2016 Looking Forward To's

Oh look! It's almost the end of January, and I am just posting this! I want to try and mix things up a bit and try not to set belated New Year's resolutions in 2016. Honestly, I've never been able to keep any of them, especially the diet ones! Haha! No. Instead, like last year I may set some goals, which I'll settle on soon enough. But I want to say there is a lot of things to look forward to this year.

What am I looking forward to?!

Beef Running! This year I get to run specific races and represent the Texas Beef Council's Running Team. Go Beef! My first race is coming up in February!

An International Run! This year I get to take a trip to Vancouver, BC to run the SeaWheeze Half Marathon. I'm pretty excited about it, and a bit apprehensive all at the same time. Once I get plane tickets (can we talk about how crazy plane tickets are?!) I think it'll all settle in!

New PRs! My current half marathon PR is 02:34:38. I'd be so ecstatic if I can get a sub 02:3 or a 02:20! Last September I had an 03:27 5k. A sub-30 would be awesome too!

Shape and Tone! All last year I did really good to maintain my strength and running abilities. In fact, I guess you can say that I improved it when I started to train for the marathon. But this year, I really want to work on getting some tone and strengthening my weak points, like my arms. Getting lean would be nice too! Around the time of marathon training taper and through now I lost the tone I had and I gained some fat in the middle. I really don't want to buy new pants! (No, this isn't a weight loss goal/resolution! I swear!!).

New Adventures! I'm dating a totally awesome guy, which makes my heart so happy! He filled avoid that my life was missing, and I know that there will be some adventures of all sorts along the way this year! I can't wait!

What are you looking forward to this year?

OMaD - Week 4 Recap

Reintroducing strength training! Yay!

January 17 - January 23

Day 17: 0 Miles - Sunday totally became a slip in day, but it was worth it!

Day 18: 4.03 Miles - I got to run in a completely new place today! I made my way over to Arbor Hills Nature Preserve to hit the hills. It has some great elevation changes, and the scenery is really nice. There were some people out since it was the holiday. I was expecting less because it was around 30 degrees out. Oh well! It was a great run. I was looking at my Garmin stats the other day notice that the last three times I ran 4 miles I have been a very consistent 45 minute runner. Sweet! When I was getting ready for the run I noticed that my glove was giving me the finger. I had pulled them out of my running bag the moment I checked the weather. Yikes!

Day 19: 0 Miles - Since my running schedule changed again this week I did this 20 minute workout from Popsugar with my new kettlebell. You certainly break a sweat with this one! I'm really wanting to work on my abs since I got a little fluffy in the middle. I don't feel much of anything in my abs right now (about 5 hours after workout), but I know my forearms got a workout. I'll be looking for more workouts soon!

Day 20: 0 Miles - Boy! I totally woke up feeling that kettlebell workout this morning! I was walking around all achy and "oofing"! It was great! I felt it all in the inside of my thighs and left forearm. I felt nothing in my core, which obviously means I need to work on that.

Day 21: 0 Miles - I was so tired and it was so cold outside I didn't get up early to go run. I figured that I'd try to hit the treadmill after work, but it was even colder ten that I couldn't get myself to leave the warm apartment to walk a block to our little gym! Just imagining walking back sweaty (even wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt after) was horrible. Brrr! I'm ready for spring! 

Day 22: 0 Miles - In continued attempt to be a runner I thought I'd wake up early to run 30-45 minutes on the treadmill before work, especially since I knew that a coworker was bringing donuts! Guess what... FAIL! Sleep sounded better! After work, I brought my guy to my work's "book club" dinner before we went home to watch some Dexter, which is our new show. 

Day 23: 0 Miles - Work, work, work. Boo, boo, boo!

Total Miles this week: 4.03 Miles 

Miles to Date: 18.29 Miles

OMaD - Week 3 Recap

Getting back into the swing of things!

January 10 - January 16

Day 10: 0 Miles - Slept in again before having brunch with my guy and having a full day of fun with him.

Day 11: 0 Miles - Even thought today would be the day I'd make up for no Sunday run or to do some cross training, I had some errands to run with my mom and I ended up spending most of the day away from home.

