I'm Cured... Weekly round up and skipping!

We had a good time with this little dog.. he went back home on Saturday after a week of being with us. It was a lot of work caring for a dog. I forgot how much extra work they are. Although they can bring you lots of joy with that goes lots of extra time and attention dogs need. I figured out that while I might want a puppy.. it's best not to get one. I kind of like sleeping without hearing a dog barking. I don't like picking up dog poop and I don't have enough time in the mornings before running/working out to feed and let out a dog. So the whole I want a puppy thing.. isn't going to happen. I'll still look but we won't be getting one anytime soon! 

My week of good deeds is done. This is what I did each day

Watched this little dog for 7 days 

Gave $1 to feed the world's children

Bought a T-shirt from Celina's gym teacher that has cancer

 Bought a neighbor child's fund raiser hockey raffle ticket $5

Said "Hi" and smiled to everyone I passed while running or biking this whole week. I do that anyway.

Held open doors for all kinds of people 

Let a woman with less grocery's go in front of me in line

Just because I did 7 days of good deeds in a row, doesn't mean I'll stop doing them. It just won't be every day, but If there is a chance to help out I'll take it and do a good deed!

It felt extremely weird to skip working out this morning. I feel super lazy, but I have a super busy day. I had the time to work out but I wanted to save up some energy to get me thorough a busy day. I'll be running like crazy to get all done for the week ahead and there is no time to be over tired from my morning workout. 

Baby Boy ... Surprise Shower!

Surprise a Family Baby Shower for Kendra and Paul's Baby Boy!

The happy Couple...

Lots of baby clothes, toys etc..

 Family dinner night.. 

 BBQ Pork Chop, salad, potatoes and tomatoes 

 Chocolate Molten Cake with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce

 Fresh flowers from the farmers market

St Paul...

After my 8 mile run... I had some walking to do.. Walking around the St. Paul Farmers Market with Celina and Logan. 

I think the pepper stand is my favorite. Every kind of pepper you want, they have it and I just want to make salsa when I see all these peppers!

I don't know why they don't have tomatoes right next to the pepper stand.. We just kind of looked at all the veggies today. 

 Logan didn't like breakfast so he was all about getting the Farmer Market Kettle corn. They do have really good popcorn and even thought we were all pretty full, it was impossible not to have some. 

 Our little breakfast place that I didn't know we were going to until half way though my 8 mile run.. I was starving by the time we got there around 10:30am.. Much too late to eat breakfast when you've ran 8 miles on Zero food! Celina and I split the meal.. ham and cheese omelet, hash-browns, sour dough bread with home made raspberry jam, bacon and a pancake. A Big whopping Breakfast! We ate it all!!

 I think my favorite part of this breakfast is the bread with jam... maybe next time I should skip the rest and just go for what I love? These are the hard decisions I have to make some days!

I heard it was National Coffee Day.. I don't normally drink coffee but mixed with a hot chocolate package.. now that's something I can drink! 

I couldn't resist buying a flower bouquet from the Farmers Market. They really do have the best fresh flowers and for only $6 what a deal! I'll be giving these flowers to three very special people! 

There is more to come today.. but I'll have to share later.. it's kind of a little surprise! 

I've never Cried so much while running!

A pretty big temperature difference from yesterdays warm bike ride to today's cool 40*F 8 mile run. My eyes would not stop watering and I had tears running all down my face. I've never had my eyes water this much, and I wasn't even crying! For Crying out LOUD! Thankfully, my eyes and body adjusted quickly to the temperature change. 

Before you know it.. I was peeling off all the layers. The first thing I always take off is my gloves. I have no idea of why my hands get so hot. 

I think no matter how cold or hot it is, I love wearing these knee length leggings. Maybe I'll change my mind when it's below freezing but for now PERFECT! I also decided in cold weather to wear many layers of shirts. 2 extra today and they came off within 30 minutes and I was down to my summer tank top and sweaty! A beautiful crispy, sunny morning. I wanted to keep running past 8 miles but we have breakfast plans that I didn't know about.. 

This is not the best look but at least it keeps my ears warm. Which is the most important thing because it's really no fun being outside freezing. My plan today was to run at least a half marathon distance and do my daily 50 squats. Will I stick to my plan? Good Question???? 

Sundays distance: 8 miles
Running time: 1 hour and 24 minutes
Average pace: a slow 10:25 minutes per miile

Total running distance this week: 32 miles, mostly hills
Total Biking: 14.5 miles
Total Squats: 6 days - 50 per day!
Total resistance training: 3 days or ~45 minutes

Bike to Brueggers Bagels

I haven't had a bagel is A G E S!!! We had a coupon and Celina noticed it.. and kind of scooted it towards me in hopes we'd pick up some bagels for breakfast. 

We were all pretty hungry. Good thing I bought a dozen and in many different flavors. 

Good thing I had the tires fixed at the bike store. Guess there is a slow air leak. We discovered it on our 14.5 mile bike ride to and home from getting the bagels. I have a feeling I'll be going back to the bike store today! 

I was happy to hear Steve saying he wants to get the other road bike next year so we can both have fast bikes.. Because its just not the same when one rides the fast bike and the other takes the mountain bike. 

I'm not running today. This is the first day in a week I've biked and I got a good workout keeping up with Steve. My GPS watch worked great and we found out my top speed was 42 miles per hour! Wow.. must have been down one of those big hills?? Avg speed due to stopping at streets etc.. was 13mph. 

A great way to start the day with a hour bike ride.. 14.5 miles done! 

