I Am 31 Today

I'm officially in my 30's. There's no going back.

I can't really say why I'm having such a problem with being 31 or the thought of getting older. 

Maybe it's because lately time flies in the blink of an eye and in 9 years I'll be 40 and seeing as how fast the last 9 years of gone just gives me heart palpitations. In 9 years my daughter will be 11. Holy cow.

I've been with my husband 10 years (married for 7).

10 years ago I became legal to drink.

OK I need to stop now or I'm going to make myself crazy. 

I did not run this morning but I have 9 miles to do tomorrow so just decided to take it easy. I did do 30 push-ups and 50 sit-ups right before I got in the shower if that counts for anything.

Tonight I'm going to hang with my two favorite people and two furry animals, we're going to order food and eat some cupcakes (maybe) and relax.

Tomorrow we're going to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC 

www.riverbanks.org

We're meeting my family for lunch and then all heading to the Zoo. It's supposed to be in the 50's for my run in the morning and then getting up to 70 for the afternoon. Perfect weather!

Will make sure I take lots of pictures because I haven't seen my nephews in 2 months and I know they've grown so much since then.

25 Random Things About Me

In an attempt to make my blog a little more interesting and not always about running and training, here's 25 random facts about me:

1) I grew up in Charlotte, NC but was born in Denver, CO (lived there for a short time). Then we lived in Minneapolis, MN (which my Mom HATED because it was so cold) then we moved to Charlotte when I was 3 and we've lived there ever since.

2) I'm the youngest - I have an older brother and sister. I was the "oops" baby. 

3) My sister and I did not get along at all growing up but are best friends now. We talk on the phone everyday. She's the most caring person I've ever known and I can tell her pretty much anything.

4) My siblings and I all went to the same University. I don't think this was by choice, it was a good school. However we hardly ever hung out together. 

5) I attended East Carolina University for 3 years (where my siblings also went) and then transferred to University of North Carolina at Charlotte where I ended up graduating from. At the time this seemed like the best decision because of financial reasons, however looking back, I wish I would have stayed. 

6) I met my husband the summer I transferred schools so I guess there's a reason for everything.

7) I played basketball from the age of 9 till I was a sophomore in high school. I was always the shortest one on the team but received MVP my sophomore year. I quit the team the next year because it was no longer something I enjoyed doing. Year round practices and camps can burn a person out plus my grades were dropping. In hindsight I was depressed. I hated high school.

 8) I ran track in middle school. I ran the half mile and mile and received the "Outstanding Distance Runner" award. I can't even remember what my fastest times are. Basketball was always my first love.

9) I have a horrible memory. I have little memories of my childhood, only certain things stick out but they are hazy and I cannot recall details of events (I did not have a bad childhood by any means but just don't have a great long term memory). However I can remember the outfit I work to three weeks ago (brown gaucho pants and a flower shirt).

10) I hate scary movies and movies that contain a lot of violence. I prefer a nice romance or comedy.

11) I love to read. I'd rather read a book than watch TV. Not only do I like to read but I like to read the same books over and over again. People think this is strange but it's like watching a movie that you've already seen before. 

12) I'm not a sports fan. I'd rather watch a movie or Real Housewives than watch a Football or Basketball game. I guess I did enough of that when I actually played sports.

13) My husband and I worked together for a year before we ever met. We worked at Golds Gym and when I was away at ECU he went to school at Winthrop University. He would go home for the Holidays and I would come home and work. 

14) We lived together before we were married and because he was such a great guy my parents were OK with this. I'm an advocate because I feel like we worked out the kinks before our wedding day.

15) We were engaged on July 4, 2003. Ricky called this his "loss of independence day." Funny guy.

16)  I got pregnant first month we tried.

17) Even though I was excited to be pregnant, I was scared to death at the prospect of becoming a Mom.

18)  I suffered zero morning sickness and craved pizza and mac and cheese first 4 months of my pregnancy. I'm scared that I will be sick as a dog with my 2nd.

19) Our girl name choices were Sophie Elizabeth, Caroline Avery, and Meredith Cecilia. We threw all three names in a hat and drew Sophie Elizabeth.

20) I have a BA in Art and I would not change that for anything, I loved going to art school, however I wish I would have concentrated on graphic design or become a teacher.

