So after my last few days, I thought today was going to be a coasting day. Boy was I wrong.
I have had kidney stones off and on for about 7 years. Mostly they are off BUT when I exercises a lot and don't drink enough or drink too much diet coke the kidney stones reappear. I felt one this morning but when Dave suggested going to Disney I said let's go. So off we went. The kidney stones weren't too painful just a little annoying. Thankfully it left the building while we were at Disney and I felt a whole lot better.
Then my jogging stroller tire popped. NOW, I was not there at the time so I am taking Dave at his word but I did get a new jogger out of the ordeal so all is well in my world again.
I am off to read Isaiah 2.
Oh and I ran a 5K this am in 25:44 I think. It was 25 something and I am happy with the time. Tomorrow I get to run with M. Soooooo excited.
Happy Running.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
So he challenged me...
...and I accepted. In my last post (which was only this morning) I was so confused and trying to make sense of what God wanted me to do.
I was twittering with my running girls (M &T-love them) and they committed to backing me up. Not even 30 minutes after I wrote about my fear of making lasting friendships God placed 2 great women in my lap (not literally) and said here they are just for you- don't pass this by. He knew that I need them and I do.
We are going to do this too:
it is a 4 mile race. Once again, God knew before I did what I needed and he provided my 2 friends to do it with me.
I promised myself that I would start reading a chapter of the Bible each night to try and grow in my relationship with Christ. I randomly picked the book of Isaiah because I have never read it. It is like God smacked me in the face.
Isaiah 1:16-17 " Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow."
WOW!
I wonder what the Lord has planned for me tomorrow?
No Fear
I grew up in the 90's when the mantra (and clothing line) no fear was extremely popular. But in life I honestly believe that everyone has a fear of something. I have a lot more than one. Some of my fears may be silly and others keep me up at night but to me fear in unavoidable.
I read a lot of blogs and I was wondering today why that is. I think that it stems from my fear of being friends with others and then disappointing them and letting them down. Reading blogs is safe for me. I do not know any of the people and yet I am reading about what they are doing, how far they are running, how their personal relationship with the Lord is being expanded and I am sooooo jealous. I want that but am I willing to take the first step?
In church today the message was entitled,
"How to Change Your Life?"
{do you think he is trying to get my attention?}
The pastor said that there are 3 things that God uses to transform me...the bible, the holy spirit, and circumstances. This really got me thinking about circumstances that God places in my life that I just walk right by because I am scared to do anything about it. He compared the christian walk to running often, which definitely made me think of both in my life. In running the ultimate goal is the race, the finishing of that particular run. In our Christian walk the ultimate goal is to be like Christ-IN ALL THAT WE DO. This means everything people. In eating, talking to others, my quiet time, I NEED TO BE LIKE CHRIST and that makes me ashamed. It makes me ashamed that I fail and have fear but I also know that HE loves me and accepts me with all my failures and wants me to try again. Not tomorrow but right now.
There are 3 choices to make (says the preacher) in my role in transforming my life.
#1 I can choose what I think about. {this one hit me very hard}. For a long time I allowed what I looked like, weighed, to consume my thoughts. I thought about how I wasn't worth the time to make changes in my life. The pastors advice was simple yet so profound for me this morning. He said to "Choose to think differently!"
Now why hadn't I ever thought of that before. Oh yeah, because I was so consumed by thinking of all those other silly, crazy things. So right now I choose to think differently. I choose to try to think of the things that will help me point to HIM. I can use my talents (whatever they are) to be more like Christ. I am still me but thinking like HIM.
#2 I can choose to depend on God's spirit moment by moment.
ok, i have been already trying this one this last week. If I know one thing it is that I can't do things on my own anymore. I have to rely that God is holding me moment by moment through my day and he isn't going to drop me even when I struggle against him.
This is where relationships came into play. God has placed people in my life and I have always taken them for granted. If you get too close to others they can hurt you, let you down, so I usually avoided relationships with others. BIG MISTAKE JAMA!!!