Biking.. the motorcycle way...

Instead of using our legs to pedal our bikes.. we took the motorcycle bike. 

What a nice fall day.. 80*F and beautiful. 

We took a spin around the area.. It's pretty windy. I am positive we over dressed today.. It would have been much better to go without a jacket. Sometimes it can be a bit chilly but not today! Absolutely Gorgeous day!!

Happy, happy Friday!!!

It's Happy Friday! Of course every day feels like a Friday to me because I make it that way! Yes, Life is Good! It could be better but I'm super happy. 

My mooo, moo's (calves) were a little tired yesterday. It usually takes a lot to get me to feel sore any where on my body with the exception of my back or some weird pain.. like when my neck hurt and I couldn't turn my head from riding the bike all tense. I'm positive the hills and my speedy 4 miles yesterday might have something to do with my moo's feeling a bit sore. 

It's going to be a super day.. I'm hoping to get out and bike. What am I saying? Of course I'm going to bike today! 

I stopped being lazy and just did it!

I had a really good 4 mile run this morning even thought I was comfortable on the couch and didn't want to run. It wasn't a long run only 4 miles, but I ran it faster then I have been lately. I really think running that hard big hill over and over in the morning made me run this at an easy pace this morning. It is hilly but a lot easier then all hills! Look my 4th mile was my fastest at 8 minutes and 10 seconds! 

I really never get warmed up till after mile 1, and it seemed like my breathing was so much easier after mile 3.. and as you can see.. I only got faster after that! 

Logan came home from school with news that he ran the mile.. 7 minutes and 25 seconds. He was the 2nd fastest kid that ran it .. more classes still needed to run but he was pretty proud of his fast mile time! My record mile still holds for our family at 6 minutes and 39 seconds.. I'll be super happy when he beats my time! He is determined to run fast! 

Celina is also super fast and can out run everyone when she tries hard. Those long legs of hers are meant to run.. I have a feeling that both my kids will be running with me, mile after mile and want to race and beat their Mom's race times. I truly am looking forward to those days and am patiently waiting for it to be their idea.. with a lot of help suggesting it from me.. I could not think of anything more fun. 

I should have just gone!

We over slept this morning.. Some one forgot to set the alarm. I must have needed the sleep because normally I never need an alarm. Since Steve was not going to the gym. I certainly didn't want to go run in the dark if I didn't have to.. 

Last night we had a fab dinner at Steve's brothers place. It was very last minute and I was only there for a short time since Logan had soccer. Tim made really good pot roast with beef, carrots, and potatoes. I ate way more bread with cheese then I should have.

We find weird ways to entertain ourselves.. 

Have you ever taken a photo of someone else and made it larger? This is a face combo.. 

It's kind of freaky and weird..but made for a good laugh

Wow... special!

It really is okay now to run.. But I'm feeling L A Z Y. ..and I don't want to. I need to just get over it.. and go!

Feet up and need to REST!

It's a beautiful early fall afternoon, so what better way to spend it then on 9 holes of golf. 

All I can say, is after an hour of running this morning.. hills, then working for 2 hours followed by 9 holes of golf and walking 1.5 hours.. I need a REST! 

It's a good thing I purchased 2 of my favorite snacks.. Root Beer and Skittles.. Just the right amount of sugar to pep me up! 

It kind of took me awhile to figure out my swing again.. I might not hit it far.. but it goes fairly straight most of the time.. 

We could not have asked for a better way to spend the afternoon!

I think we had a little too much fun.. and we were only drinking Root Beer!

Easy to Indulge

I like easy days.. where you can sit, read and enjoy a beautiful day. In running your suppose to have easy days followed by a harder run. I sometimes think every day should be hard. 

It makes for a nice day when I do take the time to do things I enjoy. One of the things I like is a trip to the library for tons of new books. 

I always get a mix of diet books, running, tri, biking, skiing or what ever catches my interest at the time, like how to raise goats. 

This morning it was hard getting out of bed to run hills. It's  not an easy workout but I can make it easier by running a lot slower. That's exactly what I did.. and I felt good about my running.. nice and easy through thick fog today which was super cool looking. 

I spent the summer indulging in tasty treats and enjoying life.. I ignored the scale, which I use to weight myself daily at the gym. Since I didn't go to the gym, running outside instead or biking there was no scale to keep weighting myself. It could have been a huge disaster. Come to find out.. I actually lost 2 pounds over the summer. While I never did lose the 10 I had planned. I'm pretty happy I'm right where I thought and actually less. I might have indulged, but I keep working out, kept running, biking and swimming to keep burning calories and keep fit! Muscles do weight more then fat..and muscles burn more then fat.. 

Not sure where my journey is going....

When I started running.. I didn't have an idea of how long this all would last. All I knew is that I had to find some type of exercise that I would do and stick to it. I needed to keep the weight off I lost and I knew that I didn't want to be the 95% that gains all the weight back and then some. 

I probably need to find some old fat photos just for me to realize how far I've come.. and my journey continues. I have gained some back.. I'm not at my all time low weight but I'm running on.. never to giving up on me again!

I ran a little faster up those hills today.. My average pace was a 10:10 minute mile, for 59 minutes and 18 seconds, that's almost 6 miles of running up and down that hill in the dark. Every day I keep improving my mile time. I'm not sure how this is happening. I'm not trying to run faster. I'm not complaining about it either. 10 minute mile is not that fast but when you add in a huge hill, it's not too bad either! 

I told you I love my new watch with all the fancy graphs.