Proof that I actually did what I said I did.. Yes, it was slow.. Yes, I walked part of the last mile.. But it was still 3 miles further than I had ever gone... Minus the last mile, my pace was 10:50 or so. I. Ok with that :)

Foam Rolling.. For Dummies?

This evening, I went to a session on injury prevention and foam rolling. It was hosted by the running store that I do my Tuesday/Thursday group runs at.

Foam rolling has recently been "all the rage" and has appeared on a lot of blogs and social networking sites. I have even picked up the demo foam roller following a group run to roll out some aches and pains, thinking that there must be something good about it if all these people keep talking about it.. While this rolling that I had done previously seemed to hurt so good, I OBVIOUSLY was not doing it correctly. The reason I say this is because the foam rolling techniques that I learned tonight caused a heck of a lot more discomfort. Just to be clear, this was a good discomfort.. The kind where you know your muscles are tight and it hurts,  but in a way that you know will help in the long run. The most painful of all was a toss up between the calf roll and the quad roll. Holy moly were those muscles screaming for some attention. I have been doing yoga a lot recently as a cross training exercise, but I'm going to have to add some foam rolling into the equation.  A lot of the exercises require you to use your own body weight to get a bit more out of the roll, so it is also somewhat of a workout.. Side planks galore for the hamstring exercises..

There was sweat dripping down my face.. Don't know if it was the discomfort or the side planks or a combination of both... But it was fantastic.

So much so, that I finally broke down and purchased my very own foam roller. Now, I have no excuse not to add some rolling to my daily schedule, which apparently is what gives you the most benefit or bang for your buck...

hello world

Hello out there.

I have had this little blog site set up for awhile now but have never known what to say to get started. I am a perfectionist so trying to get my first post just right is obviously downright impossible.

My mom has been doing fashion blog off-amd-on for several years now. I am so impressed with it.. She is one of my inspirations for starting this bad boy up. Check out my mom's blog HERE!

Over the last year, I have bombarded my social networking friends with all kinds of running information. You see, for a long time, I didn't think I could run. Sure, I always ran to stay in shape for sports, but I never actually enjoyed it and it never felt good.

With a "real" job and moving to another part of the country last summer, it was a rough transition, to say the least. A lot of my normal safety nets of organized sports and friends/family were no longer close by.. This year, I made a resolution to get back in shape and also to run 12 races in 2013.. I put aside my fears and I joined a running group and I can say without a doubt that it was the best decision I've made in a long time.

And surprise, surprise, I have slowly started to enjoy running. I started the year in PATHETIC shape (for me) and could barely run a mile.. My 5k time at the beginning of the year was upwards of 38 minutes.. (compare this to high school when I did a 30 min 5k) Last week, I PRd at a 5k and ran 28:58. This weekend, I ran 13 miles in one shot. While these longer runs certainly still challenge me, I no longer dread running because "I'm bad at it." Each step no longer hurts. It is an outlet for all my stress and anxiety. It allows me to continue to want to improve. Best of all, I've made some fantastic friends. The running world truly embraces all shapes, sizes, colors, and speeds,

Anyways, after posting what was apparently the 7th post in a row about something running related, my sister told me that I needed to start a blog.

So here goes nothing.. or maybe it's something after all..