2015 - The Year We Were Fit... Occasionally...

"Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right." -- Oprah

Well friends, it's 2016. Can you believe it? Last year blew by so fast! When we started this blog in January, we had some pretty lofty goals. We had planned to blog regularly (um... sorry about that), and we were going to make 2015 the year we went from puff to buff. Well... life had other plans. Natasha continued staying busy with motherhood and preparing for PA school, and Becky got promoted. We both traveled a lot, and both trained for races (so we went from weight lifting to running... why not?). While neither of us fully met the goals we set for ourselves in 2015, we had a pretty fit year! This is particularly true for Becky since Natasha was already running races and being generally awesome :) So what follows is a quick recap in the year that was! In our next blog post(s), we will post our fitness goals for 2016. If 2015 was the year we tried to be fit, maybe 2016 is the year that we actually become it! Haha!

FEBRUARY 2015

Natasha started the year out with a bang, completing the Love Rox Half in Richmond, VA in just over two and a half hours! Way to go!

MARCH 2015

Natasha made it a family affair in March with the Maritime 8K. Natasha, her husband, her father-in-law, and her daughter all took part in race day fun. And check out their awesome hardware! A fit family is a happy family! Well done!

APRIL 2015

Natasha visited Becky in California in April, and the two attempted to have a fit vacation. Natasha succeeded more than Becky at that, running every single morning during her stay. The two attempted to hike twice - finally succeeding with a very short hike in the Sequoias. It was so good to be reunited... it was sad to depart after four short days.

MAY 2015

Natasha rocked the Mother's Day 4 Miler in May... Just another casual run for Natasha ;) (Note: This is not a picture from that race. Natasha, unlike Becky, does not photograph every race because she's done so many. Ha!)

Meanwhile, Becky got her steps in while exploring Spain and France. Every single day was a 25K or more day, with hundreds of stairs and hills climbed. Fitcations are fun! 

JUNE 2015

Another month, another race for our dear friend Natasha! She completed the Twilight 4 miler in June, in 90 degree weather no less. This was the same week that she complained about being out of shape... smh... this girl... LOL.

Meanwhile in California, Becky conned her friends into a 6.5 mile hike up to and above the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles. This hike took place shortly before the Dodger game, leading her friends to think she is a sado-masochistic torturer. For the record, you might want to confirm plans before making them with Becky... Ha!

JULY 2015

Natasha started the Oxygen 90 Day Challenge in July, encouraging (?) her family and friends to participate. She also continued her love/hate affair with cardio... but we all know she's staying committed to that :)

Meanwhile in California, Becky was continuing to torture her poor friend Emily with even more hiking while on vacation. This time, the two tackled the "strenuous" Ocean View/Fern Creek trails in Muir Woods near San Francisco.  The hike was harder than planned, but it was totally worth it. 

AUGUST 2015

Becky finished the Dodger 5K in September with Shika, learning exactly what she needs to work on before her half marathon in January 2016. Natasha continued to rock her 90 Day Challenge, but started to get understandably frustrated with other participants (nothing tastes, better? really?). 

OCTOBER 2015

October saw the beginning of half marathon training for Becky, and Becky used that as a motivation to push herself and her friends into a challenge in honor of her upcoming birthday. Natasha and Becky crushed it, exceeding the 36 miles in 12 day challenge! Woot!

NOVEMBER 2015

Becky discovered the Hogwarts Running Club in November,  and quickly signed up for and completed the Platform 9 3/4K virtual race. This was her first virtual race, but hardly her last. With friends spread far and wide throughout the country, this is one way that she and her friends can race "together" while living far apart. So cool! She also challenged friends and family to compete in a Thankful Thirty Trot challenge on Facebook. This team smashed their goals, running/walking over 700 miles! Wow!

DECEMBER 2015

December brought back-to-back 5Ks for your favorite (?) fitness bloggers. Natasha completed the Run with Santa 5K in Virginia...

... and Becky completed the Holiday Toy Run in California on Christmas Eve. Becky's half marathon training saw back-to-back long run weekends during the holidays, completing 11 miles on Christmas Day and another 13.5 miles with Shika on New Year's Eve! Woohoo! 

As we close this post, it's probably worth mentioning that before we wrote it, Becky was feeling somewhat disappointed in her fitness in 2015. Was she fitter in 2015 than she was in 2014? Absolutely! But she was still far less fit than she had hoped to be. Did Natasha feel like she crushed her goals? A quick review of her posts in 2015 will show you how often she doubted herself or her commitment to fitness during the year. We are far too hard on ourselves... 

This year, we challenge each of you to be kinder to YOU in 2016. As we mentioned in the beginning of this post, we will be setting up goals for ourselves in 2016, and we encourage you to do the same. Will we all meet these goals? Probably not... but that doesn't mean that the year was a failure. I mean, look at how much we accomplished in 2015! Yes, we were only occasionally fit, and loosely committed... but we still made healthier choices this year, and that is something to be proud of. 

