So I talk a lot about training, about fitness and about running.

What I don't talk a lot about is they why behind it all.

Today I want to share that with you, honestly I apologize that it has taken this long.

I run for many reasons.

One being it gets me out of the house, gets me that much needed alone time.

I stay at home with my boys all day, every day. 

I love this job, I love being with them every step of the way when they're this little.

However this doesn't mean that I don't need some me time squeezed in between all the hugs, cuddles and tantrums that ensue throughout the day.

I love that I have a husband that understands this, a husband who gets it and who is encouraging.

He is really great at saying, "Go, take some time, just run." When he can tell I'm about to lose my mind.

There are times where I feel extremely guilty for going out on a run, leaving my family to fend for themselves during that time I am away.

Then I step back and have to realize that what I am doing is benefiting them in ways beyond measure. Keeping myself grounded, stress free and happy is going to help me to be a better Mother and Wife to those who depend on me to be so.

Two being health.

This may seem obvious but I wasn't always a runner.

In fact I was the furthest thing from being a runner just about two years ago.

Sure I ran a couple races years ago, and did a handful of 5k's and bootcamps but nothing ever really stuck.

It wasn't until my second son was born that I really got into this lifestyle.

I knew that I needed to be healthy and that I needed to do something to get myself into shape, not only for myself but for my family as well.

Let's face it, I want to be around as long as I possible can for them.

I never planned on running, it just sort of happened and I became enthralled with the lifestyle.

I love knowing that what I am doing is not only giving me an outlet for my stress but it is also helping me stay fit and healthy at the same time.

Three being the community of runners.

This community is one that I would have never even thought of being there, however they are ever present, ever encouraging and ever helpful.

I love interacting on all social media platforms with every runner I can find.

I love listening to all the running podcasts, in particular BibRave right now.

It's incredible the resources for any question I may have, and I have never once been made to feel inadequate with anything I have inquired about.

This community supports one another so incredibly, in a sport where you may think is a one person game.

Bottom line, I love to run.

I love that this sport has taken me in and swept me up in it.

I love that it doesn't matter how old I was when I fell in love with it, running doesn't care the way many other sports do.

I love the simplicity of it, the pure raw nature of it.

The beauty of it.

This is why I run.

This past Sunday I completed my first half marathon in four years. The last one I participated in was the GO! St. Louis in 2012, so needless to say I was super pumped to be running in the MO' Cowbell Half!! Our morning started out super early, 4:40am to be exact. We had to get both boys up and dropped off to my parents and then out to the race all by 6:45. We managed to arrive on time and the place was packed, we had to park a decent distance away.

We made it to the start in time and got ready to go...

I hope everyone has a great weekend and I'll see you all back here on Monday!

Cheers!

Not only is it Friday, it's also officially Fall which makes my heart so very happy!

Out of every season, Fall is by far my favorite.

I just can't wait for the weather to catch up with the season, seriously it's still getting so hot here during the days that I'm continuously looking at the weather hoping to see lower temps in the forecast.

Let's move on, shall we?!

This past Wednesday I was so lucky to be invited to an event for bloggers and influencers in the St. Louis area where we were able to do Twilight Yoga on top of the Chase Park Plaza.

For those of you who don't know what the Chase Park Plaza is, it's an incredible hotel in the downtown area, overlooking Forest Park.

Last week I shared a whole post about working out in Forest Park, check that out HERE!

This hotel is beyond gorgeous and I would love to be able to stay there one day, maybe a little stay cation action... One day, fingers crossed!

Photo by Megan Magray

This event was sponsored by Santé Fitness, which is the gym that is located inside the Chase and I have to say it is one of the nicest gyms I have ever seen.

From the classrooms, equipment to the locker rooms and amenities you are guaranteed to get every single pennies worth with a membership.

Photo by Megan Magray

I was able to invite one of my best friends to go along with me to this event and when we arrived we were greeted by gorgeous views, smoothies that were delectable and a staff that was so warm and welcoming.

The yoga class began around 6:45 pm as the sun was setting and it was breathtaking. I have never been one to actively search out a yoga class, every other time I have tried it out I haven't fully gotten into it. After this experience I can honestly say I have changed my view completely. The instructor from Santé Fitness, that led the class, created an environment that made me truly appreciate yoga.

All in all the experience is one that I will never forget and one that I will be grateful to have been able to be a part of.


