Little man brag.

Little man will be 4 in exactly one month! I can't believe it, I really can't. How can my youngest be 4? I'm freaking old!! Oh wait, this is a brag post.

I have been trying to get my kids to eat healthier, it has taken a long time of "just one taste" "one little bite" "no, you don't have to eat it all, but you have to try some atleast" Finally, we saw some positives when it comes to veggies. Little man loves salads, he almost ate my whole salad the other day rather than eating his jelly sandwich and chips. (yeah, I know that wasn't the healthiest lunch, but I needed to go grocery shopping and was desperate, lol.) I use very little dressing on my salads, I like something juicy on there in its place, like mandarin oranges or chunks of pineapple. So it was really a quite healthy lunch for my munchkin :)

Also, I have been working on having Little man lay in bed for some quiet time. He gave up naps over a year ago and some days he is just a beast! Quiet time usually helps him regroup and be a happier kid. We are up to 30 minutes a day now and he usually asks for quiet time, wohoo!! I get him about 5 books, right now Dr. Seuss is the bomb, and he will "read" to himself until the timer beeps. I'm thinking of working up to 45 minutes or so and calling that good rest time. Sure makes my computer time guilt free, tee hee.

Yay for spring!

Our landlords take care of our yard. We do no yardwork at all, so spoiled!! Anyway, they hired some landcapers to come and rip out all the evergreen bushes, woohoo!! I hate evergreen bushes, not even sure thats what they are called, lol. I'm so excited that I want to just sit out on the lawn and watch as those ugly things are ripped out of the earth and piled high waiting for carting off, far away from my house, wohoo!!

I am loving the sun we have this morning, the warming temps, no scraping of ice off our windshield. Flowers are starting to pop up, grass is trying to green up a bit. Just a happy day in Utah. Of course my backyard is a big mud pit because all of the rain and my boys will want to be out there playing, pure joy for kids...warm weather, sunshine and mud!

I can't wait to go running early tomorrow, I love running early when the sun is rising and very few people are out, such a renewal of my love for running :)

Re-evaluating

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately, about my life, my family, my priorities. I went through a "I need more me time" phase and kept trying to find more things for me to do that were soley for me. Running is one of them and so is school and hanging out with friends and/or people at church. It has all started to add up to a lot of "me time." And as the training ramps up for the marathon, even more time away from my family is required. I suppose I could get up early and go before anyone is awake, but then I'd be a zombie and wouldn't be able to focus on school as well.

I have decided that, for now, I will not be running any marathons. I think training for a half marathon is about as much as I can successfully juggle. Maybe once I am finished with school and the kids are a bit older I can start training again. But for now, its about priorities and a marathon isn't at the top of my list.

I'll still be running and working out, but not as many miles or hours spent away from my loved ones.

Oh to have the energy of a 3 year old.

I think I'd be able to run a marathon a day if I could just get back the energy I had as a preschooler. Little man is now sick with what M had this weekend, just worn out, fever, headache, blah. So I get Little man to rest for about 15 minutes and he's up and ready to go again, until he realizes that he is sick and needs to lay down a bit, lol.

I think I need to figure out how to turn those genes back on and then I can sell the secret and make billions of dollars. Not to mention all the running races I could win ;, kidding of course.

15 miles! and my week in training.

Yep, thats right, 15 miles is what I ran this morning. I am still surprised that I could actually go that far. Its amazing what the human body can do. I was really intimidated by this run, scared to even try it. I almost talked myself out of running at all, lol.

I have learned that I can do much more than I think I can. I can push myself harder than I ever imagined, just as long as I focus and don't let the negative comments that pop into my head win. I have to encourage myself, tell myself that I can do it, just keep going. It feels really good actually!

With a very tough last few days, I haven't been eating well or sleeping well. I have been stuck here on the computer trying to make sense of many things. I felt almost lost in a deep void. But with my faith, my family and my friends, I was able to press on and see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Thank you everyone that has supported me and helped me along the way. I am becoming a much better person because of it.

Monday - 4 miles
Tuesday - 7.2 miles
Wednesday - 3.6 miles plus 20 minutes weight training
Thursday - rest day
Friday - nothing
Saturday - 15.5 miles

Total 30.3, all time high!!! woohoo :)

Running is my therapy...

I find that I can think through problems and emotions more rationally when I run. Somehow the energy that would've been spent on emotions is used up by my running, so I'm able to think things through. Find solutions or atleast come to terms with things happening in my life. I can almost take a step back and see things from a perspective I may not have seen before. Its rather refreshing.