Day 12: 4.01 Miles - Slowly but surely bumping up my mileage this week! Today I faced 4 miles. The first mile and the last mile was tough, but over all it felt so good to accomplish a distance other than a 5k. After getting off my late night I surprised my guy, who had a horrible day at work, and we picked out gummy bears!

Day 13: 0 Miles -Date night! My guy likes little hole in the wall places. Tonight we ended up at a Vietnamese place. We shared some Grilled BBQ Meatballs, and I had Sauteed Black Pepper Beef. It was so good and helped hit the spot in the Asian food I've been craving. We then finally watched the last episode of American Horror Story: Asylum. Omg!

Day 14: 4.02 Miles -This was the best run since the marathon! I felt good the entire time! Though, I was a bit tired and out of breath when I ran up the hill right at the end, but I ended strong. Yay! I'm hoping that this means a 6-miler next is going to go well! Fingers crossed.

Day 15: 0 Miles - No cross training today, but I did stop by Academy to buy myself a 10 lbs kettelbell. Nothing like buying a new toy to get yourself motivated get back into shape! I'm hoping that the 10lbs isn't too heavy for the single arm moves, but we'll find out! What's nice is there are two workout DVDs included in this baby, which I'm looking forward to trying out.

Also, I bought this bad boy with my guy in mind. He's a chef and on his feet all. day. long. using his arms and hands. His muscles are a hot mess, and I'm trying all that I can to find something that will help feel even remotely better. I think we may have a winner!

Day 16: 0 Miles -Work day. Boo! I wanted to back to bed so bad all day. It was cold and gray outside! I want my sunshine back! 

Total Miles this week: 8.03 Miles 

Miles to Date: 14.26 Miles

Kettlebell image found here. 

OMaD - Week 2 Recap

Here we go! I'm running again!

January 03 - January 09

Day 3: 3.16 Miles - My first run of the new year! My first run since the marathon! It was a bit rough going during the first mile.

Day 4: 0 Miles - Totally slept in before going out to do a bunch of errands. Then I surprised my guy with a visit and taking him out for a bowl of ramen. I totally got some super gold stars in the girlfriend area!

Day 5: 0 Miles - I would've typically tried to run this morning, but I had a dentist appointment smack dab in my morning off. Boo! I gotta say, trying to eat hot oatmeal an hour and half after fillings is so hard! I should've gone straight for ice cream!

Day 6: 0 Miles - Date Night! No cross training for me. I'm going to have to change CT to another day all together. I'm thinking Monday is a good contender.

Day 7: 3.16 Miles - I was so tired this morning that I decided to just sleep in and relax before I had to go to work. That was very different than the plan I had the night before. So! Instead of running a 5k in the morning I waited till I got home late after work to hit the gym. I set the treadmill to flat, flat, flat and an a really easy pace. I zoned in and ran the 5k straight through while watching the Tokyo episode of "I'll Have What Phil's Having," which is totally awesome, by the way!

Day 8: 0 Miles - Work, work, work, work. It was a very busy day. Then when I got home at the end of the day I had to work on cleaning my apartment.

Day 9: 0 Miles - More work. More cleaning. I'm so ready for the weekend!

Total Miles this week: 6.32 Miles

Miles to Date: 6.32 Miles

OMaD - Week 1 Recap

 Happy New Year to everyone! I thought I'd keep up the One Mile A Day tradition to see if I can do any better. Hmmm. We shall see!

January 01 - January 02 

Day 1: 0 Miles - Happy New Year! I totally slept in this morning. Instead of running I had brunch with the guy and his best friend and his wife. It was so nice to just chill and not rush!

Day 2: 0 Miles - I had to work today. Boo! My family, including my brother, stopped by so that I could give him a big hug before he flew out to finish his last semester of school.


Total Miles this week: 00 Miles

Miles to Date: 00 Miles

Hello 2016!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

I'm finally getting around to blogging more after a bit of a break! To start off with... I have to say that this New Year post is a lot different than 2015's!

I'm in a far better place than this time last year. I. Am. Happy!

