My Personal Best

After work today, I headed to the gym for what I was expecting to be an easy cardio + BodyPump workout.  Well, once I got there and started running on the treadmill, I decided I really wasn’t in the mood for Pump…I think it’s the first time ever!  So instead, I stayed on the treadmill and ran my personal BEST – 4 miles!!

Now, I’m sure some of you may be laughing… “4 miles?!? Ha, I can do that with my eyes closed!” Well, for me, I never grew up running.  I hated it.  I hated everything about it.  I’ve struggled with asthma my whole life, which had been quite a roadblock.  Luckily, I’ve learned how to better handle and treat it.  I can remember being back in high school, unable to run much more than a single lap around the track without feeling like I was going to hurl…

But I’ve worked my way up, and I haven’t given up.  Yeah, first it started off with maybe 30 seconds of running followed by 5 minutes of walking.  Then the running went up to a minute, and the walking went down.  Before I knew it, my running and walking times were the same, and my distances were getting longer.

When I could run a single mile, I was ecstatic.  Me, Courtney- the asthmatic who wanted nothing to do with much more than a speed walk, just ran a mile?!?  The excitement made me giddy…and it left me wanting more.  Everytime I got on the treadmill, I increased something just a bit.  Maybe it was the speed, maybe it was the distance, but it was something.  I could feel myself getting stronger, and my endurance was skyrocketing.

Sure, I have some days where my asthma acts up a little more and I have to listen to my body and take it easy.  But when my lungs are at full capacity, I’m ready to go.  A few months before my wedding back in January, I joined a gym.  I never liked gyms.  I thought they were a waist of  money.  But little did I know how much I was missing out on!  I consider myself fairly competitive, and wow, what an opportunity to exert my competitive edge!  I found myself pushing that one extra minute, just to try to “beat” the person next to me.

But then I decided to focus my competitive edge on ME.  “Ok, last time I ran 3 miles in “x” amount of time…this time I’ll try to get there 30 seconds quicker…” I was doing my best on beating my best “3 mile” mark, but I never tried anything past that.  I guess it never really crossed my mind to keep going….until today!!  I LOVE that I’ve made a new goal for myself now, and I’m going to continue to see if I can keep working my way up.

Do I consider myself a “runner”?  No, not really.  I enjoy the energy it gives me, and I feel good during and after it.  But you’re not going to see me running any marathons, or even half marathons, anytime soon.  Now, I’m not shunning them forever – considering the thought of running more than a mile a year ago would have made me nauseous, you really never know.  But, I like to set my goals small and work up from there.  Ask me a year from now, and maybe I’ll have a different story to tell!

So now that you know my “history as a non-runner”, I’ll continue on with the rest of my post

Since I decided against BodyPump today, I still wanted to get in some lifting.  So I used some of the machines to work my biceps, triceps, upper & lower back, hamstrings, & glutes.  I don’t really remember all of my weights, but I did 3 sets of 13 reps at each (I always do “lucky” 13 reps)   It was a really good workout, and I’m glad I switched it up.

By the time I got home, my tummy was RUMBLIN’!  I wanted to whip up something quick and easy, so I ended up with this lovely creation:

Tomato, Spinach, Swiss & Egg Wrap

I used one of my whole wheat, La Tortilla Factory wraps, and filled it up with some fresh spinach, tomato slices, 1/2 a wedge of The Laughing Cow Light Swiss cheese, 1/2 cup scrambled Egg Beaters with basil, & a spread of pesto.

This thing was SO YUMMY!!  It was my attempt to recreate the Starbucks wrap I tried a few weeks back…but I think mine was better.

Along with my wrap, I added some fresh veggies, which I dipped generously into some of my roasted red pepper hummus.

It’s WEDNESDAY, so I’ll be watching my fave shows tonight…Modern Family & Cougar Town!  Of course, I will be taking a tv break at 9 to hopefully snag my ticket to the Healthy Living Summit!!!!

Tagged as: dinner, la tortilla factory, running, the laughing cow light swiss cheese