A Van Awesome Journey

WTK!!!! - Recipe'o the month!

2012-01-30T13:10:00.001-08:00

WHAT THE KALE!!?? LOL!

Ok so last year I tried out Thankful Thurs...this year I am going to do 'Recipe'o the month'. I LOVE looking through health magazines or healthy cooking books and looking for new, healthy, tasty food...cause I still DO love to eat :P

When I do the first 6 week sessions with a new client I bring new recipes to them as well BUT I am also trying new ones along the way and sometimes my clients share new recipes they have come across....so let's share the love!!!

Now I do have a few 'rules' that I have involving new recipes....mostly if it has an ingredient that I have no idea what it is or where to find it..it's out! Now I have on occasion 'googled' the item to learn about it and see if I could find a place that I am able to get it....but most of the time I don't have time for that.

Ok so a client gave me a recipe for warm Kale salad she said it was really easy to make, tasted great and even hubby liked it. Plus I have heard that Kale is SO good for you.......but just never knew what to do with it.......so she e-mailed me the recipe and I bought the Kale.......

....now I do remember another friend on Facebook saying that she had made some Kale chips....so I asked her for the recipe. That one was SO easy and had 3 ingredients ...so that's the one I tried....don't worry Heather I will try yours next time. ;)

So here you go~ Kale chips:

One bunch of Kale
Olive Oil
Sea salt

Ripe off all the leaves of the Kale and put them in a bowl, drizzle a bit of oil over them and pour in your hand a bit of sea salt (not too much) sprinkle over the Kale. Now mix it all with your hands and wilt the Kale a bit....it will turn a dark green.

Lay out the leaves on a flat pan, do not layer. Bake on 200 for 30min

* FYI in this picture is about less then half of what I made. I was eating it so fast and realized I should take a picture for the blog! LOL*

They are really good. My kids even tried them and said it tasted like popcorn!! I ate the first batch to myself LOL!!!!

SO easy! So yummy!....enjoy!

Please feel free to send my any recipes that you think are awesome, yummy AND healthy. I'll be looking all year long for a recipe each month. Send it to livelovelaugh3@hotmail.com with the subject 'Try my food!'

Looking forward to see what comes from this new challenge :P

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
*ove
*augh!
*******

It's sign up season!

2012-01-24T06:01:00.000-08:00

Ok so at the start of the year I have a look at what races we are going to do this year and check to make sure the dates don't conflict, budget for them and am sure to sign up for them in time to get the 'gift' they give away for the early bird sign ups and to pay the lowest price :)

Now with my races AND my 5yrs races AND the team races hubby is doing with me, it needs to be planned out. My new goal this year is to do two Triathlons...one at the start of the summer and one at the end. The only thing I am worried about with that is that the first Tri of the season is a co-ed one and I haven't done a Tri with men before (little worried about getting pummelled in the water! ) AND I don't have a wet suit brrrrrrr! :Z

So here are the races I have set out for us so far...I attached the links in case YOU want to sign up and I'll see you out there!!! :-D

The race that kicks off the race season for our family is:

April 6- Good Friday race ( kids bunny hop 1K & I do the 5K) AND!!!!! my 3yr is signed up to do the bunny hop too!...it's his first race! OMG! OMG!!! SO exciting! :-D And we dress up with our bunny ears and tail :)

June 2 - Moon in June (this is the first race we ever did back in 2010. We will all run the 1K and then I will run the 10k after)
June 24 - Kids Triathlon (my 5yr will do this)

July 21- Warrior Dash (Hubby and I will be doing this together, it's the first time for both of us!)
July 28- THE NEXT WEEKEND!!!! 4hr RockStar Adventure race!! (this will be hubby and I as team 'VanAwesome'. Our 2nd year)

Sept 2- Woman's Triathlon (will be training through the summer with Mommy's/Babe's in Motion for this)
Sept 23 - Island Girl race (this is the race I will do my Half Marathon in)

Oct 12- Trek or Treat (this is the race that ends the race season for our family (the family does the 'Creepy Mile' with our costumes on, then I run the 5k OR 10k after) really fun night race :)

'Live in YOUR Awesome!!'

*ive
*ove
*augh!
********

I think I AM a 'runner'

2012-01-19T09:48:00.001-08:00

One time I had someone say to me, " Are you a runner? You look like a runner"....my first thought was... REALLY!! I look like a runner!!! :-O

My response was, " Well...ahhhh...I run, but I don't think I am a 'runner' " I guess I wasn't willing to commit at that point yet! LOL!

Well these days I find me self noticing other people who are out running. And during the holiday season I wasn't able to get out for a run because of my knee causing me issue but mostly because there was just NO time (we do 4 Christmas's in 3 days!)....but as we would be driving to the house where each Christmas was at I would see people out running and think how lucky they are and how I wish I could be doing that too.....OR seeing some of my friends posting on Facebook about their Christmas day run (it was such a nice sunny day that day too) or about their first run of the year and I would wish I had gone out too...

...so I have been getting treatment on my knee and I was told to go for 2 runs before the next time I got treatment again to see how everything was going...

So I did yesterday morning, in the freezing wind and snow...but also sunny! And I LOVED it!!! My fav part was when there was no wind and I was in the sun, my least fav part was when I was running up hill, into the wind in the shade..brrrr! LOL!!!.....but still there was something in me that loved it and felt good and strong mentally and physically for getting through a run in those conditions.....it was at that point where a little voice inside of me said, "Uh Gail...I think you're a runner!"

So if you are out running and a car passes you with a woman's face planted against the window, watching you with envy...that's ME!!! LOL!!!

So here goes.......Hi! I am Gail Van Awesome and I AM a runner!! 8-D

"Live in YOUR Awesome!!'

*live
*ove
*augh
******

As they say on Twitter.... #FAIL

2012-01-15T10:31:00.000-08:00

Ok so how did the cleanse go? FAIL!!! LOL!!

Ok so it's really too bad cause this came at a bad time for me. I have been having some MAJOR withdrawal from some meds I went off and been having a hard time keeping down normal food never mind these juices. I thought it would be ok and that I could just drink them and be fine but ....NO!!!

So I just want to say that this is only my experience and nothing against the Raw Raw company, cause from what I hear the other girls where enjoying it.

However after trying some sips from the first juice of the day on Wed and then doing a big gulp and then moving the pots out of the sink fast enough so that I could throw it up, I knew this wasn't going to work :z...I did however try the next one of the day but it was one with beets in it and although it smelled better then the first, it had chunks of beets in it and I just couldn't do it. I tried 3 times to drink it and my body/mind was like nooooooooo!

So now I have over $100 worth of product sitting in my fridge! What do I do?.....well at dinner that night I said to my husband..."You want to do a juice cleanse?!" LOL!!!

So for the next 3 days he did it.....for real this guy is my hero. I text him the first day to see how it was going. Some of the texts I got back were as follows....

"That beet one is like drinking something off of Fear factor!"

" I can see how the the spicy one will really clean out your colon"

"You owe me big time for this!"

LOL! LOL! LOL!....for real my hero!! I told him I would get or make him ANY food he wanted when he was done :-)

Now on the plus side he did say that he liked the feeling of his stomach not being full and bloated all the time and that made him want to be sure not to eat too much or bad foods. I also noticed a change in his energy level too...now I'm pretty high energy and on the go a lot and at one point I found myself saying to HIM, " Whoa just slow down a min!" LOL!!! WOW! THAT'S a change!!

So ok I learned my lesson...no more strange food or juice things for me I just can't handle it. There's only so far that I am willing to go with the ruffage :)

I just asked my husband if there was anything he would like to add to this blog he said, " The journey was ruff but the end result was worth it!"

So there you go hubby just put the awesome in Van Awesome!

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
*ove
*augh
*******

Raw Raw for the New Year!!

2012-01-10T17:17:00.000-08:00

Ok SO it's 2012 now...WOW I can now say I've been at this for over 2yrs!

My first new thing I am trying is this Raw Raw Juice Cleanse. I have never done one before and never could have before.....That means that I always knew that there was no way I could do something that involved limiting my food intake cause I would fail. That's why I never tried Weight Watchers or anything....I just knew it wasn't in me to be different yet.

However now I am use to proper amounts of food and healthy food to boot AND I like it :)

So the Phat Chicks put out a challenge for the group of us to do the cleanse together....so challenge accepted!!! :-D

I did read up on it first to see what the deal'o is and I was impressed that it's ALL natural, they even make it for you the day before you start and it only will last 4 days since the juice is 'live' (the cleanse is 3 days) and you have 6 juices a day.

The names of the juices are:
Clean greens
Ginger Berry
Cool Melon
Citrus Spice
Maple Almond milk

So I'm not doing this for weight loss (although I will be weighting myself tonight and at the end just to see if their was a difference) but I'm doing it to jump start more healthy eating. I find that healthy eating and exercise encourage each other. So I just want to infuse my body with good healthy stuff :)

So here goes....I'll let you know how it goes!!

Happy b-day to Bring out YOUR Awesome!!!!

2011-11-15T05:29:00.000-08:00

So last Nov (2010) is when I went out to do my first client visit!!! and I have been having so much fun and enjoying myself it only occurred to me the other day that it has now been a year!!! WOW!!!! Time flies when you are having fun and kicking butt.

I have learned a lot of things along the way as other people have let me be apart of their journey to health. I have laughed with them, cried with them and even sweated it out with them and of course it has been AWESOME!!!

An very awesome friend started a new job the other day and I texted her to see how it was going. She replied back that it was great and that she was going home with a smile on her face, "Who does that? leaves work with a smile on their face" is what she texted....and right away I thought "I DO!".........after every clients visit I have always left feeling better then when I went and smiling.

Just want to say a BIG thank you to all my clients who have allowed me to be apart of their journey, family and friends that have stuck around and supported me through all this and for everyone that has passed on my name when someone asks them if they know someone that can help them live a healthier lifestyle and feel awesome.

SO grateful that I have been able to live in my awesome all year long!!!

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
*ove
*augh
******

So I put the 100lbs back on!!!! :O

2011-11-02T11:23:00.000-07:00

So now that training session is over and I don't have any more races set until the new year, I've now been able to join the girls at Phat Chicks!!! WOOOO HOOO!!!!

Now Suzie does this awesome workout where she brings in weighted vests that are 20lbs each and we have to do the workout wearing them!! :Z

It reminded me of how on The Biggest Loser they always do a challenge where the contestants have to put the weight that they lost back on. So I said to Suzie I want to put the weight back on!

So I piled on 5 vests....as I put on each vest I could feel my heat rate starting to go up and I could feel the weight in my feet (SO heavy!) I also was starting to sweat and I was just standing there!...it reminded me how I use to sweat when I ate or if I was talking and getting excited about stuff I would sweat too..

One of the other girls there said they don't know how the people on the Biggest Loser do it!, " Well Gail did it!" Said Suzie...everyone turned to look at me and I said , " Yes I did! But you don't realize what's happening to you and how hard things are to do, and if it's hard then you just stop doing it...and then you stop doing that....and then you stop going there..." WOW!! It kind of hit me with how much stuff I didn't do back then!! HUH!

Putting the weight back on made me think of an awesome challenge and I thought about it all class.....in the spring when our workouts at Phat Fit are back outside I'm going to raise money for the Meredith Hagan Foundation by doing a workout with all 5 vests on!! The 100lbs I lost!!!!!....when I told Suzie about this idea she loved it...then she said, " You're really going to do a full class with them all on?!"..............

LOL!!! The answer is YES!! I will! It may not look like the workouts I do today but I will commit to keep moving...after all that's what got me to where I am today even when I still had on those 100lbs.

SO excited...and a little nervous about this challenge and a little emotional thinking about it. Stay tuned in months to come on how you can get involved, help out and be part of this challenge too!! WOOOOOO HOOOO!!!!

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
*ove
*augh
*******

I did it!!!!!

2011-10-18T13:09:00.000-07:00

Ok so I did it!! and YES I RAN THE WHOLE WAY and it took me 2hr and 16min!

So the getting down there was ok. I took the train at 7:17am and I didn't buy my ticket the day before which I learned I should have cause when I went to buy my ticket the booths were closed!!EEEKKKK! Another person told me I could buy them from the machine but I only had cash on me....Oh man I was freaking trying to figure out what to do. Clearly I HAD to get on the train. So although the ride down was awesome and I got to see a beautiful sunrise I couldn't enjoy it....

I kept looking for the train guy to come check tickets and I was SO scared that I was going to get caught. At one point a girl with the GO train logo on her jacket came down the stairs and walked by and I almost threw-up. I kept thinking how people were going to ask how the race was and I would have to say, " I don't know I was in jail!!!'.........but I got down their ok and bought a proper two way ticket at Union, because that was the right thing to do :)

So I walk up the street to the start line and check my bag and find the purple coral that I was starting in. I realize after that for the first time I wasn't thinking, "OMG!! what are you doing!?"...."How did you get here!?"..." What are you doing!?"..."This is crazy!"....instead I felt right at home and was confident that I knew what I was doing :-D

There was 2200 runners!!! and it took me 11min to cross the start line. Good thing I started my own watch so I knew what my real time was (they start the clock as soon as they blow the horn)

It was pretty crowed to start with and I just keep at a steady pace passing people when there was a gap.In a way this was good because it made sure that I wasn't going too hard to start....the first 5k went really fast and I can't even believe that I am able to say, " The first 5k went great" It reminds me of my first 5k race, the Moon in June in 2010 where I was just dying at the end to finish that!!!

So with the music in my ear and all the other people to watch along the way and the crowed with signs, I was pretty distracted from the pain....and for me the pain starts at about the 7k mark. My hip flexors start to hurt and the quads start to get tired...but then at the 10k mark it kind of goes away....or I just get use to it.....

......however at the 15k mark the pain comes back...deeper....harder...and in more places...and it doesn't go away! :S Oh man my butt and mean ALL of my butt..from the bottom to the top was starting to hurt, my knees were starting to get sore and so where me feet.

So now I'm coming up to the 18k mark and I have to pee....in fact I'm starting to pee myself a lil bit already! (just being honest!)....so I decide at the next and last water station that is coming up I'm going to stop and pee cause it's really uncomfortable trying to hold it in and I want to be able to go full tilt at the end and not piss myself everywhere!

So seeing that there is no line up at the port-a-potty I run into one.....ok didn't really think this through well....my legs can hardly hold me up and there's piss ALL over the seat...so hover right! Well the legs say NO! and I start tipping over to the right and I put my hand down to catch myself then realize I have my hand on the edge of the mens urinal thingy!! GAG! GAG! GAG!!!....So instead I hold the door handle and lean back as best I could and pee. All the time I'm saying to myself, "OMG!! Gail just pee and go, just pee and get out of here!"...this all took probable about 30sec LOL!!!

So off I go once again to finish what I had started...now 3k is a run from my house down to the lake...that's what I kept saying to myself. Also what helped me to stay running is thinking about this week and how all my friends, family and clients will be asking me how I did and me responding with, "YES!!!!! I ran the whole way!" I must have envisioned that like a 1000 times on that last stretch, OH man!

Now running into the finish was good....if only if wasn't a steady UP HILL!!!! It would have been even better....but it is what it is. I thought that I would cry at the end, but instead I couldn't stop smiling and truly It hadn't set in what I just did.......when I got to my hubby and kids the first thing I said to my husband was, " I RAN THE WHOLE WAY!!!!!!"

It was SO great to have my Dad, hubby and kids there with me at the end. I even said to the kids on the way back on the train, " Thank you guys for coming to my race. It was the longest one I have ever done and it really ment a lot that you came".....my 5yrs response was, " You're welcome Mommy!" my 2yrs response, " Mommy race!?...go mommy go!" LOL!!!!....ok so now here comes the tears!

So yesterday my legs were SO sore even my toe nails were sore...and I'm not trying to be funny they really were sore from all the rubbing in my shoe. Today is not as bad....but I wear the pain with pride!

....and it's still sinking in, what I did......wholly shit I ran a HALF MARATHON!!!!!...2yrs ago if anyone had told me I would have done that there's NO way I ever would have believed them!

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
*ove
*augh
*******

Check list....

2011-10-15T11:38:00.000-07:00

Went down to T.O to get my bib and timing chip with the help of my father and two kids in tow.....CHECK!!

Wrote on the wall of people doing the race in T.O this weekend......CHECK!

Filled out the emergency information on the back of my bib number incase anything happens to me during the race.....CHECK (better to be save then sorry!)

Bought a new sparkly head band for the race....CHECK!!! ( A must!)

Drove part of the route that I will be running tomorrow, along Lakeshore.....CHECK!

Getting pumped for the race and the experience......CHECK!

......ooooo good thing I'm doing this check list I just remembered that I have to pack my Advil....hold on....................

Ok packed my Advil....CHECK!

Filled up all my bottles with Shaklee Performance sport drink for the race to have on my fuel belt.....CHECK!

Have my recovery drink from Shaklee ready and mixed.....CHECK! mmmmm banana flavour! :P

Packed a bag of snacks and lunch for the kids for hubby to bring....CHECK!

Packed all the diapers, wipes, extra pants, coats for the kids........CHECK!

Pack MY bag with all the extra clothes and food I'll need....CHECK!

Doing all the laundry today as I won't be able to walk up and down the stairs for the week......CHECK!

Have my pasta dinner ready to eat tonight in order to 'carb load' for the race.....CHECK!

Drinking TONS of water to hydrate today....CHECK!

Gone to the bathroom 5 million times today due to all the water I'm drinking,....CHECK! (In fact I'm trying to hold my pee while I write this blog :S )

Checked the hourly weather forecast for tomorrow.........CHECK! 10 and sunny! SWEET!!..........

Is ready to 'Live in MY awesome!'......CHECK!!!

Now even MORE pumped for this race!!!!............CHECK!!!!!

WOOOOOOO HOOOOOOO!!!!

Hope I got it all :)....ok I got'a pee now :S LOL!

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
*ove
*augh
*******

Because I half to....

2011-10-11T20:12:00.000-07:00

....ok that's me trying to be funny with that title :)

Can you guess another blog about my half marathon that I am doing this Sun. Well it's a big race...well my Triathlon I did in Sept was a big race for me too I just didn't know it going into it.

So it's been an interesting experience for me training for this. First of all I have to run and run and run......so this started to become a problem because I started getting board with just only doing that. Also I ran into times where it was hard to go out to run. Like one Fri night my hubby was working late and now that it's dark so early I can't run, I don't like to run in the dark. So I was stuck at home with the kids. So normally this wouldn't be a problem, I would have just put them to bed and done a workout in front of the TV while catching up on all my taped shows from the week.......but I couldn't do that because I HAD to run. So I did the best I could and had my 4yr ride his bike and had to push the 2yr in the jogging stroller while I ran 5k....now I did need to go a further distance then that but that was the best that I could do that night. Plus I had 4 days where I didn't get anything but a core and arms workout in because hubby was away on a business trip....so I kind of was feeling that I lost a week of training. But then that Sat I ran my 15.5K and felt awesome doing it...so I guess it's all worked out in the end.

So I've done the best with what I was able to do and that's all I can really ask. Race day preps are starting this week and I am just going to do an easy 5K on Fri, plus I'm looking at the train times and maps of T.O so I can understand where to go when I get downtown and also the route that the race will take so that I can prepare mentally as best as I can......really looking forward to seeing my husband, sons and Dad at that finish line :-).....and if once I pass the finish line that means that it is DONE!!!! WOOO HOOO!!!!

