The Worst Run EVER.

Wednesday we had playgroup at our neighbor's house in the morning. Since I didn't think I'd be able to get my scheduled 5-mile run in before we went over there at 10 I skipped it. We had a nice time with our friends at playgroup and AJ was worn out by the time we got home!

After lunch and AJ's nap I noticed that it was only 87 degrees outside instead of the normal 175 degrees that we've gotten accustomed to this Summer. I decided that since it wasn't that hot and we weren't doing anything we'd try and get some miles in.

Boy. It was a bad decision.

Not only is 87 degrees still really, really hot for running, but AJ was not having it. I had decided before leaving that I probably wasn't going to get the whole 5 miles in, but I figured if I did 4 that was respectable. I ran 2 miles out and AJ started fussing about that point, so I decided to make it the turnaround point instead of trying to get the whole 5 miles in. I was so hot and feeling pretty dehydrated, but I tried to run faster so we'd get home sooner. Well, I'm sure you can guess how that turned out.

I started feeling pretty awful and had to walk a few times and drink some water. Each time I drank the water AJ got more angry. By the time we got a mile from home AJ was screaming bloody murder and writhing around like she was being tortured. I decided to just end the running there and got her out of the stroller and started walking the last mile home, holding all 25 lbs of AJ and pushing the stroller, uphill in the late afternoon heat. It was awesome. (Please note the sarcasm there.)

My arms were so tired from pushing the stroller anyway that I kept having to switch her from one side to the other. By the time I was a half mile from home I was praying that D or someone, anyone I knew would drive by and offer me a ride home. No such luck. I ended up walking the entire last mile home and of course by that point AJ was just as pleased as punch and wanted to play outside.

So folks, the lesson here is do not try to take your 17.5 month old out for a longer run in the afternoon unless your child is okay with that sort of thing. I know for certain that any future runs with AJ in the stroller will be completed first thing in the morning.

Finally, Some Randomness....

• I finally went running this morning. {Cue angels singing}


• I finally booked hubby's flight for my cousin's wedding in September. {Yay}


• The check I wrote for the registration for my car was finally cashed. {I hate when places take forever to cash checks.}


• The lawn finally doesn't look like a jungle anymore. {I mowed yesterday during naptime}


• Hubby and I sat outside on the patio last night and watched the sun set behind some trees. {It was nice to spend time together}


• I'm starting to get excited for the marathon and spending some time with my family. {But first I'll see them at my cousin's wedding next month}


• I'm trying to decided if we should try to make the trip to Hometown, USA for Thanksgiving. {We already decided that we're not traveling for Christmas}


• AJ has pretty much boycotted all food other than ketchup. {This makes for messy and less-than-nutritious meals}


• I've forgotten how tired running in the morning makes me. {I feel like I need a nap by noon}


• I'm finally starting to feel like Summer is coming to an end. {Thank God}


• I'll never be caught up on Laundry. {Who will?}


• We rearranged our bedroom furniture and love the new look. {Pictures to come soon}


• AJ just woke up from her nap, so I'm signing off. {I'll be back soon with a real post}
  

Oh Hi There, August!

Is anyone else in total and complete denial that its already August? I mean, seriously, didn't 2011 just start? We're well into the second half of the year here, people!

Wanna know how my marathon training is coming along?

Its not.

I haven't run in weeks. Yes, I said, weeks.

Its awful. I don't even feel bad for not running. I am having trouble determining how I went from this to completely unmotivated in less than three weeks. I guess that's life.

I am not 100% committed, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to run today. I think I'm ready to get back into the swing of things and this time, I need to make sure that I stick with it. November is going to be here before I know it and I really don't want to be stuck trying to psych myself up to run 26 miles when I know I'm not physically prepared.

So, that's it. August is here, I need to run. No, I want to run.

If I say it, it must be true, right?

I want to run.

Changing My Life

Back in high school I was always in great shape. I ran Cross Country and Track & Field, which really helped me to stay active (obviously). Once I went off to college though, fitness and exercise took a backseat. I'd be lying if I said that schoolwork took priority, but my focus was definitely not on exercise.

Exercise and health continued to take a backseat when I entered the working world. Not only was working full time stressful, but I was involved in a long distance relationship, so oftentimes I would make excuses that I had to get home to talk to D or other things like that.

