Barking Mad About Life

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Believe 2015: Journalling

I love journals.
I could write in them all day!
I usually have two journals at all times, one for running and one for my food journal. I use an app, nut I find that if I don't also write it down, I am not as careful about my food and exercise! I have gone through a lot of different journals, searching for just the right one. I hate when it doesn't have enough space, or has too much space, or spaces I will never use.
I was introduced to a great journal by a fellow blogger, called the Eat Well, Sweat Often Journal. Sara sent me a pdf to print out, so I didn't have the awesome spiral bound book that you can purchase using the link above, but that didn't stop me from using it!

I love visual aids, so having the water glasses to color in was a treat. The spaces are just right for my use, and at $8.95 a journal, the price is right as well. Her journals are so great that they are available next on January 15th, so if you order one, be patient.
From Sara's website:

Product Description

Keep track of your workouts, your meals, how much water you’re drinking and how much sleep you’re getting — all in one place! Meal plan and grocery list pages, a weekly fitness schedule, 4 weeks of daily log pages and a place to keep track of your goals.
Start each day with a quick tip or word of encouragement. Learn how to improve your overall health, clean up your diet, fit fitness into your busy schedule, stay motivated, and reach your goals!
We’re awaiting a new shipment of books. All orders will ship by January 15, 2015.

Another journal I use is the Believe journal. This journal will take you through the whole year, with weekly pages to keep track of workouts and mileage.

There are pages in the front for your monthly tallies, goals, and some helpful tips for new journalists.The back of the journal has space for race day plans, goals, and reviews. The only Con about this journal is that it isn't spiral bound. I do love me some spiral bound books. The cover is fabulous, however, and conveniently has my word for 2015 shouting loud and proud on the front!

Do you journal? What do you use, and what do you record?

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

2015 Achievement Board ... Believe

So far, it's done! Does that make sense? I have added all of my current goals, some long term, some short term, for 2015! I'm so glad that I chose Believe as my word for 2015. It is already a word that surrounds me, which my daughter says is because I am Christmas Crazy.

But I digress. Back to my goals for 2015!

