Sneaker Research and Training Plans (Jan.30, 2024)

Jason and I watched a vlog on The Running Channel about 4 different kinds of Nike super shoes and how they faired out and the new Nike Alphafly 3's were the clean winner.

Jason is thinking about getting himself a new pair of sneakers so I did a bit of a search to see what I could find this morning.

I did find a pair of the new Alphafly 3's in his size (he's a 13/14) and I had heard they were around the $700 mark so this seemed like a good deal.

I sent it to Jason and he said he could hardly believe he was looking at a pair of shoes that were nearly 500 bucks and that was a good price.

I think he'd like to try them in person though and he's eyeing up some Puma's and Saucony's as well so we may take a trip into the city to see what he can find and try on in person.

I had a speed workout on the training plan today and since I'm curling a make up game tonight, I made sure to get it done on my lunch hour.

The workout was:

10 min Easy run

5 (1 min Hard Run, 2 min Walk)

5 min Easy run

I followed this same plan for the Tucson half marathon and I liked it so I'm following it again but this time, I'm going to bump up my effort.

So for example, last time for my Easy run I ran at a speed of 4.0 on the treadmill and my Hard run was at a speed of 4.5.

Today I did my first 10 min at a speed of 4.2.

My first min hard running was at 5.0 then I bumped up each consecutive time so I did 4.0, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and 4.5.

Then for my last 5 minutes of Easy running I did it at a speed of 4.5.

I want to get it so that my 'Easy' running pace is 4.5 and maybe even higher but the end of this 13 week training session.

I want to push myself a bit more than I did last time - I think I need to do that to make progress.

So it was a bit harder of a workout than what I've been doing recently but it felt great when I finished.

I wore my Saucony Endorphins - I have a few pairs of sneakers that I rotate through for running on the treadmill.

I've been keeping track of my runs in a running log and there is a spot to put in what shoes you wore and I decided to start taking a picture because by the time I fill in the log, I usually forget.

We had a make up curling game tonight.

It got off to a rough start, the other team got 4 points in the first end then another 3 in the second so we were down 7 right off the bat.

We ended up making a comeback though, even had an end where we got 4 pts ourselves.

We were all tied up going home for the 8th end then unfortunately we ended up losing in that end but it was a good, close game.

When I got home, Jason made ice cream for us.

It's 0 points on WW because it's mainly just frozen fruit and water and calorie free flavoring but it is delicious and I look forward to having it as a treat every night.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!

Weigh In and Half Marathon Training Begins (Jan.29, 2024)

Monday means weigh in day and for the first time in a long time I was actually looking forward to it.

I was 210.0 lbs on the nose.

That's 5.4 lbs down since last week.

I've been tracking what I eat all week and following plan on WW and it really makes such a difference.

It was a good day at work.

Today is Shennelle's birthday so Bonnie and I took her out for lunch.

We went to Sammy's in town and I had a BLT sandwich with a side salad and it was pretty darn good.

I can't believe it but I totally forgot to take pictures.

Curling was cancelled tonight and I had been planning on getting the rest of my steps in while I was there but since that didn't happen, I went down and hopped on the treadmill to get them done.

Today is the first day of the 13 week Half-Marathon training plan that I am following and it called for a rest day and I wanted to stick to that so I just walked on the treadmill.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!

Eden's First Sleepover was a Success! (Jan.28, 2024)

Just as Kody said, Eden woke up around 2 am last night.

I took her to the living room, fed her a bottle, changed her diaper then rocked her back to sleep and put her back in the bassinet.

Then I didn't hear another peep from her until around 5:30.

Jason was up so I got him to prepare a bottle and I brought her into the bed with Freya and I.

I fed her just a little and she fell right back to sleep and slept until about 8:15 which was awesome.

I fed her and hoped she'd fall asleep again but that was a no go.

 

She was up and alert and looking around and not interested one little bit in going back to sleep.

Her serious face cracks me up.

I stayed with her like this for awhile - Freya was still snoozing away.

