Running (to Keep up) with a Toddler

(Practically) Wordless Wednesday

2012-02-29T13:21:00.001-05:00

MORE Half Training: Week 5

2012-02-26T16:33:00.000-05:00

I have to say, Presidents Week is pretty fantastic. Unlike Winter and Spring Recess, that usually have family commitments attached, Presidents Week is just a week off. Of course, I spent plenty of time taking care of and playing with my two little buddies....and I seriously enjoyed every.single.second. with them. Even if Leah thinks she only needs one nap these days. And she can't pinpoint which nap she'd prefer, so she fights both of them. Awesome.

No. It was awesome. I really appreciated being home with them.

And I really appreciated my husband who helped make sure that I got all my workouts in!

Plan for week 5:
Monday: rest Boom. Done.

Look who started eating table food! She'd get more awesomeness if she would hurry up and get some teeth.

Tuesday: 4 miles I was lazy and slept in. I ended up doing these 4 miles on the treadmill. And even though the plan called for 4 easy miles, I spent 2 miles playing with the incline. It wasn't very smart of me. I need those rest days to give my legs a break. Lesson learned. I'll make sure to actually run easy next Tuesday.

Playtime at the park!

Wednesday: Cross-training Ripped in 30. Jacob did the entire warm up with me and then was in and out for the rest of the workout. He did the fast feet (SO cute) and used a container of lysol wipes as his weights. He's a funny kid.

After working out, what's more zen than finger paints??

Thursday: 35 minute tempo run I walked 5 minutes, ran easy 5 minutes and then pushed for 20 minutes. When it gets averaged, it isn't really impressive, but those 20 minutes were around 10:10 pace which is pretty fast for me.
Friday: rest :-) I had to talk myself out of Yoga Meltdown several times.

Play time is active rest, right?

Saturday: 3 miles at 10:30 pace This run was HARD. I was aiming for 10:30, but ended up at 9:55. Splits: 9:55, 10:11, 9:39
Sunday: 8 miles I don't know what it is about longer distances, but I find the first 4 to be so much harder than the last 4. Once I hit 4, I feel like I could run all day.
Splits: 13:04, 11:03, 11:03, 10:37, 10:34, 10:36, 10:48, 10:23
Love it when the last mile is the fastest!!

And that makes 18 miles this week! That's a lot of miles!

My BFF...the foam roller!

Plans for next week:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 4 miles, easy
Wednesday: Cross-train
Thursday: 8x400
Friday: rest
Saturday/Sunday: not sure. Plan says 10k race, but I don't have one nearby ....so I guess I will race myself? AW. That sounds SO sad.

So who's watching the Oscars tonight? I plan on watching the Red Carpet, but not the actual awards. There will probably be a cocktail involved. :-)

MORE Half Training: Weeks 3 & 4

2012-02-20T20:08:00.000-05:00

Life has been hectic at our house. Like, more than usual. Our sitter had to have a lump removed from her breast and since February 2nd, we've needed back up care. We've enlisted help from pretty much everyone we know! I've tried to keep that from affecting my training...but there were a few casualties.

Week 3:
Monday - rest Done. I'm amazing at rest days.
Tuesday - rest Bam. Did it again.
Wednesday - Yoga Meltdown I love this DVD. I really want to be unbelievable at Warrior 3.
Thursday - 3.5 miles (should have been on Tuesday...will skip if I'm still hurting) Got up at 5 and ran pretty gingerly for the first mile. I really babied my knee all week and I think it helped. I started feeling my knee around 2 miles, but it wasn't hurting, just kind of sore, so I kept going. I foam rolled when I got home and didn't have an issues with the stairs at work.
Friday - rest
Saturday - run for Sherry I was supposed to run 3 miles at 10:30 pace. I always start with a five minute walk, so the first mile was 12:06, second mile 10:27 and third mile was 10:14. I was pretty happy with my pace. Thought of Sherry and her family many, many times on this...and all my runs.
Sunday - 6 miles Ran at the preserve near my house. Love that place. Ran with the fuel belt again...which I've definitely been favoring. I take a 1 minute walk break at the start of each mile, just like I will do at all water stations. 6 miles in 1:07, 11:13 pace

Week 4:
Monday: rest Rocked it. I could easily get an AG award for resting.
Tuesday: 3.5 miles Got up at 5 am again. This was a little bit of a miserable run. It's so hard to get my body to MOVE at that hour. I tried ignoring my pace, but it was hard.
Wednesday: Cross-train Yoga Meltdown again! Love that DVD. So glad I spent the 8 bucks for it!
That night, my mom and Grandma watched the kids and the husband and I celebrated Valentine's Day a day late. We went to Caracara, an upscale Mexican restaurant in Farmingdale. I made a gigantic mistake not taking more pictures. The food was amazing. We had guacamole made table side that was SO good. I had the tacos mixtos and David had a pork something or other that was very tasty. But most importantly, the booze was awesome.

That's an organic Margarita. I only remembered to take a picture of the first one.

And that's a tequilla flight for my guy. The bartender set him up with his three favorites. Love the display. And please note, there is no apple juice on the table. Great success!

Thursday: 6x400 at 5k pace Did not do. This was a super stressful week and I needed an easy day. Um, and I might have been slightly hungover. Oh well.
Friday: rest
Saturday: 3 miles Went to the track for the 6x400 I skipped.

That evening, I went to Massage Envy for a 50 minute massage (my Valentine's day gift from David).

That's a dark picture. It was a dark room. Which is good when you are naked in front of a stranger.

Sunday: 7 miles Assumed that on a February morning the bike path to the beach would be empty. I was wrong wrong so very wrong. It was a really pretty morning and there were a lot of groups out running. I made the very smart decision to join friends for Turkish lunch afterwards. What a fabulous way to refuel. Ran 7 miles in 1:17, 11:03 pace

Plan for week 5:
Monday: rest
Tuesday: 4 miles
Wednesday: Cross-training
Thursday: 35 minute tempo run
Friday: rest
Saturday: 3 miles at 10:30 pace
Sunday: 8 miles

Annnnd, here is a random picture of my kids:

Broken Running Rules

2012-02-08T20:35:00.001-05:00

This week's Tough Chik question: What running rule do you break?

I eat WAAAAAAAY more than 300 calories on the days I run long.

Don't worry. It's froyo. It's basically healthy.

Sometimes I don't wave to other runners. And I never wave to cyclists. Sorry.

I'm envious of fast runners. I'm not sorry.

I carry water on most runs, no matter the distance. I read blogs in which runners say they don't carry water on runs less than 10 miles. That sounds like heat stroke insanity to me. If that's some bad ass badge of pride, I don't need it. I like water. And not having a stroke. Or dropping from dehydration.

Nathan and I are on the outs. It's been LEAKING! Yuck.

Although I've been foam rolling pretty religiously, I skimp on my post run stretching. I just don't enjoy stretching with a three year old climbing on me, asking me if I'm sweaty. Yes, Jacob. Yes, I am sweaty.

I like booze. That's all.

Pretty AND tasty. Champagne has it all.

What running "rules" do you break?

MORE Half Training: Week 2

2012-02-07T20:12:00.000-05:00

Week 2 of half marathon training is all done! Here's how it went:

Monday: rest
Tuesday: 3 miles - an AM run :-( The frowny face is from last week. It was NOT a frowny face run. I slept in my running clothes (rockstar) and was up before my 5 am alarm. Running that early freaks me out, so I wore every piece of reflective gear I had and I skipped the headphones. I did carry my phone though. It was too dark to wear my Garmin, so I ran a route I know is 3 miles...not sure of the pace. It was supposed to be an easy run, so I ran easy.

Reflective vest by Nathan. I also wore a strobe by Nathan. I did my husband a favor and didn't wear it to bed.

Wednesday: cross train - probably Ripped in 30 Ripped in 30 level 1. Loved it. My shoulders were so sore afterwards. A few months of cross training behind me and I am doing pretty great looking push ups.
Thursday: 30 minute tempo My knee started feeling funny during this run, but like an idiot, I ignored it and ran on. It really didn't bother me enough to stop, it was just a nagging pain. I was aiming for 15 minutes around 10:15pace, but ended up running around 9:50 pace. It was a good confidence boost for the 4M race on Sunday!
Friday: rest I noticed the pain in my knee as I was walking down the stairs at school. Not happy.
Saturday: rest Started icing and foam rolling. My left IT band hurts when I roll it. A lot.
Big Game Sunday: NYRR Gridiron 4M This race went awesome. I am really happy. Even if I had a mini breakdown and told my husband I was worried I'd have to walk the whole thing if my knee got really bad. Thank you for all of your kind comments on this post. They really made my day.

So my knee is still bothering me. I iced, foam rolled and Advil-ed after the 4 miler. I iced and foamed yesterday. I foam rolled and compressed today.

The pain wasn't as bad today, but I decided not to run the 3.5 miles that are on my calendar.

And I whined about it on Twitter.

I'd rather miss a week of training than end up not being able to run for several weeks because I made my knee angry. I'm giving myself until Friday before I call a doctor. Please yell at me in the comments if I should see a doctor sooner. And what type of doctor am I looking for?

So here is my tentative week 3 plan:
Monday - rest
Tuesday - rest
Wednesday - Yoga Meltdown
Thursday - 3.5 miles (should have been on Tuesday...will skip if I'm still hurting)
Friday - rest
Saturday - run for Sherry
Sunday - 6 miles

Have a great week!

NYRR Gridiron Classic 4M Recap

2012-02-05T21:48:00.000-05:00

As I watch the Super Bowl with one eye, I wanted to write up my second 9+1 race for the ING NYC Marathon 2013. Today was the NYRR Gridiron Classic, a 4 mile race through Central Park. And with the Giants making the Super Bowl it was a really fun race with great energy.

The Good:

* lots of Giants jerseys!

* conquering hills. I've been conscious to add hills into my running since the 10k and I will make sure to keep it up. I didn't take any walking breaks and even on the hills, I kept a 10:30 pace.
* typically great NYRR race day organization. I love that they let my husband pick up my bib. It saves me a crazy long trip from Brooklyn to the Upper East Side. Plenty of water for a 4 mile course, lots of bagels and apples at the end. And look at all these porta-potties!

* Pre-race longest throw competition. WITH Cheerleaders. I'm really impressed by anyone who can spiral a football.

* Free parking! Yay for races on a Sunday. We were about two blocks from the 72nd entrance. But we left from 60-something and passed Magnolia Bakery. We didn't stop in though. #regret

The Not-So-Good:

* The weather. While it was fine for this runner, my little gal was not a big fan. The cold made her nosy run and she didn't want to take a nap in the double stroller. If you heard a shrieking baby at the finish line, then you met my daughter. She was a disaster for my husband for about an hour. Not sure why, but that makes me feel super guilty. :-( But officially, she will not be part of my race day support crew for the MORE Half Marathon in April. Sorry kiddo. You stay home with Grandma.

* Knee pain. Nothing major...but something isn't right. I felt it for the first time on Thursday during my tempo run and then hoped that resting on Friday and Saturday would make it better. I can feel it when I go down the stairs, but no pain otherwise. When I was running, I felt it on and off...definitely while going uphill. I worried before the race that I'd need to walk if it really hurt, but it never got that bad. It's definitely something I'll need to pay attention to now.

The Best:

* Big PR. My only other 4M was the Fourth of July 4M in 2010. That was my first 4M and an automatic PR, 43:36. Today I set a new PR! My official finish time was 39:21!!!!
I really can't get over how happy I am with these splits. This is the fastest I've ever run overall. This race has me convinced that I am going out too slow and I should be less conservative with my first few miles.

Mile 1: 10:22

Mile 2: 9:22

Mile 3: 10:00

Mile 4: 9:12

0.02: 0:14

Garmin Time: 39:16 for 4:02, 9:46 pace

Me and Jakie after the race. Leah was too busy crying to join us.

I imagine the bottle felt good on her gums. She still has no teeth.

And if it isn't totally obvious: the bottle is empty and I'm holding it.

2 down, 7+1 to go!

Best & Worst Race Experiences

2012-02-03T16:29:00.002-05:00

Team Tough Chik Question of the Week:
What was your best/worst race experience?

Worst:

I think my worst experience was at the AIDS Cancer 5k in 2010. It had nothing to do with the race organization..but I went there expecting to PR. As in, I'm just *supposed* to PR even though I didn't do any specific training for this race and just decided I wanted to PR. I went out too fast and had a rough 3 miles altogether. It was hot and I was bummed with my first split. On the brightside, it woke me up to the idea of training for a specific event and not just using half marathon training to get me through other races. I don't know that I love 5ks enough to train really hard for them, but at least now, I know that I'm supposed to....if I want to PR.

Best:

This goes to the Philly Half Marathon in 2011. I did PR...but that isn't the only reason it was the best. I got to the race feeling strong and feeling well prepared. Everything just seemed to go the right way for me. I woke up calm, no nervous butterflies and I was able to stomach my breakfast which never happens when I'm nervous. I felt confident and excited at the start. I got to mile 10 and felt amazing. I followed my racing plan and actually passed my fair share of runners, which was awesome. Add to that, I saw my support team three times along the course...and it was just a good day.

Play along! Even if you aren't a(n official) tough chik! What was your best/worst race experience?

January in Review

2012-01-31T21:15:00.001-05:00

Total Miles: 46
Number of Cross-training days: 5!
Number of consecutive days I've logged calories on myfitnesspal: 15 :-)
Number of pounds lost this month: 3
Total weight loss: 40 lbs!!! I still need to do measurements. The end of this month kind of snuck up on me...
Number of french fries eaten: 0

Highlights from this month:

- began training for the MORE Magazine/Fitness Magazine Women's Half Marathon in April
- ridiculous spring like weather in NY = lots of outdoor running

And on to February....:
- NYRR Gridiron Classic on Sunday!

- Virtual Run for Sherry February 11

- a week with my parents and then a week of staycation with my kiddos!
- registering for more races...including the NYC Mini 10k, Brooklyn Half and my first 15k!

Happy February!

MORE Half Training: Week 1 - Done

2012-01-29T19:37:00.000-05:00

I started out this week really excited to be training for something and I'm ending the week the same way. It's awesome.

Here is how my week went (spoiler alert: it went exactly as planned!)

Monday: rest
Tuesday: 3 miles I hit the treadmill for 3 miles with 2 miles of hills. Although the hills are exhausting, they are a necessary evil and they actually help the miles fly by! I've been loving watching Netflix on my phone and actually being able to hear it through the speakers of the treadmill.

Wednesday: cross-train I threw in 30 Day Shred after work but there is something wrong with the DVD...either smudges or a scratch. I had to restart it right before the first interval. Annoying. I ordered Ripped in 30 to replace it. If you listen to Jillian's podcast, she recommends this DVD instead of 30 Day Shred; I think it's a few minutes longer, which is a plus.

Thursday 5x400 Another treadmill run. I ran the rest interval at 5.7 and the speed interval at 6.3. It went by fast and I got to see more of Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. I'll finish it this week.
Friday: rest

Saturday: 3 miles Outdoor run! I've been trying to eliminate the walking breaks for the shorter runs and this one only had one quick break. I walked the first 5 minutes, but I think I'm going to make that shorter too. Mile 1: 12:37, Mile 2: 10:11, Mile 3: 10:16

Sunday: 5 miles Another outdoor run! I headed over to my favorite part of the Nature Preserve by my house this morning. I had no time goal in mind, other than under 1 hour. I lost the lid to my Nathan (read: I have a 3 year old and he probably found and adopted the lid) so I had to wear my fuel belt. Loved it. I was glad to have my hands free. I stopped to walk for about 45 seconds at the start of each mile, just like I would for each water station. Mile 1: 12:30, Mile 2: 11:03, Mile 3: 11:41 (I had to stop and strip all my extra layers off), Mile 4: 9:55 (!!!!), Mile 5: 10:18 -- overall pace 11:05

Next week:
Monday: rest
Tuesday: 3 miles - an AM run :-(
Wednesday: cross train - probably Ripped in 30
Thursday: 30 minute tempo
Friday: rest
Saturday: rest
Big Game Sunday: NYRR Gridiron 4M

Some things I learned this week:
* I dress way too warmly, especially considering the spring like weather we are having. I wore a long sleeved shirt, fleecy Old Navy running jacket, gloves and a headband for my ears. It was too much. If next weekend is the same, I'll wear sleeves under/over my long sleeved shirt and gloves. I was dripping in the jacket.
* The treadmill and I have good days and bad. I'm trying to be friendly, but I just don't feel any reciprocation.
* Compression socks are still awesome. Having two pairs is even better.
* If I really push, I will do amazing at next week's Gridiron 4Miler. I've only run one 4 Miler and I finished in 43:36. I'm thinking I could PR big time next weekend. And I'll be all dressed up for Big Blue!

And here are some random pics of my kiddos.

Leah is trying to figure out the sippy. Apple juice is a powerful motivator.

Jacob is looking very studious. He loves getting "homework."

Do you have difficulty dressing for mild weather? Would you rather be a little warm at the end or pretty cold in the beginning of a run?

