thursday's ten: the non-suggested 5k edition

times i wouldn't suggest running a 5k

when you've been sick with the flu 3 out of the last 5 days.
when because of your back being injured for 6 weeks followed by the flu, you haven't trained even once in the last 2 months
when it's classified as an off road adventure
when your asthma is acting up
when you stayed up until 3 am with a girlfriend eating junk and watching tv
when you are used to temperatures over the mid 60s (in tennessee) and you are now set to run in 40 degree northwestern kentucky weather
when rain is also predicted
when your tennis shoes are so old they aren't really great for running on any surface anymore, much less non-paved surfaces
when you forget to take your inhaler until halfway up the first hill (thank GOODNESS i had borrowed a spibelt to carry it in and was able to remedy that quickly!)

BUT

if you choose to still do the 5k after ALL that?

it may be awesome
it may be fun
it may be the worst time you've ever had because you ended up HIKING in the woods on a single file trail instead of running a 5k (guess that's what they meant by off road)
there may be gorgeous scenery

you may feel an enormous sense of accomplishment just for surviving
it may be something you want to do again, at least once in awhile :-)

thursday's ten: in order to not be a slug

mid-winter is the worst time physically for me

not only do i want to consume every creamy, savory, carb-loaded thing in sight
i also don't.want.to.move.

and since i sometimes need to say it to (a) realize that i'm already on the right track and (b) to hold myself accountable to keep.doing.it.

today's list is all about things i'm already doing to stay active and mobile even during chilly and dreary days :-)




1.  the occasional 5k.  i'm doing one this saturday, in fact.  now, i've cut WAY back on 5k registrations to save money (i can exercise for free, after all).  but one every 2-3 months is much more reasonable than my old pattern of once a month.  so i'm going to try that this year.  so i need to at LEAST do one by the end of may by those calculations...

2.  dancing.  with the baby in the kitchen while i nanny, by using the "just dance summer party" game i've purchased for the wii, or by attending contra-dancing or even a belly dancing class.  it's FUN, cheap (or free!) and even if i feel silly i'm burning calories!

3.  cleaning.  yes, i know this sounds like a stretch.  but if i tell myself to take a 30 minute break to clean the kitchen i will put it off.  if i remind myself i can put it on my fitness pal as "cleaning, light or moderate effort" i jump to do it.  i know it's weird, but hey.

4.  my fitness pal.  i love the app (and that you can add recipes by scanning the ingredients -- hellooooo user-friendly).  and i get a kick out of tweaking my eating habits so that i'm eating better calories.  but i also get a rush by plugging in all the ways i've exercised during the day and have even been known to find 15 minutes of an activity to do later in the evening so my exercise doesn't show a big fat 0.

i can NOT figure out how to add people outside of emailing them, so if you're on it feel free to look me up.  i'm msmsctchr.
<a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com"><img src="http://badges.myfitnesspal.com/badges/show/1511/7178/15117178.weight-lost-sm.gif" border="0"></a><p style="text-align: center;width:226px;"><small>MyFitnessPal - Free <a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com">Calorie Counter</a></small></p>

5.   hiking.  free exercise is good.  amazing girlfriends or a wonderful husband to share it with is even better :-)

6.  little things at work: at my office job, i try to move every hour for at least 5 minutes.  i realize that isn't much but it's way better than sitting at the desk all.morning.long.  and at my nanny job, i carry the baby more, go on stroller walks when it's nice out, use their elliptical even if it's only 5 minutes at a time, and even get on their balance ball while baby g plays (which she finds extremely amusing).

7.  better sleep.  who wants to work out when they're constantly tired?  i've been bad about this for the last 2 weeks or so, but i need to get back in the habit i was in for at least 2-3 months of sleeping 7-8 hours each night with rare exceptions.  yeah...need to go to bed by 11 tonight (self-reminder...)

