Well put!
I am getting excited. (<——- Understatement)
Yesterday, not so much. I wasn’t really anything about it. I knew it was coming, but well… I was indifferent about it.
Today? TODAY I am excited and CAN NOT wait for the weekend. Plans are being made and it is making it all that more real. It is going to be an excellent weekend no matter what happens. Good run? Bad run? It doesn’t matter. I am going to do it and I will be proud of myself.
It is quite the thing, to start something, envision something, and stay along the path to get to that something. When I started running, I just wanted to stay in shape. I didn’t really think much about it. Then I ran my first 5k and realized that I loved the racing aspect of running. It is quite intoxicating. And, how do I put this….it is an amazing thing to have something to be excited for. But, to have something that you created/initiated/work towards, and have that be the thing to get you pumped up. Well, I am enjoying that. For sure.
5k’s, 10k’s, half, full marathons - ANY able bodied person can do them. It isn’t like you have to be a part of a club. You don’t have to join a team. You don’t have to have any qualifications (except for some specific races). All you have to do is pay a fee to register and then put in the work and make sure you don’t die out on the course. You get to be a part of something where everyone is there because they want to. Everyone there is doing something to better their health. Everyone there must love life in some way. Everyone there shares a passion that is the same as you. Intoxicating only begins to describe the feelings. Each race I go to, I try and soak up the atmosphere as much as I can.
Sunday will be my first Half Marathon. This will be the first time that I will attend an event like this. I haven’t even spectated a marathon before. I know there will be more people, more entertainment, more everything and I couldn’t be more excited. I look forward to finishing the half, but I will also have fun watching all the marathoners. I need to see what to expect in October!
Saturday I will head up to Kalamazoo and meet up with my brother. We will hit the expo downtown and pick up our packets. I always hear people talk about how the marathon expos are fun, so I am hoping this one is good. We shall see. I like every other kind of expo, I should like running expos even more! Brett has to work in the evening, so while he is working I will chill by myself. I know, such a tough thing to have hours to entertain myself! I am sure I will manage.
Is sushi good pre-race food? I am thinking it might be and I just might have to treat myself to a couple rolls since there is a new sushi restaurant right by my brother’s place.
Saturday night I will just stay at Brett’s. That way I don’t have to worry about a 40 minute commute in the morning. And plus, I get some quality brother/sister time which is always appreciated. Nervous runner talk will definitely be had.
Sunday morning we will probably just walk down to the race start. It is only about a mile or so down the road and that will probably be easier than trying to find parking. Plus, it will be a good way to get our legs warmed up.
Mark is going to bring the kids down later. He will scope out an area that isn’t too crowded, the kids can be managed easily, and where they can see me run by. I hope they have fun watching mama run! ;)
Will this be the race that I pass out at the finish line? I always come a little close…we shall see :) lol
RUNNING
I have not run lately. I wish I could say it was for one specific reason or another, but I can’t. This was my week that I was supposed to run all the miles, but I didn’t. So be it.
(this post got long, so I will do the whole read more bit...)
Last night I set my alarm for 6:30am. The kids have been getting up closer to 7am each morning. I thought I would try and get up before them for a change.
I knew it was a long shot because well…I love to sleep. Getting up in the morning has NEVER been easy for me.
BUT, I did it. That alarm went off at 6:30am and I hit snooze. I laid there for a few minutes, but then I did get up.
It is amazing the things you can get done when the house is so quiet.
Ta-done list:
cleaned the bathroom - (long overdue…)
tried to jimmy rig the drain thing a ma jig - (failed)
started some laundry - (Peyten had woken up in the middle of the night soaked…with no diaper on, yeah, lovely)
caught up on dishes - (put away clean and washed what was left)
made Charly’s lunch for school
started some coffee
picked up some toys
opened my Bible and read a passage
Then Charly walked down the hall. It was nearly 7:30, I guess they slept in a little!
It was nice having that time to myself and time to catch up on a few things that would normally weigh my mind down as the morning got on.
I will TRY and do the same thing tomorrow, but I really don’t have high hopes. Seriously, when I wake up in the morning, my mind is not alert at all and all it can think about is how to get back to that dream land. That lovely dream land.
As much as I enjoy/appreciate/love the early morning time, my half awake mind never wants to give in to it.
But, at least I can try.
Yesterday was supposed to be a run day. Throughout the day, I could feel the pain in my calves. It would come and go, but always there. I couldn’t run Tuesday and I knew I wouldn’t be able to run Thursday, so I really wanted to get a run in.
