Iron Power is On

Just in the nick of time for the week things got interesting. And by that of course I mean workout stuff. I had an amazing workout last night which I will talk about in a minute but let me share my very thrilling news for today.  Tonight is the return of my beloved Iron Power class.  A class I took religiously twice a week for over a year.  When Amanda left the gym so too did Iron Power.  My class was no more. I have missed my class.  It is preposterous to me that a gym does not have a strength training class.  And yet we had a million boot camp circuit style classes but not a single one focused solely on lifting. I have been bummed about this for months.

With Amanda getting the new management position at the new gym, she gets to teach classes once again and fill in for instructors when they are gone.  This morning I got a lovely text indicating that she was going to be teaching tonight at 5:30 at the new gym. Iron Power. I was happy. I am happy. This is exactly what I needed.  While I have had some solid workouts this week, I am ready tonight to simply be told what to do.  Iron Power was a great class because it hit all the major muscle groups and worked them hard and efficient.  It was wonderful.  I have missed it. By joining the gym this weekend I am now ready and available to take the class tonight. I am pretty sure the universe knew what they were doing because that sounds about perfect to me for the night.

Last night I actually felt really good. I had intended to do a 2 mile warm up run on the treadmill but honestly I was feeling great.  I also had a little time to kill and for the hell of it I wanted to push myself just a little bit more.  So after 2 miles I just kept running. And I bumped my speed up to 6.5, which is pretty high for me. It has been a long time since I’ve ran at this speed. Yes I have in my life but this was a while ago. I ran a full 3.1 (5k) in exactly 29 minutes 30 seconds so a pace of 9:30.  Slowly but surely getting a little better.  My body is getting much more conditioned to this. I felt great, happy and alive. The way I am supposed to feel with a run.

After my 5k, I headed down to the weights for leg day. I had already worked up a pretty solid sweat from running which I swear helps tremendously in keeping my heart rate up while lifting. Thus more calories burned. This is one of the main reasons I always start with a little cardio.  I had a solid workout plan for the night.

I actually started with the third set of exercises on the list because that is what machine was available first. Plus heavy squats are better done with the freshest legs anyway.  I didn’t do extremely heavy squats, just ones that I knew I could squat really low. The focus for me last night was deep low squats.  Really trying to get my booty down to the ground.  Okay not really to the ground but as low as I could go.  With that said I loaded up a barbell to 135 pounds and squatted my butt down low.  I did 10 regular squats and ended up doing a pulsing low squat of 10 each round.  Good times. My ass was on fire at the end of that set.

We then moved over to the smith rack for round 2 of exercise (the first set on the list)  These were some pretty tough moves as well.  Medium weight deep squats consisted of 50 pound barbell squats where the goal is to sit down on a medicine ball. Yup, the goal is to get your ass to touch the medicine ball so you know you are going low enough. This provides a very deep squat and is utterly effective. These were actually fun and I will have to work them into leg day in the future again.

Set 3 (the middle set on the list) was probably the easiest round because it was the last I took it a little bit easier.  Let me say step ups are brutal but that depends on how much effort you are putting out.  For instance step ups can be the worst exercise in the world when I do a higher step and higher weight.  There is the small step and then a higher up step that I normally use.  If I want a brutal workout I use the higher step 2 with a 40-50 pound weight.  Depending on the severity of torture I want to endure.  Last night I went light.  I just used the small step and 40 pounds so it wasn’t too awful.  But like I said, last group of exercises and my legs were hurting.  What was fun was the smith rack leg press.  This is a different angle of leg press. Fairly straight up and down. You lie below the bar and push it up with your feet.  Leg press style. I wasn’t sure exactly how much weight to load on there.  I started with 160 pounds and did my first rep of them. I had written down 15 presses but honestly I quickly realized it was just too damned light for me.  I did 20 of them no problem.  On my next set of them I added another  90 pounds to it so I was at 250 pounds and in all honesty I still think it might have been slightly too light because I still did 20 reps of them. 

