I Probably Should Make My Blog Public again

Happy New Year to my FRB buddies!  I've missed you all...

Long story short:

With all the changes to our family (new baby, new jobs), I decided this fall that I shouldn't blog, as that, at the time, just seemed like one more thing to add to an already too long to-do list. 

After a semester of sporadic (at best) running, I feel that blogging will help keep me motivated.

I'm in a sort of groove (even ran 6 days last week).  Hopefully keeping up with my running buddies will help me resurrect my running "career."  I'm sure I've missed a lot, since I've been a terrible blogger for more than a year.  Looking forward to seeing what everyone's up to.

I waited until I saw that Burt did 3 miles before also doing 3 miles.  This way I'm beating him in mileage for the year.

Okay, I am only posting this as 3 because I told Burt that I was going 3.  But it was really 3.02.  

I know.  I'm reckless.

Treadmill miles.  Since I'm out of the blogging routine, I almost forgot to post.

A nice outside run during the day. A few days ago, I ran the same route in the dark and had a little trouble with my footing because there was some ice under the snow covering sidewalks that hadn't been shoveled. My pace was slow. Today, it wasn't so bad. However, my garmin died during the run, so while I believe I was faster, I'm not so sure.

I got up early for a change since I have to supervise a basketball game tonight.  I ran on the treadmill (ugh) before I fed Charlotte (double ugh).  But it wasn't terrible.

I'm not saying I ever loved the treadmill, but I used to be able to run on it without wanting to kill myself.  Maybe I need to get the T.V. in that room hooked up.  Right now all I do is watch the clock/distance.

On the treadmill.  This time I tried to read a trashy magazine while doing it.  Didn't go so well.

It was a beautiful night to get outside and run.  Thanking God I didn't have to run on the treadmill.  Planned to go 3 miles, and then felt great, so I ran 4.  I don't know my pace because my watch died last time I was outside and I forgot to charge it.  I will probably forget to charge it again, since I have no plans to get up and do it now!

I am very proud that I dragged myself out of bed this morning to get in a run.  I pumped first.  That made it easier.  

I have to supervise a basketball game tonight.  Our girls are ranked #1 in the state in our class (2A) as of yesterday.  Saturday they play the #1 ranked 4A team, so that should be interesting.  We have a freshman girl who is 6'4".

A quick 2 on the treadmill after Charlotte went to sleep.

Flashed my pasty legs all around town. This is the first time that I've ever worn shorts while running outside in January. And I bet it'll be the last. It's supposed to be 20 tomorrow. It was almost 60 today.

I tried to do a fast finish, but I'm not sure if I accomplished it, since I wasn't wearing my garmin. I did charge it, but it wouldn't turn on for some reason.

On the treadmill.  It's raining ice today and I opted for a quick run so I can take a weekday off running.  Maybe Tuesday, if it isn't still icy tomorrow.

I had a dream that I won a 5K with a time of 20:30.  But when I looked down at my garmin, it was only 2 miles.  Then I was sad because I had felt fast.

Then I woke up and it was a couple minutes before my alarm.  So I got up and ran my 3 miles.  I don't love running in the morning, but if I had more time in the mornings, I would probably do it every day.  Even waking up at 4:50 this morning, it was still hard to be ready on time.

Another AM run that almost wasn't.  I interrupted this run twice, first to get some music because mentally I needed a distraction and second to help my son with something after the music woke him up.  Then I cut it short because I was out of time only to discover that I was ready 5 minutes earlier than normal, so I could have added on a 1/2 mile.  Whatever.

I just run better in the p.m.  I'm sure there's a reason for that.  And not that this run was particularly awesome.  It was just a relatively painless, quick 3 miles on the treadmill.

I guess it's a good thing that I'm bothered by the fact that I missed my run Friday.  It certainly didn't bother me to miss running days this fall.

This was a good run.  I ran at my sister's house.  It was not too cold (upper 30s) and I ended with a fast(er) last two miles.  This was the best run I've had in a long time.

An easy 4 on the treadmill.  I wanted to run outside, but I spent all day reading what is now my favorite book of all time.  I tore myself away with about 50 pages to go so I could get these miles in, then resumed reading.  It was the last book in The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.  I highly recommend the series, but this is not for the feint of heart.  There are 14 books at just under 1000 pages each.  But a GREAT series of books.

PM miles on the treadmill after a long work day.  I told myself I had to do 2 just to be able to put something on the calendar and then wanted to add one more.

Blogging during the week is sometimes hard, but I know I have to do it, otherwise I will start skipping running days.

An easy 3 after another long day.  We presented the future of our school to our board, which included some controversy.  We've been nervous about it for months, but it went great.  I'm pleased.  Now we just need to present it to teachers and families.  I'm still nervous about that.

Last night I was persuaded to join some of the teachers for a drink or two after the boys' game.  I was glad that I did--I haven't been out in ages--but it meant no run yesterday.  I either have to adjust so that Friday is my day off running or just be happy if I can run at least 5 days a week.

This was a great run despite the little sleep I got.  I was tempted to add on 1/2 mile so I could be awesomer than Burt, but decided that I would let him be awesomer than me this week.

An easy 4.  A little sore from the long run yesterday.  But still good.

An exceptionally warm day.  I thought a couple weeks ago I would never wear shorts in January again, but here I was in shorts.  Today broke some records (set in 1914) for the warmest January day (62 degrees).  I wore long sleeves but shouldn't have.

It is hard for me to run outside during the week just because of timing, but I had a dentist appointment.  Left work early and had time to run before picking up the kids. It was glorious!

It's supposed to get cold again quickly, like 20 degrees on Thursday with a negative windchill.

3 treadmill miles after a great presentation at work.

