My 2014 Vision Board

OK it's Saturday and I have time so here comes another blog post for today! I have a feeling most of my posts will happen on the weekends when I have time to catch up!

So I read this fab blog called Peak 313 Fitness and this year she talked about making a vision board to visualize your goals for the year. Her post is HERE if you want to take a moment to read it and get an idea what I'm talking about.

Taking my word INTENTIONAL and running with it, I had SUCH a fun time putting this board together! I already had the large bulletin board in my bedroom, it had photos of hubby and I through the years on it - I moved those photos to another place and used the bulletin board for this project. I used things I found in magazines, some free printables from the Peak 313 blog, and also printed out some things from my Pinterest Boards that I found especially inspirational.

The board is set up in four sections with four major areas of life I'd like to be intentional in this year. 

Relationships, Finances, Health and Faith. 

I know a few friends who are making similar goals this year and I'm excited to have people who will help keep me accountable and cheer me on. I hope to do likewise for them as well and pray that I can be an encouragement in their lives as well.

Clare's vision board idea stems from the concept of 'dream it, do it' ... so you dream of the progress you'd like to make in certain areas of your life, then you make a plan of action so you can DO IT! 
I also LOVE how on Clare's posts she uses this verse as a guideline, after all, if you pray that the Lord will help you, He will never fail to show up and give you the strength to accomplish great things! 

                                    “Commit to the Lord whatever you do,
                   and he will establish your plans.” Proverbs 16:3

OK, here is the whole picture of my board: 

Here is the HEALTH section

And my health section DREAM IT / DO IT goals:

Here is my FAITH section

And my faith section goals:

Here is my FINANCES section

And the finances section goals:

My RELATIONSHIP section

And the relationship goals:

I put this photo of my family over the photo of NO FB ... not because I am 

going to stop using FB altogether, but I want to be intentional about limiting

my time on there and specifically limiting the time while my family is home

and awake. If the girls aren't home or are already in bed for the night I don't

mind spending a little time on it. But if it's the evening time and everyone is home

and awake I want to spend that time WITH THEM, not with FB. 

At the top of the board is my word for the year as a little reminder. 

And in the center I printed out Clare's Dream it ---> Do it graphic. 

Here is the whole thing hanging on my wall. I get so inspired each time I walk past it!

How about you? Do you have big dreams, plans or goals for the year? 

Iron Horse 5K and Half Marathon

So one of the only things I enjoy about running is doing races. Because just running day to day is all fine and good for your health but doing races makes it worth all your hard work plus it's FUN! If you've never been to a race before you'd be surprised ... there really is a fun element to it with food, prizes, music, etc. We've done several 5K races and I hope to train for a 10K this summer, plus I've always wanted to do one of those adventure races like the Diva Dash ... so we'll see, maybe soon!

 

Anyway, back in February I began running with a friend {Christina} because she was training for a half marathon and wanted a partner. I told her right from the start I wasn't interested in doing the half, but that I would gladly run with her 2 days a week on her 'short' runs. So for the last 12 weeks we've gone 2x per week doing either 2, 3 or 4 miles each time {ONE time I ran 5 with her - my longest ever}. There have only been a few times we've missed - either because I couldn't make it or she couldn't, but otherwise we've been totally consistent and I've seen a huge improvement in my running since we started. It's been such an encouragement to have a great partner there to cheer me on even on days when I wanted to quit or not do it at all.

 

Anyway, Christina and her husband had already signed up for their half marathon and then a couple weeks ago Bob and I started talking about maybe going up to the race too - there was a 5k and a 10k, plus the half ... so we knew we could run the 5k plus we'd get to see our friends run their half and I knew I wanted to cheer my running partner on as she crossed the finish line.

 

The race was held in Simsbury where my brother in law and sister in law live - we talked about spending the night at their house so we wouldn't have to get up too early but ended up at the last minute deciding to stay home. I think it worked for the best as I slept better in my own bed. Anyway, we got up at 5am and were in the car by 5:15 ... we grabbed a coffee and a wake-up wrap from Dunkin' Donuts and hit the road! It took a little over an hour to get there, we parked and went to get our race bibs and shirts. There was such a great air of excitement and it was a beautiful morning!

