Snap Out of IT

The weather in MD is finally at a good temperature that I feel safe enough to start planting my veggie garden. I have two raised gardens that John built for me several years ago. Through trial and error I have learned what grows best for the amount of sun that they get. I would not call myself a green thumb, but I do enjoy how it feels when you get your first harvest!

John and I picked up a few plants at Home Depot on Sunday. We started with cucumber, tomato, zucchini and a few different types of peppers. I tend to slowly add to my gardens. When I first started I added too many plants, way too close together!! Big lesson learned.

The plants look so tiny, but just wait!!!

After John and I got home from our errands, we discovered a problem!!!! Wahhhhhh...

The dishwasher died!!!! Seriously?? We just replaced the stove and microwave in March. Honestly, there is never a good time. I just need a break!! 

Back to Home Depot we go!! Kicking and screaming.....It is now sitting in our garage waiting for the coming weekend so John can install it. Figures I literally just paid off the Home Depot bill last week!! 

Before spin on Tuesday I made myself a tortilla veggie pizza. It was so good. I love adding as many vegetables as possible. I have to be honest, today has been the best day (over the past week) as far as my eating goes. I have continued to be in a crazy spiral funk. That said funk is causing me to eat. In turn causing me to gain. I feel it!!

Since my half was Saturday, I knew Sunday should be a rest day. I was in no mood to work out Monday, even though I knew I should. I anxiously waited for John to return from his first day of his new job!! It was nice to hear that it went really well. I realize now that this whole job change has really affected me. This has been several months in the making. Hopefully, we will settle back into our routines and life will go back as it was. Making such a big decision like a job change can really be stressful. Glad it is now behind us! 

Do big life decisions affect how you eat??

St. Michael's Running Festival

My morning started super early. I honestly think that I might have slept for an hour...maybe! Not sure what was up with me, but I could not fall asleep. Just wide awake. Glad my husband was getting some sleep, but I was jealous!!!

So glad everything was organized and ready to go. We left the house at 4:30am. 

Two hour drive east over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. It was cloudy and rainy. We still had one hour to go and I hoped to sleep in the truck, but that never happened. John and I always seem to have some great conversations in the car! He starts his new job Monday and we are excited for what our future holds:)

Getting ready to run and the sun comes out!! There was a nice cool breeze and everyone was talking about how perfect the weather was for a run.

Me being goofy! As if I could ever run a 7-8 mm!! LOL

The starting line. Boston is still on runners minds. 

Found Colleen!!

Colleen and her brother Joe.

 I was happy to find Colleen and her family. Her brother was running the half and a daughter was running the 5k. She had a big group with her to cheer her on. The race started 10 minutes late due to traffic. I have not run this race before but was looking forward to how flat it was. Colleen and I started out running together for the first 3-4 miles or so then lost each other during a water station.

 I have to say that I have never run such a flat race and I am not sure if I liked it. I always look forward to a down hill even if it means going uphill. The race was almost too flat. I did really well for the first 8 miles. My pace was around 10:12. Miles 5-10 were so BORING!!! I figured we would be running close to the water but no. I could smell the water! We were pretty much running a flat open road. Nothing to look at but trees then open fields. It seemed to go on forever until we hit the turn around point and had to run back. Mentally I was dreading it!!

 Yes, it was motivating seeing the top finishers coming back toward you in the opposite direction after they had reached the turn around point, but all I could think was, "Seriously, this is it? Running a flat boring road for all these miles???" I need things to keep me distracted. To keep my mind busy looking at something besides grass and trees on a very straight road!  Don't get me wrong, St. Michael's is a beautiful town. The cute shops that line Main Street and restaurants are what keeps John and I coming back to visit. Maybe it would not be as boring if we were biking, but running just seemed hard to me. 

Mile 8 is when I started to have some pain in my upper right leg/thigh area. Almost where my leg meets my hip/torso. Seriously, what the heck?? I have never had this pain before. Usually I am bothered by some ankle or IT issues, but never this. Mile 9, I stopped to try and stretch it out, but was not even sure how to stretch that out. I held on to a stop sign post and stretched out my hamstring/quad, but that did no good. I continued on, walking through the water stops. Something that I did not want to do, but the pain really bothered me. The winds really started to pick up with the rain approaching. You could see the dark clouds in the distance. Thankfully, the rain held off.

