BIG Love Fun Run for Kids with Cancer

Last year was our first time doing the BIG Love Fun Run.

My son and I ran it in the rain. I was terribly out of shape but I wouldn't have missed it for anything. It was a special event because one of my high school friends had recently lost his son to cancer. We ran in his honor. His name is Aidan and he was a very special young man for bringing so many people together. If you would like to read more about Aidan's story and his amazing parents go to Angels for Aidan. or follow them on Facebook. There story although sad has bright spots such as the recent birth of a new member of their family a little girl named after her brother. They have also started a comfort cart at Texas Children's hospital to aid the families in the in same situation they were not too long ago. So today we participated in our second BIG Love Fun Run in honor of sweet Aidan!

This year my better half was out of town and even though that meant taking both kids to the run I still wouldn't have missed it for anything.

This morning it wasn't pouring rain which was a blessing and not at the same time. I am used to running at night. It is much cooler and less humid here in Texas at night. So when the breeze stopped blowing several times during the race I started melting. I had planned to run walk the 5K pushing the jogging stroller which I haven't used since my son was 2 years old. At the last minute my son decided he wanted to walk with us so that meant not much jogging cause we were leaving him behind.

This year was much easier in the fact that I knew what to expect and where each mile was. Last year the race seemed to go on forever. Even pushing my daughter it felt so much better. Here is a quick shot of the mid part of the course that I took while stopping for a second to see how far back my son was.

We all finished the race. My son drank lots of water and rested up for the Kids 1K run.

My daughter fell asleep on the last 0.2 of the run and slept till her brother was on the last part of the 1K run just in time to cheer him on.

I was a little sweaty and red faced after the race but felt awesome!

I was so proud of my little man for walking the 5K and then turning around and running the 1K. He did so much better this year than last year!

Overall this is an awesome race for an awesome cause! I want to leave this post with two pics of my funny kids who I hugged extra close and tight today because they are here healthy and happy. Hug the ones you love! A great video of BIG LOVE!

Words for Wednesday - 9-11-13

Here are my wonderful Words to Inspire you this Wednesday! Enjoy...

25 on Tuesday

So not much has been happening these days. The only thing that has been worked out lately is my abs. Last night my son did his 50 full situps for karate plus 10 more. My two year old did 10 head lifts and I did 25 full on situps. Not crunches but full situps to do the same as my son. Then my son did 15 pushups. We are still working on getting to 50 pushups.

Words for Wednesday - 9-4-13 Edition

If you have read my recent posts I am in need of and extra push so I am posting 3 good WFW today. Here are my Words for Wednesday - 9-4-13 Edition:

Need Motivation

I need a swift kick in the rump. This last week has been a lousy one on the workout front. Excuses I have a ton of them. None of them are really spectacular though. I need a shot of energy and some motivation. I watch the Extreme Makeover Weightloss Edition on Tuesday nights and I want to find that drive and inspiration like the man last night. I want the AHA moment where everything just clicks. I know losing weight is work and I don't expect a cake walk. I need accountability, a goal, a plan, and the not gonna give up attitude. Anyone out there in the same boat? Let me know what worked for you. If you have some sage advice I would love to hear it as well. If you want to team up that works too.

Words for Wednesday - Motivation

Here is a picture of my little red book of motivation. I hope that you all enjoy the Words for Wednesday posts as much as I enjoy sharing them with you. So without further delay here are my Words for Wednesday.

Words for Wednesday

Most people do a Wordless Wednesday but I want to try something different. Several years ago I started a book of inspiration and wisdom. I carry it around with me and should probably read it more often than I do. I want to share some of this great info with all of you. Most of these words in my book do not have the author with them.(Sorry!) I just jot down things I like. So here is my first Words for Wednesday post.

My Fun Food Day

Hope you don't mind a break in programming. Today I had such a fun food day that I just have to share. This morning for breakfast we had Voodoo donuts. One of my coworkers went to Portland, OR and brought us back some awesome donuts. I got the chocolate cake coconut donut and the Voodoo donut. They were both really yummy!

Here is a pic of some of the other donuts that she picked up from there. They have donuts covered in fruit loops, captain krunch and cocoa puffs.

For lunch there was a food truck near work and we decided to brave the threatning weather and head out in search of the truck for some grub. We hunted down the Miso Yummy Truck!

We split the Hot Momma Fries and the Crunchy Seaweed Roll. Both were out of this world and I would totally get them again.

If that wasn't enough when I got home last night we had Greek food. I heart this food so much. The hubby made homemade flat bread and chicken shwarma. We had it with roasted red pepper hummus, cucumbers, tomatoes and tzatziki. We had falafel but forgot to warm it up... bummer.

