Thankful post 11_18_09

I am thankful that it is almost November 30th. I had such grand visions about writing meaningful, thought provoking posts, but that is not what happened. I will leave that to Heather and the other 30 days of thanks participants. So I am thankful that I only half to come up w/ 11 more posts after this!

I am thankful for....

a son who can read his own bedtime stories!!!!! It may take him a while, but he can do it!

2 birds with one stone....

I forgot to post yesterday, but I was thankful children who are good sports. They had time trials at their swim practice and Max and Isabel cheered for everybody. They were the loudest ones out there. I felt so proud of them for working hard, but also for encouraging their friends. It is times like that when I realize that I am doing my job.

Today I am going get my thankful and training post all at once. I am thankful for a good workout. It is amazing how it can really turn your day around. Today was one of those days. I wasn't having a bad morning, but did feel rather unmotivated. I had a 5 mile tempo workout scheduled for today, and wasn't all that excited about it. It was kind of cold and very muddy. I usually don't pay attention to speed or tempo workouts; I usually just run. But, today I decided to give it a try. I was to warm up a mile, run 3 mi. @ 9:37 and cool down a mile. I got my warm up in right at 10 min. and then averaged 8:53 for my 3 miles! My cool down was right at 10 minutes also. It felt so good. I felt accomplished and realized that I do better when I push myself. The rest of the day had been great! Granted I have had a pretty lazy day, but because of my run I felt good about my lazy day ;>)

Thankful post 11_11_09

What am I thankful for today? Good question. On day 11 I am having a hard time deciding. That does not bode well for the other 19 or so days. I think that I am going to go with giving thanks for my options. My days are full of them...what to eat, where to eat, what to wear, what to do, etc... I know that there are those out there with very few or no options, and I am thankful that I have them. I hope that I continue to make the right ones. So far so good.

11-11-09

Well, I have tried on 2 separate occasions to comment on my own blog today and it hasn't worked. Patrick and Laurel, you must have a magic touch! I was trying to comment about my run, but since it didn't work I guess I will post instead.

It is so yucky outside today. I was supposed to run six mile today and I did. I really wanted to run outside, but since Max was in childwatch I had to have my phone and I forgot my plastic bag to keep it dry. I was also concerned that my shoes would get too wet and would nit dry in time for my next run (I really need 2 pairs). I had 2 choices: I could run 6 miles on the treadmill or 16*6 laps on the indoor trap. Both seemed pretty miserable to me, But since I couldn't switch directions on the track half way through I chose the treadmill. I got my 6 miles in at a nice easy 10:00 per mile pace. The pace was not difficult at all, but my towel wouldn't stay in place. I needed it to hide my progress so I wouldn't focus on it. Also my headphones got too much sweat in them and stopped working at mile five, but I persevered and finished!!! A very boring way to spend an hour. Thanks goodness for This American Life and Best of the Left podcasts!

I also taught cycle/strength class tonight. I was pleasantly surprised that so many showed up on this wet, wet day. Right now I seem to be obsessed with pushups and judging by the groans tonight, others don't feel the same way.....

Activity

I am thankful that I have an active family. This weekend we went to Boone and the weather was AMAZING!!!!! The kids ran around outside without shirts on in November, in the mountains!!! The four of us played on Gpa's hill, we walked around campus, we played basketball, football, cheerleader, and ran races. We didn't stop. We were so enthusiastic in our activity that we got Gpa and Uncle Christopher involved too.

The best thing that we did was take Max and Izzy to the ASU field Sunday afternoon and played a family football game. That choice delayed our departure by a good 2 hours, but it was so worth it! I had so much fun. We had so much fun. I am sooooo thankful that my family can't sit still, because I sure can't!

Running

Well, I guess I will try to get some updates on my running while I think of what to be thankful for. I realized while talking to Pam that I had not looked at my training schedule in a couple of weeks. I went back and looked and I was so off. I have been increasing my long run, but had not been paying attention to my short runs. I have been about 4 miles short for the past three weeks. While I know that I can complete these distances with little effort, I am disappointed that I am still having a hard time following a schedule. As much as I love to schedule my life, why is running with one so hard?

I made up my 4 mile run that I missed in Boone on Sunday and have six miles tomorrow. I hope it doesn't rain because the idea of an hour on a treadmill is so depressing.

