Girls weekend!

I just got home from dropping Bonnie and Andrea off at the airport, and I am so sad that the weekend is over. We had such an amazing time!

On Thursday, Caitlin (my Ragnar SoCal teammate) arrived from Boston; Bonnie (another Ragnar SoCal teammate) came in from Virginia; and Andrea (my Ragnar Florida Keys teammate) arrived from Kansas City. Bonnie and Caitlin obviously knew each other already, but Andrea met them for the first time. We all have quite a bit in common, and it was fun chatting. Between the four of us, we've lost a collective 630-ish pounds!! So crazy.

Caitlin, Andrea, Bonnie, and me

I won't detail the entire five days they were here (they came in Thursday and left Monday), but here are some highlights of their visit.

On Thursday, we right to La Pita for lunch after I picked them up from the airport. Bonnie and Caitlin had never been there before, so I was excited for them to try it. Bonnie is vegan, and La Pita has a lot of vegan options, thankfully. Lunch was delicious!

We got settled in at my house, and then walked to the local bar for drinks and Keno. I introduced them all to Keno, and then I happened to win my four-spot! I always pick the same numbers: 11, 25, 33, and 64. All of my numbers were pulled, so I won $72 (I'd paid $20 for the ticket). It's fun to win, because then I got to pay for the whole table's tab and it technically didn't cost me anything ;)

On Friday, I planned to host my wine club meeting, so we spent the day prepping for that. First, we went for a walk at the state park, because it was gorgeous outside--72 degrees! Then we bought the groceries for Winers. Andrea and Caitlin are amazing at baking, so they made yummy cookies. Bonnie and I put together dozens of skewers of things--antipasto, pound cake with strawberries, cheese and fruit, etc.

About an hour before Winers started, I saw that I got several messages from guests who canceled at the last minute. I was super bummed, because I had spent a lot of money and time putting everything together. Only four people from my wine club showed up (I was expecting 12), so we had a ton of leftover wine and food. BUT, we had a lot of fun! I just don't think I'll be hosting Winers again after all that.

Unfortunately, Caitlin had to leave on Friday night, because she coaches Girls on the Run and their practice 5K was rescheduled for Saturday morning. Again, a bummer, but she really didn't have any other options. She took a late flight, so she was able to be here for a little while during Winers.

On Saturday, Bonnie, Andrea, and I went up to Detroit in the morning so I could take them to Eastern Market. Eastern Market is a HUGE farmer's market that is open year-round on Saturdays, and a couple of other days during the summer. There are vendors that sell food, plants, crafts, etc. Bonnie was hoping to find some vegan baked goods, because that's not something that she can get easily (if at all) at home. The weather change was ridiculous from the day before--Friday was 72 and sunny, and Saturday was 32 and overcast/drizzly.

We walked around Eastern Market, and if it wasn't so cold, we probably could have spent all day there; but as we were walking, down came freezing rain! We got to see the whole market before the freezing rain, thankfully, so then we left to get lunch. There is a restaurant in Detroit called Detroit Vegan Soul, and I was excited to take Bonnie there. She's been vegan for two years (vegetarian much longer), but she'd NEVER been to a vegan restaurant before! Taking her there was one of my favorite parts of their visit, because I've never seen a grown woman so excited about anything. It's fun to see someone that excited!

I'm obviously not vegan, but I do love to try new things, so I ordered the "catfish" dinner--it was tofu that was breaded and fried like catfish, along with potatoes and a corn/broccoli medley.

I thought it was just okay. I really liked the cornmeal breading, but the tofu itself didn't have any flavor. The side dishes were good, though.

Andrea ordered the "Soul Platter"--collard greens, mac and cheese, beans and rice, and sweet potatoes.

Bonnie got a "bacon" wrap (the bacon was made from coconut!) and yam chips

All of us agreed that the food was just so-so, but we really liked trying it. The restaurant is adorable, too!

After that, we headed to Greektown Casino because Bonnie had never been in a casino before. She lost a quick $5 in a slot machine ;) We had some time to kill before going to Jerry's sister's house for a Pure Romance party, so I took them on a quick tour of Detroit via the People Mover (it was way too cold to walk around). Then, we stopped into Astoria Pastry Shop in Greektown to get baklava for a treat to have later.

Neither Bonnie nor Andrea had ever been to a Pure Romance party, so it was really fun to take them to Laura's! (Laura is Jerry's sister). Laura hosted the party, and Jerry's cousin was the consultant. The party was fun, and we were giggling over the products like the mature women we are ;)

We were pretty exhausted when we got home that evening. For dinner, we just ate some of the things we bought from Eastern Market (tamales and chips with guac), and then we watched a couple of movies while we drank margaritas in our pajamas. (I'd bought all three of the girls some Cookie Monster pajama pants. I wish I'd have thought to get a picture of all four of us in our pajamas while Caitlin was here.)

With our margaritas and PJ's

Sunday was the Kona Chocolate Run 10K that we were supposed to do, but the weather was miserable! None of us thought that running in the cold snowy weather sounded fun (the "feels like" temp was 13 degrees because of the wind!). So, we stayed home and had a pretty low key day. We went out for Mexican food for dinner (a super early dinner!) with Jerry and the kids. Then, we watched Shameless in our pajamas and had more margaritas (a lot of margaritas were consumed this weekend! ha). It was a very fun pajama party weekend!

This morning, Bonnie made me one of her delicious sandwiches. She's introduced me to several things I wouldn't normally have thought to try. She makes a sandwich on this amazing bread called Dave's Killer Bread...

I'm normally not a big bread person (unless it's freshly baked and has something spread on it), but holy cow, this bread is heavenly! Bonnie's favorite sandwich consists of this bread, sliced avocado, a very thin smear of Just Mayo (a vegan mayonnaise), red onions, Mrs. Dash Chipotle seasoning, and spinach. It was delicious, and I have a feeling I'm going to be eating it a lot now.

