right now (and rightfuly so... it's silly to be proud of 3 minutes of running at a time), but if you add it all up, I'm running like 21 minutes! I'm not sprinting, but I don't think my pace is too shabby: 5.2 mph. We've been lucky in Houston to have cool weather with very low humidity, so I've been running outside quite a bit. Sometimes I get so into my Lady GaGa or Ke$ha that I forget to look at my watch and accidentally run 4 or 5 minute intervals! I'm finding that it's easier to run on the treadmill at the gym... there I can run 10 or 12 minutes without stopping at a slight incline.

The thing I love most about running, though, is that it's getting me results. I recently stopped doing boot camps because my beloved workout partner of two years went and got pregnant so she can't do boot camp anymore. I know... the nerve of her! :-) I think the boot camps were building up too much muscle and now I'm losing some muscle, but I'm kind of OK with that. I'll add back some strength soon, but I'm happy with my intense cardio for now. After I started doing my 50 minute running workout 3-5 days a week, I lost 8 pounds in the blink of an eye. I'm entering a 10 pound segment of the scale I thought I may never see again. To be fair, my foray into running coincided with an intensely stressful situation that caused me to eat very little for an entire week, so that probably helped. But I do think the running was the tipping point. That success really motivates me to keep running!

I'm not worried in the least about speed or distance. I just concentrate on not cheating on my intervals. I think I can do even more than I'm doing now, and I'm pretty excited about it. So who knew? I like running!!

31 Workouts in 31 Days

Happy October! It's time to break out the fall wreath, buy some pumpkins, have a pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks, and... Workout!! That's right. Today I'm issuing a challenge for myself and all of my blogging friends:

31 Workouts in 31 Days!

There are several reasons why you should join me in this challenge:

• Any extra exercise you do now will allow you to go into the holiday season at your best, so you can have that extra slice of pie or serving of mashed potatoes (or both. let's be honest.)


• October is finally COOL, so you don't have to do every workout at the gym. You can vary your workouts with walks and runs and fun outside things and not die from a heatstroke while doing them, which is a bonus.


• If you succeed in working out every day this month (and you will), going back to regular 3-5 day a week workouts will seem EASY!


• Things always get busy in October, but if you take on this challenge, you have a ready-made excuse to leave work right on time - you have to go work out!

Here are my rules for the challenge, but you can make up your own rules if you'd like:

1. Any kind of exercise counts - walking, running, gym, cardio, weights, yoga, pilates...


2. You should aim for 45 minutes per workout, but 30 minutes will do in a pinch.


3. All 30 or 45 minutes do not have to be done at once. You could do 15 minutes here and 15 minutes there.


4. You don't have to work out EVERY day - you just need to get in 31 workouts in 31 days. So if you miss a day, all hope is not lost. You'll just have to find a day when you could double up - maybe a walk before work and gym in the evening? Or you could just kick your own butt for an hour-long workout, which could technically count as two 30 minute workouts - and you're back on track!

The main goal is for me to get back into a routine because let me tell you - September was no good... no good at all. However, I'm feeling optimistic about October!! We're going to make it happen!!

I've added a gadget to the right side of my blog where I'm going to update my daily workouts so you can keep me accountable and track along with me. You can see that I've already tracked my October 1st workout!

Will you commit to doing 31 workouts in 31 days with me? Why not post on your blog about your commitment? Leave a comment if you're with me!! (...And even if you're not with me, leave a comment because I still love you. Lots of you are having babies and having babies is a pretty good excuse, so all you mamas out there are off the hook for now.)

Time to load up the iPod...

A Noble Workout Partner Who Can Find?

"A noble workout partner who can find? She is worth far more than rubies." ~Proverbs 31:10

OK.... so maybe I took a few liberties with that translation! But still... a good workout partner is a gem for sure!!

When we moved into our new house over a year ago, my next door neighbor Diana was the first person I met. She is super nice and wonderful in every way, and the only thing I have against her is that she's a Longhorn. But we have become friends despite that fact. She says "gig em" when she texts me, and I watch UT games when she comes over. She wears maroon to our supper club, and I turn a blind eye to the UT garden gnome in her front yard. Whatever works.

