Week 3...

So I guess I'm taking my sweet time with this blog... actually, i've been super busy, Marilyn has been sick, and I have had to spread my running out like crazy.  I am NOT a happy camper lol! 

so week 3... Week THREE of running...I started this week off actually running when I was out of town.  I NEVER exercise when i'm on vacation or when i go to my mom and dad's.  I end up eating horrible and feeling like a hot mess.  Or I'm only exercising one hand lifting a drink to my mouth and back down again. 

Anyways... i made it a point to get out and run while I was at my Mom's and in LaCrosse for Casey's wedding shower.  I got up early to go, and Mom informed me that they don't necessarily live in the best area... well ok then, this should be fun lol!  So I started going, thinking 3 minutes this time, 3 minutes.  In. A. Row.  I didn't think I would even be able to come close.  I had run 2 minutes, but not 3... I'm amazed at how fast your body picks up on something and strengthens itself.  I started going, and pushed and pushed to get to that 3 minute mark.  I'm sure most of you are thinking, 3 minutes? Seriously?  YES.  I'm a fat kid who is trying to run... what do you want from me?! So I am done with my warm up and I see some people starting to come out of the woodwork ... it is now 8:00 in the morning, so most of the hangovers have kicked in at this point.  I see a lady speed walking, I see another lady with her backpack trying to drink a coffee and walk at the same time.  (I hope it's not hot)! Then i see a man walking his little white fluffy dog up and down the street opposite me.  He has GOT to have a watermelon with a basketball on top hiding under his shirt... he's huffing and puffing and ER MER GERD... he's crossing the street and coming towards me!  EEEK!  I don't want to cross the street because then it will be blatantly obvious that I'm avoiding him and that's just RUDE.  So i continue pushing to my 2nd round of 3 minutes when I meet him.  And he says, "Dang GIRL...You've got way more ambition than I'll ever have!  Nice work and Good Morning!  I think I'll walk a little faster"   LOL...Well good morning to you fine sir.  and to your little fluffball!  Again, someone to just say one little thing makes all the difference!  Thank you RUN Double lady for telling me I can FINALLY walk, and thank you odd shaped man for your "good morning."  You have just proved to me that not everyone in my Mom's neighborhood is crazy, and that maybe I can motivate, and maybe I can make someone want to push a little harder...

Casey's shower went great and we had a lot of fun!  That was 2 months ago already... that's how far behind I am.  Her bachelorette party was ridiculously fun.  I crammed more into one day than I think we ever imagined! 

 

This past weekend was the SIDS walk...we put a lot of effort and work into it over the past few months and it really went great!  I had some FANTASTIC Co-Workers come out to support us, and I believe Taryn had a little pull in keeping the rain away until we were almost done!  It was a success and we were all glad it went so smoothly!

More to come on week 3 later... new shoes come in this week... my PUMAs retired... lol!

 

Still working on the skinny...

Ok so it's been awhile since I've posted... it seems like everything that we've had coming up, has arrived and now I am struggling to find the time to get everything done!  Ok... so I believe I'm on run #5. 

Week 2, day 2.  By this point I'm figuring out how to breathe.  I have always struggled with that.  I always was the last one in in high school for any sport because I could never breathe.  I dreaded running because of the constant huffing and puffing I would do. Even after months of having to do the running and workouts.  I could never understand what the problem was. WELL DUH. I never learned to regulate my breathing. I think this is a huge deal for me.  I finally feel like I can keep up with the skinny kids!

I finally have it down!  Or so I think...This is the run that I figure my breathing out.  I couldn't believe I could actually run for the entire length of the intervals!  It's probably a good idea that I run alone too seeing as I sound like I'm about to have a baby with all inhale twice through the nose and exhale once through the mouth breathing I'm doing.  It's not a pretty sight or sound people... lol!  But this makes me feel like I'm stronger, and I can feel myself getting stronger too.  I feel like I'm really making a change, and that my body is very happy with what I'm doing.  My Pumas are still hanging in there, but my knees are not as happy as the rest of me.  They still hate me and usually the day after I run I'm having issues.  New shoes NEED to come soon.  So does a money fairy with a forest of money trees. 

