Go Me, again! (And Other Things)

I'm sorry, but I have to brag again about my awesome trip to the gym today. I stalled for as long as I could this morning to go because I hadn't been there since last Wednesday, so I thought it was going to be really tough. I stuck to my normal routine - run a mile on the treadmill, then do 10-15 minutes on the elliptical - except this time I ran a mile and a half on the treadmill without stopping!! I know this may not seem like much, but on November 15th, I ran a whole mile straight without stopping, and since then, I've been making myself run a mile each time, but lately I've been wanting to go farther but always chickened out and stopped at exactly a mile.

Today the first 1/2 mile was kind of rough and I almost went to a walk early, but I pushed myself, a mile came and went and my legs weren't even hurting and I was breathing pretty well. I was at about 12:00 minutes of running at this point, so I set a goal to keep running while I finished the song "If I Die Young" by The Band Perry. Well, that song finished and I was still going! I was at about 1.35 miles, so I pushed myself to keep going to 1.5 miles and I did it! (It took me about 17 minutes.) Now that I know I can do it, that will definitely be my goal each time I go back to the gym! My ultimate goal is to be able to participate in a 5K (3.1 miles) sometime in the spring, summer, and/or fall - whenever there's a local one. Today I completed about half of a 5K on the treadmill, so I know that if I keep going, I can do it!

In other news, I am at 149 days of compliance with my Vest and nebs! It was hard to keep up with all of my treatments this weekend with the holidays and so much traveling, but I did it. From Thursday morning to Sunday night, Tim and I put over 700 miles on my car, but it was all very well worth it. We literally drove the entire state of Illinois, from near St. Louis to Chicago but we were able to visit so much family. Tim's oldest sister had her first baby (our second nephew), Isaac, on December 13th, so we were able to visit them on Friday, when he was only 10 days old - adorable!! 

We were also able to spend a lot of time with Tim's other sister, her husband and their son who's now a year and a half old already - also very adorable and funny! We saw everyone on Tim's side of the family Friday and Saturday, then on Sunday (Christmas Day) we traveled up to my parents house where we opened gifts with my parents and two brothers. Then we spent some time with our good friend Chris and his family for a little while, then hit our last party of the weekend with my mom's entire side of family where my cousin's twin boys (a year and a 1/2 old) kept us all entertained.

Luckily Tim and I both had Monday off (I'm off all week) because we literally spent the day being lazy - it was wonderful! This week I'm home doing some cleaning, organizing, rearranging, and unfortunately taking down some of the Christmas decorations. I'm hoping to see a couple of my friends before having to go back to work next week. I'm also hoping to clear out some room for this awesome bench Tim's dad built for us.

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