Am I Training for Boston?

This morning I hit the treadmill for one bitch of a run.  It was a designed treadmill run which included 4 x 5 minutes at a 4% incline at a steady pace (8:30 miles).  Am I training for Boston?  This run was hard, sweaty, and yet, I kicked its ass.  I'm in such good running shape right now, it's scary. 

Here was my favorite moment from the run.

I was doing this run at the Y.  Anderson was at preschool and the Y allows me to fully concentrate on my workouts without getting caught up in what I should be doing at home instead of running.  Anyway, like everyone else, I have basically had a cold since Thanksgiving, which has included a lot of nasal drip.  It's worse in the morning.  As a run goes on, that drip turns into a lot of throat clearing and coughing.  I hate doing it and feel like an idiot.  And I especially feel bad for the people who are on the treadmills next to me.  However, the woman on the treadmill next to me this morning cracked me up.  I had been running for a solid 30-45 minutes so the cough was full-on.  The treadmill next to me had been empty for a while but was totally loaded up with my germs.  An older woman got on the 'mill next to me and started doing some walking.  Every time I cleared my throat or had a little cough, she would take a towel and cover her nose and mouth.  It was obnoxious and yet I couldn't help but giggle.  There one million treadmills at the Y and she could have seen I was grossing all over everything before choosing her treadmill.  Needless to say, she didn't last long next to me - three minutes tops.  Whatever.  The Y is a cesspool of germs.  My coughing is not going to change anything.

Goodbye to My Favorite Running Hat

In 2006 I ran Boston on my birthday.  My parents were there (I think my dad was running the race too??) and bought me a new hat to celebrate my birthday.  I loved that hat.  I wore it every week for 9 years.  I used it almost every race I've done.  It was lucky.  And if you've followed my blog for any amount of time you will see that hat in just about every picture.

Unfortunately, it's time to say goodbye to my favorite hat.  It has seen better days.

I once put my barrettes on my hat after a race and left them on there too long.  They rusted and left a good stain:

The bill has come unsewn twice.  Once I fixed it; this time I think it's time to just let it be:

The bill is quite frayed.  I look like a frat boy (or at least a frat boy from the '90s - I have no idea what those dudes are wearing now).

And, finally, parts of the hat are moldy.  Yes moldy.  Ick.

Do you have a lucky hat or other running gear that you just can't get rid of?

Fast Getting Faster

I'm not gonna lie, training has been tough.  Coach is really pushing me to new limits.  I'm doing speedwork that frankly scares me.  But I'm doing it.  And it's working.  A few weeks ago I did a run test where I averaged a 6:45 pace.  Since then she's given me long intervals where I have to average a threshold pace and then workouts with shorter intervals where I sustain an interval pace.  These are based on the Jack Daniels VDOT stuff.  (I don't understand it, but I know it works.)  I've been lucky to have some good weather where I've been able to get out on the track for the shorter stuff.  Even luckier, I've been out there while the lacrosse team has been practicing and the lights have been on and therefore, it wasn't dark!  The first time I ran I averaged around 6:30s and they felt hard.  The other day I noticed some paces on the treadmill that were starting to feel "easy".  This included a 6:45 pace segment.  Yesterday when I went to the track I had 5 x 2 minutes at interval pace followed by 1 minute easy.  As much as I tried to hold back and run correct intervals, I still busted out 6:20 paces.  My fast is getting faster.  I just hope this translates into some fast race times this year.  Next race is in a week and a half.

Anderson and Mommy Adventures

{Peers out the window at the snow falling}

It really hasn't been a bad winter.  It's not been all that cold; it hasn't snowed a lot; the roads haven't been terrible.  And yet, I feel like this has been the longest winter of my life.  Dragging the kiddo around and wrestling him into his winter coat (which he hates) has caused me to be a recluse.  The problem with being a recluse with a nearly three year old boy is that all I play is trains and trucks and watch hours and hours of Thomas.  Ugh!

A few weeks ago I implemented "Anderson and Mommy Adventures" which would help us get out of the house and do something different.  So far, we've gone on two adventures.  The first was toddler time at a local roller rink.  Each Tuesday you can bring your toddler for free and let him/her skate, play, and run around for an hour and a half.  We put on skates for all of about three minutes, and then he decided he would rather play with the toys and run around.

