I May Be Back

Well. It's been a long, long time since I blogged.

I have heard on social media more than once that blogging is dead. That podcasts are the new thing now, and many people just don't read blogs anymore. True. I listen to a few podcasts myself, and I don't read blogs like I used to. However part of that is because of the stage of life I am in, and part of that is because many of the bloggers I used to follow are no longer blogging!

But I miss my blogging community, and I miss writing. I like getting my thoughts down on "paper", and I like sharing a little bit of my life and hopefully some encouragement to my readers.

So here goes. Again. I am going to try to jump back in.

Here is some of what has been going on in my life:

• Julie and Big Sam moved back to Mississippi (from Romania).
• Julie and Big Sam had a baby in August!  A precious baby girl named Mae.
• I am a grandmother! I love being a grandmother so much!
• It is difficult being a grandmother, a mother to a married daughter 9.5 hours away, a mother to a college sophomore 12 hours away, and a homeschooling mother to a 12 and 14 year old. (Plus Julie who now lives only 15 minutes away! :) All of those roles together have been quite the task. But I love being a wife/mother/grandmother most of all. Even when it's hard.
• Olivia and Brian have visited us twice--once in July and once over Labor Day weekend. I love having my children come home.
• I hosted Clay's college cross county team for an overnight stay last week. All 18 of them. It was delightful!
• Jimmy and I were able to travel and watch Clay's college end of season conference meet and also Leah and Sam's national meet over the last several days.
• I have basically quit running. :( I sometimes meet Leanna once a week or so for a 4-6 mile run, but that's it. I am not sure how or why I lost my motivation to run, but it's gone. And I am working on getting my motivation back. I ran/walked 1.5 miles this morning. I have set a goal of 10 miles this week.  For the first time in probably 10 years, I am not running the St. Jude Half Marathon (I ran the full marathon back in 2011, and I skipped 2014 to run a full marathon the next weekend). I signed up for the 10K instead. Now I am sad that I will be getting in the line to pick up the 10K bib instead of the half or full marathon bib! That may motivate me to get back into running! (Not that there is any shame in running the 5K or 10K, it's just that for so long I was running 2-3 half marathons a year, and now.......nothing.)
• I am still doing CrossFit once or twice a week. Our class meets three times a week, but going twice is always my weekly goal. 
• I am beginning to work on my Christmas Holidays plans. That makes me happy! This is the topic I will probably blog about first.....as I get my thoughts and plans together I will share them.
• I have read several good books over the last several months.
• I stated an inductive Bible study. I have found a new groove in my personal Bible study that is working well in my life right now.
• I love my church family. 
• I love my best friends, Lynn and Leanna.
• I love my family. 
• I am so thankful for all of my blessings. 

Friday

We are taking a Spring Break beginning now!  I am leaving in just a few minutes to pick up Clay and his college roommate from the airport. We are all so excited for the week that lies ahead--even Jimmy is off work the whole week. I have several things planned for the week including our Family Bible Study tomorrow night (so I will need to clean house tomorrow!), Teen Bible Study next Friday, vet appointments for all five dogs (Clay and Bret will be taking them for me), Jimmy an eye doctor appointment, plus I also have a few deep cleaning/purging/organizing tasks for myself. Plus I am still sewing curtains for our tiny pop-up camper (which I began last March and stopped for many, many months because:  weddings.) I also want to visit our local fabric store to get some fabric samples for Julie's baby nursery! She, Leah, and hopefully Olivia, and I plan to sew some bedding and various decorative items for her nursery. So much fun! I want her to have the fabric and plans chosen before she arrives on July 11 so we can hit the ground running with baby preparations! She will have only 8 weeks until her due date when she gets home to Mississippi.

A running update: Ever since my last blog post I have been consistent in my running and attending CrossFit classes. It's true that a body in motion tends to stay in motion. Once I got into the groove of running 5-6 days a week and attending CrossFit twice a week, it has been easier to keep it up. When I finish my miles tomorrow morning (just 3 left), I will have completed the weekly running plan I made for myself for 4 weeks in a row. I am pleased. I have also managed to stay injury-free in CrossFit. That is mainly because of my wonderful coach, MC, who modifies most every workout to accommodate  my shoulder challenges. I appreciate her so much. And I love my classmates (5 ladies from my local church)! They make exercising fun--well, almost fun....at least they are encouraging and a fun distraction from the grueling workouts!

I hope you are enjoying your March. The month of March always seems like a good time to do spring cleaning, both inside and outside the house.