Well, Mark and I put the kiddos to bed and it was about 5 to 8. I sat on the couch and watched the last five minutes of Disaster DIY. I wanted to see how the porch turned out, I wanted to make sure the kids stayed in bed, and I figured I would get up at 8 and go run.
BUT, in those five minutes, it is like the velvet hammer hit me. I was in full zone out mode. I couldn’t move. I had put a blanket around me when I first sat down and the warmth from that blanket felt so good. My head was oh so heavy. My eyelids were struggling to stay up. Yet, they hurt if I closed them.
The next thing I knew, I felt my body tip over and lay down on the couch. I was out. I believe Mark watched TV for a bit. I am pretty sure I was snoring. I was dead to the world and nothing was bringing me back.
So, when presented with the question “run, or not to run?” The answer should always be, run! Unless of course your body just goes and gives out on you all together. I woke up about midnight and I was oh so warm even though I had tossed the blanket off at some point. I had been sleeping hard. I guess I needed it more than the run.
I watched a movie and went back to sleep about 2am.
And, since my calves are still hurting today, well maybe it really was a good thing that I didn’t run. I wanted to get in as many miles as I could this week, but that just isn’t turning out how I planned. I am not going to get all upset about it, I am just going to go with the flow.
Another and…. I am not feeling up to par today. My tummy is queasy and this headache is quickly turning in to a migraine. Mark was throwing up two nights ago and didn’t feel good all day yesterday. I hope I am not coming down with what he had.
Computer job + Migraine = No Good.
So, today is work from 9-5 and then cleaning at the church this evening. Maybe, just maybe, I can get a quick bike ride in at some point. Who knows. If you put it on Tumblr, it just might happen!
Last night I was uber hungry about 10 o’clock. I wasn’t ready to go to bed and I knew it was too late to eat. But, my tummy was a rumbling. I made the decision to not feed that feeling because really…I knew deep down it was more dehydration rather than starvation. But, I REALLY wanted to fill that need with food. Some toast with nutella and a banana was sounding really good!
Well, I opted to eat a couple prunes and chug a bunch of water. It sufficed. If you didn’t know prunes are darn tasty, now you know. Scrumptious little buggers.
Tonight, it is about that same time and my tummy is rumbling again. Aye. Food sounds good, but the decision is even easier tonight for some reason. Maybe because I am just too lazy to get off the couch. Whatever the reason, I am not going to make anything to eat. My water bottle is in reach and I will chug that.
I drink at least a water bottle a day…I gotta check the ounces on it. I think it is about 24 oz. But, I need to be drinking more. Especially going in to next week before the race.
I never did get that toast with nutella and banana. Breakfast tomorrow? Good things come to those who wait, right?
I am sure I have had more thoughts lately, but that is enough for this post.
I intended on getting some form of exercise in today, but it just didn’t happen. Unless, you include cleaning as exercise, which you should. Then I did.
Last night I slept REALLY WELL. It was just one of those nights where I slept comfortably and soundly all night. It is hard to explain. I just woke up feeling good. Still groggy, but good. I had dreams, but they were the pleasant, I am watching a movie, type of dreams. Lovely.
Anyway, after church we put Aydan and Peyten down for a nap and Charly had gone to a friend’s house for the day/evening. Mark went for walk/jog. And for me, well I was stuck. I didn’t want to DO anything. I knew there were things that needed to be done, there were things that I wanted to do, and I didn’t want to do any of it. I just felt stuck. So, I got a couple work things handled. I read through Tumblr and I played some Words with Friends. And then I snuggled in on the couch and watched two episodes of Army Wives. It was nice to just not do anything for a little while.
By the time the second episode was over Aydan had already woken up from his nap and Peyten woke up too. I decided that I should get my butt in gear before I started feeling too lazy.
Mark had already gotten a lot done for Aydan’s new room, but there was more cleaning/organizing that needed to be done. And the girl’s room was trashed and hadn’t been cleaned in a while.
So, I just went to it and it was one of those days where it was never ending. I got the sheets changed on the beds, picked up toys, sorted toys, reorganized toys. Put contact paper on drawers. Got the clothes put away in different drawers now that Aydan is in his own room. I vacuumed and dusted. I …well, I just kept going. Every time I turned around I found something that was out of place and needed to be put somewhere else, thrown away, or whatever. I think I was cleaning for a good 4 or 5 hours and I am still probably not done. But, I got the majority done and that feels good.
Aydan is soooo happy to have his own room. He has shared a room ever since he was born. And now that he has his own space, he is as happy as a clam. I thought he might have a tough transition sleeping at night by himself. He already would take naps in that room by himself, but I wasn’t sure how he would do at night. But, the first night was no problem and tonight we didn’t hear a peep out of him again.
