American Heart/Stroke Walk

Yesterday was the local American Heart/Stroke Walk. It was absolutely beautiful, and although it required me to get up extra early on a Sunday,  I am glad I did. I didn't hear too much about this last year, but I do hope to make this a yearly thing. Here are some pictures from the festivities.

 

 

I am not really good at self portraits, let alone self portraits with my iPhone. I tried again below..



I was surprised she got this close. I was very proud of her. We went to a high school football game and wanted NOTHING to do with the mascot dog there.

She even wanted a temporary tattoo.

 

We then went and waited in line for face painting. After waiting 20 minutes and the line not moving, we went back to the temporary tattoo line and I let her get it any where she wanted. As soon as we were finished, the next pic happened.

 She then slept for the next hour. 30 minutes before the walk started, and then through the entire first mile of the 2.2 mile walk.

This is her at the end of the race, after her banana. She couldn't wait to say cheese!

So, sorry for the lack of posting, I am trying to balance everything while not loosing momentum and training for my next half marathon. To read more about that, check out my fitness blog. There will be a new post on there later today!

Happy Monday!

The many faces of M

M and I went for a walk to get the mail today. It was too dark too soon for us to go for our normal run, so I thought a walk would do just fine. She was so excited when I gave her the mail to carry home.

I even told her to keep her eyes open...

Cheese mama!

 

 

My cousin Abby plays soccer for University of Pittsburgh. Makizzle and I have been practicing this in hopes that we get to see her play...



In case you don't understand her "Go Abby Go"

Right now, she is sliding on her belly like the penguins on little einsteins. There is never a dull moment, and her vocabulary is growing every single second!

Weekend round up

So, my sister J thought that I should create a blog for my fitness related activities, and leave this one solely for the happenings of M. So, I did just that. Please go to my other blog and follow all my fitness and health related activities. In the meantime... sorry if you follow me on instagram, you have seen this pictures already...

Here, she is flying her airplane around....

Macaroni and cheese is always the best meal

You want me to stop eating just so you can take a picture... yeah right...

I will try to dedicate this blog to everything M and family related. I will try to keep all my fitness related things to PirateBootyFitness,

Have a great week! Hopefully I will be back to post some new photos soon!

It's Friday

It's Friday....I have a day off and am getting ready for a huge garage sale on Saturday. So, enjoy this song, you know soon you will be singing along as well.

 

 

Have a good weekend. Tomorrow, I will be running 9 miles...

A more beautiful you

I write all the time about what I am doing physically to make myself a better person. But, today, a friend (I wish it was IRL) posted a picture on Instagram of a daily scripture. It was right then and there it hit me. It doesn't matter what I look like on the outside, if spiritually I am "ugly." Don't get me wrong, I go to Catholic, I go to Church, I live according to the Church the best I can. What I don't do enough is stop, and thank God everyday for the many blessings he has given me. He blessed me with the opportunity to be a mom and best friend to my sweet little angel. He has given me the ability to run, and thankfully, I heard Him talking to me that day and I decided to jump in and run. I am not looking back at that one, but I am still thankful for the ability and the enjoyment I have found in running.

I stumbled across this song on Youtube and I thought I would share it.

There won't be a more beautiful you. You have to see it in yourself, and God does see it. Sometimes, we just have to remove the blinders and the bad attitude that society and its unhealthy attitudes has placed on us.  Once we see our own beauty, we will be happier and healthier both inside and out.

So, today, I stopped and I read a devotion from this book. Yes, I know I am not a teen, but this book was given to me in 2001 by a patient that I took care of. She said that the care I provided her really made her want to be a nurse. I wasn't even a nurse yet, but it's patients like this that I remember. What I read tonight, was something I really needed to read. Let me share some of it with you.
                             "All hard work brings a profit" (Proverbs 12:23a, NIV).
ALL hard work brings a profit. No matter what it is that you are working towards, the hard work that you are putting in will pay off. It may not end the way you think it should, but if you put your trust into God's hands, he will make sure you profit in some way.

So, tonight I ask you to stop and take some time to be thankful for whatever it is you are able to do. Know that your hard work is paying off, and whether or not you know it, others are inspired and amazed by what you do and try to live in your shadow. Be the best You you can on the inside and it will show 1000 times over on the outside.

Back in the swing...

This week I changed things up around here. Mon, since I had off, I went for a swim. It was nice on my joints, and man, while I thought I was in shape, I realized how not in swimming shape I am. I am looking forward to next Monday when I can swim again. But, I also went to the gym. I did Kacie's arm workout. Man, it kicked my butt. I didn't realize how weak my arms were.  I did know, I just was hoping that it wasn't that bad.  It will be nice to add things to my cross training. So, that is how my week started. I think I will have to look into buying some dumbbells for home, so that on the days I cannot go to the gym I can still get the arm workout in.  I am looking forward to doing it again.  Yesterday, with the downpours of rain, heat and humidity, I didn't get to run.

