I have still been fighting this nasty cough, stomach bug all week. Today is the first day (knock on wood) that I haven't felt bad. I am not someone who is normally sick so after a week and a half i am DONE with that bug. On a good note though my appetite still has not came back so i was able to avoid gaining any weight over the holiday.
Jeremy and I were originally planning on going to Tennessee today to my brother and sister inlaws house. They live an hour from Alabama where there was a 5k that starts at 11:50pm. The plan was to "run in the new year". Unfortunately, and quite horribly and unexpectedly, my sister in laws mother had complications from a surgery and is not expected to make it. :( Prayers for Trisha (my sis in law) and her family are greatly needed right now. So there will be no "running in the new year" but I do hope to make it out for a run tomorrow. It will be my first in 2 weeks bc of the stomach bug.
For someone who at the start of 2010 did not run and did not like to run I think i have come pretty far this year. I have run 12 races, including my first half marathon, and completed a sprint triathlon. I posted last week my race plans for next year, you can check them out here. Since I have something planned every month I plan on doing the Run for the Bling of It challenge.
Following BookWorm Runs post, this year has had several ups and downs for me.
Ups
*found not 1, but 2 jobs in my field that I love after 2 years of unemployment!
*made some awesome friends through blogging/running/biking/swimming
*been able to go on vacation and spend time with my hubby
*ran a half marathon, something I NEVER thought I would do
Downs
*weight gain
*losing some friends do to poor choices on their part
*not being able to start a family
I do have several goals for next year, which I'll post tomorrow along with the recap of my long awaited run.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
sick as a dog
since coming home i have been sick. i had one good day the day after we got back and then it hit. sore throat tuesday, fever wednesday, congestion thurs/fri, throwing up on christmas :(, upset stomach sunday. yesterday i started feeling better, but woke up this morning with a not very happy stomach again. hoping it will decide to disappear for good today and not come back. thus no exercise at all has happened! unless you count getting an ab workout in while hovering the toilet. but i'm going to guess that doesnt count in the Holiday Booty Buster Challenge....
hoping to get back to doing something tomorrow. we'll see how it goes though.
hoping to get back to doing something tomorrow. we'll see how it goes though.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Welcome home!
Last week, my hubby and I went on a Caribbean Cruise. We stopped at St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and Grand Turk. It was fabulous! I highly recommend cruising if you have never done one.
The ship did have a fitness center and I'm happy to report that Jeremy and I did go to it the three days we were at sea only and work out. He ran 4 miles each time and I either biked or biked and ran. I ended up biking a total of 22 miles and running 3.
It's hard to see, but this is a view between the bike I was on and the treadmill J was on.
We also took a bike and snorkel excursion on Grand Turk. Grand Turk is 7 miles long and 1.5 miles wide so we were able to bike and see most of the island before going snorkeling. Here's a pic from the excursion.
On St. Maarten we took a bus tour and beach excursion and on St. Thomas we went out on a catamaran and snorkeled. I love snorkeling and we were able to see 2 sea turtles.
The food was wonderful. There was so much to eat and it was available all the time, which was not a good thing for me or my hubby. But, I did come home and was only up my usual 4-5 pounds after vacation weight. Hopefully it will come off pretty quickly. I'm sure it would have been worse had we not gone and worked out a few times on the trip.
Of course being the week of Christmas isn't going to make it easy. We had 2 christmas's yesterday, one at my parents house and one at jeremy's parents. I did do good though and only ate one 'meal' between the two. I snacked a little at his parents house but didnt have a second full meal. We have both decided after new years we are going to start watching what we eat better. It's just very hard with our schedules to not eat out as often as we do. Working second shift with an hour to make and eat dinner is not the easiest thing in the world. Plus with my part time job i work in the late mornings right before lunch time, so most days J has to make lunch or we end up eating out. I need to make more use of my crockpot so that we can have something homemade and good for us at night rather than a frozen meal/pizza.
The ship did have a fitness center and I'm happy to report that Jeremy and I did go to it the three days we were at sea only and work out. He ran 4 miles each time and I either biked or biked and ran. I ended up biking a total of 22 miles and running 3.
It's hard to see, but this is a view between the bike I was on and the treadmill J was on.
We also took a bike and snorkel excursion on Grand Turk. Grand Turk is 7 miles long and 1.5 miles wide so we were able to bike and see most of the island before going snorkeling. Here's a pic from the excursion.
On St. Maarten we took a bus tour and beach excursion and on St. Thomas we went out on a catamaran and snorkeled. I love snorkeling and we were able to see 2 sea turtles.
The food was wonderful. There was so much to eat and it was available all the time, which was not a good thing for me or my hubby. But, I did come home and was only up my usual 4-5 pounds after vacation weight. Hopefully it will come off pretty quickly. I'm sure it would have been worse had we not gone and worked out a few times on the trip.