Photo by Megan Magray

Photo by Megan Magray

To top it off Santé Fitness has graciously given me a 30 DAY FREE MEMBERSHIP to give away to one lucky reader! If you are in or are planning to be in the St. Louis area anytime between now and December of this year, please, I encourage you to enter the giveaway and check out Santé Fitness.

If you don't win the giveaway I still would highly encourage you to check out all that Santé Fitness has to offer and go take a tour to get the full understanding of just what you can get with a membership to their facility!

Cheers!

Happy Friday, everyone!! I hope everyone is having a wonderful morning!

Today I want to share with you something that I have been working on for a little while now.

As you know, I am Sworkit's Lead Ambassador (I talked about that back in this post).

Sworkit has started a campaign all about sharing with everyone where you are using Sworkit, using the hashtag #WHEREISWORKIT.

I immediately went into brainstorming mode and knew that I wanted to not only participate but to help share the message and inspire everyone else to share their images and videos from all over!

The above image I took the other evening after I finished forty minutes of using Sworkit while both boys played in the bath tub, like it says, sometimes you have to make time! Which is exactly what I do most evenings, I whip out my yoga mat and phone and get in my workout after the boys bathe and are playing in the tub!

Not only is it convenient and super easy given the nature of this incredible app, it also entertains the boys and they laugh at me and even have started cheering me on! Oliver loves counting down with the App and then clapping, saying "GO MOMMY!"

While most of the time I workout in my home, when I can get a few moments free of any other obligations, I do have the rare opportunity to use my app outside of the house at locations all around my incredible city!

Recently, there have been many places in St. Louis that have been rated number one as far as attractions go in the US and even the world. I take such pride that these places are right in my own back yard, not only that, many of them are available to the public for free!

Today I am going to share with you all the beauty that is Forest Park, which has been voted the number one city park in the United States. My entire life I have been going to Forest Park, which is the home to places like the St. Louis Zoo, the Art Museum, the History Museum, the Muny and countless other gorgeous places such as the Butterfly House, the World's Fair Pavilion and so much more. Every single one of these places is free to get in and enjoy to absolutely anyone! In a world where everything has a price, it's so nice to be able to enjoy these places with our family without having to pay an incredibly high entrance fee!

Here is a little video I put together this past weekend of me using my Sworkit app all around Forest Park. I hope you enjoy!

Be sure to tag any and all of your Sworkit photos and videos with the hashtag #WHEREISWORKIT and you'll also be entered into a contest to win a YEAR PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP from Sworkit!!

Cheers!

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On Monday I shared with everyone some words that keep me motivated on a daily basis.

Along with that I shared my journey on Instagram and Facebook, along with some before and after pictures that I have taken throughout the past year.

All I can say is WOW!

I was blown away by the amount of love that post received.

I just couldn't believe it and I just wanted to thank everyone for being so caring and encouraging!

My entire journey started about a year ago after I was given the "okay!" to start working out after Charlie was born. I immediately went into "get my body back" mode, however that didn't last long. The holidays came up and I fell backwards a bit, not too far back, but enough to discourage me. About six months ago I buckled down and got to work and way back on track. I've been through some crazy ups and downs along the way but with the support of my husband, the rest of my family and all of my friends (& now all of you awesome people here in blog land) I can proudly say that I am in the best shape of my entire life. I've lost all my weight and then some, however the scale hasn't been something I've been too concerned with lately, it's more about how I feel on the inside that's making this whole thing so much more meaningful to me!

So with that said I was wanting to share with everyone, today, kind of a break down of what I eat on a daily basis. Along with regular exercise and running, this is how I got myself back into shape!

***This isn't exact because, well, life happens and there are days where eating a completely healthy diet isn't exactly the easiest thing.***

Breakfast : 99% of the time I have a Green Kale Smoothie.

I look forward to this breakfast every single day and I even have to make a little extra for my son to have some, other wise he wants to drink all of mine. It's just a really easy way to get in some extra vegetables, which is what I have the hardest time incorporating into my diet.

Lunch : Usually I have a spinach salad of some sort.

Here I also have been trying to add in some vegetables as well, like corn and tomatoes mostly. Meat wise I usually go with ham or chicken, basically whatever we have in the fridge from the deli that week. For a dressing I go really simple and usually use red wine vinegar or lemon juice with a splash of olive or avocado oil. Instead of croutons I've been substituting my home made granola, which helps give it that crunch but it's coming from a bit healthier place!

... Of course there are days where I eat a wrap of some sort or left overs from dinner the night before. Either way I try to keep it as healthy as possible!

