Upcoming Races

Good morning, everyone!  How's your weekend going so far?  It's going to be another relaxing weekend for us, with lots of football to watch and chores to catch up on.  I've also got a friend's baby show to go to today, which is going to be a lot of fun!

Lately, I have done a very poor job of exercising.  I'm really not sure why, but it is what it is.  Luckily, I've got a few races coming up, as well as the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge, to get my training started and keep me motivated!

First up, I'm running a new-to-me distance next weekend: an 8k!  I'm doing the Run for FUTURES 8k, which raises money for the schools in my area.  I'm looking forward to this new distance and running for a good cause!

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Next up, I'm running the Ed Root Memorial 10K in New Smyrna Beach on December 7th.  I ran this race last year as my first 10K.  I loved the course, and my goal is to PR at this distance during this race.

Finally, I have two half marathons scheduled for February 2014.  You all know that I'm running the Disney Princess Half Marathon once more, and this time I'm running to raise money for Kellsie's Hope Foundation.  Check out my post about it, and any support you can provide would be much appreciated!  (If you can give, go to this website, click on my name (Amy Herring), and you can give via PayPal.)

The weekend before that race, I'm going to be participating in the Daytona Beach Half Marathon!

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With this half marathon being exactly a week before the Princess Half, I'm going to be focusing in my training on running long distances with little rest.  One thing I'll probably do is run a semi-long run the day before my long run for the week.  I plan on posting my training plan soon, and I'll be sure to update y'all on how the training is going!

Another thing that I've been researching and the thoughts have been circulating my mind...

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A full marathon??  I never thought I'd even CONSIDER this, but if my two half marathons in a row go well (and I actually stick to my training plan), I may more seriously think about running a marathon.  Crazy....I know.

Question for you: Any raises on the horizon for you?  If you've run a marathon before, what spurred you on to actually do it?

Jesus' Fingers

Hey everyone!  Strange title, huh?  I'm so excited to share with you what that means :)

Before I get to that...brrrrr, it turned cold here today!  And by cold, I mean 65 and windy.  I guess I've just gotten used to the warm Florida weather.  But, I am enjoying snuggling up in my sweatpants, soft blanket, and hot coffee this evening.  Plus, Joe made chili for dinner tonight!  Perfect way to spend a chilly (haha) evening.

This weekend, I attended the Living Proof Live event in Daytona Beach with Beth Moore.

I learned so, so much, enjoyed worshipping with 8,800 women (and a few men), and being in God's presence and hearing from Him.  As I said on Sunday, if you have a chance to go to one of these events, YOU SHOULD (their 2014 schedule is out now)

I wanted to share with you one of the passages we studied this weekend.  It comes from the Gospel of Mark:

"Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis.  And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him.  Ad taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tounge.  And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is "Be opened."  And his ears were opened, his tounge released, and he spoke plainly."

Mark 7:31-35

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Isn't that an interesting way for Jesus to heal the deaf and mute man?  He put His fingers in the man's ears, then spit on His finger and touched his tongue.  As Beth said after reading this, "we know this: Jesus was not afraid of germs!"

Well, the point she made from this Scripture hit me like a ton of bricks:

We need Christ's fingers in our ears sometimes to hear.

There is so much going on around us.  We have our family, friends, work, school, kids, social media, television, the internet, smart phones, etc. all constantly demanding our attention.  Often times, we let these things get in the way of truly listening to God and hearing what he has to say to us.

What an awesome visual of Christ's fingers plugging our ears so that we can hear what we need to be listening to!

Since hearing that on Saturday, I have prayed numerous times for Jesus to plug my ears so that I can hear His message to me.  I've also prayed that He plug my ears from people's opinions or word about me.  God has been faithful and kept me focused on Him, His words, and seeking His favor and His opinions of me.  What a blessing this has been to me this week!

I hope that in sharing this word that I got, it will help someone out there focus on God this week.  When you feel like you can't hear what He's saying, simply pray for Jesus' fingers in your ears (as weird as that sounds), and He will have you hear what He desires you to hear.  Praise Him!

