Christmas Sweater 5K

This was my first race with a double stroller. I actually bought it that morning and then did the race the same day. This was an evening race. It was nice out and there was a slight breeze. Roughly 92 degrees but much of the race was in the shade.

I ran the entire kids’ fun run mile with the kiddo. He did a wonderful job and never walked. I am so proud of him. He ran the mile in 15 minutes. Not bad for a 3 year old!

Then it was time for the 5K. I strapped him next to his sister in the double stroller and took off. I managed to run farther than I had at my previous race. Then I walk/ran the rest.

This was a smaller sized race, but the atmosphere was wonderful! I would definitely do this race again.

Chip time – 42:58 (with double stroller)

Firecracker 5K

This was my first race back in it. Without any training or prepping. I ran this only 6 weeks after having my daughter.

I first ran the kids fun run with the kiddos. 1 mile – but luckily it was a big out and back with the start and finish in the very middle. That allowed me to run a little bit and then wait for them to return while still keeping my eye on them. I did this with a single jogging stroller. The kids then went into childcare available at the race. That was amazing! I would definitely take advantage of this and do more races if it was available.

I ran the 5K with a single jogger. It was wicked hot! Roughly 98 degrees out! Brutal for my first run back. Brutal for everyone else as well. But I did it. I wasn’t able to run the entire thing. But I did finish it.

The post race festivities were pretty good too. I’d do this race again in the future.

Chip time: 46:56 (with stroller)

Break the Silence

I’ve been pretty silence on my blog for a few years now. Okay…not pretty silent. More like absolutely silent. Not a peep. Not a squeak. Nothing. I honestly haven’t been running much. But I’ve decided to change that. I enjoy running and I enjoy racing. So I am going to do more of them. This time while pushing a double stroller!

Since my daughter was born (2 months ago) I’ve run in 2 5K races. In one I pushed a single stroller and in the other I pushed a double stroller. It’s a new beast. A new running challenge. But I am ready to tackle it.

I’ve put together a fairly simple workout/running schedule that I think I can manage. I will make sure to tweak anything if needed once I start.

I am excited to start. The first two races (without any prep) were obviously not my best. I know I can do better.

2015 Resolutions Review

Before I jump into my New Year’s resolutions for 2016, I think I need to wrap up my goals from 2015. They were fairly simple. You can find them officially here.

1. Read certain predetermined books. 

2. Compete in dance again. 

3. Run 13.1 miles. 

I picked out 7 books, all of which I already owned. I managed to read 4.5. I am in the middle of one right now, I didn’t finish it before the end of December, but that was my original plan (obviously). I did read some other books during the year, I just didn’t get to two specific ones on my original list. It doesn’t surprise me though. Les Mis has been on my list for ages. I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t need to read it. I love the musical, I love all the movie versions. That’s enough. I don’t need to feel obligated to read the book just because I like the story. Sure, maybe some day I will, but I am okay with the fact that I didn’t this year. The other book that remains unopened is Dubliners. Once again, not a surprise. Sure, it interests me, but truthfully I don’t really enjoy short stories and it’s one of those books that I feel like I should read but don’t have any true desire to read. Overall, even though I didn’t meet this goal, I am fine with it. 

I did not compete in dance again. Unfortunately it just wasn’t meant to be. I had other things going on that were a priority for me. Sure, I would have loved to dance this year and to compete again, but I wouldn’t do anything differently if I had to do it again. My family comes first and spending time with my family was my priority. This year was exactly what it should have been, and I am okay that dance was not a part of my year. 

Run 13.1 miles. Yes! I did this. 100% complete. You can read about my experience here.

I guess I officially completed only 50% of my 2015 resolutions but I am okay with that. There are times that your goals need to be changed. That’s okay. I still have to finalize my 2016 goals but I am nearly there. I am ready for the new year!

Resolution Ready?

It’s that time of year again. The time between Christmas and the New Year. One of my favorite times of year. It’s this weird week of limbo. School is still out for the kiddos but parents head back to work for a few days. Not much work actually gets done though. The next holiday is right around the corner. And of course New Year’s Eve brings with it all sorts of my favorite things. Mainly resolutions and a new planner. 

I am on the hunt for the absolute perfect planner for the year. I’m not sure exactly what I am looking for, but I have a feeling I will just know it when I see it and it will fall into my hands easily. Wishful thinking? Maybe. In all reality, I always pick the same type of planner and it is super simple and exactly what I need. So we will see how far I venture from the norm. 