Just wanted to share this quote that was in one of the pre-race newsletter that I was sent...

What is a Marathon?
A marathon is a race
without race.
Without color.
Without religion.
Without sex.
Without prejudice.
Without nationality.
Without hate.
A marathon is a race
where everyone starts
as an equal,
and everyone finishes
as a winner.
- Ad by John Hancock Co. at the Boston Marathon

Looking forward to finishing a winner! :)

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
*ove
*augh
*******

Making the distance

2011-10-03T05:57:00.000-07:00

Ok so hubby was away last week for work. The first time since we have had both kids....gesh! Let me tell you I have A LOT of respect for single parent households even MORE now!!!...So I only got in a 1hr workout while I watched TV one evening, but I didn't get in a run or my long run and race day for my first half marathon is in 2 weeks!!! eekk!

So I was getting worried and once hubby was home I went for a run on the Sat afternoon, it was nice and cool, breezy and sunny perfect! So I was thinking this was not going to be a good run because I did my race on Sun and then hadn't run all week!

But I was sailing and feeling awesome!! I started off on a route that was going to be 13k that's the farthest that I have run so far ( I ran that 2 weeks ago too) when I hit my first 5k mark I was at 30min which when it's not race day is a good time for me. So I was feeling good!

Now always around the 8k mark my hip flexor's and butt are like, "AHHH hellooooooo WTF!" LOL!! But I keep moving. As I was coming back to my house I just felt like getting in one more 1k and having a new farthest distance.....the race IS only in 2 weeks! So I cut across a path behind my house and went in and out of some streets. Then my RunKeeper App told me I was at 14k I thought lets get in ONE more 1k!!!!....what the hell was going on?! I have NEVER made my route longer then I planned....I have made it shorter....but I guess I was in a grove and going with it! So I keep weaving in and out of the streets by my house...my neighbours must have wondered what the heck I was doing! LOL!

So I said to myself that once RunKepper says I hit 15k I can stop and walk.....OH!! did I mention that I hadn't stopped to walk yet!!! :O

But it told me that I hit 15k just as I was running down the street past all the stores and the window to the gym. So I was like ok NO I'm not going to walk by...so I keep running, then I turned the corner to go up my street and I always say, "Let the neighbours see you leave running and coming back running what ever happens in between is my business!" LOL!....

....so I kept running!!!! As I got to my house I feel on the front lawn and almost started crying because for the first time I felt good about my half marathon and knew that I could run the whole 21.5k WOOOOO HOOOO!!!!!

So today...I can't frigg'n walk!! LOL!!! Oh man my quads are so sore and I wear it with pride!...I am SO pumped for my race on the 16th now and really looking forward to having my husband, kids and Dad waiting for me at the finish line. And I just have this vision of when I'm done crying in my husbands arms and saying, " I did it!!! I ran the WHOLE way!!" :-D

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
*ove
*augh
*******

The Island Girl race......AWESOME!!!!!!

2011-09-25T12:12:00.000-07:00

So I did the Island girl race today and it was AWESOME!!!!! I did the half marathon relay with a girlfriend Steph who has gotten into running herself. So we each ran 10.5k....so to date this is the longest race that I have done.

Now I have been having issues these days with negative thinking while running and REALLY not liking it!! Especially since I have to do a lot of running these days to train for the half marathon that I will be doing in Oct. I was talking to the 'big guy' (God) the other day about this problem and clear as a bell a I just heard a voice say, "Run with me!'.....I thought, "Huh! run with God eh! " Guess I don't have to do it alone if I don't want to.

So Steph went out first so I had sometime to hang out for a bit. The race was on T.O island and I went and sat on the beach and looked out at the lake (it was a beautiful day!! Sunny but with a nice wind) and I did a little praying again.....what came out of it was a few tears and plea from me to the 'big guy'....." I don't care about doing good! I just want to FEEL good!".......

So the run was AWESOME!!!! The warm up of the first 3-4k wasn't so bad as I just started the run with a chillaxed attitude of, "What a beautiful day!...let's go for a run!"......when I got to the 6k mark the route was right beside the water all down the board walk. You couldn't ask for anything better!! The sun was shinning off the water, there was a great breeze and the view of T.O was breath taking........That part of the run saved my butt!!! I was sailing along faster then I thought I could...I even was passing people!!! Now normally in a race I pass people at the start but then later get passed by everyone!!! But this time, I was never mind catching up to people and passing them, but I stayed past them!!!! They never caught up!!?!?!? OMG!!! When I hit the 10k mark my time was at 56min!!! That beat my last best time on a 10k of 60min! I was pumped and feeling good!

Before the race started Steph said to me that she would meet me just before the finish line and run in with me.....I got a little teary eyed I never had that before I had always crossed the finish line by myself.

We hope our finish line picture turns out well and I will post it once they send it out.

I have to say, this was JUST what I needed!!! I feel great...great about my running, great seeing other woman out there and giving me hope today who were running the full half marathon on their own and confident in my abilities with what I am doing and what I will be doing.....just what I needed :-))))))

P.S. Check out all the awesome free stuff we got in our kit! If anyone is thinking of doing a race I HIGHLY recommend this one!!! Because it's all woman it's SO friendly and the route is flat and so nice.....I'll be out there next year doing the full half marathon :-O

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
*ove
*augh
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Janet's then & now-----> check this girl out!!!!

2011-09-21T15:35:00.000-07:00

So I had to share this! Janet has given me permission to show her pic of her then and now. She is a client that I started working with at the start of the summer. So with a mixture of getting her butt kicked by me and doing a running clinic, working out on her own and checking out a bootcamp not only has Janet's looks changed but so has her attitude and self confidence!!

Way to live in your awesome Janet!!!!

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
*ove
*augh
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Half way thru the challenge!!!

2011-09-15T09:39:00.000-07:00

I realized that it was the 15th!!! We are half way through our 30 day challenge...how is everyone doing?
I have remembered everyday to take my vitamins I have them lined up and ready to go in a bowl by my phone cause that is where it will remind me every morning. As the kids are eating I check my phone for work e-mails...it's worked out great!! I even order a bunch more vitamins that I should be taking from Shaklee. I was brought up on this stuff and it has been around for over 30yrs in Canada and even longer in the States. Plus my Dad sells it and is able to tell me all the right stuff to take. If you check out his website and have any questions or want to order something just let me know and I will order it for you at my cost and not the marked up cost....but shhhh don't tell my Dad! LOL! And on a plus side I have also been remembering to give my kids their Shaklee vitamins too!!

So the 30min quit 'me time'... one day I missed it and I am pretty impressed that it has only been one day! I have had 'me time' in the form of, doing my nails, reading the paper rather then just opening it and grabbing the flyers, reading in the afternoon, having a nap (that's my fav) even sitting down to dinner on my own and reading a magazine...instead of gobbling up my food and moving on. It was nice to just stop and enjoy for a moment :) I find it's now become part of my day and I find myself asking "what am I going to do for 'me time' today?"

'Live in YOUR Awesome'

*ive
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What happens when the music dies....

2011-09-14T11:22:00.000-07:00

So I went out on my long run today to train for my half marathon in Oct. I ran 12.88k and my music crapped put on me at 9.5k...sucks....as I didn't want to stop and fix it or see what was wrong cause really I just wanted to get the F home at that point! :S

So now I'm running with just me and my brain...not so good! Now I don't know about you but I am able to have like 5 different conversations in my head at once. So voice #1 was listening as voice #2 and voice #3 had a talk that went like this:

V2: Crap this is hard!....why do I do things that are SO hard!?

V3: because its a good challenge and it makes you fell good once you are done it

V2: But you just did the Triathlon and that was hard already and now this half marathon!....it's too many hard things all at once! You shouldn't do this marathon you need more time in between......

V3: And that's why I signed up and paid at the start of the year so that I couldn't back out!

V2: BUT IT'S HARD!!!!

V3: Yes it is hard, but I set a goal and I'm going to stick to it and finish it

V2: So your going to do the half marathon then!?

V3: YUP!

V2: crap

LOL!!!! Ok so I NEED to get my music fixed ASAP!!! LOL!!!....also something new I tried today was wearing a water belt. Now that I am going further I NEED water cause the gum is just not cutting it. So check me out ready to go out for my run this morning with my new fancy-smancy water belt on :) And YES my hair band matches my coat! :-) I LOVE being all matchy-matchy!

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
*ove
*augh!
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Certified!!!

2011-09-09T05:14:00.000-07:00

Well this has been a big week for me! Two really hard things I have done came to an end :)

First was the race and second was getting my Personal Trainer Certificate!!!!!.....I was waiting for like 2 weeks to hear if I passed my last test I had to do in the gym. I was thinking they would send me an e-mail but after 5 days I realized it would be coming by snail mail :s

So on Tues night as I was heading out to the Mommy's/Babe's in Motion after race get together, I realized I hadn't checked the mail that day. As I pulled the mail out of the box I saw the big white envelope and the CPTN sign....OMG! OMG!!! It came!...it felt like there was a lot of stuff in it and I thought, " Oh great I failed and they sent me the book to re-study" LOL!!!.....but I quickly opened it and looked for the letter....as soon as I saw Congratulations I started crying my eyes out!! " OH my god I did it!....this has been a big week of hard scary things for me....and I did it!!...Thank you God!"

I called my husband right away to tell him through the tears that I did it!....I then had to fix up my make-up and drive to meet the team and share the good news with Coach Nancy!

This is just SO awesome for me as I have in the past had a history of starting off something with a bang but as it started to get hard and not as much fun as it is work....I tend to peter out and not finish. But this was a passion that I had. In fact it was last summer that I said to my Phat Chick trainer I was going to get my Personal Trainer Certificate just for my own knowledge....it just turned out that I ended up starting a business were having this came in handy too.

I'm just really excited about the doors that this opens for me now and REALLY looking forward to all the learning thats still ahead! :-)

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

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The video!!

2011-09-07T06:59:00.000-07:00

Ok folks here is the video from the Mommy's/Babe's in Motion team. It shows us training all through the summer every Tues night and our race that was on the long weekend :)

Tri Tri again!

2011-09-04T21:23:00.000-07:00

Ok so today was the Sprint Triathlon that I have been training all summer for with Mommy's/Babes in Motion :) (670m swim, 20k bike, 5k run)

It's double the distance I did last year and for some reason I wasn't very nervous about it...I was pretty calm...in fact too calm! LOL! I was so busy taking pictures and video for our video I'm making and talking to another first timer that I almost missed my wave going out! I noticed a lot of purple caps in the water and I was purple. When I went to check I was told "You need to be in the water NOW!!" and they were on the 30sec count down.....so no chance to get nervous or care if the water was cold or not.....3..2...1...GO!!!! OH OK! :S

So the swim felt great and even though I was being passed by some people who started in the wave behind me I didn't care. Hopped out onto the bike and for the first 20min the energy chew I took sat like a rock in my stomach :S....but after that I was ok....LOVED the down hill coming back and of course let out a big, "YAAAAAAA HOOOOOO!!!" and also every time I saw another red shirt of a teammate we gave out a holla!!! It was great we were hooting and holla-ing to each other all through the race course :)

Now when I came in from off the bike Oh BOY!!! my quads were like, "OK I'm done!" This is the 'brick' part of the race. As I was getting ready I couldn't help but dread the VERY hilly run ahead. As I stood up from tying my shoes I just had this split second moment were I wanted to bend down and cry....but instead I started out on the run course.....ok around the first loop...I stopped and walked where I needed to and didn't care...I was going to finish this sucker running, walking or crawling. I really don't know how I got through it without listening to any music, but I did the hilly loop twice for my 5k....I am sure it was seeing all the other Mommy's in Motion girls out there pushing themselves too that kept me going.....

I finished sprinting faster then I planned cause Coach Nancy was running beside me saying/yelling, "COME ON GAIL UNLEASH THE FIRE!!!!!!....pass that girl in front of you....ok now lets go get another one!!!!" LOL!!!!....When I was done I thought I was going to throw-up and I was seeing spots...so I sat down not even caring where me family was.....my 4yrs found me and ran up to me with a big hug saying, " Mommy you were the fastest!!!" I replied with, " Thanks buddy, but I wasn't the fastest and that was ok because it was really hard and I did my very best and I am happy with that....and look they gave me a medal cause I had so much fun"

Ok so I must say...That was fucking hard!!!! I think the hardest thing I have done so far...I was totally not prepared for that and I am very proud of myself cause I was pushed way outside my comfort zone and I still kept moving. Last year the race I felt was a cake walk so whenever anyone heard I did a Triathlon and said, "Oh wow that's really great" I kind of just surged it off as no biggy.... BUT now when people say, " Oh wow good for you" I will reply with, " Yes thank you!!!!" I earned that baby!!!

Hardest thing to date..........

Also the video will be posted in a few days stayed tuned :)

'Live in YOUR Awesome'

*ive
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No pictures please!

2011-09-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

So today I experienced a first. We got family pictures done from J9 Photography. So getting the pictures done was not the first time but how I felt doing it was new to me. I was excited and looking forward to it!

The first client I ever had for my business 'Bring out YOUR Awesome' I remember her saying when we were talking about her goals, "I know this sounds funny but I want to get family pictures done"..... I totally understood what she was talking about.

When your big pictures are NOT fun! Trying to hide behind everyone or trying to suck in your huge gut while looking like your NOT sucking in your huge gut. Or placing the children on my lap to cover the stomach and large thighs....yup these and other stuff are all the things that run through your head when your big.....then later looking at the pictures and always being disappointed how everyone looks great...but me, OR how my body takes up half the picture :(....not fun.

So last week when I booked our shot I was so excited and looking forward to it :)....I figured that I would need to wake up 1/2hr sooner because I would have to go through a few different outfits....which is what I had to do before....but this time I stood looking at my closet and thought, " I want something comfortable and summery"......so I grabbed my blue dress and that was it!....while we were taking pictures I wasn't worried about hiding behind the kids or if I was in front or not.....MY GOD!!! It was great! I'm comfortable with how I look and feel. What freedom! :).....I almost started getting teary eyed as I told the photographer about how picture before were SO horrible and how great I feel today.

Thanks J9 Photography for giving me another first!

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

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Day 1 here I come!!

2011-08-31T20:09:00.000-07:00

Ok so this is SO awesome and SO fun. If anything I have learned on this journey it is better to have company! :)

That's why I put this challenge out there to you all and added in a little bonus of a prize ;)

So I keep thinking of how I decided to do 30min a day of "me" time....this does NOT include exercise time, TV time OR my normal reading I do before bed at night!....It does include such things as going for a walk, having a nap, sun tanning, reading (beside my normal reading time) journalling (something I NEVER do by the way) or meditating, plus any other ideas I can come up with...if you have any PLEASE let me know!!!.....whew...OK! I was thinking last night, " AH fuck! why did I pick 30min!!!! why not 20min or less!!! How the hell am I going to fit that in!!!"......but I stick to what I say and 30min was the first commitment I made and I won't back down.

I was also looking for something else and I decided to steal Judy Ricky's idea of taking her vitamins everyday for 30 days. This is a good one for me as it was this time last year I got SO sick I was on IV for 2 day! ECK!......So I realize with all the training I do plus my son going back to school and bringing home all those cooties....well my body can only take so much....

.......so ok Day 1...which starts tomorrow! THANK GOD....oh wait that's only 40min away.....oh crap why did I pick 30min! you know how much stuff I have to do tomorrow!!!

Can't wait to hear about everyone else's journey on the fan page :)

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

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It's only 30 days! :)

2011-08-30T06:24:00.000-07:00

Ok it's time for a challenge :)

My Phat chick trainer posted this video on her Facebook wall and I thought it was AWESOME!!!...then it gave me an idea to not only put the challenge out to you all to do it but have a prize at the end :-)

So perfect timing Sept starts on Thurs and it has 30 days in it!!! So that gives you a day and a half to think about what it's going to be that you want to try. Remember what the guy in the video says small changes are good too.

"So what is the prize?!!!" you ask? Ok so first of all this challenge is for Burlington, Oakville, Milton area people only because the prize is a $20.00 gift card to Beautiful Mama Spa and it's in Burlington. Not that others outside the area can't join in the fun too but just wanted to let you know that the prize is in the local area that I live.

"So what do we have to do?!!!"
Ok so post fan page what your 30 day 'thing' is that you will be doing. Then during the 30 days keep us updated on how it's going by posting on the fan page. Each post you do gives you an entry to the prize. The more the updates the higher the chances you will have to win :)

SO excited to see what everyone is going to come up with. I have decided that I will take 30mins a day for 'quite time for me'.....gulp, 30min is a long time and I thought of changing it to 20min even but thought I'd stick with the number 30 :-)I'm not saying that this is what I will do for the rest of my life, but I'm willing to do it for these 30 days........also, I want to add in something else but don't know what yet....maybe once you all start posting it will give me some ideas........good luck and have fun!

Don't forget to watch the video to get inspired.....remember it's only 30 days!

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

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*augh
******

Good bye yester-year!

2011-08-28T19:22:00.000-07:00

So this year I will be doing the further distance in the ladies Triathlon. Now last year as I turned around at the 10k mark for the bike I would look up and see the big long hill that the 'other' girls had to do for their 20k bike and I was grateful I didn't need to go further :)
Also last year I had to do a 2.5k run. Which is only one loop of the course....and boy was I grateful that I didn't have to do the loop again like the 'other' girls did.....

So fast forward and I am now one of the 'other' girls :s

I didn't really realize this until I was out on the course for the first time a few weeks ago. I was out on the bike and I passed the 10k mark where I turned around last year and kept going.....I looked up at the hill ahead and entered into the unknown...."OH BOY!!!" I thought. Now I have to go further and up that hill....gulp.....what happen to last year!!! where I didn't need to go that far and it was easier!!!........that's when I thought to myself..." Good bye yester-year!".....we in a whole new boat now. But I did the 20k and I survived :-)
Now the run....it's the most hilly-ist course in Ontario I've been told. The course starts off with a hill that goes straight up!....ok so last year I only had to do it once......this year we'll be meeting twice. I plan to walk it the second time around because it just takes too long for me to recover at the top when I run it....and I'm ok with that :-) (walking it that is)

So now I am one of the 'other' girls. One of those other girls that I looked up to last year and watched them ride/run further into the unknown........

....and OMG!!! I just looked to the right of my blog and see how many days is left until the Tri!!!! (7!!! gulp)

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
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It just keeps getting awesomer!!!

2011-08-17T10:31:00.000-07:00

So last night was my Tri training with Mommy's/Babes in Motion. We did the same hill repeat route that we did on the very first night. Our coach e-mailed out the route and the hardest option was a 5 hill repeats which would then equal 20k (which is what my bike distance in the race is this year).....so of course I said to myself, " You're going to do the 5 hills!"...then another part of me said.." OMG that's going to be killer hard!"......then I said to myself, " Yup but you're STILL going to do it!!!!!"

So I did ! and it wasn't killer hard either :).....each time I went down the hill I was like, " Ok here goes #1.....ok here goes #2...." The hill coming up is like a two level hill. It goes up then evens out for a min then goes up up up.....it's a good hill :)
Going down I went like a bat out of hell and got a bigger and bigger rush each time!! Felt like I was 12yr again :)

The bike up...as I got more warmed up they got better....or I just felt better....on my 4th or 5th time up the hill I thought to myself. "It just keeps getting awesomer! LOL....Is that even a word!?...oh well I say it is"

And that's what happens my friends....it just keeps getting AWESOMER!!!!!!!!!!!

