It’s Moving Day!!!!!!

I have taken the plunge!!! I am combining all of my blogs into 1 blog!! Whew!! I have not been able to keep up with all of them, so this will simplify my blogging life. Hopefully! 🙂

My new blog is http://irunreadteach.wordpress.com/ so PLEASE (pretty please) hop on over and set yourself up with a subscription!!! I won’t be updating my running blog, teaching blog, or reading blog anymore. irunreadteach will be my new blog. Did I say go ahead and get over there and subscribe?????? 🙂

I transferred almost ALL of my content from my other 3 blogs to the new one so there will be TONS of stuff for you to peruse!

AND-I just wrote my 1st post for that blog-Libby, it’s for you-my 5k trail run that I did a couple of weeks ago. Here’s the link to that post: http://irunreadteach.wordpress.com/2012/05/12/madhatters-5k-trail-run/

I might even have a giveaway in the next couple of weeks for a lucky-um-reader-um-subscriber of my new blog!! 🙂

Love ya’ll,

Shannon

 

There is NOTHING wrong with me!!!

YEA!!! I ran today for the 1st time since last Wednesday. And did NOT eat the side of the house like I did yesterday!! I’m telling you-I have been EATING lots since last Friday night! I guess I just fell off the wagon.

But got back on it today! And it felt so good!

Ran 2 miles in just under 23 minutes-a little under an 11:30 mile pace. Then I walked just over a mile. Boy, have I missed running this past week. Now I am complete. 🙂

Thanks to those of you who sent me positive comments yesterday and today!!! You helped me get on my feet again!! Love my bloggy friends!

 

What is wrong with me?

Have I been bitten by the food bug?? 🙂 I have wanted to eat everything in sight since this past Friday. I mean EVERYTHING!!!!! AND I have not run since last Wednesday!!! What??

Today after school I had the “urge” the “desire” to eat ice cream, potato chips, and a candy bar. Did I cave and eat all of that? You betcha bottom dollar I did!!! And it was sooooooo good!

Help!!

OK-tomorrow after school I am going to run INSTEAD of eat! How about that?? But I really need some support here. Please leave me a comment about why I need to run and how much better I will feel if I run and all that good stuff. Pretty please. 🙂

Back from the beach

We had a good trip home from the beach Friday. We had finally come into Alabama and what did we see? A brown cow? No. A black cow? No. A white cow? No. A hot pink cow? Why, yes! 🙂

Standing by the road no less. So I screamed, “Turn around and go back!!!”. We found a quaint little roadside eating establishment. We ordered ice cream, but they also had cupcakes and sweets and I think lunch items. I was in such a hurry to get back outside and make friends with the hot pink cow that I didn’t really pay attention! 🙂

Here is the facebook page for this super cool place if you want to look it up. Just in case you are traveling through God’s country one day. 🙂

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sweet-Ps-Eats-and-Treats/181925398530936

We took some pictures of Sweet P! She was so sweet. 🙂

Taylor and Sweet P.

Sweet P, my daughter, and myself.

Isn’t this place beautiful? Oh, how I wish my house looked like that! 🙂

Post coming later about my 5k trail run with my brother this weekend. You will NOT want to miss this!!!

 

Flat is good

Flat is good. Well, maybe not in everything. 🙂

Flat tummies are good. Flat sodas are not. But today I found something flat that is VERY GOOD! Roads!

Here at Panama City Beach, FL (where we are on vacation) the roads are flat and NOT hilly!!! So good!

I ran for 60 minutes which might equal 7 or 8 or 12 miles for a lot of runners. For me-about 5! Through “flat” cute neighborhoods. Loved it!

I also started (one more time) HIIT-High Intensity Interval Training. I did this for 12 minutes. Sprint, walk, jog, walk and then repeat. It was pretty fun and went by really fast. Not sure how much REAL sprinting I was doing toward the end. 🙂 I’ve heard that this 1. Burns calories/fat more than just steady training. 2. Will maybe hopefully help to increase my speed in running?

Anyway, I’m going to give it a shot. I downloaded a HIIT app to my phone so that it counted down each interval for me. Nice.

Needless to say, I was a tad bit sweaty after all this. But felt so good!

I would show you a picture of what I looked like, but my phone is NOT cooperating with me inside this condo this week.

Then I vegged by the pool the rest of the day before we went to eat at Breakers and then walked around Pier Park.

Here are some pictures of me, my daughter, and my mom after we got back from supper. We decided to play around with the camera a little.

