So Far

So far 2016 has been pretty awesome! I have been working out more often and pushing myself harder. I have big goals for this year and so far things are going well. I really want to get more swimming done this year, I started doing it last year and I really liked it. Right now though I am not all about the swimming because it's cold. Like below zero cold and I'm not all about going outside after a swim. I'm a pansy, I've come to terms with it.

When we moved I joined the fitness center at the local high school and I have been making a point to go there more often. Recently I learned how to use more of the equipment because that stuff scares me. It's been intimidating lately because all the college kids are home from school for winter break so there are all these young fit people that just seems to hang around a lot and they are in the way of where I want to go a lot. They seem to do a lot more standing around talking about lifting than they do actually lifting things. Oh well, it's all ok, let them do them and I'll do me.

I have been avoiding the scale lately. It's a big liar anyway. My last round of my fitness program I lost a few pounds in 6 weeks, but I lost 7 inches so I put more stock in that than I do the  number on the scale. I have been trying to get my nutrition down along with my workouts. Food sucks. Well, food doesn't suck that's the issue, I like food.....too much...small steps though, I don't have a mt. dew addiction anymore. I actually don't even like the taste of it anymore so that's pretty great.

 

So true, I have learned that I make a lot of excuses and convince myself that I can't do things before I even give myself a chance to succeed. So this year, I have made it my resolution to get out of my own way.

Best run ever!

Since my best friend is back at this running business we have been trying to get a run in together every other week or so. The weather in Wisconsin has been very cooperative with us runners this year so it's been nice. (and by nice I mean above 0 and no snow which is a super huge deal around here.) We have started getting back into our routine of doing an official run every month. It keeps both of us in check and on track, we have big goals people, we don't mess around!

A few weeks ago we planned a run but the weather didn't want to cooperate and it was raining. Like seriously, raining, in Wisconsin, in December......so odd I can't even tell you..... so we met at the fitness center where I live to run indoors on the treadmills. We couldn't find a run to do in December because the one we wanted to do together was the day that I graduated so that timing was just not going to work. So we signed up for a virtual run because it had the cutest medal and came with cute gloves too. Even though we were running indoors and not part of a big group, we put on the bibs they sent us with our numbers on and we met at the fitness center. We hopped on treadmills and off we went. This was nice because Ashley is a much faster runner than I am so I didn't slow her down and we still got to run together the whole 5k! I set my speed and was like oh I'll just see how long I can go. I always run intervals so I figured run a few minutes then walk and figure out my timing from there. But as we were chatting and running I looked down and saw that I had run a half a mile. I didn't really say anything, and tried not to get nuts, but I have never run that far ever. I always start out too fast and end up having to walk after a bit. I am horrible at pacing myself. I felt great so I just kept going and then the numbers were creeping up to 1 mile. I was like, I can do the whole mile, I'll walk after that. But I kept going and just pushed myself a quarter mile at a time. People, I ran the entire 5k! This has never happened in all the history of my time running! I have finished half marathons, but I have never run an entire 5k, not even once! It was a huge day, and I felt great! My side did start to hurt a bit at the end but I did up my speed because I got antsy. Told you, horrible at pacing myself! And my bestie was there the whole time and we chatted and it was awesome! And then the guy working the front desk told us we had an awesome workout and I was thinking, you have no idea! All the people at the fitness center are so nice it's really great.

 See, aren't those medals so cute? It's totally all about the bling, can't even try and deny that.

 Love me some themed knee high socks for my runs!

There it is, 3.10 miles of straight up running! Not my fastest time, but I don't even care. It's not always about speed I have learned that.

Parker gave me a high five, he gets it.