In 2006 a few of my family members signed up for a half marathon and I decided that I wanted to run it. I went to the gym every day after work and ran for an hour on the treadmill. I didn't use a training plan, I didn't have any idea what I was doing. I ran my first half marathon, The Rock 'n' Roll Phoenix Half in January 2007 finishing with a time of 2:12.

I stopped running. I didn't workout at all again for a long, long time. Life got crazy.

In April of 2007 I changed jobs, then in May D and I got engaged. I spent a lot of time traveling to see him and in December we went to the courthouse and got married. Our big church wedding was planned for May 2008, and instead of exercising to lose weight for the wedding I just cut back on my eating habits. I was never unhealthy, but I managed to lose about 20 pounds.

I moved to Ft. Benning in April of 2008 and a month later we got married. One month after our wedding D deployed for 10 months. Instead of using my free time to get in shape and be healthy, I found myself eating unhealthy foods and drinking alcohol. Nothing to the point of weight gain, I actually lost a little weight.

Once D got home from Iraq, we came down on order and moved across the country. We found out we were pregnant with AJ the day after moving into our new house. Since I was already in the habit of not exercising, it wasn't a stretch for me to continue my sedentary lifestyle while pregnant. I didn't gain an insane amount of weight, but I wasn't as healthy as I know I could have been.

Somewhere during those two years I realized that my body was different. I didn't have the same activity level as I did in high school, and I enjoy cooking and eating too much to not be active. I wasn't happy with the way I looked and I knew something needed to change. But what? Its very daunting to go from zero to sixty without help. Working out seems so challenging when you're out of shape.

It was while I was pregnant that I knew I wanted to change my lifestyle. I wasn't about to start a new workout regime while pregnant, but as soon as I was cleared by my doctor to start exercising after AJ was born, I got started. I signed up for my second half marathon. I started by walking with AJ in her jogging stroller and eventually I was running 20-23 miles per week. In November 2010, 8 months after giving birth to my daughter, I ran my second half marathon, The Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Half, finishing with a time of 2:05.

It hasn't been perfect, heck, there have probably been more days that I sit around than days that I exercise, but its a work in progress. I'm currently at the beginning of a long training program for my first full marathon. Am I scared? Hell yeah! Am I excited? Yep! Am I always motivated to run? No way.

I guess my point is, just because it seems intimidating doesn't mean you can't do it. You should try it! The worst thing that will happen is you decide its not for you. (I can tell you, I'm not a Zumba, Jazzercise, etc. type of person. That type of exercise wouldn't work for me. That is okay.) There are lots of tools out there to help novice athletes. I used the Couch 2 5K program to get in shape for my marathon training program.

My main goal in all of this is not to become a great runner (although I would love to improve my pace). I really don't even care about having a great body (although that would be awesome, too). I really want to set a good example for AJ. I want her to realize that even though its hard work, and sometimes I'm not in the mood, I exercise. I want her to realize that just because its been a few weeks or months since I last worked out, I can always start over. There is nothing wrong with taking some time off. That is the beauty of physical fitness, you get out of it what you put into it. You can decide to be a better you, any time you want.

Every Day is a Good Day When You Run

"Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it."
--Oprah Winfrey

I know I've been really bad about blogging lately, and for that I apologize. I haven't really been doing all that much. I'm kind of in a funk (outside the blog world) and have not really been feeling like writing about the few things we have done over the past week.

I have been running, and I'm feeling pretty good, albeit unmotivated lately. My long run on Saturday wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but I am still not really looking forward to my future Saturday morning runs. I think I'm struggling with motivation because I know that I'm not registered for the race yet and that is what makes it "real" in my opinion.

Even though I'm struggling with motivation, I've still been getting all my runs in. I guess the potential for guilt is a greater motivator than I realized. In the morning I wake up and the last thing I want to do is go run, but as I start my day, I get dressed in my running clothes and I tell myself that I will be disappointed in myself all day if I don't get the run in. I'm not the type (and the weather isn't cooperating) to run in the afternoon or at night, so I have to get it done first thing. I also feel like I have to go run because we don't really have all that much going on lately, so what else do I have to do but run? I guess guilt isn't all bad. ;)

I'm pretty happy with myself so far. I've have 5 scheduled runs and I've run the full distance for all 5 of them. Not bad. My times have been hovering right around 10 minute mile pace, which I'm pretty happy with at this point. I've been mostly running with the jogging stroller, so I can't really expect race pace or anything, plus I know I always run faster in organized events.

