5000 Challenge

Yay! I hit 5,000 views on my blog. For that reason I'm going to celebrate by giving myself a 5,000 challenge. I will do the following before next Thursday the 3rd. They will be done in separate sessions and add up to the total. 

1000 seconds of planks
1000 knee drives (what am I thinking)
1000 seconds of yoga poses
2000 seconds of running

Total 5000 

Thanks for reading. 

I went over my calories today :(
My will power was amazing yesterday when I turned down a Frosty and then I turned down even a bite of Brandons frosty. So what did I do today?.... Bought a frosty!!!! I don't know why! It's like my will power was so strong yesterday that I ran out!

Anyhow. Tomorrow is a new day!

Running!!!!

So, I'm training with the Easties for the half marathon in April. My goal is to be to 5 miles by Christmas. Since I did a 5K this summer I didn't want to only go back to Couch to 5K with the group. I wanted to push further but I also want the experience with the team from the very beginning. So here is what I planned... Keep increasing distance on my own while doing intervals with the group. That way I get to train with the group and the intervals will help my endurance and speed on my longer runs. 

So far it's going well. I just finished resting from shin splints. No fun...

One thing I like about training with a group is pacing myself with other people. If you know someone in the group runs faster than you then you can try to keep up with them. I did that last week and it really helped me. It's not a competitive thing. It's a pushing yourself thing. Same thing goes for the opposite. If someone is running behind you and they begin to catch up you can assess... "am I slowing down?". Sometimes it's ok to have slower days and faster days but it's good to have those around you to help you measure. 

So here is my training plan to Christmas. 

Monday - 30 light run, run out 15 min and run back 15 min trying to get all the way back in the second 15 in order to not slow my pace over the run. Not trying to set records. Just running. 
Tuesday - intervals with group
Wed- off
Thursday - intervals w/ group
Friday - off
Saturday - long runs. Beginning with 2 miles, hoping to reach 5 by Christmas. 
Sunday - REST

My brother helped me make this weekly schedule up and my trainer really liked it. So here goes. 

This is my first week on this schedule. Saturday long runs will be tricky this week and next week. But I'll try to get them in. 

Update!!!!

I'm so excited!!! I found a way to get buttons from MyFitnessPal onto my blog. See left. There are two. One with my loss to date and one with lbs left to lose to get to my goal. I'm excited about this. Everytime I weigh in with MFP it will automatically update my blog buttons (which is every morning). I'm thinking about removing the Weigh ins section. Maybe just having a starting weight and current weight. I can't decide.

Ran on my treadmill tonight but it was cut short because something isn't balanced correctly with the legs and where they rest on the mat/floor so I stopped before something got messed up. It was nice to be back on my treadmill though. I went 10 min. I think my shin splints are gone (they seem to be) I rested for 6 days. Tomorrow is running with Easties (co-workers) training for the half.

My birthday was this weekend. Brandon was so sweet. He gave me the Oakleys I've been wanting. They are a great pair for running yet they look cute enough to wear anytime with any outfit. I'm out of contacts. Ordered those today so that I can try out my Oakleys!!! Yahoo. Also, one more week of marching band! I'm so proud that the Dragon band placed the highest at regionals in school history and qualified for the first time for Semi Finals since 1989. In 1989 they didn't have quarterfinals like they do now. So this is the first time ever for the band to make top 8 in quarterfinals. So proud of all of the kids and of my husband who Believes in the kids he teaches!

Planning ahead / blessings

I ran a mile this morning. It was an awkward run. I felt tired at first, then I began to feel great! The temperature was my next hurdle. The sun was beating down hot yet the air was cold to my lungs. These two things were not working well together. So I struggled a bit, thus running one mile not two. 

The goodness.... My mile was 13'. Back a few months ago I struggled for a 14' mile. So I'm shaving time. So yay!!!

I ate great again today. Came in 35 calories under my daily goal. 

Brandon ran today as well I was excited for that! We hit another hurdle today when we had to take his mom back to the hospital. They admitted her again. Please pray for the doctors to have the knowledge they need to help
Her. I learned today that planning ahead is very beneficial. I planned a crock pot meal this morning and cooked my black beans ahead of time so tonight when we unexpectedly ended up at the hospital we still had a healthy dinner waiting at home. Also, running this morning was a good thing. I think it helped give us energy for the eventful day as well as not missing a run because we were too tired at the end of the day. 

