Going Out with a Bang!

Ain't this the truth!

A Look Back at 2012!       

One of my blogging friends, Running Hutch posted this yesterday and  I decided I would use it as a template to talk about my year!

Year End Reflections: 
It all began with a Pink Polar and a dream! 

10 Highlights:

1. Asking my mom for help with my son so I could start working out!
2. Meeting amazing friends at my gym Fit For Fashion
3. Running my very first race (aside from the Climb up I did) with my new workout buddies.  The Bolt Run! That evening we all went to a hockey game.
4. Running a 10K in NYC when I was there for work. I decided that I must really be a runner if I am choosing this while I am in the most fabulous place I have ever been. And I did it alone on the 4th of July.
5.Getting an email from Fitfluential in July telling me that I had been chosen to be a Fitfluential Ambassador. I had no idea how amazing this experience would be. It pushed me to applying to be an ambassador with Fit Approach, GirlsGoneSporty, The Women's Half Marathon, and MomPowerTeam. What an amazing group of people!
6. Getting an email from Polar Heart Rate Monitors asking me if they could use my cover photo for a tshirt idea. WHAT!!! Why of course!!! From that, I met Chris from Polar who contacted me asking me to be a Polar Ambassador. Being a Polar Ambassador means so much to me because this is a product that I truly love!
7. I ran 15 races this year. Some were mud races, one was in a tropical storm, and some were on the beach. I have never run a race in my life til April of this year.
8. I ran a half marathon and did Tough Mudder within 2 weeks of each other
9. Running The Color Run with my son
10. I met all of you! Whether it be my facebook page, my blog, my twitter, my instagram, my pinterest, my tumblr, or my google +, this social media thing has changed my life for the better. I love the twitter parties, vlogs, instagram challenges and everything. Mostly, I love learning from you all. I am just a single mom on a journey. Definitely not an expert!

Failures: (these will be short and to the point)
1. Didn't lose the weight I want yet
2. Achilles tendonitis messing up my training
3. Not loving the half marathon like I thought I would
4. Being slower than my running buddies and having to run alone
5. Did I say not losing the weight I wanted to lose? It counts twice.
6. Still waiting for Mr. Right
7. My plumbing backing up and ruining my carpet... still haven't replace it yet...
8. Not having the money I wish I had to do more with fitness
9. Not conquering all my fears in the Tough Mudder
10. Excuses I made to skip workouts

Game Changers:
1. Fitfluential, Fit Approach, GirlsGoneSporty and the Mom Power Team and the opportunities I have been given by being involved with these groups.
2. Polar: Being a member of the Polar Racing Team.
3. My facebook page and blog

Things focused on:
1. my health and fitness
2. my blog and facebook page
3. being the mom that my son would be proud of

Things I forgot
1. Learning to cook healthy meals
2. Maintaining my social life. I got really involved with my son and my journey that I lost the desire to go out and have fun as often as I should have
3. I forgot to be angry! I let it go and that is a great thing!

Reflection:

S%$& just got real! My 2012 Story!

Here is my story! 

Thanks for bearing with me through my emotions!

 

Please make sure you enter my giveaway for a Road ID. You need this!!!CLICK HERE!

A Family Christmas and running safety first!

Be safe! Register to win a RoadId. Santa brought my son and me one. Please click on the link to enter!

http://mindysfitnessjourney.blogspot.com/2012/12/check-out-my-running-bling-and-giveaway.html





Amazing Family Time!
I was so blessed to have a beautiful Christmas with my family. Here are just a few pictures of all of us enjoying the holiday! My son and I also joined in on the #26 Acts in honor of the lives lost in Newtown, CT.

My father dresses up like Santa every year on Christmas Eve. The entire family comes over, and he passes out presents. The real Santa asks him to do this for him every year since he is so busy!

Santa must be a runner!

Check out my running bling!!! 

And win a Road ID gift certificate for $35!!!

My Mile22 Bag

My son and I got an awesome present in our stockings from Santa! Santa gave us  Road ID  bracelet! Watch my vlog to hear all about it. I also so the most amazing gift for runners from Mile22 Bags.

 Enter my giveaway to win a $35 gift certificate to Road ID

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Our Road ID bracelets

Youtube Honor! Thank you!

Wow! Honor Mention for my Youtube channel??? So honored!
Here is my vlog about it! :)

Mike from Frugal Fitness wrote up his top 25 Youtube channels for fitness and inspiration. While I was  not in the top 25 (duh! I just created my channel in August,) I was given honorable mention. That is amazing! I am honored!!! Make sure you check out his list. There are some awesome channels that will give you guidance for workouts and healthy living. Check out http://www.myfrugalfitness.com/2012/12/top-25-youtube-fitness-channels-2012.html

A couple of my personal favorites are:

Kodjoworkouts

Jill Hanner

Bex Life

From my house to yours, Merry Christmas!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas! 

