A Letter to My Pre Runner, Post 3 Babes in 3 1/2 Years Self

Hey...Hey You...Sarah, Mommy, Baby Maker Extraordinaire...

You rock. You rock because you've incubated three humans in the last 3 1/2 years.  You've fed said humans for 6 or more months after they were shot into this world without a hint of pain medicine.  Yes...You've gained ohhhh.....60-70 pounds with each pregnancy but you pushed those babies into this world with your insane will power and strength.  Yes you've given yourself some AWESOME stretch marks.  And that time you cried when you found your first stretch mark when you were pregnant with baby number 1....REALLY....YOU'RE GROWING A HUMAN!! Get over it. 

Speaking of baby number 1...Those bowls of ice cream you at every night...and the gallon of chocolate milk you went through each day...Yes it made your wicked heart burn stop for a few minutes....but it helped you gain A LOT of extra weight.

Yes...Your calves are HUGE...Your boobs don't fit in anything and hang out for all to see...You've never thought you could actually weight this much...and your feet no longer fit in flip flops..But you are so happy. And beautiful. And that sweet little nugget you are growing is going to completely change your life.  He will bring you more joy than you've ever experienced and be one of the most kind hearted, compassionate, loving little men you know.

Now you will have that sweet little babe and a few months later you will begin to dabble in running...You'll take Zack in the jogging stroller and run a little here and there but knowing you are having more babes soon because Zack is SO EASY and you're SURE number two will be just as calm and snugly..................................................

You really should work at losing more of the 70+ pounds you gained while you were pregnant before baby number two starts cooking.  It will make you and your hubby's life a lot easier... But alas....you start pregnancy number two and still had 30 pounds of baby number 1 hanging on. This one won't be easy.  You now have a toddler to chase AND a baby to grow.  

Before you know it number two will be here and he will hit the ground running.  This kid will show you what NEVER SITTING DOWN really means.  You start to realize how important it is to lose the 45 pounds you gained AND the 30 pounds you had left over from the last one...So you start running...You run your first 5k in just under 40 minutes.  You feel slow. Fat. Not like a runner. But you are. Forward is a pace. It's hard. You want to puke after almost every run. You're not getting faster. But you are seeing your body slowly change.  PLEASE DON'T QUIT!! Please keep going because before you know it that mile you hate running every other day will turn into 2 miles....then 3....Just DON'T QUIT!! Or get pregnant so your blood pressure tanks and you pass out in the middle of a run.............................................

HELLO BABY NUMBER 3!! Yes...It's only been 9 months since baby 2 graced us with his endless energy and infectious laugh...What's one more? 

What you don't know is that this pregnancy will be one of the most mentally and physically challenging things you've ever done in your life.  You will live in a fog of depression for the last 4 months.  You won't want to play with your kids. You won't want to leave your house.  This time of your life will be the darkest.  But it will make you such an awesome mama once that baby is here! You will start to regain your clarity and feel guilty for the months of sadness and inactivity you've had. You snap out of it quickly and start loving on your babes again.  You realize how hard that pregnancy was on your entire family and are ready to turn this ship around...physically and emotionally.  

You start to think about running again.  You think about starting a blog to help encourage other mommys that have been through what you have. But you wait. DON'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!! JUST DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What are you waiting for? What are you afraid of? Failure? In this situation, failure is a choice! The only way you fail is by not investing in yourself.  It doesn't matter that you puke after your first mile....that took you 15 minutes and 30 seconds of awesomeness to run.  You are doing it! You are starting! Now get back on that treadmill the next day and do it again! And again! And again! It will start to get easier.  Don't be embarrassed of your jiggly body.  YOU CREATED 3 ADORABLE HUMANS IN 3 1/2 YEARS. Rock it sister! You are changing your life.  When you finally get brave enough to run outside and those ass bags heckle you...it will hurt for a minute but it will motivate you to keep going.   JUST KEEP GOING!!!!!!!

You will spend the next 6 months kicking ass and taking names.  It's not easy but you just keep going.  Your life will change...some of it's hard.  With publicly airing your battle for fitness you've opened yourself up for a lot of criticism and discouragement from the haters...just remember..haters gonna hate...And the only person you can change in this world is yourself so just keep going. You will never again take for granted your body and what it is capable of doing.  You love your kids more than ever and know they deserve an active, strong mama.  You're goal is not to be stick skinny or fit in a size 2...Your goal is to be fit, healthy, and a great example for you kids.  You've now run a 5k in less than 30 minutes, trained and completed your first half marathon, and while doing this lost over 30 pounds....that 30 pounds that had been hanging on since baby number 1 four whole year ago.......nice job mama. 

Before you know it you will have ran 200 miles in less than 7 months and compeltely changed not only your life...but the lives of your children and hubby. You are a better mom, wife, friend, and person because of how hard you have worked. Way to go mama...way to go..

Monday Motivation

I love quotes. Good movie clips. Awesome blog posts. And completely inappropriate ecards.

