Chin Up Buckaroo

You have probably seen it, a person just whipping them out like their life depends on it. One, two, three, twenty. Then here I am, I have been to the gym almost for a year and I have seen the big machine looming in the corner. Intimidating me. Staring me every time I pass by. Taunting me. Laughing at me. Today, I put my foot down. No more staring me down. I am strong. I am tough. I can do it!

Okay, I can't :(. I climbed on the machine, put the "assisted" weight at 40 pounds and I tried to pull myself up. I can do it. I can do it. My arms shaking, my biceps burning. The burn. I could feel the burn. Two tries and I got down. I was deflated. I looked around to see if anyone was laughing at me. Nope, no one around.  I moved the weight up, 76lbs, climbed back up and tried again. It was a little easier but it still burned. My puny arms were burning, my shoulders were hot, my face was getting hotter and hotter, one, two, three....seven, eight, nine, ten! I had done it. Assisted but I had done. 30 second break and try again. In total, 3 sets of 10. My arms are complaining right now. After the chin ups, I tried a three sets of dips....can you say WIMP! Yep, that is me.

My goal is to work on it 3 times a week, in a month I hope to be able to lower the "assistance" weight. I can do it. I can. Yes, I can.

Today's Stats:

Swimming: 1800meters

Spin: 40minutes

Strength Training: 30 minutes

Back to Business

Woke up a little late but instead of tossing and double guessing myself if I should head to the gym, I just got out of bed and put my bathing suit on. I got to the gym 30 minutes late but I was still able to swim 1600 meters. In a record time too! I swam the whole 1600 meters in 30minutes! I was very surprised and happy about the accomplishment.

After swimming, I headed to my spinning class, it was Tempo day so it was nice and easy. Perfect for my needs. My legs are still sore from Saturday's Half.

(Picture property of ScoutJ from http://www.scoutj.com/)

A little bit of weight lifting was in order too. I have this goal of getting some nice looking arms--it would be super if I could have a set of guns like Scout's! She is my "guns" inspiration.  A bit of ab work was done too. I suck at ab workout thus my big pouch. My top abs are alright, not tight but not sagging or bulging, but my lower abs are flabby and pouchy and dare I say it ugly! But enough of my flabby tummy. The workout day was exceptional! I felt great and my legs appreciated the back-to-work day.

Hope you have a good work out day too!

TOU 1/2 Full Report

I almost have my legs back. My quads feel like someone grabbed a meat tenderizer and went to town with it. Sore. It is not the front of the quads but the outer side. Sure sign of me giving it my all. And if there was any doubt of that, anytime I took a deep breath yesterday even my ribs hurt. Darn it! It is such a great feeling.

My friend Momber (blogless) joined me for her very first Half. We were both excited chatting at the back of the bus all the way up to our destination. Once we got to the top of the mountain, we realized how cold it was so we tried to keep warm--for me an easier task since I could just cuddle to my personal heater--hubby!

The race got started about 10 minutes late, all the runners seemed anxious and ready to go. I really didn't mind waiting, I figured that we will have to run anyways so waiting a few more minutes won't make a difference.

When we finally started, the crowd was too much and I even got elbowed! My first reaction was to get pissed then I realized that the person probably didn't even noticed. Momber and I started off together and we stayed together for the first half mile but I felt that I could go a little faster so I told her that I would go ahead. We had trained together and we had agreed that during the race we would go each our own pace.

The first 7 miles went so fast. I took a couple of drinks from my bottle and I had taken a GU at mile 4. When I looked at Mr. G and it said that it was 58:XX minutes into the race, I felt exhilarated. I quickly did some math and I figured that even if I started running 10minute miles that I would beat my Ogden Half time. As I pressed the lap button on Mr. G, I saw that it gave me the average of that mile and I realized that it could help me maintain a certain pace. At that very moment, I gave myself the goal of getting to the finish line before 1:55.

As I ran the last 6 miles, I enjoyed the cheering from all the people around, especially the ones from the little ones. Some of the little ones extended their little hands to have their hands shaken. I shook them as I passed by, seeing their smiling faces made me even happier. I just ran and ran.

