Fun at the creek and homework struggles

So, last night I knew Jeff was working late again, so I figured that since I couldn't run/go to the gym, I could make a short honey-do list for myself to complete last night.  It was pretty short- balance checkbook, girls laundry and work on Valentines Boxes.  All pretty manageable items.


I picked the girls up after work and while it was chilly, it was bearable, so I suggested when we got home to walk down to our creek.  We have an awesome creek bed.  The bottom literally looks like someone poured concrete through it.  And we have a nice waterfall.  We like to wade in the creek in the spring but it usually either dries up or gets really nasty in the summer with the moss and bugs and snakes.  But in the winter, it is perfect.  The water is clear, we don't have to worry about critters and there is usually lots of animal prints to see.


The girls love the creek.  They had fun digging up large rocks and making big splashes.





I have no idea why Bg was making such a silly face!


The waterfall:






We played outside a little longer than intended, so when we headed in, it was time for supper.  I tried to juggle making supper and folding laundry at the same time.  The girls have to put away their clothes, except for the shirts which I hang up (they cant reach).  I thought I did a good job of multi tasking, but I also realized I wasn't getting much on my to- do list done. After supper, I could tell the girls were tired and they wanted to sit down with me and watch a movie, so needless to say, only the laundry got done.  No Valentine's boxes or checkbook. 


I ordered two new books about running and they both game in yesterday.  Both sounded great and I had to do eenie-meenie- minie-moe to chose one to start reading.


The winner was Run Less Run Faster.  And during that movie, I read about half of it.  I am really intrigued with their running plan and definitely plan to start it next week.  It basically is only 3 days of running a week.  Day 1 is track repeats, Day 2 is tempo runs and Day 3 is long runs.  Based on your 5K times, it gives you a very strict pace to complete all your runs.  All sound manageable (I hope) and I hope to see great results in 18 weeks!





Jeff finally has a day off, so he is taking the girls to gymnastics tonight so I get plenty of time to hit the gym!


But first, I have a parent teacher conference with Chloe's teacher.  I am beyond frustrated with both Chloe and her teacher!  Chloe's teacher is excellent and very old school.  Chloe's school is the only school I know who assigns letter grades to 1st graders and Chloe's homework scores are going down each week.  Chloe is doing her work sloppy, rushing through it and not following instructions.  Chloe is a smart kid (really she is) so I want to find out she is doing in class instead of doing her work correctly.  But...the frustration with the teacher comes in how she grades Chloe's math homework.  Chloe loves math and can do some pretty hard problems in her head (like 436 minus 214).  But she is missing 5+2+? b/c she is writing the answer sloppy.  Even though the answer is right.  I understand 1st grade is about learning to write and doing your homework to the best, but I don't understand missing an answer for messy handwriting in math???  She also has marked some stuff wrong that Chloe actually has right.  I need to have the teacher explain to me how it is wrong (since neither Jeff or I can figure out why she is missing it) so I can help Chloe in the future.  Not really looking forward to this.

Spring weather in January

Wow!  What a BEAUTIFUL weekend.  The weather was in the 50's and 60's with nice sunshine all weekend.  This means we get outside a lot!


Chloe went to a slumber party Friday night at a friend from church's house.  Poor Bg was having 2nd child syndrome since Chloe ALWAYS gets to go to a friends house, so we invited a friend of hers out for supper with us.  She enjoyed her fun treat.


Speaking of going out to eat...backtracking just a bit, but I had to go visit a customer on Friday in a different town and there is a wonderful little restaurant in an antique shop that I love to eat at.  I got the daily special of cheese tortellini soup, Italian salad and all you can eat breadsticks.  It was wonderful.  I thought it was going to be a healthy lunch but those were seriously the best breadsticks I have ever eaten, so I may have eaten two. 


So, I have had trouble with really sweat feet lately.  I have always had sorta sweaty feet, but it has been ridiculous this past few weeks.  I don't know if there is some correlation between all the working out I am doing and the extra sweat, but you know it is bad when you cant even put on your socks b/c your feet are soaked.  Luckily Saturday's weather was nice so I wore flip flops until my feet dried enough to put on my running shoes.





