Crazy Ultra-Marathoner of the Day:

Just watch...7 marathons, 7 continents, in only FIVE days!

Bring on the endorphins!

You Will Be Missed

Granddaddy and me

My last surviving grandpa died this morning.  It was definitely his time, but it doesn't make the loss much easier.  He was a great man who truly would've given his last possession to help another person out.  I am so glad that he can finally be reunited with the love of his life who passed several years ago.  He missed her so much, just like we will miss them both.

Blurry photo simply because they were having too much fun dancing to stop for the camera!

Granddaddy--I hope you are dancing with Grandmama in heaven right now.  I love you!

Let's do this!

(perhaps this will make up for the previously consumed girl scout cookies!)

It is most unfortunate...

...that these showed up today.  Stupid willpower. It's totally overrated.

7 Minutes in Heaven? Nah...more like hell!

So my husband is an animal.  Seriously.

As some of you may know, last week marked the start of the Crossfit Games.  The games are open to anyone who wants to compete as long as they pay the entrance fee.  Workouts can be done at home and videoed, or done at a Crossfit affiliated gym.  Hubster signed up (for fun--not to compete) and his WOD (workout of the day) was scheduled for Friday at 5:30.

The first workout of the games?  Seven minutes of burpee hell--as many burpees as you can.  For those of you that have never done a burpee, seven minutes sounds simple enough.  However, for those of you that have done a burpee, well, you know just how miserable this workout really is.  It looked MISERABLE.  I was so thankful that I wasn't having to do them!

Burpee love!

Had to jump 6" or it didn't count!

And...done!

Sufficiently worn out!

Time for a cool down outside...

It was funny to watch everyone as soon as the 7-minute countdown stopped--instantly everyone was laid out on the floor trying to catch their breath, not pass out, and not throw up.  That's the sign of a good workout!!

I'm so proud of him!

Also, I have to admit that there was some serious body motivation at his gym.  Most of the girls there were completely ripped!!  I don't think I've ever seen so many fit people in one location; it was seriously intimidating.  For example:

One of the trainers

This girl's abs were INSANE.  Picture doesn't do it justice.

It was almost enough to convince me to do the WOD right then and there!  I'm still tempted to see how many I could do.  The current leader did 161!!  That is insane!  For comparison, most of the people in these photos got somewhere around 100.  I think anything above 70 is seriously impressive.  

I'm really looking forward to hitting it hard at the gym this week.  I'm also making a really conscious effort to eat a lot of veggies and fruits.  It's simple logic:  Clean Eating + Exercise = Killer body.  All the people I spoke to at that event followed that mantra and you can see their results.  Time to get serious about my health.

Did any of you compete in the Crossfit WOD this weekend?  If so, how did you do?  Link me in your comments!

Not a bad gig...

Work is having its quarterly meeting today. Rather than have the typical "bore your pants off" meeting, they opted to rent a whole theater for the office employees. Free movie on them after the brief regular meeting. Man on a Ledge?  Here I come!

Gym time is done!

Sweaty. Very very sweaty. Arms feel like lead. I approve.

Go time

This girl just discovered the Blogger app for her phone. Joy! I'm always more likely to post something from my phone than my computer. This could be the start of good things.

I'm at the gym right now. We have some high knee sprints to look forward to, as well as some nice ARM work. Wish me luck! The class that just finished was sweating buckets!

Hit the Deck

Last night I participated in a really fun (in a painful way?) workout at my gym.  It was called hit the deck and you can do ALL of the moves at home alone or as a challenge with your spouse.  This is a great workout to do when traveling.  I can't help but share it!

With a deck of cards perform exercises as drawn for each of the following:

Hearts = pushups
Diamonds = situps
Clubs = squats
Spades = burpees

Numbered cards are done for reps as numbered
Face cards are 10 reps
Aces are 15 reps
Jokers = 400m run

As soon as 1/2 the group is done with the card - move on!
Rx is awarded to those who do all reps.

I would like to say that I was fast enough that I Rx'd, but that wasn't happening last night.  I was lucky I didn't puke!  I was SO SORE within the first 5 minutes of the workout (took about 20 minutes total).  I will admit that I did not do the 400m sprints as the toe still doesn't like quick movements in shoes, so I rowed instead.  Even still, this workout was a killer. You all should try it!

