If the YMCA does it, why don't restaurants?!

This is totally off topic, except for the fact that I have been running at the Y every day for the last week because I'm a sissy and can't stand the cold.  50 degrees? I love you.  30 degrees?  Why don't you just rip my ears off and shove my head full of ice cubes?!?!
Anyways, I was thinking, the YMCA has childwatch right? (Thank goodness, considering I have a tagalong 3 year old!) Why don't restaurants have something like that?  You go in with your special someone and send the kids to the "kid" area, filled with toys and slides and teenagers that will chase your kid around for a small fee while you enjoy a nice romantic dinner.  Seriously, how freaking amazing would that be?
And I'm only telling you this because I don't ever plan on opening one of these.  So you need to.  
We will one day be opening a microbrewery, as long as things go as planned, but for some reason I feel like a childwatch at a microbrewery would be inappropriate?? So go ahead and steal my idea.  I dare you. 

My first half marathon! Iron Horse Half Marathon in Midway, Kentucky

So i did it. I ran my first half marathon today.
 I haven't been training as well as I had wanted to.  I was sick for a few weeks and we were on a vacation for a couple weeks, so I slacked.  The week before last my dad and I ran over 8 miles and that is the longest that I had gone.  

So I went in today thinking I would probably get hurt, or do very poorly, or maybe die.

Anyways, we left our home state of Indiana yesterday and got to our hotel last night in Midway, Kentucky. We got up this morning at about 6 a.m. and got to the race at a little after 7, later than we wanted to.
My brother hadn't done much running lately either (he was just elected as an Indiana State Representative so he's been BUSY!) so he said he'd run with me most of the way. 

We started at 8. It was absolutely beautiful, rolling hills to look at, beautiful horses running right along the road, etc. But I had NO idea that there were going to be so many huge hills! The whole course was hills, something that I'm not used to in flat ole' Indiana. As soon as I would catch my breath after climbing a hill and feeling great again there would be another huge hill to climb 10 seconds later.


The first 4 miles my brother and I were averaging around a 10:25 pace (About a 9:30 pace for the first mile and then realized we needed to SLOW down!). At 5 miles we ran completely uphill for almost the whole mile, and we were around an 11:30 pace. Mile 6 and 7 seemed to be an even mixture of uphill and downhill at around an 11 pace. At 8 I was silently cursing my dad for choosing this course for my first HM, and decided I needed to start power walking up hill or I was never going to make it. After that I completely lost track of my min/mile, because my brother ran on and he had been the one keeping it for us (He also was holding my phone for me, which is what I would normally use). 
At mile 9 we went uphill for about 2 miles, and since the road was split at that point, that meant the last two miles would be completely down hill. I was looking forward to that! I did a mixture of walk/run until I reached mile 12. My legs were very tired but I knew I was so close so I trotted along. 
I had no idea my time at that point, I was sure I was going to be 3 hours and I was pretty bummed. I felt disappointed!
And then at 1/2 mile left my dad and brother appeared at the side of the road and told me I was doing awesome and that I was actually at 2 hours, 31 minutes. That instantly boosted my spirits and picked my step up. I sprinted the last stretch and finished at 2:36:00. 
I am overall pretty happy. Yeah it was stupid to go into it without training very well (only totaling about 15 miles/week for the last month) and without realizing how many hills there were, but it was beautiful and every other HM should seem like a piece of cake from now on! Haha! My dad and brother said that course was the hardest they have ever run. 
So I feel good. I'm sore and tired but nothing is injured and the free massage after the run made it all worth it!

The Color Run and the Color Me Rad

I ran the Color Run in July 2013 in Fort Wayne, IN.  I did it with my mother and my best friend.  I ran the Color Me Rad in August of 2013 with a large group of friends.

This is going to be quick, and basically a comparison.  I overall liked the Color Run better because it was less crowded, and they actually got color on you.  In the Color Me Rad, the crowd was definitely more pumped but it took 30 minutes to even start the race once I got at the start line because of how crowded it was.  They didn't throw any color on us, we had to scoop it up ourselves.

Neither were timed races so they were just for fun.


Picture time!

The Color Run

Color Me Rad

So, guess what? I am running a half marathon in October.  AHH!!! My dad signed himself, my brother, and I up.  It's in Kentucky! I'm really nervous.  This month we have gone on vacation and I've been sick with bronchitis, which totally wiped out 3 weeks altogether of training time.  

