Coach Jen B

WhatsBeautiful to you?  I've been thinking about this quite a bit lately. Yes - strength , determination and setting goals are all part of it.  But what it really comes down to is - Inspiring and Involving my kids in fitness . I wouldn't be who am I today if it weren't for my children.  I want to be a better, healthier person for them.  They are what makes me beautiful. Disclaimer: I’m part of the Under Armour campaign through Fitfluential.

Lucky lucky #1 - Carrie @Maine Mom on the Run  - YOU won the Spartan code!   Send me an email and I'll send you the code. I wish I had more codes to giveaway because I am so excited for Spartan Fenway and want everyone to do it with me!

CLOSED How does this sound?  Mud, fire, water, barbed wire all rolled into one hardcore obstacle race? The Spartan Race has a level for everyone.   Spartan Sprint for beginners (me!) Super Spartan for the intermediate Spartan Beast for the advanced Death Race for the extremist  Spartan races are taking place all over the country.   Want to see if there is one near you ?   I've been eying up the Fenway Spartan Race on 11/16 .  I'm kind of curious how the ballpark will be transformed into a Spartan course.    This also means that in addition to all of the marathon and ultra marathon training I'm doing over the next few months, I need to focus on strength training.   Reebok Spartan has offered one of my readers the chance to win a free entry to a race of your choice .  All you need to do is comment below with why you want to enter .  I will choose a winner on Monday, 5/27 and will annou...

For my first two marathons, I only hurt for a day afterwards.  This time around, it's been 3 days, I hurt so much! I know I ran my best on Sunday, not only because of my new PR, but because my body is telling me in these not-so-awesome ways. I go down the stairs backwards.   My four year old pushes me out of the way going up the stairs because I'm going too slowly and then proceeds to  grab my hand and pull me up the stairs.   I'm in love with this massager from Brookstone . Getting in and out of the car results in a loud  grunt and sometimes a cry. Compression shorts and socks are permanent pieces of clothing. Friends feel bad for you and help you take your shoes off and put on your sweatpants after running said marathon.   (Thank you Carrie!) I want Ward to install one of these in our bathroom. When I try to run, I pump my arms like hell,  but my legs won't move.  This onl...

Marathon #3 is done!   Yesterday was the Sugarloaf Marathon and it was an amazing experience.   If I could register for next year, I would have definitely registered by now.  It was that good! isn't this the best marathon sign ever? The Day Before On Saturday, Jill, Wade, Izzy, Tucker, and myself headed up to Sugarloaf for packet pickup and to meet Stacy and her family. The skies didn't look too happy for most of the ride up there and we hit quite a few downpours.  It wasn't supposed to rain at all!   I was quite happy with this year's shirt.  Don't you just love the sleeve? Stacy knew someone with a house on the lake 15 minutes from the starting line.  This place had tons of space - a loft on the third floor with 5 beds, the second floor had 4 bedrooms, and the 1st floor had a bedroom.  Needless to say, we had tons of space and everyone had place to sleep.  Awesome!  Considering our crew had ...

Disclaimer:  I am an ambassador for kindrunner.com.  I will be doing campaigns involving product reviews and giveaways by KindRunner.  As always, all opinions expressed on my blog are 100% my own.   My husband calls me a shoe whore all of the time.  Inappropriate? Maybe.  True?  Perhaps.  I do have a shoe addiction.  But let's clarify.  What KIND of shoes do I have an obsession with?  Running Shoes!  I love a variety of shoes - drop, minimalist, cushioning, support, zero support.  Each shoe has a different purpose. Running shoes are the #1 piece of gear a runner needs.  Never again will I think that any old shoe will get me through the miles.  I need to know that the shoe I buy, because they aren't cheap, is going to be a great fit for my feet and the rest of my body.  I'm not getting any younger (I wish!) and I'd love to continue to run for as long as I possibly can.  The right shoe is important so...

Mr. Running With The Girls always says "it's okay to have butterflies, just as long as they are flying in formation."  This saying definitely rings true for me before any race.   So I'm hoping that the butterflies I've been feeling all week get into formation Sunday morning!   It seems fitting that SLS3 sent me their newest print in compression socks to review with BUTTERFLIES ! I've been wearing these socks as much as possible in the past few weeks and I'm impressed.   Long runs, tempo runs, speed workouts, and recovery runs have all been pretty tough on my legs.  I looked forward to wearing these all day long, during runs, and after running.  I wish I had three pairs of these socks so I could rotate through them and not have to wear stinky socks.  Which, I admit, I did do a few times.   In comparison to some of the other compression socks I've worn, these socks feel a bit more tighter around heal and foot, whic...