Today we went and played at a local community center where they have an awesome pool play area.  I had done my research and knew the price and yet I screwed up and didn't look to see if there were specific times available at the pool.  So when we got there we only had a half hour left of play time.  What was nice, though, is that they prorated my fee and we still got to play for a little bit.  Anderson had a great time pulling the levers and cranking the wheels and of course, splashing me.  I, of course, fell down the stairs and hurt myself.  Typical.

I don't know what next week will bring.  Maybe one of those trampoline parks?  Maybe ice skating (brr)?  Where do you like to adventure with your little ones?

Week in Review

Oh hi, blog.  I'm here, I swear.  Every day I think of you and have an idea I'd like to write about and every day gets away from me.  I'll try harder.  I promise. 

I went to Ohio State when it was on the quarter system.  It was 10 weeks of roller coaster!  I somehow started the first day off classes already behind; spent the remainder of time trying to catch up and doing as many assignments as I could; and finally then end of the quarter would come, only half of my assignments turned in, and somehow I'd still walk away with an A-/B+.

This is how I'm feeling about my training right now.  Between momming, adulting, and general winter malaise I'm barely keeping my head above water.  I do as many workouts as I can during the week, miss a few, make up a few, figure out how to combine some, and then the week ends.  Here's what I ACTUALLY did last week.

Swimming - 5700 yards 
I have been to masters once, maybe twice, in the last three weeks.  I used to be a great morning person and now the morning gets my middle finger and a few choice words.  Luckily, I have a lanemate who posts all her workouts to Facebook.  So, I "borrow" them and do them on my own.  I'll try again this week to make it back to masters.  Seriously.  I will.

Running - 24.9 miles
I started the week on the treadmill for a long run.  I was NOT going to run outside in stupid degrees!  My run was just to run steady, so I took a long warmup and then ran steady around a 9:00 pace.  I did two more workouts on the treadmill this week including another easy 5 miler and a short run with some pickups in it.  On Saturday I ran outside in the glorious weather, shorts and a t-shirt, for a great run.  I was strolling in the low 8:00s in zone 2.  I am getting in some serious shape!!!

This week I also turned over 350 miles on my shoes.  Generally they still feel pretty good, but my back and legs are disagreeing with this general-ness.  I'll be moving onto my next pair of Hoka Cliftons next week.

Strength - 0.25 hours
Yep, 15 freakin' minutes.  This was a core workout sweat-a-thon.  I really should do more of this.

This week was a rest week and I really took advantage of it.  Next week, back to the grind.

Swimsuits, swimsuits everywhere!!!

I got about one jillion swimsuits for Christmas. 

Okay, not a jillion but I did get 6 new swimsuits.  And I've worn them all.  A bunch.  There is so much swimming going on along with working at the pool.  I give these about 6 months before they are worn out and needing replaced.

January Totals

Sometimes (okay, a lot of times) I get overwhelmed at life.  There's so much to do, so much I want to do, but I'm not a superhero.  I can't get it all done.  Most times I just blame myself for being a horrible mother (seriously, moms don't we all think this?)

Anyway, I am accomplishing a lot.  I work part time, I stay at home with the boy, I make sure the house isn't a complete mess (please do not show up unannounced!), and I am getting in lots of training.

Seriously, I'm exhausted.  I'm doing as much swimming, if not more, than when I was training for Ironman.  I'm doing nearly as much running as I would if I were training for a marathon.  It's hard for me to wrap my head around when I'm training for a race that's going to take me less than an hour, but then I remind myself - it's the WORLD FREAKIN' CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!!

January, see ya later!

Swimming - 29,800 yards ~ 16.9 miles
I am soooo chlorinated!!!  My skin is cracked and flaky.  My head itches like crazy.  All I smell is chlorine.  And yet, I'm still loving swimming.

Running - 86.83 miles
I missed a few runs which probably would have gotten me over 100 miles this month.  I got the running bug back and I'm enjoying running again.  I had a good race this month along with a kick-ass run test.

Strength Training - 2.25 hours
Coach has a challenge for the month of February - do three strength workouts a week, every week.  I love challenges.  I'm hoping this number is a lot bigger in February.

YMCA Visits - 11
Cost Per Visit - $3.42

Confidence Booster

Although I haven't done all my workouts this month (still trying), I've been pretty consistent.  It's stupid-cold outside but I've still gotten my butt to the pool.  And I've even gotten outside to do at least half of my runs (the other half are on the treadmill).  I've been feeling fit and was somewhat excited to do my run test yesterday.

