Monday Motivation: Small Things and Great Ambitions

Most people would succeed 

in small things 

if they were not troubled 

with great ambitions. 

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

One of my favorite quotes and it really sums me up... also could contribute to my tendency toward procrastination. I can sit all day thinking about the things I want to do and at the end of the day realize I did not accomplish anything. Sometimes it is good, other times bad. For example, when I want to write something for work I can think about it for a day or two and when I sit down to type an elaborate review or workflow my move effortlessly to creation a masterpiece. My peers think that it comes easy, they don't realize that I can casually compose in my mind for hours or days before I even start to type so what they see are only the finishing touches. When it comes to workouts and being fit, I think I day dream about the fitness model I could be if all I had to do in life was focus on being a fitness model and then not workout at all.

Last week I decided it was time to take action and went to the gym 2-days in a row! On day one I just worked out on one of those glider things. My gym partner was late so my planned 30 minutes, turned in to 1:20 and about 6 miles done. The next day I decided I would hit the treadmill and to my shock and amazement, I could not run a mile without stopping. Ok, let me qualify that, I am sure under pressure or stress I could manage to run a full mile, but in a casual starting to go-back-to-the-gym kind of way, there was no way it was happening. How does one fall so far behind??? Well, I think I am ready to try and give consistency another go with one of my favorite carrots dangling at the end, a 10K trail run! It's slated for mother's day weekend at that. It is a simple plan. No speed work, no fancy fartleks, tempo runs etc. This little plan will be difficult for me to follow since I struggle with consistency. I have no delusions that I will nail every workout. I do however plan to enjoy a lovely trail course, one I have done before and one I will not be able to fully enjoy unless I can cover the distance at least at a jogging pace. So for that I will train. Believe it or not these 7 weeks will be my success with something small so that I can stop spending so much brain time on my great ambition of getting my weight down. All things in due time.

Wk	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	R	2 m	CT or R	2 m	R	2.5 m	25-30 min EZ run or CT
2	R	2.5 m	CT or R	2 m	R	3.5 m	30-35 min EZ run or CT
3	R	2.5 m	CT or R	2 m	R	3.5 m	35 min EZ run or CT
4	R	3 m	CT or R	2.5 m	R	4 m	35-40 min EZ run or CT
5	R	3 m	CT	2.5 m	R	4.5 m	35-40 min EZ run or CT
6	R	3.5 m	CT	3 m	R	5 m	40 min EZ run or CT
7	R	3 m	CT or R	2 m	R	10K	Yay Me!!!

The Big Picture: I have learned I need to set my self up for success. What else to make a young mother feel strong than a trail run on mother's day weekend. I am all about feeling a sense of accomplishment.

Why I Kick A$$: I made a delicious southern style meal for the family tonight including home made biscuits. Yummy!!

Thankful Three:

1. For several invitations to the gym this week
2. For finding a simple 10K plan
3. For making time to create this post in advance

Friday Five: Happy Trails

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread,

places to play in and pray in,

where nature may heal and 

give strength to body and soul.

