Day 23: Rocked the Ride + logged 9 miles

Day 23: 9.07 miles today, Miles to go: 850.7… After months and months of posting about it, the kids and I officially “Rocked the Ride” today and did the 2^nd annual Junior League of Evansville/Evansville Morning Rotary Rockin River City Ride.

So not only did I do 2 miles in the morning and 7 miles post ride this afternoon, but the kids and I along with a fellow Team Blonde football player friend rode 18 miles around the outskirts of our beautiful city of Evansville. You’d think after 18 miles of biking and 9 miles of walking/running, I’d be tired, but so far I haven’t hit the wall yet. I still have the Rockin River City Battle of the Bands to attend tonight followed by a friend’s 40^th birthday party, so I hope that I don’t fall asleep on the drive from the house! Either way, I am extremely pleased with the effort put forth today and the ride event in general. The route was well marked, the weather was absolutely gorgeous, we got a nice meal afterwards, and the kids were able to play in the kids’ park after the ride as well.

 

I’m not gonna lie and say that my rear end isn’t sore, but other than that, I feel really good. I am icing my knee to be on the safe side (I hit my sore knee as my gears shifted right at the start of the ride), but my quad feels normal, which is a huge relief.  Other than that, last night’s Cooper birthday party was a big success…. Tiring and a hectic with 7 kids in tow to the laser tag and pee wee golf place followed by all but two of them spending the night… but a success nonetheless. I do need to run and shower, though, so I can get ready for tonight! Can’t wait to listen to Akacia and our 5 top finalists!!!

I hope that you all have had as enjoyable of a SAT as I have. Take care, and have a great rest of the weekend!!!

Day 22: April 19, 2013- packed day, super tired

Day 22: 5.98 miles today, Miles to go: 859.77… Super tired. Wore out from the Cooper birthday party thing with wrangling 7 kiddos on top of an overly busy day! It’s already past 11, and I have another packed day tomorrow. Will have lots more to report after the super exciting Rockin River City Ride, so will write more then… we’ll see if the kids and I can last the whole 25K bike ride or if we’ll have to cut off early. Either way, I need to get my walking (there will be no running for a bit with my quad injury and now my knee bothering me again from MON’s fall) in as well, so it will be quite a calorie burning day! Can’t wait for tomorrow!!!

Day 20: April 17, 2013- damn that quad!!!

Day 20: 13.25  miles today, Miles to go: 868.85… A lot of smaller walks yielded a big distance for the day. Started out walking two miles with Dante and Maggie (well… Maggie only did a fraction of that, and I had to carry her most of the way) while we waited up at the vet office to open. Another almost two miles from the office in the a.m., and then a hot 4 mile walk mid-day. Nice that the weather has finally made a turn for the warm. I actually broke a sweat. Then ran 1+ miles before football practice, and finished out the night with a 3 mile walk, one mile of that with Bobby.

Football practice is always such a fun time, but I tweaked my left quad again… grr!  Natalie, who is our unofficial trainer person, gave me a great analogy to describe what I have done to my quad when I injured it on SUN and again tonight. I started out the practice well, but midway through a play, the sprint motion quick burst basically pulled apart what is like the equivalent of an internal scab on the inside of my leg that has been trying to heal the last few days. Disappointing that I can’t get in more practice of the plays, but this injury will dictate how fast I can get back into actually practicing. In the meantime, the goal is more stretching, more bananas for the potassium, and more water to stay hydrated.

Aside from that, I am really looking forward to the Junior League of Evansville/Evansville Morning Rotary Rockin River City Ride on SAT (www.RockinRiverCityRide.org). Need to get the bike out and dusted off, but think that the change of pace will be nice for my muscles, and the change of scenery will be good for the soul as well. The event has a variety of run/walk and biking options along Evansville’s beautiful Greenway, so the kids and I are going to try the 25K with a fellow Team Blonde teammate. I have some other people who joined my “team,” but they are doing different distances walking. The event is a Lets Move! event. Let’s Move! is a comprehensive initiative, launched by the First Lady, dedicated to solving the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation, so that children born today will grow up healthier and able to pursue their dreams. The event is also a great way to make an Upgrade commitment to yourself. For more information on the Upgrade campaign, visit: http://upgradenow.org/ For additional information on Lets Move! visit: http://www.letsmove.gov/

Now if ya’ll will excuse me. I need to ice my quad, then take a rolling pin to it (it was recommended?!?! I will be the first to admit that it looks really funny!), then shower and head to bed. Early day with BNI tomorrow!!! Later folks!

