We Are What We Repeatedly Do. Excellence, Therefore, Is Not An Act But A Habit

-- Aristotle

On November 21st I ran my first ever 10K race! It was a great race and a great day and I had so much fun. I set two personal records that day, longest race distance ran to-date, and fastest race pace to-date. I ran at a faster pace during my 10K than both 5K races I've ran this year. Not sure what came over me but I was determined to finish strong.

Here's our entire team! Fleet Feet Baltimore Next Steps. I am in the top row, on the left, black coat.

Here's our smaller training group, the one and ones. Janet was a fabulous coach and these ladies were great encouragers and fabulous teammates.

I really pushed myself in the middle of the race so at the end I was tired!

Almost to the finish line!

About to cross the finish line, I'm on the left. That's my teammate on the right, passing me at the last second ;-)

One of the coolest parts of this race is that they had a free kids fun run. My kids got to participate in their first race that day too. Mama was proud! They got free T-shirts and medals for finishing the race.

In sports B typically hasn't been the fastest runner but when his younger sister is trying beat him, man can he run fast.

Wyn on the other hand is the fastest runner on her soccer team. B did pass her at one point but she finished before him, 5th place overall and B 6th place overall. Not too bad for their first race!

Little FiFi thought the race was hard! After 1 lap she wanted to give up. Parents were allowed to run with their kids so I grabbed her hand and jogged beside her to the finish. I had just finished my 10K minutes before and was beat but wanted FiFi to know that it isn't important how fast you finish the race, just that you finish, and she did! I am proud of her for not giving up when it got tough.

Next up for me, I start training for a half marathon in February. I am looking forward to these quiet months of winter ahead but I am pumped to start training again in February.

How Do You Eat An Elephant? One Bite at a Time.

I wanted to update everyone on how my running is going now that I am more than halfway done with training for my first ever race, a 5K.

I am on week 7 of the 12 week training program and so far it is going fabulous. I love running so much. I love how I feel when I do it and I love accomplishing new goals.

Before I started running I was in such awe of marathon runners. I thought, "what an amazing accomplishment." And here I am less than a year later, training for my first race, a 5K.

The running has been easier than I ever imagined thanks to the great program my running store, Fleet Feet has in place with New Balance. It is called No Boundaries and it makes training for a 5K easy. I haven't been sore, I haven't been tired, I haven't been injured, and I haven't missed a run in 7 weeks. I hated running before I started now I am in love.

At this point in the training program we are running about 2.5-2.8 miles with 5 minutes of warm up and 5 minutes of cool down, for a total distance of 3.2-3.5 miles. As a group we average about 12 1/2 minute mile time over the course of our run. Individually I have been able to do a 9 1/2 minute mile time over 1 mile, slower over the entire run.

Since I am fairly confident I could run the 5K now my goals for the rest of the training program are to improve my mile time, not get injured, and have fun.

I've heard Fleet Feet does a 10K training program in the fall which I am planning to sign up for. As long as everything stays in track I will be running my first 10K this November. Eventually I will want to train for a half marathon and someday a full marathon. I'm not sure how long it will take me to make the jump from 10K to half marathon but even if I am running 10K's this time next year I will still be very proud of myself.

This weekend is a big race near my hometown, the Bolder Boulder. A couple of friends are running it this year and I am very jealous I can't be there. I already told my hubby next year I want to make it a goal to run the Bolder Boulder with my friends.

I am so happy I decided to take the leap of faith and take up running. It truly is great!

Happy running everyone!

The Birth Of A Runner

I know this may shock some of you who know me personally but I have really gotten into running these past few months. Before I could walk for miles upon end, no problem, but I hated running with a passion. Absolutely hated it!

Then a funny thing happened, I started running, starting pushing myself, and I really like it. I like how I feel while I am doing it. I like how I feel afterwards. I like meeting my goals, no matter how small they may be.

This weekend I made a big step in becoming a true runner. I bought my first pair of real running shoes. By real, I mean expensive, bought from a running store after a detailed fit and analysis of my feet, my stride, etc. And even a day later my feet are so happy. My old Nikes just weren't cutting it. Honestly, once I moved my intensity level up from walking to running they were killing my feet. This was my first hurdle to becoming a true runner.

The day before I bought my new running shoes I told hubby I was going to run a marathon. He laughed and me and said I won't do it. Now before you all think he is a big meanie, he is not, he just knows me. He knows how much I hate running and he knows how unathletic I am but I think he forget how determined I can be. He just strengthened my resolve to meet my goal.

Obviously there is no way I am going to go from hating running, to running 3/4 mile, to running a marathon overnight, but I have some intermediate goals in place. Baby steps, right?

The running store has a 5K training program that includes weekly coaching sessions culminating in running a 5K in July. Right now I can probably run about 1 1/2 miles total, with walking breaks in between. The longest I have run without walking is 3/4 mile. All this has been inside on a treadmill and I know running outside is a completely different ball game.

