Early run

I woke up early this morning and checked my Facebook only to find my sister's status: "Gained an hour of day this morning by waking up at 5:30am for a "before the kids wake up" run. 4 miles done."

How can you NOT go out and run when you see that your running partner has already gone?! We're going on a small trip today and I was tempted to wait to run until tonight, but after seeing that I couldn't wait. I had to do it now.

I got out before the sun was all the way up. I love seeing the sunrise. It's pretty cool seeing it come over the mountains.

I felt pretty good on my run. I felt like I was going slow, but I was at a pretty fast pace (for me). The major thing I noticed on my run today was that I really need to work on my posture while running. I run so heavy. I don't know of that makes sense, but you see some runners out there that just look SOO light on their feet. I'm the opposite. I trudge along. There are some times when I'm running on the trail or the treadmill and I totally hit the perfect stride and I feel light, but I want to figure out how to do that during the whole run, not just a tiny section of it.

This week will be a fun one. Lots of family time. :)

Hale Freezes Over 5k

We got up and headed down to Orem this morning around 8. I've been trying to get past this sinus/head cold that I've had for the past week and woke up with a headache, but I wasn't going to let that stop me. 

We got down there and ran 2 of my 5 miles. I was feeling good. It was cold out and my hands were freezing, but after those 2 miles I didn't need any gloves. The race started out great. I was at a good consistent pace for 2 miles of the race until I hit the hill. There's a massive hill around mile 2 that just kills. I ran half of it and then stopped and walked to the top. That was rough. I finished strong, though! 34.33! Not too bad! I'm pretty proud of myself. :)

Yay, for races!! I'm getting back to running a race every month this year. I love looking forward to a race every month. The next one is a Valentine's Day 5k, I'll run that one with my sister.  

(Who, by the way, got bitten by the running bug. She just signed up for her first marathon!!! GO JOY!)

What a great day! :)

The treadmill...

Yesterday I was supposed to run 3.5 miles.

I didn't.

I took a rest day.

I've been feeling a sinus thing coming on, so I rested. Today wasn't any better, but I wanted to get out there. So, after a loooong day at home with kids and taking little Rose to the doc for her 1yr check up (with all other 3 kids in tow) I was able to get my run in at the gym.

I haven't run on a treadmill for a while, so every mile I paused it for a min and caught my breath. I ended up running 3.5 and walking .5 as a cool down. Not bad!

Tomorrow is a cross training day and then Saturday is my first race of the year. Hale Freezes Over 5k. Yay!

Elliptical...

Today was 2 miles or cross training. I chose cross training. 

I started out with 30 minutes and then went upstairs to get Jason to let him know it was his turn. He was too caught up in his game so, I went back down and did his 30 minutes for him. Haha! 

I guess my 60 minutes made him feel guilty, cause he's down here now doing his 30 minutes. 

60 minutes on the elliptical! Yeah, man! It feels good to work up a sweat. I love that I felt like I wanted to keep going. That's the best feeling. :) 

Tomorrow 3.5 miles + strength.

Upping the miles...just a little...

Today I ran 3.5 miles.

 Week 3 in my training for the Riverton Half. Things are going good. I'm feeling stronger. 

My goal today was to keep my miles under 12 or even better 11:30. I did well, just barely over 1130 for 2 of the 3.5 miles. I've gotta push myself though. I need to push past those "wanna quit" moments in my run. 

I'm almost done with Hunger Games... Next up: Catching Fire.

Since the Jan 1st, I'm down 6.6lbs. Not bad, not bad! 

I've been tracking my food every day and drinking a TON. Jason visited his friend last week and he had been losing weight really well and one of his tricks was to fill a gallon jug up at the beginning of the day and have it all gone by the end of the day. So, for the past 3 days we've been doing it and boy do I feel good! Sure, I'm peeing like a prego again, but I feel SO much better. I think it's helping flush out all the junk in my body.

This week will be a good one, I'm sure of it. :)

We are so blessed...

