We Run For A Reason.. We run for the special 1%

Doug and I have joined TEAM KIDNEY
and are Running for Reason
in the Houston 1/2 Marathon.

You all know our reason.

Maddie.

Maddie's primary diagnoses are IgA Nephropathy, Thin Basement Membrane Disease, Asthma, and severe allergies. However she has a number of other chronic medical issues that greatly impact her life.

She is strong.

She is a fighter.

She is courageous.

She is also an anomaly to the medical field.

As one of her specialists commented at an appointment a few years ago, we can only hope that one day her symptoms and issues will all be brought together and it will have a diagnosis that doesn't bear her name.

So Doug and I RUN FOR A REASON. 

There are so few people that have the combined kidney diseases that Maddie has that very little research is being done on them. It's hard to get any press when only 1% of the population is affected. 

Sad. 

Very sad, but that is the reality when faced with rare diseases.

So we run for Maddie and others like her... 

the nameless other children and teens whose diseases will never get headlines and research dollars cause there just isn't enough of a them to bring attention to their plight.

We invite you to join us in our efforts.

Cause Maddie deserves a cure.

Your tax deductible donation goes to The National Kidney Foundation. 

Click here for the link.

We Run For A Reason.. We run for the special 1%

Doug and I have joined TEAM KIDNEY
and are Running for Reason
in the Houston 1/2 Marathon.

You all know our reason.

Maddie.

Maddie's primary diagnoses are IgA Nephropathy, Thin Basement Membrane Disease, Asthma, and severe allergies. However she has a number of other chronic medical issues that greatly impact her life.

She is strong.

She is a fighter.

She is courageous.

She is also an anomaly to the medical field.

As one of her specialists commented at an appointment a few years ago, we can only hope that one day her symptoms and issues will all be brought together and it will have a diagnosis that doesn't bear her name.

So Doug and I RUN FOR A REASON. 

There are so few people that have the combined kidney diseases that Maddie has that very little research is being done on them. It's hard to get any press when only 1% of the population is affected. 

Sad. 

Very sad, but that is the reality when faced with rare diseases.

So we run for Maddie and others like her... 

the nameless other children and teens whose diseases will never get headlines and research dollars cause there just isn't enough of a them to bring attention to their plight.

We invite you to join us in our efforts.

Cause Maddie deserves a cure.

Your tax deductible donation goes to The National Kidney Foundation. 

Click here for the link.

My Runniversary

Another Healthy Lifestyle and Runniversary!

In honor of my journey.. I like to look back and see the consistency and dedication to making myself a priority in the craziness of life.

In May of 2012 I decided that enough was enough, but it took me a month to get in the right mind frame for a complete lifestyle overhaul. I consider the Tuesday after Memorial Day to be my anniversary of a healthy life!

May 29 2012

• Weight.. over 170 maybe 180... 
• Clothing Size: 14/16 pants, large/xlarge shirt
• 1.96 miles at a 14:17 pace.

May 27 2013

• Weight:  145
• Clothing Size: 6/8 pants, medium shirt
• 4.69 miles at 11:06 pace.

May 24 2014

• Weight: 143
• Clothing Size: 6 pants, medium shirt 
• 4.3 miles at 10:46.

May 25 2015

• Weight: 140
• Clothing Size: 6 pants, medium shirt
• 4.5 miles at a 9:50 pace. 

May 28-31 2016

• Weight: 137
• Clothing Size: 4-6 pants, small shirt
• Saturday: 9 miles at an 11:05 easy pace
• Sunday:  11 miles on the bike and 30 minutes of heavy weight training
• Tuesday: 3.14 miles at a 10:07 pace

I have to remind myself is that the difference between last year's pace and this year's pace is negligible due to the humidity and that I am stronger and leaner than I have ever been. Even when I was "skinnier" (in high school and college) I was starving myself and had little muscle tone.

My goals for this year? I'd like to lose another 10 pounds and I'd like to run a 25 minute 5k. I guess the question is, do I want it bad enough?

Running Shoe problems and an AH HA moment

My left foot hurts.

No big deal. Unless you are training for a marathon and need to run around 60 miles this week. So yeah. big deal.