21) Because I work full time I often have "working mom guilt" that I can't cook better meals, that Sophie has to sit in traffic with me, that she has to wake up so early during the week, the list goes on and on. But she loves going to school, is learning a lot, and has friends so I don't feel as bad.

22) I'm addicted to ice cream. I could seriously eat it breakfast, lunch and dinner.

23) I'm claustrophobic. I hate being in crowds, probably because I'm so short I feel like everybody's butt is in my face. I have a fear of getting trampled in a crowd. 

24) My biggest pet peeve is when people smack or pop their gum.

25) I'm a Republican - GASP!!

Twas the Night Before My Birthday

I have been very obsessed with age since I turned 30 so the fact that I turn 31 tomorrow gives me some anxiety, especially when my husband called me an old woman this morning. Granted I hardly look a day over 25 (which is both good and bad) but just the fact that I'm no longer going to be 30 but in my 30's makes me slightly sad. I mean feel like just yesterday I was 27 (that was 4 years ago - yikes!)

Time flies, especially when you have kids. Sophie is almost 2 1/2 so I guess it's natural to start thinking about having another baby. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand I'm not getting any younger and these eggs are the age that I am so if we wait another year or two I get nervous that I will have a problem or baby will have a problem. Basically once you turn like 34 I think they consider you "high risk." That just makes me nervous.

At the same time I don't feel like I'm ready to have another baby yet. I'm exhausted just dealing with one kid. Plus factor in that I work full time makes it even more exhausting and stressful. However if and when we do have another baby I will more than likely stay home for a while and then find something part time.

I work about 45 minutes away from my house so the traffic to get from my house to work is a little but of a pain. I take that back, my commute stinks and I can't imagine doing this drive with 2 kids screaming at me. Some days it takes 35 - 40 minutes to get here, if there's no traffic. And then there's days where, like today, there is some sort of incident and it took me hour and a half to get here. Plus the cost of daycare is crazy. We pay $145 a week just for Sophie and I think newborn is something like $170. So for two kids in daycare would be over $1200 a month and I would essentially be working to put kids in daycare. Plus all the gas money to drive to and from work just doesn't seem worth it.

Of course it scares the crap out of me to not be working or bringing in some type of income so I've got to see what I can do from home.

Anyway, getting pregnant sometime after my marathon is still the plan. Sophie would make an awesome big sister so maybe I do sort of do have baby fever again (comes and goes). After no. 2 we're done. I've always said that I would only have two kids and Ricky is in agreement with this.

Changing subjects, I ran 6.79 miles this morning on the treadmill. Time was 50:21, avg pace 7:25. I would just like to point out these numbers came from my Nike plus watch. I don't think this is very accurate and I'm darn sure I did not run this fast.

I know I stopped the treadmill at 6 miles so someone is wrong. As I appreciate Nike plus telling me I ran this fast, I'm going with the treadmill on this one. However, I did do some interval on the treadmill but the fastest I went was like 7.9 for .5 miles.

I do not remember all the intervals I did, sorry. My brain can't handle all these numbers and I didn't have a pad and paper to write it all down, nor would I even think about pausing the treadmill just to write it down.

Either way I ran faster every .5 miles until the last mile I did every .25 miles. Makes sense? Not really? Me either. Helps keep the treadmill runs entertaining though.

After that it was rush home and get ready for work only to sit in traffic and be late anyway.

And yes, even though my husband jokingly called me an old woman, he's no spring chicken either as he's going to be 34 soon. Ha!

Week 5 Recap - Now Caught Up

After this recap of Marathon Training  Week 5, I'll be caught up and then will (hopefully) blog about the remaining weeks as they actually end, and not 2 and 3 weeks after they've ended. When I this blog used to be my family blog I was lucky if I posted once a month. So here it goes:

Day 1 - Sunday
Cross Train Rest
We got home from the beach right before lunch and hung out with my brother and sister-in-law who stayed at our house to watch our dogs. They wanted some Sophie time before they hit the road, which was great for us because we had 2 cars to unload and bags to unpack, laundry to do, etc....
I was going to go to the gym because it looked like it was going to rain, but I lacked the energy and motivation.

