My kind of "FUN"

When I tell people about my Tough Mudder experience I always hear girl “you are CRAZY.” Nobody understands why I get up at 4:45 every morning to hit the gym or run for 15 miles on the weekend. No one gets why I would pass up a long night of drinking, so I can come home early to hammer out another awesome race the next morning. It is hard to explain and some people will probably never understand why I enjoy doing these things.

So why do I do it? Why do I kill myself till my body aches all over? Why do I run till my feet bleed? Why do I spend money of races, clothes and shoes? I do all these things because they are “FUN” to me. When I tell my friends that they laugh. But this is my idea of “FUN”! I love it, I live it and I NEED it!

For me there is nothing better than waking up getting in that early morning workout. There is nothing better than crossing finish lines. Why? Well because with every finish line and every crazy event I do, I create long lasting friendships and amazing memories!

I know many of you have read my Tough Mudder experience and have heard me complain about my training at times. But before all those complaints I was busy having fun, I was creating memories and I was acting like I did as a child. I got to roll in mud without my mother yelling at me. I got to climb up bails of hay just like I did at the Kohler farm when I was young. I got to laugh and enjoy myself without thinking about all the things that trouble me.

My idea of fun is different than many but my idea of fun is one that I hope I can continue forever. My training has started for my next race (Columbus half May 5 and Pittsburgh half May 6) and my next Tough Mudder in April! Yes, I pay money for these events. Why? I can tell you it is not for the metal, t-shirt or the free food at the end. Okay, I can’t lie I love my race shirts! :) But I do it because it is time for me to be me. I don’t have to be someone’s employee, someone’s daughter, and someone’s aunt… I just have to be bib number trying to accomplish two things! Finish Healthy and have fun doing it!

I am glad my training has started for my races because my Tough Mudder high is gone. I wish the Tough Mudder hangover could have last forever because the way I felt after that race was “fearless.” Of course fear is slowly starting to creep back into my life. Hopefully, training will bring that kick ass attitude back to life!

So that is why I do it! You might not get it but I bet I would not get what your idea of “FUN” is either but I will always respect it. So when I tell you about my crazy events, please don’t tell me I am stupid, tell me “Wow I bet you are having fun doing it." Because I am :)

I can't wait to create more memories this race season! Race Schedule so far this year!

Feb 26th-Last Chance for Boston half marathon

March 31st-10K

April 14th-Tough Mudder Ohio

April 22nd-15K

May 5th-Commit to be Fit Half Marathon

May 6th-Pittsburg half marathon

June 8, 9 and 10th-Phat Camp

June 16-Tough Mudder Indiana

June 17-Tough Mudder Indiana (I may try to do two in one weekend)

Nothing so far for July

August 18th-Tough Mudder Toronto

September 15-Tough Mudder Missouri

October 20th-Tough Mudder Kentucky

Woot! If you want to join me in my kind of "FUN" let me know!

Disclaimer.. I am a terrible speller! :) I KNOW THAT!

Breakfast

Ready, Set, Breakfast

I don’t have time for breakfast, I don’t like breakfast food or I woke up to late. All common excuses for why people skip breakfast. For years my parents would say, “Eat your breakfast. It’s the most important meal of the day.” So I did! I ate breakfast every morning and continue to eat a healthy breakfast 7 days a week.

Image you are a car. After a long night sleeping, your fuel tank is empty. Breakfast is the fuel that gets you going so you can hit the road.

This might be a silly example but it is so true. Without our fuel we run slow, we drag and sooner or later we grab whatever food we can to get the body moving later on in the day. Most likely it will be something full of calories and sugar.

My parents were right: Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. Not only does it get my body moving, but breakfast is linked to many health benefits, including weight control and improved performance.

Having a healthy breakfast can help you:

· Improved concentration and performance in the classroom or boardroom.

· More strength and endurance to engage in physical activity.

· Lowers cholesterol levels.