Around mile 10 we were back in town and then turned off to a paved trail through the woods. We stayed on this paved path until we hit the finish. I am disappointed that I did not do better. Usually my last mile is faster then my first. My adrenaline gets me going knowing that I just have one mile to go and I will see John at the finish, but the pain in my leg was really bothering me.

With as flat as this course was I should have done much better!! Boo.

John enjoyed a nice breakfast in town while I was out running. He loves to walk the marinas and check out all the boats. He loves to be out on his boat crabbing, fishing or duck hunting. We would love to live somewhere close to the water one day, but we will have to see.

Hot, sweaty, sore mess.  

Love the metal!!

Happy Friday All

Crazy how you can just wake up in a better mood. These past few weeks have been kinda tough. Just been in a weird funk and it seems to have lifted. Everything just been much better all the way around. Work went well. The weather is beautiful. Even better that today is Friday!!! 

When I got off work the weather was perfect to put the top down on the jeep and get some errands done. How cute is my top? I bought this a few months ago at Forever21. I love the collar!

First stop was this amazing bike shop. John and I went here on Sunday to look at a bike rack for my jeep. They did not have the one we wanted, but they did at another store and had it sent over. 

John and I checked out all the bikes on Sunday. I have enjoyed spin so much that I am considering purchasing a road bike. John and I have Trek hybrids and enjoy biking together.  A triathlon is on my bucket list and I am told that once you do one, chances are you will get hooked!! It is nice that I can rent one for a race. It is a BIG commitment to invest in a road bike!! Even a used one can run about $500. 

 I had a $100 giftcard that I have been waiting to use. Holds two bikes and the arms fold down when not in use. I did some research and the Thule seemed to be the best and easiest to use.

Another reason for today to be awesome.... our youngest, Taylor came home from college today!! Time to say goodbye to the beach and get a job! She is home for the summer and all her sisters are happy for her to be home too!

Saturday morning I am running a half marathon. I always get things organized the night before. Charging my Garmin is top priority. My alarm is going off at 4am and then a two hour drive!!

They weather is not looking the best for a race. Better then super hot and humid. A gentle rain can be a nice distraction. I have never run this race before and am looking forward to it. Nice to change things up!!

I gotta go to bed. Figures I am WIDE AWAKE!!!

Weigh In

Hi readers!! Sorry I have not posted this week. I have been super busy these last few days and really need to manage my time better. I want to make posting a priority and I have so many thoughts and ideas that I want to share. Time just gets away from me and it does not help that I do not have the fastest computer in the world. It would also help if I knew what I was doing!!!

There you have it. Honestly, it should be more. I am really, really struggling. No problem with the exercise (thank goodness) but not making the best food/portion choices. I hate that I am doing this to myself!! I hate that these bad choices are effecting my mood/spirit. I do not like the feeling of feeling out of control. That is were I seem to be these days.

Sat.       5 miles with running group

Sun.       rest

Mon.      rest

Tues.    60 min spin

Wed.    4 mile run

Thurs.  60 min spin

Tonight at spin. we were told to bring our heart rate monitors if we had them. I have wore mine a few times running, but have really never thought much about it. Mine is a Garmin. When I bought my watch I also purchased the heart rate monitor too.

You wear the heart rate monitor just under you bra. It is really comfortable and you honestly do not realize you have it on. Then it syncs to your watch that monitors your heart rate. My class is an hour long. We have several hill climbs and flat roads. Working our way up to a 20 minute climb. During this time we were told to start our monitors. I have only been taking spin for about 4 months now, 2 times per week. I love love love spin!! 

After spin I am always a hot sweaty mess!! I had sweat dripping off of me onto the floor!! Sweat was dripping off the end of my ponytail. That is how sweaty of a workout I get. That being said, I know that I gave my all. Could I do better? Push harder? Over time, yes. For now this reading will be a nice starting point. I also realize that not everyone will have the same reading.

