December, Numbers and the New Year

December has been an amazing month filled with family and baking, games and cleaning, running and little resting.  And even with as busy as it's been, I cannot remember a time, at Christmas, where I have felt so at peace, so calm and so blessed. 

Hearing my kids voices, their giggles, their excitement, is music to my ears.  Even with all the whining, the sweetness still wins and is ever present in my mind. 

I think of this December and I smile.  I think of this Christmas and I smile.  I think of the fact that the break is almost over and I wish we had another week...

As for running?  I am left in awe after each run.  I am left praising the Lord for my health, for the fact that I am still injury free, for how far I have come.  It is unfathomable to me. 

I ran a 7 miler that had me feeling closer to God than ever before.  That had me running the last mile in 7:23.  A run in which the chains of my lifelong insecurities were broken.  A run in which I had a bald eagle fly above me, the sun shine on my face and for the first time in my life, I felt like an athlete.  A strong, lean, athlete.  7 miles that had me smiling the biggest smile, feeling like I could do anything, amazing...

I ran 16 easy miles in 2:25:37 - a 9:06 average pace.

I ran a 6 mile tempo run at an average pace of 8:08, including warm up and cool down...  9:07, 7:59, 7:42, 7:41, 7:28, 8:52

I ran 6.5 miles with repeat times at 6:46, 6:52 and 7:00.

I ran 18 easy to me miles in 2:37:51!  An average pace of 8:46!  And it was easy!  God is amazing!!

I ran a 7 mile tempo run with miles at 7:57, 7:53, 7:59, 7:52 and 7:35.

I've ran in awe.

And yesterday, I ran 20 easy miles in 2:59:12.  An average pace of 8:58.  Finishing with the final mile at 8:11!

I am in awe.

God has been very gracious with me.  I have been blessed not only because I continue to run, not only because I remain free of injuries, but because my time with Him, while running, is cherished.  I have had conversations with Him that have caused me to grow by leaps and bounds.  I have a peace that can only come from Him.  Nothing else. 

He is good.

As I look toward the New Year, I smile.  I think of New Year's last year.  I finished 2010 with 2 miles and  started 2011 with 3 miles.  Knowing 2011 was going to bring more.  And it was.  Lots of growth, lots of miles.

1224 miles.

My goals for running in 2012 are not really a secret.  I'm fairly certain I've put them out there.  But, just in case...

A sub 4 marathon...

And more so, a sub 3:40 marathon.

A smile on my face. 

Amazing time with the Lord.

And many many more miles.

Praying for abundant blessings for you all, thanking the Lord for the friendships formed with some amazing bloggers, hoping that maybe, just maybe I'll get to meet some of you this year :) 

Happy Happy New Year!!

Today's Run Is Brought To You By The Letter P

Perfect Advise

Powerbar

Pretty much always late

Preschool

Precious little time

Petrified at mile 9

Pleasantly surprised

Potential peaking through

P

Last night, I realized that I had zero Shot Bloks in the house.  Nor was there a drop of GU.  I had 14 to do today and my imagination was running wild trying to figure out just house I would fuel myself on my run.

Craisins?

Powerbar?

Marshmallows??

Okay, kidding on the marshmallows.

But, seriously a bit concerned.  Do I drive into town with 4 kids??  Do I make do??  What to do???

I got on Facebook to see if my sweet friend, G, was available.  We came up with a plan and I knew that my run could be a total fail.  But, at least it would be a learning experience.

And then, worry set in and I had 20 minutes until I needed to pick the oldest up from wrestling practice.  "Kids, let's go!!"  The closest store options were Walgreens and Albertsons and wouldn't you know it, neither carried GU or Shot Bloks.  Crap.

This morning I got dressed as soon as I woke up.  Running gear on and ready to go.  Now, all I needed to do was get all the kids out the door on time and get B and I out the door about 20 minutes earlier than normal.  We could not be late.

I had an EASY 14 miles to run.  Easy meaning it was to be run at an easy pace.

Unfortunately, I'm pretty much always late.  Unfortunately, it was 9:06 when my watch turned on.  Unfortunately, I needed to pick B up at 11:15.  Crap.

GO!