We went on a little walk today as a family before dinner and this was the awesome view. 

Boy are we blessed. I never wanted to live in Utah growing up, but I love it now. I love seeing the mountains all around me. The kids had fun making snow angels and sliding on the ice. 

Tomorrow I'm doing 3.5 miles and I may have to pull out my YakTrax so I can run in the ice.

Rain, rain, rain...

This morning I woke up to Jason telling me that the clouds were deceiving and that it was really 930 in the morning. I had slept in a lot longer than I planned, but I'm sure my body needed the sleep.

I got onto Facebook and MyFitnessPal to find that my sister had finished her 4 miles 2 hours earlier. I felt like a slacker and didn't really want to get up and go. I looked out the window to find it raining outside. "This will be a fun one," I thought. "These are the kind of runs that separate the slackers from the ones that really want it."

I got all dressed in my comfy Lucy leggings. Those pants are SO comfy. The only thing missing is a draw string. They tend to slide down while I run, so I put on a running skirt with an extra tall waist band (made for pregos) to hold them up. Anyway... I headed out the door with my raincoat on and my iPhone all wrapped up in Glad cling wrap (I didn't want any water killing my phone.)

I started out great. I was into my book until it went to the next track. Yeah, I gotta make sure to turn off the shuffle mode when I run. I fixed that, took a picture, and then kept going. The last mile was the hardest. The wind and rain were picking up and I was starting to hear the negative voices... "just walk...it's ok. You did good it's ok to walk now." No way man! I kept it up and finished my 4 miles strong.

I'm noticing differences in my legs now. They're starting to feel more muscular and less fatty. My body is getting leaner. Yay!

Next week is my first 5k of the year. It'll be fun. :)

3 miles and a book...

Today I did 3 miles around the lake. 

The clouds were threatening to rain/snow and there was a super light drizzle at times, but the temperature was PERFECT. I loved it. 

I decided to listen to the Hunger Games today while running. Boy, did that make a difference. My mind was on the book rather than wandering and wanting to quit. I know some people think I'm nuts running while listening to a book, but sometimes it really is MUCH easier to run to. Music gets to be too much sometimes. I ended up running without stopping and I didn't have to fight myself the whole way to keep going. 

Tomorrow I'll do the elliptical again... That or I'll do 2 miles. We'll see what happens. My baby girls turns 1 tomorrow! How crazy is that? I can't believe it's been a whole year. Time flies by so fast.

Yay for the Elliptical!

Today I did the elliptical. 

A couple years ago we bought a cheap-o Golds Gym elliptical from Walmart. It's squeaky and it's not the BEST, but it does it's job. I used it for my cross training.

For Christmas Jason bought me the first 4 seasons of "I Love Lucy." It holds a special place for me because Lucy is just like my Grandma. I knew it'd help hold my attention while doing the elliptical. 

I ended up doing 30 minutes. Not bad... not bad... 

Tomorrow I'm scheduled for 3 miles. Yay!

What the heck man....

Last night we had sushi.... This morning I woke up with stomach issues. Either the sushi was bad or I caught that stomach flu that's been going around. Needless to say, no exercise for me today.

A COLD 3 miles....

It was a cooooold 3 miles today. Joy came over and we switched off again. It's SO nice to be able to do that with her. I went first and didn't even think to use a scarf. Boy, do I wish I had one. The snow was pelting me in the face and neck. I didn't warm up until about halfway into the run. 

I'm relearning how to run without thinking about running. I keep getting to a point in my run where I just want to stop. I'm not sore and my muscles aren't super tired. I just want to stop. So, today I kept telling myself that when I get to that point where I want to stop that's when my body is reaching the next level. If I stop when I'm just about there I'm just cheating myself. I have to push past the uncomfortable and keep on. So, today that's what I did. I stopped twice to take a couple pictures, but I finished strong. 

My sister was next. I told her what I was thinking about while running and she went running. Her goal was to beat my time. She did great and ended up beating me by 2 minutes! Go Joy! 

