10 pounds and a Funk

I had my seventh week at weight watchers today, and I was down 10 pounds! It feels like this has been a long time coming. I mean, really, I've been trying to lose weight since we moved here - and tomorrow will mark our one year Texa-versary! While 10 pounds a year is not my goal, I am pleased that I have at least lost that much. Moving is so stressful and making friends even more stressful. I really thought I would gain weight over the past year. Instead, though, I just kind of maintained until I joined weight watchers and committed to losing the weight. Those meetings do make a difference!

My weight loss helped make my week a little better. I've been in a bit of a funk. I think it's a mix of lack of sleep (my adorable two year has decided to wake up multiple times a night), feeling like my house is a mess, and feeling a little insecure in my running, my friendships, etc, etc. A friend of mine and I were talking a few weeks ago and we both voiced that we want friends to like us because of who we are, and not out of obligation. And I think that's what I've been feeling this week: just hoping that I'm not a friend by obligation (read: forced hanging out through play dates and meetup groups). Does that make sense? I think my problem is that I want close friends and I want to feel like part of the crew. And I simply haven't been here long enough for that to truly happen. True friendships, I guess, take time to make. I'm getting there, just not as fast as I sometimes would like. Anyway, before I get all emo and funkalicious on ya'll, I would like to report that I'm feeling better about all that :)

Today I also had a migraine which made me feel *awesome*. I had a play date scheduled that I was hosting, so I really didn't have time to be sick. I went ahead and hosted the play date, but my migraine  meds left me tired and a little weak. It's going to be an early to bed kind of night at our house! When I picked Danny up from school, his teachers let me know that thy had to send multiple kids home today with fevers and hacking coughs. Tis the season! ;) I'm really Hoping to avoid all of that. At least until after my marathon!! Anyway, time to snuggle up with my cuddle bugs and watch The Lorax. I know I'll have the songs stuck  in my head for a week, but I love that movie (and the cuddles!), so it's worth it!

7 Weeks

Can you believe it? There are only SEVEN more weeks until my marathon. I'm so excited/happy/nervous that it is unbelievable. I'm still having a bit of trouble staying motivated to run my midweek runs, but I am doing them....so I guess that's all that matters. I am not, however, following my training plan. That has me a little stressed out - mostly because I've been skipping over the mid-week semi long run (I'm supposed to do one midweek run ranging from 6-10 miles in addition to my shorter weekday runs and Saturday long run) and I'm wondering how that will affect my endurance for the full marathon. I was reading some info from Jeff Galloway yesterday, though, and his impression was that as long as you are doing *something* during the week and your long Saturday run, you should be okay. After my 18 miler last weekend, I am confident that I can go 26 miles. Running, walking, or crawling - I will cross that finish line!! I just mostly worry about my endurance to keep up a good pace and not take the full 6.5 hours allotted for the course. Plus, I don't want to be SO sore afterwards that I can't keep up my Saturday long runs (after a few weeks of rest, of course) so that I can properly train for the Cowtown Ultra. Oh running!! Who knew it was such a mental sport that requires planning, evaluation, refinement, and re-evaluation? No wonder this health educator loves running!!

A lot of 'life' will also be taking place in the next 7 weeks as well. My baby boy will turn 4 (!!!) is the biggest happening on the forefront of my mind right now. Can't believe my little guy is so big! I think I've decided on a birthday party location. I don't know why, but picking a place for his first party that will not be at our house has caused me a great deal of stress. The place I really wanted to have his party is moving locations and won't be able to host his party until January. And that just seems cruel to make a little one wait four weeks after his actual birthday for his party. So I'm settling on another place. I think. I keep going back and forth about the whole thing! What do you think...wait four weeks for the place I really want, or just do it now? His birthday is about two weeks before Christmas, so maybe January *would* be better just so we get a better turnout?? See, told ya - stressing me out!

There will also be two little holidays inbetween now and my marathon. Thanksgiving is coming up quickly, and Christmas will be here before we know it. Better start planning for those too. I absolutely love Christmas. It's my favorite time of year. Trimming the tree, Christmas carols, holiday parties. Love it all! Lots to look forward to in the next 7 weeks.

Good news

So I had some great news earlier today - Piper's bloodwork check-up to test her iron levels came back today and the doctor said she is no longer anemic! I kind of assumed it would be better after the huge reduction in milk we had about 4-6 weeks ago. This was a huge relief though because I really had some guilt about the whole milk thing. And even though Danny didn't have his blood tested for anemia, I knew he was anemic based on his brittle toe nails and excessive milk drinking. Now, though, his toe nails are no longer splitting. Yeah!

In other good news, Derek's work had a chili cook off today. Derek officially won 2nd place. Officially ; )

Two month catch up

Oh, hi! That's right.....I have a blog?!?! I have really neglected my little blog for almost two months now. Whoops! Not too terribly much has happened in that time. I'm still running (got up to 18 miles so far in my marathon training), cooking (have started using Bountiful Baskets to get fruits and veggies), and taking care of my littles (Danny is now loving preschool, Piper is resisting potty training). See, all caught up! :)

I officially rejoined weight watchers about a month ago. This means actually going to the meetings and tracking and counting all that I'm eating. I've been losing and feeling positive about reaching my ultimate weight goal by end of May 2013. That seems so far away now, but I know it will be here before I know it. My personal goal is to be at my goal weight by the time I run the 2013 Patriot Half Marathon. Only about 6.5 more months to go! But that will mean I will be back to my pre-Piper/pregnancy weight. *someday*

My full marathon is quickly approaching. It is actually 8 weeks from tomorrow! I'm very, very excited and pleased with how my training is going. I'm still slow, but that's okay with me. My goal is just to finish....in hopefully about 5.5 hours. I did 18 miles yesterday in 3 hours, 48 minutes, and 2 seconds. I just need to add 8 more miles to reach my marathon. I think I can do it! It has made me anxious to plan my next marathon adventure.

I have already mentioned my plans for the Cowtown Ultramarathon and am now registered for the Texas Independant Relay (203 miles of awesome relay fun!!), but I am also considering a couple of fall 2013 marathons. I don't think I would ever qualify for the New York City marathon, or the Boston marathon..but Chicago currently does not require you to meet a qualifying time and I don't believe they rely on a lottery entry. How cool would it be to run Chicago?!?!?!? Also around that same time is the Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa. It has won awards for the best medal. And if you know me, you know I'm all about the race bling :) Anyone up for a race-cation?

I went and visited my family in Nashville at the end of September. It was my first solo trip with kids. 14 hours in the car with two littles was exhausting. But, being able to see my dad, step-mom, grandmas, aunts, uncles, and cousins was totally worth it. We had a great time and my step-mom and I did the Lady Speedstick Women's Half-marathon. That was one very hilly course!! I did set a PR though, so yeah! 2 hours and 36 minutes. It was a PR by like a minute. But still a PR. Plus it was on an extremely hilly course, so I felt really great about that.

Well, hopefully I won't forget about my blog for two months again. No promises though - sometimes life just gets in the way of blogging. And your three year old steals your iPad to play angry birds and bad piggies.

Milk guilt

Oh milk. I really don't like milk at all. The only time I drink milk is either in a milkshake or in my post-long-run recovery drink of pink bunny (aka strawberry) milk. I don't think I've ever thought to myself that a tall glass of milk sounded really yummy. Ever. Well, in my adult life anyway! That's why it always surprised me that my kids loved it so much. Like crazy love it. they guzzle it down throughout the day. I never really thought that they were drinking way too much milk; I assumed hey we're drinking the same amounts as other kids their ages.

I took P in for her well baby check up (the big two year old checkup!) on Monday. When we moved to Dallas, our old pediatrician gave us a copy of the kids' medical records. Which I promptly put in a box somewhere and haven't seem since. Turns out though that our old school 'I don't use electronic medical records' doctor gave us the ORIGINAL medical records and not just a copy like I thought. So now the kids have no medical records (that I can find anyway!). Anyway the moral of the story is that the doctor said in addition to the two shots my sweet P had to get, we should also check her blood to make sure she is not anemic. So we ended up getting a blood draw along with her shots and that was that.

I knew that excessive milk drinking could cause anemia, but since my kids eat a fairly well balanced diet - and eat fairly well - that the amount of milk they were given during the day could not be affecting their health. I did ask th doctor how much milk is recommended for toddlers and he said less than 24 ounces per day. I started to think bout how much milk I freely give my kids on a daily basis and was shocked. Their sippy cups hold about 8 ounces of liquid. My kids easily get that filled up multiple times throughout the day. And I'm not talking 3-4 times a day. Much more. So I did a little research.

Excessive milk consumption can cause a myriad of health effects, including anemia. Anemia can cause pale skin and brittle nails. I started thinking about Danny's nails, and how his toe nails split all the time and are thin and, well, brittle. I didn't wait for Piper's bloodwork to come back. I immediately scaled back on the milk. Now the kids are getting no more than 3 cups of milk a day. Instead they are offered water. Piper doesn't seem to have a problem with this, but Danny is not handling it so well. It's been a real challenge but I've stuck to my guns on this one and today he drank two cups of water and two cups of milk.

