walk – Page 5 – This Crazy Life of Mine

Tag: walk

22
Oct
2012

Countdown to the 3-Day!

categories: 3 Day, Jenna, Thanks For The Mammories, training, volunteer, walk

I can’t believe it is here, the week of the 3-Day. It’s hard to believe that a year has passed.

Last year, my sister-in-law Jenna walked in the 3-Day. I did many of the training walks with her as support and got to know so many great women. When it came time for her to do the walk, I cheered her on all three days. I was SO proud of her. Here are a few favorite pictures from last year:

My favorite training photo

And they’re off! Leaving Clearwater Beach, Day 1

So happy to see Autumn! John’s Pass, Day 2

Closing ceremony with Nick! St. Petersburg, Day 3

Looking back, I can’t believe I didn’t write a follow-up post to the 2011 3-Day when she was done. I had taken so many great photos and being a spectator and cheering on all the women AND men walking 60 miles over 3 days was wonderful.

I did, however, write several posts leading up to the walk and all the fun we had on the training walks…

Earlier this year, I decided to join the team, Thanks For The Mammories, with Jenna when she told me she was going to crew. We decided to do it together and drive a sweep van.

Susan G. Komen 3-Day

In May, we planned to meet up with some of the team for an unofficial training walk. Little did we know, we were there on the wrong day. Did we give up and go home? Of course not! We still walked, had a great time as always, and ended with a great breakfast!

A funny story about this morning’s walk…

In June, it was time to get together with the team! 34 wonderful women and men, including Jenna and I, gathered in Safety Harbor, ready to rock the walk.

And so it begins…

And now, here we are… The week of the 3-Day. It kicks off Thursday for us with a crew meeting and decorating our sweep van. Friday morning we will start in the wee hours of the morning, so that we are ready to go in our sweep van, ready to assist any of the walkers who need help getting from one stop to the next. We will also camp out with the walkers (fun fact, this will be my first time camping out in a tent EVER!), and will be there for closing ceremony.

I can’t wait to share pictures afterwards of the decorations we’ve done for our van. It is going to be FANTASTIC! A little hint…. We are going to be Boob 1 and Boob 2. I know you are intrigued!

I am so excited to do this with Jenna. Supporting her last year as she trained and walked was so nice, and this year we’re a team. I can’t think of anyone else I’d want to do this with!

07
Oct
2012

Weekend Bliss

categories: anniversary, blue, book, daily mile, dinner, Eagle Lake Park, hubby, Ozzie, run, starbucks, walk

Yesterday was such a great day. Besides the fact that it was our 11th anniversary, hubby and I spent the day together. I took a lot of pictures yesterday so sit back and enjoy! Hubby gave me a beautiful card for our anniversary. He always buys the sweetest cards….

We started the day with a 3.50 mile walk. There was much excitement on this walk for me because I actually ran a little. I’ve been thinking about running and wondering what would happen. I was so happy, there was no pain at all. Yay!! I ran about 3 blocks total, certainly not a lot, but I also don’t want to overdue it. I’ll work my way back into it.

After our walk, we went home and loaded Blue and Ozzie in the car for a trip to Starbucks. Yes, my boys are incredibly spoiled and they know what Starbucks is and get SO excited if we even say the word. Everyone at the Starbucks drive-thru loves Blue and Ozzie and always give them cookies.

Later on, we went to Jimmy John’s for lunch (freaky fast!). I had a Club Lulu unwich, so no bread. I was saving my bread for dinner, so go me! After lunch, we went to Barnes & Noble so I could use a coupon that was burning a whole in my wallet. I couldn’t possibly let a coupon go to waste… There’s never a shortage of books I want to buy and I had this one on my mind…

Then we went to Wal-Mart. I usually dread going to Wal-Mart, but we were on a mission so it was necessary. First on the list was a special Christmas project we are working on which I can’t wait to share as soon as I have all the details in place, so stay tuned for that. We also bought 4 big bottles of bleach to take to the Humane Society of Pinellas, hubby informed me they were running low and were in need. Our handsome Ozzie came from HSP and we have donated items to them in the past. It always feels good to help out when we can.

For our anniversary dinner, we went to Outback Steakhouse. Hubby and I both love steak and shrimp so we were looking forward to it all day. Here we are on our way to dinner. After 11 years, I’ve gotten pretty good at the self-portrait.

