Hey guys! I have a beauty product review for you all today that also happens to be gluten free. A friend of a friend sent me some of BeautiControl’s skin care products to review, and as you all know I don’t do a lot of beauty product reviews, but I know that a lot of my readers have cut gluten out of their lives, and this might be an alternative to their standard beauty regimen.

The friend of a friend is Monica, and not only is she a senior rep for BeautifControl, but she works full time as an Acupuncture Physician in Florida.  She seems like she is really confident about this product line, and I can see why.

The first thing I did when I received my samples was use the Skin Sensors and answer questions about my skin online. The scientist in me was very excited. All you have to do is hold these two pads to your forehead and cheek for 5 seconds each, then compare it to what is shown online.

Do you see the black dots on the gray box?  My face did that…

It was very easy and after answering more questions about my skin, my customized regimen popped up:

Cool, eh?

It may seem like a lot to put on your face, but I already have a pretty extensive facial regime so I am used to it! I have been using all of these products for about 2 weeks, and my skin looks great. I’m normally really apprehensive about trying new skin care products because my skin is really testy, but it did not break out when I used BeautiControl. I was very happy with that.

Purifying Cleansing Lotion $26

According to the catalog, this product is supposed to “purify skin, remove dirt and debris, and unclog pores.” I felt that it did a thorough job of cleansing my face.

Exfoliating Polish $20

I LOVED this stuff. If I had to pick one item to get out of this bunch, it would be this exfoliating polish. My skin was so smooth from the jojoba beads. I couldn’t stop touching my face!! I pretty much made everyone feel how soft my face was after I used it.

Regenerating Tonic with PHAs $26

PHAs are polyhydroxy acids that exfoliate your face even more. This happens to also be an anti aging treatment that unfortunately I have to start thinking about since I just turned 30.

Defend and Restore Moisture Creme SPF 20 $34

Made of shea butter and jojoba esters, this hydrated my skin pretty well. I also felt protected since it also had an SPF of 20.

Defend and Restore Night Creme $38

The night creme was great. It didn’t smell bad so my husband wasn’t complaining, and I woke up in the morning with moisturized skin.

Restructuring Eye Creme $35

The eye creme worked fine for me, but nothing really out of the ordinary. I have several eye cremes that I rotate, and I could really tell no difference between this one, and the 3 other ones that I use.

Are these prices worth it? If you are looking for a gluten free skin regimen, yes! If you want to try out just one item, I would suggest the exfoliating polish. My skin seriously felt like a baby’s butt. It was pretty awesome.

I also like that they will give you your money back if you don’t see visible changes within 30 days. Believe me, as I’ve gotten older, I like using products that make that guarantee. I don’t like wasting my money, and I WILL bring items back if they don’work.

Another thing, orders can be placed directly on the website and get shipped directly to the consumer.  I like that!

The only thing I don’t like about these products is that the ingredient lists seem to be pretty long, and I don’t believe they are organic ingredients. However, these products are far better quality than the majority of facial products out there, and if you have a gluten intolerance/allergy, BeautiControl is definitely a great option.

If you have any questions regarding BeautiControl, feel free to contact Monica at monicasinnett@yahoo.com.

**As always, even though I received samples of this product for free, all the opinions expressed are my own!!!!

Do you have any beauty products that you just love? Feel free to add links!

Related posts:

I just want to start off by saying, thank you all so much for your support concerning my last post! We really appreciate it.

I finished school off for the semester about a week and a half ago, had a couple of days to clean my house and attend a PA application orientation at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio, then we were off to Albuquerque for family pictures. My grandfather is not doing well healthwise, and he wanted one “last” family picture.

Since were not counting on going out of town earlier this month due to the memorial, putting the dogs in a kennel was just not in our budget. It took us 12 long hours to get to Albuquerque with Kay and Fay in the car.

Of course, Kai needed to know exactly where we were going for the first 5 hours of the trip.

Fay could care less.

While were there, we ran about 3 miles a day. I needed to tire them out since we were staying with one of my best friends in her new house, and I was so paranoid about them chewing up things when we left to run errands during the day. They did great!

