In case you haven’t noticed, I haven’t really talked much about fitness lately. Actually, I haven’t talked about it at all. Oops.

I know some of you are very interested in exercise and began reading my blog years ago because I gave you so much information about my daily workouts and health advice, so I want to address it now.

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Read the rest of why i quit the gym (414 words)

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Post tags: behind the butter, Exercise

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Hey hey!

I feel about 500 times better this morning…..thanks to a solid 8+ hours of sleep (with tylonel pm, ear plugs and eye mask), an early morning run, a jenna-breakfast and amazing grass, I think I’m almost back to my old self. I’m currently sitting at a little French bakery in downtown Healdsburg, drinking a cafe au lait and James Taylor “going to Carolina” is playing and I almost choked up….but besides that, things are going well.

This morning I set my alarm for 6:15 and for the first time, I actually felt like it WAS 6:15 and not 9:15. I ate a banana, laced up my running shoes and ran a COLD couple miles. I found a little park and track near the boy’s house and blasted my music…..it was wonderful to get back out there, break a sweat and clear my mind. Since I’m out here all on my own and don’t even have the comfort of my old car, my music is the one thing that makes me feel close to home. I couldn’t believe it was 44 degrees outside….I’m used to running when it’s 84 and humid. This is so weird!

When I got back, I made a comforting jenna breakfast of oatmeal with almond butter, banana and honeycrisp apple chunks:

Plus coffee! I have never in my life been in a boys kitchen that is SO well stocked. Both Adam and Rocky are major foodies and they have french press coffee makers, rice cookers, teavana tea infusers and, of course, a whole supply of hot sauces. What more could you need?!

I’ve been instructed to throw it out there that if there are any single girls who read this that would like to go on a date with Rocky, he is ready and available.

Ain’t he cute?!

I dropped Adam off at work and again took the big red truck for an adventure. First, we went to the gas station and discovered real fast that California gas is SO EXPENSIVE!!!! good lord.

Then, I parallel parked!!!!

Dad, aren’t you proud?!

Got a delicious cafe au lait and sat outside and worked on my laptop—

I <3 Healdsburg

And this WEATHER!!!!!! Oh, my heart!

Sigh. I can’t believe I’ve been brainwashed by Florida humidity for 17 years. California is extremely expensive and far away, but I’d move here for the weather and Trader Joe’s ALONE! I mean, come on!

For lunch I had a yogurt bowl with cinnamon puffins, almond butter and apple. You will probably see a lot of these as I attempt to save every penny I have…..

Have a bunch of work to do this afternoon in regards to my freelance projects….and tomorrow is my first day of work at Michel-Schlumberger!

To be continued!

© Jenna for Eat, Live, Run, 2009. | Permalink | 90 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cardio, Exercise, Lunch, musings, Snack

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Hey hey!

Wow, I forgot how HOT Bikram is!!!! 105 degrees, thank you very much. I think I sweat out every toxin that has ever been in my body. It was awesome.

Before I practiced, I had this lovely bar:

And afterwards, in all my sweaty smelly glory, I had a big yogurt bowl with a Voskos, 1/4 cup Ezekiel cereal, 1/4 cup Udi’s granola, dried cherries and almond butter:

Yogurt. It’s whats for dinner. I may or may not have had a piece of organic dark chocolate for dessert that missed the camera’s eye

I love how CLEAN you feel after Bikram. I went in all stressed out and I left….still a little stressed, yes, but feeling like a whole new person. Maybe when I’m in Santa Rosa next week I can hit up the Santa Rosa Bikram College of India studio….that would be fun!

I’m off to read, pack and organize my life. See you in the morning!

© Jenna for Eat, Live, Run, 2009. | Permalink | 32 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Exercise, Snack, yoga

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Today I ran 9 miles. I’m going to say it went as well as running 9 miles at 5:45 in the morning can go. I think I figured out the tactic that works for me the best, and aside from the first five minutes, I had really no discomfort. Basically, I run my heart out as far as I can go and then I just run the rest of the way doing the ever efficient Galloway method, running for three minutes and walking for one. It works for me! Oh, and keep it slow. Real slow.

What you all don’t know is that on Thursday night I was up at 12:45 crying and writing Team in Training a long letter as to why I had to quit. My shins hurt, I said. I just can’t do it. I’m not a “real runner”.

My gut told me to wait until Monday to send that letter so I saved it in my drafts section of my gmail and went to bed with a heavy heart.

And then this morning the sermon at church totally spoke to me. Brian, our pastor, was telling us how his fourteen year old daughter just ran in her first cross country meet yesterday. There were 60 runners and she was second to last. Her one friend on the team was dead last and so far back and lost that everyone thought she dropped out. Well, Brian’s daughter actually made the decision to TURN AROUND and run the opposite direction close to the finish line just so she could find her friend and run by her side…so she wouldn’t be the last. She didn’t care about time or pace; she put someone else before herself. And she’s only fourteen. Amazing.