· Weight Control

Many studies, in both adults and children, have shown breakfast eaters tend to weigh less than breakfast skippers. Why? Eating a healthy breakfast can reduce hunger throughout the day, and help people make better food choices. Many people think I will just save the calories and skip the breakfast. That theory does NOT work! Normally the hunger will get to those breakfast skippers and will eat more at lunch and throughout the day.

There are some breakfast food that can be high in calories, sugar and fats. So you must be careful choosing the best breakfast for you. I normally have ½ cup of oatmeal, banana and peanut butter. It keeps me full till my next meal.

A healthy breakfast meal should contain a variety of foods, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low- or non-fat dairy, and lean protein.

Even if you think you don’t have time to eat breakfast, there are grab-and-go options that fill the bill. Some quick and healthy choices include:

• A veggie omelet and a piece of whole-wheat toast
• A whole-wheat English muffin with low-fat cheese, a scrambled egg, and slice of tomato or lean ham
• Smoothie made with fruit and low-fat yogurt
• Salmon on 1/2 whole-grain bagel with light cream cheese
• Whole-grain cereal with fresh fruit and low-fat milk
• Oatmeal made with skim milk, raisins and nuts, with 4 ounces of orange juice
• Low-fat yogurt and a piece of fresh fruit
• Yogurt smoothie and breakfast bar
• Hard-boiled egg and a banana

So listen to your parents and get your day started eating a healthy breakfast!

Childhood obesity

It’s a weighing question for me as a Physical Educator: What can I do to get parents to do something about their overweight children?

A new ad campaign in Georgia had sparked debate and has angered a lot of people.

Check out two of the ads

40% of Georgia’s children are obese or overweight. Some of these children are even diagnosed with hypertension before the 2^nd grade. TERRIBLE! The ads have anger people and health officials, saying you can’t shame people into losing weight. So the question is what can we do?

I love the ad campaign and I think it is brilliant one! We need to fight childhood obesity, not sugarcoat it. This ad is in your face, the images are striking and the message is loud and clear. We either do something about this epidemic or today’s children will die before all of us.

I have always heard “he is big boned.” Bull crap! Big bones do not make children fat, big meals do. This topic easily gets me fired up and it saddens me to see children dealing with issues that only adults should have to deal with. The solution is easy! Stop feeding children crap and get them off the couch.

This Tough Love approach should be seen not only in Georgia but also in all states in America. I am tired of hearing that we are the “fat” country. This tough love approach may wake up some parents and school officials to change how we approach such a tough subject. And this subject is tough because three-quarters of parents with overweight kids don’t see their kids as overweight.

Many parents think this approach will cause bullying in the schools. But I think they don’t like watching the truth. The truth hurts! Overweight kids don’t choose to get fat, they don’t choose what they eat and they will most likely not move if they are not forced. The issue is a complex issue and if we keep ignoring it, we are going to watch more and more children get type II diabetes and die at an early age.

I see a child who weights 180 pounds at one of my schools; this child is only in the 3^rd grade. He can barely make it across the gymnasium without losing his breath. He is in the 3^rd grade people! Do you think this child knows what he is doing to himself; do you think he has a choice on what he eats at home? This same child’s lunch is packed daily. One day his mother sent in a bag of chips. I am not talking about the lunch chips you can get at subway; I am talking about the big bad of chips that a family can eat out of. It pisses me off! Why do they keep doing is sugarcoating everything, this mother needs the hard facts. She is basically killing her child and if you ask me it is child abuse.

This is what I see daily. I see children overweight, I see children who can’t run without wanting to sit down and I see children who are sad because they can’t do things because of their weight. Childhood obesity is everywhere and it is our jobs as adults to do something about it! Cutting Physical Education out of schools will only make this problem explode.

It is time we stop giving our children the food they want! Such as McDonalds, cookies and pop. We need to start giving them food that will help keep them alive, food that will give them the energy to run across the gym. We need to stop letting them watch TV and play video games all day long; we need to get them moving. Why not do it together as a family! I would rather have my child cry because he can’t have a pop and cookies, then cry because he can’t run with his friends.

Tough LOVE! Is the best approach! Wake up America, We are killing our children.

