Warrior Dash 2011

Last Sunday I ran the Warrior Dash with three of my friends/boot camp girls.

We started our nice and clean in our fringed and beaded cammo shirts, courtesy of Michelle. We ended up really muddy and gross and minus a pair of shoes.



(me, Michelle, Lisa, Noelle)

The giant pile of shoes. You really don't want to keep your shoes after wearing them in the race. They're disgusting. So this charity takes them, industrial cleans and sanitizes them then sends them to third world coutries. Pretty cool.

We took a waterproof disposable camera with us throughout the race. We weren't trying to win. Obviously. Or even be a tiny bit competitive. We just wanted to have fun, so our goal was to finish in under an hour. The guy who won? He ran it in something like 22 minutes or less.

It's in Hocking Hills so most of the course is hilly. And it had rained the night before so it was super slick with mud. So slick and hilly that instead of running, we did a lot of careful hiking.

I'd just jumped in over a dead fish. Awesome.

The best part? Jumping over fire. This was the second to last obstacle. Just before the crawling to mud part.

See, very muddy.

On the shuttle bus back to our car. We'd been sprayed off by a giant hose so while from a distance it might appear we're slightly clean, we weren't.

I think we might do it again next year. It was fun. Mud and all.

Photo 365: 1/17/11 - 1/23/11

1/17: Sledding at Kelly's after boot camp. That's Sam in between Mackenzie and Emma. The best part of sledding was Mackenzie going downhill with her eyes closed. She told me it was so the snow didn't get in her eyes, and she seemed very proud of that solution to her problem.


1/18: A sweet sleeping baby.


1/19: Land's End box shoved in my mailbox. Attn mailman - it doesn't fit.


1/20: An awake and happy baby.

1/21: Saying goodbye to Grandma McIntyre.

1/22: Family Play Day at our Church. Well, not actually at the church itself, but at it's warehouse/Loft space. It's a potluck/playtime for the kids on bounce houses.

1/23: My boot camp workout for the next day. It's my turn to lead and of course I waited until 11pm the night before to type it all up.

Friday Five

1. I got Emma this super cute sweater at the Gap. Totally reminds me of my favorite sweater when I was in elementary school. But Emma did not find it super cute. She told me she didn't like it because she didn't like "that color" and pointed to the grey. So she doesn't like grey. This was Sunday night.

Monday at school, I'm telling Lisa and Kelly about it and Emma tells them she doesn't like grey. That's when we all just looked at her in disbelief, because you know what she was wearing? Grey. That she picked out of her closet that morning herself. Grey shirt and grey skirt. Really? But you don't like grey. Huh.

2. I worked out today. Closest to a real workout as I've gotten so far. I walked a few laps with a friend, lifted my regular upper body routine with slightly lighter weights than I'd been using, then ran four laps. I haven't run since my belly was big enough to bounce when I ran and I stopped. So it's been a while. It wasn't as awful as I thought it would. The running that is. I'm slowly adding things back in. I'm still slightly paranoid of hurting myself after my c-section, but I'm tired of not being active. I think I'm going back to step class next week. And I'm going to start adding ab/core work back in. And push-ups. I've done a few of those and it's crazy how hard they are now. Something that was so easy to me pre-pregnancy has become not-so-easy. It's amazing how fast your body gets out of shape, how fast you lose the strength you've built up. It felt good though.

3. Ryan went to Kid Park (at the fitness center) for the first time today. Technically babies should be eight-weeks-old before going in, which would be Sunday, but they let him in. Thank you Miss Nancy.

4. Mackenzie really got in to painting her little animal that Renee sent her. Emma enjoyed it to, just didn't make quite the mess. Thanks Renee! They love them!


5. Ryan smiled! Wednesday he gave me his first real social smile. It was awesome. There is nothing better than your baby smiling at you, especially the first time. I can only describe the feeling as joy. This happiness was just bubbling out of me. I love it.