General rule of thumb is if you can do any more than 15 reps you are probably going too light.  10-15 is the range you want to hit.  But I also didn’t want to keep loading the machine up because honestly I had to unload it every time to accommodate the people who were working out with me.  But it was refreshing to realize that I am capable of a lot. I was pretty much dripping sweat the whole time.  I finished my evening with 700 calories burned which is a very solid night for me.  90 minutes, 700 calories is perfect. 

I thought there was potential to be sore from this workout but I didn’t feel anything last night and slightly disappointed I didn’t wake up feeling anything either.  Of course as the day has progressed on thus far I am starting to feel it a little bit and because I am gluten for punishment I kind of love the feeling. My quads and my ass are starting to feel the burn or pain. 

Which comes full circle to my excitement over Iron Power tonight.  My legs are kind of burning and I’ve had two crazy killer workout nights in a row and for the most part am excited to have someone else lead me for a change and kick my butt.  It’s refreshing every now and then. Don’t get me wrong I have really learned to appreciate the art of preparing my own workouts and kicking my own butt. I have found a general love for it to be honest.  But even the most motivated driven person needs a night off now and then.  Plus I need a bit of a break from running, given the sore in my legs that is forming a nights rest might not be uncalled for.  Of course my interpretation of rest is something entirely different.

My “rest” is hopefully get to the gym and get in at least a 10 minute -1 mile- warm up run before Iron Power and then in Iron Power there will definitely be leg tracks and squatting.  And then hopefully it my legs can handle it at least a 1 mile run post Iron Power.  And this is what I consider a good light night.

I really shouldn’t push myself to do a 30 minute run tonight and without the option of Iron Power that was exactly what I was going to do tonight. I have been feeling really good with my running but at some point your body does start to revert and go backwards and needs a day of rest.  I realize I have been hitting the running kind of hard anyway.  Saturday was 2 miles, Sunday 7 miles, Monday 4 miles, Tuesday 3 miles. If I can just manage an easy 2 miles tonight I won’t be too upset about it.

Generally I have a plan for the remainder of my week that looks like this;

Tonight: Iron Power, 2 mile run.

Thursday: 3 mile run. Back/back/triceps workout

Friday: Rest day with perhaps an hour of Barre class in the evening at the new gym that I am interested in trying. This is active recovery. Lower key, no major warm up or sweat. Still my rest day

And either Saturday or Sunday it is my intent to do a long outdoor run.  I do not have a race this weekend but I plan to get in at least an 8 mile run if not maybe 9 miles. We will see.  The following Saturday is a half marathon so it’s not unrealistic to do a 9 mile run this weekend.  And the opposite day of my run I will most likely do at least an hour of strength training but then again I might not, who knows.  Either way it all looks like a solid plan to me.

For the time being, today, I am beyond thrilled for the return of my beloved Iron Power tonight. I cannot wait. This is exactly what I needed.  Thank you universe.

Speed it Up

I felt shockingly good last night at the gym.  I say shockingly because I didn’t really feel like it as per typical of my afternoon slump that wants to trick my brain into thinking that exercise is crappy and something I most definitely do not want to participate in.  Yes, most days I fight that horrible 2-4 PM slump where I literally have to will my body to stay awake, stay focused and stay motivated enough to drive myself to the gym.  Since I have created a pretty solid almost 2 year habit of going to the gym after work most days the gym wins out.  I know I really must not be in the right frame of mind to gym if I skip it.  This has probably only happened a couple times in two years.

Anyhow, back to yesterday. I got to the gym with the intention of running a 5k. Seemed like a good time to do that.  And then post 5k I was meeting a friend, Michelle, to do a chest and shoulder workout as per her request.  I’m pretty easy when it comes to workouts, someone suggests what they want to do and ususally I’m on board for it.  About 4:15 or so I jotted down a little workout.