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
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Another first!

2011-08-12T21:04:00.000-07:00

So after my 4yr did his first Triathlon he said that the part that he loved the best was the biking. Earlier this spring he drove up to us on his bike and asked to take off his training wheels and zoom... the kid was off and didn't look back! I was surprised at this cause I figured that next summer he would be off the training wheels. But really it shouldn't surprise me since the kid walked on his own a week before he turned 9mths old!!!! So the kid is a mover!

He boots it around on the lane way in front of our house.....along the lane, up the curb, over someones lawn, down the curb and over the 2inch ramp that my husband built for him. All the neighbours comment on how he's zipping around so well so fast. One night as I was watching him I thought he would really like trail biking.

So I took him out to Hilton Falls. I knew it would be a good place for him since they have trails that are wide and has little rocks on them as well as some in the woods. We stuck to the wide paths as I wanted him to learn how to ride over rocks. Plus he only has a kid bike that has no gears.

The first part of the trail we both had to push our bike up the hill it was so steep, but I promised him that it was not going to be all like this.

So of course he LOVED it! I was a little nervous about him going over the bumpy parts but at the same time knew that he had to learn. At one point I said," Follow me and go on the smooth part" but as I went along I saw that there was a big rock on the path. As I yell over me shoulder to him, "Be careful there's a rock here!!" he zoomed by me on the right saying, " I know Mom I saw it and went around"...LOL!...OK, awesome!

I was really proud of this kid as there was sometimes that he wanted/needed to push his bike up a few other hills (not as big as the first one!) and he had no problem with this. I was really glad to see that he didn't get down on himself or upset that he couldn't do. He has been talking a lot about others being slow or not liking when others are faster them him. So my husband an I have really focused on the lesson that everyone does the best they can sometimes it's slower sometimes it's faster but it's always awesome!

We stopped half way along to see the falls there and have a snack. Over all we were out for an hour. I'm really excited about him getting better at the trail rides as I know he will love it. I'm looking into some BMX type clinic's or classes in the Halton area...so if anyone knows of anything please let me know! A little boys happiness lays in your hands LOL!

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
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Thankful Thurs ~ An 'awesome' party

2011-07-28T18:02:00.000-07:00

So today my 4yr said he wanted to do something 'fun' and make something for Papa......"Like what?" I asked. "How about a cake!"...."OK!" I replied. Believe it or not I had some cake mix around and even had some icing!
So he picked the chocolate cake mix...of course.., "I think Papa would like that one best" he said LOL!!!

So we made the cake and both boys helped to decorate it. " We're going to have a party for Papa!" my 4yr said. I asked him what kind of a party because it wasn't Papa's birthday....."We're going to have a 'Papa is awesome party!" was his reply LOL!!!

I must admit I think I say awesome a lot and the kids have picked up on it! LOL!

So tonight we yelled "SURPRISE" when hubby walked in the door and put on party hats and we said why we think Papa is awesome while having second helpings of our chocolate cake :P

I love it! This kid just taught me you can have a party anytime just think of something awesome or someone awesome and lets PARTY!!!!! ....

......and yes this is him with his blankie wearing a party hat...blankie is like another person in our house and must be included in everything included the pictures! LOL!....GOD I love this kid!!! xoxoxox

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

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The VanAwesome scenic route

2011-07-24T13:12:00.001-07:00

So this weekend was the RockstAR Adventure Race that hubby and I were doing as team VanAwesome!!! After shipping one kid and the dog off to my Moms and the other kid with his bike off to my Dads we packed up the van and headed out Sat morning. Now the fact that we got off track heading up to the race should have been a sign to us.....

We got up there with a lot of time to spare which was nice cause we didn't need to rush around and we could relax and look at our map and pick our route. Plus the 15k bike trek through the trails to start the race, they didn't have this year so that was awesome!!! We could pick what we wanted to do and when. I felt good, excited and confident about our plan.

So we started off in good form and headed out on the bike for a 10k trek and picking up check points along the way...the first one was a 100 point one and we felt that was a good way to start the day :)....we couldn't find one on the way back and I learned from last year that if it's taking too long and you are really unsure of where you are to just let it go.....so we moved on.

After that we hopped into the canoe...it was a little windy so the paddle was hard....now once we hit land that's when everything went south and I don't mean on the map! LOL!!! We were WAYYYYYY out there and even came across a big mud puddle and there was no foot prints around it. At that point I said to my hubby, "Ok no one else has been here, we need to go back" the good part is that shortly after turning back we ran into a team of 3 that was looking for a 70 point check point ( I didn't even know we were near it until the team pointed out on the map for me where we were!! LOL!!) So we stuck with them and in 5min we found the 70 point check point which helped us feel like our efforts weren't wasted at least!

OK so now for the million mile trek back to our canoe...the problem with getting lost way out there....you have to go back! We got back to our canoe with 30min left until finish time....however....and this is how this game sucks you in!....I looked at the map and say what looked like a check point close by us along the edge of the water and a path leading that way...."Should we try for it?" I asked Hubby, "Sure since there's a path" he said.....so we started running the path, which turned into a muddy trail through tall grass, which then turned into a low river and over rocks....which then turned into no trail and into bush and then I heard a splash and that's when hubby slipped on a rock and saved his face from hitting by offering up his right knee and right wrist (he's a bit stiff and sore today)....so at that point we decided that we were tired, still couldn't see the check point and running out of time. So we turned back and headed to the finish line and we were happy with that.

SO next year!!!..... Well we now know the lay of the land REALLY well!! LOL!! and we know as a team what our strengths are so we are set!.......it's funny every time I go out in this race I have an idea of what's going to happen and how I'm going to do. But once the race happens none of what I thought would happen, happens....it takes on a life of it's own and what I'm left with is a good story, war wounds to show off, awesome pictures and memories of a good time! :)

'Live in YOUR Awesome1'

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Making it a family affair :)

2011-07-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

So following along with my goal this year of including my family more into the activities that I am doing....I asked my hubby to be my partner for the RockstAR 4hr Adventure Race this year. So we have been out 'training'....so what does that mean? We got my Mom to watch the kids one Sat afternoon while we went for a trail ride at Kelos and last weekend we took the boys in the canoe at Kelso so we could get use to being a team as we paddle. He OF COURSE was awesome :).......so I will be the power house in the front and he will be the power house in the back and steering us in the right direction :)....we then hit the beach at Kelso for lunch and swimming and sandcastle building....it was a great afternoon :-)

So the race is this weekend and I'm really looking forward to it. Last year I was crazy excited and pretty nervous cause I didn't know what was going to happen. But the stress this year is less cause I know what I'm doing now! LOL! PLUS a weekend away with no kids in the bush on a nice lake....as far as I'm concerned this is a vacation away for me and hubby! I would say it will be a romantic weekend but after a 4hr race there's no energy left over for any hubba-hubba! LOL ;)

Now with the weather being SO stink'n HOT this week we'll see how it ends up being on Sat. The nice thing is that Hubby and I are pretty chillaxed about the whole thing and don't plan on being hardcore, we are just going to have fun and be out there not to come in first. AND of course our team name is......VanAwesome! LOL!

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

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Teaching him to TRI!

2011-07-07T05:16:00.000-07:00

So the day finally came. My 4yrs first Triathlon!!!
We talked about it a lot so that he knew what was going to happen during the race and he was getting excited too. His 'training' went well and he even asked to have his training wheels off his bike at one point....so now he's zipping around like crazy :)

I did my best just to stay cool and calm on the race day because I find that too much hype tends to freak out the kiddo's. Plus the race itself was pretty over whelming with so many people there and the whole set-up was very professional, they went all out and I was very impressed.

So we started off in the pool and as soon as they said go he did this 'crazy fast' swimming that he does which only causes his face to go under water and he goes no where! LOL!....so I got nice and close to him for when he popped his face out of the water and he looked a little panicked so I said in a calm voice, " Hey buddy how about you just try kicking" so he did that instead and started moving. I LOVE the smile on his face as we are walking away from the pool and you can't see it very well in the video but he gave everyone a thumbs up.

During the transition at the bike he was saying that he was cold and didn't want to go on his bike wet. So I put the towel around him and said, " You get dry and warm while I change, once you get going on your bike you will feel better"....so we just took our time and changed and got ready for the bike.

We weren't there to race that day we were there for a Triathlon experience

The bike part he ROCKED!!! I had to sprint full out to keep up with him. He was zipping past older kids on his bike and once again that smile tells me he was loving it!! and brings tears to my eyes every time I look at the pic ( and as I type about it right now!)

We finished off with the run and getting his medal...it was over in 10min...I kind of wish that it lasted a bit longer because the experience for me too was fun.

This is JUST what my goal was when I started this journey. I wanted to be able to keep up with my boys and have them excited that Mommy's there.

I am over joyed that I'm not going to be a 'sideline Mom' instead of sitting on the sidelines telling my kids they can do it. I get to be right there beside them doing it with them....SO thankful......SO happy.......SO excited about our future :)

You can see the video here

"Live in YOUR Awesome!"

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Relentless....Forward....Motion....

2011-06-25T13:49:00.000-07:00

....... this is the motto of the Meredith Hagan Foundation and her Inspiration run was today. It also just so happens that today is also what would have been Meredith's 38th b-day and what a great way to celebrate...it would make her smile and that's when she looked the prettiest :)

I was in bed last night at 7:30am!! LOL!! The kids were out playing and biking with their Dad and I was asleep already! I wanted to be fresh and ready for the day. I was heading out early to help set-up going to run the 10k trail run and then stayed to help clean up everything. So I knew it was going to be a long day.

The turn out for the race was wicked!!! I helped hand out the swag bags so pretty much got to see everyone that was out to run or walk for the day. A lot of friends from Mommy's in Motion,spinning class, Coach Nancy from Second Wind Condition, Phat Chicks, my old work!! and a Mommy friend of mine that has started getting out there and running herself :) and my girl K-rod!! Most of you will know her as the Ellen girl LOL!

The run it self was great, there was a crazy hill at the 3k mark I had to walk the last 1/4 of the way cause I thought my heart was going to burst, it was long and winding. All in and around the 6k-8k part was pure single track trail, over a bridge, under a pine tree and thru mud....and when I say thru I mean thru! You couldn't go around. The lady in front of me slowed down when she hit the mud and I was thinking, " AWWW don't slow down!!! That's when you sink!" So I had to go into the middle of the mud to pass her and that's when I almost lost my shoe!!! LOL!! I LOVED it and the mud was nice and cool on my legs :-)

Everyone got a medal and they looked great. When I showed it to my 4yr he said, "WOW!! Mommy that's a big medal! You must have done really good in the race!"....you know what I don't even know my time for sure cause I never looked, my friend said it was at about 1hr 6min......I was just happy to be out there, for such a great lady xoxoxox

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

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I'm behind you...and always will be xoxoxo

2011-06-20T09:49:00.000-07:00

So WOW summer is really making out to be busy time in our house I haven't been able to find time to even blog!!!! and when I do have a quit moment I just need to sleep in order to keep going! LOL!!!
So I am banging out this blog after I just had a client then went grocery shopping (with a 3yr and 2yr in tow) put the food away, made the kids and me lunch, cleaned the main level of our house...I even dusted!!! Then made some banana bread and it's now in the oven while the kids run around messing up the house again and I sit here typing this out......

So two weekends ago was the June in June race. Last year this was my first race that I had ever run and I did the 1k with my then 3yr (his first race too) and I did the 5k. This year my now 4yr did the 1k again and I did the 10k and came in on just the hour mark which I am very happy about as I was still getting over a nasty cold and I wasn't sure how that was going to go.

But the best part of that night was when I was racing with my 4yr....last year he held my hand the whole way and won't let go....this year.....he zoomed ahead of me and was like, "See ya later!!!" He would run up ahead and every once and awhile he would think that he had lost me so he would slow down and look behind him to see if I was still there. And I was every time, I would call to him, "Don't worry buddy I'm right here with you! I'm right behind you! You're OK keep going!"....I thought that was the coolest and have tears as I remember this right now.

Such a great message I was able to not only tell him but show him. 'Mommy is right behind you and will always be there, you just look ahead and keep going, you don't need to worry, I'm here for you'....sniff...sniff.....I have a feeling that one day he will not be looking behind him to see if I am there....but it doesn't matter cause I will still be right there xoxoxoxoxox

Ok I hear a lot of yelling and banging around upstairs....gotta go!

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
*ove
*augh
******

Took the words outta my mouth

2011-06-14T06:18:00.000-07:00

Ok so this blog is not done by me but I had to share this with everyone. As I was reading it I had tears in my eyes! Such a good read for anyone who is starting off or thinking of starting off.
It's written by a fellow Mommy/Babe in Motion that I train with on Tues nights. Last summer was her first year out there too...so we have a lot in common and she took the words right out of my mouth with this....read it here

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
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*augh
*****

WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Just had to let that out :-D

2011-05-31T18:37:00.000-07:00

SO!...sorry for not staying connected I have been busy...an awesome busy. It started on the long weekend with the nice weather and my Dad taking both the boys...woot! woot!

Sat's is my long run days so as I was about to head out and was telling my husband my route ( I do this for safety reasons) he suggested that he jump on his bike and put the kids in the bike trailer and meet me down at the Bronte park I will be passing during my run...AWESOME!!!! LOVE IT! as that is one of my goals of including my family more in my outings and I hadn't thought of that........so I ran the 6k to the park and then played with the kids for a bit but spent too long there and my body was like, "Oh ok that was a good 6k run I'm done now"...well guess what baby we're dong 12k today so there's still another 6k to go.......oh dear. The run back was hard but awesome. My hubby biked in lowest gear the whole way so that I could keep up with them and my 4yr keep yelling, " Hi Mommy!....keep going mommy!" But it was a hard run back and I was happy to be home.
Then dropped the kids off at my Dads and then went to help my hubby with his second job of landscaping he has in the summer....which ended up being 3hrs!!!!!! FRIGG!....I DON'T like doing labour like that and would rather do a 3hr boot camp class.....no wait a 4hr Adventure Race then that kind of work....every part of my body was tired and this was after my 12k 1100 calorie burn run in the morning!!!

Sun morning I hopped on the bike and hit the trails with hubby for the first time WOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!! It was wicked. Due to the rain some of the trail was washed out and so we were biking through river pretty much and at one point I thought we were lost!! LOL!!!! always an adventure when you go biking LOL!!!!....but we made it back, wet, muddy and giddy like two school kids! That was the first time that we rode together :)

The Mon Hubby had off and I had some cash so I headed out to see the Phat Chicks and do some Kick boxing.....gawd that felt excellent and I always feel so much better when I see those gals!

So last Fri hubby and I hit our 6yrs married mark woo hooo!! Love you hun xoxoxox.....now normally we don't get each other stuff, not even a card we just spend time together....but on Fri morning with a smile and a laugh he handed me a card and a file folder....LOL! Yes I said file folder....what this amazing man had done was save away money for the last few months AND didn't buy something he wanted for his car which is MAJOR....cause he's a car guy and instead he got me a 3 month unlimited pass to Phat Chicks!!!!! Are you frigg'n kidding me!!!!

He said that he sees me working out so hard here by myself and knows that I LOVE my Phat Chicks and how much more happier I am when I can go out to see them so now all summer I can go when ever I want!!!!!!! I was hugging him and crying like a baby! BEST HUBBY EVERRRRRRRRRRRR! OMG!

So now I am totally pumped even more for the summer!......Phat Chicks when ever I want, my 4yr first Tri, doing an adventure race with hubby as my teammate AND Tri training started tonight with the Mommy's in Motion!!!! and it was nasty, stinky, dirty HOT! out and it was still awesome....so many memories are flooding back to me as to what I was doing this time last year and remembering how this time last year started off what has been THE TIME OF MY LIFE!!!!!

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
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*augh
******

Thankful Thurs~ I have a goal

2011-05-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

So in case you hadn't noticed I have added on some new widgets to my blog....look to your right!
They are the count down to my big races this year!! I am SO excited about them and that's when I realized today I am thankful to have goals....they keep me moving and make me look forward to my future :)
There was a time in my life that I did not look forward to my future nor did I have any goals for it.

So I am grateful for the feeling of hope, excitement and motivation that a goal gives me :-)

What are your goals?

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
*ove
*augh
*****

The secret life of a working out Mama

2011-05-17T06:28:00.000-07:00

Ok so sticking to my plan of getting back at'r and going back the basics I followed through on my plan of being sure to workout 1hr a day for 5 days a week......one day at a time :)

So yesterday (Mon) I had nothing planned and it was raining so I thought it would be a good time to workout in the morning. So I popped in the Jillian Michael's 30 day shred 20min workout. Now for those of you that know me 20mins of working out is just not going to cut it, I need an hour or more!

So my bright idea was to do all three levels one after another....20min times three equals 60min right!...right!

Ok so first the only weights I have are 2lbs, 10lbs & 12lbs that my hubby got for me off Kijiji last summer....so anytime I do a weight workout I have to do it with the 10lbs weights! LOL!! OH BABY!!! Let me tell you!...I has huffing and puffing and grunting and groaning half way through level 2 and ALL the way through level 3 OMG!!

Even at one point my brain started thinking, "God this is hard! Oh man I don't like this" So what did I do?!.....told it to piss off and just listened to what Jillian was telling me on the screen instead.

Ok so this morning OMG my arms are SO sore! LOL!!! I can't even lift my grumpy 2yr to the time-out spot! This is what makes me think of the 'secret' life of a working out Mama because I now will go through the rest of the day remembering my workout with every move I make today! LOL!....It reminds me of last summer when I was training for my first Tri. The night before I did the longest distance I have ever done (600m swim, 14k bike, 4k run) and then that morning I was changing poopy diapers with one hand and holding down the kid who didn't want to get a diaper change with the other hand and trying not to get sh*t everywhere! LOL!....as I was doing this I thought to myself,..."Do you know what I just did last night!?"....and well... no they didn't, because it's my secret life.....but I wear every sore part with pride because I know what I did..... te he.

Now I must go and iron me cape :-)

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
*ove
*augh
******

Running with the enemy

2011-05-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

I read in an Ad one time a saying......." I use to run with fear, now she can't keep up"....WICKED!!! Was my thought after reading that cause I could relate :)

However I have been finding it hard to be my own cheerleader these days. I currently spend my time training by myself, I never realized how much of a difference it made to hear others encouraging me and cheering me on....as I did with others when we were in a group.

So a few things have been going on and the first thing that started to bring me down was the fact that I have lost more then just weight in this journey. I have also lost friends...people who I love dearly and care for a lot and I am saddened and confused by this and it started to get to me more then normal about 2 weeks ago. So I guess once the door of negative was cracked open more started pushing it self out.

I also I have not been as active as I normally am. I get board SO easy and all I can do on my own is run or workout in my living room. So as you all know I am all about feeling awesome and my body was not feeling awesome which then leads to not so good eating.....which then leads to not feeling awesome...etc ect... I started getting concerned about my health again and if old ways of thinking were starting to cause me problems...ie: "Oh just have one!'....or , "Just a treat for today!"....or " Well now that you had some you should just finish the rest"

So I did something that I don't normally do and stepped on the scale. It was only a different of 6lbs (that's 6lbs up). The number didn't really effect me accept to confirm I wasn't 300lb again, but I still didn't feel good in my body and that's when I know getting active will help that.

Another thing that started to get to me was that I was encouraging my clients to do things that I myself hadn't been doing and I didn't feel good about that.

