Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Hollywood is reading the book. Totally reminds me of ME. I'm still a wimp. I am a people pleaser and for once, running, I found something that I can do for me, running, and makes me feel accomplished, running, I can't believe I ran a marathon, running, and I'm let people walk all over my emotions, running, and I think run on sentences are lame, running. LOL

But really, I'm one of those people who stretch themselves too thin. I'm one of those people who love to help others or jump into saving something I care about with two feet. Becoming a runner has taught me a lot about how to live life, how to share it, how to balance it although I'm still bad at that part. Hollywood told me he's proud of me today. I asked "Proud? What makes you proud of me?" You ran all those miles for a race but it took a long time for you to get there. Like MONTHS!" Yea, I'm glad he noticed that I've been leaving him with sitters and his grandparents way too much. BUT he realized why and what I did for me benefited him. I'm so much better as a cool headed mommy when I run.

That sweet spot

So far we've had a good week. I took Sunday off of running and Monday the rain came. I headed out when the hubby got home and about a half of a mile in the rain started. Cindi didn't like it but as long as we kept moving everything was good. We took off towards KK's house and the levy and when we turned East onto the levy the wind and the rain came on strong. It was a hard run but we had a good 2.13 mile run in then turned around to head for home when the rain got harder. I have to say it was fun to go out and run next to the channel and have Cindi off her leash and the route to myself. I loved having the wind in my face on the way out so I could push myself through it and to my back on the way back. Once we got back to the houses and turned off the levy the wind wasn't so bad. I got home, soaked, dried the dog and got on with my day.

Tuesday's weather was high clouds and no rain, light wind. We did a .75 mile warm up then some plyometric work on the baseball field. then we did 1200m intervals at 15 seconds faster than 1/2 marathon pace. That was supposed to be 8:30-8:45pace. Of course I hung with Vicki, Liz and Vince (or tried) and did way faster intervals I was shooting for, more like 8 minute pace. I'm sore today. But I felt really good when I was done. I'm going to be sad when this program is over and I hope for the best for all of us in this half since it is quickly approaching.

Today I will be running with Good Neighbor and Gehrig, slow steady and great recovery run from last night.

Thursday is my long run so I won't have to have a sitter. Liz, Vicki, Vince and their significant others will be headed to Tahoe for a ski weekend and need to get it done early and if I get a weekend off of getting up early. Maybe I'll even make it to church this week.

My whole dream of doing one legged squats with the kettle bell... didn't happen. I'm having some guilt over spending more money on myself but I'm afraid to do the kettle bell thing myself.

Over achievers

You know those crazy people who run TO the race, then run the race and PR, then some of them even place in the top 3 of their age groups. Yea sorry. I'm part of that group and had Liz and I actually signed up and not just crashed the run (I must remember to write a check to Durham Sport Boosters this week) then Liz probably would have placed.

It was the perfect day for the "Almond Blossom" run. We went out along the midway and through the orchards and everything was blooming beautifully. Everything was wet with dew and fresh from the rains of the last few weeks. We could not have chosen a better day to do this long run out my favorite path to Durham. I'll have to steal pix from Ed, he was smart and had his camera with him.

So we left Vicki's at 7:20 Saturday morning and headed out to Durham. It is just under 7 miles out there so we jogged along campus to hit that 7 mile mark on the dime. So there were 7 of us I think running out there and Ed and Tracey headed back to get the big miles in. Vicki, Ross, Vince and Ross's parents all ran the 5k for real and Liz and I just jumped in for fun, this was my first (and probably only) bandit race. We would have PR'ed at about 25 minutes (had I not veered off course at 3.05miles) and Liz would have come in at 24:50 or so. She definitely would have placed. Vicki came in first in her age group, Ross placed, Vince placed, Sue placed. Our group kind of swept the top spots didn't we?

The run was great. We were doing mostly 9:40's out there, I ran 8:06 too fast for mile 1, 8:19 for mile 2 which is better time for me, and 8:22 for mile 3 even though I tried to speed up I had a side stitch that just would not let up. Liz creeped farther and farther in front of me and Vicki and Vince took off like a shot so I never even saw them once the gun went off.

We did run a little over a mile loop afterwards at a REAL easy pace. I think that helped Sunday to keep us from being sore.

I did see Good Neighbors husband "Coach" out there and he did good for his first run. He came in about 35 minutes but is feeling the pain from not stretching. I used to be that person... the one who didn't stretch. If I want to keep running though I can't make that mistake any more. LOL. I hope he's feeling better today and to see him out on the race field again.