Sundays are supposed to be a cross training day according to my training plan and so this past weekend I skipped it. I just wasn't feeling it, plus I'm not much of a cross-trainer. I really want to make sure I stick as close to my plan as possible, so I'm trying to come up with some things to do on Sundays. I bought a couple apps for my phone to help with my cross-training and I'm planning to try them out. One is a push-up app and the other is an abdominal workout app. I'll report back here after I decide if I like them or not, in case you're interested in trying them out! I don't have super high expectations, but I really just wanted something to maybe help me tone up a little bit.

In other news, my Dad had some business close by, so he came down and stayed with us Monday night and left Tuesday morning. We had fun going out to Red Robin for dinner and playing with AJ. D's Dad and cousin are coming to town on Thursday for the weekend, so we'll have more fun and pictures to come. Hopefully some family time can pull me out of my funk!

AJ and I also have playgroup on Thursday morning, so Thursday will likely be a busy day for us. In the afternoon we have to drive the hour north to pick FIL and cousin up from the airport, so its looking like minimal nap for AJ. Hopefully she holds up and isn't too fussy for me!

So there you have it. That's the recap of what I've been up to. Not super exciting, but life isn't always fun and games, is it?

Do you ever run into writer's block? What do you do when you get into a funk?

Marathon Training: Day 2

I ran my first of many training runs yesterday morning and unfortunately for me, it was only like the hottest freaking day ever. I literally felt like I was running on the surface of the sun under water. That is how hot and sweaty I was, plus my legs felt like blocks of lead.

I got a little spoiled when I was back in Hometown, USA doing some running. It was nice and cool, plus the roads there are very flat. Here, not so much. Its basically the opposite of that, with lots of hills and extreme temperatures. Added to that is the stroller and the fact that I haven't run in about 2 weeks, and today was not exactly the way I was hoping to start my training for this marathon.

I did run just over 3 miles in about 33 minutes. I don't consider that to be too bad, considering the circumstances. Its definitely not the pace that I'm hoping to maintain for most of my runs, but I'm sure that with time I'll pick up the pace. I also made sure to stretch well both before and after my run today and so far I'm feeling pretty good, muscle-wise.

I have another 3 mile run this morning and I'm hoping to get out a little earlier than I did yesterday. Yesterday morning we didn't get out until after 9 am, and I think that had a big effect on the run. If we had gone earlier the temperatures wouldn't have been quite as bad. I'm also hoping that as the summer winds down, and my mileage increases, the temperature will decrease, making my runs a little easier.

So there you have it folks, my first real day of running is completed and I lived to tell you all about it (and run again)!

Marathon Training: Day 1, Week 1

Today is the first day of my marathon training. I have to say, its starting out on a good note. Today is a rest day. It just worked out that way, I swear.

Mondays and Fridays are my rest days, so technically, tomorrow starts my real training. I am going to do some stretching today to make sure I'm starting myself off on the right foot tomorrow.

One of the goals I have for this training program is to really make sure I'm stretching well everyday. During my training for the half I ran in November, I got really hung up about a month before the race because I wasn't stretching properly. My hamstrings were so tight that I could barely walk. I don't want to run into the same problem this time around, especially knowing that my mileage will be so much higher, seeing as this is a full marathon.

My other goal is to actually run all my long runs. That is not to say that I will never stop and walk during them, but I mean, I need to actually get out and do them. During my training for the half I found myself making excuses and not running on days I was supposed to. I still did well in the race, but I also had experience with the distance, so I kind of knew what to expect from it. A marathon? I do not have experience with, nor do I know what to expect. Therefore, I want to be as prepared as possible and I think mentally, I'm ready for the training. I'm hoping that the next 18 weeks of training prepares me mentally for the race.

So there you have it folks, my goals and plans for the next 18 weeks. RUN.

I hope you'll follow along with me and offer support along the way. I know there are going to be times that I need encouragement and I ask that you all cheer me on during this process!

*I'm admittedly not cool, so if you all could let me know of any cool new workout/upbeat music I can add to my iTunes to run to, that would be awesome!

