I'm Running Across America!

Well, actually I'm only running across 4 states but STILL that's FOUR states, approx 600 miles and mucho elevation gain.  I kinda gleaned over this goal when I did my post about goals for the year.  Guys, this is HUGE! 


Why am I doing such a crazy thing?  Rev3's  charity organization is the Ulman Cancer Fund and our run across america is to raise money for Ulman.  Unfortunately, almost everyone I know has had cancer impact their lives.  


Too many of those we love have battled cancer.  I've never run for a charity before and I'm not usually big on fundraising but for this cause at this particular time in my life---I'll be out there running my heart out and raising all the funds I can for this cause.  I'm respecting the wishes for privacy but know that someone dear to me is in a battle with this disease right now.  This is something I can do to show support and my own way to cope.


If you're in a place where you can donate, please click on the link on my sidebar or go HERE.  Every little bit helps and I thank you for your contribution.  For those that aren't in a position to make a donation I hope that you'll follow my journey and keep those battling this disease in your thoughts.


I leave Portland bound for Phoenix, AZ on March 29th and will be running from Arizona to Texas, returning to Portland on April 2nd!  I know it will be an amazing experience. Never having done a relay before I kinda jumped into the ultimate of all relays.  As the run gets closer I'll post more about the logistics etc...if you're interested in virtually running with us or meeting us along the course definitely drop me a note in the comments or email me: ambitiousalisa@gmail.com. 

For more information on Ulman, please check out their website: http://www.ulmanfund.org/

Basement Progression

As you know Mr. Pi and I have been hard at work finishing our basement.  Here are some photos to show the progression.  I'm planning to do more of an in depth post with approx cost calculations (ala Young House Love-style) but I'm still pretty buried and don't have time for anything more in depth than photos right now.

 BEFORE:

Before Looking North

Before Looking West/South

STEP 1: Conrete

Pouring concrete

Finished concrete

STEP 2: Sealing the concrete

Sealing the concrete

STEP 3: Starting tilework

Starting the tiling

Cutting tiles

Finished Tile! (why don't I have a picture of just the floor...you'll be able to see it in the next few photos)

STEP 4: Buy stuff

Home depot + Ikea = Full CRV

STEP 5: Painting

North wall (finished tile)

Looking East

View from West/South (finished tile)--this is the same view as one of the "before" photos scroll up for comparison.

STEP 6: Molding

To be finished

STEP 7: Furniture and Artwork

To be finished

Three Things Thursday

1.  I have worked late every night this week and am feeling incredibly overwhelmed.  While I like my job I don’t like 10+ hour days every day.  I also think working long days would be more bearable if I could access my gmail account from work and not just on my phone.  I feel like all my personal emails are backing up and I can’t keep up.

2.  Our furnace officially broke last weekend and we still don’t have heat in our house.  I called 2 different companies and neither returned my calls so I called another 3 places and finally yesterday I started getting phone calls back.  So far, the cold isn’t too horrific, I come home and take a hot shower, put on my layers and bundle up in a blanket.  Sleeping is super comfortable as we have electric wall heaters upstairs.  Technically we could spend all our time upstairs and be totally fine, downstairs has been a bit nippy.

3.  I need to start consistent morning workouts.  I have been doing well with consistency for all my workouts and mostly following my build plan but I need to work on getting up and out of bed.  Any thoughts on how best to do this?  I wish my local friends belonged to my gym, it’s easier to meet someone for sure!

I have so many exciting posts to share but b/c of #1 (above) they are going to have to wait...but expect:

a basement update!

a post on my running (partway) across america and what you can do to help!

my return from injury!

my upcoming race plans!

2012 Goals & January 2012 Goals

Eeeek, it’s the second week of January and I don’t have goals up yet, I have no posts about New Years…guess that’s a sign 2012 has been a busy year already!

Here are some of my goals for the year…and some of my goals for January (at the bottom).

