Lehmann Laughter

Training Tuesday 5.21.13

noreply@blogger.com (Tamara) — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:53:00 +0000

This link-up is just a way to talk about training [in any way, for anything] to help hold ourselves accountable and possibly brag a bit. I mean, you ran 1 mile without stopping – you totally deserve a chance to brag about it! That shit is hard. You did 10 push-ups in a row, HOLLLEERRR.

And even if you’re not training for anything, you’re just putting yourself out there to be healthier, to get slimmer, to whatever you can share it on Training Tuesday. Let’s say you were sitting at home and instead of eating a carton of Oreos you instead ate 20 baby carrots and just imagined they were chocolate-y crèmey goodness [hypothetical situation, of course] – share it here!

Abbey & I don’t discriminate – we congratulate.

Grab the button above & link-up below to let us know what’s going on for your Training Tuesday (or any day really, linking up throughout the week is good too!)

Abbey’s out for this week, so it’s just little ol’ me today. She’s much better about getting this up sooner than me. She is my better Training Tuesday half and I am not ashamed to say it.

Last week, I talked about how how the scale is the devil and I’ve avoided it since then. Except for this morning. I stepped on it, held my breath (and then quickly let it out for fear it was going to add an extra ounce or two) and well, same as last week. I had every intention of avoiding it like the plague for the remainder of the year but then I decided to start doing Insanity. Like, tonight.

For those that aren’t familiar, Insanity is a 60 day workout program that is, well, nicely put intense.

Last year I made it through a month then stopped to start training for all my fall races. I lost 7 inches in like 2 weeks and finally managed to make into some pre-Lillie jeans. It really is a wonderful workout (although it is expensive). There are a few days that you are required to do a ‘fit test’ where you weigh and measure, those will be the only days that I step on the scale – roughly every two weeks. There are 10 (I think) different DVDs that you work through based on a schedule you’re given. It’s 6 days a week. I highly, highly doubt I’ll do it every day but I’ll give it a try.

But Tamara, weren’t you doing Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred?

Why yes. Yes I was. I made it 20/30 days and have lost some inches but I forgot those measurements at home – oops. I’ll update next Training Tuesday on that success. I know it could have been better if I would have stuck with it every day instead of bailing out on it during the weekends. I let a friend borrow it, and I imagine I’ll end up doing it again. My plan had always been do the 30 Day Shred as prep for Insanity, so I feel prepped and I’m ready for it.

Once Insanity is over, fall will be here and that means – more running & more races. Yippee!

I’ve already registered for a 5k/Half Marathon in January 2014 already and am seriously considering another half in November. Also, there’s that time I talked about a full-marathon in April. So yeah. In the meantime, Insanity and smaller races.

One of those smaller races is a mud run this Saturday with Sar from Life of Love and I can’t wait. If you’re in the Waco area and need something to do at 9am this Saturday, join us!

www.mudquestrun.com

We aren’t running to compete, we’re just going for the fun of it. I imagine it will be similar to the way I ran last year – we run for a bit, we stop & talk while waiting to cross an obstacle, we wade through mud, we laugh a lot, then maybe we run some more. Good strategy, no?

Alright, don’t let me be the lone ranger for this week since Abbey’s out – link up & tell me about your training!

That Just Happened - ViewSport

noreply@blogger.com (Tamara) — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:03:00 +0000

A few weeks (or more) ago, I was catching up on some blog reading when I was pleasantly surprised to learn I had actually won a giveaway. Say whaaat?

Megan from #runmeganrun (who, by the way, is a great read for those of you in love with running) hosted a giveaway for ViewSport and I won that hell out of that mother. I was incredibly excited since I had seen their products floating around on Pinterest and it seemed like the perfect culmination of fun & fitness. (Two things I strongly believe belong together if you want to be successful.)

Oh, I guess I should explain to you what exactly their product is before we go any further.

It’s athletic apparel. But, get this - it’s sweat activated athletic apparel. Yeah, you read that right. Sweat activated.

Sign.me.up. Am I right?

A little more information per their company:

“When you exercise and begin to sweat, an invisible image appears. We call it ViewSPORT Sweat Activated Technology - and the more you sweat, the clearer the image becomes. ViewSPORT reveals messages and images as you workout. Hence our tag line motivation revealed. When training, sweat activates the ViewSPORT technology in which words and graphic designs appear where sweat comes in contact with the fabric.”

After winning, I chose “That Just Happened” shirt and I received it in like 4 days. Incredibly fast, incredibly pleased.

I chose this particular shirt for a couple of reasons:

1. Because I say “That Just Happened” on the regular.
2. I also wanted something that looked like normal every day wear and not fitness apparel.

Don’t get me wrong, I love fitness apparel, but I’m not the girl who wears it unless I’m in the process of using it.

Anyway, I really wanted to see if this ‘sweat activated technology’ worked, so I opted to wear the shirt during one of my stair workouts. You know, where I run up & down four flights of stairs for 45 minutes? Yep, definitely going have the sweat going on during that.

But Tam, I don’t see any sweat? What is activating? And for the love of baby Jesus, why are your eyes so big?

Calm down, grasshopper. I got the sweat. It’s activating on my lower back. And my eyes are big so that I can see you better, my dear.

BOOM!

It worked like a boss during my workout. Awesome, right?

Typically I’m between a large & x-large when it comes to my shirts. This is a slim-fit and I went with the large. It fit as expected (uh, slim) but because I have the torso of an Olympic swimmer I was a little worried about the length. I have this problem where shirts want to bare my mid-riff and ain’t nobody wanna see that, but not a problem with this. It was long enough and didn’t ride up as I was huffing the stairs.

So, as a workout shirt. Yes. Definitely yes.

But what about for an everyday out-and-about shirt?Yep, it’s great for that too. I wore it for my husband's surprise birthday party (we had a gladiator ring & I was about to get down with it, thus the helmet) It was comfortable & totally appropriate for when I went after Sunny, because uh, That Just Happened. No judging. There was sangria involved.

Overall, I really liked this product. Even though I didn’t pay for it, I will definitely be buying something from them in the future. They’re cute (they also have men’s products) and to be honest, I felt like I tried harder to sweat during my workout to get the "Boom” to show up.

Interested?
You can find ViewSport on the following media:

www.viewsport.us
www.facebook.com/viewsport
www.twitter.com/viewsport (For simply being a follower I recently received 15% off!)www.pinterest.com/viewsport
www.instagram.com/viewsport

This shirt was provided free to me because, I, uh won a giveaway but all opinions expressed within are my own.

Training Tuesday 5.14.13

noreply@blogger.com (Tamara) — Tue, 14 May 2013 22:12:00 +0000

Abbey & I don’t discriminate – we congratulate.

Grab the button above & link-up below to let us know what’s going on for your Training Tuesday (or any day really, linking up throughout the week is good too!)

Usually I go through day-by-day training but I don’t really want to do that today. I worked out last week. I know I did. I just…felt like I was going through the motions. I’ve really had a hard time lately finding motivation. I even cried at the gym last week. I couldn’t pinpoint what the issue was and it was really frustrating.