I am feeling incredibly guilty about this one. I didn't think that I was really hurting them by giving them milk. I thought they were pretty typical. Turns out not so much. Pipers bloodwork came back today and her hemoglobin levels were borderline. The doctor said to cut back on the milk (which I've already done and will continue to do so until they are at 1 - 2 cups of milk per day) and to give her a multivitamin with iron in it. I am dreading taking Danny in to get his levels tested because of his pale skin and brittle nails; I'm positive that they are really low. However, the doctor won't prescribe the vitamins until he gets the bloodwork done.

I really thought I was done having milk guilt after I quit breast feeding and introduced milk to the kids. I guess I'm not passed that quite yet. I know it's not horrible and h problem is being fixed...I just feel like I should have known better or asked our doctor for the blood work to check their iron levels sooner. Or just looked up how much milk a toddler is supposed to have a day. Oh well. It's taken care of now.

Long distance runner

Life as usual has been super busy! Danny started preschool two weeks ago and seems to be thriving there. He's had a few sad starts - lots of tears and hugs. But he always is happy when I come pick him up. And that's all that matters! He learned a super cute blessing for food/drink in chapel and surprisingly remembers the whole thing. Except when he says 'bless' he's actually saying yes :) guess we need to work on those word differences!

In other Danny boy news, my little guy ran his first race on Labor Day! It was a 1k race and he ran the entire thing. I was super, super proud. He was kind of sucking wind towards the end, but overall he did really well. They gave all the little ones medals for finishing and that totally made his day. My mom made him a cute sign that said Run Danny Run on it. We hung the medal and sign in his room so he could show off his race bling. I'm signing him up for another race in October. Can't wait!

After Danny's race I turned around and ran a 10k. It was hot. It was hilly. And it sucked. Big time. I finished in about 1 hour, 15 minutes. I wasn't very happy with my time or how I felt during the race (I have a good ole injury - more on that in a minute). The only redeeming parts of this race was that I finished and that Danny and Piper ran me in. It was awesome! They were so excited to see mommy running and to join in with me. We all finished with smiles on our faces :) I had never had anyone there to cheer me on. It really made that rough crappy course worth it.

The good news is that I have one more race behind me. My next race is September 22 in Nashville. It's a half marathon and I'm hoping to at least finish in 2:40. We will see though. I ended up going to the doctor for my hip pain and was diagnosed with piriformis syndrome and a strained hip flexor. The doctor is letting me continue running as long as i still feel good while running. She ordered physical therapy for 4 weeks : / the doctor did write on my pt referral form that I was a long distance runner. I guess it is official that (1) I am a runner and (2) I am a LONG distance runner!! A doctor wrote it so it must be true :)

Preschool and my race schedule

So its been a few days/weeks since my last post. Lots has happened to keep me busy in that time. Like deciding to send Danny to preschool, finding a good fit for him/us, and registering him, crying a little at the thought of my baby boy growing up, getting all of his supplies, meet the teacher night, crying some more and actually dropping him off at school. And more tears. It's bittersweet because I want him to grow up and be independent, but also I want to keep him little and have him always be my little buddy. When I look at him, I still see the tiny baby in the NICU and still have the urge to shelter him and protect him. I worry about the hardships he'll face as a child, teenager, and adult. I wish I could protect him from the hurt, disappointment, and unhappiness that I'm sure he'll experience. Yet I know that I can't. I'm simply here to hold his hand, teach him to be positive and confident, and how to handle those disappointments in life. It's a tough job. *sigh*

He loved preschool the first day. There were toys to play with, new faces, new friends! But yesterday was a different storry. His teacher said he was sad and asked for me. Piper on the other hand wanted to go to school so badly! She grabbed a backpack from her bag collection and took it in the car to go drop Danny off. She was more than ready to ditch me and go spend the day learning! It's definitely an adjustment for all of us.

Danny will also be running his first race with me on Labor Day. He'll be running a 1k (I'll be running with him), and then I will be running the 10k. Danny is going to be ridiculously cute!! He even gets a medal for competing. How awesome is that??

Speaking of racing, my running group has decided we are doing the Texas Independence Relay. It's a 203 mile relay that goes from Bastrop, TX to Houston, TX. I'm very excited to do this next year!! My 2013 race schedule is already filling up. Here are my upcoming races:

September: Labor of Love 10k
September: Lady Speedstick Half-marathon in Nashville
October: Halloween Hustle 15k
November: Big D 30k
December: New Years Double - New Years Eve Marathon
January: New Years Double - New Years Day 5k
February: Cowtown Ultra-marathon (50k) (the ultra is my goal, but depending on training/how I feel, might do half or full marathon)
March: Texas Independence Relay
May: Run Like A Mother 5k
May: Patriot Half-marathon

Wow...didn't actually realize I had that much already planned out! I still want to do a sprint triathlon too, so I guess I better make sure to leave room for that. Love it!

What's Cooking

My first blog post using the IPad! I'm typing on the actual IPad and not a separate keyboard, so I apologize ahead of time about spelling and grammar. I'm sure this will take a little while to get used to.

I have been in high intensity cooking mode lately. My sister and I did the Once A Month Mom freezer cooking thing. We made 3 breakfasts, 3 or 4 lunches, and 6 or 7 suppers. Well, double that too since the goal is to have a well stocked freezer. We used the diet menu because it included weight watchers points and we are both attempting to lose a little. Well, she needs to just lose a little. I need to lose a lot. Details! Anyway it made a lot of food and I have been enjoying making it! I really enjoy making homemade food for my family. I feel like homemade food is comfort food - regardless of the fact that the comfort food I make is mostly healthy. I just think that someday my kids will look back and be thankful that I gave them nourishing food that kept them healthy. At least I hope so! 

The other bonus is that bulk cooking is (supposedly) cheaper. I'm still waiting to see the results from that one because I spent a lot of money up front (around $350 for food for six people - my sister getting two of those servings). Generally, I spend about $125 a week on groceries and then i end up going back once during the week and getting a thing or two. However, I know I always run into the store for 'only one thing' and end up coming out with a cart load of food and junk. Target is the worst for this! Seriously - Super Target is the devil. I can't leave that store without spending at least $50. And $50 is almost half of my weekly food budget. I am slightly happy that I now have to drive out of my way to go to Target and that Walmart is literally just down the street from me.

Today though, I think I'm going to go spend money on a new pair of running shoes. Headed to Run On tonight to go try on a few pairs and make the big purchase. Can't wait! Hopefully this will heal my running injury too. Well, maybe not heal, but help to not re-injure my leg. Gotta get ready for my next races! Im running the Labor of Love 10k on September 3 and the Lady Speedstick Half Marathon race on September 22 in Nashville. Danny is going to run his first race on September 3 - he's doing a 1k before the 10k starts. And I'm running the September 22 race with my step-mom. Fun running times to be had!!

I'm Here

So the good news is - I'm not dead! It's been a while since I posted, I know, but I have a good excuse: my internet connection completely stinks. And I think my computer is dying. Derek got a free Google Chrome book a few years ago as long as he tested the product. We've had it for probably 3 years now, and it has worked well for the most part (although I do miss having an actual hard drive on my computer!). However, it has been stepped on by Thing 1 and Thing 2 so many times (I'm guessing that's the problem anyway!) that it now will randomly decide to restart in the middle of doing something. Plus at our new house our wifi seems to be very spotty and my internet cuts out all the time. Both are very frustrating and have lead to half finished blog posts disappearing and my patience being tested. I am not the world's most patient person.

The good news is that my leg injury is healing nicely and for the most part it is not bothering me at all now. Woo-hoo! I was able to run the Hottest Half with only minor pain and finished only three minutes after my PR time. Running a half marathon in rather warm, sunny, humid weather in 2 hours, 40 minutes, and 3 seconds made me happy, especially with the injury. The race itself was fun and pretty easy and scenic. We did go over these crazy iron bridges that as you ran, were kind of springy and when 15 - 20 people were crossing it, it got downright disorientating. I had to walk across all of those bridges, which really slowed me down. And made me slightly sick to my stomach!

Speaking of being sick to my stomach, I have caught the flu bug that is going around here and spent last night  getting sick and alternating between having a fever and chills. It was pretty awesome and left me with little sleep and a killer headache this morning. I'm not sure what brought it on, but I'm really hoping that the rest of the family doesn't get it.

Okay - wrote all of that about five days ago...then my computer restarted itself. I'm using my Chrome Book minimally now and Derek is giving me our Ipad to use as my new computer. I can't wait until we build up our savings again and I can afford a *real* laptop again. I'm going to hit 'publish' so that I at least get this post out. I have only written a total of three posts for August. I promise next month will be better and more bloggerific (for my 7 faithful followers!!).

How my Ouch Landed me on the Couch

I'm seriously feeling old here with my achy, creaky body. Last Tuesday, I did my tempo run and had a little trouble with it. I couldn't get my breathing regulated. I couldn't keep and maintain my speed. That sort of thing. On Wednesday, I went and did my regular 4 mile run with my running group (in 106* - holy moly it was hot!), and couldn't run very far. I thought it was just the heat, but the further I went, the more my left hip started hurting. Boo! On Saturday, I headed out to do my "easy" 10 mile run. And easy it was not. My hip hurt SOO bad. I ended up walking most of 8.7 miles and then called it quits. I stopped to do some stretching at the end of my run/walk, and when I went to stand back up, it was painful to stand on. I shuffled back to my car and drove home.

