I can so deal with this...

getting some muscle thing :). So amazing to actually see some definition in my legs and especially in my arms =)! I haven't ran since Saturday...BUT I have been working out at home and using weights. Light weight and high reps and boy does it BURN after awhile and I have learned to keep PUSHING. It is definitely paying off and the best part is I feel great! I want to be strong and toned, and I am finally working for that for the first time in my life. My stomach is SO SORE which is so exciting because I know I really worked out my abs ;). Now I just need to kick up my running a notch so that nice layer of fat on my tummy can disappear and show all my hard work. Granted I still have my stretch marks from my amazing littles, and I would not trade those for the world. My littles ARE my greatest achievement and I am PROUD to have my "memories" on my tummy. Speaking of my littles they are just LOVING working out at home with me. They try so hard to do all that I do and they give me that extra push to keep going even when I am dead tired. Hearing "come on mommy keep going!" is all I need to hear for that second wind to kick in. I sure hope that they carry on these good habits and enjoy being active for the rest of their lives :). The greatest blessing in our lives is to have each other and to be HEALTHY. We are so fortunate to be HEALTHY and have the ability to eat good food, and to drink CLEAN water. I have taken these things for granted far too much in my life. We're now teaching our littles to appreciate every little blessing in our lives and to give thanks for them. I'm a very proud mommy because they have the purest of hearts and care SO much for others and truly are the epitome of innocence. I love them more than words can describe and they ARE my happiness. It is a blessing to watch them grow and to be the one to help guide them towards being the BEST they can be.

One of our favorite books is Oh the Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss and our favorite line is "You can move mountains", and I truly believe that they will :).

finally

After 5 LONG weeks of not running I did it! I ran this morning and it felt great! Yes, it totally kicked my butt and I even felt a little nauseous at the end...but I loved it! A bonus was that my knee didn't hurt and my ankles feel fabulous :)! Granted my ankles tend to act up when I've ran for a few days in a row so we'll see how they are next week. I followed one of the days from C25K where I did an easy 5 minute warm up walk, ran for 3 minutes, walked for 90 seconds, ran for 5 minutes, walked for 2 minutes, ran for 3 minutes and then 5 minutes cool down. There was another run to do before the cool-down but I decided to take it easy. Sad how when I was running everyday I thought that this program was too EASY and now it is kicking my trash!

So that was on Friday 11/11/11 :) Great day to start getting back into something I literally can not go a day without thinking about. I got up Saturday 11/12/11, got the littles ready and headed to the gym. My friend Katie works in the gym daycare and was there that day. Thank goodness she was there because mr. man hates that place. If she hadn't been there they would've came out to get me because mr. man was crying :(, but being the AWESOME lady that Katie is she held him so that I could get a workout in. Unfortunately I think this means no gym until he grows out of this phase. Anyway I went straight to the treadmill and got in a run. I did the C25K again and did the whole thing this time:)

5 minute warm up walk
3 minutes run
90 sec walk
5 minute run
2 1/2 minute walk
3 minute run
90 seconds walk
5 minute run
5 minute cool-down

Now I was TIRED and sweaty BUT I was pain FREE :) Seriously a HUGE thing for me. So I walked for probably 15 minutes after that and wanted to run some more....well my issue is I push too hard too fast and I had knee pain immediately and only lasted a minute. I stopped to stretch it out which helped but thought it wise to walk to out. I walked until I got to 3 miles and stopped to stretch like crazy. I ALWAYS want to do more and obviously my body can not handle it. I NEED to LISTEN to my body and just BE PATIENT. Anyone who knows me, knows how good I am at that lol.

I did not run yesterday...obviously and I have no knee pain today. I plan on running tonight so hopefully it will go smoothly. I'm DETERMINED to get through this and be able to run miles and miles without having to stop. I KNOW I WILL get there I just need to be DEDICATED and persistent.

Here's to a pain free run tonight :)!

"paid" an old friend a visit this morning...

So I finally did it. I got up at 6 am and went running this morning after a week and a half hiatus. I stretched A LOT before I went out because I was determined to have a GOOD, PAIN FREE run. When I first got outside I walked for about 5 minutes just to get warmed up and get pumped about my run. I'll admit I was still a little nervous about it...

Well I started to run and it felt A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! My stride was fantastic and I felt like it was so effortless, almost like I was floating in air. I never feel light on my feet so it was AWESOME! I was SO incredibly HAPPY to be out running, feeling the cool morning air on my face while listening to some new running music :)! I had missed this SO MUCH and this is what I have been missing. This past week was HARD for me. I felt sluggish and depressed. I tried doing other workouts at home, but nothing even came close to giving me the same high that running gives me. I even ate SO BAD this weekend and gained 4 lbs! I'm not too worried about that though. I'm back to good eating, portion control and no eating after 7 pm this week :). The thing about eating fatting, greasy food is that it HURTS your stomach when you haven't had it for awhile. So my stomach was hurting and feeling SO bloated...not fun.