Then, I had a conversation with Sara from Maurer Power (she’s wonderful, check her out if you haven’t already!) that led us into talking about the scale. (Mostly with us saying it’s the devil. It is.)

Last year I stopped weighing myself and just focused on being healthier. I was happy and felt ready when this year for a New Year’s Resolution I put out there that I wanted to lose 30 lbs. I wrote in my Weight Hate post at the beginning of this year “…my weight does not define me…” and when I wrote that I felt that. Everything I wrote in that post is true. I was happy because I was healthy. Running was a huge part of that.

And because of that I assumed I was in a healthy place mentally & emotionally to be okay with the scale. To be friends with the scale even.

I am not.

It started out innocent enough, I wanted to see where I was starting so I’d weigh myself every 3-4 days and gauge how I was doing based on that. Then it was every 1-2 days and eventually, at minimum twice a day.

Every time I saw a gain, even by .2 lbs, I felt sad like I failed myself for some reason. At the same time the logical part of me knew this was normal, weight fluctuates daily based on the time of day, what you ate, how much water you are carrying, etc but the emotional part of me said, “FUCK THAT. YOU’RE FAT.”

It’s ridiculously exhausting to be in a constant battle against yourself. And it makes you want to give up.

I caught Lillie ‘weighing’ herself this weekend. It pissed me off. Not that she was doing something wrong, because she was just standing on a piece of metal watching the numbers move, but because it felt like I was failing her. That instead of associating me with running (she tells me to go faster which is adorable) it was like she was associating me with a number. And, like I said earlier, that shouldn’t define me for me and it damn sure shouldn’t define me for her.

Simply put I can’t be friends with the scale. I can’t have her telling me whether or not I’m going to be in a good mood today because I weigh .5 lbs less today than I did yesterday.

So, I’m getting rid of that 30 lb resolution.

Which also means, the scale is going too. Holler bitch.

If I lose weight, so be it. I’ll continue working out & trying to eat better but I just can’t have that scale toxin near me. It does not make me a person I am proud of. And ultimately, that’s what I want. Not to weigh less, not to skinny, but to be happy & to make the people around me happy.

Here’s to being happy.

Sometimes it sucks

noreply@blogger.com (Tamara) — Wed, 08 May 2013 22:13:00 +0000

I’m an optimist. The glass is generally half-full for me (usually with wine) and I’m convinced I have chipmunk cheeks because my muscles are so strong from the smiling gene my mother blessed me with.

Obviously this is my chipmunk face.

So, naturally, the cheeriness comes across in my blog and how I handle the motivation I need/use to continue feeling like I’m becoming the type of person I’m proud of. The kind of person who works out not to be the thinnest, but to be healthier & happier for my God, myself, my kid, & my husband.

And with all that said, sometimes it just sucks.

Some days I just feel like I have nothing to give. Like, I’ve used up my “happy”quota for the week. Things from work, from life, being a mom, financial situations, anything just pile up & I have an off day (or week). It’s life, it happens, I’m an adult so I deal.

At one point in my life, I dealt with these things with Oreos. (Fine, there are still some times that I still do this. Don’t judge me. They are made of Unicorn Farts & puffs of amazingness, I can’t always help myself.)

But now, at this point in my life, I try to deal by working it out. Whether that’s going for a run, or doing an at home workout DVD, or going to the gym. Generally, if I make myself do something I’m happier within 10 minutes and I kind of forget about what’s been ailing me.

However, last week that did not happen.

I don’t know what it was – just a culmination of worry/anxiety/work – is what I’m going with. I’ve talked about Mojgan, she’s my amazing friend who I run stairs with or follow along for evil Tabata workouts, she had asked me to join her for another workout. I wanted to say no, but I didn’t. I figured I’d go and in 10 minutes I’d be calling her “the spawn of Satan” and “the workout Nazi” to forget about the pain.

She laughs when I call her these things because she knows it comes from a place of love. And of looking pretty damn fly in a pair of skinny jeans these days.

But 10 minutes into our 45 minute workout and I was struggling. We were doing things I had done plenty of times before but my head & heart were just not into it. I was in a funk and even she noticed when she called me, Grumpy butt.

At least it wasn’t Lumpy butt, I guess. (See, positivity, that bitch)

I wanted to quit. I really did. I’ve never walked out from workout but I was on the verge. I wanted to give up. It was horrible.

At one point, I was attempting push-up/plank combination and with my face facing the floor. I just started crying. I didn’t look up & I hoped if people noticed they’d just assume it was sweat hitting the floor (common in our workouts).

I hated it because it felt like my body could keep going, but my head wouldn’t allow it. I was frustrated and annoyed that I had to work out so hard just to maintain. To everyone else in the gym it looked like they were breezing along.

I’m not looking for any kind of sympathy. I just wanted to share with you guys that even though it may look like I have it all together – that well, sometimes I don’t. I struggle, I curse, I smell like man-sweat more than I don’t.

We all have hard days we have to push through and well, that was one of mine.

Changing your lifestyle, no matter how amazing it can feel – well, sometimes it sucks. It really just does.

Training Tuesday 5.7.13

noreply@blogger.com (Tamara) — Tue, 07 May 2013 21:30:00 +0000

Abbey & I don’t discriminate – we congratulate.

Grab the button above & link-up below to let us know what’s going on for your Training Tuesday (or any day really, linking up throughout the week is good too!)

My Training

4/30 – 30 Day Shred Level 2
5/1 – 30 Day Shred Level 2. I also committed to a couple of challenges for May. A squat challenge (which weirdly enough the husband is participating in as well. My plan to slowly get him into exercise and then into running must be working. Muwahaha.) And an ab Challenge with Meg. If you’ll recall I did a Thigh Challenge for April – I’d say I completed about 25/30 days. So a success. Even on days when I didn’t do a typical workout I still found time to complete it. Seriously, less than 10 minutes a day. I feel good about both of my May challenges.
5/2 – Workout with Moj. She didn’t write anything down since she wanted to keep it as a “surprise”. I don’t know what was going on with me, but it was an off day. Like off in a “Oh my gawd, I am crying. In the gym. For no reason.” It was odd and I have more to say about this in a future post.
5/3 – 30 Day Shred Level 2.
5/4 – Getting Muddy.
5/5 – Recovering from muddiness.
5/6 – Now I’m just being plain lazy. Also, my forehead is burned from the mud & is peeling. I am sexy.

Other things:

A friend of mine who is a personal trainer, Terri DeVore, is the owner of Fit Chick Fitness here in the Waco area. She’s received a few requests for some kind of walking group. This would be a great kick starter for anyone who may want to try a 5k in the future but wants to start out a little tamer than just jumping right in.

If you’re interested or know someone who is – send them to www.fcbootcampwaco.com. She is so knowledgeable and genuinely loves to help people get involved into a healthy lifestyle. Also, I wasn’t compensated in any way for this. I just really believe in Terri and what she’s trying to do.

I now have a Facebook page for the ol’ blog – go check it out & like it if that’s your kind of thing.

https://www.facebook.com/LehmannLaughter

I’ll probably be a little more free there than I am on my personal FB page, since this will be a direct extension of my blog and let’s face it – I’m pretty open with the info you find here. I actually prefer Twitter but I know a lot of my readers are on FB, so I figure this will be a great avenue for any questions/post ideas or bragging about running/fitness for those readers. We’ll see if it flops or not.

