The good stuff.. Food!

Sunday, June 30, 2013

It's Not always a day to run...

I decided there was Zero time this morning to run even thought I probably could have been up before light and gotten in 4 miles..   sleep was more important then working out..  I have noticed I feel a lot better when I get more rest.
Today started off early again to watch soccer in Lakeland..we got to the game extra early so we had a chance to kick goals before the teams showed up.. 
I took a great photo of Logan stopping the ball with his stomach. Ouch!

 Logan's REV team won all 3 St. Croix Tournament games. He almost scored a good corner goal the very last game.. 
 It was off to let Steve and Logan fish.. while Celina and I got in a bike ride along the Mississippi River in Hastings.. 
 A perfect day to go for a bike ride.. 3.5 miles.. with Celina and then I rode another 3.5 miles while Celina fished too. 
 River on one side and a marsh land on the other.. A beautiful ride.. 
It was a nice day to not run.. but perfect to bike.. Plus, I played soccer for 30 minutes with the kids early in the morning.. It doesn't really make up for not running.. tomorrow will be a running day! 

Saturday, June 29, 2013

I'm Not Going to Lie to Myself!

It's get real with myself and expose Saturday!!

Weird up close negative setting on the cell phone.. Who knew I had fun options? 

I've been fooling myself into thinking If I run and workout every day I should be able to eat crap and not gain weight. Well, you can gain and workout! I signed up a month ago to take a weight loss challenge and started off strong losing 4 easy pounds.. then 5 and for some reason I decided to take a weight loss break.. 

I'm going back to what works for me.. and how I took off 50 pounds. It takes lots and lots of hard work and dedication to lose weight.. keeping it off is harder then losing it.. Right now.. I have an easier time maintaining then I do losing any weight. It's all in the diet.. Back to Brown Rice, and salsa.. skipping desserts and everything else in between.. It won't be fast.. but steady just how I accomplished my  50 pounds that I lost.. So don't let me lie to myself anymore. I am never going to be able to eat crap and not gain.. 

Did I start off my day with my weight loss in mind? NO

B-fast: 1 slice multi grain bread, w/Peanut butter
           1 small strawberry donut
            fried potatoes
            2 thin slices of ham
            1 brownie

Lunch:

Dinner

Snack:



Friday, June 28, 2013

Notes.. & Baking..

I've been writing a lot of little notes to the kids lately.. I don't think they ever read them.. too busy sleeping in to notice we are gone.. 

Just in case we happen to have a Rib BBQ tonight.. I'm already.. I added toffee bits on top of homemade brownies.. No mix here! Plus, home- made sweet corn bread with honey drizzled on top and lots of homemade honey butter  mmmmm... now to get Steve to cook up some delicious ribs..
I might even get crazier and make a coleslaw citrus salad.. Now that's a lot of cooking/baking for me! Good thing I ate healthy for b-fast and lunch.. PB Wheat bread, Sweet potato, brown rice and salsa.. 

I need to start losing some weight.. the less I weight.. the faster I'll be.... Let's not get all crazy here.. just talking about 10 to 15 pounds.. 


You can do anything you set your mind to .... At any age!!! It's never too late!

I had a much older women at the gym remind me "at any age you can do anything you want as it's never too late!"

I needed to take that advice and get over some fears of mine.. Its all the unknowns that make me uneasy about this tri that I'd love to do.. I was reminded that I won't regret doing the tri.. I will regret not doing it.. regardless of how I do and what I find out I need to do better. 
I made my way... follow the foot steps to the pool for swimming laps.. I also ran 7 miles to the gym and home, lifted weights, worked on my abs.. then biked 8.5 miles and swam for 15 minutes.. 
I'm most worried about he transition between swimming and biking.. what should I wear to swim in that I can also wear for the rest of the race? 

I decided to wear a sports bra, tight over the knee leggings.. for the swim.. what did I find out? The sports bra needs to be tighter.. and my legs/butt are ice cold after biking from having wet pants.. 
I do love my new bike ride route. It mostly goes along this flat dirt road.. I pass lakes, wild turkeys and a field full of cows!
I had to yell Mooooo.... unfortunately the cows didn't moo back.. 
It was a good trial in what to wear..for running, biking and swimming. I need to find a new top.. and am now thinking a tri swim suit might be the way to go? Its complicated. I also have to figure out how I want to wear my hair.. It's going to be a tangled mess if it's not braided. Look back to see all my hair styles.. 


Thursday, June 27, 2013

Testing the Waters...

 Can he ever cooperate and just take a normal photo.. and not a goofy one? 