This last week, I started running with T (i know you read so I won't type your name :0)). I have never ran with anyone before. I always would just plug away by myself. I made plans to run with her and we met up at 8 p.m. (what can I say, we both have kids and they had to be in bed first). WE started our run and when we were done I felt good. Not only because of my run, but because I had someone who did it with me. Someone who was going through the same thing that I was. I had more fun that night running that in the months that I have ran by myself plus we ran farther than we thought because we talked the whole time (which is always a plus). I need these women in my life. Having Dave is a constant but he can not understand a lot of what I am going through as another mother can. Thanks T, can't wait for our next run :)
#3 I can choose my response to circumstances.
over-reacting, high drama, -do I think that is what Christ would do? NO! But one thing I do know is that God puts me in circumstances to where I need to depend on him. I need to rely on him and just plain trust. SO...I will trust that I am where he wants me to be, with whom he wants me to be and ....I CHOOSE TO FOLLOW WHERE HE IS GUIDING ME-
So, no light and fluffy post today, mainly because I am thinking a lot about my direction. Where I am headed, what I want to do, and how my life can be more of what the Lord wants it to be that what I want it to be.
On a lighter note (haha)
Since August 1st I have ran 78 miles- WOW!!!! Every mile I run though means nothing if I can not run the race that the Lord has set aside for me.
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize." I Corinthians 9:24
Happy Running
I read a lot of blogs and I was wondering today why that is. I think that it stems from my fear of being friends with others and then disappointing them and letting them down. Reading blogs is safe for me. I do not know any of the people and yet I am reading about what they are doing, how far they are running, how their personal relationship with the Lord is being expanded and I am sooooo jealous. I want that but am I willing to take the first step?
In church today the message was entitled,
"How to Change Your Life?"
{do you think he is trying to get my attention?}
The pastor said that there are 3 things that God uses to transform me...the bible, the holy spirit, and circumstances. This really got me thinking about circumstances that God places in my life that I just walk right by because I am scared to do anything about it. He compared the christian walk to running often, which definitely made me think of both in my life. In running the ultimate goal is the race, the finishing of that particular run. In our Christian walk the ultimate goal is to be like Christ-IN ALL THAT WE DO. This means everything people. In eating, talking to others, my quiet time, I NEED TO BE LIKE CHRIST and that makes me ashamed. It makes me ashamed that I fail and have fear but I also know that HE loves me and accepts me with all my failures and wants me to try again. Not tomorrow but right now.
There are 3 choices to make (says the preacher) in my role in transforming my life.
#1 I can choose what I think about. {this one hit me very hard}. For a long time I allowed what I looked like, weighed, to consume my thoughts. I thought about how I wasn't worth the time to make changes in my life. The pastors advice was simple yet so profound for me this morning. He said to "Choose to think differently!"
Now why hadn't I ever thought of that before. Oh yeah, because I was so consumed by thinking of all those other silly, crazy things. So right now I choose to think differently. I choose to try to think of the things that will help me point to HIM. I can use my talents (whatever they are) to be more like Christ. I am still me but thinking like HIM.
#2 I can choose to depend on God's spirit moment by moment.
ok, i have been already trying this one this last week. If I know one thing it is that I can't do things on my own anymore. I have to rely that God is holding me moment by moment through my day and he isn't going to drop me even when I struggle against him.
This is where relationships came into play. God has placed people in my life and I have always taken them for granted. If you get too close to others they can hurt you, let you down, so I usually avoided relationships with others. BIG MISTAKE JAMA!!!
This last week, I started running with T (i know you read so I won't type your name :0)). I have never ran with anyone before. I always would just plug away by myself. I made plans to run with her and we met up at 8 p.m. (what can I say, we both have kids and they had to be in bed first). WE started our run and when we were done I felt good. Not only because of my run, but because I had someone who did it with me. Someone who was going through the same thing that I was. I had more fun that night running that in the months that I have ran by myself plus we ran farther than we thought because we talked the whole time (which is always a plus). I need these women in my life. Having Dave is a constant but he can not understand a lot of what I am going through as another mother can. Thanks T, can't wait for our next run :)
#3 I can choose my response to circumstances.
over-reacting, high drama, -do I think that is what Christ would do? NO! But one thing I do know is that God puts me in circumstances to where I need to depend on him. I need to rely on him and just plain trust. SO...I will trust that I am where he wants me to be, with whom he wants me to be and ....I CHOOSE TO FOLLOW WHERE HE IS GUIDING ME-
So, no light and fluffy post today, mainly because I am thinking a lot about my direction. Where I am headed, what I want to do, and how my life can be more of what the Lord wants it to be that what I want it to be.
