TAPER ISLAND TCM edition

We have some traditions here at NofSahm.

One of them is TAPER ISLAND.

You take a bunch of tapering marathoners and tell them they can't run... and watch the insanity.  I liken it to a Reality TV show just WAITING to happen.

Bobbi, Karasmatic & Southern Comfort....  I'm sad to say... or pleased to report, that you're all being voted off Taper Island.  If you want to win just follow these tip...s ... ok, wait a minute.  Maybe we better go with, if you want to run a race YOU are proud of, you need to follow YOUR PLAN.  (and don't forget to Try not to suck).

So proud of all my friends running this weekend.  You're all going to be EPIC.  Believe.

And as always...

Savor the run.  Every time.

Respect the distance.  Every distance.

and when things get tough, its ALWAYS OK to channel Will Ferrel and shout out to the volunteers that you
NEED MORE COWBELL!

A Letter to Karasmatic & Southern Comfort

some of you may remember Karasmatic from my 2010 Richmond marathon race report... or Southern Comfort from my 2011 Birthday TRI report.  I'm fortunate enough to call one Coach Karasmatic 1 day a week.... and I am fortunate enough to run into Southern Comfort all over Richmond!


Dear Karasmatic & Southern Comfort,


Just go to Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon & be yourselves.


The end.


No but seriously, you two are such a dynamic duo, I know you're both going to ROCK IT ON SUNDAY!!!  Have fun, and don't take 4:01 for an answer (that's a joke people).


GBA.  100%.


Now GO kick some asphalt!
g.

Who put it there?

I was thinking about something the other day.


The mental block I live under...
         the one that "holds me back"...
                who put it there?  


I did.... 


And as I had this thought, I saw this:


It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not.
-Anonymous


...when the universe talks to me, I try to listen.

20 Miles To NoWhere

Good Morning!  Full of
optimism and breakfast
as I set forth.

I always wonder about running a 20 miler.  If I ran 20 miles straight in a row, I could run from my house... to the city of Richmond.. to the OTHER SIDE of the city... yeah.  20 miles is a long way.  Of course, running 20 miles straight would entail a pick up car on the other end and someone willing to carry lots and lots of water.  I don't have a pick up car, nor am I interested in carrying lots and lots of water.

Sunday morning when I got up it was really dark.  Way darker than it normally is at this time of day.  Heavy cloud cover was holding the sun in check.  Which was a good thing, because it was 100% humidity at the start of the run.  Yes, 100%.  We all looked liked we'd doused ourselves in a mid-run shower before we got to the first SAG (SAG's are "Support & Gear"... aka. "H2O/Gummy Bear stops" supplied by Sportsbackers MTT to us, MTT Participants.  We like SAGS.  Todays SAGS were manned by Pants Guy, Ms Pants Guy, & Super Fast Judith - which made them extra nice).

VWB, g., Young, Mustang, & T

With some positive words, I set forth on a 20 mile loop of Richmond, starting deep in the city and running out to UofR... and back again but on different roads.  It was a very pretty run.  It was a pretty hilly run.  It was a hilly MTT run... with coaches and SAGS and Posse and goodness and fun.  I think with a positive outlook, anything is possible.  And with a Posse like mine backed by the power of MTT, well... anything is possible.

A quick shout out - Young & VWB nailed their first 20 miler EVER!!!  And Sally, T & I ran well...

Well, OK.  When we were running, we were running well.

Of course... there's running, and then there's running.  T ran into a GI issue, so I did some waiting around.  Which was fine with me.  We're partners, we don't bail on each other when things get ugly.

Over all, compared to 20 milers of days gone by, it was a relative non-event.  No CPR crisis to report.  No lost panties.  No "I can't run another step" moments.  No Will Ferrel.  A slight stomach issue on my part, but I was trying a new nutrition strategy today, so part of me was prepared for that.  T might have a different opinion on all this, but, for me... it wasn't a bad run with exception to that nasty upper ab/stomach cramp I had at mile 15ish.

I'm already looking forward to my next 20 miler.  (sick, sick, sick, I know).  Part of the reason is that I need mental help.  NO, Ok, not really.  I am looking forward to trying my NEXT nutrition strategy.  Today I had a realization... one of those light bulb AHA moments.  So let's say that I am kinda looking forward to seeing if it works.

