Well, I am catching you guys up a little today on what I have been doing lately. On Mother's Day, I was a Junior Marshal at App. It was a pretty neat experience. I got to stand and follow a fellow ROTC army student. That was kinda cool, after I got over his whining of it being so hot every few minutes :) spoiled kids, what am I goin to do w/ them :). The ceremony lasted 2hrs and I only had to work for 3hrs. So, it was pretty cool. I met the Dean over my college, the College of Applied Arts. He was pretty down to earth, and very talkative.
Getting ready for the event was quite a challenge! I could not find anything to wear! I rarely rarely ever shop. Pants are the worst thing to shop for (right Sara!) I have to try on at least 30 pairs of pants before I can find one that suits me. When I do shop, for like school or something, I buy like a shirt here, a skirt there. So, when it comes to finding a nice outfit that matches! Good luck... I live in workout clothes, Y shirt, jeans, caprees, and short sleeve shirts.

This is a little scary image of my wardrobe panic, lol oh it was bad :)

Oh yeah, found the outfit :)
My little power pose

As I got dressed, I continued to take pictures of myself

and one more

And lastly, here it is... my Junior Marshal outfit with sash :)

Mission accomplished!

Last Saturday I went cycling on the road for the second time! It was brutal, but lots of fun. I rode with S. Handy (our radio guy and great father) and his son. (I might have already shared this w/ you guys, but I'll tell you again if so). We had only ridden 45min, when Steve had said, "ok guys, we have only gone 10miles, so we only have 18 more to go!" I was like oh your kidding me! So we just strolled along, dodging dogs, dodging cars, and so on. We finished at 2hrs with 28.3 miles. Once we got off the cycle, my legs felt crazy sorish numb! If you have not ever cycled out doors on the road, you need to at least try it once. There is nothing like it. It at first feels very dangerous. No seatbelt, but lots of cars. You are like placing your life in the "hands" of a small framed bike! It's quite an interesting feeling. My pre-workout meal was my lovely oatmeal :) made w/ organic oats, flax, wheat germ, wheat bran, seeds, dried papya, fruit, plain yogurt, and pumpkin, coffee w/ raw sugar, skim milk, and vanilla extract, and egg whites w/ one yolk, spices, and onion. It was so good, I always get hungry when I admire the pictures I take of my food. :) My Picture at the top is kinda blury, but I thought you might want to see me in my cycle (well actually a runners) outfit :)

It's Saturday!

Wow I made it to Saturday! :) I kept focusing on Friday night all week long, because my week has been so busy working double shifts, but once Friday got here, it almost seemed like a disappointment. I probably had such a huge expectation of what it should be, and when it did not go as planned, I was like well, hmm, ok. Does that make sense? I was off of work today, but ever since I woke up I wish that I had to work. Weird I know, but it's probably because I knew Id be alone all day and feel unproductive, eat, and fall asleep (and that's pretty much what happend). Except I did clean my freezer today! Wow so much better, and we had our 1yr old left overs for dinner! It was a squash casserole, chicken, and brown rice... I hate having nothing to do, even if I have lots I have to do, It's just hard alone. So, to blast my misery :) (not really) I did 15min of pilates when I first woke up, ate breakfast, then spent 2some hours in the gym, doing nothing but hard lifts, mt climbers, pushups, tons of abs, so on, and so on. My first hour and 15min in the gym, I worked out w/ a guy from work, S Greene, pretty big trainer. He helps push me a lot, especially w/ pullups, and stuff I have never even thought of. We worked back and biceps till they were totally spent. Once he left, I didn't really want to go home, so I stayed and worked rear delts, chest, lil front delts, and triceps. I did not even run today! I worked to hard in the gym, which depleated my running energy :( I have spent the last hour with an ice pack on my arm. I still am dealing w/ that slight elbow injury. Hopefully it will be healed before too long. Anyhoo, Yesterdays workout was pretty awesome too. After work I lifted 2hrs and 15min, then met a friend to run 5miles. When I am not in school, I have to get out energy some how! So bloggers, What kind of stuff have you incorporated into your workout lately?????

Relay of Life

Hello fellow bloggers :) It's been a while, sorry for the slack updates. I have had so much going on in the last 3weeks with not one day off, even Sunday! So, I am taking Saturday as my excuse to stay home and clean!!! I think I am going to have to go to Boone sometime Saturday, to get my summer school books, woohoo App starts back on Tuesday. Because I have not gotten the chance to fill you guys in on my week, I thought I would play a little "relay" of what Ive been doing today...
Today, I got off of work at 8am, yes that's right, off at 8a, and went in about 5a, what fun :) I have been planning a Stone Mountain day for the past 3weeks. So, today me and my friend, Tabitha, went down to Stone Mountain and hiked a 3mile trail. It was a lot of fun...

