We Run the World

The upside of going to college in the middle of smoggy LA: having an absolutely beautiful, free gym at your disposal. Well, free except for the pesky college tuition and housing costs that accompany it. I'm sure my student loans would beg to differ with the free gym statement.


Today my crazy sorority rush schedule ended, and I finally had a normal day of classes with no responsibilities before, during, or after.

Final day of the busiest week ever!

Which means I finally made it to the gym in order to kick my butt back into gear and work off the billion cake pops I had during the weekend (and yesterday). Seriously, those things are the most wonderfully addictive desserts in the world.
I once again went for a run on the gym treadmill, and realized that although I miss my great views from home, I really like running on the treadmill. I always start really slow and speed up throughout my workout, and pressing the faster button always makes me feel so tough and in shape. Add that dorky feeling plus Beyonce's Run the World (whee! new playlist!) equals me running faster than I've been able to run in awhile.

I'm a pretty slow runner (I'm talking 11 minute pace), but I made it up to 7.3 mph (just over an 8 minute mile) pace by the end. The run ended up being a little over 2.5 miles, and I left the gym feeling awesome.

And when you're having an awesome day, why not roll with it? A few hours later, my friends and I decided we wanted to renew our motivation to complete Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. Even though we all had to manage using different weights (we rotated through 3lb, 5lb, and 8lb which were death since there were conveniently 3 circuits). It was actually really fun completing it with friends even though I already feel myself getting sore now.

I also am going to a super fun event tomorrow that I'll tell you all about! And you may actually (gasp) see a picture or two, but until then here's a hint.

I have an 8:30 am class tomorrow, so it's time for bed. Night!

On the Bright Side

What makes me happy:
1. Only 1 more day until I have my life back!

2. I miraculously fit in a 2 mile run on Friday (my days have been 100% filled these past few days with school and rush). All the normal treadmills at the gym were taken, so I ended up using an eco friendly one which I think I may have liked better.

My super cool expression was supposed to be me being tough

3. Seeing my picture displayed on the photo album in the sorority. 

Oh hey there

4. Red Velvet Cake pop!

5. Winning an amazing giveaway!

I cannot wait until I have a normal schedule. Monday is calling my name! :)

The Reason for my Bad Blogging

I have been so busy from the second I moved back to school, and honestly it's only going to get busier. I am in a sorority on campus, and we move in early for "rush school."

While it's fun to see all my friends, this means 12 hour days with literally no time to do anything else (don't worry classes have not started). It's supposed to be very private information and traditions that we learn, so I'm not allowed to share the information and don't have time to take pictures throughout the day.

I miss blogging, but it's been hard keeping up with just reading other blogs much less finding time to write my own posts. So for the next week and a half, I'll probably just be a blog lurker before jumping back into this.

On the plus side, I managed to squeeze in a workout or two (ish) the past few days. The first morning workout was a bit of a fail because I couldn't figure out how to turn the treadmill. Obviously not the sharpest tool in the shed that morning. Ends up there is a switch on the bottom of the treadmill you have to turn on first. Lamesauce. So I did 30 seconds of mountain climbers, lunges, squats, sits ups, and hip lifts (3 times each except for the lunges) until someone was awake and able to show me how turn on the treadmill. Since I didn't have to much time left until I had to be ready, I just finished up with a mile run.

Urban Running destination.

The other workout I had was a really fun one on Monday. A group of my friends and I went for a 3 mile run to the Staple Center at LA live. The run was a little quicker than I'm used to, but there were so many stoplights (and walking up to the light when it was red) that it was still enjoyable. Do NOT do that run unless you are with a big group of people. LA is not the safest place to be running around in. I'm already missing my views from home.

Beach side runs at home

Thanks for hanging in there everyone! It's been a little crazy and it's about to get crazier ;)

6 Man and Birthday Cakes

On my actual birthday, I celebrated by going to 6 Man--a big beach volleyball tournament event that rivals the crowds from 4th of July. Scott came up for the weekend, and we met up with a bunch of my high school friends to head over together and celebrate.

Seriously this is only a fraction of the people there.

I was given birthday gear by my girlies:)

Hehe I'm loving my new shorts

That night Scott and I went to Sammy's Woodfired Pizza for dinner. We shared an appetizer of cheesy bread and I had a few slices of BBQ pizza. Oh, and a messy sundae the size of my face that Scott and I shared.

The next day, Scott and I had a beach day before heading to my grandparents house for dinner. We all went for a quick swim before digging into the food. My grandmother Wendy is the most amazing cook, and everything she served was absolutely delicious. After snacking on unpictured appetizers (shrimp! my favorite), we had my grandfather's grilled steak, Caesar salad, garlic bread, and potatoes.

Since my grandparents were out of town on my sister's birthday, we were celebrating both of ours...which meant double the dessert.

Enter her chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream cake...

And my carrot cupcakes!

I was clearly too excited to slow down and take a good picture

There was also lots of fruit thrown in for good measure: lots of watermelon, pineapples, and strawberries.

****

I'll spare you pictures of what I ate today because 99% of it was leftovers. Eek I actually had a cupcake for breakfast. Whoops.

