Mileage Monday

Running stats for the week of September 22nd - September 28th... I did horrible on anything health related this week. I didn't run at all... I didn't drink any water... I ate bad... and I didn't get my steps in. YIKES! My supervisor was heading off on vacation so I was trying hard to soak in every possible tip and trick from her before she left. I am in charge this week and it is definitely stressful, but all I can do is do my best and hope it goes okay.

Monday, September 22nd, 2014 - 9,000 total steps / 2.9 total miles / 172 calories

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2014 - 8,581 total steps / 2.7 total miles / 170 calories

Wednesday, September 24th, 2014 - 13,069 total steps / 4.2 total miles / 266 calories

Thursday, September 25th, 2014 - 11,026 total steps / 3.6 total miles / 214 calories

Friday, September 26th, 2014 - 12,121 total steps / 4 total miles / 262 calories

Saturday, September 27th, 2014 - 2,722 total steps / .8 total miles / 6 calories

Sunday, September 28th, 2014 - 2,034 total steps / .6 total miles / 12 calories

Totals for the week : 58,553 total steps / 18.8 total miles / 1,102 calories / 

0 oz of water / 1 Starbucks coffee

Photo a Day Challenge : Week #38

Day 21 - Fav Word

Day 22 - Crisp (fall weather has arrived)

Day 23 - Triangle (O'Charley's free pie Wednesday)

Day 24 - Loud (and lovely)

Day 25 - Angle (the many angles of Asbury)

Day 26 - Best (he has the best smile in the entire world)

Day 27 - Celebration (we just celebrate making it through our work days)

Buckeye Lake Family Time

When I took my new job I got a nice sum of vacation days to use. However... it has been both a blessing and a curse because even though I have all these days, I really don't have the time to take them all. YIKES! It's either use them or lose them so my supervisor and I sat down and started to map out when we could take all these days off in the next couple of months. My first vacation time, Dan and I decided to spend in Ohio with his family. We don't all get together very often so it was very nice to see everyone for a few days.

My niece Mallory... AKA Happy!

Yes, it was a tad chilly on the lake.

My sister-in-law Ali and my nephew Elliott.

Swans on the lake!!

Uncle Dan and Happy!!

And who could forget Aunt Boo!!!!

Remi had a mini vacation too at Grams and Gramps house in P-town... but I sure was happy to get him back home us :)

Mileage Monday

Running stats for the week of September 15th - 21st... it was super nice weather this past week, which was really nice to run in. I'm looking forward to Fall! However, I ended up getting a pretty bad cold and felt more and more miserable as the week progressed. I really wanted to do a 6 miler on Sunday, but only got 4 in before I had to call Dan to have him pick me up on the side of the road. I was wiped out. Today I'm feeling somewhat better, but I have almost completely lost my voice which could be a blessing to some I suppose... AKA Dan!

Monday, September 15th, 2014 - 7,108 total steps / 2.3 total miles / 119 calories

Tuesday, September 16th, 2014 - Ran 3.1 miles / 10,610 total steps / 5.1 total miles / 387 calories

Wednesday, September 17th, 2014 - 11,906 total steps / 4 total miles / 205 calories

Thursday, September 18th, 2014 - 9,078 total steps / 2.9 total miles / 152 calories

Friday, September 19th, 2014 - 11,730 total steps / 4 total miles / 214 calories

Saturday, September 20th, 2014 - Ran 3.25 miles / 8,114 total steps / 3.4 total miles / 333 calories

Sunday, September 21st, 2014 - Ran 4 miles / 9,290 total steps / 4.1 total miles / 367 calories

Totals for the week : 10.35 miles / 67,836 total steps / 25.8 total miles / 1,777 calories / 

168 oz of water / 2 Starbucks coffees

Photo a Day Challenge : Week #37

Day 14 - Healthy

Day 15 - Remember (when this sweet fella was just a pup)

Day 16 - I Don't Like (that my hours of daylight are getting shorter)

Day 17 - Keys

Day 18 - Person (they are each other's person)

Day 19 - Even (even numbers are better than odds)

Day 20 - Beginning (therapy dog visits began with this lady standing beside Remi... he adores his Auntie Katie)