While I was running, Eli set up a prayer mat and was singing his prayers.  He kept turning the lights on and off, and I tolerated it because it was cute.  It did, though, make me dizzy to watch the treadmill display when it was dark.

An early 3.  Now that I'm at work it doesn't even feel like I ran.  I guess that's a good thing.

A little snowy and a little windy.  I had some problems with my pants while I was running.  I kept hiking them up as high as they would go, only to have them slip down every quarter mile.  My shirts were also too short, so that didn't help.  Finally I tucked both shirts into my pants.  That helped enough so I only had to hike up my pants every half mile instead.

These were all treadmill miles.  We got a little more snow overnight and some flurries in the morning.  Since the plows don't go out till it's done snowing, I stayed inside.  Oh, the agony.  I was really thirsty, too.  I stopped a couple times to drink and tell Pandora which songs I liked so that it wouldn't stop playing me some tunes.

Treadmill again, though it was a beautiful day outside.  Chuck had to supervise a basketball game...

Busy week.  Probably need to run a few mornings this week.  We'll see if that happens :)

A sort of ladder on the treadmil.  .25 at 6.3, .5 at 6.4, .25 at 6.3, .5 at 6.5, .25 at 6.4, etc.  For the last mile I increased speed every .25 up to 7.0.

A little "speed" is a lot easier these days than it was even a month ago. I know that is because of the blogging--it helps me to stay in the running habit.

I have realistic expectations for the half that I am doing.  Even though it's not till late April, my goal is probably around 1:50, though I believe it'll probably a little over that.  I do not have any plans to train hard for it.  Maybe next year.  For now, I just want to put in comfortable miles without too much hard work.

Had to escort two old guys out of a basketball game.  That was fun.

Ran even though I didn't feel like it. Glad I did. This was always the trend in the fall. Come Thursday, I would always get off track. I am happy I didn't fall into that this week.

This was my first run with an average of under 9 minutes in a long time.  It felt easy.  Though I started with a first mile at 9:24, my last mile was 8:26.

Today I also took Caleb roller skating for the first time.  It did not go well.  I learned that I do not have the patience to teach him any physical skill back when he was learning to ride his bike.  Something about our personalities doesn't mesh well in that way.  I get frustrated and he gets pouty, which elevates my frustration levels, which makes him pout more.  I should have remembered that and had Chuck take him skating. 

I am happy with this run, even though my stomach was cramping during the last two miles. Maybe it was what i ate for breakfast...i don't know. It was slightly faster than yesterday, so I'm feeling good about that.

A rare treat during the week! A run outside! I had nothing clean, of course, so I was wearing the crappiest, oldest pants I have. Oh well. The run was uneventful and sans watch.

I am coming to loathe the high school basketball season. There is something going on every night. My boss, luckily, understands that I can't be at everything. However, I feel guilty about missing stuff. But I shouldn't.

I think I feel guilty because in this survey we gave to our parents, the two comments that bothered me most were: "Don't even know the assistant principal" and "the assistant principal never smiles." Though I shouldn't know who wrote the comments, I do. You better believe I smile whenever I see the mom who wrote the second comment. I do it out of spite.

An am run on the treadmill.  Not hard to get out of bed, but it was hard to get my legs moving.  I also did some strength training.  I really don't do that as often as I should.  But I've been better about it lately.

Not great on consistency this week.  Will be better next week.  I just have to plan around the nightly activities better.  Our girls basketball team won their sectional against the same team that our boys played the night I had to kick the old guys out of our gym.  I bet they were there, but I didn't see them.  I thought there might be trouble, but there wasn't.  If the girls win on Monday, they will play in the state final four next Friday. 

This run today ended up being a good one, even though it took me a while to warm up.  My phone lied to me when it told me it was in the upper 40s.  I knew it was lying, but I didn't look up the temp before I left.  I just guessed 30s.  It was 20.  That's why it took me 3.5 miles to really get into the run.  Last two miles felt really good.

Average pace was 9:05.

A nice 6 at my mom's house. Lots of people outside walking dogs or running, despite the low temps. I startled one lady with my good morning.

The traveling yesterday wiped me out. I would have liked to enjoy the 50s temps, but I went to sleep early instead. Today it was in the 20s, so I ran inside. I like that easy pace is getting faster, but I am looking forward to more pavement running when it is light outside in the late afternoon/early evening.

It is better to have run and only run two miles than never to have run at all.

Didn't want to do this run at first, but I'm terribly glad I did. It's been a long week, but it's good to end it on a nice easy run.

Our girls play in the state semi finals tonight. I know they'll do we'll and I hope they win! We had a pep assembly today at school and recognized them as we'll as other winter sports. All the starters were recognized as all-state--three of them first team. Only bad part of the day was realizing that we forgot to recognize the cheerleaders...I feel bad about that...

A run outside after some Charlotte time and some work time. The snow that we got is iced over, so I ran in the street for the most part. I am pleased with the pace of this run (8:39 average) and how it felt (comfortable). I even saw a mile split that started with a 7 for the first time in forever. Granted, it was 7:55, but still.

I am going to guess on this distance. My garmin died .2 in. I want to see how close I was when I map it. Hopefully I remember the route I took. There was a lot of going up and down blocks so I could avoid main roads and their questionable sidewalks :)

Well, I was way off with my guess of 9.7, if mapmyrun is to be believed. I'm pretty happy about this, then. But this just proves that I am a terrible judge of distance.

Three treadmill miles in between dinner and folding piles of laundry that should've been folded on Sunday.

3 treadmill miles, earlier than normal. Charlotte fell asleep at 5:45 while I was feeding her. I am going to have to wake her up now. We'll see how that goes...

