Easy Run!

We are doing a 5K race in Fort Worth tomorrow afternoon so we thought it would be a good idea to get out for an easy run this morning - especially when we woke up to see that it was a balmy 60 F and the sun was trying to peek out behind the clouds. The town where my parents live has all these nice wide trails that run behind the neighborhoods, so it's never hard to decide where to go:



An easy pace and good company mean an enjoyable run! I will say my abs are pretty sore from all those planks, mountain climbers and crunches at boot camp yesterday, but other than that, I feel pretty good. It's nice to have been able to participate in all this exercise - it helps to make up for the good food and wine we have been enjoying!

Hardest. Workout. Ever.

Christy, Stefaan and I went to bootcamp this morning and ended up doing the hardest workout I have ever done, the infamous Bootcamp Poker.


Shayla had a full deck of playing cards. Each card represented an exercise and the number on the card tells you how many reps you have to do:

• Spades - deadlifts
• Hearts - pushups
• Clubs - mountain climbers
• Diamonds - wall squats (10 seconds x value of the card)
• Jokers - 1 minute of burpees
• Red face cards - 1 minute of C-crunches
• Black face cards - 1 minute in plank
• Aces - one lap (1/4 mile) on the treadmill

She shuffled the cards and started at the top of the deck. Now my mom has done this workout before and blogged about it but I never fully got how hard it was until I had to do it myself. And yes, we did the entire deck of cards! At the moment my arms feel like wet noodles and I could barely get in and out of the car!

Bravo to Christy for doing this on her birthday. We were planning to treat her to Starbucks afterwards but we were all so starving we ended up going out for a late breakfast instead!

We are all kind of relieved to have a 5K race to go to on Friday so that we have a reason (excuse?) to not go to bootcamp! I think I will be sore for days...

Bootcamp and Yoga

Yesterday was bootcamp again with Christy and Stefaan. Shayla put together another tough workout for us and finished the session with a series of planks. It was a hard workout and I definitely am feeling it in my glutes today!

Later I went to yoga class with Mom, Jenny and Mark to get a good stretch. I loved Heidi's class! It was called "Weekend Warrior" and is specifically intended for people who run or do other sports during the weekend and want to get a good stretch in at the beginning of the week, which we definitely got. I've done yoga for many years but it is always fun to do something different - I always learn something new. "Shoelace" pose was a new one for me. (You lie on your back, pull your knees up towards your chest and cross your ankles, then grab your ankles with your hands and pull the feet gently towards you - gives a good stretch to glutes and hip flexors!) I also enjoyed that it was in a very warm room - the yoga class I do at home is in a pretty chilly room and it makes a big difference.

Running and Bowling

It was a very nippy 26 degrees (-2 C) outside yesterday morning but with lots of sun and a beautiful blue sky so Christy, Stefaan and I decided to go for an easy run together. We looped around the nice trails they have here that go between neighborhoods. It was pretty cold at first but once we got warmed up it wasn't too bad, and it sure helps to have nice conversation while you're at it! We ended up doing 6 km, but I won't post the Garmin map because I messed it up by turning it off when we bumped into Jenny and Mark who were returning from a 17 mile run, and then forgetting to turn it back on when we continued on, and then doing the same thing again when we took a quick stop at Starbucks. Duh!

Later we all headed out to Main Event, a place where you can bowl, play video games and even laser tag! We are all big bowling fans and had three lanes going for quite a while - it was great fun. My best score was a 124 - I was more than pleased! (Yes, I do jump up and down and whoop it up when I get a strike!) The last thing we did was field a ten man team in laser tag. I had never done laser tag before, but I paired up with my niece and we did pretty well watching each other's back and taking our opponents out best we could. Laser tag really brings out your inner beast!!! By that time we were all pretty hungry so we all headed out to Bari's, one of the family's favorite Italian places - yum!

Boot Camp

On Friday, Stefaan and I joined my mom and Christy for boot camp up at the gym where they work out, TransformU.

If you follow my mom's blog, you know she sometimes has some really tough workouts there! Because it was Christmas Eve, Shayla came up with a "12 Days of Christmas" workout:

just like in the song, we had to do the exercises on the board in a sequence where you added an exercise everytime (see picture)!