Let's Talk About Running Again

I have a love/hate relationship with running. Although I have run fairly consistently for 11 years now, it continues to be a struggle most days. Up until about three years ago I continually trained for six marathons and numerous half-marathons. I ran my last marathon in December of 2014, and I have not even considered running another one since! I have still run one or two half-marathons a year since that time, but I have almost lost my interest in that too.

I ran two half-marathons recently--one in December and one in January. The December one was ok. My training was poor. I ran only 1-3 days a week, but for the last four weeks prior to the race I did a  10-12 mile run weekly. On race day I finished with a respectable time, (however pretty slow for me), but I was sore for days. I vowed then that I would train better for my January half-marathon.

But I didn't.
It was Christmas holidays and all my people were here for almost two weeks and of course I did not want to run. My plan for the Mississippi Blues Half Marathon on January 27 was to run/walk and somehow finish before Jimmy finished the marathon. Note to self: running a half-marathon without proper training is not the smartest idea.
I walked/ran in about 1/2 mile intervals. It was cold, and it rained the entire time. I listened to podcasts and just took my time. I set a PR for my slowest half-marathon ever!

So here I am. I have not been motivated to run for so long now. I even stopped going to CrossFit for all of December and January. I began CrossFit again at the beginning of February, and I am slowly getting my groove back. I also printed out a training plan for the Coke 10K on May 5. I actually completed all my miles for week one (which ended today). Progress. 

For me, exercise is like most other tasks. Once I get started and in a routine, I am fine. It's just taking the first step, literally. I am ALWAYS glad once I am through exercising. I like how I feel when I run in the mornings or go to Crossfit (well, except for being sore sometimes after Crossfit---but I am so weak and am basically starting over and my Coach is modifying everything for me---so I am not really even that sore yet!) My clothes fit better when I run on a regular basis. 

So I am challenging myself, again, to follow a training plan for an upcoming race. This time I am going to do it. 

Do you need to challenge yourself? Do you have a fitness goal? Do you want to join me in making exercising five days a week a top priority? Walk, run, aerobics, CrossFit, yoga, pilates.....whatever form of exercise you are motivated to do. Please join me. Let's be successful together. 

Spiritual and Fitness Goals for 2018

I have finally set my 2018 spiritual and fitness goals for 2018. They are subject to tweaking, but here they are for now.

Spiritual

• Read the Daily Bible.  This is a NIV Bible divided into daily readings--you will read the entire Bible in one year. It is also arranged chronologically with thoughts and commentaries scattered throughout. I began on January 1, and so far, so good. Jimmy began reading his again, and this is either is 2nd or 3rd time through.
• Read verses pertaining to worry, anxiety, and fear. I am using a concordance feature on my Bible app to locate verses on these subjects. I am copying them in a new journal that Sam gave me for Christmas.
• Continue to list five things each day I am grateful for in a journal. (I began doing this 21 years ago.)
• Do a better job at memorizing the Bible verses I assign to the children each week. Their memory is so much better than mine. I am making a copy of each week's verse for myself so I can drill the verses more than just at the kitchen table.

Fitness

I have been unsure of what exactly my fitness goals should be at this point beyond exercising on a regular basis. I have somewhat floundered the last three years. Ever since I finished the Rocket City Marathon in December 2014, I have not had a significant running or fitness-related goal. I have half-heartedly trained and run a few half marathons, but I have done nothing consistently. Jimmy challenged me to running at least 2 miles every day. I considered that, but it the end I modified that goal. Here is what I have come up with:

• Run at least 2 miles 5 days a week. Last week was my first week, and I ran 6 days for a total of 19 miles. In years past that would have been not a big deal, but for me right now, it was quite an accomplishment. 
• Beginning this week run at least 20 miles per week. I will excuse myself from the 5 days a week and the 20 mile minimum when we are out of town for an extended period of time.
• Start going to CrossFit again and attend class twice a week unless I am out of town. CrossFit is another fitness area I have been inconsistent in over the last year. I quit completely for a few months after a shoulder injury, but went back because I missed my friends (and coach) in the class so much! I stopped going for the month of December because, well. December! I am debating on taking off this month since I am trying to train for a half-marathon January 27. I will decide in the next few days, but I am definitely going back twice a week in after my race. My sweet coach, MC, is so willing to modify the workouts for me and my shoulder! I love being with the other ladies, so I am going to give it another try!

I have not chosen a word for 2018. I have too many words! LOL! I just finished listening to the Big Boo Cast's latest podcast, and I love Melanie's word for 2018--NO!

P.S. I set up my Instagram, but so far I have no idea what I am doing!

