Being Grateful for Friends and Family

We head off to Bryce Canyon tomorrow and, like I mentioned in my previous post, I’m really excited and hoping my knee doesn’t give me too much trouble on Saturday! All my races, thus far, have been local and I’m looking forward to a bit of a change in scenery and for cooler weather. Just really hoping it doesn’t rain on us 😉

This past Sunday, I had my last long run of 12 miles and I’ll admit it was a challenge. The sun was starting to burn layers off my skin & my knees were aching, but I finished. I didn’t give up, although I did consider it! Towards the end of the run, I reflected on all the support I’ve had throughout this journey and began to think of how lucky I am to have people who really care about me in my life. Especially, my family! Yes, I started crying on my run! Please tell me this has happened to you before or I’ll be super embarrassed…Yes, you have too?!? Ok, on with my post!

I am beyond grateful and appreciative to my husband for making my favorite post-run breakfast countless times. In case you’re wondering, it’s sweet potato & bacon hash with eggs over medium and avocado! I’m grateful that he’s joining me on this adventure and running races with me! He’s never once complained about me going to the gym or when I go out for a run and he stays with the kiddos! He’s always encouraging me and never doubts I can achieve my crazy goals, even when I do! I love that about him.

I am grateful for my kiddos for embracing this active and healthy lifestyle. They love talking about my races and going on runs with me. I love that they are involved and get excited about running their own races. I’ve never felt guilty about running or going to the gym because I know they appreciate it and it’s showing them that exercise is important and beneficial in our lives and that it can be fun!

I am grateful for my friends who have stuck with me in this crazy adventure! My friends who’ve come to watch me run or even better that have come out and ran some races with me! Thanks for trudging through the mud, running through bubbles, and jumping off planks with me! Woohoo!! My friends who have gladly watched my kiddos so Jason and I could run some trails or get some training at Camp Rhino! To my friends who listen to me talk about Paleo and upcoming races: Thanks for pretending not to be too bored with me 😉

I am grateful for my parents who also support me without end. Without their support (read: they watch my kids most of the time) I wouldn’t be able to do so much of what I do. They’re on a 3 month trip now and we are totally missing them!!

Lastly, I am grateful for sister. My #1 supporter, my BFF! We’ve ran 5Ks together. We’ve ran an obstacle course race together. She was there to watch me run my first 5K and she’s been there for most of my other races too. She’s the best race photographer and cheerleader!

When I signed up for this half marathon at Bryce Canyon, she said she was coming along too without being asked. She just knew she’d be there for me and I couldn’t be more grateful to her for that. I mean, who does that? Who says they’re going to take a 4 hr road trip to wake up at 6am to watch you run by for like 15 seconds? Only the best sister in the world, that’s who!

So really, I just want to say “Thanks” to all of you. I couldn’t be here following these crazy dreams of mine without you. You all mean the world to me! xo

I’ll be off the blog scene for a few days, but I’ll be back on Tuesday to tell you all about the Bryce Canyon Half! In the meantime, follow the fun on instagram @jessieemeric!

Last Week of Half Marathon Training

Just 4 more days until my second half marathon and the hub’s first! I’m super excited about it and so proud of all his hard work with training. Having both of us training for a half marathon at the same time had it’s challenges with scheduling and kiddos, but we’ve made it work and I can’t wait to get out there together. I don’t think we’ve ran together this whole time we’ve been training, crazy huh?!?

I’ll definitely be taking it easy these next 4 days. I did my last long run yesterday and my knees are bothering me. I’ve been out of my glucosamine for about 2 weeks or so and I know my knees are missing it! It’s also unusually humid for Vegas and I don’t think that’s helping either. So, I’ll be resting, icing, and using some KT Tape on my knees until Saturday 😉

Not only am I looking forward to running the half marathon, I’m looking forward to getting away with my family for a few days and exploring Bryce Canyon together. It’ll be a much needed getaway for us. This summer has been crazy busy so far with year-round school, swimming lessons, basketball, and gymnastics, on top of working and training for the half marathon! Yup, much needed time away from Vegas and the daily grind!