It was an excellent workout - and very creative! We were sweating buckets but having a good time, and by the end, my legs felt like jello. Awesome!

We are going to try to get up there for a few more workouts while we are here - and try to keep a lid on the damage being done with all the cookies around here!

Merry Christmas!

Have a wonderful day surrounded by those you love!

Best wishes

Amy

Meeting Kim Clijsters!

While doing a bit of last minute shopping imagine my surprise when I saw Kim Clijsters plastered all over the women's department at Kohls!!! Of course I had to get a picture - especially since Kim looks so awesome in the posters. And yes, I did buy that flashy top in the picture and a couple of workout bottoms. Kim, you rock!

PS: for anyone who doesn't know who Kim is, she is one of the top women tennis players and Belgian! (and we are proud of her)

Now we are about to sit down to our Christmas Eve dinner...everyone arrived safely! Hope you all are enjoying the evening!

It's A Miracle!

I just chatted with my neighbor in Belgium early this morning and we are realizing that it is a miracle we made it here for Christmas...

...if we would have left on any other day this week, we would have had a huge problem.

Here are some pictures I took in our neighborhood the day before we left - in the meantime we got another 10 cm of snow for a total of 25 cm - I can't wait to see the pictures Kristel is going to send us of our house and buried car... but am so grateful we made it here.


We are looking forward to Jenny and her family getting in this evening so we can all have a festive Christmas Eve together...but before that, my mom, Christy, Stefaan and I are about to go to boot camp - and yes, I am scared! More on that later...

In the meantime, wherever you are and whatever weather you're having, I wish you a very happy Christmas Eve!

(PS the last picture is the lane that leads up to my two oldest boys' high school...it was like a fairy tale castle with all the snow!)

We Made It!

We had a lot of hurdles yesterday...

• a packed train


• heavy mist


• very long lines to check in


• no plane at the departure gate


• when it finally arrived, a mechanical problem


• late departure


• missed our connecting flight

In spite of all of that, we arrived only four hours later than planned, so we feel very lucky!

Lucky that everything actually went smoothly and we are now here with our family. And it felt so good to finally lie down in a bed last night!

Looking Back at 2010

We got another 5 cm dumped on us again last night - I am determined to get some photos to share today because in spite of all the hassle it is really beautiful... however there are a lot of issues at the airport and we are not yet sure about getting out tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

I just got an email that suggested doing an evaluation of your goals from the past year through answering the following questions:

1. Think about every goal you set.
2. Write them all down, in detail, including the reasons you had for setting each goal in the first place.
3.Think about how you went about reaching these goals. Which steps did you take? Did you ask for help and did you receive it?
4. Finally think about this: What are you proud of, and what have you achieved this year?

A snowy morning with nothing better to do but worry about our flight tomorrow meant this was a great distraction for me - here are the biggest goals I set this past year and my evaluation of them...sorry if it's a long post (and it's not the wine this time, Char, I swear I've only got a cup of coffee here!):

- Run the 20 KM of Brussels and raise money for the Giraffe Project: I asked everyone I could for help raising the money (thanks to everyone who supported me!) and I followed a training program all spring to be ready to run the race. I asked my husband to go with me and support me on the day. I ended up raising a bit more money than my goal amount, I finished the race and I had a great time doing it, especially running with some of the other team members. I was really proud of myself for this, and it felt great to finish such a well known and difficult course in a reasonable way, feeling strong even at the end, in spite of the horribly long climb at the end!

- Complete New Rules of Lifting for Women: I started this early this summer and I worked on it very dilligently. Towards the end of half marathon training in October I felt I had to put it aside as the heavy lifting was interfering with my longer distances and my recovery (I have issues with my right leg). I have completed thus far the first four stages and I have two to go (5 and 7). I was pretty proud of myself for doing this program - I had to conquer a lot of fears I had about working out in the "back room" at my gym. In the meantime I felt like I was getting a bit sick of it so I am not sure if I will still finish it but if I do it will be in the first months of 2011 when we get back from Texas, or switch to another program that gets me more excited!

