Three Things Thursday

1. I should stop talking about it, but my life is all about the (mostly unsuccessful) potty learning. Today he spent 12 hours on the toilet. And then I gave up. In the battle of wills, James - 1, Mommy - 0.

2. BUT! I finished my run tonight with more than 93 miles for the month. That is a new monthly mileage PR for me!! AND I managed, even with a crap week in there, to complete Tall Mom's "run 93 miles in March" challenge. I am super proud of myself for this one, as it was NOT easy.

3. I chose running tonight (LORD HOW I NEEDED IT) over seeing "My Run." Did anyone go? I'm bummed to have missed it, but I made the right choice...

Spring Break Is NOT a Break For Mom

I have had so much swirling in my head lately - ideas and thoughts I want to reflect on here.

But it's spring break, and I'm attempting to potty train the boy, and my thoughts will have to wait. The potty training? Is not going as well as I'd have hoped. He's been pants-less for 3 days now. My facebook status yesterday:


*sigh* Lord, please help me survive this week.

I'm off to stare at a naked butt again. I refuse to think about poop any more places it does NOT belong. I'll be back to regularly scheduled posts soon...

Marathon Training Week 6

A very successful week for me, with a lot of extra bullshit thrown in for good measure. Here's how it all shook out...

Monday: 7.6 FANTASTIC miles with an average pace of 10:30. This was my make up for missing my long run, and I could have run forever. So I ran until I had to get the little man from school. :)

Tuesday: Was supposed to be walking with a friend, but it was pouring rain, so we scrapped that and gabbed instead.

Wednesday: More shin exercises with some hip strength thrown in.

Thursday: 5.25 miles with an average pace of 10:27. It was icy and there were snow flurries, so I went out thinking I'd take it super easy. But then I didn't... ;) My splits were 10:51, 10:42, 10:36, 10:28, 9:49 (!!) and 9:55 for the last quarter mile.

Friday: Shin strength / rest. Dealing with a symphony of coughing at my house, which means very little sleep is happening for this mama.

Saturday: 10 miles with an average pace of 10:27. Craziness. I was running by feel, and I felt good. I KNEW I was going too fast. The last 2 miles were into a crazy wind and I was SPENT, because I was stupid. And even though I FELT like I really fell apart at the end, my splits weren't horrible (10:30, 10:25, 10:16, 10:16, 9:56, 9:45, 10:48(gu), 10:34, 11:01, 10:55). I'm not sure why I was "racing" my long run, but it did feel good. I smiled for the rest of the day! But I know I need to take long runs much easier going forward.

Sunday: I went up to my parents in WI because their ENTIRE BASEMENT (beautiful finished basement) flooded while they were on vacation out of state. Everything looks like it will be ok, but I was offering my Daddy moral support. When I got home I threw in a quick recovery run (3.5 miles at an 11:06 average) and my legs were TIRED.

Week total: 26.35 miles

So tired now....I'm hoping I get to sleep some tonight...

Three Things Thursday

1. Mother Nature is trying to kill me. I alternately love and loathe this time of year. It's GORGEOUS out! Oh, wait, IT'S STILL WINTER! No, it's GORGEOUS OUT!! Hmmm, wait a minute, SNOW!!

Fucking sucks.

Monday I ran in capris and a long sleeved tech tee and I was almost too warm. Today, full on winter gear with snowflakes trying to put out my eyes as I ran into the wind. Gah.

2. I got my bib number for Grandma's already!!! Which seems super early to me, but hey, whatev. I am 5707. Now I just need to not lose the little postcard that I got which I'll need for packet pickup. In June. Any takers on the odds that I can find it in almost 3 months?

3. Tonight I am going to a clinic put on my the running club on the mental side of training. I am so excited about this - I can't wait to see what I glean from this. Hopefully, I'll acquire lots of great tools for my arsenal to use at mile 22 or so...

Marathon Training Week 5 (AKA Bla Bla Bla, Nothing To See Here)

This one will be super quick, because I did VERY LITTLE last week. And, truthfully, I am 100% ok with that.

