The black lab, Bella, belongs to his sister Amy. Amy is on a a roller derby team (she is the head just over the right shoulder of the girl in the center of the photo). Her roller derby name is Michelle-O-Trauma. It cracks me up! Unfortunately, last night she broke her hand in a bout. OUCH! Around Christmas time, she severely injured her tail bone. I could NOT participate in roller derby. I am too much of a wuss!
I have made it 13 weeks into my challenge! That means I have run at least three days a week (minimum of two miles) for a quarter of a year! I have to say, that as the weeks pass the challenge keeps getting easier. I have slowly been building my mileage and hope to keep steadily increasing. I have lately been averaging 10-13 miles a week, which really isn't very high, but the way I see it I am slowly building up a base. In the beginning I was only at 6 miles a week, so I have at least doubled that distance. The past couple weeks, as you know, I have been sick, but I am now back to healthy! I am hoping that by the end of April I will be at 10 miles for a long run distance. Back when I started running in 2007, I started at zero miles and added 1 mile to my long run each month. I did not hit my first double digit run of 10 miles until September (why stop at 9 when you can hit 10?). It makes me feel good to know that I was already at 8 miles in March of this year.
The second part of my challenge, to be more self confident and less critical of myself, has also been going well. That goes in hand with working out consistently, and also training myself to think positive. This has made me feel even more confident in school/work, which makes work more enjoyable as well. Of course it also helps that my research is going well. Chris and I have also been making a point to eat more fruits and vegetables and to take time to walk or do something outdoors. Rather than making some pasta-mix as a side, I am cooking new types of vegetables. I have noticed what a difference there is in my energy level once I stopped eating empty calories (i.e. chips and snack bars) and started eating more vegetables and fruits at lunch. The green monster smoothies are a wonderful way to start my day! I have noticed my skin and hair seem to be healthier. I think all of the new blogs that I have been reading have also been a great motivation. Not only am I motivated by reading all the races and fun work-outs by other bloggers, but I have learned new fun recipes and ways to prepare different vegetables. Your feedback has also been very helpful! So thank you to all the bloggers out there!
As planned, we bathed the other two kitties today. This time I did not end up with any scratches. Both Ashe and Kirby cried the entire time we bathed, dried, and brushed them. All of my babies are clean and happy now though. Little Ashe was scared of the dogs, and she hugged Chris. She is very attached to him. Kirby has been hiding out in a little kitty house that he doesn't quite fit in.
I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend!
Update: I just found out about the Bondiband giveaway, and I definitely want to enter!
Thanks for joining The Beautiful Army! I looked at your blog and I love it *Pours a bucket of motivation on you* Good luck with everything!
ReplyDelete~Amanda