Five Things Friday: 4/7/17

Happy Friday, friends!

I haven't done one of these (or let's be real, even posted anything) in a while, so here's a little catch up on five things rocking my world this week!


1. Work continues to kick my ass. I work on a college campus in a career center and March/April are the absolute busiest times for us- lots of night and weekend hours. Just like the students I work with, I can't wait for finals week and graduation!

My goofball staff at an annual community event we manage that has upwards of 1000+ attendees!

2. I have a new favorite running shirt. 😉

New shirt. Same old 5k. 11:55/11:26/10:49 splits.

A post shared by Sarah (@sparklyrunner) on Apr 5, 2017 at 2:16pm PDT

3. Stress + long hours at work + making crap decisions about what to eat =  weight gain for me. *sigh* I'm already getting back on track but the scale has not been kind to me the last few weeks. Let me put it to you this way, I'm wearing lots of dresses and leggings these days because they are the only thing that fits comfortably.

I feel ya, Regina George.

4. It might snow AGAIN in Pennsylvania this weekend. UGH....

5. Pittsburgh Marathon Weekend is only FOUR WEEKS AWAY!  Guess I better start half marathon training! On a serious note, we are super pumped to see all our friends and enjoy our favorite city for the fourth year in a row!

Love these people ❤

What's rocking your world this week?!

Five Things Friday

It's finally Friday!

I don't know about you, but this week has been draaaaaaaging!

Here's five things that are making me happy and looking forward to the weekend:

1. We leave for Cape May in three hours!

As a reader of this blog, you know we adore Cape May, NJ. It's a beautiful, historic seaside town with tons of shops, wineries, and festivals. We are headed down for an extended weekend with M's parents and can't wait to explore all the off-season fun at the shore. We've also got a 17 mile run on the calendar so we are looking forward to running somewhere other than our neighborhood.

We love Cape May.

2. StrideBox sent me a fun package to review. 

The super awesome folks at StrideBox sent me a cool box filled with samples of running products that I will review in full next week here. I can't wait to try out some of the bars they sent this weekend on our long run. Look for the full review coming soon!

All kinds of goodness.

3. We've got another awesome trip coming up- Dublin, Ireland!

Matthew and I are crossing the pond very soon to visit a place that's been on my list for years- Dublin! To do while we're there: drink authentic Guinness, tour Trinity College, and sing along to some jaunty Irish folk song in a hole-in-the-wall historically old tavern. Can. Not. Wait!

The Ha'Penny Bridge at sunset. Source

4. My running and weight loss story is being featured in a book: "Run Your Fat Off" by Jason Karp, PhD!

About a year ago on Instagram, I connected with a fellow runner and writer, Jason Karp, who was looking for runners who had lost weight while running to profile for his upcoming book. Well, the book is finally being published! You can pre-order the book on Amazon here. It will be published in March 2017. Jason has written a ton of other books about running and healthy living; I'm sure this new book will be full of information and inspiration like his others :-)

Can't wait to read it!

5. Fall is the BEST season for running.

Cooler weather + leaf-changing = best training runs of my year.

As seen on our usual running route.

What five things are rocking your world this Friday?!

Five Things Friday: 12/4/2015

Hi friends!

I feel like such a bad blogger- so much is going on in my life and I want to share it with you but finding the time to write is impossible!

BUT- I did make a promise that I would post once a week until Christmas and I'm sticking to it. There are still tons of recaps I need to write (The Great Race, Philly RnR, Vegas RnR) and I'm looking forward to some time off over the holidays to write about all of them.

Today I thought I'd do something different: Five Things Friday! Lots of my favorite bloggers do a weekly post like this (Steff, We Run Disney, Kathryn, Chelsea, Lauren) and I always love catching up with their lives in short form!

While I can't say this will be a regular thing here at Sparkly Runner, it might make an appearance from time to time :-)


1. I fly to Dallas tonight! I may or may not have shared this but I recently was invited to become a Leader with Weight Watchers. Currently, I am a Receptionist and I really love it. WW is sending me to Dallas for Leader Training for a few days and I am so excited to learn more about my new role with the company.

Random Dallas skyline picture from Google Images.

2. There's only 11 weeks until Princess Half Marathon. Holy crap. Jen and I only have 11 weeks to get our poop in a group for this half marathon! Luckily, I've been able to get in MOST of the weekly conditioning runs and ALL the long runs so far. I'm following Jeff Galloway's training plan for this half because I trust his methods and I know it's doable even with my hectic schedule.

Jen and me at her first half, Divas DC in 2014.

3. I'm THISCLOSE to rounding out 400 miles run this year. Despite all my injuries, false starts, and general life craziness, I've run 391 miles in 2015- including three half marathons, one full marathon, three 10ks, 10 5ks, one 2 miler, one 12 miler, one 8k, and one marathon relay. 

I get by with a little help from my friends! Finishing the Great Race in style (Jeff, pregnant Natalie, me, and new friend Jim)

4. This is my last Christmas as a single lady. WHAT?!?!? Matthew and I get married in 169 days. Wedding planning is in full force at our house but we recently scratched off the last "big" thing- the cake! Cake tasting was probably my favorite part of visiting all the vendors :-)

Fingers crossed for more dipping in our collective future.

5. I bought this dress for $3.80. That has nothing to do with my fitness or weight loss; it's just a great deal (clearance at Kohl's). :-) And I really like the dress and needed an excuse to share a picture of it. I love shopping end-of-season clearance racks. 

Maxis are my absolute favorite. 

Have an awesome weekend, friends!