The Anthem Richmond Marathon

So, since I can barely walk today I may as well get to blogging about this weekend! Aarik took off Friday so that we could leave early in the morning. We got started a little later than planned, but I had decided after the ridiculous week we had that we were going to avoid stress, and any outside responsibilities as much as possible. As worried as I was about the race we just didn't need any negativity or aggravation. The way that Sprint GPS took us was absolutely gorgeous. Mostly back roads & small highways. The first half of the trip we got to see lots of farm land, relax & listen to country music while Parker slept & the rest of us got to chat. Then Parker woke up & screamed the rest of the way, everyone had to go potty every 5 seconds & I got a barrage of poorly timed, non marathon weekend text messages. By the time we got to the expo we were all worn out, over being in the car and a little grumpy. Because of that, we were in and out of the expo very quickly and I never even got to see the medal I was hoping to earn the next day. I did however purchase a 26.2 magnet for the Jeep and said a quick prayer it wasn't a waste of money and we bumped into a new friend made on the Richmond marathon Facebook page who we had lots in common with. The expo was crazy crowded but looked to be very well organized, and had more than enough gear for anyone interested in spending money to help remember the event. There was ample parking outside of the convention center. They had booths specifically to answer questions for out of towners and had plenty of free maps on hand. The Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield booth even gave the kids all free cowbells to ring to help cheer the next day. Other than those things it was your typical race expo.
Our hotel was located in a pretty central spot, but let me say I was not impressed with it at all. The shower looked to have never been cleaned and the front desk girl that was there during check in & check out was one of the most rude people ever. I was thrilled, however, that there was a Denny's in the adjoining parking lot and we were happy to be able to walk over to dinner and be the only people there when we ate at 5:00. The kids, of course, love any excuse to have pancakes for dinner! Jennifer and Ray were kind enough to offer me a ride down the next morning which took a big stress off of Aarik,would let the kids get more sleep in the morning, and allow us to spend time together as a group. So Aarik and I tried to plan his route to get to the finish and signed him up to get live updates while I was running. Navigating Richmond and paying tolls every five minutes was another not so fun thing to plan around. When Aimee and I talked I found out we had broken $4000.00 and doubled out fundraising goal!! Inspiration and motivation!! We got the monkeys ready for bed, I laid out all of my race gear, we prayed & went to bed. The kids all slept great, thankfully, and I woke up every hour thinking I had overslept. At five I got up, ate a small bowl of Captain Crunch, got dressed and went downstairs to meet up with the Riska family. We spent less time than I expected looking for parking (not to say it was easy finding a place, just not as hard as anticipated). We got to watch the start of the half, go for a quick jog, found a nice warm place to go to the bathroom (if I run this race again we will stay at the host hotel. Complete opposite of where we stayed), and made it down just in time to have Ray snap a few pics, give hugs to Josh, Aimee & Callie & get in line for the start.

Jennifer and I started the race together and stayed together almost 16 miles.

I wore my hydration pack because I was concerned with all of the NY marathoners coming in at the last minute the race would run out of water & Powerade, especially if my leg gave me a fit and I was at the very back of the pack. {Sidenote: they never ran out of anything as long as I was on the course.} It was nice to be able to chat with Callie's grandma about running, our training, Callie, the course, books and anything else that came up along the way. As we ran together in our Team GSF jerseys we had lots of people yell out to us "That's right! Never Give Up!!" We were even called "The Never Give Ups" a few times. It was such an awesome reminder to us of why we were there. There was ton of course support, signs everywhere, people out with their kids & dogs. People sitting on their lawns with signs, shop owners doing their own water stops, people giving out Twizzlers, cheering... You name it! It was obvious why they call this "America's Friendliest Marathon". The most beautiful part was when we ran along the James River for a while. It was almost silent other than the sound of the water. After the water stop that we got seperated I decided to listen to music. I was really nervous about the Robert E. Lee bridge because I'd heard terrifying things about it, but it gave me no trouble at all. The wind that people talk about must have taken pity on us that day. It was where I saw people start to drop off though, some walking, hobbling, limping, some sitting down on the side. From then on out the race thinned out a good bit. When I came off the bridge one of the race volunteers said, "You've got this, if you did the bridge your fine, it's the hardest part!" How silly of me to believe her!  Truthfully, I did myself in because when I tried to walk through a water stop at mile 11 I realized if I tried to walk anymore I'd be in big trouble. For some reason at mile 20 I went against my decision from just nine miles before and decided to walk through a water stop so that I could call Aarik and let him know to start heading down to the finish area with the kids. Being the amazing man that he is, he was already in the car with them. But when I started running again it was SO painful that it slowed me down A LOT. I kept thinking about all of the people I love who I wanted to do this for, the support they had given me, and I would tell myself that I WAS going to finish this and it would end faster if I kept running and that in only "X" amount of miles I was going to finally be a marathoner. It worked, I kept running. Not running fast, but running. At mile 24 I picked up my pace again, but couldn't maintain it for the last two miles after going up an unexpected hill. When I got down to mile 26 I was searching for my family- people who knew me and loved me and would be cheering me on.

I was so happy to see Josh, Aimee, Callie and Aimee's two sisters off to the side.

Then I saw Ray, Callie's grandpa who was awesome enough to be cameraman &course support Team Callie for the weekend.