Glass Half Full

I could feel my blood pressure rising as I waited at the bus stop today. 4:20 no big deal. 4:30 still not so big a deal, but I start looking at my watch and my patience with Isabel is dwindling. 4:40 trying not to picture poor Max at school all by himself, or flung from the bus after the horrendous crash that must have taken place. 4:45 I called Nathaniel and got him to get me the transportation dept. phone number. I called them and they were very helpful and let me know exactly where Max was and what time he should be at our stop.

I should have been relieved that he was okay, and I guess I was. But then I started stressing about how I had 45 minutes to get Max's homework done, and spend time with him, and get dinner on the table which I hadn't started yet, and leave for the Y by 6:00. I kept cursing the bus under my breath for making my evening difficult. Until I talked to Max. He was thrilled about the bus "adventure" I likened it to a field trip. He got to see the mechanics work on the bus. He got to watch the bus get filled with gas. He got to see were "ALL THE BUSSES ARE PARKED EVERY NIGHT"!!!!!!!!!

I am so thankful that Max can always find the bright side. I listened to him tell me his experiences and I was able to find the bright side too. We got homework done, dinner fixed and some great dinner table conversation!

I Can't Believe I Ate the Whole Thing

Today I am thankful for the recent changes I have made to my diet. Yesterday, I am ashamed to admit that I completely disregarded these changes and spent the day bingeing. By 8:30 last night I was miserable, I felt sick, like I had a food hangover. I was in bed by 9 and tossed and turned all night long. I woke up with a renewed resolve to stick to my healthier plan!!!!

Before I leave..

We are getting ready to head out of town for the weekend, and since I teased Heather, I figure I better post for today before I leave so I know i will get it in on time...

Today I am thankful for this 30 days of thankfullness project. I have noticed this past week that I am slowing down and thinking about my day. I am seeing my life in a different light. I am not going through the motions. It is reflect on your day and see all that you have accomplished, and what it had meant to yourself and those around you.

long day

The past two days have been great, but busy and long. I have had fun with the kids and their/my friends. I have had a lot of great workouts. Today I am thankful for bedtime...goodnight!

After spending all morning at the playground and eating too many cucumbers (who knew that was possible?) I dragged myself to the Y to run with Pam, Jenny, and Fariba. I was supposed to run 5 miles, but only got in about 4....Jenny's knee (or IT band was bothering her) so we stopped to walk with her. This summer she had to hold back a lot when running with me so I was happy to return the favor!!! I felt good though, and will be running in the morning with Windy. We will probably go 4-5 miles so I will more than make up for my missed mile today.

I will also be swimming tomorrow after I watch the kiddos so my other friends can get their run in. I am still thinking about some swimming goals. I am really excited about this. I tend to neglect my swimming because I am so much stronger there than the run or the bike. But there is always room for improvement.

FInally, day 4 of being thankful. Is it sad that I am already grasping for ideas and I have 26 more to go? Today I am thankful for family dinners. Unfortunately this is not done enough around here. Either Nathaniel is working late or I am rushing to feed the kids before football, soccer, swimming, etc. and N and I eat later. Tonight I made YUMMY potato soup and we all sat down and together and had a lovely, relaxed, silly, fun, happy time together. We HAVE to do that more often!

11-3-09

Today I had a good swim this afternoon which leads me to the 3rd thing I am thankful for. I have to admit that it is extremely selfish. I am glad that Max and Isabel both love swimming. I am glad they play soccer, football, dance, yadda yadda yadda. But I am so relieved that they get it! The understand the swimming drive I had that lead me to swim for 15 years of my life. Told you it was selfish!!!

This exercise blog had been hijacked....

...to follow Heather's lead. Day 2 of being thankful.

I am thankful for good teachers. Max loves his teacher, and I love his teacher. She gets Max, and I am the first to admit that that is not always easy. What a great introduction to school!

For all of my friend who are interested in Villa Heights, Max is going to be the classroom tour guide during some of the upcoming open houses! He is SOOOOOOO excited and can't wait to show you around!

I don't have much to say. I am checking in to stay in the habit. Running is going well. I am sticking to my plan and haven't had any trouble. I am swimming twice a week too and am really enjoying it. While swimming is my strongest discipline, I see some goals emerging. I will let you know when they are fully evolved.