Today I tried to get a picture of him smiling and this is the best I got. When I say "Good morning Ryan!" in this baby talk/sing song voice he smiles. But when I move back to take the picture, he stops. So there was a lot "Good Morning"-ing going on this afternoon in my attempt at a smiling picture. Note to self: do not use your 50mm lens when trying to get a picture of your baby smiling on the changing table. It just doesn't work when you're trying to be close to said baby's face to get him to smile, yet keep having to move back to to get the picture in focus. Also, learn to use your camera.

Last Day of Boot Camp

I come up with such creative names for my blog posts, don't I?


Last Monday was our last boot camp. Mike, our instructor, is heading to Afghanistan with the Marines and will be gone a year. We're going to be sending him care packages full of fruit snacks and juice boxes. :)

(Clockwise from top left: Beth, Noelle, Mike, Tricia, Lisa, Me, Michelle, Karyn, Kelly, CJ, Annabelle. Minus Melissa who wasn't there and Allyson and Megan who'd left already.)

The pregnant girls. AKA they-who just-do-lunges-and-squats-while-everyone-else-pushes-the-bags-down-the-track. Doing lunges and squats all the times gets boring. I miss my regular work outs. I even miss pushing the bags. This was Monday, Megan had her baby Thursday. I'm impressed.


Getting instructions for this round of pushing the bags.

And they're off. I'd do a side squat. Snap a picture. Squat. Picture. Repeat.

Me and Lisa with Mike. We'll miss him.


In the back parking lot. Push-ups and sprints, always fun.

(Me and Karyn)


(Michelle and Allyson)

For now, we're meeting on our own every Monday morning. We're supposed to get a new, interim instructor next month some time. We'll all be waiting for March 2011, though and Mike's safe return. Me especially - I'm going to need to lose this baby weight I'm so quickly packing on!

This layout is from the April WCS gallery. It was all about connections. For me, it's the girls I work out with. We just started taking boot camp last April (when it started being offered in the morning). Lisa and I were already friends, and we knew Kelly, although not well. But over the past year, we've all become friends - play dates, the park, dinner, Facebook, Tupperware and Lia Sophia parties. It's fantastic. I never would've thought I'd get so much more than a workout from boot camp.

So maybe hate is too strong a word...

Prior to November (and my awesome new Mizuno shoes) I often said I hated running. In fact, it's the name of that other blog that I never update. But, and I can't believe I'm about to type this, I no longer hate running. Yes, Rebekah, I can hear you cheering in Oklahoma. One reason I hated running was it made my knees and feet hurt. Plus, it sucked. It's not really all that fun. Two laps was the most I could do. Then I was able to do four. And then I got my new shoes, and the pain was gone - I ran 8 laps on the track. Then I did it again. And again. Then I ran a mile on the treadmill the other week. This was a big deal to me because before I would jog about 60 seconds and then hit the down arrow as fast as possible so I could walk again. I even carried on a conversation with my friend who was next to me. When I first started running, at two laps I'd be breathing so hard you'd think I was having some sort of attack - no conversation was possible at all. But it's gotten easier.

Thursday I ran 12 laps on the track, just short of 1 1/2 miles. I couldn't believe it.

So now I have a new goal: 2 miles, then 3, then 3.1 miles. Otherwise known as 5 kilometers. As in 5K. As in: I want to run a 5K race.

So I got these new shoes...

and I love them. Meet my new Mizuno Inspire 5s.


They have magical superpowers.

Yes, these are running shoes. And yes, I have a neglected blog called Erin Hates Running. And yes, I bought these in a specialty running store (Fleet Feet) where I had to tell the man fitting me that I don't actually care for running when he asked me if I was training for anything.