**Also, don't worry, I'm not going to post about running every single day for the next 18 weeks, in case you were nervous.

Couple Things....

First up: WTF is up with Twitter? Is anyone else having trouble loading the homepage? For some reason every time I try to go there, it just gives me the little circle of death. You know, the progress circle that spins until the page loads? GRRR so annoying! Luckily I can access it on my phone, but its just not the same.

Secondly, who the hell am I and what did I do with my old, lazy self? Seriously, I woke up this morning and instead of sitting on my @$$ and reading blogs, checking FB, Twitter (on my phone, obvs) and drinking several cups of coffee, I vacuumed the entire downstairs, unloaded the dishwasher, watered some plants, and did some crunches. Then after AJ woke up and had breakfast I started a load of laundry and we embarked on {my} day 1 of the Couch 2 5k program (I'm starting on Week 4, day 2 because I'm somewhat in shape and only have 5 weeks until I start officially training for a FULL marathon).

In case you skimmed that last part, yes, I am planning on running a FULL marathon in November. That would be 26.2 miles. Yep, I'm crazy, but if you've been around here for more than one day, you'd already know that!

Here's the reasoning though. D wants to run a marathon. We have found one that isn't too far from where we live and the race also offers a half marathon on the same day. D has been trying to convince me to run it with him and I was thinking about doing another half. Then this weekend we were chatting with my parents and I decided that since I've already run 2 half marathons in the past, I'm either going to run the full or not do it at all (makes perfect sense, right? Ha!).

So there you have it folks, I'm officially bat$h!t crazy. Welcome to the dark side!

We're picking up our farm box again today and it might just be the highlight of my week! At our pick-up site there are a ton of little old ladies that hand out the boxes and I love making their days just by letting them pinch and squeeze AJ!

Happy Thursday everyone!

Oh, Hi There....

My name is Beth and this is my blog. Remember me?

I ran a half marathon this weekend. 13.1 miles. I didn't finish in under 2 hours, but I also didn't really think I would. I did finish in a personal best of 2:05:53. My previous best (and only) half marathon time was 2:12:andsomeseconds. I'm pretty happy that I was able to shave 7 minutes off my time, especially since the last time I ran 13.1 miles was before I had created human life.

Now that I've finished this race, I'm parked somewhere squarely between being super pumped for my next race in February and really, really, dreading it. I am dreading all the training runs that lie between me and my next race, but I'm also very excited about running the race.

Before this weekend I hadn't raced in almost 4 years. The last half marathon I did was in January 2007. I forgot about how much fun it is to run in a race and know that you're going to beat people. I forgot how motivated I get when people pass me (competitive, much?). I forgot how much fun it is to tour a city while you're running through it.

I'm also uber excited about February because I know tons and tons of people who are going to be converging on Disney World to run the race. It should be a big, amazing, awesome time!

So, with that being said, the countdown is now on...I have three weeks off before I start my 12 week training session for the Princess half!

Sorry, no pictures today, but I'll try and get on and upload pictures from this weekend and get those posted ASAP, because, um, San Antonio is a super cute and fun city.

There's also a lot of other stuff going on in my life right now that I'm going to be updating about very soon, so stay tuned! Oh, and I promise that I'm going to start reading all of your blogs again (and then subsequently commenting as well). I. Promise.

Wish Me Luck!!

I'm off to spend the weekend with my parents and siblings and run a half marathon! I've been spotty at best with my training and I told D the other night that I really just can't wait for this race to be over so I can take a break and not feel guilty about missing runs.

I'm not taking my computer with me, so I won't be around for a few days, but I'll make sure to post lots of pictures from the weekend and update you all on how the race goes once I get back.

See you next week!

Oh, and I also promise to actually put some effort into some posts in the very near future. I really, really, really promise!

A Big Month!

First and foremost, Happy November! Its finally starting to feel like Fall here. I love it!

The tree in our front yard, taken this morning.

As for me, I have a lot of plans this month.

This weekend I'm heading to my alma mater to have a little reunion with all my college roommates. We (all 7 of us) lived on the same floor in the dorms Freshman year and then continued to live together the rest of our four years there. Sophomore year we were in the dorms again and then Junior and Senior years we rented a 6 bedroom house off-campus! I haven't seen (most of) them since last September when Mandy got married!