8:29
8:30
8:22  Either I'm going to make it or I'm going to completely bonk and fail...
8:22
8:20  Wow, still feeling pretty good.  Maybe...
8:30  Almost half-way.  Either I can keep this up or...
8:22
8:17  Gorgeous.  Simply gorgeous.
8:03  Last hill, last hard part, easy from here.  Ride the hill and then push.  Holy crap!  Is that a man coming out of the trees?  Is that a camera in his hands?  No...  Binoculars??  No...  A BEER!!!  It's barely even 10 in the morning!!  Completely freaked out I took off and ran up the hill at a 7:55 pace.  Scary!!!
8:20
8:17  I cannot believe this!  Thank you for this blessing, Lord!!  You are amazing!!
8:25
8:19  13.1.  Stop.  1:49!!  My fastest 13.1 ever!! 
8:52  Huge smile on my face.  PLENTY of time to get back to preschool.  Making myself slow down and at least take 1 of my 14 miles easy.  Smile did not leave my face!  I kid you not, I could NOT stop smiling as I bounded along the road!

I didn't have any expectations of this run.  After all, it was just a 14 mile training run.  Nothing spectacular should have happened.  I should not have been able to run my fastest longest run ever.  I mean, seriously, 1:49?!? 

I think I need a new mantra...  run like you're going to be late for preschool pick-up.  I could be in a new running ad.  Any takers??  Nike?  Saucony?  Another Mother Runner??  Brooks?  Oh, and I'm sure Lululemon needs some new ideas :)  And I'm completely sure that they all want an ad with a mid-30's, middle of the pack, Mom of 5...
 
This was the end of marathon training week 3 and I haven't even begun my track workouts yet.  I'm beyond excited to see where this body and mind will be in 15 more weeks!  

**I started writing this yesterday and ran out of time.  Therefore, pretend you're reading this on Friday not Saturday :)

Random

It's been a bit busy in my house and I've fallen far behind on blogging and even farther behind on everyone's blogs.  I've been able to pop in here and there, but comments have been minimal due to lack of time.  Just know that I think of you often!

I'm in awe that tomorrow is the first day of December and am left wondering how in the world November flew by so quickly.  Here's a little of what I've been up to...

We've gone wish shopping with our kids...

Yes, wish shopping.  Letting our kids walk through Target and dream.  We actually had a lot of fun and it was nice to just walk the aisles with my whole family.  And yes, I'll take one of these...

Speaking of B, this sweet boy melts my heart on a daily basis.  After leaving my hubs a message recently, Sweet B asked if Daddy was home.  When I told him, "no", he said, "I never get to see Daddy.  Are you ever going to work?"  Then I, thinking he's concerned he won't see me too, explain that if I do work, it won't be until he goes to school and hopefully I'll be able to find a job that will be during school hours.  B - "You're not LISTENING to me!!!  I mean, when are you going to go to work so Daddy can be with me all the time???"  "Don't you want to be with me?"  "I've already been with you for a long time!"  Sweet, sweet boy.  Thankfully, I know how much he loves me.  Thankfully, he has a Daddy that is amazing.  Oh, sweet B...

My hubs had last Wednesday off and I was able to schedule a hair cut for myself.  I don't get them often (last one was in March!)  And even though I'm low maintenance, I look forward to them quite a bit.  My appointment was scheduled for 9:00, so, I dropped Cole off at wrestling practice at 8:00 and headed out for my run.

As I drove to my starting point, I repeated my favorite rainy day saying, "You cannot get wetter than wet!"  As I drove, I seriously thought about heading for home and running on my treadmill.  As I drove, I realized that my normal route would be under water.  So, I was left with finding 5 miles on my own.  I do not like trying to find 5 miles in the rain!

I sat in the parking lot talking myself into going out in this...

 

 

And proceeded to plod on through some of the wettest and warmest miles I've had in a while.  I was all bundled up and it was 50 degrees outside.  Yuck!  Way too warm for as many clothes as I had on!  And yes, 50 is warm right now :)

Thankfully, my run ended with a quick change into dry clothes and my hair went from this...

 

To this...

