February Recap + March Goals

Happy March!! I, for one, am super excited for a new month. A fresh start.
Why does it seem that February, the shortest month of the year, always seems so long!?!

Actually, the entire month wasn't so bad; it's just got clouded with kind of a pretty rotten ending. I guess that's why these recaps are so important. To keep me a little grounded and help remember the good times.

February started out with the best thing ever - a fantastically surprising PR at the Big Game 5k.

Here are a few more highlights from the month:

I convinced a co-worker to Runch with me one afternoon. We were going to make it a more regular thing, but so far, we've only gone the one time.

I tried out a fun Toning Ballet class at Pole Fitness Studio using my ClassPass.

I read more in February than I have in a very long time!

I fell into a funk the past week or so. :(

February Goal Recap

• Bike commute at least 4 times - Only made it 2 1/2 times, which I'm still happy about - considering it had been MONTHS since I'd last biked in.
• Run at least 35 miles - So close! I think I made it 29+ miles, but then this funk hit me like a ton of bricks, and running took a backseat.
• Take 3 yoga classes - Total failure with this one. Not even a single yoga class was taken. Not even a yoga video at home.
• Complete the Flab Free February challenge with Tera at Girl Gone Healthy -  I did really well with this for the first 19 days of the month, and then, well, that stupid funk. :(
• Gain 50 Pinterest followers - Only gained 23, but I didn't really take the time to actually focus on this like I wanted to.
• Read at least 2 books - Winner, winner, chicken dinner!!! I actually read 3 books in February - 2 on my own and 1 with Jeff. :-)

Goals with Jeff Recap

• Monthly date night - Didn't happen in February. I know, I know. The month with Valentine's Day AND Jeff's birthday, and we didn't manage to get out of the house together. Unless you count the crazy walk to RedBox on Saturday.
• Read 12 books - Finished book #2. Whoo hoo! We didn't think we were going to, but then we surprised ourselves by finishing a few days early. We even got a jump start on book #3.
• Buy a house - It's with a little bit of sadness that we've decided to remove this as one of our 2015 goals. Sometimes life has other ideas, and plans have to change. So instead of buying a house, we signed a new 13-month lease at our current apartment. 

Yeah. It's going to be a bit of a Do Over month.

What was your best highlight from February?
What are your March goals?
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January Recap + February Goals

Did January fly by for anyone else or was it just me? There were actually quite a few days/weeks that seemed to drag on, but now that it's Feb 2nd already, Jan feels like a blur.

Here are a few highlights from the month.

We met some friends for drinks at Parasol Up at the Wynn. Such a fabulous little bar on the Strip.

I join the #NoExcuses Sweat Pink challenge.

We had to take Sallie to the vet a couple times because she stopped eating. Poor girl. :( She's all back to normal now. Yay!

I tried out a new yoga studio with my ClassPass.

I joined a blogger book club and added reading 12 books to my 2015 goals.

I won a pair of Altra Running shoes from Runchat.

Overall, it was a good month. :)

January Goals
Do yoga 2x each week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) - Skipped a few, but still did OK
Do strength training 2x each week (Mondays and Fridays) - Same as yoga
Run at least 25 miles - CHECK! 26.69 miles.
Share 3 videos - I think I only ended up sharing 1 video.
Gain 30 more followers on Instagram - Blew this goal out of the water!! 230 new followers. Whoo hoo!!

Goals with Jeff
Monthly date night - Drinks with friends at Parasol Up
Read 12 books - Check! Finally finished the book we started in Nov!
Buy a house - No news on this front yet.

And here are the goals I have for February!

• Bike commute at least 4 times.
• Run at least 35 miles.
• Take 3 yoga classes.
• Complete the Flab Free February challenge with Tera at Girl Gone Healthy.
• Gain 50 Pinterest followers.
• Read at least 2 books.

What was your best highlight from January?

What are your February goals?

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December in Review

Wow! December really flew by. Doesn't it always?!