Of course being the week of Christmas isn't going to make it easy. We had 2 christmas's yesterday, one at my parents house and one at jeremy's parents. I did do good though and only ate one 'meal' between the two. I snacked a little at his parents house but didnt have a second full meal. We have both decided after new years we are going to start watching what we eat better. It's just very hard with our schedules to not eat out as often as we do. Working second shift with an hour to make and eat dinner is not the easiest thing in the world. Plus with my part time job i work in the late mornings right before lunch time, so most days J has to make lunch or we end up eating out. I need to make more use of my crockpot so that we can have something homemade and good for us at night rather than a frozen meal/pizza.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
2011 Race Plans
Here is what is on the calendar so far for 2011. Of course all this is subject to change depending on well...life! :)
January - New Years 5k, shelbyville sprint tri #1
February - shelbyville sprint tri #2
March - Shamrock Shuffle 3k, shelbyville sprint tri #3
April - Derby Half or Lexington Heart of the Bluegrass Half, shelbyvill sprint tri #4
May - Shakertown 5k, McDowell 10K
June - Twinkie Run 10k,
July - Bluegrass 10,000
August - Railroad Days 5k
September - mcdowell sprint triathlon
October - Black Cat 5K, Bourbon Chase 200 mile relay, fox and hound 4k,
November - Southern Lights 5k
December - Jingle Bell Jog 5K
January - New Years 5k, shelbyville sprint tri #1
February - shelbyville sprint tri #2
March - Shamrock Shuffle 3k, shelbyville sprint tri #3
April - Derby Half or Lexington Heart of the Bluegrass Half, shelbyvill sprint tri #4
May - Shakertown 5k, McDowell 10K
June - Twinkie Run 10k,
July - Bluegrass 10,000
August - Railroad Days 5k
September - mcdowell sprint triathlon
October - Black Cat 5K, Bourbon Chase 200 mile relay, fox and hound 4k,
November - Southern Lights 5k
December - Jingle Bell Jog 5K
Running Tag
Jennifer at One Step at a Time tagged me on her blog and they were such awesome questions I couldnt help but repost and tag a few others! :)
1. What are you most fond of accomplishing in 2010?
I would have to say my half marathon. I started out 2010 hating running. I had tried in 2009 to run and failed miserably. I did my first race in March 2010 and decided I would try to become a runner one more time. Started couch to 5k and that was all it took. My husband thought i was crazy when i told him in may/june that i wanted to do a half marathon. he said "maybe you should focus on finishing and running a 5k first before you do a half", but that just fueled the fire so in july i set out to do a half marathon and did so on my 31st birthday!
2. What was your favorite race in 2010?
Now that's a hard one. I guess my favorite race would have to be either the twinkie run that i did as a team with jeremy or the stanford race this summer when i broke 40 minutes for the first time.
3. What are your running goals in 2011?
In 2011, my goal is to get my 5k time down to under 30 minutes. I also want to compete in some more triathlons. I also hope to run another half marathon or two.
4. What is your favorite holiday guilty pleasure?
Definitely desserts. No question about it I have a weakness for sweets.
5. What is your most embarrassing running moment?
most embarrassing moment would be in may at the mothers day 5k i did with jeremy. it is a race dedicated to a mother and former teacher that died unexpectedly by choking. everyone comes out for this race, especially teachers. so a bunch of teachers that i have worked with in the past were there walking to support the cause. i was in week 4 of couch to 5k and was doing pretty well til my stomach issues hit. luckily we were right around the corner from a speedway. so i went and used the bathroom for a few minutes. i didnt quit but i was behind the teachers that were walking. they knew had been in front of them so it was very embarrassing to tell them that i had to make a pitstop in speedway to use the restroom.
Tagging a few others:
Sarah at The Progress Post
Twila at 2010 miles in 2010
Mindy at Mindy's Marathon
1. What are you most fond of accomplishing in 2010?
I would have to say my half marathon. I started out 2010 hating running. I had tried in 2009 to run and failed miserably. I did my first race in March 2010 and decided I would try to become a runner one more time. Started couch to 5k and that was all it took. My husband thought i was crazy when i told him in may/june that i wanted to do a half marathon. he said "maybe you should focus on finishing and running a 5k first before you do a half", but that just fueled the fire so in july i set out to do a half marathon and did so on my 31st birthday!
2. What was your favorite race in 2010?
Now that's a hard one. I guess my favorite race would have to be either the twinkie run that i did as a team with jeremy or the stanford race this summer when i broke 40 minutes for the first time.
3. What are your running goals in 2011?
In 2011, my goal is to get my 5k time down to under 30 minutes. I also want to compete in some more triathlons. I also hope to run another half marathon or two.
4. What is your favorite holiday guilty pleasure?
Definitely desserts. No question about it I have a weakness for sweets.
5. What is your most embarrassing running moment?
most embarrassing moment would be in may at the mothers day 5k i did with jeremy. it is a race dedicated to a mother and former teacher that died unexpectedly by choking. everyone comes out for this race, especially teachers. so a bunch of teachers that i have worked with in the past were there walking to support the cause. i was in week 4 of couch to 5k and was doing pretty well til my stomach issues hit. luckily we were right around the corner from a speedway. so i went and used the bathroom for a few minutes. i didnt quit but i was behind the teachers that were walking. they knew had been in front of them so it was very embarrassing to tell them that i had to make a pitstop in speedway to use the restroom.
