TUTORIAL: How to Add Fabric Lettering to Clothing

A lot of people have been asking me how I make the shirts with lettering, so I thought I'd put together a tutorial. It's really very amateur, and if you have any sewing skills whatsoever, I'm sure you could do a much better job! But to keep things super cheap and simple, this is how I add lettering to a shirt. Here are a couple of examples of shirts I've made this way:

It really doesn't take very long to do, even though it's tedious, and it's a super cheap way to letter a shirt!

Materials:

*A shirt or other article of clothing (that can be ironed... I've used sweatshirts, t-shirts, and tech shirts without problems). For this tutorial, I used a track jacket that I found at a thrift store. It had embroidery on the left chest part, so I ripped out the embroidery and wanted to cover it with my name.

*A contrasting fabric for the lettering (I've used denim on sweatshirts, or just cotton on the other shirts). For this project, I just chose white cotton.

*Letter stencils (whatever size/font you'd like; found with the painting supplies at a craft store, usually):

*Double-stick fusible webbing:

*An iron

*A fabric pencil (or, if you're a simpleton like me, just a ballpoint pen)

*Scissors for fabric

*Sewing machine and thread (optional, to reinforce lettering with top-stitching)

Instructions:

First, iron the fabric that you plan to use for the lettering to make sure it's nice and smooth. Then, you'll use the letter stencil to trace out your letters onto your fabric with the fabric pencil (or pen, in my case). I like to flip the stencil over, and trace onto the WRONG side of the fabric, so that the ink isn't visible once it's done.

Once you have all of the letters traced, you'll use the double-stick webbing. The webbing has three pieces--wax paper, a layer of glue web, and then another piece of wax paper:

Two pieces of wax paper sandwiching a sheet of glue webbing

Peel off ONE of the layers of wax paper and discard it. Then press the glue side of the webbing down onto the letters you've traced onto the fabric.

The glue side goes down on the back of the letters. On the top is the wax paper.

Press down on the wax paper with your hand (not the iron yet) and smooth it out. Then, you'll cut out each letter, making sure to cut through the fabric, glue, and wax paper all at the same time. If you use pen, it's easy to see through the wax paper.

Now, the letters should be a layer of fabric, a layer of the glue web, and a layer of wax paper. Next, you'll peel the wax paper off, and place the letters (sticky glue side down) on your shirt exactly as you'd like them to be permanently. Until you iron them, they are moveable, so you can adjust them. Just make sure the glue stays with the fabric.

After placing the letters where you want them, carefully cover them with a scrap of fabric (or press cloth). You don't want to press the iron directly onto the letters or your shirt, so the fabric is just a thin barrier to protect them. I put the iron on the synthetic setting, but just use your discretion. Iron very well, making sure to press all the edges and corners of each letter.

When you're done ironing, the letters *should* be stuck on there pretty good!

At this point, you could probably just leave it as-is, but I always like to reinforce it by stitching the edges. I'm not sure how the lettering would hold up in the washer if you just rely on the glue. (For Eli's race shirt, I didn't do the top-stitching, but the letters stayed on fine during the race. I'll update after I've washed it). When using denim letters, like I did on the sweatshirt, I especially like to reinforce with stitching, because the letters fray a little on the edges--and I like that look!

For the jacket, I just chose to use a white thread. Use the sewing machine to sew as closely as possible around each letter. (Don't try to sew the letters without doing the webbing part above, though--they will be really difficult to sew.)

Once you sew around the edges of the letters, just trim the thread and viola! It's done.

So this is my simple but effective way to add letters to shirts! Hopefully it's helpful :)

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Escape to Belle Isle 5K race report: The kids' first 5K!

Last night, I told the kids they had to go to bed at 9:15 because we had to get up early for the race this morning. I told them to lay out their running clothes before bed, and as Eli was looking for a shirt, he said the sweetest thing: "I want to make a shirt that says, 'Runs for Cookies is my mom'."

I thought that was so cute! But it was 9:15, and there was no way we had time to make a shirt. So I told him that we'd do it for the next race. I was in bed by 9:30, knowing I was going to get up at 5:30 (and by "in bed", I mean scrolling Twitter on my phone). I started feeling bad about Eli wanting to make the shirt, so I got out of bed, and pulled all my fabric and sewing supplies out of my closet, determined to make Eli a shirt.

