I'm back!!!

Hello there!!!  Remember me? :)

Yes, it seems that I have taken some time off from the this blog....and from running.  Sadly, other things seemed more important at the time, and recently I have shed a lot of those responsibilities.  My husband changed jobs, which means that my job as head cheerleader for his company was put to rest.  I resigned one of my consulting jobs, and another volunteering job that I currently hold will end in May 2013. So here right now, on this blog, I am officially declaring 2013 is the "Year of ME!".

I know what you are thinking---how rude. Seriously, as a mother and wife, I have learned a lot over this past year, and I know that I need to start treating my body like a temple and not a trash can.  Good things need to go into it instead of the trashy food that we as Americans consume on a daily basis.  And I need to produce a good output (exercise) to keep up with these energetic kiddos that rule my house. 

And yes, this is also a selfish journey for me as well.  Here is what happened:  Over Thanksgiving weekend, I developed a cough which was really tough.  It was one of those coughs that took over your entire body when you did cough, and it eventually sent me to the doctor.  I rarely go to the doctor, like most moms out there (I think) I was just content to let things take their course.  But there were two days in a row that the cough was do violent that I was sent running to the bathroom to get sick.  Seriously, that is a BAD cough.

While the cough did eventually go away, so did some of my weight.  I lost seven pounds in seven days.  Yeah, not the healthy way to do things, but with getting sick, and my throat being so sore from coughing so much that I could not eat, the pounds fell off.  And crazy thing is that I have plateaued there for awhile. So that goes against my theory that I could not lose the weight. Dang it!  So now my new goal is to have the first two numbers of my weight to be "13" instead of the "14" that it currently resides at, which is down from the "15" it was a few weeks ago.  Lucky number "13"!

So that is the story behind the starting line of my selfish journey for 2013.  I hope you will join the journey with me!

So far, so good

Yep, I've only half-way fallen off my wagon of 2012 Goals....I haven't GAINED any weight, but I have not lost any either.  On the positive side of things, I am getting to the gym more often. YEAH ME!  I have to average 9.7 miles per week to reach my goal of 506 miles in 2012.  And I a head so far!  For example, for this current week I only have 4.17miles still left to log, and that is before my run on Saturday.

At the beginning of the year, I decided to join the Clarksville Running Club.  It's a group of runners (duh!) that meet every Saturday morning for a group run. Most of the members are SERIOUS runners, and on that first Saturday in January they were like "Oh, I think I want to aim for ten (miles)," in such a nonchalant kind of way.  I was PUSHING to reach four (I managed 3.78) But I always have to remind myself that I am (still) a beginner runner, and at one point they were at the point that I am at now.  I do like how I am accountable that morning, since two of my neighbors have also joined and we carpool together.  Makes it a little more bearable when rolling out of the bed before 7am on a weekend morning.

But I also feel like I am "cheating" some days when working out---like I am not totally pushing myself to the limit that I know I can reach.  For example, one day this week I cycled since all of the treadmills and the working elliptical machines were taken.  GRRR!!!  But I stayed at the gym, and logged 5.11miles on the bike, followed by 1 mile on the elliptical machine that had just opened up behind me. And while I did log 2/3 of my weekly mileage in that one day, I still left the gym like I had not totally pushed myself to the extreme.  I kept waiting for the cycling to get harder and to hurt more, but it never came.  I only did the elliptical for that small amount because of time constraints, but I still was not exhausted by the end of the workout.

Hopefully, someday soon, I'll find an exhilarating fitness routine that will leave me winded, but coming back for more....

A new year

Yeah, yeah, yeah.  I know....long time, no post. But it's a new year, and hopefully a new and improved me!  Right???

I know that each year we all make resoultions, and they are usually dropped right around Valentine's Day.  So this year I made goals in my fitness program.  I guess you could say they are resolutions, but I prefer to think of them as goals.  I have set a deadline for them, because without an end date they are just dreams.  But here my 2012 fitness goals:

My 2012 Resolutions:
1. Between the elliptical, bike and running I want to log 506 Miles. (Joel is part of the 506th Infantry Regiment, which is how I came up with that number).
2. Run a 5K in 30 minutes or less by July 4th. (Reward: buying an iTouch)
3. Lose 5 pounds by July 4th.

And now that I have made my goals public, here's hoping that people can keep me accountable.

This is big

Big!  HUGE! I am going to try to do this.  Why?  I am not really sure. It seems all of my friends are training for one, or have completed one (or more) of them. Even my husband has done it, so why can't I, right? I mean, seriously, how hard is it to run 13.1 miles.
Yep, that is right.  I am going to start September 1st on working towards my first item of my Running Bucket List: Complete the Country Music Half-Marathon. I've heard it is kind of hard with all the hills in the downtown area, but I also figure Nashville is a great city to start my journey on running races longer than 5ks.  Next up after this (maybe) would be the half-marathon in Knoxville, where you end the race on the 50 yard line of the University of Tennessee's Neyland Stadium. Hallowed ground for sure!