Une note d'Anne

Dear Anne,


It's hard to believe that in a few days you will run your first marathon.


Wow.  Can you believe you're here?  I remember it like yesterday.  I left a comment about relaxing and embracing the run and letting the speed come to you with patience.  


I am so proud of you.  You get this.


You get that this isn't always about going fast.  Sometimes this is about going strong.  You're UBER Anne... and you're going to ROCK the Marathon OASIS de Montréal.  I just KNOW IT.


BUT JUST IN CASE... Let's review...  


Savor EVERY MOMENT.  You only get to run your first marathon once.  Smile for the camera, embrace the moment, cheer for the volunteers and spectators & THEY WILL CHEER FOR YOU.  Savor it.


You've got a plan, follow it.


BE STRONG.  You can do anything you put your mind to...  not just pretty words.  Believe it.


There is NO SUCH THING AS THE WALL.  That "wall" you might encounter, it's all in your head.  Beat it down and charge through it with determination and grit.  Crush it.


You've got this .... Own it.


You are UBER Anne.  


happy running my friend!
g.

Respect the Distance

I love The Half Marathon distance 13.1 Mile Races.

It’s a great distance. Long enough to be strategic, and short enough that if I screw up I’m not screwed.


They are respectable. I kinda wish they’d re-name them. Instead of Half Marathons, which sounds suspiciously like only “half” a race, I wish they’d call them 13.1 milers. Like, a 10Mile Race. It’s straight forward. And no one calls it Half a race. Even a 5K isn’t a Half10K, right?

Or perhaps 13.1 mile race would be better reflected in Kilometers… like, let’s just call it a 21K. Hey Jon, what do you think of that? Sportsbackers could just re-name it: The SunTrust Richmond Marathon, featuring the McDonalds 21K and Ntelos 8K.

Of course, then all us “stupid americans” would walk around wondering how long our race is today. (oh oh, wait, how many people here have had someone ask them how long a marathon is? Yup. A 15k? Yup… how about, How long is The Surf & Santa 10Miler??? Me! ME ME ME ME!!  True story...)

Seriously though, the Half Marathon isn’t Half of anything. It’s a solid distance. What kind of half sane or half crazy person thinks that this is a good idea? “I think I’ll go out and run as hard as I can possibly run for 13.1 miles". It takes training and strategy.

So why all this today? I’m training for a Full Marathon, and have no races lined up and scheduled from now until… well, November 12th.  Shouldn't I have been on this High Horse a few months ago when I was Half Crazy?

I’m writing this in response to a runner who said to me recently, and I quote, “Well…. I’m only doing the Half, this year”.

I’m… only? Shut the front door, did you just say, “only?”

I hate that. I hate when someone belittles their effort because they feel that as a runner who’s training for a marathon, I’m not going to respect their efforts. Seriously? What kind of jerk do I look like? I have some friends who will be tempted to answer that… resist.the.urge.

Please don’t apologize for coming to a training run at 5am.

Please don’t dis your training.
Please don’t belittle your effort.

You had my respect as we were laying down a 6 solid miles at a sub 9 that morning, because ~ yeah~ I’ll say it and risk the wrath of the blogesphere:  You’re a runner who knows when you have time to give a marathon your attention, and when you don’t.

As a “marathoner”, there is NOTHING that irks me more than a runner who claims to be training for a 26.2 mile race, but then doesn’t give the TIME it takes to get there. This isn’t something you just wake up one day and say, “Oh I think I’ll run a marathon in 16 weeks” and then expect it to happen.

People, this takes more dedication than you could possibly realize. This takes hours of your week. 8+ hours for some, plus ice baths, plus cross training, plus… you still have to be functional for your kids, school, work, Irish Step Dance, and then some.

So to the person who chooses the Half because they know their limitations, my hat is off to you.

And to the person who says, “I'm training for a full... but I only ran the long runs because I didn’t have time to do any running during the week” I say, I know you might be a marathoner, but I’m not feeling a whole lot of respect for you right now.

Of course, I could just be tired and cranky today...  I've been up since 4.

~Savor the Run~

An Island. 'nuff said.

My father lives on an island.  In the middle of the city.  'nuff said.