Monday: 4.5 mile bonus run - I didn't expect to get anything in, and I flew when I got the chance. Average pace = 10:23 with splits: 10:36, 10:31, 10:15, 10:35, 9:36 (last half mile). Craziness.

Tuesday: 6 miles with an average pace of 10:58. This was the run where my right leg went all wonky and felt like it was going to give out. I realized that I needed to bust out my new shoes way too late, I guess. I resolved to rest it and see what happened for the weekend.

Wednesday: 4 mile walk with my girlfriend and her 3 week old baby (SO CUTE!!!). It was simply too nice to not be outside.

My shin was still sore, and the weekend was spent at my Mom's house cleaning (totally counts as crosstraining). So there were no more miles to report for the rest of the week. It was technically a step back week, even though I originally wanted to get 10 in (I had been trying to stay a week ahead of my plan) so it doesn't bother me TOO much. I am being CAUTIOUS.

Total miles for the week: 10.5

The good news is that today was gorgeous! And I got out there in my new kicks and did 7.6 miles without a SINGLE PEEP from wonky right leg. So, moving on....

Happy Blogversary to ME

I couldn't let today pass by without acknowledging the significance. When I first started this, I was reading a lot and hoping to learn as much as I could about running and racing and all that they entailed. What I gained was so much more - this is such an incredible community of people trying to fit the sport they love into their busy lives. Yet they always find time to lift each other up. Amazing. I am blessed.

To celebrate, I got lots of MAIL!. My TMB Endurance band. My new (half priced) Gym Girl Ultra skirt from skirt sports. A RUNNERD sticker I won, and a sticker from the Redhead too.

No running today - not because of my leg though. My stomach is a huge churning mess. So tomorrow morning I'll be back at it. I'll let you know how it goes...

Thank you all. This last year has been more than I ever dreamed, in so many ways.

Blessed.

Three Things Thursday - Rest Day Edition

1. I ran 6 miles on Tuesday. It was my 5th day in a row of running, and in those 5 days I put close to 30 miles on my legs. For a lot of you, that's not a huge deal, but for this old lady/newish runner, that's not necessarily a good thing. And my legs let me know it. About half way in, my wonky right leg started acting up again. The funny thing is, it was never painful. Rather, it kept feeling like it was going to give out on me. So I dialed the pace way back, and vowed to take a couple days off. I finished the run with no issues (other than getting attacked by a puppy who escaped from his house, while his owner kept trying to wrangle him back to her) and I still wasn't in pain later.

2. After much doctor googling, I am fairly certain that I have the beginning of shin splints on that side. I gathered up some strengthening exercises, and I busted out my new shoes. (I am still running on my marathon shoes - BAD! As a heavier runner, I should have retired them a while ago. I put my new shoes on and was AMAZED at the difference I felt!) I'm not sure why the shoe thing never occurred to me before now. I blame it on my kids - they steal brain cells, I swear! I'm hoping that between the shoes and the exercises that I'll have this licked in no time. I have 10 on the schedule this weekend, but that will only happen if I feel NOT A TWINGE from my leg. I'm taking this very cautiously...that means no running today even though it is STUNNING out there.

3. Completely unrelated - I'm wondering how you bloggers get hooked up with reviewing great stuff and doing giveaways. Do you contact companies? Do they contact you? I've been curious about this for a while now - I'd be totally down with doing that, but I have no clue where to start.

Big Dreaming

Last night I got a bonus run! James stayed home sick from school and John had a late meeting, so I gave up hope on getting a run in. But Brian cam home and said I could GO! YAY! So I ran out the door for 4.5 brilliantly fast (for me) miles with an average pace of 10:23!

With all of these relatively quick splits lately, I have been revisiting my BHAG, or "Big Hairy Audacious Goal." On Marcia's post, I said"My BHAG is a marathon time starting with a 4. So I'll run 2 this year (preferably at considerably cooler than 90 degrees) and see where that puts me. Physically, I totally have this in me. It's mentally where I'm struggling..." But lately, I'm not struggling mentally nearly the way I used to. I don't feel like I CAN'T finish my runs. I wonder how quick it'll be, or how tough today, but not finishing is not ever in my head anymore.

