Couch 2 5K : Week 3 AGAIN!!!

So on the 20th of January I was running a fever and had a HORRIBLE cough and went to the doctor only to discover that I had a sinus infection and bronchitis!

I thought that bronchitis was a bad cough but quickly learned it was a lot more. I left with 5 prescriptions and instructions to hold off on C25K until Monday or Tuesday.  I never thought I would feel sad I couldn't run but I really was. Luckily the doctor I saw was a runner as well and told me to just repeat the week I just finished because I would still have the bronchitis for probably the next 3 weeks but she gave me an inhaler to take before I ran.

So Tuesday I went to the gym and started over on week 3!

1st day:
I was able to do all the running but I did have to use my inhaler but I also wheezed pretty bad for a few hours after.

2nd day:
I used my inhaler before and was able to do the full workout and it was easier than day 1.

3rd Day:
It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon! The day before I was with some of my Cr friends that run and they were talking about running at the lake. I did a run outside one time in the dark in my neighborhood and really didn't like it because of my struggle with control (when I run on the treadmill I have set my pace and I am running/walking on no incline). I decided to give running outside another go at Lake Hefner.

 This time I really did try to concentrate on my music of praise playing on my IPOD and feel the breeze and just be in the moment. I also heard one my CR friends tell me over and over in my head "running is mostly mental! Unless your hurt!"  It was more difficult to run outside BUT I found myself thinking of my CR journey and the "one day at a time" mentality I try to embrace and I found myself just looking at what was just in front of me and NOT look far ahead at where I had to get to.

That made it a lot easier! I didn't notice which way the wind was blowing when I got to the lake so when I turned around halfway to run back I realized I was running RIGHT into the wind and the last 3 minute run was a little of an incline. I really struggled and ran 2 minutes and then I walked for one minute but then  what was different than before was I made myself run another minute to stay on track! I really try to keep to the program but I do try to live in grace while making no excuses!

I realize anything I run is more than I have ever run before! And when I finished I and looked at my stats it was almost exactly what it was on the treadmill! I think as long as the weather permits I should try and do at least one of my runs a week outside because it is good for me on so many levels.

Lesson Learned: Be in the moment and just focus on the now and do not stress or focus on where I have to get to..... because if I do I cannot enjoy the journey!

Couch 2 5K : Week 3

Week 3 I started back to work  after the winter break so I got an idea of what it would be like to run while trying to live life. 

Wednesday was the first day for week 3 day 1 and I was VERY scared because the workout was as follows:

• Walk 5 minutes
• Run 90 secs
• Walk 90 secs
• Run 3 minutes
• Walk 3 minutes
• Run 90 sec
• Walk 90 sec
• Run 3 minutes
• Walk 3 minutes
• Walk 5 minutes

I could not remember a time I had run 3 minutes straight except for the one year I played basketball at GTCA!

 Misa went with me the first day for support and I really surprised myself and I did it! I wont lie the 3 minutes was hard and I held onto the treadmill for some of it but I kept hearing Julian Michaels from the Biggest Loser when she yells at the contestants who hang onto the treadmill so I never hung on for long!

The 2nd day was Friday and Allie had gotten sick the night before and Misa had decided to go to Michigan with his cousin to visit his parents and attend the Detroit Auto show. He graciously delayed his departure to that I could go to work for half a day and run before he left. Allie ended up being really sick and ran fever for 3 days straight which pretty much kept us in the house.  (Chloe went to winterquest with the youth group.) I have struggled with depression off and on since I can remember and having to be in the house with a sick child and not getting great sleep I found myself slipping back into my old depression patterns (being in the dark, staying in bed, watching TV, and only getting up to take care of Allie or make food).  By the time her fever had left on Monday, I knew that I was really depressed.

Misa was gone and I missed the 6th anniversary of CR and then CR training on Sunday.  Which means I did not have a lot of contact with people which is usually when my depression creeps in. Anyways, we went to pick up Chloe and take her to ukulele on Monday. I could hear myself all day trying to talk myself into delaying day 3 but I decided to just DO IT so that I would stay on track of my program!

