Doggie days.....

Sometimes I feel like this when I haven't blogged in forever...... like I am in trouble.

Sometimes I feel a little like this..... like I am just to busy watching the world go by. (Or just busy with the kids)

Sometimes I feel like this.... Just wanting or needing some attention from anyone. It sure gets lonely when you live 1500 miles away from your friends and family.

But I was able to go out to Utah for a quick visit and had some awesome sister time. Five of us (plus 2 nieces) went to Southern Utah and played. We went to Zion's National Park and hiked all day. We went and saw Grease at the outdoor Tuachan theater. We shopped, ate to much junk, swam, got to much sun and laughed a lot. It's so refreshing to spend some quality time with those you love and miss.

The twinner and I on our way to Angels Landing

At the end of our already super fabulous day at Zion's.... we were blessed with this beauty. Oh my gosh, it was the perfect ending to the perfect day. GORGEOUS!!!!!

My 2 little bugs started school last week. I am not one of those mom's that cries about having her kids gone all day. I kind of like it. My house stays clean and quiet for more the 30 min. My babies are little bookends in the elementary this year. My baby started kindergarten and my oldest is in 5th grade. How am I old enough to have a 5th grader. Yikes.

Running is going great. Still on track for my Oct 16th marathon in Louisville. I am getting nervous about NYC in Nov. Not sure where we are going to stay. I have got to get this figured out asap so that I can rest my mind a little. Best news ever..... for the next week and a half, we are fore casted mid 60's at 5 am. Wahoo. This is going to be a lovely break from the heat.

Where have you been lately? Are your kids starting school soon? Does it make you sad, or do you do the party dance?

Sweating with the sharks.....

This morning on my run, I was wishing I had a squeegee or a shammy to keep the sweat out of my eyes, and off my face. My imagination went crazy and I started to create a cross of both. I started imagining me in front of the "Shark Tank" (Love that show) investors asking for money. My smile went upside down when I pictured the mean guys shooting me down and calling me a crazy runner lady.

This is mile 5 of the 10 miles I ran... alone today. Don't you love the gold glitter Active Band?!?! I sure do. No..... I did not jump into a pool after my LR. This is what happens when you run at 5:30 am and the temps are 76* and 90% humid.
Were you a sweating mess after your run?

Do you ever create a product that you think could help us runners?

Have you ever watched "Shark Tank"?

Crappy runs.... but not that kind of crap

Sporting another one of my favorite Active Bands. Have you tried them yet? They are so cute, and they seriously do what they say..... stay in place. Check them out here.

Last Wednesday was my 34th birthday. We were able to drive the 4 hours to Paris and visit with a few friends. Our house hasn't sold yet, so we decided to rent it out for a while. We used that trip to meet up with the renters and get things squared away. I miss my house. I miss running in Central Ky. It's gorgeous there.....

I was also able to meet up with these beauties for some lunch, and girl time. You may recognize the sexy momma on the right. That's Coy from First in Philly.... she is super fun, you should check her out.

We decided to eat our lunch out on the patio (hot and humid, what were we thinking) and about 10 minutes later, we had another lunch guest. Look at this nasty creature. Sick sick sick.... it ran off pretty quick, but not before a snapped a pic.

My last 2 runs have sucked rocks, and I even cried after yesterday's 6 miler. (Rested today) I usually do my long runs on Sat but had to switch to Sun just for this one weekend. I ran 14 miles and struggled the entire last 5.5 miles. (Still averaged a 9:25) I almost cut it short and quit but just slowed down and got it done. I have been feeling like I am running through mud, while breathing through a straw. I know that with distance running, you have good days and bads days, and usually I tend to have more good then bad. The kicker this time is that I had to crappy runs in a row. I know it's hot and SUPER humid.... but I am really feeling like I've been slapped in the face and the world is laughing at me. Just feel so down in the dumps today.

I had several friends on FB give me some great one liners, and some nice pick me ups, and ideas of how to find my groove again. I decided to rest today and then head out tomorrow morning with zero pressure. Just me, the road, my running shoes and hopefully I will find my happy place again.

where have I been you ask????

Or most likely you haven't noticed that I have been MIA in the bloggy world.....

But I have been home, with my kids.... playing and enjoying the end of summer (School starts Aug 3rd here) I've been running the 10yr old to all sorts of Cheer leading fundraisers and practices.

