A Day in Hell’s Life

Posted by hellyontherun in About Me, Family and tagged with A Day in the Life, Life, Mom on the Go, Mom Talk March 13, 2015

Happy Friday!!

Linking up with the DC Trifecta team: Mar, Cynthia, and Courtney for their Friday Five–A Day in the Life of Helly!!

Oh boy,

Here’s the breakdown.

1. Morning

My alarm (or really, my body, because I’m just used to it now) goes off at 5 a.m. I try to get as ready as I can before any kids wake up. The goal is for me to be done by 5:40 so that I start waking kids up at 5:45. I need to get them dressed, fed (quick breakfast snack), and dropped off at school by 6:30 if I hope to make it to work on time–I have a 45 minute commute.

My husband is a champ at helping out but there are some days that he’s gone before I even wake up.

Ready for school!

2. Work

My school starts at 7:45 but I like to get there at the least 30 minutes before to get any last minute copies made or make any lesson plan changes. My first class has 37 students so I start with a jam packed room full of 15 year old freshmen. (Coffee, all the coffee.)

Second and third periods are freshmen classes as well and I like that because I teach the same lesson plan in the morning.

My planning prep period is the hour before lunch so I have an “extended” lunch break. This is what all teachers covet–that or having last period off.

For lunch, I usually head to over to my favorite pizza place nearby. They have an amazing lunch special where I can get a couple of slices of pizza and a drink for under $5. This was also the place the guy questioned if I’d be able to eat 3 slices. Humpf!! Lol, he was new and didn’t know I could dominate three so I forgave him.

After lunch, I have my two sophomore English classes. These classes are smaller but oh man, this is a tough age group. Sixteen year-olds in the afternoon are energized and ready for school to be oh-ver!!

School ends at 2:20 but I stay until 3:30ish grading, lesson planning, getting copies ready for the next day. I have to be out the classroom door no later than 4 though, because I’ve got a 30-40 minute commute back home.

Posing for a quick pic at work 🙂

3. Kid pick-up duty and early dinner

I love seeing my kids’ faces when I pick them up. They’re so excited to see me. BUT, they BOTH want mommy to hold them and an almost 3 year old and an almost 2 year old are quite heavy to hold at the same time. It usually results in a hysteria fit from the one who ends up walking to the car.

My arm workout.

We’re home just before 5 and we’ll hangout while I make them their dinner. I’ll have something light to eat with them but nothing heavy as I usually workout in the evenings. Dad tries to get home around 5:45, just in time for me to head out for my run club runs at 6.

Nomming.

4. Workout

Tuesdays and Wednesday I run with my run club in the evenings. Thursdays, I try and squeeze in a workout right after work (so I can spend extra time with m kiddos) or I’ll run a short route in my neighborhood. During the week my runs happen right around 6 in the evening and my long runs take place early Saturday mornings.

running circles under a full moon

5. Bedtime

After my run, I make it home to hang out before the first kid’s bedtime. My son goes down around 7:30. Once he’s out, my husband and I have dinner and then it’s my daughter’s bedtime. As soon as her head hits the pillow (around 8-8:30ish), mommy and daddy go straight to bed as well.

Whaddya mean I have to go to bed?!?

This is the first, and sadly, only time in the day where my husband and I have alone time. We’ll chat (sometimes while we foam roll, lol!) about the day, what the next day looks like, and then we go to sleep (by 9, 9:30 at the absolute latest) to do it all over again the next day! 😀

–How would you describe your typically day?

–Are you a morning person? (I’ve become one now that I’m a parent lol!)

–Or are you a night owl?

Mid-Week Musings II

Posted by hellyontherun in Fitness, Running and tagged with Churro Dog, Marathon, Mid-Week Musings, Pregnancy Abs, Running, Triple 7 Quest March 11, 2015

I’m currently on my spring break and it’s been nice to relax and have time to myself–Especially convenient as I try to recover from my marathon debacle and sickness. (I’m starting to feel better, finally!)

I’ve been doing some reading and there’s a few things that have caught my eye. Things I’m interested to hear what you think:

Pregnancy Abs

I posted this link on my Facebook about this girl who is super, duper fit and even at 8 months pregnant, you can see the outlining of abs. Yes, she’s pregnant with abs.

She’s a model so it’s in her job description to be fit and from other news sources I read, she continued (continues?) to work out during her pregnancy (which I did as well but alas, did not have pregnancy abs). For some reason though, this girl didn’t turn me off like Super Abs mom did. This model wasn’t throwing it in our face how it’s perfectly possible to be pregnant with abs (she posted pics of her hot bod even before pregnancy lol) or telling us how we have “no excuse” not to have abs–pregnant or not. The model claims to enjoy working out and eating clean but still occasionally chowing down a burger. For that reason alone, I give her two thumbs up!

The Churro Dog

Leave it to Arizona to come up with a 1,200 calorie creation.

So the Arizona Diamondbacks debuted a new treat that consists of a churro inside a chocolate glazed donut and topped with frozen yogurt and whipped cream. Your choice of caramel or chocolate syrup (or both).

Source

Yeeeaahhh……

Apparently, this dessert pairs well with the menu item introduced last year: an 18 inch bacon and cheese stuffed corn dog.

REALLY???

I like churros, and I like corn dogs, but no way could I do with all of the other stuff added to it. I’d have to run, I don’t know, like a thousand miles to burn off those calories lol!

Several people responded to my Facebook link saying they’d totally eat it but share the churro dog with friends. Yeah, if you’re gonna order it, I’d say def share it!

