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Now Blogging at https://runnerbarrebie.wordpress.com/

Spin Movement

Spin Movement - 2309 Huntington Drive, San Marino, CA 91108

Started of the 2016 with a Spin & Sculpt class at Spin Movement in San Marino, CA. I tried one of their classes before and loved how it wasn't just spin. There's a few other Spin studios around the area that do that too, but I like that this place is new and not super packed yet. I've only taken one instructor so far, but he's super motivating and energetic. Yesterday I happened to see on Instagram that they were offering a free class today Saturday so I signed up. Apparently I got the times mixed up with the Sunday time because I was 15 min late to class, but didn't realize I was late till I was signing up for other classes. Opps! After class I found out there's free Spin classes for the next few weeks unlimited. Since I was still hyped and excited about the freebie I decided to sign up for as many classes I could for the next few weeks. I may be overly ambitious, but we'll see. When I first started barre I went to as many unlimited classes as could since I bought a package. Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to fit in running, the barre, & the TIU Self Challenge I signed-up for. After I started running and going to the barre I'm always looking for new fitness things to try. Around the San Gabriel Valley there is no shortage of new things to try. It seems like there's always a new studio in the neighborhood to checkout. I love the studio group setting and have someone guiding me through workouts. I wish with Class Pass you could check a studio more than 3 times a month. It seems like a great way to find a place to workout, but not if you would like to checkout a place over 3 times.

Nike Women's Races

Ever since the last Nike Women's race finished in San Fransico I am itching to know when the 2016 races will be held. Especially for Taiwan. I may be going to Taiwan again next year and it would be nice to plan a trip around the race or maybe even consider another country. Well so much for Japan. The registration started in August and now its closed. Bummer. Hong Kong maybe? Well even if there isn't a race in Taiwan there are so many other races I can do there. I never realized that Taiwanese people loved running. For a small country there's a different race every week and in every major city/district. They have lots of fun runs like the Hello Kitty run, but Taiwan is also host to the Ironman. That shows that running or just fitness in general is big in Taiwan.
I figured that if I knew early if there was going to be a Nike run in Taiwan then I could think about maybe doing the half-marathon option. I've been going back and forth about doing a half marathon mainly because the thought of running 13.1 miles freaks me out. I know to some people its nothing, but to me I'm still getting over the fact I could even run a 10K. Plus I'm just starting to incorporate more long runs regularly. When I was running my 5 miles on Sunday I was thinking about my grandfather and that if there was a half marathon I'd do it for him. The more I think of my grandfather the more I tell myself to stop thinking so much about it and just go for it. I mean might as well go big. Once they post the races up I'll start thinking more about it. Why can't they just post it already. I want to know.

Pile on the Miles 2015

My goal for RunEatRepeat's Pile on the Miles challenge was 36 miles. I figured I should at least be able to keep up 3 miles 3 times a week for a total of 9 miles a week.  I totally surprised myself and did a total of 40.5 miles! Pretty good since last year around this time I was sick. This challenge kept me in check with my running and made me challenge myself with longer runs. I would never really run over 4 miles unless I really needed to, but now longer runs are not as daunting. I can't wait to do this next year.

First Long Run

Last Saturday I ran my first non-racing long run of 6 miles. I know for some people this is considered an easy run. I would say this is a bit of a harder run since max my runs go up to 3 miles on a good day. Sometimes when I read other running blogs and they blog about their easy run of 6-8 milers I'm just like I don't know how they consider that easy. I know everyone's different with their running abilities, but sometimes its easy to forget and be envious of other people runs. Since I had a goal of 9 miles for the week for Pile On the Miles 2015 and I only ran 3 miles during the week I really wanted to see if I could do 6 miles. So glad I did and accomplished my goals. I did take stop to take a photo and stopped for a min to answer a phone call so the run wasn't as bad as I thought it would be even though it was pretty warm around noon when I was running. Once again my run outside was met with another animal. This time a dead mouse. I mouse is better than coyote, but when you don't expect any animals except maybe squirrels it really totally freaked me out. This past week I'm not even close to my goal of 9 miles, but I'm not going to stress out about it. The main point is that I'm running regularly.

Fit Foodie Finds Friday

I'm loving Enlightened broad beans. I discovered them on one of YouTuber or as I like to call fitness YouTubers FitTuber Josie Mai's vlogs. After watching her video I had to try it. While watching another YouTuber buying it that I realized it was sold at Fresh & Easy. The next time I was in Fresh & Easy I saw the 3 versions they sold. Sea salt, Siracha, and Mesquite BBQ. My favorite is the BBQ. This is one of my favorite healthy snacks. The problem is that the bag isn't big enough, but at the same time the broad beans are addicting. I could probably eat the whole bag in one sitting if I wasn't paying attention. The macros are good, but I could use a bit less sodium. Only sad thing is Fresh & Easy is closing. Hopefully the price difference at other markets isn't too much. I wonder if its cheaper just buying it direct from them.

Pile on the Miles 2015

I'm participating in Run Eat Repeat's "Pile on the Miles" challenge again. I forget which year I participated. I didn't see a post about it on my Instagram so it might have been in 2013. If it wasn't on Instagram then it probably didn't happen. Hahaha! Though I probably signed up but never met my goal. This year I'm keeping it simple. 36 miles is my goal which averages to 9 miles a week. If I can't keep that up I may have to reevaluate if running is really my thing. Hahaha. After the coyote incident my other goal is to do more cross trainer, circuits, hiits, & anything to improve my running so I'm not running at turtle speed if I ever encounter another coyote.