Oh I almost forgot, I got a new Nathan hydration vest! I’m loving it so far. I never really loved my belt and had been considering a vest for awhile now. I ended up choosing the Nathan’s Intensity Hydration Vest for women and I just love how I have access to everything I’ll need at arms reach. I plan to write a full review after the half marathon so stay tuned 😉

Summer Bucket List | 51’s Baseball Game

I can’t believe it’s almost July! This summer is flying by! Mostly because Diego is still in school and so it doesn’t really feel like summer. Year-round school has it’s advantages, but boy is it tough in the summertime! Diego is off for a 2 week track break after this week and we’re planning some fun stuff, including the trip to Bryce Canyon for our half marathon and of course, some family time hiking and exploring the National Park. Can’t wait 🙂

Anyhow, we did actually mark one thing off our bucket list this weekend and we went to see a 51’s Baseball Game. Las Vegas doesn’t have a major league team, but we were ok with the minors. Diego and Jason had gone last year and they had a nice time, so we added it our Summer Bucket List this summer. It’d been years since I’d gone to a baseball game and this was the first game for Elysse. I’ll just be honest here and say, it was kinda boring! Sorry to all the baseball fans out there, but I just couldn’t get into the game. Maybe because I wasn’t too interested in the teams or maybe because I’m just not a big baseball fan, but it felt to go on forever! Don’t get me wrong, we had a great time. We went with another family, so there was plenty of playing and laughing! The kids ate popcorn and shaved ice. They got some noise makers and had at it! Don’t expect we’ll be getting season tickets, but the kids got to experience something different and that was awesome!

Chasing Dreams I Didn’t Know I Had…..

I heard/read this saying somewhere a few weeks ago and it’s really stayed with me. I don’t even remember where I heard it or in what context, but it resonates with me in so many ways. “Chasing dreams I didn’t even know I had” is right about where I am right now. Yesterday I posted a “Transformation Tuesday” photo on Instagram as part of the monthly #grinderglamchallenge (a fun fitness based photo challenge) I participate in. You can read more about it on Leti’s blog HERE, she founded the challenge a year ago and it’s grown into an awesome community! I’m so happy for her and I don’t even know her personally. But whenever we do meet in person, I’m gonna give her a big hug 🙂

So, back to the photo. The response I got was so amazing. So many people liked it and commented about how proud they were & how happy they were for me. It was awesome and made me feel good. Thanks everyone for the support & encouragement! Here’s the photo:

Looking back at who I was then and who I am now, it’s hard to recognize the old me. I don’t even mean physically. Yes, losing 30 +/- lbs. hasn’t been easy. It was hard work with lots of ups and downs. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into! I just needed to lose weight. That was all I knew. But, in the process of trying to lose the weight and get healthy I found a passion I didn’t know I had. I signed up for races and had a blast doing them, especially obstacle course racing. Ummm…excuse me but I had no idea what obstacle course races were 2 years ago, nonetheless think that I would ever sign up for one willingly and enjoy it!! I’m giving myself challenges and goals to reach that I didn’t even know I wanted. I’m running, climbing over 8 ft. walls, crawling under barbed wire, jumping into ice cold water, and loving every minute of it.

I’m currently reading Spartan Up by Joe De Sena, the founder of Spartan Race and so much of what the book says about pushing yourself beyond what you thought you could do is so true. You will find courage you didn’t know you had, strength you thought wasn’t there because we are capable of so much more than we think. Overcoming obstacles in a race is so much like overcoming them in real life. You reach a wall, you find a way to go over it. You forget your fear of heights and you go for it. You may need some help, but you make it over the wall. You don’t let the wall beat you. These are all great metaphors for life too.

Right now, I’m dreaming of a stronger me. A me that will run a half marathon faster than the last one. A me that will conquer the Spartan Beast & Spartan Sprint in one weekend and live to tell about it. Am I scared? You better believe it. But I want that trifecta medal more than I am afraid of those obstacles. It’s that fear that drives me to be better. I can’t quit, so I need to train harder than ever before! Yeah, I’ll be tired, bruised, sore, and who knows what else, but I’ll come out more alive than ever before! Honestly, I am happy with how far I’ve come and I’m ready to push myself even harder to reach those dreams I didn’t know I had! Chasing these goal, these dreams, keeps me focused. It makes me a better person both inside and out and I like that.

So, what dreams are you chasing? I’d love to hear about them!

Happy National Running Day | 10 Reasons Why I Run (and you should too!)