 

They had port-o-potties and thankfully no lines so we used them before heading back to our car ... we wanted to leave our race shirts in the car and just get situated with everything we needed. We were parked about a half mile away so walking back and forth a couple times was a great little 'warm-up' for the race.

 

 

We texted our friends to see if they had arrived and headed back to the check in area ... we walked around a bit, checked out the race map and then found our friends ... in the now HUGE lines for port-o-potties ... ugh ... the bad thing was we both felt like we wanted to go again before the race started but did NOT feel like waiting in HUGE lines ... however we decided to wait anyway and honestly it was a good decision - you never want to be on the race course and needing to go to the bathroom! Plus, I really HATE that gurgly feeling when I have too much liquid in my stomach that is just bouncing around as I run! LOL

 

As we waited in line we had the guys take a couple pictures of us ... SOOOOO thankful for my running buddy!!!

 

 

 

 

 

After that it was almost time to start lining up at the starting line so we started heading that way ... we had someone take a group photo of us before we gave hugs and said goodbye and good luck to our friends ... we knew it wouldn't take us long for the 5k but that we wouldn't see them again for a couple hours.

 

 The 10K had started at 7:30am ... but the 5K and Half started just a minute apart from each other at 7:45 and 7:46 ... the half started first and as I was lined up waiting for our starting gun they ran past us and our whole crowd began clapping and cheering for them ... I got a little choked up thinking of my friends beginning this race they had trained SO hard for! But no time for tears because just a minute later our starting gun went off and we had to RUN! I pressed the start on my music and got going! It took me 20 seconds just to cross the starting line because there were so many people ...

 

I thought things were going well and my only real issue was that I HATED the play list I had chosen {trust me you don't even wanna know but it was bad} ... but when I passed the one mile marker it said 10:30 and I was like 'what?! that's so slow!' so I knew I really needed to step it up a lot! I had a goal of wanting to finish under 30 minutes and knew at that pace it wasn't going to happen. So I tried to pick up my pace just a bit. It was hard, it was SUPER hot and humid out that day and my body is mostly used to running in the cold weather. I passed the 2 mile marker at exactly 20 minutes and knew that thankfully I had gained some time ...

 

When I had about a half mile left a lady on the sidelines yelled out 24: {something something} and I was like 'OK Kathy, you can do this, you still have time to get under 30 minutes but you really need to haul!' ... when I turned the final corner and saw all the people cheering on the sidelines I just started booking it ... when I saw the time clock hit 29:45 as I got closer I was telling myself to hurry up and get over the finish line before it hit 30:00 .... I was SO thankful when I crossed that finish line! They handed me a water and a medal - I have never gotten a medal at a 5k race before and was SO excited that every finisher got one! I saw Bob and we sat down and we were POURING sweat!! I snapped this photo right away ... it was such a great feeling!  

 

We decided to walk around because we knew we had a while to wait until our friends would finish. We walked over to the park where they had a live Jimmy Buffet cover band playing, lots of tents with freebies and food. We got some water bottles and filled them up with Gatorade and water because we just kept pouring sweat for about a half hour. They had computers where you could look up your time and we pulled up our bib numbers .... here is mine:

 

Three things I was shocked about -

1. my time!!! I was excited to see I was under 30 minutes once they accounted for my passing the start line 20 seconds late. I met my goal - SUPER stoked about that!

2. my bib number ... I never even looked at it before that moment and about died when I saw the 666 ... oh my if I had only known I probably would have thought it was cursed - kinda glad I didn't know until that moment! LOL

3. my place! I couldn't believe I got THIRD place in my category! WAHOOO!! 3rd out of 17 women isn't bad ... the last race I did I was 12 out of 19!

 

Do you know what Athena is?? It means you're a woman over 150 pounds - yep, sometimes it pays to be a big girl ... cause if I was under 150 I would NOT have gotten 3rd place for my age group!! My daughter didn't know what Athena was but has learned all about Greek mythology this year in school so she said 'oh Athena is the Greek goddess of beauty and wisdom!' ... COOL, I'll take that! =)

 

Here are my hubby's stats:

He got SECOND place in his category!!! {Clydesdale is much like the Athena but for men over 200 pounds} He had a GREAT pace and a fantastic time {his fastest time as an adult} ... I would LOVE to get under 27 minutes someday!