Remember how I said that my tastes have changed recently, and peanut butter is repulsive for some crazy reason? Well, I've also had an aversion to sweets for the first half of each day. The thought of having a sweet breakfast makes me feel nauseous. It's so strange! When we were at Eastern Market, I wasn't even tempted to taste samples of all the sweets and baked goods. Once evening rolls around, however, sweets are great again. (I have no idea what caused this--I suspect it's from the fish oil and/or vitamin D supplements I started taking about a month ago.) Anyway, this sandwich actually makes a great (savory) breakfast.

Today, it's back to the normal routine. I already miss my friends! But I am so glad that we got to have such a fun visit, and I hope we can do something like this annually.

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Running Games for Kids

In my previous post, I shared tips for coaching a kids' running club or cross country team. In this post, I'll share the games that my cross country kids loved playing after getting in their mileage for the day. The games still involve running, but the kids don't even really realize it because they are having so much fun!

Connect 4

I bought a Connect 4 board game, and we used that in a few different ways. There is a hill in the park where we practice, so to get them to run hill repeats, we placed all of the game pieces (the little red and yellow discs) on the top of the hill. Then we placed the game board at the bottom of the hill. We divided the kids into the yellow team and the red team (trying to make them equal based on how fast the kids were).

Each team lined up at the bottom of the hill, and when I blew the whistle, the first person on each team ran to the top of the hill, grabbed one game piece, and ran back to the bottom to put their piece on the board. When they reached the bottom, the next person from their team headed up the hill. This went on until one of the teams got four tokens in a row! We usually fit in two or three rounds of this game.

Another way to use the Connect 4 game is to do a relay like I wrote above, only instead of a hill, they can run a straight line or in a loop.

Sharks and Minnows

This is a game that the kids actually taught me. Using orange cones, we set up a large rectangular play area. You choose two kids to be "sharks", who start in the center of the rectangle. The rest of the kids are "minnows", and they line up across one end of the rectangle. The goal is for the minnows to get from one side of the play area to the other without getting tagged by a shark.

When I blow the whistle, the kids all run as fast as they can to the other side, and try not to get tagged by a shark. If they get tagged, they become "seaweed" and they have to sit down on the spot they were tagged. The seaweed can then tag minnows as well as the minnows run by, but they have to stay seated. You do several rounds of this until there is only one minnow left standing, who is the winner.

Musical Hula Hoops

This is basically musical chairs, but instead of putting a bunch of chairs in a circle, I put a bunch of hula hoops in a giant circle in the field. For 20 kids, we started with 8 hula hoops and we allowed 2 kids per hula hoop.

When I blew the whistle, the kids would start running a circle around the circle of hoops, just like in musical chairs; and then when I blew the whistle again, they had to scramble to find a hoop to stand in. Only two kids were allowed per hoop, so the leftover kids were out. Then we took away one of the hoops, and continued. We did this until there were two kids fighting for one hoop. Last one standing is the winner.

Obstacle Course

I set up a simple obstacle course for the kids to run relay-style. They had to weave in and out of cones, hop over three hurdles, jump rope five times, do a hopscotch-like thing with the hula hoops, and maybe a couple of other things that I came up with. First team to finish wins. Or, you could combine this with Connect 4, and have them pick up a token after the last obstacle and run it to the game board.

Scavenger Hunt

This was a little different than your average scavenger hunt. I bought about 10 small buckets from the dollar store, and a large package of plastic toy food items. On index cards, I wrote down the name of each food item. Then, I placed 3-4 items in each bucket, and placed all the buckets spread across the field randomly. I divided the kids into two teams, and they lined up relay-style. I handed each kid one of the index cards with an item written on it.

When I blew the whistle, the first kid from each team ran off to look in the buckets for their item (if they were lucky, it would be in the first bucket they checked; but if not, they had to keep searching). When they found their item, they ran it back to the team, and the next person took off. The first team to find all their objects was the winner. The kids are allowed to help their teammates--if the first kid, for example, saw the banana in one bucket and knew their teammate was going to be looking for it, they could tell their teammate what bucket the banana was in.

Matching Game

I bought a few packs of Matching Game cards from the dollar store (the deck consists of cards with pictures on them, and each card has a match). I would have the kids run their laps and collect ONE card after each lap (without peaking at the cards). They were divided into two teams, and each card they collected was put in a pile for their team. Once all the cards were gone, the teams got together to see how many matches they made. The team with the most matches was the winner. The kids learned that the faster they ran, the more laps--and therefore, more cards--they would get.

Marbles

This game is for a hill, but you could modify it for short sprints on flat ground, too. I bought two bags of marbles--one blue and one green. The blue marbles were worth 1 point, and the green marbles were worth 3 points. We placed a bucket with all the blue marbles halfway up the hill, and a bucket with the green marbles at the very top of the hill.

We divided the kids into two teams of equal ability, and when we blew the whistle, all the kids run at the same time up and down the hill, picking up one marble at a time and returning it to the bottom of the hill. They could choose to get the 1-point marbles and only have to go halfway up the hill, or they could choose the 3-point marbles by going to the top of the hill. At the end, we totaled the points for each team, and the team with the most points was the winner.

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Speed Workouts for Kids

Speed workouts for kids are pretty much the same as for an adult. The kids' races are short (about 1-1.3 miles), so I gave them short sprint workouts for speed. I always liked seeing the kids to speed workouts, because they would leave just dripping in sweat!

Sprints: Set up two cones about 50 meters apart. If you have a large group of kids, you may want to separate them into "waves" that start about 10 seconds apart so that they aren't getting trampled. When you blow the whistle, the kids sprint as hard as they can from one cone to the next. Then, they turn and walk back to the first cone. Repeat 5-10 times, depending on how hard it is for the kids. My team was whipped after doing just five, so we usually did 5-6.


Fast Finish Runs: The kids run their usual laps, but on the last lap, they run as fast as they can get it done without stopping or walking. This teaches them to finish strong on tired legs.

Time Trials: We only did a time trial on Day 1 and at the end of the season, but you can do them periodically in place of speed work. It's basically like racing, so they're pushing themselves to the max.

