I have decided to link up with Tara of Running n Reading as I love linkups. Make sure to check out the other bloggers there too!

EAT WELL
Last Week: I definitely indulged after the marathon and am now getting back on track. 
This week: I want to get back on track and really focus on healthy eating, not drinking alcohol,and not eating as many sweets. My celebration after the marathon is over!

SLEEP WELL:
Last week: I definitely slept and napped almost every day! I feel like I am keeping up the good sleep I did before the LA Marathon. 
this week: same thing! my body is getting used to sleeping 7.5-8 hours a night and I feel so much better. It is not as hot so hopefully I will sleep more soundly this week.

EXERCISE WELL:
Last week: I ran 2 miles on Tues and Thurs and also 4 miles on Saturday. The rest of the days I just rested-I did a bit of stretching but not near as much as I probably should have. 
This week: I am going to get back into working out. My off week is over and my 4 weekends in a row of racing
Mon: Piyo 
Tues:3 miles
Weds: weight training
Thurs: 3 miles
Fri: Dynamic Stretch
Sat: Great Race 10k (I will talk more about the prep later this week!)
Sun: rest day

BE WELL
last week: I had a few days off from work, no class and really got to relax which was awesome! I caught up on a lot of television shows and got a bit ahead on some school work. I also went to 2 great birthday parties! 
This week: I am going to focus on staying ahead on school work and really prepping for the race I have on Saturday

How was everyone elses week?  

Hi all! Linkup Friday!! Thanks to our amazing hostesses: the DC Trifecta Bloggers (Courtney from Eat Pray Run DC, Mar from Mar on the Run, and Cynthia from You Signed Up For What?!).  This week's topic is Spring!

Happy Spring everyone! I hope today is a great day. The weather has finally cooled off to normal in So Cal and it is beyond gorgeous! 

While living in Philly, I always heard that this place called Rita's that celebrated Spring by giving away free water ice (which is basically like a snow cone but better) and officially being open. I only went to Rita's a few times because there were not any in downtown Philly (crazy i know!).

Well imagine my surprise when I learned they had expanded to the West Coast AND ARE OPEN ALL YEAR AROUND! rejoice! 

I introduced my boyfriend to Rita's over the summer and we have loved it ever since. We try to go at least once per month (sometimes more!). In honor of the free water ice, I decided to recap my 5 favorite flavors! :)

1. Coconut Cream
Right now this is one of their newer flavors and I LOVE IT! So creamy and good.

2. Horchata
It tastes just like horchata (rice milk with cinnamon basically)

3. Green tea
Their newest flavor and it is delicious! 

4. Tutti Frutti
taste just like a jelly bean! 

5. Root Beer
I love to mix this with the ice cream and it tastes like a root beer float! 

I am very basic in I usually just get 1 water ice and split it with 2 flavors. I have found that the kids size is plenty but sometimes I will splurge on the regular adult size. 

Fun fact: in the Rita's closest to me, Mango is their most popular flavor!

A note: rita's is naturally gluten free which is great! The things that have gluten in them like cookies or cake would in turn make the water also with gluten so just be careful in what you select.

Anyone else ever been to Rita's or had water ice? 

YAY YAY YAY! They finally announced the Avengers 10k and Challenge (which have been assumed since they added a day to the weekend last year) but it good to finally hear official word. Here is the official announcement video. 

I am definitely in for trying to run the Infinity Gauntlet challenge. AP registration is next Tuesday. I love inaugural races and challenges even more! I think this one will be super fun. I already dressed up as captain America last year at the Inaugural Avengers Half  but already have a few costume ideas in mind so far. 

Prices are above! Pretty much they are in line with Dumbo and Rebel and Pixie. Now DL has 4 races with 4 challenges: awesome! 

With the new movie coming out, I wonder if they are going to add any new characters or anything new? Hopefully the wind will stay away this time!! 

Anyone else want to do any of the races at the Avengers Half Weekend? 

Well this was a great surprise! the LA Marathon has decided to do a Flash sale for the race next year! Yes, even though I am finally getting over my soreness, I have just signed up to run this race again! 

This race will be HUGE as the Olympic Trials are the day before on Saturday, Feb 13th and the full marathon on February 14th! 

and even better? MY BOYFRIEND IS RUNNING IT AS WELL! His first marathon! So we will be celebrating his 1st marathon (my 5th! so crazy), our 4 year anniversary, and valentine's day by doing my favorite activity on earth: running! We are even debating making a weekend of it and staying down in Santa Monica the whole time. 

I promise I will get my recap of the race up soon. There is a lot that should be looked at or changed so only time will tell if it does. But even though I did not get the race I wanted, I had the race I had and there is a lot to be learned from it. I had debated not doing it again in 2016 but that had always been the plan. I can't give up. I can't let this course beat me. I can't let this course get me down. I WILL conquer this course the way I want! Third time is the charm right? 

Are you interested in running the LA Marathon in 2016? Click through on the picture to sign up! 