Dinner : Head on over to my Pinterest Page and on my Food board you will find the majority of what we have eaten here recently for dinner!

Now, this is where it gets tricky. For breakfast and lunch it's easy to make something for me and then something different for the boys. We tend to eat at different times and the meals are much more "on the go" in my opinion so I don't ever have to worry.

Dinner on the other hand is different. We like to eat as a family, at least I like it when we do! So cooking for two little boys, myself and my husband sometimes poses issues. I'm not making two to three different meals for dinner each night so I do my best to take recipes and substitute healthy alternatives in a way that won't mess with the taste or flavor of the dish. Now there are times where I just go with it, I eat healthy all day long and workout daily so splurging here and there on dinner doesn't really bother me anymore.

Also we have one to two nights a week we do leftovers so on those days I will be able to be a bit pickier about what I eat without it effecting everyone else. Plus it's Summer so we BBQ once a week which is awesome for me in the healthy eating department. It's easy for me to create a burger without a bun or grill up some chicken!

Snacks : It's inevitable that snacking happens throughout the day, what you choose to snack on matters.

I try to have a melon (usually watermelon) of some sort cut up in the fridge in containers ready to be eaten. This makes it super easy to just grab a container of the melon and go. I am a huge fan of the easiest route possible so taking the time to cut the melon one evening and having snacks for the week just makes good sense. I also like to pick up a banana from time to time and if I want it to be more substantial I'll add some peanut butter with that and it makes a more filling snack, along those lines I do the same with apples as well.

I've been slacking on the veggie department, like I said, here lately. However when I was in full on weight loss mode I would prep bags of carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and grape tomatoes to eat throughout the week as well!

Another one of my favorite go-to snacks right now is a parfait with plain greek yogurt! I start with a couple spoonfuls of PLAIN Greek Yogurt, top it with some all natural honey. Add diced up strawberries and blueberries (or whatever berry you enjoy and have on hand!) then finish it off with some of my home made granola and voila, you have a great, healthy and tasty snack! (Make sure you stick with plain Greek Yogurt and don't get flavored, I've found I much more enjoy adding the natural honey for a sweetener!)

Cheers!

I couldn't wait any longer to share this exciting news with you all and I hope that you'll be stopping by frequently to check out what Sworkit and all of us Ambassadors will be doing together!

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend and check back next week for more!

Cheers!

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It's that time of the week again! It's Fitness Friday here on the blog and I have to say today's post has me so excited. I have tried many different protein bars in my time and I have to say I've never been truly satisfied or happy with any of them. I was lucky enough to try one of these bars a few months back and I have to say I was so impressed that I needed to get more.

I was so excited about the opportunity to team up with RX Bar and share with you all the amazingness that these bars contain.

First and foremost they have very few ingredients, all of which you can pronounce and immediately know what they are. Personally, that is a huge plus in my book!

They proudly show that their products contain NO B.S. and again, huge plus! I love to find products that not only taste good but I can feel good about eating them.

They have so many different flavors to choose from, here are a few that was able to sample.

If you are interested in trying out a protein bar that won't leave your mouth feeling dry and chalky, but leave you feeling full and satisfied, go on and grab yourself an entire box now OR you can head to your local Trader Joe's as they just became available in every Trader Joe's across the country!

Let me know if you're trying them out OR if you've had them in the past, I'd love to hear feedback!!

Follow RX Bars...
Facebook | Instagram | Website

Cheers!

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I know I'm a little later than usual posting this and for that I apologize.

Let's jump right on in, shall we?!

Personally, I am obsessed with parfait's and recently I've been eating them almost daily!

I decided that instead of buying granola every week I would go ahead and try to make my own and see how it compared... Bottom line, I will never buy granola again and will exclusively make my own batch about once a month!

I decided I would go ahead and share my recipe with you all.

I have taken bits and pieces from recipes all over the internet and Pinterest because there are many recipes that have SO MANY ingredients, I wanted to simplify it as much as possible!