I ran in the morning because I took a much needed day off. It was dusting and the streets were coating with just a bit of snow, which forced me to be a bit careful in some spots. All in all, though, it was a nice run at just under 9 minute pace. And then it was off to clean a little bit before going to lunch with my brother's family because they came to visit.

A run with my brother. We had a nice discussion about how he hates his job that turned into a little argument of sorts. But it was all smiles by the end of the run.

I need some new shoes. The shoes that I am using have a lot more miles on them than what I've logged. Maybe I'll get some this week. These were treadmill miles. 

Whoops.  This was supposed to go on Monday.

I accidentally put Monday's workout on Sunday.  I hate it when I do that.  I'm not going to move it.

We got some snow yesterday, like maybe 4 inches.  It was also pretty windy, blowing the stuff around.  Going to work this morning was more harrowing than I would have thought, but I made it and so did the majority of the kids, who proceeded to complain.  A lot.  

But they had a half day, so I didn't have to hear it long.

Our teachers have parent/teacher/student conferences tonight, so I went out for a run at school in the early afternoon, since I will then stay here till 7:30.  I went out in the streets behind the school, which aren't currently in use, as the "subdivision" streets were laid out before the economy went south, and no one has plans to build out there any time soon.  It's about a 2 mile loop of roads with a number of retention ponds.

I made the mistake of running around 2 of the ponds, and halfway through I stepped in an ankle deep puddle, soaking myself.  It was cold for a second, I contemplated heading back, and then pretty soon my feet were warm again, as tends to happen.

It was slower than normal pace because it alternated between slushiness, iciness, and snow-drify-ness.  But I enjoyed myself.

My blog is about small victories right now. This run was a victory because I talked myself into an extra treadmill mile.

Also, I want to make sure you know that Charlotte is just over 9 months, I was able to fit into all my pre pregnancy clothes a bit less than a month ago, and I am still breast feeding. I feel happy about all those things.

I'm "on call" tonight. My mentee is supervising the dance tonight in my stead and is a little worried about whether or not there is going to be trouble. I just got off the phone with her for the 2nd or 3rd time, and every time she calls me I think there's something going on, but nothing is. She's just paranoid.

Anyway, I was in the middle of my run the first time she called, and before I started up again, the treadmill shut off, so I'm not sure exactly where I was in mileage. But I ran a little over 4 miles just to be sure. Wouldn't want to blog anything that I didn't actually run :)

After a not-so-great week last week (which would have been an okay week if I hadn't skipped my run yesterday in favor of unpleasant things like laundry, cleaning and work and pleasant things like lunch with the family and a trivia night with chuck and some pals), I had a great run.

2 mile wu, then 6 miles at HMP (or what I realistically think will be HMP) and then 4 miles cd. The best thing about it was that I decided to push myself on the fly, when my pace dropped to about 8:30 pace for the 3rd mile.

The fast portion splits were 8:34, 8:21, 8:14, 8:14, 8;17, 7:57.

It was 60 degrees, but windy. There was a lot of head wind during some of these fast miles. It started raining heavily during mile 10, and I thought briefly of being satisfied with 11 miles, but I added a few blocks onto my loop to get to 12. So ti was good all around.

Well, the week started off so promising. Then a tidal wave of illness swept over almost everyone in the house, burying me. I finally started to feel better by Thursday. I should have run on Thursday, but didn't. So I'll mentally excuse Tuesday and Wednesday, but not Thursday.

My run today was pretty good, though my stomach protested towards the end. However, because my legs were so fresh, it was a faster than normal run. Every mile except the first was under 8:30. I'm too lazy to look up the splits, but I remember the last two miles were 8:19 and 8:02. I was done with the run in 41:59, so what is that? An 8:25 average?

This was a nice run. It was colder than yesterday, but it was still fine. It was just windy, but that's to be expected. My stomach didn't feel great before this run and it didn't feel great after, but it wasn't terrible.

Cold and windy. At my mom's.

20 degrees and 20 mph winds. Take that, spring break.

Back home. It's still darn cold. I ran one wu mile followed by 2 at just under 8 mom pace followed by one cd mile. Though it was okay on the treadmill, I should have done it outside, but didn't.

It was a little warmer today (about 36) and at least it was sunny. The wind wasn't so terrible.

This run was actually pretty good. I felt strong throughout. The whole run averaged slightly under 8:30 pace with the last mile at 7:39. I was aiming for under 7:30, but I decided that was my goal as I noticed my pace dropping, and I was at least a tenth into the last mile. So it was close.

Some treadmill miles plus abs and arms. Last day of spring break is always depressing. Luckily next week is a 4 day week plus a four day weekend because of Easter.

Not a great run. I started slow and was slow all the way through. Just couldn't get moving, probably because in my haste to get out the door so I could be back by the time the rest of the fam got back from breakfast, I didn't eat breakfast. And then once I realized that, I coulcn't stop thinking about how hungry I was.

I never really had a firm idea of how far this run was supposed to be. I vascillated between 6 and 10 for a while before finally settling on 8. And then when I got close to my house and I was already over 8, I added a couple blocks so that I didn't have to end on a weird number.

The most exciting part of this run was my new shoes and my new sports bra. Woo hoo!

We had a snow day today, if you can believe that. It was pretty messy. We drove back from Chicago last night into white out conditions. What normally takes two hours took three. When we finally made it home, we shoveled out the driveway. Both our schools canceled, but poor Chuck had to go in because admins had to report. Even though we had shoveled just 12 hours earlier, the driveway was covered again, mostly with blown snow.

The funny thing is that it was 40 today. There is still a lot of snow, especially in drifts, but I can see patches of grass in our lawn. I bet the snow will be melted by Friday. I don't know how much accumulation there was, but for us it's never about how much snow, but about how windy it is. I'm guessing it was about 7 inches, give or take. The boys had fun playing outside on their snow day.

