4+4 = 8 Sad Miles

Good Morning! 

I ran this morning and it was another not great run.  My 2 runs this week have both been blah and cut short.  

I am not feeling well and think I am catching what Sarah has so graciously shared.  

She stayed home yesterday from preschool camp and is currently still asleep, we will see what today brings.  To answer your question, yes Starbucks cake pops do make you feel better.  

This week has been a bit of a running slump and when that happens it tends to get me thinking about my favorite hobby and what I want out of it.  I started the year off in Michigan wanting to keep up my running fitness and start training for the Portland Rock and Roll Half Marathon.  I was able to work up to 14 miles on the treadmill and came home ready to tackle the upcoming races on the calendar.  Basically since my PR at Helvetia I have focused on staying half marathon ready and doing between 20-30 miles each week.

{Instagram Pic}

  

Lately my weeks have been closer to 20 miles and I am so ready to get back to my 30 mile weeks.  Honestly I am ready to get back into the fall routine, cooler weather and all of the colors.  I don't want to wish away time or not be present but there are times that I just really look forward to fall.  We have 2 more trips on the calendar with our final trip being Chicago for Joey's Navy Graduation, so excited!  When we get home from that we'll be done with any major trips for the year and let me tell you how good it feels to say that.  This year has been a lot for travel which overflows into so many other aspects of our life.  It is definitely time to slow things down and be home for a full 90 days or longer, lets hope for longer.  

I've been working on getting our house back in order one room at a time.  Why did I start this process you ask?  I had to get the girl's room cleaned out and ready for their new big girl beds and it lit a fire under me to get the rest of my house in tip top shape.  

{The girl's new big girl dollhouse bed}

So far I've got their room, our room and the office/playroom cleaned out.  

While I was cleaning out the office/playroom I came across my stack of bibs.  I have wanted to put my bibs on a cork board forever and finally just sat down and got it done.  I am so glad to have them all in one spot and hanging up in our garage.  Nothing fancy, I just wanted them somewhere and not stashed all over the house anymore.  

Here is to hoping I can fight the bug and still get a long run in this weekend, fingers crossed!  If not I'll just sit and drink my coffee and start new next week.

Are you training for a fall race?  

If you are running a fall race you are getting close, how are you feeling about your training?  

Happy Pi Day!

Good morning!  

We are in the final weeks of our time here in Michigan and it is going to fly by, it is already Thursday?!  I had to recheck my calendar twice today to confirm this news.  Plus it isn't just a regular Thursday, oh no, today is Pi day, 3.14!  The only reason I know this is because I married Jess and he is all things nerd.  

Case Closed


A friend posted this on FB, couldn't resist! 


My runs lately have been pretty basic, I ran 6 miles Tuesday night and 6.5 last night.  I haven't done any speed work this week because I am trying to just feel better all around.

I thought it would be cool to run 3 different time yesterday!  Kidding, my iPod was being really weird and kept stopping my run.  As you can see I had to restart it 3 times...I love my iPod but it needs to cooperate with me better if it wants to stick around.  

It has been over a week since I got that nasty virus and it just seems to be hanging around.  My stomach is still really sensitive and never really settles down.  I was thinking before I got sick that I might have an allergy to dairy and I am starting to see a correlation.  So starting today I am going to be cutting back on my dairy, luckily I switched to So Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer a while ago.

Old pic, not actually home, I miss you home!

I can't have my coffee without cream, it just isn't right.  I usually drink my coffee before I eat anything and lately that has been really upsetting too, so now I'll try eating BEFORE my beloved coffee.  I don't like change especially when it relates to my food, hopefully we'll all make it through this challenging time.

I am prepping myself to run 13 miles on the treadmill tonight.  It'll be another milestone on the treadmill for me and I am excited to conquer it.  I am suppose to run it Friday or Saturday but with my race on Sunday I want to give my legs a couple days to rest up.  I missed my long run last week and I don't feel comfortable totally skipping another one.  I need to make sure I start up with my cross training again next week, no excuses!  I know for certain that doing those exercises 3-4 times a week will keep me from injury and only improve my running, why wouldn't I do it?!  Looking forward to taking Barre or TRX again!  Now I am rambling, but one more thing before I go!

Remember when I use to talk about Project Life and getting caught up and blah blah blah.  I haven't done anything but open up the picture folder on my computer, get overwhelmed and walk away.  Becky Higgins' advice is that you should just start at the present and when you have a free minute work on the stuff you have missed.  So that is what I am going to do, I am going to start with March 2013 and I'll work back whenever I have a little time.  My albums mean a lot to me and I get a lot of joy out of working in them and staying caught up.  I love having these memories to look back on of our day to day life and I don't want to much of it to get away from me.  My goal is to start in the present with my Project Life album and share it with you once a month.  Accountability is key to everything in my life.