Sadly, I think it's from my running shoes.

I have a closet full of running shoes. And none of them feel right.

One of my first "real" pairs of running shoes are still my favorites. but alas, they were model 10's and now the company is making 13's and there is not much of the 10 left in these shoes even though they are the same model.

(Anyone out there have a new pair of size 9 Brooks Glycerin model 10's?) I'd pay good money about now for a pair! Here I am in my brand new pair in 2012!!

Wow. Look at me in 2012. It's weird to look at pictures like this. In this picture I was wearing my first smaller/weight loss outfit and my new running shoes. I was in Chicago with Doug and running and feeling great.

And now I look at it and am reminded of how far I have come!

Maybe I need to look at a different pair of shoes?

Since the above me is wearing a size 10 pants and weighing at least 15 pounds more than I weigh now, it seems a little odd that the cushion and support of the running shoe that I would need would be the same that I need now.

Hmm.

This is a picture of me a couple of weeks ago. I'm wearing a size petite small skirt.

Maybe it's time to go get a new gait analysis and look at some new running shoes!

I gave it the 'old college TRI!

A couple of weeks a go, my friend Alisa (below in green) sent me a text at 5:30pm on Friday night.

She said, let's skip our Saturday long run and join Lesley (below in blue) in tomorrow's sprint TRI!

I said.. "Do you know how long it has been since I swam??"

She said, "As long as it has been since I have!"

So we went on down to packet pickup and signed up!!

CRAZY TIMES!!

I have to say, I LOVE the fact that I am fit enough to say... "Let's do it!"

So Saturday morning dawned and I gathered up my stuff trying to remember what all I should take for the race!

Here we are before the race.

The cool thing about this race is that while it is a sprint tri, it is a backwards tri.  Meaning that you run, then bike and finally swim. It works because the swim is in a 4 feet deep pool. 

So off we went on the run. I wasn't sure how fast to go out. I ran the first mile and 1/2 on my own and then Hans, a 69 year old ironman was running besides me and we talked the way in. It was a good moderate pace. I did the 5k in 30 minutes flat. One of the coolest parts of racing is making new friends and hearing amazing stories from veterans along the way.

Then on to the bike. This will be my LAST race without clipping in! UGH. I love riding, but man, this course was super hilly and tough! 14 miles later I was back and into transition.

Finally, the swim. It was nice hitting the water at this point. As I stated earlier, I hadn't swam laps in at least 9 months. Quite possibly since my last tri a year ago! oops.  Anyway, I muddled through the laps using ALL the strokes I could think of!

My time? 1:40:38.

And since I trained NOT ONE OUNCE.. how did this compare to my other times? Well... my personal best time is 1:40:35:1. 

Amazing.

If I had known I was THAT CLOSE, I could have shaved a few seconds off a transition, gotten in the pool faster, or did anything just a minute faster!

Oh well :) 

I had so much fun!!

And look what I brought home.

Second in my age group.

Not bad at all.  And yes, of course I'll be competing next year. I might even train! ;)

So since I didn't train for the tri? What am I training for? 

Well, I'm training for a full marathon!! 

Last week I ran 45 miles. My most ever.  

Thanks Kylie for putting lotion on my poor tired feet.

And I'm buying a few new clothes. I haven't lost any additional pounds (one CAN NOT LOSE while training for a marathon.. one can only HOPE to NOT GAIN!!!)

But my clothes from last fall are too big! So shopping it is.

Here is my latest Stitch Fix. 

And that is what we are up to. 

Maddie is busy with colorguard and trying to get well. She has been sick for the last month.

Lexi is reading. She might do other things but I'm not sure... :)

Kylie is mastering being in FIRST GRADE.

And Doug is working and preaching.

We are busy, busy people.

So thankful it is a good life!

Because I can

I ran 125 miles in the month of August.  That's the most miles I have ever run in a month.

I'd like to celebrate. And one day I might.

But my heart is heavy.

This has been a hard week for Maddie.

(Of course it's been a hard week, the first week of school each year is hard. With two-a-days, she starts the year worn out and it's downhill from there!)