Dave too had a run test, so we got my mom to watch the kiddo and we were able to head to the track together.  Our workouts weren't exactly the same but close enough that we could do them together.  We started with an easy warmup, built pace for a few minutes, and did some quick pickups/sprints.  Then, it was go time!

My workout was 2 miles as hard as I could go.  Dave's was 20 minutes all out.  We started together but didn't stay together.  I was in my head; he was doing his thing.  With my new Garmin 225 and it's wrist-based heart rate and the fact it was only 20 degrees outside, I kept the watch buried unable to see how well or poorly I was doing.  All I knew is that it was hard and that's what I was supposed to be doing.  When the watch beeped at one mile I looked down and saw a 6:40.  Holy shit!  I haven't hit those kind of paces in a long time.  I tucked the watch back into my sleeve and kept on trucking.  I was suffering but making things work.  I was counting down the 100s.  I was counting numbers.  I was singing songs.  I was doing anything to keep the suckiness out of my head.  Finally I hit the two mile mark - 6:50 for the second mile.  Hot damn!  All this hard work is paying off!

I was quite pleased with the way my test went and I think coach was too.  We set new heart rate zones and she gave me specific paces I will use in future workouts.  My next race is coming up in a few weeks and I'm hoping it's a big PR party.

Broke Man's Winter Warmup 7 Miler

I ran a race.  Finally.  Remember back in the day when I used to run 12-18 races a year?  Me too.  I miss that.  I asked Coach a while ago if I could run a race and she agreed.  Yahoo!!!  So I signed up for the Broke Man's Winter Warmup.  Broke Man's is a new racing company in town that touts no-frills races - no shirt, no timing chips, and a cheap price.  Dude, I'm down for that.

This is only the second race put on by this group and there are certainly some organizational things that need sorted out.  I got there a good 40-45 minutes before the start of the race and was surprised to find a very long line for packet pickup.  I was confused.  If this is a no-frills race why is there even a packet?  Shouldn't I just be picking up a number.  Once I got closer to the start of the line I figured it out.  There were no numbers.  You were given a wristband with a number on it and then you had to sign in with your number.  Are those wristbands any cheaper than non-race-specific numbers?  I'll come back to this in a bit.

The race started at COSI (center of science and industry), which allowed us to have indoor bathrooms.  Problem is, the line was literally like 70 people deep for those toilets.  I sacrificed my hiney in the 25 degree temperatures and used the port-a-johns outside.  A short warmup was done and we were lined up to start. 

The race had three different distances - 3.5 miles, 7 miles, and half marathon.  I opted for the 7 miler.  I'm not quite where I want to be for a "sprint" like a 3.5 miler and it was too cold to get moving that fast.  The course was a 3.5 mile loop.  We did the loop twice.  The half marathoners also did the loop twice with a spur on the second loop (more on that in a bit too).

I started off a bit quick and immediately my chest was burning with reflux (there's been a lot of stress in my world - more on that in a few days).  I wasn't feeling good but I was right behind some high school girls so I felt like I was doing okay.  I got a new Garmin - the 225 - which has wrist-based heart rate, so my Garmin was buried under a layer of clothes.  I was running this race by feel; exactly what I'd prefer.  At one point I got a little ahead of the high school girls but they quickly took over going up a hill and I never got hold of them again.  For the first few miles I was not enjoying myself.  My head even told me, "self, just stop at the end of the first loop".  But when I got to the end of the first loop I was feeling good and confident.  I kept going.  I had some people to chase and I could feel my competition behind me catching me.

Late in the race I got hot and was able to take my mittens off.  I glanced at my watch and saw I was running a very even pace, although not as quickly as I had hoped.  It was surprising to me, then, that in the 6th mile I was caught by at least four women.  But here's where things got weird.  At one point there was a hard right turn.  At that turn there were two signs - one said first loop, the other said second loop with two arrows, one for the 7 miler and one for the half marathon.  The half marathon was to go straight to the spur and the 7 miler was to turn right back to the start/finish line.  I had already hit 6 miles on my garmin.  It made sense to me to turn right and finish the race.  So I was shocked to see so many people go straight who I knew were in the 7 miler.  The girl who was right in front of me turned to me and said, "you're doing the 7 miler, right" and I said yes and we both took the turn.  Personally, I didn't think it was confusing but after reading all the comments on Facebook this week, I guess it was.  Frankly, a volunteer costs nothing.  There should have been a volunteer there.