Also, tomorrow is the last day to sign up for our Jelly of My Jams CD Swap! You don’t have to have a blog to register – just a valid mailing address and the ability to make/send a kickass CD to your swap partner. Holly & I will send out partners by Friday.

Also, in sincere hopes that you won’t read this far down just in case I change my mind. I’m taking the dive. I’m jumping from the highest cliff. I’m going to fall into an ocean of sweat & self-hate.

What’s that mean?

It means, I’m going to do a full marathon.

26.2 miles. Yep, it’s going to happen. I can’t not do it. I’ve ran this far, I have to know if I can do it. I’ve ignored it for long enough.

So, here’s me telling you – it’ll happen. Right now, I think the plan/hope is Oklahoma City next April-ish (Abbey? Anita? Anyone else who is completely off their rocker and wants to join me? Can you hear me?) You have plenty of time to train! Please be crazy with me. Please.

So yeah.

Pray for me. But mostly, pray for my husband because I can feel him rolling his eyes as I type this. Poor guy.

How I feel after researching marathon training plans.

This Weekend, I [5.6.13]

noreply@blogger.com (Tamara) — Mon, 06 May 2013 21:51:00 +0000

Linking up with Sar & Syn to cover my weekend shenanigans.

This Weekend, I got a little muddy. We went to Mudd Jam 4 and had a blast! For those who aren’t familiar, this was an event at an ATV park. You can go camp, ride trails, get in mud & basically just get yo’ redneck on. Don’t knock it till you try it. :)

Our friends, Chris & Kayla (they’re the ones below who are pulling me out of a nice little hole I found), joined us in our redneckery as well as our friend Kevin.

Alfred showed Kevin a real nice time (as evidenced by this picture below) for his Bachelor party weekend. Kevin is getting married this Saturday & seriously couldn’t stop talking about his fiancé. Twas adorables.

This Weekend, I rehydrated with oranges to counteract my dehydration of Bud Light. The husband laughed at me for throwing them in my cooler, but they were a hit. And sweet baby Jesus they were tasty.

This Weekend, I watched this happen. I didn’t participate because the water was colder than a mug & I had limited amount of clean clothing at this point. But, we have plans to go back in the summer months & you can bet your ass that’s the way I’m rolling. I mean, seriously, how can I not?

But mostly This Weekend, I missed the hell out of this little toot. (she’s so ready for summer!)

Donkey Dash 5k

noreply@blogger.com (Tamara) — Thu, 02 May 2013 22:22:00 +0000

Dudes. Dudes. I motherbeeping killed it last Saturday!

So, if you’ll recall I asked the twitter-verse for some song suggestions on Friday and it exploded with awesomeness. My playlist ended up looking like this:

And then (in case you hadn’t heard) Holly & I teamed up for a CD Swap that’s going on right now. So if you’re interested in swapping great music (you know you are) sign up!

Also, you totally should because the awesome suggestions KNOCKED OFF 2:48 OFF MY LAST 5K TIME!

My official time was 36:11.

I officially am an average runner with an 11:44 average pace for the race. If you’ll recall one of my resolutions for 2013 was to be at 12 minute miles. Dude, I am there.

Much like every other race when I was finished I forgot to cut off my Garmin. Oops.

I had only ran twice since March 23rd (my emotional Bearathon half) and was just counting on the cross-training I had been doing, but definitely wasn’t expecting anything grand. My previous 5k time in February was 38:59 and I was thrilled at that because I finally got below 40. I joked once that I may just actually beat my real PR time (34:14) for the 5k I set in 2010 (before I became serious about running) by the end of the year, but now that seems less of a joke and more of a reality. Cray-cray.

I’m also pretty sure I was still hung-over from Friday night shenanigans with the husband. I am attractive.

One beer before a race is fine, two is okay, but beyond that I do not recommend (even though I do have a steel stomach like my friend Karri and our love of Fiber One bars. Don’t judge us.)

My friend, Sunny, ran the race with me (or in front of me, whatever) and she placed 2nd in her age division and 3rd overall. Girl is fast.

This particular race benefitted the American Cancer Society and with it being called Donkey Dash, they made sure to include donkeys for us. In true redneck fashion, we did not hesitate to take as many pictures as possible. I’d also be lying if I didn’t say I secretly hoped they’d gloriously throw their ropes off and join us in our run but alas, they did not.

I feel like I should also mention it was 70 degrees out when we started and humid than a motherfucker. We still killed it (this was a PR for Sunny too).

Despite nearly throwing up half-way through (see twitter picture above) I just kept moving. I kept telling myself that if I can 13.1 miles at a 13 minute pace then I surely can 3.1 faster than that, I just had to push myself. And I did. Totally felt amazing.

So, yep. I’m amazeballs.

Until we run again!

Jelly of my Jams CD Swap

noreply@blogger.com (Tamara) — Wed, 01 May 2013 17:17:00 +0000

Last week, I was working on a playlist for an upcoming 5k and I just was not feeling any of my songs. So, I did what anyone would do – I hit up my online friends for some musical suggestions. During this, Holly from Faith, Hope, and Baseball (she also has a fitness blog at My Own Kind of Beautiful) suggested a CD swap of our favorite workout music.

Since she’s simply amazing, I couldn’t ignore this wonderful idea and I immediately emailed her about hosting a swap – and so here we are.

Doing the damn thing like a motherbeeping boss.

This swap is open to all (even those of you without a blog), just as long as you have a valid mailing address you’re golden.

Swap Details:

·Registration open from May 1st through May 8th.
·Everyone will be notified of their swap partners by May 10th.
·Send your CD of amazing songs to your partner by May 17th.
·Feel free to send a note to your partner explaining your song choices if you’d like.
·On May 31st link up and tell us why we should be Jelly of your Jams!

You’re not required to follow Holly or myself, but if you don’t already – you’re missing out. We’re kind of a big deal ~~in our heads~~. You can also grab the button above to post if you’d like. If you’re on Twitter and want to hash it out - #JellyofmyJams is the way to go.

Keep in mind – this is a way to add some new music to our life. Your partner can either take your suggestions into account, or completely ignore them all together and give you songs you’ve never even heard of. We only ask that you keep an open mind.

So, click the button below and let’s get our jam on!

Training Tuesday 4.30.13

noreply@blogger.com (Tamara) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:09:00 +0000

Abbey & I don’t discriminate – we congratulate.

Grab the button above & link-up below to let us know what’s going on for your Training Tuesday (or any day really, linking up throughout the week is good too!)

My Training

4/23 – 30 day Shred Level 2.
4/24 – 30 day Shred Level 2 in the morning. I woke up all bright eyed and bushy-tailed. I fear my body is learning to accept morning workouts. I don’t know how I feel about this. During lunch I did 40 minutes of stairs with Moj for WHY GOD WHY Wednesday. We also used 4 lb hand weights to get some upper body in and ended it with 100 jump squat jacks (basically a jumping jack but lower) and 50 push-ups.
4/25 – I wanted to try something new so I did the two following workouts (I found via PopSugar and/or Women's Running – I can’t remember. Oops.) I’ve never really pushed myself on the recumbent bike, so my quads were way sore afterwards (it probably didn’t help that I did stairs the day before either). I got a really great sweat on with mixing it up. If you’re interested in using either of those, you can download it here.

