30 Before 30 Journey in a Year

Ever tried a plank? It's boasted as one of the best core exercises out there especially if you don't have access to a gym. All you need is yourself and a stop watch. I'll recommend a few more things below if you are interested in building up to a long hold. My adventure with being better at planks probably started over a year ago. At a workout class at the Y, some planks were included in the ab section, and I could barely hold a plank for 20 seconds. This man recently broke the world record by holding a plank for 4 hours and 26 minutes!! I still don't know how that's possible. But like many things on this list, I knew I could do this with a lot of practice and a little confidence. Here are some of my planking basics. I didn't follow a particular planking plan or challenge. I've seen many on Pinterest claiming you can get from 20 seconds to 5 minutes in 30 days; however, I just don't see that unless you're super fit to begin with. You've got...

202 miles of running, 191 days of training and 1 great pair of Brooks later, I ran 13.1 consecutive miles in 2 hours and 20 minutes. Here's how and why. Running a half marathon was the first item on my 30 Before 30 list and for a good reason. I knew it would be the hardest overall: time commitment, physical excursion and a equally hard mental battle. Let me say first and foremost, I'm not a natural runner-whatever that is. I don't wake up and look forward to running. That runner's high/groove/plateau everyone talks about, I think I've experienced it twice-once for sure. But there is a great sense of accomplishment with running for me at the end. To look down at my Garmin watch (get one of these over using your phone if you're serious about training; they're more accurate) and know I've just ran 8, 9, 10 miles seemed impossible to me a year ago. When running a 5K seemed like the longest distance I could fight through and now being able to do an addition...