A Journey to Fit & Fast

Have you ever thought to yourself “well, I’d really like to run a marathon, but I really don’t have the resources to train to do so?” If you have and have also run at least a 10 k (6 miles) without walking before, then I have the perfect opportunity for you. iCan marathon training group will soon be taking applications. You are paired with a running mentor and for 24 weeks you train to run the Des Moines Marathon in October 2015. I can speak to the awesome sense of community and awesome people that act as support to your goal. These folks trained with me last year for my very first marathon!  Stay tuned for more information and application links. Turn  iCan’t into iCan in one simple move

I’ve talked a lot of about inspiration from outside sources recently. The past month had some tough times with the loss of a friend an amazing person. However, I am able to draw strength from that situation and inspiration as well. At Jesse’s funeral, a video by OneRepublic was played. It is called “I Lived.” Essentially the song talks about living and loving with everything you have so that when your life is over you can say “I Lived, I did it ALL, I gave it all I had.” In the video, they discuss the disease cystic fibrosis (CF) and show scenes from a kid’s (Bryan)’s life (home videos, etc) who has the disease. To say the video is inspirational is an understatement. It is amazing. And it changed my life.  Also in the video Bryan, is shown cycling. How amazing that someone with CF can cycle, as I have no doubt it is tough as heck for him. Not only does he cycle, he raises money through an organization called CF Cycle For Life.  He and his team have raised ...

In November I decided to make some new goals for myself. Coming off completing the IMT Des Moines Marathon (and having gained some marathon training weight-yes it’s a real thing), I decided I wanted to do a few things. Now, a number no longer has the power to define me (the number on the scale). So weight loss was not a goal of mine. I did however want to do a few things: improve my swim time, get leaner in appearance and feel & run without pain. Fast forward to now: I am improving my swim time, I am running almost 100% without pain and I am leaner. I have stayed relatively the same weight (a few pounds of marathon weight are gone), but I have toned up quite a bit in just a few months.  I added in strength training 4-5 times a week. It is not even a lot of strength training, but instead a quick circuit of arms, abs and legs that I rotate through. I used to hide behind the mentality of “I will never have a flat tummy because I spent a significant amount of time as an ...