The last part of the race had two 180 degree turns up a hill to the last sprint.  I was able to catch one of the girls who had passed me late in the race, but go smoked by another one. 

But it really didn't matter.   Remember how I said we had no numbers.  At the finish they gave you a homemade medal (that's okay with me) and then nothing.  There were no timing chips and no one took your name and number so therefore, there was no placement.  I don't know if I won, finished last, or what my age group looked like.  Frankly, this was a paid training run. 

I have two things I'd like to see improved with this race.  One, I'd like to see placement.  That's what makes it a RACE!  Even if we only have wristbands for numbers, get our number and name at the finish line and actually put together a document with finish results.  You already have the website; it's not costing you anything to add a document to it.  Secondly, I know to keep costs down this is not a certified course.  And I'm cool with that.  However, from my own race and others' accounts on Facebook, the distance was off, WAY off.  I got 7.39 miles and I didn't screw up the turn.  The trail wasn't that wide; I could not have screwed up the tangents that badly.

The price was right but it wasn't a race.  I was pleased with my performance, but I hope to get a lot faster in the next couple of months.

Mini Vacation

At the beginning of December we took a long weekend down to Myrtle Beach for a little R&R.  We weren't expecting amazing weather and sitting on the beach, but just a little time away from reality.  It was a whirlwind trip - getting down there super late on Saturday, spending pretty much all day Sunday getting checked into the timeshare, Monday it rained all day, and Tuesday we left for home.  We did enjoy lots of rest, a little beach time, good food, and a fun time at the Atlanta airport.  Here's a few pictures.

Anderson was so tired after we arrived that he fell asleep on our bed just like this - all his clothes and shoes on too.

 

On our way home, we had a long layover in Atlanta.  We had a cranky toddler on our hands and needed a way to keep him occupied.  So we headed down to the basement of the airport and rode the train back and forth, back and forth.  We would walk from end to end and then catch the train again.  It was boring as hell for me, but to Anderson it was the best thing ever.

Books Read in 2015

I don't know where I found the time or maybe I was just reading easy books, but I sure read a lot of books last year.  Here's what I read and what I thought about them.

1. "Unbroken" by Lauren Hillenbrand
Such a fantastic book.  Detailed.  Long.  But after seeing the movie, I was glad I read the book.  It filled in all the details that the movie left out.  Highly recommend.

2. "MWF Seeking BFF" by Rachel Bertsche
Honestly, I don't love reading non-fiction.  Funny, since the first two books on this list are non-fiction.  This book was about a married woman who moves to a new town and needs/wants to make new friends.  She sets out on a quest to go on a new friend date once a week for a year.  As a stay-at-home mom I should probably take some advice from this book and try harder to make friends.  I'll think about it.

3.  "American Sniper" by Chris Kyle
Ugh.  I know everyone was high on this book and movie but I have to admit, I really disliked it.  It was technical; it was stream of conscious; and it felt unintelligent.  I skipped the movie after reading the book.  (Number three of non-fiction on this list.)

4.  "Yes Please" by Amy Poehler
Ooooh, Amy's raunchy!   Funny, fast read.  (Number four non-fiction.  Maybe I should take back my statement that I don't like reading non-fiction.)

5.  "Everything I Never Told You" by Celeste Ng
Oh man.  This book was fantastic.  Go read it.  You won't be disappointed.  It's about a girl who dies (in the first couple of pages - not giving anything anyway) and figuring out what happened to her.  Fan-flipping-tastic.

6.  "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker
It's important to read the classics, or at least what Oprah deems a classic, right?  Wish I had skipped this.  I did not like it.

7.  "Mosquitoland" by David Arnold
I do love a good teenage book.  This was good.  I don't remember exactly what it was about, but it was good.

8.  "Once a Runner" by John L. Parker, Jr.
I read a lot of books about running.  This was fiction.  It was alright.  Not my favorite but it didn't completely suck like some on this list either.

9.  "The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances" by The Oatmeal
Quick read.  Not really a book.  More of a comic strip book.  Laugh out loud funny if you're a runner and you totally get what he's talking about. 