So I hoped you enjoyed my break in workout posts to see my awesome food day.

New Week - Clean Slate

It is the beginning of a new week and I am in need of a fresh start, a clean slate, a new beginning. You get the drift. Since I am no longer training for a specific race it is hard to stay motivated to follow my triathlon plan that I had set to my race date. With that in mind I am going to switch gears and start anew on a couch to 5K plan since running is my weekest part of the triathlon breakdown. If I get in a bike or a swim then I will count that as bonus. In the Spring I will pick back up with my triathlon plan for a race in April or so once the race events start coming out. I am working on a training plan now but if anyone has a great plan they would like to send me I would love it. Also I have the P90X program and have been itching to do it. Anyone done this before? Did you have good results? What kind of shape do you need to be in to start? Also if you have any suggestions on other plans or programs that are good to do with a family I am interested.

I am feeling SNOTTY!

I do mean that literally! I have been congested all week long. I have some sort of lovely virus. ICKY! Another week almost gone and I don't have any real workouts done off my plan since I swam last weekend. I am surrounded by a mountain of kleenex! Here is to a better week to come. Hope you are all feeling fine and ready to enjoy your weekend... I keep hearing the song in my head - "Make Way for Noddy!" but instead of Noddy the word Snotty.

I Swam!

Even with my crazy weekend of visitors and son's birthday I still managed to get in not one but two days of swimming. Nothing impressive but some activity is better than none at all. The swim on Saturday was nice. I got to swim with my sister. I miss the days when we used to swim for hours and hours. It just felt comfortable swimming next to her. We did that a lot growing up. It would have been better with some lane ropes in the pool but I am not complaining. Yesterday we had the pool to ourselves the whole time we were there. My son learned how to do a flip turn or should I say he is working on it. Not mastered yet but getting better. I love to watch my kids enjoy the water!

Lights Out at 10pm!

Tonight it took everything I had to make me get out and run. We had some late stuff come up so we didn't end up finishing dinner until around 9pm and by the time I got all ready to head out for the run it was 9:40. I don't mind running at night. We have a school by the house that is very well lit. It would be better to have someone to run with but I don't mind doing it by myself. I do find that when I haven't run for a bit I have to work harder to make myself not throw in the towel for every little thing. That thing tonight was when I found out that the lights go out at the school at 10PM. I was thinking that I could totally pull off a nice walk/run at the pace I was going 4 minutes run/ 3 minutes walk when total blackness fell upon the road. It is pretty crazy to be running in the bright light one minute to almost full blackness the next and right now there is no moon out either. On a positive note I did notice that I could see more stars than usual and I love to look up at the stars and day dream while I run. I found myself wanting to throw in the towel as soon as the lights went out but I told myself that I was tired of excuses to cut the run short. I wanted to finish it tonight and not have to quit early for something beyond my control. I just kept on going putting one foot in front of the other until I reached my 35 minutes.So here is to another night of running under my belt. Hope you had a great workout today too! Questions: What do you think about to keep you moving? What makes you want to throw in the towel?

Swim - Check!

So this last week with the toe thing and my littlest getting sick just sent my week 4 training down the drain. There was one thing I could mark off my list though...one little thing.

That's right everybody. I made it to the pool and swam a few laps. The big news of the day however was that my son finally made it all the way across the pool without stopping! It occurred to me today that since I am no longer training to a specific date but instead a readiness. I am going to make the executive decision to repeat week 4 this week. Here is to a better week of training to all!

If You Need Some Encouragement Too

This is one of my favorite poems. Whenever I need a pick me up it hits the spot. I hope you get something out of it too.

And on a bright spot my toe is much better and I think I was wrong about it being broken I believe it was just jammed. Yay! So I am going to try to bike or run on Friday just to make sure I have given it enough time to heal.

What a Difference a Day Makes

I bet you think I am going to talk about how much better and more rested I feel after Monday. You would be wrong. I do feel a little more rested yes, but I had so many things conspire against me today it isn't even funny. First of all my plans for the triathlon at the end of October were officially put to rest. We have a schedule conflict that came up today that I just can't get out of or schedule around so I am thinking that I will continue with my training plan but just do my own triathlon somehow that day. Also I am thinking of finding some more 5K races and other events a little later. I am signed up for a 5K at the end of September that I am really looking forward to. It is the B.I.G. Love Fun Run. I will post more on that event later so you can all see what a wonderful event and cause it supports. Now on to the other difference a day makes. In the afternoon right after dinner we were planning to go swimming again instead of a family bike ride. I was going to set up the trainer later so it was supposed to be a swim, bike, run day. I was nervously excited about doing all that in one day just to see if I could. I didn't make it to any of them. This stood in my way...Literally!