2500 Twitter Followers. I am currently at 2192. If you don't follow me, please consider doing so! I follow back!
A Year of Small Changes Challenge. I just added this one yesterday, after joining up with Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. They are following along with the book, 52 Small Changes by Brett Blumenthal. I am excited about this challenge, because I know that my food issues stem from things that make me unhappy, and I really need to work towards that!
Raise $500 for MDA. My dad has a form of MD called Myasthenia Gravis. It really slowed him down a lot at first, but he fought back and he is doing pretty great. He can't do everything he used to, though, and that sucks. He is pretty active for an old guy! I will be running one of my marathons in his honor, and I am fundraising while I train! If you would like to donate, you can do so here. Every $10 donation will get a square in my Super Bowl Fundraiser, and a guaranteed thank you prize, as yet to be determined! I have raised $50 so far, $450 to go!
Run in two new states. So far, I have run a half marathon in 8 states, and I have run (any distance, even a training run) in 11. If all goes as planned, I will be adding Louisiana (training run), Delaware (half marathon) and Ohio (half marathon) as well as Canada! (also a half marathon)
Run 600 total miles. Training for 2 marathons should easily get me here, but an injury can sideline any best laid plans! My goal for 2014 was 700, but an injury wrecked that! I am 4.3 miles short of 600, and if the temps ever break 32, I will go out today and bang those out.
Complete NASM Studies. Wow. This has been on my board since 2013. I barely cracked the book last year. I am mostly doing this for myself, and 2015 is the year that I finish. Enough is enough.
Complete 2 obstacle races. I definitely hope to do my favorite 4H mud run, plus the ROC race again. Oh, and Rugged Maniac.
Money Challenge. I add this every year and have yet to complete one. Last year, I got to summer, and the kids basically nickeled and dimed me to death. (Or should I say $20'd me to death!) It was easier to just say, take a 20 out of the jar. Not this year! This year I have started a little early, and will be saving for Wine and Dine!
1000 Instagram Followers. I currently have 943. If you don't already follow me, please consider it. I'm not gonna lie, I post a lot. Mostly running related, but also family stuff. And I am a total Timehop addict as well. I also like monthly photo challenges.
I have mini squares as part of my goal to lose a marathon (more about that later) so there are squares for 5 pounds, 10 pounds, 15 pounds, 20, and 25 pounds. I'm hoping that being able to fill in the squares every 5 pounds will help with motivation.
Hold a 5:00 plank. Yikes. I managed a 4:00 plank in 2013 and totally dropped the plankaday ball in 2014. My abs totally know this. They blame me. They judge me. 2015 is the year of the plank, my friends!
30 Day Yoga Challenge. I have started this already, today is Day 4. Erin Motz is hosting this free challenge with daily videos at DoYouYoga.com and I get daily emails reminding me to get it done! I will be doing Day 4 after I finish this post! Each video is 15-20 minutes long so far, and focuses on a specific area. So far, it was hips, posture, and back/shoulders. Today will be abs.
Complete One Pull Up. Yeah. I have zero upper body strength. I managed one in 2013. I made it a goal to do 4 in 2014. I never managed them unassisted though. This year I will start from scratch. I'm okay with that! Once I manage one, I will add the goal for 3.
Run 3 Five Mile races. I love these, they are great training runs, and you often get a medal!
Run 12 Half Marathons. Because I plan to run 2 marathons this year, I am not reaching for 15 in 2015. Of course, if the opportunity arises, it could happen anyway, right?
Lose a Marathon in pounds. I joined a challenge in 2012 to lose a marathon in pounds and I pulled it off. It was so exciting. I just couldn't keep it off! I have been learning a lot about my eating habits, though, and this is the year for me! Thanks Jess!
PR. This is a tricky one. My first 2 years of running I was trying to beat my best time. 2014 was the year of the injury, so I shot for course PRs and annual PRs. This year, I am going to play along as I go. My marathon PR is just over 7 hours because I have only ever run in Disney, and we rode a roller coaster and stopped for characters. I am thinking that will be pretty easy to beat!
1500 Facebook followers. Do you follow me on facebook? Right now I have just over 1200 followers. I mostly share race pics, monthly challenges I will be doing, and blog updates.
Master 4 new yoga poses. I love yoga but I am not very good at anything beyond the basics. I would love to master some new poses!
Meet Me on Mars, 1000 miles run. I love this series from Moon Jogger. This is their third year, but my first participating. I am excited about this challenge! I am hoping to break 1000 miles running, which will make me an Officer.
500 Pinterest Followers. I love Pinterest. I mostly use it to scope out new recipes but I also have some great TV workouts on there, as well as motivational pictures! I currently have 369 followers, are you one of them? Maybe this will be a goal I can update during the year!
Keep my chart safe from evil kittens. Yeah, this one needs some explaining. Right after I made my chart, I left it on the dining room table and went out. And the kitten chewed on it. She.loves.cardboard. And paper. She seriously thinks the printer is a paper God that sends her gifts. For real. It's a sickness. I am guessing this is one square that won't get colored in.
Run 2 marathons. I have one already registered for, and the other I will register for when it opens. I had only planned on doing one. Then Gigi from Running on Candy asked me to join her for another one. I pointed out that they were one week apart but I would totally come cheer her on. She pointed out that running both would make me a Marathon Maniac and a Double Agent. I caved. I hate her. I love her. Or maybe both.
Read 30 books. This was also my goal for 2014. I finished 31.Score! I have a great job that allows for a lot of reading! I am on Goodreads, if you want to follow me!
Meet Me On Mars, 2015 miles total. I walk a lot. We walk the dogs a couple miles a day. Most days, anyway. This total will be from checking my Fitbit every day. I have no idea how this will add up, but I am curious to see!
Run one 10K. I would love to run more, but they are hard to come by!
Declutter Challenge. A friend posted this challenge, and originally I thought that it was January only, but it runs all.year.long. I am super organized but also a mess. I hate dusting. I hate cleaning. My poor hubs! I do just enough so that nothing is dirty or moldy. Anyway, there is a Facebook page, and monthly calendars with daily assignments!
Lean and Clean Challenge. This starts on the 5th and is a food and exercise challenge. It's a free challenge and the workouts use basic equipment. I am using this to get me in the groove for cross training, which I struggle with!
Run 15 5Ks. I ran 20 last year, I don't anticipate a problem! My friends and I love them!
100 day Challenge. 30 minutes of activity a day for 100 days. Thanks to John Bingham for posting this on his page!