While it's technically true that his house is not surrounded by water on all sides, his neighborhood is surrounded on 3 sides by water and one side by a road so busy that even crazy GBA runners like me will not venture onto it.

The Red Dress
aka. why Marathon Training &
Brooke should be your BFFs

I mean, there's being crazy, and there's being stupid.

I'll get back to the point of this in a minute.

On Friday I headed down to Tidewater VA for rehearsal and cocktail hour for my lil sis's wedding.  It was a real stretch to get there on time, get dressed, rehearse, etc.  But regardless, I'm glad we made the effort.  The kids & I had a great time, and it meant a lot to "Yorya".

I'm totally going to put in a glory shot here of me in my cocktail dress. Reason #221 to train for a marathon and make friends with a nutritionist from TX :  THE RED DRESS.


'nuff said.

In some ways, I am an island in my family.  I married young, have older kids, and due to circumstances too boring to discuss here, I often find myself as a single mom.  I feel torn between chilling with the adults with a glass of bubbly, and laying on the floor of the Waterside Sheraton coloring in a Barbie Princess Coloring book.

That's my B'nut & C in the bridal party

On Saturday I married off the youngest of my siblings.  She is a lovely young woman, blessed with the love of a good man, and they're setting forth on the great journey that is life as a Mr & Mrs.  I truly do wish them the best.

My UBER kids...ROCKED.
Best behaved kids at a wedding
EVER.
'nuff said.

My kids were epic on Saturday.  The GOOD kind of EPIC.

B'nut napping

They were SO well behaved.  Especially C, who had important Bridesmaid duties to perform.  And G, who was The Usher for ALL the guests because the other usher was sick.  And B'nut... well, she was great.

She walked down with her flower ball... sat next to me.... and laid her head down and took a nap.
No worries, she woke up in time for the walk back up the aisle.  Life was good.

a bit toasted

We danced and partied the night away.  We ate cake.  We felt compelled to drink from the open bar.  My sister in law and I were a little tipsy...  ok, wicked toasted.  Life was good.  We wined, dined, danced, partied and then I got a D/D to drive my sorry a** back and pour me into bed.

This is my Grandmother.  She's
90...  I hope I'm as amazing as she
is when I'm her age.

Of course.  I'm marathon training.  And Marathon Training Rests for No GBA.

 Which meant on Sunday, slightly hung over and mostly exhausted and maybe even a little tipsy, I had 5 miles to run.  In all the packing for the wedding I had failed to pack my Garmin, so I had to use the old fashioned technique of mapping a route on www.mapmyrun.com and then using a regular old stop watch function on my phone (Ok, so not 100% old school when you factor in The Droid)to determine how much time it took to run.

...to determine how much time it took to run FIVE TIMES AROUND MY FATHER'S BLOCK.  Because the options were:
Drive to run in an unfamiliar city.  
Run 5 laps.  
Or get run over.
I chose D: "get run over with".

Um.  Mental prep for marathon = here we come.

I had no idea how the splits were breaking down, as the phone stayed in the house.  So I ran the 5 loops on perceived effort of "don't completely suck, but you were up all night last night, so don't fret if you run slow... just take it easy."

5 loops.  Exactly the same.  Past the old farmhouse nestled in the city neighborhood, turn, past the little yap dogs, the woman on her porch, turn, past the FOR SALE sign, turn, past the For Sale By Owner Sign, turn past Dad's House, Past the old farmhouse nestled in the city ...

And I admit, I wasn't tempted to cut even one of them.  Because the run was just going that well.  Of course, I had to think really hard at one point which lap I was currently on, "... is this mile 3 or ...?"

As it turns out, when I'm not talking to my friends or figuring out where to go, I can run pretty fast with a very low amount of perceived effort.

Like.  For example... Marathon race pace, for 5 miles, at a perceived easy effort.

So as I said, my father lives on an island.  It's a metaphor in this case.  Of course, his other house, is actually on an island, so... yeah, that's a-whole-nother running story.

Friday FREAK THE FREAK OUT

So this is how bad it is.

I had the thought today that I should update the blog, and since it's Thursday I only needed to come up with 3 things to talk a.. bout... but...

It's Friday.

WTF?