Once I got back home, I took some naproxen, took an ice bath, and then iced my hip and thigh on and off for a few hours. Luckily, my mom and step-dad were here, so they helped me keep the kids entertained for the day. We went to the pool for some easy swimming/playing and then made a trip to Mecca. Er, I mean Toys R Us. We were trying to find Danny a skid steer. The kid is obsessed with skid steers for some odd reason. It might be because his new favorite show is Mighty Machines (on Qubo Channel at 10am here in Texas). Toys R Us showed that they had it on their website, but we couldn't find it in the store at all. So instead, Danny got an encyclopedia of Cars cars. As Derek called it - it's a catalog of all the Cars cars that he doesn't have (Mom! I need that car, that car, that car, that car, that car, etc, etc, on for infinity). It is kind of cool because it gives some back story of all the cars and also includes the characters from Mater's Tall Tales, Cars, and Cars 2. If you have a Cars lover - this would be an awesome Christmas present. Piper got a giant ball with Dora the Explorer on it. That girl loves her Dora! After the kids got their new toys, we headed back home to meet my sister and her boyfriend for some delicious, healthy supper and board games.

By supper time, my leg was killing me again. I took another naproxen and was alternating heat and ice while playing board games with the family. I won two rounds of King of Tokyo, and then my mom won once and then it was midnight and I was falling asleep in my chair! This morning I woke up and my hip hurt still. I took some more pills, more heat and ice, and have just basically sat on the couch all day (other than a quick trip to Run On to try on some new shoes and get some gels). I guess it's a good thing this week is a taper week because I am pretty sure I am out of commission for the next week. I'm really hoping that I'm not in too much pain to run the Hottest Half on Sunday. It's very disappointing to be injured.

From everything I read on the interwebs, it sounds like I have a hip abductor strain/tendonitis, which can be caused by an increase in distance, speed work, and hill work. What? Your aren't supposed to increase all three of those in the same two week period?? Ugh! I am awful at biting off more than I can chew when it comes to running. It's just so addicting and makes me feel so good - yet at the same time, if you overdo it, it can hurt SO bad. Anyway, from what I read, it said that I need to just stay off my leg, rest, ice/heat alternately, take ibuprofen,  and do some light stretching. So that'll be my week this week. Along with play dates and grant writing and starting cheer/tumbling classes for Piper. When did my little girl grow up?

Speaking of little girls, my friend Erin that I've mentioned in previous posts is in Ethiopia right now (!!!) picking up her little girl that her and her husband are adopting. They are actually taking her out of the orphanage tomorrow. I am so, so, so incredibly excited for them and am now praying that their "cocoon" period goes smoothly and that they make a seamless transition from a family of four to a family of five.

Mommy Needs a Break

It's been a busy week or two. I had a grant due for work (have almost put in 10 more hours than my norm for the pay period), hosted two play dates and one running group, ran lots o' miles, and generally just had a super busy life. Even though I thought I was keeping up on housework, I have four loads of laundry sitting in baskets waiting to be folded, a dishwasher full of clean dishes to put away, a sink full of dirty dishes to be put in the dishwasher, crumb covered couches, and kids with sticky faces (I swear I just gave them a bath yesterday but Piper clearly put ranch in her hair at some point). Oh housework. Oh never-ending housework! How did I ever manage to keep an even remotely clean house when I worked full time??

And I absolutely adore my children, but it really is hard when they want to play and I have to work. Mostly because they don't understand why mommy can't play with them right now. So they act out to get my attention. And I end up having to correct their behavior which doesn't make anyone happy. I really dislike being the "Bad Guy" as Danny calls me when he is getting reprimanded. I'm glad my grant for work has been turned in and now I can work when the kiddos sleep and/or are distracted by something else.

As for sleep, Danny seems to be doing a lot of that lately. He has been taking naps pretty regularly over the last two weeks. I'm guessing a growth spurt, but not positive. I think around 4 most kids go through a growth spurt; maybe Danny is just hitting his early. Yesterday he took his nap at 5pm - 8pm, though, and then was up until about 10:30pm. Then woke up this morning at 6:30am. He's been a little whiny and cranky today - and so have I. It has definitely been a rough (ish) day.

I put the kids in their rooms after lunch. Piper for a nap and Danny for a rest. I gave him the Ipad and let him play some games in bed while I watched War Horse. I'm about 1/2 way through it now and it's making me more emotional than I was before watching! Why a highly anxious person is watching a war movie is beyond me. Maybe because I didn't think it was going to be so war-y? I expected more horse. Less war. So far it's a really great movie. Even if it wasn't exactly what I expected. World War I was so incredibly awful. I doubt any war is a "good" war, but the use of gasses and barbed wire and just the general awfulness of it all gets to me every time.

On a happier note, today is also Derek and my 10th wedding anniversary. Hard to believe that we've been married for a whole decade. And that we were such babies when we got married!! I can't imagine a 20 year old Piper getting married!! Or a 21 year old Danny. Wow we were just small fries when we got married!! It has been a great 10 years, though. We have grown so much together and have become a great team. I can't imagine life without him. Love him!

Ups and Downs with a Friend in Town

This week has been a challenge in my weight loss journey in that one of my husband's (and my!) best friends from Spokane has been in town for a visit. And we have eaten out. Every. Single. Day. The good news is that we are having a blast, and have explored some new restaurants in addition to some of our all-time faves. It's kind of cool, but I wish the food was calorie free so I could just eat and eat and eat. It's all been so good!

Karl came into Dallas on Monday, and the boys ended up going to Fuzzy's Taco. This is one of the best taco places in Dallas, in my opinion! They put cilantro and feta on their tacos and they are just plain crazy delicious. Fuzzy's also serves alcohol and is home to a Blue Moon Margarita (they take a regular ole margarita and then float a bottle of Blue Moon beer on the top). That's pretty much one of my favorite ways to drink a margarita. For supper on Monday, we had some which wich? Which is good. See what I did there? ha! I think we're becoming which wich? addicts. We've eaten there 3 times in the last two weeks.

Tuesday, I got up early and went to the track to meet some of the ladies from my running group for a tempo run. This was really my first "real" tempo run. In other words - the first that I knew what I was doing. Let me just tell you...I tore that track UP! My normal pace is somewhere between an 11 - 12 minute mile. For this tempo run, I did one lap around the track (1/4 mile or a "400" as fancy runners call it) at an average warm up pace. Then I started doing 800's. I did two laps at a 9:30 pace with two cool down/recovery laps at a 10:30 pace. Then I repeated that. Then I walked a lap with the ladies and then I slow jogged a few more laps for a total of 3 miles. I am so surprised and astounded that I kept my pace up. I've never run anything at a sub 10 pace. As I've said before, I'm slow. And this was really fast. And it was awesome! Our group has decided to now do tempo runs every other week (and do hill intervals the opposite week) to help build up speed. I'm completely down with that and hope it ends up with me being able to run a little faster.

After that I went home and we went to the pool for some fun swimming time. It was still early in the day so the pool water was a little brisk, but we all had fun and it tired out the kids. Piper came home and took a long nap. Danny as usual refused to nap. For supper we decided to try a new place one of my McKinney friends suggested: Whiskey Cake. Oh.My.God. This place was fantastic!! As the name suggests, they have whiskey. And scotch. And tequila?? Our waiter suggested that we start our meal with a "Texas Appetizer" - which is a shot of tequila. Karl and I obliged and greatly enjoyed it. Even though I'm not a huge tequila fan. We also had some food appetizers: fried green tomatoes and a meat and cheese plate. The fried green tomatoes were out of this world good. They had a nice thick batter and were fried to perfection. The sauce they were served with was also killer. The meat and cheese tray had a few different slices of meats/sausages and then 4 different kinds of cheese, a small loaf of crusty bread, some apple slices, and a slice of cantaloupe. The adults went to town on that, but really, it was Danny that surprised me by eating as much of the meat and cheese tray as he could get his hands on. He is his father's son! For supper we all ended up ordering the same thing (Derek felt silly doing this, so he changed his order and got a turkey burger). I got the BBQ Banh Mi. And I didn't think this meal could get any better than the appetizers! This sandwich was moist and spicy and everything I wanted. It was perfect. I had intended to only eat half of it, but by this point I had drank three more drinks (a Peach Pit and two Great Escapes) and when I drink I tend to eat more. So I finished it off. And then ordered cake :) The cake was good too - moist and with a crusty toffee layer. Luckily for my diet, we got one slice of cake and split it three ways. And then we rolled out of there (literally) and went on home. Oh, and did I mention that Derek and Karl both got glasses of scotch. That were $25 a glass?? It tasted like turpentine to me, but they choked it back and pretended to like it.

I was supposed to get up Wednesday morning and do hill intervals, but after a total of 4 drinks (followed up by a beer once we got home and played Castle Panic), I decided against it. Sweating out whiskey was not something I was up for! Instead I got up and determined that I would not blow my diet since my weight increased nearly two pounds from Tuesday to Wednesday. Yikes! So, I ate a small breakfast and then when we went to Torchy's Tacos for lunch, I made sure to mind what I was eating. I calculated points and everything. I was on fire! Actually it was my mouth that was on fire from their Diablo Sauce. I love that sauce!!

After that I did some work. And then we did some house decorating. And then I went to target and bought things to redo Piper's room. I'll post some pictures soon once I get it all done. But it's super cute (and she loves it!). Following my Target trip, I went to my running group and did 5 miles in 96* heat. Oh Lord it was hot! I drank over 100 ounces of water on my run. And that was just during my run - I'd had probably another 100 ounces earlier in the day. I came home to find the boys had ordered some Papa John's pizza. But I wasn't really hungry. I think the heat had gotten to me. I ate one piece just to have something in my stomach, but wasn't inclined to eat more. And then this morning when I woke up, I had lost my 2 pounds that I gained Tuesday night.

