Flying dog!!!!!

2 April 2012

Spring break is now over and the kiddos are back in school!  Last week started off really well and then it went downhill! Wednesday Jose woke up in tears! No, it wasn’t because I tried to kill him the previous two days. He was crying because his ear hurt really bad.  The plan was the kiddos were going to head over to G&P’s (grandma/papa’s) to help out again, well, that got changed.  I was able to get an appointment for Jose in the morning, and Cuervo went to G&P’s. Jose had a nasty ear infection and sinus infection.  He decided he wanted a mommy day instead of heading to G&P’s.  Thursday we went over to help a friend with yard work.  In a matter of about 5 hours, we got done what would have taken her weeks!  I made sure Jose and I had plenty of sunscreen on, but I paid the price for spending that much time in the sun.  Friday I went to breakfast with former coworkers and then relaxed rest of the day, the boys and I watched Scooby Doo rest of the day!!!!!!

Saturday (Happy birthday to my dad!!!), I had planned on getting up and hitting the trail for my weekly long run. Yea, I felt like doggy doo! I rolled over and went back to sleep! I got up for my dad’s birthday lunch.  We did make a trip to the hardware store (my front yard doesn’t look really nice and I have big plans for it) to pick up a few things on the way home.  Sunday I wished I could just die!  After getting my boys to my dad for church (it was Palm Sunday they were going to church) I went back to sleep. 

So here we are, spring break is over and the crappy weather is blowing in.  I am feeling better today, so I figured I would take Freddie out for my 3 mile loop… Freddie is a 60 pound boxer, shortly after we got off our street poor Freddie got blown off the curb! I said crappy weather was BLOWING in! He got back up on the sidewalk, turned around and gave me the look of Mommy!!!!! He is fine, he didn’t get hurt (if he did, I wouldn’t have thought it was so funny). Unfortunately my back started going nuts again.  Freddie and I were on the dirt trail and I was bending over trying to stretch my back, we turned around and headed back to the sidewalk to head home and this nice lady stopped and asked if I was ok.  See there are nice people out there!

Tomorrow I think I have an appointment during spin class time, I am not sure, I need to check.  But I will hit the gym, might hit the pool!





~If you hear that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to defend yourself you should say: "He obviously does not know me very well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned"~

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

6 February 2012.

Here we are at Monday again. Sadly I am the queen of excuses today! 10 mile run over the weekend? Yea…. Thursday after I finished my wonderful outing at Garden of the Gods it started to snow and continued to snow.  My boys had a snow day on Friday, instead of going to the gym I used my kiddos being home to my full advantage! We have lots of painting and scraping to do. Saturday we continued painting and scraping. Oh!! I did make it to my favorite running store and picked up a couple of things on sale!

Sunday I was excited to head out for my long run; it was cold, which was fine, I was bundled up! Apparently the trail did not want me out there.  There was WAY to much snow to be running in.

Today I was determined to hit the trail. Once again, I was bundled up. I found a part of the trial that was not buried in snow. I parked… I started walking to the trail (had to cross a small bridge) my lower back was already grouchy.  Ok, I will walk/run it off as usual, not a big deal.  ½ mile in, my back was still cranky.  A mile in I still couldn’t stretch my back out. Nothing I was doing was working so I decided to turn around and call it good for the day. Tomorrow I have spinning and I might try to get some treadmill time and see if my back plays nicer there.  The really weird thing is I got back to my car and BOTH my feet acted as if they had Charlie horses! I don’t know.  We shall see how tomorrow goes.  OH! When I got home I did get an ab session in.  I put in the ab ripper X, took it easy because of my back, but we shall see how that goes!    

~If you hear that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to defend yourself you should say: "He obviously does not know me very well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned"~

Whirlwind Weekend

One of these weekends I will actually sit around and do nothing!  This weekend was definitely NOT one of those weekends!  It all really started on Friday night!