Day 18: April 15, 2013- Back on the saddle- part 2

Day 18: 10.53 miles today, Miles to go: 886.41… So apparently my quad isn’t near as angry with me today as it was last evening- thank goodness!!! I would totally cry if I had a repeat of last night’s football practice tightness and pain. Thankfully, instead, I was able to do a 4+ mile walk this afternoon, a 3+ mile walk with the wonderful Dr. Christine Verbeck out at the USI/Burdette trails, AND a three mile run tonight. The running is what I feel like is the biggest accomplishment of the day. I was going to be disappointed if my quad “tweak” as Bob called it (he said if it was a pull, there would be bruising) hindered my running. I can cut my times considerably and rack up more miles when I am able to run vs. walk, and tonight’s run actually had 11’27” pace that is a good early season time for me. But aside from all of that, today I have quite a bit more to talk about other than myself…

First off, I am super excited that Facebook friend and old high school colleague Beth has decided to try my 1000 mile challenge! I wish her the best of luck as she begins this journey!!! For anyone else interested, I encourage you to read my earlier blog posts for more details about the highs and lows of trying to walk/run 1000 miles in a given time frame (for me, as mentioned in previous posts, I am shooting for 6 months in what is my second time at this milestone goal- the first time I did it back in ’07, it was a goal time of 1 year, and I did it in a little over 8 months). Any questions or if you need any additional information, just let me know via email at: nikki@davisdigitalphotography.com!!!

Next, for the sake of capturing a moment in time, I was out walking my first 4 miles of the day when I got an email on my phone from my Aunt Sandy about the tragedy today at the Boston Marathon. My cousin Anna’s two friends were doing the race today, but they are OK. So I rushed back to turn on the news. What senseless violence!!! What is this world coming to that someone would as the reporter noted today perform such an act of violence at a time of the race that would cause “maximum damage”??? These families were waiting for their loved one to cross the race finish line. The runners were experiencing a bucket list item many of us could only dream of doing…. The big question is why? Why would someone or group of someones aim to cause such violence? We may never know, but I think it goes without saying that the nation will rally around Boston, and they are all in our thoughts and prayers tonight!

For more information on today’s events, visit: http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/15/us/boston-marathon-explosions/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Lastly, I wanted to report this touching bit of news reported by the NBC Sports Network via Twitter:

“Reports of Marathon Runners that crossed finish line and continued to run to Mass General Hospital to give blood to victims #PrayforBoston”

Whether or not this is true, I think we can all agree tonight we should all #PrayforBoston!!!

Day 17: April 14, 2013- The good news and the bad news

Day 17: 9.83 miles today, Miles to go: 897.14… The good news? I logged my first 100 miles today, which equals 1/10th of my goal already done- woo hoo! I didn’t think doing it in 16 days was too shabby- Yeah!!!… The bad news? I pulled my quad at Team Blonde football practice tonight! Icing my leg now, but can’t stress how important stretching is!!! Had a great 8 mile walk this morning with Debbie (no Cate today : ( She is still up at St. Mary’s with Jacob post-surgery), but I could tell as soon as we started doing sprints at the start of practice that something wasn’t quite right in my left thigh. Apparently that muscle is called your quad, and apparently according to my husband, while I am athletic and go long distances, I am not athletic in the football sense (short bursts of speed)… So what I am taking away from all this is that it sounds like I will have to work more sprint rotations into the mix once I get a good range of motion back in this leg.

Sitting in bed icing it now (speaking of which, I used to HATE the thought of icing an injury, now I welcome it… vey ironic!!!) and posting pics from practice. Since I wasn’t much use on the field, I tried to snap some great pics from the sidelines to help share what we go through to prepare for the event.

Most of you know that I have lost now over 60lbs since last year, and I was half tempted to show you a before and after pic, but for tonight I think I will just stick to sharing a fun photograph from this evening’s practice, which for me is a place where we not only get to learn the ropes of football, but we also get to support a great cause AND make some wonderful new friends (photographed with Crystal Elliott and Rose Lansink)!!!

With that being said, I still have wedding pics to put into an album, so I need to sign off to shower and work on those. Thank you to everyone who has started following my blog, and I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend!!!