Runners United to Remember

I am nowhere near running a marathon, heck I'm not even close to running a half marathon.  I can't imagine the amount of endurance, stamina and training diligence that goes into running a marathon.  It amazes me that people are able to do them. 

Yesterday's event really saddened me and as more stories about the victims come in, it tears my heart up to hear them.  I belong  to a bunch of online running clubs and the above picture was posted on several of them as a way for all of us runners to honor those affected by the bombings. 

Today, I will be wearing a running shirt and I will be running to honor those affected.  It is so unfortunate that these things are happening when no one would think they would.

My prayers, thoughts and love go out to everyone who ran, everyone who was there and everyone who knew someone there.  May God put His arms around you when you need it most.

The Face of Poverty

I had a conversation the other day with someone about the way people judge others.  It is going to happen, I know that it is a natural thing that occurs, it's never going to end.  However, I sometimes wonder what the result of judging could cause.

This particular conversation was about people online and in person judging those that are on public assistance.  I'm not just talking about food stamps but also state provided healthcare.  So many people assume that the people receiving these benefits are lazy, don't work, drug-addicted, horrible people.  Now, I understand that, yes, there are those that are all of these things and they take advantage of the system.  They do not represent the entire population of those utilizing public assistance. 

The Monkey Do Project posted this picture and it really got me thinking about how much people do really judge.

 

 

There are people out there that still believe that those living in poverty are dirty, don't have name brand clothing or shoes, missing teeth, etc. Think again.  Your neighbor could be living in poverty.  Your sister, cousin or uncle could be living in poverty.  Those living in poverty may still both be working, drive nice cars and live in your average cookie cutter home.  They are just getting by. They are struggling to make ends meet.  They are wondering which bill is more important to pay...the electric bill or the mortgage. 

 

They may be carrying a Coach bag and wearing Nike shoes or wearing pretty dresses or name brand jeans.  They may be using these things that they were able to buy when they had money, before he or she lost her job, before their cost of health insurance went through the roof and their income drastically changed. 

 

They may be wearing these things or portraying this image because they don't want you to know that they just don't make enough money to pay the bills and put food on the table to feed their kids.  They may be doing this so that they aren't judged by everyone who sees them pull out that food stamps card. 

 

There is such a horrible stigma that comes with being on public assistance and I can imagine that thousands of people, familes, are struggling to just scrape by because they fear what others will think of them.  They will live with no gas for heat, the bare minimum of food to keep just full enough to live and pray for a miracle to save them.  All of this because others will judge them. 

 

Sadly, we live in the times of judgement by our peers, living beyond our means to keep up with the Jones' and looking down upon those that don't have what we do. 

 

The face of poverty is me, you and everyone else out there.  We just don't always see it because we are hidden behind the mask of self-righteousness. 

 

I encourage and challenge everyone to lift up those that need it, to donate when you can and to volunteer in an environment that serves those less fortunate. 

 

I got involved with The Monkey Do Project because they are doing just that.  They are trying to improve lives, keep food in children's bellies and keep families warm at night.

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 





Get Blogging Advice and Information with The Blog Workshop!

 

Whether you are new to blogging or have been in the blogging world for many years, the technology, social scene and atmosphere is forever changing.  If you are looking to get more out of your blog but don't always know how or what to do, this conference is for you! If  you would like advice on how to build your presence, how to market your blog or how to integrate social media into your blog, this conference is for you!

If you want to attend a blogging conference but can't afford those expensive travel arrangements, this is definitely for you!  The Blog Workshop is a blogging conference that you can attend in the comfort of your own home!  The registration fee for this conference and workshop is inexpensive and very much worth it to help you take your blog to the next level. 

**For being one of my lovely readers, you can save $25 off of the registration price through April 26th using the code:TBW25HURRY **



The agenda is packed full with much to learn with speakers from IZEA, Blog-Trends, Attorney Jeneba Ghatt, Blogads, Sverve CEO Rohit Vashisht and more. The conference is also going to have prizes to giveaway such as video blogging equipment, LLC packages from LegalZoom and more!

Here is the speaker line up:

You can watch this video all about The Blog Workshop on YouTube!
http://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLZ7auxZmD_1i3qXriwA2UHdXwEO_yVOhv

Head on over to The Blog Workshop today and secure your spot in the conference and get that special $25 discounted rate!  Registration for this conference closes on May 10th.

If you have any questions or concerns about the conference, please feel free to visit the FAQ's page for all the answers to your questions.

