Friday Five: Fitness Ways to Pay it Forward in 2014

I haven’t made resolutions – [heck, I didn’t even do a proper 2013 wrap up so how could I handle resolutions?!] – but I have decided something about the new year: I’m going to pay it forward in 2014. So for today’s Friday Five linkup with Courtney from Eat Pray Run, DC and Mar from Mar on the Run, I’m sharing Five Ways to Pay it Forward in 2014.

1. Volunteer at a race. I haven’t done much volunteering recently since my crazy schedule doesn’t leave me with a lot of “extra” time. If I’m out on a weekend morning instead of with my kids, it’s usually to do my own workout or a race. Since I’m benched from running because of surgery recovery, I decided to start the new year off right by volunteering at a New Year’s Day 5K. I figured if I can’t run during my recovery from surgery, I could give my time and be around a race again since I miss running so much.

So at 7:30am on January 1, instant coffee in hand (ick), off I went in the freezing cold to volunteer.

I worked registration, which was really fun. I liked seeing all the runners coming in excited for the race, bundled up in cold-weather running gear.

Before I knew it, the speedy runners were finished with the 5K and I helped with the drink table (picture in the graphic above), and then helped with cleanup. I hope to volunteer at other races this year, and I think my daughter would also enjoy helping at some of these volunteer opportunities.

2. Donate old running shoes and clothes. If you’re like me and never bother to get rid of the old running shoes piling up in the closet, consider donating them! Many local running stores have shoe donation programs, and there are a few other online resources such as Soles4Souls and KindRunner that have different philosophies and methods. There are also local shelters and other common donation points for shoes and clothes. A shoe that may not be ideal for you to run a marathon in might still be an excellent piece of footwear for someone else.

3. Encourage youth to participate. I don’t know about you, but I love seeing my daughter’s face when she accomplishes something physical that she didn’t think she could do. She’s been playing soccer and is enjoying the running aspect of practices and games. Now she can ride her bike without training wheels, so she’s been talking about trying a kids’ fun run or youth duathlon. Another great way to encourage youth is by volunteering with Girls on the Run or another youth running organization.

4. Run a race for charity or donate! I ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 2007 for the Organization for Autism Research, and there are so many great and worthy causes. Sure, you can pay the straight race registration fee and run a race, but doing it through Team in Training or in support of another charitable organization is a wonderful way to make a difference through fitness. And if you have friends running for charity – support them!

5. Connect and share. I know, runners and triathletes are competitive by nature, but there is also a huge bonus to this endeavor that is connecting with others, including helping new runners. Introduce yourself to a new person at a group run, welcome someone on the outskirts of a crowd, make others feel invited and welcome! Finding people with similar interests and passions as you is a great thing about the fitness community, and making newcomers feel welcome can spread your love of running and triathlon to others and give them the drive to stay active. And share what you know – your tips, your knowledge about running routes, and what works for you.

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Speaking of connecting and sharing, on New Year’s Eve I had an awesome coffee/lunch with my two DC Trifecta linkup buddies Courtney and Mar! I’ve met Courtney a couple of times, but it was the first time I had met Mar!

Link up your Friday Five with us today here –

Next week, we’re going to have a themed Friday Five, so start thinking now on this topic: Your Five Favorite Motivational Sayings or Mantras, and link up with us to share the things that keep you going during a long run or a hard workout.

How can you pay it forward in 2014? Give me more ideas in the comments below!

Friday Five: What Was New in 2013

Merry Christmas from my silly kids to you!

And if you don’t celebrate Christmas, General-Good-Vibes at this time of year!

Not pictured above is my youngest who is sick this week. If you saw my brief “Stay Tuned” post earlier today that I posted from my phone, you’ll see why I’m a bit late getting my Friday Five post up this week. In short: after 10 hours in the ER last night, he was admitted to the hospital. He has a touch of pneumonia and respiratory distress – coughing, wheezing, chest retracting when he’s breathing. He’s going to be okay, he always has breathing issues when he gets sick, but it was pretty bad and they almost transferred us somewhere with a pediatric ICU. I think he’s improving a bit but he’s still on the nebulizer every 2 hours in the hospital.

