If the shoe fits!

When I started running in Alaska I was doing pretty well until I ran a Fourth of July 10K. I never really trained on hills and I was the kind of person that just jumps first and never gives too much thought into the things that I want to do if I really want to do them. Well there were hills on this 10K and I seriously hadn't run anymore than 4 miles on the treadmill and I was big headed and thought that it was JUST a run! How harmless could that be? What a fail! 

I ended up going down hill for about a quarter mile and totally didn't pace myself and KILLED my shins! I was out of commission for about 2 weeks. I went to medical and they gave me an appointment with a foot person who gave me show inserts and the works. I saw a physical therapist but she didn't really help me much but she did fit me for my inserts. I started looking online and noticed that my feet overpronate and I needed to get fitted for shoes.....well Kodiak is a small island look below.....

 So I told myself that if I ever got into running again (In AK I had big dreams for running a half marathon and local races) that I would go to a running shoe store. Well I found one in Plymouth and I went there yesterday for a shoe fitting. I ran on the treadmill and that went well......weird. My feet over pronate like I thought they did. That means that my ankle takes a lot of the impact and it goes inward to receive all of the energy. My feet then SWING out when I run ha ha ha it looks so funny because my stride is right one and then WHOOP my leg flies to the outside. It is the most hysterical thing that I have ever seen and something that I am going to try to work on but for now I am glad that I got some good shoes. 

So the guy was awesome he came by with 5 pairs of sneakers. He told me that I would have to size up! OMG I THOUGHT I was a size 6.5 well NO I am a 7 and I got sized up to an 8!!!! WHAT? He said that I would have to wear bigger shoes because they will help reuce the blisters on the top of my toes and that they would keep toe nails from coming off. Well then I was sold and I am ok with having GARGANTUAN feet for running only......weird! ha ha ha! So $110.00 later.....I got a pair of shoes! I am really happy and I am going to try them on this morning. I also have Les Mills Pump Flow to do and from what I understand it is a Yoga stretch DVD so I will do that after my 5 miles to try these shoes out! Kinda excited but it's cold out there ha ha ha! My first time running in the cold! Ahhhhh! 

I have more things to look forward too! I am going to Trader Joes for the first time AND I am doing Scott Kelby's World Wide Photowalk! Pictures of Provincetown coming soon! 

Have a wonderful day/weekend!

Photoberfest Photos

Ahhhh I am always so late on things and I meant to post this AGES AGO but I am doing a weekly photography contest and I am suuposed to put my family photos up! EEEEEEKKKKK ok so here we go my three submissions! I hope you enjoy!!!!

This shows the true character of what I go through as a photographer and the true spirit of my boys who are my family!

Les Mills day 3 and moody me

Yesterday was my rest day from Pump, I ran four miles on the treadmill and I have to say that it was the most boring freaking run ever! I ran on the treadmill because one of the girls that I am training is a pansy and complains all the time so it was TOOOO windy for her and TOOOO cold for her so we ran inside. That may have been my reason for such a sucky run. By the way I am a certified personal trainer and I train with my "clients" if you call it that and I don't charge them because I couldn't do that.......Yes I do think that I am selling myself short and maybe one day I will stop being so nice anyway ( I am moody today if you already can't tell). So back to the running, yes it was torture and I wanted to get off and I run faster off the treadmill than I do on the treadmill which was really weird.....I run 8.30 - 8.36 by my house and I can't get over a 6.7 on the treadmill which is about a 9:30 mile.....it is the strangest thing. Anyway something isn't calibrated and I am going to say that it is the treadmill LOL.

I was totally craving and I still am CHICKEN WINGS ( I think Bloody Mary is about to visit). One of my co-workers had some buffalo wing pretzels in her desk and shared which I thought was really nice! I totally enjoyed the handful that I ate :D and it saved me from the devil chips! They are these Rice Works chips and I can't eat one serving of them it's more like the WHOLE BAG! They are so good and thankfully they are made with brown rice and they are low in fat so that helps a bit right?!?!?!?

So today was a good day of course I am moody but the more I type the happier I am getting so maybe I need to vent right? I went to work and got off at noon which is FANTASTICAL, I got rid of some of my eBay stuff ($145!!) and I did my day two of Pump. It was the same workout that I did on day one I put more weight on there with the exception of the shoulders and the chest and tricep part where I stayed at 10 pounds like I did last week and for everything else I was comfortable at 15 pounds! I am super excited that I am stronger than I thought I was but at the same time I was working larger muscle groups so there is a huge difference there :)  I really was looking forward to my workout and was pleased that I felt everything burning which I think is an awesome thing right? I mean who wouldn't want to feel a workout in 20 minutes. Here is my before picture that I took on Wednesday and me working out :) Enjoy!!!! I think I may go out on a run to cure this mood!