This whole time, I’ve been trying to make this race all about ME. I’ve been so concerned with walking less, running more and running fast while at it. I felt like in order to hold my head high in the blogworld, I had to finish the race in under two hours and run the entire time.

Now I can see just how ridiculously stupid that is. The truth of the matter is that this race isn’t about Jenna at all. Not in the least bit. This race is for all those cancer patients who will benefit from the research that raising close to $9,000 will bring in. What does it matter what my “split” times are, how fast I go, or how much I walk? What does it even matter if I walk the whole dang thing?! I’ve twisted this race around to be a selfish matter when it most clearly should not be. It’s really easy to get caught up in reading these food and exercise blogs—-thinking that if you aren’t running 30 miles a week you must not be a runner…it’s ingrained in us to be the BEST at everything and to judge ourselves based on someone else. But, at the end of the day, who cares? Seriously. I challenge each one of you to stop comparing yourself to others, stop aiming for perfection, and just accept what you are and where you are today and help someone else. It’s not all about PRs and calories; it’s about real life and real people.

Okay, rant over. Moral of the story: I’m not quitting and even though it might take me five hours to finish this thing, I’m doing it for those who can’t even walk and would kill to be in my shoes.

Hopefully I didn’t come off as too harsh. God gave me a very passionate, feisty and stubborn heart and I’m using it the best way I know how.

Pre-run I had two slices of whole wheat toast with peanut butter—-

Drank watered down gatorade the whole way and it worked well. I love that stuff! When I got home I made a big shake with 1 scoop Vega, 1 scoop Amazing Grass SuperFood, 1 frozen banana, frozen peaches, 1 cup soymilk and 1 scoop peanut butter.

It was actually really gross (haha) but I was so hot and so tired and so wiped out that I didn’t care. I really don’t like this Vega stuff and am thankful that my refill for Amazing Meal is on route to me right now! I feel like Vega has a weird sweet taste. Maybe it’s just me.

The shake actually filled me up for quite some time but when I got home around 1:00, I was literally shaking again from hunger. Dangit, running 9 miles makes me HANGRY! I made the quickest and most filling meal I knew:

Mmmmmmm oatmeal I used 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup soymilk, 1/2 cup water, 1 scoop Sun Warrior protein powder, some craisins, cinnamon, sea salt and white chocolate wonderful pb. I’m just realizing now I have had peanut butter with every meal/snack today so far. Awesome.

I’m off to wander around the bookstore, my favorite Sunday afternoon activity. I’m so excited to go to California on Friday that I’m already packing….woohoo!

© Jenna for Eat, Live, Run, 2009. | Permalink | 166 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Breakfast, cardio, Exercise, Faith, Lunch, musings, Snack

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hi friends! Thank you all SO MUCH for all the sweet, encouraging and inspiring comments on my previous post. Y’all really know how to make me smile!

Sorry for the bit of blog headache this morning!! We’ve had some server issues but hopefully everything is back in the clear now. I feel like this little (big) blog is roaming around cyberspace looking for a home big enough for it.

Other than blog headaches, things are going well! Yoga was awesome…the music was amazinggggg this morning. I don’t know if y’all know this random fact about me, but I was a dancer for many, many years. Dance team at school…. pointe shoes, ballet and jazz on the side. Because of this, music totally moves me. Totally made the whole class. And I had a heart to heart with Jen, my instructor, as well. Yoga just moves us to open our hearts in more ways than one I suppose!

For lunch I had a turkey, hummus and provolone sandwich on a whole wheat Arnold sandwich thin with cucumber, carrots and a fruit strip. I felt like this was such an elementary school kid lunch with my “dessert”!

There may or may not have been a little bit of digging into the chip bag

Okay, I seriously cannot keep these in the house anymore…..they are SO addicting!!!!

***

Sarah and Jessica are picking me up in a little over an hour and we are heading to Orlando for the Deeper Still conference! I AM SO EXCITED!!!! I feel like Beth Moore played such a huge role in my faith last year and seeing her live with thousands of other strong Christian women is going to be amazing. Plus, it’s always nice to get out of town with your girlfriends….even for just a night.

Going to try to blog tonight from my hotel room….taking my airport card since we all remember how Jenna’s ethernet plug does not work after The Healthy Living Summit last month and I was forced to blog from the hotel lobby late at night. Hah

Enjoy your Friday!

© Jenna for Eat, Live, Run, 2009. | Permalink | 38 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Exercise, Faith, Lunch, yoga

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Hello hello

Gosh darnit, every time I tell myself I’ll just “take it easy” and do a Dave Farmar power vinyasa podcast at home, it always ends up totally kicking my booty. Thanks for that, Dave! This morning I did his latest—a 60 minute flow. Threw some of my favorite sequence—warrior three to floating half moon to revolved half moon to dancer—in there as well so I guess it’s mainly my fault that my behind is so sore right now.

After yoga, I slammed down some greeeeens!

And had a few crackers with the most amazing cheese product ever!