Loops with Speed: Instead of a short sprint with a short walk after, we would have the kids run their laps, but whenever they got to a particular cone, they would sprint to finish out that lap; then, do an easy run for another lap until they got to that cone again.This has a longer recovery period between sprints, but they should jog between sprints instead of walk.

Animals: I made little signs, each with the name of one of four animals on it--turtle, pig, horse, or cheetah. I put the signs on cones that were set up in their loop where they run laps. Turtle means walk; pig means jog slowly; horse means run steady; and cheetah means sprint. Each time they came to a cone, they would have to run like the animal on the cone.

Out of all the speed work, I think the kids liked the Animals workout or the plain old Sprints workout the best. Actually, they hated the sprints, but they did mention how much they love the way they feel when they're done.

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Overall, I absolutely LOVE coaching kids' cross country! If you ever have an opportunity to coach, you will probably have a lot of fun with it. I'm looking forward to doing it again next year :)

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Tips for Coaching Kids to Run

Someone recently emailed me to ask if I had all of the games I play with my cross country kids written down into one post, and I thought I did--but apparently, I do not! When I first volunteered to coach cross country for kids in second through fourth grade, I was clueless. I read as much as I could about it, but I just couldn't find the info I was looking for. My goal was to make running FUN, so that the kids would want to continue to run through middle and high school.

I had a hard time finding games for the age group that I was coaching, so I put my brain to use and came up with some games of my own, inspired by others that I read about. Some games were a hit with my team, and some were a bust. In this post, I'll write all about coaching kids and I'll share all the popular games I came up with.

Tips for Coaching Kids to Run

• Make a structured plan for the week. We had three practices per week: one for easy and fun running, one for long distance running, and one for speed work. On the easy run day, I would give the kids a certain number of laps to run (the loop of the park we run is about 0.34 miles). Once they ran their laps, then we would play a fun game or two. On the speed day, we did a speed work exercise (I'll list some of those in this post) and then played a game. And on the distance day, we gave the kids a goal number of laps to run, which was usually double what they ran on the other days; no game on distance day.

• When you're coaching a lot of kids, it's impossible to keep track of how many laps each has run (and even the kids forget). The kids happened to LOVE my system for keeping track--rubber bands. I have a tupperware container full of rubber bands, and I set it at the start of the loop. Each time the kids pass the start, they grab a rubber band and put it around their wrist. Alternatively, you could give them a certain number of rubber bands to start with, and they can take one off after each lap. I have no idea why the kids got so excited about rubber bands, but it really motivated them!

• Be prepared to hear a lot of excuses from the kids: "My stomach hurts", "My leg hurts", "My foot feels funny", "I'm tired", "I didn't eat before practice", "I ate too much before practice", etc. They claim they can't run laps, and then they are miraculously all better when it's time to play games ;) Throughout the season, there were a couple of kids who really did have an injury or other issue where they couldn't run that day; but on most days, I let their excuses go in one ear and out the other. 

• Stress to the kids that they should only worry about competing with themselves. I told my team that the main goal for them was to be a better runner than they were at the start of the season. At each meet, I told them to try and beat their own times. Of course the kids love winning medals, but the competition is tough! I wanted them to know that they are still doing great by improving their times, whether they come in first place or last place at the meets.

• Start your first (or second) practice with a time trial. That is where the kids will run a particular distance (in my case, I had them do three laps, which was 1.11 miles) as fast as they can. They should treat it like a race, where they run that distance in the shortest amount of time possible. Write down their finish times (I'll explain my system below). At the end of the season, have them do the same exact time trial so they can see how much they improved. Every single kid on our team improved their time! 

• Keeping track of finish times for a time trial is a bit of a challenge. I've done several of them now and have developed a system that works well for us. First, I cut a bunch of index cards in half, and I wrote numbers on them (1-24, the number of kids we have on our team). I downloaded a stopwatch app for my phone that allows you to keep track of "laps" on the stopwatch. Each time you press the lap button, it would mark that particular time while the clock kept going. 

So, when each kid finished, I would press the lap button and hand them an index card with their finish number on it. (The first kid to finish gets number 1, the second gets number 2, and so on). Tell them to hold on to the index card until you collect it from them. Once everyone has finished, you'll have a list of finish times on your app, and all the kids will have a number. Then, you'll know that the first lap is the time for the kid holding the number 1. The second lap is for the kid holding number 2. And so on. Write down all of their times in a notebook.

Here is an example... Each time you press the lap button, it records that split. The numbers in gray are the splits for each lap (ignore the numbers in black). If this was a time trial, the Lap 1 (5.0) would represent the kid who finished first (who will be holding the number 1 index card). Lap 2 (11.1) would represent the kid who finished second (holding number 2). And so on.

• I had a bag of little toys that I bought at the dollar store. After each meet, we recognized who improved their time the most from the previous meet, and we gave the most improved boy and girl a prize from the bag.

• If you're able to, it's actually really helpful to run with the kids (usually Renee would, but occasionally I would instead). The kids are less likely to take walk breaks if the coach is on their heels ;)

• One of the most important things to teach the kids, in my opinion, is good sportsmanship. We always encouraged the kids to cheer on other runners. One thing that I love about running as a sport is that the competition is friendly. Two kids might be racing each other, but as soon as the race is over, they're best friends. You don't really see much of that in other sports. 

• At the end of the season, I think it's nice to recognize each kid for something special they contributed to the team. Last year, I made certificates for things such as "Cheetah Award" for the fastest boy and girl, "Most Improved Runner" award, "Most Enthusiastic" award, etc. All of the kids got one, and I think it made them feel special to be recognized. 

This post got to be really long, so I'll continue on tomorrow's post with games and some workout ideas for the kids...

Running Games for Kids

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RIP Peanut Butter

I can't get over this amazing weather we have right now! Today, it was 65 and sunny... in November... in MICHIGAN. All summer long, we heard about how cold and snowy this winter will be, and I was expecting the worst. Of course, it's not even winter yet, so we could still be in for really harsh weather. But this November weather is amazing. I hope it holds out for the weekend when my friends are here.

