New Year, New Us!

Well, on the new Sandals FIT 2.0 shirt it actually says, "New Year, New You Us. Which I particularly like because it's a lot easier to make positive changes when you have help!

Wow, 2014. And January is almost done already! Thought I'd share a little bit about my FIT goals for 2014. This seems to be the best place to document that. At my church, Sandals Church, in Riverside, CA we are going through a series called, FIT- again.

I really love it because it encourages us to start the year off with good habits and positive changes, and when an entire church is focused on doing this, it's always more successful. As I've written in the past about this, its not just about making new years resolutions because those have already failed by this time in the new year. It's about changing our behaviors, getting rid of poor disciplines/patterns and encouraging one another to truly make better choices and changes as a Christian: Physical, mental, emotional and Spiritual. With that in mind, it's my favorite few months in small group especially because we all work out together one time a week. Though I wish we did this the entire year, I am thankful that we get a few months of it!

Any way, a few of my goals for the year:

Physical: I signed up to run the LA marathon with Team World Vision on March 9th. As the day rapidly approaches I am feeling pretty good and praying my training will continue to go well. I am running to raise funds for clean water in Uganda. Clean water for life for one person costs $50. My goal is to raise $1310, and help provide clean water for 26 people. That is one person per mile! If you click here, you can make a tax deductible donation.

I also plan on participating in the So Cal Ragnar Relay again. I had a blast last year, and would like to run on a 12 man team.

I am not sure which other races I will be competing in, but for those of you that know me, I'm sure I'll find plenty.

Spiritual: I've joined an online bible study through the Proverbs 31 Ministries called, "Made to Crave." It is based on a book by Lysa Turkerst called, "Made to Crave."

We finished through chapter 3 this week. Its a good read, and good study. I'm enjoying it very much. I have several books lined up to keep me busy mentally and emotionally.

Emotionally: Like last year, I am committed to praying and journaling. It helps me process my thoughts and use my words a little more wisely. It also allows me for some quiet time with God.

Financial: I am so excited to announce that on March 1st we will be DEBT FREE!!!! Which will finally allow us to do well, just about whatever we want with the money we were using to pay off debt... roughly $3000 a month. Of course we will still be following the Dave Ramsey Baby Step plan... but we will finally NOT be on baby step 2 soon! On to LARGE emergency fund and investing!

Well, that about does it for now. Happy 2014 everyone. I so love the even years better than the odd... I know I'm weird.

March Book Review- The Four Seasons of Marriage

This book I came about by accident because I downloaded an app called, "Book Shout." The app provides free downloads of book for a temporary amount of time. Meaning that if you down load it before the end of the days it's free. I downloaded one book that was a Christian Living book and it started sending me emails once a week with books that the app thought I might be interested in. I now have a few books to read.

This book, "The Four Seasons of Marriage," was written by Gary Chapman. He wrote another book that I have read called, "The Five Love Languages." I his new book, he uses the four seasons we observe: winter, spring, summer and fall, to describe times of marriage. Spring and summer are the appealing seasons while winter and fall are used to describe times we encounter in marriage, but don't want to stay.

The book explains each season, and characteristics of marriages in those seasons, and then strategies to prevent fall and winter and stay in spring and summer. The book also provides questions and suggestions for bible study with the book and groups of married couples and then for couples individually.

Some of the information that stuck with me included the importance of honestly communicating with your spouse, engaging in active listening, learning how to serve your spouse the way that The Bible commands us to and how to forgive. These principals were very helpful and a great reminder of how to love our spouses. I highly recommend this book to read as an individual or as a group of couples that want to encourage each other to grow in their marriages.

February Book Review- The Total Money Makeover

Book number two for the year was written by Dave Ramsey. This book is a condensed version of the financial peace university class. It is very good, however I do not recommend just reading this book, I would recommend taking the Financial Peace University class to help apply all the principles that you can learn from the book/class. And then re-reading the book whenever you need a reminder to stay on track.

This book goes through the 7 baby steps and how to apply them. And the book provides new stories of how real couples have achieved their Total Money Makeover throughout the pages. And the back of the book also provides all the documents needed to start your Total Money Makeover.

I highly recommend this book if you are not totally bought in to taking the Financial Peace University class. Our housemate read most of the book and then took the course to start her journey to financial peace. Hope you will take a look at it too.

January Book Review Finally finished...