10.  "Girls in White Dresses" by Jennifer Close
I should really write a blurb about each book after reading them.  I have ZERO recollection of this book - something about a married friend, an engaged friend, a dating friend, and a single friend?  Obviously it wasn't great if I can't remember anything about it.

11.  "The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry" by Gabrielle Zevin
A cute little book about an angry windowed man who takes on the responsibility of being a parent after a child is left in his book store.  There's a little bit of mystery to this book too.  I liked this one.

12.  "Paper Towns" by John Greene
Pass.

13.  "Still Alice" by Lisa Genova
I like to read books that have been made into movies.  This was fantastic although scared the shit out of me.  I am such a hypochondriac.  I hope I never get Alzheimer's.

14.  "Why Not Me?" by Mindy Kaling
I love Mindy Kaling.  She is so funny.  I could hear her voice in every sentence of this book.  Fun, short read.

15.  "Fast Girl: A Life Spent Running From Madness" by Suzy Favor Hamilton
I totally remember when the story broke that Suzy Favor Hamilton was working as a high priced call girl in Vegas.  And I remember thinking, what the hell would make her do that?  This books gives me the answers.  Although I have to admit, I felt gross reading this book.  It was a little bit like reading porn.  Ick!  It's not exactly well written, but an interesting book that sucks you in.

And that's it.  What did you read in 2015 that I should pick up this year?

Week in Review

Last week was a pretty good week.  I got in all my swims and all my runs, but missed a few strength workouts.  Each week I'm getting closer and closer to putting it all together.  Will next week be the one?

Swimming - 9600 yards ~ 5.5 miles
I would have loved to have gotten in one more swim to get in over 10,000 yards.  It wasn't on the calendar and there wasn't time.  I did do one epic swim.  You can read about it here. 

Running - 22.7 miles
I've gotten soft in my old age.  I used to love running outside in the cold.  Now I'd rather just suck it up on the treadmill.  I did four runs last week and only one was outside.  And it was not my long run.  I also have limited child care options and don't love to run in the dark so the treadmill is my best option to do my runs anyway.

Strength Training - 0.25 hours
I think I had four workouts on the schedule and only did one.  This one was important though as there was some hip strength to it.  I'm still working on recovering from my injury.

Picture of the Day:

#thesnuggleisreal

2015 Totals

2015 wasn't exactly the year I thought I'd have.  I thought there were be a new marathon PR and Boston qualifier.  I thought I would get to race triathlon age group nationals in Milwaukee.  But an major injury took out months and months of training and racing and everything changed.  That's okay.  Things happen for a reason.  I'm moving on and experiencing new things, like LOTS and LOTS of swimming.

Let's review 2015!

Swimming - 215,550 yards ~ 122.50 miles
I swam all year long, but I didn't begin a lot of swimming until I broke my hip.  Now I'm swimming nearly 10,000 yards a week and loving it. 

Biking - 473.85 miles
In preparation for nationals, I was really spending quality time on my bike and learning about power, etc.  When I broke my hip I stopped riding completely.  I don't envision myself riding for training any time in 2016.  There will be no triathlons this year.  I SWEAR!

Running - 710.72 miles
You know, for having to miss over three months of running, this is a pretty good number.  It's been a long time since I've had a year of 1000 miles.  Hopefully 2016 will be that year.  No injuries, please!!!!

Strength Training - 14.17 hours
Gosh, I wish this was a bigger number.  As I get older and can't put in the mileage I once did, I should really be getting stronger to hold everything together.  Maybe this should be a goal in 2016.

YMCA Visits - 184
Cost Per Visit - $4.53
I really used my Y membership this year.  Now that I work there, I'm starting to feel like I live there.  They should probably just stick a cot for me in a back room.

Races - 6
My races ranged from 5ks to the marathon to an aquathlon.  I love to race and would love to race all the time.  Coach doesn't love that idea so 2016 will probably be a little more strategic.  2016 will be a fast year.  I have nothing planned over the 10k-ish distance.  And maybe I'll do a swim meet.  Maybe.

Picture of the Day!!
Once of my goals for 2016 is to take more pictures.  I would love to say I'm going to do it every day in 2016, but let's be realistic.  Life is busy and is quite boring in the winter.  How may pictures of my kid sleeping do you need?

We got a babysitter this evening and went to see Star Wars 3D.  Dave had already seen it but I wanted to see it too.  It was really good.  But, I love the Star Wars franchise.  I'm not hard to please.

