5K

Well, I did it.  I ran a 5K.  I finished a 5K. It was something else...  I thought that asking my hubby to take pictures would be a good idea.  I'm not having second thoughts.  (I'm glad he did though - when I gave birth to Carter I was so self-conscious about myself I wouldn't let any take pictures of me in the hospital.  I regret that now...)

Anyway, the race.  I met my goals - I didn't walk and I finished in under 35 minutes.  I think my time was 33:31, but I don't know that for sure.  

 Heather, me & Brandi.  I was so fun running with theses girls!!  It was Heather's first 5K and Brandi's 2nd.  They both are running in the Color Run - we will be in Texas.

 (We were joking that we should have taken a picture in an ambulance just for fun!!)

 My mom's sister, Jo, came down from South Dakota.  They did the one-mile fun run/walk.  

This is my trophy!  I finished 36th over all, but 2nd in my age bracket!  Bonus!!!!

So that's the story of my first 5K.  I will do another one and maybe more after that.  I might even work my way up to a 10K.  Honestly, my biggest challenge now is finding time to run AND having someone around to watch my kids!!  Currently, I run right after work so they are still at daycare, but I don't know if my daycare people would be very excited about keeping them an hour longer, if I decide to train for a 10K.  :)

Tomorrow's the BIG Day!!

Tomorrow morning at 7:30 I will be running in my first ever competitive race.  I will be running in a 5K (3.1 miles) in our church's 14th Annual Alert Road Race.  This is something that they started years ago as a fund raiser for our youth group and every year it has grown bigger and bigger!  I am exited that some of my friends are running with me.  Or maybe I'm running with them?  Either way, my goal is to finish.  Without walking or stopping.  And I hope to finish in under 35 minutes.  I've run 3 miles a couple of times before in "training" just to prove to myself that I could do it.

It may be raining.  It may turn into a mud run as we are running part way on pavement, part way on country roads.  Should be a good time!!

Teresa, the gal who's putting this together (and does a fabulous job every year!) posted pictures of the trophies and awards and the T-shirt design on Facebook - here they are:

There's still time to join in the fun - you can register in the morning, the race (10K and 5K) starts at 7:30 and the 1 mile fun run/walk begins after that! Breakfast will be there... :)

Amazing Sisters

The Plunge

I finally did it!  I took the plunge I never thought I would and I got on FaceBook.  I don't know why but something still seems slight wrong with it.  I'm sure it will be fine.  I mostly did it so that I could be in contact with cousins, sisters-in-laws, niece & nephews, aunts & uncles who live afar.  I was the only one in my family not on FB and email apparently isn't as popular as it once was.  So there it is.  I made a liar out of myself.  I can no longer avoid certain conversations with "Oh, I don't have FB..." like I once could. Such is life.  Now my excuse will be "Oh, I have FB, but I don't know how to use it" and that is no lie.  :)

PS - My friend, the scale, told me this morning that I've lost 10 lbs!!  Surely it got to be all the running.  I ran a half of a 5K yesterday during "training".  A half of a 5K sounds so much cooler than a mile and a half, don't you think?

Untangling Christmas

I came across a book a while ago that I would very much love to get my hands on. It's called Untangling Christmas.

You can find the website here. Have any of you read it? I think it looks like a wonderful book about making Christmas more about Christ and less about all the other stuff. I won't go so far as to say that we boycott gift-giving, but I would definitely love to have a more Christ-centered Christmas season. I would love to hear some of your ideas. I really want to do an advent activity of some sort, but it is December 1st already and I have nothing together and no idea where to start.

Day 28 - I'm Thankful For...

My birthday. Yes, today is my birthday. The fifth grade class came in to tell me Happy Birthday today - it was cute. They were all guessing my age. The guesses ranged from 27 (thanks!!) to 144. Funny. Let's just say I'm somewhere in the middle. ;)

My good friend Laura put on a Birthday Extravaganza for me over the last several days. Wednesday night last week they had us all over for dinner and she made a presentation of my birthday gifts.

First up were my new shears. Laura's husband Mike was more excited about these than she was. He had to set up the ground rules - Jeremy was not allowed to use them to cut wire or tin with these, no matter how tempting! :)

Apparently Ginghers are quite the scissors! I used them yesterday and they cut fabric like a hot knife through buttah.