Some days that means running my hardest, others it means just shuffling along deep in thought. Of course those runs are usually done on the treadmill so I don't accidentally go into traffic or something ;) The miles usually just fly by and its awesome!

I highly recommend some activity that helps you clear your mind. It doesn't necessarily have to be some intense form of exercise. I do enjoy gardening, hiking, swimming, going on leasurly walks. But the best form, for me, is to run and I'm so thankful that I can run and hope I can for many years to come.

Canyonlands Half Marathon Report - long

This will be really long. So I'll start with stats on how it went, feel free to skip the rest if you'd like :)

This was my second half marathon, my first didn't go so well. My time was 2:35:55 officially and I wanted to beat that. I had three goals 1. beat my PR. 2. Finish strong. 3. Break 2:20.

I finished in 2:22:42, but finished strong. I'm very satisfied with my time and performance. I feel I did the best I could do and for me it was great! :)

Saturday I woke up pretty well rested yet worried about the weather. The forcasters had predicted rain and thunderstorms. I like running in the rain, but haven't for a distance over 4 miles. I was worried about blisters and chafing. I went outside to check the weather so I could decide what to run in. It was gorgeous out! I should've taken a pic of the sunrise. Anyway, I decided to go with my skirt, a tanktop and my t-shirt over the top of that. I wanted to be able to take off my shirt if need be since I hadn't trained in any temp over 40 degrees or so in the last several months.

We head out (I was traveling with my friend Sheree) to the bus for our ride up the canyon. I gotta say, porta poties are nasty yet wonderful for those times that the need arises :P. Sometimes I wish I were a man and could just go pick a tree to pee on, tee hee.

Once up the canyon it was pretty chilly but not horrible. We wait in the giant pack of runners for the gun to sound. It was so exciting standing there with that many runners, my biggest race so far. Though thats not hard to do since it was only my 3rd race ever, lol.

The gun goes off and people start to cheer, we start moving and then stop again, lol. Finally we cross the start line. I kept telling myself to slow down, don't go out too fast. First mile was around 9:40, oops there goes my planned 11 minute mile, haha. The 2nd mile was slightly better at about 10 minutes even (yeah, I got a fancy watch that records split times but I can't figure out how to get the times off it, hahaha). So I settle down into a nice groove, I find a couple that look to be running pretty even times and try to keep them in my sights. I kept losing them at aid stations though, so I found a girl with a yellow tanktop and followed her. I felt really good until about mile 8, yikes nature is calling and not going to be ignored.

I find a port a potty at about mile 9 and try to make it quick so I don't lose much time. I lost my pacer and had to try and keep the pace on my own. I didn't mention the strong, strong winds that were in our face the whole time. I don't think we got a break for more than a few seconds or a minute at most, for the whole race.

At mile 10 a woman comes running up to me and we make small talk, her husband meets up with us a little after that and we make introductions. Her husband is a much faster runner than us but is injured so he couldn't run the whole race. He wanted to run with his wife for the last few miles to keep her company, how sweet! He asks me my time goal and I tell him, he could tell I was really struggling, this wind was taking a lot out of me. I guess the too fast miles at first could be getting me back too, hehe.

Jim, the one running with me and his wife, Donna. We so awesome supporting me and encouraging me. I don't think I could've kept going that fast without them. In the excitement of meeting new people, I forgot to take my Gu, so I'm sure that had something to do with my lack of energy as well. I realized it at about mile 11 and figured it was too late anyway, so I continued on the best I could.

We came out of the canyon and the winds were really bad, right at our faces, I had to bend over a bit to keep from flying backwards, fun fun. We got hit by a ton of sand at the 2nd to last turn. I remember thinking "do I really want to race or do I just want to finish? I can just walk, who cares if I don't meet my time goal?" then I snapped myself out of it and said "you can do it, get your butt moving!" A few volunteers yelled out "1/2 mile to go" I was so sad "what? I was hoping it was 1/4 mile, you are killing me" Donna laughed and said "the last is the worst". And luckily the next volunteer said "1/4 mile to go, you look great!"

We turned the last corner and I said "I can't do this anymore, I gotta get this overwith" Donna said "I'm going to jog it in, you go for it. You can do it!!" I smiled and said "thank you so much" her husband, Jim said "Meadow, you are so strong, you are doing great. Go Meadow, Go!" so I did. As fast as my beat up legs could go. I saw Sheree and contemplated stopping and cheering for everyone else instead of running another step, but decided that would be lame, lol. She ran ahead to get a picture of me and that made me laugh. I couldn't decide if I should slow down for a nice pic or just keep chugging along to get it done. I chose to get it done, luckily the pic looks good so its all good.

