A New Day

AS with every day, a new day will dawn in the morning. That is what I find comfort in every night before I go to bed, even if my day has gone well, there is always a new day waiting to dawn.
Let us start with the running shall we?
Today I ran with M and my kids (in the jogger). We did 4.08 miles or so in 37 '12". I guess that is a 9 minute pace which I am thrilled to death with. I definitely feel good about how far I have come in the last 2 months of running and I know that if I WANT to then I will continue to succeed.
We had cheer last night and tonight we have a private tumbling class. I just want my girl to be able to be the best that she can be and I if at some point she isn't having fun with this anymore then we will reevaluate- but for now she loves being a cheerleader.
Ry is feeling much better and so is Lexi Lu.
Dave came home and watched the kids last night, then got up this morning and I won't see him again until Thursday night when we pick him up from the airport.
Our new normal kinda stinks right now but you have to just keep on moving (at least when running) and I consider life a lot like running :)
Other new- The Biggest Loser begins tonight and I am soooooooo excited to have my weekly date with Bob, Gillian, Alison, and the Losers. I always get more motivated when I see HUGE (being honest here) people accomplishing weight loss by working hard. Well almost time to pick up Ashley.

Happy Running!

When your Hubs is away...

...not a lot gets DONE :)

Dave has been out of town (at trade shows, delivering Salvation Army trucks, etc.) since last Wednesday. He then comes home tonight (hopefully before cheerleading) and then is out of town until I meet him at my 4 mile race on Saturday morning to hand off the kids and what else- run the 4 miles :) It is a great opportunity that we have that he gets all of the side jobs BUT having him here more than one day a week would be nice too.
Ashley had her MANDATORY Saturday cheer practice and I think it went well, at least for her. She learned the routine and the counts and practiced the set number of times over the weekend. This week she is going to start a private tumbling instruction with her coach to help her with the backbends, cartwheels, and whatnot. Since I have NO experience with any of these things so I will leave all of the instruction up to her coaches (HA!!)
Ryan has had a cold for what seems like forever. We are taking a rest and medicine day today in hopes that he will wake up tomorrow a happy little boy. He is back to normal with his potty training and next we are going to work on not eating so many hot dogs (yuck!).
Lexi is 10 months old this week. She has slept through the night for the last 4 nights-hooray!!!!
She is "talking" and "walking" and doing all the things that she should and some that she shouldn't. She is just 2 months from the bog year mark and I honestly can't believe how fast this year has gone.

On the running front. I ran the longest I have EVER run which is 5 miles this weekend. My new mantra is DON'T COMPARE because so many of the blogs i read people are training for halfs and marathons. They also have been running much longer than I have so I just keep telling myself that for me I am doing GREAT.
I did the 5.11 miles in 44' 17" which of course is a PR for me since I have never done it before- YEAH ME!!!
I was very happy with just being able to do it and I am supposed to run 5 again tomorrow BUT i will be pushing the jogger so i know the time won't be the same.

I read Isaiah 7 today. There were many verses that spoke to me but the one I will meditate on today is Isaiah 7:9b "If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all."

Happy Running!

Time flies

At least it does around here and I want it to stop! (ok- reality check Jama) It is already Thursday. I have ran 3+ miles everyday this week and I really feel good. I am finally getting into a routine that I can handle but that if I have to adjust I can.
I started running with the baby jogger this week. I would much rather not be running with the baby jogger but if I want to run, then I must take my kids. I have definitely conquered the mental block of running past the light (haha) and now I know that I can run with the baby jogger so, 2 major mental blocks have been broken this week.
I also have a consistent Tues/Thurs running buddy in M. We ran 3 on Tues and 4 today. After my long runs this weekend it calls for a 5 mile run next Tues and I think that M is going to come with me. Also we signed up for the 4 mile Fit2Run race which is in 9 days. Running with a buddy has helped my outlook a lot and it has definitely made me accountable. We also are reading through Isaiah and I love being able to read a verse and be totally smacked upside my head by God daily :)
On the family front...Dave is out of town A LOT in the next 2 weeks (hence the baby jogger dilemma). Ashley has MANDATORY cheer practice on Saturday. Did I mention in their routine that she is in the front middle AND that she is a flyer in the stunt in the FRONT?!? I don't really know yet if she is going to stay there but after 2 weeks of cheer it seems like she still likes it and is improving all the time. Ryan went 2 swim classes without his bubble. I am so proud of my little frog. He also is doing wonderfully in school. No accidents since the first day-hooray!!
Little Lexi will be 1o months next week and she is going to be walking soon. She now crawls (quickly) around the house, stands up on the furniture and some days is brave enough to "travel" along the couch.
Things in Kyleland are going really well. I'm off to read Isaiah 6.