4/26 – Rest Day.
4/27 – Donkey Dash 5k. I totally killed it. Like, yeah, my first mile was in 11 minutes. Oh, you heard that right. 11. My following two not so much, but eh, you win some, you lose some. Race review will be up in a couple days. 4/28 – Nursing a hangover by eating McDonald’s works out something, right?
4/29 – Nothing. I was actually kind of mad at it all day. Like, I thought I wanted to sleep in and not do anything but then when I didn’t work out with Jillian it just threw my whole day off. But Lillie did come to work with me, so that was pretty adorables.

Okay, I’m curious. What do you guys like to hear about? Or have questions about? I don’t always think I’m “serious” enough to write posts on running products I like, or field questions for newbies. But what do I know? I fall up the stairs for heaven’s sake.

So, I’ll leave it up to you guys. You know I’m an open book. What are you interested in?

PS. Holly & I are hosting a CD swap link-up! Check back here tomorrow for more details. #JellyofmyJams

A Self-Interview

noreply@blogger.com (Tamara) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 13:09:00 +0000

I joined a blogger community (I’m like legit now you guys) and they are having a self-interview link up party (uhh, see image above) so, here’s me interviewing myself. How fancy am I right?

1. What part of the state do you call home?

I live Deep in the Heart of Texas! (You can’t tell me you didn’t just sing that). Basically in the Waco, TX area.

2. How long have you been blogging?

Well, I used to have a blog called Tickled Silly on Myspace like 7 years ago. Ha. Myspace. But Lehmann Laughter is fairly new – right around 2 years old. I started up just a few months before my daughter, Lillie, was born.

3. Why did you start blogging?

I started just as a way to keep out-of-state friends & family in the loop on my daughter’s arrival and because I enjoy the creative outlet it gives me.

4. What do you hope to get out of Texas Women Bloggers community?

New friends. Inspiration. A place where I can say Howdy without a single judgment. The usual stuff.

5. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

In blog terms, I have no idea. I hope I’m still writing about my fitness goals and cheering others on with theirs. Personally? I don’t like looking that far in the future. You never know where your life is going to lead you – I like to keep it a surprise.

6. If you could choose an actress to play you in your life, who would you choose and why?

Sandra Bullock. She’s gorgeous. She’s funny. And she got to make out with Ryan Reynolds in a movie. So, uh yeah. We’re like totally the same anyway.

7. Name 5 things on your Bucket List that you hope you’ll check off before you die.

- Run a FULL marathon
- Meet some of my fabulous blogger friends
- Cheer Lillie on at her first, well, everything.
- Celebrate a 50th wedding anniversary with the husbandface.
- High five a celebrity. Any will do. Dane Cook would be my top pick though.

8. If you could be known for one thing, what would it be and why?

Kindness. I want people to say “Hey, you know Tam, right? She’s the sweetest. She’d give you the shirt off her back if you needed it and then apologize for the pit stains. What a girl.”

9. Describe one “wow” moment in your life.

Knowing that in the exact moment that my boyfriend pushed a stray piece of hair away from face and tucked it behind my ear that he’d one day be my husband. 11 years later and here we are.

10. If you could “be” anything (no consequences, no fear), what would you be?

An actress. A dream since I was cast as the lead in our 1st grade Christmas play.

Can’t Hold Us

noreply@blogger.com (Tamara) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 21:49:00 +0000

Just a nice, weird random post for you today.

1. Katie at State of Change made a promise. And I, for one, would love to see it carried out. She’s a great blog to follow so head her way. We have this amazing textual relationship where we talk about our daughters, compliment the husband’s biceps and send each other pictures of food we eat (mostly me complaining about baby carrots). She’s also really honest with her readers, which is wonderfully refreshing in the blog world. I’m convinced that she needs to write a book. (DO IT KATIE!) She only needs 5 more!

2. I am in love with my Twitter/Blog friends. I have a 5k tomorrow and was looking for some new music to jam too so I tweeted this and seriously, the response AMAZEBALLS. And not to mention, Holly, had a great idea for a music swap and I jumped on that like a redneck on Keystone – so you’ll see more of that next week once all the details are worked out. #JellyofmyJamsSwap

3. Per #2 I downloaded a few new songs and I made the following playlist for tomorrow (with a few of my own additions) – I’m pumped. I’m totally listening to it right now as I type this. 4. My daughter wanted to take a picture of our cat, Smokey, yesterday. So, uh, here you go.

Yeah, that’s my knee the cat is digging into. She did not want her picture taken. But our yard looks nice, doesn’t it?

5. Someone found my makeup (when she was supposed to be using the potty all by herself) and then went all creepy on me as I tried to take a photo. Seriously. Let’s just say that while she enjoys makeup she does not enjoy makeup remover. Thy bathtub runneth over with tears.

Hope your weekend is filled with fun, laughter and lotssss of wine. You deserve it.

Training Tuesday 4.23.13

noreply@blogger.com (Tamara) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 16:19:00 +0000

Abbey & I don’t discriminate – we congratulate.

Grab the button above & link-up below to let us know what’s going on for your Training Tuesday (or any day really, linking up throughout the week is good too!)

My Training

4/16- 30 Day Shred Level 1.
4/17 – 30 Day Shred Level 1.
4/18 – Nada.
4/19 – 5 minutes on step mill. 10 burpees. 5 minutes on step mill. 10 burpees. Yeah, that for 40 minutes. The step mill said I went up 199 flights of stairs though. I feel bad for the girl that used it after me, it was pretty sweaty.
4/20 – I was going to work out while Lillie napped but then I watched TV instead and it was glorious.
4/21 – 30 Day Shred Level 2. (I finally made it to Level 2, what what!) I followed it up by playing Dance Central 2 on the Kinect. I never realized but they have a fitness option where you decide on the level (warm-up, cardio frenzy, sweating it out, blah blah) and get after it. I did about 30 minutes and I was sweating it out for shorty.
4/22 – 30 Day Shred Level 2.

I have a 5k this Saturday and I’ve only ran once since my half in March. I’ve just been focusing on other workouts (mostly Jillian) and haven’t laced up the running shoes. I’m excited for the 5k just to see how cross-training these past few weeks holds up to 3 miles. I don’t anticipate being faster than my last time (however it would be nice!), so I’m just going into this as a fun way to get my exercise in and to hang out with my friend, Sunny, for a bit.

Also, it doesn’t hurt that we get to run through the finish line with a corral of miniature donkeys.

Yeah. You read that. Miniature donkeys.

I’m going to run my ass off. (Pun totally intended)

So, I’ve got a question for you.

The other day I was wearing a shirt (one that is in constant rotation since it’s a Baylor shirt) and the husband asked me if I was sucking in. I wasn’t. I took that as a compliment seeing as I’ve been trying to lose weight & have been fairly diligent with my 30 Day Shredding. For me it meant that the person I’m closest to is seeing a difference and that’s a big deal. When you see the same person every day over and over again, sometimes you forget what they really look like. Which can explain why my husband has stuck it out through all the weight gain/loss I’ve had the past 10 years. God bless him.