I finally attempted a run today. After the mud run, I used my lack of a goal to try new workout classes and slack off different things. But to be honest, I've missed running. Ok, not quite the actual running part, but I've missed feeling in shape and being the high that came from being able to run 3 miles. 

I ended up going for a quick 20 minute run (probably just a little under 2 miles) with my dog. The whole ordeal was a little more stressful than it should have been because after driving there I realized I forgot to bring a leash. I decided to just stick to a trail, and be thankful that my dog is well behaved. If I drove back home, I know I wouldn't have done anything.

The view from where I ran

On a happier note, I got to wear my new present from my parents: a Nike workout shirt! I felt very stylish while running.

It feels weird not recaping July and planning for August like I usually do at the beginning of the month, but I really wanted to get this post done:) Maybe I'll postpone it to (August 2nd I have one last birthday dinner with the other side of the family) August 3rd. There's so much to look forward to!

Mud Run!

I ran my first race! Today, I completed the Irvine Lake Mud Run--a 3.5 mile race (it was over a 5k and under 4 miles) that contained countless obstacles.

I was on a 4 person co ed team with Scott, Ali (my running buddy that I've mention a billion times on here:), and her boyfriend Grant. Also known as Team JAGS (Julia, Ali, Grant, Scott). None of us have ever had any experience in running events (besides high school track a few years ago), so the experience was really new to us. Which means Ali and I we were really nervous.

The great thing about the Mud Run was that everyone was just running for fun. There was no way to know your times (well, know them easily... I heard you could look online), and your team had to finish the race locking arms. Meaning that the guys had to stay at our pace ;)

I had SO much fun! One thing that surprised me was actually how muddy we got (you would think the term mud run would have given that one away) and how difficult the run was. I did not account for how heavy tennis shoes are when they are completely caked in mud. The run was really physically challenging for me, but with the exception of walking through water stations and a quick break during a hellish stretch, we ran the whole time.
Also, I thought it was interesting how the majority of the obstacles (and all of the mud pits) were at the beginning and end of the race. Within the first minute of the race, we were already knee deep in mud, and setting out on countless obstacles (like tires and wood fences) that were ahead of us. However, the majority of mile 2 was just a really hot, dry stretch (did I mention it was 80 degrees?) that felt like trudging with all the mud drying on us. The end of the run was really fun with tons of mud pits and obstacles. My favorite was definitely army crawling through the mud.

After the race, we took our after pictures, and went to get cleaned off. The lines for the showers was super long, so we decided just to get hosed off instead. And by hosed off I mean hit with two high pressure hoses by two guys standing above the horde of muddy runners. That little experience on its own was actually a really fun part of the experience.

I'll probably go into more detail about today when the professional pictures from the race go up, but for now here are some of my pictures from today. I particularly love the before and after ones.

Before

Starting out super clean

Showing off how ready we are for the mud run (yes I'm super short and squatting)

Team JAGS!

After

Team JAGS after the run

This picture is ridiculous. I have never been more dirty in my life.

I feel so proud and exhilarated that I ran the mud run today. It was a lot of fun, and I'm very happy. I'm also very sore already. My legs are killing me.

I would love to do it again in the future, and was super lucky to have such good friends to run it with.

Coconut-Raspberry Thumbprint

I think my siblings are conspiring. After my last unusual inspiration to bake, they decided to undertake a baking expedition of their own.

But you know I have to talk about my run(s) first. Yesterday, I met up with my friend Sarah to go for a run around the golf course. We ended up running the uphills and walking the downhills and straights. Which was actually fun because during the runs she always pushes me (imagine if Jillian Michaels was your best friend) and then talk the whole time we walk.

Today, I had a really disappointing run. Ali and I ran only for about 20 minutes, but the whole time I felt gross and just heavy. It was not an energizing run that I felt good after at all instead I felt out of shape. I guess it was just one of those days. On the bright side, it was an absolutely gorgeous place we were running. It was right along the cliffs and the turn around point was by a cute light house.

Ok so this was off google image but shhh...

I'm hoping tomorrow's run feels better than today did.

Anyway, my brother and sister decided they were going to make coconut raspberry thumbprint cookies. So while they got all excited making the cookie dough, I just relaxed and did my own thing and snuck bites of cookie dough. Their excitement diminished the second they got to the boring, making the actual cookie dough ball part. Where of course they left all the work to me...I cry conspiracy. Especially since I was not planning on dessert tonight. 

It's a good thing they were delicious. Like very delicious. 

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup shredded coconut

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 sticks of butter

1 1/4 cup sugar

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Raspberry jam

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl combine the flour, coconut, baking soda, and salt together. In another bowl beat the butter and sugar together until it's fluffy. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla. Then, beat in the dry ingredients at a medium low speed. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 15 minutes (aka the point where the siblings abandoned the cookies). 

Roll the dough into balls and bake them for 14 minutes. After 14 minutes take out them and press little dents in the middle of the cookies and bake for 5 more minutes. Let cookies cool.

Putting jelly on them

And enjoy!