It's been a week :(

I haven't run in a week.  This is the longest I've gone without running since last Christmas.  It makes me sad, but the thought of going out for a run just makes me tired.  I hope I don't lose too much before I can get out there again.  There's a reason, but I can't share it quite yet.  Anyone else had any longer pauses in their running and were able to get back to it?  I need some good stories!!!

It's been a year!!!!

I don't know the exact date, but I'm pretty sure I started the C25K program sometime in mid September of last year.

I can't believe I've stuck with it this long, actually I can because it's been awesome, but I was NEVER a runner before.  I was on the softball team in high school and the dance team.  We ran stairs for dance and sometimes Indian runs and for softball some people ran, but I was a pitcher so I would pitch batting practice while groups alternated between hitting, fielding and running so I barely had to run more than the 60 yards from home to 1st base.

I had tried running before once right after college.  I was also doing weight watchers then, but I never got to running more than like 15 minutes without feeling like I was dying.  I think that I was running way to fast then, but anyway, a whole year woohoo!!!

Green Lake 13 dot 1 & 5K Race Review

So this actually took place on Labor Day weekend, but I've been waiting to get the pictures from my mom, but I keep forgetting to get her camera so I guess I'll just post them later.

Green Lake is the itty bitty lake town where my family has a couple of condos.  We go up there quite a bit and I love it there.  The weekend prior to Labor Day weekend I was there and saw a sign for The Green Lake 13 dot 1 and 5K race.  I was super excited and signed up online that day.  It was their first annual race and even though the town is small I thought they did a really good job setting it up.

During the week before I was looking at the website and noticed that they had a list of participants.  At that time there were only 25 people on the list for the 5K.  I immediately though, oh geez, I'm going to come in last place! Apparently they hadn't updated the list or everyone signed up at the last minute because there were more like 100 people for the 5K and that did not include walkers that signed up the day before.

That Thursday before I decided to run fast 3.1 to see how far I could push myself since I haven't raced since June.   I didn't want to go too fast and then poop out before the end, but I wanted to do as well as I possibly could.  Anyway, on Thursday I finished 3.1 miles in 31:18.  I was super excited and decided to set my goal for 31 minutes, which would've been a 2 min PR and 4 minutes better than my last race which was horrible.

On Friday I got some news that made me think that I might not be able to go as fast as I had hoped.  I decided to not worry about it too much and just see how I felt as I was going.  My sister-in-law was running this race too and I knew she would beat me because she is much faster than me, but I decided not to worry about that either.

On Saturday my mom and aunt decided to sign up to walk the race.  I was really proud of my mom because she used to walk 3 miles every single day at 5am without fail when I was growing up and quit doing it when we moved out to the country when I was in high school.  She keeps talking about starting walking again, so I was glad she decided to sign up.  We picked up our numbers and shirts on Saturday at the community center in town.  Saturday night I vowed to go to bed by at least midnight, which was still late compared to my normal bedtime, but much earlier than our usual bedtime at the lake!

Sunday morning I woke up and got dressed and was feeling really nervous.  I really don't know why, it's not like I was worried about winning at all.  I always get nervous like this before big events though, even when I played softball in high school and when I was on the dance team.  I guess it's just my competitiveness.

This is the first race I've done that there was another distance going at the same time.  The half marathon started 15 minutes before the 5K so as we were walking to the starting line they were taking off.  Of course my sister-in-law was disorganized as usual, and was just charging her iPod at the time that I decided we needed to leave the house.  Love the girl to death, but she seriously drives me crazy!  So we got there early and I ate my Gu and drank too much water because we were standing around waiting.  Finally it was our turn to line up.  We got behind the first couple rows of people who looked like they would probably finish in like 15 minutes.

We had chips, but it was a gun start, but there weren't too many people there so it only took us a few seconds to pass the start line.  I started my Garmin at that time.  The race started at the bottom of a giant hill.  Awesome!  We took off and I felt pretty good.  My dad was at the beginning taking pictures of us so I waved.  I looked at my watch near the top of the hill and it said 9:15 or something crazy.  This was NOT good, I would never make it to the end at that pace, but like I said there weren't a lot of people and they all took off like crazy!  I tried to slow down a bit, but it wasn't easy.

The race turned through town and then headed toward the lake, but I had read the map wrong and it jogged through a neighborhood and then winded through the hotel property.  There were race volunteers at every turn and they were all doing a great job.  There were younger kids (probably from the high school sports teams) and adult volunteers.  They were all saying nice encouraging things and smiling.  I tried to say thank you at each turn.

My first mile was 9:41.  This was way way way too fast for me, although I didn't feel too bad, I was really worried I wouldn't finish.  I had run here quite a bit and knew there were several more large hills coming up.  I tried to really slow down, but was having a hard time doing that.  I was looking at my watch a lot and stayed around 10 min/mile for the second mile.  At the 2nd mile marker I decided to stop worrying so much about slowing down and just go for it.  I had planned on "sprinting" the last quarter mile and when there was a half mile to go we were at the bottom of a huge hill heading back into town from the lake and I was getting tired.  I decided to wait to "sprint" until I got to the top of the hill.  When I got to the top I had slightly less than a quarter mile to go so I took a deep breath and turned it up.  When I was close enough to the finish to see the clock (I need new contacts!) It was at 29:58, I crossed the finish at 30:03 and stopped my watch immediately.  Garmin time was 29:58 which was a 9:39 average pace.  Holy Crap!!! My last mile was 9:40 and the last .1 was 7:17!  I nearly died when the girl that was a foot and a half past the finish line wanted to cut off my chip.  They had given out zip ties and I had made sure it was nice and tight so she had a little trouble cutting it off and I had just sprinted a quarter mile at the fastest I have ever run in my life and I needed to NOT stop!

I found my sister-in-law, she had finished less than a minute before me and we walked a bit until I could breath again!  We decided to walk back and see if we could find my mom and aunt and walk in with them.  On the way we found my dad and brother and grandparents so we stopped to chat with them.  While we were running they had gone to the pancake breakfast.  I still felt the need to move though so after a few minutes we left to find my mom.  We found them at the bottom of that last hill and they were doing great.  We walked up with them and they finished in about 45 minutes.

Not much longer after that we were standing near the finish line, which happened to also be the 11 mile marker for the half,  and all of a sudden the leader came running by.  He didn't even look winded and flew by us at 100 miles an hour!  It was crazy.  He ended up finishing the half in 1:12, holy crap!  The weekend before I ran 6 miles in 1:08 and I thought that was good.  haha!

Anyway, it was an awesome race and awesome weather and they did a really good job for the 1st time.  We talked to the man who's idea this was and he said that it was a lot of work, but they thought they had a good turnout and would definitely try doing it next year.  I hope to be there for it then too!!!

Cherry On Top Award

This is how the award works:

#1. Answer this question: If you had the chance to go back and change one thing in your life, would you and what would it be?

#2. Pick 6 people and give them this award. Then inform them that they received an award.

#3. Thank the person who gave this award to you!

#1. I don't know how to answer this.  I'm not sure I would change anything.  I know that sounds lame, but if I changed something then I wouldn't have my wonderful husband and my wonderful daughter.  I guess if I had to change something, I would've finished college instead of giving it up to work in restaurants.  In my defense, at the time I liked it and felt like it was something I was good at and aparently I was because I eventually became the General Manager at a medium sized chain restaurant and I got there relatively quickly.  Unfortunately while I was doing that I learned that I never want to do it ever again.  Oh well.  Live and learn I guess. 