Saturday's Progress

I have had such a productive day!  Yay!

I left for Sam's and Kroger to buy my weekly groceries at 7:10AM, and I was home by 9:00AM. Then after unloading and putting away the groceries, I began my computer work. I completed our paperwork for our taxes, and I will submit them to the accountant on Monday. What a load off my mind! Next, I completely prepared for my English class for this Wednesday. That is another load off my mind. I have some extra appointments this week (a doctor checkup and a hair appointment), so I really wanted to have all my school prep done before the new week began. After that I did some wedding work!

Here is what I have checked off my wedding planning list:

• Ordered bridesmaids dresses for Olivia's wedding for Leah and Julie
• Uploaded the pictures of wedding ideas to the memory stick. I will print those out Monday when I am in town.
• Finalized Julie's wedding guest list, double checked the names and addresses, and gathered a few lacking addresses. 
• Researched, pondered, texted Leanna a hundred times, and finally decided on the wording for Julie's wedding invitations! I also included "the favor of your reply' cards. Leanna and I researched and pondered the spelling for favor vs. favour. We went with favor.  I have not actually submitted the order for the invitations yet because I am awaiting a promo code from my "Wedding Invitation Specialist" via text or email. :) This lady was assigned to me after I ordered several invitation samples. 

A little side story:

I have injured myself, again doing Crossfit. I have battled this same shoulder/neck/upper back/only on the right side pain on and off since last April. It improved over the summer, but I re-injured myself back in the fall. I modified my workouts to eliminate the exercises I felt were contributing to the pain, but until I took off 6 six weeks in December and January, I was not completely pain free. 

So I began going back to Crossfit about 3 weeks ago. I attended 4 classes and was doing just fine. Then this past Monday....well, during the workout, I felt just fine. But by Tuesday, I knew something was wrong, and by Thursday I was in much pain. So much so that I could not run. Or walk, or brush my teeth, or use my right arm in any way without pain. 

I actually went to my family doctor Thursday to see if I had any major injury that I should do something about more than rest. He tactfully suggested that I may need avoid the weightlifting that I knew was causing the injury! He never came out and said I was too old for Crossfit, but encouraged me to stay active in non-pain causing forms of exercise! :) I am taking a lot of Motrin and Tylenol and one 20mg steroid yesterday and one today. That has helped me so much! The dr. told me to completely rest from exercising until I was pain free. I plan to run as soon as doing so doesn't hurt my shoulder.

I also plan to go back to Crossfit class later next week. I will avoid all presses/weightlifting/snatches, etc. that aggravate my shoulder. I guess I will just be doing box jumps and burpees! Fun! It doesn't seem like pull-ups or rowing hurt my shoulder. I know you are thinking, "Why don't you just quit doing Crossfit?" Well. I really like my class. I would go to socialize with my friends even if we didn't do the workouts!

How was your Saturday?

Book Club Week 5 and Some Other Stuff

After a long break from school (since December 13!), we began our second semester today. I had planned to begin the day after we arrived home from Disney World, but both Sam and Leah began to get sick on the drive home. They both ran fever and coughed until Friday. They are still not 100%, but they are well enough for us to do a full day of school, go to CrossFit, and run errands.  I predict early bedtimes for all tonight. Clay actually began his schoolwork last week. He will graduate on May 9, so he is diligently working in his courses in order to be completed by that day.

I have also taken a long, long break from CrossFit. I have not been since the end of November!  I have run some, but I really let my exercise slide during the month of December. Between houseguests and preparing for Christmas and all that entails, I chose not to make time for exercise for a few weeks. However, I did set some exercise related goals for myself for 2017, and so far I am keeping them. I think I shared that I plan to run 20 miles and attend two CrossFit classes per week when I am home (not traveling). I have run almost every day since we got home from Disney, and I started back CrossFit today. What a workout!  I will probably not be able to get out of bed tomorrow!  The workout was called "The Seven". It was 7 rounds of 7 repetitions of 7 exercises for time. Mercifully there was a time cap of 40 minutes, which means even if you have not completed all 7 of the sevens by 40 minutes, you are done anyway! In case you are wondering, here are the seven things we did:

• 7 handstand pushups
• 7 thrusters
• 7 toes to bar
• 7 dead lifts
• 7 burpees
• 7 kettle bell swings
• 7 pull-ups

(Seven times through)

Don't be too impressed. I used the 15# bar with no weights for the thrusters, I cannot do toes to bar so I did knees to chest, my dead lift weight was 55#, my kettle bell was the smallest at the gym, and I had to do jumping pull-ups. Scaled pretty low!  But I did finish, and I know I will need Motrin in order to sleep tonight.

