Marathon training resumes

I took off one week.  Well actually there were only 6 days of no running.  I needed that time to heal from the race and to get over my horrible cold.    I think it was actually a blessing that I was sick!

I might have rested longer this time because of the cold, but I had to get back to business.  I am running another marathon on March 2.  From today I have seven weeks to improve!  And trust me, there are many areas that need improvement.  Each marathon (well the two I have run) have contained many lessons.   It takes me a few days to get over the "my quads don't work" thinking to process what happened during the race and acknowledge I learned from my run. 

Being totally honest I was not excited to run on January 1.   The weather was a bummer and I just did not feel ready.  I already felt excited for The Woodlands Marathon on 3/2 and was looking forward instead of focusing on the present.  That was problem number one.  Second I just did not feel fully prepared.  I had run tons and I told myself I was ready.  In one sense I was ready.  I had run enough miles and put in the time to run a marathon, but I did not feel ready to run the race I wanted to run.  I haven't fully figured out my thinking on this, but it did make me want to run more.  I knew I wanted to work harder.  I wanted to have a more challenging training program so I asked for one.  I got it and it scares me, but I am excited about it at the same time.  I know this is a good thing.

So, I started running again last Tuesday.  It was an easy week...kind of.  There was no speed work and only one double digit run.  My legs are still a little tired and sore.  It took until Thursday to feel good.  I ran three times on the treadmill which in itself is hard for me.  I was able to run outside twice.   I took every run very easy.  I did not push the pace on any run. 

Things change this week.  Speed work returns.  Strength training begins in full force.  I did not focus on this enough in the fall.  This time it is a huge focus for me!  And really long runs return.  My focus for the next seven weeks is family and running.  This 3/2 marathon is very important to me and I really want to run well.  Lucky for me Drew is on board with this plan as well.  Eating well, to bed early, and being a boring wife...he is okay with that!  I am so lucky!

Fingers only please!

Drew and I gave the kiddos a Velata fondue pot for Christmas.  The chocolate (milk, dark, or vanilla) or caramel comes in pouches that are warmed in the microwave.  The fondue pot is heated with a light bulb and it keeps the already melted chocolate warm.  It is totally kid friendly.  At Christmas, they all thought "whatever mom".

Tonight was a different story.  I decided tonight would be finger foods only for dinner and dessert.  For dinner we had chicken satay, sweet potato and regular baked fries, and cut veggies.  Our dips were BBQ sauce, ketchup, Ranch dressing, and chicken satay sauce.  It was pretty much finger licking yumminess!

Dessert was of course crazy fun and messy.  It was almost beyond what I could tolerate messy, but the kids had a blast so it was worth it.  The fondue pot came with dark chocolate and it was really good....like surprisingly good!  We had strawberries, pretzel sticks, Angel Food cake, and mini candy canes to dip in the chocolate. 

The set comes with skewer dippers.  It was definitely a memory making evening!  Pretty much everyone was silly or totally messy!

Even Meemaw joined in on the craziness.  And, we may or may not have eaten the entire Angel Food cake....

The weekly sickness update

If I had written down all the symptoms and colds we have had since Thanksgiving it might make me cry.   No one in the house has been spared and several of us...mostly me and Elena...have had the worst luck.  Thank goodness all my kiddos had the flu shot or who knows how sick we might all be or have been.

So, on to today with the latest on our sick adventures. For a little recap she was sick the weekend before Christmas.  She seemed to be improving until she threw up on me at the Christmas Eve service....just gross.  Christmas Day was okay, but I knew it was time to visit Dr. Irani.  We went the day after Christmas.  Elena was wheezing and was put on an inhaler regimen. 

December 26th...poor girl

This past weekend her cough returned and she has gotten steadily worse.  After vomiting twice last night and coughing so much I knew we had to return to Dr. Irani again.  A little about the vomiting because I know everyone wants to know.  The first episode was at 8:30....new sheets, a bath, and some rug cleaning.  The second episode was at 11:10....new sheets again, a new comforter, more rug cleaning, and no bath this time.  Lucky for Elena the first set of sheets just finished drying so she got warm flannel sheets on her bed.  After continued horrible coughing she finally fell asleep around midnight.  Thankfully the rest of the night was quiet. 

To the doctor we went this afternoon and she had croup.  I thought she might, but there was no seal barking like Jonah gets with croup.  Her cough is horribly dry and painful.  She keeps complaining that her stomach hurts from coughing.   Now we have steroids and I pray a cure for this reoccurring cold. 

At least the poor girl has her Yuengling to keep her company.  This was just the sweetest scene today!  Elena is the only one that Yuengling will love on like this!

