I'm running, sortof

I'm a blog slacker but I'm ok with that. Been busy with Christmas and all. Lots of cleaning, celebrating and more cleaning, ughhh! Tomorrow night we're going to First Night in Bethlehem. I'm hoping to get Avery to take a nice long nap so she can see the midnight fireworks instead of the 5:45. Instead of the ball dropping they have a giant yellow peep.

Yesterday was my first run since Oct. 8th and the sprain. I ran 1.5 miles and it wasn't too bad. The ankle was tight and achy but not horrible and my lungs were great. I felt like I could have kept going but I didn't want to push it. I felt great, of course it could have just been adrenaline and excitement from being out there. I came home and immediately iced the ankle.

Went to the sports medicine doctor and she says if there is bone bruising it could take up to 12 or more weeks to heal. Just to be on the safe side and make sure its just a really bad sprain we're getting an MRI done on Friday. I'm still having lots of pain and clicking and tightness and I am happy I can run, even if just a couple of miles but I'd hate to keep this up to find out there's a loose bone fragment floating or something. If that's the case I'd need surgery and since I'm not really running right now I could deal but if I start running again and had to stop for another 3 months (and in the spring no less) I think I'd hurt someone. I now know that running is really an addiction because I had major withdrawal. Just ask my husband, I've been a nasty moody depressed pain in the ass lately. I need my endorphines and Vitamin DDDDD!

Planning another short run tomorrow morning. Probably just another 1.5, this way I'm close to home and not overdoing it.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas, Hanukkah, etc. And if I don't get on here in the next day or so a very happy New Years!

HydroTrack

Today was my first day on the Hydro Track. It was interesting. The water was to my ribs and when I first walked it felt like walking on the moon. Walking causes more splashing than running which seemed wrong. I did intervals on it, 5 min walking, 5 min running x 2.

It felt to great to be running again even if it was harder due to the resistance of the water. After the first 5 min run the front of my ankle was really sore but by the end of the 5 min walk it felt better and the next 5 minutes of running were pain free. By the time I got home the front was sore again so I iced it good. I will be going on the hydro track once a week for the next two weeks. They think I need at least 3 more weeks of PT before I can get discharged.

Here's a picture of the Hydro Track:






In other news I registered Avery for Kindergarten this morning. I can't believe she'll be starting next fall. Time flies!

Weekend Warriors

Busy weekend up until today. I took Friday off and scoured the downstairs of the house. Friday night Avery and I went to a Silpada party/playdate and had a great time but got home really late. Yesterday we were at a pre-holiday party down the road all day. Avery was exhausted from all the activity and was in bed by 7:30! :)

Today is a lazy day. We stayed in our jammies until noon. I made a fire and Avery colored while I read. It was great until the dogs came to the back door filthy and smelly after rolling in deer poop. So I had to do two dog showers and then my own and now I'm back to chillin'.

I might take Avery to see High School Musical 3 later if I feel ambitious.

No Power

So we had tons of snow yesterday. So strange for October. Since there were still leaves on the trees this weighed them down a lot and there were lots of downed trees hitting electrical lines etc. Plus really high winds. We got home to a very dark neighborhood. Avery and I went in and got out the flashlights, lit a ton of candles and started a fire in the fireplace. We grill hot dogs and had roasted marshmallows. All of us (Bella, Boots, Avery, Mike and I) piled in bed with lots of blankets and went to bed.

Woke up this morning and there still wasn't power. So I packed all our frozen food in a cooler, got our clothes together and headed to my cousins. She lives 2 miles down the road but in a different township. She has power.

Crazy weather. Just crazy.

Snomets

That's the word verification that came up when posting a comment on Sage's blog and I liked it so much I had to put it here.

Autumn

I am loving the fall weather. Too bad I can't run in it. This weekend we had the fire going all weekend and had such a nice time hanging at home. My girlfriend, Amy, and her daughter, Sarah, came for a camp out on Friday night. It was cold so we camped out in the family room, roasted marshmallows from the fireplace for s'mores and did gave ourselves pedicures. I had a little too much wine and had a nasty headache on Saturday morning.

I need to get motivated to do exercise. It's so easy to throw on running clothes and head out the door without thinking but doing my dvd's and stuff at home isn't happening as easily. When I'm at work I have no problem going to the gym but that's only 3 days a week so I have to get motivated at home!