Today Ashley and I had another running date, this time outside. It was cold, but still above freezing...according to Facebook and my memories, a few years ago on this same day it was -15 so like I said, this weather is huge! We met at the start of this trail that goes from one town to the next. Ashley said she has been wanting to run it a long time, and I always see people on it and want to be awesome like them. It goes right along the highway which isn't my favorite, but I didn't even notice that while we were running. We went 2 miles to the next town then turned and headed back for a total of 4.2 miles. We ran intervals, which is fine with me, she tells me what we are doing and I do it. It's a good system and it works for us so I go with it. I felt great, my legs felt awesome, except I think my shoes are nearing their end...total sad face... except, we were mere minutes away from me having my first ever running bathroom emergency. I am so thankful that I literally live a mile away from where we were parked! I was honestly contemplating the thought of hiding in the ditch and going potty, I hear stories of runners having to do it all the time, but I was ok. It was all good and the run was great! I love that my bestie and I have running dates and I love that she slows down for me, she is so nice!

 Of course no run is complete without the runfie!

Or the run stats, courtesy of Ashley because my GPS didn't start tracking until the last 2 miles....stupid phone....I've had a garmin in my Amazon wish list for months now and just can't pull the trigger and buy it for myself. Someday...soon, we have big goals you know, I need to know my stats!

Fancy piece of paper

The hugest thing ever has happened, I am officially graduated from college! I officially have an Associates of Applied Sciences degree in Management Development! I have been working on this fancy piece of paper for so long now that it doesn't even seem real to me. And in 6 to 8 weeks I will actually have the fancy piece of paper with my name on it!

 Here's me and my little man and my husband. My son says the sweetest things sometimes and he told me how proud he was of me and it made me cry. In reality it's all for him anyway so I'm glad that he gets it. My husband is very thrilled about taking pictures, but I made him do it anyway.

This is me and my big sister and little brother. It really meant the world to me that they took the time out of their days to come and see me get my diploma. Or more so the holder that my diploma will go in once I actually get it in the mail. I know it's only an associates degree, but it's a huge deal to me. I really honestly never thought this day would come. After high school I went to my dream college, and I totally hated it. It left me in a tail spin, I didn't have a back up plan and I had no idea what to do next. So it was 7 years before I went back to school. By that time I had been married and divorced and had Parker and had been with my current husband a few years. I worked full time and had a mortgage and being the traditional college student was no longer an option for me.

College was hard people. No joke, trying to balance it along with everything else was really a struggle and there were so many times I wanted to quit and just give up. I am so thankful for the people that helped me along the way, I never could have done it without them.

I actually graduated 3 weeks before my last classes were actually finished. Talk about pressure, hey you already walked, but there are still 3 weeks to fuck it up. Geez! There were a few things I was worried about, one being the final portfolio that is like a huge thing. It's a graduation requirement, and there is only 1 grade for the thing. No chance to make up for a bad grade, it's one and done kind of thing. But I totally nailed it, got a perfect score on it so I was super excited about that.

The other huge thing I was super stressed about in the last few weeks was my application to business school. When I got approved to graduate in December I applied to UW Whitewater's College of Business and Economics. They are super highly accredited for their business program, like in the top 5% of the country, so the pressure was on. Even though I met all the requirements to transfer, I had this huge fear that I wasn't going to get in. Once again, I didn't have a back up plan. I had only applied to the one school so if I didn't get in then I would have to take a semester off again, and I was super terrified that it would turn into 7 years off again.

Other people really felt my stress lately, my husband took the brunt of it and I have apologized more in the last month for being cranky than I have in the 7 years we have been together. My best friend has listened to me stress about it endlessly, and I am so lucky that she is totally amazing and just kept telling me that it would all be fine and she had no doubts that I would get in.

I have turned to fitness more and more lately to get rid of my stress. I have joined an awesome studio that has a super program and the support network is so incredible it's unbelievable! Working out has become my relaxation time, it's my time for just me and no one else. I do what I have to do and it's all about me and I don't feel bad about it one bit! But that's a different story, I'll get to that later.

So this past Tuesday was the official end of my semester, I had my final group presentation and then I was officially done with all classes. Still no word from Whitewater. I checked the mail every single day and was disappointed every single day when nothing showed up. But I was also relieved that nothing showed up because it meant that I was safe for one more day from being rejected. But Tuesday night I immediately felt completely lost. I had no homework that I had to be working on. I had no class to go to, and no project that was coming due. It has been so freaking long since this has happened that I seriously started to panic. What will I do with myself, I am so used to having all these pressing matters that need to be taken care of for school and now I was just done.