#2. So many people have done this and I love all the blogs that I read, so I don't know who to pick so if you're reading this and you haven't done this award, please consider yourself picked!  

#3. Thank you Zoe here for giving me this award!!!

I know I haven't blogged for awhile, but stay tuned because I have last week's race report to post soon!!! 

3 Things Thursday

1.  I love running again!!!  I am really liking the interval runs I've been doing on Wednesdays.  They make me feel strong and powerful.  I am amazed each time by the fact that I finished them! haha!  I really enjoyed my long slow run this past Saturday.  My Garmin died 2 minutes in though so I didn't have anything to tell me my pace or time.  I think I did almost 6 miles in about 1 hour and 5 or 10 minutes.  My other two runs of the week have been faster and easier (for the most part).  I'm really glad I decided to add these two elements into my running because it has given me something to look forward to each week and some almost immediate results as well.

2.  I don't love running with the jogging stroller so much.  I have been in denial about this since I bought the damn thing.  It is of course better than not running at all, or running in the 100 degree heat later in the day.  It is hard to push that thing!  Maggs is only 23 or 24 pounds, but still its hard.  I run in a pretty flat area when I have her with me, but it's still hard.  Maggie loves it though!  She sings songs, points out every bird and flower on the way by and is happy the whole time.  It is still hard though! Luckily I only have to do it on half my runs.  Dave is home on Saturdays and my dad watches her on most wednesdays when I do those intervals.  I think he would watch her on Mondays and Thursdays too, but I don't want to ask him that much.

3.  My brother and sister-in-law do something they call "Fat Kid Sundays" where they eat a whole bunch of junk just because it's Sunday.  It's usually also because they are hung over and those kinds of not so good for you foods are oh so good for hang overs.  Dave and I had "Rich Kid Monday" this past Monday.  Unfortunately, we aren't really rich, but we bought a new computer and a Wii.  I got my Mac Book that I've wanted forever and Dave wanted a Playstation 3, but I convinced him to get the Wii instead.  They are both awesome and we are having tons of fun with them.  So "Rich Kin Monday" was followed by poor idiot Tuesday, but oh well.  If you can't indulge every once in awhile what's the point? You can't take it with you right?

3 Things Thursday

A couple of people do this on Thursdays so I figured I would too, so here goes:

1. I love So You Think You Can Dance!  It is so awesome and the dancers are amazing.  They are just all around amazing, but if you really sit down and think about the amount of time and energy that goes into learning all of these dances, plus practicing multiple dances and doing them as well as they do them.  It is really mind boggling.  This week they learned and perfected 5 routines.  Some in genres that they have never danced before, or at least before being on the show.  Awesome!

2. I think I might be crazy, but I think I'm getting faster.  I've only done a couple runs with intervals and a few long, slow runs, both of which are supposed to help with speed (right?) My last few regular runs have been faster average pace.  Hmmmm It's probably all in my head, but whatever works!

3. It's so hot outside I think I might actually melt at some point.  I am a winter person, I would much rather be freezing than in sweltering heat (yes I'm dramatic) Really though, the heat indexes were in the 100 degree range today with ridiculously high humidity.  Yuck yuck yuck.  Dave has a softball game tonight, I think I will be missing it tonight.  Sorry Babe!

Happy running everyone!  Stay cool!

Run like the wind....

After talking to my aunt who has been running for years and has done 5 1/2's this year and has run the Chicago marathon and done several triathlons I have decided to not just run each time I go out.  I've been reading blogs for awhile and I see people doing tempo runs and long, slow runs and all that stuff, but I just assumed that I wasn't that advanced and I just needed to run.  And then I got bored.  And I felt like I wasn't improving, all of my runs were the same pace, I felt like I was dying if I tried to go any faster, and I felt discouraged.  She told me that she had been a 10 min miler for 10 years.  She never really worked at it, that's just how she ran.  Then she started running with a friend and this friend did tempo runs.  My aunt started doing them with her and now runs 8:30 miles.

So I did my first tempo run (I think, I don't know if I have the correct terminology) on Wednesday.  Then today I ran 5 miles slower than I have been running "normally".  I set the Garmin to chirp at me when I was going faster than 11:00 min/mile.  I did the same thing last week and it chirped at me a lot.  This week, not so much! I had no problem slowing down.  I don't know if it was because I was really focusing on it or if it would've been a crappy run if I was trying to run "normal".  Either way I felt good the whole time until the last quarter mile I started to feel really tired.  I ended up only running a little over 5 miles in an hour which seems so incredibly slow compared to all of you, but hopefully it will help me actually get faster.  That's the logic right?  We'll see.

Doing a little biking

Dave and I have decided to add biking into our workouts.  I knew I needed to do something besides just running but I let my Y membership go because Maggie wasn't happy in the KidZone anymore and it was silly to keep it since I was only there 15 min before they had to come get me.  After hanging out with my aunt and uncle at the lake the weekend before last we decided that biking would be a good thing to add in. 

I have no desire to do a triathlon, but Dave thinks that he might want to do one.  We have a craptastic bike that we bought at Farm and Fleet several years ago.  It was the cheapest one they had.  I need to get some kind of seat cover because yowsa does my bootie hurt after riding just a few minutes!  Dave decided he wanted to buy a new bike this week.  I told him he needed to actually ride the bike for awhile before we went and spent more money (that we don't have) on a new one.  When we bought the craptastic bike he really really wanted a bike.  He rode it all of twice in the next 3 years.  Nice, so he needs to actually want it this time!  Silly boy!

In a Rut

I think I'm in a running rut, or was, I'm not sure.  I don't have anything coming up.  When I was doing Couch to 5K last fall, the end was the goal.  Then I ran a 5k a couple months after that, and then another 5k a few weeks later.  Right now I've got nothing.  There is a 10k in my little town at the end of October.  It's on Sunday of Pumpkin Fest weekend though so I'm torn.  Pumpkin Fest is a big deal here.  It starts on Wednesday with a display of decorated pumpkins on the courthouse lawn.  It ends on Sunday afternoon with a super ridiculous long parade.  It is my favorite time of year!  Honestly, I'm not sure why anyone that's not from here would want to subject themselves to this, but people come from all over the place to participate.  The best part is that a lot of people "come home" for Pumpkinfest and I get to see a lot of old friends.  On Saturday night our good friends have a party and then bar crawl.  That's not going to work if I'm going to run 6.2 miles for the first time the next morning.  I wish they would do the run on Saturday morning, that would make it much easier.  So even though I really love running, and have never run the pumpkin run before (I worked at it all 4 years in high school) I don't know if I want to give up my Saturday night.

Because I have nothing planned I feel like I'm in a rut.  Although I have been running, I don't feel like I've really been improving at all.  Most of my runs are right at 3 miles (or a little more) and that's it.  I haven't missed any runs because I'm trying to loose weight (10 pounds to go) but that's kind of been in a rut too.  I don't have a lot of motivation to do any more than the 3 miles.  I would like to work on speed and to increase my distance some.  I've been running in the mornings quite a bit and pushing the jogging stroller.  Maybe that's why I don't want to do more than 3 miles, pushing the stroller is hard work!!!!

