Running running running

Happy Monday!!!  I'm over @ Shaping Up To Be A Mom talking to my girl Megan's friends today.  Click on over and check out her blog and see what I have to say about my running these days.

Meanwhile, SHE'S HERE today and I'm SO happy to have her!!!  Meg is very kind and very fun and I just love her.  

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Hey all you partiers over here at the Houtz House! I'm Megan from Shaping Up To Be A Mom, and I'm here to tell you about what an awesome runner I am.

I'm not an awesome runner at all.

Have a great day!

Okay, I'll share a little more! I started running back in 2007, before I had any kids. I was never a runner growing up, and I'm not really sure why I started! Maybe because I wanted to lose weight, or maybe because I've always been goal-oriented and I just wanted to see if I could do it.

Either way, I took up running again after having my two little ones. This time the goal was clear- get back some semblance of my pre-baby body!

I love you guys, but you ruined all this up in here!

Last Christmas, my husband based all my gifts on my 30 Before 30 list, including signing me up to run a 10k! I trained for 8 weeks, ran the farthest I had ever run (7 miles), and then ran the race! I ran the whole time, and I didn't come in last, and those were my two goals!

Saying hi to the kiddos before the gun!

A few days later, I signed up for my first half marathon. Then somebody said, "Wow, you're running a half marathon at the end of the summer? So you'll be training all through the summer?"

Yeah...hadn't thought about that. P.S. I live in southern Arizona...

But I've been doing it! I am exactly halfway through my training, and last Saturday I ran 10 miles, the most I have ever run in my life, by far! My next two long runs will be 11 and 12 miles, and then they go down to 9 and 8 in the two weeks before the race (which is 13.1, in case you didn't know).

Sometimes I take pictures while I'm running...

I wish I had some good tips to share, but like I said, I am not an awesome runner at all! I am very slow. Very, very slow. Let's just say that in the time it took me to run those 10 miles, some people could have finished a marathon. But you know what they say, "slow and steady {finishes} the race!"

For me, running is a mental exercise as well as a physical one. I struggle more with my mind telling me to stop rather than my legs! So far I have run my long runs without stopping to walk. I have found that if I stop to walk once, I will keep stopping to walk, often. So I try not to.

At my half marathon, there will be aid stations at miles 3, 6, 9, 11, and the end. So I figure I will skip the first station, and stop for a drink at the others, but run the entire time I'm on the race course. I'm going to think of it as just 6 miles, then just 3, then just 2, and then just 2 more! So far I have run all my long runs without stopping for a drink, but I think I'm going to need to start doing that for my 11 and 12 mile runs.

I have been listening to audio books while running, because when you are out there for hours at a time, even your favorite music can get old. When I find my mind wandering, I just pause the audio book and just enjoy thinking for awhile. I've had a lot to think about lately!

You'll have to check back over at my place after August 25th, to see how the race went! And don't forget to hop over there today, to read Kelly's post! Thanks for reading!

I'm SO proud of Megan for keeping her goal in sight and going for it!!!  I can't wait to hear how everything goes!!!  YOU GO GIRL!!!


Now, run on over and check out her blog and OF COURSE follow her because you'll love her too!  


PS:  Megan JUST happens to be the brains behind A Look Back Link-Up that I co-host with her, Brooke & Megan (yep another Megan).  Come back on August 1st as we take you back to 1986.  Put your own post together and link up, so we can see what YOUR 1986 was like!  We can't wait!!!

That ab move I promised – A vlog

So way back HERE I promised that once I was able to do a certain “exercise move” I would demonstrate in a vlog. 

Well, I can’t exactly do it perfectly but hey this is REAL life right?

 

I am ALL about making people feel better in their station and hey watching me try to do this just MIGHT encourage YOU to keep going SO I’ve decided to make a vlog showing you what I’ve been doing fitness-wise even though it’s pretty darn obvious I’ve still got some work to do! 

I’m here to totally “ra-ra” working out!  I PROMISE it WILL make you feel better!!  If you already work out you KNOW this!  If you used to work out you KNOW this!  So PLEASE if you don’t work out promise me you’ll TRY it!  YOU will feel SO empowered!!  I PROMISE!

Ok, enough with the Tony Robbins impersonation.  

On to the vlog!

Love you guys!!!

The Devil’s at the carwash baby…

Tonight I am sitting here perusing Pinterest, checking Facebook and thinking about this blog post. 

I’ve pinned a few workout related things tonight…

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and a whole bunch of food related things…

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…hey there has to be a ying and a yang right? 

I might have a little too much yang…anyhoo…

So this morning I’m sweating away to a PUMP workout…

For those of you who know what “Body Pump” (sometimes called “Muscle Pump”) at the gym is…well this is the home version of that.  Beachbody put it out.  They are the company behind Insanity and P90X and all those insane home workouts.

So anyway, PUMP is basically a weight routine set to loud music and it is an AWESOME workout! 

Here's a link if you are interested.

Seeing as I’ve had 4 kids in 3 years…I am fighting hard to get back into shape.

Geez, stuff just doesn’t go back the way it started!

So we get down on the floor to do abs…planks to be specific.  Well they are awesome and hey I can do them….BUT THEN……………………..the instructor decides we should do something he referred to as the “carwash” plank or something like that. 

Well, that’s when all H E double hockey sticks breaks loose.  I mean…you have to lift one arm and do a swiping “carwash” move on the floor while keeping the plank pose. 

I-M-P-O-S-S-I-B-L-E!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whoever thought of this exercise…while I applaud their creativity…must REALLY be the devil!!

Seriously, I could NOT do it!!!  Not once…SO HARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IF EVER I am able to do the “carwash” plank move in its entirety I will vlog about it so you can see it for yourself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  


Me and all my sweaty glory! 

Now, that’ll be a sight!!!

Thank you Jillian...

“Most people don’t show up to their own life!”

Although I don’t believe that is true for MOST people Jillian might have a point! 

The Jillian I’m talking about is Jillian Michaels…you know the super hard core fitness guru made famous by her time on The Biggest Loser?  I just started her new workout series “Ripped in 30” and she made the above comment during her week 1 session.  

It’s all I could think about the rest of the time…well that and how I was super PO’ed that my hair tie broke and my disgusting sweaty hair was flopping all around for the last half of the dang workout video…oh and also that I can feel my stomach fat flapping around during the workout (the REASON for the workout)!!!!

You can buy the video here http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ripped+in+30&x=0&y=0 if you’d like to try it.

Anyway...I digress...her comment that “Most people don’t show up to their own life!” really made me think about the importance of being present. 

About how being present…to me means being intentional with how your time in spent…with your husband, with your kids, with your personal time. 

Do I turn on a show for my kids instead of reading them that book for the 100th time? 

Will I keep looking at the clock hoping naptime comes a little faster so I can have some “Kelly time” instead of being grateful for those little ones? 

Will I rush upstairs to put away laundry “real quick” as soon as my husband comes home because it “really needs to be taken care of because it’s driving me nuts that it hasn’t gotten done today” instead of giving him my full attention as soon as he gets home from work? 

Do I pay attention to what he’s saying about his day or just nod to him as I finish up supper? 

Do I make an effort to do things that will improve myself?  Do I workout because I know it will make me feel better even if I’m tired…do I plan to eat well and follow through even If I’d rather just order out because I don’t feel like cooking that night? 

Am I grateful to Jillian for this very important reminder? 

YES!

What are you intentional about?  What should you be more intentional about?