I have also been dreaming of many things.

#1- My up coming trip (alone) to Utah, to spend a few days with all of my sisters. This is "Sister's retreat" #11, and I haven't missed one yet, and I am not about to miss one now. Shopping, laughing, cards, swimming, hiking, the theater, and LAUGHING... here I come..... well in 2 weeks.

#2- I've been dreaming of buying and wearing one of these adorable skirts in my next marathon. (Oct) You can check out Team Sparkle here. I have heard they are super cute in person but that they look pretty cheap and like they could snag and rip easily. hmmmm.
#3- Dreaming of Winter.... I am so sick of running in the heat and humidity. It slows me down, make me feel sluggish and just plain ole pisses me off. I promise here and now, to NOT complain about running in the snow and cold temps ever again. I always forget how tough it is to train for a marathon in the summer. When it's 70 degrees and 95% humidity at 5:30am for nearly every one of my runs, that's just ridiculous. Oh well... nothing I can do about it, but put my big girls panties on and deal with it. I took this picture just before my 10 miler on Saturday morning. It was 72* and 100% humidity at 5:30 am. This week it's suppose to be even hotter.... 77* at 5am. ugh.
#4- I am dreaming of my 3 fall/winter marathons. Marathon #18 will be in Oct in Louisville. #19 will be in NYC... ya baby, I am running the ING NYC marathon on Nov 6Th. My baby girl made me these notes and paper fan to wish me good luck on my NYC marathon. I must talk about it to much and dream out loud. #20 is in Huntsville, AL... The Rocket City marathon on Dec 10Th. So stinking excited.

The one thing I am not dreaming of lately is turning 34 on the 13Th or running in New running Shoes. Actually, I don't mind getting older, and I realize that 34 is still very young. I love my new Asics, and LOVE LOVE LOVE running in new shoes.

What have you been dreaming of?

What are the temps when you run?

What fall/winter marathons or races do you have planned?

***Stay tuned for my next guest post... written by my gorgeous sister in law.

Big Fat Giveaway.....

Active Bands is having an awesome giveaway over at their blog. You could be one of 2 lucky winners to get a free $50 gift card to their web site. This is the time to check them out and see what Active bands is all about. Click here to find out about their contest.

Running shoes please.....

Last week I spent 3 days with a bunch of teenagers from my church. I plan on posting about my experience, it was difficult mentally, and physically.... just waiting on some pics from others who went. I forgot my camera. I was very grateful to be in shape and in marathon condition. I am so grateful for my health.

I Love my Active Bands.

The hubby and I started our marathon training this week. I don't usually follow a specific plan. I kind of just do my own thing. But since this will be hubby's first full marathon, we decided to have a written schedule to tell us what we should be doing. (Hal Higdon) The marathon we are running, which is Oct 16Th, is flat and fast.

I have 433 miles on my "newest" running shoe. I do alternate my shoes, and I don't usually wear the same shoe 2 days in a row. I always know when it's time for new shoes. My shins start telling me... first kindly, and if I ignore them, then they start to scream. I didn't want them to start screaming this go-around, so I ordered some on Monday. I always buy my running shoes from runningwarehouse.com. In fact, I buy everything from there. Their customer service is awesome and it's free shipping, and I don't think I have ever waited more then 3 days to receive my goodies.

*How many miles do you put on your shoes before you NEED a new pair?
*Where do you buy your running gear?
*Do you like to follow a training plan?
*Have you checked out activeheadbands.com yet? You should.

Guest post by the twin sis... enjoy

Hey blog peeps... I thought I would have my twin sis write up a guest post.

In fact, I have asked several of my sister's to write up a guest post... so stay tuned, more fun guest post to come.

Janice asked me to write a guest post here on her running blog. That makes me happy because I can now say, I AM A RUNNER! Sometimes I don’t think of myself as “A Runner” because I compare myself to my two sisters who are crazy runners…. but I am a runner. I know this cause I am at a point that I LOVE to run and WANT to run.