 So after ukulele we headed to the YMCA and I completed Day 3 Week 3! It was the hardest day but I had some great music and I got through it with only 10 secs of "treadmill hanging on."


Lesson Learned:  Connection to people has finally become a very important part of my life and it keeps me balanced and it helps keep a reality frame.
Accountability and sticking to it are important and I am so proud for not quiting or delaying my goal!

Schedules, Students, and the Spring Semester!

I often speak about how much I love my job at Udining!  My favorite thing about it is that I work with so many international students.  The first couple weeks of the semester my life tends to revolve around these schedules and trying to fill about 540 hours of shifts with an average of 60 people and their class and social schedules.

The majority of my staff is from Rwanda! 5 years ago I could not have shown you where Rwanda was on the map of Africa and now every time I see it on a map it amazes me how this tiny country (in comparison to the African continent) has had such an amazing impact on my life! 

These students are so talented and so smart and I will be honest I am so grateful that I am one of the few places they can work!  They amaze me how they work together when someone needs a day off to make sure the shifts are covered.  They sign up for extra shifts when we have caterings.  I know at any given time I have "world changers" washing dishes and serving food at the OC caf and do it well, with pride, and humility! I think my odds are pretty good that someday a president of Rwanda will have worked for me!
This semester at Udining our Student staff statistics are:

• 61 student workers
• 15 Americans
• 46 International Students from:
• Rwanda (33 Students)
• China
• Kenya
• Ghana
• Haiti
• Burundi
• Brazil
• Nepal
• Spain

I love that everyday I come in contact with people with a different world view than mine! I love that I am challenged everyday to see things from a different perspective! I love that I learn about different cultures!  I feel beyond blessed to do what I do everyday! I can not wait to see the amazing things these students and the ones that came before them will do to make this world a better place and I feel very blessed to know them and to be a small part of their life while they get an education here at OC  and I know I am a better person for knowing each one of them.

Now...if I can just manage to love the revolving student schedule which I am convinced is God's way of teaching me flexibility, patience, and to keep working on my perfectionism! There is always 1 shift I cannot fill! HAHA

Couch 2 5K: Week 2

Well, I completed week 2 of the couch to 5 K program this week!! 

I was REALLY scared to do this week but with the encouragement and pep talk from my "running coach" Amy! I did it!
This week had me:

• Walk 5 minutes
• Run for 90 seconds
• Walk 90 seconds for 21 minutes
• Walk 5 minutes

Day 1 was hard but not terrible.

Day 2 landed on Saturday and Misa wanted to Run with me so I waited until he came home. We drove to the gym at 7:00p.m. only to find that it was closed. =(
So, we decided to run outside with Oscar! It was very difficult for me to be consistent with my speed and when I was on the treadmill I was doing about 2 miles but I did 2.25 miles when I was outside and the next day I was sore in places I was not sore on the treadmill. By the end I was starting to like it and was maintaining a more consistent speed.

The 3rd day our new YMCA opened and it is NICE!

They had these cool Nike+Ipod treadmills (I couldn't figure out how exactly to work it but I am excited to figure it out!) They had a fan on them which I REALLY like! They also had a screen where you could make it look like you were running through different scenery.

I wont lie I am REALLY proud of myself for sticking with it!  God keeps putting great christian music in my path to keep me going!

Lesson Learned: I CAN do it! Before my life was such a roller coaster or I was such an emotional roller coaster or looking for "roller coasters" that having the discipline to do something like this was not possible.  Thanks to recovery I am able to deal with peaks and pits while staying engaged in life! 

Couch 2 5K: Week 1

Well I started my New Year's Resolution Early! And have completed Week 1 of my "Couch 2 5K" program.

I found a great app that talks over your music and says "Run" "Walk" "Run" "Walk"! I really like that I can use my rhapsody account and build play lists with only paying $10 a month! The first week the program has you walk for 5 minutes then run for 1 minute and then walk for 90 secs for 20 minutes and then walk for 5 minutes again.

