Half Marathon...

I know you are all DYING to know how my race went yesterday...at least those of you who aren't friends with me on FB, you guys already know how it went ☺ Anyway, the half marathon was awesome. I felt great! I finished strong, blowing past a few people in the last mile and one guy right at the finish line. I couldn't help it, he started slowing down instead of kicking it in, what's a girl to do?
My official time was 1:52:59. My last half marathon- 2:24! That's a 32 minute improvement. I was 142nd overall out of 1500 and 32nd overall in the women. I also placed third in my age group, 40 seconds behind the 2nd place finisher. While a part of me wishes I had pushed harder, I am also aware that I am pregnant. A few things slowed me down along the way and I figure there's a reason. I ran with a side stitch for almost 3 miles and got a blister about halfway through (and these shoes are not new...over a 100 miles on them). I had so much fun. The hubby and some other family members were out cheering me on and that was soo great! Can't wait till next year...I'm totally doing this one again! And here I am, finishing strong....

Happy News...

I can't wait to tell all of you the exciting news... Baby #3 is on it's way! While we weren't quite trying, we weren't doing much to prevent it either ☺ I am thrilled though, after taking a few days to adjust to the idea. What a wonderful blessing to say the least.
Obviously now the focus of my blog is going to shift slightly to maintaining my healthy lifestyle during this time. I hope all of you will continue to follow along. I'm am sooo happy that I've made the lifestyle changes that I have because I only think it will benefit me through these next months.
For those of you wondering, I plan on exercising and running or walking all along the way. My half marathon will probably be the last race though since it makes hubby a bit uncomfortable....but we shall see. As long as I'm still feeling great, I will keep running. Both previous pregnancies I gained wayyyy too much so I am excited for a healthy and fit one this time around...should make getting back into the size 6 jeans alot easier.
I've also decided that I will be posting a picture and weight on the first of every month...so stay tuned and watch the bump grow.

To grandmothers house we go...

Or, I should say, we went. My kids and I took a spur-of-the-moment trip to visit my parents. While the trip wasn't quite as restful as I wanted, I did get to see my momma and dad and my grandparents as well (whom I haven't seen in about a year). My children got to spend time with their grandparents and great-grandparents so it was worth it! I was able to get in a quick run but the elevation change (and the very steep hills) really threw me...going from 50 ft elevation where I live to 3000 ft at my parents is a huge difference! I am very thankful that my parents are totally into living a healthier lifestyle though so the food was right on point. Today I have to make up the 8 mi run I missed yesterday, but otherwise I'm right on track exercise-wise too. And now my weight is back down to 145...yay. Hope everyone had a great weekend...

21 day Challenge

I decided to push myself a little harder. I've been kinda cruising lately and I feel like I need to kick things up. So, I've decided that I'm going to ramp up the workouts and really concentrate on eating healthy for the next 3 weeks. I'm not giving myself a prize if I do this, I'm not adding any incentive. Generally when I do that I sabotage myself because I don't feel worthy of the prize at the end. So instead this is a "I dare you to do it" type thing for me. I tend to do better when I feel like I have to prove myself. Here's me, proving that I can eat well and exercise vigorously for the next 20 days (yesterday was day 1). Go me!
Side note- I'm sore from my workouts yesterday...and happy about it. It's been a while since I've been this sore and that means I made progress and shredded up some muscles, YAY!

Smacked back to reality...

I definitely got the smack in the face I needed when I stepped on the scale yesterday. While I know that a few of the pounds I've collected are water weight from the TACO BELL I ate Friday night {gross, I know}, I also know what else I've consumed the past few days. It wasn't pretty. Add to that, I've been a slug. So much so that it's embarrassing. I finally got my act together though, I think. Went grocery shopping, straightened up the house, took the kids for a walk & spent some quality time with my husband.
I hate that I let things snowball out of control for a few days and as a result have a few extra pounds to work off AGAIN!! To be perfectly honest, I'm annoyed with myself and disappointed that I couldn't hold it together.
I did great till about 1:30 this morning. The youngest has been having some ups and downs with sleeping. We'll have a couple good days and then 1 or 2 bad nights. Last night was a bad night and I ended up snacking on stuff in the middle of the night {remember I went grocery shopping lol}.
Anyway, I got 3 hours of sleep last night. I'm waiting for the coffee to brew then I'm going to eat something in preparation for my 9 mile run this morning. Once I get that done I know I'll feel better...

Thinking of Tri-ing

I've been doing a lot of pondering lately about what to do after this next half marathon. I don't really have a desire to train for a marathon right now. I enjoy running but I feel like marathon training would take away from precious family time. Right now my long runs on Sunday mornings average about 1.5 hours and that's all the time I want to invest. Maybe as my children get a little older that may change, but right now, it is what it is. What I am thinking is to mix it up a little and train for a Sprint Triathalon (.5 mi swim, 12(ish) mi bike, 6(ish) mi run). I like a new challenge and I think this would give me some more variety in my workouts as well. Now I just need to work on some of the logistics...a swimming pool to train in and a bike.

So what do you think? Sound fun or crazy???

Free Stuff...YAY!

Tricia over at "Endurance Isn't Only Physical" is hosting several giveaways right now. One is for running skirts and the other for some very cool socks. To check it out, click here. I love her blog and she has been super generous with giveaways lately ☺ Just wanted to share with everyone and give you a chance to win too!