Speaking of which, I have been non-stop busy getting ready for the weekend. Having a houseguest is one thing, but having three from three different states is a bit more complicated (although, it's three times the fun!). Also, I'm hosting my Wine Club meeting at my house on Friday, so I have that to prepare for as well. Lots of work, but the weekend will be totally worth it. I'm super excited!

Yesterday started week two of MAF heart rate training. I was scheduled to run for 35 minutes, so I just did a lollipop route that I knew to be about 3.3 miles. I felt good! Nothing notable about the run.

Average pace was 11:13, and average heart rate was 144 bpm.

Today's run was a bit different. I felt SO lethargic! My legs felt heavy, and I just wasn't feeling my best. My pace wasn't too far off from yesterday's, though.

I started taking my resting pulse when I wake up in the mornings, and it hasn't been very interesting. Sunday was 53 bpm, Monday was 51 bpm, and today was 49 bpm. I have an app on my phone that measures pulse, so that's what I've been using. I tested it out several times, and it's actually very accurate! You place your fingertip on the camera lens (I have an iPhone 6, not sure if that matters), and it uses the flash and lens to detect your pulse. The app is called Instant Heart Rate: Heart Rate & Pulse Monitor. It has a million ads, but since I only use it once a day in the mornings, it's not bad.

This heart rate experiment is kind of fun! It's nice not feeling any pressure at all to hit a particular pace or anything during training. I just keep my heart rate under 146 and whatever pace that happens to be, that's what I run. A lot of people have expressed interest in seeing how it works out, which makes me even more interested in sticking it out for the full 12 weeks. On Sunday, I'm running a 10K race; but, true to my word, I'm going to keep my heart rate below 146 during the race.

The weirdest thing has happened to me recently--I have an aversion to peanut butter! I promise I'm not pregnant (someone always asks when I mention something like this)--but the thought of peanut butter actually turns my stomach. Isn't that crazy? I used to be obsessed with peanut butter! I would literally eat peanut butter out of the jar with a spoon more often than I'll admit to.

Well, recently, I had a Reese's Pumpkin in my freezer, and it wasn't even calling to me at all. I finally ate it yesterday (even though I didn't want to... I shouldn't have eaten it!) and I actually had to gag down the last few bites. I immediately thought that I must be dying. It's SO weird! The only thing that comes to mind is that I started taking fish oil and vitamin D supplements a few weeks ago, and maybe that did something to my appetite? I don't know. I'm not complaining, though. Peanut butter has always been one of my biggest vices!

Speaking of vices, ice cream is my top vice; so, I was really excited yesterday when Jerry found the new Halo Top flavors at a store near his work. I won't pretend that Halo Top is the same as eating Haagen Dazs, but it's definitely good for an ice cream craving. I love the Mint Chip one! I told Jerry to pick up a pint of Mint Chip and surprise me with another. He chose Cookies & Cream.

I haven't tried it yet, but I'll write my thoughts when I do. (If you've tried Arctic Zero and didn't like it, I promise that Halo Top is better! It has more calories than Arctic Zero, but still a very low amount.)

Whelp, I'd better go cook dinner and get started cleaning the boys' bedrooms. I saved their rooms for last, because I am dreading them the most! I'm not sure how much I'll be writing over the next week or so, but I'll try and squeeze in a couple of posts. (I know it's only Tuesday, but my friends arrive on Thursday morning!)

By the way, I haven't seen Boomer, my sweet little bird, again--but I look for him every day. Hopefully he'll come back!

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Bathroom makeover!

So, the first week of MAF training is done. Today, I ran 45 minutes, and it ended up being a terrible run! There was actually frost on the ground when I woke up. This unusually warm weather has been so odd, it was kind of nice to see that it's getting colder. My weather app said the temp was 34 degrees when I headed out for my run, so I wore a fleece top, gloves, and a headband to cover my ears.

I felt fine when I started running, and I decided to do an out-and-back route, turning around when I hit the midway point (22:30). Usually, I run at least a mile before I get a beep telling me that my heart rate is high and I need to slow down; today, it took only a quarter mile. After that, it was beeping so much that I just ran as slow as I felt my legs would allow. Even then, my heart rate was right on the border of 146 the whole time.

I had a low calorie day yesterday (not on purpose--I was super busy and didn't have time to eat lunch), and I wonder if that had anything to do with my heart rate being high today. I think I'm going to start taking my resting heart rate in the mornings when I wake up, just to see if there is any correlation with how my run goes--does a high resting heart rate mean my run is going to feel harder? It'll be interesting to see.

Anyway, my average pace was 12:11, and my average heart rate was 145 bpm. In comparison to my last long run (6 miles on 11/5), my heart rate was also 145 bpm but my average pace was 10:59! Big difference. Today's run was very out of the ordinary for me. We'll see what happens next week.

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I've spent the last week or so really cracking down on getting our bathroom finished. The whole project started out to be SO simple--remove the thin strips of trim that cover the drywall joints. (The strips are something that manufactured homes have--I have no idea why.) Sounds like no big deal, right? I couldn't have been more wrong.

As you may remember, I took down the strips (I think in July) and I used drywall joint compound and a special kind of tape to smooth the drywall joint (this would make it one smooth wall, rather than having those vertical strips every few feet). Obviously, after doing that, I would have to paint the walls. Again, no big deal--the color clashed horrendously with my bedroom (which I'd painted in the summer as well).

When we had issues with the water heater and furnace recently, we knew we'd have to replace the floor in the laundry room (where the water heater and furnace are). We bought the materials to replace the flooring, and it was messy, but we got it done! (Many thanks to my brothers and Becky).  Since we had all the materials, we figured we might as well replace the small section of subfloor in the bathroom that had some water damage from the shower. We fixed the leak years ago, but the wood needed to be replaced.

Our bathroom floor actually had CARPET in the whole thing except for where the toilet is. Carpet is a really bad idea for a bathroom! We always knew we wanted to replace it, but it was never a true necessity, so we put it off for "someday".