One of my goals this year is to read a book (non-fiction) a month. Which isn't a problem if I focus on one book at a time, but I had three going at once. Regardless, I finally FINISHED my first book. The book was called, "The Runners Complete Guide to Running." Here is my brief review:

There was a lot of sound advice in this book that I took away from the reading. Two particular workouts stuck out:

Sprint workouts are important... In order to increase your speed over a long period of time, you should complete a speed workout a week during your training. (I already knew this, but I couldn't figure out how to determine what kind of speed workout to do), for marathon training, repeat 800's is helpful. Bart Yoos suggests starting with four 800's and adding an additional 800 each week' and then tapering off at 3 weeks before your race. Whatever your goal finish time is for your marathon, should be your time for your 800. Example, if your marathon goal time is 3 hours and 45 minutes (3:45) then you should complete each 800 for this workout in 3 minutes and 45 seconds. Fool proof, and actually works.

Another workout that I liked, that should be done on rest or off days is an embedded circuit training. Many runners don't lift writs and they should. There was a very specific workout listed... 2 miles of warming up, 12 lifting exercises (mostly upper body, but a w lower body) one set, with 30 seconds of stationary bike, or jump rope between each lift and then a 2-3 mile cool down. Because I have a pretty strong weight lifting background, this was fairly easy. However, I did this workout yesterday, and my calves are killing me. Then I realized it was because of the 6 minutes (total) of jumping rope!!

There were a lot of beginner runner tips that were really helpful in the book... How to select shoes, and gear, how to prep for a race, and even a chapter on women runners.

The only disappointment was that most of the training suggestions were for a marathon. I ran a marathon a few years ago, and well, it's not for me, ... at least not right now. I was hoping to get some training advice for a half marathon. Maybe I could just taper each of the training regiments, or find another book. Overall, it was very informative. And I recommend it for beginning runners and those who are interested in marathons.

Canyon Lake Middle School

"I GOT A NEW JOB!"

It all started last summer, when Colin and I had just finished facilitating our second Financial Peace University class at Sandals Church. We still had about $55,000 worth of debt and Kellen was about ready to start preschool in the fall. We knew that if we wanted to be able to afford preschool, and keep the debt snowball rolling, I would need to work, at least part time.

In September I started substitute teaching for the Lake Elsinore Unified School District, part time, and Kellen was in preschool Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It was a little bit of a tough transition, but Kellen eventually grew to LOVE school and would ask me to go home and get him later if I came to pick him up before 3pm. The extra income paid for preschool and extra cash to pay towards our debt.

In January, we decided to try full time preschool for Kellen, and five days a week subbing for me. At first it was a little rough (seems to be the pattern, ha ha). But Kellen seems to do better with the routine being consistent. The only real downside to preschool is that he's had 4 ear infections (thanks to germs and colds from classmates) since he started. Even that seems to be routine now!

After two months of full time subbing, I was pretty much working at Lakeside every day. Most of the days went real well, the kids are great and I have been able to spend lunch with Colin each day. Kellen's school is a mile down the road and it has been working out. We now have $32,500 left in debt; (thanks to taxes and the extra income) it is encouraging to see it go down. Towards the end of February Colin (and all the teachers in the district) received an email from the district office announcing an opening for a PE teacher at Canyon Lake Middle School. For those of you that do not know, before I had Kellen I was a full time PE teacher in the district at another middle school. The job posted online and was available for application submissions for only a week. Colin and I talked about it and decided I should apply and see what happened. I submitted my application a few days later and didn't hear anything. A few weeks later we happened to pass by the assistant superintendent of personnel at a stop light and we asked him how the process was going. He said there were over 100 applicants and they were still in the process of screening applications. At that point I figured, well, maybe this isn't what God had planned. We both realized that if I didn't get a phone call we'd just continue with our current plan. March 11th I received a phone call from the district office wanting to know if i was still interested in the position and wanted to set up an interview. I have no idea how many people were interviewed, but March 14th when I interviewed, the only other applicants I saw were males. Each interview was 15 minutes long and had 6 questions. I tried to keep each answer short and simple, but Im pretty sure I rambled on one of them. I wasn't very confident leaving, I sorta suck at interviews. :-/ I seem to freeze and forget everything I was planning on saying. I found out later that I don't think I smiled at all during the interview either (yikes).

