Speed work for kids

My second cross country practice was yesterday right after school, so I got stuff ready for that. I made up a plan for speed work--I wrote the names of four different animals on index cards (turtle, pig, horse, and cheetah) and then taped them to sticks to tuck into some orange cones. I figured we could place the cones around the path for the kids to run, and use those as cues to walk, jog, run, and sprint.

I also bought some rubber bands to keep track of laps. Since we have so many kids on the team (28!), it would be impossible for us to keep track of their laps. Some kids are much faster than others, and could do twice as many laps.

Anyway, I figured that each lap around, they could put one rubber band on their wrist. Renee had measured out 1/4 mile path for them to run, so each rubber band was equivalent to 1/4 mile. Then, at the end, we could just count their rubber bands, multiply by 1/4 mile, and give them their total distance run.

We started by doing a dynamic warm-up (light jogging alternated with dynamic stretches). Then, we started the animal speed work. I told the kids they could do as many or as few laps as they wanted for 15-20 minutes, but gave them the goal to get in at least three.

I brought a bag of candy, and said anyone that gets in at least three laps can have a piece. That worked well to keep them motivated ;) The kids really liked the rubber band idea, and wanted to collect as many as they could, so all of the kids did at least three, but most of the kids did more. It worked out really well!

We let them take a water break for a few minutes afterward, and then we set up to play a game. We organized them into four teams of seven, and had them do a relay race. I gave the first person from each team a stick to carry and hand off to their teammate, and the first team to have everyone finish was the winner.

We did three rounds of that, and then it was time to go home! It went by really quickly. I collected the rubber bands and gave each of the kids a small slip of paper with their total distance written on it, so their parents could log it on their mileage chart at home. Most of the kids got in 1.5-2 miles, which was great. The kids seemed like they had a really good time, so I'd say it was a successful practice. :)

Watching the kids practice really makes me want to run! I am going to see the orthopedist tomorrow, so I'll see what he says about getting back into it, and hopefully come up with a plan. Crossing my fingers for good news!

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After a very busy weekend, I still managed to get in a lot of activity yesterday. In the morning, I decided to go for a long walk to help prepare to walk the half-marathon next month. I ended up walking over five miles alone, and then planned to walk three more with Joey later.

Yesterday was Jerry's birthday, so I wanted to spend some time with him. He was sleeping while I was out walking, but when he got up, I asked if he would want to ride bikes to Subway for lunch. It was really nice outside! I estimated that Subway was probably about five and a half miles away, so it would be a good place to ride to.

We headed out on our bikes, and I was in front of Jerry. The wind was so strong! I almost suggested turning around and going back home, but kept reminding myself it was "only" about five miles there. I was blocking the wind for Jerry, so he didn't understand why it was so tough. When we got to Subway, I was exhausted and my heart was racing.

I didn't know Jerry even took this picture until he showed me at Subway. Clearly, I have awesome posture while I'm on my bike ;)

I got my usual veggie sub, and was totally disappointed when they said they don't have guacamole anymore! I love guacamole on my subs. If I had known ahead of time, I may have gotten something else, but my veggie sub was really good anyway. After we finished eating, we started the ride back home.

It was MUCH easier with a tail wind. On the way TO Subway, our average speed was 12.1 mph; but on the way home, it was 14.9 mph--big difference! The effort level on the way there was harder than on the way home.

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Motivational Monday #121

Happy Motivational Monday! It has been a super busy week for us--the kids went back to school, had their first baseball game, started cross country (and I started coaching cross country), Nathan ran his first ultra marathon, and today is Jerry's birthday. It's been kind of nice getting into a fall routine, though.

I have some great Motivational Monday stories to share today... enjoy!

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Schellen (far left in photo), along with some friends, her sister, and future sister-in-law, completed the Dirty Girl Mud Run! Schellen used to put things off until she was "skinnier", but recently decided to do what she wants now--there is no reason she can't do it. She said this race is one of the hardest things she's ever done, but also the most rewarding and fun.

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Four years ago, Elena decided to change her lifestyle and drop her excess weight. Starting at 250 pounds, she made a lot of progress over the next few years, even throughout a pregnancy. This past February, she decided that she was going to start running and drop the last 20 pounds. Last weekend, she was ready to run her first half-marathon. She'd done the training, having run a successful 12-miler two weeks prior. When she got to the starting line, there were only about 200 runners total; and by mile 1, Elena found herself running alone at the very back of the pack, with the pacer motorcycle behind her. She hung in there until mile 11, when severe back pain forced her to stop. She felt defeated, but was still proud of the fact that she'd lost over 90 pounds, weighing in at 158. Yesterday, Elena decided to prove to herself that she was capable of running a half-marathon. She didn't have any spectators, or a medal when she finished, but she ran 13.1 miles in 2:35!

