Saturday Shenanigans and Why I Started Running!

Happy Saturday peeps!! Today I will be off to an unspecified location to celebrate one of my besties getting hitched later this summer!! I cannot put where it is, because it is a secret and if she reads this post before we go I will be the one that let the cat out of the bag and will be shamed for the entire ride to the secret location. No thank you!

I am super excited for her and cannot wait for her to see what all we (mostly Paula) have planned for her!

Yesterday started out about as late as Thursday did. #momfail. As soon as Lynny got up, we ate breakfast, pancakes for her and an English muffin for me! Then we got changed and headed to the "big girl playground" as she calls it. I wish she'd still go to the smaller one, but I am overruled every single time.

Before I attempted to run around a playground with 5 billion kiddos, I got my caffeine fix...

Then it was off to play!

This was an almost-fall... She caught herself in the nick-of-time and I didn't feel so bad for taking the picture mid-stumble ;)

She was a hot mess after that playground session!

Getting that H2O like her Momma!

We went to Walmart and grabbed a few things for the trip today, as well as a POOL!!! We just got one of the cheap blow up ones. Lynny loves them. It was a whole $25, so as long as it lasts till August, I'm satisfied!

Lunch before nap and pool- still love these salads! Thanks, Momma!

Pool days are the best days!

My buddy stuck close...

After the pool, I took Lynny BACK to the playground for about a half an hour and then got ready to meet Paula, Billy, and the boys for our 5 miler. We had a blast!

And got ice cream afterwards! Ice cream before dinner is probably the best decision I've ever made.

Our time was great! I was pushing Lynny in the stroller and I like to have 10:00 paces when I do that. This time it was 9:45! Billy pushed her for the first mile and a half or so for me, then I took her the rest of the way.

Aaron picked us up, all 6 of us! Ha! I'm pretty sure he was ready to get us out of his truck... we were all a wee bit hyper! He's a trooper!

I have been asked by a few clients/people why I started running in the first place. I figured where better to answer this question than right here?! I share enough with you, might as well add this!

I started running in 2009. I had just gotten out of a serious relationship (a toxic one- always listen to your parents about significant others- lesson learned). I wasn't eating much and my Momma demanded that she be allowed to weigh me every day to make sure I wasn't starving myself. I weighed the first day and I was HORRIFIED with the number. I knew I wanted to lose weight, so I decided to start walking on the treadmill at the house every morning. After a few mornings of walking, I tried running some. I would walk a quarter of a mile, run a quarter, etc. Before I knew it, I was knocking out two miles in around 22 to 25 minutes every morning before work or school.

I kept doing this until I moved out of my parents house (when Aaron and I bought our first house). I stopped running and started following Weight Watchers. I didn't join a meeting or anything, just bought the books and followed the program. It worked well for a while. I really like food, and cutting certain things out, or minimizing them to an extreme, just isn't a diet that will ever work for me in the long-term.

Then one day I decided to run again. My first mile around our neighborhood was a 14 minute mile. I was much slower than before! However, I kept going, and before I knew it, I had signed up for my first 5K! Aaron ran it with me, and I have been hooked ever since!

I ran until I became pregnant. We had a little scare at the beginning of my pregnancy with Lynnleigh, so I stopped all activity until after she was born. The day of my 6 week post-delivery meeting, I got permission to resume activities and I headed out for a run. It was SLOW but I was so glad to be running again!

I stopped running again around 2015 and picked up CrossFit for about a year. I quit for reasons I can explain in another post...

I came back to running and haven't looked back since! I've gained new PRs in the 5K and half marathon, and technically the marathon, too, since I didn't run one prior to this year!

Running has always been my go-to sport. I LOVE it. I don't see me ever not running. I've tried the other activities, but this one, FOR SURE, is for me!

I hope you all have a GREAT Saturday! I'm off to that undisclosed location now ;)

Where is your favorite getaway spot?

Do you participate in other sports/activities besides running?

Why did you start running?