Freezin for a reason 5k

So last night was the 2nd annual freezin for a reason 5k. Last year I was prepared had been getting in a few miles a week. This year well it just didn't happen a lot of reasons but mostly just a fear of injury or that my ankle would re break. Yes I know silly but it was a mental block I just couldn't get past. However I signed up for the race planned my costume and decided to just wing it... 

Since the race is put on by the ambulance district I work for we had apt of work to do setting up. I worked the night before and was super busy all day and arrived at the race location at 3pm. Race time was 6 so lots of standing walking prepping etc. Race time arrived I put my tutu and accessories on and got ready to go. I knew lots of people doing the race all said oh hey we will do it together. Should have known better as that didn't happen... I ended up out there alone and let negative thoughts get to me. About a quarter of the way thru one of my close friends caught up with me and walked with me a bit I knew I should be a lot faster than them and it irritated me they caught me. I didn't wear my garmin or look a the time on my phone when I started. They walked with me and we talked about random things and I found a second wind about halfway. My legs were on fire my ankles were hating me but I wanted to be done so I went as fast as numb legs would go. The temps were in the 40's and fairly breezy. I started picking people to pass and did just that. I came back in towards the finish line and was looking for familiar faces to cheer me on and well most of the people who cheered as I left was gone. I got closer to the finish line and one of my coworkers was watching for me and her daughter dropped in with me and we ran the last few hundred feet. She was justthe inspiration    I needed.  I will do a post later with pictures as I only had a few on my phone but we had 3 photographers there taking pictures. 

I did lots of things very wrong about this race. I didn't eat well the day of or day before just snacked. Not enough water the two days prior. Being over tired and then standing on concrete for 3 hours prior to race. But all in all it was fun and had a good turn out. I am looking for a race a couple months out to sign up for so I can have something to train for. 

Science center and monster jam

Have to play a bit of catch up. We took the kids to St. Louis a couple weeks ago for monster jam. This year we had another friend and his daughter go, Dwayne, Connie and Desmon go with us. Blake was super excited for Desmon to go and Nathan was excited his Connie and Dwayne were going too. 

We got to St. Louis early to see big foot store and they were closed but we got a picture of Blake and Desmon out in front. 

With time to kill we decided to go to the science center. I had never been there and neither had my boys. It was pretty neat. I liked walking out over the interstate. 

Cut outs in the floor so you could see the cars pass under you. Was fun to see kids jump over those and some jump right on the spots. 

After spending a couple hours there walking around the kids were getting hungry. We decided to eat at Texas Roadhouse which was a good choice the kids ate well and all the adults liked it. While we were there eating the kids kept wanting to know how much longer until we saw the big trucks. 

Finally it was time to head over. On the way we drove past the arch. 

Wish it hadnt been so rainy and cloudy. 

Once we parked the kids couldn't wait to get inside. We found our seats and waited for the event to start. 

3 very excited little boys!!!!

The kids loved it and even tho we ate before coming in we had to make trips to food stands for high priced hotdogs and sodas :) 

I really liked they had a pink monster truck with a female driver! 

Who put on a great freestyle show. 

Of course my boys loved grave digger and son of a digger who won the race as well as put on an awesome freestyle show. Once we thought it was over this doom day music and sirens started wailing. (Which after two seconds made me crazy). But this black unmarked monster truck came out and did freestyle when he flipped over he waited for a black  SUV to come out put a tarp over the truck and SUV to get him out. No one knows who the driver or truck is but from my guess its part of the grave digger trucks. By the way it drove and the body style. 

It was a great day spent with some great friends. The kids were asleep before we got out of the city and slept all the way back. 

January is over already....

Can't believe that January is already over feels like the year just started and already have to flip the calender!

This ended up being a super busy month for me one week I worked 99 hours between both jobs most weeks I seemed to average between 45-70.

