Happy Friday, everyone! I'm off for another adventure in Chicago with my sister-friends. It's my last weekend of fun plans before I move so I'm pretty darn excited! Make sure you check out my extra cool announcement below!

Five Workouts:
Workouts have been HOT this week. Let's face it, it's the middle of summer and Cincinnati is notorious for being muggy, sticky, and uncomfortable. This certainly isn't Texas with temps in the 100s but we are consistently in the 90s and the humidity makes it feel like I'm wearing an ugly Christmas sweater to workout. Whew! 

Monday: Boot Camp (45 min) 
Tuesday: 4 mile Run/Walk (50 min)
Wednesday: Hot Yoga (60 min) + Boot Camp (45 min)
Thursday: 4.5 mile Run/Walk (60 min)
Friday: TBD 

Five Thoughts:
1. Bug Bites
They just plain suck! I love being outside to run and workout but I don't love getting bit by everything. I bought some Bug Bands to wear but I keep forgetting to wear them. How do you all combat this buggy problem?

2. Sausage Fingers & A Red Face
Who else gets sausage fingers when they run? Mine swell up after about 5-10 minutes and won't go down until long after my workout. On top of that, I get big old red cheeks anytime I think of exercise & a lot of people don't. I wanted to find out why so here's a great little article that sums it all up. It's basically common sense now that I think about it - vasodilation from exercise = increased blood flow. The take away point I got from the article was a red face and swelling does NOT mean you are out of shape! It just means your regulatory reflex is more sensitive or reactive than others. Yay for homeostasis!

Darn red chubby cheekers!

3. Eating is Hit or Miss Lately
I tend to make pretty good choices until I let myself get too hungry - that's when I reach for something easy & quick. Like this morning I didn't eat breakfast at home because I have so many errands to run. I ended up stopping at Panera and getting a Mediterranean Egg White sandwich. Obviously not the worst choice but it's something I could make at home for fewer calories, less sodium, and less $. I need to break this habit! (It gets worse, I promise. Just an example.)

4. Birds (Caw Caw Caw)
My last semester of college I needed to take one last Biology lab & lecture to graduate so I chose Ornithology (birds) which included "awesome" field trips at 7 am throughout the semester. To be honest, I choose this class so I would only have classes on Tuesday and Thursday. It became a joke between my friends and I because I probably spent more time studying for that class than any of my other ones that semester. Plus it's just kind of weird. The surprising part? I actually enjoyed that class and have since grown to love birding.  Anyway I saw a Blue Heron on my run yesterday! So that's pretty cool. Another revelation? The dean of my med school is a huge birder as well as several other professors so that bird knowledge will come in handy!

5. Making Healthy Choices during Girl's Weekend
My goal is to break through the post-Advocare cleanse plateau and if I'm going to do that, I have to make smart choices this weekend. I'm so tired of gaining and losing the same three pounds from all my shenanigans the past two weeks. I work too hard to mess it up! How do you all deal with fun weekends with your girls? Suggestions? Low calorie alcoholic beverage ideas? 

And an extra special announcement:
One last thing! I'm participating in my FIRST giveaway! I never thought I would do one of these things but the opportunity presented itself and I thought it would be a great way to connect with new people! 

We're giving away a Sony Cybershot Camera. While I love my iPhone, the picture quality isn't always the best so I totally wish I could win this thing. All you wannable fashion bloggers, go check it out!

I've teamed up with a few fabulous ladies of some awesome blogs to host this giveaway!

Pretty Strong Medicine |Chatter Blossom | Lovely You | Coco in Magnolia | Perpetually CarolineRaising Reagan | Until Only Love Remains | At Home with the Hinkley's
 Just Mi! | The Accidental Military Wife | To be a Better You

The entries are simple...Bloglovin', Facebook and Twitter!
Be sure to read the Official Giveaway Rules.
Let's make some memories!!!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

I'm linking up for the first time with the ladies at I Don't Go to the Gym! Go check them out!

Quick Five:
1. Happy 4th of July!
I hope everyone had a safe and fun Fourth! Nothing exciting to report here - I had to work. Surprise! I don't get too worked up about holidays so I doubt I would've done much without being at work. I definitely don't sound like the usual patriot and lover of liberty that I truly am. Woof.

Nick and I saw The Heat yesterday with Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy. We both thought it was pretty funny! I'm all about girl power and girls being hilarious but the plot was pretty generic. I will also proudly admit that I have a long standing girl crush on Sandra Bullock. How can you not love her? 

2. I've been eating like a goober.
The past few days of eating have been sub-optimal. I've been snacking a little bit more than usual and letting myself eat things I really shouldn't eat at this stage of the game like the sucky Mexican food the night before my race. Pretty sure carb loading is not required for a short race. Get a grip, Heather. Anyway - today it's back on the wagon (GASP! on a Friday?). Why wreck everything that cleanse did to jump start my efforts?

Reuben Sandwich - I only ate half but still...

3. Weigh In Wednesday Update/Thank You
When I weighed in on Wednesday I was practically the same as when I finished the cleanse right before the weekend (lost 0.2 lbs) so that's good news! Now I need to keep going :) I would love to make it to Onederland by August!