Another issue was our bathtub. In addition to a stand-up shower, we had a huge corner bathtub, but I very rarely used it. It sounds stupid, but I was always afraid that there would be spiders inside of the jacuzzi jets in the tub, and I feared they would come out when I took a bath, so I just rarely took baths. (I'm terrified of spiders!)  The tub was basically a big waste of space in our bathroom. We decided to remove that as well--which would have to be done before painting the walls and doing the flooring.

This led to one big messy project: We needed to paint to cover the drywall mud; but, we couldn't paint until we removed the bathtub (for obvious reasons). Once removing the bathtub, the flooring would all need to be replaced, because there would be a big empty spot where the bathtub was otherwise. Everything was reliant on the previous thing, so it wasn't a project we could work on a little at a time, unfortunately. It reminded me of the "If you give a mouse a cookie..." scenario.

I had no idea what color to do--my bedroom is yellow and white, and I wanted it to match that, but not perfectly (I didn't want the same yellow walls in the bathroom as my bedroom). So, for the first time since becoming a homeowner 13 years ago, I actually painted the walls WHITE. Plain old boring white walls ;)

Jerry and I picked out vinyl plank flooring, and Jerry did the dirty work. He cut the bathtub in half to get it out of the bathroom, and then tore up the carpet and linoleum. Then he fixed the subfloor in front of the shower that needed fixing. He had never done flooring before, but it would save a lot of money to do it ourselves, so we decided to give it a try (and by "we", I totally mean "Jerry").

He laid down the underlayment over the subfloor, and then started on the vinyl planks. It actually didn't end up being that bad! The planks fit together really easily, and they don't need glue or grout or anything like that. Jerry got the plank part done in probably five hours total. We put in a new toilet, and it was finished!

The only part that we still need to do something with is the cabinets in there, because they completely clash with the floor; but, that isn't something that has to be done right away, so we'll save that for later. Like always, I forgot to take a "before" picture of the bathroom, so the best I can do is this stupid pic Jerry took of me flossing my teeth, haha. But you can at least see the drastic difference!

Here are some photos of the progress:

This is what was under the mirrors--floral wallpaper

No mirrors, no trim strips covering the drywall joints

Drywall joint after removing the strip

This was after I put the joint compound on. It looked like this from July until now!

Jerry tearing out the bathtub

After priming and removing the flooring

After painting and starting the vinyl planks

Finished! Well, until we decide to work on the cupboards...

Obviously, we need to put something in that right corner (the toilet is off to the left; you can't really see it in the pic). Someday, maybe we'll put a linen closet there, or maybe some nice shelves, but for now, I'm just going to leave it as-is. My mom said I should use chalk paint for my cupboards, so I'm going to look into that. It'd be much better (and cheaper) than having to replace them.

Anyway, I absolutely LOVE the floor! Jerry is super proud that he did it himself, and we're already talking about what we can do with the rest of the house--again, for a "someday" project, haha. I really wanted to get this done before my friends come over next week, because there will be FOUR women in the house that need to take showers and get ready, so having two bathrooms will be nice!

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Military pet charities

(This post is sponsored by Purina. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.)

Not only is today my favorite date (11/11--my favorite number is 11), it is also Veterans Day--a day to honor those who served in the military. As you may know if you've been reading my blog for a while, Veterans Day means a great deal to me. It wasn't until I experienced my brother's deployment that the sacrifices veterans make really sunk in for me. I'm always in awe of the veterans in this country and how much they've sacrificed for us. I can't begin to express how much I appreciate them!

My boys at the airport waiting for Nathan to come home from Iraq in 2007

So, when I heard that Purina was going to be donating $100,000 to two military pet charities, I was thrilled. I honestly wasn't even aware that military pet charities existed! The two they've teamed up with are Dogs on Deployment and Pets for Vets. Here is a brief rundown of each:

Dogs on Deployment- Dogs on Deployment (DoD) provides an online network for service members to search for volunteers willing to board their pets during service commitments. Their mission is to give military members peace of mind concerning their pets while unable to care for them during their service. This way, their pets won't have to be surrendered to a shelter! As of early this year, nearly 900 pets had been placed in foster care for these service members.

I was checking out the Dogs on Deployment website, and out of curiosity, I searched for pets near me that need fostering. It's so tempting! If I didn't have three cats and a dog already, I would love to foster for a service member. If you're interested in fostering, you can go to the DoD website and enter your city in a search bar. It will list pets nearby that are looking for foster care. You could also register as a potential boarder, so that the service members can search in their local area.

Pets for Vets- Pets for Vets provides a second chance for shelter pets by rescuing, training, and pairing them with America's veterans who could benefit from a companion animal. Animal-assisted therapy has been very helpful in fighting PTSD or combat stress. Over 5 MILLION dogs and cats are euthanized every year because they don't have homes--and Pets for Vets gives a lot of animals a second chance by training them to be great companions for veterans who need them! There are plenty of ways to volunteer for Pets for Vets as well (including fostering, dog training, fundraising, event planning, and several other opportunities).

Both organizations do excellent work for great causes. Purina is going to be donating $100,000 to the charities--$75,000 to one of them, and $25,000 to the other. They are asking for public votes to determine which charity gets each amount; to vote for the charity you prefer, you can do so at Pure Love for Pets.

Personally, I love the Pets for Vets idea. When my brother came home from Iraq after serving four years in the Army, he adopted a black lab named Bailey. I really think that she helped him establish a feeling of being "home" again. A lot of war veterans come home feeling like they just don't belong anywhere, and it's a difficult adjustment. Adopting a pet to care for can give them a new "purpose", as well as be therapeutic while they adjust to civilian life again.

Anyway, please make sure you take a moment today to thank our veterans for their sacrifices and service! xo

I'll end with these cards that my kids made for Uncle Nathan on Veterans Day a few years ago. They make me smile every time I look at them!

"You are a great Army man" --Eli

"Thank you for saving our country" --Eli

--Noah

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A message from a little bird

I'm so glad the presidential election is finally over. It's sad seeing all of the hateful social media comments people make to others based on their vote. Especially this year.

Anyway, I have a nice story to share, and today is the perfect day to do it.