I don't even know what my goal is at this point, we'll see how the month of September goes!

The Diva Dash 5k

My first ever organized run/race was the Diva Dash 5k in Fort Wayne, IN on June 15 2013.
My best friend found this race for us to do as both of our firsts.
At that time a 5k seemed like a really long race haha. I had only ever run further than that a few times, and only about a mile farther, so I was pretty nervous.  

The race was an all women race and there were about 175 participants.
I woke up that morning feeling awful and sick with a sinus infection. Ugh!
My goal had been under 30 minutes but with my ill feeling I ended up at 31:26. I was fine with that because I ran the best that I could the whole way despite feeling so sick, and it was a personal PR.
After the race they had pulled pork, oranges, water, granola bars and bananas for us. They also did some door prizes and then the other awards.
I really loved this race and had a great time!  I want to do it next year again for sure.  

I recently ran the Color Run, and I will do a post about that as well.  But for now here are some pictures from the Diva Dash!

The start

Yours truly!

After the finish (my BFF, her MIL, and me)

4 MILES, BABY

A month and a half later, and I finally ran 4 miles!
Between now and my last blog post:


I was running between 2 and 2.5 miles for a couple of weeks.  Part of me gets antsy, I get tired, I get bored, etc.  So I was cutting myself short.  I always made sure to sprint the last little bit so I was giving it everything I got, but I knew that I was stopping before I really needed to.

So I went for a little run, hoping to get to 3 miles but not setting my hopes too high because I know myself.

Problem (not) is that I got lost.
I got lost in the neighborhood across the street from mine and ended up running exactly 3.1 miles when I finally got to my driveway.  I was so excited to have run my first 5k! I won't lie, though, I was worn the F out when I got home.  I may or may not have collapsed (bad, bad!) on the carpet when I got inside.  But still, I was pretty happy.

Since I still didn't know my way around the neighborhood I started using that as my go to run, knowing I would always run farther than my self discipline would allow.  So I was running 3-3.5 miles every time.

I went on a run with my dad and brother last night, and we did a run throughout downtown Fort Wayne.  I didn't have my GPS going but my brother did, and when we got back to our starting point he looked and said we had run just a little over 4 miles.  WHOO HOO!
So I have met my goal from the last post.  I have my first 5k on the 15th of this month, so we will see how it goes!

Goal:
Run the 5k in 30 minutes or less! (My best 5k I've done at home was 31:54, but I was lost and had to slow down a few times)

The Starting Line

I am a 27 year old mother to 4. I am an RN. Those are just a few ways to describe yours truly.
This isn’t the beginning of my story, but I have to start somewhere!
A breif history: (Okay it turned out not so brief, so sue me!)
Ran track through middle & high school. Beat the 200 meter school record my junior year of high school. I always did short distance, never long. I thought the cross country runners were crazy!
My dad has run for fitness for a long time. About 7 years ago he started getting back into training for distance races: mostly half marathons, a few marathons, and the occasional 5k.
About 5 years ago my brother started doing the same.
Now, me? I would start running and then two weeks later get bored or busy and not run again for a few months. I would run 2 miles and felt like I would die. It always felt amazing afterwards though.

I am now into it for the long run (no pun intended).  Running is so great for anxiety, depression, laziness, frumpiness, I-ate-too-much-last-night-edness, and even grumpiness.  My best pal asked me to run the Color Me Rad 5k with her in August (with a group of our other friends), and so we decided to take this seriously! (While not being too serious, obviously) We have now signed up for two other races, the first one being June 15th.  

I began running a loop around my street in my neighborhood, and discovered the Nike running app on my phone which told me I was only going about 1 mile.  When you first start running, a mile is going to seem like freakishly forever.  And you're going to hate it.  FYI.  So I jolted up my distance to about 2 miles.  I am still pretty out of breath at the end of those two miles.  

So here are my current goals:

1. Be able to run 4 miles by June 15th (the date of the first 5k)

2.  Run at least 3 times a week, NO MATTER WHAT!!! 

Super easy homemade laundry detergent with review

I made a batch similar a couple of years ago and then never got around to making more.  I still really liked it, I just got caught up with life.  I decided to keep up with it again and hopefully make this homemade detergent permanent in our life!

I got the recipe I am using here. 
I used:
One 4 oz bar of Dove soap.  It can easily be found in almost every soap aisle of any grocery store.
1 cup Borax, found in the laundry detergent aisle.
1 cup Washing Soda, found next to the Borax.