Around 8pm I decided we must all go to the beach.. I needed to see how many people were still swimming and if I could possibly some day test out the water and go swim some laps. I'm just dragging my feet on this one.. 

It was a picture perfect night.. 
I'm still not convinced that I will get my face in the water... I just don't like the idea... 
Caught lots of these little fish in just a net.. they are not afraid of us.. so when I do swim.. it will be surrounded by these little tiny sun fish..

Not the same!

What a great morning... I ran 4.1 miles in 39 minutes.. I felt speedy today... 
Steve was ready to bike and wanted to go to the coffee shop.. Just what I needed.. I could do this every day.. just an easy 7 miles of biking and we had water/coffee and split a blueberry muffin.. 
During my run I was focused on trying to come up with a way I could change things up to make them more fun again.. A bike ride with Steve was just what I needed.. I also decided.. tomorrow.. I will not only run 4 miles, I will bike 4, swim for 30 and bike home 4 more miles.. While it kind of seems like a lot.. it's much easier then running 8 miles.. plus, I need variety... and more fun workouts.. 

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Super Humid!

Super, super humid day.. Woke to all the windows fogged up in the house! 
I was super sweat soaked this morning.. sweat even was dripping off my nose that's how humid it is.. Another day of only running 4.1 hilly miles in 41 minutes.. Maybe tomorrow.. I'll run 4.25 flat miles, swim some laps and run home another 4.25 miles? Do I have enough time for all that? If not.. there is always Friday! 

I've also got to stop this comparison.. myself to others that run farther and faster.. I'm never going to be an over achiever.. or even come close.. I'm just happy I can run and I've stuck with it for 3 years.. I might not run a lot every day or week.. and I might run slow... but I keep going.. passing all the people my age that are on the couch! I just have to find a happy medium.. that I can be okay with .. and stop comparing myself to others.. 

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Early swim..

It is a perfect morning to swim.. and the pool temp is also just right not too warm and not cold at all.. 
I did take some time to settle myself into a chair and read a cook book before taking the plunge into the pool. I almost had it to myself until 2 older women then a mother and her 2 little ones showed up to talk up a storm. Time to get in the pool and do a few laps. While I didn't stay long.. I did swim some breast stoke laps and got in a mini workout.. It all helps get me going.. little by little I'll feel like doing laps again.. 
The new swim suit also worked great! Nothing moved.. which is great because that's the last thing you want a bath-suit malfunction!

Finding my happy place?

Running I thought was suppose to give you all these happy good feelings and lots of energy.. seems it's been the opposite lately. It's not that I'm unhappy, and sometimes I have energy.. mostly I've been napping away the afternoon and not feeling like running or doing much of anything.  
I've been wanting to swim every day and I'm just feeling lazy to do anything other then run. Today, I decided half the battle to do something is to get ready for it.. I put on my new swim suit.. and am ready to go swim before the pool gets too busy. Even if I don't swim laps, I'm making some progress by just going and getting use to the idea of swimming laps.. 
Steve saw this painted turtle out under our front trees.. I ran too late this morning so no animals out on my hilly 4.1 mile loop that took me exactly 42 minutes and 24 seconds.. 
Some other random photos of flowers in our front yard..I did a lot of yard work yesterday. I'm trying to enjoy it.. trying is the key!!

My healthy lunch from yesterday.. I can't take any credit for the yummy veggies as they were leftovers  from Steve's grilling.. 
Other then turtle watching.. swimming, and working today. I will be doing more yard work because our yard needs help! I'm off to get some weed killer, tomato plants for empty pots and maybe some lavender plants or what ever else I find to stick in a pot that I won't end up killing. I'm having more luck with herbs then anything else so might as well stick with what works and a full garden is too much work right now.. Maybe gardening will be my new happy place? Or I'll try and make it....happy

Monday, June 24, 2013

Hiccup..hiccup..Hiccup

Don't you just hate getting the hiccups? I keep hiccuping this morning.. it goes away then comes right back again!
Maybe that's the reason behind this photo? Too many hiccups? 

I still had to lace up and get out the door to run this morning.. I do a long yoga stretch session to wake up and it just feels good to stretch and take long deep breaths.. 
I have a confession to make.. its not my birthday but I will be eating some birthday cake today.. and it's got to be Frozen. I know I've said over and over that I need to get my diet back on track and start eating healthy and this cake is not what I need.. but I want it.. I resisted yesterday and didn't have any.. but today.. It might just be my lunch? I only ran 4.1 hilly miles today so I should not be eating cake!
Here's a happy pic.. of Coco.. She's such a funny little dog. 

