Recapping Portland to Coast 2015

What a weekend I have had! From around 12pm Friday 8/28 to about 1:30pm Saturday 8/29 myself and three other wonderful ladies who were in my van this year participated in an amazing relay race here in Oregon Portland to Coast. We were a team of 8 this year with two vans of four people in each van. I believe I walked a total of 14.36 miles and maybe slept for about 2.5 hours total! Needless to say it was an AMAZING and EPIC experience! I thought I would just have this blog post this week to just post some the wonderful things I experienced in the last few days.

 

On Thursday the night before we were all heading off to Portland to Coast I was given this wonderfully sweet note from my friend and wonderful workout buddy Heather. I will be honest it totally made me cry but made me so happy and excited for what was ahead!

 

 

Yup, costumes ensued for our first leg of PTC and you can only guess what I ended up being...

 

 

 

I am almost positive these Hulk hands gave me extra strength powers...

 

 

 

 

The Fantastic 4! We took our own spin on these and had so much fun! We have The Punisher, Wonder Woman, The Hulk and Captain America! We totally kicked major booty because of these outfits!

 

 

These ladies, I don't know what I would have done without them! So supportive and awesome!

 

 

 

 

Kimmie really wanted to show off her amazing WW underoos!

 

 

 

Carrie from Van #1 coming in hot and ready to exchange to Van #2 for the start of our first legs!

 

 

 

It was awesome to see so much love, happiness and support among all our teammates! This is totally what you needed to get you through!

 

 

 

 

Love this lady! We laughed, giggled, shouted at people while we were trying to sleep and just had tons of fun! I was so very happy to be in a van with her and all of my other ladies!

 

 

 

Our van all decorated and out on the back roads of Oregon while we awaited to give some water and love to one of our walkers. We luckily were not harassed by a man in a Ford with no doors. Gotta love small towns!

 

 

 

We received some pretty sweet gifts from other teams! Celery and peanut butter form this team, also got some sweet magnets put on our car too!

 

 

Another great team "The Pink Ladies" handing off to each other when we ran into them waiting for our walker at the exchange. Loved their outfits!

 

 

Carrie and Kimmie hugging it out again. This was the start of our late night walks. What a crazy whirlwind it had been so far.

 

 

 

Realization right before my last leg on Saturday. Life is damn good and I'm loving it!

 

 

 

BAHAHA. Danyel this photo is too good! We had some extreme winds, rain and branches going everywhere on a few of our last legs of PTC. This photo may look like some downed Honey Buckets but in face they strategically placed them like that. I believe Danyel was a bit scurred to go in these but she managed to go potty okay!

 

 

 

Sweet sweet caffeine! One of our vanmates husbands was nice enough to get us coffee for after we came in. Oh my goodness I have never relished my espresso so much.

 

 

One of our teammates from one of the other teams was scared of bears or "bad guys" as I'll put it. She had mace and it was the joke that she needed to get her mace and take a pic with Sasquatch.

 

 

My medal. I did PTC 2015 real big!

 

 

 

My morning after breakfast today and coming back to life after the crazy two days I had. But it was sooo worth it!

 

 

 

 

 

 Because of the winds the beach party at the finish line was cancelled and our last walker finished on the turn around off of Broadway in downtown Seaside. I will say that this year unlike any other years that I have participated it felt almost more homely feeling and personal. Not as many people and not as much craziness. I loved doing PTC this year and am definitely thinking about making this a yearly tradition!

 

 

 

 

My logging of my walking legs from Friday and Saturday. Working on pacing myself really helped me tremendously! I am so happy that I completed this and did it up. Amazing teams, amazing memories and AWESOME times to remember!

 

 

Here's to hopefully doing this again in 2016 :)

 

7 month mark!

7 month into this new journey and to be honest time has gone by too fast! I will say that I am very happy with the progress I have made in so many ways. Not only am I finding myself being more and more present but I am learning, loving and increasing my knowledge in every part of my life.

 When I first started challenging myself to look at my life differently and to be more aware I found myself many times focusing on what I "thought I should be doing" and not actually focusing on the present of all the awesome hard work I was putting into my life once more. I thought I should be running faster, pushing harder, and losing weight sooner than I was. When I clouded my thoughts with all of these negative movements or negative thoughts on my progress it only made me more stuck and focused on all the wrong things. A few months ago before I started this new journey I would have just turned to food, or too deeply indulging in the things that weren't benefiting my progress.

 Now rather than focusing on the thoughts of what I think (or sometimes even what others think) I should be doing I am fully accepting of where I am at right here. RIGHT NOW. Rather than looking at all the things I don't like or aren't completely at my 100% I want them to be I am aware of where I am at and where I am going. Here are some of the thoughts that made me drift and this is now how I am seeing it and looking at these things in my life:

 1. I felt like I didn't run fast enough. Well rather than dwelling on this I went out there and challenged myself to become better. The other day I ran almost under a 12 minute mile continuously for over three miles. That right there is progress!

