A spring challenge

In reading thru some of my favorite blogs I had read about the spring bootie buster challenge and thought about it and ended up signing up for it today. I am excited to see how it works and how well I will do with it. I like challenges of having to earn points or do extra things to earn more points etc. So maybe it will be what I need to keep me going.

Looks like there are several cool prizes to win and its not totally geared towards runners only which I like.

The challenge starts March 2nd which isn't that far away!

I have also been eying some other races wanting to sign up for some more that are fairly local (within an hour drive from home). Hope to get my husband talked in to doing a 5k with me next month. Its a long shot but I want him to do one race to see how awesome it is crossing that finish line. I am also debating on doing another half marathon. Saw a couple women only races in a few cities in my state....

A nice surprise

Yesterday ended up being a very hard day one I am still processing today well wasn't much better. But this afternoon I got an unexpected visit from a very dear friend which made me cry and she surprised me with a small gift and card that made me cry even more.

I wasn't expecting a visit from her at my work and defiantly not a card and gift. To me just texting her yesterday and today was more than enough to keep me going.

Here was the gift its a magnet and its sitting right next to my phone on my desk at work. And was defiantly something I needed to read today.

And here is the card that was with the magnet. The card is also sitting on my desk where I can see it all the time.

I gave her the birthday gift that I had got her earlier in the week and I had got a card that had lots of writing on it she read part and I think she got emotional which was not my intent on picking the card. But it was a card that was perfect and just what I wanted to say.

We are going to make the bottom part of my costume this weekend and I am beyond excited. We rarely get to do things together and  this will be something cool and fun to do. I won't have the boys with me so I think it will be the "break" I need to refresh my mind.

I ordered these today after seeing a blog about them on Road Runner Girl I looked at the site and immediately ordered them to go with my costume. Now I just need a shirt accessories and something to go under the bottom part of my costume.

I am excited for the race next Saturday but soooooo nervous as I am not a costume wearing person and well its way way out of my comfort zone. I was nervous wearing my sparkle skirt for the half marathon but I didn't know anyone so I was "ok" with it. This race I will know tons of people....

Weekly Chase No. 7

Time for another weekly chase these weeks seem to fly by!!!!!!





1-Get two to three workouts in this week either at home or during my lunch break. I need to get more consistent since I have three 5'ks this month all starting after the 23. Success got 3 workouts done! Two on my lunch break and one at home on the treadmill. No massive miles to brag about but its a start!

2-Challenge Goal---- I will chose a friend or family member and send them a message or tell them how much they mean to me and how appreciative I am of having them in my life. Done sent a text to a friend who is more like family and told her how much she meant to me to my surprise she sent me a very meaningful message back telling me how glad she was to have me in her life! Her birthday is today so I got her a sappy card and a neat gift.

3-Challenge Goal--- Make time to spend with my husband even if it means watching some tv show I really would rather sleep thru. Yep stayed up and watched a few of his favorite shows with him instead of snoozing thru them. We didn't have the kids Saturday night or Sunday so we ate dinner at home and relaxed Saturday night and got up and went out to eat breakfast on Sunday morning.

4-Drink 80 ounces of water daily. Yep every day except yesterday I think I got 50 but most days were 80 at work and then another 20-40 at home.

5-Continue to stay away from fast food unless its Subway. I don't think I had fast food any last week. I had hospital food (yuck) on Thursday and Chinese Friday with a friend but no McDonalds.

6-Think of a costume to wear to my Freezin for a Reason 5k. Yep costume thought of and part of the supplies bought to make the bottom part. Still need to figure out the shirt.....


Goals for this week.......

1- Get at least 3 workouts and start getting more cross training in somewhere somehow.

2-Challenge Goal- Make something special for dinner on Valentines Day for hubby and the kids.

3-Challenge Goal-Tell another friend or family member how much they mean to me and how special they are.

4-Continue to drink at least 80oz of water.

5-Make the time to work on my costume.

Ahh its Friday!

This has been one long week Monday seems like it was forever ago.... Not just 4 days ago.

I am glad I got some workouts in early in the week because as the week has went on I have become more exhausted and sick. I knew the sick part was coming could feel it Saturday but tried to ignore it and well now I can't. I could easily curl up and just sleep (if I could stop coughing long enough) for hours.

I did figure out a costume idea for my 5k this month now to just find all the things and make it..... Luckily a friend has offered to help me pull it together. It will have lots of pink and sparkle :)

Yesterday was another day I would like to just forget about. My mom calls me all freaked out having major panic attack at 7:15 telling me that something was wrong with my stepdad. She said he woke her up and wanted her to call 911 because something wasn't right. I know him well enough to know if he thinks he needs an ambulance its bad. Well I couldn't get her to calm down enough to tell me what happened or how he was acting. A few minutes later she called and asked if I could meet the ambulance at the hospital as she was waiting for a ride. Thankfully a good friend was working that day and was bringing a patient in about the same time he arrived and she came out and told me he was alive. There's way more that I won't share but they told my mom he was dying thought it was heart attack and/or stroke. So I told Kathy I just wanted to know he was still breathing when he arrived so I could tell my mom.
She got there and finally calmed down enough she got to go back and see him. I had to tell the front desk lady he was my dad so that I could get and give information and be able to go back to see him. After a long day in the ER and then moved to a regular room I came back to work. They found out it was some sort of cranial or optical nerve that went crazy causing the double vision and headache and it would clear up. He had SUPER high blood pressure when they got him there and they said that was a factor as well. So he is headed home today so thankful he is ok and that even though it was serious it wasn't requiring surgery or anything extensive.

