Trailhead Clearfork

Hey, guys I kind of love my town. One of my favorite places is the Trinity Trails. The TT covers over 40 miles across Cowtown and connects to 21 parks. It's a hot spot for running, walking, tubing, paddle boarding, fishing, cycling and more.

I've taken a handful of photos of the Trinity River during my runs and outings, over the years.

The city has been developing a recreational area right off the trail, it's called the Trailhead and it's located near the Clearfork development. On Saturday, the girls and I went to the grand opening.

enduraLAB was out there leading a complimentary workout. (This is the Group photo, from them).

The area is nice, there were two food trucks, picnic tables and an area for children to play. I like how they have a bathroom and access to cool drinking water! I wouldn't mind swinging by there during a long run.
Check out The Trailhead site to find out about more complimentary workouts and family friendly activities going on this fall.
http://www.trailhead1848.com
Chey loved it! She even got a cool tin bottle with the Trailhead logo.

My Week in Photos

My friends at EnduraLAB are bringing back weekly run group! I'm so excited! I ran with them Wednesday night near west 7th street. As a group we ran 3 miles and afterwards I ran one more. It's starting to get dark sooner.

Dakota is a cheese ball.
Trey watched them and put them to bed, while I was running.
 
This stuff is so freakin' good....

Why can't I just sit down and eat the entire can in one sitting? Why? Woe is me. Look, Dakota understands.

I Won Something, Treats for the Girls & Ballet Camp (this week)

Last week, I went to EnduraLAB's grand opening (2.0) and I won a huge prize...I won a 10 class pass, valued at $175. Woo! Woo! Since I won my prize, I've gone to 2 classes, both of them being the Strength and Conditioning class. That would be a non-running class. I know if I was a member of EnduraLAB, I'd be back to my ultra running bod in no time, plus I'd probably have some muscle on me. What's that? I am so sore from working out with them, but it's the good kind of soreness, not the I'm injured and going to die kind. If you are curious about it and looking for a different kind of gym, let me know and we can go together!

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Look at my 13 month year old! Lately, I've been making homemade fruit popsicles. Dakota loves them, especially mangos!

Speaking of ice cream, Cheyenne had a dentist visit yesterday. Just a cleaning, no cavities. Trey promised to take her to get ice cream if she cooperated with the dentist and you know she did. I'm not sure her dentist would approve, but Cheyenne is excited! P.S. if you are looking for a ft. worth pediatric dentist office, this place is it! If you'd like to know where we go, email me. Cheyenne was anxious and the staff worked with her and made it a fun experience, instead of something dreadful.

Oh, one more thing -- It's ballet camp week!!!!!! We are so excited!!!!! Trey's mom is in town, staying with us and helping us out with the girls. We appreciate her so much for doing that!
Here are a few pictures of her from last years, ballet camp.
This was crazy hair day. Dakota was only a few weeks old.

And this was at the end of the week recital.

Photographer & Model -- Well, "Model" is a Long Shot

When no one is around to help me set my exposure and lights, I have to run back and forth...and play photographer //// (slash) //// model subject.

I'm quite impressed that I'm in focus.

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Times Ten Cellar 
Saturday, Isis with EnduraLAB organized a ladies night out. About 10 of us had dinner in the West 7th area and then walked to a wine bar called Times Ten Cellar. I loved hanging out with the ladies, but if you are looking for date night ideas, you've gotta try this place. The atmosphere is super romantic.

What is your favorite wine? I had a glass of malbec, but my favorite is Moscato.
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MacBook Pro Update:

My electronic baby is finally ready to come home! I'm so glad I took my co-workers advice and backed everything up before I sent it to IT for the encryption. It was in the hands of the IT department, when the hard drive fried. They don't repair computers, so I had to take my laptop to Apple. The hard drive replacement was almost $300, but since it's still under warranty, the fee was waived.

Sometimes, You Have to Fulfill a Craving

Two weekends ago, the awesome folks of EnduraLab, Lee and Isis, hosted a Cookout. Here are two lovely ladies I run with, NOOOO I ran with. I miss running, I can't say it enough! Wahhhhhh! TEARS. BIG TEARS. Well, at least the cookout was a lot of fun, but in some ways a little part of me gets sad, when all my friends are talking about running and I just sit there (blank face. blink. blank face).

