That's what runners do; they run. If you're not feeling well, you run; if it's lousy weather, you run, and if you're under stress, you obviously go for a run. You run to clear your head. You run to ease the ache in your muscles, and you run just so you can breathe a little fresh air.

No matter what else is going on, there's always time for a run.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Family Fitness Challenge

Let the competition begin!!   My older sister has challenged the family to a Fitness Challenge for the next 5 weeks.  We are getting a point for every minute of exercise outside of work and a point for each serving of fruits and veggies we eat.  We are using the myplate.gov for our fruit and veggies serving sizes.  My sister put us into random drawn teams for the next 5 weeks, plus Ella who will be alternating between the groups with the lowest number of points each weeks.   It is really hard to say who will get the most points each week because we have some competitive family members and other who are taking this challenge seriously by taking at look at our diets and making some changes. 

I must say I am very proud of my husband over the last month with his exercise and watching what he has been eating.  My husband recently joined the local planet fitness to lose weight and he is really doing a great job at creating his own schedule and sticking with it.  He is also doing a modified Couch to 5K running plan.  He is at the point where he is running 2 minutes and walking 4 and he is getting ~2.4 miles in the 30 minutes.  I am also very proud of my husband for taking part of this challenge because he eat very few (aka corn, raw carrots, raw apples) fruits or veggies.  However, we have found some additional items that he will eat so he can get the fruits and veggies each day for the challenge.   

I am really looking forward to the next 5 week to see what the family can do to be a little more active and healthy.   I also like this opportunity to look at my diet and incorporate more "clean" foods. 

QOTD:  Have you thought about doing a Fitness/Food Challenge with your family? Would you have some fun competition?

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Ella

It has been a relaxing weekend for Mister and I.  We started out our saturday by going to the gym and getting a good workout in, errands at the mall and out to my parents house to see my sister and niece.  She is growing up soo fast.  She knew who we were as soon as we came in the house and took us in to see all that she was playing with.   She enjoyed watching the marathon trials with us and then wanted everyone to go for a runnie run too. So we bundled up and hit the road for a nice 3.7 mile run from my parents house. The run felt really good to work out the kinks left in the leg muscles from the gym workout.   Ella even out of the stroller and ran some too as we got closer to the house.  
Sunday morning was another pretty relaxing morning, then it was off to church to run the sound board and the video for the church service.  I don't know who thought it was a good idea to have me run the sound board but I was on the schedule to do it.   Mister was on the schedule to do the video stuff and he did a great job after learning from someone last week.  We came home and lounged around for a while after church which felt strange since we typically go out to my parents house for lunch and a run.  My sister and mom wanted to run errands this afternoon so we didn't rush out to the house.  We ran a couple of errands then I got a phone call from my niece saying "come visit Mandwe."  So Mister and I go around and went out to my parents house,  as soon as we walked in she came running to the door to greet us.  She told us unzip and helped us unzip our coats and take them off immediately.  She did not want us leaving.  We played with crayons, bike, and caddies (my sister got a the dollar store).   After dinner, I got her tubby ready and got her all cleaned up and ready for bed but before she could go to bed we played in her castle for a while.  Now, I had to make some room for me to get in the castle with her because it had a doll stroller, barn box, a kitty, my niece and I all fit in there.  As we were playing in there, she would reach out the window to pull in more toys every couple of minutes.   Once we were all done playing, we got her milk and was getting hugs and kisses.  Then her mommy was taking her up to bed, not long after that I hear my sister (her mommy) saying, Mandwe please come say goodnight again.  So I rushed up the steps and there is my sister holding my niece and my niece says "Missed you" (AWWWWWW, now it was only like 3 minutes since I said goodnight but she missed me that just melted my heart).  My sister passed her over to me and I rocked her for a few minutes then laid her in the crib and got her all tucked in to bed and said goodnight again and love you and sweet dreaming.     

I am always amazed at how smart she is.   She makes so many connections with words and actions that I never thought a two year old would.  She also loves her family (GrandBob, GMom, HeyHey & Richie, B and SB, Mister and Mandwe) very much and enjoys the time she gets to spend with us and we enjoy every minute with her (happy, sleepy, sad or grumpy---we love every minute of that time). 

I thank God for my family and the time I get with them. I am truly blessed!!

I hope everyone has a speedy zoom zoom kind of week.    I can't believe tomorrow is monday already, I sure wish weekends were longer. 

Monday, January 2, 2012

2011 Reflections and Goals of 2012

Happy New Year!!  I am excited for 2012 and see what God had planned for my husband & I and for my family. With the start of the new year, I have been reflecting on 2011.  2011 was a pretty exciting year for me and some goals were met.   

A big goal of mine was run a marathon.  Early in 2010, we decided that we would run the Disney Marathon.  My dad was turning 60 and running a marathon was something I wanted to complete before I turned 30 (similar to what my older sister did).   On January 9, 2011 around 5:30 am, we (my dad, sil SB, and I) started our Disney marathon experience.  It was great to run the Disney marathon and have my family and friends to cheer me along right beside me or long distance.  My dad and I ran the whole thing together, we did not meet our goal time but we finished the marathon in 4 hours and 54 minutes.   It was also very exciting that we took my niece to Disney for the first time and my older sister, Heather and lil' sis, Scuba ran the Donald Duck Half Marathon the day before our marathon.  

Another big thing of 2011, Mister and I got married on 9/10/11 of 2011.  We got engaged on June 10, 2010 and planned the wedding in a little over a year.  My family has become pro's at planning a wedding, in the past three year we have had three weddings.  My lil sister got married in 2009, my older sis got married in 2010 and I got married this year.   So we had lots of things streamlined and were able to pass address files between the three of us and many other lessons learned.   My husband and I have been together for 6 years, we meet while still in college. 

As many people have stated in there blogs: resolutions do not make a lot of sense because we all know we never stick with them.  I am going to make some goal to reach for in the coming year. 

Goals of 2012 (no particular order):
  • Location and Purchase a house
  • Enjoy more/any/all time with family and friends
  • Enjoy the motorcycle more with my husband
  • Remain Injury Free for running
  • Encourage and assist my husband in reaching his goals 

    QOTD: What are some of your goals for 2012?