A Fall Fitness and Running Update

About two years ago, I decided to take up running. I thought it would be something I could do to get in shape that wouldn’t cost too much money. After all, I had a driveway I could run on. No special equipment required.

I didn’t realize that I would fall in love with it! Running has helped my mind stay sharp and my emotions remain more in check. I think it is amazing. This is funny coming from someone who avoided running like the plague in high school.

This fall, my husband and I signed up for two 5Ks. I was hoping that my times would improve from last season, but to be honest, I hadn’t run very many fast miles. While I like running, I don’t particularly enjoy running fast!

And then we caught COVID in September. This really threw a wrench in my running schedule. It wasn’t a bad case, but I didn’t run much at all for a couple of weeks, and then didn’t feel as strong after I was better.

October rolled around, and I decided to try my very best at my first fall 2023 5K. I was really shooting for a time under 28 minutes. I had run a 26:00 5K in the spring, but that one was downhill. Literally running down a mountain will do wonders for your time, ha!

I was disappointed with my October time of 28:42 for just a little while, but then I remembered that I tried my best and that this was just for fun. I ended up placing second in my age category.

In November we ran another 5K, and two of my children ran a Junior Marathon at the same event. This time, I decided to not give it my all, and kept up a more comfortable pace. I ran it in 29:29, and placed third in my age category. I wasn’t expecting this at all and it was a pleasant surprise!

My husband ran it in 25:17. He is so close to breaking 25 minutes!

My girls had a fabulous time, too!

Next up is a half marathon in December. I decided I wanted to try to participate in one using the Galloway Run-Walk-Run method. I think this will be a great way for me to go longer distances without my knees giving me trouble. We shall see how it goes!

I would love to encourage you to find an exercise you love, and to get involved! I used to think that spending time exercising was selfish. Not anymore! I realize that it is much better for my children to have a healthy and fit mama than one who is sluggish. I feel so much better than I did two years ago in every way, physically speaking. I’m so glad I gave it a shot while encouraging my children to get involved, too.

My goal this fall and winter is to stay consistent and hopefully get in more of those fast miles that I don’t like too much. I also would love to add in some leg exercises to help with my knees. I had several knee injuries as a child/teen, and they catch up with me if I run too long.

I will try to let you know how the half marathon goes!

Thank you so much for stopping by today, friends. I hope your day is wonderful!

A Busy Few Weeks | First Half Marathon and a Rejected Baby Goat

Hey friends, and welcome to the blog. I hope your week is going good so far!

I just realized that I am way behind in sharing my YouTube videos with y’all here. Way, way behind! So I’m trying to get caught back up, and hopefully will be adding them here little by little.

I really enjoy connecting with y’all on YouTube. It is also fun to make videos…when my phone cooperates, that is!

In this video, I discuss the busy few weeks my family had been having. I recently ran my first half marathon, and we were taking care of a rejected doeling. By the way, we fell in love with her and decided to keep her. Nellie is now ten weeks old, and is doing wonderfully.

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I’ll talk to you soon!

Blessings, Nicole

So Much of My Hair Fell Out!

About one year ago, I caught “the virus.” I’m sure you know which one I’m talking about! I made it through just fine, praise the Lord. But I discovered one side effect that I was not expecting.

I lost so much of my hair! I’m talking over 50%. It started to fall out about three months after my recovery, and kept going for a couple of months. Then I waited about two months more for my hair to come out of dormancy.

It is finally growing back, and in a recent YouTube video, I explain what I’m doing to facilitate growth. I’m not new to this, since I always lose quite a lot of hair during the postpartum period.

If you’d like to learn more, please just click on the video above.

Thank you so much for stopping by today, friends. Have a blessed day!