I am getting quite a bit done around the house now and lots of reading done as well. Things that I put aside to go out for a run or was too tired to do when I got back from my long runs on the weekend.

The ankle is feeling a lot better but is still achy. I can walk without limping and the stairs don't hurt as much. However, if I move it the wrong way it hurts like hell. It's a nice reminder that I really am not back to normal even though I can walk ok.

RICE

Well, I don't have to do the I part anymore but I'm getting plenty of rest this weekend. Avery and I are watching movies, playing video games (OK, I was while she watched Hello Kitty, Holly Hobbie and stuff like that), colored and read. To be honest, its been awesome to not be able to go anywhere, as long as I don't step outside and feel how nice it is out. Than I want to take a walk or run.

I did miss the chance to see a ton of friends from High School this weekend. The class above mine had their 20th reunion this weekend and everyone was around so I'm bummed about that but next year is my 20th so I'll see them then!

I'm so proud of my buddy Tim for completing his first marathon yesterday!!! Go Tim!

I've started looking at basebuilding plans to do once I can run again. I don't have a goal race in mind yet but figure a really really long base building will be great, I love basebuilding, just running lots of miles with no worries to speed (I have to admit though, I have come to love intervals, maybe I'll have to throw one track day in every once in a awhile).

Lots of good stuff

I had a great 2 days! I took a half day from work on Friday and headed down to Delaware to Alexis' and then to DC for a Flyer's Pre-season game. This was my first live hockey game and it was great. Not so great for the Flyer's, they lost but its pre-season so its ok. We even had our first Chipotle after the game (PacerChris was so proud). We got home pretty late and had to get up early to volunteer at a local 5k so needless to say I'm exhausted right now.

So we get up and head to the 5k. Alexis had just finished saying, wouldn't it be funny if Matt (Scratch from kickrunners) showed up and then I see her eyes go big and her jaw drop and she starts laughing, I turn around and there he is walking over to register. We ended up being water girls which is pretty difficult. Almost as difficult as being on the other end, being the runner and trying to grab and drink the stuff. It was actually a lot of fun and the weather was great for a race.

After the race we headed to the running store so Alexis could get new shoes and then headed back to her place, got changed and headed out for a short run. We ended up doing 3 miles in 29 minutes. Since she has a 15k tomorrow she was supposed to take it easy, so I kept her slow and she made me speed up. We were perfect for each other! Now my 5k PR is 29:20 so I was really pleased with this run. It felt fine the first mile and then was comfortably hard the next 2 but never felt like a race pace for me which means I'm pretty confident I could easily kill that PR next time I do a 5k (especially since I've only run once, a week ago, in two weeks).

We got back to her house and stretched (and in my case, iced the foot) and then showered and went out to lunch. Afterwards it was time for me to head home. I pulled in the driveway and hear Mommy!!!!! and see Avery, Bella and Boots running towards me. I was only gone a day and they made me feel like it was a month! Mike had a fire going and Avery and I roasted some marshmallows and had a great time.

Even though the weekends not over yet I can already tell you that it was a great one!

My little dancer

Junk Yard Dog

Boots O'Malley is definitely a junk yard dog. I am sitting in my living room in front of the open window and hear the dogs outside. I heard growling (like play growling) and look out the window. Boots is dragging the 9 foot plastic drain pipe that is part of the rain gutter across the front yard. I wish I had thought to take a picture before I ran out front to yell at him.

So not only does he eat barbie dolls, polly pockets and molding, he sticks his head in the garbage cans all the time and steals tissues, trys to drink out of the toilets, rolls in deer poop and wrestles drain pipes.

In our townhouse we had a tire that was underneath the back stairs. It was flat from the Envoy. Tiny got a hold of it and loved it. He'd play with it for hours. He was a total junk yard dog! Looks like boots needs a tire too!

Too bad we don't have trees with strong branches. Tiny and Diamond loved ropes tied to trees.

The simple life

There is a cube at work where we have a book exchange. People leave books they have read and then you pick up one if you need something new to read. Recently I picked up a few books, one being trilogy of Amish life.