What happened to Thursday?  What happened to my week?

1) Youngest sibling getting married tomorrow.  Promise it will be photo filled.
2) There will be no GBA's at that wedding, but I honestly considered asking Illusive to be my date.... except I'm married and I'm pretty sure my H would have made some kind of noises.  And even if he didn't, my sister might have....
3) All 3 of my kids are in the wedding.

• a)  C's dress required MAJOR alterations to take it from ballgown to above the knee.  Fortunately I have a few SKILLZ and was able to do it myself.
• b) G's Tux came in... in the wrong size.  I'm picking up the new Tux tonight during the rehearsal dinner.
• c) B's dress... I didn't have TIME to do myself, so I pinned it and dropped it at the seamstress.  um.  She totally didn't hem it to where I pinned it, I know b/c I can see the pin marks in the satin.  This means it's 1/4 longer than it needs to be and just brushes the ground.  I have visions of flower girl-tastrophe tomorrow.

4)  I have a test today in Stats.
5)  Good luck to all the racers this weekend!

just keep it under 50

I've been stressing lately.

The reasons are deeply personal, and I'm really not going to share.  ever.

Part of my problem is just a time management issue.  Part of it is a pain management issue.

So what do I do?  Well.  I run.  I run when I'm stressed.  I run when I'm in pain.  I sleep less, wake earlier, and run.  I run at night when my family is in bed, slipping out here and there for a 30 minute run when no one is looking, and everyone is tucked away for the night.

And last week I ran 6 days, and 49.something miles.  just trying to keep it under 50...
And the week before I ran 6 days and 49.something miles.  just trying to keep it under 50...
And if I don't tone it down, this week I'm going to run 6 days and...

And while that seems like ~wow~ really awesome, imagine how great and huge my base will be going into the marathon, I realize that if I hurt myself trying to manage my pain, I'm going to be a real f'ing mess.  I will never forgive myself during the process of healing.  And let's not consider how much *crazy* I don't have time for right now.

So today I will rest.  I will Rest and Write and do Statistics and read MicroBiology and probably do more math.  I will be thankful that I have such good friends who are able to listen to me when I need listening too.  I will question as to why I have such odd friends who will e-mail me and tell me I look like I'm stressed out. *isn't that like telling someone they look like sh*t?  I will probably harass my besties with 200 unanswered e-mails while I contemplate the title of my new book....

Nursing School and Other Natural Disasters:

Keeping it Under 50 in An Alternate Dimension.

Yeah, well, we've had locusts, earthquakes, hurricanes, flash floods... all in the last 17 or so days... I mean, it just seems too fitting to pass up.

chemical warfare

I recently read a blog about picking your battles.  Well, I actually read it in June, but I re-read it about once a week, so, technically, I recently read a blog about picking your battles. 

If you haven’t read it, you probably should.  It’s quite gifted.  If anything ever happens to my husband, I’m going out to TX to find this woman and proposition her.  Uh, propose to her.  

They mean the same thing, right?

Anyway, I’m a fan of picking my battles.  Some battles just aren’t worth winning.  I don’t care if my kid wears pink socks and a red shirt, because she likes pink socks and really, I’m secretly doing a little cheer that she is wearing socks at all.

I am also a firm believer that sometimes it’s OK to just look at your spouse and say, “Sure, whatever.  Buy a new XYZ”.  Even if we already have two.  Even if we never needed one.

Because a husband with a new XYZ is often easier to manipulate than a husband who’s wishing for a new XYZ and as long as the cost of the new XYZ doesn’t interfere with the new item on my wish list, then I’m generally in favor of going ahead with the purchase.  

cute and furry and orange

Right?

So last December, when my husband informed me as I was walking out the door for a Christmas Jingle Bell Jog that we were "getting the new cat tomorrow" (WHAT did you just say?) … I only argued for a brief minute. 

It was too much work.  I was already late for where I was going.  And really, let’s be serious.  During the 13 years we’ve been married, I brought home 2 puppies and a pony (ok, *technically* it was an off the track thoroughbred, 16.3 hands of hot craziness).  

In other words:  I didn't have a leg to stand on.  If he was hell bent on having a cat, then fine.  What’ev.

