2 weeks to go!

I only have 2 weeks left until the 9K! I only have 10 days left to do my fundraising, and I am only $40 away from my goal. I'm super sad because I haven't gotten any raffle entries in over 3 weeks. I could really use your help to rally & finish my fundraising, please check it out HERE!

Since I didn't pick a winner last week (computer issues), I have 2 winners this week...

Lesley @ Racing it Off!

and

Jess @ Running Between the Lines!

please email me with your choice of prize!

This weekend has been a busy one. I have been trying to work on my nutrition, but its been hard. Scorpian bowls, hibachi dinner, beers and hanging out with friends have gotten in my way. I need a better way to remind myself what I want. I decided to write down my goals and rewards (i'll post later), to try and keep me accountable. Most of the rewards are race entries, so I'll be pretty sad to not get them, which should help give me motivation. 

9 mile run today. really tough, I wanted to give up, but we plowed through. Then rewarded ourselves with Panera breakfast sandwiches. YUM.

Tonight we're having my mom & sister & Kevin's grandmother over for dinner. Healthy chicken on the grill with a peach & strawberry salsa, grilled squash, and angel food cake trifle for dessert. wish me luck on the cooking!

Be beautiful!

todays quote:

"Being the best that you can be? That's beautiful..." Tyra Banks

We all want to feel beautiful. Beautiful can come in many different ways. I personally love the idea that being the best you can be is beautiful. Imperfections are perfect, and working hard is beautiful. Every day we face challenges, and some days are better than others. The days where I feel as though I've done the best I can, is when I feel the most beautiful.


When are you the best you can be?


Today was a crazy day. No workout, but plenty of activity of a different sort. Shopping and cleaning! I headed out early to hit Costco and Dick's Sporting Goods. Easter supplies and a race top for next weekend. I was so mad to find no red tops in sight. Not a single one, only pinks, purples, and blue. So mad!! I ended up buying a pink one just in case, then searched online for a while, but nothing that I really liked, or was in my size. Pink it will be, I guess!


Then it was cleaning time! Scrubbed, swiffered, vacuumed, dusted. Did I mention that besides running 8-9 miles, going to church, and going to my dad's house for brunch, that I am cooking Easter dinner? I am making ham (even though I don't eat it), mashed potatoes, green beans, and other goodies for Kevin's family and my roomie. Yikes! I'm praying I don't mess it up, since I have no idea how to cook a ham!!


Food has not been a strong handle for me the past few days. Dinner out last night and tonight. I seriously need to start focusing, I can feel my waistline expanding. not good.


I didn't have a chance to post this weeks raffle winner yet...

Suzy @ Running on my Time!

email me your prize choice!

Have you donated yet??

I only have 2 weeks left to fundraise and I am over $200 away from my goal. I would really appreciate any help you can give. As incentive to donate for those of you who haven't yet, I will give anyone who donates this week an extra 3 entries into the raffle. Please help me out by visiting the raffle page HERE.

Those of you who have already donated, can earn an extra 3 entries by dedicating a post on their blog to my raffle fundraiser. Comment about it on this post once you do.

Thank you again to everyone who has donated & supported me. It really means a lot & I truly appreciate it!

Bedtime for an early run (go Bruins!)

Optimum Nutrition Review & Giveaway

Lately I've been trying to get more protein in my diet. I want to stay fuller longer, and help build strong muscles for all my upcoming races, and want to feel more energized throughout the day. I recently started making smoothies to bring to work. Usually a combo of spinach, fruit & yogurt, I really wanted to add a little protein punch. So I started searching for protein powders.

I found Optimum Nutrition, a company that had been established in 1986 by brothers. I liked the fact they have extrememly strict standards for the materials used in their whey proteins. I really didn't know too much about what Whey protein really did until I visited HERE, where some clever videos give you the history of Whey and why it works. easy to understand, love it. Also check out the amazingly large variety of flavors. I didn't know protein powder could even come in flavors besides chocolate and vanilla!

Tim over at Optimum Nutrition sent me over some samples to try out, and I couldn't believe the variety!