Then just when I decided to take Eden out to the living room and make myself a coffee, Freya woke up and wanted to cuddle her.

Awww, her little grin.

Morning selfie with my girlie.

Lots of cuddles with my other girlie too.

Freya trying out some cool picture effects.

She wants to sit on the couch and look around and see everything that is going on.

Morning selfie with my other girl.

After her morning feeding she did go back to sleep.

I could have put her down I suppose but I wanted to sit and snuggle her.

And just look at her - she is so precious.

I did eventually put her back in the bassinet and she slept for a couple hours so I was able to change the bed, put some laundry away and do the dishes and spend time with Freya.

I never want to think she's been usurped by her baby sister.

I let her do my make up and she made me into a vampire.

Sisters!

Freya really wants to help with caring for Eden and she is very confident in her skills.

She likes just laying on the couch beside her.

I think Eden likes it as well.

I love these pictures of the two of them.

Jason made pizzas for the guys out at work today.

Kody came to pick up the girls in the early afternoon.

Freya wasn't quite ready to go home so I offered to walk her home.

It was another gorgeous day out there.

Making snow angels on the way home.

Not bad - Freya even added a halo.

When I got her home, she put on Haylee's roller skates and showed me her skating skills.

She's actually getting really good and these are Haylee's skates so WAY too big for Freya so it's amazing that she handles herself so well on them.

Getting good on the roller skates.

She's got the house turned into her own private roller rink.

I walked back home then took some garbage to the dumpster at the office and stopped at the store for some lunch - I got a spinach salad.

When I got home I put some more laundry away then I started working on my blog - I let myself get a week behind.

Once I did a bit of work on that and got all the pictures upload and a few days done, I decided to go down and get my workout done for the day.

I begin a 13 week half marathon training plan tomorrow so partially through my workout, I decided that instead of just running 30 minutes today, I wanted to run 5k.

It was hard and it took me over 50 minutes.

But it felt like such a great accomplishment when I was done.

These two seem to be getting along perfectly fine!

Kody posted a cute picture of Freya and Eden from today.

Sisters!!!

In case I'm ever looking for a book to read!

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!

Eden's First Sleep Over (Jan.27, 2024)

Shennelle ended up not coming with us today due to a family thing but Bonnie, Nadine and I still were a go and headed into the city at 8 am.

 

It was 5 C out there today, gorgeous for an end of January day in Edmonton, Alberta.

We went in the St Albert way and the first stop we made was at Crumbl Cookies.

These are the cookies they had on the menu for this week.

There they are on display - they are enormous.

The strawberry crumble caught my eye right away so I got one of those.

Then I also got the cannoli one.

I had a bite of each then decided to save the rest for Jason.

They were both delicious.

(Full Disclosure - I did give them to Jason when I got home but we ended up sharing them so I did have more. The cannoli one had softened up so was even better than earlier - I liked both but it was my favorite out of the two).

We went in to 137th and made stops at Michaels and Penn's (formerly Pennigton's) and I got a couple of sweaters.

Then we headed back to St Albert to the Landmark theater for a movie.

I love the Landmark in St Albert - it has all recliner seats and we even picked the premiere ones this time which are even bigger and heated.

We saw Anyone But You - a cute romcom.

It was a cute movie - I think we all enjoyed it.

I ate a whole entire bag of popcorn - I don't think I've ever done that before.

We did a bit more shopping afterward then decided that we were all too full to go out for supper so instead we stopped at Mary Brown's and those guys got some take out - I skipped it.

I was going to stop somewhere else but my belly was bothering me so I didn't much feel like it so we just headed right on home.

It was 7:50 pm when we pulled in to town which I think is our earliest time home yet for a city trip.

Kody texted to say that Freya was asking to come over so when I got home, I let him know.

He brought both girls over and we decided that I'd keep Eden too - it will be her first time having a sleepover.

He brought over a bassinet for her to sleep in.

He said he'd come get her if I ran into trouble but I figured we'd be just fine.

