Workout buddies ROCK!

My fantastic friend Stacy is visiting from North Carolina this weekend and she practiced Day 4: Peak Pose Pincha Mayurasana with me and then joined me for a 4-mile training run! What a pal!

I cut our yoga practice short at 30 minutes because neither of us were going to make it into a forearm stand today AND we wanted to get a good run in before heading up to Bayfield, WI, to kayak around the Apostle Islands :) 

Having friends that have values and interests similar to one's own is such a boost to confidence, mood, motivation, and accountability.  Thank you, Stace!

@CoachBurow #accountability #yoga #trainingrun #workoutpartner #apostleislands 

BIG BRAVE - Show me yours!

"Show me how big your brave is!"

What has transpired over the last three days [after the last four weeks and 16 months] has been further testament to my growing resilience.  My theme song for the week is a Sara Bareilles song titled, 'Brave'.  And I am so incredibly thankful for my mom, sister, and my true friends - they know who they are, they do their absolute best to support, encourage, and defend me, all the while being as honest as they know how to be and admitting their mistakes.  "Let your words be anything but empty." 

Life Goes On

As the calendar year comes to an end, I find myself looking forward to many new adventures in the next 3, 6, and 12 months (and, of course, beyond).  

What a whirlwind of change 2012 has proven to be in this lady's life; for better or worse in the immediate sense, all things work together for good.  I have laughed hard, cried, trained, quit training, started training again, achieved goals, fallen short of goals, gotten angry, given forgiveness, taken lots of naps, gone for periods of time with too little sleep, been injured and healed, learned a lot, dated, winery-toured, snuggled my nephew, counseled friends, received support, frustrated many, confused a lot more, and still - here I am.  I am a child of God, a daughter, a sister, and a damn good friend.  Everything that has happened in my life, whether by my choice or by indirect consequence of my choice(s), I am remembering that a heart of gratitude and love not only feels best, a heart that full will bless others.

I am in great company and although many, many, many circumstances did not turn out as I anticipated, I am slowing down and taking a breath . . . counting to 10 . . . and moving forward.

Good health to you - be safe, and be well!
 

Timing - it is NOT a coincidence!

Ran this morning with great friends. Haven't run in over a week.  My hips are YELLING AT ME.  Note to self: Do not wait so long to run - even if it is only a 15-minute jaunt or 2 mile "trudge".

Then, I read this lovely article this afternoon (great timing) :-) Enjoy! (And, pick a few mantras for yourself!)

RUNNING TIPS <<<click on 'running tips'

Get to it!

Holy Catsmoke, Batman!

Don't even ask me where that post title came from - there is not an ounce of relevance within this post!


Hi there!  Where have you been? 


What? Me?  Where have I  been? Well, lets see, I've been working, quitting jobs, re-situating my life, entertaining guests from Florida, going to music concerts, riding bike, and running!  Yep, running!  I can kinda do it!


Last Saturday, I ran with a group of friends in a nearby 5-mile 'race'.  I haven't run over 4 miles in a couple of years, so that was a feat to begin with - then, I challenged myself to try to get it done in less than an hour.


Ready for this? Drum roll, pleeeease . . .


59:04! Woot, woot!  I did it!  Less than an hour!  A couple of accomplishments throughout the run include 1) not stopping to walk until around 18minutes into the race, 2) keeping a close eye on the friends who were running just ahead of me and sticking with them, 3) when a song came on the Ipod that was really motivating, I kept replaying (and replaying) to keep my body movin'!

Loved having a great group of strong, kind women to be active and outdoors with!  Thank you, ladies! (And friend's fiance's brother!)

5-Mile Run (about to commence!)

A few of us went for a 12-mile "easy" bikeride on Tuesday.  Planned to do a 3-mile run this morning but this lady was super-duper tired and opted to gain some more rest.  (Not sure it did any good!) I've been tracking runs and bike rides on www.mapmyrun.com and www.mapmyride.com which, as long as my phone is receiving a decent GPS signal, gives distance and pace (as well as the map)!  Cool!

Sunday, Funday

THANK YOU baby Jesus for the sunshine, the breeze, the bike trail, and good people (and dogs) in my life!  Great run/walk with two awesome ladies and all of our dogs!  Impromptu 11am-12pm on a fairly flat bike trail.  3.82mi.

Came home and made an AWESOME smoothie:

1 ripe-to-slightly overripe banana
mixed berries (blue, rasp, & black)
1.5 tbsp peanut butter powder
1 tbsp chocolate soy-spirulina protein powder (basically a ground up multi vitamin)
chunks of frozen chopped spinach
unsweetened vanilla almond milk
some ground flaxseed
some raw wheat germ


Yum-O!  Get yourself moving somehow, someway TODAY!  And put some fruits and veggies in your body!

