I’m a Popular Kid & Outside Yoga

Oh my goodness!! Where does the time go?! I feel like I haven’t seen you guys in forever!!!  What have you been up to?! 

I’ve been doing the same old thing… working and trying to workout a few nights a week!  I’m pretty tired today, so I’m kind of just lounging around… not really doing any cleaning or laundry today… I’ll save that for tomorrow! ;)  I did go get my haircut this morning and then met my mom at the grocery store to catch-up and she invited me over to have lunch with her and my dad.  We had fish, rice, baked beans, and asparagus… it was delicious!! I also had a donut.. a long john to be exact… it was absolutely amazing and I don’t regret anything!! ;) haha!  What did you have to eat today?

I few exciting things have happened since we’ve last hung out… (and I know I still haven’t told you all about my road trip during spring break… it’s coming! I promise!)

~1~

I’ve been getting outside more and more for my workouts… including a little park bench yoga! ;)

~2~

I reached (and exceeded) 500 followers on Instagram!! I feel like a popular kid…You guys rock!

~3~

Won a fun giveaway!  Now I just need to decide what I want from Athleta.. any recommendations?

~4~

Hit a yoga move I’ve never been able to do before!! (Proof that success does indeed come from failure! Story is on this video in IG)

 

~5~

Finally got a new laptop battery and charger and I don’t have to run from outlet to outlet like a Tasmanian Devil anymore! For real!

~BONUS~

Came across a few sales you guys might enjoy! :)

FuelBelt

Oiselle

PowerBar

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!!!

Sunday Marathon Time!!

Oh you be cray cray!!  I’m not talking about RUNNING a marathon silly “RLuckies”  << That’s what I literally just now decided to call you all!  You like it?  It’s like you “are lucky” (“luckies” for short?) … ok, don’t try to see through my logic… it won’t work!  My brain works differently than most I guess ;)

ANYWAYS… I just found Netflix and remembered I started a tv show series about 5 years ago and never finished it…

Yes, I’ve been having a “Lost” Marathon!! I started back at the pilot episode!  There are 6 seasons… this might take me a while!!

In other news we are having yet another snow storm and have a 1 hour delay for tomorrow already!  Let the celebration begin!!

What better way to celebrate than by watching yet another episode?!! ;)

PS – sorry for the blog sidebar deficiencies… if you click the “home” button to go to the main page they disappear.  I’m trying to find a solution but haven’t found the right tech-y vitamin or mineral I’m lacking yet… Anyone else have any issues like this lately?? How did you fix it?

Alright… time to celebrate!! Stay tuned this week for some FUN, and I mean the most fun you’ve ever had in your life, news coming up this week! :)

Do you have Netflix or Hulu+?

What shows/movies do you recommend?
(I watched the Croods and thought that was a cute movie)

Blogiversary… I Totally Missed It…

So… Yesterday was my 3rd Blogiversary!! I can’t believe I completely missed it!!!  So, quickly before I go to bed… Here is the very first post I ever wrote here on Runner’s Luck… Enjoy!! :)

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The Beginning of a New Love

Hello and welcome to my new blog! :D I created this blog for a few reasons 1) to keep track of my running 2) for some support from other runners since i dont really have any running friends and 3) motivation as I am training for my first half marathon in September (as you can see in the right sidebar) First things first, I would like to introduce myself:

INTRODUCTION

My name is Zaneta. It's pronounced like Zuh-net (like a basketball net)-uh... a lot of people say it like Zuh-neet-uh or other random, totally wrong, not even close ways to say my name. I am a 23 year old Christian gal who is working on finishing up my internship to complete my Bachelors degree in Organizational Communications. I plan to go back in the spring to a different college to complete my Sign Language Interpreting degree. I am still living at home while going to school because my parents are awesome and let me live there (here) for free so they are saving me a TON of money! Living in my house currently are my mom and dad, me and my twin (fraternal girl who is younger than me), my brother, and a sister. I have a wonderful boyfriend of 3 1/2 years and am so blessed that God allowed us to meet! I fall more and more in love everyday and yes, marriage is in the future, but no engagement ring yet! I enjoy reading, knitting and crocheting (I have a knitting/crocheting/life blog HERE), obviously running ;), working out, and food lol...Well, now that you kind of know me (without knowing too much) I will proceed to tell you about my running background... since that is the main reason for this blog. ;)

