Progress: more miles, detox diet and a glimpse of things to come.

Hey Everyone,
If you are reading this, kudos to you. By now, I'm sure most of my friends thought I either (a) hadn't worked out since January or (b) quite this journey entirely. The truth is more positive than I could have imagined since my last post:


Despite SEVERAL trips to various cities in Minnesota (including Moorhead and Austin), I managed to get workouts in at the pathetic Holiday Inn fitness room. Despite the carpeted walls and only one tv to share with the lady barely pedaling the recumbent bike and forcing my eyes to witness Lifetime television, I stuck with it. Hell, I even missed one morning and went on a run over my lunch hour to fit it in. When I started, a two mile run on the treadmill was pretty painful and exhausting. As of Saturday, I'm up to 4.5 miles with a speed of 9:50 per mile. Only 3.5 miles to go until I reach my goal of being able to run 8 miles non-stop.

Despite progress, pretty sure I still look like this on the treadmill.

I'm making SLOW progress on weight training. Even though I hate it, I force myself to do pull-ups at the gym. Granted, it's on one of those machines that you rest your knees on and helps you, but hey, I'm still proud. I've been TERRIBLE about going to the gym to use the weight machines in the morning, so I've been punishing myself with push-ups, triceps dips and burpees in the living room after work three days a week. I'll be honest: I haven't worked out every day I said I would. But each week, I work out more days than I don't and that's something to be proud of.


Josh did a detox last week. I did not. It involved lots of protein powder, raw vegetables and fruit. In an effort to show solidarity and support, I cooked up a huge batch of vegetable soup for him to eat that week (and then noshed on Noodles, stuffed peppers and Doritos in front of him). I'm really proud of him (I say that with complete sincerity) and he has inspired me to freshen up my diet to make sure my organs don't give up on me on mile 5 of Tough Mudder. Nothing too drastic, just more eggs, protein powder fruit smoothies and learning to love quinoa. 

Making this tonight: Broccoli-Quinoa Pilaf!

Finally, I'm really REALLY excited about this race. I know that I'm probably going to curse myself the entire ten miles but I know that it will be a huge accomplishment. As such, I've posted pictures from some of the Tough Mudder events that have taken place over the last few weeks in warmer parts of the country. Cheers to braving the things to come!

And for fun, I saw this post and couldn't help but enjoy the sarcasm. She's bleeding from her forehead and someone asked what happened in the comment section.

Reply: "There's a spot where they hit you in the face with a board with a nail sticking out."