 2.  I was having many doubts about my ability to continue my jujitsu journey. I was getting frustrated easily and becoming too focused on what I wasn't doing right. Instead of continuing these thoughts I turned it around and started showing up to class with an open mind and positive thoughts in my head. I started noticing once more that I was picking up my movement, moves were getting easier and (shocker here!) I was having FUN with my craft and focus of jujitsu again! And to top it off I just recently got my 4th stripe on my belt!


3. Overall I was just incredibly distracted. Rather than focusing on the fact that I am/was doing so much, checking things off of my list of goals and being the best I could be I was getting discouraged. Now I try to focus on all the great things I am doing, accomplishing and also acknowledging these things.


 These are just some of the things I am seeing/doing to shift my focus to the present. And when I start to doubt, drift or not stay focused on the progress ahead I remind myself of all the great things I am doing. My mental list usually outweighs the list that I started to worry about in the first place!

 There is so much in my life to be present, aware and proud of. I hope to continue my focus on all the great things I am doing and doing them to the fullest of my ability!

Inspiration!

 Currently I have a ton of things going on in my life! With having a new career put in front of me, building a healthy balance of life and fitness, continuing relationships with my family and friends and then adding more passion for music, art and life in general I would say my life sometimes is  CRAZY.  I have had much inspiration over the past few months with becoming a better version of myself. Whether it be people, specific quotes, or even just small things these inspirations are all a part of my path and journey.

 The idea of blogging more and writing more has been to become more inspired and to become more aware of how many freaking awesome things continue to push me in the right direction. Inspiration at times comes to me in my workouts, in quotes, in my meditation or just in my everyday life. For myself and with writing more I have reached outside of myself and started trusting that my writing does not have to be one way or the other. I have found inspiration not only in my art but in so many other great things!


 I have added a few things below to show what my inspiration has been and what I am using for inspiration and to motivate me moving forward day by day and in the future. Feel free to check out some of the links, articles, people and just awesomeness I have provided below.



Places/Programs I am involved in:

My gym!

Sweat360

 Hillsboro, Oregon

http://sweat360.com/

 I couldn't not do a shout out to the place that has really defined, molded and helped me become an "athlete". Being able to say I am athletic and able to do movements/exercises that I never thought was truly possible for myself has always been something I couldn't be more proud of.  Sweat360 has led me to a journey in jujitsu, a yogi, becoming faster and better at so many things! I have been working out and participating in so many great things because of this gym for over 4 years now! Click the link below and check it out! And hey, if you want come workout with me and my peeps sometime!

My coaching program and trainer!

Lara Foster

Fostering Fitness Now

Hillsboro, Oregon

http://fosteringfitnessnow.com/

When I first started out on my health and fitness journey I was scared. I was afraid of having to change and having to my apply myself in any other way than what I was already doing. When I met Lara as a trainer at 24 hour fitness my life was changed in so many ways! With Lara's help and training with her one on one for almost a year I was able to shed over 100 lbs. I am now working with Lara again but she has now started an amazing coaching program and business of her own with one on ones, online coaching and so many more amazing things! This girl is my life line and an amazing lady that anyone should get in touch and be able to experience all of her knowledge, abilities and to get to know how cool this lady is! Because of this lady I have accomplished SO much and she continues to always help 110% with ideas and helping me move forward.



Helpful tools/apps I use for fitness and food logging:

https://www.fitbit.com/

 My fitbit has been a great tool and accessory in my daily life that helps keep me accountable to stay active, focused and determined. I highly recommend trying out the device and app that comes along with it. I was lucky enough to get gifted the Fitbit Flex for a Christmas gift from my family back in December of 2014. I am able to track my steps, activity, sleep, calorie intake and also can create groups of friends to compete with during the week! This device and program has been a great tool for my success. 

https://www.myfitnesspal.com/

My fitness pal has been an even better and more efficient tool for myself with meal planning, making sure I am staying within a certain target for calories, protein,  and fat and becoming more aware of what I am putting in my body. It helps me keep organized, save meals ideas I want to use in the future and even look up calories for meals ahead of time so I can be prepared. Organization and prepping has really been a key to success for me. This website is also FREE which is awesome and has so much good stuff on it! 

Quotes that help move me forward!!

YESSSSSSSSSS.

Quotes sometimes as silly, funny or even honest as they may be have always kept me moving forward. These quotes, sayings and ideas are in the back of my mind constantly and make me push 110%. What is important for me to see is finding my own motivation, using it to my best ability and loving life for all the things that I have made it to be and continue to build on.

 Find your motivation. Find your inspiration. Find your strength and BUILD ON IT. 

Meal Prepping!