On the last day we were in Albuquerque, all 27 family members ventured out into the Bosque on the north side of Albuquerque for pictures. You think your family is difficult? Mine is like herding cats. The photographer did a great job at corralling everyone together! These are just some random pics from my iPhone and my sister’s camera…

I love this one…

As always, my trips to Albquerque go by so fast! We were so proud of the dogs. They were so well behaved. Maybe we are almost out of the puppy stage?!

They were exhausted on the ride home! Too many new people and new things!

In other news, I have a gluten free skin care line review later this week, and I signed up for a 10K that is in 3 weeks. Ack!!! I guess I better start running seriously! lol

P.S. What do you think of the new blog design??  I’m loving the change!

Related posts:

We found out that a close friend of ours had been killed in Afghanistan the beginning part of April. I contemplated even posting about it especially since I have become a little bit more selective about what I put online since moving back to the states. However, I felt that I can’t just keep writing about “fitness” or “diet” (really such trivial issues compared to losing one’s life fighting for our country) without mentioning it briefly on my blog.

Nick worked with my husband in Tucson when we lived there 8 years ago. His family literally lived 5 minutes down a dirt road from us in Vail, AZ, and we were at their house easily 1-2 times a week while we lived there. He had an incredibly infectious smile and seemed to get out of sticky predicaments with ease. He was the best story teller and made everyone feel like they were a part of his family the second they walked into his house. He left behind a beautiful wife and two teenage daughters. He had served his country in the Air Force for over 20 years.

For those of you who have been reading my blog for a few years, you may have picked up that my husband is in the Air Force. I haven’t wanted to mention this before but I felt like it was relevant to this post.  My husband is a member of a elite special forces career field within the Air Force. With this comes more risk of death than many other career fields within the military. It is a very small career field because of the very high failure rate to get into the program (above 90%). This means, we all tend to find out right away when someone has been killed. Over the last few years we have lost a lot of people.

Until the memorial service, it just didn’t seem real that he was gone. The second the memorial service started I fell apart. I was crying for Nick’s family and the massive hole that was now in their hearts. He was such a great guy. We were driving around Tucson the day after the memorial, and Steve and I had to keep reminding ourselves that Nick was gone, and we couldn’t just stop by his house to say “hi” to him anymore.

When I found out the news about his death earlier this month I was devastated for his family. I also have to admit that I was relieved it wasn’t my husband. I wasn’t alone either. Other spouses shared those same thoughts with me. This is not an easy career field to be married to. My husband is gone a lot especially when we are stationed at an operational squadron, and the risk of him dying is pretty high whether his is working in the states or out. This is not make belief or a fairytale. This our life. This is military life. People die. Often. My husband and I have been together for almost 9 years now, and I have to say that I do not take him for granted nearly as much as I may have when we started dating.

However, he loves what he does, and so do most of the people that he works with. They put their lives on the line to save others. They are painfully aware of the risks they put themselves at every day. I’m proud of what my husband does. I’m proud to serve my country as a supportive military spouse. There are definite cons to being married to a guy in this career field, but you can’t help who you fall in love with, and the benefits far outweigh the cons in my opinion. I know Nick’s wife thinks the same way.

Nick, we miss you, buddy. We miss your big smile. We miss your larger than life stories. I know you won’t admit it, but you are a hero. We are proud to be your friends. You don’t have to worry about your family, because this is such a tight knit community. We will take care of them. As you could probably tell from looking over us this weekend, we honored you by having a great time catching up with some old friends and drinking your signature drink, crown and coke. You left behind a legacy that your family is proud of. We love you!

Related posts:

Hey All!

I just wanted to let you all know that my site will look a little funny for the next 3-6 days as I update it.  Thank you for your patience, and I hope you like the changes to come.

I will leave you will a cute weim picture of Kai in the meantime!

Talk to you soon!

Related posts:

So I turned 30 today. My 20′s were filled with getting out of my comfort zone not limited to getting married, moving 4 times across the United States and to Germany, completing my B.S., M.S., changing careers, and two Ironmans.

