Snow Day 2014

I have come to the conclusion that I am not sure that I could be a runner if I lived somewhere that snow and ice was a frequent thing.  It is not running in frigid temps that would bother me, it would be the constant fear of hitting black ice and breaking something.  With that being said, I had a not so romantic date with the treadmill Tuesday.  This was my first "task oriented" run that I have done since the marathon.  Other than it being on the treadmill, it went pretty good.  It was a tempo run varying between marathon pace, half marathon pace, and threshold pace.
Now for the snow and ice.  So, I am sure you are all aware of our "massive" winter storm in the south.  I was so excited for our one snow day of the year or every other year, and the boys were pumped as well.  We stared out the window all afternoon Tuesday waiting on it to happen.  We waited and waited.  The boys finally passed out a little after 9.  Around this time we started to see some freezing rain and sleet and then around 11 p.m. a little snow started to mix in.  We were keeping our fingers crossed for a few inches so the boys could build a snowman and get a little sledding in.  All we got was a little dusting (maybe an inch accumulation) but, that didn't stop us from being rednecks in the snow.  By rednecks in the snow, I mean we improvise on our sleds.  Ours happened to be a top from a 60 quart cooler.  I had to laugh at how time, age, and parenthood changes your use of items.  10 years ago we would have worried about keeping that lid on the cooler to keep our "drinks" cold now, we say to heck with that cooler that top looks like a sled for the boys!  I wouldn't trade today's outlook on things for anything in the world.
Here are a few pictures from our snow day.......

The Big Hill In Town

(my sister in-law somehow got her hands on a real sled)

 Love their expressions.  

 Proof not a lot of snow is needed for sledding

 Mommy gets a turn on the "sled" too

How did others enjoy your snow day?

What have you turned into a sled?

T Minus 12 Days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ready or not, here I come.  I am 12 days out from my first marathon.  I have in some sort of way been preparing my mind and/or body for this for over a year.  Charleston Marathon I am on my way!
I am not going to lie and say that I am as ready as I will ever be, because I am not.  I could have trained more but, I am a wife and mother first.  Life happens and logging all of the runs that my plan called for just didn't happen.  I do not think I will finish in near the time that I initially set out to do but, I am confident that I WILL FINISH and I WILL HAVE FUN.  At this point I will say that I believe this will not be my first and last marathon.  I have enjoyed my training for the most part.  The training I did was a plan that I downloaded from Marathon Nation .  I felt like the plan was totally doable and didn't take me away from my family for hours on end.  I will say that I have had to tweak the plan the last month or so due to life =) .
In the last month, I have teamed up with a long time friend for runs.  She is doing the half marathon of this race.  She has really done a great job!  I am not sure if we have enjoyed our running together in itself, or 2 + hours of adult conversation the most.  Now, we are looking forward to a little retail therapy along with our marathon weekend.

Any advice for my final 12 days?

Anyone else running the Charleston Marathon?

Great Deal On Runners World Magazine!!!!

If anyone is reading, there is an awesome deal on Runners World Magazine right now.  It is from Southern Savers  Click here Runners World Magazine and you enter coupon code SOUTHERNSAVE to get a full year for $5.99.  The offer expires at midnight tonight.

I Need A New Watch

Where do the weekends go?  It was an unexpected busy weekend.  The brother-in-law and sister-in-law along with their kids came and spent Saturday and Sunday with us. I always love when they come but, great goodness the messes that occur when there are 4 kids ages 5 and under in one house for the weekend. I kid you not, every toy in Clayton's room was in the middle of his floor.

Before they came Saturday, I did a 4 mile run at about a 9:15 min/mile pace with six sets of a strides at the end. When I got done I was picking around with Jody in the yard and was proving to him that I could hold a plank longer than he could. I took my gps watch off so I could see the timer and I have no idea where my watch is now. So, I guess I am now in the market for a new watch. 

Yesterday was my long run and was supposed to be 16 miles. I started around 3:15 and went up and down every (safe) street in town two or three times. Somewhere around mile nine the gps signal on my phone went out so, I lost track of my mileage and pace. Isn't it odd how that just so happened on a day when I didn't have my watch?  To the best of my figuring I think my run was 14.7 miles at an average of 10:23 min/mile pace. Not the sixteen I was shooting for but, dang technology issues got the best of me. 