A few days ago, I was sitting in the living room with the kids when I saw a bird crash into our window. Instead of dropping to the ground, the bird fell and caught its toenails on the window screen. My heart sank, and I felt so bad for him. He wasn't moving, just hanging by his toenails, so I assumed he was dead or injured.

I went outside to check him out, and when I touched him to help untangle his nails from the screen, he started moving around. It took a couple of minutes, but I managed to unhook him from the screen, and as soon as I did, he hopped right on my shirt and sat there. I thought for sure he was injured and couldn't fly. I picked him up off my shirt and let him sit in my hand while I tried to figure out what to do with him. He didn't have any obvious injuries.

I was thinking I could just put him in the bushes, and hope that he was okay; and right as I thought that, he flew out of my hand and into the woods. Relief! He was such a pretty bird. I had no idea what kind of bird he was until I posted his picture on Facebook and Instagram, and I learned he was a Golden-Crowned Kinglet. Spending a few moments with him totally made my day!

This morning, I took the kids to school, and when I got home, I was walking up the porch steps and saw a bird lying on the porch, on its back, unmoving. I was furious, because Phoebe had snuck out of the house yesterday, and I thought she killed him. I reached down to pick him up and move him off the porch, when he jumped up onto my hand!

I was startled, but very pleasantly surprised to see my little friend again. I thought for sure he was injured this time, because what bird just lies on its back, "playing dead", and then allows itself to be held? I held him in my hand, trying to block the wind because it was chilly and very windy this morning. We sat on the porch for a few minutes, and I was dying to get my phone from just inside the house so that I could take a picture of him.

He actually fell asleep in my hand, and I very carefully opened the door and got my phone. Then I sat on the porch with him for about 15 minutes--again, trying to figure out what to do with this little (injured?) bird.

His feathers are a little ruffled from the wind ;)

I was freezing by this point, and really wanted to go inside, so I decided to make the bird a little nest out of leaves to block the wind. I walked, bird in hand, to the side of the house, and bent down to grab some leaves. Then he just jumped out of my hand and flew away. I was so grateful that he wasn't injured! Maybe he just likes me ;)  I feel like this little bird needs to make his rounds to bring cheer to everybody that needs it! Or at least to remind people to be gentle with each other.

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Yesterday was Day 2 of MAF training. Like I said in my last post, I'm going to run at or below my MAF heart rate for 12 weeks straight and just see what happens. Yesterday was another 30 minute run. I covered my watch with my shirt sleeve, and just ran a three-mile route without paying any attention to pace. The heart rate alert is set on my watch so that if my heart rate goes over 146, it'll beep to let me know to slow down.

Average pace was 11:09, and average heart rate was 143. I expect my pace to vary (both faster and slower) day by day; but, over several weeks, the goal is to see a downward trend in my pace. Every couple of weeks, I'll do a graph of my pace at my MAF heart rate to see what's happening.

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Now, I am about to spend the entire day doing laundry. How does it pile up so fast?!

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A different kind of goal

Today, I woke up before my alarm went off because the phone was ringing. I was totally confused for a minute, until I saw that it was from the kids' school. Whenever they delay or cancel school, the calls come very early (5:15 ish). I couldn't imagine that it had snowed all night long (it's been in the 60's and 70's here!!) so I guessed fog.

The recording said that school would be delayed for two hours due to heavy fog. I wish I was able to go back to sleep, but I am always wide awake after the school calls. After breakfast, I figured I would have enough time to go for a run and shower before I had to take the boys to school.

I dressed in bright clothes, because I was expecting some serious fog, but it actually wasn't too bad. I stopped for a picture of the lake, thinking that it would be really foggy over the water, but it just wasn't there.

This is without a filter--isn't it pretty? 

Just after I finished my second mile, my cell phone rang. I pulled it out of my Flipbelt, and saw that it was the school again. This time, they said that school would be canceled due to the fog! I don't remember school ever being canceled for fog, and considering I couldn't see much fog this morning, I was surprised. Oh, well, my kids were thrilled ;)

While I was running, I was trying to think of a good goal to work toward right now. I don't have to start training for Indy until February, so I have a few months without any running goals. For the past few runs, I've been taking care to make sure my heart rate stays under 146, and that led me to come up with a different kind of goal for this winter.

For the next 12 weeks, I'm going to run at or below my target heart rate for easy running--for me, that's 146 bpm. I'm really curious to see if my easy pace will get faster without doing ANY speed work--basically, just solid MAF training.

I tried to do this once before in 2014(?) but I just wasn't ready to do it then--I was too impatient to see results. When I started heart rate training last year to train for the 10K, I was doing all my easy paced running at a low heart rate, but I still did speed work once or twice a week as well.

Ever since I first read about MAF training, I've been so curious about whether it really works. Now is the perfect time for me to experiment with it, because I have about 14 weeks until I start training for Indy, and until then, I don't have any goals lined up. My 10K training taught me that I really need to trust the heart rate training process, as counterintuitive as it may seem; so, unlike in 2014, I'm not worried about the consequences of trying something that may not work. I'm also willing to be very patient with it.

I want to do this solely as an experiment on myself. So, for the next 12 weeks, all of my running will be at or below 146 bpm. As far as my distances, I'm going to follow the Base Building Plan that I wrote, starting on Week 5. Today, I did a 30 minute run, and my average heart rate was 143.

So, on Day 1, my average heart rate was 143 bpm and my average pace was 10:53/mile. I'm going to start a line graph of my pace, to see the overall trend in my pace at this heart rate. The goal of MAF training is to see the pace gradually get faster while the heart rate stays the same (over a period of several months).

My goal at the end of 12 weeks is just to maintain the same low heart rate but be running significantly faster (I actually don't even know what a "signifiant" amount would be). I'm not sure how quickly this training works, because I've never done it before, so it should be interesting to see the results! And it gives me a purpose when I run, which makes me happy :)

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Starting and/or growing a blog

I was just looking through some drafts of posts that I never shared, and came across this one. I don't know why I never posted it! But here goes...