- A 10 K PR: I was really looking forward to running the 10 K in Mechelen because I knew with my training I was primed to get a PR. My disappointment was huge when we arrived at the race venue to see that the posted distance was actually 9.7 kilometers and not 10! And according to my Garmin it was even 9.6. I was mad, really mad, that day... But I know that had it been a full 10 K, I would have had my PR, because I ran fast that day, thanks to my husband who kept the pace up and stayed slightly ahead of me the entire time, while I was grumbling the whole way!

- get a PR at the Women's Half Marathon: right up until race day I was not sure if I was going to be able to do this. Intellectually I knew I was capable but I always had my doubts. Jetlag, the Florida heat, etc... There were a lot of factors I didn't have control over and I decided to give it my best shot but at the same time have a good time running the race (it's all about balance, right?) The first half of the race went really well, the second half was tough (heat and tired, very tired, legs) but I didn't give up and ended up meeting my goal. This is definitely one of my proudest moments this year, because it was something I really wanted to accomplish but was never sure about, even right up til the last mile.

- get a 5 K PR and get under 30 minutes: I wasn't sure about this one, either, but four days after my half marathon PR I was feeling a bit more confident and with my two speedy nephews I ran the Clearwater Turkey Trot and accomplished yet another goal! I was also very proud of this one - two PR's in one week!

- complete NaNoWriMo: this summer, on a whim, I signed myself up for National Novel Writing Month, committing myself to writing 50,000 words in the month of November. I was not sure I would be able to do it but I decided to try. In spite of a week long trip to Florida during the month, I still managed to complete my word count! I am very proud of this accomplishment, and even though my "novel" is not finished, I continue to work on it, albeit a lot more slowly than in November. We shall see what happens with it...but my hope is to get to a point where my story is told and I can start doing some serious editing on the manuscript.

- finally one of my life long goals that never seems to go away (that is I never seem to accomplish it to my satisfaction!) is weight loss. While lots of people have said to me this year, since I started New Rules, "Wow, you look great, you've lost weight!" the sad truth is that in actual pounds I have hardly lost a thing, but I guess I do look better and a lot of my clothes got too big. So this is an ongoing goal for 2011! But those goals are for another post because my coffee is cold...

Go and change yourself

Go and change yourself.

Yesterday when I was watching the cross country race in Brussels on TV, at the end they interveiwed the male winner, Ukrainian and European champion Sergiy Lebid. The interview took place in English and at the end, the Flemish journalist said to the sweaty and shivering Ukrainian runner, "Go and change yourself." With which he meant, "go and change your clothes", which makes perfect sense in Dutch (ga je omkleden). But it struck me when he said it. Go and change yourself. What an idea...why not? If only it were so easy to just go and change yourself, like you can change your clothes. Maybe it is that easy! Like the famous Nike slogan, just do it... go and change yourself.

Something to think about during this holiday season when it is so easy to get wrapped up in the hectic pace, loads of fattening holiday food and drink, bad weather and lack of time getting in the way of exercise...at the end of the day it is all comes down to choices we make every day that mean that we change or we remain as we are...so just do it...go and change yourself!

And have a wonderful week!

Oh NO! More snow!

Nope - did not run today! Stayed inside and watched the women's cross country race in Brussels while I did my ironing and watched the snow fall outside the windows.

Those women are amazing - some of them in sleeveless tops and short shorts. BRRRRRR!

At the moment we have 13 centimeters (yes, we actually measured it) and more falling. It has been snowing for the last seven hours non-stop. Over 2,000 people had to spend the night in our airport last night (photo above) and again tonight because they can't fly into London Heathrow.

It will be very interesting to get the kids to school tomorrow...and we are keeping our fingers crossed that we make it out of here on Wednesday!

Red Red Wine

I am sitting here blogging with a glass of wine. Red wine. I don't think I've ever done my blog with wine. Usually it's green tea and it's early in the morning - or - it's after I take Felix to school and then it's with a cup of coffee.

But right now I am having a glass to celebrate that I got my Christmas shopping done! It was actually quite pleasant to be in town this afternoon. The sun came out mid morning and that helped a lot with the condition of the sidewalks and the enjoyment of being outside. Way better than that gray crap, spitting snow and rain - bah.