Now I fully realize that I am a LONG WAY from the starting line, but after lots of backwards McMillan calculating (what? you don't do this?) I can meet my BHAG of 4:58 by running 11:22 minute miles. And the crazy thing is that doesn't sound very big or audacious anymore.

I'm starting to get a glimpse of what I have inside me. I'm starting to like what I see. I'm starting to believe.

(As an aside, I stated that I never worry about finishing a run, and that's true. I DO worry about starting though. James is back at school today, but Julia woke up in the middle of the night bawling that her ear hurt. Being the mother of a HUGE drama queen where something different HURTS every day, I was skeptical. I gave her some motrin this morning and sent her to school. They called at lunchtime, and after a quick doctor's visit, she does have an ear infection. *sigh* I'm starting to think that a day where everything goes to plan is the exception rather than the norm around here.)

Marathon Training Week 4

Disclaimer: This week was a JACKED UP MESS. I had no idea whether or not I'd get in everything I planned.

Monday: Casimir Pulaski Day, which means NO SCHOOL. Since I'd done my long run on Sunday, it also meant NO RUN. I was going to try to squeeze in some recovery miles, but it just didn't work out.

Tuesday: 5.25 miles. Perfect weather = great run. Thank goodness, because Tuesday my husband left for a business trip, and my brother-in-law was supposed to help with the munchkins so I didn't have to drag them all out to Jenna's basketball game. Monday night I realized after talking to him that he'd COMPLETELY forgot about me (ack!) and scheduled his new home inspection for Tuesday. I got a text from him at 3 that he wasn't going to make it, which means the whole crabby crew gets to sit through basketball. If I hadn't gotten to run, this would have pissed me off MUCH MORE than it actually did.

Wednesday: It rained all day + I am a wimp = no run. Later, I was totally mad at myself. Go figure. With John out of town, I didn't get to redeem myself later.

Thursday: Horrible day. James spent from 7:55am to 12:35pm on the toilet. I wasn't giving in. And eventually, there was success. But no run (I actually made him skip school to sit on the potty - worst mother ever). John said over and over he'd make it home in time to set up the gym for the conference championship game. He didn't (surprised? I wasn't). He showed up while I did that, along with Brian (who also said he'd be home in time. He wasn't either. Again with the not surprised). SO. I figured I'd get the kids in bed, and Brian could hang at home while I caught the last half (school's only a couple miles from here) but while I was getting everyone ready, Jenna asked Brian if he'd go. Because I am a FUCKING MARTYR I convinced him that it was fine, so they left.

And then I cried.

But they won the game and everyone was happy and they all went out for ice cream afterwards. Without me. I pouted for the rest of the night.

Friday: 5.25 PERFECT miles with negative splits - redemption run. Damn, I needed that.

Saturday: I ran 7.26 miles with the running club through Rollins Savanna, a local forest preserve with a really nice trail. The temperature said 39 degrees, but the winds were 20-25mph with huge gusts, so it felt WAY colder than that. I was so glad to see a group run with paces listed as close to mine - often I'm intimidated by the speedy runners in the club - but this group was perfect. I had a super nice time getting to no some of the women, including another MN transplant who'd run Grandma's marathon in the past. It was so nice to chat with people! This was a music-less distance PR for me also.

A couple of things I noted on this run:
1. People aren't used to runners who walk. Every time I stopped, they were worried that something was wrong.
2. I feel better running a little faster. Say 10:40ish miles. When I was running 11:30ish miles, I felt funky, like my form was all jacked up. Odd.
3. The wind is SO HARD to run in! HATE!
4. The last straight half mile with the wind I was running easily in the 9:30 to 10:00 range. It felt SO GOOD!

Details here, if you're curious.

Sunday: 4.5 miles in the late afternoon after shopping with Jenna (needed some time to hang with my oldest). I set out with a plan of easy recovery miles, but my legs weren't having it. So I went with it! I managed some nice negative splits (11:00, 10:48, 10:41, 10:37, and 9:36(!!!) for the last half mile).