Tomorrow is 2 miles or cross training. I think I might just do the elliptical tomorrow, but we'll see.

Running partner...

 I love my sister. She's so great. Yesterday she called me up and had the idea of taking turns watching the kids so the other could run. So, this morning she came over and that's what we did. It's SO nice to have someone else to run with (even if we aren't running together). She's really helping me stay on track with training. 

I started out great. I felt really good. I was going at a good pace without feeling like I was pushing it, but then around mile 2.5 I started getting the itch to stop. I kept telling myself that I was almost done and I didn't need to stop. I allowed myself a couple seconds to take a breath, but other than that I did really well. I ended up running 4 miles in 43.48. :) Under an 11 min mile! Yay!

Oh, and I am LOVING MyFitnessPal! I've lost 6.4lbs in less than a month. LOVE IT!! Soooo much better than the new WW plan.

Thanks, Joy for making today's run possible. :)

Walking for cross training...

 It was such a beautiful day today and the kids wanted to walk around the lake. So, that's what we did. It was cold, but the sun was shining bright and the sky was blue. They did well scooting around the lake on their scooters until about a mile into it when they started getting cold.

 We stopped a couple times to throw rocks and the play with the cattails. I spotted a cool heart on the lake. I love when things like that are found in nature. :)

I just LOVE our home. Tomorrow 4 miles are scheduled. My sister is coming over and we're going to take turns watching the kids while the other runs. It was such a blessing that she called and had the idea to do that, cause I had no idea how I was going to get 4 miles in with 4 kids around the lake. The 2 miles today was hard enough.

A flat tire...

 3 miles around the lake. That was the plan. Around mile 1 I noticed that my right rear tire was getting low. Do I turn around and call it a day or do I keep going? I figured the tire would survive and the girls were doing well so I kept going.

Halfway through the tire decided to go completely flat. Oh well, I'm halfway through...I might as well turn around and head back. So, that's what I did. The only thing, though, was I decided to try some easy hills with the stroller today. Hills+stroller+flat tire= NOT EASY! If you want some good resistance training you should try it. I kept telling myself that it will make me stronger and I'm sure it will. Tomorrow is a rest day. Yay! :)

Running with the girls...

1 mile turn around point.

Guess what!! My sister is going to run her first half marathon with me in March! It's so nice to have another person to run a race and train with. I'm having to practice running with the girls in the stroller. I may have to push them on race day depending on if I can find someone to babysit them or not. I think it'd be pretty cool to run a half marathon pushing a stroller, so right now I'm just preparing both them and myself if I do end up  having to do that. We're going to start out with low miles and build our way up. I'm sure in 12 weeks time the girls will be more than used to running with me. 

Today I felt really good. My muscles were a little sore from yesterday, but in a good way. I felt like I was able to run easier today even with pushing the stroller. I try not to use both hands when I push them. Sometimes I'll even just use my body to push, which isn't too hard, but it's not easy on the pathways that still have snow/ice on them. The girls did awesome today. Rose slept and Belle just looked around and talked about the ducks. We only went 2 miles today, but tomorrow we'll go 3. They'll do well, I've just got to keep them warm. :)

He kicked me out....

(Half way.)

Jason kicked me out of the house today and said, "You have 30 minutes to run 3 miles. GO!" He had a conference call at 9 and I had to get back to watch the kids. I ran and I ran and I tried my hardest not to stop cause I didn't have time to. I ended up running it in 34.42, without stopping. Almost 30 min, but I did it! I tried to not think about anything and just run. It seemed to work. My lungs were burning because I didn't bring something to cover my mouth in this cold weather. I ended up taking my headband and covering my mouth with that. I'm sure those I ran by thought I was crazy, but it helped! I ended up getting home at 8:59. Haha! Just in time. :)

It's a great way to start the week and I'm feeling good!! :)

Food Poisoning

Yay, for food poisoning.. NOT! On Thursday we had nachos for dinner. Jason thought it'd be a good idea to use some salsa that we canned. Yeah, not a great idea. I don't know if the salsa was just old or if that jar wasn't canned right, but let me tell you.... UGH! 2 days of nastiness came from it. Now that I'm feeling better I'll get on track with running again, starting Monday.

