I'm Alive...I Promise

I have been away too long and I am so so so sorry! I have no great excuses, just that life gets busy...yada, yada, yada! Although I have looked in on some of you from time to time...I may or may not have commented but I have been reading off and on.  I'm sorry I haven't been such a great bloggy friend as of late, I will do better.

Lately I have been working on just getting this new way of eating down.  That has included finding new and fun recipes and trying new foods out.  For instance, I made vegan organic cupcakes and a cake for my birthday last month and the family absolutely loved them.  I made chocolate vegan cupcakes that turned out awesome, and a lemon cake that was to die for, it got the most praise.  I was pleasantly surprised that the cake/cupcakes tasted so great and that the family actually ate and loved them.

I have only run a few times in the past couple weeks due to some pain in my ankle and pelvis. It doesn't seem to be anything serious so I am just trying to do other exercises in the mean time.  I've been rowing, biking and using the Adaptive Motion Trainer and that has been going fantastic.  I will get back to running when the weather turns a bit nicer as it seems my body doesn't like the cold all of the sudden.  I am still wanting to train and complete the 13.1 in September, even if it ends up being my only one...it is something I need to do, for me. I am not sure I will continue running if my body keeps betraying me, we shall see.  That last sentence almost makes me cry!

I trust y'all had a great couple of weeks! Tell me all about what you have been up to.  Blessings and hugs!  

Godspeed...this comes from the Middle English expression "God spede (you)", a wish for success and fortune for one setting out on an enterprise, voyage, adventure, or travels. It may also mean good luck. 

 "Limitations only exist if you let them" 

© 2013 Shannon M. King. This publication is the exclusive property of Shannon M. King and is protected under the US Copyright Act of 1976 and all other applicable international, federal, state and local laws. The contents of this post/story may not be reproduced as a whole or in part, by any means whatsoever, without consent of the author, Shannon M. King. All rights reserved.

Running In The Sunshine

Sunshine, Oh how I miss you!  Does anyone out there feel the same way? I thought so!

I'm sorry I haven't been around or posted anything this last week...no excuses except I am...tired!  

The vegan-ish (Vee-gan) way of eating is going great, no horrible headaches any longer and no cravings to speak of.  I am actually enjoying this way of eating, and am quite surprised that I haven't craved anything...usually when someone goes on a restrictive diet they crave, at least I do, but for some reason I have had no cravings...at all.

The story of my life, ha ha ha!  I actually exercised most of last week except Monday and Friday. Here is how my week looked in the exercise department.

Saturday 1/12/13... 
Arc trainer 30 minutes approximately 301 calories...Rowing machine 10 minutes approximately 121 calories...Bike trainer 29 minutes approximately 245 calories for a total of 69 minutes and 646 calories burned.

Sunday 1/13/13...
AMT 30 minutes approx. 375 calories...Rowing machine 10 minutes approx. 121 calories...Bike trainer 20 minutes approx. 188 calories for a total of 60 minutes and approx. 684 calories.

Monday 1/14/13...
Rest day.

Tuesday 1/15/13...
AMT 17 minutes approx. 200 calories...Rowing machine 11 minutes approx. 121 calories for a total of 28 minutes and 321 calories burned.

Wednesday 1/16/13...
Running 40 minutes approx. 402 calories...Brisk walking 20 minutes approx. 95 calories for a total of 60 minutes and approx 497 calories burned.

Thursday 1/17/13...
Arc trainer 45 minutes approx. 508 calories burned total.

Friday 1/18/13...
Rest day

Saturday 1/19/13...
Very brisk walking 49 minutes approx. 308 calories burned total.

Sunday 1/20/13...
Running 22 minutes approx. 221 calories...Walking brisk 8 minutes approx. 38 calories for a total of 30 minutes and approx. 259 calories burned.

Monday 1/21/13...
Rest day. 

Tuesday 1/22/13...
Rest day.

I hope y'all enjoyed your weekend...blessings and hugs.         