A big thank you to Alouette for sending me some samples for the blog. This stuff rocks and we all know how much Jenna loves her brie

Lunch was random as usual but delicious nonetheless

A morningstar farms black bean burger on an Arnold sandwich thin with provolone, hummus and hot sauce….and a big mound of baby carrots with peanut butter. Hey, it works!

Gotta get back to work here and then heading to the studio from 4-8 again. Hope you have a marvelous Thursday!

© Jenna for Eat, Live, Run, 2009. | Permalink | 37 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Exercise, Lunch, Snack, yoga

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Gush! Yoga was seriously the BEST ever this morning!

I know I get all excited and say things like that all the time, but this morning it really was aaaamazing. I’m working really hard on standing back bends and hand stands and the room was very hot and steamy and Jen (our instructor) blasted loud instrumentals the whole time. I was definitely in “the zone” and my body definitely melted into some new limits.

Then during savasana, Jen read my absolute favorite poem of all time, which I used to have taped to my wall in my dorm room in college and included it in my senior poetry portfolio. It’s just so powerful that I want to share it here now.

The Journey

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice–

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

“Mend my life!”

each voice cried.

But you didn’t stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do–

determined to save

the only life you could save.

I don’t know if y’all know this, but I concentrated on poetry in college with my creative writing degree and with that, we studied a lot of Mary Oliver. She, along with Elizabeth Bishop, are my two favorite female poets. This poem just hits me to the core.

After class, when we were getting ready to leave, Jen comes up to me and was like “Jenna, I read that poem for you today…I just felt like you needed to hear it!” How crazy cool is THAT?! Gives me goosebumps. Thanks, Jen!

So anyways! Back to the food. Before yoga, I had an apple and string cheesie:

And post yoga, delighted in this lovely Kashi meal

+ a half cup of vanilla oikos with a Udi’s sprinkle!

I currently sitting here still sweaty from class so I should probably hit the showers. Got a project to work on this afternoon and then bible study tonight.

Be back!

© Jenna for Eat, Live, Run, 2009. | Permalink | 49 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Exercise, Lunch, Snack, yoga

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Hey guys!

So, this morning I was all set to do an hour of yoga in my living room but ended up only doing 40 minutes and then just laid on the floor on my mat for an extra long savasana. It was very much needed….sometimes the best sort of practice is when you just can lay and be still with your thoughts.

Here’s my savasana playlist

This playlist is actually called “smooth rider” in my itunes. How lame am I?! I heart the Elizabethtown soundtrack big time…one of my very favorites that is currently in my disk changer in my car!

Lunch was pretty boring. Sorry about that!

Just a turkey, hummus and provolone sandwich on Arnold double fiber bread with an apple. Munch, munch, munch. Drank some apricot white tea as well.

I’m heading to the studio from 4-7:30 this afternoon to log a few more hours at the front desk. No class tonight though…..I’m saving my hours for my favorite lunchtime flow tomorrow!

Be back!

© Jenna for Eat, Live, Run, 2009. | Permalink | 42 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Exercise, Lunch, yoga

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hello

Can I please just say that animals flock to me?

Apparently my behind makes a mighty good pillow. Mikey thinks so at least.

Anyways, this afternoon was rather busy and I snacked on yet another Oikos, this time with a bit of Udi’s, before heading to the studio!

I was scheduled to run the front desk from 4-8 but ended up jumping into a 5:45 power yoga class because there’s not much to do up front when classes are in session. This was an awesome class and I was sweatyyyyyy! My quads and lower back were screaming at me after deep stretches on the wall and standing back bends. I haven’t gone into a back bend from standing up since my old gymnast days when I was, errr, twelve….so this was an interesting experience. I felt old! I did eat an unpictured apple before the class because I knew I wouldn’t make it until an 8:30 dinner!

Dinner!

This is so a dinner I ate all the time in college! A two egg omelet with an arnold’s sandwich thin and steamed broccoli. Dinner of champions

Dessert was a spoonful of chocolate peanut butter because….it rocks. Ignore the sweaty mane and casual dripping of peanut butter.

There’s a scary large pile of clean clothes on my bed waiting to be folded and a scary number of emails in my inbox as well.

See you tomorrow!

© Jenna for Eat, Live, Run, 2009. | Permalink | 47 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: dessert, Dinner, Exercise, yoga

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hey hey!

How’s your Monday going? Mine is flying by and I still need to get a bunch of stuff done before my shift at the yoga studio this afternoon (I work 4-8).

Most importantly, I set a new PR this morning!!!! woot woot 2 miles in 16 minutes flat. I never pace an 8 minute mile anymore but speedwork is important and I want to keep getting stronger and stronger. I was totally pushing myself though this morning and listened to a new playlist just called “speed” haha (I just figured out how to do screenshots and currently obsessed)

And then an Oikos ’cause I was still hangry!

© Jenna for Eat, Live, Run, 2009. | Permalink | 59 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cardio, Exercise, Lunch, musings, Snack, tea

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