I'll be completely honest, for the past almost two years, I've had it easy with making sure I was getting the meals I needed throughout the day. Being able to go to work and get an omelette, a great salad, or really anything to help with the process of healthy eating for my daily lifestyle made things easy and comfortable. I will say that at times it was also very easy to have a little bit of temptation to grab things I shouldn't be eating, like all the delicious pastries and burgers available at work, but I became good at resisting.

 Having this great new opportunity for a new path and new career, I have decided that it is time to step up my meal prepping game and get started on becoming a better planner. Especially in the eating department. Ben and I are a great team when it comes to planning ahead for the week with meals. The problem that we run into is when we don't plan ahead or I get home late from the gym, etc. Then I sometimes resort to my bad habit of thinking, "Why don't we just go out.." and then there's the downward effect of us eating late, and most likely eating the wrong thing and paying for it later. With that said, we've decided with my new job that we have the time in our schedule to start meal prepping!

 Tonight we started with a basic breakfast meal prep recipe that is super easy, delicious and affordable to make. Best of all? It only takes about 30 minutes (less if you're batch cooking.)

 The ingredients:

- 10 eggs
- 1/2 lb. of ground turkey
-1 cup of onions
-1 cup of green peppers
- approximately 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 cup of basil leaves, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon of thyme
-1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp of coconut oil


Start by chopping the onions, green peppers, cherry tomatoes and basil and placing the items in a bowl. Then add the coconut oil, salt and pepper and thyme and put these items into a pan with the ground turkey to mildly brown the meat and sweat the vegetables. From there, put the ten eggs into a large bowl, whisking them until scrambled.

Once the ground turkey and vegetables are ready, place them into a muffin pan (we used a coconut oil no-stick spray to prep the tin) and then put the scrambled eggs over the top of the meat and veggies.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees,  and set a timer for 25 minutes. Stick the muffins in the oven, and check at about 10 minutes, to ensure they don't puff up too much!

1 serving: (2 Muffins)

250 Calories,  2 grams of carbs,

8 grams of fat, 13 grams of protein

Here's the finished product and they turned out great! We did modify this recipe based on other egg muffin recipes that we found but you of course can always change things up with your protein, vegetables and whatever else you want to put in them. (Ideas include feta cheese, bacon, spinach, and mushrooms!) They are now bagged up two per serving, and ready to go for this weeks breakfasts. I also have some flaxseed muffins and fruit to mix things up. It is going to be an awesome first week of my new job, I can just feel it!

6 months down and updates!

6 months have passed now since I decided back in January to start something new, get back to me and become a better version of myself. I've told you all some of the updates along the way, I've shared my thoughts and feelings about the process and have kept everyone updated on my progress.

 Six months have gone by way too fast. Sometimes it is easy for me to think more about the time I have been on this journey rather than all the major steps I have done to turn my life back around and put it back on the path of success and living in the present. I thought I could use this post as an update for not only showing myself how much progress I have put into these past few months but also to just share some AMAZING moments for myself and for all of you reading this blog! I have decided in the next coming months to make a goal for myself to blog at least once a week and to expand more on my writing. The new blogs moving forward may just be updates, thoughts or feelings I am having through this journey but I am also going to be posting more things on this blog such as meal prepping ideas, fun workout plans if you need a good WOD from home, recipes, tips, etc. I am finding that I have become extremely passionate again about drawing, painting and keeping in touch with my artistic side again. So some posts may be about my journey and some may start becoming more expressive and deeper than just how I am feeling each day. Stay tuned though! I am excited to write more and share more creatively with everyone!

 Here are just some of the moments I have been able to capture in the past 6 months! More updates, fun and new adventures to come! Can't wait to continue sharing and continuing to move forward!

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 When I started back out in January 2015 I started walking.. Walking to places rather than driving, walking more, moving more and focusing on being able to walk faster with my head held high, my body supported and busted tons of steps over the past few months. Here are just some of the amazing mornings, days, people and the journey walking has taken me. I will be participating in Portland to Coast in 26 days to hopefully see all my hard work put to the test!

My wonderful friend Kimmie and I on a very cold morning walking back in February. I am 

SOOO thankful for her friendship and willingness to push me and keep me walking!

My amazing friend Heather who has not only got me to LOVE walking but walking FAST. She has also been excellent support and guidance for myself in my yoga practice. Love this lady!

This was from a 5 mile route in July that we did for PTC training in Laurel, Oregon, 

HILLS OH MY. 

6 mile Portland to Coast training out in Helvetia, Oregon. Hot weather, hills and gravel. 

Today's 8/2/15 route on the Manning trail head in Manning, Oregon. 7 miles of paved flat for 

the most part. I booked it and got my pace even down to an 11 minute mile WALKING!

Another great photo of Heather and I hiking up in Forest Park in Portland in May. We had so much fun and it was perfect weather that day! Great way to start my love for hiking!

