About Me!

So who is Chelsea anyway?  I am:

• a runner . . . see my races here!
• a food lover . . . who really doesn’t know if she’s a food blogger
• a law school graduate . . . who is really glad to be done with it.
• a newly admitted attorney in Minnesota . . . which is scary
• currently engaged to best guy I know . . . but I’m sure your significant other is pretty cool, too
• planning my wedding for July 21, 2012 . . . even though I’m not really the wedding planning sort-of-gal
• a diet soda addict . . . but I’m working on it
• an avid reader . . . give me a book and I’m a happy girl!
• a work-in-progress . . . because living life on the go means that things are always a-changin’

I started this blog in August 2010 to document my efforts to live a healthy/balanced life. While I haven’t been the most consistent blogger, I’m hoping to change that in 2012.  So please put up with me as I try to find my style and flair on this little blog

So what’s with the name?

If you were a reader in the beginning, you know that this blog used to be called Strawberry Sweat. I had no good reason to have that name–I just thought it was amusing one day, and I stuck with it!  Last year, I changed the name to Go Chelsea Go!–simple, easy to remember, and what the hell–I need a cheering section too!

So what, are you like an expert on this “stuff”?

No way, Jose!  I have an undergraduate degree in political science, and I am recent law school graduate of the Class of 2011.  I passed the bar exam (which I took on my birthday in July!), and now I’m working at a law firm.

As you can see, I am not educated in the fields of nutrition, fitness, or health-care. Therefore, I DO NOT give professional advice to anyone about their own diet or exercise routines on this blog. I only blog to keep myself accountable to my healthy living goals and to perhaps provide you with some inspiration to get your butt moving and eat some healthier foods!

So what makes you an example of “healthy living”?

Like most girls, I haven’t always had a good relationship with my body.  In junior high and high school, I struggled a little with my weight.  I was within my “healthy weight range,” but I really didn’t know how to eat healthfully.  I remember attempting to diet (I tried Slim Fast and Weight Watchers at some points), but I’d always go back to eating whatever I wanted.  My parents provided me with nutritious meals, but I never limited my portion sizes and I usually chose the processed food when I had a choice.

In terms of exercise, I was always signed up for some activity.  I have been a dancer, a tennis player, a discus thrower (everyone was doing track and I hated to run) and a really bad basketball player.  Activity was only fun for me when it was a game.  At this point in my life, I didn’t have the patience to do a solo run or to lift some weights.

When I went to college, my biggest fear was gaining the Freshman 15.  A high school friend (who also went to my college) and I tried to make a pact to workout everyday at college, so that we would remain our pre-college sizes.  While daily workouts didn’t happen (no surprise there), I surprisingly did not gain the dreaded Freshman 15.  In fact, I remained my high school size until junior year.  During that year, I began to enroll myself in fitness classes for credit so that I’d have a reason to get myself to the fitness complex.  I lost a little weight and gained some muscle.  I started to view fitness as a healthy way of changing my body for the better.  I was still eating and drinking like a typical college student, but at least I was getting myself on those cardio machines and lifting some of those weights.

But during my first year of law school, my fitness habits went out the window.  I still lived like a college student, but now, I was sitting on my butt and studying virtually 24/7.  I gained over 10 pounds in my first year.  I wasn’t really happy, especially because I hadn’t learned to manage the stress of law school and to balance my priorities.

After that first year, I constantly thought of dropping out (which is seemingly common in law school).  Not being one to quit what I’ve started, I stayed for another year.  Things didn’t really change in the fall, but at the start of the new year 2010, I made one of those New Year’s Resolutions.  I was going to get in shape.  I was going to make fitness a priority.  And I was going to do it by running–something I always hated.

I started out with a Couch to 5K plan.  Once I finished that, I started to dream BIG.  I had always said that I wanted to run a half-marathon, but I never thought it was a dream that was attainable.  Yet, the more I read about half-marathon training, the more convinced I became that I could do it.  Once I found a 3 month training program, I went for it–I signed up for a half-marathon in May.  This is when things really started to change for the better.

Scared that I wouldn’t be able to finish the half-marathon, I followed my training plan to the letter.  I was running 3 days a week and weight training for 1-2.  With all this exercise, I started paying more attention to what foods I was putting in my body. I started trying out foods I’d seen on some other healthy living blogs, and realizing that I liked eating them.  I also cut way down on my alcohol consumption, because I could tell the difference in my running.  As the weeks went by, I was running further and further.  It was official–I was a becoming a runner!

With my boyfriend Josh at my side for part of the way (he and I ran together for the first 10K of the race), I finished my first half-marathon!  That half-marathon proved to me that I could do anything I set my mind to.  It was an experience that defines me, and shows my changes for the better.

Since January 2010, I have completed three races (a 5K, a 10 Miler, and a half-marathon) while exercising and running pretty consistently.  In addition, I’ve also cleaned up my eating, improved my overall health (my blood pressure and cholesterol are lower), and I’ve lost that weight I gained my first year of law school.  I feel fantastic, and I want to keep myself feeling this way!

So what’s up next? 

No races on the calendar yet, but I’ve been keeping up with my workouts!  My fitness goals are to get faster and stronger in 2012.  Professionally, I’m REALLY hoping to find a permanent, salaried job that I love.  And personally, I’m going to enjoy being engaged and getting married