Mileage Monday

Running stats for the week of September 8th - September 14th... Can you tell by my step counts that I was on vacation this week and spent most of my time relaxing?? Awwwww... it was nice. I'm feeling great on my runs still and actually on my one Sunday evening I pushed myself hard. I did experience more right knee pain than usual on this run though. YIKES! I stretched and iced it down in hopes that it doesn't progress into something more. As for my goal to drink more water... that's a tough one for me and I haven't even come close to reaching my 500 oz per week. PHEW! And... since I was on vacation I went a tad bit crazy on my Starbucks drinking. Hey, that's what vacations are for right! I'll try to be good for the next few weeks... no Starbucks! :)

Monday, September 8th, 2014 - Ran 5 miles / 15, 855 total steps / 5.2 total miles / 581 calories

Tuesday, September 9th, 2014 - 8,593 total steps / 2.8 total miles / 149 calories

Wednesday, September 10th, 2014 - 2,670 total steps / .8 total miles / 34 calories

Thursday, September 11th, 2014 - 799 total steps / .2 total miles / 3 calories

Friday, September 12th, 2014 - 3,066 total steps / .9 total miles / 31 calories

Saturday, September 13th, 2014 - 1,762 total steps / .5 total miles / 7 calories

Sunday, September 14th, 2014 - Ran 5.5 miles / 10,838 total steps / 5.6 total miles / 543 calories

Totals for the week : Ran 10.5 miles / 43,583 total steps / 16 total miles / 1,348 calories / 

143 oz of water / 3 Starbucks coffees

Photo a Day Challenge : Week #36

Day 7 - Father

Day 8 - Broken (Suzy's favorite shot in remembrance of her)

Day 9 - Orange

Day 10 - Repetition (miles and miles of road construction)

Day 11 - How I Feel Today (I always feel happy when Dan wears his Doodle Dad shirt!)

Day 12 - Fall (with my favorite ladies)

Day 13 - Out of Place (wasn't expecting to see these beautiful swans at the lake)

Forgetting is a Blessing

Monday of this week was a down right crappy day. Without disclosing too much information and making sure to keep the privacy and confidentially of my residents as my top priority, I'll tell you about it in the best way I know how. 

I experienced a day when I had a resident who was very unhappy with me. She was annoyed, frustrated, and exhausted by a situation I had place her in. She expressed her unhappiness with me by saying many hurtful things to me in front of several other peer residents. The situation tore me apart. Not because of the things she said, but because I was the one that had placed her in the situation and caused her unhappiness even though I thought what I was doing at the time was only helping her.

I went home that evening and cried harder than I have in a long time. The situation really upset me and I couldn't shake it for a long time. I knew deep down it wasn't my fault or the resident's fault but instead the fault of a disease that destroys our loved ones minds and can change their personalities forever. 

The next day as I went into work I was very apprehensive to see this resident because of the situation that took place the day before. I was nervous that she would still be upset with me and that our relationship would be damaged forever. But much to my happiness there was no memory of what happened the day before and I was once again just a new friend who had entered her life.

And for that I am thankful.

Mileage Monday

Running stats for the week of September 1st - September 7th... I was wanting to get some running in this weekend, but I was working and walked around so much that my knees and hips were really bothering me so I didn't. I am happy though about the two runs I did get in this week and continue to feel like I'm making progress with my running. I'm not going fast by any means, but as long as my knees continue to feel pretty good I'm happy. I did really well with getting my steps in, but not so hot with the amount of water I should be drinking per week. Either way... I'm making progress :)

Monday, September 1st, 2014 - Ran 4 miles / 12,462 total steps / 4 total miles / 413 calories

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2014 - 10,152 total steps / 3.3 total miles / 229 calories

Wednesday, September 3rd, 2014 - 8,357 total steps / 2.7 total miles / 162 calories

Thursday, September 4th, 2014 - Ran 4 miles / 14,765 total steps / 4.8 total miles / 544 calories

Friday, September 5th, 2014 - 14,399 total steps / 4.7 total miles / 299 calories

Saturday, September 6th, 2014 - 10, 593 total steps / 3.4 total miles / 219 calories

Sunday, September 7th, 2014 - 13, 560 total steps / 4.3 total miles / 306 calories

Totals for the week : Ran 8 miles / 84,288 total steps / 27.2 total miles / 

2,172 calories / 262 oz of water / 1 grande white chocolate mocha Starbucks

Photo a Day Challenge : Week #35

 Day 31 - 10 am (with this sweet guy)

Day 1 - In My Cup

Day 2 - Stripes

Day 3 - Button (my favorite one as I slowly ween myself off Starbucks)

Day 4 - DIY (getting my 4 miler in cause they aren't going to run themselves)

Day 5 - Upside Down

Day 6 - I Need (to finish this book... it's due Wednesday)

Photo a Day Challenge - August Recap

A month of highs and very low lows...