Me and most of my girls (Mary is missing from the picture) at Mandy's rehearsal dinner, 2009.

I'm super excited to see them all again but I'm leaving AJ home with D for the weekend and I'm already having mini panic attacks about being away from her all weekend! I know that she'll be fine, its not that, its me missing her so much that I'm worried about.

My second big event for the month of November is the 1/2 marathon in San Antonio. To say that I'm worried about it would be an understatement. Not only am I having the same reservations about leaving AJ home with D and his dad (her grandpa) but I'm also worried about being so sore I can't walk after the race. I have just under two weeks before race day and my vow is to get back out there and run the next two weeks. I reall wish that D and AJ could make the trip to San Antonio with me, but we just decided that it made more sense for him to stay home with her instead of spending all the extra money for them to come. With that being said, the weekend should be super fun. The race is part of the Rock 'n' Roll series, which are always a good time. I ran the RnR half in Pheonix in 2007 and had a blast!

My sister and a friend at the expo before the Pheonix 1/2 marathon, 2007.

The next weekend, my baby sister is coming to visit! Its been a long time since she has seen AJ and I think she's having withdrawals. :) My brother lives close to us, but my sister doesn't so she doesn't get to come out here that often. She's getting ready to spend part of her second semester in Australia, so she really wants to get all the AJ time she can before she leaves!

My sister and me in FL, 2010.

After that, we have Thanksgiving! We're heading back to Hometown, USA for the families' annual traditional Thanksgiving festivities. We'll most likely run the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning with my family, it should be fun!

If you are still with me after all that, I applaud you! Now just imagine how exhausting this month will be. I'm exhausted after just typing it all out. lol Even though it will be a busy month, I'm super excited about all the fun things we have planned.

What do you have going on this month? Any fun plans? Does your family have any Thanksgiving traditions?

Overcoming Injury

So I'm pretty sure that D would disagree with me and explain how my intense, stabbing back pain is not actually an injury, but a result of poor maintenance. You see, my hamstrings are so tight and under-stretched that they've pulled my hips all out of whack. Now I'm experiencing some of the worst back pain imaginable. Its difficult for me to stand up straight and it doesn't seem to be getting any better, despite the almost constant stretching I've been doing.

It is really getting me down, mostly because its making everything more difficult (read: taking care of AJ), but also because I had really planned on buckling down and hammering away at the half marathon training (since I'm registered to run 13.1 miles 3 weeks from today and I'm totally unprepared). I'm getting really, super nervous about this race now and I was hoping to feel confident going in.

At least I know that if all hell breaks loose and this race goes horribly wrong, I have another half that I'm signed up for at the end of February. Even if I have to walk more of this race than I planned on (and I planned on not walking any of it) I will have a shot at a do-over 15 weeks later. We'll just have to see how this pans out.

With that being said, I haven't run since "injury" day, which was Thursday. My back was a little sore so I decided to go for a run and see if it would loosen me up. I was planning on running 5 miles and had to cut it down to only 3 miles. I barely made it home and was actually running through scenarios in my head that included calling 911 when I collapsed on the street. I was honestly thinking about how I needed to make sure to hold on to the stroller so AJ wouldn't roll down the hill and get hit by a car.

I'm now thinking that I will probably go out and run tomorrow to see how I feel running in hopes that it will either make me feel better or make me realize that I can (or can't) run with the pain. I'll update you all on how it goes!

Anyway, that it what is happening in my life right now. If you have any advice or words of encouragement, feel free to bestow it upon me! I can use all the help I can get! Oh, and good luck/job to all my bloggy friends (and IRL friends) who ran the Army 10-Miler this morning! You rock!

A Few Randoms....

I don't have anything to write a whole post about, so you're going to get a little random list of things that are on my mind. Enjoy!