You can’t go to Outback and not get a Bloomin’ Onion so of course that was the first thing we ordered. Hubby had a beer and I tried a Blackberry Sangria. I have never had a sangria with apple in it, it was SO good!!

It irritates me that my drink is crooked in this picture but it was the only one I took, so I’ll just have to deal with it. I really enjoyed the Caesar salad, always delicious even though it’s loaded with calories.

My main course was the Victoria Filet and grilled shrimp with baked potato. I loved the tomatoes they served with the shrimp, they had a wonderful basil flavor.

This morning, we had to walk that filling dinner off, so we went for a walk at 6:15. Seems crazy on a Sunday, but there’s not sleeping in here with our two crazy Aussies. I took this picture around 6:45 as the sun was starting to come up.

Our goal was to walk 3.11 miles, but we decided to go for 4 to put us at 15 for the week. After walking around the neighborhood, we ended up at the park for the last mile. It was perfect timing for an amazing picture of the sun coming up over one of the little lakes.

Even better, I took a panoramic shot. So peaceful and serene…. I always feel so lucky to live so close to the park to enjoy views like this.

I also spotted this heart-shaped leaf on the ground. There are trees all over the park with these heart-shaped leaves on them, but I loved this one because it makes me think of fall.

By the time we got home, our walk ended up being 4.20 miles. I ran a little bit of it again, still no pain. Whew! I love logging my miles on DailyMile. If you use DailyMile, be sure to add me as a friend!

It’s been such a great weekend. I am so proud of hubby and I for getting so much walking in this week, 5 mornings total we’ve walked super early. I enjoy the extra time together and love that we are taking care of ourselves. Tomorrow starts another week!

Do you work out with your spouse or significant other? Do you have a routine?

10
Sep
2012

Not too bad for a Monday…

categories: doctor, physical therapy, sciatica, treadmill, walk

I never like Monday’s, but I have to admit today wasn’t too bad. How was your day?

My morning started at the orthopedist for a follow-up since starting physical therapy over two weeks ago. Knowing this office gets crazy busy, I had set an early appointment in hopes of beating the rush as the day goes on. Wrong. I sat in the waiting room for 15 minutes and when they called me back, I waited another 40 minutes in the exam room. I was so irritated. My time is just as valuable as everyone else’s. I was bored so I took a picture. Even the picture is boring…

Despite my irritation over waiting forever for the doctor to see me, the appointment went well. When he finally came in, we discussed what I’ve been doing since he last saw me. I told him I was very happy with the physical therapist, he is so nice and helpful and I feel like it’s helped a lot. He had me walk normally, walk on my tip toes, and checked my reflexes. The last time I was in there, I had major weakness in my left calf and it was impossible to walk on my tip toes (left foot), I couldn’t sit still, and I had bad pain shooting down my leg. He was very pleased when I told him today that I had very little pain, it was more of a discomfort and was not constant. I have no numbness and the little bit of tingling I have is in my left calf and it’s only noticeable if I touch my leg. I gave him the letter from the physical therapist recommending that I continue with physical therapy for now.

The doctor agreed that I should continue with physical therapy and for right now, an MRI is not a necessity. He wants to see me back in 2-3 weeks to see where I’m at then, but he feels there is substantial improvement. I am really hoping I can knock the rest of this out before I go back. I just do not want to go through the hassle of an MRI that may not give a clear answer and then end up doing more of what we’re already doing. One other option is a nerve study. Fortunately, the epidural steroid injections were not discussed today.

After I got home from work and I made another batch of pumpkin fluff (perfect for my sweet tooth at night without the guilt!), I decided to hit the treadmill for the first time in over 3 weeks. At the direction of the physical therapist, I get to start walking again, 1/4 mile a day. This is nothing and I almost have to laugh at it because I am used to walking 3, 4, 5, 6 miles like it’s nothing. But, for now it’s all I am allowed to do until we see how I handle it. I certainly don’t want to take 1 step forward and 3 back as is typical in my world. So, I started with a set of 15 of my lumbar extensions that I’ve been doing every day….

Source: www.spineuniverse.com

After 15 of these (these feel SO good, by the way….), I walked 1/4 mile on the treadmill at 3.0 MPH. I felt no pain and I don’t feel like I struggled to get it done. If anything, walking on the treadmill forced me to walk in a more regular fashion and I really focused on not limping.

After finishing up my mini-walk, I did another set of lumbar extensions. I am pretty happy about doing it and not feeling any pain. I am determined to continue to do what I need to do to fix this. Being stubborn pays off sometimes.