Friday I picked my kiddos up at school and brought them over to Grandma’s.  Ran downtown for packet pick-up came zooming home picked up my sister ran a few errands and came home.  Watched a movie with the puppies, to off to sleep.  Saturday morning started at 6:00 am YUCK!  My sister was complaining the whole time because she was heading out the door at 6:30 on a Saturday morning in work clothes! She is used to me making her get up early on Saturdays but work clothes???  I was a good sister I got her breakfast at Starbucks!  We got down to Garden of the Gods with plenty of time to spare.  We parked, took the bus to the start area and waited.  Finally the race started and off I went. (Race report to follow).  1:09:24 later I crossed the finish line, FYI that is faster than my 14:00 pace goal! We got back to the bus to return to the parking lot and I was stressing looking at the time every three seconds.  We finally made it to the parking lot, I RAN to my car (I need to pull some stuff out of my trunk) by the time my sister got to my car I was climbing in the front seat.  We went flying to the interstate and flew even faster down that.  We arrived at the North gate of the Air Force Academy with 5 minutes before the service is supposed to start, tell them where we are going and were told we need to use the South Gate, are you serious?? My boys were receiving their First Holy Communion and the service starts in less than 5 minutes and you want to me to go flying back down the interstate? Luckily the nice gate guard stopped traffic so I could pull a serious U-turn. Back up on the interstate going at least 80 (Bugs can fly!) get to the south gate, told them where I was going, told them where I was going and finally got to get on base.  I put my car on cruise control to ensure I don’t get pulled over for speeding.  We finally made it to the church, I dropped my sister off near the front while I went to park.  I still had my race attire on! I got right outside the front door, pulled on my dress pants over my running skirt (good thing I wear baggy stuff!) put my jacket on over my cute purple running shirt and walked VERY quickly into the church, believe it or not, the priest had just made it to the front!  My boys were looking very handsome, one was saving seat for me in his row while my other was sitting next to Grandma. (In my defense, I was signed up for this race months before we knew when this event was going to happen, plus this race is part of a series AND if the times were different I would have skipped the race or done it as just a 5K, but I had faith I would make it!)  I went up with my older son to get his First Communion and my dad went with my younger son.  It was a very nice event.  Afterwards there was a reception for the kids. I felt very blessed because not only did my boys get stuck with have me and my dad there, they also had my sister and my mom, my best friend from high school, and two more close friends of the family.  We all sat around for a while talking and just having a really good time!

We realized we were the last ones there so we decided it was time to head out.  The second I got out of the church my pants came off! Hey, my skirt was bunching up under the pants and it was very uncomfortable! Everyone went their own direction.  I had to go home and take a nap, the day had already been way to eventful and I was downright popped!

Sunday I had planned on sleeping in and then going for a bike ride prior to heading over to my mom’s house.  Yea, that didn’t happen.  I woke up feeling even worse than before, I still vote it is allergies (I know it is not sinuses), Jose was wonderful, he dealt with the puppies from about 6:30 on.  We started making hard boiled eggs and had an issue with that, but I won’t get into that.  The Cuervo decided to put on a presentation for me (threw a downright temper tantrum [there is very much a difference between a melt down and a tantrum, this was a tantrum]) for mother’s day we got my sister a Nerf Super Soaker.  After loading up all water guns we have in the house and shooting all four boys everyone was back to human and my sister and I was happy.  Poor Freddie wasn’t to impressed with getting shot, he actually hid behind me and then jumped into my arms so I could protect him (mind you he is about 60 pounds).  We finally made it to my mom’s and celebrated mother’s day and Freddie was a very well behave young man, Charlie stayed home on this trip.  We made it home after 6:00 and all I wanted to do was go to bed! Sadly it was so hot I couldn’t get to sleep until late. We have finished another weekend and it is time to start another work week!

~If you hear that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to defend yourself you should say: "He obviously does not know me very well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned"~

Colorado Half Marathon (VERY LONG REPORT!!!!!)

So my race training run was a complete success! I went in with a plan and a goal, I stuck with my plan and met my goal! 

Saturday morning we got all packed and loaded everyone in the car (yes, this included the puppies). I drive a bug! The suitcases and my running bag all went in the trunk (surprising spacious) the boys and the computers went into the back seat (I had homework I had to finish so the computers had to come) the puppies were told to go in the back seat too (Charlie can fit between my boys and Freddie sits wherever).  My sister got in the from seat and put her crap bag down by her feet.  Had had two stops before dropping the boys off at the doggy hotel, Walgreen, Cuervo needed more meds and the bank (we were running so late that had we dropped the boys off first the bank probably would have been closed and my sister doesn’t use an ATM card).  Freddie loves riding up front and if my sister is there he is even happier (he props himself on her chest). He is also a huge fan of the “roof window”.  Charlie had no problem sitting in back while we were at Walgreens then he felt it was necessary to come upfront for rest of the trip.   My poor sister was being squished the entire time (we also had to stop and get gas).  Luckily from the gas station to the bank is a fairly straight shot but it was very entertaining.  My bug is a standard and Charlie was sitting on the stick for part of the time.  When I told him if he doesn’t move I might change gears using one of this body parts he climbed even further onto my sister! The bank was interesting (my sister’s wallet was in her crap bag at her feet!).  We had a two second drive to the doggy hotel when we finished at the bank.  Finally the boys were unloaded! They were excited to be there (as always) we didn’t even get any good bye kisses.  Finally it was time to hit the road!