Now the book:  Better Than Before--Chapter ? "First Things First"

I agree with Gretchen that the following four areas are important ones to consider when establishing new (or breaking bad) habits. Sleep. Move. Eat and Drink Right. Unclutter.

In which areas are you working on habits?

Sleep: I slept only 6 hours a night for years. Many years those 6 hours were broken by nursing babies or toddlers that did not sleep through the night. About two years ago Jimmy gave me my first sleep tracking device and I made myself sleep 7 hours. I cannot believe how much better I felt with just one more hour of sleep. I love sleeping 7+hours! But the reality is most days I feel like I need the time more than I need the sleep. I fluctuate between waking up at 5:00 AM (my preferred time to arise and get things done) and 6:00-6:30 (I feel best when I sleep this late, but I feel like I start my day behind). My current sleep habit is to set my alarm for 5:00 most days, but once or twice a week I choose to sleep in. Just sleeping a little longer two times a week makes me feel good on the 5:00 AM days. That is what works for me.

Move: I have already shared my exercise habits.....I run either on the treadmill or outside at least 5 mornings a week. I run after I have drunk coffee, done my Bible study, fixed Jimmy's lunch, and started a load of laundry. Once a week I meet a friend (usually Leanna) to run a longer run. I have a watch that tracks my steps, and my goal is 10,000 steps each day. I have no problem getting those steps except on Sundays. I normally do not run on Sundays, and I sit down way more than usual since  I attend two services that day plus a Bible class. It does not bother me that I don't get 10,000 steps on Sundays. I expect not to. 

Also, I agree with Gretchen, if you act energetic, you will feel energetic!

Eat and Drink Right:

Jimmy and I were just saying last night that through our 25 years of marriage we have tried so many different forms of eating and exercise too. I'm glad health and fitness is an interest for both of us. Currently we are on Day 6 of the Whole30 again. I'm really not sure why we are doing Whole30 again....Lynn wanted to start after our Disney trip, and I guess I wanted to offer her moral support. Plus, Jimmy and I had gotten back into the habit of eating way too much sugar over the holidays. I was drinking Coke several times a week....and we just wanted to jump start our new year. (I feel like my new year began when we got home from Disney.) 

As far as drinking goes, of course we don't drink alcohol, but I do love my Coke! Our family drinks lots of water because it's basically the only beverage we keep in the house except for coffee. Lots of coffee. (I do keep canned Coke, little juices, and Gatorade in our schoolroom refrigerator, but the kids know that those are for special days, not for every day drinking.)

Unclutter:

My favorite habits of all fall into this category. I love to clean out and organize things--drawers, closets, rooms. Clutter makes me anxious. I can deal with my house not being super clean, but I cannot bear stuff lying everywhere. We clear all counters and tables and pick up all the stuff on the floor, stairs, etc. every single day. Sometimes more than once a day. I strongly agree with Gretchen that clearing my space clears my mind. I can't think with clutter everywhere. 

So what about you? What foundational habits are most important to you? 

Running and CrossFit

So I have been going to CrossFit since February, and I have also slowly increased my weekly running mileage. It has been challenging!  From February until the first of June, I could only attend CrossFit classes twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays. Since we are taking a break from homeschooling for the summer, when I have been in town, I have gone to CrossFit three days a week. That has made a difference!  I am getting stronger, but I am also more tired, especially on days like today when I do a long run in the morning and then go to CrossFit in the afternoon.  But, overall, I am pleased with my exercise routine.

But in all honesty, I am sore almost every. single. day. Sore in areas where I did not even know I had muscles!

The seven of us in our CrossFit class (6 students and our dear instructor) have an ongoing group message text/chat, and most of the dialogue is about how sore we are or what hurts or how we want to skip the workout that day because we looked online at what we were going to be doing--and we were dreading that particular activity. (For the record, we shame/encourage the complaining member into attending anyway!) The camaraderie and friendships built and maintained while we are sweating together (and there is a copious amount of sweat!) is worth all the discomfort.  My CrossFit ladies are my support group! (Lynn, Leanna, Leigh, Tracy, MC, and Season). Also Olivia is joining us for the summer, so she gets to have fun too!

Several people cautioned me about getting injured while doing CrossFit.  Our coach (MC) is very conscientious of the fact that I am weak (and not a spring chicken!), and she has been very thorough when instructing us the proper techniques. She also is kind and very encouraging!  She has her work cut out for her with six homeschooling mamas who are not natural athletes. (Well, some of my classmates are very strong and have progressed quickly!) At the end of each workout, after I pick myself up off the floor, I am so glad that I came!