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Meredith has been battling her weight on and off for 15 years; then in April of 2014, she decided enough was enough. She started by working on portion control and walking for exercise. She was able to drop about 25 pounds before hitting a long plateau. She decided to switch things up by doing clean eating and BeachBody workout programs. She became a health and fitness coach to help others as well, and she's since dropped another 20 pounds! (Meredith's blog is iamfeelingalive)

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Andréa recently ran a very meaningful run, the NH Run for the Fallen. Rather than try to aim for a particular time goal, she stopped along the way to look at the photos and read the names of the servicemen who lost their lives, as well as shake hands with their family members. She says, "I think that sometimes as runners we get caught up in the numbers, PR's and stats, but I think it's important to remember that sometimes we can run for more." The run was a total of 12 miles, with everyone stopping at mile 11 so that all the runners could finish as a group. Andréa's husband and five-year old son participated as well! She said the run was overall a very moving experience.

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On Saturday, Lisa completed her second half-marathon! It was her first half-marathon since having her son; and during training, she managed to drop 43 pounds with Weight Watchers. Her previous half-marathon time was 1:57, and she really wanted to beat that time. She smoked her goal, finishing in 1:42!

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Marine ran La Parisienne yesterday, a women-only race around Trocadéro and the Eiffel Tower. Last year, she ran the 6.7K race in 44:23, and she decided to set a goal to finish under 40:00 this year. She ended up finishing in 37:08! Next up is the Paris Centre 10K in three weeks.

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Congratulations everyone! Keep up the good work!

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Dog day at the pool

I don't have time to write much, but I have to bombard you with photos and videos from dog day at the wave pool today. The Lake Erie Metropark is about to close their pool for the year, so they have a day that's just for dogs to play. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was surprised to see just how many people (and dogs) there were! I'm glad Joey has gotten used to playing with lots of dogs at once from doggy daycare, because otherwise I would have been a little worried about so many dogs in one place.

Needless to say, Joey had a blast! It was really fun to watch all the different dogs, and I didn't see a single fight break out. The dog owners weren't supposed to get in the water, although some of them did anyway. I noticed several dogs pooped in the pool, so I wouldn't have wanted to get in! ;) But there was an employee scooping poop out of the pool the whole time. I think it's really cool that the Metropark does this--we're already looking forward to next year! (It'll be September 11th, 2016, if any locals are interested.)

Now, for the pictures and videos... they pretty much speak for themselves :)

Joey is the black dog on the far left. I kept an eye on him
by looking for the red collar and curled tail. There were
so many dogs running everywhere, it was hard to follow them!

Joey's on the far left

Here is the best video of Joey... although I had my finger over the corner of the lens, oops.

In this video, Joey is the black dog with curled tail in the center, swimming toward the right in the very beginning...

Joey has been sleeping the day away after getting home, of course ;)

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Don't forget, tomorrow is Motivational Monday! Here are instructions on how to submit a photo and story.

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A different breed of runner (Run Woodstock spectator race report)

My day started at 2:30 am. TWO THIRTY! I had my alarm set for 2:50 (my mom was going to pick me up at 3:15), but I woke up at 2:30 and figured I might as well just stay up.

Today was Nathan's first ultra marathon, and I wanted to go cheer him on. My mom picked me up at 3:15, and then we went to Nathan's house to get him and Kendall. Nathan wanted to leave by 4:00, because it was an hour away and the race starting time was at 6:00.

When we got to Hell Creek Campground, it was still pitch black outside. There were tents set up all over for runners who were there for a weekend event (the Run Woodstock has races of all distances--5K, 5-Mile, 1/2 Marathon, Marathon, 50K, 50-Mile, 100K, and 100-Mile). The races are all on trails, which are hilly and "woodsy". I've never done a trail run, or even spectated at a trail race, so I had no idea what to expect.

When Nathan was ready to line up for the start, we took a quick picture:

Kendall, Nathan, me, and my mom

Nathan lined up for the start, and it was still as dark as can be outside. All the runners were wearing headlamps. I can't even imagine what it would be like to run through the woods in the dark. For that reason alone, I would never want to do this.

Starting line

I'll preface the rest of this post by saying that I was SO surprised at how different a trail race is from a road race. Not just the race course itself, but the atmosphere, the people, the mood--everything. It wasn't necessarily better or worse, it was just different. I learned that trail runners are basically an entirely different breed of runner ;)

The atmosphere was very non-competitive. Nobody was fighting to get to the front of the starting line, and the runners all seemed so friendly toward each other. There wasn't a big ta-da when it was time to go--someone just said "Go!" and they started running. The 50K'ers and 50-Milers started at the same time.

One of the things I noticed most was that trail runners go more slowly. In a typical road race, you see the people at the front of the pack just flying past, completely focused on getting to that finish line as fast as possible. But I found myself finding it odd when we saw someone running at a faster pace during the trail race. You could tell which distance people were doing just based on their pace as they ran by. Even the slowest half-marathoners were going faster than many of the ultra marathoners. It was very interesting to see.

Kendall, my mom, and I had to figure out exactly where to go to see Nathan. The map of the course was really confusing, so I just picked some crossroads that looked like they might work, and we started driving there. We were on a dirt road, with woods on each side of us. I could see a flashing light coming from the woods ahead, and as we got closer, we saw a runner emerge from the woods, wearing a headlamp. We stopped to let some runners cross the road, and it was just such an odd feeling to be where we were, pitch black outside, with people running in the woods.