I used the shirt that he had laid out for the race, and then decided to cut out the letters and iron them on. It was tedious and I really wanted to go to bed, but an hour later, I had his shirt:

Not too bad for making it on the fly like that! (Several people have asked how I make shirts with lettering, so I'll do a tutorial within the next few days.) I put the shirt back with his shorts, and went to bed.

This morning, when I showed Eli his shirt, he was really surprised and excited--it was totally worth staying up to make it for him! I made the boys each a half of a bagel with peanut butter and chocolate chips for breakfast, to "carb up" ;) Then we went to pick up my mom, and drive to Detroit. I hate driving in Detroit, but somehow, we made it to Belle Isle (an inland State Park on an island in the Detroit River). We parked at the casino, and picked up our packets (shirts and bibs).

Eli wanted to go check out the Detroit River, and we had about an hour until the race started, so we just killed some time. Then we lined up for the start. I was really surprised at what a big race this was--the starting line was really crowded! All of the 5K'ers and 10K'ers lined up together for a common start.

My mom planned to stick with Eli, because he wanted to walk most of it, and I told Noah we could do a run/walk together. I set my Garmin for a one-minute run, one-minute walk repeat. While we were standing at the starting line, the girl in front of me recognized me from my blog! I always love it when a reader says hi--so thank you, Sarah :)

Noah said he was nervous, but I told him there was no reason to be. I was a little nervous that we'd get separated, because the crowd was pretty big. The race started, and there was a bottle neck as we all had to go through the blue starting line balloon. I just focused on Noah, and not losing him. The crowd spread out really quickly, so it wasn't bad once we crossed the starting line.

Eli took off like a bat out of hell (one of Mark's favorite phrases!), and I could see that my mom looked a little overwhelmed. They were ahead of us for couple of minutes, but I kept telling Noah to just run slowly. When the Garmin beeped at one minute, he wanted to run one more (I'm sure because of the excitement of the race), so we kept running at a slow pace. After that, we mostly did 1:1 intervals, and Noah really seemed to be struggling at around mile one. But I just tried to be encouraging any way that I could--including doing a "Jerry face" selfie:

Jerry makes that face in pretty much every photo that is taken of him, which is why we call it a "Jerry face".

The first water station wasn't until mile 1.75 ish, which, for a kid/beginner, seemed kind of far. Noah was really relieved when we got there, and he drank a cup of water. I told him he could dump one on his head, but he said no--so I did what any runner mom would do, and dumped mine on his head. Haha, he said it felt great! My mom and Eli weren't too far behind us, and they caught up to us a couple of times.

I've never done a run/walk method during a race, so I discovered something interesting today--you are always passing the same people, and then they pass you. When we started to run, we'd go past several people, then we'd stop to walk, and they'd run past us, and so on.

There was one more water station, and then we could see the finish line about a half-mile away. I told Noah I bet he could run the rest of the way if we went really slowly. We took a quick 30-second walk break, and then we ran the rest of the way toward the finish line.

When we rounded the last corner, and we could actually see the finish line, I told Noah, "Go Noah! Run hard!" because he loves to sprint short distances and leave me in the dust. He took off, and I actually got kind of emotional watching him cross the finish line. I was SO proud of him for pushing through and finishing strong. I gave him a big hug, and then we watched the corner for Eli and my mom. About five minutes later, we spotted them. (I love the Detroit skyline in the background)

Eli had a great race as well, and my mom said he did awesome! Noah was excited to have beaten his practice 5K time from a few weeks ago.

Noah's results

Eli's results

Eli was pretty much there for the food, so he naturally wanted to go get some snacks. They had Panera bagels, wafer cookies, potato chips, orange juice, oranges, bananas, McDonald's cookies, and an ice cream truck. The kids took one of everything (except the ice cream--crazy kids), but I just had a couple of oranges. My breakfast (a Banana Cranberry Oat Bar) was waiting for me in the car, so I ate that on the way home. I'm still going strong with no-ice-cream-July!