2012 Goals

1. Believe in myself. (I consider myself a decently confident person in day-to-day life but there are certain circumstances where my confidence falls apart.  Certain work situations cause me to doubt my brainpower, certain terrain on foot or via bike make me throw tantrums/get depressed.  This is going to stop!  Of course, everyone has good days and bad days BUT I’m going to work hard to believe in myself, my brains, my feet, my legs…and my heart.)

2. Finish the basement project!  (We have already begun.  A basement post is to come.)

3. Be an amazing party planner.  (You all know I’ll be throwing AMY an EPIC baby shower in March.  I love to party plan and am looking forward to other opportunities that may crop up this year.)

4. Finish my second 70.3!

5. Make one new PR this year.  (I don’t care if it’s a 5k, half marathon, marathon or a tri…one PR WILL happen this year.)

6.  Have an amazing experience being part of Team Rev3! Including RUNNING (PARTWAY) ACROSS the COUNTRY! Across 3 states to be exact (more to come later). I already feel so honored to be on the Team.  I know this will be an easy goal to accomplish!

7. Go to Europe.  (Looking like September 2012!  Likely France and Italy…maybe another country too.  Mr. Pi and my Pi mother-in-law will likely all be jetting to Europe together!)

8.  Go to a C3 class at CorePower. (I’m comfortable in C2 but sometime this year I want to bump it up to C3!)

9. Cross one thing off my life list.

10.  Swim a 5k.  (Even if it just in the pool.  I want to go the distance.)

11. Be less anxious.  (I sometimes get anxious about the silliest of things and it often manifests in being grumpy or snapping at someone close to me (mostly hubby, sorry hubby).  I want to work on thinking calm thoughts, whatever it is I’m anxious about is probably NOT a big deal.)

 

12.  Push myself out of my comfort zone.  (This doesn’t necessarily mean in training.  I am a person of routine and sometimes when that routine is interrupted I’m out of my comfort zone, sometimes leading to #11.  Mr. Pi the other day when asked how he has energy to do all the things he does, aka stay up late, run 20 miles followed my an entire day of home improvement project work, etc…said something like “I love life and like to fill each day as much as possible as to not miss out.”  I really liked this statement.  While I’m not sure I can be quite as life loving as him, I would inevitably crash or be cranky all the time if I didn’t get enough sleep, I do want to take his statement into consideration more often.  I feel like I love life but sometimes my routine gets in the way.  I want it all this year!  I want to keep my routine but also push myself outside the bounds once in awhile, it’ll be good for me.)

January Goals

1. Racing Weight here I come…continue to eat Paleo and be conscious of how I’m fueling my body.  I would like to lose 3-5 lbs this month—however; I care less about the actual pounds and more about losing bodyfat/getting leaner.  I’m planning to start doing measurements once a month.

2. Have a relaxing MLK Day Weekend.  With the holidays, our amazing trip to the coast for New Years and having my Dad in town…I’m ready for a weekend of catching up on house stuff and relaxing (read mopping the floors, mowing the lawn?, watching TV…).

3.  Finish the basement floor.  We are already well on the way to finishing the floor and I’m excited to move on to the painting stage.

4. Finish one spin/trainer ride of 2 hours (or more).

5. By the end of the month run 7 miles.

6.  Follow my build plan. (So far, first of January has been tough with work getting busy and company in town and a house project going on all at the same time.  Starting Jan week 2 will need to carve out more time for myself which may mean getting up earlier.)

December 2011 Goals Recap

I went back through my blog archives to find my 2011 year long goals and realized I never really made any for the whole year.  I think this may be the first year that I didn’t make any specific year-long goals.  I did do monthly goals so we’re going to roll through Dec 2011.

1. Make wreaths. (Spoiler, didn’t happen in November).—SUCCESS! I made about 6 wreaths.

2. Get in the holiday spirit.—SUCCESS!  The little tree Mr. Pi brought me really lifted my spirits and from then on it was all Christmas music and CHEER.

