"I Jlp You!"

    I'm a little behind on blog reading, my google reader does not like when I work.  Actually I've pretty much read everything, there was just a lot I wanted to comment on and haven't got the chance to yet.

    Another thing that I hadn't gotten to yet was The Versatile Blogger Award from Steph @Run- on .  Thanks Steph!  I think there was another person who tagged me too, but now I can't figure out who it was, so let me know and I'll add you here (or maybe I just dreamed that I was so awesome 2 people wanted to tag me :D)


7 things:
1) The post title is a quote from my FAVORITE TV series, the full quote goes a little something like this,

E: Is "Jlp" a word
P: "Jelp?" J-e-l-p?
E: No, j-l-p. Like, "I jlp. . . I jlp you!"

Ahahah.
Who can guess the show?
It always makes my night a little better when I watch it :)

Also this comedy series I love :

Not always appropriate, but it always makes me laugh :D

2) The only reality show I watch any more is "So You Think You Can Dance." 

    No Bachelor, Survivor, Biggest Loser (I did watch the end of last season), American Idol, DWTS for me.

   And this dance will forever be my favorite:

So much emotion.

Anyone else know which song they were dancing to? : )

3)  I may be the only blogger who hasn't posted there ABC's.  To be honest the only letter I read off of anyone's and the only one I've been tempted to answer is U.  And not in a creepy way (I don't think), it was just interesting to see how everyone chose to answer that one.   Adam, who is not so boring, did it best.

For the record: WHEN I wear them, they are mostly from Gilly Hicks, in any style that is cute.

   

4) I can't drive.

5) Not so much about me: My younger sister (24), ran an 18.01 5k in college.  Pretty Dang Impressive.

6) Apparently I'm kinda dull and can't think of 7 worthwhile things about myself so I'll give my bro some props too:

He beat me to the modeling punch.

Modeling for Sun Bum Sunscreen.

Tag Lines: "Protect Your Lazy *ss" and "Trust the Bum" ;)

7)  You may have noticed while blogging/commenting I overuse this face:  :D  I feel this is acceptable because if you talk to me in person I laugh and smile a lot.  I had a Kindergartner once ask me, "Why do you smile so much?"  My response, "I just like to."  :)

I don't really like the tagging part cause I don't like to leave anyone out; here is a few anyway:

Kurt @ Becoming an Ironman

Laura @  On Your Left Please
Melissa @ Melissa's Journey to the Pro Figure Stage and Beyond!
Anyone else reading who wants to take part :)

Sunday Adventure

   First,  
       THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR AWESOME COMMENTS ON MY RACE REPORT! :D


   Knowing you all support me helps me push myself harder :)  I'm loving reading about everyone else's races as well.  So many PRs!!

   I've worked really hard the past few months to drop 2:20 from my first race back, in early October.   But now the REAL hard work begins.  I've got to drop just over a minute to reach my sub-20 goal which is no small feat in a 5k, especially as you get to the lower times.  But. . .


    Warmer weather is arriving and I am ready to Go For It!!!


     I said yesterday that I might do a long run with my college coach today, but our schedules didn't work out.  We plan to get together for some long runs in the future though.

      I don't know if I even had a long run in me today, after our adventure (below) I planned to run around 8, but I ended up falling asleep for 2-ish hours.  I did eventually get myself out the door for a 3.5 miler and I felt pretty exhausted and weak.

On to our little adventure today:
      It was a gorgeous 50° and sunny today so we decided to explore the nearby arboretum.  It is only about a mile from our house and I frequently run there; today we took a little family trip.

Adventure # 1 for the Spring/Summer

"Bamboo!"

This pic make it look like we were in CR 

This was just a tree, but it looked like a hippo :)

Nolan loved it and the sun felt great :D

Odds and Ends:

     * I forgot to post that I kept up with Michelle's push-up challenge and maxed out at 25 push-ups on Friday morning.  5 more to reach my March goal :)

    * At the race yesterday they had a table with upcoming race flyers.  There is a 4 miler and St. P day parade  in two weeks and I'm doing it!  Guaranteed PR since i don't have a 4 mile time :D  My Shamrock socks should be here by then too! 