It was a novel so its not all just facts about the Amish. It's written by a women in Lancaster who isn't Amish. Anyway, as I've been reading these it has made me put things into better perspective about life, time and material possessions.

I'm not materialistic but I like things although I don't need them. I like clothes, shoes, bags and gadgets. I've spent way too much loot on these things in the past. I need to stop impulse buying. I see something I like and I don't think twice, I just get it. Then my basement fills up with stuff over the years that is in great condition but I know longer want around the house. This is changing as I type.

Why does everyone feel the need to have their calendars full? I've been struggling with this for a few years now. I am guilty of this. I want to see my friends and I have trouble saying no to getting together with them but then I'm miserable because I'm running all over and not chilling at home with my family in the house I paid too damn much for to not enjoy. I hibernate in winter so that I can recuperate from running all over during the summer. I just stay home, sit in front of the fire with the kid and relax. I have also made sure that I have one weekend a month, no matter what time of year that I have nothing going on. I don't spend that weekend cleaning and stuff like that. I spend it cuddling with Avery and the dogs, watching movies, sitting on the porch and enjoying some peace and quiet (as much peace and quiet as you can have with a 4 year old and 2 dogs).

I'm also making sure I don't enroll Avery in a million activities. I know you want your kid to experience a lot and find their niche but seriously, dragging your kid to something every night is going to mess them up. They are going to turn into those adults that can't sit still and chill. Avery is taking ballet now. The kid has been begging to for over a year. It's once a week. She also digs horses so I take her once a month for a lesson. That's enough. The week that she has both together is exhausting for her and me. I want her to go outside and play, use her imagination, run around like a nut, get dirty in the yard. I don't want her always in the car going from one place to another and having everything laid out for her so she doesn't have to use her imagination. Yeah, dance class is cool but watching her dance around the house to her own songs she's made up is so much more impressive to me right now.

I really think I could dig the simple life. Some of you who know me might doubt that because of what I have and stuff but really, I could give that all up for a little cottage or cabin somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I could give up the big house, the car, the fancy gadgets, all that. I just need my family, my dogs, my sneakers, a garden and lots and lots of books.

Happy Anniversary

Yesterday Mike and I had our 6th wedding anniversary and our 11th year together anniversary. We got married on the date we started dating so its easy to remember! Friday he had a dozen roses delivered to work. They were great, 3 colors, pink, red and this cool yellow-orange.

Yesterday we were planning a fancy dinner and a babysitter for Miss A but ended up taking her with us, going to a new Thai place I wanted to check out and taking Avery to see Fly Me To The Moon in 3D (Avery and my first 3D movie). It was a great day!

This week I'm in training all week, yuk.

Change of pace

Today we did our long run at the Columbia Trail. I haven't run there since the spring. It's a 7.5 mile rail trail and its beautiful, mostly flat and slight decline from mile 5 on. My RP is having some ankle issues so she wanted to avoid hills and it's taper time so only 7-8 miles on the schedule.

First couple of miles my calves were tight. I think this was because of the tempo yesterday, I noticed it on my cool down mile yesterday too. After that I felt great. My legs felt a little tired around 3.5 miles but then everything just opened up and I felt great. I could have gone faster but my RP kept asking that we slow it down because her ankle would start bugging her. While our splits aren't that great it was great to know I could go faster and longer with absolutely no effort. The only negative was the humidity was so thick you could cut it with a knife. I was soaked after the first 1/2 mile. I didn't enjoy that too much but it didn't seem to bother my legs or lungs too much.

Here are the splits:

11:10
11:00
10:41
10:50
10:50
10:38
10:20
10:03

I've decided to treat the PDR as a progression run. I'm going to split it up into 3's and leave the last mile for whatever I feel like. This isn't a goal race for me and I have two friends completing a half for the first time so I don't really care about my time so doing a progression sounds like a good plan.

After I stopped by my oldest friends house and visited with her and her baby. On the way home I stopped at the farm stand for my weekly veggies and fruits. I need to clean the house but I think I'm going to relax and read for a while. There is an Italian festival going on that we might take Avery to later but we're pretty much winging it today.

Happy Labor Day!

I'm supposed to hit the track for some speedwork today. I can't go right now anyway because even though there is no school today there are practices and when I went by earlier this morning the football team was on the field.