So this morning I was tired of all the negative build up and decided that I would stick to my normal Sat morning run ( I knew that if I skipped it I would just feel like more crap). The weather called for rain but I was going to go rain OR shine. It wasn't raining this morning but very fogging. In a way that worked out very well for me as I couldn't see how far I still had to go! LOL!....For some reason I picked a route that I have never run before and I didn't know the distance of it either.

So off I go and 20min in I'm already thinking of quiting or stopping....just then some guy ran by me, passing me. "Aw crap! I'm dragging ass" was my thought. 25min into the run I was hurting and not feeling good....now saying that I mean my mind not so much my body. My breathing was hard but that's only because I hadn't done anything in a week.
That's when I realized that I had some major stinking thinking going on. That's when I realized, I'm running with the enemy here! "OK OK you got to start thinking about something else!!!" I said myself....that's when I knew that fear had caught up with me on this run and it was effecting my most important muscle of all....MY BRAIN!!!!

So what did I do?!! I started prayer to Mereidth (My trainer who dyed in a tragic accident) and I started to focus on what she would say and what she would do.

Now I had to stop and walk a few time and I HATE that!!! But! I need to do what I encourage others to do and just chillax on myself. A run is a run, some or better then others and at least I was out there!

So I finished my run which in the end lasted 1hr 10min and was 10.5k in distance!!!! As I was getting close to home I had some tears...tears of what I don't know but I let them come and it felt good. Then funny enough the song Halo, which reminds me of Mereidth came on and that's what I ended my run listening to :)

Now during that last .5k I think that fear got a lil tired because I didn't feel her around in my head anymore....in fact now I was thinking:

Fuck the guy who passed me...who cares
Fuck the pounds
Fuck the time it takes me to run
Fuck the speed that I am running at

I'm out here doing something and that's ALL that counts! Nike is right 'JUST DO IT!'

So I got home, showered and put on my shirt that says, "Strong is the new beautiful!"

I'm baaaaaaack!!!! 8-D

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
*ove
*augh
******

Thankful Thurs~ THE SUN!!!!!!!

2011-05-05T17:21:00.001-07:00

This week's an easy one! I am writing this so late in the day because this is the first time I have been inside all day!!! I had breakfast, snack, lunch & dinner out on our deck today. Above is a picture of me tanning my toes and wearing my first Capri's of the summer!! WOOO HOOOO!!!!
I am thankful for the feeling of the hot hot sun beating down on me while my kids play ALL DAY LONG outside....boy are we all going to sleep tonight. And even though I am sitting here with my arms, chest and face BURNING and hurting....cause I am burnt SO bad...and YES I did use sunscreen...it was all still worth it :-)

OH and P.S. don't mind the HUGH bump under my right big toe, it was from when I fell off my bike last year and hurt it some way and never got it checked out and now it's healed wrong and I still have to get x-rays on it to see what's the deal and I just haven't found time to do that either.....but boy is it BIG!! LOL! I didn't realize until I looked at the picture!

'Live in YOUR Awesome'

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*augh
******

The whole 1k!!!!!

2011-04-26T05:18:00.000-07:00

So Good Friday kicked off the racing session for the Van Egmond family!! WOOOO HOOOOOO!!!. I'm not sure who was MORE excited me or my 4yr old LOL!!!
We signed up for the kids 1k 'Bunny Hop' and I did the 5k afterwards.

We showed up with 'bunny' kit ready to go, ears, tail and bow tie! LOL! we put on our numbers and bunny ears and headed to the start line.

While waiting for the horn to start the race I could feel my 4yr shaking, as I was holding his hand. I asked him if he was cold and he replied, "I'm just EXCITED!!"
So the horn went off and we all started running. At first my son was holding my hand, something he did the whole way in his first 1k race last June. But after a while he let go of my hand and zoomed ahead....I had to really run to keep up! My son was breathing hard as he was running and I asked him if he wanted to walk for a min to take a break. He just shook his head and zoomed ahead. A few times he would slow down cause he was getting tired, but he would just reach up and hold my hand and keep running!!! We crossed the finish line not holding hands which was bitter sweet for me, cause he didn't need me and he was good on his own.........my boy is growing up!!! sniff! sniff!.....so proud with a little sad mixed in.

I scooped him up at the finish line and threw him up in the air as I was SO impressed that he ran the WHOLE 1k!!!! I told him he did AWESOME and asked if he was proud of himself. He nodded yes and still breathing hard replied, "That was hard"

By 10:30am all was said and done and we were at Tim Horton's for a morning post-race snack. He has worn his medal ALL weekend and brought it to each of our Easter dinners showing it off to his Grandparents and cousins. In fact he has gone off to school today with it in his backpack so that he can Show and Tell it at school :)....so in the end it WAS a Good Friday!!!

How did your family stay Hoppy and Healthy this Easter?

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
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*augh
******

Thankful Thurs~ Being strong!

2011-04-21T05:58:00.000-07:00

So last night I went out to one of my fav stores...the Nike outlet...I know I'm a workout geek and I'm ok with that! LOL!

I saw this shirt there which was SO fitting for me. Not only was it my fav colour but it said, " Strong is the new beautiful"...it took my breath away for a min when I saw it.

I of course am wearing it today and will probable wear it for the next week LOL! But I was thinking about it this morning about what being 'strong' meant. And that's when I realized what my Thankful Thurs was.....

....I am thankful to not only be strong physically but to be a strong woman on the inside now too. At the ripe old age of 32 I have learned to stand up for myself and for what is right. I didn't do that when I was younger. I was too scared about what people would think, if they would like me after and I didn't even know at one point in my life that I COULD stand up for myself.

So I am thankful that I am a whole person today and I LOVE it! I feel I have found a happy balance of standing up for myself and not being aggressive or rude about it. I have learned that sometime courage doesn't roar, sometimes courage is that voice at the end of the day that whispers, "I will try again tomorrow"

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
*ove
*augh
******

It's all in the journey.....

2011-04-19T05:46:00.000-07:00

So I did it for the third time...climbed all 1776 stairs of the CN tower this Sat. This year I was on my own but I was still excited. I was up at 5am cause registration starts at 6am and I didn't want to be standing in lines all morning. So by the time I got there and everything was said and done I started the climb at 7:07am. My goal for the climb was to do it in under 30min...last year I did it in 41min. I also had already surpassed my fundraising goal of $300....I raised $315!! Due to 7 totally wicked people sponsoring me :)....so I was hoping that my luck would continue.

So if there's one thing I learned while climbing the tower, it's to not look up at the number of flights as you go up until after I have at least hit 100, so I kept my eyes on the stairs and kept moving. I ran into problems when my throat started to burn due to breathing SO hard. I had to stop for a break and I thought that was strange...it's not until after that I realized that I was getting sick, as the kids have been coughing all week and I woke up coughing that morning....and I'm now full out sick :(. So I just took it as I could and I thought that I wasn't going to make my goal time.

Now on the journey up most people don't talk to each other (unless they are with someone) they just pass the people resting on the landing and don't even make eye contact. A few times I wanted to encourage people on the way up, but fell into the 'norm' of what everyone else was doing and didn't. I saw a man who was a very over weight fellow resting and catching his breath on the landing one time and I wanted to pat him on the back and say, "Way to go, your doing awesome!" at the end there was two young girls struggling and there was only three more flights of stairs left. I wanted to say to them, "Only three more flights left ladies, you can DO it!!" but I didn't and I'm a bit disappointed in myself.......I know Meredith would have, in fact I remember hearing a story at her viewing of how her Father would get frustrated while watching her race cause she would see someone struggling and run with them for a bit to encourage them....when I grow up I want to be like that!

So I made it to the top in 25min! I was happy that I made my goal for under 30min but was not happy really with the journey up.....so next years goal is all about the journey up. I'm going to say what ever I want to others on the way up and encourage those who are struggling because what I learned on Sat is that the outcome is not as joyful if the journey there wasn't useful to myself and others :-)

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
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*augh
******

Thankful Thurs~ My fav spot!

2011-04-14T09:18:00.000-07:00

So this Thurs I am thankful for my fav spot....my bed. But it's not just the bed per-say. It's the combination of my heating pad..ooo baby SO warm! and 'Bob' my body pillow. Plus it's the only time most days that husband and I get to talk one-on-one, when we hit the sack at night.
ALSO! We have a king size bed which we got because the were big people and needed room...but now we are not big anymore so really there's just too much room to spare!! LOL!!! I could roll over like 4 times before I hit my hubby on his side now! However this extra space seems to get filled with the 2yr, 4yr, dog & cat! LOL! The frigg'n bed is SO big that I'll wake up most mornings look to my right and see everyone in the house (people and animals) have found there way into bed with us LOL!

So it is my fav place for many reasons....what fav place do you have?

Egg McAwesome!

2011-04-11T06:09:00.000-07:00

So I'm always on the search for yummy food that's good for you AND is fun to eat. I can only eat the same thing over and over for so long. So thought I'd share one of my fav things that I came up with...the Egg McAwesome! mmmmm mmmm :p

So what you will need is:
1 whole wheat english muffin
2 slices of turkey lunch meat
1 egg
2 thin slices of cheese

So I toast the english muffin while I cook the egg in a little Olive Oil spray (so it doesn't stick) Then when the egg is ready I throw on the turkey slices and warm them up (this takes 4sec) I then pile on, the cheese, egg, turkey slices and a squirt of ketchup mmmmmmmmm mmmmmmm.

SO yummy, SO good, SO warm and tasty and only 300 calories for the whole thing and you are getting a double dose of protein with the egg AND turkey.

LOVE it! What are some of your fav, easy, yummy, healthy meals?

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

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******

Thankful Thurs~ Wooooo Hoooooo!!!!!

2011-04-07T08:51:00.000-07:00

So I am starting my 'training' for my Tri in Sept....this just means making more of an effort to get out and get moving.
So yesterday I committed to a fellow Tri friend to meet and go swimming and in all my excitement I decided to run to the pool before doing the laps.......

So I wasn't sure how far it was and I didn't want to know. I was just committed to getting there.

So the run was frigg'n wicked!!! The weather was awesome and I made it in killer time AND it wasn't as far as I thought it was going to be AND I rocked the hills!! I just wanted to scream WOOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!! a few times :-)

As Adena was dropping me off she said, "Happy blogging!! (she's a fellow blogger) I said, " OH it's Thankful Thurs! Give me an idea" Her reply was, "Be thankful that I dropped you off tonight! OR that you're alive!!" That's when I realized what I'm thankful for this week........

I'm thankful for those moments that make you feel ALIVE!!!!! and make you want to scream WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Let's all do it together now! WOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
aww that feels better :-)

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
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U 'like' me so I'll 'like' you ~ Contest!!!!

2011-04-02T18:42:00.000-07:00

So I want to thank the people who share or who have shared my Fan page with others. So here is the contest.......

Share my fan page link on your wall or your friends walls. Have them 'like' the Fan page and leave the comment on the wall, "I like you because (insert your name here) said to" The person with the most comments will win a free Advanced Repair Peptide facial at, Advanced Rejuvenation Medical Spa!!!! Woooo Hooooo!

"Cold weather dries and damages your skin, making it weathered, wrinkled and discoloured.
Packed with vitamins and peptides our facials hydrate and replenish so your face is glowing and healthy"

OOOOOO come on doesn't that sound goooood! Just gives me goose bumps reading it! :)

The contest closes on Fri April 8/11 I will announce the winner on Sat April 9/11 GOOD LUCK!! and have fun sharing :)

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
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*augh
******

Thankful Thurs ~ For the nothing times

2011-03-31T14:15:00.000-07:00

Although I am a mover and a shaker and a taker-on-er of to much type of gal, I must say I am thankful of the times I have nothing to do.
These days are far and few between, but for some reason I have had a few of them in a row lately, and they have been great!

It gave me the time to get the little things done that keep piling up on 'the list'. But best of all it gave me some special moments with he kido's. Such as curling up in bed with my 2yr for a nap, looking over at him and he's smiling that teethy grin of his. Then he snuggles closer and smiles more at me over the covers and whispers, "Hi Mommy!" and leans in to give me a drolly, snotty kiss :-D

Or not even putting on my watch and going for an outing to Tim Hortons with my 4yr and talking about his big train station he built with Lego at school, "It was this big Mommy!, look look it was as big as this!!!" He says as he spreads his arms as wide as they can go.

And the best moment of all in one of these nothing times was when my 4yr who these days is ALWAYS a kitty cat and I have to call him that too. When he says to me, "You know what Mommy, Kitty cat thinks you are the best Mommy EVER!!! and Kitty cat loves YOU soooooooo much!"

I am so thankful for the things I get out of these nothing times! :-D

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
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*augh
******

Last night made my heart smile

2011-03-27T13:25:00.000-07:00

So I'm not a church going girl but me and the 'big guy' are pretty tight! And I must say that am just bowled over with what happens when I trust in God and get out of the way!

A BIG example of that was last night. It was the launch party to The Meredith Hagan Foundation. She was my trainer who died suddenly last year ..........wow still can't type that witout getting teary eyed.

So I was excited about this party and knew I needed to be there to honour the change that Meredith caused in me. In her life and in her death and for that part of her that I still carry around with me. However I couldn't afford the ticket :(

I asked if I could volunteer my time to help out at the night instead, but hadn't heard anything back. As the date was approaching I keep thinking of it and really starting to stress that I wasn't going to be able to be there.

Then a week ago I was looking at a picture of the Phat Chicks in their new coats on Facebook on my iPhone and up pops a text from Suzie (Head Phat Chick) asking if I still wanted to help out at the party!!!!........I was in tears with joy and am in fact crying right now as I remember this moment.

So last night was the party and it was awesome!! I got to see Phat Chicks I haven't seen in a long time, and Meredith's family (husband, sister, mother etc). I also ran into Shane from Raceday Rush! It was SO great I worked my tail off and loved every min of it. When I was given thanks for my help, my response was, "Oh I'm just happy to be here!" and I truly meant that.

A few awesome conversations happen last night for me, one being with fellow Phat Chick Kerri, I just love talking with this girl and her love and energy filled me up (just what I needed). Another convo, once again a fellow Phat Chick who confirmed to me that the path I am on is a good one and that me bringing my family along with me seems to be my thing and is working well. I needed to hear that cause sometimes I feel down cause I can't keep up with everything the Phat Chick/Friends are doing, do to having a family with young kids etc etc......So once again JUST what I needed to hear.

I got home sometime just after 2am still smiling and my had buzzing from the excitement of the night. I feel asleep to a vision of Mer up there looking down with white beautiful light all around her smiling her smile.....and cue the water works again.....

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
*ove
*augh
******

Thankful Thurs ~ Yummy food!

2011-03-24T09:47:00.000-07:00

Ok so I LOVE eating, always have and I think always will. So as I was trying to pick one thing to write about today for Thankful Thurs it came to me as I was eating lunch.

I was eating a soup I had made and has now become one of my fav's and it's SO yummy AND it's good for you! That's when I realized, today I am thankful for yummy food that's good for you mmmmmmm mmmmmmmm mmmmmmmm :P

Here's the recipe:

Asparagus Egg Drop Soup

Need:
3/4lbs fresh asparagus, trimmed into little pieces and cooked
1 (32oz) carton chicken broth
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 (6oz) slice of ham, diced
1tsp soy sauce

To Do:

Boil broth, reduce to barely simmering.
Gradually pour in eggs, beating constantly with wisk, cook 1min
Stir in everything else, cook 5min
ENJOY!!!

Serves 4
Calories per serving 186

P.S. It freezes well and guest are always impressed with this too.

P.S.S I also make Ham and asparagus for dinner and use the left overs for the soup ;)

Let me know what you think!

'Live in YOUR Awesome'

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*augh
******

Am I even moving!!??

2011-03-21T23:12:00.000-07:00

Ok so with this nice weather out I have been itching to get out and run!! So I came up with a brilliant idea. After I got my oldest off the bus and gave the kids snack I announced that Mommy was going for a run and they will be in the jogger and I am going to run them into Bronte Park (we live off Burloak where the entrance is) and we will see the farm animals and play at the park there!!.......great idea right!!

So here's how it played out:

- started running, jogger is VERY heavy I think the kids have grown and there's at least 60lbs in there!

- turn the corner and start heading North up Burloak Rd.....right into the wind!!!

-tried to keep running while pushing 60lbs of jogging stroller into the wind at one point wondering if I was even MOVING!!!!

- hit a hill....OK forget that! I had to walk up it.

- 4yr asks, "Mommy why are we going so slow?"......I explain it's too windy for me to run.

- Make it to the park entrance to see that the sign says animal barn closes at 4pm...

-...it's 4:23pm!!!...AWESOME!

-run into the park anyways

-am now heading South so no wind and I am actually running at a good pace, it's nice and quite in the park and I enjoyed this moment a lot.

-got to the play barn, yup everything is locked up!.....I play dumb with the kids acting like I didn't know it was closed.

-let the kids play in the park for a bit then packed them back in to go home

-headed out of the park going North again, into the wind....AWESOME!

-started South down Burloak, now with the wind at my back, pushing my dragging a$$ along

-2yr decides to have a hissy fit and wants to get out...

- I continue to run while yelling. "SIT DOWN!", "ON YOUR BUM!", "IT'S DANGER!!", "NO THANK YOU!!"

-finally decide to ignore hissy fitting child and crank up my tunes

- finished my run to the tunes of..."It's raining men!" and "My humps,my humps, my lovely lady humps!" and my all time fav a song of my husbands that must have got mixed into my list. The theme song to Indianian Jones....when he's running away from the rolling rock! LOL!

-turn the corner on our street and as soon as I saw our house I felt AWESOME! Awesome that I got through that and awesome that I did it!

-told the boys thank you and that they did a great job and that I really needed that!

-looked at my RunKeeper app and saw that I had just ran over 10k!!!!!! WTF!

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

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Thankful Thurs ~ Thanks for sharing

2011-03-17T10:51:00.000-07:00

Ok so quit people make me nervous (sorry if I offend) but I just don't know what they are thinking, or what their story is.

So this week I was thinking about how thankful I am to those who share themselves with us. Either through posts on message boards where they take the time to answer questions of others and share their experince, or thouse of you who blog about your journey or talk about it face to face (you know the old fashion way LOL!)

As a talky-talker myself (I know surprising right!) I know the courage that it takes to put yourself out there. You are then open to judgment, gossip, 'options', bullying...to your face or behind your back and many other things.

So I want to say thank you to those of you that share your story with us and I cheer your courage and encourage you to continue......because it helps me know I'm not alone :->

'Live in YOUR Awesome'

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Spin, Swim and be freeeeeee....

2011-03-16T19:59:00.000-07:00

So around this time last year I started going out to the pool to do some laps after Krista, a fellow Mommy in Motion invited me to come out. It was great to start training for the Tri.

However after I did my Tri in Sept I haven't been swimming...I wanted to just take a 'break' from it....well break time is over!

Now I know that Krista is training for a Half Ironman this year (you can read about her training journey here) It is SO inspiring to me and gives me hope about me doing a half ironman one year!! :-D

So I know that she is out there training every day. So I e-mailed her to say I was going to join her for the spinning and swimming she does on Wed nights. My first spin class at Millcroft Fitness is free!! bonus!