Any suggestions on watches?

How do you make adjustment when technology fails?

Constant State of Paranoia

I have been living in a constant state of paranoia since this past Thursday night. Colton had a stomach bug that night. He was pitiful and I felt helpless.  Thank goodness he quickly bounced back to himself. I spent all day Friday disinfecting our home. If I could reach it, it got wiped with pin-sol or Sani-wipes. I even took the cushion covers off my couch and washed them.  I mopped and even wiped down baseboards. Seriously, you could have licked my floors they were so clean. I also spent lots of time washing my hands to try to prevent th spread of this bug. 

Saturday came along and I just didn't feel right all morning. I am thinking Iust be getting what Colton had. I was supposed to go watch my beloved #Gamecocks play but, just could not get it in gear to get ready and go.  After a while of thinking about it, I decided that I was subconsciously depressed. Saturday would have been my moms 65 birthday and it was also the 7th anniversary of my grandmother's funeral. So, after deciding that this was my problem, I began to feel better.

Sunday, I had a long run planned with a local that I found out is training for the same marathon as me. I am beyond excited to have found a potential running partner!  I was so excited to have someone to run with that I feared all day long that I was going to get hit by the stomach bug before we could go run. Well, I didn't get sick so I started to think and hope that the rest of us had dodged the bug. 

Monday was fine. We all did our Monday things. However, after we got settled for the evening, Clayton started vomiting. Boo!!  Thank goodness again, he didn't have it as bad as Colton and he also bounced back to himself within just a few hours.  

So , as I sit her tonight I keep thinking my stomach doesn't feel exactly right. Am I getting sick now?  Is it just in my head? 

I did manage to get quick tempo in tonight.  It was on the dreadmill but, it was a run. I did 2 sets of 6 minutes marathon pace, 4 minutes half marathon pace, and 2 minutes long run pace.  

Hopefully, I can out run the illness.

On the bright side, my house is pretty near spotless. If Jody and I can manage to stay well, I shouldn't have much cleaning left to do before our family Thanksgiving. 

Quick Funny Story

Saturday night, I fell asleep on my couch while watching football. I stayed there all night. Sunday morning I was woke up by the sound of metal rubbing together. It was my very silly 5 year old taking two of my race metals and rubbing them together. Next thing I know he puts them on my chest and screams "CLEAR".  Apparently, I was sleeping so good that he must have thought I was dead and my heart needed defribilating. I have no idea where he has seen this done before (I am sure it is from something on TV that I didn't see him watching).  Usually, I am a total grump in the morning but, this had me waking up hysterically laughing. 

Can't you see silly written all over his face?

Unchartered Territory

Yesterday marked the beginning of unchartered running miles on my long runs. Until yesterday, I had never ran more than the half marathon distance. I did a total of 14.13 miles in 2:30. Yes, it was sllllllllllow paced but, I did it!  The first eight miles were all my long run pace (10:50-11:00 min/miles) and the last 6 were alternating between half marathon pace (8:57-9:03 min/miles) and long run pace.  I felt great during the run except my hip flexors knew exactly when they had hit mileage they had never seen before.  

When I got back home I was greeted by this little monkey....

Every time he see's me in my running clothes he says in the cutest little tone "Been runnin mama?  Your shirt wet?" and inspects my shirt for sweat.  I guess he is staying on top of making sure that I am giving it my all during every run. 

Besides having a first run greater than 13.1 miles, I also experimented with my first ice bath. I should have probably researched that a little more before trying it ⛄️.  I figured I would be pretty sore today so I decided to do the ice bath to keep that to a minimum and to hopefully keep the ole IT band from giving me too much of a problem. Today I am not sore and no IT band pain.  Coincidence? Luck? Who knows, I am just glad I feel as good as I do. 

After settling down from all if that, I settled down with these.....

Next thing I knew, the bag was empty...oops. 

So, what are your tips on not overeating after a long run? 

Ice bath or not?

How do you feel after finishing miles never done before?