A group of mom's from church wanted to get together Saturday afternoon to play at the park, so my friend Meghan and I got a teenager to keep an eye on our girls while they played and we went on a run.  We ran about 6.25 miles and then when we got back to the park, I challenged the kids to a half mile fun run.  The older kids enjoyed it, Bg whined and made me carry her. 


I said the weather was nice...it was warm enough for bugs and something bit my back while at the park! And yes, I have a tattoo on my lower back- it's hard to see, but it is a Jesus fish with a cross.





Since the weather was so nice, when we got home I got to work on my latest project- a medal hanging rack.  I bought this old window thing at an antique store and installed some hardware to hang my medals and bibs.  I may write something on the glass- maybe my PR's or something.  I haven't decided yet.





I am so happy with how it turned out and cant wait to add more medals!  I only started running abou10 months ago and racing 8 months ago, so I am pretty happy with the number of medals so far.  Hopefully I get two more medals on Saturday (finish and place!).


Chloe had a friend over Saturday night.  Whoever says boys are gross doesn't know girls.  These two tried to gross each other out all night and most talk centered around poop, puke, boogers and diarrhea.    Lovely girls.





They look like trouble, don't they?


Sunday was church and then Chloe went to a friends house after church (yes, she spent a lot of time with friends this weekend!).  I took Bg to grandma's so I could hit the gym.  Since it was still so beautiful outside, I did a two mile warm up outside.  I wanted to really push myself hard, but didn't realize how worn out I was.  I hit the gym hard last week, ran 6.75 miles on Saturday and finished my squat challenge and my gluts screamed at me the entire run.  I wasn't too happy with the time and how worn out I felt, but then I remembered it usually takes me two miles to get into the groove. 





I don't know what I was thinking, but I just threw on a pair of old tennis shoes before heading to the gym.  Even though I only ran two miles, I quickly remembered the importance of GOOD shoes.  The soles on these are so thin and offered no support.  I actually ran in these shoes for the first month or two of my running last year.  They are a good shoe, just not a good running shoe.  I like New Balances for the arch support, but love my Asics and Brooks for running.





I did a good chest/bicep workout at the gym.  Today begins a 30 day ab challenge- not sure if I am excited about that or not.


My personal trainer shared a new, very healthy recipe with me that I tried last night.  Chicken, artichokes (I LOVE artichokes), onions, carrot and spinach baked with vege broth.  It was good, but I felt it was missing something.  I think next time I will leave out the vege broth and dump a can of tomatoes in it.  Of course, no one else in my family would touch it, but that is fine with me.  Good leftovers for lunch!





If anyone wonders why the heck I have to keep getting people to watch my girls while I workout rather than having Jeff do it, Jeff is working a very demanding job with a very demanding timeline right now.  He has left at 6 each morning and typically gets home between 8-8:30.  He worked this same schedule all weekend as well.  I am ready for this job to be over.  He thinks today will be his last day on this job. 

Challenge Loser! And mental mind games (yet again)

I had talked yesterday about the new "challenge" at the gym.  This challenge sounded right up my alley:


Quarter mile run
15 sit ups
15 push ups
Repeat 4x's for time.


The owner of the gym had a time of 10:17 or something like that.  I figured I could possibly beat her, as I consider myself a runner.  But what I forgot to consider...I am not fast and I am a wimp when it comes to push up's!  And she is a personal trainer who spends 8+ hours everyday in the gym.  I finished in 11:03.  I ran between a 6-6:18 minute mile each quarter, so I know it was slow push ups that did me in!  It kicked my butt!  It just goes to show that I really am not in that good of running shape!  My lung control is horrible.  I think my body could have performed better, but I just cant breathe.