I finished in 2:22:42, an almost 13 minute PR. I'm proud of myself considering the challenges I met along the way. No running for 4 weeks and then only being back at it for 3 weeks when it came to race time. Even if training went perfectly, I would still be happy since I did better and felt much better after this race than I did after my last one. After a few minutes of stretching and resting I felt great!

I'm already planning next years race :)

Its getting close!!!

My half marathon is this Saturday! I'm getting really excited :). I can't wait to be surrounded by other runners. The excitement, adrenaline, shared enthusiasm. So many other people that love doing the same thing I do. We are all out there for different reasons, but the end goal is basically the same. Sure there will be those speedsters that will be running to win, but the rest of us will most likely be running to run.

I hope to beat my half marathon time from last year. I want to have a better experience and just enjoy myself. The forcast is for rain, so I'm a bit worried about that, but the temp should be pretty nice. And the scenery will be breathtaking as usual.

And my fabulous hunny will be staying at home with the kids so that I can get a good nights rest and prepare for a great race! He is so awesome and supportive of my crazy hobby. I love you, my hunny.

I think I better remember this post when I get to about mile 11 and start thinking "what am I doing out here, this is crazy!" hehe.

Two posts in one :)

First, my week in training.

Monday - 0, lazy butt
Tuesday - 2.5, super hard weight workout too, eek
Wednesday - 5.5 slow and steady
Thursday - 3, just walked, trying to work the soreness out
Friday - rest
Saturday - 9, freezing! and of course the sun is out now that I'm home :P

Total- 20 miles

And I had to share the true reason that I had kids. To kill spiders for me. I hate spiders, oh very much hate them. I can't stand to even watch them on TV, ick! I do have to say that I'm a pretty darn good actress ;). "Oh look Little man, there is a spider. Wanna get it?" Little man says "ok, I squish it" and I say "Good job buddy! put it in the garbage now" big smile on my face the whole time. While inside I'm trembling, hoping he chooses the kitchen garbage over the one next to me, lol.

Ouchie

I worked out with a trainer at the gym yesterday. I stupidly said "lets do legs and abs today" yeah, first day of the week for running and I want to kill myself before I even begin, ha.

So my legs were pretty much jello the whole day. It was quite humorous I'm sure. I had to take the elevator at Stu's office because I couldn't walk down the stairs without my legs buckling. They didn't hurt, just exhausted! So I wake up this morning to an entire body as sore as can be. "oh good, looks like the 5 miler I have scheduled will go well" I thought sarcastically.

But I did it, and I think I'm more proud of myself for sticking it out, albeit slowly, and getting it done. Rather than giving up and using all the excuses I gave myself this morning. I do feel a little better now too, so thats good.

I think I'll ask my hunny to give me a leg massage tonight :)

My week in review 2/27 - 3/4

So happy to be able to post this again :) we'll see how I feel when the mileage really gets high, lol.

Monday - 3 miles around the park while the kids played
Tuesday - weights, posted my whines about this earlier ;)
Wednesday - 6.2 on the treadmill, tiring but great too
Thursday - rest
Friday - 4.3 supposed to be marathon pace, but I'm still a bit slow from my lack of running, also did weights for abs and lower back.
Saturday - 12.15 tiring, but awesome! Not nearly as sore as last weeks 9 miler, woot!
Total = 25.6 miles running
1 hr of weight training

I just got back from the podiatrist too, all clear to keep running, wohoo!!! Bring on the half marathon, baby :)

Why did I want to get into shape?

I keep telling myself its so I can be toned and look good, feel good. But I think really, that its a form of torture. Maybe I have some deep hidden feelings that I deserve to suffer ;)

I was lifting weights on Tuesday when one of the trainers came over trying to get me to sign up and said I could have a free session to see if I would like working with a trainer. I said "sure, that sounds great!" of course he finds the biggest trainer they have, ha! So this big guy comes over and we decide to work on my biceps and back. I think half the time I was lifting weights more than half my weight. Um...yeah, I think I'll be sore for the rest of my life, lol.

Hi, I'm Meadow.....I can't straighten my arms completely or pick up my 3 year old without wincing. But yeah, I'll be toned and in good health soon, right? RIGHT?!?