For example...

My favorite quote of all time is:
"I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying." Michael Jordan

THE GREATEST BASKETBALL PLAYER OF ALL TIME was onto something.  This quote applies to every area of your life.  How do you know you can't if you don't try.  And just because you fail once doens't mean you stop! It means you will be better next time.

I've had a bunch of people say..."I'd run with you but you' re to fast." Do I need to remind you how I started this whole process?? Here is a link to My Story where you can refresh your memory.. My first mile... 15 minutes and 30 seconds.... yeah. that was RUNNING...as absolutely fast as I could.  It wasn't pretty...and I ran in my dungeon of a basement on our treadmill until I got ballsy enough to venture outside...where I pushed a stroller every where I went for two reasons...

1. To get the Max Man to settle down at night .
2. To have something to lean on when I wanted to DIE after a few blocks.

But I kept going. I kept trying.

A friend of mine pushed me COMPLETELY out of my comfort zone during our run last week.  We were getting ready to go and I was putting my head phones on because who the eff runs without music?!?!? Well......she does. Not only does she run without music but she TALKS WHILE RUNNING!!! CRAP.

So I compromised...I turned my music on but played it through my phone that sat in the top of my stroller...no head phones. So this means I could hear myself huffing like a water buffalo the entire way. Great........................ Oh and she wasn't pushing ANY children and I had TWO....Complete disadvantage.

But I maned up...and off we went and we chatted about kids and husbands and garage sales...you know...solving all the problems of the world....And before I knew it we had gone 3 miles.  I just ran...3 miles...without music...while TALKING!?!?

What did I learn: Friends don't let friends sit in their comfort zones. We push each other...whether it's intentional or not. Little did that no-music-talk-while-running friend of mine know that being able to run with someone and have a conversation along the way was something I've always wanted to do but something I thought I was a LONG way from being ready for. There is no such thing as ready....Just jump in...with both feet.

I'm still trying and failing...and then I try again. Last week I had the fastest run I've EVER ran while pushing Max and the the slowest run I've had in 3 months while pushing Tyler.  Same route. Same weather.

Though I think my motivation with my run with Max was the thunderstorms we were dodging. I ran 3.03 miles in 30 minutes 56 seconds.  That's a 10.13 minute mile PUSHING that little tank.  HOLLA!! And I'm pretty confidant I could take at least 20 seconds off of that time for having to stop for traffic twice and having to retrieve that adorable Bears hat once...on the biggest hill of my run...thanks Max.

My run with Tyler was HARD. My muscles were SCREAMING for a rest day but my mind was telling me to go enjoy these last few days of beautiful fall weather.  Considering I can hardly sit down on the toilet without bracing myself against the wall and the towel holder I should have listened to my muscles...But off we went for our 3.03 miles... 31 minutes and 58 seconds later we made it home...that's a 10:34 minute mile....Next time...I listen to my body. 

Part of why I'm so sore is because I ROCKED MY SOCKS in the workout department last week. I spent the majority of the week running and lifting.  I did at least one if not both every day except Thursday... I ended the week with a spin class which was good but HARD considering I haven't done a spin class in ohhhhh...a month. 

Top number is my average RPM's....not bad.

Second number is my watts or how hard I worked... My highest ever was 145...which was FREAKING HARD.  My goal is to always be above 120. So this isn't bad for my first class in way to long. 

Bottom right corner...Yeah...I rode 20 miles. Boom. 

Back to my original topic...things I love. This. I love this.

I love this because:

1. How else are you suppose to dance to Barbie Girl?

2. The people next to her are completely ok with it.

3. She is OWNING that treadmill...Maybe if I spiced up my treadmill workouts like this I wouldn't hate it so much........................... Look out old folks at the Wellness Center...It's game on. 

This...I love this too...For obvious reasons. The July 2013 issue of Interrupt Mag featured statements from children celebrating what they love about their bodies.... This little girl has it all figured out.

My body is magic. It's birthed 3 babes in 3 1/2 years.  Fed 3 humans.  Ran a half marathon. Chases my 3 crazies errr day. It's been burned, scraped, scarred, broken, and pushed to it's limits for the last 27 years.  She's one bad ass mama-jama and most definitely magic. 

And lastly I leave you with this my friends...

Happy Monday!!!

Left: 10 months post baby number 3 October 2013

Right: 5 months post baby number 2 December 2011

Just. Keep. Going.

Workout Wednesday

Welcome to my first official work out Wednesday.

FIRST...meaning I'm still learning what to do besides run in a straight line.

This morning I cracked it out of bed at 6:15...even after TWO nights in a row of little sleep thanks to my sweet little 8 month old nugget cutting his 2nd tooth.

I went to they gym and did a decent workout with both upper and lower body.  My new BFF is called the TRX...

Doesn't my hair look good in these pictures? And I don't usually wear blue spandex but I was feeling daring today. 

