Rock Orange Five

Training Update & A Possible Fall Half Marathon

2013-07-25T10:42:00.001-04:00

Currently I am just over 4 weeks until my next race(s). I say 'races' loosely. My first race is a mile race that is part of the Crim Festival of Races, the night before the 'big event.' Which, for most everyone I know that is participating, is the 10 Mile race. It is a huge event in our area each year. Even people that "don't run," run this race.

But me. I am not doing the 10 Mile race. I am going to enjoy every minute of the 1 Mile race the night before with FratBoy1, hopefully at a pace that doesn't ruin me for the next day. And then, come Saturday morning, I will be rocking the 8K (5 mile) to hopefully a shiny new PR.

Seriously, everyone in town does this race.
(Source)

Last year I finished in 55:20. I was about 10 pounds lighter, with consistent training leading up to the race. When I looked at my Garmin splits from last year, it appears that my running intervals this year are faster, so fingers crossed that I will be able to pull this off! But from now until then, I am in serious training mode. No more 2 runs a week for me. I have a calendar that is going onto the fridge. And you know the calendar on the fridge....makes it official.

I do have one thing that complicates this a bit. But just a tiny bit. I am [this] close to registering for a Fall Half Marathon. It's a semi-loca race in Frankenmuth, MI right in the heart of beautiful fall weather! Early October. I managed to notice that the RunDisney Tower of Terror 10 Mile race is the same day, so I am adapting their training schedule to mine. I have some monkeying around for the long run on the Crim 8K race day, but otherwise it fits into my schedule. This also means a couple longer runs before the 8K, that I wasn't previous planning. I have a 7,8, and 9 mile run on my schedule all before the 8K race. But I am going to take them SLOW and hopefully be ok come race day.

My kids haven't made it to a finish line of any of my races (well FratBoy3 was asleep at last yrs Crim). So I think it would be fun to do a local half, and then be able to enjoy a lunch following as a family, at one of my favorite places in Michigan. Going to do the next few long runs on my schedule and then make the decision.

What does your race schedule look for the rest of this year? Any 'fall' races planned?

A Little Garmin 10 GPS Fun

2013-07-24T12:49:00.000-04:00

This was at 8:30pm!

Even with the crazy humidity and heat we have experienced lately, I have gotten every run done outside! Patting myself on the back for this one, because last year, I would have forgone pushing through for hitting the treadmill. (I will say that last Thursday's run was like running through bath water. gross)

As a complete engin-nerd, I have been playing with wanting to make either a crazy shape with my run route, or just interested in seeing what my lawn mowing path looks like on GPS. Yes. I am a crazy & wild gal. :)

RUN ALL THE ROADS!

Last week I ran over from my parents house and tried to run as many roads and hit as many old stomping grounds as possible. I hoped this would look more 'flower petal' like. Fail. I did manage to run by my first childhood home, my elementary, junior high, and high school, and downtown right by the favorite hometown pizza joint.

Ye Olde Stomping Grounds....

Next I was figuring if I had to mow the lawn, I could at least find out how far I walk while doing it. Turns out 3.19 Miles. Pretty sure that looks like my 4 yr old's best coloring efforts right there.

Now for the Finale. Wait. Are you sitting down before you see the craziness of my next GPS tracking?

A high school track oval.

I know what you are thinking....Boy! This girl has to be a blast when she gets out. Out of the loony bin. :)

I doubt there will be any answers for this....Ever do a run, just to see what it looks like on GPS?

Recap :: Bastille Day 5K

2013-07-19T16:20:00.001-04:00

Last Saturday I did something that I was looking forward to doing for over a year! I PR’ed my 5K time!!

As most of you know, this year has not been what I expected, and have only recently began running again. (Sometime in June??) Going into the 5K on Saturday, I knew I could PR my time from last year’s 5K – 40:16. But how much of a PR was the question.

Friday night as I laid out my clothes for the next morning, I declared my race goals to the world. Well….not the world. Just Facebook.

A+ Goal :: ~33 minutes

B Goal :: less than 36 minutes

C Goal :: less than 40 minutes

On Saturday morning, I woke up EARLY! Like a whole hour earlier then I needed. 5:30 am. Early. (I have a hard time waking up at 5:30 during the week day!) But I am so glad I had that time. I didn’t feel rushed once, and managed to take advantage of my nervousness to get some important business out of the way. (You know what I am talking about….that is if you have raced before.)

I snarfed down a Luna Caramel Nut Brownie bar for my breakfast and grabbed my sample pack of Energy Bits to eat ~20 minutes before the race. (What are Energy Bits, you say? Will have a post about them soon!)

Managed to get a great parking spot and met up with my racing buddies, and walked over to get our bibs. Nothing exciting or of great note; but I loved going to a local race for the ease and comfort that I had from knowing the area. Bib pick-up, race start & finish were all within a block from parking lot. So nice.

Soon it was line-up time for the start of the 5K, and I knew I wanted to PR. So I planned to run my own pace while my run buddies were going to take the race as it came. (Both gals recently had knee/foot injuries that slowed them down the week before – and in the end, they did so great! And beat me by ~30 seconds)

I took the Galloway approach to this race, and was feeling great! Until the 'hill.' Once again my Garmin makes this look like nothing. (Sure wish I could change the Elevation scale from my watch....Garmin said they don't currently provide this option) My 'website mapped' course gives a more zoomed in appearance of the elevation.