I've got a Year in Review post coming tomorrow, but today let's take a look at December. :) It was a pretty fabulous month!

I continued with the #RWRunStreak. Only 2 more runs to go!! :-)

I shared 3 holiday drinks using Cocogo. You can check them out here, here, and here.

Cocogo's Mistletoe Punch was my favorite

We celebrated our 10th anniversary and tried out a new (to us) restaurant, crossing off two of our 2014 goals. More on that tomorrow.

I went for a super fun Christmas run along the Las Vegas Strip.

We went to the Wildlife Habitat at the Flamingo. The flamingos weren't out because their island was being worked on, but we got to see the pelicans and other waterfowl being fed. There were so many beautiful little ducks! This also crossed off of our final 2014 goal. More on that tomorrow.

I took a lot of pictures in the habitat, so I think I'll share those in a post of its own.

My hair and makeup were pretty perfect, though! I even got compliments from a few random strangers while we were out and about.

I tested out some awesome arm sleeves.

I received the #FrostyVoxBox with lots of fun products to test. Lots more to come on this, but you can watch my unboxing on YouTube in the meantime.

What fun things did you do in December?
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August in Review

Happy Labor Day!! Hope everyone is enjoying the extra long weekend. I know I enjoyed sleeping in late and lounging around this morning!

Let's talk about August. IT WAS AMAZING!!! Seriously, so many fun things happened in August. It was my birthday month, after all.

Biggest highlight: Jeff and I ran a half marathon together. It was my birthday, and his first half marathon.

I got to meet-up with Katie from Twitter and ChaseThisSkirt for a #LadiesBeLike tweet-up at the Palms. She dropped off the fun alien green skirt and headband that I wore for the ET Half Marathon. So fun to meet up with her.

Jeff and I also got all dressed up to go to a friend's art show.

We had a pool day with some friends and my nephew and his girlfriend (and one of their friends), who were visiting from MN for the weekend.

I ramped up my running to officially start marathon training for Rock 'n Roll Vegas in November.

I've been slacking on my yoga, but I did create an easy yoga sequence to do in the morning - even before crawling out of bed.

I shared 5 lessons from Running that I haven't learned.

Jeff and I finally went for a couple bike rides to prepare for Ventura Marathon weekend, where we'll be biking 30-miles on Saturday, and I'll be running a half marathon on Sunday. Can't wait!!

Overall, it was a pretty winning month. In addition to all of the above, I also won two $25 GC to Starbucks in a couple of random drawings at work, a super cute Uberfit tank from This Mama Runs for Cupcakes, AND entry to Long Beach Marathon (or half... I still haven't decided) from Fitness Fatale.

Perfect for my birthday month, right?

Let's check in on my 2014 goals.

Individual Goals

Fitness goals - Run Faster and Train Harder
After my July fitness challenges ended in early Aug, my train harder kind of stopped - unless you include the ramp-up of running mileage. I have been good about getting in some speed work, so there's that. The heat is still kind of killing me, but fall is right around the corner. Even though it's still been triple digits here. I mean Starbucks released the Pumpkin Spice Latte, which means fall, right?!

Blogging goals
I like blogging, but it's a little difficult to see my numbers drop every month. :-( At least my social following has been growing, so there's that... Now, how to get them to pop over and read my blog, too. lol.

• Monday Listicles? Rumor has it this will start up again in September, so maybe next week...?
• Fitness Friday posts? I think I posted once on a Friday, but linked up a couple more times.
• What's for Dinner/Week-in-Review posts? With all the craziness of the month, my weekends have been busy, and I *may* have missed a week.

Goals with Jeff

Run a Triathlon. We've decided to push this back to 2015. It's just not the right time for us with me training for a marathon and other things going on.

Read 3 books together. Maybe in September. :)

New in 2014. Have I mentioned we ran a half marathon together? :-) It wasn't my first, but it was his. Plus it was definitely our first together.

