Friday Five – Page 2 – French Fry Runner

April Favorites

I’ve always enjoyed reading blog posts on people’s favorite things, so I thought I’d follow suit. Below are five things I’m loving lately:

1. Percy Jackson and the Olympians books
I’m reading the third book, and they’re really good! 🙂 I always love a good book, and these are just fun to read. I’m excited to finish out the series and move to the next one.

2. My heart rate monitor
I’ve been doing a lot of group fitness classes lately, and my heart rate monitor is really coming in handy. I can track whether my heart rate is getting too high or how many calories I’m burning per workout. I’m all about the data!

3. Tai Chi
I went to my first tai chi class last week. It was so good! I really loved it. It’s a great stress-reliever and quite fun after learning the movements. I can’t wait to continue practicing tai chi.

4. PiYo
As I mentioned, I went to my first PiYo class last week. It was so great, and I can tell that as I continue, I’m going to love it.

5. Flowers
I’m doing the flowers for my sister-in-law’s wedding (and my niece’s), and I’m so much fun! If you would’ve told my 16-year-old self she’d be a floral designer, she’d think you were crazy. But I truly love it.

I’m linking up with Jill for Fitness Friday and Courtney from Eat Pray Run DC, Cynthia from You Signed Up for WHAT?!, and Mar from Mar on the Run for Friday Five.

What are you loving lately?

Rex Lee Run 5K Recap

This race was great! And considering I didn’t want to actually run that morning, it was especially great to get an official PR!

The race started at 9:15 a.m., which was awesome. Gotta love that fact that it’s still cold enough in Utah to start the race later in the morning. The race was around one of our local universities and really familiar since I went to that school and ran at least part of that same course almost every day–not to mention that a lot of local races are run on the course . . . Anyway . . . It was still really chilly when I got to the race, so I debated a long time whether to wear a jacket. I ended up deciding to, and that was a good choice. I got a little warm, but not bad.

The race started promptly (love that), and we were off! I’d decided to run a solid effort of 30-32 minutes, depending on how I felt. Well, I felt great the entire time! The first half mile was uphill, so I trudged on up at a good clip, going by effort. Then the rest of the race was downhill and flat. I tried to keep a sub-10:00 pace, and when I glanced at my watch, I was actually running 9:38s. Crazy!

My final time was 29:58 (9:40/mi), which I was definitely pleased with. And it’s a PR! I guess I’m a faster runner than I thought! It’s awesome to see improvement, and I owe it to all the strength training I’ve been doing. I love having strong legs and a strong core. That will help my half marathon and marathon efforts this year for sure.

Back to the race, they gave us awesome food at the end and held a magic show for the kids and a raffle too. The raffle was kind of lame, but hey. Oh, and we got gender-specific tech shirts this year, which is an improvement over the normal unisex T-shirts. Overall, a solid race!

#RexLee Run 5K Recap via @FrenchFryRunner #fitnessfriday #fitfam Share on X

I’m linking up with Jill for Fitness Friday and with the DC Trifecta for the Friday Five (Mar, Courtney, and Cynthia).

How’s your training going?

Are you racing this weekend?

5 Things I Love about Yoga

I’m linking up with Courtney from Eat Pray Run DC, Cynthia from You Signed Up for WHAT?!, and Mar from Mar on the Run. This week’s Friday Five theme is Five Things I Love about ____ . . . And I chose YOGA!

I’m still running and lifting, of course, but I’ve been focusing a lot more on yoga lately. So, to celebrate that, I thought I’d share five things I love about yoga.

I can practice in my pajamas! They say you can just roll out of bed and go running, which you can–once you put on shoes. But you don’t need shoes with yoga! You don’t even need a mat. You can begin your practice anywhere and at any time.
I know what utkatansana, vrikasana, trikonasana, and savasana mean. Being the word nerd that I am, I love that I know a little Sanskrit. 🙂
Yoga helps me center myself. I can be pretty high strung and stressed out, but yoga helps me focus inward and let my worries and stresses dissolve. I can better live in the moment through yoga.
Yoga makes me happy. And happy people just don’t shoot their husbands. They just don’t. . . . In all seriousness, though, I can honestly say that yoga has improved my relationship with the world around me, myself, and my husband. I’m a much happier and nicer person after I’ve practiced yoga. And people want to hang out with a happy person, right? No one likes a downer. Sometimes the Engineer and I practice together, and he is calmer and happier too. Everyone benefits from yoga in my house! 🙂
Yoga meets you where you are. This is why yoga is a practice. You don’t have to force anything. You can just be where you are, whether you’re a beginner or you have been practicing for years. With yoga, I always see improvement–in my flexibility, my strength, my focus, and my heart.

Looking pretty graceful, I gotta say! :) — Looking pretty graceful, I gotta say! 🙂

Rebecca from Strength & Sunshine encouraged us in one of her posts to find our own yoga, which is different from others’. I’d like to share with what my yoga is, and I hope you’ll read her post and contemplate what your yoga (or running or favorite activity) really is and be mindful of that.

Here’s what I wrote:

My yoga is fulfilling, strengthening, contemplative, calming, and invigorating. It helps me center myself and look inward. It is a spiritual experience for me, and I feel this way whether in class or at home. After spending years in competitive sports in my youth, yoga is the perfect opposite for me. It’s all about my personal practice and no one else’s.

So do you love yoga? Why?

What pose are you working on right now? I’m trying my darndest to get into bakasana, or crow pose.

What do you love?

What do you love? It's #FridayFive with @eatprayrundc @yousignedup & @marmaone1. Share on X

Don’t forget to #taketheleap with prAna and Fit Approach. Details here.

It’s not too late to join in the 12-day #bringingyogaback mini challenge. Details here.

I’m also linking up with Jill Conyers’s Fitness Friday and B.J. for #FitGeekFriday. Be sure to check out the hosts’ pages and find other fun blogs to read!

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