We got more snow dumped on us last night and this morning. I almost cancelled with Linda, we had agreed to do the Sh'Bam class at my gym together today. But it was so incredibly slippery out, it was really scary to drive over there with the car, but we did it, very slowly, and made it just in time for the class to start, so Linda did finally get to try it out.

There was a special deal at the gym in the month of December where you could bring a friend for free to a class. She had never been to my gym so it was kind of fun to show her around. The class went better for me than last week because I was a tiny bit familiar with the routines. I still didn't do all the spinning around moves - that just makes me way too dizzy! Linda thought it was okay too, but she felt the music was too loud, which is true. I am not that crazy about the music in this class, except for the Black Eyed Peas "Tonight's Gonna Be a Good Night" and Madonna's "Like a Little Prayer", those are fun to hear. In spite of that, I don't think I will do the Sh'Bam class on a regular basis once we get back from Texas in January. It's just not my thing and even though I am sweaty I never feel like I get a "real" workout like I do with running or weights or even the elliptical.

So then I showed Linda "my" treadmill and she tried it out, then she tried the stationary bikes while I ran a fast kilometer (5:42 - that's pretty fast for me) just to shake my legs out and then we headed home because we both had kids that would be home at lunch time from their exams.

So then after making sure they got home safely and feeding them a hot lunch, I walked downtown and started the last big push of Christmas shopping and I got it all done! yay me! It was busy in town, but I had my little list of places I needed to go and I moved along pretty quickly and got home at 5:30. It was pretty coming back in the dark with all the holiday lights and trees lit up.

So now my legs are tired and I am relaxing a bit before making some pasta for dinner, enjoying a well deserved glass of red wine. Shopping sure does take a lot out of you! But now I feel very relieved that it's ALL DONE. Now I just have to start thinking about packing for everyone...

My mom called this afternoon to tell us that the high temperature is supposed to be 67 F in Texas next week when we arrive! Hurray! I can't tell you how much we are all looking forward to some warmer weather after three weeks of non-stop winter and cold. I know we sound like big babies to those of you in the Midwest and Northeast but here in Belgium we just aren't used to extremes. The weather here is usually mild - rarely too hot and rarely too cold - but my son keeps saying it's all because of global warming and that things are changing. I hope not! My husband and I definitely want to move somewhere warm when he retires but that's not for another 20 years!

I kind of like this blogging with a glass of wine - I could get used to this! Hope you all are having a happy and relaxing Friday, wherever you are, and that you're able to put aside the stresses of the season and kick back and enjoy the cheer. Have a great weekend too!

Treacherous Ice

Treacherous...yes, indeed, it is...

We woke up this morning to what looked like clear streets and sidewalks but very quickly realized, walking to school, that the pavements were covered with "black ice" - and the ambulence sirens in the distance and the bikers falling all around us confirmed that the situation was treacherous. Felix and I made it to school on foot without falling in spite of a few slips and slides, I was hoping that Florian and Gillis made it to their school safely and made it home again at lunch...

At lunch they both came in with stories of falling on their bikes, luckily neither one was seriously hurt and they are now both upstairs studying away for tomorrow's exams. Phew. Right now it's pouring down rain. Weather forecast is predicting more snow and ice for the next few days - I sure do hope our flight on Wednesday will make it out of here!

Since I wanted to avoid being on the icy roads as much as possible, I did a really good yoga workout at home with Yogatoday.com - now it's time to go get Felix - hope I don't slip and fall!!!

PS: A recipe I submitted made it to this blog!

More snow!

Yes, it's snowing again! I think we have had, in the past two weeks, as much snow already as we normally have in a entire winter. Right now, there are big fat flakes falling from the sky. Lovely - if you don't have to go anywhere.

My youngest son is home sick so I probably won't be going anywhere except maybe the post office. Just going to stay home and make some warm soup and perhaps some cookies...