This picture is of me eating some brochen and sausage on the Happy Mosel (a 175 km bike ride in Germany with beer/sausage stands every 2 km) \in Germany. It was so scary (to me at first) when we moved to Germany because I was unfamiliar with EVERYTHING! I knew it would be good for me though.

I like this picture because I think it kinda represents me biting into “life” without fear! I learned so many lessons in the last decade, and I thought that I would share some with you:

1. Most things in life are NOT black or white.
2. I am so much more capable at accomplishing amazing things than I give myself credit for.
3. Marrying Steve was the scariest, exhilarating, most gratifying thing that I have done so far in my life. I’m so lucky to have met him and to have somehow convinced him to marry me.
4. Compassion. We all need to exhibit a little bit more of it.
5. Most people are insecure and that can dictate their actions.
6. If you know what you want, go get it. If you believe something will happen, it probably will.
7. I finally accepted the fact that I’m a nerd, and I’m embracing it.
8. I finally accepted the fact that I have an athlete inside of me as well.
9. I no longer feel the need to change my beliefs to match someone else’s or to make other people happy. I am who I am, and although I do expect some of my opinions to change as I age, I believe what I believe. Love and accept me for who I am because I love and accept you for who you are even if we might have different views. If you don’t, I have no room for you in my life.
10. Life is too short to have toxic relationships. My close friend list has dwindled, but I find it a good thing.
11. Sometimes it is better to keep my mouth shut. Still battling with this one.
12. Sometimes it is better to NOT keep my mouth shut.
13. I am no longer ignorant of how ignorant I am. Traveling around the world will do that to you.
14. Cherish the time you have with your loved ones. You never know when their time or your time is up.

I look forward to learning more about myself and the world in my 30’s

Do you have any life lessons you could add?

Related posts:

I woke up stressed as hell yesterday morning. I had an anatomy practical later in the day that was worth 31% of my grade. I had spent the last 2 days studying for an immunology exam as well as 4 other exams I had on the docket for the week. I had barely moved in 2 days. I knew what I needed to keep from exploding like a supernova. I could have chosen 10 pounds of chocolate. I could have chosen a 6 pack of raspberry hard ciders, gluten free, of course. However, my body was craving a run the most. So that is what I did.

Naturally, I had to take the weimies with me. If you have weims, you will understand this. If you don’t exercise them, they tend to chew up couch cushions, mattresses, etc. Not good. Not good at all.

Anyway, they were excited to go. They are always excited to go for a run or anywhere for that matter. I put their harnesses on, and we were out the door. The first mile was brutal. My dogs haven’t mastered the art of endurance runs. They like to sprint out of the gate. We were keeping a solid 7:15 min/mile pace for the first mile. On our first hill, they decided to sprint up it (and ALL the hills for that matter). According to my garmin, we were hitting 6:15’s up a VERY steep long hill. My lungs were on fire, and my quads were burning. Thank goodness there was a cool breeze that morning. It felt great on my bare legs. It was a good day to wear shorts. The sun was shining and I could feel the warmth on my skin.  I smiled the entire way up this hill (in between very labored breathing).

Do you remember when you were a kid, and you just ran for the hell of it? I would chase my sister around, and not even think about my pace or how I felt. I just ran. Kinda the same way as playing tag as a kid. It was fun. That was the way I felt on this hill. It kinda hurt, I’m not gonna lie…BUT it was fun. My dogs are kinda the same way. They just run. They don’t think about their pace or their heart rate or really anything else other than maybe chasing after that cat or squirrel. They just run.

I’ve been avoiding adding back speedwork into my running because I’m afraid of getting injured again. I think it is time though. I can feel it. It is time for track work, and I’m actually excited about it.

I am so guilty of putting these imaginary “restrictions” on my training. I was talking to the hubs last week about this as well. He made a good point that I just need to build my confidence up again, and it was natural to have these “fears” when I haven’t pushed myself in a while due to injury.

Are you guilty of this as well?