Another run where my garmin died part way through and I had to guess on the distance.  I was aiming for 7 and ended up a little over.  My pace was pretty good until the garmin died (3.8 miles at about 8:40 pace).  I doubt that I went faster after the garmin died, but I don't think I was much slower.  It was windy heading east, and I felt like I headed east for most of the run :)

When I got home today I put on a few layers, then realized that it was warmer out.  So I took one layer off and ran in long pants and a long sleeved shirt.  I am never good at gauging how I should dress when it is between 40 and 50, because it always depends on the wind.  Today it wasn't too windy.  I was a tad overdressed, but it wasn't too big of a deal.

I did have a great run, though.  My garmin didn't kick in right away, so I hit the lap button after I knew I had gone a 1/2 mile.  So the first 1.5 miles were at about 8:50 pace.  Then I slowly got faster.  Next 4 mile splits were 8:31, 8:21, 7:50, 7:43.  Then I started my cool down.  Next mile was 8:49. Then I decided to hell with the cool down; I wasn't done running fast.  Did 1/2 mile at 8:17 pace, and my last mile in 7:34.

The run felt fabulous.  I love this weather. Our snowstorm from Monday is almost melted.  Crazy.

6 easy miles in the morning, ending with one hard. It was just above 40, so I had the same problem as yesterday. However, this time I was dressed fine because it was windier and cloudy. The easy miles averaged just over 9 minute pace. The fast mile was 7:45. Felt good.

This is probably the best long run I've ever had. But I do have a short memory, so I could be wrong.

I decided to do loops for this one because I do better with those, just in case I need some water or a potty break. And I needed both today. I warmed up 5.2 at 8:48 average pace. I wanted the loop to be 5, but I overshot it a bit. Then I stopped to unload some fluid and decided also to replenish.

Then I did 5 at a fast pace. My average pace for the 5 was 7:53. I'm very happy with that. Splits were 7:55, 7:57, 7:55, 7;50 and 7:48. Effort felt pretty even, though I felt relieved when the last fast mile was done.

Then I ran another 4.8 to finish out my 15 miles. I felt very slow, but my average pace wasn't terrible (9:12). However, I did get progressively slower. But that's okay because it was a nice cool down.

I think I finished 13.1 in about 1:51, which is satisfying given my minimal effort in the first and last part of the run. I still think my goal for the Champaign half (I am four weeks out) will be to come in under 1:50. I am running with a lot of friends, and my pr race was one where I left my group and ran MY race. I probably will be running someone else's race this time around, if that makes any sense. I'd just rather stay with people who are traveling to run with me.

4 treadmill miles. Because of the time change, I'm able to run more miles outside, but I missed my window today. The treadmill was treadmill-y.

This run was ridiculous. I decided it would be a good idea for the boys to ride their bikes with me while I ran.

It wasn't.

Caleb was fine, but Eli lagged behind, partly because he's Eli and partly because there is something wrong with his bike(the brakes rub against the tire on one side). So we went 1.5 miles to my sil's. Caleb almost got hit by a car because he crossed the street without looking for some inexplicable reason. I left Eli at her house and Caleb stuck pretty close to me on the little more than a mile journey home because he was pretty sensitive about his almost getting hit by a car error.

So that part of the run was a little over 2.5, but I can't be sure because I forgot to start my watch after one of the many times I stopped it while we were on the way back home.

Then I picked up Eli.

Then I really wanted to add some more miles, so I got on the treadmill I ran 2.07 and then one of the kids came up to tell me that Chuck needed help. I went downstairs to find that Charlotte had thrown up, so I gave her a bath and generally helped to clean up.

Then (don't judge me) I hopped on the treadmill for .43 miles so that I could end with 5 miles.

A half mile warm up and then a ladder workout. 1 minute hard, 1 minute easy, 2 minutes hard, 2. Minutes easy, etc, up To 4 minutes, then back don to 1. Then however much I had to run to get to 5 miles.

Charlotte is still under the weather, so I did this after she went to bed.

10 miles at 8:50 average pace. I had to flip flop the mileage that I had planned for today and tomorrow because we are driving to Chiccago and I was afraid I wouldn't have time tomorrow morning to do 10. I didn't push the pace at all, just kept it nice and even.

Then I talked to my brother, who told me that his goal for the half was 8 minute pace. Kinda made me wish I had trained better because I enjoy running with him. I just don't think I have it in me right now to pr. I haven't really put in a lot of quality miles. But I guess I can see. The only thing I don't like about running with him is that he goes out too fast. If I go out too fast I just die.

Ran on the treadmill at my sister's after a fun filled day of driving and birthday partying. I ate a lot. But I had a good run.

I warmed up 8 minutes at 9:13 pace, and then increased the speed to 6.7. I increased my speed up one every 8 minutes. Then at 48 minutes, I started to increase every 2 minutes. The last 2 minutes I had worked my way into just under 7 minute pace. It felt comfortably hard. Don't know how long I would be able to sustain, but at some point I'd like to sustain it for a 5K.

Ran 1.2 miles with Eli. He did much better on a different bike this time. Then I ran with Caleb, and he was whiny. He went 3 with me. He fell about half way through his ride with me and told me "I literally cannot continue." He obviously did, but I had to run ahead of him for a couple minutes. Eventually he went zooming by me again.

Then I ran until I hit 5 miles.

Ran almost 6 miles to the polling place, had an awkward conversation with one of the volunteers there, and then ran a little more than 1 back home.

I dragged myself into 5 treadmill miles. I am glad I did, but I didn't enjoy it while it was going on.

The only reason I am actually making this a race report is because I won it. Ha.