I think I really am getting into a rythm at this point too.  I never thought I'd want to stick with this, and I'm actually feeling like I can do this.  Some days are obviously easier than others, but I'm trying to keep up with it.  This summer has been so ridiculously hot, that it's been very hard to get out during a cool part of the day.  Usually by week 3 of anything I've given up and decided I'll try again on another Monday.  I have a lot of Monday's that i've "Started something and been done by Thursday."  I think I've mentioned this before...anyways...there is something pushing me this time and I'm pretty sure it's the fact that my daughter is here for me to set an example for.  She needs to grow up with the idea that we need to be outside if it's nice, and we need to take care of our bodies.  I don't want her to be the couch potato I was, eating whatever whenever and getting to this point.  It's amazing how much children really do change your life.  I love my Marilyn more than anything, she really is the reason for all my changes. 

On a more current note, I am very excited for Casey's bachelorette shenanigans this weekend!! I haven't been to Wisconsin Dells in probably 7 or 8 years and I'm really looking forward to some "Mommy time."  Yes it will involve alcohol.  and paddle boats.  and shopping.  and more alcohol. 

Anyways...until I come up with more on my running (it will be soon) take a gander at the latest and greatest...

redneck play pen complete with baby redneck. 

Watch me get skinny round 4

Ok, so I had my days mixed up.  I knew that I should have double checked my posts on facebook haha!  Anyways... Week 1 Day 3 was the ICE CREAM TRUCK!! And Week 2 Day 1 was the gentelman giving me those wonderful words of wisdom.  So for now lets just pretend I have it right and I'm not a sleep deprived Mother of a teething 11 month old who works full time and manages to be completely awesome all at once. 

SO ... THE ICE CREAM TRUCK.  Here I am all motivated, and for once in my life starting a second week of something (remember how I said I usually am off the wagon by Thursday?  Well LISTEN OREGON TRAIL OF RUNNING... I'm staying on the wagon and I'm beating this snake bite and dyptheria!!)  anyways... i've fallen off my blog wagon now...I get started with my little warm up walk and I have my playlist going (probably on to Pistol Annies by now...I love me some Miranda Lambert!!) and keep thinking there is something wrong with the song.  I keep hearing this carnival like sing song noise... but there is no carnival.  Once I start running I realize that I can still hear this noise with every song.  So I start looking around as I'm running and catch the faint glimmer of a popsicle out of the corner of my eye.  And then I see it. 

It's just creeping down the next street over having a lovely time taunting me.  Here I am, fat girl dragging from the axel of the wagon just waiting to fall off and break my arm and not have enough meat to survive the trail, and here's an ICE CREAM TRUCK.  BAH!  I still have over half my run left when it turns the corner and begins to follow me.  And then of course it passes me... so now I look like the sweaty fat girl chasing an ice cream truck in slow motion (I don't run fast, it's more of a light jog or prance).  SERIOUSLY.  Somehow I make it through though.  I see it almost the entire time I'm running.  LOVELY.  If that isn't a test of patience and motivation I don't know what is. 

Oh and I also finished my run at the bottom of a hill again...only to make it home and be outside stretching when the Ice Cream Truck comes rolling down my street.  I couldn't have escaped if I tried! lol...

So the moral of the story is...don't get dyptheria or cholera and fall off the wagon.  We are all going to have things that test our motivation and our patience.  It's all in how we react to the situation and how big or small of things we let get to us!  I used to let all kinds of little things eat at me, (and I know I still do need to pick my battles wisely), but I think I've come a long way.  I could have easily given up that day and gone back to my bowl of ice cream a night habit, but I chose not to.  I chose to lace up my pumas again and head back out (my knees hate me at this point too). 

That's all for now on the running...

Here's a funny little story for you... Watson got the poops.  and I mean BAD.  We have a brown shag rug. (You can see where this is going).  I did not see said poops with my eyes, but with my bare feet bright and early at 6:15 in the morning.  John tried to spray down the rug and let it air dry, but we brought it in too early and it made the whole house smell like mildewy musty gross-ness.  I took the rug back outside and then it FINALLY rained (we got it in the garage first) and now the garage smells horrible.  I believe our nice rug is officially ready to be thrown away.  And now I'm sick.  Like Sinus infection, the rug grew mold overnight and attacked my face sick.  NOT PLEASANT.  THANKS 106 degree heat too!