P.S. I survived my first 3 tests with great scores. Two more to go. That run helped a lot, and I’m very grateful to my little running partners. They don’t let me get away with any slacking!!

Related posts:

I know the summers are going to suck here in Texas, but I am LOVING my first winter here. At this time of year in Spokane, there would still be snow on the ground. I would be a pale depressed individual stuck inside the house. Instead, I am trying to get outside every chance I get to enjoy the sunny 60 to 70 degree weather.

The hubs and I took Kai and Fay to a dog park this weekend where I spotted these cute little things!! I had never seen an armadillo in real life, let alone little babe armadillos!!!! So freaking cute! There were two of them, but they were camera shy and ran off. I was smiling from ear to ear about this, and my husband thought I was a freak. I love nature, what can I say?

Another perk of this lovely winter weather has been the ability to train outside for my runs and most of my bike rides. My workout gear consists of mostly race T-shirts and Old Navy shorts so I was super excited when Ellie contacted me about doing a review on their workout clothing. From Ellie’s website:

Ellie mixes essential fashion-forward looks with high-tech performance activewear for the most stylish fitness experience you’ve ever had!

I have to admit that when I started working out at a gym 10 years ago, I worked out in white men’s undershirts and Target shorts or sweat pants ( WAY before they got cute). I always thought those women that had cute workout clothes looked great, but it really wasn’t me! Dare I say it, I thought they just tried too hard to look good at the gym. I like Ellie’s clothes because they are really beautiful AND functional. Plus, all the shirts go with the bottoms in a way that isn’t too coordinated if that makes any sense.

For the review, I got sent the Vixon top and the Kiss Me Capri as shown below.

Now, let me just say this. I have become REALLY picky about workout pants and shorts over the years. I have a larger waistline compared to my hips unlike most women. We all have lanky limbs and no hips in my family. Anyway, I despise pant waistlines that dig in and give me a muffin top. These little Capris did not do any of that. They smoothed out everything including my waistline and were comfortable no matter what workout move I was doing. This included deadlifts that my husband was trying to kill me with yesterday. I am feeling them today!!

And look how cute the back is on this top!!! I have to admit that I did feel a little naked when I initially took off my sweat shirt at the gym. Since I workout in a military gym now where no one wears anything remotely attractive there, I got a lot of stares.

Oh, that also reminds me!!! I wore this outfit to school earlier in the week, and I got hit on twice. It could have been just a coincidence but the outfit is super cute. It was a change from my hoodie, jean, and flipflop combo. haha. I’m not making any promises, but if you are single, this outfit might be a conversation starter! lol

I washed  this outfit several times with no bleeding, fading, or shrinking.

The ONLY thing wrong with this outfit was the fit of the built-in sports bra. I received a size small shirt. I am a size 34 B just to give you an idea of the fit. My boobs had enough support for the Rescue Athlete workout we were doing, but it seemed like this built in bra was made for a girl with bigger boobs. It might have fit perfectly for running if I had a C cup. I don’t think this shirt was even meant for running though. It would be perfect for yoga or weight lifting. All I did was throw another sports bra underneath. In my opinion it still looked cute with another bra. No biggie. I bet their tighter shirts specified for running probably do fit a bit better in the boob area.

All of the material is of high quality which is REALLY nice especially since everything is moderately priced.

Overall, I am really proud to be an Ellie ambassador. They really did a great job with this brand new clothing line. If you like Lululemon, you will like Ellie.

Here is a look at what their March collection looks like:

If you click on the link on my right side bar (pink Ellie Ad), you will get 20% off your order!!

**I received this product for free for review.  As always when I’m doing a review, the opinions expressed in this post are my own!!!

Related posts:

It is hard to believe that I have finished up my Physical Therapy Run schedule to get me healthy from injuring myself during my Ironman last July!!! I’m finally at a point where my legs do not hurt after most of my runs. Being in pain for 6 months straight, and it finally gone is truly amazing. Nerve glides have been helping so much!!

My run this morning was quite slow. People were looking at me funny because I was running in the rain. I had a great time though. My legs were burning running my way up all the hills in our neighborhood, and I had Metallica playing on my iphone. I was just thankful I was able to run!