I kept looking for Aarik & the kids and then I spotted two Never Give Up shirts in the crowd and realized it was Hannah and David. Those shirts on on my two teammates gave me a little more fuel and I finished the race at the bottom of the hill. I stopped my Garmin and looked down to see 26.32 miles in 5:03:08. I'm not going to lie, over 5 hours was hard to swallow. I've always been a middle of the pack runner, but usually toward the front end, not the back end. But I reminded myself of all the trials I had overcome to get to the finish line, and how blessed I am to be able to run at all, and that at mile 21 when my legs felt like someone had set them on fire I had decided this was such an incredibly hard thing to finish this race I would be proud of my time no matter what it was. I also found comfort in the fact that I beat Katie Holmes' marathon time ;). Called Aarik, they had gotten lost and then couldn't find parking, but they were out of the car now and heading to the finish area. They found Josh and Aimee. We could meet there. Another few minutes of walking and I was given my medal. I saw bananas and bagels, but they made me gag even though I was starving. Picked up a piece of pizza and a Powerade nibbled the pizza, but then decided it wasn't a good idea and tossed it, made my way through a ton of people laying on the ground, asked a cop how to get back to the finish line, followed his directions, climbed entirely too many stairs to get to the bridge off of the island, realized the fence in the way would make it impossible for me to get back to where I'd seen everyone before, went up to the next street,walked up another big hill and finally got to see my family! My sweet kiddos started yelling "Go mommy go! Go mommy go!" And I made a controlled collapse to the curb. I found out Jennifer had crossed the finish line shortly after me & was so excited & proud for her. As we sat & waited for her to make the same confusing journey back to the family, Ray offered to take a picture of me with the family. It's my favorite one from the day.

I'm so grateful he was so thoughtful & helped preserve memories from the weekend, otherwise I wouldn't have a single picture. Unfortunately, there were tons of people with dogs around so within just a few minutes Mckenzie was screaming like a lunatic and even knocked Parker down causing him to slam his head on the road. I decided (in my not so coherent mind) that I couldn't handle anymore of the dog induced spasms, and we left. I wish that I'd been thinking more clearly for photo purposes, because I left before we'd gotten a picture of all four of us with our medals. But here are the others with theirs

They all did awesome!

I learned a lot from this race that I'd like to share. It was so much easier and harder then I thought it would be; and I definitely want to talk about the aftermath of it all, but this post is too long already, so... Next time!

It's Here

So I've been trying to figure out what to post for my "last post before the big weekend" post. I had decided not to do one because I'm not thinking clearly and wanted it to be meaningful. Then Aimee said something to me that made me really think and I woke up to an article written by Victoria Strong, and I realized what I would like to write about.
As part of my fundraising I've spent the past several months describing how this disease works. Telling everyone about all of the things these kids can NOT do because of SMA. Truth is that these kids, and their parents, are told every day what they can't, and won't and shouldn't do; then these amazing children, along with their courageous and supportive parents, go out and they DO. Their parents become innovators, inventors, and activists. They make friends with their physical therapist, neurologist & pediatrician and as a team they make things happen.  These kids DO. Some live past 6 months, some go to Kindergarten, or ballet classes, and they run distances that most adults  "can't". They teach. They are inspirations for those of us who say we can't to get up and do. Their bodies fail them daily but they don't write a blog post to complain about it, they find a way to work around it. They don't ask for pity, they ask for support. When they reach the finish line of their life, no matter what the distance they traveled, they have given it their all. They run the perfect race, finishing with nothing left in the tank because they leave it all on the course.  I hope if I happen to meet "the wall" tomorrow (it's more likely than not) that I can remember the lessons I've learned from observing these amazing people this year and push through it, keep running because I'm blessed to have a body that can run.
For tonight, we're in Richmond, exhausted from the crazy trip, pancakes in belly, wrestling a teething 1 year old  & hoping we can figure out a way to get to the start line through all of the closed, most direct roads! Prayers appreciated ;)

Forced Taper

This morning I had plans to run somewhere between 16 and 20, depending on how I was feeling, and despite being advised strongly not to. My training plan called for 12, but last week had gone so well...
After some hard core jumping in the leaves last night my right leg had started to bother me so I decided it would be better to hang out near 16. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I had to cut out at 13 because I was having so much pain in my right shin, a weird burning in my ankle and some other odd thing in my left foot. I figure it's better to gut it out in two weeks in Richmond, walk if I have to and finish than it is to gut it out now when I don't technically have to and not be able to run any of the race. Goes to show you should listen to those who are more experienced than you.

I also have seen so very many posts recently about children with SMA passing away. My heart aches for their families and my passion is ignited to continue to try to raise funds and awareness of this terrible disease. Remember, the fundraising page is here. The donation is tax deductible and for such an amazing cause. Really, this race isn't about me, or my time, or my medal. It's about why I'm running and I'm grateful that the good Lord reminds me of this frequently.