~John Muir

10 Km
Elevation Gain: 1,090'
(Per Avocet Altimeter)

1. I need to find my way toward nature to heal my body and soul. I struggled at the beginning of the year with a shoulder issue. Didn't do much in January because of it, February too. The MRI came back ok, I just need to be diligent with rehab and I should be fine with 6 weeks of a focused effort. I am struggling with focus at the moment. Some quality fresh air, maybe a little mud and some ups and downs that aren't at all emotional might be right up my alley. Bring on the trail and bring back the passion for running.
2. I bailed on the 90 day challenge at the gym because I missed my weigh in for February which voided my participation. I am not sure where February went, but it is gone and it appears March is almost gone too.
3. I am flirting with the junky eating again and there is good news and bad news. Bad News: I still think I want to eat that crap. Good News: I have yet to have a satisfying french fry or burger. Next Step: Stop trying to satisfy the memory of a yummy dish and just start enjoying really yummy food. Hiccups: Hydration and vitamins have needed a reminder lately and my strict no eating after 8:00PM has faltered a bit. What's going well is that I mostly have kept things up, just getting use to making healthy a full lifestyle change.
4. I am trying to find my passion and I am having a difficult time. I think it happens to be contributing to the stagnant feeling in my life with body image, fitness and even blogging. I love to blog, but am not carving out enough time to grow this blog into what I want it be, so instead you all get the sporadic posts about the ups and downs in my life both multi-sport and family. I also love to run. While I know I prefer trails, I think I may only like trails. This would be quite the dilemmonade because we don't have trails here and it is unrealistic for me to only trail run based on where I live. To help I have decided to integrate a few scheduled trail runs and see if that motivates me to enjoy pounding the pavement and surviving more consistent efforts on the treadmill.
5. Too treat myself I got these new shnazzy Salomon Trail Tights IV. Spandexy on top, mesh knee backs and tear resistant fabric from the knee down. I will wear them on a mothers day weekend trail run hopefully a few pounds like, much fitter and ready from the 10K training plan I will start soon.

The Big Picture: Consistency is continuing to try. Maybe someday it won't take as much effort to stay motivated and for now I thank you blog world for giving me an outlet.

Why I Kick A$$: Because last night I started "officially" teaching my son to read, night number 2 and I am already so proud of him. Only 98 more days to go. How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

Thankful Three

1. For a short work week
2. For lot's of sleeping in
3. For catching up with great friends.

Saturday Sampler: Something has to change

To exist is to change, 

to change is to mature,

to mature is to go on 

creating oneself endlessly.

~Henri Bergson

Ok, I admit it, I have been slacking. I have been hiding behind my good food choices, more consistent sleep patterns and heavy work schedule to make my inactivity excusable. I have been embracing these excuses. At some point I have to take ownership and just do something different. Last week I decided I would air up my bike tires and use my bike trainer. Apparently I am not proficient with a bike pump and I may have bent my metal thingy that the air goes into. Bummer. I can ramble on for days about my laziness, but instead you get a Saturday Sampler, previously a Friday Five, but was too much of a slacker to post last night:

1. I make awesome smoothies. It is amazing that my kids will drink their fruits and vegetables and know they are doing it. My son loves to guess what goes in them. I regularly use Trader Joe's Beet and Purple Carrot juice as the liquid part and then add lots of spinach, frozen fruit like pineapple, peaches and berries, bananas, flax seed and then some wild cards. Wild cards are whatever else we have in the refrigerator and have included cubed steamed sweet potato, broccoli and cauliflower. Note: plain white cauliflower has a pretty distinct flavor and doesn't totally puree.
2. HIGH: I made fantastic white chocolate butter cream frosting. LOW: my from scratch chocolate cupcakes came out a little dense and didn't rise because I used whole grain unbleached wheat flour. I am pretty proud of myself for baking from scratch and I really ended up liking the wheat flavor of my chocolate cupcakes, very bread like.
3. I am taking a few days off. Yup it has gotten to the point that if I don't take time for me I might implode, wait, explode... whatever, I need a day off and I need to workout. I will hopefully have a work out partner tomorrow, but either way I am going. I have plans to sleep in, get up leisurely and hit the gym at 10AM. It will be glorious.
4.  We had two play dates this week. Pretty crazy stuff, we aren't really into the whole making friends thing (introvert family). Both went amazingly well. Both provided delicious dinners, kid friendly house holds and adult conversation. I may be able to get into this. Did I mention some of our best friends came to town for dinner last night? It is two weeks in a row that they made the trek and being around so many wonderful families this week has truly boosted our families already very high morale. We are definitely riding the happiness wave right now.
5. I have Monday through Wednesday off, I know I mentioned that with the exercise thing in mind but I get see my friends from Seattle. I am super excited because they are such fun, wonderful, smart and creative people. I wish they lived closer.

The Big Picture: Who cares if it is liquid, my kiddos will drink their veges and it is not a secret, I am not sneaking it in, they know what is in them and love them!

Why I Kick A$$: I take time for my friends and am smart enough to decide to get in some workouts too. Who knows, maybe working out 4 days in a row will get me back on track.