Yes, my tree is still up.  It is coming down tomorrow.

Elena, my dear, mommy is tired so please don't throw up tonight!  Please sleep all night and get better quickly!

Embracing 2013

I know most or all people begin working on resolutions on  January 1 or 2, but not me.  I like to be different and wait a week!  In reality, I ran the marathon on January 1 and we left the next day for Nashville.  We were still on break and I had no desire to focus on new and different until we got home and back into our routine.  Reality was last night and so today begins 2013 for me!

As I did last year, I picked a word to guide me this year.  Last year it was FOCUS.  I focused on being in the moment, loving my children more, simplifying our home, using my gifts to serve others, and keeping my eyes and heart open to new things.  I personally think I did a decent job of focusing on things, but as with most things, I could have done better.  I will say I thought about this word frequently and let it guide me on many occasions.

I actually thought about keeping the same word.  It has merit, but ultimately I knew it would become stale quickly and not have the same meaning for me.  So, after much thought and prayer I decided on EMBRACE. 

I spent almost half of last year fighting my life and me in general.  I did not want to be living in Texas.  I avoided acknowledging injury and fought it.  I wanted things to be different and was constantly annoyed that forcing things to be different was not working.  It took so much mental and emotional energy that I exhausted myself before I did anything hard.  This year has to be different for me.  So, I will embrace my life as it is. 

I have a wonderful life in Texas...a great home, a wonderful church, and a solid support system of friends.  I want family, but now is not the time in my life so I am going to embrace my life and live it to the fullest. 

Drew and my little people are amazing.  I love them dearly.  Sometimes the day to day moments are exhausting.  More than sometimes if I am being honest.  But, God has blessed me with such a good life and I plan to embrace them and it.  Even the yuck is worth it because it means I have people to love and people that love me back. 

If my house is cluttered, I will embrace it.  If I manage to get things cleaned out and simplified kudos to me. 

I have a crazy hard (for me) training plan for the next eight weeks.  I asked for it and I am going to embrace it.  Honestly, it scares the crap out of me, but I love it at the same time.  If the times I hope to run don't come, oh well.  Truly I mean that.  I plan to work my butt off to achieve my goals, but if they don't happen there will be a next time.  I will embrace what I was given on that day.

Life is such a journey.  I am slowing learning that I can only control so much of the journey and I just have to embrace the rest of it.   I just feel like 2013 is going to be a wonderfully exciting year for me and my family.

Family pic from Nashville

Touring Nashville

This morning Lara, Kristen, Emma and I toured Franklin, which is the town outside of Nashville where Lara and family live. It is a lovely small town with very quaint houses. The town is also rich with history. A major civil war battle was fought at Franklin. It was fun looking in unique shops. I bought a fun little plaque about running.

This afternoon my brother in law David took me, Drew, and Gail on a tour of Nashville. Since I am a fan of the show Nashville I wanted to see where all this country music singing happens. Also, we drive through Nashville every summer and I wanted to see more than just the skyline. Lara was kind enough to entertain all six kids while we played tourists.

Our first stop was downtown Nashville where the country scene happens. There are just tons of bars, restaurants, and shops. We walked around in awe of the craziness. We also saw the Ryman Auditorium, which was the original Grand Ole Opry. It is an old church that still has the stained glass windows.

After being downtown we drove past Vanderbilt and walked around the Parthenon. No, we did not jet off to Greece. This Parthenon is the only exact replica in the world of the original and it happens to be in Nashville.

We then drove back home to Franklin through the country side. We saw some huge and beautiful houses. I loved the rolling hills. It was just so pretty and filled with lovely sights...nothing like driving around Houston.

Tomorrow we begin our journey home....

How NOT to recover from a marathon

On Wednesday I did four loads of laundry, made two beds, and packed for six people for our weekend trip to Nashville. I also semi cleaned our house. By the afternoon I was overdone and napped for one hour.

I will say I did a good job of rehydrating, eating the correct foods, and stretching. But, I was exhausted! My body was so sore. This time my lower legs were almost worse than my quads. Walking was killer bothersome, but I managed. My cold has been getting worse by the day so that was not helping.

So, we drove all day yesterday to Nashville and I slept all day. Literally all day. I was the worst co-pilot ever for Drew. The good thing is we have driven this way so many times and no help was needed.

After resting all day yesterday I physically feel better. My cold is still getting worse, which is probably a strangely good thing. It is keeping me from running. I will definitely be resting for the weekend.