• Each time I think that AJ has settled into a sleep routine she mixes things up and wakes up a whole bunch during the night. I don't get it! I haven't done anything differently in her bedtime routine, so what gives baby?
• I have a few trips planned in the next month and I feel like they've been on the books forever, but they're finally in sight! The first is to my college town to reunite with my six (6!) roommates from college and the second is to San Antonio for the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon. I'm super excited about both!
• I'm super scatterbrained and just realized that we never got our security deposit back from our townhouse in Washington. I emailed our landlord yesterday and they didn't have our forwarding address, so the check got mailed out yesterday! (Um, hello Beth, that's quite a bit of money that you forgot about....Mommy brain, anyone?)
• The dog is currently laying on the ottoman and just started sliding off...Hilarious.
• Christmas is just around the corner, which means that Thanksgiving is even closer. Both of these facts mean that we're super close to rejoining civilization, moving, and spending time in Florida! Can't wait!
• We're officially cloth diapering full time and its going pretty well. We've had a few leaky diapers (mostly in the morning when she sleeps the whole night) and I'm still getting used to using the diaper sprayer without drenching my whole bathroom, but we're getting there. I'm happy with the way things have been going so far. Its almost at the point when it doesn't feel any different from using disposables now.
  
• Running has been going well this week. One of my IRL friends (oh how well she knows me) suggested on here that I just let it go, not feel guilty about it and start fresh this week. Well, I've run 9+ miles already this week, today is my rest day and I have cross training tomorrow and a long run Saturday. Excited to bust my butt the next month and be ready for the race!

Anyways, that is where I'm at right now. Hopefully you enjoyed this little random glimpse into what my life is looking like right now. AJ just woke up from her nap, so I'm off to get her!

Running Rut

I have a question for all of you runners out there.

What do you do to get yourself out of a rut? What motivates you to run when you can't find motivation?

I'm signed up to run a half marathon in just over a month and I'm really struggling lately with finding the motivation to do my training. You'd think that the fear of having to run 13.1 miles would be enough motivation, but sadly, its not.

I think part of the problem is that I was hoping the running would help me to shed some (all) of the baby weight and at this point, its not happening. So now I'm plodding along (unmotivated) and not losing weight. Ugh. I seriously thought that as I got back into shape and started losing weight that the running would become more fun. What is the problem here?

Please help me!

I'm So Tired

I've been busy lately. I've been really tired. Like, can barely move at the end of the day tired. I think that its partly due to the fact that I decided that I wanted to actually start pushing myself in my workouts. I came to the realization that I wasn't going to get any better if I didn't start trying harder (more on this in a minute).

I'm not going to lie, I went four days last week without running. Thursday was my rest day, and then Friday I wasn't feeling great. My parents were in town Saturday and Sunday, so running got put on the back burner. I think that I might have to start going to be earlier. I prefer to run a little later in the day, which normally isn't a problem because AJ and I go after her morning nap. I run into a problem when we have weekend plans. AJ still wakes up in the middle of the night, which makes it really hard for me to get up in the morning and get my run in, even when I know I have plans during the day.

Okay, back to the increased effort I'm putting into my workouts, I'm really happy with the progress that I've made with my running. Up until last week I was running all my training runs at about 10:30 pace and this week I've been consistently running under 10:00 pace. I think I realized that I was able to run faster than I was. I was slacking and I want to hold myself accountable.

I also decided that I'm going to get serious about following my training program. For example, yesterday I was supposed to run 4 miles and do strength training. I've been blowing off the strength training and I think that I was just expecting the running to strengthen me enough. Well, I can safely say that I can feel the difference. I feel stronger. I feel like its helping me run faster and feel better during my runs.

So far, this week has been going well, but like I said, I'm so tired! Please forgive me if I haven't been great about keeping up with my blog. As soon as I find some extra energy/exciting things to blog about, I'll jump back into it!

Training Update and Our Lazy Sunday

I haven't updated on my half marathon training lately and I wanted to let you all know that I have been really consistent. I am really happy with how I've been doing because I am starting to feel a lot stronger and even though running isn't "fun" yet, it isn't dreadful anymore either!

As always, my training plan is listed first, followed by what I actually did in italics.

Monday 9/13: 3.5 mile run (3.56 miles)
Tuesday 9/14: 2 mile run (Rest, it was raining)
Wednesday 9/15: 3.5 mile run (3.58 miles)
Thursday 9/16: Rest (2.02 miles)
Friday 9/17: 40 minutes cross train (Rest)
Saturday 9/18: 5 mile run (5.02 miles)
Sunday 9/19: Stretch and Strengthen (2.06 miles)

Total mileage: 16.24 miles

Over the past few weeks I've noticed that my biggest problem is that we get sidelined by rain. Well folks, no more excuses! I ordered a weather cover for the jogging stroller and it came yesterday, so next time it rains, we can still head out and run. I'm really excited about this because I love to run in the rain (especially since its still pretty warm here, about 80 degrees)!

