Move Nourish BELIEVE Challenge

The final week of the Lorna Jane Move Nourish Believe Challenge was about believing in yourself and being happy. Staying optimistic while dealing with my cranky knee during the final weeks of half marathon training admittedly has been difficult, so this final challenge week was just what I needed.

Monday - When I spotted my favorite flowers at the grocery, I had to spoil myself. It's hard not to smile with these lovelies in the room!

Tuesday - A "snow blitz" descended on New England leaving behind about 12+ inches. While mrC was taking care of the driveway, I took 5 mindful minutes to just enjoy the peacefulness of the falling snow and forget about the snow day we'll be making up in June.

Wednesday - There are a lot of places I'd rather be at any given time: Cincinnati, Florida, Newport. But, give me a pair of healthy legs and some running shoes and I can make any place my HAPPY PLACE!

Thursday - There are some truly amazing people in my life. On Thankful Thursday I was feeling very grateful for my family, my friends, and the running community for all the kindness they show to me every single day.

Friday - I talk about mrC in my blog posts all the time and I hope it is evident that he does SO MUCH for me. Not much could top the time he helped me finish a half marathon when I was injured, but it's the unfailing daily support and encouragement he shows that makes him deserving of this SHOUT OUT!

This week reminded me to take some time to appreciate all the inspiration I have in my life. To remember that with all the encouragement I get from the amazing people around me, I can do anything I set my MIND to.

How have you been INSPIRED this week?

Move NOURISH Believe Challenge

Week 2 of the Lorna Jane Blogger Challenge focused on nourishing our bodies. Making healthy food choices is one of my 2014 goals and this week reinforced that I am on the right track because it was EASY to complete (most of) the daily challenges.

Monday - It was Veggie Day and for lunch I had some Cheesy Quinoa Veggie Burger. Normally I would have made this recipe with hamburg, but I recently decided to reduce my red meat consumption to help lower my LDL number.

Tuesday - I take my lunch to work everyday for several reasons: I like my own food, I only have 30 minutes and the school cafe is on the other side of the building, and I'm a picky eater (never mind being GF!).

Wednesday - I used to keep a food journal of every calorie I ate and burned in a little notebook. Once I hit my goal weight I stopped writing everything down. WIAW's challenge was easier because I didn't have to look up the calorie information.

Thursday - For #ThirstyThursday it was Smoothie Day. Another easy challenge because I make a smoothie everyday during the week. I love the single serve option on my Ninja!

Friday - I don't eat a lot of raw foods and know very little about the diet. Most of what I do eat raw is fruit and that is mostly in the summer. I've made some post-workout snacks, but I don't know if they hold up to the raw food diet concept or not. So for Go Raw Friday I ate what was available.

At the end of NOURISH week with Lorna Jane, I realize that I should try to eat more fruit in it's raw state all year long. In a blender and in the summer is good, but not good enough.

What did you learn about your diet this week?

MOVE Nourish Believe Challenge

Today marked the end of the first of three weeks that I will be participating in the Lorna Jane Move Nourish Believe Blogger Challenge. It was created to keep people motivated beyond January when new year goals tend to start to fade away.

This week was all about MOVING the body and although I wasn't lacing up my running shoes as much as I'd like, I did move my body everyday!

Monday - This was the first day of the challenge and although I didn't run, I shared a previous post-run pic to show my favorite way to sweat.

Tuesday - After taking an extra rest day from running, I tried the YogaWorks Ultimate Post Run sequence to change up my stretching routine and discovered a great IT band stretch. There's a lot of work to do on that one!

Wednesday -  Planked with Lorna Jane as a pre-run warmup and realized that it had been a long time since I last did some other than at SurfSet class.

Thursday - Decided to run through my plank routine again with my workout buddy.  He is my buddy, but also the only one home at the time!

Friday - For Fave Friday I shared my 5 favorite squat moves and completed 25 of each.

How are you sticking to your 2014 goals?