Leanna and I are currently training for the Tupelo 13.1 Miler on September 4. We do have a time goal--we must be through by 7:25 so have time to get home, shower, and be at our church service which begins at 9:30.  Fortunately, the race begins at 5:00AM, so unless something really terrible happens, we should finish in time.  I have run this race several times before, and I have always made my time goal.

Running and doing CrossFit at the same time has been hard, but since I am not training for a marathon, it is certainly doable.  And when I begin my homeschool again in August, I will cut my CrossFit workouts back to twice a week.  Leanna, Lynn, and I are also running the St. Jude Half Marathon in December, so we will continue that training throughout the fall.

Our CrossFit class just ordered the shirts in the picture above...but in pink.  It will bring us such joy to all wear them on the same day to class and take a picture!

Keeping fitness fun.  That's the key to doing it.

Books, Running, Life.....

I finished David Copperfield a couple of days ago.  I really liked that book.  I have decided that I really like Charles Dickens, and so I plan to read some more of his books.  I think my next one will be Oliver Twist.  So far I have read Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens, and I thoroughly enjoyed both of them.

But the reality is that I have so many books on my must read now list, with the Bible in 90 Days (I am 1/3 of the way through) and The Red Badge of Courage (for my English class) being top priority.  Oh, and my Running Book Club selection, Better Than Before.  However our running club has not met in a few weeks because it has been too cold to run outside.  I refuse to run outside if the temperature is below freezing, and we have had many, many below freezing mornings lately.

Which brings me to my next topic:  running.  Oh, the love/hate relationship I have with regular running.  I love actually running--well I don't love it on the treadmill which is where I have been doing most of my running, when I run, lately....but I really, really enjoy running outside--either with friends (therapy session) or alone (prayer and sorting out my thoughts sessions), but the logistics of fitting regular running into my daily routine is challenging, and that's an understatement.  (Wow!  That was a long sentence!)  So for me, the stress of running is the planning and talking myself into doing it, not the actual running itself.  Yes.  This is still my challenge after 9 years of regular, consistent running.

My running goals for 2016 include logging 1000 miles for the year and training and running a marathon (my 6th).  I haven't selected the marathon yet, but it will probably be St. Jude in December in Memphis.  I am failing so far amassing the miles.....I need to average 20 miles a week to get to 1000 for the year, and I have run 20 miles per week only once this year.  Most weeks I have 18 or less. But there is still time!  Progress, not perfection, right?

And because I like to stretch myself even further, I have added two new exercise things to my plate.  I attended a piyo (pilates/yoga) for the first time last week with a friend of mine, and I plan to go to this class twice a week.  Also, a group of ladies from my church have formed a CrossFit class, and I hope to attend that 2 times a week beginning next week.  We will see if I can CrossFit, Yoga, and run......or if I am just asking for trouble!  :)

Life.....
I am in new season of motherhood.....my oldest two growing up and spreading their wings, my middle one preparing to leave home for college in the next year and a half, and my youngest two, thankfully still at home with me for several years to come!  Most days I think parenting lots of little children with diapers, pacifiers,  and sippy cups to be much easier than where I am today.  But with God's help, lots of prayer and Bible reading, and hopefully a friend or two who can guide me along the way I will figure it all out.

Happy Friday!

Are You a Mom of Young Children?

Are you overwhelmed by the laundry, cooking, cleaning, teaching, and training?

Today I have a post at The Homeschool Classroom offering encouragement to moms of young children.  You can click here to read the article.

We had a fantastic weekend!  Olivia graduated, and all four of my children set a PR (personal record) in the Coke 10K.

About two weeks ago, I joined Lynn for her last CrossFit Boot Camp session--the WOD (workout of the day) was 200 Burpees for Boston. We were put in pairs to complete the WOD.  So, Lynn and I simultaneously did 100 burpees in just over 10 minutes!  This picture was taken after the workout.  It was a fun event, but I could barely use my arms for days!  It was even hard to iron!  That was the first upper body workout that I have done in over a year.  My legs were even sore!

Happy Monday to everyone!

Breast Cancer Awareness: Risk Factors

Today I thought I would share the risk factors for breast cancer.  Some of the risk factors are things you can do absolutely nothing about, like your age and the whether you are a woman or not.  But many of the others are things that can be changed if need be.