When we got to the crossroads, we kept going a little farther, and came across an aid station. The aid station was awesome! I've never seen anything like it at a road race. There were tents set up, with tables full of the usual Gatorade, water, and Gu... but also with tons of fruit, candy, soda, pretzels, and other stuff that ultra runners might want. Seeing that table almost made me want to sign up for an ultra (just kidding).

We quickly realized that we were definitely the odd ones out at this race. We were the only spectators at this spot, and we walked up with our "Team Nathan" shirts on, and carrying the giant cardboard head (I found it in the eleventh hour last night!). We watched as some of the runners came through (the 100-Milers and 100K'ers started yesterday afternoon at 4:00, and they were still out running).

Eventually, Nathan came through, and we started cheering. He headed straight for the portapotty, so we immediately thought, "Oh no! We embarrassed him. Maybe the shirts are too much." Later, Nathan told us that he just totally didn't expect to see us at the first aid station, because it was only at mile four. Still, we kept thinking that we were like a parent showing up at a child's first day of high school and embarrassing the heck out of him. We were just proud! ;)

He headed on his way, and then we went back to the car. We had asked a guy at the aid station about the best places to go and what the actual route was (it was hard to tell on the map). It turned out that we could see Nathan eight times during the race by hopping between three aid stations (the station pictured above was hit twice on each of the two loops). So, it basically went like this: Station 1, Station 2, Station 1, Station 3. Repeat. Station 3 was also the finish line.

So, we started driving between each station, which made the time fly by. Each time we arrived at one, we only had to wait 10-15 minutes to see Nathan. I was surprised to see how amazing he was feeling. He did great!

Every time we saw him, he got more and more enthusiastic about how he was feeling. He was eating a ton, and never hit the wall.

I loved seeing the 100-Milers on the course. It's hard to even wrap my mind around the thought of running that far. Nathan was doing a two-loop course, and the 100-Milers had to do the same course (with the exception of a small section) six times! We clapped as each runner passed by us (there was usually quite a distance between runners). When Nathan came through, we gave him all the stuff he needed (his gels, Gatorade, etc). It honestly felt similar to a Ragnar, in that we drove from station to station to support our runner--except Nathan was the only runner.

At Mile 25, Nathan insisted that he was good to go until the finish line. He was running with a group that he met on the trail, and they were all encouraging each other. So, we skipped the last aid station, and went directly to the finish line to wait. We set up some chairs, and watched the runners go by. I was so excited to see the firefighter in his gear! He was doing the 100-miler, and had been running since 4:00 yesterday afternoon. Seventeen hours later, he passed by us...

He was just finishing one of his loops, and then continuing on. There is a 30-hour time limit on the course, so I'm not sure if he finished or not. I wish I knew his bib number or name, so I could look at the results. Even if he didn't finish, I am just so amazed by this guy! You would have to have some serious mental stamina to make yourself keep going.

About 10 minutes later, Nathan came running in...

He was cruising! He ended up finishing in 5:21:46, which is a great time for a 50K (31 miles)--except that he'd ACTUALLY run 32.4 miles, because the course was long. He had said he'd be really happy to finish under 5:30, so he was thrilled with how he did. And he still felt great at the end! He even said that he felt like he could keep running. It turns out that he finished 11th overall (out of 176) and first in his age group.

The little VW Bug is his age group award

I'm so glad that I went to spectate this race! It was completely different than any road race I've seen, especially because there were very few spectators (which is totally normal for a trail race, I learned). I also learned that trail running is basically a completely different sport than road running, and has it's own set of "norms". It was really interesting! Next year, I would definitely love to volunteer at the aid stations. I'm just so astounded by the runners doing these obscene distances!

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First cross country practice

Well, yesterday was the first day of cross country, and it went very well! (In case you missed it, I am coaching cross country for the second, third, and fourth graders at Eli's school.) I was nervous going into it, because Renee and I really had no idea how many kids were going to show up. She'd gotten a list of people who were interested in joining, but only got confirmation from 11 out of 33 kids. I was counting on about 11 kids to actually show up, so when I planned out our activity for practice, I wanted to choose something that would be good for that number of kids.

I got to the park early, so that Renee and I could discuss our game plan and get organized. Most of the kids hadn't yet signed up, so we still had all the paper work to get done, too. Once the kids started showing up, I couldn't believe how many people were there! Things got crazy really quickly. The plan was to have the first practice be a parent information meeting and fun running activity for the kids--but it was much less organized once we saw how many people showed up.

Renee started collecting paperwork, and I started trying to gather all the kids into one spot to start an activity. I wrote each kid's name on a wooden stick (like a popsicle stick) and passed those out to the kids (there were 24 kids total). Then we went into a large field, and I explained a little game that we would play. The goal was to gather as many of the sticks as they could by playing a modified version of tag. To collect sticks, they had to tag someone; once that person was tagged, they had to hand over their stick (and any others they may have been holding) to the person that tagged them. So, basically, they wanted to tag other people but avoid being tagged themselves, collecting as many sticks as possible.