Anyway, I digress at this late hour of the day.  Yes, me, newbie runner who will (hopefully) spend the next 8 months training to run 13.1 miles all at once. I am sure late nights for Joel, running the kids around town, traveling, and other daily life activities will try to derail me. But I also hope that my friends and family will help guide me back on my path and cheer me on as well!

Training plan for this week calls for an easy 2 mile run on Thursday (9/1/2011) and a long distance run of 8 miles on Saturday. EIGHT MILES! That is for sure the longest I will have EVER gone! Hmmm, maybe I need to rethink this.....

I'mmmmmm bbaaaaccccckkkkkkk!!!!

Or rather, Joel is back, which means that I am back to my workout schedule.  YIPPIEE!!  There are so many things that were dropped, or that I let slide, during this past year.  And during this first week of his return it has been very nice for things to switch back.  The kids are going to bed and not fighting me over it; I can tell my blood pressure has dropped a gazillion points; and at one point I was sitting around BORED!  HEAVEN!!!!!! Love it!

Joel started a 1/2 day schedule last Monday....actually it was more like work 2 hours, get the next 22 off.  Works for me!  :) So we have had a lot of family time here at the house, a lot of playground time, and a lot of time back at the gym for mommy. I have to admit that while working out I am truly hating it...hate, hate, hate...but give me twenty minutes to reflect and I have to admit that exercising is a tolerable experience.  It's not something that I wake up each day and look forward to, but it gives me some time alone to reflect on different things that are going on in my life.  I never understood it when runners would say they like running because it gives them time to clear their heads....now I get it.

I started the week with a basic 1 mile run, figuring I should get a baseline of where I was after essentially a 1 year hiatus.  I did the test on the treadmill at one of the gyms and ended with a time of 11:48. I took several days off since it was SO HOT! With temperatures over 95-degrees, and 103-degrees that Wednesday, even walking to the car was a sweat drenching affair for us.  But here is how things broke down in my running:

August 1- 1 mile test run, 11:48
August 6- 1.26 miles, 13:28, pace of 10:41
August 7- 1.5 miles, 15:59, pace of 10:37

With each of these, I ran the entire time, no walking in any of it!  WOW!  That was pretty impressive, even if I say so. And you can see that I dropped a minute off my pace during that time as well.  I think that first day I was just trying to "drip my toe" back into the routine. But still, I chalk this week up in the "Win" column for my adventures.

Crickets, crickets

It's been four months since my last blog entry (sorry 'bout that!), and over a year since I have started this journey.  So I figured I owed an explanation of how things have been going.  Here it goes-

{Insert sounds of crickets.....and silence}

Yeah, sorry about that. With being the only parent around here, my free time is at a minimum.  During the summer, I get approximately 3 hours a week during the daytime hours that are mine, and my chore list is longer than my arm.  Usually what happens is that chores, or work, are louder in calling my name over running and exercise in general.  Heck, finding a time to take a shower is getting harder during these busy summer months!

I am looking forward to Joel coming home for many reasons, but also so I can have someone push me out to the gym, and someone to take over the house while I am there!  He won't be able to do my consulting work for me, but time alone, time when no one is going, "Mom, Mom, where are you?"; time when there is no fighting, no one hanging on to me.  I am looking forward to time that is just.....mine.

All you need is love!

Joel and I have a history of doing romantic things on Valentine's Day.  I remember it was on this day in 2005 that we signed up for a gym membership in Texas and had our body fat measurements taken when we came up with a fitness plan with the gym's trainer.  Nothing says, "I love you, Honey" like pinching the fat on your other (and sometimes better) half.

I love my husband for so many reasons.  He makes me laugh, he listens to me go on and on and on about nothing, he has intellectual discussions with me about politics (one of my favorite subjects) and when we disagree we do so in a polite and non-combative manner.  And he supports me in my half-hearted running habit and give me encouragement when I so desperately need it.  I realize that while he has been home these past two weeks he lets me get out to the gym, either taking the kiddos to the playground, or chasing them around the house and being the POD (parent on duty) so I can get some much needed "Me Time", even if that time is huffing and puffing and coming nowhere close to blowing a house down. (Sorry, I just could not resist).

I love him for all of these reasons and more.  I hope that one day we can cross the finish line to a half-marathon together.  But in my life and marriage, I know that I love "running" *this* marathon with him.