I got to the gym and immediately got on my treadmill.  I started out at a 6 mph pace, thinking that I could go down if I felt like it. But after a first couple brutal minutes, it always takes my brain a few minutes to adjust to the idea of running), I started feeling much better. So I bumped it up to 6.1 for a while.  When I hit the 12 minute mark I was like, you know what I’m actually feeling great so let’s bump it up some more, 6.2 here I come.  I ran for a while at 6.2 and starting do mathematical calculations in my head.  At this pace I’d be close to a 30 minute 3.1 5k time.  But because I ran for 12 minutes sub 6.2 (30 minute 5k pace) I’d be a little short and therefore I’d have to bump the speed up at some point to compensate.  Yes, these are the calculations that take place in my brain.  At some point I upped it to 6.3, and that still felt okay, so 6.4 I went for a little while.

As I got closer to the 30 minute mark, around 28 1/2 minutes I realized I’d probably be a tiny bit shy of my 30 minute 5k mark so I did what any obsessive goal driven person would do I went to 7 miles per hour on the treadmill.  What the hell, let’s run this out.  So for about a minute and a half I finished off at a 7 mph pace which is a real sprint for my short little legs and I of course succeeded in my sub 30 minute 5k time.  It’s nice to crank out a few of those on occasion.  Lately I’ve been running at a 5.8-6 mph pace on the treadmill, NOT in line with a 30 minute 5k, so it’s refreshing to know that when conditions are right I’ve still got one in me.  I felt great.  The treadmill shut off. It automatically presets to only do a 30 minute run before it shuts down. You literally have to manually make it go to 60 minutes before you run if you desire longer than a 30 minute workout. 

At this point I got a text from my friend Michelle saying she was almost there and she was going to warm up for a couple minutes on a treadmill so I decided to just start the treadmill again and finish out another 9 tenths of a mile so that I had completed a total of 4 miles. So yes, a total of 4 miles in around 38 minutes and a few seconds.  And the funny thing is I felt amazing afterwards.  Guess it’s not that funny since it’s all them endorphin’s pumping thru me.  

We then hit up my chest/shoulder workout and it was good. I felt it. I went heavy.  I pushed myself and made the most of the exercises.  I’m kind of a strong girl really. I often forget my own capabilities.  I logged about 45 minutes of weights and finished up the night just shy of an hour and a half workout and right around 600 calories burned.  I will take it.

I stopped at the grocery store on the way home, successfully managed to avoid the pastries and cookies that my brain was telling me I wanted. I did get a jar of peanut butter which is always quite dangerous but it’s still a better option than cookies.  I ate me some peanut butter. Probably too much but whatever.  Then Chris & I cooked stuffed bell peppers for dinner. So delicious. I don’t cook as we all know but there are a few things in this world I will help prepare.  Stuffed peppers are one of those yummy exceptions.  FF ground turkey mixed with onions and tomato paste spooned inside bell peppers and baked in the oven.  So good. And healthy. And perfect.

Pretty much an evening exactly the way I like it. And now today the sun is shining. I feel good. I feel happy.  All good things.  Tonight I am going to work up a heavy and hard killer leg workout. That is my focus tonight.  I will do a warm up 2 mile run. I like how I’m expanding my warm up runs from 1.5 to 2 miles.  I might try and go a smidge faster but we will see. 2 mile run and then it’s going to be brutal leg day. I honestly need a really good brutal leg day.  I haven’t had one in a while so tonight is going to be perfect. I feel really good right now so of course this sounds like an amazing amount of fun at this moment in time, but I am certain later that slump will kick in and try to convince me that I don’t want to do a heavy leg day. But whatever.  I will.

I don’t think I have much else on the agenda to talk about today so I am going to call it at this. Be back tomorrow to talk about leg day… eek.

Running thru Self-doubt

I heard this this morning and I laughed and nodded my head at the same exact time. Truth.