Trying to Catch Up

I need to. I need to try to catch up on blogging AND training. The month of September was so completely overwhelming that I chose not to blog about it and share all of the negativity I felt during that month. Suffice it to say we had way too much going on and I was also dealing with an injury. Between life and limb (the right leg to be exact) I missed three crucial weeks of running. Like, completely missed them. No running at all. For three weeks. When I started back just a couple of weeks ago I wasn't sure if I'd be able to run on my bum leg to catch up, or be able to make up the mileage since it would require finding my way back to the 13 I'd built up to AND adding on enough mileage to get in a few decent long runs before taper and race. My first week back I subbed for two classes at the Y, and since I taught four days of cycle in a row I couldn't get in any mid week runs. Frustrated, I went out for my long run that weekend not knowing if I'd run two or ten. Luckily, it went great and I ran nine with no problems. I stopped at nine to make sure it wasn't overkill leading to re injury after my time off. I was thrilled and renewed. I came up with a make shift training plan for the last few weeks to build up to what I feel will be an ok mileage and was looking forward to twelve the next week. The twelve went horribly. After only five miles my injured leg was screaming at me, and whatever bug my family had been passing around was nagging at me, so I decided to try the walk run method so many of the ladies in my FB Women's Marathoner group recommended. So I ran 20 minutes, walked 5, ran 15, walked 5... It was brutal, but I finished having run more than I walked. I felt defeated, and beat up and frustrated that so many things have gone wrong with this training period.  I decided to try my hardest to stay positive, any finish at any time was better than not doing this at all. I've always said I just wanted to finish. Run or walk, it's still 26.2 miles. I did a lot of praying and reminding myself that my husband has been very supportive and helpful. He totally thinks I can do this (insert nervous laughter here). So many people have contributed to the fundraising end of this deal. I thought about Callie, and her family. Again and again GSF's  "Never Give Up" on my wrist, my jeep, my t-shirt, running jersey, water bottle. After a few days I wasn't as sore, we had another busy week with no time for mid week mileage, sigh, and Friday morning I went out for my first ever fifteen mile run, worried that this type of crazy, thrown together training plan would back fire. While I was aware of my Achilles, it never went into full on pain. My knee did something weird the first mile, but eventually settled in. I spent most of the run praying in gratitude for each mile completed and asking for a few more. At mile eleven I had kept an easy, even pace the entire time and was feeling strong. At mile twelve I decided to take a quick walk break to check for pain, and was surprised that the worst pain I had was when I started running again. My pace did slow after the walk break, but I still managed to finish my 15 in just over two and a half hours. Not the pace I had envisioned a few months back, but one I'm happy with now. One i hope to be able to muster for as long as possible on November 10th. When hobbling home I had a few thoughts: a. It sucks not getting a medal for this. b. ouch and c. I hope I can add 11.2 more miles to this :-! My last long training run (18 unless i can magically bust out a 20) is this next weekend, then two weeks of taper and the race. I'm crazy nervous and terrified by the idea of being forced to walk 8-10 miles after running 16-18. Just starting to realize what I'm supposed to be doing in 26 days. I probably won't find much time to blog between now and then, but hope to at least once. I would appreciate any prayers on my behalf, or good running vibes sent out. Or donations! ;) this post is already super long & wordy so, I'll TRY to update after next week's run.

Junk food, a new job and a Yard sale

Last night I had a great run. Didn't think it would go well with the way my shin and ankle were hurting, but in one of those miracles of running the pain went away about a quarter of a mile in and hasn't come back yet. Sweet! Tonight, however, after a full and very long day, I skipped my run. I'm completely exhausted and just needed a night to be home with the kids and Aarik. To make matters worse (or, maybe better) I just sat down and ate the biggest bowl of ice cream I've ever had in my life while I watched Crime 360 on Netflix. Hey, we all need to relax sometimes!

Two more things:

I'm really excited to have been presented the opportunity to teach group cycling (spin) classes at the YMCA right by our house a couple of times a week. It will be great for my mental health and, while the pay is almost laughable, the benefits make it well worth the effort. It is one of my passions to help people work toward healthy goals, and I have worked at both Gold's Gym and Peak Fitness in the past. It will be fun to do something new in a positive atmosphere and everyone there seems wonderful. I'm hoping that the cross training will be good for my marathon training and not make me more prone to injury than I already am. While the timing is a bit tricky, this will be a great thing for me, and the rest of our crew. I'll be posting more in the near future on how it's going and how the kids are doing in the programs we are signing them up for there.

Also, on August 25th, here in Winston Salem on Jonestown Road, a few of my wonderful, giving and inspiring friends and I will be having a rummage/yard sale and bake sale with all proceeds being donated to our fundraiser for the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation. I'm so blessed to be surrounded by such amazing and charitable people. We are working to finalize plans and strategizing ways to make it as succesful as possible. If anyone out there has lots of experience in this area, buying or selling, please share tips! I am excited to be running this marathon but the reason behind all of this is to raise as much money as possible for this charity. Hitting the goal would be great, but going above and beyond that would be even greater. With a 1 in 40 chance of being a carrier of the SMA gene, I can't think of anyone it wouldn't benefit to donate a few dollars to this cause. Any locals please stop by and say hello, shop for a cause, grab some cookies, or just drop off a donation! I'll keep you posted on this and let you know how it all turns out!

Look Y'all,

If I come and frantically ring your doorbell at 7 am on a Sunday morning and tell you that your dogs just attacked me and are running loose in the neighborhood and the only reason I didn't get bit was because I screamed until your neighbor came out and then I kicked your dog, DO NOT ask me which ones. Does it look like I know or care?! Put out your cigarette, get your keys and go catch the effers before I run into them again! People who can not keep up with or control their animals should not have the privilege of owning them.

On another note, I'm so loving the Olympics right now. Best time ever to watch these people (especially the runners) live their dreams and accomplish their goals. What a lucky girl I am to have this kind of inspiration at this point in life.  It's interesting to watch the different attitudes, too. Some are just grateful to be there at all and so humble and others pouting because they took silver instead of gold. Makes me want to be the kind of person who is just grateful to even be training for a marathon. If I can just make it through training and show up on race day and finish. Even if I have to walk some of it and don't even come close to my goal finish time. Just be proud of myself for doing it. Why is that so hard sometimes? I can't think of a single time that I finished a race and felt completely satisfied. It wasn't a long enough distance or a fast enough time. I hope by November 10th I will have found the secret to being proud of the accomplishment and the effort. K gotta go, the 100 meter finals are on!

I Almost Died This Morning

Well, it felt that way. After being up all night with loud neighbors, then a teething baby and then my own frustration, my alarm went off at 5am. It was completely dark out so I rolled over until it went off again at 5:30. Repeat. At 6 I finally decided to get up, since I should have been running by then anyway. When I left the house for my eleven mile run it was 74 degrees and 100% humidity. 100% humidity. The first several miles I thought I might drown. Half of the run there was drizzle, but not the refreshing kind. The kind that happens when there is so much humidity in the air it has no where else to go but drizzle form. At the 10k point it felt like the humidity had dropped some and then by nine miles it felt worse again. Home now and it's 72 and 98% humidity. But... I DID finish. I've been training without music since I'm running on a lot of main roads and so I had lots of time to think. Today the post I wrote for Laura over at Mommy Run Fast went up. I'm so grateful to her for sharing some of her blog space/time and for her kindness. I'm also laughing at how I worded  "I had our third son" obviously that didn't come out like I thought it did. Wondering if I had mean to put "our third child, a son". Truthfully the past year has been such a blur of insanity that I'm glad that's the worst thing I did on there. I'm hoping to get a post up tonight (or maybe tomorrow...)about Parker's first birthday. For now I need to go get everyone ready for church- Happy Sunday!!

