Week 2, Day 1

The weekend was so relaxing!!!! It started with a cozy night at home with the kids on Friday. We ate and enjoyed a movie...Benchwarmers. Hilarious to my 12 year old! And pretty dang funny to me too.

Saturday was up early and out the door in different directions. Bob took Moose to his double header Basketball games (both wins). And I took the Beast to her last soccer game of the season. Win. I picked the COLD as HELL game! I froze my @ss off!

The rest of the day was spent wrapped in a blanket watching tv and movies. Somehow I got sucked into 6 hours of Hunger Games movies and extras.......

Sunday was even more chilled out as we got to sleep in! Oh heaven.

My alarm woke me at 5:45 am....I bolted outta bed, dressed and put on all my light up safety gear (headlamp, reflective headband, flasher on my hip, reflector or my arm), cued up my Balanced Bites and hit the road.....Little did I know it was 34 deg out! OMG! It was to dark to tell when I looked out the window when dressing so I had NO IDEA! Burrrrrr

Other than the temp, it was a beautiful pre dawn run. The Moon was still out and looking awesome and lighting up the way.

Work out stats:
3.08 miles, 28.19 time, 9:11min mile.
34 deg, clear, dark. Over all it was a great run, everything felt good and I am not sore!

Week one in the BAG!

Week One CHECK

That feels good to say. One down, 11 to go. First long run happened today. 6 miles easy. 6 miles is a distance I have ran a lot. I have done several 10Ks....6.2 miles. But I has been a few months since that last 6 miler and boy did I feel it today!

After the morning "routine"; lunches made and packed, breakfast cooked and eaten, kids cared for (including braining the Beasts hair) and then kids delivered to their schools, I was ready to hit the road.

Pre Run....burr

It was SO foggy this morning and a lovely 41 degrees! I picked a route I like that has very little traffic and beautiful scenery. Cued up my Balanced Bites podcast, my RunKeeper and I was off!

Beautiful foggy countryside

All in all it was a pretty easy run. Nothing hurt, I didn't have any wardrobe malfunctions, or hair malfunctions or major potty needs. I do have a bad habit of looking at my time/distance a lot when I am doing an out and back run....wouldnt want to go further than necessary! But it does get annoying when I check and I am NO WHERE NEAR AS FAR AS I THOUGHT! I did this several times. I should learn. Maybe next week I will set up my audio cues better so I don't feel the need to keep looking.
The 3 miles out took FOREVER, but the 3 miles back went pretty fast! It did help I had several down hills coming back! YAY!

Can't wait for my 13.1 sticker! Post run.

I thought shorts might be a bad plan, but in the end they were OK! I am asking a lot of these legs and feet.

I am looking forward to having 2 days "off" to let my legs heal a little. They are pretty sore. Probably more from the squats and thrusters I did on my Crossfit days than the actual running days....although they are a bit wobbly today.

In the rest of the families lives.....
The Beast has started wrestling for her Jr High. So far she likes it, she's sore  and the only girl on the team. She has her first meet on monday! She also has her LAST soccer game tomorrow morning.

Moose has 2 basketball games first thing in the morning tomorrow. He is super excited, he LOVES basketball!

The weekend will be full of chores, sports and sports pizza parties.

Work out stats:
6.02 miles, 57:58 time, 9.37 min/mile avg. Heavy fog, 41 deg.

Crossfit and Pedicures - Day 4

Almost a full week of training checked off the list! YAY me! I am really realizing how happy I am that I have set this goal for myself. It's not often I do things just for me. This is for ME! All the time I put it will pay off with the accomplishment of starting, working hard and finishing this race. Ask me again how excited I am after some of my longer runs.....in the fall/winter....in OREGON!

Today was Crossfit day. I started breaking a sweat right around 6:30am in my Box....aka the garage.

Warm up
WOD:
Thrusters w/ #45
Curl w/ #20 KB each arm
Dip
Front raise w/ #20 KB
Hip Thrusters
4 rounds of 15 each
CORE

My heart rate was high, I was sweating, total time 27:25.

My training plan and my inspiration photos!

On a fun and personal note, I went and got a pedicure today with my Pea. She is leaving for Hawaii tomorrow and wanted to get her toes prettied up so, being the awesome friend I am, I kept her company. :-) Every time I get a pedi, I think "why don't I do this more often? This is so GREAT!" And then a year goes by and I haven't had one.....I should make that a goal too...get regular Pedi's! Added bonus we got coffee first.....mmmmmm coffee, pedi and bestie......

So now I am wearing sandals and it is POURING DOWN RAIN, but my toes are cute and I want to see them. Oh the pains of living in OR!


Tomorrow is my first long run...a big whopping 6 miles. I better make sure I enjoy it because they all get longer after this!

Crazy weather this morning on my way home from brining the kids to school. Beautiful sunshine with rain on my windshield, there was even a little rainbow.