I also want to give a HUGE thank you to everyone who commented, tweeted, emailed, etc. such kind messages about the cleanse and my weight loss thus far. I cannot express to you how full my heart is with your thoughtful comments. This blogging thing is really scary sometimes but connecting with you all makes it worth it and I hope we will all continue towards our goals together!

4. My 2nd 5K
Yesterday I ran my 2nd 5K! Well, I ended up walking a little here and there but that made me damn determined to take my training seriously, suck it up, and run the whole thing next time! 

I think my biggest problem is that I haven't been able to "get in the zone" with my running yet. I can't block out all the other people so I push myself a little too hard at the beginning and end up running a lot faster than my training pace (hovers between 11:30-12:30). I get tired too easily and end up walking. Granted I did improve my time by 1:15 (I finished in 35:45 which is an 11:32/mile) but now I need to focus less on speed and more on endurance. 

5. Training
My next 5K is August 2nd and then I'm toying with running a big 5K in Indianapolis on August 31st. I'm going to start Hal Higdon's Novice 5K training on Monday which will prepare me up to the second 5K race since I'm kind of over C25K. After that I'm going to start training for the Thanksgiving Day 10K Race also using Hal Higdon's Novice 10K. I like his free training programs because they include cross training in the schedule. As much as I enjoy running, I will never rely on running for my only workout and he says cross training (and rest) are what really help you improve - I agree. 

Five Workouts:
Monday: Ran 1.3 miles until I got rained on (hence why you should check the weather)

View from my car

Tuesday: Ran 1.25 miles in my cross training shoes which was a terrible idea and I had to stop. Then it rained. 
Wednesday: Boot Camp (45 min) I finally got a legitimate workout in!
Thursday: 5K Run
Friday: probably TurboFire & Strength

What a crappy week of working out! Every time I motivated myself to go run, it got cut short by rain or something else. Kind of a slumpy week so I'll definitely need to fit something in this weekend! 

My 5K Playlist:

This is what I listened to as I ran. Some old and some new. I'm a pop alternative girl. Fun Fact: At the height of the Avril Lavigne craze, my best friends and I would go to school dressed like Avril - eyeliner, lots of bracelets, Hot Topic type clothes, and even that stupid tie. I kid you not. I wish I could find a picture...7th grade was an awkward time for me.

What do you listen to while running?

How long did you train for your first 5K/10K?

Any new running tips/tricks?

Confession time: I'm a sorority girl. Well, I am a sorority alum now but I have a hard time separating from that part of myself. Exhibit A: My love of reading Total Frat Move, crafting/wining, and continuing to wear the sorority girl uniform. Not to mention the fact that every picture usually ends up like this: 

Or this...

Ummm..or this.

So anyway, at the end of chapter (our weekly meeting) we would share "Five Things" - they could be stories from the weekend, appreciation for a sister that helped them out, or something exciting that happened that week.  The stories were usually funny and entertaining.  It was a positive way to start off a new week and end the monotony of hearing a million announcements. 

That's when I got the idea to incorporate this idea into my blog.  I've actually been wanting to do five things for a while now but I just figured out how I wanted to do it.  

THEN I realized that almost everyone has some version of this on their own blogs and that I'm not being original AT ALL.  Oh well, here it goes anyway!

Five Thoughts

1. NBA draft

Two Indiana Hoosiers were drafted last night - #2 Victor Oladipo to the Orlando Magic and #4 Cody Zeller to the Charlotte Bobcats. I was hoping they would go to some local teams but I'm still thrilled!  Not much of an NBA fan but I'll definitely be keeping an eye on my boys!

Via

2. Kenny Chesney

Tonight! I can't wait! I love all his songs from new to old. What are your favorites? He's performing with Eli Young Band and Kacey Musgraves.

3. Self-Tanner

From the age of 16 up until several months ago, I was a regular tanning bed user. I finally made the wise decision to give up tanning for good just recently. (And you want to be a doctor, Heather?) No more tanning memberships or occasional trips to the bed for this girl! If you tan, STOP NOW! 

I still prefer a healthy glow and I've done a lot of self-tanner testing over the years.  I think I found the perfect one! I'll do a review of it soon! 

4. 7th Heaven

Anyone remember this awesome TV show? I just started watching Season 1 through Netflix DVDs. 7th Heaven was my favorite show growing up! While I love my fair share of train wreck reality TV, it's nice to see a show about good old fashioned family values that doesn't involve spray tanned toddlers or blacked out teenagers.

Via

5. I have a crying problem

I actually started CRYING during yoga class. I cry after I finish a run. I cried during Water for Elephants. I cried watching the NBA draft. I cried watching old IU basketball videos. And I can guarantee I'm going to cry to and from Bloomington like I did the day I moved there and the day I moved out. Clearly I'm hormonally challenged.

Via

Five Workouts
Monday - Boot Camp (45 min) 
Tuesday - Power Yoga (60 min) + Running (35 min)

Wednesday - Spinning (45 min)
Thursday - Running (55 min)

Friday- planning on a HIIT + strength training (60 min)


That's all for Five Things Friday! Have a great weekend!