Peanut Butter Runner — Fit, Fueled and Fun

Challenges Are Beautiful {Under Armour Competition And Giveaway}

by Jen on May 10, 2012

For a long time, “runner” was one of the main ways I identified myself but over the past couple of years my focus has drifted away from running and towards yoga and strength training. While I really enjoy the new mix I have with my workouts, I miss the process of training and the excitement of race day. It’s been quite some time since I’ve actively trained for a race (maybe the Thunder Road Half in 2010). Since then I have just run a few 5 and 10Ks for fun.

That’s all going to change this summer. Not only am I going to get back to training and running, but I’m going to make it fun with new experiences and challenges. I’m participating in the Under Armour What’s Beautiful Challenge where I’m joining other female athletes across the country to declare a goal and document my progress in reaching it.

The idea behind the What’s Beautiful Challenge is that you declare a goal, set up a profile, and then share your progress towards reaching your goal with other participants.

Under Armour puts a fun spin on it by issuing a series of challenges you must complete and document.

The cool thing about the challenge is that it’s also a competition, and from it Under Armour will select 10 finalists who will receive $1,000 and become part of the Women’s Advisor Group to make appearances for Under Armour. From that group of 10, three winners will be announced and will basically have their lives sponsored by Under Armour for a year. Think gear, working with celebrity trainers, and becoming the new face of the brand in marketing and for special events. Pretty cool, right?

Watch this video and check out the website for all the details. Go declare your goal!

While I am not participating in the competition, I am taking part in the challenge. And what’s my challenge? I will complete my first mud run on June 16 (my birthday!) and run my first trail race on July 21 – a 15K. I’ll be posting all the details on these races later this week!

My hope for this challenge is that I can get back in the training mindset and have fun with it by mixing it up with trail running. The ultimate goal is that the training will carry me into fall race season, and I can get back to half-marathoning and possibly a full!

Now, let’s talk about some of the gear that’s going to get me through a hot summer of training. I checked out Under Armour’s new site and here are a few of the items that I’m going to pick up.

Charm Tank – this tank features Under Armour’s Heatgear technology to wick away sweat and dry faster. I really prefer to run in tanks over tees.

Escape Shorts – feature Heatgear technology and are a solid lightweight running short.

Storm Running Shoes – they come in at less than 10-ounces and are built for on and off-road training. I need something that’s going to stand up to trail training and running…and I think these will look pretty sweet to wear around the gym.

I’m going to be quite colorful, huh?

Now, if new challenges and fun workout clothes aren’t enough…we have a giveaway too! Do you want to try some of the new Under Armour gear for yourself? Check out their website and leave a comment telling me what you’d like to try for the chance to win a $500 gift card! Note, there will be one gift card awarded between a group of bloggers who are participating in this challenge.

Here are all the details on how to enter and the rules.

SWEEPSTAKES/GIVEAWAY RULES

Rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet (public message) about this promotion, including exactly the following unique terms in your tweet message: “#whatsbeautiful” “#sweepstakes”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post. To comply with FTC Guidelines (see http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm), entrants’ blog posts must disclose that they are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post.
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected. The Official Rules are available here. This sweepstakes runs from 5/10-5/21.

Be sure to visit the Under Armour page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!

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Perspective

by Jen on May 9, 2012

I wasn’t the only one having a rough morning yesterday.

Sullie seemed to be in quite a funk too. I came home at lunch and gave her lots of love. We cheered each other up. Puppy cuddles (especially of the golden retriever variety) are the best.

I was craving eggs so I made a scramble for lunch. Sauteed mushrooms, tomatoes, red pepper and spinach with leftover roasted potatoes, avocado, goat cheese and salsa. I really liked the addition of the potato to the scramble. Apple slices on the side.