Overall, the race was really nice. The last time I was on Belle Isle was for the Detroit Marathon, when I was pretty much falling apart after mile 18. I didn't take the time to appreciate the park then, because I was focused on the marathon, but this time I really got to take everything in, and it's a really nice park! It's kind of amazing that there is such a nice park in Detroit. 

The kids had a GREAT first 5K, and for that, I'm relieved. I just wanted them to enjoy it so that they'd want to do more, and now they do :)

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MAF heart rate test #1

As I said yesterday, I decided to do my MAF (maximum aerobic function) heart rate test today at the track. I'm really glad I ended up doing my long run yesterday, because today's weather wasn't quite as perfect as yesterday's to run--but it was still very nice for July!

To do the test, you just run 3-5 miles, preferably on a track, and keep your heart rate in the MAF zone (for me, that's 138-148). You keep track of each mile split, and each mile will most likely be slower than the last. This is pretty much the opposite of what I've always done! I usually try to get faster each mile, even though my heart rate is already up from the length of the run. In about four weeks, you do the test again, and if you train correctly (always in the MAF zone), then your mile splits should improve.

I drove to the high school this morning, and I was disappointed to see a group of people there. I almost left, but I figured I'd ask if I could use the track. It appeared to be a football coach with about 10 high school boys, and they were doing drills on the field. The coach said there was no problem at all if I use the track, so I went ahead.

Like I said yesterday, the hardest part about doing the MAF training is all mental--it's SO hard to run such a slow pace and force yourself not to speed up. When a bunch of high school boys are watching you run around the track, it's twice as hard not to run my fastest ;) But I was determined to stick with the "rules" of the MAF training, because I'm really curious to see if it works. So I shoved my pride aside and ran at a pace that felt painfully slow at times.

After the first half-mile, my heart rate was hovering at 146 for most of the run. Occasionally, I'd hear a beep from my Garmin to slow down a little (usually when I passed by the guys who were training on one end of the field!), but I immediately slowed down and my heart rate decreased.

As if the football guys weren't bad enough, the running gods must have really wanted to test me mentally today. Two miles in, who else should come out to the track but the high school track team? I almost laughed out loud--I couldn't have picked a worse situation for me to do my MAF test ;) I almost called it quits at three miles, but decided to do four after all, which was my original plan.

My splits were pretty much as expected:

Mile 1:  10:10   143 bpm
Mile 2:  10:47   146
Mile 3:  11:14   147
Mile 4:  11:30   146

Despite the mental hurdle of trying not to care that those times are much slower than I'm used to, I actually really enjoy running at this heart rate. I honestly feel like I could keep running forever, and it's nice to not feel out of breath. We'll see how I feel about it after four weeks, though. I may get bored with the redundancy.

I found it kind of interesting in the Hayden Institute article I posted about yesterday that the MAF test is predictive of race performance. For example, if your MAF mile is 10:00 (using a mile split that is at least a few miles into a run), then your pace for a 5K would be about 7:30 (once you are done with the base building period, it's okay to race hard and get your heart rate high). The slowest pace the chart lists is 10:00/mi, and my fourth mile today at MAF heart rate was 11:30/mi, so I'm not even on the chart yet. Based on last weekend's 5K (a 9:01 pace), I would guess that prediction to be fairly accurate. Anyway, it will be interesting to see what this training does, whether I get faster or slower over time.

Today was day four of being back to counting points. Day four is always the hardest day for me--usually, if I can make it through four days, then I'm good at sticking with it for a while! And sure enough, today was really difficult. There were several times where I wanted to call it quits and just stuff my face, but I kept thinking about how I really didn't want to have to start all over from day one tomorrow, so I managed to get through the day.

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Someone left a comment on yesterday's post asking what my inspiration/motivation resources are. When I was being interviewed for the Half Size Me podcast, Heather asked me that question, and it was hard to come up with them on the fly. I mentioned SparkPeople.com, Runner's World magazine, and Weight Watchers.

