Girls Only Color Run 2016

The Color Run is a family fun day for us. (I say "girls only" because this year only the girls in our family did it.) The first year I did it was 2013 with my oldest daughter. The following year my teens joined the fun. This year only my two girls and my granddaughter were there, my oldest surprised us with tickets! Next year it is my hope to have even more join us. My husband never will because getting covered in paint-powder is not his idea of fun, lol. But that is OK. He actually runs a mile in under 7 minutes, so he passes me up pretty quickly and can run circles around me. 

Here are pictures of me, one from 2 years ago and one from today. I see big changes and my weight is not that much different in the two pictures. Maybe 10 pounds or less. But I was not doing any weight training in 2014. I wasn't even doing a ton of running other than in races. I see so many changes in the second picture. My calves and thighs are smaller. My waist is smaller. Even my face looks different. 

If you are ready to see changes in your body, not just the scale, private message me and we can talk about how I can help you find the road to success like I have. 

~Helping transform lives one day at a time.

Desires Of Your Heart

Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

Do you know the verse? What do you think it means? What has it come to mean to you? I would love to share the insight the Lord gave me this morning on my daily run in the park. I have said many times that running has never been my thing. Whenever anyone mentioned running my automatic response has always been "I can't run". I honestly believed I couldn't. I was terrible at it in school and never realized that I could take it slowly and get better at it or even want to run.

Here is where this verse comes in. The Lord has created in me a desire to run. He has shown me that it is something I want to do and can get better at. Eleven weeks ago, God placed a new desire in my heart. It started as a little glimmer of an idea from a friend who said she was going to run in a 5K in February. All of a sudden, it sounded like an awesome idea. I wanted to do that. I looked up the Couch to 5K and found a treadmill version. I spend the next 9 weeks running on that treadmill at the pace they set forth for each of the three days a week. I even added a day or two each week from time to time. I didn't JUST run the three days a week that I had to on the plan but I even chose to run MORE than required. ME. Running. WOW! 

I have to say that running outside has really changed things in another way. I don't just want to run because it is what I am supposed to do because I signed up for the 5K already. It is something I get up extra early to do and even WANT to do. I have even added to the amount of time and distance that I am running. I use a new app that helps me keep up with it and I push myself because I know I can do it and feel wonderful afterwards. I have been running outside for two weeks now. 

Can I picture myself running a 10K? Before today, I couldn't. But since I ran 4 miles today, who says I can't up that and actually run 6 miles at some point? I CAN do it! I know if I keep running each week and increase my time little by little I can also add to my distance in the hour that I have to run. It has become a desire of my heart. 

As I was running this morning, a joy filled my heart as I listened to my worship music (I spend my run time worshiping the Lord every step of the way). I realized that HE put the joy in my heart to run, the desire. And I realized that when I decide ahead of time what I am going to do, I do it. On Wednesday, I decided before my run that I would run the whole 3 miles without stopping. Today, I decided before my run that I could run the extra two laps and run the 4 miles. I didn't let myself quit because I made the choice before I got out there. I even got up five minutes earlier so I would have extra time to run if I ran at a slower pace. I actually ran at a faster pace than the other times so I was able to complete the 4 miles in under an hour. 

It is my desire to become stronger and healthier so I can live a longer and better life with my family. I have changed the way I eat and changed the way I move. I am making small but long term changes in the way I live and how my body looks. I can't wait to get to the weight I am going to stay at. But that will not be the end of the road on this running journey. It will only be the beginning. Thanks for coming along on the ride with me and cheering me on. It means a lot. 

Changing my life, one day at a time. 

AAHE Soccer

This year Jenni decided she wanted to play soccer. This is the first year she has wanted to play sports. So of course, I said "Sure!" JC has played in years past and loves it. This year our group has gotten a bit smaller. I don't know if it is because we are all so busy or if people have just joined other groups that are doing more. I like our group because it isn't a bunch of extra money to do things. 

  

I am a kind of "coach" for the younger group of kids, ages 9-12. So both of my kids are in my group. We have about 10 kids in that group but not all of them were there on Friday. We had fun doing some drills and then playing a scrimmage. 

JC did great, like he always does. Jenni did great, too. She was quick to run for the ball and even got very close to scoring goals. I was very proud of all the kids. They got right in there and got to know each other and worked together as teams. 

The kids are all eager to play and I know we will have a great soccer season even if we don't have a lot of kids on each team. It's about having fun and making friends. And that is what they are doing. I do wish we had a larger group simply so that we could make even more friends. God is in control of that and will bring more families to us in time.

That's our progress report for today. Thanks for stopping by.