This is what I took to the cookout. It's tuna with chia seeds, apple slices, grapes, celery, lots of lime juice and parsley.

So, the EnduraLab/Fit challenge is still going, last week I was a big time slacker. My fitness and eating was a B-, at best, BUT I didn't log any of my information online. There is a site where participants of the challenge log-in to a website and account for food and water intake. There are some other items we have to account for like resting heart rate, hours of sleep per night, fish oil supplements...etc. etc...

Fulfilling a Craving, That Won't Go Away

I'm usually really good about it -- (logging my EnduraFit information). This week, I'm back on the wagon, but I'm still indulging, when Dakota says so.... Like tonight, I had the strongest craving for Nachos. I lived off of Nachos when I was pregnant with Cheyenne. I was so desperate to fulfill this craving that I went and bought a bag of corn chips, after work. You should know that I hate going to the grocery store during the work week. I usually avoid it at all costs or I just send Trey. SOOO, since I went to this store this evening, you know the craving was life or death.

Somewhere buried under that salad is a bed of nachos.

Sweet Girl
I'll leave with two images of my sweet girl.

She's a doll!

Greetings from Las Vegas

Hi! I made it to Vegas! I had a jam packed day, of travel, post production workshops, and tons of walking. Now, allow me to back track...

My morning started bright and early. I woke up at 5 am. I had an 8 am flight to catch. DFW International Airport to Las Vegas. I was hoping that once I arrived at my Terminal, I could enjoy my Clear Internet, but it wasn't working. So, I just ate my breakfast and listened to music.

This was my airport breakfast, from Einstein Bagels and black ice coffee from Dunkin' Donuts.

Good thing I ate before I boarded the plane. Look at the American Airlines Food prices: $8.29 for fruit and cheese? Look at it, there's hardly anything there.
 
My flight was delayed on the runway for about 15-30 minutes due to lightining. So, add that on top of the two hour time difference, and that gives you an idea of how off my schedule is...I'm tired.

I arrived at the Monte Carlo Hotel and Casino, later than I had anticipated.  By the time I boarded the monorail and then walked to the convention, I only had time to hear the end of one of the morning session -- and then it was time to break for lunch.

For the first time, I tried the Las Vegas Convention Food Court. It was delicious! They have burgers, Mexican Food, Salad, and Sandwiches all at a reasonable price.

I stuck with a salad because I knew I was going to enjoy a big dinner out on the LV strip.

For dinner, I met up with Sarah an old friend from Abilene Christian University (not pictured) and two of my professors who taught me, Susan and Cade. We had dinner at the Imperial Palace, Hash House A Go Go. We caught up on life and nerdy stuff too, like post production stuff. They speak my language.

I'll post more later, but for now -- I'm going to call it a night.

enduraFit Challenge Week 2

Warning: If you are hungry you may not want to view this post, right now. 

Well, I just completed another week of the enduraFit Challenge with enduraLAB.

Here is my update.
 - I spent way too much money at Sam's Club === In my defense, I stocked up. So, this week my total should be reasonable. Fingers Crossed. Legs Double Crossed.
 - We all know this, but junk food is more affordable. I'm not even buying organic crap, I'm just buying healthy crap. CRAP. CRAP. Yes, two craps are necessary.
- Trey told me to stock up on the eggs, so I did. When he saw them in the fridge he was like WTH is that?! So, far we've made it through one and a half cartons. Cartons = grey thingies.
-
 

Fast Grab and Go Protein, hard boiled eggs.

I've adopted a baggie system. You can call me the bag lady, that's cool.

I label the baggies, so I don't have to measure, when I'm ready to cook. I can just grab "2 blocks of squash" and get them in the oven. It was a time saver. Washing and chopping the veggies also helped.


Here is an example of a Zone Diet snack. You've got 1 oz of protein, a serving of carbs, which mine happened to be half an apple and a side of fat. I picked avocado slices, but I could've done nuts or oil. You can't see all the chicken, but it's buried under there.