On a lighter note (haha)
Since August 1st I have ran 78 miles- WOW!!!! Every mile I run though means nothing if I can not run the race that the Lord has set aside for me.
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize." I Corinthians 9:24
Happy Running
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
If I knew then...
I graduated from college almost ten years ago. WOW! Just typing that made me feel quite old. I think when you go to college at eighteen years old (seventeen in my case) and are forced to choose what you want to do for the rest of your life it does you a major disservice. How many people know what they really want to do at that age? Many people might but I was not one of them. Since I graduated, my life changed with the husband and children and all. I also developed a great love for exercise (running in particular), health and nutrition. Oh, I wish I had known that I would love this back then.
Now, I do have my personal training certification (which I haven’t really tried to use anywhere) and I would still like to become a certified running coach but these are all things that I choose now because of where I am now in my life. I want to be able to encourage and educate others on a topic that I love and that in some ways saved my life.
Now I am going to be extremely honest. I have had eating issues (shocking I know). I have a love/ hate relationship with food and I am not ashamed to admit that. I know that nutrition is very important to those training for anything from a 5K to a ultra marathon. Food fuels the body and to perform well, a healthy eating plan is needed. About 7 years ago, I hated how I looked and my life was a little out of control so I began controlling my eating. I “controlled” it so well that I was NEVER hungry. I ate just enough to make it through and my weight got extremely low. I never thought about what I was doing or how it was affecting those who loved me. One day while Dave was at a clinical at the hospital I seriously thought that I was having a heart attack because my weight was so low. I drove myself to the hospital and the doctor told me that I needed to GAIN. UGH!!!!! Now even if you know that you need to gain weight you do not want to see the numbers going up (you feel very out of control and control is the key remember). Well they wanted to me to go to a doctor and I did. You know what he told me to do- EXERCISE.
WHAT?!?!?!
I weight almost 90lbs, am never hungry, and you want me to exercise? Yes was the answer he told me, so I did. I found a husband and wife training team and began working out with them 3-4 days a week. We never discussed the fact that I was too thin. We just worked out and I started to be hungry. Those 2 people literally saved me. Exercise gave me something else to focus on. I could control my performance and I became a little healthier everyday. When Trainer M told me we should train for a triathlon I said ok. I didn’t really think that I would be able to but I would humor him. The training really gave me a purpose and it gave me something else that I had been lacking- Confidence in myself.
I finished that Triathlon and I believe that if I had fueled my body better I would have done better than I did.
Why am I telling you all this?
I thought it was time to put it all out there. My goal is to encourage. I want to help others love exercise (running, swimming, biking in particular) but really to just know that it is possible to make little changes and accomplish so much.
I truly love running and I want to be healthy. I wish I had known this then…what trouble I would have saved.
BUT…
….now I have 3 pairs of little eyes that watch my every move and want to be just like me. So I need to encourage them to eat right, to move, to play, and to make mistakes but to learn from them too.
I encourage you to try. Try to run a mile, to walk for 30 minutes. Just try it, you may like it- I know I do.
Happy Running.
Now, I do have my personal training certification (which I haven’t really tried to use anywhere) and I would still like to become a certified running coach but these are all things that I choose now because of where I am now in my life. I want to be able to encourage and educate others on a topic that I love and that in some ways saved my life.
Now I am going to be extremely honest. I have had eating issues (shocking I know). I have a love/ hate relationship with food and I am not ashamed to admit that. I know that nutrition is very important to those training for anything from a 5K to a ultra marathon. Food fuels the body and to perform well, a healthy eating plan is needed. About 7 years ago, I hated how I looked and my life was a little out of control so I began controlling my eating. I “controlled” it so well that I was NEVER hungry. I ate just enough to make it through and my weight got extremely low. I never thought about what I was doing or how it was affecting those who loved me. One day while Dave was at a clinical at the hospital I seriously thought that I was having a heart attack because my weight was so low. I drove myself to the hospital and the doctor told me that I needed to GAIN. UGH!!!!! Now even if you know that you need to gain weight you do not want to see the numbers going up (you feel very out of control and control is the key remember). Well they wanted to me to go to a doctor and I did. You know what he told me to do- EXERCISE.