I am going to list them without comment, but if you would like to read in detail about these risk factors, visit this link at Breastcancer.org.

• being a woman
• age
• family history
• genetics
• personal history of breast cancer
• radiation to chest or face before age 30
• certain breast changes
• race/ethnicity
• being overweight
• pregnancy history
• breastfeeding history
• menstrual history
• using hormone replacement therapy
• drinking alcohol
• having dense breasts
• lack of exercise
• smoking

There is also a list of emerging risk factors, and you can click on the same link and scroll down to read the complete listing.  The emerging risk factor that interests me the most is eating unhealthy food.  I encourage each of you to read the article about eating unhealthy food.  

Since my diagnosis of breast cancer, I have made changes in the eating habits of both myself and and my family.  Especially since my daughters now have the unavoidable risk factor of family history, I want to do all I can to lower their risks in every other area.  What I feed my family in my home is one thing that I can control.  We have shifted to a mostly plant-based diet.  That means that with very few exceptions (like at other people's homes, sometimes in restaurants, and accidentally), we are eating almost no animal products.  Very little meat, no dairy, no eggs.  Like I said, we do make some exceptions, but for the most part we are plant strong.  Also, I am working hard to eliminate almost all processed foods from our diets.  

Please spend a few minutes to review the risk factors of breast cancer, and then see if there are any changes you need to make to protect yourself.

This is the shirt for the WOD for the Cure, the CrossFit fundraiser that will be held here in Tupelo at Ballard Park on October 20.  If you live in my area and want more information about this fun fundraiser that benefits the Women First Resource Center, please leave your questions in a comment.

Stick With It Saturday

Samantha over at The Kelley Eight, frequently blogs on Saturdays about her exercising report for the week.  I am always encouraged when I read about other busy mothers making time for exercise, and I also love to celebrate with them their accomplishments.  So today, I will share my exercising for the week.

But first, I must share that this week has not been the best--exercise wise for me.  I am short 15 miles this week.  15 miles!  It's ok though.  I will begin again on Monday, and I will get all of my miles in next week.  (In the running world, new weeks begin on Mondays.)

Monday:  Rest day.  I was super sore after Sunday night's CrossFit workout which included 5 quarter mile sprints.

Tuesday:  Ran 3 miles followed by a CrossFit workout.

Wednesday:  Ran 6 miles.

Thursday:  Ran 2 miles followed by a CrossFit workout.  This one included 50 box jumps.  I have mastered the box jump!  But my knee was hurting a little bit yesterday....

Friday:  Planned to run 14 miles at 6:15 AM, but one of my running partners woke up with a high fever and the other one (Lynn) is in New York City!  With her husband Kelly.  So I never ran yesterday.  I just couldn't motivate myself to run 14 miles on the treadmill.  I began working on my school stuff instead.

Saturday:  That's today!  I have considered running my long run on the treadmill.....but I have talked myself out of it!  I do not want to spend 2.5-3 hours on the treadmill today.  Instead, I have planned a marathon school planning session!  So that leaves Sunday.....

Sunday:  Crossfit is planned for tomorrow night with our group.  It may or may not include a little bit of running, and I may or may not run an extra mile or two for a warm up or cool down.  Bottom line:  I was supposed to run 26 miles this week, and so far I have run only 11.

Some weeks are like that.

Next week's running mileage is 28.  I will get those miles in.  Check back next Saturday to see if I actually did!

So Far This Week

Our VBS began yesterday.  Since I was gone to the beach all last week (what a wonderful, relaxing vacation that was!), and I had not gotten all of my planning and preparation done before I left, I spent all afternoon Sunday between worship services and until almost midnight that night getting everything ready.  Then I got up at 5:00 AM yesterday to finish everything up.

The first day of VBS was a huge success!  I have twelve 5-7 year olds, and Olivia and Julie are my helpers.  We studied about Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal and their contest to see whose god would light their altar with fire.  I had them put 450 dot stickers on 3 pieces of poster board to demonstrate how many Baal prophets there were to Elijah, all by himself.

Late yesterday afternoon, my neighbor brought me an 8 pound bag of freshly shelled peas.  So I proceeded to put those up, and I now have 30 cups of peas in my freezer!  I froze them in quart bags in 3 or 4 cup portions.  It made 8 bags in all.

I am moving right along with my B90.  In fact, I got about a day and half ahead while at the beach, so I will be glad for that when school starts.

Still no school planning, but I do have hope!  I do have next week!  We begin August 3.  As soon as I start working on school, I will blog as I go.

