5-K

Well... I have finally signed up for a race so actually have something to work for. I will be running the Windermere 5-k in Spokane. My friend Kristi inspired and pushed me (in a good way) to sign up so as of last weekend I am registered.

I started my training today. I had planned on starting tomorrow but it's so nice out today that I had to go out! I walked 2.3 miles in 31 minutes. I feel pretty good about that time. it is a 13.48 mile. I found that I definitely need to go get a light weigh and easy to hold water bottle. I think I would have run a little and gone a little further if I had some water with me.

I also need to find a light weight, long sleeve shirt, hopefully with a pocket as I need to carry my phone and key with me.

Anyway... Rambling...

Must...Get...Back

to the gym! It was a bad week for going to the gym compared to the last few weeks. I haven't been since last Monday. Now I'm not feeling that well and have a few busy work mornings ahead of me. I must make time for me though!

It was a busy and fun weekend. There was a celebration at Ross Point for John and Fay Batchelder's 10 year anniversary of being at Ross Point. I used to be really shy and unsure of them (not because of them but because of my own insecurity) but I have come to love and cherish them through the years. I now attend church where they do and usually sit with them and their family. I love seeing them on a weekly basis.

Anyway... It was also busy because my friend Ericka came to town for the celebration. We had a good time with other friends. Today was supposed to be my relaxing day but I ended up going to the Amend's to do laundry as our machines are not working properly. It was a nice time but now I need to get some sleep and hope to feel better tomorrow!

Hope you have a blessed week!!!!

1/17/11

Today I pushed myself a little. I think I ran a 5.5 for a minute or so and did my 1 minute running at a 5.0. I ended up doing 2 miles in 33 minutes. My legs were really hurting today. I think I had my new shoes tied to tight. I need to play with them to make them feel better. After my run/walk (1 minute-2 minutes) I rode the recumbent bike and went 3.37 miles in 20 minutes... I was not pushing myself on the bike for sure.

Anyway... Short update post. I like that I'll be able to look back on this and see my improvement as I have improvement everyday!

Be blessed!!!!

New Shoes

Yesterday I spend time with Kristi and Sarah shopping. My goal was to buy some good, high quality running shoes. I was able to purchase a pair from REI which I was pretty happy about because I have heard they have a great return policy. The guy there was very helpful and even taught me a new way to tie my shoes so I can create a kind of ratchet to make them tight so they will hold my heels down. It turns out that Kristi got the same exact shoes except in yellow. AND Sarah has the same ones too, or very similar :) We are a special trio. We had a great time together.

I am looking at joining a new gym for a few reasons. The first being that our work membership is possibly going to be eliminated. There are a couple of places near my house that I plan on checking out this week. Plan on is the key word. I think I would utilize it more if I was paying for the membership too.

I am not going to register for the Snake River half but am probably going to do the Race for the Cure in April. I know I need to commit to something so I actually have a goal.

Anyway... I'm off to get my computer looked at and go to Stamping club... Hope you have/had a great Sunday. I have been watching the Seahawks since I got home from church... Hope they turn the game around (they are down 0 - 28). Not that I'm a huge football fan but I do enjoy the "home team".

Update

Well... First I will say that I ended the fast on Monday. Not for any real reason except that I just did. I am proud of the week I gave it and now know that I can do it again and be successful. I was being really diligent about reading the bible but that has definitely slacked off this week. I need to get back to it.

I have been doing better and better on the treadmill at the gym. On Monday I did 1.75 miles in 45 minutes - all walking. Today I did 1.79 miles in 30 minutes and I RAN! I was so scared to run but I had 2 friends on either side of me and I did it. I mostly ran at 4.5 but for a minute maybe I ran at 5. I was really challenged by the Biggest Loser last night when Bob had the biggest guy running at a 5 for a short amount of time. I thought... why can't you do that. It turns out that I can and I won't fly off the treadmill and die. I wanted to pump my fists in the air. I was so proud of myself and can't wait to see what I do tomorrow or Friday.

You know that person I was choosing to love? Well I did talk to her about her e-mail and it didn't go so well but I know that I am in the right and am just doing my job (with confirmation from my boss). I'm going to chose to move on and work with her to the best of my ability. I know we will never be friends or really like each other but I will chose to be polite and try to love her like Jesus does. I found it funny though, that after that confrontation I had the best day of work in a long time. I made a phone call to the Orthodontist's office and the lady that I talked to said I made her day so much better just by calling. I love that office and I love that lady. She is a blessing to my life. I have met so many wonderful people with my job change and am really loving that I am fostering relationships and am seeing the fruits after a year and a half. That wasn't all that made my day good... it was just a good day!

I meant to keep this a short update but it turned out to be long. I hope you don't mind reading about my running progress because that's kinda my hobby right now. I plan to go shopping for some good running shoes this weekend with some friends. I also need to start on a baby blanket for my friend who had a baby yesterday (1/11/11). She had a little boy and I hope to meet him someday (they live in CT).

Hope you have a blessed day!!!!

Love

Love your neighbor as yourself... While worshiping at church today we were singing the words along the lines of I will love who you love or something like that. That is not something I always do very well. I am more aware of how I need to be loving those that hurt me or I feel like they don't respect me or what I do. I got a pretty annoying e-mail from someone at work in response to something I had said to her and I need to choose to love her. I will do my best to do that. I will still deal with the situation but I will deal with it in love instead of anger.

