Ass to Grass!!

IG: @sunshine_memoirs

Got a nice little treat today... they let us peasants out early from work for the holiday weekend. Le BFF came to get me to go with her to the gym. Since I took her hiking, she's been on me about hitting the gym with her. Well hey i'm not anti-gym so of course I was game to go. It had been a while since my little trip away. Before, when i went it was usually mornings or after work. This was early afternoon and there were BROS everywhere!! It's like someone told them we were coming... fine by me! haha I love hanging with the guys ;)
Anyway, it was pretty neat to pick up some weights and train with my bodybuilding BFF. A little different than the usual runs, hikes or even hitting the bag. Every workout is different, but always rewarding. Had some good times and learned how to take some swolfies! hahaha Bodybuilding to her is like running to me. We share the same passion for such different things, but we understand why each of us does what we do. Why we make the time to get it done. Why we push our bodies as much as we can to achieve what we once thought we never could. It's hard to put in words how important this is to us or why we're so passionate about it. Most people don't get it. It's more than just being healthy or trying to look good naked. It's much deeper than that. It's what drives us and motivates us to be the best that we can be. Not just physically, but mentally as well. 
Someone asked me today what my story was. Why i was so crazy about working out and training. That they could see it was more than something fun to do. They said it was obvious that it was much deeper than that and you know what... they couldn't be more right! I may not be able to control what happens around me or how people feel about me, but I can control how I feel and how I choose to react to life. I choose to be better and stronger than the person I was yesterday. Even if it means stumbling along the way a few times. Eventually I'll find my way... i always do. So as I always like to say... Keep Moving!

Welcome to MY gym :)

Raven Rocks - AT

Stretch-In on the AT

I decided to take some PTO yesterday and head out to enjoy the beautiful day. Leave it to the BFF to take the day off with me and head out to the mountains. I love that I live so close to some of the stretches of the AT. In less than an hour I'm out and wonderfully lost on trails full of beauty! :)

What was special about this hike was that it was with this particular BFF. She is what you would call a gym rat. Straight body building. Works hard all day every day to achieve everything she can and more. She's not afraid to lift heavy and train with the guys. She has earned her right into the bro life. The reason I say this is because we both share a deep passion for what we do. I love running and she lifts, but at the end of the day we just love our active lifestyle. We've done a few obstacle races together and have killed it! We make a great team together. She trains at the gym for the most part. And well, those who know me know i only go to the gym if I have to. Please don't confuse that to mean, i don't strength train or that I hate the gym. I don't. I started there too once upon a time, but i just love being outside. I don't care if it's running, walking, biking, kayaking, paddling, basketball, soccer, hiking... the list goes on! If it's outside, I'm all for it! I love it and I have found several ways to get my strength training in without a gym. I still go when I can and during the colder months, i'm def spending more time there than outside. I mean you can understand why, right? lol i'm not an idiot either! The gym is a great place to train and focus more on specific areas. WELL yesterday I took my BFF out to MY gym. We made it to one of the overlooks and started working out. I only put a couple action shots in my pic here, but we did everything from push ups, dips to bicycle kicks, bridges, yoga, planks, etc. It's just fun for us and pretty neat to take gym life to the outdoors for a bit. On our way back we missed our turn off to head back and ended up roaming random parts of the AT for about 2 hours! *sigh* good times! haha All in all though it was really a great time. Great workout with the BFF and the weather could not have been anymore perfect. A little 10 mile hike on a Monday afternoon? Yea you know ...Just another day in the life  :)

Guess Who's Back?!

