It is no secret I am on the road a lot. But how does one eat while being a road warrior? Here are some tips that have been tried and tested by yours truly.

#1) Careful planning! I count how many meals I will be away for and either make a mental note or write it down in my trust iPhone. I always carry nut bars, jerky and pumpkin seeds with me. Planning ahead prevents you a lot of stress while on the road.

#2) Containers, containers, containers! I can’t stress this one enough. Small containers can make or break you while traveling. I pack Brewer’s Yeast (great source of protein), Ground Flax Seed, Hemp Hearts, and Chia Seeds. These are my staples on and off the road. And by packing these with me, my health travels with me. There is no excuse not to eat for health while on the road!

#3) Farmer’s Market’s, Co-op’s, natural health food stores. Make Yelp or Google search or your Twitter/FB feed your go-to resource for these hidden gems. I love to explore when I am traveling so I usually wander right into a Farmer’s Market or co-op as I am running. Or I research the town or city ahead of time and find out what day and time a Farmer’s Market will be open. I like to support small, family businesses so co-op’s, private, natural food stores and Farmer’s Market’s are my go-to place to shop for food. Chain national natural food stores are my second option. You can usually get a great, healthy meal at Whole Foods Food Bar if you stick to the salad area.

#4) Be flexible! You can plan all you want, but sometimes life just happens and you don’t have any control over it. Be calm and get back on track as soon as you can. Also, if you keep food with you, you won’t be caught off guard as easily. Carry Tanka Bars, KIND Snacks, Lara Bars, or Bearded Brothers. Don’t go hungry while traveling or yo

#5) Be wise! If you are eating out with business folks, be wise. Be smart. Don’t let them guilt trip you into eating crap. Don’t let their poor habits dictate how you eat. Set the positive, healthy example. You’ll be credible and secretly admired. Stick to your guns!

Those are a few of my travel-tried-and-true secrets. You can eat for health while on the road!

Mondays are typically a day that people dread. How many people do you know that say “Happy Monday!” (well, besides me)? Very few! Well, we want to help you have a positive day, week, month, year, life … So every Monday we have a series called ME: Motivation Encouragement. This is one way we can help you start your Monday off on the right foot!

The other week, as I was traveling, I spotted an old VW Bug. Now I have a ‘thing’ for vintage bugs. Don’t know why, but I like them. Same with old VW Vans. So each time I spy one, I like to take a photo. I was walking down the street and there it was. An old, beat up bug. Flat tire, paint worn off, some parts sandblasted and in general rough shape by appearance . I immediately thought “a work in progress” and of course a life application started forming in my head .

I don’t know about you, but I’m a work in progress. In fact, just a few days ago, it was like I got soccer-punched. I wasn’t expecting to have life turned upside. AGAIN. But it did. And I was reminded that, like the vintage bug, I too am a work-in-progress. I think admitting that you are, is the first step in growing. If you don’t acknowledge there is a problem, change will never happen. Being a work in progress is sometimes painful, sometimes scary and sometimes hopeful. I don’t know the old bug owners, but I bet they are hopeful they can get the bug back to good as new. I also bet that putting time, money and physical hard work into fixing it up is painful and uncertain. But if they don’t try, they will never know what the car might have been. 

And so that’s motivation and encouragement for you and me to do what might seem scary, painful and fearful. It might take time. It might be daunting. But being a work in progress is much better than sitting on the sidelines wondering what you could’ve been. The more you learn, the more you grow. And the more you grow the more you can help others. So it all comes back around. A work in progress is a never ending task, but that is the nature of being vintage. You either get better with time, or you get worse. 

Food for thought: are you committed to being a work in progress?  

If you have travel, don’t have a gym or spend a lot of time at the soccer field, then you know how challenging it is to get in a weight workout! So….I have a hookup for you.

Harbinger Fitness Balls

Let's Have a Ball!

I used the balls in the gym before and ALWAYS wanted some, so I was thrilled when Harbinger sent me them! My very own! The colorful balls come in a variety of weights (2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 pounds). The colors alone make you excited to start sweating! The other cool feature is the handle or strap attached. It makes it very easy to do exercises and not lose the ball!

I am on the go a lot and lets face it, its hard to carry a set of dumbbells! I keep 2 balls in my car at all times. I never know where I might be next and my motto is “always be prepared”. What workouts do I do with them? Here is a sampling:

• Bridge
• Crunches
• Bicep curls
• Lunges with twist
• Tricep extension
• Woodchops

Here is a great cheat sheet for you to check out and USE!

Go forth and sweat!

Get your sweat fest on!

Whoa! 2:30am came WAY to fast!!! Wiped the sleep out of my eyes, ate a quick breakfast, Phil came at 3:30am. Quickly loaded up my truck w/ all the gear and we were off to Dulles.

