Snap, crackle, pop!

Snap, crackle, pop, that's what my body sounds like this morning as I ease into my day. My poor knees, with all of their past trauma, won't let me sneak up on anyone! Every morning I think, "I wish I could stretch as good and satisfactorily as our dog does!"

Stretching, surprisingly, is something I've had to try to make habit as well as exercise. I think people take for granted the benefits of stretching in the morning, throughout the day, and at night. The nights I take time to stretch thoroughly before bed I really notice a difference in the morning. You'd think that outcome would be motivation alone to do it EVERY night! Oh, well ... we live and we learn!

I haven't blogged as frequently as I'd like to in the past few weeks, and hope that real world things will settle down enough soon so that I can post as often as I think about posting.

Let's back up to last Saturday! The Covenant Kids Run had its kick off at the Knoxville Zoo! I'd never been to this event before -- and I have to say it's pretty cool! Kids are encouraged to start their marathon mileage at the zoo during kick off, and then log their next 24 miles on their own with their families between now and 3/31/12, when they complete their last mile towards the finish line at Neyland Stadium (just like the marathon and half). It's a great opportunity to encourage kids to become more active, but also learn how to set fitness goals. Even if you missed the kick off you can still register your kids at www.knoxvillemarathon.com.

At the kick off we helped Missy with some pre-race stretching, and crowd warm-up. Warm-up was the key phrase for the morning, as it was cold and rainy. Unfortunately the weather kept some folks away ... but over 500 kids still attended!

Here's our group before the event began.

The absolute coolest part of the day was cheering the kids on as they reached the finish line. I have a feeling my facial reactions and surge of emotions will be quite similar to theirs as people cheer us on throughout the half marathon in April.

I'm especially proud of two newcomers to this year's kids run ... two of my nephews! They came to the kick-off with their mom (my sister), and my dad (Doc)!

Since the Kids Run kick off cut into our normal training time we needed to get in our mileage at some point over the weekend. So, my walking buddy, LeeAnn and I decided that on Sunday we'd tackle the first 7.5-8 miles of the half marathon course. For us this would help us clear a bit of a mental hurdle, as well as a physical one. We were joined by last year's Biggest Winner team member, Julie, who helped encourage our progress along the way! 

The weather was great, our moods were good, and it turned out to be quite a nice athletic adventure! A special thanks to my parents for allowing a pit stop around mile 5! 

Mentally, the greatest accomplishment for me on this training walk was conquering Noelton. Everyone talks about how horrible it is, especially at that point in the race. 

Then we took a closer look... j/k!

So here's our snafu for the day ... at this point we'd calculated we should be close to 7.5 miles...at least that's what the marathon route said. When we reached our cars at Earthfare we had logged 9.5 miles! Yikes! Oh, well ... crossed that mental barrier! Evidently we picked up a little mileage on the front & back end of the walk. 

This past few weeks we've really gotten to experience training in every type of weather! Yesterday's trek was definitely the coldest so far, with the first snow during a walk that I've seen this season. The temp was reading 30 degrees when we started, but with the windchill 20 degrees!

Lee Ann & I were joined by our friend Beth for the cold adventure! We started at the West Side YMCA, then walked to Wynsong Theatre on the greenways, and then lapped back towards Wal-mart, and eventually back to Wynsong.

Our goal was 7.5-8 miles, and we ended up at 7.7! It was definitely blustery! 

Tomorrow morning I have my monthly follow-up with dietitian at Covenant Weight Management Center. I'm eager to see my (hopefully) progress on the scales! The main diet-type things I've worked on this past month have been drinking more water, and adding less salt to things! I really hope they've paid off! Wish me luck! 

Here are my nuggets of Fitness (and overall life) insight for the week! 

Adventures at Ijams

Yesterday our Biggest Winner team met up out at Ijams for our weekly training. It's been years since I've been here, and was delighted to rediscover this awesome place right in our back yard! My teammate Lee Ann & I were slated to complete 8 miles of walking/shuffling in this week' training, but we ended up hiking instead of just walking, so we cut our distance a little short finishing 7.25 miles.

Now for those of you who read this and think, "Oh, they didn't finish their 8 miles," no worries, we burned more calories hiking the 7.25 than we would've walking the 8! And, believe me, I'm feeling every step of it today!

Here's our group that met up yesterday!

After the photo we split up in separate directions -- the runners went towards the greenway, and the rest of us headed towards the Quarry side.

 Needless to say -- some of the trails were kind of muddy...which caused us to move slower in some places, and hard to even pass in others.

But we saw some beautiful scenery, and some really cool historical stuff...

We did a little exploring, and are really excited that local groups are helping repair, restore, and create new trails in this area!

The keyhole is one of the really cool places we visited. At this point in our hike, Lee Ann's FitBit notified us that we'd climbed the equivalent of 51 flights of stairs with all of our steps for the morning.

Lee Ann in front of the Key Hole.

Just in case you're wondering ... we're on the "right side of the tracks!" :)  This is me and Lee Ann as we were finishing about 6.5 miles, before we headed back to the visitors center. When we were finished, my heart rate monitor told me I'd burned over 1800 calories! That's what 3 hours of hiking will do!

This week has been a tough week of sorts. Busy week at work, hard workouts, and the slight feeling of burnout due to some pain. Our Thursday night training session with Chris was tough, but what I needed to remember that I am getting stronger, and that I'm really doing great! Once again it was the laughter with and the support of my teammates that reminded me what great things we're accomplishing.

And, if you haven't met all of us yet, you'll quickly learn how quiet and shy we are ... NOT! :) The photo below is from our Thursday night training with Chris O'Hearn at Fort Sanders Health & Fitness Center. We're all smiling so big b/c the training is OVER! Just kidding...Chris!

So, even though Saturday's training wasn't as cut and dry as I'd originally thought it would be, it turned out to be exactly what I needed. A nice break from the pavement (although about 6 miles in I really would've given anything for pavement), and some much needed "therapy" time with my walking buddy, Lee Ann. It's amazing how therapeutic laughing and commiserating with a friend can be!

Here are some closing thoughts I've collected on Pinterest this week.

This is how I felt much of the week! lol

I was introduced to Burpees Thursday night in training. UGH. 

I hope everyone has a great week! Also a couple of great healthy things going on this coming week if you're looking for something to do!!

Thursday night there's a great event at West Town Mall supporting heart disease awareness for women!http://www.covenanthealth.com/hearttruth




Also, we're celebrating National Wear Red Day the hospital where I work on Friday, and have some great events planned - check it out!

Also, next Saturday is the kick-off of the Covenant Kids Run, part of the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon. Our team will be at the zoo to help out with this great event! There's still plenty of time to sign your kids up for this awesome event!