Yes, I realize that this hill isn't that big. But for me, it takes a great deal of mental effort to push myself up a hill. Or honestly it is more like dragging myself up a hill. Hills in any form are when my negative thoughts pick up, and it is no longer about the race at all in those moments. It is to talk myself through the fact, that I am worth the effort to push through and not quit. Even on Bunny Hills. The Mental War happens. Every. Time.

(That is more like it. Actually looks like a hill now.)

I had to talk myself into keep going from the half way point of that hill to the top. Luckily the turn back to the finish, is ALL DOWN HILL. I was able to recover mentally and physically to really kick it back into gear at the end.

(I love this level of detail in running. It's the engineer in me.)

Best Pace of 7:42 in the last minute?!?! I am telling you it was a great minute! Something about my form and changing my stride was the most magical feeling. It felt like I was flying. What is even crazier is that my 'best pace' during my run portion of my intervals was improving as the race went on. (Note to self :: start speed work to experience this more)

Note to self, that tank may be

'supportive,' but it isn't the

most flattering...

I flew across the finish line and immediately saw my running buddies who also just finished. We were all so happy and proud of our finishes! Even better....I got into my A+ goal range!!! 33:54 minutes.

I'll take that as a PR....for now ;)

Fairbanks 4 Miler & Return to the Galloway Method

2013-07-12T15:00:00.001-04:00

As it seems to be the new normal, my running week finally started on Wednesday this week. It was the perfect evening for a run! We had been dealing with some bad humidity the few days before, but a nice rain storm passed through and it has been perfect ever since!

So perfect, right?

I took to a nearby dirt road for an out and back route that has a few 'hills', but it is interesting enough for the scenery that I don't mind nearly as much. (Such a pretty sunset that night!)

Just a few hills....

As I really want to meet my goal of improving my mileage and reaching 42 miles this month. Which is apparently the only goal this month I am trying to achieve from my list. (All other goals haven't been started yet, at all.) Anywhoo...I ran 4 miles. I haven't ran 4 since February on the treadmill!

I am still working on getting my former endurance back from last year, and unfortunately still several pounds up from earlier this year. I wanted to push my pace and get further mileage in for a run. My goal was to survive the run without feeling like I was going to have to call for a pick-up, somewhere along my route. The result of this thought process steered me in the direction of a return to run/walk intervals. Or as RunDisney fans call it 'The Galloway.'

To date, I have only ran 1 race straight, without using intervals - last yrs 5K and current PR (40:16). For training all of last year, if it was under 4 miles, I didn't walk. Anything over that and I would do intervals for the training run. I personally want to be able to run those distances without walking, but find whenever I do intervals, I actually increase my pace easily.

Run/Walk Intervals make crazy pace graphs!
(the quick stop was to pick a pebble out of my shoe)

So I quickly programmed my watch to do intervals (3 min run /1 min walk) and did my run. Sure I had parts I wanted to quit. (I think I say this on every run recap) I certainly had to talk myself out of changing my intervals to 2:2, around the 3 mile mark. But I was able to push through. I even managed to kick it into high gear during my last interval and max my pace to 8:42 (mile 3) and 8:38 (mile 4). Go ME! I did not manage to maintain a consistent pace it seems at all. And I reduced my pace later in my run, to ensure I wasn't going to quit on myself. I managed to to finish with an 11:22 avg pace, where lately I am much closer to 12 minute averages.

My 'Best Pace' in each mile is crazy fast for me!

Tomorrow I have a 5K race that I really want to PR. Last year was my first 5K and it was a Challenging Trail course that I ran in 40:16. Late last year and earlier this spring, I had strong confidence that I could CRUSH my time by an good 6-7 minutes. Now that I am getting back out there this summer, I know I can still PR, but will be completely surprised if I get a 4 min or more pr. I am so much slower this year. But...Going to try though!

Week in Review :: July 1-7

2013-07-09T12:51:00.001-04:00

It's currently Tuesday and I was ready to write this post on Sunday night...yet for some reason, my blogger post page isn't letting me write in the text box. DRATS!

So doing this a slightly, old school way, writing this in an email to post. Hopefully this works out ok. Not sure what I did to piss off the Blogger Gods, but I apologize! :)

Anywhoo...

Back to wrapping up last week. Man. Holiday Weeks are hard. Always. Between signing myself up to make a 5qts of Ice Cream and ~100 Chocolate Chip cookies, I went into actual Fourth of July on very little sleep. Totally worth it though. The Ice Cream and cookies were a big hit! (I use Jeni's Ice Cream Recipes - find on amazon)

After running my boys to the parade, which they patiently waited for 1.5hrs to see in the blazing hot sun, we ran home, finished making out goodies and ran back out to the Family get-together at the lake house. While there I was able to finally get my first run in for the week! (Which you may have read about when my Garmin tried to diminish the size of the hills I ran - speed bumps apparently)

Friday brought a work day. Horrible idea to work on the day after the 4th. Tired. No air conditioning, etc... HOWEVER, I was out the door by 2pm, as my boss took pity on me! I ran off to Old Navy, where I picked up a new Running outfit (who needs regular clothes???) for get this. $0.02 total! I had a $30 rewards coupon and the store was all 30% off. SCORE!

Throw in an ER visit and follow up Doc visit during the same week, and that was my week. Pretty much.

I did manage a last ditch Sunday night run with my SIL to get a 2nd run in for the week. I did have to question myself on driving 20 minutes away to run 3 miles, only to drive the same 20 minutes back. But it was a good time. We may have come up with the best themed 5K run ever at the same time. Running endorphins make your brain work in magical ways :) (Wouldn't a 'Match.com 5K' be a great idea? Serious 'speed dating'!)