We went to the lake last weekend for a family reunion.  It was super fun and it was great to see all my cousins and second cousins and their parents.  My aunt and uncle and 2 cousins were here from Colorado.  They are both runners and my uncle did an Ironman last year (I think, could've been the year before)  My aunt offered to run with me one of the days we were there.  I was a little worried.  I wanted to run with her, but she's fast, or faster than me at least (that's not hard to do) and I can't talk while I run.  I have to think about my breathing in order to not hyperventilate.  We got there on Thursday afternoon and I ran on Friday with my sister-in-law.  She ran slow with me and we didn't talk.  I actually ended up running faster than usual by around 15-20 sec/mile.  On Sunday my aunt asked me if I wanted some company on my run.  I gave my usual, "are you sure?  I'm super slow, you can probably walk faster than I run, and I can't talk" speech that I give when anyone mentions running with me.  She said she wanted to do a recovery run anyway and would run at my pace.  She said she talked a lot, but would be quiet if I wanted her to be.  I told her I could handle listening so she could talk all she wanted, and I could grunt yes and no responses periodically if need be.  We took off 20 min later and we talked the whole time!  It was great!  I was huffing and puffing, but so was she!  I felt like if she was huffing and puffing running my 11:00min/mile pace that it wasn't as embarrassing that I was huffing and puffing too.  At one point on the way back she said, "we are at a 9:50 pace, do you need to slow down?" Holy crap!  Yes, I needed to slow down, but I didn't feel like I was running that fast at all!! It was great and I was tired  but felt awesome when we were done.

Both my aunt and uncle have Garmin Forerunners.  Dave ran both times with my uncle's and fell in love.  I have my Nike+, but he had never run with anything more than his Timex watch.  We decided we had to have one, especially since they told us that we could probably find one in the $150 range if we looked around.  I thought they were closer to $300-ish which was definitely out of our price range.  Dave's b-day was yesterday so when we got home on Monday afternoon I started searching for them online.  I found the 305 at Best Buy and Walmart for $145 woohooo!!!! Of course they didn't carry  it at our Best Buy in town, but they had it in Elgin so we hopped in the car and headed there.  So we are now the proud owners of a shared Garmin Forerunner 305!  I am still getting used to it, but I really like it a lot!!!

Dave also decided he wanted to start riding his bike (Super cheapie that I bought him 2 or 3 years ago for his b-day that he's ridden all of 3 times) and swimming at the Y.  So I decided to ride the bike too.  I rode on Tuesday (with the new Garmin) and on Friday.  The bike kills my butt and my back, but my mom has a much nicer bike so I rode to my parents house and traded.  I think I will keep doing that.  She has a much nicer seat and the handle bars are higher so I'm not so hunched over.  Much better.

My runs have all been a tad faster this week and I even ran a little of 5 miles yesterday.  Maybe getting the new Garmin and riding the bike is helping me get out of my rut.  Lets hope so!

Nothing to say

I don't have much to say lately.  I've been running, but it's been boring.  I've been pushing the stupid jogging stroller and it's been a million degrees even in the morning.  I have dropped Maggs off at my parents house a few times because it's been so damn hot.  I hate the heat.  I'd rather it be 20 degrees outside than it be this hot and humid. 

We are having a party tomorrow.  It's supposed to be close to 90 degrees, but less humidity.  Hopefully it will be ok outside because we don't really have enough room for everyone inside. 

Next weekend we are going back up to the lake for a family reunion.  I'm excited to see everyone and I love running there.  Hopefully we don't all fry like bacon in the heat! 

One exciting thing that is going on is that Dave Matthews Band announced a few weeks ago that they will be finishing up their summer tour at Wrigley.  When I heard this I joined the Warehouse and requested some presale tickets.  We find out today if I got them and I'm super excited.  Yesterday I noticed a preauthorization on my debit cards for the amount of the tickets.  I'm hoping this means that we got them, but Dave burst my bubble last night and said they probably preauthorize all the cards to make sure there is money available before they decide who does and doesn't get the tickets.  I've been constantly refreshing my web browser waiting for the "processing" to turn to "accepted" Cross your fingers for me!!!!

50 lb Lead Weights

This is what my legs felt like this morning.  It was not fun.  I wanted to quit in the first 5 minutes.  I pushed for 3.1 super slow, agonizing miles.  Yuck!  I hope whoever stole my legs and replaced them with 50 lb lead weights returns them before Monday!!!

4th of July Weekend

Yeah I know, 4th of July weekend was a whole week ago, but it is what it is right?

We headed up to the lake on Thursday afternoon and we had a wonderful time! My grandparents had just gotten there when we got there.  My parents and my brothers and sister in law got there the next day.  My Aunt and Uncle and cousins were there as well. 

I just love going to the lake.  It is so peaceful and beautiful there.  Even though we have tv and cell phone coverage (kind of) and WiFi there, we spent almost all of our time outside either playing bags, walking around town, or just hanging out on the porch. 

Maggie had a great time too.  She slept very well the whole time until the last night.  She slept right through the fireworks even though I was sure she would wake up.  She went on the boat a couple times and loved it, even with her life jacket on.  We went swimming in the lake and she loved that too. 

I ran 5 miles on Saturday morning.  I was planning on doing 6 miles, but I didn't go early enough and it was super super hot.  I inhaled a bug right around 5 miles and decided that I would just be done right then! Yuck!!! Dave and I ran together on Monday and it was hot and really humid.  I ended up running 3.5 even though I felt like I was dying the whole time.   I think it was a combination of too many cheesy potatoes the night before and the fact that I had drank more beer than water every day of the weekend.  Oops! 

This week has been HOT AND HUMID.  Today was the first day that the humidity was less than 95%.  Yuck!  I can't wait until fall!!!!

Battle this Morning

I had a battle with myself this morning. 

Monday I ran with Dave and Maggie and Dave and I took turns pushing the stroller.  I felt like I was running faster than normal but after 2 stops for traffic and 1 stop for a dog who was chasing us my average pace was lower than I thought. 

This morning I went out solo with Maggie in the stroller.  It was beautiful outside this morning, in the 60's and sunny.  After weeks of ridiculous heat and humidity this was awesome!!!  I started out faster than normal and was around a 10:30 mile.  I told myself to try to keep it up for the first 10 minutes and then I could slow down. 

When I got to 10 minutes the battle began.  I felt pretty good, but could feel myself breathing harder than I usually do.  One half of my brain was saying, "Heck yeah slow down down"  the other half was saying, "Heck no you feel fine keep pushing it"  The pushing it side won.  I kept going and told the slow down side that I would slow down after another 10 minutes and to shut up.  I won't bore you with the rest, but the slow down side did not shut up, but the keep pushing side ended up winning and I ended up running 3.25 miles with a 10:50 min/mile average pace.  I usually run right around 11:10 min/mile average so this was 20 seconds per mile faster.  Not too shabby.

I know that's still super slow compared to most people on the planet, but it's what I've got!  Speaking of what I've got, I just happened to be messing around on my Nike plus website and noticed that my average pace has gotten slower since I started running.  WTH?  Why would it get slower?  The only thing that I can guess would be the weather.  I definitely do better (in general) in the cold than the hot.  It has been super hot and humid for awhile now so hopefully that's it. 

