Couch to 5K: Week One

Photo by emples

Success!!

At the end of last year I discovered a program called Couch to 5k. 

This is a running program that helps you go from the couch (never running) to a 5k in about 9 weeks. 

One of my goals for this year was to be able to run a 5k.

I did a 5k in February. The Race for the Cure actually. It was so much fun! But I only ran about a mile in the beginning (I had no idea I could even run a mile straight). I ran a little bit more at the end but didn't cross the finish line running. I felt like I was going to die at the end so I ended up walking across the finish line. 

I keep starting this program and something gets in the way. 

I think the furthest I've gotten in the program was week 4, trying desperately to get to week 5.

I ended up getting shin splints REALLY badly at one point last year. Then I've started it off and on since January. Butt all the moving and traveling kind of kept me from completing it. 

That, or I just didn't have the dedication to the program that I needed to complete it.

So now, I'm determined. I really want to do a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving this year. I want to run it. The whole thing. That only gives me 7 weeks. 

Can I do it? I don't know. I hope so.

I have started out strongly and I know that doing that kind of thing pushes and motivates you further than you normally go on your own. so I have high hopes.

I think writing about it may help. I hope so.

So this week I did really well and I'm proud of myself.

The program only requires 3 days a week. I figure Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are good since Little Butt goes to daycare those days.

Monday was Columbus day though. The daycare was closed. And The Hubble was home. It's difficult for me to leave the house when The Hubble is home. But I did it! I did my first day on a holiday and left Little Butt and The Hubble to their own devices.

Wednesday there were no issues. Little Butt went to daycare and I did my thing. Although, I was SO freaking tired. I didn't sleep the night before (I have issues with insomnia sometimes). I felt like I was dragging and there was a nice breeze for wind resistance. I sucked bad that day. I got a really bad cramp in my right rib area too.

Friday, The Hubble had his graduation from the Career Course here so I couldn't go to the track. HOWEVER, I went this morning on my own. Yes! I went on a Saturday and it was amazing!

Week one of the C25K program is:

Warm up 5 minutes

Run 1 minute, walk 90 seconds (repeat for a total of 20 minutes)

Cool down 5 minutes

30 minutes total.

I do time and distance. 2 miles on the track is 8 laps. I make sure I do 9 laps. 

Here's how my week broke down:

Monday: 2 1/4 miles 31 minutes 6 seconds

Wednesday: 2 miles 30 minutes 34 seconds (I told you I was dragging!)

Saturday: 2 1/4 miles 29 minutes 57 seconds

I can't believe I shaved about a minute off my time from Monday to today!!! I'm so stinking proud of myself.

Wednesday was really bad. But at the end I took a good 5 minutes or so and did some yoga stretches. That really invigorated me. 

I don't know if my better time today was because of the added yoga stretches or because I had 2 days to rest in between Wednesday and today. 

I guess we'll find out on Monday! 

Have you started any new programs or projects recently that have made you proud of yourself? What were they?

For Further Reading Check Out:

• 2010 Goals: August Update
• My Fitness Page
• Couch to 5k: Week Two

Visits and Family Fun

So my parents came to visit last week.

Now...we live in the middle. Of. Nowhere.

No lie. We really do.

I was pretty worried that they would be bored once they got here. I mean, the mall (or any shopping other than Wally World) is an hour and a half away!

However, as always happens, our schedule filled up at the last minute and we were pretty much busy non-stop. We were even double booked the first day they were here.

The parental units arrive at around 11pm on Saturday evening. We had just come home from a graduation party (can you believe The Hubble graduates his career course tomorrow??? I can't!).

We talked a bit before all hitting the hay for the night. When we woke up it was time to get moving! We were going to a baby shower and a chili cookoff that day so I needed to do some cooking. I made pigs in a blanket (little smokies wrapped in croissant dough) for the baby shower and The Hubble and I worked together to get a vat of chili going (it had to cook 6 hours and the chili cookoff was at 5pm).