First day of School

Nonetheless, four days into the school year, Maddie's kidney has flared along with her asthma and she is one sick girl.

Friday morning I took her to the hospital for blood work between a pep rally and an Algebra 2 quiz. Her urine is brown. She made it all day at school, reported for practice on time and performed at the football game.  Want to see her performance?  Click here!

Immediately after the performance I took her home.  Since 9pm Friday night she has been in bed. It is now 9pm Monday.

The only other time she has been out of the house was at 11pm on Saturday night when I took her to the emergency room. Her asthma was out of control and we needed help.

Since the hospital visit she has been on breathing treatments every 3-4 hours along with a heavy dose of steroids. I'd like to think that she could start weaning herself from these soon, but given that she can't even walk across the house without getting winded, we shall see.

She would also like to go to school tomorrow.

So in the midst of Maddie's crisis, I am running longer and stronger than I ever have.  I can feel myself getting leaner and faster.

And it hurts. Cause Maddie can't run.

We are even selling her treadmill.

She wanted to run, but her body can't. We know longer want the reminder.

It's times like these that are hard. I have to remind myself that it's okay to get down. It's okay to eat the donut for breakfast on occasion cause your child is sick and there is NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT. But I can't and won't go back to the daily donuts and being 40+ pounds over weight.

Instead, I am going to get up at 4:15am and run.

Because I can.

Sunflowers and Speedwork

Well, summer has come and gone, Now it's time to commemorate the days with another painting. One of my Facebook friends posted a number of absolutely gorgeous pictures of the sunflowers in her area and this motivated me to paint my interpretation of her flowers.  So here you go.

I had a lot of fun playing with modeling paste and gel medium. I really love Golden acrylics. I have found that with my passion for palette knife paintings that I don't have patience for the cheap watery paints anymore.

And speaking of not having patience.. I don't have patience for just simply running 3 days a week and calling it good. I HAVE TO HAVE A GOAL! ugh.  That is just one of my quirks.

So, I am in the heart of training for the Fort Worth Marathon on November 8th. I know. Working full time, raising three daughters, being a pastor's wife and taking 12 hours of graduate class isn't enough for me. I have to train for a marathon. 

Yep.

And so far, I am loving it. 

Okay, check that. Today I am tired.

But Wednesday is my only off day, so by this morning, Tuesday, I was sluggish. And it was SPEEDWORK! oH mY GrAvy! I did a 1 mile warm up, 9x600's and a cool down mile. Last week, no problem hitting my goals. Today, I had to work a little harder at it. But I ran Thursday thru today and that is new for me.

Anyway, I think besides the sluggish part of it, I like making speed work the last workout prior to the morning off. There is just something really cool about hitting my time goals knowing that I ran a ton of miles on Saturday and Sunday! 

I am stronger than I think I am!!

Always.

A new 5k personal best for me!

Last year Doug and I both rocked the Jogging for Judah 5k. 

This year I have been training for a stronger 1/2 marathon finish and Doug has been hurt, so I knew that we wouldn't be chasing down our last year finishes.

So I decided to change up my interval a little and just run hard and enjoy it.

I did a  4 minute run, :35 second walk interval.

I started strong and kept a good pace. I so wanted to catch the three women that were ahead of me, but alas, I couldn't do it. Now if it had been a 10k, I would have had them. Man, if it had been a 4 miler I would have caught them! 

Oh well.

I ran my FASTEST 5k ever!! I ran it in 26:36! Woohoo! 

I also won the Masters Female. (I am NOT that old.. they have a young threshold for master..)

But heck, I'll take the plaque!

Doug was 2nd in his age group and did a great job given that he has been hurt.

And here are some of my friends from our run club!

It's so much fun to race and win. :) I never had this as a child/teenager, so this is a new experience for me. I like it! It is rather motivating to train hard for the next race.

My 3 year Run-iversary!

On May 5, 2012 I decided to take control of my life. I was overweight, out of shape and tired.

These pictures are all the proof we need. (Sadly, I had to go steal them off a friend's facebook page as during this time, I didn't take pictures willingly... Thanks Hailey!)