I was carrying something into the living room and didn't see it. I ended up with my right foot all tangled up in there. Hades it hurt. In the end I am pretty sure I agravated the foot and ankle not quite sprained but close, however I did end up breaking one of my toes. I know it is broken because I have broken two or three toes before. I have a bad run with breaking toes. I need to start wearing steel toe shoes everywhere. Most of my accidents happen at home in my house when I am not wearing shoes. So needless to say I am out of running and biking for a bit for sure. I will probably try some swimming in a few days.

I am super bummed at how this all turned out today but I am not giving up just taking a little break. Questions: Have you broken a toe before? How did it affect your training? How long were you out?

A Day of Rest

Today on my plan I had a 35 minute walk jog but I am not going to lie to you all...I just didn't have the energy to do it. Last week was super duper busy at work. I spent many nights back up at the office in the wee hours of the morning and last night I only got about 2hrs of sleep. I am spent! I talked it over with the hubby and we both decided a day of rest would be best and then tomorrow I can hit it hard and hopefully fit in both the bike and the run from today. Wish me luck tomorrow and Good Night, Sweet Dreams to all!

My Plan for Week 4 of 15

Here is what I have on plan for this week! Can't wait to see what I actually complete.

Hot Water Swimming

This weekend was a total blurr of activity. Saturday on our agenda we had flag football, two birthday parties to attend, and my mom and I went for an afternoon of Murder with Tea (Fun!). It rained Saturday morning so we didn't end up having flag football. The birthday parties were fun and the Murder with Tea was really cool and I will definitely go back. With all of this activity I ran out of time for my bike and swim I had planned but decided I would do better on Sunday. Woke up Sunday with a gnasty headache which kept me in bed most of the morning. My son had a karate tournament in the afternoon that I was not about to miss even with a headache. He did so well. I was so very proud of him. It was the best he has looked so far. After the tournament we decided to go take a dip in the community pool. It was nice at the pool when you first got in, but when I started to swim my laps I realized it was like swimming in a hot tub. It didn't feel good at all. I want to get back to swimming regularly. I swam competitively for 14 years. I stopped in college and have missed it ever since. My son has been improving his swimming all summer. He can almost swim across the 25 yard pool without stopping. My goal for him is once he can swim 2 laps without stopping he can enter some JR. Triathlons and maybe even join a swim team at some point. I am so glad that he and his sister seem to have the love for swimming that I have enjoyed. I am even trying to get my hubby in on the swimming bug. He has been working on his stroke as well. Last night he said to me, " You know when our daughter gets a little older and can seim farther we could do a family relay! Wouldn't that be fun!" I think I am winning him over.

Finished My Run

I usually run at night. I am a night owl and I usually wait till it cools off a little and the kids have gone to bed. I was supposed to run last night but that didn't happen so I moved my run to this evening. Nothing out of the ordinary I had 35 min run/walk on the plan. I was about 18 minutes into my run walk around the neighborhood school which is well lit when I noticed down the back of the school someone standing in one of the doorways on the back side of the school. I thought about calling off my run right there but then I realized I have had to cut short my run every time lately due to something and I wanted to finish. I kept a close eye on where the person was and made sure to stay well away from that area just in case the person was up to no good. It was a hard run in the heat and humidity but it is done. I finished the run.

Questions:
Have you ever been scared while running or working out late?
Do you carry protection or run with a partner?

The Almost Family Bike Ride

The plan was to get home from work, pick up the kids, eat dinner and then go for a family ride.
I left work.                                Check
I picked up the kids.                  Check
We all ate dinner.                       Check
We got our bikes all ready.        Check
Everyone in bike helmets.           Check
Two year old in the bike trailer.   Fail
There was a small meltdown that occured when the front net of the bike trailer was being put on which resulted in Dad staying home with the two year old while my son and I went out for a bike ride. We completed 5 miles. He just learned how to ride his bike a few months back and recently got a much bigger bike. He is a great rider but is still getting his bike legs and practice. Instead of going around the nearby school a zillion times we decided it was time for him to tackle riding in the neighborhood. We have a pretty busy neighborhood so we rode a little slower to make sure everything was good. I believe it was a win win for both of us. He got another milestone under his belt and I got a 5 mile ride. We both wished the whole family could have enjoyed it but maybe next time will go better.