I love a colorful plate and the herbs made it taste so fresh. In case you don't recognize it, the protein under the bush of herbs is flounder.

I was so disappointed, I bought crab meat thinking I would love it, but it was disgusting. I ate it all, but believe me, I drowned it in lime juice and Louisiana hot sauce. It needed something! Later, I read the label  and it said imitation crab meat. I don't' know if that is why it tasted off to me or if I just don't like crab anymore. I thought I liked it....

Chicken Lettuce wraps, smothered in salsa. This week, I'm on a salsa and pepper kick.

So, that's my update on the challenge. During the workweek, I stayed right on track. Now, it's the weekend and well, I'm not really worrying too much about it. I'm even taking a break from exercising. It felt good to sleep in this morning. I've got to enjoy these low key mornings while they last, Dakota will be here before I know it. 10 more weeks!

Week 1 of enduraFIT Challenge

I thought I'd give you an update on how my 10 week challenge is going. This is an update on the diet challenge. At this time, I won't cover the exercise or rest/recovery portion. This is week 1 and slowly, but surely the Zone diet, is starting make more sense to me. I'm following the Zone, but still sticking with the Paleo Food Groups, meaning I'm avoiding dairy, legumes, and grains. Meat, Veggies, Fruit, Oil, and nuts are my food friends. I'll probably add oatmeal, sparingly, to my breakfast menu in a few days?/weeks?, but I want to give this a good try, before doing that. I'm not trying to be a Paleo or Zone poster child, so don't expect perfection. This weekend we have friends and family in town and I will not be strict, when eating out. Did someone say nachos?
Here is an example of what a typical eating day looks like for me. IT's SO MUCH FOOD!

Breakfast at 5:30 am:
3 Eggs, 4 Slices of Bacon, 3 Cups of Broccoli, 1/3 of a banana, and 3 almonds (not pictured). So ,all this food is considered a 4 block zone diet meal, at least I think it is. I'm trying to wrap my mind around how this whole zone thing works, but give or take, this is a 4 block meal. I think Trey needs to follow a 5 block Zone Diet, which means more food for him.
 
Snack at 9 am: 
Whey Protein Shake (half scoop) with Almond Milk (4-6 oz)

Lunch at 12 pm: 
Salad, measured accordingly

Snack at 3 pm:
1 oz of meat/protein, half an apple, a few almonds

Dinner at 7 pm: 
6 oz. of Meat, 2 cups of tomato sauce, 1 cup of broccoli with EVOO, half an apple.

That's a butt-load of food
What I don't like about the Zone is all the measuring I have to do. I have to weigh my meat and measure my veggies and fruit to make sure I have the right amount for my blocks. When I was eating Paleo, I liked it because there was no measuring, but I feel like with the zone, I'm eating more of a balanced meal...with Paleo it was free for all - anything goes. There is definelty more structure following the Zone plan.

So, now that you see what I eat in a typical day, you're probably thinking oh, my goodness that's probably a zillion calories. I know, that's how I felt. I mean I'm eating huge portions and cups and cups of veggies and fruit. Out of curiosity, I've been calculating my caloric intake and considering my workout regimen and I've been either right around my target caloric range or slightly over or under. Interesting.

It's That Time of Year When We Cancel Our Satellite Service

It's that time of year when Trey and I drop our satellite service.  Bye-Bye Direct TV!

This time, we didn't suspend our account, we actually cancelled it. They should be sending us a box so we can mail them back their equipment. When football season rolls around we'll probably sign-up with AT&T u-Verse. I've heard good things about their service.

Tonight, at 11:59 pm Direct TV will officially pull the plug on our dish and all we'll have to look at will be a black screen --- that is, until Trey hooks up our antenna. So, my plan for this evening is to rush home and watch as much TV as possible.

I knew this day was coming, so for the past few weeks, I've been busy building my Hulu Queue. Am I missing any shows? What are you watching on Hulu? Or Netflix?

enduraFIT Challenge 

Guess who ran a timed mile? My husband. He's so BA. 

We're both participating in the enduraFIT Challenge and yesterday, he had his baseline testing at the LAB. He ran a timed mile and then completed a timed WOD (workout of the day), that included a few sets of kettle ball swings, jump box hops, and jump roping. In 10 weeks, he'll do the test again to see if he's improved.