I guess the baseball days of popcorn, sunflower seeds, and regular ‘ol hot dogs are a thing of the past?

7 Marathons in 7 Days in 7 Continents

Remember in the first edition of Mid-Week Musings I wrote about this? It’s so funny because not a month later, a woman from our run club returned to tell us she’d done it! How I didn’t know she was even attempting it was beyond me! It’s def not something I’d forget!

Source (PHX Marathon ended up being 101)

Anyway, Ila runs with our group every now and then (she runs more with another local run club) and she was nice enough to speak at one of our meet ups to tell us about her adventure.

She indeed ran 7 marathons in 7 days in 7 continents! She talked a lot about the things mentioned in the article I shared last time about how lack of sleep was a runner’s biggest obstacle. And she said that camping in Antarctica was definitely a memorable experience.

Could you imagine running a marathon in Antarctica?

Of course I took a pic with her. I’m not sure that what she did is something I’d ever want to do (actually, no, it’s not lol!) but I think it’s super cool she did it and think it’s very inspiring.

Ila and her Triple 7 Quest medal (and me :) )

Ila and her Triple 7 Quest jacket and medal (and me 🙂 )

So, tell me what your thoughts are.

Think Pregnancy Abs are the new thing? Even possible? Is this woman a freak of nature?

Would you eat the Churro Dog? What’s the highest caloric meal you’ve eaten?

Does running a 7 marathons in 7 days in 7 continents interest you?

FroYo 5k Recap–Spouse Edition

Posted by hellyontherun in 5k, Race, Running and tagged with 5k, FroYo 5k, Race, Running, Will Run For FroYo March 9, 2015

I was given a free race entry to the FroYo 5k but because I was still not feeling 100%, I decided to let my other half run it.

So long as I ate the yogurt.

You guys know my husband also runs. He doesn’t race very often, usually because he’s on kid duty while I’m racing, but when he does, I absolutely love cheering him on.

We arrived at the race site about an hour early as the website suggested. We had our printed ticket and waiver on hand, but saw they had a waiver station in case you forgot. I thought this was a smart organizational tidbit as I’d totally be someone who’d forget.

In fact, the entire race seemed to be very well organized.

The registration station, the swag bag pick-up, the yogurt station, everything was clearly marked and spaced appropriately so that neither was crowded. I appreciate those types of little things.

Check Yoself

Race organizers had sent an e-mail a few days before informing us there’d been a hiccup with two items part of the swag–the drawstring bag the items would go in and the sunglasses. Both had some kind of misprinting issue. They assured runners the items would be available for pick-up a few days post race. I appreciated the e-mail and not a surprise come race day. The swag that was ready was pretty cool and my daughter is in love with the slap bracelet (we had already used the free yogurt coupon that was also inside 😀 )

swag.

Then my husband and I took a pre-race pic

❤

and I snagged a pic with local Moms Run This Town girls (if you haven’t heard of this women’s only group, check out the website to see if there’s a chapter near you! Stateside only.) I’m a chapter leader for my city and it has been so much fun meeting moms 🙂

MRTT!

While we waited for it to get closer to go time, race organizers had a quick zumba/warm up session, a costume contest, pre-race stretching, and giveaway sign-ups. I thought all of this was cool and a fun way to keep people busy and not just standing around.

When it got close for the runners to start, the emcee instructed everyone to walk together to the start line which was about a half a block away (the finish line was where all the party was). As we approached the main start line, I saw that they had organized the “corrals” by what you were planning on doing: walkers, strollers, runners with strollers, runners.

I thought this was thoughtful and people were pretty good about adhering to their “station”.

Everyone lined up and I gave my husband a quick smooch and soon after, they were off!

There he is!

I waited until everyone started as I was cheering on a few moms with strollers from MRTT. But then I hurried back to the finish line as I figured I had about 20 minutes til my husband would start to make his way.

The race was a good size (400 or so) but it wasn’t difficult to find a place to catch the finishers. I hoped my husband would be towards the first of the finishers and soon enough, I began to see people making their way. I saw the first place guy turn the corner. He was going and I cheered him on to first place. About 30 seconds later, the second place guy came around, and then another 30 seconds, the third. I didn’t really pay attention to him because not a few seconds after I saw the third place guy make his way, I saw my husband! He was doing so well and I began to ~~scream~~ cheer my little lungs out!

I was so proud and I wanted the whole world to know that was my husband coming in like a speedster 😀

He finished the race 4th overall and with a brand spanking new PR– 21:07!

Just to be clear, my husband didn’t just roll out of bed and run lol! People ask me that all the time–does he even train? How does he run so fast and not run? He does train but just not as often as I do. He had done about 10 days of mini training for this 5k as I had thought I’d be okay to do it until my marathon failure. I tell him that if he was to really, really train, he could have some amazing times and races. I’m looking forward to giving him his turn now that I’m done with my marathon training.

My husband used to run track in high school (I ran cross country). So we’ve learned a lot from each other continuously teaching one another. He’s given me a lot of speed work knowledge and I’ve given him advice on endurance and pacing (he was a little excited at the start of this race!). It’s one of the many ways we complement each other ❤

After the race, I headed over to the yogurt tent to get my yogurt. The race was generous with its toppings (you can choose however many you wanted) but I still went with strawberry and only gummies.

The choices.

Nom.

My husband snapped a pic of me mid bite and then we were on our way. FroYo 5k DONE!

😀

–Have you ran a food related race before? (The Hot Chocolate race series is also a good one!)

–What food would you want to have waiting for you at the end?

I received a free entry to the FroYo 5k. All opinions expressed in the blog post are honest and my own.