Godspeed...this comes from the Middle English expression "God spede (you)", a wish for success and fortune for one setting out on an enterprise, voyage, adventure, or travels. It may also mean good luck. 

"Limitations only exist if you let them" 

 © 2013 Shannon M. King. This publication is the exclusive property of Shannon M. King and is protected under the US Copyright Act of 1976 and all other applicable international, federal, state and local laws. The contents of this post/story may not be reproduced as a whole or in part, by any means whatsoever, without consent of the author, Shannon M. King. All rights reserved.

Home Made Granola Bar Recipe & Some Cardio

I made home made granola bars this morning...yummy! I got this recipe when I was on a low iodine diet for my thyroid scans, to check for re-occurring cancer...not sure where I saw it but these are so yummy and no salt or bad stuff in them, although I added a smattering of mini chocolate chips and a very few white chocolate chips.  You can pretty much make them how ever you like though, I can see a lot of different ways to do them up.  Here's the recipe. Play around with it and let me know how you did them.

3 1/4 cups oats 
2 cups cheerios 
1/3 cup almonds
*toast these in the oven til desired color...

Syrup recipe as follows...
1/3 cup honey (you could use light karo syrup) 
2/3 cup sugar 
1/3 cup brown sugar 
2/3 cup dried cranberries or whatever you like
 *cook this syrup mixture on stove til sugar is dissolved (add cranberries or dried fruit after you take off heat) then mix it all in a big bowl.
*spray a casserole pan with cooking spray and spoon mixture into dish...press down.
*Optional...add mini choc. or white chocolate chips or coconut and press into mixture...cool in fridge and enjoy...calories for entire dish 2393...cut into 18 pieces and they are about 132 calories a bar...not too shabby and they are delish~

*I have been working out on the ARC trainer, elliptical trainers, upright bikes, and the AMT at the gym and took a spinning or cycle class last night.  My sit bones get sore from the bikes but I don't think that is anything to worry over. After all I did fracture my sit bone/pelvis so it makes sense that it might get sore from those bike seats...lol.  I am being careful but I do feel like I am completely healed.  

*From what I have read about others who have had the same injury, it can make you sore to sit on a bike seat or run/workout too fast or vigorously, so I am not going to worry over it.

*Like I said before, I will not run until November because my hubby is a nervous Nellie but then I can't really blame him, can I?  Sometimes I am sad because I have not run in so long (except for that one time a few weeks ago) but I know November will be here soon and I can hold out til then.

*How are all of you? Anyone run a race lately? Tell me all about it! Did you fly to get there or walk or drive? How is the weather where you are? Here in Oregon it has been kind of an Indian Summer.  We have wonderful crisp cold mornings but by the afternoon it is in the mid to high 80's.  

*I don't know about you but I am ready for fall weather. Y'all take it easy and leave me a comment to let me know how you are doing and what you have been up to. A little P.S. I could use some prayers...a family matter with my 18yr old son.  Thanks and God bless.


Godspeed...this comes from the Middle English expression "God spede (you)", a wish for success and fortune for one setting out on an enterprise, voyage, adventure, or travels. It may also mean good luck. "Limitations only exist if you let them" © 2012 Shannon M. King. This publication is the exclusive property of Shannon M. King and is protected under the US Copyright Act of 1976 and all other applicable international, federal, state and local laws. The contents of this post/story may not be reproduced as a whole or in part, by any means whatsoever, without consent of the author, Shannon M. King. All rights reserved.

Running Again...& You Are Loved...What A Concept

Hello there sweet people! How has your week gone so far? 

My children just started back to school September 4th, *(thank goodness)* and I don't know about any of you parents out there in cyberspace but I have been dealing with a certain attitude in the morning, that puts me ill at ease, to say the least.  Anyone? Anyone? I like to call it the ripple effect!

 Just this morning I had to explain said ripple effect, once again, to my children...here's how it goes.  When one person wakes up in a grumpy mood and shares that grrr with others, it acts as a stone thrown into a pond would.  It spreads. When you toss a stone into a pond it creates ripples that spread out and effect the water around that stone. My daughter and even sometimes my boys share their grrr with me in the morning and I sometimes react and the grrr spreads to others.  Has anyone dealt with this phenomenon this week?  