Tonight I’m making shrimp and zucchini for dinner. Hubby will be happy, he loves shrimp. He could eat it every single day and never get tired of it. It’s a super easy dish to make and full of flavor.

Have you been to physical therapy for an injury before? What was your experience with it?

19
Jul
2012

Thoughts on Thursday

categories: Best Body Bootcamp, blue, Eagle Lake Park, fitfluential, Ozzie, park, treadmill, walk

This morning on my way to work, I stopped at Starbucks. My newest obsession there s the Very Berry Hibiscus Refresher. Oh. My. Gosh. It is so yummy and well, refreshing! It’s actually made with Green Coffee Extract, basically taken from a coffee bean while it’s still green, before they are roasted. It has no coffee flavor whatsoever (which I do love), low calories, and NO fat. This drink is perfect for summertime. I even like it better than the Passion Tea Lemonade. One of the things I like the most about it is the whole blackberries they put in it. This drink lasts me a couple hours – as it melts down, I add more ice and it’s still just as yummy. I was enjoying it so much this morning, I had to document it…

In my email today, I received the first two weeks of workouts for the Best Body Bootcamp 2 that starts on Monday. I am really impressed by all the information and how thorough it is. Well worth the $25 entry fee. I printed out everything, including screenshots of the exercises, and I put it all in a binder. No searching for any of it when I need it, I know right where it is. And because I’m kind if a geek, I out it all in a binder and even made a nifty cover for the front of it. I can’t wait to get started.

After having rain off and on everyday this week, I decided to skip out of work a little bit early so I could get home and walk. I decided to take Blue and Ozzie to the park with me. We made it 2 miles before they were ready to keel over and die, but they had a fun time. They so love the park and there is much excitement when we’re getting ready to go. It seemed to take forever to get out the door, and the 2 miles took a really long time to walk with all the stop and start. But I am positive that I also got an upper body workout at the same time. It can be a bit challenging to walk 2 dogs.

Since I like to do at least 3 miles, when we got home from the park, I jumped on the treadmill. I was all hot and sweaty and decided to push myself. I did 1 mile on an incline of 10. Holy quads, did I feel that. It was awesome. I was definitely #fitfluential today!

Hubby is working late tonight so I was on my own for dinner. I decided to cook some lean ground beef, zucchini, and onion. It was very tasty and filling.

I am so glad tomorrow is Friday. As always, I am so ready for the weekend. I need some down time and I hope to get some more miles in !

12
Jul
2012

Trying to be #fitfluential

categories: fitfluential, run, treadmill, walk

Last Saturday, something clicked in my brain and I got off my lazy butt and went walking. Yeah, it’s too hot to run, but I snuck a little bit of that in also as my walk turned into more of a run. I ran when I felt like it and walked when I needed to, and it felt great. The last mile was definitely more walking than running (thank you Florida heat and humidity), but I still did it.

That set off 5 days straight of moving, of not sitting on my butt being lazy just thinking about doing what I need to do. Doing what I should have been doing for the last couple of months. Who knows why I stop working out… All I have are excuses – busy at work, bringing work home with me, too much going on, stressed, or I just don’t want to. I cannot do that, I just can’t. I feel better when I give myself the time to do something. Walking or running for 45 minutes or so and ending up a hot sweaty mess makes me feel so good. The sweatier, the better. And if I wake up the next morning and actually notice the muscles in my legs? Well, that’s a bonus.

I was outside Saturday and Sunday, mid-morning before it got to be unbearable hot. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I had to do the treadmill thanks to the the lovely afternoon thunderstorms we’ve had.

I did at least 3.11 miles every day for the last 5 days. Today is a rest day.

I am trying to be #fitfluential. Many of the bloggers I follow, are #fitfluential and motivate me every time they post about their workouts and more. I want to be that person that motivates people. I want to reap the benefits of being active AND motivate other people at the same time.

If you visit www.fitfluential.com, you will see that they are all about the whole package. As they say, “FitFluential is the perfect combination of fitness and influence.” They focus on 4 areas of balance – Eat, Sleep, Move, Enjoy. I. Love. This.

As I plan out the end of the year, with a half-marathon, a 10k, and a 5k in my sights, I need to stay on top of things from here on out. I need to take care of myself and keep moving. I need to focus more on eating better. #fitfluential will be my ticket to this balance!

So tell me, who wants to be #fitfluential with me?