Five Million Things Friday

Today I feel like I haven't posted in forever and therefore have a million things to talk about! So forgive me but the bullets will have to suffice!

• I have been wicked (very New England term) sappy about time flying by. Could be because it is almost August and as a teacher that raises a feeling of panic that the summer is almost over. Could be that my little girl is getting so big these days. She's doing so much on her own which is a good thing but some days before I know it she'll be driving herself to college! Yesterday she went down the twisty slide all by herself...no Momma needed. tear...
• Holy Moly it's the end of July....as mentioned above I'm doing my best bratty kid dance. I love the summer. Lazy days with my girl, the beach, running, relaxation, time to breathe and stretch the day until the daylight fades.
• I have been following this blog for a few months now but today's post just hit me. I have just been feeling a little off lately and wanting to soak in life. I don't know about your families but ours is so busy. Sometimes I just feel like putting on the brakes. Check out this blog HERE...not only are her words beautiful but she is an amazing photographer!
• Running is going well...This is more of a down week which my body has totally been needing. So only 21 miles this week and then it ramps back up again. I have been feeling sluggish this week and taking a lot of rests. I guess I need to just listen to my body.
• Two days left of flour and sugar because there is a new contest at my gym for August and this time there is prize money! It's crazy because I was going to ask my trainer if I could just weigh in with her weekly because I need someone to scare me...ugh I mean...keep me accountable. This should work perfect but I will need just one hot fudge sundae tomorrow!
• Last two weeks I spent at my parents house relaxing and soaking in the love. This has come as a gift from God since my father is back into the hospital with his Chrone's Disease. He has been in horrible pain for about 2 months and the doctors have no idea what is causing it. They will be operating on Monday in order to open him up and hope to find the cause. I feel so blessed to have had this time with him since each surgery brings him just shy of death since he is so weak to begin with. I will continue to pray for wisdom for the doctors so that they may find the cause and be able to heal him.

Ok so maybe that wasn't five million things but close! TGIF!

Wordless Wednesday....well almost wordless!

Fancy Nancy runs on Dunkin!

Iced Turbo = one happy Momma

Tuesday's Quote of the Day!

I got this quote the other day from Workout Mommy and just said "YES!" out loud! Here it is for you! It's from the book Run Like a Mother which really needs to find its way into my house! Enjoy!

“For an overstressed, overtired, overextended mother there are few other sensations that rival a delicious run. Once the sweat starts running down my temples, I daydream, analyze, smile, wonder, channeling something cosmic. I feel alive, and most importantly, like myself again.”

Monday Morning Run...in pictures!

Ok so I am totally copying Tall Mom and Racing with Babes with this idea. They took a picture before their run, each mile, and at the end. While I didn't have the longest run planned, 5 miles, but I wanted to brag...I mean capture the place I run. I tried to take a picture of the view and of course my trusty running companion!

Momma and Emma "Before"

Mile 1-view
Mile 1-Emma view

Mile 2-Emma view...reading Cookie Monster book(Can't find the view pic!)

Mile 3-view

After mile 4-Emma's thinking "Eeew Momma...you're sweaty!"

I decided to stop after 4 miles because Emma was starting to fade and I know that if she falls asleep during a run that equals no nap...and no nap equals cranky baby and Momma! I finished up the last mile on the treadmill in the basement once Emma went to sleep. Monday's off to a great start! Happy Monday all!

I just had to put this one on too! So fun!

Finding Comfort at "Home"

Hi all! I was laughing to myself on my long run yesterday how I can sometimes be so predictable! Every time life gets crazy I head home...to my parents house. There is just something comforting when all else is up and down in a place that basically never changes. Em and I headed down on Wednesday and I have been able to relax with my parents and sister's family. Running has been a trip there! I began it running on the track at the high school....watching my daughter and nieces run around on the football field where I once played many a games of soccer and cheered on the local football team in high school. I ran that track many a times for preseason. So many memories! Now it is very high tech...the local university asked the town to use it and thus gave it an extreme makeover but it still boasts the same MHS State Football Champs 1996 sign! For my long run I headed by the beach and down Bellevue Ave. For those of you who do not know Newport, Bellevue is the road where families like the Vanderbilt's once summered. Now there massive mansions remain for all to tour. A beautiful run but it was the surfers bobbing up and down on the waves at the beach, the tennis players pulling up for an early morning game, and the landmarks here and there that brought me back to the comfort of home.


I did figure out the speed thing and it kicked my butt! Of course I went faster than the plan said which was probably why it kicked so much but I think I just got lost in the memories of the place..watching another generation of family running the field! I need to find a track around me here...can't be running to RI every Wednesday to do speed work!

Fun fact....I won the Running Chics giveaway at Running Diva Mom! I have never won anything...I can't wait!!! Head on over to her blog here...she rocks and not just because I won!