Next, she presented me with my very own rotary cutting system. I've been borrowing hers while working on a Christmas project (which is almost done!!).

Then, while we chatted after dinner, I got to pick out some fabric and she whipped me up a quilted bag before we left. :)

Then yesterday, Laura took me out for lunch after church, just she and I. Steak and lobster. Mmmmmmm.... She's really something else!

AND tonight, my hubby has promised to make me dinner! :) AND tomorrow night my mom & my sister and I embark on our traditional Christmas shopping trip. That will be the most fun of all!!

So Sore

Ever heard of Jillian Michaels? They say she's the toughest trainer on TV. I don't usually watch TV with trainers, but recently I decided to challenge myself and I bought The 30 Day Shred DVD. Yes - she's tough. I did my first session on Friday night. Saturday morning I was stiff and sore. I did another session first thing Saturday morning and once I started I was feeling better. By Sunday morning, I couldn't hardly move!

I always liked to think that between hauling kids and car seats around that I was fairly strong or tough. Boy, was I wrong! The DVD is broken down into 3 levels. Once you "master" the first level, you move to level two, then three. Each level has 3 circuits: 3 minutes strength, 2 minutes cardio, and 1 minute abs for a total of 20 minutes. I do ok with the cardio and the abs, its the strength that kills me. every. time.

I've completed 3 days so far. I have every intention of going the full 30 days, no matter what gets in my way. Except maybe Thanksgiving Day. I might purposely skip that day. Since I didn't follow through on my goal to loose 30 pounds by my 30th birthday, I'll try again, Jillian-style.

Day 14 - I'm Thankful For...

... my husband's many talents! He can farm, wrench, repair, weld, build, and more and still be in a good mood at the end of the day!

Things on My Mind...

This is me just jotting down some things that have been clogging up brain space lately. You don't really have to pay attention - there will NOT be a quiz later. Although I do welcome comments and/or advice on any or all of the following.

Why do I...

• always seem to need one and a half times as much conditioner as I do shampoo? My conditioner is always out when I still have half a bottle of shampoo left...
• not mop or vacuum my floors more often? I'm pretty sure sweeping doesn't quite cut it.
• get frustrated and, dare I say it, mad (yes I said it) at Gemma because she wants to be held all the time? She's a baby and I'm her mommy and she's putting in four teeth! Of course she wants to be held.
• put my kids off so I can do housework? Like my housework is growing older and older by the minute and not my kids.
• use my clothes dryer so much? Would it really kill me to save a little money and hang my clothes out on the line? Especially now that we've had a frost and most of the spider and creepy-crawlys are gone?
• still hang onto my favorite hairbrush even though the handle broke off? Even though I've tried twice to glue it and it still keep breaking off? Because it's my favorite, I guess...
• put off quiet time/prayer time/time with God? I benefit from it for sure, which in turn means my family benefits. Something I need to be more diligent about.
• come home with so much "fluff" from the grocery store? Do we really need it? It's been close to six weeks since I was last at the grocery store. That's not to say I haven't bought milk, bread or other items, but I haven't really gone to the store in about 6 weeks. We're getting down to the bare bones but we're surviving. It's good to get right down to the shelves in the pantry every now and again. To clean out the freezer. I'm kind of liking it.
• hang onto mistakes I make for so long? I'm getting better at this, and I'm trying to let it go and make the best of what is right now. It's tough.
• dwell on the fact that my kids are constantly growing and growing up? I can't make them stay little and in all reality I don't really want them to. Every stage in their lives is amazing and I just need to do all I can to preserve the memories we make everyday. I need to start journaling... Wait - isn't that why I'm blogging? :)

Fore!

My dad loves golf. He loves to play golf, he loves to watch golf. I don't. I think is one of the most single boring-est sports out there. To watch at lease. To play, that's different. Before we start, please note - I do not play golf. We get a golf cart, some clubs, maybe a few adult beverages, and we have fun. Playing golf. That's what Jeremy and I did with our friends Cory & Wendy this weekend. A little breezy, but the weather was lovely.

We didn't keep score - but if we did, I'm sure the girls would have won!! We had a great time with plans to do it again soon, before the snow flies!