Good Evening!  I apologize for being MIA for the past couple of weeks.  I really don’t know where the time has gone (well…maybe I do, food prep!) and by the end of each day I am ready for bed so I haven’t taken the time to blog lately.  I’m going to try to get back at it this week.  Here is a bit of exercise and nutrition update!

EXERCISE

I’ve been running 3 days a week regularly.  I don’t have any races on the immediate horizon, so I have dialed back the mileage.  I have been running 3 miles on Tuesdays and Thursdays and 4 miles on Sundays.  Sam and I run together when we can, but I have also hit the treadmills at the gym with Steven, and sometimes have to run solo.

I have been running about a 9:20 – 9:35 average pace.  I’d like to work on getting that down to about a 9:05 – 9:10 average pace over 3-4 miles so that when I start training again next month, I’ll be used to that speed.  I seem to be able to sustain that pace (or close to it) for about 2 miles and then I suffer in my 3^rd mile.  I definitely have some work to do.  We’ll see how it goes.

Speaking of running, my family ran the Leatherneck 5k since I last blogged.  This was my 3^rd year running the event.  I like it because it’s local, they have a ton of raffle prizes, and it supports the Semper Fi Fund.  This year, I signed the whole family up.  My mom, my sister, her boyfriend, and Kevin also signed up.  Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate at all!  Makayla decided to stay home when she woke up to the pouring rain and I didn’t blame her one bit.  I considered bailing myself, but Gabby talked me into going.

Unfortunately, there was no official clock due to the weather so I just relied on Map My Run.  Gabby and I ran together for the first mile and finished it in 8:46!  I had my phone in a plastic baggie in my rain jacket but it started acting odd.  Somehow my GPS turned off right after mile 1 and my songs weren’t playing right.  Gabby slowed down a bit just after the first mile and I didn’t see her again until the turn-around point.  She wasn’t too far behind me though!  When I turned around, I hit the wind and the rain started coming down harder!  I was pretty miserable and just wanted to get back to the start/finish.  Gabby caught up to me and we ran together again for a while.  Around mile 2.5, I wanted to take a walk break.  I tapped her shoulder and told her not to stop for me!  I slowed to a walk and watched her continue to run.  I honestly thought I’d catch back up to her.  NOPE!!  As she got close to the finish line, she saw Steven and Kevin (who had finished much faster) and Steven said she yelled “I’M GOING TO BEAT MOM”.  Lol!  She was so proud.  She said they yelled 29:29 as she finished.  I finished at 30:11 (my GPS stopped working, but the total clock kept running).  That averages to about a 9:44 average pace, although I don’t know what my splits were for mile 2 and 3.  I high fived Gabby and congratulated her and she yelled “I BEAT YOU!!”  She was so proud of herself and I was proud of her as well.

Steven, Kevin, Jason, Gabby, and I all waited to cheer for Becky and Maw Maw.  It was cold and we were completely drenched.  We were all pretty miserable.  As soon as my mom finished, we were ready to go.

We grabbed a couple of snack and drinks to go and headed home for hot showers/baths.  We found out later that Kevin won his age group!   Woot Woot!  He has gotten super speedy!  I was hoping to find out where exactly I placed amongst my age group (they were collecting portions of our bibs so they could get that info), but I never saw any results other than top finishers.  The raffle was held after the race and ticket numbers were announced on Facebook.  I didn’t make out as well as I did last year, but we did win a gift certificate to Smokey Joes and a Chick-fil-a gift basket – woot woot!  I think we will continue to run this race in the future.  I just hope we don’t have to deal with torrential downpours.

One last note about running.  Wednesday was National Running Day.  I wasn’t able to fit a run in, but I felt I *had* to do something running related so I took advantage of the coupon J&A sent out and registered for the Crawlin’ Crab Shell Yeah Challenge.  Woot Woot!  The race is the first weekend of October, and I’ll start training in July.  The 5k and the half marathon were such a blast year.  I can’t wait to run it again this year!

I’ve also continued to go to body pump, although the last couple of weeks, I have missed more classes than I have attended.  Something always seems to come up.  I went last Saturday, but couldn’t get there again until yesterday morning. I’m hoping to get back to taking it twice a week very soon.

NUTRITION

I’ve continued the Tone It Up 8 Week Bikini Challenge.  I have started deviating off the plan more and more, but I’d say I still follow it about 80% of time.  Even with the extra Snow Caps, Star Crunches, and cookouts, I have to say that it works!  As of today, which is 5 weeks in, I have lost a total of 9.5 pounds.  I’m pretty much at my *summer* goal weight, although I’d still like to tone up some areas.  The plan still has its challenges, the biggest one for me being prep time.  I am also finding that I stay full during the day, but I have been getting a bit hungry in the evening.  It helps when I stay busy and don’t have time to think about snacking.

I have a very busy week ahead with my daughters’ 5^th and 8^th grade “graduations” so I know it’s going to be tough to stay on plan (both nutrition and exercise), but I’ll do the best I can.  Like Tony Horton says “Do your best, forget the rest”.  That’s riggghhhhhtttttt!

QOTD – How are YOU doing?  Do you have any nutrition and/or exercise goals or accomplishments?