On another note, my Friend Heather has a blog and is spendng the month on November talking about what she is thankful for. I thought I would try this too. I am going to start with health. I am thankful that my family has stayed so healthy so far this flu season. I am probably envoking the blog curse, but A LOT of our friends have suffered a lot these past few weeks. We have been safe around here so far.

My brother ran the NYC Marathon today with the time of 3:33 or something insanely fast like that. I ran 2 miles after watching the race on TV. I ran fast and couldn't even go as fast for 1 mile as he averaged for 26.2! That is pretty amazing to me b/c I felt fast...I wonder how he feels?

going well

All is going well. I have been sticking to my 1/2 marathon very well. I have one longer run and 2 shorter runs. I try to take one of the shorter runs easy and the other one fast. I am surprising myself with my speed on the shorter runs!!! wish I could keep that 8:50-9:00 pace for 26.2 miles!!!

Yay for me!

Things are going well around here. We are really enjoying our new eating habits, and have been feeling great. I have more energy and patience.

Exercise wise, I somehow hurt my right tricep last Tuesday and and even as recently as last night I was sure that I had torn it, or at the very least I had develpoed tendonitis. I need to reschedule PT for my Hip, and I will mention my tricep to her then. It amazingly felt all better this morning, but it hurt so bad that I am going to make sure it doesn't happen again!

I am sticking to my running plan very well so far and ran 2 miles in under 17 minutes this morning. I felt so good and fast and accomplished when I was done. It was the best I have felt running in a long time (if not ever).

In attempt to improve my running...

I am signing up for the thunder road 1/2 marathon.

Adding to the list

I have thought of something else I need to work on.....asking for help. It may seem simple enough, but it is something that I very rarely (never) do for myself. I somehow got it in my head that I have to be able to do everything I set out to do on my own. I have been this way for as long as I can remember and it had never served me well, yet I am still doing it! I tend to feel that if I can't accomplish what I set out to accomplish on my own then people will see me (and I will see myself) as weak. I know that is so silly. I NEVER think of that when I see others getting help.

My friend Jenny is training for the Marine Corps Marathon and had her 20 mile run today. I rode while she ran. I checked in on her from time to time and refilled her water bottles. I am so proud of her. Not because she ran 20 miles (I knew she could do that), but because she reached out to me to ask for help. It makes me so nervous to ask for anything. I don't want to inconvenience any body else, or ask too much of them, or don't want them to think I can't do it. But, when she asked me I was more than happy to help her. I enjoyed helping her. It may seem obvious to everybody else, but today I realized that wow I bet whoever I ask for help is probably going to feel the same way! Duh!

I hope that this realization is sticks with me! Or I guess I should say that I am going to challenge myself to ask for help and begin to feel more comfortable asking for support.

On another note, our change in diet has really been going great. The biggest thing I have noticed is that I no longer drink Dr. Pepper/ caffeine. This was tough for a couple of days, but I am over the rough part. I am only drinking water, sooo much water. I feel better! I am less salty after a workout, and my skin seems younger looking to me.

Diet

The first change I have made is to my diet. Nathaniel and I have decided to make a commitment to be really changing our diets. I consider us to be pretty healthy people in the sense that we exercise and eat plenty of fruits and veggies. But when once we took a closer look we noticed that that was not true. This weekend we cleaned out our kitchen! No HFC! No partially hydrogenated oils! No trans fats! No dyes or chemical food colors! Only olive oil and sesame oil! We re also starting to use vitamins and supplements. The kids are really excited about the change too, I hope they stay that way!

I feel really good about this and am looking forward to this positive change. Now I just need to find some new/different recipes so that I won't fall back on the easy, convenient, preservative laden meals.

First Step

While my goal was t complete a half ironman, I don't think I was every really prepared to do it. I made sure every one knew what I wanted to do, but I didn't really let anybody know HOW I was doing.

I think that not finishing the race was the best thing that could happen to me because I gave me a great opportunity to reflect. I really need to work on so many areas before I believe that I will be ready to try again. This blog is a chance for me to write down my thoughts however disorganized they may seem so that I can see my growth. I am going to work on the following areas and add more as I think of them:

diet

sticking to workout plan/goal

focus on me not worry what others are thinking

not comparing myself to others

follow through

being content

I know that this doesn't seem very organized, but this is just how it is coming out.

Starting over again

My goal all summer was to COMPLETE a half ironman. I did not accomplish my goal, but I am going to "tri" again...