Running in a Winter Wonderland!

Time to rekindle the blog!

Today my sister and I braved the winter wonderland of Chicago to run the Arthritis Foundation Jingle Bell Run 10K in Lincoln Park, along the Lake Michigan shoreline!  The run started at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, ran north through the park for 3ish miles, looped around, and returned to the museum.  And it was a classic, snowy winter day in Chicago (which consequently resulted in poor traction, which we figured helped burn extra calories)!  Here’s a collage that showcases some of our pics from today:

Jingle Bell Run 10K - Chicago, IL - 12/14/13

Perhaps since I haven’t blogged in a while, I will gradually bring the blog up-to-date with my latest races, as I continue to attempt to run at least one event per month.  With that in mind, my November 2013 race was the Turkey Trot 10K in Valparaiso, Indiana.  It was a bitter cold Thursday morning, but I was super-proud of my time of 1:12:51 (a pace of 11:45/mile), as I was consistent through all 6.2 miles, and I haven’t been running much lately.  I’ve gotten to a point where I was just running my monthly races and not much in between.  Now, I’m committed to running at LEAST twice per week, and am working to get back to my best times!

Turkey Trot 10K - Valparaiso, IN - 11/28/13

In other news, I recently became an Independent Team Beachbody Coach, which means I want to be your cheerleader in you fitness journey!  It also means that if you are in the market for Beachbody products (including, but not limited to: P90X3, Insanity, T25, Shakeology, and more! Learn more at www.beachbodycoach.com/JoanGrott.)  Currently, I’m working on becoming a product of the product through replacing my breakfast with Shakeology daily… so far, I’m enjoying the shakes, and after week 1, I was down a pound (after having previously hit a weight-loss plateau which I could not break through).  Stay tuned as I continue my fitness journey and keep you updated on how improved nutrition with the help of Shakeology is helping me!

For daily motivational thoughts and more regular updates about my fitness and nutrition journey, like my new Facebook page at www.facebook.com/JoanGrottFitness!