The topic of blogging itself has never been very interesting to me, which is why I don't write about it much (if ever). When I started my blog, it was literally just a place for me to keep a daily journal--even though it was public on the internet, haha. I liked the idea of having some people read my thoughts because it also helped me stay accountable in my weight loss (otherwise, I would have just written a private journal instead of a blog).

As my readership grew, I learned about all of the potential that comes from writing a blog, and I was given some amazing opportunities because of Runs for Cookies. In that way, it turned from less of a journal to more of a blog--but I've always tried to maintain my original writing style.

I don't have interest in writing an "informative" blog, so I keep those sort of posts to a minimum. I prefer to just write about my own experiences, and for some odd reason, there are people that actually enjoy reading it! ;)

Anyway, I've been asked several times through the years about starting a blog and/or how to grow readership. I haven't written a post about it because I don't feel like I'm the best person to give that sort of advice. Blogging itself is not my forte. But, because blogging has given me so many amazing opportunities, I thought I'd write this post to share what little knowledge I do have about it, in order to help someone else who may have the same attitude and goals I did about blogging.

Unlike a lot of the "big name" bloggers, I use Blogger.com to host my blog. It's free, it's simple to set up, and I really don't think that Google is going anywhere, so I'm not worried about losing this platform. In the blogging world, using Blogger is sort of looked down upon, but that doesn't bother me at all. Blogger does what I need it to, and I'm happy with it.

Once upon a time, I looked into switching to WordPress, which is the more desirable blogging platform, but it was so confusing to me! I spent days researching how to switch over, and the costs involved, and then I realized--why? When Blogger is doing everything I need, why bother switching? And from then on, I just decided that I don't care if my blog is less professional this way (I was never going for a "professional" blog anyway!). However, I thought I'd mention WordPress in case you're looking for an alternative to Blogger.

For someone who has never blogged and has no idea how to start, I think Blogger is fantastic. You can literally create your blog and write your first post all within about 20 minutes. You sign up at Blogger.com, just by following the prompts. You can select from all sorts of different layouts, or customize it to look how you'd like. (I started with one of the basic layouts, and customized things here and there throughout the first couple of years).

I do recommend buying the domain name that you'd like (Blogger makes doing this easy, too, otherwise I'd have had no idea how to do it). I purchased runsforcookies.com for $10 per year, and it renews automatically.

In regards to naming your blog, it's actually more important than you might think. Here are some of my thoughts on the topic:

• I think that having a very short title is important, because it's easy for people to remember. I would say 3-4 words maximum would be perfect.
• I would stay away from spelling things incorrectly, even if you're trying to be cute (for example, "Katie's Kookies"--spelling cookies with a K). When you tell someone your blog name, you will forever be explaining that it's "Kookies with a K" and it makes it harder for people to remember.
• Likewise, I would stay away from using numbers--for example, "Runs4Cookies". Again, you'll always have to explain that it's the number four and not "for". The less explaining you have to do about your blog name the better.
• If possible, try to hint at what your blog is about in the title. This can be really difficult, especially when using just a few words. In my case, "Runs for Cookies" actually explains quite a bit--"cookies" is an all-encompassing word for sweets and desserts. I am a runner, and part of the reason I run is to maintain my weight loss; therefore, "Runs for Cookies" is sort of explaining that I exercise in order to eat desserts while maintaining my weight loss. 
• I would stay away from things that are likely to change over the years. In fact, I've been thinking for about a year now about changing the title and domain of my blog. Runs for Cookies is still relevant, but it puts me into a blogging mold of running and weight loss, and I'd prefer not to have one particular niche. 

Before telling anyone about your blog, I would write your first post, as well as have an "About Me" page. When people visit your blog, they'll want to see at a glance what it's about, and if your blog is pretty empty or there aren't any pages for them to see more info, they probably won't stay long. 

When writing posts, it's important to keep it easy on the eyes. One of the first things I learned about blogging (that I believe has made a world of difference) is to break up posts into paragraphs that are 2-4 sentences long. When reading my posts, you'll notice I have paragraph breaks more frequently than proper grammar would require, but that is to make the posts easier on the eyes. 

Speaking of proper grammar... I think it goes without saying that checking spelling and grammar is just as important. Mine certainly isn't perfect all the time, especially considering that I write in a conversational voice, but I do read it over once or twice before publishing. I like my blog to read the way I would speak, so I don't always use proper grammar, but I think spelling is the most important part. I notice that when I read blogs with a lot spelling errors, I tend to focus more on that than I do on what the blog post is about. It's not deliberate, but the errors jump out at me and it's hard not to focus on them. 

I think it's extremely important to write your blog in your own personality. I wouldn't try to mock someone else's writing style, because it won't come across as genuine. I read a couple of blogs that are just so clever that I want to write like that, too! But it just isn't my personality, and instead of sounding clever, it would sound forced, like I was trying too hard. My writing style is really just a conversational tone--the way I write is the way I would talk with someone. 

Likewise, I think we should write about things that are important to US, and not try to please anyone else. This is very difficult for me, because I don't take criticism well (I welcome constructive criticism, and I actually enjoy it; but when people are critical just to be mean, I am very sensitive). Sometimes, when I read a mean comment, it makes me not want to write about that topic anymore. For example, one time I got a rude comment from someone who said I was making up the fact that I have anxiety.

My anxiety is very real, to the point where I have some pretty bad physical symptoms from it, but after reading that comment, I felt uncomfortable posting about it anymore. Whenever I mention anxiety, that comment pops into my head. I don't want to let one rude comment change the way I write! So I do my best to write honestly and genuinely, regardless of what others say or think. It's much harder than it sounds! ;) 

Regarding monetizing a blog... 

I chose to include ads on my blog about a year after I started Runs for Cookies. I hate annoying pop-up ads or ads that automatically include videos, so I opted out of those types of ads on my blog--even though I could earn more money if I include them. I don't think it's unreasonable to include ads on a blog, as long as they don't take away from my actual posts. Sometimes, I'll click over to a blog from Pinterest, and the ads that bombard me make me close the post and not visit that blog again--I certainly don't want that. 