We made it to Fort Collins with no issues, got to the host hotel, again with no issues, parked and went in.  The expo is improving each and every time.  I got my bag to put all my stuff in, grabbed some of the goodies (the goodie bags were not pre-packed), picked up my bib and then got my shirt.  I made sure I stopped by the Country Financial table to say thank you! And we joked about not doing the marathon, the whole week and a half notice thing…  Of course I had to stop by the official merchandise area, picked up body glide (couldn’t remember if I had packed it so we figured better safe than sorry [I had packed it]), gloves, a long sleeve shirt, a sweatshirt, compression socks (first pair, man do I love them), another pair of toe socks, and I want to say something else, but I don’t remember! Checked out the other booths (very small, but in a good way).  Found a booth with a shirt that said “Pain is only a state of mind” so I had to get it.  After that we headed out.  Found the hotel with minimal issues (I couldn’t remember the name of it for a while).  Then headed to dinner, but first had to find the parking area for the morning.  Found it, off to Olive Garden.  I ordered the eggplant parm.  The nice waiter brought me extra pasta (hey, there wasn’t very much pasta!!!). After that we stopped by King Soopers (Kroger) to get my breakfast and other misc stuff.  Then back to the hotel.  I laid out my stuff and realized I forgot my knee band.  My wonderful sister delaired we would zoom up the street and pick up new ones.  She knew if I did not have them I would need them.  And last weekend my knee buckled a few times.  So we flew to Sports Authority and picked up new knee bands (Shannon you are a very wise woman!!!!).  Got back, took a bath watched TV and went to sleep (had a wakeup call, my sister’s phone set and the alarm clock set).

3:45 came EARLY! I hit snooze! J Next BEEP! BEEP! I got up.  I got dressed heated up the water for the oatmeal, said goodbye to everyone and headed out the door with my sister making sure I had everything. I get half way to the parking garage and realize I did not put on my RoadID, crap.  Get even closer and I don’t have my gum, fine, I will just go to a gas station and get more,  I finally fine one that is opened and pull in to park and realize I don’t have my purse. The only thing I have with me in my driver’s license.  DAMN! I remember that I usually keep gum in my car, somewhere!  So I go to the parking garage, I am still about 10 minutes early for the half marathon busses. I get comfy on the bench and wait.  The busses finally start to load and up we go.  I try to get a little more sleep, but the gal next to me keeps messing with her iPod and the light from it keeps waking me up.  We get up to the waiting area, first thing is first, POTTY!  I start eating my bagel and meet this local gal, Becky, who is running her first half and we stand around and chat.  Start time is getting closer so I get back in line for the potty.  I find a comfy area to start stretching and find Becky again and we continue chatting, the emotions are flying with this poor gal.  She can’t believe she is really doing this and we all know how it is!  I let her know it is an amazing course, there is really only one hill we have 5 hours to complete it in and so on and so forth (not downplaying the magnitude of what she is about to do but putting her nerves at ease a little).  We get to the start and all of a sudden people are running! WHAT? No BEEEEEEP!? No nothing! I step off to the side because all my electronics weren’t ready! I am finally ready to go and off I go.  I had planned the first two hours I was going to run two songs and walk one.  The third hour walk one, run one and anything after three hours I will listen to the same two songs over and over and over and over until I do finish (my goal was 3 hours!).  Mile one, was wonderful, my lower back was a little sore at first but then came around.  Mile two… Hey, there’s Ted’s! Woo-hoo!  Ok, there is that damn hill, hmm, according to the music I will be running part of it.  Up the hill, no issue! Thank you Judy! You are a wonderful woman I will never grumble around training runs in Garden of the Gods again! Hey! I am halfway done.  Oh! Look more marathoners are passing me.  Yay! There is the first female! WOW! I am at the bridge already, and I am running across it!  5K left, alright! Hey, I might just make my 3 hour goal!  Everything is still feeling fine, ok, I have still having issues with hydration.  One mile left! Yay! I am around the corner and there is the finish line! I will run, ooo, not feeling so well, I will walk until the stop sign.  HERE I COME! I AM DONE WITH TIME TO SPARE!!!!! Faster, so close to the finish line, even faster. Come on Sammie, you can sprint the last little bit… I’M DONE!!!!!

