Diaper Dash 5K

Finally the weather is starting to warm up here in Michigan. This past weekend we had fairly decent weather and was able to do a ton of things with the girls. Our goal was to keep family fun time expenses down under $50.

I started off the weekend by completely a 5K. I set out to complete a 5K a month all summer long. I completed my my first one in May on Memorial Day. This was my June race. We have a local group that holds an annual race called the Diaper Dash. This race helps raise funds to help local mothers by purchasing items like diapers.. I completed the 5K in 38.31. Not my best time this year but not a bad time either. I am feeling pretty good. I am sure I could have pushed myself harder, but no second guessing what didn't happen. Only goal setting for next year.

? What does one do with all their race shirts and numbers ?

My legs were so sore after the race that I could barely walk. I am sure I over did it with my personal trainer on Friday. 

Last summer my family was introduced to Geocaching. Ever since we have been dying to go again. Since the weather was nice we decided to head out Saturday and see how many we could find within a 3 mile radius of the house. We found 4. Here is a picture of my two oldest daughter checking out one of them. 

We finished up Saturday night with a fire. Perfect way to end a perfect day. Sunday morning after a big breakfast we headed to complete our fun cheap family weekend. We started out by shooting 9 holes of disc golf. Than we finished it up by spending a couple hours fishing. We didn't catch anything but for our first time out this year we had a great time. 

Life gets so busy sometimes that we forget to just sit back and enjoy the time we get together. This weekend we proved that you could do just that for little to no money.

Spring Break

Burr... it's so cold here in Northern Michigan. My poor kids are on spring break and building snowmen.

According to MiKayla my 11 year old; "She is the only one not going away for Spring Break". We looked into going away again this year but after taking a closer look at the budget, decided it wasn't going to happen.  I tried to bring spring to the home at least by making up a fresh table centerpiece. 

I have been battling shin splints for the past couple of weeks. I have tried everything but resting them. My first 5K is scheduled for Memorial Day and I really want to beat my previous times. 

This should say 2012 Results. 

I am not sure why my time got worse in 2012. 44:41 is the time to beat though. Right now on the treadmill I am running a 5K in about 36 minutes without an incline. I really want to try to run outside and see where I come in at but right now it's just to darn cold. I ran 4 miles last night on the ole' treadmill though. I did pretty good but I am paying for it this morning. My legs are so sore. Maybe the outside cold would do my muscles some good.

A couple good things happened to me on the scale and a couple bad. I am currently in 2 weight lose contest. Aaron's office is doing a biggest loser and I am in the dietbet. After Friday's weigh in I am currently winning Aaron's office contest.

As for the dietbet I have a little ways to go as of Friday. 

Here is the problem; I overate on Easter and am having a hard time staying out of the kids Easter candy. Also, I believe Mother Nature is about to curse me again right before my final weigh ins. I am scale stressing which can't be good. Hopefully my run yesterday will help. I am also meeting with personal trainer on Thursday night and hoping that will help also. We will see what happens on Friday - wish me luck! 

I think I can! I think I can!

First off let me start by saying I am sick of winter... It's cold and icy and I am so over it. The only thing nice about winter is that it is acceptable to run around in long pants and big sweaters.

Back in January I decided I need to become a runner. All the women I know who have lost weight either walk or run and most run. I went out and bought some running shoes, joined the gym and decided I needed to start training for a 5K as motivation. After several weeks of training I decided to see how well I could do on the treadmill. I was going to run 3.1 miles and see how long it takes me. I was still learning how to log things on my run keeper so it's listed as walking not running.

Last night I was feeling pretty good and decided it was time to try it again. Here are my results:

I didn't go the full 3.10 so it's not a perfect comparison but it's pretty darn good. That 0.10 of a mile is only maybe another minute if that. As you can see though my average pace has sped up and even if I add another minute to my run last night I have shaved 4+ minutes off in just a little over a month. 

In addition I want to note that this time and distance includes a 5 minute warm up walking before I start running. I am going to wait a couple weeks and try starting my time after my warm up and see what my true 5K treadmill time is. Even though the scale lately hasn't moved this to me is a sign that my overall health is improving and I am becoming more fit. I have not registered for the April 20th 5K yet but I think I might just to see. 

5K

Two years ago I did a 5k with my beautiful daughter MiKayla and our good friends. I was able to walk/run some of it but mainly walked. The weather was warm but raining. My feet felt like they weighed 100 pounds soaked with water.

I wanted so much to complete the 5K running the whole way, I just couldn't. I ended up finishing though and am determined to try again. I am debating on two different races or maybe even both. One is April 21st and the other is Memorial Day. If I do the one Memorial Day I will get to do it again with MiKayla. The debate is whether I do the April one and see how much I can improve my time by May or just let MiKayla have her race day to herself. Thoughts?

MiKayla finishing the race!