Keeping Up With The Jacksons

First, let's begin with how I am HORRIBLE at keeping up this blog. I am sorry. I'm on facebook all the time so sometimes I feel like the ones who read this blog already know what's going on.  I really need to be better and I'm going to work on it, for real, this time!

To be completely honest though, not much has been going on with us lately. We're just pushing through the summer and the heat. Wednesday was TJ and I's two year anniversary. We didn't really do anything but that's OK with me. We spent some time with each other, which is really all that matters. And this weekend we're going to the beach to celebrate our anniversary. It's not Hunting Island where we got married, but I still think it's fun to celebrate our anniversary on the beach since we got married on the beach. Be on the lookout in the next few days for some beach pictures!

In other news, which is slightly bigger for me, several months ago, I made the decision to lose some weight and become healthier. During the process, I started a blog to journal my journey and share my story with others, if they're interested. It's also a way to hold myself accountable for workouts and eating healthier. I have by no means mastered either of these but I am working on them and getting better with each day. I have found it's a pretty good way to get my thoughts out and I feel quite proud of myself when I share some of the workouts. And, I tend to keep up with what's going on with us better on that blog to since losing weight and becoming healthier can involve all aspects of your life. If you're interested in checking it out, click here. I'd love for you to follow my blog, here your advice and suggestions and let me know what you think. It's a work in progress but I'll get there!

....for my first 5K!!! I am SO excited. It's the 2012 Enmark Savannah Bridge Run. It's a 5K that starts on Hutchinson Island, goes across the Talmedge Bridge (the bridge below) and ends in downtown Savannah by the Civic Center. The bridge is 1.4 mile span, has a 5.5% grade and is 196 feet above the Savannah River (facts straight from the race website).



The race isn't until December 1st, exactly 6 months form tonight, so I hope to run at least one if not two before then but this is the first race I have actually registered for. I'm excited but a little nervous at the same time. That's probably due to the fact that I'm still not done with the C25K program but I'll get there. The rain just needs to stop. LOL!

How was your Easter? Ours was pretty good. It started off being woken up by a phone call from TJ asking if I could bring him his spare set of keys to work because he managed to lose his while he was at work. Being woken up at 6:00, having to get the kids out of bed, and bringing him his keys......not so much fun, but convincing Dylan to hold TJ's keys ransom for a Krispy Kreme run.....totally worth the drive. HAHA!!!

I fought the urge and didn't eat a single donut, which was especially hard after realizing TJ brought home my favorite, Boston Creme donuts. LOL!

Once we came home, it was Easter Basket time!!!
Jordyn wasn't too into it, especially in the beginning but she began to get the idea and would pick them up when she the saw eggs. Dylan, on the other hand, was a HUGE fan, as always. He had a blast. After finding all (or what we thought we all), it was back inside to see what kind of goodies they got!

I think they made out pretty well! What do you think? ;)

For some reason, I have the hardest keeping this little ol' blog of mine updated. You'd think I'd be better at seeing as we live so far from everyone, but I'm not. Sorry family and friends! Not too many exciting things have happened but I'll share what has happened.

As you know, St. Patrick's Day was 10 days ago. What you may not know is what HUGE deal it is in Savannah. Savannah has many, many Irish catholics.  Savannah holds the 2nd largest parade in the country, possibly the world. Most years, savannah has about 400,000 visitors in town for the festival, but this year, they expected close to 1,000,000. This year was my 3rd year going, and Tj's 1st, along with the kids' 1st too. The parade was 4 hours long and while we didn't stay for the entire parade, we watched the majority of it. I couldn't tell you for sure if there were a 1 million people there or not, but you could definitely tell there were significantly more people than in previous years. My guess is about double the normal crowd. After the parade we headed farther downtown and eventually to River Street. We only stayed on River Street for about 20 minutes before deciding it was time to go. Lines for drinks were unbelievably long. People were waiting 20 minutes in line just to get a drink and get in line for another one. There were so many people that, while most people were very considerate of us with a stroller, it was way to difficult to navigate through everyone, and I was holding on to Dylan's hand so tight so he didn't get separated with us. We definitely had a great time but with that many people, it's better to go without the kids. Here's a few pics from the parade.

Last night I completed 1.40 miles at a pace of 13:31. Faster than Monday, which makes me feel pretty good and give me the motivation to keep going. It also is making me look forward to next week when half my runs double in time before walking. Even though I know it wasn't supposed to rain, the clouds and what I believe was thunder way off in the distance made me want to sip my run for fear that it might rain. But I went anyway, telling myself if it did rain, I would definitely be running as fast as I could to get back home so maybe it encouraging. LOL! I took a new route tonight, running on the main road that takes you out of the neighborhood. I like that route but I think I like switching it up too. There are so many different streets in our neighborhood, that I can constantly have a new route and I think I like that. Hmmm.....wonder why way will spark me Friday

Yup, you're reading it right. Week 1, Day 2 AGAIN! Last week was not a good week for me running wise. I only completed one day for Week 2, so this week, I needed to redo it again.

Tonight, I started my RunKeeper app at my first run, as opposed to at the start if the warm-up, and I definitely feel like my time is more accurate. Tonight, I ran 1.38 miles at a pace of 13:47. While it's definitely better, I'm still not truly happy with it. I know it's including periods of walking as well, and I keep telling myself that, but I wish my time was faster. It's so frustrating but I know I'll get there. Or at least that's what I tell myself. LOL!

One thing I will say, is that I don't hurt quite as much, but I am questioning that a little. Is it because I'm not pushing myself enough or is it because I'm becoming more accustomed to it. I want it to be the latter, but I really don't know the right answer. Maybe it's because I'm stretching more before and after. Or maybe it's because I didn't run much last week. LOL! Oh, who knows. We'll see how Wednesday goes!

Last night I started Week 2 of the C25K program. I definitely got a late start to the week, so I'll be paying for it this weekend. This week consists of a 5 minute warm up, then running for 90 seconds, walking for 90, repeating the running and walking cycle 6 times ending with a 5min cool down. I unfortunately don't have an accurate time yet again but this time it was my fault. I thought RunKeeper lost my GPS signal and stopped working, so I went to pause my run and instead of hitting pause I hit stop. Oops! I do think I ran around 13:53. I did my best to put the times from both runs (I started a new activity on RunKeeper after I messed up the first) and came up with this. I need to try to get another run in tonight but there's a 50% chance rain. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, it won't rain until after my run, which means I may be going as soon as I get home. Keep your fingers crossed for me that the rain hold out til I'm finished and in the house.

I took TJ and the kids with me today. I'm proud of Dylan for keeping up on the runs, although since I'm not really that fast maybe it wasn't that hard to do. LOL! Today I completed 2.06 miles in 33:08, which was an average pace of 16:08. I'm disappointed but there is something I think is affecting my time. My warm up and cool down. I am starting my time the moment I start my workout and ending it as I'm walking in the door, so it includes my warm up and cool down. Today our cool down was longer because we weren't quite back to the house at the end of the 5 min cool down. After talking to TJ, he suggested not starting my time until I'm done with the warmup and stopping the time before the cool down. He said not to worry about timing the warm up and cool down. Those don't factor into my time so I shouldn't be worrying about it. Does that sound right to you? It makes sense to me. I'm just trying to figure out the best way to get the most accurate time. I'll take any and all advice!