The baby shower was the first stop. It was a lot of fun actually. We did the game where you were blindfolded and had to try to find itty bitty safety pins in rice. We also played "pin the diaper on the baby" which was a more suitable game for a girl baby than my original "pin the penis on the baby" game I came up with for a friend who was having a boy a few years ago.

I was extremely surprised to find out there was going to be running games as well. They had an egg race game (you ran with an egg on a spoon and tried not to drop it). I am a clutz so I opted out of that game.

But I did participate in the 3-legged race!

Can you believe I allowed that to happen? LOL! It was fun...we came in third of 4 couples. Lame. Oh well...at least we weren't last. And we didn't fall (although we almost did). I think that's a feat in and of itself.

Even Little Butt gave it the ol' college try. That didn't last long though.

After the baby shower we ran home to get the chili and showed up only an hour late! Everything was delicious and I ate WAY too much. Mmmmm...chili.

The next day was Monday. I made my mother get up and go for a walk with me. She did well. I made her walk with me on Wednesday as well.

We did a lot of hanging out with friends. We had a playdate with B and Princess. We had a spouse coffee to go to on Wednesday but I started getting sick and decided to stay home and have a screwdriver to stave off the sickness instead of going to the coffee.

We watched Iron Man 2 and Little Butt is obsessed! We even went to Wally World and she got a sticker from the greeter. She put it on the palm of her hand and "shot" people as we walked through the store. I won't lie...it was pretty awesome.

The other super fun thing we did was that we finally had a fondue party! I've been wanting to have a fondue party for almost a year now but I didn't know anyone who would play along with me. I found out my friend L (the one who is having the baby) has a fondue pot. So we enlisted a couple other people and had a party. OMG it was good!!! I bought The Melting Pot Cookbook and we had the most amazing meal! Bourbon Bacon Cheddar fondue to start. Coq au Vin cooking style with chicken, shrimp and beef for the main course. With the main course we also made dipping sauces: an her aioli, a roasted red pepper sauce, a spicy cocktail and a spicy honey mustard sauce. Yum!!! For dessert I ruined an entire HUGE bar of melting chocolate (in two attempts) by trying to add some Bailey's to it. It just curdled. No fun. On the second attempt I even tried to add cream to it but it just started separating. So I ended up making a white chocolate amaretto fondue that we dipped strawberries, marshmallows, rice krispie treats, and pineapple into. Did I say it was DELICIOUS??? Because it was.

The fondue was on Friday night. Oh, my parents watched Little Butt on Thursday so The Hubble and I could go on a date. It was nice. We went to a local bar/bistro with some friends. I'm glad we got to do that.

On Friday I also did a bunch of baking so I could send some treats home to my sisters back in Texas.

The parentals left on Saturday and we had the rest of the weekend to relax.

All in all I would say it was a really good visit. But sadly, the only picture I thought to snap was when I was introducing my parents to Dexter. All I had was my phone. Here's how much Little Butt loved hanging with Pawpaw:

And that was our week!

Do you enjoy it when your parents visit? When was the last time you had a family member visit? Was it fun?

Wordless Wednesday: The RAWR Edition

CYS Registration Revisited

Well...here I am again...another week without a post. Grrrr... I'm totally annoying myself.

I actually get really annoyed when blogger's say "I'm so sorry I haven't posted in forever" and here I am doing the same thing. Oh well...what can you do??

Oh that's right! I can post more! LOL!

I kind of have an excuse though. My parents visited this past week so I really didn't get on the computer at all.

But today is not about the visit. Today I wanted to share some good news with you.

If you have been around for a while I'm sure you remember the hassle it took to try to get Little Butt registered with CYS.

Well...I FINALLY got her records! It took a couple tries. I had to request the records to be sent to me after they all made it to the local hospital, which took another week. When I got them in the mail they were ONLY that hospital's records, not the total package.

