Hello Again

Hello again, I have not blogged for awhile.  Life has been crazy for a few weeks now.  I went to physical therapy and started to get better and run again, pain free!  Just when I could start running again, illness hit our house and hit it hard.  This was my week three weeks ago.  Monday- one daughter has slight cough stay home to be safe.  Wednesday another daughter has a UTI and Friday both daughters have Influenza.  Sunday one daughter gets worse so we run to ER, only to be told she is fine.  She does not have pneumonia, she is not dehydrated and to calm down the flu takes 5 to 7 days to get over.  I disagree so we got back to the doctor on Monday.  While driving to the doctor I am praying, and praying.  My little D ( 4 years old) does not look good, I know something is very wrong.  We see the doctor they take one look at her and one listen to her dehydration and pneumonia!! They say hurry to the hospital we will call ahead.  I am all by myself. Rob is home with the others kids.  I call him.  I get to the hospital the nurses look her over, one nurse informs me they have to call the Rapid response team because of her respiration rate and because she is so lethargic, think little rag doll.  Soon the room is filled with about 10 more people all with gowns and masks and equipment.  They are from the ICU they attach monitors all over  her.  It is hard for me to be close to her with so many people.  I am not totally sure what is going on. One nurse asks me " Mom how are you holding up?' OH man, don't ask me this now.  I am strong, I am fine.  I have to be strong for D.  I squeak out a little "OK" .  One nurse hugs me and says " I am sure she has had better days".  The tears start to silently flow.  Is she going to be OK?  Why did that ER doctor send me home? Then then try the IV.  She is so dehydrated they can not gets it.  One nurse tries, another nurse tries.   They get an anesthesiologist to try, then they get the head anesthesiologist on duty to try.  ALL in ALL it is 12 times!  Three in her left hand, two in her left arm, three in her right arm, two in her left foot and two in her right foot.   She cries and screams with each one.  I pray and pray.  They then decided to stop trying and just try to get her to drink.  We end up staying at the hospital a week.  She goes on Oxygen and gets up to 3.0 Liters and then goes down  and then back up.  They try an IV again a few days later and they get it on the second try and that seems to really help her.  She is home now and doing well and even went back to preschool today.  I know this is not about running, it is  about a hard week in my life that I learned many things.  I learned to trust myself,  I knew she was really sick no matter what the ER said and I took her back and thank God I did, her personal doctor said I could have saved her life.  I am so thankful for my parents and all their help taking care of A and  P while my husband (  when not working) and I stayed at the hospital.  I am so very lucky to have them and it would have been so much harder without their help.  I also have a new focus on my half marathon this year.  I am thankful I did not sign up for the full :)  I originally wanted to have a goal time and really own this one. Monday my official training starts and I am the least  prepared physically to start training that I have ever been.  My shorter runs have been hard, and I feel like I have lost a lot from not running for awhile.  Mentally I got this.  Mentally I am tough.  I know I can do this, I have run Lincoln two times before and I know I can run 13.1 miles. I just made it through a very tough week and we all are doing well now.  I got this.  I think I may actually slow down and enjoy this one.  Wave at more people, give more high fives and maybe even dance to the music.  I will encourage others and just enjoy my running. Life can be hard at times, but that makes me what to enjoy the good times all that much more.

Goal... Interrupted

So I really really wanted to run the Full marathon in May.  It was a Goal.  I was doing so well.  Then I got hurt.  I am really way more hurt than I let on.  I ended up going to the doctor.   I had to find a new doctor just to go to one.  So I had not been to a Family doctor in a few years.  He referred me to Physical Therapy and I started that on Friday.  I told her my goals and that I had hoped to run a Full.  She figured out what was wrong with me and told me she has a plan to get me back running.  I have not even been able to run lately.  She said I can help you but I think if you run the full you will just be right back in here seeing me again after you are done.  The half is a reasonable goal and I can help you with that but the Full is not something I would recommend.  So I was disappointed and started thinking what should I do, should I listen to her, should I still try it?  I then walked out of the room we were in and everyone was talking about Sandy Hook Elementary.  I turned on the radio in my car, I then watched the news on the TV.  I cried and cried.  I hugged my little ones.  I gave Paige the biggest hug when I picked her up from school.