As for the toe--it is recovering nicely.  I was able to wear shoes by Saturday (flip flops with work clothes is NOT a good look so I was glad when that was over).  That was a small miracle because my family was in town and we had made plans of walking all over the Hogle Zoo so I'm very grateful I was able to do that!  I've been looking forward to it for months!

Now for a little honesty time--as you might have guessed from the lack of posts lately, I am totally not feeling the blog or really the whole "healthiness" journey at the moment.  I'm just not stoked about it.  That doesn't mean I've stopped working out (I haven't) or that I'm pigging out (I'm not); it's just that I've lost the ooomph and the excitement that comes with being healthy and making changes.  I'm so so so so sick of working my butt off and not seeing the results I want.  At this point, I am trying to switch my mentality from wanting to see body changes and instead trying to focus on being healthy in order to participate in activities that make me happy--hiking, running, biking, etc.  Maybe my body doesn't look like I want it to, but at least it can do the things I want/need it to, right?  That's gotta be a positive.

Anyway, that's what's been on my mind lately.  I'm hopeful that this is just part of the cycle and that soon enough I will get back into the excitement of things.  I think being sick put a hiccup in the excitement level and once I'm back to full steam ahead I should start feeling the love again.  In either case, have no fear that I'm giving up because I am not.  This is a life long endeavor.  

Dubstep Kitteh & Toe Drama

stereo skifcha from xgabberx on Vimeo.

Someone explain to me why this is so funny.  I seriously can't stop laughing, and I have no idea why.

The internet never ceases to amaze me.  And scare me.  It definitely scares me.

Also, yesterday at work I totally mangled my toe.  I have a lovely footstool that I keep under my desk, and for whatever reason it decided to become possessed and fell directly onto my big toe.

Bad footstool...

It hurt.  Immensely.  BUT I didn't even swear (so proud).  My toe instantly started bleeding everywhere, which was sort of awesome.  Rather than the typical instinct of "Oh crap, I'm injured. I should probably seek first aid..." I had an "Oh crap, I'm injured.  I should go show off my battle wound to Hubster!"

Yeah...I didn't mean to, but I left a trail of blood while hobbling towards his desk.  Oops?  The IT boys were impressed with the wound.  We had to do an emergency blood evacuation (fancy term for "poke the nail with hot paper clip till the blood escapes" so that I could attempt to keep my toe nail.  I like my toe nails.  They should not fall off.

They videoed it.  And emailed it to my coworkers.  Awesome?  It's a pretty tame video (sadly).  We were all hoping for something a bit more epic:

Since the internet is for sharing, you can watch the letdown above.  And enjoy my pretty nail polish--it matches the color of the blood quite nicely!

(Also, how good of a husband is Hubster for being willing to poke me with a hot fire paperclip?  Such a good husband...)

Sadly, the stupid toe does hurt bad enough that wearing shoes is next to impossible (flip flops at work today--holla!).  Good thing the weather is cooperating enough that my toesies aren't freezing.  I'm hopeful that the dumb thing will stop being such a wuss by Saturday because my sister and her kids are visiting me (!) and we are going to be walking around the zoo.  I NEED to be able to wear shoes and walk in them.  Fingers crossed for a quick recovery!

Until then, thank goodness for bandaids...

Did I ever mention I am accident prone?  Because I am totally accident prone...

11 Things About Moi!

I was tagged by Ann and Stef a while back and it's time that I get this thing done!  Since everyone in the blog world has probably been tagged by now, I will be lame and not tag anyone to do this.  BUT I am excited to play along and post 11 random things about me as well as answer the questions those lovely ladies posed to me!

