Back to Reality

I've been out of "Blog-World" for a couple of weeks. The first week that I was absent was because I was on a family vacation in Cocoa Beach Florida. Before we left for vacation, I was BEYOND excited to go! I couldn't wait! By the time we were done with vacation, I was ready to be home. Funny how that happens, huh? I had such a great time relaxing and creating memories with my family, but if anything, being on vacation, made me realize how grateful I am for my life. I had so much that I was looking forward to getting back to: I missed my church, my friends, my own bed, my car, CrossFit Fire, my dog, my job, etc. It's not that I don't like being out of my comfort zone, the contrary is true: I live my LIFE out of my comfort zone. I was just ready to come home to my life... I realized how incredibly blessed that I am.

My training on vacation was AWESOME! I worked out everyday! A couple of times, my brother and I put together WODs, which was awesome because he knows how to push me! A couple of times, I worked out on my own. A couple of times, I just ran on the beach. My body was WRECKED after the week, but I knew that was totally fine because I would have two rest days for travel. So, I figured, why not work out everyday? It was great getting up early, working out, sipping coffee by the ocean, etc. I loved it! The picture is from one morning when I got up so early to do some double under work, that the sun was rising, AND I got to see dolphins. I also took one morning and went to work out at CrossFit Cocoa Beach. It was interesting to see how a different box was ran and to talk to the owner... Plus, it was an awesome WOD!

My diet on vacation was actually, surprisingly good! I had a few cheats: M&Ms, ice cream one night, and a few night with adult drinks ;-) However, I am very pleased with how well I did. I am grateful that my brother and his wife were there to help me stay on track. I didn't gain a single pound over vacation, which was HUGE for me since I was nervous to get back on the scale. I am not only 4 pounds away from my goal weight! I'm buckling down on the diet these next couple of weeks because I had a goal to be down to my goal weight by Labor Day weekend. We shall see :-)

After driving all the way through from FL back home to IL, the next morning, it was back to reality: I had to go grocery shopping and to the teacher store. All of last week, I was back in my classroom getting set up and preparing it for 24 new young minds to develop. I also took a day to go shopping with my best friend since I had absolutely NO work clothes that fit because they were all too big... Let me just say, trying on clothes is WAY more fun when you are actually happy with how you look in clothes! I'm not totally happy with my body (after seeing pictures of me in a swimsuit, I know I have a lot of work to do... LOL), but the progress is unreal AND I do love how clothes look on me :-)

As far as training is concerned, it was SO GREAT getting back to CrossFit Fire! As I was walking up to the door to my first class back, I felt "at home". I think it's just something about the incredible community there that I missed. These incredible people have become such an intricate part of my life that I really truly missed them while I was gone. I loved being back! The training this week was awesome and totally wrecked my body, as usual. We did one round of "Fight Gone Bad", and I was pretty disappointed in my performance. I was hoping to break 100, but only got 93. Then, I started comparing my results to others, which just made it worse. A ton of my insecure thoughts came racing back to me: you're not good enough, you're not cut out for this, you're not pretty enough, no wonder you're still single, you have more weight to lose, you'll never cut it as a CF athlete, etc. It was awful! Luckily, I had people to turn to in order to pray for me right away. Sooooooo... In a nutshell, I need to stop comparing myself to others and start looking to only please Him alone. I STILL can't get my pull-ups, which in itself frustrates me. I KNOW I am strong enough! At this point, I just don't know what my deal is... I don't know if it's a mental thing, with my kip, or if I seriously can't do them. Is that possible? For someone to just not be able to do pull ups? I refuse to believe that's true, but either way, it's frustrating that I STILL can't get them! I feel like I'm putting forth all this work towards my pull ups and I've got NOTHING to show for it... I don't know... I feel VERY discouraged after this week. Let's hope this week is better!

Well, other than feeling discouraged with my performance, I am SUPER excited for tomorrow because it's the start of my second year teaching! I seriously love my job and could not be more excited to get back to it! I had an absolutely wonderful and relaxing summer, but I'm ready to the unpredictability that comes with my routine life :-) So, that's all for tonight... Not much of a blog post; really just me venting. So, sorry to disappoint you followers... I just had to get out my thoughts! Haha! Gotta get to bed early tonight because my body is NOT used to this schedule! Good night all!