100% Whey Gold Standard

It has a high pure protein percentage, low in carbs, and tastes great!

I mixed all mine with skim milk, but you could mix them with water too.

Mocha Cappuccino - blended with milk & ice was like a frappe

Chocolate Mint - OMG YUM! Blended this would make another fabulous treat

White Chocolate - my third favorite flavor

Cake Batter- very tasty, i think will be a tasty addition to a fruit smoothie

Cookies & Cream- Not a big fan of this one. Had little cookie pieces in it, but the taste wasn't there for me.

Orange Cream- I'm not really a creamy orange person, so I skipped trying this one

100% Whey Crisp Bar

Double Rich Chocolate & Marshmallow treat

It has 26 crazy grams of protein! Great for pre-post workout or an afternoon snack swap.

Double chocolate- not a huge fan of the taste. I also felt like the size of the bar was HUGE! I think it could have been half the size. 

Marshmallow treat - Tasted pretty close to a rice crispy treat. little white chocolate chips on this one. yum.

Essential Amino Energy

Grape & Orange

Only 10 calories each, zero fat & sugar. It has free form amino acids and improves muscle recovery & energy & focus.

I'm not a grape person, so I tried the Orange instead, even though I'm not a big orange fan either. Taste was okay, but I'm hoping it powered me up after my long run today!

Pro Complex

60 grams of protein?? This one is a little higher in calories, and draws proteins from 8 different sources and has a great vitamin & mineral blend. Last one on my list to try...

Steel Bar

Conveniently packaged, only 3g of fat & 20g of protein. Yummy flavors like Chocolate crisp, Chocolate peanut butter, and Cookies & cream.

I tried Cookies and Cream, yum! Good texture & flavor. Definitely one I would eat again. I cut the bar in half though since I felt like the calories were a little high for a snack for me.

These products were sent to me free of charge in exchange for my honest opinion.

Want to win some Optimum Nutrition to try? I have a sampler prizepack for one of you!

Enjoy a bunch of flavors and products to try along with a shaker to mix it all in!

How to Win

please leave a separate comment for each

1. Be or become a follower of my blog

2. Check out Optimum Nutrition's website HERE and let me know what you like

3.  Follow Running to Health on facebook HERE

4. Follow Optimum Nutrition on facebook HERE and let them know Running to Health sent you!

5. Follow Optimum Nutrition on twitter @Team_Optimum

6. Spread the news (blog, facebook, twitter) and leave a separate comment for each

Deadline to enter is 4/26, good luck!

Happy Weekend!

Last night I had the most delicious dinner, and I should have snapped pictures. We went to one of our favorite places, Eastside Grill in Northampton. Gorgonzola garlic bread & pan seared scallops to start, then dinner was butternut squash ravioli. We followed it up with a trip to La Fiorentina for coffee and dessert.

YUM.

However, not part of my healthy eating plan. ::sigh:: oh well, it was heavenly. I did manage an awesome run yesterday morning. When I was finalizing my early summer training schedule (I know it took me forever), I realized RnR Providence is 4 months away! Which is the training time for the FIRST training plan, that I used so successfully for New Orleans. So I decided to make Providence my A race, with all my sprint Tris as B races throughout the training cycle. Unfortunately it will affect my long runs since most of the races are on Sunday, so I'll have to figure that out. 

Yesterday was Friday, which means I need to pick this weeks winner for the Run to Home Base Raffle!! In case you don't know what I'm talking about, the short story is I am raising money for injured war vets & need your help! With your donation, you are entered into a raffle with a prize to be drawn each week for some fabulous prizes!!

This weeks winner is....

Jess @ Running Between the Lines!

email me your choice of prize!

There are still TONS of great prizes to win! Check them out HERE!

today I am a working girl, then hoping for a ride outside because it is a gorgeous day in Massachusetts! enjoy the day!

Back from DC!

I'm back from DC! 

