Last Fourth of July I ran the inaugural Firecracker 4 Mile in my hometown.

I was home for a happy time, a family reunion with relatives from Norway. I was able to run with my dad. I love running races in my hometown because I get to see it from a new point of view. When I lived there I only ran in my neighborhood. Races allow me to run by the Mississippi, my college and downtown. Downtown definitely looks different while running than it did while drinking. 😉

I wasn’t planning to run this year and neither was my dad. I wasn’t supposed to be home for a visit until the end of July, well after the race was done. Unfortunately, I had to go back early due to a death in the family. Once I knew I would be home my dad asked if I wanted to run. I said, of course! He signed us up and that was that.

For this year they updated the course a bit. I liked both routes but this year was a tad nicer. The start and finish were in the park, instead of the access road. The start both years included up a hill, but this year was through the river trail instead of downtown. I was worried about how narrow the trail was with all the people going through but, surprisingly, people were incredibly polite. I was a bit shocked. In Phoenix, people make rude comments rather than just saying excuse me or on your left.

The loop through town was a bit different but it was still residential streets. The ending came through downtown, into the park and then down the pier. The bad thing about running down the pier was having to go back up. I was hitting the wall and not sure I would make it and then had to run up the pier. I would have given up had I not seen the finish line coming up. As I ran through the park, my dad was waiting and had his phone ready to capture my run past. I made it through the finish line and had never been so happy to stop running.

I learned an important lesson or two this race. One: you need your inhaler when running somewhere with humidity. And two: food and nutrition do make a huge difference. I might make this a separate post as I have already gone on quite a but here! Overall, though, the race was great and I didn’t do too bad, especially considering my sporadic summer running.

2015: 40:52 total, 10:13 pace

2016: 41:20 total, 10:20 pace

My dad did much better than me:
2015: 34:59 total, 8:45 pace

2016: 31:39 total, 7:55 pace

He has gotten so fast! I definitely do not take after him here but I do try. I’d love to be that fast.

Have you done any summer races? Let me know how you did in the comments!

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“If you don’t take care of your body where are you going to live?”

I don’t care if you are a healthy weight, overweight or obese… are you happy with your body?

If not, you need to figure out why and what makes you unhappy and take steps to change it. People of all sizes can be happy with their body, or unhappy. The above quote puts it well, you are the only one who can take care of your body. You are the one that has to live in your body every day. Why wouldn’t you want to take care of it?

I have struggled with being happy and taking care of myself. I think we all do. I’ve talked about my celiac diagnosis before. I’ve mentioned I have gained weight since my diagnosis (a common occurrence when celiacs go gluten free). Before my diagnosis, I was losing fairly quickly and was down to 140. I was happy there and wanted to work on building strength. I am now 157 and miserable. I feel flabby. My clothes are too tight (and a few pants no longer fit). I am struggling to lose weight.

I also went through a period of stuffing my face with all those gluten free cookies and cupcakes. I wasn’t happy. I was stressed. I ate my feelings. I was caught in a cycle of feeling stressed and unhappy, stuffing my face to feel better, and then feeling more unhappy because I just ate a million calories.

I know what I need to do. I think most of us know what we need to do. The struggle is to actually follow through and do it. I keep starting, giving up and starting over. It’s time to end that cycle. I am not sure who the following quote is attributed to as I’ve never seen a name attached to it but it is something I keep telling myself…

“If you are tired of starting over, stop giving up.”

I need to tell myself this every day. I am tired of starting over, of not changing, not moving forward. I want to feel healthy and happy. I am the only one who can keep going. I am the only one that can change my actions.

As of last Thursday (who needs Mondays or the first of the month), I have been working hard to make sure I track my food. I know tracking my calories helps me lose weight. It’s worked before and every time I stop I overeat. I also know I can get obsessive so I have adopted a more loose style of tracking food. I’m not worrying if I go over calories. It is what it is. But I might think, was I really hungry? Was I stressed? Reflect and move forward.

I am trying to hit my 10k steps each day and workout. I am currently doing a Nike Training Club program, which includes running. But being back in Phoenix heat I am struggling to run but am trying to do cardio on those days if I don’t run. I feel better when I workout. I am also working on shoulder and hip mobility so when my 6 weeks rest is up I can get back to New Rules of Lifting for Women. I enjoy lifting weights. It gives me a different level of satisfaction than running. I need both.

July 7th was my new year. I am starting over but this time, I am sticking with it. I want to happy. I deserve to be happy. We all deserve to be happy. It will be hard. There will be struggles, but I am ready for the challenge.

Yes, taking care of yourself is hard work. Everything worth fighting for is hard work.

You are worth fighting for.

What quote gets you through the difficult times?

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Do you remember eating the giant sweet tarts as a kid?

All the sugar.

All the sour.

All the yum.

How would you feel about an adult version? A giant sweet tart that gives you a nice energy boost?

Glukos energy tabs do just that. I use them before an evening run or weight lifting session, after a long, tiring day at work. The tabs give you a good energy boost fairly quickly but it is subtle. There’s no jolt. No shaking. Just a quick boost. I also haven’t had a crash from Glukos energy tabs. I usually end up feeling just as good at the end of a run or weight lifting session, if not better.