Sometimes I wish I could skip the tween/teen years altogether and go right to the years where the kids "get it"...sigh! 

This morning I had a sort of break down, you know the ones where you are sobbing and snot and tears are running down your face, no...well I am quite familiar with those moments. I just cannot believe how blessed I am, even though I'm so undeserving of such blessings from God.  I am human and as such, fail often in my walk with God and life in general.  I get mad, say things I shouldn't say, sometimes I'm selfish, and I can see where I have failed my children, husband, friends and God...yet I was reminded this morning that God doesn't love me because of what I did or how good I am...He loves me because of who He is and what He did.  His sacrifice made me loveable...I am humbled once again by my Heavenly Fathers love for little ole me.  Sorry if that is too deep a subject for a running blog but I really felt I needed to share this today...with YOU! God is love, and You are loved by God.

I have not run any huge races or accomplished any great feats..but I did run for the first time in 15 weeks and it felt oh so great.  I was almost sobbing as I was running...it just felt so right and I am so grateful that God saw me through this injury and healed me.  I can run again.   I survived.  Yea God! 

I have been working out at the gym again...doing elliptical workouts, Adaptive Motion Trainer workouts...Expresso Bikes....walking, it's all be good, but I have probably been overdoing it.  I am feeling tired and soreness in every muscle below the waist, lol. So maybe today I will take it easy and rest...maybe.   How has life been treating y'all? Let me know, I really am interested to hear from you!

Oh, and one more thing..we finished our walkway that leads from the gate to the front door....what do you think?

Those smaller colored rocks are my special painted rocks.  Some of them have words painted on them like Faith, Hope, Love...some have sparkles...some have special dates on them like my wedding date...and others are just plain painted rocks.  I love my new walkway, it's beautiful. 

Godspeed...this comes from the Middle English expression "God spede (you)", a wish for success and fortune for one setting out on an enterprise, voyage, adventure, or travels. It may also mean good luck.

 "Limitations only exist if you let them" 

© 2012 Shannon M. King. This publication is the exclusive property of Shannon M. King and is protected under the US Copyright Act of 1976 and all other applicable international, federal, state and local laws. The contents of this post/story may not be reproduced as a whole or in part, by any means whatsoever, without consent of the author, Shannon M. King. All rights reserved.

Yard Work, Painting & School's Finally Here

Hey there, long time no see...Hope this post finds everyone happy, healthy and ready for school to start back up. 

My 3 children are finally back in school, save for the one who graduated this summer, (yes I have four children) he is working full time now, wow...time sure does fly by these days.  Have you ever noticed how much faster time goes by when you reach 40?  I sure have.

The whole family has been working the last 2 weeks or so getting this fence put up and stained with a solid stain.  It was a lot of fun building it as a family and boy howdy, was it needed.  We have been wanting a fence for about 3 yrs and the framing has been up for a little over a year already...the hubby and I had to re-frame the whole thing again, as the other wood was falling apart (a bad buy) although we didn't need to replace the fence posts, thank goodness.  We also put in a new gravel pathway in front of our house (even though it is city property) it needed to be done.

This is the new well house that my hubby, sons and I built to replace the old one that was falling apart at the seams (literally).  I had fun embellishing it with stencil art.  

This one is a picture of one side of our well house and I used the same bee above to go around the entire fence...here and there..too cute.

 Here is a cute section of the inside fence...dragonflies...fun.

 

Here is one of me I took with Instagram...too much fun with hair wraps.  I have been back at the gym working out, also taking long walks, but still no running.  I am giving the running a bit more time, I'd like to make sure that my pelvic stress fracture is completely healed before I try to run.  Don't want to tempt fate or anything, lol. I hope that you are all feeling healthy and blessed, I sure am! Thanks for sticking with me through this injury and my infrequent blogging...Blessings!