Happy Running!!

WHAT a day

So after my last few days, I thought today was going to be a coasting day. Boy was I wrong.
I have had kidney stones off and on for about 7 years. Mostly they are off BUT when I exercises a lot and don't drink enough or drink too much diet coke the kidney stones reappear. I felt one this morning but when Dave suggested going to Disney I said let's go. So off we went. The kidney stones weren't too painful just a little annoying. Thankfully it left the building while we were at Disney and I felt a whole lot better.
Then my jogging stroller tire popped. NOW, I was not there at the time so I am taking Dave at his word but I did get a new jogger out of the ordeal so all is well in my world again.
I am off to read Isaiah 2.

Oh and I ran a 5K this am in 25:44 I think. It was 25 something and I am happy with the time. Tomorrow I get to run with M. Soooooo excited.

Happy Running.

So he challenged me...

...and I accepted. In my last post (which was only this morning) I was so confused and trying to make sense of what God wanted me to do.

I was twittering with my running girls (M &T-love them) and they committed to backing me up. Not even 30 minutes after I wrote about my fear of making lasting friendships God placed 2 great women in my lap (not literally) and said here they are just for you- don't pass this by. He knew that I need them and I do.

We are going to do this too:

it is a 4 mile race. Once again, God knew before I did what I needed and he provided my 2 friends to do it with me.

I promised myself that I would start reading a chapter of the Bible each night to try and grow in my relationship with Christ. I randomly picked the book of Isaiah because I have never read it. It is like God smacked me in the face.

Isaiah 1:16-17 " Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow."

WOW!

I wonder what the Lord has planned for me tomorrow?

No Fear

I grew up in the 90's when the mantra (and clothing line) no fear was extremely popular. But in life I honestly believe that everyone has a fear of something. I have a lot more than one. Some of my fears may be silly and others keep me up at night but to me fear in unavoidable.
I read a lot of blogs and I was wondering today why that is. I think that it stems from my fear of being friends with others and then disappointing them and letting them down. Reading blogs is safe for me. I do not know any of the people and yet I am reading about what they are doing, how far they are running, how their personal relationship with the Lord is being expanded and I am sooooo jealous. I want that but am I willing to take the first step?
In church today the message was entitled,
"How to Change Your Life?"
{do you think he is trying to get my attention?}
The pastor said that there are 3 things that God uses to transform me...the bible, the holy spirit, and circumstances. This really got me thinking about circumstances that God places in my life that I just walk right by because I am scared to do anything about it. He compared the christian walk to running often, which definitely made me think of both in my life. In running the ultimate goal is the race, the finishing of that particular run. In our Christian walk the ultimate goal is to be like Christ-IN ALL THAT WE DO. This means everything people. In eating, talking to others, my quiet time, I NEED TO BE LIKE CHRIST and that makes me ashamed. It makes me ashamed that I fail and have fear but I also know that HE loves me and accepts me with all my failures and wants me to try again. Not tomorrow but right now.
There are 3 choices to make (says the preacher) in my role in transforming my life.
#1 I can choose what I think about. {this one hit me very hard}. For a long time I allowed what I looked like, weighed, to consume my thoughts. I thought about how I wasn't worth the time to make changes in my life. The pastors advice was simple yet so profound for me this morning. He said to "Choose to think differently!"
Now why hadn't I ever thought of that before. Oh yeah, because I was so consumed by thinking of all those other silly, crazy things. So right now I choose to think differently. I choose to try to think of the things that will help me point to HIM. I can use my talents (whatever they are) to be more like Christ. I am still me but thinking like HIM.
#2 I can choose to depend on God's spirit moment by moment.
ok, i have been already trying this one this last week. If I know one thing it is that I can't do things on my own anymore. I have to rely that God is holding me moment by moment through my day and he isn't going to drop me even when I struggle against him.
This is where relationships came into play. God has placed people in my life and I have always taken them for granted. If you get too close to others they can hurt you, let you down, so I usually avoided relationships with others. BIG MISTAKE JAMA!!!
This last week, I started running with T (i know you read so I won't type your name :0)). I have never ran with anyone before. I always would just plug away by myself. I made plans to run with her and we met up at 8 p.m. (what can I say, we both have kids and they had to be in bed first). WE started our run and when we were done I felt good. Not only because of my run, but because I had someone who did it with me. Someone who was going through the same thing that I was. I had more fun that night running that in the months that I have ran by myself plus we ran farther than we thought because we talked the whole time (which is always a plus). I need these women in my life. Having Dave is a constant but he can not understand a lot of what I am going through as another mother can. Thanks T, can't wait for our next run :)
#3 I can choose my response to circumstances.
over-reacting, high drama, -do I think that is what Christ would do? NO! But one thing I do know is that God puts me in circumstances to where I need to depend on him. I need to rely on him and just plain trust. SO...I will trust that I am where he wants me to be, with whom he wants me to be and ....I CHOOSE TO FOLLOW WHERE HE IS GUIDING ME-

