Dirty Girl 5K Mud Run (Team Muddy Melons)

Here's a picture from our 5K mud run.  It was so much fun!!!  Can't wait until next year!

Enjoy!

Hill Country 5K November 13, 2010

My goal this year was to complete four 5K walk/runs.  Our first 5K was in February and freezing cold.  The second 5K was in May and hot and humid.  Our most recent 5K was last weekend and the weather was really nice.  A tiny bit cool, but it warmed up nicely.  The course itself was a hilly trail race.  When they say hills, they mean hills!  At one point, we were literally leaning into the "hill" and walking up as wide-legged as we could so we didn't fall over.  I really enjoyed the scenery but I don't think I'll do it again.  I think I'll stick to the road races.  

My goal was to complete 4 races this year.  We did 3 and I feel really good about that.  It's just too hot in Georgia to be running in June, July and August.  So maybe 3 runs a year isn't too bad.  We're already talking about doing another one in February or March of next year.  I can't believe I'm saying this, but I really love to race, even if I don't come in first.  I get this great feeling deep inside each time I cross the finish line.  I almost cry each time.  My daughter attended our last one since it's near my hometown.  She told me afterward that "water was coming out of her eyes when I crossed the finish line"...isn't that so sweet!  She's 4 years old and just as tenderhearted as can be.  

Here's some pictures from the day:

This was my friend Alecia's first race.  I promised I would walk with her since this was her first race and neither of us had really done any training.  We started off by jogging intermittently the first mile.  After that, we walked.  By mile 2, she was pretty much done, but after a little coaxing and motivational words, well not exactly...  At this point, she had thrown up and sat on the ground.  I told her she needed to get up before her heart rate slowed down, or we'd never finish.  I'm not sure if that's true or not, but it sure sounded good!  Then she told me to "LEAVE ME ALONE!" and I didn't.  I just kept saying you can do this and we're almost done!  And then I told her about the lady who swam the English Channel but quit just before the shoreline because she couldn't see it.  I guess a switch flipped and she was ready to finish the race.  I was really proud of her and I know she was super proud of herself for finishing.  I kept my promise and never left her side more than 10 feet ahead or behind at any given time.  

What a great day!  Can't wait for the next one!

Enjoy!

Yes, I'm Shredding...AGAIN!

Okay, I know that sounds ominous, but I've started the 30 Day Shred by Jillian Michael about 20 times in the last two years!  How many Day 1's can a person do?  I posted this on my Facebook status and received a couple of great reminders. 

1.  Kristi said "How many does this make?  and at least doing a Day 1 is better than not doing."

2.  Leslie said "If you do Day 1 for 30 days does that count?"

Aren't they great?  I love my friends :)

So to help keep me going this time around, I've joined forced with Alicia and Jenna.  

My ultimate goal is to lose 50 pounds by the end of next year.  I think this is completely doable, I just need the will power to succeed.  I used to be on Weight Watchers YEARS ago and learned a couple of valuable lessons from it.  Portion control is paramount and fill up on healthy veggies.  Having small children keeps me snacking, I just need to be sure it's healthy snacks.  I'll be reading through some of my favorite WW cookbooks to get some inspiration for next month's menu plan.  And my friend Lorre, also got one of Jillian's cookbooks, and she offered to let me look through for some inspiration.  

I'm telling you...I've got great friends for the motivation, I just need to put the motivation to practice in myself.

Some friends and I will be walking/jogging our next 5K in November.  I'm hoping Jillian will keep my endurance up so we can finish in good time.  This will be my 3rd 5K this year.  My goal is to complete it under 40 minutes.  Pretty reasonable, I think.  That's about 14 minutes per mile.  

I'll update my blog with my week's progress on Friday.  I think we'll call it Fitness Friday.  Sounds very positive.  A great jump-start for the weekend to keep me going. 

So will you join us?  Do you think I'm crazy?  Well, we know I'm crazy, so that question doesn't really count :)

Come on, get off the computer and get started!

Enjoy!

Mommy & Me Monday and My 5K Drama

Okay, so you know how I told you we were planning to run in the Big Peach 5K on Saturday morning at 8 a.m.?