“But I’m not cleaning the litter box EVER.  Not ONCE.  So if you want this cat, you damn well better make sure you keep the box clean.  Got it?” to which he agreed.  I have yet to clean the box, and somehow even manipulated him into cleaning the litter box that belongs to my 14 year old cat.  See above note about XYZ.

Now.  There are only really two rules I care about in house pets.  

1)  Personal Injury.  There will be none.  If it bites, scratches, claws, or harms anyone in the house in anyway (including severe allergies), it goes.  No matter how cute and furry and orange it is...

2)  Personal Property.  There will be no destruction.  If it bites, scratches, claws or harms anything in the house in anyway, it goes.  No matter how cute and furry and orange it is…

And it is a cute cat.  Undeniable.  If you dig cats, this one is hilarious.  He appreciates being held, cuddled and played with, and let’s my 4 year old tote him around like a rag doll.

So let me tell you a story about my Teal Brooks Adrenaline GTS with less than 200 miles on them…  I love these shoes.  They’re the shoes that are supposed to get me through the next 3 to 4 weeks so I can open my Pink Marathon Shoes (already purchased & ready to go) in time to break them in for a few weeks.  

The teal Brooks have had some adventures already. They ran several miles and then volunteered at a Triathlon their first day out of the box. They’ve run in San Franciso over The Golden Gate Bridge, and alongside a freeway.  Yes it's true, many Clif Bars have been consumed wearing these shoes.  They’ve run in Providence RI through a FLOOD WARNING. 

They've been soaked completely and dried in front of a fan with careful loving attention paid to the "change newspaper frequently" method to prevent "funk smell" or "shoe damage".  These are some well cared for shoes.

They’re just perfectly broken in the way I like them so I can enjoy them for the next 3 – 4 weeks on a full time basis.  And then, as is only fitting for such well loved shoes, as they inch their way on toward retirement, they'll move to a part time basis for about 2 weeks while I ease into the next pair.

Yes, there are still about 200+ miles left in these shoes…  already planned out.

In case you can’t tell, they’re nice solid little shoes that have served me well and I am quite fond of them.

Or I was, at any rate.

Until my husbands Christmas Cat pee’d on them. 

W.T.F?

I guess I should've picked the battle a little more strategically...  perhaps this was one of those times it would have been wise to put my foot down and say no.

Husband thinks the cat is trying to claim me, or send a message of dissatisfaction, or something.  Oh, or “maybe the cat’s got a UTI or is sick or something!”  He’s very concerned about the health and well being of this cat.

As he should be…

I was very fond of those shoes.

Curse of the 18

GBA RULE of Running #18:

When running an 18 mile training run with MTT, BEWARE THE HOT RUNNING COACH.

So... Did I ever tell you about that 18 miler last year when I got caught up in a conversation with that hot running coach I didn't really know very well and went out too fast and then totally crashed and burned at mile 14 and swore I would NEVER EVER make that mistake again no matter how entertaining or hot the coach was...? 

no?

Okay.

so yeah.

about that.

Last year, I *kinda* did that.  And I swore I wouldn't do it again.  I remember swearing it, over a cup of coffee with TMB.  I am not sure but I think a coffee pledge over a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee is a little like a blood sister promise, but I could be wrong.

Saturday's run was full of hope...  and then what happened?

And then, it was The Curse of the 18 Miler.

Let me just argue here for a minute that it's not my fault the coach is hot.  It's Virginia... and it was 93% humidity on Saturday.  True story.   just. sayin'.

Q, T, & g.
"Come run MTT, we ALWAYS have this much fun!"

So, as I said, on Saturday I connected with Q at the beginning of my run and we fell into a really good conversation.  That sometimes happens between runner friends who have a lot of running history but who haven't been running together in a while....

It just didn't feel THAT fast to me at the time... 'cos, yeah.  It just didn't.  It never does when this coach and I are running in the same cadence though...   And never mind that with humidity at the start of the run, we all probably should have been under achieving in the first few miles anyway....

Truly those first miles weren't that bad.  Splits on the watch don't lie.  But still, 18 miles, yada yada, the plan to start slow... so after a stern lecture at the first SAG (thanks T)... Q & I reconnected with TMB, 3L & KC, and enjoyed some good hearty laughs on the Nickol Bridge (*snicker snicker*).

