Three Things Thursday

1. I have been eating like it is going out of style. I can't stop myself. It is actually quite weird. I keep trying to reel it in, but if I see a sweet treat or a chip I can't put it down. Lucky I do run enough because I don't think that I have gained any weight, but at the same time getting heavy during marathon training is not really a great idea.

2. I am getting a new calendar this week and then figuring out my calendar until the new year. Tonia at Racing with Babes has her calendar/training figured out until the National Marathon which is March 26th. I am feeling like I need to get with the program.

3. I have had a funny running week, but I am ready to jump back in. The race on Saturday really took a lot out of my body and seemed to affect me mentally. It is almost like I have been depressed this week. I ran on Wednesday and I am running tomorrow and have a plan for both days this weekend. Thank God the Patriots are not playing this Sunday, I am hoping to get my long run in after morning football.

3 Miles Down

This morning I got up at 4:45 to meet my friend L for a run. This would be my first run since the infamous Applefest. Once we got to our meeting place we decided to just run 3, we are going to ease ourselves back in slowly. When we first started out my legs felt like jelly. I apologized to Lynn a couple of times for holding us back. Thank goodness she just laughed. Once I got to mile 2 all of the cricks and cracks in my body had faded away and I started to feel like my usual running self. In fact I probably could have gone 5 at least, but I thought it was best if I took my time. I have a big run next week and I need to slowly get back into it.

On a setting goals note, with the support of my husband, I signed up for the National Marathon. It is March 26th, 2011. I am hoping that I am not being to lofty, I have not even made it through Manchester yet, but this will be great. It is fast and flat and I have decided that in order to keep running I have to set goals for myself.

Does anyone else have running goals for the future?

Where to Begin....

Today I ran the Applefest Half Marathon in Hollis, NH. I woke up feeling apprehensive about the race. It started at 10 am and the temp was supposed to be 85-90 degrees. This is not usual New Hampshire September weather. By mile 2 I was already pouring down sweat. It was hot and it was humid. I kept going though. My pace was slow, I might have had some 8:50's, but by the end I was in the 11's. At mile 7, I kept telling myself that I could do anything for an hour more. Let me be clear this was the longest hour ever. It was hot, I smelled, I could not drink enough water. I took my Hammer Gel, but that didn't even give me one ounce of energy. By mile 10 I think that I was hallucinating, (not really, I might be a bit over dramatic). The last mile is a hill that goes straight up, I had to walk, which was killing me and then finally I was at the end at 2:08. Considering that my half in June I finished in 1:52, I was definitely feeling a little crappy. I don't know what I could have done differently though. I have been training for my marathon although there has not been this kind of heat. I felt better after my 30K 2 weeks ago.

On a positive note I wore my Somnio's today and felt great. As much as I love my Brooks there is something about those shoes that I love. I know that I keep talking about them but definitely look them up.

Making Plans

I have been on Facebook a bit today and was reading the RLAM post about marathons. Marathons that are in the area you live, good ones, bad ones (I don't think that they actually mentioned any bad ones) and ones that people want to do. Of course, I couldn't stop reading the posts. I have not even run my first marathon and I am already planning to run another. Have I lost my mind. I have been eyeing the National Marathon in Washington DC. It is at the end of March which equals great weather for that part of the country. It is also an hour away from my mother's house so I could leave my kids' there. I basically have a plan in my head which is my personality, I am always making plans, making lists etc...and I feel like having running goals i.e. races will keep me running. I don't know if I could just run if I didn't have a goal at the end of it. Oh well...I should probably see how I feel after my November marathon before signing up for another one. Maybe I will start a list of marathons that I want to run. Now that is an idea.

Pepper Spray

Today both of my sons had football games in the next town over. We all go as it is a total family and friends affair. The girls play with friends' that they don't see during the week, eat yucky food from the snack bar and cheer for their brothers'. Today though Siri provided some excitement to the game when she went into the car and just happened to spray my pepper spray in her eyes. Now you might be saying to yourself, "What is Rene' doing with pepper spray?" I have it for running. I am scared of animals in our rural area i.e. bear, fox, skunks and I run at 5 am sometimes and there are some crazies out here/there. Next thing you know I have a 10 year old girl (Siri) screaming because she has sprayed pepper spray in her eyes when she was showing it to her friend. I am so thankful that one of our friends and her mother are both ICU nurses and they immediately stepped into action flushing Siri's eyes out with bottled water for over 30 minutes. After we got her settled and she could see again, I had essentially missed Ben's game and Siri had caused a scene on the sidelines. All of the boys' kept asking if she was okay, what happended, which was all super kind, but I think my husband (who is the head coach) had just about had it at that point and "encouraged" the boys to focus on the game. After Siri felt better she went about her business going to the snack bar and playing. The best part of the ordeal, when my friend stopped Siri and asked her for the whole story she looked at her and said, "it's really complicated." Only Siri would have that answer. The real story, she was showing it to her friend, opened it and showed her how to spray it, then sprayed it on her hands and rubbed her eyes. Never a dull moment.