The poor little guy didn’t even notice what Santa brought this year.

Anyhow, the linkup with Courtney at Eat Pray Run, DC and Mar at Mar on the Run continues on into 2014 so please link up below and check out the other blogs!

I thought I’d highlight five new things I did or tried in 2013 that were new.

1. Travel to new places. In January-February, I had a work trip to Europe, which included some new places for me. And I thought I’d share the weirdest thing I saw on the trip at the toy museum in Nuremberg.

The trip also included Muscat, Oman. That was fascinating. This is in the marketplace:

In June, my husband and I went to a wedding in Switzerland, then some sightseeing in Lugano, Milan, Verona, and Venice. Here’s another oddity for you:

2. Making new discoveries. In 2013, I started blogging, and it’s brought me new sources of inspiration, motivation, and connections with other people who share similar interests. Well, maybe for some of us it would qualify as an obsession rather than an interest.

3. Reaching new goals. I don’t need to say much here, but 2013 was the year I finally achieved my goal of doing a triathlon. I also keep realizing that I never posted my real race recap, so I’m going to try to do that before the weekend is over, because registration for the local Iron Girl races opens up next week!

4. Buying new clothes. Okay, this is kind of silly but when you lose 30+ pounds, nothing fits anymore. I have been piecing together a new wardrobe and just got my first box from Stitch Fix*, which was tons of fun. I read blog reviews of the box-o-clothes service before trying it out, so maybe I’ll post my own review even though this is hardly a fashion blog. Maybe it would be considered the opposite of a fashion blog… but anyhow, here’s a sneak peek of a sweater I kept.

I’ve also been having fun buying new workout clothes, some of which I am wearing in my weight loss “after” photos.

5. Finding new ways to balance. Throughout this year I’ve found ways to fit in exercise and training into my crazy life. One thing that has helped is to have an au pair live with us – no more racing around getting kids ready, fed, and out the door to daycare and school. I truly think that this has helped enable me to switch my workouts to mornings (most of the time), and to stay sane at home.

Link up your Friday Five here!

What are some new things that you did or learned in 2013?

*To be out in the open – the link I posted to Stitch Fix contains a referral code, I’d get a referral credit if you signed up through my link. I’m in no way affiliated with them, I ordered the box on my own dime and gave another blogger a referral credit through my order. Feel free to use my link and give me a credit or just go through the main website. I can post a whole review of what I got in my box if people are curious!

Friday Five: Day in the Life Reprise

Today it’s a double-whammy, a two-fer, double linkup trouble. It’s Friday so it’s my regular linkup with Courtney from Eat Pray Run, DC and Mar from Mar on the Run with a Friday Five. But there’s also a bonus because I’m doing a Day in the Life theme. In September, Jill and Angela hosted a Day in the Life linkup – bloggers wrote a post about a day in their life and linked up with each other. It was fun to see what other people’s days were like. I wrote one that you can find here. They announced another Day in the Life theme for today, and since I really enjoyed the first one, I decided to do a hybrid Friday Five/Day in the Life!

INTRO: I chronicled Thursday/yesterday, my first day back at work since having surgery two weeks ago. And like a typical over-doer, I worked a 13-hour day. Real smart, Cynthia. I’ve been in my bed all or part of every day for two weeks and today I went and worked the full workday plus a concert in the evening. Dumb. I figured I’d be sitting at my desk or in meetings all day, and then I’d start the concert and go back to sitting. Ha-HA! – the universe played a trick on me! You’ll see if you read on…

So today I give you Five Moments In My Thursday!

1. WAKEY WAKEY!

The alarm sounded at 7am. After two weeks of sleeping in, I was so un-awake that I washed my hair with shampoo and then conditioned it with body wash. Um, that took a while to wash out! I spent extra time on my hair since the body wash made the texture super weird.

I fed the kids, and our au pair walked my daughter to school with the boys in tow. Bye, kids, have a great day!

2. OFF TO WORK!

My wonderful dad drove to me to work. Thanks, Dad!