 AND, I got to donate 8" of it!!  THAT made my day!  Not to mention the fact that I no longer have to deal with a tangled, wet, mess of hair after my runs!

I spent all of Wednesday baking rolls, cookies and pies for Thanksgiving and finished off the day watching Soul Surfer with my family.  What an amazing movie!  At one point, Ella looked up at me and said, "why are you crying, Mom?"  "Because, Babe.  I'm a Mom and I'm just imagining what it would be like if this happened to one of you..."  I sat snuggled up with my princess and enjoyed every single minute of the night.

We spent Thanksgiving with the hubs' family and made it home just as my parents and sister rolled in from Spokane.  We visited for a bit, filled up our coffee cups, and headed for the big city.  It was our first time Black Friday shopping and got to Target around 10:45.  I was shocked at the line!  Time passed quickly and before we knew it we were inside the store shopping away and even having fun doing it!  As we drove home foggy eyed we were greeted with this while we drove across the river...

Another first for me!  I've never waited for the bridge before.  Here we are waiting and blissed out from shopping...

 

For those that know me, would you even believe that it was 3:00 a.m. when this was taken??  Who knew I could look so cheery??

Hours later we were up and at 'em and headed to get our tree.  Our goal?  A beautiful tree and some beautiful pictures of the kids to put on the Christmas card.  Tree?  Check!!  Pictures?  Well, you decide...

 

 

I kinda think they didn't know what to do with that bright thing in the sky.  Poor girl was reduced to this...

Thankfully, some zombies showed up and everyone was all smiles again... 

 

Training has been going great so far.  I've blended the 2 plans and am left pretty much doing whatever my body and mind think is best.  It's a balance of making sure I'm not overtraining and making sure I'm pushing past comfortable.  Today's run found me pushing past what my brain wanted and letting my body do what it actually could do.  It was hard, but it was amazing!

And finally, as hubs was looking through the downloaded pictures on our computer last night he came across some randoms of me...  

 

Oh those??  Those are because I have every intention of blogging and never seem to get around to it.  Lovely, random, intended for some sort of blog post, pictures.  Yes, blogland, you are on my mind.  Even when it seems like I'm ignoring you :)  I promise I'll be back!

Wet

I have a saying...

Once you're wet, you're wet.  You cannot get wetter than wet. 

As the rain fell from the sky and pounded my car I repeated...

Once you're wet, you're wet.

As the rain fell so hard that I could not even hear sweet B man talking in the backseat, I repeated...

You cannot get wetter than wet.

I looked at the temp...

A balmy 39.

Dropped B off at preschool.

Called Mandi for a pep talk.

Then, I headed out for my long run of the week that was supposed to take place Friday, but due to B's preschool schedule this week, was changed to today.

Training day 3.

The schedule called for 10 easy miles.

By mile 2, I knew that was not going to happen.  So, I came up with a plan.  Warm up for 3 miles, run a tempo/slightly uncomfortable pace for 4 miles, cool down for 3.

It was cold. 

I was soaked.

8:56
9:25 Dodging puddles
9:04
8:18
8:10  I could not feel my face.  I could not feel my legs.  Stinking cold!!
7:49
7:48
8:41 Screw the puddles!  My feet are already soaked.  I.  Am.  SOAKED!
8:37 I couldn't even chew my gum I was so numb!
8:26

I peeled off my coat.  I peeled off my shirt.  I turned the heat on high and my seat warmer on.  Thankfully, I had 2 sweatshirts in the car and I proceeded to put them both on.  Soaked and cold I headed to pick up sweet B from preschool.

Here's the thing.  I could have avoided the rain.  I could have avoided the cold.  I could have chosen to run on my treadmill.  In shorts.  And a tank.  But, I didn't.  I didn't because I will be training through the winter and it is only going to get colder.  10 miles on the treadmill sounded like torture.  10 miles in the cold rain?  Well, once you're wet, you're wet.  Right??

So, suck it up buttercup, throw some layers on and go enjoy training in the winter!  Running in LA in March will be totally worth it!

One Race. Two Plans.

When I signed up for L.A. I received a $40 training plan from Active.com for free and who doesn't like free?

I looked it over and liked what I saw.