I want to share with you how the rest of my day unfolded because I think it’s a pretty powerful example of what happens when you get out of your own head and allow yourself to engage with others and open yourself to experiences. I came back to they gym after lunch, shut my office door, turned on Pandora and focused on work for the rest of the afternoon. It was a welcome distraction. 5:30 rolled around before I knew it. I had planned to take the CrossFit class but the last thing I wanted to do was get up and do it. I was really dreading the workout for some reason (to be honest it was because it included jumping rope and I hate it!). I finally decided that a workout might help me feel better so I joined the class. I ended up feeling great and crushing the jump rope. In the first round I did 150 singles unbroken…a record for me! It was great to be a part of the group and feed off of the energy of the class.

But making it through CrossFit isn’t the story here. It’s what happened after.

I started teaching yoga classes at Metro when I came on board as general manager. It’s been a slow start but class numbers have been growing. Last night I had seven people waiting to take yoga when I finished CrossFit – a record! I scrambled to find mats and blocks for everyone and eagerly got class started. It ended up being one of the most inspirational classes that I have ever taught. Teaching yoga at the gym is a much different experience than teaching at the studio. Our yoga space is relatively small, it’s not hot and I always have a diverse range of skill level…from first class ever to some yoga experience to regular practitioner. It creates a challenge for me but I love having to creatively sequence for all levels. I think it really helps me grow as a teacher.

I had two amazing young women in my class last night who have overcome physical obstacles with inspirational strength (they are both okay with me mentioning them on the blog). The first had brain surgery in January to remove a cyst. She was recently cleared for exercise and is working so hard to get back to her normal physical activity. She’s starting to do some CrossFit workouts and this was her first yoga class post-surgery. She emailed me after class to tell me that she enjoyed class. It made my evening.

The second is an above the knee amputee, Cadie Jessup, who came to Metro right around when I started in February and wanted to try CrossFit. She lost her leg several years ago due to a complication with a blood clot and instead of letting it limit her, has gone on to compete in triathlons, climbed a 14,000 ft mountain to raise funds for breast cancer and is now active in CrossFit. Cadie’s adheres to the mindset that, “limb loss does not equal life loss” and now acts as a life coach and does speaking engagements. Check out her website.

Cadie and I did the CrossFit class together and then she told me she was going to stay for yoga. She warned me that she pretty much hated yoga and not to be offended if she left early. Imagine my surprise when she not only didn’t leave early but approached me after class and told me that she loved it and will be back.

I left work in a completely different mindset than the one I arrived in. Everyone has bad days. We are all going through our own personal struggles but in the end it’s all about perspective. About making choices. About taking control. How do you view the circumstances that you’re in? Are they just happening to you or are you doing something about it to shift your life in the direction you want it to go?

I’ll leave you with this video that’s been circulating around the yoga community and several readers have emailed me the link as well.

Case in point.

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Working Through It

by Jen on May 8, 2012

I had a horrible ashtanga practice this morning. I could blame it on my back being tight or on being pressed for time but the real issue was what was going on in my head. That said, I’m not really sure what was going on with me but I was in tears before I even made it through standing series. By the time I was on the floor the only thing I wanted to do was get off my mat as quickly as possible. I thought about leaving but then I considered how many times I’ve challenged my own students to stay with their practice even when it doesn’t feel easy or especially good.

So instead of fleeing from what was drawing up uncomfortable emotions, I finished. I will admit that I rushed through some poses and skipped a few that I just didn’t have the heart to do but I made it to savasana…and then immediately rolled up my mat and left as quickly as possible fighting back tears. A couple of hours later I had to teach a class. The thing with teaching is that you have to do it even when you don’t feel like it. The thing about teaching yoga is that you don’t have to pretend that it’s the best day ever because if it’s not, and you do pretend, the experience you give your students feels anything but authentic and heartfelt.

Forced, fake happy is uncomfortable and people don’t connect with that. Instead I told my students about my crappy ashtanga practice and reminded them that you don’t always have to come to your mat at 100%. Some days you may be at 10% and wondering how you’re going to make it to the next pose. But breath by breath, pose by pose the practice happens and growth occurs. You learn that it’s okay to feel things and you know that you’re not the only one in the room that is feeling something. Energy and emotional states are different every day. Learn how strong you are from the difficult practices that challenge you physically and emotionally.