Thankful for.....

I am Thankful for my feet, (even though they have been giving me trouble recently) for taking me on more miles of running fun then I can even count.

I am Thankful for my ipod. I just started running with music about two years ago, and it really makes a difference when you run 20 miles all by yourself.

I am Thankful for my trusty Garmin GPS watch. My hubby gave me the 401 for my 30Th birthday last year. I love being able to look down and see how long, how far, how fast I am going.

I am Thankful for my running shoes. I usually run in Mizuno's but this last pair are Asics and they have been pretty good to me. And they are pink, which I love.

I am Thankful for my fuel belt. It carries my water, Gatorade, and GU's while out on a long run.

I am Thankful for my Pepper spray. It helps me feel a little safer when I am pounding out the road all by my lonesome.

Most of all, I am very Thankful for my wonderful, understanding husband who has bought me all of my running gadgets. I don't work outside of the home and I don't bring in any kind of paycheck, so I really appreciate my hubby for supporting me in my passion and always willing to buy me the next best thing.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my running/bloggy friends. We are off to Utah in the morning to spend the Holiday with our family's. I hope you all feel the spirit of Gratitude and have a joyful Turkey day.

Just in case.......

Just in case my Husband or anyone else is wondering what to get me for Christmas, here is a tip.

A medium in black would be great...... =)

Click here for the link... thanks honey.

* not that my husband needs help buying me gifts. He always does a great job with surprising me with items I love, I'm just sayin..... just in case.

I love it when....

You know when you are out running (sometimes, in running on the treadmill) and you kind of start feeling like you want to go home and call it quits, cause your feet hurt. Or because you're just not feeling it that day. Or because you are cold or hot or tired, and then all of a sudden one of your favorite songs come on (if you run to music, which I have to do now) and all of a sudden you feel so energized and happy to be hurting and happy to be where you are. I love those songs.

The songs that get me jazzed and ready for more are:

"Pump it"..... Black Eyed Peas

"Survivor"..... Destiny's Child

and usually anything from the "Rocky" soundtrack.

What songs get you jazzed?

Bring on the hills.....

I have had a tough week and when I woke up this morning I didn't want to go for my 11 mile run, especially when I saw the rain and wind. So I got back in bed and waited an hour to see if it would clear up at all. It didn't, so I got dressed and took my Ibuprofen and got all my must have little gadgets. (GPS~Pepper Spray~ipod~Fuel belt with One Gu~ and a rain jacket)

When I walked out the door I felt the cold wind hit my face and the little rain drops and thought for a sec about turning around and getting back in bed. I didn't and I started my watch and off I went. I posted a few posts ago about a really hilly road that I have been running on. I have a love/hate relationship with this road. I love it cause it challenges me and I hate it cause it challenges me. =) I decided to run this road again today and while I was out I had some thoughts about life and running that I would like to share. I am not very good about turning my thoughts into words, so bare with me.

On my run today I faced all kinds of challenges that could make any sane human being turn around and go back home. I thought I was prepared hell, I had all my gadgets, what else did I need? Well I quickly realized I should have added: Gloves, a hat for my ears, and a long sleeve shirt under my waterproof jacket. (it was colder then I thought) But with the rain, wind, cold, hills, dogs, on coming traffic, and not dressing warm enough, it just made me want to push harder through my run. With every hill that came, I just pushed harder and with every rain drop and gust of wind, I pushed harder. And to my surprise, I felt so good today, tired but good. I ran hard and fast and felt great to the end.

It made me think about how in life we have so many obstacles come our way. We walk out the door and never know what the day has in store for us. Yet with every hill we climb and with every gust of wind that wants to push us over we have to push hard to not let it get us down. We all make mistakes in life (and in running: I forgot my warmer stuff) but sometime if we let them, these mistakes can work to our advantage. We can learn from them. We become stronger from them. Life throws us all kinds of Hills, long and not so steep, short and very steep. With running we can see the top of the hill and it makes us push harder to get there, but in life we can't see the top of the hill and we have to use all our faith and know that we can and will make it. The Hills in life and the hills in running have one thing in common: they can only make us stronger runners, better wives, mothers and friends.
So I say "Bring on the Hills"

A little shout out.....

During my 10 mile run on Saturday, I was thinking of my twin sister Franny and my brother in law Brian. They just ran in the Snow Canyon Half Marathon and did very well. Franny had a PR of 2:02 and Brian ran his first half ever with a 1:50. Just think.... you are both well on your way to your first Full 26.2, I know you wanna. Jenny..... I hope your knee is healthy so you can run the Painters Half in January. You all inspire me so much. See you in two weeks and two days. (Thanksgiving)
Since Franny is to sore to hobble to her computer =) and post the pictures they took before and after, I snagged a picture from this past January when we ran the Painters Half.

RaeAnn~ Sister (5k)..... Maria~ Sister (half).... Sarah~ sis-in-law (half) Franny~ sister (half).... Me (half)..... Jenny (5k)... Brian (5k)....... Jeffrey 12 (5k) Nephew.... Amberly 16 (half) Niece

And this isn't even half of my family.

9 miles of Hills..... UGH

I know you are all waiting on the edge of your seats to hear about my 9 mile run from Saturday. Oh, you're not? Hmmmmmm

Well we did it. We ran 9 miles. It was really nice to run with someone, even though she doesn't like to talk so we both wore our ipods, it was still nice. The roads here are HILLY. Yes I just moved from Utah where they have Mountains, but you don't run up in the mountains all the much. (if ever) You stay down in the valleys where the humans live and then try to stay on the flat roads, unless you are doing hill repeats or have to run that hill to get home. Here in Ky, you can't get anywhere without going up and over and then down a million hills. Franny and I picked a road that has gorgeous scenery, but we ran over 13 hills in 4 1/2 and then we turned around and did it again to get home. Yes, some of these hills are not as big as others, but about half are serious hills. I guess one good thing is, it can only make me a stronger runner. So if 9 wasn't punishment enough, we decided to do 5 more on the same road on Monday. We are truly rock stars. Here are just a couple of picture we took to show off the road we ran on, and No the pictures do not do the hills justice... they were hard.

While Franny was here we decided to have a little competition from now till Thanksgiving (3 weeks) to see who can lose the most weight, Greg is playing too. Then after thanksgiving we are going till the first of the year. We both know we need a little motivation over the holidays to not get carried away, so we thought we would focus more on the weight we need to lose and not the food we want to eat. (WE LOVE OUR SWEETS.... thanks mom)

Here is a picture of Franny that I took, not going to say what she was doing, but you know, right Franny?

Conversation with Morgan while making lunch:

Morgan: "mmmm, I love cookies" (she was eating a cracker)

Me: "mmmmm me too, but I am going sugar free till Thanksgiving."

Morgan: with over exaggerated excitement....... "I want to go too"

Oh the innocence of my three year old.

Here is my adorable three year old after applying her own makeup yesterday.