We are headed to the lake for the weekend!  I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th!!!

Busy week and weekend

We had a great Father's Day weekend.  Maggie and I went with my parents and grandparents up to the lake on Friday and Saturday.  We had a wonderful time.  We got to go on the boat and Maggie loved it.  She even wore her life jacket without complaining at all which I was happily surprised about. 

I went for a run on Saturday morning.  It is so beautiful there that it is easy to just run and run and run.  The route is hillier than anywhere I run at home.  It's basically an out and back route.  The road is the one closest to the lake and there are beautiful houses and huge old trees so it's pretty shaded.  I ran out about 2.25 miles and then back and decided to keep going past our house and finished at 6 miles.  It took me 1 hour 6 minutes.  The second part, past our house, had no shade at all so it was HOT by the time I was gone.  It felt great though!  I'm not sure that I could run for that long at home.  It just seems harder and much more boring.  Maybe I need to try a new route.


Dave ran in the Warrior Dash in Joliet on Saturday so he didn't come with us to the lake.   I was a little worried about it after I saw some pictures of it.  For anyone who doesn't know it is about 5k and includes 12 obstacles.  Including 4 foot walls to jump over, cargo net to climb, mud pit with barbed wire over it, climbing over junk cars and tire running thingy and then jumping over a fire pit thing.  Yikes!!  He did great though.  He finished in 33 minutes.  I was shocked!  I can barely just run a 5k in 33 minutes let alone do 12 crazy obstacles within it.  I am so proud of him and he really loved it!

Maggie and I came home on Sunday and spent father's day with Dave and then had dinner with my family.  It was a very nice day. 

On Monday Dave had taken off work and we went to the Field Museum.  Dave's work gives him a free membership and we hadn't gone yet.  It was very nice.  I'm glad it was free because we only stayed for a few hours because by the time we got there it was only a couple of hours before it was time for lunch and nap. 

On Tuesday we went to Great America.  Maggie stayed at home with my dad.  They had a great time and I'm so happy that everything worked out for them.  We originally had my friend watching her, but she had a family emergency and couldn't do it.   Maggie and my dad had a great time and so did Dave and I.  This was a work outing and we had lunch there for free and then rode a few rides.   It was fun, the traffic on the way home wasn't so fun, but what are you going to do right?

I have 184 blog posts to catch up on on my google reader.  Oy vey that's a lot.  I hope everyone had a wonderful week and hope you all have a great weekend.  One more weekend and then the 4th of July!  I can't believe how quickly the summer is passing, or how crazy HOT it's been! 

Happy running!!!

Morning Run

I am not a morning person.  At. All.  I would rather sleep until noon and be up until 4am.  Of course I haven't done that in about 17 months (since I had Maggie) but it's what I did all through my college years and a few years after when I was working mostly 3pm-1am in the restaurant.  Our normal routine in the morning is to get Maggie up and change her diaper and then give her a sippy cup of milk and take her back into my bed and put on Sesame Street so I can wake up slowly.  The mornings are getting better and I don't mind them quite so much lately.  This morning instead of watching the whole episode of Sesame Street I decided to get up and get dressed to go run.  It was supposed to be in the 80's and 98% humidity with only a 2 mph wind by lunch time.  I usually run out to the park for Dave's softball game on Thursday and my mom brings Maggie out, but we are leaving for the lake early tomorrow morning so I don't know if she's planning on going to the game and it was going to be stupid hot by then. 

The jogging stroller isn't my favorite thing in the whole world to run with, but Maggie loves it.  Usually when we push her it's because Dave and I are running together and we take turns pushing her.   I was a little worried because she hadn't eaten breakfast yet, but she's usually up for a hour or so before she eats.  I started out pretty slow because I didn't want to burn myself out too quickly.  The stroller always throws my stride off a bit and it is hard for me to push it with my left hand.  It feels really awkward which means I spend most of the time pushing it with my right and then my shoulder starts to get tight.  Anyway, I decided not to worry about my pace and just run for 30 min or a little longer. 

Maggie was pointing at all the birds and dogs that we saw.  When we were running west she was waving at our shadows.  We ended up running for 40 minutes and 3.6 miles with an 11:07 pace.  I felt like I was running faster than that but it must've been because I was pushing the stroller.  Maggie did great, she was happy the whole time so that was good.  And now that I've already run today I can go to the softball games in normal clothes and people won't have to look at me in my short shorts ::shudder::

We are headed up to the lake tomorrow morning.  Just my mom and dad and Maggie and I are going, and my grandparents are going to be there.  Dave is doing the Warrior Dash on Saturday so he suggested we go.  We will come back Saturday evening so we can spend Father's Day together.  I am looking forward to running there on Saturday.  I have had my best runs there because it is so pretty.  Yay!!! 

Have a good weekend everyone!!  Happy Running!!

Haven't Run

I haven't run since my bad race on Saturday.  I am bound and determined to today though.  Yesterday I was planning on going, but Dave got home late so by the time he was done running and was back it was time for dinner and then it was too late.

On a good note, Maggie and I are headed to the lake this weekend I think.  Dave is running in the Warrior Dash in Joliet on Saturday so I'm going to go up to the lake with my mom and dad and my grandparents will be there.  I think we'll leave on Thursday night and stay until Saturday night then we'll come home and have father's day at home. 

Since it's almost father's day here's a couple pictures of Maggie and Dave this year and last year.  It's amazing how much they have both  changed!

This one is when she was only a couple weeks old.

This is them last night.   Aren't they so cute?!?!?

Malta Tractor Trot 5K recap

It was horrible.  Just horrible.  It started last night.  I couldn't decide if I wanted to run in the first place.  I decided to because my good friend was doing it.  Last night I went to bed at 10, not too bad.  At 11:30 I woke up to snoring.  I got Dave to roll over and fell back to sleep.  At 1am the dumb dog was whining in my face to go outside.  What? she never needs to go out in the middle of the night.  Then I heard Maggie at 2:08.  She hasn't woken up during the night in forever, until the last 2 nights.  The first night she put herself back to sleep in a couple minutes, the next night she woke up twice, the first time I had to go in the second time she put herself back to sleep.  Last night I had to go in.  I don't know what was going on, but she was not falling back to sleep so I had to go in.  I rocked her for a bit.  She fell back to sleep right away in my arms, as soon as I put her in her bed she woke up crying and saying, "up, up, please".  So I started over, luckily the second time I put her down she stayed asleep.  By 2:48 I was back in bed.  I heard her again at 3:23.  I had to go back in, she went back to sleep on the first try this time thank goodness.  Then I woke up for no reason at 4:15, 5:30 and 6:00.  My alarm went off at 7, awesome.

It wasn't raining though so that was good.  I packed both of my arm bands, I have one that is more comfortable but is pretty open, the other one seems to be more protective, but is not very comfortable to wear.  I contemplated wearing my old shoes because there was some rain in the forecast, but after checking the weather channel app on my iPod touch I decided I would wear the new ones.

The race was at 9am but we got there at like 8:20.  I went to register because I hadn't yet.  The other people I was with had registered online.  We were one of like 10 people there.  They were out of shirts already, so I was bummed about that, but they said they would mark it on my registration and mail one to me, although they never asked my size so I doubt they will actually send it.