11 Random Things about Yours Truly-

1. I'm allergic to some forms of penicillin.  I tell you this so that one day you can save my life.  But in reality, if I take certain medicines that contain penicillin I break out in a nasty rash that grows so fast that I can literally watch it spread up my body.  It is not awesome.  Not at all.
2. I consider potatoes to be the greatest food on the planet, simple because my dad is an Idaho potato farmer.  They are so versatile, and I really wish they weren't as bad for you as they are!  
3. I'm the only member of my entire family that has red hair.  My parents both have dark hair and dark-toned skin.  Somehow they produced a redheaded albino.  You tell me how this happens:

4. I'm currently addicted to Chobani Passionfruit Yogurt.  Goodness gracious, that stuff is like crack to me.  I don't even like yogurt.  I've been anti-yogurt for as long as I can remember, but Chobani has me hooked.  Seriously, go buy some now.  Do it do it do it. 
5. I manage a small team of customer service reps.  Rather than have a stagnant office, we've cultivated a fun culture where we are free to be as crazy as we want.  This has resulted in some funny moments in our office that end up documented on our "Wall of Fame" or as I sometimes call it the "Wall of Shame."  I am featured rather heavily on this wall.  See if you can spot me:

6. I got married at the ripe old age of 22.  In Utah, this actually is considered old for a female.  Yup.  I was called an old maid by several people once I hit my twenties.  I had a goal of waiting until I was 25 to get married, but once I met Hubster I was doomed to fail (in the best way possible).  Hubster and I dated for 3 1/2 years (off and on) before getting married.  This is equally odd in Utah where the average dating period is about 3 months before getting engaged.  And no, I am not joking.  :)
7. As you might guess from mentioning Utah, I am a Mormon.  I don't blog about my religion much (or at all) on this blog as it is a fitness blog, not a religious blog.  But while we are trying to hit 11 random things, I figured this one was worth an add.  Also, we do not have horns, we do not have multiple wives (I wish--they could do my chores for me while I relax!!), and we are not a cult.  We do, however, have quite a few endearing(?) quirks.  
8. I once caught myself on fire on Halloween.  That year I was dressed as a Native American princess (complete with headdress!).  My mom had bought a super awesome skull candle that would "bleed" blood when lit and I leaned down to watch it and suddenly I was smelling burnt feathers.  Turns out I had caught my headdress and my hair on fire.  I was more devastated by the ruined feathers than the singed hair.  
9. I grew up in a small town.  As anyone in a small town knows, there's not much to do on the weekend but drink and get into trouble.  Since I am Mormon (see above) I wasn't a drinker, so I had to find other ways to amuse myself.  One of the common things to do in my region is find tractor tires, fill them full of gasoline, light them on fire, and roll them down the giant spillway at the ruined earthen dam in the region.  Helloooooo ball of fire!  So awesome.  And to any police reading this, I made this all up and it never happened.  
 
10. I broke my collarbone when I was 3.  It happened at daycare.  I was playing in the rocks under the swing set when a bully came up and said "this is my swing, move out da way."  Being the stubborn person I am, I refused.  Being the bully she was, she hopped on the swing anyway and started swinging until she hit me.  She continued to swing into me until finally she hit me so hard it broke my collarbone.  I'm not sure if I should be proud of myself for sticking to my guns and not moving, or worried for my general well being that I would go through so much pain just to play with some rocks. You decide.
11. In high school I joined the high school softball team simply to avoid my home life.  My parents were going through a nasty divorce and I needed an excuse to stay at school.  Softball it was.  I was terrible.  To this day I have no idea how I made it on to the team.  I'm convinced they took pity on me.  Either way, I'm glad they did.  Softball turned out to be a lot of fun!

That was a lot harder than it should've been.  I'm glad I'm done thinking up random things about myself!  Now onto the easy part--answering the questions I was asked!  

From Stef:

• Football or Baseball?

To play--baseball.  See above.  I may be terrible, but at least I understand and know the rules of the game.  To watch?  I'm torn.  I'd probably pick baseball over football, particularly if it is a real life game.  I grew up watching baseball with my mom and there are some fond memories there.

• Would you rather run 50 miles or do 5000 push ups?

Oh goodness.  Neither?  Can there be a neither?  If I must choose, I pick run 50 miles.  I think it would be cool to say I was an ultra marathoner!  

• Where were you born?

Not so fast, creepy stalkers.  You won't catch me that easily!!  I was born in Idaho in a small town.  That's all you're getting out of me!!  

• What do you think is your strangest habit?

I can't believe I am admitting this to the internet, but I am completely obsessive about my eyebrows.  If there is a stray eyebrow hair, I will pick at it until I bleed (assuming I don't have tweezers readily available).  It is so annoying, and I seriously wish I could get over it!