As for the fast... I have decided to add back into my diet whole wheat bread and chicken/turkey. This is still a big difference from what I was eating before the fast and I feel like I need a source of carbs and a better source of protein.

Yesterday I walked 1.5 miles in 30 minutes and rowed for 10 minutes and biked for 10 minutes. I hope to get to the Y today this afternoon or evening. I have decided to decide by Friday whether or not to register for the half-marathon that is in March. We shall see how I am feeling by Friday!

Yesterday

Yesterday I did almost 3 miles in 1 hour. I hit the wrong button on the treadmill so ended up with 2.92 miles in 55 minutes. I decided the Wii is definitely not accurate!!! I will hit the treadmill again on Saturday and hope to see some kind of gain!

I did end up breaking my fast yesterday evening to have a little bit of chicken noodle soup as I was not feeling well. I'm going to get back to it today even though the temptation is so big to just give up.

1/5/11

This morning I had an early dentist appointment for one of the girls. I hate having to leave campus before 8 in the morning as I really like being able to sleep in and take my time in the morning. This girl really needs to be in school as much as possible so I do 8 AM appointments for her dental work (she needs a lot). Anyway... It was good that I was up early this morning so I could drive to CDA to see my parents before they go back to MT in the next couple of days. I drove over and spent a few hours there. My grandma kept offering me food and I had to turn her down. I'm doing well so far on the food. I have even made some dishes that I think were pretty good. I made a wilted spinach salad tonight. My mom taught me this salad but you typically use bacon drippings for the dressing. I decided to use the juice from my can of mandarine oranges along with a little olive oil and balsamic and it turned out great. I sauteed mushrooms in that juice and just put it over the spinach and then added the mandarines as well as some craisins and sunflower seeds. I forgot to mention that I spent the afternoon sleeping! I don't know if it is the food detox or if I'm just fighting something off but I had a terrible headache and after my co-worker said I was extremely pale I decided to turn in for the day. I took a little nap and am catching up on a few missed episodes of Parenthood and The Office before going back to sleep. Tomorrow I must hit the gym and see what I can do on the treadmill. The race I would like to do caps at 500 runners so I should get registered but I'm a bit scared to as I don't want to waste the registration fee if I'm not ready. We shall see! Thanks for reading about my journey :)

Today

My fast has gone really well so far. I am really missing hot drinks :) I was really hungry yesterday and decided it was because of the lack of carbs. Today I am much better and am getting used to it. I ended up doing some running/walking today using my Wii Fit. I'm not sure how accurate it is but I said I did about 4 miles in 30 minutes. My friends son showed me that you can just shake the Wii Remote and it registers you moving... I didn't do that but don't know how much I really did. I also must keep in mind that running in place is not as hard as actually moving forward! Anyway... It's a start :)

Fasting

I have been going to Victory Faith Fellowship since the summer sometime. I have really enjoyed the great worship and awesome teaching. I love going to church. They start the year out with a whole church fast for 21 days. I knew that as I went to church but I did not know I would be participating. I have never really done a real fast before so it's a little bit scary. I went in to church asking God to let me know if I was supposed to and what I was supposed to do for a fast. Pastor Craig was speaking to the people that had been in the church for 2-3 years that had not participated before and basically told them to man up. That really spoke to me so I have decided to man up.

I am doing a Daniel fast as close as I can. This means I will eat only fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and drink only water and fruit and vegetable juice for 21 days. I decided to clean out my cupboards and put all of my non-fast food in a tub for 21 days. I went to the grocery store and stocked up on foods that I can eat. I had 2 brown rice cakes with crunchy Adams peanut butter and slice bananas and some apple juice for breakfast. Not to hard yet. The most important thing for me to remember is that it's not a fast if I'm not in prayer and in the bible, its just a diet then. This morning as I ate my breakfast I read the first few chapters of Daniel where the Daniel fast comes from.

Anyway... So I am putting this on here just to document what I am doing.

I am also going to attempt training for a half-marathon in March. Now... this is a pretty big feat as I haven't run a race since I was in 4th grade and we did the "Heart and Soul" run as a class. We shall see how I do. It's only through Christ that I will be successful. Luckily, the running plan I made on runnersworld.com has me resting today. Tomorrow it's 5 miles I think. I predict I will be doing a lot of walking tomorrow and not much running... We shall see. This is just an attempt. At least if I'm not feeling like I'm ready there are quite a few other races coming up in the area.

It's 2011 and it's off to a challenging start with these things God has placed on me. But I will seek Him and be blessed!

Happy New Year

I am glad it is 2011... Not for any big reason but just the fact that it's something new. I decided to make a few resolutions this year and thought I would just put them on here...

1. Send out birthday cards and give them at work

2. Be more intentional about writing thank you cards to those that don't expect them

3. Tithe as commanded (10%)

4. Buy a new car (not that this is really a resolution but a goal)

5. Simplify the things I have in storage. (I currently have boxes all over my living space and need to go through them and really decide what is important to me and why)

6. Clean my living space on more of a schedule.

That's quite a lot but I do hope to be successful. I guess we shall see :)