Half Marathon Training!

2012-01-24T20:18:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited to start training for the MORE Women's Half Marathon. I've enjoyed just running for fun for the last two months, but it will be nice to have more of a focus for a while. Here is a preview of my first week of half marathon training:

Monday: rest Don't you love how training schedules begin with a rest day?
Tuesday: 3 miles, with hills (DONE! Maybe I should have posted this yesterday :-/)
Wednesday: Cross-training - will probably do 30 Day Shred. Again.
Thursday: 5x400, at 9:20 pace
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 3 miles (hopefully outside. I've been stuck inside for too long!)
Sunday: 5 miles

And another thing I'm excited about...NYRR just released the calendar for April, May and June. It's time to pick some more races!!

Do you race while you are training for a longer distance?

TwitterRoadRace

2012-01-21T16:39:00.001-05:00

Today was the #twitterroadrace, hosted by I run because...

I'm a big fan of virtual racing...but I am not a big fan of running in snow. Actually, to be totally honest, I've never run while there has been snow accumulating. I've run during snow fall but nothing that is so heavy that it sticks. I'm afraid of ice. And falling. And breaking body parts.

So this morning's snow fall was not my favorite thing to see upon waking up.

Before going out: Mommy. Want a scarf. Want a scarf, mommy.

Once he got outside: Don't want a scarf. No more scarf.

Did he really think I was going to come out and get his scarf??!

Blurry pics are all you get.

Despite the snow, I was actually really excited to use to treadmill. I recently figured out that I can watch Netflix on my phone and hear it through the treadmill speakers. I'm clearly a genius that it took me nearly two years of owning a treadmill to figure that out. Before now, I've been trying to watch the basement TV and not hearing a word over the noise of the treadmill.

The view from the treadmill. The TV is on the left wall.

Why yes, yes that is a giant Thomas train in my family room. Where do you keep yours?

And the other thing I was really excited about was testing out a new pair of shoes! My old Sauconys had about 325 miles on them before I put a hole in the top. I must flex weird, because it's only on my left side.

Basement lighting + iPhone photography = crappy pics for you!

And the run went awesome! Although, if I could do it over again, I'd run the first mile faster.

That's my fastest 5k ever!!!!

Some other things I'm excited about:

* I've been tracking calories pretty consistently and I've stuck to my running hills commitment.

* I start half marathon training on Tuesday!

* The Giants are playing tomorrow!

* I'm suddenly interested in football now that I'm registered for the NYRR Gridiron Classic. Win or lose, I'm wearing Giants colors to the race! And this run has me ready to set a pretty ambitious goal time for that race.

* Exclamation points!

So, what's exciting in your life right now?

Recapping a random week

2012-01-16T08:32:00.000-05:00

This week was super busy and really productive!

* I joined Team Tough Chik! I am really excited to wear their uniform for the MORE half marathon on April 15th in Central Park! And I'm loving all of the new blogs I have to read from other team members.

* I registered for the MORE Magazine/Fitness Magazine Women's half! I didn't picked in the NYC half lottery (hmmph!) so I'm running my back up. On the upside, it's about $50 cheaper! And it's all women, which is awesome automatically.

I also registered for the NYRR Gridiron Classic 4M on February 5th....just in case anyone wants to hang out at the starting line ;-)

* I've committed to running hills. Exciting, I know, but the hills in Central Park, which I'll have to run twice for the MORE half are no joke. Normally, I run pretty flat routes, so I used the treadmill incline for two minute hill intervals and it was pretty hard.
first 5 minutes: walking to warm up
2 minutes: running at 4% incline - 5.0 (<----too slow? maybe 5.5 next time?)
2 minutes: recovery at 5.0 (<-----too slow?)
2 minutes: running 5% incline
2 minutes: recovery
2 minutes: 6% incline
2 minutes: recovery
2 minutes: 7% incline
2 minutes: recovery, then reverse the workout

In all the treadmill said I burned 400 calories in 38 or so minutes...which is awesome!
I'm going to incorporate hills into my weekly training.

* I cross trained! And I'm also going to incorporate cross training once a week. I've decided to use the Hal Higdeon Intermediate Half Marathon Training plan, and in the notes he says that you can run 4 times a week and cross train, or run 5 times a week. I'm worried that running 5 times a week = injury, so I'm going with the 4 runs and cross training. I'll also be rearranging the days so that I cross train on Wednesday and Thursday will be my speed work day.

* I ran Runninglovingliving's 3.5 Mile Virtual Run in 35:01. I tried to just run at 6.0 for the whole thing, but I got bored and kept playing with the speed. I was trying to come in under 35, but 35:01 is okay too. If you are looking for a virtual run, you have until 1/27 to run it!

* I ran with Ms. Runninglovingliving yesterday through one of the nature preserves Long Island. And if I were a better blogger, you'd have pictures to look at, but my hands were FROZEN! It seems that winter has finally arrived. But pictures next time. Promise. Believe me when I tell you, it's beautiful and a reminder of how lovely this area is, especially around the inlets.

And here is some randomness from my little guys:

Miss Leah, looking a little crazy.

Can you read it??? Jacob wrote (and spelled) his name all by himself!

How was your week?? Any fun randomness to share?

Joe Kleinerman10k Recap

2012-01-07T14:53:00.002-05:00

The first race of the new year! And I'm celebrating by relaxing on the couch!!

This is the first of the nine races I need to run to qualify for the NYC Marathon in 2013. One down...8+1 to go!

The Good:

* the weather! The CNN sign said 49 degrees. Isn't it January? I wore my running jacket, a short sleeved shirt and capris. I wish I wore a t shirt, arm warmers and shorts. I was roasting!
* I finished! Not that it was really a question, but that's always a plus, right?
* post race apples. OMG. I had no idea I love apples. But that was the tastiest, juiciest apple I've ever had.

That's not an apple! It was my post race bagel and it was awesome.

*NYRR organization. This group knows how to put on a race. Everything is just easy with NYRR. My husband picked up my bib, baggage was flawless and there was a ton of (clear) water on the course. And the $18 price tag is pretty sweet too. The shirt is long sleeved cotton and I might actually get a lot of use out of it!

I'm wearing this shirt.right.now.

*Post race caramel macchiato. And it was free. That gold card is the best thing ever.

Fun fact: BOTH Starbucks were filled with runners.

* the family. Although they didn't spectate, my husband did bring me my Zensah compression socks!

Not-so-good:

*missed the official start of the race. It took longer than expected to get from Queens to the park and although I was glad to be on a 6 train with a ton of runners, I was still really anxious about time. Baggage drop off was at the finish, so I had to run about half a mile before even starting. I never actually stood in a corral, I just waited until I saw purple bibs pass by and jumped in. Since it was chip time, I didn't miss anything, but it put me in a poor frame of mind for the start of the race.
*hills. My training routes are too flat. Since MORE Half Marathon (registration opens Monday!) is also in Central Park, I really need to add hills to my routine. It's just hard to get psyched for running hills.

Google Earth is cool.

* brown water at the finish. WTF? And an extra WTF to anyone who actually drank it!
* no family at the race. :-( The kids haven't been feeling great and so they stayed at home. David drove me into Queens and I picked up the F train there. It wasn't a huge deal that no one was there, but it means that I only have two pictures from the race.

Thank you, stranger, for taking my picture and not running away with my iPhone.

* no PR. Not even close. And I'm okay with that; the year is young. And I'm going to really work on that hill training for the MORE Half and the Women's Mini 10k in June. My Garmin read 1:08:40 at 6.2

Splits:

Mile 1: 11:03

Mile 2: 11:13

Mile 3: 11:10

Mile 4: 11:12

Mile 5: 11:48

Mile 6: 10:07 <----what's that about? I don't know why, but it really annoys me that the last mile was the fastest! I'm really good at holding back in the beginning, but I wait too long to speed up!

0.20: 10:12

My official results were 1:09:29.

Tell me, what is your favorite post race food? Or, in my case, foods?

21 Random Things

2012-01-02T21:30:00.000-05:00

I was tagged by Kathy at Just Keep Running to do a list of 21 random things about myself. I hope this ends up being mildly interesting :-)

1. I love traveling. LOVE it. It might be the only thing I think about as much as running. I like vacations that involve water, especially the beach. It's kind of silly because we live running distance from the beach and hardly ever go.

2. I spent 6 months living in Aberdeen, Scotland when I was a junior in college.

3. During the spring recess, I traveled to Edinburgh, Paris, Aix-en-Provence, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Unna and London. By.my.self. It was amazing and convinced me that I could do anything.

4. Both times I've been pregnant, we've embarked on major home renovation projects.

5. When I was pregnant with Jacob, we finished our basement. My husband and father-in-law did everything themselves, except for laying the carpet. Part that took the longest: laying the carpet. Typical right?

Before: a lovely faux brick wall and wood paneled walls

Who doesn't love a concrete floor?

Oh, good! More wood paneling!

During: added paneled ceiling

New window

All done!

This project took every weekend from January to the end of June!

And I barely helped! (Lies. I helped do a decent amount of mudding and painting.)

6. When I was pregnant with Leah, we gutted our kitchen. My husband and father-in-law did everything except the floor and the counter tops. Part that was the most frustrating and needed to be done twice: counter tops. No one wants cracked granite.

When we moved in...green cabinets were not a selling feature!

Painting the cabinets white = major upgrade.

Gutted.

After.

7. Home renovations were a dumb idea because I nest pretty hard core. I hated having no kitchen and having our living space in worse disarray than usual.

A living room full of cabinets.

Well, at least one person enjoyed it.

8. Jacob's nursery was an under the sea theme. His big-boy room (which is not done yet) will be dinosaurs.

Yeah, he's three and still sleeps in a crib. He 100% can climb out, but he doesn't.

It stresses me out that he is not potty trained yet. :-(

His closet is awesome.

9. Above all I wanted a healthy baby. But I really wanted a girl. All of my ideas for the nursery were pink. Luckily, I got a healthy baby girl. And her room is very pink. Leah's nursery theme is owls.

Aside from the mirror, I made all of the art work in her room.

10. My college mascot was an owl.

11. I went to a women's (not girl's!) college. And I would love it if Leah also chose a women's college.

12. I majored in religion.

13. I joined the New York City Teaching Fellows program right after college.

14. I had no classroom experience before becoming a teacher, other than a 6 week training program. (editorial: that's not enough! #obvious)

15. I've worked in New York City Public Schools since 2002. In that time, I've formed a lot of opinions about inner city schools and the best ways to close the achievement gap. Not once have I ever looked at my colleagues and thought "YOU are the problem. If only some one would fire YOU, then this school would be so much better and our students would be so much smarter." If you want to level the playing field, I would increase access to PUBLIC preschool, reduce class sizes dramatically, especially on the elementary level (as in 15 students per class, MAXIMUM), assign teacher's aides to each teacher to do the ridiculous amount of paperwork that we use lesson planning time to complete and increase salaries at under performing schools, giving principals a larger applicant pool to choose from and enticing veteran teachers to stay rather than seek greener pastures. And with that, I'll step off my soapbox.

16. We used to live in Queens. And I miss it a lot. It's nice having a back yard but I hate my commute.

17. We lived in this house by ourselves for 3 months before we decided to adopt a dog.

18. We went to 6 or 7 shelters in one weekend before we found Pumpkin.

On the day we brought her home. We named her Pumpkin because of her coloring and it was fall :-)

19. Pumpkin was rescued from a puppy mill. She was kept in a rabbit cage for breeding. It makes me ridiculously sad to think of her being treated that way.

20. Pumpkin used to have a lot of anxiety. She was afraid of us, strangers, ceiling fans and shadows. When we brought her to our house, she was terrified. She went right into the crate we had for her and wouldn't come out. She's come a long way but she is still afraid of fireworks and that makes me dislike them as well.

21. All of our names (David, Sarah, Jacob and Leah) are biblical. I did not name my children after Twilight characters.

Now I get to tag 5 bloggers I'd like to read more about:

Christina at Lace it up and run

Carrie at luminosity

Liz at My Life As A Runner

Natalie at Lil Runner
aaaand anyone else who wants to play!

Plans for 2012

2011-12-29T17:20:00.001-05:00

I'm going to keep this short because, by some MIRACLE, I blogged a few times this week already. Woot! And because I'm trying to get myself really excited for the last run of 2011!! It's almost 9:30 and I'm still in pajamas. Oops.

Here are my plans/goals/commitments/whatever you want to call them for 2012. And now they are official because I blogged about them.

1. PR at MORE Half Marathon in April

I've never trained with a specific time goal in mind before, so this will be interesting! I'm going to cautiously set my goal as 2:25 and adjust it as I train. But there will be speed work in this training cycle. And cross training. (Registration opens January 9th!)

Central Park 04.15.12

2. Marine Corps Marathon 10.29.12

I haven't run a full, but I've been thinking about one for more than a year now. March 7th, registration opens!
Since I loved traveling for the Philly Half, I figured I would drag the family to Virginia for MCM.

Source and credit (Ron Engle, Photographer)

Hot.

3. Be in the 140s by April 7, 2012.
By the time Jacob was 9 months old, I took off all the baby weight. Leah will be 9 months in a week and I'm still carrying about 15 more pounds than I'd like. By the time she is a year, I'd like to be rid of those 15 pounds. And to do that, I know I need to count my calories.

4. Stop eating french fries when I go out to eat.
That one sounds like a resolution, huh? Oh well. French fries add in A LOT of extra calories and I know there are better options. That phrase everything in moderation is kind of bullshit. If you knew your friend ate butter from the tub, you wouldn't think that. So this year, I'm going to follow the cupcake limiting lead of Tonia at Racing with Babes and limit my fry intake (sweet potato included) to 7 servings this year. I'm not going to count home made oven fries though because I can figure out the calories in those pretty easily.

What are you looking forward to in 2012?

2011 in review

2011-12-29T17:17:00.000-05:00

I didn't begin this year with any fitness related goals. I was entering my third trimester, and starting to nest hardcore, so my resolution was to take care of mail ASAP.

Thrilling, right?

Actually, I did pretty well with that resolution until about November. I know they say 21 times and it's a habit (or is it 28?), but not so for this girl. And I hate seeing piles of mail all over the place. So annoying.

It wasn't until after Leah was born that I started setting little goals for my self: start and finish c25k (with my doctor's blessing), run a 5k, run a 10k, run a half marathon.

I'm really blessed that I was able to do all this running without hurting myself (thank you again, Jeff Galloway!)

So this year:
* I started and finished c25k. Most of it was on a treadmill, with a baby sleeping in a swing next to me.
* I ran 3 5ks, one of them was 11 weeks post partum and one of them was my first sub 30 5k, a goal I planned to set for 2012 that I achieved early.
* I was featured on Another Mother Runner.
* I PR'd at a 10k. And I got a pretty medal too.
* I PR'd at a half marathon. And I officially love Philadelphia.

And now, I'm really looking forward to 2012!
Check out some more fitness blogs here:

Three Things Thursday: 2011 Edition

2011-12-29T16:15:00.006-05:00

Three things that changed my life in 2011...
1. Leah
Of course, right? She's the light of my life, in baby girl form. She has fit into our family perfectly since she came home and I KNOW it's a cliche, but I honestly cannot remember life before her. Get ready for picture over load in 5, 4, 3, 2....

Feeding our little NICU baby

Professional Newborn Pictures: Hands down the best purchase of 2011

(11 days old)

Jacob taking his first long look at his new sister

Reading to near Leah

My smiley girl

Daddy's little girl at her baby naming

On her first vacation: Lake George 2011

Celebrating Jacob's 3rd Birthday - I think they became friends when she was about 5 weeks old

Pumpkin Picking

First trip to the zoo

Taken today.

Leah FAQs: Yes, her eyes are still blue. No, I'm not sure where she got them from. No, I don't think they are going to change at this point... but if they did, she'd still be gorgeous.

2. Pinterest

We don't have to be serious all the time, right?

Pinterest is the greatest thing on the internet. Very little reading, just pictures. So easy to interact with...even if the iPhone app is kind of crappy.

I've made quite a few of the busy bags I've found on pinterest

Matching magnetic letters to pictures and printed letters. You can also just use the letters and have your kids sort them by color.

Jakie took this picture!!

3. Teaching English Language Learners

I came back from maternity leave last year to find out that I would be teaching the ELL group for fifth grade. Pero, no hablo espanol. Yo hablo muy poco. Muy. muy. muy poco. And I spent the ENTIRE summer stressing out over this change. But overall, I've been really happy with the work I've done this year with my class and I can say, despite some major frustrations, it's made me a better teacher.

Dominican Cake, brought in by one of my students. Amazing.

Random pink sunrise through my classroom window

Pretending I was the librarian. I'm hilarious.

Enjoy what's left of 2011! And share your life changing moments with me :-)

Merry Christmas, from the rainy south!

2011-12-25T15:35:00.001-05:00

After 19 hours, spread over two days, we finally arrived in South Carolina! My children were SO well behaved on the drive down, I can hardly believe it. We spent Christmas morning unwrapping and unwrapping and unwrapping. My family went a bit crazy over Leah and Jacob, not that I can blame them!Now, sadly, I'm cooped up because of rain that just won't let up. Happily, I have a little girl asleep on me and more cookies than I could want. If I can't be running, this will do.Merry Christmas, y'all!