Speed Work Confusion

Well the weekend checklist was just about checked off completely! I just have the rest of my closet to clean out. I started with the shoes which was a bad place to start...I LOVE SHOES!!! I mean like Carrie Bradshaw style minus the price tag! I also have a hard time parting with sneakers which is reflected in the 8 pairs that I have. Let me remind you also that they are all the SAME shoe...just each a newer version. So a pretty successful weekend and now we are ready to tackle the week!

When I trained for Boston I did speed work but a friend of mine figured it out for me and basically told me what to do. She was a trainer at my gym and I did it on the treadmill. Reflecting in my time I obviously didn't do it right so this training time I want to get it right. My plan that I am following alternates speed work and tempo runs. I have tempos runs down but this week I have speed work. Here is what is on tap:

warm-up; 2X1600 at 8:20 w/ 800 jogs; cool dist. 5 miles

Ok so I am fluent in Spanish...studied linguistics heavily during my undergrad and masters but Lordy I'm feeling I need to go back to school for this! Isn't 1600 the same as a mile?

Is there anyone out there that can translate my training plan for me???

Giveaway alert!

Good morning! Working on ticking things off my list! Already checked off long run, which was hard but an awesome day to run the beach with a great friend! Now I am working on uploading some pics. The good thing about that is that I get to check out blogs at the same time. I found an awesome giveaway over at Running Diva Mom that you can find here.
The website Running Chics has the greatest shirts and running stuff for very reasonable prices! They even have kids shirts with a little chick on them! Their logo is so cute. So I am going to go ahead and get back to uploading so go check out her blog!

Five Goals Friday!

Ok so call me a dork but I am a list girl! I get a thrill from checking things off a nicely color-coded list! We have had some busy weekends around here so it leaves me with a lot to do to check off my summer to-do list. I decided to stop whining about summer always going by too fast and make a list for this weekend.

Here are my five goals for this weekend:

1. Long run-This will be easy to check off since I already have a date with Jill to do this. It makes it easier to go if you know someone is waiting for you!

2. Upload picture to Shutterfly-This is going to be a major project but my nightmare last night that our house burnt down and I lost all of Emma's first year pics because I hadn't uploaded them has sent me into motion! I am a scrapbooker...love it to death...but in that I am embarrassed to admit that I have yet to finish Em's 1st year book...like I'm on the day she was born! This summer I WILL finish it and my first step is to get all the pics!

3. relax with my family-Em is getting to that age where she is a lot of fun to play with!

4. Go to church-something else that we have grown lax with a busy schedule

5. Clean out my closet-I should add "before it implodes!" I still have maternity clothes in there and they are eating up my regular clothes!

Sounds doable! Enjoy your Friday!!!

Heat Sucks...sorry Mom!

My Mom hates that word sucks but really short of obscenities it is the best word to describe what running in this heat is like! I am trying to keep my whining to a minimum but yesterday's tempo run left me feeling like a wet rag...literally! It is not just the heat that gets me it the basically 100% humidity! I manage to work up a full-on, dripping sweat just buckling Emma in the car seat. This leaves me with the question:

What do you do when you need to do speed work and it's 95 degrees?

An added bonus was that I had Emma to push as well! She was great as always and slept but it was an added challenge.
Mile 1: 10:10
Mile 2: 8:25
Mile 3: 9:24
Mile 4: 9:59
Mile 5: 10:55
The middle 3 miles were supposed to be faster but you can see the trend of slow down! I looked at it as at least I got in the run and the miles. The speed can come when this heatwave breaks!

I'm leaving you with a picture from yesterday's adventure to a park with my friend. It has a wading pool for the kids. Great idea but after a few hours I started getting a little weirded out by the germ factor! Emma loved it and fell asleep before we left the parking lot!

Lessons Learned

I waited today until after we got home from RI and put Emma to bed to do my run. I headed down to the beach and boy was it wack-a-doodle night at the beach!

Here are just some lessons I learned from this run (in no particular order):

• I am still in love with my Garmin...seriously love it!!
• Even though they make bikinis in size 26 doesn't mean that you need to wear it!
• It's amazing what a long weekend without running will do for your legs...I intentionally took some time off before starting to train for my next half because my legs have been feeling like lead lately
• Tie-die dresses with the shape of a target right around your butt should be left in the store!
• Sometimes you have to just let your body run fast even though your schedule says "easy run"...sometimes your body knows what it needs.
• When it is melt-your-face hot, wait until late to run and run the beach! Amazing!
• After 7 pm brings a whole different type of person to the beach!
• Elderly people walking holding hands is one of the cutest things ever!
• A good run can erase stress like nothing else!

Day one of training done...since it is forecasted to be over 100 degrees today I am going to try to head out before 8am! Stay cool!