Be Careful What You Wish For & Lots of Thanks

So last week I posted about how cool it looked to barefoot run and that I'd like to try it some time. Technically, we've probably all done the bare foot thing, as kids. But for some reason, as adults, it becomes an odd thing to do. Well, we have had complete insanity in our house the past couple of weeks. Aarik is now working six days a week, and his new schedule has been quite the adjustment for all of us. We've also had tons of people in and out of our home, which means lots of cleaning for me, and my niece has been staying with us for a week now, which means more cleaning for me. :) With all that's going on I'm quite tired and kind of out of it, and finding the need to rearrange my training days- not a good combination. Friday night, after another insanely busy day, I pulled the treadmill down for the first time in months and was running around the house trying to hurry up and get dressed to do a "quick three miles". Somehow during what should have been a simple task, I slammed my last two toes on my left foot into the bottom of the toilet. After the temporary black out that comes from doing something stupid and painful, I gathered my emotions and called a friend who's husband graduated from med school recently and got his opinion over the phone. After deciding not to go to the ER on a Friday night, I tried to put my tennis shoes on and was writhing in agony. So I took off my shoes and ran 1.5 miles on the treadmill. Barefoot. My toe only bothered me when it would jut out to the side (shudddder) and I stopped at 1.5 miles because I've always heard you have to be careful to ease into barefooting. By the time I got in bed a few hours later my little toe was very swollen and all sorts of fun colors and it kept me up all night. I just didn't feel good about taking Ibuprofen while I'm still nursing. I spent several hours at PrimeCare the next day and was told that "while it was hard to know for sure because of all of the other issues (breaks) I've had" they are pretty sure it's not broken. Take a little time off for the swelling and bruising to go down, ice it, cross train and get back on the horse. So I did the time equivalent of eleven miles on the elliptical (not fun btw)  and will just repeat this last week's mileage, running, this week. SIGH. Aarik and I just keep shaking our heads in disbelief that one person's feet could be under attack constantly. It's really becoming frustrating not knowing from one day to the next if I'll even complete training for the marathon, much less show up to run it. Just trying to remember the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation's "Never Give Up" motto.

Last week we reached 50% of our fundraising goal!!! Thanks to all of you wonderful, caring people who have donated so far and to Victoria Strong who has been so supportive and helpful. Thank you for helping me reach a personal goal to be half way before the half way point.  This fundraising is SO important for many reasons, but the thing that keeps coming to my mind is that with this disease parents are told there is nothing they can do to fight it. By raising this money we are doing something! This is really the only way these families can fight back. By funding projects that give their children better quality of life and research that will one day find a cure we are doing something. I'm so grateful to all of you who have given that to Callie's family by donating in her name. You're all so wonderful & you can't know how much the support means to us all. I can only imagine how it feels to Josh, Aimee and Callie to see how many people love & support them in all they're doing as well. Thank you all again!

One last thing, Laura over at mommyrunfast.com, is a wonderful running and health food blogger. I've gotten some great advice from her blog and have been keeping up with her for a little while now. A while back she asked if I would be interested in doing a short guest post for a segment she does on Sunday's called Purposeful Running to talk a little bit about why I'm doing what I'm doing. She worked as a social worker before she became a SAHM, and being aware of what SMA is/was, wanted to help get the word out and help with the fight. Of course I jumped at the chance! She has a wonderful blog and lots of wonderful followers and this is one great way to spread awareness about Spinal Muscular Atrophy and our fundraising efforts for GSF. The post is supposed to be up this coming Sunday, July 22nd, for any of you who are interested. In the mean time, if any of you are runner's or looking to be more healthy with your eating, go check out her blog! BIG thank you to Laura!!

The Forced Step Back Week

So last week Aarik worked almost 60 hours. I ran in the 98 degree weather and with insane humidity for my mid week runs- a 3, a 5 and a 3. We have had lots going on with our house, and our car, and our kids. Not all bad stuff, just lots of stuff. Then on Thursday Aarik informed me he would be working Saturday morning from 6-12. Maybe all Saturdays from now on. Saturday mornings when I'm supposed to be doing my most important run of the week. Saturday mornings when most people want to sleep in and not get up and come to my house with my three kids at 5:30 am so I can get out the door to run. I REALLY, REALLY do not want to run on Sundays. I've done it before in a pinch, but I don't like the idea of making it a planned permanent thing, so I tried to get help. To no avail.  According to Hal Higdon it was supposed to be a step back week anyway. Bu according to my body in the past, step back weeks are a no no. Normally if I step back I pretty much have to start from scratch next long run. So I planned on running at least 11 instead of the 6 he said to run. Well, Saturday afternoon one of my very first and very favorite running buddies sent me a text to ask if I was up to running that night, so I jumped at the idea. If I could at least run the six my training plan suggested, but shoot for the eleven I wanted I would be good to go. Well, let me just tell you that a long run in the South, in the Summer, in the evening, after a crazy humid and very hot day may actually kill you. I wound up running and walking my six miles. It. Was. Miserable. Never again.

Tonight when I went out for my short three mile run I was surprised how strong my legs felt and how easy the running came. So smooth and natural, the way you're supposed to run after a step back week. Fingers crossed that my eleven this weekend will be as great! And, as a side note, I saw my first REAL bare footer tonight. No Vibrams, no moccasins, nothing. Just feet. Running in the same neighborhood as me. Completely bare foot. I felt the way walkers must feel when runners breeze past. I just watched him, feeling like I should be doing more. It was the first time I've ever thought of bare footing as an option. Pardon my French, but it just looked so bada$$. This is obviously not the time for me to experiment with it, and the lust for barefooting may pass as quickly as it came on, but for now I'm putting a pin in the idea. Considering I can't run in anything less cushioned than ASICS, I'm thinking I need to just let it go.