Accomplishments for this week....or not.

2 runs for a total of 6 miles - My schedule couldn't have possibly allotted to get all my runs in. So I have to pick it up this week to make up my miles if I want to get my goal of 42 miles per month for the remainder of the year.
0 of my 2 DVD/Pinterest workouts...not much of an excuse early in the week.
Not weigh myself. FAIL. This is a harder challenge then I thought it would be!! Confession, I did weigh myself on Saturday and Sunday. It was a rough week with sleep, emotions, and eating at times. I had to see if I was keeping on track or getting into trouble. So far ok. (I have managed to avoid the scale since, but it is difficult. I have to talk myself out of it each morning)

Claiming My Blog with Bloglovin'

2013-07-09T11:22:00.001-04:00

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/4764537/?claim=pff5hhpjx3r">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Changing the Perspective

2013-07-05T12:01:00.001-04:00

Dear Garmin,

I love you. I love my watches (FR60 & Garmin 10), and how they feed into my geeky engineering side of tracking, measurements, and fun graphs.

When you help me track my heart rate during a run and then show my heart rate improves with further training, you make my nerdy heart sing.

But this morning, when I uploaded yesterday's run and see the below elevation graph....

Elevation as mapped by Garmin 10 watch

I about cried (well, not really). In appearance, that looks like a fairly flat run, doesn't it? In reality, it was SO not the case. I may not have ran up giant mountains or hills. But the scale of the graph makes it look like I may have only ran over speed bumps. I actually questioned myself on if I bad up those 'hills' in my mind. But then I remember coming to a portion of the road where it was a VISIBLE HILL. It had quite the incline.

I struggled up the 'hills' during my run yesterday. I forced myself to not walk until I reached the peak of each 'major' one I did. (Which was, I am happy to say, only twice!) I could feel my heart rate going nuts, and I was so out of breath. I wanted to quit so bad, and just walk back to my family party with my head down because of how tough that run felt. (Granted I did just eat dinner and have dairy filled ice cream, so that may not have helped....but I felt those hills.)

So what did I do? I mapped my 'course' through Garmin's site, and got the below elevation graph. (Take that Garmin, I used yourself, against, yourself!)

Elevation as mapped by Garmin website

I am pretty sure, if I changed the scale of my 'watch' elevation, it would look more like the above. But I can't seem to be able to do that on my activity log.

Changing the perspective of the graph, now changes my perspective of the run. It was tough, I wanted to quit, and the original scale made me think 'that run should have been easier!' Now, I can prove to myself, it was hard, but I also worked hard. It wasn't a great time - 36 min (12min pace). But I did it and didn't quit. Which is the more important part to me. No matter what a graph my show me.

Road ID Bracelet Replacement & Tour De France Pop Quiz!

2013-07-03T14:49:00.002-04:00

Last Fall I purchased my oldest FratBoy a RoadID bracelet, so that when he was off enjoying 1st grade on the school bus, fields trips, etc...This mommy had a piece of mind that his personal ID was right on him. I have purchased my other 2 younger Fratboys their own RoadID bracelets as well, and they love having them.

(Click though to Check out Road ID)

But, even if you don't have school-aged kids that are away from home/parents for hours everyday, just think of how useful these would be on a Family Vacation (Disney, anyone??). If you happen to get separated, your kids can walk up to a Theme Park employee, show their bracelets and can get back in touch with you, that much faster. (However I hear that Disney's employees are incredible at finding and getting kids back to their parents) This was just something that really hit home with me.

~65% of the info has been scrapped right off!

So when FratBoy1 showed me that he has throughly worn his RoadID out, I went right back to the source to get him a new one. As I was searching through our old orders to make sure I got his exact bracelet remade - I found that RoadID has 100% LIFETIME REPLACEMENT! (FYI- on the Steel Band portion only)

One quick email to customer service giving details of our previous order and a pic of the bracelet above, the team at RoadID, happily and quickly, fully replaced my sons well used and loved bracelet! How awesome is that?!? It was noted from Customer Service that the amount of wearing on FratBoy1's bracelet is very rare. Which I completely can attest to. My other FratBoys also wear theirs 24/7 but as they are not climbing metal recess equipment and participating in other big kid activites; their bracelets are still in great condition. (Mine is pristine as I only have worn it for outside runs for over a yr)

I said my boys were active! :)
FratBoy3 trying out the new electric motorcyle.
His Green RoadID can been seen on his right wrist
(FYI - Papa is holding him upright, just off screen!)

Check out RoadID, and while you are there check out their Tour de France daily Pop Quiz giveaway! When you submit an entry, you will get a coupon code for your next order within the following 24hrs.

A possible win to the Tour next year (wine, bread, & cheese!!), and then also a coupon to order your own RoadID?!! Sweet, right?

Goals :: July 2013 & Revising Year Goals

2013-07-02T14:38:00.003-04:00

I'm looking to kick it up a notch this month! I'm declaring July month goals along with revising my 2013 Year Goals.

Original 2013 Goals

Revising Original 2013 Year Goals

Life got off track this year in ways that I wasn't expecting and it has taken me longer to get back into the swing of things. In turn this means that I have to adjust my sails a bit and reduce/make new ones.

Get down to 138. Still working on this one. Not giving up on this one ever!

My #13in2013 races goal isn't going to happen unless I take part in a slew of virtual races this summer/fall. Not going to completely write this goal away. I just don't have it planned out at this point.

