Thursday, June 30, 2011

Reflections of a pacer

That's right folks! A pacer! Me?! Yes!

I've been running with SIL#1 (sister-in-law #1....my husband has 3 sisters and this one is his oldest. #2 is the middle, and #3 is the youngest) for about a week now. We trained together last summer and ran the RNR Chicago half together last August. No one would have ever though I would become the "pacer" out of the two of us based on last year's training. But she took a lot of time off for life/family/etc. after the half and is just now seriously getting back into running.

Before her time off she was a pretty kick-butt runner. She could run circles around me and was pretty good at self-pacing (we didn't own Garmins last summer). Last year we would start a run and she'd either push me to run harder or I'd poop out and she'd continue. Her self-motivation is amazing! Very jealous here. She could even keep pace with Husband! (she's also taller than me, so it's easier.)

I'm not the best at putting these reflections into nice paragraphs, so I'm going to continue with a list here:

- I am super psyched to be the "pacer" out of the two of us. It makes me feel like I've accomplished something :)

- I can feel my legs begging to run faster during our runs. I never thought I'd beg for speed!

- Now I know what Sister must have felt like running with me at that stage :) Thanks for keeping pace with me Sister :) (Sister is my sister, in case you're confused!)

- I can hold a conversation while we run, and SIL#1 can too. This makes me think that I should push her to run a little faster :)

- It's nice not caring about time and just going for distance.

- It's nice having someone to run with when I don't feel like I'm holding them back. It sometimes is easier to run alone because then I don't worry about taking away from Husband or Sister's workout. I know they slow down for me to be nice, but it's nice not having to make someone do that.

- We're doing an 8K (together, unless I decide to kick asphalt) on the 4th of July. So excited! I needed another race. I even bought glitter flag tattoos and American Flag ribbons for our hair! (A bit of Katye inspiration)

- I cannot believe how amazing my journey as a runner has been. To run with her today and think about how far I've come was great. She was saying the same things I did last summer (my shins hurt, I feel like I'm running in place, my lungs are exhausted, I'm so sore today, etc). She even told me that it's "my job" to make sure she keeps running when school starts up again (we're both teachers). Me! I'm responsible for keeping someone in shape! Can you believe it?!



Today I feel very blessed. I am blessed that Husband and I share a love of running together. Blessed that I have SIL#1 to run with. Very sad that my Sister isn't here to run with all the time, but blessed that she inspired me to run. Blessed that someone made the "itty bitty" sign with their fingers and said I was "this big" today. (I have never been told I'm thin by anyone. Ever! Just short! And that's not what she meant.) Blessed that I have a dog to run with. Blessed that I feel the best I've ever felt in my life.

Running has changed my life! How has it changed yours?

Monday, June 27, 2011

Watch me work...

I successfully started another week of classes at the gym! :)

Last week went a little like this:

Monday: two miles on the treadmill and 30 minutes of Core H2O

Wednesday: 30 minutes of Core Control and 1 hour of Water Pilates

Thursday: 3 miles with SIL#1

Saturday: 1 hour of Yoga and 3 miles with SIL#1

Not bad :)

Today I did 1 hour of Water Pilates before doing 30 minutes of Core H2O. Back-to-back classes are awesome. Though I'm the youngest person in these classes by 20 years, I still get a great workout. I didn't know you could sweat in the water!

In case you didn't notice by my class selection....my core is my "trouble zone" right now. I have problems doing sit-ups. My neck hurts so bad after because my form is horrible. In these particular classes, we don't do sit-ups. The core is worked in other ways that I really feel the next day. So....now if I could just find an arms class things would be great!

Happy running! Enjoy summer :)

Thursday, June 23, 2011

3 Things Thursday

1. It was tough to roll over this morning. Abs class yesterday kicked my.....well....abs! I followed an intense 30 minute class with aqua pilates. It involved a series of things that made me sweat! In the water! Ah! This should make running tonight a little tough :(

2. I'm currently watching Tangled :) Again. Husband is out shopping for man-stuff, and I'm all alone. This isn't too bad because I can now sing along at the top of my lungs without him rolling his eyes at me or doubting his wife-choice. Best Disney movie in a long time!