After I yelled "Go!", they all took off chasing after each other. I set the timer on my phone for 10 minutes, and then we'd see who had the most sticks after the time was up. It was funny to watch--at first, the kids were running their hardest, and then gradually, they started slowing down until you could see they were just exhausted. And there was still about three minutes left on the timer! I called them all over, and there were only three kids who had sticks--one girl had 12, so she won; one boy had 10, and another boy had 2.

Renee did the whole parent meeting while I was doing the game, so I'm not sure exactly what she went over, but I think she just did an introduction to what cross country is and what they can expect. The kids took a water break, and then I gathered them over to the start of the path that winds around the park. The path is 0.38 miles long (I had Noah run it before practice with my Garmin on, so he could measure it).

I wanted to get a starting measure of where each kid was as far as their speed. I told them to run it as fast as they could, but not to race against other kids--just run their personal best as individuals. With that many kids, I had to get creative as far as writing down their finishing times. I waited at the finish line, and then as each kid crossed, I gave them a number in order of when they crossed. Meanwhile, I had the stopwatch app open on my phone, and as each kid crossed, I tapped the "lap" button, which marked their time, but kept the clock running for other kids.

When the first boy came through (Renee's son, Speedy McSpeedster), I told him "1" and then his time corresponded with the time next to lap 1. Later, after all 24 kids had finished, I had to go through and ask them which number I gave them at the finish, so I could write their names next to their times. It was a complicated process, but I'm not sure of an easier way to do it! Anyway, now I have their times for that lap, and we can use that as a progress marker. Every couple of weeks or so, we can have them run it again, and we can give them incentives to try and better their time.

The kids were exhausted after that, between the tag game and the fast lap. We let them rest for a little bit, and then to end practice, Renee and I walked them over to a grassy hill, where we all ran up together. Then we did a little chant at the top, and practice was over.

It was completely exhausting mentally, because there were SO many kids. But now that we know what to expect, it'll be easier to make a good plan for practices. We'll probably split the kids into two groups, so Renee can take one group and I'll take another, and we can switch activities halfway through.

Anyway, I'm very happy with the good turnout we had, and I am excited to see what happens with this season!

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I had a garage sale today, and I was happy to make about $200 doing that. I got rid of a lot of stuff that I didn't want laying around my house anymore. Tomorrow is Nathan's first ultra marathon! It starts at 6:00 am at Hell Creek Ranch in Hell, MI. My mom and I are going to meet at Nathan's house at 4:00 in the morning--yeesh!--and then drive up there with Nathan and Kendall. So, I'll be setting my alarm for 3:00. I hope my brother knows how much I do for him! ;)

I was hoping to find Nathan's giant cardboard head to carry while we spectate, but I have no idea what happened to it after his marathon last year. Instead, I'll just make a couple of signs. I'm really excited to watch the race, because I've never seen an ultra marathon before. Today, the 100-Miler and 100K runners started their races; so, tomorrow, I should be able to see the 100-Milers running on the same course as Nathan. They'll actually be running for several hours after Nathan finishes his 50K! Nathan texted me this picture from the starting line of the 100-Mile race...

That guy is running the 100-Miler in full fireman's gear! I can't even imagine running 100 miles, but to do it in that? Wow. After the race, tomorrow we're going to Anson's for pizza (Nathan's favorite after his long runs).

On Sunday, the wave pool at the Metropark has a dog day, where they open just for dogs to swim in the wave pool. It's the last day that the pool will be in use before closing for the season, so I think it's awesome that they have a day just for dogs! I'm going to bring Joey, because he's obsessed with swimming, and I'm sure he'll have a blast.

I'm not sure how much of a chance I'll get to write this weekend, but I may do a quick update. Have a great weekend, everyone!

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Week 4 weigh in

Is it really Wednesday already? It feels like I just did Wednesday Weigh-in, and now it's already due again. Today is the start of week five of my calorie counting experiment. My weigh-in was another good one:

I was down another 2 pounds on the scale, bringing me back into the 140's. I am so happy to see the 140's again! When I reach 144, I will no longer be in the "overweight" category, so that is my next big milestone to look forward to. My waist measurement was the same as last week; and my body fat was down by 0.7%, so I was happy to see that.

I'm surprised to see that I've consistently lost two pounds per week for the last three weeks, and one pound the first week (so today's weigh in brought my total to seven pounds in four weeks). I thought it was going to take forever to get back to my goal, but it's going much smoother than I expected. I'm still doing really well with the calorie counting, so I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing.

My goal for last week was to get in a 20-30 mile bike ride, in order to help prepare for the Tour de Troit coming up quickly. And I did it! I rode 30 miles on Thursday. I also did the stair stepper once this week, several walks, and a few more bike rides (biking total was 66.6 miles this week!). I'm feeling really good; and getting real enjoyment recently out of cycling makes me feel almost back to "normal" as far as the depression after my running injury. Mentally, I was in a really bad place after re-fracturing my fibula, and cycling has helped a lot!