 

 

We asked someone to take a photo of us ... can you see the small sliver of bright blue on the right side of his shirtsleeve? That's the color it's supposed to be, the rest of it is SOAKED in sweat! I didn't even want to put my arm around him for the picture! LOL {Yes my face gets SUPER red when I exercise, especially when it's hot out.}

 

Since we had both gotten in the top 3 for our categories we knew we'd be getting awards so we spent some time just walking around. We took some pictures, got some food, listened to the music, sat and relaxed ...

 

They had this cute photo booth so we got our pictures taken ... we were not really prepared for the camera so the pics look kinda goofy! LOL

 

The awards ceremony for the 5k and 10k started and they read through the names pretty quickly. You just had to go up front and receive your prize. We both got cool running hats for a prize - mine says 'FAST' on the side and his says 'FASTER' - the 1st place winner got one that said 'FASTEST' - cute, huh?

 

After the awards for the 5k we headed straight to the finish line again, it had already been about 2 hours and many of the half marathon racers were already arriving at the finish. There was such a neat atmosphere - TONS of people lining the roads just shouting and cheering and ringing load cowbells - it's such a neat thing to be a part of!

I wanted to capture our friends crossing the finish line but had no idea when to expect them. We watched for a while and I began to panic thinking maybe we had missed seeing them. So I stood up on top of this wood railing so I could see above the crowd and watched from there for a bit. I also kept scanning the crowd looking for Christina's bright top and shorts but couldn't see her anywhere. Then all of the sudden I spotted her racing towards the finish line and I was so full of pride!! I got these pictures as she crossed ... {she is in the bright yellow top and pink shorts}

 

 

I jumped down off my post to run over and hug her and congratulate her. She was exhausted and needing water so I said I would go take pics of her hubby finishing while she cooled down a bit ... I went back to my spot on top of the wood railing and I was glad I didn't dawdle because just around 4 minutes later David was coming up the road! I got these photos as he crossed the finish line {he had the white top and black shorts}

 

I went back to greet them both and we took some photos of their amazing accomplishment! SO proud!!!! I even got a little teary thinking of how hard they've worked and all they put into doing this.

 

 

 We all went back to the park area again, they got some food and freebies and we hung out a bit. They spent some time just resting and cooling down. We took some more pictures and talked and just enjoyed the beautiful day.

 

 

 

 

 

Shortly after that we left to head home ... we were tired and sweaty and had been gone all morning. When I got home I laid out all my race goodies and took this picture. All in all it was a GREAT experience and we were so thankful to share it with our friends!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winter Fitness

***BEWARE*** Unflattering pictures below! LOL

OK friends today I want to talk about winter fitness and all the hows, whys and wheres of it. {sorry about the bad grammar!}

One of my focus words this year is the word 'time' and I'm focusing on the idea of using my time MUCH more wisely than I have done in past years. In doing that it hits me square in the face that I have been making excuses for years about exercise. One my my biggest excuses? Because I'm a homeschool Mom, I just don't have time for exercise, I mean, my kids are here at home with me all day long and it makes it hard to go to a gym or anything like that.

This year I have decided I'm done with that lame-o excuse. Yes it does make things more challenging but it isn't impossible. So here is what I'm doing this winter, I hope it will encourage you in your healthy lifestyle.

*Use the snow to your advantage. Get out there and shovel it, play in it, build with it, tromp through the very deep stuff, sled with your kids {walking back up those hills burns a lot of calories!}. My former excuse was that I hated to get cold or for that matter get sweaty under all those layers of clothes. Now I just suck it up and know that yes I will get sweaty and feel icky but a simple solution is coming inside to enjoy a hot shower and a hot drink. And your kids will LOVE you for being out there with them!

*Take a winter hike in the woods. Around here we have several places where they have trails through the woods so even when it's snowy you can still walk there. Just wear snow boots and dress in appropriate layers {again you WILL get sweaty - just suck it up!} and if the conditions are icy consider using YakTracks which slip right over the bottom of your boots and allow a lot more traction. Since our puppy is very high-energy we've been taking her on hikes and it's great for ALL of us to get out and get some fresh air.