My goals for last month were:

January:
1-Drink more water each day I do great Monday thru Friday at work but weekends I sometimes struggle. Especially if I am working. I have done better with this even at my second job. When we go on transfers if I'm not super tired or its not late at night I get a fountain lemonade instead of soda. Now the late night early morning transfers I get soda to keep me awake.

2-Workout at least 3 times a week. Doing both cardio and ab, leg and arm exercises. I have searched pintrest for some quick easy workouts that I can do at home. Pretty much a fail I have been more active as in moving around doing more at home and work. Make more trips up the stairs at my office job and doing wall pushups when in the restroom at work.

3-Start cutting back on soda try to only have one a day. Hmmm its better at times and worse at times depending on the week. I need to find something else to have when stressed and frazzled right now when I hit that point I want a fountain dr pepper.

4-Eat healthier was doing pretty good until holidays hit then still staying away from fast foods. However snacks chips and frozen pizzas have been filling that void. Done fairly well with this one can't remember the last time I ate McDonalds or any other icky fast food I have had subway chicken from sonic made good choices at restaurants etc.

5-Look in the mirror and find something I like about myself not instantly finding what I don't like yes and no I still avoid the mirror like the plague but I have quit weighing myself daily and multiple times a day. I think the week I worked the 99 hours I wasn't ever home long enough to weigh let alone have energy to. So that sort of broke that habit.

6-Stress less and find ways to manage stress better not to let it bog me down until I fall apart or want to disappear. Still a work in progress I am happy to say (unless something happens today) I haven't hit that wall that I want to say forget it all and throw in the towel.


Goals for February:
1-Get a schedule figured out where I can schedule time in for workouts. I have my first race of the year coming up in 22 days its just a fun 5k but I want to beat my time of last year.

2-Get my costume done for that race and quit procrastinating. I have the tulle just need to cut and make the tutu.

3-Continue to drink more water and cut back on soda.

4-Bring healthy lunches for work and cook more crockpot meals along with cooking more than we need at night so we have leftovers for a few days.

5-Spend time with the boys one on one and together hope weather starts to warm up some so we can go for walks or bike rides on our road.

An Interesting article

In browsing facebook this afternoon I came across an article that a girl I work with at the ambulance had shared. I read it and then decided to share it here this is the link to the whole article but I am going to copy and paste some that happen to me the most. http://voices.yahoo.com/tips-survive-being-married-paramedic-3700116.html.

Article references being married to a medic but same happens if your an EMT or a fire fighter.
Tip #1: Never schedule anything within six hours of a shift ending or starting. If you do, you will almost always have to cancel or go alone. It's cliche to invoke Murphy's Law but it's the only explanation for this peculiar phenomenon--unless you want to go with the idea that there's a grand conspiracy out there to get you. I go with the latter myself, but not everyone wants to admit that there's a grand conspiracy out there to get them. Your spouse is never guaranteed to get off of work on time. Never. Ever. Never. No one can ever predict when a bunch of idiots on cell phones applying makeup reading the newspaper eating breakfast will decide to get in a car accident. So if you schedule an appointment or engagement shortly after your spouse is supposed to come home, you're just asking for it. Same goes for scheduling something within a few hours of when your spouse is supposed to go to work. If they need extra manpower at work, chances are they'll call and if your spouse values their job, they'll head in. Yep has happened to me more than once plan to do something as soon as I'm off work or plan something in between both jobs. Never fails I will need to go in early or get stuck a little later than usual.

Tip #2: Remember that sentimentality is for normal families, not for yours. What I mean is your spouse will have to work on important dates, be it your birthday, Christmas, Thanksgiving and every other important date in your life. It's not always possible to take off or switch for those days, especially if it's a biggie like Christmas. If you are hung up on celebrating Christmas on December 25th, you'll be celebrating without your spouse. It really is okay to open presents on December 24th or 26th, especially if your spouse gets holiday pay. Don't pass up on time and a half in this economy! I got lucky and only worked on Christmas Eve and New Years Day. However I don't mind working on holidays. Guess it goes back to growing up around the fire dept and knowing that you could get a call at any moment. My kids are ok with it and well Kenny is cause I get holiday pay. Holidays don't have to be celebrated on the date the calendar says nothing wrong with doing them sooner or after the actual day.