Wednesday I was on break at work and I got an email.... from Whitewater, congratulating me on my acceptance. Wait, I got in? I got in! Total spoiler alert, I didn't even get the letter in the mail saying that I was accepted, and I get an email telling me how to register for classes. I almost cried in the break room. No kidding, and I don't even care. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I didn't even realize how much stress I was under waiting for this letter, but apparently it was a lot. So, I have a few weeks of no homework and no pressure and then it's right back to the grind. Now that it's a reality I'm like crap, I can't fuck this up, this is a really good school and I want a fancy piece of paper with their name on it for my bachelor's degree. So here is to a few more years of school in my future!

Now, in 6 to 8 weeks I can really be excited when I get my diploma in the mail and can be all like yay my fancy piece of paper! Guess I can lay off stalking the mail box for a few weeks now though and take it easy!

It's Been Awhile....

Pretty sure that was a song title. I can even hear the tune in my head now. Hold please for a second so I can sing in my head.....

Ok, I'm back. I have not written in forever, but I've been busy. In fact, I should be doing homework right now, but it's Thanksgiving, I'm taking a holiday.

I started my holiday off right with a turkey trot in the morning. We had planned on doing a 5 mile run, but there was a slight issue with the route plan and we ended up doing 6 miles. It's cool, not the first time I have run 6 miles. I could have done without the rain, but it's not the first time I've run in the rain either.

There's me, my bestie Ashley, and her friend Shayla, who also happens to be a member of my fitness center but whom I have never met in person until today. I thought it was a great run, it didn't seem like a long 6 miles at all. You know how sometimes those miles just seem to drag on forever!

So this fitness center I mentioned, I found it through someone that I graduated high school with, she has been a member for awhile and loves it. It is this program that provides the workouts and the support and the community. It is the whole package and these ladies are so wonderful and supportive and it is exactly what I need! I have been a member for a few weeks when this current round of the program started and I love it so much! It keeps me accountable, we are broken up into smaller groups within the large group and every week there are individual challenges and so many extra things where ladies get together to work out and it is just wonderful! So far I have lost pounds for sure because we have a weekly weigh in, but I am mostly excited to check my measurements again at the end of the round to see what I have lost in inches.

There is a lot going on around here these days, I am graduating in just over a week! Yes, just over 1 week and I will have a college degree!!!! What next you ask, I'll tell you, start working on the next degree. I am so excited about getting this fancy piece of paper, but it is only step 1. An associates is not going to get me where I want to be so it's on to my bachelor's right away. I have applied to a highly accredited business school and am awaiting my answer. I am so totally stressed out about it, I think maybe worse than when I applied to college the first time while I was in high school. I was nervous then, but I was pretty confident that I would get in. But this time, it's different. My college journey has been rocky at best. The school is just waiting on my high school transcripts yet before they will look at my application and decide if I get in or not. Until then, I wait. and it is stressful. What if I don't get in? My associate's isn't going to get me anywhere, if I take a position with it I will take a pay cut. Ain't nobody going to school to make less money!

As of right now, I sorta have my ducks in a nice neat little row where I want them. I am getting back into a fitness routine so that I can conquer some big things next year. I am finishing up my degree, and my family is healthy. I have so much to be thankful for right now.

Dances With Dirt

 It's 10:28p.m. and I am wide awake. Like really awake, and I have to get up at 5:30a.m. for work. And my husband will be home around 11p.m. so even if I were to manage to fall asleep right now, I would wake up in a bit again because I wouldn't be asleep enough and I would hear him come in. So I figure, why not catch up a little bit on what's up around here.