Running + 90 pounds

2011-12-08T20:02:00.001-05:00

The lack of daylight has kept me on the treadmill for most of my run streak. The runs inside aren't terribly long, but they are SO boring. I've tried watching different types of tv, but I have to turn it up crazy loud to hear it, so I just listen to music while I watch with no sound. Yuck.
Yesterday, I tried to spice things up by doing a tempo run (still kind of don't understand a tempo run, but I tried).

It went well, except someone should have reminded this teacher that minute 10 is not immediately followed by minute 11 and there are 59 seconds in between that need to be filled. I hate doing math while I run, albeit simple math and I was annoyed by my lack of forethought. However, it was a kickass run and I was really tired when it was all over.

Leah has been sitting unassisted for a while, so I decided today would be the day to finally take both kids out in the double jogger. My hand-me-down stroller has seen plenty of action, like at the zoo...

to Lake George,

and spectating at races....

But it has seen no running action...until today!

I shoved the jogger in my trunk and I brought all of my running things with me, plus snacks for Jakie, to work.

Packed: Garmin and charger, iPhone charger, sneakers, socks, tights, tee shirt, arm warmers, sports bra, jacket, juice box, pretzels, peanut butter granola bar and Gu Chomps. Ridiculous, no?

I changed into my running clothes right after school and picked up the kids about an hour later. I spent that hour worrying that it would be too cold for Leah and that Jacob would flip out if I didn't let him run around the playground at the park. I also worried that running with the jogger would be too hard and I'd have to quit before I finished 20 minutes or 2 miles (I gave myself some outs on this run).

Jacob was a little confused about why we were going to the park, but he was very happy to watch Sesame Street on Netflix on my phone. It wasn't until I started running that I started adding.

Jacob = 35 (ish) lbs.

Leah = 20 lbs

Stroller = 35 lbs.

Um, isn't that 90lbs?! That's a lot of freaking weight to push!

Twenty eight minutes later, I finished the slowest and toughest 2.25 miles I've done in a long time. It was cold, but not terrible. Best of all, it was over and I survived it. Next time, I'll know better what to expect and I will make sure I only take them on days I plan to run 1 or 2 miles.

Are you an over-thinker? What part of running do you tend to over think?

Hot Chocolate 5k and November Recaps

2011-12-04T08:53:00.001-05:00

Today only, you get two posts for the price of one.

Or, I've been too busy to write my November recaps, but I want to acknowledge all the work I did in November, so I'm shoving it inside of a race recap.

Awesome, right?

November in Review:

Total Miles: 64, including a little 13.1 run through Philadelphia....

Weight Loss Thoughts: None. I really focused in on Philly and that was it. Tracking calories fell to the wayside (pun!) and it's been hard to get back in the groove. I've been doing well during the week, but weekends are a distaster! I think I lost like 1.5 pounds last month. That's not fantastic. Since July, I've lost 4lbs, and since having Leah, I've lost 38lbs. I still want to take off at least 10 before reassessing and setting a final goal.
I know that I need to track my calories. I've blogged about it, talking about it, thought about it...but for some reason, days will go by without tracking anything. It's like I have one thing that I didn't measure and then I stop counting because I don't know how to count one thing. That makes NO sense. OR, I stop tracking because I eat something I'm not sure how to count. No sense.

Goals for December: Runners World Run Streak! I'm on day 10 of my run streak. Most days I've been running my normal plan and on rest days, I run a mile. It feels weird to get dressed and head out (or down to the treadmill) and just run one mile, but I still need a "rest" day, so I have to remind myself that the run streak isn't run 5 miles a day, it's just *RUN*.
* I'm also in the throws of trying to decide whether or not to run the 9+1 for guaranteed entry in the 2013 NYC Marathon. I'm thinking of registering for 2 runs to see how it goes getting the family out there, or going on my own.

Hot Chocolate 5k

Yesterday, I ran the Seaford Wellness Hot Chocolate 5k. I ran this race before in 2009. I have a soft spot for this race because the course goes right past my backyard and I run this route pretty often. Pretty often meaning at least once a week.

The Good:.

* The price. I'm finding it harder and harder to shell out money for a 5k. I don't know why. I just have no interest in spending more than 20 bucks, packing up my family and driving someplace to run three miles. If it takes longer to get there than it does to run, then I think I'll pass.

* the course. I walked to the starting line. Did I mention that I live along the course? That really makes it a plus for ME and for the family.

* race day support and swag. I don't expect a lot from a 5k. There was a water stop around the half way mark, a lot of bottles of water at the start and finish, and a ton of bagels and hot chocolate at the finish. The shirt is long sleeved, which I will wear as pajamas (cotton, not tech). All well worth the 20 bucks.

From Jacob: they running. In the coffee.

The Not-So-Good:

* people who don't know how to line up. If you know you are going to walk, line up in the back. Not in the 9 minute pace area.

* congestion in the refreshment area. There were a lot of runners, over 900 finishers, to all be crammed in a high school hallway waiting for bagels. But the bagels were delicious, so the wait was worth it.

* the weather OR my wardrobe choice. It was cold at the start, but by mile 2, I was really regretting my long sleeves. Perhaps I should have worn my arm warmers? I think I would have been freezing at the start though.

* no chip time. It took 20 seconds for me to cross the start line. And 20 seconds isn't really a big deal...unless you are 19 seconds off of a sub-30 5k. Keep reading.

The Best:

* a big fat PR. This has really been my year. I PR'd at RnRNY10k and Philly Half and now I'll add a 5k PR to that list. Oh, and I had a baby. Yeah, overall, 2011 was a good year.

I had a sneaking suspicion I could finish this around 30 minutes, but I told my husband I would be happy with 34 minutes (note to self, that back fired on me, because he had no pictures of me running...oops). I planned to run without stopping and I planned to push hard, especially at the end. I wasn't sure I could get under 30, since I didn't do any training especially for 5k, but really, anything under 34 would have made me happy.

29:59.89. Sub 30-5k!

I've been chasing a sub 30-5k for a while. My closest time before this was 30:58 and that was in 2009. Seeing a 29 in my time was my big goal for 2012 actually....so now I'll have to make up a new goal!

My official time was 30:18, but I don't care....my Garmin says 29:59 for 3.12 so I can safely call this my first sub-30.

So. freaking.pleased.

Poor Leah. She's wearing a onesie, socks, her pjs, a pair of pants and a coat!

Tell me: Should I run the 9+1 for the 2013 NYC Marathon??

On the plus: it's GUARANTEED entry

9 races, chosen wisely, will probably make me a stronger runner, right?

I want to run Brooklyn Half and Women's Mini 10k anyway...so that's 2 down.

I'll probably run that many races anyway (just not through NYRR).

I have a coworker who is also thinking of running 9+1 (but she lives in Brooklyn and by public transportation.)

On the minus: Central Park is at least an hour drive (plus cost of parking), at least an hour by train, plus a 2 mile walk - and that is where most of the races are

All of my racing would have to be through NYRR next year.

Cost of 9 races + transportation there + 2 years of membership with NYRR.

Asking my family to come spectate at all those races...or going to the races alone.

Three Things Thursday: Thanksgiving Edition

2011-11-24T11:07:00.001-05:00

1. I love the idea of the Thanksgiving Day Parade a lot more than actually watching the parade.

I keep the parade on all morning, but I end up getting distracted and find something else to do, like Twitter or reading blogs, or folding laundry. I blame the number of commercials.
I do have a dream of watching the parade from a nice warm hotel room one day. I don't have a "bucket list," but if I did, this would be on it.

Credit

I love this scene from Miracle on 34th Street

2. I don't get Black Friday. Like even a little bit. Nothing about getting up before the sun, standing around in the cold and battling with other shoppers for the chance at a deal sounds appealing. And I really feel awful the for employees who have to get to work at 3:30 in the morning, or even 11:30 the night before. Working retail stinks (I worked in a grocery store, hardware store and a sporting goods store before graduating from college. It sucked. Some people are shockingly rude to the 16 y ear old they meet behind the register.). I'd much rather stay in my warm house and play with my kids.
And don't get me started on stores that are open on Thanksgiving.

3. Jacob's preschool had a Thanksgiving feast yesterday. I didn't get to go, but our awesome baby sitter sent us pictures of him in his little headdress and beaded necklace. We are really blessed to have a team of people who love our kids so much. I am beyond thankful for his preschool teachers and his awesome sitter.

He wore the headband all evening. Super cute.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Philadelphia Half Marathon Race Recap

2011-11-21T17:58:00.001-05:00

I honestly don't even know where to begin with how awesome Philly was for me. I'll ruin the end of this recap and let you know that I met all of the goals I set in my last post. And I had the best freaking time running this race.

So strap in. This might be a long one. My husband really rocked in the picture taking department.

The Good:

* The Hotel. We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn on Arch Street. The location was pretty perfect. It's right across from the Convention Center where the Expo is held and is about a mile and a half from the start/finish area. We left New York around 8:30am, right after Leah's breakfast and a super important stop at Town Bagel. We didn't need to stop at all and got to Philadelphia around 11:45.

Oh good. He found the crayons I hid three minutes into the trip.

We were greeted with a little bag filled with area information and a water and granola bar (Jacob had both). The room was ready, so we were able to drop off our things and get some lunch at Jake's Sandwich Board.

The Village Turkey. It had cherry preserves and I still liked it.

Fried carbs.

Jacob really digs the iPhone camera.

At check-in, they also offered us a late check out, which was awesome. Because showering is awesome.
* Expo. The packet pick up was easy and really well organized. There were lots of booths to look at and there was a great kids area. I bought myself a brown sparkly sweaty band and a tube of Nathan electrolyte tabs.

Big signs = big excitement.

Bart Yasso speaking. Jacob stood still while drinking some chocolate milk but then saw the Arctic Ease kids area.

Confession: I went twice also. I kind of forgot about my goal of getting to the start with out an injury.

* Race swag. It was fun seeing so many maroon backpacks walking around Saturday evening! I really like the black race shirt...although I was surprised to see so many people wearing them for the race. I don't know why, but I find it odd to wear the shirt on the day of the event. And I thought it was too warm for long sleeves. even at the start.

Oh. Shiny.

* Rest. I actually slept the night before. I was worried that Jacob would keep me up all night flopping around like a fish, but I think he fell asleep around 9. Awesome. I woke up at 2 and 4:38 to check on my alarm.

Really, Jacob? Really? That's how you sleep?

* Food. Before RnR, I couldn't eat anything, but I actually ate half of my bagel before walking to the start. And the food in Philly is awesome. Post race, we went over to Reading Terminal Market for lunch.

How do you eat all the calories burned in a half marathon in one sandwich? Eat a cheesesteak.

Chocolate? Only if you insist.

* The course. I got to see David and the kids twice before the finish line, which was awesome. The course looped around the hotel, so I saw them around mile 1 and again around mile 6. He gets so much appreciation for keeping the kids happy and warm while spectating. I tear up when I think about how much he did so that I could have this weekend.

So serious. And so sleepy.

I just love how she's looking at him.

He snuck away during the Expo and bought this magnet for me. And when I say "snuck," I mean he took Leah to change her diaper (!) and bought me a present. So yeah, he's a keeper.

There was a crazy number of spectators in the beginning of the race and some of the signs were so creative!

The pink sign says "You trained longer than Kim Kardashian was married." #truth.

The course has two hills, but they aren't terribly steep, it's just that it's already 7 and 9 miles in, so you are a bit tired when you reach them. Right after mile 10 there was a pretty decent downhill stretch where I was able to make good time.

* My training. I committed to walking at minute 4 even though I knew it would be difficult to do mentally. Luckily, I was running near the 5:30 pace group for the full and they took walking breaks also. This course was pretty friendly for the run/walker. There were people who walked from the beginning. Lots of people in the blue and orange corrals were taking walking breaks and I heard a few Garmins chirping along the course. Particularly, at the end of the course, there were plenty of people walking.

Hate to see you go....Lol! Just kidding.

The Not-So-Good:

* Packing. It's hard enough to remember all of my race day stuff but when you add in two kids, the amount we packed was just crazy. We fit everything into a big suitcase, but we also took two strollers (I know, I know. But they serve two different purposes. Obviously.)

This was just toys and clothes. Ridiculous.

* Forgetting things. Like BodyGlide. My thighs are all good, but the arm band from my phone left a really nasty cut on my arm. I wouldn't have thought to put BodyGlide there anyway, but it stinks forgetting things.

* Car rides. No amount of compression was going to make me happy to sit in the car for three hours getting home. I was really stiff when we got home. Not fun.

The Best:

* Meeting Goals. I set four goals in my last post. And I met everyone of them.

Goal 1:
To make it to the start line with no injuries. Check.
Goal 2:
To finish, injury free. Some knee pain, hip pain, but other wise, all good. Check.

Goal 3:
To be at peace with my time, whatever it may be. Check!!!
Goal 4:
To be grateful for all that my body has done for me in 2011. Check!

* A surprise PR! This race SO was NOT about a PR. This race was about throwing myself back into the sport I love. And regardless of the outcome, this race was going to be the first half marathon after having Leah, so for better or for worse, it was going to be one I'd remember for a long time. That being said, based on the Rock n Roll 10k, I kind of thought I had a *chance* at a PR.

Seeing my super fans for the first time on Arch Street!

I started this race planning to run slowly and take my walking breaks. I thought I'd be at the 5k mark by 36 minutes and 10k around 72 minutes.

Seeing my crew at mile 5ish.

I was hopeful I'd be at the 10 mile mark before 2 hours. That 2 hour mark was huge for me, because it would mean that I'd have a chance at matching my time from the LI Half in 2010.
After 10 miles, I started racing. I skipped the walking breaks that were downhill and picked people in front of me that I wanted to pass. I used my mantra ("Push") through out miles 11 and 12. At mile 12, I really had to dig and say nice things to myself, nice things that I'd be embarrassed to type out, but they may have had something to do with finishing things you start...like labor, maybe. Whatever. Even if it was super cheesy, it worked.

Running Away!

Newest tradition: Post race pictures with my kids.

LI Half Marathon, 2010: 2:34:20. Garmin Time, at 13.1: 2:31:57.

7 1/2 months ago, I was super pregnant.

This weekend, I ran a half marathon and PR'd.

That's CRAZY!

And I am super grateful for what my body has helped me accomplish this year.

Finish Strong.

Best:Time of My Life. So far.

There is a half marathon that is going to get to' up next year. I'm looking for a much bigger PR in Spring 2012.

So that's it. I am going to start writing love letters to Jeff Galloway pretty soon because I am all about his training plans! Especially if you are coming off of a long hiatus.

Tell me, do you wear race shirts on the day of the race? Or do you just wear them to other races and on training runs?

Goals for when you know you won't PR

2011-11-14T18:06:00.001-05:00

When I registered for Philly in July, I knew a PR wasn't in my future.

Maybe I kind of hoped there would be some chance of a PR.

Realistically, I knew that being away from running and starting over from nothing after Leah was born wasn't going to result in a PR. Luckily, breaking records isn't the only thing that matters and so when I started my training, I stayed focused on being realistic.

So my realistic and extremely practical goals are:
Goal 1:
To make it to the start line with no injuries.
Going from nothing to 5k to half marathon in seven months is a lot for the body to handle. When I looked around at different half marathon plans, I was drawn to "Run Injury Free with Jeff Galloway."

October was pretty awesome, huh?

And although I really packed on a lot of miles over the last few months, I haven't felt any aches or pains in the process. None that compression socks haven't been able to cure anyway.

Goal 2:
To finish, injury free.

Goal 3:
To be at peace with my time, whatever it may be.
I'll be running 3 minutes, walking 1 minute through out the race. Based on RnR10k, I know that the hardest part will be taking the first few walking breaks. I'll be feeling good and I might feel self conscious about running and then taking a break so early...but I know it will make for a stronger finish and I need to keep telling myself that.
Although I don't think I'm going to PR, I do think that I'll run a stronger race than I did in 2010.

Goal 4:
To be grateful for all that my body has done for me in 2011.
I carried and delivered a gorgeous little girl and I've run over 300 miles. 2011 has been a great year for me.

And 2012 is going to be awesome.

Do you have any goals left to meet in 2011? What are they???

Philly Half Training: Week 12 - Last long run!

2011-11-11T20:09:00.001-05:00

It's almost here!

Last Saturday, I ran my last long run: 15 miles. I am really lucky to live by a 6-6.5 mile bike path. It's about a mile to the path, and then another 6.2 to Bethpage Golf Course. I've run this path a lot and I actually thought I ran the whole thing, but apparently I turned around too early. The path ends at a little park with a (heated!) bathrooms! I stopped to use the bathroom and refill my water bottle, and couldn't believe how good my legs felt heading back on the trail!

So many good things about this run:
* scenery. Is there anything nicer than running in the fall?