By the end of the month, if all goes according to plan I should be running thirteen miles. I had hopes to reach the half way point with fundraising by the time I reached the half way point in my mileage. Just a little personal goal that I think about when out running early on Saturday mornings. You have a lot of time to think when you run without music. It can be nice. Or weird. Depending on the day and what you had for dinner the night before, or how the heat plays mind tricks on you. If you know of any way to get the word out about  the fundraising page, the race and the reason PLEASE help! I am in awe of the support that has been given by my friends and family, thank you all! This is quite a journey and a lesson to experience.

Committed and Determined... or something like that

Nothing says stupid crazy committed like starting a five mile run at 8:30 on July 4th in 90 degree weather with 50%  humidity and an air quality alert.Nothing says stupid crazy determined like finishing the 5 miles faster than you did in better, early morning weather last week.:) We did do something fun for the 4th this morning with lots of friends and I WILL blog about it, but since the batteries in my camera were dead today all I have is cell phone pics and I have to email them to myself to avoid loading insane amounts of other pictures.This week Aarik started his new (thankfully temporary) schedule and so I've had to run nights, and will continue to do so until he switches to his next schedule.not my favorite but it will have to do for now. Hope everyone had a wonderful Independence Day! I'll post pics and details of all of our fun soon!

Official Richmond Training Gear

Officially two weeks into Richmond marathon training, and I get an email about official Richmond Marathon training gear. To buy, or not to buy? Kind of disappointed in the selection. When I ran the Cooper River 10k there was a HUGE selection of this stuff. Can't decide if either top is cute enough to buy... opinions? suggestions?

Go Team GSF!!!!!

Just wanted to share this blog post!  Go Team GSF! GO TEAM CALLIE!!!

Running in the South in the Summer

I'm trying to get used to getting an early start on long run days so that I don't feel like dying from heat & humidity. Last week still felt great by the time I finished running, but this morning, at almost the exact same time,  I was feeling ready to be done running & inside. While I was out though, I was making a mental tick list of things that make running in the southern summer weather a little nicer for me.

#1. Like I mentioned last week, it can suck to lug around extra weight sometimes, but I'm really starting to love running with my hydration belt. The thing about southern summers is that MOST of the time you'll be running in heat AND humidity. It can really zap your energy and it can get dangerous if you don't stay on top of hydration. A hydration belt might be a little too much for a three or even six mile run, but it's smart to at least bring a handheld water bottle along. You never know when a seven mile run might turn into a ten mile run, or the weather that feels ok when you start out, feels terrible and suffocating a few miles in. You definitely don't want to risk being stuck without water in the heat. This is the one I use
                                                                  
But if you want something a little less clunky, you could get something like this
                                                               

#2. Pacing and spacing are important. Run at a comfortable pace. No one needs  to get heat stroke, right?! And for me I'm finding it's better to space my water and whatever I've packed to refuel, evenly. Every two miles of runs longer than six miles I'll drink water or Powerade (NOT Gatorade. I hate that stuff, but some people love it). On runs longer than ten miles, I'll have a Honey Stingers energy chew with my drink of water. If I get off of this schedule it seems to be harder for my body.

#3. Start as early as you can while still feeling rested from the night before, and safe to run in the area you're running in.Today I finished at the same time I started two weeks ago. I was able to get in all the miles that I wanted to run, and although I wasn't feeling super, I ran and finished strong. If I had started at the same time I finished, it would have been miserable. I would have maybe gotten half way in before I had to walk, and once I walk I do it again, and again, and again. Frustrating and discouraging. To go along with this one, unless you know a safe place to throw extra clothing, or want to shove it in your hydration belt (mine has a little elasticized band to hold things like top layers of clothing), try to dress for your last five miles rather than the first five. Remember this is the south, in the summer, that I'm talking about, it's still like 57 degrees when I start, not 30. So it's a little chilly starting out but a mile or two in, it's comfortable.

#4. I really love that there's a decent sized stretch of my out and back that has honeysuckles and even when I'm in the neighborhood there are a few areas that are particularly fragrant. This morning I wasn't enjoying my run quite as much as last week, and was needing a pick me up right as I passed the honeysuckles at mile five. When I came back through at mile eight I was expecting the smell and it made it that much better.
                                                              

#5. No joke, watch your step. I've seen everything from dead and live snakes, to a possum that could have been dead or alive, scary looking insects, smushed squirrels, and then all of the universally found things like litter, car parts, discarded clothing etc. Which inspires my next two thoughts. First of all, someone should bring Captain Planet out of retirement
                                             
or at least keep your clothes in your car. If Bojangle's cups & beer cans aren't bad enough, I never want to see another pair of underwear while out running again. What the what?! Second, the earlier the heat & humidity start, the earlier you'll get a too strong whiff of dead animal. If it's there, anywhere, you'll know it. UGH!!

#6. If you're what I like to call a "hood runner" (you run in neighborhoods), and a people person like me, you'll probably have the opportunity to enjoy some southern hospitality. No, I'm not talking about the guy who yells "He don't bite!" at you from the door of his house as his psychotic, rabid looking dog is chasing you. You'll likely see some of those, but I'm talking about the people who sit out on their porches or work in their yards every Saturday morning. They'll notice that you are out every weekend too and they'll likely have some form of encouragement for you. Smiles, waves, cheers. Some will try to talk to you as you run, some when you are finished. They'll ask you how far you've run and be very impressed. Or tell you they "love your energy". When my mom was training for the Divas half there was a little man who would come out every week and cheer for her and tell her to keep it up and it would pay off for her. How many times I've found myself wanting to walk or stop or skip and thought of  the person who watches me every week, and kept running.

