"And a house on a piece of land, we'll plant some roots and some apple trees. Hey pretty girl lets build some dreams..."

Man, I'm loving this song right now by Kip Moore! Especially this line because I feel like it perfectly describes the season of life Mark and I are in - the season of building dreams and planting roots. And actually, it described us literally last week in terms of planting roots, not the apple tree kind of roots but some tree roots none the less!

In my last post I talked about how Mark and I went shopping for trees for our backyard and last weekend we went and brought home 9 pretty trees to line our back fence. We spent what was probably the last warm Saturday of the season cleaning up the backyard and planting trees with the help of my dad and brother.

This is the fence that runs along our back yard. Our yard is more long than deep so we had a good expanse to fill in to help give us some privacy. The trees in the picture below are our baby "Dahoons"... they got dropped off first that morning...

If I ever start to complain, can somebody please just slap me? Okay, maybe slapping is a bit violent, maybe you could just gently remind me of days like yesterday??? I'd sure appreciate it, because I really have no right to grumble...

This fall I only have to work until noon on Fridays, (most Fridays I end up getting off at 11 really...) and Mark has every other Friday off. That means every other Friday we get to spend the afternoon together. Yesterday we soaked up every minute of our afternoon together by doing a lot of planning and dream building for our house.




After I got off work we headed out to a nearby nursery to check out some trees for our back yard. We can pretty much see right into our neighbors backyard from our deck (and they can see us) so we're looking to get some privacy hedges/trees to put in along the fence this fall. Not that we have anything against them, its just... umm.... awkward sometimes.



After we left the nursery we stopped at one of our favorite local spots,  Bergey's Bread Basket, to get some delicious, home-made, soft serve ice cream. (That was a lot of comma's!)

Since we've returned from our Europe adventure I've been trying to decide what to do with all of our little mementos from the trip. You know like the airport boarding passes, the tour tickets, the left over coins... all those things you normally put in a scrap book? I used to love to scrapbook, but it's a little too time consuming and creatively challenging for me these days, so when I found this pin on Pinterest, I thought it as perfect!

Here's how I completed the project and made it my own. :)






 '

I took a rest from my long runs this weekend for a couple of reasons. One, I have to switch my long run days from Friday mornings to Wednesday mornings because of a change in my work schedule and Two, I knew my legs needed a rest! For the past 4 weeks I've increased my mileage by 2 miles a week, 10,12,14,16.... plus I've been adding more strength training for my legs and I could just tell they were getting fatigued. I was originally planning to do a 10 miler on Saturday and then 16 miles on Wednesday but when I woke up Saturday morning my legs felt heavy and tired before I even got out of bed! I knew it wouldn't be a good run and it was about time for a step back week anyways, so I'm just saving up some energy for a good long run on Wednesday : )

Monday - Labor Day - We went canoeing on the James river with family for Labor Day. We were out there for 4 hours, so I'm counting that as my workout today.

Tuesday - P90x Legs + Ab Ripper X

Wednesday - ACL Class

Thursday - 3 mile run with the Pipes.

Friday - P90x Chest and Shoulders + 300 Abs (an Ab workout from pinterest)



Saturday - 1 Mile quick run with the Pipe's in my new shoes!!! So excited that Sports Authority had all of their Asics on sale! My regular $115 shoes were only $69.98!

(I'm not affiliated with Sports Authority in anyway.)

Sunday - Rest, but I did take the pup for a walk this afternoon, it feels good just to get outside and move, even if it's a leisurely walk.

The first part of this next week will be pretty light as I rest and body prep for Wednesday's run. Still debating on whether it will be a 16 mile or 18 miler! But I'm glad I will have my new shoes to take with me :)

Mark and I were gone for the weekend visiting family for the last summer holiday so I'm a little behind putting up my workout schedule from last week. I have to say I'm in like with putting my workout schedules up on the blog here, It's keeping me accountable because it makes me think, Hey! I have to be able to say I did something! So here's what last week look liked on the exercise side of things.

Monday: ACL Class

Tuesday: 3 mile run

Wednesday: ACL class

Thursday: Rest (body prep for Friday's run - included lots of water and some carbs. My favorite pre-run dinner? 2 slices of cheese pizza and a couple of plain breadsticks.)

Friday: 16 mile run! And it was SO much better than last week's 14 miler. I know I said I was going to back it down this week and try 16 miles next week, but I knew my legs were feeling better than last week since I took Thursday off to rest and I didn't want to waste a good day on a shorter run! I did take my ipod with me which helped my motivation tremendously. And I decided to do 10 miles, make a pit stop at the house to grab a quick drink and some energy chews, and then left for the last 6. It made a huge difference I think! My 10 mile time: 1:40. 13.1 mile time: 2:14:40 (1/2 marathon split time!). 16 mile time: 2:49:37

My mantra during my run on Friday!

Saturday + Sunday: Vacation! I took my running gear with me, and probably should've gone for a run, but I was enjoying family and sleep just a little too much. (Priorities right? :))

My workout schedule was a little different this week. I started teaching an ACL injury prevention class at work on Monday and Wednesday nights, which focuses on strength and balance training, and plyometric and agility drills. Because of the class setting I get to work out along side of the high school girls I'm training and since I don't get home on those nights until about 8:30, those workouts have to count as my work out for the day!