“Your inner critic is a plastic surgeon. He’s opened a private practice inside of your head.”

And suddenly it all made sense.  That naggy little voice that tells me my thighs are too big or my stomach looks fat from that angle. That’s a freaking plastic surgeon living inside of me.  Makes sense really. All the I am not good enoughs and the I need to lose a little more weight, etc., that’s all coming from my inner plastic surgeon.  Totally epic.  I had to shut that voice up a few times this weekend. That voice that tried to make me feel like a failure for being hungry and eating.  Okay maybe eating too much crap that probably wasn’t necessary.  Whatever.  I shut that bitchy nag right up because this weekend I decided that I WAS good enough after all.  But I’m sure it’s just a passing thought really.

Saturday morning I got up and went to my mom’s house where we first made a stop at my Grandpa’s nursing home room.  I haven’t talked about this yet, but my grandpa, my mom’s dad who she is very close to is dying.  He recently got moved into an assisted living facility to be taken care of, and now they have called in hospice.  He has cancer. Terminal, spreading cancer.  Anywhere from 2-6 weeks they think.  It’s not a fun process at all. His mind is still there.  He is still a sweet little old man. His body is just severely failing him. An entire lifetime of smoking cigars.  Anyhow, we stopped by and visited for a while.

Then we went to Gym 1. Old gym. They were having an open house so we thought we’d just check it out. It was yucky.  You could plainly see they were catering to body builders.  It felt yucky and we only stayed like 20 minutes tops and then we left to go sign up at Gym 2. Gym 2 is MUCH smaller than I had even realized on first assessment.  Ugh.  But it does have classes. Even if I was paying $27.00 for the sheer availability to classes it’d be worth it. Oh and the pool and rock wall and spin bikes.  I ran 2 miles on the treadmill to try it out. Fancy new treadmills with TV’s built in and all that entertainment at your fingertips. Literally.  I liked the treadmill. Then I did a little bit of lifting just to assess the situation.  It wasn’t that good. But I am notorious for not loving change and taking a while to warm up to stuff.

I think once I take classes and log more time there things will be better.  Eventually. We will see how it all plays out.  After we worked out we got some food and went back to my Grandpa’s again to take him food and hang out a little bit more.  Then I went home and ended up being bored out of my mind.  It’s been a long time since Chris had to work a weekend and I had forgotten how easy it is to get bored all by yourself.  I guess when you have a short attention span that is.

Yesterday morning I did not really want to get up to run. But I attribute this to the overwhelming reality that I am not a morning person and hate waking up.  I don’t care what I’m doing I am never going to love waking up early and it’s even more vicious when the purpose of it is to physically exhaust myself.  It’s a real mind fuck for me to make myself do it.  I have to really want it, which apparently most of the time I do.  (except last weekend)

The weather was holding out nicely. It was a little cold but not bad. It seemed a little rainy but not bad.  I had to go by myself because Chris was working so that is always a real challenge as well. To want something bad enough to do it yourself.  But I knew I needed to do it because I felt like such a failure when I previously bailed so I just had to do it.

By the time I actually get up and get driving and wake up I start to feel better.  I felt pretty good honestly by the time I drove the hour to the race. It wasn’t raining and it was decent enough out that I didn’t think I needed a long sleeve shirt to run (thought I’d get hot right away) and instead just opted for a t-shirt.  Normally I only wear tank tops. I sweat a lot. But a T-shirt was right on track for the day.  The event itself was pretty nice. They did a good job with pre-run entertainment and the run sway was nice.  I had no complaints.