Godspeed...this comes from the Middle English expression "God spede (you)", a wish for success and fortune for one setting out on an enterprise, voyage, adventure, or travels. It may also mean good luck. "Limitations only exist if you let them" © 2012 Shannon M. King. This publication is the exclusive property of Shannon M. King and is protected under the US Copyright Act of 1976 and all other applicable international, federal, state and local laws. The contents of this post/story may not be reproduced as a whole or in part, by any means whatsoever, without consent of the author, Shannon M. King. All rights reserved.

Half-Marathon Training...Week 5 (last weeks post)

Ms. M

Sunday-Long (20 mile) bike ride with Miss Molly.  100 minutes.  Had a great time just riding around my neighborhood and enjoying time with little miss.  She actually isn't that little, she will be 12 come July...but she is still my little miss.  Once again I got sunburned...when will I learn to put more sunscreen on?  I guess the stuff I have is just not strong enough...and then there is the little ditty of how pale I am...that doesn't exactly help matters.

Monday-3 mile run.  30 minutes. Easy run, really just wanted to take it easy.  Glad that I did.

Tuesday-4.2 mile run/walk.  60 minutes.   I took Miss M. around the block (.6 miles) a few times getting her used to running, I am taking her through the C25K program, or at least a loose version of it.    This morning I did do some cross training/hip strengthening exercises.  I did some squats, squat jumps, hip bridges, donkey kicks, fire hydrants, and some push ups.

Totally wrung out

Wednesday-1.4 mile walk.  20 minutes.  Easy cross training/rest day.  


Thursday-11.5 mile bike.  57 minutes.  I decided to do an extreme ride on the Expresso Bike at my local YMCA.  This was a very hard ride, there were a lot of hills and quite a bit of sweating going on. The ride is a new one called Lost Valley and I burned approximately 553 calories.  I earned my double centurion award for 200 miles ridden since joining sometime in February 2012.  This was the message that came with my award posting to Facebook. (To achieve Double Centurion, Shannon rode the Expresso Bike for total 16:02:51 and burned 7,442 calories.)  My next award is at 500 miles.

Friday-Rest Day

Saturday-Rest Day

Miles Run, Biked and walked this week=40.1 

Minutes=267

Godspeed...this comes from the Middle English expression "God spede (you)", a wish for success and fortune for one setting out on an enterprise, voyage, adventure, or travels. It may also mean good luck.

"Limitations only exist if you let them" 

© 2012 Shannon M. King. This publication is the exclusive property of Shannon M. King and is protected under the US Copyright Act of 1976 and all other applicable international, federal, state and local laws. The contents of this post/story may not be reproduced as a whole or in part, by any means whatsoever, without consent of the author, Shannon M. King. All rights reserved.

Expresso Bikes

These bikes are amazing fitness tools.  My local YMCA has several of them and I can't say enough good things about them.  They are great for cross training.  

 
The picture above is what you see as you sit on the bike.  There are over 30 routes and they go from basic to extreme rides.  There really is something for every fitness level.  

For a runner, it is important to have some type of cross training to do, in order to give the legs a chance to rest and recover from all that pounding we inflict on them. 


 At first I was skeptical to try them, probably because I thought they were going to either be boring or too hard.  Well, they were challenging, but there was nothing boring at all about these bikes. I have done rides in space, desert terrain, city streets, apple country, you name it I've done it, on the Expresso Bikes.  You have several choices you can pick from including, group rides, and chases, as well as all the other basic to extreme rides.  

Give them a try, you won't regret it.  Try their find a bike near you link.

Godspeed...this comes from the Middle English expression "God spede (you)", a wish for success and fortune for one setting out on an enterprise, voyage, adventure, or travels. It may also mean good luck.

"Limitations only exist if you let them"

© 2012 Shannon M. King. This publication is the exclusive property of Shannon M. King and is protected under the US Copyright Act of 1976 and all other applicable international, federal, state and local laws. The contents of this post/story may not be reproduced as a whole or in part, by any means whatsoever, without consent of the author, Shannon M. King. All rights reserved.