WowzaYowzaPow!

Heeey!!!  How are you??  What has been the best part of your day, so far?!

Whattap, my friends and followers?  I have been MIA for way-too-long, but with good reason and some interesting events to catch ya'll up on!

I'll work kinda backward here, starting with today being the 28th of December in Minnesota and we do NOT have any SNOW!  Wowza!!  Went for a 45min/2.5mi walk with my new roomy and her dog today as they showed us the new trail in the town we just moved to...oh yeah...my dog and I moved back to MN after I *graduated*!!  Yeehaw! 

Yesterday, my ma and I helped my stepdad move a bunch of stuff at his business to a different property so that he can improve the quality of the Brick Oven Bakery!  What a job - we are "good helpers", and as my mama always says, "Good thing [your stepdad] has strong women in his life!" Amen to that.  We lifted and hauled for 2 hours; although moving isn't always a fun project, I reminded myself (out loud, sometimes) that it was good exercise :)  A little bit of stiffness and glute ouchies today - yowza - but used good form and don't have any back or hip pain! YAY!

Monday, my awesome extended-family on ma's side went BOWLING after Christmas dinner!  I haven't been bowling in years - maybe 6 or 7 years?  Haven't been able to because it really hurt my back for a long time.  Not this week!  Yeeeeehawww!!  It was a LOT of fun!  Even better, my awesome team (pictured below and missing one teammate) won two awards - so, we win! :)  "Team Jake" decided we were the ultimate winners because Captain Jake had the highest score out of the four teams/8 games played, and I had the most single-pins (aka #1-POW!).  So, WE WIN! :)  My lil' cousin in front got to take home the Christmas balloon as his prize! 

All this excitement and that's only the last three days!  I won't go back any further than last Saturday, December 24, when I had the opportunity to lead Yoga at Total Wellness Coaching as a sub for the regular instructor.  I will be taking on more classes next month as a substitute and hope to be incorporated by the business as an independent contractor as much as possible!  Meanwhile, I'm still looking for other jobs . . .

I still need to update ya'll on the trip that my former roomy and I took to Warm Mineral Springs . . . ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh . . . I want to go back!  As soon as I get those pictures uploaded I will post :)  Until then - stay active!!  Move a little bit more each day.  Join a class, take your neighbor's dog for a walk, do some sit-ups while watching your favorite TV show, or use the stairs at work instead of the elevator!

Thankful for Walks :)

Happy Belated Thanksgiving :)  Although, I think we can continue to be grateful long after the actual 'day of' Thanksgiving, don't you??  Speaking of - I've decided that Black Friday may be equiv to Good Friday.   Think about it: day of family, friends, feasting, thankfulness, gratitude....followed by a day of madness; likened to a day of family, friends, feasting, humbleness...followed by a day of sadness.  Oof-dah.  I'm thankful that I slept in today :-)

Yesterday was a lot of fun - spent the afternoon with long-time friends and my roommate with a DELICIOUS meal (of course!!), great stories and a LOT of laughter, and a **walk after dinner** :-)  HAPPY!!!  Physical activity, as a group, 5 of us went for a nice, meandering walk around the neighborhood after stuffing our faces with amazingly delicious grub.  ::--SO THANKFUL--::

Want to see?  Check it out . . .

My plate. And I ate it. ALL!

Longtime friend - known since elementary school :)

Pain-free Paynes Prairie!

The Sister

Hiiiiii!
Went out to Paynes Prairie on Sunday morning with the sis and a friend of mine.  Was such a beautiful day and a really nice walk!  We wandered around for about 90 minutes, looking at gators-wild ponies- butterflies-caterpillars-and wild ponies!  (Saw some fresh bison poo but no bison...bummer!)

The warm sunshine and easy walk with a good friend helped me to be pain-free (along with, of course, my Linimax and multi-vitamin!) . . . the sis had some hip pain, unfortunately :(  Pretty frustrating to see/know that she is going through the same pain problems that I am/have been going through.  *However, selfishly, it IS "nice" to know someone 'knows how I feel', even though I wish it didn't hurt.  Make sense?  Not really. haha!


Kim (our 'guide') and me out at the Prairie.  It was pretty, but dry!



We had a great morning soaking in the sun, the fresh air, nature, critters, and physical activity.  Very refreshing for mind and body.  I am definitely an advocate for moving around OUTDOORS when able and moving *slowly* sometimes to take in the world around you.  It's pretty breathtaking.