Enriching Activities. We knocked off a cultural activity (our friend's art show) plus we found a great (new to us) biking/running trail. We'll be doing a lot more bike rides and running on this trail for sure!

What was your biggest highlight from August?
How are you doing with your 2014 goals?
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July in Review

What? It's already August 4th? I feel like this month is going to be over in the blink of an eye! Lots of fun things coming up this month, but this post is about July.

I fully intended on posting a recap on 7/31, but all of a sudden last week was over. CRAZY!

Let's start with a few highlights from July.

I created a delicious fruit dip!

I did a few fitness challenges (almost).

#30dayfitness Little Black Dress challenge. I made it about 20 or so days until the number of burpees was just too much.

#30dayfitness Abs challenge. I've got a few more days left, but I saw great improvements in July with this challenge!

And of course my running and yoga challenge! There's less than a week left, so you should sign up today to be entered to win some fun prizes!

I've been really good with the #ETCRunStreak part of the challenge, but I've kind of dropped off with the #ETCYogaStreak. I ought to pick that back up for the rest of the streak, BUT it's difficult to find the time with running and the abs challenge.

I created a yoga sequence for runners.

We did our first lake swim at Boulder Beach. 

We also purchased an Inter-Agency Park Pass, so we're looking forward to many more trips to Lake Mead, Red Rock, and (hopefully) the Grand Canyon.

I became an ambassador for Cocogo! Love this stuff! You can get 40% off your order by entering ENJOYINGTHECOURSE at checkout. Can't wait to represent at my next race!!

I also got accepted as a Sweat Pink ambassador!

So excited to join the #sweatpink sisterhood! Can't wait to connect with other SPAs.
— Clarinda (@EnjoytheCourse) July 28, 2014

That's a lot of highlights! Guess it was a pretty great month. :)

Time to check in on my 2014 goals.

Individual Goals

Fitness goals - Run Faster and Train Harder
The two #30dayfitness challenges I started in July helped a LOT with the training harder. I just hope I can keep up with it once this abs challenge ends.
Running faster? Nope. Triple digit heat + streaking = No speed work.

Blogging goals
To be honest, I didn't really put in as much effort with promoting my blog in July as I did in June, and my page views dropped by about 250 - which is kind of a lot when you consider how few they are to begin with. :) Hope to be better about this in Aug! I did gain about 130 Twitter followers, so that's pretty awesome!

• Monday Listicles? The host has been enjoying her vacation month, so I didn't write a single list in July. Maybe I'll just go rogue while she's still on vacation and do my own lists? Probably not, to be honest.
• Tuesday's Tips? I've struggled with this one since about Feb or Mar. I think it's time to retire it.
• Fitness Friday posts? I had some great ideas, but lacked the follow-through. :( I only linked up twice. My birthday party and the Gifts for the party.
• What's for Dinner/Week-in-Review posts? I didn't miss a single week!

Goals with Jeff

Run a Triathlon. We haven't signed up yet, but we have decided on the Pumpkinman Triathlon at Lake Mead. This is perfect for us because it's close enough that we can drive out to Lake Mead on the weekends to swim the exact course of the race. Real training for this is going to start after the E.T. Full Moon Midnight Half Marathon that we will be running next weekend.

Read 3 books together. Nope. Not yet.

New in 2014. We're going to count our Lake Mead swim as our something New in 2014. This was our first time actually swimming in a lake. We've lounged and played. We've Scuba dived. But we've never actually tried swimming, so there you go.

Enriching Activities. No updates on this in July, but we did make some plans for what to do for the rest of year.

What was your biggest highlight from July?
How are you doing with your 2014 goals?
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June in Review

Happy July!! 

Whoa. Typing that I just realized that HALF the year is OVER. How did that happen?! Seems like I'm going to blink, and it will be 2015. There are still quite a few things we want to do this year, so we'll probably need to really start kicking it up a notch.

But not to get down about the things still left to do this year, here are a few highlights from June.

The most exciting thing I did was fly back to MN to surprise my niece at her graduation party. I still can't believe she's 18 already.