Beautiful day...

Forget getting up early this morning... After getting up a couple times in the middle of the night, I had to sleep in.

It was such a beautiful day today! Nice and warm. I ended up going around the lake with Jason and the kids. I'm so proud of my little girl. She wanted so bad to try her big bro's scooter, so we lowered the handles and she went for it. She was actually pretty good! After scooting a little while she was getting tired and wanted my help. So, she put both feet up and I pushed her along. She wanted to go fast, so I got a couple sprints in. :) 

Life is good.

See what happens...

See what happens when I don't get up when my alarm goes off. I don't work out. I had LOTS of opportunities to exercise today, but I didn't take advantage of any of them. Well, tomorrow is a new day. I will set everything out tonight and get out in the morning.

Crazy thing happened today though. In November I entered a giveaway on one of our favorite restaurant's (CAFE RIO!) Facebook page and today I was notified that I was one of 5 picked out of 4500 people. I won free meals for an entire year! Awesome, huh?! I'll have to be careful to work out hard on the days that I get Cafe Rio.

Did it anyway...

A view from my run.

I woke up at 6 this morning when my alarm went off and when I stood up I instantly felt some pms cramps. Ugh... The 2nd day is always the worst for me (Sorry, TMI. lol), thankfully tomorrow all those cramps will be gone and I'll be feeling great. I was really debating on skipping today. I could have just gone back to bed and done it later when the kids were at school. As much as I would have wanted to skip, I wanted to go that much more. I made a promise to myself and I need to keep that promise. 

So, I got out and started running a short little 2 mile loop and ended up going a little further than I was expecting, but that's ok. I didn't look at my watch. I didn't want to frustrate myself by seeing my slow pace. I'll get back to being faster. The more weight I drop and the more I get out there the faster I'll be. :)

All in all, I'm glad I got out there. I'm always happy when I get my run in.

Let go of the fear

For some reason the past year and a half or so, I've been afraid to run in the mornings. I would just get all nervous, so much so that I'd just talk myself out of running all together. I don't know why it started, nothing's ever happened to me and I live in a good neighborhood where there are tons of people running all the time. 

This morning when my alarm went off I started getting those thoughts..."I'll just do it later." "What if something happens?" Blah, blah, blah... So, I just said, "Don't think, just do. It'll all be ok." I got dressed and headed out the door. I started out listening to music, but wasn't feeling it after the first mile, so I switched and listened to Elder Holland's talk. I think, what I got most out of the talk was that there is one person in this universe that doesn't want me to succeed. He will make try to make me scared, he will try to make me quit. He doesn't want me to be happy and healthy. He wants me to be miserable, just like him. But, you know what? I'm not going to let him win. It may be hard, but I am strong. 

I have nothing to fear! I can do this.

I get to run by this everyday. :)

Well, I ended up running 3 miles this morning before the sun came up. I felt slow, but that's to be expected. At least I got out there and did it. Today is the first day of many, I can do this! I've been tracking with myfitnesspal and I am LOVING it. The iPhone app has a scanner that you can scan your food's barcode to get the nutrition info. It makes it SOOOO much easier to track. I LOVE it!

2012!

Everything's set out and I'm ready to go. I even have all my races updated for 2012.

Here's to an amazing new year! I've got lots of races planned that I can't wait to run. :) I've slacked off for the past 2 months, but I'm back at it.

I have a lot of plans for 2012, so I'll try not to put too much pressure on myself and only list a couple. 

1. Read my scriptures daily.

2. Exercise first thing in the morning.

3. Track my food on Myfitnesspal.com (I'm mommatwitch if you wanna add me.)

4. Choose to be happy. :)

That shouldn't be too hard, right?