Q left us on the first major climb of the route coming off the bridge, and we settled in for a tasty 18 miler.

The route was shady and scenic, with hills for the main dish... some hills on the side... topped with hills.

And we know I love hills.

I was having a great run.  Half way through and I was CHAMPION, even calling out Those People.  KC & 3L left me & T, NBD, even though I knew I was dropping T at mile 11, I wasn't worried.  I was *kinda* looking forward to running alone for a few miles.  I've had a lot on my mind, some "lonely" miles with 899 runners sounded nice.

Yup.  Dropped T, and I was ROCKING IT OUT.

I was dripping puddles of sweat, and stopped at every S.A.G. wagon to drink a silly amount of water, power aid and more power aid.  By mile 14 though... I was getting cramps through my diaphragm and shoulders.  By mile 15.... the cramps were full body, ranging from my calf muscles up through my triceps...  By mile 15.5 or so... I was literally screaming in pain and took stock of my run...

The BAD NEWS was that I was in agony, and every run step I took hurt as more than anything I've ever done, including 3X natural child birth.  I felt bad for Cass's Paul, as he was running with me by this point in the game.

no longer sweating, or smiling.
But Cass's Paul looks good.

The GOOD NEWS was that I was no longer being blinded by sweat.

Hold the phone.... is that good news?

How is this possible?  And that's when I realized that there wasn't any new sweat forming on my arms and running down and dripping off my elbows.  I wonder how long it had been...

um.

The pain was crippling.  I actually (shh...) contemplated calling for a car.  Seriously.  I almost sat down and said, "yeah, go get a coach and fetch me in a car."

But I didn't.  Cos I'm stupid that's how I roll.

Practically crawled back to the Stadium, took a few minutes to flirt with my favorite People (at least I'm honest, though, sadly I wasn't in very good form, given the whole dehydration bit...), and then I limped home with KC (oh and don't worry about the fact that I accidentally spilled 280 oz of coffee in KC's Honda Pilot during the ride), and collapsed into an ice bath.... still screaming in pain, but then again, it's an ice bath, people in my house didn't even question it.

ice bath + coffee + ducky + clothing
while the camera was running.  hello,
people, it's a rated PG blog...

BUT as you people know, I'm not going to let a little thing like "a sucktastic run" get me down.  I'm not that kind of girl.

NO ONE comes into marathon training with the idea that all 680 miles (ok I admit I made that number up) of the training plan are going to be easy or free or light or fast.  Some runs are just going to suck.

There are going to be days when it's a slug-fest of pushing your feet forward one after the other.
There are going to be days when you think that running in the heat is insane.
There are going to be days like this.

And you know...

That's OK.

Because Saturday wasn't the marathon.  It was just a lesson.  A harsh lesson in humility, in preparation, in not taking 18 miles lightly, and, probably the most valuable lesson, (AGAIN) in....

Beware the Hot Running Coach.

100 questions

After I wrote the Lush VS Lean post, I have gotten a LOT of questions about what I eat, how to find a nutritionist, Brooke and if she's single, and no I'm sorry ladies, but she's mine and I'm not sharing.

Where did you find this wonderful woman and how much does she cost?  So here's the skinny on what I did...  I found Brooke through a health access in my health insurance company.  They always want people to be healthy, so a lot of health insurance companies offer Nutrition Counseling, Smoking Cessation Counseling, Fitness Counseling ... but y'all don't need that, you people have me to get you motivated to get out the door...  It happened that I lucked into a highly educated woman with a nutrition background who has a masters and a bunch 'o other qualities that make her a GBA nutritionist.

"Please sir... may I have s'more?"

I would recommend this as a strategy for finding a free Nutritionist.



What did she tell you to eat?  More like, how did she tell me not to eat.  We started with me joining Spark People.  This way, I could track my calories, fat, carb, protein, & iron.  This wasn't so I could lose weight.  This was so we could see what was going in.  A mega slashing of calories isn't going to result in great running, so we had to be really strategic, and she wanted to see first before we did anything rash.  So the first month was about research and development.  We made a SMART goal with the object being, 1. Sweet Item Per Week.  Do I follow it all the time now?  No.  It was a goal to get started more than my new lifestyle change.