Another great video

This will Shock you

You can't out-exercise a bad diet

Many people think exercise is the only thing that will help weight loss issues. Many people start a new exercise routine normally see results because it is a shock to their system. They start believing that they are the “special ones” that don’t have to worry about their diet. Then they hit a wall. The progress has come to a stop. They get upset, blame their trainers and will most likely stop exercising all together. These people didn’t see results because they didn’t change their nutrition. Here is a big secret….

“You can’t OUT-EXERCISE a bad diet”

Ever heard of that before? It is one of the most common pieces of advice I would hear from my friends and family. Eat this Kathy because lord knows you work out enough to burn it off. So not true! Most people think that if they work out they can eat whatever they want. This statement could not be more false.

For years I believed in that statement! I would work out, leave the gym and turn around and eat whatever I wanted. What I thought was "I did the time and now it is time to reward myself." What I didn’t realize is that I basically just deleted my workout session by consuming crap.

I burn about 600-700 calories an hour running. This may change depending on how hard I push myself and even the weather. (Everyone’s calorie burn is different; a heart rate monitored is the best way to get accurate numbers.) After an hour of running I believed I should reward myself with 4 Tagalogs Girl Scout cookies. Do you know how many calories are in those four cookies? 300 calories and 16gs of total fat. By rewarding myself I have lost half of the benefit from my hour run in basically eating empty calories. You can see how one minute of pointless eating can erase 60 minutes of a hard solid workout.

Here is a perfect example of “You can’t out-exercise a bad diet.”

“You are what you eat.”

This statement is so true! If you are like me you probably love to people watch. It always amazes me what people put in their mouths. The fit people always have something healthy, while the unfit people are eating crap food full of bad fats and empty calories. I am NOT perfect! I too eat that crap food but I have a good balance in my life to know it is okay to have a splurge every now and then.

What kills me the most is when I see a child who is overweight. Do you think that child had control over what he or she puts in their mouth? My bet is that same child probably has overweight parents. Parents control what children eat and Parents control what kind of foods they have in their home. I could go on and on about the effects of childhood obesity, but I will leave this for another day.

The way your body looks depends 90% of your diet. Aside from body fat, you skin texture; hair, nails and mood are all affected by what you put in your mouth. Don’t get me wrong exercise is important to maintain a healthy body composition and it too is part of the equation to living a healthy lifestyle. But don’t think you can eat whatever you want because you busted 60 minutes in the gym today.

Nutrition is a crucial part of the weight loss game. If you are working out 60 minutes a day and are not seeing results…it is time to start looking at what you are putting in your mouth. Eating healthy and getting in your exercise is the only recipe for long-lasting, successful weight loss.

Mission Accomplish

“Smart people have plans, Stupid people have stories.”

This weekend is for sure one of the stupidest things I have ever done, but it is also is the one weekend where I learned the most about who I truly am. I now know I am tough, an athlete, a teammate, a strong believer in god, someone who looks fear in the face and laughs; and of course a little crazy. This weekend has taught me more about myself than I would have even hoped for. Here is my crazy Tough Mudder recap!

Tough Mudder

I had no clue what I was getting into when I signed up for the Phoenix Tough Mudder. This race was NO JOKE. This race pushed me physically, mentally and spiritually. I have pushed myself physically before in races but this was a different kind of physical.

Date: Jan 14^, 2012

Time: 9:20

Weather: 35 degrees

Location: Mesa, Arizona

I have never had to get to the start line by climbing over an 8 foot wall. That was just a bonus obstacle for tough mudder and one that started my blood pumping. This start line was one like no other. Sure I get nervous before races and I have excitement, but this race I was feeling scared, anxious and mostly proud that I had the honor to stand next to so many amazing athletes.

The tough mudder announcer had an amazing speech. He really made my heart start pumping, gave me some serious chills and even made me cry a little. He told us that we were basically stupid for being there, but bad ass for taking the challenge. He told us why we were all there and what the race was all about. The wounded warriors, he even told stories about those warriors completing this race. Some with no legs, eyes or arms. Amazing! He reminded us that we are all teammates and to leave no one behind. That truly is what Tough Mudder is all about because without others you could never finish this course.