Forgive the glare. I got a new case for my phone and it mucks up the picture.

* No stomach issues. I took 4 orange Gu Chomps and 4 Tropical Clif Shot Bloks with almost a full Nathan. I had a bagel and a cup of coffee beforehand and no stomach problems.

* Big PDR for me! I've never run more than 13.1!

* Could have gone longer ;-)

* Kept my speed in check from the start.

* The high that comes with a great run is unmatched.

The Not-Good:

* Runkeeper app lost me really quickly. Within a few minutes, I went from miles 2 to 5. And I was barely at 2 miles. That wasn't good for my outlook on the run.

I'm super fast. And I have proof.

* Race day outfit = still untested. I ordered a pair of arm warmers and they are too small. Boo. So I'm exchanging them and it's taking FOREVER!

So that's it! I'm running an easy 5 miles tomorrow, two easy short runs during the week and by this time next week, I'll be anxious as hell!

I'll share my race day goals at some point during the week :-)

And of course, here are my super cuties being super cute.

Future Runner.

Jacob has learned to take pictures. He understands composition. Clearly.

He's reading Runners World. And then he colored the cover purple.

Have a great week!!!! And check out these fitness blogs:

October in Review

2011-10-31T20:41:00.000-04:00

Apparently, I didn't review September. Pffffft. September was so last last month anyway.

And October rocked.

Total Miles: 78. Take that, September! That's probably my highest mileage month ever! You can read about how my training is going riiiiiight here.

Weight loss thoughts:
I've been pretty awesome at keeping track of my calories this month. I've also been awesome at staying within 50 calories of my daily target. I have a plan for dealing with half marathon training and it's been working so far. I'll blog about it eventually, but the short version: I eat everything I burn except for 250 calories and I do not diet on the day BEFORE a long run.

Goals for November:
Have I mentioned that I'm running the Philly Half? Because setting my goal for that race is the only thing I'm worried about for the next 20 days. I have one more long run, then taper. And I'll blog about those race goals after my last long run.

Here are some cute pictures of my twosome:

"Leah, that's not how you do it."

Happy Halloween!!!!

Philly Half Training: Weeks 7-11

2011-10-30T14:12:00.000-04:00

OMG. I am the worst at updating my blog.

The last time I wrote about my training, I was up to Galloway's week 6, which has a long run of 6x800.

The beauty of his plan is that my mid week runs have been pretty much the same each week. I use one to practice some speed drills, but other than that I've been out running for 45-55 minutes twice a week and I can cover between 4 and 5 miles. So rather than recap a bunch of short runs, I'll just tell you all about the Saturday long runs.

I'm really proud of myself for these longer runs. It's not easy for anyone to get out of bed and run for 2 hours, but I've been getting my runs done and have been looking forward to the next one each week. Awesome. Seriously.

Week 7 - 11 miles

I've been trying SO hard not to cover the same roads over and over and over again. Instead, I ran west, which I never do because the roads over there are curvy and I don't my way around that well. I ran a 6 mile loop west then ran past my house (just in case, you know) and then into the preserve and back home.
11 miles, 2:20:05 total time, 12:43 average pace

Week 8 - 8 x 800

Still not sure if I'm doing these exactly right. I think I rest for too long between the 800m sprints. Even so, I can definitely tell that these are making me a faster runner. They are also great for teaching you how to push yourself when your legs are tired. I use the mantra push a lot during those last few laps. It's hard to think when you are that tired, but the word PUSH is powerful and has multiple meanings when you are trying to finish.

The first lap is my walk to the track; the last lap is my walk home.

I had a few spectators at the track that morning. An elderly gentleman arrived after I did and he walked a few laps and then sat in the bleachers for a little while. Another man walked his dogs around the outside of the track and then came over to me and said "way to go" or something along those lines. I should have been a polite person and taken my ear buds out. Whatever he said, it made me feel really good.

Week 9 - 13 miles

I ran south this time. I really underestimated how far it is from my house to the path down to the beach. In my head, I broke down the distance as 3 miles to the bike path, 3.5 miles on the path, 3.5 miles back and then 3 miles back to my house. Sadly, it was only 2.5 to the bike path, which meant I needed to run all the way to the ocean. I really wasn't planning on that and it really hurt my momentum for some reason. It didn't change how far I needed to go, but I ran the ocean path not too long ago and wasn't looking forward to doing it again so soon.
Another big lesson learned on this run was that Gu - water = stomach disaster. I was rationing out my water and definitely didn't drink enough with the Gu. It was a long 3 miles before I got to the bathroom in the park. Not fun.
Even with those two problems, this was probably the run I am most proud of so far. The miles after mile 4 ticked off very quickly. And that is awesome.
13.1 miles, 2:47:59 total time, 12:49 average pace

Week 10 - Rock N Roll 10K in Prospect Park

Week 11 - 10x800

I had a tough time motivating myself for this run. I was intimidated by the number of times I needed to run around the track and the weather called for rain. I wore a dry fit with a cotton long sleeved top over it, gloves, capris and a visor. Even as I was getting dressed, I wondered if Sunday would be better for the run. My husband did exactly what I needed and basically kicked me out of the house.
After walking to the track, I saw that there was a football game starting. Um, I'll pass on running around that, thanks. So instead, I relied on my Gamin to beep at me to run and to rest.
It was just drizzling when I first headed out, but it was pouring and super cold by repeat #6. No part of me was going to stop, but I was pretty miserable. I knew this run had a purpose and there is no guarantee of sunshine on November 20th, so I might as well use this run to learn how to deal with cold, wet, tired legs. Most importantly, cotton was a poor choice for such a long run. My shirt weighed 1000 pounds by the time I finished.
I did a MUCH better job hydrating and I gave the Gu another chance. No stomach problems at all.

Check out lap 17!

I think these repeats would be much more consistent if they were on the track. There was a lot of rounding corners on this run.

See? Lots of looping. And don't worry. I don't live on this map.

So, what's next? Next Saturday, I'm running 15 miles (!) and that's it for long runs until the half marathon!

Do you run 800 meter repeats? If so, how long is your rest? 400m or for a few minutes?

RnRNY 10k Race Report

2011-10-24T18:18:00.000-04:00

This weekend I ran the inaugural Rock n Roll New York 10k in Prospect Park in Brooklyn. So many good things about this race...I'm not sure where to start. Perhaps with two little letters: P and R? Yes. Let's start there. I PR'ed and I am ridiculously high off that finish time!

The Good:
* The weather. It was 50 degrees when I left the house. I debated wearing capris, but decided anything over 50 and I'd wear shorts. It was a little cool at at the start and walking around after the finish, but overall, it was a gorgeous fall day.

Thank you, stranger, for taking my picture. And for returning my phone.

* The location. I've been to Prospect Park for field trips, but never to run. The park is really beautiful. The course covered a 4 mile loop 2 and a half times, so you got to see a lot of the park. The leaves are starting to change and it just smells like fall out. Really beautiful.

* Race swag. You can win me over with race swag big time. I dig bags. I like shirts I can wear. And I covet bling. This race offered all of those things. And the medal is really cool. I love glitter. Love it.

* Race support and post race offerings. Along the course, there were three aid stations. I carried my Nathan and my own Gu (even though Gu and I aren't really getting along right now), so I only stopped at the one station that had a big sign for Gu Brew. I broke a big race day rule of not doing anything different, but since I was running on an empty stomach (more about THAT later), I wanted to get some sugar in me.

Post race, there was water, Poweraid, Zico Coconut water (in Mango, Pineapple and Chocolate), Bagels and Bananas. In the concert area, there was also a Gu tent, so I picked up some Watermelon Gu Chomps. The bagels weren't the best in the world, which is a shame because NY is kind of known for bagels, but whatever. I hardly tasted mine I was so hungry at the end.

This bib is bigger than my torso. True story.

The Not-So-Good:

* Complaints about race organization. I don't even know if this belongs in *my*race report, because none of the "hiccups" in planning effected me at all. First, the packet pickup was a nightmare for some of the runners. The "expo" (okay, not at expo, like not even a little bit. It was a bib, tee shirt, bag pick up inside a running store. NOT an expo. Why hype it by calling it an expo?) was from noon to 7 near Times Square. This is not a problem for me because I leave work at 2:20pm and I was able to get my packet by 3:00, but most people are not teachers and many runners were coming from surrounding areas to run. If I worked on Long Island, this would have been a problem. Additionally, size small shirts weren't available when I got there (I needed a medium and got one). The reps at the store told the runner in front of me that she could exchange the shirt at the race after she finished, *if* they still had size small left. I was annoyed for her. Because that is the definition of annoying. If the race application asks for a size, then the organization should actually order enough of that size. I would imagine a large portion of the running field requests size small. I also heard and read complaints on Twitter about the bag check not having any security at the bag pick up area and runners had to sift through thousands of identical bags to find their bag. That stinks.

In Competitor's defense, one unfair complaint I read was that there were DJs instead of bands. This was advertised before the event began. If you read the info on the website, it clearly stated that there would be DJs. It's Brooklyn. DJs make sense.

* My stomach and my nerves. I woke up at 5:20 to get ready and then get Leah ready. David got ready and got Jacob ready. Seriously, taking two kids to a race means packing a million things. Leah needed her breakfast and bottle. I packed bags of pretzels, goldfish, trail mix, lollipops, juice boxes and peanut butter sandwiches for Jacob (yes. I'm aware it was a 10k, not an ultramarathon). By some miracle, we were in the car by 6:10 and after a stop at 7-11, ready for the long drive into Brooklyn. I kept an eye on the clock the whole time. I wanted to be in the park by 7 and that wasn't looking likely. Also, I tried to eat breakfast and had to spit it out. I was just too nervous! It turned out to be okay though...David dropped me off near the start line and then drove around for over 30 minutes looking for parking.

The only thing less appetizing than my breakfast is that $1 Buffalo Cheese Stick.

The Awesome:

* PR! I really didn't do any special training for this 10k other than following the Jeff Galloway Half Marathon training plan. I've run between 4 and 6 miles during the week for the last month or so. I've been using an interval of running 0.5 miles and walking 1 minute for a few weeks. Using that plan sort of fell apart during this race. I felt self conscious stopping to walk 0.5miles in, so I ran the first mile before taking a walking break. I need to get over that hang up though. I also had a hard time on the hills around mile 4, so I need to check out the elevation chart for Philly.

BAMF Race Shirt

Here are my mile splits:

Mile 1: 11:07 pace

Mile 2: 11:08

Mile 3: 10:06

Mile 4: 10:21

Mile 5: 11:23 (hills. Lots of walking)

Mile 6: 10:41

0.24: 8:34 pace (WHAT?! No walking for the last 0.5 obviously)

Garmin Time: 1:06:52, but I know I accidentally paused it :-(

Chip Time: 1:07:03, 10:48 pace

So this is a pretty big PR for me. My only other official 10k was the NYRR Women's Mini 10k. I ran the Mini 10k in 1:09:03. So this was a pretty solid 2 minute PR. And that is awesome.

My little cheering section.

Leah was feeling the Rock n Roll spirit in her Rock Star blanket. She's also wearing a onesie that says "My Mommy Rocks." And it's true. I do.

Jacob, in typical fashion, more interested in his lollipop than in taking pictures.

Taking the scenic route back to the car.

On towards Philadelphia! Less than 1 month to go!

When is your next big race??

Running Skirt Review

2011-10-18T20:42:00.000-04:00

Back in August, the lovely ladies at Running Skirts sent me a GORGEOUS purple running skirt to review. If you didn't know, I'm a big fan of their Compression socks and their skirts. I rock the RunLove Compression Socks after every run now. Love them. LOVE.

Sadly, the gorgeous purple running skirt did not fit my post-baby body. I was able to pull it on, but it was way too tight. And too tight makes everyone sad.

So I emailed the lovely Running Skirts ladies and they offered to send me a skirt that would fit me. (Who doesn't love prompt customer service? Particularly when they are already embarrassed about their post baby weight still hanging around.)

Well, I thought on this skirt for a little while. While I was glad to have the option to get a larger size, it didn't feel like the right move for me. I had a WW leader who said that when his weight started to creep up, he made himself feel uncomfortable in order to force himself to get back on track. I think like this too. If I had the larger size running skirt, then I might give myself permission to lose focus instead of losing weight.

The downside to this plan was that I wasn't able to comfortably wear the skirt until last week. I used this skirt as a sort of weight loss anchor. I'd gauge my progress against how well the skirt fit.

So I am SO excited to be writing this review right now.

Disclaimer: the skirt doesn't fit perfectly and I still have weight to lose, but I am ecstatic that I see progress.

The first thing to love about this skirt is the built-in undies. I'll let the model show you:

Built-in undies means commando! Hooray! (I know I'm not alone on that one.)

The other thing that I love about this skirt is that it has a little flare to it. The bottom of the skirt flips out a little and looks ridiculously cute.

I wore this skirt for 2 4 mile run sand for a 13 mile run (woot!). I'm pretty sure I checked myself out in every glass door and window I passed. Every time I checked myself out, I am happy to report that my rear was covered :-) And I had no issues with the inner thighs as I loaded up on BodyGlide before the run.

For the 13 mile run, it was a little more brisk, so I wore the skirt over a pair of capris. I was also worried that I'd need a reapplication of BodyGlide if I just wore the skirt. The skirt was really comfortable over the capris, but I could definitely tell that I still need to lose a few more pounds before the skirt fits the way it's intended.

I also used the pockets for the 13 mile run. This skirt has two pockets with velcro by the hips. Perfect for two Gu. No bouncing at all.

Hi. I have sloppy post run hair.

If you are thinking nice things about my abs, then *you* can be my BFF.

I've got three Gu in my pockets AND I'm happy to see you.

Some people might see spots on their mirror and wipe them off. I run from them.

Glorious sky and ocean. Worth running 6 miles to see.

Yeah, that's my hair. Wild and crazy.

Leah is COMPLETELY in love with Jacob. And he is the cutey-est big brother.

Do you wear running skirts? Have you seen other women racing in running skirts at you local races?

Getting through tough runs

2011-10-08T15:36:00.000-04:00

In my last post, I wrote about my AMR radio inspired mantra of "I'm not going home." While I LOVE this phrase, I don't have the same issue getting out of the house for my long runs or my track workouts on the weekend. I plan my entire weekend around those runs. And I find myself really looking forward to the chance to really test myself.

Those runs present a different challenge. I don't need a mantra for getting out there. I need a mantra for STAYING out there.

I've never purposely cut a long run short. But I have felt the pace really slip towards the end of the miles. Today I ran 8x800 and I did a lot of things wrong. I didn't eat enough calories/my breakfast was hours before my run. And I didn't bring water (WHAT was I thinking??? I LOVE water!!). By the end of the run, my lips were chapped and my blood sugar was low. If I started saying "I'm not going home" on lap 16 around the track, I might have punched myself in the face. Instead, through the thirst and the hunger (no lectures needed, I promise I won't ever do that again), I thought one word over and over during the 800: Push.

I also used a visualizing technique that Undercover Dieting mentioned in her comment last week. I first learned this strategy in college when I saw a counselor to help me deal with stress. I've always been the type to take huge bites out of life and my junior year was absurdly stressful. My counselor wanted me to envision what it would feel like to complete a task or meet a responsibility.

Visualizing is also a technique that they teach in WW meetings. When motivations starts to dwindle, you should visualize yourself making better choices. Visualize yourself putting on smaller jeans. Visualize seeing a friend who hasn't seen you in a while.

I do the same thing when I run and I'm struggling. Think mile 8 of an 11 mile training run. You are tired. You have little aches and pains. You are ready to be DONE. I visualize myself crossing the finish line. I visualize the medal I'll get. I visualize sharing my accomplishment with the people I care about. I imagine throngs of adoring fans cheering my name (stop judging. This stuff works.). Basically, I think about anything that will help me pick up one foot and move it forward, instead of hating my life.

Surprise medals are very motivating.

I also practice lots of positive self talk. I steal most of it from Jillian Michaels, but since I don't have her, I have to say it myself. Things like "you are strong enough to finish this" always helps me finish my run. I also like to think about how far I've come.

Visualizing works because it makes you feel more powerful and reminds you why you are working towards this goal. Above all, it's making you focus your energy on the positive. And when you are tired, hungry, sweaty, annoyed...it's way too easy to focus on the negative.

Oh, and P.S., my Jakie is 3!

3 years old and ridiculously handsome. Life is very hard for some people.

What do you do when you are just DONE or really feel your run falling apart?

On this run....I realized my mantra.

2011-10-04T21:16:00.000-04:00

I'm still in the throws of getting a routine going.

In an ideal world, I'd be super happy to get up at 5, run a few miles, shower and be in the car by 6:15.

In reality, I head out to run at 6pm.

I have to practice a lot of positive self talk to get myself out there in the evening. I can come up with a million reasons to stay home. I feel like I barely see my kids as it is...and work is just draining the life out of me this year. I have a tough class. The tenor in education is really demoralizing right now. And I'm just tired.