Thoughts went through my head, "if you do what you've always done.  You're going to get what you always get."

You see, I've been a Runner's World, SmartCoach girl from the get go.  The only time I deviated was the 5 weeks between Eugene and Girlfriend's last year when I tried Dimity's plan...  that was in Runner's World :)

SmartCoach has treated me well and I have absolutely no complaints, but has it pushed me enough??

Could Active.com help me achieve my dreams??

As the weeks have passed, I've found myself checking to see what my dear old friend SmarthCoach would tell me.  Imagine my excitement when down at the very bottom of the plan it said...

"Marathon 26.2 @ 8:23  Time: 3:39:40"

What's my goal time??

That's right, 3:40.

And, my friend says that if I listen to what she has to say, that I could run 3:39:40??

How do I not train with her??

How do I switch my loyalties from SmartCoach to Active.com???

One thing that throws me with the Active.com plan is that it is written in time goals - 1 hour easy.  35 minutes, easy, on hills, etc.  SmartCoach gives me mile goals.  I like the concreteness of knowing how far I'm supposed to go.  I like knowing what my goal pace should be (even though I rarely run what it says and usually find my repeat and tempo times are faster than suggested).  I know SmartCoach.  It is familiar.  It is comfortable...

Why be comfortable when I'm dreaming big??

I like that Active.com tells me to finish with 4X100 m striders.  The track workouts look crazy hard and I like that too!  I love that it tells me to incorporate hills on some runs and run flat on others.  And my favorite?  How they spell out some of the runs, "38:00 on hills.  15 minute jog, run hard 4 minutes, run @tempo for 15 minutes, run 4 minutes hard.  No recovery."  That's a nice run.  That is not comfortable.  I like that :)

Oh, what's a black and white, rule follower to do?

What's that?

Think outside my little tiny box??

Join the two plans??

That's right!  I'll be using the Smartive.com plan.  The one where SmartCoach marries Active.com and the two shall become one plan. 

The one that gives me a mileage goal, a pace goal and everything in between.

T minus 4 days and counting...

What's your preferred plan??

My Run

My run this morning ranks right up there as one of my favorite runs ever. 

It started with this view from my driveway...

The temperature was perfect at 48 degrees.  The sun was shining.  It was warm enough for short sleeves.  Cool enough to be a bit crisp in the shade.  I planned on bringing my camera and ended up ditching it right before I left.  The following pictures were taken in the car this afternoon...

My run starts at the end of my driveway.  A little incline to get the heart going...

 Almost to the top...

And down the path to see these trees...

And these.  Taken from across the street...

 Could it be more beautiful?  It always makes me smile...

 Mile 1...

And where I go when I'm only doing 3.  To say "Hi!" to the cows...

Down the road...

 Mile 2.  Fun to run down.  Fun to run back up...

 The beauty keeps coming.,.

One of my favorite spots to stop and thank God for my blessings...

Mile 3...

 Mile 4...

 Turn around and head back home...

Mile 5...

 Mile 6...

 Mile 7...

Whenever I see this mighty oak I think of my sweet friends and their amazing boy, Luke.  I pray for them.  I thank God for Luke...

 Almost home.  I kick it up for this final stretch...

I felt like Jesus was running right beside me today.  We talked.  I thanked Him.  I laughed.  I smiled.  It was majestic!  I kept wishing that I had my camera with me.  The colors.  The sun.  It was glorious!  And then, there, right before mile 5 was a deer.  A little boy with the smallest of antlers.  As I stood smiling and talking to him, I saw another.  A smaller one, just a little baby deer coming across the street.  I was so close to them!  It was amazing!

This was my last "long" run before I begin training for the LA Marathon.  I was so tempted to do 10 today, but knew I should keep it relatively short and easy.  It was a run I will savor.  It was a run I will remember when I start to doubt myself.  I will remind myself of how far I've come - that today, a 9:00 minute pace felt easy.  That a year ago, I would not have thought that was "easy".  I will smile when I think of this run.  I will thank my friend, my Papa, my Savior for this gift. 

I sit here, tonight, still with a smile on my face, cozy in the quiet of my home, still glowing from my run.  My morning.  My blessings.

What does your run look like?