Hello Old Friend....also, Tuesday Thoughts!

Well, this post is more than long overdue... a lot has gone on in the past 8 months.. I thought I'd return to the old blog with a fun Tuesday Thoughts post! I'm going to try and revisit the theme days I was posting last year but I've had to take a step back in my running and racing after some severe pain in my knees after my last half and other life happenings. I did end up running the Detroit International HM again this year but it was my only half for 2014 thus far and seems to be my only half at all for this year...BUT, that's for another time, tonight is for my thoughts on this insane Tuesday...

On repeat for always...

Story of my life these days….. I guess I’m going to be a hot mess these days...

Also the story of my life the past week...

#truth

I wish people would learn this….clearly not to the level of Fitz&Liv but #srsly

I’ve learned I need to have standards for my own life and that isn’t being selfish or picky..

What I’m doing with my life these days..

I’m really sad a lot these days… just like Kelly.

Again, #truth.

Goodnight.

Weekend Roundup!

What a fun weekend I had the past few days! It was a pretty crazy weekend but I had so much fun visiting one of my good friends from college! On Friday after work, I headed up to Richmond (after a pit stop to drop Rusty off at his grandparents' house haha) to see my friend Kori since she just bought a new (and seriously beautiful) house in Richmond.  We usually go to football games together in the fall so it was great getting to hang out and catch up with both of our MANY life stories!! I didn't get to Richmond until after 10pm on Friday and we were up late catching up and sharing some ridiculous stories about life happenings along with some red moscato (who knew there was such a thing?? It tasted so good and was so pretty).  

Saturday, we ended up going to Claytor Lake for one of her grad school friends' baby shower.  It was so nice being in that area of Virginia again and we both didn't realize until that morning before we left Richmond that it was so close to Blacksburg (home of our alma mater Virginia Tech) so NATURALLY we had to make a detour on our way home.  We stopped by the Volume 2 bookstore and then had an early dinner at our favorite- Macado's! Before leaving town, we drove around campus just a little to see all the changes and reminisce of our college days.  We also drove through Oak Lane, the Greek community on campus and even saw the new phase/development with the first true Southern-style Greek house belonging to Sigma Phi Epsilon.  Their new house is GORGEOUS and I am so jealous we didn't have houses like that when I was in college! We ended up getting back to Richmond pretty late so we hung out and shared more stories (seriously, Kori and I can occupy ourselves for HOURS sharing ridiculous/hilarious life happenings) until I eventually fell asleep on her living room floor since I was up ridiculously late the night before ahhh.

ANYways, enough about that- but we had such a fun weekend! Sunday we had a nice relaxing breakfast at home while I drooled over her beautiful/large kitchen and I let her know of my jealousy of all that kitchen space! We talked about recipes and entertaining ideas- ahh so much fun! I love having dinner parties and having people over at my house but it tends to be difficult with such a small kitchen and limited space in a townhouse.

Here are some fun pictures from the past few days:

Our BEAUTIFUL campus, even in the cloudy/rainy mess!

made a quick stop at my parents' townhouse when we got into Blacksburg to make sure everything was OK! So many memories (good&bad) here!

typical for Kori and I! 

My standard meal from Macados- Gibson Girl, no mayo no pickle

I can NEVER finish all my sandwich because I always get a cup of my favorite soup no matter what!

Kori's signature Macado's meal- Johnny D no tomatoes!

how beautiful is this fraternity house???! SO jealous we didn't have sorority houses like this back when I was in college!

AND here is my OOTD for today- I felt so amazing in this outfit today! I had an early morning 6.1 mile run before work and it really uplifted my mood all day long! I love pretty much everything about what I wore today!

• Dress: Target
• Belt: White House Black Market
• Blazer: LOFT
• Shoes: White House Black Market (originally worn for my law school graduation)
• Jewelry: David Yurman Black Onyx earrings, necklace; David Yurman Petite Wheaton ring in Black Onyx; VT Class Ring
• Watch: Rolex
• Bangles: Malani Jewelers

I love everything about these shoes!

my sweet Rusty on our way home from work/daycare! 

 

How was your weekend??

Four Years Running!

Happy 4 Year Running Anniversary to me! August 8th holds a very special place in my life. I started running four years ago in hopes of changing the direction my life was going and to try and be happy again. It's been an incredible journey and I am thankful that I've been able to stick with it even after all these years of ups and downs.

after my last half marathon in April!

On August 7, 2009, I was at my cousin's son's wedding in New Jersey and completely miserable. I was extremely overweight, stressed out from my first year of law school, and generally felt more alone than I ever had in my life. Annnnd to top it all off, I was sitting at the reception with all these beautiful skinny Indian girls as if that wasn't intimidating enough!

My sister, mom, and I at the wedding reception I mentioned- August 2009

The very next day, I chose to make some changes in my life and vowed to get healthy because I 1- didn't want to have the health problems that my parents/grandparents do/did and 2- for my own vanity (I mean, who doesn't want to look their best at all times??).  The very next day I started doing research online and found Women's Health Magazine's website and some weight loss articles that helped jumpstart this new stage in my life.  I started walking on my treadmill at home 3x a week for 15 minutes at first and increasing the duration by 15 minutes every 3 weeks until I was eventually running for 45 minutes straight through September 2009. I was pretty intense with changing what I ate and making sure I ran every other day in order to turn my life around. The first 40lbs came off quickly but the second 45lbs took nearly a year, which culminated with my first half marathon February 2011! During my last semester of law school, I had some health issues but I ultimately got through that time in life and even though I still see the after-effects, I am trying to do things the healthy way now.

After my first half marathon- Disney Princess HM 2011

After law school, my running journey was a very up-and-down/bumpy so it's taken me a while to get where I am now.  I used running as my outlet during probably the most frustrating 15 months of my life thus far and it really was one of the main reasons I made it through with my sanity!

I ran quite a number of races and 2013 has been probably my best year of racing! I have PR-ed in the following distances this year: 5K, 8K, 10K, and Half Marathon! I'm hoping for another half marathon PR when I am in Detroit in October but I'll be happy to just finish.  I'm excited for the actual course so time won't be an additional pressure to get over the Ambassador Bridge fast enough or even to get through the Windsor Tunnel in record time! 

I'm excited to keep running.  I literally ran to save my life and even though I've plateaued with a net 60-65lb loss since my heaviest, I am happy.  It's been a long time since I could say that but I am actually happy with myself.  Yes, I may have a glass (or three) of wine one night but I still am active and make sure that I don't restrict too much from my diet or else I will just binge on it the next day.  If I want a tootsie roll, then I will eat a tootsie roll! 

ANYways, today's post was to recognize this milestone in my life and share a little of my story! Here's a picture of all my race bibs (minus my PTI Runway 5K bib) and medals I earned over the past four years:

What was the trigger that got you running/active?