Recap of the Last 5 months

Haven't posted since July. Holy cow, has time really gone by that fast? I mean I just found out I was pregnant and now Christmas is almost here.

It's been that busy, seriously. Time...what's that? I have no idea anymore.

A lot has happened since I shared my news. Good things. Well, I think they're good things, we'll see.

Recap:

July - pregnancy announced. Getting pregnant with Sophie happened very fast. I mean first month we tried I was knocked up. This time around we had been trying since February. Like my first I took a test before my LMP (last missed period) because I felt funny. And sure enough 4 days before I was supposed to get my "friend" the test came back positive.

I decided to wanted to continue running while pregnant. With the doctor's blessing of course.

Me at 17 weeks. I ran 7 miles that morning and that's the farthest I have run since. After that run all my joints ached for days so I decided to scale back to avoid injuring myself.

September - At about 18 weeks we decided to do a 3-D ultrasound to see if we could determine the gender a little early. We never did this with Sophie just had the 20 week ultrasound at the doctor's office. So without further delay, we found out we are having a BOY!!

Very excited to be having a little boy and Sophie is super thrilled to be having a baby brother. It's what she wanted to whole time.

So at 20 weeks everything looked great and ultrasound tech confirmed that it is indeed a boy:

Name we picked: Owen Thomas. Can't wait to meet you little guy!

October - November was spent working, taking care of a very dramatic and crazy 3 1/2 year old and growing a baby. Not to mention trying to get a nursery together for a boy, getting rid of baby girl clothes (a sad day) and getting ready for the Holidays.

The cutest little girl I have ever seen. Her school picture:

December - Getting ready for Christmas and currently 32 weeks pregnant as of December 17th. Everything is going great with the pregnancy. I am measuring right where I need to be and have only gained 23 pounds so far. Very happy with that as I gained about 45 with Sophie.

I am still running but only managing about 3 - 4 miles every other day. So about 10-11 miles a week. That's nothing compared to some women I read about but my body is starting to reject running all together. My hips ache, my joints are starting to ache and there's a ton of pressure in my nether regions when I run. I have to stop and pee every mile.

Most of my running has been on the treadmill. I am still getting up at 4 am during the week and running Saturday mornings. I need at least one rest day in between exercising or I feel completely drained.

Again, I am happy for what I have accomplished so far but I am mentally not ready to stop running. Then again just when I think I am done I pound out a 4 miler and feel like a rockstar. So I will attempt to run and if it ends up that I just walk to move to the elliptical then so be it.

I am still weight training but starting to lighten it up only because my muscles get so fatigued so easily.

In other news, I am quitting my job to become a stay at home mom. Yep, my wish has finally come true. Tomorrow is my last day at work. I am going to take the last month or so and relax and hang with my girl. We still have a bunch to do around the house to get ready for Baby Owen's arrival but I won't have the stress of work, the commute from hell and being rushed.

I will admit I am nervous to stay home. I've worked since I was 15 and the thought of 1 income scares the hell out of me. But I know it's the best decision for us right now. Two kids in daycare cost too much for my salary and then with all the gas I pay to drive here, well it wouldn't be worth it.

I will eventually go back part time once Sophie is in Kindergarten, something that is closer to home.

I am eager to start this new chapter in my life. Stay tuned, it will be interesting!

Big News!

So much has happened the last few months as I touched briefly on my Hiatus post. My little girl turned 3 (going on 13).
But the biggest news of all is that I am expecting!

My ultrasound at 7 weeks, 3 days

It finally happened after about 3 months of trying. Which really isn't that long to try but with my first I got pregnant right away, like the first month we tried so this time around I was a little shocked that it didn't happen right away. I had hopes for a November baby, I love the fall, favorite time of year.

Ironically my due date is February 11th, February is my least favorite time of year so now I have something to look forward to! This could potentially be a Valentine's baby. Sophie was 9 days late so I'm really hoping that this baby comes around the due date, that would be nice for a change. 9 days late was brutal and I had to be induced, which really worked out well for me, but still! I was so tired of being pregnant.

Today I am 10 weeks and starting to finally feel better. About week 6 I started feeling queasy 24-7. Morning, afternoon and evening. No appetite, yet if I didn't eat I would not feel well. The other problem I was having is that I would get full really quick and not feel well. On top of that I was tired ALL the time. If I could have laid my head down on my desk for an hour and sleep I probably could have.