Day 2 - Monday
Rest
I was going to get up and do some cross training but I slept poorly and had a bit of a sore throat. So instead of sucking it up I re-set the alarm.

Day 3 - Tuesday
3.24 miles, 26:02, avg pace 8:01 and some circuit training.


Day 4 - Wednesday
6 miles Rest
Didn't make it out of bed like I had planned. Didn't feel I had enough time to make it to the gym since my husband had to leave kind of early that morning. He snored for the rest of the morning after I re-set my alarm so I never really went back to sleep. I wanted to hold the pillow over his face to make it stop :) Kiddning, sort of. 


Day 5 - Thursday
3 miles 6.26 miles, 50:35, avg pace 8:05.
Redeemed myself this morning! Had a great run. Just love those mornings when you've slept good and then you have a good workout. Makes me feel less guilty for having slept in the day before.


Day 6 - Friday
Rest
Wanted to see how my long run went without running the day before so I opted out of my 3 miles that I was going to make up.

Day 7 - Saturday
12.03 miles, slow. 1:57:51, avg pace 9:47
Weather was not cool like I thought it was going to be. Apparently we had some tropical weather move through so it was warm and muggy and I was not happy about it. Set out for 12 nonetheless and ended up having to walk some the last 2 miles. I drank all my water and felt sluggish and hot. That's about when the sun started shining and it hit me like a ton of bricks. My time was not ideal but I finished at that's what counts.
So far Week 6 is going very well and now I'm caught up on my recaps!

Homemade Calzones

I have this recipe book, Cooking Light Super Fast Supers. There's a recipe that we make quite often because I need super fast in my life. Until the day I become a stay at home mom (next year hopefully - fingers crossed) it'll be slow cooker and super fast meals because I just don't have the time to make a big meal unless it's the weekend.

Back to the recipe, it's really easy and I always try to "skinny" up my recipes by using lean meat, low fat cheese, etc.

Ingredients:
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 cup frozen onions or fresh onions, more less depending on your taste (I've used both and doesn't really seem to make a difference unless you want super fast and don't want to chop onions.
1 clove minced garlic, more or less depending on your taste
Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to taste
1 package refrigerated pizza dough
shredded Italian cheese mix (I use the 4 cheese blend) or plain mozzarella
Olive Oil cooking spray
Marinara sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In skillet brown beef with onions and garlic. Drain liquid and return to burner. Season with Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.
Unroll pizza dough and cut into four squares.
Spoon meat mixture onto pizza square and top with cheese (however much cheese you want is up to you)
Fold dough corner to corner and press dough together to seal all around (so it looks kind of like a triangle)
Spray tops of dough with the cooking spray.
Bake on pizza stone or cookie sheet at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

While calzones are baking, heat some marinara sauce in pot and add remaining meat (if there's any left over). Heat to a simmer and pour over calzones or put in a small bowl and dunk, whichever you desire.

Here are some variations I've tried:
-I usually buy Pillsbury pizza dough but recently used Trader Joe's whole wheat dough, just made the calzone a little bigger but still yummy!
-Sweet turkey sausage (to die for, much better than the ground beef in my opinion)
-Sauteed some peppers, mushrooms and onions along with the turkey sausage above. This will be my new way to make these calzones.

Just a quick and easy dinner to share. As always if you are watching fat intake like I am I go for less cheese, lean meat and lots of veggies.

No Excuses

I don't have a really good excuse on why I missed my 6 mile run this morning only that I was exhausted yesterday and slept like the dead.

I fell asleep while my daughter was watching Dora, then I laid down with her when it was her bed time and passed back out. Then when my husband nugged me awake at like 10 something I stumbled to bed and was out. I slept all night, heard no snoring or noise of any sort.

So when my alarm went off at 4:00 I was going to get up and then I heard the thunder and saw lightning. While I laid there for a minute contemplating it started to down pour. Decision made, no gym and I re set my alarm, rolled over and was out once more.

It's mornings like these that I try not to be hard on myself for not making it to the gym. I obviously needed the sleep and when I work full time and am a mommy full time, something has to give once in a while. It's all good though because I can do my 6 miles tomorrow and then my 3 Friday morning since I only have 9 to do on Saturday.

And that's how I will justify it.