The spinning was sweaty, blood pumping, cheeks burning AWESOME!!! My face was burning red and it felt goooood....so good I almost wanted to cry. The music was awesome and at some points I was dancing in my seat as I was spinning LOL! Another cool thing was seeing face to face other members of the Mommy's in Motion team one being Adena who also blogs about her journey to health, "fewer french fries, more fun!" LOL
Now that I was all warmed up we headed to the pool. I popped on my $19.99 Wal-Mart bathing suit cause my $50 Roots one from last year is now see through in the butt and boob area...nice!...I was cheesed :S.
The first few lengths were a little ify LOL! My triceps were very sore from doing a hard arm workout the night before. I stopped and stretched them and kept going....oh MAN did it feel good! I love when I finally got into a groove of flying across the pool hitting the wall push of to the other side and repeat.
Now compared to last year I was dragging ass, but I knew I had to build myself back up and I can do that in no time. I just made sure that tonight I just kept going for the full hour even if it was at a turtles pace LOL!....It was great I was able to just let my mind wander...I thought about writing this blog, calculating the cost to swim lengths once a week, how my arms hurt, how good it felt to be in the pool again, how I was hungry and wished the water was a big hearty hamburger I could bite into......God I felt freeeeeeee yuppy!!!!

Plus I was major impressed with the fact that our spinning class teacher joined us for the swim after. Two things that are way cool about that is that, one I was that girl who joined the spin teacher to swim after the spin class the second is that this teacher who I have never met before looked and reminded me of Meredith....It was almost like a sign that I am right where I should be :D.....thanks Mer xoxo

So what does this mean? I pick freedom so I'll being going back for more fo shoooo!!!

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

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******

VanAwesome hits the News!

2011-03-14T20:10:00.000-07:00

As I shared with you here,Always Good News with Connie Smith came out to do a story on my VanAwesome journey :) Below is the clip that aired. My fav line in the whole thing is when Erin the interviewer says, "...but her fondest race is her shortest one"...the 1K I did with my son...nailed it on the head I couldn't have said it better myself and I am way MORE excited about the follow up show of when my 4yr does his first Tri in the summer!!!! :-D

Thank you Erin you did a great job, I'm touched that you thought of me as 'good news' LOL!

If the video below does not work for you. You can also view it here

'Live in YOUR Awesome'
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Thankful Thurs~ Tunes at the right time!

2011-03-10T06:11:00.000-08:00

So all week I have noticed that every time I got in the car on my own just the right song was on. I am thankful for those moments when a song I LOVE comes on the radio and I get to crank it and sing my guts out!!! So if you see a mini van with a Mama dancing around in the seat and singing.....it's ME :D

I also LOVE LOVE Lady Gaga's new song, "I was Born this Way".... I am thankful that we now have songs that our kids can listen to where these are the words:

I'm beautiful in my way
'Cause God makes no mistakes
I'm on the right track baby
I was born this way

Don't hide yourself in regret
Just love yourself and you're set
I'm on the right track baby
I was born this way ...and now you need to listen to the song so that it's in your head all day loooong! LOL!

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

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Look up....waaaaaaay up!

2011-03-07T05:45:00.000-08:00

So it's that time of year again! My yearly out of the box moment...climbing the CN tower. I have climbed it twice before and you can read about that here...in fact I just read it again and WOW did it bring back memories! Last year the CN tower climb also fell on the same day that our first workout/training for the RockStar Adventure race was. I remember clear as a bell Mer and Suzie running up to me to see how I did and Suzie saying that I was 'Phat' cause I waited for my friend that year as she had done for me the year before....God!... feels like a life time ago.....huh...

So once again on April 16/11 I will climb all 1776 stairs and 156 flights. My goal this year is to do it in under 30min....I'll see how this goes cause it's not all up to me, sometimes people get in your way and don't move. So I'll do what I can and be happy with that!

Any support would be awesome as I am also raising funds for the WWF, you can find the link to sponser me on my home page

OR if YOU want to have bragging rights all year long and tell people that you climbed the CN tower go here to sign up and I'll see you on the way up....and up...and up! LOL!

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

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Thankful Thurs~ Biggest support

2011-03-03T11:40:00.000-08:00

I am a member of Momstown and have been since it first started off as 50 moms and was called Burlington Moms Group. It has now grown into Momstown and has over 250 members in the Burlington chapter and has many other chapters around.
Having Momstown in my life was part of my decision to quit my job a year ago. I knew that I wouldn't be on my own and that I would have things to do with the kids and best of all I would have the other Moms of Momstown :D

I am SO thankful for these woman, they have followed my journey and voted for me when I need votes in contests, supported me in the races I have done and best of all they have shared with me their stories...One night I got an e-mail from a fellow Momstowner that said after hearing what I had done, she decided that tonight was her night and she got off the couch and started doing sit-ups and that she feels great for it and plans to continue her 'me' time in order to keep on a healthy path.....that made my night, SO cool!

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

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MMMMM easy,stew-y, yummyness!

2011-03-01T09:12:00.000-08:00

So I'm always the look out for new recipes that are yummy and easy. I just made this one for lunch today and wanted to share as as surprised as to how easy and yummy it really end up being :P

Lentil Stew (400 calories)
Saute 2 cups cubed eggplant and 1 cup sliced mushrooms in 2tbsp olive oil- 10min
Add 2 cups spinach and 1 cup cooked lentils (I used canned ones)- 4min
Top with lime juice, I used half a lime

As I was making it I had a taste and wasn't really impressed but once I added the lime juice BAM!!! there was a party in my mouth and everyone was invited!!

This was so fast and easy to make that I was able to sit down with the kids and eat lunch too!(and write this blog).....AWESOME!

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

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Glamour shots to poop shots

2011-02-26T19:39:00.000-08:00

I was contacted last week from Erin an interviewer from Always Good News, with Connie Smith CTS. They wanted to do a story on me! LOL COOL!

So they came out Fri and it was lights, camera, ACTION!!! They were reporting on my journey of weight loss, health and fitness. Of course we had to stop and re-shoot a few times cause my 2yr started playing around in the back round and was calling out, " WALLLL-EEEEEE!!" (he was playing with the Wal-E robot we have) LOL!! Then we had to stop so I could get the kids water, then stop so I could get them a snack and then last but not least....and this is an important one....stop for a potty break and then having to do the potty song/dance cause they peed in the potty!!. The cameraman (who I am sure has no kids) was laughing at all this going on. "Welcome to the world of a SAHM/WAHM" was all I could say.

We did some cool shots and can't wait to see how it will turn out, I'll keep you all updated as to when it will air.

But of course the glamour doesn't last long around here. I fed the kids lunch (I babysit a little girl during the day, along with having my 2yr)put them down for a nap and had an hour to catch up on my e-mails, facebook & twitter. At 2pm my 4yr's school called to say that he had pooed his pant and I forgot to send extra pants....o.....k...So I wake up the two kids drive to the school, clean up the accident and FYI it's not poo it's diarrhea....AWESOME!... (just to help you understand the situation) I get back home and at 2:40pm the school calls again to say he's done it again!!....poor boy is getting sick. So I pack up the two kids...again...and head to the school to clean up the mess, which was worse then the last time..double awesome!!!....then we all head home so that I can throw him in the bath :)

These kids sure do keep me humble eh!! LOL

'Live in YOUR Awesome!"
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Thankful Thurs~ Deep breathe

2011-02-24T05:41:00.000-08:00

One thing I have always loved about exercise is the deep breathing it causes you to do. I find that though the day I don't breathe enough or I am holding my breath. So after a good cardio deep breathing session I find that I feel 'lighter' and better....and I am thankful for that feeling. Now you add in exercise out doors and in this weather not only do you get your deep breathing in but you get filled up with fresh air! and boy does that help you sleep like stink at night....now only if I could get the 2yr & 4yr & dog & cat to leave me alone through the night so I could get my sleep in! LOL!!!

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

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BMI ~ BS!

2011-02-21T21:44:00.000-08:00

So being a former 'big' girl I never did like the BMI thing...It just told me what I already knew....I am obese and unhealthy...thanks for the info. But also I wonder when did they come up with this scale? Back in the early 1900??!! I think it needs to be readjusted because I still don't think it works well.

I, just for interest sake inserted my info here to find out what my BMI is and guess what...I'm STILL over weight!!! Not to worry cause I know I am not and that I'm healthy and fit....but what's a 5"9' girl to do?.....This then got me thinking if it impacted others the way it did me?

So I want to clear the air...the BMI is BS...to a certain point. The way that I like to measure health is with a fit test. I LOVE these cause this really shows you where your fitness/health level is at. You can even do one one your own.

Do the following exercises for one minute each (be sure to rest between and catch your breath so you are not tired out for the next one) record how many you were able to do in that minute.....6-8wks later do this test again and see if you have beat your last numbers :)

-Jumping jacks
-Step ups on the stairs (step to the 2nd stair)
-Push ups
-Burpee's
-Time how long you can hold plank

Have fun and let me know how you do! :D

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

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Thankful Thurs~ They let me in :)

2011-02-17T11:16:00.000-08:00

I am unable to name names because I don't tell people who my clients are, but I am thankful for all my clients! It is such a privilege that you let me into your home, your life and your journey. Starting off the journey of health & fitness is hard and uncomfortable and I thank you for letting me in and trusting me during your uncomfortable time :D

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

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My new green monster

2011-02-14T14:56:00.000-08:00

Ok so I'm not really into things like this normally but my sister passed on this info to me and I thought I'd share.

It's a smoothie!! It's called The Green Monster Movement....now normally if I read the ingredients on something and don't know what one of them is I wouldn't make the food. However this was simple and I pretty much had everything I needed already!

What made me interested in trying it was that my sister said she really felt a difference in her energy levels. I found this interesting as she has suffered from low B12 and lack of energy her whole life. That's what perked my ear to try it and when I took a sip of the one she made it tasted GREAT!!! Just like bananas! mm mmm

So here's what is in it (you can refer to the website for more info too)
Put in blender in this order:
-Ground flax seed
-Steamed spinach (I put some in a bowl, splash water onto it then put it in the microwave)
-A whole banana (I also use a BIG handful of frozen blackberries/blueberries to change it up)
-Skim milk

I have this smoothie for my afternoon snack, that's my hardest time these days for food. I find myself too busy getting one kid from the bus, getting up another kid and getting all three kids their snack and just munching as I go along or finishing what they didn't eat for their snacks......so far it's working out well, it's easy and fast to make while I'm getting the kids snack ready then I just sip it until it's gone. Now also I have never been a fan of using smoothies as a food replacement. I was always really hungry 20min after or they just taste nasty....this did neither! Totally held me over until dinner and is yummy!

So I am waiting to see how things will work out for me with the energy and other possible side effects....I'll keep you updated on it and if you end up tying this please let me know your experience with it :D

"Live in YOUR Awesome!"

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Thankful Thurs~ That feel'n

2011-02-10T06:04:00.000-08:00

I am thankful for that feeling you get when you in walk the door of your house and it closes and I am home, safe and sound with my family and the kids come running to the door calling "Mommy Mommy!!!" and give me a hug.....best feeling EVER!

Student Mommy

2011-02-07T11:21:00.000-08:00

Ok so at some point last summer I decided that I was going to take a Personal Trainer course just for myself to gain more knowledge and not have to rely on my trainers as much...however this plan now also works well with my new business :D

So I signed up right in the new year, I did cause I said I would and even humbled myself to ask my mom for the money for the course.....so ok the course is two weekends. The first weekend I had to read 5 chapters out of the book and watch like 20 2min videos...easy enough right?!!

Well the reading went ok, I did that while the kids napped or played and just highlighted and took notes as I went along...watching the video's!! That's a different story. I thought there was only going to be like 2-3 video's we had to watch not 20!!! So of course I left it to the last night before I had to go to my class!

So this is how my video studying went

-sit down to watch video with my hot green tea...press play

-3.5sec later 2yr old comes up to me wanting milk...press pause...get child milk

-press play....take a sip of warm tea....dog whining to go out...press pause...let out dog

-press play.....children now fighting and starting to hit...press pause..each child in time out...deal with what they just did, hugs all around everyone is happy

-press play.......dog whining to come back in...press pause...let dog in

-press PLAY!!!!...4yr informs me he has to poo and wants me to come with him!!..press PAUSE!!!!! join child in bathroom, close my eyes at his request as he has his poo, cheer that he but it in the toilet, break out the treat box..

- Press play....take a sip of my cold green tea..now realize that I have to pee!

and so on and so on.....

So the first weekend went alright. Besides when the teacher was talking about the Anatomy I felt like he was speaking a different language!! The second day I even went for a run on the treadmill during lunch (the course was in the gym) and that felt GREAT after sitting around all day, and I could focus better in the afternoon. The second weekend I was still trying to get over the flu and instead slept in the corner of the room on our hour lunch break :(....but I did it and made it through and learned some really cool stuff and am excited :D

So now I just have to study for the test that I want to do in the next week while all the info is still fresh....even through I haven't even had a chance to look at the notes since the weekend...so finding a time to study would be good...well today at nap time would have been a good time eh!? But instead I am using this time to write this blog and cut out hearts for our V-day crafts this week that I got from Momstown :D....but I know I will do it...that's what us Mommy's do! We make it happen, we figure it out, we use our powers for good :D

"Live in YOUR Awesome!"

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Thankful Thurs ~ Being involved

2011-02-03T12:47:00.000-08:00

Today is the Chinese New Year!

I am thankful that I have the energy and heart to be an involved parent. We worked all week on Chinese lanterns, dragon pictures and masks and Chinese fans to decorate. Tonight we will enjoy a homemade Chinese dinner with friends :D...the kids are so excited!

Thankful Thurs~ Happy readers

2011-01-27T13:37:00.000-08:00

In honour of Family Literacy day.... I am thankful that my happy healthy children LOVE looking at books and being read to. The best way to work the imagination!

Not LOL...

2011-01-26T06:00:00.000-08:00

So as much as I would like to stay positive I have to say that some new things have been thrown in my path lately and I'm REALLY having a hard time with one of them. That one is the financial issue that we are having :( With my husbands second summer job done in Oct and our truck breaking down and us having to buy a van AND Christmas, we are deep under. The statement "I have no money" has NEVER rung more true then it does these days!
The biggest part of this problem for me is the social isolation that it causes mostly being, me not being able to go out to Phat Chicks boot camp....my life and breath. This makes me the saddest.

I thought that I would be ok as I could run outside and go to the gym (I'm still locked into a contract) and for the first two weeks it was ok...then I realized I wasn't Laughing Out Loud anymore. I would just put my music in my ears and do my thing...on my own. Now it's funny cause in the beginning that was fine with me. But after experiencing the group fun at boot camp and encouraging on other people, I miss being around the people. There's something that is awesome about seeing a new girl join us and get faster and stronger each week and seeing her start to smile and feel great about herself. Or seeing one of the girls kids run up to her after class and tell her what a great job she did :D....I'll NEVER forget the time I saw Suzie pushing one of our Phat dudes to bang out 4 more push-ups and his 8yr son was there beside him saying, "Come on DAD!!! Come on DAD you can do it!!"....WOW!! that kind of experience is not something you get to see everyday and it changes your insides.....In fact I have tears just typing out that story.

So in the mean time I'll do my own hardcore work out at the gym and in my living room cause I know the Phat Chicks are out there 5 days a week and I want to be able to keep up :D....I run my runs cause I want to be able to race with them again some day and I WILL keep up with them!! :D
I just wish the sadness would go away cause I REALLY miss LOL while exercising...

"Live in YOUR Awesome!"

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Thankful Thursday~ proudest Mommy momment

2011-01-20T09:19:00.000-08:00

I am thankful......
This right here is my proudest mommy momment to date! I was SO amazed that just a small action of sliding off the couch and doing sit-ups in front of the TV would turn into such a life changing momment like this one....This is my fav picture EVER and brings tears to my eyes EVERYTIME I look at it :D

'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

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2010 - Best year EVER!!!!~~~~2011 Look'n pretty good so far :D

2011-01-18T06:13:00.000-08:00

Ok so wow!!! Long time no blog :(....I've been thinking about doing it and just didn't get around to doing it but I guess enough people finally asked me if I'm back to it yet (thank you for the support) that it got my butt in gear.

So I must say 2010 has been THEE BEST year of my life to date....besides the tragic death of one of my Phat Chick trainers of course. I wasn't sad to see 2010 go but I wasn't happy about it either...I simply said thank you and I will always remember you 2010 :D

So this year just starts off with a bang of new things right away WTH!! First I continue to get new clients with my Bring out YOUR Awesome business which is just SO wicked and I thank the people who have refereed me to others. Next I was offered a job leading a running clinic for beginners at HealthQuarters and I was their first guest speaker last Wed and to run a walking clinic in April with Second Wind Conditioning. All totally awesome stuff and new to me. And last of all, last summer I committed to myself that I was going to take the Personal Trainer course at the start of 2011....so I signed up and spent last weekend in T.O doing the first half of it :D

So it's funny, I'm not too sure about you but when new things come up for me so does the fear...and it started to get to me with all these new things happening. But then I just remembered my first time I was standing at the start line at the Moon in June race and the start line at the Adventure Race and the first time I went to my Tri training and how scared I was at those points......but I just ignored the fear and the thoughts it gave me and still put one foot in front of the other and moved forward.

That then got me thinking about fear and how it's a thief!!...it has taken away MANY opportunities, chances, relationships, experiences and goals in my life and I realized that last year I took all that bundled it up in a ball and shoved it right back up fears ass!!!!! LOL!!!! So right now I can feel fear sitting there wanting to say that I am not smart enough to do this Personal Trainer course or that it will be too hard or that I will fail...but guess what it's not cause now fear is scared of ME!!!!! WICKED :P

How a sick Mama makes homemade soup...

2010-12-05T07:22:00.000-08:00

Ok so I am now on round three of having strep throat since Sept..what is UP with that!! Because I bring new, yummy, healthy recipes to my clients each week a client decided to share one with me :D...Lentil Soup mmm mmmm.

Lentil Soup - Serves 6 , 192 calories a serving
Need:- 1tbsp Olive oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 1tsp ground cumin
- 1 each carrot, celery stalk, potato diced
- 1cup dried red lentils
- 1 box chicken stock
- 1tbsp lemon juice

To do:Heat oil in pot, add onion & garlic cook 5min
Add cumin cook 30 sec
Add carrots, celery and potato, mix well
Stir in lentils & stock
Cover and cook on low for 30min
Add lemon juice, puree

So since I have a VERY sore throat I thought that a nice warm soup would do it some good. So as I was chopping the veggies my youngest pulls up a chair to the counter because he wants to help....and what one does the other must do to....so my oldest then joins him on the chair.

Oldest child - "What are you doing Mommy?
Me - "Making soup"
Youngest child - " HOT!!" (he's a child of few words right now)
Me - "yes the stove is hot right now, stay back please"
Oldest Child - " I want to put the carrots in Mommy"
Me - " Sorry buddy the pot is too hot for you to do that"
Oldest child then starts to cry because he wants to help, while the youngest child now starts trying to push his brother off the chair because he doesn't want to share the space anymore....boys are both now pushing each other and crying.

I put everything in the pot and put the lid on, "OK! everyone out of the kitchen and up to bed"

After finding my oldest sons 'blankie' and my youngest son's TWO 'blankies' and his soother we headed up stairs for diaper changes, pull-ups on, changing into PJ's, reading books, kisses and cuddles and promises to stay in bed and go to sleep right away, I walk down the stairs and smell something......OH CRAP!!! the soup! I run to the kitchen and lift the lid on the pot and see that all the liquid has boiled off...LOL! Ok it could have been worse!
So because I like to puree my soups I pull out the blender, put the 'soup' in it and added the rest of the chicken stock that I had in hopes it would help to thin it out.....welllll not so much....it was as thick as peanut butter, but it tasted GREAT!!! So I divided it up anyways and put it in the freezer saving one serving for the fridge and for lunch the next day....I figure I can just get more chicken stock and add it to each serving as I eat it :)

'Live in YOUR awesome!'