On another note, I'm not sure that I mentioned that my little brother moved to the city near us. Well, today he came out to the boonies to visit with us and hang out for the day. I made homemade French Onion Soup and brownies (from the box) and we just relaxed and watched football and played with Miss AJ. It was a great day!

I also realized that its been a while since I posted pictures of AJ... so come back tomorrow for Mamarazzi Monday!

Half Marathon Training Update

We're currently in the midst (of tail-end I guess) of week 3 (of 12) of my half marathon training. I think I've been doing pretty well so far. I only missed 2 runs in the past 2 weeks (which is pretty good), but at the same time, I'm really starting to get worried about running 13.1 miles without stopping in 9 weeks. Eek!

Here is what the past 2 weeks of training looked like (according to the schedule) and what I actually did (in italics).

Monday 8/30: 3 mile run (3.01 miles)

Tuesday 8/31: 2 mile run (2.05 miles)

Wednesday 9/1: 3 mile run (3.07 miles)

Thursday 9/2: Rest (Rested.)

Friday 9/3: 30 minutes cross train (3.06 miles)

Saturday 9/4: 4 mile run (4.18 miles)

Sunday 9/5: Stretch and Strengthen (Nothing)

Week Total: 15.37 miles

Monday 9/6: Rest (Rested. If you count traveling all day with a 6 month old to be resting.)

Tuesday 9/7: 3.5 mile run (3.55 miles)

Wednesday 9/8: 3.5 mile run (3.55 miles)

Thursday 9/9: 2 mile run (Nothing, it rained all.day.long.)

Friday 9/10: 4o minutes cross train (3.75 miles)

Saturday 9/11: 5 mile run (5.15 miles)

Sunday 9/12: Stretch and Strengthen (2 miler from Thursday)

Week Total: 18 miles

Making progress folks.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: Post-Run Edition

Oh, geez, that run wore me out, Mom!

I'm so happy!

I love running!

I don't think I need to say that I do not look quite so happy after a run!

The New Workout Update

I've decided to move my workout updates to Sundays because I think its just a little bit easier to talk about the entire week as a whole instead of breaking it up to report on Wednesdays.

Of course, by moving the updates to Sundays the name doesn't quite have the same "ring" to it as the alliteration of "Wednesday Workout Update."

Such is life.

On to the update.

This week was week #1 of my half marathon training plan. I'm using Hal Higdon's Novice Half Marathon Training Plan, in case you were wondering.

Here's the schedule for this week with what I actually did in italics:

Monday 8/23: Stretch and Strengthen. (Nothing.)
Tuesday 8/24: 3 mile run. (Nothing. AJ and I were driving)
Wednesday 8/25: 2 mile run or cross train. (2.1 miles)
Thursday 8/26: 3 mile run + strength. (3 miles)
Friday 8/27: Rest
Saturday 8/28: 30 minute cross train. (3.7 miles)
Sunday 8/29: 4 mile run. (I'm planning to run tonight)

Honestly, I was hoping to start out my training a little more consistently than I did, but I'm happy with the mileage I got in. I know that getting out and running on the weekend is always my downfall for exercise, so I'm not surprised that I haven't gotten around to running yet today.

I know that the next 12 weeks are going to go by quickly and so I'm going to really make a concentrated effort to not let myself slack over the next few weeks. The snowball effect will kill me. If I start slacking now then I know I'm going to be miserable when the time comes to run 13.1 miles on November 14.

Is anyone else training for a big race? Anyone planning on running the half (or full, kudos to you!) marathon in San Antonio in November? Wanna be training buddies?

Run For The Fallen 2010

Well, we're all up bright and early in my house this morning because we're heading off to run in the Run For The Fallen.

Well, AJ's not running it, but D is going to push her in the jogger, so I get to run without the baby! Yippeeee!

I'm sure that most of the MilSpouses know someone who has made the ultimate sacrifice and I think its really important to do things like this race to honor them. I'll be keeping a few people in particular in mind while running this morning, but also thinking about the sacrifices the men and women of our Armed Forces as a whole have made for our country.

I ask that you stop for a minute today to remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our Freedom.

Thanks!