Did you attend any parades this weekend?

We didn't get to any parades, maybe next wknd.  And there is the parade at the race in two weeks.  I believe it starts right after the race goes off, I think it follows behind the runners.  We are the opening act :)

Drumroll Please. . .

First let's review my goals going into this race:

   My "A" goal was to break 21.
        But I would be happy with anything under 21:52 which is what I ran in my last 5k on Thanksgiving.  I knew this race was a bit hillier than the last two I've run, but nothing crazy.


So how did I do. . .

21:00.25!!!

Could I get any closer without actually breaking 21?!?

However I am 110% thrilled with this time :D
52 seconds faster then my current PR

6:46 pace

I didn't wear my Garmin because I haven't raced with it yet and I thought it might drive me CRAZY. I didn't even wear a watch and missed my first mile split, but I heard Mile 2 (13:29) and was pretty psched :D  Then Mile 3 was 20:21. 

One regret: I wish I kicked it a little sooner, I still feel like I am right at the threshold of pain and I need to push myself over the edge to really achieve my potential.


Ughh but in the moment it is so crazy hard to push yourself over that edge.

                                            Placing:

                                      Overall - 45 / 604

                                       Female-  6 / 313

                                 Age Group-  2 / 33  

I really consider this shirt green!  

I asked my son and he called it blue-ish green.   

Regardless I was more festive than 95% of people there, I was a little disappointed in the lack of spirit.

Green hair ribbon, it's small, but it's all I had:

The whole race experience today was an absolute BLAST!! :D

Awesome things:

* I saw a bunch of people I ran against in H.S.

* I saw my college XC coach again! (she ran in the Halloween race too) Our times were so close  (13 seconds!) and we talked about doing some long runs together. Maybe an 8 mile tomorrow :)

* The weather was beautiful, 40-ish and SUN!

* While waiting for awards we went to the playground with Nolan.  I did some pull-ups (with a jump) on the monkey bars, AND I was actually able to get across the monkey bars!!  I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO DO THAT BUT NEVER COULD, AGHHH SO AWESOME :)

The boys are really bad race photographers, Nolan insists on playing, so no race pics right now.  Possibly there will be some online.

When we got back home it was so nice and I wanted to run a little more, so I ran while Nol biked next to me.  It was a little stop-and-start-y, he needs to get his biking legs back, but enjoyable nonetheless :)

I am on such a high right now :D 

I may go run some more.

That's all for now, I KNOW you are all anxiously awaiting my time ;)

And I can't wait to see how everyone else's races went!

Playlist

1) All of the Lights 5:00 Kanye West
2) Love Like Woe 3:20 The Ready Set
3) Cameras 3:33 Matt & Kim
4) Sail 4:24 AWOLNATION
5) Somebody to Love [Cover of Justin Bieber Song] 3:11  Glee Cast
6) Hell of a Life 5:28 Kanye West
7) Xxxo 2:54 M.I.A.
8) Thnks Fr Th Mmrs 3:24 Fall Out Boy
9) Steady Shock 5:48 Girl Talk
10) The Curse of Curves 3:24 Cute Is What We Aim For
11) Thriller 3:30 Fall Out Boy
12) Hum Hallelujah 3:51 Fall Out Boy
13) Club Can't Handle Me (feat. David Guetta) 3:53 Flo Rida
14) Ridin' Solo 3:36 Jason Derülo
15)  Melt the Sugar 3:49 The Summer Obsession
16) Under Pressure 3:32 The Used
17) BedRock 4:48 Young Money & Lloyd
18) Candle (Sick and Tired) 3:51 The White Tie Affair
19) My Delerium  4:16  Ladyhawke
20) Beautiful, Dirty, Rich  2:53 Lady Gaga

   Way more than I need, but I like to have back-ups in case a certain song isn't doing it for me on that day.

    I've been pretty good thus far about keeping the nerves at bay, but now that it's less than 12 hours away I'm freaking a little.  I believe this race is hillier than my most recent races.