Awhile ago I saw this thing on Facebook (cuz that's where all the best stuff comes from) about a half marathon at Devil's Lake State Park. Devil's Lake is one of the most beautiful places that I have ever seen. There are these bluffs that you can hike up and look out over all this amazing scenery. One of them over looks the lake and I could just sit there for hours and be totally content not doing anything but enjoying the view. The first time I was here was when I was 17. I was in the Army Reserves and I was staying with one of my sergeants before we left for drill at Fort McCoy she drove to Devil's Lake and we went hiking up the previously mentioned bluff. I fell in love immediately. So when I saw this event, called Dances With Dirt, I was in. I asked my hubby if he would want to take a camping trip since it's a 2 hour drive to get there and he was up for it so I signed up and booked us a camp site a few months ago.

I knew that this half would require some extra training, trail runs are a whole different animal than street runs. So I started going to a local nature center and running there instead of in town. I found that I ran faster and easier than I ever have before. I think I found my niche. I may never go back. Well, ok, I will, but trail running is my favorite right now. I love being in nature, and there are no people looking at you, no passersby to gawk, none of those things that make me uncomfortable. There are occasionally other people on the trails, but they are always friendly.

Anyway, I did more planning for this half marathon than I ever have before. You see, this is the first one I have ever done without my bestie. She is the planner. She plans our training schedule, she plans a lot of the details for travel, she looks at the route maps and aid stations, she takes care of pretty much all the details. She likes it and she has never steered me wrong yet, so I let her do it. We have a system and it works pretty great. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. However, she is currently just shy of 30 weeks pregnant so no Dances With Dirt for her. But, I have learned that changing my lifestyle means getting out of my comfort zone. So I put on my big girl pants (or running capris, I have never run in pants, DOWN WITH PANTS!) and I did all the planning myself. Looking at the elevation maps, I knew that it would be a tough course. But let me tell you, those maps are very deceiving!

Brian and Parker were going with me to the run and were going to wait for me at the finish line. Neither of them have ever seen me finish a run before so I was so excited for this. I told them what I thought my finish time would be based on my last trail half marathon. Yeah, I was off, by quite a bit...oh well, hills happen and there were a lot of them.

At the starting line I wasn't really nervous which is very unusual for me. Usually I am a ball of nerves and feel like I may vomit. But I was calm, I didn't care about how fast I was, I just wanted to do it. It was so odd not standing at the finish line with Ashley, but I knew I would be ok. I got a new phone recently and stupid me, did not transfer my music onto it, so I had no music. No way, not going to work. Lucky for me, Brian had his sd card in our gps and it's loaded with all of his music. So he stuck it in my phone and bam, I had music. Can I just say that my husband and I have very very different tastes in music. But, I am not complaining, it was a music emergency. There is one song that I have started pretty much almost every single one of my runs with. I don't know why, it was the one that played at the start of my first ever run and now it has become my thing. It's like it tells my legs that it's time to get moving. Luckily, Brian has that one so it all worked out ok.

I started off slow because I am a back of the pack runner so there is this mob of people in front of me at the start and I ain't about to weave around them and waste precious energy. A little bit into the trail we got bottlenecked and had to go single file anyway, and were pretty much at a quick walk for a little bit because is was up this steep hill. In fact, the first 2 miles were completely uphill. THE WHOLE WAY! Mile 3 gave a little bit of relief with some flat land. Then miles 4 and 5 were pretty much all uphill again. I told myself to just keep moving, run when you can and walk when you need to, but just keep going. I felt pretty good, I was prepared with running fuel and knew where the water stops were. One issue, there was not a single mile that was marked on the entire run. Not One! Oh yeah, and in the middle of nature and shit, I kept hearing every runner's nightmare, GPS signal lost. So according to my gps of the run, I only did about 8 miles. And I can apparently fly because there are a lot of gaps in the map of my run.

At around mile 7.5 the trail was at the top of the bluff. This is the only time I came to a total stop for the whole run. I didn't care about my time, I had already texted Brian that I was behind what I thought I would be because there was so much more elevation climb than I thought.