3. Start basement project!—SUCCESS! We have bought supplies and prepped the space.

4. Christmas cards?—FAIL!  I’ve decided if these aren’t in progress or done before Thanksgiving I’m not going to do them.  Things get too busy.

5. Continue return to running plan.—SUCCESS!  I’m up to comfortably being able to run 4 miles and have done as many as 5 (with a walk break).

6. This is going to sound cliche and also super hard to do in December but start losing weight.—SUCCESS! Starting the Paleo diet was actually a good thing.  This is the first time in a long while that I lost weight over the holidays.  Not a ton but about 3.5 lbs.

7.  Keep Mr. Pi's gifts a surprise.—Half SUCCESS!  He did end up guessing a couple of them.  I tried.

8. Continue going to yoga.—SUCCESS!  I am still loving CorePower.

9. Plan out my 2012 season!—FAIL!  I haven’t really planned my season yet but I have races in mind.  For me, “planning” only fully counts when you’ve pulled the trigger and registered.

10. Create a "build" plan in anticipation of #9. Part of my build plan is #6 but I also want to have some good base mileage and yardage before I start "real" training for my upcoming 2012 races.—Mostly SUCCESS!  I have my 8-10 build plan but I need to actually start writing down specifics.

11.  Stress less.—Work in Progress!

12. Limit my netflix watching.—Mostly SUCCESS!  I didn’t have a lot of time this month to watch a lot of Netflix.

2011 was a year of some ups and downs.  I started the year with the Goofy Challenge and had a blast.  By mid-spring I was injured and through summer at a low point with the BOOT.  However, I rebounded and am finishing the year strong.

2012, I am ready for you!  Bring it!

Three Things Thursday (EPIC Adventures of Past, Present and Future!)

1) PAST EPICNESS---Christmas with the Pi’s is always EPIC!  With Mr. Pi’s 4 siblings and all their little ones running around the house it’s always merriment (with some screaming children thrown in the mix).  

It’s no secret that I like to run with family and friends…this year I asked conned my sister in laws into a day after Christmas bootcamp.  We loaded up and headed to the local highschool where they proceeded to liken me to Jillian Michaels (totally a compliment) and I lead them through a booty busting workout.  We ran stadium stairs, we did push ups, we planked, we crunched, we squatted, we lunged and we ran speed intervals.  It was EPICly a good time.  My sister in laws are amazing women, each with very unique lives and all with super strength.

2) PRESENT EPICNESS---We’re gearing up to tackle the basement.  We have prepped the room and painted the floor with a special sealant.  My Dad is flying in next week to help with the project.  We have days where we think it won’t be a big deal and days where we feel we are WAY over our heads.  As soon as the action begins, I’ll be posting photos of the chaos that is soon to be had.


3)  FUTURE EPICNESS---Remember that post where I said I’m starting a base building plan, well, I better kick it up a notch because I’ll be participating in Rev3’s Run Across America!  

Unfortunately, with work obligations I can’t commit to running the whole country (but how cool would that be?!?!) BUT I will be arriving in Phoenix and running from Arizona to Texas (eeeek, did I really just say that out loud?).  The team is raising money and awareness for the Ulman Cancer Fund.  I’m not usually one to push fundraising, in fact, I never have on the blog but in the New Year, I will add a donation widget (our team goal is $100k)---donate if you’d like or ignore the widget and keep reading.  Cancer is a disease that has affected many and unfortunately, some that are very close in my life.  I’ll be posting more about the EPIC adventure in the months to come but at the end of March I’ll be heading south for my part of the Run Across America!  If you need to visualize what my run might look like, see below…minus the trucker hats and add full Rev3 compression gear (I’m going to need it!).

Winner: It's a New Years Giveaway!

Sorry this took me so long everyone!  I thought I’d have time to choose a winner and post results while I was done in CA with family but clearly that didn’t happen!  However, a winner has been chosen via a random number generator.  

The lucky winner is: Audrey!

(Audrey, email me your mailing address and I can get your package out to you.)