Weekly Chase

Time again for another weekly chase post... Where oh where do the weeks go??????

The weekend was super busy and the first two days of the week look to be hectic. I am excited that my best friend is staying the night with me tomorrow night on her way thru to see other family. Haven't seen her since last year and she moved to Hawaii :( We are planning a dinner together and maybe a little shopping.

Last week my goals were:

-Continue drinking at least 80oz of water a day need to be well hydrated for the 5k Saturday night not sure if it will be super hot out but need to be well prepared. Did well with this goal and it paid off cause it was super hot and humid Saturday night.

2-Do one minute exercises daily. Didn't do so well with that one.

3-Bring lunch each day to work. Yep did that one even on the days I was tired and didn't want to mess with it.

4-Continue to spend quality time with the boys each day. Success again and need to do it again this week with them seeing their grandparents and me working pretty much 3 days straight I haven't seen them since Friday night :(

5-Exercise daily weather its running stairs, taking a walk, doing squats etc at home. Was active more daily. I didn't go crazy knowing I had a race coming up but still made sure to make more trips up the stairs at work and staying busy at home.

Goals for this week:
1-Get better at the one minute exercises and focus them on ab work.

2- Spend time with the kids and with my husband.

3-Cook dinners at home and have the kids help

4-Get in at least two lunch time workouts.

5-Drink my water.

6-Survive the crazy work week with bouncing back and forth from one job to the other not seeing home for a few days.

5k post injury is a success!

Not near as sore as I thought I would be today which is a good thing since I'm doing a 24 hour ambulance shift.

I will admit I was super nervous yesterday leading up to the race. I was excited as all 5 of the other members on our team had never done a race ever. Was fun to experience it with them. I tried to keep them excited all day and wanted them to have a fun time. 

We arrived at the race location about an hour and half early. And it was way out in the sticks on a beautiful farm. They didn't have a huge turn out but way better than I expected.

We had our hot pink shirts on and we definafly stood out!!

We even had our names on the backs 

The race started right on time. However about tenth of a mile in I realized I had forgot to start my garmin... We started out on a gravel driveway and then on a gravel road and before half mile we had done several large hills. My ankle was angry and my legs were yelling at me but I kept pushing. Not long we turned in to a path that winded thru the fields it had been cut with brush hog and was not easy walking. 

I was nervous stepping carefully afraid I would twist my ankle. Not the best race to do for my first one back but I made the best of it enjoyed the company of my husband and the rest of our team. Also enjoyed the scenery 

Mile 1.5 I was in the back of our team. I am slightly competitive and didn't want the two team mates ahead of me to bear me to finish line. I was upset at how slow I was and while I know it's only been 9 weeks since a bad injury I was still beating myself up. 

Around mile 2 we had a huge straight up hill and I would have took picture but if I would have stopped I wouldn't have kept going. It's there when my husband and I passed another couple on our team. I felt bad but made sure we kept them in sight and that they stayed together. 

We could see the finish line but had to wind thru yet another field and around a steep pond bank that was awful on my feet walking so uneven. But I knew we were close and I was ready to be done. I honestly don't know how people ran that course I think I would have walked most regardless.  

We crossed the finish line and I was happy and we weren't the last ones either there were 3 more groups behind us. 

It was super HOT and humid and was soaked from sweat! Not long after we crossed the last two from our team came up the hill. Was fun seeing them finish and the look on their face that they had just accomplished something for the first time. And my husband said he would do another 5k and so did the other couple that we were with. 

My friends uncle finished his first 5k walking wearing jeans and work boots in 43 minutes and he is over 55!!! 

I was super proud of our team and glad try had fun overcame hills heat and want to do it again. 

I honestly couldn't think of a better group of friends to have been with on my first race back and to have it be their first ever race. I have some pretty great friends and so glad they are interested in what I've been doing with races and trying them. 

August Goals

I do the weekly chase each week but decided for August to also add in some monthly goals. I've tried setting goals on January 1st just to stick with it for a time then realize the end of the goal is to far or hard to reach and I stop. The Weekly Chase has been awesome to keep me on track each week and I have read lots of blogs that do monthly goals. So maybe the monthly along with weekly will keep me on track and going.