I promise to post pictures and the race recap soon. Today was a long day of travel. While traveling out of Boston got me a cheaper flight, the travel from Boston to home was longer than the flight from DC. Moral of the story is pay a little more to fly out of Bradley next time. I had a million things to do today and barely did any. I missed any chance of a workout, grocery shopping, and trip to the post office. I accomplished laundry, bed bath & beyond for a shower gift, working on my training schedule, and making dinner.

I hope everyone else had a good racing weekend, I can't wait to catch up on blog posts!

Who won the $25 Gone for a Run giftcard??

FinallyFit2011!!

email me at sgrigely at hotmail.com to claim your prize!

DC here I come (and a raffle winner!)

I'm so tired, and my wake up call is set to be too early tomorrow. I need to leave here by 5:30 to get to my brother's place by 7:15, then off to the airport. I cannot wait for the expo (more sweatybands?), and I'm excited for the race. I decided to bring outfit #1 & #3.... we'll see what the weather is like.

This weeks raffle winner is....

Terri @ Our Big Fat Greek Marathon

hooray!! email me with your prize choice!

Have you donated yet?? Check out the page HERE to make a donation & be eligible for a prize next week!

I also have to pick a winner for my Gone for a Run giveaway.... but I am exhausted and need to wake up at 4am for my flight, so I'll do it Monday when I get home!

Wish me luck! If you'll be there and want to meet up, send me an email or a message on facebook!

Temptation & a winner!

todays quote

"The less food in your face, the less tempted you'll be to eat when you're not hungry"

So true for me. If I can see it, then I'm tempted to eat it. This is why I cannot keep items like Ice cream & Stacy's Pita Chips in the house regularly. For me, its an out of sight, out of mind thing. The closer it is to me, the more I crave it. So what do I do? I don't buy trigger items. I hide trigger items to only have a few at a time. I buy smaller portioned bags (like cadbury mini eggs) so I don't inhale 10 serving sizes.

What do you do to stop the temptation?

The Winner of the Pay it forward book giveaway is....

Lisa @ Because I Can!
email me at sgrigely at hotmail.com with your address!

Don't forget to enter my Moving Comfort Giveaway HERE, which ends Monday night!!

I'm happy to report I'm still on track with my eating, and workouts. I bought a cadence sensor for my bike to use with my Garmin and spent almost 45 min figuring it out. 3 you-tube videos later, I was sucessful. I hopped on for a 97 min ride, but I'm not sure if it was working right. For some reason it said I burned over 2,600 calories, but had a super slow 9mph pace. Help??

Today was long run day with Shelley, and whoops, I forgot to charge the Garmin after the ride so it died halfway through the run. We killed our 8.5 miles in about 1:30, and I ran up the entire hill at the end. Awesome. My legs feel great, especially after my massage I had today. Bring on the Cherry Blossom next weekend!

Early morning at the pool & weight training!

Raffle Winner!

There are still sooo many fabulous prizes to win! For you new followers, let me tell you a little about what I'm doing. Plus You can earn bonus entries in the Moving Comfort giveaway!

On May 22, 2011 I will be running a 9K at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox!

This is a run put on by the Red Sox Foundation & Massachusetts General Hospital to help raise money to help treat veterans of war, specifically with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) & traumatic brain injury (TBI). I am running with my brother in honor of Sgt. Mark Ecker, a soldier from my home town who lost both his legs in afghanistan, and later died in a car accident. I am also running with my friend Lindsey who is currently serving in the airforce over in afghanistan.

I'm having a big fundraising raffle to help me meet my goal of $1,000. Please check out my blog post HERE to learn more about making a donation & entering the raffle. I really appreciate any amount donated and all your help to reach my goal and help the lives of others!

If you have in the past, or do decide to make a donation, reply with a comment to this thread that you did for an extra 5 entries in the Moving Comfort Giveaway!

This weeks raffle winner was....

Jess @ Running Between the Lines!

email me with your prize choice.

I'm still over $450 away from my goal, please help me close the gap!