What will YOU do in 2016? We can't wait to hear from you!

Cheers!

Becky and Natasha

Join Us on Facebook!

While I know I'm supposed to be too old to enjoy social media, I've found it to be a remarkable tool. As I mentioned in previous posts, I've found a wonderful online fitness community using Instagram, and experienced a great sense of community by challenging my friends and family to join me in running challenges on my birthday and before Thanksgiving. While talking to a couple of friends over the holidays, some encouraged me to add this blog as a page on Facebook... so here we are! 

So what can you find if you follow us here? Well, for the handful of you that actually follow this blog, it will give you a way to hear of new posts outside of signing up via blogroll or subscribing via email. We will also use the page to invite people to join us for virtual events like the aforementioned Thankful Thirty Trot or our upcoming Run the Year challenge. We will also use it to share helpful fitness and health links and articles that you may enjoy. Don't worry - we're not trying to sell you anything. That's not our focus... our goal is just to get as many of our friends and family to enjoy healthier and happier lifestyles!

Join us! Head over to FB and "Like" our page at  https://www.facebook.com/occasionallyfit/. Hope to see you there! I'll try to write a real post later this week. Until then, have a great week!

Cheers!

Becky

Christmas in California (... and more running)

"The wind... it's what makes it so warm this time of year. Legend has it, when the Santa Anas blow, anything can happen."

--- The Holiday

Why, hello there! Hope each of you had a wonderful Christmas with friends and family... or whatever holiday you may celebrate at this time of year :) While I am very close to my family, I made the very tough decision to not go home (to New Mexico) this year. Related or not, I seem to get violently ill every year after I visit for the holidays. I mean violently ill... in the last five years, I have suffered from the flu and strep throat ('15), bronchitis ('14), and pneumonia ('11 - '13). With my 1/2 marathon coming in 3 weeks and counting, I just couldn't afford to risk it this year. 

I kicked off Christmas week with a 5K run at the gym. I hate treadmill running (as I know you are aware), but this was probably my best indoor 5K to date. I even beat my PR! I figured it was a good start to the week, and decided that I would commit to finishing the long run I had procrastinated doing since last Saturday. Although my brother was coming to spend the holiday with me in California, I still wanted to commit to a couple of runs so as to not lose motivation. I was doing well... I didn't want to lose it.

Somewhat serendipitously, my friend Janelle posted details about a Christmas eve 5K occurring in town that seemed to be perfect. Not only was it a good way to give back to our community, but it would also be a great way for me to see my friend and catch up with her while she is in town. Our not-quite-5K race was great! She's done a bunch of the Disney 1/2 marathons, so she gave me a lot of helpful advice and helped quell my nerves. She and I were also able to catch up on one another's lives, which was nice since I hadn't seen her in a couple of years (she lives in Denver). The miles flew by, and I felt great after. I decided to spend the remainder of my day being active... racking up another 3.5 miles of walking with my dog, and doing another 2 mile run at the gym. It was a very active day!

I planned to get my long run done on Christmas day. I figured nothing would be open anyway, so why not use the time to get those miles in on an empty trail? I felt so much better prepared for this run after talking to Janelle. I taped my knee, packed my mid-run fuel packs (I tried Clif Bars and Shot Bloks and Gu... Shot Bloks are my new friend!), and made sure to eat in advance of my run. When I tried running more than 8 miles in the past, my legs and feet would be in tremendous pain afterwards. And this time? No pain! Woohoo! Although my Nike Plus app only recorded 9.06 of my 11 mile run, I actually finished the day with 13.6 miles in total when you added in my walks with my dog. Not to shabby for a holiday!

I took yesterday off, meaning I only walked my dog and didn't do any running at all. While I wasn't in pain, I know myself well enough to know that I can't push it the day after. I feel so much better prepared for my long New Year's run with my friend Shika later this week. So... what have I learned?

• I can't run on a completely empty stomach. Similarly, I can't run on a full stomach. I need to prepare to eat a large snack (not meal) approximately 2 hours before running. 
• I need to fuel mid-run. Actually, I think I need to refuel at least twice for the 1/2 marathon. 4 miles seems to be where I need it. Shot Bloks have been my favorite so far, but I have to remind myself to drink water after. What do you do?
• Water is your friend. Ph-balanced water is my best friend. I like Gatorade well enough, but the sugar brings me down. Water with electrolytes does the same job, and doesn't give me that sugar rush (and fall) that hurts my run at the end. My favorite is Core Water, but there are a lot of brands out there - have you tried any?
• Stretching, stretching, stretching!

This is my last week of long runs before I start tapering next week. I'm still nervous, yes, but I feel a lot better prepared than I did before this week. A big thank you to Janelle for the pep talk on Christmas eve! I can't wait to see my friends (and make new ones) at the race in three weeks. Away we go!

Cheers!

Becky