I was annoyed.

So I went back and let them know how frustrated I was. The lady I talked to went to the back room and within 3 minutes she handed me a copy of all of Little Butt's records.

Really??? It was that easy??

So I went back to the CYS office and rescheduled the special needs training that I had missed since I didn't have the records the time before. Unfortunately, I had to wait another 3 weeks until the training. Boo!

I called the nurse and left a message to set up a time to meet so she could go over Little Butt's records. She called me back a few days later. I explained the situation to her.

Me: My daughter has a food sensitivity to fresh shellfish.

Nurse: Does she have an epi-pen?

Me: No.

Nurse: Does she take medication for it at all?

Me: No. She just gets diarrhea if she eats it, it's not like she'll die or anything.

Nurse: Tell me about the nursemaid's elbow.

Me: Her left elbow pops out of socket if you yank on it really hard.

Nurse: That's it?

Me: Yup.

Nurse: I'm going to call and see if I can get you out of the special needs training.

Me: Really? Thanks!

A week went by and I still didn't hear anything so I left a (what The Hubble called "condescending") voicemail basically asking her what was up. The next day I got a call from CYS and they told me I didn't need to go to the training and I could come in and complete the registration any time.

Are you kidding?? 3 months worth of work and waiting for them to tell me never mind?? Awesome!

So I go in the next day and get her registered. We went to orientation the next week and I scheduled her for the following week (which was the week before last week). She goes Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for 3 hours.

So...Little Butt had her first 2 weeks of daycare and we both survived!

The first day I dropped her off I was a nervous wreck! After I left her at daycare with strangers I met my friend Emily at the track for a walk. I got out of the car and said "I don't have a baby!" and I started crying. Yes...I'm that loser.

Emily and I walked, I went home and showered and got ready then headed back to post to pick up Little Butt.

I tweeted about this the whole time and asked my tweeple if it would be weird to take a camera for the occasion. Luckily, my dear friend Penny told me I definitely should take the camera! So I did. Here is Little Butt after her first time EVER at daycare:

Leaving the CDC we stopped to look at the fish.

Doesn't she look super happy to have gone to school???

The second day I didn't have my camera handy so I only have crappy Blackberry pictures. I picked Little Butt up from the CDC and she looked like this:

She was apparently a puppy. Since we were out and about we decided to stop at my favorite place in the whole world!

I figure I have to train the girl early right?? And no...that isn't coffee. It's a kid's hot chocolate and she loves them and the passion iced tea with half the sweetener.

So that's it. We have made it through our first few days of daycare. I've actually gotten to the point where I like my time alone. I know it's only been 2 weeks but it's nice. I'm even planning on starting up my running again.

Have you gone through any life changing or emotional events lately? What were they? How did you cope? Did you cry like I did??

For Further Reading Check Out:

• CYS Registration Take One

Wild Mind Monday #2

Welcome to Wild Mind Monday! This is a virtual writing group in which we are going to be working our way through Natalie Goldberg's Wild Mind. The link each writing assignment will be posted here the first Monday of each month and will remain up for the duration of the month. If you are interested in joining in, leave a comment with your email address and I will send you this month's assignment. I also ask that you go to each linked blog and make comments on each other's work. When critiquing and making comments, please remember there is a person on the other side of the computer and we need to be kind and respectful while helping each other develop our writing skills. So let's have fun! 


This week we were prompted to play with the idea of returning home. Either return physically or mentally. We were asked to write about home in detail and try not to become sentimental. If need be, we were encouraged to write from a different perspective such as a pet, parent or friend.

"Let me see. Where to start. I would like to start with the concept of home. What is home? How do you know that you have found it?

The majority of the population has a clear cut understanding of home. But I am different. Home is usually where your family resides and where you grew up. Well...most of my family lives in a town I've never been to and in a house I've never seen.

The one place that I return to in my mind as home is my grandmother's house in Oklahoma.