A recent graduate and her parents were killed two summers ago in a plane crash. This was the 2nd annual 5K in their honor. The proceeds support a scholarship for our school in their name.

When I woke up, my cell phone said it was 56, so I dressed like it was 56 and headed to school. I meant to get there at least an hour before so I help with set up and still be able to run 5 or more miles, and I was already running late, so when my car thermometer showed 39 (which took a while since it was in the garage), it was too late for me to go back and get a long sleeved shirt.

So after helping a little, I ran just under 4 miles. IT WAS SO WINDY and I was underdressed. Nothing for my ears or hands, but at least I had worn pants (planned on changing into shorts) and a jacket to throw over my t-shirt. Going into the wind was misery, but it was acceptable when I wasn't headed to the wind.

Then the race started. It was on the school grounds, sort of on the cross country course, but they modified it a little because it was wet, muddy and even swampy in some areas. I ran and chatted with a couple of the boys on the cross country team (state champs!!) for most of the race. I had forgotten to reset my watch before the race, so I don't know what pace we were going. They had someone calling out splits at the mile and two mile, but I think the loop was a little short, because we were dead on 8:15 pace according to the splits, but my final time was 25:34, so I'm sure that's wrong.

Anyways, there was a guy who was running right behind us for most of the race, and after the 2nd mile, I told one of the kids that I was running with that if he was close behind me, I would let him win because I was a little embarrassed to come in first. Well, when we got close to the finish, the kid who was running with me stopped so he could direct traffic, and told me that the guy was far enough back, so I should just take it.

So I picked up the pace and took it. But the kid was exaggerating, because the guy finished 10 seconds later. It was okay, though, because you will never see me winning a race again.

Then the 2nd place guy and I ran a lap around the track so that I could finish up 7 miles for today.

I wanted to go longer, but I had a kid inside serving a Saturday detention (that's a long story), so I had to go in and check on him. After I got inside I lost my will to go back outside, partly because it took me 5 minutes to open the door with my key, since my hands were so frozen.

Words cannot express the myriad of emotion that I feel about what happened today at the Boston Marathon...shock...outrage...sadness...gratefulness for all those who helped victims...

Forgot to log this. Don't really remember what my pace was. It was on the treadmill.

I think God might have commissioned someone around here to build an ark. I haven't seen any animals yet, but I've seen plenty of flooding.

Four treadmill miles very late in the evening. This has been an exhausting week for no evident reason.

I am glad this run felt great after a blah sort of week. My legs felt heavy during every run this week. Not sure if it was because I had to do more treadmill runs than I had been doing the past few weeks.

I started to feel pretty good after 4 miles. Then I pushed the pace for 4 miles. Paces were 8:30, 8:00, 7:50, 8:08. The last fast mile was a bonus. I had originally intended to slow down, but when I was feeling like I slowed, I looked down at my watch and I was still in the low 8's, so I continued to push. The wind was against me in that last mile, and in the two cool down miles.

I am running my half next week. I hope the temp is the same as it was for this run. Probably in the 40s, but sunny. I think I could have been okay in shorts, though pants were okay today. However, I would like to request less wind. My cheeks are burning right now.

Lots of flooding in my hometown. My sister in law sent me a pic of her view of First Avenue from the train. It was underwater. I might post the pic later. First Avenue is a heavily trafficked road that runs near the Brookfield Zoo, which also closed for only the 3rd time in 90 some years.

Argh! I can't remember how to post a pic! Or it's different from an iPad. This is a pic of some Chicago flooding.

A beautiful day for a run. Just a tad on the hot side, but the wind made it feel cooler than 70. I kept a good pace without really working too hard, and each mile was progressively faster. Paces for the last four miles were 8:29, 8:18, 8:03 and 7:56.

Still uncertain about my game plan for Saturday. Do I dare try for a pr? Have I honestly trained well enough for that to even be within my reach? My gut says no. But I think a lot could really depend on temperature and wind conditions. So I'm keeping it in the realm of possibilities.

Okay, after reviewing my best race from a few years ago, I have decided that I am going to go for it, provided it is cool outside. That year it was 75 out. If I get my wish of 50s and little wind, I think it is possible to at least come close

A long day with work stuff and a stupid conference call that lasted much too long (though really anything would have been too long). Then a quick and easy 3 miles.

3 fast miles just to squeeze them in.

I squeezed in 4 miles after work and before the Senior Night soccer game.  They were fast (under 8 min. pace).  I wanted to squeeze 1 more in before I had to get ready for the play.  

But soccer games are really long.

So I nixed the 1 mile.

For Friday (which is now today), I'd like to run at least a couple miles (3 would be great).  But it depends on how long it takes me to pick up my race packet.  I don't really want to run at 7 p.m. on the treadmill, since the treadmill always makes my legs tired.  If I don't get in a couple miles in, I don't think it will be a difference maker.

I am very pleased at how this race went. I could not have run more perfectly.

The race started a little earlier this year, at 7 instead of 7:30. My bro and I were supposed to meet people at 6:15, but we got there a little later because I thought he was awake when I went downstairs to pump. He sneezed and I God blessed him. But it turns out that he sneezes in his sleep, because he didn't know what I was talking about when he came downstairs to crab at me for not waking him up. Then, because he is a woman, he took some time getting ready.

We did hook up with my friends before the race. But then, because I am a woman, I had to use the POP. Luckily my bro came with me. We didn't see my friends till the finish. It was a good thing. They probably would have thrown us off our race.

After the POP stop, we tried to get into our corral, but couldn't because there were too many people. At this point we were trying to reconnect with friends, and we had told them we would meet them by the 1:45 pacer, but we couldn't even get inside! Once the first wave started, we were able to get into the corral, but couldn't get close to the pacer. We decided that we'd try to catch up quickly once we were able to start, just on the off chance that we'd find our friends.