Forest Park hike in Portland, Oregon

One more photo of my Forest Park hike. Beautiful!

These are just some of the ladies who help me on a daily and weekly basis get after it in my workouts, lend me there ear when I just need to vent and who have been training consistently with me during our Portland to Coast training. All these women are SO strong and I love having such an amazing group of people and support in my Sweat360 gym family!

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Another goal I have had for the past six months was to slowly start getting back into running. I will honestly say after gaining some weight back it wasn't easy at first. There were times that I doubted I would ever be able to run again. But where I am at now I am good and content with. I have done some fun courses, ran for the heck of it and hit some huge milestones and was able to get back to my happy place running! Here are some photos from some of my running adventures!

My wonderful coach Kili and some more of my lady friends Erin and Carrie helping me celebrate finishing 5 miles of running/walking up by David Hill winery. Crazy hard but worth testing my ability on!

My friend Danyel and I did the Falcon 15k relay back in April but the awesome thing was that I ran almost all of this! Felt good!

Awesome medals this year for all finishers!

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Goals have always seemed like something that was really hard for me to achieve at times in my life. The questions of "Am I good enough?", "Am I creative enough" etc. always seemed to stop me from moving forward in the past. I have always had a creative side so when I decided that I wanted to paint, create and have some fun I had a wonderful evening of some amazing ladies getting together and we painted, laughed and had so much fun! I am moving forward in the creative department of drawing and art again and these are just some of the highlights of this awesome start to a new me!

Drawings/ sketching ideas for possible mural painting ideas! So much fun!

Another great creative moment!

Future mural piece that I hope will be happening very soon! Can't wait to see the finished product!

I have really loved creating and just expressing myself creatively more again. It has taught me to not hold back on any passion I have!

Paint Night at mi casa on June 27th, 2015! SO FUN!

Setting up the canvas/background of my painting! So many colors LOVE IT <3 p="">

Kimmie painting away!

We set up the paint night in our living room and my wonderful friend Eva helped us learn how to do a tropical paradise piece that was so much fun to create!

The amazing women in my life that came to create at our place that night! 

(Left to right: Gretchen, Lara, Kimmie, Debbie, Danyel and Breanna)

Final product! It now hangs in our bedroom and makes me feel relaxed when I'm writing, or meditating in our bedroom!

The ladies and I being silly and showing off our paintings! So much fun and so much creativity among all these amazing women!

Couldn't have asked for a better group of ladies to enjoy this creative moment with me!

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Another goal I had for myself in these past few months was to move better, to do more yoga and to become more aware of my body and what it could really do. I have had an amazing sense and awareness of support from one of my yoga instructors and friends Heather. We have worked on handstands for the past few months and I can't tell you how amazed I am that I have been able to almost get there and where I want to be with this incorporated into my daily fitness and abilities!

Work, work, work! Putting in the time and the practice to get where I want to be. 

Big shout out to my girl Heather! You have been so helpful with my progress!

More work on getting to the point of doing an off wall handstand. Not quite there yet but love the way I can tell my body is working to get there!

Hard posture to stay in but was SO happy I got to this point one night!

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My jujitsu journey in these last two years has been a ride to say the least. There have been times where I have doubted myself, gotten frustrated and even at times wanted to give up. But instead of quitting I have continued to show up, learn, become more patient with the process and have also been rewarded for it! Last Tuesday I was given my 4th stripe on my belt! Next step will be moving up to a yellow belt which is awesome. I am continuing to push myself to trust the process and love jujitsu every step of the way. Here are some awesome moments from last Tuesday and from a private I had with one of my coaches Billy Hagerman earlier in the past 6 months. So incredibly thankful for these people!!!

Coach Billy Hagerman giving me my fourth stripe on Tuesday 7/28/15. So many happy tears and awesome words from this guy as I was getting my stripe!

My jujitsu crew when I train at least two times a week right now! Excited to get on the mats more once my schedule is changed! Love these people!

(Left to right: Cory, Coach Billy, Dan, TK, Rob and Willow)

My girl Willow and I. She was photobombing but this turned into a cute photo anyways!

My jujitsu chicks Willow and TK. These girls are tough and challenge me to roll more, learn more and love the art of jujitsu and being a bad ass chick!

Another awesome night for Dan and TK! They both received their yellow belts that night as well! 

Coach Billy and I after a private class back in June. Thankful for this guy and having him push me to keep trying and never to give up!

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One final thing I promise! HOLY MOLY I signed up for my first Crossfit competition on Sept, 12th, 2015!!!!!! I can not wait to test this out, get some lifting in and test myself even more physically and mentally! 

So there is my update! I have been a busy lady and I only hope to continue keep everyone updated and hopefully to have some more resourceful and useful things for people! I am continuing to push foward and get ISH DONE!!