She never said, "eat this, this and this", she said, "so, you're an athlete?  Huh.  Do athletes really eat a hotdog every week?  no.  They might eat hotdogs once every other month.  Think about that before you are tempted to put something inappropriate to your life goals in your mouth."   We used hotdogs as 'the bad food', because it was June and there was a cook-out a day going on for a while.  Margaritas have also been called out by my BFF Brooke before too.

I think constant reminding of athletic prowess is a bit extreme, but it was helpful for me.

How many calories did she tell you to eat?  She didn't, exactly.  We picked a number together.  It was too low once the miles started to pick up and we had to adjust, and we've adjusted again, and I will be adjusting this week too.  She did tell me HOW to eat the calories I was eating.  I will break it down for you.  I'm using 1600 as my number.

First we broke the calories down into 4 pieces.  100, 500, 500, 500.

The 100 is to be consumed before my morning workout.  On rest days, I don't get it.

Then we took it down again.
pre-w  100
b'fast   400
snack  100
lunch   500
snack   100
dinner  400

The 100 calorie snack is often 1/2 piece of fruit and a cheese stick.  I don't actually eat anything that's pre-packaged into a 100 calorie "snack".

Note that for me lunch is the largest meal?  Brooke is wise.  I learned pretty fast by looking at SparkPeople in that first month, that I was a habitual lunch skipper.  Then I ate way too much trying to make it back up, and was never satisfied, oh, and my nutrition was a fail with missing vitamins & random junk like that.

Hopefully this helps a little for those of you who wanted to know details.  Mostly what Brooke does for me is remind me that I'm mentally strong, to not be lazy in this area of my training, etc.

~savor the run~

Wedding, writing, running

And then what happened...

Yeah, I'm still alive.  I promise.  But last week was probably the longest week I ever remember, and this week is shaping up to be long as well.

me & my kiddos ~ they're too cute, yes?

it wasn't a bad week though.  Just busy.  This blog post isn't much about running.  S'more about writing, weddings, and if you skip to the bottom there's a shout out to Starbucks.

To start my week, I was published.  (see how casual like I threw that into conversation?)  Sarah Bowen Shea was so busy writing her latest book, Train Like a Mother, that she asked me to guest blog on her blog.  (omgomgomg, my writing hero asked me to WRITE something for her & Dim's blog.... I could have died... I mean, I was ~way~ cool).  I told her, "Sure thing, no problem..."  <--- See totally cool.

Then what happened?

B'nut

The "20 something year old neighbor(s)" are former neighbors now.  Their mother moved, and they grew up into adults, got real jobs and no longer arrive at my house in their Pajamas at 8:15am for coffee.  I miss them.

This weekend, their mother got married.  It was like a family reunion, we spent the weekend catching up, and, in fact, right now one of them is in my guest room.

Zickie Zickie & B'nut having a dance

But as you can imagine... all that visiting with each other and bonding... well, it didn't lead to a lot of sleeping.


Dinners, Weddings, Post Wedding gathering #1, Post Wedding gathering #2, and onward...  So here you go.  A Super fast quick wedding recap.

My kids were in the wedding as "Ushers/Greeters".

B'nut ruled the world.



I knew that The Reception was going to be EPIC when one of the GBAs walked in the door.

Illusive wasn't, and he cleans up nice, yes?

Seriously?
SERIOUSLY?
Yeah, seriously.  Illusive made my night.

G, my dear son, Lord of the Dance.

Ann, Zickie & I have been friends for years

Liz & I may, or may not,
 have partaken in some drunk texting.

20 something year old neighbor ~Liz~ & I had WAY too much to drink... s'ok, cos Illusive took over my camera so the pictures weren't blurry...
wait, no, that was a kind of a fail.


Don't look for them...  THOSE photos won't make the internet.  Sorry folks.

And C, at 11, was the happiest girl ever... at an age where she could truly enjoy the wedding & reception & dancing without any of the social restrictions we adults suffer through.

Admittedly, I wasn't suffering too much....  in fact, I... yeah....

(gloss over some details here)

.... we got in really late.  I ~ah~ admit that we hung out at the reception a little extra time while I ~ah~ regrouped before driving home.  I'm good like that.