Run 1000 miles. SO not going to make this goal. I haven't hit my monthly mileage once this year. Going to give myself a non-guilty pass on this one and will most certainly try again next year. Going to revise this to running 350 miles. I have [almost] 100 miles in for this year already and will have to average 42 miles per month for the remainder of the year. Not going to lie, this is going to be tough. But this gives further incentive to get each run in and push my mileage a bit.

PR 5k, 8k, 13.1 I have a 5k this month, and my 8k registered for August. Haven't pulled the plug for a half marathon yet this year. May find myself registering by the end of July/August if my runs improve and I have more faith in my fitness by then.

Do a Sprint Triathlon. This.Without a Doubt.Isn't happening. May still go after a local Duathlon, but need a new bike and haven't ridden once this year. Would love to make this happen though. The race I would target is in September, so I still have a 'little bit' of time to work on this.

Game Nights with TinyFratBoys. We haven't been doing this at all, but lots of fun is happening! Which was the point anyways.

Complete Family Cookbook. Does it count if I have acquired more of my grandma's cookbooks this year? I spent over an hour the other night pouring over a set of her old cookbooks and looking for her recipe notes in the pages. Love that she wrote in her books. I have taken to doing this now with the dates that I have made something.

July Goals

Hope to improve upon my June work and push myself a bit. All the above is attainable, but working my schedule out for the runs/workouts/sewing to happen is the biggest challenge!

Give up the scale. I don't have a deep rooted, mental anguish with the scale. I just want to see if I can deal without checking myself on it daily. This does not mean I won't be trying my hardest to eat right, keep to my calorie allotment, or give up on losing weight. It is just a personal experiment. Not sure how it will go. If I will be happy once I step back on the scale at the end of the month, or if I will learn to 'feel' my weight with my clothing. Or find that I have gained when I wasn't watching so intently. (God I hope not!! *firstworldproblems)

Run 3x per week. This month I want to step it up and make running a more solid fixture in my weekly schedule. I am not currently planning on sticking to particular days as our family schedule is never the same week to week. I do know weekends and Wednesdays tend to be our lighter load days.

July Mileage = 42 miles. From what I see, in order to do 42 miles this month, I will have to average just below 11 miles a week. This means at least one of my runs each week will need to step it up into a 4 mile zone. I hope to have at least one 5 mile run this month. But in generally want to settle into more mileage and building a good base.

Do a Jillian Michaels DVD / Pinterest Inspired Workout 2x/wk. Pretty much self explanatory on that one. Yeah, well, I am going to explain it anyways. I want to just ~20 minutes, 2 times a week. Nothing life changing, not a daily 30 day shred challenge. I have never made it through the 30 days any time I have 'challenged myself.' So not going to set myself up for failure and going to allow that these can be on run days, if I have time and want to spare myself laundry, being sweaty, and having to take a 2nd shower for 5 days every week. *Yup. Really, going to push going to myself this month, but not enough that I have to take an extra shower everyday (sarcasm). Nor do I have the time to work out 5 days a week.....

Source:: Sarah Jane Studios (Children at Play)

Make 3 Quilts for #100quilts4kids. I like kids. I do have 3 of my own. I really like fabric. In particular girlie fabric. Which really, has no business in my house with boys, long term. So I need to work my way through it. Take the above, I have a half yard of each of those prints and that is only one quarter of the collection!! (which I own) I haven't cut into any of the girl part of the collection. So time to use some of it up for Katie's #100quilts4kids.

So that's my July and rest of 2013 plan. I am sure it is going to change some. I am sure I won't meet all my goals - but I will adapt and push to do as much as possible!!

Recap :: June 2013

2013-07-01T15:42:00.000-04:00

Can you believe it is JULY already?!? I swear, I blinked in March and jumped to July. And seeing that the 4th of July holiday is upon us, I am really wishing that I wasn't working this summer. It hasn't felt like summer has hit at all for us in our family yet. I will say my boys are loving their summer activities at daycare, but lazy, fun filled days over at the lake hasn't happened for us once. Hopefully this week will change that!

As June has officially ending, it is RECAP time. My last recap was in February. (maybe this is why it seems we jumped 4 months in a blink of an eye).

This was the first full month back into watching my eating and back into 'regular' running. (If you call getting 2 runs in a week 'regular) But I am happy to be back at it, and looking forward to attacking July with a slew of goals....and possibly banishing something from my life for the month - details to follow!!

First up...
RUNNING
Got a solid start back into running this month, not as frequent as I would like, but busting out 3 miles each run now. Total miles was ~25 miles (dailymile rounds down), with it being a mix of treadmill and runs outside with my SIL and friends.

DeanaRO5 @ DailyMile

I did get a solo run outside for the first time this year on Saturday. I had a great (for me) first mile but then quickly had to start doing intervals for the remainder of the run. It wasn't easy at the end, and I wanted to quit when I reached my house just before 2.6miles, but made myself push to at least 3.1miles. I can't wait until my fitness from last year returns to me and I can bust a 3.1 mile without wanting to quit nearly as much :)

WEIGHT
This month, I got back into tracking my calories and watching what I eat. Which means, as clean as possible, and limited fast food. Translating to a couple Taco Bell runs, and approximately 3 chicken nugget & french fry meals. (There is only so much this momma can do to avoid a fast food. And some nights momma needs a night off from cooking!)

