Abs of Bronze

As everyone finishes up the school year and comes home for the summer I've been seeing more familiar faces around the house lately. Yesterday I went to the gym with two of the guys, both my younger brother and one of his friends. They went off and did their own thing while I did mine. Monday meant legs day for me and chest day for them. But then my brother had to leave and I was on my way out, too, when his buddy challenged me to a game of Ab Tag.

I had never heard of Ab Tag but I'm always down for a challenge. He explained the rules for me. Each person takes turns picking an ab work out until one of the people can't keep going anymore and you have to quit. Sounds great, right? Especially after I had already finished doing my abs for the day. But I didn't want to give up before we even began so I grabbed us a couple of mats and we were ready to go!

We were at it for about an hour when he finally gave in. Which was good because I had to get home to make dinner! After we left the gym I wrote down everything we did since it had turned out to be a great workout!

Running Shoes

For a shoe addict like myself it shouldn't surprise anyone that I have a large collection of running shoes, and lifting shoes, and spikes, and fashion-over-function sneakers, and too-sentimental-to-toss grubby old shoes with hundreds of miles worn in.

That being said, I'm on the hunt for a new pair of go-to running shoes. My current favorites, the Nike FLEX TR, had long been discontinued and have only really got about 75ish miles left in them. I absolutely adore these shoes and wish I had known how much I would love them at the time because I would have bought up as many pairs as I could before they were gone!

So now comes the time I wish I worked for Runner's World and had access to all their different shoes to test out! Sadly, that's not the case. But luckily for me they did just send out their 2014 Summer Shoe Guide in their latest issue. And those results are all available online as well!

I'm someone who cares just as much about what's going under my foot as what it looks like, hence the super stylish white cheetah print pair on my instagram, and most of my running gear does match my Nike FLEX TRs (because running clothes can be just as stylish as the rest of your closet). This time around, however, it was the knowledge that I've got 700 miles between me and my next big race that had me feeling like I would have to sacrifice looks for practicality.

Fortunately, the designers at New Balance understand a woman's desire for both function AND fashion. They've partnered with Heidi Klum for a line that looks as amazing as it performs. And with the excellent reviews from Runner's World I went with the New Balance 890v4 in one of the Heidi Klum designs.

HKNB 890v4 Graphic in White Mint

HKNB 890v4 in Grey with Cosmic Coral

In fact, two of the Heidi Klum designs. I couldn't decide which I liked better so I ordered both! I justified it by saying the store doesn't carry anything smaller than a 6.5 and I didn't know which size I needed but I really just had to see them up close before making the final call. The womens' shoe comes in 17 different colors and narrowing it down to these two was hard enough that I needed to make the final decision in person. I'll let you know what I go with when they arrive next week!