The one good part out of the day yesterday was my mom's friend came to sit with us. Vicki has known my mom for over 30 years and they were best friends when I was growing up. Most every memory is one of my mom, Vicki and I. She always told everyone she was my other mother and it was pretty true. The 3 of us went down to the cafeteria to eat a late lunch and she commented that it had been a long time since the 3 of us were together to eat. It was nice getting to spend time with her.

This week was hard emotionally at times and I am very thankful and grateful for some wonderful friends I have in my life some who are more like family than just a friend. I am stubborn and like to try to do things on my own and not talk to others or ask for help but I am realizing that its ok. Having people around me who "get" how I process and deal with stuff makes a huge difference they know when to push buttons and when to step back or just give a hug. I am very glad to have them in my life.

5 by the 5th February

I had signed up to do a race series called 5 by 5th Virtual Run and you have to get a 5k or 5 miles in by the 5th of every month thru June.

This month I decided that since the first week of February is hard for me that I would do the 5k and each mile would be for each friend we lost the first of February in 98.

I didn't have an exceptional time 52:00 but I got it done and that was what mattered and it made me feel somewhat better after.

The miles on the treadmill were uneventful my original goal was to do 1.5 outside Monday and then 1.6 outside Tuesday on my lunch hour and well yesterday didn't happen for outside. So I did two on the treadmill at home and the 1.5 on Monday. Planned on getting 3 on the treadmill but just didn't have it in me after a long rough day.

I have started seeing changes in how much easier it is for me to do the miles and how much quicker I am getting. Also love that my speed is increasing and not wanting to die at speeds I thought I could only dream about. Still have a long ways to go not sure if I will ever be one of those run a mile in 7 minute people but I am working on it.

Hard to write.

Friday I went and did something I hadn't been able to do in 15 years. The first week of February is always a very hard week for me and many friends in our small community. 15 years seems so long ago but yet the first week of February it seems like it was only yesterday.

15 years ago our small community was shaken by an unnecessary act of violence 3 friends of ours were taken from us all to soon. I tried to "avoid" talking about it for several years and yet it ate at me until I had to figure out how to deal with it. My mom dealt with it in her own way and it left me on my own. I remember being sad and not knowing how to process what had happened so I buried it deep inside and remained "strong" and trying to move on.

I won't go in to much detail of how our friends were killed but you can google triple murders in Vichy and find several articles. I realized last week I had never read the obituaries not sure why but I think I thought if I avoided reading it that it would be easier. Now 15 years later you can't just look at the funeral home website and read it. Thankfully  an awesome friend Connie said we could go thru her memory box and I could read them sometime. I still can't go in to the funeral home where the service was and not vividly see what I saw the day before and day of the funeral.

I never went to visit the cemetery where they are buried I have drove past it a couple times but never stopped. However on Friday a good amazing friend offered to go with me to the cemetery on my lunch hour as Friday was the date they were actually killed even though the date of death says February 5 (the day they were found). I was nervous about going and tried to talk myself out of it but she kept telling me it was something I needed to do in order to try and figure it all out. She hadn't been since the day of the burial either and I hadn't realized until then that she was affected by it as much as the rest of the community. Her son was the same age as Kyle and played together often and she was a single mom just like Susan. It was hard for both of us but we went and stood there and looked at the beautiful tombstone and I finally let go and cried. She talked to me a lot things I wished I had heard 15 years ago. It was hard but also freeing at the same time to finally get past one thing that I hadn't been able to do.

It's not something I will ever "get over" and the vivid memories and pictures etched in to my mind will never leave but I am glad I am finally trying to figure out how to make it easier and not just avoid it. There were some good memories as the night before it happened I played pool with Kyle while my mom visited with Susan. I let him win several games but made it look like he really won it was a fun evening. However the following days were the hardest and worst of my life. I don't ever wish any of that on anyone.

Weekly Chase #6!!!

How is it already February!!! Where in the heck did January go????? On to Weekly Chase Number 6!

My goals from last week were:

1-Make some time for me even if its just locking myself in the bathroom and taking a hot bath. I've been getting way to stressed and I don't like it. Yes total epic fail on this one! I did get in one short mile run on the treadmill with no interruptions but that was pretty much it.

2-Make it a priority to eat enough and eat the right foods daily and not skip meals. Actually did this one and hit my calorie goal or close to it most days last week.

3-Aim for 80+ ounces of water daily Yep did this! Saturday was close on if I got the 80 but I got over 100 most days so it evened out I think.

4-Get two workouts done on my lunch hour this week Ha um no I did get a one mile run at home on the treadmill and then did a cardio kickbox dvd with my husband. So I still got two workouts in just not on my lunch break.

5-Keep up with the laundry being gone for 5 days with my grandpa got me way way behind. I am almost caught up and need to stay that way. Major fail... All laundry is washed and half put away...


This week since its February one of the challenge goals is to make one goal about loving or being kind to someone.

1-Get two to three workouts in this week either at home or during my lunch break. I need to get more consistent since I have three 5'ks this month all starting after the 23.

2-Challenge Goal---- I will chose a friend or family member and send them a message or tell them how much they mean to me and how appreciative I am of having them in my life.

3-Challenge Goal--- Make time to spend with my husband even if it means watching some tv show I really would rather sleep thru.

4-Drink 80 ounces of water daily.

5-Continue to stay away from fast food unless its Subway.

6-Think of a costume to wear to my Freezin for a Reason 5k.