They had a 3 mile, a 7 mile and a 10 mile run.  The main reason I didn’t run the 10 mile was because it was $10 more on top of an already expensive race and I figured 7 miles was fine. It wasn’t that I couldn’t or didn’t think about doing the 10 mile one. I did. But for $10 it wasn’t worth it.   All 3 distances started out together at the same time.  They had a cut off where the 3 mile ran one way, back to the start, and the 7 & 10 mile ran another way.  So for another longer period of time the 7 & 10 ran together before approaching another cut off where the 7 milers turned.  I had a moment where I was like I could just keep running and do the 10 mile.  But I passed.

Honestly I felt pretty good most of the race. I started running and just got into a groove.  This is the big difference between treadmill and outdoor running.  I have a hard time judging my pace running outside, which is kind of nice. When I am on the treadmill depending on length of run and my exhaustion level I run between 5.8 and 6.2 miles per hour.  Lately it’s been closer to 5.8 or 5.9 with spurts of faster.  Some days this feels REALLY hard. Some days I feel like I am running and dying at this speed.  Let’s just say the boredom of treadmill running is felt.  When I run outside I feel like I am running at a snail’s pace and yet I look down at my Garmin and I am definitely running at least my normal pace.  Funny how that same 6 miles per hour pace can feel hellish and fast on a treadmill whereas outside it feels so slow. I swear I am not running fast at all.

This reality hit me hard yesterday.  It was an out and back course meaning we ran certain distance and then turned around and ran back the same course.  This allows you to see people on your return.  When I started out I felt like I was running so slow.  Like my feet were barely moving. And yet I felt comfortable. I felt good. I was keeping a 10 minute mile pace, even though my brain was certain I wasn’t.  As is the natural progression of things, the people who wanted to run faster passed me and I assumed there were some people behind me. It’s not like I really turn around and check. I’m running my own race, my own pace. 

At some point around mile 1 or 1.5 I honestly felt all alone on the course.  I could see some people ahead of me in the distance but other than that, I never heard footsteps of people coming up behind me and I had a moment where I was like, oh fuck, I am the last person. I am the only one running this distance.  All the faster runners are ahead of me and everyone else who would run at a slower speed than me only did the 3 miler and I am all alone on this course.  Funny how our brain thinks such things.  How we can trick ourselves into believing anything. Or perhaps fearing.  But what was I going to do about it anyway?  I couldn’t make my body go faster. Maybe for a split second but I knew I had a long while to run still. Oh well, just run my pace. Run my course.

And I was having a good time.  I really was.  I was in fact having an awesome time.  I kept saying to myself, this is it, right here, why I do this. This freedom and happiness from running. This high. This feeling of being outside and letting everything else go. This is such pure joy for me.  I honestly remember thinking this over and over. It was crazy. And I ran.  I passed up water station after water station because honestly I am a girl who can run for an hour and not eat or drink and I don’t want to disturb my flow.  I ran every step, up hills, down hills, all around. At my comfortable normal pace according to my watch even if my body felt like I was going 2 miles an hour.  

At about mile 4.5 I reached the turnaround for the 7 mile group. This was the first time I got to turn around and see that there were actually people behind me.  Until this moment I was lost in my world (headphones in) assuming I was somewhere in the back of the pack. This is lack of confidence I guess. This was not thinking my speed was anything fast.  I don’t know. But as I started running back and actually facing the oncoming runners I realized I was not alone. I realized there were people behind me.  A lot of people. Hmm.  Not only did I have the rest of the 7 mile group but I had the people running at a slower pace doing the 10 mile run.  As I kept running I saw tons of people; running-walking behind me.  This has nothing to do with vanity on my part. It has to do with doubting my own self.  I was genuinely shocked to see so many people.  By no stretch of the imagination do I consider a 6 mile per hour pace all that fast. It’s okay. It’s what I tend to run.  It’s my present ability level.  But I’m not winning races at this speed. I don’t have a ton of self-confidence.