We're going out again tonight - sans kids - so I'm sure we'll have some drinks and yummy food. I'm planning on trying to get in a run this afternoon before we go so that I can work off some of the calories I plan on taking in. I want to be able to enjoy my time with Karl and eat out and have fun, but I also really want to lose or at least maintain my weight. So this week might have ups and downs for my weight. I decided that I would relax my eating habits two nights during the trip (Tuesday and again tonight) and then watch what I'm eating the other 5 days. And to just make sure I'm still running and getting those calories burned off as much as I can.

Boredom, Running, Food, and Friends

The past week or two, I've really been struggling with boredom. I have things to do - like work, cleaning the house, minding the kiddos, going to my mom's groups, running, etc - but in my downtime, I've just been plain bored. I've found myself sitting on the couch just starring off into space and genuinely feeling bored. I haven't felt this way in a long, long time. I think part of it is that we had a few weeks where we were constantly doing something fun - family visits and two mom's groups play dates on the same day. Not a lot of downtime. Plus, I finished up a big grant about two weeks ago for work, and didn't have a lot of pressing things to do for work. I started reading 50 Shades of Grey and despite it being hailed as the best ever (and yes, it is QUITE steamy!), I just find myself not getting into it that much. So last night, I decided that I would get a new book (for my kindle) and make a list of things I'd like to get accomplished this summer. I'm still working on my list, but I did start reading the new Jennifer Weiner book. As usual, I'm hooked :) AND, on Friday I had a meeting via phone with my boss that got me motivated to write some more grants. On Sunday, Derek went and found a desk on craigslist for me. He even hooked me up with double monitors. I feel like I'm at work now when I do work. It's super nice!

My running is going good. I'm still right on track for the Tyler Rose Marathon. Although, I think my insistence that I *can* do this marathon is wavering a little. I looked at the elevation chart and read some reviews and it looks like it is a killer course. And not only is it a killer course, but signage for the run seems to be bad too. People were getting lost and cars were coming at runners. Safety is a big concern for me when I run, so I'm not sure if I want to do it or not. I would absolutely HATE to have a DNF on my record for my first marathon - or to have something happen (like get hit by a car or get incredibly lost!). I would be a little sad, to say the least. There is a 6.5 hour time limit on the marathon. I'm still going to train for the marathon, but I'm very anxious/curious to see how long it will take me to do 18-20 miles. I think when I get up to that distance, that will be my deciding factor as for if I will or will not do the October marathon. I'm worried that the hills will totally wipe me out and that I won't have enough time to finish. So, we'll see. I still want to do it, I'm just starting to be a little more realistic. I read that the second half is worse than the first half (hill wise), and that makes me a little hesitant. I am going to start training on hills this week, so maybe that'll make me a little more confident.

Today was my weigh-in for my "Lose a Marathon" weight loss challenge. I'm down a total of 4.8 pounds. Woo-hoo! It's looking like I'm losing roughly a pound a week, so I'm rethinking my original goal of a 26.2 pound weight loss and looking to lose a half marathon (13.1 pounds) as a more realistic goal. I think re-evaluating your goals is crucial to success and finishing strong. If you notice that your goal has become unrealistic - whether for weight loss or exercise or any other type of goal you have set for yourself - re-analyze your goal and change it if need be. This week, my goal is to at least maintain my weight and not gain. I have been giving myself small rewards for losing each week. This week I gave myself a new pair of running socks. For this coming week, if I maintain, I'm giving myself a new running skirt. If I lose, I'm getting a pedicure. So if you see some polished piggies - you'll know I had a loss! It's going to be a challenge because we have a friend coming into town and plan to eat out. A lot. My mini-goal for the week is to just keep writing everything down and being accountable for what I eat, and the exercise that I do.

Between my moms groups and my running group, I really feel like I'm starting to make friends here in Dallas. I am a strong believer that it takes about 6 months after you move somewhere to really start making it feel like "home." I'm happy to say that Dallas is feeling like home. In fact, I feel like this is where I belong. The sunshine makes me happy, being with my kids makes me happy, working from home for a great company and with even great co-workers makes me happy, being close to my sister and mom makes me happy, knowing that my husband has a fulfilling job makes me happy, and so does the fact that I feel like I have people here in Dallas that I can call my friends and could count on. Life is good, and I feel like I'm able to enjoy it in ways that I wasn't able to in Spokane. Maybe it's the fact that I don't work full time and have more time at home with my kids and family. I don't know what it is, but I do know that I love it and I'm happy here!

Five Things About Me

Here's a few tidbits about me. Because I'm bored.

1. I love to read. My favorite books are: Second Glance by Jodie Piccoult, The Mercy of Thin Air by Ronlyn Domingue, and The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. My favorite authors, though, are Jodie Piccoult, Jennifer Weiner, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

2. In my professional life, I could teach CPR to 60 healthcare professionals and not bat an eye. Ask me to make small talk with those same 60 people, though, and I cringe at the thought of it! Funny how a shy person ended up with a job where you had to do public speaking on a regular basis. I even did news broadcasts about once a quarter and did a video segment for my work's video annual report. For the annual report thing, I even had a hair and make-up lady. Very posh - wish I had that everyday!!

3. When I hear a good song on the radio, I blast it. Well, when Danny and Piper aren't in the car anyway! Current faves are: Drive By by Train, Scream by Usher, and Bottoms Up by Trey Songz (this is my fave running song - makes we want to bust out dancing in the middle of my runs!).

4. I want to go to Australia someday. Really badly. Swimming with fish totally freaks me out, but I really want to go swim in the Great Barrier Reef. And see Ayers Rock. And say, "The dingoes stole my baby!"

5. I order weird drinks when I go to bars. I never know what I want, so I usually end up ordering off of the restaurant drink menu. I've ordered a drink called The Sloth before. It tasted as good as it sounds.

26.2, 26.2: I'm Dreaming of You!

I feel like lately all of my thoughts have been consumed with three little numbers (and one decimal point): 26.2.

One of the ladies in my running group is planning on doing her first marathon on October 7, the Tyler Rose Marathon in Tyler, TX. I have had my marathon training plan taped to my fridge for (no joke!) 8 months now. I have looked it over and over and over; psyching myself up for this monumental race. When the Tyler Rose Marathon came up during a run, I came home and looked over my training plan. And guess what? I have just enough time to train for this race. Like exactly enough time. I had planned on the New Year's Double (full marathon on New Year's Eve followed by a 5k on New Year's Day) being my first full marathon. But for the past week, I have been really considering the Tyler Rose Marathon as my first. I feel nervous, excited, and a little bit scared. Can I really do this?? And if I can do it, should I do it when I have already signed up for the New Year's Double? Two marathons in the span of three months. Is that crazy??

My final decision has been to wait to sign up for the race until closer to race day. Then I'll be able to see where my training has led me and if doing the full mary is really something I am capable of doing in October. I have also been considering a trip to Nashville to see my side of the family and a trip to Maryland to see Derek's mom's side of the family (who have never met our kids!) sometime in the fall, so I'm not sure how those two events will fit in with a long distance running training plan. I really don't have much wiggle room (okay, so NONE to be exact) in my training plan so I would either need to take the trips after October 7 or just make sure I am running during the trips. Oh running, who knew I would love you so much and that you would take over my life the way that you have??

The number 26.2 is also in my thoughts in regard to weightloss. About 3 weeks ago, I joined the Run With Jess Marathon Weight Loss Challenge (the challenge is officially closed to new members; yes, I'm a bad blogger and didn't post it to my blog for all of you to see and sign up for!). The challenge is basically a group weight loss effort to lose the equivalent of a full marathon (ie, lose 26.2 pounds) during a 13 week time frame. For sending in your weekly weight, you are eligible for prizes. I started this the week before our San Antonio vacation. I lost the first week, then gained during vacation, and then lost last week so I'm down 2.6 pounds total for the three weeks we have been doing the challenge. If I actually reach the goal of losing a marathon, I will be at the weight I was before I got preggers with Miss Piper. Even if I lost a half marathon (13.1 pounds), I would be ecstatic. For that matter, any weight I lose makes me happy. 

I'm doing weight watchers (on my own  - not going to meetings so that I can save money. I'm technically still a Lifetime Member, so I just need to get back to a weight within two pounds of my goal weight - 159 - so that I can go back to meetings for free) to eat healthy and have been setting weekly mini goals for myself (drink x amount of water, eat 5 servings of fruit and veggies a day, positive self talk, etc) to challenge myself a little more. I know weight watchers works (I lost 60 pounds with it back in 2005 and kept it off for about a year before work and grad school got the best of me and I stopped going to weight watchers meetings). I just need to follow it so that I can lose. The Marathon Challenge time frame is tight though, so I'm not sure if I'll actually lose 26.2 pounds. 15 - 20 sounds more reasonable to me. Still....26.2 would be nice!