RUNNING BACKGROUND

I have always been active growing up... it started with soccer and gymnastics and 1 year of tee ball in elementary school. I then decided that gymnastics was fun and all, but a little too girly for me so i started playing basketball. I played basketball 4th-10th grade and then played for 4 years in college and also played softball for 4 years in college. My 4 years of track in high school consisted of high jump, 200, 400, 4x400, and sometimes the occasional long jump. Well, enter my 5th year of college after the sports eligibility ran out... I was taking the max amount of credit hours you were allowed to take and driving 40 minutes away for half of my classes, working 2 part-time jobs, and working an internship... life was so stressful and busy that I stopped exercising completely (and no, to me, walking the stairs to get to class does not count as exercise) I really missed it and knew I would probably feel better if I got back into shape so I decided to start running again in April. I've always heard about these 5k races and wanted to run one so I just started making myself run 3 miles... it wasn't very fun at the beginning. I remember wanting to stop and walk or just stop completely, but i kept at it and ran my first 5k on April 24, 2010! Since then I have kept running and have ran a total of 5 or 6 5k races! :D

THE DREAM

Well, I wanted to push myself because I have grown very fond (in love with maybe?) of running. The feeling of accomplishment, the sun and heat (or rain and snow) beating down on your body, the energy and refreshness (a word?) it gives you, the blisters that pop up on your toes, the peaceful alone time you get to yourself to think, pray, or listen to music, the insatiable feeling of hunger that training leaves you with... ok, yeah, its a love/hate relationship lol... BUT it's GREAT!! So... earlier this month I decided I wanted to run a half marathon and actually have a training plan. I signed up for the Women's Magazine Half Marathon in Nashville, Tennessee on September 25th! lol... 2 months to train... am I CRAZY or DETERMINED? haha... you can decide ;) So, myself and my parents are going to make this trip (about a 6 1/2 hour road trip) a mini vacation. Orignially my boyfriend was going to go too... but he has class on saturday this quarter and wont be able to join us. It shall be fun. The training has been fun so far and I am really noticing some progress.
So this blog is going to help keep me motivated and focused on my training for my first ever half marathon! I am so excited! I hope to meet more runners and gain insight from you all into this wonderful world of running (and blogging)! :D

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Our Internet Guy is Visiting and CrapTON of Pictures

Our internet has been spotty and the internet guy finally showed up to fix it… While he’s doing that I figured I would write a post that doesn’t really take all that much effort because it’s Sunday and I’m kinda feeling like a bum today after working 14 days with 1 day off and a 12 hour shift on Thursday…  I’m not complaining because I truly do feel thankful and blessed that I even have a job! :) Just don’t expect anything inspirational on the blog today! ;)

Anways… here’s the crapTON (real legit unit of measurement) of Pictures I promised… They’re all from the past couple weeks (you can follow me on instagram here so you don’t feel left out)… Enjoy!

Last time I checked in I said I was done with the resting like Harry Potter is done with Lord Voldemort and starting to workout again…

 

Getting off work after 11pm and not getting home til 11:30pm, I wouldn’t expect to see a whole lot of anything in nature… I would be wrong:

I’ve enjoyed a couple softball games and my twin and fur-niece even came to a couple:

                                                              Me and my fur-niece

Some food shots:

Some blog things:

NUUN happened to make it’s way into a couple pictures… I don’t honestly know how that happened other than the fact that I drink it ALL.THE.TIME! :-P

There ya have it… a totally non-inspiring, lazy bum, crapTON of pictures Sunday post for ya! ;)  I hope you have a great Sunday!!  Tell me something you enjoyed doing this weekend!

WW: Out With the Old, In With the New!

Progression of blog headers…
What do you think? Which do you like best? 
Be honest! :)

 

OLD (circa 2010):

 

RECENT (August 2012):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEW (June 19, 2013):

300!!

No, not the movie…

Welcome to my 300th blog post!!  Yes I realize it’s taken me a while to get here due to taking some time off from blogging in the past two years, but “Yo, Adrian, I did it!!”  ;)

So how am I celebrating??

I knew yesterday that my next post was going to be #300 so I ran 3.00 miles (I did end up tacking on .05 to the end, but 3.00 sounds cooler!) ;)  I would’ve run 300 miles, but if you read my last post on my knee pain you know it’s been slow going and low miles lately!

(My famous car window shot)

I also got my 300th blog follower yesterday and went over to 301 today! 
Welcome to my new friends!! :)

It’s crazy to think I started this blog back in August of 2010 to keep track of my training for my first half marathon and get support and advice from fellow runners!  You all have made me feel so much a part of the running and blogging community and I appreciate each and every one of you!!!  Keep inspiring and keep doing what you are doing! 

You all rock and are 300 types of awesome! :)

 

How long have you been blogging?
How many posts have you done on your blog?
What did you do this weekend?

Giveaways

 

                                                         

Blog Brain

You know… blogging is like running.  You’ve got to slowly build your way back up!

I’ve noticed that when I was really training for a race, say my first ever half marathon, I was really into blogging and would always have something to blog about.  Now I feel like I have a boring life and can’t think like a blogger… not to mention I really have no time to blog.  In fact, right now I am procrastinating some homework to write this… can we say senioritis?! sheesh!