8.  crunches.  yes, i hate them.  yes, i feel better after doing them.  so right now i at least try to remember to do them 2-3 times a week.  hey, it's a start.

9.  spurts.  when all else fails, i go in spurts.  this works for me if i have guests coming and need to clean the house and everything feels overwhelming.  9 minute tasks, move to the next one and have a rotation system.  i can always come back in the rotation, and if i only have 3 minutes of cleaning left in one room...i feel SO good about finishing it before the timer.  it's amazing how an hour goes by so much faster if you move between several rooms than if you spend the entire hour in a bathroom scrubbing.  and bonus: i'm moving the entire 60 minutes instead of taking a break every 15 or so because i'm exhausted, bored and grouchy.

10.  know thyself.  i have twice in the last three weeks injured my wrist by doing mundane household things.  ri-di-cu-lous, but it's made me realize the value of taking it easy on my wrist while not stopping activity altogether.  sometimes i need to take it easy and take that nap instead of jumping on the elliptical.  but taking a day off doesn't give me permission to take the week off!
(plus, sometimes that nap gives me better energy to clean the house later.  so it's kind of a nice payoff...)

hey, it's ok (tuesday) .9

hey, it's ok

...to not get a fabulous time on a 5k when you (a) didn't run because your knee was bothering you and (b) hadn't actually DONE a 5k in months and months and months

...to already be looking for the next 5k.  because i totally have the bug again.

...to love ical because you get to color code *everything*

...to eat a cheeseburger (or quarter pounder) now and then

...to be completely overwhelmed by financial "stuff" all the while knowing and trusting that God will provide

...to need a (free or extremely cheap) getaway.  stat.

...to have way.too.many recipes in your "to try" folder

...to love twitter

...to feel accomplished because the dvr percentage is down to 50ish.  and all that was watched while getting other things done, so it's not like i've been a *complete* couch potato!

(amber is the one who started this and you should totally visit her)

Fitness Friday: to run or not to run?

i've never been much of a runner

i walk pretty fast, so i was able to get 5K times of around 45 minutes when i walked the entire thing

but earlier this year i started running more during my 5K's (maybe 1/2 mile total, but still) and started noticing that i began getting 42 and 40 minute times.

i determined to run an entire 5K soon, and even put it on my "30 before 30" list

(even though my yoga teacher had always said it's bad for your back/knees/etc)

and then

april hit

and after moving me into my new environment

i had a major asthma attack that put me in the ER and required an overnight hospital stay

and i became terrified to run

it took a long time for me to go out for a walk even

and the first time i went hiking i thought i was going to die

that childhood asthma i thought i had outgrown

had come back stronger than ever

but now that it's been a few months and i've done a couple of semi-serious hikes and a nice little 3 mile hike last weekend

i've decided something

next weekend is the 1 year anniversary of my very first 5K

and i'm doing it again

last year i kind of strolled through, simply happy to be out and moving

this year, i WILL run at least half of it

so i've started what many of you have been doing for awhile

the couch to 5K program is what many of you have done

i've chosen a similar program: 5K 101 

simply because it has a free podcast you can download that tells you what to do when.  easy!

today is only my 2nd workout, which means i will only be 2 weeks into it when i do the 5K

but still

i am fairly certain i'll be able to handle it

if nothing else, i'll plug my headphones in and start the training podcast i'm on...

i'll let you know how it goes :)

i actually joined a challenge

i've thought about it soooo many times
but never committed.
but here it is, y'all

brooke deserves the credit for leading me to this challenge

drop dead gorgeous by december
i like that idea
back to the body i'm used to
would be an amazing christmas present!

so. here's what i have to do every week, copy/pasted from the challenge itself

1. A picture of you holding up a positive sign for yourself.

The picture must be different every week. The sign can be the same.

The sign can vary from I can do this to I am beautiful to I am strong and powerful. Whatever inspires you, write it down, look at it, read it, and hold it up proud.