So I've been thinking of 26.2 constantly and eating right and exercising and basically telling myself that there is no room for error in this one. I need to be - and stay - strong. Through family and friend visits. Through moms night's out. Through play dates. Through rain, heat, humidity, and any other weather related challenges Texas throws my way. Through my own self-doubt. I've said it before, but running - and weight loss - is primarily a mental game. I just need to push through the next 10 weeks...and then I can start training for the New Year's Double :) 

Caffeine and My Run

Today I did a 9 mile run. I felt fantastic - even kept up (or could at least still see them!) with my running group's 11 minute pace - until mile 6. And then I hit a wall. A big ole brick wall where I had to stop running. I begrudgingly walked. And walked. And walked some more. I walked for a whole mile. The whole time, I was contemplating why I had hit my wall. Here are some things I came up with.

1. I haven't been keeping a regular running schedule. Because of our move, my lack of a gym, our week long family visit/vacation, and my hesitation of outdoor running (until recently that is!), I haven't really been running consistently at all. I did an 8 mile run a few weeks ago, but that was the first long run I had done since my half marathon on Memorial Day. I am now feeling more confident about running outside, so it's just a matter of getting out there and doing it.

2. It was hot. It wasn't as hot as it has been, but it was still probably in the 80's during my run. Once you add in the humidity, it got downright sauna-ish out there. Being so hot, I had started sweating before I even got out of my car. By the time I was three miles in though, I had stopped sweating. Which is never good. Your body uses sweat to cool off, so when you stop sweating, the logical thought would be that you start overheating. And overheat I did! I was really dehydrated. I had bought a hand-held water bottle that holds 20 oz of water earlier this week, and then I also bought some Nuun. I had drank about 40 oz of water and then one 20 ounce bottle with a Nuun tablet (which, are you supposed to take the whole tablet, or break it up? I'm new to Nuun). Still, it wasn't quite enough for me I guess.

3. I had switched up my nutrition. And this, my friends, is where the caffeine comes into play. I have been using Clif Chocolate Cherry Double Shot gels for my running nutrition. They taste fantastic, and they have the equivalent of two cups of coffee in them. But, I thought that the caffeine and the chocolate taste in the heat my have adverse affects on my stomach, so I went to the GU Vanilla Bean gels. I took one at mile 3, and expected it to kick in at least by mile 4. But it didn't. I was dragging. So at mile 6 when I felt like I just couldn't go on, I took my Clif Chocolate Cherry Double Shot gel. And bam! At mile 7, I felt renewed energy. It was really miraculous. When I got home, I started researching the effects of caffeine on running and found that there is new(ish) research showing that caffeine is actually beneficial to long distance athletes. They used a lot of fancy words, but the gist of it is this: caffeine helps your muscles recuperate faster. This might be why, after my last half marathon when I took a 5 hour energy, I felt great for the rest of the day. So my new theory is this: until I actually physically get sick from my fave gels, I'm just going to keep using them. Messing with your nutrition really messes with your run!

So there are a lot of reasons that I might have hit my wall. But the good news is, I was able to work through it and finish my run. I even shopped around Walmart for an hour afterwards and then took the kiddos for a half hour swim afterwards. Then, I spent the rest of the day on the couch :) And ate which wich for supper and loved it! I had a buffalo chicken salad. It was yummy!

Playing at the Cemetery??

Today has been one of those days. I woke up to two crying kids who were fighting over what TV show to watch (yes, we start our day with a healthy dose of recreational screen time; yes, I feel guilty about it). Then the cat peed on the bathroom rug so I had to wash that. Some friends were heading out to a park so I scrambled and got the kids ready and into the car so that they could hopefully run off some energy.

Once in the car, my GPS couldn't find the park that my friends were at. After searching google maps, I found a park about 10 -15 minutes away. So I headed out to the park. As I got closer, though, all I saw was a cemetery. I kept looking for a playground or just an open field, but all I saw were tombstones. And then it dawned on me. Ridgeview Memorial Park was not a playground. It was a cemetery! Oh my!

Luckily the cemetery was near Whole Foods, so I stopped in there so the trip was not completely wasted. I found an awesome deal when I first walked in: buy a package of sliced brisket ($12.99) and a package of chopped brisket ($6.99) and get a jar of cherry lemonade juice, prepared potato salad, buttermilk hamburger buns, and a 28oz container of cut up watermelon free. The free items amounted to about $15/$16, so I spent about $20 and got $15 in free product. I like it! And, now I have a yummy 4th of July meal ready to go for tomorrow. The deal is good for a couple of days only, so if that sounds delicious - you better get to Whole Foods pronto!

We dropped our food off at home and then went to our community's little playground area. The kids had the run of the place and had a blast going up and down slides, climbing up ladders, and swinging on the swings. Have I mentioned that I love our new community? It's just so nice! Last night Derek and I took the kids to the pool and played for a bit before supper. It was just a nice way to keep the kids busy and entertained while at the same time wearing them out so that they'd sleep better. Maybe they didn't sleep enough though, based on their attitudes this morning!

The community pool and splash pad

The kiddos playing at the community park

I'm trying to save money and sell some items to make some money, so I have listed a few things on craigslist to sell. I have been talking with a lady on craigslist about selling our pack n play. She lives in Fort Worth and wanted me to drive out there (which is WAY far away). I knocked $5 off the price and she is driving out here to get it. Selling things on craigslist is always a little scary for me. You never know who is going to show up at your door. With the way my day has been going, I wouldn't be surprised if she was an axe murderer. Everyone say a prayer that she is a nice lady who buys the pack n play and then leaves with no drama or craziness!

The Patriot Half Marathon

You might have guessed it, but I'm a little behind on my race recaps. I have still been running my one (or more) races a month, but I just haven't sat down and written all of it down. I'm trying to catch up with the races now that our move and vacation are over, so just bare with me - I'll be flooding the blog with race recaps. 

The Patriot Half Marathon took place on Memorial Day 2012 and was my third ever half marathon. All I can say is, I love this distance! The half marathon distance is the furthest I have ever run; I wonder if I will like the full marathon distance as much? 

This race in particular was H-O-T! Luckily there was some cloud cover so that it wasn't too incredibly unbearable, but it was pretty toasty. And there were hills. And I had to run up them - it felt like in both directions (it was a keyhole course I believe). The course started at the high school football stadium. Which was seriously nice because there was lots of room for vendors, parking, and my absolute favorite: REAL bathrooms and not port a potties. Oh how I loathe port a potties! 

I went to the bathroom about 30 minutes before the start, and headed down next to the start line to watch the start of the 1 mile kids fun run. They announced that the half marathon would be starting in two minutes. And I immediately had to pee again. I didn't think that there would be time to go back up to the stadium and back to the starting line before the actual start of the race, so I just held it. Running 13.1 miles while having to pee sucked big time. I really should have just gone, but, I REALLY hate port a potties and my pace was AWESOME so I didn't want to stop and use the port a potties they had set up along the race course. I think next race, I really need to wait until the last minute to use the bathroom and not go so early. Anyway, that's enough about my having to pee :) 

Like I mentioned earlier, I had an awesome pace. For me anyways. I kept about an 11 - 12:30 minute mile pace for the race. My last half marathon's average pace was 13:15. This time, I didn't even dip into the 13 minute mile pace once. How cool is that?? As I also mentioned, it was pretty darn hot. I'm talking in the 80's around the start of the race. Or at least close to. Plus humidity. For the half marathon, they had 15 water stations. I took water at each station just because I was worried about dehydration due to the high temps. They also provided towels dipped in water to wash your face off or put on the back of your neck. That made a huge difference in my body's core temperature. They were supposed to have gels at mile 7, but I didn't see any of those. Luckily, I had crammed about 4 gels in my SPIbelt and was able to just use my own gels for the race. 

Another cool feature was pace groups. They had a nice range of pace groups as well. I started out with the 2 hour pace group (knowing that I would not be able to keep up), and was passed by the 2:30 pace group. But guess what? I was NOT passed by the 2:45 group. My goal was to finish this race around 2:45. I did 2:38:55. How AWESOME is that???? This is yet another PR for me and I could not be happier. I'm already signed up for my next half marthon - The Hottest Half in August. The heat will definitely be a challenge at this race and I am trying to mentally and physically prepare for it by running outside more and more. Actually completely since I no longer have a gym membership. For that race, I'm hoping to be around 2:35 for a race completion. I'm thinking the heat (and my general lack of running the last three weeks) will affect my time, but we'll see. I love racing! In fact, I already signed up for the 2013 Patriot Half Marathon for next Memorial Day. I hope next year I can totally rock that race and manage a much better time. Each race shows a slight improvement. Can't wait to see how far I've come next year!! 

Toddlers, Vacation, and Back to Reality

It has been a whirl-wind past week. My brother, aunt, two cousins, mom, and step-dad all came to Dallas for a little visit/vacation. They all got in, we went and saw Brave in 3D. We actually bought regular tickets and got all of our popcorn, pop, and candy, went into the line to get into the theater and realized we bought online tickets for another theater. Oh snap! The good people at Cinemark were totally awesome though and let us stay for the next showing of the movie - which happened to be in 3D. They didn't even make us pay the difference. Isn't that nice of them?? The movie itself was okay. A little on the scary side for my little ones, but they still seemed to enjoy it.