Moving Comfort Review & Giveaway

Once upon a time, I worked for the Gap, and back then they made (what I thought to be) the best sports bras to hold me down with running. Being a little very heavy up top (38C), meant the wrong sports bra made a workout miserable. Then, for some reason the Gap decided to stop making their high impact sports bras. 

I panicked.

What on earth was I supposed to wear? 

Randomly one day, I went to the website where I buy my running shoes (road runner sports), and decided to pick one out to try. I don't remember if I originally saw the brand Moving Comfort in a magazine (which is very possible), but I decided to give it a try. I ordered the Maia.

The Maia is an underwire full coverage bra that features seam free interior molded cups, moderate contour shape cups, underwire, back adjustable straps, and an adjustable back closure. While it was comfortable, I wasn't in love. It felt like too much fabric (I guess I asked for it when I chose 'full coverage'), and I didn't feel as supported as my previous bras.

My next choice that I tried was the Fiona. It features seam free interior molded cups, front adjustable straps(LOVE), an interior front yolk to limit vertical movement, and an adjustable back closure.

I was in heaven! This bra is their #1 seller & you can tell why! My favorite part was that I felt so secure, there was practically no bouncing whatsoever with my runs. The adjustable straps were great to be able to adjust the height as well. This bra quickly became my favorite, and a bought a few more to add to my collection.

Then I started thinking about my racerback tops. I was used to wearing the Fiona and having the straps show, but I really wanted a racerback bra. So I ordered the Juno.

The pretty color Moving Comfort Sent me!

The Juno boasts many of the same features, but with a racerback design. It also has an adjustable keyhole back, and front & back mesh zones. It feels a little more heavy duty than the Fiona, but they both work amazingly well. It was comfortable enough for me to swim, bike & run through my entire first triathlon, and helped me through plenty of long runs. 

After I touched base with the great people at Moving Comfort, they offered to send me a Juno in one of their beautiful spring colors, and let me raffle one off to one of you!

How to Win

please leave a separate comment for each entry

1. Be or become a follower of my blog

2. Like Running to Health on facebook HERE

3. Like Moving Comfort on facebook HERE and let them know I sent you

4. Visit the Moving Comfort Website HERE and let me know your favorite Bra 

5. Spread the word! Post this to your blog, facebook or twitter (one for each)

Enter by 3/28 to win, good luck!

when boredom strikes...

My long run this week.... nonexistent.

I headed to the gym sunday morning since the wind chill was ridiculous, with a goal of 8 miles. I wasn't feeling it before I even got there. At the gym every TV had either sports or CNN type shows on and a guy watching it intently. I jumped on, and it was sucking. Boredom, and lack of drive were killing me, and my back was bothering me. I said to myself "Ok, screw 8, do between 3-5." What do you think I made it to? 3 of course. Oh well....

Ride on the trainer last night, and a skipped run this morning. My eating has been a little better. I've been tracking with the WW Iphone app the past 2 days. My goal is to keep it up until I leave for Disney!

The Princess Half is almost here!!!

I know Courtney @ RunCourtneyRun is having a blogger meet up, but it is thursday, before I arrive. Does anyone who is going have any interest in a quick meet up at the expo on saturday? Today I picked up my goodwill throwaway clothes in case its chilly! I won't ever make the mistake of leaving those at home after last years marathon weekend.

On an off note from training, my job has been killer lately. We have 1 girl leaving this week, and another leaving in April. Unless we can find ourselves some PTs soon we may be screwed for the summer, which will mess with my vacation & racing plans!! So if you know any physical therapists in the massachusetts area looking for a job, shoot me an email! Another coworker and I have been looking through job listings elsewhere too, we'll see if anything comes of it. 

If you haven't yet checked out my Fundraising Raffle, please do so HERE! 

There are a TON of great prizes up for grabs from some fabulous companies. It was recently pointed out to me that the minimum donation per the website is $10, so I have adjusted the fundraising page. Thank you to everyone who has donated so far!

I really hope that you can help me support the troops that defend our lives every day. The ones returning back to us injured especially need our help, so please, check out the raffle HERE & make a donation & win some great prizes in the meantime!