I commute into DC every day and I’m lucky that I get to see the Washington Monument daily on my drive. It’s out of its scaffolding but this truck blocked your lovely picture.

3. THE WORK DAY!

I sat at my desk, I sat in meetings. I was overwhelmed with catching up on work after two weeks off.

I brought leftover Thai food for lunch, which tasted way better than its first appearance as mediocre restaurant food yesterday. Maybe it just needed to mellow and blend a bit in its flavor. It wasn’t a lot so I had apples to go with it.

I tried and tried to resist temptation from holiday chocolates that were literally everywhere in the office. And I succeeded.

Confession: I succeeded with those chocolates, but we won’t talk about the caramel popcorn and holiday cookie…

I did minor surgery on my stapler using a letter opener and pliers. This could have ended very, very badly.

But thankfully it was a success – I fixed it.

4. THE CONCERT!

I figured I’d sit at my desk all day, then go backstage and start the concert, then sit down once it started. The universe decided that I should be taught a lesson and jinxed me for saying it was going to be an “easy” night for my first day back.

Why? A bomb threat at the Swedish Embassy meant that many roads were closed in DC and it was nearly impossible for people to get to the concert.

Lots of running around and coordinating. Not much sitting. It was crazy.

5. GOODNIGHT!

Thank goodness my dad was driving me home, because I was toast by the end of the concert. I got home at 11pm and poured wine immediately (yes, into a jelly jar).

And practically fell asleep in my clothes.

I got into bed with my wine, laptop, heating pad, and the aforementioned pillow pet (I think I’ll name him/her Buggy).

I’m going to try to scale back today and not overdo it. And maybe, just maybe, I will wear comfy pants instead of a suit to work today.

So link up your Friday Five here:

Friday Five Linkup with Eat Pray Run, DC and Mar on the Run!

Or head on over to Jill or Angela’s blogs to link up your Day in the Life!

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Tell me about your day!

Friday Five: Holiday Fit Tips

A Friday Five today linking up with my DC Trifecta friends Courtney at Eat Pray Run, DC and Mar at Mar on the Run.

Today we are coordinating with a theme – Five Holiday Fit Tips. We didn’t share our tips with each other in advance, so I’m going to hop on over to their blogs right now to see what pearls of wisdom they’re giving out!

Here are my tips!

1. Keep your eyes on the prize.

I enjoy holiday parties and treats, and let’s be honest – in the past I enjoyed them a little too much. I’ve just lost 34 pounds and I don’t want to have to re-lose the same pounds again – believe me, I have a lot of experience losing and gaining the same pounds over and over – it’s an exhausting cycle. So take this advice from my own personal experience – stay focused. Stay focused on what’s important to your fitness goals as you attend holiday parties with chocolate fountains, receive baked goods wrapped in red and green cellophane, and bake more cookies than one Santa can eat.

This year, I’m looking ahead towards 2014 and I have goals. I don’t have to make it a New Year’s Resolution to get in shape – I’ve done it and it’s a way of life now, not a “resolution”. So if I let myself get distracted by all the shiny bows on the boxes of truffles that are in the office kitchen, or nosh mindlessly on baked goods, I’ll regret it. I want to start 2014 from where I am right now in terms of my fitness and health.

The holiday season isn’t my free pass to eating whatever I want for three weeks – I’m planning to live my life the way I’ve lived it the rest of the year – healthy eating overall with a dash of fun treats and a splash of red wine. (Okay, maybe more than a splash of that wine…)

Stay focused, think longer-term, and don’t undo all your hard work from 2013!

2. Choose your position wisely.

I mentioned noshing mindlessly in #1 so I’ll let you in on a little secret: I have a problem. It’s called mindless grabbing at things and putting them in my mouth. If I’m standing next to a bowl of snacks at a party, I will eat them without really thinking about it. And I will keep eating them as long as I am standing there.

A strategy that I’ve employed lately is to MOVE!

Don’t stand there. Don’t sit there. It dawned on me that my shoes are not glued to the ground right next to the food table.

My tip: go deliberately to the food table, get a small plate, and fill it with things YOU choose. But don’t blow a million calories on mediocre dips slathered over salty chips just because you are standing next to them all night. It’s a waste.