Anyway, he told me last night that some of his buddies thought he would have gotten in serious trouble for this comment. Am I weird for taking it as a compliment? I mean, would you?

Random Thursday: Holy Grail Cosmetics

noreply@blogger.com (Tamara) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:47:00 +0000

I’m joining Em, Lin, & Meaghan for Random Thursday and this weeks subject is -

I decided to throw down vlog style thinking I’d be able to do it in 5 minutes or less, but uh, that does not happen. I don’t know why I think I can talk in a short amount of time, but it’s nearly impossible.

Also, I show you my awesome make-up bag and promised you a link if you’re interested. I am not a ‘purse’ girl, but I love their products and they’re kind of converting me. I no longer put a wallet in my back pocket like a 12 year old boy.

Yeah, that’s how good they are. So check it out. www.gigihill.com/emilietobias

For those who can’t really watch or don’t really want to (shame on you). I only have one serious holy grail item and that is L'Oreal Double Extend mascara. It makes my eyelashes large and in charge. Over the years I’ve mascara-whored myself out by trying new things but this is the one I always go back too. Even if it did make me flip out thinking that I was losing my eyelashes the first time I wore it. (see video below)

I also talk about Sorme Eyebrow kit, which I think is a good investment if eyebrows are a thing you do. I never did anything with my brows up until this last year and I love how it makes my face look now.

Also, I just want to say thank you to my ‘online’ friends who texted/called/tweeted me concerning the explosion in West, Texas that happened last night. Your thoughtfulness and love is amazing. I live south of the area and was not affected, but plenty of our friends & their family have been – so please just keep our community in your prayers & thoughts.

Training Tuesday [4.16.13]

noreply@blogger.com (Tamara) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 20:47:00 +0000

It's another Training Tuesday, so you know what that means!

Abbey & I don’t discriminate – we congratulate.

Grab the button above & link-up below to let us know what’s going on for your Training Tuesday (or any day really, linking up throughout the week is good too!)

My Training
4/9 – 30 Day Shred Level 1.
4/10 –50 minutes of stairs. I wore a shirt I won from #RunMeganRun and Viewsport that is sweat-activated, and yep, it sure was. It’s supposed to say BOOM, but apparently my muffin sides don’t sweat as much as my tramp stamp. Who knew? I’ll do more of a review on it in a later post.

4/11 – 30 Day Shred Level 1.
4/12 – Snooze button Friday. No workout.
4/13 – 30 Day Shred Level 1 in the morning before a niece’s birthday party where I went roller-skating. Yeah, first time in like 15 years so my quads were a little sore the next day. I also got in a gladiator ring for Alfred’s birthday party…so uh, that probably didn’t help any either. I have pictures involved in both of these situations…be patient grasshopper.
4/14 – Sangria hangover workout. I’ll let you use your imagination as to what that entails.
4/15 – 30 Day Shred Level 1.

Ever since hearing the news of Boston yesterday, I’ve been a tad bit emotional. And not just because of the horrible, sad circumstances but also because of the amazing tales of heroism and uplifting spirit that I’ve seen through facebook, news stories, twitter, other blogs, and well, everywhere.

I know, for me personally, that sense of community, of love, I found myself even more determined to lace up my shoes today. To show them (whoever they may be) that we will not be torn down by hate, but instead we will choose to be brought up by love.

..and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. Hebrews 12:1

I held Lillie a little closer last night, I snuggled her a little harder & longer this morning (in fact, my hair is a hot-ass mess since I didn’t take the time to actually do it) because I am grateful for what I have been blessed with. I don’t ever want her to not follow her dreams because of the very few who wish to tear the human spirit apart.

I don’t ever want to not follow my dreams because of those few.

I run for me. I run for her. And I damn sure run for Boston.

Simply Sad

noreply@blogger.com (Tamara) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 21:26:00 +0000

I don’t typically post whenever something horrible/shitty has happened in the world because I feel like everyone is already doing that.

And I don’t want people to think I’m just “following the crowd”.

What more can I add to it?

But, after watching the live coverage of the Boston Marathon this morning as the elites crossed the finish line followed by the the thousands of other runners who were making their dreams come true while running the most sought after race ever and then hearing there were bombs that went off near the finish line – I just didn’t want to not say something. Even if everyone else has already said it.

I’m a runner. It changed me. It helped me through post-partum depression, it made me realize I’m strong, I’m capable and I am beautiful – even if not by society’s standards – I am through my own.

And the fact that someone chose to hurt people who feel the same way, who worked hard to get to Boston (if you’re not familiar you have to run a specific time to qualify – for me I’d have to run 3:35 which translates into like an 8 minute pace for 26.2 miles) who were ready to prove to themselves that they could do it, it just makes my heart overwhelmingly sad.

I cried. I know, I don’t even know anyone there, so the logical part of my brain knows it’s ridiculous– but the emotional and spiritual part of me - I couldn’t help it. I am simply sad.

And so, whether you believe in Him or not, I just ask you give yourself up for a moment in silence to think of all the people affected by this tragedy and that nothing more will happen.

..and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. Hebrews 12:1

Training Tuesday…err Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Tamara) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 21:39:00 +0000

It's another ~~Tuesday~~ Workout Wednesday, so you know what that means!

Abbey & I don’t discriminate – we congratulate.

Grab the button up above & link-up down below to let us know what’s going on for your Training Tuesday (or any day really, linking up throughout the week is good too!)

My Training

4/2 – 30 Day Shred Level 1. I decided to be a bad, horrible person and lay in a tanning bed during my lunch break for April (instead of working out like I normally do) so I’m making an effort to wake up and do it in the morning. I am not a fan.
4/3 – 30 Day Shred Level 1. Same deal. Up at the buttfuck crack of dawn to sweat. Why do people do this?
4/4 – 30 Day Shred Level 1. Also, at lunch I didn’t tan but I joined in on a sweat-fest at our stairs in the building. We usually do this on Wednesdays but we changed it to Thursdays to accommodate a friend who wanted to join us. So, yeah, two workouts in one day. Color me badass.
4/5 – I was freaking exhausted, so I did not hang out with Jillian. BUT, I did go to the gym with Mojgan and did a lot of crap that I don’t even want to remember. There were lunges and dead lifts and… a bosu ball? It was a blur of sweat and cursing.
4/6 – I had every intention of waking up to Jillian, but instead I woke up to a wonderful stomach bug. Squatting over & over again over a toilet counts as something though, right?
4/7 – See previous day.
4/8 – I attempted Jillian, but I gave up about 10 minutes into it. I just didn’t have the strength or the will.