So, I have been thinking a lot during my runs lately about my 2012 journey and what I want to focus on for 2013. I know it is already almost March, but I’m okay with putting my goals out there a couple of months late. I just want to focus on making 2013 as stress free as humanly possible.

Fitnesswise, this means I won’t be racing a lot. I need a break!!! I did two Ironmans within a year last year (and the end of 2011). Don’t get me wrong, I LOVED crossing the finish lines of those races. And you better believe I still think triathlon is amazing, but no one ever talks about how their house is in shambles, the mountains of laundry you have to wash, the ignored spouses and pets (and kids I don’t have), the exhaustion, and the moola that training for an Ironman entails. I would love to do another Ironman someday, but honestly, I would rather cuddle with my husband on the couch watching episodes of Supernatural rather than ride my bike for 5 hours on a Saturday as of lately. I know that sounds absolutely crazy to some of you, but last year was pure chaos. I know I keep saying that on this blog, but between working a job that made me go home and cry every night, home renovations (rebuilding an entire basement), Ironman training, moving across the country, and making a huge life decision to go BACK to school and change careers completely after I just completed my masters a couple years prior made 2012 one hell of a year. I’m still trying to recover mentally from it all to be honest.

So, I’m thinking a few running races, very small ones like 5K’s, 10K’s, a half marathon at the longest running distance. For riding, a friend wanted the hubs and I to do a century with her, and now I’m kinda rethinking that decision. I’m loving my weekends so far now that CNA school is done. They are filled with waking up, cuddling (as the pic below indicates), going for a run, making breakfast with the hubs, cleaning my house, studying,etc. The prospect of having to ride 3-5 hours for both weekend days makes me want to cringe. Plus, there is no good riding near our house which means we would have to drive 30 minutes away (and 30 minutes back at least) to get some good riding in. I’ve already talked to the hubs, and I think a 60 miler would be better. I did tell some people I was thinking about doing Austin 70.3 this year, but now I’m rethinking that too. I’m not sure!

I want to focus on speed (at least with the running) and strength. I’ve been doing my physical therapy exercises even though my physical therapy appointments have ended, Rescue Athlete workouts with the hubs, and ZWOW workouts at home when I can’t make it to the gym. It has been great. Because I have been doing all this strength work while I have been injured, I think it will be easy for me to gain my speed back. I think I will be ready to start track workouts next week and although I’m pretty sure I’m going to end up a pile of vomit and sweat, but I’m excited.

Another reason why I just want to take it easy this year in the racing department? I’m a little paranoid about getting injured again. I want make sure I’m strong enough to handle increased mileage and speed. Physical therapy for multiple months sucks. It was a physical and emotional roller coaster.

I have the tendency to load entirely too much on my plate in every aspect of my life. Especially in the American culture, it is so “bad” to not be busy all the time. You are perceived as lazy if you don’t have anything to do. I’ve come to the realization that is just crazy talk!!!

I turn 30 at the end of March, and I don’t want to be a stressed out crazy person who is always looking at her watch because she is so overwhelmed, you know?? I want to go into my 30’s as a smart, beautiful, thoughtful, relaxed, caring woman who actually takes time for herself and knows when to say no to certain things. I find that the less I have on my plate, the better at time management I am! lol. It is funny how that works. It is weird not juggling a million different commitments right now, but I’m liking it!

It sounds like I’m totally zen, right? Not quite. I’ve been a little stressed out with school this semester, but it is nothing I can’t handle. The increased running mileage has actually been helping to keep the stress down as well as getting as much sleep as I possible can. Sleep is amazing.

My focus will be to spend time with my family, have fun in the fitness department (and STAY healthy!), get straight A’s for my PA school prerequisites, find a part time job as a patient care tech during school — go full time once school is out, apply to PA school, and hopefully get in!

Well, there you have it! My goals for 2013.

Do you often feel pressure to be “busy”? Do you have a hard time saying “no” to things?

What are your goals for 2013?  How are you doing with them so far? 