I decided not to participate and do the baseline testing, since my fitness results would decline as the weeks progressed. At the moment, I'm 28 weeks pregnant, that means when we test again, I will be 38 weeks bearing a child. Can you imagine a 38 week preggo Dom doing jump box hops? Oh, yeah and the doctor doesn't want me to run....

That's okay, while Trey was getting his sweat on, I rowed 3 miles on the rowing machine. Seriously, I NEED A ROWER in my home GYM. I'm going to make that happen, one of these days. I will. Yes, I will. This is the machine I want. It's also a space saver, when not in use you can stand it upright, against a wall. Brand new, this model cost a little more than my used Treadmill and apparently it's good enough for commercial use, they use it at the LAB. It's FANTASTIC and my new best friend.

Update on my home treadmill: 

The replacement part has been on back order, but the company emailed us and said they finally received the part from their supplier and we should be recovering it in the mail as soon as tomorrow!!!!! I can't run, but you better believe, I'll be doing some serious walking.

1st Day of a 10 Week enduraLAB Fitness Challenge

Today, begins the 10 week enduraLAB challenge. It seems like they are really pushing the Zone Diet, even more so than the Paleo Diet. I've spent the last two days trying to understand how the Zone blocks work and I'm completely lost. All I know is the protein I consume for breakfast, lunch and dinner should be 4 ounces with a ton of veggies. I have a lot of questions to ask the enduraLAB folks, when I see them on Wednesday about the meal part of this challenge. I'm hoping they can help me understand how the numbers all work. I was hoping I could just eat Strict Paleo and call it a day, but the way I have to log my information online, contradicts that....so, we shall see how this goes.....

This was my breakfast. 3 eggs, a bit of ground beef, 3 cups of broccoli and half an apple.

Part of the challenge is consuming 64 ounces of water a day. This will not be a problem. I've never tracked my water consumption before, but thought I'd give it a go. It's 8:30 pm and I've consumed  roughly 180 ounces. That's over a gallon of water or if you look at it in liters that's 5 liter bottles. Something you might not know about me, I sleep with water on my nightstand and I wake up in the middle of the night and take sips of it. I'm a total H2O addict! (help)

Besides the food and eating healthy, I think it will be a challenge to get 8.5 hours of sleep. Last night, I got  6.5 hours and I was trying! Trey will do great with the sleeping points. He gets 9 hours of sleep on the regular. As for the diet, I'm worried since he is not a fan of vegetables. And for the exercise part, he's a regular at the gym, so he'll do fine there.

Okay, I'll keep you all updated on our progress. I'm sure there will be small victories, mini-break downs, and cheat meals along the way. Stay tune.
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Oh, here is my DailyMile Training from last week.

Cycling: 18 Miles 

Walking: 9.25 Miles

Rowing: 2.5 Miles (I still want my own machine) 

Elliptical: 2 Hours 

QUESTION: Have any of you guys ever done the ZONE diet? 
I could really use a hand here. Thanks! 

EnduraFIT Challenge

So, I get a phone call from my doctors office and I'm thinking -- Oh, no. Did I fail my glucose test? Do I have gestational diabetes? Apparently, my glucose results came back fine, but my iron is low. To remedy that I'll be taking iron vitamins.

As you know, I'm banned from running --- WAHHHHH!!!
It's not so bad. I guess. If anything it's allowing me to explore other areas of cardio like rowing. I usually go to run group at enduraLAB once a week. I still wanted to see my friends and workout -- so I went to the LAB, but I didn't participate in the running exercise. I stayed inside and rowed for 30 minutes. All it took was one session for me to fall in love with their rowing machine. Now, I want one for my home gym! Seriously. I've been pricing them out.

Every now and then Trey gets off of work early enough and he meets me at the LAB before or after run group. Yesterday, I got lucky and he met me there! Did you know the Lab sells Natural Running Store shoes? Yeah, they have a big stock of minimalist shoes. Go get you some. Trey did. <---- spoiled!

Trey bought these Inov8's. These shoes seem to be popular in the running and crossfit community. By the way, I have yet to try crossfit, however it's on my bucket list. I'm thinking I will wait until after Dakota arrives to explore that. 