Ok, I'm dying to hit the hay, so these are my 6 tips for southern summer running. If you have any summer running tips, feel free to share them with me. It's going to be a summer full of running for me this year.

National Running Day!

In honor of national running day I decided to share some of my favorite running quotes. Pretty much all of them came from Runner's World quotes I get in my email, and they're all from different people (not me). Tonight I'm going to run between four and six miles- maybe I'll try to find someone too run with to make it more fun! If you're a runner, if you've always wanted to be or even if you hate it- today is the day to give it a run :) Enjoy!!


*As every runner knows, running is about more than just putting one foot in front of the other; it is about our lifestyle and who we are.*

*We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves...The more restricted our society and work become, the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom. No one can say, 'You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that.' The human spirit is indomitable.*



*Once you are a runner, it's always there in the back of your head.*


*Winning has nothing to do with racing. Most days don't have races anyway. Winning is about struggle and effort and optimism, and never, ever, ever giving up*


*What distinguishes those of us at the starting line from those of us on the couch is that we learn through running to take what the day gives us, what our body will allow us, and what our will can tolerate*


*When people ask me why I run, I tell them, there's not really a reason, it's just the adrenalin when you start, and the feeling when you cross that finish line, and know that you are a winner no matter what place you got.*

*Life is often compared to a marathon, but I think it is more like being a sprinter; long stretches of hard work punctuated by brief moments in which we are given the opportunity to perform at our best.*

*With a body made joyous through movement, the mind is able to relax. With mind/body balance, we can take the power of feeling good and generate compassion*


There is no failure in running, or in life, as long as you keep moving.

*Running long and hard is an ideal antidepressant, since it's hard to run and feel sorry for yourself at the same time. Also, there are those hours of clearheadedness that follow a long run*

*If you run, you are a runner. It doesn't matter how fast or how far. It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run.*

The Perfect Run

It's a rare thing, but it does happen. No, really, it happened yesterday! My running partner sent me a text around 3:15 am that her little guy had been up for awhile and asked if we could run an hour later than planned. It just so happened that I got it while I was up feeding my little guy, and so I lost no sleep answering the text, but got an hour more than planned- sweet! When I got to where we were meeting to run, the sun was just getting to a good spot in the sky and the weather was runner's perfect (on the chilly side with little humidity).

We stretched a little and tried to keep warm while I strapped on all of the gear I'm trying to get  used to carrying. *Let me just tell you that a hydration belt is both convenient and inconvenient. It's nice to have freedom to go further away and pick a different route while still having all of your stuff (water bottle, energy chews, Powerade, ID, cell phone etc) in case you need it, but it sucks to carry all of that around with you, around your waist for hours on end. Plus it looks like a gigantic backwards fanny pack, and we all know how cool that is. And today my back is killing me because I didn't have it tight enough, and it bounced around the whole run because I didn't want to stop long enough to readjust it, and spilled a decent amount of my water down my backside. Anyway, the first couple of miles were a good warm up pace around a couple of neighborhood streets. It was great catching up with my friend who hasn't been able to run in a while because of her crazy work schedule, and to laugh and commiserate about baby sleeping schedules, and life as a mom. When she had run as far as she had planned to I decided to try an out and back that I've started a few times but had been to chicken to finish. Why? Well truthfully, it's because I'm a neighborhood runner. I'm used to running where there are people, and a few stop signs, and very little traffic. This out and back is on a great road, some hills, open road, a great view, and, a stop light. Laugh if you must, but it's a stop light at a decently busy intersection. I've only ever run through stop lights once before and it was two years ago WITH a friend. Not alone. It's a bit of five year old mentality maybe, but running through a stop light is intimidating. Will people see me, or will I get hit? Will I be aware enough of them?  And most importantly- Will I have to stop in the middle of my run and just stand there, waiting? Turns out that this stop light wasn't so bad, after all. It was a great run! It felt great to get out of the neighborhood routine of running loops and cul-de-sacs and stretch my legs. It felt great to just run and think about why I'm running, who I'm running for, and how exciting it is that I'm going to run an actual full marathon. It felt great to run negative splits all the way through, I got excited each time my Garmin would beep, and I'd look down and see a faster mile than the last, eventually running a minute and a half faster mile than the first. Side note: running on more rural roads can be interesting for a few reasons. One of them is all of the things you're likely to see. Yesterday I saw a HUGE snake that had, luckily, been run over before I saw it, a possum that may or may not have been dead (yes I ran in the middle of the road to stay far away from it), and a much more experienced looking runner going out as I was coming back (this was another "big girl" moment). I stopped at eight miles because I only ran six last week, and I was scared to over do it this week and then spent the rest of the day wishing I'd done at least two more miles...next week. Another thing that made it perfect was that I ran eight miles this week in the same time it took me to do six last week. :) It was the perfect run...

26.2 miles

OK, I may throw up. It's official, if all goes well with training, I will be running The 2012 Anthem Richmond Marathon on November 10th. "America's friendliest marathon". I signed up tonight. It was a last minute change from the marathon I've been planning to run for the last several months, (Callie's Uncle and Grandma had some things change on their end & we can all run this one together) but it looks awesome! If it's anything like the website makes it look and sound, then I know this was the best choice for my first marathon. It will be wonderful to share this experience with both my family and Callie's. They have all been so supportive, both the ones who are local and the ones across the country. Now I can start getting excited... right?!?!