Do you do any journaling or scrapbooking?

Any fellow peeps with food allergies out there?!  

Are you racing this weekend?  

Niagara Falls

Good morning! 

I am starting to feel so much better, that virus really took it out of me for a lot longer than I had anticipated.  I really thought it would be a day or two thing and my stomach is still sensitive even this morning.  I haven't ran since last Tuesday which threw a wrench in my training plan.  I had to miss my long run last week because I was still feeling off and we left for the Niagara on Friday.  I brought all of my running gear except for a sports bra so that idea went out the window, I let it go and just embraced the time with my family.  

Not exactly a Kodak moment 

We stayed at the Howard Johnson in Niagara Falls and spent all of Saturday exploring the falls.  We bought the Magic Pass which gave us admission to Journey Behind the Falls, Butterfly Conservatory and Niagara's Fury, plus a 2 day pass on the We Go transit system.  I have to say it was really nice to just jump on a bus to go from place to place.  We didn't have to bother with parking, loading in and out of the car and trying to find directions.  Niagara Falls was beautiful, but I was actually surprised it wasn't as majestic as I thought it would be.  I really thought it would be a lot taller, I think if we had a chance to do the Maid of the Mist I might have gotten the whole experience.  

On Sunday we checked out of the hotel and drove to Niagara on the Lake which is a 20 minute drive from Niagara Falls.  A friend of mine mentioned she had loved it there and we had never heard of it.  Let me tell you how bummed out I was when we pulled into this adorable little town!  If you ever go to Niagara Falls I suggest you stay in Niagara by the Lake and just make the drive into Niagara Falls.  We drove down the main street looking for a place to eat and passed the most adorable little Starbucks I have ever seen! 

We had breakfast at the Stagecoach Cafe and Katherine had a big ol'cup of hot chocolate.  

She gets her manners from her mother

After lunch we walked around all of the cute shops and headed down to Lake Ontario to take some awkward family photos.  Jess says he doesn't like Lucy...but his actions speak otherwise ;) 

Even Sandy knows a good photo bomb when she sees it 

Niagara Falls was neat, but the town was a little too carnival for me.  I wouldn't recommend the Magic Pass, I didn't think any of the attractions were all that exciting.  I suggest staying outside of Niagara Falls and exploring Niagara on the Lake, we walked by some of the cutest little Inns and Bed and Breakfasts.  

Have you ever been to Niagara Falls?  

Tell me about your run this weekend, I am jonesing to to get going!

Are you racing this weekend?  

- I have my first of the year on Sunday, so excited!

Favorite Apps

Good morning!  

I woke up Tuesday morning feeling a little under the weather, you know the feeling of waking up with a flaming baseball in your throat.  I pulled myself out of bed and went to the gym anyway, figured it wasn't going to hurt anything.  I also feel like sweating is a good detox and keeps things moving out of your body, that is my non-expert opinion.  Anyway aside from a flaming throat I ran an easy 3 miles and got home just in time for the fireworks!  Sarah woke up and I could tell something was off and wham-o she got sick.  As I got her and her room cleaned up I started to feel a little weird.  I sat down to write my post for the day, got about a paragraph in and wham-o it hit me like a pile of bricks.  Needless to say it knocked me on my butt till this morning.  I am taking another day off of my training because I still feel a little off and think that rest is always the best medicine for a sick body.  I am suppose to run 10 miles tomorrow, I'll head to the gym in the morning but if I can't make it to the 10 mark I'll be okay with that.   

 Before I got the plague I was looking for a blog reader that was simple and easy to use and came across Bloglovin.  I liked it right away because it has a simple layout and also because it is easy to add your favorite blogs.  It shows which blogs have new posts up and gives a quick view to see what it is about.

Another feature I like is that I was able to download an app to my phone.  The website leads you to believe they only offer it as an iPhone app, but I found it in the Android Marketplace (Google Play) also.

I read a lot of blogs on my phone and it easily shows me which of my favorites have a new post up or how many I have missed.  It is really nice when the girls are in story time at the library and I have a few minutes to be able to pull up the app and catch up on some blogs.

I also love a good countdown and when NYC Running Mama posted on Instagram her countdowns to some big races I got excited!  Sadly Google Play didn't have the same app, but I found one that'll work in the meantime.  I downloaded a Days Left Widget and now I can track how much time till some big events.

Home is my big one because it is the one I am most excited about!  And we are getting closer to less than a month away!  OK, back on track, running.  The Rock and Roll Half, Helvetia Half and the Sunriver Marathon are my big runs for this year and I like seeing everything laid out.  I keep all of my blogging apps on one page on my Note (which I love!).          
 

What are some of your favorite apps?  

Do you use a blog reader to read blogs?  

Instagram or Facebook?