WHAT?!?!?!
I weight almost 90lbs, am never hungry, and you want me to exercise? Yes was the answer he told me, so I did. I found a husband and wife training team and began working out with them 3-4 days a week. We never discussed the fact that I was too thin. We just worked out and I started to be hungry. Those 2 people literally saved me. Exercise gave me something else to focus on. I could control my performance and I became a little healthier everyday. When Trainer M told me we should train for a triathlon I said ok. I didn’t really think that I would be able to but I would humor him. The training really gave me a purpose and it gave me something else that I had been lacking- Confidence in myself.
I finished that Triathlon and I believe that if I had fueled my body better I would have done better than I did.
Why am I telling you all this?
I thought it was time to put it all out there. My goal is to encourage. I want to help others love exercise (running, swimming, biking in particular) but really to just know that it is possible to make little changes and accomplish so much.
I truly love running and I want to be healthy. I wish I had known this then…what trouble I would have saved.
BUT…
….now I have 3 pairs of little eyes that watch my every move and want to be just like me. So I need to encourage them to eat right, to move, to play, and to make mistakes but to learn from them too.
I encourage you to try. Try to run a mile, to walk for 30 minutes. Just try it, you may like it- I know I do.
Happy Running.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Where did my week go?
It seems like I have lost a whole week. Crazy as it may be I have been so extremely busy this week that now that it is 7 pm Friday evening I really am having a hard time believing the week went by so quickly. I also know that since adding cheer to our routine twice a week, the rest of my weeks may keep going this quickly. {Sigh, Sniff, WHAAAAAA!}
I like routine. To people who know me this is not a surprise. I like eating the same things, going the same places, I like the schedule. This week has been a challenge with the impromptu visit to Dynasty Elite, to having swimming cancelled not once but twice this week, my husband being out of town for 3 days (not uncommon but this week not fun), my routine is ruined. BUT a new routine is here and I have almost come to terms with it. I am going to have to be a little more intentional with my workout planning and I think morning runs are going to be the norm around here for awhile but in the end it will all be worth it.
I hope that I will be able to enjoy the ride and remember the good moments.
Last night, since swimming was cancelled, I took Ashley to her first Beginner Tumbling class. She has never tumbled before so I figured she may need a little help and that it couldn't hurt. So off we went, me and the three munchkins. About half way to the gym it started to rain buckets. Luckily by the time we had to get out of the car it had stopped. We had just stepped into the gym when the monsoon started. I guess since it was raining no one else decided to show up for Beginning Tumbling so Ashley got a private lesson. I think it really helped her to be able to talk one on one with the coach. She practiced her backbends, forward rolls, did a handstand (for the first time), worked on her cartwheel, and did jumps on the trampoline (oh yeah, never been on one of those before either). She did so good and I was able to see how my other 2 handled waiting on her practice to be over. Ryan did good. He kept checking to see if it was still raining (and it was every time) and Lexi is truly a go with the flow baby so I have to say it was definitely a successful first attempt.
Speaking of Ryan, he did so well this week for his first week of preschool. He wasn't able to go to school on Wednesday because he was sick but he actually wanted to go. Today when we were waiting at the door for him to go inside he was just super excited and (drumroll please) he came home in the clothes I sent him in. NO ACCIDENTS- hooray!!!
Well, it's time for bed. Gotta do some cross training tomorrow and a nice 4 mile run on Sunday.
Happy Running!
I like routine. To people who know me this is not a surprise. I like eating the same things, going the same places, I like the schedule. This week has been a challenge with the impromptu visit to Dynasty Elite, to having swimming cancelled not once but twice this week, my husband being out of town for 3 days (not uncommon but this week not fun), my routine is ruined. BUT a new routine is here and I have almost come to terms with it. I am going to have to be a little more intentional with my workout planning and I think morning runs are going to be the norm around here for awhile but in the end it will all be worth it.
I hope that I will be able to enjoy the ride and remember the good moments.