Week total miles = 22.26 and with the week I had, I'll take it!

No One Wants To Read That

Yesterday, I was going to post. I almost always can find a "Three Things Thursday" in me. I sat down in front of the computer several times throughout the day, thinking, "I should post."

And then I walked away, every time. And really, you should thank me.

This has been one of those weeks where NOTHING goes according to plan. The reality of it is, I got everything accomplished that was required to be done, just in a different way than I hoped.

But as a planner, this made me crazy. And when yesterday morphed into The Day I spent Nearly 5 Hours In The Bathroom With The Boy Who DIDN'T WANT TO POOP, when I SHOULD have been running, my head started to spin around exorcist-style. The kicker was my oldest daughter's basketball game. The CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP game. Which I DID NOT GET TO ATTEND. (but YAY they won!)

*sigh*

Anything I could have written would have been whiny and bitchy and ridiculously unimportant, especially in light of all the chaos going on in the world.

So I spared you all. Aren't you glad?

"I Just Felt Like Running" Virtual 5k and Marathon Training Week 3

Back in January I let Jeff (at Detroit Runner) know that I'd be HAPPY to participate in his virtual 5k! It was January, you see, and I figured SURELY by March 5 the weather would be improving. Ha! Wishful thinking...

Since I am anal, I wanted to do this on the day I was SUPPOSED to do this, even though Jeff was kind enough to give us a week on either side.

I had 5 miles to do, and I set out in 20 mph winds (a them of the week!) and precipitation that varied between drizzle and sleet and big FAT snowflakes. Lovely. But I managed to get my butt out the door, which is usually the hardest part for me.

My thought was to run the 5k on the back end of my miles, so I was looking at a 2 mile warm-up. Truthfully the entire run felt so hard. I never found my groove. The wind (which oddly enough RARELY seemed WITH me) tried to push me backwards. My brain kept telling me to bail and do it tomorrow. But I DID get it done. My time was not pretty. But I wasn't worried about that. Here are the details:

I did 5.1 miles to make it easy for my brain. Garmin details here (as long as you promise not to laugh at how many times I walked). Total time was 55:42.

mile 1: 11:12
mile 2: 11:05
mile 3: 10:51
mile 4: 10:43
mile 5: 10:51
last 0.1: 0:56

This gives me a 5k time of 33:21. Not my best, but I'll take it in those conditions. Thanks, Jeff, for hosting!!

On to Marathon Training!!The quick and dirty?

Monday: kids home from school, John had a night meeting. Nada.
Tuesday: Julia sick. Nada again.
Wednesday: Hip strength and core. Huge headache. No running.
Thursday: 4.91 miles
Friday: Nothing
Saturday: 5.1 miles
Sunday long run: 8.01 miles

Sunday's long run was really really nice. And I really really needed it, after we discovered that one of the foundation walls in the basement is leaking. AFTER the drywall is up, of course. It's so frustrating! So a run was just what I needed, and it took me about 4 miles to STOP thinking about the damn basement. Overall, the run was good. My splits were consistent and I felt really good except the 7th mile when my foot cramped up and I realized I had a giant blister rocking under the ball of my right foot. Ugh. But my splits didn't show it. I gu'd at 5 miles.

11:07, 10:49, 10:34, 10:51, 11:12 (gu), 10:47, 10:45, 10:49

Week total miles = 18.02. I was only a couple miles short even though I missed a run, so not a bad week for me...

Friday Five

1. I can't decide which is worse as a runner - missing a run while it's gorgeous outside because your kid is sick, or missing a run in the same weather when it's YOU who feels like shit. Tuesday it was the former. Wednesday, the latter. Both were equal amounts of suck. Mostly because I was NOT running.

2. Thursday, I had one of those runs that always seems to come on the heels of a couple of really good weeks. One of those, "No, freak, you are NOT Kara Goucher and you'd better rein it in before you hurt yourself dumbass!" kind of runs. The ones where I try to talk myself into cutting it short for a good 2 miles while my legs propel me farther and farther away from my house so I at least have to run that far again to get home. It didn't help that it was SO windy that I felt like I was huffing and puffing but not MOVING at all. The copious amounts of potato chips and onion dip I ate the night before MIGHT have had something to do with that. Maybe.

