Life

I have been very busy with work, plus Jeff has been working out of town a lot, so I feel like we have been doing this parenting thing like a relay race.  Anyway, here are a few highlights.

Pedal tractor pull: Bg had to compete in the same group as Chloe.  Her little legs just weren't strong enough.  Chloe placed 3rd!

I had an out of town work conference and took my running shoes.  Jeff said I wouldn't run, but I proved him wrong!  And the fun thing about running in new places is finding new trails.  I found this AWESOME trail through the woods completely by accident.  It was VERY hilly but beautiful.  I ran about 4 miles of it.  I would have ran more, but it was getting dark, I really had no clue where the trail led, no one knew where I was and I didn't have my pepper spray. 

There was a little park along the trail with this beautiful cross:

With another half marathon in 3 weeks, I knew I needed miles.  I ran on my gravel road and quickly realized why I don't run on the gravel anymore.  It is dusty, the rocks make me stumble and there are dogs that look mean.  I put in 9 miles and while my legs and lungs felt good, my joints did not.  I think the unstability (that isn't really a word but I am sure you know what I mean) of all the rocks made my knees hurt.  They are still sore today and I never have knee issues.  My goal was to do a slow and steady pace of 10:00 miles.  I was somewhat close to my pace, as I feel that the gravel element makes things harder.  And mile 8 was slow because my girls joined me for the last bit of it.

Running with my girls!

We started off the Country Fair with the Heat and Hunger 5K.  I brought the girls with me to do the kids fun run before the actual race.  Chloe has been begging to run with me, so I figured this would be her chance to do a run on her own. Chloe finished 4th, but only finished behind 3 older kids, so she did great.  Bg was in the middle of the pack, but again ahead of the kids her age.  And yes, this competitive mom did notice those details.  That is me at the finish line, as I was the official bubble blower.

 

My race started after the fun run.  However, I got a very fun surprise, and Chloe asked to run it as well.  She had two friends running it as well, so I told her fine.  The nice thing about this race is 1: it is in a small town where everyone looks out for and knows each other and 2: it is on a loop track.  So I felt comfortable racing ahead at my pace and letting my 6 year old race at her pace.  One of her friends started off with me and ran the first mile with me (go Alex!) at a 8:23 pace.  I lapped Chloe right when I was finishing my 2nd loop (I was at mile 2.5ish and she was at mile 1.5ish) and told her to keep going strong!  I finished my race in 4th (boo) and her friend Alex was at the finish line.  No one told poor Alex she had to make two loops so she didn't finish the race!  I was worried about Chloe, as I knew her other friend had also given up, so I ran back to find her.  And I did find her, running along still!  I finished the last 3/4 of a mile with her running/walking.  I probably told her how proud I was of her about 20 times!  She finished strong and was the 2nd place finisher in the under 21 age group!!!!  And in true runners fashion, she immediately asked, "when can we race again?"

Isnt my run Missouri shirt cool?

I am not sure my official time as I forgot to turn off my timer for about a minute or two after my race.  It wasn't as fast as I would have liked, but that would probably involve me running more than once or twice a week!

Speed work

So with my upcoming 5K, I decided to work on SPEED this week.  I posted a few weeks ago a speed program for decreased mile time that I wanted to try, but here it is again:

I kind of cheated and just started at day 2, so I am not really sure if I will have a basis for increased speed.

I am SO not a sprinter.  I doubt you would call the pace I ran at a sprint, but it was faster than my jog and it wore me the heck out, so I am going to call it a sprint.  My first mile was 8'47.  Which I know I can do a mile faster than that, but I was also walking part of it.  I wasn't sure how hard I was supposed to walk, so I went at a good clip, but not necessarily speed walking.

I was POOPED after the first mile, but I decided to try for two miles since I typically run much longer distances than a mile.  However, I had to stop running (jogging and sprinting) after a mile and half as I was pretty sure I was going to puke.  My stomach was VERY upset.  I have a feeling it was probably the large pork chop and baked potato I had just eaten 30 minutes prior (not a good idea!!!).  I walked another half mile and then had a good stretching session. 

