Tuesday, November 30, 2010

putting things into perspective

The whole running thing is still very new to me and I am still working on finding "the balance".   You know what I am talking about right?  The balance between church, family, work, friends, home, and then to add in fitness, well it is extremely challenging.   I wish there was a simple way to make it all work but as I am finding out this is not the case.  
I knew that this past Sunday was supposed to be a running day for me, so Sat night I went to bed at a decent time and set my alarm for 6am.  I do not need to leave for church until 9:30 so this would give me plenty of time to run, take a shower, make breakfast, get the kids ready and be off by 9:30am.  Around 3am dead to the world I hear this little whisper next to my bed.  "mom, I had an accident I am going to the basement to sleep"  "ok sweetie, love you" I reply.  It was not until the alarm went off at 6am that I realized that if my boy was sleeping in the basement next to my treadmill I would not be able to run.  I sat up and contemplated what I should do, it was raining and cold outside so I knew running outside was NOT going to happen.  Should I wake him up for the day, should I try to move him to my bed, do I let him sleep and just run after church?  I chose to run after church.  After church the sun was shinning and although still rather cold I thought running outside might be a good idea but just as I was thinking this my son says to me "mom can we go swimming at the YMCA today"  The other boys squeal at the idea of going swimming and so I thought ok sure get to the YMCA work out for 1.5 hrs, and then let them swim for 1.5 hrs everyone will be happy.  To their extreme delight we ate lunch got ready (which took FOREVER) and then headed out.  I should have realized when I pulled up in the parking lot and there were not that many cars there that something was up.  I walked the kids in and asked when the child watch would open, the lady replied "oh sweetie on Sundays the child watch is closed"  Ok so I knew this and have know this for the last 8 months that I have had this membership only for some reason this particular day it slipped my mind.  Still thinking positive I say to the kids ok we swim for 1 hr and then we go home so mommy can run.  The kids swim and have a great time for the next 60 min and when their time was up I rushed to get them showered and dressed.  On the way home the sun is no longer shinning and the temp is dropping so I decide the treadmill is the way to go.  I made the kids dinner and told them that I wanted 1hr by myself with no interruptions.  I let them know that if they needed anything they were to ask daddy.  I flew down the steps to hop on the treadmill.  I got in about 6 min. before the first interruption happened, my oldest wanted to ask me if he could go outside.  I was annoyed and said "uhhh helllooo you walked right past your father just so you could come bug me?  Go talk to your dad"  About 3 min. after that my youngest came down..."mommy mommy mommy I need the little people animals for Noah's Ark"  I do not like to talk while running but I muster "J they are in the blue tub in the closet"  He proceeds to walk around as if he has never been in the basement before in his life asking what closet.  He finally finds the closet and proceeds to pull random tubs of toys out (not the blue tub)  I end up getting so annoyed I get off the treadmill and help him.  I now am pissy.  Every attempt to run today was squashed.  Upset that between church and the pool I had given my husband over 5 hrs of alone time to get done what he needed to do, upset that I took the children to the pool to give them something they wanted and yet none of them could reciprocate and give me more then 6 min. before interrupting me.  I only got in 1 mile before I gave up.  1 mile, thats it, thats all I got!  My pity party was short lived though because there was one last thing on my to due list for the day... go to the visitation for my friends husband who had just passed away. 
Yes, my day did not go as I had planned and yes the one thing I wanted to get accomplished did not happen. (at least the way I had wanted it too)  Getting dressed and ready to go to this visitation I had to remind myself that there is a balance that needs to be maintained.  Without any one of the things in my life that I am trying to balance I would be devastated.  Just like my friend.  So my pity party ended and counted my blessings that I have my boys, my husband, my extended family, my church, my friends, my job, and my health.  It no longer seemed like just 1 mile and more like alright at least I got in a mile.   balancing everything is something that I am not going to learn over night and stuff is going to come up.  The laundry is not always going to be done, I might not always get to church on time, the kids might not always have a hot dinner, I might not always get to run more then 1 mile and that is ok.  Crap and now I have to stop typing because I only have 8 min. to pick up the kids from school....BALANCE!!  (lol)