This is a little different than my first, with Sophie I didn't really have morning sickness but would go to bed at like 7:30. Now I still have Mommy duties in the evening and only play the pregnancy card when I have to. My husband has been pretty good about the days when I just need to go lay down. After working all day and then coming home and still taking care of a 3 year old, I'm exhausted.

I'm still running, not as much and mainly that's because it's a million degrees here in South Carolina and the air conditioning is on the fritz at my gym. It's the stale, stagnant air...well basically no airflow and it's been difficult to run in it. I still manage anywhere from 3 - 5 miles but I stop after every mile and guzzle water (which in turn makes me have to pee) and then I'm pouring sweat. I need to be careful and stay hydrated and not over heat so it's been a challenge. I'm doing what I can so if I can't run then it's elliptical and weights.

For example yesterday I could only manage 2 miles before I had to stop. Just wasn't feeling right so that's when you know not to push it. Makes me mad because I really want to continue to run as long as possible but this heat and the damn gym AC are making it difficult. Oh and I have called to complained and they assure me that "it's going to get fixed." I call BS - they said that 3 months ago.

I have gotten a little slower but am still under a 9 minute mile. I am happy with this. I could probably run a tad faster but with the heat, just taking it easy.

So far I've only gained about 2 - 3 pounds. I say 2 -3 because I have been a tad bloated here and there so it depends on the day. I gained 45 pounds with Sophie so I'm trying to keep the weight gain about 25 - 30 pounds. I realize that my body is going to do what it's going to do but I want to stay healthy and not eat all the crap I did first time around (I'm talking about you pizza and mac and cheese).

It's true what they say, you show sooner with each subsequent pregnancy. I'm 10 weeks and getting bigger by the week. Pants started getting tight about 8.5 weeks. My dilemma is that my maternity clothes are HUGE!! I weigh a good 7 pounds less this time around so everything is a size medium. However my regular clothes are getting tight and uncomfortable so I'm in between, making the best of it.

 Sophie is seems to be excited to be a big sister. Every time we ask her if she wants a baby brother or baby sister she says baby brother. We'll find out in September! I say boy but then again I said that with Sophie so who knows. Either way it doesn't matter, I hope for a healthy baby!

Charlotte Race Fest Half Marathon

Oh Monday, I was not looking forward to you today! I'm tired today. It was a tiring weekend. But a good one. 

Friday I left work about 4:00, picked up Sophie, and we hit the road to Charlotte. I stopped to get her a happy meal but I was waiting till I got to my parents house to eat dinner because I didn't want fast food. Her fries were tempting and I might have taken one or two....

I got to my parents house about 7:15. Sophie immediately wanted to play which gave me a chance to bring in all our stuff and eat dinner and chat with my Mom. She picked up my race packet for me so I didn't have to worry about it. What a great Mom.

Then it was off to bed to be well rested for the race. Well as rested as you can be with a bed hog. I swear for such a little girl, she takes up the whole bed. I slept decent. 

I was up at 5:50 to start getting ready and we were out of the house by 6:50. My dad went with me to the race and my mom stayed home with Sophie.

It was the perfect morning. The sun was out, the temps were cool. Far cry from last year's torrential downpour and severe thunderstorms. 

I think there were a lot more race participants this year because the start seemed extra crowded and it took us all a while to break apart when the race started. 

Even though I didn't get to train for this race, I was still hoping that I would PR or at least break 2 hours for a third time. However, when the gun went off and we started running, I immediately knew that this was going to be a long race. My legs were just tired and stiff from the get go.

I felt pretty good after the 1st mile but the miles seemed to go by slow. 

Mile 9 was the hill from hell and I had to walk! So frustrating but I wanted to save my energy (or lack there of) for the rest of the race. The last few miles had a bunch of hills and that just drains me after a while. Again, I didn't get a chance to do any hill runs so I felt a bit out of shape.

At mile 11 I realized that if I sucked it up and sped up a little I could still finish under 2 hours and I really wanted to do this.

I put on my "fast" songs and just ran up those hills with all my might. 

The finish line never looked so good and I crossed at 1:58:44, chip time. Woot!

I'm happy overall because I have a feeling this is the last half marathon I will be running, probably till next year. Kind of sad but it's time to move on to my next quest. Baby no. 2. 

