The Starting Line

“Yes, I am still running.” I can’t imagine giving up my most favorite sport. Now, that my youngest son, Torin, is a big ONE year old, I feel physically and mentally ready to train for a race. However, the races nearby have gone Virtual and I have no desire to run one. I’m really looking forward to that day, when I get to walk to the START line, again. I really miss those hard training days. Running for pleasure and training for a race are just not the same. Signing up for a race gives you the motivation to set some goals and stick to a training plan. The END result is always a learning experience and self rewarding, no matter how you race that day. The feeling of a racing heart keeps you going and the self talk as you reach the finish line is a mental challenge. 

I’m hoping life can get back to somewhat normal and racing in person can be an option, soon. My son, Kieren and myself are STILL waiting for it and I’m sure many others are, too. If you haven’t walked, jogged or ran a race, I highly recommend that you set a goal to do so, soon. It would be a great way to challenge yourself, set some goals and a START to a new beginning.

Home Sweet Home

It feels so great to be in our new home! Selling and buying a home is definitely not my favorite thing to do. Thank goodness we are in our home to stay. During the past months, we’ve spent most of our days, changing water in the morning and house projects in the afternoon. Kids have been working hard at pulling weeds and helping Seamus with farm chores. I feel like our summer just flew by! Kids are growing so fast, too. My littlest man is now a big one year old and my oldest is eight years old.

This year, with public schools shutting down so sudden and having to live in quarantine, my training priorities have changed... I’m enjoying the housework and landscaping projects as I get to spend more time with my kids. I’m a scheduled person so being able to stay home makes our daily routines and procedures, easy.

My favorite race, Spokane Bloomsday, has officially gone Virtual. So, it’s been different going out for a morning run without any “set” training plan. My morning workout time is definitely something that I still look forward to everyday. Some days, I feel stronger than others but it just never gets old. Until race season opens, I continue to just “enjoy” and sometimes with good company.

Life is full of so many new adventures. These days, we are trying to adjust to the Online Teaching and School schedule. In between all the Zoom meetings and schoolwork on laptops, we find time to get up and move. Luckily, we’ve got a huge yard to run and play around. Just another reason to be so thankful for our new “Home Sweet Home.”

Staying Busy, Healthy & Positive

I am a homebody! If it wasn’t for Seamus, I’d rarely leave my home. He definitely keeps me “socially active.” So, keeping our “social distance” doesn’t help my bad habit.

Public schools in Washington state are shut down for the remaining school year, most businesses are closed and all restaurants that are open are providing drive thru service. This is a time in life, my kids will definitely never forget. They are craving for “play time” with cousins, friends and family. They don’t quite understand why they aren’t allowed to get out of the van if we go to town for groceries or need to run errands. Thankfully, we live on a farm with lots of land for kids to run and stay active.

We are so relieved to be in the final process of selling our home. We’ve finished remodeling our house, put it on the market for sale and sold it in the past month. In the next months, we will slowly start moving into the OFFICIAL McPartland Farm House. We are so excited for this BIG family move and taking it all in, one step at a time. This is quite the 2020 Summer McPartland Family Race/Event. So much to do and get done until then!

In between all the selling, buying and house packing, we are Distance Teaching, Seamus is farming and I am homeschooling a two year old, kindergartener and second grader. It’s been super busy and kinda crazy, but I’m definitely living in the moment. I’m keeping a positive mindset by appreciating that my family is staying healthy and that WE are just together. There’s so much to look forward to in the next few months as we MOVE fast and forward.

My Story

I love to RUN but there was a time I couldn’t run down the block without gasping for air. It was about fifteen years ago when Seamus challenged me to run down the block and I physically couldn’t because I was so out of shape.

“You are so STRONG, Audra.” Jodi said years ago when I first met her. This was a huge compliment coming from a PA-C who has seen and worked with so many patients. I never understood what she meant by these words until now... as I write this post and share, “My Story.”

It was in fifth grade when I weighed over 180 pounds that I made the decision to lose weight. That summer, I lost 40 pounds by allowing myself to drink as much water as I could and eating thirty crackers a day. Little did I know at the time, this was the beginning to my struggle with anorexia. After losing that much weight so quickly, I dedicated myself to losing another 20 pounds by repeating the same diet. I easily met that goal in a month. Throughout middle and high school, I was able to keep all the weight off by yo-yo dieting. After graduating from high school, I began to obsess over what the scale said and set a goal to lose as much weight as I could. I started to binge and purge up to five times a day to lose more weight. It felt like an accomplishment to see the numbers on the scale continue to drop. About six months later, I dropped out of college, couldn’t keep a steady job, was financially struggling and refused to admit that I needed help.

I finally felt satisfied being 5’3 and weighing about 85 pounds. My family and friends were starting to worry because I was at my lowest weight. My family doctor said that if I was to lose any more weight that I would need to be sent to an eating disorder treatment center for help. It was about a few weeks after this visit, when I remember sitting in my car at the McDonald’s parking lot when I finally admitted to myself that I had an eating disorder. As I cried, I realized that I was slowly killing myself. I knew that if I continued down this path that I was going to eventually die from malnutrition. I was lethargic, tired and depressed.