New Year's Swim

Why not start the new year off with something epic?  Usually I race a 5K, but this year I wanted to do an epic swim.  Originally I had hatched a plan with my coworkers for 100x100.  After a conversation with coach and my coworkers, we decided none of us were ready for that.  I've been training A LOT, but not enough for that.  So we decided on 50x100. 

I suck at GoPro selfies.  2016 goal.

I did mine earlier than my friends as I had to work while they were swimming theirs.  I did mine in sets of five with every fifth one as either backstroke or kick.  Then every other set I used toys - pull with paddles or swim with fins.  The first 25 seemed to take forever.  Twenty-five to 40 weren't so bad.  The last 10 hurt.  My arms were on FIRE!  

I still want to do 100x100 sometime.  I'll keep training and keep my coworkers swimming too and then maybe we'll tackle it again in a few months.  

Did you do anything epic to kick off 2016?

December Totals

Wow!  December went fast.  I have never been so stressed in my life.  And consequently, I caught my second cold within four weeks.  So, I had to miss yet another week of training.  I did get some done, though, including a LOT of swimming.  Here's how it all broke down.

Swimming - 37,000 yards ~ 21 miles
Holy cow!  That's a lot of swimming.  That's nearly a mile a day of swimming!  I even had one week over 10,000 yards.  I am LOVING swimming right now.  I can't wait to see how much it improves in the coming months.

Running - 52.23 miles
Sigh.  In my head, I love running.  When it comes to getting out the door, I'm severely lacking in motivation.  Running just feels so labored and difficult.  I feel fat and like I'm running in sand.  I keep telling myself, though, that I cannot get better unless I ACTUALLY do the workouts. 

Strength Training - 0.75 hours
When it comes to the first thing I skip in my training (besides running) it's going to be strength.  If I have 15-45 minutes in my day, I want to spend it doing NOTHING!  I will try harder.  I will try harder.  I will try harder.

YMCA Visits - 8
Cost Per Visit - $4.70

Now if I could only have a month where I stay healthy and actually TRY to do the workouts.

Week in Review

Oh, hi!

Let's just jump in like it hasn't been weeks since I last blogged and talk about how awesome my week of training was.  K?

Swimming - 10,300 yards
Oh yes, I did a lot of swimming last week.  Four days to be exact.  I, finally, made it to masters twice in one week and did two more swims on my own.  I've been working a lot of my butterfly and although it still sucks, it's getting better.  I need to keep working on it; there seems to be IM in each workout I have.

Running - 22.4 miles
I did four runs this week too.  Crazy town!  Most runs were not long or complicated.  I did do one on the track with drills and a longer run on the weekend with faster intervals.  I got a new Garmin too (more to come on that another day) which has made running a little more fun right now.

Strength - 30 minutes
I would love to be doing more strength training but I'm doing what I can with what the schedule allows.  I used my homemade conditioning cards and did 10 different exercises.  Holy wow was I sore the next day!

Lots of fun stuff coming up.  I'm going to try my best to be on top of blogging.  I swear.  I SWEAR!!!

Wednesday Won

Boy, did I have a day yesterday.

I woke up in a mood.  Everything was bothering me.  Anderson was annoying me to no end.  And there was NO WAY I wanted to play any more trains!

Then things got crazy.

We have ZERO food in the house so Anderson and I were headed out to the grocery store to pick up some lunch.  Our garage isn't the most clean or organized place, but it's good enough to fit our cars in it.  As I was pulling the car out of the garage, the car lurched.  I looked out the front window and saw that the dog chain/leash we use in the front yard was somehow connected to the car and was stuck on something else in the garage.  I had been leashed like a dog.  I pulled the car back into the garage to give it some slack and got out of the car to explore.  My car had swallowed the leash and somehow got it wrapped around the front axle.  I was stuck.  I texted Dave.  He agreed to come home and help me.

We fixed the car.  We had lunch.  Crisis averted.

When we got home I put Anderson down for his nap and then started looking around for my keys.  I didn't have them at lunch and was kind of wondering where they were.  I had to be at work before Dave got off work so I HAD to have them.  I began tearing apart the house.  Anderson has a habit of hiding things.  For example, there are currently toys in my crock pot.  I looked in every drawer, in every laundry basket, in the dishwasher, in the fridge, under the car, under the couch, in Anderson's closet (while he was sleeping).  I couldn't find them anywhere!!!!  I was frustrated.  This day was SUCKING!!!! 