 It's ok, though, I am currently doing a Sept Ab Challenge on Facebook. It's not too late to join! Today, was a different story. I went to work again early, and as usual, I woke up to do my abs. Took M to my parents, and then went to work. I got off of work at 6, came home, had dinner, and at like 730 I took M with me for a run. We looked for "her moon" her "blue bye bye" and many other things. It was a good distraction on the run. I was determined to run 3 miles, and I did it! It wasn't pretty, and it wasn't easy, but I got it done. I am so surprised with how hard, yet rewarding it is to push her in a stroller, but I wouldn't trade these moments with her for anything.
I have realized many things since I started running, some of these won't be a surprise to you, some might. Some might even give you a better understanding of who I am.
1- Childhood obesity is out of control! Why are there so many children out there who would rather play video games than go outside?!?
2- Have you ever noticed our portion sizes?!? Who needs to eat a meal that is bigger than the plate it is served on?!?
3- Eating healthy is expensive! No wonder people eat unhealthy, it's cheaper!
4- I have realized that I am an emotional/boredom eater. When I am at work, I eat only what I pack, but as soon as I get home, and I get sad, or bored, I eat. I am working on this, but now that I wrote it down, at least I am acknowledging it.
5- I don't know how to cook. So, if you have any recipes for healthy eats, send them my way!

Well, I better go, it's almost 1030. 6 am will get here quickly, and I need to get to sleep. Before that, I want to take some pictures for the app Poshmark, hopefully to sell some of the clothes that don't fit me anymore.

Finally, Welcome to the new SPA sisters! Welcome to the family, we are sure you will love it here!
Have a great night!

Do Something Different

Today, is Labor Day. It gives me a day off of work. (Yess!) That makes this week a short work week (double yes!) Anyway, I don't usually have a routine, on days off M and I just hang out, but today, with the hubs having off, I decided to spice up my workout. I joined my cousin Chris and his Master's team at Lehigh and swam. I didn't realize how out of swimming shape I was. I thought that with running, I would be able to just get in the pool and be able to "fly." Boy, was I wrong. I did do the best I could, and Chris helped adapt the practice for me, so hopefully, I didn't disgrace him too much. I know his time is precious, and I really did try, but man, my arms, were they/are they sore. I actually relied on my legs a lot for swimming, which I didn't use to do, and I think they were able to keep up. Hopefully I will be able to swim more often.  It was a good change of pace for my joints. I did 1400 yards (250 yards short of a mile) but hey, not too bad for my first day back in who knows when.   I also realized that I don't think I have been in a pool since Nov of last year, maybe once since then, but I also realized the changes in my body. I had one race suit, that I think I had since Sep of last year. One I got it,  I was in denial about how big I really was. Anyway, I remember when I first put on my suit back then, it was barely fitting me. Today, I put it on with some room. Actually, it was big and I need to get a smaller one. Maybe that is what it took to put things into perspective. I guess because I look at myself everyday I don't notice the changes as much. Maybe I should, no I will, focus on the positive things that I have noticed. Maybe I am not a size 8, I don't know if I ever will be, but, last summer I was in an XXL, yesterday, I bought a dress that was a medium! Being a size 8 doesn't necessarily make me healthier, being fit makes me healthier. I am excited and stoked to see the additional changes my body will undergo with my continued clean eating, and fitness challenges.

So, to celebrate Labor Day, I am going to hang out with my daughter (I did labor for 21 hours!!) and enjoy the gifts that God gives me everyday.  Have a great day, and celebrate a shortened work week!!

Sunday Funday!

So, yesterday was a crazy busy day! It started off with a 8 mile run and then breakfast with my running friends. After breakfast, I had to shower quickly and then get ready for a bridal shower. The bride was definitely surprised, and the shower kinda awkward. Anyway, I was only there briefly I had the opportunity to help my mom with getting my dad to the airport so he could go visit my sister J. After getting him on his way, we went to my Uncle "Quack's" house for a Labor Day party. It was nice to hang out with family. One of the bad things that I have noticed with eating healthier, is that while at said picnic, other than corn on the cob and chicken, nothing else there even peaked my interest, including the deserts.  It was a little disappointing, but a huge success in the willpower department. We came home and just hung out. Well, I did housework and ran to get some groceries, once M was in bed. My husband was in bed by 700 last night.

This morning, I woke up and ran 6 miles with some of my running friends again. This time at Jacobsburg State Park. It is beautiful there, but my legs were sore, and I was hoping that after a mile they would loosen up. But they did not :( Then I had a brief period of mental fatigue and all I wanted to do was walk away from it all. But, no worries, my good friend Bob (I hope I can call him a good friend) talked me through what I was feeling and found the good things and the things I should be proud of in this run. So, I finished the run, and finally, I am feeling proud of running 2 tough runs back to back. Maybe one day I will be a marathoner or and ultra runner, in the meantime, I am going to enjoy the journey to my next half marathon.

Since it's a holiday weekend, I don't have to worry about the weekend ending too quickly. I get to skip Monday by staying home ;)

Have a great Sunday!