I started sweating on the walk back to the car to put our bags down.  It wasn't super hot (yet) but about 99% humidity.  I decided not to bring my hand held water bottle with me.  I don't drink much anyway and I would rather not carry it.  We lined up at around 5 till 9.   A voice over a loud speaker said that the race would be starting about 5 min late.   Then they sang the star spangled banner, that's when I noticed that the loud speaker was actually the CB radio speaker on the top of the pick up truck that was at the starting line.

The actual race started out ok.  I started my Nike+ when I hit the start line and about a minute and a half later I pushed the button to make sure I wasn't starting out too fast.  Nothing happened.....pushed it again....nothing.  Awesome, the music started, but it wasn't picking up any pace or distance.  I took off my armband and told me friend to go ahead.  I restarted the stupid thing and picked my pace back up.  Now I had no clue how far I had already gone or how much time was left.  When I got to the 1 mile mark I noticed a girl with a stop watch yelling out times so I decided to start my watch and then at least I would know what my time was.  She said 10:41 when I went past her.  I was happy with that and started my watch.

It was so humid I was having a hard time keeping my breath under control.  I just felt like I couldn't breathe at all.  Not.fun.  I slowed down a little because it was so hot.  I was feeling like a slow, old, hog.  Not exactly motivating.  Some chick was using me to pace her run/walk.  It was more like a sprint/walk.  She would sprint about 20 yards past me, then walk until I passed her, then she would sprint past me again.  This was super annoying, especially since I already wasn't feeling it.  Ugh! It felt like it took me 2 years to get to the second mile marker, and since I didn't know how far I had gone because of the stupid Nike+ snafu, I convinced myself that I had missed the sign and that I had to be getting close to 2.5 miles.  I was wrong.  At the 2 mile marker there was a lady taking pictures and yelling out times...kind of.  I don't think she took my picture, and she didn't say my time.  I looked at my watch and it said 63:15...I forgot that Maggie likes to push the buttons on my watch so it didn't start at 00:00. You have got to be kidding me.

Right after that I noticed the black wall of clouds coming quickly our way.  Although I don't know how they were moving at all because the was no wind moving AT ALL.  I was trying to decide what I would do with my iPod

I finally made it to the finish, the sign had blown down though.  There was a guy taking the bottom part of our numbers and I couldn't get mine off so I had to stand there and mess with it.  Then I accidentally gave him my raffle entry square thing and almost asked for it, but then I decided it didn't appear that the raffle was happening.  There were a few police cars around and a couple people.  I saw my friends, they were hiding behind a truck.  So we hid from the crazy rain while we waited for my friend's sister to finish.  We ran back to the car and then went home soaking wet.  I think I finished in somewhere around 35 minutes, which is the slowest I've run a 5k (race or not) in forever.  My iPod still works, thank goodness.  My brand new shoes are super soaked, probably ruined.  I wish I would've stayed in bed this morning.

I'm mad at myself and disappointed.  Oh well, the next one will be better I suppose.

New Shoes!!!

Maggie and I ventured to Dick Pond's today to get new shoes!!!!! It was great! I have never been to a running store or anywhere where anyone knew what the heck they were talking about.  My last pair of shoes I bought at Kohl's and chose them because they felt ok and I liked the colors.  Haha!

I tried on a whole bunch of different pairs, walked and ran on the treadmill and was told that I have great feet.  Awesome!  Maggie was pretty good the whole time and even made a new friend when she kept throwing her piggy on the floor.  She was ready to be done in the stroller about 2 minutes before I was done so the other shoppers in Dick Pond's got to hear her scream.  Sorry other shoppers!!! I got New Balance 760's.  They are white and blue.

They aren't the color combo I would've chosen, but other than that I really like them so far.  I wasn't really planning on running today, but I think I'm going to run out to the park for the softball game. 

Oh and last, but not least   Hawks Win!!!!!!!!

                                         (image from www.abc7chicago.com)

They brought the Stanley Cup to Chicago for the first time in 49 years and they were all so humble and team centered even after they had won!  It was very nice to see!  Go Hawks!!! 

A Race this Weekend?

My friend sent me an email yesterday asking if I was interested in running a 5K race this Saturday.  For some reason I'm hesitating.  Yesterday's run was really hard.  I'm not sure why. 

Dave and I ran together with Maggs in the jogging stroller.  It was a beautiful day out and we had already gone for a walk earlier in the day with a new mommy friend.  It wasn't a very long walk or a very hard walk.  I did run in to my high school softball coach which stunk because I can't stand him.   We were playing outside when Dave got home and he was crabby, and Maggie was crabby and that made me crabby. 

I started out pushing the stroller and immediately my left knee started hurting.  Ugh!  I know I need new shoes, but my knee has not hurt me at.all. in a long time so it start worrying about it right away.  It never got any worse though so I kept going.  My Nike+ didn't work for the first 5 minutes so I had to try to fix it while pushing the stroller and after all of that I was just out of gas.  I was so tired.  Dave was running ahead of me which I shouldn't care about, but it makes me feel even slower.  I mean he is 6'4" so of course he's faster than me.  I took Maggie home a little earlier than Dave and then I decided to run a little bit more, around the horseshoe of our street.  The jogging stroller eventually hurts my shoulder because I can't keep them relaxed while pushing it, especially into the wind.  Dave and I switched pushing a couple times, but that didn't seem to help.  I ended up running about 40 minutes and about 3.6-ish miles (see about about nike+ not working at the beginning so I'm not 100% sure of the total mileage or time) It was slow, but oh well.  I guess I just have to chalk this one up to a bad run and go from there. 

So anyway, I'm not sure if I want to race because I had such a bad run and my knee was bothering me.  I don't want to get hurt.  I'm going to take today off and run again on Wednesday and see if it feels any better, then I will decided about Saturday. 

Do you get discouraged by a bad run?  How do you "get over it"?

Long weekend, long week

Since it's been a few days since I've written a post I thought I'd make a list of things instead of writing a super long blog post.

- We are going to the White Sox game tonight!  Dave won tickets on the radio so the seats are good.  We are taking my dad and a friend of his and my mom gets to have Maggie all night.  I'm not sure who is more excited her or me!

- I ran yesterday and Monday.  3 miles and 4 miles nothing too exciting.  I would like to start running longer distances, but it's just so darn hot!  Maybe I'll try to get up early this weekend and run....maybe

- I need new shoes.  I want to go to a running store and get fitted.  I know nothing about doing that though.  Do you have to make an appointment?  Just show up? Is it going to cost me a million dollars because I don't have a million dollars.

- Even though we have been (kind of) trying to get pregnant again, I kind of hope it didn't work again this month because Dave's work is hosting an outing at Great America and the spouses are invited for once and my good friend is babysitting so it will be super fun.

- Maggie weaned herself a couple weeks ago and now is asking me to put her down in her bed after we read and sing a few songs.  This makes me so happy because I worried that the almost 17 months of nursing her to sleep and then rocking her to sleep would make for 17 more years of rocking her to sleep!

-  I have 83 new posts waiting in my google reader.  This is intimidating and daunting, but I am looking forward to catching up!  I am so behind because I was gone all weekend, and then became obssesed with "Farm Frenzy" on my iPod touch...so addicting!

Happy Running!!!!

Eating Crap + 90* heat = not fun runs!