I didn't want to take pictures of my awesomeness at the gym this morning...I don't want to scare the old people any more than I already have with my singing BABY YOU A SONG YOU MAKE ME WANT TO ROLL MY WINDOWS DOWN AND CRUUUUUUUUUUUIIISE...out loud while running...But I will eventually I promise.  I just have to recruit a photographer

If you google TRX there's a BILLION MA ZILLION different workouts.  And it's safe...meaning I don't have to wander around aimlessly trying to figure out what to do next... 

Then I went for a 3 mile run with my sweet little babes.  It was a HARD run. I was breathless before the first block, my legs were tired from the mornings workout but not to a point where I should be able to run, It was just no good. I couldn't figure out why...it was the same route we usually take...So I struggled through the run...But I was KEEPING UP with the skinny hooker that I was running with (who may or may not be injured so isn't running at her usual gazelle pace.......................) We got back to the corner where we would usually turn to finish and we were only at 2.5 miles so I chose to keep going to finish 3 miles even though it was a CRAP run.  For some reason pushing the two kids seemed like I was pushing two sumo wrestlers instead of an 8 month old and a 2 year old....But  I still finished my 3 miles.  When we got back to my car and I was taking the stroller apart to put away and realized...................................I had a flat tire. AWESOME. That's why it was so hard. Makes perfect sense now. 

I went home and for some reason was drawn to my scale like a magnet.  REMINDER: This number no longer makes or breaks my day....defines how much work I've done...makes me stop eating for hours on end....makes me drink 3 gallons of water before noon because it's all water weight FOR SURE and I can just pee it out.........................................

So I stepped on the scale and BAM..........I OFFICIALLY weight less than I did before getting pregnant with baby number 1 four and half years ago. WOOOOP WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!!

So I had to take some pictures of course....Oh did I mention these jeans I wore when I was teaching...before having kids!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ty Guy Photo Bomb.

If you want some more workout tips head over to Skinny Meg

Today she talked about the do's and dont's of fitness and gave some GREAT advice. 

Monday Motivation...Measuring In

It's MONDAY MONDAY MONDAY!!

Now that I've come off my high of running my first half marathon...FIRST meaning I WILL DO MORE. It's time to get focused on dropping some more inches/poundage.  But as always let's go over the NONE scale victories before the actual numbers

July 2013
Running 3-4 miles 3 days a week
Spinning 2 days a week
Playing with my kids outside in the WICKED heat all.day.long.
Just kicking ass in general
Hips: 45
Thigh: 25
Waist 39
Cheast 44
Arm 14
Weight 182 pounds

October 2013

Running 3-4 miles 3-4 times a week at a 10 -10:30 min mile pace

JUST started strength training

Just started an ab challenge

Ran a half marathon

Retired 2 pairs of my favorite jeans because they were TO BIG!

Fit into my Pre Baby #1 Jeans!!!

Hips: 45

Thigh: 25

Waist: 39

Cheast: 38 (clearly I stopped nursing............................)

Arm: 13

Weight: 177 Pounds

Total Inches lost: 6

Total weight lost: 5 pounds

Now if you look at my digits from both pictures I didn't lose any inches in my hips, thighs, or waist...and the only area I did lose a considerable amount of inches from was my tatas....which doesn't really count since the big difference with that is that I'm no longer feeding a small human..I am totally ok with these small changes  for a few reasons.

1. My PRE BABY NUMBER 1 JEANS FIT!!!

2. I have gained a lot of muscle strength

3. I ran  FREAKIN HALF MARATHON!!!!!

4. .My focus over the last few months was training for a half marathon...which means I ate more than I did when I was focused on losing weight, after running 8-10 miles on the weekends i was so so so so hungry..and you must feed you body! Maybe fruit and vegies would have been a better choice than chocolate covered blueberries and grahm crackers but what the starving runner's belly wants the starving runner's belly gets.  

I am pretty excited for the shift in training before I start preparing for my next half in June..DEXTER ANN ARBOR baby!! Please read that as 11 miles of nice flat road and then 2.1 miles of HILLS OF DEATH...............To survive those HILLS OF DEATH (I hope you read that in the deep, announce voice i say it with) I have to strengthen these muscles!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am just figuring out the strength training...Talk about out of my comfort zone.  The first day at the gym I ran a mile on the treadmill which seamed like 5 miles in pouring rain, freezing cold, wind at my face, in the snow, and up hill both ways. I hate running on the treadmill. After that I did 15 ab wheels...15!! A few weeks ago I couldn't even do 1!! And then proceed to wander around the gym for 20 minutes with absolutely no idea what to do next......................really not like me and my over prepared, planned to the second, type A personality.  So...this week I'm going with a plan....

Stay tuned for WORK OUT WEDNESDAYS where I'll mostly post different workouts I've learned from some pretty awesome people in my life that have helped me not look like a crazy lady just jamming to Dirty Pop while wandering around the gym...

HAPPY MONDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!