Parked in the lot, aka, land of no return. Then it was time for the moment of truth. My BIG bag weighed in at 49lbs. OMG!!! I just made it!! That was great news.

On to flight. 6am flight to Denver first. Apparently I was pretty tired. I was in the middle seat, asleep and Gregg accidentally hit with his arm. I never moved.

Landed in Denver. Had 10 min to make the connection. No time for Jamba Juice. Sigh. On a little prop plane to Rapid City. Short flight. Hello South Dakota! 35mph winds! 65 temps. It was cold! Whoa!

Got picked up by Casey’s Car Rental. Drove into town. Had a nice lunch at Colonial House. Then we went over to Safeway for more last minute food. I wanted my red grapes I always crave on runs!

Spent a little time in the city. Checked the local running store. Of course!!

Then it was on to Mt. Rushmore! My first time seeing it live! So cool!

Since I was the pilot (aka driver) my 2 passengers took a nap while driving into Hot Springs. Sigh. Perhaps I will get a nap tomorrow. Passed Buffalo. Kind of funny seeing the creatures right on the road. If you hear a scream Saturday you’ll know why:)

Passed some really cute shops. WILL be back!

Finally arrived in Hot Springs. Checked in at hotel. Then went down to check in for race! Race number 102 baby! It’s feeling very real now.

Then back to the room to get some work done. Didn’t get to bed til 11pm. It’s been a LONG day.

Night all!

Photo by dean.franklin

Ah. Heading home today. Goodbye beach. Hello road!

Its been nice to be able to work in a different environment. Nice to feel the sand under my feet. Nice to  run along the beach. Nice to listen to the waves. Makes you appreciate the little things in life!

Got in a quick beach walk. Then it was packing up, cleaning and getting the kiddo’s in the car. We stopped at the water+go kart park. Our plan worked. 2/3 kids slept almost the whole way home! Traffic was light for us going North. Sadly the people heading South were stuck in a parking lot.

Hello home! Good to be back! After unpacking, cleaning and organizing, I “snuck” out for a much need climb/hike/run. And fresh air! Girl did it feel GREAT to to move my legs. Climb up the rocks. Breathe. Live!

Back home for 4 days. I will enjoy!

Photo by Hamed Saber

Well, the last 24 hours were pretty much a nightmare. Only I was wide awake. Not very fun! I am sure you are dying to hear about it:)

As I mentioned yesterday I drove down to Richmond to attend the kickoff event for http://www.overtheedgeva.com/ & http://twitter.com/overtheedgerv. To do something fun (and a challenge) my friend Whitney and I decided to CLIMB the 30 flights of stairs up the Sun Trust building. It took us around 5 (fun & sweaty) minutes.

After that it was on to the Richmond airport. Well, the story gets really good from here on out! My flight was to leave at 4:30pm, layover in Atlanta, then onto Chicago. Piece of cake, right? Well, not really (maybe it was agreeing with my “no sweet” kick).

First, my flight was delayed. Fine, I can deal with that. Then it was delayed for the 2nd time. Still sitting in a cold airport. I always forget to bring a sweater with me! Finally we are called to board.

Nightmare #1) AirTran system went down so they took our boarding passes.

So I didn’t know the seat I was in. I boarded to the end, so I took the closest seat to me which happened to be business class. The only dream I had!

We taxi out to the tarmac.

Nightmare #2) Engines turn off. Pilot comes on & says we will be sitting for at least an hour. Make yourself comfortable.

Some guy apparently had already been drinking so riddles became our source of entertainment. It was rather funny. Thank god for Twitter. It helped to pass the time!

Then, we went back to the gate-cause, guess why, a passenger wanted to get off. He gets off.

Nightmare #3) We go back to the tarmac lot. Sit some more. Along with more riddles.

At 8pm, pilot said everything was shut down in ATL so we would go back to the gate. No word on when we would get to fly.

Nightmare #4) Stood in line to get our boarding passes. Remember they took them?

Nightmare #5) If we wanted to leave, that thought quickly vanished. The security check point closed at 8:15pm!  Whoa!

Finally around 9:30pm we got the clear to board. Woohoo!!

Got into ATL around 10:45 or so. It was a mad house. Beyond crazy to say the least! I got a little work done then went over to my gate. Helped a women find a hotel room (having a BlackBerry does pay off!). It was now 12:30am. Scanned my boarding pass. Heading down to the plane when…..

Nightmare #6) hm, ma’am, this isn’t your flight. YOUR flight has been cancelled. I walk back. I must have looked really tired or something. The people behind the conter somehow got me on the flights. Only I had to fly on to Chicago without my luggage. Since they didn’t know when the next flight was going to be going out, I just wanted to get to Chicago at this point!

