In this thread we discussed things that turn us off in a blog, now here in this thread why don’t we share what we like?  What would encourage you to be a subscriber to a blog?

I’ll go first:

• Interesting and FUNNY content – I like reading cute stories about people’s kids, race reports, and some training/exercise reports (but only if that’s a small part of the post). I dont like reading about how crafty someone is because that just makes me realise I have ZERO time for crafting.
• vlogs – I don’t do enough of these, but I really like it when my favourite bloggers do because it makes me feel like I KNOW them.
• Short paragrapghs – I have a short attention span
• An easy to find subscribe sign up form – don’t make me hunt (hmmm I better correct that problem here on Mom on the Run)
• Pictures of you and your family
• Easy to read font
• Questions at the end of the post – makes me think that you’re interested in getting to know me.

Now it’s your turn – what makes a good/interesting blog?

Countdown: 24 days until #rideforheart! I’m at $315 in donations. Keep up the great work so I can reach my $1000 goal!

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An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. ‘I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.’ The old woman smiled, ‘Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side?  ‘That’s because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table.  Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house.’

Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it’s the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You’ve just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.

SO, to all of my cracked pot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path!

Courtesy of Microsoft Images

I love you all!

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Things happen fast – I recently read the book “Left Neglected” about a busy, working mom of 3 who suffers a bad head injury from a car accident on her way to work. The head injury leaves her unable to work and unable to care for her three children. It’s a really good book and really makes you realise how fast your life can change, and to re-think the priorities in your life (and if you’re a cell phone user it’ll definitely make you think twice about touching your phone while driving).

Image Source: Microsft Images

On Saturday night while the rest of us were all sleeping, my hubby lost consciousness and fell. When he fell he hit his head on something (we’re assuming it was the hard concrete basement floor). He remembers waking up on the floor in front of the TV, but not sure how he got there. He then went to bed. At 11:30 in the morning I made him get up (I was peeved because his staying up late watching TV made me miss my run). When he got up he had slurred speech, was seeing double, was dizzy, and couldn’t walk a straight line. He told me what happened so I took him to the hospital where he spent the day undergoing a battery of tests. They’ve been able to determine that he did not have a stroke or a seizure, and that he does not have a brain tumour.

Since then his head injury has lingered and he has been unable to drive, work or concentrate. It’s been 4 days now and he’s just starting to see better, talk better, remember more and his wit is coming back. I’ve never been so happy to have him poke fun of me and my quirks. He’s still undergoing tests to find the cause so that they can perhaps treat it to prevent this from happening again. It’s times like this that I’m thankful for our healthcare system.

My husband would be embarrassed that I told you all this – but I want you to consider how precious your loved ones are – to give them hugs, love them everyday and to cherish all that makes them unique. Anything can happen in the blink of an eye.

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So what does busy kids have to do with hockey?
When hubby gets home he hugs us all says “Hi”, turns up his nose at the yummy HEALTHY dinner I created, makes himself a sandwich (or worse, brings home his own fast food to eat) and then proceeds to hide in the basement watching hockey until it’s time to put the kids to bed, which incidentally always coincides with 2nd intermission.

Here’s my BEEF:
Yo! I’m freaking exhausted! Why does HE get to hide? Why is – “it’s the playoffs honey” a valid excuse? Why can’t *I* come home to a cooked dinner, change into some comfy clothes, then go hide in the basement by myself? Why is the kitchen clean up, supervising the kids as they ride their bikes up and down the street, taking them to the park and around the block, and cleaning up after them ALL MY JOB?

Ladies – am I the only hockey playoff widow out there? I’m super duper tired. I can’t focus at work. My brain is MUSH! Why can’t I relax for an evening each week. One evening. That’s all I ask. What TV show can I insist on watching ALL. BY. MYSELF. every week? It’s been so long since I’ve had quiet ME time that I don’t even know what else there is on TV, yanno, besides hockey.

So this is why I hate TELEVISED hockey. It steals my spouse. I can handle one night a week, but not every single night for months on end. My kids are far too busy for me to be short staffed in the parent department. Hockey – get off my TV. Thanks.

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I. HATE. HOCKEY.

Not the hockey my daughter plays – but the kind that’s on TV every night. EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. The kind that gives my husband an excuse to hide in the basement for 3 hours to watch the “playoffs” from now until mid-June.  WTF?! Why can’t *I* hide in the basement for even ONE night?  I would LOVE that!

Tell me ladies – am I the only one?

Oh and a note to the Senators… Please LOSE. The longer you stay in the playoffs, the longer my hubby has an excuse to hide. Mmmmm kay?  Thanks.

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I admit it – I have MAJOR separation anxiety from them.  I know nothing bad will happen when I’m gone, and I know that they probably won’t even miss me.  But I miss them, and for many years I used this as a reason not to run.

Thankfully I’ve finally figured out a balance that works for us:

Baby naps, mama runs, kids play with daddy.