My coworker is a gym junkie and a pretty hardcore athlete.  He played baseball in college and is on a very competitive men's softball league, plays basketball league weekly, bowls weekly and goes to the gym daily.  I made a challenge wager with him that loser buys lunch.  Needless to say, I am buying lunch.  He ran slightly faster than me, but really kicked my butt in push up speed.  Dang!  I gave him all kinds of excuses as to why he beat me, but they are just excuses: he is almost 10 years younger than me, he hasn't birthed two children (heck, he has no children to drain him), he is almost a foot taller than me and most of that is in legs and...well, that is the last of my excuses!  However, his post challenge recovery was much longer and harder than mine.  I was pretty sure he was about to puke and he took about 10-15 minutes to recover and was drenched in sweat.


Where on the other hand...although my arms were shaky, I wasn't sweating, I caught my breath in a minute and was fine to do the rest of my workout.  I really have a hard time mentally pushing myself.  I know I was pooped, but I could have pushed myself harder.  Reminds me of my track days where I would place mid-pack but wouldn't hardly be winded after the race.  I am a weird combo of competiveness.  I want to win, but I mentally set myself up that I wont win, so then I don't try as hard so that I can use that as an excuse to why I lost.  Not that I want to puke at the gym or anything, but that is the huge difference between me and my coworker.  He pushed himself so hard he was grunting, sweating and almost to puke stage.  I am never going to get better if I don't get harder on myself.


I have become slightly obsessed with pinterest/instagram photos of weight lifters and fitness models.  They are truly inspiring.  While I don't want to be buff and ripped quite as much as they do, I do need to follow some of their eating plans!

Resolution Fails and Sick Kids

Resolution fails....not me!  I am still going strong, but I am talking about other people.  My girls go to gymnastics on Tuesday nights.  The gym has a very small adult work out area with two treadmills and a few other gym basics.  I typically ran while the girls took class and was always the only one in the room. 


Until January.  Then the room was packed and I could never get a treadmill.  It was a little frustrating, as I was the ONLY person that I ever saw in there and now I couldn't work out while there.  I realize everyone else had the same right to them, but I still pouted about.  Especially when I saw people walking so slow they could text and play on their phones...but that is a whole other issue and makes me sound like a total work out snob, which I am not.  More power to them I guess!


But Tuesday night....I finally got a treadmill!!!  The little gym was empty.  I guess people are giving up on the New Years resolutions.  I ran two miles and it was actually the easiest treadmill miles ever.  I get to watch the all the different groups of kids at the gym so that makes time go by better.


So Bg is battling a nasty nasty cold.  Bad colds suck for adults, but for a 4 year old they really suck.  It hurts her nose to blow it, she cant get the crap out of her lungs and has been miserable mainly at night.  I kept her home from school Monday, but sent her Tuesday.  When I picked her up Tuesday, she looked horrible but insisted she wanted to go to gymnastics.  She started crying about half way through class.  She woke up with a fever early early Wednesday morning, so I kept her at home Wednesday, where she proceeded to bounce off the walls all day!  Why is it that kids seem so sick at night but are fine during the day?  I sent her grumpy butt to school today but she wasn't happy to go.


For a sick kid, she is still awfully cute though...





I haven't been to the gym since Sunday and am having withdrawals!  I think I am becoming obsessed.  Jeff is working out of town and has left at 6am and hasn't returned till 8pm (bedtime for the girls), so it hasn't really worked.  I had a friend who was going to watch the girls after school last night while I worked out, but since Bg was sick, we stayed home.  Luckily my MIL is picking the girls up tonight so I can hit the gym hard!


There is a "challenge" at the gym each week.  I always do the challenge, but a lot of them are weight challenged and I am too wimpy to win those.  But this weeks challenge was designed with me in mind (not sure if that is a good thing or not), so I really feel a competitive desire to kick butt.  I plan to do the challenge tonight.  I luckily am no longer too sore from my hard weekend at the gym.


The Challenge:
Quarter mile run
15 push ups
15 sit ups
Repeat 4 times and record best time. 