Jeff and I went hiking on Mt Charleston,

started training for Jeff's first Half Marathon,

and walked a 5k. The Sprinkler Sprint.

Oh, yeah, and I announced my birthday celebration challenge. JOIN ME!!

I also tried iced tea for the first time. And stevia. I'm sold on both.
And the winner of the Summer Fit Kit giveaway is ... Jill Conyers!

So. Yeah. It was a pretty fantastic month!!

Halfway through the year? Let's check in on those 2014 goals.

Individual Goals

Fitness goals - Run Faster and Train Harder
It was a pretty good month for training harder, but not so much with the running faster. It's been H-O-T here! Plus Jeff and I started training for the half together, and since it's his first half, there really hasn't been much time for speed work.

Blogging goals
I'm happy to report that after quite a bit of work in June, I saw growth across all my social channels and with my blog readership. Yay!

• I actually wrote a Monday Listicles. 10 Plans for Summer.
• And one Tuesday's Tip, too. 5 Ways to Beat the Heat.
• Two Fitness Friday posts - Staying Fit While Traveling, ETC Streaks
• Five Sunday for What's for Dinner/Week-in-Review posts!! Sweet. :)

Goals with Jeff

Run a Triathlon. Still haven't signed up for anything, but we have started swimming a bit as cross training for our half marathon plan.

Read 3 books together. I'm thinking this is going to be a wintertime thing. Or maybe fall.

New in 2014. We tried a new (to us) restaurant. I Love Burgers. It was delicious!

Enriching Activities. We checked off another Outdoor Activity this month when we went hiking Bristlecone Loop.

What was your biggest highlight from June?
How are you doing with your 2014 goals?
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May in Review

I think that May might have gone even faster than April! CRAZY!

Here are a few highlights.

We started the month by running/walking a 5k. Race for the Cure.

We spent the next weekend on Catalina Island for my cousin's wedding. We also went SCUBA diving in the ocean before the wedding and I went for a run the next day.

I also did some sun salutations on the beach, which I didn't really blog about but had a great time doing.

We took a weekend off the 3rd weekend, but then I ran a half marathon and a 5k the 4th weekend. It was a gorgeous day for a race, and I had a great time - despite exacerbating an injury I'd been ignoring.

I also had a great time participating in Namaste in May with Fitfluential and MPG Sports. There was a different yoga pose challenge each day, and I did a version of each pose - missing only a few. Yay!

Now let me check in with the old 2014 goals.

Individual Goals

Fitness goals - Run Faster and Train Harder
Can't say I really devoted anytime to this in May. :( I think I may have had one speed training session. Boo. Overall my training wasn't as good as it should have been, but there's always next month. LOL.

Blogging goals
Blogging in May definitely could have been better. I checked in with my Google Analytics this morning only to find out that my pageviews had dropped significantly. Guess I have some work to do to build things back up again.

• Another month without any Monday Listicles. Maybe in June?
• Shoot! Not a single Tuesday's Tip either!! Any ideas on tips you'd like me to share?
• At least Fitness Friday's were pretty consistent - Ragnar Trail Zion recap, Catalina Island: The Running, 50th Mustang Half Conversations, Ready for the Weekend
• Didn't miss a single Sunday for What's for Dinner/Week-in-Review. Except that one I posted on a Monday. :)

Goals with Jeff

Run a Triathlon. No news on this yet. Well, except the we've decided against running the Solana Beach Triathlon. There were a lot of reasons why we decided not to do this one, but the ocean swim was definitely a big one.

Read 3 books together. Maybe in June...?

New in 2014. SCUBA diving in the ocean!

Enriching Activities. Nothing in May, but I think we're still good on this. :)

What was your biggest highlight from May?
How are you doing with your 2014 goals?
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April in Review

Before I check in with my 2014 goals, here are a few highlights from April. We crammed a whole lot of fun into one month. :)

We started the month out by attending our neighbor's wedding at the Aria. We were the only two guests, but it was a blast!