Ingredients:

- 1 Cup Slivered Almonds, Separated Into Two Bowls

- 3 Cups Quick Oats

- 1/2 tsp Salt

- 1/3 Cup Brown Sugar

- 1/3 Cup Honey

- 3 Tbspn Coconut Oil

- 1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract

-1 1/2 Tbspn Whole Chia Seeds

- 1 1/2 Tbspn Ground Flax Seed

Directions:

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Step 2: Using a food processor, take one bowl of your slivered almonds and process them until they are the consistency of bread crumbs, set aside. Take the other bowl and process them a little more coarsely

Step 3: In a large bowl combine the Almonds, Oats, Chia Seeds, Flax Seed, Brown Sugar, and Salt

Step 4: In a smaller bowl, combine the Honey, Coconut Oil and Vanilla Extract. Microwave for 30 Seconds or until the mixture is pretty thin

Step 5: Pour this mixture over your oats and mix until evenly coated

Step 6: Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the oat mixture evenly onto it

Step 7: Bake the granola in the preheated oven for 7 minutes

Step 8: Remove the granola, break it up and stir it around, then put back in the oven for an additional 7-9 minutes {I always cook it an extra 9 to make it nice and crunchy!}

Step 9: Once baked to your liking, take it out and let the granola cool entirely before breaking it up and putting it in an airtight container or mason jar for storage!

And there you have it folks! Perfectly cooked granola you can make at home super easy!

This granola not only makes a great topping for your parfait's or sprinkled in salads in place of croutons, or just eating it straight out of the jar it also makes a great gift!

... Who wouldn't love receiving a jar of homemade granola?! I know I would!

Well I hope you all enjoyed this recipe and make sure to let me know if you try it out yourself, I'd love to see everyone's results!

Cheers!

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As I was getting ready to go for a run the other day I was putting on my clothes and getting all of my gadgets together and realized, man I have a lot of stuff to put on and bring along with me.

Then I had a minor freak out and thought I may be a little too high maintenance as a runner but then decided it didn't matter. Who cares how many gadgets I find that I need to run with, as long as I get out there, that's what really matters!

So as I was running I thought it would be a good idea to share with all of you just what I bring along with me that makes running so much more enjoyable and comfortable at the same time! So this Fitness Friday blog post is dedicated to just that!

MUST HAVE GADGETS WHILE RUNNING
1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5

1. Athletic Sunglasses - I got mine back in 2011 so the ones I have linked aren't identical but you get the idea. These are by far the best sunglasses I have ever used to run in. Foster Grant has such high quality sunglasses for athletic purposes that, like I said before, I have had since 2011 and they aren't even close to being worn out! I've been looking at buying some more here soon just because I love the ones I have so much I want options! Anyway, I can't run without sunglasses. Even if it's cloudy or drizzling rain, my sunglasses never leave my face. For obvious reasons when it's sunny out they are a necessity but even in the cloudy/rainy weather they help keep my eyes clear and clean.

2. Headband - I prefer mine monogrammed! I personally made my own, however I don't sell them so I have linked a reputable Etsy shop where you can get your own monogrammed headband as well! Now when it comes to running, especially here lately, the heat has been so intense. I find myself sweating like crazy, so the head band comes in handy in catching the moisture and keeping it from running into my eyes!

3. Wireless Headphones - I can't explain enough how much I love these head phones! I use them all the time, not just while running, as does my husband! They are absolutely perfect for running. You can link them up to your phone through bluetooth and then while running, you aren't dealing with wires from standard head phones flopping all over the place. You also don't have to worry about the type of phone carrying case that you want to use while running, the wireless head phones make it extremely convenient!

4. SPI Belt - Now, everyone has their own opinions on what they like to use to carry their phones, keys etc. in while running. I personally didn't want anything that strapped to my arm, the sun tan lines just didn't seem appealing. I also have the iPhone 6 Plus so it's huge and almost all the other carriers that I have had in the past, the phone wouldn't fit. So I asked my Mom, who is more of a runner than I am, what she uses. She had this belt that she uses when she runs half/full marathons so I tried it out. My phone fit and I have been using it ever since. I'll have to invest in my own here soon, we are doing a half together in October so she'll need it back then! While running this sits perfectly on my waist and isn't in any way annoying, in fact I forget that it's even there! I would highly suggest this belt for anyone who is looking for something to carry their things while running!

5. Polar Fitness Tracking Watch - So I have done an entire blog post dedicated to this wonderful accessory, you can read it HERE. Anyway, I love being able to keep track of my heart rate as well as the calories I have burnt while running. There is nothing better than this watch to do just that, I can't say enough good things about this watch and would recommend it to anyone looking for a fitness watch. It keeps great track of my calories as well as my progress from run to run!

So there you have it! My 5 favorite gadgets to use while I run. I hope you enjoyed and gain some inspiration to help you feel comfortable and enjoy running as much as I do!

Happy Friday, everyone! Have a great weekend!