I start coughing and gagging, uh-oh! No, no, no.  There are no trash cans, there are people everywhere, can’t do this. NO! coughing more, no, no, no.  I managed to leave the finish area with dignity intact, but still no trash can, oh look! A cute dog.  Went over squatted down and said hi (with permission of course).  Feeling better, ok, I am fine now.  Grab by bag from the bag drop, found my sister and my kids got hugs from my kids (they are very kind little guys). Finally found my car and re went back to the hotel.  My left foot was hurting in a weird way, left hip flexor was sore, second toe on right foot will probably fall off. Other than that I feel good. I took a nice LONG shower (that hotel had some amazing water pressure!) check out time was noon we turned our keys in at 11:57 (ish) and hit the road.  We made great time coming home.  Picked up the boys (there were happy to see us), my sister and Cuervo cheated, they went to the store next door while Jose and I brought the boys home.  Grabbed the truck, picked up my sister and Cuervo and did our weekly grocery shopping.  Finally we made it home and I crashed!  I am sure I was asleep before 9!  I slept well having my boys on either side of me (yes, I share my bed with my fur kids). 

The weather was perfect, cool, but not cold.  Mostly cloudy (I had 100 spf on, but I still reacted to the sun that was out), all in all I am very proud of the run! Good training run!

I have to say, none of this would have been possible if it weren't for my sister.  Shannon, you are the most amazing person!

10 more days!

Yesterday between work and Weight Watchers I managed to get a second workout in. I had planned on doing an additional three miles but I got out of work later than I had expected so I had to settle with 1.5.  I wanted to get weights in so I did ½ mile then a set of weights. Before I knew it was supposed to be at my meeting and I had only finished my upper body and 1.5 miles, put my mileage yesterday to a little over 5 miles.  I felt great! Since I was the only one in the gymlet I had the chance to think.  The past year has been pretty rough, but I have made it through with my head held up high.  Winning that entry into the Colorado Marathon made my entire month!  It was four years when I ran my very first full marathon and it was the Colorado Marathon. I went back the following year to complete my 5^th marathon in a 12 month period (hey, it squeaked in by one day so it counts!). Due to my race schedule last year (and injuries) I was not able to run it. This year I really wanted to but it sold out to fast.  This weekend I have an 8 miler on the books, but I think it will be bumped up to a 10 miler, but I have been putting in some good miles on hills, plus I have 5 hours to finish.  “A participant has 6 hours to complete the marathon and 5 hours to complete the half marathon. Walkers are welcome. No baby strollers or wheeled conveyances are allowed.” I would have almost 23 minutes per mile!!!!  I think I will do just fine! Because I am coming off the crud my plan is to do a nice run/walk I am thinking 4/1, but I am not sure yet. I will see how my runs go between now and then.

Tonight I am on full mommy duty “Mom! I have a science project due tomorrow!” We are doing the egg in the bottle experiment! We are going to see how small of an opening the bottle can have while keeping the egg intact! We are also going to see what happens when the egg still has its shell!!! Tomorrow I am taking a ME day! I plan on hitting Pikes Peak after dropping my boys off, going to lunch with a friend and who knows what else!

Saturday is another run in Garden of the Gods – gotta love hills!!!

So tired!

Yes, I am still seriously fighting with fatigue, I think it is mostly related to the fact my body is fighting like hell to prevent me from getting the dull blown version of what my boys had.  This weekend I was feeling worse than I had been this entire time so I decided I would have a stay in bed day on Saturday.  Jose had other plans in mind!  He took his shower got decent enough to come into my room and asked me to re-tape his finger. HOLY CRAP! How long has it been like this? ‘I don’t know’ When did you notice the tape was tight? ‘This morning.’ His finger had more than doubled!  I grumbled as I got out of bed and got dressed.  He grabbed a bag of frozen fruit out of the freeze (we don’t have ice packs) and back to Urgent Care we went.  A lot of the same staff as there that had been there on Thursday night, funny thing, they remembered us! The nurse say his finger ‘Oh my God!’ I wonder if she was ever taught she is supposed to keep the patient calm, maybe she wasn’t worried about us because we were having to much fun watching Achmed the Dead Terrorist on my sister’s phone.  The doc came in looked at his finger, relooked the xray, camed back in and explained that sometimes for whatever reason the swelling will go nuts up to 5 days after the injury.  We did the right thing by coming back in because it was slightly whitish, but he should be fine in a few weeks.  EXCUSE ME?  It will take a while to heal.  I keep a very close eye on his finger when I tape it up to make sure the swelling isn’t getting worse. 