2. Your current week’s weight as well as your challenge start weight. *optional

I am looking to lose, but some people are actually looking to gain. I might overeat, but others undereat.

If a scale goal is not part of your journey right now, you don’t have to include it! Just put N/A (not applicable) for this portion. Not everybody is defining their health by the number on the scale, and they shouldn’t have to. Fitness and healthy living should not be determined by only a number.

3. Your goal(s) from now, or whenever you decide to join, until December.

These goals may NOT be weight-related. You are not allowed to have a goal tied to a number on the scale.

Goals can include everything from trying a new recipe to running your first 5K. It can be something like making your bed every morning or saving a dollar a week.

Whatever your goal(s) are, they cannot be tied to your scale weight (lose 20 pounds, lose a pound a week, etc.).

Try to limit your goals to a maximum of five, but if you’re ambitious, that’s great too.

4. ONE thing that you are proud of for the week.

This is where you brag about something you did well, a milestone that you reached, an impossibility that you turned into a possibility. BRAG!

5. ONE thing that you can improve upon for the following week.

Because this healthy journey is about overall betterment, we can all find something to improve upon. Maybe it’s to squat 10 pounds more. Maybe it’s to be more punctual. Maybe it’s to drink one more glass of water.

so...here's mine

1

(i will SO rock this)

2. weight
i'm not listing it...yet. i'll tell you where i started when we end this thing :)

3.
- exercise in some form at least 3 times a week, preferably 5
- complete at LEAST one 5K
- cook healthily once a week, limit snacking to healthy options
- 2 more to be forthcoming
- yeah, what i said earlier

4.
that i've made healthy snack choices
(save the oreos i had for breakfast today, but that's a MEAL choice, right?!)
AND that my boyfriend looked at me last night and said "you look like you've lost weight!"

5.
more water. water, water, water!
(goal: 4 glasses a day. that's HALF of what i should have, but i have been SO bad that i'll start there!)

Thursday's Ten: promises

i feel like it's important (for me at least) to do this every once in awhile. so here are the promises i'm making myself as of right now, in this moment.

1. i will not worry about money and where this or that payment will come from. thus far, God has provided my every NEED...why would i think that would change?

2. i will enjoy each moment instead of focusing on what's "wrong" with my life/finances. in the grand scheme of things, i'm so incredibly blessed...and it's only when people outside of myself start wondering aloud how i'm handling things or what's going on that i start questioning. i need to remember something my dad always quoted: "there's nothing that will happen today that God and i can't handle together"

(erm, i may have gotten a huge hospital bill last night since my insurance is crappy and been doing a bit of concerned thinking...)

3. i will enjoy time spent with children...even if they are whiney and argumentative with each other. it's tennessee, it's summer, and it's hot...we're all whiney.

4. i will continue getting active, continue my routine with WiiFit, and finally get up the nerve to go for a walk/run even though i'm afraid of an asthma flare-up. guess what? that's what my inhalor is FOR!

5. i will learn to can foods, specifically tomatoes. i read not too long ago that eating canned tomatoes from the store is awful for you and that if you must buy them you should look for glass jars instead. i figure if i preserve the ones i grow myself in glass jars i'll be one step better :)

(and yay for money saved...i use a LOT of canned tomatoes when i cook italian foods!)

6. i will take a hard look at composting. now that i live in a neighborhood where curbside recycling is available, it's much easier to be green in that regard...next steps would be compost and rain barrel...perhaps not this summer, but soon.

7. i will take a few moments each day to be intentionally grateful

8. i will continue 'settling in' at a reasonable pace

9. i will take emi to the vet for a check up

10. i will spend more time with those i love

Thursday's Ten: U-Pick 10

Hey all. Coming to you late today. I'm dealing with a lot today, so I'm not really "here"...and am a bit sleep-deprived, so I didn't come up with a fantastic topic like usual (yeah right!)