I have been having trouble since I started running with my left hip.  It almost feels like it is bruised at the joint.  Very tender to the touch and hurts to stretch.  However, it doesn't hurt when I run.  Weird.  I am self diagnosing myself that I don't have enough cartilage or cushioning junk b/t my hip bones.  However, I have no idea if that is really the cause.

Jeff is working out of town this week, so my nice mom fixed the girls and I that delicious chop and potato that did not sit well at all later. 

We had our final softball game of the season last night and thank goodness it is over.  We played HORRIBLE!!!  Like seriously, none of us could catch the ball.  I dropped a few easy balls, our outfielders were off and our bats were weak.  It didn't help that we had two subs, as two key players were out.  One of them was at their daughters ball game but the other (and probably our best player) accidentally chopped off part of his finger yesterday and was in surgery during the game.  Anyway to get out of a game!!

Kickoff to the Country Fair

Bg had her first soccer game of the season on Saturday.  She wasn't a very enthusiastic player, but at least she didn't cry.  She had a rough practice last week so I wasn't sure how the game would go.  She got upset at practice b/c her bandaid fell off.  She was wearing a bandaid over an imaginary scratch she got from our dead cat.  The cat that died like 4 years ago. According to her, he scratched her when she was a baby and it was starting to hurt again.  Nothing like a dramatic flair!

She was smiling b/c she was on the sideline.

This week starts off our local town fair, the Country Fair!  I am on the committee that hosts the very first event, the Princess Pageant!  We had 42 girls ages 5-14 compete in 5 different age groups.  And since I don't have stage fright, I got to be the emcee for the event.  I had a lot of fun being on stage with the beautiful girls and it is amazing to watch the change come over them when they are on stage.

 

Chloe got to compete for the 2nd year.  She won 2nd runner up last year and did even better this year coming in as first runner up!  She is such a goof, so here is my princess:

Here is the 5-6 year old court:  Her dear church friend Everly is the Queen and her two classmates and good friends are 2nd and 3rd alternates.  Aren't they the cutest!!

The queen is wearing Chloe's old shoes.  Pretty sure that gave her an edge, right?

The rest of the weekend was uneventful.  Church on Sunday.  The girls went to a birthday skating party for one of Chloe's friends on Sunday afternoon and they are not very good!  Chloe was much better by the end of the 2 hours but I am worn out from dragging them around.  Pictures of friends:

The girls played up at our neighbors house Sunday evening.  I sometimes feel like the girls are missing out some by living out in the middle of nowhere, but at least they have a few kids around:

I knew I needed to get back into running to prepare for my 5K this Saturday, but my body hurt.  My hips have been ongoing for quite some time and still are sore from the half.  The rest of me was sore from setting up over 100 chairs for the pageant the other night.  I have said this many times, but for someone who runs all the time, I am sure out of shape!!

I just did a simple 3 miler.  I guess I am happy with the pace considering I was just out running the streets, but I really want to run Saturday's race in less than 26 minutes.  Mile 1 was 8'44, mile 2 9'11 and mile 3 9'30.

Half Marathon #2- Go Girl Kansas City

So I decided to do something stupid and run a half marathon on the freaking hottest day of the summer, after being a training slacker for the past month. 

The morning started off a bit hectic.  I met my friend Meghan at her house around 5:00 to head out early.  However, we got a call right away from Somer, who was driving separately, that she hit a deer on the way!  So plans changed and we met up with Somer, did some vehicle swapping and proceeded on our way a bit late.  Oh, and Somer is okay, I should have already stated that!

I tried my best to stay hydrated so of course that means my bladder could not handle the hour drive to the city and I made a desperate pull over to a closed gas station.  Sigh....luckily there was a donut shop next to it that after my begging/pleading and promising to come back and buy donuts, they let me use their non public restroom.  And of course, I forgot to come back and buy donuts (sorry!).

We made it to the race a little later than my comfort level, but it actually worked out just fine.  I had time to check in, pee, stretch, visit a bit and line up.  My goal from a few weeks ago was to finish ahead of Branson, so around 2:20-2:25, so I started off in the pace group between 2:10-2:30 markers.  Of course, I spent the first mile tripping over people who were already walking, but pulled ahead of the 2:10 group for the first several miles.

