Who is beside who?!

So the reason why I started this whole 'lets get up and be active and healthy' thing was so that I could be there beside my children in their life as they were active too. In June 2010 for the Moon in June race this is when it hit me that I had reached and was living my goal. My oldest, Nicholas who was 3.5yr at the time and I ran in the kids 1k race. I had tears running down my cheeks as we started the race running hand in hand and I looked down at him and saw his big smile as we ran along. Then in 2011 I was there again with Nicholas beside him as he had his first Triathlon experience....now recently as I am working myself back up I see something different happening. When I did my first race after having the baby a few weeks back Nicholas asked if me could join me on the 5.6k walk...

so along he came and we passed the finish line together...when I head over to my Moms in some evenings he to get in some swimming he comes along with me

.....and on my first bike ride he heard that I was going out and asked if he could come along...since I was just looping around my street I said "Sure"...in fact it was really nice to have him there as it gave me someone to talk to as I did my first ride and was a good distraction from the fear I was feeling....after that ride I thanked him for coming along with me and told him it ment a lot......that's when I thought to myself....'Who is really beside who now?' Hope you are living in YOUR awesome today!

Living through your stories :)

So recently I have had a few e-mails, messages, posts from other people sharing with me their stories of how they are living in their awesome. I just can't tell you how much this helps me these days! I love reading about how someone has committed to being healthy and active and finding anyway to follow through on that and since there is many things I am unable to do right now I enjoy hearing how others are doing it and how they feel so awesome afterwards...I live through that story....for instance here was a recent post....."Gail I just wanted to share with you ~ I went to bed last night and set my alarm for 5:15. My plan, to get up and go for a bike ride this morning (I hurt my foot this week and biking is the only cardio I can manage right now). So, the alarm goes off, I get up. I look outside and see rain...I stop, I think, I go back to bed. And then YOU showed up in my head!! LOL! All I could think was "that's not what Gail would do". So, I got up, got dressed and went out and had an awesome ride, in the refreshing rain! Thanks Gail!"....isn't that AWESOME!!! As I read this I had tears in my eyes as I smiled and I was 'feeling it' with her. I know it's not so 'awesome' when the weather is crappy and you just want to crawl into your nice warm bed again....but to follow through on your commitment to yourself is a great gift! I also imagined it was me out on that bike in the rain with the water wiping me in the face and dripping off my helmet. Riding through puddles and feeling the water splash up my legs and the spray from the back tire giving me a mud strip up my butt and back...oh yeah baby!! I LOVE IT!!! (in fact the above picture is of me out on my bike during the rain doing puddle 'repeats' 2 summers ago! LOL!...felt like a kid again!)....For a brief moment I was there with her and that to me right now is priceless. So I am so grateful for her taking the minute to post that to me and share her awesome moment.....now in the post she thanks me, but I didn't do anything!! SHE was the one who decided that doing it was going to happen and SHE made it happen. If there's something that I learn from this it's that I was 'on her radar' and that is why she thought of me in order to help her get up.....so going forward I will be sure to keep people who are committed to an active healthy life style on my 'radar' too...seems with a combination of commitment from self and having someone 'in your head' helps keep things moving....I mean there is another way this could have gone right!...maybe something like this..."I looked out saw it raining and went back to bed...then YOU were in my head and I thought this is not what Gail would do....and then I thought to myself....aww fuck what Gail would do, so I went back to bed" !! LOL!!.......So thank you Kathy for choosing to 'live in YOUR awesome' and sharing that with me...we will have to go for a bike ride in the rain together one day!! Hope you are living in YOUR awesome today!

Move, Rest, Recover....Repeat

So I must say things these days sure are going a lot slower then I am use to! From taking 50000 years to get out the door in the morning with all the kids to being able to fit in a swim, bike or walk. Man! if only I had realized before I had my third kid how much 'free time' I really did have I would have enjoyed it more! LOL!....it's all about perspective eh! So before, getting in 4-6 workouts/training sessions a weeks was no issue. I would wake up early or go in the evenings or if I only had a short amount of time I would just do a short hard workout. Well now I am unable to do that. With the baby up once a night to eat an early morning just isn't working for me now and having the kids all day I am wiped out and in bed at 7pm most nights. I also am not able to do a 'hard' workout in a short time as my body won't allow that right now....so what's a Mama to do?!!.....well just get MORE creative...us Mama's are good at that :D......I find I have to MOVE (workout or train) for a day or two then REST while my body RECOVERS and then REPEAT. So that means I have a few days of down time and I am not use to that, but I have to listen to my body (even when my mind is begging me to do more) I just can't take the chance! I have three awesome little boys I have to be able to keep up with for years to come. So this year is an important one! I have to build a strong body again....but do it SMART!! So my creative ways involve swimming circles around my Moms pool while the kids splash and play and sticking to 20min of biking around my streets....

which by the way I finally did on my new bike!!! and all I have to say about that new bike and it's awesome gears is that it's SWEET ASS!!!!!! LOL!!! OMG! I love it and I am really excited about getting back to my normal one day because I got plans for that bike! We are going to go places!! I even called Scott after I did my first ride on it to let him know just how sweet ass I thought it was LOL!....

of course the first thing I did before I got on the bike was take my pink ribbon that represents Meredith and put it on my new bike...I wasn't going to go without her. So I continue on as I move, rest, recover....repeat. I hope you are living in YOUR Awesome today!

My time....A tip!

So a little tip I have learned along the way as I have tried to fit in exercise and family. When I go for a walk/run on my own, I am sure to stay outside of the house while I do my stretches. I use to stop on the front lawn and do them before I went into the house, cause I found that as soon as I stepped in the house my kids would be on me about stuff and I would forget to stretch....however the kids now have caught onto this and come outside as soon as they see me! LOL! and I have noticed that with the nicer weather the neighbours are all sitting on their front porches....watching me! LOL!....so now I hide...oh I mean stop on the back path by my house and stretch just to make sure I get it in. I was proved right today as I came back from my walk and had stretched already... I was making my after workout smoothie and as soon as I hit the button on the smoothie maker my 4yr ran into the kitchen saying, "Can I have a smoothie too Mommy!??"...."Sure buddy!", so I wiped out all our reusable smoothie cups and made one for the 2 big kids, my hubby and me....a mothers work is never done LOL!

An obstacle is.......

An obstacle is what you see when you take your eyes off the goal :) I was thinking about this on my walk today. I feed the baby and put him down for a nap then checked in with hubby who was home to let him know that I was going for my walk and he was in charge of the three boys. So I set off with a goal in mind. To get in motion, and with the sun shining I knew that it was going to be awesome.....as I set off walking I cut thru a forest by my house. I try to walk/exercise in nature as much as I can cause I just feel that it gives me that extra boost. I had just entered the forest when up ahead I see a full tree had fallen across the path. I figured this was kinda funny, "Huh a tree is in my way" I thought. This is when I thought about obstacles being what you see when you take your eye off goal. So my goal that day was to get moving, get sweat, get some sun and live in my awesome. So I stopped at the tree and did standing push ups on it!! LOL!!....how smart is THAT!! I then ducked under it and kept going with a smile. That tree changed my whole walk! Now as I walked across the bridge I stopped and did some more standing push ups into a T reach....sweet now I'm getting an arm workout too!! In the end I walked about 5k, got sweaty, got some sun and felt awesome!!!! Goal accomplished!...no tree is going to stop me! LOL!! I hope you are living in your awesome today too!