What’s New Wednesday #20 – Virtual Races All Around!

Just wanted to stop in with a quick update to my blues of running. I am not really able to run right now due to being pregnant. I was told to take it easy on the running (like don’t push it – lots of alternating) as I am not a great runner by any means. I still struggle and have since this move up to the frozen tundra of Alaska. I just can’t get it together up here! I am resorting to treadmill walking and switching it up a bit to keep me attentive and actually working something.

To keep my boredom at bay – I am utilizing all the virtual races that are going on to keep me at this! I have already completed the virtual The Great Cupcake Race that was put on by Find Your Happy Place and Running In Sanity to help benefit TNT.  It was both 5K and 10K, but I of course opted to walk the 5K. I am now signed up for their Pumpkin themed race and have my kids also joining me on the  1 Mile portion. They will as well get a medal for doing it!!

Run With Jess has her cupcake race up and going and there is one more I am taking part in. My husband did tell me to find a hobby – so I did!

I hope you all will join me in these races (which I will post links to later), and let me know if you find some more!!

If I were to host one for a charity – who is in???

What’s New Wednesday #18

 

You like? I am having fun creating these things! I hope you will decide to join along and share the fun! What’s New Wednesday is all about the newness of things around you! I love to share things our family is doing and what I am doing and items, etc. As you can tell I have done it a lot with it being #18!

So today for the new part – it is going to be for you to do this as well! I hope you fee free to snag this photo and use it on Wednesdays to share what is going on! I hope that you all will push yourself to find something new each week to try or do! What good is life if you don’t enjoy it?  Hop to it folks! I hope you all will come back and share what is new – or leave a comment with your link so we can check it out!

What’s New Wednesday #15 – #MonkeyMat Is What!

Monkey Mat – This soft, water repellant blanket/mat/awesomeness folds into its own always attached pouch that easily attaches to anything and everything and looks cute while hanging there! It can go everywhere – bike rides, wrists, purses, strollers, cooler handles, drink handles, ANYWHERE!

5X5′ when opened this can be used for literally all kid uses! Each end is weighted down already and if you need more stability you can anchor the corners down with stakes through the already present loops! I mean how great is this – everything that you can need is already present and attached so you can’t lose it! I always say I would lose my head if it wasn’t attached – so the makers of Monkey Mat really did listen to our problems – Oh Wait, you didn’t know? Christie, the creator, is a mom who totally understands!!!!

Check her out at these three locations: Pinterest, Facebook, and of course Twitter – Go ahead and click on them because I made it easy and linked them  🙂

Oh yeah – please don’t forget – Twitter Chat today at 12:30 EST – Be there or be square – like the Monkey Mat! This week we’ll be trading tips on getting outside with the KIDS— and one lucky chatter will WIN their own Monkey Mat!

• Wednesday, August 1st at 12:30pm EST/ 11:30am CST
• 30 minute lunchtime chat
• Hashtag is #MonkeyMat
• Make sure to follow @FitFluential and @MonkeyMatMama so you can be contacted if you’re our winner!
• ONE randomly chosen chat participant will receive a Monkey Mat (US mailing address only). Winner will be contacted via DM after the chat.

Now here is a couple other things that I noticed – it is convenient. You can take it anywhere and you can use it for anything. It is highly visible with the bright orange color – but it isn’t a heinous fluorescent orange. We can be stylish – yet our kids can see us if they walk just a little bit away! Maybe in the future they can expand the colors – but the orange and giraffe style print is still pretty good-looking.

Great for beach people as the material lets the sand stay at the beach and not with you and your car.

This can be used for games – go ahead and use it instead of a bulky tarp!

You can use it to keep groups together – “Go sit on the orange square kids!” so that when you go to the library, baseball games, or have your group in a mass of other kids able to stay together.

You can secure items to the center loops that surround the logo (so nicely placed in the center – good marketing folks!) so they are not lost and worse case they get folded up in the blanket.

Here is a video for some entertainment!

http://www.monkeymat.com

Check it out folks!

FitFluential LLC compensated me for this campaign. All opinions are my own.

What’s New Wednesday #14

So….What’s New? SO MANY THINGS!!!  Some are a bit random today and some are so fun! I am having a great day and am really excited about the opportunities I am involved in and I have been all smiles!

I am reading a book right now and will provide a full review in the next week – it is titled Mission Possible and let me tell you it is an eye opener! It is about schools, the education system, standards, and getting it done. I was surprised by how engrossed in this read I have become. I am needless to say – looking at education so much differently and how I can help my own child!

Abby got accepted into Anchorage Christian School and will be attending kindergarten beginning August 20th! We have to buy her uniform and go to an interview next week! I am excited and scared all at the same time as my first-born is growing up but there is so much that will make her grow into this awesome little person she is already becoming!