*** I know I should not have crashed the race, I know that the money raised for this run goes to a very worthy cause and since I'm a huge supporter of local public schools and their sports departments (or lack of in this time of school cuts) I will donate directly to their boosters. It was not my plan originaly to run and with no time to sign up before hand, no extra $to pay for the race once I got there since I was running to the race. So I appoligize to anyone who is upset for my rebelious ways***

Almond Blossoms

Do you pronounce the L in Almond? If you are a native to Chico, California you don't. Its almost a crime to pronounce it with one. EEEK! I still slip and I've been with a native boy for 14 years. Anywho...

I had been suffering through my long runs and hitting walls that had never been there before so my plan today was to eat right. Eat enough and hopefully fuel the way I should so tomorrow would be a better day than say... the last 6 or so weeks during my long runs. LOL. I ate oatmeal with peaches and milk (I guess it would be peaches and cream hu?) some granola sprinkled on top because I like the crunchy texture. I had a banana. Late morning I had some salad with romaine lettuce, broccoli salad, garbanzo beans, dried cranberries, carrots, feta cheese, artichoke hearts (soaked in water not oil) and 1 Tbsp poppy seed dressing. I was hungry right before picking up the boys so I picked up a burrito at Chipotle with yummy rice, grilled fajita veggies, steak, pinto beans, corn salsa, and a little bit of cheese. I don't know if I could eat anything else today I'm still stuffed at 7pm.

Tomorrow is that long run and we'll be leaving Vicki's at about 7:15am and headed to Durham where the annual Almond Blossom run will be taking place. Its about 7 miles out there +5k(unofficial) and a 2 mile cool down. We'll be having lunch in Durham before coming home. It will be nice to run with the gang. I can't really say girls since Ross and Vince have increased our group size and Ed, who is training for PARIS MARATHON, will be running with us also. I'll let you know how it goes.

The Run Around

Today Good Neighbor and I went to KK's house to run with her on "her" route. Just beyond her house is the levy that goes all the way to 5 mile, the same levy I follow from the opposite side on our long runs into upper park. KK signed up for 5K program and she's going to do great! We took her dog Comet and Cindi and off we went. since I forgot to hit the start button on the Garmin (who needs a name) when we left I started it at the turn around and we got in about 3.3 miles with a couple of walk breaks today. The doggies were great. They stayed pretty close and when called they generally came running back. I hope that we ran off some steam since she hasn't been out for a run in over a week. OUCH. yea. But it was a nice recovery run for me and we had a nice girl time jog together. It was kinda cool to see the same old route from a new perspective, the clean air, the rushing water through the creek, the sunshine and beautiful park we live so close to. I can't wait to do it again.

Fast Pass

I did speed work out tonight and even though it hurt, it was cold, it was wet, it was not as fun as I had hoped it would be...I did it. 1.5 mile warm up with strides and 10x 800m at 10K pace and 40 seconds recovery between. I managed to hang with the girls and stick just a few seconds behind them. Each interval landed me in at about 4 minutes to 4min10seconds. Not too shabby. Ohhh and the hubby bought me a windbreaker/water resistant jacket and it came in handy since I ran in REAL RAIN not just drizzle tonight.

Since I've got Disneyland on the mind still I decided to use a bit of terminology for my post tonight. I passed the long line (no long run this week) and jumped in at the fast pass (speed work). Thursday long run, Saturday Almond Blossom 10K(kinda)and breakfast. Maybe some kettlebells and an easy run with Jenni in the morning. Cindi really, really, really needs it.

Pick up the slack

Blondy loves the Tower of Terror. We had to run across the park to make in on time befor it closed Friday night.

I really need to pick up the slack. I would count walking all over Disneyland for three days working out because I have to. I have done nothing in terms of running or working out this week. I started getting a headache coming over the Grapevine Saturday on I-5 (or "the 5 if I was from SoCal) and it just progressed into a migraine as the night wore on. I still have the headache. It doesn't want to let up. I'm hoping that a good workout tomorrow night and some nice weather for the next few days will help get me back into the swing of things. I will say that I ate very healthy while on our trip. I chose fruits and veggies as snacks and at dinner I chose a small protein and lots of veggies so I didn't gain 5lbs on our 3 day excursion like last year. Guess What? I still gained 5lbs. What the heck. Must have been retaining water or something, Dehydrated and puffy is my only excuse.

Tomorrow it starts again. Speed workout, Kettle bells on Wednesday and Friday. No MORE SLACKING. The Shamrock'n Half is just a few weeks away. No more excuses.