Sunday I tried to sleep in but Charlie just HAD to go pee and when he was done (Jose let him out) he just had to come back to bed and get loved on.  Every time I would drift off he would whine until I started scratching him again!

Today I made it down for another walk/run.  More hills, less flats today, so more walking less running.  Felt good though.  Tomorrow I am shooting for more time running, less time walking. 

OH! To make my runs even better my new running capris made it in.  I am SO excited!!!! Thank you Running Skirts!

Let me sleep!

Yesterday I had a chance to look back over some of my previous blogs and it got me thinking. My first blog was 20 Apr 10, almost coming up on a year! On 27 Apr 10, I blogged about the last 10 years and how trying it has been but on the same token how I have accomplished things I would never had dreamed possible! Less than a month later I was blogging about the tentative diagnosis of lupus!

Over the past almost year those of you who read this have piped in a time or two with some much need support or advice of kudos which are all much appreciated! The support I received when Carin passed away I can’t even start to express my gratitude.

I did not get my 30-minute shred in last night, by the time I got home Cuervo had decided to set his chair (he has a papsan chair) up in my room and go to sleep. I at least got a laugh out of it… I was in bed settled in and I hear little squeals coming from his direction, I sit up and see that Charlie had climbed into the chair with him! Luckily whenever I go into the bathroom Charlie follows, which meant he got off Cuervo (who didn’t even really wake up). Later in the night the elusive Diamond (the cat who shares the upstairs with me and was willing to put up with Carin but no other dog) got cornered by Charlie. That was some excitement! Everyone in the house woke up trying to pull Charlie away from her and I got the job of picking her up and getting her under my bed (one of her favorite places to hide) without getting scratched. Freddie sat in the middle of my room watching all the excitement but not moving. Diamond try to put Charlie in his place by giving him a nice scratch on his nose but it didn’t work! Diamond is usally pretty good about avoiding Charlie, but last night just didn’t pan out for her. She is fine. When Charlie went out this morning she came out of my closet (she went from under my bed to the closet sometime last night, she has food, water and a box in both locations) and stopped by for some love and then returned to under my bed. Diamond is a true cat, she will let you know when she wants attention and if any of her bowls are lower than she likes the entire house will hear about it!
Today I have a nice ride on the stationary bike again and hopefully a 30 minute workout tonight. I might stray away from the 30-day shred and do yoga (right knee is a little cranky today), not sure yet I will figure that out when I get home and I am putting in a disk

It is now Day 4 and I am off and running!

Last night was another one of those nights I was to tired to cook, my sister was still not feeling well, we decided we would go to Applebee’s (kid’s eat for 99 cents on Wednesdays), when we got there the parking lot was full! So we figured we had better go elsewhere. Up the street a smidge (in the same block) was a new place we have wanted to try HuHot. The smell of it when driving by YUM! We got there and found out it is an all you can eat Mongolian BBQ. Still smelled good! You get to pick out everything you want and then they cook it up for you while you wait, easy enough. When I got up to the grill I asked it would be possible for my food not to touch any meat, “vegetarian?” ‘yes’ (I wasn’t going to go into the whole fisheterian thing). The cleaned a spot for my food, put utensils around it to make sure nothing could touch it and announced when my food was going on and coming off. After speaking to our waitress (very nice lady) she said they have no problems working people and their dietary restrictions. I have every intention of going back again. I only went through once, but my older son got four plates!

This morning I did not want to get up! Freddie kept me up all night chewing of stuff and getting into stuff he shouldn’t be. When I actually cracked an eye opened I saw my jeans that are two sizes smaller than what I am in now hanging on my door. Grumbling I got up. This video is kicking my butt, well, actually it is kicking my calves and thighs (I was going down the stairs as I was leaving work yesterday, talk about sore!). First set of jumping jacks I had to stop before it was time because of a twinge in my knee, but rest of them I was able to do. I got interrupted midway through the workout because two puppies and one child all tried to go down the stairs at the same time. Puppies were fine, kid was not! After making sure everything was ok and giving him a reassuring hug I started the “butt kicks” section again and continued on. I finished up got cleaned up, Cuervo is fine, he and the stairs have just had a few to many issues this week (he feel down and hit his knee on Monday). I think part of it is because his mind is elsewhere. I know he will kill me if he found out I posted this but he and his girlfriend are planning to have their first kiss today (isn’t young love cute!). He has asked if we can get her a Valentine’s Day present when we go shopping this weekend (he is in 4^th grade and is already thinking about all that).