Clearly my weight was ALL OVER THE PLACE this month. I was also 'this close' to making it into the 150's in June. I blew it one night with some stressed out, tired eating. I have been working my way back down ever since. (How is it so easy to put on, but literal tough work, to work it back off?!?)

I am so excited to be back at it. Improving my running and getting back on track with my eating and weight! Bring it on July. I have goals and I look to smash them!

Make Mine Dutch Apple

2013-06-27T14:02:00.002-04:00

Today is going to be a bit 'Totally Tangent Thursday' style....

(Source :: Runners World)

Runners World's Mark Remy has been creating Runner Meme's - yesterday they linked to 50 of his 'Quirky Motivation Posters'. Many are one that I can related to, but in particular, I provide my favorite above. (Just make mine Dutch Apple)

(Source :: Just Jared)

Summer fun music is in full swing!! You may remember my spring music playlist additions. I am currently making a list of songs I want to add, RIGHT NOW! Selena's 'Come and Get it' (you know it's catchy, just admit it!) and Mackelmore's 'Can't Hold Us', have made the list so far.

Getting so close to my 100 Mile mark for this year!I can almost feel my happy new shoes on my feet! Last night's run was late, but with the help of Netflix and the basement treadmill, I pushed through to get a run a full 3 miles. No Walking! It wasn't super long or super fast, but a good mental and physical accomplishment as missed ~9 weeks of running this spring! This was my first full 3 mile run since and as I want to get to 14-16 mile week averages, I need to get some good solid running under my belt a bit more frequently.

If there was one treat you could reward yourself with after a hard run, what would it be?
Apple Pie is always on my list of favorite foods, if easily accessible at home after runs, it would always be my first choice!
Any new music on your summer playlists? Share below!

Catching Back Up....

2013-06-25T14:12:00.001-04:00

I am finally feeling like I am back on a good trend for running lately. It certainly isn't as often or as long as I would love, but I am getting out there. *Shout out to my SIL and her friends that have started a 'Couch to 10K' program and have invited me to come run with them at least once a week. Totally helping me to get out there regularly!

Below is my running mileage per week so far this year. See that big gap in the middle? That would be an unexpected time off.

I want to get to where my regular weekly mileage is around 14-16 miles per week. I sure need to get more then my average 2 runs in per week that have been happening lately to make this happen!

One thing I am pretty happy about is the fact that I 'WILL' be hitting 100 miles for this year very soon!! So going to try my hardest to have this happen this week. Once I hit that nice milestone, I am going to start using these new beauties....

My current shoes have ~330 miles on them, been through a Color Run, and now have mowed the lawn twice in the past month. Suffice to say, they are getting grubby and worn out! My plan is to hit the 100 miles this week and then start using my new shoes once/twice a week for a bit, so I can ease into them and still add more miles to my old pair before officially retiring them.

So now you are officially caught up. Or is it, that I am caught up? :)

Hope this week is starting off well and give a shout out of what you have been up to lately!

Endorphin Warrior Winner & Princess Half Registration!

2013-06-12T14:01:00.001-04:00

Last week kicked off my Endorphin Warrior giveaway and wanted to share that Marathon Mom won! (Jen - you should have gotten an email from me, let me know if you didn't)

____________________________________________________

Yesterday opened the Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend Registration. I am so happy to have finally registered for one of my bucket races!!

I decided against the Glass Slipper Challenge as I originally had thought about, but going to go and fully enjoy the Princess Half with a sister-in-law and hopefully make it a girls weekend with a few more friends registering.

I checked the sell out status this morning on RunDisney.com and found that the Glass Slipper Challenge sold out yesterday within hours of opening registration! The Enchanted 10K, will be close behind I think! I hope registration stays open for a bit longer so that a few people that are on the fence about going with us, are able to sign up. (fingers crossed!)

Overall, I am so excited and yet scared! Ready to get back to Disney to improve on my Wine & Dine experience, and take as many fun pictures as we can! Now I just have to get my runs more consistent and moving forward.

Did you or anyone you know sign up yesterday?

What bucket race is on your list?

National Running Day & One Run for Boston

2013-06-04T12:33:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow is National Running Day!

National Running Day, held annually on the first Wednesday in June, is a day when runners everywhere declare their passion for running. Wherever we are and whomever we’re with, we run—fast or slow, alone or with others, all over town or just around the block. It is a coast-to-coast celebration of a sport and activity that’s simple, inexpensive, and fun. It’s the perfect way for longtime runners to reaffirm their love of running and for beginners to kick off a lifetime and life-changing commitment. (Source :: RunningDay.com)

I still consider myself a new runner....even if I started running over a year ago, completed a 5K, 8K, & Half Marathon. I still feel like a newbie....But what I love about National Running Day is the celebration of running and how it makes the runner feel. Or possibly why they run. No mention of speed or competition involved, just your own personal statement of why You Run.

Over on the National Running Day website, they provide templates for blank race bibs and blank signs to share your personal reason for running. Get your own blank 'I Run' signs or running bib HERE!

For my personal statement of why 'I Run' - I often say run for My Sanity. It's my 'me time' where I get to run my frustrations out, think about my goals & plans, and feel like I have accomplished something outside of making dinner/doing laundry/wiping butts. It is my happy place. :)

I'm going to do my National Run Day, run tonight and be so very thankful I found running!

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One Run for Boston

Starting on Friday June 7th - 1000+ runners are going to tackle 300 run stages from Los Angeles to Boston, to bring awareness and raise money for the One Fund Boston as a result of the horrible tragedy that occurred at this years Boston's Marathon.

