The BEST thing that’s ever happened because of this lil running blog

Hello! How are you? Are you going to go hard for NYE or keeping it chill? I can’t decide what to do. Before I start thinking about my New Year’s Resolutions and goals for next year I want to share the BEST and WORST posts / runs / eats / fails / recipes / PR / travels / fun / tears and more from 2016. When I began putting together this post I didn’t really think I did a lot this year. I guess that’s why it’s good to stop and think about what we’ve accomplished. It turns out I had a lot I wanted to highlight and share. It’s a long one… hope you have  snack and a beverage!

This year I ran in San Jose, Napa, Israel, Florida, was mentioned on Oprah.com, spoke on a panel about Instagram  at Shiftcon in New Orleans and continued to grow RER into a great community, resource, blog and business. I’m proud of that.

I also had some moments I’m not necessarily proud of, but still want to note for the memories…

I drank an entire bottle of wine for the first time.

I peed on my cat.

I got attacked by a frog!

I shared my struggles with life, love and health:

Running with Hypothyroidism

HPV Doesn’t Stand For Hungry Person Virus

 

 

I did a whole week on Runner Safety and hope it helps keep you safer out there.

 

I created some delicious recipes:

Baked Goat Cheese Balls

Fondue at Home

Easy Black Bean Burger Recipe

 

I ran half marathons and full marathons and a 10K with my mom!

Here are all my Race Recaps and Results from this year:

Southern California Half Marathon

Surf City Half Marathon Recap

LA Marathon Recap

Phoenix Marathon Recap

Run Disney Tinkerbell 10K Race Recap

Tinkerbell Half Marathon Recap

Laguna Hills Half Marathon Recap 

Suncadia Half Marathon Recap

Long Beach Marathon Results

Rock N Roll Los Angeles Half Marathon

Revel Canyon City Half Marathon PR results <- I got a surprise PR in there too!

 

I shared a lot of running tips, tricks and advice. I love your questions about all things running, racing and training so please keep ‘em coming.

Running Tips:

Best Advice if You’re Anxious or Scared to Run

VLOG – How To Get Back Into Running After Time Off

 

The BEST thing that’s ever happened because of this lil running blog

When I started to think about this round up post I immediately knew what was my BEST moment of the year. Actually, it’s not just the BEST thing I did this year, but I think it might be my favorite opportunity to come out of Run Eat Repeat ever.

I am proud of myself for accepting the opportunity. I am proud of myself for growing RER into something that would put me on such a list.

The best thing I did this year was go to Israel and run the Jerusalem Marathon. It was the most amazing, special, intimidating, emotional and powerful trip I’ve ever taken. Actually going and seeing and touching the places Jesus walked was unlike anything else I’ve ever done.

 

Why I Came to Jerusalem

My First Falafel and Cat in Jerusalem

What I Ate in Jerusalem

Runners Without Borders

Jerusalem Marathon Recap

Floating in the Dead Sea

The race was VERY hilly and challenging. Traveling alone to a county I didn’t really know anything about on a press trip was a little scary. I didn’t feel super ready to tackle such a challenging marathon, but I really wanted to run the full if I was going all the way to Israel and I wanted to make that trip, that race and the entire experience last as long as possible and just soak in every minute. I’m so grateful I got to do that and it’s definitely the most awesome opportunity that’s come my way thanks to this lil ol’ running blog I started to document dieting and running my first marathon.

I never thought it would have grown into the business it is today. I realize I’m very very lucky to be able to write a blog and share my life, running, eating and randomness with you everyday. Every single day I appreciate you for reading and following along. Whenever I get an email, message or comment from a reader I’m happy to help where I can. Whenever I get contacted by a company with a new sponsorship opportunity I am grateful.

Thank YOU for reading this year! I hope you’ll follow along next year too! I have a really exciting Run Challenge coming up in January that will get you on track to be a faster, stronger, better runner in 21 days. Happy Running!

Question: What is the BEST thing you did or saw or heard or made this year?

The post The BEST thing that’s ever happened because of this lil running blog appeared first on Run Eat Repeat.

source http://runeatrepeat.com/2016/12/30/the-best-thing-thats-ever-happened-because-of-this-lil-running-blog/

Runner Nuts? Is this a food or what?

Hi! How are you? Ready to ring in the New Year? Ready to sleep in the new year?? Other??? I had some MAJOR fails this year. Actually, I had some major fails within the last 24 hours! Let’s just get all the fails out of the way so we can talk about wins.

First. Last night I was watching TV at my parents’ while working on my laptop. I got up to get a snack (obviously) and set my lapper down on the remote. Then, I came back to this:

Hmmm… What is… oh no. I was about to order a porno at my parents’ house?!?!?!!! WTH.

I ran around the room screaming dramatically because I thought it was funny and was now hyped up from my previously mentioned snack.

Then, just as I got into bed the fire alarm started to go off. It was so loud and scared the crap out of me since I was just about to drift off into sleep and wasn’t in my own bed at home and had taken some NightQuil.

Since I was in charge I got up on a chair and pressed the button to stop it.