As my recovery continues I am being pampered by my sister in law, Lara. We are visiting her and her family in Nashville for the remainder of our Christmas break. Meemaw is here too. Emma is loving playing with Kristen and Miriam. The boys are enjoying the new toys. Elena loves, loves, loves the dog and new babies! It is going to be a great weekend for them and for me.

Today we went to the Science Museum. That is definitely not my favorite place to go, but I will say this was a very cool place. There was so much to explore, tons of hands on stuff, and an awesome talk about Nitrogen. The best part of museums for me is watching the kids expressions. It is really priceless to see the wonder and amazement on their faces.

It was a lovely day! Here's to more fun tomorrow and hopefully feeling much better!

Texas Marathon recap

Well, this is going to be fast.  I am so tired!

Yesterday evening I started getting a head cold and despite my best efforts to feel better this morning, I still did not feel well.  I was totally angry about that, but it did serve as a nice distraction from the weather.  Thankfully the nasty storms passed in the night, but it was breezy and raining lightly for most of the race.

When I signed up for this marathon I knew it was a four loop course.  I did not realize at the time how hard it would be to run the same thing four times.  It was awful.  I don't recommend it at all. 

Finally, my last complaint was the slippery course.  We rain on paved trails, under bridges, and across wooden bridges.  The bridges were very slippery.  There were at least four areas of serious mud.  I refused to run through the mud because my feet were already wet.  I would never have been able to tolerate muddy wet feet for 26 miles.  This was really the worst thing...the course conditions.  I walked past the muddy areas and had to slow my pace on the bridges that went around curves. 

I went to the race by myself.  Drew left me a little present on my GU.  What a wonderful surprise and loving words of encouragement!   Love him!!

Drew and the kids came later.  They stayed at the turn around spot which was also the start/finish line.  I saw them at the half, at mile 20 and at the finish.  It was encouraging to see their faces. 

Despite all the things not in my favor I still planned to do my best.  There is no point in training and getting up early for the race to quit mentally.  The first 15 miles were actually pretty good.  My legs felt tired and I think that was because I was not feeling well.  I was not as cold as I thought I would be.  I was encouraged that I was approximately the 7 or 8th female....a benefit of a small race!  My mile splits up to this point were under 9 minutes and I was really pleased about that.

After mile 15 I started to struggle.  It rained pretty consistently and harder from mile 14-20.  I was getting colder and obviously tired.  I was also pretty sick of seeing the same things again and again.  My head was starting to fall apart and my body was not far behind!  My times slowed and it was a struggle to stay around 9:30 splits.

The last 6.2 miles pretty much sucked.  I took some short walking breaks to rest my legs.  I think this served me well because it allowed me to keep running longer and an overall faster pace.  I just focused on getting from one bridge to the next or from one water station to the next.  There was no one mile at a time anymore.  That was too long.  The last 2 miles seemed like the longest miles EVER!  I have never been so happy to see the 26 mile marker.  I knew I only had to run for 2 minutes or less and I could do that.   

Barely alive and barely running and almost finished!  Praise the Lord!

I knew I was not going to get my A or B goal pretty early on in the race.  I realized that it might just be doable on a good day, but that was not today.  Funny thing was, I was okay with that.  I just wanted to PR really badly.  Boy did I gut out this PR and I am very proud of it!  My official time was 3:55.11 which is a 2:30 PR.  I think I was the 7th female to finish.  The official results are not yet online.

Marathon finishers receive a 3.3lb medal.  I was handed it almost after crossing the finish line.  I was so seriously tired that I could not hold it.  I immediately gave it to Samuel.  It was taking too much energy just to walk upright and adding 3.3lbs more to that process was asking too much.  Isn't that nuts? 

Drew being totally awesome brought a beach towel which he wrapped on me almost immediately.  I was freezing and shivering like a fool so it was such a blessing.  This race was the year of the rat race.  I don't know why.  Also, each finisher is awarded a finishing place number.  There are no age group winners.  I finished 40th overall so I was given a squeezy rat with 40 on it.  Pretty cool I guess.  Drew hates rats so he was appalled.  Elena took it because she thought it was a cool toy!

Almost frozen solid!

 After some post race pizza, I changed my clothes.  I was dry, but still not warm.  It took me until about 3pm to feel warm.  I was able to have a lovely restful afternoon.  Drew and I celebrated my small victory with a mimosa toast!

We capped off our New Year's Day with dinner at our friends house and some fireworks.  

I cannot think of a better way to start my year.  I ran a marathon PR in tough conditions.  I watched football.  I napped.  I ate a yummy dinner that I did not cook.  Finally, I spent the entire day with my family and closest friends.  

I hope your new year started as amazing as mine did!