Saturday, November 27, 2010

15 day challenge results

Well Thursday was not only Thanksgiving but it was also the last day of my 15 day challenge.  The original challenge was supposed to be to put in 15 miles before Thanksgiving dinner, in the 15 days leading up to Thanksgiving.  I decided to take on this challenge but the very first weekend I had spoiled myself going out to eat and decided I better do a little better then just 15 miles.  I challenged myself to 30 miles in just 15 days instead.  Does not sound to bad, after all that is only 2 miles a day right?  Well since I changed the challenge for myself on the 4th day I only had 11 days left.  Oh and I only run about 4 days a week, so it was not as easy as it sounded.  Last week I put 18 miles of running in.  The most I had ever done in one week I was very proud of myself!
Thanksgiving day I was not at my 30 miles yet, I was sitting at 27.75 miles.    Earlier in the week I signed up to do a Thanksgiving virtual 5k (feed the turkey) through dailymile.  It was a great opportunity to get some miles logged in before the big dinner and also raise money for St. Jude's Children's research hospital.   I knew the night before that reaching my 30 mile goal was going to be a piece of cake now because I had committed to a 3.1 run in the morning.   So I decided to challenge myself one more time and aim for a PR of anything faster then 36:58 for my 5k in the morning.  To be honest I actually only did this because I knew I was going to be running on my treadmill and I knew I could keep track of exactly how far/fast I was going and be able to step it up a notch with just the press of a button if needed.   So anyways that morning I hopped on and ran 3.1 in 36:33.  I was very happy to have set a new PR for myself.  I had a great time running it and was so happy to be able to help out a good cause at the same time. 

I ended up finishing my 15 day challenge with over just over 30 miles, and I think that is very cool.

I hope everyone had a fun, safe holiday! 

Monday, November 22, 2010

Support from others runners is like no other!!!

I don't normally run with anyone.  In fact in the 5 months that I have been running I have only ever run with a partner 3 total times.   I guess I just do not go seeking out anyone to run with because I am new.  I do not run all that far or that fast for that matter and would hate to hold anyone back.  (that and of course I don't want to look stupid or weak)  My first two runs with partners went just fine but that is because they were runs with people who were training for the same event that I was.  Our running levels were just about the same.   Yesterday though I ran with a friend of mine who has already run a marathon.

Ashley (that is not her real name, I am just using that because she does not know I have a blog and intend on talking about her, just not sure how she would feel about that) and I met about two yrs ago probably at a cub scout event.  Her oldest son and my oldest son are scouts.  That said it was not until our younger sons met that we started talking.  Our younger boys are great friends and are in the same class at school together.  I heard through the grapevine that Ashley had been a marathon runner.  When she found out that I was running my first 5k she would always ask me how the training was going and offer words of encouragement. 

Both the 5k's that I ran I encouraged her to run them with me.  I knew that she was WAY above my skill level but I thought it would be fun if we did the race together.  Unfortunately Ashley spent the last 3 months in and out of the hospital sicker then a dog with Crohns disease.   She was not able to run for three months.
Then the other day her face book status said something like "I am back" and next thing you know I get a message saying "I am ready to run"   We made a plans to run together and yesterday was the day.

In the days leading up to the run she mentioned to me something about not being sure how far she would be able to go since she had not run in three months, but in the back of my mind I knew she was still going to be able to run circles around me.   We decided that I would set the pace and that we would just run for 5 min then walk for one min, and repeat until we were done.  Fortunately she has one of those fancy watches everyone but me seems to have...gosh I have to get me one of those!!      She took me on a trail that I had never run on before which was great!  I loved the change of scenery and the trail was nice.  (there was even a bathroom on the trail... how cool is that?  lol  Come on now if you are a runner you have been there, you know the whole slow down, look to both sides of you, and then behind you and if the way is clear you make a quick duck behind the nearest bush where you can drop your drawers and pee.  Yeah not so fun, so yes the bathroom excited me a bit).  Anyways, as soon as we get into it she notices how I am running and offers me suggestions on how to change my stride.  She said that the way I was running would cause strain to my legs.   UUMMM HELLLOO  seriously I have had leg pain since the day I started running.  Oh how I hope what she showed me helps, that would be amazing.  I tried running the way she suggested but every time I stopped focusing on it I would go back to the way I always had run before.  I corrected my stride several times throughout the run.  Just something I will have to work on.  If it works though I will be so grateful because this leg pain has got to go!    Since Ashley had the watch I had no idea what what kind of pace we were on or how much time had passed all I could do was just enjoy the run.  It was so nice just to be able to enjoy the scenery and the company I was with and not think about the numbers.  At one point in time not sure when, guessing about 3.5 miles into it Ashley yells out "I feel alive"  and I shout out "I am going to die"   lmao   I was feeling it big time at this point in time.   We finished up our run having gotten in 4.75 miles.  That included a little walking for a warm up and cool down.  Even with the walking we finished in 1hr and 54 sec. 
We got back to her house and I just looked at her and said... "who gets so sick that they are in and out of a hospital for three months and then just goes out one day and runs 4.5 miles.  Who does that"?    lol   Ashley does I guess!  Not only could she run it but I know she could have gone farther and probably faster.  She rocked it!  