 

I remember being excited about deciding to do something for me. As a teenager I loved running. I never ran on a team, but I ran for myself and really enjoyed it.  I knew at this point in my life, I had to do something for myself that would benefit my health.

So I bought new clothes and shoes for exercise and went out and jogged 1.7 miles at a 15:44 pace. My running skirt I thought was so cute on the rack was so tight that every time I stopped to walk I had to pull the shorts part down. At the end of the jog, the inside of my thighs was severely chafed. 

I went out a couple of more times in May and jogged, but I didn't change my eating habits. I was overwhelmed with how badly I had let myself go and just couldn't imagine that I could change
my world right at the end of the school year.

So I decided that Memorial Day would be THE DAY!

And it was.

On May 28,2012 I joined Weight Watchers.

On May 29th I ran/jogged 1.9 miles at a 14:15 pace. 

I continued to eat fairly healthy and stayed within my Weight Watchers points each week. The activity points were incredibly motivating to me and I worked hard.

By mid-June I had lost ten pounds and was exercising consistently. I even worked out while at my scrapbook retreat and jogged 2 miles at a 13:48 pace. 

And that was just the start.

By December 2012 I was down 35 pounds and I was feeling great!

At that point, I stopped worrying about the food so much and just enjoyed running.

Memorial Day 2013: I ran 4.69 miles at 11:09 pace

Here I am with Doug the first week of June 2013.

Memorial Day 2014: I ran 4.33 miles at a 10:46 pace

Here I am with Doug celebrating my 40th birthday.

Memorial Day 2015: I ran 4.57 miles at a 9:50 pace.

And here I am on day 26 of my 30 day handstand challenge. Wearing the workout skirt from 2012.. yes, that same skirt that was so tight that my skin was rubbed raw. Now I only wear it when I need a reminder of how far I have come as it is so loose that I have to pull it up every few minutes! LOVE!

I can't wait to see where I will be in 2016. With my new focus on Eat to Live, I predict another minute off my pace! :)

The start of a new painting series

I painted this today. I've had this big canvas sitting around for months and decided to use it.

I really like how it turned out.

Now I'm thinking about doing a series of girl athlete paintings in this style.  Wouldn't it be fun to have a girl hurdling, a girl playing soccer, a cheerleader, and so on..

Guess I better get to work! :)

A little painting

I got to paint this weekend.

Yippee.

A little paint does wonders for the soul.

I've even sketched out my next painting! 

Eat to Live: Day 23 Update.. so long 18.75 INCHES!

I really like my mid-week measurements.  They keep me motivated.

So here is my Day 23 update!

Down another pound for a total of 10 pounds.

Down another inch in the waist

Down another inch around each thigh

Down 1/2 inch in hips.

Down an inch on chest.

Down 1 3/4 inch on shoulders.

Down 3/4 inch on left bicep.

Down 1 1/4 inch on right bicep.

CRAZY! Huh!

That makes for a total of 18.75 INCHES GoNe!!!!!

And here I am this morning. A little over 3 weeks ago, this was a fitted shirt.

And for those of you who might wonder how a diet that is made up of 98% plant based,  2% meat, no dairy, no fried, and no sugar has affected my fitness.. well..

Today I ran a 10:12 warm up mile, an 8:27 mile, a 9:10 third mile and a 9:47 cool down mile. 

Not bad!

Can't wait to see what next week brings.

A new level of crazy!

So I turned in a 20 page paper on Religious Issues in Schools this morning.  It was a group project on steroids.  And I turned in an 8 page paper on Curriculum Design this morning (all my own analysis).  I have about 100 pages of student's rights law to read tonight and another 10 page paper of my own analysis of that due in a couple of days.

But that's not my new crazy.

This is.

My BRF (best running friend) and I got up and started running this morning at 4am. yes that's 4. and AM! 

We are insane. But we were supposed to do our long run on Saturday and she was going to be out of town.. so heck.. why not do a 10 mile run before work?! 

Right. :)

Here we are at the end of our run.

And I made it to work on time, interacted with my students and am getting ready to make dinner.

Not too bad for a Thursday....

Cold Weather Running Just Got A Little Easier!

