Author: mrsartis

Think it might be about time to invest in some Kettleguards. Big ass bruise on left arm from cleans this week. *shrugs*

So here were the big goals for the year, and how things are going so far.

• Finish the Baker 50 Mile Challenge (round 1): This race isn’t until August, but training has started and my runs are progressing quite nicely. 
• Get my body fat down to 23% or less: Lost 3% this month!
• To rock a bikini this summer: excited for progress pics tomorrow. I can already see some slight differences. Pleased with my progress. 🙂
• Ease up on myself: Always a struggle, but I’ve had some really good days and breakthroughs lately. 🙂
• Medical, dental, and gyno appointments: Gyno appt on Monday. 1/3 of the way there.
• Become a Marathon Maniac: race season needs to start first. And the races I’m looking at to qualify are later this season. And so I train…
• Pay off 2 credit cards: meh. Winter gas bills are killing me. Fortunately I only have two more months of wicked utilities.  
• Log 1000 miles: 34 down, 966 to go!
• 5 “boy” pushups: Did a 30 day push up challenge. And recently started doing them on my toes. Always. I don’t get very deep, but in Tony Horton logic, if my elbows crack it counts. I won’t get better if I don’t work at it, right?
• Blog at least once a week: I think I’ve done this. If not perfectly, I’ve been pretty close. 🙂

I am in love. With my boyfriend. With life. And, for the first time ever, with myself. <3

I feel pretty amazing today. I’ve been in a strange place with myself lately. I can see positive changes in my body but I’m still frustrated. I’m realizing how much I still need to let go of emotionally but am having a very hard time doing it.

My boyfriend has started doing P90X3 and loves it. We’re both really inspired by Tony Horton. And in watching some YouTube videos I’ve become enthrall end. He’s like Jillian Michaels Trainer Goddess level for me. And this morning has been awesome. I’ve started working on my “boy” push-ups. I’m wearing a shirt that I’ve always deemed “too snug” and a co-worker told me I little and skinny. I had an awesome cup (well 2 cups) of coffee. And it’s Heavy Wednesday at the gym.

I’m in a great mood. I hope it stays that way. 🙂

They are starting to happen. I’ve been frustrated lately. My boyfriend assures me that my hard work is paying off but I can’t see the progress yet. At least I couldn’t until this morning.

I looked at myself good and hard in the mirror, as I do every day, critiquing myself, and then I pulled up the pictures he took just two weeks ago. And I could see a little, tiny bit of difference. In my butt, in my waist, in my belly. Progress. I’m slowly but surely getting there.

I can’t wait for the next round of pics at the start of next month.

I’m starting to get callouses on my hands from kettlebell. I love it. It makes me feel badass.

Marathon/Race season training is in full swing. Paces and milage are coming along. Had boyfriend take progress photos on January 1. I’m planning to weigh/check body fat (I have a scale that does it…maybe not the most accurate thing, but better than nothing and cheaper than other methods) and have him takes pics on the first of every month so I can legitimately see progress and not get too hung up on numbers. 

I’ve been doing kettlebell classes once a week for the past month and I LOVE it. So much that I’m bumping up to twice a week starting now. I already notice a difference in my arms, and boyfriend notices that my ass is firmer (score!). That’s with one class a week for a month. I can’t wait to see with two classes a week. 

Woke up early, went to the bathroom and realized that while my landlord had taken care of the frozen pipes last night and things were functional, unfreezing them flooded my poor cat’s litter box. So he had nowhere to, um, go. Which was fine as he’d been sleeping in the bed with me all night, but now we were up (even though I’d had every intention of going back to bed) so he was going to want to eat and take his morning poo. I hurriedly got dressed, cleaned off/warmed up the car and headed to the grocery for emergency kitty litter (I was out and wasn’t going to go to the store til this afternoon…not an option). Poor guy couldn’t wait and I came home to poo on the floor. First time he’s ever gone outside the box. Not upset with him because it wasn’t his fault he couldn’t go in his box, I cleaned that up, cleaned up the box (which was AWFUL, still wet clay litter…ugh), got him set up again. Cleaned myself up, then made breakfast because f*ck all, I’m up now.