I’ve never been athletic. I’ve never enjoyed sports. I didn’t like exercising. I’ve been overweight for a long time. I wanted to be skinny but I didn’t want to work hard for it. Sweat?!!? UH, No Thank You!! And then, one day it clicked. Nothing was going to change, nothing was going to get better with my self esteem, my body image, my mind, until I got out there and did something about it. And so, I started running. Wait up, I didn’t start running, I started speed walking, then I moved up to an awkward trot. It was difficult to run. I felt heavy, my legs felt like they had lead weights on them, my asthmatic lungs felt like they were on fire. The air was thick. Running sucked. But soon it started to feel easier. Not easy, but easier. The more I ran, the easier it got, the less it sucked. The more I ran, the more I loved it. I started to miss it on days I didn’t run. What kind of freak have I become? I guess, I’m a running freak. Don’t get me wrong, running still isn’t easy. I don’t think it ever will be easy and I’m ok with that. Some days it’s hard to get out there and run, but I do it anyways. Here’s why:

I run because I love how I feel after I’m done.
I run because it makes me feel strong.
I run because it’s a great way to lose weight.
I run to clear my head.
I run because it’s good for my heart.
I run to reach my goals.
I run to tune out the world around me.
I run because I want to be a good example to my children.
I run in the hopes of inspiring others.
I run because I can!

BONUS: I run because I love the cute running shorts 😉

Why do you run? Are you running today for #nationalrunningday? You don’t have to be fast (I sure am not) You just have to want it. Get out there and give it your all. You may surprise yourself and end up loving it!

Badass Dash | Race 9 of 14 for 2014

I’m officially signed up fro 12 races through September and I’m sure I’ll find 2 more to sign up for before the end of the year. I am kinda surprised at how fast it’s going and how easily it’s been finding races! Thank goodness for living social & groupon deals! LOL

Our Pre-Race Selfie :) — Our Pre-Race Selfie 🙂

The Badass Dash is a 7K obstacle course race with about 30 obstacles throughout the course. My hubby and I signed up through a great Living Social deal and although I had already ran the race last year with my sister, he hadn’t ran it, so I figured it’d be fun to run it together. We also met up with some other running group friends when we got there. Also, some Camp Rhino peeps who’d already ran elite heat decided to run it again for fun with us, now they’re badass!! Having them run with us was a blast and helped push us through the tough parts! The course had a ton of stairs, some water and mud obstacles, tunnel crawl, over and under hurdles, cargo nets and walls to climb. Compared to last year’s race, I think the obstacles were a bit more challenging, so that was a tun of fun! There were no race bibs, but they did provide you with a timing chip at packet pickup along with a tech race shirt. The end of the race had the regular post-race goodies – bananas, orange slices, water, and a sports drink. Oh and let’s not forget the beer! LOL 🙂

Yup, I ended up a little muddy and a few battle scars! But, that's part of the fun! — Yup, I ended up a little muddy and a few battle scars! But, that’s part of the fun!

Have you done any obstacle course races? Do you love or hate them? I’d love to hear from you! xo

Summer Bucket List | The Happy Family Movement

Our kids look forward to summer all year long! They know that summer will be full of fun times and adventures. This is mostly because of our Summer Bucket List! Our friends from The Happy Family Movement have put on this summer bucket list challenge and each year it just gets bigger and bigger!! There will be some fun giveaways from their awesome sponsors, a facebook community, and lots more!

I like tell the kids a few days in advance to start thinking of ideas for the summer bucket list and then usually one evening after dinner we’ll sit and share our ideas and some of the ideas make it on the list and some don’t, but we always work together to create it. This really makes it fun for the kids and they are more excited about it. This year we decided to have an actual bucket and we’ll fill it with the pictures we drew of the activity as we do them and hopefully, by the end of the summer the bucket will be filled with our pictures and we’ll be filled up with memories of another fun summer!

There’s still plenty of time to get your list together and join in on the fun! Your family will look forward to the big & little adventures you’ll have throughout the summer. The list doesn’t have to be big or filled with expensive outings to be fun. Just think of some things you all can do together as a family in the summer, write it down, then go have fun!

Here’s our list (I figured we stick to the 14 in 2014 theme!)

Make sandcastles at the beach
Enjoy a picnic at Mt. Charleston
Family dance party
Discover a new playground
Make loom necklaces
Bike Wash
Boogie board at the beach
Go out for frozen yogurt
Visit Wet N Wild
BBQ with friends
Visit Ethel M. Chocolate Factory
Geocache day at Red Rock Canyon
Hiking at Bryce Canyon
Watch a 51’s baseball game

I’ll be blogging with pictures as we start checking things off our list! So, what fun adventures do you have on your summer bucket list?

Wild Land Fire Awareness 5K Trail Run | Race 8 of 14

This race was organized by a local racing company here in Las Vegas, Desert Sky Adventures and hosted by Bureau of Land Management out in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. They offered both a 5K and a Half Marathon distance through some awesome trails! I absolutely love Red Rock Canyon. It’s a quick drive from my house and we love to go there for hikes with the kiddos and I’ve recently enjoyed running some of the trails, so running a race there was really a treat! It was put together nicely and it had that small race atmosphere I like.

