Summer is here and yard work is great training!

You know that neighbor with the horrid flower beds?  Choked with weeds?  A complete disaster?  Yeah-that WAS my yard.  Figured out cleaning my flower beds out used much of the same actions if I paid attention as the things the trainer had me doing in the gym.  Squats, lunges, pulling against resistance, deadlifts...  Haha and then I do not have the eyesore yard.

So last weekend I spent another 4 hours in the yard.  That did not include cutting the grass!

Here are a few before and after pics

Behind the garage-before!

And here is the after!  All cutting was done with a bow saw or pruners and all the overgrowth pulled by hand!

(Now to decide what to replant there??)

This bed was cleaned out the week before so needed plants and mulch--

Before:

And after:

Here is the pile if brush (plus 5 bags of stuff too..

Just one (HUGE) one left

That may take a couple weekends!!

Who needs a gym right? 

Trainer again tomorrow but told him we can't up the weights because this weekend I AM GONNA BE A DIRTY GIRL!!  Event number 5 of 9 I have signed up for this year.  5k through the mud with some people I have known since high school and hopefully make a few new friends too.

Realizing I am already 1/2 done with my events has me thinking maybe I don't want the Monster Dash on my birthday to be the end of this.....  Maybe it is just the beginning??  Could I keep doing it?  Suddenly I am googling again and doing the math...  Could I do 8 miles in 2.5 hours??  18.75 min/mile...  Maybe- that is fast enough for the Wheaton Hot Cider on 11-3-13....  What about 5 miles in 3 hours---  no sweat!!  Schaumburg 5 mile Turkey Trot!   I may need a 2nd job to start paying for event fees and shoes.

Hmmmmm-  maybe some of you would like to come along!!!

New Trainer, new outlook

Despite doing a 5k ColorVibe on 6-1-13 and the 20 mile Tour De Cure Bike Ride last weekend, I have been so SUPER lazy and eating like CRAP.

The scale had been down a total of 17 pounds since February on 5-30-13.   WELL........ since then I regained 6 pounds.  (Yes, in 2 weeks.)  Could not get motivated.  That is what I need a trainer for- to keep me honest and keep me motivated.

The trainer I had been working with got me at the same time as a different trainer left our gym and he got overloaded and could not commit to a regular schedule.  Got the option to change trainers which gives you a freebie w/ the new trainer and I thought I would give it a go.

LOVE the new trainer!!!  Feel like I have been worked harder than I have in forever!  I finally had to tell him "NO MORE" with the leg work.  Arms/back/chest are tired and will likely be sore.  BUT I FEEL GREAT!!!  Just the kick in the pants I needed.

Oh- and here is the ONE public picture I could find from the Tour De Cure.  Of course it is my backside!!!

You can see me on the right side of the picture, grey shirt with small backpack and ponytail!  (In case you did not recognize me lol)

The Tour De Cure!

Today was my longest and hardest ride yet!  Today I did the ADA Tour De Cure.  I signed up on a whim and then started to have second thoughts...  WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING???  And then came the weather reports...  Rain and thunder and lightening!  And then the Blackhawks went into double overtime.

But, I signed up for it and people donated for it.  And I woke up this morning and the sun was shining and the weather was PERFECT!

And it is a cause that means a lot to me.  A lot of my family has Type 2 diabetes and that is part of what motivated me for this summer craziness of fitness- so I can hopefully avoid that.  

Also, my son's father and one of his cousins are Type 1.  That puts my son at risk to become Type 1 in addition to risk of Type 2.

They say by 2050 one in three Americans will have Diabetes.  It is a health crisis.

So I rode.  ALL 20 MILES!  I rode up and down all the hills.  I got to the last rest stop and skipped it because I feared I wouldn't have the ability to get back on the bike.

I felt GREAT when I got off.  And relieved.  And strangely, I felt like I wanted to cry.  And AWESOME!

Next up- The Dirty Girl on June 29th!

Before the ride-

Half-way point-  all the riders in the red jersey's were people riding with diabetes.  They are called the Red Riders!   A young man about 9 or 10 was in front of me for a good part of the ride- and he was a Red Rider!  He did the 20 miles too!  (I didn't take his pic as I didn't want his mom to think I was some weirdo.)

Here is me at the finish line.  So many people, such a great ride.  Thankful to my Dad and Margi for being there for me!

Worried about the next few days as I am already sore.  I will keep you posted and if I find any pics from the event from the public site I will share them too!

Oh-here is my times and the elevations!

A Fun and Colorful weekend

Got a bit colorful this weekend and for once it was not just my language!!

5k #3 for the year is in the books.  This was the ColorVibe in Rockford.  Part of the proceeds went to the Children's Aid + Home Society.  Was able to do it with my AWESOME friend Brenda who is such an inspiration in her weight loss and journey to becoming a runner!!

At the start, everyone took off running and I felt a bit of the "I wanna be a runner too" envy.  So I tried...

It did not go well.  I had a high impact sports bra on but...  Haha!!

Also, if you do one of these-  the colored powder does NOT stick to technical tee's so I had very little powder on my clothes at the end compared to my buddies.

My face was obviously another story.  (And had a ton in the not-so-high impact sports bra!)

My niece Kelsey (who is also my very beautiful God Daughter) did it with her BFF Josie so I got to see her and snag a pic too!

The other great part of the weekend was Friday...  My Aunt Bonnie who I have not seen in way too many years was in town and my Aunts Sally and Rosa.  Spent the whole weekend at my Dad's enjoying the time with family.  We will see tomorrow morning how much damage my Step-mom's awesome cooking did.  (But she had plenty of good choices for me)

My crazy kid could not resist the lure of the pool despite the water temp of 70 and air temp of 68.  He told me it would really help my achy body.  I thought NOT!!

Ok- off to bed for this chick- crazy work week and a 20 mile ride next weekend means I need my zzzz's.