"Best start putting first things first." Cause when your hourglass runs out of sand You can't flip it over and start again Take every breath God gives you for what it's worth (Don't Blink Lyrics) Thanks for visiting my page! Spark People: I joined SP to help me lose the baby weight from my daughter who was born in Oct. 2007. I had been involved in the Baby Fit online community, and one of my ‘online friends’ set up the October Mommies group. I was breast feeding at the time, but lied to get in to SP. (Shhh) Our October team was so motivating and positive. Not only did we all have babies going through the same stages, a lot of us were breast feeding as well. And we all wanted to get to our goal… pre-preggo weight! SP was the first weight loss tool I had encountered that promoted HEALTHY weight loss! (About 2 lbs. a week or less by modifying your diet and exercising.) I was further impressed by the articles, calorie tracker, exercise demos and videos. What hooked me in for good though, was the positive and motivating community here! Marathon Training: If you have ever wanted to run a marathon I have this to say to you, “Just do it!” Four and a half months ago I went to www.coolrunning.com and copied a training program for a beginner runner. The first long run was 6 miles. I was so proud when I finished that run! The next long run was 8 miles, I didn’t know if I could do it, but I did. Then a 10 mile long run came up, “that’s really pushing it,” I thought. I had never run that far before. Each long run tacked on the miles. Eventually I realized, ‘hey, they put it on the schedule, it must be possible.’ My longest run to date is 24 miles and my marathon is scheduled for October 5th. Training has been really reasonable, 5 days a week of running various distances with one long run a week. Honestly, I know this sounds strange, but it hasn’t been too difficult. It definitely wasn’t as hard as I expected it to be. Running for me is so rewarding and it’s something I can do with the kids. Food: This is an area where I have really struggled, and still do. Here are some things that have helped me. *I read The Eat Clean Diet by Tosca Reno. *I started with set times during the day for meals (5-6 small ones). *I always eat breakfast. Usually it’s oatmeal, Malt O Meal, or eggs. *I try new recipes often. I really like the Clean Eating Magazine and www.allrecipes.com. *I keep my husband’s candy bars, ice cream, chocolate for baking and any other junk in our freezer in the garage. *My husband keeps his chips and high calorie snacks in his work truck. *Celestial Seasonings has a Cinnamon Apple tea that tastes great without any sweetener. I have it at night time or during the day when I crave something sweet. *In general I do not buy packaged items like cookies, crackers, juice, pop, cereal bars or boxed dinners. My kids eat what I eat. For snacks they have air popped plain popcorn, rice cakes, raisins, saltine crackers (easier for me not to eat these), fresh or canned fruit and vegetables. Instead of juice I give my daughter a packet of Kids Emergen-C. *I do have animal crackers for treats, I keep these in my car for my kids. (Sometimes bribery is a necessary evil of parenting.) *Sometimes I chew gum to get past a sweet craving too. *We very seldom go out to eat, and we limit our coffee to once a week. I get a soy latte. *When I get an urge to eat something bad for me I try to distract myself. I’ll go fold clothes for example. A lot of times I forget that I wanted to eat by the time I’m done. Update 9-20: I'm in the taper phase of my marathon training program and my focus is on getting to the starting line healthy and strong on October 5th. I'm not consistently weight training at this time and I'm beginning to research what to do next and what challenges I'm up for. :) Update 10-19: My hip is bugging me a little bit so I'm taking a couple of days off of running. I'm hoping to still do a long run on Saturday and then taper again for a 50k on Nov. 15th. This is still a question... if I don't do that race I'll focus on getting faster for a 5k PR in December. Update 11-08: My baby's 13 months old today. I started lifting weights at home. I really want to get to a gym but am not able to do that yet. I hurt my back and it's healing, so I'm resting from long runs right now. (Nothing over 7.5 miles in the last couple of weeks.) But my focus needs to change so this is a good spot to be in. Exercise is great! But you know what, if I really want to succeed I NEED TO CONTROL WHAT I EAT!!! I am not going to gain 4 lbs. over Thanksgiving like I did last year. :) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Short term goals: Complete my long run of 8 miles-- DONE 6/15 Complete my long run by 6/22 of 10 miles... the farthest I will have ever run!-- DONE 6/19 Complete my long run of 12 miles next week-- DONE 6/28 5K on July 4th-- DONE 7/4 Complete my long run of 15 miles by July 12th-- DONE 7/12 Complete week 8 of marathon training-- DONE Get well so I can continue training!-- Back on track! Complete my long run of 18 miles-- DONE Complete my long run of 20 miles-- DONE 8/16 Complete week 12 of marathon training-- DONE Complete my long run of 23 miles-- DONE 8-30 Complete my long run of 26 miles-- Didn't make this goal But I did run 24 miles-- 9-13 Complete week 18-20 of marathon training-- Done Complete a long run of 28 miles-- Nope... not yet. UPCOMING RACES Haulin' Aspen Half Marathon (trail run) on Aug. 10th-- 2h 17m Best Dam Run and Walk (10k) with my mom on Sept. 27th-- 48:49 PR Portland Marathon on October 5th-- 4:17:49 Autumn Leaves 50k on Nov. 15th-- Decided not to do this race Jingle Bell 5k in December

Run second marathon 10-2010! Do a half marathon in August. Eat 3 servings of fruit and veggies per day. Drink 10 glasses of water per day. Spend time with God daily.

I read Tosca Reno's new book, The Eat Clean Diet and am working on getting in 5-6 small meals a day and 2L of water.

I'm 32 years young and I live in the Pacific Northwest. I'm into babywearing, sewing, cloth diapering, running and Christianity.

WEBSITES THAT'VE IMPACTED MY LIFE I put the websites in a blog entry.

Add a Link You have to make time. No doubt. Especially with kids. But I believe that our children need to see us doing things that are good for us. I want my kids to see me exercising, eating well, reading my Bible and praying, going to church, helping others in my community, being kind to others, and loving on their Daddy. Set the example and make the time. URBANMOMMY Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don't recognize them. Ann Landers
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