As we pulled into the ER this afternoon I heard the first two lines of the chorus to this song. I had heard it before ( I believe some one sang it at church) so anyhow, when we got in the truck to leave the hospital it was on again, so I used Shazam and found that it was "Blessings" by Laura Story. The lyrics are below, it was a blessing to me ( just what I needed to hear) and I hope it will bless someone who reads this. 

"Blessings"

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights 
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights 
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise

Ain't nobody gonna break my stride...... Oh no! I gotta keep on movin'!!

Anyone who knows me knows that the last three weeks have been anything but normal or easy for my husband and I. Long story short my father in law is in a rehab hospital recovering from two strokes that he had three weeks ago. He spent a few days in Nashville in the Neuro ICU unit. We then move him here and his mom came to stay with us. We noticed some things in her health that were getting worse. We made her an appointment with our family doctor. She was admitted to the hospital about a week ago for testing. They found a blood clot and half I it had broken off to her lungs.  There are still many more tests to run for her but right now the focus I the blood clot. All of this while we are in the heart of marching band season. I'm so proud of my husband for taking his band (his second season here) to a point they haven't been in at least 11 years. They received reserved grand champion yesterday! All this while we see his parents through their hospital stays (in two different hospitals.)

The first two weeks I did some running but had to cancel my training appointments. My body was beginning to feel exhausted. Thanks to my trainer being persistent I got back on track with training this week. I knew I had to. I knew that working out was the best thing for stress. I also knew that the less I worked out the faster my body would feel exhausted. 

My Wednesday workout was tough for sure!! It made me mad that certain tasks were wearing on me. It made me mad that I wasn't as strong as my previous workout. It made me determined to keep my training routine and not cancel anymore appointments no matter what. I have to take that hour out for me and my health. Don't get me wrong. It has been a blessing to be able to help my in laws through this tough time. I appreciate my in laws and would do anything to help them. 

I also had two concerts this week. One was ban one was choir. They were both excellent!!! 

So Brandon and I have never been more ready for fall real than we are now!

Last night my brother Jason called. He said "hey are you still doing the Nashville half in the spring?"
Me - "yeah"
Jason - "if you are determined to do it and are sure your going to do it I'll register and run right beside you the entire way!"
Me - "really??!!! That's awesome! Yeah I want you to run with me, can you run that slow, you may behave to walk while I run in order to stay back with me"

I am so excited for this. My brother is so great for being willing to do that for me. We have a team from work that is training to do it together. After fall break we are beginning with Couch to 5K. I'm already to the 5K point so I'm going to be working on increasing my 5K speed and increasing distance. I will work on the speed by doing the interval training with the group (interval training is always good) then I'll work on my distance on my own. My goal is to have 5 miles being easy by Christmas. Having Fibromyalgia will not keep me from running the half but I do have to be smart and train at a pace that won't hurt me and set me back. That is one down fall of Fibro, if you push too hard it can set you back.

So, here we go!!! I'm running the 5K on Oct. 15th with hopes of a better time than last time. I'd like to be 40 min or below. So during fall break I plan to run every day with one day off somewhere for rest. 

After that 5K I will work on increasing my distance to 3.5- 4 miles then 5 etc. 

On Thanksgiving all my cousins and I have decided that since there isn't a Turkey trot in our hometown on Turkey Day that we will run our 1st Annual Terry Turkey Trot. I can't wait for that. I'll hope to have an even faster time by then!

So right now, I'm all
About running and training with Chad for strength and endurance. 

I do want to mention that through all of these last three weeks I've managed to lose a little weight. I'm hoping for a solid good loss this week. I want to be in the 170s so freaking bad!

I hope to post every day this week. I continue to appreciate all
Of my readers. Please don't give up on me. I'm still going I just haven't had much time at all to post. 

I'm still using my "my Fitness Pal" app every single day. I have logged my food journal and exercise every single day for 5 weeks. Woohoo!!!

Please add me on my fitness pal. If you know me message me or
Comment for my screen name.