Update on Forever Fitness Challenge with Abbey:

I kind of have been sucking at my goal to cook at least 3 healthy meals a week. When I decided to do that I meant it in an INTENTIONAL way. Like, my goal was to cook for both Alfred and I healthy. But the past couple weeks have been crazy and while I’ve still been eating well, it’s mostly because instead of my beloved Velveeta Shells & Cheese that Alfred has been ingesting I’ve been opting to eat a salad instead. I will say that I am finding that more and more I am craving healthier foods rather than junk food. (I can’t lie, when people used to tell me this I thought they were dirty, filthy liars)

I’m actually munching on these bad boys today instead of M&Ms. Weirdness.As far as my goal to lose 10 lbs – I’m on track! When I weighed myself this morning I was down by 6. So, I think mixing it up with Jillian and making an honest effort to eat better is doing the trick. It probably didn’t hurt that I was sick this weekend either…

My plan for the 30 Day Shred is to do each level (there’s 3) for 10 days and at the end of each level do my measurements/weights/etc to see if there’s a difference. Because I’m dorky and love to mark things out/check things off, I made this and then hung it next to my TV as a reminder I need to be shredding.

If you’re interested, you can download it by clicking here. I’d love to have someone else join me. I think I marked off Day 6 today. I haven’t decided for sure yet, but I may double up one day to get closer to being “finished” at the end of April. Eh, we’ll see.

Easy Peasy Chicken Greasy

noreply@blogger.com (Tamara) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 20:16:00 +0000

Do you guys ever take pictures with every intention of posting them on your blog and then, like, you never do?

I do this all.the.time. Like, I’ll take a photo and think, “Oh that would be a good post about (insert post subject here)” and then by the time I get near a computer I totally brainfart. I then have 25 nearly identical copies of the same photo stuck on my camera/phone for ~~years~~ weeks.

I have a problem with deleting apparently. Oops.

So, I thought I’d just do a fun, photo-filled post for Friday of random pictures I’ve taken recently.
Easy peasy chicken greasy.

Easter 2013 loot. Yes, her hand is in a box of candy.

Church Easter Egg hunt with her cousins. They loaded up.

What my daughter sees every day. My gawd, she is lucky. (Yes, she took this picture)

Park time! And because my best friend called it – The bigger the bow, the better the mama.

She looks terrified, but I promise she loved going to Sesame Street Live.
Just not as much as I did apparently.

Monkey see, Monkey do.
Kids are weird, am I right?

Here’s to a great weekend!

Training Tuesday [4.2.13]

noreply@blogger.com (Tamara) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 16:52:00 +0000

It's another Tuesday, so you know what that means!

Abbey & I don’t discriminate – we congratulate.

Grab the button up above & link-up down below to let us know what’s going on for your Training Tuesday (or any day really, linking up throughout the week is good too!)

My Training

3/26 – Uhm. Nothing. I was still soaking up my victory with laziness. No shame.
3/27 – WHY GOD WHY Wednesday commenced with our usual torture of stairs. We ran up and walked down 4 flights of stairs until I cried for the sweet baby Jesus to take me away. (approximately 40 minutes)
3/28 – Moj suckered me into another workout. We went to the gym and proceeded to do this:

I’m pretty sure my heart stopped beating during the planks, luckily I was revived when my own sweat dripped into my mouth causing me to choke and wake up suddenly.

3/29 – Rest day. (We did walk about 2 miles back to the house from church though. Legit?)
3/30 – Raising my hand to my mouth with a beer can counts as curls, right? If so, the whole family participated in this event. I love holidays.
3/31 – Easter! I walked in high heels during church where I carried a 30 lb toddler. Calves and upper arm workout – I’m counting it.
4/1 – Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred.

Since the Bearathon I have not ran. Holiday weeks are always weird for me because my work schedule is usually what keeps me on track because I work out during lunch. (We had Friday and Monday off – what!what!) I have every intention of keeping up some mileage but I think I’m just going to go with the run instead of forcing it. If I feel like one, I’ll do it – otherwise these are my plans for April.

I’ve attempted the 30 Day Shred (#30DS) before but always end up snuffing out before I get to Level 2. I just stop making it a priority because as I’ve mentioned before, sometimes I’m lazy. Or I get distracted by running races but I don’t have anything on the menu really, so, I shouldn’t have an excuse not to complete it. I took my measurements/weight/before pics yesterday and will update you on Training Tuesday as I see changes (provided that I actually do see changes).

Thanks to this tweet from Kaitlyn, I’m also tacking this on the end of the #30DS. We’re both participating in Abbey’s Forever Fitness Challenge and I couldn’t leave her hanging without a partner. (I seriously have a ‘yes!’ problem sometimes.)

In case you were wondering, wall-sits are still the fucking worse thing ever.

Here’s to making April my bitch! Tell me how you’re making April yours below (or link up!)

The Time I Smelled Like Meat

noreply@blogger.com (Tamara) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 21:25:00 +0000

One of my resolutions for this year was to start saving money. After posting it for all the world to see, I had a number of people who offered up suggestions on how to do just that (thanks to you all!) My running buddy, Sunny, actually came to me after this and said she had the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace CD's. Her & her husband had really great success after taking the course a few years back but since moving and gaining new debt, they definitely could use a refresher. So, we opted that every Wednesday we’d meet at hers, mine or Emilie’s house to listen to the CDs, eat food & basically gossip “as hens do” according to our husbands.

Cluck.

This last Wednesday it was at my home which meant, it was my turn to cook for the bunch of us (6 adults, 2 toddlers and one adorable 6 month old), and because we meet after work – we all try and do something fairly easy. I’m trying to eat healthier (per my Forever Fitness goals) so my initial inclination was Cauliflower Pizza (I’ll actually do a recipe for this soon, it was fantastic) that I tried out last week. But then I thought, well, if no one else likes it then I look like a douche. Nobody likes being a douche. Not even douches.

I decided to go with beef fajitas. I figure I could just throw the meat on a salad, and BOOM, healthy-fied. (I know, lame, but I’m really trying to give this eating healthy a solid go.)

I didn’t have all the necessaries for this sitting in my fridge at the house, so I had to stop at the grocery store. Because I commute every day to work (about 30 minutes) and I have to pick up Lillie, going after work was not really an option.

Also, the grocery store at 5pm is bum-fucking stupid. Ain’t nobody got time for dat.

I decided to go on my lunch break telling myself I would just throw any items that needed to be refrigerated in our community fridge for the office with a giant pink post-it that said, “BACK OFF BITCH.”

Just kidding. I would never call someone a bitch for stealing my food. ~~I’d call them a cunt~~.

I made it to the store and miraculously found a parking spot, so I threw my fajita meat in my giant duffel bag purse so I wasn’t walking around campus with grocery sacks looking like a damn fool. It seemed smart at the time.

Somehow, I managed to forget during the two minutes it took me to walk to the office from my truck that I did, indeed, have fajita meat in my purse. So, there it sat. In my purse. By my desk. Smelling delicious, I assume. I say assume because I had apparently become so accustomed to the smell since it had been with me for the past 3 hours that I simply did not remove it from my purse.

At 5 o’clock as I headed out the office down to the restroom to do some very impeetant business. While sitting on my throne, I opened up my purse to grab my keys and it hit me. That glorious smell of seasoned beef (sorry non-meat eating friends, but it truly is glorious) wafted into my nostrils and into my heart. I shook my head as I zipped my purse back up and went to wash my hands.

There was a girl who was also washing her hands. And as she walked to the towels to dry them, she turned to me and said,

“I love your perfume. It smells great.”