• What did you want to be when you grew up?

Dead serious, I wanted to be a meteorologist.  This was way before Twister came out.  I LOVE bad weather.  I wanted to be a storm chaser and be at the center of the craziness.  Part of me still wants this.  If I were to win the lottery, part of my winnings would be spent going on a two week excursion with real life storm chasers.  You can count on that.

• If you had to run outside, and could only take ONE item (This includes clothing. You would be naked, essentially) what would it be?

I would take a one piece unitard because there is NO WAY I am running naked.  NO WAY.  

• If you could have any kind of furbaby, what would you get?

Meow.  I would get a kitten.  Or a chinchilla (so soft!!).  But to be honest, I am not a fan of indoor animals so whatever fur baby I got it would need to be an outdoors kind of pet.

• Favorite dessert? (greek yogurt, or anything remotely healthy, does not count as dessert)

This is a dangerous topic.  I have a LOT of favorite desserts.  But today I choose cinnamon rolls.  This recipe is amazing.  Try it at your own risk.

• If you won the lottery today, what would you with your winnings?

See above.  Storm chasing.  I would also buy some awesome photography equipment and take some time off to go travel the world.  I LOVE to travel.  Top destinations = National Park of American Somoa, Thailand, Seychelle Islands, Banff National Park, Glacier National Park, Yosemite National Park, Greece, Italy...the list goes on and on.  I'd also pay off all loans.  I'd keep working, but I would probably change my career path.

• If you had to choose one food to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Easy.  Potatoes.  Not only are they versatile, but I have unlimited access to them.  Free food for life!

• Sushi, like it or hate it?

Hate it hate it hate it.  I dislike almost all seafood, which is really sad for me since it is so healthy!

Now for Ann's questions!

• Do you have any furry family members? If yes, roll call. Photos get you extra points.

Sadly, no furry family members.  We just aren't home enough to justify it.  Hubster would LOVE a dog, but I'm the heartless wife that won't allow it.  It's not because I don't like pets, it's just because it isn't practical at the moment.

• What’s the biggest accomplishment you’ve achieved in the past few years?

Running my marathon, hands down.  Not only is it something I NEVER thought I would do, but it was the most mentally and physically challenging thing I have ever done.  I had many hurdles thrown in my way leading up to the marathon, but I persevered and accomplished my goal.  No one can ever take that away from me.

• Favorite TV show?

Ummm...don't judge.  I have MANY guilty pleasure TV shows, but my favorite is probably Vampire Diaries.  So many pretty people, and a surprisingly decent plot.  STOP JUDGING!!

• Have you ever colored your hair? Did it turn out great or not so great?

My dad threatened me with my life if I ever dyed my hair, so to this day my hair remains unchanged and natural.  I used to hate the red hair but I've slowly learned to embrace it.

• Does your body wake up at a certain time each morning? How accurate is your “internal clock”?

Ha.  Nope.  No internal clock.  I love to sleep and will sleep for as long as I possibly can.  I wish I had a better internal clock!

• Where do you get your news from? Online, radio, or TV?

I typically get my news from KSL.  It's my local news channel and it's pretty timely.  

• Favorite celebrity couple?

I really had to think about this one.  Off the top of my head I would have to say William and Kate, simply because they seem to have an actual sense of normalcy to them. This does not mean I watched the Royal Wedding, however.     

• Have you ever had to assemble anything – Ikea furniture or workout equipment? Was it successful or not?

I have had to assemble some things and they turned out successful; however, for the life of me I cannot recall a specific item I've assembled.  Brain fail!

• Do you love the hot shower or the cold shower?

Hot shower until the very end and then I cool the water down.  I realize this is weird, but I can't stand getting out of the shower with my hair hot!

• Favorite alcoholic drink – beer, wine, mixed drink?

I'm gonna play the Mormon card again here--not a drinker.  But my favorite non-alcoholic drink has to be this frozen lime drink I had in Belize.  It was made from fresh-squeezed limes and was SO REFRESHING.  It was perfect on the 100+ degree days.

• What are you doing right now? Are you a multi-tasker?

I am at work, and I am intermittently answering emails and inquiries while typing up these answers.  I am a master multi-tasker.  Thank goodness!