I've finally overcome a lot of the emotions and stress from last year that stemmed from things that happened in 2014. I started this blog to help me find an outlet. For me to talk about something that has never failed me... Running. Boy! Has it helped! In addition to starting the blog I had set goals for myself:

• "One Mile A Day" challenge. I attempted to walk/run/cycle a minimum of one mile a day for the entire year.
• Improve my nutrition. I certainly tried to do that, but did not do very well. I maintained my weight though, which was a good thing. Until November, that is. 
• Dallas Marathon. All of a sudden right before Christmas 2014 I decided that I was going to run the Dallas Marathon. I had a lot of reasons. But I know for sure that I wanted to prove to myself that I was an amazing person and could do anything I could set my mind to. I totally achieved that challenged.

A long the way I learned about myself. Went to through trials and errors while discovering new friends and learning about my best friends. In the midst of training for a marathon (in a time when many say you have no social life) I met my new best friend... my guy, who told me he loved me on Christmas Day. He's a guy that I can't imagine not being in my life, which seems so crazy.

Now I'm looking at 2016 with a smile. Who knows what to come. I hope it all good. I have races planned already. I'm not sure if another marathon is in my 2016 calendar, but don't hold it past me!

I hope that we all have an amazing 2016! Please stick around to see what's to come on See Dot Run!

Peace, Love, Rock 'n' Roll... Run!

OMaD - Week 53 Recap

So. I'm completely off in counting my days. but the title dates are correct. This is totally something that I will be working on in 2016!

This is the last update for the 2015's challenge of One Mile a Day. I didn't do too well during the fall, and especially in the winter, but over all I did a really good job!

December 27- December 31

Day 361: 0 Miles - Sunday after the tornado. Everything didn't since in until that night. I was huge bundle of emotions (also gotta thank the hormones too), and I totally ugly cried all over my boyfriend. It scared me to know that he was so close to being hurt or worse. Before then after losing my car keys (to discover that my brother had them in his car... as he was driving back to Houston) then using my spare set. My guy and I hit the the Galleria to try to find some clothes. Then my family showed up and we went ice skating! I had never been ice skating before, but I did use to roller blade back in the day. It was a lot of fun and I would totally do it again!

Day 362: 0 Miles - Spent the day with the family. I had wanted to go for a run, but I didn't feel awesome enough.

Day 363: 0 Miles - Back to work again!

Day 364: 0 Miles - More work.

Day 365: 0 Miles - After work, my guy cooked me a surprised dinner (be jealous, ladies!) of Steak au Poivre! Then we watched some American Horror Story Asylum. We barely made it to midnight, but we did it!

Total Miles this week: 00 Miles

Miles to Date: 870.48 Miles  

OMaD - Week 52 Recap

I am soooo late with this post! But, as to be expected in some respects, I did NOTHING this week either! It was CHRISTMAS week that went totally crazy!!!

December 20 - December 26

Day 248: 0 Miles - I didn't any workout because I was on a mission to get my mom's birthday present worked on before I headed out to work!

Day 249: 0 Miles - I got to see my guy for some last minute Christmas shopping.

Day 250: 0 Miles - I had to work today, so pretty much it was me sitting and eating cookies all day.

Day 251: 0 Miles - First day of my three day Christmas break! I was so happy. I spent some time with my guy after he was free from work. Then I headed down to the family house. I started to kick my self that I didn't pack my running gear! I finally got the urge to go for a run! The first time since the marathon!

Day 252: 0 Miles - Christmas Eve!

Day 253: 0 Miles - Christmas Day! As usual I'm the first one up! I was ready for cinnamon rolls and coffee. Slowly but surely the family (including the dogs and cats) woke up. Surprisingly enough, my dad was also up and ready. Mom, sister and I took turns trying to wake up my brother and his girlfriend. They finally made an appearance and we were ready to go for presents! After unwrapping gifts galore it was time to bake some cookies and start roasting the turkey! My boyfriend came down after he did his own family thing. It was an awesome Christmas!!

Day 254: 0 Miles - Omigosh! This day I will never forget. If anyone may remember... I live in the Dallas area. To be more exact far east Dallas area. I left work late because of the storms. Because I did that I saw the tornado from the south as I driving to the family. It hit the 190/30 intersection area really 10 minutes before I got to the house, which was close by. My boyfriend missed the intersection by just a couple of minutes. We all had guardian angels that day. It still scares me.

Total Miles this week: 00 Miles

Miles to Date: 870.48 Miles