The best thing about Diana is that she is a GREAT workout partner! We both joined the gym in our neighborhood, and last March, we started going to boot camp once a week with a personal trainer there, Charissa. Y'all... you should have seen us at those first boot camps - it was pathetic. I'm pretty sure we couldn't do ten squats or ten push-ups in a row to save our lives.

But, we stuck with it, and we began to get better and better. The boot camps started out as groups of five to ten people, but it gradually dwindled down to .... just the two of us. I never thought I'd be referred to as "hard core" when it came to something like boot camp but wonders never cease. We enjoyed this personal training for quite some time until the gym was on to us, and they stopped the free boot camp :-( Sad. Luckily, our friend Charissa agreed to keep training us. Now that it was just us, she really turned it on and made it her personal mission to "kill us" every week.

Not long ago, Charissa got a new job at a gym closer to her house. I may or may not have cried. We're very happy for her but very sad for us! However, she taught us well, so we quickly decided that we would carry on. We got a super cute notebook, decided on Mondays and Thursdays, and got back to work. In our little notebook, Diana plans Monday workouts and I plan Thursdays. Between those days we do our own workouts, though we are excited for cooler weather when we can walk/run together.

Basically, it's our goal to outdo one another with the difficulty of our workouts. We have both vowed to do whatever the other plans. As we walk out to the car after our workouts, the conversation usually goes something like this:

Me: I'm so sorry if I hurt you!
Diana: No, it's totally OK! I want you to hurt me.
Me: Yeah, I guess I kind of meant to hurt you.
Diana: I'll get you back on Monday.

The next day we usually text each other:

Me: Sore?
Diana: Yep.

So you see, we're totally made for each other! haha! I'm proud to say that those girls who couldn't do ten squats in a row can now do 40 squats holding a 25 pound weight over our heads!!

We've invited our husbands multiple times to join us, but they have declined. I think that secretly they are scared we will kick their butts. ...and we probably would :-) Diana's husband says it makes him tired just to read what we write in our little notebook.

I better rest up now because Diana is planning tomorrow's workout and we may or may not have had a few margaritas while watching football on Saturday night (UT of course... A&M wasn't on TV, people!)

Target is my True Love

A while back, I did a post entitled Hobby Lobby is my Homeland. Well, if Hobby Lobby is my homeland, then Target is my true love. I could spend many blog post extolling the virtues of Target, but this time I'd like to focus on the clothes. I have always loved Target clothes. Granted, sometimes they are cheap and ugly. But if you look long enough, you will find a gem! My family and friends have long joked that I have some kind of special Target powers. I always seem to find things there that no one else can find. Target has a pretty quick inventory turnover, and every Target store has different items. This makes shopping difficult. You pretty much have to go the week they put it out, or it's gone. The funny thing is that I don't actually go to Target that much... maybe once a month. But I never walk out empty handed. That's why Brent is probably glad I only go once a month. Last Saturday, I went in for some Glade plug-ins for my classroom. I came out with.... um, two full outfits. I thought I'd share my great buys with you here!

How cute and spring-like is this little skirt? It's got pink and orange diamonds and, if you ask me, looks like it is from Banana Republic. Pretty sure you won't find a skirt like this at Banana for $25.

With the skirt, you're going to want an adorable little tank and sweater. I love these Merona tanks - they are form fitting but not tight, long enough, and have a cute little ruffle around the neck.

This Mossimo Supply sweater is perfect for summer... it covers you up like a cardigan, but has short sleeves. The texture and buttons are fun details. The beige color of the sweater matches the skirt perfectly.

On to the next outfit... I love this print Merona dress also for only $25... it's got a modern looking pattern of dots and stripes in a purple / navy pattern. It looks adorable with...

This fantastic gold belt that was on sale for $9! Yes, please.

I did not buy the following two items, but had I seen them, I would have! For you, my faithful readers, I bring you: A soft, swingy cardigan

And a precious little pink rosette tee.

For those of you that made it to the end of this post, I have a bonus for you. I want to brag for just a tiny little second about the progress I've made eating healthy and working out. As my friend Lora says, "Maybe all that crazy exercise calendar stuff really works!"

Here is a picture of me from two years ago. I won't even tell you what size that dress is.

For the last 8 months or so, I have been working really hard at eating healthy and working out hard and a lot. I have been a faithful boot camp attender! Here is me this morning before work in my new Target outfit. I am so proud of myself! That is a size six pencil skirt, people!!! Yay!