Les Mills Day 1 and Food

Well today was day 1 of Les Mills Pump. I did my before pics, measurements, and got my weight. I am still maintaining at 120.4 I am not looking to lose just tone some and loose a few inches on my abdomen and thighs my bigger trouble areas. I just want to get rid of the "muffin top" that comes from my extra skin. I also want a more toned overall look. Anyway I went ahead and did the workout it was called Pump Challenge and it was such a fun workout. They played Lady Gaga's Telephone and other more up to date songs. I really enjoyed myself and felt like Barbie Bad Ass after I got done the workout I sure did like lifting with the barbell it was something different and I really did enjoy it :D I also did 20 minutes on the elliptical, I would have run but I really didn't feel like going outside , it was cloudy and what not and I sure did not want it to rain on me so I opted to stay inside but then I got bored......maybe I should have invested in a treadmill............ OOPS FAIL!!!! I like the feeling that I am running, for now anyway. I change my mind all the time........


I got home this evening and I was going to make faux fried chicken tenders and my husband wanted tacos so tacos won, it was easier to make anyway. Who wants to cook on a week night after you have been at work all day, I didn't and we were in training for most of the day which made the day even longer...we seasoned and boiled the chicken tenders and then shredded the chicken and used this Frontera Grill and then I made a salad for myself and used the chicken and my husband used a whole wheat tortilla. I also made some zucchini but that was a fail too, the flavor profile did not mix with the tacos. I am also obsessed with cucumbers in cider vinegar. My mother in law turned me into it and I can't get enough of them and I hope they never run out of mini cucumbers! Ha ha! Anyway I took some pictures of dinner it tasted OK I guess I just had my heart set on the chicken tenders.....I hate when that happens!

Tomorrow is no Les Mills Pump but I have to train my co-workers and it is leg day for them so I am going to kick their legs bootays!!!! I love training people I am reallly totally excited about it! Well I hope all you readers have a better day with dinner or have eaten a better dinner than mine LOL.

For the zucchini I put 2 TBS of balsamic, 2 TBS of reduced sodium soy sauce, pepper, and garlic powder I marinated it for 30 and then sauteed it for 10 minutes or until they got brown and took them off and ate them. They are delish!!!!!!!!

What a wonderful day!!!!!!

What a wonderful day today was! Especially for today being my Monday. I went to work and I had nothing to do, so that's always nice except for the fact that I had nothing to do ALLLLL DAY LONG so that made the day drag a bit. 

I went to the gym and I had the girl that I am training to get on the scale and she told me that she lost 5 pounds!!!!!!! In a WEEK! Now on a "normal" week (every week past the first 1-2 weeks) that would be TOO much but for the beginning phases oh man that is AMAZING! I couldn't be more proud!!! I was just amazed that this girl has it in her and I certainly hope that it stays that way because she is going to look DELICIOUS when she is done!!!! I can totally say that with confidence!!!!!

Well when I got home I had THIS placed ever so nicely at the door! WOO HOO LES MILLS PUMP! I have heard a lot of great things about this workout but not so many testimonials or before and after pictures SO I HAVE a **NEW** goal! I am going to be a success story damn it so tomorrow will be "pre-season" and I am going to test out the workouts make a meal plan and get started and take this workout serious and do my runs on M-W-F I think I will totally GOOD!!!! I am excited to see what is in store for my body! I am also going to make the videos for YouTube of me working out for now I am going to commit to 3 one on the beginning, middle, and end! So we will see. This will be the third workout that I have completed with Beachbody and I am sure it won't be the last but this is going to be my workout until Jan! I will post my before photos and then I will try and blog at least once a week about my workout experience and try to add some pictures to so that way I can stay accountable to myself :D

My third bit of great news came in the mail today too! Ha ha I got my Baptism Certificate along with some pictures! How great is that? I didn't even think that I would get a certificate! It is going to go up right by my diplomas once I get them up whenever that may be! It is definitely an achievement for me. My life has seriously changed so much since I have allowed God to work in my life!I thought it was really nice for them to think of each and every one of us and totally go out of their way to do this! It was really nice and put a huge smile on my face! I am really excited!