Like I said the other day, we went to my in-law's house in Springfield this weekend.  We are home now, and while I am very happy that Maggie got to see her grandparents, and we got to see a few friends that we haven't seen in awhile, I am happy to be home.

I didn't have the best week as far as my eating goes.  I think I ate hot dogs at at least 5 meals this week.  Most of them with chips or french fries.  We ate out at a Mexican restaurant and then got frozen custard on the way home, we had subs with about a gallon of mayo from a super yummy sub shop in Springfield yesterday, I had a horseshoe.  This is a Springfield specialty and is pictured below.  I had a buffalo chicken horseshoe which is a buffalo chicken breast on texas toast, topped with french fries and white cheese sauce.  Seriously, this is probably the worst thing on the planet for you to eat, but it is GOOD!  Good thing we only make it to Springfield a few times a year!  My mother-in-law also made cinnamon rolls, and dessert, and I drank more beer than usual.  All of this led to feeling like crap, self-esteem wise and running wise.  Yuck!  Just reading that list makes me cringe.

I did run 12.5 miles this week so I guess that's good.  On Saturday I ran in Springfield and it was HOT!  I felt like crap the entire time.  I think the only thing that saved me was that I was running in an unfamiliar place so it was a little more interesting.  I hope I felt like crap because of my bad eating and I can get it back on track next week.  I also hope that the August like heat and humidity chill out a little bit.  I don't like running in the heat.  My husband says he likes it and feels like if he is drenched in sweat when he gets home that he worked really hard.  I don't mind sweating, but I don't NEED it to feel like I worked hard.  I much prefer winter running!

I plan on getting back on track tomorrow.  I am afraid to step on the scale in the morning!!! 

Memorial Day Weekend

What are you doing this weekend?  We are headed south.  3 hours to my in-laws house in Springfield.  The rest of my family is heading 3 hours north to the lake.

Dave is golfing in a charity golf outing for Lincoln Land Downs Syndrome Society.  I'm sure that will be fun for him.  I hope that I will be able to run in Springfield...maybe Saturday.  Who knows it's usually about 100 degrees there. 

Tonight I am going to run out to the park to watch Dave's softball game.  It's only 2.5 miles so I'll have to add a little somewhere.  It's beautiful outside right now so hopefully that will last until tonight.  I love softball game night.  I played for a long time and I just love being out there.  Tonight they are actually playing on the fields that I played on in high school.  I might bring my glove and play a little catch before or after the game.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and don't forget why we have the day off in the first place!  Thank you to all the soldiers and their families out there!!!

Versatile Blogger

Erica at I Run Because....I Can nominated me for this award.  I am supposed to write 7 things about myself and then nominate 15 people.  A lot of the bloggers that I keep up with have already done this so if you haven't consider yourself nominated and I can't wait to read everyone else's 7 things!

1. I just started running in September with the Couch to 5K program.  I was never a runner before and now love it!  I recommend the program to everyone who mentions wanting to run.  They should probably pay me!

2. I have 2 younger brothers and a twin sister who passed away when we were 3.5 years old

3. I absolutely love chocolate and peanut butter.  Separately and together.  If it came out that peanut butter and/or chocolate was the worst food on the planet and would make me never able to lose weight I would be fat and happy!

4. I have been with my husband for almost 9 years (we've been married for almost 4) He was a cook at the restaurant that I worked in in college.  We worked together for 6 months before our first date.  When we started dating I had just become a manager at that restaurant.  My favorite shifts were when we were closing together ;)

5. I love Beverly Hills 90210 (the original) I have watched the entire 10 years of the show over and over again on the Soap Network.  I would love to own the DVDs of the show.  Dylan was soooooo hot!!!

6. I was a dancer (ballet and jazz) for many years and I played softball from kindergarten through high school.  I was on the sophomore team as a freshman and played varsity the next 3 years.  I was a pitcher.  My dad was my coach growing up and in the summers and volunteered as one of my high school coaches.  As much as he was a pain in my butt,  he was the best coach ever.  One of the few times I have ever seen him cry was at our last game as seniors.  He had coached me and 7 or 8 other girls since we were teeny tots. 

7.  I nursed Maggie for 16.5 months (just stopped last week) and I am very proud of that.  I never thought I would go beyond a year. 

This was fun.  I hope you learned a little about me and I can't wait to learn a little about you!

H.O.T. Hot!

Gotta love the midwest!  It went from 50 last week to 90* and 98% humidity this week.  Geez leweez!

Yesterday was my first really hot run.  I only started running last September and did the first month or so on the treadmill.  I HATE the heat.  I would prefer 30* to 90* any day of the week!  I don't want to get up at 5am either.  My husband gets up with Maggie most weekends and so I get to sleep in.  Since I am not a morning person at all I look forward to these days all week. 

I decided to get up at 9 and go running then.  I looked at my iPod touch weather app and it was already 75* yuck!  I decided to drive into town so I could run where there was more shade.  I usually run in a newer subdivision so there are no big trees.  I brought my Nathan handheld water bottle for the first time as well.  Dave ran with it on Saturday and said that it wasn't too bad to carry. 

I wanted to run 5 miles with my consolation prize being 4 miles.  I ran 4 miles on Thursday, but I hadn't run more than 4 in a few weeks.  I set my Nike + to 45 min and took off.  It was HOT immediately but I was ok.  I decided to just go slow and not push myself too hard if I started getting over heated.  I used to play softball and in the summer I would pitch 3-4 games in one day when it was 90* out, but it had been a LLLOOONNNGGG time since then, but I thought I would be able to tell when I was just uncomfortable and when I needed to stop.

The water was definitely needed, and I poured some on my head a time or two which helped.  My route was not as shady as I thought it would be and there were more hills than I was used to running on.  I did get to run down the street that I grew up and see my old house.  I love that house and would love to buy it someday.  I got back into downtown and was only at 3.41 miles, but it was really really hot by then.  I started to feel queasy and I decided that when I got to the end of the block I would walk for a block.  By the next block I felt worse and the car was only another block away so I decided to be done.  I got back in the car and was soaked with sweat. 

When I got home we hadn't turned the air on yet and I thought I might die!  I stretched and drank 2 more bottles of cold water and started to feel better.  I took a cool shower and felt 100%.  Then I started to feel guilty about stopping and not finishing the 4 miles.  I could've gone another 3/4 of a mile and been fine.  Oh well I guess. 

I might go to the Y to run on the dreadmill today though.  I definitely want to run today, but it's already late and the temp is almost 90* already.  Dave is out running now and has taken the day off of work so I can go to the Y without Maggie.  I hate that darn treadmill though, so we'll see. 

Running in the Rain

Tonight I ran in the rain and it was nice.  I enjoy running in the rain although I haven't been able to do it much lately.  I think the last time it was cold because I was able to wear my jacket so that my iPod was inside the pocket.  I have a armband that I don't use much but it has a full plastic cover and said "sweat resistant" on the box.  I bought it to wear when it rained, but I was worried about it tonight.  I ended up putting on a long sleeved shirt over  it and it was ok.

It wasn't raining too hard and my ponytail was only damp.  It had stopped by the time I was done.  I had planned on running out to the park for Dave's softball game.  I decided at the last second to just run around my neighborhood so that if the weather got worse I could just go home instead of being stuck somewhere between my house and the park.  The weather ended up not being bad at all though and I definitely could've gone to the park instead.  Oh well, better safe than sorry.