There was a lot of running 12.5 to be exact but the running was not at all the hard part. Every obstacle challenged you in some way or another. I gained about 10 pounds within the first 15 minutes of the race. The mud was so heavy and thick, it didn’t matter how you tried to get it off, it was staying there.

The second obstacle is one I will NEVER forget, one that scares me now and one that literally took my breath away. Artic Enema is the name. You basically jump into an ice cold bath and have to swim under a board to make it to the other side. Some mudders couldn’t take the challenge and had to get out halfway. While others took the challenge head on. You could hear how cold the water was by the words coming out of mudders mouths. *DISCLAIMER this is not an event for children. No mudders mouths were clean that is for sure!

I completely couldn’t breathe when my body submerged into the water. I couldn’t believe how cold the water actually was. Now I know why people die when they fall into cold water. You lose your mind basically and all sense of direction. My whole body was numb; it took about 20-30 minutes to start getting feeling back in my fingers and toes. Crazy obstacle and probably one of the hardest one’s there.

Passion! This race clearly had it and you had to have the determination to continue. We jumped across bails of hay, had to jump over 12 foot walls and continued to have to take mud baths over and over again. Amazing, Challenging, Awesome!

Boa Constritor was a series of pipes filled with water and mud. This obstacle made me nervous and made me panic a little. The pipes were so small, but I laughed at my fear and continued on. All I could think about was Andy Deframe! If he made it out in a sewage pipe, I could certainly make it in a mud one.

Twinkle toes was a very narrow, long bridge. If you didn’t make it across you were in another bath of ice cold water. The middle was the hardest because the bridge had some give, giving your balance and concentration a challenge. I made it a crossed in one piece, thanks to my yoga skills. Log mile or as Tough Mudder would call it "hold your wood" seemed to be an easy obstacle. But after a while that log didn’t feel so light and that mile felt forever. Luckily, Corinne and I got a small piece but it still didn’t feel so small at the end.

More walls and mud baths were in between the log jammer. This looked easy but really got my heart pumping. You had to climb over and under a series of logs. Some of the logs had barbwire on them to give you another challenge. The logs continued for what felt like a half a mile. I was happy when this obstacle was over; it was not easy on my knees.

Next up walk the plank. I have jumped off things before but I have always had a life vest on me. I love life vest! I really had to talk myself into jumping off the 15 foot plank. I stood there what felt like 10 minutes before I made myself do it. Thanks to the crowd that started to cheer really loud for me. I believe if it weren’t for them I probably would have chickened out. What shocked me the most was the water. My body was numb again and the water was deeper than I expected. After a few strokes up, I was still underwater and I started to panic a little. You can’t see in the water because it was muddy from all the mud baths we had to take. I was glad this challenge was over and happy I completed it.

Now we are about 10 miles in and we are starting to get hungry, tired and are cold. I was worried because we have only completed 20 obstacles. I knew I had to dig deep if I was going to get 2.5 miles out of me, while attempting 8 more obstacles.

The next challenging obstacle was shocks on the rocks. Let me tell you! When they say you get shocked they are NOT joking. I didn’t think coming into this that it would really happen but it did and it hurt like hell. Shock on the rocks was a radioactive water pit that meets kiss the mud. You had to basically army crawl under live wires in a bath of cold water. I stayed low but I think my big butt must have been high enough to hit the wires. Shock, Shock, Shock… 10 times. I used every cuss word I could, while the crowd laughed and pointed while my body trembled. No lie this obstacle was the one I hated the most.

After that obstacle, I was ready to be done. But I knew I had to defeat that damn mount Everest, monkey bars and another amazing shock therapy maze. So I started to talk to god. This is when I started to think I have nothing left and I am not sure I would get my free beer or my headband. Just talking to god and praying to him helped me continue on. This is what I mean when it spiritually challenged me. I have never talked to god this much during endurance races, I could almost feel his presence.

Cliffhanger was a giant hill of mud that you had to climb up. Slippery as hell! You had to rely on other hands and bodies to get you to the top. Tough Mudder magic is what I call it!

