Spring has Sprung....well...kinda

When Addie and I were outside yesterday feeding the birdies,

I was pleasantly surprised to see signs of life from some of my plants.

Dragon's Blood Sedum

Good Old Fashioned Iris

Surprise Lilies

They always surprise me  ( haha ! )

I always think they are daffodils , the foliage is very similar , then I remember,

I don't have daffodils !

The purple leaves in front are Huechera , they are starting to " color up " too.

YAH!

Today it was supposed to be in the 60's.

YAH , again !

I had stupidly volunteered to help the Hubs at the flip house.

That's a whole other story !

Anyway....

that also meant I could do my run ( walk / jog , remember ) on the trail

Yet again , YAH !

I really can't wait to see this trail in the summer.

Although , I am hoping the flip house is sold by then

and I won't have any reason to go to Fayette.

The trail really is great.

Here is a view from it that I just had to share.

I'm not sure how visible the river will be once the trees get leaves.

This is my favorite spot on the trail ( and not just because it is the "turn around " point either !)

This is the only bridge that crosses the river by the way.

Unless you go all the way back to town.

I learned this the hard way....

But here was a view of the trail I was not happy to see

Yep, parts are still snow covered.

I really wasn't expecting that.

It was also a down hill slope.

Good news , I stayed on my feet!

Spring is in the air,

it's just not on the ground on my running trail !

Is it spring in your neck of the woods?

C25K Update

No Wordless Wednesday with Addie this week.

My little Princess had the flu last night,

so her Daddy stayed home with her today.

It kind of threw my whole day off.

So , I decided I would give you an update on my Couch to 5K journey.

Did you wonder if I had given up?

Well, it had crossed my mind.

It seemed like just when I decided to start this journey,

Mother Nature decided to work against me.

My run schedule is Wednesday, Friday, Sunday.

On week two , it snowed on Wednesday.

Not enough to keep me from running , if you remember,

but Friday was a different story.

Definite YUCK.

No running outside.

Very muddy and VERY windy.

This isn't uncommon in Iowa in February but we have had such an unusually mild winter.

Why, oh why, did winter have to start just when I started running????

Saturday wasn't any better.

Neither was Sunday, it was much warmer, but the wind was still strong.

Soooo, I had to

wasn't easy.

I was really grumpy.

So the Hubs says to me, "come with me today."

He was going to work on the flip house ( which is not my favorite thing to do ),

 there is a fabulous paved trail right behind the flip house.

He wasn't sure how long it was or where it lead , but he had seen people using it the day before and assumed ( you know what they say about assuming) it was clear of snow.

Part of it is wooded , so it would be somewhat protected from the wind.

Instant happiness.

Soooo,

 off we went.

The trail was great.

But I learned a few things.

#1 Areas protected from the wind are also protected from the sun, which is what you need to melt snow.

Yep,

 by the time I got to the "protected from wind" part, I was running in snow.

But I kept going.

#2 When you come to the end of an unfamiliar trail, turn around and go back !

Did I do this ?

Umm...NO!

 I came to a road and instead of turning around and running in the snow again , I decided I would stick to the road.

It had to curve around to the street our house was on right ?

Wrong.

Long story short ( not really but shorter than it could be ),

I ran/walked twice as long and twice as far as I had planned.

Did it kill me ?

NO

But I sure was tired !

Then I helped Hubs and Emily paint ( which I do not like to do either )...

End of week 2 of Couch to 5K.

Begin week 3....

MORE SNOW !

Are you kidding me !

Sooo...

 I did it.

I broke down and did something I swore I would not do.

I bought a treadmill...

I have never wanted one.

I know too many people that bought one only to have it gather dust ( or clothing) in the corner of their bedroom or basement.

But Mother Nature just was NOT cooperating with my plan.

One of my members had a treadmill she wanted to sell.

Bless my friend Linda for hanging out at work so I could go get it.

And

 Bless my friend Julie for driving me in her Suburban to get it.

Back on schedule !

First run of Week three was done on my new treadmill.

Here are a couple things I learned.

#1- Running on a treadmill is very different than running outside.

( Duh, right ?)

# 2-  A sweatshirt is not needed when I run inside.

(again , DUH! )

AND

#3 - They put water bottle holders on those things for a reason !

All in all , a great start to week 3.

Take that Mother Nature !

Which do you prefer?

Running ouside or inside?

Not running at all ?

I'd love to hear .

Wordless ( almost) Wednesday with Addie .... and Week 2 of C25K

I know today isn't Wednesday.