My hamstrings have been really tight lately.  I think it is from a combination of not stretching well enough when I'm done running and from trying to "sprint" the end of my runs or kicking it up a notch here and there.  That is something that I haven't been doing until recently.  My last 2 runs I've spent a lot of time stretching after and I'm going to start doing yoga so hopefully that will help.

Water, Water, Water

I don't drink enough water.  On days that I don't run I drink maybe a bottle of water with my dinner and that's about it. On days that I do run I drink a bottle before I leave and a bottle when I get back.  I know that I need to drink more. 

Today I decided to set the timer on my watch to go off every 2 hours to remind me to drink.  So far I have drank 4 bottles of water today and I have peed about 146753 times.  I'm going to try to do this for the rest of the week and see how I feel. 

I was much better about drinking water when I was pregnant and when I was working, but now that I'm home I just don't think about it.  So how do you remember your water?

Lifetime Fitness Run Wild 5k Race Recap

We ran the Lifetime Fitness Run Wild 5k on Saturday at the Brookfield Zoo.  This was my second ever race and Dave's first (he ran one in high school with his dad, but it's been 12 or 13 years so we're this his first) Maggie spent the night at my parent's house so that we wouldn't have to wake her up early.  They brought her to the zoo and got there to see us finish.  We got up early at like 5:30 and got ready and were out the door by 6:10.  There was no traffic until we were close to the zoo so that was good.  We got there and I brought my bag in thinking there might be a gear check place like there was in Chicago.  We picked up our packet and our shirts (not technical shirts, cotton and bright yellow) and then headed back up to the car to put our stuff down.  I called my parents and they were not going to make it by the start of the race so I told them what color shirts we were wearing and we made a plan of where to meet afterward if they didn't see us.

We had looked at a map of the run before we got there, but the starting line wasn't clearly marked so Dave asked a Lifetime volunteer and she pointed us in the right direction.  We went to where people were lining up but we couldn't see the actual start so I wasn't sure where we were pace wise.  The pathways are narrow so they were encouraging people line up according to speed but we couldn't tell where we were.  I thought we were in the front of the middle of the pack and figured that would be too fast for me but we stayed where we were.

I was a little nervous because I was really hungry.  I usually run in the afternoon/evening so I haven't figured out my early morning eating routine yet.  I only had peanut butter on toast and meant to eat a banana on the way, but forgot until we got there.  My stomach was growling before we started.

We didn't hear a gun or an announcement that we were starting, but all of a sudden we started moving.  I realized quickly that we were much closer to the start than I thought, oops.  I started my nike+ right when I stepped on the mat.  About 2 minutes in I knew I was running faster than I should be, Dave was already gone, I told him not to wait for me, but reminded him to not start out too fast.  I pushed the button on my iPod and the lady told me my pace was 9:55.  Yikes!  10:45 min/mile is really good for me so I knew I had to slow down or I was never going to make it.  People were passing me like crazy and I tried to move over to the side as much as I could.  I was still going too fast I knew because I was tired before my first song was over.  I tried to slow down a little more and then I felt better.

I was surprised by the 1 mile marker and I pressed my iPod button again.  It said ".88 miles completed".  Hmmm, the course was not certified, but I was surprised that it was that off.  I was running at about a 10:25 min/mile pace.  That was still faster than I normally run, but I felt good so I decided not to worry about it.

At mile marker 2 my iPod said somewhere around 1.8 miles.  I started to wonder if the whole course would be short or if the last mile would be really long.   I started to get tired and was back up near 11 min/mile pace.  I knew there wasn't much left in my tank, but I was not giving up.  I told myself that when the iPod lady told me that there was 5 minutes left I would pick it up.  She said 5 min and I tried to go a little faster.  It was tough though.  When I knew I was close to the finish I ran as fast I could.  I finished in 32:06.  This was a full 2 minutes fast than at Wrigley 3 weeks ago.  My iPod said it was only 3.07 miles though, I don't care, I still count it as a PR! I was happy.

I saw Dave and my parents right away, but I couldn't talk to them. I had to walk a litttle.  I noticed in Chicago too, people just stop the second they hit the finish line.  I think I might die if I just stopped, especially after I sprinted the finish (sprinted being a relative term) I walked around a little bit, and over to the food and water area.  I was starving!!!! I ate an orange slice and half a banana and felt better.  I didn't stretch afterward either like a usually do so my legs were definitely not very happy with me.

Dave finished in 29:30 so under 30 minutes!  I am very proud of him!  We went to walk around the zoo but it was around 9 and the zoo doesn't officially open until 10 so there was not much to see.  You'd think that if they were going to have 2000 people in the zoo early they would want to have their vendors open and the gift shops open and the animals available so that people would want to come back some day.  The entry to the zoo was free to runners and spectators so you'd think that they would really want to have stuff open for people to spend money.  That was disappointing but we walked around enough that the giraffes were out by the time we walked around the whole place.  The giraffes are Maggie's favorites!  It was starting to get busy by the time we were done and we were all hungry so my parents took off and we ate lunch by the car and the went home.

It was a good fun run, but if we do it again next year I don't know that we will bring Maggie since there was such a gap between the run being over and the zoo stuff open.  I was sore though and I wish I could have cooled down a little bit more.  Guess that's what I learned for next time.  No matter what walk for a few minutes and find a way to stretch even if my butt will be in the air for all to see! :)

Quick Question:  My Nike+ said my time was 33 something, but my chip time was 32:06???? I know I didn't start or end it a minute early/late.  I would assume that the chip time is the most accurate right? What do you think?

Ran in my new shorts last night

The Nike Tempos.  I used some body glide on my thigh chub hopeing that would help keep them from riding up between my legs.  At first they did ride up a little, but they weren't bad and once I got going I didn't notice it at all.  The body glide worked well and I have no problem.  When I got to the park my sister-in-law said they looked cute but commented that she could never wear shorts that short.  I didn't think they were too bad, but she is way skinnier than me so I got a little worried and self conscience.  My legs are probably my best part though and she has some junk in the trunk so hopefully they weren't too bad.  Dave said they looked good so I felt better.  They were a little longer in the back than in the front and they are a tad bit tighter at the leg opening so I think that helped them stay down and to not show too much.  Over all I liked them and I think I will wear them tomorrow if it's warm enough.

Speaking of tomorrow, we are running in the Lifetime Fitness Run Wild 5k at the Brookfield Zoo.  I am sooooo excited and nervous.  I hope to run it in about 33 minutes the one I ran 3 weeks ago was a little over 34 min so I hope I can get a little faster each time.  Dave and I are running it together and then we are going to hang out at the zoo with Maggie and my parents.  Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!!

Running out to the softball game tonight

My brothers and dad and a couple of other friends play on a softball team on Thursday nights.  My hubby is playing tonight as a sub so we are going to the game.   My mom is taking Maggie so that I can run to the park.  It's only about 2.5 miles so I might run a lap around my neighborhood before I go or just stick to the 2.5 since our race is on Saturday.  Last week I ran a mile with Dave and Maggie in the jogging stroller and then headed out to the park while they stayed home.  Thursdays are girls night out so Dave stayed home.  Tonight he's playing so I guess no girls night out :( Maybe he'll take her home so I can go grab a beer with the girls afterward.