 

This view is just absolutely breathtaking, and not just because I ran 7.5 miles mostly uphill to see it. We didn't climb the bluff with the beautiful lake view, but this was totally worth it too. I haven't seen this view before and it was incredible. I texted Brian a picture, I doubt I will ever get him up there, like the only thing he is afraid of is heights. Well, not heights, but unsecure heights, you know, like a ledge with no guard rails and loose rocks and the such.

 

 

Stupid me, I thought great, all this uphill means there should be plenty of downhill because the start and finish are at the same point. Yeah, there was some down hill. No, it was not awesome. Downhill kinda sucks on a trail run. See that narrow path in the middle of all those rocks, yeah, that's the trail right there. It wasn't all like that, but downhill trying to not trip and roll the rest of the distance is pretty much just as painful as the uphill climb was. I did indeed trip on a rock but I caught myself and saved myself from falling. But I also got a calf cramp in the process. Should have eaten a banana with breakfast. Didn't stop me though, I was on a mission.

Close to the end there was a gentleman that passed me, I'd say late 40's to mid 50's, I'm bad with that stuff. Anyway, he looked at his watch and said "only 2.5 miles left, just think of how good it will feel when you finish." He had a black race bib which meant he was running the 50 mile run. 50 miles, BADASS!!! I was like, I haven't done nearly as much as you have. and he goes " it doesn't matter, 13.1 miles is still 13.1 miles". That moment right there reminded me of just how awesome the running community is. This guy had run 47 miles and still took the time to encourage me, the girl only doing 13 miles. Like how great is that?

So I finished, slower than I had thought, but I did it, and when I came out of the woods I could see Brian and Parker waiting for me. I almost cried, it was so great to see them there waiting for me. I can't even tell them how much it meant to me to have them there. I told Parker that it made me really happy because I know that it was a boring wait for them there. and he told me "of course Mom, I would do anything to see you finish". That boy, he is all sorts of awesome! Love him and Brian to pieces!

Check out that freaking awesome medal! It's also a bottle opener and the horns are shiny/sparkly/awesome.

 Then I spent the rest of the day wearing these! Compression socks rock!

And playing life size checkers with my boys. Molly tried to help, but I don't think she gets it. The campground also had giant chess but we didn't play that. There was also a swimming pool and we spent a lot of time in there swimming, it was pretty great.

Apparently vacation is exhausting!

Overall, the weekend was fantastic, the run was great and totally worth it, and I plan on doing it again next year! All the hills and pain and all of it, totally worth it!

Should have been a ballerina

    I am so graceful that I should have been a ballerina. I am certain of it. I would have been fantastic. I can't even type that with a straight face. I am so not graceful. At all. After I did the mini tri, I decided that swimming is a pretty good workout and I wanted to incorporate it into my workout schedule. My Thursday yoga class got cancelled and my friend Sarah and I decided to go swimming instead. Sarah is fantastic and I recently learned that she used to be a swimmer. This was awesome because she gave me some great advice on breathing techniques and she also complimented my head condom. The swim was really great, I did 14 laps, I should have done one more and made it 15 but I'm a dork. I look forward to swimming with Sarah again, she makes it look easy. The swim was awesome and I felt great!

   When we were finished I walked into the locker room, and whacked my toe on the bench. Like really hard, and it hurt really badly and it started to bleed immediately! Yup, me, the queen of grace. Told you I should have been a ballerina.

 

But then I remembered that we have Despicable Me bandaids and the world was all ok again. This incident happened a few weeks ago. Update on my toe, it doesn't really hurt anymore, but the toenail is going to fall off. It's not attached by much anymore and I am going to loose another toenail. This trying to get fit thing sure is costing me a lot of toenails! 

Just after the toe incident my local pool closed for it's yearly cleaning and maintenance. It reopened this week and I am very excited to get back in the water. Hopefully without injuring any more toes. Or anything else for that matter.

 

My dreams of becoming a graceful ballerina have been destroyed, but maybe there is still hope for me somewhere.

Guess Who's Back! And I'm BADASS!!

  Guess who's back, back again. Shady's back, tell a friend.... Well, I don't know if Shady is back or not that's a lie, but I'm back. I haven't blogged much lately and I am a bit behind.