I am hoping to get a short run in today (Jose has an appointment, I have class, not much time, but I will try!), tomorrow is the pool with the kids (we all swim laps and then it is play time, good way to end the week). Saturday I am signed up for a spinning class and then I have WW weigh in. This morning I couldn’t help myself, I had to get on the scale, I needed to see if all this work is doing anything for my numbers. I was in my work clothes (my heaviest work pants) and my boots on I was down 2+ pounds since last Saturday’s weigh in! I have a feeling I will have no issue getting my rump out of bed tomorrow morning!

OH! And the countdown to CDA is under 500 days now! I know I am only guessing at the date at this time, but it is still exciting!

30-Day Challenge

9 Feb 11

ü 76 oz of water every day (3 bottles [24 oz] of water plus two cups at dinner)

ü TV off no later than 10:30 (fell asleep before TV went off, but kept getting woken up L)

ü Down size Startbucks

ü Logging intake (had to do an educated guess for dinner, but I did log everything!)

ü 30-day Shred – Every day

Getting there!

Good news is I got a run in yesterday afternoon, bad news is my run was cut short. I was on the treadmill settling into my pace and I get a text message from my sister (who was kind enough to pick my boys up) saying “please hurry”. While running I replied and asked what was going on (if she needed me home right then and there, she would have said ‘come home now’), I find out that Jose has a MAJOR project due today (which I knew about) and he had NOTHING on it. For the past week I kept asking him what he needs to get this project done. What can I do to help? “We are working on it in class, blah, blah, blah.” I did 3 miles (half of the planned miles) did a quick cool down and went home. Grabbed a handful of Triscuits, loaded everyone in the car and headed to the library (via Starbucks, of course!) For the next two hours Cuervo played in the kid section, I was on my computer, my sister kept finding books she wanted to read and Jose was doing his research (no, I was not going to let him use the computer for all the information). We left a whole 13 minutes before the library closed. I was hungry, poor Cuervo hadn’t had dinner (this is 9pm) and my sister was famished (hadn’t really had lunch). Oh, and I am sure Jose was hungry too, but didn’t dare whine about it. My sister told me to pull into McDonalds so she could get two spicy chicken sandwiches, Cuervo got a hamburger happy meal with apple slices (kid can’t stand fries). We then hit Wendy’s and I got a baked spud (think that might work better than a Taco Bell burrito?) and home we went. Don’t worry, Jose got to eat dinner (I am not that mean of a mommy even when I am pissed). Jose made himself some mac and cheese with hot dogs and veggies. Cuervo finally was in bed asleep by about 9:45 and Jose was asleep by 10:30.
Today is a new day, it is weigh in day, I couldn’t make up my mind if a) I was going to do 3 or 4 miles and b) if I was going to try to get it done during lunch or after work. Well, during lunch won out because I was going cross eyed at work, when I got down there I set the treadmill for 3 miles (I was a little frustrated because my nike+ sensor was not in my bag) but 2.2 miles in or so I felt great and set it to 4 miles. I did intervals and felt like I got an amazing run in! I was dripping sweat and breathing hard and aaaaaaa!
Like I said, tonight is weigh in. Cuervo has soccer practice tonight, not sure what I am going to do with Jose (not sure I will make my sister sit on him or if I will drag him to the WW meeting).
OH! 1.74 miles until I hit 90 this month! I got an email from my dad tell me I had better not try to get 100 this month!

