Memories from today

This is just a post so that I can remember the little things that were happening to us in life.

Drew was making phone calls with his play phone. He spoke with a man name Harold and another man named Larry. He was giving orders and told Larry to swab the decks. We do not know anyone by these names, and they are so out of the ordinary for a kindergartener to know, that it struck me as funny.

Julianna has been showing signs of being able to read for awhile now. She has obsessively been writing her letters whenever she has a pen and paper. Last week she wrote her first word independently. And I don't mean just writing letters I tell her to make a word. She actually sounded out a word herself and wrote it down without my help. The word was 'pan'. Since that day I have noticed that she can remember the short vowel sounds for a, e, i, and o. Yesterday I wrote about three dozen short vowel words on a piece of paper and she sounded out and read every single one of them. This seems totally crazy to me...but I'm looking forward to seeing what she figures out next.

My children are all about running lately. I went for a run first thing in the morning yesterday and when I got home they wanted to run too. They like my treadmill more than I do and Lily ended up running 1.4 miles on it yesterday. There is a running club for kids 8 and older and I'm thinking it'd be a good club for Lily to join. She needs practice making friends and the running could be a natural help for her ADHD. The other two children ran too, but not nearly as much. I'm ready for the long, warm summer days where all they do is run and play.

Tom finished up a big part of a painting project on Sunday. He has all the walls and the trim in the living room painted. The next step is to finish the second coat on the ceiling. He is currently building himself some stilts so that he can move more easily while painting so high up. I'm looking forward to getting my furniture back in the room to see how it looks. I'm being patient though -- and grateful to Tom for all his hard work. Tom is a very careful painter and I think it looks great. We have lived here almost two years and I'm so excited that we have started some of the projects that will make this house look the way we want our home to look. It's not going to be an overnight thing, but when we're done, it's going to look great. :)

post race

I have started this post and re-started this post a few times. I just can't quite capture the direction I want my post-half-marathon-blog-post to go.

I can say....

 ...that it was amazing.

...that the partners I trained with will be my friends for life. Krystal and Courtney were so welcoming during our first runs. They made me feel like I was an important part of their training team. They are the reason I was able to show up to the race with confidence this morning.

...I want to do as many races as possible.

...I had no idea that I was actually capable of training for, and completing, a 13.1 mile race.

...I didn't know that I was capable of running at such a good pace. It was a spectacular feeling every time I heard our pace time.

...I would not have kept such a fantastic pace and positive attitude during my run without my partner Courtney. Her sunny personality was a huge boost as I ran miles 9 through 11.

Courtney and I feeling great and running at a super fantastic pace.

...that I'm lucky to have such a supportive family. And by family I mean my mom, dad, sister, brother, brother in-law, sister in-law, two nephews, my mother in-law, Ann, my mamaw and papaw; as well as Tom, Lily, Drew and Julianna. They followed me throughout my race. They chased me down over and over. They whooped and hollered at me waving signs and making me feel like a super star. My grandparents even drove a couple of hours to be here for my run. I am so lucky.

Tom handing out the bananas.

...I have the best husband. Tom mapped out a timeline of where to meet me and when so that he could be ready for me. He brought us bananas for me to eat. Bananas that I know I couldn't have finished without. At one point when I saw him I yelled, "Do you have a banana in your pocket?!!" And Courtney finished, "Or are you just happy to see us?"

This is the point that David started helping me put one foot in front of the other.

...I would not have finished the race running if it weren't for my uncle David. He pulled me through until the end. David sang to me, boosted my spirits and remained positive when my mind and body had left me at mile 11 and a half. He suggested we finish together - and meant it.We did finish together and I will never forget it.

 See what I mean about supportive, positive people? I couldn't have done it without them.

We made it!

i was running

I've been working out four to five times a week for a year now. It was getting hard to remember back to what life was like before I started. I have become accustomed to the workouts and what they do for me, my brain and my life. I have more energy, I get to snack more frequently (sometimes annoyingly so), my chores are completed and I just feel happy about life.

I also started training for a half marathon several weeks ago. I cannot tell you the impact that has had. It's like my brain needs me to run. The runs give me a constant state of focus and accomplishment. If I don't get anything for myself the rest of the day, I've still given myself (and my family) a huge gift. I just feel really great about it all the way around. I will be sad when my training is over because I have gained so much from it. I'm not sure that I can run long runs by myself. Hopefully I can convince at least one of my running partners to meet me once in awhile for a good long run.

As I said, I was having a hard time remembering what it was like before I started these regular workouts - then I got sick. I wasn't really that sick. I just had a slight cold - coughing, congestion and body aches. But that little cold made it really impossible for me to run. I forced myself to take four full days off and went for a run yesterday morning. It was too much, even with the four days off. It took me all day and night to recover from it. I know it sounds crazy, but I needed that run anyway. I haven't been myself. After about two days of not getting some sort of exercise I start to feel less motivated, less focused. I really start to remember the benefits of these crazy 5 am workouts. I get more grumpy, more messy and less likely to want to much besides....well....nothing.