Now it's your turn--I want to hear some random things about you!  If you've already done this post, link me in the comments so I can read yours.  If you haven't done it yet, I'm officially tagging YOU!  Can't wait to read a little more about you!

So it's February 14th and I've only posted once this month...

...OOPS!

What can I say?  Life has a way of sneaking up on you sometimes.  Being sick threw me for a loop, and when I stopped working out I lost motivation to blog.  And then it was hard to come back because I didn't know where to start or what to say.  I still don't, but I figure I might as well just start and see what comes!

SO...first things first, shall we look at how I did with my January goals?

For January:

• Survive HELLth week at my gym

• I ROCKED this one.  I attended all 6 workouts (and wanted to die).  Loved HELLth week.  I even earned my shirt.
• Average 4 workouts per week or more
• I also rocked this one.  I worked out 24 times in January.  I averaged a little over 5 workouts per week.  Booyah!
• Run 30 miles for the month to supplement the strength training workouts
• Yeah, no.  Total fail on this one.  I struggled with achilles pain and just a general lack of desire to run.  I'm not sure what my deal is with this one, but I am having a hard time adding running into my Crossfit workouts.  Crossfit wins this round, at least until I can get my injuries under control.
• Cook 2-3 meals per week
• Yep.  I actually cooked a lot of meals and ate pretty clean for the month of January.  I just reviewed my bank statement and I didn't eat at one of the typical fast food restaurants for the entire month.  The only places I ate out at were Costa Vida (which in my mind isn't fast food...care to disagree in the comments) and Zupas (which is a delicious salad place...YUM).  I also got a lot more vegetables in my diet during January, which was super awesome.

Overall, I am pleased with my results.  It sucks that I hardly logged any miles (seriously, I think I logged 9...ouch), but I have to be realistic with what I can expect from my body.  We all know I'm ridiculously injury prone, so I'm not sure why I thought I'd be able to balance Crossfit with running.  I am clearly not a rockstar like some others I know.  One day I'll get there, but that day is not today.  However, Crossfit is enough of a workout that I really don't feel too bad about it.  I LOVE working out at my gym.  I've got muscles like I've never had before!

Another thing that has happened since I last posted was the beginning of the annual Biggest Loser competition at work.  The time has come for us to weigh-in, get our body fat tested, and do our best to lose weight over the next 12 weeks.  To be honest, I'm trying not to focus so much on "losing weight" as I am focusing on just trying to be healthy.  However, I signed up anyway simply to get the measurements!  As a team, we took some before photos.  Enjoy:

I have to make weird faces when taking photos.  It's a problem.

Photos can be awkward...

Fun fact, I am totally wearing that shirt at this very moment.

Next on the agenda to discuss...11 Things!  I've finally gotten around to answering the questions posed to me and I will post the results tomorrow!

What else did I miss during my short blogging hiatus?  Update me in the comments!

What a week...

Sorry for the lack of updates.  It's been a crazy week.  I'm sicker than a dog right now so this update will be short, but I wanted to give you an update so that you knew what I was up to!

We had a rough weekend last week.  We got some terrible news regarding one of our best friends' babies.  It was a heart breaking weekend.  In respect for our friends, I won't be sharing the details but it definitely affected us.

Other than that, we've been working really hard and working out hard.  I am still loving Crossfit.  It is a fantastic workout and I am really seeing results.  I didn't post my weekly weigh-in this week, but I am down to 155.8 so the weight is continuing to drop off.  I also lost 2 inches off my waist in the last week.  Not sure how that happened, but I'll take it.

On Wednesday, a friend from New York came into town and I spent the day taking her around the area to show her what it would be like to live her.  She is interviewing for jobs out here and wanted to see what a day in SLC was like.  It was fun to take her around.  Unfortunately, I was feeling quite fatigued throughout the day because my cold was starting to show up.

The next day I woke up and the cold was in full effect.  I went to work, but ended up going home halfway through at the request of my coworkers.  Apparently they didn't like me sharing my germs.  I cannot blame them!

Today I am at home just recuperating.  I slept 14 hours last night!  I clearly needed some sleep.  Hopefully I'll be feeling better soon!

How are you all doing?  I hope this week has served you well!