Thankful Three

1. For new friends
2. For time off
3. For my a chance to sleep in tomorrow

Monday Motivation: Another 1/2 in the books

The difference between a jogger 

and a runner 

is an entry blank. 

~George Sheehan

So yesterday's half was unlike any half I have ever done. I mentored someone on their first half. Oops, have done that before. I did this half without training. Oops, I do that too often. I did this half with my super amazing cousin who 6 weeks ago had emergency surgery to remove her gallbladder. Yup, this was definitely a first. WOW! For her first half she was completely derailed when her long run had only hit 4 miles. My sweet cousin was also engaged at the time and had planned to get married later in the year. Well taking 6 weeks off from work really threw off her plans to take time off later in the year to get married. So she and her sweetie decided to make the best of her 6 week set back and tied the knot. This is us walking on her wedding night, a very different picture from our half picture. I love that she makes the best of every situation.

After 6 weeks off she went back to the gym and was up to 3 miles. She called me and to my surprise said she still wanted to try the half. I on the other hand had stopped training completely thinking she probably wouldn't run it. I had no interest in a half this spring, I have been lazy busy with work-life and only decided to do this run to support my cousin. C decided she needed to take a more active role in her health when her brother had a heart attack earlier this year. This was a HUGE way of showing herself and her family that her health was important to her for herself and her family. This is us with our game faces on.

We didn't have a plan. She is new to running so I packed the fuel belt, where it didn't even occur to her we would need anything. Having not trained, I was inclined to walk in the first mile and assumed we'd walk the whole thing. Nope, not C, she said I at least want to run the first mile and we did it in 11:50, her fast mile ever! From that point forward we ran and we walked in increments. When we were fresh we'd run half mile at a time and sometime that "run" only lasted about a quarter mile. But mile by mile we concurred the course. It wasn't until mile 10.5 that C truly hit her physical wall and the decision to walk and finish injury free. We ran a bit in the 13th mile and certainly that last .1 which was pretty awesome.

I am so proud of C and her commitment to show up, push her limits each mile and finish. For me it was like reliving my first time to be with her and witness the pain, the achievement and the sheer pride she felt for herself knowing she was doing something so great and so individual. To accomplish something that only you can own is pretty tremendous. Now don't get me wrong, yes I respect family support etc to get the miles in, but at the end of the day the person who puts one foot in front of the other and cross that line gets the glory, and a glorious moment it was. We went to one of my favorite restaurants The Tower Cafe for breakfast after. Way too much food, we both had to pack doggy bags. She had the Denver Omlette and their famous french toast. I had the Oaxacan eggs (corn tortilla, refried beans, corn tortilla, two eggs, mole and cotija cheese. My pancake was made from cornmeal and blueberries and complete rocked my world there and as left overs for me and my two kids this morning. It was a lot of pancake LOL.

After a hot shower and short nap my hubby made me this fantastic dinner: filet mignon, asparagus, grilled mushrooms and onion with garlic, sweet potatoes and Israeli pesto couscous. I couldn't finish this meal either.

The Big Picture: It doesn't matter why I went out there, I too got out there and I too get to be proud of me.

Why I Kick A$$: Despite limited physical activity, my body still remembers what 13.1 feels like and that is why I kick a$$. Thank you legs!

Thankful Three

1. For the amazing breakfast we had after the run
2. For the amazing dinner I had that night
3. For family who inspires me

Monday Motivation: Soccer Mom

Being a mother is learning about 

strengths you didn't know you had, 

and dealing with fears 

you didn't know existed.  

~Linda Wooten

Warning: I do not talk about anything exercise or health food related in this blog post.

I will spare you my nightmares about The Duder going to kindergarten....good lord if this is bad, I do not think I'll be ready to send him off to college. Instead I will proudly announce that it is official:

I am a soccer mom! 

