Foto Friday: Octoberful.

So no real theme for this week, just showing off what's been going on the past two weeks in mi vida, but first...

25,000 views y'all! (mini-milestone celebration time)

as of today, this lil blog has passed the 25,000 view mark! The views are almost all from this one concert-recap post and I can't be sure how many of these views are actual people and not just bots, but since I can't tell, I'm counting them all!

Now back to our regularly scheduled post:

The first weekend in October was filled with soccer and friends, starting with a very rainy DC United game (which they tied to clinch a spot in the playoffs)...

Yay for friends who love soccer enough to stand getting soaked in the rain with me!

...Then continued on Saturday at the RFK Auxiliary field for my coed league's All Star game #gopink! 

(we won, even if the blue team was much better at the whole organized-picture thing)

The representatives from our team also got to accept the trophy for having won our division last spring, chyeeaaah SSFC!

I also don't have any photos of it (which I guess defeats the purpose of FotoFriday) but I had my first performance on stage playing acoustic/rhythm guitar with the worship band at my church and it was great, everyone was so encouraging! And I also participated in a Chili Cook-Off with a Pumpkin Chicken Chili (recipe here)

Picture via original recipe (is this FotoFriday cheating if it's a professional picture? Imma say no, my blog, my theme,  my rules)

This past holiday weekend started out with some more soccer spectating (and another tie) with a group viewing of Landon Donovan's last game with Team USA

Saturday was spent resting up to attack the Army Ten-Miler with the family (minus 2OB, plus a Katie, who ROCKED the race with 12 hours notice) on Sunday.

The course was different this year but it was amazing as always and was the third Army Ten Miler for me and the third with AMAZING weather!

My sister and I also always run in matching shirts with HOO and AAH written on our backs. For anyone who doesn't know, in the Army, HOOAAH is kind of an all-encompassing/catch-all cheer, encouragement, response. We always get comments and cheers mid race and the best is when someone tells us it encourages them! We even had a gentlemen this year tell us around mile 8 that this was the third year he's seen us, that makes him 3 for 3!

The rest of the weekend was spent mainly recovering off my feet with #notsosecretproject14

bulky yarn = my favorite!

A (not very social) weekend's progress #bananaforscale:

My final activity this past weekend involved scoping out my soon to be new room (if all goes well)!!! 

Soon to be new room?!?!?

Lastly, yesterday I received the AMAZING news that a friend and former club and college teammate who is battling brain cancer had her first post-chemo scan return TUMOR FREE! She's not completely done with treatment but this is a HUGE positive step towards beating this disease! She is a fighter and we're all behind her, I can't wait to visit her in a little over a week! #KickAsh!

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Monthly Motivation Linkup: September Goals

 

Blogpost on a Tuesday?!? Must be something special! And it is! I'm linking up with Illegally Blonde, Life Love & Puppy Prints and P!nk Persistence for their new monthly link-up to provide motivation for fit and healthy living! Join us as we discuss our goals for September!

September Goals:
Fitness wise, the fall is complicated. Co-ed soccer starts back up so that means at least one solid 90-minute workout each week (and my team is good and so since the level is so high, I do get an actual workout), but that also means a busier schedule, an occasional temptation to celebrate our victories with beer, and a much later bedtime on game nights. My September goals revolve around fitting it into a fit lifestyle, instead of just jamming it in and forgettting everything else.

1) Yoga at least once a week

Once soccer season starts up, yoga is the first thing to go, really just cause of the conflicting times. The bad part is that I need yoga so much more when I play, since my hips, quads and hamstrings tighten up the more I play. I'm going to try really hard to at least do Saturday yoga, however my women's kickball team might start practicing at a conflicting time. I can always just do my own workout but that will require some extra motivation and planning, so I'll need y'alls encouragement!

2) Rock Climb at least once a week

This shouldn't be too hard since I recently made a new climbing-partner-friend and we text each other every Sunday to set up a climb or two during the week.  Climbing is my replacement for weightlifting, and can be a mental challenge as well. I love that I've really picked it back up this past month and can see my progress.

3) One 5+ mile run once a week

I'm doing the Army Ten Miler again this year. It will be on Columbus Day Weekend, so I really gotta get my butt in gear training-wise in September.  Soccer games include running, and help build my endurance but are completely different than a road run in the morning and I need to get my body used to those again. Speaking of morning exercise:

4) MORNING WORKOUTS!

my typical morning alarm (the struggle is real)

 My last fitness goal is to get more (or really any) morning workouts in during the week. Unless I'm in court, I don't have to be at the office very early and so I need to do a better job of actually getting up when I set my alarm and getting out of bed to run, instead of casually rolling out to peruse the newspaper and Facebook. The key here will be an earlier bedtime, something I've always struggled with.

GENERAL GOAL: Drink more water!

I've noticed recently I've stopped drinking enough water during the day.  Something else that becomes more important when I sweat out a ton at weekly or twice weekly games.  However, the water at my new office tastes really bad so I gotta either get over my water snobbishness or be sure to bring a full nalgene every morning.

Have any recommendations for how I can accomplish my goals? Have similar challenges or goals yourself? Let me know in the comments below!

Foto Friday: 10k

Last Weekend I returned to Richmond for the "Ukrops Monument Avenue 10k presented by Sportsbackers" (wow, that was a mouthful). I had a great time staying with a good friend I hadn't seen in person for almost a year, and I got to meet (and completely approve of) her boyfriend and their new dog.
I caught up with friends and even though it wasn't sunny and actually a little rainy, I had a fun time running & wished that in addition to my nike sportwatch I had one of those new smart watches that takes pictures or a go-pro cause there were some great costumes & getting my phone out mid-race was not an option.

Anyway here are some pictures from the weekend: 

This year's t-shirt

Post-Race thumbs-up! Since it was raining a spectator/cheerer held up a "Best Wet T-Shirt Contest Ever!" sign, which made me realized the white shirt/blue sports bra combo wasn't my best idea ;)

The coolest costumed runners I saw: Forrest Gump & Jenny!

THE FINISH LINE!

My hostess and the adorable Gus!

Post-race brunch w/ some other Spider alumni! I got a delicious lamb, kale, onion, hash brown skillet w/ feta ant goat cheese, and it was perfect!

Hanging out with my favorite giant-headed dog!

Gus knew just how I felt Saturday night...