Barney and 1 hour on the treadmill

The weather here in NH is crazy. The wind is blowing so hard it knocked over a table and umbrella outside and there are branches everywhere. I wanted to get 6 miles in this morning and with the girls at home and T and the boys at football practice I knew that I was going to have to run on my treadmill. So, after one cup of Pumpkin coffee I threw on my sports bra, shorts and shoes and took off. I am lucky that my treadmill is in my bedroom because I can watch tv which keeps my mind occupied. Today though I was not so lucky as Izzie was in the bedroom with me. Izzie is 4 and watching NCIS or Biggest Loser for an hour was not what she had in mind. What was on Izzie's mind, Barney. Believe me, I can and do a lot for my kids but there was no way I was watching Barney for an hour while I was on the treadmill. I thought that it might do something for my mental toughness, but today I had to get it done. Finally, we struck up a deal. She would watch NCIS with me for 44 minutes and then I would turn on Barney for the the last 16 minutes. Unfortunately for me she didn't stop talking and I really didn't get to watch NCIS, but once Barney was on she had not one word to say and I focused on my last 16 minutes. It was quick and then it was done. Tomorrow is going to be a longer run. I am hoping for no wind and 10 miles in the AM before football. Keep your fingers crossed!

Wishing it Away

I am going on a "hot" date tonight with my husband. When Siri and Ben were little we went out once a week. We really didn't even have the money, but there was something important about getting out that once a week. I felt like I was stuck at home with two kids 13 months apart and that 2-3 hours out gave me enough energy to make it through the next week. I was always wishing the baby, toddler years away. Now, we are lucky if we get a sitter once every 6 weeks. I am always amazed at how you think that it is going to get easier as the kids get older, honestly I think that it gets harder. There are more activities, there is more homework, just all in all more stuff. My free time during the day is spent running the errands that I have no time to do after school or don't want to do with Izzie. (She is going through the "i deserve a treat at every store" phase.) Then I need to fit in my runs, which are necessary for my sanity. Now, that I am past the "baby" stage I sometimes wish that I could go back. I wish that I could feed them at 4:30, bathe them and put them in bed at 7. Rock them, read them stories, all of the things that I can't do now. It all seems so easy now that I am looking back on it. It is to bad that I wished it away.

Tufts 10 K for Women

Today I ran the Tufts 10K for Women in Boston, MA. I had a great race. The weather was absolutely perfect. Temp in the low to mid 60's and the sun was beautiful. The race starts and ends at the Boston Common which is one of my favorite places. We seeded ourselves in the 8 minutes/mile section. I was hoping that we didn't seed ourselves to high. I didn't know if I could run that fast for the entire race. As we were standing there I started to get sick to my stomach. I had not eaten breakfast since 8 am and it was now 12 noon. I had had some water, but at this point I had been to the bathroom so many times I think that I had peed everything out. The gun went off at high noon and we were off. It took about 1 1/2 - 2 minutes to get across the start line, but once we turned onto Charles Street we were off. We were fast for our first mile, 7:40 and at that point I was a bit nervous. I didn't think that I could keep that up for 6 miles. After the first mile we settled into ourselves and kept our pace at about 8:00 - 8:20 for the next 5 miles, finally finishing the race at 50:58. I was definitely pleased. I think that is that fastest 10K that I have run.

Now for a pet peeve. Jog strollers...I love jog strollers, I run with one, I help my friend push hers a couple of times a week and I think that you should be able to be in races. I don't think that you should be able to run people over and then laugh about it. In the registration it said that the jog strollers should be in the back of the pack. This woman did not listen and proceeded to lose control of her jog stroller and then almost hit my friend in the back of her heels and legs. It just totally annoyed me and I had bad jog stroller thoughts after that....Oh well what can you do?

Finally, we had lunch at Sur la Table on Boylston Street and then headed over to Lululemon for a little post run treat. Ohhhhh....how I love post run treats.

What a great race! I had such a good time and loved doing a race that was over in under an hour.

Early Mornings

I run about 2 times a week with my friend, L. She is an emergency room nurse and she always has great stories. I love these because before I started my 2nd career of "homemaker" I was an adolescent health nurse at Chilren's in Boston. So...while we run I live vicariously through her and her job. We also run at 5 am these 2 mornings a week. I am never usually scared, but this morning it was dark out and I mean dark. There was no moon, a million stars but no moon and there was one street light on our way. I definitely had a weird feeling this morning. I ran with my pepper spray today, but didn't have my Road ID on and started to get anxious. I don't know what the reason was this morning. Lynn and I are loud, I don't think that anything/one would just sneak up on us and snatch us or attack us. (okay maybe my imagination is gettting the best of me) but I was definitely not myself an glad for the end. I think that this route might be off of our list for awhile. We are going to start heading to the street lights.

Three Things Thursday

I don't always do a Three Things Thursday post, but for some reason it seems to be inspiring me today reading everyone else's posts. So here goes...

1. I am wondering at what point my 4 year old will stop saying "Mom" everytime that I sit down. It is really quite unbelievable. I can be upstairs and sitting down and she can be downstairs and for some reason she knows...it is lucky that I love her so much and that she is number 4. I have become laid back over the years.

2. I ran 20 miles yesterday. Not all at one time, but in 3 segments. The first part was when Travis left for Ohio at 5 am I ran a 10K. Then I ran 6 miles with my friend Karin in the pouring rain. I think that we ended up with over 3 inches of rain. I finished up with 8 miles on the treadmill at 6:30 pm. The last 8 was hard, but the kids kept talking to me and telling me how great I was running. It was actually really cute.

3. I am totally signed up for the Princess Half Marathon in February. I have my room and my plane ticket. Thanks Michelle for setting all of that up. So psyched, my husband told me that I can take down the magazine ad off of the fridge since I got my way:)

Oh good, Silvana is here to clean my house and believe she has her work cut out for her.

Treadmill

Yee-haw! My husband surprised me with a treadmill for my birthday this morning. It is being delivered at 3 pm. I am soooooooo excited! More to follow with pictures etc... Happy day everyone!

Races, Races, Races...

Short blog tonight, I am so tired! I had to get up at 5:30 this morning to take my 6 year old to his football game and then off to my other son's football came. I was supposed to meet my friend for a run at 2:30 and then got an awful headache. My stress level seemed exceptionally high today, but I can not tell you why. I ran 7 miles yesterday and could have run forever. It was one of those I could run away moments, thank God I didn't have water with me, who knows how far I would have gone. So anyway a big run tomorrow morning and then Wednesday I going to attempt 2o miles. I have 2 20's on my schedule this training cycle. I think that I am about 35 days out from my marathon which is 5 weeks. I am definitely getting excited, but also a bit nervous. It was exciting for me to read to bloggers that finished marathons this weekend. I always get a little bit teary eyed. A marathon is just such a big accomplishment!

Which leads me to the fact that I signed up for the Disney Princess Half Marathon tonight. I can not even begin to tell you how excited I am. I am going with 2 friends. My parents are paying for my plane ticket and T-bone (husband) gave me the go ahead. I have already started thinking about my outfit:) It will be a fast weekend, but one I can't wait for...