Be VISIBLE! Day 3

I have been reading articles and seeing posts on social media about runners running in the dark and not being seen by cars...horrible.  The common statement is "Be visible". Well, yes that is good advise but we, as runners, need to be SMART! Don't run in the road when you see a car coming....don't wear all black....don't a lot of things! So when I go running at O'dark thirty, I try to be as visible and lit up as possible, I run on side walks in lit up neighborhoods. Not always my preference, I like the country roads with no shoulder and no houses. But that is not being SMART when running in the dark. If you are interested in a funny read about this issue, read here!
Ok rant over!

Today was day 3.....3 mile steady run according to my plan. I headed out the door at about 6:10am, in the dark. I work hot pink shorts, neon yellow teeshirt, head lamp and flashing reflective light on my backside. I ran on side walks in well lit neighborhoods. By the time I got home, the sun had shed some light and I didn't need my headlamp any more, so that was nice. And NO RAIN! Crazy!

My run was good, steady. I am a bit sore today from taking a week off and then my last 2 workouts, but it felt good to work the soreness out of my legs.

Work out stats:
3 miles, 27:30 time, 9.09 min/mi avg. No rain, 55ish deg. Felt good.

Training Day 2 - Cross Training

Day 2 of Half Marathon Training

Cross Training

I have a love for Running and I have a love for Crossfit. So when I decided to train for the half I knew I could not give up my Crossfit days. The plan I found had one cross training day and one work out day (probably meant for running), so I tweaked it to allow 2 cross training/crossfit days.

Now, some people would go to a Crossfit Box (gym), not me. I have been collecting weights slowly and building up my own gym. Harvest Box.....Marlea's Box.....The garage....

Todays WOD...Work out of the day in Crossfit talk.... You will get very sick of me talking about WODing and Crossfit and so on, but you chose to read this so what can I say!

Warm up: 

15 Air squats

10 push ups

10 dips

20 sit ups

20 supermans (on a ball)

x 3 rounds

WOD:

15x4 rounds

Hang clean and press #45

Back extension with #45 bar

Jump lunge

Bent row with Kettle Bell #20

High pull with Kettle bell #20

Core:

2 1/2 min of planks (sounds pathetic, but OMG its not easy!)

I got my heart rate up, my arms are shaking and I am dripping with sweat....I would say it was a success.....Now hopefully I can run tomorrow! Hurts so GOOD!!!

Half Marathon Training Day 1

Today marks the first day of a 12 week training plan for my first half marathon.
I have been wanting to tackle this goal for sometime now and I had one in-particular race in mind for my first. It's the Cascade Half Marathon held in January from our local Jr High. I know the course, I know the organizers and I will know a lot of the participants. It is the only half in Oregon in January, apparently that makes it even more special!
A few weeks ago, I realized that if I was going to really do this race I was going to have to start planning now. Find a training plan, register for the race, mentally convince myself I really do want to do this....So I did all those things and that brings me to today. I took all last week off from any workouts, I don't even know when the last time I did that was, and started my 12 week plan this morning.
My dear friend joined me in my 3 mile run. It was sprinkling and cool, truly the perfect running weather in my opinion. We chatted and enjoyed our time together, at least I did, I think she enjoyed it.... :-)

There was a time, not long ago, when I was terrified of running 3 miles. I could barley run 1 without having to stop and catch my breath, stretch and talk myself in to finishing. My first was 5k in 2011, my only goal was to finish and not walk. I accomplished that. Today my only goal for 13.1 is to finish and not walk. Wish me luck in this process!

Work out #1 stats: 3.03miles, 29.07 time, 9:37 avg mile, with HB, weather: light sprinkles, low 50's

I'm BAAAAAACK!!!!

So its been some time since I blogged.....Ok, 4 months and 10 days to be exact! Its been a busy time, school, work, sports....life. I don't really have any great excuses......I will give a few of the high points.
The kids had a great track season. Lucy ran the 400 and 800, 80 meter hurdles, shot put, and decathlon (Shot put, long jump, high jump, 80m hurdles, 800). Caymus ran the 400, 800 and 1500, shot put and long jump. He also did the triathlon (high jump, shot put and 400).
I have been running a lot....not fully an obsession...yet. I did run in my first 10k (6.2 miles) in June and loved it. I did better than I expected and am really looking forward to my next one. :-)
For work I went to Galveston again this year for our annual conference. It was a huge success once again! Now we are prepping for a conference in Delhi, India in the fall.
The kids finished up a great year of school both getting unbelivible grades and praises form their teachers. Now they are looking forward to being a 5th grader and a 4th grader! (how did that happen???)
On a sad note (and possibly a huge part of why I have not blogged in a long time) is that on March 14th we had to have Moka put down. He had been battling with diabites for a year and he lost that fight. It has been the hardest thing our family has had to go through and even now I am getting choked up writing about it. Moka lived to be 12 years old and was very loved and is VERY missed. He was my first baby, my kids big brother, my constant companion.

So now we are in full summer swing...that means sports camps, swim lessons, camping, swimming, and lots of play.
I will try to do better....emphasis on the word try....... :-)