Parenting and Marathoning

Let me preface this whole thing by saying that both of my kids are “special needs”. Jose has Asperger’s Syndrome (a form of autism) and Cuervo is (rapid cycle) bipolar (he has already been hospitalized).
Last night I planned on going straight from work to gym to get my six miles in. Well, my sister was still at work at 4 (Jose needs to be picked up by 4:30 and she works a good 45 minutes away), I had the boys’ medicine (which needs to taken no later than 5), as I was trying to walk out the door Cuervo’s assistant principal called… Cuervo has had a VERY rough week, Saturday he was downright insubordinate, Sunday/Monday he was have “off days” (tripping over everything, crying at the drop of a hat, and the list goes on). Tuesday he was higher than a kite (still could not get to sleep at midnight), Wednesday he was a little more himself, Thursday he seemed to be ok. The one of the meds Cuervo is on will make him fall asleep if he does not have enough protein (there are times a carton of eggs are not enough protein) so yesterday in class he fell asleep (the school is VERY understanding about this). This kid who has been bullying him for at least a week took it upon himself to wake Cuervo up, and ended up with an elbow in the face. If Cuervo is not woken up a certain way he will jump; now if the elbow to the face was intentional or not, who’s to say? The teacher did not see this and neither child said a word. The next class brat boy continued. In the past this would have sent Cuervo into such a rage I would have been called immediately and the school’s team that supports him would have been activated, but not yesterday! The two boys were called down to the principal’s office and Cuervo did hide under her desk until he was able to regain control and they were able to discuss the whole situation. In the past he has hidden in the lost and found, he has run off school grounds, he has climbed up the fence behind first base (you know, the really tall fence) and 90% of the time he remembers nothing! I am extrememly proud that he was able to keep this situation under this much control (brat boy has also been making fun of Cuervo for doing gymnastics because it is a ‘girl sport’, Cuervo LOVES gymnastics). With all that said, I know, what is the point? When he is that agitated he will go after his brother at the drop of a hat! So there was no way I was going to leave both my boys with my sister alone just so I could go run!
This entire week has been one that I MUST remain flexible. Ok, my entire life with those two I must be able to remain flexible. I know I have a training plan, but I have to keep in mind there will be some weeks I just will not be able to get all my miles in, and this is one of those weeks. Ok, I could get my miles in this week, but I will not push it that much. After pain and torture I will get to the gym early and get on the treadmill and see how much I can do before my personal trainer appointment. As long as it is more than 3 I will be happy!
This weekend is a 6 miler and an 8 miler. The 6-miler I will be leaving my neighborhood, just for a change of scenery I will hit a lower section of my trail on Saturday and Sunday the part of the trail that goes around the lake! Both of these runs are done before my boys get up!!!!!

“Let’s find something fun to do!”

I had a physical therapy appointment yesterday and I went through my normal hand bike, and wall work and neck massage, stuff with the bands… then my PT uttered the dreaded words “Let’s find something fun to do!” Those are not words you want to come out of a PT’s mouth! He had me on a ball throwing a weighted ball in the air. The other PT thought it was funny that I was throwing every direction except straight up. Then I was told to put my hands on a balance board and do shoulder pushup (all the work is in the shoulder instead of the arms) and then on to the slanted trampoline to throw the weighted ball at that (hit myself in the face once). He had me doing a few other things but next time I hear him say those words, I am outta there! When I got back to work my arms were shaking so bad I was having a hard time controlling my mouse!
An old army buddy (geeze that makes me sound old) was in town on business and I had a chance to meet up with him last night for dinner. After getting out of work, picking up kiddos, taking older one back to school to pick up his homework, dropping them off with my sister, I ran out of time to get any miles in. Since this is my step back week I don’t have to many miles on the books for this weekend, so I had to slide everything back a day. Today and Friday will be 3-milers (both on the elliptical machine because of the move in schedule) tomorrow will be a 6-miler on the treadmill.
Today is also Weight Watcher day! Because of the weight loss last week I got some Halloween Betty Boop toe socks! They have a big selection at Wal-mart so here’s to getting a new pair!

