The oldest bike

It's now official, I have the oldest bike in our family. I got my Trek back .... Like 23 years ago. My bike is still good and works just fine. I probably paid around $350 for this purple bike but back then,  that was a lot for a bike.  I hardly used my bike, but that all changed a few years ago. Now it gets a lot of use and it's starting to show some wear and tare. 

I'm completely 100% okay with my old bike. Although, if the kids don't end up using their brand new bikes much, I might just start using them myself!

We were out bike shopping last night. Celina out grew her kid bike and needed a real grown up mountain bike. we found this one, a gray Diamond Back, just like Steve's and Logan's bikes. 

Celina took her new bike out with us on our morning ride up to Starbucks and home. 

I always order ice water. I'm just not a coffee drinker and I don't need the liquid calories. I'd rather eat them then drink them up! 

The cows were out this morning by the pond. We stopped for a a little bit to watch and more and more cows kept coming over to see us. I'm glad there was a fence between us and the cows!

Off we rode....

I got home and was craving a ham and cheese croissant sandwich for breakfast. I split it with Logan. Half the calories and still a treat for breakfast. 

I needed something to eat after that 13 mile bike ride.  I had to hurry home so I left Starbucks and finished the ride by myself taking the longer, hilly dirt road route to get in a workout. 

Just some morning time with my favorite puppy.. I hope she is done growing. I can still pick her up and she still fits in my lap, just barely. 

Yes its Friday once again. I would like to say I don't have to work today but I do. Just a quick hour or maybe a little longer? I have plenty to do this morning, which includes getting Logan to soccer tryouts on time or within the 30 minutes you are suppose to be there early. It's one of those Fridays where I have my schedule all rearranged just for soccer. 

Last night, Celina and I went to the MN Zoo on Free night. This is the only time I go to the MN zoo otherwise I like Como better. You can't beat free and its something to do. It was just the two of us last night. We walked around outside to see all the animals. It was a cooler evening and I think that helped because all the animals were up and moving about. Seems whenever we go to the zoo during normal hours 10 - 4, the animals are in a coma. 

I'm not sure why I didn't take more animal photos. We also caught the bird show. That was well worth the wait. We had enough of the zoo after 2 hours so we headed home. 

Focus on what you can do!

I sometimes don't take my own advice, like focusing on what I can do. I find that I listen to that voice who tells me about everything I'm not doing and can't do.

I've been skipping my morning exercises, planks, bridge, arm weights the last week. I have no real excuse other then I just didn't make time and I never got around to doing it. I'm not going to focus on what I should have done because I can't get those days back. All I can do is move forward and change what I can today! While my back is at a 10 on the pain scale but now is around a 4 thanks to pain and back meds that make it manageable, I'm still moving on with my fitness. I got back to doing 2 sets of 2 minute planks bent arms then straight arms, 2 sets of side planks at 1 minute each side, and some arm weights. I did skip the twists because I didn't want to add any more muscle pain to my already sore back. 

I'm going to start focusing on what I need to do. Like go for a bike ride, even if I cut it short. Run what ever distance and at what ever pace. I just am out there to enjoy my mornings and do what I can with the day I'm in. 

Injuries can always set us back, but there are ways to adapt and mix it up to keep making progress and to keep from focusing on what we can't do while we mend our bodies. 

I can not errase my poor eating habbits and the weight I've gained back. I can work on today. Eating veggies and choosing healthy snacks one meal at a time, one food choice at a time and one bite at a time. I need to cheer myself for eating healthy at the moment and cheer on the stuff I pass up to get back to losing weight and making good food choices. Its the little progress and the mind set that will make you a lot more happy with life. 

I'm going to plan out my day and focus on what I can do. Make healthy meals, exercise, work, go to the chico for my back pain and do yoga. Take a nap if I need it, pay some bills and enjoy summer. 

Just another bike day

It was another humid and 70+F early morning. Off to bike once again and skip the running. I am kind of liking not running! 

I didn't wear my Garmin, but we took the same route and its usually around 11 miles around  trip. We stopped to watch the train even though we could have kept biking away from it. 

It was one of those really long trains. This one wasn't going super fast but fast enough. 

We never did stay to see the end of the train. 

After biking, I had to quickly get ready to work for an hour. I got home to find the kids ready to leave for a new Juice Place called  TRUCE, in Uptown. Just a short 30 minute drive across town.. This place was not cheap but I tasted the juice and the bowl they both were sharing. 

Each item was $9 something, which was pretty expensive but thankfully it was good! 

That was just a snack.. off we drove to Lake Calhoon, Rustica Bakery. 

We split a ham sandwich  and the kids shared the eclair. 

I picked up a loaf of bread to have with dinner. I'm making something Steve doesn't care for. Pork chops with mushrooms, onion and potatoes all cooked in cream of mushroom soup. Salty good! 

 It was raining, not many people at Lake Calhoon. We just drove around, parked at the beach were I got out, took a few photos and left. 

