100 Days Of Fitness Challenge

I find that I'm the best version of me when I'm working on some sort of project - so here is the latest one:

Last week, Brian and I started a challenge called 100 Days Of Fitness.  Our goal is to workout for 100 days straight.  We are posting about it daily and documenting our journey on social media for a few reasons:

>>Progress:  How exciting is it going to be to see our progress 100 days from now?  I can only imagine the new PRs we will be hitting, and how much our bodies will be changing.
>>Accountability:  We've announced it to the world - so we can't stop, right?
>>To Inspire:  We hope that in posting our journey, we will inspire others to be active and hit their own goals as well.

We are 5 days in, and I'm loving this.  Overall, we are both feeling more energized and less tempted to eat unhealthy food so we don't waste all of that hard work,

My favorite thing though, is that we are taking the opportunity to try new things!  In addition to working out with Jamie at The Dungeon, we've been able to experiment with different classes to keep things interesting.  This week, I tried a HIIT class, which kicked my butt, and an Aerial Yoga class - which I feel completely in love with.  Check out a clip of my favorite "trick" here.

So far, I'm pretty obsessed with this challenge, and I'm going to try my best to post about it on here as often as I can.  Feel free to subscribe to this blog or follow my complete journey on social media when you subscribe to one of the platforms on the right (or below if you're on a mobile device).

Only 95 days to go!  Comment below to let me know if you're taking the challenge too!

-jennilea

Forks, Washington

11:00pm, we finally drive into Forks, Washington.  The town was very small, as expected.  We arrive at a hotel, which we are hoping is cheap enough for us to stay in.  Katie ran in to check on pricing, and runs out, exclaiming "Guys!  We are staying here!"  Nic and I assumed that would mean that the hotel was cheap enough, but Katie continued to say, "The only rooms they have left, are TWILIGHT THEMED!"  

Yep, we were definitely staying there. 

At this point, Nic turns to me and says, "Are you kidding me?  Is this a Twilight trip?!"  I laughed pretty hard.

We go to check in, and the say to us, "Team Jacob or Team Edward."  Typically, I am not on any team, I know what happens in the books; I enjoy looking at Jacob more than I do Edward, so we picked the Jacob room. 

We walked into our room, only to find completely red walls, paired with black and red bedding.  We were greeted by a large photo of Jacob and a "New Moon" movie poster.  The towels all said "Twilight" and the pillows had pictures of the characters.  This room was just silly - but awesome.  We turned in, and were up for the next morning!

First on our list, was to check into the only place we actually planned to stay:  The Cullen House!

We arrived at the Cullen House, and it was gorgeous!  The guy who greeted us was really nice.  He quoted us $125 and said we could pick out whatever room we wanted.  We got a little tour of the place, including a wall of graduation caps, and Carlisle's office.  We ended up picking a room with a huge bed, living room with a pullout couch, kitchen, dining room table, it's own entrance, and a Jacuzzi spa bathtub!  This room was all my dreams!  The rooms had all of the Twilight Movies and books, as well as a few spoofs on the film.  We explored a little, and ended up receiving a letter from the Cullen's explaining that they were sorry they could not be there while we were visiting.  The innkeeper told us two versions of how the Bed and Breakfast began:  one twilight version, and then the actual story.

The Bed and Breakfast was actually running much earlier than when the book came out, but this house was the closest thing in the town, as described in the book. The innkeepers were lovely, and I would most definitely stay here again.  They were very helpful and gave us a lot of information about the town.  They also provided us with directions to La Push, which was our next stop.

We went to the Quileute reservation so we could visit La Push beach.  Right as you enter the reservation, there is a sign saying "Treaty Line:  No Vampires Allowed."  We continued on, and saw Jacob's house - which was very close to the one in the movie.

Finally, we arrived at the beach.  It was gorgeous. The water was freezing, and it was cloudy, but I loved being there.  There was a little island further out, that was supposed to be where the cliff diving happens in the movie.  Come to find out, the water is actually much to shallow to do so.