I felt silly for worrying about what race I would run.  The thing is I will be able to run a race again.  I want to be able to run 26 miles for the 26 victims at the school shooting but if I can't do that in May I will still do it.  My dream is not gone, my dream was just interrupted by a injury.  An injury I can work though and overcome.  In light of recent events what race I run on May 5th does not seem all that important.  My family and friends and spending time with them and telling them I love them is what I want to focus on now.  My thoughts and prayers are with all the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. 

Feeling Sorry for Myself

So I have been dealing with an injury here for over a month.  It really sucks!  I hate that I can't run when I want to run.  I hate that I have to stop not because I am tired or because I reached my goal but I have to stop because my leg hurts.  It seems that after about three miles my leg feels really heavy and almost gives out on me.  I thought I was doing better and then I pushed it too hard and now it hurts bad again. 

I am normally a very positive person.  I am the one who picks everyone else up when they are down.  I have been told I give great advice and I can be very motivating but what happened when I am the one who is down?  Well, I guess I start to feel sorry for myself. 

I have had plans to run the FULL marathon this year and now this injury seems to be messing up with my plans and I don't know what to do.  My husband claims the thing he loves the most about me and also annoys him the most is that once I get an idea in my head, I am doing it.  No stopping me I am going to do it.  BUT what if I physically can not do it?


I watched a video today that is posted on our Sole Sisters Facebook page ( check it out).  It was about a guy who was told he would not be able to run or walk without assistance and guess what?  He proved them wrong.  It really made me think,  why am I sitting around feeling sorry for myself because I am hurt.  I can work through this.  I can still reach my goals.  I can even still run a FULL marathon.  I have time on my side and any one who knows me knows I also have determination.  My goal for this year was to run a FULL marathon well this year also has 365 days in it.  If I can not do Lincoln ( which I have not given up on) there are plenty of other marathons and days and more time.


I am officially done feel sorry for myself and back to dreaming big, don't give up, never ever give up.

Thankful

Running helps me to realize all that I am thankful for.  In this month as we approach Thanksgiving I think about what I am thankful for lately.  I am thankful for modern technology.  I had a scare on my first mammogram and after spending all day at the doctor, I was able to go home and come back in six months and they will just watch the area, and they believe everything is fine!   This technology is what saved my mom's life, now a five year cancer survivor because she stayed on top of her health and was well aware that she needed to do that, due to the fact that her mother ( my grandma) lost her battle with breast cancer.


I am thankful for a hard working husband who earns free trips that we are able to get away and relax and for family that does everything they can to help me get away from watching my children or watching my dog or picking Paige up from school.  They all come together to help me get away and I am so thankful for that.


I am also thankful for my Sole Sisters and all their hard work on the First "Bare Your Sole" event.  I am thankful that many more children will have shoes on their feet due to their hard work.  I am also thankful that I am able to provide shoes for my children and actually kind of feel silly at how many shoes they do have to wear.  I think I will donate and downsize :)


I am thankful I am able to run, I have had to run less lately due to an injury and while it was hard.  I can still run and I am so SO very thankful for that.

A Review: Simple Trends Headbands

Three Sole Sisters give their bangs and flyaways the ole Heave Ho!


Meghan:
I decided to put my Simple trends headband to the ultimate test.  One week before my big run I cut my hair in a cute little short style with many different layers.  Soon after looking at myself in the mirror I thought "how am I going to put my hair back to run?"  Well, I found my answer.  A simple trends headband.  I LOVE IT!  The first time I wore it was for a half marathon and it stayed put all 13.1 miles.  The second time I wore it was for another half marathon the next day ( yes I am a little crazy!). It stayed put all 13.1 miles the second day, too!  It helped keep the sweat out of my eyes and, best of all, everyone could pick me out while running with my green and blue leopard print headband.  I think it will now be my signature look, thanks Simple Trends!

 Joyce:

I have mommy hair.