Anyway back to my run lol...I knew that as soon as I felt ANY kind of pain I was going to STOP because I DO NOT want to take another 2 weeks off to recoup. I ran about 1/4 mile and then I felt it...this little dull pain in my left knee(on the outside), the same pain that bothered me at the Dirty Dash. The first time I ever felt this pain was when we moved into our 3rd floor apartment last December. It was AWFUL and I do not like the feeling that my knee has dislocated from my leg. So I ran a little further to see if it turned into anything or if it was all in my head( I wish!), the pain started to increase so I stopped to stretch it out. Stretching was the only thing that got me through the Dirty Dash. After I stretched I walked for probably 5 minutes and then started to SLOWLY run again just to see where I was at. Well I didn't make it even a 1/4 mile before it started to hurt again so again I stopped, stretched and walked. After 5 more minutes of walking I was determined to run a little more just so I could feel a little satisfied with my efforts. I got to one of my usual corners and started running and yes because its me here I pushed it and went fast to get more in before my knee acted up. I got in another 1/4 mile in and then the pain. Now I was SO beyond FRUSTRATED at this point because I WANTED to run so bad. I am 26 years old and have so many issues with my body and running. Why can't my body just DEAL?? It was KILLING me to have to walk but I did not want to do more damage...so there I was walking home. I walked until I hit 2 miles just so I felt like it was worth it.

Although I am upset about the fact that I couldn't just run, run ,run like I wanted I'm still happy with the fact that I got some motivation back. I have been really missing it and am determined to take baby steps towards complete recovery. I have been dreaming about running non stop lately and to my pleasant surprise woke up 5 minutes before my alarm this morning ready to attack my day. All I can do is keep trying and keep stretching and icing until I get better. I don't know why I feel so ashamed when I have to walk because that stills gets me sweating if I walk fast and far. If walking gets me back to where I can start running again then I am all for it! My hubby thinks I should stick to the treadmill for awhile since it isn't as hard on your joints. I tried explaining to him that it is so exhilarating to run outside in the morning and its about to get cold soon so I need to take advantage. I know he is only looking out for my best interest and he may be right, but I would rather walk outside than run in on the treadmill at this point. Although I may throw in a treadmill run this week just to see if there is any difference with my knee.

Oh also this was my first run since the Dirty D and washing my muddy shoes lol. I washed them twice because well you saw the picture in the previous post...and did not dry them because I was afraid of them not fitting well anymore. Well they were STIFF and my toes rubbed a lot this run, which did not feel too nice lol. Once I get new shoes I will keep these as my Dirty D shoes :) since I plan on doing it again next year!

I may run/walk in the morning or I may go to a spinning class so we'll see :). Also some GREAT news my Achilles Tendon did not hurt at all :)!! One injury down and one to go...



See you tomorrow!

where has my motivation gone??

It has been so hard to motivate myself to get back into a regular running schedule...I find myself so afraid of hurting myself again. When I think about getting up in the morning to go run I get so EXCITED, I lay my stuff out, get my shoes and headphones ready but when 6 am rolls around I just CAN'T or I should say WON'T get out of bed. I feel like I just can't because I have been SO TIRED lately. Granted this has been a tough week in mommy-hood with the twins sick on Monday night and Tuesday and baby boy sick last night (getting up every hour...not exaggerating!). I am SO drained and it has unfortunately made me a bit of an emotional mess. I'm not handling work issues as well as I should or normally do and I am stress eating which is BAD. I KNOW that getting out and running will make me feel better but I feel like I've missed my chance for the day. I would LOVE to go run in the early evenings but the hubby works late and is tired from work by the time he gets home. I feel like 6 am is my ONLY option besides the gym where the treadmills are....but to be away from my kids all day just to drop them off at the gym daycare with someone else for an hour just doesn't sit right with me. When I wasn't working I was all about the gym daycare...well except when the sicky kids got my kids sick :/, but now I can't justify spending more time away from them. Plus after running outside you realize that the treadmill BLOWS. Granted I WILL use it in the winter because I am not a big snow person and running in the snow sounds incredibly unappealing to me. Although I will try it at least once just to see if by some miracle I do in fact enjoy it.

So here I am at work wishing I could go home change and go for a nice run. Not far, but enough to get my fix and to see how my body feels. Baby steps now since I've had a couple injuries (and have no health insurance), so I have to be super cautious. Maybe just maybe I can ask my hubby real nice and he'll come home on time and let me run for 30 minutes :). That sounds so nice...hey I'd even take 15 minutes :)! Even talking about running makes me feel better....If that's not a sign I don't know what is! 

Tell me all you runners out there, what do you do to stay motivated? When you've hit a slump how do you get yourself out of it??

See you tomorrow!

dirty dash here I come...

The Dirty D is tomorrow and I am SO EXCITED, but very nervous at the same time lol. I mean have you watched the video I posted a few posts back?? You get SO DIRTY!! I'm just hoping I don't pop out a contact while swimming in the mud pit haha. I guess we'll see huh?! We run at 11:40 am tomorrow in Midway :). Stay tuned for a post about all our DIRTY fun :)!!

See you tomorrow!!

Sunday run day

Ok so I realize running on Sunday isn't the best idea I've ever had since Sunday is a day of rest. BUT I missed 3 days last week so I decided to just do it. I ran 1 mile walked a couple minutes then ran another mile. No pain in my knee....yay :)!

This was a HARD run, but then again all my runs are hard lol. I feel like I just started running for the first time though. I get winded so quickly and it's hard to ignore that voice in my head telling me to quit every 5 seconds. I'm sure I will get past this bump in the road as long as I stay consistent!

Something that helped was not looking at my GPS very often. Also looking at the asphalt while I ran, for one because it was bright and two because seeing how far I had to go was really messing with me. I need to switch up my routes a little.

Overall a good run and well worth the fight!

2.00 mile total

Tomorrow is family fun day bright and early so I'm thinking I may rest tomorrow.

So see you TUESDAY!


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