Several times on the trail she would look at me and ask if I was ok.  Ha ha she was the one who was so ill she could not run for three months and yet she kept asking me if I was ok.  There is something simply amazing about runners that I have discovered in recent months.  I have not yet run into a runner who is not encouraging or supportive.  I don't know what it is exactly but the running community is like a family.  Everyone supports each other like we are all on the same team.  Even at races it is like this.  I think it is because even though it is a race the only person who you are really, truly competing against is yourself. 
I am not sure that I would still be running if it were not for my running friends at cafemom, dailymile or my new fav. running moms group on facebook.  With so much support it is actually hard to feel like a running failure. 

I will admit that I was intimidated by what Ashley has accomplished and was nervous about running with someone who was far more experienced then I was.  I however am so glad that I did not let that stop me from running with her.  If I was not with her I would have probably stopped running right about the time she told me she was "feeling alive" instead I pushed on for about another mile.  I would not have been given tips on how to change my stride either.  I would have missed out on a great run, on a great trail with great company for nothing.   Because like I said before, the support and encouragement from other runners is amazing.  I can not wait to run again with her!


On a side note, I found my shoes.  As I suspected it was the work of the little one who comes over to play.  I found them get this...stashed behind my couch.  This is how I know it was him, the area between the wall and the couch is so small only he can fit back there.  I should have thought about looking there long before I did.  I know he likes to go back there.   My total miles for my current challenge is 25.75  Less then 5 miles to go and I still have 3 more days!   3.1 of those miles is going to be part of a different challenge that I encourage all of you to take part in as well.  A charity event for St. Jude's children's hospital.  Here is the link check it out and join me in a virtual 5k!
http://www.dailymile.com/turkey_trot#participate

Saturday, November 20, 2010

a few set backs this week

This week I had a few minor set backs in my running. 
First of all I have been dealing with this nagging annoying pain in my shins since I started running.  I am told that I just need to stretch, eat bananas, get new shoes, ice, and rest.  Guess what I have tried ALL of these things but still nothing seems to help the pain. Sure taking a couple days off helps but the min. I get back to running the pain comes back.  I ran track when I was a freshman in high school. (hated every single sec. of it and was probably the weakest link on the team) I think I spent the majority of the season in the big ice tank icing my legs.  I have ALWAYS had this stupid nagging shin issue.  I was told maybe yoga will help so tomorrow I plan on going out and getting a video.  At this point in time I will try anything. 
The kids set me back a little this week too.  Just this morning I woke up early to hop on the treadmill well apparently my idea of early was not early enough.  Sure enough just a half mile into my run I hear "hi mommy can I have breakfast now?"  I reply with a "not now dear let mommy run for a little while first".  At mile 2 and mile 3 I got asked the same question again.  At 3.5 miles when my 6 yr old came down and said "come ooon mom I am starving"  my response was "gosh darn i t! You guys are not even supposed to be awake yet...go get your own breakfast"   ha ha  (don't worry I got my ass off the treadmill and made them breakfast)  For a min. when I got off I was annoyed that I did not get to run as much as I had wanted but then I started thinking realistically and reminded myself that just two weeks ago I was struggling just to get my 3 miles in.  3.5 along with a half mile warm up was nothing to balk at.   I knew at that point in time I should stop my pity party.
Oh and let me not forget to tell you about Jackson my 3 yr old locking me out of the basement (where my treadmill is) because he was mad at me.   No joke!  He got made at me, looked at me, walked over to the basement door, looked at me again, opened the door, locked the door, made a "hummph" noise and then closed the door.  "Jackson" I ask "why did you just lock the basement door"?  "Because I am mad at you"  I found this to be very amusing.  So my response was "hhmmm Jackson you do realize that now that you have locked the door you can not get in their either?  Remember it is not just mommy's treadmill that is down there, your playroom is down there as well.  So I guess now you have no toys to play with".   Ha Ha his little plan backfired on himself.   That door stayed locked over 24 hrs until this morning when I picked it so I could run.   Bet he will not do that again. 
There is also a shoe issue.  Now this sabotage I am thinking is the work of my little one yr old friend who comes to play with us three days a week.  You see this little buddy of mine has been know to hide shoes.  In fact he does it ALL the time.  I usually am lucky enough to catch him in the act but this time I was not so lucky.  I guess I have no solid proof it was him, but I since I have caught him putting shoes in the garbage, the Lego tub, the shower, and trying to shove one in between the couch cushions (which was extremely funny since it was to big of a shoe to fit he threw a temper tantrum) I have no choice but to blame him for my missing kicks.  I know eventually they will turn up but who knows when or where.  In the mean time I will have to use an old pair of Nikes to get my miles in.
As of right now I am up to 21 miles in my quest to get in 30 miles before Thanksgiving dinner.  I have 5 more days to get in 9 miles.  I can do this!!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