Monday: ACL Class

Tuesday: p90x plyometrics. I actually got the husband to join in with me on this one! He was pretty sore the next day but was glad I talked him into doing it. : )

Wednesday: ACL Class

Thursday: 1 mile jog - I was meeting a friend for dinner and thats all I had time for!

Friday: 14 mile run! And it was miserable! I mean. I was struggling. I had to stop and walk twice for about 2-3 minutes each. Which I guess when you're out there for 2 1/2 hours total walking for less than 10 minutes out of that time isn't bad, but I'd prefer not to have to walk at all. My ipod has officially gone to the dogs. It didn't work for me again this week. 14 miles without music to help you stay motivated is extremely difficult. Not to mention my right leg had this awful feeling of being achy and heavy. It was something I hadn't experience before but after some stretching after mile 6 it seemed to help a bit. Anyways, I guess I'm making excuses for why it was so hard haha but I eventually finished it. I think next week I'll back down to a 9-10 mile run to give my legs a little bit of a break and then the following week try to complete a 16 miler. We'll see how I'm feeling. :)

Saturday: I'm resting today, thanks to my legs being so tired after yesterdays run plus I spent the rest of my day off yesterday doing yard so I think my legs are grateful for the rest today.

How were your workouts this week?

Did you do anything to change it up?

Its official!

I'm all set up to run my 2nd full Marathon in October! October 27th to be exact. :) It's the 38th annual Marine Corps Marathon in D.C. I am of course anxious about running another full, but this one will be totally different from the first because this time I am running for something/someone bigger than myself.

I have teamed up with the Non-Profit organization 25:40 to raise money while I train for the race. This charity is actually a ministry based on the Scripture Matthew 25:40 “Whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” It is run in South Africa, in the poverty stricken Eastern Cape, whose mission is help children survive the devastating disease of AID/HIV and poverty. When I decided to run the Marathon through a charity group I deliberated very carefully over the available groups to team up with. When I came across 25:40 it didn't take long before I chose them whole heartedly. You see, in 2004 I had the opportunity to visit South Africa on a Missions trip. I got an up close look at the poverty these children are living in. I held the children infected with HIV, I played with them and talked to them. I visited their homes in the squatter camps. These memories will be forever etched in my mind - South Africa will always have a special place in my heart. 

In order to run with 25:40 I have to raise $600. The money I raise will go specifically towards a young, 11 year old girl named Sikelele. Sikelele, whose name means "bless" is in 2nd grade and lives at home with her mother and younger sister. She has cerebral palsy and used to be ridiculed at the government run school because of her delayed speech and different gait. Thanks to 25:40 she now receives speech therapy regularly along with emotional and spiritual counseling and she is thriving in 24:50's after school care. I'm hoping the money I raise for her will continue to give her hope and a brighter future.

I am so excited to be able to use my passion for running to make a difference in someone else's life. I will not just be running for my own enjoyment but every step I take on October 27th will be in support of 25:40 and Sikelele. Hopefully it will provide motivation up and over the hills!

Hey!

I've been hard at work taking my sweet time changing up the look of the blog here! After Mark and I came back from lunch at my parents after church today, we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon just resting. : ) Since I'm not very good at actually sitting and doing nothing (I'm not even a great nap taker...) I thought I'd spend some time playing around on the blog. I had been wanting to change things up a bit but I didn't realize I'd spend the next 6 hours working on it.

Not 6 hours straight though...

I did take Piper for a short walk.

And chatted with my neighbor for a few minutes.

And Mark took me out for a quick dinner at Subway and an ice cream date at Sweet Frog.

Told you I wasn't very good at doing nothing...

But mostly I've been watching TV and working on the blog.

I must say I learned a lot about HTML and codes and the like. Most of it goes way over my head, so I guess I shouldn't say learned as much as followed tutorials. 

Hope you like some of the new look! I'm not finished, but it will probably always be a work in progress. : )

Hope you had a great weekend and have a good start to your week tomorrow!

-Meg

I've got to give credit to 2 of the blogs that had really helpful tutorials... especially for adding the pinterest action!

Bloggerial

Code it Pretty: A Pinterest Gadget for Blogger

Its so hard to get back in to a workout routine after vacation, isn't it?? It's way more tempting to sleep! Sleep feels so good on vacation you just want it to never end...

Good Morning Church!

Well lovely people, our Europe vacation is coming to an end.

Today we spent our time resting and packing for our trip home tomorrow.

Except for a short trip to the Cath Kidston outlet where I spent entirely too much money but I'm justifying it by telling myself that I got a lot of Christmas gifts out of the way... : ) If you've never heard of Cath Kidston, google it. I mean, if you like Vera Bradley, you won't be disappointed.

I can't say how blessed we are to have been able to travel this year. I always said growing up that I wanted to travel before I had kids and I can't believe I actually got to do it! I've seen a little part of the world and it wouldn't have been possible without my hard working husband, who figured out our finances so we could go, and my family for watching our crazy pup while were gone! It has been a trip that I'll carry with me forever. Not that I think God is good only when He gives blessings, but every good and perfect gift does come from Him, and this trip was a good gift.