Friday Five lists seem to be all the rage in the blogosphere and I’ve been meaning to do one and somehow just never get around to it.  But not today, I actually left work at a decent hour and am just hanging at home tonight in anticipation of my 20 Mile run tomorrow so here’s my first

Friday Five: A List of My Favorite Websites/Apps that keep me motivated and moving.

1) TASTEdaily:  describes itself as, “Ridiculously awesome daily emails for bold women.” This is a daily email that covers everything from “mix tapes,” diet and exercise tips, fashion advice, to awesome and inspiring quotes and stories for women., plus a book club!  Every morning Monday – Friday I can’t wait to open up my email to see what’s new!  It can be a little hit or miss, but usually its more hit than miss. 

2) MyFitnessPal: I’ve come to the decision that until I’m ready to commit to Whole 30, and I’m giving it serious consideration, counting calories is the way to go for me.  Myfitnesspal makes this so easy, the app has an extensive database of foods and activity and also has a bar code scanner.  I’ve used the Weight Watchers mobile app and Weight Watchers.com, but in my opinion and I used to work for Weight Watchers, myfitnesspal is hands down much more reliable and easier to use.

3) Pandora: I know there’s lots of debate in the professional music world about internet based music sites like Pandora and Spotify, but I LOVE Pandora.  I have it on both my phones, iPad and listen to it ALL of time on my laptop.  You can use Pandora for free to create “stations,” based on your music preferences and then it continues to make selections that are similar to your searches.  I’ve discovered some great new artists and songs thanks to Pandora and have some crazy mixed up stations that I’ve created.  Pandora is free, but I think the $36.00 yearly subscription is worth every penny.

4) Daily Mile: Yes, I am one of those people who constantly post EVERY single run to my Facebook page.  Sorry, but knowing I’ve got to post that run and that someone will comment or like that post keeps my accountable.  Daily Mile serves as my running log and I love being able to go back and look at my total mileage for the week, month, year etc.

5) St. Jude Children’s Hospital Marathon: Have I mentioned recently that I’m running a marathon in December?I’ve committed to raising funds as a St. Jude Hero to support St. Jude’s lifesaving mission of finding cures and saving children. I need your support to help me reach my fundraising goal for the kids of St. Jude.

It costs $1.8 million a day to operate St. Jude. Did you know that 70% of the funds come from the public? That means your donation, no matter what the size, will help!

How your donation helps:

• Thanks to donors like you, no family ever pays St. Jude for anything, including lodging, food and travel.
• St. Jude will continue to improve treatment of childhood cancer and other deadly diseases through it’s groundbreaking research.
• For every child treated at St. Jude, thousands more have been saved worldwide through St. Jude discoveries.

Thank you for your support!

Happy Weekend and Goodluck to Everyone Running Marine Corps Marathon!