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I found my middle woman!

2010-11-23T06:34:00.000-08:00

So what some people don't understand is that although this journey has been fun, awesome and exciting it's also had it's lonely times...

The issue was that I didn't have a middle 'man' so to say. I had the people in my life who knew me before this journey who are happy with what they are doing in their lives and took interest at first in my journey (as good friends do) but there became a point where they lots interest or just couldn't connect with the 'new' Gail anymore, I found.

Then I have the new people I have met while par-taking in all my new adventure of boot camp, road races, adventure racing and triathlons. Now these people relate to me being not only being excited about a upcoming race or hardcore workout but also that I enjoy it...and they get that! Now what these people don't get are my 'worries' about slipping out of the healthy active lifestyle or that I didn't just stuff my face with Halloween candy JUST on Halloween night as a 'one time' thing, but I did it for the whole week after Halloween...they don't get THAT!

Well as we know a journey is on going and I am not a church going person but me and the 'big guy' we get along pretty good and once again he's taking care of me :D

Due to the fan page I made when I went to the Marylin Denis show casting call and the demo tape I made for it and posted I get e-mails weekly from other woman who are ready to start their own journey of feeling awesome.
One night I was saying to one of my trainers that I just wanted to go out and show them what they can do in their own living room so they can start feeling good about themselves, feel changes in their bodies and feel stronger!....she said, "So go!"

So I DO!!!! I am now a Personal Health & Fitness Motivator and of course it's...wait for it.....AWESOME!!! I am SO touched that these woman let me be apart of their journey when it's the hardest time...the beginning. Because in the beginning people..it's NOT pretty and it doesn't feel that great yet. But in doing this I have found my middle man or should I say middle woman! These woman are just like me and they tell me it's SO great that they are able to relate to me while doing this because I'm not a trainer who has been skinny and healthy all my life...I know how it feels to start a new healthy active life as a plus size woman.

So not only do I get to live in my awesome but I also get to see others living in their awesome!!...like the other day I was having a client do sprints on the treadmill and I had a feeling that she could go up in the speed, but before I was able to say that SHE said to ME, " I think I can go up in speed"!!!! WOW!!! I just got to share the moment this woman believed in herself! WAY COOL!...I can't stop thinking about it and in fact it brought tears to my eyes just typing it now.

These woman thank me all the time for my help and time but I want to thank them because just by them having the courage and strengh to reach out to me they have just made this Van Awesome journey a little less lonely xoxoxo

Mr. Van Awesome??!

2010-11-09T10:42:00.000-08:00

So I get a lot of people asking me while I am working out with the kids and going for runs with the kids and pumpkin picking and training and house work, where is my husband?

Well just to clear up matters because my husband is THE most wonderful person you will ever meet.....he's working, working, working and then when he's not working he's with the kids for the day as I go train or go to the gym or go for a run. Or he is waking up early getting the kids ready on his own in order to bring them to see mommy in a race :D

During the summer the wonderful man worked three jobs, some days he'd go from one job right to the next and not get home until 9pm at night. Most weeks in the summer there would be two days in a row that he didn't get to see the kids awake....but he would make up for it on the weekend. But he's always there as my rock right there beside me cheering my on and letting me know that he's so happy that I am happy and what a great wife and mother he feels I am xoxoxox

In fact some of this exercise stuff has even rubbed off on him. He's gone for a few runs and bike rides himself. Last Fri while we were watching TV and I was warming up to do a workout in the living room while we watched our show. So I was jogging on the spot. Suddenly my husband jumped up and said, "OK I can't just watch you do this anymore! I have to do something too!" LOL! So we both ran on the spot for 20min, he even brought out the weights......Wooo Hoooo nothing like sweating it out with my hubby on the living room floor on a Fri night....kinda reminds me of when we didn't have kids!! :O....But that's a whole other blog people!

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From the mouth of babes xoxox

2010-10-31T12:38:00.000-07:00

Although my oldest is newly 4 I find that he teaches me and reminds me of something new everyday.

We were running out of time to get our pumpkins for Halloween and my sons b-day party on the Sat (Day before Halloween). So on the Tues I told the boys that we were going to get pumpkins after school.......as we started driving there a few drops of rain turned into a MAJOR down pour! :(
I explained to Nicholas that we might not be able to get to the pumpkin farm and that we might just have to get them at the store instead. His responds was, " OH Mom you just have the believe".......what the!!!...I couldn't believe my ears LOL!...I looked back and said, "Did you say believe??"...he shook his head yes and looked at me with big, wide, pleading, blue eyes!!! OH MAN!
My responds...sigh, "Ok buddy we'll keep going"....how can you say no to that!!!

So we got to the farm and it was STILL pouring. I even got a great laugh and a warm fuzzy when I saw that there was another family under the tent by the pumpkin patch...then I looked closer and noticed that it was another Mama that I knew and always love seeing!!!! I called out to her that I was VERY glad to see I wasn't the only crazy Mama out here :) We got out and while Nicholas walked with his umbrella I held Owen and my umbrella in one hand and my purse in the other...but it was SO windy my umbrella flipped inside out LOL!!!...You know how hard it is to 're-flip' an umbrella the right way in the rain, wind and holding a 22mth old and your purse!?
Final we got to the pumpkin patch...so now I have Owen and the umbrella in one hand and my purse and pulling the wagon in the other hand....we got our pumpkins and even picked up some cookies :P
As we were driving home my son happily munched on his cookie and said, "See Mom I told you! You just have to believe!"
My response was, "Yup buddy your right!"

Good words to live by and I find myself thinking of them often these days as I venture into more unknown territory in my life.....

....you just have to believe!

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Puddles, Pee & Pancakes

2010-10-07T10:16:00.000-07:00

So with trying to get over being sick with a cold and strep AGAIN for the second time in three weeks I've been itching to get active again. I realize that I can't just step back into my old routine but need to work my way back up....so I just wanted to go for a nice long brisk walk.

It rained for most of the day on Mon, but after I picked up my oldest from school the weather was starting to clear up. By the time we got home the sun was even coming out! So I sat both the boys down (3 1/2ys & 22mths) and explained to them that mommy REALLY needed to go for a walk and that I was going to put them in the big jogging stroller and put a nice warm blanket on them and that Nicholas could bring his blankie and Owen could bring his soother. I asked them to just sit and have fun in the stroller, enjoy all the things they saw around them and to NOT fight with each other PLEASE!!!

So I packed them up and off I went! I was so excited to get out and moving in the nice air and in the sun. The boys were perfect and got along great and I praised them every 10min for it and thanked them too.

I took the route: South down Burloak, west along Lakeshore then North up Hampton Heath. As I was coming back up I saw that my oldest had fallen asleep and had his head on the 22mths old shoulder and that was how they were sitting...awwwww SO sweet :)

As I was crossing New St and 15 min from my house, the sun disappeared and it started to rain...hard...and cold! Now the kido's were ok cause I just closed the cover on the jogger....but I was getting soaked, to the bone!....so I started to run a bit but couldn't do it for long. As I was walking as fast as I could and had cold drops of rain dripping of my nose and down my back I thought, " This can't be good for my sickness recovery!"

We made it to the house and I went right into the garage. As I was trying to wake up Nicholas I got a whiff of pee....what the..... then it dawned on me. He had peed himself while sleeping and there was a big puddle of pee at the bottom of the stroller...great!...and he didn't want to get out of the jogger but just stay there and sleep. So I picked him up kicking and screaming, brought him in the house stripped him down naked (cause EVERYTHING was soaked in pee) and layed him down on the front chair, threw the blanket over him and rushed out to see what the 22mth was doing cause he wasn't answering my calls to come in the house. I was relieved to see he was just squatting by the drain pipe watching the water come out. As I scooped him up and said it's time to go inside he showed his dislike for this by taking his soother and throwing it......right into the puddle of pee in the jogger.......AAAWESOME!!!!

So after cleaning the pee puddle, spraying down the rest of the jogger, changing into dry clothes and dressing Nicholas....we sat down to a nice warm dinner of apple, flax seed pancakes............

I just wanted to go for a walk....

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Always up to something!

2010-10-01T06:12:00.001-07:00

So I heard on the radio the other day about this casting call for the new Marilyn Denis show. They are looking for people who have a passion for something to be guests on the show. I figured this would be a WAY cool out of the box thing to do....so I'm going down!

My passion is to help and share with others about the awesome journey that I have had and encourage them to have their own regarding health and well being and for the parents out there how we pass that onto our kido's :)

I have to put a demo tape together and I am collecting info/comments/stories on a fan page that I made. So if you all could add your 2 cents to it and share your stories, pictures or comments and hit the 'like' button that would be so great!! It would show that there is a need for this out there and it's already impacting people....as I have had the enjoyment of already learning.

SO exciting and I can't wait to take you along with me...cause I can't do this on my own!! Spread the word :D

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Trying to get back at it.....

2010-09-30T09:18:00.000-07:00

Ok so I have been trying to get back at it after being SO sick. I did hit two Phat Chicks bootcamps last week...one night I had both kids in tow as well. I also hooked up with a friend that I've been trying to find some time to ride with for awhile now. We went out on Sun morning and boy the weather was just perfect!!!! We rode across Burlington into Hamilton along the lake...breath taking! a total of about 36k. It was great just what I needed...until I wiped out! ;Z. It was the worst one this summer cause I was on an open trail and had lots of room to fall and tumble all over the place...ouch! right over the handle bars and a drop roll to the right shoulder. As I laid there calling out my friends name so he would look back and realize I wasn't behind him anymore I was doing a 'is anything broken' check and thinking, "Oh crap did I just screw my family over?!"....So I'm happy to report nothing but my ego is broken :)...and I am showing off all the war wounds as they surface!!

And now....now I have a cold...sigh...really! But it's forced me to slow down, the last two nights the kids were in bed at 7pm I was in my PJ's at 7:05pm and sat on the couch with my husband just watching TV and resting until 10pm!!!! WOW it felt strange to just sit and watch TV cause still most of the time I am working out in front of the TV, AND to be in a room with my husband for that long was nice cause our summer has been SO busy with me training and him working 3 jobs!....I was like, " Hi I'm Gail and I am your wife, I live in this house too" LOL!!

I find it hard laying around day after day. It reminds me of two things. First when I was younger I suffered from depression and that's all I did, then when I became over weight and unhealthy that's all I did too. So although I'm not either of those anymore it reminds me of those times and starts to feel like it again....and as I've always said all along I wasn't in this for the looks of things, but how I feel!

I was reminded the other day that although I might be doing the same thing (laying around/resting) it's for a different reason...I need to remember that....for a different reason.....

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You can't keep a good woman down....but now what?!

2010-09-22T16:46:00.000-07:00

So want to know what happens after the big build up to the big race day?!! The following weekend you get very very sick! Yup that's what happened to me :(

After my Tri, which by the way I continue to feel very happy about. I took Mon and Tues as rest days. I didn't realize it but it's been a busy summer of training!! When I finally didn't HAVE to do anything I was able to see how much energy I had been putting out. However by Wed night I wanted to do something, so I went for a run. I LOVE these fall nights so nice and cool and refreshing, even if you don't run I highly suggest you get out for a walk it will do you wonders trust me :)

So the run was awesome! I picked a route and just ran it...no stopping....no turning back. I love that failure is just not on the list of options for me anymore. So I ran 8.6k which is my longest run on my own so far :). Then the next day woke up not feeling that great and by the next morning I was done....swollen throat pain into my ear, fever of 103.6. I had a BAD case of strep and had to be put on IV for two days to get fluids back in me....gesh!

What sucked about that was that I missed the big dinner that all the Mommy's in Motion had cause I was too sick. I was REALLY disappointed about that cause I wanted to hear how ever one's race went :(
I also had to pull out of a 10hr Adventure Race that I was in with a team of 5 other girls the next weekend.....god that KILLED me to have to do that! But I had to make the call. Even though the fever was gone and the throat was better I had no energy, just showering and getting dressed made me ready for a nap! I went from running over 8k to trying to go for a walk....sucked!!...............But someone said to me that is the sign of a true athlete, knowing when to go and knowing when to stop. I also had to think of my family and how much I am needed. Plus it scared the crap out of me being that sick.

But you can't keep a good woman down cause I still showed up for the Adventure Race to cheer lead the girls on and take pictures I wasn't going to miss that adventure!...It was awesome to see them come in first in their division!!!! and it was our first race! PHAT CHICKS F'N ROCK!!!!

So now what!?? I find myself very worried and really thinking a lot about what I will be doing with myself through the winter. Funding is VERY tight for us so I can't sign up for a bunch of stuff and I don't know how long I'll be able to run outside as this is my first winter as a runner. I often find myself worrying about all the weight coming back on and how embarrassed I would be if that happened and how unhappy I would feel about it too......I'm in limbo right now trying to figure out a new weekly exercise routine. If anyone has ideas or could share what they do in the winter to stay active that cost little to nothing that would be great :D

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Race Day!!

2010-09-06T11:47:00.000-07:00

Ok so at the start of the summer when I first saw the post on Momstown message board about who wants to do a Triathlon I thought this would be a crazy awesome thing to do...it's going to be SO frigg'n hard but that was what I liked about it. I saw myself JUST being able to make it over the finish line....crawling in fact is what I envisioned...and having tears in my eyes of having finished.....

OK so fast forward to yesterday and it was NOTHING like that! I feel like I did great and I felt GREAT and strong doing it!!! WOOOO HOOOOOO!

Of course all through the summer we trained in the stinky nasty heat, then when race day came...cold, windy, cloudy with a bit of rain...GREAT! I realized that morning that I could train hard and get strong but there is still things that will be out of my control....like how windy and cold it was that morning. So I told myself that no matter how I got thru this race it was going to be good....and it was!

The swim was wicked...bit chilly but nothing major, in fact the group that started 3min before my group...I caught up to them in the water! So coming out of the water I was pumped!....during the transition to get on the bike I decided that I wasn't going to spaz out. I was just going to take my time and get going...which I did and must say that trying to tie up shoe laces with fingers that you can't feel cause they are so cold from the swim was interesting LOL!!! The bike was good, bit windy which slowed me down a bit, but I just kept pushing those peddles down......now getting off the bike....

So just a quick FYI for those of you that don't know but when you go from the bike to a run it's called a Brick....cause your legs feel like bricks!

WELL!!! After a cold swim and a windy,cool and hilly 10k bike I stepped of that bike and thought OMG!I've NEVER felt my legs be like that before (even during training)....but I knew I just had to keep moving. So I parked my bike and dropped my helmet and just started running....once warmed up it was all good plus I saw Suzie, my Phat Chick trainer who was doing the Duathalon that day during the run. "GO HARD!!!!" she yelled....so the last straight away to the finish I just gave'r! full out sprint WOOOOO HOOOOOOOO!!! and I had the Phat Chicks and the Mommy's in Motion team cheering me on....such a lucky girl I am 8-D

22nd place out of 130 people, came in 7th in my age group out of 53... finished in 52min, but my fav part of the day...I have two....my Daddy saying how impressed he was with how well I did and the family picture that I got with my boyz after the race (brings tears to my eyes as I type this) xoxoxoxox

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Eat, Sleep, Train & be a Mommy!

2010-09-04T19:19:00.000-07:00

Ok so here I am again...the night before a race. I feel like I could puke! I must say I am a bit stress'n here. Been thinking about the race a lot and it's getting me stressed, which I don't like. I want to have fun! I want to chillax on myself and REALLY accept that I will do the best I can and YES that will be good enough. I'm just worried about letting myself down with something happening like what happened at the adventure at the start where I had issues on the bike and really slowed down my team. At least it's all just on me tomorrow!

It's been an interesting week leading up to this race. I have a Nike shirt that I LOVE wearing cause first it's purple (my fav colour) and it says, 'Eat, Sleep, Train' but because of the type of week I had, as I was putting the shirt on this week I added on the end to that saying, 'and be a Mommy'.

The week wasn't too much different then any other....besides my growing stress of the up coming race. But it sucks when the kido's get sick! So between meeting with the other Mommies and our Tri trainer Nancy Hasting from Second Wind Conditioning ( Who by the way is awesome!!! even if I did feel like giving her the finger during some of our Tues trainings!!! LOL!) showing other Phat Chicks the course and prepping my stuff for race day. I had to deal with, puke, high fevers, puffy eyes, a mysterious rash, all day crying and request to be 'uuuup', making breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks in between, extra laundry from the puke, major poopy diapers AND underwear (the kids not mine!).........sigh....I could go on and on and if you are a mommy I know you have this same list.....and more to add to....so really as I write this I think the Triathlon will be a nice vacation!! LOL!!

I mean really!! One day I found myself sitting there trying to eat my lunch after I have fed the kids and finally got a chance to sit down at the table. I bit into a sugar snap pea and think to myself, "Hmmmm this tastes, sweet and juicy with a hint of poo!"....oh right I forgot to wash my hands after the last diaper change.....NICE!.....REALLY!!! ( If your a parent your laughing right now and if your not you're totally grossed out I bet...but so is the glamorous life of a stay at home mom)

So my bags are packed, my lunch for tomorrow is packed, the boys lunches for tomorrow are packed and dinner is ready to go in the crock pot in the morning. My hubby and both kids, Mom and my Dad will all be heading up to be my cheering section. I'm really looking forward to the pictures that will come out of tomorrow. I LOVE having all these pictures of me doing all these different things :D

I just can't end this without mentioning Mer (my Phat Chick trainer that had a tragic accident) she had offered to help me train for this Tri when I first told her that I was thinking of doing it.....she never had the chance to do that. But she will be with me and the other Phat Chicks out there. I have her pink ribbon on my bike but I will also be sewing a ribbon on my sports bra cause I NEED her out there with me in the water and while I'm running too......this one's for you Mer lets rock it girl!!!! xoxoxoxox

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...and the journey goes on....common question

2010-08-27T20:55:00.000-07:00

So I have had a few requests to continue on with this blog...I'm very touched and don't really know how to take that in :)....but what I have LOVED most about this whole thing are the stories and journey's that you all have let me be apart of and I thank you for that.

So what's going on now? What's your next challenge? are common questions that people are asking me. Well all through the summer every Tues night I have been training with a group of other moms from Momstown to do a Triathlon on Sept 5/10.....gulp! Our team name is 'Mommy's in Motion' LOL!!! Isn't that awesome!! I'm becoming a shirt slut...first I got my Phat Chicks shirt, then my RacedayRush one and now this one! SO COOL! It's neat to see not only has my wardrobe changed in the size of the clothes but also the type. I think I have more workout clothes then I do 'normal' clothes....AND OH!!! OH! OH!....I spent some time in Lulumon the other day!!!...Lulu and I are now BFF's!!! Which is awesome cause when I went in there a few years back and grabbed the largest sizes that they had, went into the change room and once I had the clothes on looked at myself in the mirror and said out loud to myself, "WHOLEY CAMEL TOE!!!!!" I took the clothes off and got out of there SO fast and hadn't returned until last week LOL!!