Operation Beautiful is something I came across and am having so much fun with this! Their mission is simply this: “The goal of the Operation Beautiful website is to end negative self-talk or “Fat Talk.”  If this little blog only does one productive thing, I hope it helps readers realize how truly toxic negative self-talk is  — it hurts you emotionally, spiritually, and physically.” With all the negative self-talk in thus world I am doing everything to make sure my kids know they are beautiful and everyone around them as well. It takes no time – just some love!

Team Beach Body Coach – yup that is me! I am getting some ground information right now and will announce my grand start shortly – I am so excited to be a part of a company that puts coaching and motivation as their focus and not just a product or gimmick. They want people to get healthy and be healthy – I LOVE IT!

I am hosting a Scentsy Party to re-start my business (I love to be busy can you tell?) Please check out my website and order from the Jump Start Party – This is going to be a way for me to get some added income to help out the cost of Abby’s school tuition!

Facebook C Diet – I just started this and it already is an eye opener! I wanted to learn some healthier ways to eat and get introduced to new things – and you take a picture of everything you eat….wow do I eat bad…I am more conscious than ever that I eat bad. I thought I just ate okay – but, um, no. I am really bad and I am half embarrassed. Now I know why I can’t ever meet all my goals – I love food way to much! But Stefan is going to help me get it taken care of! Well – I have always really known…

I am learning to laugh and play more with my kids. I think watching my parents enjoy their two days in Alaska with the kids more than I have in the last couple days made me realize I need to cherish this time more than I have lately. I need to love them, laugh with them, play with them, and take them for a walk when they ask, and let them ride bikes when they ask, and such. I have found myself to be in a better mood from this and I really think that it is what I have been needing! 

I have a phone consult with a run coach today – I need to get over my hump of hating running and set some goals! I am excited for this as I think having someone here who can hold me accountable and be waiting on me will be helpful. Something about having a body here to push me helps me. I think it is from being a gymnast for so long and the individual attention I was given at all times…who knows 🙂

Lots of new goodness going on…looking for my any and all August challenges that are going to be hosted!!!!

Also – the next 10 people who leave me a comment after they have emailed me their address(mollyritterbeck@gmail.com) will get a surprise mailed to them – just because I love you guys!

 

What’s New Wednesday #12 – A Day In The Life

5:00 Up – make my hubby his coffee and turn on the news. Check emails and Facebook via my phone on the couch under a nice warm blanket. I don’t move until my husband has left and then some 🙂

6:00 I get up and start moving. I have been doing a little circuit that I got off of Pintrest (you can check my boards if you wanna!) and do that while watching more news (I love Morning Express with Robin Meade). It consists of push-ups, crunches, planks, lunges, and jumping. If this doesn’t do it for me I will Zumba with my Wii. I did just get my first Jillian Michael’s video to sweat up to!

6:30 Shower time, get dressed, and make my bed.

6:45 wake the kiddos and give them some loving while brushing their teeth and hair and fighting over clothes every morning – *sigh* – and then get myself ready and make a protein shake while the kids get their shoes on

7:20 out the door to daycare – drop them off then head to work! I try to get to work by 7:45 so I can get my day started before it actually starts (meaning computer on and things up and running!)

8:00 – 4:30 work…..on my breaks I check Facebook, twitter, and blogs – gotta love it!

***When fall semester starts back up here at the University I will be back to 1 hour lunches and running and utilizing our gym again!!!! WAHOO!

4:30 pick the kids up from daycare then head home to fix dinner!

5:00 continue with dinner, then eat, clean up, and lace up

5:30 outside to get something physical in and/or just play with my kids!

6:30 BATH TIME! I do planks while they are in the bath, yoga poses, start laundry, etc.

7:00 TV

7:30 bed time (or the start of the long process of putting my kiddos to bed) – here is where I clean up the kitchen and get some things in order and sorted

8:00 Kiss the kids goodnight for the last time and go downstairs to YouTube, read blogs, yoga, plan, and relax.

9:00/9:30 bedtime for me!

Is your routine basically the same everyday??? Mine is!!!

What’s New Wednesday #10

No time to work out you say …. Shapoopie! (Yes I like The Music Man)

There is always time to fit it in – it is just if you are willing!

• Watch TV? Commercials are a perfect time to fit it in! Or you could just watch less TV – yeah, I said it!
• Get up 15-30 minutes earlier. Doesn’t seem like much bunch you get there you will not stop – I promise!
• Fold laundry at the dryer and do squats of any kind to pick out one piece at a time
• While you are in the kitchen instead of starting into the fridge out of boredom eating…do leg lifts! Front, side, and behind – your tush will thank you and so will your stomach
• Calf raises while doing dishes or brushing your teeth
• Throw in some jumping jacks before you get into the shower
• Take the stairs
• Walk the long way and throw in some lunges (who care if people stare!)
• Have someone you know hold you accountable!
• Do crunches while waiting on your popcorn to pop!
• Plank while your kids brush their teeth – should be 2 minutes! You can do it!

