Many miles in 2010

Happy New Year everyone! I have many things to post, I never did post the rest of the Warrior Dash photos like I said I would... I might get on that this week. I am however, transferring my running mileage over to the blog from my sidebar.

Drum roll please...

In 2010 I ran 621.5 miles! That's a lot! Here's the breakdown:

January running totals...
71.75 miles
February running totals...
82.75 miles
March running totals...
78.50 miles
April running totals...
69.25 miles
May running totals...
10 miles (Broad St. Run!)
37.50 miles
6.2 (Kennett Run!)
Total 53.7
June running totals...
41.25 miles
July running totals...
27.50 miles
August running totals...
35 miles
September running totals...
35.25 miles
October running totals...
34 miles
November running totals...
42.50 miles
December running totals...
50 miles

I will admit that I might be off by a mile or two, there may be days that I forgot to record my miles or days that I wrote down more than once but all in all, I think it's pretty accurate. It's interesting to me that after I discovered Zumba, my mileage drastically decreases. I am not big on the "New Year's resolution" however my resolution for this year is to track all of my exercise, not just my running. I'm still formulating a plan on how that will be done exactly.

So Folks, (if anyone actually still reads this blog) I'll try to be a better blogger in the coming year but I ain't making any promises.

Hope you enjoy your New Year's Day!

The Warrior Dash

Or some alternate titles for this post...

What the hell was I thinking?
Why didn't I blog about The Warrior Dash sooner?
or
Something I never thought I'd do but did.

So yes, I am back after another LONG hiatus. I don't know, I'm just not feeling the blog thing any more. I don't know why but I do know that I am very busy. I have four nutrition groups that I teach now and I still teach swimming, in my "free" time, I am at the gym, maintaining my 90 pound weight loss. I've started Body Pump classes three times a week and I've had lots of people tell me that I must still be losing weight but the truth is, I am not. I think everything is just shifting and toning up from Body Pump. Pretty amazing if you ask me. I've also begun to eat more intuitively and not journal every morsel that I eat. It's been a journey because I tend to be compulsive when I get used to things and not writing down my food has been difficult for me. I still do it if I need to get things back in check but for the most part, I eat what I want and exercise one to two hours per day. It seems to be working for me.

So... on to the Warrior Dash. What is the Warrior Dash you ask? Well, the Warrior Dash is described as "The Craziest Frickin' Day of your Life" and for me, it just might have been. I am not a "getting dirty" kind of girl. Back in kindergarten, my (very mean teacher) had to shove my hand into the plaster to make the obligatory plaster mold of my hand for my parents because I didn't want to get dirty so when I a friend of mine asked me to do this race, my first response was, "Hell NO!" but then... I started to think about it and I thought, "Why not?" I'm forty years old and I knew it wouldn't kill me to get dirty so I decided to sign up and do it.

Warrior Dash is all over the country and we did the Mid-Atlantic one. Here's a group of us looking all cute and coordinated before the race. Costumes are encouraged so we decided to wear pink and black tutus.


We were not original in our idea but many people were...




There were lots of fun costumes, if I ever do this again, I'm pretty sure I'd like to do it in an 80s theme prom dress or a wedding gown or some other totally non-running gear but that of course would mean that I'd actually do something like this again.

We posed for a few more pictures before heading to the main area for the starting line. I will admit that I was beginning to get a little scared... Ok, A LOT scared.


My cousin, aka, my BFF/Chrissy 'Cuz /Longest Friend/Best Cousin Ever took all the pictures, this one is of people who had already finished the race waiting for the hose...


and for this one... she used the zoom lens to capture me in a very candid shot. It was at this point that I was definitely thinking, "Why the hell did I let Becky talk me into this?"


One final picture of the start line as this post is getting very long... I will finish up with the good pictures and make sure that it gets posted by Wednesday... I really, really will!

Losin' it!

Hi Friends! Happy Thursday!

It's been quite a few weeks since I posted and actually quite a few weeks since the event about which I am going to blog happened, but it's a milestone in our household so I must tell you all about it.

The Son, who is 6.5 years old, finally lost his first tooth! We thought it would never happen as many of his friends have lost multiple teeth but when we were on vacation back in August, he noticed that he had a wiggler.

It took a while and part of that is because he wouldn't "work on it" he was afraid it would hurt when it came out. When it finally did come out, there was blood... a teeny, tiny amount of blood and of course there was drama... a huge, giant amount of drama because of said blood but we soon recovered and soon realized that the tooth was missing. I thought he swallowed it but eventually The Husband found it in the carpet right near where The Son was standing when it fell out. Phew!

The tooth fairy came that night and left The Son $5 since it was his first tooth! She also wrote him a note (that conveniently matches the "tooth fairy" scrapbook paper I already had... imagine that.) and best of all, she let him keep his tooth so that it could be put in the scrapbook... that tooth fairy sure is cool!

Here he is with his Squirrel, Skuggs. Skuggs is holding the tooth wrapped in tissue before we put it under his pillow. For the record, my child does have clothes, he just prefers to walk around with no shirt on. LOL!

Placing the tooth...


Posed? No way... totally candid. ;)


Thanks everyone! I have a busy weekend ahead of me. I am working a couple classes today and then getting ready for a ten-mile race on Saturday! I haven't really trained for the race but I think I can do it even if I have to walk a bit. I'll keep you posted on that. I also have some fantastic pictures of a recent race I did... I got muddy... really muddy. Stay tuned!