I have run 4 half marathons, and several 5k’s and my sister Janice kept asking me when I would run a full marathon with her, and I just wasn’t interested. I didn’t believe 26.2 miles was a distance I could finish. Well just over a year ago she talked me into running my first full. She would be in Utah visiting and so my sisters Maria, Janice and I were going to run the Deseret News marathon in Salt Lake City. Training was going great and I had just run down in St. George (Gorgeous Southern Utah) 13 very happy miles. I remember coming back from that run and texting Janice, “I finally feel like a runner”.

Well what would you know, the following Wednesday as I was doing hill repeats, I injure my IT Band. Ugh it was bad. I rested, iced, and stretched. I did all the things I should and it wasn’t getting any better. I had to cancel running the marathon with Maria and Janice. I was there throughout the course cheering them on and then at the finish, but the jealousy and sadness still overwhelmed me. Well I rested most of that summer and babied my knee, but all I could think was “I want to run”. The ache within my heart, confirmed I was indeed a runner. By August I started running short distances with no pain and just kept getting stronger. I ran all winter and then it was early January or February that Janice said she would be in Utah in April. So we signed up for the Salt Lake City Marathon. This would be my first full marathon, and I was excited and nervous all at the same time. I had the best support throughout the race. Janice, Maria, and Jason (Maria’s husband) stayed by my side all 26.2 miles, which helped so much. It was hard, but I finished happy and strong. I was immediately determined to improve my time of 4:31.

This brings us to my 2nd marathon.

June 11th…. The Utah Valley Marathon, which was suppose to be mostly down hill. I started my training, but due to only having 2 months between the two marathons, I knew this training would be shortened. With about a month left in my training I started to slack and lose motivation. I wasn’t running as much as I needed during the week. It really showed on my Saturday morning long runs. After shortening several runs by 4-5 miles of the scheduled miles, (due to lack of motivation) I finally got a full 20 miler in, just 2 shorts weeks before marathon #2.

Race day came and I knew I could finish, I just wasn’t sure how fast. I wanted a sub 4 hour, but with the lack of training, I wasn’t sure if that would happen.
Alarm went off at 3:15am, I got up, got dressed and ready for the race. Do I have everything.?. checked all the items off my list and made myself a peanut butter and honey bagel. Grabbed my drink and ate in the car as my husband drove me to the buses. This was really weird because in my first race I had 3 others telling me where to go and what to do…. now I’m all by myself. Time to put my big girl panties, on and figure it out on my own. I Got in line and caught the 4:00am bus. Took the 50 minute bus ride to the top of the canyon, where I waited for about an hour for the race to start. I got in line for the potties which took some time.

(She needed the GO GIRL-- LOL)

Then I wandered around and ran into a few people I knew, and then got ready to start the race. The gun went off and there I was, running my 2nd marathon. Never thought I would say that but so glad that I can and that I am.

Felt great it took a couple miles for it to thin out to a comfortable crowd. I Shed my jacket and gloves at about mile 3 or 4. The aid stations were great they started at mile 3 and were every 2 miles which was nice because when I got tired I knew I could just get to the next aid station, and then I could walk while I drank. Mile 7 was my first GU, and I kind of had to pee, and knew we would be starting to run DOWN the canyon. At this point we were just coming out of Wallsburg and I didn’t want the downhill pounding to cause me to pee my pants. (Janice insert--GO GIRL) The downfall of waiting in line is losing those precious minutes. (Go GIRL) I lost about 3 minuets. I was really looking forward to some downhill running…. Oh no, that didn’t happen, there were more hills then I had planned on. It caught me off guard a bit but I would run up the hills till I needed to walk. I was feeling great, and at the half way mark I was at 2:02…

Mile 25....

Well by mile 17 my legs started crashing. I don’t think I ever hit the wall mentally but my legs were done. I had to really talk to my body and legs to push through it. I saw my husband and daughter at mile 20.5 and was so happy to see them. Stopped and stretched and he took a picture. (To send to Janice) This took a few minutes then I was off again. Mile 25…. to my surprise a beautiful tall, spunky girl jumps in with me. It was my sister Maria. She had so much energy it just about killed me. I was dead by now and trying to put on a smile. I slowly made my way to the finish line, and finished in 4:21… taking 10 minutes off my SLC time. I’ll take it.

YUMMY CHOCOLATE MILK

I am running the St George marathon (#3) in October, and by golly, my training will be different with this one…. Better.

Thanks everyone for listening to my novel of a story about running.