But then it happened again. And Matt said this happened before and it kept going off and they couldn’t stop it. So last time they put it in the exercise room under a ton of blankets. Well, that wouldn’t work for me because I’m a light sleeper. So I figured we should just pop the battery out.

But the thing would not come apart! We tried twisting and turning and prying it open but NOPE. We bent a butter knife trying to get it open.

And after several hours* of fighting with this ear drum destroyer I told Matt we should just break it. And even that was a challenge!! (*Okay, maybe not hours but at least 4 minutes.)

Finally we broke it open enough to push the battery out of the way.

But instead of thanking me for saving her kid from permanent hearing loss my mom informed me that the fire alarm was supposed to be one of those ones guaranteed for 10 years and it was barely 1 year old. Whelp. Now you tell me.

Luckily, fire alarms are on sale at Costco. You should get one too. Maybe this whole debacle happened just so I can remind you to check your fire alarm. See Mom? Don’t be mad. It’s for a good cause.

But I did get punished in the form of Vegas barfing on the bed while I was gone. What a jerk.

In food news… I made a massive epic ridiculous salad for a late lunch.

And then I went to the grocery store where I perused the nut butter options. I don’t need any PB or almond butter or magic beanstalk butter… but I like seeing what’s new. And I spotted this PB from Australia that’s made with RUNNER NUTS.

What are runner nuts? Should I be eating them before I run? After I run? Do they make you a better runner?

Before we talk about running goals for 2017…. have you thought about your WINS for 2016? What did you accomplish? What can you learn from the year? We’ll talk about the highlights next time!

Don’t forget to check your fire alarm! Because if you have a fire at your house and my mom finds out she’s going to say that me breaking her alarm was pointless and then I’m going to be grounded or something. Thanks.

Question: Are you as obsessed with Costco as I am?

Should I try Runner Nuts? Have you tried them?

The post Runner Nuts? Is this a food or what? appeared first on Run Eat Repeat.

source http://runeatrepeat.com/2016/12/30/runner-nuts-is-this-a-food-or-what/

Does My Guardian Angel Have Red Hair?

Hi! How are you? I’m good but still sick so my new super fast running playlist has not been put into good use. Boo. I was really excited about it!

I randomly put together these songs the other morning and I’m excited that it’s going to be the best running playlist for some fast miles for the second half of a 10 mile run. I’ll let you know if I ever recover from this rare strain of Dengue Fever that has taken over my body and actually use this music.

So, I didn’t run fast this morning.

And I didn’t run far.

But I did run into a beautiful view!

Welcome to Pico Rivera. No one ever knows where it is unless they’re from one of the bordering cities.

After my short run I came home and made Matt and myself a healthy breakfast. We have to balance out all that Christmas candy!

I spent the day hanging out with the dogs, checking email, sneezing, procrastinating, being loud and other usual shenanigans.

I finally decided to go out and get some DayQuil. (I make the executive decision to not take the medicine that expired in 2011 I found in the cabinet here.)

I saw this and thought “GENIUS!! Using that little plastic cup over and over – by a sick person – is not a good idea!”

I thought it was individual shots of the actual liquid DayQuil medicine. Nope. It’s a DayQuil or NightQuil drink you brew in the Keurig. I think think my idea is better.

I walked by the Christmas clearance section and saw some angels on sale. I think these are what the statue makers believe Mexican angels to look like. That got me thinking… I wonder if my guardian angel has red hair?

I filled up on vitamins in the form of blueberries.

And anti-oxidants in the form of chocolate. (Bailey photo-bomb!)

Matt and I are trying to keep things balanced and had a healthy lunch.

I’ve also been keeping up on my hydration. I drink a gallon a day in the form of: straight up, tea, coffee, Spark, sparkling water, my massive water bottle…

Bailey and Clyde say “Ruff”. That’s “hi” in dog talk.

Question: Do you have a fast running playlist? What songs are on it?

Do you think individual shot cups of DayQuil are a good idea?

The post Does My Guardian Angel Have Red Hair? appeared first on Run Eat Repeat.

source http://runeatrepeat.com/2016/12/28/does-my-guardian-angel-have-red-hair/

The Super Short Version of How I Started Running

Hello! How’s it going? I’m staying at my parents’ again tonight. They’re partying it up in Las Vegas because I’m sick and they are cool and I’m in charge of the dogs and my lil brother and drinking all the eggnog before they get back.

Since I’m closer to Long Beach than usual I decided to drive there to run along the beach path this morning. Long Beach is my favorite place to run! And the city did a bunch of work to the path so it now has a separate section for pedestrians/runners and the original section is for bikers/roller-bladers.

The Long Beach bike path is the first place I ever ran outside. Yes. The very first place I actually scraped up the courage to awkwardly jog in public.

Before that I had been walking to get exercise and lose weight with Cindy. But she decided instead of exercising with me she preferred hooking up with boys and ditched me. So, I walked on my Grams’ treadmill while contemplating life. After a few months I got bored and started to play with the speed and incline of the treadmill. I eventually started to run!!

Since I was becoming addicted and using it every day I got my own lil treadmill and worked up to an hour of jogging/running/rogging at a time.

