[Fitness, Health and Happiness]

Fitness Friday || Memories of A Marathon

USAF Half Marathon

What I will remember...

Packet pick-up and the Expo with Alec.

Alec's 5K PR the night before my race. He went straight for the pizza afterwards.

Dinner with friends.

The military details. The flags. Fly overs. Running through 2 rows of aircraft to the finish line.

Their excitement about eating pizza and cheesy bread for breakfast :)

Feeling stronger than ever. 

Feeling like I was on top of the world!

Remembering how right after I crossed the finish line I thought to myself "This moment. This is why I do what I do. This is why I love to run."

Friends!

I will also remember...

• the singing of the national anthem gives me goose bumps
• I can't even think about eating pizza and drinking beer afterwards
• loved running with the pace group most of the way
• perfect weather
• next year I want to run the 5k and the half 
• miles seemed to go by fast
• I'm getting better at drinking on the run (wearing less!)
• this was one of the most efficient and best organized races I've ever run

I ran a 5K trail race at 9:00 that night and this is all I have to show for it. A bib. My Nike cap. A head lamp. I was too tired to get my camera out of the car. What I will remember...the stretches throughout the course that it was just me. The silence of the night except for my foot falls. Oh and wearing a head lamp was very cool :)

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I'd love to know, if you write race recaps on your blog (or plan to), how do you remember so many very specific details of a race? How do you remember mile by mile details?

Now the link up. Share your Fitness Friday!

Workout Wednesday [mid-week review]

Goals for the week:

• reduce miles and days of running to be ready for the Air Force Half 
• crosstrain
• try 3 new things: compression shorts, Nuun, Honey Stinger Energy Chews

This week's workout schedule: 

Sunday - Stretch X, Abs/Core Plus
Monday - Upper Plus
Tuesday - Abs/Core Plus
Wednesday - Total Body Plus, Run 6
Thursday - Abs/Core Plus, Run 5
Friday - Upper Plus, Abs/Core Plus
Saturday - Air Force Half Marathon, Glenwood Garden 5K Trail Race 

Mid-Week Review:

• workouts are going great
• although I'm missing the runs, reducing the mileage for the week feels good
• crosstraining, 3 days done
• trying compression shorts and Nuun this evening
• Getting excited about the Air Force Half and running my first night trail race.
• Counting down the days til Chicago!

After Chicago I'm Runnin' the Hood! I signed up for a virtual 10K at The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans!

And a favorite shot of my son during our relay trail race last month

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Share your mid-week review! How's your workout week going? Do you follow a weekly plan? 

Running || 10.3 Miles and a 5K

Another awesome running weekend!

Last Saturday I started the morning with 10.3 miles followed by the Powder Keg 5K trail race (which actually turned out to be 3.5). It's not that the mileage was particularly high or the race long. It was the idea of running them back to back. Something different. A challenge. I loved the fact that I had to change shoes between runs. It made me think of the ultra I want to run next year. While running the trail race I heard someone say, "isnt' this a perfect way to start a Saturday." I smiled and wholeheartedly agreed.

Chad and Alec also ran the 5K. We don't actually run together, but I love the feeling of knowing they're out there somewhere and I'll see them at the finish line. And we will talk about the race all the way home.

Oh and I also found out that I'm one position away from qualifying for the DIRTY DOZEN (the top 12 women runners) of the trail race Dirt Days series. How cool is that? I have 2 more races to move up into the Dirty Dozen :)

See. It really was an awesome running weekend :)

What makes a run awesome? What makes your weekend awesome? 

And I'm the featured blogger at Fitblogger today! 

Running. A Virtual 5K. A Trail Race Relay.

 

A weekend of running:

• 15.5 miles on Saturday with beautiful weather
• 3.7 trail miles on Sunday
• completed the RoadID: It's All About Me Virtual 5K hosted by Moms Run This Town
• ran my first trail race relay, Team Conyers
• a new trail 5K PR!
• after I finished my leg of the relay I ate the best tasting orange ever
• Alyssa was our support crew
• family time
• I was unexpectedly nervous about running the relay. I didn't want to let Chad and Alec down.
• a wonderfully exhausting weekend

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Today is the last day to enter Giveaway: 5 Moeben Arm Sleeves

Coming this week: a delicious new recipe, a guest post about what you can accomplish when you decide to "start today" and of course Fitness Friday blog hop.

Healthy Kids [Raising Active Kids]

Last week I posted the first of a two-part series, Raising Active Kids, and shared my son running the Warrior Dash. Today, Tips for Raising Active Kids. What has worked for my family.

1. Start young. From baby swim classes to learning how to ride bikes to t-ball. Start when kids are young so they grow up living a active lifestyle.

2. Lead by example. If you want kids to be active you have to make being active a priority for yourself. You can't just "talk" being active.

3. Active Family Time. For family time, sometimes choose physical activities. Take a walk. Ride bikes. Jump on a trampoline. Be active together!

4. Limit Screen Time. We have no TV days in our house during the school year and during the summer no more than 1 hour/day. Computer time is limited too. There is the occasional "that's not fair" argument but they eventually find other things to do.

5. Make Being Active Fun. Don't focus so much on must-do exercises. Find things they enjoy, let them try new things and make being active fun. And when they're young and trying new things let them set the pace. Don't force them to continue something they don't like to do. See a commitment through and then find something else.

 

 

 

 

6. Encourage Movement Through Gifts. Give them a basketball or a bike. Or maybe rollerblades. Something that.

7. Excitement and Enthusiasm. Find something active that you love doing. And show your enthusiasm and excitement. Get their attention!

8. Keep It Simple. Being active does not have to be time consuming or complicated. Take family walks. It's easy, fun, and inexpensive. Very relaxing and a great way to end the day.

 

 

 

 

8. Show Your Support. Whatever they do show your support with attention and encouragement. Be proud of their accomplishments and attempts. Praise them for trying and doing their best.

Hopefully that list of 8 tips is enough to get you thinking.

What are your tips for raising active kids? What have you tried that works great with your kids? What are you going to do today to encourage activity?

 

Healthy Kids [Extreme Running Series]

Does "mud crawling, fire leaping, extreme run from hell" sound appealing? It does to my son. Chad and Alec ran a 3.10 mile course of 13 extreme running obstacles. (Photos taken by even photographers and purchased via download). There's a reason why they call this race The Craziest Frickin' Day of Your Life. And Alec loved it! 

The next mud run on the Conyers' race schedule, the 10 mile Tough Mudder and I'm signing up too!

This is the first of a 2-part series on Raising Active Kids. Next week, part 2, Tips for Raising Active Kids.

 

Inspiration Monday

Healthy Kids

Welcome to my inaugural HEALTHY KIDS post!

I a mom of 2 kids that would easily describe me as a health and fitness fanatic (I would say more of an enthusiast) that does a lot of what I do for my kids. A role model that tries to teach with actions just as often, if not more so, than words alone. I also work with 1000+ elementary school kids as a school psychologist. It would be safe to say the topic of healthy kids is often on my mind. What can we do to encourage a healthier generation? What can we do to encourage kids to move more? To make healthy choices about what they eat? 

Introducing something new, a weekly blog post that focuses on kids' health and fitness. A resource for tips, ideas, information and stories. 

I'm sure you've heard of one of my favorite kid-focus programs, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.

How can you not like a program that inspires healthy eating and kids in the kitchen...

 
 

Read more about Jamie's revolution here Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.

You can link here to sign Jamie's petition.

Read more about the Jamie Oliver Foundation (he really is amazing).

And last but not least, Jamie in action:

Come back next week for more HEALTHY KIDS!