After I got done cleaning today, he went in and set up his train sets on his desk and put some pirates around it too. He made sure to make a place for the treasure chest. He was so in to it. I just have never seen him so “in his element” before. It makes me happy. He is my little introvert and I am glad he now has his “boy room” so that he can play with trains, pirates, tools, and swords, trucks, and guitars all by himself.
I tried to get him to get under the covers, but he was adamant that he wanted them just like that and he only wanted to be covered with the little one. The boy can be so OCD sometimes.
Peyten kept trying to claim Aydan’s bed and then Charly’s bed. We have kept her in a crib for our own selfish reasons. Because we just haven’t been ready to deal with a child constantly getting out of bed. The other two were terrors getting them to stay in bed at night. I know Peyten will be easier, but we still haven’t been ready. Well, we decided that since Aydan is in the other room and now there is a spare bed in the girls room, we would give Peyten a chance. She was so excited and happy. She snuggled down in and was ready for bed with her “la la” (dog).
But, of course she got out of bed many times. She wasn’t crazy about it. She would just mosey down the hallway, sometimes saying she had to go potty, I would tell her to go back to bed and she would say “oh tay” and go back to bed. After a couple warnings, I told her she had to go back to her crib. I put her in there and she cried and cried. I decided to give her another shot at the bed. Well, she got out about five more times and so I put her back in her crib. This time she laid right down on her pillow and said “nigh nigh”. I guess she was too tired to fight. Or she was missing her crib, who knows.
Maybe we will give it another go tomorrow night.
But, doesn’t she look happy in her big girl bed…:)
On another Aydan and Peyten note. They are both doing great with potty training. We are still working on #2, but that will come with time. Patience Kari, patience. I am just glad we can put underwear on them for a good portion of the day!
Oh, and mentioning the OCD tendencies for Aydan. When he goes on the potty, he likes to have 1 square of toilet paper and it has to be a whole square. If it has a torn corner, well, it just won’t do. It has to have four even sides. Aye!
Today was a big day. Today was the day that I ran 14 miles. That is the farthest I have ever run before. I am not going to lie, it was difficult. Mentally and physically.
I have three band aids on my left foot due to blisters. My toes started hurting about mile 7 and I realized I was done for, the blisters were already there. I think I will take band aids with me on long runs from here on out. That could have made things a bit easier.
I was proud of my pace. It was pretty consistent throughout. A few ups and downs. I started out the run just going slow and I wanted to try and stay at the same pace throughout. I wanted to see how long I could hold it and 10 min seemed like a fair pace for me. There were some hills that made me work a little harder.
And I will have to remind myself not to run this same course again…as it goes by a dairy farm and well, the smell is not so pleasant for about a mile or two.
My knee held up well and actually, it didn’t bother me at all during the run. And it didn’t tighten up on me after the run either. I say that is improvement!
The main pain that got to me were my calves and my back. I felt like I had a back brace on and I couldn’t relax my muscles at all. I am glad that I had good posture throughout the run, but by the end, boy did those muscles hurt. And my calves, I thought those puppies would never loosen up. They were on high alert for sure.
So, tired painful muscles, I can deal with that pain. I am glad that I didn’t have any injury type pain.
The run was pretty uneventful overall. No one tried to run me over, no dogs chased me, and there was minimal road kill to avoid. And the temperature was perfect. It had been chilly but sunny, so I had on shorts and my running jacket with a tank top underneath. By mile 2, I took the jacket off and wrapped it around my waist. I never needed it again. By mile 1, my mp3 player died. Completely. Luckily I found a spare battery in my arm band. Score! I would have enjoyed 14 miles with no music, but the music helps keep me going sometimes.
So, the 14 mile stats:
2:21:07 total time
avg pace 10:05
burned 1508 calories
and climbed 513 ft
I think my goal for the half marathon will be to get r done in less than 2:15:00
Based on today’s run, I think that is a fair goal.
As soon as I got home from the run, Mark and Cindy were in full swing cleaning out the blue room to get it ready for Aydan, so he can have his own “boy’s room”. I took a shower and then helped the best I could.
Then we had some family time, ate snacks for dinner - pepperoni, cheese, crackers, pretzels, grapes, marshmallows. Ya know…the vitals.
Before long, it was time for the kids to go to bed. And I headed up to the church to do some cleaning. I am quite sore and the 2 hours I spent up at the church was all I could do. Now my head hurts and I am dead tired. 14 miles took it out of me! I am about to chug some even more water and hit the bed.
Night world!