The positives:

• Easily dissolves in mouth
• Easy to chew
• Good flavor
  • I had fruit punch and it was a bit on the tart side, which I love. If you aren’t a huge tart person it might deter you
• Local company
  • They are based in Scottsdale, Arizona.
• Gluten free

The negatives:

• Wouldn’t dissolve in water
  • The package claims you can dissolve it in water. I tried. I waited about 5 minutes and nothing. I chewed it instead. I use Nuun a lot, which starts dissolving immediately and only takes about a minute.
• Not enough of an energy boost to use first thing in the morning
  • I need more to get me going. Maybe this would be better for others.

I really wish the tabs would have dissolved in water. I would have loved to taste it as a drink. The tabs come in fruit punch, orange, and lemon. I was given the fruit punch to try.

Bottom line: I will continue to use the Glukos energy tabs I have and will purchase them when I’m out. I think the flavor is on point and I like the energy it gives me.

They do offer an energy powder as well and I will give that a try as well.

If you have run a Rock N Roll event you have probably used or at least seen Glukos. Glukos gels and gummies are available on the course.

I will be reviewing additional Glukos products as I gear up and train for my first marathon. I am currently in what I am calling “pre-training” (basically getting myself back on a workout schedule) and will be officially in training on August 29th. EEK!

I was given the Glukos products by my local running store, Fleet Feet Scottsdale to review. Everything in this review is my opinion. If I didn’t like the product I would tell you.

What is your favorite pre-workout energy product? Let me know in the comments.

Are you following me on Instagram? Be sure to head over and follow to see my journey to my very first marathon!

I have a problem.

I can’t stop buying workout clothes, gadgets, shoes, and gear. My dresser is exploding with compression shorts, tech t’s, and sports bras. My gear box is spilling out visors, headphones, and sunglasses. I am always going to want new gear so I needed to find a way to reign in my spending. I also thought it might be motivating to know I have to earn booty shorts and can’t just grab a cute pair when I’m at the Under Armour outlet.

I also thought this might be a good solution to get and keep me motivated to work out. I go through stages when I do really well, work out every day, and then I fall off the horse and completely stop working out.

I am trying to find some consistency.

At the beginning of this year, I started a reward program for myself. I decided for each yoga session and weight lifting session I would receive $1. For every mile I run I earn $1. For the first quarter, I gave myself $1 for each pound I lost but that became complicated if I lost .4 one week, gained .2 the next, then lost .6 the next. I dropped that when I started the second quarter.

I also was taking away $1 for every missed workout but decided not to do that for the month of June. It wasn’t really a deterrent for me. I still skipped my workout and justified it as “if I’m not working out I don’t need new clothes”. For June, I have just paid myself accordingly for each workout. I think it is best to just keep it as simple as possible.

I track it on a Google doc sheets. I have a tab for each quarter and track three months on each sheet. I have four columns for each month. The first is the day of the week, the next column is the date, then the amount, and finally a column for notes. In the notes, I indicate which workout I did or if it was a scheduled rest day. If I didn’t work out I may fill in the reason. Most recently I noted the days with high temperatures and high pollution advisory.

Here are screenshots of the spreadsheet I put together. It is not advanced or fancy but it does the job. I have them separated into weeks but now that I am not using my weight I could take the row out. I weigh myself on Sundays and left a gap to enter my weight. As you can see, I have spent some of the money. After I made the screenshots I moved the quarter 1 balance to quarter 2 and then subtracted the new headphones I bought.

I need to get in a few more workouts, my balance is down to $29!

Do you reward yourself for working out? How do you stay motivated?

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How many of you struggle with finding the motivation to find a routine?

I know I do. I struggle each day, week, month, year to establish a workout routine. To find a grove. To keep going. I have no problem with other routines. I have my morning routine down to a science. I know exactly how long it takes me and how long I have to do each task. Yet when it comes to working out I struggle.

I know I need to and should work out. I know I feel better physically and mentally when I work out, so why can’t I easily get into a routine?

I start off each week with good intentions. This will be it. This will be my week! But, as I’m sure you know, stuff happens. Work stresses me out. I don’t sleep well. Soon, I am just too tired to do a workout.

What works for me in these slumps?

Pushing through.

Just get up. Put on your running shoes. Go.

There are three ways I think of as pushing through:

1. Tell yourself you only have to go for 15 minutes. If after 15 minutes you want to give up? Ok because you tried. You made the attempt. More than likely you will just keep going and finish your workout because once you start it’s easier to keep going. You realize what you were dreading, or too tired to do, is actually energizing you.
2. Don’t allow yourself more than one day off in a row. My biggest momentum killer is two or more days off. It is like a downward spiral you will get caught in almost every time. Need a rest day or too busy? Take a break but be sure to get back at it the next day or it gets too easy to keep pushing off.
3. Have a backup plan. You usually do yoga on Wednesdays but class is canceled? What are you going to do? Nothing? Find another class? Find workouts you can do when something comes up with your regular routine. Maybe you have a 10-minute Tabata workout you can do on busy days. Maybe you have a gym membership for the hot summers (or cold winters?).

I struggle with this. I had wanted June to be the month I got back to my routine. I started off great… for the first 4ish days. What happened? 118 degree days with high pollution advisories. I couldn’t run outside. I didn’t have a backup plan. So I took a break. And then another. And then I didn’t do my weights. And downward spiral commenced.

A few more thoughts on the topic:

How to Establish Gym Routine Tips for Beginners

How to Make a Workout Plan

Starting & sticking with an exercise habit

Make a workout plan & stick to it

How do you stick to your routines? How do you get yourself back into the habit?

Do you follow me on Instagram? If you want to see if I am sticking to my routine be sure to do so!