New Lily

From 5K to Marathon in a Year!

At 65, he started running and accomplished a marathon in a year…and so much more!

I saw this post on SparkPeople and thought I would repost it here for my 9 Kid Fitness readers…Great story!

From 5K to Marathon in One Year

On December 3, 2011 I ran my first race, a 5K in Orlando, FL.  I had just turned 65.  This was after 10 weeks of training, which started quite innocently as a way to lose a few pounds.  I enjoyed it so much I thought I would try to do a 5K.  Fast forward just about one year, and I have completed my 1st Marathon. The Savannah Rock N Roll Marathon, on November 3, 2012. [Read more…]

Exercise After Baby…How Do We Do It?

Shannon working out at Pure Barre at 38 weeks!

A topic that many are interested in is how and when to get back to fitness after a pregnancy. Although getting back to fitness after each of my nine pregnancies was a priority for me, it changed as I had more children and as I got older. I talked to two women who both had a baby in the not-so-distant past and who are both already back to a full workout routine. I met Shannon at Pure Barre and was amazed as she continued to work out and look great throughout her pregnancy.  Ashley is a friend who also exercised throughout her eighth pregnancy…doing mostly P90X at her house.   I also weighed in on some of the questions…

1. How long ago did you give birth? Was it a C-section?
Ashley: My youngest is 4 months old.  Not a C-section.

Shannon:  I gave birth to my second son 14 weeks ago. I had a C-section due to complications from my first son’s delivery.

2. Did you exercise during your pregnancy? If so, did that help in terms of birth or recovery?
Ashley:  Yes, 5-6 days a week up until the week she was born.  It helped greatly in terms of energy during the pregnancy.  My labors have started to slow down (she is my 8th).  It’s hard to tell if it helped in terms of birth.  It certainly helped in terms of my health.  Her strip during labor was flawless … no way to know for sure if that is connected to a healthy mommy, but I have to think it factors in.  My recovery was very easy.  That is absolutely attributed to the exercise.  I’ve had non-exercising pregnancies and the recovery period is much longer. [Read more…]

What Would You do if You had the Chance at an “About-Face” Change?

keep-calm-its-only-induction-dayWe dropped off our son Thomas (#3) at the United States Naval Academy for Induction Day (I-Day) last Thursday.  I have walked on the grounds of the Naval Academy many times and I have had the privilege of seeing West Point as well.  Whenever I am there I always have some vague sense of envy as I see these young people around the “yard” .  [Read more…]

Part 4 of 4; Comparing Some Trends in Fitness…A Final Analysis

Time to weigh in on some of the newer trends in fitness.

I recently wrote about some of the newer trends in fitness – P90X, CrossFit, and Pure Barre, and have come up with my own opinion in a kind of “final analysis” blog post. For the sake of simplicity, I have looked at each kind of exercise in terms of four things: how easy and convenient it is to use and keep using, how thorough a workout it is (all-body), how costly it is, and how effective it is (physical results). While some of these things are harder to measure than others, I believe that my own experiences with them, coupled with my conversations with many others who use them, have given me insight so that I can come up with a fair analysis. For each category, I will look at the various types of exercise, and then rate them 1-3 (1 being the lowest and a 3 being the highest). [Read more…]

Nine Reasons Summertime=Healthier Living

Gotta love those summer fruits!

There is no doubt that if I had to choose a season to get healthier, it would be summer. Here are nine reasons why there is no time like the sunny present to get started on healthier living…

1. The fruits we love are abundantly available. Summer fruits are some of my favorites, and local farm stands are everywhere. Some of the fruits that are especially “fruitful” now are: blueberries, raspberries, peaches, plums, watermelons, green and red grapes, and cherries. Some of my favorite childhood memories are stopping by Michigan roadside farms for the yummiest, juiciest peaches. [Read more…]

About 100 Days Until June 1st…Six Ways to Get Ready!

Summer is closer than you think!

There are just over 100 days until June 1st! While we may feel like it’s still the dead of winter, spring is actually just around the corner (after all today’s the 20th of February and March 20th marks the first official day of spring), and summer follows shortly after that… Time to get motivated!

Pretty soon we will see magazines in the grocery store checkout aisles claiming swimsuit weather is coming…and while that may be true, there is more to it than that. Winter months can sometimes bring the blues and we can lack motivation. For many of us, winter is a time of comfort food and big clothes. Today I am wearing a long skirt and a sweater, for instance. It’s easy to hide ourselves in winter clothes, and oftentimes (although I hate to admit the magazines are right), spring and summer seem to sneak up and surprise us.

So with 100 days before the start of the summer months, it is a good time to check ourselves so as not to be taken by surprise when the warmer months suddenly show up! The following are six tips to make sure we are getting ready for the approaching summer months: [Read more…]

Looking Back on 9 Kid Fitness in 2011

Finishing up our first year at 9 Kid Fitness, I want to thank all of you who have visited our site, contributed with comments, and just checked in with us via Facebook and Twitter. Launching last March, my hope was to engage with others who are trying to make fitness a priority in their very busy lives. Thank you for being a part of the 9 Kid Fitness community, and I hope that we will continue to find support and encouragement from each other in 2012! Today I would like to look back over the last year and highlight nine of the most visited posts at 9 Kid Fitness:

1. Me vs. Victoria’s Secret I take on the image of women that Vicoria’s Secret portrays in their holiday commercials (among other things).

2. When I Run I Feel His Pleasure Many of us Feel God’s presence when we run, and in this post I talk about how it felt for me. [Read more…]

For Fitness Goals, There is no Room for Instant Gratification

There is no room for instant gratification when it comes to fitness. We live in a world that is driven by instant results; cell phones, computers, cars, even cooking, can deliver results immediately. But when it comes to our exercise goals, we need to kick the instant gratification need out the door. My friend Alan Tyson, physical therapist and owner of Architech Sports and Physical Therapy, works with lots of athletes and deals with injuries often, and with those who are trying to get back into action. He knows that most of us want results quickly, but he also knows that sometimes the long term outlook is crucial to success. [Read more…]

Why Fall is the Best Time to Restart a Fitness Plan

It takes about 30 days for your body to adapt to a new lifestyle change.  In other words, after working out consistently for about a month, your body really starts to feel it as something habitual.  It just so happens, I believe, that one month is about the time it takes for us to see real change in our bodies from working out (either from starting up from nothing, or changing up the routine.)  Why is that important to know?  Because this is the best time of year to make a change and stick with it.

So many of us think of January 1st. as the start of new resolutions, however, the following are six reasons I think the fall is the best time to begin fitness resolutions.

1. The Weather It is cooler and less humid in late October, and therefore perfect conditions for running and exercising outdoors.  We sweat less and typically also fatigue slower, due to these changes in the weather. This makes it an ideal time to push ourselves a little harder and not worry so much about the heat index or dehydration, etc. [Read more…]

For My Marathon Training…it’s Quality over Quantity

runnerI love to run. If my body would keep in step with my desire, I would run, and run, and run. But at 44 years old, my body is not too excited about keeping in step, and instead is saying, “yeah, right”! So instead I adhere to my husband’s philosophy, which is “stick with your own reality”. My reality, in terms of marathon training, is quality over quantity. [Read more…]