Get in Shape Before the Holidays!

How many of us make the New Year's Resolution to get more exercise? Why not get a jump start on fitness and begin your workout routine before the holidays start. You will fell less guilty about indulgining at holiday parties and will have more energy for all of the holiday shopping!

Join Stroller Strides now through the end of December and get 1/2 off your registration fee. Click on the Stroller strides website for more info.

www.strollerstrides.net/bend

Grand ReOpening Party

Stroller Strides is under new ownership! My name is Shannon Swedenborg and I recently purchased the Bend Stroller Strides franchise. I have been coming to class since March and loved it so much that when Debi decided to sell I jumped at the chance! I am a high school teacher who is taking time off to be home with my little boy, Owen. I am excited to take on this new adventure and hope you all come along for the ride! Join us for our Grand ReOpening Class and Party!



FREE Class, raffle prizes and refreshments!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

9:00-10:30 am

Larkspur Park-Senior Center
1700 SE Reed Mkt RD

See you then!

Striding through summer

We're in the throes of summer and while it's been hot hot hot, it sure feels good to be outside, to push the limits and spend quality time with other moms and my kids.

I'm amazed at how great I feel after a hard workout and a morning spent laughing and talking with the moms in our class. It really gives me a boost.

If you haven't been to class in a while or are looking for a great full body workout along with some meaningful interaction with other moms, please join us. We'd love to have you!

Please visit STROLLER STRIDES of Bend to get all the details.

We're Moving Outdoors!!!

Stroller Strides of Bend is moving outdoors on Monday, May 11!

Spring is springing (believe it or not) and we're ready to head outdoors. On Monday, May 11 we will be moving to Larkspur Park (Bend Sr. Center off Reed Mkt. Rd.) This will be our summer location on Mondays and Wednesdays @ 9:15 am.

On Thursdays we will be at Compass Park in NW Crossing (on NW Crossing Drive) @ 9:15 am.

Schedule your summer exercise today before your calendar fills up. Get your SUMMER PUNCH CARD good for 30 Stroller Strides classes between May 11 & Oct. 8, 2009 for only $210. No contracts, no registration fees, just drop in and exercise!

If you have any questions, please email Debi at debis@strollerstrides.net or call 541.382.1147.

We look forward to striding into fitness with you this summer!

Supper Swapping makes life easy for this Stroller Strides mom

I recently started participating in a Supper Swapping group with 3 other moms. We each have a day of the week, my day is Tuesdays. I cook a pre-determined meal for our family and all of their families as well. They I deliver the meals and I'm done cooking for the week.

None of us had ever done this before and I can honestly say we were a bit skeptical, but we started a couple of weeks ago and it is awesome!

Personally, I am so grateful for the extra time I have each evening to spend with my kids. We can play, watch a video, clean up (not a favorite) and not worry about dinner because it's already made. It's wonderful.

Tomorrow we will get together and discuss how it is going. We also use Facebook to keep track of one another. It's great! ommunity, conversation, exercise, Extra Pounds, fitness, healthy eating, moms,

There are several books out there on the subject if you are interested. We used "The Great American Supper Swap" by Trish Berg. As a wife, mom, friend and Stroller Strides owner and instructor I am always looking for things to make my life a little simpler so I can spend my time doing the things I most enjoy. Supper Swapping has made a marked difference in my life and the life of my family.

Try it!

Stroller Strides of Central Oregon Supports March of Dimes!

I support March of Dimes and I am walking in the 2009 March for Babies. This year I'm doing a DIME DRIVE. Won't you help this year by saving your spare change and donating it?

You can donate by clicking the link above.

Thank you for your support in giving all babies a fighting chance at life!!

You ROCK!

Looking for something quick, easy and healthy to make for dinner?

Check out the new recipes that have been posted on our Stroller Strides of Bend Facebook page. These are tested recipes that your whole family will enjoy - even the little ones.

You can find them in the LINKS section.

Enjoy!

Show me your race face & get SMART

If you've ever taken part in a race or other competition you probably remember that there are 3 major stages. The start, the middle, the finish. You may also picture your face during each of these stages. The excited face at the starting line - all that potential out in front of you. The grimace when the adrenaline has worn off the the finish line is still a ways off. The relieved face when you see the finish line and you can't wait cross it. Or the face of pure joy when you realize you might actually win the race!