My legs were definitely feeling tired today, so I made it a rest day. I wish I'd have saved a long bike ride for today, though, because it was much cooler outside (78 degrees--haha, that actually felt nice compared to the 90's we've had for about a week). And it was overcast all day. I did take Joey for a walk through the marsh so he could run off leash, though, and then I took him to the boat launch to swim.

Having Joey is almost like having another child to entertain during the day ;) He has missed having the kids home the past two days while they've been in school. When we walked to the bus stop to pick up the kids after school, Joey got really excited to see the bus coming down the street.

Yesterday, the buses were SO late getting the kids home. I waited at Noah's stop for almost 45 minutes before the bus dropped him off. And at Eli's stop, I waited for an HOUR. When it was 25 minutes late, I got a text from the school saying that the buses were running a little behind because there was a car accident on the main road. But I didn't know how long it would be, so I just stood at the bus stop with Joey and waited. Things were much smoother today, both in the morning and the afternoon. The bus routes are much longer this year, though, so I may just start picking the kids up from school.

Tomorrow is our first cross country practice. I'm nervous to get started, but definitely excited for the season. When I got my certification a couple of years ago, I thought it would be really great to be able to help kids get into running at an early age; and now I'm actually getting that chance! My only goal is to get them to enjoy it enough to want to keep doing it. Since they are all second, third, and fourth graders, most of them haven't had any experience with running for sport. Crossing my fingers that all goes well!

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I have a question for you My Fitness Pal users... Jerry has his Fitbit synced with MFP. He doesn't do a lot of "formal" exercise, but he gets in a lot of steps every day (about 12,000-15,000). My Fitness Pal adds in extra calories for his exercise, which is good; so, he eats those extra calories, and usually has a little leftover. Then, the following day, most of those calories that he was given were taken away, and it shows that he went over his calories!

It's kind of hard to explain. For example, his calorie goal is 1800 per day; the Fitbit might give him an extra 800 calories, so on MFP, it looks like 1800 - 2200 (his food intake that day) + 800 (the Fitbit calories) = 400 remaining. THEN, the following day, when he looks at that log, it will have changed to something like 1800 - 2200 + 200 = -200.

I have my Fitbit set up with my MFP account, and I've never had that problem. Do any of you know what is going on, and how to fix it? He wants to stay within his calories, but he never knows what his target is until the next day! Thanks in advance for any insight :)

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First day of school and a ride to Panera

What a day! I'm completely exhausted. Today, the kids started school, so we had to get back to using alarm clocks in the morning. Noah was very nervous about school, while Eli was very excited (this is how things usually go). I walked Noah to the bus stop this morning, and he looked so grown up!

We got to the bus stop at 6:55, and the bus was scheduled to arrive at 7:05 (Noah was worried about missing the bus, so we left pretty early). The bus didn't arrive until 7:27! School starts at 7:30, so we already knew he'd be late. I felt bad for him, because the teacher was going to let them pick their seats today; and I later learned he was the last one to arrive to class, so he had to take the last available seat.

I had been planning to wake Eli up at around 7:10, but since Noah's bus was so late, I didn't get back to the house until 7:30. I woke him up quickly, and he got dressed and ate breakfast. Then we walked to the bus stop, and the bus was pulling up at 7:45 while we were still down the street. He ran to the bus and got on. At least we didn't have to wait, like we did for Noah!

When I got home, I took a shower, had some breakfast, and then tried to clean up the house a little bit. I had plans to meet my friend Andrea for lunch at Panera at noon, and I was really looking forward to seeing her. At around 9:30, I had the crazy idea of riding my bike to Panera instead of driving. I looked up the distance, and it was about 12 miles each way. I asked Andrea to meet a little earlier, so that I could have enough time to ride home before Noah got home. Then I got ready to head out.

I decided to bring my Camelbak today, but without the water reservoir. I just wanted to use it for a lightweight backpack, basically. I brought some fuel (Gu and Shotbloks, in case I needed them), my driver's license and debit card, a towel, a t-shirt to throw on over my sweaty tank once I got there, and my cell phone.

I headed out for the ride, guessing it would take probably about an hour to get there. I didn't plan a particular route, but I wanted to avoid going over the expressway if possible, and avoid those new rough gravel roads. I just went the general direction toward Panera, and made decisions as they came at me. It was a pretty nice ride! I took the backroads to avoid a ton of traffic, and it went by pretty quickly. I made it to Panera with 15 minutes to spare before Andrea got there. I locked up my bike and then sat outside while I waited, drying off before going inside.

For the last few days, ever since Andrea and I made plans, I was really looking forward to having broccoli cheddar soup and bread. It sounded SO GOOD. Once I got there, however, I was hot and sweaty, and the last thing I wanted was soup! I wanted something cold, so I got a chicken caesar salad with a baguette on the side for 610 calories total.

Andrea and I chatted for a couple of hours, catching up. She's in the process of moving, so she's got a lot going on right now. I really enjoyed my salad and bread, knowing I had burned so many calories to get it!