I knew it was going to be difficult waking up at 4 am three times a week. Some weeks are better than others and if I just another hours or two I would be golden. This is what I have to work with so I'm doing the best I can.

I was looking at the course map yesterday at work. I think I want Ricky to meet me at various points on the course to give me more water if needed and moral support. 4 hours is a long time to be running without any encouragement so I need him and my family there to support me. I'm doing all this training solo (solo running that is, hubby is riding his bike on long runs) so I don't really have anyone to run with during this race.

Race starts in Downtown Charleston and goes up through some not so nice areas and into North Charleston and the old Navy Yard where it ends.

Can't believe the month of September is ending. I've had some decent weather for my long runs so I'm glad I did not train through the brutal summer. Only bad part of it cooling off is that the time is going to change soon and there will be no chance of me doing any evening runs because by the time I get home from work it'll be dark. Bummer but I'm a better morning runner anyway.

My birthday is Friday and I'll be 31. Not sure how I feel about officially being over 30. And I'll leave it at that and get back to this topic come Friday.

Week 4 Recap

Day 1 - Sunday

6 mile bike ride on the trail and weights at the gym for my cross training day. I think also ran like a mile on the treadmill but my legs were tired from the bike ride so I didn't push it, 

Day 2 - Monday

Rest 

Day 3 - Tuesday

3.1 miles on the treadmill, fast run.

Day 4 - Wednesday

6 miles 5.5. barely. This was the morning my stomach did not want to cooperate and I felt tired and yucky the whole run. Can't win them all right?

Day 5 - Thursday

3 miles Rest. Too busy packing that morning to head to the beach after work. 

Day 6 - Friday

Rest 3 miles at Edisto Island. 

Day 7 - Saturday

11.04 mile long run. Time was 1:47:11, avg pace 9:42.
Weather was perfect. Temps were cool, cloudy skies and there was a breeze (although running head first in wind is never fun). Tried Sharkies for the first time and I don't feel like they had any affect on my run but I did have a pretty good run so maybe.

Decent week of training. I don't mind so much about the runs during the week but it's the long runs I want to feel my best and I felt good for this weeks long run.

My Friend, the Sun!

I'm becoming a pro at filing auto insurance claims. I filed with my insurance and then was told to file with the driver at fault's insurance so they will pay to have my car fixed. So now I'm currently waiting for the insurance adjuster to call me and get things rolling. I hate driving around with a beat up car. At the same maybe it will deter people from hitting me.

Ran 3.38 miles this morning and just did a few leg exercises and abs. Not much because I was just not into weights.

3.38 miles, 27:05, avg pace 8:01

The other day I was at CVS and I stumbled upon the Power Bar Energy Blasts.

I bought a few pouches of the strawberry banana and I think I've found my fuel! I love these!! I tired them on Sunday and I never felt weird, sick to my stomach, nothing. I ate a few this morning before I went to the gym and still felt good so the main test is going to be on my long run this weekend. Very excited to have found these!! The strawberry banana contains caffeine so I will have to make a mental note not to drink any caffeine before I eat these.

After about a week of gloomy, overcast skies, the sun is trying to peak through even though it's 95% humidity and going to be close to 90 degrees today.

However this weekend, so far, is looking really nice. It's going to be very cool in the morning and in the 70's for a high. This is good because we're meeting my family in Columbia, SC for a trip to the Zoo. Very excited to see them as it's the day after my birthday too so there will be cake!

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow

I can't say this was the best weekend I've ever had. It started out good, sucked in the middle, and ended OK.

Saturday morning I set out for my 12 miler. Earlier in the week they were forecasting the mid 60's for a low but with all the rain we've had it ended up being about 72 degrees and like 80% humidity. Yuck.

The run started out well, I felt good, had all my water and stuff. But before long, I started feeling icky, sweaty and tired. The heat and humidity just really zaps my energy. I was drinking a lot and by mile 10 I was running slow/walking. That's about the time the sun peaked out and smacked me in the face. By the end it was hot and muggy and I had a hard time finishing. So my 12 miles was almost 2 hours. Felt like crap but happy I finished even if I did have to walk (walking makes me mad and I almost never walk). The cooler weather we recently had was a bad tease. Please come back!!