Let me tell you how my morning went:

5:45 alarm goes off

6:00 dressed and eating cereal with banana

6:15 haylei up, whining...

6:30 hunter up, sucking paci

6:45 kids not cooperating but finally got dressed

6:50 snacks packed with juices and waters

7:00 walk out the door

7:25 on the interstate stuck in traffic, paving road, AGAIN!

7:45 still in traffic, I begin to get upset

7:55 roadblocked by police, have to detour (road blocked for the race!)

8:00 stuck at red light in front of road where race has BEGUN, I start to cry 

8:03 hubby says to jump out of van and ask police lady where the starting line is, I did and she points to a block away, but says to just jump in because it's right there...I said I paid extra to see my start time and had a thingy on my shoe that needed to be triggered...she said just go run...then I spotted my friends whom I was supposed to meet up there...out of 1600 people I see them!!!  So I joined them and she said they'd only been walking about 2 minutes

I finished at 45:15, but technically I didn't get an actual start time and I feel like I sort of cheated since I didn't "start" with my friends at the start line.  Oh well...

My friend Jodi, who is our "5K planner and organizer", has decided we'll do another race on September 11 in Villa Rica.  I think it will be great and can't wait.  I was so close to the 45 minutes and I really want to beat the 45 minute mark!

Overall, the "rolling course" was not bad.  We decided to jog the downhill parts and walked the uphill and straights.  I think the hills might have helped us finish faster.  It was cloudy and humid but there was no rain, thank goodness!  Despite the drama from earlier, it was a great race and I really enjoyed it.  I honestly, cannot believe I am saying I enjoyed jogging and walking 3.1 miles but I really did.  I'm a huge fan of The Biggest Loser and last week they helped some Texas residents complete a 5K.  The contestants have come a long way and to finish at the times they did, was such an inspiration.  Running/Walking in a 5K is a huge accomplishment for me.  Much less, doing two!  I look forward to sharing more of our 5K journeys with y'all.  I hope you know, if I can do it, you can do it.  I am not a skinny, fit person, but hope I can keep up the training to help me become a more fit and healthy person, not only for myself, but for my children and husband.  With that said, here's my picture for today:

Hosted by Krystyn

 It's of me and Haylei after the race:

Enjoy!

Big Peach 5th Annual 5K run/walk

My friends and I are going to be running/walking (...crawling if need be) in the Big Peach 5th Annual 5K today.  The race begins at 8 a.m. and winds through the Brookhaven community in Atlanta.  It should be a pretty cloudy day for the race.  I'm glad for that!  I'm not sure if the rain will hold off until later in the day, so I'm taking a rain poncho with me.  This is only my second 5K. 

danielle, me, kevin, melissa and jodi

 

My long time friend Jodi and her sister Melissa signed up for the first one and then I decided it would be a great way to lose weight.  Lord knows I need to lose about 50 pounds.  So I joined the Couch Potato to 5K program and it was going great until the 3rd week of training when my treadmill died.  BOOHOO!  I was so sad.  But then I decided to run around the house while the kids played in the yard on warm days (mind you, this was in the middle of winter, December and January).  The race was on February 27 and it was about 28 degrees F.  It warmed up nicely to about 45 degrees.

  

 me and kevin in the middle

My hubby jogged and walked with me in the race.  What a great husband I have!  He was very encouraging to me the whole way through.  My goal was to finish at 60 minutes.  I finished at 47:46!  Yeah me!  I was so excited!  

After the first race, we agreed to keep up the momentum and do a race every 3 months (4 times a year).  So we found this one on May 1st.  I have to admit that I have not been training at all.  I did run up the road on Tuesday, it's a mile and a half from my drive way to the end of the road and back.  My husband followed me in the minivan with the kids strapped in.  (I don't really feel super safe walking on my road alone.)  It took me 24 minutes to finished 1.5 miles.  I was hoping to complete this race under 45 minutes but with the lack of training and the "rolling course", I'm not sure if I'll be able to do that or not.  But if you don't set goals, you have nothing to aim for right?

I'll let y'all know how it goes!

Enjoy your weekend!