Becoming a BeachBody Coach!

I recently made the decision to become a BeachBody Coach, and I am so glad that I did. I started my BeachBody journey with P90X and it is such an amazing workout set, that I wanted to share it with all of my friends! I recently purchased Shakeology and Slim in 6 as well, and cannot wait to try them out!

Check out my Beach Body Page using the link above to see how you can get Slim in 6, or any Beach Body set, along with Shakeology to improve your health and fitness!

I will be starting up a Barking Mad 30 day Summer Challenge on June 10th! I will be doing the Slim in 6 series, and using Chocolate Shakeology, but you can use any DVD set that you feel will keep you motivated! There are some amazing deals at BeachBody right now, should you need to purchase anything to get you started! I will be keeping the group small, so contact me soon to secure your spot!
I have started a Facebook group, but it is invite only, so be sure to visit my Blogs' Facebook Page to let me know that you would like to join in!

Have you been waiting to become a Coach yourself? You can sign up for my team here. The starter program is just $39.95!

What is your favorite BeachBody series?

Vitacost and 18 years of Marital Bliss

Noooooo, they are not connected lol! BUT since the hubs helped me out with this review, I am connecting them myself!

Vitacost provided me the following items free of charge, in exchange for a review. However, all opinions are my own, and I am not required to provide a good review, only my honest opinions!!

About a month ago, Andrew from Vitacost sent out a list of possible items to review. I love this list! I had to restrain myself when I chose from it, because the items all looked so amazing! I wanted to show how diverse their selection is, so I chose some different items!

When the box arrived, the teenie and I were on our way out the door. Not long after we left, the boy called me to let me know that our dog Nugget ate the box and tried to get the contents! Oh no!

She must have really liked the smell of something inside, because she did a real number on the box! Most of the contents survived, hooray! The hubs was very excited about this box because a few of the items were chosen with him in mind!

This time, we went with Breakfast Blend coffee. This is the hubs' favorite, and the one he is most picky about. Needless to say, he LOVED it. He was very excited to see it, because he liked the last flavor so much. It is gone. Long gone. He drank it every morning until there was no more! It smells so fresh and delicious, when you open it. I love the smell of good coffee, I just won't drink it lol

We have really gotten into coconut oil lately. It starts out solid like this, but as soon as you heat it up, it melts. It really adds a great flavor to everything! The teenie will be doing some experiments with it soon, and I will let you all know how they turn out. She wants to make shampoo and moisturizer, I believe, with recipes she found on Pinterest. 

I have to admit, I was skeptical about this one! This is laundry detergent. Nugget really loved it, lol, she ate a hole in the lid, but didn;t manage to get to the actual soap. It is all natural, and made from soapberry. With an HE washer, you only use 1/2 teaspoon fort a load. Seriously. That bottle is *small*, the size of your hand, really. I have been using it since it came, and I have to say, it is amazing. The laundry smells very fresh, and it gets all the stains out. well, almost all. The hubs went dirt biking, and his dirty socks are not 100% clean, but it would have taken a miracle there. I have a sports bra that keeps leaking dye all over everything, and it gets the dye stains right out. WIN!!

These were also chosen with the hubs in mind. He loves bananas, I cannot even stand the smell! When he opened this bag, the whole kitchen smelled like bananas. I think they only lasted one day. He ate them so fast! He said they were so fresh and delicious and would like some more! Another WIN!

This last one was for me. I *love* Oatmeal and I mainly stick to the whole grain version with the Amish guy on the box. I was eager and afraid to try this one! I am not really all that good at trying new things, and when I find something I like, I don't tend to stray. I loved this oatmeal! You prepare pretty much the same way as my usual brand, which is helpful! It was so much creamier and richer, I loved every bite. I have maybe one serving left, which makes me sad! i will have to order more when I order the laundry detergent!