And if you don’t have this problem and are wondering WHY someone would even need this tip – let’s just say that I am jealous.

3. Maintain a fitness routine.

Stay active – you can do it! It’s December, it’s on the actual calendar, this month has not fallen into a black hole that doesn’t exist on your workout schedule. Get it done however you can – and you will feel better for it.

But hey, I’m sneaky – I said maintain “a” fitness routine, not maintain “your” fitness routine. Didja catch that? If you need to scale back once in a while because you are overloaded during the holidays, or up late assembling plastic toys to create the magic of Christmas for your little ones, do it. Don’t crack from the pressure you’ve put on yourself or unrealistic expectations. Do what YOU can handle. Just keep up your fitness – you will be so glad that you maintained a regular base and routine that you can pick up and fly with after the holidays.

I can only speak for myself, but I make much better food choices when I’ve had a morning workout – the rest of the day just clicks – I crave healthier things and will easily choose a salad over a bowl of my kids’ mac & cheese when I’ve had a great workout. So get it done and out of the way early on if you can.

4. Lick the spoon and don’t feel guilty.

I don’t mean eat 7 cookie batter blobs of dough off the cookie sheet while the oven preheats (not that I’ve done that or anything…), but licking the spoon is not a reason to stress and freak out. If I deprive myself of everything during the holidays, I will go nuts one day and Eat.All.The.Cookies.

So I will maintain a healthy diet and sometimes, I will lick the spoon or eat a cookie. And I will enjoy that cookie. But I won’t eat a cookie every day, and I won’t eat 10 cookies at a time.

5. Balance. 

At this time of year, you’re going to read people with more credentials than I have dishing out advice on ways to find balance. This elusive thing, this magical word: Balance.

I’m not an expert, I’m just me. And I can’t tell YOU how you will find YOUR balance during the holidays. But I can tell you how I will try to find MY balance during the holidays, therefore staying fit in the soul:

I will look into my kids’ eyes. Really look.

I will listen to my siblings’ words. Really listen.

I will notice the tiny nuances of nature and think about their amazingness.

I go to a concert, disconnect from my gadgets, and focus on it.

I will breathe. I will breathe. I will breathe.

The holidays can be a stressful, busy time – so I wish you all health and happiness!

Link up your Friday Five here – and be sure to visit the other blogs in the linkup and leave them a comment!

And remember there is still time to enter my Knuckle Lights Giveaway 

as part of the big Holiday Giveaway Blog Hop!

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What are your strategies for finding balance? Share your tips in the comments!

Friday Five: December Randomness

It’s Friday, which means another linkup with my friends Courtney at Eat Pray Run, DC and Mar at Mar on the Run. And YOU! So many of you are linking up with us, we love it! It’s really fun to discover new blogs and read your Friday Fives. I just may be becoming addicted to this linkup concept.

My Friday Five this week is random this week:

1. Apologies – First, I have to apologize for not keeping up with your comments here and visiting your blogs from the linkups over the past week. I mentioned in Tuesday’s Weekend Workout post that I was having a medical procedure that day, and I was pretty wrapped up in research and getting ready and fell behind. And since I’ve been in the hospital and recovering from the surgery I have been kind of out of it, but I’m back at home and on the upswing now. I’m catching up on your comments and posts now!

2. Elf On The Shelf – Does anyone else have one of these little guys?

My kids love their Elf, whom they named Magical Mitchell. Last year was his first appearance and they went nuts each morning looking for him. We didn’t make a huge deal out of the “he’s watching you and reporting back to Santa in a creepy sort of way” – it was basically just a treasure hunt every day to find the Elf. Some parents do an elaborate scene that involves the elf getting into mischief each night, making a huge mess that then they have to clean up, but ours has never “done” anything. I can’t put more pressure on myself at this time of year and produce holiday dramatics that raises the bar for subsequent years. So we go simple. But I may have him do a few fun things this year – I’m thinking of fitness-related scenes for our Elf and would love a fun idea if you have one.

3. Cuteness – You must head over to my Instagram for a bundle of cuteness. My youngest, who turns 2 next week, told his first joke. He’s been in speech therapy and had a very limited vocabulary until recently. Suddenly, he’s interactive. He doesn’t quite have the timing down on this joke, but we loved it! Here is the link. I’ll even attempt to embed the video and hope this works:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Cynthia Steele (@yousignedupforwhat)

4. Cards Against Humanity – We played this on Friday night with our friends, and it was hilarious. You need the right crowd because the cards aren’t exactly “clean”. It reminded me that before kids ruined our social lives (I’m joking… or am I?), we used to have a monthly board game night with friends that was a lot of fun. We may need to start that back up!

5. Smoothies – we’re getting obsessed with smoothies in my house. While I’m at work, my husband, au pair, and kids often make smoothies in the afternoon and I miss out on the deliciousness. So I got a few goodies to make a green smoothie for myself the other day – greek yogurt, a banana, frozen mango chunks, and spinach. My kids loved this smoothie and I wouldn’t tell them what was in it until they finished it, begging for more. After they polished it off, I told them it had spinach in it. It still got two thumbs up.

Link up your Friday Five here! 

What’s your most memorable knock knock joke?

Have you played Cards Against Humanity? What’s your favorite board game?

Friday Five: Triathlon Blogs To Love

It’s Black Friday – who’s shopping? I’m posting this a bit later than usual since I woke up late, and by now you all know my mornings are crazy with the kids and getting ready for work. Yes, I’m working today – no rest in the performing arts! I drafted this Friday Five in advance, but since I went out to see Catching Fire on last night (a late night movie is a Thanksgiving tradition with my siblings!), I didn’t get my post finalized. I’m obsessed with proofreading one more time before posting.

I went thematic with my friends Courtney at Eat Pray Run, DC and Mar at Mar on the Run again this week. We thought with the long holiday weekend (assuming you don’t work in my office) and the chilly winter temps, you might have extra time to snuggle up with your laptop and check out some new blogs for inspiration.  Me, Courtney, and Mar already link up with each other, and I hope you’re following along on their running journeys while you follow mine. I also highlighted my six word contribution on Coach Daddy earlier this week, and of course today is Friday so you can check out his Go Ask Daddy segment I told you about!

But for today, I have to narrow it to five specific blogs that I find inspiring. Since you may already be familiar with a lot of running blogs and variety is the spice of life, I thought i’d link up five triathlon blogs that I’ve enjoyed and found inspiring during this time.  It’s hard to believe it’s been exactly 8 months since I received the registration email on March 28 that said:

Thank you for your payment!
Your payment details: Event: Iron Girl Rocky Gap Triathlon 2013

So here are five blogs I have enjoyed the past 8 months during my triathlon adventures:

1. Swim Bike Mom – I have to start with this one. Meredith’s blog was a huge inspiration to me when I signed up for my first triathlon, and continues to be as I train for future races and simply try to balance my life. I started out reading along thinking – “it’s me!”,  “if she can do this, I can do this!” and “I have small kids and a busy job too!” I bought her book and read it cover to cover. So much of what she writes really resonates with me as a working mom with little kids who is trying to achieve personal goals (no matter how big or how small).

2. Racing Tales – Alison is a rock star runner and triathlete. She has a spot on Team USA for the ITU World Championship in 2014 and I can’t wait to read all about it. Her focus and skill in running and in triathlon is totally motivating as I continue to get fitter and faster.

3. Chatter Gets Fit – Chatter is incredible – he’s gone from couch potato to triathlete in a short time and lost a lot of weight. He’s incredibly disciplined and detailed about it and has totally changed his life around. I love reading about his training and races.

4. The Water Blogged Triathlete – I am someone who has a background in swimming, but nothing like these swimmers – It’s three swimmers who met on a collegiate swim team. You can write in to ask your swimming questions. I won their spiral-bound book in a contest and love it! I love this blog and it’s amazing information about all things swimming.

5. Wornout Soles – She’s training for an Ironman after doing her first half Ironman distance race (known as a 70.3). I was totally inspired by her training as I moved along in mine this year, and I’m following her Ironman training.

I hope you check them out and subscribe, or add them to your blog reader. I also encourage you to click on the other blogs of people who comment here, if you don’t already. There are some really great blogs out there – and I could only pick five for this post! Also, feel comfortable to comment yourself on blogs when you read, even if you don’t have a blog yourself – bloggers love interaction! While I may talk to myself at home and in my car (I said may), on the blog I love a two-way dialogue!

Check out the other Friday Fives at the linkup:

What are your favorite blogs? Tell me in the comments!

Has something you’ve read lately inspired you? Link it up in the comments!

Friday Five: Thankful

Another Friday, another Friday Five. It’s now tradition like pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving (don’t tell me you don’t like pumpkin pie…). I’m linking up again with my DC Trifecta friends Mar/Mar on the Run and Courtney/Eat Pray Run DC, and we’ve gone thematic today with an appropriately Thanksgivingish theme for the last Friday before the lovely holiday: Thankfulness.

Grab the link up badge!

It’s that time of year where we all think about what we are thankful for, and I’m feeling more sentimental than usual lately. There’s so much to appreciate in this world and in this life, and I genuinely hope that each and every one of you has a positive and meaningful Thanksgiving.

My Thankful Five:

1. Heart

The owners of these little blonde heads steal my heart. I am in awe of them and thankful for them each and every day.

2. Soul

My soul feeds on music. I am thankful for all of the meaningful ways that my soul is fulfilled by working in the performing arts. I have the privilege to hear the most amazing live music being created every day at my workplace, and to do a small part to help make it happen is truly a special thing.

3. Mind

I value being challenged and am thankful for all the opportunities for education. Not just school education, but the ability to continually learn throughout our lives and expand our minds. In this way, the internet is amazing – there is information at our fingertips and we are readily connected with others who can expand our exposure to new and different ideas.

4. Body

To have the ability to challenge myself and stretch the limits of what my body can do – this is amazing. I am thankful for health and fitness and the energy to continually strive towards new goals.

5. Community

My life is enriched by my communities – my wonderful neighbors, family, and my friends. Near and far, old and new, I am thankful for all of them. In addition to my in-person friends, my online communities have been an incredible source of fulfillment for me throughout the years. I’ve been a part of a small online forum for years that has provided me with wonderful friends who have shared my joys, sorrows, shared advice, and just simply been there to chat.

I have met so many amazing people through running and triathlon – these two overlapping groups are incredibly positive and exciting. Since starting this blog, I’ve connected with so many people and been inspired in new ways by their blogs and by all of your comments here on mine.

To be a part of the amazing group of Girls Gone Sporty Ambassadors has brought me new friendships.  And this week I was welcomed as a Sweat Pink Ambassador, which is exciting and fun.

I am thankful for the wonderful people brought into my life through all of these areas.

So there you have it – five drippy, sappy thankful things. Can I go back to being sarcastic and joking now?

Link up your Friday Five post here, or just check out the other posts and chime in with a comment!

What are you thankful for?

Where do you find meaningful support and inspiration?

Friday Five: Futsal What?

Another Friday Five with a link-up with my fellow DC Trifecta – Eat Pray Run DC and Mar on the Run. We’re getting fancy with our grabbable badge (I take no credit):

Grab the link up badge!

Link up your Friday Five here:

Today I’m going with five sports-ish-themed things:

1. Futsal. I know what you’re thinking: “What the heck is futsal??” That’s what I thought when the subject of my daughter’s soccer team playing futsal through the winter came up. I had never heard of it until last week. It looks like soccer indoors on a basketball court. Okay, okay, I know there are more differences than that, I’ve done the required reading of the rules. The girls are excited to keep playing together, so we’re going to give it a try, and hope they have fun.

2. Hockey. In our house, hockey is king. Hockey rules. There is always hockey on the TV and the kids say “hah-hee” before they can say “futsal”. 

Yeah, yeah, they’ve never said futsal until this week – but you get the point.