I am a plan ahead person I like having a plan and don't roll real well when those plans get altered. I am however getting a bit better but I still like a set schedule and plan. My kids seem to work well when we have a fairly set schedule saves some meltdowns. However they are doing good with the many changes that have happened since I got my EMT job and seem to enjoy that some days/nights they get time with daddy. Probably because they get away with more stay up later and play louder and rougher.

So here are my goals for August (still can't believe we are in the 8th month already)

-Get in at least 35 miles for the month yes its not much but will be a good small goal so I don't over do it getting back in to working out.

-Work on more than just cardio do abs, legs, arms etc possibly check in to getting some insanity dvds or something along that line. Do at least 2 of those kinds a workouts a week.

-Spend time with the kids daily and pick some fun things to go and do with them that won't break the bank but that they will have fun with and make fun memories.

-Work on ways to manage my stress and not let it keep me up at night or make me break out in hives daily.

-Cut back on processed foods and work on cooking simple easy healthy dinners at home.

-Include the kids more in cooking and get them to eating more of a variety.

-Have a weekend with just hubby for our 10 year anniversary which is coming up in a few weeks. Any suggestions on what to do that won't break the bank but yet be fun and active let me know.

Not a lot of goals but enough to keep me on track for the month and work on areas I struggle with.

The Weekly Chase

Well a couple days late is better than not at all I suppose. I was out of town from Sunday until last night so here is my weekly goals.


Last weeks goals were:

My weekly goals are:
1- Get my water in daily I seem to do great until I get busy or I am at my second job and forget. Did 95% with this goal I drank water at my second job more than usual but we were busy and gone most of the day on Saturday.

2- Bring my lunch daily to work. 50% brought a few days and ate out others but the days I ate out I chose healthy options.

3-Do my one minute exercises daily. I think I will do pushups, crunches and maybe give squats a try this week. Did good first part of the week by the end of the week I slacked off :(

4-Get in 3 walks on my lunch breaks this week. I am SO ready to get back to it I know running won't happen for a little bit but walking and building up endurance and speed can begin :) I have a 5k August 3 to get ready for. Ya EPIC fail.... Got in one walk on my lunch break. Did tons of walking on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday this week... Lots of running stairs at my second job so I got some workouts just not what I had planned

5-Spend quality time with my kids each evening they are only young once and I need to slow down and enjoy it more. Success! And even when they were crabby and fighting I still tried to make their moods better and do something I knew they would enjoy.


Goals for this week:
1-Continue drinking at least 80oz of water a day need to be well hydrated for the 5k Saturday night not sure if it will be super hot out but need to be well prepared.

2-Do one minute exercises daily.

3-Bring lunch each day to work.

4-Continue to spend quailty time with the boys each day.

5-Exercise daily weather its running stairs, taking a walk, doing squats etc at home.

First one... A little nervous...

I got asked two weeks ago if I wanted to do a 5k walk August 3rd.... The friend who asked me had been invited to race and needed team of at least 3. However this is honestly the last person that I expected to want to do a race however I jumped at the chance. 

We talked about it and we ended up with a team of six. Me my hubby him his wife her dad and uncle. No one but me has ever done a race and not sure any of them have walked that far at once. I was super shocked and excited that my husband wanted to do the race. He was always ya right no way but I think since its a group of our friends and we will all be walking he decided to go for it. Plus I paid his entry fee. 

Last Sunday we realized we needed shirts and a team name. The name half tracks was mentioned... I was at Walmart this week and saw some hot pink men's shirts jokingly I sent Donnie a text saying hey look here's our shirts for the race. We had talked before we needed bright color since race was in the late evening. Well he liked the shirts and color so I bought shirts and shirt paint. 

I even found glow in the dark paint ;) I was nice and threw in green since team is 4 guys 2 girls. 

Last night we had our board meeting so afterwards Donnie and I stayed and created our team shirts. 

