I figured I need to write a post on my running.

As weird as it is for me to say I am a runner. I am an athlete. My whole life I have hated running. I'm not fast. I'm not winning races but I do love Disney and I love running disney races so I do it.

I subscribe to the Jeff Galloway run-walk-run method which is counter-intuitive at first. How can u go faster by walking? But the more research I did, the more it really does work!

I have been doing this for almost two full years now and love it! I usually do an interval of 3 min running to 1 min walking. When I train, I do 1:30 running to 30 sec walking to increase my endurance.

I only run 3 days a week. I always run tues and thurs mornings for 3 miles which usually take me 35-40 min depending on lights and speed (I usually average 12-13

Min miles). When I'm in race mode,I do long runs on the weekends ranging from 5-13 miles depending on where I am in my training. When I'm not in race mode, I usually do 3-4 miles on the weekend.

I'm in race mode now for sure. The Disneyland half is Labor Day weekend! So soon! So this weekend is our 11 mile run, the farthest I have gone since jan. I have a lot of races coming up so I have to stay positive.

This race will be different for me. I am doing the Dumbo Challenge which is a 10k on Saturday morning and half marathon on Sunday. Training for a double race has been challenging and very tiring. I have realized the Importance of stretching every day and also fueling my body correctly. When I eat crap, I feel like crap and my runs are hard. When I eat clean, I feel good and my runs are good.

I try to up my whole grain carb intake when I have long runs because the best way to build the strength. I have been trying to eat a lot more fruits and vegetables the last few weeks and it has been working. I feel much better and have continued to lose weight.

I have also kept my protein rate high as well through meats, nuts, beans and Greek yogurt. Same with fiber.

And I can't forget water. With it being so hot in the summer, I have to increase my water intake as well. The side effect of more water is I have to pee so much! But at least to its good

That's all for now. I will write after my run what we ate before and after and how we hydrated.

UPCOMING RACES

Dumbo at Disneyland-September

LA rock n roll-October

Tinkerbell at Disneyland-January

Glass slipper challenge (10k and half)-febuary

LA marathon?? In march-I need to decide on this

So I failed at my goal of three times a week but I'm going to try again!

Sadly I didn't get my salad at Disneyland mostly because I was not feeling well and barely ate at all but next time for sure during the D23 expo.

But on to groceries. As you recall, I spent a lot last week so I just bought a few things to tide me over/were good deals!

FRESH N EASY

So I failed here, well kinda. There was some potatoes I wanted to check out and I didn't read my ad because I didn't think I needed to. Well I needed to and didnt remember until I got to Ralph's. oops. And I bought pink lemonade because I had a coupon but got distracted with expensive pop chips so I forgot to use it. It was only 60 cents but still-it's the principle.

Anyway below is what I got. Everything on clearance. I think the best thing I got was the watermelon! 97 cents and its currently sitting on my counter being turned into a vodka watermelon (I have four sorority sisters in town and were partying this weekend! ). 97 cents for the whole thing.

Spent 3.5 (had a free five bucks to use)

VON'S

another small run. My cousin and I are

Doing an 11-mile run so I had to buy some food for us. So I went to get us a whole chicken (59 cents/lb) which is a good not great price. However I found a good cut of steak that's about 2 lbs for 3.5 so I grabbed that for us (and ill eat the leftovers for lunch during the week at work) so I grabbed that and also the chicken for the rest of my meals for the week. (I leave for Nashville and Orlando on July 29th so I just need to hold myself over). Also I got bananas because they are good for long runs.

I also bought some new yogurt to give it a try. It was 1.34 for the whole container.

Total spent-14.15. Saved 55% (17 dollars)

So my goal is to try and write 3-5 times/ week because I really think this blog can find a spot in the blogosphere!

I am going to show off what I bought grocery shopping this week. Right now my budget for groceries is around 100/month but my goal now is to increase my vegetable and fruit Intake while decreasing the amount of meat I consume so I figured this would be a good way to track my progress. My boyfriend does eat meals with me and I do but food and snacks for him when he is at my house so that is also causing my numbers to fluctuate.

So today I went grocery shopping and ended up spending more than I wanted to but I got some GOOD deals so I am very excited!

First stop: Von's

Spent: 35 dollars

Best buy: simply grapefruit for 1.95, strawberries 3lbs for 5 dollars, steak for about 1.50/lb

Side note: I'm going to Vegas in August for a mini-bday celebration and they had great deals so I bought those: 100% juice cranberry was BOGO at 3.99 so I got two of those, cups were 1.67 and they are the nice plastic ones and red bulls was 1.67 so I spent almost 10 bucks but that will save a ton of money in Vegas.

Savings: 35 bucks!

Second stop: Fresh n Easy

Spent: 19 dollars

Best buy: cheap cheap produce! Organic lettuce for less than 70 cents, kiwis 4/a dollar

Saved: 10 bucks!

Third stop: Ralph's

Best buy: organic kale for 99 cents/huge bunch, I also got 24 cheese sticks for 6.79 (I love these as a snack for work), and those blueberries were 2.99 for 18 oz, and the salsa was free (also will go to Vegas with us!)

spent: 12 Dollars

Saved: 8 bucks

Overall: spent 65 and saved 53. Not too bad! 81% savings! (At Von's alone it was 50%)

I feel like I got a lot of things and we will definitely eat most of them through the week. Since I was gone for 10 days in Texas, I had to restock all my fruits and veggies and milk and cheese.

I bought a lot of lettuce(3 packages) and a lot of fruit (strawberries, blueberries, kiwis, plumcots and mangos) so I should be able to reach my goal of more fruits and vegetables.

My goal on eating less protein in the form of meat is also going well. I made one of my clearance meats for dinner and it was about .7 lbs and I split and it 4 portions (3 will be lunch next week). I had a side salad and a side of summer squash (I got that for a dollar). So overall for dinner I spent about 5 and got 4 meals out of it-1.25 isn't too bad! now I just need to figure a good use for the 3.5 lbs of chicken I bought!

That's all for now! My next post will probabaly be on Sunday. I am going to do the u expected: eat a salad at Disneyland! Wish me luck!