The other item that I am looking at right now is my list of New Year’s Resolutions! And boy is it a mess. I need to do some refining. 

I have some general categories and ideas but as I’ve stated a number of times, goals and resolutions need to be very specific. I seem to be in a rut. My resolutions the past few years have been structured around running, dance, and reading. And this year it is looking the same. 

I have managed to categorize my goals a little differently this year and have put an emphasis on what accomplishing those goals brings to my life instead of just the goal itself. Not sure if that makes sense, but for now it does in my head. 

So I will continue to refine what I’ve got so far. Hopefully in a few hours I will be all set for the coming year. 

Check!

I have finally gotten to check off one of my New Year’s Resolution boxes.  I completed a half marathon.  This has been a goal of mine for a few years now so it feels wonderful to have completed it.

I originally said that I just wanted to run 13.1 miles.  I didn’t care if it was on my own, at a race, outside, in the woods, on a treadmill, etc.  I just wanted to prove that I could run for that long.  I wasn’t getting this accomplished on my own.  I dragged my feet and made excuses. Finally I signed up a for a convenient race in my community.  No more excuses.  I was locked in.

It helped that I had a long distance friend who was also going to run her first half about the same time. I like to find running plans and make workout schedules but I am horrible about following them. I feel tied down and get discouraged. So I was just running at random times and for random distances. Not the best training ever. I hadn’t done a single long run. Nothing over a 10k, but my friend said she was doing a 15k one weekend so I decided that sounded like a plan. The only time I was able to run was late at night. So I hopped on the treadmill and took off. I did a run/walk combination, walking whenever I got tired. Suddenly, as I neared the end of my 15k, the treadmill turned off! Completely! Apparently it has a time limit and I had exceeded that limit. I rushed to turn it back on and not lose my momentum. Lesson learned. I need to either be faster, run outside, or remember for the future so I don’t lose my data. 

That was my only “training”. One semi long run on a treadmill (set at 0% incline of course). 

Race day! So exciting. I had a few goals in mind. I like to have something specific to aim for. To finish. That is never a true goal of mine. I never go into a race thinking that there is a possibility that I won’t finish. I knew that I could go the distance. I knew that it was possible. Finishing was not a goal. I wanted to finish in under 2:30. A far reaching goal was 2:20, but under 2:30 would make me happy. And finally, I wanted to run the entire thing and not walk. I didn’t even do this during my 15k run so I wasn’t sure I could do this in the half. I wasn’t even going to make it a real goal of mine. I felt it was too far fetched. However, my husband said that he believed I could do it without any problems. So I wanted to try and try my hardest. 

  
The race started off cold. My hands were frozen. But as I warmed up from running the sun also came out. At about the halfway point I ditched my zip up and finished in a tshirt. I met some wonderful strangers along the way who provided me with encouragement and helped me keep going. The race was….up and down. Literally. The first half was just a continuous hill all the way up and then all the way down. The second half were a lot of little hills. Up and down. Up and down. Up and down. Wow. Those were exhausting. But I managed to push through. 

  
I finished the race. I knew I would. My official time was 2:29:43. I met my goal! And I also ran the entire thing. I didn’t walk at all. Not even through the water stations. I can run extremely slow, but it’s still running. I am extremely proud of myself for pushing through. It felt good to accomplish a goal that was going to be hard for me. It wasn’t something that I knew I could do. It was something that would require me to dig down deep and really put forth some effort. I am so thankful that I did. 

When I crossed the finish line I honestly felt like I could keep going.  I wasn’t short of breath. I wasn’t winded. Cardio wise, I was up for more. Muscle wise, I was not. My hips were aching. I felt like I couldn’t walk another step. I hurt. I think I can help remedy that with some more strength training and longer training runs so my body isn’t shocked by it. 

I was slightly sore in my hips the following day but I wasn’t out for the count. My recovery was easy. And even before I had fully recovered I was contemplating running a full. At minimum another half. 

I guess I need to get training. Perhaps this will end up on my 2016 New Year’s Resolutions. 

I did it. I DID IT!! Yep. I sure did. And let me tell you…..it felt awesome. Awesomely horrible. And awesomely awesome. 