Ok I'm done now... :o)

Watch me get skinny days 2 and 3

So days 2 and 3 were just about as exciting as day 1.  I could feel myself getting stronger with every step I took (ok maybe not that dramatic...) but I did feel better already!  Run #2 I decided to take a different route and ended up running DOWN the massive hill that is the next street over from us.  I may or may not have gotten too much momentum coming down... we'll leave that between me and the birds.  And all the people that live on that street.  And the construction workers.  woopsies.  Anyways... i distinctly remember this day as being ridiculously HOT.  and I went in the middle of the day.  BAD CHOICE.  I did take water this time!!  But I drank it somewhere between run double lady telling me I was half way, and my little jaunt down the hill.  And this run is also where I find myself starting the them of ending my runs at the bottom of 4 possible hills that lead to my house.  Why can't I ever just end at the top!??! That would be too easy.  STOOPID HILLS.

On to day 3... this day was much more exciting for me.  I started out this run doing well, and I'm up to 2 minutes already... I KNOW... Champion runner RIGHT HERE <----- anyways...I'm oot and aboot on my run and I managed to get to the top of a hill without passing out or almost falling, so, so far this is a successful run.  I did have to walk a little bit, but I decided to push myself a little harder too and I pep talked my rusty pumas into getting me a little bit farther the next time around.  I wanted to make run double lady give me some good news at the end of my next interval... haha!  So I'm about half done with my run and I pass some older gentlemen discussing whatever it is that old men discuss (I can about imagine), and I get about 2 blocks away and one of the older gentelmen was out for a run (you can about imagine how awesome I feel about to be lapped by an old man while I'm thinking "OH MY GOD I NEED TO REALLY QUIT SMOKING"). and I hear the faint call of "HEY RUNNER!!"  I think... "he can't possibly be talking to me..." But low and behold... he has caught up to me.  AWESOME.  But he asked me if I was just starting out (was it that obvious?! lol!) and I managed to huff and puff out "yes, I just signed up for The Color Run and I figured after 2 babies (and 15 years of unhealthy habits) it was time to get my ass in gear."  He asked me what the color run was and I explained it the best I could without passing out, and he said he'd check it out.  Glad I could pass on some fun! :) But then as he was about to turn his corner and I was about to forget where I was going, he said...

"whatever you do, don't get discouraged! Keep going, you will be glad you did!"  

I can't tell you how much this statement has changed my thinking about working out and running in general.  After everything we've been through in the past 3 years, that one statement changed my entire outlook on myself and how I should be getting healthy.  This man forever changed my attitude towards working out and I am forever grateful.  He may have just saved my life and I hope one day we will pass each other, or I'll get to run a half a block with him again so I can say Thank You.  To have a total stranger give you that motivation and make you feel like you can really do this, is and was phenomenal and exactly what I needed at that point.  

Anyways...just a side note... this week is shaping up to be the week from hell.  It seems like if it's going to go wrong, then it will and has or is lol... I'm about at the laughing point of it all.  And tomorrow marks 2 1/2 years since Taryn died.  I can't believe it has been 2 1/2 years.  It's hard to look back some days and some days it's easier to look at where we've come.  I still have rough days here and there, and I still cry and just want to lay in bed all day, but I know my Angel is watching over me... Love you and Miss you Tare-Bear!!

Watch me get skinny take 1

Ok, so I have been on a pretty good run here (haha get it... run...ok never mind), and am really working hard at getting healthier this time around.  For years and years all I did was say "I'm going to do it this time!"  "I'm starting Monday!!" (only to be off the wagon by Thursday), so this time around I'm really giving it a go at this point.  I decided (on a whim) to start this Couch to 5k running plan (after I signed up for The Color Run!! Go Team "Oh yeah running yeah!!").  I decided that would be a great idea, so I downloaded the app (rundouble), and me and the new voice in my head took off one hot afternoon in the beginning of June for our new adventure.  Now for those of you that know me, you know that I'm all about trying new food (and a lot of it), having some good wine, mixing a drink now and then, and my deep love for all things fried and foods that begin with the words Cheese or Beer (I'm from Wisconsin what do you want, stop judging me)!! 

So I started my little app I downloaded and put on my 4 year old puma's that were in about as good of running shape as I was at this point, and we started our warm up.  I even had a "running playlist," that I was super excited to jam to.  So I start walking, and I end up winded before I even begin the actual run part.  The first series is walk 5 minutes, run 1 minute, walk 1 minute (alternating 10 times) followed by a 5 minute cool down).  I didn't know I could run a minute.  my pumas SURE didn't know they could either.  I started the first minute with high spirits and was beyond confident (I left my water at home).  By the time I got to the park (less than half a mile from my house), I thought I was going to pass out.  I was SO out of shape and miserable.  But for the first time in my life, I ignored that inner biznatch that kept going "you are too fat and out of shape for this, just walk the rest of the way," and i listened to my new friend, Run Double Lady (I haven't named her yet). All I could think was, NO BIOTCH.  I'M GOING TO DOMINATE THIS.  And I did...I even ran UP HILL at one point. By the time I got home I was so emotionally unstable (more than normal), that I didn't know if I should rejoice that I made it, laugh, cry, or collapse from thirst.  But I had made it.  One interval at a time.  One step a time, and One Minute at a time.  I am the poster child for taking things one moment at a time at this point in my life lol... 