Disclaimer: I was not paid for this posting, I am, however, receiving entrance to the conference in exchange for this post. I hope to see you attending so we can all grow our blogs!

What If.....

Are you always on the go?  Do you ever go out without ID?  For a lot of runners, bikers, hikers, etc. ID is not necessarily something that you take with you if you are out in your neighborhood or in the park or in the woods. 

I know that I do carry my ID with me when I am out doing these things.

That could be a huge mistake you are making. What if you fell and got hurt?  What if you were hit by a car or had a heart attack and were unresponsive?!  How would anyone who may find you, know who you are or how to contact someone for you?

There is a company that started because of those exact questions.  It is called Road ID.  The company carries bracelets, anklets and even shoelace IDs.  They have your important information and you can wear it in case anything happens to you.

If you notice, I have a button on the right side over there for Road ID, you can click on it and order your Road ID gear today and have the peace of mind that you can be identified and someone will be notified if something were to happen to you.

Disclaimer: I was not paid or compensated for this post.  I am an affiliate for RoadID and will receive commission from any sales that result from your orders going through my link. I am simply sharing the information with my readers.

UPDATED!! PRO COMPRESSION SOCKS REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY!!!

There are a ton of products out there that go along with running. There are belts, water bottles, tech shirts, shorts, special shoes and socks. I have looked over a ton of products to find out what I need, what I must get and what is recommended for runners. I mean, I'm not a professinal or anything but, I would love to have the products that will help me avoid injury, keep me safe and keep my going.

One of the products that I kept seeing are compression socks and sleeves. I didn't really know too much about them other than they are always earning the praises by athletes.

I read an online review of the ProCompression socks and the review was so positive, I wanted to try some for myself. The wonderful people at ProCompression were kind enough to send me a pair to wear and see if they were something I would enjoy and recommend to others. 

I opened the package and saw the pink:

I received the Marathon Pink Compression Sock!

I tried them out when I did my usual three mile run on the treadmill.  I could notice a different right away.  The sock literally hugs your calves and keeps it tight.  They are comfortable, supportive and look great ;)

For those that wonder what the purpose is of compression gear, here is some information from the ProCompression site:

Why PRO Compression Socks?

 

The benefit of wearing compression socks over 26.2 miles, 18 holes or 8 hours at work is the delay of muscular breakdown that comes from spending hours on your feet. PRO Compression works against gravity by helping your vascular system increase blood flow which relieves discomfort and assists in recovery. The minute you put them on, you’ll understand why PRO Compression socks are the World’s Best Athletic Performance Socks!

 

I found that wearing the socks after my run was really great because my calves were not sore or tired.  I am so thankful that ProCompression is so confident in their product that they gave me a pair to try.  I love my socks and they look and feel great. Here is a pic of me wearing my socks before a run:

Don't pay attention to the messy house, just the socks!

 I would definitely recommend compression socks for those of you looking for that extra support and to help ease discomfort after working out.  Compression socks are not just for runners, you can even wear them to your job, especially if you are on your feet all day.

Do you want to get a pair?  ProCompression is such a great company, that they are offering a great discount during the month of April!  They are giving a discount for the socks of the month and they are donating a portion of the sales to charities that support Team in Training and Train 4 Autism

April Sock of the Month products were selected based on colors used by these organizations. Enter coupon code SOMF4 for 40% off and free shipping for the purchase of all Purple and Blue items in our store, including Tour and Trainer Low socks! Click here to shop now.

Do you want to win a pair?! Yes, that is right, one of my lucky readers is going to win a pair of their very own ProCompression socks!! 

UPDATE: The winner of the giveaway is comment #47, Junebug!!  Congratulations, I will be in touch to get your shipping information!  A huge thank you to everyone that entered the giveaway!

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:
This giveaway is for one pair of ProCompression socks to be sent by the company at the closing of the giveaway.  The giveaway will end on April 20th, 2013 at 11:59pm EST.  Please follow the directions for your entries to be counted. A winner will be chosen using Random.org and will receive an email with the information needed to claim the prize.  If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen. 

Mandatory Entry:

Leave a comment here to tell me why you would love your own pair of ProCompression socks. 

Additional Entries:

1.  Become a Facebook fan of ProCompression here. Leave a comment telling me you did so.
2. Follow ProCompression on Twitter here.  Leave a comment telling me you did this.
3. Like my Rediscovering Me Facebook page here.  Leave a comment telling me you did this.
4. Tweet about this giveaway and come back to post a comment with the link to your tweet.