There was a long pile of logs and rocks which let to a makeshift light house.  We decided to tackle it, and make it to the end.

The beach was nice and peaceful, but it was time to move on to Port Angeles.

We drove to Port Angeles and had dinner at Bella Italia, as seen in Twilight.  We sat in the booth that Bella and Edward would have sat in, had the film actually been made there. Katie and I ordered the mushroom ravioli, just as Bella did, and it was delicious!

Finally, the day was to be ended with knocking another item off my list:  Sending a message in a bottle.

I purchased a Starbucks drink, cleaned out the glass bottle, and stuck my letter in it.  In my letter, I discussed knowing your worth, and encouraged whomever the letter might find (if it ever does).  I was not sure if I should write my name on the letter because I am pretty sure this is considered littering, but Katie reminding me that it was probably not going to make it to anyone, so I decided to write my name.  As soon as I threw the bottle, it began floating towards the shore...oops!

It was a fun moment.

When we woke the next morning, the innkeepers had made us a delicious breakfast of Eggs Benedict, along with fruit, pastries, juice, and tea.  It was amazing.

The last thing we did on this trip, that I was able to scratch off my list, was burning memories.  I wrote all of my bad memories on a piece of paper, and then burned the paper.  It was a pretty freeing moment; there were a lot of bad memories.

I have now completed 72 of 101 goals.  In my next blog, I will discuss my most recent accomplishment.  I am very excited, and hope you are too. :]

-jennilea

We made it to the top!

May 4th was the hike to Horsetail Falls.  We headed out on that early Saturday morning with a goal to make it to the top of the falls.  Right now is a gorgeous time to go because there are so many waterfalls, but we were not sure if we would be able to make it to the top due to the water and how slippery the rocks can be.

There were several points within the hike where our entire group was nearly certain we couldn't make it up.  First, the point we were supposed to cross at had water running over it, so we were going to have to find a new way to make it up.  Then, we encountered a section of rock that was completely slippery.  It would have been just about impossible to make it all the way if the rocks were going to be that slipper.  We sat and watched how other people were able to get around the slippery rocks, and decided to follow the same path.  

Our next challenges would be found in how steep the climb was.  Our simple hike definitely turned into rock climbing.  I was really appreciative of all of my Dungeon training that day, because there is no way I could have pulled myself up without these new muscles!

Finally...we made it...  This is what the very top the of the falls looks like.  

It took us about 2.5 hours to get to the top.  Through all of it, I am so happy that we did not give up!  

After climbing here, we noticed that there are more falls further up!  We are planning another hike sometime soon, and maybe we will find ourselves up higher.

I am happy to be able to cross this off of my Day Zero Project list!  My next hiking goal is to hike Half Dome in Yosemite.  I know nothing about it, but my old supervisor told me to add it to my list, and add it I did!

Other exciting things happened this week as well!  This photo is me, wearing size 7 jeans!  It has been quite a while since I have been able to make size 7 jeans happen.  I am one size away from my goal!  I am pretty sure I will be in these for a while though, because they are still a little tight, but not too tight for me to wear in public.  HA!  Definitely feeling more confident these days, and it is no wonder! 

The Dungeon always keeps me hard at work!  

Speaking of hard work, this is the latest challenge:  The Ultimate Plank!  I feel awkward being on top, but being on the bottom was pretty awesome!  I felt a lot stronger than I thought I was.  Also, I ended up coming home and doing more of these with friend.  You know you enjoy fitness when...

Jamie at The Dungeon has really inspired me to be a better version of me.  I feel healthy, fit, and so much more energy!  Not to mention, I am really loving feeling my new muscles pretty much every chance I get!  HA!  

I am learning so much, and my life is seriously changing every single week!

Not only is she there for fitness, but she is there as a friend.  Jamie literally cares and wants what is best for each and every one of us at the Dungeon.  

We have become family.  We are all in this struggle together and are coming out of it even more hardcore than we were before.