Tagging a few others:
Sarah at The Progress Post
Twila at 2010 miles in 2010
Mindy at Mindy's Marathon
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Jingle Bell Jog - Slush Style
Today I ran in a local Jingle Bell Jog 5k. All the money raised goes to support Alzheimer's, which is near and dear to my heart with both of my grandmother's having been diagnosed with the disease.
The forecast called for snow and by midnight it was coming down. My running buddy who was driving from an hour away decided not to come down. Good thing since there were several wrecks this morning on the roads. It snowed for the race last year and I chickened out and just waited around for Jeremy to run it. Not this year though, I was going to stick it out and run too.
I got dressed in all my new "cold" weather gear that I had ordered. Only to find out the night before that my new tights were actually for keeping me cool not warm! :( But they were still the only long pants i had to run in besides my husbands track pants. They weren't the best for keeping me warm before the race but did do the trick when running and were fast drying afterwards. Unfortunately for Jeremy, his tights aren't going to be here for a couple more weeks. :(
My outfit (tights, base layer shirt, running skirt)
Missing from picture (another dryfit shirt, vest, headband and gloves)
This course is the most hated course in the surrounding area, 2 of the 3 miles are uphill :( No one likes this course! But I put on my jingle bells and went for my first run in the snow, ice, rain, mixture of all three. I was really surprised by how loud they were. I could hear them over my music, which was also pretty loud til J asked me to turn it down bc I kept asking him to repeat himself.....
My feet were wet before we even started from the rain/snow/ice mixture that was coming down while standing in line to get our packets. My feet and legs were cold but J assured me they would warm up once we got started. Which as always he was right and they did. My arms were cold the entire run, but my hands stayed nice and toasty in my gloves. A little too toasty actually, i had to take them off at about mile 1.5.
My time was not good. I added several minutes from when I ran the same course this summer, but I blame part of it on the weather, it really was hard running in slush - i kept slipping, and part of it on me being out of shape. J really brought it home for me when he asked "would you expect one of your swimmers to get better if they only came to one practice a week?" of course the answer is "no". I wouldn't expect that of my kids, so why would i expect that of myself? I shouldn't of course. So I am going to get back on the training program this week! I really want that sub30 min 5k time!
I did have a pain FREE run though. Those evil shin splints were gone and I haven't had any hip pain in a while! woo hoo!!! And the best part about this race, other than supporting Alzheimer's, is that you get presents!! I mean, who doesn't like presents?! They had 3 tents sent up with wrapped gifts. You take one, carry it through the finish line, and then it's yours to keep. Last year J got a Vera Bradley wallet, which I got of course. This year he picked a box that contained 2 flashlights and batteries, while I got a Longaberger cd holder and a potpourri holder.
With our presents after the race before opening them.
Have a happy, snowy night!
The forecast called for snow and by midnight it was coming down. My running buddy who was driving from an hour away decided not to come down. Good thing since there were several wrecks this morning on the roads. It snowed for the race last year and I chickened out and just waited around for Jeremy to run it. Not this year though, I was going to stick it out and run too.
I got dressed in all my new "cold" weather gear that I had ordered. Only to find out the night before that my new tights were actually for keeping me cool not warm! :( But they were still the only long pants i had to run in besides my husbands track pants. They weren't the best for keeping me warm before the race but did do the trick when running and were fast drying afterwards. Unfortunately for Jeremy, his tights aren't going to be here for a couple more weeks. :(
My outfit (tights, base layer shirt, running skirt)
Missing from picture (another dryfit shirt, vest, headband and gloves)
This course is the most hated course in the surrounding area, 2 of the 3 miles are uphill :( No one likes this course! But I put on my jingle bells and went for my first run in the snow, ice, rain, mixture of all three. I was really surprised by how loud they were. I could hear them over my music, which was also pretty loud til J asked me to turn it down bc I kept asking him to repeat himself.....
My feet were wet before we even started from the rain/snow/ice mixture that was coming down while standing in line to get our packets. My feet and legs were cold but J assured me they would warm up once we got started. Which as always he was right and they did. My arms were cold the entire run, but my hands stayed nice and toasty in my gloves. A little too toasty actually, i had to take them off at about mile 1.5.
My time was not good. I added several minutes from when I ran the same course this summer, but I blame part of it on the weather, it really was hard running in slush - i kept slipping, and part of it on me being out of shape. J really brought it home for me when he asked "would you expect one of your swimmers to get better if they only came to one practice a week?" of course the answer is "no". I wouldn't expect that of my kids, so why would i expect that of myself? I shouldn't of course. So I am going to get back on the training program this week! I really want that sub30 min 5k time!
I did have a pain FREE run though. Those evil shin splints were gone and I haven't had any hip pain in a while! woo hoo!!! And the best part about this race, other than supporting Alzheimer's, is that you get presents!! I mean, who doesn't like presents?! They had 3 tents sent up with wrapped gifts. You take one, carry it through the finish line, and then it's yours to keep. Last year J got a Vera Bradley wallet, which I got of course. This year he picked a box that contained 2 flashlights and batteries, while I got a Longaberger cd holder and a potpourri holder.
Have a happy, snowy night!
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