Stepping It Up and Having Fun!



I am so excited and thrilled to get involved in a running event that is like none other!  It is full of fun, mud, slides, obstacles and FOAM!  It is called FoamFest 5K and I am so looking forward to this event!!  It is right up my ally.  I love running, I love mud and who in the world wouldn't want to act like a kid and go through fun obstacles with foam?! 

There are a bunch of fun obstacles at the events that are located all across the country.  You can check out the obstacles here. I have looked at every single one of them and I get more excited each time I see a picture of them!

I can't wait to get a photo looking like this:

 

 

I have been running pretty consistently since the fall but I have no idea how exactly to train for this event. I mean, how do you train for going down a huge inflatable slide, trudging through a huge mud pit or running across the water on rafts?!  It sounds hard but at the same time, it sounds insanely fun! 

 

We are getting a team together to do this event and it is going to be beyond what any of us are imagining, I am sure of it. 

 

Again, this event is going on all over the country so you can check out if there is a location near you here.  I am doing the Pittsburgh, PA event on June 15th so I have plenty of time to hear about the other locations and train the best I can.  If you would like to join me, please let me know because we are welcoming team members for this epic event!

 

If you would like to start your own team for your local event, there is a great perk to being on a team!  Any team with 5 or more members, will receive a $10 coupon to the merchandise store! 

 

If you want to learn more about this crazy event, you can read all the FAQ's here.

 

Also, here are a few other places you can follow Foam Fest 5K!

 

Pinterest

Facebook

YouTube

Twitter

5K Foam Fest Blog

 

So, what are you waiting for?!  Go sign up now!!

 

 Disclaimer: In exchange for this post, I am being given free entry into this event.  I am not being monetarily compensated and I have expressed my own opinions. 

 



Whirlwind Ahead

This week always seems like the first week of the holiday season for me.  The week where I start paying a little more attention to the sales ads, when I am finalizing my shopping lists and really thinking about the things I want to get done fore the holiday season.

The weeks seem to rush by even faster and we all try to keep up.  There are only 5 weeks left before Christmas so the next few weeks will be a whirlwind of shopping, baking, wrapping, decorating, stressing and delighting in the season. 

While this year is less than cheerful for me, I'm trying to remail positive and not let on to the kids that I am miserable and not really knowing how I'm going to buy them gifts but I do know that somehow things work out in the end, they always do. 

I am still going to get a job and I found one that doesn't work for me but I would love for my husband to do, even though he already has a job.  This one would be so perfect for him but he is really liking his current job and he likes his coworkers. 

So, I have been applying for jobs and hoping that maybe I will get a call this week and I can begin my holiday shopping. 

So, to get back to my original point, (I'm so good at getting off topic :P) I love Thanksgiving and getting together with my family.....we are loud, we are fun and we laugh a ton.  I know it is going to be a stress reliever for me to just relax and enjoy the time together.  At the core of my life, is my family and it always has been and always will be.   I think we are planning a dance off using Just Dance for Wii.  We did this at our family Easter gathering and we had a blast.  If we are doing this, I'm wearing comfy pants instead of jeans and I'm stretching! We have a few good dancers in our family so it's on, like Donkey Kong!!!

Besides the food, Thanksgiving is a mix of family, football and fun.  Who doesn't love all that?! 

Weekends are for Family

During the week, our days are go, go, go.  We are hardly ever just sitting around talking or having any fun with each other.  Although the days seem to fly by, I really look forward to the weekends when the pace slows and we get to sit around and talk and laugh and be silly together. 

We don't do much on the weekends now that football season is over and Chuckie won't be playing basketball this year.  We have been lounging in bed or hanging out in the living room watching movies as a family. 

I love the simplicity that the weekend brings.  We can enjoy each other and do things together that we can't during our hectic weekdays.  We can eat a big breakfast together or stay up late and all sleep in the living room. 

I try to make our weekends more about family so that we can keep that strong sense of foundation for the kids growing up.  I had that when I was growing up and we had fun, we learned a lot and we still have the sense of closeness.

What is your favorite thing about weekends?

Beautiful Day

Here in western Pennsylvania, you really never know what kind of weather you will have.  We have had snow in October, 70+ degrees in February, it is just a mixed bag around here. 

Today, our temps will be 70+ so we are going to spend our day outside enjoying the sunshine and warmth while it lasts! 

What a beautiful way to spend our day of rest!  With family and sunshine!

Four Days of Fun or Frustration

My kids are home for four days because of in service days at school.  They have a four day weekend.  This will either mean we will have fun or I will be frustrated.  I just never know how these days will go.  Will they fight all day, will they complain about being bored, will they find enough things to keep them occupied? 

I have a parent/teacher conference today and some errands to run so that will break up the day a bit for them.  I'm sure they are just itching to run to Staples with me....or not.  At least it will be a chance to get out of the house, right? 

This weekend is supposed to be beautiful, weatherwise, so they can spend some time outside getting rid of some energy!

Trick or Treat Hangover

Last night was trick or treating in our area because it was delayed due to Hurricane Sandy. We always go to a friend's house because they live in a great neighborhood for trick or treating. The kids got a lot of candy, we all got a lot of exercise walking all over the neighborhood (at least 100 houses) and we all had fun. Today, I feel like I have a trick or treating hangover. I am tired, a bit sore from carrying heavy bags of candy and I have a headache. The positive to today is that we got our extra hour of daytime and we are getting together with good friends for the Steeler game! We get time with them and I don't have to cook dinner. I am going to try to eat as healthy as possible while I am there but I can't make any promises because it will be gameday food which we all know is not always the best!

Keeping Busy

I wasn't making it up when I said that I am enjoying being home with the kids and making sure the household is being run and everything is going smoothly.  However, I do get a little bored once the big kids are in school and Lincoln and I are here by ourselves.  He is perfectly happy to sit quietly and play by himself or watch a show or two...after we do his practice lessons.  I end up on the computer just browsing around between loads of laundry or sweeping or whatever else needs done. 

My friend runs a local gym (the one I used to go to) and she sent me a message last week about the gym needing someone on an as needed basis to work in the nursery.  I told her that I am available because they need someone in the mornings during the week and it just happens that the hours are before I need to take Lincoln to school. She said she would give my name to the girl that runs the nursery scheduling.  So, basically, I will be filling in for the nursery workers when someone can't make it.  It's only a few hours a day, when they need me so it's certainly not anything that is regular and I'm not going to make a huge amount of money or anything but it's something I can do for a few extra bucks occasionally. 

The one perk is that I will have a free gym membership!  That is awesome and I will get a lot of use out of it when the colder weather comes.  That means I can do all the classes that I love or go on the Precor machine that is my best friend. 

I'm pretty excited about it.  The nursery scheduler called me today and I have to go in sometime this week so she can show me what needs done when I am working, which is only a few things and I have been in there tons of times when the kids were younger and I was at the gym 4-5 days a week working out.  So, just one more exciting thing that is going for me. 

I'm so thankful my friend thought of me. She had asked me several years ago if I was interested in a nursery position and back then, the timing just wasn't right so I'm happy to be available now!