Tag Archives: challenge

100 Miles in 21 Days!

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I did it!!!  I completed my goal of 100 miles in just HALF the time I originally planned!  My 100 Mile iPad Mini Challenge officially began on July 18th and this afternoon at 4:45PM after just 21 days I breezed by the 100 mile mark on my treadmill.  Woohoo!

Miles since last post:  50.4
Days since last post:  9
Days until Deadline: 20
TOTAL MILES: 101.1 !!!

Matt helped me make a cool Excel graph that charts my daily miles, shows my total miles completed so far, and (my favorite part) predicts out my future miles based on my current pace.  I love graphs and charts and it’s been very rewarding to enter in my miles each day to see my progress.  Here’s the graph as of today:

100 Mile Challenge Graph (8/7/13)

So… this means that I can get an iPad Mini now!  Of course now that I’ve ‘earned’ it I’m a little worried that Apple is going to announce the release of an iPad Mini 2 right after I invest in the old model.  I’ve been doing quite a bit of thinking about this (I’ve had a lot of time to think on the treadmill!) and I have decided that I’m going to wait and purchase a new iPad Mini 2 when it comes out.  The release date has not been revealed yet so I will spend a little more time reading ‘real’ books until then! 🙂

So where do I go from here?  I am going to increase my original challenge since apparently 100 miles was too easy.  My new goal is to complete 150 miles by my original deadline of August 28th.  Full speed ahead!

Related Posts:
•  100 Mile iPad Mini Challenge: 49 Miles to Go!
•  The Challenge Begins: 100 Mile iPad Mini Challenge

100 Mile iPad Mini Challenge: 49 Miles to Go!

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Last Tuesday I challenged myself to run 100 miles in 42 days and I’ve been running like crazy ever since!  Wednesday will mark the end of week two of my challenge and I’m currently on pace to complete 100 miles in just 24 days!

Miles since last post:  31.3
Days since last post:  6
Miles until iPad Mini: 49.3
Days until Deadline: 29

I realize that my timing is sort of backwards with the whole fitness thing… most people would have started working out before getting married to get ready for the big day but I, on the other hand, waited until after our wedding to get back into a serious exercise routine.  In my mind the reasoning is very simple — there’s no way that I had time to run/walk 5 miles a day in addition to all of the DIY wedding projects, vendor coordination and planning that I needed to get done before the wedding.  Now that our wedding is over and life is returning to normal I feel like I have oodles of free time and I’m happy to spend some of it working out!  🙂

Oh yeah… I got new purple running shoes on Saturday because my old sneakers were woefully worn out.  Like ’em?

New Running Shoes!

Related Posts:
•  The Challenge Begins: 100 Mile iPad Mini Challenge

100 Mile iPad Mini Challenge!

Posted in Challenges, Race Recaps by

After 205 days of streaking our old Schwinn elliptical machine is starting to fall apart.  We have taken this as a sign that it is time to retire the elliptical and invest in a more serious piece of fitness equipment… a treadmill!   After some online research we settled on a NordicTrack and our new treadmill arrived by truck at 9:20PM last Wednesday night (gotta love that “12-6” delivery window..!).  Undeterred by the late hour, we happily pushed, pulled and heaved the 350 lb. machine up a half flight of stairs and carefully maneuvered it into the spot that the elliptical had occupied in our little home gym.  After some minor assembly we were good to go!

My new toy!

Our new treadmill!

My workout routine has completely changed since the treadmill arrived.  Throughout the first half of July I had been faithfully sticking to my mile a day streak, but now over the past six days I’ve been averaging more than THREE miles a day!  I’m sure the novelty of the treadmill’s map-based workouts and HD video runs will wear off eventually, but for now I’m going to keep my extreme workout schedule going by setting a goal:

If I complete 100 miles on the treadmill by August 28th I can buy myself an iPad mini!

Why an iPad Mini, you ask?  After lugging three books along on our honeymoon (and reading all of them) I came to the realization that a tiny eReader capable of housing dozens of books would be a great investment.  I looked at various options and determined that an eReader that also happens to be an iPad sounds pretty awesome!  As for the origin of my August 28th deadline?  Easy.  We’ll be going to a hunting camp in central PA for Labor Day weekend and I hope to spend lots of quality time in a rocking chair on the porch reading books on my iPad mini!  🙂

Treadmill and TV
Only 80 miles to go!

So… 100 miles by August 28th.  Including the miles that I’ve put in since last Thursday, this leaves me with 35 days to complete 80.6 miles.  That’s about 2.3 miles a day.  Think I can do it?  I’ll be posting updates that look like this:

Miles since last post:  19.4
Miles until iPad Mini: 80.6
Days until Deadline: 35

Wish me luck!!

