13.1

Today my awesome husband and I ran our first half marathon. We've been training for 5 months & we rocked it today!

It was so perfect & awesome & I was really happy the whole time. I am just a runner. It's my thing.

If you don't love running and you sign up for and do a race.. Maybe you don't fully enjoy it... I did. 

My mom asked how it was & my first response was, "perfect."

I'm excited to do it again :) 

Our training paid off because we weren't dead at the end or walking funny ( well my husband claimed he was about to throw up because I pushed us for a fast last mile ) AND we beat our 2:10 goal! We finished in 2:07:20. That's a 9:44 minute mile pace, for 13.1 miles

I know that's far from "fast," but it was personally fantastic!

The couple that sweat together, stays together...which is what I've been saying since we got married ;)

Seven Quick Takes (vol 7)

--- 1 ---

Sick, sick, sick.
This week brought an increase in the sickness department for baby G. She's developed a cough, which has worried me a lot. It is worse when she's trying to sleep (so that's no fun for anyone), but she is still mostly in good spirits and isn't lethargic. I'm keeping a close eye on her, because I know these things can go south very quickly for babies. Thankfully we are breastfeeding, so that's helping her immune system fight this. We are going on 2 straight weeks of some sort of illness, so say a special prayer for us, PLEASE.

--- 2 ---

Luckily, G's fourth tooth cut all the way through, so we got some relief in that department. FINALLY.
However, the fifth tooth is nearing the surface...so we'll see how long it takes for the TH (teething hell, in case you didn't read last week's 7QT) to return.

Social Networking to be Healthy - Café Well

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Cafe Well for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
Cafe Well is a relatively new social networking site that aims to keep you focused on your health. It brands itself as "The Social Network to Get Well and Stay Well," so it's perfect for anyone looking to get healthier in the new year, as well as those wanting to stay in tip-top shape.

Rather than using other popular social network sites to share health-related ideas, goals, or challenges; you can find a niche for healthy living at Cafe Well. I know many of you have made a status or tweet about your latest attempt to lose weight, run a 5K, or make a healthier dinner for your family.... so just take those ideas over to Cafe Well, where you can find like-minded people 24/7. Share your ups and downs with getting in shape, training for a marathon, aiming to drink more water each day, or simply maintaining your weight.

Sunday - 5 Gratitude

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If you are interested in participating in the Letters from Momma Sunday 5 Linky; write a blog post with 5 things you are grateful for this week, grab the button code and copy it into your HTML for that post, and then submit your link at the bottom of this post so that others can go read what you wrote! I know that there are a lot of blog/facebook "thankful" themed posts going on right now, but Letters from Momma has been posting Sunday 5 - Gratitude posts for at least a month now, and will continue past the holiday season. I'd love to see this linky grow blog-hop style! This linky is a way to have a personal post for your readers, but also generate some traffic to your blog!

I look forward to reading all your gratitude posts! I promise if you link up here, I'll visit your post and share some comment love.

My solution to SAHM rut & the "first day of school"

My daughter is almost 7 months old, and I left her with a non-family member for the first time this week. I had a glimpse of what the first day of school will really feel like. Thankfully, I didn't have time to linger, although I did give her a big hug and kiss her, and then bent down to kiss her head again for good measure.

my running shoes were missed

Our new gym is pretty nice, but the childcare facility is seriously the bee's knees. The have a separate infant area, a separate toddler area, and a variety of fun areas for the older kids. Certain ages even have the opportunity to participate in kid yoga, rock climbing, or kid Zumba. They have outdoor play areas, indoor mazes and a gym area, they also have educational game computers. It is as secure/safe as you can hope for, and the girls are always smiling. They clean the toys several times a day, and have a place to put chewed/slobbered on toys after that kid gets done with it...so that no other kid gets it until it's cleaned. I have to call in advance to reserve G a spot in the infant area, so that the 4-1 max ratio is maintained. They will feed her, but not change diapers--so they page/find you if your kid needs a new diaper. Other than that, it's like a nice "real" daycare. I love being a stay-at-home mom, but we all need a small break sometimes; mine just happens to come with a BONUS of exercising while I get said break.

I just had to share, I've been busting at the seams with excitement about being back to my gym-rat self! Find out if there is a gym with super great child care in your area.

Dear G,

Thank you for playing so good at the gym daycare this week. It makes me a better momma when I am able to have 'me' time. Now that we found a gym with a real daycare, instead of a 'gym' daycare, I can go workout and leave you to play! This means I end up going more often, because trying to go in the evening after daddy got home resulted in me going about twice a week. 

You seemed to LOVE it the first day. When I came to pick you up, you were smiling and giggling in the jumperoo. We don't have one of those, and I could tell you had found your current life calling. You absolutely adore bouncing! My little tigger. :-) The rest of the week has also gone smoothly.

I like that they maintain a 4-1 ratio, maximum, but each time you've been, it's even less than that. The girls that work there are clean, professional, and happy. I don't worry about you (only a little bit) while I am working out, so this is my "me" time and I am happy. Daddy is happy about it, too, because I am in a better mood overall. 

This is something that I hope gets passed on to you--working out is a healthy way to relieve stress, feel good about yourself, and boost your mood. Now, if only they could get you to sleep better! :-)

Love, 

Momma

Sunday: sweat, hops, sleep!

Dear G,

Thank you for sleeping through the night last night!! Momma would feel a little more refreshed if she had gone to sleep before 11 pm, but Daddy and I watched a great movie--Adjustment Bureau (highly recommend it).

Love ,
momma!

Today I am doing a lot of blog hopping to check out all the great blogs around the web, and hope to find myself some new followers.

Also, I wanted to give my readers and any new blog viewers my great workout from yesterday. I.am.so.worn.out!

1. Core Work -
20 ball crunches (3-2-1 cadence, down for 3, hold for 2, up for 1)
20 straight arm to opposite leg V-ups (3-2-1 cadence)
the pilates 100 at advanced modification
20 side T planks with thru arm curl
[repeat all of this 2 times]

2. Functional Training -
20 step-up to balance with overhead shoulder press (5 lb. weights each arm, medium box--this is HARD for short legged me)
10 BOSU push-ups
20 Bent Lat pull backs (10 lbs)
15 Bent Tricep extensions (5 lb)
20 on the ball reverse fly's (2.5 lbs each arm) (lay with your belly on the balance ball, body at a 45 degree angle with your feet against the bottom of a wall, raise your arms out to a T and lower back down)
[repeat all of this 2 times]

3. Cardio -
20 minutes of interval run
jog at 6.0 for 1.5 minutes then run at 8.0 for 1 minute (last 30 seconds sprint at 10.0)
5 minutes cool down

4. Stretch