Finally, after sending a hundred panicky texts to Dave (poor Dave), I got one back.

He had both sets of keys.

You have got to be kidding me!

So, Dave came home at 4:30 so I could be at work by 5:00. 

End of bad day?

I was sure hoping so.  But I got to work and I thought the girl who was closing for the night was not there and wasn't going to be there.  I was pissed!  I WAS NOT going to stay until close.  What the hell people?  Come to work?!?

And then she walked through the door.  Holy moly I was hot.

The evening ended with a glass of much needed wine.  Wednesday, you won.

This Kid.

November Totals

How is it December already?  I blinked and it's suddenly winter.  And as awesome as it is that I have nationals behind me and worlds to look forward to, I'm really struggling with motivation and juggling it all.  I'm not working a ton of hours but I work nearly every day.  There was a stretch this month where I worked 12 days in a row.  I work in the evenings which is my favorite time to workout and therefore, I usually wind up skipping my workout instead of doing it earlier in the day.  Or things just get crazy.  Like yesterday I worked 7 hours at the pool.  I should get 20 minutes down every 20-40 minutes.  During this time I planned on swimming and putting together a whole workout in separate segments.  Unfortunately, things didn't turned out as planned.  During my morning work schedule, the lap lanes were completely packed.  There was no way to fit me in.  Once I did find 20 minutes available, I discovered I didn't have my cap and goggles.  Then during my evening shift, 4 hours worth, I only was out of the chair or not teaching a class a total of 30 minutes.  During that time I cleaned up and ate my dinner.  I had good intentions yesterday but put nothing into practice.

Excuses no more.  December, it's on!!!

Swimming - 16,850 yards ~ 9.6 miles
Seriously, I should be swimming this much nearly every week.

Running - 55.55 miles
Ugh!

Y Visits - 10
Cost Per Visit - $3.76
This is deceiving since I, personally, do not have a payment for my individual Y membership.  So this is basically Anderson at child watch or Dave if he's just doing whatever.  Plus I'm at the Y probably 10 times a week!

I need your help.  I need your motivation.  Leave me a note with a cheer!

Thanks For Giving 4 Miler 2015

I had no business doing this race.  I have been battling a terrible cold for the better part of a week and was still quite congested with a bad cough yesterday morning.  I was already signed up, though, and I thought it would be okay.

Hail, Hail, the gang's all here!  Dave, me, Anderson, my sister, two of my nieces, a nephew, my mom and dad, and some of my sister's friends and their kids.

The day started with the Drumstick Dash, a kids race, where my youngest niece and nephew and Anderson ran.  I should say, we carried Anderson for most of the race until the crowd was out of the way and then he decided he wanted to run over the finish line all by himself.  He got a medal with a turkey on it.  He's way cool.

Our race was a four miler that wound through the neighborhoods, had many turns, and did some of the race on the bike paths.  It was definitely not a PR course but I did get to see part of New Albany that I've never seen before.  Of course, you've seen one Georgian house, you've seen them all.  (Google New Albany, OH and you'll know what I'm talking about.)

The first mile I went out at a pace I thought I might be able to sustain for the race, even being sick.  But I quickly realized that I was still way sick and should not be running this hard or even running at all.  By the second mile I was toast and needed to stop and cough.  At this point, Dave passed me, asking me if I was okay.  I got running again and stayed right behind him.  I was on the cusp of passing him at mile 3 when I needed to cough again.  This time I thought I might lose a lung.  Seriously.  The last mile was another coughing mess.  I finished the race in 32:05, just a few seconds behind Dave and a few second faster than my oldest niece.  Even with what I consider a poor performance, I finished fourth in my age group just narrowly missing getting a full-sized pumpkin pie.  (That's alright.  I don't like pumpkin pie anyway.)

So here's what so cool about this race.  This race started a few years ago when a few neighbors got together to enjoy a run before Thanksgiving.  Then they started doing it in conjunction with donating money towards services that would provide meals for others.  This year was the first "official" year of the race and it was 100% donation/charity.  You could pay a little; you could pay a lot.  You could pay nothing.  ALL money raised was given to charity.  The shirts and other goodies were donated by local businesses.  Now, I'm not one who runs charity races for the cause (I like to race to race), but this is a good cause and model I support and will do again.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.