Monday, March 18, 2013

Weekly Recap


I love this shirt!  I ordered if from another
blog that I follow.  Just her out
Mile Posts 
I survived!  Being the wife of a high school band director you just have to expect that he is going to be out at least two or three nights a week.  Whether it is marching band rehearsal, jazz band rehearsal, a band parents meeting or a concert, there is always something going on and it really never seems to die down.  The worst time is when it is musical time, that is when it gets crazy.   I really shouldn't complain because it only happens once a year but it is a LONG week when it does.  He is out of the house, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and then following weekend Friday and Saturday!  So it just makes a long week of work, dinner, homework, baths and bedtime with only one set of hands.  Which also means that it makes it near impossible to go running unless I go in the morning and lately I just can't get up.  It is so cozy in my bed and so darn dark out.  So this weeks recap is not really that exciting. 

No running during the week.

Saturday: 9.64 miles 
Check out my awesome post run meal.  A cheeseburger with bacon, fried egg, lettuce, and ketcup on white bread.  SO Yummy, thanks Dave.  If he didn't make it, I would have never made it myself and strangely enough it was my idea to add the egg.  TOTALLY not like me.  


Sunday: 5.08 miles
Dave didn't have time to make another awesome post run meal so I had my go to...peanut butter and jelly.  

Total Miles this week: 14.72
Total Miles for the Year: 186.18

I also started the AB/Plank challenge this week:  I have done day one and day 2.  I will  do my timed plank in a little bit!  

One of Ashley's favorite things to do is to dance.  When she is cranky and won't let me put her down I put on music and we dance.  She loves it!  I love to spin her and see the biggest and most beautiful smile around.  For those of you didn't know I used to do Zumba all the time.  I even taught classes.  Needless to say I love to dance too!  One of the things that I noticed really fast after stopping Zumba was my love handles were back.  So whenever we have a dance party I make sure to do some moves that I know hit my waistline.  I am hoping that I can work that waistline while dancing with my kids.  Tonight we had a full blown dance party, Mom, Dad, Jeremy, Ian and Ashley dancing all over the living room.  I always wonder if people can see us through the big window and if they can, I wonder what they are thinking.  I hope that we are making them think out loud, perhaps saying wow those people are really having a good time because although it might look like we are crazy I love our family dance parties and even the multiple games of freeze dance, which the boys love.  

Next weeks plan:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: More ABs...no running unless we don't have school because of yet another DUMB snowstorm.  
Wednesday: 4 miles 
Thursday: 4 miles (1 mile warm-up, 2 miles hard, 1 mile jog)
Friday: 5 miles 
Saturday: 5k Sandy Hook Run for the Families  Very excited to run this race!
Sunday: 11 miles 

Do you have dance parties at your house?
Have you ever seen anything strange when looking in people's windows? 

*****Remember if you are doing the AB/Plank Challenge, leave a comment so I can cheer you on!
If you are not doing the AB/Plank Challenge leave a comment anyway.  I would still LOVE  to read what you think about my blog! So leave a comment...don't know what to write, answer one of the questions above or just tell me that you were here. 

If you are having trouble leaving a comment let me know.  

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Plank and Abs 30 Day Challenge

Last night I posted a question on FB asking how long can you hold a plank?  A lot of people were interested in finding out how long they could hold a plank.  So I thought that I would put up a chart that I am going to do for the next month.(I found in on the web...just changed the dates.)  If you want to join me that would be great.  There isn't going to be a prize but your bathing suit and summer clothes just might fit a little better and I am sure that you will be feeling stronger.  
Each week I will update my progress on my weekly recap post (usually Monday).  I hope that you will update how you are doing as well by posting a comment.  I am hoping that the more people that are doing this the more likely I  and you will stick with it.  I am not going to lie...this looks tough.  At first I was thinking that it is was too easy in the beginning but now that I have typed the whole thing I think that towards the end it is going to turn into a challenge.  Good luck and have fun!!!  And here is to flat abs and a stronger body!

Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday






March 16
15 sit-ups
5 crunches
10s plank
10 pushups
March 17
19 sit-ups
6 crunches
12s plank
11 pushups
March 18
Timed Plank
March 19
23 sit-ups
7 crunches
15s plank
12 pushups
March 20
27 sit-ups
10crunches
20s plank
14 pushups
March 21
30 sit-ups
15 crunches
25s plank
16 pushups
March 22
34 sit-ups
20 crunches
28s plank
17 pushups
March 23
36 sit-ups
29 crunches
30s plank
19 pushups
March 24
40 sit-ups
38 crunches
30s plank
19 pushups
March 25
Timed Plank
March 26
42 sit-ups
47 crunches
35s plank
21 pushups
March 27
46 sit-ups
47 crunches
37s plank
22 pushups
March 28
50 sit-ups
65 crunches
40s plank
24 pushups
March 29
54 sit-ups
74 crunches
50s plank
25 pushups
March 30
57 sit-ups
83 crunches
55s plank
27 pushups
March 31
60 sit-ups
92 crunches
60s plank
29 pushups
April 1
Timed Plank
April 2
64 sit-ups
101 crunches
65s plank
30 pushups
April 3
67 sit-ups
110 crunches
70s plank
32 pushups
April 4
71 sit-ups
119 crunches
75s plank
35 pushups
April 5
74 sit-ups
128 crunches
80s plank
38 pushups
April 6
77 sit-ups
137 crunches
85s plank
40 pushups
April 7
80 sit-ups
146 crunches
90s plank
43 pushups
April 8
Timed Plank
April 9
84 sit-ups
155 crunches
95s plank
46 pushups
April 10
86 sit-ups
164 crunches
100s plank
49 pushups
April 11
90 sit-ups
173 crunches
105s plank
52 pushups
April 12
94 sit-ups
182 crunches
110s plank
55pushups
April 13
96 sit-ups
191 crunches
115 plank
58 pushups
April 14
100 sit-ups
200 crunches
120s plank
60 pushups






Friday, March 15, 2013

Random Runnings

A few random things tonight.
1. Being the tooth fairy is scary! Jeremy lost his first tooth tonight. He pulled it out!! When I went in to play the tooth fairy I was so afraid that Jeremy was going to wake up when I was putting the money under his pillow. And then I had to get the tooth out from under the pillow! I can't wait to see his face in the morning. He got five quarters. I figured that was way cooler than a dollar. I chose five because he is five!!
2. Planks. I have been seeing challenges on blogs that I read, on Pinterest and other places. I know that I need to start working on my core and abs because I know that in the long run it will help my running. I also found out that I am going to be able to spend more time in Disney over April vacation (long story which will come after the trip) so I am making a commitment to work my abs and do planks from today until we go to Disney which is is exactly 30 days away! Right now I can hold my plank for 1:10. I also tried to do 300 abs. It was really hard. I also found a mean abs chart on Pinterest so I am going to do that too! I am hoping I will see some kind of difference before we leave for Disney!
3. Chips! I love chips. I started eating Utz Sour Cream and Onion chips when I was pregnant with Ashley and basically I haven't stop since. I usually eat a whole bag each week while I watch tv. I try to only eat the chips on days that I run. I need to cut down on these chips. I want to say that I won't eat them at all but I can't say that. I usually don't worry about what I eat. I just eat. But I think I might need to cut down a little bit on my chip addiction.
4. Nine mile run tomorrow. I looking forward to running since I never did get to run this week. I am also looking forward to sleeping in. All week Dave and I have been getting up late. So I better not wake up early tomorrow.

I guess I don't have any more randomness. I sure I will think of something as soon as I post this but I will save that for another day.

Question:
If you have played the tooth fairy were you scared? How much did you leave?
How long can you hold a plank? What do you do to work your abs?

And here is a picture if one happy kid you lost his first tooth!!


Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Fortune Cookie!

Monday night we had Chinese food for dinner! I had forgotten to take the meat out, Dave wasn't home and the boys had been begging for Chinese food so I gave in and got it! My fortune cookies was great, especially for this week. I saved it. It reads: success is going from failure to failure to failure without loosing enthusiasm. Why is that a good fortune for me this week, well yet again I didn't run today. I woke up late and tired yet again so another failure! I could have run after school but I didn't just didn't want to. Just wanted to get my kids and hang out with them. I am not too concerned. It's not such a big failure. I mean I got to hang out with my awesome kids. I haven't lost my enthusiasm! I will run again, it just might not be until Saturday. Oh we'll no big deal!!

~From an enthusiastic runner who hasn't run since Sunday

Did you ever save a fortune from a fortune cookie?

Here are my kids! Yes, Ashley is in Xmas pjs but I am not too concerned, they fit her and she is still super cute! The only way I got the boys to pose for me was to bribe them with the brownies that we made after school! The picture turned out great and the brownies are super yummy!



Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Running From the Rain

Today the only thing that I was running from was the rain! As I left work to pick up all three kids it was pouring. The kind of rain that sucks when you have pick up kids and put them in carseats.
First stop was to pick up the boys! Not too bad!
Next stop was the grocery store with the boys. It was raining cats and dogs when got there. We got out and I swear that I closed the door. I drive a minivan and I love it. Number one reason why, my automatic doors. So easy. However today they let me down. I guess I didn't press the button or something because when we came back to car after splashing in all the big puddles, we found a huge puddle in Ian's carseats. I am not exaggerating. Needless to say he wasn't happy to get in he seat. I dried it out with a sweater that I left in the car but it really didn't do much. I wrestled Ian into the seat as I stood outside the car. At this point I was totally soaked and had a screaming kid in a very wet seat!
From there I got Ashley! Again getting wet as I put her in the car! At this point I didn't even care.

We were all loaded into a very wet car and went home! Ian did calm down but said that he was VERY wet.
I got everything inside including the carseat.

This is me after the adventure.  The picture doesn't really show you how wet I was.  I had rain dripping from my glasses and my hair was so wet in the back that I could have gotten out the hairdryer and dried my hair!
The running from the rain part stops there but my crazy afternoon doesn't.  I came home to had had an accident and threw up!   She has diabetes. So sad!







I did finish off my crazy afternoon by spending an evening with a great friend.  We made yummy stuffed peppers!

It might seems that I am complaining. I am not. I love my kids and someday I know I will miss standing in the rain buckling them into their seat.
It seems funning that even though I didn't get to run today I still did run.  Just not the way that I had planned.  I was planning on getting up early run however I didn't! Not because I laid in bed and was too lazy to get up because usually I end up getting up because I know that I will be mad at myself. I didn't even have the chance to think about it because I woke up so late.  I will see how tomorrow goes!! I am hoping to run tomorrow morning. Better stop doing this and go to bed!

~ From a runner who was running from the rain while making memories with my kids!

Do you love the rain?      Yes, but only in the summer when it is warm rain!
Did you ever leave the car door or window open before?  Yes


Monday, March 11, 2013

Weekly Recap!


Thanks for everybody that checked out my Princess Half Marathon recap!  It truly was a wonderful race!

This week was a good week of running.  I missed only one run.

Here is what I did:
Monday: Rest

Tuesday:  4.10

Wednesday:  2.05

Thursday: Rest

Friday: SNOW STORM!!  Missed a 4 mile run!!

Saturday: 8.04

Sunday: 3:16

Total miles this week:  17.35
Total miles this year: 171.46

This week is going to be hard because it is challenge week aka hell week for Dave and the play at his high school, which means that he has rehearsal every night from Sunday to Sunday!  The poor kids hardly get to see daddy this week.  Because Dave isn't home at all after work that means I have to get up before school to run.  Yes, I can do that but this week is the week that we loose an hour of sleep which means that I am super tired and my kids are tired and the kids at school are tired.  But I am going to try my hardest which is why I am going to quickly wrap this up, lay out my clothes for running and get to bed, after cleaning the kitchen after folding and putting away laundry.

This is the plan for the week ahead:
Tuesday: 4 miles
Wednesday: 3 miles
Thursday: 4 miles
Friday: rest
Saturday: 9 miles
Sunday: 3 miles

Lets hope that I can get all this in!  I might need to have a babysitter one day so I can run, which I hate to do but it does make me a better mom!

~A weekly recap from a runner who is hoping to get her runs in this week!

Do you ever hire a babysitter so you can work out?     YES!
What do you think of daylight savings time?   No-I want to run in the morning without my headlamp!

Feel free to leave comments, I would love to hear what you are thinking about my blog!!


Sunday, March 10, 2013

Princess Half Marathon Recap-Really Late!

I hope that I can remember everything from my trip, it almost seems like it was so long ago.  But here is is...

The race begins at 5:35 in the morning.  VERY early!!  The night before the race I was back to the hotel by 9:00 after having a great dinner in Epcot.
I got everything all laid out for the race...I was all set to go.

I set two alarms for 3 am and went to sleep.  I did sleep until about 2:15.  Then I laid in bed tossing and turning and at about 2:50, I got up, shut off the alarms and started getting ready.  I left my room about 3:15 to get the bus at 3:30.  I sat next to a women you was running her first Princess Half Marathon as well.  We chatted the whole way to Epcot.  I think that we go to the parking lot about 3:45.  

