Couch to 5k ~ Week Five

I know, I know!  I should have been done with week five a week ago, but I wasn't.  And it is not entirely my fault, I promise.  I lost one running day to icy/snowy/coldest-day-yet-this-winter, and after that I had some trouble rediscovering my motivation for doing all of this running stuff.  But, I had a pep talk with myself and last Tuesday I was back at it (meaning I had to start Week Five over).

This was a strange/fun week in the sense that none of the days were the same.  On Tuesday/Day One I had to run 3 five minute sets with 3 minutes of rest between each one.  I honestly thought I was going to die.  It was awful!  Which was crazy because I've had to run five minutes straight before.  I guess I'll blame it on the mental block and the fact that I forgot my iPod and had to run with out music to distract me.

On Thursday/Day Two I had to run 8 minutes and then walk for five minutes and then jog for 8 minutes again.  This day went really well.  I barely felt the run.  (Probably because my personal life had just blown up in my face and the run was a great place to channel all of the excess emotion.)  I even was able to run a little over 3/4 of mile in each of my 8 minute sets.  I know that is not at all impressive in the grand scope of things, but for me - who is the slowest runner ever - it was quite an accomplishment.

Saturday was Day Three of the week.  It was a twenty minute run - straight, NO stopping!  It was cold out (like 20 degrees and hey - that's cold for around here expecially this winter), and I had to talk my self into going out as soon as Justin got up and took over watching the kids.  I was really dreading it - not sure if I could do it; if I was up to it.  But....I did it!  And I did the last seven minutes with out music because my darn iPod died even though I had just charged it!  And you know what?  It was fine this time with out music.  The run was great, and I felt good after it was done.

Now it is on to Week Six - finally! - so pray the good weather holds!

crumbling

Justin had me read this short story last night.  It was called something like How to Tell a War Story; I'm not sure though and I can't remember who wrote it.  It was strange, honest, and sad.  There was one line towards the end that keeps running through my head over and over again.  It went something like this:

You never realize how alive you feel until you're almost dead.

It struck a chord in me somewhere.  I'm not sure why; I'm not really sure how it fits with my life right now, but I know it does.  Maybe it is because my whole world has been cracked into a million pieces and is on the brink of crumbling into nothing.  Maybe it is because all my dreams and goals are almost dead, and I'm just waiting to feel alive again.

I don't know.  I just don't know much of anything right now.  My heart is borken and I'm just trying to figure out where to go from here. 

Just Breathe

That's what I keep telling myself over and over.  It's how I'm getting through this day.

Just breathe.

I've prayed so much that God has to be tired of hearing my voice.  All I've got left is to ask "God, give me strength."

And then I remind myself:  Just breathe.

One minute at a time.  One task at a time.

Just breathe.

I'm strong enough; we're strong enough to get through this.

Just breathe.

Couch to 5k ~ Week 4

Week 4

• five minute warm-up walk
• jog 3 minutes
• walk 90 seconds
• jog 5 minutes
• walk 2 1/2 minutes
• jog 3 minutes
• walk 90 seconds
• jog 5 minutes
• cool down walk

So week 4 is coming a little late...sorry about that.  There's two reasons.  First, I was supposed to finish Week 4 by January 1st, but at of that day I had actually only run twice instead of the required three times.  This was due to the fact that we were traveling, I was sick, then we were traveling again, and then the weather was terrible.  The two days I did run I had to do it on my parents tredmill during which I rediscovered all the reasons why I hate running on  a tredmill.  It was terrible, but I made it through.

In the end, because I had only run two days, I decided to repeat Week 4.  Turns out Week 4 stinks even if you get to run outside in 50+ degree weather.  In fact the only good run I had was on Sunday which, to be terribly honest, was only because I was fueled by blind rage over an incident that had happened earlier that morning.  But a good run is a good run, right?  Right????

The second reason this post is coming kind of late (I"m already working on Week 5 of the program) is because I almost completely forgot about writing it.  Chalk it up to being busy.

Turns out Week 5 isn't much better than Week 4.  I know why this is - this is the part where I have to overcome my mental block and convince myself that I can in fact do this!  And I know I can, because, well, I've done it before.

So, here's to beating my mental block!  I'll be back at the end of the week to tell you how it goes.

look who got a new (to him) carseat

At sixteen months old Gavin finally has outgrown his infant seat!  At his doctors appointment in December he weighed in at 22 1/2 pounds and measured 30 inches long making him officially 1/2 pound and 1 inch too big for his current car seat.  On Christmas Eve we pulled Logan's car seat out of Justin's car and brought it in to size up for Gavin before putting it in my car.  He loved sitting in it!  He is one very happy forward facing baby toddler.

Of course we now have no car seats in Justin's car....I sense a car seat shopping trip approaching in our new future...ugh...

Remembering Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is probably my favorite day of the entire holiday season.  It's always such a relaxing, easy day at home with my family.  I always do something simple for dinner like cheese, sausage, and crackers.  Then we all get dressed for church, and I force everyone to have their picture taken in front of the Christmas tree before we head off to Christmas Eve service.  The church always looks beautiful and the music and the reading of the Christmas story is so moving no matter how many times you hear it.  Then we come home, set out cookies for Santa, and tuck the boys into bed.

This year was no exception; it was wonderful as always.

Justin plays guitar through the entire service so it is just me and the boys sitting together.  This year Gavin decided to take off on me, but he didn't go far...he just wanted to be closer to the music I guess because he just stood up front and listened.