   Earlier this month I did a new thing. You see, after my knee incident in January and not finishing the Dopey Challenge, I was talking to my friend at work. I was telling her that I still super love running, but I have been itching to branch out and try some other things as well. I told her how one day I would love to do a triathlon. Not long after this conversation she got a membership at the YMCA (c'mon you know you wanna sing it out loud, do it!) Not long after she joined she comes to work and tells me that her Y is holding a mini triathlon. She said it, and I'm like we have to do it! She wasn't totally sure, but I was like nope, we are in. So we had about 5 weeks to train for this thing. It didn't seem too bad, the only part I was worried about at all was the swim. I don't swim. I haven't swam laps since grade school and I remember nothing about swimming form. We ordered some gear, cuz we all know that having the gear makes you legit and that's all that matters.

    Before I knew it the weeks were gone and the day was here. Oh yeah, and I made it to the pool exactly 1 time to practice. Not even joking, I went there several times, but it was closed to the public, there were no open lanes, a bunch of stuff just happened. I tried getting up an extra hour early for work, (4:30a.m.) but that didn't happen. Then the time was gone and the day was here. I seriously thought about not going. Like full on debated on what excuse I could use that would get me out of it without looking like a jerk. People would see me, I was going to look ridiculous, I had no idea if I could even finish. There was a whole laundry list of excuses that kept going on in my head. But then I rememebered that most of physiclal activities are totally mental. So I pulled my head out of my butt and just started driving. (With my GPS of course because I have never even been to this town.)

     I arrived and met up with my friend, Joanna, and we went in to register. I saw all these people that looked very physically fit, and there was even a guy with an ironman tat. I soon after saw said ironman guy fall and get hauled out by an ambulance and then I thought I was totally screwed. I started to get all up in my own head again, but then I just calmed myself and got ready.

   

 

We got numbers on our legs and I felt all legit and stuff! I told myself all I had to do was finish and I'd be happy. We had a time goal of about an hour and a half but I really wasn't sure on that, just finish I said, just finish.

 

So it was finally our turn and the swim was first. Ok, at least I'll get the hard part out of the way right away then it should get easier. I started the swim and that shit is exhausting! I ended up finishing with the backstroke. Ain't no shame in that, I finished. Then I put on my running stuff, do you have any idea how hard it is to get dressed straight out of the pool? It's pretty hard. My socks did not want to go on like at all. I already hate wearing socks and shoes and this did. not. help. I hopped on my bike (oh yeah, the swim and the bike were indoors) and started to pedal away. The bike portion wasn't bad at all, no hills on an indoor bike so that was great. Except I worked up quite a sweat. It was dripping off of me. Sorry people, your spin bike now has some of my funk. It's ok, I've got extra, I sweat like a dude. Can't help it, it is what it is.

 

When the bike hit 5 miles I was off for the run...Careful on the steps though, they take people out! My legs felt odd of course, but they felt pretty good. The run portion was a 5k and was outdoors. They ran the tri in heats, and we were in the last heat so when we started the run there were literally 3 of us out running. And that other girl, she was fast and she was on her way back way ahead of us. The run was an out an back and there was a really really big hill right before the turn around. I walked that thing. Didn't even care. I was tired and it was a big hill. I finished the swim right around 15 minutes, and the bike had taken me 20 minutes almost exactly, and the 5k ended up being a little under 45 minutes. So I totally finished in way under 1 and a half hours.

1 hour 14 minutes and 15 seconds to be precise!

 

Here is my friend Joanna and I at the finish. She came in about a minute ahead of me. So we finished the mini triathlon, and crushed our time goals. Technically that makes me a triathlete and that makes me BADASS!!! I am so happy to finally be badass!

 

And that number took about 3 days to scrub off my leg. But that's ok, it was awesome! And I am pretty sure that we have decided that we are going to do this again next year. (Also I am pretty sure I shall convince Ashley to do it as well, she just doesn't know it yet)