Anyone else lose their mind and sign up for the race already? 

I headed to the Expo from work on Friday. We closed the office early as it was almost Spring Break and no one was around anyway. I got the expo around 3:45 and was with my bib, shirt and bag by 4 o'clock.

I decided to walk around and at least glance at every booth. I've so many expos at this point that they do all blend together and there is only so many new things.

I do love the few things the LAM does: the name wall, the decorations around and this year they had a mini-graffiti wall

I ended up going to the KT booth to get taped (I won a fastpass on facebook so I didn't have to wait in line!), the kool n fit booth to get my free bottle of spray I won, and the Asics pace band booth to pick up my custom pace band, and also the nutrabullet booth to try out their new lines of smoothies that will hit the market soon.

I listened to the end of a talk at the Speakers series and continued on and passed the New Years Eve race booth and stopped to chat. Turns out they are doing a Double Header Challenge where you can run either the 5k or 10k and then the half and get 3 medals and 3 shirts! Well I pulled out my workout schedule and I need to do 18-20 miles that day as a taper for Star Wars and also my last taper for the LA marathon so I was in! Did I mention there was a 30 dollar discount? Yes yes yes! I will be doing the 10k and half and am excited! Now I just need to think of my New Years resolution that will go on my bib!

After that, I hit up the clif booth to grab a 5 hr band and was going to try some samples but the lines were crazy long. Same with at any of the giveaway booths. I think it was because it was after school and a lot of the SRLA (Students Run LA) groups were there. The expo itself wasn't crowded though. 

I ended up leaving the expo around 4:45 feeling satisfied. I headed on the train home and met up with a friend for happy hour before calling it an early night to prep everything before calling it an early night. 

What do you usually think of race expos? 

Dopey Challenge Recaps: Expo, 5K, 10K, HALF, and Marathon part 1, Part 2

This outfit has been planned since the Dopey challenge was announced and it also was my easiest to put together. It had to be pretty low key since I needed to run 26 miles in it (part of that was in the rain too!)


DOPEY OUTFIT
1. Lime green everything
sports bra, shirt and shorts-I found all of my lime green things at target on clearance!

2. Brown buttons 
I cut these out of felt and safety pinned them to my shirt

3. Purple hat
I randomly found this hat at Hot topic on clearance for 5 bucks. even though it was sweater material, it never got hot! Feel free to also buy a purple hat if you can find one

4.Tutu
I made my tutu out of tulle and added black sparkle ribbon and cut out a gold belt buckle. You could also do this on your shirt instead of making a tutu. Be careful when making it with glitter tulle-it WILL get everywhere! 

5. Blue pants
Under dopey's coat, he wears blue pants so if it is cold, that would help stay warm and in costume!

Overall, I like this costume but it was hard to balance the costume elements with knowing I had to run a marathon. 

This one was my favorite from the Dopey challenge weekend and I wore it during the WDW half. Since it was Donald's race, we knew we wanted to go as him. 

My grandmother loves to help with costumes so she jumped at the chance with her best friend to take over this costume fully. 

Overall, it was pretty easy to put together once we figured it all out. 

DONALD COSTUME

1. Blue shirt (you can add buttons to it but I like to keep my shirts so I can reuse them for other costumes)

2. Blue collar
Measure blue fabric around your head to make sure it will fit over. Pack safety pins to attach it to your shirt so it would fly away (I put one in the bow and it was fine. You may need some for the back side too) 
Add yellow ribbon to the trim if you want. 

3. Red bow
My grandma stuffed it with plastic but there's no need to do that. You can just tie red ribbon there 

4. Bottoms should be white
I used my tutu from my Bacchus costume during wine and dine. Here is the tutorial for that. 
You can also do white shorts or skirt but it can be hard to find! 

5. The hat
This is the most elaborate part of the costume. She took a white hat and paint the bill of it orange and cut out the eyes out of felt and glued it to the hat. From there she outlined the eyes. She then added a black ribbon to the top.
Feel free to have a blue hat with black ribbon as well. 

To make it suitable for winter, add a white shirt under your blue shirt and. Pants under your bottoms

I forgot to pack my yellow tights but they would really cap off the costume. 

And that's it! It's a bit more involved but I love the costume and will be able to use it in the future. 

Another Tuesday, another Tuesday on the Run hosted by our favorites: 
April from Run the Great Wide Somewhere, Erika from MCM Mama Runs, and Patty from No-Guilt Life.  This week's topic is Race Ritual. 

As I just wrapped up my 3rd marathon at the LA Marathon, I have my race rituals down! Even though the race didn't go according to plan, I don't think I could have done anything different in preparing. So what do I do? 

DAY BEFORE: 

• full carbload day! 
  