When I got home I was starving, luckily I had leftovers so I threw together some lettuce wraps and a side of veggies. Looks good, huh?

CHALLENGE TIME
Starting Monday, I'll be participating in a 10 week Fitness Challenge with enduraLAB. AND I hope I'm not speaking too soon, but I think Trey is in too!!!!!!! Y'all, it just got interesting! I'll talk it about more, in another post. In the meantime here is a video they put together that describes what the challenge entails and for further details and for the point breakdown check out the their blog post. I was telling them, I'll be the only athlete to gain the most weight during the challenge. Haha, it's true! #pregnancy

2012 Cowtown Half Marathon

Let's talk numbers.
Distance: 13.1 miles
Overall Time: 2:21:06
Compared to my PR of 1:56:49
(AKA 20 lbs lighter and not slow cooking a baby)
Average Pace Per Mile: 10:47
Overall Place: 3,863 out of 6,323
Age Group: Placed 269 out of 504 women
Overal Gender Place: 1496 out of 3277 women
Power Song: Karmin's Chris Brown Cover, Look at Me Now
Runner Up Power Song was Kanye West, Through the Wire

It was probably around 48 or so degrees at the start line. Not bad! No need for gloves, when your long sleeves double as hand warmers.
 
Right before the race started, a random runner, looked down at my stomach and said, "Right on!" He then fist bumped me and we were off --- Dakota and I were running a half marathon.

From the get-go, it was a tough race. My pace felt right, but Dakota felt heavy. Oh, and my iPod went all demonic on me and that threw me off, my game. It would start, stop, and fast forward -- it was so annoying. I worked hard on my playlist and I was determined to listen to it, so I powered off my phone, rebooted it and restarted my iPod playlist -- that did the trick. It worked after that!

Around mile 5, I thought -- This sucks, I'm uncomfortable. I'm calling Trey and I'm going to have him pick me up. I thought about that for one second. The good thing was I didn't have to stop to use the bathroom, however I did cough and well -- you can only imagine. HA! It wasn't that bad - really. The bad was I chaffed. I have pregnant thighs, which mean my legs rubbed together for over two hours and now it burns. This never happened to me with Cheyenne, but then again, I never ran that long. I think if I had worn tights, I wouldn't have chaffed. I've been walking bow-legged all afternoon. I look ridiculous! Another bad is I feel like I ran a full marathon. I'm sore. I feel like since I ran for two, I should multiply my milage by two. 26.2 baby!

Spectators! 
I saw the EnduraLAB folks at three different locations. I saw Jake and Becca in the Stockyards and the Lululemon girls at mile 10, downtown. There was so much support! It felt amazing. Every time I'd see my friends, I'd get a burst of energy. It helped! Oh, and the best spectator was Trey. He was waiting at the finish line.

The last leg of the race, the 5K was the best. It felt like I was running downhill and cruising in. When I crossed the finish, I was so happy to be done. I just wanted to find Trey. I forgot to stop my watch as soon as I crossed the line. Oops!

My finisher shirt and post half marathon food. Not pictured: Blue Bell Ice Cream -- Trey was working on that.
 
Trey and I watched Sherri cross the finish line. Her marathon time was 3:45, just 10 minutes shy of Boston Qualifying. She's a speed demon and I know soon, she'll reach her BQ goal.

Other Friends I saw, after the race, Thao and Cindy.
 
We had terrible AT&T service near Will Roger Memorial Center. I tried calling Trey after I crossed the finish line. My phone call finally went through after trying off and on, for 10 minutes. Once I met up with him, two men approached us and asked to use Trey's phone so they could call their family and reunite with them. I think Cowtown should do what Dallas White Rock did and have Metro PCS at the finish area providing complimentary phone service. After I finished Dallas White Rock Marathon, I walked in the expo building, found a Metro PCS booth and called Trey. We reunited immediately.

I've decided, this was by far the toughest race I've ever ran. It was a huge challenge. No more races for me, not until I'm postpartum. I have more to say about this race, but I feel like this is enough for now. Goodnight. Let the recovery begin!