This race was so different from Branson.  I started off feeling much stronger in Branson and didn't feel really fatigued until the end.  However, I started feeling fatigued early on.  I had Gu Chomps with me and ate those every two miles or so, but not sure if they really did anything or not.  I wanted to run at least 6 miles before needing water or slowing down, but it was so hot.  At mile 4, there was a huge nasty hill that the lady next to me called Diablo and it lived up to its name.  I had to walk up it.  It was so steep and I was feeling weak.  I got up the hill, got a drink and pressed on.  My back started to hurt around mile 5 but I was able to run through it (which I have done in both races- I need to force myself to in practice).  I stopped at EVERY drink stop getting about 2 cups of water at each one.  I tried to drink water while running and that doesn't work.  It was pretty funny I am sure if someone was watching me.  I feel like I walked more off and on than I did in Branson.  I had my Fitbit telling me my splits and I felt comfortable at my pace.

Around mile 8 or so, the 2:10 pacer passed me and I tried to stay close but eventually lost them between my running/walking.  At mile 11, I felt strong again, even though my legs were sore.  I knew I was close to the end and I was determined to be done asap.  I was able to run the last two miles!  I however got confused with my paces and felt like I was behind my Branson time. 

I got into the little mall where the finish was and was able to pick up my pace some.  I was a little upset with myself for being slower than Branson, but I was happy that I was finishing strong.  But then, I saw the finish line and realized I was AHEAD of Branson!!!  I think it said 2:22 or so when I crossed.  I forgot to turn off my fitbit immediately, but here are the splits, with the final split being about 2 minutes too long:

There were a few miles that were too slow, but with the heat and humidity and lack of training, I was happy with my results.  Here are the official results:

Race Name/Distance	Half
Overall Place	152
Division Name	F3034
Division Place	29 of 88
Gender Place	152 of 619

Run Pace	10:48
Finish Time	2:21:20

I cut about 4 minutes off my time!!!  While waiting for the rest of my group to finish, I found a nice shady spot to sit and stretch and cheer on the remaining runners. 

Meghan's mom took me out to lunch afterwards and got me a delicious omelet.  Thank you Jo!!

Next race is a 5K on Sept 19th!

End of summer

It's been a while since I blogged, but it has been a rough couple of weeks.  I have struggled with getting back in the swing of things after the state fair with school starting, a busy work schedule, the heat and the girls activities!  I will admit I haven't run hardly at all but more on that later.

It was hard getting back into our school routine.  I was looking forward to school starting but adding back in homework, school lunches, breakfast (Bg always ate at the sitters), etc, I really felt a bit overwhelmed.  Bg started soccer and I am playing softball and those activities seemed to take up all our evenings. 

I haven't really run since before the state fair, so I knew with my upcoming half, I needed miles.  I ran on Saturday but was exhausted.  Instead of running my little circle loop at the local park, I ran around town.  I ran about 5 miles from my car when I back began hurting again.  Boo.  But since I was 5 miles away, I had to get back.  It was a hard return trip, but I finished, although slow.

Mile 1: I have no idea, forgot to turn on my app.
Mile 2: 9'46
3: 10'12
4: 12'13
5: 11'20
6: 11'44
7: 13'49
8: 15'19
9: 15'10
10: 16'58

Way too slow for my goal race time.  I may be in trouble!


Plus, the end of summer always means horrible allergy attacks for me.  I was miserable last week and there was no way I was able to run:

 

Luckily I have a good allergist who gave me a crazy combo of additional meds (in addition to my shots, daily pill and nasal spray already being taken) and steroids that cleared me up. 

The day before my half marathon I tried to eat a big lunch and drink lots of water.  This is a Memphis burger from a local BBQ joint called Oink and Moo.  It is heaven on a bun.

I also tried my hand at making homemade applesauce and apple butter.  It is a lot of work for very little product unfortunately but it tastes DELICIOUS.