Related posts:

The holidays came and went so fast. A few days after Christmas, my mom and stepdad flew out to San Antonio for about a week to visit me. That week was filled with running:

And lots and lots of New Mexican food:

This is homemade spanish rice with homemade red chili enchiladas with a fried egg on top. SO FREAKING GOOD. It was worth all the bloating and painful stomach cramping that came with it. Right after my mom left, I had to go back to paleo. It was worth it for a week, but my stomach couldn’t handle that if it was all the time!

If you don’t believe me about the red chile, here is the proof. You have to boil the dried chile for a while before putting it in the blender. We also made a butt load of tamales from this!

I’m gathering that the San Antonio winters come with a little bit more rain than in the summer. After my parents left, it ended up raining a lot. I needed to get in my runs so I dragged the dogs out with me. I’m not too sure they were happy about it, but they should be used to it from Spokane. Actually from the look on Kai’s face, he wasn’t very happy at all.

I’m still on my physical therapy running plan (Phase VI) so it was only 2 miles in the rain. It was a light/moderate rain on one of these days, and I was literally the only person outside walking/running. I’m sure cars were driving by thinking I was a complete freak. All I could think about was that this was nothing compared to what I had to run in while living in Spokane. It was 57 degrees out. That is nice! haha.

These Texas don’t know what a real winter is. I was just happy I didn’t have to run in a face mask. Plus, running in the rain is therapeutic.

[Source]

This week I started my last semester of prereqs for PA school. It is hard to believe that I will be applying this summer! I am retaking Anatomy and Physiology. The last time I took those classes was 10 years ago, and most schools would like you to have taken them within the last 5 years. I don’t mind the review at all. I’m also taking Immunology. All my classes have labs associated with them, and I am attending three different campuses to complete them. To be honest with you, I believe all three labs are going to be more work than the lecture classes.

Being a nontraditional student has given me a different perspective of school especially taking undergrad courses when I already have my masters. I feel extremely old walking around campus at 29 years old. I hear lots of conversations about going out and getting hammered or parties going on over the weekends.  That was life in my early twenties, but it most certainly isn’t now.  haha

I’m amazed at all the new ways to share information. The first class of all my courses was spent going over syllabus which was nothing new BUT what was new was that every single professor talked about how we shouldn’t be on Facebook during class. I had to laugh in my head because I don’t think Facebook existed when I started college in 2001. Maybe there was myspace? I have no clue.

Another difference I have noticed is that in my labs at UTSA (they don’t do this at TAMSU-SA because the professors are often also the lab instructors), the TA’s attendance sheet had a printout of everyone’s face. I had to initial my face for my physiology lab on Wednesday. So weird. I know why they have to do it. It is just really different.

At the UTSA campuses, I can hit print on my laptop, go to any printing station, swipe my ID, and print out what I need. I most definitely didn’t have this at UNM!!

I also was expecting real human cadavers for my anatomy lab since that is what I had to work with at UNM. No such luck. I think we will be dissecting cats later in the semester which aren’t quite as fun as humans.

One HUGE difference: Everyone has a laptop and/or ipad in class. I noticed this last semester, but it still amazes me. I guess I like taking notes the old fashioned way. I retain the information much better.

In addition to taking 12 credit hours this semester, I started CNA school 2 weeks ago. I didn’t want to have to do this since I am already nationally certified as an EMT, but I’m having trouble getting state certified. Apparently, TX won’t accept my WA EMT school certificate so my choices were:

* move back to Spokane for 60 days; lie to my employer about me living in Spokane permanately in order for them to “sponsor” me so I could become state certified; fill out a reciprocity form for TX state certification.

* pay another $900 to $1,200 to retake EMT school in TX that would take ANOTHER 3 months of my life; then get certified here in TX.