March 20th I got one last call from the district office... "So, Mindie, are you ready to come back to work?" I was a little surprised, but super excited. I completed all the paperwork yesterday, and I start April 1st. I'm nervous. I'm the newbie and I want to do a good job. I have about a week to plan and hopefully meet with the other PE teachers and make the transition pretty smooth. These kids have had two teachers, a long term sub and plenty of other people come and go this year and I hope they will give me a chance. I will need a few days to get to know them before we jump in to our current unit, basketball.

Please keep us in your prayers...

-Wisdom- to bring my best to work each day. To prepare well, love on the kids, and be an example to them. And have FUN!
-For the students- to transition well (they have now had 3 teachers this year, and probably are eager for some routine and consistency).
-Colin and I to continue to communicate well. Two full time jobs,and one little man to take care of. And one car to travel in.
-That Jesus will be reflected in my life. That my family would still be priority over work. Prayer and guidance to balance family and full time job.
-Kellen to adjust well. It won't be much different for him. He misses the cut off for kindergarten so he will go from preschool to pre-k in September at the same school. His schedule does not change.
-Additional wisdom for our finances. This second paycheck will allow us to eliminate our debt (Lord willing) within the year... Almost 2 years ahead of schedule.

Thank you for your prayers and congratulations! I feel really loved on, and appreciated.

Blessings!

Sandals FIT

I just realized i never posted this... yikes. Well,, they are still goals for the year, so I figured I would post it any way.


Ok, so our church started a new series last weekend that is pretty great. You can check it out for yourself at www.sandalsfit.com.

We are talking about all around fitness for the next 50 says, mind, body and soul. Our community groups are going through a video each week and working out together and keeping each other accountable for the goals we have set. You can set up you goals on the sandals fit website, share pictures, share your story etc... I'm loving it! But, I love everything fitness any way :-)

I have set several goals for this year... Here are a few:

Mind-
Read 10 non-fiction books this year... I have a few in a stack already... First up is the "Runners World magazine complete guide to running", next will be finishing Dave Ramsey's, "My a total money makeover", and I ordered a book called "Joy," by Rick Warren's wife.

Soul-
Read Gods word daily, pray with Colin daily, journal weekly and pray with or for someone else daily. I set up a reading plan on www.youversion.com and have stayed consistent with it the last 28 days. I have been using my iPad to do this. Colin and I pray together, for each other before bed, and I been praying with/for Kellen each morning on the way to school. While I pray I have recited the scripture memory verse that we work on... This past week was 2 Thessalonians 1:11... This coming week is Philippians 4:13.

Body-
My goal is to complete 10 events this year (running of some distance or obstacle course). January's run was a 10k- my first. The next race I have set up is a1/2 marathon (my 7th) with my friend Terri in February in San Dieguito. April I will compete in my first Ragnar relay, I would like to maybe try the ROC race at Del Mar again, and find a new mud run, and a few more 1/2 marathons... We will see. I like smaller races, on Saturdays so I can actually race and not worry about crowd control!

Well, time for bed.

"I pray that our God will make you fit for what he has called you to be..."
2 Thessalonians 1:11 MSG

Current Fitness Goals

Back in June our Pastor, Matthew Brown at Sandals Church encouraged us to have goals for our life. Physical, Emotional and Spiritual goals. Well, back then I had 2 of the 3 ready...

As we approach the fall season, (First day is September 22nd!) I decided to re-evaluate/affirm my goals. Here they are...

Emotional Goal- journal at least 3 days a week (or blog) to give my poor husband a break from listening to any emotional break downs. This has really helped me to clear my thoughts and evaluate what I've been going through this year. (Moving, running, learning more about Christ, letting God lead me where I should serve, live, grow, etc).

Spiritual Goal- read the Word daily. In some way, shape or form, constantly be in God's Word. It's the only way to know what God wants for me (my life, my future, my actions, behaviors, choices, EVERYTHING). I also try to read a non-fiction book a month, I try to make the book a book about living for Christ (In word, deed, behavior)- most of them have been. I am a little behind, I think I'm on book 6 or 7 for the year. Currently I am reading a book by Charles R. Swindoll called, "The Mystery of God's Will."

Physical Goal- Stay in shape obviously. I am doing this by training for another 1/2 marathon race (#5). On Saturday, November 10th I will be running the Santa Barbara International Half Marathon.

