Tough workout to end 2015!

I copied a workout from another blogger that I have been wanting to try for a while.  It says to do 4-6 times, but it totally kicked my butt.  It took me almost an hour to do this 3 times and I was done.  Not to make excuses but I have a cold and I really need good lungs for this!

Run .5 miles (first .25 easy, 2nd .25 hard and fast)
1 minute narrow to wide jump squats
1 minute side switch planks (which I am not sure if I did right, as they seemed easy)
10 walk out pushups (yee-ow!)
45 second jumping lunges
30 second plank jacks (this burnt but in a good way).

I am not sure my time on the first half, but I hoped to jump right into the rest of my workout while my heartbeat was still high.  But....the girls were with me and Bg needed to poop right then and there and that always takes her forever, so my heart was back to normal when I started.  The jump squats killed me.  I am way too wimpy for that.  I really felt a burn doing the walk out push ups but it was a good burn.  My 2nd half mile was around 4:41 and my third was a bit faster. 

I got quite a bit of Christmas and birthday money and have been wanting a good GPS watch.  Something that does heart rate, elevations, GPS, etc.  But...I hate spending all my gift money on one thing!!  Not that I have many readers, but anybody have good recommendations?

These two guys are very dedicated- running outside in the cold in shorts!  It would be a nice day to run, but I would be dressed a little warmer!



I am starting a new Bible study/daily devotional tomorrow that I heard about on K-Love.  A friend from church is going to do it with me and we will be accountability partners!  I look forward to having a friend go through the Bible with me!



We are having a few friends over for a pitch (card game) party tonight with all the kids.  That way we don't have to worry about crowds and baby sitters.

Happy New Year!!

Best thing about getting older...

So, the best thing about my birthday?  I moved up an age group for races.  The 30-34 age group always seems one of the most competitive so maybe I will have a better chance to medal as the youngest in my age group rather than the oldest!  Both Jeff and I had a birthday on Christmas Eve, but only one of us is less than a year until turning the big 4-0!  And it isn't me, ha ha.

The best birthday gift from my daughter Chloe.  This is the birthday cake she made on her cake app:



We spent Christmas Eve evening with my family again.  It is always so special returning to my home church that most my family still attends (my BIL is the youth pastor there) and I like tradition.  We had a beautiful service and returned to my parents afterwards for Pie Face!  Seriously, this silly game is a blast!



My mom with the girls.  My girls aren't usually the most cuddly or photo loving, so I was glad they got a good picture with grandma!


We had a GREAT Christmas!  We spent the Sunday before Christmas with my immediate family and had a crazy loud time. 

My sister and I....people constantly comment on how much we look alike and we get stopped in public often to ask if we are sisters/twins.  We do NOT see a resemblance at all and neither does our family.  Strangers always spot it. 



Christmas Day was spent with my inlaws.  They aren't as loud as my family but are such a great family to be a part of.  I had to laugh at the girls as we went out the door:  Chloe is always dressed like she is heading to the gym and Bg is super fancy all the time. 



And the good thing about my girls being so young...I can still force them to dress like me!

5K PR and Christmas Pageant

I ran a Christmas themed race on Saturday- The Candy Cane Course 5K.  And....I have a new PR (well, a PR as an adult runner- still way slower than I was in high school).  It was the PERFECT day for a race.  The sun was starting to come up, it was in the 50's and no wind.  The race was at a big arena, so it had indoor bathrooms as well, which is always a perk.  But, runners still poop a lot before races and the bathroom stank!

I made a race mistake that I am still kicking myself over- I started off WAY too far back in the pack. The sound system wasn't the best and I thought I heard them call all 10K runners to the front, so I thought they may release them and then release the 5K runners.  But I was wrong and both races started off at the same time and here I am standing towards the back with the walkers, etc. The first mile of the course was pretty narrow at times, so I had trouble passing people when I wanted to.  I got stuck a few times trying to run around people.  But after the first mile, it was pretty clear running.  My body felt good but I could tell my lungs were not in top running gear.  I was breathing way too hard for the fact that my body was saying "go faster!"  I have always had breathing problems and while I don't have asthma, I just have weak lungs I guess.  The good thing about starting in the back though is I passed a TON of people.  I can honestly say I don't think I was passed once.  That's a good feeling! 