I couldn't get my stupid blog to work last night.

What was up with that?

Anyway.....

Pretend it's Wednesday ... OK ?

I ran (jog/walked) in the SNOW !

SNOW !

Geez...

I was afraid I was gonna slip and break a hip ...

But I ran ( well , walk/jog ) anyway and I didn't slip.

By the time I was done with my shower,

the snow had stopped and was all melted !

Go figure....

My little Princess was also out of sorts.

It was just THAT kind of day!

She did let me get a couple pictures.

She said "nothing to play with Grandma"

And I said " you have TONS of toys to play with Addie"

She decided to draw on the chalkboard.

Colorful swirls....

The artist and her work.

We had to drag all of her "baby" toys out of the closet !

I said " Addie why are you being so difficult"

She said " I not difficult, YOU difficult"

Does a two year old even know what difficult means?

I'm pretty sure this one does.

Hurricane Addie hits the Trailerhood.

Damages still being assessed.....

Stay tuned for today's " Thirsty Thursday" post.

Unless it doesn't happen till Friday....

Geez...

Run , Forrest, Run

I have been going back and forth this week about whether to blog about this or not.

I guess, I have decided I will .

On one hand , I wasn't sure I wanted to share.

You know how sometimes you want to do something,

but you're afraid if you tell people and fail , what they will think?

On the other hand , I knew I needed the accountability of "putting it out there."

You know,the whole ,  " it's not a goal till you write it down or share it with someone " thing.

Heard that before?

Uh huh, well, it doesn't make it any easier.

I have a secret.

Ready ?

This week I started the Couch to 5K program.

Heard of it ?

If not, you can check it out HERE.

Now , don't get me wrong.

I am NOT a couch potato.

I own a Curves and workout 3 times a week , plus Zumba once a week.

But let me tell you something,

RUNNING ( or in my case JOGGING ) is a COMPLETELY different story !

I have great muscle tone in my legs ( not bragging, just a fact , and I have worked hard to get it ),

but I was concerned because #1 , I have NEVER been a runner , EVER.

I was more like,

or

and because #2 - I am no spring chica.

Being on the upside of 46 ( YIKES ), was it too late for me to give this running thing a try ?

Would my old knees whine?

Would I all of a sudden develop Plantar Fasciitis ( feet problems for those of you who don't know someone with it, but I think everyone knows someone that has it , and it hurts ! ) ?

And I have bad hips, how would they be able to take it ?

All good questions, but also just excuses to keep me from trying.

One of my biggest pet peeves ( and  believe me I have a lot ! ) is excuses.

When it comes to excuses not to exercise ,

So I talked to people I love and trust that run.

Spencer ( my beautiful niece you have read about many times ) said when she ran her first marathon there was a 60-70ish ( I don't remember , older than me anyway ) year old man that ran with her and he didn't start running till he was 50. ( I'm  not quite there yet either ).

She thought I could and should do it.

My niece Cindy , suggested the Couch to 5K program.

Cindy is the life partner of my niece Tisha.

They are both in their 40's , both run , have both had running injuries, but have NOT given up.

I admire them for so many reasons

Sooo,

I googled Couch to 5K.

And I finished my first week.

3 - 30 minute walk/jogs.

I'm not going to tell you it was easy.

It was not.

But each time I wanted to stop , I made myself go a little farther.

And I finished each step.

The first day , I did 30 minutes of yoga afterward.

I was so afraid if I didn't really stretch out my old muscles, they would cease up.

And let me tell you , my quads WERE * KILLING * ME.

That was Wednesday.

Another reason , I think they hurt so bad is I ran laps in our yard.

Uneven surface , probably not a good choice for my first walk/jog.

But....

We have a HUGE yard and I didn't want anyone to see me.

Can you say INSECURE ?

Second walk/jog was on Friday.

Quads were still sore and I wasn't sure how it would go.

I was determined pain  would not be an excuse to stop !

This time I decided to run the driveway, it is also really long and a much more even surface.

 Once I got started - they actually felt BETTER !

Go figure.

Third walk/jog this morning.

For some reason it was harder today.

I have no idea why.

But I will have a few days to figure it out.

My C25K schedule is Wednesday, Friday, Sunday.

They suggest resting days in between , and trust me , I need them.

Does this mean I will stick to it?

Not nessecarily.

I sure hope so.

But now that I have shared it, I know I'm accountable.

Has anyone out there done the Couch to 5K program ?

I would really love to hear from you if you have.