Next, the obstacle many talk about and the obstacle that many do not complete. Mount Everest is a skater pipe that is greased, muddy as hell and hard to accomplish. I had feared and talked about this obstacle the whole race. I almost didn’t even attempt it because I was so tired and didn’t think I had the amount of energy needed to get to the top. You really have to rely on other mudders for this one and have to take a leap of faith to even get to their hands. I failed twice. It hurt like hell sliding down the mudder man made pipe. I started to bleed and burn all over. I told myself that is enough give up. I looked to Chris Crabtree (our number one fan) and asked how close was I? He said, so close just give it all you got. So I told myself, one more time!

I had a long talk with god and basically asked him to give me a few more inches. I took off in a made dash and took my last leap of faith. One mudder grabbed my left arm, while another grabbed my right. I made it, sort of! I hung there forever, until two more mudders grabbed my wrist to pull me up. I accomplished something I feared the most because I believed in myself and never gave up. This my friends is what this race is all about! You find something different in you when you are tired, something that comes from a deep place. I thank tough mudder because now I know I can achieve any obstacle in life. As long as I have people to lean on, a faith in god and a faith in myself. I did a victory stance like no other on the top of that 15 foot pipe, I thanked god and thanked myself for trying one more time.

At this point I knew I could finish. Two obstacles to go! Funky Monkey and the Electric maze. We spit in Funky Monkey face by climbing on top of the monkey bars. Thank god because a cold bath wasn’t what I wanted to do at that time, since I was already freezing. Electric maze. Get low or get shocked. So I did! Thankfully, I didn’t get a zap this round but you could see the mudders beside me get zapped. Painful!

Finish line. I was tired, dazed, confused and cold but I made it! I got my crown, the Tough Mudder headband and my well-earned free beer. No need to celebrate my time, because there was no time chips or checking in to see where I finished. This race isn’t a normal race it is a challenge. A challenge within in! I am glad I completed this journey and am proud to be part of the Tough Mudder family. We are unique individuals, we are believers and if you ask me we are all badass!

So if you want to challenge yourself, DO IT! Take on this challenge of becoming a warrior, a true mudder! They say if you can’t complete the obstacles go around, but come back next time and try again. There are no losers in this race because it is about one goal leaving no one behind. I am getting the 2012 Season pass! Next, Tough Mudder Challenge is Ohio! Bring it I say cold water and all!

Let's not forget that I did run the Rock "n" Roll Half Marathon the day after this Tough Mudder! Yep! That was pretty much awesome too!

I would like to thank Corinne Crabtree for being my teammate in this challenge. Without you I know I wouldn’t have been able to finish. We had the best of time and had time to reflect on how amazing our lives are. She is like a sister to me, one I look up to and one that brings out the best in me. I am so glad I found you online and have you in my life now. She inspires me to push myself and continue to dream big dreams. You truly are changing people’s lives and inspiring so many people to live healthy happier lifesytles. Thanks for being that badass mudder with me and thanks for believing in me.

Thanks Chris Crabtree, Jane from PNP and her husband Todd for being our biggest cheerleaders. It was great to have someone there to support us, to take pictures and to help whip the mud off.

Tough Mudder is a race I will never forget! I can’t wait to complete a few more and hope to bring someone of you with me! I would say mission tough mudder accomplished!

2012 Goals

DEVOTE yourself to an idea. GO make it happen. STRUGGLE on it. OVERcome your FEAR. SMILE. LAUGH. Have FUN. Don’t you forget: this is your DREAM.

Goals

We all need goals in our lives to keep us motivated and to keep us focused. Goals help us overcome fear, help us devote our time and to live out our dreams. What is your goal or goals going to be for 2012? Goals can be short term or long term. They can be small or big. No matter the length or the size of your goals, you have to be willing to take the first step towards reaching them. A goal without a plan is just a goal that you wish to accomplish someday. So in order for you to reach that goal you have to plan out how to get there.