I did take my resting heartrate this morning before I got up and again tonight and they were both 55beats per minute. Pretty good. My resting heart rate when I started the half marathon program last January was 63bpm so I'm showing cardiovascular improvement. Lets see how the next few weeks go though. I may be kickin' myself for taking a week off.

Hey, you wanna see some more pics from Disneyland!?! Head on over to my other blog to get the story.

Lovin' it

I've never, never, never asked for jewelry from the hubby. For the most part I don't ask because I'm pretty particular about size, I'm small and some things just seem to overpower me or make me feel self conscious. But this year I asked for a special bracelet, one that he can't get wrong. I linked him directly to it then dropped the page into my "Favorites: Gift ideas for your WIFE" folder. Lets keep our fingers crossed. I'm loving on the Tarma Designs and hope to add more to my jewelry box soon. What do you think you're getting for Valentines day? What did you get your sweetie? I can't wait to read ALL about your week when I get back!

PR: 10K

Today we had 10K time trail to see how we've improved over the last 5 weeks of training. Although I've been suffering from this chest cold that may or may not turn into a real full blown chaos before we go on vacation, I did remarkably better than I had hoped. My first time trail was around 57minutes and today I came in at 52:30! That's an 8:28 a minute pace, WAHOO! Believe me I had NOTHING left at the end. At mile 5 I had to slow down a bit due to some wheezing and every time I tried to speed up it would show up again. Liz came in a marvelous 14seconds in front of me. I tried so hard to keep up...ugh. Vince who didn't think he could keep up with us did awesome at today's 10K. He stayed with us until that last 1/2 mile where he kicked it in and caught up to Todd who we kept in our sights the whole run but he seemed just too far to make up. But since I've taken over 3 minutes off of my previous PR and more from the other time trial I'm stoked! Now I'm worried that David and Alan will place me in a faster bracket than I think I can handle.

Tomorrow Vicki and Ross will be running the Davis Stampeed 10K and I'm sure Vicki will have SMOKED my time and I'm excited and happy for her! Can't wait to see their times. What an improvement Ross has made in the few months since jumping head first into the wonderful world of running.

Tuesday we leave for Disneyland. Hopefully there is a treadmill at the hotel since Disneyland really isn't in the safest area for outdoor running alone. But we will have fun!

Eat This, Not That

This girl just posted her 100th post and is celebrating by giving away this wonderful book that I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to win. Not only do I want to win but would love to share her wit and candor with you all so I'm gonna do you all a favor and link you on over there so you see for yourself.

If I don't win I think I'll go out and buy this for myself. Its the supermarket version of "Eat This, Not That" and I think the kids and I would get a lot from it. Not so sure about the hubby. He just buys what looks pretty. Really, he doesn't look at nutrition labels he looks at packaging. He NEVER looks at price so he doesn't know if something is on sale or not. UGH... Its a fun time taking him to the store with me. I may spend more but I generally get things I know we will eat and is on sale instead of having to go back to the store 3 times in one week. OK so here you go... Chic Runner wants you to hang with her too so head on over.

One step forward

Two steps back. I haven't run in three days. I get out there and my feet do not want to move. Actually today I took off a mental health day instead of going to speed workout after breaking down in tears over not going to Costco. Yea, I'm not pregnant or PMSing. I think that I'm having a little mini crisis over this school board stuff and worried that keeping my kids in this school with this particular principal at the helm is what is best for my kids. I love the teachers and the parents and the kids especially at the 3rd grade level. I would really really hate to move Hollywood again. This is already his third school and the first time he's been at the same school two years in a row.

I'm going for a run tomorrow. Hopefully hard run first thing in the morning to clear my head and an easy one at 10am with Jenni. Hopefully the legs work, hopefully this is a hiccup or a puddle and not a hurdle, I'm not much of a hurdle jumper. Puddles, puddles I can handle.

buzz buzz

What I ate yesterday was pretty good but still lacking in the complex carb and overall calorie division. Yesterday morning I was on track, I forgot to eat lunch and headed out to our friends house for the Superbowl and snack snack snacked. But I had RIBS and I love love love them. We had grilled asparagus and lots and lots of chips, salsa and 7layer bean dip. ugh. I had some zesty fries and some Kahlua cream cheese pie. No running. I'm thinking of going out now.

Buzz Buzz on over to MizFit. She's rockin' her Blog Birthday with giveaways galore. You will Flip your lid over her go go go get in shape and healthy living attitude. She always makes me smile.