This week, as I've been anticipating signing up for this, I've been a ball of nerves. The anxiety has been manifesting itself in every facet of my life from motherhood & being a wife, to cleaning, to running and back again. I'm hoping that since I now know for sure which race I'm signed up to run, and have already taken the plunge, that the nerves will ease up and the training can begin. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out, with Aarik's work schedule due to change twice between now and then, and the usual life with kids thing. It's comforting that this race is two weeks further away than the other, also. Two more weeks to train and save money for the trip. Anyone who likes to pray for others, feel free to add me to your list. I'm lacking the confidence I'd hoped to have at this point in the year, and hoping that the donations, and my running ability (and excitement) will pick up again. I'm so honored to be able to join "Team GSF" and help raise money for this wonderful charity that does SO much to help improve the lives of families living and dealing with SMA.

Thank you to all that have supported me in both my fundraising and running efforts. I'll try to post as often as possible about how training is going, and keep you updated on the kiddos and Aarik too! I'm excited to share this fun and physically demanding journey with whoever cares to read about it, but hope to always keep in mind the reason that I'm doing this in such a public way. I'd be perfectly happy keeping my shortcomings as a runner to myself, especially with such a big commitment, but it's worth putting it all on the line for people to learn a little about Spinal Muscular Atrophy and maybe support the cause too! Well, here we go...

A Taste of Things To Come

So I had decided after doing the half on Sunday to take a few days off to build up my desire to run again. By Tuesday, as the sore ankles and foot were feeling a little better, and as nerves started to creep in that in a few short days registration for the marathon will open, the desire to run was back :) I did wait until Wednesday, after Aarik was at work for more than twelve hours that day I had to escape the jungle of stay at home motherhood. I ran Wednesday and Thursday evenings and made a little more time this week for weight training.

By the time I had let Aarik and the big kids sleep in a little this morning, and ate my breakfast I was feeling pretty good about setting a mileage goal for today's run. Somewhere between five and ten miles. Nothing too set in stone, but a goal nonetheless. I then decided that since I wasn't able to get out to buy some mace this week (so many wonderful people in our neighborhood let their overly aggressive dogs out, without supervision or a leash and I'm ready to take my Saturday mornings back from those jerks) I would drive to my moms neighborhood to run. When I finally got started around 8:30 I remembered why you can't start a long run that late in the morning living in the South.

Two reasons: heat and humidity. Ugh. Today was a slow, grueling, long but not so long six miler. My legs felt strong, but I don't know that my lungs ever opened up, they seem humidity resistant at the moment. When the water bottle I filled this morning was empty after 4.5 miles of watching people loading their cars for the lake, and pull out their blow up pools, I was more than ready to head back in. Luckily today wasn't an official training day, and luckily I have a friend who would prefer to get up and start running at 6 am on Saturday's starting next week. It would appear that my only logical choice for the next few months is early morning long runs. I also read this and this to make sure I'll be doing everything I need to in the coming months of much worse heat and humidity and much longer runs. Friday is registration day... I'll let you know how that goes. Our church does a 5k every Memorial day that Aarik may go run as his last race until November and I'm hoping we can get the monkey's out in the yard for some grilling, sprinkler and blow up pool playing, junk food eating holiday weekend fun. Healthier eating can wait until next week, right?!  

The Divas Half

So this past weekend was the Divas Half Marathon in North Myrtle Beach.  Originally this was supposed to be a fun girls weekend getaway and race with my mom and a close friend. Then we found a few more girls to invite and one of them had a great place to stay close by on the cheap. It was a fun group of girls and sure to be a good time, PERFECT! I was thinking I'd be able to leave Parker by now and, just in case he wasn't ready, had made a back up plan to have my sister come along to help out on race day. Well, as plans some times will, our plans changed. Several times. All of them. My sister was asked to do a house sitting job and needed to take it, so I decided to bring the whole family along, mom and I found another place to stay, not as close, but just as cheap, the original friend who had planned the trip with me had lots of things pop up last minute and wasn't able to make it down.  The night before the trip I got an email changing something important to me, that I have worked hard on and put lots of effort into and I was feeling pretty crummy about that. By the time Friday rolled around I was feeling overwhelmed by packing for five and buying and planning food for five and... well you can imagine. But we all loaded up and drove down to North Myrtle ( a place I don't personally believe to be the most family friendly beach, especially during bike week, which it was). The kids rode down great, Aarik was a champ like always, we had a great time, everyone behaved. It actually turned into a much needed, fairly peaceful family mini vacation. While we were there mom was awesome enough to take some family pictures for us. You may have noticed some of them already plastered on here.  I'm SO excited about finally having pictures with all of us in them. Especially because I actually got to shower and get ready before we took them! So here are a few pics from the trip.

Now onto the race :) I've made it no secret that training for this race has been a struggle. This was my third half but my first time not being able to stick to a training schedule. It was frustrating and made me lose a lot of the excitement I normally feel looking forward to a race, but two things kept me plugging away (as best I could anyway) #1- I needed to build a base again after not running during the end of my pregnancy and before I start training for my full and #2- my mom. This year my mom will turn 50, she won't look it, but she will be it. Last year was a very hard year for her, which isn't unusual, but it was really hard. So several months back I suggested she do this race as a way to celebrate her 50th year. Honestly, running is my thing. The thing One of the things that makes my family think I'm crazy. I was able to get my husband to do it, there was no way I could convince anyone else, right?!? Well, bless my mama's heart, she signed up for the race, and then she started training. I gave her a training plan, and a little advice, we found her some good shoes (insert ASICS plug here :), and a few cute outfits and she hit the pavement. Early on the plan was for us to do it together, like, all of it. Training, fueling, and the race. Then we got busy and had to do our training separately. She would ask a question here and there, we would talk about what our mileage would be on Saturdays, but she was on her own a lot. It was up to her to be accountable for her training, and she was. She would get up earlier than I would on weekends and get in her long mileage. She would come home from work and juggling other people's schedules during the week and get her mid-weekers in.  She worked her rear off. Since I was running all of my mileage, I decided I would just run the half and then go back and meet her. But the closer it got to race day, the more that plan just didn't feel good. So a few weeks before I decided to go back to the original plan and do the race with my mom. This race was a blast! From the expo