Mosquito Run

Back from vacation and starting on my training for the week. Last week the family went to Colorado to enjoy some cool mountain air as opposed to the hot and humid Texas summer of the Gulf Coast. The weather was perfect. We did atleast two days of some good hiking and if you count airport and luggage carrying I got a few workouts in.
So tonight I headed out for my 35 min run/walk and was well into my second 4 min walk/ 3 min run split when the mosquito truck stopped to spray near where I was running. I didn't think this would be a big deal and just headed to the other side of the school however the truck stayed in the same spot and just sprayed for 10 minutes. Can I just say "All Chocked Up!" I had to cut my run short at 20 minutes because I couldn't breathe. I headed for home with my shirt over my nose and mouth to help block out the spray.
Tomorrow I have a 6 mile bike ride on the schedule. Hoping the weather holds up to go out with the family for a ride.

My Plan for Week 3 of 15

Here is the plan for the week:

I Conquered The Day

Early this morning I did a mile walk. It was a relatively nice morning and I wanted to get out and put in some milage before it got scorching hot. Check mark for the first part of my day. After I got everyone fed for dinner this evening we went out for a very quick bike ride. The whole family...It was awesome to ride all together. I can't wait to do more of it. I love when we all get active together. We did about 2.6 miles. Nothing spectacular distance wise but the sun was going down so we had to hurry. My two year was so excited to ride in her chariot again she did not want to get out once we got home. On my schedule for the day on the triathlon training plan was a 35 min run/walk, so after the family got home I put on my running gear and went back out. It was much muggier on the run than the ride. My weather app said it was 85° degrees outside but it felt like 95°. I can believe it. I have to be honest I haven't run since the mud run the first weekend in May. I was afraid that I wouldn't be up to the challenge tonight. It was a walk 4 min then jog 3 min day. I was doing pretty well when my phone ran out of juice so I had to end my run 5 minutes short of my 35 minute plan but I did 2 miles in 30 min. I know that is super slow for most of you but I am just getting back in to this and running is still a work in progress for me. I must say that at the end of my run when I was dripping in sweat I felt like a million bucks, so I took a picture so you could experience my post run glow. LOL

And the BEST part of the whole day is when i got home and my two year old daughter asked "Mommy where you been?" I replied "I was out running." She looks and me and says "Mommy I proud of you!" Melted my heart and is the reason why I am getting off my duff and giving this all another shot.
I hope each of you have a day like this one real soon and I look forward to even better ones to come.

Questions: What makes you feel accomplished? Do you run/walk? Do find listening to music makes the time fly in a workout?

My Plan for Week 1 of 15

If I am going to do this race in October here is what my plan is for this week. SWIM - I have moved all of my swimming to the weekends so that it has a shot at getting done. I am not as worried about the swim as the other parts of the race so even if I just swim once a week I will feel pretty good about being able to cover the distance needed. In order to race I have to swim 400 meters which is 12 laps of a 25 meter pool. My goal is to build up to a 600-800 meter swim so that way I am covered. So far I have done a 200 meter swim in the pool but that wasn’t serious training. SWIM SCHEDULE - SAT & SUN - Warm Up 100 meters - 400 meters Freestyle - Cool Down 100 meters. BIKE - Now that I have the trailer all ready to go and a daughter that doesn’t mind riding in it the bike part should be easier. I am also going to set up the bike trainer in the garage. I am thinking that the bike will be the easiest part of the training to complete. We shall see. BIKE SCHEDULE - TUES & FRI - 6 miles SUN - 10 miles RUN - The run this is where I will need all of my willpower. I am not a huge fan of running. It is getting better bet the Texas heat sure doesn’t make me want to go outside and get my run on! At least it starts out with a nice run/walk. I think that I will be doing a run/walk no matter what. I get a little bit better times believe it or not with that short amount of walk recovery than just my jog plod along without stopping to walk. RUN SCHEDULE - MON & WED - Walk/Jog 35 min (4 min walk/3 min jog) SAT - Walk/Jog 50 min Hope you all have a great week! Questions: Are you training for an upcoming race? Do you have a partner to train with, a group or are you going it alone? What is your favorite exercise?

First Time In The Trailer

We finally got our bikes all tuned up. My son got a new bike as an early birthday present since he was in desperate need of a new one. Since he learned how to ride without assistance this year he wants to ride all the time now. Bike riding has always been my second love after swimming. So he doesn't have to twist my arm to get me to ride. The only thing usually holding me back is what to do with my two year old daughter. We have a bike trailer that we used when my son was little but the tires were flat and it needed work. In part of our tune up we got the trailer ready to go as well.