But such is life, right? If it isn't one issue, it's another. There's always a reason to stay home. So I remind my husband about a thousand times that I plan on running when he comes home. Not because he'll forget, but because I don't want to wimp out on my runs.

During today's run, I listened to one of Another Mother Runner's Podcasts (on iTunes also!) and Sarah and Dimity shared their running mantras. Sarah's is believe and Dimity's is I'm here now (and I am really tempted to steal that one!).

My mantra came to me when I checked my Garmin and saw that 38 minutes had flown by. "I'm not going home." It's a struggle to get out there some days, but once I start, the time just flies. "I'm not going home." My legs felt heavy and slow, probably still needing more rest after the long run this weekend but I was happy to be out there. "I'm not going home."

Of course, I'm going home. Eventually. But those words remind me how happy I am once I finally get going. So maybe by repeating them while I'm out there, it will make it easier to resist the temptation to stay at home.

Do you have a mantra? Or a phrase that really motivates you while you run? Share!!!

Philly Half Training Week 6

2011-09-26T20:07:00.001-04:00

Oh, right. I have a blog.

Life has been busy. What the heck is it with fall? There is so much fun to be had that I really haven't touched my computer in a while. Which is good because the fan is broken on the laptop and it randomly shuts down when it gets too hot. Like, no warning, just shuts down. Fun.

Okay. That's not fun. You know what is fun? A wedding. Particularly a wedding that takes place on a beach.

Yaaaaaay weddings!

That sky is pretty glorious.

And my classroom is about 85% done. (Fun fact about classrooms: they are never finished.)

I covered my really ugly supply cabinet with super gorgeous zebra print duck tape.

So basically, my desk is never ever neat.

In the hectic start to school, I *might* have taken a week off from running. It was sort of planned, so I'm not going to make up any excuses as to why I didn't run for a full week. But the big positive that come of it was that I was really excited to run once the week was up.

So rather than skip a week of training, I just pushed the week back. I'll have to rewrite my running schedule later (note to self).

Tuesday: I headed out for a 45 minute run. I've really been debating with myself over what that means. Does that mean 45 minutes of RUNNING, or 45 minutes altogether? I walk for 5 minutes to warm up and cool down...so should I be out there for 55 minutes. Yeah, I'm nerdy. I know. Aaaaanyway, my Garmin decided that not being used for a week was a good reason for the battery to die, so I was running blind. I turned on the RunKeeper app on my phone and just ran. I took intermittent walking breaks that ended up being every .5mile and it felt really good. I was running 3 minutes and walking 1 minute, but this felt a lot better to me.
5.36 miles, 1:01:41, 11:30 per mile

Check out mile 6. I like to mosey mosey.

Friday: same plan. run for 45 minutes. Ran 5.28 miles, 1:01:54, 11:44 per mile
Sunday: The plan was 6 x 800 but Leah had me up early and then I went back to sleep so I missed my chance to use the track before teams got there...so I set my watch to metric (um, confusing!) and just ran around my neighborhood. I ended up covering 5.15 miles.

Plan for this current week: two days of running 45 minutes, 11 miles on the weekend.

So that's it. My google reader says I have 983 unread posts.

OMG.

Philly Half Training Week 5

2011-09-11T20:43:00.001-04:00

I swear I have no memory. I could have sworn I did all three runs on the training plan for this week...and yet the Garmin Training Center only had two runs listed. Went over to Dailymile to double check. Oh, right. Treadmill run = no Garmin.

Duh.

So this was a great week for running, another sucky week for cross training. Bleh!

Tuesday: I hit the treadmill and played with the speed until I accidentally pulled the magnetic thingie out and wiped out my data. Boo! But I am pretty sure I ran 3.6 miles in about 41 minutes. I was sweating BUCKETS after that run.

Thursday: ran outside after school in crazy humidity. Ran 3.1 in 34ish minutes. This run was proof that this run/walk method works for me. I ran 3.1 miles two minutes faster than my 5k in June and I walked every three minutes, versus ran the 5k the entire time.

I decided to have fun and create a pattern with my run. Neeeeeeeeerd!

Saturday: I was finally able to get to the bike path to the beach. Gorgeous. 9.11 miles on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. From this beach, on a clear day, you used to be able to see the towers. It really is amazing how quickly ten years has passed and at the same time it feels like just yesterday.

Hooray for cooler weather.

This run felt good. I didn't make the mistake of running the first few miles of intervals too fast. I finished the nine miles truly feeling like I could do more. So 9.11 miles in 1:53 minutes, 12:30 pace...burned lots of calories...ate lots of calories.

As great as this week of running was, one day I will remember to wear bug spray before I head out. And that day will be glorious.

And here's a picture of Leah, just because she's a messy little gal.

She loves sweet potatoes. Nay, she *is* a sweet potato.

Hope everyone had a great week! (And thank you for indulging me in back to work/leaving baby blues. It was fine. And my new students are pretty sweet so far.)

Back to Work: Pity Party for One

2011-09-06T06:00:00.000-04:00

Today I head back to work.

Ugh. My heart is so heavy about it.

I love teaching. LOVE. I love my school (most of the time). I love feeling like I'm making a difference everyday. I love seeing light bulbs go off and perspectives change through teaching.

But I am just so very sad about leaving my kids. Again.

This just does not get easier. And I know that they will be fine. I love our daycare situation. They have a wonderful sitter who treats them like family and offers the best advice when I need it.

But I hate how many firsts I'm about to miss.

Jacob's pre school orientation and meet the teacher on Thursday.

First day of preschool on Monday.

Leah is so close to that sitting up stage. She's getting really good at rolling over. I remember six months being a time I really enjoyed with Jacob.

We've been working so hard with Jacob on his speech. And I want to see him continue to improve. He still doesn't have the language to tell me what he's done during the day and I want to know about every minute.

It stings seeing those obnoxious Facebook posts about "teachers complaining about going back to work," posts that are really rooted in jealousy. I am not complaining about going back to work. I am complaining about missing my kids. It's hugely different. And reading those updates is like a punch to the chest.

It's not even like this summer was a real vacation. I didn't work in the school, but I also didn't lounge by the pool all summer. I worried through early intervention evaluations and a surgery that was far more traumatic for me than it was for Jacob. I dealt with Leah refusing to sleep anywhere but my arms and Jacob refusing to sleep anywhere at all. I potty trained. I sleep trained. I felt joy and felt overwhelmed. I cried more than I'll ever admit to. I played. I sang. I read. I danced. And now it's over and I'm just heart broken.

I just don't know where the time went. I just said goodbye to them in June and I can't believe it's time to do it again.

The sitter asked me to write up their schedules and I felt like I could have written a book about the little people they've become. She wants to know how often to feed Leah and I need her to know that Leah loves to sleep with a soft blanket against her cheek. Leah likes to be cuddled and wants to put her nose in your elbow. She wants you to pat her bottom just a little. And she loves white noise. LOVES white noise. And Jacob is more or less the same little guy who left in June, except he's really in tune with other people's emotions. If he even slightly suspects that you are mad at him, he will ask you. And nothing makes you less mad than a little person asking "you mad?"

And it's not like I haven't faced a September before. I know in the blink of an eye this will be over and it will be time for apple cider, pumpkin picking and trick or treating and this pain will be gone. But right now, I have an ache in my chest and it's raw. It's the same thing I felt last September, except this time it's times two.

This sucks.

Philly Half Training: Weeks 3 & 4

2011-09-04T21:06:00.000-04:00

My Plan for Last week (8/22/11):
I'm going to try for cross training on Monday and Wednesday....but that depends on the state of my basement. Nope. The basement is 90% back together. The carpet needs to be kicked back in place, but most of the furniture is back where it should be and it's basically usable space now.

Tuesday: 35 minute run, with 1 mile at race pace Check! I ran the speed drills that Galloway recommends and ran 1 mile in 10:17. Pleased? Yup!

Thursday: 35 minute run Nope. Read this post to hear me complain about the sleep situation in our house right now. It's better now. But I couldn't get up at 6 am and my husband got stuck in the office until 7 that night. Boo. Hiss.

Saturday: 7.5 miles **I'm really excited about this one because I'm going to run on the bike path along the ocean! I haven't been on that path in over a year! I love all the views and the smell of ocean air. SO SO SO excited!
* I finished the 7.5 miles but struggled with all the Irene related humidity. It was 93% humidity when I finished my run.
* My shirt was soaked. I felt like I was running in a ball gown. Not fun.
* My run - walk intervals of 3:1 became more like shuffle two minutes and mosey two minutes.
* The half a Gu I took at 4 miles turned my stomach. It was gross and worrisome for about a half mile.
* I couldn't run on my favorite bike path because the county closed it before Irene hit.
* I finished the run in 1:39.46, 13:18 pace, which includes a 5 minute walking warm up. It was slow, but it was supposed to be slow. Galloway recommends running long runs at slower than race pace and recommends slowing down even more so when the temperature is above 60 degrees. So I'm going to refrain from beating myself up over the pace.

Week 4 (8/28/11)

Sunday: rest
Monday: took a long walk around the neighborhood to check out damage...not really a workout, except I pushed the double jogger.
Wednesday: somehow my Tuesday and Thursday runs got consolidated into ONE run on Wednesday. My Garmin was off, but luckily I hit the Runkeeper app on my phone before starting. 2.8miles, in 34:32
Friday: rest
Saturday: 4 x 800 exhausting. And interesting to see on the Garmin Training Center. Once I got to the track, I realized I should have used metric instead of standard measurements...so I really ran 4X0.5miles, not 800 meters.

Lap 1 was my warm up, 7 minute walk to the high school track, easy run 1 lap

Laps 2-9 alternating .5 mile runs with .25 walks

Lap 10: mosey home

This was pretty humbling. I didn't think this would be so hard, but I was really tired the rest of the day! I do have to say that I didn't think that 4 miles would go so quickly on the track, but it really did! And, mercifully, I finished my workout right before the football team arrived. Whew!

August in Review

2011-09-02T08:18:00.001-04:00

I'm a day late this review...I spent the first day in September taking my classroom from this:

to this:

I had to move every piece of furniture in that room...including my ridiculously heavy, but super organized (for now) supply closet. I'm not done yet, but I'm done for this week. I'll tackle the decorating during our pre-service days after Labor Day.

Total Miles: 49 :-)
Current Weight: 160.5
Weight Loss Since August 1: 0lbs.
Measurements:

Weight Loss Thoughts:
All the things I did *right* last month really suffered this month. I had a lot of days that I didn't track my calories (vacation, wedding, hurricane). I HAVE to track every calorie if I want to take this weight off. Also, I didn't get a lot of cross training in this week because of our mini flood and loss of power. I'm actually surprised that the measurements show so much change this month. I did enjoy one yoga session...although I felt a little silly in the happy baby pose. :-/

Progress on Goals for August:
* Commit to a training plan for the Philly Half.
I only set one goal and I did it :) I committed to the Galloway half marathon program and I only missed on midweek run. I also followed the program and didn't throw in more runs *just because.*

Goals for September:
* Get back into cross training days, at least twice a week.

* Follow Galloway training program.

* Track calories!

* Weigh in every Monday, rather than once per month.

And thank you for all the kind words on my last post about Irene. We really fared very well all things considered. There are still lots of homes on Long Island without power, and some without power and water. But even still, from what I've seen, our situation doesn't even remotely compare to the destruction in Vermont. It's unbelievably sad to see those beautiful bridges and towns overcome by water.

What are your plans for Labor Day weekend? Racing? Barbecuing? Beaching?

Hurricane Irene: by the numbers, a self centered retrospective

2011-08-30T19:47:00.011-04:00

number of trees that fell on our block

20
number of houses on our block without power because of that tree

this *is* my block, but this is an old photo. I cannot tell a lie.
523,000
homes without power that are serviced by our electric company

5
the morning hour on Sunday when the transformer blew

Rainy nonsense. We are good neighbors. We put everything away. Well except for an Elmo ball that I wish flew away.

1
number of neighbors with a generator

1
neighbor who will be swimming in cookies after lending us some power

50
temperature inside the fridge on day 2 of the power loss

10
servings in a "Fiesta size" bag of tortilla chips

3
number of times I called chips and dip a meal

5
offers from friends to eat, sleep, or bathe at their homes

1
offer accepted

60
minutes estimated to PICK UP chinese food

90
actual minutes it took for food to be ready

3,462
number of times I hit a light switch either entering or leaving a room
(approximate)

87
percent sure the milk hadn't gone bad

17
the number of candles I found throughout the house

Instagram is the best, isn't it?! I love apps!

0
candles actually purchased myself. The rest were gifts from students.

3,721,342
number of times Jacob asked to watch Letter Factory
(actual)

The P says Puh! I say Zzzzzz.

1.5
number of times you can watch Letter Factory on the laptop before the power dies

0
patience left by Tuesday afternoon

738
time on Tuesday evening the power went back on

62.5
hours without power

1
extra special surprise message on the microwave:

I hope everyone fared as well as we did or better! I'm off to read lots of blogs...but tell me: what is the worst part of a power loss for you? I won't judge! Be as self-centered as you want!!!

Sleep

2011-08-26T12:35:00.004-04:00

I love sleep.

If sleep was tangible, I'd propose to it.

I'm a grump in the morning because I miss sleep as soon as I wake up.

My son, however, seems to have declared sleep his mortal enemy. They've been fighting a battle of wills for about 10 days. And so far, Jacob is kicking sleep's ass.

It's a tragedy, really, because Jacob and sleep used to be besties. Jacob learned how to self-sooth around 5 months old and from then on was always a good sleeper. He'd fall asleep on his own for naps and for his bedtime.

Jacob's nursery. It is no more. Now Leah lives in this room.

So sometime in the last month, he declared war against naps. Fine. I knew those mid-day naps were going to end sometime, but he stayed pretty quiet and that gave Leah the opportunity to get a really good nap. I also got the chance to eat, clean (only a little) and waste time online.

But then he declared war against his bed. Ugh. Alright, sleep on the floor then.

War against staying in his room? Not an option. Screaming hysterically if I tried to close the door? No way, Jose.

Monday night he woke up at 12:30am. Wanted to sleep in our bed. That was a miserable failure. He got in our bed and flopped around for two hours. No one slept. I know lots of families love co-sleeping, but it's just not an option for us. Jacob sings himself to sleep. He kicks blankets off, pulls them on, kicks them off again. It's impossible. David took him back to his room and he finally fell asleep around 3am, but Leah woke up from his fussing.

Running the next morning? No. No, that didn't happen. I waited until the evening and braved the humidity.

Leah's nursery theme: Owls. Night owls. Not ironic at all.

Wednesday night/Thursday morning around 2 am, Jacob was wandering around the house. Getting him back into bed resulted in him screaming bloody murder and waking up Leah, who has yet to embrace sleep as her friend, and still insists upon being rocked to sleep. Not cool.

And running the next morning, no. That didn't happen. At all. And I'm bummed about it. It's the first run I've missed since I started running again.

And so back into the crib he went. I'm sad and a little guilty that he wasn't ready for the responsibility of being in a bed. I feel awful about how many tears we had at bedtime. And how lack of sleep made me super impatient. But a week's worth of stress and sleep training just didn't work.

And frankly, there is more to this family than just Jacob. It's hard to say that and harder to believe it. He's been my number one for so long. But every one of us needs rest. Every one of us has to be important in this family.

All my fellow East Coasters: stay safe. Be careful. We will be weathering out the storm at home and hoping Irene loses steam before she hits the island.

Philly Half Training: Week 2

2011-08-21T21:07:00.008-04:00

This past Sunday, we woke up to a minor flood in our basement. It rained 10 inches overnight and into the morning and the drain in our driveway was clogged. So all the water went into the garage and then into our finished basement. Ugh. It threw a huge wrench into my workout plans because I use the basement for my DVD/cross-training days. David and I were on a really good stretch of working out together three times a week. Add that to my three days of running, I was burning lots of calories.

Was.

WAS burning lots of calories.

With the carpets finally drying out a week later, the room is in total disarray. The furniture was moved and the TV is not even hooked up.

As of this morning, the carpet and the pad are dry. It still smells though.

AND my latest favorite Jillian workout, 6 week 6 pack, is no longer ondemand. Booo!! I'm going to have to cough up the 10 bucks and just buy the DVD.

My poor treadmill had carpet hanging over it. :Sad face:

This was my plan:
Sunday: Bootcamp DVD
Monday: abs
Tuesday: 35 minute run, Magic Mile Time Trial
Wednesday: ???
Thursday: 35 minute run, keeping more consistent pace
Friday: rest
Saturday: 6 miles

This was the reality:
Sunday: keep two kids busy while David tries to get all of the water out
Monday: nothing
Tuesday: 35 minute run, Magic Mile Time Trial:
This was my second time trial. I ran the first one in 10:43. I ran the latest one in 10:34. I have to say: I've been enjoying going to the track every few workouts. :-)
Wednesday: nothing
Thursday: 35 minute run - I ran 3.02 miles in 38 minutes, 12:38 pace, which includes my 5 minute walk in the beginning
My goal was to keep the 3 minute intervals of running consistent, and I did manage to do that at the end of the run. I programmed my Garmin to beep every three minutes, one minute, three minutes, one minute, etc for 8 laps. The display only showed the lap time, it didn't show pace. Perhaps next time, I should keep it on pace so I can stay in the 10:30 range when I run.
Friday: rest - oh yes. I rested.
Saturday: 6.2 miles!!! 1:17:36, 12:31 pace
I ran using the 3:1 run/walk intervals, plus an extra long walk at the half way point.
The training plan only called for 6 miles but I wanted to get a full 10k under my belt. I was planning to run a local 10k on Sunday, but my parents decided to drive up from South Carolina for a few days and I didn't want to miss any time with them. And I had a wedding the night before, so logistically it just wasn't going to work.