*pay another $600 bucks (I talked the CNA instructor down from $1,100) for a 6 weekend CNA course so I can get on with my life and start my paid clinical experience that I so desperately need for my PA school application

I chose the last option. That is the thing with the military. I think I have discovered why most military spouses don’t have careers. You have to get certified in EVERY SINGLE state you move to, and you are moving every 2-4 years. The fact that you are nationally certified means nothing. This entire EMT ordeal has been a pain in the ass, but I have faith that my EMT training will help me get a job at a hospital faster than if I just had my CNA state certification.

Anyway, that is my life for now. As soon as I take the state test for my CNA cert, my goal is to find a job at a hospital where I can learn how to draw blood, read ECGs, etc.

Goodness, this post was random. I hope you all didn’t mind. I just felt like I had a lot of catching up to do with you all!!

Happy Running!!

Did smart phones exist when you went to college?

Were/are any of you nontraditional students?

Related posts:

Where did this month go? I feel like I was in a dark hole called my office studying for finals only coming out for food, drink, physical therapy, shadowing, coaching and the final 5K for the Girls on the Run.  I had my last day shadowing at the hospital on Christmas Even, then Christmas hit. The good news is that I am one more semester closer to a career that I will be happy in.

Physical therapy has been coming along. For those of you who don’t know, I suffered some injuries from my last Ironman in July, and I hadn’t run for months up until a few weeks ago!

Here is a video of one of the exercises that we have been working on.

I actually got cleared to run a few weeks ago. It was just around the block, but it felt amazing. I am following a special physical therapy walk to run program. I don’t want my injury to flare up again. Right now, I’m in Phase V.

Phase I: Walk 2 miles at your own pace.
Phase II: Progress to walking 2 miles in 35 minutes.
Phase III: Walk 1/4 mile, Run 1/4 mile, Walk 1/4 mile, Run 1/4 mile; Total: 1 mile
Phase IV: Walk 1/4 mile, Run 1/4 mile, Walk 1/4 mile, Run 1/4 mile, Walk 1/4 mile, Run 1/4 mile, Walk 1/4 mile, Run 1/4 mile; Total: 2 miles
Phase V: Walk 1/4 mile, Run 1/2 mile, Walk 1/4 mile, Run 1/2 mile, Walk 1/4 mile, Run 1/2 mile; Total: 2 1/4 miles
Phase VI: Walk 1/4 mile, Run 3/4 mile, Walk 1/4 mile, Run 3/4 mile; Total: 2 miles
Phase VII: Walk 1/4 mile, Run 1 mile, Walk 1/4 mile, run 1 mile; Total 2 1/2 miles
Phase VIII: Walk 1/4 mile, Run 1 mile, Walk 1/4 mile, Run 1 mile, Walk 1/4 mile, Run 1 mile: Total 3 1/2 miles

Then, I have to be in Phase VIII for 3 weeks before I can start running more than 3 times a week.  Quite a difference from working out 20 hours/week for IMLP training, eh?

Let me tell you, this lack of training has had an effect on me the past few months. I found out that I greatly associated myself with being a triathlete, and when I couldn’t work out (this included lifting weights, cycling, swimming, and running per PT’s instructions), I got really depressed. Physical therapy has been going really well, but I don’t feel like I am in the same shape I was this summer.

I’m cleared to do all these exercises now, but in moderation. It is going be a long road to build the endurance back up that I had before.

After a night of horrible bad dreams and not being able to visit my family in NM for Christmas this year, I woke up Christmas morning exhausted from not sleeping and feeling sorry for myself. My husband had already been puttering around our house for an hour, and he crawled back into bed with me when I woke up. He patiently listened to me describe my vivid dream about him leaving me, the dogs, and my mother to get shot at by some guy who was stalking us in our backyard. Then, I started talking about how I missed my sister, mom, dad, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, etc.

At that point, our dogs got into bed with us. Then, I realized how ridiculous I was sounding. I was surrounded by love. I shouldn’t have been complaining about anything. My health is great compared to the average person in the U.S., my husband’s health is wonderful. My dogs had made it back home to us after escaping a few days prior. I had a roof over my head and food in the fridge. It was Christmas, and my husband wasn’t deployed. I had lots to be thankful for.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, and I hope you realized how lucky you are to have the life that you do.

Related posts: