17 days.

That’s it.

In 17 days we will be running for Jordyn.  After that, I’ll get all the shirts ordered and sent out as soon as is humanly possible.  But I want to talk about what happens after the race.  Because it’s what happens in 18 days that I don’t really want to think about.

In 18 days my friends are moving.  They’re moving at least five hours away to pursue a dream of theirs.  And it’s awesome.  And it sucks all at the same time.  I know I’ll talk to Bridget just as much if not more than I do now.  I know I’ll see them again sometime.  It’s just not going to be as convenient as living in the same town and working out at the same gym.

So in 17 days we have a chance to come together and say goodbye to this family.  You can come walk, run or crawl.  I don’t care how you do it, just get off you butt and do it.

And let’s see what kind of change we can make.

Yesterday’s workout sucked.  It was long.  I didn’t finish within the time limit.  And I am sore today.   I know it’s good when I’m sore, but some days I just don’t want to feel it.  I’d say I’m tired of walking funny, but that’s become my normal gait.  I’d say I’m tired, but I’m always tired, even when I don’t work out.  So really I’m just going to blame it on the workout.

It sucked.

It’s one of the WODs they’re doing at Regionals…which means for better athletes than me.  Or at least stronger.

100 Wallballs with a 15-lb ball
100 Pull-ups
100 Pistol (one-legged) squats
100 One-armed dumbbell snatches
With a 25-minute time limit

I got through 333 repetitions before time ran out, so I guess I should be happy with that.  But everything I did was either a lower weight or assisted except for the wallballs.

I’m at a stage of discontent with myself.  I feel like I should be able to be doing more.  But the really sucky part is that it’s my fault.  If I had stuck to the diet from the first time I started, I would be able to do a pull-up by now.  I know this mentally and I still grab a pint of Half Baked ice cream by two of my favorite men, Ben & Jerry.  It’s so frustrating.

So I’m going to quit whining now and just let you know this:

I knew the WOD was going to suck.  I knew that there would be no way I could finish.  But I went ahead and did my best.  And that counts for something in my book.

But have I mentioned I’m sore?

Quite honestly I’ve been sitting here for 30 minutes trying to figure out what to write, and that’s just at this time in front of the computer.  Let’s not even talk about this afternoon.

I’ll be back Thursday, but for now, just tell all your friends about the 5k and get them to sign up either online or at the gym.  Also, if you’re local in Fairfield, you can just sign up the day of the race!!  If you want to sign up online, go HERE!!!

Also, if you want a flyer to hang up at your workplace, get me your email address, and I’ll send it out to you!

I’ve been talking about Jordyn and her therapy, which is the reason we’re doing the 5k.  So I think it’s time you meet her.

See that smile?  That’s on her face just about every time I see her.  And when you pick her up?  She just snuggles and snuggles till both your hearts are content.  I think the only reason I ever put her down is because I have to go somewhere.

This little girl is pretty darn incredible.

I’ve seen her over the past year make developmental leaps and bounds due to the therapy she’s already received.  What we’re doing here is helping her be able to get more therapy to help her develop even more.

By clicking here to sign up for the 5k, you are doing an incredible thing.  You’re helping this beautiful little girl for the rest of her life.

Don’t you just want to kiss those cheeks?!

The top left shirt is the design for our 5k!  Do you love it?  I do.  The shirts are going to be soft and purple.  Jordyn loves soft things and her favorite color is purple.  Honestly, if I felt Jordyn wanted the moon, I’d try to get it for her, so a purple and soft shirt doesn’t seem like much, but it’s one thing we can do, so we’re going to do it.

I also wanted to let all of you local people know that we will be running June 8 at 7:00 a.m. three laps around the cemetery.  I’ll walk it to make sure we get that .1 mile in so we can record times, but I think that should get us over quickly and finished before it gets too hot.  I’ll have Gatorade and water waiting for you at the finish.  I’ll also have someone or a couple someones there to help me record your times if you wish to have them recorded.  Also, after it’s all over and we have the scores and times from the other gyms involved, I’ll post the times here for everyone to see how you compared.  You know, because I’m competitive, so everyone else should be, too.

So I need to know what kind of questions you have.  Also, don’t forget to sign up.  You can go to the countdown widget on my sidebar and sign up through there.  If you’ve already signed up at the gym, you don’t have to sign up here online, but definitely ask me if you have any questions!  If I don’t know the answer yet, I’ll figure it out!!!

So last night at 8:30 an insurance salesman came to my door.

8:30 guys.

I usually like surprises.  But if you’re a complete stranger and show up uninvited at my house at 8:30, I instantly don’t like you.  Let’s say, for instance, I lived in town with lots of neighbors, porch lights on, etc.  That would be a totally different story.

But I live alone.  Surrounded by fields and trees.  And no street lights.  And no close neighbors.

If a stranger shows up at my house at 8:30, they don’t deserve to get to talk to me.

Now, if someone needed help, that’s a different story.  I’ve had that happen several times.  But a salesman?  Oh, hell no.

Other surprises?  I’m okay with most of them.  Especially if they’re fun.  I like to have fun.

The surprise for you, though, is we have the 5k t-shirt design picked out.  I’ll be unveiling it next Tuesday so keep checking back!  You’re going to love it!

And don’t forget to sign up here for the 5k if you haven’t already!!

***If you haven’t already, sign up for the Run For Jordyn 5K by clicking here!

I’ve decided my weakest part of my body is my core.  Which is kind of ridiculous.  Core in its definition is this:

The central, innermost, or most essential part of anything.

So if my core is my weakest part of me, just sitting here thinking about how it is affecting every other part of my workouts just makes me angry.  I should have worked on this sooner.

But this month, starting May 1, I will be doing a series of exercises every day, with the exception of a couple of rest days a week.  This is actually coming at an awesome time.  Yesterday morning we did the workout “Annie,” which consists of 50-40-30-20-10 of double unders and sit-ups.  My sit-ups take me for freaking ever.  Seriously.  It’s ridiculous.

The good part about it is the last time we did the workout was in December of 2011 and it took me just under 25 minutes.  Yesterday it took me 14:35.  Over the last year and few months, I was able to take 10 minutes off of my time.  I’m hoping to do the workout again at the end of May/first of June just to measure what an added intense core workout will do for it.

I’m actually pretty excited about it.  Once I finish, I’ll post my final numbers, etc, to let you know if I lost inches, lost minutes, etc.  Once we see how it goes with me, I think I’m going to issue a challenge for my birthday month of June…tentatively.

And don’t forget to sign up for the 5k!  You’re going to have a blast.  Because, really, who doesn’t love a good 3-mile jog.

Man, I love it when we do some of the same workouts.  I love being able to gauge my new fitness level to my old fitness level.

Yesterday we did a workout that we had last done on December 20, 2011.  This is right about the time, maybe a month in, that I had started doing CrossFit.  The workout consisted of one movement.  Sounds pretty easy until you hear that you have to do that one movement 75 times…AND that it’s probably one of the most difficult movements in lifting.

75 Snatches at 55 lbs for women

The last time we did it, it took me 8:39 using a 35-lb bar.  That was it.  I could barely get 55 lbs over my head at that point.  Yesterday we did the same workout with a twist.  Every minute on the minute we had to do 5 burpees.  Have I mentioned I hate burpees?  Anyway, we started with the burpees and then for the rest of the minute did as many snatches as we could.  My goal was to get to 25 within the first two minutes, and then that way I could go between 3 and 7 for the rest of the time.  You know, the time I had zero energy left.

Anyway, I’m happy to report that going up 20 lbs in weight on the bar and adding 55 burpees into the mix that I was able to finish the workout in 12 minutes even.  I worked my tail off to get those last snatches before I had to do more burpees.

I know that the time went up, but so did the weight, and we added burpees.  Seriously.  Burpees.

And, yes, I’ve said it before, but I’m going to say it again:  The only person you should be comparing yourself to is the person you were yesterday.  Or the person you were a year ago.  Nobody else in the gym matters when it comes to comparisons.  It’s just you against you.

So write down your workouts.  Track your times.  Track your distance.

I promise you won’t regret it!

I don’t know if I’ve ever really talked about it on here before, but there is one incredibly huge thing you can do to help with the 5K.  I’ve had a ton of you to offer, and I may take you up on your offer to help when the time comes to order shirts and  the actual day of running the race itself, but right now and up until June 8?  I want you to share the signup page or the rules and regulations post.  Tell your friends.  Share it on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest.

You can go to www.runwiththebiggirls2.eventbrite.com or click HERE or use the little countdown widget on the sidebar on the right of this page.  So hit the share buttons!

If you’ve got friends who like to run or walk or friends who are trying to pay medical bills that could/would want to do something to help, you’re perfect for this job.  Last year, because of the wonders of social media, our 5k was run all around the world.

Seriously.

Check-ins from France, Australia, Albania, New York, New Mexico, Texas and on and on and on.

You guys are the reason these work.  You get excited about something and want to share it.  And your friends join, and they share it.  Then their friends join and they share it.  It seriously blows my mind the power of word of mouth advertising.

But together we can be a HUGE blessing to a family, to our friends, the Ahlfields.  So definitely tell your friends and family. You never know who is going to want to join in on the fun.  You can choose a T-shirt or opt out of the T-shirt and have all of the proceeds go directly to the family.  It’s really all up to you.

This is the biggest and best way you’re going to help out.  It’s just us down here doing the little things that are changing peoples lives.

You’ve asked for them. So here they are! Details for the second annual Run With The Big Girls 5K Run/Walk/Crawl!

When: June 8. There is no set time if you’re running individually. You run when it’s convenient for you. You can use whatever apps you have for your smartphone and post a picture on your Facebook and tag me in it when you’re done. You can take a picture of the treadmill mileage and post it on Facebook and tag me in it. You can comment on here when you’re done. It’s just that simple. If you’re running with a group, like your gym or just a group of friends, then setting the time is up to you. Just get with your leaders and go from there.

Where: Anywhere you are! That’s the beauty of a virtual 5K. You don’t have to come to Fairfield to run. You don’t have to go to Texas or Kentucky or Missouri. By the way, those are just a few of the states that will be represented so far with our 5K! Also, again if you’re running with a group, where you run is up to you. Here in Fairfield we will be running three laps around the cemetery just like we did last year.

Why: This is to help my friends, Luke and Bridget Ahlfield and the expenses they have related to intensive therapy for their daughter Jordyn. This will help cover the therapy costs themselves and travel expenses.

What’s in it for me: I’m glad you asked! With your $25 entry fee, you will receive a T-shirt to say that you were a participant in the 5K! We don’t have the logo quite ready yet, but we’re working on it. It’s going to rock, though. There will not be a prize for the overall winner. The whole point of this blog is just to motivate you to start moving more than you were before. If you want to do a prize within each of your gyms, then that’s awesome, and totally up to you.

How: To sign up you need to click on this link here or go to www.runwiththebiggirls2.eventbrite.com. There should be a button to purchase your “ticket” and some information to fill out. Don’t forget to check the size T-shirt that you want! Please let me know if the registration site isn’t working. I’ll get it fixed as soon as possible!

When will I get my stuff: Due to the fact that this is a virtual 5K I won’t have a table set up to hand out T-shirts. You will receive your T-shirt in the mail 3-4 weeks after June 8. I will order the shirts the week after the race and then mail them out as soon as they’re available.

How much money will go to Luke and Bridget? The total cost is $25 for you. I’m still checking, but I believe we can get the T-shirts for about $8-$10 apiece. Of course, the more we order, the cheaper they will be (hint, hint). With the fees for mailing and paying how we have it set up through the Eventbrite program, our goal is to clear about $10 per person to give to Luke and Bridget. Every single bit of the money over our expenses will be donated for the therapy expenses.

What am I forgetting? Seriously. What am I forgetting? Do you have any questions? Keep checking back. There will be updates. This is only our second year, so I’m sure there will be kinks in the plan and changes that will have to be made. But I think if we’re all patient and just doing this to help some good folks out, then we’ll be just fine!

So what are you waiting for?