Exercise My Willpower!

Well I am learning how to exercise both my body and my willpower. What I am reminded about time is that it passes whether I am wise or foolish with it. Last week I did not get all my exercising days in. The week was full of catching up on summer school work. Yes, I am caught up thanks to the help of my little (taller) sister Mary Ann!

This week my "Official" training for my race started! Today is day 4 & I am sore! Like really sore! Need help rolling over in bed! I did 3 miles on Monday evening at the gym. The next morning I met my trainer at 6am for him to kick my trash. It was a trash kicking! I waddled into the gym yesterday morning to lift weights. Today I did a 30 minute NTC (Nike) workout at home while the kids slept. Tomorrow the schedule calls for 4 miles and longer run on Saturday. I guess no pain no gain?

Week three is a success. Good habits are forming. The year will come and go. I hope to be stronger in the end.

Because I CAN!

Week two came to an end of our exercise challenge. Last week I am proud to say again I was out the door at 6am a total of 5 days. This was 1 day short of my goal. I was awake when I received a call from my Dad at 5:45am informing me my older brother had been in a accident earlier that morning. Life was put on hold for myself & my family. As news slowly came in through out the day I remembered how precious life is. I will write more about this in another post. The next day I was up and ready to go at 6:00! None of the other women who go with me showed up. It perhaps was a blessing. Even though I exercise on a somewhat regular bases I have self-doubt when it comes to running. This is all in my head. One reason I signed up for a half marathon. I try not to let myself stop me from doing things. Instead I try to learn my weaknesses and face my fears head-on.

The morning after the accident I challenged myself to run a mile without stopping. For me this was a HUGE hurdle! With determination I laced my shoes & started. I did not stop until I ran 1 mile. As I placed one foot in front of the other I told myself "I am strong" or "these are strong legs". While my brother lay in an ICU bed I would not let my ability to use my legs be taken in vain. I will do things because I CAN. The fact that I had not done it before (since maybe high school?) will not stop me! Tomorrow I will go farther than I thought possible. I will not stop putting one leg in front of the other until my legs are nonfunctional. I will RUN a half marathon.

When I came home with excitement I told Andy I did 1 mile. My accomplishment was not overlooked by a man who has run a 50 mile race. He was proud of me for what I set out to do. I thank him for his undying support.

New 30 Days! Give Us Strength!

So after a successful challenge of no spending for 30 days we just had to take on another challenge! So for the month of July we are doing personal exercise 6x a week for 4 weeks. Andy said to me the other day that since it is summer we should have summer bodies. Well I make no promises about a summer body, but maybe a fall body to be covered up with sweaters. Andy is currently not training for an event. We are looking for one if you have a favorite you want to suggest! He really loves trail running so he is yearning to hit the trails soon. I am signed up for my very FIRST real race!!!! It is one I have been wanting to do for years. All fell into place this year for me to attend. So in October I will meet up with AMAZING women in San Francisco, California and complete my first half marathon! It will be a girls trip. I am so stoked! A no spend month may be in order for September to help fund the my travels (and shopping).

Week one is complete & I rocked it! Every morning at 6 am I was out the front door. I am feeling great and loving doing this for me. Nike had a scheduled I was able to plug directly into iCal. I was impressed has seamlessly it was. The process took less than 2 minutes. My official training starts in a week. Until then am just moving and it feels great.

Week 4 of No $pending

Well it is officially over. We made it through our first No $pending month. It is not our last. We (all 5 of us) learned a lot! I think one of the most lessons learned is that we can do whatever we set our minds to. When I would tell people what we were doing they were either amazed, encouraged or thought we were crazy. Some would say "oh, you can do that but i never could". To me this is just silly. One reason I do things is because "I Can". I have to at least try something new. Just because I have never done it before doesn't mean I should not at least try. Even if I fail I will be closer than before I started.

YES, we did save money. We live in a society that lives paycheck to paycheck and is stressed out when an emergency comes. This month we took some of or saved money and payed...

Andy's life & disability insurances for the year = $900
4 new tires for the car = $570
New front brake pads, roters, new filters = $433
Running shoes (my first half marathon is in 14 week!) = $88
Socks (REI had smartwool on clearance) = $40
Costco = $138
Sprouts = $112
Arbonne (protein powder) =$154

All in all it was a great month! We tried something new. Were we perfect? No.
Our new 30 Day Challenge?

EXERCISE 6 DAYS A WEEK FOR 30 DAYS!
I'll keep you posted!