Any woman who has had children knows what I'm talking about. It is a full year after my postpartum hair loss and new hair growth started when my youngest was about 4 months old, and I am rocking the "mommy halo," lots of short strands of hair right around my hairline that don't lay properly and are too short to be pulled back in a ponytail. It's not usually something that bothers me about my body post-children, but right now, these short hairs are at a perfect length to tickle my nose and get in my eyes anytime there is a slight breeze. Not fun while trying to run.

So when I got the opportunity to try out a Simple-Trends headband, I was excited! I've tried running wearing those thin elastic headbands you can find at every drugstore, and they just would slip off of my head and distract me from the workout instead of keep my hair out of my face like I wanted. The Simple-Trends headband, on the other hand, actually stayed put! I wore it for the first time for a run in a 5k race, and after making sure it was spread out over my forehead and the top of my hair, it didn't move at all! This picture is me after the race, and I promise, I didn't touch it or readjust it at all! I found the headband comfortable, not too tight, but not so loose it doesn't stay on, and don't I look cute? ;-)

Diane:

Simple Trends sent us several headbands to try. As I reached into the bag to select one, I was impressed by the silky feel and the vibrant colors. I chose a tie-dye rainbow one. (Megan - did they say which patterns they sent? I didn't see a pic of mine on the website but many are sold out.) First I tried it out during my treadmill run at the gym. My kids immediately noticed it when they got in the car: "Cool headband, Mom! I like the colors!" I felt more presentable at the gym and was glad I had a headband to disguise my sweaty and unwashed hair when I stopped by a friend's house post-workout. The next test was my long run of the week, which I usually do outdoors. The headband stayed in place and I was thankful for the extra fabric to pull over my ears as I ran along the highway in a stiff breeze. It kept my bangs from blowing all over, a big pet peeve of mine on windy runs. The headband can be rolled up to be thinner or pulled down to be wider, and it is definitely versatile and fashion-forward enough to be worn anywhere.

These are super soft, super comfy and made by a MOM and a RUNNER! Her customer service is superp and her fabric choices are so cute!

Visit the website here!

Want to win your own headband? There is a hot pink with black scull headband up for grabs- it is HARDCORE just like you are! Contest will end Friday at 9pm and the winner will be chosen by Random.org.

To enter simply leave a separate comment for the following:

1. Visit Simple Trends and tell us your favorite fabric

2. Share this blog post (and please give us the link in your comment!)

3. Follow Sole Sisters on Facebook

4. Follow the Sole Sisters Blog 

Best of luck!!

Double Half Mary

I have had the dates of October 13 and 14th on my calendar for awhile.  I signed up many months ago to do something I even thought was crazy.  The price was going to increase the next day and every time I saw a post about this race I felt this little pull inside of me that wanted to do it.  I also had a very encouraging sole sister tell me she thought I should do it with her.  I was not sure I was ready for such a task.  My fellow sole sister had run a full marathon and I had not.  I had run two half marathons and was signing up for something that would double that to 4 not to mention they were back to back.  My husband thought I was crazy he was pretty sure I was going to hurt myself.  I still decided to sign up and train for it.  My plan was to run long runs back to back that did not really happen like I planned.  I did follow my 1/2 marathon training plan pretty well and felt like I was prepared to run a good 1/2 marathon----BUT  I had to run two 1/2 marathons!

before day one

 Saturday morning I picked up my sole sister and two of her running friends and we headed to a small town North of us.  I felt really good, I had gotten a good night sleep, I had drank lots of water all week, I was ready.  I ran and felt great, I felt like it was an easy peasy run and I enjoyed it.  I felt like I could have run faster and that is what I wanted.  I keep saying don't push too hard you have to do this tomorrow. I was shocked when I saw my time was 2:18:26 my PR from the Lincoln Half in May was 2:18:04 so for me that was amazing! I went home and tried an ice bath but quickly got out.  Those are so hard for me to do.  I sit in my swimming suit and have the girls dump cups of ice on me, they love it but I could not stand it.  I needed a warm shower.   I even went to a friend's daughter birthday party Saturday night and felt good.  I was a little stiff but went to bed early and woke up ready to do it all again.  OK not really, I was stiff and sore.  Sunday I started running slower to stretch out and then felt really good until mile 11.  In my head I was so excited only 2 more miles but my body was not as excited.  My body was like what are you doing?  You ran 13 miles yesterday wasn't that enough.  My legs felt heavy and I got really stiff.  I still ran, I did not walk.  I am sure I looked like I was running in slow motion but I was running.

