Summa Time

First Daily Challenge: Push ups to failure

Let's talk about what excites me THIS week.  And what will be my fitness focus for the next 30 days.  I am heading up my first ever KickOffSummer Challenge, where not only am I overzealous and nagging, but everyone loves me for it!  That's my kinda group.

So what we're doing is this: getting fit.  Simple, right? Everyone can get fit. (Don't offer me any excuses.  I believe we've already covered just how I feel about excuses.) It is simple.  They decided. They've committed.  And now they're going to succeed. 

Every day, I am offering up strength moves, stretches, fit tips, mini challenges, snack suggestions, recipes...It's like a fitness smorgasboard with me as master chef.  HEAVEN.  If they complete the challenges, make the recipes, eat the snacks...they get points!  Gold stars, even!  (Well, it's all virtual, but I can say, "Hey! Great job! You get a gold star!" and they can get all happy and offer CHF's - Cyber High Fives - to the rest of the group.  Very motivating.)  And if they don't...well...I may have to get all drill sergeant-y on their asses.  Because my group is NOT for quitters.  (You're all listening, right?)

And already - SUCCESS!  We have total workout virgins all the way to workout...veterans...Anyway...we have all levels!  So there's lots of trading of ideas and advice and "this really worked for me."  Plus, those that recently started their ChaLEAN Extreme and P90X programs are already showing incredible progress.  Their pants are falling off, their arms are sore.  Stuff of beauty!  This is the sort of news that really gets my blood pumping these days.  And gets ME offa my bum and pressin' play.  I have heard it said that when a student surpasses the teacher, that is the teacher's greatest accomplishment.  Well, maybe when I'm 60 and I'm coaching a 20-year-old.  For now, I wanna be the alpha exerciser.  So I'm back to my routine FULL FORCE and joining in on all the mini challenges.  I may have to start charging for the gun show I got goin' on...

PLUS - I am that much MORE EXCITED about my NEXT challenge group beginning in July!  I'm lookin' to get insane in the membrane and crack that whip even harder.  Soooo...who's up for a CHALLENGE????  The weak need not apply...

MUAHAHAHAHAHA.

It's Half Full, Damn It.

I so lucked out today.  Hubby decided to work from home.  God decided to make the day gorgeous.  The babe decided to willingly nap.  Three good guys working together so brilliantly made my own decision incredibly easy.  I decided to take a quick jaunt around The Loop (our little 3-4 miler) and follow that up with an hour of gettin' bendy with Tony Horton (X Stretch day).  To add to my fitness glee, I donned my brand new running skirt to start breaking it in for next month's race.  No blister pain, very little joint/shin pain, and I managed to keep a 10 min/mile pace.  Hello, Today!  I <3 you!

Now, I sit and contemplate a salad with all the fresh and fabulous produce I grabbed at Wegmans last night and find myself (FINALLY!) craving a fully healthy meal.  Feta, tuna, cherry tomatoes, organic spinach, sweet onions...mmmm!  I've already downed my Shakeology for breakfast (today's recipe was Coconut Dream, and yes, that name is totally accurate).  Thinking about tossing together some Southern Unfried Chicken ala Runner's World (an instant family classic I discovered a few months back) for dinner with some fresh green beans on the side.

 It's just one of those days.  Where everything is falling into place and doing it so easily.  And when I am so high on my Fit Life that I feel positive every day will be like this from now on.  ...right...?

Yeah.  I know.  It could be like yesterday, when I found myself in jammies and dreaming of Reese's all day until I caved and ransacked the freezer for the hidden Easter stash.  Followed by that Snickers egg.  Oh, and two glasses of Skinny Girl Cosmos (but it was White Cranberry, so that counts as a fruit, right?).  I eeked out my Kenpo X and even managed to contain my shopping while at Wegmans (i.e. no crap found its way into my cart, despite the Werewolf's many attempts to put it there).  But I just wasn't feeling it.  Still, today freakin' ROCKS.  So let's focus on that, shall we?

I see tomorrow as a bright shiny plaything, filled with Core Synergistics and a smattering of TurboFire.  Heapings of fresh fruit.  Leftovers of tonight's amazing dinner.  I choose to believe the babe will once again be joyful and desirous of naps and whatever food I offer him on his little tray will be just what his little belly was craving.  The dogs will defecate in the yard, not in the house, and the cats will not try to trip me as I come down the stairs.  When the Bear and the Werewolf arrive home from school, they will ask what they can do to help out and they shall play peacefully together, because they treasure sibling time.  All will be light and all will be balanced.

And as the pigs fly overhead, I will rejoice in the fact that Gertrude Hawk caramel bars provide me with six pack abs.

Perhaps...perhaps I ought to just savor the moment, eh?  Bask in RIGHT NOW and get crackin' on that salad while my favorite playlist churns out great songs in the background...That, readers, sounds like a plan.  Let's get on that, shall we?