I know that this all sounds a bit crazy. I know that some people think that I'm one of those insane people....and maybe I am. But who wouldn't do the same for themselves if they were in my shoes? If you dealt with a brain that seemed like mush sometimes and all you had to do was get out and get your heart rate up and your muscles pumping to sharpen your mind - wouldn't I be crazy not to do this for myself?

running reflections

I ran 17 miles this week.

I've learned a bit about myself and my role in my family since I started seriously training for a half marathon.

This goal of mine is starting to affect my everyday life. Instead of getting up early to workout 3 times a week, I'm getting up five to six times a week. This makes me tired and it requires me to go to bed early. So, even though the running has made me feel healthier and increased my energy for my children, it has decreased the time I get to spend with my partner. I'm ready for bed when the kids are and I'm out the door before Tom even rolls over in the morning. I am depending on him much more to help around the house than I did before. It isn't easy and I miss him.

The flip side to this goal that I've set is that I am finally doing something for myself. It's been a long time since I've done anything for just me. I can't remember the last big goal I set for myself that I've been able to put forth an action plan to complete it. This training has really been exciting and fun for me. I love getting out there and running the miles, increasing my distance and trying to run it just a bit faster than the week before. It has filled me with excitement and energy. I am happy to be back in the world of training for a race...even if I know that I won't actually be racing anyone but myself.

The kids have noticed my running and are always impressed with my distances. Lily talks about going with me for a run sometime, but I think we will wait until the weather cools down a bit. We've been having a very hot and dry summer. The weather has made the runs mostly bug-free...but we've never gotten to skip a run due to rain, either. I suppose those are all good things...but I wouldn't mind getting one morning that I can roll over and go back to sleep because it's raining too much to run. Just once before school starts would be awesome.

School is starting soon....the summer has gone too fast.

running miles - and fevers

I've logged 12 miles this week. That is more than I've ever ran in a seven day span. Ever. The race I will run at the end of this is actually 13.1 miles. In one day. The magnitude of this fact has not fully sunk in. I don't know that my brain can wrap itself around the idea that my body will run that distance all at once. We'll see.

This week, while I've gotten up and done the motivated thing and gotten up around 5:20 every morning to workout or go for a run, my children have been sick. All three have run fevers. Two were throwing up. Lily was so bad that I called the doctor for drugs to keep her from puking to the point of dehydration. Today is Drew's turn to be sick. He thankfully has not thrown up, but he is feeling under the weather. Drew is easily my most dramatic sick person. I cannot imagine if he'd gotten the influenza with Lily this winter. He might have thought he needed to be hospitalized.

The getting up early and working out has been good for my mood during the day. I feel good about completing my workouts and it gives me a boost. This is a very good thing, mostly because I'm so tired from getting up at 5:20 and then staying busy or taking care of children, that I can hardly see straight I'm so tired. I don't know the solution to this besides going to bed earlier. I've been in bed at 9 the last two nights...only to be awakened by children throughout the night. I'm sure this will get better when they are feeling better...but holy cow! I could use some sleep. So much so that I actually took a nap yesterday.

The other thing I've noticed since my workouts have increased in day and duration, that I'm hungry all day. I feel like my blood sugar is always too low. I snack a lot. I can't seem to keep up with the demand. Do any of you have any secrets to keeping my energy level up, filling up with healthy foods and not gaining a ton of weight? Any advice would be much appreciated.

This is the end of week two of training. Only ten more weeks to go. I'll keep you posted as I go.

i'm serious this time

I'm not a runner. I'm not even particularly coordinated. When I was a kid I was a swimmer. Swimming required very little eye hand coordination and there were never any balls flying around that I was supposed to catch, throw, or kick - and there wasn't any running. Swimming was a good sport for me because it wasn't all about natural talent. If you worked hard enough, those with little talent (like myself) could do reasonably well in the sport.

The fact that I'm not a runner and the fact that I've really shown little interest in the sport until a couple of years ago, it makes no sense that I've always wanted to run a marathon - like, for forever. I cannot explain why on Earth I would want to do such a thing. Until a couple of years ago I could swim a mile faster than I could run it. (I'm not sure if that makes me a fast swimmer or a painfully slow runner.) Either way, I would never have had the nerve to train for a race...or even run more than a mile...until now. After months of talking about wanting to train for a race, and months of working out 4-5 times a week at the local Y, I have found the confidence and the running partners required to complete my goal.

 I think I've found the trick to keeping myself motivated and excited. I have two running partners that are really motivational just by showing up to run with me. The miles don't seem so long when I can distract myself with idle conversation. The last time I ran with any regularity was last winter. I was running alone and not in very good shape. It was hard not to focus on my pain and boredom when I would run alone. It turns out, all I needed was some running buddies and maybe a few months of working out regularly, to get me ready for this challenge.

I'm beyond pumped about the experience. I'm starting with a local half marathon in September. I'm hoping with that I can build up to an actual marathon...and maybe a triathlon someday, too. Hey, I've got the swimming and running thing down...it could happen.