In the first mile, I really thought that was a mistake. We went out too fast. At one point I looked down and we were running at 6:15 pace. Stupid, I thought. We couldn't find our people, so after a little under a 1/2 mile, we decided to settle into our pace. The first mile was 7:34.

After about 4 miles (7:51, 7:48, and 7:59 were the next splits), I thought we might have a shot at breaking 1:43 (1:45 was the original goal). I didn't say anything to my brother, but I led the next several miles (7:47, 7:53 and 7:56). Then he said something to me about having plenty of cushion to hit our goal, and we quickly verbalized the new plan, and got to work.

Next miles were through a neighborhood and park (7:45--slight downhill, 7:50, and 8:05). I could tell my brother was flagging a little. We talked about just focusing on the 5K that we had left, and then kinda settled a little too much.

Next miles were 8:01 and 8:07, and at that point, I had my internal pep talk. I told myself that I wanted to push it to the end, no sorrows at the end. Just convinced myself that I would push. At that point there was a girl in front of me that I wanted to beat, and another girl who blasted past me with about .6 to go. I went with her, my brother came along, and we finished with a 7:39 mile and :44 for the last .1.

I am really happy with my performance. I felt great at the end. Only significant problem is that I wore a skort, thinking it would chafe less, but even though I brought some lube, I forgot to apply prior to the race. My inner thighs are pretty torn up and bloody. I could feel the chafing at about mile 8, but it didn't really hurt until I discovered (in the car) how bad it actually was. What a rookie mistake!

I don't know what made the most difference today. I think running with my brother was a difference maker. But 3 years ago I think I was more faithful to actually training. However, I did have some big depressing life moments in the 3 weeks before this race. Also, it was PERFECT weather today. Sunny, but in the low 50s at the start. Don't know how high it went, but it wasn't the 75 degrees that it was 3 years ago.

I will probably have to fix my time, since my watch said 1:43:05 and my brother's said 1:43:20 (or at least that's what he says). So I'll fix when I look up the official results.

Unofficially, the results put me at 1:43:09. Right now, they have me listed as 17th in my age division (out of just under 500) and 98 out of 3310 for woman overall. That will probably change, but I hope I'll be able to say I was in the top 100 women!

I didn't intend to take off Monday and Tuesday, nor did I need to. But nevertheless I did.

I had to bandage my thighs for this run, but it worked fine. I ran in the beautiful evening while the boys biked with me. We went the park the long way, I ran along the bike path by myself while they played, and then I ran home with them.

Just two miles on the treadmill. Bandaged again. I have really sensitive skin that tends to react to adhesive in a bad way. I am a little afraid of a reaction, because I don't want to pull off skin to create a wound around my wound.

Totally not why I only ran two miles, though. Just felt two miles was okay for today. Need to decide my next goal. I don't do well without a goal on the horizon.

Not a great running week. Not a great work week either, but at least it's over. The week was hectic and full of traveling, which is not normally in my job description.

I worked a track meet today and then ran on the treadmill.

An easy 5 miles. This year, work has been full of lots of ups and downs. We're in the middle of a down right now. It's a little rough. I'm hoping this will not be one of those things that gets worse before it gets better, but I am fairly certain that we haven't hit the worst yet.

An easy p.m. run after dinner but before the kids' bedtime. It was almost 80 today, but it felt great. I don't think it was almost 80 when I ran though.

There are 17 more days of school left (including finals). I will be glad when it's over. I am tired of some of the drama. A couple people are really stressing me out.

An uneventful run, nothing even close to as exciting as the dollar I found on my run on Tuesday.

Today at school a teacher sent a kid to the office asking me to come to his room. I thought there was a problem. Turns out he needed me to watch his class for five minutes. I'm pretty sure it was so that he could take a dump.

Drove up to my mom's on Friday. Ran this morning around Riverside. About 4 miles in, I heard footsteps behind me. For about a half mile, a woman and I ran parallel (me on the sidewalk and her in the street). Finally, when I realized we were going to continue running the same way, I started talking to her. She was running 10 miles, just for fun. She said she has lost 35 pounds this year, and increased her running a bunch so that she could keep it off. She has never run more than 10 miles, but we talked about races and whatnot. Finally we parted ways when she turned right and i thought i was turning left. Turns out I turned the wrong way, but whatever. I made it home. I didn't have my garmin, but I mapped this, and it was just under 7.

Two pretty horrible runs right in a row. Yesterday was horrible because seriously I almost had an accident. I had to stop and walk, otherwise there would have been trouble.

Today it was almost 90. I started my run, intending to end up at the farm where Chuck and the kids were planting vegetables. I stopped about a mile from the farm so I could get water at the Knights of Columbus. Then I bummed a ride up the road to the farm because I was no longer interested in torturing myself.

Not a great running week, but I was glad to get out today. An uneventful run. It was hot, but not nearly as hot as Tuesday. And at least I didn't almost soil myself.

An easy five miles. It was hot today, but by the time I got out to run, it was at least windy and not as humid.

I am glad I ran today. Life has been busy and I haven't made running much of a priority over the past few weeks. I am (hopefully) going to start p90x on Monday with the girl who is baby-sitting the kids this summer. I am very excited and a little nervous.

Another late in the evening run that I am glad I did. It was short and on the treadmill.

The past couple weeks have been busy with end of the year stuff and interviewing. Lots of evenings and some work on the weekened. One more week of school. Then a little breathing room!

Charlotte turns 1 on the 25th (which is today, since I'm posting this on Saturday while I am proctoring some final exams...). This year has gone by fast.