These are just some quick ways to get it done and throw it in…as you can see you can literally fit it in anywhere!  I think that you can do it if you think through it!!!

 

What’s New Wednesday #9

Oh yeah – here it is.  What is new you say??? It can’t be…I love virtual races! I think I am enjoying them because I don’t have to get up early on a weekend, arrange for a babysitter, or drive anywhere to fight for parking!  The only down-side is that we don’t get the awesome cheering from the sidelines, the goody bags, or the fresh fruit and snacks afterwards. I think I can get over it though.

I also think giving directly to causes instead of through events that have costs is much more beneficial!  I love those that provide free race entries of course, but I think that local charities benefit from these as well!  What are some of your favorite charities/causes that you religiously donate to?

I am thinking about hosting a summer racing series to help with my fundraising for Team In Training and to get people to gear up for some fun!  I should have technically started one this month – but I may just start it in July and have the final race on Labor Day…what do you think??  I want to have those who participate in all will get a special prize, and those that enter here and there have other prizes they can earn. I have seen so many fun things through many different races. I think I just need to get my butt in gear and make it happen.  What things do you love about virtual races? What added contests do you enjoy?

I am signed up for both a 5K and 10K race coming up – and if you check back through the previous posts you will find it along with the iBodyFit giveaway….lots of good stuff people!!

So – besides the virtual camaraderie of my blogging buddies – I don’t have a ton going on with running friends up here in the cold, frozen tundra they call Anchorage, Alaska.  You guys are all that I have! (That is not completely true, but I had a schedule that worked with my NC people…it will just take time to get there again!)

Princeton University scientists say they’ve determined exercising in groups, rather than alone, produces better results and is better for the brain.  Many people struggle to maintain a regular exercise schedule on their own, but they do better when they exercise with friends. I completely agree with this information coming from running with friends to just getting new friends to run with.  It is so nice to have that motivation and accountability. Team In Training is getting me back there, but it just isn’t the same so I am struggling with it a bit.  (This is from a study from Princeton University found here: http://phys.org/news11756.html)

I hope if you find any virtual races you will send the info my way! You can email me at mollyritterbeck@gmail.com – shout at me in the comments section, on Twitter @MissMollyDR….really people – I want the info! 🙂

I hope you have found something that you really enjoy and can share with others! Get out there and get moving folks!

What’s New Wednesday #8 – Back To School

So yes, it is true – I love punishment.  I am going back to school. I work for a University that has a killer discount for employees – so why not take advantage of it??  I am going to be taking to classes this summer – One on Organizational Behavior and Leadership and the other one is Values and Ethics in the Workplace.  They are both 8 weeks long and one right after the other. I think it will be great. This summer I will also be working on my acceptance letter and collecting my transcripts so I can join the University as a degree seeking student in none other than: Psychology.

I hopefully will be able to use this degree more specifically with working with the military families and maybe some counseling opportunities.  I think that is really something I want to look at.  I do have a degree in business – but I don’t feel I am actually using it specifically.  I have half a master’s degree done, but honestly – that doesn’t even remotely make me excited. This; however, I am actually excited for.  Call me crazy.

What is something you would like to in a sense – “do-over” if you had the chance?

What’s New Wednesday #7

So what is new…I have no motivation? No, that is not new at all.  I just think that I need to kick my tail in gear and make it happen.

I have tried to blame the cold – but let’s be real here…I have access to a free gym that includes a treadmill. No excuse. 

I blame my pants getting too tight on the price of healthy food – but let’s be real here…I choose the food I eat and maybe I need to cut back somewhere else. No excuse.

I blame my laziness on the dreary weather here – but let’s be real…I control my laziness. No excuse.

To start combating this I have been finding some blogs with women and men alike who are motivating in general and have great ideas and tips. (Check out my newly listed links to the right if you don’t believe me.)

I have also started to follow a few more people on Twitter to help get daily motivation.

I am researching different ways to change my diet to help with cost and health in mind.

I cannot change those around me – but I can continue to say affirmations to stay motivated and make sure I don’t let them bring me down. I will get out of this funk. No excuse.

Time to go sign up for some virtual runs – got any you know of? Please let me know!!!

***All images were taken from a google image search for running motivation.

 

What’s New Wednesday #6

Not much. No, really – not much  new as we are back to work this week!  I am enjoying being back on a schedule, but I am also realizing how much time I don’t have anymore to do the things I have to and want to.  I have more and more free time at work – which bums me out.  The days drag a bit and I think of the things I could be doing instead.

On the upside – all this time at work allows me to research budget ideas, money-saving ideas, activity ideas, summer ideas, and ways to visit family on the cheap (most likely not going to happen this year).

I am hoping that my book reading will continue as I am loving this.  I have ideas for girl time once a week and family time and such.  See what happens when I have tim on my hands???