Rubin hold the meat

Last night was an insane night! My older son had a cross country meet and his grade was supposed to start at 4:00 pm, which I have to admit made me a little sad (I don’t get off until 4). I went flying out of work cussing up a storm the entire way since I had NO idea where I was going. I finally get there, and after circling around the parking lot a few times a found a spot! Then I had to figure out where all the kids were! After a nice stroll I not only found them, I also found out that they were running behind! YAY! I get to see my son run. An hour and a half after they were supposed to start. I am very proud of how he did on such a hilly course. As we were leaving he made a comment about hating hills, I told him the reason he feels that way is because he sucks at them, and quite frankly, I hate hills too! So we will start working hills together!
While I was at the meet, I had to call my sister so she could pick up my younger money and bring him to soccer. Being a single mom with two kids in two different activities can be VERY difficult at times! He did make it to practice, he was a few minutes late, but hey, he made it!
After Tyler’s meet we went zooming down the interstate, I WAS going to my Wight Watchers meeting and I WAS going to get weighed! I was to close to my goal not to go! We made it, OK, we were a little late, but we made it! I got on the scale and I could help but “YIPPEE!!!!!” and hop off the scale. Ladies and gentlemen, not only do I get my yoga mat, I get another pair of running socks! I have now lost 10.6 pounds! I have 8.56 pounds until I hit MY next goal (yes, Weight Watchers sets their goals, but I am working off of my goals). After the meeting was over, Kiddo #1 and I headed home (Kiddo #2 and my sister were still at soccer) and I popped in my Day 3 of P90X and away I went.
Knowing I have very weak shoulders (not to mention my neck/shoulder issue) I set up my lightest band and hit play. I did 15 reps of the majority of the exercises, the bicep work I moved up to my 50 pound band, the straight arm lifts I had to get my cheap, I have no idea what weight, band. My goal is Week 3 to be able to use my 30 pound band for those. Once again, I only did 10 reps during the abs. I know next week I will be ready to move up to 15. I realize I will not get the same results as others but starting with a low number of reps, but I am working this program for me!
After that we went to dinner and I just HAD to have a Rubin (without the meat)!!!!! I enjoyed every last bite of it! Today, is elliptical machine (or maybe the bike) and P90X Yoga!
OH! I put in three miles yesterday on the treadmill in my new Asics, I wasn’t as lucky as I had been with my Mizunos. I will give them one more chance before I kick them to the curb (OK, I will wear them as regular street shoes).
Looking back through my blog, according to Weight Watchers my next reward is a new pair of jeans!

Man I missed that

As I keep saying, the schedule for this week is insane. Full of mommy duties (which is fine), running every which direction, very difficult to do what I need to do for me (that is fine). Yesterday morning it occurred to me, I get off work, I can’t pick up Kiddo #1 from cross country for about another hour… So, I went home during lunch I was a good mommy to my fur kids; after work, I went down stairs and got a nice easy 3 miler in. I picked up Kiddo #1 and then #2 we got home and I felt great! I was relaxed (I was hungry), I was calm, I wasn’t stressing when my boys weren’t doing as I asked them to. 3 miles, that was all I did. 3 miles at a nice sllllloooooowwwww pace, I didn’t even touch my inhaler! I ran two songs walked a song.
This afternoon I have my follow up doc appointment (will find out if I am going to be sent to PT), Kiddo #1’s first cross country meet (I am so proud of him), Kiddo #2’s fist soccer practice of the season, Weight Watcher’s meeting (I have a good feeling this week), some time in there have dinner, get ready for tomorrow (I have to dress up like an adult, I think the teal tights should work nicely) and get some sleep.
Starting next week soccer practice will be used for running (that area is HILLY!!!!!), I will be attending a different day of the week Weight Watchers (like Saturday, depending on what time it starts).
Tomorrow both boys have their activities at the same time which means… OUTSIDE RUNNING!!!!!!!! I am, not exactly thrilled about mile .75 to 1.5, but hey, what doesn’t kill me only makes me strong, right?

Fickle!

As most endurance athletes can attest to, we are very fickle about the products we use (right down to our underwear sometimes). I personally am an Under Armour, Nike, CWX type of gal. Now, when I first started racing 3 years ago I bought myself a pair of Oakleys. Over the past 3 years I have abused them every way possible and they kept loving me and treated me well. Sadly, I recently put them into retirement (the lenses are scratched beyond all get out, the frame has been bent a million and one times). I bought myself a pair of Half Jackets when I walked out of the store I put them on and fell in love. Last night I did my hill training (good thing about living here, no matter where I go, I have no issues finding a hill!) and the weather was a little off (springtime in the Rockies) the glasses were great. They did fog up when I finally finished, but I did not have any issues while I was running.

As far as the run went last night. I did 3 miles, still trying to take it a little easy. I did my warm up with Kiddo #2 and then went to hills and then a nice cool down. I wanted to take a picture of the weather I was running in and apparently Kiddo #2 wanted me to take a picture of him. Don’t ask!

Due to insane Thursday nights, I think we are going to officially make Thursday “Subway night”. I am working with Kiddo #1 on how to make better decisions (I do not want him to fight the same weight battle as everyone else in my family). So we looked to see what the lower calorie subs were and he picked a Black Forrest Ham and put spinach on it. I was so proud of him. Ok, he also had 2 cookies, but we are not going to change him over night.
Tomorrow I am planning on hitting the incline in place of my “35 minute fartlek” run, no iPod, no Garmin, nothing. I am just going to go and enjoy a good, hard workout. Sunday, my Mother’s Day gift to myself will be a nice run before going to a Mother’s Day brunch for my mom (I really do hate brunches).