After my run I came home and got ready to take my daughter to a birthday party. By that time it was starting to rain here at there.

So I'm at a stop light, it's green but then I hear sirens and see a firetruck approaching the intersection. I stop so it can pass when BAM! I get rear ended. You have got to be freaking kidding me. The is the 2nd time I've been hit in the last year and a half. Last May some woman ran a red light and hit me on the passenger side. She ended up not having insurance.

This time around I just have minimal damage to my rear end. Other lady's car is worse than mine. She claims she "did not see me" which translate into "I wasn't paying a damn bit of attention to the SUV that was stopped in front of me." Hopefully she has insurance. What makes me even more mad is that she didn't even apologize or anything. I was less than friendly as well but darn it, I'm sick of stupid people hitting me!

What makes it even worse is that Sophie was with me. Luckily she just fine and had no idea what happened. But it freaks me out and makes me even more paranoid to drive with her in the car.

After the police report we headed onto the birthday party, which we were an hour late for, and then to friend's house for a cookout and football.

Sunday we were supposed to take the boat out but my husband was on call and had to drive to Beaufort, SC for something. So Sophie and I hung out, watched TV, played kitchen, colored and tried some potty training (which did not go so great but that's ok!) Then Daddy came home and I went to the gym because there was no time to take the boat out at that point.

I was supposed to cross train but I just wanted to run some more since I missed a 3 mile run last week. I thought my legs were going to be really sore and tired but they felt really good as I started running. I have my Recovery Socks to thank.

I did 3.36 miles on the treadmill (because it was still so nasty hot and humid and stormy out) 25:36, avg pace 7:37. Wait, can that be right? Was I really running that fast? This is according to my Nike plus watch (which I have calibrated enough for it to be pretty accurate .Not so according to the treadmill but for confidence I'm going with Nike plus.
Splits:

MILE	TIME	AVG.PACE
1	7:56	7'56"/mi
2	15:37	7'41"/mi
3	22:59	7'22"/mi

Maybe that's not 100% accurate but I'll take it. Makes me feel better. Either way though, my legs felt great, I felt great. I did 15 minutes on the elliptical after that and then some weights. 


Last night we made homemade calzones. I stuffed mine with some turkey sausage and veggies. Yum! 


Sophie was in a great mood all day and that just makes time with her all the more worth it. We had a great weekend together and now that it's Monday and I'm at work and she's at school, I miss her. 


Rest day today and then it'll be back to my schedule this week. Goal is to hit all my runs for the week. 

Week 3 Recap

I'm behind on my weekly recaps. I honestly can't even remember what I was supposed to be running this week so bear with me as I try to get the information correct.

Day 1 - Sunday

No idea what I did this day....oh wait I remember! This was the day we went to the beach because it was supposed to be sunny and it was cloudy and rainy. So in short, it was a rest day.

Day 2 - Monday


I did a spin class at the gym and it killed my buttox. It had been a while since I did spinning and my legs felt like jello after. They kind of wobbled like jello too but that could have just been the cellulite. Kidding but I really do have some...cellulite that is. Hey I'm 30 it happens.

Day 3 - Tuesday


3.05 miles on the treadmill with some elliptical and abs. Legs were sore from spinning.

Day 4 - Wednesday


Rest day because I was STILL sore from spinning. Plus my husband saws logs in his sleep which prevents me from sleeping most nights. So I was tired.

Day 5 - Thursday


5.02 miles on the treadmill. Nothing exciting just another run on the schedule. I think I was just happy to make it out of bed and my legs not be as sore.

Day 6 - Friday


Rest day. Didn't make it out of bed like I had planned because I stayed up too late the night before. Which in reality wasn't that late at all, but for me it was late. 10:45, such a night owl I am.

Day 7 - Saturday


6.76 miles around my neighborhood. Time 1:00:01, avg pace 8:52. It was a cool morning (finally!) and I was loving every minute of this run. Also got to use my new (used) bike. The hubby and I took the child out for a 6 mile bike ride.

Then I got pink eye...for like the 3rd time in less than a year. I think it was allergy related and was gone by Monday.

So that was Week 3 in a nutshell. Still feeling good!!