On a running note I took today off and will run 6 miles tomorrow. I am doing a little tapering this week as I am running the Applefest Half Marathon on Saturday.

Tired

I am tired today and a bit disappointed in myself. I got up to run this am and talked my friend Lynn into running 3 miles. We were supposed to go almost 6. I just did not have it in me. Between the 18 on Sunday and the 10 on Wednesday my legs are just TIRED and my mind is TIRED. Running, shuffling the kids around from school to activities and even just my daily stuff is catching up with me. So, I have decided to take Sunday off. Tomorrow I have an eight scheduled that I want to do and then Sunday I have nothing planned. Both of my boys have football games and the Pats are playing the Jets so I think that I will just take it easy that day and start from scratch on Monday. Anybody else tired today?

A 30 K and 6 boys

Yesterday my friend Michele and I ran the Nahant 30K. We were using it as a marathon training run and we thought it would be fun to do a "race" for the training. For those of you that don't know Nahant it is right on the coast of MA on the other side of Lynn. What a beautiful course. When you weren't running on the water, you were running through beautiful neighborhoods. One house that we passed had views of the beach from every part of the house. INCREDIBLE!!! The water stops were great, almost every 2 miles and the volunteers were super. The only down sides.....HILLS. Who knew that Nahant had so many hills? In fact when we were driving over I asked my friend if it was hilly and her response was, "of course not we are on the water." But, Manchester City Marathon is hilly so this was a good training. The other bad idea, you pass the finish line and then have to run a mile and a half loop before you finish. There is nothing worse than going past the finish line at the end of a race. I don't mind it at the beginning of the race, but definitely not at the end. So....our time was 2:54 which we felt great about! Our pace was great, although we probably should have run a bit slower, we got a bit caught up in the "race" aspect of it. But, all in all a fun time...

Now to what I came home to. 6 boys, 2 girls and 2 dads in the pool. (it was 65 degrees) The first person I see is Izzie clapping for me, then one of my favorite boys asks me, "Did you win?" My response, "Well, my time was good, and I got a medal, but I didn't win. The woman who won was really fast." He thought about this for a minute and then looked at me, "Well, I guess you better train harder." You have to love a nine year old boy.

Getting it Together

I am in the process of getting it together for tomorrow morning. I am running the Nahant 30K. It is a race put on for fall marathon training and since I am running a marathon in November I thought that this would be perfect. The problem with getting it together for an early morning departure is that I also have 4 kids that I have to get everything ready for. Both of my boys play Pop Warner football so I have all of their stuff out and laid out on their floor. The girls just have to go to the field and hang out which they are both pretty good at, but of course that means that I have to have Izzie's clothes ready to go and Siri will just take care of herself. Did I mention that my husband was a coach so Siri has to be somewhat responsible for Izzie which does not always go over well? I could go on and on about the other stuff I have to do, but I have decided to just do the best I can and hope everybody makes it out the door in one piece, including my husband who sometimes is more of a problem than the 4 kids. Happy Weekend everyone. Let me know some fun stuff that you are doing this weekend?

Running Alone

This morning I ran by myself, just me and my Garmin. I went to put on my i pod and it was dead again. I must not be turning it off. This is the second time this week that this has happened. I try so hard to enjoy running "naked,' but I have to admit it is just not for me. When I am running with someone or with music I either talk or tune out. When I have nothing it drives me crazy. My brain becomes a ADHD teenagers brain. It flits from one thing to the other so much so that it seems that my head is about to spin off. I run in order to get away from everything, but without music it seems as though I am taking it all with me. I can't stop thinking about my list or my calendar or my kids or my husband and this will go on the entire run. Let's just say there is a little shuffle plugged in to my computer right now and it will be working for Sunday.

