2018

Catching up again…again

/ Amy / 2 Comments

It’s been 5 months since I last posted. (Yikes!) It has also been that long since I have run. (Double yikes!)

So, let’s get caught up, shall we?

In March I was starting a couch to 5k program to get back in the groove of things, but that got bumped fairly quickly as I started devoting more time to studying for the exam I took in April. Progress on the couch to 5k plan was already fairly sluggish, so it wasn’t hard to drop it all together.

At the time I was also feeling pretty exhausted ALL THE TIME, because (surprise!) I’m pregnant with baby #2 and that was the first trimester. So, I traded running for an 8:30pm bedtime or relaxing on the couch.

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By the time I started regaining energy, I was in super study mode and it was also quarter end; making for a very hectic time at work. April passed in a blur. I never started up running again since it just wasn’t at all appealing to me. Currently, I can’t wait to get back to it; but it’ll be a couple months before that’s a possibility.

We travelled in May for my niece’s birthday, which was a blast, and then also took some time off to get potty training started (this was very decidedly NOT a blast). We’ve celebrated several birthdays over the summer— still actually have some decorations up in our house that went up in June and were last applicable about a month ago. They are part of our décor now. 🙂

On the exam front, I found out that I failed (sigh) the April exam – for the 3rd time. And made the depressing decision to start studying for the October sitting. I’m not enthusiastic about studying/sitting for an exam with a newborn, but I think this was the right choice. Time will tell.

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At the beginning of August, I rotated to a new position at work (!!!). I’m still settling in, but so far I’m enjoying it. It is not the best timing with maternity leave right around the corner, but as far as deadlines go, I think things should work out just fine. And no more quarter end work…huzzah!!!

So, that’s been the last 5 months around here – work, study, play, grow a baby 🙂

 

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My lackluster first week of 5k training

/ Amy / Leave a comment

First off, I should note that my training week starts on Sunday and I’m writing this on Thursday, so I’m jumping the gun a bit. If I feel the urge to blog though, I just need to do it; waiting usually ends in not posting at all.

When I first decided to do a couch to 5k,I figured I’d use the same app as I had previously used, but then I remembered that Zombies, Run! has a 5k program and I downloaded that instead. If you’re not familiar with the app: it gamifies running with a zombie theme. The workouts look a little different than the normal couch to 5k, so this could be interesting.

And now, a week of excuses plus one “workout”:

Sunday: Thought I might do the introductory workout Sunday night, but we had a tiring day and Mr. Toddler protested bedtime, so by the time I was free to exercise, I decided not to.

Monday: Stayed late at work to study. By the time I got home (with dinner), Mr. Toddler should have been asleep, but wasn’t. I rocked him a bit, and eventually was able to sneak out of his room to eat dinner. I didn’t really think I’d exercise after this, and getting done eating late didn’t change that plan.

Tuesday: By this time I was expecting a bedtime protest so planned to hang out in Mr. Toddler’s room until he fell asleep, before finally attempting the intro workout. And I managed to stick with my plan! I walked the workout which basically just introduces the story to you before you jump into actual workouts. It was about 22min long, and I had a good time. I was not eaten by any zombies.

Wednesday: The plan for Wednesday was to stay late at work to study again, but an impending storm sent everyone into a panic and daycare closed early. Not knowing if/when the snow would start, I worked through lunch and left work early. It was a fun family evening, and I considered running, but instead opted to study.

Thursday: We woke up to over a foot of snow, and daycare was closed. My plan to run in the evening was thwarted when I needed to finish up some work I couldn’t get to during the day.

At this point it looks like that first workout is going to have to wait for Saturday, since I’m planning to study, not run, on Friday night. Oh, well. Patience is a virtue, right?

I would have liked to get that workout in during the week, and hope to stick to a 3/week schedule when I start the program, but honestly running is so far down on the priorities list right now, that I won’t be surprised if I end up with more weeks like this one.

The one with the list

/ Amy / 2 Comments

Remember that time I said I was going to be really consistent with my blogging, and I actually followed through? No? Me either. I’m not even going to bother to explain myself this time or make another grand statement that I will now commence blogging regularly. We’ll just see what happens.