3. My shin is still weird sore, but I think it's something I can run off. It's feeling much better than it was - an impromptu 3 days of rest in a row probably didn't hurt.

4. It's been really hard for me to be a racing addict (I'd do one every week if I could) on a budget that is RESTRICTING my ABILITY dammit. I spend entirely too much time finding fantastic races that I can't afford to do. Part of this is because I am terrified to do a really long run solo, and races are like conveniently supported training runs for me. I'm hoping that the running club can help on this front, because I cannot afford to pay $50+ for each long run I need to do this year. Not and remain married anyhow...

5. Thursday is the LAST DAY OF BASKETBALL HALLE-FREAKING-LUJAH!!! I am ready to resume some semblance of normalcy around here. And maybe even actually RUN with the running club. Imagine! But first I get to deal with 3 days of conference tournaments without a husband to help me. Nice of him to schedule an elective work seminar so conveniently, no? Trust me, much whining will ensue. After I make him feel just a LITTLE more guilty about it all.

Have a great weekend!!!

March 1 Goal Check In, Happy Birthday, and My ABCs

GOAL CHECK IN
1. Run more - February miles = 51.8. Need to up this lots, but marathon training is going swimmingly, so I'm not worried yet.

2. Lose 8. I am down 1 pound. Considering all the birthday cake I've consumed in the last week, I'll take it.

3. Sub-6 marathon. My pace has been fantastic lately. Totally doable depending on race day.

4. Housekeeping. I've given my kitchen a make-over, including a couple of the catch-all cabinets.

5. 1 on 1 with non-James kids. I had some really nice quality time with both girls this month. Need some Jack time.

6. Crosstraining. Major FAIL.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Four years ago today I birthed my last baby. He has changed my life in unimaginable and wonderful ways. I love him with my whole being. Happy birthday little man. I am so sorry I couldn't come to your birthday party at school today (Julia is home sick. Gah.). I hope you are having a wonderful day!

My ABCs

Since I can't run and can't birthday party due to the cough/puking of my favorite drama queen (who now is pissed because I won't let her play outside) I figured I'd play along...

(A) Age: WAY too close to 40
(B) Bed Size: King (still not big enough)
(C) Chore You Hate: Dusting
(D) Dogs? Nope, much to the kids dismay
(E) Essential Start Your Day Item: Coffee
(F) Favorite Color: Red
(G) Gold or Silver? Yes, please? I own more gold though...
(H) Height: 5'8"
(I) Instruments You Play: I took guitar lessons for a few months before I decided it wasn't cool enough. I couldn't play a note now though. I sing, so I CAN read music...
(J) Job Title: CEO of my castle. I used to be a Medical Technologist in a Microbiology lab.
(K) Kids: Jenna (11), Jack (9), Julia (5) and James (4)
(L) Live: IL for 18 years, but born and raised a MN girl
(M) Mom's Name: Lucy
(N) Nicknames: Mom, Mommy, Bob, Cakey
(O) Overnight Hospital Stays? 4 babies and kidney stones
(P) Pet Peeve: Close-talkers and being late
(Q) Quote from a Movie: "You boys like Mex-EE-co?!?!" Super Troopers, "Twooo Wuv" Princess Bride and pretty much the entire Breakfast Club movie. I can recite it. It's very annoying.
(R) Right or Left Handed? Right
(S) Siblings: 1 younger sister
(T) Time You Wake Up? 5:30 unless I'm running early - then 4:30
(U) Underwear: yes
(V) Vegetable You Dislike: peas
(W) What Makes You Run Late: 4 kids - drives me bonkers
(X) X-Rays You've Had Done: teeth, the whole kidney stone thing (with radioactive dye - fantastic)
(Y) Yummy Food You Make: Chili!
(Z) Zoo, Favorite Animal: I love the big cats...