At mile 10, I simply said to myself, just a 5K left, you can definitely do it. You have done it before, you can do it again. I grabbed a water from the table and poured it on my head and kept going. People were starting to get tired and few of them had started to walk. I smiled and cheered them on, giving them a little bit of my energy.

At mile 11 or so, you could see the finish line, the route finishes in my regular running route so this was my turf I said to myself. I knew where all the potholes where and where the road was a bit more even. I ran and I started passing a few people. At around mile 12, I saw a guy who had passed me, he had an injury in his right leg and was trying to finish by limping his way to the finish. His effort gave me the inspiration I need to finish strong.

As I reached that last 1/2 mile, I gave it all I had, I pumped my arms and just concentrated on the big finish. My chest was hurting from the effort, my legs started to throb but I just kept going. I had to finish before 1:55. As I crossed the finish line and saw that Mr. G displayed 1:54, I felt completed for the day. I had done it! Mr. G also records my last mile and .1 at 8:39 mile pace!

My family found me and my little kidlets gave me hugs and kisses. My little Benny took my left over gatorade and drank it all.

Hubby had arrived awhile before me. His time: 1:36. May I mention that he did this without training. Yep. He is just so awesome at running :).

As we talked about the race at home, I couldn't help but feel proud of my time. Just last year at this time I started running and I thought that running 5 miles was hard, now, 5 miles are my easy runs and I look forward to running 13. Crazy times!

After coming home, I got a shower, ate some lunch and joined a couple of my friends whom were doing the Cache Valley Century. I wanted to do to another century on my bike, but schedule conflict made me have to decide between running or riding. Running won. However, I told my friends that if I had energy left that I would join them. I felt strong still after the Half so after lunch, I joined them for the last 32 miles. I call it my informal training for a future half ironman :).

TOU 1/2 Mile Splits:

Mile 1: 8:28

Mile 2: 8:28

Mile 3: 8:06

Mile 4: 8:22

Mile 5: 8:10

Mile 6: 8:34

Mile 7: 8:30

Mile 8: 8:57

Mile 9: 9:08

Mile 10: 8:53

Mile 11: 9:36

Mile 12: 9:57

Mile 13 and .1: 9:34

Bike Ride: 32 miles

Speed: 15.1mph

Woohoo! New PR!

Short story

Time: 1:54:44!! 8:45 mile pace!

I shaved a whole 5 minutes of my last Half marathon. I am so happy. After the half, I joined my friends whom were doing the Cache Valley Century-cycling. I joined them for the last 32 miles :). I feel happy as a clam right now :).

TOU 1/2 is Tomorrow!

In just a few hours,hubby and I will be doing our second half marathon together (it is his third and my second, but our second together). I will be doing my second half marathon. I am excited, a little apprehensive too, but mostly excited. Mentally, I have told myself that I can do it and I believe it, I just hope my synapses in my head can pass that information to the right pathways--those going to my legs.

I have my water belt ready, my i-Pod is charging (and I left the headphones by my water belt so I know to pick up my i-Pod). I have my GU ready, shoes, and I know what clothes I am going to wear.

The hardest part of the entire thing is the wait between climbing the bus and when the race actually starts.

[Picture caption: our little ones are very excited about the race. They want their own numbers so they can run too!]

Although I would like to finish with a time better than my first half, that of 1:59:47, at this point in the game, I'll go with just a good finish. I will consider 2:20 acceptable, as long as I feel that I gave it my all during the entire time. We shall see. Wish me luck my friends!!! And good luck to any of you doing any races this weekend.

A New School Year

I am the Mom of a 1st Grader! I can't believe it! My baby is in first grade. We wanted to make his day extra special, we started with a breakfast of champions: pancakes in the shape of an airplane and truck! He loved them! He got a kick of me mistaking the truck for a train!

After we dropped Boyo off at school, Little Benny and I kept ourselves busy the entire day purchasing ingredients then baking a cute cake for Boyo. Little Benny was super helpful in trying out all the ingredients, especially the different frosting colors! Her favorite part was the pudding in a bag that I used to write the words. She thought it was way fun to squirt the pudding into her mouth with the bag. She was a super helper!