I can talk about the many road trips we took to go 'home' in my childhood.

We would usually arrive in the wee hours of the morning. We would stumble out of the van or the car groggily. Since it was summer in Oklahoma it was hot and humid even in the dead of night. We wouldn't be wearing any shoes.

We would walk up the few stairs onto the porch. A blue glow would be shining on us from the bug zapper as the sound of mosquitoes being zapped filled the air.

The front door was always open but the screen door was locked. My grandma would be sleeping on the couch. A crisp white sheet would cover her makeshift bed.

Through the front door, looking to the left was a squat bookshelf. I believe it was under a window. Next to the book shelf was a tree-like plant. In the corner a little further from the plant was a desk. I'm sure there was a chair at the desk but I don't remember what it looked like.

Next to the desk was the old school television complete with knobs. I do believe it had a remote control to it though. On top of the television I remember there being the shell shaped ash tray that housed my grandpa's pipe and tobacco.

Next to the television was a chair. It was true upholstery. Almost like a tweed fabric. Plain. Boxy. Wooden legs.

Across from the television was the couch. In front of the couch was the coffee table. There was almost always a glass dish of candy on that table. Either lemon drops or jelly beans.

Next to the couch was an end table then my grandpa's leather recliner. He almost always had his jelly beans on the table next to the recliner. Black were his favorite.

A small open area separated the living room from the formal dining room. To the right of the open area was the kitchen; to the left, the hallway with the three bedrooms and the one bathroom.

The open area had a black grate in the floor. It had to have been about 2 1/2 to 3 feet long and 1 1/2 to 2 feet wide. It was rectangular in shape and when the heat was on it would get hot. A gate had to be put around it to prevent little feet from getting burned on that vent.

In the dining room was the formal dining table along the left wall. It was never used but for holidays and remained pushed against the wall. Straight back was a window and an air conditioning unit. On the right wall was a wall unit or curio cabinet.

Walking through the door to the right of the open area was the kitchen. A phone hung on the wall to the left of the doorway. The kitchen table was there to the left, the refrigerator to the right. It was a normal kitchen; fridge and oven along the right wall. Sink and counters/cabinets on the back wall with a window above the sink. There was a door leading outside in the back left corner of that back wall. Along the left wall was a window, a metal rack and a wooden box that housed potatoes.

Back out to the open area and across to the hallway. Enter the hallway, my mother's bedroom to the left. That bedroom was pink and white and never changed. I don't remember a lot of detail about it. The pink and white quilt that was on the white bed. The octopus yarn doll that sat on the bed. Small deer figurines that adorned the bookshelf like headboard. In this room there was also a ceramic washing basin and pitcher. I remember loving that.

Walk out of that room and the guest room was along the left wall. Dark cherry wood furniture with a green comforter. All my grandma's clothes and nice church dresses hung in that closet. The bed was so tall we had to climb up onto it.

Further down the hallway on the right side was the bathroom. Tub to the left with a small window high up on the wall. Rag doll tissue box covers. That's about all I can remember about that room.

Finally, at the end of the hall was my grandpa's bedroom. There was a small bed that the holiday pies used to hide underneath. A small television was in this room and it had an air conditioning unit.

Oh. There was also a built in bookshelf in the hallway on the right wall when you entered the hallway and turned right.

The bedroom windows were all on the left side of the house. There was a fence around the yard and tons of weeds and tall grass on that side. The windows were left open at night and the bugs would chirp and sing their nightly songs.

There was a doghouse in the back yard, a shed and a clothes line. My grandma's huge garden was fenced off from the rest of the yard. There was a coffee can buried into the ground right inside the garden gate where they dumped coffee grounds, egg shells and fruit peels. In the garden were vegetables and fruit trees.

And that's about as much detail as I can remember about that place. There have been so many houses and states over the years. That was my one constant."

Thanks for reading my writing prompt for this week. I look forward to getting comments from you all and I hope to read all about your homes soon!