Hey guys!
Sorry for not blogging in so long. I
simply wish I could fill all of you in on the happenings of my past 4-5
months, but it would just be way to much to write about. A few things
that I want to mention due to relevance of any future posts are the
following:
--- I set a goal for myself to train and run
a half marathon as a part of Team One Step. However, in the earlier
half of my training I suffered a hamstring strain and let me tell ya,
NOT FUN. The injury occurred July 8, 2012 and I was not pain free until
I started physical therapy the second week of August. This did not
leave me much time to finish training, considering the half was Sept 8,
and upon d/c from physical therapy, my PT cleared me to increase my
mileage .25 a week, which I have obeyed! :) To this point in time I am
up to 2.5 miles again (YAYYY!!!!!!! Not much, but when you are injured,
you would do anything to run just that much!) So of course, not running
my half that I had my heart set on was tough but I did not want/there
was no possible way, I could actually run this injury without being in
pain the entire time, and more than likely following up with another
injury that will set me back again for future events!
I
have definitely learned from that experience (of course) and now I am
taking steps to make sure I maintain every aspect of my life that is
relevant in allowing me to successfully complete future events. These
"aspects of my life" (nutrition, strength training, mentality,
stretching, listening to my body and taking injury prevention measures
(ice, heat, KT Tape, compression sleeves, etc) are not just things I do
for training, I say "of my life," because that's what they are... they
are a part of who I am and I don't just ignore them until they need to
become a priority. I learn from my mistakes and I consider my body to
be fragile, I feel that (literally) one wrong move may have a negative
outcome and may result in injury. Anyway, this was important to discuss
because for my new blog, which, hopefully can be linked within this
one, I will be focusing on Mind-Body Wellness/Training!! :) I hope to
interest you by blogging about the ups,downs, lessons, and future goals I
have in regards to my physical and mental training/conditioning.
-Alright, So now that I am back in training mode with no injuries (***hold my breath, knock on wood, fingers crossed***) I am about to get in "The Zone." I have registered to do the Sears Tower Stair Climb
in Chicago on NOVEMBER 4th!!!! I AM SOOO excited and anxious!!! Last
year I did the Aon Center "Step Up for Kids," 82 floor (?) climb. This
was my first and I was very proud of myself for my completion time. See
my Athlinks profile for results here: http://athlinks.com/racer/118538989
,based upon my time for the Aon Climb, I would like to set a goal for
myself to finish under 27:00 for the Sears. I love that last year was
my first year finally applying my dedication for fitness to actually
participating in timed events! I think I had always filled myself with
the fear that I was not well enough conditioned to complete such events
at a reasonable time so I never participated. Now, I feel like this is
something I owe to myself, it isn't to compete against others. It's to
reward myself for maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle, I love to
see my hard work and dedication pay off. These events make me challenge
myself to work to be a better me, I love having a goal to work towards,
and such races make me compete against myself. I love the quote: "I
don't stop when I'm tired, I stop when I'm done," this is how I feel
about workouts and it's that mentality that keeps me pushing my hardest
the entire time of an event. I want to over achieve the goals that I
have set out for myself, I have previously established times for my past
events, and now I am adding to that list as well as having my sights
set on setting new PR's!! :)
----REDEFINE YOUR IMPOSSIBLE!----
Alright, just gotta throw in another thing here
because it was the last post I had blogged about back in June. My
experience with the Chicago Nike Northside vs Southside 16" Softball
Game. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I can honestly say I had the best 2 days ever that
week, it was by far one of, if not THEE coolest opportunities that I
have ever had the chance to be a part of! The first night I went up and
they just had me doing my thing at GSP Boxing Gym downtown Chicago.
They had recorded me doing my warm ups, stretching, hitting the bags,
and several drills that are a part of the Nike+ Training Drill Pack that
syncs with the Nike Lunar Hyper Workout training shoes. If you are a
fan of doing at home cardio drills, I strongly recommend purchasing a
pair of these shoes. I am literally DRIPPING sweat by the time I
finish, which reminds me, I need to start utilizing those
shoes/application again! So the next day we had the softball game, I
did not expect it to be nearly as large of an event as it turned out to
be! I thought it would just be a small pick up game with the two teams,
some Nike team members, a couple staff members from the company that
did the film production, AKA...Suite Partners, and of course A.J.
Pierzynski and the Northside's coach for the day, Johnny Knox. I walk
up to the field that we were playing at in Lincoln Park and I about
died. Tents, cameras, trailers, workers everywhere, banners, you name
it... of course quite, shy, little me did not expect an event this size
and I was just like, "what did I get myself into!?" LOL! But just an
overall AWESOME experience, I am sooo fortunate to meet some of the
people that God places into my life. Some have more significance than
others, yet they all play a role in my personal development. At this
event, along with the Nike staff, I also worked with Suite Partners, as I
had previously mentioned. It's so funny because I really don't know
them that well but to me, each person I met that day from their company
was beyond friendly, down to Earth, welcoming, fun, and just an overall
pleasure to work with and be around! I felt very empowered by this
experience, Nike and Suite Partners did a great job working together to
carry out such a fantastic event. In these 2 days, I felt like I
stepped made a major change in myself, I did things that I did not think
ever possible for me, I stepped outside of my comfort zone, I felt as
though a part of me just grew up and became more mature in the sense of
my future aspirations. Since this experience, I feel much more
empowered to make the things I dream of achieving someday into a
reality. I know now that nothing is out of reach and I am capable of
doing great things. Thank you for helping me to realize this, Nike!
<3
Soooo I thought I would share this video with y'all now! :)
Enjoy ~~~> Nike Video!! Here's the link in case that one does not work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IvxB-akT_A&feature=youtu.be
-- So now that you're a little more up to date on my life, I just want to invite you to continue following me as I begin working towards creating my new blog!
Thanks for reading guys, I really appreciate your time and interest in reading what I have to say.
<3
Kristin.