If this goes well, I can then train for a 10k in the fall and go from there. I am little concerned the training program might be easier than I am looking for since they said they run 1 minute, walk 1 minute. At least easy is a good way to guarantee I will complete the program and run my 5K. Plus the $125 race/training fee and scheduled training sessions will keep me on target.

I am very excited to start this chapter of my life and to really see what I can accomplish.

Michelle, the marathon runner, I really like the ring to that.

How I Love Twilight, Let Me Count The Ways

This past week I finished "Breaking Dawn" the last of the four books in the "Twlight" saga. I was late to get on the bandwagon and didn't start reading these books until late January, early February. We don't see movies in the theater ever, and don't watch much TV so while I heard about the Twilight movie and the stir it was causing I was still not that interested. I started reading the series because my BFF Michelle read Twilight and was going on and on about how great it was. Once I started reading I realized how many of my girlfriends had read the books and how they all loved them.

The books are like crack! You can't put them down. As soon as I got my hand on one I had the 600 or 700 read in a matter of days. Personally I loved the first book, Twilight. After reading all four of the books it still is my favorite. The third and fourth books are tied for my second favorite. New Moon, the second book starts out slow but finishes good.

I knew the movie was coming out on DVD but I was not in a huge rush to watch it. I decided after I finished the last book I would watch the DVD mostly out of curiosity, with low expectations of how they could turn such a great book into a movie. I will have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The movie was lacking of course. Some parts were left out, some were done different, but generally speaking it followed the book well. The characters were cast really well. Bella was right on, so was Charlie, and Renee. Esme and Carlisle looked amazing and just as I pictured them. Alice I thought was also very true to the description in the book. Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper looked a little old for the age they are supposed to be but otherwise perfect. Edward on the other hand, I was very disappointed in the actor they choose for Edward. Don't get me wrong his acting skills were great and he pulled off the vampire look well but I thought Edward would be hotter, on the level of supermodel hot, and Robert Pattison just doesn't do that for me. Shoot me I know, he has this fan base of worshipers but I don't think he is that hot.

So what do you think. Have you read the books? Have you met anyone who read the books and did not love them and was instantly addicted? Have you watched the movie? What did you think?

Alright my fellow addicts I mean Twilight fans I want to hear from you.

Oh, How I Love the Gym!

When I left my full-time job in August we had to make some budget cuts. I still work 3 jobs of a total of 60-70 hours per week but I make a little more than 1/3 of what I did before. Before more than 1/3 of my income went to daycare and the rest was deductions so I almost break even but we still had to cut back. The gym was one of the first things to go since at that time we were going less than once a week. I wish my husband was much more motivated because it keeps me going.

We had put our gym membership on hold. The hold period was expiring but I was hoping we would know where Max's job would be. Tuesday night I decided who cares if we can afford it or if we may be moving in the next few weeks, I need the gym.

We went last night and did about 30 minutes of weight training and 20 minutes of cardio. I felt so much better than I had been feeling. It was a great stress reliever, I feel like I had more energy, and I slept better. As an added bonus my kids love the kids club and I only pay $15 per month membership for all 3 of my kids to go an unlimited number of times. I am officially in love with the gym!

My goal is to make it there 5 times a week, if only for my sanity!

You know you are addicted to blogging when...

So I finally went to the doctor today after feeling bad on and off for 6 plus weeks. I know, I probably should've went sooner but I have definitely felt much sicker many more times and everyone time I thought ok it has been 4 or 5 or 6 days of feeling crappy I would start to feel better for 2 or 3 days. My energy level never came back but I wrote that off as something else and went about my merry little life.

So being a little sick for a long time gets old after awhile. While speaking to my BFF yesterday she mentioned I may have a chronic sinus infection that I can't kick. LIGHTBULB! So I check out WebMD, my internet source to diagnosing myself and my kids (I know a bad habit but I usually just look information up to decide whether a trip to the doctor is necessary). Sounds like a sinus infection. Better drag my happy (or unhappy at this point) ass to the doctor's office. Don't worry I can entertain a cranky Baby Boy who woke up at 4am this morning and my 6 year old at the doctor office. The stroller worked well and while he signed that he was done (done in the stroller) before the doctor came in the visit was relatively quick. So sinus infection it is and $6 amoxicillin from the Target pharmacy is the cure. Wow, this was so easy! If I don't feel better by Monday he said to call and we will try a different antibiotic.

So if you are still with me at this point you are probably wondering why I am telling you my whole sick story because while I should be resting I cannot put the stinking computer down. Ladies I will have to admit it, I am addicted to blogging (and to Facebook and Moms Bloggers Club and other fun websites I have recently found).

So what made you realize you were addicted?