I finished strong and was trying to pass this guy at the very end, but the finish line narrowed too much and I couldn't step around him, darn.  I thought my PR before this race was 26'01 so when I got my official time of 26'03, I was SO bummed.  Missed a PR by 3 seconds.  I also found out I got 4th in my age group, which is one place short an individual medal. I had looked at the previous 3 years race times and with my time, I would have gotten a medal at each previous race. 

Here is my Fitbit stats, which I didn't get turned off immediately at crossing, so it is a little off:
1 mile- 8'26
2 mile- 8'17
3 mile- 8'39
My official average pace was 8:23.  It is very odd that my mile 2 was my fastest.  Mile 1 was slower as I was blocked and not sure why I struggled on mile 3.  It was the hilliest of the three, but nothing crazy.

Placings:
Age group: 4/45
Female: 24/380
Overall: 61/518

After the race I realized my PR was actually 26'10, so I beat myself by 7 seconds!  I think strength training at the gym has already started to pay off, since I haven't been running!



Horrible sweaty picture!

I am the director of our church's Children's choir and we had our Christmas pageant on Sunday.  After my race on Saturday, we had our dress rehearsal at the local nursing home.  The residents loved it!  Chloe was the sheep and had a solo.  She sang it like an angel (maybe I am biased) at dress rehearsal and again Sunday morning.  Bg was an angel, but also the star (meaning she carried a star on a stick and the wisemen followed her). 

Chloe was fine at church Sunday morning, fine at lunch, came home and played for an hour and then came down stairs complaining of a headache.  I gave her meds, she took a nap and woke up feeling a little better.  I asked if she could still perform and she said yes. 

The pageant went great for the most part.  Dealing with 45 kids, there are bound to be a few issues.  Like Mary forgetting baby Jesus...Ha ha!  Chloe didn't look too good on stage and when she came up to do her solo, she just looked awful!  Her face was red and she stumbled on her lines.  I felt so bad for her!  Jeff took her home right after the pageant while I stayed at the church to clean up, etc and she was running a fever when they got home.  Poor girl ended up having strep throat. 

Here are some pageant pics:

My angel minus halo and wings, but doesn't she look pretty!:


Sheep and angel:



Chloe:



Bg:

Santa Visit

Although we live in the country, the town we most associate with is a very tiny town (population 400).  In a town this small, you can get away with inviting the entire town to the annual Christmas party.  I honestly don't know what group hosts the party, but they serve chili, soup and cookies to whoever comes all for a free will donation that helps pay utility bills, etc for struggling families within the community.  We always go to the Christmas party, but we actually helped out this year, as they asked our 4-H club to help with setting up, serving and cleaning up. 

Santa also always comes to the Christmas party and is pretty exciting to see him!  I love seeing Santa this way versus the mall, as it isn't crowded, we don't have to wait in line with the kids (I visited with friends until our turn) and Santa knows our kids.

This year Chloe only asked for a jump rope.  Bg asked for a baby doll for her dollhouse.  She is kind of freaking out though, as Santa misunderstood her and thought she asked for a dollhouse.  She is worried she wont get the doll and will instead get another dollhouse.  I reassured her that Santa knows what she really wants.





The girls like to put together a gingerbread house every year, which is usually stressful for my perfectionst Chloe, but this year went okay.  We actually created a little Santa Village:

Thanksgiving

So my blog is completely out of order but I found these fun Thanksgiving pictures to share.

My grandpa had his leg amputated about 6 years ago and although he has a prosthetic, it is hard for him to get around.  He bought this scooter last month, so of course, my sister and I had to try it out.  It has a big enough seat we could both fit and of course, all our kids had to jump on with us.  It was a nasty day outside, so we just drove it around his garage acting stupid (which is what you are supposed to do at family dinners, right?)


The basket on the front was perfect for Nolen!  And don't worry, my sister was holding on tight to him!



I make really stupid faces in pictures.

Cousin love, although Bg is looking at Nolen like he just farted or something:



I hit up the gym last night.  Did 1 mile on the treadmill in less than 8 minutes.  Which isn't all that hard for me, but on the treadmill it seems rough.  I don't like hearing my feet hit the treadmill.

We were invited to the Christmas party for my mother in law's church last night.  The girls begged to go.  It was an excellent dinner!

Finally!!!! Back on the pavement!

