aimless

*Whew* FInished my first race and, bonus, I didn't die in the process!!! Score!!! It ended up being 5-and-a-quarter miles when all was said and done; mid-fifties and overcast and drizzly. I'm proud to say I ran the entire thing (although I readily admit that my running gait is pretty slow!) My son was one of the organizers, and so had to work the event, but my husband and my 11-year old daughter ran it as well. It was my daughter's birthday, so I made her a pink sparkly crown to wear with ribbons streaming out behind her when she ran, and a birthday T-shirt and sash with jingle bells. Funnily enough, although she ran/walked the course, her running gait is so much faster than mine, that we finished together when I didn't walk at all! Around the 3.5-mile mark, I realized that somewhere along the way, it had stopped being "I wonder how much more I can do before I have to walk" and just became about the next 6 feet in front of me... and somehow walking just stopped being an option! My iPod quit with about 1.5 miles to go, but by then the end was close enough that I didn't stop to try and troubleshoot it! Crossed the finish line with my husband, with a time of 58 minutes and change. Under an hour... not too shabby for my first race! Thanks for all the encouragement and support, Scouts... I'm feeling sentimental, I know, but without all of you, I would have never gotten to the point that the race today would have even been an option for me!! Going to sign off before I get all sappy, but I sure love our guild! Thanks for all you do to build me up! I appreciate you ALL!!!!

I'm checking out that side stitch article for me too!!! Thanks! I'll have to look into Scott Jurek too... he sounds like the Chuck Norris of the Scouting world!!

Aww... this makes me miss the little bike seat time of life! If I tried this now, my kids legs would be dragging on the ground! ...it's still in the garage gathering dust, but *sniff* they're all too big for that now! So great to include them from the beginning though... that way it's just a part of life, the way fitness is supposed to be! Good job making it family time!

YAY German!!! You're going to be awesome! Can't wait to hear about your big race, and the suspense is building for the reveal of the new race! All-in-all exciting, exciting stuff! *virtual cheering* Go German, GO!!!!

Race registration fees are cheaper than a little red sports car... right? (at least by a little? If not... don't tell me... I don't want to be disillusioned) Excited for your plan! Love it!!!

Awesome, I'll check it out! When I first saw that one, i saw that it included pull-ups, so didn't watch the whole thing, and put it off as something I'd have to work up to... Maybe I'll switch it up for my strength training circuit next week!! Thanks for the tip!

:D When skimming, I thought the beep test was something to scare away kangaroos as you drive!!! :D

Awww, boo!! Chicken soup, rest, fluids and feel better soon!!!!

Yup... what German said!

Sounds great!!! ...and I love that happily sore feeling too!

Get out!!! You ROCK!!! I love that you set up your slacklining gear in public!!! I wanna try!!! (I love finding fun new ways to break my neck...)

Glad your exams are behind you! I loved it when, for better or worse, they were done and I didn't have to worry about them any more! It was like I could suddenly see in color again when the world had been black and white! Yay for getting up and active again! Reward all that studying with some good sweat!

WoW... I'm behind on threads! Getting caught up now... you're kickin' it, girl!!! Clean room, runner's high, pushups... Go Shortstuff... GO!!!

Nice Konami code workout!!! I'm SOOO ready to work up to that.... hrm.... have to work up to being able to ACTUALLY do a pull up before I can do that... But AWESOME!!! ...Impressive!!

I salute your fantabulous planking skills!!!

I also love the verse in your signature! Strength training is something I also struggle to do consistently and LIKE. On days that I don't have a lot of time, I actually find that I like the "to failure" thing more... I'll up my weights to make it so that after 8-10 I literally canNOT do one more... and then after a minute, I'll try again. ...I guess I feel like I get more of a bang for my buck on those days... like I pack MORE of a workout into less time. ...and then there's the feeling of jello-like muscles that have trouble trying to wash your hair the next day! Makes life interesting, right? I also have to switch things up a bit... if I did the same strength training stuff every time, it'd get poke-your-eyes-out-boring REALLY fast. I like to alternate between a variety of classes- PiYo class, yoga, kickboxing, pilates, weights, cross-training, or other group class... it gets me out of a rut.

LOL.... I've been educating my kids about old favorites in cartoons... Animaniacs, ThunderCats, Voltron... etc. When my 11-year-old was like 8 she wanted to be April from TMNT for Halloween that year... the all yellow-jumpsuit and all! NO ONE knew who she was... *sigh* And, Sifter, you're KILLING this challenge!! Way to GO, girl!!

Been crazy at work lately... but what else is new, right? Took my four-legged friend out for a run today... didn't want to push too far because Sunday is my first race EVER!!! It's 5 miles, and while I *think* I may have gone that far on a run before, I don't think I've ever done it without walk-breaks. I'm not going to set up the expectation in myself that I do it all without walking... I'm just going to start it, and see how I feel. ...is that selling myself short? Have been strength training with my husband. He had me do "assisted pull-ups".... I really really REALLY want to be able to do one for real some day over the rainbow... As it is, even with him "assisting" me, I was so sore that I had trouble washing my hair in the shower the next day! I've been enjoying my time with my family too... need to make the time to do the other "dates" that I haven't gotten around to yet. We had a BeyBlade tournament for my son the other night... apparently I'm not too good at it... I fell off the bracket pretty quickly! Ah well, he really enjoyed it, so it was worth it!

Thanks, German! I'll take all the cheers I can get!!! Maybe with pompons and a pyramid?

Thanks! I've been looking into the minimalist shoes too... we'll see what I end up with! Thanks, babe! Couldn't do it without you! Thanks! Am actually getting a little nervous about it... Thanks! I'll take the A! And I totally missed the opportunity to pick up my race packet early... so now I have to wait till Sunday morning to find out my number! Thanks, Sifter! Hoping I don't fall on my face afterwards and die..... Thanks! Getting nervous.....

I'm impressed on the trouble-shooting with the washer!!! Mine died recently too... been toting smelly clothes to my inlaws' house the last 2 weekends in a row. Dirty clothes build up quickly around here! I've taken other appliances apart before, but this sounds like the motor to me, and to get to that I have to take the WHOLE thing apart and take out the tub to get down below it.... I may just have to work a new one into the budget!

Awesome race report, and fan-flippin-TASTIC time!! Kuddos to you, JFrank! Inspiring!

I just love those kinds of days!! Cheers to you!

Hahahaha!!! Love the video!

Absolutely. As far as mantras go, I think I could get behind this one! So sorry for the painful crap... but it sounds like you have a good grip on things, and are working through things that need to be dealt with. Kick it this week, girl!