Whew! What are some of your goals for 2015?

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Frosty Vox Box from Influenster

Now that it is finally Frosty at the Jersey Shore, I feel like I can finally write about my latest Vox Box from Influenster! Every so often, Influenster will provide me with awesome products to try, with no obligation to provide a review, positive or negative. As always, all opinions are my own.

Are you an Influenster? If you are not, and want to check it out, comment below with your email addy and I will send you an invite!

Unfortunately for me, the Teenie found the box right away and confiscated a lot of the products!

She stole the tea, because she is a vocalist she drinks a lot of it! Celestial Seasonings is our favorite, so she was super happy! She had a Winter Showcase and she brought it with her to drink before the show. Blogger Teenie fail, she didn't take a pic! She says it was gone too fast!

She also took the NYC Expert Last Sugar Plum lip color and the Rimmel Scandaleyes Eyeliner. Check out the bottom pic, she looks awesome! The Rimmel Eye Makeup Remover also disappeared with the teenie, to be stored in her performance makeup case. I will likely never see that again!

singing Poor Wandering One from Pirates of Penenzance

Luckily for me, she didn't think the Hair Brush by EcoTools is good for her thick long hair, so I scooped it right up for my running bag!

The Thyme from McCormick came just in time for our Christmas Turkey! I didn't take a lot if pics that day, it was all about family, so the turkey pic is not a thing.

I cannot believe the Fruit Vines have not been opened yet! My daughter is a HUGE Red Vines fan, and she must have forgotten I have them! I am sure there will be an epic battler when I pull them out! the hubs and I like to eat licorice type candy when we watch movies, so I am saving them!

I am really loving all of these new products!

Have you ever used any of these products before?

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Polar Bear Run 5k and a Yoga Challenge

Today I started my day with a new 30 day challenge. Rather than waiting until a Monday or the first of the month, I jumped right in and began this morning.

Day 1 was a 20 minute workout focusing on your hips. It was glorious! As a runner, my hips need lots of stretching! I cannot wait to find out what day 2 will bring!

Afterwards, I did some laundry and then got dressed for the Polar Bear Run.

I was signing up last minute, and it was a beautiful day, so I wanted to be sure I got there early enough to score a tee with my registration!

It was cloudy, and I worried about rain, but it was warm, so I couldn't be too picky! The hubs and I hung out in the car until it was close to start time and then met up with the girls for a potty break.

Time for the race! The hubs ran part of it with me, which was fun, but my lack of running for the last few weeks, added to my forgetting to drink enough water beforehand, did not make for a great race! It never really rained, which was nice, but I didn't finish as well as I would have liked!

Cheryl and I stopped for a final post race selfie before heading to the after party to see if any of us placed.

Cheryl and Makela came so close! 4th in their age group, both of them! Rock Stars!

It wouldn't be a trip to Asbury Park without having Mogo and Confections of a Rockstar....

Perfect day for my final race of 2014! Well, maybe my last, there is one on NYE that I'm considering!

Do you have any more races in 2014?

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Staying Active on Vacation AC Style

The hubs and I decided to take advantage of this insane Spring like weather and walk the boardwalk in Atlantic City today.

We started with lunch at the Continental in the shops across from Caesar's. We even took the stairs to the third floor. The poor hubs was winded by the time we got there.

The Thai peanut butter skewers were worth it and the appetizer portion was just right!