sweat, tears and lifetime.

i'm officially a gym member. a rush gym member.

i've never really been a fan of gyms, but i finally got suckered into joining by my bestie.

what are friends for, right?

now, we can workout together (everyday....NOT!) on the days i don't train with the running group. yay!

The Rush is pretty darn awesome! all together they have 23 locations in TN, SC, NC and GA.

i've been taking advantage of all the fun classes they offer...

on Saturday, i enjoyed 1 hour of Yogi (Yoga/Pilate's), 1 hour of Zumba and 8 miles on the bicycle.

i was pretty pooped and sweaty afterwards, but it felt great to change up my workout routine a bit.

 

Army Wives

 the new season of Army Wives premiered last night!
this is gonna be a great season :)

and...a new show premiered last night as well....



Coming Home

 

Coming Home

 dear Lifetime,

i love you. you know i do.

and, you know i'm a such a tear box. that's probably why you create shows like 'Coming Home'. i'll probably need to invest buying a whole year supply of tissues. thanks!

sincerely, your biggest fan

Coming Home...wow.

can you imagine being away from your loved ones for more than a year?

coming from a military family, luckily i've never experienced deployment.

but, my heart does go out to those who experience this time and time again.

these soldiers and their families are truly very strong people.

i seriously cried the whole episode. happy tears of course. its always beautiful to see reunions like these.

if you didn't see it, you must tune in on Sunday nights at 10pm. its definitely worth staying up to watch.

my thoughts and prayers are consistently on our American soldiers, our local law enforcements agencies and their families because these people are truly special.

they get up everyday and protect us.

i pray every night for the lord to watch over our American soldiers and for them to return home safely to their families.

"Sometimes you have to be a part from people you love,  but that doesn't make you love them any less. Sometimes you love them more."  — Nicholas Sparks (The Last Song)

hope you guys have a great day :)

thank you, Friday for gracing us with your presence. so good to see you!!! ;)

soooooooooooo...
check this out, yo.

ashley (that's me) just signed up for a half marathon. my first one eva!

so, my running group has basically been training for this half marathon and i just found this out last month. i know ya'll are probably thinking...where have you been girl? well, i've just been running with them...haven't really been paying attention to details. all that running was building up to being able to actually run a half marathon. am i ready? my legs/feet say heck yeah! but, my mind is having doubts. i know its a mental thing. April 10th. the countdown is on. what's 13.1 miles? piece cake! ha! and, the best part of all of this is that the event is in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. and the course is flat. um, hello...talk about ideal. right? darn skippy! i'm pretty thrilled and pleased with my progress with this running thing. its grown on me.

no, i will not be dancing on any tables this weekend. lol.

i will be dancing my booty off tomorrow in celebration of my bestie's birthday! yay!

dancing is a great form of exercise. i love to dance, but its been so long and i hope i have not forgotten how.

whateva, i'm just looking forward to enjoying time with friends and burning some extra calories. oh, and of course any excuse to get all dolled up and wear a little extra makeup.

last, but not least...thank you for reading my blog!!! all of my random thoughts, positive messages and quotes. i really do appreciate all of your comments and it brings a smile to my face to see new followers. :) <- see, thats me smiling right there.

hope you all have a fantastic weekend!!!

Life is short... running makes it seem longer.

allow me to introduce...my running crew.

i realize its been a while since i've updated ya'll on my running thang. shame on me. i know.

so anyways, as ya know i've been running since about late october and just recently started running with the group of ladies above. [see me on the end...the short one] let me just tell you...they are pretty bad ass. we run three days out of the week. whew! last year this time, i would have laughed if you told me i would be running 6 miles on saturday morning at 7:15 am. whooooo?? meeee???? runnn?? yeah right, buddy! it is truly amazing what you can accomplish when you put your mind and heart into something. i've learned to love running and the best part are the results i've gotten from doing it. my clothes have never fit better and i feel good. the motivation i receive from running with a group is awesome and its nice to be held accountable. saturday runs are the best...we run around 6-7 miles and then have breakfast...hence saturday runs being called run to breakfast :)

 

can running make you look this hott???

 jessica alba is one of my girl crushes. what a doll.

 {i need a dress like that in my life}

back to running...

this is typically our weekly running schedule:

Here's this week's runs:
 Monday: cross train

Tuesday: GDS track night. If anyone wants to meet at my house by 5:30pm, we can all carpool it to the track for 6pm. Warm-up: 10-15 minutes (1 mile), 3-4 X 800 (2 times around) at a fast pace, walk or jog 400 (one lap) for recovery- 800 cool down, relaxed pace -Total mileage: 3.5-4 miles

Wednesday: cross train

Thursday: Meet at my house at 5:30pm for a tempo run. We'll run 10-15 minutes warm-up, then hold a quicker pace for 15 minutes, 10-15 minute cool down. We'll run the same route we did last Thursday, 4.14 miles.

Friday: REST!! (my favorite day of the week...kidding)

Saturday: Run to breakfast 3...Jake's Diner on New Garden Rd.
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4261122 6.79 miles
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4261103 8.65 miles


Sunday: Active recovery, just get out and move some.


piece of cake, right?