There is a possibility of participating in a relay triathlon in October, which would then technically be my 5th 1/2 marathon and SB would be 6. We'll see if Colin and Marty are still up for the swim and bike. It would be in Canyon Lake. Recently found out about a 1/2 marathon in Temecula! Figures, it's the weekend before my SB race.

So, well, yeah, that's what's on the plate these days. I train 6 days a week. I run 3 days, and lift 3 days. I use my Les Mills Pump videos for the lifting days... 55 minutes of lifting! LOVE it!

Happy-Soon-To-Be-Fall everyone! Hoping the weather will start acting like it soon!

Les Mills Pump

I'm about 1/3 of the way done with the Les Mills Pump workouts and they are really starting to take off! My latest workout is called, "Pump and Shred." It is forty five minutes long and it covers squats, chest, back, lunges, shoulders and abs. Still looking forward to biceps and triceps, but in time we will have some of those. The team of trainers are from around the world, and they are all very motivating. I am really enjoying the workouts. I look forward to them each day. :-)

Insanity done...

OK, so I didn't blog much about round 2 of Insanity. But I did complete the entire 60 day workout again. I really do feel like I get a kick butt workout. However, I think I end up eating too much each day because I justify all the calories I have burned... and I was running a little in the mornings before doing the videos, just to wake me up a little. All in all another great workout.

I have started (courtesy of Tymon Gilliland) the Les Mills Pump workouts.

I have been completing the workouts for about 3 weeks now.  The "Rep Affect" is the key to Les Mills Pump. Mix high reps, with moderate weights and kickin' music and you have a fat burning-muscle building workout that is sure to keep you going.

You lift weights 3 days a week and then there are days when it suggests walking 30-45 minutes. I have either run outside or on the elliptical machine. I feel really good each day, but I have to admit that I have felt weird taking days to just complete a flow (stretch/recovery) workout when I am so used to pushing it real hard 6 days a week. There is a fabulous meal/diet plan that comes with the videos. We have started to implement more yummy fruits and veggies into our diet and some actually pretty good vegan recipes! And Dr. Oz has several smoothies that we have been trying too. We are also using a protein powder and glutemin recovery after each workout to help limit the muscle soreness. I am looking forward to the next several months...

Break-fast!!

OK, so I was reading on my Face book home page (right before I made breakfast and after working out) and I found this really simple recipe courtesy of a "Forks Over Knives" fan named  Lisa R Osborne Selby. She shared her breakfast idea on the Engine 2 diet Face book page.

1/4 cup oat bran (you can get this in the bulk section at Winco)
1 cup non-dairy milk (Almond milk, rice milk, soy milk etc) I prefer Almond Milk
1 overripe banana....

1. Bring all ingredients to a boil.
2. Lower the temp and simmer for 5 min. 
3. Top with strawberries (or other fruit) and more non-dairy milk. 

Creamy hot oat bran cereal, YUMMY!!!!!!!!!! (and easy) I think it is my new favorite breakfast!!

Mighty Muffins

From the kitchen of Engine 2 Diet
 

Ingredients:
3 cups of oat bran (I found this at Winco- super cheap)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
4 tablespoons of sweetener (I used agave, honey works too)
Juice of 1 lemon
1 large apple, grated- I cut it in half, take out seeds and stem and use my cheese grater!
6 slightly browned bananas, lightly mashed- leave some chunks
1/4 cup of walnuts, chopped or halved
1/2 cup of raisins (I omitted these, but you can use any small fruit. I might try blueberries next time)
3/4 cup of water

Directions

1. preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Combine dry ingredients
3. Squeeze the juice of the lemon onto the combined apple and bananas
4. Add walnuts, sweetener, fruit and water
5. Combine the wet and dry ingredients into one bowl
6. Pour into sprayed muffin tins and bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown
7. Let cool before removing from tins, store in dry container- they don't last long so eat'em up!


Variations:
Bake batter in loaf pan, and enjoy as slices
Add three thinly sliced pears or 1 cup of 70 percent pure cocoa chips to the batter (I WILL be trying that!)

CIF FINALS!!!

SATURDAY, MARCH 3RD, 2012

LAKESIDE BOYS SOCCER VS CAJON

9AM @ WARREN HIGH SCHOOL IN DOWNEY

HERE IS A MAP, HOPE YOU CAN ALL COME AND SUPPORT THE LANCERS!!

CIF FINALS!!!

View Larger Map

LET'S GO LANCERS!!

