My week in review!

Well, as you can see I'm bad at posting frequently but here goes a week in review!

Monday

More exercises from my personal trainer. It's actually surprising the sweat I actually worked up doing mostly body weight exercises.  Step ups are harder than I thought.

 

 Tuesday

Woke up early and got in 5 miles because after work was our GOTR celebration party! The girls had so much fun and enjoyed lots of treats! One coach made the cutest cupcakes with bees on them.

Later that evening I went back to the gym to teach my friend some exercises with weight. I love showing people the weights portion of working out! It was also our work Thanksgiving dinner so two workouts were needed.

Wednesday

Food baby intact I headed to the gym after work as usual. Not a single clue what I wanted to do gym wise and Adam (my personal trainer occasionally)  noticed my lack of direction and decided he had just the workout for me. It was rough as usual and I loved every second of it.  Multiple exercises working all muscles of the body and 50 reps of each. You can take breaks but you have to do all 50 before progressing to the next exercise.

Thursday

National Hug a Runner day started with a 2.5 mile run, then leg exercises followed by third Thursday group run after work! We totaled 23 runners this month. By far the most we have had and it was so fun! It was dark when we started so we used headlamps to guide the way. The group I stayed with got in 4.25 miles. We then all met up at John G's Bier following the run. Crispin Cider went down smoothly.

Friday

With scheduled work Saturday I had to get some miles in so Friday became a two runs in one day kinda day.  5 in the morning and 6 after. The second run was much tougher but I pushed through and got it done.

I love all the support St. Jude gives their runners. I feel blessed to be running in just two short weeks.

Saturday

This was possibly the longest day in such a long time. Kicked off the day with 2 miles in celebration of The Daily Run Club's 2nd birthday.  Am so thankful to have joined this group!

Only 8 hours of work then stood between me and a winery adventure with friends. We went to some wineries we had never been too. It was to relax a bit and enjoy myself. Although it was almost 1 before I got to bed i definitely enjoyed the day!

Girls on the Run is so much fun!

September 9th began 8 weeks of Girls on the Run! Every Tuesday and Thursday I leave work a tad early and drive to Clearview school where myself and 6 other coaches take on 10 elementary girls in 3rd-5th grade. With a wide variety of personalities we knew we were in for an awesome training season.

The season started out in blazing sun and ended with snow flurries and freezing temperatures. These girls braved it all. The classes were mainly taught 'by the book' so to speak but each class involved a lesson, warm-up, running, and a snack. The girls loved snack time the most.

Fast forward 8 weeks to this morning. 30° and 7 out of 10 were ready to go. Each girl had a parent/guardian to run with. Three of our girls were sick and 3 of the coaches got to run with their kids. Jillian and I may have been the odd ones out but we decided to stick together and run.

Just a few minutes after 8:30 and the race was starting. After finally getting signal on my Garmin as I was crossing the start line I forgot to press start. Whoops. Oh well, just for fun. I let Jillian set the pace and I think we did awesome. There were so many bystanders cheering and encouraging the girls. It was the most motivational race I'v ever participated in. All these girls running and most of them for only the 2nd time ever. Their first was the practice 5k they did in training.

We walked for a short second due to Jillian having issues with her hamstring but all together it was an awesome race. We finished upright, under 30 mins, and darn proud of all the girls. After receiving our medals and grabbing a quick banana, water, and granola bar we settled into to wait for the rest.

Almost all girls came in under one hour and carrying huge smiles on their faces. They were much prouder of themselves than we could even tell them. Each girl was so excited to receive there very own medals. What they had just achieved would be carried on with them for so long.

Following the race they had a huge dance party in the middle of the street. It definitely helped to warm everyone up. After meeting back with the group and a few more pictures it was time to disassemble and return to normal life.

Tuesday we will celebrate all of their accomplishments with pizza and cupcakes. This season has been one of a kind and has opened my eyes to so many things. These girls never give up and have taught me so much in such a short tyear. They taught me to be a great friend, love who I am, be bubbly, and never take life too seriously.  I can't wait till next year.

Daily Run Club and Sub-4 Challenge

The Daily Run Club is a group dedicated to encouraging fellow runners and racers through motivational posting and commenting. Runners of all levels, backgrounds, and objectives are welcome. It is where we post our daily miles, share our achievements, and ask questions if need be. Taken straight from the Facebook page that is the DRC in a nutshell.