The team will have a live tracker on their website and you can follow along! I think this will be interesting to follow! So check out the One Run for Boston page and follow along too!

Getting back into it & Endorphin Warrior Giveaway

2013-06-03T13:49:00.000-04:00

I finally sucked it up and faced my fear of my 'first run back.' And you know what? It wasn't that bad!

I managed to get some time last Friday night on our treadmill, and then managed to get another 4 runs since then!

Not high mileage yet, but frequent enough that I got a decent 'weekly' total. I am so glad I am back at it, and have a few friends that are meeting once a week or so now to run together. Really can't wait to make that a more regular event.

I am currently taking a run/walk approach until I get a few more miles under my belt. I hope within the next week or so, as my body becomes conditioned again, I will be able to get longer and steady runs in.

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Endorphin Warrior Bracelet Giveaway!

A few months ago, I got in contact with the team at Endorphin Warrior to do a giveaway, and now lucky to be able to do it.

Endorphin Warrior has created a line of products for runners, triathletes, or really athlete of any kind; to inspire them and be a visual representation of the athlete's mental goal to help achieve their physical goal.

I was able to choose a leather bracelet of my choice from their great line-up of inspirational words like Persevere, Unbreakable, Relentless, etc...(how great would some of these be for a person in your life that is experiencing personal challenges i.e. sickness, rough times, etc..to remind them to keep pushing on)

I choose Courage ::

Defined as the quality of being brave: the ability to face danger, difficulty, uncertainty, or pain without being overcome by fear or being deflected from a chosen course of action

I love the definition and honestly would have chosen 'Brave' if it was offered, as it really hits home to me. But really do love Courage as well. (As it turns out, you can have a personal word created into a bracelet for yourself - love this option!)

The bracelet of really nice quality and has been sized for my wrist, using the circumference I provided. They say you can run, sweat and practically bled on the bracelet to use to your full enjoyment, but I think I will save wearing this bracelet as a great casual accessory to remind myself of my runs and goals.

Not only does Endorphin Warrior have these bracelets, but they have rings, necklace charms, clothing, etc...
I am really 'jonesing' on the Believe and Breathe t-shirts!

Endorphin Warrior Leather Bracelet Giveaway

I am happy to report I am able to share an Endorphin Warrior Bracelet with one of you!

All you have to do is::

Head over to the Endorphin Warrior Training Bracelet page and leave a comment here stating which bracelet you would like.
Bonus Entries :: One additional entry for each liking the Endorphin Warrior FB and following their Twitter account and leave an additional comment for each action.

I will leave this giveaway open until Friday, May 7th at 12noon ET.

FYI - Endorphin Warrior is currently giving 15% off the Positive Training Bracelet with the Code:: PositiveWTB15off. (end date unknown)
*Disclosure :: I was provided a free Training bracelet in return for this giveaway and review. All opinions are my own.

Taking it 1 hour at a Time

2013-05-31T10:17:00.001-04:00

While I haven't reported my weight for a while on this site, I have been keeping track of it all along. So I thought today may be a good day to lay it all out and share where I am currently sitting.

Yup. Laying it all out there. I am currently up ~9 lbs from earlier this year and 23lbs above my long term goal.

I have said before I was wanting to get back on track and get back into running, and while I am now running again regularly...I have struggled with my eating.

My old bad habits of self sabotage eating, have awoken recently. I have found myself eating when not hungry and when knowing my next meal is soon - but have time to sneak something junkie and not on my meal plan at all. I.E. Eating a giant Chocolate Muffin and potato chips straight out of the bag without any regard to the fact that Dinner is a short 20 minutes away. Or how about the 3-4 snack sized chocolate bars during my workday while still eating Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner in regular portions.

Not exactly how I am going to make changes and get to my goal, is it?

(Pinterest)

So I am changing my approach for at least the short term.

I am working on my eating goals 1 hour at a time.

(Huh?)

I am taking the approach in each hour of my day as either: It is time to eat & make good choices -

or- work on resisting bad choices and falling off the wagon. I only look to make it through each hour as it occurs, without issue. And then address the following hour when it comes. It totally works. Baby Steps.

Sometimes though with it is 10:10 and you have to make it to lunch without eating poorly before hand. Not going to lie. Tough. But choosing to recognize in the moment that I have to only make it through the hour and allow myself a small but good snack, I make it through.

One time that helps me get through tough hours; drink a glass of water and take a small walk - through your house / away from your work desk, etc...nothing long, 5 minutes even. Just enough time to take your mind off of eating those 'fun sized chocolates' sitting in your desk cabinet 4 ft away. *Not that I have a Costco sized bag of those sitting in my desk, or anything......

I do want to make it to my goals. So for now. I am taking it 1 hour at a time.

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Do you have any tips on how you make it through your day without sabotaging your goals?

RunDisney Race Plans...272 days from now

2013-05-23T15:28:00.001-04:00

After a rough winter and now recently a miscarriage, I am finding that I am getting excited to talk and plan running again. Even if I am not physically up for it just yet, or have been able to make the time. (soon, I promise, soon!)

My first event to jump back on my list is to register for RunDisney's Glass Slipper Challenge (10k & Half Marathon). I am so excited to be planning this as a girls weekend, and hopefully get some friends and family on board for registration as well!

What is going to be great about this upcoming Princess Half weekend, is the addition of the 10K race the day before. With the 10K race added into the weekend, it becomes a race weekend where literally any phase of runner can participate and feel challenged. If you are runner that wants to something more then a 5K, but not quite up for a for the half marathon, you now have an option! Further if you do both the 10K and the following Half Marathon, you can earn an additional medal!! It is all about the medals, isn't it?