And that, my friends, is the time I smelled like meat.

Bearathon 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Tamara) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 22:08:00 +0000

On Saturday March 23rd I, Tamara AWESOMESAUCE Lehmann, completed my third half-marathon.

And it was spectacular.
Spec-freaking-tacular.

If you’ve been reading along you know I’ve been a little worried about the course. Because there are hills. Like, 5 miles of hills. And these aren’t little “Oh isn’t she precious” hills. These are “Sweet baby Jesus WHY!” hills. According to my Garmin watch, Elevation Gain was 700 ft. I mean, whaaa?

You can see how my pace slowed down during the hills too according to my splits. I tried not to focus on how I was going to conquer the hills (I was already nervous enough) so about mile 4 you see my pace slowed down, it was because I was prepping to figure out miles 5-10. I went with power-walking up the hills (like seriously swinging the eff out of arms and the ol’ hips) and running down. It worked out well for me. I think doing all the stair workouts this semester with Moj really helped me. So, if you have hills in your future and no real hills to train on, I suggest stairs. They’ll kill you but totally worth it.

My plan going into this race was just to finish. I assumed because the course was so much harder than my other two that I’d probably finish somewhere around 3 hours and 15 minutes. So, I was pretty pumped when my official time was actually :

I’m sure you remember all of my race times, (you guys are awesome friends!) but just in case you didn’t – this is the fastest I’ve ever ran 13.1 miles! Houston I finished in 3:00:27.

This means I totally PRed on the “Toughest Half in Texas” course.

Yep, you know a badass. Go ahead and let that soak in while I make an awkward race photo pose for you.

This particular race meant a lot to me because it felt as this was the start of my running journey when I completed the 5k portion of it last year. So, as I waited at the start line I was already tearing up before I even started running. I wanted to enjoy every moment of it. And I did. At every mile marker there was a water station, so to help Sar out with her Acts of Kindness, I clapped and cheered every one of those water stations volunteers. They didn’t have to be out there at 7am on a Saturday morning, and yet, there they were cheering us crazies on.

Speaking of Acts of Kindness, Sar was totally there cheering me on (as well as all the other runners!) around mile 11. It was definitely a huge boost since I was just coming off the hills. I also got to meet RP3 for a whole hot second. Like literally. I waved, he waved. We had a moment. Sorry Sar. It’s true.

At one point, someone chalked hopscotch out, I totally hop scotched my way into mile 9 I think. I also stopped at mile 10 I believe to let everyone know I was currently listening to Baby Got Back. I got big cheers on that one.

As I crossed the finish line, I started tearing up again and when I grabbed my medal/finisher shirt and free slice of pizza – I just sat down and soaked it in. I had finished. I had done something I never thought was possible – and I had enjoyed it. Alfred was out of town, Lillie was with her godparents and basically, I had no one at the finish line. But I didn’t care. I had done it and no one could take that away from me. I cried sporadically on the way home. And then when I walked in the house, I decided I wanted to record how I was feeling because I knew that the longer I waited the less emotional I would be. This feeling was something I wanted to remember.

Heads up, it’s a lot of rambling because I didn’t really give myself time to plan out what I was going to say.

Until we run again!

Training Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (Tamara) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 15:09:00 +0000

It's another Tuesday, so you know what that means!

Abbey & I don’t discriminate – we congratulate.

Grab the button up above & link-up down below to let us know what’s going on for your Training Tuesday (or any day really, linking up throughout the week is good too!)

My Training
3/19 – Nothing. I think I went to the grocery store during lunch? I don’t know.
3/20 – WHY GOD WHY workout with Moj. We did stairs again. I told her though that I wanted to take it easier since I had my half on Saturday. 55 minutes of stairs at our own pace, but we still got our sweat on. And my calves were still sore. Damn stairs.
3/21 – Rest.
3/22 – Moj puppy-dog eyed me into another workout. I told her I only wanted to do upper body because of the half. She said, “Suuuureee thing, friend!” Basically, my arms are STILL on fire from Friday. Generally when we workout we go down to the free weight area, but this time we did a lot of different machines where we would do 20 pushups or plank in between.
3/23 – BEARATHON! I have another post coming up (hopefully this afternoon) and I’ll update this to reflect that. Trust me, it deserves a post on its own. I PRed (Personal Record) on a course that had 5 miles of serious hills. I totally cried. And then I made a video. Yep, I vlogged that shit.
Edit: Bearathon Post!

3/24 – Bitch please. I just ran 13.1 miles I ain’t doing nothing.
3/25 – See 3/24.

For this week, I’m just taking it easy. My hips are still a little sore from the half and to be honest, up until this morning (when I weighed myself, ha!) I had no desire to workout. I’ll do my WHY GOD WHY with Moj tomorrow (stairs!) and Thursday she’s convinced me to join her as well.

And so now, here I am. Trainingless. I don’t have another race to commit too. I’ll keep up shorter distances and continue working on my speed per my New Year’s Resolutions. I can’t not run – 1. I enjoy the shit out the way it makes me feel. & 2. I promised my friend Sunny that I’d run her first 10k with her at some point in the next few months. But I won’t have a specific training plan to follow, so everything will probably just be willy-nilly all over the place.

Ha. Willy-Nilly.

I’m thinking for the month of April, I may focus on my willy-nillyness & doing Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred. Then in May, starting up the Insanity workouts. Insanity is intense, and the 30 Day Shred should be a good pre-cursor for that to prepare my body. By the time I’m finished with that, we should be closer to the fall where more races will definitely be happening. The closer it gets to May/June the less opportunities there are to sign up for a close race. Why? Because it’s Texas. And this shit is hot here.

Here’s to keeping up the motivation even though I’m trainingless (I have to tell you, it feels pretty awesome to not be tied down to a schedule finally!)

I just do.

noreply@blogger.com (Tamara) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 16:37:00 +0000

So. In less than 24 hours I’ll be running the Bearathon.

That’s the sign I saw for about a month every time I went into the gym. It was a nice reminder that I’ll soon be dead so I may as well give it my all. Why dead? Because look at it closely – go ahead, get your glasses on or just get all up and personal with your computer – it’s fine. No one is looking.

“Toughest Half in Texas”

Yep, it says that. And yep, I believe it. I mean, look at these hills? This is a serious situation I’ve gotten myself into. Why didn’t anyone try and talk me out of it? What friends you are. Sheesh.

But on the serious, this race specifically has been the one I’ve been working towards this entire past year. It was always sitting in the corner of my mind, staring at me, reminding me, of something I said in passing.

You see, last year, I ran the 5k portion of it and as I finished it 9 minutes faster than my 5k time in January – it hit me. I like running. Total weirdness. After the race, I spent the day with My Emilie where we decided to stop by the Farmer’s Market which happens to be located near the end of the Half-Marathon course. So, we had to wait for people to run/walk/puke by before we could park.

I remember saying, “I don’t care how much I like to run, there’s no way I’d ever run for 13 miles.”

And we both laughed hysterically at the idea of running that far while agreeing that was pretty much for the crazies in the world.

And much like my food post the other day where I mentioned how I explicitly remembered calling someone fat – I remember saying that like it was just 10 minutes ago. I remember me feeling that was true. I would never call myself a half-marathoner. I wasn’t capable of that.