running to the finish

I got close enough that I could see the last street before the finish line and I felt really emotional, I took a deep breath and said I am going to do this thing.  I almost burst into tears of joy but I quickly turned that off and told myself to finish first.  I even had a good kick at the end.  Crazy running 26.2 miles and still able to turn in on at the end, I always wonder were that comes from.  Most likely joy at seeing the finish. I was 6 minutes slower on Sunday but I did it!  I ran two half marathons back to back.  I did something that when I signed up for it, I was not sure I could do.  I was pretty sore on Sunday but was feeling better Monday and today, Wednesday, I feel great and like I could go for a run.  I don't think I will though, I think I will rest, I deserve it, I earned it and my body will thank me. This run gave me the courage to maybe, just maybe, attempt the FULL in May in my hometown.  We shall see but for now I am resting and enjoy looking at my cool medal that stands for so much more than what I did on those two days.

WE DID IT!  two half marathons in two days and we are sill smiling and standing upright!

STRONGER

So on this Saturday and Sunday October 13 and 14th, 2012 I am going to attempt the most physically challenging thing I have ever done.  I am going to run a half marathon on Saturday, 13.1 miles and then wake up and do it all again on Sunday!  Say what?!?!  You read that right.  It is called the Double Half Mary and it is BOLD!  If you know me you know I enjoy running, I have run two half marathons, some 5Ks some 10Ks.  I DO consider running not just something I do but PART of who I am.  I often use the line “ I have turned out to be so much stronger than I ever thought I would be”.  That sounds all great but what exactly do I mean.  So many other amazing women in this group have been so very very honest about why they run and all their struggles and trials.  I thought I would be honest as well.

When I use the line stronger than I ever thought I would be, I am talking about a time in my life when I would not have used Strong as a word to describe myself or anything about me.  I was in a young marriage that was not healthy.  It was both physically and emotionally abusive.  I will not tell you about all details, but I went through ALOT and  it was a hard time for me.  I felt weak emotionally and physically.  I made the decision to start a better life for my beautiful newborn daughter and started my journey as a single mother.  I sacrificed to make ends meet and am proud to say she turned out to be a pretty wonderful, she is an amazing young lady today, OK actually she is perfect.

I have since that time forgiven my Ex- husband, met and married a wonderful man who loves me just they way I am and have two more beautiful daughters, twins now age four.  I have a little three bedroom house with a backyard and I am able to stay home with my children and enjoy every moment with them.

I run because everything I have been through is a part of me, I have lived through it and gotten stronger for going through it.  I would not change one minute of anything I have gone through.  I love the person I have grown to be and every experience made me what I am today.  With every step on every run I feel stronger, I think of where I have been and what I have learned and where I still want to go.  I think of my amazing family and how much I love them.  Most of all I just feel Happy and Grateful.

So this weekend when I line up on the starting line of my crazy races you may be standing right next to me in the race but it is not you I am competing against.  I run for me, I run to be STRONGER. 

Sabre Red: A Review

I often run alone, and as the nights get longer and the mornings are just as dark, I'm often feeling a tad unsure of my surroundings. We live in a good neighborhood, but a neighbor and fellow Mother Runner had a van follow her around on two separate runs AND there is a bus route where the guys from Corrections catch a ride... it can make me nervous!

Several months ago, I bought a Saber Red Pepper Spray Keychain and I am so glad to have it. I feel confident in my ability to use it and love the size, shape and ease of use it provides. Mine is pink, too, because Saber Red donates a portion of proceeds from the pink Pepper Sprays to Breast Cancer Research! Win-win!