Another common question I get asked is, "How do you fit it all in?" My answer to that is you CAN if you WANT to and us mommies/woman can be very creative. I've had to fill up a bag of toys for the kids and bring them to the field behind my house dump them and the bag of toys in the middle of the field in order to get a workout in. I've also bathed the kids and given in to letting Owen have his soother (even thought he's not in bed) and Nicholas to take his blankie outside (which we NEVER do cause blankie is scared of outside AKA I don't want to have him get lost OR dirty) and put the boys in the jogging stroller with their PJ's on and went for a jog to the lake and back even thought it was past their bed time, just so I could get a jog in.....and want to know a tip. It works better past their bed time cause they are too tired to fight while in the stroller LOL!!
I also take them out to Phat Chicks Boot camp with me with the bag of toys in tow and sometime have to get them involved in order to help them stay happy for the hour. Like today I did inch worms with the 3 1/2yr (35lb) on my back, then he sat on my tummy while I did crab crawls back. At one point I had to hold Owen 20mth old (25lb) while doing squats....and you know what I was thinking each time?!...."This is going to give me a better work out!!" LOL!!....However involving my kids has really turned out to be such a great thing. Nicholas is always wanting to show me his pipes and how strong he is, he even said to me tonight that he thought my pipes and his pipes are the same size!! LOL!!.....GOD I could just pour ketchup on him and eat him for dinner I tell ya!! :P

So any Mama out there who tells me that kids and family get in the way of them taking care of themselves...well sorry ladies I'm here to burst your bubble...someone has to do it and I'm OK if you get pissed at me for doing it...but that's BULLSHIT!! I speak from experience!....think about something you REALLY like to do or have in your life. You find ways to do it or have it, even if it's not a healthy thing. I KNOW you find little tricks or ways to make it happen...so you have the power in you! Now you just need to use those powers for good :D

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Can't forget the video!!!

2010-07-29T11:10:00.000-07:00

Click here for the awesome video of the race :)

So how did it go!!??!!!

2010-07-29T10:27:00.001-07:00

It was THE craziest CRAZY ever in my life!!! Hills straight up, mud to your knees a sports induced asthma attack and that was just during the first 50min while doing the 15k bike ride! So over all IT WAS AWESOME!!! :D

I will report that I got to do the underwater points that I ROCKED in like 2min...really it was a little too easy but fun non the less and it was cool cause my husband and Dad and his girlfriend had come up for the weekend and they were on land cheering me on at that point, taking pictures and filming....very cool!

We did get stuck at one check point...I think it was CP41. We couldn't find it and got so lost trying that I couldn't even tell you on the map as to where we were. We spent 30min looking for it until Amy and I said we're done here lets move on...we had to drag Shane back to the boat kick and screaming pretty much, all the while me saying, "BROWN let it go!! It's going to be OK!"....boys GESH!

The weather report for the day was thunder storms but the weather ended up being perfect racing weather. No thunder storms, not even rain just overcast which was good cause if it was sunny we would have cooked out there.

God I had SO much fun! It's all I have been thinking about this week as I change diapers, bath kids, do the laundry, do the dishes and make dinner :D The one time that sticks out in my mind was the end 1000000 mile run we did....ok it was more like 4k but it felt like 1000000 miles! It was at the end and we ended up running around the marsh to pick up 2 more check points. I knew we were running late so we just had to book it back. We just kept running and running and running and running some more. A little voice would pop up in my head and say, "God I want to stop!, I can't wait until we are done, Just stop and walk for a min!" But I had to tell it to F off cause running, even if it was slow, was better then walking or stopping all together because that was minutes ticking away!.......we were 9min late and lost 90pts oops! But we made it to the end....THANK GOD!!!!

Next bring on the grub :P We had a great time at dinner and laughing and talking about the day the two other teams won 2nd and 3rd in the all woman's heat!! SO impressed with those chicks! xoxox

So all week everyone has been asking how it went. I was even asked if I was thinking about doing it again next year. My reply, "I was planning on doing it next year at dinner that night!".......

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It's come to this....

2010-07-23T12:16:00.000-07:00

So I came across the letter I wrote in to be entered into the RoackstAR Adventure Race. This is were it all started:

I AM YOUR WOMAN for this adventure race let me tell you! I USE to be the one who sat on the couch eating watching other people’s lives on TV. I USE to be the one who would listen to what others were doing to challenge themselves in their lives, then say, “Good for you!” but never give it a thought for myself to do it.

Then I had my children, both boys… and I started to think. Is this the type of person I want my kid’s mother to be? NO! I want to run and play and keep up with them and so it started…the transformation, body, mind and soul. We didn’t have much money so I had to educate myself on exercise and nutrition. A lot of my fitness is done right in my living room, nothing fancy but instead of sitting on the couch watching TV I started doing sit-ups, jumping jacks and running on the spot. I even joined a Biggest Loser competition to help motivate me even more. It did! I won at the mid-point AND at the end for most weight lost, 8.63% and inches lost. I’m down 4 shirt sizes and almost 4 pants sizes. I don’t know the numbers cause I don’t look. I learned that I don’t need a number to tell me that I feel f’n AWESOME and strong. This is where I have had the most joy in my journey, feeling stronger and doing things that I use to watch other people doing.

This race is the perfect next step in my journey I LOVE doing crazy S#@t like this now! My first crazy thing was climbing all 1776 stairs of the CN tower. I’m doing it again this year and taking 20min off my time…ooooo ya baby!

So I AM YOUR WOMAN!!!!! I will put everything I have into it and then squeeze out some more. We got to show those Mama’s out there that YES you can take care of yourself, feel great and STILL be there for your family :o)

Then the e-mail from Shane letting me know that I was in! WOO HOOO! and bit of OMG!

The next 12 weeks that followed have changed me to the core some good some bad. Mer, one of our trainers and someone I would call a Phat friend her accident...that was not good. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about her and wonder, "What would she do?" or just remember times that I spent with her and her positive attitude......

Now the good things that happened are too many to post but a few that come to mind is how much fun I had with the team. As I said before I use to just workout on my own and run in the night so no one could see me. But being with these girls had to force me to be with people while working out and in the spirit of teamwork, pay attention to what others were doing around me and either help them or ask them for help...a very humbling experience...but the best thing that came out of that was the laughing. Believe it or not you CAN laugh while you are grunting thru the pain LOL!! and it makes it funner...if that's a word.

A few times while I was out there training either in the woods or on the road I would think to myself, "What am I doing here?" "How did I get here?" "Do I even belong here?"......I'm starting to feel that I DO belong out there, it was waiting for me all along :D

So with that all said and done, the training is done the numbers have been tallied the final two have been announced and now it's the night before......

A lot of people are asking me if I am excited, I say yes but I'm not really sure what it is to be excited about...I just have to wait and see. But I keep picturing me and my team out there doing great and being great. I REALLY hope that they have the underwater point this year and that the thunder holds off cause I'm REALLY excited about getting those!!! I know I'm a geek, the idea of diving into gross muddy, sea weedy water to get some sweet ass points for my team excites me...just like the sweet tread on my new trail shoes that Saucony gave me, also floats my boat...sexy LOL!

So I haven't pack yet and it's 4pm Friday afternoon. I still have to ship the kido's off to Grandmas cause my husband will be coming up to the race with me. A weekend away without the kids, this is what you call a romantic weekend away! LOL!..."I'll just scoot off and do the race for 4 hrs then be right back hun" :D....however on a MORE important note, my nails are Rock Star ready!!!

The race starts at 2pm on Sat July 24/10. Racedayrush's facebook page will be doing live updates so click here for them. Of course it will all be taped and I'll post the video when it's done.

OMG! OMG! here I go......

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Pictures say it all :D

2010-07-16T17:45:00.001-07:00

The amazingly awesome woman that I trained with!

The other winner and my teammate Amy!!!

Two of our trainers from Racedayrush.com

One VERY happy and excited ME!!!

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

2010-07-15T20:58:00.000-07:00

Nuf said..

2010-07-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

WOW long time no blog...... that's what happens with a mother of two young kids and then add in a third for dayacare mon-fri and that equals no time to sit down and one tired mama!

The last training day that we had was about two weeks ago now...and it was F'N HARD!!! We were at Mountsberg Conservation which I HAD fond memories of with my children going to Christmas Town and getting a private visit with Santa, but now a long string of curse words comes to mind when I think of that place PLUS Shane's voice yelling "GET BACK ON YOUR BIKE!!!!!!!"

So it was atleast 2hrs we had a map and ourselves we had to run a part then bike then run then bike then up the stairs of the observation tower to do 10 push-ups at the top then repeat that 5 times!!! only to finish off with 15 burpees on the ground and then back on the bike to the end of the path...pant, pant, pant.......then of course we got to bike back :) CRAZY AWESOME!!! However thouse were not the words running through my head at the time! LOL! Infact for the first time on this journey I thought to myself, "I can't do this!, I don't want to do this!, I want to stop!" and I was SO fustrated when I had to get off my bike and walk it up some of the hills....never mind adding in Shane yelling at us, "Get back on your bike!!!" LOL! That poor boy, I'm sure he heard "fuck you!" from us ladies more that day then I think anyone in one life time would hear!!! ......We love you Shane!!!! =)

Once it was all done we were a wet, muddy, happy crew :) (see picture above)

As we were relaxing with the treats that Shane brought us and basking in his complements......he's such a big softy ;) It was mentioned that that was our last training together before the big race. I was very sad to hear about this and wondered what I would do with my Sun's now! Part of me wishes this wouldn't come to an end but the another part is REALLY excited to do the race. What's awesome is that 7 out of the 10 of us have signed up to do the race anyways, so who ever wins the two spots...well it's just an added bonus :D

So this is it folks!...Thurs, July 15th, we will be told who the 2 ladies are. Wish me luck, all my family and friends tell me that I am a 'sure thing' but I don't know cause I see a lot of other 'sure things' in our group as well....stay tune...da da da daaaaaaaaaaa...

Then and Now

2010-06-19T20:08:00.000-07:00

THEN-I was happy for my life....NOW-I enjoy living my life!

THEN- I was happy to hear about other peoples experiences in life....NOW- I go out and experience it with them

THEN- I didn't feel like my insides matched my outsides......NOW- I feel complete

THEN- I sat on the couch watching shows of others doing amazing things.....NOW- I'm doing the amazing things, like training for this RockStar Adventure race and for my first Triathlon in Sept!

THEN- The clothes picked me. I had to buy whatever fit me....NOW- I PICK THE CLOTHES!!!!!

THEN- I would sweat when I ate.......NOW- I sweat 6 days a week working out with Phat Chicks and Raceday Rushers

THEN- I wouldn't have had the courage to move forward in the face of fear and the unknown.......NOW- I feel the fear but still move forward

NOW- Check out the video of our AMAZING training day. It was a chance to get a taste of what the real race will be like. Shane and Neil hide their balls all over the forest at different check points and we had to race to find them, get the colour and be the first out.....check out who the first team was!!!! BOO-YA BABY!!!!!

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First Time Proud Momments 8-)

2010-06-09T10:33:00.000-07:00

It still amazes me that the small action I did last fall of sliding off the couch and deciding to do sit-ups during commercials has exploded into the wonderfulness that is my fulfilled life today! Who ever says that big things come from small actions is SO right.

We had the Moon in June race this weekend and I signed my 3 1/2yr up for the kids 1k fun run, that they have now changed the name of to honour Meredith...very cool! I wasn't sure how my son was going to react to doing the race so for days before I talked to him about it. Explaining how we will be like race cars and go really fast. At one point he asked me if we were going to run the race with our clothes on!!! LOL! LOL! How he thought to ask that I have NO idea!!....however I don't care how fit you are you need to have clothes on when you run! :P

I had tears in my eyes as we started the race and as we finished and I saw the smile of excitement and fun on his face. I was SO proud of him my heart hurt. I also had a moment a moment that I hope every mommy gets a chance to experience and that was, I felt I was being a good mother. It's every mothers hope to be a good mother but I don't think that many get the chance to feel that they really are one. While running the race with him I did! I realized that I was the reason why this was happening, a year ago on a Sat night we would have been at home watching movies and eating pop, chips and dip....but look at us now. Last Sat night I was able to physically be there for my child, give him an experience that he will remember for awhile and help to build his self-esteem :D

So all you mommies out there STOP!........stop and think and list all the ways that you ARE a great Mom! In fact I want you to write it in the comment box below this post...LETS HEAR IT LADIES!!! Then take your hand and use it to pat yourself on the back...it's OK you can do it....your family won't fall apart while you do it and in fact you will be giving them a happier Mom.

I was more excited about my sons race then I was mine. But I did the 5k afterwards and my goal was to be under 30min....drum roll please!........29:56! WOOO! HOOOO! I always find it so helpful to have a goal in mind like that. It helps me push out that little bit more.

Now the next morning was our 1 1/2hr Phat Chicks boot camp a$$ kick for the RockStar Adventure Race training and it was a good one!!! I told Susie that she hurt me deep...deep down in my butt and in my abs oh!.... baby!.. I LOVE the pain! Although I do some pretty hard core workouts on my own nothing effects me like what Susie does to us, and that's why I keep coming out for more.

And as always I am impressed with the rest of the girls on the team getting through it too!

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Canoeing, Keys and stroking....

2010-05-30T17:12:00.000-07:00

So another awesome wickedly wild day training with the team!

We were at Kelso today in the canoes and I tell ya I don't know what's more fun the rush of the race OR making Shane and Neil from Racedayrush.com uncomfortable with our comments LOL!!

We were put in boats as teams of two and I don't think that I could have been teamed up with a better person...you ROCK MEL!!!! Once we realized that we worked better with her in the back yelling out instructions and me in front just given'er on the paddle we were good :)

First things we learned was different types of strokes, which gave us many times to make the guys blush with some double meaning jokes 8-). Mel and I just couldn't get the stroke down where we had to spin the canoe on the spot. We were both paddling away with all our might but we just stayed in the same spot LOL!

Of course the racedayrush boyz bring out some fun and games...but no chocolate milk ;)...So up next was a 'race challenge' and a lesson in transitioning from running the getting in the canoe and out on the water. Right away my game tiger comes out...I was talking with Mel about how we were going to get in the boat the best and fastest way. We started at the top of the hill and had to run down then get in the canoe and get a beach ball that they put out in the lake. We weren't the first down the hill, but we weren't the last either but let me tell you once we hit that canoe it was power house Van Awesome up front and given'er!!!! WOOO HOOOO!! It was great. I just looked down and watched the water rush by the boat as I dug in the water hard with my paddle. Mel would yell out to me to switch sides and I would do it and keep going. We were the first to get a ball but 5sec afterwards I heard Shannon say "Ya!" that's when I knew they had gotten a ball and the race back to shore was on! My arms were getting tired and I was getting hot and even starting to breath heavy but I just clamped down and kept paddling. We made to the shore but were going so fast that we almost hit another boat with a family in it LOL...so I jumped out at that point and heaved the canoe over and up on shore all the while hearing Shane who was standing on the shore yell , "Both people out of the boat and run to me to win!!" I yelled, "Lets go MEL!!! because Amy and Shannon were right beside us at the shore.....we ran to Shane and by second and inches WON!!!!!!! OMG I LOVE that!! I use to think that winning by a mile was great but winning by an inch is awesome!!! It shows that people were pushing me and I was able to squeeze out that last drop.

Of course the day couldn't end without some drama. We did have some of the teams tip in their canoe and go for an early swim :) Only problem was one of the bags that went in the water had half the teams car keys it it....ooopppps they are all now swimming at the bottom of the lake. The good thing is that with a few phone calls to husbands to bring the extra keys and rides home from others on the team the situation was fixable :)....it's the curse of the keys I tell ya! Tracey lost hers in the woods on one of our training days too :z

I was dropped off at my moms were my family was having a BBQ and when I walked in they all looked at me and said,"What have you been doing?!" LOL I was in my wet clothes and sandy wet shoes still and was sun burnt to a crisp from standing around waiting to fix the key problem at the lake. I said, " I'll tell you later I just need something to EAT!!! and some water!" Every ones stuff was in their cars including my bag that I had packed extra water and snacks in. I piled everything on my hamburger, didn't look at the box to see how many calories it was, didn't check it out to see if the portion size was right I just rammed that thing in my mouth and next I hit the potato salad....sometimes a girls just gotta eat!!!

As a side note I have to add. As I do these things I can not help but compare to how I use to be when I was over 250lbs. I NEVER would have been out there doing this stuff, having this fun, winning these races and believing...truly believing, for the first time in myself! WOW! how things have changed and it all started with me sliding off the couch one day and doing sit-ups during the commercials. I am SO grateful for my new healthy way of life and ALL the adventure it brings me.

xoxo

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Swagged out biker chick

2010-05-20T19:44:00.000-07:00

Ok so I just had thee BEST night of my life!!!

Was great to start the night off with Suzie-Q from Phat Chicks jumping around on the field with us as we did some warm up exercises.

Then we were off!!....on our bikes to do some bike trail training. I was so excited about what we were going to do tonight that I had a hard time falling asleep last night cause I was thinking about it, LOL!!!....Although I also had a little tingle in my tummy to...that was the fear, but I wasn't listening to that tonight. As Neil and Shane from Race Day Rush sign off on their e-mails "Onward!"

Our first skill we learned was going down and back up curbs. This skill will also help us in the trails going over logs, rock and who knows what else. So I made it over my first curb by holding my breath, leaning down into the bike (like we were told to do ) and pulling up to go over.....and closing my eyes!...I made it and it wasn't that hard, I was surprised and I'm happy to say I can do it now without having to hold my breath and close my eyes :)

Next skill, going down and then back up a hill with roots and rocks. Neil showed us how to do and the dude was like a hot knife thru butta. The need to have to go fast in order to get to the other side scared me I must say. I didn't make it all the way up the first time, but the next two times I did. I learned that I had to let the bike kind of go a little...without loosing control and just trust that if I keep pedaling it will work itself out...and it does, very cool!

We continued on to do a fun relay race with each other through the forest and back. I find it REALLY makes a difference in me when I have to race someone or something. The killer in me kicks in and I'm off! I jump high mounds, take sharp curves with ease and love every min of it. My killer in me came out again when we stopped by the river and then were shown a Suunto heart monitor,

We were told that the first 3 that carried their bike across the river and back would win one.....I was off my bike and in the river before Shane finished his sentence LOL, it was so fun and the water was refreshing. So my heart monitor is pink woooo hooooo (thanks Joyce for trading with me!)

Then it was time to head home, my feet were soaked and gushy, my pants right thru to my underwear were soaked and I LOVED it.

Now the hill.....awww the hill. We had a crazy hill to bike up in order to get out of Lions Valley. Matt Merko from Saucony had already rocked our world with free shirts, hats and shoes bags but he turned to us as we were heading to the hill and blew us away by saying,"Who ever rides the hill the whole way up will get prizes from Saucony!" AWESOME!!!!.......I couldn't do it :( but I tried HARD!! But one girl out of the 8 of us did, my frigg'n hero Shannon!!!! Matt said that if she did it again he would make the prize new shoes....so what does the girlfriend do?!....goes back to the bottom and rides the whole way up again!?!!!!....unfrigg'n believable!

The ride back to the car was AWESOME, I love the speed the wind in my face and blowing in my ears...I was on a high and still am. This may be the second time in over four years on a bike but I was SO thankful that I was fit enough to, first be able to even do this tonight and that I was strong enough that I didn't struggle much and therefore was able to have FUN :)

Now this swagged out biker chick is going to go do a face plant into my pillow...thanks for coming along for the ride :D

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My heart is two steps behind...