You can shop for Vitacost here: referral link

and Follow them on Facebook

and on Twitter

And I will leave you with some pics from our Anniversary trip to Atlantic City. Nothing exciting, sorry! We went for the day and really it was all about just having fun, so I didn't take too many pics!

I won almost $24 in one spin, but overall we lost $30 lol

cupcake from their Cafe (Revel)

love these slots, they didn't love me that day

cute idea, epic fail for me that day

fun, but not lucky for me

lunch at Carmine's at the Trop

this made the hubs happy, he wants to go back!



What has been your favorite new food? Did it surprise you?

Revolt Fitness, week one!

Sunday was the last day of Week 1 of Revolt Fitness! Week one went very well for me! I weighed in on Monday and took pics, and on Wednesday, when the calipers arrived, I took my body fat percentage measurements! I won't be sharing these with you now, but I will tell you the difference in the numbers at the end!
Let's start with the food plan! I am not able to tell you the exact details (but you can have them when you sign up!) but I will tell you that the food portions are huge! I was NEVER hungry! Plus, and this is important, if you don't like one of the meals, there are optional choices for you to make! Yay! You get 3 meals and 2 snacks, plus a dessert that Nichole has made healthier, so there is no feeling of "going without".

The workouts were killer! There are 3 days of Cardio, an upper body workout, and a lower body workout! These workouts really kicked my butt this week! I skipped one cardio, because I ran the Half Marathon, but I did the rest! Yikes! I did take a few pics after the workouts:

my first Revolt workout, Cardio, was a hot sweaty mess

can't forget #plankaday

lower body sculpt, that is Nichole in the pic, not me!

5 mile run on one of the days, not part of Revolt, a runner must train!

upper body sculpt. My triceps suck. True story.

Half Marathon for the final day

finisher badge!

I didn't make a collage for every workout (I know, shame on me!) but you get the point! Today is day one of my second week, but due to crazy soreness and minor injury from yesterday's race, I will not be doing the cardio. I did walk over 80 minutes today, and hope to walk a bit more, to *try* and make up for it!
I lost 3 pounds this week! Woot! I will not take measurements weekly, or test my body fat either, I want to do a final measurement after the 6th week instead! I will be weighing in every week because I weigh daily (it's a sickness, I know!)
Some notes on my first week:

• I ate a crap ton of salad!
• I didn't mind eating a crap ton of salad
• the workouts are tough, but short enough that you make it without imminent death
• eating the same thing, more or less, every day is actually not bad
• I worked the cheat day and felt like crap afterwards
• I hate cheat days
• I will cut it down to one cheat meal on cheat day
• cutting out most carbs did not hurt my Half Marathon
• I ate a crap ton of salad
• did I mention the salad?
• I was very regular all week, except after the cheat day
• hmmmmmmmmmm
• week 2 has more salad

Negatives? I can't really find any yet. I don't mind eating the same thing every day, but I don't like red meat every night, and it did call for red meat for dinner. I just substituted with something from the approved list. There are different levels of the diet depending on your body size, so it its everyone, men and women.

The exercise plan also fits men and women, of all levels of exercise. I am a level 3. Unless it comes to triceps. Then I suck. Truly. I did level one for triceps and they still hurt for days. Guess I need to work on them!

Nichole's workouts are easy to follow, the music is awesome. I mostly worked at my own pace, but it was nice to be able to check my form as she did the exercises, and again, the music is great. Very motivational. 

I am looking forward to week 2. The diet plan looks amazing, there is nothing that I would not eat! I have heard that the Cardio workout is killer! As a blogger, we started with the week 3 workout, so that we would be doing the same workouts as other bloggers who started before us. So, for week 2, we will actually be doing week 4 workouts. I am afraid. Very afraid. My triceps are already trembling!

www.mediocreathlete.com

What exercise scares you the most? What body part is your weakest?

NJ Marathon and the Long Branch Half

The Half Marathon Weekend really started for me on Friday, when Eileen and I  visited the Expo. On Saturday, the teenie and I volunteered at the Expo to benefit the Cancer Concern Center. We were hoping to be able to hand out bibs, it was so much fun last year! We started out at bib pickup.....