Check out the videos below from the 5th Anniversary race done this past February - All the fun spirit gets me. Every. Time. Love It!

I wanted this last Disney Princess Half Marathon to be my first half marathon, but my great hubby, offered to run with me, but only if we did Disney's Wine & Dine instead. No 'Princess' for him! :) So now I am looking to finally cross this race off my list. I have asked a few girlfriends if they want to sign up with me, and I am happy to report several are interested. So it looks that, after all the up and down of this year, I have this race on my 'schedule'!

Is the RunDisney Glass Slipper Challenge on your race schedule yet? (registration opens in June)

Have you done a RunDisney race before or have one of your 'bucket' list?
Read my RunDisney Wine & Dine Half Marathon Experience

A Group Run & Playing Hooky

2013-05-09T16:27:00.000-04:00

Whew! It's almost Friday! It has been a fairly good week so far - haven't started running again, but making plans to hopefully get out there Saturday morning! My SIL and I may try joining a running club wkly event at our local 'Running Lab'. But can I be honest? I am terrified to go to a group run.

These Are The Thoughts Currently Going Through My Head

I haven't been running for ~9.5 weeks. YIKES!
What if my lack of running means I am super slow?
What if my previous running speed is even too slow, and now it is just pathetic?
What if I am the last person in the group, and barely living at the finish?
What if I have nothing to worry about? And shouldn't I just suck it up and go?
Is this like Schrodingers Cat?

The current plan is to go....hopefully my SIL and I keep our worries under control and just go try it out.

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:: Playing Hooky
We are in the midst of T-Ball season for FratBoy1 currently, and last night we rushed to get to a game, only to realize FratBoy1 was tired & hungry and it clearly wasn't the best idea to pack the night full of activity.

So you know what? We played hooky. We took one of our agenda items out of the list and had a kick back dinner. We had chicken nugget dinosaurs dancing to the music, and a fun discussion on Fratboy's recess running club. *He has earned several 'running feet' medals that work out to every 16 laps they complete. Pretty cool actually.

Family Dinner Fun

There may have been a dance party and sing along in the car following....a certain 1st Grader is hooked on this song.....

Then off to the elementary school art show! Where FratBoy1 described his art piece as a 'rocket.' Only a boy would describe a flower like this.....

I do sort of see a Rocket...

And after all of that, FratBoy1 & FratBoy2 headed to bed to watch Netflix for 30 minutes before falling sleep in 1 twin bed together, sharing a pillow.

Brothers :)

I hope they always want to hang out together. Pretty glad we played hooky. :)

Showing Restraint...

2013-05-07T14:08:00.001-04:00

When there is 10 days until your BFF's wedding and the dress is 'tight'....you have to have some restraint on your eating habits, right?

Well if you are me....then you have the fun size M&M's

when you would rather be eating a Frosty...

Just me showing some restraint...

Making My Way Back & Finding Myself Again

2013-05-06T13:52:00.000-04:00

Last we talked....I was in a State of Flux, and in a way I think I still am. But, I know I will be making my way back sooner, rather then later.

See, back in March in the midst of sickies and general feeling of 'so over the winter;' we found out we were expecting Baby #4. It was a complete surprise, and yet I found myself being welcome to the idea. Cause frankly, it meant there was possibility of still having a daughter in my lifetime. It also meant having to give up on my goals for this year, and coming to terms with heading back into 'babyland' for a few years, again.

I was soon to hit my 2nd trimester (Mothers Day) and was starting to look forward feeling kicks, knowing gender etc...Heck I even bought Christmas Pj's a couple weeks ago.

But....it wasn't meant to be. I knew I was feeling better and certainly wasn't so tired, but I figured that is because I am a mom of 3 already and generally tired 100% of my time anyways, so if I wasn't 'exhausted' it was because I had magically adapted along the way, or something like that.

And yet I woke up on April 29th, knowing for sure in my heart and mind, that the baby wasn't going to make it, and further that on our ultrasound that afternoon, we wouldn't find a heartbeat. Not sure how, but I knew. 100% Sure.

So later that afternoon - my thoughts were confirmed and with a follow up over at my OB's office; we scheduled a D&C for later in the week. I have been very fortunate to have never been through the process of a miscarriage. I have 3 very full of energy boys, that made it from conception to birth without any problems. Completely blessed.

I am also lucky to say, everyone I came along to dealing with along the way during my ultrasound, docs office, hospital, etc..was incredibly nice and kind to me throughout the process.

On the opposite side of that....I honestly felt that my soul/energy was removed during the D&C. (I mean this is the least creepy way possible) It is a weird feeling to know you are carrying around your baby that has since moved on, go into a hospital and get put under and then wake up without a baby anymore and sent on your way an hour later. My body was drained physically and emotionally during that process. It is so hard to explain.

Yet in the following few days of being home with my children and really being able to soak in some sun, I have felt, reborn / renewed. I am so very thankful for happy and healthy children. A husband that has taken very good care of me the last week. And have been able to soak all their love and joy back into myself to feel whole again.

Soaking in those happy Vitamin D rays...

So I am happy to say I am making my way back. Not in the time frame I thought and most certainly not in the happiest of circumstances, but finding my way back none the less.

(I look to start running again this week, after ~8 weeks off, I think it will be slow going. But I will let you know how it goes and hopefully start making some planning and revising my year goals.)