Stone Mt. is gorgeous!
And here is me and Tabitha
Me out on a limb
Want an awesome glute workout??? Hike a Mt, I am already sore!

Look, I am on top of the world :)

My souvenirs: pine cone, flower, and a cool rock, all in front of the view of my lil car


The butterflies were absolutely everywhere!
Everywhere we walked, we had to check for butterflies

After hiking for 3miles we worked up quite an appetite. With our packed lunch, we headed down to a stream for a picnic. I packed 2 turkey and cheese sandwiches on Flat Everything Bagels, apple and carrot slices, and grapes. Tabitha added delicious strawberries and cucumber slices. The lunch was so delightful!


The fruit was so sweet and refreshing and
Oh man was the sandwich so so good!

Our picnic scenery complemented our meal quite nicely


As we were leaving, a deer walked right up to my window :) She was not scared at all, she wanted to be fed I think. "say cheese :)"

We had a fun time, it was much needed. I loved to see so much nature and happy animals and insects. The fruitfulness of a prosperous land is quite enjoyable and uplifting.

Polar "Listen To Your Body"

Good afternoon bloggers :) I hope everyone is having a good day! I have finally purchased a watch! I have been without a watch on my wrist since January! That has really messed my scheduling up. But, now I feel so much better that I have a watch, I no longer look at my wrist 20x b4 I realize there is nothing there to look at. I have been wanting just a simple watch w/ a heart rate monitor on it. I have recently purchased the Polar heart rate monitor watch for women. I really like it. I just set up all of my info and have been reading my watch manual for the past week. Usually when I buy a watch my brother would always set everything for me. So, I never learned how to deal with electronics, in fact, I absolutely hated reading the instructions and setting stuff, because he could do it so easily. I got way to overwhelmed, even with my Ipod, when my brother moved out and got married, I was just SOL with it :) I had the same songs for 2years! I am now conquering my electronic slump! I really enjoyed figuring this watch out. I just took a Fitness Test with my heart monitor and it said I was an elite athlete :) I thought that was a touch from God to see that today, because this morning was kinda hard at work. I work with some of the best athletes and trainers, sometimes it's just hard. I was reading about our running club this morning and it said that "all runners are welcome, from beginner, intermediate, to elite." After reading that I was just thinking, what type of runner and athlete am I?" Sounds a little cheesy, but I always see myself as the intermediate or if I know I am pretty good, I feel that I have to lower myself when I am around others so that there are no hard feelings. I hate jealousy with a passion. So, anyway back to the elite thing, that really lifted me up to know that, maybe I am an athlete. I keep saying I want to be one, so yeah, ok, I'll shut up, but just had that on my heart. Thanks for listening!

Almost to tears

Well, it was another beautiful day in Wilkesboro. Have you ever worked out so hard that you brought yourself to tears? I have to ask myself the question of "why do we 'athletes' do the things that we do? What does it prove? And to whom are we trying to impress?" I am not out there to impress anyone, but, id have to say, myself. I train hard in hopes of becoming an athlete. One sport, just one sport! I have not ever been on any type of sports team, but I have a great desire too. Running and weight training has been a great training tool for me spiritually, physically, and mentally. I discipline my workout, therefore I discipline my life. However, I have slacked off of my discipline a Whole lot within the past year! Shoot, you should look at my room! Such a mess of clothes, good grief. Anyhoo, today while I was working out, it felt so weird to me, I felt as if my body was numb to the pain. I am not as sore as I should be, or thought I would be from my Tuesdays long workout, so I don't think it was from my previous workout. As I started my run, my legs felt numb, or light weight, but w/ a slight soreness pain. I rain 3.6 miles around town for about 30min. I then went upstairs @ the Express and stretched and performed an ab, pushup, plank, spiderman, and back flutters for 30min. That is probably my favorite part of my workout. It gives my body great relief with different movements to ease out the pain. After that lil routine, I went down into the weight room and worked shoulders, delts, and quads. At this point, I had enough, but oh yes of course, I just kept right on til I finished w/ satisfaction. I did all kinds of shoulder stuff on the bosu (upside down w/ one leg), leg extension 30lb alternating, 75lb 2sets 15 w/ holds, step ups 30lb 2sets 15 w/ pulses. After my last set, I honestly was brought to tears (go figure). I probably just needed to eat some almonds or something to fuel my energy expenditure over a course of a few days. I finally got up "ok, your done, not one more, go home" and as I walked towards the door, I remembered, calves. "Ahh man", so I finished 2 sets of calf raises 70lb. So, all this to say, "What are your goals? What are you trying to achieve?" These are very important questions. I realize I am very guilty of fighting for something, but not really even knowing what. It's exhausting. I was training for the CIS Race this Saturday, but I have had such a busy semester, and last few weeks, I missed many workouts, which causes me to become a little too over trained to run as well as I would like. For every goal we have must come with a plan. "A goal without a plan is only a wish." Your probably wondering about my photo above right? Meet a lil part of my family. We grew up to be very strong individuals, we know what it takes to fight to succeed. Now, we just got to succeed, in which we are. I really miss my lil family circle. But, I believe it's starting to form again, maybe better :)