why working out near boys is not always easy

Ok I am going to admit something to you all.  I am a Twihard!  For those of you living under a rock and do not know what that is, it is a person who is a huge fan of the Twilight series.  I know it is silly to be as old as I am (34) and be in love with the books as well as the movies but hay I also still love New Kids on the Block so what can I say.  (do not worry I got rid of my nkotb sheets and pillow cases a while ago)  Being the Twihard I am, last night I put in my New Moon dvd for about the 27th time and I got on my treadmill.  Before I knew it the movie was half over and I had ran 5 miles.  Being at a pivotal point in the movie and not wanting to stop watching I added a half mile cool down to that 5 miles.  I put in those 5 miles of running in 1 hr and 3 min.  Which I am ok with, that was the farthest I have ever run so time meant nothing to me.  I am just happy to have gone that far.  In case your wondering where this leaves me for the challenge I am doing, I am at 13.5 miles.  (if your reading this and have no idea what challenge I am talking about, I explained it all in my last post)

So since I did that running last night today was my off day.  My family all went to parent teacher conferences tonight and when we got home we turned on the tv, the Biggest Loser was on.  I watch this every week but usually by myself, Ryan is not a fan of the show and my kids are in bed at this time.  Tonight though we all watched for a little bit.  We watched until we saw Jillian (one of the trainers) make one of the contestants step up on a step 500 times.  Once the contestant had finished I paused the tv and said to all my boys "I wonder if I could do that.  hhhmmm  I am going to try that"  I went and got my shoes on.  I do not own a workout step so I used the stairs and asked to boys to help me keep count.  All was going well until around step 75 the boys started getting squirrely.  After all it was past their bed time so I sent them up the stairs to go brush their teeth.  I told them that when they were done they could come sit in front of me on the top step to watch.  That was my big mistake.  Ryan at this time has started playing video games and is only half paying attention to my quest to conquer 500 steps.  At step 220 Cooper is back down but not sitting on the step watching me.  He is now acting silly and dancing in front of me.  He knows that he is getting away with all this goofiness because daddy is not paying attention and mommy is not going to stop stepping up for anything. This is when he takes it to an all new "boy" level.   At step 279 the first mooning happened.  My sweet 8 yr old little boy mooned me.  He found himself so funny that he proceeded to moon me over and over again while dancing past the steps.  He knew he had a "captive" audience since I was not going to stop.   He continued this laughing, dancing, mooning fest until step 334.  This is when the child bent over to moon me again and farted. (oh and it stunk too)  Thankfully Ryan actually caught this one and sent him up to bed.  I finished up my 500 steps in peace without the smell or view of an ass, which was nice.  To be honest I thought that it was going to be hard but it was not hard at all and did not take that long to do. (it was a little rough on my knees though)  I think you all should take on the 500 step challenge, just do yourself a favor and do not do it while any silly boys are in the room!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