I kept my pace and by the end I started to get tired.  I mean, as I approached about 6.5 miles I was like, yeah I would kind of like to be done with this.  It’s so mental because if I was running a half, while I would feel like I want to be done, I probably wouldn’t allow myself to even think about it because I’m not close to done at that point. But as I saw the finish line and realized I was moments away from 7 miles I felt relief.  I crossed the line at 1 hour 9 minutes 35 seconds officially.  This was happiness to me.  This was a smidge less than 10 minute miles, which honestly is great for me to keep for 7 miles straight.  At the gym I tend to average a smidge OVER 10 minute miles. It’s the freedom of running outside. It allows me to speed up at moments and slow down when I need to too recover.  Running outside truly is amazing.

Here’s the lovely shocking part.  Turns out I finished the race 53 out of 196.  Not that it matters all that much.  I was the 32^nd girl to cross the line.  Even at my 10 minute mile pace. Mostly any of this excites me because I swear for a solid 2-3 miles I thought I was the last person or at least close to back of the pack. So it was lovely to see that I was in the top 25% or thereabouts.  Running has never been about placement for me. I don’t run to win or compete or be fast and I ultimately don’t care what position I am in. Some races, some days I’m in the top, sometimes I am close to the last person. None of it matters.  It was just nice to see that I shouldn’t doubt myself as much as I do.  Keeping a sub 10 minute mile pace for 7 miles is good enough.  And I didn’t stop for a single second on that 7 mile/70 minute run.  Gearing my body back up to running conditions.

I was however, extremely exhausted last night.  Like over the top exhaustion. It happens. I don’t presently have any races this weekend but then the following weekend April 4 is a half marathon.  Excited and nervous at the same time. It’s been a long time, too long since I’ve ran that distance. But I feel like if I can fairly comfortably run 7 miles without stopping that I’m well on my way to running 13.1.  I’m sure I can manage.  In the end I felt great about my run yesterday and it restored my faith in myself and in my ability to run. 

Tonight I hit up the gym. I want to run 3.1 miles and then do some upper body work.  And that is about all she wrote for the day.

A year in the life

Friday’s tend to be a day of reflection for me. Most likely because by the time Friday afternoon hits, I am already in full on weekend mode and therefore no amount of actual work is going to occur. Thus my brain starts to think about stuff… a lot of stuff. The good, the bad, the ugly, the happy.  And we find ourselves exactly to this moment in time where I’m sitting here and wondering about life.

This morning I took some photos mostly because I loved my new 13.1 shirt, but then I decided to go ahead and flex.  It’s when I’m flexing that I realize that my hard work in life does show on occasion.  And then I decided to go ahead and look thru my picture archives for past photos of me flexing to see if I’ve made any progress. And low and behold I stumbled across a photo I snapped in my phone exactly one year ago today, March 20, 2014 to March 20, 2015 and low and behold there was progress.  This was completely unplanned. No clue I had a photo from a year ago and had no idea that it would actually show any progress. But this is damned cool. So here it is. (Ignore my mean face today!)

The thing is, the photo on the left, from last year, I was in great shape. I had been going to the gym and lifting for a year at this point. I could kick ass and lift. I am not ashamed of the photo on the left at all. That was a strong chick. You want to know what else is pretty interesting, in this entire year that has passed between these two photos I can promise you this my weight is pretty much exactly the same. And in that year I have consumed thousands upon thousands of crap calories and foods.  I have lived my life. I have run a ton, I have eaten a ton, and I have lived a ton. I have experienced an epic amount of adventures.   And all the while I have worked out hard, but never REALLY with the intention of trying to bulk up or get stronger or bigger.  I was just doing my thing. The things that I love in life.  And yet, somehow, one year in time has passed and I can tell a difference.  A visible, visual difference.  This is pretty awesome.

These are the exact moments when you realize that living this life day in and day out actually pays off.  These are those unquantifiable unmeasurable moments of success.   Yes, it’s very hard to totally tell from photos; perhaps the lighting or angles are different. Sure, sure.  I totally understand all that. But as a whole I am certain that things have progressed in the past year.  While part of the difference could be explained away to lighting, the general overall reality is that I am definitely stronger.