So, no light and fluffy post today, mainly because I am thinking a lot about my direction. Where I am headed, what I want to do, and how my life can be more of what the Lord wants it to be that what I want it to be.

On a lighter note (haha)
Since August 1st I have ran 78 miles- WOW!!!! Every mile I run though means nothing if I can not run the race that the Lord has set aside for me.

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize." I Corinthians 9:24

Happy Running

If I knew then...

I graduated from college almost ten years ago. WOW! Just typing that made me feel quite old. I think when you go to college at eighteen years old (seventeen in my case) and are forced to choose what you want to do for the rest of your life it does you a major disservice. How many people know what they really want to do at that age? Many people might but I was not one of them. Since I graduated, my life changed with the husband and children and all. I also developed a great love for exercise (running in particular), health and nutrition. Oh, I wish I had known that I would love this back then.

Now, I do have my personal training certification (which I haven’t really tried to use anywhere) and I would still like to become a certified running coach but these are all things that I choose now because of where I am now in my life. I want to be able to encourage and educate others on a topic that I love and that in some ways saved my life.

Now I am going to be extremely honest. I have had eating issues (shocking I know). I have a love/ hate relationship with food and I am not ashamed to admit that. I know that nutrition is very important to those training for anything from a 5K to a ultra marathon. Food fuels the body and to perform well, a healthy eating plan is needed. About 7 years ago, I hated how I looked and my life was a little out of control so I began controlling my eating. I “controlled” it so well that I was NEVER hungry. I ate just enough to make it through and my weight got extremely low. I never thought about what I was doing or how it was affecting those who loved me. One day while Dave was at a clinical at the hospital I seriously thought that I was having a heart attack because my weight was so low. I drove myself to the hospital and the doctor told me that I needed to GAIN. UGH!!!!! Now even if you know that you need to gain weight you do not want to see the numbers going up (you feel very out of control and control is the key remember). Well they wanted to me to go to a doctor and I did. You know what he told me to do- EXERCISE.

WHAT?!?!?!

I weight almost 90lbs, am never hungry, and you want me to exercise? Yes was the answer he told me, so I did. I found a husband and wife training team and began working out with them 3-4 days a week. We never discussed the fact that I was too thin. We just worked out and I started to be hungry. Those 2 people literally saved me. Exercise gave me something else to focus on. I could control my performance and I became a little healthier everyday. When Trainer M told me we should train for a triathlon I said ok. I didn’t really think that I would be able to but I would humor him. The training really gave me a purpose and it gave me something else that I had been lacking- Confidence in myself.
I finished that Triathlon and I believe that if I had fueled my body better I would have done better than I did.

Why am I telling you all this?

I thought it was time to put it all out there. My goal is to encourage. I want to help others love exercise (running, swimming, biking in particular) but really to just know that it is possible to make little changes and accomplish so much.
I truly love running and I want to be healthy. I wish I had known this then…what trouble I would have saved.

BUT…

….now I have 3 pairs of little eyes that watch my every move and want to be just like me. So I need to encourage them to eat right, to move, to play, and to make mistakes but to learn from them too.
I encourage you to try. Try to run a mile, to walk for 30 minutes. Just try it, you may like it- I know I do.
Happy Running.