Yesterday was a special day (Nov. 24th)

My very good friend, Mark, became a new dad to a beautiful baby girl yesterday! When I went to the Running Room "Learn to Run" clinic last night, we ran by his Aunt and Uncle's home. It made me smile and think of Mark and how happy I am for him and his family. He lives far away, so I won't get to see him or his daughter for quite some time.

Mark and I - Halloween 1998

I also thought about how much he has inspired me - and felt today was a good day to acknowledge him! I've known Mark for about 13 years (can you believe it Mark?). We were in college together, worked together for a couple years, now we live provinces apart, but through it all have kept our friendship alive. A few years ago, Mark decided he needed to shed some weight - he was always ready with a big bear hug and made everyone laugh with his quick wit and impersonations (Cartman was the best!), but his future health was at risk and he knew he needed to make a change. And boy did he ever change!  He started out eating better and going to the gym on his lunch break. Within a year he was a very slim version of the Mark I met back in college - and he looked great! But most important of all, he was healthy, and had taken the 'smart' path to healthy. And now he's a runner! If you would have told Mark or me when we became friends that he would be running 10km races in 10 years, you would have had to peel us both off the floor from laughter.  Now, years later, he's still the 'new and improved' version of Mark and I'm so proud to call him my friend!

Mark & I Halloween in Halifax, 2004 - We had a BLAST that night

Mark, you have inspired me with your commitment to your health and fitness. Last night, I realized if you can run 10km races, then so can I!  I've decided to run the 10km in the Bluenose here in Halifax in May.  I'm pretty sure my other good friend, Michelle, is going to be running in it also. It'd be pretty awesome if we could all run it together! The funniest part is you two would probably leave me in your collective dust - and I'm the one that's played sports my whole life - Go figure! I've got some training to do...

Enjoy every precious moment with your baby girl, Mark, and be proud of your accomplishments and the future you are going to have with your family. You're an amazing, awesome, adventurous dad!!

I did it!

Never thought I would see the sun rise this morning!  That was a nice bonus to getting up at 6:30. I was in bed at midnight last night (earlier than usual!) but had a very restless sleep, knowing my alarm was set to go off at 6:15. I remember tossing and turning, looking at the clock at 6:08...  My husband can verify that I LOVE my bed in the morning - it takes a LOT for me to decide to crawl out of it on a regular day!  This morning took about 12min of pep talking myself before I left the comfy warmth of my covers. Even though I was over-heating (was wearing winter-weight PJs), I could have easily just gone back to sleep, especially since I was tossing and turning all night. I was really tired!

Now it's 9am - I've done a 30min intense workout, ate breakfast, sent my son and hubby off for the day,  listening to some tunes while catching up on email, twitter and updating my blog. Wow!  I don't think I've ever gotten that much accomplished by 9am!! Once I'm done this post, I'll grab a quick shower and get my youngest son up for the day (he likes to sleep in like his momma).  Talk about feeling ahead of the game!  Love it!

Before and after photos from this morning. (finally - notice the time below the TV - 6:32 and 7:12)

I must remember this great feeling of accomplishment the next time I want to get up early for a workout!


Before signing off, a brief update on this week's activities:
Monday - schedule conflict - I'll go swimming on Wednesday instead
Tuesday - Kathy Smith 30min workout, running 20min with Running Room clinic
Wednesday - swimming 45min followed by soccer 1hr
Thursday - maybe bellyfit 1hr...  I must say, I sweat a TON more during the 30min KS workout this morning that I have in any of the bellyfit classes...
Friday - Kathy Smith in the morning again?  Maybe.... It's my son's birthday - still have to plan his party and now I've got the rest of today to do just that!

physical challenge

As mentioned yesterday, I volunteer at the Running Room clinic with my friend Michelle. Well, I had completely forgotten until I was crawling into bed last night that she put out a challenge to us last week. She wanted each of us to do something outside our comfort zone - something we've never done, and/or thought would be insane, etc. that would push us to the limits of our physical ability - sometime over the course of the week.  She even wants before and after pics if we can manage it...

So, since I've only got one day to do this, I've decided I'm going to get up tomorrow morning and do one of my workout videos that has been collecting dust on the shelf. The real challenge part of this will be getting up before the rest of my family!!  I'm always the last one up in the morning and last one to bed at night...

This one's for you Michelle!  I say that now, but I know I'll be proud of *my* accomplishment when I'm sweating along with Kathy Smith tomorrow morning.  I'll be taking a photo of the clock to prove it! :-)

I better get off to bed! 'night.

Swimming, Running, Soccer and Bellyfit!

Just how much can one fit into a week? This week will be the true test. I have swimming on Monday night, running on Tuesday, soccer on Wednesday and bellyfit on Thursday!

Bellyfit will likely be a no-show. I haven't been for the past two weeks and this will be the last day. I haven't written at all about this class. Must say I was quite disappointed. It was toted as being a cross between belly-dancing and pilates. Unfortunately, they didn't mention it was aimed at the VERY LOW impact aerobic crowd. I have yet to break a sweat and therefore decided I have better things to do during that hour on Thursday evenings.

I'm thrilled to be running again!  I've been helping out my good friend Michelle as she leads the 'Learn to Run' clinic at the Running Room in Halifax. She only started running last year and has made phenominal changes to her weight, her health and her lifestyle. You can read about all of it on her blog. So when she put out requests for help with the clinic - no one can be left behind and the group can be as large as 20 runners, someone is bound to be much slower - I volunteered. Not to mention I get to see Michelle more, get to take the clinic for free (neither Michelle or I had ever done a Running Room clinic before!) and it gets me out running again!  So even though we only run for 20 min, and sometimes I'm walking more than running to keep the last woman back from being alone, it feels great to be out running again.  I've even signed up for the Santa Shuffle on Dec. 5th!  Care to join me??