A quick blurb about Sunday. I am running the Nahant 30 K on Sunday morning. I am super excited. I am running with my friend Michele. We are using it as a training run and plan to keep our pace at about 9:30. I am hoping to just finish. I know I did 16 just a few weeks ago, but 18.6? That is really far!

Failing

Two nights ago I took my test for the RRCA certification. I had taken the class to become a certified running coach. I printed out the test 2 weeks ago and have slowly worked on it when I had the time. I used my book, the computer, some old nursing books that I had and was feeling confident. I had always been a good test taker I kept telling myself and some of the answers I was completely sure about. Right? Well, needless to say, I failed. I got a 79 and you needed an 80 to pass. I had gone through it a couple of times and I had changed a couple of answers which typically I never do. I definitely was defeated. I have been feeling like I am having such a good year with my running, training and goals. This was what I felt was my next step in my running and I am now feeling a bit stagnant. So anyway....I am allowing myself the week to feel sad and next year I can take the class again for $100 cheaper. I will meet this goal and it will feel great when I do.

On a funny note, Siri is trying out for the Wizard of Oz at her school. If I hear "Somewhere over the Rainbow" one more time I might have to jump off of a rainbow. God love her, but she is definitely not the next Judy Garland. Happy Wednesday night everyone.

The Great Frog Escape

Wow! What a morning at the Warren house. Andy caught a frog to bring to school in his special bug/frog catcher and all was well in the world. It had grass, a little bit of water and some sort of berry in the container. Smiles all around. Smiles until Izzie picked up the container, dropped it on the floor and all of a sudden I have a frog hopping around the kitchen, a cat chasing it, Ben screaming, me screaming, Andy and Izzie crying and Siri finally catching the frog and calling us all crazy for screaming. This was supposed to be a great Friday morning. I didn't have to take Siri to school today, she luckily had the day off. I went for my run at 5:30 am, got a coffee, came home and got the kids ready etc...etc...instead it only takes one thing to throw everyone off. Chaos is not great sometimes and when you have a house with 4 kids it seems like there is ALWAYS chaos.

Now for my August numbers. Tall Mom Mel posted a challenge on her blog to run 80 miles the month of August. Well, I hit 80 alright, as a matter of fact I hit 132 for the month. I am midway through marathon training and feel great. Imagine these two legs ran 132 miles this month. It makes you realize how much you can do if you put your mind, heart and soul (and sole) into something that you are excited for. This marathon is my big challenge and it is keeping me going in all of my chaos.

Happy Friday!

Anyone affected by Earl? We might get some rain and wind:)

Shortened Run

The heat today was unbearable. I think that it made it to 97 degrees here in NH. Needless to say we did not make it to 14 miles, we made it to 11 and had to quit. I went through 48 ounces of fluid and my clothes were completely wet. My friend was pushing her 2 year old who was as red as a strawberry, he had had enough by mile 8 and our other friend went down with a calf (achilles?gastrinemus(sp?) injury and we had to call someone to pick her up. Thank God her mother was visiting and could come and get her on the side of the road. I am just glad I made 11, for me that had to be enough. My legs are still hurting and my chest hurts aaaarrrgghhhh....hopefully my weekend run will be better.

Today's the Day

Today is the day! I will have 4 little cherubs in school ALL day. How am I celebrating? I am running 14 miles this morning. YAY!!!! I don't have to get a babysitter, I don't have to do it on Saturday morning by myself and I don't have to push, pull or carry anyone. The only downside is the 95 degree temps and the extreme humidity pushing down on New Hampshire. I bought a new top yesterday and got some cool shorts. Our running store had Nike stuff at 20% off, but I bought colors that are going to match the new running skirts when they come out, particulary the blue and black argyle one from runningskirts.com. They said September and I am hoping that that means this week?

That being said it is Izzie's last year of preschool. I wish that I could say that I feel sad, but I don't . I think that when you have four you are either sentimental about every last thing that they do or you are ready to move on. She already thinks that she is "20" so I think that I am ready to move on. She cried all day yesterday because she wanted to go to school like her big sister. (Siri started yesterday). Then she told me that "it just wasn't fair!" because I wouldn't let her have soda and finally ended the day by telling me, "you are the worstest!" Can you tell that she has older siblings. My husband's concern? "If she is like this at 4, what is she going to be like at 14?"

How are you celebrating the first day of school?

Which camp are you in? Sad for your last moments

ready to move on?