I took Caleb with me. He rode his bike, but started complaining about a mile in. He had several opportunities to go back, and always opted to keep going. We stopped at a park to play for about 10 minutes. Then we stopped. And stopped. And stopped. We had a melt down when he hit a curb and racked himself. The last 1.5 miles was okay. That was after I told him to pray when he felt he couldn't keep going. We stopped a couple more times, but he wasn't as whiney. It wasn't the most fun I've ever had with him, but it was okay.

Day 1 of p90x. Chest whatever x and ab ripper x. It was tough, but do-able. The guy is a little annoying, but I like the vibe of the whole thing. I couldn't do everything well or with lots of reps, but I am confident that I will be able to.

Two nagging questions: 1. How do I do this and running? I don't know if I'll have that kind of time. But I guess I'll just run when I can. 2. How do I do pull ups without a pull up bar or a place to use resistance bands to mimic a pull up bar? I guess I'll just google that to see if anyone has some suggestions.

Day 2.  Plyometrics.  I liked that one.  The dude called it the mother of all the p90x workouts.  I think yesterday was harder, but I have no upper body strength.  In 90 days, I will have much upper body strength.  I will be able to arm wrestle anyone.  Maybe I'd even win a match or two.

Day 3. Shoulders and arms plus the ab workout. I don't know if the ab workout seemed harder on Monday because the workout was harder on Monday? For some reason I had trouble with certain exercises that today seemed to be no problem.

Day 4.  This one was yoga.  I enjoyed it.  I would like to run at some point this week, but I might just have to be satisfied with Sunday's run.  Tomorrow is the last day of school, then I'm driving to Chicago for a party as soon as Chuck gets home.  My p90x buddy is going to Michigan, so I'm a little worried about the end of the week laziness getting me.  I think, however, that I should be able to leave school at 3, but it depends on how long some interviews go tomorrow afternoon.

I did not do day 5 on Friday, so instead I did legs and back in the a.m. along with abs.

Kenpo reminded me of Taebo. Week 1 down. 12 weeks to go.

Chest and back + abs. This was much easier than last week. However, my abs are sore.

Plyometrics.  

It was nice this morning.  I worked out in the morning, but still got to sleep in.  Summer hours started today. Didn't have to be at school until 9 :) 

Now that school is (finally) over, I'd like to add some running back into the routine.  Probably not until Thursday, though.   Won't run every day, too, but thinking that strength training days would be good days to run.  I'll have to play around with it, though, because I'll be doing p90x in the morning and running in the evening.

Whoops. Forgot to post. Shoulders and arms plus abs. Abs were difficult today.

Yoga in the morning Then I finally got out and ran. Eli came with on his bike and we stopped at the park. The run felt slow just because Eli is a little slower on the bike. But it felt fine. I am ready to start putting in some more miles.

Legs and back + abs.

Kenpo and then 4 miles. The 4 miles felt slow, but I wouldn't know. I can't find my garmin anywhere.

I'm definitely behind on blogging.  I think it's because I'm not logging miles.  Still struggling with that.  Weaning.  Ya know.  

In my blogging laziness I did not say yesterday that I did chest and back + abs.  Today was Plyo.  I enjoyed it much.  I can tell that I have improved since the first time I did this.  There was much sweat.

Ah, the joys of parenting mistakes. We debated and debated, and the finally decided to buy Caleb an iPod for Christmas. First he broke the screen, and he saved up enough money to pay for it. We haven't fixed it yet. Now it won't charge because somehow the prongs on one side got bent, probably from someone trying and failing to jam it into the speakers we have. It may or may not have been Caleb, but regardless, we made a mistake. Now we are not sure. Fix the iPod? Consider it an expensive mistake and use the money he saved for something else? Grrr.

In working out news, today was shoulders and arms + abs. This was the best I've done at this workout. Even the abs felt easier today.

Yoga. I don't remember the yoga abs portion at the end of this (I know last time I had to stop about 15 min early so I could be on time for something at work). I liked it today.

Let's play a little game. I went to the store and bought sudafed, shredded cheese, breast pads and a cabbage. 3 of those things are related. One is not. Why did I buy those things?

Legs and back +abs.

I will be out of the blogging world till late next week. Going on a 10 year anniversary trip with the hubby and my sister and her hubby. We all got married the same summer! Looking forward to the trip! Happy running everyone!

I was not very faithful to my routine while we were on our trip. I did run a couple times, on a treadmill, on a cruise ship. That was pretty weird. I could feel the ship movement. The running was not hard and I was able to pick up the pace even though p90x has overthrown running.

Today it's back to p90x. Chest, shoulders and triceps + abs.

Plyo was really difficult this morning. I hope it's because my head is stuffed up. I'd hate to think I lost something last week.

Back and biceps +abs.

Yoga in the morning.

Then, shamed by Bob, I managed a nice evening run. 8:50 ap. i need to be consistent w running, but there's the Nagy mom voice that frequently tells me that an hour + p90x workout is all I should carve out of my day. Not saying the voice is right, but it is loud.

Legs and back plus abs.

Kenpo. I like that workout. Then I took the boys on my run.

The weather was beautiful, but the run was not. Here were our stops:

1. Eli had to be reminded that he really needed to look both ways while crossing the street.

2. Eli needed to itch his head.

3. Caleb took a pretty nasty spill while riding in a circle in a parking lot. That was a long one. Chuck came and picked him up. Eli and I continued.

4. Eli had to ride down the "big hill." We were turning right before we got there.

5. Eli made me stop so I could tell him why our car was parked down the street. It wasn't our car,

6. We had to strategize how we were going to handle crossing a long series of side streets. I didn't want to stop at every one. But I didn't want to contradict stop #1.

7. Eli needed to itch his head.

8. Eli needed to stretch his back.

And that was the first 3.4. Then I dropped Eli at home and finished. Needless to say, this was pretty slow. But nice bonding time.

