running

Botched + Second Breakfast

| cheriarmour

First all, let me tell you about this app I discovered.

I registered me and the hubster for Fitbits for our wedding.  While we’re kinda like waitinnnng for one of our awesome friends to bestow upon us gifts so we don’t get “marriage fat” like a lot of folks say that you do when you get married, I’ve downloaded this app, called ‘Moves’ that I heard about in Shape Magazine last month.

It’s on your iPhone, and it tracks your movement throughout the day.  My goal is 10K steps, and I may up that to 20K once I get my Fitbit and can track when I’m not carrying my phone on me.  What is great about things like these is the fact that you never realize how sedentary you are until you have the numbers to back it up.  As a really active person, it’s pretty nuts that I sometimes have to hop up from my desk and do a lap to get my steps in.

Moves AppWhat I think is really cool, is the point in the day where I have run more steps than I’ve walked.  It always makes me think that my main mode of transport is my two legs, and that is really the coolest feeling – that I am really self-sufficient in a sense.

**

So part of the  other thing I’ve had to adopt doing is this concept of “second breakfast”. I used to have to do the second breakfast thing when I was working in the bakery at Whole Foods for a little while, post grad-school.  If you didn’t know, if you work in a bakery, you have to wake up at ungodly hours in order to have breads, coffees, and sweet things out.  So I used to eat something light and quick before work, and then during my break around 10 am or so, I would eat second breakfast, which was a more substantial meal.  Since I sometimes drop by my job super early or try to take an instructor’s class, I’m starting that second breakfast thing.  Usually my breakfasts are super healthy and involved a fruit and/or a smoothie.  But sometimes I go to Whole Foods and get one of these…

SconeWell, two things.  I ate one a few days later.  But yum to that breakfast!  I wish I could live off of breakfast foods and sweet things.  But alas, scones aren’t very good marathon fuel, so I have to eat other things sometimes.  Bummmmer!

***

I think you guys have me pretty well figured out by now.  I love love love reality television, and I will watch anything once.  Except the NFL.  So over 4th of July weekend, I started watching this show called ‘Botched’ which has changed my life for good.

The premise of ‘Botched’?

The premise involves two famous plastic surgeons, who we know as husbands of Real Housewives, Terry DuBrow and Paul Nassif, high skilled surgeons, who are consulted to do revisional surgeries, or basically, to fix surgeries once horrid surgeons have screwed it up.  It is so so frightening to know that there are doctors who run around screwing up people’s bodies, but they’re out there, hacking folks’ bodies left and right.

Now I’m pretty cool with my body, and I take good care of it, but once in a while, I think about getting my breasts reduced and lifted, or getting my nose fixed to look like my sister’s who I swear got the good nose.  But after watching hours of ‘Botched,’ I say HECK NO.  What a scary show!

What is your favorite breakfast food cuties?!

 

 

Naked Running

| cheriarmour

So, one of the amazing perks of my new job is that during the day, when I’m working, I can typically take some time off and work out.  I’ve taken advantage of this in my first week, but surprisingly lately, the workouts haven’t included a ton of running.  Part of that is because of the temps here in North Carolina – the last two days have been beautiful, but on the whole, the summer has been oppressively humid, and it makes it really really discouraging when you look down at your watch, and you’re barely keeping it together for a 10:00 minute mile.  (The other part, is that with as much lifting as I’m doing, sometimes it’s hard to get the run in on big heavy lifting days.)

So over the past few days, it’s cooled down a considerable bit (it’s kind of hung around in the mid 80s for a while) and because of this, and the fact that I’m sort of sick of feeling like a slow poke according to my watch I’ve taken to doing a few “naked’ runs.  I keep my phone with me for safety’s sake, but no GPS, and only the time to kind of guide me to know how far I’ve gone.

Honestly, it’s been a little nice to just run, and get back to why I ran in the first place – because it felt good and felt natural.  Yesterday, I was running during work, and I just got to look around, enjoy some sunshine, and not get locked into the suck that your GPS can be.