In other news:  There is a zoo in Washington where you can dive with sharks.  I am pretty sure I will be doing that in the near future. 

Stay tuned for more blogging later this week. 

-jennilea

The Breaking Point

Today, I'm going to start with Lifetime Movie Monday!
Title: 12 Hours to Live

My guess: A woman is told (by a psychic) that she is going to die in 12 hours, so she decides to do all the things she has ever wanted to do. She gets crazy, has fun, finds love, and then dies...all in 12 hours...

Actual plot: "Eighteen-year-old Amy is having a bad day. Not only has she been kidnapped by a deranged gunman, but as a diabetic without her insulin, her chances of survival are diminishing with each tick of the clock. FBI agent Megan Saunders isn't walking on sunshine either, since this madman killed her partner when Megan hesitated to pull the trigger. Now Megan won't stop till she nails this guy, but can she save Amy before her time is up?"

Once again, Lifetime has created a ridiculous plot. Ha!

I finished reading "The Lucky One," last week. It was nice to envision Zac Efron as the main character throughout the book. Ha! It was difficult to get into the book, at first, but as I started reading and getting to know the back story of each character, it got much better.  My favorite parts were the flashbacks that Thibault frequently had. I also liked how the author, Nicholas Sparks, wrote the each chapter from the perspective of a specific character. It allows the reader to see the feeling behind the actions.  The book was okay, but not the greatest thing I've read.

This coming weekend, I will go to the library for my next book!

Now, let's get to some Dungeon talk! As many of you know, I've been working out in The Dungeon with Jamie and Josh. Each workout seems to test me like crazy. Last weekend, I hit the breaking point. I was challenged with staying in the squat position while doing 50 reps with arm weights.  The difficult part, if I stood up or sat down at all, I'd have to start all over.  I've done this workout with 30 reps before, and I felt like I hardly made it through those. I definitely failed before hitting 30, so 50 was unimaginable. After failing several times, I got to 43. My Dungeon family was cheering me on, saying I can do it, and offering encouraging words, yet at 43, my legs just dropped. I finally cried. This was the worst feeling of failure. I was so close to the end and tried so hard to push to 50 but I just couldn't.

As I sat on the ground, crying, Josh said "that is the breaking point, and it's a beautiful place to be." At the time, I couldn't understand why it was a beautiful place to be, but shortly after, those words began to have meaning. When I first began, I began feeling tired after the first ten reps and at one point, I was tired after five. In that moment, I had an option to stop and start over while I was still in the beginning of the set, but I pushed on.  I tried, I pushed myself further than I felt I was capable of, I was tired, but determined to make it. When I couldn't make it, I realized I had pushed passed what I thought was my limit and I am much stronger than I had ever believed. With a little more pushing, I will get to that 50.

Jamie walked over to me and said it was okay to cry and to let it out. So, I did, I just cried. She had me do some sprinting and try to control my breathing, then I had to come back, and start all over again. This time, I only made it to 38 before I fell again. I cried so hard. Jamie told me to get up and rep out the last 12, so I did. When I finished, Jamie tooled right in my eyes and said, "I am proud of you. That was tough, but you still went for it. I am proud of you." Those words were golden.

Since then, I've encountered this same challenge. 30 doesn't feel so bad, but 50 is still a challenge - but I have gotten there (tear free).

I love everything I've taken in from this experience. Also, a result update: I've lost 24.5 inches in 5 weeks. :]]

Upcoming, I've decided to add 365 days of Thank You to my list. The goal is to write one letter every day, saying thank you for anything as simple as delivering mail, to more complex and life changing thank yous. This challenge is to encourage growth, development, and to just help me become more grateful for what I have.

Finally, instead of a fun fact, I am leaving you with a verse. I am going through something right now, for which I would love some prayer. This verse just spoke to be and really encourages me when I am in this place of defeat. With God, I am more than a conqueror:

"...in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." (Romans 8:37 NIV)

In the difficult times, I pray we can all find our hope and safety in God. 

-jennilea