Sidenote: the word “senioritis” is apparently in Windows Live Writer’s dictionary… who would have thunk!

I have a total of 47 days (if I’m counting correctly) or 6.65 weeks until I graduate with my ASL interpreting degree!  I remember when I was blogging about going back to school!! crazy times!  I’m freaking out a little bit about what to do about getting jobs, where exactly I would like to work, what field I would like to work in… that sort of thing.  I’m also freaking myself out a little bit about “if I’m ready to be a real-life interpreter” These 2 years and 2 quarters have absolutely flown by!!

In running news, I have successfully run at least 2 miles every week since the 2nd week of January (I was sick the first week).  Slowly but surely I am starting to get my fitness back… very slowly!!  Not to mention I have that same nagging knee pain I had last year right before the Cap City Half… I honestly do not know why it’s there or how to get rid of it… I’ve been trying some hip exercises to see if that would help, but not so much.  It’s quite annoying! 

Anyways… I just wanted to catch you all up on my life and let you know that I probably will not be writing a whole lot (as you could tell already) as my graduation date (and therefore the busiest time of the school year for me) draws closer and closer! :)

I hope you all are doing well!  I miss reading your blogs!! Hopefully I can still visit from time to time :)  Have a great weekend everyone!

The New Blogger Look

So, if you use blogger, you might have noticed that they have changed the way your dashboard looks.  It now looks like this:

AND… you may have noticed that the Google Friend Connect is still on your blog:

 

So my question, or questionS to you is/are:

~ Do you like the new look? Why or why not?

~Isn’t Friend Connect supposed to be leaving or am I just misinformed?

~ If blogger is getting rid of it, what have you done to let other people know how to follow you? Is there something like Google Friend Connect that you can add to your blog?

Sour Apple and Athlete Bio

Well, I didn’t get a run in on Monday and now the weather is back to clouds/rain … bummer!  I did manage to get in a 3 mile run on one of the campus treadmills yesterday and it felt wonderful after not running or working out at all last week…

last week… oh boy… I’m not gonna lie, it was a rough week.  I had so much stuff going on, especially at school, that I was exhausted and drained physically, mentally, and emotionally… not to add, frustrated…  I was in a bad place last week, and I hate to say, but it’s kind of spilled over into this week.  I just can’t seem to get caught up and when I feel like I finally have, even more is added to my list of things to do with no time to do them.  By the way, thanks to those of you who left uplifting comments and those of you who have emailed me uplifting words… they really have helped!

This weekend, I have a “Silent Weekend” for school which is voices off and everyone is silent except for using their hands to sign with each other or writing back and forth… I’m excited because it’ll be nice to get away for a weekend in a beautiful lodge while getting to improve my ASL skills with my friends, but at the same time… I have tons of stuff to do and that means I have no time this weekend to them.

On another note, Dorothy from Mile Posts featured my athlete bio on her blog today!  Go check it out HERE!!  Thanks Dorothy! :)

I can’t promise that I’ll get around to any of your blogs until spring break as I had to kind of procrastinate my swamp-pile of homework to write this lol… whoops… so you all will just have to keep me updated in the meantime!  :)   Meanwhile… my blog posts will be few and far between for the next month… I have 2 reviews I really need to do because I’m behind and I’ll try to keep up with my Weekly Roundups, but I can’t promise you anything… know that I still care about you all, and miss you guys!

Sorry for being kind of a sour apple today, but this is how I really feel… a little depressed and a lot stressed lol… I’m usually upbeat and happy on the blog which is a real reflection of how I usually feel, and I wasn’t gonna post today because of my mood, but decided I’d be real with you all… so now… tell me what’s been goin on in blogworld! :)

Blogs… Why do you read them?

image found here 

So, I’m working on a review/giveaway post, but recently have been reading quite a bit about blogs and why people read them or why people actually blog…

I want your opinions… what keeps you going back to read the same blogs over and over again every day/week?

Is it the way they look?  The content? The pictures? The recipes?  The randomness?  The catchy name?  The author’s personality?  The healthy competition?  Or something else completely?

Be honest…

ALSO… how do you feel about bloggers who make money off their blog? 

Do you make money off your blog?

What keeps you writing your blog?  Inspiration?  Support networking?  Journaling?  Accountability?  Workout log?  The money? ;)

Again… be honest because I’m totally curious… And I’m sure the answers are different for each person because even though we all have running/working out in common… unlike the myth… we all aren’t robots who think the same way, say the same things, or talk about training/races nonstop…

ok, maybe the latter is a fact lol ;)

Hit me with your opinions and I’ll keep working on this giveaway post!! ;)