I left with enough time to get home and shower before Noah was due home. I was kind of dreading the ride back, but I knew I'd be really happy to get it done. It was crazy-hot when I stepped out of Panera! It was 89 with a "real feel" temp of 97. I bought a bottle of water when I bought my lunch, so I tucked the water into one of the pockets of my Camelbak (I want to get a water bottle holder soon--it's on my list for sure).

The ride home was hot, but it went by pretty quickly.

I downed the bottle of water in the last four miles, and was really looking forward to a cold shower and more water when I got home. The ride home was a tad shorter than the ride there, because I made one slight change in the route on the way back. My time includes all of my traffic stops--I never stopped the Garmin while I was riding, just because I was curious how long it would actually take me to get there and back, in case I ever want to do it again.

Going TO Panera

Going home from Panera

It was a little over two hours round-trip, including the traffic stops. Not too bad! Maybe Jerry and I can ride there for a bagel one morning while the kids are at school.

One of the things I was thinking about on the ride was how much bike riding can help me branch out as far as where I can go. When running, I would never run all the way to Panera and back. Where I live, there isn't much within about an 8-mile radius of home, so I could never really run to a destination from home without logging some serious miles. Riding my bike has opened a whole new world of places for me to go without a car! Especially if I decide to increase my distance a little, and do 40 or even 50 miles in a day. Since Jerry got a bike, too, we can ride places together. I've always been a little envious of Lori at Finding Radiance (one of the first blogs I started reading)--she and her husband regularly go for long bike rides for ice cream and bagels, and other yummy treats.

I got my bike four years ago, so I don't know why it took me so long to really like riding it--but I can honestly say that I actually enjoy doing it! I'm really excited for the Tour de Troit, which is a week from Saturday.

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Last day of summer vacation!

I don't have a Motivational Monday today, because I didn't get any submissions this week. Hopefully I'll have one for you next week!

Today was the last day of the kids' summer break. Tomorrow, Noah starts sixth grade, and Eli starts fourth grade. I have so many memories of when I was in sixth grade; it's hard to believe that my child is that age now! I remember spending most of sixth grade talking to boys on the phone for HOURS (I never had a boyfriend, but most of my friends were boys). Noah was excited at open house when he saw that the girl he has a crush on shares the same teachers as him ;)

Jerry was off work today, so we decided to do something fun with the kids for their last day of summer break. First, however, Jerry and I spent a few hours in the garage, cleaning stuff up and getting ready for a garage sale. I have a ton of stuff that I want to get rid of, so I spontaneously decided to have a garage sale this Friday. It had been sitting in the garage for a while, so I got out a bucket of soapy water and started cleaning things off for the sale. Jerry cleaned the garage itself, and it looked so good when we were done!

After lunch, we took the boys to Sportway, a place that has mini golf, go carts, and batting cages. It wasn't really the best day to go, because it was miserably hot! It was 92 and very humid, with a "real feel" of 101. We started with mini golf.

Jerry and I used to do mini golf at Sportway when we were dating, and I remembered taking a photo at a particular spot. So we tried to recreate the photo from memory, and then find the picture when we got home. We were so young then!

I think this was in 2000

Next, we did the batting cages. I had been planning to do at least three rounds of pitches, but it was so hot that I ended up just doing one. I used to play softball when I was growing up, and I was actually really good. My back hurt today when I was swinging, but I still managed to hit all the pitches.

The kids had a new bat that they were excited to use; but after just a couple of rounds of pitches, they were ready to be done because of the heat. We were all excited for the go carts by then, because the breeze would feel so good! We were the only four people using the go carts, so it was fun to have the track all to ourselves. Jerry snagged a few photos.

Noah was ahead of the rest of us for most of the way

Jerry's selfie

Eli, looking as cute as ever

And me, trying not to let Jerry pass me, but I was flooring the gas and it was hopeless ;)

Despite the heat, it was a lot of fun to spend the afternoon doing activities with the kids. On the way home, we stopped to get Slurpees from 7-11. I was surprised when I looked up the nutrition info that they are only 130 calories for 16 oz! I got the smallest cup that available, which looked smaller than 16 ounces (maybe 12 oz?), but I'm not sure exactly what size it was. I was really excited to see that they had Faygo Rock & Rye as a Slurpee flavor!

Faygo is a Michigan brand, and it makes me feel totally nostalgic. I can remember playing baseball or going swimming with the neighborhood boys and drinking Faygo (usually Redpop or Rock & Rye) during the summer as a kid. It seemed fitting to have it today after the hot afternoon we'd had.

After we got home, I made dinner and then the kids had baseball practice at 5:00. Jerry took them to practice, and I decided to get in a bike ride. I rode to the school where the kids had practice, taking a long roundabout way to add in some extra miles. It was hard, because of the heat and because my quads actually felt kind of sore from the 30 miles I did last week. But it was a nice ride--I like riding in the evenings (I hate to run in the evenings, but bike riding is nice).

I stopped to watch the kids practice for a few minutes, and I'm glad I did--they had already drunk their entire water bottles, and it was only 35 minutes into practice! So I grabbed their bottles and rode around the school to the rec center for a refill. Thankfully, the rec center was open, so I filled the bottles at the drinking fountain and rode back to the kids' practice to drop them off. Then I headed home.