15 day challenge

I committed to a challenge the other day.  15 miles in the 15 days leading up to Thanksgiving.  You can run, bike, walk, swim, or do whatever to get those miles in.  I am choosing to run most of them.  It is kinda a put the work in and reward yourself with a guilt free amazing turkey dinner kinda thing.  I loved the idea and I am happy to say that already have logged 8 of those 15 miles on my treadmill!  That said after this weekend I think I need to log an additional 15 just for what I ate.   YIKES!!
It was an amazing weekend filled with family and friends which I love love loved at the time, but now I am a little worried about what damage I might have done to my number on the scale.  My family ate out 6 meals this weekend!!!   This includes the party we attended Friday night in which not only included food but also included a plethora of alcoholic drinks.  Yes I know I did not have to partake in the drinking portion of it all too but... well I did have a lot of fun!  Somewhere between the my first piece of cake (um yea I know, I meant to say first piece)  and the chicken Parmesan I started to feel a little guilty and began to worry about the number that will show up on the scale this Friday.  Worst part is that my son Owen's 6th birthday is tomorrow so the parade of yummy food has not yet come to an end.
I think it would be easy to just take the week "off" and start over next week.  This is what I have done so many times in the past though and guess what, that is why I never lost any weight.  This time I am not going to do that, I will not allow myself that "well you already blew 4 days this week so what is 3 more" mentality.  Not only will I not allow myself that mentality I pledge to do an additional 15 miles before Thanksgiving dinner.  For a total of at least 30 miles, which means I only have 22 more miles to do... easy right? right?  Wait how many days to I have left untill Thanksgiving?  YIKES!  ha ha   I think I can do it!!    I will be keeping track of those miles here on my blog.  Wish me luck!

Friday, November 12, 2010

One of those days

This morning I woke up to my sweet 3 yr old wanting to cuddle in bed with me and watch cartoons.  I love this of course and I put the tv on right away,  Only to find it did not work.  I grab the blankies and head downstairs with my son to use the other tv for snuggle time.  Unfortunately  that one was not working either.  At this point in time now I am feeling annoyed and my little one no longer wants to snuggle.  I proceed with my usual morning until I can get a min to call the cable provider.  After an hr and a half on the phone with tec. support I now have one working tv and it is not the one in the family room.  So now I am not just annoyed I am pissed off.  To be honest I don't watch much tv during the day so not having a tv does not bother me at all.  What bothered me was the fact that I spent an hr and a half dealing with the issue and it still was not fixed. 

I was in a bad mood and I knew that my morning was shot but in order to make it a good afternoon I had to blow off some steam.  It is a very good thing I own a treadmill.  I waited until the children all went down for nap (wait did I tell you all that I watch kids out of my home?) and got on.  I knew I could not use my mp3 player because I needed to be able to hear if the kids woke up so it was not my favorite run, that's for sure.  That said I was able to get three miles in before I heard a little voice from the top of  my stairs that said "I'm awake now"  I had wanted to go more but 3miles was enough to change my mood around and gave me just what I needed to enjoy an afternoon filled with little boys.  It is amazing to me how a simple run on the treadmill can do so much for not just the body but for the mind too.
I  am happy to say that my mood continued to improve throughout the afternoon and evening... even though my tv still is NOT working!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Hello Everyone

Like most everyone else who starts a blog, I wonder if anyone will read this.  I have three boys all under the age of 8.  I spent the last 9 yrs of my life pretty much pregnant or nursing.  When my youngest was about 2 1/2 I decided that it was time for me to get back to "myself".   After a failed attempt at losing weight on my own, I decided to join a gym which had a child care for the kids.  That was March 2010, I hit that gym 4 times a week and after 4 months of this I had only lost 5lbs.  Desperate for a way to seriously get in shape I decided I should take up running.  I have never been a runner, wanted to be a runner, or thought that I would ever become a runner.  Just 3 months after making a decision to start running I ran my first 5k, just last week I ran my second and just last night I ran 4.5 miles just because I could.  (which I am still on a high over) 
I plan on using this blog to document my life with my crazy kids and husband as well as how I progress into a healthier person for my family!
Kelly