A quick recap of what we did this weekend...

It was a crazy one.

#3 started soccer on Thursdays at a Kick City. After a rocky start (oh, shyness you rear your head in the strangest of circumstances) he LOVED it!

Mr. Wiedz and I ran in the EWEB Run to Stay Warm event. It was a beautiful fall day, no rain. We both finished and jogged the whole thing which was a major goal. I finished in about 36 minutes.

#2 had his first basketball game (we missed last weeks due to Early Christmas). He's really great at defense...even playing it when he's supposed to be on offense! He had fun and it was all cute to watch!

#1 had her first volleyball games, 2 on Saturday, 2 on Sunday (again we missed the actual first ones last weekend). She improved her serving just between the days and got a chance to even pass it over the net a couple of times!

Just the start, I know, but a busy weekend for the Wiedz household!

Back at it

Remember this?

It felt like I'd forgotten I even owned this piece of machinery. But I got back at it last Thursday. I had it all planned out. Big kids in bed, #5 happily fed and hanging out with Mr. Wiedz, me doing something good for myself, getting back at the routine.

Unfortunately my plan laughed in my face...over and over. Mr. Wiedz had to work late so I was left to put everyone to bed myself, leaving me feeling a little grumpy. So they were in bed by 7:30...

#5 was fed...but NOT happy. For some reason determination got a hold of me though. I broke out the bouncy seat and found the pacifier we have not had to use much. I got some headphones for the ipod and stretched out.
After all that the treadmill almost refused to work. I'm glad for whatever produced my determination because had I been able I might have thrown the treadmill out the window.

Alas I preserved, warming up with 3/4 a mile then running a mile and cooling down with another 1/2 mile.

All that too say I think I was a little early in my zeal to get back at it. I hurt in places I don't want to hurt and have decided to wait another week or so before I try again...baby is only 3 weeks old.

A fun time and meeting goals

We went to Rhody Days in Florence this past weekend.

I have many memories of attending Rhody Days myself as a child and I've always wanted to make a tradition of Rhody Days for my kids.

Mr. Wiedz isn't really a parade and carnival kind of guy. So Rhody Days isn't on his list of must dos for a year. Neither is the Independence Day parade or Dallas' Summerfest. I drag him to the Polk County Fair every year and we don't even discuss the State Fair.

This year I made a goal to run the 5K at Rhody Days, called of course the Rhody Run.

When a carnival and parade include some exercise Mr. Wiedz changes his mind.

We had a great time in Florence for Rhody Days. #1 and #2 didn't have school on Friday so we tried to get out of the house early. 8:00 stretched to 9:30 but eventually we were on the road and made it to Florence in the early afternoon. My cousin, Scary, took #1 and got her daughter out of school for the rest of the afternoon. After some hanging out and enjoying being out of the car Scary and her husband, C$, treated our family to a trip to the carnival. The kids had so much fun riding the rides and enjoying some cotton candy.

After a pizza dinner, some Wii and old-school-Mike-Tyson-punch-out-Nintendo everyone was in bed.

Saturday morning Mr. Wiedz and I headed out for the Rhody Run while Scary and C$ watched all 6 kids.

Awhile back I started running/walking on my treadmill and using a 12 week walk/run program to increase my ability to run. I abandoned the run/walk program awhile back because I just wanted to run. After I stopped using the program I would just run for 15 minutes. Then I noticed I was really close to a mile so I ran a mile, then I went a little faster and noticed I was close to running for 20 minutes so I changed my plan and ran for 20 minutes. I kept doing that until I was consistently running 2 miles. During that time I decided it is always nice to have a goal so I figured I could find a 5K to walk this spring then maybe by the end of the summer I would find one to run. When I shared the plan with Mr. Wiedz he thought I should just set the goal of running one this spring. I googled 5K Oregon and found the Rhody Run. So started my training with a date of May 16th.

My fabulous neighbor happens to be a runner so she and I started running on weekends near our homes. We found a place we could park on a not-so-busy-road. From where we parked to the end of the road is 1.5 miles so there and back to the car equals 3 miles, the length of a 5K. For all of March and much of April we ran those 3 miles every Saturday.

May 16th came and my goal became finishing the Rhody Run without stopping.

I finished without stopping in 37 minutes 13 seconds.

To finish out the weekend, Mr. Wiedz and I returned to Scary's house, showered and got ready for the day. We made a picnic lunch and went to the park. After lunch we watched A in the kids parade. It was a perfect parade to attend, lasted about 15 minutes, 1 handful of candy and we were out of there. We returned to the house and laid #4 down for his nap. When he woke up we went to a lake just south of Florence and played in the water, dug in the sand, played Frisbee and relaxed. BBQ dinner when we got back. And peaceful sleep after a full and fabulous day.

I think we have a new tradition.

Outside

I've never liked running. Or even exercising. There is a family tale of my stopping on 2nd base when I played little league softball. When asked why I stopped since I could have kept going I said I needed to stop because I was sweating. In high school I wheezed whenever I ran or rode a bike, especially outside.

I've been content to stay inside in my new desire to exercise and walk/jog on the treadmill. Over the years any attempt to exercise outside has left me wheezing for air and strangely, my two front teeth hurting.

In the last couple of weeks though I've wanted to set a goal for myself and I picked a 5K as my goal. In May during the Florence Rhododendron Festival I'm going to attempt jogging my first 5K.

In order to do that I have to do 2 things. Be able to run the 3 miles without stopping. And be able to run outside.

I'm working on increasing my run time/distance. I'm up to 15 minutes of jogging which depending on my pace is about 1.5 miles.

This weekend I went to Florence to visit cousin Scary (family nick-name) and her new little (another post coming up on that one). While there I went on 2 jogs. Outside. Without dying. But I did stop a couple of times. Pavement is a whole new world to my legs and they were none too happy about it.

I was sure grateful that yesterday was Sunday (my day off) so that I wouldn't have to go again but I'm proud of myself for sticking it out, trying it, and making it.