Who loves Boston ...

Done and exhausted!

Welcome to the week! I know Mondays are sometimes not the most fun - but this is a holiday week ... so only 4 days and then it is fireworks! WHOOO!

This Monday I wanted to share my love of Beantown!

Boston Creme Pie after the race!

I first went to Boston in 2012 for my first Boston Marathon. My biggest fan (my momma) made the trek with me and we had an amazing trip.

My race time was not the best (it was the 85 degree day), but I fell in love with Boston on the trip! My mom and I took an amazing food tour and did all of the tourist things ... Cheers, Faneuil Hall, Boston Commons, Harvard, and more.

Expressing my views on the Newton Hills - thumbs down

The Boston Marathon is an incredible tradition, and after working very hard to get there - the race is even better than you can imagine (especially your first time). The whole city of Boston welcomes you and everyone seems so excited for you to run the race. And the crowd support is better than any other race - there are people along the entire course and everyone seems to genuinely want to wish you good luck. The best tradition along the course is Wellesley College! You pass Wellesley around mile 13, so it is a great time for a boost ... and it is right before the horrible Newton Hills! It is called the scream tunnel, because as you are approaching the College, all you can hear is screaming! All of the girls (it is an all girl College) are lined up screaming their hearts out and holding signs that say - "Kiss Me Because ... (and then listing a unique reason)." AND runners all go up and kiss the girls ... it is a tradition for 20 - 70 years old men and women to go kiss College girls, I love it! =) It may sound inappropriate, but you have to experience it!

About 2 years after falling in love with the city and my first Boston marathon experience, I got my current fundraising job that involves traveling to the East Coast, mostly New York City and Boston, about once a month. Thus, I have gotten to know the city and surrounding area even more ... and I am loving it even more!

I am posting this blog post now because I am currently in Boston and soaking in the views! My favorite thing to do is run along the Charles River. I did not grow up with sailing and rowing, so I find it fascinating to watch the boats on the river.

I also got the opportunity to run the Boston Marathon again this year (2014). It was such an emotional year, remembering the bombings and hearing all of the stories of those affected that are rising up and being BOSTON STRONG! I got pretty choked up turning onto Boylston Street and running hard trying to make it to the finish line!

Also, in 2014 there were about 20 runners that came from my running group in Ann Arbor, so it was so great to be able to cheer each other on through the whole process. I will post about running groups later - love them and relationships made!

Running Group Friends that kicked butt in the race!

This post is getting long - but just wanted to share my love of Beantown and tell a bit about my Boston Marathons! For those out there with the goal of qualifying and running in Boston ... keep working hard because it is so worth it!

What are some of your fitness goals? 

Momma and I at Boston 2014 Finish Line

Who wanted to share a workout...

I thought starting the day with a picture of Yosey would be appropriate - especially since it is Friday!!

I was on my morning run today, and I got the idea for a theme for Fridays (I am a big believer in working out in the morning, but that will be another post). I love alliterations, I love Fridays, and I love sharing workouts - so welcome to FITNESS FRIDAY! I will not have an alliteration theme for every day of the week, but on Fridays I will try and share a new workout - hopefully it will give you some inspiration to stay active over the weekend.

So drumroll please ... welcome to:

The picture for this Fitness Friday is appropriate because I will be sharing a "Deck of Cards" workout today.

Deck of Cards Workout

Preparation:
1) Get a deck of cards and take out all Aces, 2's,3's,4's, and 5's
2) Find a hill and put your deck of cards filled with 6's - K's on top of the hill

• First, you will need to warm up before you begin this workout. I think one of the easiest ways to warm up is to go for a run - 1- 3 miles. 
• Once you are warm, you will start at the bottom of the hill and run to the top and grab one card and run back to the bottom
• At the bottom of the hill you will perform the exercise that the suit tells you and do the number of reps that the number on the card tells you (Face cards = 11). Please click on the exercises listed below and that will take you to a video that demonstrates the proper form.
• Hearts - Burpees
• Diamonds - Marine push ups
• Spades - Jumping lunges
• Clubs - Plank Jacks 
• Once you are done with the exercise on the card, you will lay that card to the side and run up to the top of the hill and grab another card and come to the bottom and complete that exercise. 
• Completing the whole deck of cards could take a long time, so I usually set a time limit around 15 minutes and do as many as I can with good form in that time. 
• After your time is up (or you finished the desk - impressive!), you can cool down and stretch

~ This workout is very flexible and each time you do it, the suits can be a completely different exercise, or the suits could just represent what part of your body you want to hit and you could do different exercises each time. For example:

• Hearts - Arms (tricep dips, push ups, bicep curls ...)
• Diamons - Legs (squats, step ups, skater jumps ...)
• Spades - Cardio (high knees, sprints, jumping jacks ...)
• Clubs - Abs (sit-ups, russian twists, V-ups ...)

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Let me know if you try the workout or if you have any questions! It is a great workout to do in the summer because it gets you outside!

I want this blog to be interactive, so please leave comments and ask questions! Since it is Friday, do you guys have any fun weekend plans - especially any active plans? 
For me - we are staying in Ann Arbor this weekend and do not have too many big things planned! It will be a great catch up weekend. On the active side, I think B and I are going to take a bike ride tonight to a summer festival in downtown Ann Arbor and tomorrow B is busy, so I am filling the day with activity: a workout class, a hike with new friends, and a cookout!

I will leave you with a little quote because even if they are cheesy, I love them! Today is fitness themed for Fitness Friday!

                                        

Who wanted to start a blog...

This blog is about a girl ... and that girl is me - Julie!

Hello and welcome to my little, tiny sliver of the internet!

 Me and the Hubby

You can read  "The Girl"  section above to learn a little bit more about my background and the characters in my life but I wanted to share why "this girl" started a blog.

The last couple of years I have really developed a passion for the healthy living/fitness blogging community! I have a few blogs that I read daily and I love finding new blogs too.
In addition, within the last year I have started teaching fitness classes and also started to delve into educating myself about nutrition (I may even start on the path of becoming an Registered Dietitian).
Therefore, I spend a lot of time and feel passionate about being active and living a balanced/healthy life - but my career does not even touch on fitness or nutrition, so I thought this blog could be my outlet =)

A quote that makes me smile is,

"The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life." -Jessica Hische

Well, I can admit that I am really good at procrastinating by reading blogs, so I decided it was time to take the leap and jump into the amazing healthy living blogging community and share some workouts, recipes and just daily musings about my life.

I hope you enjoy and please reach out because I love to meet new people!