I know I am so excited I already want to go shopping for a small SUV. How did this happen you ask? Well my 4-year old came home from school one day and said, "Mama, I think it's time I learn to play soccer." The quotes are there for a reason folks, this is actually how he said it. As it happens, registration for Tot Soccer had just started so I signed him up. His first game was Saturday and my son did AWESOME! I don't mean to brag, yes I do, but he is a natural. He scored a goal and everything. This is what he looks like when he is not in the game.

Now if you didn't think my son was awesome enough, try seeing the world through his eyes. Actual quote from Saturday's lunch, "Papa look, its the Millennium Falcon!"

 So you got to read about Treat Yo'self, but I am not completely selfish. Last weekend I treated the kids to a trip to Build-A-Bear. We had gotten a gift card at The Bug's first birthday, but she was far to young to enjoy it. She is older now and figure it was time spend that card and a bit more so The Duder could partake. Yeah, she was still too young, but Duder really loved it. I am lame and didn't capture the cool in the store Bear Building, Washing and Dressing, but these faces capture their happiness with their new treats. A bunny named Bunny and a camo bear named Fuzzy.

Apparently the boxes are wicked awesome.

The Bug is all about dressing herself these days. Let me just remind my non-tribe friends here that Chanukah was over in December.

Why I Kick A$$: I raise awesome children....ok Super Hubby helps does it all and I his wife so I kick a$$ for that LOL

The Big Picture: Who cares if it is not Chanukah, my daughter if self confident enough that she wears what makes her feel happy. I am sure one day we will be living in a Halloween costume in summer, and I am ready.

Thankful Three

1. For kids educated in all things Star Wars
2. For a happy family
3. For a break from health food, workout blogging today

Sunday Summary: Treat Yo'self

In December I left my iPhone on top of the car and drove away. An hour and a half later I realized my mistake. It was gone. Lost forever. I reactivated my iPhone3 and thought I could make due until the iPhone5 came out. I could not. Going from the iPhone4 to the iPhone3 is like going from high speed internet to dial-up. So I am now the proud owner of an iPhone4S....thankful for upgrades.

A few weeks back I ordered some clothes off of the GoLite online store. I can sometimes be an emotional shopper. They were clearance items and I felt like I needed to treat myself at the time. As it turns out, the day they arrived is also the same day SuperHubs felt like he needed to treat me to some REI clearance stuff. And so begins my very expensive week in photos...totally worth it by the way. At least that is what I need to tell myself when I am paying the credit card bill LOL

The GoLite convertible skirt can be a long skirt, strapless dress or halter.

I already have a dress made of the same material, so when I saw the GoLite skirt I had to have it. I am not as big of a fan of the lime green side (it is reversable), but the teal side is so pretty. Great for hiking, dry wicking, wrinkle free and wonderful.

Ok, so I got these GoLite Capris in tan, I love the girly cut. The knees have a side split and both the knee trim and inner waist liner are brown. Very cute and under $20. I will be living in these pants on warm days and hikes.

So this color is a little outrageous for me, but I love how soft and fluffy it is. The picture doesn't do the true color justice. The cut and fit is perfect, Patagonia has done good and so did my hubby for snagging this for me. I wear it all too often now.

I broke the rules. I went to the grocery store at night wearing this. A pretty electric blue pullover, gray sweats and bright green crocs. There were actually sirens when the fashion police were coming after me LOL

My son calls this my secret agent jacket. Yes, this comment by my 4 year old made me feel bad a$$ and makes me want to wear it every.single.day.

Why I Kick A$$: The scale is being nicer to me, we're still not BFFs, but I am not scared it's going to be mean to me anymore. Scale Confidence, Get Some.

The Big Picture: Yesterday I gave away the last of my children's baby items. Somethings went to a family member and others to Goodwill. I was really sad at the idea that we would not use these things again. When I handed them over to our cousin, I just loved the idea that another family would get to enjoy babyhood. Happiness is best shared.

Thankful Three:

1. For treats from Super Hubby, it really does make me feel special to get presents
2. For my 4-year old who can boost my self-esteem like a professional charmer
3. For my iPhone...who needs all that extra time to go to the gym. Time is best spent on FB, Pinterest and other mind numbing activities, right?