Other things that I do to motivate myself when things are tough:

*I look through photos of myself from when I was at my ideal weight (130-135 pounds). That is the biggest motivator of all! I want to get there again. Here are a couple of favorites (I was about 131 in each picture, and I felt better than ever):

 *Books: Here are a couple of books regarding weight loss that I really enjoyed. I prefer memoirs over "how to" books. I read all the "how to" books before I lost the weight, and they obviously didn't help! ;)
-Finally Thin!: How I Lost More Than 200 Pounds and Kept Them Off--and How You Can, Too by Kim Benson.
-Passing for Thin: Losing Half My Weight and Finding My Self by Frances Duffel

*Podcasts: My very favorite is Half Size Me (and not just because I was interviewed on it!). That's really the only one I listen to anymore. I used to listen to a few others, but since I stopped using headphones when I run, I don't really have an opportunity to listen to them.

*I always feel inspired when I watch the show Extreme Weight Loss on NBC.

That's really about all. I've learned that motivation only lasts for a very short time period; it's determination that gets you to your goals. But sometimes, when I'm feeling really on-edge, and thinking about bingeing, the sources I mentioned above are helpful in getting me through the moment.

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Tomorrow is a big day for Noah and Eli--they are going to run/walk their first 5K race! We're doing the Escape to Belle Isle 5K in Detroit. My mom is going also--she plans to stick with Eli and do mostly walking, and I'll do a run/walk method with Noah. I'm really excited for them! I'm sure they'll feel a huge boost of confidence when they finish :)

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MAF heart rate training

I'd heard of MAF (maximum aerobic function) heart rate training a long time ago, and have always been curious, but have never had the patience to give it a try. Basically, the MAF method uses the 180-formula developed by Dr. Phil Maffetone to determine the maximum heart rate that you should be training at. Once you get this number, you do all of your training in this zone--no higher!--and eventually, it will take less effort for the same results (which means you run faster at the same heart rate). Here is the best explanation in a nutshell that I could find.

The MAF heart rate zone is much lower than what most people are used to training in, and it definitely requires patience and dedication--which is why I've never done it ;) At first, to keep your heart rate so low, your pace will likely be much slower than what you're used to running, and that's normal. But you continue to exercise in that zone, and eventually, according to this MAF training method, you will be running faster, but your heart rate will stay in that zone.

Using the 180-formula, you start by subtracting your age from 180. I'm 32, so that would be 148. Then, you look at a list of other options and choose what fits you best to either add or subtract a little from that. It turns out that mine stayed at 148. That is the top of my range. The bottom of the range is 10 beats per minute less than the top, which would make my range 138-148 bpm. According to this method, I should build a strong aerobic base by doing all of my training in that range for a few months.

Source

I've never been patient enough to give it a chance! But now that I don't have any PR goals in sight (at least until sometime next year), I figured now is as good a time as any to give it a try and see what happens. I mostly want to do this out of curiosity to see if it actually works.

You're supposed to start with a MAF test--running 3-5 miles (ideally, on a track) in your MAF heart rate zone, and record the time it takes to complete each mile. Then you repeat this test every four weeks or so, to see if your times improve while staying in that same training zone. The track is ideal for the test because you don't have to deal with hills or traffic lights, etc.

I had planned on doing the test this morning, but when I woke up today, the weather was PERFECT for a long run. For July in humid Michigan, it doesn't get any better than that! So I decided to do my long run today, try out the MAF heart rate zone, and save the "official" test for tomorrow. Jerry wanted to run five miles this morning, so he decided to join me for the first five of my eight, and then I'd just run three more when he was done.

I fully expected my pace to be much slower than I'm used to, and I was okay with that. That's the part that is so hard mentally about this training--seeing that slow pace and not being able to run faster! I set my Garmin to beep if my heart rate went over 148, so I didn't have to look at my watch constantly. I settled into a pace and held that, glancing at my heart rate every once in a while. I had changed the settings on the watch to show JUST heart rate, and not pace or distance or anything else. I didn't want to get discouraged when I saw the pace.

The first mile, my average heart rate was only 137. But after that, it gradually crept up a little each mile. I was trying to keep it as close to 148 as I could without going over (and without constantly looking at my watch). I liked the pace we were running, because Jerry and I were able to easily have a conversation, and I felt like I could go on forever at that pace.

