Finding Shelter in the Storm!

The last couple weeks, I have been much more active.  I also had an interesting weekend this weekend and said goodbye to some friends that are moving away.

I have gotten in a couple workouts over the past couple weeks and I have also mowed the lawn three times.  That may not seem like a lot, but I sweat more mowing the grass yesterday than I did running for 30 minutes another day.

I have started building up some endurance again.  But, I have a LONG way to go before I am ready for another half marathon.  This is one part of the storm I am working to find shelter from.  Races are bearing down in me that I am not truly prepared for.  I am trying to decide whether to continue with those races at a much slower pace or to focus on races I have farther down the road.  I will soon come to a decision but I am hoping that completing my upcoming half is something I am capable of even if I do not attend my race this Thursday.  I am straddling the fence over whether this race would be a good training run for the half or whether I should do a different training run here at home.  Like I said, I'll get it figured out.  As for the workouts, they have been going well.  I said hello to the treadmill again and it wasn't that mean to me.  This week, I will be increasing the time amount for sure.

This weekend was definitely an interesting experience.  I had plans to go to Indy and take a ride on the HandleBar followed by going to the OAR concert.  As we headed down to Indy the sky started to darken.  While we were in our uber headed downtown it started to rain.  We hoped it would last a short time and hopped on the HandleBar for a trip around town.  The rain did not let up and we rode the entire time in the rain.  About halfway through we stopped at 9 Irish Brother on Mass Ave. to grab a beverage and the skies really opened up to the point that we stayed there for about an extra hour.  When the rain finally let up we hopped back on the "bike" and headed back downtown.  Unfortunately by this time our concert had been cancelled so we headed out to a local establishment for the remainder of the evening.  It was a great time even though I was still soaked to the bone.  Unfortunately, the night before this event, one of our friends had some limbs down on their house and her power was out...the house where we were staying.  When we got back we helped move some furniture in the basement to keep it dry and make sure that the sump pump was on a working battery.

Our stop in 9 Irish Brothers! Just a few drowned rats in there!

Yesterday was a rough day for the family.  We were sending some family friends off on their journey back home to Michigan.  Although they won't be leaving until this Saturday we made sure to spend some time together this weekend as a goodbye.  We were able to go out for dinner and then came back to my in-laws house to hang out and give some going away presents.  It was a sad day for everybody involved, but we know we will be seeing them again soon.  We can't wait to visit them in Michigan at some point.

As for my weight.  It am still headed in the wrong direction.  As we have discussed on here before, the drinks this weekend didn't help.  But, the snacks I have been having in the evenings aren't helping either.  The fact that my training has started to pick up again will definitely help.  Until next week.  Food. Feet. Water. Repeat.

Back to School Madness

What a busy time of year!  It has been even busier this year as Mrs. Re-Dan-imation has picked up a full time position as a kindergarten teacher!!!  Most of our free time the past two weeks has been spent getting her classroom ready and buying additional materials.  Yet again, my training has taken a back seat to something that needs to be done first.  I am not complaining in the least, just stating the facts.

Why not focus a little more on what I have enjoyed helping with over the past couple weeks?  I thought it would be fun to share some pictures from decorating her classroom as well as the bulletin boards outside of my classroom.  We decorated her classroom with a beach theme as you should be able to tell from the pictures.  Also, a thank you goes out to her family and friends for helping out as well.  Many people donated things to help her or came to school to help her get things organized.

Look at all those workers!!  Even the small ones!

The whole classroom, matching bulletin board, and the trip to Once Upon a Child!

I had to do a little work to my own classroom and one of the things I tend to pride myself on is the ability to come up with clever ideas for bulletin boards.  Here are the two I started the year with.  If you don't think they are clever, well...too bad.

With all of this work, I have been eating fast food on a consistent basis.  We finally went grocery shopping this week for what seems like the first time since we have been back from the hospital.  Obviously this hasn't been good to the diet.  I'll be honest...I am starting to get a little concerned with the fact that I have another half marathon coming up in September.  I am just going to take it one day at a time.  I may just have to use this as a learning experience.  I most likely won't set a PR at the Mill Race, but I have good feeling about the Monumental Half Marathon in November.

Last week, I weighed in at 271.5 lbs.  That puts me higher than two weeks ago.  For the first time since I started this journey I forgot to get on the scale this morning before I ate breakfast.  I decided that I would much rather skip the weigh in than see an even higher number on the scale.  As always, I am not discouraged, I am just letting you all know how it is.  As we continue getting our head back into school, I am also working toward getting my body back into fitness mode.  It WILL happen.  Until next week...Food. Feet. Water. Repeat.