I hung out with my new friend Sarah, in the parking lot for a while.  There were lots of people, a DJ blasting music and excitement in the air.  I was feeling confident and really wasn't worried.  I was ready to run.

It didn't seem long before they announced that people needed to start walking to the corrals.  They sent corrals A-C first...that was me.  I was in corral A!  I showed my proof of time at the Expo and they moved me from E to A!  I was super intimated being in corral A but I think now I am happy that I was in A.

I knew that it was a walk to the corrals.  The Mickey Miles Podcast told me that it was going to be a 20 minute walk to the corrals and yes it was.  It was really cool to walk and check out what it was like behind the walls of Epcot.  I didn't see much at all but I still thought it was cool.  Sarah and I split up when we got to the corrals.  I walked to corral A.  Everybody was excited, dressed up and ready to run.  Time did seem to pass quickly.  I think is was because there was so much people watching that could be done.  I did see, Heather whose blog I read daily walk up towards the start line.  I wanted to yell, "Hey, there is Heather" but I didn't!  I didn't want to be that person.  Check her blog out here, Through Heather's Looking Glass.

After that it just seemed like it was time to start.  The Fairy Godmother got us started and at 5:35 we were off, fireworks and all!!
The minute I started running I knew that I was going to need to go to the bathroom but I so didn't want too.  I think that the first couple of miles I spent thinking about going to the bathroom so finally I pulled off and used a port a potty which were basically everywhere.  After the bathroom I was ready to run and just kept on going.  There were places to stop and talk pictures plus volunteers cheering us on.  I was excited to see the toll booths welcoming us to the magic kingdom.
 It is a long way from the toll booths to the actual Magic Kingdom!  I kind of forgot how far it was but I just kept on going.












Then it happened...the most magical moment of the whole race.  Making the turn into the actual Magic Kingdom.  The first thing I noticed was that I could smell yummy food from Tony's Town Square.  I thought that was a little strange to smell food at 6:30 but that was quickly a forgotten thought because there is was, Main Street.  Main Street was filled with spectators cheering and waiting to see their loved ones run up the street.  This was a totally amazing feeling.  Absolutely the most amazing feeling I have ever felt in a race before.  I tried really hard to take it slow, again some more words of wisdom from The Mickey Miles Podcast, I remember Michelle (I think)  saying that she walked down Main Street so she could really remember it.   I did ask some random person to take my picture so I could really remember it.  Here it is, my favorite picture from the race.


 After running up Main Street I immediately knew that I wanted to do that again.  Yes, there will be another  runDisney race!!  While I was running in the Magic Kingdom I stopped to take pictures with the characters and in front of the castle.

 

After leaving the Magic Kingdom and another bathroom stop,  I was ready to get to the finish line.  I didn't find the course to be overly crowded.  There were people always running near me but I hardly felt like people were in my way.  There were just a few times when I felt boxed in but I was easily able to get around.  The run back to Epcot was fine, nothing too exciting.  I did stop one more time to take a picture with an solider.  (I thought the boys would think that was cool!)  I was feeling really good.  I wanted to pick up the pace once I got into Epcot but I didn't know how far I had left so I just keep going. I guess though I did pick up the pace a bit.  Crossing the finish line was great.  I was so happy to see Royal Mickey and Minnie.  A perfect ending to a wonderful race.  Even better the medal...so fancy!!!

 Here I am after running 13.1 miles in 2:26:35!  I really was feeling great!  Tired but happy!!!

I met up with my parents, got some apparel at the runDisney merchandise tent and celebrated my accomplishment.

From there I got my bus back to my resort.
This was a great race.  So much fun!

Yes, I am obsessed with Disney but this race is yet another reason why I am love going to Disney all the time.  It is plan and simple, Disney never lets me down.

Now all I can think about is when my next runDisney race will be.   Keeping my fingers crossed that it will be Marathon Weekend 2014!

 


Although I was on the Magical Express back to the airport when I took this picture, I was really a happy princess!

A great weekend with an awesome race which all took place in the happiest place on earth!!
Wish they had a race in 37 days...because I am headed back to Disney!!



~A race recap from a runDisney fan!

Have you ever run a  runDisney race?  Do you want to run one?
What was your best moment during a race?
Do you have a place that you visit that you are totally obsessed with?