Get out a piece of paper and write down the goals you hope to accomplish in 2012. Write down as many as you want. It is important to have those goals in black and white. Now I want you to take that paper and place it somewhere you will read it daily. This could be on the fridge, bathroom mirror, in your car or even your purse. You might want to copy the goals down and give it to someone who cares about you. Tell them you need help reaching them and that you need them to be your biggest cheerleader.

Now your dream is alive and now you have to figure out how to reach them. If your goal is to drop weight, run a race or even pray more. How are you going to do this? It is good to set mini-goals! So if your goal is to lose 30 pounds in 2012, your mini goal could be to lose 5 pounds each month. Mini-goals will give you time to celebrate and give you the encouragement to continue to your overall goal.

Here are my goals for 2012

· Smile More

· Attend Church More

· Read more

· Take a painting class

· Take a photography class

· Sell pumpkins for Halloween

· Look into a new career in Wellness and Fitness

· Complete 4 Tough Mudders

· Complete 6-8 Half Marathons

· Complete a triathlon.

· Continue to believe in myself

· Dance more

· White Water Raft

· Go on a vacation alone

· Get my training license

· Coach Cross Country or a fall sport

· Finish my second Masters degree

· Make a lot of new friends but keep the old

· Volunteer more

· Start saying no when I don’t really want to say yes

· Get Louie his therapy license

· Stay Strong

· Worry Less

· Be Happy

· Forgive more

Start a Wellness business at school or even at church!

Become a BeachBody Coach!

Those are a lot of goals but some of those goals I am already doing. I just want to continue to have them in my life. I know I will continue to add goals to this list and maybe I will throw some out. I now have it on paper to go back to and now I have all of you to push me to accomplish them. Remember setting goals is just the start; you have to plan to reach them. You are never to old or to young to start reaching your goals. I challenge you to take the first step and do what you have always wanted to do. Now go reach those goals J

“ The tragedy of life doesn’t lie in not reaching the goal. The tragedy lies in not having no goal to reach.” –Benajamin Mays

Listen

Courage does not always roar. Sometimes courage is the quite voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I WILL TRY AGAIN TOMORROW’.

[F] First
[A] Attempt
[I] In
[L] Learning

Failed. Failing. Failure. All words that we are afraid of and words we hate to even think about. But let’s be honest failing happens to everyone and bottom-line it does suck to fail at something you set out to accomplish. It is what we do with our failures that defines the person we are and who we can become. The secret to success is failing. Why is that you ask? Because you had the courage to try something new and did not let fear get in the way. The biggest mistake so many people make is being too afraid to fail at something.

Steve Jobs failed, so did Henry Ford and even Walt Disney. All names that are in History books because they did not let their failure define who they were. They took the steps to learn from their failures and had the courage to continue. Jobs failed at Apple I and Apple II. Ford’s first company went bankrupted. Walt couldn’t find work as an artist for a newspaper and had to sign over his rights for his first character “Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.” They suffered failures and had to pick themselves up over and over again. They all had one thing in common they had big dreams and they didn’t listen when people told them they were foolish.

Just like Jobs, Ford and Disney you will fail. You will cry and you may even stop believing in the your big dream. I have failed at many things in my life. I continue to fail at relationships; I have failed at training for major events and have failed on my weight loss efforts time and time again. I have struggled to find the courage in me to believe in my big dreams but I have finally realized that before courage there has to be fears. Fear and Failing is scary but you have to have a bigger faith in yourself to look pass them.

So what does all this mean? It means find something that you fear or something that you have failed at. Try it and do it again until you are successful. I still fear running races and still fail at being 100% successful in my health but I do it anyways. I continue to see successes that keep me going and I learn from those times I have failed.

Be a big dreamer! Failure is your first attempt to learning something amazing. Take your time and realize nothing happens on the first attempt. If you fail do it again and again until you cross that finish line.

The Perfect Storm

If you wait for the perfect conditions you’ll never get anything done.

Why wait to start your diet on Monday or wait till the summer to start a running program? I would bet that when the summer comes around you might say it is to hot or I rather find the local pool. So many people wait for the perfect conditions to start a diet program or a fitness routine, but with that comes excuses after excuses. It is actually pretty simple. Either you do it or you don’t!