 

25 Days of Christmas: Days 22-25

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This is the last installation of my 25 Days of Christmas challenge!  The last four topics are cookies, sparkle, Christmas eve, and unwrapped:

Day 22 – Cookies – Matt’s mom bakes a huge assortment of sugar and gingerbread cookies and his family gathers before Christmas to frost and decorate them.  Matt frosted this ornament cookie.

Day 23 – Sparkle – One of our sparkly snowflake ornaments.

Day 24 – Christmas Eve – We had our parents over for Christmas Eve dinner last night.  We made bruschetta and Giada’s Penne with Shrimp in Herbed Cream Sauce… yum!

Day 25 – Unwrapped – I’m cheating and using two photos for this final topic…  The top photo shows pile of unwrapped wrapping paper on Matt’s new step stool and the bottom photo shows Bailey with her freshly-unwrapped bone!

25 Day Photo Challenge

Would you like to see more 25 Days of Christmas fun?  Visti Pa-BLAM to see Pami’s days 22-25 post and visit Katie at Kitchen Notes and Other Sundries to see her challenge photos.

Related Posts:

25 Days of Christmas: Days 15-21

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This week’s 25 Days of Christmas topics are warmth, ornaments, wreath, giving, reindeer, memories, and bells:

Day 15 – Warmth – Our wonderful, warm, easy-to-use propane stove!

Day 16 – Ornaments – Our tree doesn’t have a specific theme, but I’ve noticed that we seem to gravitate towards animal ornaments and apparently we have a thing for squirrels! Next year we really need to get a black squirrel ornament.

Day 17 – Wreath – We have a double front door which means that we need these double wreathes!

Day 18 – Giving – These chocolate-dipped coconut stick cookies are all packed up and ready to give to friends and family. I’ll post the recipe soon!

Day 19 – Reindeer – This reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh was always one of my favorite Christmas decorations growing up.

Day 20 – Memories – My dad passed away in 2005 but I fondly remember him always sitting in this chair on Christmas morning while we opened presents. We’d have to wait for what seemed like hours until we were allowed to come downstairs and see what Santa had brought for us!

Day 21 – Bells – This ornate bell is part of an indoor display at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA. Longwood is a great place to visit at Christmas time!

25 Day Photo Challenge

Would you like to see more 25 Days of Christmas fun? Visit Pami at Pa-BLAM and Katie at Kitchen Notes and Other Sundries to see their photos!

Related Posts:

25 Days of Christmas: Days 8-14

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It’s time for another installation of my 25 Days of Christmas challenge!

Day 8 – Tree – This was an easy one because I love our tree this year! As usual, we picked it out at Linvilla Orchards the Sunday after Thanksgiving. You’ll get to see some of the ornaments on Day 16…

Day 9 – Treats – OK, not a Christmas photo per se, but to me this photo screams “treat.” We taught Bailey this trick a few years ago but juding by the look on her face I don’t think that she likes it very much!

Day 10 – Joy – This photo is from Christmas morning last year. It was our first Christmas in our new house and Bailey was having fun trying to lick our faces mid-photo.

Day 11 – Carols – This is my mom’s piano with “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” ready to be played by someone (not me!). I spent countless hours of my childhood sitting in front of this piano. Now I’m glad just to photograph it and move on!

Day 12 – Vintage – I don’t know what year this Santa is from, but he’s been around since as long as I can remember so that makes him vintage as far as I’m concerned!

Day 13 – Festive – A nice holiday beverage with an orange peel “twist.” We made these last year for New Year’s Eve.

Day 14 – Glitter – These glittery candles belonged to my wonderful grandma, “Mimi Betty.” Mimi passed away a few years ago but my mom and I each have several of her Christmas decorations and I often think about her at this time of year. Mimi was fond of – no, obsessed with! – the color gold and had dozens of glittery ornaments and candles including these lovely Christmas trees.

25 Day Photo Challenge

Would you like to see more 25 Days of Christmas fun? Visit Pami at Pa-BLAM and Katie at Kitchen Notes and Other Sundries to see their photos!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Changing Seasons

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This week’s WordPress Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge is “Changing Seasons.”  I recently decided that my favorite time of year is in fact the transition period between seasons so I think this topic is fantastic!

Matt and I have lived in our house for nearly two years now and I often find myself taking photos of the view from the north-facing edge of our tiny deck.  I have amassed quite a collection of photos throughout the changing seasons so I’ll use this Photo Challenge as an excuse to share some of them!

Changing Seasons: Looking out over Willistown Township

Do you have any favorite photos that illustrate “Changing Seasons” ?  Please feel free to link to them below or link to your blog if you are also participating in the Weekly Photo Challenge!