2 week Fit Test

Today was the first day of week 3, which is the fit test for Insanity second time around. Here are my results:

Day 1 Fit test results                                           Day 15 test results
Switch Kicks 40 (2 kicks = 1 rep)                      50 (2 kicks = 1 rep)
Power Jacks 44                                                 55 jacks
Power Knees 110                                              110 didn't pick up the pace enough :-/
Power Jumps 36                                                45 jumps
Globe Jumps 10 (4 reps = 1)                             11 (4 jumps = 1 rep)
Suicide Jumps 20                                               22 jumps
Push-Up Jacks 23                                             26 jacks
Low Plank Obliques 33                                     50 obliques

Moving right along... keep pushing play and dig deeper.

Forks Over Knives

My sister in law Haley told me about a really great documentary a few weeks ago and told me to check it out. The easiest way to watch it was on Netflix. Well, we don't have Netflix (probably one of very few people that don't have it). Any way, she decided it was so important for me to watch (I am glad that she did) that she bought it on amazon and had it delivered to us!



The name of the documentary is, "Forks Over Knives." The documentary gives medical, statistical and physical (like people who have tried it) evidence to prove that a plant and whole foods based diet without meat or dairy is the best way to prevent diseases and cancer (the main disease being heart failure or coronary heart disease). I recommend everyone watch this documentary. It's amazing what lies we are being fed about the meat and dairy industry.

I am not 100% sure how this is going to be applied to my families diet yet, I know we will purchase less dairy, and meat- but we don't consume much meat to begin with. Haley has been a full on Vegan for a month now and loves it. She is coming to visit next month and has offered to show me some recipes and tips that she finds helpful for her. She has more energy, knowledge of what she is eating and seems to be overall much more healthy.

My goal is to provide the best foods/meals for my family and myself within our budget of course. I am looking forward to learning new- healthier recipes to help prevent obesity, heart failure and diabetes (along with cancers) in my family. I'd rather prevent the illnesses than pay later to treat the symptoms. I hope you all will at least watch the documentary and decide for yourselves if this is something that you need to apply.

Some cool links to check out:

http://www.forksoverknives.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Forks-and-Knives/106082370159
http://www.facebook.com/Engine2Diet

Blessings!
Mindie G

Day 3 and counting...

Monday I completed my first fit test... I tried to keep the effort moderate, but I didn't want to kill myself. Here were the results:

Day 1 Fit test results
Switch Kicks 40 (2 kicks = 1 rep)
Power Jacks 44
Power Knees 110
Power Jumps 36
Globe Jumps 10 (4 reps = 1)
Suicide Jumps 20
Push-Up Jacks 23
Low Plank Obliques 33

Tuesday was the Plyometric Cardio Circuit 40 minutes of Plyometric moves. (Including a 10 minute warm-up). My buns and shoulders were feeling it after the push-ups (level one drills = 4 pushups, 8 count floor sprints, come up to your feet and do it again) and squats. I cooled down on the elliptical machine and burned a few more calories to end the workout. We have a TV in the office and I watched, "Let's Make A Deal," with host Wayne Brady. I love that guy. Colin and I used to watch him on, "Whose Line is it Anyway?"

I donated blood yesterday at Lakeside High School and you are supposed to take 24 hours off before doing strenuous activity, well I don't like waiting until the afternoon to workout unless I know I am going to be cleaning all day or going to a fit club, so I worked out this morning and I was a little tired. I woke up with a head ache, (whenever I over do it on my shoulders, I always seem to get a head ache if I don't stretch a ridiculous amount). I took some medicine, drank lots of water and completed the Cardio Power Circuit Training video. Then I cooled down again with another 20 minute elliptical jog. I tried using my Garmin watch on the "other" setting and use the heart rate monitor but I don't think it works for videos. It said I only burned 175 calories during my workout. That just doesn't seem to be enough. Then, it said I burned 11 calories on the elliptical. I may have to search for a cheap heart rate monitor to keep track of calories. Or, just guess low when I record in myfitnesspal and enjoy the results. :-)

Tomorrow is the cardio recovery day. It is NOT an easy workout, it is just less cardio focused, and we do a LOT of strength training (think really slow squats that BURN LIKE NO TOMORROW!!!!) I took some before photos yesterday, man I really need some work. After my 1/2 marathon run in January, I was eating like I was still burning 600 calories a day and not really paying attention to what was going into my mouth. Even if I don't record every calorie, accountability really does help.