(Photo of the Groot Begijnhof in Leuven: Makoekis @ Flickr)

Meeting Jackie McFee

Remember the cute tanks my mom and aunt wore during the half marathon last month? I also bought one for myself and wore it to the gym for the first time last week. Very flattering and cute! While we were at the expo we actually met the designer, Jackie McFee, at her booth when we bought the tops - we all ended up getting the same one. Jackie was one of the main sponsors of the race (she also did the awesome tote bags we recieved), and her design work benefits the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, so it is all for a very good cause.


I wore my new top to my first Sh'Bam class on Friday - so even though I felt like a total clutz, at least I still looked cute! The class was basically a very high energy aerobics class and even though it wasn't supposed to be as hard as Zumba, I thought it was pretty complicated - but then anything with "grapevines" and all those other classic dance steps is really not my thing. I have to be extremely careful not to fall on my butt!

My calves were surprisingly sore yesterday, from the Sh'Bam class, I guess. Today I went out for a run OUTSIDE! It was actually sunny and not too cold - this has been the first time I managed to run outdoors since I got back from Florida. It felt good, too! I have to say I definitely prefer running to aerobics class any day - nothing complicated about running, just put one foot in front of the other, and repeat, repeat, repeat....No fancy footwork required. But still, I look forward to spring and summer when I won't have to wear so many layers...and can show off my new tank top outside too!

Too Much Testosterone!

I got to the gym today and the weight room was crawling with high school boys! My gym works together with some of the local high schools and so sometimes there will be classes there, using equipment or taking group classes. Today, it seems, they were learning how to use free weights.

So I quickly adjusted my plans and decided to get a good run in on the treadmill. I haven't done much running at all since I got back from Florida - mostly because of the weather being so lousy for outdoor running - and I have to say it felt REALLY GOOD to pound away on the treadmill and work up a good sweat. I ran for 45 minutes and did a good 6 km. Felt great!

The weight room was still really hopping so I decided to do some weight machines, which I haven't done in a long time. The fun thing was, I can do a lot heavier on them now than I could in the past!

While I was stretching, one of the group class instructors, An, stopped to ask me to try their new class on Friday, Sh'Bam. It's sort of like Zumba, but with easier dance steps and top 40 music. So I told her I would come and try it out - so now I know what I will be doing on Friday. I will just have to keep my fingers crossed that I don't fall or trip...it will definitely be a new challenge for me!

Still cold!

Yep, it's still cold here...at least the snow melted during a brief warm up on Sunday so we can get around easier. Yesterday when I biked to the gym the temperature on the Stella building said "-0". Minus zero? How can it be minus zero? The funny thing is, when I biked back home, it said "0" - just plain zero, so that must mean it got warmer.

Workout wise, I am working on finishing stage 5 in New Rules of Lifting for Women. I should be able to get that done before we leave for Texas for Christmas.

Other than that, just getting ready for Christmas and trying to stay sane with a sick husband at home. And next week it's final exams for my two oldest boys so they will be home studying in the afternoons and expecting lots of TLC and treats from me. Thank goodness I can escape to the gym every now and then!

Hello Winter!

My exercise for today was walking back and forth to school while trying not to slip on the icy sidewalks hidden under a fresh layer of snow that fell last night (lower body and core for balance!) and then when I got home, shoveling snow (upper body and core - again for balance!). What a good workout! (But brrrr...I'd really rather be running my butt off in Florida...)

I also had to take the big pumpkin I got from a friend off my front porch and inside, before it froze. We don't have pumpkin in cans here in Belgium, so I usually cook one or two pumpkins each fall and make my own puree, which I freeze, to use in baking and soups. Then the first thing I do is make this recipe for the best little pumpkin cake ever!

Pumpkin Cake
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
2/3 c sugar
1/2 tsp each of cinnamon, ground ginger and nutmeg
1-1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
3/4 cup pumpkin purée
Juice and zest of 1 orange
3 T olive oil
1/3 c raisins
3 T pumpkin seeeds, toasted
3 T sunflower seeds, toasted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly oil a loaf pan. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add pumpkin purée, orange juice and zest and oil, and stir gently to combine all ingredients. Stir in raisins and 2/3 of the toasted seeds. Pour batter into prepared pan, sprinkle with remaining seeds and press into top of loaf. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.

Very yummy - enjoy! And wherever you are - keep warm!