On a non-running note... anyone watch Oprah?  The cast of Twilight were on today.  I watched it twice!  I loved the books, the movies are ok.  I never like the movie after reading the books, but that Edward is H.O.T. hot!  Mmmmmm, Jacob isn't too bad either.  I think the adult women fawning all over Oprah is a little out of control, but whatever floats your boat I guess.

Hope everyone has a good Thursday!!!!

My Running Wish List

Last week Amanda at RuntotheFinish wrote a post about the runner's toolbox.   Running is pretty simple.  All you really need is shoes, but there is lots and lots of "stuff" that can go with it.  Here is the list of stuff that I would love to have to add to my running experience.

1. Bondi Band - I have long hair, but I also have little short baby hairs all over the place.  I also have an oddly shaped head or something because every headband I have tried slips off the back of my head while I'm running.  I have found 1 by Goody that kinda works, but it's so tight that I get a headache by the end of my run.  I want a Bondi Band because it looks comfy and there are a lot of good reviews out there. Plus there are lots of cute patterns like this:  

2. Road ID - I think that Dave and I should both get these Road ID's.  We both run outside and most of the time alone.  Neither of us carry a phone or any ID.  Plus they come in cool colors!

3.  Garman GPS Watch - Now I love my Nike+ but this thing is just so freaking cool.  The forerunner 405 is the newest  one and I would love to have one.  Of course it is not in the budget, someday maybe. 

4. Arm Warmers - Ok so I think I would look ridiculous in these things!  Especially since I usually only run 3-4 miles.  But they look awesome on other people!  Haha

4. Running Skirt - I think these are super cute!  And such awesome patterns.  I don't know how my thigh chub would feel about it though.  Check them out at here

 

 Oh what I would do if I won the lottery!!! haha!

Feeling Good Tonight

I ran 3.75 miles today.  I felt great.  I ran yesterday.  This is only the second time I have run on back to back days since I started this whole running thing.  I started out slowly, but I decided that at 5 min left I would pick up the pace.  I ran the 5 minutes and was at 2.75 miles and decided to keep it up until 3.1 just to see if I could.  I slowed down a tad close to 3, but when I got there I sprinted the last .1 and then ran another 3/4 miles after that. 

I have felt really strong the last couple days.  I did NOT feel strong before my last (first) 5k.  I was super nervous and doubting myself.  We are running on Saturday at Brookfield Zoo.  I'm super excited!  We love going to the zoo.  My parents are bringing Maggie so we can hang out after the race.  Anyway, I think that I am going to do much better this time.  I hope.

Dave is running too, I'm sure he will beat me.  I tell myself it's because his legs are longer!


Happy running everyone!!!!

Happy Mother's Day & 200 miles

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!

I got to sleep in a little.  Last night was my dad's birthday dinner (today is his b-day) so we had a super yummy  dinner at my parent's house.  It was a late so we put Maggie to bed there.  She stayed there and we went home.  Dave went and got her this morning so I got to sleep in a little.

We went to breakfast at Eggsclusive yum!!! Nutella Pancakes and mimosas! I ate a lot in those 18 hours!  I also got to take a little nap while Maggs was napping.  I haven't done that in a LONG time.

I ended up not running yesterday.  I drove up to the lake to try to find my phone that I thought I left there last weekend.  I didn't find it.  Not good. :(  I wasn't feeling like running today either, but I convinced myself to go finally.  I ran 3.1 and it was great!  I ran for about 1.5 miles and then decided to do a few sprint/jog intervals.  I sprinted 30 sec and jogged 2 min 5x.  It felt pretty good and I ended up finishing the 3.1 faster than I have in  a while.

When I got home Dave was grilling burgers and I made some green beans. Yum again!

I feel very lucky today to have my wonderful mom and to get to be the mom of my wonderful baby.

On another note I am at 200 miles running since I got my Nike+ in November.  This is pretty exciting.  I was in week 4 or 5 of the couch to 5K when I got it so I am over 200 total, but still this is a big milestone for me.  I hope to have another 200 soon.  

Good night!!!

To Run or Not to Run....

It's cold here today. Like really cold, in the 30's with the windchill and the wind is 20-25 MPH. I've run in colder and windier, not in a month or more though. I wanted to run 5-6 miles today. It's overcast and just cold. I might wait until tomorrow to do that longer run. Maybe I'll just run 2.5-3 today instead.

I have decided to up my running from 3x per week to 4x per week. Last week I ran 4x for a total of 15 miles. I have only run 7 miles so far this week and only 2x so to keep up with last week I need to run today and tomorrow. I guess it's settled then....short today, long tomorrow.

 I bought some running shorts yesterday. They are the Nike Tempo.

I have read many reviews and a lot of people swear by them. These are actually my second pair. I wore the first pair a few days ago and they were great except my inner thighs were a little red, but not too bad. Yes my thighs touch, I don't remember them ever not touching and I think they will still touch even if I lose 50 more pounds! So anyway, I also got some body glide and hopefully that will make the shorts wearable. Of course it's only going to be in the 40's all week here so it will be a bit before I can try them out :(

Happy Running!

My first blog post

After reading blogs about running for a few weeks now I have decided to start my own running blog. I don't know who will read it, or even how much I have to say, but you gotta start somewhere right?

Here's my story:

I am 29 years old, I have been married for 3.5 years and I have a 16 month old daughter who is the joy of my life! I live in the small town that I grew up in and, besides wanting a bigger house, couldn't be happier!

I was never a runner, ever. I was a dancer, a softball player, I also played soccer a bit. I was in ballet/jazz classes for years and then was on my high school dance team all 4 years. I started playing softball when I was 5 and played through high school. I was a pitcher so I didn't bat much and when I did the furthest I ever had to run was 90 feet to 1st base. To say I was slow was an understatement!

In college I played on a beer league, slow-pitch softball team but that was about the extent of my athletics at that time. When I met my husband we were both working in a restaurant and that became my career. I left that restaurant, but became a manager and spent the next 4 years working 60-70 hour weeks, that's not including my close to 2 hour daily commute. I was not exercising in any form at this point, unless you count being in 10 places at once in the restaurant.

When I had my daughter I had stopped working, I didn't gain much weight while I was pregnant and when I left the hospital with her, I weighed 15 lbs less than when I got pregnant. Don't get too jealous, 3 months later I was back up to my highest weight ever and just felt gross. I decided to join the YMCA and spent 2 months on the elliptical and lifting weights. I came across the Couch to 5K program and decided to try it.

The Couch to 5K program is wonderful and it was hard, but not so hard that I couldn't do it. It was motivating to see my progress and even though I still wasn't losing weight I felt better about myself and I knew that this time I was going to stick with it. Not only for myself, but for Maggie too. I wanted to teach her that exercise was important and being healthy is worth it.

My husband started C25K a month or two after me. He is doing awesome and has lost close to 70 lbs! I added weight watchers and I'm down 15 pounds. Back to the weight that I was when I left the hospital with my beautiful girl 16 months ago.

I'm not fast by any means, but I love running! I ran my first 5K 2 weeks ago and have another one planned next weekend. I ran 6 miles this past weekend and it's the furthest I have ever run in my life!!! I can see myself running a half marathon sometime in the future. My mom has made me promise to never run a marathon, right now I agree, but I have a feeling that that could change.

This got long, thanks for reading this far!