Chasing My Joy

My journey to becoming an Ultra Runner and Ironman

Weekendy Things

We had a wonderful low key weekend with some of our favorite things.

We spent lots of time outside.

Cannon got a haircut, only his second since the pandemic started, I love it when I can see his face better.

Cannon and Emerald built projects from Home Depot with Cory. They both loved it and did so well! They got these kits because we bought chairs and a new kitchen table from Home Deport (who knew you could buy furniture from them?!) but the chairs were recalled and it was taking forever to get it all sorted. I can’t wait to have out new table and chairs set up, our current set is miss-matched and it bothers me.

We tried this Kodiak Cakes syrup and it is amazing!

We went on a hike with my parents and brother, it was SO nice to see them.

We visited our new car! We are upgrading our tow vehicle to a Chevy Tahoe, we love it for its size and tow capacity. We don’t actually pick it up until Feb. 1st but we can’t wait to get it and take the camper out for some winter camping!

We visited one of our favorite playgrounds.

All this time outdoors is so good for us. Without Covid we would be more likely to do indoor activities in the winter so that it one small benefit from this terrible situation.

We took the kids “out to lunch” in our camper. It’s a little bit of fun and something different to do. We haven’t been inside a restaurant in over a year. Lots of take out but this was fun to spend some time in the camper. We purchased Kermit (named for the frog that is the mascot for R-pod) in October, slept in it for one night then put it in storage.

We are itching to take it out for some adventures.

Not pictured was a couple treadmill runs, lots of yummy foods and cuddles while watching movies.

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How was your weekend?

What are your favorite activities now that our options are limited?

Back to School (Again)

We are feeling pretty cool over here.

after over two months of distance learning, Cannon is headed back to school and we are pretty excited. It will feel good to be back to more of a normal schedule. Just wish us luck for tomorrow morning.

Will catch up tomorrow!

Getting Ready+ More Outside + Friday Favorites

This is our last week of really staying at home with online school ending and in person starting next Monday. I am so proud of Cannon and how well he did but I also know he will get so much more in class, with his teachers and friends.

Cannon dancing to their warm up song

I will miss the lazy mornings for sure but also getting outside to walk to school and more of a schedule will probably do us all some good.

We’ve been playing outside a lot and I really hope that continues once school starts because 1000 hours outside . My biggest worry is Emmy missing Cannon, although I know she will be fine.

These two are really close and act like twins most of the time.

It’s been a while so I thought I would share some Friday Favorites:

This insulated stainless steel tumbler makes outside time more enjoyable. It does surprisingly well at keeping my coffee hot. They come in lots of colors and have lids.

These CUTE wool socks that I got for Emmy for playing outside will do great for our trip to Utah.

A Lolë Foam Roller that I got from Costco for less than $20, you can also get it online for a little more.

The kiddos are loving their chairs from Create & Kids

And this post from @yourbestrunningfriend

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What are some of your favorites from the week?

Do You Have a Growth Mindset?

One of the things that has been very impactful in my life has been learning about growth mindset.

I read the book Mindset by Carol Dweck and it was very enlightening. I highly recommend reading it if you haven’t already. Thinking of things in terms of the growth mindset impacts my teaching, parenting and hopefully it will impact my training as well.

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When I am teaching I fully believe that all of my students can master the content I am teaching. I know to the depths of my soul that with the right effort they can all do it. Even though some of them will tell me that they are not good at math and have never been able to do it (fixed mindset).

[Source]

In parenting when thinking of my children it’s easy for me to keep a growth mindset (for them). When they were learning to walk I never once thought they would never learn how, I just knew they would keep trying and some day it would just click. And they clearly felt the same, they didn’t seem bothered when they fell down they just kept trying.

It also didn’t bother them that Sally down the street started walking at 10 month and they didn’t start until 14 months. It seems that a growth mindset is our natural way of being and somehow we learn to sometimes have a fixed mindset.

[Source]

Where I struggle with overcoming a fixed mindset is for myself and lately with my training. I am trying to shift the voice in my head from things being hard, that I am not naturally good at certain things and getting discouraged to growth mindset of taking responsibility and focusing on hard work and improving.

So now I am working on shifting into a growth mindset for myself.

25 Ways to Develop a Growth Mindset

reading, researching and putting in the work. It happens to be one of the things I would really like to help my kids remember also for the rest of their lives!

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What is the last book you read that had a profound impact on your life?

Peace, Love and Mini Adventures

It’s been a quiet week around here and I am looking forward to getting back to a routine and getting out a bit more.