And the first month in my 30's begins...

Before Turning 31 Checklist

Setting goals are important to me, but I think what I have learned during this past year is that I sometimes set myself up for failure with goals that are probably a little out of reach or way too much for me to take on. So this year my list will be much shorter, but ones that I believe are more than reachable in a years time.

1) Finish my Master's in Gerontology degree

2) Run a second Half Marathon

3) Run 350 miles between now and my 31st B-day (30 miles per month)

4) Run 5 races shorter than a Half Marathon

5) Have no more than one Starbucks drink per week

6) Do something out of my comfort zone

7) Read more books / Stop watching so much TV

8) Take at least 3 million steps between now and my 31st B-day (at least 62,500 per week)

9) Drink more water (24,000 oz in a year which would be 500 oz per week)

10) Have a child

And even though I will do my best to reach these goals before turning 31, I'll keep in mind the advice a wise woman once told me... "encourage yourself to relax, enjoy life, and be easy on yourself" because what's more important than anything is being happy. Life is too short for anything else. Here's to a fabulous start to my 30's!

The End of... 30 Before 30

This year has seriously flown by! I feel like I blinked and before I knew it, I was celebrating my 30th Birthday. So now I guess it is time to take a look back and see what I did and did not accomplish of my 30 Before 30 goals.

Completed Goals

6) Advance in my career

9) Get toes to bar

12) Run another 5K

20) Work on my knitting projects

21) Do a family photo shoot

22) Find a church we would like to attend regularly

23) Find an organization I'm passionate about and start volunteering

24) Organize my entire house

25) Grow my hair longer than it has ever been

26) Learn how to french braid my own hair

Not Completed Goals

1) Get life insurance policies & wills set up

2) Set up an outline for a retirement plan

3) Save a large down payment for a new house

4) Pay off the rest of Dan's student loans

5) Finish my Master's degree

7) RX 5 CrossFit WOD's

8) Get kipping pull-ups

10) Get double unders

11) Do a "fun" run

13) Run another 10K

14) Run another half marathon

15) Run 400 miles between now and my 30th B-day

16) Learn to drive a stick shift

17) Read a book a month for enjoyment

18) Read the entire Bible... again

19) Whiten my teeth

27) Learn to crochet

28) Start dressing more professional

29) Cook a new and healthy dinner once a month

30) Get pregnant (yes you read that right)

WOW, so sadly I only successfully completed 10 of my 30 goals. I'm a little disappointed in myself, but at the same time I know that life happens and sometimes you have to focus on what is going on in the present and let other things go. Almost half of this year was focused on transiting into a new job which really consumed most of my life. 

The one goal that I'm really upset I did not complete was finishing up my Master's degree... I am so close and I just couldn't get there. I'm also a little upset about not completing several of my running goals. The knee injury I had really took a toll on completing these, but I feel lucky to have recovered for the most part and am running pain free again. Lastly, what I thought would happen without any problem at all was getting pregnant. Most people I know get pregnant almost right away when they start trying. It has definitely been a different story for Dan and I, but we are looking into some other options and hopefully in the upcoming year we will have overcome that struggle.

So... now that I'm 30 it's time to make another list of goals to work toward before I turn 31. Don't be surprised if you see some familiar ones. Stay tuned!

Mileage Monday

Running stats for the week of August 25th  - August 31st... Yay! I ran 5 miles straight this week pain free! It was great! My heart and lungs felt like I could have gone forever, but I know I have to keep increasing my mileage slowly to ensure I don't hurt myself. And believe me... the last thing I want to do is have that knee pain come back. It is surreal to run this far again when I could hardly walk a few months ago. YAY!

Monday, August 25th, 2014 - 9,090 total steps / 3 total miles / 148 calories

Tuesday, August 26th, 2014 - Ran 5 miles / 17,576 total steps / 6.8 total miles / 658 calories

Wednesday, August 27th, 2014 - 11,613 total steps / 3.8 total miles / 171 calories

Thursday, August 28th, 2014 - 14,070 total steps / 4.6 total miles / 198 calories

Friday, August 29th, 2014 - 11,135 total steps / 3.7 total miles / 201 calories

Saturday, August 30th, 2014 - 1,058 total steps / .3 total miles / 14 calories

Sunday, August 31st, 2014 - 2,311 total steps / .8 total miles / 31 calories

Totals for this week : Ran 5 miles / 66,853 total steps / 23 total miles / 1,421 calories