I have 2 giveaways coming up, so be on the lookout in the next couple days!

Livin' and Lovin' Life: The Color Run

We are Livin' and Lovin' Life: The Color Run

 Before :) 

My son and I had the BEST time on Saturday doing The Color Run in St. Petersburg, FL. It was truly the best day! After what happened on Friday at Sandy Hook, I, as a teacher and a mother was feeling shattered! It was so unimaginable... unthinkable. I was glad that I had an escape on Saturday. 
To be honest, I know that I enjoyed Saturday more because I knew that I had to stop and smell the roses!

before

after

all smiles!

Funny faces!

blowing color off his head!

even our elf was ready for the color run

If you have a chance to do this run, do it, especially if you have kids! My son thanked me all weekend for signing him up.  We still had color on us on Sunday, and I am not even going to tell you about blowing blue out of my nose (LOL) but it was THE BEST~

A Day of Silence for the victims at Sandy Hook Elementary

This effort was started by Carrian Cheney of Sweet Basil (blog) & graphic was created by Nike Peterson of Nike Peterson Designs (blog).

I Survived Tough Mudder!

I Did It! I survived Tough Mudder! 

That means I can do anything!

I still cannot believe that  I did it! It was really tough and I conquered some serious fears! I still have one fear that I couldn't beat, so next year I will try again.

Climbing the wall to get to start!

It was really surreal pulling up in the parking lot and seeing signs that reminded me that I signed a "death waiver!" I had serious butterflies in my belly! You have no idea!!! I decided that I would go with my usual hair in braids and a hat! I was sure I wouldn't lose that! LOL... um... sure! I lost my hat in the ice bath!

Well to even get to the starting line, I had to climb a wall. I just remember thinking, oh boy here we go. When I jumped down, I realized that my achilles wasn't ready for me to do all that jumping. Oh well!

Ready to race!

The end of the race! OUCH!

We were so excited to start! When you look around and see that EVERYONE there is fit and strong and proud, it takes your breath away, especially when you are in the process of becoming all of those things. So honestly, right away, I began my self-sabotage. I started criticizing myself in my head... "Why haven't you lost more weight?" "Why aren't you are faster runner?" "What makes you think you can do this?" Ugh! Not good! Thankfully I have really supportive friends who pushed me through and made me feel pride!

Gangham Style!

There were so many obstacles that I cannot bore you with all of them, but on our way to the Arctic Enema (the ICE BATH) I did have some fun dancing to "Gangham Style" knowing that I was about to plummet into ice! That ice bath was insane! And  I did it! The other shocker that I did was the Shockers!!! And I ran up Everest and made it the first time! Well there was also the plummet into the water...  I have no idea how high it was, but it was much higher than it looked!!! (see the first photo)

Shocking my booty!

 I still can't believe I did it. I am in shock! Well, maybe I am still shocked!!! :)

I did have to skip the underground tunnels due to my Claustrophobia.

I need to thank Polar for sponsoring part of this race. I also need to thank Harold R. Without their help, I wouldn't have been able to run this race! 

Let me just tell you that I have a long way to go in this journey, but the girl who was sitting on the couch eating McDonalds at this time last year would have never seen this coming.

If I can do this, ANYONE can!!! Conquer your fears! Be proud!

MINDYrocks! That's the code!

Who wants to be a 

Runner Momma Fabulous? 

To order from Busy Mom Gets Fit click https://www.facebook.com/BusyMomGetsFit/app_147605761926866
and enter coupon code MINDYrocks

Here are some of her other shirts :) 

Winners and calorie equilvents changed to burpees??

Would life be better if this were true? I think I would be A LOT thinner!!!

Thank you for Mizfitonline for finding this picture!

Bulu Box Winners!!

I sent an email to the following people! Check your inbox! You didn't win??? 

No worries, you can still get a free box! 

GET YOUR FIRST BOX FREE: USE CODE "Box1679"

I am now an affiliate for Bulu Box and you can order your boxes from me.  

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner and Instagram Challenge!

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!
Congratulations to Joanna Broadbent! She is the winner of the Polar Sweat Wicking T-shirt! Joanna, I hope you will send us a picture of you in your new shirt!

Join us in the #Holidayaday Instagram Challenge!
You can join in at any point! It's okay if you missed the first few days~

Check out my beautiful, blogging buddies who created the challenge with me:

Kat from Sneakers and Fingerpaints (IG: katsnf)
Gina at Noshing on Asphalt (IG:AsphaltNosher)
Abby At Back at Square 0 (IG Backatsquare0)
Sarah from Mom Running On Empty (IG: momonempty)
Mindy at Road Runner Girl (IG: roadrunnergirl)
Kate from Run With Kate (IG: runwithkate)
Rebecca from Rebecca Roams (IG: RebeccaRoams)

Today is work it, so here's me working yesterday at Tough Mudder! I will be writing a blog soon. Bear with me, I am not feeling well right now, and I am way behind on school work.