One day a co-worker mentioned we should do a race and I thought, “Shlt I’m going to have to run outside and I’ve never actually done that before!!” So I drove myself out to Long Beach and ran on the bike path to see if I could actually run a few miles outside in the real world.

The rest is RunEatRepeat history.

This morning I grabbed my dad’s new Rams travel mug filled with coffee and drove out to the LBC. It was cool and a little windy, but super clear and gorgeous.

The part of the bike path I run in Long Beach is about 9 miles round trip. I go from Ocean near 2nd street to the Queen Mary.

So gorgeous. Check out the mountains in the background! California love.

The Queen Mary! Oh, and that round building you go into for booze cruises to Ensenada.

And I made a friend! I wanted to take him home because he really wanted love and I was worried that he wanted food too. I’m pretty sure there is someone who comes around and feeds all the kitties in Long Beach. I used to see a lady on a bike do it all the time. He didn’t look sick or anything, but I felt bad. He might be Toby’s brother!

I’m eating the usual big salads, grapes, yogurt and hummus (not all in one bowl) for lunch over here.

And I found this new-to-me tea I’m super excited about – Dirty Chai by Celestial Seasonings!

I visited their headquarters a long time ago and I remember they said they were working on this recipe! It’s really good and I drank 3 mugs of it with stevia and creamer.

Someone on Instagram asked if it was concentrate or tea bags. It’s tea bags, just like their usual teas. But they do suggest you make it with 3/4 cup water and 1/4 cup milk. Or maybe 50/50 milk/water!

Bonus: I stopped by the Christmas super sale stuff at the grocery store and this travel mug was 50% off because I guess it’s considered a holiday item? Boom!

Question: Where is your favorite place to run? Do you remember the first time you ever ran outside?

The post The Super Short Version of How I Started Running appeared first on Run Eat Repeat.

source http://runeatrepeat.com/2016/12/27/the-super-short-version-of-how-i-started-running/

A List of Things That Are Sick

You know what’s sick?

Everything, me included.

Not in a good way. I am sick! Boo.

How am I sick??!

When I feel like I’m getting sick I can usually fight it off by taking massive amounts of Vitamin C and getting extra sleep. Does the trick 89% of the time! But with Christmas Eve and Christmas festivities and being busy and maybe a little frazzled… it got me. I’m sick.

I have been waking up with a super dry throat so I used my aroma therapy machine thing to help keep the air moist overnight. I filled it up with eucalyptus essential oils too. But I don’t think this tiny lil thing is strong enough to blast me full of moisture.

I love that it’s so pretty and changes colors too. It’s like a little night light spitting koala breath at me.

This is the same one but for some reason it’s in a 2 pack. I move mine around to whatever room I’m in, yes that is kinda inconvenient but not impossible.

 

I still got up to run this morning because:

A.) I like it.

B.) I follow the “If it’s in your chest, you must rest” rule of whether or not you should run while sick. And it’s not in my chest.

C.) If I get off my routine I feel weird and start questioning my entire life.

Anyway.

I actually had a really good run. It felt good to get fresh air and running makes my nose run, which was actually pleasant. And maybe gross / TMI?

When I got back home I did some BeachBody On Demand strength work courtesy of 21 Day Fix while watching Ladies of London.

Side note: How do all these fancy reality TV girls drink so much and stay so skinny?

Then, I let the sickness overtake me and wrote my last will and testament.

Not really. I have a ton to do right now!!

So I loaded up on Ricola drops, Vitamin C, Spark, apples (just because I have a lot of them) and got to work.

I also scored a kombucha on Manager’s Special and I’m hoping it helps give me secret bacteria powers that fight off whatever germs are hanging out in my body.

Also sick: I gave Ben a kombucha a few weeks ago when his stomach was feeling off and it didn’t help at all and then his neck started to hurt. He said he had meningitis that can be traced back to the particular strain of bacteria in the kombucha. Ha!

Also sick: My phone and/or auto correct.

I text my brother earlier and for some reason my phone suggested the full on F word twice.

This afternoon I headed to my parents’ house for the night. They went out of town and needed someone to hang out with my little brother.

The dogs were happy to have someone different to bug.

Or, maybe I’m the one that bugs them??

I snacked on a Quest Bar when I got here for ‘dessert’. I am maybe considering kinda sorta cutting back on the Christmas treats now. Except eggnog because that’s going to go bad and really is only here for a limited time.

Reminder: Cut up your Quest Bar in 3 or 4 pieces. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. If you eat them while still warm it’s like a cookie. Enjoy!

And finally…

Also sick: My laptop.

When I got here and tried to work the internet would NOT connect at all. I tried everything. And I use the wifi here all the time.

I also tried a hotspot on my phone. I restarted. I cried. I cussed. I restarted again. I disconnected and reconnected. Nope.

And that’s why this post is super late. Because my laptop and my body and my phone are all sick. The end.

Question: Are you making sure to get enough sleep and vitamins right now? What do you do to prevent getting sick or get over it fast?

The post A List of Things That Are Sick appeared first on Run Eat Repeat.

source http://runeatrepeat.com/2016/12/27/a-list-of-things-that-are-sick/