6 Miles Done

As soon as my head hit the pillow last night I was out and slept all night till my alarm went off.

It was wonderful!

I did my 6 mile this morning on the treadmill. I has intended to do some abs after my run but since I was a little late getting to the gym I only had time to run. Will attempt to do abs tonight when I get home.

So 6.26 miles, 50:35, avg pace 8:05

Splits

1	8:03	8'03"/mi
2	16:11	8'08"/mi
3	24:19	8'08"/mi
4	32:24	8'05"/mi
5	40:29	8'05"/mi
6	48:34	8'05"/mi

I felt good this morning. Tired sure and my left shin has been giving me some trouble. It hurts a little when I first start running but once I get moving it doesn't hurt. So just keeping my feelers out for it.

Not sure if I'll do my 3 mile easy run tomorrow morning or just miss it all together. I have 12 to do on Saturday and I'd like to see how I do the day after a rest day but I also want to make sure I'm hitting all my runs. 3 miles is no biggie but I'm sure it's there for a reason.

Lastly I just found out that next month I'm going to be traveling to Southern California for 2 days for work. The plan is to do some sales calls with my rep for that area. I'm both excited and nervous because I don't travel on planes often and it's from coast to coast which is a little daunting. 

Plus I've got several things to consider:

- Hotel will have to have a gym so I can keep up with my runs

- I've got 15 miles to do that weekend so I know I'm going to be exhausted from the time change and traveling

- Not catching any germs from that long flight! Must keep well.

I've never been to California so this will be neat. Of course I'll miss my daughter because it's rare for me to miss a bedtime. I'm always there so makes me sad but this is a good work experience and I'm grateful my company is fitting the bill. 

However I wish we could wait till January, ha ha.

Sophie is going through a "no" phase again. This time she's saying no in a complete sentence. Like I say "Sophie it's time to eat dinner" and she says "no it's not dinner!" Or there's "Sophie it's time to go to school" and she says "no it's not school." That's pretty much how our conversations go lately. However I will say that she's learning more and more words and speaking very well. 

We are going to tackle the potty this weekend. I just bought a package of underwear and we'll see how this goes. I feel the time has come and other kids in her class are starting this at home so I'm following suit. She's doing so well with everything at school and it's so fun watching her become a little girl.

I've been thinking more and more of having another baby next year after my marathon. She'll make a fantastic big sister.

Darn

So mad at myself for not getting up this morning and doing my 6 mile run.

I was wide awake when I decided the reset my alarm. The reason being was my husband said I could still go but he would have to leave for work like as soon as I got home. So that leaves me with trying to get myself ready and my daughter ready and it's just very difficult to do sometimes.

So I decided I was still a tad sore from yesterday's weights that I would take a rest day and run tomorrow. So I reset my alarm and 30 minutes later I wake up to snoring.

And I'm wide awake Darn!!!!!! It's was then past the time I could make it to the gym and be home in time. Crap!

So every time I would start to nod off my husband would either snore, or the damn dog would like his paws.

I mean seriously!

So I never really got back to sleep, which sucks and I could have been running instead of laying there getting pissed off and threatening to smother my husband with a pillow if he didn't stop snoring.

Needless to say I was not a happy camper this morning when I finally got up.

Tomorrow. Will. Happen.

Week 5 Begins

At least I think I'm in Week 5. Days and weeks are starting to run together. I've been so busy at work and at home, then we were out of town and I can't remember what day it is, what my name is....

Anyway, Sunday started off as a rest day. We got home from the beach around 11:00 and had to unpack, start laundry, eat lunch. Plus my brother and sister in law where at our house watching the dogs so we hung out for a little bit so they could get some Sophie time.

By the time it was all said and done I had no motivation to go to the gym. I had good intentions to get up and go for a bike ride as well but that didn't happen either.

Then Monday morning I was going to do my cross training but I slept awful and then had a little bit of a sore throat when I got up. So I decided to go back to sleep in case I was catching something.

So this morning I made it to the gym and felt tired but good. No sore throat so I'm happy that my immune system is still going strong (knock on wood).

I did 3.24 miles on the treadmill and some circuit training.