So this week, I challenge you to  run naked like one time.  I know a lot of you guys are in your first weeks of marathon training, but take one of those days and just chill out!

Do you ever run naked? 

How long did it take you to fall in love with running?

| cheriarmour

I’m becoming a big fan of the Hungry Runner Girl, Janae, because she’s so freaking positive.  It’s funny, I’ve seen a few things written about her online, and the overwhelming “complaint” about her, if you even want to call it that is that she’s too positive or that she gets too excited about the littlest things.  I can relate to her – I actually had an associate at Barnes and Noble physically back away from me when I expressed my excitement that they had the Gavin DeGraw album in stock.  Okay lady, let me be happy, kay?

Anyhoo, so HRG posts yesterday and posed this question:

How long did it take you to fall in love with running?

The truth is, I don’t really know.

Sport Photo mailed me this blast from the past from my first race in 2011.  I’m not sure what possessed me to sign myself and my boyfriend (now almost-husband) for the race, except it sounded really really cool, and I think I saw in ad in one of the women’s fitnessy workout mags that I’d been reading like a Bible.

Mud Run

Austin so sweetly agreed to to the race with me, an obstacle 5k in Virginia, and we drove up there after a shift at the Whole Foods Bakery.   Yes, I know.  I’m a fitness director, and I worked at a bakery my first gig out of graduate school.  But I like my sweets, and I love Whole Foods so it worked.

I ran that race.  Finished in decent time.  Felt great afterwards, and within about a year’s time, I was running my first half-marathon.

There was never a moment where I was like “aughhh this is awesome,” but I guess I always just liked the way it made me feel.  I also loved the way you could kind of click into cruise control for a long run and just…run.  Like after a while it didn’t feel like death on a stick, but it just felt like a state of being, as natural as anything else did.  Sure, there were still some runs that made me feel like vomiting on on the side of the road, but the vast majority of the runs just felt…good!

So all that to say is, I just don’t know when I started to love running.  I’m not particularly fast or fancy, but it feels natural to me, and it feels like the kind of workout you can seriously do anywhere, and burn the most calories/stress off without killing yourself.

So my question on this wonderful Friday is….

When did you fall in love with running?

 

 

4th recap

| cheriarmour

The three-day weekend was perfect, but I’m almost at the point where three days was a little bit much for me because I laid on the couch nearly all day on Sunday, avoiding a smelly pile of laundry that needs to get done, and a dirty blender that has been in my sink all day.

As for my list of things that I wanted to do on the 4th, I think I achieved them all – the only thing I didn’t do was lay by the pool because the weather was unseasonably cool for North Carolina, and it was in the 80s all weekend – not blazing like I usually like it for pool days.

So on the fourth, we started the gorgeous day by doing NOTHING.  Well, almost.

First, I ran the Raleigh Downhill Mile with Matthew, where I found some friends.

photo 1I was able to crank out the mile fast enough so that I could cheer that little cutie on.

photo 2Matthew is a dear friend and my supervisor (for like two more days), and it was so fun to do something other than track down clients on a Friday morning at the race.  The girls raced first, so I was able to see him punch out a really impressive finish!

photo 5I cranked out a mile in 7:21.  However, my last name is not Armack, so the only proof you really have that it happened is my Garmin.  Which actually says I ran a 7:20 so HOLLA!  One of these days I will maintain a pace like this over the course of 13.1 miles.  A girl can dream, right?

photo 3

We were able to hit a local fancy coffee shop for some post-race eats.

photo 4And post race, we hit the WRAL Sand Desk that they’d set up.  How cool is that, right?

Once I got home, I laid on the couch, reading ‘The Fault in Our Stars,’ while Austin loudly chomped on peanut butter and jellies.  For hours, literally hours, Austin and I watched American Ninja Warrior while I fantasized about one day getting my upper body strong enough to fly through that course and make it up the Warped Wall.  Maybe one day…

I napped, of course.