I don't feel like running anyway. I have a headache. I think its sinuses. I'm hoping its allergies but I haven't been feeling myself since Friday so maybe I will take it easy today. I ended the year with 128 miles which is an all time high for me. Starting the new month with zero on the first day isn't what I want but we'll have to wait until this evening to see if I'm up for a run.

We had a busy day yesterday! After my run I came home and Avery and I quickly jumped in the shower. She had a play date with a group of kids that no longer go to her school. Two of which were her best friends. She's made a new best friend over the summer named Casey so the seperation wasn't as traumatic as I was thinking it would be. They had a great time. The only issues was the tire swing that they were spinning on forever. Ella and Avery looked like they were going to get sick but they didn't. Danny wasn't so lucky. He looked green and when he was in the car on the way home he threw up all over himself and his sister. Poor kid!

The playdate was from 10:30 until 2:30. When it was over we stopped by my parents house. I had gotten my mom and iPod Shuffle as a gift because she was joining the new gym by her house. I had to go put iTunes on her computer and show her how to take her classical cd's and put them on iTunes then onto the Shuffle. After that was done we went outside.

My parents live in the same house I grew up in. The road basically goes up a big hill so each house is higher than the last. Our neighbors, Hank and Bernice, had a great little hill between my parents house and theirs. My brother and I would roll down it all day long and in the winter there would be great snow drifts against it where we could dig out forts and igloo's. Yesterday Avery had a blast rolling down the hill over and over again. She made me do it a few times with her. It was fun but boy was I dizzy when I got to the bottom. I don't remember being so dizzy after when I was a kid!

After picking too many of my mom's flowers Avery and I went home. I was tired. I had been outside from 6:30 am until 5:30 pm and my head was starting to bug me. I got home and just wanted to relax but Avery wanted to play princesses. She dressed up in her Bell dress and we headed outside. I pushed her on the swings for a bit and we sat on the half done patio (that I doubt will get completed any time soon :-( ) and then we ended up on the deck. Avery has play kitchens and tables out there so we played that I was making her eat. It was fun but I was so tired. I was so excited when it was 7:30 and bath time!

We slept in this morning, it was lovely. Now we're hanging out in the family room watching Disney Princess Sing a Longs on the TV.

26.2 Ways You Know You Are A Runner

One of my friends from the running forums posted this today, I liked it, so here it is...

1. You know how many miles there are in a marathon.
2. Your weekly mileage is how much you run, not your commute to work.
3. You know how many miles you get out of a pair of running shoes.
4. You can convert Kilometers to Miles in your head.
5. You measure your running route in your car to get the exact mileage.
6. When someone tells you their age, you automatically know their Boston qualifying time.
7. You know Grandma's as the route from Two Harbors to Duluth, not the person.
8. You can drink, blow your nose and pee on the run.
9. The problem with the treadmill is there's no place to spit.
10. You have less than ten toenails and that's normal for you.
11. Body Glide is your friend.
12. Ibuprofen is affectionately known as "Vitamin I".
13. Navigating walkers, dogs and baby strollers annoys you because it interrupts your pace.
14. When you participate in an organized event, you know not to run in your race t-shirt.
15. You have a favorite energy gel and flavor.
16. The "Picasso" above your fireplace is last year's TCM poster.
17. You have pre and post race rituals.
18. The journal you keep is in miles and pace not feelings or thoughts.
19. When you look at the weather conditions, you calculate how many layers to wear.
20. The pride you feel after a good run is worth the pain it took to get there.
21. You have more t-shirts than you could possibly wear.
22. When you hear the word "bib", you think of race numbers not babies and Gerber food.
23. The "no carbohydrate diet" does not apply to you.
24. You know that Fartlek is not vulgar terminology.
25. A hill is an opportunity just waiting to be challenged.
26. You know the phrase "you're almost there" only applies when the finish line is in sight.
.2 Your vacation destination is determined by your race schedule.

Horse Whisperer

Avery has the bug, the horse bug. We went to see her horse Marlin this weekend at a horse show in NJ. He is my friend from work's daughters horse and Avery met him on memorial day and rode him like a champ. Ally told Avery he could be her horse too and all she does is talk about him.

