The #DumboDoubleDare & Lots Of Love From California!

Good morning from California! The hubby-to-be and I are taking a few days off in sunny, southern California to visit loved ones, check out our wedding venue and running the Dumbo Double Dare challenge at the Disneyland Half and 10k.  Last night we hit up an Angels game, today we will be visiting our wedding venue, visiting loved ones and going to packet pickup.  There will be a LOT of driving, coffee and picture taking today!  

I’m seriously hoping the next few days, as crazy as they will be, can be a chance to recharge my batteries.  Chris has been running every weekend to train for his first marathon and I am very grateful I didn’t take on a marathon this year.  With wedding planning, the Virtual Pug Run, my job and the blog- I lost my gusto completely to run.

Going into the Dumbo Double Dare, I admit I haven’t trained.  I lost my spark to get out there and run for a good month- I got out once and about .25 miles in I literally did not want to run. It felt like an unbearable chore, reminscient of the same dread I feel when filing taxes or scheduling to get my tires rotated. 

I’m not sure how I will get back on the wagon but I’ve been trying to at least keep up with cross-training with The 21 Day Fix and Shakeology- a program I really do love. Kat, my Beachbody coach will ping me once in awhile and be the angel on my shoulder to remind me to stay with it, in her genuine way.  That being said, she’s the reason why, despite my lack of “crushing it” lately, I haven’t fallen off the wagon completely.

We’re at the home stretch of our wedding savings, which is great.  It has been a journey to save $20,000 in 2014 and I had a big slip up in June, leading to falling 2 months behind on our goal.  I have been HUSTLIN to catch up.  HUSTLIN.  I am so, so grateful that I have this blog- I’ve been able to take on some Rockstar Coaching clients and sponsored opportunities that fit (didn’t take every one, just the ones that fit) to make up the $1500 I was behind in saving. 

I’m still behind on my emergency fund savings by about $600- we had to get Matilda spayed for about $480 and Max had to have a tooth removed which was an unanticipated $800.  Luckily though, I had an emergency fund to cushion the blow…dipping into the wedding savings was NOT going to happen. I’d start selling platelets if necessary to avoid getting off that goal. I’ve taken every opportunity to earn the cash back, which usually meant working nights and weekends- but we are nearly at the $15,000 mark for our wedding savings and around $1320 for our emergency fund.  

I had to reel in my spending, and stop cruising daily deal sites (just for a  few weeks) since while I was finding amazing deals, as I’ve said before, it’s not a deal if you can’t afford it!  I’m hoping that after our trip to Disney for the Dumbo Double Dare, I will be able to smuggle away a few bones to get some fall clothes…but I’m not holding my breath.  We decided to skip the parks this trip (since there wasn’t a single day we’re here we could get a full day in and get our money’s worth) so I’m hoping this runDisney trip won’t hit our wallet as hard as the last trips did.  It’s a bummer I won’t get to go to my mecca, CarsLand, but alas…we’re planning a Route 66 wedding- you sometimes have to get free inspiration. Ha!

So- while I’ve fallen off the wagon with my fitness goals…I’m not excited to run (read: slowly, pitifully jog and walk the whole thing) the Disneyland 10k and Disneyland Half Marathon back to back this weekend, I’ve been able to pay for it in CASH.  My brainspace has been dedicated to cutting costs, saving up and taking on as many opportunities as I can to plan an awesome wedding and not go into debt about it. 

You can’t time opportunity, sometimes you just have to chase it down, beat it and drag it home, and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing.  Life isn’t a perfect balance, sometimes things are out of alignment in order to make progress in one area of your life while needing to cut back on another.  In an era where women want to have it all, I’m learning, you can’t do it all.  You have to be selective of where you spend your time, and knowing that your personal bandwidth is limited, be wise about what you spend it on or you’ll end up losing your sanity in the process.  

This weekend will be about fitness, money and our wedding all at once, then life can return to normal a wee bit.  

Also exciting news- we have 164 Virtual Pug Runners & time is running out to register!

We will be placing the medal order in a few days- if you’d like to participate, now is the time!  We have Virtual Pug Runners from over 23 U.S. States, The U.K. (including Scotland, holla!), Canada, Ireland and Australia.  We’ve also had over $800 in additionally donations!

We have raised $4,080… over halfway to our goal!!

Thank you so, so much for your support!

Seeing everyone’s support has been humbling.  I’ve gotten the sweetest emails and seeing the tweets, Instagram posts and Facebook shares from people who genuinely care about the cause, or friends that haven’t run a 5k before but want to support Chris’ quest to run the Chicago Marathon in a pug wrestling singlet has been SO fun and it seriously makes me all mushy.  Special thanks to Lindsay from Lindsay Weighs In and Melissa or being such an advocates on Twitter, Instagram and every channel out there…go read their blogs!

So many of you have really hit homeruns (went to a baseball game last night, it’s on my brain!) with your support.  Seriously,thank you.

Alright, now for a day of wedding venues, meeting new babies (eek!), packet pickup, carbo loading and lots of Instagramming. Lots of love!!

Who will I be seeing at the Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend?

Anyone else struggling to balance their goals lately?