Well, until next time, happy fitness everyone!

Mindie

Round 2

Since I loved my results so much from doing the Insanity workout I've decided to commit to another 60 day workout routine! (INSANITY website)

Shaun T- The Trainer

It seems whenever something in life changes, a move, sick for a while, change in something... my workouts suffer. I completed the fit test today and I will start the first "real" workout tomorrow. These are by far my favorite workouts. Why? Because after I finish one, I KNOW I am getting more fit. Especially if I am giving it my all. I will try to implement a better choice in food as well. I like to use http://www.myfitnesspal.com you can create a free account, record your food, calories, recipes, and chat with friends. You can also upload food intake on your phone with their app.

Happy Fitness (and Monday) to you all!

<3 Mindie G

The Results Are In...

This weekend was the big race, I trained hard for nine weeks in spite of my 2+ weeks of being sick slightly recovering only to get worse right before race day.

I headed out to LA on Saturday around 2pm and picked up my race bib before heading to my cousins Jeremy and Jodi's house. They live less than 4 miles from the start line. I made it to their house around 5pm giving me plenty of time to catch up with the family. It had been over a year since our last visit. I can talk for hours with Jeremy and Jodi, they are so much fun- and finally was able to meet their son Jr. After getting to bed at a very reasonable hour (9pm) and actually sleeping (thanks to my NyQuil), I didn't have to wake up until a little after 5am. I had a nice bowl of oatmeal, took my time getting ready and Jeremy dropped me off about 25 meters from the start line. I was there pretty early and headed straight for the port-a-potties. (I've trained myself to go there first even if I don't have to "go.") The lines are typically so long that by the time you get to the front you NEED to go. However, there was no in line. I found a few fellow Team World Vision friends and introduced myself. After saying my hello's I decided to try to get a short warm-up in. After doing my leg stretches we met together with the team captain of world vision. He had recently visited Uganda and told us of the "rain catchers" that were placed around the villages to catch the water and filter it for drinking water. So far, our fundraising has helped raise enough money to provide clean water for over 7,000 children! I say so far because apparently the fundraising does not end until 2 weeks after the race- which means if you are still interested in donating... you can!

After our team meeting, I decided to hit up the restrooms one last time, there was only about 15 minutes until the start of the race. By this time the lines were huge! I was a little worried that I would not get through the lines in time for the start of the race but I decided I would take a chance. Fortunately, the race was delayed just long enough for me to finish and find my place at the start line. After a singing of the national anthem, we were off! It was not as crowded as I expected and so getting settled into my pace was somewhat easy. The first mile was along the beach road. We passed several market shops on one side, and several homeless people on the water side. I also noticed the Venice Beach Fit club... there were several weights and machines that you see on TV where big muscled dudes tend to show off- I mean work out.

We headed inland for several miles and the beach was out of sight leaving me with just my pace and pavement to focus on. I can't remember how far we went but we eventually reached a wide sidewalk that ran along the sandy beach, still far from the ocean but no longer surrounded by buildings. I maintained my 7:40 pace the entire time, I felt really good. By about mile 7 we started to head up off the beach and onto a road at higher ground. Then it hit me, the most awful smell- worse than a dirty diaper. I can't really wrap my head around it somewhere between a garbage truck and poop. It was horrifying... for over a mile and then it started to disappear. Now we were really heading up a hill, a wide asphalt road. By now I noticed that there were several people running in the opposite direction of me, which just means at some point we had to turn around and head back in the other direction. I was thankful because that meant we eventually got to go back down this slow rising up hill. However, by the time we turned around we only had 3 miles left and my 2 weeks of sinus issues, mucus and inability to fully complete my training are starting to take over. No matter how much down hill there is, I know I probably won't be able to beat my best time, my hips are bothering me, my chest is starting to tighten and my knee is aching. As people start to pass me, it is starting to sprinkle... water. Which reminds me of my little sponsor girl in Uganda. It's all I can think about to push through the slow growing pains to finish with the best effort I can. As I see the 13 mile mark approaching I know I only have .1 mile left to go and I push through to the finish taking on the pace of two tall skinny men running along side me. I'm done! I pass the finish line, and check my watch. Here are my results:

Finish time: 1:43.55
Place: 360th overall out of 2,829 recorded finishers
Age Division place: 12th
Overall Pace: under 8:00
Gender: 69th place

Some Photos: http://www.marathonfoto.com/index.cfm?action=site.login My cousin Jeremy shot a few pictures as well. I am hoping to be able to post some of them on here as well.