And finally we headed out to see some friends for the 4th.

4thofJulyThe rest of the weekend was spent reading, napping, and running.  We also meet our wedding officiant, which is a fabulous woman who we seemed to click with really really well, so it feels awesome to cross another thing off the list.

On a personal front, I feel like emotionally, I’m a mess.  But I need to keep my eye on the prize, at the end of this emotional road, I get a new, wonderful husband, new pets, a new home, and a ton of time with friends and family, and that’s what’s important.

How was your 4th?

Dead car batteries.

| cheriarmour

Good morning!  I’m so sorry for my silence yesterday, but I had to buckle down and get the wedding invites finished.  They are done, they look beautiful, and I’m sending them to work with Austin tomorrow so they can just be DONE and out of my face.

And then, I will just focus on getting as much stuff done as possible until the RSVPs start rolling in.

But I realized today that I am getting married next month and I cannot wait.  I am so ready to see all my friends and family, and most importantly, be married and get my swirl on with my man.  So pumped! Eep!

Okay, so on Monday, I told you guys that my achilles was sort of bugging me, so I embarked on some pool running, which was actually really cool, despite the fact that it looks so so dorky.  It feels like it paid off, because I was able to teach my Zumba class at Aradia on Tuesday, and then I woke up early Wednesday morning, and hit up the treadmill for a pre-work run.  The tendon feels great, and I think I will just stay off the trails for the next few days while I let it decide what it’s going to do.

Dead Car Batteries.

So, I was running around, getting ready to go to work two mornings ago, and I kind of thought that my car was being lazy as it was cranking up.  It sort of coughed, but it started, and I thought nothing of it.

Later that day, just before the World Cup game (ugh, don’t wanna talk about it,) I went to start my car up, and the battery was dead.

Dead BatterySo there I am, on the day that felt like a million degrees, bumming a charge off my boss.  Yikes.

So today, I made sure I got the workout in early, headed to the most unfun store ever (Advance Auto Parts), unfun because there aren’t any fun magazines there or good candy, and I bought a new battery, and the ever-handy hubby-to-be replaced it.

Whew!  What a day.

But my battery is replaced, I ran today and didn’t die of heat stroke, invites are on their way, and I am delightfully sore.  Life is good 🙂

What are you doing for the 4th of July?

 

Currently…

| cheriarmour

I stole this from Rhapsody and Chaos, and I liked it so well that I am gonna use it!

Reading: Orange is the New Black.  I have been trying to get this book finished forever, but with wedding planning, it’s been challenging to find time.  But I’ve tried to  make some relax time, and made some time at the pool last week, and am making some time for the pool on Friday.

OITNB

Writing: This post – I’ve also played with the idea of writing a book on black women and working out, but that’s not even a thing until we get me married 🙂

Listening: To Dr. Phil.  Amber from Teen Mom is on there.

Watching: I guess Dr. Phil?

Thinking: About taking the day off on Friday so I can get some work done that I’m behind on at the house.

Smelling: The sunblock I use daily.  Sunblock has such a distinct smell.  It reminds me of summer.

Eating: I just finished a breakfast smoothie.  Berries, some Greek yogurt, and a little bit of orange juice.  Very yummy, but it’s very apparent I need a Vitamix.  I ate all the crunchy stuff in the beginning.

Wishing: My house was clean.  But I think the wish won’t work, I think I might actually have to clean it.

Hoping: That I get to straighten up the home tonight!

Wearing: A sports bra under a pretty work dress.  I couldn’t find a real bra this morning.  I really need to shop for a few real bras.

Craving: A cold glass of seltzer water.

Loving: Austin. My friends.  My pets.  Especially my Coco.  I talked to her this morning before work, and she just looked at me like “you’re really gonna leave me when we could be napping all day?”

Wanting: More hours in the day to run.  More hours in the day to clean.  And more hours in the day to craft.

Needing: All of the above.

