Friday, November 30, 2012

Checking in

So, I'm a horrible blogger. I have all these plans to write. And I know that writing is therapeutic for me. But it just always ends up on the back burner.

My friend Chandra has been telling me about her goal-setting, and I love how she's doing it. She is starting with her priorities, what's most important to her and her family. Then she's making yearly goals based on those priorities. From there, she can make monthly and weekly goals that line up with those. She shared a link with me where one person set goals by category, and I really like that idea to help me focus.

I am just at the beginning of the process, but I'm going to use the three areas from my blog title to form some goals. These are, after all, the things that are most important to me, the things I'm constantly trying to balance.

My priorities
Home
-To have a happy, comfortable home where we all feel loved and nurtured
-To establish order and routines
Heart
-To have a strong relationship with Christ
-To build a strong marriage
-To raise confident, thoughtful children who learn and know God
-To enjoy the daily moments as well as the big experiences
Health
-To provide comforting, nutritious meals and snacks
-To stay (and encourage others to become) physically fit

It's a start. I feel a chart or notebook coming. I sure do love my binders :)

Monday, November 26, 2012

HBBC Week 1 Recap

Week 1 of the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge is done, and it went well. I met my goals of 3 runs and 2 strength training sessions (including the WOW). Plus, I did really well with my fruits and veggies for the week too, hitting 7 or more most days.

The week looked like this...

Monday-Body Pump

Tuesday-run 3 miles

Wednesday-strength training with WOW circuit
-This is when I did all my prep work for Thanksgiving...spending hours in the kitchen and on the house.

Thursday-5 miles with my sister (plus walked one home)
-Even though it was getting dark, I managed to get the husband and kids out for a walk/ride that evening!

Friday-walk at the lake

Saturday-walk at the lake

Sunday-5 miles (plus walked .6 more) while camping!

Total points: 29.6 + 8 bonus for Facebook posts, Thanksgiving prep and Thanksgiving family activity.

This weeks goals:
Run 3x, Body Pump 1x, strength train with the WOW 1x, hit my fruits/veggies all week, and increase my water intake

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Post-Thanksgiving Fun

I have only been shopping on Black Friday once, and that was just a random "let's see what this is like" trip. Until now. I ended up getting talked into going Thursday night for some Black Friday shopping. I went with Sarah, and we had another group of friends out as well, who we met up with a couple of times.

We hit up Michael's first. They'd been open since four, so when we got there a little before 8, it wasn't bad at all. We got some good deals there, especially since we had 30% total purchase coupon. Then we headed to Toys R Us...Oh. My. Goodness. We stood in a line out into the parking lot...and they'd already been open for an hour! We got the things were looking for and stood in the line that snaked up and down the aisles...but really, we weren't there as long as I thought we'd be. We took a break for "dinner" at McDonald's and then headed to Sears for a few things. It wasn't bad at all. After that, it was on to Kohl's where we stood in another line out into the parking lot. We met up with our friends there. We didn't have much of an agenda there, but we found a few good deals there too (including a Christmas present for me!). After that, we went to IHOP. I'm not sure what meal that was, but it sure was fun! Overall, I'd say I'd do it again!

I got home after 3:30 in the morning and got a few hours of sleep before it was time to get up and at 'em for our next Thanksgiving adventure.

With Chad having the Friday after Thanksgiving off and unseasonable warm temperatures this November, we had decided to go camping Friday-Sunday a couple of weeks ago. We ended up planning a trip with his family, including having our Thanksgiving meal with them while we were camping.


We had a cold front blow in (just shortly after I got home from Black Friday shopping), so it was cooler than expected. In fact, Thursday night, it got down to 28! Still, we made the most of it and had a lot of fun...a few walks, a little fishing, a lot of playing, a little learning, and some good food...and I even got up and ran 5 miles this morning...a gorgeous, wonderful 5 miles!


Monday, November 19, 2012

Week 1

HBBC2012-Option2It's here! Today begins the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge, a 7-week challenge to keep me on track through the holidays. It's not too late to join! There is a fee involved, but it's worth it...and not just because of the prizes! For me, it's worth a few bucks to help me stay motivated to eat healthy and stay in shape through the tempting holidays.

My goals, personally, are to run 3x a week and do some sort of strength training 2x a week. I want to try and increase my fruits and veggies each day (which helps me from eating the junk). I'd love to shed a couple more pounds, but that's not my ultimate goal.

Here's what this week looks like, in all its craziness:

Monday-Body Pump (while SB is in gymnastics)

Tuesday-run 3 miles
-PLC meetings at school (at least the kids go home early!)