The DRC is something that I am very grateful to have stumbled upon back in June. I started posting only races because I was hesitant still and very shy about my running endeavors. There are some very seasoned runners who know all the in and outs as well as those that are just running their first mile. Warming up to the group came easy and I started to take extra leaps out of the box.

Since then I have been a part of setting up once a month group runs every Third Thursday of  the month. We always give them fun names such as The Fo'Shizzle, The Whut up, and the Just Sayin'. I have also taken part in a few night trail runs and met so many new running friends who are becoming everyday friends.

October's Third Thursday Run

This month per one our board members wonderful suggestions we are doing a new challenge to keep people moving as the winter months creep up. It is called the Sub-4 Challenge or the "lazy lady" marathon. The main goal is all up to you but I've chosen a sub 4 hour marathon. Which means I'm running 26.2 miles all at faster than a 9:09 pace. They do not have to be all at once and can be done at any time you please. Some are choosing to run BQ times and others are just choosing a faster time than they already run. This is just a way to push ourselves and others.

In October I said there was no way I would be able to keep a pace like that for any sort of miles and was definitely doubtful. Well, I underestimated myself greatly and this month has started off very nicely pace wise. I've been able to push myself quite a bit and wonderfully surprised. I'm already 18 miles into the challenge and my average is 8:55.

Saturday I headed to the Katy Trail with some super speedy women to at least get in 2 countable miles and I ended up with 7 out of 10 under 9:05. Kristina also joined us for 2 of the miles but she left before the picture taking happened. They were definitely the push I needed. Although it was hard it was also very rewarding once it was over. Each time my watch would beep I would give a sigh of relieve if it was in the range I wanted. At one point it beeped, read 9:10 and I was slightly upset. Although it was extremely windy I couldn't help but laugh for getting upset because this pace in itself is was faster than most runs.

Myself, Andrea, Meghan and Maggie in front of the largest port-a potty!

10 marvelous miles and in the same time I would normally run 9 miles. I was beat....but in a wonderful way. Nothing but smiles as I drove home to relax and warm up before my best friends birthday celebration Saturday evening.

St. Jude Heroes

Just a handful of months ago my best friend Ashton decided she wanted to train and run her very first marathon. With any friend of mine that tells me this for the first time I have a very hard time containing my excitement. I told her I wanted to be there every step of the way. Giving her full control to decide when and where we would run it and she chose the St. Jude Half in Memphis the first weekend in December.

So many good things can be said about St. Jude. but their main focus is to ensure that no child ever pays for anything at St. Jude .

We then decided we were going to become Heroes and commit to raising $500 for St. Jude. What better thing to be doing exactly what we love while helping out a wonderful cause. I couldn't have been more excited for the journey ahead.

A few months passed while many family members donated, some old friends, and even my running "dad". Some donated as birthday presents to other friends. I even did a raffle give-a-way of a cake I decorated at my work with complete profits going toward my goal.

I was so close to hitting my goal for two months and tonight after I closed my ThirtyOne Fundraiser I finally surpassed my goal. I actually ended up raising 140% of my goal so far. Thank you so much to all those that have helped me get closer to my goals by donating. I can't thank them enough. I am filled with so much joy and warmth knowing that every little bit helps.

If anyone would like to donate any there is still a month left until race day! I will continue my efforts until race day.

New to the Blog World!

Hello World. Mackenzie here.

I've always wanted to start a blog and well, here goes nothing! Overweight but content woman in her 20s turned avid runner and lifter working her way through life one healthy decision at a time Striving daily for a balance of running, lifting, living, and trying to love each new day.

I work 5-6 days a week, sometimes 8-10 hour days, at my full-time day job and also work part-time at Snap Fitness filling in for the current managers. Working out comes as early as 4 a.m. some days or after a long day of work on others. I try to be as flexible as possible because no two days are the same.

I'll be taking you through the journey that is my life. I may bore you a little but believe me it can be one interesting ride. Today was a good day to start because I hit a major PR on my one mile run time followed by a much needed chest & tricep lift session. I don't usually push myself when I run but my friends and I have a November challenge going on that I will explain later and it has me stepping major out of my box. Today was a rest day from running multiple miles so I stepped outside at the gym and decided to see how fast I could push it not on a treadmill. One mile, multiple circles behind businesses, and 7:55 minutes later and I thought I might hurl a bit. I've never ran that fast on my own. My previous non-race mile time was 8:37. That's a big difference and even bigger than my normal every day pace between 9:30-10:30 min miles. Maybe pushing myself is what I need.

Well, that's all I have for now. I'll get better at this I promise. Hope you enjoy my journey as much as I do!