Exercise update:  My mileage dropped off the last two weeks.  In fact, last week I only got 20 miles in.  But I did do a brutal CrossFit workout with our group Sunday night, and I also did one this morning.  My running mileage goal for this week is 26.  Beginning August 1, I have to do 30 miles a week in order to prepare for marathon training, which will begin the first week of September.  I am nervous!

The rest of this week includes VBS, laundry, ironing, maybe some school planning/schoolroom cleanout, and hopefully blogging---I still have posts I want to write about July 4th, my new nephew, Julie's birthday, and our vacation.

School Is Out!

We finally finished the 2010-2011 school year last Thursday!  Hooray!  Everyone was promoted to the next grade!  For the next 2 years, I will have five official students in my homeschool.  It will take most of our five week break for me to prepare for our upcoming school year.  I plan to blog throughout the planning/preparing process in hopes of helping someone else along the way.  I have a couple of new ideas that I plan to implement--things that I have learned by reading other people's blogs.  I love how we can all share ideas via the internet!

I had previously planned to begin reading through the Bible again in 90 days beginning July 1.  However, the next B90 Challenge hosted by Mom's Toolbox is running from July 11-Oct. 8, so I am planning to begin July 11th.  This schedule will actually work better for me since July 1st is tomorrow!  And I am not ready for this challenge yet!

I have not done an Insanity workout in over a week!  I experimented with doing the workouts with no jumping (as in no moves with both feet off the floor at the same time), and my knees almost immediately got better.  My knees had really been giving me trouble--hurting pretty badly every time I went up or down stairs or when I bent down to pick up something.  Instead of doing the Insanity workouts last week, I did CrossFit workouts instead.  Those workouts don't hurt my knees at all!  I have even mastered the box jump!  The one that Jimmy built for me is the perfect height.  He also built/installed us two pull-up bars, one inside our workout room and one outside beside the driveway.  Jimmy also marked out a 1/2 mile length on our driveway, so we are all set for CrossFit at home.  By the way, I cannot pull myself up even one centimeter on the pull-up bar!

I'll post all about our week at Rustic Youth Camp really soon!

What A Weekend!

Our fun-filled weekend began early Saturday morning as we travelled to the Pratts community for the Frog Level 5K.  Jimmy, Leah, and I ran this race.  This was Leah's very first 5K!  She was so excited and nervous!  She has been training for a few months now.  It really is hard to run in Mississippi heat and humidity, but Leah was a trooper!

Her finishing time was 37:05, which was way ahead of her goal of beating 40 minutes (I knew she would beat that time!).  We walked about every 1/2 mile, and I carried Gatorade for her to drink at the 1/2 mile and 1 mile point.  I dropped the Gatorade on the side of the road (near a policeman blocking a cross road) for us to pick up on the way back (the 2 mile point of the race).  They had water at the 1.5 mile turn-around point.  When we got back to the 2 mile marker, our Gatorade was squished!  A car had run off the road and flattened it!  I encouraged Leah that we could make it to the finish line without a drink (what choice did we have?), and she did great!  She was hot, but she never complained...she just pushed through and kept on running!

Leah won first place in the under 10 age group!  We are all so proud of her!

Just before the race began

As we were approaching the finish, some of Leah's supporters ran in with her.

Getting close to the finish line

Hot and tired after the race

Leah with her 1st Place trophy!

Jimmy tried again to break 20, and again, go so close!!  20:10 was his time!  That is still so fast, and I know that he will soon reach his goal.

After the race, we went home, packed up and headed to Memphis.  Of course we stopped by Target, and I bought some new plastic baskets/bins for the children's school books.  We call these "work buckets".  I have been using 18 qt. dishpans for work buckets for about 7 years now, but they are starting to crack.  I have looked all over town for some new dishpans, but all I have found are 12 qt. ones.  Those are too small.  At Target I found stackable basket/crate type containers with wheels!  They had pretty colors too!  When I get them loaded with the school books I will take pictures.

We checked in our hotel (what a highlight for Leah and Sam to stay in a hotel!), we went to downtown Memphis for the Gibson Guitar 5K race.  Jimmy ran this race too, along with Olivia, Julie, and Clay.  The race began on Beale Street.  As we were waiting for the 7:00 PM start, all of a sudden a huge storm blew in!  There was lightning, loud thunder, and then the rain.  Buckets of rain!  The race began amid these conditions, and Leah, Sam, and I were left drenched, looking for some shelter.  We found a parking garage near the finish line, so we were able to watch the race there.  Every single person--all 1500 runners and the spectators-- were soaking wet!  In spite of the horrible conditions, my family still ran well.  Olivia and Julie both got a trophy, and Clay was not too far from a personal record!  I will post their times in the Race Results sidebar.