I only run without it when I'm doing a large group run where I feel protected by numbers, but otherwise I always have my Sabre Red!

Sabre Red has offered the Sole Sisters different types of products to review!

Here we have Erica reviewing the Spitfire and Meghan with the Runner:
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Sabre Red Pepper Spray was kind enough to let us try out quite a few of their products. Since the Sole Sisters were testing so many different designs, we all got to joking who was going to really try it out, if you know what I mean. Well, after dry heaving over the toilet and still feeling it in my throat and nose, I guess that would be me. Sometimes, I am such a moron.

I was sitting down to write the review when I thought I’d give it a spray one more time. It’s very easy to use, but also has a little resistance to make it safer. I sat in my basement and sprayed just the tiniest bit away from me. It was within seconds I started coughing and could feel it all in my throat & nose. Oops! I’m still trying to clear my throat! I can tell you without question that this stuff works!! That being said, there is a bigger reason then my stupidity that this will never become part of my running routine: MY KIDS.

The night I brought it home I put it up on the counter and went to bed. The next evening I came home and it was out of the plastic wrapping and sitting under my kitchen table . That is terrifying to me. I am a person ridden with anxiety. I thought pepper spray would leave me feeling confident & ready for any attacker. But, my anxiety about my kids getting sprayed trump any feelings of good I get from having the pepper spray. My children are young, 4 and 1, and I can’t think of a single place in my house that I would feel confident storing the pepper spray without worrying about them.

So, although I thank Sabre for allowing me the opportunity to try out their product (quite literally), this is not a running must for me!

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When I heard about pepper spray for runners I was interested but scared.  My last experience with pepper spray was in high school on my key chain and I sprayed myself in the face and it was horrible.  My husband even saw what I was going to use while running and said " Be careful you would be the type to spray yourself in the face."  I laughed and said thanks hon ( he knows me well).  The good news is I ran with it and did not spray myself in the face.  I love the cute pink color ,it matched my shoes and running shorts, and the fact that it straps to your hand.  I was running as it was starting to get dark and I felt safe because it was in my hand ready to use if needed.  It is easy to use just turn dial and spray.  It was not too easy though as in spray yourself too easy :)  I really liked this product and felt safer having it in my hand.
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Now for some fun news! Sabre Red is giving Away a Pepper Spray product to a lucky reader!! You have several ways of entering, please comment on this blog post for each individual entry and be sure to leave us with a way to contact you!
- Comment below with the Sabre Red Product you would choose
-Share this blog post on facebook and/or twitter
-"Like" Sabre Red on Facebook
-Follow our Sole Sisters Blog!!

A winner will be chosen via Random.org on Monday October 8, 2012

Slow, Can't Breathe and Lost my Key

You have a choice. You can throw in the towel, or you can use it to wipe the sweat off of your face. Gatorade ad

My fellow Sole Sisters and I before the race, little did we know what adventure would await us

             Friday night I was excited to run a 10K race, It was called the Harvest Moon Hustle and the line they used was Fast, Flat and in the Dark.  Well it was not really any of those things for me.  It was a awesome race and beautiful scenery it was just not my night.  The start time had to be moved back so it would not really be dark for safety reasons and regulations, and that was fine.  I did not have to wear the head lamp that I bought and I was fine with that.  My goal time for this race was under one hour.  I was really hoping to get a PR in this race.  I have not run too many 10Ks but my best time was last year and it was 59:36 and I was pretty sure I could beat that.  That one was in the rain with hills and this was suppose to be flat and the weather was BEAUTIFUL!  My fellow Sole Sisters and I talked about using our Ipods as it was not recommended but we all decided that we NEEDED them.  I know elite runners do not use them and if it would have been a shorter race no problem but 6.2 miles---- I needed music.  We started the race and my Ipod did not work, it did not work the whole time.  I spent so much effort messing around with it I just had to let it go and run without music.  The hard part of this was when the negative voices came in my head, there was not a song playing to drown them out.  The negative voices were telling me not to push myself because who really cared about my time, then I would say yes YOU care come on push it.  I also could not breath very well.  I have horrible allergies and should have taken extra medication before I ran around a field and on a dusty gravel road.  I was able to manage a super sprint at the end up a hill and that felt great.  I then looked over at the c lock and it was after an hour but I started towards the back and did not see what it said when I crossed the line so I thought it might be close.  Now on to the after party, food and a beer and it will all be forgotten. 