Another way to monetize is by writing sponsored posts. A sponsored post is a post that the blogger is paid by a company to write. I don't do many of these, because again, they can detract from my blog's message if done too frequently. When it comes to sponsored posts, I think it's VERY important to only choose companies and/or products that you actually believe in. Personally, I would never write a sponsored post for a company that I dislike, even if they were paying me very well. I also like to use my own voice, so that the post doesn't come across as one big fake commercial for a product. Legally, sponsored posts all must include a disclaimer stating that the post is sponsored.

Monetizing a blog is something that I put a lot of thought into. I get requests every single day to write sponsored content or place new ads, but I constantly ask myself if it's worth it. Is making a few extra bucks worth annoying everyone that visits my blog with a pop-up ad? Do I believe in this product enough to write a sponsored post about it? Sometimes, the answer is yes--it's worth it. But most of the time, it's no. So, as far as monetizing a blog, I think it's very important to really consider whether it's worth what is being asked of you, if that makes sense.

About growing readership of a blog...

I get a lot of emails from people asking how they can gain more readers. I'm not the best person to discuss this topic, because I don't really focus on trying to get new readers. But here are a few thoughts...

I do think it's very important to write content that is important to you. If you're writing what you think others want to read, it "sounds" fake; but if you are passionate about something, it really comes through in your written words. I think people enjoy reading genuine posts about something the author is passionate about. 

I believe that a lot of my readers found my blog in the beginning because I was reading and commenting on other blogs. I went through a phase where I had discovered how huge the blogging community is, and I was reading a TON of blogs. I commented on them, and I think people must have found my blog that way. I would suggest that you NOT write, "Check out my blog! Here's the link."--those comments are a big turn-off (to me, anyway). I've noticed that the bloggers who seem the most gung-ho about gaining new readers usually have the least amount of success at it. 

When I notice someone commenting regularly on my blog, I always click on their profile to see if they have a blog as well--and if they do, then I'll visit and check it out. I've discovered some really interesting blogs this way, and even met some friends.

Finally, the fastest way to learn how to do things on your blog is to Google it--if I wanted to add or change something about my blog, I would just Google my question, "How do I ______ on Blogger?" And you can almost always find the answer that way. I think the MOST important thing to keep in mind when starting a blog is to BE GENUINE. I can't stress that enough!

Blogging has been life-changing for me, because I've gotten so many opportunities I never would have gotten otherwise. I don't see myself doing it forever, but I am so glad that I stepped outside my comfort zone way back in the day and started sharing my life online. If you've ever thought about starting one, I suggest you go for it!

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Plans and photo dump

Thanks for all of the feedback on my last post! Like I said, I have no concrete plans of quitting blogging--I'm just trying to figure out what direction I want to go with the blog. I had an idea today to start a "Flashback Friday" post once a week, where I share my old journal entries (word for word) while I was losing weight. I had a blog before Runs for Cookies, and I wrote in it almost daily while I was losing the weight in 2009-2010. It's no longer online, but people ask me all the time if they can read it.

I went back and read a few of the posts today, and it's embarrassing! My writing was terrible, I sounded SO whiny, and I just want to smack myself while reading it for some of the things I wrote about ;) I'll give it some more thought, but I think I'd be too embarrassed to post those entries.

I have three friends coming to visit in a couple of weeks, and I'm super excited about it! Caitlin and Bonnie are from my Ragnar SoCal team (Caitlin is from Massachusetts and Bonnie is from Virginia); and then Andrea is from my Ragnar Florida Keys team (the one that was in the documentary) and she lives in Kansas. Caitlin and Andrea have been here before, but it will be Bonnie's first time visiting.

I'm going to be hosting my wine club meeting the weekend they are here, which will be a fun way for them to meet some of my friends. Jerry's sister is having a Pure Romance party on Saturday, so we'll go to that as well. And then on Sunday, we're going to run the Kona Chocolate Run 10K. It should be a fun girls weekend! My house will be crowded, but I haven't had a sleepover since I was a kid, so I'm looking forward to it ;)

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I've been doing a lot of thinking about what my goal will be for Indy in May, and I finally decided that I'm not going to set a time goal. I've been having a hard time making myself stick to a running schedule lately, and I would really like to get back in the routine of running five days a week. I'll make my goal to just follow the schedule, get in all the training, and feel good while running the half. I don't really feel ready to start training very hard for a PR.

When I ran Indy in 2011, I had the same thought--just run the whole way, and finish whenever I happen to finish. I really enjoyed that race! I haven't run 13.1 miles since the half I did at Cedar Point in December of 2014. I hobbled the last couple of miles, in pain, and later learned it was because of a stress fracture. Most of my "long" runs since then have been just six miles, so training for a half-marathon will feel fresh and new!

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I bought some yarn today so that I can start knitting again in the evenings. I've been having a hard time with snacking at night lately--my day will be great and I'll count calories until evening, when I watch a show and find something to snack on. When I was losing the weight in 2009-2010, I started knitting a LOT. It kept my hands busy at night so that I wouldn't eat while watching TV. And I was excited about finishing each project! When I started my blog, I quit knitting. I didn't really realize how much I missed it until I went to the store today and started looking at yarn.

I'm really in the mood to knit, but when I was looking at patterns on Ravelry, I came across this crocheted black cat hat and I love it. So, I'll probably start crocheting that tonight!

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Photo dump... I hate that phrase, but these are kind of random photos from this week, so here goes:

Eli was a fisherman and Noah was a doctor for Halloween.
This was at Jerry's parents' house before they went trick-or-treating.

We were cracking up because Joey just decided to walk over and sit on
top of Eli's candy on Halloween night.

Went for a long walk with Jessica on Wednesday, and it was so pretty!

Jessica and me at the Metropark

I barely get any of the electric blanket, because the pets hog it all.
Here, Joey was actually sleeping with his head on Estelle. She wasn't sure what to do.

This is a portrait that Eli drew of me in art class, and I LOVE it. 

Estelle was very curious about the bag from Michael's today, and wasted
no time crawling inside and getting comfortable.

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