We got back to our hotel around 10:30.  Sunday morning we worshipped at the East Shelby Church of Christ with Jimmy's cousins and their families.  We also ran into a family that used to worship with us in Tupelo...they live in the Memphis area now.  We joined Jimmy's family for lunch (along with about 100 other people from their congregation) at Shelby Farms.  After a delicious BBQ lunch, the children played on the new (and very neat!) playground at Shelby Farms.  I plan to take the children back there when it is not so hot!

We arrived home just in time to unload the van, unpack, start the washer, and head back to town for worship at our local church.  After our church service we joined about 20 of our church family members for a CrossFit workout at the park.  What a workout!!

Last night's CrossFit workout:
Warm-up--Burpee Dodgeball.  If you got hit by the ball, you had to do 10 burpees.  I think I did 60!
The Workout--1/4 mile run followed by 21, 15, and 9 repetitions of dead lifts and thrusters.  The final exercise was 21 burpees.  As we were doing the final burpees, I heard Lynn exclaim, "I just ate grass!"  Tough workout.  We were timed, and I completed my round in 11:19.  I am not sure I had the best form for the dead lifts (I think my total weight was #65), because my lower back is hurting.  At my age, something is always hurting after a workout!

We arrived home from the workout about 10:15, I think, and I got everyone fed, bathed, and in bed by about 11:15.  A late night!

What a weekend!

I Did A CrossFit Workout!

Well, I finally gave CrossFit a try.

A group of people from my church family gathers every Sunday and Wednesday night after our church service to "do CrossFit".  They have been doing this for quite a while now, and a few weeks ago Clay and Jimmy started joining them for a workouts.  Next, Olivia and Julie gave it a try.  Kelly has been doing it for a couple of months, and Lynn started doing some workouts with them as well.

I held out as long as I could!

I was afraid of the intensity of the workouts.  I made excuses....I am a runner, not a crossfitter; I am doing Insanity--isn't that enough of a challenge to my comfort zone of running mile after mile; the workouts are too late at night for me to be out with my younger children; etc.

Sunday night I joined them.

We warmed up with a 1/2 mile run followed by a series of squats, "duck walks", push-ups, and some kind of pull-up exercise (I forgot the official name--we hung from a bar and pulled our knees up to our chests).  Next came the workout.  We were divided into groups of 4 or 5, and each group did 10 minutes of the prescribed routine.  John (our leader) explained the moves and the order in which we were to do them.  We were assigned a partner to count our repetitions, and then John started the clock.

This was the workout.  We did the following as many times as we could in 10 minutes.

1.  15 box jumps (you know that very tall box that you see on The Biggest Loser--we had to jump up on it 15 times.)  I completed 15 jumps (holding with one hand on my counting partner's arm for balance---I am scared to death of jumping on that box!  I tried once last week when I was just watching the CrossFit workout, and I landed on the box and then fell backwards right back off!)  After my first rotation, I just did 15 step-ups for the rest of the rotations.  Jimmy is building two jump boxes right now, so I can practice!
2.  15 sit ups
3.  shoulder presses (or whatever they are called) until you can't do anymore  I was given 10 pound dumbbells to lift up and down as many reps as I could before giving out.  For the first rotation, knees stay locked.  For the second rotation, we could bend our knees while lifting, and for the third rotation, we did some sort of combination of bending our knees while lifting, standing up straight, and then bending again at the end of the lift.  I think I got it right!

We repeated steps 1-3, alternating the different types of shoulder presses with each round. Our counter kept up with how many shoulder presses that we did, and that number was our total score for the workout.  I did 90.  The next day John informed us that anyone who completed more than 60 presses would have to increase their weight next time.  What a reward!

Now for the crazy part.  I pushed myself (my girls and Lynn like to say that I am competitive, which I usually deny), and I paid for it!  By the time we got home, I felt terrible!  As terrible as I felt after that very first Insanity workout that I did when I quit Insanity (for a couple of days!).  But I am not going to quit CrossFit.  I surprised myself by liking the workouts.  I really don't know that much about what we will be doing at each workout, but from what I understand, there is a different exercise each time that will be counted and timed.  I think the box jump is in a lot of the workouts (that's why I have to master that thing once Jimmy gets it built!).  I am not sure if I can workout with the group every Sunday and Wednesday night--it does make for a late night out with the children--but I definitely want to do it at least once a week.

How's your exercising going?