The next morning we got up and went to San Antonio. We visited Schlitterbahn, Sea World, the Riverwalk, and celebrated my little baby girls second birthday with a party in San Antonio. We did all of this, too, in 103+ degree weather. It was H-O-T! But it was so much fun!! (I plan on doing some individual posts about each outing we did....I just need to catch up on my running posts too!) After all of that fun, we came back to Dallas and went to the American Girl Store for tea. Piper LOVED this. They gave her a little high chair for her Bitty Baby. She thought that was pretty amazing. She was pretty cute. To even out all that girliness, we went to a Texas Rangers game on Friday night. The game went surprisingly quick and the kids did awesome.  We stayed for fireworks after the game, and things kind of fell apart then, but overall the kids did good. Everyone left this morning which has made our house seem pretty quiet. It's alarming how LOUD four kids can be!!

And then...my beautiful little girl turned two today. How is my baby two already?? She is the best little girl and now she is officially a toddler. And soon she'll be as big as her brother. I seriously miss having her be in the baby phase, but at the same time, I am loving how she is finding her personality and voicing her opinions and showing just how bossy she is. She is turning into a beautiful little ladybug.

Now that we have had a family visit, a vacation, and a birthday, it's back to reality for us tomorrow. We've had so much going on recently to make our lives hectic (ie, big move, family, vacay, etc). I can't wait for things to feel normal again!!!

Setting Your Own Pace

I went out with my new (ish) running group last night. I say it's a new (ish) running group because I originally joined about a month or two ago, but haven't been able to go since I joined. Well, I went once with the kids but that turned out B-A-D. Last Wednesday I went, but didn't RSVP and so was not told the group was cancelled due to a hail storm that went through the Plano/McKinney area. I still ran last week, but it was by myself and I mostly walked and talked on the phone to my sister. So when I got there last night, I was really excited that there were 5 other women ready to run as well.

It was 90+ degrees outside, so the women said that they wanted to go "slow" at about an 11 minute mile. I told them that 12 minute miles was my fast pace. Eek! The whole reason I joined the group was to work on my pace, so maybe it's good that they are way faster. I am just competitive enough to push myself a little further than I would normally when I am with a group.

We started running and I went to start my Garmin and I guess I pressed something funky because I couldn't get it to reset from my last run and I only messed with it for a minute and then gave up. We ran the first mile at an 11 minute pace. And I kept up! I couldn't really talk much and I was huffing and puffing away, but I kept up. At about 1.25 miles, though, I had to walk. I watched the group get further and further away. One other girl started to walk too and as I walked and then ran and then walked again, the other girl got further and further behind me. When I was probably about 1.75 miles in, I decided to turn on my Garmin just so that I could pace myself.

It was really, really a struggle to pace myself in 90+ degree weather and having tired legs and feeling kind of like a failure because I couldn't keep up with the rest of my group. I had to constantly remind myself that just because I was having to break and walk that there was nothing wrong with me. I am still a runner, and really the problem was that I started too fast and wore myself out. I should have started my Garmin immediately and paced myself and kept my 12 - 12:30 minute pace that I've been working on and not tried to prove something to the rest of the group by keeping up with their pace. I'm just not there yet.

Running is just as much of a mental sport as a physical one. That's part of the reason I love it - especially distance running. You have to pace yourself and tell yourself over and over that you CAN do the distance and you really have to work to make sure you are not overdoing it too early. But when those negative thoughts creep in, they can really be a detriment to your run. And when it's Texas hot out there, and you just feel like giving up and walking entirely, that can be a detriment to your run as well! I think yesterday the only thing that kept pushing me was that I didn't want the girl who was behind me to pass me. I'm competitive like that, but at the same time I felt bad for her because if I was feeling this crappy, I bet she wasn't far behind me.

I finished my 4 miles and met up with the rest of the group and we all chatted for a minute. They asked me how I felt and I was honest - I wasn't as fast as I thought I would be and I was incredibly hot. The funny thing was, they all said the same thing. Then I didn't feel so bad about my crappy time (I think it took me almost an hour to the 4 miles). On the way home I started to think about it, though, and I was quite proud of myself. I learned a new lesson about pacing myself when running with a group, I got out there and RAN, and I hopefully made some friends in the process that like doing something that I like doing as well. And really, I do want to increase my speed and hopefully these more experienced ladies can help me find ways to do this. I'm going back on Saturday for a long run (hoping for 8 or 9 miles). I will be smarter this time and go at my own pace. And I will bring a towel so I can wipe the sweat off my face because goodness gracious - sweat in the eyes was NO fun. I kind of feel that I'm learning to run all over again by starting to run outside instead of on a treadmill. It's a totally different experience. One that I love!

Race Recap: Run Like A Mother 5k

You might have guessed it, but I'm a little behind on my race recaps. I have still been running my one (or more) races a month, but I just haven't sat down and written all of it down. I'm trying to catch up this week now that our move is over, so just bare with me - I'll be flooding the blog with race recaps. 

The Run Like A Mother 5k was a Mother's Day race. I ran it with my Mom and it was her first official race where she got a race bib number and a timing chip. My mom is awesome - she runs 5 miles a day pretty much every day. She is genetically tall and super model skinny (Why oh why did I miss out on this gene???), but has some cholesterol (or maybe it's blood pressure??) issues that cause her to exercise to keep it in check. That and she just likes to exercise and be physically fit. I keep trying to talk her into doing a half marathon with me, but she keeps saying she doesn't know if she can do it. I think she can. We'll see who wins :)

The day before the race, my mom, Danny, and I headed out to Run On to pick up our race packets. And were pleasantly surprised. In addition to the normal t-shirt, we got a super cute bag with the "Run Like A Mother" logo on it. It's a nice bag - big and roomy - and is made of a plastic-y material so it wipes up clean easy. You know - perfect for a mom who is constantly on the go and carrying 18 bajillion toys, sippy cups, sunscreen, matchbox cars, crayons and coloring books in her bag. I use the bag on a regular basis now and absolutely love it. I also wear the shirt quite a bit too. I was a little bummed about the shirt - only because I ordered an X-Large thinking it would be a woman's sized t-shirt and thus more form fitting; however it's pretty loose and I easily could have worn the large. It's still nice, just next year I will have to remember to get the Large instead. My Mom ordered the right size and hers is adorable. I just love the Run Like A Mother logo. That's actually why I wanted to do the race.

The day of the race, my mom and I got up early and drove down to Dallas for the race. We got there with time to spare, so we got to talk and hang out before the race started; which was nice because usually when my mom comes to visit we busy with my kiddos (who had stayed home with Daddy and were meeting us post-race for mother's day festivities). The day before our race, I had ran 10 miles, so my legs were still a little tired, but nothing major. I felt pretty good and ready to run. They had a 1 mile kid's dash before the 5k and oh man! Those kids were FLYING! I was very, very impressed with how fast those kids were going.

The time came for our race to start, so mom and I lined up in the front-middle and when the starting buzzer went off, we took off. My mom had kept telling me how slow she was, and how I should wait for her at the finish line and I kept telling her that just because I run long distances, doesn't mean I run fast. I don't think she believed me until the race was over (and she totally smoked me!). But I digress, let me talk about the race course.

The course was on the Katy Trail. It was a nice place to run and if I lived closer, I might go run there often. As it is, though, it's a good probably 45 minutes from where I am now, so I'll stick to my little running trail that I discovered at my new house. Anyway, it started out pretty flat and then there was a killer hill. And I mean KILLER. It was steep and my quads were screaming. I honestly should have walked up it and saved my energy. Like my mom did. I, though, chose to run up it and wear myself out completely. Which - hooray for me! - I did. After the hill, I slowed WAY down and couldn't get my energy level back up. I started walking and watched as my mom passed me just before the turn-around point for the out and back course. She was bookin' it!

With sweat pouring down my face, I crossed the finish line at 35:06. Which was a PR, but not really what I wanted. I think I've been doing a lot of distance running and not really focusing on speed. I should be happy with the PR, but honestly, I wanted to be somewhere a little closer to what my mom did. My mom rocked a 32:56 for her first timed race. I think that's pretty awesome!! After we crossed the finish line, we were handed roses and invited to go over to the food table - which was a pretty decent spread for a smaller race. I think my mom and I both guzzled about 3 bottles of water each post-race. It was pretty warm!

Derek was meeting us with the kids for a playground and lunch mother's day extravaganza at the park where the race started, so mom and I hung out to listen to the race winners. And guess what?? Mom came in 2nd in her age group! How sweet is that?!?!? Even sweeter, her "win" was a free entry into next years race. So I guess this is our new mother's day tradition :)

All in all, I would definitely do this race again next year. It was a fun way to celebrate being a mom and get some running in as well.

The McKinney Move

We moved! It was stressful and crazy and full of eating out and hot, sweaty days, but we did it. We moved from Rowlett, TX to McKinney, TX. And I absolutely LOVE it!! Rowlett was a nice small town, but I absolutely without a doubt love McKinney 100% more. Our community is tucked back and not in the center of "town" where it would be crazy busy, but it is close enough to everything that it is just a very short drive away. We're actually really close to Allen, which is nice because that is where my husband works. It's only about a 10-15 minute drive for him now. He's been home pretty much every night by 6:30pm at the latest. That's almost a 1.5 hour difference from when he was getting home. And that makes an INCREDIBLE difference.

Our community has a community pool with a splash pad and a play ground. We are still waiting on access keys from the owner of the house, so we haven't been yet - but it looks super nice. I already bought the kids some little Puddle Jumper floatie/life jackets so that as soon as we get the keys we can go. My kids love to swim, and the pool is only two blocks away from us. It's going to be a perfect beat-the-Texas-heat place. The little play ground has a big kid area and a little kid area. I honestly have only seen one or two families playing on it, so I guess my kids will have the run of the place.

