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Carolina on My Mind

Greetings from the friendly Delta skies! I can’t believe that I’m already flying again after only returning from Los Angeles four days ago! Between September and October I’ll log 16 legs of flights on Delta!

I slept like a rock last night and had zero desire to wake up when the alarm went off. Knowing myself all too well, I hopped out of bed quickly as I knew I’d go back to sleep if I didn’t. I always fear snoozing through my alarm on a travel morning.

By 7:30, I was through security at LaGuardia chatting with a co-worker who was flying back home this morning. His flight was supposed to leave at 6:30 from my same gate but was delayed.  It was such a fun surprise to know someone in the terminal at this hour.

I spent the rest of the time catching up on the news and enjoying some quality time with an iced coffee and my Kindle.

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I normally prefer green tea but the airport’s coffee shop, which is adorable by the way, only had hot tea which had to steep. I didn’t want to deal with the hassle or possible mess of trying to steep the tea and then transfer it to ice.

The LaGuardia Delta terminal continues to amaze me throughout it’s renovation! There is now a coffee shop, pizza kitchen, burger joint, health and natural section, and a full hot bar featuring oatmeal and toppings during the morning hours!

A banana and small portion of oats only cost $4 which isn’t too bad considering it was in an airport!

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The simple addition of a dash of brown sugar, cinnamon, and yellow raisins gave a boring cup of oats a complete makeover! I need to remember how far a small portion of brown sugar goes in providing an oatmeal flavor update!

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My plane down to Charleston is a long and lean jet, only featuring 96 seats and no room for luggage on board with the passengers. Luckily I snagged a window seat by myself which means there is plenty of room for reading, sleeping, and curling up with my huge pashmina.

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See you in a few days New York coastline!  I’m ready to see some warm, South Carolina marsh and coastline!

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The Weekend Comes Early: Thirsty Thursday

Happy Thursday! I don’t know about y’all but I’m ready for the weekend. Luckily, my weekend just started! I’m heading down to Charleston tomorrow to spend a long weekend with my some of my college roommates and sorority sisters down on Edisto Island, South Carolina. Unfortunately, Bo can’t make the trip down with me due to work, but I’ll have the opportunity to spend time with the rest of the girls and their husbands celebrating babies, engagements, and memories!

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It’s been a year since I reunited with most of these girls and I’m so excited I could scream!

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I have a lot to do between now and tomorrow morning when I fly out, bright and early, including pack and get even more nervous about my 20 miler. My running coach only has 17 miles on my Saturday schedule but, I like to make my coach proud and I like to push myself. Therefore, I’ve made it a personal goal to conquer 20 miles on Saturday. I have awesome running friends down in Edisto with me who first motivated me to start running six years ago. I figure that the fun discussions we’ll have, ocean breeze, flat streets, and new scenery will make it more bearable too! Now if I can just remember to apply sunscreen to my calves so I don’t have a horrible calf sleeve tan line come Sunday.

Before my vacation started, I had a jam packed day trying to squeeze in everything I needed to finish before putting up my out of office message.

Lauren and I met for our Thursday training session which has now become the arms and abs killing session. Each Thursday we barely touch my legs due to my marathon training but instead focus the whole session on my biggest trouble areas. The hard work is finally starting to show as we’ve been able to decrease the weight used in the pull up assist each week and increase the weight and repetitions we’re using in other combination exercises.

I also enjoyed some delicious meals today which kept my snacking at bay.

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Breakfast was quick and messy, a crunchy cinnamon oats paired with a trenta Starbucks unsweetened iced green tea.

Per Lauren’s suggestion, I substituted my Soy Chip and Baked Lays obsession with a whole grain roll during lunch along side a beet heavy salad.

IMG_4652 (640x478) IMG_4651 (640x478) During the day, I tried to stay hydrated by drinking more water. My body still feels a bit off after last week’s travel and my heavy sodium meals haven’t helped. I’m in love with the new Crystal Light that I was sent to sample.

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When I first started losing weight, I was a Crystal Light addict, often going through multiple packs a day. But, then the artificial sweetener headaches and cravings came and I cut it out almost cold turkey. I was hesitant when Crystal Light contacted me but with the word pure in the name, I figured I’d give it a try.

Crystal Light Pure contains no artificial sweeteners, flavors or preservatives. Instead, it is sweetened with sugar and TruviaTM, an all-natural, no-calorie sweetener derived from the stevia plant. This also means that while it isn’t calorie free like the traditional Crystal Light, you can have the delicious AND natural flavor for only 15 calories per serving.

I highly recommend this product if you’re not a fan of plain water or are trying to wean yourself off sodas. This little packet of flavor turned today into Thirsty Thursday, helping me drink over 100 ounces of water from 8am-7pm when I left the office!

Last but not least, before I go pack, I want to thank each of you all for reading each day. When I started my blog, over a year and a half ago, it was a place for me to track my marathon training and a way to keep in touch with my family. Now, it has evolved into my favorite hobby and provided me with amazing opportunities, friends, and memories. I was honored and so humbled by Fitness Magazine’s shout out today on their FitStop blog. I also have to give Caitlin mad props for that wonderful picture they featured!

image Question: What is one thing you’re trying to cut out of your daily routine? Mine is my lunch time diet soda. I grew up in Georgia and was born with a Diet Coke in my hand. 🙂 Therefore, it’s a difficult habit to cut but I’m trying to at least cut back on the habit.

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Marathons+Moderation Guest Post #17

Hi everyone! I’m Kali and I blog over at finishing firsts. I write about running, marathon training and living in Cleveland, Ohio. I am a certified personal trainer and have been a runner for two and a half years and started road racing two years ago. I’m really excited to be a part of Ashley’s Marathons+Moderation series!

I ran my first (and so far only) marathon in Columbus last October. After 18 weeks of training, I crossed the finish line in 4:30:31.

One of the first things I said to my friend and my dad at the finish was, “oh my God, I sucked.” I struggled through miles 15-26 and finished a half hour after my goal.

While I was training for the race, my whole life was about the marathon. I changed around my work availability, never hung out with my friends, didn’t drink a drop of alcohol, watched everything I ate and basically just didn’t have any fun while I was training.

I was completely miserable.

I had no idea what the words moderation and balance meant. My life was all about running and the disappointment in my performance definitely affected other areas of my life, like work and my then-relationship.

I immediately signed up for a second marathon in the spring, in Cleveland. My disappointment and lack of desire to train that I picked up after Columbus plus the crappy winter weather made marathon training the second time around even more miserable than the first. Six weeks before the race, I dropped down and ran the half marathon again.

About a month before the half, I realized something: running is supposed to be fun. It’s not my job, I don’t get paid to do it and my life is about so much more than the time on the clock or the pace on my watch. I’m a runner, but I’m also a personal trainer, friend, girlfriend, daughter, sister, etc. Why was I taking it so seriously?

In the following weeks, I learned to just let it go and start having fun. And it definitely showed. I ran one half marathon in Columbus the weekend before Cleveland in May and though I didn’t PR either race, I did run two of the best and most consistent half marathons of my career.

And when I started training for the upcoming Chicago marathon in July, I kept that same “it’s just running” attitude and so far, it’s definitely paid off. I’ve given myself time to hang out with my friends, not miss out on social events and even enjoyed some fall beers and desserts 🙂 I’ve enjoyed all of my long runs, been extremely consistent and I’m feeling very confident in myself and my abilities going into this race. I’ve even made a great group of running friends.

I’m not sure what October 9 is going to hold for me, but I can guarantee one thing: I’m going to have a good day running 26.2 in Chicago. As long as I’m having fun and doing my thing, I won’t be disappointed. 

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