Slacking Then Streaking

I haven’t been posting much, I was overwhelmed with getting the house ready to sell, then running myself ragged trying to keep it clean for showings, then just exhausted when the whole thing was over.  I also fell into a really bad habit of not working out.  It’s crazy how easy it is to fall off of the fitness bandwagon.  Skipping a workout here and there can quickly turn into excuse after excuse for why you can’t manage to get a run in or pop in a yoga dvd for half an hour.

Well, no more.  No more slacking.. now it’s time for streaking!

Runners World magazine announced their 2013 Summer Challenge – a running streak from Memorial Day to Independence day.  You run at least a mile, every single day.  As soon as I read about it, I knew this was a perfect way to get me out of my slacking slump.  I mean really, who doesn’t have time for a measly mile?  On a good day, I can get it done in under eight minutes.  I know I can find eight minutes in my day!

I joined a Challenge Loop group to help keep me motivated and I’m excited to say that I’m on Day 4 and so far have not missed a day!  I’m hoping that streaking may help with my pace a bit too.  On the days that I’m not doing longer runs (cross training and rest days), I plan to try to run a mile as fast as I can.  I did it for Day 2 and clocked in at 7:56.  I’m excited to see what I can get my pace down to!

What do you do when you’re in a slump?

Are you participating in the Summer Run Streak?

 

May Phone Dump!











Florida Striders Memorial Day 5K

This was probably the most fun I’ve ever had at a race.  I’ve been really looking forward to it for a few reasons — some friends (Jenn from Runs with Pugs and Devon from The Food Bitch Blog) were running with us, our kids were running the 1-mile fun run, and it was the first race I was running against with my brother.

with Jenn from Runs with Pugs and Devon from The Food Bitch Blog

I know, I know.. run your own race at your own pace and all of that stuff. Normally I am right there with you. But.. it’s my brother. We’ve been in competition since we were little, it’s just what we do. And he always beats me with this kind of stuff, ALWAYS. Seriously, he lives off of pop tarts and frozen pizza and still has a six pack, it’s not fair! He started running again a few months ago (he ran track when he was younger) and I know it won’t be long before he’s zipping right by me at races, so I have to enjoy the little bit of speed I have on him while I can!

Start of the race — that’s my brother over my right shoulder in the yellow shirt. My husband is in white just a few steps behind him.

That’s not the only reason I was excited though, not by a long shot! One of my very good friends (and her husband!) recently completed Couch to 5K (which is also how I got my start) and this was her first race! I couldn’t wait to watch them cross the finish line, I get so excited for my friends and love being able to share such a fun and healthy activity with them (not that I don’t love my girls nights with lots of delicious food and wine too, those are totally healthy, just in a different way!).

Anyway, back to the race.  This was my first official 5K, so no matter what it was going to be a PR for me.  I had three goals in mind, as usual.  I was a bit worried about hitting them, since I twisted my ankle a few days before the race and it was still a bit sore.  I decided not to change my goals though since it seemed okay on race morning.

Race Day Goals:

A – Have an average pace that starts with an 8.  Even 8:59 will make me happy!

B – Beat my little brother.

C – Finish in under 30 minutes.

I’m so happy to say that it was an A goal kind of day!  I finished in 27:23, for an average pace of 8:49.  Adam finished in 28:00 and Damian in 27:59.  I wish I could have seen the two of them at the end.  Apparently Damian was a bit behind Adam as they closed in on the finish line.  Adam judged the distance to the finish wrong and ran out of gas just before the finish, while Damian was determined to beat him and literally came out from behind him and in the last few seconds pulled just a step ahead to finish one second sooner.

Naturally, being me, I forgot to stop my watch so my splits are a little screwy.  They look to be about 8:33, 8:49, 8:49.

We collected our medals and made our way over to the side where my parents, the kids, and Damian’s girlfriend were waiting for us so we could watch Jenn, Keith, and Devon as they finished.

Photo from Runs with Pugs

Mackenzie was not impressed.