Since we moved into a higher rent house, we had to cut a few things out of our lives. I had already cancelled my gym membership, so I decided to see if I can forgo joining a gym and just exercise outside for a little while. I discovered a running/walking trail about half a mile away, and have run on that twice now. There are a lot of people that run on it, so it looks like it is well populated (which always makes me feel safer). I've never really run outside consistently before, so this will be something new for me. The only downside is that I have to get up at 5:30am to go run because otherwise it's too hot out there. It's going to take a while to get back to getting up that early!

It has been a little crazy around here with cleaning out the Rowlett house, steam cleaning the carpets, getting boxes unpacked here in McKinney, and trying to meet new friends here in the McKinney area. I joined another meetup of moms in the McKinney area and that has been a huge help in meeting new people (the ladies are amazing, really) and getting the kids out of the house. It's been great, but keeping up with a total of three meetup groups activities (still meeting up with my original mom's group and my running group as well) while moving in has left me a little exhausted! We are officially out of the Rowlett house though - as of Sunday - so now we can just focus on the McKinney house. And get all of those boxes unpacked!! Life will feel so, so much more relaxed when the house is unpacked, the garage cleaned up, and we put pictures on the walls. I can't wait till that day!

I love my husband!

Yesterday, I said my children were wonderful (and they still are), but today, I just want to talk about my husband. We've been together since I was 18 and he was 19. We met at a party at my sister's house back in Spokane. At the time, I was in a really bad relationship that had become severely toxic and unsafe. When I met Derek, though, I could tell that he was respectful to women and I could tell right away that I liked him. I left my then-boyfriend, moved back to Spokane from Seattle and started hanging out more with my sister and her friends - including Derek.

After about three months of being friends, we started dating and eventually in January of 2001, became solid boyfriend-girlfriend. Yes my friends - that was 11.5 years ago. We moved pretty quick - in May of 2001, I got my own place and spent approximately 3 nights by myself before Derek officially moved in. By November 2001, we were engaged and in August 2002, we got married. This August, we'll be married for a solid decade. In that time, we've definitely grown up quite a bit. I mean - we were 18/19 when we started dating and 20/21 when we got married. We were babies! When I hear about people now getting married that young, I cringe and think - but they're SO young! Then I remember that's how young we were, and it makes me just shake my head. Usually when people get married so young, the relationship doesn't last. I have to say, though, Derek and I are still going strong.

We've had our share of ups and downs, but I think the most important thing is that we enjoy each other and love each other. And we respect each other. He has been my rock and my biggest supporter for so many things - from pursuing my bachelors degree, my masters degree, to losing weight, being there for me when I re-gained it, through cross-country moves, through our extended families all leaving Spokane, the birth of two kids...he's been there through it all. Loving me unconditionally (even when I had crazy pregnancy hormones that made me a complete mess!). I hope I have been as accepting and loving as he has.

I just wanted to post about my amazing husband who has sacrificed so much so that we can have the life we do today. He works a full time job, and then comes home and does freelance work (28 hours a month), and still finds time to make me happy by completely a lengthy honey-do list and playing with the kids. I don't know if I say it enough, but I truly am appreciative of him providing for us and being an amazing husband and father. Love that man!

Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful!

Since becoming a mostly stay at home mom (I work from home about 10 hours a week), there are some days that are really rough. Where the kids are whining, crying, angry, acting out, etc and I just want to throw in the towel, find a full time job and put the kids in daycare. And then there are days - like today - where I wouldn't give up being a stay at home mom for anything. My kids are being AWESOME and completely loving. It's wonderful. I think I've been a little stressed (understatement much??) and haven't taken the time to really appreciate their wonderfulness.

Moving is a stressful time for parents, but it's also really stressful on kids - even if they are only toddlers. This is our second move in six months, and I know it's going to be an adjustment for them. And they really don't like the fact that I'm packing things from their rooms. I also think it freaked them out the other day when my husband and I were talking to them about the move and were asking them if they wanted to take our cats with them to the new house. Danny has been telling me today that he wants to take 'Bastien (sebastien), Chester, and Stitch with us' and it makes me think that maybe our innocent question made him nervous that we weren't originally going to take them. 

So today, I've mostly just been hanging out with them playing. We played outside twice, played dinosaurs and cars, watched a movie, read some books, and just enjoyed each others company. It's been lovely. And it's kind of taken my mind (slightly) off of my stress and I needed that. For reals. 

Just keep swimming

I really, really, really wish I was not a high-strung, Type A person....but I am. I keep having waves of freak-out moments about moving, followed by calm. And then more freaking out. Luckily, my husband is a great partner and is willing to take on some of the work too. I just need to remind myself of that and to delegate tasks, which is sometimes easier said than done.

Anyway, I got SO much done yesterday and stayed up pretty late doing it. Now I'm tired and can't believe it's already 10:30 am and I haven't even started on my to-do list for today. Well, I've half finished a lot of projects but that's about it. I feel good about what I have finished though! Today I have to do some work, go to the post-office, schedule a time to pick up keys/drop off final payments for house, gather up everything to go to Goodwill (and I'm donating some to the mommas in my meet-up group), and pack some more boxes. I'm down to packing up the kitchenware and knick-knacks today so that'll probably take a little bit more time.

Tomorrow I am going to hang out with my mom's group and then Thursday we are getting a new fridge. For our current house. Just as we're about to leave, the fridge crapped out and the freezer will not keep ANYTHING cold. So the owner's had to buy a new fridge. Too bad we'll only get to use it for like a day before we move. Oh well, I guess it'll be one less thing to clean out when we move! We have to buy a fridge for our new house, too. The appliances there are all black and I'm not really all that fond of that, but oh well. Whatcha gonna do?

Anyway, gotta get busy and not sitting here typing on the computer :)

Goodbye Lady of America

I've been checking things off my to-do list since I got up this morning at 6:45am. I have so much to do in the next couple of days, that it's a little overwhelming! But, gauging from my progress today, I'd say that I have it in me to get a lot done :) I packed up a ton of boxes already, and am very much ready for the big move. I packed up my scale yesterday, and I'm hoping that wasn't a bad move just because I tend to over-eat when my scale is not there to keep me in check.

I also cancelled my gym membership today. I've been going to Lady of America in Rockwall, but there isn't one near McKinney, so I was able to cancel my membership. However, they are charging me 20% of my remaining contract fees to cancel - even though when I signed up the girl who took my money/did my contract assured me that there would be no cancellation fees if I moved 25 miles from the nearest gym (the guy on the phone this morning said my house was 30 miles from the closest one). I am feeling pretty cheated (it's close to $150!) , but the rep on the phone was adamant that I'd have to pay. When I did some research on the place online, basically everyone said that they are HORRIBLE to work with and people have had all sorts of problems cancelling their memberships there. It makes me a little sad because I've been going there for six months now, and I (for the most part) really liked it. It makes me sad to leave with such a bad experience.

But on that same note, I am now looking for a new gym! This time I plan to look at more than just one gym and to get multiple quotes and then before I sign any contracts to use the gym's "free pass" that most gyms offer for the first week to see if you like the gym. The YMCA and Lifetime Fitness sound really cool, but I know they will be around $70 - $75 a month. I'd like to keep it around $50 - $65, so I'm really going to have to search for what I can afford. Both the YMCA and Lifetime Fitness, though, have other perks for being a member (I know the Y's swim lessons and other kid-related classes are cheaper for members) so I need to consider that as well. Guess I'll add that to my to-do list as well.

Now I have to go do some work. Sometimes it is SOOOO hard to motivate yourself to work when you work from home. I have a lot of work to do, before the month is over (2 grants to write and a big report), but getting in the work mindset can sometimes be so very rough. Especially when I want to use my 2-3 hours when Piper naps to work when I really want to be relaxing and enjoying a little alone time (since Danny usually takes P's naptime as a rest time). It's hard being a work-from-home mom!

A New Place to Call Home

Well, I looked at three houses today, and two of them were pretty nice. One of those though, was already taken, and the other one had an application in. Crap! My new realtor called the property manager/realtor from the house with the application in, and it turns out that the applicant had two big dogs and the owners weren't crazy about renting to big-dog owners. So, I filled out the application and we were approved!

YEAH!!!!!!

The house is a 4 bedroom, 2 bath with two living room areas (one of which is now a play room), a community pool complete with a splash pad and an adjacent playground, and it's in McKinney. Oh - and it's about a 10 minute drive from my husband's work rather than a 45 minute drive. Could not be happier! I was totally nervous about putting in the application because Derek couldn't come with me, so he signed off on it sight unseen. I can't help but question if he will/will not like it. I'm sure he will, right??

We move in on June 15 - which will be a week before we have massive amounts of family come to town and then we all drive down to San Antonio for vacation. I'm hoping that doesn't make it an extremely stressful move. Anyway, off to bed!

It's Friday Already??

I don't know where the time is going. But it's going quickly! I have about five minutes to blog (while I'm waiting to make sure Miss P actually stays in her room for her nap) before I have to go change out of sweaty gym clothes and get ready to go look at rental houses. So, here goes!