I know I keep saying that, hopefully it'll happen this month.

Rest of the weekend was spent hanging out with my family, a little bit of shopping, and eating. My mom is the best cook. 

Sunday we packed up and hit the road and I was home by 2:00. Only to still have to get everything ready for the work week. I was tired last night.

This morning I managed to drag myself out of bed and run 3 miles and do a leg workout. I am still coughing a bunch at night and even though it's getting better, I still can't get rid of this tickle in my throat. Very annoying. 

So far it's been a stressful Monday so I hope that doesn't set the tone for the week. 

One month till vacation!

Post Marathon Blues

I hear this can happen. You experience this amazing high from finishing your race, your training is over, and now what do you do?

I think I'm starting to experience this. No I'm not depressed or anything but I tossed the last of my training schedule and then I had this feeling of "now what?"

People at work are asking me if I want to do another one and YES I would however it's not in the life plan this year. Maybe next year but not this year. I think my husband is thinking I've gotten running out of my system, oh how wrong he is, but I don't think he's ready for me to dedicate my time to training for another one. I have to remember as much as I love this accomplishment, there's things we have to do and things that he wants to do, it's not all about me.

I'm having a mental dilemma: Get pregnant or put it off? The only reason to put it off is a selfish one. I'm not ready to lose all that I've accomplished these last few years. Not just with running but the weight loss and feeling good about myself. I'm not ready to lose my body again (sorry being honest). Like I said, it's purely a selfish reason. Oh and there's the thought of having 2 kids scares the crap out of me (again - honest). Then there's the chance I can finally be a stay at home mom but quitting my job and only having one income...scares the crap out of me! Two kids in daycare would be 90% of my paycheck so it would not be worth the stress of my commute. I would be the one to take kids to and from daycare while barely netting anything extra from my paycheck. Plus our tax accountant already told us it would be better if I stayed home. But still, it's very expensive to raise just one kid let alone 2.

On the other hand I'll be 32 this year (ugh!) and I've always said that I want 2 kids by the time I turn 32. I know 32 is not old but I can't imagine being sleep deprived being any older than what I am. It's hard. Sophie will be 3 this year and I would love for my kids to be somewhat close in age. She'll make a fantastic big sister. She's told me twice, when prompted, that she wants a little brother :) Ricky will be 34 this year and I think he's ready to be a dad again.

Deep down I feel this is our year to have another. I've already started taking my folic acid, now I just need to kick the caffeine.

This will also be the last kid. We even said before we got married that we only wanted 2 kids. I'm the third kid in my family and I remember that we were all a handful.

So this is where I'm at with our future plans. It's all on me to say "OK." I have one more half marathon I want to run in a couple of weeks and then it'll be time. If I get pregnant right away like I did with Sophie then we're looking at a November baby. Eww, that means I'll be pregnant threw the summer. Hmm....

The soreness is finally starting to dwindle. I'm still very tired and it didn't help that Sophie woke up at 2 am crying and scared. So I brought her into bed with us and it took her FOREVER to go back to sleep. She kept tossing and turning, hogging my pillow and then asking for water. So by the time we got back to sleep it was after 4 am. And to think I was going to attempt to go to the gym this morning. I guess it's a blessing in disguise because I could probably use another day to rest.

I did go to the gym yesterday and did 30 minutes on the elliptical and some light weights. Seemed to help with the muscle stiffness.

I want to try and run again on Thursday or Friday but for right now my body is saying "no."

I've read a lot of comments on facebook about what went wrong with the race. At the time I was still on my runner's high but I realize that a lot went wrong with the race and how unorganized it really was. There weren't a lot of porta johns along the race course, there was one every couple of miles, but I remember thinking "where the heck are the porta potties?" on numerous occasions. Then I heard the toilet paper ran out. They ran out of cups at mile 4 so people were freaking out that there wasn't going to be any water or Gatorade. Luckily I had my handheld so it didn't affect me and towards the end of the race I didn't have that problem either.

They ran out of medals for the half marathoners. Ouch, that's a biggie! They are sending them to the one's that didn't get one but for you to cross the finish line and not have one that's a big blow. Plus there was either no water or they ran out at the finish. I recall thinking "where's the water" but my husband had one he brought so I drank that.