The first day I was sooooooooo sore but by the time I did the 3rd day I was not sore the next day!  I have found that if I take a hot bath and throw in these aches and pains bath salts, rub my thighs down with icy hot, and drink my muscle recovery green tea it REALLY helps!

My friend Amy has become my "running coach"! I text her after each work out and then I call her if I have questions or I am not feeling confident.  She is GREAT and I know I could not have done it without her and I would NOT have moved onto week 2! She suggested that I start a running jar and put a dollar in anytime run and the best thing is Misa said he would match anything I put it!!

I also was thinking about the "emotionally" healthy people in my life and realized that most of them run so I thought it would be good for more than just getting in shape!

Lesson Learned: "Easy things are not good." -My husband.
I can exercise! Accountabilty is SO important in life to get me where I want to be!

The Journey to Jumping FUN!!!

Since we moved into our house in May of 2009 the girls have been BEGGING for a trampoline! Once we started paying our own bills I realized I had done a great disservice to my kids by not teaching them to turn off the lights!!

Misa made an agreement with them that if the electric bill was under a certain amount he would put that much into a trampoline fund but if it was OVER that amount then he would take that out of the the trampoline fund. 

Since living here now for a year and half they are getting much better at this and I saw in Walmart's "Black Friday" ad an amazing deal on a 14 foot trampoline with enclosure. Misa had never really been "Black Friday" shopping for anything specific so he had never experienced waiting in line on "Black Friday". 

This year Walmart started their "Black Friday" at 10:00 p.m. so I convinced Misa to go with me at 8:00 pm (although he thought that was WAY early).  Our Walmart had their "Big" items line winding through the lingerie section and I felt like a bit of an amateur without my fold up chair like the "pro-black Fridayers" had but I thought Misa would not even come if I did that!

He did seem a little bothered by the American materialism and said "Honduran people only stand in line like this for FOOD!" but he loves our girls and agreed it was a great price! They had 8 trampolines and I was NUMBER 7!!  We got it home and Misa hid it in the garage until Christmas! Because we were going to be at my moms for Christmas, we debated taking it there and finally decided to cut out the picture on the box and wrap it! They were VERY excited!!

 Misa set it up when they came home from Tulsa and they have lived outside ever since!!  Oscar even LOVES it!!

Lesson Learned:  My favorite thing about the trampoline is that there is finally something that has bridged the gap between my 12 year old and 8 year old.  There has not been any fighting in the last 2 days and that was worth EVERY penny and sitting on the floor in the Walmart lingerie section for 2 hours!

2011 Peaks, Pits, and 2012 Goals!

I once heard it said that "the difference between a goal and a dream is a timeline!"  I know some people think that "New Years Resolutions" are cliche but I like the idea of a new year and new goals!

I also think that before I really set new goals it is good to look at the year in review with its peaks and pits!

PEAKS:

• Chloe started middle school.
• Misa's job moved to Weatherford and he moved into more of a supervisor/office role so he is home every night.
• I joined the Celebrate Recovery Ministry TEAM at Memorial road church of Christ as the Female "E" (encourager).
• Allie went to school without her Big sister for the first time!
• We added "Oscar the boxer" to our family.
• Misa and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary!
• I got the privilege to go to California and attend the CR summit! It was life changing.
• We bought a camper!
• I started eating healthy and for the first time in my life I feel free from the chains of a scale! My food choices are based on what will make me feel good and not what I can get "away" with eating or what I think I can get "away" from by eating.

PITS:

• We suffered another miscarriage.

I am really excited about the goals I am choosing to set for 2012! So here they are in a nut shell!

• I want to run a 5K in April at the OKC Memorial Marathon! So I am going to start a Couch to 5K before 2012.
• I hope that we can have a successful pregnancy in 2012.
• Make a lot more family memories with camping fun!
• I hope to be a more present mom and let the "little things" go!

Lesson Learned: Reflecting over the last year is encouraging to see all the good that has occurred as well as the tough things that make us a stronger family.
 
Setting goals is good for me!! Working toward something that makes me healthier and/or a better person, or brings me closer to my family helps me get through the tough times of life!