Fitness Friday - April 20

Currently Training For:

• Dopey Challenge 2018 - Walt Disney World
• Rock n Roll New Orleans Half Marathon 2018 - New Orleans, LA 
• Warrior Nation 5K
• Contraband Days 5 Miler
  

Saturday - 6 miles

Sunday - Rest Day
Monday - 3 miles
Tuesday - Physical Therapy Routine - Squats and Core Work
Wednesday - 3 miles 
Thursday - Rest Day
Friday - Physical Therapy Routine - Squats and Core Work

The spring weather finally decided to cooperate this week (somewhat). Although the temps have been cool every morning, it definitely warms up by the afternoon! This kind of weather can stick around as long as it would like!

With that being said, I definitely made sure to take advantage of the weather this week and make my way outside for several runs!

On Saturday, I had the opportunity to run solo (minus the stroller) and it felt great. I've really been working on my running form and I could tell a difference with this run.

My goal was to stay beneath 10 minute miles - mission accomplished!

On Monday, our whole crew joined us for a 3 miler around the neighborhood! The walk went by so fast - it hardly seemed like 3 miles at all!

Our church schedule has also changed up a little bit due to CRAZY construction over here, so I've had the past few Wednesday nights with nothing to do. It's been amazing and definitely helped with getting that extra week day run in!

A 3 mile run is just what I did on Wednesday afternoon and you can see the aftermath of my run in my arms! Those cups were not for me, they were definitely for my little tag along!

A few other non-running happenings took place this week! 

On Saturday, Jason surprised me with a super fun gift! I love it!!

Picture day was also this week and I was super excited to dress my little guy in my favorite outfit in his closet! Hah! Even though I didn't have a girl, I still love to accessorize him (for now, while he lets me)...

Pixie was groomed this week and came home all refreshed and pretty!

Last but not least, we tried out this new place called Louisiana Reaulx. It's basically ice cream that starts out as a liquid, is poured onto a frozen stone, mashed together until it's frozen, then "rolled" up into a cup. There's video on my insta-stories (for now) so head over there to check it out if you're interested in seeing the process - it really is super neat!

That's all for me this week! I plan on running a 6 miler this weekend but it'll probably be with the little dude so we shall see how that goes! Other than that, I hear it's supposed to be another rainy one.

Have a great weekend, y'all! :)

It's FRIDAY!

Link up with Running on Happy & Fairytales and Fitness for the Friday Five 2.0 linkup!

A Twister Tale

Happy Good Friday! If you have an extra long weekend off from work, I hope you enjoy! We don't have any major plans except Easter dinner at Jason's parent's house and I am getting together with a few high school class mates for dinner sometime over the weekend! Oh yes, and there will be running...I'm super excited about that!

This long weekend is a nice, much needed break for us, especially after the experience we went through on Thursday. Even though I've been through my fair share of hurricanes, I've never experienced an isolated tornado event like I experienced on Thursday morning.

Around 4:45 a.m., I heard a LOUD commotion outside. Since I was in a sleep delirium, my first thought wasn't to go grab Brayden and jump in a bathtub...my first thought was "what the heck is going on out there?"

So, I looked out the window and saw wind and rain blowing in a million different directions and it was LOUD. After about 20 seconds, I heard a loud BOOM and thought it was our deck chairs being flipped over the deck. I moved to the back door so I could see a little better and noticed something that looked like a giant concrete planter with a foam roller sticking out of it. I could not for the life of me figure out what was going on. Thankfully Jason was still home before leaving for work so I hollered at him to come check it out. I even opened the door and debated on going out but common sense got the better of me. After Jason came to the door, he said..."Umm..that would be our CHIMNEY!" 

OUR WHAT?!

Yes, our chimney. What. The. Heck. Just. Happened??

We went into the attic to make sure water wasn't pouring inside and once the rain slacked up, we went outside to survey the damage. Thankfully, the storm had left about 3 feet of chimney IN our roof and it was just raining into our fireplace (that was manageable)!

After the sun rose and the rain stopped, I went back outside to survey the damage and when I looked up, I realized that our little Rubbermaid shed was GONE!

The part that baffles my mind is the fact that it took the shed but left all of the contents, including the hammock pillow. Yes you read that right, the hammock pillow.

At this point, I changed out of my work clothing and into a rain jacket and boots and began the neighborhood trek to locate pieces of Jason's shed. It was then that I realized that we must have had a tornado pass through our back yard. What. The. Heck.

You could even follow the path it took which also baffles my mind. This tree was down across the main road near our neighborhood.

If you turned around, you could see that the tornado hit the neighbor's fence and their tree...

After passing there, it then hit my direct neighbor's fences (the below picture), took my chimney and shed, then crossed the street and went on from there.

It also damaged the roof of several of the houses behind mine and bent a trampoline in half. Shingles are EVERYWHERE.

Trees are down everywhere and electricity is out all over the place. We knew a storm was coming but had ZERO warning that it would get to this degree in our area. (I'm not saying this is on the meteorologist part, I'm saying it's amazing how fast and furious this thing hit.)

Parts of Jason's shed had been flung OVER our fence, through our neighbor's yard, and onto the main road behind us. See that trampoline? It flew over a house and was a the top of the tree line at 5:00 a.m. until it finally fell down. Pieces and parts of Jason's shed were all in the ditch near the trampoline.