Have a great weekend!

The first day of first grade!

Happy Friday my bloggy friends! I actually have a few minutes this morning to write up a blog post for you. The Son gets on the bus at 8AM and I don't have to be at the gym until just afternoon. I've been enjoying myself by trying out lots of new fitness classes at the Y and my nutrition classes that I teach are going well. I also went back to teaching swim lessons. I don't know if I had mentioned on the blog that the Y came up with a "policy" that you had to work 10 hours there to remain employed and with that policy, many of the swim instructors quit. One would have to work pretty much every day to be able to get in 10 hours of swim lessons and since so many of us are moms who work at the Y because we only had to work a day or two, we quit. That didn't bode well or work at the Y so they changed the policy and we all went back. I'm thrilled because I enjoyed that job and it was really nice to see some of my favorite little swimmers again... I missed those little guys!

It's late but I have a few pictures of The Son's first day of school. He's really enjoying himself as a big first grader! He buys lunch every day and decided on his own that he would only get chocolate milk once a week since it's not as healthy as white milk. I'm so proud of that decision as I know the rest of the school lunches probably aren't that healthy.

So... on to the pictures! He may not realize it but I will be taking a picture of The Son on the first day of school at least until he graduates from high school... if he goes to college locally, he might have to endure it then too. (and I'm only half joking with that statement.) Here's a couple on the front step...



Does this one look odd to you? Well, it's a picture of The Son with his first wiggly tooth! Some excitement going on up in here!
Walking to the bus stop...

with Daddy...

Oh Momma... come on!

There it is...
Happy First day of First Grade Son! WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU! Clearly, you're very proud of yourself as well and that's just the way we want you to be!


P.S. Do you think he looks a lot more grown-up? The pictures in the post below are from the first day of kindergarten, I didn't think he looked that different until I posted this but now... I think he does!

Tomorrow is the first day of first grade!

It's official! I am a horrible blogger, this summer has come and gone so fast, perhaps we can just consider it a blogging break? It may or may not continue but for now, I just wanted to post a few pictures of The Son last year on his first day of Kindergarten. I simply cannot believe that my boy is getting so big and will be in Kindergarten for the entire day! He's excited, I'm excited and I think it's going to be a great year.

Here he is last year:

In all honesty, I don't think he looks a lot different this year but when we visited the school on Thursday last week, he sure did look bigger than all the kids who were starting Kindergarten this year. I guess when I post pictures of the big day tomorrow, we'll really be able to see a difference.

Good luck tomorrow Son! Momma and Daddy are SO proud of you and wish you luck in your first day of first grade and your first FULL day of school ever! We love you!

Hi.

Hello out there! I have to take a quick moment to post even though I think I lost all my readers (all six of them) at this point. Alas, I guess this blog is for me and my family anyway so no big deal.

So, did you see my August running mileage? Yeah. That two week break I was supposed to take? It didn't happen. I took a week off and then my "tendonitis" felt better so I ran and did Zumba. Fortunately, it is still feeling pretty good and I've managed to run a lot more, I think it's the Zumba that irritates it so I have stopped doing that seven days in a row. That might have been a bit of over kill, ya think?

Our summer is going well but unfortunately it's going fast. The Son and I are busy at camp and heading to the pool as much as we can. Today we're going to Sesame Place in the evening to hang out with The Niece, The Baby Niece and The Sister for some water park fun. I can't wait. I used to work there YEAAARRRSS ago and I am excited to go back, it's been too long. I hate to do a post without photos so I'll leave you with two more.

Here's a bumble bee on a zinnia at Longwood Gardens, isn't she cute?


Lastly, a silly one of me with my favorite thing in the summer, CORN! YUM! I cannot get enough! Hope you all have a great Tuesday!

A break I don't want.

Hi All! I don't mean a break from my blogging although admittedly, that's happened too. It's been a very busy summer and I never seem to get around to blogging about it.

The break I am referring to is one with my running, and unfortunately, my Zumba classes. I think I have tendonitis in my ankle. I say "I think" because I didn't officially go to a doctor. I consulted a doctor, my BIL, over the phone. He's a gastroenterologist, not a sports medicine doctor or anything like that but he runs... and has ankles so I think he's qualified. ;) He helped me to figure out that I most likely do not have a stress fracture which was my first worry but he assured me that it would be MUCH more painful than it is and after discussing things with him, we decided I have tendonitis. He advised me to take a break from all "weight-bearing" activities for two weeks. TWO WEEKS WITH NO RUNNING? He also advised me that if I didn't, I might be taking off longer from everything... MUCH LONGER so I am listening to him. I am sticking to biking, (ugh.) elliptical, (boring.) and swimming (haven't done that yet.) I also took two days off in a row earlier this week. I get weighed today and have a feeling I will not be happy with the number on the scale. As much as I hate the saying, "it is what it is." I guess that's all I can say at this time.

The good news is that my ankle feels pretty good. I might do a Zumba class on Sunday. One. Class. Don't judge me. I promise I won't run and then I won't do another class until next weekend, that will be officially two weeks. If things don't feel a whole lot better at that time, I will actually go to a doctor.

Well, that's all from me for now, I have to teach a class this afternoon and then attend a class where I will get my (sure to be disappointing) weight and then I'll be teaching another class later this evening. Hope all is well with everyone out there. Happy Thursday!