When I left the house to go on the ride, I was thinking I'd get in 6-8 miles, but by taking the long way there and then going to refill the kids' bottles, I ended up logging 12! At this rate, I don't think I'll have any problem getting in 100 miles for September.

Well, I've got to get the kids' stuff ready for school tomorrow. It's going to be a crazy week, getting back into a school routine!

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Piles of jeans

Yesterday was a rest day, so I spent some time in the morning going through the jeans in my closet and trying them on. Earlier this year, I only had a couple of pairs of jeans that actually fit, and I felt hopeless about ever fitting into all my old favorites again--especially this fall. One of the things I love about fall weather is wearing jeans and sweatshirts.

When I was losing weight in 2009-2010, I had a pile of jeans that fit me, and then I always had at least one pair, in a size too small, on hand as well. I would try the too-small jeans on once a week until they finally fit; then I would buy another pair that was too small, and do the same thing. It was motivating to see them get closer and closer to fitting each week, and watching the sizes drop.

As my weight has fluctuated over the past several years, I maintain three stacks of jeans in my closet: those that fit and I can wear comfortably in public; those that I can button and zip, but they are too tight to wear; and those that don't fit at all. In 2013, I remember being thrilled that I could fit into and comfortably wear every single pair of jeans in my closet. Throughout 2014, they slowly migrated into the "too tight" pile, and then into the "can't even wear" pile. I bought a few pairs of jeans in bigger sizes (going from 4's to 8's and 10's), which is what I've been wearing this year.

Since I've dropped about 10 pounds since spring, I decided to try on the piles of jeans. I was thrilled to discover that there were several pairs that were actually too big to wear:

Those are the size 10's and the loose-fitting 8's. After losing about five more pounds, I'll try the smaller jeans on again. There were several pairs that were borderline wearable, so I look forward to those feeling comfortable next time.

When I was looking through pictures to try and find a "goal" outfit (something that I can look forward to wearing comfortably again), I found this picture from May 2013:

There was nothing special about that outfit--just jeans and a long-sleeved stretchy shirt--but I think I looked good there, and I would be happy to wear that again and look as good as I did then. I tried on those jeans and that shirt yesterday, and I was surprised that I can button and zip the jeans. Jerry said that they look good, and I could definitely wear them now, but they felt too tight to wear comfortably. I think in about five more pounds I'll feel better about wearing them.

One thing that has changed for the better over the past year or year and a half, is that I am not upset about the size that I am now. I think I look pretty good now, and if I stayed this size forever, I'd be okay with that. I do remember looking and feeling better about 15 pounds less than I am now, though, so I'd still like to get back there. I just don't want this post to sound like I'm complaining about wearing a size 6 or 8, because I think that I look healthy and "normal" at this size.

Also, less weight = faster running pace. Since I'm not going to be doing any long distance running in the foreseeable future, I think it would be fun to try and get faster at shorter distances once I'm injury-free and running again. I'm really enjoying cross-training now, so I'd be happy to do 2-3 short, faster runs each week than trying to get in a lot of distance. Maybe I'll even be able to PR my 5K and/or 10K next year.

But I'm thinking too far ahead! Right now, I'd like to focus on the present, and do what I can to look and feel my best. The calorie counting is going really well, and I like the cross training, so I'll see where that gets me!

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I was hoping to do my long walk today, rather than tomorrow, but it was thunder storming this morning. Instead, I decided to do the mini stair stepper while reading my book. Again, I was super impressed with how tough of a workout it ends up being!

I'd only stepped for 32 minutes, and burned 321 calories. When I was done, I was sweating more than I would have been from running!

Last week, I asked on Facebook for some book suggestions, and so many people responded... my book queue grew to be about a mile long. I was looking for a fast, easy read, and something that would suck me in quickly. I loved The Hunger Games series, and someone suggested that I try the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld.

I can't say that I liked the actual storyline as much as The Hunger Games, but it definitely sucked me in! I read Uglies and then immediately started on the next book, Pretties. I finished Pretties this morning, and immediately downloaded the third book, Specials. It's been great, because I haven't even touched Netflix or anything else on TV since I started reading these books (on the other hand, I have gotten behind on email and laundry, haha).

Anyway, there are a TON of great book suggestions on the Facebook thread, so if you're looking for something to read, you can check it out here. I added a couple dozen books to my queue just from skimming through the suggestions, but I want to go through the thread again and read it more closely. Regardless, I'll have enough books to keep me busy for a while! ;)

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Cycling distance PR

Well, I did it! I didn't want the pressure of a long bike ride looming over me all week, and Jerry was off work today, so it was the perfect time to get it done. He stayed home with the kids this morning, and I decided to head out for a 20-30 mile ride. I had a route semi-planned, which was an out-and-back cutting through the State Park and through downtown Monroe.