Good luck!!

Disclaimer:  I was sent a free pair of ProCompression socks in exchange for my honest review of the product.  I was not scripted nor compensated for my review. I really do love this product and recommend it to anyone!

 

 

 

Mamavation Monday: Losing Weight and Feeling Great!

 

 

Lately, I've been getting on the scale and really surprising myself.  I am shocked to see the numbers going down steadily.  I have obviously been making some good changes in order to see the weight come off and the measurements down to where I am so happy. 

 

I have been doing challenges since October and while I took a bit of time off here and there, I am trying to do better.  I said that I was in two challenges right now.  The Fitness Rebooted challenge is evolving and changing all the time and Kat has added bootcamp workouts to the challenge so I expect that I will see even more changes to my body as I progress through the challenge. 

 

Physically, I am feeling great.  I am seeing numbers that I haven't seen in a long time and that does so much for me emotionally and physically.  Suddenly, I am okay with wearing skinny jeans and showing a little more of my body.  I am not hiding behind big hoodies and loose shirts.  I am okay with wearing fitted shirts.  I find myself looking in the mirror and liking what I see more and more. 

 

I am encouraging everyone in my house to be more active.  My daughter is now into her track season and she even got first place in her heat of her event last week!  She shocked herself by doing that but she was so proud of herself and that acheivement is awesome!  My son is still doing his running club and as the results came in from the 5k we did last week, he found out he reached his personal goal time!  He was able to run the race in under 26 minutes which is what he got for the last two 5k's that he did.  He had a time of 25:51! 

 

 

Yesterday, the weather here was actually nice.  It was warm and sunny and we wanted to get everyone out of the house and doing something physical and healthy.  We decided to go to the local park and hike.  We brought one of the dogs with us, packed our water bottles and off we went!  Here are a few photos from our hike.  We did almost 8 miles!  It was fun, it was refreshing and it felt great to all be out there doing something together that required no money! 

 

The kids are climbing up the hill.

 

Walking along the creek that ran through the valley.

 

The view from the trail. It was narrow at this point, maybe a18 inches wide, with a steep drop off!

 

 

We are hoping to make this a new adventure for us.  We are thinking that every two or three weeks we will pick a different spot and go hiking.  It was really fun and the kids thought it was a great adventure! We are getting healthy and physical together!



Mamavation Monday: First IRL 5K, Challenges Updates and Pushing Forward

 

 

Saturday marked my first in real life 5k! Finally, we were able to get outside and run with thousands of other people in the Just a Short Run 5k.  I ran this one with my husband and 12 year old son.  It was cold outside but was due to warm up pretty quickly. I really debated on how to dress for this one because I was afraid of dressing too warm and overheating to potentially damper my timing. 

 

 I made a goal for myself to get it done in 36 minutes or less.  I didn't want to go over 36 minutes because I know that I can do it in under 30 minutes on the treadmill.  This 5k is sort of tricky as far as timing though because you have a timing chip on your shoe so it's accurate but there are so many people that you get a very slow start....like walking for a bit before you are able to start jogging. We ran most of it, I would say we walked less than .15 miles.  I could have run the entire time but my husband asked if we could walk twice.  He hasn't trained for the run and so literally, just got up and ran a 5k.

 

I used my watch to keep track of my time and was happy to see that I was pretty much on target to finish in less than 36 minutes.  We finished in 32:06 minutes.  We picked up speed at the end and we crossed the finish line together.  My son had a goal of 25 minutes and did it in 26. He was a bit disappointed but realized that it is still a great time! I can't wait to see the race photos, I will post those when I get them.

 

 

I am doing well in all the fitness challenges I am involved in.  I did not win the DietBet weight loss challenge that I was in.  I needed to lose 4% of my body weight and I was close.  I actually hit my goal 2 days after the bet closed!  I was not happy about the timing but was happy to reach that goal!

 

I am starting a new challenge today and for the month of April, it's called Run Your Ass Off!  It is a challenge to run at least 1 mile every single day of the month. If you miss a day, you have to run 3 miles, if you miss 2 consecutive days, you have to run 5 miles!  I can't wait to get started later this evening for my first mile.  I will probably do more than just one mile but it's a great way to spend this month! 

 

After doing the 5K and realizing that he isn't in his best shape, my husband asked me if I wanted to start working out together. Of course I do!  We can do weights together, treadmill, elliptical and the punching bag.  I am hoping to really tone my arms and continue to trim my midsection.  We are looking forward to spending that time together to get healthy.