I'm in a state of Flux.

2013-04-04T14:35:00.000-04:00

As I sit at my desk this afternoon, the sun is FINALLY shining and has the possibility of feeling somewhat like a spring day. Can you remember what Spring feels like? I think I remember. Yet this never ending winter seems to make me forget more and more everyday.

My face and soul needs a good long soak in the warm sun.

There are so many things I wish to say, so much has changed since my last run in mid-March. I have battled the sickies more times then I wish the last few months, started working again, and had a very set-list of defined goals I had for myself this year.

And now that list of lofty and self stretching goals, has been folded up and put aside. Life has a way of doing that at times. Taking your plans away and letting you know, that there are aspects in life that just 'happen' and you have to roll with it.

On one hand I want to say 'I am so sad, I haven't ran and I am really craving it.' but I don't feel that way at all right now. I am ok with having to put my goals on the back burning at this time. Which in the past would not be the case, maybe a sign of being truly grown up?

So things are in a state of being in flux right now - I am still here - and I will be back.

I have a few posts planned - more light hearted and will hopefully help me back to my place of well being and making 'revised goals.'

Sickies and Fast Food Eating

2013-03-21T15:36:00.001-04:00

I have so many fun and good things up my sleeve for posts- But I have been down and out with a whole range of issues lately. 1 - Cold. 2 - Food Poisoning. 3 - Sinus Infection.

Seriously a trifecta of nasty bugs floating around my body, which have placed me in bed for full days at a time and otherwise make me want to lay supine as much as possible.

Could really have used this - plus 3 Lg Boxes of Kleenex

After a late night trip to the urgent care and walking out with a prescription to kill whatever germs that have taken residence in my body, I am finally on the mend.

During this time my family has had to deal with eating fast food every night as I certainly haven't been up to making dinner. What I have began to notice after a few days of eating whatever that was convenient, is that I actually stopped craving my runs. It's like my body and mind both have turned the switch off of wanting and needing a run, to being perfectly ok with couch potato behavior. Totally strange. But eating crappy to survive the last week while being sick, has actually messed with my mental game of wanting to get more runs in and continuing to make healthy choices.

Really makes you think, the saying 'you are what you eat' is really true. Now on to reverse this back again and start running again by this weekend!

What gets you moving lately?

2013-03-13T12:37:00.003-04:00

It’s almost Spring time! You know what this means? New, happy, body moving music is hitting the air streams!! It is the perfect time to refresh your running/workout music. And if you are like me – it is new music to listen to while trying to motivate myself to clean the house. Instead of feeling like ‘oh man, I have to pick this all up. AGAIN.’ it changes to ‘Yippee!! I am now in a movie music montage!’ when fun happy music is playing….or is this just me?

While I am still on the lookout for more music to make a longer play list, the below are my recent adds. All these songs were courtesy of Pandora’s selection or found on jog.fm . If you have any great songs you are loving recently please suggest them in the comments below!

Fun. :: Carry On (love the words in the chorus)

Icona Pop :: I Love it (warning - this does have a few swear words in it, but great beat)

Imagine Dragons :: It’s Time

Imagine Dragons :: On Top of the World

Imagine Dragons :: Radioactive

Of Monsters and Men :: Mountain Sound

Of Monsters and Men :: Little Talks

The rest of my current list has a cast of the usual characters – Britney / JLo / Black Eye Peas / etc…

I dare you to not be happy as a result of the below song. It is impossible. :)

Seems I have a 'Case of the Mondays'

2013-03-11T15:49:00.000-04:00

and I am blaming it on Daylight Savings. It is really like getting hit with jet-lag for 24 hrs while never traveling anywhere worth getting Jet-Lag for *cough, Europe or Hawaii, cough.*

Well that and.....

My youngest FratBoy was up at ~~3am~~ 4am new time - coughing for what seems to have been an hour. Cause no sooner then he was settled and I was finally drifting back to sleep, my 5:20am alarm went off. GOOD MORNING!

I may actually be getting old. We went bowling Saturday night with our oldest and while my body felt young and fit during our 2 hrs of trying to roll the fastest balls ever (14.8mph my highest) - my body claims this may not have been the brightest idea. *BTW Hubs fastest was 16.9mph. **Who needs to keep score when you can see who has the fastest roll?!? ***FratBoy1 claimed the slowest. It actually stopped on the lane and had to be rescued, but his slowest real roll was 2.9mph.
My body is feeling like it is going to get smacked with a cold. Again.

So with that - I haven't gotten a run in the last 2.5 days, my body feels like has been beaten, and I suggested that we just make a vat of Easy Mac for our boys' dinner and give them each a spoon. Hubs agreed to his plan. He must have a 'Case of the Monday's' too.

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How is your Daylight Savings Monday treating you?

Does Ghiradelli Sponser Health / Fitness Bloggers?

2013-03-07T12:20:00.002-05:00

Alternative title for this :: I may have an addiction.

I have a daily snack that consists of a square of Ghirardelli 'Sea Salt Soiree', almonds and my kid's vitamins. It gets me through the 2-3 o'clock time frame every work day. I really Love this combination of the sweet, salty, and crunch. Try it some day - it is Awesome.

There is a slight problem to this ~~habit~~ addiction. The Sea Salt Soiree is apparently a big hit with others because it is often sold out at our local stores. So now when I see it, I buy copious amounts of supply.

Hence the below picture.

I may need a financial backer to keep me going in this addiction.

Think I can get Ghirardelli convinced to sponsor me?