Had an interesting thought on the drive to and from the store though. I’ve been frustrated as of late because I’ve gained a little weight and my favorite jeans from last summer are tight. And it’s entirely possible that as my body fat drops they will fit again, but I also realized that if they don’t…I’m kind of okay with that. If they don’t fit, even if I have to go up a size because I have bangin’ ass then I’m cool with that. I’d rather have my ass. We shall see what happens. 

So 2013 ended pretty spectacularly. I didn’t meet all of the goals I’d set, but I did a hell of a lot more than I’d imagined when I started the year. I got promoted at work. I finished not one, but TWO full marathons. I started training (and fell in love with) kettlebells. And (most amazing to me) I met an incredible man and fell in love. 2014 is going to be an amazing year–new distances and training to conquer, a big move on the horizon (and very much in progress), and a remarkable person to share the journey with. Time for a new round of goals, and BIG ones:

• Finish the Baker 50 Mile Challenge (round 1): This is a three part trail race, you complete 50 miles of the 150 mile trail each year for three years. You get 14 hours to do the 50 miles, and it IS a trail–some of it is on roadways, but you HAVE to pay attention to blazes or you will get lost. It will not be easy for someone as directionally impaired as myself, but dammit I want to do it.
• Get my body fat down to 23% or less: This will put me in the the high fitness range and that would be awesome. Here’s hoping that getting to that point will get the boobs to shrink just a little. I also want to focus less on the scale in general–as I build muscle through training the scale might not accurately reflect the composition changes taking place. 
• To rock a bikini this summer: I don’t have to look “perfect” in it, but I want to be confident in it. I’m up a little from my lowest point, and have some work to do, but from the pics I had boyfriend take the other day, it’s a totally achievable goal. 
• Ease up on myself: I am WAAAAAAAAAY too hard on myself. And one thing that I’m getting through kettlebell training is that I feel invincible afterwards. I feel like a fucking machine. A goddess machine. And I am surrounded by amazing, strong beautiful women of all ages, stages and sizes. Being involved with them is helping me to overcome the insecurities that have been eating away at me forever. (And thus, why the bikini goal is truly about confidence more than anything else.)
• Medical, dental, and gyno appointments: Needs to happen. Always. Part of routine maintenance. 
• Become a Marathon Maniac: because, why not? I’m hoping to pull off the 2 in two weeks this fall after Baker. We’ll see how that works out for me.
• Pay off 2 credit cards: Given the promotion and raise, and the fact that I’ll soon be moving in with boy and my expenses will decrease overall, I think I can pull this off. I’m going to make my best effort to undo the idiocy of my 20s. 
• Log 1000 miles: I will probably log more, to be honest, but I finished 2013 with 672, so I think 1000 is a good goal to start with. 
• 5 “boy” pushups: enough with the “girl” pushups (I hate those terms, btw, but I hate the term “real” pushups more, as though doing pushups on my knees makes them “fake” or something). I want to be able to do at least 5 solid on my toes pushups by the end of the year. 
• Blog at least once a week: I’m really bad at keeping up with this, and I want to be better. So I’m shooting for a real, honest to goodness post (not just reblogs from my dash) at least once a week. 

My 2014 race schedule has been updated on the Race Page, for those who are interested in such. 

Okay, onward and upward for more productivity. I have a long ass list of things to accomplish before my stay-cation is over. 🙂

Guessing at some dates, might add some others (or take a few out), but here’s the rough plan…

March Mad Dash – 3/8/14

Just A Short Run – 3/29/14

Pittsburgh Wild Bunch 13.1 – 4/19/14

Pittsburgh Marathon – 5/4/14

Dirty Girl Mud Run – 6/14/14

Hell Hath No Hurry 12 hour – 6/21/14

Ruckus – 7/12/14

Baker Trail 50 Miler – 8/24/14

Erie Marathon – 9/14/14

Akron Marathon – 9/27/14

RSC Great Race – 9/28/14

Pittsburgh Penguins 6.6k Run – 10/5/14

EQT Corp Pittsburgh 10 Miler – 11/2/14