 I have no idea what my mom is looking at. Sorta scary isn’t it???? 🙂

Does my mom look like a grinning hyena or what? I promise we had not been drinking! 🙂

We all got the giggles-I guess from looking at the camera that we had situated inside the microwave to take our picture. Do you know how stupid you feel smiling for a camera with nobody behind it???? 🙂

We leave tomorrow to head back home. Sad face. But as much fun as we have had and as relaxing as it has been, I miss home. My house, my husband, my stepson, my dogs, my life. 🙂

Treadmill boredomitis

Boredomitis. Is that a word? If it’s not then I just made it up, and it FITS!! I.hate.treadmills. 🙂

Booooring!! I could only crank out 2 loooong miles on the treadmill at the condo before I had to get off due to being BORED OUT OF MY MIND!! I really appreciate the great outdoors that God made. And I will appreciate the outdoors EVERY TIME I’M ABLE TO RUN OUTDOORS FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE! 🙂

I started out at 4mph, then bumped it up to about 5.5. Then (just to go ahead and get it over with) I bumped it up to 6.5. Scary! This is what I kept envisioning!

I finally got off after 2 miles and got on the stationary bike and did 6.69 miles WHILE READING!! FUN!!! 🙂

Did a little bit of strength training:

Squats-2 sets of 15

Bicep curls-2 sets of 15

Tricep thingies-2 sets of 15

Had a healthy day of eating while at the beach.

Breakfast-Oatmeal and yogurt

Lunch-Turkey Wrap

Supper-Grilled shrimp, salad, and cheese grits (well, “almost” a healthy day of eating) 🙂

It was another super relaxing day at the beach! Night!

2nd day of vacation

I didn’t run today, but I DID hop on the stationary bike in the fitness center where we are staying. Gulp! I only did 7 miles and at a slow pace, but I think it was more strength training than cardio! My quads will be thanking me later. 🙂

I ate HEALTHY all day until supper time!

Breakfast consisted of oatmeal, yogurt, and a banana.

Lunch was a leftover salad, some carrots, and an apple.

Afternoon snack was an apple.

See? I did good didn’t I? 🙂

And then came supper…… at Dusty’s Oyster Bar…..

Fried clam strips, grilled shrimp and scallops, hushpuppies, french fries, grouper, baked oysters, fried oysters!!!! And 2 diet cokes! 🙂

We layed out in the sun today for a total of 1 1/2 hours! I think it was 71 degrees, but the wind was WHIPPING!! Hopefully it will be warmer tomorrow. Praying anyway! 🙂

4 days until my 5k trail run with my brother!

 

 

 

Running on vacation

1st day of vacation! Ahhhh….it feels so good! We are at Panama City Beach, Florida. And it is cold! 71 degrees this afternoon. 61 degrees at supper. So what I’m saying is this-I did NOT wear the cute little dress I bought when we went out to eat. The blue jeans were calling my name. And before you think that I was warm enough to eat supper with just my t-shirt on-think again. I took off my jacket JUST for the picture. 🙂

This is a 3 generation picture. Me on the left. My daughter (who is on a TIGHT leash right now!). My 65 year old mom. She doesn’t look 65 does she? She has lost 25 pounds recently and “says” she is going to start the Couch25k program so she can run with me! 🙂 My daughter said she’s going to start it, too! I sure hope so. I LOVE running partners!

Today is our 1st day at the beach. Got here a little after 4pm. Guess what the 1st thing was that I did????? You guessed it-I ran! 2.1 miles in 23 minutes. At St. Andrews State Park. While my mom and daughter sat in the car and read. 🙂 It felt sooooo good to run again!

And, shhhhh, don’t tell anyone, but on the way down here I told my daughter that I knew I was forgetting something REALLY important, but couldn’t remember what. Well, I guess my brain went on vacation a day early because I FORGOT MY RUNNING SHOES!! OMG!! My sweet daughter (who is on a TIGHT leash right now) was kind enough to let me borrow her running shoes. You know-the ones I bought her! 🙂 But if we are all going to run (walk) tomorrow, I’m not sure how we are going to fit 6 feet into 4 shoes!! 🙂

Might have to go shopping!

Here is a quick rundown of what we ate at supper at Sharkys tonight (and evidence that I need to run more than 2 miles each day we are down here!):

Baked oysters, Salad, Roll, Cod, Vegetables, Fried Dill Pickles-That’s what I had!

Taylor told me she had something to tell me right when the waitress brought her entree. These were her famous last words-“I’m full.”  You will be proud of me. I did NOT hit her. I merely told her that she would be enjoying her shrimp for lunch tomorrow. 🙂

We went to Walmart after supper to buy groceries for breakfast/lunch. Oatmeal, yogurt, fruit, cereal, turkey wrap ingredients. Healthy and yummy.

Now we are all 3 sitting in the living room of the condo WITH OUR EYES WIDE OPEN!! None of us are sleepy. At 11:35 pm! Guess we will be sleeping late tomorrow. 🙂

Good night!