And, oddly enough now that I’ve finally taken the time to sit down and write a post, I can’t remember what it was that I wanted to post about. No idea. Instead I will try a list:

  1. Running hasn’t been happening, but I’m feeling a renewed motivation. I’m planning to start a couch to 5k program. Either on Tuesday or Wednesday this week. I’ve done this before, most recently when I came back to running after having Mr. Toddler. It works for me because there is a lot of walking at the beginning. And in the beginning when running feels hard, I need a lot of walking. 🙂
  2. I’m studying (for the third time) for exam MLC. That stands for Models for (or in?) Life Contingencies, which is basically me calculating premiums or benefits for a bunch of different types of life insurance. I like the material, but for some reason just can’t manage to pass this freakin’ exam. I need to make it happen this time. NEED to.

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    The first time I studied for this over a year ago. :_-(

  3. Even though this blog is a running blog, and the name is “Let’s go Running” and the web address is awesomerunningblog.com; I’m considering branching out a bit. Mainly since I haven’t been running, and my couch to 5k program will likely not yield very many exciting posts. I’d love to change the name of the blog, but I stink at coming up with names. I didn’t even realize I was naming the blog when I wrote “Let’s go Running” in the box. If I had known, I probably wouldn’t even have a blog because I would still be working on a name.
  4. One of the topics I’m considering branching out to is cloth diapering. I know a lot about cloth diapers, and I feel a need to share.  I’d also like to write a little more about my work/job. Mainly in regards to the exams I take. I spend so much time studying, and I need a place to complain about it. 🙂 Both of these topics are fairly specific and probably boring to a large number of people, so I will give warning when one of these posts is coming.

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    This is a stuffed octopus wearing a cloth diaper. I bought it like this; did you know this is a thing? These are the hard hitting facts I will blog about.

  5. A lot of times, the most time consuming part of blogging is finding the right pictures to go with the post. Sometimes it’s easy, but mostly it’s just annoying. I feel this NEED to post a picture, and it can be a real hassle. It may make things dull, but I’m going to try and stop doing this. Maybe this means some posts with no pictures. Or maybe an unrelated shot. This time, the pictures were easy to come by..hurray!
  6. I’m watching Friends again. Can you tell from the title?

 

Have a wonderful week. Maybe I’ll be back to let you know how that couch to 5k program goes. Maybe it’ll be 5 months before you hear from me…one never knows.

 

 

 

 

Starting over (again)

/ Amy / 1 Comment

When I was pregnant with Mr. Toddler, I stopped running around 6 months. It got uncomfortable and was no longer fun so I didn’t see the point. I kept walking on the treadmill and outside when the weather was nice, but I decided to just give running a break.

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knitting while walking

I promptly jumped back into running when I got the okay 6 weeks after giving birth. I started with a couch to 5k program. It was tricky fitting runs in on maternity leave while Mr. Baby/now Toddler napped. Then it got even harder when I returned to work, but I more or less kept it up. Until last August. I built up my long run to 8 miles and had a decent routine going, but I just got busy. Mr. Toddler went from 2 naps down to 1. I was painting the deck and studying in all my free minutes, so I decided that I would run less. I went down to one run a week. Then it got cold out, and I became even less consistent. I ran a turkey trot on thanksgiving and then pretty much stopped running for the rest of the year.

But once again, I’m ready to START OVER!

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Saturday post-run

3 Things

/ Amy / 4 Comments

Hi again!
I mentioned in my last post that getting back to blogging was one of my 2018 resolutions, but really the bigger resolution is to do my “hobbies”. There are a lot of little things I enjoy that instead of doing I often just read stuff on my phone, so in 2018 I’m going to try and do those things more often.  

Some of them (like coloring in my adult coloring book) don’t necessarily need to turn into habits, but some of them (like meditating) I’d like to start doing routinely. My plan is to focus on one of these hobbies each month; January is (you guessed it) blogging. I’m hoping to make blogging a habit and I’m hoping that it will keep me accountable when I move onto some of the other things on my list.

The hobbies list:

  • Knitting
  • Reading
  • Blogging
  • Coloring/Other Crafts
  • Meditating
  • Running (not sure this should be called a hobby)
  • Painting my nails
  • Playing Board Games
  • Playing Video Games

I’ve already started doing some of these things more often because I’ve been thinking about this, but I’m really going to try and focus on the blog this month, and not worry about making habits out of any other things on the list. Except maybe running.

I also have some more “boring” resolutions related to cooking and cleaning and work. Meal planning/prepping is THE BIG ONE for 2018 for me/my husband. In addition to blogging, that is going to be a big focus in January. And lastly, I want to finish the last online course I need to take (Macroeconomics) in January.

Meal planning, blogging, Macroeconomics.  It’s only 3 things. I can totally do this.