It has been way too long since I have hit the pavement.  By the time I have Jeff home at night to possibly watch the girls, it has been too dark to run on my gravel roads (yes, I am a chicken) and definitely way too muddy.  Luckily I am able to take the girls with me to the gym so I have been stuck running on the treadmill.  I still HATE the treadmill and usually just do a mile while working on speed work.  I did chest day at the gym on Monday, ran at the treadmill 2 miles Tuesday night and then I got a miraculous phone call Wednesday- my MIL asked if she could pick up the girls from school.  And the sun was shining!  I didn't have my running shoes or really good colder weather clothes, but I wanted to take advantage of an opportunity to run outside! 

I knew I had limited time due to church and darkness, so since I have an upcoming 5K, I wanted to make sure I could still do a 5K!  And I am proud to say, I can.  My body felt good and strong.  I ran up and down hills, so I have a variety.  My time for just a run around town unchallenged was decent as well.  My lungs weren't as strong as I hoped, but they never are.  I use an inhaler before races or long runs, and take O2 Gold, an Advocare supplement, and they do seem to help with my wimpy lungs.

I really like that mile 3 is faster than mile 1!  That is what I have been working on!

I apologize in a Advance for my crazy picture format.  Trying the new drag and drop and still figuring it out.

So, my December has already been crazy.  This is about the craziest time for me at work during the year and this year is about the busiest I have been.  I was worried that I would have a bad day, as this is how it started:

That is a truck and trailer blocking over half our work driveway!  Luckily I was able to squeeze in.  I had a coffee grind accident though...  This was fun to clean up. 

A couple random pics.

Our Christmas tree with lots of fun filters:

Making the girls scrub floors (child labor- got to love it!):


Bg is obsessed with this old worn out pair of footie pajamas that are about 2 sizes too small.  She has a drawer full of pj's, but this is all she will wear.  Her poor little toes:

Overwhelmed

I keep feeling thisclose to being on the verge of being overwhelmed, but luckily I haven't quite fallen off the overwhelm cliff and gone crazy.  This time of year is crazy at work.  I work in agriculture financing and year end is a busy time for financial planning for customers. 

I was in charge of our schools PTL fundraiser over the weekend- a large taco bar.  I should have been better prepared for it, but well....life.  Luckily it went by smoothly and we earned a lot of money for the school.

I have been going strong at the gym and can definitely feel the burn today!  I haven't been running but I am definitely missed it.  I hope to get the streets sometime over the long weekend.

I have been running warm up on the treadmill and I still hate it.  But I am getting stronger with my weights, so yay!

I have self diagnosed myself with gall bladder issues thanks to Dr. Google.  I have had a lot of stomach pain lately but don't really have time for it to be a gall bladder issue, so I am hoping the pain goes away soon.

Fall and winter come with lovely dry skin.  I have some severe dry skin patches on my arms, my thumb, the palm of my hand and one big toe.  I think I got a little itch crazy in my sleep the other day as I woke up with the skin on my arm rubbed raw.  Ouch!  We watched a re-run of Criminal Mind last night about people that think they have weird fibers or bugs or spiders under their skin causing them to itch without relief, although nothing is really wrong.  I didn't even need Dr. Google to diagnose myself with that as well!  And yikes, my arms are pale and freckle-y.

 I do enjoy hunting but haven't really had time to do it.  12 days of rifle season and I got one night in.  I saw two does but was looking for a buck, so I didn't get one this year.  Oh well, it is awfully peaceful in those woods.  How come I can run 13.1 miles but I cant walk the quarter mile to the deer stand without getting winded???

A friend gave us some homemade strawberry jam.  It is Bg approved:

Between church, daycare, baby sitter and a very small private school, we have lots of teachers to get gifts for, which can get pretty pricey, so I always try to do something homemade.  I get the main school teachers something a little bigger, but I think I will have the girls make these up for all other teachers (and my girls go to a Christian school and daycare, so I wont be offending anyone with my religious Christmas message).

 

Speed work and puzzles

I only paid a month membership at the gym, as I wasn't sure how often I could make it.  But since the girls are being SO awesome at the gym, I have been able to go everyday so far this week except Sunday!

I have been doing a 1 mile speed work program on the treadmill.  It provides a good warm up and increases my speed, so a bonus double!

My first day of the speedwork (sprint, run, walk every 1 minute) and I did it in about 10 minutes.  Last night I sprinted and jogged for a minute each, then only walked 30 seconds.  I actually cut out the final walk and sprinted.  Now my sprints aren't actual sprints for a good runner, but it is a good pace.  It makes me too nervous to sprint on a treadmill too fast as I am afraid of wiping out!  My time last night was 8:29.  Which is still slower than I can do a mile in, but I am hoping it is making me stronger.  I would like to run my upcoming 5K at an average of 8:29 per mile!