Zickie's an asset.  I'm just sayin'.

Of course, marathon training stops for no wedding.  So I fell into bed WAY too late, dreading my morning miles, but totally looking forward to my run.  If that makes any sense at all?

Surprisingly the run the next day was.... well, awesome.  I owned it.

It was a great run.  I ended up running 6+ of my 8 with a new friend, Birch.  (20 something year old neighbor named him, and I think ~ yeah ~ it's a cute name for him).  Birch has been here before, as the coach who never used to say Hi, even when I called him out by name.  So we ran 6ish together and had the most hilarious, serious, funny, interesting, odd conversation.  I can't even tell you.  I will tell you I think he's ...  well.... I'm a runner too.  We're all a little weird.  It's a good thing I've concluded.  Anyway, since the GBA's were all out and about, we hit Starbucks on the way home.

It was a GBA weekend...  I might be exhausted, but damn, I'm happy to have some of the best friends, whether they're 20something year olds, illusive, solid, "weird", or know how to say really wise things at really strategic moments.

Creature of habit

I have some strange habits.  I’m not complaining.  They help me get things done.

I credit my odd habits with my routine, and I credit my routine with keeping me 82% sane.  I’m, sadly, only 82% sane right now because I’m marathon training and anyone who claims “sanity & marathon training” go together like “peanut butter and jelly” is a liar.

The habit I enjoy the most is that I get up at 4something in the morning, stumble down stairs in fog, blinking heavily.  I eat a little piece of banana, drink some water, and hang out in my kitchen with my text books and e-mail for a bit while I wake up.  Then I go for a run.

~savor~

On rest days, I have a habit of getting up at 4something in the morning, eating a little, brewing some coffee and being in love with my biology or nursing or statistics text book until the kids get up.  Ok, love is a strong word here.

How about this one:  “Let me sit back and consider if I’m really hungry before I eat”.  Yes.  It’s a habit I worked hard to develop.  It’s taken a while to become second nature.  Today I found myself bored at one point (sitting at computer doing 45 statistics problems – you’d have been bored too) and contemplated grazing. 

Duh, WWBS?  *What would Brooke Say?  “Are you hungry?  No.  Then git your sorry southern a** out of the pantry”.  I love Brooke’s accent.  She’s Texan.  Pinch me.

Of course, despite the fact that I’m FREAKING AWESOME, I’m not perfect, and some of my habits are a fail. 

I often stop to log food into food journal, pop over to Facebook, take a look….  Or worse.  E-mail.  I get 30 e-mails a day from people I’d like to communicate with… (I have to clarify that because I probably get 843 e-mails a day from people requesting money be wire transferred, or suggesting that my (equipment) could stand to be larger, harder and better). 

I can lose an hour reading, and replying in support, encouragement, need, love, or conversation with the people I support, love, need and converse with on a daily basis.  I have dedicated time for e-mail.  The bad habit is allowing myself to get sucked in past that time.  Admittedly “certain people” have the addy that goes straight to the DROID… and thus, there are no hours of operation. 

I have the bad bad habit of checking that e-mail way too often.  if you have that addy you know this first hand.

Still, keeping a detailed food journal takes some time.  Keeping up with 3 kids takes a chunk of time.  Homework and class time takes about 40 hours a week at this point, that e-mail “habit” as bad as it is can kill hours in my day, and, then, you have what my husband considers my worst offender: my running habit.  

That one takes … well, as much time as it takes.

So, I guess it’s not surprising that I get the following question ALL the time:

“How do you FIT IT ALL IN???”

How do I … ?  What?  Please people. 

If it’s important to you, you’ll fit it in and make it part of your routine. 

If you love it (i.e. – Running, riding or “heroin use” in general), you’ll fit it in. 

If you hate it but it has to be done (i.e. – Planks, Statistics homework) you’ll STILL fit it in.

Even if that means you have to develop a habit that allows you to read e-mail, do planks, go running, and do homework at 4:29am, 7 days a week.

Of course, on the running days, it’s easier to break out of the fog by 4:45, but that’s just coz I love that ‘habit’ a bit more than homework.  And that habit this year has lead to a whopping 855 miles to date.  Considering I took a month off of running *fankle, that number seems pretty significant.

~savor the run~