Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Quick February fitness update, March goal, and a race!

So February came and went in a flash, didn't it?

As I mentioned in my last post, Joe and I set out to do a push-up challenge where we'd build our way up from a few push-ups a day to eventually doing 50 the final day, for a total of 600 push-ups throughout the month.  I wasn't the best partner in the effort and didn't really encourage Joe to join me when I would decide to go out into the living room for my push-ups, so I ended up unintentionally leaving him in the dust...oops!  So, I've got to work on being a better workout partner.  :-)  Anyway, I finished the challenge, although I did most of the push-ups on my knees and never really FELT like I was getting any stronger, but I did see a little more definition in my shoulder and upper arm muscles.  I guess we'll call that a win!  (I still want to work on doing push-ups on my feet instead of knees, though, so the 30 Before 30 video will have to wait a little while longer...and let's not even talk about that list because my birthday is 33 days away and I CAN'T EVEN.)

My goal for March is a leg and core combo that I adapted from a couple different 30-day challenges, and this time Joe is on board again and we've established a better system to help us stay on top of it TOGETHER!  So hopefully we'll both come out of March with some awesome legs and abs, haha.

In addition to the leg & core challenge, I'm also signed up to run a new (to me) 10K in just a few weeks -- the Orchard 2 Ocean run, down in Carpinteria!  I stumbled upon this one while looking for some local races to help motivate me to keep running, and I really love that it's raising money for the Carpinteria and Summerland school districts!  Sometimes I'll pay for a race and feel like, "Why am I spending all this money to run when I could just run for FREE whenever I want?"  But races like this make a lot more sense to me because my money is going toward a good cause. 

This is the 23rd annual O2O run, and I had the privilege of speaking with Patricia, one of the people in charge of organizing the event, to find out what it was all about and what to expect on race day.  There will be a 5K, 10K, and a 1-mile Fun Run, followed by a delicious continental breakfast, complimentary massage from local massage therapists (yes please!), and of course a race T-shirt!  The first place winners of each race will also be given flowers and avocados from local orchards, so if I win (HAHAHA said the slowest runner ever), I'll have to give my avocados to someone who isn't allergic to them.  But I think that's a super cool prize, don't you?  Last year, more than 600 people participated in the event, so I'm sure they're hoping for even more this year!

Patricia and I are working together to have some sort of fun giveaway during the event for a random winner who uses the designated race hashtag on Instagram, so that should be fun, too! 

I'm excited to come back and recap the race here afterward, but in the meantime, WHO WANTS TO RUN IT WITH ME?! It's March 21st, so that gives you almost 3 weeks to dust off those running shoes and train a little bit for any of the three distances!  Click here to sign up on Active.com and then let me know if you're gonna do it.   

Are you planning to run any races in your area this year? 
Tell me all about it in the comments!