All dressed up!
How gorgeous is this room??

Yum. I heart a good Cosmopolitan.

This week (8/22/11):

I'm going to try for cross training on Monday and Wednesday....but that depends on the state of my basement.
Tuesday: 35 minute run, with 1 mile at race pace
Thursday: 35 minute run
Saturday: 7.5 miles **I'm really excited about this one because I'm going to run on the bike path along the ocean! I haven't been on that path in over a year! I love all the views and the smell of ocean air. SO SO SO excited!

And just because I think they are super cute...random pics of my little ones.

Leah, looking SO much like my mom. This is my new favorite picture of her.

With Jakie on the Minnie-Ha-Ha in Lake George

Anything exciting coming up in your week?

Compression Love

2011-08-19T10:45:00.005-04:00

I recently ordered a pair of Running Skirts Run Love Compression socks. My mileage isn't terribly high, but my legs still feel tired after long runs...well, and short ones too.

I need you to know that my curtains are not red. They are beige. They just photographed horribly.

I hem and haw over every purchase. Seriously. I think I looked at compression socks for a month before finally pulling the trigger and buying these. I almost feel like I need to "earn" the purchase. It's very odd. I don't hesitate to buy things for Jacob and Leah, but for me, forget it. I've been interested in an iFitness Belt or SPI Belt for a long time as well, but I have yet to get one. I know I'm going to need to carry nutrition for these upcoming double digit runs

And I was not disappointed at all. I was trying to make do with some of the regular knee highs I have...but they did nothing. Compression is like little hugs to your legs all day long. It's sweet really. And since I have the central air blasting all day, I never feel warm. The biggest problem I have is that Pumpkin's hair is all over them.

Corgi hair runs rampant in our house. We basically have tumbleweeds. You can see she has a wild mane.

And thanks to Twitter, I know that I'm not the only one who wears them after running three miles. (Notice I didn't say *just*?) Hooray for community! I wear them for a few hours after running and my legs feel good for the rest of the day. And they look cute. So it's really win-win for everyone.

Do you have a tough time making purchases? Do you need to "earn" new running gear?

Clicky for Fitness Blogs!

Pandora and 90s music awesomeness

2011-08-18T13:35:00.006-04:00

Source

This week on twitter, the fitblog chat was all about music. You should be very happy to know that NSync was well represented in both the "guilty pleasure" and "motivational" categories of songs to listen to when working out.

My latest obsession Pandora. I love that it's pretty much every song in the world AND I get to listen to guilty pleasure music without paying for it. Sorry, Britney. I love you occasionally, but not enough to buy your albums. And I think the randomness of the music makes it more enjoyable!

So some random awesomeness this morning:
* Shakira: Whenever, Whereever
* Janet Jackson: All for You
* Britney Spears: Womanizer
* NSync: Gonna Be Me (Do yourself a favor and watch this video for old time's sake! It's them as dolls. So fantastic. And proof that JT has always been awesome.)
* Jennifer Lopez: Love Don't Cost A Thing Think I wanna drive your Benz? I don't.

Not so awesome:
* Backstreet Boys: Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely Some songs suck at the time and then you kind of get excited to hear them later. This is not one of them. Ugh. Garbage. (Remember Garbage?! Shirley Manson was the coolest!)
* No Doubt: Underneath it All I feel terrible for badmouthing this one. I love Gwen Stefani. Love her. Saw No Doubt in concert twice in one week. But this is not a song that makes me want to run.

Share your guilty pleasure music with me! And do you have any songs that just kill your flow?

WIAW - The day I didn't leave the couch

2011-08-15T14:35:00.011-04:00

Sort of lying.

I did run. 5.48 miles (those missing 0.02!!! Making me crazy!) But I also spent a ridiculous amount of time on the couch with a certain little girl who refuses to sleep in her crib when the sun is out.

Breakfast #1 Pre Run:
1/2 Bagel with 1 Tbsp peanut butter, water

Breakfast #2 Post Run:
1/2 cup organic oats with a nectarine and 2 tsp brown sugar. And coffee. Never forget the coffee. I ate it on the couch while keeping Leah happy.

Yummy delicious.

Then we all went out for Jacob's Parent and Me Soccer Class. That class is silly fun. A bunch of parents pleading with their children to pay attention to the coach. Of course they don't, so the parents run all of the skills with the kids. You really just have to shake your head and laugh.

Lunch: Pepperidge Farms light wheat bread (it's meh at best), three slices Wellshire Farms Nitrate free Turkey Bacon (oh yes.) and 1 tablespoon light mayo. Eaten on the couch while holding a sleeping Leah.

Wolfed the first half before remembering I needed to take a picture.

Oh, thank heaven.

Snack: still on the couch....David brought me coffee. I know it's not the most substantive snack, but I was saving all my calories for dinner!

Dinner: BBQ at our house!
We planned to do an awesome build your own burger thing, sort of like Bobby's Burger Palace. I got amazing potato rolls from Whole Foods, Swiss, cheddar, Gruyere, pickles, red onion, avocado and even fried up some bacon.
I completely forgot how much grease comes out of bacon as I've been eating turkey bacon for the last 10 years!
I had an amazing burger with carmelized onion and gruyere. I'm a fancy lady, thank you. And my pal made this delicious couscous thing with yummy raisins and carrots and such. So tasty! Not pictured: veggies (yes. *I* ate a few veggies) and hummus. Oh, and a LOT of jalepeno kettle chips.

Guess where I ate this? Did you guess the couch?? Guess why I was on the couch? Did you guess Leah?! Oh, you are too smart for this blog!
The leftover Gruyere made amazing macaroni and cheese the next night.

CLEARLY I am enjoying my dinner at the coffee table. Whatever. I had amazing sangria so I don't care where I had to eat.
I found this recipe at Full Fork Ahead. I made it exactly as she describes, except I used a 750ml bottle of Yellow Tail Pinot Grigio and I skipped the mint leaves. It's so summery and light. The grapes taste SO good after sitting in the wine. Just the perfect BBQ beverage...and my friends don't even like alcohol!

This is all that was left.
Don't worry. We gave it a good home.

Dessert:

And guess where I ate this? Oh, we played this game already? Oh well.
And AGAIN, I completely forgot to take a picture before I inhaled half. Actually, this was my second one. It's made with dark chocolate, so it's basically a health food.

Seriously. This little girl loves sleeping on the couch.

Clicky for more WIAW posts!

What is your favorite grilled food?

Philly Half Training: Week 1

2011-08-12T13:29:00.010-04:00

I posted last month that I was having trouble deciding between training plans. Luckily, I got some very good advice (thank you!) and I made up my mind to follow the Galloway plan. I'm going from 0 to 13.1 in 6 months, so it makes sense to do a run/walk/run program to prevent injury.

Note: I am super nervous about only running three times a week in preparation. However, I am going to have some faith that as this plan has been successful for other runners that it will be successful for me too.

You can find the training program right here. Scroll down to Half Marathon Training Schedule for Time Goal Runners.

Before "officially" starting, I ran a measured mile to help me plan my long run pace. You can read more about Galloway's Magic Mile here. I headed over to the track at the high school so I would be sure to push the pace of the last lap.

I ran that mile in 10:43. I'm fighting back from inserting some negative comment about my pace right now. But it is what it is. I took a long hiatus from running. This is my starting point.

Using his calculators, the pace for my slow run should be 14:56 min/mile.

On the schedule:
Tuesday - 30 minute run (speed work)
Thursday - 30 minute run (3:1 run walk intervals)
Saturday - 5 mile run

What I did:
Monday: 6 week 6 pack
Tuesday: warm up, jog for 10 minutes, 4 cadence drills, 4 acceleration gliders, 1 mile at goal pace, 5 minute walk to cool down
Wednesday: rest, played Kinect Sports for about an hour and a half!
Thursday: 3.5 miles in 42:27, 12:08 pace with 3:1 run/walk intervals. Totally inconsistent.

The highlighted paces are the runs. Obviously.

Friday: rest day
Saturday: long run, 5 miles at 14:56 pace. That didn't happen. I ran 5.48 (the missing 0.02 miles is killing me!) at 13:08 pace including the 5 minute warm up and cool down.

This time the run portions were much more consistent, most of them in the low 11 minute pace range. I don't know how I would be able to run at 14:56, unless I took longer walk breaks. But I this run felt really good. It was cool out, the trail was pretty empty and I didn't need to include any extra long walk breaks :-)

Up next week:
Sunday: Bootcamp DVD
Monday: abs
Tuesday: 35 minute run, Magic Mile Time Trial
Wednesday: ???
Thursday: 35 minute run, keeping more consistent pace
Friday: rest
Saturday: 6 miles

What's on tap for you this week?

My (First) WIAW

2011-08-09T13:58:00.013-04:00

So this is my first time playing along with What I Ate Wednesday, created by Peas and Crayons.

And being that this is a running blog turned running and weight loss blog, I decided to photograph a day of eating, plus add the caloric info.

I tried to eat as "honestly" as possible and not let the fact that I was photographing everything with the intent of sharing it influence my choices...but it was hard. Overall, this was a pretty realistic snapshot of my diet.

Pre Run, 5:30am: 1/2 Clif Bar
Calories: 120

Post Run/Leah feeding, 7:30am: Thomas' Breakfast Thin, 16grams peanut butter, 3 grams honey
Columbian Coffee with 3 Splenda and 2Tablespoons Fat Free Half and Half
Not Pictured: Grape Flavored Low Calorie G2
Calories: 261

Starbucks Stop, 11:00: Grande Black Shaken Iced Tea & Lemonade, unsweetened
Calories: 50
(Grande White Chocolate Mocha with Whipped Cream for the sitter - 470 calories!)

Lunch, 12:15: leftover Sesame Encrusted Chicken Tenders, 3oz carrots, 10 grapes
Calories: 290

Snack, 3pm: Cheez-Its (not pictured, string cheese)
Calories: 220

Dinner, 6pm: Aidells Chicken and Apple Sausage, Salad with Italian Dressing (not pictured, Yellow Tail Pinot Noir)
Calories: 335

Dessert: Swirls and Twirls Birthday Cake Batter and Red Velvet Cake with lots.of.toppings
Calories: not sure. I counted it as 400...but I'm not certain that's right. It was 8.25 by weight. But I'd have to separate everything to count it correctly. I purposely leave extra calories everyday just for cases like this when I'm not sure how to count.

Totals: 1673 calories consumed - 350 burned= 1323 net calories
Deficit of 607 calories for the day

Running, Vacations and Indulgences

2011-08-07T20:40:00.016-04:00

We just got back from a mini vacation to Lake George.

I may have taken a *minor* vacation from tracking my calories. Frankly, it might have been a bad idea starting our trip with a wine tasting.

Once upon a time, this glass held Peach Chardonnay.

And there was a lot of ice cream.

This was his first ice cream CONE ever. He had to be told to keep eating. Whose child is this??

And there may have been some beer too.

That's a Witte Peach. It was awesome.

Okay, that's not beer. It's cider. And it was tasty.

There was very spotty 3G coverage...so myfitnesspal, not so useful. Whatever. I'm not getting on the scale until Tuesday, when I have a check up at the GYN, so I'll face the music then. Truthfully, I'm sure it could have been worse.

We stayed right in the Village, on the Lake. And walked everywhere.

We put lots of miles on the double jogger. Which clearly would be tiring to those RIDING in the stroller.
Used MapMyRun app to see how far it was from the pub to our motel. Jacob walked the entire 1.11 mile!

And of course, there was a lot of time at the pool. I'll spare you those pictures.

I'm going to pat myself on the back for two 6am wakeup calls to get my runs in. That's right: TWO! I ran about 7.5 miles over the two runs.

And running near a lake: GLORIOUS. JOYFUL. And super HILLY.

If you've never been, Lake George has a little village that is super busy during the summer. There are people EVERYWHERE. There is parasailing, kayaking, boating, fishing, eating, drinking and all sorts of good times. But at 6am, the world is still and peaceful.

Google Earth is SO cool.

Sunrise over the Lake. That's the silhouette of the Minnie-Ha-Ha.

Where is everyone? Oh, right. Asleep.

Sunrise over the mountains.

Ignore my grump face. I'm super happy. I just haven't had my coffee yet.

And so, even though I've fought against it....I'm totally sold on morning running.

Do you run on vacation? Have you planned any vacations so that you'd have lovely running scenery?

July in Review

2011-08-01T13:06:00.006-04:00

Total miles: 56. Yay.

Hmm. Guess what I was doing September - May?
Nothing. Well, except having awful morning sickness.

Current weight: 160.5
Weight loss since delivering Leah: 33.5lbs
Weight loss since July 1: 3.5lbs

Measurements:
Something seems off with the bicep that I highlighted, but overall I'm pretty pleased. And I'm really, really, really happy to have smaller boobs. I'm just saying.

Weight loss thoughts:
I wrote last month that I needed to go to meetings in order to make Weight Watchers work for me. That never happened. There just aren't enough hours in the day. I fully believe in that program, but because I didn't join, I didn't know how to calculate or use my activity points. That's a problem.
So I switched gears and started using myfitnesspal on my iPhone. It's just a calorie calculator really, but it has a built in database of more than 1,000,000 foods and has some restaurant calorie counts as well. It also has a barcode scanner which is truly awesome.
I know consistency is the key...I've logged everything I've eaten for the last 27 days. *EVERYTHING*
I'm going to write a longer post on points vs. calories later, but I've found myself far more satisfied counting calories.

Progress on Goals for July:
* Cut my self a little slack...in every area. Not so much.
* Register for the Verizon Corporate Classic 5k. No goals for that race other than to have a good time. Done! And I had a post-Leah PR!
* Begin bridge to 10k. When all is said and done, I'd like to be running 4-6 miles during the week and longer on the weekend....so I still have base building to do. Started! I'm running between 3.5-4.5 miles during the week. I've run 5 miles twice. Slow miles, but they got done.
* Try one new meal each week. Who wrote that? I didn't do that at all!
* Buy a new pair of capris. I have ONE pair that I wear for every run. They are getting a little big and I'm sick of looking at them. Done. I love you TJMaxx! I found a great pair of shorts and a pair of capris. I'm wearing the shorts all.the.time.

Goals for August:
* Commit to a training plan for the Philly Half.
That's really it. No mileage goals, because that will be determined by the training plan. I'm wavering between Jeff Galloway's run-walk-run and Hal Higdon's Half plan. I used his novice plan for my first half, but I'm leaning towards Galloway's plan for this half.

Let me know if you have any thoughts about either plan! Help me make a decision!

Well-ness

2011-07-29T19:49:00.003-04:00

It's done.

It was the longest 7 hours of my life, without a doubt.

We were scheduled for noon, the hospital asked us to come at 10:30am. Jacob was not allowed to eat or drink anything after midnight. Oh, this was bound to be awesome.

I can't stand how calm people are at the hospital. It seems as if they have no sense of time. An hour in the waiting room with a toddler? That's an eternity. An hour in the waiting room with a toddler who is hungry and thirsty? That's hellish.

Overall, Jacob was pretty well behaved for a hungry, thirsty, frightened two year old. Both David and I went into the pre-op area, but only I went into the OR while they administered the anesthesia. That was awful. He went limp in my arms while he breathed it in. Then he looked up at me and said "Mommy. Mommy?" and then he was asleep. They moved him onto the operating table and a nurse walked me back to pre-op. And I burst into tears.

I know this was "minor" surgery. But that is asinine. Nothing is minor when it's your little guy on a table.

And so we waited.

Within an hour, we were called to recovery. The nurse referred to him as a baby. I had to laugh. He took up the entire crib. He was still out when we got to him and the nurse warned us that he would probably be groggy all day. We shouldn't expect him to be his normal running-around-like-a-maniac-terrorizing-the-dog-self, she warned.

Well, she's never hung out with my Jacob. He was definitely groggy in recovery, but ate and drank, so they sent us home. He was clingy at home for a little bit, but then barfed and was totally normal. He let me snuggle on him for exactly one episode of the Bubble Guppies. Then he was up and terrorizing the dog.

And peeing on the potty.

Yeah. That's right. He's basically a rockstar. Surgery in the morning. Potty training in the afternoon.

And I'm just relieved.

Relieved that it was "minor."

Relieved that everything went well.

Relieved that he won't remember this.

Relieved that it's over and now I can start thinking of awesome things again. Awesome things like vacations and goals for August.

