Let half term commence

I haven't been looking forward to Half Term and I usually do, I love having my kids at home full time  (at least at the start, there might be occasions  towards the end of the school holidays when I wonder what on earth I was thinking!!)

This time I was wondering how I'd be able to keep up my usual lunchtime run while looking after two tweens!

Would they come with me?   Would I be able to leave them on their own?  Should I take a week off?

Well the answer to the first question was No they wouldn't and the looks they gave me made it very clear I was lucky they'd even got dressed this morning!

And I didn't want to take a week off, especially after getting such a buzz after my Friday run last week.

So could I leave them on their own? To put it in to context they are 10 and 12 and the 12 year old has been staying home alone for a good few months now and so far he hasn't burnt down the house or injured himself.  But leaving them alone together is a different ball game.  They love each other very much and the majority of the time they do get on brilliantly but when they do fall out, they FALL OUT - it's not pretty and it can get violent, and that's with parental supervision.

Still it would only be for half an hour, I only run 2 miles in a circuit so if anything did go wrong I could get back to them very quickly.  Decision made - but it still wasn't easy to walk out of the door.

They were fine.  In fact when I got back they couldn't believe I'd even been gone a full half an hour.
They hadn't killed each other, they hadn't broken anything, the cats were still asleep on the sofa - SUCCESS - minecraft is just as good a babysitter as CBeebies used to be when they were tiny :)

They've now been fed to keep the happy mood going and are upstairs playing happily with their Lego. Totally unaware that they've done something momentous today, being left alone is a big step but it seems like it's only a big step for mum!

Good session today

Feel really pleased with myself :)

2 miles (well maybe 6 steps less!) in 33 minutes - 1st mile done in 15.18min and 2nd in 18:46min
I worked out a new route that takes me mostly downhill or flat on the running bits, so the only uphill parts are my warm up and cool down walk.

And you can see from my map opposite I didn't have any really slow bits in between my running bits either.

NEXT STEPS!

I've not been actually losing any weight while I've been doing all this extra exercise but I haven't changed my eating habits at all.  I'm still eating too much bread and cheese and having my malteasers at weekends.   I'm not worried about that as I needed to get my head right for this exercising thing and not set myself too many challenges at the start and fail too quickly.

I think I've proved to myself now that I am going to keep the exercising going - I've not missed may days since I started and when I have it's been for a genuine reason such as being too busy with work stuff.  I even found myself bored one evening this week and thinking I could go out for a run (it was dark, rainy and my husband told me not to be silly and I didn't argue) but you see my point.

So next steps is to change my eating habits too.  I'm not going to diet diet, I don't want to start some ridiculous plan (not at this stage anyway, if I can't lose weight just being sensible then I might change my mind) but for now I'm going to use My Fitness Pal to count my calories and keep under 1,200 a day.

So have set myself a challenge - with the support of a friend - and we're going to aim to lose half a stone between now and 29th November.  We've got half term next week and it's always harder to plan work / exercise / healthy eating when the kids are off school so we'll start iproperly the week after.

To be honest I'll be happy if I just lose 1lb a week between now and Christmas, I just want to know I can do it if I try, I don't want it to be hard.  But then I can really buckle down in the New Year!

The best thing about jogging...

is that moment when you get home and can take your sports bra off!

1.5miles today in 25minutes, not great but after sitting in my home office freezing, it was a surprise to open my front door and get blasted with sunshine.  There were even two young men walking up the street with their tops off (note how that wasn't the best thing about jogging, they really shouldn't have done it)

So yes I am contrary - I complain that I can't run when it's raining but I use the sunshine as an excuse for not running well too.

And now I'm worried that tomorrow will be dry but not sunny which should be by default perfect conditions and I'll be expected to get my best time ever!! Don't worry, I'll find another excuse by then :)

Yesterday must have been a fluke

As I was back to my usual 16minute mile today.  I did do ten minutes of medicine ball exercises first though so maybe that had an impact or maybe I just had the rush on Monday because I was due to pick the little one up from school :)

Anyway, the whys aren't important.  I still went out and came back redfaced so still a plus and I'll still go out tomorrow (weather permitting).

Off to make a cake for my Nan's birthday tomorrow now which will undo all my calorie loss for the week in one lovely slice !

Beat my own record

Although I'd clearly stated in yesterdays blog that there was no way I was going out in the rain, by school run time it had calmed down a bit and as I was going out anyway I thought I may as well leave a bit earlier than normal and walk / jog the long way round to get her.

And get this, I did a mile in just over 13minutes.  Yes I know some people do a 4 minute mile but if you've been reading my blog at all you know I'm so far off being that kind of person.  13 minutes is very good for me!

What made me laugh though is how long it took me to do the mile home again once I had the little one in tow, as you can see from the split distance below :)

Definitely soup weather today

It's not just raining outside, it's worse than that - in fact there is a full river running down the road outside my house so I'm not going out today as while I may not melt, I do think I could very easily be washed away :)

Instead I've done half an hour on the wii fit and burnt 200 calories doing step - heart rate up to 158bpm, so not a total cop out.  Then I've made a very healthy low calorie soup to have for dinner this evening.  2 x carrots, 1 x potato, 1 x butternut squash, pinch of chili, cumin and paprika plus rosemary and bay leaves from my garden (and I did get very very wet just picking those!)

Roll on tea time when the kids are home from school and we can tuck in.

Have you ever played the classroom game

Unfortunately.... Fortunately...

That's how my usual lunchtime wander went today!

Unfortunately... I woke up with a very stiff back
Fortunately... it was a bit better by lunchtime so I could go out
Unfortunately... the local comp must have been on a sponsored walk or something as the streets were crawling with teenagers
Fortunately... I knew another way I could go
Unfortunately... this took me past the local chipshop which made me feel hungry
Fortunately... I didn't have any money with me
Unfortunately... this made me want to cry
Fortunately... I am good at lying to myself and told myself that fruit salad would be a much better lunch

Unfortunately... that was a lie and after a mile and a half walk / running I really really wish I had a quid for a chip butty

Still it's Friday and I'm having green fish thai curry tonight so I'll treat myself to an extra chapatti for being good at lunchtime :)