My back is super sore today. We took the kids out on the lake last night. We brought the boat instead of the jetski to pull the tube. It was actually a smooth ride until you hit the big waves. The tube flew up three feet in the air. Logan and I both landed hard back on the tube. It probably would have been better to just let go and fly off into the water. My back is killing me today.  Gee, do you think this is why only kids are ever tubing. Its my guess adults know they will be in back pain if they do this. Oh well, I had fun and I'll do it again.. Just maybe a more relaxing, slow ride. 

Comparing..

I finally got around to looking at my Garmin results for the 4 mile and 1 mile race on Saturday. 

So much for thinking it was longer then 4 miles! Exactly 4.0, which was not the case for the 1 mile. I came up with 1.06 miles and the .06 matters! 
I think my Garmin is way more accurate then the race results so I'm going with this as my official times. 
4 miles = 40:55 minutes. I counted my stopping times, eight! heat and humidity is no joke!!! 

I knew I could run it faster then an 8 minute mile. My moving time for exactly 1 mile was 7:48. That's just a minute and some seconds slower then my fastest time. I will never judge anyone for their running speed in Florida heat ever again! I should know this too from when I was on vacation, running in the Florida keys and my mile times were around 12 minutes for an easy pace. 

I'm done comparing and looking at all the race results. Lets just say, I'm not looking to do any more races any time soon. I know there is that half marathon on Aug 6th that I'm suppose to do, this 4 mile race in the heat reminded me that I just can't run with my feet 13 miles. It hurt to run 5 and I'll be almost tripling the distance. 

Last night, I had a bit of a freak out with Zoey. Logan noticed around her right eye and cheek was all swollen. I had no idea of what was going on. I called the emergency vet and they said it was probably an allergic reaction, but to what? Steve was out on a motorcycle ride and Celina was at the gym with my car. I finally got a hold of both of them and we all were off to the vet. We never made it there. I did some Googling and then Steve remembered how this happened after a bee sting to their other dog. We figured this is what caused the sudden swelling. Off to get some over the counter meds and she is good as new today. Saved us an emergency $120 vet bill! Instead we had Froyo and called it a night. 

We had a fun day at the pool. I picked up a lifejacket, beach towel and a craby soft pool toy for Evan. He was a good swimmer with that lifejacket. I got him to go under water when he jumped into the pool. He didn't want to leave! 

I felt so out of shape for distance and speed.

I feel so out of shape for distance and speed.  I haven't been doing much of either and it shows. 

I went back to my old running shoes because my toes need a blister break from the newbies. I'm not even running many miles and end up with blisters. This is just not fair! 

I might have taken 1st place in the 40-49 year old age group of females, but I didn't feel speedy (there were 8 or 9 of us that ran this race). It's by far not my fastest mile time of 6:39. I have to stay, it was extremely hot and humid. Felt like 90*F with 90% humidity. This was a tough day to race. Plus, I haven't been very speedy lately.. running at a 10 minute to 10:30 minute mile on my training runs. I suppose 8 some thing still isn't bad for this 47 year old. I just had higher expectations. 

It might have been only 4 miles but it felt like 13 with the heat. My goal was to just run what ever and it sure showed in my finish time. I was just happy to have my family run it with me. All I can say is that this heat killed me and my running. It was so hot that I had to do the run walk thing after mile 2. You know it's bad out when I walk in such a short race. I wasn't alone in this walking.. something that rarely happens in short races. I felt so out of shape running this hot race. My run this morning felt so easy in comparison. Three easy miles at a faster pace then race day around our neighborhood. 

I was so happy to see this little guy again. It's been far too long. Last night, Celina was babysitting Evan at his house. Logan and I went over to drop off dinner and visit for a bit. It's been since before the 4th of July, which is far too long to go with out seeing Evan. I have all day to spend with this guy. Can you tell how happy Zoey is to have a play friend? 

A Slow ride to town

After racing on Saturday, we were okay with taking a slow 12 mile ride to and from town. 

Celina wanted to join Steve and I on our morning ride. It was probably a good thing that she came with, just to slow our pace down. 

We biked up to Starbucks. It was starting to get hot out since we waited till 9am to get going. 

I  hardly ever get anything to drink at Starbucks, but today I decided a Strawberry smoothy sounded good. Not so good. It had too much milk and not enough strawberry flavor. I traded my smoothy for Steve's hot chocolate. It was a good trade for me! 

On the way home we  stopped to play with some kittens at the local store in town. They were all so cute and friendly. It's a good thing Steve is allergic to cats or we would have biked home with a few kittens. 

I don't think Zoey would be very happy with that decision. We found her with a baby rabbit in her mouth the other night. I bribed her with a handful of treats. Lucky for that bunny, she was just holding it all nice and it hopped away, unhurt. 

I recovered some what from the morning 1 & 4 mile race by Saturday night. I had to take a two hour nap. Plus, I felt kind of sick all day long. Which made dinner not so pleasant. My stomach just hurt and I felt like I could have thrown up at any point after dinner. I'm sure it was from the heat. 

The rain prevented a lot of old cars from showing up at the Hastings. There were still a few to look at. Tim brough his car down and we all went to dinner then looked at a few other cars. The two old red and black cars were my favorite of the night. I'm not into cars, but I'd drive around in these two.