You know how Panera has the "U-Pick 2" deal? I always get french onion soup and half a sandwich...

Anyway, this is your own U-Pick list. Your topic, your ideas, your blog. I'm going to list 10 random things that are on my mind, but you go with whatever. Ok? :0)

1. I have a 30 before I'm 30 list. Hopefully I'll post it while I'm still 29.
2. I had dinner at 11:45 last night. Mmmm, healthy.
3. Easter is my favorite holiday of the year, candywise at least. (Christmas is really. But Easter has Cadbury mini eggs. And jelly beans. Ahhh)
4. Laffy Taffy has the WORST jokes on their packages. Do 5 year olds work there?
5. When I get a sinus infection my ear piercings get infected. How odd is that?
6. I love shows like "The Middle" and "Parks and Recreation". They did their research on rural Indiana...
7. I could do a 5K every week of the year. It's really hard to limit when there's so many I want to do...but the cost helps me there :-)
8. I did a bracket for the NCAA this year. First year in a long time. I may have caught the basketball bug again...uh-oh
9. I'm loving the Wii. I borrowed Mario Galaxy from a friend and I'm totally addicted (actually Anthony borrowed it, asked said friend if I could borrow it too...does that mean I borrowed it from Anthony or our friend or both?)
10. I've been craving a strawberry Italian cream soda for about a week. Must.find.strawberry.syrup to make one. World Market here I come!

Can I add a bonus? The Windows 7 commercials drive.me.crazy. Could it be because I've switched over to Mac or are they really that DANG ANNOYING?!

Ok. I can't really muster up more than that today. I love you all and still need your prayers and I work through some pretty major stuff.

told you i'd be more positive...

i watched grey's anatomy tonight, as per my usual
and the end quote struck me, as it often does
i've shared the wisdom so often evident in those final words
on other blog posts of mine (like here and here)
and this one had to be shared too.

as a wanna-be runner...these words can easily be applied to the hiking, jogging, and 5Ks that i do.

they can also be applied to my current state of mind.
and i have hope, that i'm still scaling the side of this particular mountain.

wisdom of grey's:

they take pictures of mountain climbers at the top of the mountain
they're smiling
estatic
triumphant

they don't take pictures along the way
cause who wants to remember the rest of it?
we push ourselves because we have to
not because we like it

the relentless climb
the pain and anguish of taking it to the next level

nobody takes pictures of that

nobody wants to remember

we just want to remember the view from the top
the breathtaking moment at the edge of the world

that's what keeps us climbing
and it's worth the pain

that's the crazy part

it's worth anything.

- Grey's Anatomy, 2010

It's a Great Day to Completely Forget About my Blog...

(go here, join in the fun)

and

Did a truck run over me?

Yeah...I did a 5K this morning (48:05, mostly walking). But considering that I've had an average of 3-4 hours of sleep per night this week I just feel *awful*. I need to start sleeping! It's not by choice, I promise
:-/

However, I have new makeup to experiment with, polish for my toes, and a french manicure to perform on myself here in the next couple of hours--all prep for our Oscar party tomorrow. I'm babysitting a sweet bulldog right now, so I'll wait until she goes to bed...don't need her ingesting anything and believe me she'd try!
:-D

It's a Great Day to Take Care of Business

(join here)


Busy weekend: another 5K, Colts play!

Good morning all! Weekends are becoming crazy around here--this morning I'm out for another 5K! You may remember that I did the Zoo run a mere 2 weeks ago...and twisted my ankle less than 24 hours following that. Unfortunately my ankle isn't all that much better so I may not match my (awesome) time of 48:36 walking...especially since I hear there are some major hills on our route this time around. But I will NOT be discouraged! I'll be good to finish, happy coming in under an hour...thrilled to make 50 minutes or less, and estatic to beat last 5K time. We shall see!

