Warrior Dash weekend...

Last weekend Dave and I went on a little mud run date. We ran the Warrior Dash in San Dimas - about an hour and a half away from home. Last year we got a promo email to try this mud run out, and it sounded like fun, so we signed up. Well we finally went, and it turned out to be a blast. It went by incredibly fast, we finished the run in around 30 minutes. I remember crawling through the mud pit and turning around to see the FINISH line and said, "That's it? We're done!!" I guess we are getting faster! :)

Dave and I had a blast on the obstacles, which were more challenging than we expected. I discovered I am no good at monkey bars. Something I need to work on. This photo was taken before a pretty nasty-looking fall from that second bar...

 Dave had no issues with them. 

Of course there were the fun obstacles like the slide and the fire jump,
which always make for good photos. 

And then there was MUD.... 

This was probably one of my favorite locations to run. Most runs we have done have taken place in remote, dry desert areas and have been really dusty. This location was lush, green and had amazing views of the nearby lake at the top of the hills we had to hike. I really enjoyed the Warrior Dash and would totally do it again. 

A grand return....

Hello again. Sorry for the absence during the month of March. A LOT has been happening since our engagement, and I feel like we just haven't stopped and relaxed at all.... but I realized the other day that I had completely neglected my blog during a time that I would most likely want to look back on and have documentation. So here I am.... coming back.

Not a lot has changed, other than the beautiful ring on my finger, and the impending nuptials in October, and all the planning of that in between. HAHA. I have a whole new reason to get as fit as I possibly can - the forever photos of our wedding day!

Since our engagement we have found a ceremony and reception venue, which is absolutely amazing. We have also found a photographer... who also took our engagement photos, which we absolutely love!! We designed our own save-the-date magnets and they should be here on Monday....

... You could say that in a month and a half, we've been pretty productive on the wedding front. :)

Other than that we've been staying busy going on hikes, hanging with friends and stepping our workouts up a notch.... hey, it's for the wedding!

I've decided that for the wedding instead of focusing on building muscle, I am going to focus on losing fat, which means a little more high-intensity cardio for this gal. I've been taking my favorite aerobic boxing class a couple times a week and have recently been introduced to spinning, which I love to hate... HAHA

My friends are such goobers.... we almost never take the normal smiley pictures together.... our wedding photos should be interesting. ;)

Dave and I have been so busy and wedding-stressed lately that we've been making a conscious effort to spend some quality couple-time together to NOT talk about the wedding... just to be us, and to remind ourselves of why we belong together. These little dates have been nice, and I highly recommend doing this sort of thing if you are planning a wedding... or really during any stressful time. Wine always helps too! :)

Ok, so I am officially back... and hoping to fill this blog with lots of fun wedding workouts, outings... and OH we are going on a little "mud run date" tomorrow. Hooray!!

I'm Engaged!!!!!!!

Our San Francisco trip couldn't have gone any better.

Thursday night we arrived at our hotel, got all of our belongings into the room and went to sleep. The following day (Valentines Day) we decided to go for a long run from our hotel in the Fisherman's Wharf to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was such a beautiful day, running along the water watching the fog roll in towards the bridge.

After our run, we got some lunch and went back to the hotel to shower and get ready for the afternoon/evening. Dave had instructed me to get very dressed up because he wanted to take Valentines Day portraits with the Golden Gate in the background.

A few hours later we were all dressed up and ready to go. We drove out over the bridge to our usual "lookout spot" over above Sausalito.... but the fog had completely engulfed the bridge. We could barely even see it when we were driving on it! Dave was extremely disappointed. Me being the (slightly) unsuspecting girlfriend I said "Well, at least we've taken pictures here before... it's not the end of the world!" -- But that didn't stop Dave. He had a plan B, so we drove back over the bridge and to the Palace of Fine Arts - which is equally as stunning.

As the sun was setting, Dave set up his camera and stood next to me for a couple of photos....

Then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!!!!!

Of course I said YES.

Let the wedding planning begin!!!

After calling all of our nearest and dearest friends and family, we sent out a few photos showing our pure excitement... and the ring of course!

The fun wasn't even over then. Dave had planned a very romantic dinner on this little island off of Pier 39, where we celebrated our engagement over a bottle of wine, dinner and a delicious chocolate dessert with the cutest message on it....

I could definitely get used to being a fiancé.

This was by far the best day of my life, and I am so thankful that Dave is so well prepared and managed to find a way to document his adorable proposal. I can't wait to become Mrs. Cox!

San Francisco bound!

7 1/2 hours from now Dave and I will be on our way to San Francisco for Valentines Day weekend!!