After he came home we were all excited to hear about his first day. So we asked. How did it go? His answer: Good! That was it. All day long and we just got a good out of him, lol. After some poking he spilled more information. He has a new friend and he loves Lunch at school ;).

Pattern-a-Day Calendar 2009

The other day, the UPS man stopped and made a delivery.I didn't know what was coming, I hadn't ordered anything so I opened the box carefully thinking that probably I was receiving something that I hadn't ordered. To my great surprise, the 2009 Pattern-a-Day Calendar arrived at my door step, courtesy of Accord Publishing!

The hat on the cover was knitted by me!!! I am so excited! The pattern is featured on May 14th.

The yarn for this hat, Suri Alpaca is soft and wonderful to knit.

Glad that the mail sometimes brings more than just bills :). The calendar is already available on Amazon too. There are lots of nice patterns in the box, something is sure to catch your eye.

More Camping...

Summer is dwindling down. My boyo starts 1st grade next week and my little Benny starts Pre-K in two!! I can hardly believe how fast summer went. This last week has been a whirlwind. We went on our yearly family reunion camp out for 4 days, and I survived! Actually, I loved it! My little brother came back from NY just to go to the reunion with us and he loved it too!

It was my first camping trip that I have truly enjoyed. I think it had to do with the fact that my older nieces and nephews entertained my children (or the fact that my children are not that little anymore and can fend for themselves). Tons of entertainentment all around, hubby and I were able to go on a couple of hikes up the mountains, there was some geocaching too with the kiddos, even a little off-road cycling and to top it all off I was able to get up Thursday morning and go for a nice 6 mile run--great trails! I have to admit the reason why the trip was extra fabulous was due to the acquisition of a shower tent...it was used at least 20 times during the 4 day trip.

The pictures do not do the trip justice as they were taken with my cheapo little camera. The views were spectacular! The family pic in the middle is missing about half of the family that attended the reunion, there are still three more immediate families with eight more children and 6 more adults who were unable to come all the way to Utah. Everytime we get together, I can't help but think that we can probably make up a little town all on our own! In the immediate family there are 42 children (plus 3 in the oven), plus the parents, 20, plus Grandma and Grandpa. That's one big happy family!!!

On other updates: my teeth are still very sensitive. I had to go in this past Monday to the orthodontist, this time to get a spring between two teeth to make space for one of my most crooked teeth. Fun times! Still can't have many foods. Today for example, I tried having a PB&J sandwich, I love crunchy peanut butter but I can't chew it now, bummer! Things will get easier...I hope.

In the knitting scenario, I have been working quite a bit lately on the DA Looms Blog where we are having a Loom-A-Long for the Pinwheel Dishcloth. I created two videos that walk the loomer through on how to loom the pinwheel from start to finish. Videos and children around do not mix well...but a bribe here and there and lots of chewing gum (for the kids not for me) got this video done.

Tinsel

At 16, I refused to have them! Reason: I can't be seen with them while I go out on dates!

At 18, I absolutely didn't want them: Reason: the dating game was too much fun and it may cramp my style.

At 23, I was thinking that I should have gotten them back when I was 16.

At 26, Dentist told me that if had them my flossing would go a lot smoother. But, I refuse them once again.

At 29, Dentist told me that my teeth were getting more and more crowded as I was getting older.

Now: Fine! I'll do it!

Can't see anything? Click on this one and look closer!

I got braces! I am a 30 year old with braces. I got them on Monday morning. Since Monday morning, I have been starving. I can't chew! They told me I would be sore only for a couple of weeks--I am crossing my fingers that it is so because I can't see myself starving for the next 18 months.

If I had only listened when I was 16!! If I had, I would have had this over with. 

The Idea...Almost There!

The idea that was in my head a few weeks ago is now almost a reality. A little testing with needles and we have...a windmill! Next, try it on the knitting looms! Once seamed up, it should look pretty neat all together. I can't wait to see it finished.