This post is sponsored by Under Armour through FitFluential How do you define beauty?   When I was a little girl, I used to think beauty was princess dresses, high heels, curls, and make up.  But now, I think of beauty as determination and pushing through to the next level.   I remember when I thought a 5k was a long distance and 10k's scared me.  Then I tried out my first half marathon, and now I'll be running my 3rd marathon on Sunday.  To me, pushing past those limits, is simply beautiful.  It's what I want my kids to see.  I want them to see me as a mom who loves them and enjoys spending time with them, and one who is also going to strive for her own goals and continue to push past my own comfort levels.   I want them to push past their comfort levels as well. Even in my professional life as a teacher - I WILL is an everyday slogan I use.   one of my classroom bulletin boards I'm honored to join Un...

Coming home from work to find a box of shoes is always exciting.  But when I'm not expecting the shoes and they are a newer version of shoes I've loved before, I'm just pushed over the top with excitement.   With that said, I changed into my running clothes as quickly as possible, tied these new fabulous shoes on, and went for a run.  My schedule called for a tempo run, and these shoes felt great!  They were light on my feet, offered great support where I needed, and I had zero rubbing in my previous trouble spots.   I also really love the lack of upper structure.  I don't have the weird rubbing going on with my toes and toenails and that makes for a great run as well.   As you know, I wear men's shoes because I have super wide feet.  Women's wide don't always cut it for me and most of the time, shoe companies don't always make low profile/minimalist shoes in women's wides.  I've found the footbed of men's shoes to f...

Just stopping in for a quick announcement - I'll be back later in the day with a great shoe review! Congratulations to...... You are my Bestowed Winner!!!!  Laura - please email me at runningwiththegirls at gmail dot com with your mailing address! If you didn't win - I have a code for you to save $5 off your order at Bestowed - 5OFFBESTOWED01.  That's a great deal!

Last week Amy @ Running Escapades tagged me as a Very Inspiring Blogger.  Thank you, Amy! There are a few rules that go along this award - 1.  Add the Very Inspiring Blogger Award photo on a blog post 2.  Thank the person who presented you with the award and link back to him or her in your post. 3.  Share seven things about yourself. 4.  Pass the award along to up to 10 favorite bloggers. 5.  Contact the chosen bloggers to let them know about the award.  I'm going to take Amy's lead - and alter it a bit and tell you 7 things that I'm loving right now. 1.     The weather. The past week has been absolutely gorgeous!!!   I am loving my afternoon runs either solo, with Pepper, and waving to Tucker as he rides past me in the school bus!   Sometimes I like to think I'm racing the bus. 2.   My new bed.  After spending the night at Ward's aunt and uncle's house in April and sleeping on the super comforta...

There are no excuses to not eat healthy when there are excellent options available just about everywhere, including deliveries made straight to your house! When I was offered to try out a month's subscription to Bestowed , I jumped at the opportunity because I am excited to try new, healthy foods, especially some that my kids will enjoy. As you can tell, my box was packed with a ton of great food!  Obviously, because there is nothing left of it.  My box was packed with EBOOST, iTrain, Oloves Hot Chilli Mama Olives, Manitoba Harvest Hemp Hearts, KIND Healthy Grains Oats & Honey Granola, Gnu Foods Hi- Fiber Minis, and Nektar Honey Crystals . I could go on and on about how awesome these foods were.  Really I could.  I really enjoy trying out new foods.  I love KIND bars, and was super excited to try the granola.  I had to hide the bag from Izzy, because she loved it just as much as I did.  I had never tried hemp before and loved how...

May is here and it's hard to believe that I only have 27 more days of school left this year!  Very exciting! What's even more exciting is that my mileage was an all time high for me for April!  I ended the month with 202 miles.  That's huge for me - considering my highest month for my fall marathon was 180 miles. In terms of marathon training, the Hanson Method has been one ass-kicking plan and quite intensive.  The speed workouts have been challenging but doable, and the weekly mileage is definitely higher than I've done before.  I have made some minor tweaks to the plan, but nothing super major.  Or at least I hope not!    Ward also used the Hanson Method to train for Boston.  After his race, he suggested to Wade and I that we add in a few higher mileage runs - like an 18 or 20.  So, a few weeks ago, Wade and I ran 20 miles together.  It was tough, but definitely a great boost in the mental capacity.  I...