It was kind of interesting, because once I dropped Jerry at mile five, my heart rate instantly went up a little, and it was hard keeping it below 148. I think having Jerry with me helped, because we were chatting, and I could gauge my effort by how easy/hard it was for me to talk. Once I was alone, it was hard to hold my pace back.

My watch beeped a few times over the next three miles to tell me my heart rate was too high. The last mile, especially, was really hard to keep it low. I naturally tend to run faster the closer I get to home, and my watch was beeping at me, so I had to slow it way down to keep my heart rate under 148.

My mile times and average heart rate per mile:
Mile 1:  10:38   137
Mile 2:  10:42   143
Mile 3:  10:52   142
Mile 4:  10:44   145
Mile 5:  10:58   144
Mile 6:  10:51   146
Mile 7:  10:59   146
Mile 8:  11:11   146

I was honestly surprised that my mile times weren't slower. Based on what I've read from other runners, I was fully expecting my mile splits to be in the 12:00's and even 13:00's for a longer run like this. Of course, I had the weather working in my favor this morning! When the temps are back in the 80's by this weekend, I'm sure my pace will be slower to keep my heart rate in that zone.

That's actually one of the reasons I've always liked heart rate training--you base your runs on effort (measured by heart rate) instead of pace, so if it's really hot outside and your pace is slow, you know you're still working just as hard. Anyway, I'm interested to try this for at least four weeks, and then I'll decide if I want to continue doing it. I imagine it will get boring without any hard and fast running, but I'm really curious to see how it goes. And like I said, there really isn't a better time for me to try it out! I'm going to continue with my non-schedule running schedule, because I love it. Even without scheduled runs, I've been getting in 4-6 days of running per week, so I'm staying disciplined. I just don't feel stressed about it, and it's nice!

I had another great day of eats today. Three days of being back to counting points, and thanks to my pre-planning, I don't feel overwhelmed. With the weather we've been having, I've been wanting soup for lunch and dinner each day. I've made Split Pea Soup, Roasted Tomato & Garlic Soup with Barley, Chicken Stew, Spicy Carrot Bisque, and Turkey Chili with Black Beans & Corn... in three days! It just feels so much like fall--I love it!

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Meal prepping

As if yesterday wasn't busy enough, when I got done typing my blog post, it got a little hectic again. Noah went with my mom to take my sister to the airport, and Eli stayed home with me. Eli and I were just hanging out, doing "beading" (more about that later). At around 6:30, my sister called from her cell phone to say that they passed a baseball field on their way to the airport, and Noah told her that he was pretty sure that was his team playing.

Their games are on Mondays and Wednesdays, so it wasn't a scheduled game. I had heard nothing at all about a make-up game for the rained out game they had early in the season. Just to be sure, I called the coach's cell phone, but there was no answer. I checked the messages on the voicemail, to make sure I didn't miss anything, and I hadn't. Noah had sounded pretty sure it was his team, so I told Eli to get his cleats on and we rushed out the door to the field (which was a different field than they usually play).

Sure enough, there was his team--along with a couple of other teams from his league. I was so mad! We'd never missed a game, the coach has my home and cell phone numbers, and there was no reason that we shouldn't have been informed about a game. Eli and I ran over to where the coach was, and I threw my hands up like, "What the heck?" His coach said that he tried calling me when we didn't show up. I said we would have shown up if we had known there was a game!

Anyway, Eli really wanted to play, so the coach added him to the batting line-up as the sixth batter. They only made it to the fourth batter before the game ended (it had started at 5:30), so Eli didn't get to play at all. It would have been Eli's last game of the season because he went to church camp today (and today is the last game on the schedule).

Eli was really upset that he missed out, and I was furious that we were never told about the game. Eli and I started walking back toward the car. I saw another team warming up, and had an idea. I stopped and said to the coach, "You don't happen to need any extra players, do you?" and I explained what happened to Eli. He was SO nice about it, and said that they only had 8 (they have to have 9 to play), so he'd love to have Eli on the team. He went to his car and got Eli a team shirt and hat, and asked him what position he plays. Eli told him he pitches, and the coach sounded happy about that.

I was SO nervous when the game started. I'm normally a nervous wreck watching the kids play at a normal game, so watching him play for someone else's team made me crazy. I was just hoping he'd show them just how good he is, and that he'd have a great game (and be a good sport--sometimes, he lets his temper get the better of him when something doesn't go his way).