I am sooooooo excited.
We have plans to run every morning at Golden Gate Park and stare at this beauty...

Also, this weekend I get to spend some quality time with an old friend who recently moved there!! (She's so lucky!)

Be back soon.

Paleo Sausage and Sweet Potato Quiche

I make it a point to eat breakfast every morning. It really is the most important meal of the day, and I try to make sure to eat something that is delicious and will last me through the entire morning. Eggs are usually on the menu, but I can only eat scrambled eggs with veggies for so long before I start to get bored.

Which leads me to the new successful recipe I just tried:

Sausage and Sweet Potato Quiche

Ingredients:

10 eggs
1 medium sweet potato / yam
1/2 lb breakfast sausage
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375˚
Peel the sweet potato and slice into thin round disks with a mandolin or sharp knife. Place the slices in a pie dish in concentric form around the bottom of the dish. Be sure to use all of the slices. Remove the sausage from the casings and crumble into small pieces and place them on top of the sweet potatoes. Chop the rosemary and sprinkle over the sausage and sweet potatoes.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, coconut milk, salt and pepper.

Pour the eggs into the dish, pushing down any sausage pieces that may float up. Place dish in the oven and bake for 30-45 minutes or until the middle is solid. (Use the toothpick test to make sure)

Slice the quiche and voila! Breakfast for the week!! I love easy ideas like this that simplify my mornings.

Happy eating!

Spartan Super Part 2: Race Photos

A few weeks ago, I posted about the Spartan Super race I decided to run with Dave. Well the photos are in, and they're awesome - and muddy!

Somewhere between mile 2 and 3 - the barbed wire crawl.

There weren't many photographers after this obstacle until the very end, not to mention I lost my bib halfway thru the race from dragging it thru the mud. The photographers re-appeared when we had to dunk ourselves into the muddy water to go underneath that wooden wall. It looks like I have a mustache, but I assure you, it is just mud. Yumm.

As we crossed the finish line, there were gladiators with padded sticks (I know there's a name for them, but my brain is drawing a blank) and they'd slam us with them to try to keep us away from the finish line. You can see the blend of emotions on my face; panic, exhaustion, and sheer joy for being so close to the finish line.

So now that it has been a couple of weeks, the bruises have healed, and the muscles are no longer sore, how do I feel about the Spartan Race? I want more!!! I am so ready to run the 5K, and really want to train for the Spartan Beast (12+ miles) to complete the trifecta!! It is by far the most intense race I've ever run, but I love a good challenge. I just wish I could complete all the obstacle so I wouldn't have to do as many burpees. (oh those burpees!) But that's what all the training is for. :)

Happy Monday!

Knocked down, but getting back up

Yesterday I woke up feeling just plain weird. After my morning shower, I noticed I was feeling very dizzy and losing my balance during my morning routine. So I went back to bed and I just sunk into it. My body was fighting something and needed to sleep it off, so I stayed home from work and took a nice easy day off from everything. It was wonderful, except for the fever that ended up creeping up on me later that day. One minute I was hot and the next I was so cold. Also, Dave made me promise him I wouldn't work out AT ALL. I hate rest days when it comes to workouts. I feel lazy when I don't work out and that is something I have to work on. Everyone needs rest days. Our bodies need time to recuperate from the stress we put on it each day at the gym. And mine was already being attacked by something, so a workout would have done me no good.

So I rested. I watched Netflix, slept, read and soaked op every minute of it. As you can see, Olive and Phoebe were loving it because they got to be inside all day with me. Score!

Today I felt much better and was back to my normal day to day rituals. Back to work, back to my lunch time body boot camp. I don't know if it was from being sick yesterday, or if it was just muggy from the rain we've had today, but I was sweating up a storm.

Today's workout:

1/2 mile treadmill warm up
50 jumping jacks

Circuit - Repeating 3 times:

Single leg bench squats with 10 lb weight (10 reps each leg)
One-Armed Deadlift with 20 lb dumbbell (10 reps each arm)
Dumbbell plank rows (10 reps each arm)
Turkish Get-Ups (10 each side)
Resistance Sprints (2 sprints) - I couldn't find a good video on this exercise, I may have to make my own ;)

These movements are very difficult and are by no means at beginner level. My trainer (who made this workout) told us this after we had completed it. He gave us a huge compliment in saying that, and how our form on these movements is extremely important and overall we are performing them very well. That made me feel very confident about how far I've come with exercise. I've got a fitness instructor telling me he basically considers my fitness group highly advanced. WAHOO!!

I'm glad to be back in the swing of things... just in time for the weekend!