So, on the flight. Feel asleep from sheer exhaustion. Landed at Midway at 2:30am. I did go to baggage claim just in case. You never know!

Stephanie & Kate picked me up! Awesome. Thank you ladies!! Arrived at Kate’s. Practically fell into bed. It was now 4am. Its been a long day! Just happy to be here!

Woke up at 8am to call the airport about re: suitcase. After over an hour on hold (I put it on speakerphone and fell sleep, lol!) I woke back up & contacted some friends & with in 2 hours I had located my bags. YAY!!

After getting my act together (hello Chicago!) Deon took Kate & I to the race expo. I love race expo’s! Then back to Midway to retrive my suitcase. Glad to have clothes again:) Thanks to Kate for letting me borrow hers for today!

Dinner with friends. Now time to crash. 10pm and I am tired. 4am is coming way to soon!

Oh, HAPPY AUGUST!!

Photo by Alex-s

Hello from Richmond!

Drove down last night. Last minute deadlines didn’t let me leave until 9:30pm. What should have been a 2 hour trip turned into a 4 hour drive. 95 south was a parking lot for an hour. Not fun to say the least. Thankfully I had West coast phone calls to make.

Finally arrived at Nathan & Meg’s. Crashed. Slept well. The alarm went off way to soon. Quickly got a few projects done before a quick breakfast, then onto a run with Whitney!

Run was hot, sunny but best of all, a NEW place!

Great run. Then it was on to the Over the Edge kick off event. Whitney & I climbed up the 30 flights of stairs.  In about 5 minutes! That was a sweat fest!

Richmond Airport next. Ciao!

Photo by 96dpi

So, I knew today was going to be a VERY long day. I knew I had to get my butt up super early (as if 4:30am is not early enough already). Had to get some work done before training and flight.

I quickly got ready. Dove right into the pool. Managed to swim 1100 meters in 45 minutes before being chased out by the teen swim club. Now time to run.

A little background. I got new shoes yesterday. I had gotten a pair last week and it caused an usual blister on the top/side of my right of my foot. I have been in this shoe (Asics Gel Evolution) for the last 5 years. I love them and they love me. So, I knew that it was the shoe, not my foot. So, I exchanged it yesterday. Ok, now we can move on.

I was really curious to see how my foot would react. I started out. Do I feel it? Nope, no pain yet. Sweet. My run was not only a HUGE sweat fest, but it was also a chase. Yup! I was chased the ALL way down the trail by some really nasty horse fly’s. If you haven’t had the pleasure of seeing/feeling them, then consider yourself lucky. They REALLY bite. And it hurts. I am so glad I am not a horse. Makes me have great appreciation for horse’s. I know why they have a tail!

Ran 12 miles in 1:53. I’ll take. It was wicked hot out.

Long day ahead. Catching flights to Long Beach, CA, via Denver. 24 hour day has just begun!

Photo by jeremytoday

Flew in last night. Barely got to bed before the alarm went off at freakin’ 3;30am! OMG! I am crazy!

Quickly got over the thought of staying in bed and rolled out. Yes, rolled, just not a jumping kind of morning- had no energy for that! Ate my Kashi with rice milk while prepping for the run. I always feel like I am packing for a family of 10 when I get ready. Planning for long runs takes a bit of work. And really good planning at that.

Met Phil at the trail a little before 5am. It was dark. First 6 miles sucked as usual. Then with each mile, it got better. Ran 23 miles in 4 hours. How cool to be done with a long run by 9am on a SATURDAY?!! Woohoo!

Took Phil to the metro to crew for a friend who is running Badwater Ultramarathon Monday. I was back home at 10:30am. Worked the rest of the day. So tired.

Welcome home to me!

Photo by extranoise

One word to describe today:  ”rushed”. Yesterday a very crazy day and it just carried into day. Got to go with the flow!

I got up at 4:00am and rushed to hit the trails. I was supposed to do run 2 miles easy, 6 miles at 7:40 minute pace, then cool down with 2 easy miles. Well, that didn’t go over well with my legs. So I ran 2 miles easy, then the next 8 miles at around an 8:10 pace. Managed to finish in 1:32.

Saw a few deer. The ducks thought I was going to steal the worms for breakfast & quickly let me know who was boss of the trail.

Rushed to jump into the pool. Only had time to swim 600 meters in 18 minutes.

Rushed home. Rushed to get ready. Rushed to finish packing. Rushed to the airport. Told you the word of the day was rushed!

On my way to Traverse City, MI.  Going to learn all about tart cherries. Sweet. Let me rush there!

Photo by Gushaboy500