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Boundaries help us conform, but they do not help us transform

Hello world! It's been quite a while since I've posted some lines so bear with me a little here. I had to go away for a while... Make of that what you will, but the point is I'm back. Even though it was only about 3 months, it still felt like forever! I did a lot of self evaluating in that time and what I noticed is every day can feel the same and with no change, but when you look back suddenly your whole world has done a complete 180 and you don't even know how it happened. I won't get into too many specifics, since I try to keep this blog more about all my adventures, but i wanted to make the point that while sometimes we don't have control of everything that happens, we do have control over ourselves: our way of thinking and how we choose to feel for example. I know sometimes it doesn't feel that way, but really the quality of our life depends on the quality of our thoughts. 

        Over the last few days since I've been back, I've been a roller coaster of emotions. Full of many ups and downs, but I got to looking through my picture gallery in my phone and came across several adventures over the last year. A good reminder of how far I've come. Back then I made a conscious decision to live life and never stop moving(#keepmoving). I didn't limit myself and welcomed challenges. I pushed myself in all aspects of life and with it came so many improvements. Not only in my physical healthy and physique, but also my personal relationships. I did my best to make each day count and I gotta say I'm pretty effin proud of myself. 

        It's been a long road and I'm only just getting started. So brace yourself people because I will be spamming all over again with my adventure updates! Everything from an afternoon jog, to fun runs, obstacle races, hiking, kayaking, marathon training and more! That's right... marathon training! ok so let me be a little more realistic... HALF marathon training lol but at some point you'll be reading an update about my first full marathon and maybe if i'm lucky i'll meet a good guy who will enjoy the adventures with me along the way. It's good to be back and I hope you'll get some entertainment from my coming posts: life as i know it  :)

Back to the drawing board... let's get er done!

Finish What You Started!

I don't know what I enjoy most... getting my outfit together for a fun run or the actually running itself. They both go hand in hand. It was quite an eventful Saturday for this one right here. Spent most of the day buying material and supplies for my Glo Run 5k outfit at The National Harbor and putting it all together. It was my 2nd year doing it, but just my luck we got stuck in crazy traffic. What should've been a 45 minute drive turned into a 2.5hr long drive! We were stuck on the ramp to get off for over an hour. I could see the runners lining up to take off. Hardest thing to watch, really. To know you're supposed to be part of that group and you're not there. 

I had been training ALL WEEK for this! Race started at 8:15pm and we didn't get to the starting line until minutes after 9pm. Everyone was finishing up and the track to start the race was pretty much a dead zone. Empty and dark. No one was running! My friend was not about to run it with me either. She was so frustrated saying it was stupid and that she didn't wanna do it. Well, I don't know about you, but there was no way I could just not run this race. I mean c'mon... I made my own tutu from scratch! It was not about to be for nothing. No way! Not this guy! I don't care what time I finish. I paid for it, I'm dressed for it, and I'm gonna run it! So that's what I did, I took off running. 

So much for working on pacing myself. I was so paranoid they were taking the track down so I just tried to sprint the whole way through. They had these neat tents set up throughout the course with strobe lights and fog machines. Each had their own group of supporters cheering on all the runners as they went through. I remember running through the track in an almost pitch black area, finally stopping to walk when i see a tent with lights and people standing around. They see me coming and immediately start screaming, yelling and cheering. I thought "oh wow! how neat! who else is running with me?!" I looked back, left and right. No one in sight. Just me. Of course I couldn't walk as they cheered! I immediately started running and as i approached the tent of happiness, i ran straight through with arms up doing the Rocky Balboa victory dance!

I did end up seeing more runners after the first mile, but spent most of the time running on my own. I gotta say, I liked it better than last year. Didn't have to worry about the crowd, dodging the walkers or speeding up if I needed to pass someone and when I did end up walking, I didn't feel bad about holding up any runners because well... it was just me! Felt really good to finish, though. Even if I did end up running alone. I feel like I enjoyed more of it this year than last year. The track was even different. All that training for one specific incline and there ended up being about 20 of them! haha ok not 20, but it wasn't the only incline I had to worry about. Luckily my friend was keeping track of my time. She clocked me at 30 minutes. Best time I've ever done! Not bad for having walked a bit  :)