2010-05-17T14:42:00.000-07:00

I don't think of Mer every min of the day like I did when she first passed but I still think of her at many points during my day. I contuine to exercise and do my homework that is given to us for the race, but as I physically move through the motions I feel like my heart is still back there with Meredith.

I never use to need to hear peoples words of encouragment while I was exerciseing to keep me going before. They were nice to hear but I wasn't in need of them...these days I seem to need them!?

We did our trail run training on Sun and it was just a beauitful day for it, the only thing that would have made it better is if all the ladies of the team could have made it :(....we missed you chicks for sure!

But we needed to run the whole way...and I didn't. Not because I couldn't...I guess just cause I gave up. Which is REALLY strange for me. One of the times I was walking I was thinking to myself about the reason why I stopped running...this is when I realized that I can physically move but my heart seems to be two steps behind me.

As I finished off the trail, I was walking it and planned to finish it walking. But Amy who had already finished turned around and yelled, "Come ON Gail!!!"...and I thought, "AW crap alright" and I finished the trail running. I realized it was a strange feeling that I needed thouse words of encouragement....strange and I don't really know where I'm going with this but I'll have to do it one step at a time I guess. Good thing the 'big guy in the sky' knows what he's doing and put me in with a great group of ladies who are very encouraging...dude knows what I need before I need it :D

So our homework has increased and we will be needing to be working out 6 days a week, good thing I already workout 4-6 a week already GESH!

But as a stay at home mama with two little kids who are with me pretty much 24/7 I'm going to have to get creative...so the plan tonight is take the kids out to the field behind my house, plop them in the middle of the field with some balls and other toys while I run and do my exercise. Then head home to bath them put them to bed, give my hubby a high five in the hallway as he comes home from his second job and I head out to do swimming training at the pool for the Tri that I am doing in Sept....man I feel tired just typing it!

Ok I better head out before I change my mind :)

Long time no blog

2010-05-13T17:10:00.000-07:00

So it's been awhile since I have blogged but it's been for good reason. I have been speechless, which NEVER happens but unfortunately it was for a sad reason that rocked me to my core.

After showing up two Thurs ago to the Phat Chicks boot camp only to find Suzie and Meredith weren't there I got a bad feeling in my stomach. I found out the next day that Meredith had been out biking and had an accident and she was not going to survive the injuries..........I was speechless. This is NOT supposed to happen! She passed away Fri afternoon....I was in shock (and still am)

WOW! I could go on forever about all the thoughts that were in my head but in the end I am speechless.

On that Fri afternoon I texted Suzie saying, " It doesn't feel right just sitting here. Can I do something?" Her reply was, " Go for a run Mer would like that"....cue the water works.....but once I got the kids down I put on my Phat Chicks shirt and went for a 5k run, it was the right thing to do to honour such a beautiful person.

On the Sun all the Phat Chicks gathered at La Salle park for a meeting. Meredith's sister and mother and other family members came out and it was great to see Suzie so I could give her a hug........

.....ok whoa see this is why I haven't been able to blog, I'm crying as I type this.....

I just want to say that on the day of her funeral in honour of Meredith I woke up at 5:30am...ok it was 5:40am and went for a 6k run...straight down to the lake and back. As I was running I let Meredith know that I was breaking one of my rules for her....rule #1 I don't do cold! rule # 2 I don't do EARLY!!!....however the run was awesome and beautiful and I totally see why Mer loved them. So I'm thinking for the future.....screw the rules :D

The funeral....speechless. I feel like I'm going to see her again and be able to tell her all about what has happened...but I'm not.

Now the fat chick inside me...and yes I mean fat with an F. Well her voiced popped up on that Fri night and she was saying, " Just eat a bunch of crap food, shove your pie hole as much as you can, sit on that couch and wallow. Don't move don't get up" But because Meredith and Suzie have been such a positive influence to me in this new healthy way of life I just knew that was not the right thing to do and would make them very sad, that's why I went for that first run. I was glad to see that was my reaction because I always wonder/worry that something will happen that will trigger me to go back to my old unhealthy lifestyle. So the score is Phat chick 1 and fat chick ZERO!!!!!

So I continue on.... I missed the next training session with the team and I'm sad I did it was one I was looking forward to. But I brought the workout homework that we are supposed to do through the week with me on my vacation and every morning I went running on the beach one way, got down on the sand and did my inch worms and planks then ran back the other way and did the workout in the sand again...it was awesome! and I got a lot of looks but I didn't care I felt great :) My sister couldn't believe that I was exercising on vacation but what she doesn't get is that I enjoy it and it made the trip even better....I mean the last time I exercised on vacation was...oh....NEVER! LOL. I LOVE my new life and the people it's lead me to meet.

During one of my runs on the beach I was thinking that what ended up happening to Meredith was because she lived her life and put herself out there.....I've decided that I would rather die while putting myself out there then be safe and unhealthy sitting on the couch!

R.I.P. my running angel....

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From 0 to 20 in 4yrs

2010-04-29T19:05:00.000-07:00

Ok so I'm just guessing it's been 4yrs or more that I have last been on my bike. But last week I made a commitment to a friend that I would bike his 12k route that he does because I knew that our biking training was coming up this weekend.

OMG I LOVED it!!! It reminded me of when I was little and spent the WHOLE summer on my bike and went everywhere.....the wind in my ears and weaving in and out of paths....very cool. We even had a deer run out of the forest across our path to join the other two over in the bush....very cool!

I have to give a shout out to my friend for deciding to do a superman off his bike instead of hitting me....he he...sorry about that. But I am here to report that after I left him at his house and continued on to do a full 20k I wiped out too!! LOL! It was awesome.....missed a curb but recovered by going onto someones lawn..only problem I picked a lawn that had a knee deep hole in it!!!...which I made it over safely by holing my breath and closing my eyes...just when I thought that I was in the clear and went to go back on the sidewalk my wheel got caught along the side of the sidewalk and I ended up on the other side of the sidewalk on the grass...I have grass burn on my leg and a sore thumb from I don't know what....I LOVE it cause that's HARDCORE BABY!!!!

So pretty good for not riding for over 4yrs to doing 20k :)

Oh and P.S....running at night cool! Biking at night...not cool...unless you like the taste of bugs! ;P

Cheeks burning red, dripping sweat, carpet burns.....

2010-04-26T20:40:00.000-07:00

OOOhhhh baby! Is it getting hot in here or is it just ME!! ;)

To bad it's not what you think LOL...I was doing my homework people!!

After our training yesterday with the other 9 awesome girls and the Phat Chicks Suzie and Mer...who by the way I have nicknamed, 'Jumping Jellybean' (Suzie) and 'Spunky Monkey' (Mer) LOL!!...but you can find out more about them here
http://www.phatchicks.com/phat-chicks.php

AND after getting an e-mail from Shane from Racedayrush
http://www.racedayrush.com/train/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=57 Explaining about our biking training next Sun I was PUMPED!!!!!

So since I was sick last week I didn't finish all of my homework. So tonight with kids in bed and hubby gone out it was me, the TV and my living room floor. I did last weeks home work PLUS this weeks homework...wow...my arms were shaking SO much...f'n crab crawls!!! The Cat is looking at me as I crab crawl over him LOL!!! I just know he's thinking, "Crazy human!" A few times I wanted to stop or just do some other moves that I knew would be easier OR do less of the reps that we had to......BUT I am here to report that I did it ALL and I did it RIGHT!!

That's why I now have big red circles of carpet burn on my knees and elbows, HE HE HE! kind of brings back memories of days before we had kids....but that my friends is a WHOLE other blog! LOL ;o

Love is what makes you smile when your tired :)

2010-04-25T13:59:00.000-07:00

So my brain has been trying to escape out of my nose since Thurs morning...in the form of a bad cold. So I didn't get to finish my second round of my homework :(. I had to rest, which I know is really important in order to feel better BUT I hate that something holds me back when I just want to get out and get going!!!!

Now normally I don't like to complain or grunt and groan about exercise I find that it effects my mind set and stops me from pushing through. So instead I keep it in and use the energy to get through it instead...but I must say that when I looked out in the backyard this morning and saw our umbrella blown over and the rain coming down, my snot filled head and already sore and achy body let out a BIG sigh!

But I suited up and showed up anyway with thoughts of seeing how much I could do/get through. I wasn't sure as I don't normally workout while sick.....The rain came down and the wind was a blow'n......which by the way BREAKS my rule #2!!! 1. I don't do early and 2. I don't do COLD!!!!....but seeing the other girls smiling faces and everyone joking around I soon forgot about the weather.

Today we were split into two groups. One did a circuit of exercise as the the other group ran through the marsh doing other exercise....my group from the start decided that we were going to stick together when it was our turn to go through the marsh. That was cool I liked that experience it was different than just trying to go hardcore and beat my personal best. It forced me to be aware of things past my runny, snotty, sore nose LOL!

When we were done it hit me....my body was like, "WTF did you just do to me!!??" I was SO cold I couldn't even move my hands and even my insides were shaking...oh boy I'm done for the day! So I said a fast good-bye to everyone and ran to my car to crank the heat...I sat there for 10min with my hands on the heater...as soon as I got home I went to the shower and had thee hottest shower EVER!!! Oh it felt good!...I was just able to heat myself some soup for lunch and sit and eat it with my husband and kids at the table....I was trying to figure out what I was going to do cause I was sure I had nothing left in me, but my husband and children are all sick too.

As I sat there sipping my HOT Green tea trying to warm my insides my three year old comes up to me and said, "Mommy I want to give you a kiss!" I replied with an ok and asked him why he's giving me a kiss. He explained, "Because you are the best mommy EVER!!!"....that was then followed with my 15mth wanting to do EVERYTHING his big brother does, so he came over to give me a big snotty, drooling kiss too!.....suddenly my mommy power kicked in with a big smile. I bundled up the kids and went to Sport Check to buy a light for my bike then took the kids to the mall to get something at Tim Horton's and look at the puppies and kittens in the pet store....and I thought I had nothing left in me :)

I hope to be the hero that my children see me as!

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Run Forest ruuuuuuuuunnnnnnnn!

2010-04-19T19:37:00.000-07:00

So after my 5k run the other day (which by the way I didn't run the whole way I had a few 1-2min walking breaks) I had it in my head that was going to do a different route...(cause that's how fast I get bored) from my house to the lake it's 3k and it's a straight line of sidewalk. So my goal was to run to the lake the whole 3k without stopping. I was so excited about this, all day it was on my mind.

So after a day of doing my motherly duties of attending play dates, wiping noses and butts, cheering on peeing in the toilet, making sandcastles in the sand box, holding a bowl for my 3yr to puke into...which he missed and spit right in my face, doing bath time and being sure to clean the sand out of both the boys ears and puke of the face, reading 'My Pretty Kitty' and 'How do I love you' followed by lots of wonderful hugs and kisses.......I was ready, it was my time now! So I washed the puke off my face and got changed.

I like running at night for some reason....maybe because I HATE having to wake up early. This Mama LOVES her sleep, plus the cool in the air gives me energy...it's refreshing.

So I put on my gear..which by the way I think I'm starting to look pretty hot in and the smile that my husband had on his face when he say me confirms that ;) I told him about my goal of running the whole 3k to the lake, he said "Cool, good luck!"...I got my tunes pumping in my ear and my iPhone app, RunKeeper set (it tracks me GPS and tells my how far I run, time, calories burned and shows me my route I took on a google map....very cool) as I was heading out the door I turned to my husband and said, "I was going to say here goes nothing, but really here goes something!".......and I was off!!

First hurtle to over come is learning how to catch my breath without stopping... I did it! Once I did that I KNEW I was going to make it.......then I made it to the lake, but I felt good so I turned the corner and keep running!!!! I had a spot in mind that I would run to then stop to walk.....but I passed that spot and kept running!!!!! at that point I decided and KNEW I was going to run the rest of the way home...the whole way I kept thinking about how I was going to tell my husband this. In the end I ran 6.57k! I could not even believe that my legs kept moving......the power of the mind is an amazing thing!

Ok now time to do my homework...I'm all warmed up now :) I LOVED it, I had sweat dripping from my chin...I sweat like a man and I LOVE it. I even beat the number of burpees I did in a min during my fit test on Sat :)...so I tracked how many of each exercise I did so that when I do it again this week I will try to beat those numbers. I find that to be a good way to push myself.

So I'm still getting over the shock of running all that way tonight, I'll give it sometime to sink it. In the mean time...cue the face plant into my pillow.....

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Blog head

2010-04-18T18:35:00.001-07:00

Blog blog blog...OMG!!!

Ok I was never a 'blogger' OR blog reader before, however now that I am required to blog about my journey it is forcing me to think about what I am doing and what I think and feel about it. So all through the day all I think ablout is how will write about what I'm doing right now ahhhhhh....bolg..blog...blog!

I was so excited all week for our first workout. I wanted to see how the group would be together, PLUS we were going to be outside in a new area ( I love change!!) and I knew that we would probable start off with some sort of fit test and I wanted to see were my starting point was.

Well on Saturday I had already signed up 3 months ago to raise money for WWF http://wwf.ca/cntower/ and climb the CN tower, then I found out last Sun that our first group workout was going to be on Sat too....o......k...

Let me explain...... This was the starting point for me with this whole mental change that started before my whole physical change.......Feb last year I was watching my fav show, Biggest Loser and they were doing a challenge were they had to pull a car around a race track. I was thinking to myself that I wanted to do that...something crazy, something out of the box. Then a commercial came on for the WWF CN tower climb and I said out loud, "I'm going to do THAT!!!" So a totally AWESOME friend said she would do it with me. We had 2 rules...1. What happens in the tower STAYS in the tower 2. We leave no woman behind (we're not splitting up!)

WELL! Let me tell you! My mind might have been ready for the challenge of climbing all 1776 stairs, 144 flights........my body...not so much :z My goal was just to get to the top but being a Big Mac away from 300lbs I struggled A LOT! But my friend stuck with me ( it brings tear to my eyes as I write this) despite the fact that I told her to go on without me cause I was messing up her time (she wanted to do it in under an hour) We did it in 58min and 18sec....my friend did everything but put her hands on my ass and push! But she didn't leave me :D xoxox

So my Sat started at 12:30am with the baby puking and having a fever of 101, we cleaned up the poor little guy then back to bed only for me to be up at 5:30am to head to the T dot!.... I was pumped!!! This was going to be a good day :D

The climb was AWESOME and WAY!!!!!! better then last year. I felt great....I was used to sweating....I was use to breathing hard, so it didn't take me down this year. My girlfriend struggled with her legs hurting her so we took it at the pace she needed and stop to stretch when she needed. This time she was the one telling me to go on without her cause she was going to mess up my time (I wanted to take off 20min from our time from last year) BUT rule #2!!!!! we leave no woman behind, I was NOT leaving her especially cause of how she stuck with me last year. We made it in 41min 58sec, we took 17min off our time......but at one point during the climb I realized that I could probable do this in under 30min!!! It was so great to KNOW that I COULD do it but didn't need to prove it.....I choose my CN BFF instead!!!! and GOD that felt good :)

So great! now I am all sweaty and freezing and warmed up for our first training session. It was cool to see everyone all excited about the workout ahead. I knew that the others were unsure and a little scared (I know cause I remember feeling like that in the beginning too) but they were going to do it anyway...and I have A LOT of respect for that!

During the workout I did what I normally do.....zone out in my mind and keep moving my body. I'm not sure what the others did with their mind but they all kept moving and that's a big deal....if you ladies don't realize that, I'm telling you right now!................" YOU KEPT MOVING, even when you wanted to cry, even when you were sure you weren't going to EVER catch your breath again even when you thought you were going to puke..you kept moving....and THAT'S A BIG DEAL!!!!!!

Now I realized that I am not use to working out in a 'team'. I've been in classes with other people but I just do my own thing. How others are doing wasn't what was on my mind. But now how others are doing is important because they are part of my team and it's not just all up to me...which I kind of like, but I'll have to get use to it.......I'm going to practise CN tower climb rule #2 from now on :)

So we were given homework this week, a workout that we have to do twice before Sun...as a stay at home mom with two little amazing boys and a husband who works 2 jobs just so that I can stay home with our children I have a full plate... SIGH......and some days I must say...I'm tired! So I will have to be really creative with fitting everything into the week...I'll let you know how I do. I like that the homework is something I can do in my living while I watch CSI....I call that a 2 4 1 special...getting in a workout and being able to watch my show...love....it!

OH! and I have to add....today (Sun).............wait Suzie, Mer if you are reading this close your eyes now or just stop reading here...................Ok so I am not even sore from yesterday!!?! WTF is up with that?

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The Journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step...

2010-04-11T18:15:00.000-07:00

I was thinking of this saying as I was jogging today and watching my feet move me along the pavement, because I was reflecting on my first run. It wasn't pretty let me tell you!

It was at night (so no one would see me) and my goal was to run down my street cross over and run back...the goal was to RUN the whole way. Well I dusted off the 'workout' clothes and my husbands was like, "Uh what are you doing?" I replied cheerfully, "I'm going for a run!"....now he's a smart man and knows that when I get something in my head I want to do he just needs to step out the way LOL......

So off I go down the street and oh man did the jiggle wiggle!!!! ooooooo BABY! so much so that my underwear fell down under my butt!!!! After pulling it up twice I realized it wasn't staying up and no one can see through my pants...so....I left it there and ran the rest of the way in my bare butt..so to speak LMAO!!!!!!

Today's run was MUCH different. First my underwear stayed put :) second it was in the morning during sunlight for ALL to see and I went along streets that had many cars. Third instead of just down the street I ran from Burloak to Appleby, up Appleby to Harvester and back down Burloak home....a total of 5.06KM!!!!!!! I never knew I had it in me!........I just ran 5KM just cause....who does that??!!

So as my feet were moving this morning I was remembering my first step on this journey....

Today was another first step in this journey of doing the RockStar Adventure Race. Hearing every bodies stories about where they came from was AWESOME! Hearing about what was involved in the race was CRAZY exciting!!! I see myself doing it...out there with the team, hot, tired, muddy, wet and LOOOOOOOOOVING it!

Now I must keep my wits about me cause although we are starting off as a team of 10 only a few of us will make to the race.....so the journey of 1000 miles continues with the second step......

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OK?!?!?

2010-04-06T18:55:00.000-07:00

OK so after a crazy journey of a 70+lb weight loss and total change in the type of lifestyle I lead I'm looking for more crazy stuff to do. I LOVE LOVE being able to do these things for myself and still be able to be a great/happy mother and wife!....proving that yes all you mommy's out there it CAN be done and it's ok to do it......this is a mommy guilt free zone!!

So following right along with finding crazy stuff to do my first was last year when I climbed the CN tower...124 flights, 1776 stairs. I was watching one of my fav shows one night, Biggest Loser and they had a challenge of having to pull a car and I was like, "I want to do something crazy like that man!"...the next commercial was about climbing the CN tower and I was like..." I'm doing THAT!!!". My goal just to get to the top...and I did! You know how amazing it felt to do something even though you felt fear and uncertainty in your heart about it!!!!!!.....and I was hooked :D

So this years crazy thing......hmmmmm...lets enter a Adventure Race contest.....and I got in!! oh...ok..uh...oh God what have I done!??...........ok ok relax this is going to be great! I'm not sure how but I'm looking forward to the journey. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone at the meet'n greet on Sun and finding out what it is I will have to do still to become one of the final four to do the race....so stay tuned!

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