But, that being said. I love them! And they must have superpowers, because Monday night at the ab camp class I took I ran 8 laps. Me, who prior to this could only run 4 laps in a row without a break, ran 8 without stopping. 8 laps happens to be a mile on the indoor track at the fitness center. My goal was to run 8 laps by January 1st, gradually working up to it by adding a lap each week or two. Oh, and I did it without my ipod. I had only my very labored breathing for company. And then on Thursday, I ran 9. And today? 8. Combined that's more laps than I ran all of last month.

But back to Monday night. When class started we had to run two warm-up laps. But then after that, the instructor told us we were starting with a 1-mile run. Um, seriously? That's exactly what I asked him. I told him I don't run in miles. I run in laps. As in 4 of them at a time. Then I started to run. Well, jog. I only have one speed when I run, a slow and steady jog. Lap 4 is usually when I start to struggle (which is an improvement, b/c it used to be around lap 2) but this time instead of struggling, I was just trying to figure out what lap I was on, I'd lost count. Crap. So I started to looking around to see if anyone else in the class was near me. Two laps later, a girl in my class that I'd started out running next to passed me just before the start mark. I asked and she was on lap 7, which meant I was on lap 6! Six! I couldn't believe it. How did I get to six? Well, I couldn't quit then, I only had two more to go and I did it. When I finished it almost seemed too easy (although it wasn't) and I felt like I'd cheated or miscounted but a guy who started when I did finished right after me, so I really did run 8 laps!

For me, this was huge. I was so excited that after class I immediately called my husband and then my friend Lisa to tell them. They hear me complain about running enough I had to share some actual good news about the activity.

Now about the shoes. Over the last couple months we've been doing a lot more running in boot camp. We've had classes where we run up to 16 or 20 laps (non-consecutive) in a class. My right knee had started to hurt. This wasn't new, it bothered me in college when I was a server but until I started running more often, I'd forgotten about it. But now it hurt. It ached. It felt weak. I was getting shin splints. And my right foot hurt. I don't have a strong arch and my foot sort of falls in because of it. (When I was in middle school, my mom bought me leather arch support inserts for my shoes because of this. But I kept losing them. So she stopped buying them.) After talking with one of my instructors and some of the girls I work out with, I decided to try getting fitted for running shoes. Until now, I bought workout shoes at Kohl's based on how cute they were. This time, I bought shoes that fit, and the color wasn't a priority, because really, if it were up to me, they'd be pink. Or orange. I like orange. What a difference a good, supportive running shoe with an added arch support makes. After those 8 laps my knee didn't hurt, my feet felt good and no shin splits.

In case you're wondering about getting fitted for running shoes, let me tell you about it. I felt a bit weird going in, knowing I'm not a runner and being completely unfamiliar with anything in that store. I felt out of place. But the guy who helped me was great. First he measured my foot (Shoes and socks off. I should've had a pedicure. Lisa had. She had cute pink toes. I didn't.) both sitting and standing plus the width. Then I had to walk the length of the store so he could see my arch and gait. He asked about any injuries or problems. Then he brought out three different shoes for me to try. This isn't like at Kohl's or Dicks where you look at the wall of shoes and choose which to try on. Instead they choose shoes for you based on your foot and needs. He brought me a pair of Asics, Sauconys and the Mizunos. Once you tried the shoes on, you had to run in them to see how the fit and felt. That was kind of weird. I had a narrow foot, and the Mizunos are a narrower shoe compared to the others and fit my foot the snuggest. Because of my lacking arch, he suggested arch supports. I got a medium support (in pink!) that was custom cut to fit my shoes. This replaced the support that came with the shoe. What a difference that made. I had Nikes before, but they never felt as good as these Mizunos felt. I highly recommend getting fitted for a really good running/work out shoe. It makes such a difference.

While I work out a lot, and enjoy doing so, I have never liked running. (Hence the workout/lose weight blog titled Erin Hates Running.) It's always been hard and the one thing I dreaded. But maybe, just maybe, my magical shoes will make it a little easier and maybe just a tad enjoyable. Maybe.