Tip #5: Let them sleep. The life of a medic is never easy. It's almost impossible to relax while on duty because of the anticipation of a call, being on a call, and recovering from a call. Even if they get to sleep all night, it's not restful because they're anticipating a call. So when they come home after a shift, just let them sleep, no matter how much you want them to stay up and wash the dishes. Most of the time Kenny tells me to go relax if he knows I had a stressful shift however doesn't mean anyone else does the chores so I usually just suck it up do what I can then crash on the couch.

Tip #7: Ask them how their shift went. But don't ask them for details because you probably don't want to know. You might think you want to know, but do you really want to hear about someone's brains splattered against a wall? Nah, probably not. But if you do, you should become a medic too. This isn't so much at home he sometimes asks and I sometimes leave the gory stuff out.. However at my office job yeah they learned early on not to ask how the shift went....

Pretty neat article to read and if you aren't around this lifestyle it doesn't make sense to others. I am thankful to have lots of friends in the fire and ems careers that understand. Then there are those that can't believe I would work on a holiday or work as an EMT or fire fighter but those are the people that will be darn glad that we are out there if they are ever in need of medical care :)
Just like on Sunday when I was to meet my friend at a certain time and got a page for brush fire. All I had to do was send text saying on a fire call she understood and heck even found where I was to wait for me....

A weekend off...!

For the first time in months I was off work from both jobs for 3 days in a row! After last week in working 99 hours from Sunday to Friday a couple days off was much needed. I ended up working 80 hours straight from Sunday at 8am until Wednesday at 5pm.. Never was home just bounced from office to ambulance base. 

So Friday night we decided to have a date night then last minute a friend of ours decided to come along. Some people would have been mad at their spouse for inviting one of their guy friends along but I generally don't mind. 

We went to dinner then to Sputs place for a couple bday parties. I got to see one of my good friends and well we had fun. 

I won't say how many mixed drinks I had but it was way to many 

Yes eyes half closed that happens in a dark bar when camera flash goes off.... 

We took the phone of the friend in other photo and we took lots of silly pictures for her to find later :). 

Saturday for a slow start to the day but was nice to sleep in for a change. We went grocery shopping which is rare for is to do together anymore. Then home to get ready to go to another friends house for a fish fry. Now the fish fry was for guys only however when Kenny called to ask about it I was told I was invited because I was one of them..... And I'm the only girl who has been around Kenny's high school friends for 15 years all the other guys have had many different girlfriends and wives over the years. Plus I've always got along better with guys than girls way less drama. We had a good time and about 10pm our friends wife got home from work and I was able to catch up with her. We both work crazy hours so its hard to find time. 

Sunday slept in again then that afternoon was to get the boys from my mom then meet Kathy to check out a field for her to rent for her horses. About 30 min before meeting her fire got paged out for a grass fire. Knowing Kathy would understand I went to the call was glad I was wearing my boots but wasn't happy to get my pink jacket covered in black soot.. The funny thing was Kathy didn't know what call I went on but by listening to radio traffic found the scene and was there waiting for me. I think her smile was as big as mine was we both love fire fighting and ems. Finally got to walk the property for her horses was nice spending the afternoon with her. 

Monday Blake had school and Nathan wanted to go to daycare so I went shopping in a near by town for some shirts and pants. Found lots of stuff on sale and bought a massage stick roller thing to use after working out. Not as fancy as some I've seen but I think it will work. 

Was hard coming back to the office today. I had got rid of my headache and tension in my jaws and by 11 it was back :(. I get to work a night shift at the ambulance tomorrow night. I think the 100 hour work weeks will be far and few in between. I'm still trying to recover! 

