respect, accountability, and THREE WEEKS!

howdy! i know, it's been a while since i've blogged but i've been SO BUSY. it's been one of those "i'm dying to write a blog post" months but i just haven't found time to sit down and do it. what is my excuse for being so busy? wellll....

1. work
2. running
3. VBL coaching (look how awesome these people are!)

4. a special someone? :X

ANYWAY... something that has been on my mind a TON lately while i'm running and just in life has been RESPECT.

respect to me is consideration. considering someone's situation before DISrespecting them. it is also appreciation. appreciating what is given to you. appreciating what people do for you. in my adult life, i have become much more aware of these situations. lately, they have been more frequent and noticeable. i notice people at work, at home, at the gym, and just in public, lacking respect. we all live in this world together, we all want what is best for ourselves and our families, so can't there be a mutual respect between all of us? if someone provides something for you, respect it. if someone has something that is important to them that you may not feel is important, respect that it is important to them. respect that each and every one of us has our own thoughts, opinions, beliefs and if you don't agree, let them believe what they choose to believe.

on to my next rant... ACCOUNTABILITY.

as i've begun coaching the VBL, accountability has become a HUGE word in my vocabulary.

ac·count·a·ble

[uh-koun-tuh-buhl]

adjective

1.subject to the obligation to report, explain, or justify something; responsible; answerable.

not only do i need to hold myself accountable, but i need to teach how important being accountable is in a life transformation. accountability is why i created this blog in the first place. i put myself out in the world for everyone to see. i wanted everyone to know what i was going to do. in the past, i had always thought "how fun would it be to lose a bunch of weight without telling anyone and they'd be so surprised and proud of me?!" well, honestly, i tried that a bunch of times. IT DIDN'T WORK. so when i decided to join the VBL, i created this blog, i posted it on facebook, i wrote a letter to my coworkers, so  everyone would know what i was doing and be there to support me 100%. i'll admit, i think a majority of people had doubts in the beginning, hell, even my DOCTOR said to me "if this whole challenge thing doesn't work, they've come out with a new depression drug that helps people to lose weight real quick". ahem, are you KIDDING me? so what did i do? i put myself out there and BAM, look at me now! i'm obviously not to my goal but i'm happier and healthier than ever!

annnd now for my training update. THREE WEEKS until the Nike Women's [Half] Marathon. THREE WEEKS until an amazing vacation as well! i'm so very stoked! my training runs have been going wonderfully. i've scaled back on lifting significantly for now. my goal is weight loss (7lbs down in two weeks!) and running improvements. i have been running about 4-5 days a week and going to p4l two days a week. no other lifting. i also went cold turkey off all my supplements (except my multi-vitamin). what do i miss? BCAAs. i think they help my recovery a lot more than i was giving them credit for. i also miss my biotin. it was helping my skin and hair a lot. so i think i'm going to slowly reintroduce them starting next week. i've been waking up around 4am every wednesday and saturday to run my long runs and i've been HANDLING them. i'm so stoked!! i'm not going for a PR on this half, i'm more just going for a fun time and a great experience. SF is super hilly, which should be fun for me and my crazy love for hills, but i definitely won't be beating my time from the RnR SD. 

i'll leave you with a course video from last year so you can have an idea of what i'll be experiencing that weekend! simply cannot wait! :)