                  

                 Just grab my key out of the key pocket in my pants ( which I assured my friends I use all the time and my key always stays), oh my where is it, it is not in my pockets, it is not in the pants,  it is not in my underwear, WHERE IS MY KEY!?!?  I yelled to my friends and they looked at me with wide eyes.  We searched where I had been stretching I went and talked to the race volunteers, who were by the way the nicest people I have ever met, they were just amazing wonderful people!  We realized finding a key on a gravel road at night as it was pretty dark by now was going to be impossible and I had run the 10K not the shorter 5K!  The volunteers drove us over to the after party and made sure we got beer and food and anything we needed.  My wonderful loving and awesome husband had to pack up the kids in the car at bedtime and one was already asleep and bring me the spare key.  I was a good 30+ minutes from home and he got the whole story through three different phone calls with three different numbers because our stuff was--- locked in my car!

with the key after my husband dropped it off, all is good now, well my husband may not have thought so  :)

All in all I had a fun time with my Sole Sisters, the Volunteers made a huge fuss over us and we got free food and beer. My friends are laid back and just went with the flow, no worries over my lost key. My husband laughed about it after I got back home even if he was less that thrilled that one of our four year -olds was throwing a major fit about having to get in the car.  Oh and in case you are wondering about my time did I make my under an hour goal. NOPE my time was 1 hour 1 minute, as if that one minute was laughing at me and my misfortune that day.  BUT  it may have not been my day that day but I ended  the night with a smile on my face, lots of laughs and good times with friends and I very important lesson learned that my key pocket in my shorts is not a good place to store my key!

Own it

In talking with my Sole Sisters lately I have noticed one thing. Some of us are selling ourselves short!  I will include myself in this group.  I have been known to say when asked if I ran a marathon, no I "only" did the 1/2.  Well the half marathon is still 13.1 hard miles.

  Many of us feel like we need to say I  run 10 minute, 11 minute, 12 minute miles, or that we run slower,  we still all run the same miles.  We put in the work, we make time for ourselves and we do something that makes us stronger women and better moms and friends.  So I say to you fellow Sole Sisters ---Own it!  You are all wonderful beautiful strong women and I love being a part of this wonderful group.

I challenge you to leave a comment about something great you have done lately, it can be running related or it can be anything that you are proud of.

Mine is- I ran last night when it was starting to get darker, I had no GPS, I had no music, I did not even have my normal running attire on.  My husband came home and I just put my shoes on and went out the door, and I felt like I was flying.  It was  2 1/2 miles and it was not on any schedule or part of any plan.  I just went out running just to run :)

Running with my Sisters

So Saturday I did a mud run with my Sisters.  My real flesh and blood sisters.  We did a Mud Run.  It was a fun time.  Neither of my sisters run as much as I do, if at all.  They are both in great shape because they do all sorts of boot-camps, yoga, weight lifting you name it .  It was super crowded so it would have been impossible to run the whole thing even if we wanted to.  This was all for fun as it was not timed.  It was pretty hilly and the obstacles were challenging but fun.  We then got to this creek of mud.  It was about 1/2 mile of wading through mud up to your waist, at the deepest.  People's shoes were getting stuck, people were falling, everyone was helping each other.  It took forever to get through but we made it, I will admit I was glad to get out of the mud.  My youngest sister had just asked before that part "Where is the mud?"  Well she got what she asked for!  It was a fun time and I was happy to spend a day with my sisters and get to pretend we are kids again.  I am pretty lucky to have then both live in the same town as well as my younger brother.  Family is very important to me and having fun and getting dirty with your sisters is a great way to spend time together.