Feeling: Happy.  Content.

Clicking: Myself on Women’s Running’s website.  You too can vote here!

What are you currently doing?

Don’t get pets.

| cheriarmour

So today, it was a little cooler in North Carolina so I met up with some friends to go running on the trails in Umstead.

I like trail running because it’s a lot cooler, and that’s really important.  I spent enough time on the treadmill all over this past heinous winter, so I have yet to torture myself in that manner.  Plus no good shows are really on telly right now so I have no interest in staring at the creepy trainer in the gym who wears a sport coat over his windbreaker pants.  (Not kidding).

photo (8)Even though I’m getting really close to the wedding (2 months exactly as I write this), I’m really starting to get the itch to race again, and I’m really really dead set on making sure I don’t lose any fitness even though it’s gonna be hot as hell this summer if last week is any indication.  I feel like the little incident with the Greensboro Marathon could have been avoided had I done better with training in the heat of the summer.  As of right now, all I have planned is Ragnar in Vegas with the Bondi Band girls, and I’m starting to really warm to the idea of a trail race or to an ultra either in the late fall, or in the spring.  I’ve sort of had my eye on this Badwater Race in Cape Fear in March.  I think I want to do something like this because when I prove to myself that I can do crazy physical things, I can do amazing things mentally and in my work life.  Maybe I’m just crazy.

Don’t get pets.

So, as of this marriage, I am a stepmother to a large cat named Chester, and mom to Martin, the orange cat, and Coco, the grey poodle.  I love my pets so much, they make my life happy.  But my honest advice to you is if you like your house clean, do not get pets.

I am constantly vacuuming, cleaning up someone’s barf, or worse, steaming the carpet of Coco’s pee (the worst ever).  So I’d steamed just the other day, and I look over tonight and Martin, the orange cat, is literally sloshing like 89 gallons of water onto the carpet that I’ve just cleaned.

I can’t even dignify this orange cat’s actions with anything, so I will advise you.

Unless you want to clean all day and night.

Don’t get pets.

Any pets?

Have you ever done an Ultra?  Thought about it?

Have you voted yet? Please???!

I need your help!

| cheriarmour

Okay, so I will keep reminding you day in and day out.  But something really exciting happened to me.

So I found out last weekend, and I wasn’t really allowed to tell anyone until about 1 am.

Women’s Running Magazine is hosting a contest for their next cover model.  Me and about two thousand women entered, and GUESS WHAT?! I am a finalist!  One of nine exquisitely beautiful women.

Screen Shot 2014-06-17 at 7.37.24 AMSo I stuck a new link to the right.  I will remind you all over the place.  But please, please, pretty please, vote for me daily to see your FAVORITE blogger on the cover of Women’s Running Magazine.

Click here to vote.  Voting closes July 2nd at 12pm so be prepped for me to harass you until then.  And then I’ll be getting married right after that so things are fixin’ to get real innerstin on the blog!

I couldn’t take it.

| cheriarmour

It’s super rare that I ditch a workout, but after a particularly hot trail run on Sunday night where I left completely drenched, a little nauseated, and with my achilles doing it’s own thing, I made the executive decision to meet a coworker at the pool, and pool run, instead of sacrificing my entire soul on a 95-degree trail run.

photo 1This was the trail run in question.  If you kinda look at my face, you can see my eyeliner is all runny.  I literally felt so sick after this run, and it was approximately 90ish degrees at the time of the run.

photo 2I took one feel at the humidity outside, grabbed my Kindle and bikini, and ran in the pool til I was over it.

And it was amazing.

I don’t think I’ve had the time (since the serious wedding planning started) to read a book, so it was nice to press the pause button while I tried to finish “Orange is the New Black”.

The deal is though, since I’m almost done with that book, and since I got a big fat $6 settlement in some Kindle class action lawsuit, I’m gonna need another book to read, and once we get married I’m gonna read the HELL out of some books.

Give me some books to read please!