I attended a group run to kick off the Rock 'n Roll Marathon in Nov. #LVKickOffNight

Jeff and I got a somewhat disappointing couple's massage.

We volunteered at GreenFEST.

I ran the Mustang 50th half marathon and met up with some fun Twitter friends.

I ran 2/3 of Ragnar Trail Zion before it got canceled due to the weather. I still need to write a recap, but it was a blast hanging out with the team - especially since we happened to have a cabin. :) We've all decided to redeem ourselves next year. :) I can't wait!

On the way home, George, Rochelle, and I stopped a few places in Zion National Park and had some fun stopping at Fort Zion Trading Post.

Like I said, April was a ton of fun! And you know what they say about time when you're having fun! IT REALLY FLIES! I can hardly believe that tomorrow is already May! Lots more fun to come in May, too. :)

#LVKickOffNight 5k recap

TGIF, my friends! Actually, this week really seemed to fly by! I could hardly believe that yesterday was Thursday, and now it's Friday already. Woot woot!!

Wednesday night after work, I headed straight to Red Rock Running Company for the #LVKickOffNight 5k fun run. I arrived just in time for the group to be heading out of the store. :)

I met up with George, and we were off!

The guy leading the group started out with a much faster pace than I'd expected, but I did my best to keep up with the group. Every time I glanced down at my watch and saw sub-9:00 paces, I couldn't help but smile just a little. Turns out this was going to be a tempo run.

March in Review

Unlike January and February, March really seemed to FLY BY!! Seriously, it seems like I was just writing my February review post. Work continues to be a bit crazy and filled with lots of changes, but somehow this month it really seemed to make the time go so very fast!

Here are a few highlights from the month.

I managed to successfully run 100 miles.
Jeff and I became friends with some of our neighbors.
We watched 3 seasons of Downton Abbey.
I met some friends who were visiting Vegas for brunch and fun on the Strip.
I hit the trails a few times with George.
I tried out a few fitness studios through Yelp's Fit Club.

I feel like I'm forgetting something...

So, let's just check in with my 2014 goals.

Individual Goals

Fitnesss goals - Run Faster and Train Harder
I'm very pleased with my training this month! Like I already mentioned, I ran 100 miles and tried out some fun fitness classes. Unfortunately, I didn't really do much yoga or strength training, but it's really hard to find the time with all the running! 3 weeks until the Mustang Half Marathon and 4 weeks until Ragnar Zion! Maybe after these two races, I'll be able to scale back my running a bit to include more variety of exercise, but right now those are my main focuses.

Blogging goals
Definitely could have done better with this one in March. With running and work and spending time with Jeff, something had to give. And that something turned out to be blogging. :( Hopefully, I'll be a little more consistent in April. I need to take a moment to make a plan before April is over and I've only written handful of posts. :)

Goals with Jeff

Run a Triathlon. We still haven't chosen a tri to do yet, but Jeff did start running in March. We even ran together a couple of times.

Read 3 books together. Well, we got Amazon Prime, so we watched a little too much TV in March. *ahem* Downton Abbey *ahem*

New in 2014 and Enriching Activities. Well, it's the last day of the month, and it's our last chance to get something new in for March, so we'll be hitting up a new restaurant tonight after work to check of our New thing for March as well as one of 3 new restaurants for 2014.
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February in Review

Oh February, for being the shortest month of the year, you sure seem to have taken your sweet time this year.

Anyone else feel like the beginning of the month was a very long time ago? No? Just me? Well, I wouldn't say that February was particularly bad. Just long.

We still did some pretty fun things. Like going kite flying for the first time. We also met up with a childhood friend of mine who was in town for a convention, and had a surprise visit from my stepmom and her sister! Like I said, definitely not a bad month. :)

Time to check in on my 2014 goals.