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Family dinner and new clothes!

I went shopping today.. bought a new dress, black shorts and a swim suit with 2 pairs of sandals. 
Steve and I spent the morning at the St. Paul Farmers Market.. after we ate at this cute alley deli and had a delicious shared breakfast with all local produce. 

4 mile Worm Run...

The 4 miles of worms sure did make my run much better. The rain stopped and out we went.. Steve with a bucket and bike.. me with my running shoes and eyes on the look out for fishing worms..
Did you see how many we found in 4 miles? 
It's not exactly appetizing to look at, like food photos.. 
Feeling okay with running just 4 miles and thankful they were outside and  not in the gym on a treadmill.. I have many months of indoor running ahead.. no need to start now! I really have to stop comparing myself to other faster runners. I ran slow.. and it took 42 minutes to run those hilly 4 miles. I keep thinking I should be able to run them faster.. I suppose if I warmed up for 5 minutes then started the clock I'd be happily surprised at the time.. I'm sure the first 5 are extra slow since I'm just getting warmed up.. 

Feeling Fat.. Poor Choices!

I'm not eating healthy... I'm not losing weight.. I've gained 10 pounds over the winter.. and I have nothing to wear.... 
Sound familiar? Anyone else having the same issues? Running does not mean you'll lose weight.. exercising all the time does not mean you won't feel fat.. 

No idea of why I'm feeling soo blue.. well, not really. I do need to stop the cycle of poor choices.. Last night I sat in front of TV.. noticed my kids left a bag of Cheetos's on the couch.. I ate not just one.. but kept eating.. I don't want to sabotage my hard efforts at keeping the weight off I lost or all the hard work I do exercising every day.. so why am I making poor choices? 

Time for a running pep talk this morning.. I have to give myself some slack.. I will make mistakes but it doesn't have to turn into days and months of self destructive behaviors.. I've come too far and I work too hard to let everything go..

Rain, Rain Go Away!

My head hurts and it's not only raining, but we have thunder and lightening. 

I look a little to happy and awake for how I feel... I can't have two days of rest which means I have some  options.. 

1. Go to the gym and run on the treadmill
2. Wait out the storm and run later on when it clears
3. Find something else to do for a workout.. 
4. Take some Excedrin for my headache!

I'm pretty sad that I have to run inside.. I'm not feeling it and I just don't want to go run.. It's 7am and I know the gym is open and waiting for me... Darn rain and lightening.. !!!!

I am missing not going to Yoga on Tuesdays and I'm missing my internship at the Y. I loved being able to go to a bunch of different exercise classes.. the option to run the track and swim in the pool. Plus, all the people I got to know.. While I don't want to work there for a paid job, I did like going.. Maybe I need to go back and just get myself a membership? Something to think on... ?? 
I'm also kind of bored with my life.. all of a sudden I have time on my hands again.. I was so very busy the last 9 months going to school, working out, studying, interning, and working and now? I don't have that sense of accomplishment like I did... I thought by now I'd feel differently, but it has not changed.. Time to look for something new.. to keep my mind and me alive!! BUT What? What is the next thing that will make me feel awake and good again? Thankfully, running puts everything in perspective.. and time to think and run is always good for me.. 
________________________________________________

Any suggestions on what I can do for fun in my life? 

What's your plan when You feel blah.. and want to re-charge your life? 

Do you like rain/lightening storms? 

Saturday, June 22, 2013

A True R&R day..

I had to be creative.. When I found these purple gloves in my rain jacket.. I could not have been happier.. This June Saturday morning started off chilly at 7am... Not exactly resting when you have to wake up at 5am for a soccer game in Northfield  the Jesse James Shootout Tournament -
It might have looked really funny.. but my feet sure where doing a happy dance all nice and warm.. 
We had a ton of rain all night.. and since it's pretty much rained every day since it stopped snowing.. the soccer fields were puddles which made for an extra, extra muddy mess!
Logan fell with both hands into the mud.. and today the team had to wear white... really?

Logan scored one of 2 goals.. and helped assist in the last game to be one of the only goals in that game. He played so good today.. they won 2 and lost the last by 1 point. 
My very muddy kiddo!
It take a lot of energy cheering on the team.. It's very intense especially when your child has the ball. 

Go REV Ninja Ducks!!
Cheering section...and then we all... meaning me and Celina napped for over an hour.. It's exhausting! It looks like I've got some laundry to do.. wonder how his soccer uniform will clean up?