Chest, shoulders and triceps.  Ridiculous 1 handed pushups, like I'm ever going to be able to do those :)

Then abs.  Maybe a run later today, depending on when Chuck gets home.  

Plyo in the a.m.  Easier than last week, although I am still plugged up.  Went to the doctor about my ear and this nagging cough.  I was hoping there was a clear answer to why my ear felt plugged, like wax buildup, but no such luck.  Doc gave me some nasal spray, so I guess we are just crossing our fingers that the spray takes care of both problems?  This cough thing is just ridiculous.  

Biceps and back + abs.  

Then later, a race. This race reminded me that if I want to run fast, I have to, you know, run.

But one thing I am proud of: I was only passed twice. Once was by a girl that passed me at about 2.5 miles. I had passed her at just before two, so that one was no good. But a high school freshman (boy) passed me with about 1/4 mile left. And I ended up out kicking him in the end. He probably would have beat me if some guy hadn't tried to pass me really close to the finish. I held him off and in the process, passed the kid.

So yeah, I should run more.

Yoga in the a.m. before the 4th of July activities kick off. Happy 4th!

Legs and back + abs. Then I drove to Chicago with only Charlotte. We'll have fun, but I don't think this counts as a girls weekend.

Kenpo. Wasn't really feeling it, plus I was interrupted several times during.

Chest, biceps and triceps plus abs.

Plyometrics. Tired today.

Back and biceps then abs. My blog is soooooooooo boring.

Yoga. I had limited time this morning, so I skipped a few of the early strength moves. Then I had to stop for fifteen minutes so I could take my car into the dealership to get fixed. I did go back and finish, because I like the yoga belly x moves.

Skipped Friday for a travel day.  We went to Wisconsin to visit Chuck's aunts and uncle.  Thought I might sneak in a run, then didn't.  Didn't bring the stuff for p90x, and my knees needed a break from the squats in the legs and back dvd.  So I ran instead.  Explored the town a bit.

This is p90x recovery week. We were supposed to do yoga today but switched to core synergistics since the boys had swim team earlier than normal. I kinda like this workout. I could see doing this one a few times a week to supplement running.

Did Yoga today. Survived the phases of the moon on my left leg without a brief rest. Did not on the right leg. However, this is still a vast improvement for me.

Kenpo.  This workout always goes pretty quickly.

This is recovery week before the last phase of p90x.  I am considering my options:

1.  Just finish as the p90x plan is written.

2.  Drop p90x in favor of running.

3.  Do the strengthening portions of p90x and then run instead of doing the cardio workouts.  So I think I'd be running 3 x a week (but would like to do 4).

I am leaning toward #3.  That will help me ease back into logging some miles.  Still trying to decide, though, what to do next week as I will be on vacation.  I can bring my weights and computer to do p90x, but I have a few running friends that go with me on vacation and I enjoy getting this time to run and visit with them every year. 

These miles were in lieu of an hour's worth of stretching that I was supposed to do, but knew that it would just make me impatient. They were also very slow. You know it's going to be a scorcher when it's already over 80 at 6:30 in the morning.

Core synergistics.

Went for a run by myself in the a.m. Ran out to the forest preserve and trails near where we were staying and then got lost for a while. Every time I stopped to use the map on my garmin to try to help myself get out, I was swarmed by bugs, the kind at buzzed my ear. Panicked a bit a couple time, ran around in circles, then just when I was about to start yelling in frustration, I finally found the trail where I had entered. Yay! Then a busy day of swimming, playing, jumping in the lake and playing volleyball.

Did Chest and Back from p90x on the porch of my cabin. Then did abs.

Ran six the day after more swimming and volleyball. Ran with my friend Christine and had a good chat. The last mile felt hard, but I did not get a lot of sleep before the run, and I think that was the problem.

This was my last run of the week. The week was very active, but now I will focus on doing my hybrid of p90x and running. I did not do much from p90x this week.

Chest and back plus abs. There is a lot of down time during this video, so I skipped ahead in a lot of parts when I was done with my reps. I swear I shaved 10 minutes off the total run time.

I run so much better in the cooler temps. It was under 70 and a nice breeze. It sprinkled a little mid run. Avg. pace was 8:35. Only mile splits I remember: mile 1, 9:02; mile 4, 8:27; mile 5, 7:57. Last mile felt good.

Shoulders and arms. He doesn't talk as much during this one, but I did shave off a few minutes by just starting my set when he announced the exercise instead of starting when they started. I also skipped the bonus round, half out of laziness and half out of time pressure. Then I did the abs. They seemed harder today, maybe because this is the first time in a few weeks that I've done the abs more than once (last week was not good, p90x-wise). I think I will not count last week and repeat this week's routine.

Treadmill miles are never fun.

Legs and back plus abs. Last time I did this workout my knees hurt for two weeks, so I did not go deep in any of the squats or lunges. This helped.

An evening 6. Temps here have been unseasonably cool. This is obviously fine for me...

The run felt fine. AP was just above 9 mm. Most of the time out of sheer impatience I run progressively faster, but I didn't have the drive today. Just a ho hum run.

It is unprecedented to be able to run at 5 pm during July without wanting to die. Yet I did just that. It was a fine run, again unremarkable. Pace was 8:47 avg.

Chest and back plus abs. Because of registration yesterday, I have to run and p90x some day this week. Today would have been perfect, but Chuck had registration. Alas. Maybe Saturday will be better.

Four super easy miles in the dark. By the time I warmed up and started feeling feisty, my run was almost over. AP was slow (9:22) but I had no need for speed.

Shoulders and arms plus abs. I did the bonus round this time around, but I skipped some of the stretching at the end.