A Case of the Runs

July has been going well, fitness-wise. Late in May, I joined a gym and started working out at lunch .  My goal was to work out three or four days a week and be "active" on at least one other day.  Most weeks, I get in my three, sometimes four.  They don't always happen at the gym or during the lunch hour.  Sometimes, if I'm not on baby-pickup duty, I will squeeze it in after work.  Once in a while, I get to work from home and do it in the morning or mid-day.  And sometimes, when the baby wakes up at an odd hour and I can't go back to sleep before I must wake for the day anyway, workouts have happened on my driveway in the dark. Along with trying to find balance, I've been able to try out more of the things that have come my way, as well.  I took these Tiger Lady claws on a run recently.  Pepper spray is kind of the normal thing to carry, but I'm always freaked out that I'll set if off accidentally, so these also give me some sense of se...

Quite a while back, I had reviewed Quest Nutrition Bars and had a somewhat lukewarm response to them.  However, this was back when I would have chosen sugar over protein, and given my current goal to cut back on the sugary stuff where I can, these seemed to fit my needs and re-entered the picture. It started with an innocent need for food-on-the-run.  Although I've gotten better at bringing food from home to work again, I usually eat more than I bring (darn breastfeeding appetite!), so these keep me from having to buy extra food after I've spent my lunch breaks working out.  To my astonishment, I actually liked the bar and decided to try all the flavors I could find.  Luckily, GNC is really convenient to me, so with their Quest Bar promotion at the time, I was able to do just that.  I had to eat these over time, of course, so this post has been a while in the making, but here are some brief notes about the flavors I tried/re-tried: Chocolate Ch...

Baby Tuesday is almost 8 months old, and these past couple of months have been full of fun changes, for sure.  I feel like once he crossed the 6 month point, he suddenly became a "big boy."  As much as I sometimes miss his sleepy days, I really love watching him learn about the world.   He's interested in everything around him, from wrappers to water bottles to my phone. *sigh*  I had to dig up an old phone and gut it of its batteries to use as a bait-n-switch for his grabby fingers.   We recently washed and put away these play mats (activity gyms?), as he's no longer interested in laying down to play as much.  As he outgrows things, I try to resell them when possible because clutter kills me!  This is ironic, because I used to be the messiest kid, but sometime in my early twenties, as I moved from dorm to dorm, I learned to dislike piles and piles of stuff.  A part of me wants to hold on to stuff "just in case," but man, I can't i...

EVENT: Rosemead 5K DATE: Saturday, July 4, 2015 LOCATION: Rosemead, CA RACE BEGAN: 7:00 am  FINISH TIME: 27:55 It had been well over a year since I really kind of run a race.  I did a couple of others last year, but they were surrounding my pregnancy , so there was a lot of run/walking going on. So when I realized I was really going to be doing this 5k, I made sure to condition myself to be able to run without stopping.  In the past, that was not notable, but I literally sat on my behind for three months after months of not running. I ran 5k distances whenever I could -- a couple of times during my maternity leave around my house, and finally, last month when I joined the gym, I tried to do it at least once a week on the treadmill.  Surprisingly, I was able to push myself on this fairly quickly, so by race day, I was confident I could do it. That morning, I was kicking myself because I reallllly did not want to get out of bed early.  After all these...

I used to think those 30-Day Fitness Challenges (unless they were for prizes , which I don't count) were not for me because I found out about them from blogs of people who already work out pretty much daily and were trying to find additional reasons to exercise or go on some kind of diet. However, as someone trying to get back into the habit of exercising, the idea was really appealing.  This way, even on the days when I didn't make time for a proper workout, there would still be something to work toward, something to break up my sedentary state. I chose a 30-Day Squat Challenge for a couple of reasons.  First, it popped up on my Facebook feed from one of my connections.  Second, my legs have definitely lost a lot of muscle tone, and since those are some of the largest muscle groups of the body, I figured it would be the most bang for my buck.  Finally, squats are pretty easy to do anywhere and can even be done while carrying the little one. T...

When I was first contacted to review these CEP No-Show Compression Socks, I wondered... how could a compression sock be no-show??? Years ago, I purchased the CEP Compression Sleeves , and to this day, they are pretty much my go-to compression gear with the best tightness without being too tight. These CEP Dynamic No-Show Compression Socks are pretty much what's missing from the sleeves, namely, the sock!  In theory, you could wear these socks and the compression sleeves and let your ankles breathe.  They come in male and female varieties in several different colors, although I usually default to black to remain low-key.  Okay, so I might have also had an ambition of wearing them to the office, but that hasn't happened yet. They also come in a few different sizes -- after all, if you are going to find a good fit for your foot, there must be some choice in the matter (especially if you have wider feet like me, size up!).  They also are foot specific (left ...

My first attempt at exercising after baby was going on afternoon walks with the stroller while Baby Tuesday napped.  Even now, when I'm pushing around a far less sleepy baby, I think back to the early days with some nostalgia. The first few months, I was clipping the car seat into a very heavy stroller that I will probably review later.  Even as the baby got bigger, I didn't want to eliminate the extra weight of the car seat because otherwise, he'd have to face forward, and I was (and still kind of) not ready for that. Enter the Jane Rider . For full disclosure, I am a Jane Brand Ambassador, so I was sent one of these guys to try out.  I really love this stroller because it's light and can face in or out (with adjustable inclines for each mode).  It is made out of quality materials without extra flame retardant chemicals, and I can imagine it lasting through multiple babies if I ever get over the trauma and go that route.  Plus, it folds easily and...