Help From Friends

My dance friends and family are currently competing at the Oireachtas. This is a big deal. This is a regional competition that can qualify you for the world competition. It is an exciting time. However, I am not there. I haven’t been able to dance this year. My schedule does not allow it. That’s okay. I have become more focused on running and working out in general but I still miss dance immensely. My dance family helped to motivate and inspire me this morning. 

There was a 5K race today. I dragged my feet and didn’t sign up for it ahead of time. I was thinking about skipping it completely. I haven’t gotten much sleep this week and have been pretty busy. Sometimes you just want to sleep as long as possible on a Saturday morning and then have a lazy day. That was my plan….and then it changed. 

I watched diligently for the live results of the first day of the Oireachtas last night. I was so nervous and excited for those that competed and I was so proud of their results. That was only day one. Saturday morning my dancing Diva buddy was going to compete at the same time as the race. That did it. I was going to run. She would dance and I would run. Somehow this felt like we were together again, competing against each other but cheering each other on at the same time. 

If you are passionate about something then you can make great sacrifices for it. Diva was pushing herself and ready for her first major dance competition at this level. How exciting and inspiring. If..strike that…When I return to dance I can only hope to have her drive. I decided to make the sacrifice of extra sleep and do something good for my body and my mind. 

I might currently be in the middle of a long “off season” for dance, but even in the off season you still need to train and keep up a certain level of fitness. 

Thank you to my dance family by motivating me to head to the race this morning in pursuit of my passion. I had forgotten the reason why I do things. We all need reminders sometimes. 

My Just Desserts

Within classical conditioning a behavior that provokes a negative reaction is usually a behavior that is short lived.  I, on the other hand, must be a glutton for punishment.

I know lots of people will track what they eat throughout the day for a certain period of time to see if there are trends in their eating habits that they need to break.  It also makes people aware of just how much they eat in any given day.  I have done this off and on for years.  I don’t think it made me conscious of any trends except that I became neurotic about counting my chips.  Not because I wanted to make sure that I didn’t eat too many, but because I wanted to make sure that I entered the exact amount into my food tracker.  Or I went the other way and just put in the type of food that I ate and completely made up the serving size  and portion that I ate.  Then the calorie intake was never correct.  I never broke it down and looked into how much sodium or protein or carbs I was consuming in a day.  That didn’t bother me at all.  I just tracked what I ate without any analysis.  What was the point?

At one point in my life I lived off of Oreos and Coke.  That was just about the only things that I ate (hello college life).  This isn’t the best combination.  I was shaky and felt sick all the time.  I would get dizzy and need to sit down etc.  Not fun.  Well, my doctor informed me that sugar isn’t a good nutritious meal.  I was told to eat protein and severely limit my sugar intake.  The doctor even went as far to say that I was borderline diabetic.  Umm…Oreos and Coke don’t really have protein and are slightly high on the sugar side.  And for a strict vegetarian how was I supposed to up my protein as much as my doctor wanted?  So I tried to change my diet, but definitely didn’t give it my best.

Fast forward a few years and I was feeling sick again…after every single meal.  I would feel nauseous and just down right icky.  Eating sucked, but I loved to eat.  So I experimented some.  I cut down on the dairy I was consuming.  I changed to lactose free milk.  I also took some Lactaid to see if that was any help at all.  I was still feeling sick after eating.  I gave up that eating plan.  Pretty sure the night I decided to give up on the lactose free diet I ate an entire bowl of queso by myself.  Ahhhh.  Beautiful queso.

Well, the sick feeling continued for years.  I just kind of dealt with it.  What?  Not everyone feels sick every single time they eat?  Who knew?  It became “normal” to me.  Then something amazing happened.  Allergies.  Specifically allergies to milk, egg whites, egg yolks, wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, oats, oranges and pineapple.  Well I said good-bye to any and all processed foods essentially.  Guess what happened?  I didn’t feel sick after eating!  EVER!  I was eating fresh fruit and vegetables and everything was nice and fresh and clean.  But all good things must come to an end…or so they say.  I started to feel sick again after eating.  Why?  Because I slacked.  The allergies were under control and I started to reintroduce some forbidden foods into my diet.  I possibly ate an entire bowl of queso by myself again.  Not a good idea.