Question for you: What do you need to stop listening to this week?

Blackberry Vanilla Smoothie

Happy Veteran's Day to all of the men and women who have served and continue to serve our country!  Your service and sacrifices are appreciated far more than you know!

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I'd especially like to recognize my own veteran!

Joe served as a Navy Corpsman (medic for the Marines) and did two tours in Iraq.  He celebrated today by getting a free lunch at Applebee's, and tonight we went to dinner at Olive Garden, where they were also giving veterans a free meal.  Lots of appreciation from the chain restaurants!

He was so ready to eat he wouldn't smile for a picture!

I loved celebrating with him, as well as seeing all of the other veterans dining out and feeling appreciated for their service to our country!  God bless the USA!

In honor of Veteran's Day, I had the day off of school.  That means that I was able to make a smoothie for my mid-morning meal, one of the options listed in the Insanity meal plan.  I made a really simple smoothie, but it was very, very tasty and I wanted to share!

Ingredients:

• 1 banana, frozen
• 1 handful of frozen whole blackberries
• 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder
• Milk of your choice (I used skim milk)

Combine the banana, blackberries, and protein powder in the blender.

Pour milk until it reaches the top of the ingredients (turns out to be about 2/3 cups).  Blend until smooth.  Stick a straw in and enjoy :)

I tell ya, this vanilla protein powder I had is fantastic.  It really adds a fantastic vanilla flavor that is silky-smooth without the "protein-y" taste.  It was a Wal-mart find!  Great stuff!

Question for you: What's something you do on a three-day weekend that you can't do on a normal week?
Not only do I get to enjoy smoothies, but I also get to fully relax for two days while getting a lot of chores done on the third day!

At The Park Workout

How's the weekend going, everyone?  I've had a pretty great one!  It all started out with the Living Proof Live, featuring worship with Travis Cottrell and the sharing of the Word of God with Beth Moore.

Yes, that is the woman who wrote the Bible study I am currently doing!  It was an amazing event, where I learned a lot from Beth, had incredibly moving worship experiences, socialized with many incredible women of God, and had lots of laughs (Beth is incredibly funny!!).

If you have a chance to go to a Living Proof Live event, I highly suggest you do.  Since then, I've been watching football (and celebrating the Hokies' big win!), going to church, running some errands, and hanging out with Joe.  Good times!

Another thing I did this weekend was complete a really fun workout.  It's a lovely fall day here (in Florida, that means no humidity and in the 70's), so I wanted to take advantage of the nice weather!

Inspired by Amanda's video Body Weight Exercises at the Park, I went to a local lake with a path around it.  I would run once around the path (half a mile), then complete 15 reps each of:

• Push-ups on a bench (in Amanda's video)
• Tricep dips with hip raise (in Amanda's video)
• Squats (standing beside the bench)
• Crunches (while laying on the bench)

I complete 3 sets of these exercises and 4 laps around the lake.  I had a great time doing this workout!  I got to see some fun wildlife...

had a great time in my total of 2 miles running...

and got to work some muscles I hadn't done so in a while!  If you have some good weather and a park you can get to, I highly recommend this strength + cardio workout combination!

30 Days of Thanks
Here's a quick catch-up on my 30 Days of Thanks!

Day 7: I'm thankful for my co-workers and for my job.  I love helping others, especially when it comes to helping teachers reach their students in new and different ways!
Day 8: I'm thankful for the opportunity (and the funds) to go to the Living Proof Live event.  I'm thankful for the Word I got during this conference and for the amazing women of God that were there.  Praise Him for this weekend!
Day 9: I'm thankful for the season of fall.  Between football, Thanksgiving, the beautiful colors, and all the fun flavors, fall is a great season.  I look forward to taking all of it in for the rest of the month!
Day 10: Sunday is my catch-up-with-mom-and-dad on the phone, so today I'm thankful for my mom, dad, and brother!  My mom and dad are so supportive and loving, and my brother and I have a great relationship that I appreciate.  They're pretty great!

Question for you: What's your favorite outdoor workout?  Did you do anything cool this weekend?