It's a pretty good accomplishment I guess- for being sick and all. I knew I would be paying for my efforts over the next few days, but I was determined to run if my sickness didn't get the best of me; and for the short time during the race, it didn't. However, two days later, I seem to be as sick as ever, and now my muscle are fatigued. Thankfully these next few days are pretty low key so I can stay home and recover (hopefully).

I am happy to report that my fundraising goal has been achieved and I've raised an additional $100! Thank you so much for your support! I have been informed that the fundraising is still not over for another two weeks. If you would still like to donate, you are more than welcome to! CLICK HERE TO DONATE Thank you for taking this journey with me. It has been such a privilege to help Sarah and the other kids of Uganda. I plan on running again for their benefit one day.

Week 7

This week of training was pretty mellow. Recovering from being sick but still managed to get through all of the workouts. My training has me doing only 8 miles this Saturday... I say only because it doesn't seem like much compared to 12-15 miles. :-)

My first workout this week was repeat 1k's on the track [1k is .62 miles- a 5k is .62 miles 5 times equaling 3.1 miles. :-)] I had to do 5 of them in 4:08 or less each, with a 400 meter recovery lap. I finished all of them in under 4 minutes each! My new garmin watch is working great, and I even figured out some new stuff on it. I set up my workout and plug it into my software on my calendar and then upload it to my watch! Super cool! AND- I can download it to endomondo and share my workout with others... I'm a dork- I think that's cool.

Thursday, I ran around 1pm. Weird to think I was wearing a tank top, shorts and a hat Thursday, when last week I was wearing spandex pants, gloves, a beanie and like 3 tops! Only in Southern California! My workout Thursday was 2 miles easy (8:57 pace) and then 3 miles at 5k goal pace (7:22) and one mile easy. It was hard to go slow for the first two miles because I felt good, and I kept up the pace pretty well through the 3 hard miles. I started to get nervous at the end that I would not be able to hold the pace (I was averaging between 6:55 and 7:10 pace- and REALLY excited about that). I finished on a slight uphill but held my pace to the cool down. :-)

Tomorrow I have 8 miles, and then only a few days left until my training is complete and race day is next Sunday 8 days!!

Next Saturday I will be staying with family members that just happen to live about 4 miles from the start line and a mile from the expo location where I have to pick up my race bib. I am thankful that my cousins Jodi and Jeremy Glenn are able to let me stay the night. It has been a little while since I have seen them, so hopefully we will have time to catch up.

Looking forward to race day!

Mindie

Week 6...

This past week brought about its challenges. My Garmin GPS watch died several weeks ago and I was using my phone to keep track of my mileage and intervals with the help of the lap button on my regular watch. Well, the band on my regular watch broke... and I didn't really feel like doing 2000 meter repeats (5 laps) on the track. So my first run last week was mostly for mileage and I tried to keep the pace going even though I had no way to keep track of my laps.

Thursday I ran with my friend Teri at the Santa Rosa Plateau, and it was great fun. The only bummer was the fact that the hills and dirt slow down our pace, but having a buddy and talking the entire time not only makes the run go by faster but it is a great way to catch up with a friend. I'd rather have good company than just run to get a good time.

Friday we headed up to Reno for Christmas. We had a great time with family and we were able to relax (after the 8+hour drive) and needless to say that was my day off from running/exercising. Saturday I had a 10 mile run ahead of me but I was fortunate enough to have a new running buddy. I still had to wear my head phones, and gloves, beanie, pants, jacket and well... a leash. Duke, my parents dog, tagged along on my run in the cold (I think it was in the low 40's). Besides the occasional tree sniff, leg lift to pee, or dog-on-the-other-side-of-the-fence-to-bark-at, he was a pretty good running buddy. Here is a picture of the cutie pie... if I didn't hate cleaning up after a dog, he is the one exception I would make to having a dog.

Duke

By the end of our second day of visiting even Kellen warmed up to both of the dogs. He usually doesn't really want anything to do with dogs and he was walking around the house following them! He played catch with Duke (and Fozzy, my parents other dog- a long haired wiener dog). 

Monday I was up in time to finish my workout and shower without getting in the way of anyone in the busy house. My parents, brother, sister and her family, and grandma were all staying together.

