Family Affair

This past weekend was yet another race. This time, a 5K. My Mother-in-Law got in on the fun too! AND she even signed my oldest 2 up for the 1 mile fun run! It's pretty awesome to have this kind of thing be a family event! I LOVE sharing these experiences with loved ones!
I didn't blow any doors off but I did manage to get 2nd in my age division. I came in with a time of 23:54. I'm cool with that!After I finished we went and found Gramma and walked with her until just before the end. She did great!The two rug rats did a great job in their little race! They loved it, which is what matters most, right?! The pushed themselves and did their best! I am super proud of them!Showing off our medals!I haven't had much luck finding another fun run for these two but I hope to find them one more, maybe two!

**I am going to be hit and miss on the blog for the next few weeks. Lots of fun stuff planned, stay tuned for all the details!!

Summer Family Boot Camp

My neighborhood just started this "Boot Camp" today and I HAD to share with ya'll! Cause I KNOW you're going to want to organize your own neighborhood Boot Camp after this!! It's all about keeping your kids active and healthy throughout the summer!!

We started out today with a Duathlon. It was split into 4 groups: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Adult {I'll get to distances in a minute}. Afterwards we had treats and everyone got a chart to keep track of points earned {I'll get to that in a minute too}. It was a really fun way to kick this thing off. The kids had SO much fun. And it's helping motivate us Moms too. Every couple of weeks we will get together for a game {kickball, soccer,ultimate frisbee...}. At the end of the summer we will have another Duathlon {same course}, water party and awards ceremony. Fun huh?!

Here's the skinny:

Beginners: BIKE 100m RUN 100m BIKE 100m
Intermediate: BIKE .5 mile RUN .5 mile BIKE .5mile
Advanced: BIKE 1 mile RUN .5 mile BIKE .5 mile
Adult: We haven't done ours yet, so I'm not sure on distances... maybe 1-1-1 or 2-1-1 or 2-1-2?

THEN, all summer you keep track of points earned in which ever category of your choice. One point per day, per action. They are:

Basic
~drink 4 cups of water
~1 hour of playing outside
~1 treat a day {1 SERVING size treat}
~3-5 servings of fruit and vegetables

Intermediate
~drink 6-8 cups of water
~3-5 serving of fruits and vegetables
~one treat a day
~30 minutes intense workout
~20 pushups and 25 sit-ups

Advanced
~drink 8 cups of water
~one treat a day {one allowed on one free day}
~one hour of intense workout
~25 pushups and 50 situps
~5 servings of fruit and 5 servings of vegetables

Adult Advanced
~drink 8 cups of water
~no treats {one allowed on one free day}
~one hour of intense workout
~25 pushups and 50 situps
~5 servings of fruit and vegetables
~I can't remember this 6th one {I'll come back and update it as soon as I find out}

So that's it. We got a simple graph/calendar to mark how many points we got each day. Just before school starts in the fall we'll redo the Duathlon to see our improvement, have a picnic & simple awards {parents are chipping in $3}!

I am loving this idea! What a great way to help motivate kids to be proactive about their health! This is on a small neighborhood scale {20 kids or so} so you can all easily whip this thing together! Help your family and friends get motivated to be active and healthy!! Have fun!

Field Day

Today I spent the day at my kids' school helping with their annual field day. I was SO excited to help because Field Day was one of my favorite days! Second only to the day we ran a timed mile, it was by far my favorite day, but that's a different post. I remember running and jumping my heart out for field day. I remember that everyone did. Every time I see Anne of Green Gables, when she goes to the picnic, after being found innocent in the "falsehood" about dropping Marila's amethyst brooch into the Lake of Shining Waters... whenever I see Anne and Diana beat all the boys in the three legged race, I fondly remember back to my third grade year and how my best friend and I absolutely dominating that same race! I love that memory.

I really was excited about going today and seeing all the kids have as much fun as I did. I was looking forward to seeing my own kids "compete". I encountered a different Field Day than I expected. It was this morning that I realized that there really are more overweight kids now than when I was a kid. You can OBVIOUSLY tell which kids are active and PLAY outside vs. those who don't. My heart went out to those who fell into that second category; for those few minutes they were at my station I tried to encourage them as much as I possibly could. I desperately wanted to see any spark of enjoyment. It's hardly possible to help a child love fitness in that minuscule amount of time but I was determined to be positive and encouraging.

There was something else, this one had me red in the face! There was a boy who was "chosen last" and ended up without a partner. At the last minute a girl came and joined the group so they were paired together. In the next group over I hear some smart-alec kid yell "girl's name! I feel SO SORRY FOR YOU!" And he yelled it over and over and over again!! For some reason that just ticked me off. I went right over to that boy {SO NOT LIKE ME} and said something like "Knock it off. That isn't nice. Why would you say something like that?" Sugar coated, like I'm afraid of some lame 3rd grade snot of a bully. Maybe it's because I remember being chosen last and I hated it bitterly every time. Maybe it's because I know this boy {no he isn't my son} and I had some kid of surrogate mama bear episode. I hate bullies.

On a good note though. The sun decided to shine for at least HALF of the day. But at least it wasn't FREEZING {we are still getting SNOW}. We got to have a fun family picnic. My kids had a blast and did great. It seemed like most of the kids had a blast running around and being kids. Today and tomorrow are the last days of school for my kids! And we're going to have a FUN summer!