60 miles out of my comfort zone

Faster that a speeding truck ( OK not really)

So in this group of Sole Sisters I am one of the women who has been running longer than some who have just started and I have also run two half marathons.  I am by no way an expert or super speedy.  I just have a little more experience with running than some others in the group.  I was asked by a fellow Sole sister to run in a relay, a 60 mile relay!  It was in another city, with people I did not know other than my fellow Sole Sister and I had never done anything like this before.  I researched the team of runners, yes yes I Googled their race results, I found out that I would be one of the slower members of the team.  I thought not sure I wanted to do that.  I then remember that when our group had signed up for the Havelock Run there were new runners who were afraid to be on our team because they thought they were slower.  I had encouraged them to join and run and they had the courage to do it and did AWESOME!  I was going to learn from them and do this RACE!  The day came and it was pouring ran and I was given the last leg and one of the longest legs.  My first run was 5.5 and my second was 3.  It stopped raining on my first leg and I pushed hard and ran great.  My second leg my fellow Sole Sister was handing off to me and she had just passed another team and I heard the team tell their  member ,who was about to run, that her goal was to pass me.  I said " OH no I don't think so", and I ran, I ran hard, I kept looking over my shoulder.  I was running on the HWY ( scary).  I was wondering where the next exchange was?  Well, she did not catch me, not even close!  I did something I thought I would never to, with people I did not even know and it was turned out great.  I still look at the pictures and I am proud of the effort I gave on that day. 

Fuel up with Color Run

Yesterday the girls and I went to a local run.  It was called the Fuel Up with Color Run.  It was promoting healthy eating and exercise.  Since I am an active mom myself these are important issue to me and my family. I think my job as a mom is to make this fun.  I want my kids to always stay active and enjoy it.  My oldest daughter enjoys swimming and right before the race she said " Mom this body was not made for running, it was made for swimming."  I laughed and said well thanks for trying this event.  One of my twins ran off fast and my oldest could hardly keep up with her.  The other twin just ran at her own pace she ran the whole way and the bikes to bring up the end were right behind us.  The thing is we all had fun, we all ran a mile and did it together.   I love participating in events like this with my kids and hope to find more opportunities to do so.

Funk

So I have not been feeling the best lately, I have really bad seasonal allergies and this year they are the worst they have ever been.  I can not breath unless I take my medication and I hate taking medication.  It makes me feel all strange but I guess I need to breathe.  Sunday on my long run I had a bad run.  It was hot and I had to walk a lot.  I actually have not run since then because I just do not feel good.  Today I was exhausted.  The girls would not sleep last night and I couldn't breathe.  I woke up feeling like crap again.  I took the girls to preschool and I had two choices.  To take a nap or to go for a run.  It was hard I was so tired but I set out to do an  "easy" 4 miles.  I did it I ran the whole way and when I came to the bottom of the big hill before the end of my run, I found my favorite motivating running song,  "Lose Yourself" by Eminem.  I turned it up and went for it facing the hill head on, the lines "feet fail me not" and "You can do anything you set your mind to, man" stuck out to me today.  I am now sitting here post run still tired and still struggling to breathe but I feel stronger, every step, every hill helps me feel this way.  I feel like running to the top of the hill helped me out of my funk and I feel ready to run again ( tomorrow).

I just keep running and running and running

1st half marathon

2nd half marathon

"try"athlon

My journey began over three years ago.  One of my best friends was doing the Beginner's Luck running program and she had signed up for a 5K.  We were talking at dinner and I thought that sounded fun and after having twins I could use to get back in shape.  I made up my own training plan, every time I ran I just ran two houses farther that the last time.  I soon could do 3 miles and was ready to go.  My friend called and decided not to do the run.  I ran it anyway.  I started out WAY to fast and had trouble counting the loops around Salt Dog stadium but I finished.  I then ran off and on until I signed up for the BIG race.  I was going to try a half marathon.  In May of 2011 I ran my first half marathon and in May of 2012 I ran my second half marathon.  I enjoy running.  I feel strong inside and out and I am amazed at how far I can push myself.  I completed a mini triathlon this summer am excited for what is next.  Run on Sole Sisters