That first run was a huge confidence boost for me.  I walked in and my husband goes "well how do you feel."  Through laughing tears I replied "WONDERFUL!!" And proceeded to lay down on the floor and cry.  I felt so amazing and so happy that I had just done that, and done something for myself for the first time in so long.  I felt like this is my starting point, this is the turning point in my life... it was a new beginning, and a start to feeling better.  If I can do this...anyone can do this.  I've lost 20 lbs since Marilyn was born, and at this point, I'm the heaviest I've ever been in my life.  It has taken me almost 2 years to build myself up to this point, and I was SO happy I did it. 

So ... if I have any advice... it's to just start (and don't stop).  We all have to find that starting point and find what works for us, not what works for everyone else or what looks cool or what fad diet or product works.  For me, its the rundouble couch to 5k lady in my ear, and a handy little app for my phone called myfitnesspal.com.  The combo of these two things has truly opened my eyes to how unhealthy I really was living.  I want to be a better version of me for me, my daughter, and my husband. 

We all have to start somewhere right...

BEE TEE DUBS...this is what I probably look like when I run:

Here's the cuteness: 

Catch up

Has it really been that long since I've posted in here?  January?! Really... where has the time gone?! OH WAIT... I've been raising my child, working full time, and on pinterest.  THANKS PINTEREST.  Anyways, I digress.... not much has changed.  I did get promoted (well a title change and raise) at work, but I'm still doing the same thing.  Life is crazy and insane and OH... wait (here comes the randomness), I started the Couch to 5k program!  I need to inform you of that... I'll start with day one... give me some time while I try to be clever.... more to come later.  In the mean time, enjoy the cuteness that is Marilyn.

Nevermind... this has changed and I can't figure oot how to insert a picture.  I know the anticipation is killing you but I'll get her picture up soon.  NO WORRIES.

A New Year... A New Outlook

Well we are starting out the new year with some issues... Both Marilyn and I are/were sick with bad chest colds and bronchial infections.  The poor little peanut even has to be on one of those nebulator things... UGH.  Anyways... with the new year always comes a time of new beginnings and new goals.  After the trainwreck that was the holidays for us, I've decided we need a few changes.

1.  We WILL eat better.  I am learning to like vegetables.  It's taken me almost 28 years to appreciate a good vegetable and I may not like all of them, but I'll at least try them!  I am DEFINITALY having my "pot" garden this year... and no not that kind of "pot." lol... I just want to plant tomatoes and peppers and a few herbs so I can make salsa... so maybe I should redefine it as a "salsa" garden. 

2.  We will make time for each other as a family.  We seem to have lost the meaning of "family."  From arguing to ignoring to just not appreciating having one another, it's time for a change and we need to get back to the foundation of who we are as a couple.

3.  I will be more crafty and frugil (FROO-GUL).  Pinterest is addicting and has A LOT of great ideas, but making our own laundry soap and dish detergent may  just save us a few pennies in the long run...now if it only had a way to keep a money tree alive we'd be in business.

4.  I will be an excellent Maid of Honor to my bestest friend!

5.  I will make Marilyn the happiest baby I possibly can.  (This should probably be #1, but I'm writing this out as I think of it). 

I'm sure there will be more to come at some point.  Anyways... throughout the month of December we (a friend and myself) held a fundraiser to purchase sleepsacks for the babies born in Mercy and Methodist hospitals for the last week of January.  We raised enough to purchase 200 sleepsacks and will give them in memory of Taryn and Brock! So exciting to give and to know there are so many people out there that are willing to help a good cause!  It made Christmas that much better this year!

It is my goal to take it one day at a time and to not freak out over the little things that we don't have control over.  I know God is there to help and is always there when I least expect it... which reminds me we REALLY need to find a church.  And get Marilyn baptized... FOCUS.  I NEED FOCUS this year lol...

6.  I WILL FOCUS...