We have enjoyed playing in our backyard now that it isn’t covered in snow and we are feeling better. Emmy was explaining why she should be able to go over and play with the Huskies next door.

Cannon has been practicing his letters.

Cannon had gotten back into online learning but we are excited for him to go back in person next week!

Cannon had an emergency dental visit. He bashed his tooth on the ledge of his window over a month ago and one of his front teeth started to turn dark. I was pretty freaked out but Google actually helped me calm down. It’s like the tooth has a bruise and because it’s a baby tooth it will most likely just heal on it’s own.

Emerald is growing up way too fast, she looks six to me in this picture. She has also started to give up her nap.

With Cannon going back to school next week and getting back to a more normal routine I want to start Adventure Wednesdays. Cannon doesn’t have school and I don’t work on Wednesdays so I want to start planning little outings for just the three of us, Cory still has to work. Normally I would do things like museums or zoos, etc but with Covid we are still trying not to have too much exposure. So it’s my job to find little adventure that I can handle both kids doing and be covid safe.

We are enjoying some very mild weather so we want to get out and enjoy it!

Today I was blown away by all the hope, class and dignity. I was mostly in awe of Amanda Gorman, what an amazing soul.

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Any suggestions for mini adventures?

I hope you find peace and an abundance of happiness today!

Some Good Treadmill Time

I am stuck on the treadmill on the advice of my PT for who knows how long. I don’t mind the treadmill too much as long as I have some good entertainment. Below are some fun videos I have found on YouTube lately:

Great look at the Leadville 100

Beautiful scenery at the Bighorn 100

This makes me want to do UTMB REALLY bad….

Can we just hold our breath and cross our fingers that Wester States is safe to run this year?

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Found anything great to watch lately?

Easy Like Sunday Morning

It was a nice easy weekend, just trying to rest and get a few things done. Cannon started feeling sick last Monday, we quickly got a Covid test and luckily found out in about 24 hours that it was negative. While we are thrilled that we don’t have Covid, we all came down with this cold so we are trying to lay low, recover and not spread our germs. Here is our weekend in pictures:

Cannon looking cute, he needs a haircut before he goes back to school next week. When it’s long he touches it all day long meaning he is always touching his face.

Going on a hike and searching for Prairie Dogs, my kids are happiest out in nature.

Making homemade butterscotch coffee creamer.

It turned out so good, I used THIS recipe.

We went and picked up Kermit (our camper) from the storage lot, we are considering going winter camping….not sure if it will be amazing or an awful idea!

Sunday morning Cory took the kiddos for a bike ride and to play on some trails.

Give them sticks and dirt and they are happy.

I spent my morning running on the treadmill, doing PT and letting this new roller cause me pain.

I googled how many days until my race in July (fingers very crossed that we have vaccines and the world is safer by then) and it is 175 days…..doesn’t really seem like that many!

AND last but not least we met Stella, a 90 pound Bernedoodle. My brother has a Bernedoodle puppy and he is just the sweetest. I think Stella stole my heart.

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How was your weekend?

What is your favorite dog breed?

Bucket List – Just a Start

I was looking through my old pages and found a bucket list I had started a few years ago. I am happy to say some of the items have been checked off but it also inspired me to think about more things I wanted to add to our bucket list. The idea is that this will always be a living document, adding things as they come up and taking some things off if they no longer make sense.

Travel

Races/Endurance

Family + Etc.

I need to add more to the family list and some professional/education goals but I think right now I am just dreaming of all of the travel and adventures we haven’t been able to do in the last year.

What is on your bucket list? What am I missing? Would love to hear about yours!

More Good News + Looking Back

Cannon finished another week of distance learning, Emmy was there for moral support as well.

We got good news this week that our school district thinks it’s safe enough to go back to school in person. I am a little nervous about exposure to Covid but I know that Cannon thrives when he gets to go to school.

So next week will be our last week online. We have some work to do to get back to a routine that include school! We have been getting up later than usual (closer to 7am) and having lazy mornings. Cannon’s Zoom class doesn’t start until 9:30 AM and we have to leave for school at 7:35 AM. Next week I am going to try to ease us into 7:30 AM walks and getting ready earlier so we will be more prepared.

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I was looking through pictures from this time last year and missing how full life was then. Looking forward to hopefully life returning to look more like this:

Going Swimming, gymnastics, attending birthday parties, indoor play areas, seeing our friends most days and shopping inside stores….just to name a few.