3. I got my hair cut today. Things are always better after I get my hair cut. I look cuter :)


Monday, June 20, 2011

Neglect

I have seriously neglected some things these past few weeks:

- My body......sleep and running have taken a back seat to busy, busy, busy! A week in Disney will do that to you :(

- My house.....though we cleaned all day before we left for Disney, the house is now showing signs of being lived in again (aka...mess!) There is one whole room I never even touch! But, it needs to be cleaned.

- My blog.....sorry people! Being that this is a running-related blog and I haven't been running, I haven't been blogging. Things will change soon!

Oops! Neglect no more! I'm back and looking to pay some attention to some stuff!

Want a Disney recap? Here you go:


Things learned:

- I'm never going to Disney, in the summer, with children in strollers. I witnessed too many tantrums to ever want to take that on. I said silent prayers for every brave family I saw with children under the age of 5. More power to them but I will not join them.

- Husband really likes Disney....even though he pretended not to be as excited as I was!

- Disney's allergy accommodations for food are amazing! I had gluten-free chicken fingers! For the first time ever! I felt like a princess talking to the chefs at each restaurant we ate at.

- Make your dining reservations as soon as you book your trip. We didn't have a problem with any restaurants because we'd had our reservations for 6 months :) Never waited more than 10 minutes for a table.

- If staying at the all-star resorts.....stay at the sports resort. It's the first stop for the buses :)

- Wear sunscreen! I voided every shower I took by lathering myself with sunscreen immediately after. But, I didn't get burned!

- Fast pass is the way to go! We didn't wait for more than 15 minutes for any ride.

- If you're an adult, and feel up to it, drinking your way around the world at EPCOT can be fun :)

-We bought the refillable drink mugs from our resort and probably saved $100 that week with how many times we refilled them. We're gifting them to friends who are traveling later this year :)

-Hollywood Studios isn't as much fun as I remember.

- The character breakfast is a good idea. They made me gluten-free Mickey waffles! And we saw all the characters we miss that week!






We've been home for two whole days and I'm still not caught up on sleep. We packed a lot into those 5 days......but for that price, you would be silly to miss something! We squeezed every dime out of our vacation :)

I woke up this morning (a struggle) and checked the gym schedule to see what was being offered today. (I am making a big effort to catch a class almost every day this summer) Core H2O was at 10:00. Sweet! My core is rather soft and lumpy, plus I have a really cute suit for water classes :) Off I went. I ran 2 miles on the treadmill before class (I miss running!) and then changed and got in the pool with at least 20 "older" ladies. (I felt like a little kid!) But the class did the trick and I'm rather tired. After my afternoon nap I'm sure I'll feel it in my tummy.

What's on the schedule tomorrow? Basement finishing supplies are being delivered and I have a class for school to take at noon so I'll probably run around the block with Bentley in the morning.

I'm back at it and hoping to put lots of miles on my shoes this summer :) Happy running!

Friday, June 10, 2011

I didn't forget! I swear!

Here's what you've all been waiting for! The winner of the Red Check BIC Band!

Husband picked the winner from a fancy dish :)

jzimmerman


Congratulations! Send your information to jmbarnes85 (at) gmail (dot) com!!!!

We're off to Disney on Monday :) See you when we return!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Hey there!

Welcome new followers! I know most of you are here for the BIC Band, but I hope you'll stick around :)

It's report card week again. The end is near though! Last day is Friday!!! I have some miles planned this week though. Hopefully I can get them in before we leave next week!

One week from tomorrow and I'll be in sunny Disney World! Yay!

Don't forget to enter the BIC Band Giveaway! It ends Wednesday!