It’s hard to put into words exactly what this comparison means to me. Not because I think I look better in one vs. the other (I think I look great in both of them!) it’s because every time I’ve ever doubted myself in the past year, or doubted that I could do this or that what I was doing was good enough, it all WAS enough. It all IS good enough.  Every time I went off track and ate a box of cookies or indulged in an epic dinner out, it doesn’t really matter. What I am doing, this life is perfectly good enough.  Without really trying or pushing towards more, here I am today, just as I am and I am good enough.  Sometimes we just need that reminder that we are moving in the right direction.  Change takes time.  And mostly it’s hard to notice on a daily basis. I feel exactly the same day in day out and its only when I see an actual comparison a year apart that I realize how much things might have actually changed.

So yes, today I am feeling actually quite blessed and proud.  It’s hard to be mad about a weekend like last weekend when I see things like this. In the giant scheme of things it’s all going in the right direction. I’d also like to point out that screw what anyone at any gym says, you CAN have it all.  I hate that most gym or fitness professionals try and tell you that you can’t be a runner (cardio junkie) AND build muscle.  All I heard for years is this exact sentiment that these two worlds don’t mix and you have to pick and you can have both.  Screw them all. You can be and do anything you want if it’s what your heart desires. Time and reality have shown me this.  I am still a cardio girl. Always will be.   Running is my savior.  But this runner has real muscles.  This runner picks up heavy ass shit and lifts.  It’s possible.  Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.  There is nothing wrong with any of it.  Do what you love. And if you love both, do it all I say!

Last night also reminded me that I am a really strong chick. I did a 2 mile warmup run. 20 minutes, whatever. And my entire workout group bailed on me so my planned leg day did not happen which was fine by me.  BUT my husband had yesterday off and he met me at the gym and we worked out.  So there I was with my husband doing some bench presses you know, no big deal…  Anyway I was like let’s do a nice easy set of like 75 pounds. Let’s bench press 75 pounds.  On Tuesday night I benched 65 pounds and honestly it was too easy because I cranked out 20 of them in a set and that means it wasn’t heavy enough.  So we upped it to 75 pounds and I did 15 of them.  5 rounds.  It was hard. But ultimately what was more eye opening is that I totally killed it and Chris struggled.  I realized just how strong I was.  I totally take for granted my own abilities. I just do what I do and I don’t think too much about it.

Chris was like; you are officially stronger than me.  I was like; well I’ve spent 2 years of my life at this place doing this.  I’m glad I’m strong because I’ve put in the work to get there.  I’m glad it’s all paying off the way it should. 

I’d also like to take this moment to remember that 2 years ago at this time I was about 2 months away from stepping foot inside my gym. I hadn’t really picked up a single pair of weights. I hadn’t done anything really. And of course 3 years ago today, I was a miserable wreck of a girl. I was EXTREMLEY overweight and unhappy.  I was an empty shell of a woman.  Yup, 3 years ago to this day I was most likely praying for a miracle or an ounce of willpower and never could have EVER imagined in my entire life I’d look like either of these girls, but the girl I am seeing in the photo from today, that would have been far too much for my brain to comprehend.  My point in saying that is that no matter where you are today, this exact moment, ANYTHING is possible.   Maybe you are standing there at your worst moment, starting over again, praying for that miracle.  It is possible.  I never believed my body could be as strong as it is.

And you know what is also a really cool thought… what is this photo from March 20, 2016 going to look like? I really don’t know for sure, but it’s cool to believe in the possibilities.  If this could happen without me really realizing it, who the hell knows?  That is the best part of life in my opinion… it is so open ended and full of so much possibility.  All you have to do is that that step, take a chance. Go for your dreams.  Believe in yourself a little bit.

Today is rest day. Tomorrow I try a new gym. Sunday I run 7 miles.  Life is good.