And here I sit. Typing to you. Getting ready to run my third.

Getting ready to run the one that started it all.

I am more nervous than I have ever been before a race. It feels so surreal to think that I’ve been running for a year. A YEAR. And that I want to run for many more. When did I become such a motivated person? I’ve always just coasted through life, doing what I had to do to get by, so this. THIS. This just shows me that I should never close the door on something because I don’t think I’m capable.

When people ask me how I do it, how I run for 3 continuous hours, you know what I say?

I just do.

And it’s true. I just keep ~~swimming~~, err running. (Nemo FTW!)

More often than not while running I’m fighting a constant battle within my head,

“Do I keep going? Do I stop? Why would I stop? I’ve already gone this far. Because this is stupid. It’s your legs. Just stop if they hurt. Sheesh. But they don’t hurt that bad, do they? I could go another 3 minutes. Yeah, that’s it just another 3 minutes.”

And tomorrow, I’ll be fighting again as I lace up my shoes, wipe the sweat from my brow, hit play on my iPod, and just do.

Random Thursday: Hidden Talents

noreply@blogger.com (Tamara) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 18:58:00 +0000

I feel like I need to apologize for a few things before you watch the video below.

1. The lighting is pretty shitty. I did what I could (9pm at night) with what I had (bathroom lighting).

2. I used my phone by holding it in front of my face. It gets kind of shaky. Please don’t throw up.

3. The very beginning is really quiet/muffled, ~~I think~~ it’s because I had my fingers over the microphone when I was talking. But the only thing you really miss is me introducing myself (Hi. I’m Tamara. I have a blog. Yay!) and that I’m linking up with Em, Lin & Meg for Random Thursday.

So, yeah, sorry about all that.

But at least you can lose 3 minutes of your life listening to me talk (since my “hidden talent” only takes about 10 seconds). How can that be bad, right?

And, I didn’t get Lillie in on it like I suggested at the end of the video. I was too busy feeling fancy this morning because we had to dress up for work (usually I’m in jeans and shirt). After eating really well these past couple of weeks, I can tell a difference in how this dress fits me from this time last year. I ain’t mad at it, but after taking about 30 pictures in my horrible bathroom, with sheisty ass lighting and a toddler running amuck I’ve realized I will never, not ever, be a fashion blogger.

Ain’t nobody got time fo’ dat.

Just give it away…

noreply@blogger.com (Tamara) — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:16:00 +0000

One of my favorites, Meaghan, is hosting a spectacular giveaway with not one, but two winners! I would so be all over this if I wasn’t helping her give it all away already by donating an Easter basket full of goodies. Don’t pretend you’re better than an Easter basket. You know you loved the shit out of those growing up.

Anyway, there are a lot of great things you can win (below). I know sometimes it sucks entering these giveaways with so many people hosting that you have to follow everyone. But everyone who is contributing is pretty awesome, so it’s worth it.

Also, I have every intention of customizing this “basket” based on the winner (as long as you have a blog I can stalk, or a facebook, or a twitter…) so you never know what you’re going to get. You.never.know.

Below is Meg’s post from her blog, You’re Meaghan Me Crazy, so sign up! Only 4 days left!

I am so excited to announce my first ever giveaway! If you follow me on twitter or instagram you might have noticed me ~~desperately~~ asking for people to contribute to a group giveaway in celebration of my birthday next week!

I got some pretty amazing and beautiful people to help give you awesome people some kick ass prizes!

too many nouns?

click on a beautiful face to see their blog.

and because I like to share the love we will be having two winners.

1^st Place

$20 sephora gift card from linny’s vault

easter basket full of goodies from lehmann laughter

$20 etsy gift card for jonikay52

$15 amazon gift card from maurer power

$15 starbucks gift card from you’re meaghan me crazy

2 months of gold ad space on daffodils and lace

1 month of loved ad space from you’re meaghan me crazy

5 redbox rental codes from busy as a honey bee

$115.50 value

2^nd Place

$20 target gift card from sweet home amy

$20 elf gift card from you’re meaghan me crazy

$10 amazon gift card form maurer power

$10 starbucks gift card from you’re meaghan me crazy

1 months of gold ad space on daffodils and lace

1 month of liked ad space from you’re meaghan me crazy

3 redbox rental codes from busy as a honey bee

1 month of letter ad space on jo my gosh

$59.50 value

good luck!

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Training Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (Tamara) — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 16:16:00 +0000

And even if you’re not training for anything, you’re just putting yourself out there to be healthier, to get slimmer, to whatever you can share it on Training Tuesday. Let’s say you were sitting at home and instead of eating a carton of Oreos you instead ate 20 baby carrots and just imagined they were chocolate-y crèmey goodness [hypothetical situation, of course] – share it here!

Abbey & I don’t discriminate – we congratulate.

Grab the button up above & link-up down below to let us know what’s going on for your Training Tuesday (or any day really, linking up throughout the week is good too!)

My Training

3/12 – It was Spring Break on campus, so I took the day off to enjoy with Lillie (we did come into work for a bit to visit); I thought I might work out during her afternoon nap but I chose to clean instead. Sometimes I’d rather be clean than fit. Truth.
3/13 – Lunch with Jenna – where I made awesome healthy food choices but no working out.
3/14 – I don’t remember why I didn’t work out, but I didn’t. So, I had 3 rest days.
3/15 – My mind was not feeling any type of workout but because I knew I wasn’t going to do anything this weekend (not because I was too busy, just because I didn’t want too. Yes, ~~sometimes~~ I’m lazy.) so I forced myself to head to the gym. I did some hill training for 2 miles on the dreadmill.
3/16 – 3/17 – I drank too much (no kid, yay! #saidwithloveipromise) All my awesome hard work of eating well throughout the week, totally gone with a 6 pack of Bud Light. I did have a great time bowling & catching up with friends though, so it wasn’t a total loss.
3/18 – 2.25 miles on the dreadmill.

I’m keeping this week “light” because Saturday is the Bearathon. I woke up yesterday morning incredibly nervous. Like more nervous than I was with my first half. I want to think it’s because this is so close to home (only 30 minute drive) and I’m familiar with the turf, but in reality – I think I’m so nervous because I’ve been working towards this half-marathon since last year when I competed in the 5k portion of this race. Which means, not only have I been officially running for a year but I’ve also been enjoying it. I have a lot more to say on this topic, in fact, typing out this little bit is a little emotional for me already, so more on this in a future post.

Wow. Did I just get emotional about running? #whoami

In other topics, I talked yesterday about my relationship with food. Basically, it’s delicious & I have no self-control. Oops. But I’ve been making an honest effort, not just one where I pretend to do good 40% of the time & whine about nothing working, these past three weeks using My Fitness Pal (tracking everything I eat) and eating better per my goals for Abbey’s Forever Fitness Challenge.

After the Bearathon, I don’t really have anything on my race schedule. So, if you’re nearby and want a running buddy (pick me! pick me!), or you’re faraway and want/need an online supporter – let me know. #motivationstation

I love to cheer people on. It’s like my crack.

Haha, I said crack.