For a FREE race, I cannot complain one bit. They sent out 2 emails before the race with all the race details on parking, water aid stations, etc. so communication was clear. I didn’t make it to Packet Pickup the day before but my friend who picked up our packets had no issues. We got a free tech tshirt, race bib, and some Smokey the Bear goodies in a drawstring bag 🙂 The morning of the race, everything went along smoothly. They were taking donations for families of firefighters who lost their lives while fighting wildland fires and had some pretty buff firefighters doing pushups when they received donations 😉 After the race, they had a table with bananas, oranges, muffins, water and gatorade. We also got a nice dog tag style metal at the finish. Yup, definitely a great local race!

Another great thing about this race was the sense of community. There were lots of runner friends from the running groups I’m a part of and it felt nice to have that camaraderie among the other runners. I’m not much of a social butterfly and well, I can be a bit awkward in social situations, so it’s nice to have a group of friendly like-minded people who don’t make me feel like an outsider! Thanks so much for that 🙂

I didn’t get much sleep the night before, I was on my feet all day photographing a wedding, I had a headache, and just felt BLAH!! Needless to say, it wasn’t my best race. I felt sluggish and tired. My legs felt like lead and I just couldn’t focus or find my groove. I was just happy I finished strong. When I signed up, I was sure I’d PR from my last 5K trail run, the Xterra Trail Race. I didn’t. I should’ve. I was disappointed. I ran with my husband and he did amazing! He PRed by over 7 minutes! He’d been working hard and it really paid off! I was so happy for him, but I just couldn’t shake the horrible feeling of failure I had. Then of course, I felt guilty for being selfish and not being more excited for him. But, I am so lucky to have such a wonderful man as my husband because he never gloated about his success and did everything he could to make me feel better. And I did eventually feel better. He gave me the space I needed to make peace with it and even made me a yummy post-race breakfast! Thanks babe! I love you!! Oh and I’m sure the TOMS shoe warehouse shopping & happy hour with girlfriends helped too 🙂

My Half Marathon Bucket List

This past July I came up with my fitness bucket list. Basically, it’s got everything from running a half marathon to doing a pull up! I’ve made some progress and you can see my 6 month update HERE. I’m starting to enjoy running more and more and with my 14 in 2014 race challenge, I think I’m hooked! I keep seeing and hearing of all these fun races I’d love to do so I figured I should keep a list and what better place to keep it than on my blog 🙂

So, here are the top 5 half marathons (in no particular order) that I hope to do in the coming years:

Napa to Sonoma Half – Running and wine, need I say more?!?
Disney Princess Half Marathon – Disney puts on quite a few races throughout the year and they are all very popular. I chose the Princess Half because it’s in Florida and I’m dying to take the kids back to Walt Disney World and because the race is all within the WDW property, as opposed to Disneyland, where parts are ran through the city of Anaheim.
Nike Women’s Half Marathon – They have a race in Washington DC and San Francisco, but I think I’d prefer San Francisco, just because it’s on the west coast and thereby more feasible for me to travel there. Plus, you get an awesome Tiffany & Co. necklace at the finish!
Surf City Half Marathon – I love Southern California and I think it’d be great to run along 13.1 miles of the Pacific Coast Highway!
The Kaua’i Half Marathon – It’s been voted one of the top races to travel for! Maybe you won’t even notice the distance or humidity among the beautiful scenery 😉

BONUS RACES:

Ragnar Relay – This is just one of those races that sounds like it could be a lot of fun to do with a group of friends and would really push you!
Paris to Versailles 16K – I just love Paris and being able to run here would be a dream!!

I’d love to hear what races are on your bucket list! Or what amazing races you’ve ran so far!

Race for the Cure 5K | Race 7 of 14 in 2014

Woohoo!! I am halfway through my goal of 14 races in 2014! I originally wasn’t planning on doing the Race for the Cure again this year, but when my sister called asking if I’d be interested in joining her work team and that they were paying for the registration fee I couldn’t pass up a free race! Being a big race with such a worthy cause, you know it was packed! The volunteers directing traffic and such did a great job and it wasn’t too difficult to get around. There were lots vendors passing out lots of free swag and samples and it really had the feel of a festival rather than a race.

The race itself went great! There were plenty of water stations throughout the course and it wasn’t too crowded once we moved past the starting line a bit. I ran the race with my sister in memory of our aunt and her mother-in-law who have passed away due to breast cancer and for our other aunts who have battled and survived breast cancer as well.

To learn more about the Komen Foundation and to find a Race for the Cure in your area, click HERE!