Well the hubbs is now pumpkin carving and I totally ditched him to write this post so I am going to go ahead and wrap this up give my kiddo a bath and get ready for some Sons of Anarchy! LOVE LOVE LOVE that show.......it's getting a bit off track so I am hoping it comes back around. I like it either way :D Who am I kidding!

No Work TODAY, time to see the Pumpkin Patch!

Jeannette Completed a 4.02 mi. running activity

Great run!!!!!! energized and ready to go to the pumpkin patch!!! 

That was from my run keeper app this morning, I ran at a 8:30 min mile which is incredible for me. I didn't think I could ever be "fast" again after having my kids and never thought that I would be where I am fitness wise although, I never really thought that much about my fitness until Jan 2011. I wanted to be fit and get my old self back and that is exactly what I did. I think that training for a half marathon a year out is a pretty good thing especially with cross training. I plan on keeping my long runs no more that 7 miles because that is all I think I can handle on the treadmill anyway.

Today I went out for my run at about 10:00 because I could (I am not much for working out as soon as I wake up). Then we went to the pumpkin patch, it was a lot of fun. My big guy loves tractors so we went on the tractor ride around the farm and then went back to the pumpkin patch with a wagon and picked out a Daddy, Momma, and Stinky pumpkin for us and we are going to carve them here pretty soon. 

After that we went to the mall I needed new jeans pretty bad all the ones that I had were either too long or they just fit weird (so much for getting CHEAP jeans). I am all about saving a buck but where I don't budge is jeans. I think I am going to try thrift stores and the salvation army and see what they have.......it's worth a shot right? Oh well we will have to see about that though. We had lunch at Panera and now my tummy is bothering me, I am lactose intolerant and this just happened somewhat recently so I am noticing that EVERYTHING when you eat out has cheese in it and that kind of totally blows. I am now bloated and gassy and it really really sucks! Such is life I just won't be ordering the salad that I had this afternoon :( So sad! Well here are a few picture of our pumpkin patch adventures! Enjoy!!!

Back from a break :D

Sometimes you just need a break from the internet and a "rut" that it brings into your life in orer to refocus and realize what it really is that you are doing.

I was at a point in my life where it was facebook facebook facebook and pinterest and anything that you can get your hands on to suck the time from your life and I got to thinking that I spend WAY too much time on those things and I needed to get back to reality and see what my life really was PRIOR to all these internet gadgets so I slowed it down and now I have found balance in my life again.

When it comes to fitness......I have been working out but you know there have to be goals in your life and I have reached every single one of those goals that I wanted to accomplish.

I lost 25 pounds, quit smoking, have a relationship with GOD, spend more time with my family, make a better effort to hang out with my children etc etc. I could go on for days but let's just say I hit a brick wall when it comes to goals and what I really want out of life and I still don't know what the answer to that is.

I know that for now I want to be more involved with my photography and I want my muscles back I also want to get promoted with my J. O. B. and continue on my path to get debt free. Sooooooo......I have been reading this blog that another blogger turned me onto Run For Cookies. What a great blog! It is about a woman who decided to lose over 100 pounds so that first she could do a marathon and then she wanted to just be healthy and of course run for cookies. I used to love running and then I quit because the weather in AK wasn't always ideal and treadmill running can wear you out! It's BORING! I love doing tempo runs on the treadmill but I like to GO SOMEWHERE too! So.....when it comes to fitness I am planning to start running and work towards running The Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon, it's in November of next year and it will give me a good enough time to get more comfortable with running and also get in some GREAT weather to train in so I don't have to run long runs on the treadmill. YUCK!

My next goal is to run some FUN races like the Warrior Dash and the Color Run here in Boston and the Diva Dash that I missed this year. It is time to get competitive. I also miss my muscles! Holy crap have I turned into a not so muscular looking chic and I want that back so I ordered Les Mills Pump from Beachbody and I will be starting that next week as well and I can say that I am super excited about that. I will be working out three days a week and the other three days I can RUN and I can train my two co-workers on their weight training and run with them too! I am starting to gain more focus on what I want and I love it.


I have limited myself to FB in the mornings and while everyone is showering. That is more than enough time in the cyber world. I also want to blog more! It's really fun just to get my ideas out there and if you read them great and if not that's great to so I will be changing the focus of this blog to a more personal one where I talk more about.......EVERYTHING! I can't wait to get started!