Overall I didn't have any major problems with the race but I can see why people had problems. I hear that it's the same problems they had last year plus they even hired a race director who apparently didn't do a very good job. I would run this again in the future only because it's local but I think they are going to have a really hard time attracting people to come visit.

The course needs a makeover, more downtown Charleston, less nasty North Charleston, except the Riverfront Park is very pretty - get rid of that last 5 mile out and back, there is nothing motivating out there, need entertainment for those last 6 miles. In response to this course complaint, I read where the city of Charleston was not very good to work with (North Charleston is a separate municipality). Charleston's claim to fame is the Cooper River Bridge Run and they don't really want to be associated with this race. That's a shame, people are coming to your city and spending money. Support it! I don't know if that's true, just what I read somewhere.

I'm making my own medal display, just need my husband to drill some holes and then it's almost done! Still so proud of myself.

Birthday Weekend

We didn't do much on Friday for my birthday. We ordered food from my favorite Chinese restaurant and had cupcakes from the Cupcake place. It was a nice and chill night.

Saturday morning I woke up early and headed out for my 9 mile run. It was such a nice morning to be running. I decided to run around my neighborhood because we had to get ready and head to the Zoo later. 

I did 9.17 miles, avg pace 9:22 and felt really good the entire run. Cool temps really make a difference for me. 

After my run we got ready and headed to Columbia, SC. We met my family at the Liberty Tap Room and had lunch and cake. Then we headed on over to the Zoo.

I haven't been to the Zoo in forever. I honestly can't remember going but I've been told I've been before. None of it rang a bell but I have a crappy memory anyway.

We all had a great time. It was so nice to spend the day with my family. The kids were all good, no meltdowns (until we got home later). Sophie was in awe of all the animals. It was a beautiful day, not too hot and not too cool, sunny. Perfect in my book. 

Just a few random pics from the day to share. 

My sister, me, and sister-in-law

Me and the hubby

My nephews Sean and Garrett with Sophie

The Gals

The Guys

Turtles humping. Seriously.

Up close and personal with the elephants. They stunk.

My bro-in-law, nephews, sister, brother, Sophie and Ricky

Sunday I slept in a little (7:30 is sleeping in now-a-days). Made some breakfast and cleaned a little bit. I went for a short 3 mile run late morning. It's nice to be able to run later in the day and it still be nice and cool. Even though it was sunny I didn't feel nasty hot.

I ran on the trail near the gym I am a member of so once my run was over I shot over to the gym to do some elliptical and weights. Then I came home and sent my hubby onto work out and do his thing. I had hoped to get some more cleaning done while little bit napped but she had other plans and work up shortly after I got home. 

Finally we went over to my in-laws house for dinner and ate more cake. I ate way too much cake this weekend but you know what? It was good!

Because I run on the treadmill a lot I often find myself much slower on the road. Not a bad thing only I feel like I'm faster than what I really am. However yesterday I did 3.07 miles on the trail in 24:48, avg pace 8:05. This made me happy to be able to run a faster pace on the road (well, a faster pace for me anyway).

Now I need to figure out what Ms. Sophie is going to be for Halloween. I have no idea and would love to make her a costume but I just don't have a lot of time to be crafty (bad excuse but it's true). Need to get my creative juices flowing.

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!

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. 

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!

Week 2, Day 2 and Day 3

I missed posting yesterday because I didn't download my run onto the computer till this morning so I knew I did 3 miles but that's about it. I also knew that I was super tired and groggy yesterday morning so 3 miles was very brutal on the treadmill but I got it done.

Day 2 - 3.15 miles, 26:14, avg pace 8:19

Splits

MILE	TIME	AVG.PACE
1	8:29	8'29"/mi
2	16:48	8'19"/mi
3	25:00	8'12"/mi

Thanks to my husband's snoring I was able to get out of bed to hit the treadmill. See I had re-set my alarm twice and was seriously thinking of putting 5 miles off till tomorrow but he started snoring and that assisted in my inability to go back to sleep. That is the ONLY time his snoring is OK :)

Day 3 - 5.24 miles, 43:01, avg pace 8:12

Splits

MILE	TIME	AVG.PACE
1	8:19	8'19"/mi
2	16:34	8'15"/mi
3	24:56	8'22"/mi
4	33:07	8'11"/mi
5	41:04	7'57"/mi

As the month of August comes to a close I am so far happy with my training. Looking forward cooler weather so I can get outside more, but I don't think that will really happen until October. However this weekend is supposed to be in the lower 70's for a low so I'm looking forward to running my 9 miles outside!