Don't we look cute in our Volunteer shirts? They are tech shirts! I get to add another running shirt to the pile, but Morgan's got wrecked by an errant staple sticking out of the table! Booo! We were only at that table for a couple of minutes and then we were sent over to the Bib Lookup Table.

This was fun, everyone was very nice, and they needed their bib number in order to pick it up, so a lot of people who didn't print their waiver early came to our table! My friend Colleen joined us at the end, and Volunteered some of her time as well!

On the way out, I posed at the Starting line....

I would be there the next morning, but I wanted a pic there. Good thing! Wait til you hear why!

After we got back, I laid out my Flat Mama, and went to bed nice and early, because it would be an early start!

It was no problem getting up early the next morning. The hubs had a Dirt Bike Enduro Race in Delaware that same day, and he was getting up as well. I got dressed and was out the door by 5:30. Sans GPS watch. I plugged it in the night before, but it didn't charge. Some part of the plug must have been loose.  I also received  a text from Eileen.  She was already there and said traffic was starting to get bad.  A sign of the things to come? You decide!

I set out for Monmouth Park Racetrack, and got pretty close with no problem. I knew which lane to get into, being close by my whole life, and was bopping along happily when I hit the traffic! I was 10 minutes away, but it would take me over an  hour to get there. Late. I called the hubs and he calmed me down, but I hated that I was starting this race stressed out. I also hated that I wouldn't be running any part of the race with Colleen and Eileen! UGH!

I finally parked the car, stopped at the Porta Potty (where a very nice marathoner let me cut her in line and gave me toilet paper) and got to the start. The race started at 6:50 and it was now 7:05. Luckily it was chip timed, so my clock didn't start until I crossed the timing ramp. I would spend the rest of the race subtracting 16 minutes to figure out my official time, since I didn't have my watch. I ran almost an entire mile with out seeing more than 3 people. I was so mad at myself, but making good time. At mile two, I realized that starting late wasn't so bad after all. A little perspective, served up in the form of a wheel chair racer struggling to get to the top of the hill. I slowed my pace to run alongside her and cheer her to the top. I also realized during the second mile that I had forgotten to pin my Boston bib on the back of my shirt. But what I did have, was the names of people who passed or were fighting Cancer pinned to my belt. More perspective for me!

By mile three, I was starting to catch up with runners, and was feeling better. The spectators were amazing! They were everywhere, cheering, playing music, clapping. I LOVE this race for that! At mile 5, we crossed a small bridge, and this is where the first photographers were. Something to be said for being at the back of the pack: I got my pic taken by 5 of them. There were not that many people around me, so I didn't have to fight for their attention!

Around mile six, I caught up with Lisa from the Half Fanatics! I was so excited! I had missed the photo op (that I had set up) and Facebooked her from the traffic to let her know. She was so glad to see that I had been able to run the race, so we chatted a bit, and actually caught up with more HFs, who were wearing the cutest green skirts, and Zombie shirts. After we all chatted, I ran ahead. My pace was amazing for the first 8 miles or so! I was on fire! 

At mile 9, the Marathoners, who started about an hour after I did, caught up. They were so FAST, accompanied by police motorcycles, and it was so uplifting to see. It definitely helped me keep going! I was definitely starting to feel fatigued, and wondering if I had gone out too fast. There was a PR in my future though, and when I hit mile 10, and the time said 2:04 (which for me was 1:48) I was shocked. I always hit mile 10 just under 2 hours, and to have such a cushion? PR for sure! I had gone into this race just wanting to beat last year's time of 2:35:12 and to be this close to an overall PR was just amazing to me! What a great end to the day!