It took me about three months to get back to a healthy weight. I focused on making better choices by creating a healthy relationship with food, staying busy so that I had no time to relapse by going back to college, getting a job and began exercising. My goal was to work toward getting mentally and physically healthy.

In the next few years, as I continued to eat a healthy and balanced diet and exercise regularly, I graduated from a community college with my Associate's degree and transferred to Washington State University in Pullman. During my WSU college years, I found my faith through Catholicism, began studying Psychology to learn more about myself and enjoyed working at the WSU fitness center. I was slowly making progress toward bettering myself as an individual. I eventually moved back to my hometown to finish my last year of WSU online so that I could work full-time as a para-educator to help pay for school and be closer to Seamus who I had been dating for seven years. After graduating with my Bachelor's degree in Psychology I continued to work as a para and pursue my Master's degree in Teaching at a Distance Learning weekend program. In 2011, I finished my Master's degree in Teaching, completed my student teaching internship, worked as a 1st grade summer school teacher, was hired as a first grade full-time teacher, got married, bought a house and was pregnant with my first child. I felt overwhelmed but determined to KEEP GOING!

It has been ten years of working toward balancing exercise and nutrition and I feel like I am still learning more about HEALTH and FITNESS every day. My definition of HEALTH continues to change and it means more than body image and exercise. It includes so many more factors and takes dedication and hard work. Over the years, I have gained much endurance and strength from running and exercise and continue to track my nutrition. I’ve rather developed an interest for health and fitness due to all the damage that I have put my body through. I have grown to appreciate that I am physically able to run and keep up with my kids at home and students at school. Most importantly, I feel so blessed to be ME: a Wife with a supportive husband, Mom of 4 Beautiful Children, Elementary PE Teacher, Fitness Instructor and RUNNER. Overcoming bulimia years ago, was the hardest obstacle I have faced in life. Those dark days will never be forgotten because they have taught me to lead by example and encourage others to BELIEVE that THEY CAN DO THE IMPOSSIBLE.

Happy New Year!

Life moves way too fast! I feel like it was just yesterday when I brought home my first son, Kieren, from the hospital. Now, he is seven years old and I am a mom of four beautiful children. These past months have flew by. Torin is six months old and rolling over. He’s a pretty happy baby most days. My other three continue to watch Torin grow. They get excited as they see him laugh, make noises and funny faces. Even though life has been busy with kids, work and remodeling our home, I’ve been taking more time to laugh and enjoy living in these moments. I’m sitting more with kids and focusing on spending quality time with my family.

I’ve continued to stay dedicated to my morning workout schedule and work toward building strength and speed. I’m listening to my body, staying patient and slowly progressing. My priorities in the past months have changed so I’m excited for 2020. I’m definitely working toward a BIG running goal but I’m also working toward a healthier mindset.

The SPARTAN “Seamus”

A few months ago, I signed up Seamus for a Spartan Sprint in Portland, Oregon. Today, he successfully finished that race. He wasn’t super excited to attempt this challenge but kept a positive attitude as he completed each obstacle course. I’m so proud of him to have done so well but not very surprised, either. I was confident that he could complete all the obstacles which is why I signed him up for this race in the first place. He had no expectations or goal finish time. He just wanted to finish.

As Seamus raced, kids, Uncle Paul and myself, cheered him on and enjoyed tracking his results. After the race, I asked Seamus if he’s ready to do another Spartan? He said, “I don’t need to do another.” However, I’m thinking this could possibly be a family trip once a year, event. So, in the next few days or so, I’ll ask him that same question once again, “Are you ready to do another?” Maybe... just maybe... his answer will change. He showed much determination and grit today and we loved seeing that side of him.

Once again, life is good!

Three weeks ago, I had the best “giving birth” experience. It was quick with no complications and Baby Torin was born, healthy. Since then, my family has adjusted well to having a newborn Baby in our home. They are constantly giving Torin hugs and kisses and are very willing to help out with caring for their little brother. Seamus is also a big help caring for Baby. I couldn’t ask for a better postpartum experience with my family.

I’m also physically and mentally feeling strong. After giving birth to my second Baby (Viv), I struggled trying to adjust to a new schedule as a full time working mom, and caring for another child while still trying to get things done around the house. It was tough and it took sometime... but I eventually found a great system of BALANCE that worked for me and my family. After I had my third Baby (Teague), I finally felt like I had the “Mom Stuff” somewhat down. I was able to get back into a routine with kids at home and back to a regular working schedule while maintaining house chores. Now after my fourth, I’m feeling pretty darn awesome! So happy and blessed to have such great kids, family and friend support and a healthy, calm Baby. Once again, LIFE is GOOD as we have found a schedule that works for us at home and will soon be back to school.