I'm not too busy for little bit of lavender

I love the smell of fresh lavender & so I've tried to plant a few lavender plants around the house.

The real prep work here for this relaxing creative moment is that you need a lavender plant :) 

 If you don't have any in the yard go pick some up, plant it, hope that it flowers this year & be really excited for how much it will have grown next year!

I planted this lavender plant this summer & it's already grown quite  a bit!

Cut a few of the stems that have budded & flowered.

Place the stems into a small vase without water in order to let them dry out.
Once they are dry, begin to pluck the buds & flowers from the stem.

Choose a container to place them into. I, personally, love Mason jars for everything.
The dried lavender is pretty & smells good.
I like to place mine in the window so the light breeze will blow in the scent.

Half-Marathon: 62 days to go!

Time flies when you're training & enjoying your summer!

I'm am doing pretty well with my training & can say that each day I feel the benefits of my runs from the days before.  

This week's training schedule:

Mon: Rest (Although, I may throw in a 2+ miler b/c I did my long run on Saturday & rested yesterday)

Tues: 5mi. easy run

Wed: Rest

Thur: 4mi easy run

Fri: Rest

Sat: Rest

Sun: 5mi easy run

(Will try to add some mileage on the rest days - just seems like a lot of resting this week)

Half-Marathon - Here I Come

It's official... I finally registered for my first half-marathon!

Now to the training - I need to start taking it a bit more seriously.

68 days until race day!!!

Yikes!

Here's this week's training schedule:

Monday: Rest (not a bad way to start the week)

Tuesday: 3 mile easy run

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 5 mile tempo run (1mi. warm up, 3mi. @ 11:48, 1mi. cool down) 

Did I forget to mention I'm not a very fast runner? ... yet

Friday: 2 mile easy run

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: 8 mile long run (you bet your a** that's a long run!)

Here's the app I am using to help me with my training plan. It's the Runner's World - Smart Coach app. The picture shows it displaying the weekly plan. You can also view it in a daily view.

CREATE the healthy life you want!!!

BALANCE

I find myself so frequently saying, "I need to find balance in my life!" 

So, I explored the idea of balance & what I felt would help me find & feel more balanced.  Being a former runner, dancer & a current yoga teacher, I decided it was time to CREATE the balance I wanted by finding a way to better incorporate these practices into my life.

Here is where I chronicle my journey to balance.

7.12.11 One of my goals this year is to get back into running & run a half-marathon race. So today I began my training! I have 12 weeks to prepare. 

I got my run in during the morning due to high expected temps today.  

haven't run in months, so it was a little less than easy

My thoughts as I ran?

"I run. I run. I run. I don't walk. I'm a runner, I run. hot. breathe. make it to the next mailbox, awesome. see? I run! I am a runner! shoe's untied. don't trip. i run, i don't trip. i run..."

~You get the idea~

I've also found some lovely apps through itunes to help keep me on track.

Runners World Smart Coach - free app

This one gives you an individual training plan based on your abilities and what you want to train for!

Running Log - free app

This one lets you to log your runs allowing for distance, time, notes, effort, & more. Also shows you your averages per week & month.