Tuesday's Long Workout

Yesterday was awesome! Well I honestly spent my entire day working out, but considering that I have been so busy and had no workout in 4days! that my body needed it. I started my Tuesday out with a good hearty breakfast of oatmeal, ground flax, wheat germ, wheat bran, cinnamon, nutmeg, tarragon, and clove. I topped the oat mixture w/ 1/2 apple, blueberries, pumpkin, plain yogurt, and apple butter. Oh yes, of course, adding a touch of Vanilla Soy Milk really pulls the dish together. And the coffee, can't go w/o that!
After my breakfast, I met a friend of mine from work behind the Y for a bike ride! I have not ever ridden on the road b4, so this was both pretty exciting and nerve racking! I wish I remembered to take a picture of me on the bike! But, I 4got :(. My friend, Steve H., a great christian family man who works at our local radio station, offered to lend me his extra bike and teach me how it's done. He was an excellent teacher. It probably took about an hour to set the bikes up before our ride. We had to check the tires for air, fit the seat to my body properly, set up the lil computer thing, learn proper techniques, and the different gears. So, right when we started to get on the bike and pull out for a test ride, my shoe got stuck on the pedal and I fell over! That usually seems to happen when I workout, from time to time, I always have to go home with some sort of scrape and bruise :) We made a test ride behind the Y, on the runway and greenway. I felt pretty confident, so we headed for the road! He wanted me to be the leader. Our first road was German Town Road. That is the road that is apart of our (YMCA's) Triathlon. I hear it's one of the most brutalist hills. But, honestly, we were just scooting along, it was fun, not too hard. We then encountered a rottweiler, named bear. I know his name b/c his owner made a sprint out of his trailer yelling "bear' ! That dog scared me so bad, but luckily Steve carries pepper spray, and the guy tackled the dog, so we were good. After an hour of riding, my rear was hurting oh so bad, that I was beginning to 4get how to use my gears! It is so true, when working out becomes your sport, the proper gear is extremely vital! I won't be wearing runner's shorts for cycling anymore, wow so painful! We road 16miles in 1hr and 16min. Our average speed was 14mph and topped 30mph. It was fun! But, after all of that, I had to go home and eat! My post workout meal was 1/4c Tuna and a boiled egg. The perfect combo to replenish the muscles after a hard workout.
I then took a nice hot shower and got ready for lunch. I made a peanut butter and banana sandwich. I used Whole Grain bread that I bought from Stick Boys Bakery for $3.00 a loaf. I topped it w/ Organic Peanut Butter, Morello Cherry Jam, apple slices, banana slices, and sunflower seeds.

I paired my sandwich with carrots and celery, and some apple slices

It was, oh so good!!! :)

After lunch, I went back to the gym. Too mix it up a little, I went to the Express Y, instead of the same Y 2wice in one day. I was on the treadmill for 35min, which included a power walk warm up, run, sprints, run, and cool down. I was drenched when I got off. I then did some power training with the weights. I started w/ chest presses 20lb each hand, abs, leg lifts w/ 20lb, push ups, Lat pull, push ups, plank, push up position performing rows 20lb ea 15reps., squats 145lb 12 reps, lunges, Dead Lifts 135lb 8reps (these were so cool, try them on a bench press w/ the bar. Stand on the bench and take the weighted bar off rack, then go to town :) The advantage of doing this is so that when performing the deadlift, the 45lb plates don't hit the floor, so your hamstrings can get the full benefit. I then did more squats and called it a day. My post workout snack was a prune and 1 almond. I absolutely love that combination. It is such a pure food that really satisfies my body.
Ok, so after all of that, I came home w/an amazing aroma that filled the house. Mom had made an Olive oil, herbed chicken with brown rice and stirfry. I made the salad :)

The flavors were so delightful, oh no joke, it was so good!

After eating half of my meal, I filled half my plate w/ salad and topped it with a little salsa.

For my dessert, I had another prune and almond, and called it a day! It was about 9PM when my mom and I were ready to sit down! We put on a movie, The Blind Side, such a good movie! And went to sleep.