It is now the end of February and for many of us we're walking around with our grimace face on. We're just trying to get to the next thing. The holidays are over and we're looking down the road for what comes next. For some it's spring break, for others it's Easter. For the die-hards it's warm weather or summer. As moms it sometimes seems like an endless cycle of cleaning, grocery shopping and dinner preparation interspersed with wonderful memories and milestones as our kids grow up. (If you're like me it might be laced with major clean-ups too - read here a one year old who got into a tub of Vaseline.) This is the middle of the race. The time before the next big thing, whatever that is, arrives.

Personally, I'm in the middle of a healthy living challenge that I started with several other Stroller Strides moms in January. I am plugging along and I am seeing results from making a few key changes in my life, but there is still a ways to go. I've definitely got my grimace face on.



What keeps me going are the SMART goals I have set for myself along the way. I once participated in a cross country ski race. I'm not a ski racer but it sounded like fun. Um. Yeah. As I skied along I realized that it was a lot harder than I had expected but there was no way I could quit. So I started to make little goals for myself along the course. I'd strive to reach a tree, then pass the person in front of me, then go hard and fast for 2 minutes, then not let the person behind me pass me by. Before I knew it I could see the finish line. I got a new burst of energy and I finished strong. I didn't win, but I sure skied a great race.

It was the goals I kept setting that kept me focused and motivated. In my current challenge I have set some specific, measurable, attainable, reasonable and timely goals as I go along. One will come up in a few weeks at my son's second birthday. Another will come up just before the end of the healthy living challenge. And finally after the challenge is over I have a timely long term goal already set to keep me motivated and energized.

goals are:

• Specific
• Measureable
• Attainable
• Reasonable
• Timely

So, make yourself some goals while you are wearing your grimace face around. The only way to change your race face is to make it to the next stage. The only way to make it to the next stage is to get through the stage you are currenly in. The only way to get through it is to set some SMART goals.


Show me your race face and get SMART!

How to get back into life - after having a baby!

No Burnt Toast In 2009!

DON’T SETTLE FOR THE BURNT TOAST

by Beverly Ford

As Oh-Eight fades into our rear view mirror, it is remarkable how our psychology improved simply by replacing our calendar. New dreams - Oh-Nine!

The news can be depressing, but there is no question about it, bad news sells. However, when we look for good news we’ll discover that while going through our daily routines, there are those inevitable moments when someone comes into our life at exactly the right time and says or does just the right thing.

Then there are times when a person needs a mentor and/or professional help to dig himself or herself out of the rut they’ve dug for themselves. Clear goals are vital for our personal success.

At a two-day workshop for self-employed people that I attended, and helped facilitate, the objective was for the attendees to rediscover themselves for 2009 and create, or borrow, a slogan to reflect their commitment to improve. These words, by T. S. Eliot, are what the group collectively selected…

“ONLY THOSE WHO RISK GOING TOO FAR CAN POSSIBLY FIND OUT HOW FAR ONE CAN GO!”

While getting a haircut in Riggins, Jeanne at J Marie’s Hair Salon asked me if I had made any New Year’s resolutions. “Only one,” was my reply…

“NO BURNT TOAST IN 2009!”

If air travel was part of your holidays, you saw many children traveling, and on every flight the flight attendants gave clear instructions about the use of oxygen masks in case of an emergency...

• “If you are flying with children, secure your oxygen mask first, then help the children with theirs.”
  

Why is it that when those same parents prepare breakfast for their children, and burn the toast, the mommy generally eats the burnt toast? Are you also guilty of doing this?

That didn’t seem significant until I listened to a pastor talking about people, especially women, who have embraced the ‘burnt toast’ lifestyle because they also watched their moms make these, and other, non-verbal sacrifices. Since these women then followed what they had observed…today their ‘settled for’ existence (spouse, partner, home, work and etc.) is their daily reminder that they could have done better had they put a higher worth on themselves. Even Oprah says, “Add yourself to your priority list.” Guys are not exempt.

The pastor went on to say that treating others, but especially ourselves, with more respect goes a long way towards improving what we get, what we can offer, and who we become…as long as our egos don’t get in our way. Then he shared these familiar words…

• The first essential in good manners is consideration for others.
• The second is consideration for oneself.
• The first keeps you from walking over people.
• The second keeps you from being a doormat.

Thanks to Bev Ford for this great reminder. We all need to hear this as moms and remember that we are important, have value and must make ourselves a priority. At Stroller Strides we strive to give moms a place to practice these things each day. By spending an hour on our physical fitness we take a step closer to being the women, wives and moms we want to be.

NO BURNT TOAST IN 2009!