But NO. Mile 11.5 my knee started to ache again. My last Half, it started at mile 10 and I limped the last 3 miles. I was determined to run the whole race, and I pushed and pushed. At mile 12.5 I just had to stop and walk. This was when Lisa passed me. I started to run again, in pain, crying, to cross that finish line. As I approached, and started doing the math in my head, I realized that I would not get an overall PR but I was going to beat last year's time! I beat my 3 minutes. Exactly 3 minutes.

I actually stopped to cry a little after I finished. I collected my medal. Cried. Stretched. Cried. I was so happy that  I beat last year's time. I didn't even care about the missed PR overall. I did what I set out to do. After the morning from Hell and a very lonely race.

I found Lisa and we posed for our pic. Some very nice 20 somethings took it for us. They were adorable men, and joked with us old ladies while they took it. I wanted to pinch their cute cheeks!

As I searched for the busses that took us back to the start, a nice man asked to borrow my phone. He had lost his friends and didn't have a phone, had been wandering around for 40 minutes. I lent it to him, sad that no one else had lent him their phone. As I continued my search for the bus, I was feeling even better. Sore knee, sore arch, aching back. I didn't care! On the bus, I took the pic of my medal for my collage.

It was a long ride, and I noticed my bib had a barcode on it. To get your results. SO cool! I had to upload the scanner app, but once I did, this is what I got.

Cool, huh?

Overall, a great day! The race had great security, great volunteers, water stops were full of water and happy volunteers. We got soft pretzels, bananas, and taffy at the finish along with a bottled water. 

Best sign: May the Course Be With You

Being the day after May the 4th, I appreciated this one a lot! 

What is your favorite race sign?

NJ Marathon Expo

Yesterday I attended the NJ Marathon Expo, to pick up my bib for the Long Branch half portion of the race! I met my good friend, and fellow Half Fanatic, Eileen there at 1:00, when the Expo opened.
Upon walking in, the Expo looked bigger than last year. We were excited to look around, but wanted to get our bibs first.
We walked through the Expo to the back of Monmouth Racetrack, to the packet pick up. Well, it wasn't really a packet. They had a virtual packet this year, so it was a clear plastic gear bag and a bib, lol. The bib is very pretty and you could personalize it, so long as you registered by a certain date. Since I registered the day after last year's race, I definitely qualified! I asked the hubs what he thought I should have printed on my bib, and he suggested I use his pet name for me.

We toured the expo, which was bigger than last year, but not huge. We both got new gear belts, by a new company. They have 2 separate sipper pockets, GU loops, and bib loops. Once I use it, I will review it! I also got Bondi Bands! The pink one is for a future Barking mad giveaway, and the other is my Boston Proud Bondi!
We also stopped by the Trenton Half Marathon table! If you take your pic there this weekend and post it on Social Media, you can get prizes! woot! Of course, we took a pic!

LOVE their Boston tee! It says Half Marathon in Training on the front! I came right home and ordered one!
After that, we left. Traffic was horrid! It took twice as long to get home! Today my daughter and I will be working the Expo to benefit a local charity, the Cancer Concern Center. You can donate to them as well, using this link. If you put Kim Prytherch in the box that says "in honor of", I will get credit for your donation! I have raised $753 as part of their team, but my goal is $1000!

A few more pics from yesterday and then I am out of here, to go back to the expo. Have a great weekend!
What are your weekend plans?

Blue Claws date night last night

Nugget got groomed before the expo

meetup spot for MRTT and Half Fanatics tomorrow before the race!

New Year New Gear, April!

April is a good month for me! It's my birthday month, races really start getting better weather, Spring arrives. New Year New Gear continues..... see? Great month!
But what is New Year New Gear? It was started by Nicole at  apples and arteries! each month she pairs you up with another blogger or reader. You find out what your match likes and you spend $15 on them, buying new gear. Include a little note, ship, and wait for your own gear to arrive. It's like Christmas every month!

For April, I was assigned to Dan at DTM Fitness. This guy knows his stuff! And he knows how to shop! woot! He even stalked my Amazon wish list for clues! Smart man!