Ready to tackle September!

In other news there is absolutely nothing exciting going on in the Bell home. Sophie continues to do well in her classroom the "Busy Bees." Next month we are going to pursue potty training a little more than we have been. We're going to have to take a weekend and just really have at it, on the potty every 30 minutes.

I'm hoping we can hit the beach this weekend and take the boat out one day too. Summer is coming to a close but luckily there's still a good 2 months of warm weather.

September is one of my favorite months, and not because this is my birthday month, but  Fall is my favorite season, which is why I want a Fall baby next time around, which means I have to get pregnant end of January or beginning of February. Yikes! That's really not that far away!

New Beginings

The decision to change my blog came last week when I realized that I blog more about running now a days, since it's become a major part of my life. I still love to share what the Bell Family is up to, but once I begin my marathon training, I plan on blogging about my experience to help others who may be be able to relate to a full time working mom who's training for her first marathon. It will also help hold me accountable with what I am trying to accomplish....cross the finish line in one piece.

So lately I've been taking it easy running so I don't burn out before I start training. My parents came down for a visit this past weekend so we went to the beach on Saturday for a couple of hours. Weather was still hot but not too terrible. We've had some nasty thunderstorms but the rain is much needed!! 

Still not running outside a whole lot. It's just way to hot and humid. I tried to get out the door Saturday morning but the air was so thick, I just wasn't feeling it. 

So yesterday I managed 7.06 miles on the treadmill, avg pace 8:37 . To be honest I'm getting tired of the treadmill! So it really needs to start cooling down so I can get outside. I plan on doing all my long runs outside, weather permitting. During the week they will mostly be in the wee hours of the morning on the treadmill, or when I get home from work (and that almost never happens due to sitting in traffic and mommy duties when we get home).

Today was a day off since Monday's will be a rest day. Also it's the first day of school in the county where I live which means....traffic!!!!! So I needed to get up and out of the house so I could get Sophie to daycare at a decent time since she was starting in her new classroom. She was not happy with the change but I know in a week or so she'll be running in there with a smile. She's like her momma, hate change!

In this new classroom she'll start potty training! Not looking forward to this new stage in life but it must be done. I got a little teary eyed because she's growing up so fast. 

So tomorrow I hope to drag myself out of bed and run 3 or 4 miles plus do some weights. Tomorrow is the true test of getting out of the house in time because Charleston county school starts and I pass three different schools to get to work and the traffic is horrible. Apparently nobody rides the school bus anymore. I wonder if my sanity can handle another school year. 

My baby is turning 2!

Sophie will be 2 years old on Sunday. Two years old!!! She is in full swing terrible two's. She's never been much of a hitter but the last few weeks she hits and scratches when she gets upset. The only way I can get her to stop is if I spank her. Pot calling the kettle black I know, but seriously it gets her attention and then she cries and wants a hug. So I'm rolling with it. 

This past Saturday we had her birthday party so my family could make it down. My sister teaches high school and their graduation is the weekend of her actual birthday and my sister cannot miss graduation this year so we bumped it up a week. 

I threw an art party. One of Sophie's favorite things to do it color so I thought this would be a cheap and easy thing to do. I thought it turned out well, kids made a mess for a little while and then they ran around and played. We did cake and presents and ta-da! Party complete. She, of course, has no idea that it's her birthday so I have all my really good party ideas saved up for when she gets older and will appreciate it more. 

So here are a few pictures from the party. The only bad thing about June is it's so stinking hot and humid here so outdoor parties are awe some but hot. We need a pool.

I got the idea from http://karaspartyideas.blogspot.com/search/label/art%20birthday%20party. There was so much more I wanted to do but I just didn't have the time to do all the cool crafty things I wanted. Maybe next year but again, she's 2 and could care less. I mean heck, in the picture above you can see how "excited" she is to open presents. She would have rather played outside. That's why she's so mad, we brought her in to open presents. What horrible parents we are :)

On her actual birthday we may take her either to the beach or to the Children's Museum downtown. I will fix her favorite meal (which seems to change week by week) and get her a little cake. Then the next day I'm going to take cupcakes and little party favors to school so the kids in her class can help celebrate.