*Do something indoors. I'll admit, most days of the week my workouts have to be indoors. Partly because we do homeschool and partly out of convenience. My girls are old enough now that they can play together for a while so that I can get my exercise done. Keep in mind that you don't have to belong to a gym in order to get a good indoor workout.

What can you do indoors?

*Use a machine - if you have one. You can get a great indoor workout on a treadmill, elliptical machine or stationary bike. We have an elliptical machine. I sort of wish we had a treadmill because I'd rather run, but I recently realized that I can get a very similar workout to running on the elliptical - so once again I'm going to suck it up and just use what I have.

*Use hand weights, stability balls, floor mats, etc. You can find TONS of exercises to do by searching youtube or through health magazines.

*Use videos. Either ones you own, or one you borrow from the library or even free ones you can watch online or on netflix. One of the toughest DVD's I have is the Shred by Jillian Micheals and it only cost me $10 at Walmart. Videos are very affordable and easy to use. It's up to you to just pop in the DVD and commit to doing it! One of my faves is the TurboJam set by beachbody.com. Another great one for beginners or those who can't do something too vigorous is the Walk Away the Pounds series by Leslie Sansone.

Other tips that have helped me:

*eat a good healthy breakfast before exercise.
*stay hydrated
*have high energy, motivating music available - it's amazing how music can make you want to move faster, keep going and can really be a great motivator. I have a very small MP3 player that cost about $30. I keep a wide variety of music on it and play the really high energy stuff when I'm working out. {who doesn't love a little 'I like to move it, move it' when working out?!}

*invest in good workout clothes - now some may argue that this has NOTHING to do with getting a good workout but for me personally I feel like it's very helpful. First, have good quality clothing that wicks away moisture - NOT a cotton t-shirt! Wear items that allow for the most comfort and movement - NOT jeans! Wear good, supportive footwear - NOT flip-flops or slippers! Take care of that hair - as in pull it back out of your face - there is nothing worse than hot, sweaty hair on your neck - ICK! {I don't know how those women in the workout videos do it, that would drive me nuts!}

Back in the fall when I was running more consistently I knew that I was *hoping* to continue my fitness into the winter time. This is a first for me as most years in the past I've simply gone into hibernation mode and become very lazy and stagnant for the winter months. This year though I wanted to be different. And I knew it was going to get cold. So I invested in a really good set of workout clothes. It was costly, I'll admit. The top and bottom are from Under Armour and I'll just save ya the trouble of looking them up - they each cost $50.

Also, it's not a pretty sight - as you'll see below - the pants certainly accentuate my large thighs and my pear shape. And I'll spare ya the horror of seeing my backside. ;) But when I wear these clothes I feel GOOD, I can move with ease and the clothes feel GOOD on me. Whether I'm running, walking, hiking, biking, etc they allow for comfortable movement. And that's more important than my large thighs. {which hopefully will shrink as I keep working out! ha!} But I gotta say that I LOVE the Under Armour stuff! The hot pink shirt is sorta cute and it has a nice long torso and nice long sleeves {something I find important}. The inside of the shirt is super soft which feels great on the skin. Having a great workout outfit actually makes me want to work out more! For the record, I do have some other items I wear for working out but this outfit is definitely my fave. I sometimes wash it everyday so I can use it again the next day!

You can also see in the pics that I wear a scarf to keep my hair back. I hate having sweaty, sticky hair on my neck while I'm working out. I also hate when those little tiny pieces of hair fly in my face. So the scarf just keeps it all back and out of my face and also catches a lot of sweat!

{I warned ya it ain't pretty! Good thing I don't mind a little self-humiliation!}

This is my tough guy pose! hahaha - just being silly!

Hope took this pic of me on the elliptical ... yes it's blurry - sorry! And yes I have gloves on. Our basement is always SO cold this time of year and my fingers get so cold until my body has really warmed up. So I wear my warm running clothes and my gloves and all is good!

Well I think that's all for now. For some other great healthy lifestyle tips I highly encourage you to check out Lysa TerKeurst's Made to Crave webcast. It airs on Monday nights at 8pm EST but you can catch it again on Tuesdays at 12noon, 3pm, 8pm and 10pm if you missed it on Monday.