This is my result after 20 minutes of a steady seated climb. Good? Bad? We were given some literature after the class on the importance of what our heart rates mean and for training purposes. Many people in the spin class are also avid cyclists.  They are all about their heart rates!! I still have so much to learn!! My spin instructor told me to start wearing my heart rate monitor to class. This will allow me to get a better idea of where I am and it would be a good idea to wear it while running for comparison. It will be fun for me to see any changes. I am up for the challenge.

Super excited to be running the St. Michaels Running Festival on Saturday. I will be running the half marathon. This is the first time running this race. Instead, changing up some of my races that I have run several times for some new ones. Can't wait to share all about it!!

Crazy Funk

Hey all. Hope everyone is as happy as I am that today is Friday!! This has been a long week for me. I worked a few extra hours so I felt like I was off my routine. Plus, I have been in a crazy funk for the past week. Just having a hard time keeping my portions under control and for some reason I have really been thinking about food way too much!! Why is that??? 

First up is my weight.......

Your eyes are fine!! I made the decision to NOT weigh myself this week. My period came on Tuesday and I feel that my clothes are tighter. I knew if I got on that scale it would totally dictate my mood! My eating has been all over the place so I knew, along with my period that I would be up for sure. This would be a steady increase over the past few weeks. It would make me crazy!!! 

With the wedding behind me, I feel like I may have lost my focus just a little. Not that I needed to loose weight for my daughters wedding, but I did keep that in mind!! My husband is going through another job change and that is really starting to get to me. Crazy how life can affect how we take care of ourselves.

 I want to continue to put healthy foods in my body, despite what life may have in store for me.  Foods that will make me feel good, lean, healthy and strong  I want to be kind to my body. I want to treat it with the respect that it deserves. This body has been so good to me! 

Mon.    5k treadmill run/ 25 min ARC

Tues.   60 min spin

Wed.    5 mile outside run

Thurs. 60 spin

My workouts have been awesome and I have feel really good about that. I need to try and fit in some yoga/pilates and more strength training. I have had some knee pain and the physical therapist says that I need to work on my glutes!! Sadly, I will be skipping boot camp tonight. Way too many squats and lunges. Meeting with my running group in the morning and not willing to take the chance.

Puddle jumping with Colleen during our Wednesday morning run!

I work a few doors down from a GNC so I popped in to buy one of these! AWESOME!

What are your plans for the weekend?

Anyone else thinking about food way too much lately??

Shopping in Georgetown!

Saturday the weather was gorgeous and the girls and I had plans to go to Georgetown. Georgetown is located in Washington, DC and runs along the Potomac River. We met at the house at 8:30 knowing it would take us about an hour to get there. Jennifer, Ty, Kaitlyn, Kelsey and myself were going. I have always wanted to go there. Believe it or not, I ran right through Georgetown when I ran the Marine Corp Marathon. The streets were shut down for it and I remember seeing Lululemon and Georgetown Cupcake!! There are SO many shops that I am not sure it is possible to see them all in one day!

We arrived right at 10 and Ty needed his diaper changed before we got started. Seriously, how many women does it take to change a 9 month old?? LOL 

Kaitlyn wanted to have Ty first. We thought the front carrier would be easier then the stroller. Glad we did, because by 2pm it was so crowded!!! Everyone had the same idea as we did since the weather was perfect.

Georgetown is beautiful with lots of history. For the most part the sidewalks are all brick and I felt like you really needed to concentrate while walking for fear I would trip!

Me with 3 of my girls. Taylor will be home from college in just a few weeks!

Goofy girls.....

We enjoyed lunch at Serendipity. My burger with sweet potatoes fries was amazing!!!

 I went to the Alex and Ani store and I was excited to finally purchase my marathon bracelet to add to my collection!! Plus, I ran my first marathon on these very streets that I purchased my bracelet from! Cool, right? This was the only purchase I made besides a top from H&M:)

Is was also so funny to see these sisters fight over their nephew!

They would all claim to be his mother!! So cute.

Wish I would have taken more pictures of the actual shops. I enjoyed Lululemon, but sadly made no purchases. This is my Christmas and Birthday store. I have a hard time spending that kind of money just on a day out shopping!! There was a yoga class going on upstairs and that is where the sale rack was:(

Gorgeous afternoon!!

Seriously, I had the best time. We always have so much fun together. Early Mother's Day gift to me!!!