All it takes is all you've got

7 miles in 7:49 pace

5X30 second strides.  Felt good.

Pull-ups: 8, 8, 6, 7, 10

Push-ups: 21, 25, 21, 21, 31

Sit-ups: 60, 75, 75, 75 

Checking in on the Boston Marathon, wishing I was there.  

Go USA!  Ryan Hall is in the lead! 

7:00 A.M. 4 miles in 8:07 pace  Nice and easy run in the misty morning

4:30 P.M. 8.5 miles in 7:45 pace

Met my Running Republic team in Boulder for intervals.  Only 8 of us were there. Coach Darren was still out of town after racing Boston yesterday so his wife, Colleen lead the workout.   It was pretty fun to be lead by a world class runner.  She is super nice and helpful too.  She is gearing up for a marathon in Europe at the end of May and a half-marathon in New York this Saturday.

20 minute warm-up, stretching, strides

4X45 seconds fast turnover/75 sec. easy (I didn't push my lap button on these)

2X(90 sec/2 min/90 sec) steady/hard with 60 sec easy (my pace was  6:22, 5:52, 6:12, 5:56, 6:01, 6:00)   Felt better on my groin to keep the pace at 6:00 or slower.

2 minutes between sets

5 minutes steady (6:21 pace)

20 minute cool down

The workout was pretty easy and I controlled my pace so my groin wouldn't be aggravated.  Felt great to be out running with the team again! 

9 miles in 7:49 pace

Trying to get in some solid mileage early in the week so I don't have to run as much Friday and Saturday while we are in Cali, going to Disneyland!! 

The good news is that my first speed workout back with the group didn't aggravate the groin/adductor tightness at all.  It still feels the same as it has for about a month now which is about 90% healthy.  I decided to go see my ART guy, Richey today because I really would like it to feel 100%.  He forgot to bring in his Graston tools and I was actually kind-of relieved (Graston scraping HURTS!)  So he just did some very effective feeling Active Release on my adductor and hamstring, which was a good hurt.  I took my girls with me to the appointment and while Richey was working on my leg, my 1 yo proceeded to take things out of my bag and play with them.  At one point she unwrapped a tampon and tried to eat it (she does this all the time at home...I don't quite understand the fascination).  I just had to laugh it off and Richey thought it was funny too.  Upon leaving I made sure to pick up all the separated pieces of the tampon so as to not litter Richey's office with feminine hygiene products.

8.5 miles in 7:37 pace

Push-ups: 20, 25, 20, 23, 30

Pull-ups: 8, 9, 6, 8, 10

Sit-ups: 60, 70, 100 

Busy morning.  Took Abe to his end of level reading test, got ready to leave, and flew to Orange County.  Arrived around 4 pm, took the kids to Laguna Beach and ate dinner.  The funniest part of the day was when the kids were feeding the pigeons and my 1 yo wondered what it was like to eat lie a pigeon, so she threw her food on the ground, leaned over, put her arms on the ground to support herself and bobbed her head down to lick up the piece of bread off the ground.  We all had a good laugh and kindly asked her not to do it again.

After that we met some friends on Aliso Beach a few miles south of Laguna, started a campfire and made smores.  As the sun was setting across the ocean we  were jumping off the sand ledge and running around on the beach chasing waves.  SO fun!

6 miles in 7:52 pace

Ran on the Anaheim river trail.  Every time the trail went under a road, I noticed homeless people sleeping under the overpass.  Made me feel sorry for them, having to sleep on the cold hard ground.  Aaron and I just watched The Soloist last week and it made me realize how many people are homeless because of mental illness...so sad.  Its a great movie though.

Disneyland!  We were really grateful to find out that Aaron's step-brother, Darin could get us in for free since he is an singer/dancer in the Fantasmic show.  The day was pretty exhausting.  We actually came back to the hotel for a couple of hours to decompress and let the kids nap, then went back to the park until 8:30 p.m.  My favorite part was riding Pirates of the Caribbean at night.  The kids loved it!

Slept in and saved my energy for Disneyland.  It is A LOT of toting three young kids around Disneyland and California Adventure for two full days.  Our brother who got in for free was kind enough to stay for a few hours and help us rock the fast-pass system so we could get into more rides with minimal waiting.  It was great because we rode 5 rides with the older two kids while he stayed with our youngest.  The kids really loved the rides and we let them buy a souvenir too, which they loved.  By 6:00 p.m. I felt pretty drained, over-stimulated, and overwhelmed after 2 or 3 major melt-downs from each kid and just a long day in the sun, so I took our 1 yo to get the car while Aaron rode one last ride with our older two.  She cried the entire 30 minutes to the car then fell asleep the minute I had her in her car seat.  We went to the hotel and crashed.

I think the best part of Disneyland is the pictures, memories, and souvenirs.  Actually being there with the crowds and craziness is quite over-stimulating and draining.  The rides are fun, but I think next time (if there is a next time) Aaron or I will just take one child for a one-on-one weekend rather than toting the whole family through the park.  There is so much waste and gluttony there.  I'd rather just go camping and be in the peaceful wilderness.