10K and self doubts

With my first 10K coming up, I really needed to get outside the gym and get some miles on the pavement.  Chloe had stayed the night with my parents on Friday night, so when I picked her up on Saturday, I took advantage of baby sitters and pretty snow/ice cleared roads (my parents live in town!).  Since I hadn't run more than 3 miles at a time in months, I wasn't very confident.  Plus, this was the coldest I had ever run in either.  I made sure to bundle up warm- a tank, tee, long sleeve, jacket and vest.  I also read a trick to keep toes warm- duct tape on your shoes!   I had on my hat and new Under Armor gloves and actually my core got too hot, while my face and butt froze.


It usually takes me a good mile to get into my groove while running.  The first mile is usually faster than the others, but I struggle with my breathing and my mental game.  Saturday was no exception.  I started off and while I felt good, my mind was playing games.  I was thinking, "there is no way I can do 6 miles.  Maybe I will only do 4-5.  I can walk in a bit."  I kept trying to refocus and it was actually almost mile 2 before I came into my groove.  I ran track and cross country in high school and we ran all over town.  I actually started to get nostalgic about old runs and also enjoyed running by old friends, boyfriends and classmates houses.  And then I decided to do something stupid.


Odessa has a big hill called Action Hill which was my nemesis in high school.  My coach used to torture us on this hill and even had people hide with video cameras to make sure we were really running this hill.  These pictures do not do the steepness of this hill justice.  Since I was out enjoying my run, I decided on my own to conquer this hill.  First time I have ever run it without being forced. 











I'd like to say I was able to run the entire thing, but I made it about half way up before I got to the steepest part and had to walk.  But I did it!  This hill was at about mile 3.  I got back to running as soon as I reached the top and was able to run the rest of the 6.24 miles feeling pretty good.  I did have some back pain which I was able to run through and around mile 5.5 my right IT band started acting up but nothing terrible.  I was pretty happy with my time since I was just out on my own with nothing pushing me and I had a few good size hills in the run.  I don't know why I have such bad mental games during my runs.  My body has surprised me several times this past year and is stronger than I think.







I also hired a personal trainer for a few weeks at the gym.  I want to maximize my time there and be doing the best workouts.  We did a personal assessment on Sunday.  Taylor (the trainer) took all my measurements and we did a skill assessment test.  I took a picture of my measurements and am kicking myself for not taking a picture of my skills.  I like to see where I start and where I finish, so I will have to get a copy of that.





For the skills, this is what I think I did:
1 mile run: 7:35
1 minute sit ups: 35
1 minute push ups: 30 (did about 30 seconds of regular then switched to my knees)
Plank: 1:30ish??
Curl hang (I am not calling this the right thing): 17 seconds
25 # weight hold: 30ish seconds?
Bench press: 75#?
Squat: 105#?
I also did a walk sit, but have no idea how long.


I have put on about 4-5 pounds over the winter.  I know it is a combo of cutting back miles and hopefully building muscle, but I hate seeing the number on the scale higher than 130.  I realize I shouldn't be so hung up on that and should be more concerned with the measurements.  Speaking of measurements, I am definitely NOT hourglassed shape, ha ha.  I even wore a padded sports bra and my chest is still 4" smaller than my hips!


I found this picture on pinterest last night.  Makes me feel a little better about weight gain:

Muscle weighing more than fat...

So, I have been attempting to be a beast at the gym lately.  I have had some good long gym sessions and am actually seeing some results.  I have, drumroll please, a small bicep!  Yep, there is definitely a tiny little bump.  I am awfully proud of that little bump!


But, on another note, the weight on the scale keeps creeping up!  I have known my whole life that muscle weighs more than fat, but I am not sure if I am seeing any more muscle definition than in my arm and I feel the weight I have gained is too much.  However, my pants still fit, so I guess that is a plus.  I am up about 6 pounds than I was when I first joined the gym. I know it is just a number, but I like keeping that number below a certain point and it is about 3 pounds higher than I want to be.  I probably am not burning as many calories as when I ran all the time plus just normal winter eating, so I know those are both factors.


I may have to cut back on the gym slightly for the next few weeks as the location right now isn't letting kids in.  I understand why so I am not upset, but it does make it very hard for me to get a workout in when I cant bring the girls.  I live too far out in the country to go home and come back once Jeff gets home and same goes for in the morning.  Luckily the gym is moving to a bigger location in February and will have a kids room!  Yay!!!


