Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Our Summer Bucket List 2012

Last year I really enjoyed making a Summer bucket list with the kids. We put activities they wanted to do along with activities I wanted to do too. We crossed almost all of them off  by the time school started up in the fall.

Now, that my youngest is a whole year older he is understanding more and more about the lessons being learned in each activity. I decided it was a great idea to do it again this year.

I was recently browsing around another favorite blog of mine, Delia Creates she makes some pretty awesome crafts. She posted a pretty cool Bingo Sheet she uses for Summer activities and chores! I decided to use it as our new Bucket List. My oldest loves playing Bingo. He will see this as a challenge and I can added a couple things he may not be so excited to do, but we need to do so he can get 6 in a row. It's just like the real Bingo game. You get a card with the activities on it. As we do each activity we cross it off the card. If they get 6 in a row vertically, horizontally, or diagonally they get a special prize. An ice cream treat or, special video game session! (This come very sparse in the Summer)

My kids are still learning to appreciate outside time with family. They seem to think its a punishment to go on walks and, hikes. They would rather play inside, watch tv and, play video games. I was not raised that way and, enjoyed my childhood summers very much. I would like to teach that to my children.

So onto the list!!


I hope to cross off all of these and possibly even start a new one if time allows it!

We have already started our Park Quest for this year, along with taking our big cabin trip for the Summer. I will make sure to post about those very soon!

Sunday, June 17, 2012

A little sidelined but ready for Summer fun!

My last check in I mentioned some pain in my heel and shins. I went to the podiatrist and he confirmed what I already had feared. Plantar Facsciitis. The cure? Lots of rest, icing, stretching, an anti-inflammatory medicine and, if needed a cortisone shot. Ugh, this was not what I wanted to hear.

I have been taking the last couple weeks off to rest and take care of my foot as much as possible, but it's very difficult. With it being Summer now, my oldest is home from school and we are always on the move.

Since I am a bit sidelined right now I won't be running any races. I believe the next one I have on the calender isn't until August. However, I am supposed to be training for the next half in September. Hopefully, I'll be able to get out there and run some soon.

With no races on the calendar and not much running going on, I haven't had much to write about. I thought I'd switch up my blog a bit here for the next couple months. Last Summer, I introduced on my blog a Summer Bucket List. I listed items I wanted to do during the Summer with the kids. I thought I would do that again, plus post about some of the activities we do off the list. I also linked to a wonderful site last Summer called, Little Wonders' Days. The site has a link up where others list their bucket lists as well. Thankfully, Little Wonder's is hosting the link up again this year. Feel free to join me and link up with me!

Little Wonders' Days

I look forward to updating everyone on what we have in store for this Summer. Lots of Park Questing, Camping, Arts and Crafts, Science experiments and, even a "What we are currently reading" section!

Monday, June 4, 2012

Happy Race Day Anniversary!!



If you read my blog often you would know my first ever race I trained for was a 5k in August of 2010. It was an all women's run. I ran one other race that year and fell of the wagon. In June of 2011 I got the courage to run another 5k with a bit of a challenge for me. An off road 5k with mostly grass and wooded trails. This race was one of the hardest races I had ever ran. It was not only tough physically (a whole mile uphill) but, very tough mentally. I managed to complete it at a horrible (to me) time of 45 min.

After completing the race with a friend, she told me of an online running community I could be a part of. After joining and reading why all these other women and mother runners run, it got me so motivated. I didn't let that horrible time get me down.

I am so happy to say, I have been running non stop since!!

This week, the time had come to run the same horrible race that had haunted my nightmares for so long. I set out that morning with major butterflies. Even though it was a 5k something I have ran so many times now, I was extremely nervous. I also have been dealing with a heel injury since my half. Not to mention also had been having shin pain since running on the track last Wednesday. So, here I was ready to race this race with injuries and all I wanted to do was curl back up in bed. Thankfully, the same friend who ran it last year was running it with me again this year. She had some of the same reserves as I did.

The race was a very small local event, for an elementary school. I would say there were only about 100 runners. Upon picking up my bib the race help reassured me the course was pretty much the same and the same 1 mile long hill was still on the course. Ugh.

I started off my 5k pretty fast for me over wet muddy uneven grass. My shins were screaming at me to slow down. About a mile in I decided to slow down and that it wasn't worth risking injury. About a mile and half came up and here was the hill. I walk/jogged up that hill. Once I was over it, I was actually surprised it wasn't as bad as I had remembered. I think if I wouldn't have been injured, I probably would have been able run most if not all of that hill. The last mile was pretty easy. A little bit of a down hill run.

I actually am excited to run it one more time uninjured to see where I come in at. I finished the race at 40:22. That 4 + minutes faster than last year and only 2 minutes slower than my PR for a 5k. I think that's pretty awesome for an off road 5k with an injury. I am so proud of myself!!

By the way, if your worried about the injuries...I have a podiatrist appointment this Wednesday! Hopefully, he will be able to help me figure out what's going on.

Coming in to the finish!

Another picture coming into the finish! Thanks Crystal for the pics! 







A Bad Ass Mother Runner Night!




I am a huge fan of the funny, talented ladies behind AnotherMotherRunner.com community.. Sarah Bowen Shea and Dimity McDowell. I first came across these ladies on their website sometime last year. I read a lot of great comments about their first book  Run Like a Mother How to Get Moving and Not lose Your Family, job, or Sanity. I grabbed a copy and was hooked. I found myself laughing and writing quotes down almost immediately. I had never read a book that had spoken to me like that one had. It gave me the motivation to get back into running. After finishing reading the book I joined their facebook community too.


Not too long after that,  I run a race that now I call the starting point of finding myself again. I owe these women and their book so much for helping me gain the strength and courage to do that race. I may have totally sucked but, I did it!! 

A couple months later I joined an online support running group based out of my hometown. They helped me continue pushing through and helped me get to where I am now with my running. While I was training for my 1st half the ladies in my running group all started talking about the new book being released by Sarah and Dimity. It was to be a book all about training for races. How perfect, that's exactly what I needed. I purchased Train Like a Mother: How to Get Across Any Finish Line- and Not Lose Your Family, Job or Sanity.  and, started reading it. I loved all the training tips and, nutrition section. 


Right around the time I was finishing the new book. I got a message from a friend telling me of how she scored an invite only to the party of the year, the guest of honor's were none other than SBS and Dimity!! She had 5 invites to the party and because I was one of the first 5 to comment on her status,  I was granted one of the invites. Get back!!! Say what?!? I was ecstatic. I was finally going to meet the talent authors of one of my favorite books. The two very women who got me out there to run the race that would change my running life. 

So, Thursday night I headed out with some awesome running mama's for a night of Tapas and Sangria followed by meeting Sarah and Dimity! 
 
Cheers to great running buddies!

Not only did I learn a lot about the ladies I run with every week, I learned about how great Sarah and Dimity actually are.  It was so awesome that Sarah and Dimity were in the same house as I was and, actually taking pictures with us. They were so down to earth. They read from their "Train like a Mother" book,  gave away some awesome prizes, signed books, and they gave away the best swag bags ever! Way to hook a runner up, ladies!! While getting my books signed and picture taken, they asked me what I was doing next with my running. I told them I was working on getting faster and running another half. They told me good luck, and they knew I'd be able to do it as long as I keep working on it! Those are exactly the words I needed to hear from them. How awesome are they!

SBS, Dimity and I! (I'm 5' 6" in case you were wondering)



The awesome swag bag we received!







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