Follow this Mother

2011-07-28T13:36:00.000-04:00

Can I brag a little bit?

Another Mother Runner features *me* today.

And, in case you are wondering, I did post about it on Facebook. Seriously, how could I not?

I've protected the names of the innocent. And their gorgeous avatars as well.

This is everything I love about running. A two *real runners find me interesting enough to feature. Little, ole, 4 mile runner me. Why? Because this is how awesome runners are...everyone is included. My speedy fast neighbor who is a serious runner talks to me like an equal. You run 2 miles every other day? Awesome, you're a runner. You are training for your first 5k? Awesome, you're a runner too. You're taking a nine month hiatus? That's cool, we'll be here for you when you are ready. I love runners. I LOVE runners.

And I even got a little extra love from one of my best buddies!

What a great thing to wake up to today.

Especially since today was also Jacob's pre-op appointment at the pediatrician's office. That was fine. He's cleared for surgery tomorrow and scheduled for 12:30. We need to be there by 11:30am. I'm really not looking forward to tomorrow. Truly wishing I could fast forward time.

I'll try to update tomorrow. Hopefully by this time tomorrow, it will be all over and we'll be getting ready to leave the hospital!

So....what are you up to this weekend? Long runs? Vacations? Beaches?

Mixing Business with Pleasure

2011-07-26T13:33:00.000-04:00

Or something like that.

I am a former Twitter-phobe.

All those hashtags and bitly-s and tinyurls and @ were just too confusing for me. But being home.all.day.long. can be super boring. So I got over myself and signed up.

On a random, slightly conceited note: I love that picture of me. It's right before the Women's Mini 10k. I was so excited for that race.

I keep most running related things off my Facebook. I don't want to be that annoying person who posts their daily workouts. I want to be that annoying person who posts pictures of her kids three times a week. I just checked my wall. My last update:

Ugh, a typo?! That's killing me right now. And by the way, it's nap time and I'm not reading. I'm blogging. Hopefully I'll have time for both.

Before that, I posted some nonsense about the sprinkler park. And Jacob's speech evaluation. And that he sings along with Pumped Up Kicks. A picture of Leah, passed out on the couch. You get it. I like them. We spend a lot of time together.

But I also spend a lot of time running, reading about running, planning to run...and I really keep that off my Facebook, until this:

Look. I'm in the newspaper. I must be super interesting.

And thank you very much Liz from My Life As A Runner for telling me it was there. Because I don't read Newsday. The internet has ruined me for actual news papers.

So being super famous, I posted a link to my Facebook. And I immediately felt regret putting myself out there like that. Not that I would expect anyone to respond negatively, it's just that I don't post about my weight or running on Facebook. (Aside from, "I'm running xyz 5k today!" Don't Google that. It's not real. I made it up, silly.) I've never mentioned this blog to my "real life" friends. I've never posted one of my blog entries. I never looked for my "real life" friends on Twitter either. And I don't have a good reason why.

In fact, I know my closest friends are extremely supportive of my running endeavors. Two awesome friends came over at 6am to watch Jacob when I ran the Long Island half. All of my friends went out with me to load up on delicious delicious pasta the night before, and a few of them came out again the next night to congratulate me. A few have been to races to cheer me on. They know I run. And I would assume at this point, they know I love it...

but I still feel like this place, this blog is private.

How can that be? Someone is reading this, right? And I am SO appreciative of the comments that you leave. So maybe it's not private exactly. Maybe it's more like it's for a specific audience? I guess it's easier to boast about my accomplishments and worry about setbacks when I know that anyone reading has likely been there and can relate. I'd hate for anyone to read my posts about juggling two little ones and running and think I was somehow putting them down for not working daily activity into their lives.

Do you mix your social media? Do the people in your life know about your blog? Do they read it? Does everyone go through this existential blog crisis, or just me?

And, for good measure, here are some recent pictures of my little ones:

This kid NEVER looks at the camera. This was a crazy lucky shot. Of course he's wearing his winter hat during a heat wave.

Literally just took this one. She's sleeping on my lap right now.

Support 2 Ways

2011-07-21T15:33:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I gave voice to a little dream: Philly Half in November.

Seriously, if there is a race in the mid-Atlantic between now and the end of the year, I most likely know about it. I spent my third trimester salivating over race recaps and looking at a ton of events.

A half in November is perfect timing for me. The weather should be good (are you listening, July? You could learn a lot from November.) and I have plenty of time to get ready. No time goal, just finish in a vertical fashion.

So yesterday, I mentioned it.

And yesterday, I got a huge vote of confidence from David.

Today, I registered. (And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't really excited about having a cheese steak. I went to college on the mainline and nothing in NY compares to a Philly cheese steak.)

Do you ever have a few days in a row where things seem to be going your way? That's my week right now. I'm praying it continues into next week, as Jacob is scheduled for a surgery to remove a dermoid cyst on Friday the 29th. I'm sort of avoiding thinking about it because I can't imagine anything more terrifying than the 30 minutes in the waiting room while he is in the operating room. Ugh.

But worrying about it won't help.

Jacob will need strength. He'll need support.

And he'll need someone to pry him from my arms once he wakes up.

He's silly. I like silly.

Support

2011-07-19T13:43:00.000-04:00

I'm feeling a little grateful today....so this might be mushy.

I just looked through the pictures from the AIDS Cancer 5k and something caught my eye.

I'm not in this picture. Well, I'm behind the third runner in this picture.

It's the background. See the guy with the beard in the blue hoodie? And the ridiculously adorable toddler in red holding his hand?

Yup. Them. That's my support crew. (Leah was there too, don't worry.)

The funny thing about this picture is that I left for the race that morning not knowing if they would be there. Both kids just waking up when I needed to leave to get my number. David told me he would try to get there, but I know (now) what it's like to get out of the house with a toddler and a newborn. It's hard. So I told him that it was fine if he didn't make it and I'd see him when it was over.

And I'm not one of those sa- something-but-not-mean-it girls. Well, not this time. I was being honest. I was really okay with the idea that no one would be on the sideline specifically cheering me on. I pretend everyone is yelling for me anyway.

I can appreciate that he wanted to be there to see me cross the finish line, and it really made my heart sing when I saw them on the first lap, but support is more than just being there when all of the hard work is done.

I feel that support when he gets off the train and lets me push two kids at him and run out the door.

It's being flexible with our plans on the weekends since I hate waking up and running right away.

It's listening to me talk about running and racing. And goals. Lots of talk about goals.

Support is telling me that if I want to race the day after a wedding, he'll be up with me.

It's telling me he'd love to spectate at Rock N Roll NYC, so he's glad I'm running it.

It's teaching our son that his mom likes to "essercize." And now Jacob points to runners and says, "that's mommy?"

So I start my races knowing I am supported, either right there, or from afar.

I am super lucky.

Verizon Wireless Corporate Classic 5k Recap

2011-07-15T11:02:00.000-04:00

I really only had one goal for this race: take decent pictures. Well, if you are interested in the rows of porta-potties, then you will love this recap.

I joined my husband and his company for this run not realize how far into New Jersey it was. Ugh. It took forever to get to this run. First, Long Island Rail Road to Penn, then David picked me up at 8th and 34th. AN HOUR LATER, we were approaching the Holland Tunnel.

Look! I took a crummy picture of the Holland Tunnel sign!

We sat on the approach to the tunnel long enough for me to wonder if there was a such thing as a DNS for a race. I know about DNF, but wasn't sure we would even get to the race on time.

One awesome part of the wait - this gal:

What. Is. That.

Did you want to see that closer up? Here you go. You're welcome.

Fantastical. I want a bike like that for Christmas.

So a million hours later, we got to Morristown, NJ. Seriously. I left my house at 3. We got to the registration tent at 7 to meet the rest of my husband's team. Both of them.

This was a seriously huge event. I've never run a 5k with 4500 participants.

Huge events call for lots and lots of porta-potties. And recaps require pictures.

Sigh. I really did try to take pictures for this recap, despite all evidence to the contrary.

The starting line. That's a lot of people.

The Good:
* Chip timing! I thought for sure it would be gun time since the bibs were so thin and I didn't notice any tracking devices, but I was wrong. There was a really thin piece of tape on the back of the bib. Awesome.
* Wide course. The start was VERY congested but the course was actually wide enough to accommodate the runners, in my opinion.
* Plenty of water along the course. The kids volunteering were practically begging runners to take more water. And because the race was along residential roads, many people put out sprinklers and hoses.
* Post race refreshments. More water. Coconut water, chocolate bars and bananas. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough coconut water for people finishing after 40 minutes or so. The bottles were ice cold and sealed, so I would assume some runners took a few bottles and didn't leave enough for others.
* Free parking in the local parking structures.
* We started on time! I really appreciate that in a run. Particularly when it's a 2 hour drive home. Bleh.
*Race swag bags.

That glass looks thirsty for beer.

Lots of free stuff! A bag, glass, Weight Watchers note pad, coconut water, chocolate, riccola (odd) and a technical tee! David also got a water bottle. Totally worth the $27 to register.

*Option to pick up bag and shirt AFTER the race rather than getting it and going back to the car. And there were still smalls left.

The Not-So-Good:
* Hills. A lot of them. Mile 2 felt like one gigantic hill.
* Super congested finish line. And some super rude people who blocked others from getting water. That's not nice.

The Best:

A medal? For me? For a 5k?!
(Note to self: you are playing out that pink shirt pretty hardcore.)

Surprise bling might be the best kind!

Official Time: 35:05 (1:09 faster than my 5k in June)
Overall Place: 2271/3727
Gender Place: 789/1715
Fun fact:
9 Sarahs ran this race. I finished before 2 of them.

Three Things: Vacation Edition

2011-07-14T07:43:00.001-04:00

1. Our first vacation as a married couple:
David and I went on a cruise to Key West, Cozumel and Belize. If it weren't for the hurricanes, and all the tourists, I would love to live in Key West. Gorgeous weather. Laid back vibe. No open container laws. Awesomeness.

At the steak house on board. Fact: I gained 7lbs on that honeymoon.

I love a view.

Musterdrill self portrait. Please note the stateroom decorations by Royal Caribbean in the background. Fancy!

2. Our First Vacation with Jacob:
We went up to Cape Cod when Jacob was 9 months old. I'm more of a tropical vacation lover, but I might have fallen in love with New England on this trip, especially Martha's Vineyard. Apparently, I love island living. Which is good, because I live on an island. A very lawng eyelan.

View right outside our little cottage, right on the bay off the Nantucket Sound.

We broke up the trip with a stop over in Mystic CT. That aquarium is awesome!

I never got the hang of that Moby wrap.

3. Our upcoming vacation as a family of 4
Lake George! We are staying right on the lake (yay!) which is great because Jacob keeps asking to go to the beach every time we get in the car. And I can't keep that kid out of the sandbox at the park (yick.)
I'm a little intimidate by the prospect of driving 4+ hours with Leah, but I keep reminding myself we drove with Jacob to South Carolina when he was about the same age and it ended up being okay.

Speaking of travel, I'm headed to NJ today for the Verizon Wireless Corporate Classic 5k! I'm just treating it as a workout since there it's a HUGE race. I've never done a 5k with 3,500 runners!

What's the farthest you've traveled to race? Where would you LOVE to go to race?
Happy Thursday!

Bridge to 10k

2011-07-11T08:25:00.000-04:00

This heat is really my enemy.

I'm also not a morning runner.

I try to take advantage of the fact that David is home on the weekends and get my runs in early. But yesterday, I didn't get out of the house until 9:15 and it was already 78 degrees and soupy. Yick.

The Bridge to 10k program is really similar to C25k. It incorporates walking breaks at longer intervals as you go through the program. The first week was 10 minutes of running, 1 minute of walking repeated 4 times. (the app for iphone is great....it gives cues to run, walk and cool down. You can set a play list in the app as well.)

The intervals are fine, except for the heat. And I know you are supposed to slow down when it's hot. Here's the thing, when you are running between 10:50 and 11:30 minute miles, slowing down really means walking. I have no problem with the first ten minutes, but after that, I'm constantly checking my Garmin to see how long it is until the next walking break. And it's silly really, because a minute isn't a huge break. I wish I knew before heading out if my Garmin was going to help me or hinder me. So I've decided to repeat this week of 10:1 until I'm more comfortable with it.

I did get one really solid run in last week. On Friday, it was pouring rain. It felt so good. Rain is my new BFF. You can't tell by the picture, but I'm dripping.

Oh, you aren't a Mets fan? Well, it could be worse....

And some quick cuteness, just because:
Jacob is playing soccer. Sort of. He's in a 2-3 year old skills class. Super cute. And it's parent and me. So one of us runs around with him yelling "no hands, no hands!" It's ridiculously adorable. As an added bonus, it really tuckers him out for his nap!

Running up the hill after Jacob's soccer class

Leah isn't doing anything new. I expect her to roll from back to belly any day now. She's working her core every time we put her down, but she hasn't managed fully roll over.

Puppy!

Tell me: Do you like running in the rain? Do you wear anything special when it's raining out?

Three Things: Food addiction. No wait! Edition.

2011-07-07T14:39:00.000-04:00

1. I'm obsessed with fooducate. I've been using the app on my phone to scan everything I can get my hands on in the kitchen. I love that you can get the "FoodPoints" value (which just happen to coincide with the WW points ;-) It's just too bad I'm not doing anything with that information.

2. Speaking of Trader Joe's Fruit Bars.....we *might* have an obsession with them in our house.
Our Trader Joe's isn't terribly close, so when we go, we tend to buy 10 boxes of cereal bars. It's too bad they only get a C-. Because I give them an A for awesomeness.

You are a glorified cookie. And that's why I love you.

3. I finally achieved a goal I've been half-heartedly working on since April.

Yup. That's a lot of Venti Iced Coffees.

C25k: workout complete

2011-07-05T20:56:00.000-04:00

It's been nine weeks and I finished the Couch to 5k program this weekend :-) Woop woop!

Some things I learned about myself and running:

* Running does not equal instant-skinny. And that sucks.

* There must be a balance between weight loss and an increased appetite due to nursing and running, but I haven't found it.

* I am easily bored by running the same route over and over. When I wear out a route, it makes the run feel oppressive! I saved my favorite route for the 4th of July because I didn't want to be bored by it beforehand.

* I can't focus on time, distance and pace all at once, but I can't bring myself to change the data fields on my Garmin.

* I love sweat. (But I knew that already)

* I don't love the heat, but I'm being respectful of it....85% humidity is no joke. And I'm not above walking in it.

* Jacob is totally fine with me leaving to run (not that he was getting a say in it) and has learned the word "essersize."

I'm kind of in love with this pink shirt. I kind of wear it every time I run.

So now, what?

So now, I'm going to keep working on base building by following the bridge to 10k program. It's a run walk program that works up to 60 minutes of running. Take a peak at my sidebar for the Hotter than Hades Virtual Half Marathon, which I'll complete over several runs, to keep things interesting.

I'm really curious about running routes: How many do you have? Have you ever felt like you've worn out a route?

June In Review

2011-07-01T12:55:00.000-04:00

Total miles: 38, 9 more than May :-)

Current weight: 164
Weight loss since delivering Leah: 30lbs
Weight loss since June 1: 2lbs :-(
Measurements: This is me, being brave.
I'm not happy with the number on the scale though. I'm glad to see my waist decreased a bit though.

Weight loss thoughts: I'm still following Weight Watchers for nursing mothers, but I'm not as focused as I was last month. I know there were way too many meals out I didn't count or didn't know how to count. I think I need to go back to meetings, but I don't know when I'd have the time. In a perfect world, both of my children would behave long enough for me to go and weigh in, but there's no way I'd make it through a full meeting with them.

Couch to 5k Progress: I'll finish the program tomorrow!

Progress on Goals for June:
* I registered for the AIDS Cancer 5k on June 12th. I don't have any time goals at the moment...I'm just looking to finish. Did it! And even met my secret goal :-)
* I go back to work June 15th...for 9 school days. Totally stupid but totally necessary. If I don't go back, my family will lose our health insurance and I'll have to buy into COBRA for the summer. Um, no. Seriously, maternity leave in this country makes me so mad and so envious of European nations that make it possible for moms to stay home for a year with pay. Ugh. So I'll need to figure out a pumping schedule for 9 stupid days. I've made it this far with breastfeeding and I really don't want to stop or lose my supply. Done.
* I'm going to finish Couch to 5k this month and then I'll chose my next race, but I'm very interested in the Runner's Edge Women's 5k on July 16th. I finish c25k tomorrow, but I'm not sure about the 5k yet.
* I want to get over my distaste for running in the heat. Until Leah starts sleeping through the night, getting up early to beat the heat is out of the questions, so I'll probably be an evening runner for the next few weeks. Hmm. I don't LOVE running in the heat, but I don't hate it either.

Goals for July:
* Cut my self a little slack...in every area.
* Register for the Verizon Corporate Classic 5k. No goals for that race other than to have a good time.
* Begin bridge to 10k. When all is said and done, I'd like to be running 4-6 miles during the week and longer on the weekend....so I still have base building to do.
* Try one new meal each week.
* Buy a new pair of capris. I have ONE pair that I wear for every run. They are getting a little big and I'm sick of looking at them.