Unfortunately Monday I started not feeling well. I had a sore throat and the beginnings of a cold which prevented me from sleeping very well. By Tuesday I was achy, sore throat still, and now had the yummy mucus and snot to go with it. Duke was pretty sad that I had to take the day off from running. We walked to the park and played catch for a while and the kids played on the playground. 

At the Park

Wednesday we traveled home (and hit yucky traffic) unpacked, showered, started laundry and went to bed. Today I was able to complete my tempo run, and I even ran a little quicker than I needed to. Colin had an optional soccer practice at school so I was able to get in my 5 miles while Kellen played with the soccer kids (and pretended to drive our car). I did not have my head phones on, but sure had a lot on my mind and a little less than 2 miles into my run I fell. The side walk seemed to lift up and make a cone like shape on the ground and I didn't lift my leg up high enough to get over it. So, I tripped and my left elbow, hip and ankle broke my fall... along with both palms and some knuckles on my right hand. I debated turning around and walking back, but I got up and finished the run. The pain went away much more quickly that way. Thankfully it wasn't a really bad crash. I'm sure I'll feel it a little bit more tomorrow on my elbow and hip. I can't remember the last time I fell... I think it was when I was like 7 months pregnant and fell at a cross country race trying to get across the race area to see the kids run.

The small cuts always seem to hurt the most!

Saturday I plan on running my 12 miles with my friend Terri as long as I continue to feel better. 

I am now at almost $600 for my fundraising! My goal is $655! (Roughly $50 per mile- to help 13 people get clean water for life). Every time I use water now, or any utilities that we pay for, I realize how fortunate I am to have them. I can't help but think that there has to be a way to do more. I hope that by donating to World Vision it also makes your realize how blessed you are to have clean water and all your basic needs met. 

I hope you all had a nice Christmas, and Happy New Year to you all!

Mindie

Week 5 Completed

  

So on my "off" days from running (Monday's and Wednesday's) Colin and I have been cross training together. We completed the P90x Legs and Back workout today. We do not have a pullup bar that can be set up anywhere, so we use the resistance bands in the back yard. The band that Colin was using snapped in half while he was using it!! He was able to finish his workout with another band... this was an old one. 

I just finished week 5 of training and I ran 15 miles on Saturday. The only bummer was that I ran by myself. However, it was a new route thanks to my realization that Nichols road is now open. :-) It was in the middle of the day, so I was spotted by my mother-law, Shelley, on her way to work! Ha ha! Thought that was funny. It was a little bit of a bummer to finish on an EXTREMELY big up hill back home. :-( I will have to take a picture of that hill from the bottom. It is MASSIVE! I think it is like 500 ft elevation change from bottom to top.

Tuesday I ran 6 1/2 miles, it was supposed to be a 2000 meter repeat day, but I didn't feel like running 5 laps at a time on the track, so I thought I could figure it out on my phone- I bought my new GPS watch with my birthday money AFTER the run that day. I think I ran a little too close to lunch time because I had to use the restroom in a hurry during my run. And of course, no bathroom in site... at least that I knew of. However, just in the nick of time there was a random port-a-potty.

Not only was this thing where I needed it to be at the exact time I needed it, but it was freshly cleaned, had plenty of toilet paper, AND it had a working sinking with water and soap inside!!! Praise the LORD! I am totally convinced it was divine intervention. It is still there, so I may have to continue running that direction so that I can have a planned bathroom route from now on. Ha ha!

Tomorrow I will be running at the Santa Rosa Plateau with my friend Terri. She is running in the Carlsbad 1/2 marathon in January. Looking forward to a nice run. Then, the Lakeside Lancer Soccer boys are doing their annual hill repeats with lunch at the Gilliland's afterwards. I will probably run with them, but not up the hills since I will already have 5 miles under my belt. 

Friday we head to Reno for Christmas. I will be running 10 miles Saturday (in the freezing cold) and then some repeat 2 miles (in the freezing cold as well). I may take some photos with my phone in Reno, there are always so many pretty pictures to take up there. We are spending Christmas with Nana, Papa, Uncle Bobby, Uncle John, Aunt Cassie, Nolan, Mazie and Grandma Shortie! And I think we might be starting a new Christmas day tradition... UGLY CHRISTMAS SWEATERS! Haha! (Good idea Bud).

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!