My husband plays on a recreational hockey league, and my middle child is an obsessed hockey fan. His obsession has never waned or faltered since about age 1 – it’s been steady and he’s extremely passionate about it. Do you ever wonder what kids are thinking when they look deep in thought, or they’re in that moment of just-falling-asleep? There’s no wonder with him, it’s hockey. Just as he is drifting off to sleep, he will say, in a dreamlike voice: “mom, why don’t the refs wear gloves?”

We used to have Caps season tickets, but canceled last season during the NHL lockout. K is a Penguins fan like his dad, and I’m a Capitals fan, so we have a big rivalry in this house. Next week our two teams play each other – so it is ON!

3. Biking. For Kids. My mission this weekend is to get my 4 year old son to ride his bike. He just won’t do it. Santa  gave him a balance bike 2 years ago (one of the pedal-less bikes to promote balance and avoid training wheels) and he does.not.like.it. We’ve watched videos of kids having fun on balance bikes, we’ve talked about it, he seems excited about it, but then he just won’t do it. I might buy him a bike with training wheels if this fear of the balance bike goes on any longer.

He does love this Plasma Car, though – I got it by saving those codes on the Pampers diapers and wipes. We have races in our back alley – me on his scooter or pushing his brother in the stroller vs. him on the Plasma Car.

4. Weight Lifting. Well, not really weight lifting – more like me with hand weights in the basement doing exercise videos this morning. It was pretty challenging because the 4-year-old jumped around the entire time. He had his own pretend weight, and even did plank-style pushups with me.

Don’t let his calm demeanor fool you – he was a maniac during the workout.

5. Bingo. Yeah, I said it – Bingo. I like bingo. You’re right – bingo isn’t a sport, I’m stretching it here. Thursday night was the annual Bingo Night at my daughter’s elementary school, and it was super fun! We didn’t win anything but we can totally see how people get into bingo regularly. The suspense, the challenge of the… randomness and luck. So fine, there’s no skill involved except listening and patience. But it was a good time.

So link up your Friday Five and let me know what’s on your mind!

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What sports do you watch? 

Have you ever heard of – or played – futsal?

Friday Five: Low Heart Rate, Low Weight, and Low Tires

It’s Friday! Let’s all jump up and down with excitement. Wait, nobody else is jumping up and down? Just me? Okay then. I’ve had the fun of linking up with Courtney from Eat Pray Run DC and Mar from Mar on the Run the past few Fridays, and we’re going to keep going with it – so if you do a Friday Five of some variety, link on up!

You can link up here:

They are both super coordinated and have posts up with tips about Racecations and out of town race necessities. I’m totally random again this week, but my sort-of theme is LOW.

1. Low Heart Rate = Low Intensity Exercise. This is a big #1 today, and I will write about it in its own post when I know more. But basically the deal is that I’ve been mandated to only do low-impact, low-intensity exercise this week, no more than 25-30 minutes at a time. It came to my attention that I had a very low heart rate during a recent blood pressure check, and I was urged to see my doctor. So I did, and it was still low. I had blood work and a thyroid ultrasound this week – all came out normal. So I am to see a cardiologist on Monday to be evaluated. This is fairly new for me – a scan of previous heart rates were all in the normal (60+) range. It’s in the 40’s. I know athletes can have lower heart rates so hopefully it’s just because I’ve gotten in such great shape in the past several months, lost a bunch of weight, and my body is healthy. Let’s hope for that!

But what it means is I haven’t been running, been on the new bike trainer, or done anything at all since the weekend. I meant to do yoga or walking, but have been having trouble getting motivated for low intensity exercise with everything else I have going on.

2. Whole30 Is Done! – I finished up the Whole30 this week, and have been re-introducing foods into my diet. I found it hard to be so restrictive while on Whole30, but I’m hoping to keep the clean, fresh eating principles as the basis for my diet, but not have to stress about having added oils, butter, and other things that are prohibited any more. I will write a wrap up of the experience with my favorite go-tos for being busy and on Whole30. So far, no issues re-introing foods, unless a migraine on Wednesday was related to something I ate, but I’m doing this slowly and with wholesome foods (homemade bread to reintroduce grains, for example). Except for one croissant at work yesterday, which totally wasn’t worth it. A good lesson in and of itself.

3. Low Scale Number – It is truly a thrill to have the middle number on the scale go down. On Saturday, I found my weight had a “3” in the middle. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a “3” there in my entire adult life (maybe in high school or college?). I know that the scale isn’t the whole picture on health and fitness, but it sure was nice to see all my hard work exercise and diet-wise reflected. My goal weight was 147, then 145, and I’ve surpassed it – and I feel pretty fit and healthy, too.

4. Au Pair Search – Our wonderful au pair’s year will be over at the end of February, so we’ve been searching for another. So in addition to doctor’s appointments, work, and the kids, in my “spare time” I’ve been searching for a new au pair. We hope to have someone matched with us soon, who will arrive at the end of February. If anyone has questions about the Au Pair program, let me know!

5. Flat Tire (the extreme LOW!) – As I left work last night, I joked around with a coworker about my 4-year-old’s challenging bedtimes and how although I love spending time with the kids when I get home (of course!), I am never looking forward to that particular part of the evening. He joked that I should drive super slowly home and maybe I’d miss it. Well, I drove away from work, and as I was turning left at the Exorcist Stairs by Georgetown, this happened:

Be careful what you “wish” for (although it was all joking in good fun) – I was sitting on the side of the road with the completely flat tire during the kids’ bedtimes!

Today I’ll go to my usual lunchtime Pilates class, AFTER I get a new tire on the car!

Have you ever had a flat tire? 

What are your weekend plans?

Any tips for someone on a low intensity exercise mandate?

Friday Five: The End of Whole30

Another fun Friday Five link-up with my fellow DC Trifecta bloggers, Courtney from Eat Pray Run DC and Mar from Mar on the Run. Check out their Friday Five posts and link up your own here:

My Friday Five is pretty random this week!

1. Whole30. Today is Day 27 of the Whole30 challenge. I have learned so much during this month and it’s been a great tool for breaking my bad habits, most notably the mindless grabbing of treats in the office kitchen. I have to admit, I’ve been struggling since Saturday. I’m mentally “done” with being so restrictive, although I want to finish it out and do the whole 30 days. But it’s been a great experience, despite my burn-out during the last week. I highly recommend it if you are trying to identify how food groups are affecting your body, eliminate sugar cravings, break bad habits, or simply eat healthier.  I’ll do a wrap-up of the experience soon.

Incidentally, having the Whole30 coincide with Halloween was perfect – no temptation for digging through the kids’ candy bags!

2. Running With Friends. As I mentioned, my coworker and I scheduled “Running” in our work calendars as if it were a meeting – we were committed. I had been dealing with fatigue and sluggishness for a few days and having someone counting on me was just what I needed! We ran 3 miles in DC on a gorgeous day, and our pace was pretty good, with a sprint to the finish.

Mile 1 = 9:11 / Mile 2 = 9:12 / Mile 3 = 9:09

Then it was back to the office for the end of the workday and the commute home.

3. Barre. I took another barre class at Barre3 on Wednesday, it had been a few weeks! I’m nearing the end of the package I bought and love the workouts so I might re-up for another package. It can be pretty addictive since it’s a great full-body and core workout.

4. Halloween. Our first Halloween managing food allergies was made easier by the food-allergic child being too young to care about knocking on doors. He was content to ride in the stroller or toddle along the sidewalk in his monkey costume, shouting his version of “trick or treat!’ without knowing what it meant. We’re learning techniques on managing Halloween with food allergies, and gave out entirely peanut and tree nut safe candy. He is also sunflower-allergic but since he doesn’t yet eat candy we didn’t stress too much about that.

5. I saw Sister Act on Wednesday night at the Kennedy Center with my parents and au pair. Apparently she used to watch the movie all the time in France – I had no idea it had such popularity there! The show was really well done and lots of fun! I love musicals and grew up attending them regularly with my family. Going to the show with my parents brought back tons of great memories of shows in New York and also closer to home.

One more thing – it’s the last chance to enter my Energybits giveaway – go check it out!

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What’s your favorite musical?

Do you have a Halloween tradition?