A Beach Babe Cinco De Mayo

Hey! Happy Cinco de Mayo!

I’ve actually never given Cinco de Mayo a second thought.. perhaps it’s because I’m not of legal drinking age and therefore cannot go out and drink the night away while wearing a sombrero? 

(i hope none of this comes off as disrespectful)

Digressing from alcohol and funny hats now … 

Today it was GORGEOUS out! A perfect day for a “long” run. I put “long” in quotes because honestly I was tired and only wound up doing a 6 miler… ’twas glorious though.

 

I also started my day off with Tone It Up’s Cocktail Dress Workout x2 and some chocolate chip protein pancakes (not the best choice on my part… curse my sweet tooth.)

 

I really need to get myself on track with the #TIUbikiniseries (does it make me a loser for using a hashtag in a blog post?)

ANYWAY

I saw something on the Tone It Up iPhone app that really intrigued me and made me want to celebrate the holiday…

Vegan Quinoa “Tacos”

 

So naturally… I cooked up a little fiesta of a meal for my family.

I’m such a quality daughter and sister….

I made regular tacos for my mama and brother, the only substitution made was greek yogurt instead of sour cream. They were a hit! I cooked the meat with taco seasoning normally and then for the chicken I rubbed them with some taco seasoning and stuck them in the oven at 400 degrees until cooked through.

For me, I made the Tone It Up approved alternative.

 

I know that the idea of using quinoa in place of meat may seem odd, and I’m not going to say that it tastes like meat because it doesn’t, but it was honestly really good. I’m excited for the leftovers that I have for the next couple of days.

I felt kind of gross after dinner… eating greek yogurt without taking my lactaid pills was probably not the best idea..

To somewhat compensate for indulging in a bit too many chocolate chips today I just completed ZWOW #12 ! I’m loving doing these workouts in addition to my normal daily routines.

pistol squats are no joke…. my legs are yet to be strong enough to get as deep into the squat as Zuzanna! 

Well, It’s the beginning of COMP (my schools insane 3 hour final exams) week at school so I should probably stop procrastinating and go study…

Bye! or should i say, Adios!

 

Prayers to Boston

I know that I’ve been on hiatus after only 2 posts but, i feel that I need to address what happened in Boston this Tuesday.

As all of you most likely already know, 2 bombs were set off at around 3pm at the finish line of the famous Boston Marathon.

I had just arrived home when my friend texted me saying, “can you believe what happened in Boston?” Naturally, I immediately ran to my computer where I faced photos of the explosion, articles of what happened, and videos of people running and screaming… I felt sick to my stomach. I still feel sick to my stomach thinking about it.

Any type of bombing or mass attack on the innocent is disgusting, but being a runner, this attack really hit close to home. The Boston marathon is my dream, it’s a coming together of a family of runners running towards a common goal. Running really is, not to sound corny, a family sport. Runners share a bond that I haven’t found in other sports. We understand the pain, the joy, the mental battles, and the feelings of fulfillment that come with running.

Attacking the runners of the Boston Marathon is an attack on some of the world’s strongest people. There is no reasoning behind it. There’s no reasoning behind any attack.

I just don’t understand, no one understands. How could a human set out to take the life of other humans? I don’t understand it.

It’s in times like this though that you see so many people saying, “oh, humanity sucks.” or. “i’ve lost all faith in humanity.”

No, that’s not right. It’s important to remember in times of tragedy that when one evil person comes forward, a hundred heroes also come forth. Remember the marathoners who continued to run towards the hospital to donate blood, the civilians who offered their assistance, and, of course, the brave service men and woman who did all they could to keep people safe.

On a final note, if you haven’t logged your 26.2 minutes of running for Boston, don’t forget to do so. =)

Dealing With Injuries…

Running is my passion, it’s something that I live and breathe for. As melodramatic as it sounds, running is my everything.

Cross country season ended back in November, and as much as I enjoyed running on my own, I missed the goal-oriented, structured manner of being on a team. So I signed myself up for a half marathon, the Manhattan Half Marathon to be exact.

Training was going amazing, I was running further and faster and feeling amazing. Running is one of the only things in this world that can actually make me feel good about myself.

Two weeks ago, on a 10 mile run I began to notice some sharp pain in my arches at around mile 2, luckily the pain dissipated around mile 4 and I finished my 10 miles feeling like I was floating, yeah, that good.

Anyway, the next day I woke up and the very first step that I took caused me to wince in pain. My right foot felt like it was being sliced open. Ignoring the pain (figured it was just soreness) I headed out for my 3 mile recovery run that I had planned on. However, after a block I was forced to turn back. With each stride I took it felt as is the ligament (or muscle?) in my arch was being pulled too tight, it felt as though it would snap. Not wanting to take a risk, I hopped in the car and headed to the gym to do an elliptical workout instead.

The next day I went to my chiropractor (we are very close and she is an expert with the entire human body) with only taking a quick look she determined that the pain in my foot was plantar fasciitis.

“Plantar fasciitis is inflammation of the thick tissue on the bottom of the foot. This tissue is called the plantar fascia. It connects the heel bone to the toes and creates the arch of the foot.”

It’s been almost three weeks since I was told not to run. It sounds dramatic, but I honestly spent every night crying for a week. Like I said, running is my release, I don’t know how else to get out my stress and anxiety.

So, now onto how to deal with injury. My biggest saving grace was taking the time to try new things. A week into not running I woke up at 6am, and drove my sleepy self to an early morning hot yoga class.

post yoga sweaty face

And I left both happy and sweaty! I purchased a $30 month trial and have gone a couple of times since. Would I have tried it without being injured? Probably. But being injured definitely gave me the extra push.

Another thing that has definitely been focusing on what I CAN do rather than what I CAN’T do. I’ve still been working out every single day as intensely as possible. The elliptical has been my best friend (though I have to say that I’m getting sick of it) I’ve also discovered the stair master. I’ve done a few stair master workouts that I have very much enjoyed!

Finding other outlets and still getting good sweat sessions in has definitely helped me.

I’ve also been very involved in Tone it Up’s Love Your Body challenge! I’ve been a Tone it Up member for almost a year now and I absolutely love them! The challenge is definitely something that you should check out if you haven’t already. It gives weekly plans for workouts and food challenges, offers great advice and awesome motivation. I’m LOVING this challenge! Having the structured workout plans makes e feel more at ease since I had to give up my half marathon training.

So where am I now? I am definitely still suffering with not being able to run. I miss it more than anything. But I have found ways to make it more bearable.

Injuries suck, there’s no arguing that. But it’s not the end of the world. I know that every day that I keep myself from running in favor of letting my foot heel is bringing me one day closer to my next run. Too many times I have kept running on an injury until I had to stop and take off for longer than I would have had to if I had just caught the injury early on.

I’m staying positive!

Nice to meet you!

Hi everyone! My name’s erin!

I’m a seventeen year old girl from New York with a passion for running, and all things related to healthy living. I am currently a senior in highschool.

Here I am going to be blogging about… well… my life, my thoughts, and well… my passion which is healthy living. So come join me on my adventures in life!!

Wow… that sounded corny.

I hope you’ll stick around with me. Nice meeting you new friends!