He was in a 4-H fair last week and my friend sent me pictures of them jumping. I showed them to Avery and she started crying saying she missed him and look, he missed her too, she could see it in his face. Too cute.

Ally competed with him in Western yesterday. They had never done western before but there were so many horse shoes in the area yesterday there wasn't anyone else in her class so she did Western. She one a first place and two second place ribbons.

After Ally put Avery right up on him and gave her the reins. She didn't forget anything she had learned in June and rode him (by herself, no one was holding on to Marlin). Then Ally guided them into the corral and had them walking over poles and up on platforms. She was so comfortable on him and steered him in all the appropriate directions. Many of the people there were commenting on how good a rider she was for a 4 year old. I was really proud.

I had a pony growing up but I never did any formal riding or shows but I have always loved horses and am so happy that Avery has that same love. They are taken to her too, even the feisty one's were drawn to her and nuzzling her.

I told Mike that night that we had a horse whisperer on our hands and he said, "I was afraid of that" and laughed. Looks like we better start saving our money!

I'll post pictures later.

What a weekend!

My weekend started Friday since Mike, Avery and I took off for my birthday. We had a nice relaxing day at home and then Mike and I went with my friend Karen and her husband Joe to see STP at Musikfest that night. It was a lot of fun and a very late night. I think I got to bed around 2am.

Saturday 6:30 I was up and getting ready to meet my RP for my long run. I felt sick I was so tired. I stopped for coffee on the way knowing I needed a little caffeine if I was going to get through even the first mile! It was beautiful out, no humidity and around 65 degrees. The first mile everything was a little tight but after that I loosened up and sped up too! I ran the next 10 miles averaging about a 10:30 pace. My last mile was 9 minutes and my last quarter I gunned it and did an 8 something. It felt great to be running that pace again. I don't think I've done that pace for a LR since spring. It just shows how much the humidity weighs me down. Even with little sleep I did very well. I was pleased.

I came home and watched the opening ceremony for the olympics, cleaned the house and read a book. This morning Avery woke me up by coming into our room way to early so I headed to town for coffee (we were out) then came home and got ready to go to a friends for brunch. We had a great time despite the crazy storms. I was so tired on the way home I wanted to take a nap but my cousin stopped by to hang out so we went and grabbed some food and came back and hung out. We were supposed to go see the fireworks at Musikfest tonight (its the last night) but we were all worn out so we are staying in.

It's a beautiful crisp cool August evening. I can hear the fireworks we chose to miss outside the open window. Growing up I always thought August was the hottest month of summer then once I was in college and a lifeguard I remember always wearing sweats in the morning and evenings at the pool and that the humidity had died down from July. I think August is actually my favorite month of summer now.

Timeout!

Avery just turned to Boots and said "Boots, you're a pain in my ass."

It is so hard to not laugh and look all serious when you tell her that's a bad word.

Rainy Holiday

Such a rainy weekend!

Friday morning my running partner from work met me at the Parkway at 6:30 for a 10 miler. This is her biggest distance yet so it was a big deal for her. It was pouring when I got there but by the time she got there the rain had subsided. It was ridiculously humid and there were some swarms of nasty river flies at certain points but otherwise it was a great run.

We run well together because I don't enjoy the first few miles and feel my best around 4 or 5 miles into a run. She's the opposite and needs the push in the end. I think the two of us keep each other going. After the run we both took an ice bath in the river. We sat on rocks that were deep enough to cover our legs and talked for about 10 minutes or so. It felt great considering I was already soaked through with sweat!

I may get out for a short run today and tomorrow the schedule is calling for 8.

We had a laid back 4th of July. Mike, Avery and I went to see WALL-E which was really cute and then just hung out at home. Yesterday we started to set up the big blue pool but we need to level the ground a bit more so we need to wait a day or so. Today my MIL, Avery and I are going to see the Kit - American Girl movie. Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July and stayed dry!

Happy July 3rd!

Just preparing for tomorrow....

Great 4 miler this morning. It was humid so that wasn't any fun but it was cooler than I have seen in a while (especially since I continue to torture myself and run my medium long runs at lunch during the week). I was speedy and it felt just fine.

Tomorrow FIL is coming home from the hospital and we'll have a little bbq with them otherwise, I got nothing and am looking forward to it all weekend long!