Do you have a pair of reasonably priced capris that you love to run in? Please give me some ideas!

Three Things: Kinect Edition

2011-06-29T20:23:00.000-04:00

1. I pre-ordered the Kinect last year before the holidays. I love video games. When Jacob was a newborn, he would only sleep in my arms and I played a ridiculous number of hours of games to pass the time.

Exactly!

2. Games I Love:
Free games usually suck, but Kinect Adventures! is legitimately fun. It has a bunch of shorter games, like a rafting adventure in which you steer your raft and jump to grab coins. The fact that it is free with the Kinect makes it extra awesome.

Dance Central is awesome. Each song has an easy, medium and hard version. I'm not a dancer by any definition, but I feel like I'm sort of dancing. The only thing I don't love - and this is for all of the Kinect games - is the Kinect taking video and pictures of you to show when you are done with the level. I don't need that in my life. I could guess that I look silly....I don't need the proof plastered on my tv.

Super fun. I played the hurdles level with Jacob and it was hilarious. He has speedy little legs! But don't challenge me in boxing, because it won't be pretty. The game has to tell me to back off. I'm serious about boxing. :-P

3. Game I want:

Photo Credit: Amazon

It just seems like the perfect party game! I'm not a huge fan of the show, but I somehow seems to get sucked into watching a few minutes each week while I search for something else.

c25k: week 8 day 3, week 9 day 1 - done and done

2011-06-28T19:58:00.000-04:00

Whenever I leave, Jacob runs to the couch by the window to watch me run away. I see his little face in the window when I pass the house. But this weekend, David went rollerblading, and I got to see the opposite image. Super cute.

On my last run, I kept noticing a little speck of pink on my shoe and wondered how I got paint on my sneaker. Because I'm clearly a genius, it took the entire run for me to realize it was my sock. Not good.

They had 369 miles on them (courtesy of Dailymile)...which I thought was reasonable. But "air conditioning," as my dad called it when we got holes in our shoes, is not reasonable. So I headed to Runners Edge to get schooled on new kicks.

That's a good angle for me. AND, it *looks* like my blue shirt matches my purple striped capris.

Now, I'm the proud owner of a pair of Saucony ProGrid Ride 4s in blue and silver. Check out my side bar for Mile Post's Saucony Giveaway from OnlineShoes!

How many miles do you get out of your sneakers? And how do you keep track of the mileage?

Running Partners

2011-06-25T15:17:00.000-04:00

I don't have one.

This is not a woe-is-me type post.

I don't have one and I don't really want one.

I have a job that requires me to talk all day long. And to listen. Listening is kind of essential to good teaching.

I have a two and a half year old who talks. all. the. time. And he has a million and a half questions.

I have a husband who loves talking. And legitimately has interesting things to say, so I like to listen.

But a few days a week, for a few minutes at a time. I love the silence. I like to hear my breathing and my foot falling on pavement.

I like to run with music.

Or without.

With a podcast.

Or nothing at all.

I like hearing those random thoughts that never get the chance to be heard. The ones that I hear and then promptly forget. Or the ones that help me make my best decisions. Like deciding dinner will be at Anthony's Coal Fire Pizza. Or the theme for Jacob's next birthday should be Dr. Seuss (exciting!!!).

I ran with a stroller strides group a while back. And I've met up with a few friends for several races....but I've always run my own race. In fact, I'm working hard to persuade a few people to join me for Rock n Roll Brooklyn. And I'll be running on a team for the Verizon Corporate Challenge. So I'm not ANTI- running partner....I just prefer to be on my own.

I think I've built up a lot of self-esteem during the runs that have been hard and I've only had myself to rely on to get through and finish.

Maybe one day I'll want a partner. Like if I decide to run a marathon (emphasis on the IF).

But tonight when I head out...it will just be me.

C25k: Week 8 Days 1 and 2

2011-06-23T20:48:00.000-04:00

I'm "running to keep up with a lot of things" lately.

Work is seriously getting in the way of the rest of my life.

I have about an hour and a half with the kids before David gets home. It sounds like a decent chunk of time, but because I'm not with them all day I don't want to waste that time with cleaning or laundry or cooking. Once he gets home, I rush to get my run in or do my strength training. Then we eat, later and later it seems, get the kids ready for bed, put together lunches, attempt to clean up dinner/toys/clothes and get to bed (hopefully) before 10 so I can get up at 5 and face my commute into Brooklyn.

In the race between me and dirty dishes, the dishes are winning. Big time.

Honestly, I'm not losing sleep over the state of our house. But I feel like I feel like the days are packed too full and if I could cut something out, it would be the length of my commute without a doubt.

The finish line is right there. Tuesday is my last day until after Labor Day! Woot!

If you ever thought your teachers looked forward to summer more than you did, you were very perceptive :-)

Post run reward: a shower and a little Leah sleeping on my shoulder

C25k Week 7

2011-06-18T21:25:00.000-04:00

Life is (temporarily) more hectic in our house because I went back to work this week.

I don't have any real complaints, except the commute into Brooklyn is worse than I remembered. My students were SO happy to see me, one of them was in tears and that made me feel really good about going back. :-) I really lucked out with this class.

Also, Leah took pity on us and decided that sleeping was her 9 to 5. She slept through the night on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night. In fact, I had to wake her up on Friday morning so she could eat before I left for work.

Not so awesome about going back to work: pumping. Hate it. I spilled half of what I brought home on Thursday. I'm still upset thinking about it. :*(

At least the light was pretty, even if the run wasn't.

I finished week 7 of Couch to 5k. All of the runs went well, except the last one. I think a lot of things got in my way. I am not the best runner first thing in the morning. I need time for my body to wake up a little bit. If I get up and run, my body feels stiff until after I shower. It was super humid. I got up at 4 am to feed Leah. I was on my feet for three days prior. Ugh. It wasn't pretty. By mid run, it felt like an obligation, not a pleasure. I don't want running to be like that. But I'm over it. Monday is a new run and I'm looking forward to it.

And finally, we took a quick trip to Atlantis Marine World this weekend.

I hope all the dads in your lives enjoyed their special day!

Dear Adrianna,

2011-06-14T09:53:00.000-04:00

That's you, right? I saw your name on the official results near my name and I just wanted to say
that it was nice to run the better part of 3 miles shoulder to shoulder with you. Being that we've never met, you probably thought I was really rude and that I was purposely ignoring you, but that wasn't the case. I would have taken my ears buds out and spoken to you at some point, but I had to stay focused. I was driving myself crazy looking at my Garmin every .15 miles and I couldn't afford another distraction.

If I had talked to you, I would have thanked you for pacing me. I was trying to use telepathy to tell you to keep running, because if you stopped to walk....I definitely would have taken a walking break. And if you had sped up, I would have felt the urge to try to keep up.

If I had talked to you, I would have told you that this race has a special place in my heart. It was my first 5k two years ago. It was the race that led me to so many other races.

I probably would have told you that my goal was to finish under 39 minutes, but my secret goal was to finish around 36 minutes.

If I had talked to you, I would have told you that last year, it was 90 degrees at this race and it was brutal. I walked away really disappointed with my time, mainly because I went out too fast.

I would have told you that I hated being passed by so many people at the start of this race, but I've noticed that we've caught up to quite a few people!

I would have said that the man who really burned out that last .1 mile kind of annoyed me, but good for him for leaving it all out there.

I may have said there is no way I'm letting you cross the finish line before me....but I got distracted by my little guy running with me to the finish....so you got about a half step on me at the mats.

I'll get you next year, Adrianna.

AIDS Cancer 5k Recap

2011-06-12T13:02:00.000-04:00

This is my third time running this event, and I think the organizers do a better job every year. I love a good post-race refreshment area. They planned ahead and had a GIANT tent over the registration and refreshment area. The weather has been wacky this week. It was nearly 100 on Thursday, but this morning was only 58!

I had a few secret goals for this run.
a. I wanted to finish.
b. I wanted to finish without walking.
c. I wanted to finish under 39:04. The first time I ran this race, I was 7 months postpartum. I didn't train at all. I alternated running and walking and finished in 39:04.

I am ridiculously pleased to say I met everyone of these goals.

This race has no chip time, but my Garmin read 36:08 for 3.12 miles.

And my splits are SO even!
Mile 1: 11:41
Mile 2: 11:38
Mile 3: 11:40
.1: 1:08 (9:27 pace)

I am crazy proud of myself right now. I finished feeling really strong and that I ran a really smart race. I stuck to a pace I knew I could keep up and I never let my mind tell my legs to stop.

I have one regret though. I totally forgot to take any pictures at the event. Boo! I can only hope that the organizers got a few good shots!

My post race refreshment!
Right before the best shower I've ever taken.

Also this weekend, we had Leah's naming ceremony! She is named for David's grandmothers....both of whom passed away while I was pregnant. I got chills a few times when the Rabbi said that as soon as her name was revealed, the bond between her and her Great Grandmothers would be sealed forever and that all of the things we loved about them will be present in Leah.

All dressed up!

I hope everyone had a beautiful weekend!

Three things: random edition

2011-06-08T08:08:00.000-04:00

1. I chose restaurants based on their drink menus. I don't care at all about the food...since I pretty much order the same thing everywhere....and truthfully, I'd rather eat appetizers anyway.

I need to find this TY-KU. No luck yet.

Fishbowls remind me of 50 First Dates. Sigh.

This picture stinks, but the Vanilla Cherry Float-tini sounds amazing.

2. I was inspired by Adventures of an Indoor Girl to try on pants I bought a month ago at Kohls. The size 14s were way too big, even in the hips, but the size 12s didn't close without leaving me with a not-delicious-in-any-way muffin top. I bought the 12s figuring they would fit and yesterday they did! Yay, me! Not that I'd want to wear jeans in this disgusting heat, but I'm glad to have a "non scale victory" as the Weight Watchers call it.

Four pairs of jeans, from largest to smallest....but not by their labels. From the top down: size 10, 12, 12, 8. Makes no sense!

3. I have a strong NY accent when it comes to certain words. My friend Kim from Portland once told me about a shirt she "bot" at the Gap. I had her repeat it three times before I realized she meant to say "bawt." :-P

C25k Week 6 Day 3:

2011-06-08T06:54:00.000-04:00

I hate it when the heat is deceitful.

All day yesterday felt pretty mild. It was warm for sure, but not sweltering.

And then I ran. Running is so different than poking my head out to let the dog out. Week 6 Day 3 is 25 minutes without a walking break and it wasn't a problem except for the heat. It was a slow 25 minutes. Thank goodness I carry my Nathan as a security blanket!

But, the good news:

Okay, so Thursday is scaring me, but the weather is looking alright for Sunday's 5k! Yay, rain?

C25k: Week 6, Days 1 & 2

2011-06-06T09:09:00.000-04:00

The weather has been so gorgeous lately!

On Saturday, we got to the beach for a few hours. Love that ocean breeze!

We FINALLY got around to grilling our own pizza. I love saying "we" like I did anything other than request it and eat it. (Mine was caramelized onion, fresh mozzarella and Italian style chicken sausage, no sauce....amazing.)

I've finished days 1 and 2 of week 6 of Couch to 5k. I ran 2.68 and 3.1 miles and felt really strong. I'm feeling really good about next Sunday's 5k....especially since I don't have any time goals for that run!

This week feels really busy already. This is my last full week home before I have to go back to work (boooooooooooooooooo!) AND Miss Leah's naming ceremony is on Saturday! Our friends are flying up on Friday and staying with us, so I need to try to reign in the toys and laundry that are everywhere!

The plan for this week:
Monday: Six week 6 pack
Tuesday: C25k Week 6 Day 3 - 25 minute run, no walking
Wednesday: Arms? Maybe No More Trouble Zones?
Thursday: C25k Week 7 Day 1 - 25 minute run, no walking; might stick Jacob in the jogger to keep my pace slow
Friday: 30 Day Shred level 2? Super super busy day. Lots of baking for Saturday's party!

Have a great week!

Eating Well

2011-06-03T09:12:00.000-04:00

I'm sure everyone has read that the USDA has done away with the food pyramid and replaced it with the MyPlate.

Image from ChooseMyPlate.gov

According to the USDA's blog (did you know they had one?), the new image "can help prioritize food choices by reminding us to make half of our plate fruits and vegetables and shows us the other important food groups for a well-balanced meal: whole grains, lean proteins, and low fat dairy."

I teach fifth grade students in a very low income neighborhood in NYC and their eating habits are shocking. It's pretty rare for them to come to school having eaten breakfast, even though all NYC schools provide breakfast. (I'm not sure if it's free in all schools, but it is free in our school.) And the breakfast looks pretty decent! There is always cereal and a small juice. There is always fruit and there is always a hot option of some kind. Instead, many of the kids do not eat or eat chips and colored sugar water for breakfast.

For the most part, I think the visual is much easier for kids to understand than the old image of slices out of a pyramid. Year after year I had to point out that slices were supposed to represent a portion of their diet. They just didn't get it.

While this image is more accessible to children, I wish we could move away from pushing milk as the only source of calcium in the world. Why is dairy in a little cup off to the side? Why can't dairy find its way melted over the protein, mixed into the grains or stirred in with fruit?

If you've seen Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution on ABC, you know that schools must offer milk in order to be reimbursed by the federal government. In many schools, chocolate (low fat) milk is offered along side low fat white milk, despite the fact that chocolate milk has added sugar. Some argue that if schools don't have chocolate milk, then the kids won't drink milk at all. Sounds like a threat, right? But it presents such a false choice. My students are SO excited when yogurt or string cheese are offered. Calcium also finds it's way into the meals. The kids love grilled cheese and ravioli. For kids that choose school lunch (we are a Title 1 school, so all kids get lunch at school), they can get at least one serving of calcium without drinking milk with added sugar.

Some people argue that the amount of added sugar and calories aren't so much that they contribute to obesity. But no one becomes overweight overnight. It's extra calories here and there. It's false choices and hidden calories that contribute to this nation's weight problem. I'm sure chocolate milk is fine in moderation, my big problem is that drinking it daily, and for some kids, twice daily, is not moderation at all. The additional sugar and flavor are empty calories that do add up.

My children are very young, but I have faced toddler temper tantrums over food. I firmly believe that it's my responsibility to offer the most nutritious meals possible....it's his responsibility to decide what he will eat. If he decides he doesn't want to eat his fruit, I'm not going to offer him strawberry ice cream.

I realize that a lot of my observations are based on my school in particular. Many of you probably make your kids' lunches each day or you look over the school menu, as I plan to do when my kids are school age. For your kids, who eat well balanced meals three times daily, chocolate milk might not be such a concern. This isn't the reality for my students. When they bring lunch to school, it's almost all snacks: bags of chips, packs of cookies, cereal bar or lunchables (shudder). I would LOVE to see my school eliminate chocolate milk except for once or twice a month. Maybe we could actually teach kids what moderation really means.

Running (to Keep up) with a Toddler

(Practically) Wordless Wednesday

MORE Half Training: Week 5

MORE Half Training: Weeks 3 & 4

Broken Running Rules

MORE Half Training: Week 2

NYRR Gridiron Classic 4M Recap

Best & Worst Race Experiences

January in Review

MORE Half Training: Week 1 - Done

Half Marathon Training!

TwitterRoadRace

Recapping a random week

Joe Kleinerman10k Recap

21 Random Things

Plans for 2012

2011 in review

Three Things Thursday: 2011 Edition

Merry Christmas, from the rainy south!

Running + 90 pounds

Hot Chocolate 5k and November Recaps

Three Things Thursday: Thanksgiving Edition

Philadelphia Half Marathon Race Recap

Goals for when you know you won't PR

Philly Half Training: Week 12 - Last long run!

October in Review

Philly Half Training: Weeks 7-11

RnRNY 10k Race Report

Running Skirt Review

Getting through tough runs

On this run....I realized my mantra.

Philly Half Training Week 6

Philly Half Training Week 5

Back to Work: Pity Party for One

Philly Half Training: Weeks 3 & 4

August in Review

Hurricane Irene: by the numbers, a self centered retrospective

Sleep

Philly Half Training: Week 2

Compression Love

Pandora and 90s music awesomeness

WIAW - The day I didn't leave the couch

Philly Half Training: Week 1

My (First) WIAW

Running, Vacations and Indulgences

July in Review

Well-ness

Follow *this* Mother

Mixing Business with Pleasure

Support 2 Ways

Support

Verizon Wireless Corporate Classic 5k Recap

Three Things: Vacation Edition

Bridge to 10k

Three Things: Food addiction. No wait! Edition.

C25k: workout complete

June In Review

Three Things: Kinect Edition

c25k: week 8 day 3, week 9 day 1 - done and done

Running Partners

C25k: Week 8 Days 1 and 2

C25k Week 7

Dear Adrianna,

AIDS Cancer 5k Recap

Three things: random edition

C25k Week 6 Day 3:

C25k: Week 6, Days 1 & 2

Eating Well

Follow this Mother