Shave the soap into very small particles, and then mix together all of the ingredients for about 5 minutes, until very well blended.
Side note: I have heard some people have issues with soap residue being left on the clothes after the wash.  Some suggestions for that is to make the soap particles even smaller by a blender, or using vinegar in the rinse cycle (NEVER with bleach though!) and that helps remove the residue.  I didn't do either of these tricks, and no soap residue was left. 

I then poured my mixture into a box I had on hand.  (Girl scout cookie time! YES! Want any Girl scout cookies? Hit me up, my girls would love you forever.)

Then use 1 tbsp on a normal load of laundry.  I have an HE front load washing machine.  Just pour the tbsp on top of the clothes, unless your washing machine has a slot for dry detergent.

My review:
To really see how clean everything got, I took some of Mr. Supportive's strong smelling deodorant and caked it onto an area of an old T-Shirt.  After running the washing machine with the detergent and then drying as normal, I can smell nothing but the detergent freshness from the old shirt (and all of the other clothes).  I am very pleased!  I did not use any fabric softener for this load, by the way.  I wanted an accurate assessment of the detergent. 

So there you have it!  When you divide out the cost of the supplies with how much is used per detergent container, this detergent cost only about a dollar to make, and is good for about 30-45 loads.  Not too shabby!

Homemade Toilet Bowl Cleaner with Review

I went to clean the toilets this morning and remembered I had just used the last of our toilet bowl cleaner. I found THIS recipe online, and decided to try it out myself.  Commercial toilet bowl cleaners are filled with harsh chemicals that are toxic and can pose a threat to children and animals, so I have been wanting to try this natural homemade method for awhile.

All you need is:
3/4 cup Borax, found in the laundry aisle at most grocery stores.
1 cup white Vinegar
10 drops lavender essential oil
5 drops lemon essential oil.  I get my essential oils from the Three Rivers Co-op Natural Grocery here in Fort Wayne.

I thoroughly cleaned my empty toilet bowl cleaner container and used that to put the mixture in.  It filled it up about half way.  I closed it and shook it to mix everything together and then I gave it a go!

My review:
I used it immediately and it seemed to really work.  My toilets weren't too scummy though, so I don't know how well it would work on tough stains.  I used the "Heavy Duty Toilet Formula" so I imagine it would work really well no matter what the toilet looks like!
By the way, it smells so good!

The week of wonderful things!

What an awesome way to start out our Monday: My kindergartners finally got to experience their first two hour delay. It's crazy that they made it this long! Mr. Supportive and I were talking last night about how we had them left & right when we were younger. Plus it's nice for mommy not having to rush around and get 4 kiddos ready to leave the house by 8:30.
 Some other exciting things on the list this week:
 I only have ONE more thing to turn in for my CNM application. I am applying to Frontier University. I have had to write two essays, a resume, an application, 3 reference sheets filled out by two professional supervisors (my supervisor at work, and my old OB instructor who is a CNM) and one professional peer (another RN at work), and all of the transcripts from previous colleges attended. I have gotten two of them, just waiting for the last one and they are all ready to be sent it! I will have to wait awhile to find out when/if I start, but I am so excited to have all of that finished at least.
I applied and interviewed for a new position to coexist beside my current PRN position, so I am waiting to hear from them this week. I love the facility and I really, really hope I get the job. They had 3 people interview me and I think they liked me. I was really nervous because of how badly I want the position, but they made me feel comfortable to talk to and gave off a positive vibe towards me.
Now, my weekend summary: Worked Friday night, went to a Chinese buffet Saturday night. Waste of money for me since I can really only eat fruit & salad, but Mr. Supportive and the kids love it. So it was worth it. :) Yesterday we had friends over all day with their kids and then went to the Circus. The kids had a ton of fun, if you don't believe me you should see the toy room! Before: Completely cleaned and vacuumed. After: There's a floor in here somewhere?

My lesson on common sense.

Oh my dearest loving children... there is this thing in life called common sense. It means: if you knock down the hand towel, put it back up. If you use the last kleenex, throw the box in recycling. If I tell you to do something and you say you have to pee, and twenty minutes later you are "still peeing" either you are just playing in the bathroom to get out of working, or you really need to see a doctor. Please remember these things as I pick up after you all day long. If you need more examples, I would be happy to share. Love you always, Mom.