Right before leaving for work, I noticed something else missing - our trashcan. Our trashcan sits at the FRONT of our house. The contents had been emptied and it was flung into our neighbor's backyard. How this storm picked some things up and left other things really baffles my mind. I'm just so grateful that all of the damage is fixable and nothing major happened to our structures.

...and you can just call me Jungle Jane...covered in mud and soaked to the bone! It took me a good hour to pick up the pieces of Jason's shed and I'm sure I didn't even get them all. Thank goodness for Dopey Finisher rain jackets, though!

What. A. Morning.

Once we returned home from work that evening and could further survey the damage without the rain, we noticed that the storm did this....

It literally twisted the metal of our chimney!

Yesterday evening, the National Weather Service FINALLY confirmed that a category EF-1 tornado passed through our neighborhood (and covered a path of about 1.85 miles) with wind speeds up to 110 mp!

Our damage could have been SO much worse and I'm so thankful it wasn't!

You know when you've had "one of those days" and just need to see a bright spot in it? Well, these were mine...

Brayden had an Easter party at Mother's Day Out and was so precious dressed in his little Easter outfit! He came home with so many goodies, too! Let's face it though, he's always the bright spot in my day! :)

Yesterday was also Opening Day for baseball and the Astros and Rangers started it all off! The Astros won, so of course that made me super happy!

Anyway, here's to hoping the weekend ends better than it started! I hope you all have a great weekend. Don't forget the real reason we celebrate Easter! :)

Have you ever experienced a tornado?

Spring Running Plans

Happy first official day of Spring (I think)! The weather here has been kind of crazy with back and forth temps. We've seen highs in the 80's and lows in the 40s, so you just never know what you're going to get!

A few weeks ago, I mentioned my break from running and this crazy slump I've been in lately. Honestly I just seem to lack the motivation to run and I hate to feel this way. Running is something I love so why don't I have the desire to get up and go?

As a way to combat this, I've decided to formulate a spring running plan. Having a race to train for or a "target" has always been a motivation for me so I've decided to go for it! There are several races around here, scheduled over the next few months and I'd like to take advantage of a few.
 

Contraband 5 Miler
This race is one I ran my very first year of running and I've run it several years since. It's held on one of the Saturdays of our local "Pirate Festival" and the course is out and around by the lake. Although it's always super hot, this race is a lot of fun and always brings a good crowd!


Warrior 5K
The high school where I graduated is hosting a 5K in honor of one of its long time teachers (she was one of mine too)...and she is the mom of one of my former classmates. I'm excited about this one as it will be great to see everyone and return to the place where I spent so many years of my life! This is also where my love of running began as I joined the cross country team my junior year!


Holden's Hope Forever 5K
Don't you love 5K's for a cause? Well, this one is to help families who have babies that have spent a lot of time in the NICU as well as families who have experienced the loss of an infant. Although I'm not a NICU or L&D nurse, this one still speaks to my heart.

Orange Theory
Our location is set to open before summer time and I can't wait! This will be a huge motivation for me as well.

I'd love to add maybe one more race and I'm sure I'll find one soon, but these are the three on my radar for now. Having a plan for racing as well as Orange Theory feels so great and gives me the motivation I need to keep moving forward!

What's on your Spring racing schedule?

It's the Tuesdays On The Run Linkup with Erika, Marcia and Patty.

Brayden's First Easter Egg Hunt

Hello and happy "almost" Easter weekend! We are excited for this weekend as it will be Brayden's first Easter and we will have a chance to spend time with family and do a lot of shopping! Let's also not forget the true reason we celebrate this Easter holiday! :)

Last weekend, Brayden attended his first Easter Egg Hunt - and it just so happened that it was hosted by our church!

In the days leading up to the egg hunt, we spent a few minutes each evening "practicing" how to put eggs in a basket! By the time the day of the egg hunt came along, he had the concept down pretty well!

The event opened to the public at 10 a.m. with Brayden's group (0-2 years old) hunt beginning at 10:15 a.m.

When we arrived, parking lot attendants handed us a schedule which was really nice to have in hand so we knew what was taking place and when! 

Behind our children's building is a large field and that's what they used to "hide" the eggs. Some eggs were extra special with prize tags inside!

Parents were allowed inside the egg area with the 0-2 group, so I was able to help guide him where he needed to be!

 The Easter Bunny made a visit and started off the egg hunt!

It was a lot of fun showing the eggs to Brayden and helping him put them in his basket.

His favorite thing to do with them, though is bang them together. Typical boy!

In the basket they go...

I can't wait to see what he's going to do next year as he will officially be walking by then!

Look at my egg, momma!

Posing for a picture with the Easter Bunny!

My friend Kim had the idea to make shirts for the day and I love how mine turned out!!

Along with the Easter Egg hunt, they also had fun jumps, face painting, balloon sculptures, and a train for the kids to ride. I completely forgot about the train, so we didn't get to go - oh well, next year for sure!

After all the groups had finished, there was a puppet show and a fun little message from our children's pastor and kids ministries team where they shared the Easter story. Also, awards for the prize eggs were given out here.

In all, we had a great time and really enjoyed the Easter Egg Hunt! Easter is one of my favorite holidays and I absolutely love spring and this time of year!

I hope you all have a wonderful a blessed weekend! :)