Once we all finished and cooled off, we headed back over to the starting line for the 1-Mile Fun Run.  I’m still figuring out the jogging stroller so Jenn and I walked it while the boys ran and Mackenzie enjoyed the ride.

It’s so much more fun having friends and family to run with and cheer for you at the finish line.  I’ve done a few races on my own and they are nowhere near as much fun as this was.  We’re doing the Celebration 5K as a family in July and I’m really looking forward to it.

Photo from Runs with Pugs

Braden is thrilled with the new addition to his medal collection — we’re going to have to buy him his own medal rack before too long!

Mackenzie earned a medal for her efforts as well.. she’d like you to know that cruising along in a jogging stroller is not as easy and effortless as she makes it look.  And also, she loves her Uncle D.

Memorial Day Weekend

(I’m a little behind, so forgive me for the onslaught of catch-up posts!)

Days like today make me love where we live.  I love our neighborhood – such a family friendly place to live.  Wonderful pools, wide shaded sidewalks, close to tons of shopping and restaurants.  We’re lucky.  Adam and I often talk about how spoiled our kids are to have so much so close.  We both grew up kind of out of the way.  It was a big deal for me when my parents let me ride my bike a mile or so to the Jiffy gas station with my friends to buy snacks.  That was the only store anywhere near us.  Adam grew up in a super small Central Florida town in the middle of nowhere.  Our kids?  They can ride their bikes to the movie theater, pools, playgrounds, the library, grandparents houses, school, restaurants.  They have it good.

I’m getting off track though.  Our neighborhood has two pools, one is generally used most often by adults and has a lap pool and the other is a kids paradise.  It has a big water slide and this awesome kids area with water guns, thunder buckets, a beach entry, water slide.. it’s wonderful, especially for the little ones.  There’s a place to grab lunch and snacks too (although, it can be a bit slow, which can be difficult with hungry little ones, but I guess you can’t have it all).

Saturday we ran errands and I promised Braden that if he was good for us all day, we’d go to the pool Sunday morning.  He was awesome, so Braden and I spent the early afternoon having fun splashing around while Adam and Mackenzie napped at home.

While Braden was too busy with his new pool friends to pay any attention to me, I got to sit back and relax a bit and text with some of my running buddies about jogging strollers.  It’s been a struggle lately to get my runs in — it is way too hot in the afternoon (when I usually go) and in the morning Adam has to leave for work so early and Mackenzie is up.  It’s next to impossible for him to get ready and watch her at the same time so it was really difficult for me to get out the door in the morning.

One of my friends has a B.O.B Revolution SE and loves it.  Adam and I both had a serious case of sticker shock, but a few others backed her up and said it was absolutely worth it.  REI had them on sale for 15% off, so after we grabbed lunch at the pool and got home to get cleaned up, we headed out to REI to take a peek.  All I can say is my friends were right, we took it for a quick spin around the store and I was sold.  Mackenzie seems happy with her new wheels too!  I’m really hoping that this helps me stick to my training plan that I’ve been slacking on so much lately.

We ran in Best Buy to pick up LifeProof cases for our iPads (since our kids have been taking them everywhere with them lately) and Toys ‘R Us to get a LeapPad for Mackenzie (because she keeps taking Braden’s, causing arguments that I’m not a fan of) while we were at the Town Center then headed South to meet some friends to load up on delicious carbs before our 5k in the morning.  They are running their very first race and it’s my first 5k (yep, I do things backward).  I’ve been really looking forward to it for the last few weeks, but I’m a bit nervous too.  I set some lofty goals for myself, but I’ve slacked on training and I twisted my ankle a few days ago.

Thankfully my ankle isn’t giving me any big problems – I can walk and run on it, I just feel a little pinch that is a bit uncomfortable.  I’m planning to tape and ice it tonight in hopes that it is feeling good in the morning.  My original goal for this race was to have an average pace that starts with an 8 — I figure a 5K is the only time I’m ever going to see that.  I’d also really like to beat my little brother.  He’s always been in better shape than I have without having to put much effort into it and this is the one time in our lives that I actually have a shot at performing better than him athletically.. for now at least.  I have a feeling that he’s going to be flying past me with ease in no time.

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