Thankfully, I have a massage scheduled later this afternoon, which I shall savor. And THEN I get to babysit for 2 of my good friends--4 sweet kids total, all of which I adore (and who, thankfully, adore me right back)

Tomorrow our youth group is 'invading' another church...kind of. The praise band/choir has been asked to lead worship for their service and I am going to lead the choir. It's going to be fun!

And then...

and THEN

My boys play...

:)

Ok, for those of you not into football, you can start reading again. The next little bit is about awards and blogroll and all that housekeeping stuff I really need to do around here!

First of all, I've been given 4 awards that I haven't posted about. At least. There could possibly be more, and for that I apologize! I'm going to give one of them today, and the other 3 will be intermittently given over the next week or so. I feel a little overwhelmed giving them all out at once!

First up is the makes my heart smile award from Brooke. Brooke is one of my absolute favorite bloggers. She is partially (a big partially) responsible for me even DOING the 5Ks that I find myself involved in lately, so it's only fitting that I FINALLY award this one on a day that I'm 5King it :)
(i may possibly have received this award in june. just maybe)



I'm supposed to give this to bloggers that make my heart smile. Well...there are SO many of you. I really hate choosing favorites. So for that reason (and this sounds like a copout but it's SO not) if you're a follower you automatically get this award from me. I can't even express how much I appreciate that people actually want to read what I have to say here.

I'll also give a shout out to 5 specific bloggers who have made me smile in the last week

LolaB - Kasey has some of the best picture stories in her blog, and she's just amazing. I think she had me at her love of all things Parisian, but I just love the way a story unfolds from her fingers. Plus I always like the music she has playing when I visit :)
Marin - this chick is always posting recipes that make my mouth water, and though I follow quite a few foodie blogs...she is one of the few whose recipes I consistently try.
Lemonade Makin' Momma - I love how honest and fun this woman is. I enjoy every post she writes, and I don't say that about most blogs with 'mom' in the title, believe me! :)
Catholic Teacher Musings - perhaps it's the 'teacher' connection, but I often find that her posts strike a deep chord in me. Funny, serious, profound...she runs the gamut and it's all GOOD
Jasmin Loves Coffee - I think this is my most recently followed blog, or pretty close to it. Jasmin is fun and fresh and I may be a tiny bit jealous that she lives in California...right now I'd love to see that gorgeous state!

Last thing (wow, this is quite the novel of a post here!) is...blogroll. I've toyed around with removing it completely, but that doesn't seem quite fair. So...scroll down. If you're not on my blogroll but you WANT to be, please leave a comment and let me know. Simple as that. If you are and don't want to be, please comment as to that or just email me.

There are more housekeeping things to be done in the next week or so, but that's enough for one post! I'll see you all later :)

...at least i twisted my ankle on sunday...

because our 5K was *awesome*

I left my house at 2pm (race started at 3) because I knew that it would take at least 30 minutes to get there. I live only 15 minutes away, but they had shut down one of our major roads for construction all weekend so the back way I had to take was sure to be jammed full of not-so-happy rerouted people.

Sure enough.

Anthony's aunt texted me while I was still waiting in a line of traffic on said back road, asking if I were there yet. I said no, but probably would be off this particular street within 5 minutes and it should be a short 5 minute drive from there. She said they were 1 stoplight down from the zoo waiting in line to turn in (they were coming the opposite way from me).

It took exactly 5 minutes for me to turn onto the next street (points for me knowing my Nashville traffic!), and not even 5 to get to where I could see the entrance to the zoo. That's where the real fun began.

(don't you love this overpass with the animals painted on? on the other side there's a cheetah stretching up to a bird. very fun.)

I only got pictures from my side of the line, because thankfully it moved really quickly. However, once I got around this corner:

This is what awaited me!

Once I was in, I texted them to see if they had parked. They were STILL IN LINE to turn into the zoo! My side of town for the win!

More waiting ensued...at least it's a pretty little drive up the zoo property to the parking lot...