• I usually have a sugar added Starbucks drink, yams, orange juice, tons of water and powerade
  
• pasta for dinner with a glass of wine <---this is my RACE RITUAL! It calms me down and also makes me paranoid I am going to get dehydrated
  
• double check my music
• double check my bag is packed (fuel, spray, chafing, etc)
• lay out my outfit
• review my plan for the morning and the race
• early bedtime! try to get into bed 8 hours before I need to be to run

MORNING OF:
race breakfast

• glass of water
• 8 oz glass of orange juice
  
• hot cereal with chia and maple syrup
  
• banana and peanut butter
  
• hot tea
  

BEFORE RACE:

• joint stretches
  
• a glass of water
  
• repeating my mantras (I can DO Hard Things, this is the day I go...(insert goal here), etc). 
  
• say a quick prayer
  
• get ready to run!
  

I don't have any good luck charms during races. I think my good luck charm is my planning. The more I plan, the more relaxed I feel. 

What are your race day rituals? 

Welcome back to another weekly update on my Healthy I'm living! Now time to hop into the 4 Well Rules: Eat Well, Sleep Well, Exercise Well, and Be Well. 
I have decided to link up with Tara of Running n Reading as I love linkups. Make sure to check out the other bloggers there too!

EAT WELL
Last Week: I was great. I start carb loading on Tuesday and had a lot of added sugars (coconut cream yogurt! yum!), bananas, carbs and yummy food. A great carb loading week even though it will be a long time before I want to have a banana again. 

This Week: I am going to make sure I am eating enough to recover and also eating healthy and back on track with low carb eating until my next race!

SLEEP WELL
Last Week: Last week rocked (minus on Friday when I got up to use the bathroom and couldn't go back to sleep). I averaged between 7.5-8 hours of sleep including 7 hours of sleep the night before the Marathon. 

This Week: I want to try and get as close to 8 hours of sleep as I can. The temps should finally cool off which will make it much easier to sleep. I feel like I function better when I am getting 7.5-8 hours of sleep. 

EXERCISE WELL
Last Week:
Mon: rest day but did extra stretching and yoga
Tues: 2.1 mile run (10:45 pace)
Weds: Biggest Loser weights
Thurs:3 mile run (11:16 pace)
Fri: Dynamic Stretch-i forgot how good this workout is! 
Sat: 2 mile shake out run at 12:00 min/mile pace
Sun: LA marathon ~ 13 min/mile pace-not the race I wanted as my legs locked up at mile 20 and I had to walk the rest :/

This Week:
Mon: rest day +90 min massage
Tues: 2 mile run/walk (:15 sec running/:30 sec walking)
Weds: dynamic stretch
Thurs: 3 mile run (:60 sec running/:30 sec walking)
Fri: dynamic stretch
Sat: rest day
Sun: 4-6 miles depending on how I feel

BE WELL
Last Week:
 I had all of my favorite treats before a race (Ritas, starbucks, etc)
tried the Starbucks Butterbeer recipe and it was good but not as good as regular hot butter beer
saw Cinderella and Frozen Fever
finished the LA Marathon-my third marathon! 

This Week:
have 2 days off work
St. Patrick's Day
2 birthday parties this weekend!

How was your week? 

It is Monday so we are linking up with another Magical Mickey with John at run.geek.rundisney and Katie from Adventures by Katie.

Over the weekend, I saw the live-action Cinderella movie decked out in my Glass Slipper shirt, headband and jacket (I had to be in theme!). As most know, I was really looking forward to it including dressing up as Cinderella in the Enchanted 10k during Princess Half marathon weekend. 

*SPOILER ALERTS** well maybe, just want to throw that out there so people can't claim I did not warn them!

My mom has always loved Cinderella so we watched it often growing up. I was a bit nervous when the movie was announced but when the casting was announced, I knew it would be good!

Overall, I LOVED the movie. I may have cried a few times because it was all so touching. 

I love that we get to see Ella (since Cinderella is her name that her stepsisters give her for being covered in cinders from the fire) with her mother and father and I love that her mother teaches her: "have courage and be kind". I had never thought of it that way before but Cinderella does have a lot of courage: dealing with her stepfamily, trusting her fairy godmother, going to the ball, having courage to show the glass slipper that is rightfully hers. All courage! :) 

Cate Blanchett as the stepmother stole the show of course. Her Lady Tremaine was amazing and her clothes were to die for. I felt like she brought more purpose to the role than just being mean and it is explained a bit better why she is so mean to Cinderella. The stepsisters were not as over the top as they have come to be known but I liked it. They actually seemed a bit smarter (but still not musically talented!).

HBC (Helena Bonham Carter)'s Fairy Godmother was divine as could be expected. 

and let's discuss the costumes. OMG OMG OMG! everything on that scene was beautiful as were the set designs. I see Oscar nominations and potential wins in the future!  

oh and Frozen Fever? That may be one of the cutest things I have EVER seen. All the characters were back with their personalities and it was the perfect revisit to these characters. so excited for Frozen 2!

I would highly recommend this movie to anyone. I think young kids may be a bit bored by the length (it is about 2 hours with the  Frozen short). I think my 4 year old sister would be bored but I think my 7 year old sister would love it! 

Have you seen Cinderella? What did you think?