3.24 miles, 26:02, avg pace 8:01
Splits

MILE	TIME	AVG.PACE
1	8:07	8'07"/mi
2	16:20	8'13"/mi
3	24:09	7'49"/mi

Hon

Edisto Island 2011

It's been a little busy here the last week or so. After my last post we were getting packed up and ready for a 3 day weekend at Edisto Island. My in-laws rented a house for a week but due to time off from work and such we opted to just do a three day weekend. I typically use up most of my vacation during the summer. I took a week back in June and wanted to save the rest of my days for the Holidays and in case Sophie or I get sick. That's bound to happen and we aren't in the heart of sick season yet. Fingers crossed that we make it through at least until after my marathon.

When I arrived Thursday evening after work it was sunny and warm out.

When I woke up Friday morning it was cloudy, windy and cool.

Still I managed to get my 3 mile run that I missed on Thursday. I was a little bummed that the weather was so crappy but still determined to make the best of it. I did not want to be trapped in a house all day. We bundled up and went for a stroll on the beach and collected shells. Sophie manages to find the tiniest broken shells and she's so proud of them.

Sophie and Addison looking for sea shells.

Ready for a walk on this fine and cloudy day.

The sun was trying desperately to shine later in the afternoon so we sat outside in the sand for a bit till it was time to get my little heathen child to take a nap and then get ready for dinner.

Saturday morning was not much better but I was fine with this since I had an 11 mile long run to do. My in-laws watched Sophie while Ricky and I set out on the Island (Ricky with his bike). It was cool and windy, perfect running conditions if you ask me.

I felt pretty good overall, I started out a little rough because I had not slept well the night before but once I got to mile 4 and 5 I started to feel better and I guess got my 2nd wind. I ate some Sharkies and really have no idea if they work or not. At one point my stomach started to hurt and I just don't feel like I can eat stuff like that when I'm running. I wonder if good old candy will do the trick. I'm just not sure.

So 11.04 miles later and almost getting hit by a car I was done!

Finally after lunch the sun started to peak out ever so slightly. It was warmer too so I grabbed my bathing suit and we were out on the sand.

Sophie went down for a long nap (girl was tired!) and I got a good 3 hours in the sun to read a book. Bliss! Still a little cool but comfortable and relaxing.

Right before dinner we set up the camera and did some family pictures.

Then Sunday it was time to pack up, clean and head home. Weather still wasn't 100%, sun came out for a little while here and there but by the time we were ready to go it was cloudy, cool, and windy again.

Morning sunrise

Wish the weather would have been better but we had a good time overall. Looking forward to next year!

What the Heck Was That?

My post title is how I would describe my run this morning, and not in a good way. Not one of my best runs this morning at all.

Morning starts off with the usual resetting my alarm a bunch of times. I finally drag myself out of bed and start getting ready. I start having some tummy trouble, not really sure why. Maybe my digestive system was still sleeping and angry with me being awake.

So it took me a little longer than normal getting out of the house. I'm late getting to the gym. Once I get to the gym I start having tummy troubles again. Not good for my motivation and I'm just feeling blah.

So I start running and by mile 3 I have this insane side stitch. I hardly get these so I'm like WTH? I walk for a few minutes. Then my next two miles were the same. I'd be ok then I'd start to feel like crap, then I'd get a side stitch. 

So I only managed 5.5 mile, walking twice, instead of the 6 on my schedule. Bummer. 

I still feel a little not quite right today so I hope I'm not coming down with something. Then again I hardly had an appetite yesterday after having a stressful and busy day at work and then horrible commute home. So I'm sure I didn't eat enough to fuel for this mornings run. 

Now I'm torn between sleeping in tomorrow or getting up and running. I'll see how I sleep tonight. 

One more day of work and then it's three day weekend! Much deserved after the week I've had. 

5.5 miles, 47:30, avg pace 8:36

Splits

MILE	TIME	AVG.PACE
1	8:26	8'26"/mi
2	17:36	9'10"/mi
3	26:10	8'34"/mi
4	34:36	8'26"/mi
5	43:01	8'25"/mi

Mile 2  - yeah that's about right. Plus these times do not count me stopping or walking, I paused my watch. 

We'll see how tomorrow goes. I made sure I ate some pasta (spaghetti) at lunch today. Oh hell, I even had a cookie too!