Wednesday-strength training workout at home
-bake pumpkin rolls, make artichoke dip, make corn salad
-doctor appointment
-Thanksgiving #1

Thursday-I may do a Turkey Trot 5K
-make pulled pork for camping
-Thanksgiving #2 (making roasted root vegetables)

Friday-run long
-camping!!!

Saturday-Thanksgiving #3 while camping
-hike

Sunday-home again :)



Sunday, November 18, 2012

City Lights 5k

Before the race
Even though Sarah couldn't make Thursday's race, we were still able to do Saturday's City Lights 5K. The weather was beautiful, and the run was great. I could tell Sarah really needed the run.

And I can't wait to see pictures, but I actually dressed up for the Christmas-themed run...with what I could manage on short notice. Red and white fur-trimmed knee socks, a red shirt borrowed from my husband, and my gray vest...as good as it gets, but fun!

The course started off on a paved trail next to a river and then headed to the streets, following the parade course for later that evening. It was kind of neat to see everyone setting up for that night's festivities...although running between the crowd and the elementary choir singing was a little awkward.

I wasn't sure whether I should push my pace on this race after Thursday's race. However, I went out at what felt good. My first mile was slower than Thursday's miles, but I figured I could keep it up. Sarah was just ahead of me, but I couldn't quite keep up with her.

In the last mile, I tried to pick off as many runners as I could, passing at least 5 runners. I ended up running the 3.1 miles in 26:25. I'll take it!

I didn't get to stay for awards and such...but according to today's results, I ended up 3rd after Sarah's 2nd out of 17 in our age group. Pretty cool.

After the race, Mom and Dad (they came and watched...and took pictures! I'll post them later) and I headed to the choir area to watch SB sing in her first choir performance. I stepped into a parking garage to throw some jeans over my shorts. Later I switched to long sleeves and a jacket in the parking lot. She did such a good job! She's getting so big and grown up.

After that we had some time to kill until the parade. We met up with my husband's family at a coffee shop and warmed up a little before the parade. The parade ended up being over an hour long! I think the kids enjoyed it though.

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with the two 5k races so close together. I've gotten so used to going long and slow that the short, fast races felt amazing.


Sent from my Samsung Epic™ 4G Touch

Great American Smokeout 5K Color Run

Oh, my! I have had the best intentions of blogging more, but I just realized it's been more than two weeks since I've written anything...and I've missed it!

Earlier this week a friend of mine asked if I wanted to do a 5K Thursday. It was a benefit for the American Cancer Society and was scheduled to coincide with the Great American Smokeout. Her grandmother is battling lung cancer for the second time, and she wanted to honor her with the run. The two of us are already signed up for a 5K on Saturday with our city's City Lights downtown Christmas events, so I wasn't sure about running two races so close together. However, on Wednesday, I decided I'd do the race with her...on Thursday.

My sister was already planning on doing the race, but I was hesitant to sign up because it was a color run...I'm just not that into the color runs and mud races and such.

Yesterday after school as I was racing home to change and make it to registration in time, my friend called and said she wasn't going to be able to make it. Her grandmother's treatments were running late. I decided to go ahead and run anyway for her and her Gram...and I'm so glad I did!

The Before
 
My  sister picked me up and we made it just in time to get me registered for the race. It was 3 loops around a small lake (if you want to call it that). Each lap you made, we were told, you would be colored. Kind of a fun way to keep up with laps.
 
Carrie didn't have a voice, so we didn't talk as much as usual...which was just fine because we were running a lot faster than usual. I tried not to watch my Garmin too much, mainly watching the mile splits. Kind of cool to see an 8:20 on the first and an 8:24 on the second. I've never seen that! I ended up with a PR of 26:51, and the race was actually 3.25 miles. Average pace showed to be 8:15.
 
My parents had brought the kids, both my two and my sister's son, out to the race. There are duck and geese they fed, plus they got to see the color fun. They also took pictures, which I'll add later.
 
Here's the after:

 






Sent from my Samsung Epic™ 4G Touch

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge 2012

Now that November is here, the holidays are right around the corner. I don't know about you, but I want to stay on track with my fitness and health...especially since I met my goal last month of losing 2.5 pounds!

HBBC2012-Option2
So, this season, I plan on sticking with the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge hosted by Run to the Finish. It's a great way to stay motivated to hit my workouts and watch what I eat. If you want to join me, be sure you put my name in the "Referred by" blank...I can earn prizes!

And there are prizes! She keeps a lot of them secret, but here's a sneak peak at just a few of them. It's not hard to track your points and have a chance to win. Won't you join me?