I am running my first 10K on February 6 so I should be hitting the pavement, but it has been very cold (like high's in the single digits) and icy, so I have stuck to the gym.  I try to run far on the treadmill, but I HATE it so much!


Sunday Chloe was invited to a birthday party for 2 hours so I had two hours to kill and spent them at the gym.  Monday I was off so I took the girls to my MIL's and spent about 1.5 hours at the gym.  With the bad weather last night, Jeff picked the girls up from school, so I again got some alone gym time!  That may be the last time I can get in until this weekend though!


Sunday- 1.5 miles on the treadmill until I died of boredom
Monday- total of 3 miles, 2 for warm up and 1 for cooldown
Tuesday- 1 mile


I read an interesting article in Shape Magazine about how running outdoors in cold weather (anything under like 65) is really good for fat burning.  Even better than running in hot weather.  Interesting.


Also read that the workout leotard is BACK!!!  For only $205,everyone can see my extra thick areas, yay!  Think of the money I will save on pants!

2016 Goals

So, we are 12 days into the New Year and I haven't posted anything!  Quick recap of the New Year, along with some resolutions.


We had a blast ringing in the New Year.  We had a few other couple friends over with their kids to play cards.  The kids played well, the adults played...not so well!  Ha ha, the girls played the guys in pitch and usually the girls dominate, but not that night!  Oh well, we will get them next time. 


We didn't have a white Christmas, but we had a white New Year.  I did a 6 mile run/walk with my friend Meghan and unfortunately we encountered a lot of this:

We did a lot of slipping and sliding!

The girls enjoyed a break, but I was glad to get back into our school routine.

We had a last family Christmas over the weekend and we had 6 house guests- 4 of them were girls under the age of 10!  My girls are lucky to have fun cousins so they had a blast.  My house made it through still standing, so I call that a success.  My Granny wanted a family picture of us, so here is the  best we got:

Being an insecure woman, I over scrutinized the pictures and although I know I am not fat, I had to pick the one that made me look the least fat.  Why do we do things like that to ourselves???

Going into my 2016 resolutions, I guess I should make better self worth be one, but it's not making the list this year.

• Resolution 1- Spend more time in the word of God.  I have found a new Bible study I shared previously and also lined up an accountability partner to keep me on track.  I have done daily Bible reading, but I am not good at reflection.  My goal is to be a little more mindful of my prayers and focusing more on God's will for my life.
• Resolution 2- A year of NO'S with no guilt.  After a crazy year with work and extra curriculars/volunteering, I am cutting back.  If asked to coach a kids ball team, NO!  If asked to be an officer of an organization, NO!  I really want to focus on running this year and need to eliminate some of the distractions and time eaters.  I already have said that I am not going to direct the children's Easter musical this year (although I will still do Christmas), as I already teach a Children's class at church.  This is hard for me to do with no guilt, as I feel like I am letting people down and I also like to be in control of things, but I am tired of feeling stressed and overwhelmed.  I want to spend more time with my family as a mom and not as a teacher/coach/director, etc/
• Resolution #3-Running goals: I have three!  First is to do a half marathon under 2 hours.  Next is to do a 5K in less than 25 minutes and the third is to run 1000 miles in 2016.  My running friends and I have created an excel spreadsheet to track our miles for the year and to keep each other accountable towards reaching our goals.

I had a 4th but I already broke that.  I resolved to never wear actual pants again.  Running tights, yoga pants and leggings were all I planned to wear.  Until I had to go on a farm visit and had to wear jeans.  Only made it about 7 days into the New Year.  I will try better next year.

Oh, and I am not officially a sponsored runner!  I am on Missouri Team Beef!  I got my cool little red jersey (that I have NO pants to match) in the mail this week. I cant wait to represent them.  And to shop for matching pants, ha ha.

And for my 7 readers...what are YOUR 2016 resolutions/goals?