I am doing a 3 day lift program at the gym, so I didn't need to do any weights, but I did some core work.  I am feeling sore, but it is a good sore.  I can still function, unlike with crossfit.  The gym owner is going to research some running lift programs for me!

Chloe got a map of the US puzzle for her 6th birthday from her adorable friend Wyatt and it is still a favorite in our house.  Chloe likes to pick a state and describe it to Bg to see if she can guess the state.  This is her description of Kansas: "It is to the west of Missouri and we hate it."  Ha ha, I have her trained well.

Funny convo with Chloe on the way to school today.  She is going to her first slumber party and she can be a little hyper, so I wanted to have a behavior talk with her.
Me: Chloe, we need to talk.
Her: Mom, I already know what you are going to say and don't worry, I prayed about it last night.
Me: What was I going to say?
Her: That I need to be good.  And I prayed about it.

I love it!  I am glad she takes her struggles to God, but it worries me slightly that she has to actually pray to be good, rather than simply being good.

 

Veteran's Day and Treadmills and Mizzou

Thank you to the Veteran's and those currently serving!  My grandpa and his sister (Sissie) both served in the Navy.  Sissie was actually career navy, while my grandpa served 3 years.  My cousin Caleb recently enlisted in the US Army.

People say I look like my grandpa.  That is fine with me!

The girls just started tumbling classes last week, so last night was their second night of classes.  They have taken the classes in the past, so they were very excited to get back into it.  The gym they take classes at has a little workout spot for the parents, so I figured if I had 45 minutes there, I may as well work out.  I did a 5K on the treadmill, which was a little better than at my gym, as I was able to watch the different classes of kids while running.  The treadmills there aren't as advanced as to what I am used to at the gym, so it took me a while to figure out the adjustments.  My goal right now is increasing speed, so I did the sprint 1 minute, jog 1 minute, walk 1 minute thing for the 1st mile.  I probably could have sprinted a bit faster, but sprinting on treadmills makes me a little nervous that I am going to make a fool of myself!  I did the last two miles at a decent clip and even adjusted the elevation a bit to make it harder.  At mile 1.5 I did a 2/10th of a mile steep hill.  At 2.5 miles I did a 1/10th of a mile slightly less steel hill.  I also want to increase my speed at the end of the races, so from 2.6 miles on, I increased the speed every 1/10th of a mile until I was practically sprinting at the end.  I definitely worked up much more of a sweat that I typically do when road running.  The 3.1 miles took me slightly less than a half hour, but the first mile was slower than normal due to the walking.  I feel like running on the treadmill is harder than road running.  Maybe b/c it is boring?  I don't know.

I will make it to the gym tonight, as we always stick around town on Wednesday nights due to church.  I assist in the 1st-6th grade girls class although I have been a major flake in helping the last few months.

So....Mizzou.  My alma mater in the middle of the national spotlight in a negative way.  This makes me incredibly sad, as Mizzou was always such a safe, fun place for me as a student.  I know I was probably very isolated in the ag school, but I honestly can say that I didn't see racial tension.  I absolutely do not stand for racism and am disappointed in the people that have spouted off racist slurs, but I also don't believe the campus as a whole is represented by a few people and that the protest has gone overboard.  Their list of demands includes unconstitutional agendas, they are infringing on the rights of other students and they have let mob mentality take over.  Please keep Mizzou in your prayers.

Treadmills suck!

I went to the gym last night and figured I would do a 1 mile warm up on the treadmill at a 8:30 pace.  It sucked.  I was bored staring at the gym wall.  I felt like time was ticking by super slow.  I could hear the other people in the gym working out and I am nosy and wanted to see what they were doing, but I had my back to them.  I quit after 5 minutes.  Treadmill loser!

I had to take the girls with me and I was pretty nervous about it.  They are plenty old to entertain themselves, but Bg is very clingy to her mama.  The owner told me I could bring the girls if they sat quietly, stayed off the machines and no one complained.  Luckily they have WiFi and we brought the ipad.  The girls had several warnings that we would be kicked out if they touched the equipment (I was trying to be harsh!).  Well, they were AWESOME!!!  I even got two compliments on their behavior.  This whole gym thing just may work better than I thought.

The gym was slightly more crowded than Saturday and I didn't have Somer with me to show me what to do, so I was winging it with how to video's on bodybuilding.com.  One of the other members corrected me once on my technique, which I am glad he did, but also a little embarrassed that I am so clueless!  Unfortunately, he corrected me on my last set, but I will make sure to do it right next time! 