1. Our current property owners have decided to let us go month-to-month on our lease so that can have more time to look for a house.
2. We have a new realtor. Did I tell you this already?? Anyway, she rocks, and I'm going to meet her to go look at more houses today. Some in Allen, and some in McKinney.
3. Having 3 cats really limits the amount of houses you can look at. So does wanting a 4 bedroom house.
4. Went to eat at Fireside Pies on Wednesday night with my sister. The first pizza they brought out had big bubbles in it, so they made us another one...and let us keep the bubbly one. Score! Free extra pizza :) Oh, and if you go to Fireside Pies, get the pizza fondue. OMG! Amazing! I could just go there and order that.
5. Going to go see Cars 2 outdoors tonight in Rockwall. They do an outdoor movie every Friday in June. Pretty cool, huh? I hope it is fun - and not too crazy. Derek is not sure he'll be able to make it and two kids outdoors *might* be a little crazy if there are a ton of people.
6. I've been going to the gym. Haven't started running again, but have done some biking and walking. Feeling good and really strong. Love it!
7. The Patriot Half race director sent out a message and is offering half price registration for yesterday and today only. That's a half marathon for $22.50. Holy Crap! I totally signed up for it and can't wait to run it next Memorial Day. If you are interested in using the discount - the code is "2012" and, yes, they said I could share the code. But hurry, because it expires today - June 1. Register here. It's in Rockwall, TX, by the way, and is a fun, hilly course.

Quick Update and a PR

Because I have a lot of work that I need to do today, I just wanted to quickly update my blog and then get to the business of grant writing.

1. Piper is feeling 95% better and has slept through the night (or most of it anyway!) for two days now. Woot!
2. I totally blew my 2:45 half marathon goal out of the water. Well, maybe not TOTALLY, but I did a lot better than I anticipated: 2:38:45 (official time I got today - my Garmin said 2:38:55 though...but maybe I forgot to pause right away??). Woo-hoo! So proud of myself and I killed those hills. They respectively killed my glutes though, and my booty is hurting today.
3. Surprisingly, I'm not incredibly sore from my half yesterday. Last time, I could barely move afterwards. Must be getting stronger! My glutes are pretty sore, but other than that, I'm feeling fairly decent. I can even sit down and stand up without feeling like I might cry. That's a good sign, right?
4. I think I found a good realtor to help us house-hunt. I had asked our current property manager if they could help us, and the guy hasn't been responding to emails and calls - either ignoring them entirely or just waiting 24-48 hours to get back to me. Frustrating! So, I emailed another realtor and am meeting with her tomorrow. Fingers crossed we can find something.
5. I think I am getting a cold. Or maybe it's the weather changing. I don't know. Yesterday, I was wheezing pretty hard core by the evening and then today my head is killing me : (
6. I have a lot of work to do but am kind of overwhelmed by life right now and it's making it hard to work. I really need to focus on my work.
7. I had to cancel my hair appointment that was for tomorrow. I am starting to think I will have two toned hair for a long, long time.

Still Sick and Back to Square One

Little Piper seems to be worse than before. She's now coughing so much that she is throwing up pretty regularly :( I was cuddling her on my lap about an hour ago reading her a book when she coughed and then threw up. EVERYWHERE! All over me, herself, her brother, the floor, her blankie, toys, books, etc. It was a mess. I felt so bad for her! I put both kids in the tub, cleaned up the mess, and then took a shower myself. This was everyone's second shower in the last 15 hours. I hope the little miss starts feeling better soon! And I really, really hope I don't catch it! I can only imagine how crummy it would be to run while feeling like kaka. And yes, I'm silly, and would still try to run the half if I felt bad. That's just how I am. I *did* pay $60 for it!

The motorcycle that Derek was looking at on Craigslist ended up being a scam with a guy selling sub-par motorcycles. So we are back to square one on getting him some sort of vehicle. I am going to look at a house that I don't really like on Tuesday morning (if it's still available) just so that I can look at something. I'm anxious still, but resigned that nothing is going to happen over a holiday weekend, so I better just get over it. I'm really hoping that I can put my anxiety, fear, and strength (seriously, I haven't ran - or been to the gym for that matter- since MONDAY and my legs are ITCHING to run!!) into my half marathon and leave it all on the racecourse.

Derek is just as stressed out as I am. We're a pair I tell ya. I'm just glad I have a fantastic husband and partner to share my troubles with. And children that are so incredibly sweet and beautiful that it makes my head spin sometimes. And I have a mother, father, sister, brother, and in-laws that love me and make me laugh and remember that this is just a small blip in the course of my life. As stressed as I am, I know I have a wonderful family and that all of this will be over soon.

Sick

I'm feeling really, really anxious and sick to my stomach because we don't have a place to move into yet (really, though, we don't have to be out of our current house until 6/30/12). And that Derek is trying to get a new car in the midst of us trying to find a new place to live. It's just so stressful! When we moved to Dallas, we did a short-sale on our house, and now that should be showing up on our credit report. Which makes even more wary because what if we don't pass a credit check? I don't know what rental agencies really think about short-sales. Or what they'll think if we take out a loan for a new car with an already bad credit score. *hyperventilating*

I am seriously hoping that we can find something nice, but right now there just aren't any rental properties available. Shouldn't they be starting to advertise some that are coming available? Derek found a guy on craigslist that was interested in trading his custom-painted motorcycle (custom paint job was neon blue with skulls on it. Freaking. Awesome.) for Derek's volvo. He's going to look at it today and see what happens. So maybe we won't even have to get a loan?? But then I guess I can worry about Derek being on a motorcycle and getting into an accident. haha There's no end to my anxiety!

Piper, meanwhile, is actually sick. She has a cold and has thrown up twice; the throwing up I think is just due to her cold, but I'm not positive. Either way, we are just taking it easy today and I am letting her rest. I'm planning on focusing my energy on working to make some extra money and just trying to get as many hours in as I can without completely ignoring my kiddos. I've got to think of something fun for them to do today while I work that won't make a huge mess. I'm thinking about busting out their giant coloring pages and letting them go crazy. They like that. Right now, though, I'm going to go make another cup of coffee, and settle into a work groove.

If you are the praying type, please say a prayer that Piper starts feeling better, we get some extra money to make the burden of finding both a house and car a little more bearable, and that a nice, 4 bedroom, 2 bath house comes available in Allen in our price range and that they accept our 3 ten year old cats as well.

Jumping and Napping

Today I met up with my meetup group of mommas and kids and went to Jump Mania out in Plano. The last time we went (which was our first time), the kids kind of stuck near me and didn't really venture out to the bounce-houses very much. This time, though, they were everywhere! Piper mostly played with the cute play kitchen/house/BBQ stuff that they have there, but Danny bounced through every play structure that they had. Twice. He loved it. And I was able to actually talk to the moms (and one dad!) which was nice too. I love my moms group, but I sometimes wish that we had like weekly moms only activities to really get to know the moms a little better. It's hard to interact when one of us is constantly chasing a kid!

The kids both came home tired though, and for 20 minutes, they both napped. It was glorious! I was working while they rested/napped, so it wasn't like I really had genuine time to myself, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. I'm trying to work extra this week since I'm not focusing on working out, but that is SO hard to do when there are so many other things I would like to be doing. Namely, not working haha I'm reading the second book in the Outlander series - Dragonfly in Amber. I think technically it's supposed to be a period romance novel, but I think it is so much better than a romance novel! Not that I've really read many romance novels, but I have a ton of preconceived ideas about them ; ) and this book is better than those preconceptions, so clearly, it can't be a romance novel. It has a lot of Scottish history in it too, and I am really liking that. The point is, though, that I am enjoying reading this book and don't really want to put it down. Especially when my choice is reading or working. But reading books doesn't bring in extra money, and working does. I'm a slave to my part-time paycheck. What can I say?

I have been tapering very nicely. And by tapering I mean not exercising at all. Tomorrow morning I'm going in for a one - two hour workout, but tonight, I'm just icing and resting and preparing mentally for my race. Hungry Runner Girl had a great post today about mental toughness and I really thought this was timely for me. I think running half marathons (and I'm sure further distances) requires a certain amount of mental preparation and "toughness" to finish the race. I think that's why I love distance running because it is a mental sport. And I love it.

30 Day Shred Results

So I've decided that I kind of suck at doing something EVERY DAY for 30 days. I ended up doing about 12 days out of the 30. But, hey, it's something, and I have results that I am proud of, so I'll take it. My results did make me want to do the challenge again, but I'm for sure going to wait until after my half on Monday to start. Maybe like a week after so my muscles have had time to heal and recuperate. Anyway, here are the results.

Starting Stats:               Ending Stats:

Arm: 12. 25                  Arm: 12.25

Chest: 38.25                 Chest: 37

Waist: 41.5                   Waist: 40

Thigh: 23.5                    Thigh: 22

Hips: 44                        Hips: 41.25

Calf: 16                         Calf: 15.25

Weight: 174.8                Weight: 169.0 

Like I said, overall, very happy with the results. A total of 7.75 inches gone and 5.8 pounds. I did keep up with my running - even if I didn't keep up with all the weight lifting. I've always loved running, but lifting weights is something I have to force myself to do. Anyway, here are the before and after pictures. I can't really tell a huge difference in the pictures, but my shirts feel much looser than they were before. I haven't really noticed much change in my pants (even though I lost a crazy amount of inches in my hips??), but can't wait to fit back into my GAP size 12's. They are hanging patiently in my closet. 

Before Front

Before Side

Before Back

After Side

After Back

After Front