Afterwards there were cookies and cake (birthday cake, actually), and everyone gathered around to talk.  We couldn't stay too long since it was already 8:30, but we stayed long enough for Logan to eat a cookie.

And Gavin discovered his love of drumming...

No doubts about it...it was a beautiful, perfect Christmas Eve!

You Capture ~ Top Ten of 2011

It's my big return to You Capture!  Okay, okay, it's not really a big return at all.  I just haven't participated in so long, and I'm excited to be back!  Alright, so here's my top ten.  They're in not particular order (unless you count working backwards through my files an order).

Oh, crap.  I only got through July before I used up my ten!  I guess I'll just call this my top ten from July through December of 2011.

2011 was a great year full of amazing memories.  Hope everyone else's year was as bright as ours!

Gavin's new favorite activity

Gavin has a new favorite activity...

He really, really likes brushing his teeth.

He likes to watch himself in the mirror while he "brushes" his teeth.

He likes brushing his teeth so much that he thinks he needs a tooth brush in each hand!

As a mother I'm just hoping he loves brushing his teeth this much as he gets older!

The Book List of 2011

I like to read a lot, and just for fun I keep a list of all of the books I've read in a year.   A little over a year ago we gave up our cable to save money, and it turns out it also saved me some time because I read somewhere around 60 books this past year!  And just for more fun I'm posting the list!  The books are chunked by authors.  Some I loved and some I hated but read to the end anyway.  I put * next to the authors I loved, but I won't tell you which books I didn't care for so as not to offend anyone's taste in reading.  Oh, and The Hunger Games has extra * because that series was by far my favorite read of the year! 

Book List – 2011

L.J. Smith

The Vampire Diaries:  The Return – Nightfall

Syrie James

Nocturne

Nicholas Sparks

Safe Haven

The Best of Me

Kim Edwards*

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter

Stieg Larsson

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Sara Gruen*

Water for Elephants

Ape House

Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid’s Tale

James Patterson

The 6^th Target

7^th Heaven

The 8^th Confession

The 9^th Judgment

10^th Anniversary

Ann Brashares

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

The Second Summer of the Sisterhood

Girls in Pants

Forever in Blue

Margaret Peterson Haddix

Among the Hidden

Alice Seabold

The Almost Moon

Suzanne Collins*******

The Hunger Games

Catching Fire

Mockingjay

Rick Riordan*

The Lightning Thief

Sea of Monsters

The Titan’s Curse

The Battle of the Labyrinth

The Last Olympian

The Lost Hero

Tracie Peterson

A Promise to Believe In

A Love to Last Forever

A Dream to Call My Own

Gregory Maguire

Wicked

 Son of a Witch

A Lion Among Men

Charlaine Harris*

Dead Until Dark

Living Dead in Dallas

Club Dead

Dead to the World

Dead as a Doornail

Definitely Dead

All Together Dead

From Dead to Worse

Dead and Gone

Dead in the Family

A Touch of Dead

Dead Reckoning

Grave Sight

Grave Surprise

An Ice Cold Grave

Shakespeare’s Landlord

Shakespeare’s Champion

Shakespeare’s Trollop

Shakespeare’s Counselor

Janet Evanovich*

One for the Money

Jodi Picoult

Sing You Home

Sue Grafton

V is for Vengeance

Jenny Nimmo

Midnight for Charlie Bone

Charlie Bone & the Time Twister

Lisa See

Peony in Love

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Becca Fitzpatrick

Hush Hush

Crescendo

Pittacus Lore

I Am Number Four

unplugged

My last day of work before the Christmas break was the 21st.  It was also the last day I checked my email - both personal and work - until the 1st of January.  I had almost 200 unread emails and almost all of them were just junk mail.

I was only on facebook once and that was to type out "Merry Christmas."  (And only because everyone was napping and I had some time on my hands.)

I didn't read any blog posts and only posted once just so I could keep up on my Couch to 5k posts.

I didn't use the internet (unless you count buying two books for my new Nook Color).

I only sent two texts - both to answer questions for someone.

I only made a few phone call - all to my mother to keep her updated on our travel plans.

I have 300+ pictures on my camera that have yet to be saved to my computer much less edited and posted.  Oh, and then there are the videos that need to be saved to the computer too.

I did take my children to Christmas Eve service, and I did bake cinnamon rolls Sunday morning and watched the boys open their presents.  I did eat Christmas dinner with Justin's family, and we did drive seven hours to Iowa right after.  I did read four books.  I did play with my children.  I kept up with my running.  I shopped with my sister, and we got pedicures.  I played a board game with my family and watched along with family and Aunt and Uncle as Iowa lost (boo).  I watched my children play with their cousins for the first time since July.  I got to spend the day with extended family on my Dad's side.

I didn't set out to "unplug" this holiday season, but as I was doing all of these things (and many more) I just didn't feel the need to check mail and facebook and blogs and surf the web.  I was so happy to just be, so happy to live in the moment for once.  It was a great holiday season full of love and happy moments; the best way to start of a new year.

A New Year

We've been home from Iowa for almost 24 hours now.  I have slept in my own bed.  I've spent the day cleaning out my boys' playroom and making room for all of the new loot that they have received this Christmas.  I've played Hungry Hippos and Chutes & Ladders with my oldest and held, cuddled, and rocked my youngest.  Both boys are in bed so I've finished my first Nook book and checked my email.  Now I'm here... 

Oh, and my fridge is still empty, and I'm not even worried about it.  Good thing my mother-in-law invited us out for lunch and Little Caesars sells pizzas for $5.

If today is any indication of how this new years is going to go, I think it is going to be a good one.

Happy New Year Everyone!