I only had around 7000 steps when I got home from the city so I walked around the house and on the spot for what seemed like forever trying to get the rest of my steps in.

I finally managed it though and I was so happy when I could finally sit down.

I fed Eden  and she fell asleep around 10 and we never heard another peep from her.

She was still sleeping when the rest of us went to bed around midnight.

Hopefully this is how the rest of the night goes.

Kody says she normally wakes up at 2 then again at 6 so if that's the case, that's not too bad.

We'll see how it goes.

If it's good - we'll be able to start taking her more often for the night to give Kody and Haylee a bit of a break.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!

Christmas in January (Jan.26, 2024)

My sisters Christmas parcel she sent to us arrived yesterday and Jason and I opened up the gifts she sent for us last night.

She sent me this Under Armour top in a bright orange color that I just loved so I wore it to work today.

I'm having everyone over tonight for supper and to play a game so I can give out all the prizes I bought at Christmas time so I'll give everyone else their presents tonight.

 

Jason sent some cabin ideas he was looking at for our lake property in NS to get my opinion.

I think they look really good - I love all the windows.

I think this one is my favorite.

I love the deck, all the windows and the colors.

At lunch time when I got home Mom was doing a bunch of house cleaning so I spent my whole lunch hour helping her and running around the house putting things away.

So I didn't get to workout like I planned.

I also checked on my spaghetti sauce which I made last night but have had in the oven simmering ever since.

So when I got home after work I hopped on the treadmill right away before everyone came over.

I ran my 30 minutes.

Got pretty sweaty but I got it done.

I could hear everyone arriving upstairs just as I was finishing up.

Everyone opening their gifts from Jen.

I video called her on the computer so she could watch - she hates that she's so far away and misses out on family gatherings and we hate it too so I've been trying to remember to call her even if it's just for a short time when we all get together.

Rob and Alivia.

I gave her the Grinch onesies I picked up and a Grinch top I got for her on clearance.

Hunter opening his present from Jen.

Morgan and Kalem..

Adrien, Mom and Kody.

Eden was sleeping for at least the first hour that they were there.

Alivia brought her new kitten Gert over for us all to meet and Gert was very interested in Eden.

Trying to get everyone to look at the same time while I take a picture is nearly impossible.

So I always end up taking a few pictures trying to get at least one good one of each person.

I made spaghetti and garlic bread and I think it was a hit.

Crystal, Rob, Kody and Alivia.

Even though Adrien wasn't looking, I had to include this because of the look on Freya's face.

Adrien, Hunter, Freya and Haylee.

Mom and Eden.

Gert took a liking to Kalem and vice versa.

He's so teeny tiny.

I numbered all the gifts I had and I had exactly.

For a game, I wrote numbers on the bottom of solo cups then taped them to the table.

Then each person got to bounce or throw the ping pong ball into a cup.

Whatever cup it went into they picked up off the table and the number on the bottom of the cup was the number of the prize they got to pick.

We just started from youngest to oldest and everyone got 3 turns, a couple even got 4.

I think everyone enjoyed it.

It took much longer than I initially thought it would.

Someone woke up from her nap and joined us.

Eden and Daddy.

Eden and Mommy.

Oh big yawns.

Guess we were boring her.

Such a sweet girlie.

Freya wanted to spend the night and at first we said no because Jason is working and I'm heading to the city with Bonnie, Shennelle and Nadine but Freya figured that Nanny could watch her in the morning and Mom agreed so she ended up staying.

She made Jason and I stand by one another and try to guess who she would run to.

Every time she sings 'Eeny Meeny Miny Mo" she sings these lyrics that are so funny and I don't know how she came up with them.

She's been singing them that way forever and she just did it the other day and right afterwards I thought to myself that I ought to have recorded her so I'd have it on video.

I thought of it today and then for the first time ever, she didn't sing it that way so it looks like I missed out on my chance.

Bummer.

She wanted Jason to "Fight" with her.

She's always coming up with games for them to play and bossing him around and he just goes along with it.

It's very sweet actually.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!