 



Sunbathing Gator!


What did you do this weekend to enjoy some fresh air and physical activity?  How can you get outside this week to move around a bit?  You will feel better because of it (if done safely) :)  And--bring a friend!! 


Wild Ponies :)



pretty little butterfly!



This is Bananas!

Before I say anything else, CHECK  THIS OUT!!! -->>  http://toughmudder.com/events/florida/

YIIIKKKEESS!!  I want to do that.  Is that weird?!


Yesterday: Walked dog 15 minutes, went to bed at 10pm!!!
This morning: Woke up at 4:45am :-|  Did a few random tasks for school, did a PowerSculpt Jillian Michaels DVD for 30 minutes (shoutout to Mom and DW - thanks - first time I've used it!  It was good!)  Then 10-minute dog-walk. Tonight, another 40-minute dog walk with TK and KA and K's little rescue dog.  Yay!

Honestly, I've been super busy with homework and meetings and stuff, so any extra time on the computer has been to turn on Netflix and chill for an hour or so at night.  I'm not going to write much else today, but wanted to stick the update in for the last couple of days!

OH YEAH!  And, on Tuesday night, TK and I went to CREATE Club on campus and had a lot of fun creating 'perspective' art with about 15 other people.  I'll post when I finally get a picture from someone. . .

Have a great day (or night)!  And, as always, find ways to keep moving your amazing body!


Oh - and for fun - check out this link (on a computer):
http://www.drawastickman.com/index.htm?o=66-69-32-67-82-69-65-84-73-86-69s69-86-69-82-89-32-68-65-89

The Matter of "Size" . . . does size matter?

Good day to you :)  Thanks for reading - whether for a first time or "n"th time, welcome!  This is a place where I log my physical activity, sometimes vent :), offer advice and links to research or products that I have found to be useful, and sometimes ask for advice! 

Recently, I blogged about not fitting into a dress for an upcoming wedding.  This was a frustrating experience for multiple reasons: 1) physically not fitting means either paying for alterations or needing to lose weight, 2) mental angst that comes with unwanted weight gain/shape change, 3) mental lashings when I feel incredibly hypocritical and unworthy of calling myself a health educator/health coach/personal trainer!

At the bottom of this blog, I have listed a few interesting links that I really enjoyed and that made me think about my current 'predicament'.  A few things that I need to gain a little perspective on include remembering that I am pretty darn healthy, for the most part, and my body does pretty much everything that it is supposed to do.  Granted, for some reason, my brain likes to take little sidetracks and try to convince me that I'm not worthy of other people's time/affection/what-have-you or that what I am doing with my life is ridiculously inept.  This has been diagnosed as Dysthymia.  Granted, for some reason, my body feels a lot of physical pain for no "known" reason/apparent cause.  This has had several diagnoses, the latest and most accurate (I think, from my research in the area) is Chronic Myofascial Pain (Myofascial Pain Syndrome).   Granted, I have some variation of early-onset Degenerative Disc Disease and an annular bulge.  BUT - I am still able to feed-bathe-dress myself, I am still able to drive, walk my dog, enjoy funny movies, read books, learn new things, conversate with friends, meet new people, travel the world, exercise, try new activities, paint, write this blog . . .

SO!!!  Let's focus on happy thoughts!!

Yesterday, a good friend sent me a text while I was at work.  Would I want to go for a walk or to a park since it was such a nice day?  Thoughts that went through my mind: I'm soooo sleepy, I have a group project meeting after work and I need to get more of my part of the paper done, blah blah blah.  "Yes, I'm done with work at 5, how about 5:30?"  She was able to come over around 6pm and my roommate joined us!  We walked my doggy to the dog park and let her romp around; such a nice night and had fun meeting and playing with other dogs (and people) at the park!  The park is just over a mile from my apartment, so we had a nice distance to-from the park and then the dog was able to run around to her hearts content while we chatted and enjoyed each others' company in the nice "cool" Florida fall weather! 

I am working at *always* saying yes to a walk or bike ride with a friend; if there is not something else imminent that needs doing, I can always use the company and the movement :)  I encourage you to do the same!  And, sometimes, be the person that asks others to join YOU for a walk!  Being in the fresh air (or even walking up and down the stairs at work if you have 10 minutes) will get blood pumping and fresh oxygen circulating :)

Here are a couple of interesting reads, if you have the time:

http://theinsider.retailmenot.com/trend/vanity-sizing.html
http://alwayssick.com/2011/08/09/are-womens-clothing-sizes-getting-smaller-a-trip-to-tjmaxx/