All the way to the finish

I enjoyed it all. Being an all women's race made it a whole different experience. The expo was full of women dying to spend money on stuff they would only use once. Pink and sparkles and crazy costumes were everywhere on the morning of the race. I have to tell you it was so refreshing to approach a race differently. Instead of spending two hours pushing myself and freaking out about my time, I spent 3 hours and 15 minutes encouraging my mom and other ladies who had never done a half before, enjoying all the support and funny signs on the course, thanking the volunteers, laughing and chatting, posting pics of mom on Facebook, and yes, texting Aarik to see if Parker was screaming (he wasn't, in case you care :) It was my favorite half marathon experience. I stayed with her all the way until a quarter mile before the finish and then ran ahead to make sure she had at least one picture of herself crossing the finish line. I am SO proud of my mom. She walked and jogged that race like a champ. She didn't stop once. She was determined, and motivated, and she finished strong and got her blingin' medal. My mom is an inspiration.

I'm so grateful for this experience, and the memories we'll always share from it. Way to go mom!

In 10 days registration for the marathon will open. Every time I think about it my stomach knots up. I'm praying everything goes smoothly, the registration, the training, my foot, the race and most importantly the fundraising. Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive so far. I was hoping to be at least half way to the goal by the time I registered for the full. There's still a little time to hope, right? If you haven't yet, please share the fundraising page. If you haven't yet, PLEASE donate or make plans to before the end of October! Every single dollar counts! Every donation will help us reach our fundraising goal and every single dollar will get us closer to a treatment and eventually a cure for Spinal Muscular Atrophy. We can help make sure that this disease doesn't continue to torture children and their families. That it doesn't continue to take children away from their families. With 1 in 40 people being a carrier of the SMA gene, you can't think you'll spend the rest of your life with out being affected by it. I am so proud to be raising money for The Gwendolyn Strong Foundation and I know that they will use every dollar to fight this terrible disease. 

If life is too crazy for blogging until then, I will definitely be letting you know once I am officially registered for the big race! Hope everyone has a great week!!

These Days...

Does anyone remember when I used to blog about my two wonderful children and the creative things we were doing? Like, two years ago?! Well, these days motherhood is a bit different. I have three gorgeous, wonderful, time consuming, funny children.

We now spend a majority of our days in pj's. If we aren't in pajamas, you can bet we are in a rush. The only pictures I get are cell phone quality (android, not iphone). Like this one of my new hair cut that Mckenzie took for me.

                                          We still do fun things, just slightly less creative on my part.

                                                     
                               We do lots of this,

                                                           
                                         make time for this,

and deal with a lot of this,

.

If you've been reading you know that I'm trying to make this a priority again

.

It. Is. Insanity.

But every once in awhile I'll get a glimpse of things that make it all worth while.

I'm hoping since it's mother's day weekend I'll get in a post sometime this weekend. This is also my last longer training run for the Divas half and I'm hoping no ear infections will stop or delay it as it is a much shorter run than I'd hoped to be doing at this point. Also, I'll let you know why an effort to prevent more ear infections for Parker makes looking at this so painful.

Quick Post

Aarik and the big kids are gone for a few minutes and Parker is sleeping so I thought I'd do a quick update.

First off, Mckenzie (4) lost her first tooth. It took forever because she literally waited until it fell out on it's own. But she was super proud afterward.

Last week I wasted two hours of my life waiting for a four minute (not joking unfortunately) appointment with foot and ankle surgeon, who did nothing but look at an x-ray that at least five other people had already looked at, and touch my foot in a few places, and send me out the door with inserts for plantar fasciitis (just started bugging me this past week), some stretches I already do, and an order to call him if the pain localizes again. Oh, yeah, and his permission to run. We also bought a membership to Sci Works last week and spent the day there with a good friend (and running buddy) and her cute boys. The place is wonderful! It's like the best of lots of kids worlds all combined in an organized way and only a mile away from home.

 The picture quality is terrible because it's from a cell, and the kids were all over the place, so I only got this picture of them. As a home school family we should have bought this at the beginning of the school year, but it's great we have it now. Maybe next time there will be more pictures to share!

In other running news: I realized this week that two weeks from tomorrow is my half marathon. Lots of things have changed from the original "girls weekend, girls race" that was planned. I'll spare you all of the changes, but as of right now, Aarik and the kids, mom and I are going down to North Myrtle for the weekend. Mom and I are hoping to meet up with the girls we were originally staying with for some Girls weekend fun and it will be nice to have time away from every day life with the family too. I'm accepting the fact that I'm going into this race very under trained. In the past I've gone into my half's over trained. It will we be interesting to see what the outcome of this race will be. I was planning to run 11 this morning but, not surprisingly, I was up all night with Parker last night and (yet another) trip to the pediatrician this morning revealed (yet another) ear infection. This is frustrating and confusing to a mother of going on seven years and three kids, who has previously had no experience with ear infections and antibiotics for kids. This is exactly why I choose to nurse my children. Isn't it supposed to prevent this kind of crud?! Hopefully tonight there will be enough sleep that I can get up and run my eleven before church tomorrow, and it would be great to get in a twelve next weekend. Here's hoping.

Last, I want to take a minute short paragraph, to thank everyone who has donated money, liked and shared our fundraising page, my blog and any other SMA fighting blogs/charities or pages. It's wonderful that awareness of this fairly rare disease is beginning to share. Social media is a wonderful partner in this type of fight. It was a blog and Facebook & Twitter followers that helped get Ellen involved in spreading SMA awareness. Please continue to share with your friends & family & neighbors. Feel free to ask me any questions you might have and I'll do my best to find answers, or find someone who can find your answers. We are getting close to the half way mark for our fundraising goal. I know that by the end of October we will  be able to look at the money we've raised, and the information we've shared, and be proud of all that we've accomplished!