It turned out to be the best game of the season for Eli! The coach let him pitch three innings, and he struck out seven people (and caught a pop-up). He even got on base three out of three times. He truly couldn't have had a better game! I was so thankful to the coach for letting Eli play, and I went to thank him again after the game. He said that he'd love to coach Eli next year, and told me about his coaching style. Eli was thrilled, and said he definitely wants to be on his team next summer.

So when all was said and done, missing the game turned out to be a good thing.

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I cannot get over how fantastic the weather has been the last two days here in southeast Michigan. Last night at the game, I had to wrap up in a blanket! And today, I'm wearing jeans and a long-sleeved top (and I'll probably need a jacket for the game tonight). It feels like fall outside, and I love love love it! I didn't run today, but I did go for a walk enjoy the weather.

Until yesterday, I hadn't been counting my Weight Watchers PointsPlus since July 4th. It just seems like we've had so much going on, and I didn't make it a priority like I should have. But last week, I wrote on my calendar that I was going to go back to counting PP on Tuesday (yesterday). And I planned well for it. I wrote out a menu for the whole week, and then I went grocery shopping to make sure I had all the ingredients for everything.

Yesterday, I prepped a bunch of food for the week. I made Renee's Oatmeal Breakfast Bars to have for breakfast for a few days:

I haven't had those in a long time, and I forgot how good they are! I cut the 13x9 pan into 12 pieces, and they ended up being 6 PP each. Add some fruit, and it's a filling breakfast. I also put dinner in the crock pot (Split Pea Soup), so I wouldn't end up scrambling to make dinner at the last minute. And I made Roasted Tomato & Garlic Soup with Barley (enough for lunch for a couple of days). Having all of my meals planned and ready to eat helped out a lot! I had no excuse not to stick to my plan.

I did really well all day yesterday and today, and it feels really good to count PP again. I can really feel it when my eating is crappy--I feel sluggish and lazy, and my running feels so hard. I'm hoping with a few more days of eating well, I'll feel a lot better.

I haven't been to Weight Watchers in a couple of months, and I feel like I'm ready to go back. I was tired of feeling the pressure when I weighed in every week, and I wanted a break from that; but I'm afraid if I give it too much time, I'll gain more weight, so I am ready to go back next week. My mindset feels like it's where it needs to be now.

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My morning was spent intricately placing little beads on a piece of plastic, trying to follow a pattern to make a seahorse. I remember doing these things when I was a kid... are they popular now? My kids have been working on these things constantly, just like they did with the rubber band bracelets.

The kids were very impressed with my seahorse. ;) I usually love crafts, but I just find this one so boring!

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Noah's birthday celebration

Today felt like the longest day ever, which was probably because I got up so early, and did quite a bit before 10 a.m. Last night, we celebrated Noah's birthday with our family. The kids had a baseball game, so we all went to cheer them on ("we" being myself, Jerry, my parents, Jerry's parents, my sister and brother-in-law, and my younger brother. The kids had a pretty big cheering section ;)

After the game, Jerry and I picked up pizza and everyone went back to my parents' house to eat. My friend Audrey met us there with her nine-year old son, too. It was a nice evening! We ate pizza, and then Noah showed off his birthday cake, which he made himself. He's been watching Cake Boss, and says he wants to be a pastry chef ;)  This cake is a "creeper" (if you have kids who are into Minecraft, then you know what that is!).

It was a red velvet cake, so that when you cut into it, it would look like the creeper is bleeding. Very clever for a 10-year old! He was very proud of himself.

We hung around there for a little while, and Jeanie, Nathan, and I made plans to run together in the morning. Nathan had to leave for work at 7:30, so we had to get up super early in order to run 5 miles. Jerry and I went home, and there were frogs ALL OVER the street and in our yard. As hillbilly as it sounds is, Jerry and I sat on the porch with a beer and watched the frogs hopping all over the place. It was actually pretty entertaining.