2014 Goals

I know the new year is 10 days in but I had to take quite a bit of time to think about what I wanted out of this year. That along with I had been working so much hadn't had the time to sit down and write anything out.

I've come to realize I can't follow most of these diet and exercise plans everyone raves about. Between being a wife and mom, working two jobs, being a volunteer fire fighter and the fire department board secretary there isn't a lot of time left for sleep or workouts. My second job some days your lucky if you get time to eat and some days that's just what you can grab at a gas station or snack thru out the day never having time to sit down and eat a meal. I wouldn't trade that second job for anything well unless I could do only it full time....

I think once all this lovely nasty snow melts this weekend I will bring workout clothes with me to work on Monday and aim to get a mile in at least 3 days on my lunch break.

On to my goals for the year I have decided to have a few big goals to work on throughout the year and then do monthly ones. I find if I have monthly goals I am more likely to stick with it and not procrastinate as much.

Year Goals:
1-Do another half marathon I will not set a date for the race as its early in the year and I am not sure what race I want to do. Would love to find a friend to do it with me just not sure I am up to doing a half alone yet.

2-Cut soda pretty much out and only have maybe one or two a month would love to say I would be soda free but I know once I say that I will want it twice as bad.

3-Learn to love myself and like what I see in the mirror and quit letting the negative self talk run my thoughts.

4-Be a better wife mother and friend make time to do fun things with my family and friends, find ways to be creative and not have to spend ton of money to have fun.

5-Find some trails to hike and run on. Never tried but looks fun and I love nature and outdoors and I think its something my husband and maybe oldest son would like.

Now on to my January goals I will do posts each month recapping how I did with the month and listing the next month goals.

January:
1-Drink more water each day I do great Monday thru Friday at work but weekends I sometimes struggle. Especially if I am working.

2-Workout at least 3 times a week. Doing both cardio and ab, leg and arm exercises. I have searched pintrest for some quick easy workouts that I can do at home.

3-Start cutting back on soda try to only have one a day.

4-Eat healthier was doing pretty good until holidays hit then still staying away from fast foods. However snacks chips and frozen pizzas have been filling that void.

5-Look in the mirror and find something I like about myself not instantly finding what I don't like

6-Stress less and find ways to manage stress better not to let it bog me down until I fall apart or want to disappear.

I of course have things running thru my head I want to be x number on the scale or wear x size clothing but I realize I am pretty muscular and to be that x number and size I would have to give up a lot of muscle and I don't want to do that. I need the muscle for work and need to learn to like that yes I may not be size 5 but I know I am strong.

Snow...snow...cold....yuck.....

I'm so over winter the cold weather and snow.. Yesterday by noon temp was -4 when I woke up it was -10!! 

I worked Saturday night and we watched weather to see winter storm warning in our area. At midnight no snow. Ran a call at 4am just a dusting. Ran another call at 6am and this. 

This was on a main highway only a partial set of tracks other than ours. After our call less than 20 min later our tracks were gone!! We made it back to base and it continued to fall hard. 

I left work a hour later than normal thinking they would have made at least one pass over the roads with the snow plow but nope. 

This was same road as first pic and was more snow covered than before at least it was daylight so I could tell landmarks and know where to drive. 

Snow up to my knees in most places and where drifts were was up thigh high!! I hadn't seen a snow like this since I was a kid!! My kids wanted to go play we lasted maybe 45 minutes. 

Nathan wasnt a fan once he stepped in a drift and lost a boot!

Lot of upper body workout with shoveling and pushing snow to get to cars to clean them off! My boss called me Sunday night to say not to come in. In 10 years of working here she's never done that. 

This was the warm temp of the day ha ha ha. I could never live somewhere that has snow and temps like this all year. I like the occasional snow and cold then return to regular winter temps of 20-30's...

Roads are still not real clear most are packed and slick and weather guy says more snow coming tomorrow night. 

I also work tomorrow night. I'm starting to see a trend each time I pick up extra shifts it snows ices or sleets....