As I've complained about mentioned several times, it's ridiculously humid here right now. This morning, when I headed out, it was already 81 degrees with a "real feel" temp of 89. The last thing I wanted to do was wear a backpack in the heat, so I decided to bring some cash with me to buy some water along the ride if I needed it. I always wear my FlipBelt to carry my phone, so I stuck some money in there, and that's literally all I brought with me. Since Jerry was home, I figured I could call him to get me if it got too bad!

I put some air in my tires, and then headed out. The first 5-6 miles went great! I was keeping a decent pace (I wasn't try to ride really fast, but I didn't want to be out there for several hours, either), and the heat didn't bother me too much because while riding, there is a nice breeze.

I chose to go into the State Park in order to avoid having to go over the expressway, which has a lot of traffic (and, frankly, it scares the shit out of me). The State Park is a great spot for running, but not so much for bike riding. The paved paths have a lot of tree roots underneath them, which makes them very bumpy. I had to slow down quite a bit in several areas, because I was afraid of blowing out a tire or something when going over roots. Thankfully, I was only in the State Park for a few miles.

This was one of the smoother parts on the path

After I turned onto the main street to go through town, and I made it to a pretty busy intersection, the light was red. Instead of waiting, I decided to just turn right, and completely revise my route. While I was riding, I had been thinking about how I really didn't want to turn around and go back the same way; when I run, I love out-and-back routes, but not for bike riding, apparently. When I made that right turn, I started thinking of all the possibilities for fitting in 20-30 miles. It was fun not having a plan!

Most of the ride was on back roads with no shoulders, which could be a little scary; but after riding through the city streets, I would much prefer the cars flying past me at 60 mph on the back roads! The drivers on the city streets paid no attention to me, even though I was obeying all the traffic laws for a cyclist (and even riding on sidewalks where possible). I learned that even though I should have had the right of way several times, most drivers couldn't care less and would rather nearly hit me than yield the right of way.

There were a couple of roads that tore up my legs (metaphorically, of course)--they were recently repaved with a really rough asphalt. It's like loose gravel, but cemented together, if that makes sense. It makes the road very rough and bumpy and it's difficult to ride on. The only really scary moment I had was on a road that actually was loose gravel, and I crossed an overpass. On the downhill part, the gravel on the side of the road was very loose and plentiful, and I thought for sure I was going to wipe out. I didn't.

Once I hit about mile 20, I started to feel really fatigued. It wasn't like when I run, where my whole body aches and my breathing is hard; while riding, it came on really gradually, and I just felt tired (for lack of a better word). I knew I could have ended the ride at 20 miles, but deep down, I wanted to aim for 30 (the distance of the Tour de Troit).

At mile 26, I was really starting to feel thirsty. Rather than suffer it out until I got home, I stopped at the rec center and went inside to buy a water from the vending machine. I sucked down the whole 20 oz. bottle, and then headed back out for the final 4 miles. It felt like it took forever, because I was really exhausted then, but I hit 30 miles just before pulling into my driveway. The exhaustion hit me hard, and I collapsed into a chair in the garage, where I sat for a little while before going inside. I was thrilled though: I did it!

My helmet wasn't even on backwards this time ;)

I was excited to see that I even had a couple of sub-4:00 miles. I've never done that before. I'm getting a little faster without intentionally trying.

I burned a ton of calories, which was exciting. I decided to use them on a sub from a local place called Erie Bread Co. They have an amazing sub called the 13-8-on-9 (no idea what that means, but it's DELICIOUS). I'm pretty sure the whole sub has probably about 2,000 calories, so obviously it's not easy to fit into an everyday diet. But today, Jerry and I split one, and I guesstimated 980 calories for half (I picked that number because that's the number of calories in Panera's Italian Combo sandwich, which is the most similar one I could think of to this).

It's seriously the most delicious sandwich I've ever eaten. If you're ever in Monroe area, check out Erie Bread. Their food is amazing! (I wish they had tables to eat inside, but it's carry out only.)

The kids start school on Tuesday, and right now I'm trying to get organized for a very busy fall! The kids will have baseball on Saturday mornings, as well as cross country meets. Noah will have cross country practice on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I'll be coaching cross country for the elementary kids on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Our meets are on Wednesdays and Saturdays. On top of that, I have friends coming in from out of town in October (Caitlin and Paige the first weekend, and Thomas the third weekend). It's going to be a crazy (but very fun!) couple of months! Right now is the calm before the storm, so I need to get organized and plan carefully ;)

In other news, Nathan's first ultra marathon (the Freak 50K at Run Woodstock in Hell, MI) is coming up fast--September 13th. I am planning to go spectate and cheer him on. Anyone else doing any of those races at Run Woodstock? I had hoped to do the Hippie Half this year, but with my injury, that's not going to happen. I'll have a lot of fun spectating, though--they have a 50K, 50-Miler, 100K, and 100-Miler going on as well! Having ridden my bike 30 miles today, I'm more than a little stunned that Nathan will be RUNNING that far (plus another mile) very soon. He has kicked ass as far as his training goes, so I won't be surprised if he places in the top 10 finishers. Anyway, if any of you are doing any of the races that weekend, let me know, and maybe we can meet up :)

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