This was half way thru process I was a bit OCD wanting them to all match bit when you have shirts ranging from large to 3x it was impossible.. So they are all the same just sized to fit shirt. 

I of course had to turn the lights off a lot to see them glow yes I'm crazy. 

Here are some of the shirts. We will turn them over and then personalize each one with the team members name. I'm not air sure why we are half tracks but that's what I get for letting guys pick name. 

I am excited to do a race and to do it with good friends and to share in their first race experience. I am nervous as I haven't walked 3 miles since before may 25. My only goals are to have fun not be last and to not be last in my age group. 

Hope that my husband, Donnie and Ramona have fun and want to do more of them with me. Be nice not to do all races alone.

Corn corn and more corn

Last night no sooner than the kids and I walk in the door my grandma calls. She informs me tonight is when we will start picking our corn... Not what was on my agenda and Kenny was going to be late getting home. None the less we all started picking corn. Nathan loved it Blake got bored with it quick. 

I was standing about two rows in and this is all you could see around you. 

We made use of the kids sleds to haul the corn from garden down to the house. Nathan was quite the helper. 

Nathan and great grandpa schuking corn he was pretty good at it. I remember doing the same thing at his age each night with my grandparents.

Blake helped off and on he was tired and crabby so I just let him do his thing and he ended up falling asleep early. 

My grandma and I cut the corn off the cob a job I have helped with since I was old enough to use a knife. 

We ended up doing over 200 ears of corn and that was only a small portion of our corn crop!

We filled this huge stock pot up plus another pot by the time we were ready to cook it. 

Grandma and I cooking the corn up. It was a late late night then we got up at 5 this morning to put it in freezer bags.  I'm thankful that my grandparents are still around do show my kids gardening and things I have fond memories doing as a child. 

Blake is 8 how did that happen.......

Blake turned 8 last Wednesday and we had a few surprises for him for his actual birthday since his party wouldn't be until yesterday. He knew the Belle fair was starting on his birthday and requested to go to it the evening of his birthday and he wanted to eat McDonalds. Well what he didn't know was Kenny and I took the day off work to take the boys to the zoo then to the fair for his birthday. So they went to bed that night thinking they would get up and go to daycare... So when I woke Blake up I gave him his card I had made for him and had him read it to me.

He's not much of a morning person so it took me a bit to get him woke up enough to want to read his card.

His look when he saw where we were going and was like don't I have to go to daycare and don't you and daddy have to work... He was super excited and soon Nathan was awake and heard about our fun day we had planned.

I had made a Happy Birthday banner but never had time to put the letters on the string so I taped them to the door it worked and he liked it.

Nathan had picked him out some legos and some pajamas. We got him a Cardinals backpack that he had been asking for so he was a happy little boy. Nathan was a bit puzzled why he didn't get any gifts.. The joys of kids.....

I was worried that since it was so hot we wouldn't get to see to many animals but we saw a lot that day. The boys liked watching the apes and monkeys and chimpanzees playing and eating. Blake of course wanted to go to the snake house and well I wasn't fond of it but the boys liked seeing the snakes frogs and turtles.

We saw the penguin house and it was defiantly a good place to walk thru on a super hot day! Other than it was very smelly!!!!!! After a full day walking around at the zoo and back to the car Blake was still asking for dinner at McDonald's. I talked him in to Applebee's as he had never been there and I wanted to tell the waitress it was his birthday so he could have the birthday dessert.
Both boys ate a good dinner then I told the waitress and she brought him out a free dessert he was happy!

Nathan and I shared a chocolate lava cake with ice cream it was good but almost to sweet! We still had about an hour drive before we got back home to go to the fair so two tired boys wired on sugary desserts was a long loud drive!

Blake said he had a lot of fun for his birthday and I am glad that we took the time off and had a day with both boys. Its nice that Nathan is now old enough to do those things and not have to drag a stroller around. I wished I would have wore my garmin to see how far we walked. I know from where we parked to the entrance was a little over quarter mile if not more.