And don't forget about my Bulu Box Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

2 Giveaways at once!!! Happy Holidays!

Instagram Challenge for December!!! 

Mark your calendar!

Bulu Box:  Each Box is a Healthy Discovery!!!

Stuff your stocking all year long!

GET YOUR FIRST BOX FREE: USE CODE "Box1679"

http://www.bulubox.com/

I was on a twitter chat one night when I started chatting with Stephanie from Bulu Box. We were discussing supplements and energy. She started telling me about Bulu Box and how great it is to get a box full of sample vitamins and supplements to try. Here is a video on how it works. How it works!

Order your box today!

When my box arrived, I was really excited to see all of the great products that I have had the pleasure of hearing about through being a blogger. I was most excited about the full size bag of FRS Healthy Energy Chews that retails for $19.49 a bag. Each box comes with 4-5 premium samples and it's $10 a month. 

Bulu Box has offered to give away 3 boxes to my readers!!! 3!!! Wow! So, here you go!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget about my Polar Sweat Wicking 

T shirt giveaway!

CLICK HERE!
http://mindysfitnessjourney.blogspot.com/2012/11/please-pause-my-polar-giveaway-and-run.html

Instagram Challenge, My Giveaway, and Kevin the Elf on the Shelf

Don't forget about my giveaway!!! 

You can enter at Giveaway link: click me

Enter to win this awesome shirt!!!

You can enter at Giveaway link: click me

Instagram Challenge for December 
Follow me on Instagram: click here!!!

#holidayaday

Some of the coolest bloggers I know and I have been working on something really fun for the month of December. After doing a fun Instagram challenge in October, we decided that we need to come up with our own fun for the holidays. I hope you will join us in the fun! It's a great time to show off the fun things that you do in December. There is nothing I like more than stalking getting to know my friends and followers via Instagram. Let me know if you are considering joining us for the challenge in the comments! (Mom, you can do this from your iPad. I will help you!)

A big shout out to my blogging buddies and especially Abby from Back at Square Zero (IG: Backatsquare0)
Rebecca from Rebecca Roams (IG: RebeccaRoams)
Kat from Sneakers and Fingerpaints (IG: katsnf)
Mindy from Mindy’s Fitness Journey (IG: mindyartze)
Kate from Run With Kate (IG: runwithkate)
Sarah from Mom Running On Empty (IG: momonempty)
Mindy at Road Runner Girl (IG: roadrunnergirl)
Gina at Noshing on Asphalt (IG:AsphaltNosher)

These ladies keep me on my toes and push me to be better daily! Love you girls! #photoadaymafia #holidayaday

Last but not least...

Before bed tonight, my son was caught reading a book to his elf... So precious!!! This is what it is all about for me. He loves Kevin so very much!

Where is Kevin today??? I know you are all wondering about our sweet little elf... Well he has been spotted by me but not by Bryce yet.

Elf on the Shelf extraordinaire and Polar Shirt Giveaway!

Do you have an elf on the shelf?

Before I tell you about our Elf, I want to remind you of our giveaway right now!!! 
Don't forget about the Limited Edition Polar Shirt Giveaway! 
Click the link: AWESOME GIVEAWAY! http://mindysfitnessjourney.blogspot.com/2012/11/please-pause-my-polar-giveaway-and-run.html

We woke up and Kevin had Abominable 

We got home from school and the tables were turned!

Okay, Who has an elf on the shelf?  We got ours 2 years ago! I am happy to say that Kevin has returned this year. The above picture is of Kevin today in our tree. He brought an ornament with his name on it for our tree. He has done some fun things over the last couple of years and I thought I would share those things with you.  Maybe it will give your elf some ideas... Just a thought.

My son wrote a letter to Santa and asked if he could bring Kevin our Elf to see Santa.  Santa agreed, and the next morning, Kevin was in shoe box tell us that it would be okay for Bryce to hold him ONLY in Santa's presence. My son didn't care about seeing Santa. The glow in his eyes came from holding his best friend Kevin for the  first time!

Kevin used my cell phone to take a picture of him and Scooter  sleeping!

Kevin was playing a football game with my son's football figurines. Kevin sacked Aaron Rodgers.
I am pretty sure there was a discount double check in there!

Kevin drew faces on all of our picture frames!

I will share more of his antics! Stay tuned! And don't forget to enter my giveaway!