Last night, since swimming was cancelled, I took Ashley to her first Beginner Tumbling class. She has never tumbled before so I figured she may need a little help and that it couldn't hurt. So off we went, me and the three munchkins. About half way to the gym it started to rain buckets. Luckily by the time we had to get out of the car it had stopped. We had just stepped into the gym when the monsoon started. I guess since it was raining no one else decided to show up for Beginning Tumbling so Ashley got a private lesson. I think it really helped her to be able to talk one on one with the coach. She practiced her backbends, forward rolls, did a handstand (for the first time), worked on her cartwheel, and did jumps on the trampoline (oh yeah, never been on one of those before either). She did so good and I was able to see how my other 2 handled waiting on her practice to be over. Ryan did good. He kept checking to see if it was still raining (and it was every time) and Lexi is truly a go with the flow baby so I have to say it was definitely a successful first attempt.
Speaking of Ryan, he did so well this week for his first week of preschool. He wasn't able to go to school on Wednesday because he was sick but he actually wanted to go. Today when we were waiting at the door for him to go inside he was just super excited and (drumroll please) he came home in the clothes I sent him in. NO ACCIDENTS- hooray!!!
Well, it's time for bed. Gotta do some cross training tomorrow and a nice 4 mile run on Sunday.
Happy Running!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
A Cheer Mom?
Well, my name is Jama and I am officially a cheer leading mom. We signed Ashley up with Dynasty Elite. To be honest, I have been a mess over this decision. I do not like making major decisions. This stems from not wanting to fail at anything (which I do know is inevitable). Ashley is so excited and she did so well at her second practice that I know the decision to do this now is good but I am just a little scared about how this is going to effect our family as a whole. I also know that this is just the beginning and that I need to just suck it up and roll with the punches but I handle things better if I have some time to process it first and this was a decision that had to be made in 48 hours before the next practice. I think I talked it over with everyone I know and actually some people I didn't know but now that the decision is made I am happy with it and have thrown myself (not literally) full force into this whole cheer thing.
I do not however cheer leading terms by any means. Ashley needed some help "practicing" her back bends and cartwheels before cheer practice. Now, something that I know as her mom is that if you "help" her too much she will never try on her own. So.... she fell once or twice while attempting the back bends but after a few head butts on the floor she progressed to a nice fluid back bend with no help. I was very proud of her and impressed that she learned it after 2 practices. We worked on her cartwheel (which I had to demonstrate- hilarious) and she has gotten much better at that as well. She hasn't really done any tumbling so I think she might go to a few beginning tumbling classes to learn some basics from someone who actually knows what they are doing. So for now, I am just cheer mom...encouraging dancing, tumbling, and a lot of fun.
I do not however cheer leading terms by any means. Ashley needed some help "practicing" her back bends and cartwheels before cheer practice. Now, something that I know as her mom is that if you "help" her too much she will never try on her own. So.... she fell once or twice while attempting the back bends but after a few head butts on the floor she progressed to a nice fluid back bend with no help. I was very proud of her and impressed that she learned it after 2 practices. We worked on her cartwheel (which I had to demonstrate- hilarious) and she has gotten much better at that as well. She hasn't really done any tumbling so I think she might go to a few beginning tumbling classes to learn some basics from someone who actually knows what they are doing. So for now, I am just cheer mom...encouraging dancing, tumbling, and a lot of fun.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Multiple Emotions
Some days I feel that I have multiple personalities. Today I am so happy that school has started yet I am very sad that I have 2 kids that are in school. I was not sad at all yesterday when I was screaming at them (haha) but today I was sad. I went for an early (5:50 a.m.) 3 mile run this morning which I think did help me to be a lot calmer today plus it definitely energized me. I had all kids fed, dressed, and ready to go by 7:30. My run went so much better than I thought seeing as I ran outside instead of my usual treadmill. When I dropped Ashley off at 8:30 I felt good about it. I then took Ryan to his first day of preschool. I am just proud that neither he or I cried a drop. When we picked him up he said he had a great day and had so much fun. 
Now Ashley has been asking me if she can join a competitive cheer leading team. Up until now I have been really hesitant in allowing her to even try. I mean we do Upward which isn't competitive but it allows her to cheer. Dave feels that I should enroll her in Dynasty Elite . I think that tonight we are going to go to a practice. I don't know whether I am ready for this but we will wait and see.
I am now in week 2 of my 10K training and so far I am right on track. I did my long run on Saturday and I felt really good afterwards. If the training keeps going so well, I just may register for the Disney Princess Half Marathon in March. Maybe.
Happy Running.
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