Couch to 5k: Week 2

We completed C25k Week #2 Saturday morning. We were scheduled to run MWF but Blake wanted to sleep in on Friday (meaning getting up at 9 was "too late" because it was already "too hot"...) so being the nice wife I am we got up at 5:15 to run Saturday. He was not happy but I had a hot date with my mom to shop in Raleigh.

So Week 2 wasn't all that bad. We switched things up this week by running for 90 seconds and walking for 2 minutes. The first day my stomach wasn't agreeing with me so I chickened out for the first part of a run but felt bad about that so I totally finished up running it out. I found myself feeling like I could run for more than 90 seconds (wow!) and it didn't take me so long to recover (and no sore legs!) I have figured out how to play with my mind -- when Laura comes on and tells us that it's time to run I pick an object that I think is about 90 seconds away. Usually it's a mailbox or next street. It's one of the habits of "highly effective" teens that we teach in school: Begin with the end in mind. So that's how I begin each run--it's going to "end" at that mailbox so I can totally do this. Blake always leaves me in his dust -- he's a super fast runner -- but I am catching up!

Several people (yea, you know who you are R & A... B is smart enough to join us!) have asked why we are doing C25k. There are several reasons... #1 being the newlywed 9 (or 20) that we have put on and #2 is that we are lazy farts and we need to be in shape. It also is an awesome time for the 2 of us to be together at the end of the day. I have also found that running is helping out with the effects following a collapsed lung. 3 years ago my right lung collapsed for no apparent reason (although I still claim it was the Chick-fil-a sandwich...) and I really haven't been physically active since. There are days when my lung really, really hurts... like I have to sit really still for several minutes to get it to go away. And deep breaths can be hard. BUTTT this has really enhanced my breathing--exercising my lung and helping it go stronger again.

Blogging about this is helping to keep us on track... Week 3 starts tomorrow. I hope I can run for 2 minutes!

Officially

I have officially "become" Mrs. Smith...

Just sayin'.

Decorating the Classroom Part 1

Here's another midnight madness "craft"...

I took a plain ole plastic crate... 

And ran a ribbon through the slots then tied a bow.

Now you can't say these aren't waaaay cuter than the plain crates above! 

C25k

The title probably sounds like some crazy abbreviation for some crazy text language but it's not... It's just Couch to 5k. I've heard of the program for several years always thinking it would be "good" for me to do but yea... I'm not motivated. And then one of the moms from the Ulster Project was talking about it and gave me this website  where you can download the podcast free. And free I like! I asked Blake if he wanted to join and surprisingly he did (well not so surprisingly because we have both gained the newlywed 9... or 20.) So I used a $50 egift card from Target to buy Blake an ipod shuffle, dusted off my old nano, bought myself some killer hot exercise clothes from TJ Maxx (because obviously I have to dress the part), found a hat to hide my do, and bought the fancy arm straps for the ipods. (Shew! So much for the "free" podcast.)

Finally today we went off on our first run. We loaded up the kids and headed over to my parents' hood because they have more than 3 streets and quite a few streets in the shade. I have to say I am really surprised that I enjoyed it. You warm up for 5 minutes then for the next 25 minutes you alternate running 60 seconds then walking for 90. I am really proud to say that I ran all but one of the 8 times she wants you to run. (You have to understand just how out of shape I am. I get out of breath going up our stairs...) And that one time I totally walked super fast. ANDDD I actually enjoyed the exercise! Afterwards I felt so energetic that I actually washed the dishes after dinner. (wow!)

Right now my legs feel very weak and I'm starting to get tired but hopefully we can keep motivated (which is easy to do with the girl on the podcast, Laura) and get to running a 5k in 9 weeks!

Midnight Craft Madness

It's not quite midnight but it pretty much is for me (who normally goes to sleep at 8:30!)... I've been feeling very crafty lately and in a total mood to make things pretty (probably because everything in this house is some shade of BROWN!) so after putting the kids to bed tonight I got busy and made this...

I figure it's pretty and purple so it will go well in the classroom. It started off looking like this ...

(no... the time is not correct at this point.) I then cut out some pretty pretty paper by tracing the circumference of the clock. I punched a hole in the middle so it would go over the hands of the clock and we had this ...

If you look closely to the left of the red hand I made a biiiig boo boo. But I wasn't scared and I magically fixed it with extra paper then added the numbers (and a battery). I think it turned out pretty neat. It's amazing what a little paper and hot glue will do to an ordinary clock.

Total Cost: Clock from Ikea $1.99 + Paper from Michaels $0.59 + Numbers $2.99 = $5.60ish -- not bad! Next time I'm thinking a personalized clock or of course an ECU clock.