My life has not always been healthy and I too use to be the person made of a million and one excuses. I use to wait for the perfect condition to get started and guess what? The perfect storm never came and the excuses continued to pour in. I continued to be lazy, unhappy and very unhealthy. There was a time that I had 32% body fat, WOW right?! I use to obese believe it or not. The charts didn’t lie and neither did the scale (188 pounds). Then one day it hit me that if I didn’t do something today, I would be dead at a very early age.

So I did something! I started to move! I started to eat healthy! I started to live again. Many people tell me that they just can’t do what I do. I say that is bull crap! Anyone can move, eat healthy and dream big things! I would challenge you to find the time to improve you and live the healthy lifestyle you have always wanted. If you still can’t find the time, come to me! I bet you I would be able to find time during your day for you to move or eat healthy. Put down the computer, turn off the TV, get out of bed earlier, put your kids in a stroller and stop wasting money on going out to eat.

Living a healthy lifestyle is not a diet and it doesn’t come in a magical pill. It takes hard work; sweat and time to get rid of old habits. It took me over 10 years to final say I am healthy and extremely happy with myself. Over those 10 years I have lost 48 pounds and have ran several races. If someone told me 10 years ago that I would have seen the finish line of a marathon or would have control over my eating, I would probably laugh in their face. It amazes me still to this day what I have accomplished.

So I am here to tell you that YOU CAN DO IT! So stop waiting for that perfect condition and throw away all those excuses. Excuses are for people that don’t want it bad enough. Get that fire burning inside you. Look at your children or yourself in the mirror and say I am worth the fight. Believe in yourself. If you believe in yourself you are halfway there!

My blog will reflect my path to living a healthy lifestyle. I at times struggle and fail just like the rest of world. I like fries, pizza and beer. I like sitting around and watching TV and I make excuses sometimes too. I also listen to that voice inside me that says, “Your weak and you can’t do it.” But I also like cauliflower pizza (the crust is made out of cauliflower), sweet potatoes fries and a few beers. I sit around and watch TV after I have put my time in the gym. And I don’t fight with those voices in my head all the time, there are times I listen to my heart when it says "YOU CAN". It starts with you! You have to believe that you are worth it. Nothing is impossible! The word even has I’m possible in it!

So go out there when the conditions are not perfect and believe in the impossible!

Eat, Drink, Sweat... Dream Big

Eat. Drink. Sweat. Dream Big!

I always dream big and set my goals extremely high! There has been a lot of failures and successes on my journey of dreaming big. One's that I would rather never think about again and one's that still to this day bring the biggest smile to my face. Big dreams can come true but it takes a lot of hard work, sweat and tears to get you to your finish line.

A few months ago I had a dream to complete a tough mudder challenge, in just a few days that dream will become a reality! Tough Mudder events are hardcore 10-12 mile obstacle courses designed by British Special Forces to test your all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie.

This race not only excites me but scares me to death. The course for Phoenix is 12.5 miles, with 29 obstacles to test my inner strength. Many of the obstacles are combined with water, ice, mud and electroshock therapy. I will have to jump off a plank into water, jump over logs, climb over many walls and try to get to the top of a greasy skater pipe without injuring myself. I just pray to the lord that my training has made me tough enough to endure the pain and get pass the mental walls I may come across.

The training started weeks ago and I feel that my body is ready to take on anything they want to throw at me. I understand that it doesn't make sense starting a blog so late in this journey but the journey will not end at the Tough Mudder finish line. I plan on doing a few more Tough Mudders this season! I just happen to like the crazy training and the challenge to push myself beyond my own limits! Dream Big! That is what I attend to keep doing and hope that my dreams will help push you to accomplish yours!

As a Tough Mudder I pledge that....

• I understand that Tough Mudder is not a race but a challenge.
• I put teamwork and camaraderie before my own course time.
• I do not whine..kids whine.
• I help my fellow mudders complete the course.
• I overcome all fear.

Dream Big :) Happy Miles