I couldn't sleep for anything last night! I was so worried about getting up early, because Jeanie and Nathan were going to pick me up at 5:15. My alarm was set for 5:00, but I still kept thinking about the run, and I was tossing and turning all night long. I was SO tempted to back out on them, because I just wanted to get some sleep, but I knew I'd regret it if I did. At around 5:10, I got out of bed and threw on my clothes just as Jeanie and Nathan pulled into the driveway.

We drove to the state park, and it was still dark out when we started running at 5:30. You can make out Nathan's shirt in this photo, but that's about it.

It was SO nice outside today, though. We had a cold front come through, and we're supposed to have unusually cold days this week (and by "unusually cold", it just means in the 70's--about 20 degrees cooler than normal for this time of year). The humidity was low, and the temp was perfect--it was such a great morning for a run!

We ran at Jeanie's pace. She had forgotten her shoes at home in Illinois, so I gave her a pair to use, and they didn't work out too well. She had a hard time with them, but she was determined to get in the five miles. It was fun running with the two of them, and the miles went by pretty quickly.

After the run, I went home for a little bit, and then Jeanie and I took the kids to the rec center to go swimming. I was so tired that I really wanted to go back home and sleep, but I'm glad I went. Then Jeanie took Noah out, and Jerry and I got some quality time with just Eli. We went to the park where Jessica and I walked through the woods because I wanted to show the path to Eli.

My brothers and sister bought each of the kids a nice underwater camera to take to Punta Cana, so Eli brought his camera along to practice using it during our walk. It was so cute to see what he wanted to stop and take pictures of: the clouds; purple "flowers" (weeds); snakes; toads.

He even took a picture of this tree stump, because he said it looks like butt cheeks (haha!):

Overall, it was a super busy day, and I really hope I sleep well tonight. Eli goes to church camp tomorrow!

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Motivational Monday #69

Happy Motivational Monday! Hopefully, everyone has had a great week. The thing I am most proud of this week is that I'm still going strong on my no-ice-cream-July challenge. It's been 14 days, and I still haven't had ice cream! I craved it like crazy for a few days at the beginning of the month, but now I honestly don't really think about it much. That really surprises me, because ice cream is my very favorite treat food. This week is going to be tough, because Eli is going to church camp for a few days, so I'm going to have to entertain Noah in ways that don't involve food.

The Five Days of Giveaways ended this morning, so I used Random.org to pull the winners. There were over 700 entries on each item, which blows my mind! If you won something, I already sent you an email to get your shipping address. Here is a list of the winners:

New Balance FreshFoam 980 trail runners- Alma
Two pairs of Balega socks- Valerie
RooSport pocket- Kathy
Fitletic hydration belt with Clif fuel- Karen
Camo Running Skirt- Maegan
$100 gift card to RunningSkirts.com- Britney

Congrats ladies! Hope you enjoy the goods. I think it's funny that whenever I email someone to let them know that they won a giveaway, they almost always respond, "I never win anything!"  It doesn't hurt to throw your name in there. ;)

Now, on to Motivational Monday... what have you all done this week to make you feel proud?

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Jodi just completed her first duathlon on Sunday! She started running in 2012, to take part in a local fundraiser 5K. Over the last two years, she's shed 60 pounds! The duathlon she completed was a 5K run, followed by a 20K bike ride, and finished with another 5K run. She's already thinking about how she can speed up her times for next year's race.

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Christy was a little hesitant to share this, because she said it's not an "amazing story" like most of the other Motivational Monday submissions. But that's why I love it--MM is about celebrating what YOU are proud of, regardless of what everyone else is doing. Christy is proud that, over the week of the fourth of July, she ran 8 miles Sunday, 3 miles Wednesday, a 5K on Thursday (which she PR'ed), and 4 miles on Friday!

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Celeste has had an amazing few years--and she just recently completed her 100th race! She and her husband, Al, started running in 2009, and racing in 2010. They had started running to help lose weight and keep it off. Together, they've lost 100 pounds (Celeste lost 60, and Al lost 40) using Weight Watchers and running. The two of them have now checked off their 100th race! (Celeste's blog)

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Don't forget to check out more stories on the Motivational Monday Facebook post! If you are feeling proud of an accomplishment, and have a photo you'd like to share for Motivational Monday, just email it to me, along with a brief description, at Katie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com, with the subject "Motivational Monday".

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