So today, while baby napped, and the big kids played with daddy, I got out there and ran.  I had no idea how far I wanted to go (that’s the problem with not having a race to train for), so I just let my feet take me where ever they wanted to go.

Apparently they wanted to go 6.63km – I’m not really sure why, but that’s how far they led me. Then afterwards I got to enjoy an amazingly long stretch OUTSIDE (it’s finally warm enough here in Southern Ontario to stay out after a run without freezing my butt off):

Love, love, love! Now I can go back to being a happy mommy. Yay! Thanks for sleeping Amber!

QUESTION: How do you find time to run?

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So it’s been EONS since I posted here (eons = 1 month), but yesterday I got the little nudge that I needed to start bringing some bloggy goodness to this little neglected blog.  What was the nudge?

This tweet:

Imagine that!  That’s ME!  Little old @fitcheerldr – Ranked #7 on the Top 10 Canadian Mom Bloggers on Twitter list by PR powerhouse Cision.   Wow. I’m in shock.  Total complete shock. 

When I started blogging here I was just looking for an outlet to talk about my running, but about a month later I found out I was pregnant with our first daughter – that was almost eight years ago. Over the past eight years this blog has allowed me to share the joys of giving birth to not one, not two, but three wonderful little girls – and many of you have been reading since the beginning.

Then, 2 years ago I needed to make a positive change.  Mom on the Run had become an outlet for me to complain about solo parenting, and wallow in self pity while I was in the throes of post-partum depression.  So I started my other blog:  Fitness Cheerleader to motivate myself to start seeing things from the positive side and to get back to running, fitness and exercise.  Mom on the Run was forgotten.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that this whole Cision thing has me thinking about my sites:
Fitness Cheerleader and Mom on the Run.

Perhaps I should come up with a little blogging plan - What belongs here on Mom on the Run, and what belongs on Fitness Cheerleader?  Lately I’ve been writing everything at Fitness Cheerleader, but perhaps it doesn’t all belong there?  Maybe my general posts about health and wellness belong there, and this blog can be about my running, and parenting and my life?

What do you think?  Is anyone still here?

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I set a new PR!

1:52:47

Next? Around the Bay 30k Road Race!

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I totally wimped out today. I was supposed to get up and run 19k before hubby left me to solo parent while he went out for a great “Guys Weekend” (road hockey, poker, video games, beer and lots of chicken wings). But when I woke up I was greeted by this very beautiful sight:

Gorgeous!

But not fun to run in. The thermometer is hovering near 0C which means that snow is heavy and wet – the kind that turns to slush under your feet and very quickly. Ya know, the kind that quickly leads to these babies:

Blisters – my nemesis.

The Chilly half is two weeks away – not quite enough time for one of those to fully heal. So I wimped out and went to a nice warm and dry BodyPump class instead. I’m glad it’s a long holiday weekend here (Family Day) ’cause this gives me another opportunity to get this LAST long training run in on Monday.

Tell me, am I the only one who wimps out?

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Wow girl! You’re 15 months old already!! Where has the past year gone? You are growing up to be a very happy and smart little girl – eager to play and chase your sisters around the house.

Lately you’ve been a bit cranky though – I think you may be teething, and getting your “eye” teeth. You have a total of 12 teeth now – the four front teeth across the top, four front teeth across the bottom, plus four molars. There’s a gap between those four front teeth and the molars for your eye teeth that I believe you’re working on getting now. That said, you love to eat with your beautiful little chompers, especially your favourite foods: Pizza, Buttered pasta, fries, cucumber, green melon and mommy’s Chobani yogurt:

You, my darling, are VERY independent! When you notice us getting ready to leave for work/school/shopping/out to play etc, you get your jacket off of your hook, bring it to us and say, “Go… Go… Go!”. You just love to try and do things youself, and you get so mad at us if we try to help you.  Socks are your favourite – you take them off yourself at bath time, and put them in the laundry hamper for mommy and daddy. When I try to take your socks off for you you throw a VERY big temper tantrum! Oh the injustice!

I saw these socks called Ezsox and thought they’d be perfect for you:

You could grip the little handles on them and pull them on and off yourself!  I also saw that they give 40% off to their facebook fans so I “liked” them in order to get you some.  It’ll be really cute to show you how to do it, especially since you’re so keen on doing EVERYTHING yourself.

Ahhh speaking of doing things yourself, little miss independent…. You love swimming lessons with daddy – but aren’t too keen on doing what everyone else is doing.  You really like to jump from the edge of the pool into daddy’s arms – you don’t even mind getting your face wet!  One night daddy was too sick to take you, so I took you to your class and I had to do an “underwater pass” with you.  This is when the instructor passes you underwater to me! I thought for sure you would freak out but you loved it!!  Holy moly kiddo – you LOVE to swim!!!

Oh Amber – you have no idea how perfectly you fit into this family – we love you, your independence and your bright beautiful smile so much!

Thank you for being part of our lives – I love you!!

Love,

Remember: “You’re only one workout away from a good mood!”

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