  I'm pretty sure my shirt for tomorrow is a lovely shade of mint green :)

    Also I won knee high shamrock socks yesterday, so sad I won't have them for tomorrow, but awesome that I won them.

To all those racing this weekend, leave it all out there and ROCK IT!!! :D

St. P-Day Race Attire Preview

Continuing with tradition, 564737 pics of ME: 

Don't let the innocent face fool you, in 2 days I am going to. . .

KICK SOME *SS 

(family friendly. . . kinda :)

Katie, Erin, and Patrick McGrath.  Nuff Said.

Kisses from the Irish ;)

Although I AM 25% Portugese, that's where the Boo-tay comes from:

Or. . .

it could be from all the stairs, sprints, inclines, lunges, squats and KB swings.

I work hard on the backside to make up for what's lacking in front

(yes I get happy when my booty gets bigger :D)

I may add some shamrock stickers to the shirt to up the spirit factor.

Maybe a green hair ribbon too :)

FINE just 1 more ;)

I got up a 1/2 hour early just so I could get my pre-race photo shoot in.

I think it is bad luck to skip it.

and us Irish need all the luck we can get ♧

We're Going To. . .

On Sunday we booked our first family trip to Disney World!! :D

Easter Break, anddd I was very happy to discover that our hotel has a 1-mile jogging trail on the grounds, it is one week before my first half.

Also this means I will be working A LOT more during March (Easter break flights are not cheap), but I will do my best to keep up with blogging.

VERY, Very excited!!!! 

  Other Stuff

* 5k Saturday!

* Just got a FB message that my HS is having an alumni track meet in April, the only Alum event is a 4x1 (which I'm doing :), but it will also be great to see everyone :D

* Also on FB, some beach co-workers made an event to see who was interested in doing the NJ Tough Mudder in November.  Sounds like the best way to celebrate my 27th (scary) B-day!!  There will most definitely be a costume theme :)

* I love the New Balance commercials where they're running on a track they built at Pier 54.  I always wish I was there while watching it. Behind the scenes:

* While subbing today we did a Science experiment on pulse rate before and after exercise, it was quite an enjoyable Science period :D

   Completely Random: On most of my runs, the last 200-400 meters to my house goes past the local college and I always give a little kick in at the end.  I am finding a little bit of pure bliss running at 6 min pace and having everyone stare while blasting this on my shuffle,

"You know I know how

To make em stop and stare as I zone out

The club can't even handle me right now

Watchin' you watchin' me I go all out"

It feels like I'm in a movie with my own personal soundtrack. 

Bikini Body Move #7- Flexed Arm Hanging Knee Raises

    That's a mouthful, but as you can deduce from the name this move involves Hanging Knee Raises done in a Flexed Arm Hang position.

   I started doing these a few weeks ago when Zuzana posted an exercise challenge that consisted of 50 hanging knee raises.  I got them done but it KILLED my armpit area and it was difficult to keep from swinging to much in that position.

   While doing some pull-up work and getting my flexed arm hang on, I decided to add in the knee raises and it solved all my problems. No sore armpits, minimal swinging AND I am getting my arm and ab work in at the same time :D  I also find it kind of fun and hop on my pull-up bar throughout the day to bust out some sets :)

Demo:

I really dislike most youtube thumbnails, but whatev :)

 Also I'm gonna solicite votes one more time :) and I'm putting it on this post because these are some of my more fitness informative posts.  

   If you like my blog, please nominate it here to be on the Women's Health Blogroll for the fitness category :D  I'd love to put it on my Personal Trainer resume!

Thank you so much! Also you can nominate as many as you want, so you can vote for all your faves :)

Today's Workout

*HITT ~ .5 warm up/ Minutes 6-18: 12% incline, alternating 1:15 @ 3.0/ 1:00 @ 7.0-7.2/ 1.5 cool down    TOTAL: 3 miles

*Resistance stuff later (already did 50 + FlexedAHKRaises)

Song on repeat:  As heard in the above video ~ All of the Lights- Kanye West ft. Rihanna, Kid Cudi  (It's got a Rocky-ish feel to it :)