Now that I know what it feels like to eat and not be sick, why do I not continue that?  I’m not sure.  It’s a constant struggle.  It’s so easy to grab random processed snacks to eat instead of making a meal from scratch.  And really, I do LOVE queso, but it wouldn’t ruin my life to never eat an entire bowl of queso by myself again.  So here I am, on the edge of insanity and reason.  I know that I will get negative results if I continue to eat junk, however, I do it anyway.  Pretty insane by definition.  I fight with reason though.  I fight and make excuses about time.  I have no time.  No time to shop, no time to cook, no time to plan.  Well, those are all lies!

What does a life without milk, egg whites, egg yolks, wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, oats, oranges, and pineapples look like?  I’ll let you know when I get back on that bandwagon.  Right now I need to finish my morning coffee and oatmeal cookie(s).  Would Pavlov be proud?

Happy New Fiscal Year

It should be well known by now that I LOVE goals! I love setting them. I love tracking them. I love accomplishing them. I even love failing them because it gives me an opportunity to grow. I also love it when a goal lines up nicely with my calendar. Any rhyme or reason works for me. It could be the 1st of the month, or the 1st Tuesday, etc. As long as I can easily remember it then it works for me. So where does this put me now?

It’s time to set some goals! Why? It’s the new fiscal year! Sure, this probably seems odd. And I agree. It is odd. I randomly decided while running on the treadmill during my lunch break today that I should set some goals for the new fiscal year. I wasn’t sure what though. Maybe a shorter echo to my New Year’s resolutions? Maybe something new? Then it was suggested to me that my goals should be fiscal. Umm….that sounds horrible and boring. I would much rather set a fun goal of dancing or racing or doing some charity work. But then I thought about it some more and it seems to fit me perfectly. I am up for the challenge. 

Lots of financial goals involve paying off debt or saving money for either an emergency or for something specific. Advisors also suggest getting your finances and organizing your finances. I’ll attempt both….in my own way.

First off: saving. 

Lately I have been taking a morning trip to Starbucks. What is the purpose? Well, for coffee obviously. Usually I just get a normal drip coffee. Sometimes I will indulge in a latte or some other drink. Roughly speaking I spend $10-25 a week at Starbucks. Wow. Look at that latte factor! That’s $500-1300 a year. That’s a good chunk of money. 

Yep…I’m sure you can see where this is going. Starbucks and I are breaking up….kind of. 

I am actually gifted Starbucks cards that help fuel my habit. The money isn’t always coming directly out of my pocket but that adds to the problem. I am detached from it. I don’t know what it costs. I buy without any discretion. So it’s time to limit. The timing is perfect. I have $0.58 on my Starbucks card and I have one free rewards drink. Now is the perfect time to start this goal. 
Every goal needs some structure. You’ve got to plan your goals. So here goes. Terms and conditions – I will not buy coffee out more than once a week. Simple. Does not matter if it is my money or a gift card. Does not matter if it is from Starbucks or another coffee shop. My point of this is not to save, but instead to see how much I waste. 

This will be hard and I am regretting it already. 

The second goal – getting finances in order. Yay! Office supplies! I am going to literally organize my finance papers. I stay on top of bills and retirement and taxes and everything else. But somehow my organization has fallen through the cracks. I have a bunch of papers that haven’t been filed. I have folders that are years old and need to be shredded. Now is a great opportunity to do that.

The nitty gritty – by the end of October I will have organized my piles of financial papers and have them filed neatly. I will go through old files and either archive them or shred them accordingly. Nice and simple organization. 

There are my two goals for the New Fiscal Year. Do you have any goals planned? Do you think this is ridiculous? Have you decided to set a New Fiscal Year Goal from reading this?

Consistency

During a night out, ages ago, a friend bought me a shot at the bar.  I was just handed the drink and told to drink it.  Obviously, I was skeptical.  I resisted and argued and wasn’t about to do something just because someone said to, and I wasn’t going to do it on their time and on their terms.  I was being responsible.  Come to find out, the longer the drink sat there, the worse it became.  It started to curdle.  Once I finally agreed to drink it, the texture was unbearable.  Chunky and gross.  The consistency was completely wrong.

When I take time off from running or from dance, my form, motivation, skills, strength, abilities, and flexibility start to rot.  They are ruined.  When I finally go for a run or practice my dance like I should, I find that my body doesn’t cooperate.  It feels completely wrong.  Chunky and gross.

There are some things that just shouldn’t sit.  Apparently a drink called a cement mixer, and your physical fitness.  So get out there and stay active.  The only thing that will keep your body feeling like it is at the right consistency, is consistency in your schedule.