 

Ready for summer challenge-Week 4 review

Are you ready? After all the heartache with my 18 year old daughter guess what? My brother-in-law passed away this past Wednesday. He was my husband’s oldest brother (61), and he had pancreatic cancer. He had fought this battle long and hard since last February-over a year. He was a strong man. A good man. I am thankful that I got to hold his hand the day before he passed away. David will always be in my heart.

 So I come to you, not with a heavy heart, but with peace that I have found through the Almighty. Yes, God. He really knows me now. We have had a personal relationship these past 2 weeks. One that I hope to continue.

I am moving forward. 🙂

I lost 6 pounds week before last only to gain about 4 of those back with all the good food that I have been eating this week. Our communities really came together to help our family during this time. I’m talking some GOOD FOOD!!! AND-the doughnuts came in. A Krispy Kreme Fundraiser for softball. I only ate 3 of them. At one time. 🙂 I now weigh in at 129. I think. 🙂

So my calculations are-past 2 weeks I lost 2 pounds. 🙂 I only ran 4 times in 14 days. OMG! Yesterday I ran a 5k race with my PR of 33 minutes. Yes, that is probably S.   L.   O.   W.   to all of ya’ll, but I am getting faster. 🙂Here I am after the race with my nice “hairdo”!! About to eat at Panera Bread in Auburn. I came in 25th out of 56 in my age group(40-49)-I’m 41. I normally have a pretty smile (I think), but not when I’m squinting at the sun and after running 3 miles! 🙂

My review for this past week is YUCK! Didn’t stick to anything really because of life.

But I am gearing up for this next week and hope to ONLY have a positive post for you next weekend!!

Here are my goals for week 5:

1. Eat 2 fruits/veggies each day. This might be a little hard for me since I will be on vacation. Not the fruit part-the veggie part. But I will try!

2. I am going to try and run 6 or more mile 3 times this week. I have only done that once so far and since that is my overall goal for this challenge, I know I need to step it up and make up for these last 2 weeks.

3. On my short runs this week-3 miles or less-I will try to run some little speed intervals. I never did follow through with the HIIT training and REALLY want to, so I am planning on incorporating it into my regular runs instead of thinking I can do it after I kill myself put forth my best effort with my regular running. 🙂

4. I am going to try and log over 20 miles of running this week.

I am READY! I am on spring break this week and heading to the beach tomorrow with my mom and my daughter. I can’t wait!!! 3 days of relaxing, reading, running, eating, and GOOD COMPANY!!! 🙂

 

 

 

Ready for summer challenge-week3 review

 

I’m giving you fair warning that this post is not going to be happy or positive. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. 🙂

Last week I bombed on running and healthy eating because of a personal tragedy in my family. Did you know that crying burns a lot of calories? It must because I lost several pounds last week. Last weekend I was at 132. I am now 127. 5 pounds lost. Through heartache, stress, grief, being overwhelmed, you name it-I felt it.

Just to give you some kind of relief-the situation that occurred involved my 17 (now 18) year old daughter. Yes, she is still alive and well. And we will work through this and survive. 🙂 Also, in case some of you might be able to relate-she has lost her phone, vehicle, facebook, and twitter account, as well as friends and pride. I think she has found God, though. So maybe everything does happen for a reason.

This too shall pass. I hope.

So, for last week…..I lost 5 pounds, I only ran twice, and I even forgot to eat supper Thursday evening. I NEVER FORGET TO EAT.

That’s all. We are moving forward and I will hopefully be back on track this next week. But it’s going to be a doozy.

Monday-Taking the day off from school to go to some appointments. Honor’s banquet at school Monday night.

Tuesday-Eat supper with my best friend.

Wednesday-Athletic banquet at school.

Thursday-Rest. Unless I have forgotten something.

Friday-Rejoice that it is the last day of school and then SPRING BREAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday-5k race in Auburn and wedding to attend that night.

I “want” to run 6 times this week. We’ll see. 🙂

So my goals for week 4 are:

1. Lose 2 pounds which would put me at my goal weight of 125

2. Get those 2 fruits/veggies in EVERY DAY-not just some days!!

3. Run 6 times with one of those being a 6 miler. I want to log in around 20 miles this week total which would be my most weekly miles since I started running.

4. Attempt the interval training again since I bombed on everything last week

I did not see a mini-challenge on the Ready For Summer Challenge blog, so I am going to make my own for now. I want to try and cook a new healthy dish this week. It will probably be Friday since the weekdays are going to be so busy. I might try tilapia-I’ve never actually cooked fish. Or I might just find something on pinterest. I’ll be sure and post after I make it-maybe even with pictures. 🙂

Here is a fitness motivator:

Here is a laugh that we can all use:

Here is some inspiration that I need:

I hope everyone has a great week! 🙂

Shannon