So you might be thinking, okay, it's a workout top, so? OMG this is a ViewSport tank! Have you heard of them? Well, after you get all hot and sweaty from a kickass workout, this is what happens:

How cool is that?
I have always wanted one of these shirts, but had yet to go and buy one! Thanks so much Dan!

I was assigned to send gear to Darlene at My first 5K and More. You can read all about what I sent to her at the link above!

What is your favorite new gear?

5 by the 5th Run

Today was an amazing day, my first day as a Stay at Home Mom once again! For the last 5 years I have been working as an aide in Kindergarten and/or Special Ed classes, but I came to a point where I needed to step back and just be "Mom" again!
My last day of work was bittersweet! My co-workers threw me surprise party! I expected a card maybe, but there were cupcakes, and cards, and gifts! So sweet! They got me a gift certificate to my favorite running store (where there will be sale this weekend!) and this pretty plant!

Perfect weather for such a day, let me tell you! After getting some laundry and dishes done, I headed out for a 5 mile run for Mommy Run Fast's 5 by the 5th Virtual series. Every month from January until June, you run a 5K or 5 miler by the 5th of that month. SO simple, right?
I have been keeping track of my times, and my best to date was 52:45. I was not expecting to beat that time today, because I have been doing my Revolt Fitness workouts and they are kicking  my butt! My legs are so sore, I was sure the run would be a disaster!
I set out, almost immediately sorry about my choice of running wear! I had on my LuLuLemon capris (which one could *never* regret, let's be real) and a long sleeved purple running shirt. I looked fabulous, of course, but it was warm and I was sweaty pretty quick! I almost turned back, but I intended to run along the ocean (or, at least, on the streets that run along the ocean) and I thought it might get chilly, the closer I got.
When I hit the one mile mark, I was amazed to hear my British Runtastic guy tell me that I had only been running for 10:15! Holy heck! I kept plugging along, catching just about every traffic light, and hit the ocean at mile 1.5

I did pause the app while I took the pics, but that was the only time during my run. After I took the pics I ran the next mile along the road that runs parallel to the beach. The weather was perfect, not too windy, not too cold. I hit the boardwalk just as the Rocky Theme came on. Seriously. It was awesome. My pace picked back up and I cruised along the boards. I passed two guys and they made some comment about my butt. I agree, my LuLuLemons make my butt look awesome. I thought it was pretty funny, and it gave me another boost as I left the boardwalk and headed back home. I don't do an out and back when I run the beach, I do a big loop through Point Boro and Point Beach. I knew I went too far and would hit 5 miles way before I got home, but it was so amazing out that I didn't care. I passed another guy who made a butt comment. I probably should have been creeped out, but I think that they thought I was plugged in and couldn't hear, but my YurBuds make it very easy to hear my music and the noises around me.
It definitely made this squishy mom very happy to hear them make silly comments like that. Sad, but true.
Between miles 4 and 5 I got about 9 cheers. No lie. They came one after another and I was just grinning like a dope. People who see me run must think I have nothing but space between my ears! When I hit the 5 mile mark, I was absolutely floored to hear my time. All those boosts really helped, because my time was 50:17. It actually took me a few extra seconds to pause the app, I was in such shock! I literally laughed out loud. Like I said, grinning like a dope!

I reset the app to measure my walk home, and practically skipped along for that last 1.5 miles. I texted, Facebooked, and tweeted as well, lol. It was not a very fast walk, about a 17 minute mile pace, but I was just basking in my new PR. Until the muscle soreness from those Revolt workouts set back in! Boy oh boy did my butt hurt!
I did enjoy the text from my friend Cheryl though! I was really going back and forth about quitting my job, even though the hubs and my parents all said it was the right thing to do for me. Cheryl is a teacher though, and I wasn't sure she would get it!

I guess she got it :)
Perfect end to a perfect day!

When was your last totally perfect run?