One of the things hardest parts of running in the winter is the cold and the residual cold left on the hiney! You would think that since I have plenty of body fat, I wouldn't be so cold, but I am!

Well, my sister mentioned that a friend of hers made a bum warmer.. and that intrigued me, so I created one for myself and a few to share with friends!

They are amazing!Here are a few pictures and a link to the tutorial I made.

Here is the warmer on. It's a little wraparound skirt in fleece.. or maybe more like a backwards apron!

The warmers I made are between 10-12 inches in height and 36 inches in width plus the ties. I didn't want them long enough to interfere with running and I didn't want to have to fight the material with every step, so the fabric doesn't meet in the front.

Here are my running buddies on Dec.31st. It was 18 degrees out! We happily wore our bum warmers!

Ready to make yours? CLICK HERE for the link! 

I've worn mine a half a dozen times and love it. I even wore it in the rain one day and the water just pilled on the fleece and didn't soak me! Love!

Oh life, how good, but how busy you are.

Whew. We are so very busy that I can't catch my breath much less blog!

This week was crazy, plus more! Our beloved Yellow Jacket football team played on Thursday night instead of the normal Friday so that they could be broadcast LIVE on ESPN2! It made for a truly crazy week and a long, long week.

But here is a recap.

Kylie loves school, soccer and playing. Her imagination knows no bounds. Here she is figuring out tricks on Lexi's skateboard.

Lexi loves to read and is the top reader in 4th grade at this point in the year with close to 10x the AR points of most of her peers!

She also is playing volleyball and really improving. I'm her coach. Her improvement is despite my coaching.

This past weekend she went to church camp for the first time. She LOVED it! 

Maddie is tearing it up on the football field as a colorguard member. This is HER THING! How fun to watch her excels at something physical.

Maddie is also doing great in school.  She is seeing a new specialist in a couple of weeks and we are hoping that will help one of her ongoing health battles, but overall, she is doing better than we could ever have imagined at this point in high school!

I've tried to post her performance from Friday night. If you click on the link, it might take you to the video...Post by Emily Maxwell McLemore.

And what have Doug and I been doing besides driving children from place to place? Well, we have been considering a lot about life. We are in that midpoint of our lives and have to ask ourselves if we are the people that we want to be. Are we the people we have been called to be? Are we doing what we are meant to do? Lots of questions. For me, this means going back to school. I'm going to work on getting an additional advanced degree in Education. No, I have absolutely no clue how this is going to fit in our lives. But I do know that I was created to teach others how to teach and at this point in my life I'm not doing that. So I'm going to work on that. 

And what about running? Well, I'm feeling great and so strong these days. Not fast, but my running and fitness base is solid. And sadly, there is no time to race. We have commitments every Saturday from now to Christmas and beyond. So I'm looking for a fall 1/2 marathon on a Sunday that's not too far of a drive! I'll keep you posted cause man am I feeling great!

That's all I have time for.  Hope to post again soon!

A Running Family

Saturday night we went and ran a local 5k and kids 1 mile fun run that benefited our local football team. It's always fun to run a race, but so much more when the family does it together!

Lexi and I ran the 1 mile together. She has decided to train for a kids triathlon, so we are working on her mile pace. We did last night in 12.34. Given that it was past her bedtime, 90 degrees and at least 50% humidity, I think she did great!  Kylie ran the first 100 yards with my sister and niece before she backed out. She's still thinking about this race stuff!

Then after all of the 1 milers came in, we did the 5k. Maddie, Doug and I ran along with two of my sisters! It was so much fun! Here we are before the race. It was a "glow run" so we had lots and lots of glow bracelets and such!

The race was fun. It was sooo hot and humid, but we live in Texas, so what can we expect in July! My sisters and I ran together and that was great. I felt really strong which was surprising as I had run 13 the day before. We ran my favorite 5k interval (4 min run/40 sec walk) and just kept moving through the night heat.

Here Doug and I are after the race.

I finished 3rd in the 40-49 age group. I have to say, I love medals! 

And here are a couple of my running buddies! Courtney (in the middle) won overall female and Kenya won 1st in our age group. I love running with fast women.. they motivate and inspire me!

Up next? 

Another tri.