Tonight was the big night to try it out. We pulled out the helmets, bikes and the trailer. I assembled the trailer and my daughter was excited to try it out. I was nervous that she wouldn't like it. If she didn't my plans for training while bringing the kids along for some of my rides would be ruined. She thought it was really cool. She asked if it was her bike too. She has a red tricycle. I told her it was not her bike but her carriage. She couldn't quite say the word but she tried. She did let me know when she thought I was going too fast though. She liked the slow leisurely pace best and to repeat everything I told her brother along the way. Overall the ride was a success. Brother was happy to get time on his new wheels and my little lady enjoyed her first ride in the carriage. We only went 2.2 miles but the sun was fading fast and I was worried the trailer and its occupant would turn into pumpkins.

To Tri or Not To Tri...That Is The Question!

There is a triathlon at the end of October that I am seriously thinking of entering. It has been 4 years I believe since my last triathlon and that one was really hard. If I decide to sign up for the one in October I will have 15 weeks of training. Not sure that is enough. Right now I would consider myself slightly above couch potato but not by much. I have been trying to get more active. I have swam a few times lately and although it isn't pretty with atleast 1-2 sessions per week I am sure that I can knock out the 400 meter swim no problem. On the bike front I have gone on a couple of short rides with my son and it feels good to be on the bike. I just recently got my hybrid bike serviced so it is in shape to train. I plan to do a lot of my riding on it and build up to riding my road bike on the trainer for a while. It has been forever since I used my clips I want to get comfortable on them. My biggest fear is falling with the clips. Running was going really well the first part of the year and then life happened and it got hot here and I have had zero desire to run in the heat but I need to start up again. The running is by far my weakest part of the triathlon. Anyone got any good running tips for a non runner? Questions to ponder - If you were me would you do it? Anyone have any clip tips? What is a good running program for a non-runner? Anyone want to train with me virtually?

Get the Family Involved

I find that I am more likely to get my exercise done if my family is involved. My son is in karate and this coming December he has to be able to do 50 push-ups and 50 sit-ups so we have started working on this now so by then it will be easy for him. To help keep him motivated I started doing them along with him. I need the workout and he needs the reminder to get them done. It has been fun doing this over the last two weeks. We are both getting better. I realized how far I have to go and he likes competing against me. It has been a win win for both of us. He has really enjoyed keeping a log of his progress as well. I need to start doing that too. MOTIVATION by watching the progress. Last night we tried something a little different. I have seen a lot of great lists of body weight exercises on Pinterest. We tried one out last night. This is what we did: 30 Jumping Jacks 5 push ups 25 High Knees 7 Burpees 10 Crunches 7 Squats 5 Push ups 10 Crunches 5 Push ups 7 Squats 30 Jumping Jacks 1 min Wall Sit 5 Push ups 25 High Knees We both made it through without too much huffing and puffing. The best part was watching my 2 year old daughter try to do it all along with us. After we finished my son asked what exercises we were going to do the next day. I think it was a hit! Make working out a family event. It is good for everyone. What types of things do you do to stay active? Any good family activity ideas?

Back On the Wagon...I think

This past year I have been running on and off. I have completed a 5K and a mud run. I am toying with the idea of training for a triathlon. It has been years. Love how it feels to compete and finish. Not a big fan of getting started on a plan though especially in the Texas Summer heat. My first step is to put it out there to the world to keep me moving forward.

My First Mud Run

Each year my husband volunteers with his local Lions club and they put on a music festival. Last year for the first time they had a mud run at the event. It looked like so much fun but I was in no shape to run it. My son who was 6 at the time wanted to do it with me this year. So we talked about it and I started running. I did a couch to 5K last Fall so I could run a 5K for my birthday. I started another couch to 5K in the Spring to prepare for the mud run. As the run got closer I got more nervous. When it was time to sign up we realized that my son was too young to participate which was a big bummer however I didn't want to give up on doing the run for me or for him. So even though my Spring was crazy I signed up any way and found an AWESOME friend who would run it with me instead of my son. She hadn't done one before either. We were both nervous and neither knew what to expect. We had a great time running the race. I found I should have trained a little more for the off road type running. That was really hard when you are used to running on concrete and tracks. It was a very uneven course and a lot of it was on the side of a ditch so my legs were killing me. The part I was most worried about was climbing the hay bale. I made it! We didn't do half bad for our amount of training. It was fun and we even talked about doing it again next year and dressing up for it.
Questions:
Have you done a mud run?
How did you train?
Did you wear a costume?
If so what did you wear?