From couch to 5k to Half marathon.. In 6 months

I'm back!!! Now that I have feeling in my legs again, whew. So.. My first half marathon. It was amazing!
I felt so ready yet so nervous lining up to go. 7:15. It's go time!
The first two miles were gone in 17 minutes and I had serious doubts about going too fast. I kept going, though, and I felt good. Before I knew it, 4 miles. I ate some "magic beans".. My foot really started to hurt around the 6 mile turnaround point. I ignored it. A few moments I felt like Veronica Corningstone in Anchor man doing her first news broadcast. I kept saying to myself, "Power! Power!" you can do this! "I'm good at three things.. Fighting, screwing, and running this marathon.."
Okay enough with the quotes.. In all seriousness it was the hardest mental game of my life. 8 miles. I saw the clock. 1:13. Holy crap! I could actually finish this thing in 2 hours. Settling into a nice pace I started running beside a young guy who was also shooting for 2 hours or less.
We chatted a bit but it was hard to talk , the course was insanely hilly!
10 miles. Or as I remember, the two mile uphill ascent of death! Let's just say, it was rough! And in the full Florida sun.
But there was no freaking way I was stopping now, I had gone so long and so much faster than I ever had before.
We get to a quarter mile to the finish and my new running buddy wants to speed up and I physically can't! My body was so jacked but the adrenaline pushed me through. I'm not going to lie, seeing the clock turn to 2:00 right as I was coming for it sucked pretty hard. Then I saw my friend Nikki, her boys, my sister, my brother in law. My mom, my dad, my wonderful husband and beautiful baby!!! It brought me to tears! All cheering for me. Roses at the finish line. Nothing tastes as good as this feels! True accomplishment. I'm completely addicted to running and I don't know how I can afford to keep running these races but I don't know how I can afford not to. The natural high is pretty freaking awesome.
The last pic I'm going to post is one my sis took and I just love my dad's face in it. I'll never forget the love I felt that day!

Colored chicks & cheesecake: The Color Run Orlando 2013

Heeeeyyyyy sexy ladies.. Oontz oontz oontz.. I can still hear the massive bass coming from the Dj booth yesterday at the most awesome race ever... The Color Run!
We groggily loaded ourselves in the van at 6 am and headed to Orlando. Great Oden's raven.. There were a lot of people there! 10,000 to be exact! Rainbow wigs, Afros, mohawks, tutus... It kind of reminded me of the parties my mom warned me about in high school where everyone was a freak and you'd get something slipped in your Zima.
After a less than pleasant port o'john experience we headed to the starting line. First color, Pink! The powder was chalky and weird, but fun. If you do this race, all I can tell you is keep your mouth closed! Otherwise your grill looks like you ate a live animal. Then yellow, orange, blue, purple.. And the finish line!
By far, the most fun part of this race was the after party. It's like a modern day Woodstock only everyone wears neon and they play a lot of Kesha and Pitbull.
You get your own bag of color to throw up in the air in a crowd of 10,000 peeps. All the colors and people jumping up an down is just an experience you'll never forget!
After we took tons of dirty, smurfy pics and bought some souveniers, we headed to the cheesecake factory. Yes, the cheesecake factory. Everyone was in their Sunday best and we looked like, well, it was hard to describe. NUTS!
Girl talk and amazing food. Including massive pieces of cheesecake, movie reviews, man bashing.. You know, the good stuff.
When I walked in the door, I ran to the shower and scrubbed my blue/purple/orange bod with a concoction of olive oil & salt. Even my lady business was colored and my underboobs. (Those with kids know what I'm talking about.). It was a great time! I would encourage everyone to try this race, it's so different!
I have to get my little munchkin ready for mommy & me gymnastics this morning. After seeing her skill set at a gym birthday party this weekend, I'm not holding my breath for her to be the next Shawn Johnson, but it should be fun. Later!

From fluffy to finish line

My first post!! Ahhhh! This is cool. I feel like Carrie Bradshaw. Even though I am totally a Miranda. Sarcasm is my super power!
My name is Niki, I'm 30 years YOUNG (can you tell I just had a birthday) and I live in Florida with my husband and our sweet lil' lady Scarlett Rae. She is two and my main reason for working on my fitness.
No one wants to be the mom who's still losing the baby weight when their kid is 4.
(48 months... Right?) I know I didn't.
So I started counting calories. 1200 a day. Buh bye Dunkin Donuts addiction. I was easily eating 600-700 cals a morning.
Ok, done. Now I have to exercise? When I decided to start C25k, I was really really out of shape, and a minute of running seemed completely out of reach. Running in the backyard is where I started. Totally lame & embarrassing, but at least I had a privacy fence. I would jump in scarlett's baby pool when I got hot, hello this Florida in July! Slowly but surely it got easier. I had a few setbacks, bum knee, shin splints, general wheezing...my neighbors laughed at me when I jogged by when I finally got the courage to go out on the road.
I kept going. Even when I hated running, when I wanted to quit the 30 day shred because I would pee when I did jumping jacks. I started lifting weights by googling & pinterest. I did it all without a gym, with just hard work.
In a week I'll be running my first half marathon. I am very very excited & ready. The training has sometimes been brutal, but it will all be worth it in the end!