(this sign always cracks me up a little bit)

I finally parked. There was a MASSIVE amount of people milling around the parking lot (including Gnash, the Nashville Predator's mascot). So I decided to just hang around the top of the lot and wait for Anthony's mom and aunt...because I figured there was NO WAY I would find them in that crowd.
(which I found out later was at least 3000 people strong--and that was just the participants)
I only ran into one other person I knew--a former coworker from when I was teaching. Since we taught together she has had a precious little girl who is now 2, and found out that she had cancer when Olivia was 3 weeks old. She thankfully was declared cancer free last October, and is doing these 5Ks and half-marathons just to show that she's kicked cancer's ass. I love it.

They delayed the start of the race until 3:15 because of the traffic, but eventually we were off!

The route was pretty cool--lots of little trails not open to the public and quite the backyard tour of the zoo! We're members there so I thought I had seen all the animals the zoo houses, but there are several that live off exhibit. I was lucky enough to walk by these tapirs. If I hadn't watched Rachael Ray earlier in the week I wouldn't have known that they were so special, but apparently they're a pretty rare sight.The path was paved at times, rocky at times, and muddy often. Several hills and twists and turns. I can't imagine having run those portions of it!

We got to see the Bengal tigers (who were quite interested in all of us too!) and the other big cats (Lynx and cougars were out) but most of the other animals were either indifferent or holed away somewhere. I didn't stop to take any pictures. Got a couple of drive-by shots, but they definitely show motion:

(lynx)We wanted to beat our last 5K time which was somewhere in the 55-60 minute range. Of course, we all were walking slower that race so we thought it shouldn't be a problem. We decided that somewhere between 45 minutes and 50 minutes would be great. Of course, we decided this when my iPhone app that we were using to time ourselves (we weren't officially timed, so we started about 5 minutes after the timed runners/walkers) turned to 40 minutes. So we were hoping we were within 10 minutes of ending the race!

Mess, Anthony's aunt, got a little burst of energy right at the end and started speedwalking. Anthony's mom and I looked at each other, shrugged, and kept walking at the same pace. She finished 10 seconds ahead of us...we ended the walk at 48:36. Not too shabby for walking the ENTIRE way...and definitely not to shabby for me considering that less than a month before it literally hurt to walk from one place to the next. My back did fine for the entire time, and I even began contemplating running some in the next 5K we do...which will be in 2 weeks!

finished! Anthony's mom on the left, aunt on the right

Mess and me

And then Sunday came.
And in true Lora fashion:
I completely wiped out in the back of our sanctuary after church.
Twisted my ankle.

Not TOO badly, but enough that I'm now wearing an ankle brace for support so that I'll be able to do the next 5K...

but I guess I'll be walking that one too!

(Next 5K: Nashville Predators Fangtastic 5K...February 6...12 days and counting!)

It's a Great Day to Run at the Zoo

today's wordle:(join Shannon to create your own and link up)

Nashville Zoo Run...Hop...Walk...Crawl...

Yep! Today I'm in my 2nd ever 5K. Because of the issues I had with my back less than a month ago, I'll be walking the majority if not all of it. But the important thing is that I'm DOING it. It benefits our zoo, it'll get me out in the sunshine (crossing fingers for that one), and it keeps me moving! A's mom and aunt are doing it as well (they're gonna start hating me for asking them to do more and more of these things--I have us all signed up for another one in March!) and two of the girls from the office I work in will be there as well.

I'm thinking that the route through animal habitats and the gorgeous scenery at the zoo will be a welcome change from most 5Ks. Since I'm walking I may even snap some pictures!

After the "run" I'll be hanging out with some of my best girlfriends, Meghan and April. We're going to see Leap Year and just hang out for awhile. SO long overdue, this girl time.

A and I are also squeezing in a quick run to our friends house to give their 4 year old daughter, Morgan, her birthday gift and say hello...since the 5K is during her party.

Whew! I think it's time to get moving!