I signed up for my next 5K on Dec 12.  It is a Candy Cane 5K and I actually get a hoodie!!!  I would like to get a time around 26-27 minutes, so I probably need to do some speed work between now and then.  Based on last years times, I could possibly place 2nd in my age group!

Official Gym Member & Weekend Update

I am officially a gym member!!  I joined a new gym in town last week and have been......one time!  I only joined for one month so I can see how many times I realistically go.  I plan to go tonight but of course forgot my pass key!  I am hoping someone will be there to let me in.

For the fact that I have been a gym member before and was somewhat of an athlete in high school (okay, I sucked, but I was on the teams), I should know my way around a weight room better, so I was a bit lost.  Luckily Somer met me there, gave me a 3 day lift program to follow and guided me around the gym.  I probably ruined her workout (sorry!).  I got a little light headed while lifting and Somer told me it was probably my breakfast causing it- two cinnamon rolls and a pop tart- not exactly the breakfast of champions.

I need to do some research on good weight programs for runners.  Unless any of my 4 readers have any good suggestions.  I will wait for all those to roll in.

We had a surprise birthday party Saturday night for on old childhood friends of Jeff's and a good friend of mine now.  She was very surprised!  We had a great time with a great group.  Her parents rented a party bus and it was a riot.  My friend Julie and I had to pretend we stole the bus at one point:

I found this silly picture on my phone.  So glad Bg and Chloe like to take pictures:

My adorable nephew is officially walking...at TEN MONTHS!!! He is going places, let me tell you!

The girls and I put together our shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child on Sunday afternoon.  I really hope I am teaching them generosity and compassion. 

Cousin lovin and Halloween fun

I only have one sister who (at the time my girls were born) has older girls and Jeff's sister has no kids, so I was always a bit sad that my girls would never have cousins close in age for them to play with.  I didn't have a ton of cousins my age, but I did have one the exact same age and have so many great childhood memories of playing with my cousin.  I have a TON of cousins though and it was just something I never thought my girls would have.

But....last year one of my cousins married a gal with 3 little girls, pretty close in age to my girls! Instant cousins and friends.  What a fun blessing!  Unfortunately though, these cousins live a little over 3 hours away, but they happened to live right by where I raced last weekend so we got to see a lot of them this weekend. 

Bg stayed the night with the youngest cousin at their house Friday night and the oldest cousin spent the night at my aunts with Chloe.  We spent all day Saturday shopping with them and having a blast. 

Branson has so much neat stuff...including this larger than life rocking chair!

 And, we even got to see Santa (yes, Santa in October!).  But this is Branson and they have a lot of Christmas stuff year round.

 We found a giant ape to climb all over.

 

Saturday was also Halloween.  Bg was Elsa and Chloe's costume was called "Greek Goddess" but I am weird about using the term God (or Goddess in this case) when not actually talking about our Lord (the ONLY GOD), so we changed the name of the costume to a Greek Princess.

 

A Greek pose:

 Prettiest Elsa ever!  We found this Elsa wig half off at the Disney store hours before this photo was taken- what a deal!

 We didn't know it, but Bg's cousin was going as Olaf, so we had a pair!

 

 

Since we were away from home for Halloween, we had to trust that our cousins knew where to go.  We stopped at a nearby church for a trunk or treat and then walked the neighborhood around the church.  It was seriously the coolest trick or treating I have ever done.  When you live in the country, you drive from house to house, so I haven't ever really seen where crowds of kids just go from house to house like they did here.  It kind of reminded me of the ET Halloween scene with all the kids in the street.  I loved it, except I totally wore the WRONG shoes.  I could barely walk at the end.  Maybe that is why my race suffered the next day.

 

This house was serving hot dogs, coffee and cocoa.  The yard decorations were all on motion sensors and activated scary (but fun) things when we walked by.

 

Graveyard!!

 

The kids went to their cousins after trick or treating to watch Halloween movies while my mom and I watched game 4 of the Worlds Series, which the Royals won.

 

And, the Royals made an AMAZING comeback in the 9th inning of game 5 to win the World's Series.  And this die hard fan.....was sleeping.   It was the day of my marathon and daylight savings time and I fell asleep in the 8th inning.  I missed the two tie runs to tie the game and then the several OT innings.  The last time Royals won the Worlds Series was 1985- I was 4.  The same age as Bg- a cool thing!!