Individual Goals

Fitnesss goals - Run Faster and Train Harder
The month started out strong. I got a PR during the 5 by the 5th virtual 5k and kept up with my fitness goals for the first week and a half of the month. And then I got a cold and decided the best thing would be to get some good solid rest. And rest I did. This week I slowly started to get back to it. It's amazing how much can be lost taking 11 days off.

Blogging goals
Time to make some adjustments. I did pretty well keeping up - even when I was sick, but I think all the themes are taking away some of my voice on the blog and getting a little tedious. I ended up skipping my Monday Listicles and Tuesday's Tip posts this week. I needed a little blogging mental break.

And a little flexibility. So, starting in March, I'm going to change to doing Tuesday's Tips only twice a month instead of weekly. Monday Listicles will become optional as well. I'll try every week, but I'm not going to beat myself up if I miss a week here or there.

Goals with Jeff

Run a Triathlon. No news on this front yet. We haven't chosen one or started training specifically, but Jeff has really started to focus on getting more active. He's been doing a LOT of yoga, and yesterday he even went for a short run around our apt complex. We have to tackle this goal on our own terms, but I'm still confident that we'll get one in this year.

Read 3 books together. Haven't started this one yet, either. But the year is still young, as they say. Perhaps we'll start in March. Who knows? :)

New in 2014 and Enriching Activities. We went kite flying! This was both a New in 2014 activity AND an outdoors activities. :-D

I'm definitely OK with how February turned out - even if it felt a little long and slow going at times. :)

How was your February? 
Did you try anything new and fun?
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PIN IT PARTY + January Recap

I'd like to say that this month flew by! It didn't. It seemed kind of long, actually. To me, NYE seems soooo long ago. There were a lot of crazy changes at work along with the new year busyness that made this month really drag on.

Of course, there was a lot of good, fun things to happen this month, too!

Today was simply going to be a recap on the blog, but then I found out that Lindsay at The Lean Green Bean was hosting one of her Pin It Parties, and I thought it would be the perfect way to share my recap.

If you're stopping by for the party, I'm not offended if you just pin my pictures and skip over the recap. :)

I'm feeling really good about 2014 so far. I've done a pretty decent job sticking to my 2014 goals. Yay!

Individual Goals
My biggest individual goal was to blog smarter. I even organized a blogging calendar, and did pretty well sticking to it! I didn't miss a Mon, Tue, Fri, or Sun!! I'm especially proud of my Tuesday's Tips posts. In case you missed them, here are they again. Perfect for the Pin It Party! You can click on the picture to go to the original post.

And not a Tuesday's Tip nor really related to my blogging goal, I made a delicious potato soup in the slow cooker.

That's it for my contribution the Pin It Party! Feel free to read the rest of my January recap OR go head over to the Pin It Party and check out some other fun pins.

And back to the recap...

My individual fitness goals didn't go quite as well as the blogging goals. :( Other than attempting to stick with my Sun & Moon Salutations Challenge, I took it rather easy. This was somewhat intentional to let my body fully recover from December's marathon before I start training for a couple of April races. February, I'll be hitting fitness hard again.

If you're doing my yoga challenge too, don't forget to enter to win a yoga mat from Barefoot Yoga! You've got 2 more days. :)

Goals with Jeff
The only time sensitive goal we made was to do or try something new each month. In January, we went to the Stratosphere. You can read about that here.

You could say that we're still in the planning stages on the rest of our goals. We still need to choose a triathlon, start reading, and come up with some ideas for New Things the rest of the year as well as Enriching Activities - cultural activities, outdoor activities, volunteering, and new restaurants - which could be new or things we've done before. I'm 99% sure our new thing in May will be SCUBA diving in the kelp forest off Catalina Island. So exciting!!

In January, we also bought a lot of yoga related items, including a yoga trapeze, which is simply a LOT of fun and seriously hard at the same time.

All in all, I'd say it was a pretty good month - even if our Sallie girl went in for surgery. :( She's doing much, much better it was less than a week ago but the recovery has been so hard on us to see her in pain and not her normal peppy self.

How was your January?
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