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Showing posts from 2011

Summer Learning

Kicking off the summer learning today... I think I will have the younger girls write five sentences about what they are looking forward to about summer.  To include what they hope to learn.  Then I'm going to assign their chores for the week.  Then I think I will have Karah write her ABC's in print (just to see how messy or neat she is), and Sammie hers in cursive (so I can see where she stands).  Math today will be fractions I think (with apples and peanut butter for snack time). I'm not going to start the unit studies till Tessa is back from Texas.  On top of that I think I will have them read a chapter each morning and each evening we will all read a chapter book together. We shall see how it goes

the race is SATURDAY

and I sure have let this blog go!  The farthest distance we have done in training is 11 miles.  The last three weeks have been taper of course, so shorter distances.  I'm confident that we will finish the race within the 3 1/2 hours we are allowed to do it in. Busy with girls and summer now

10 miles

and less then a month till the run :) Linda and I did 10 on the troop trail today on post.  Took us 2 and a half hours, so not terribly bad.  We tried some energy gels today at an hour of running (and then again at 2 hours).  It seemed to help a bit.  Yes I was tired when the run was done, but not crying tired.   That was a nice change.  I'm happy to have it behind me though... Almost time to taper :) Happy Mother's Day to all... the girls are bickering, DH is being a butt cause his computer is frustrating him and I have to study....

9 miles today

and I won't lie and say it wasn't tough... it sure was!  I ran the reverse route of the hill behind my neighborhood, down to the bottom where it meets T hwy, up to toward town to the top of the hill (having to stop once and drink water), turned around and ran back up T (again having to walk a bit on that hill, they are killers! the steepest part was a 29% incline) back past the neighborhood on T and over into the development across the way.  Back down behind my neighborhood again and then a loop around my street to hit my 9. Came inside and stretched and then hopped in a tub of ice for as long as I could stand it... (not long) Having finished it, I can say it wasn't too shabby.  I completed 9 miles with some pretty major hills, having to walk a step or two in 1 hour and 54 minutes.  Avg Pace 12:46, avg speed 4.7 mph, fastest speed 6.4 mph. Woohoo!

Easter Sunday

and it's a rest day for me.  I ran my 7 miles yesterday on the treadmill at the gym due to the weather.  It sucked! Not the distance, although that was not a picnic, but just being on the treadmill for 99 minutes.  If I managed to run the whole half at that pace then my finish time would be 3 hours... Which isn't too bad, but I don't think I will be able to do that.  I'm running with a partner and I'm just a smidge faster then her so I slow down that little bit, then add in those hills... we shall see what happens.  6 more weeks of training for it and it's coming up fast.  I can't wait to do it, but I'm nervous too.   This week I need to reserve my hotel room for the night before, and talk to Jim about signs.  I would like them to make signs to cheer me on, but I don't want to see them in advance. :)  I'm also going to help them make T-Shirts to wear that say something cute. Three more weeks of nursing school till summer break too.  That will be

Running to catch up

Got to running group a few minutes late today so I had to run harder to catch up... I managed to run a full mile at an average pace of 9:15!  I was dying but I did catch up to Linda.  Then I finished the next 4 miles at our pace (which today was around 12:30).  Nice to know I can go that fast for a short distance though :) It was a good run, tomorrow I will do cross training and then Friday 2 miles.  Saturday or Sunday we are going for 7 wootwoot!

Conquered that hill!!!

Woohoo.... I'm feeling jazzed right now. The hill I mentioned previously, you know... the one that made me puke :)  I have ran it several times since then and still found it kicking my butt versus otherwise.  I hadn't managed to make it to the top without walking.... Today, I did.  :)  I felt a little bad because my running partner had to stop and walk (her first attempt at this hill) and I didn't stay with her.  I told her at the top I just couldn't.  I knew if I slowed down to jog beside her walk I would not make it to the top and I wanted to conquer it. :) My knee appears to have recovered fine after a week of almost no running so I think it was simply an overuse injury. Ran my 6 miles from last week yesterday (and yes forgot to mention it).  Crazy busy with nursing school but must log triumphs as I go.  The 6 was hard, and I wanted to cry.... but i have noticed that is the case the first time I attempt any new distance.  The next time I run it, it isn't so b

Overdoing it on my knee...

Well I ended up taking some days off running last week.  My run on Friday and Sunday didn't go to well... My knee was hurting badly so I decided to cut them both short (as in less than a mile both days).  I didn't run yesterday at all, debating going to the Doctor's.  I really don't like going, not to mention I don't really have time to go.  I decided to make today a short run and see how it went.  Planned 2 miles... I ran the back way around the neighborhood (the same route I did with Jim on the 2nd).  Those hills kick my butt!  I was able to run more of them today then last time but still had to walk a couple of times.  At least this time it didn't make me throw up (yes, it's that route). knee twinged a bit, but didn't ever really hurt... It's not hurting now either. Figure unless it starts aching later then I was correct that it was just an overuse injury.  Tomorrow will be a longer run (the church group run... )  Not sure if it will be a 4, 5,

5 miles... :)

Today was not meant to be my long run day.  I planned to do it on Sunday, since I would be out of town on Saturday (field trip with the kids).  I went to meet with Linda and run with the church group.  We were supposed to run up to a church, and hadn't quite made it yet when we hit 2 miles (which was meant to be our turn around point).  We thought it was at the bottom of that hill so we kept going... We never did find that church :)  But we hit 2.5 miles (the turn around for a 5 mile which was supposed to be our long run this week) so we headed back. We did 5 miles in 1 hour and 10 min.  It was a pretty good run.  My knees are hurting a bit tonight, especially my left one.  Jim wants me to go the doctor and get it looked at... I'm thinking about it.  We shall see how it is feeling tomorrow.  If it's hurting then I will call on Friday and make an appointment. Tomorrow will be a rest day (I have clinicals) and then Friday I will do 4 miles and Sunday 2 (or that's the

Best 4 mile to date

Today was an interesting run...  I forgot my walkman, so no music.  I went outside that way if I wanted to quit, it was pointless to do so (have to get back home somehow!).  I did NOT make my distance yesterday when I ran on the treadmill.  I had forgotten to eat all day (no hunger, no eat... ) so I got dizzy at about 2 miles and quit. Today I felt like I was sucking wind when I started out.  I felt discouraged and like I wasn't doing all that well.  I would not let myself quit though... I can't quit on my training runs when the race is only two months away.  I just kept going, reminding myself that i needed to keep going. I went out till I hit 2.5 (yes further than I needed)... then turned around and headed back.  There are some pretty steep hills out there.  On the route today the grade was 40% at one point. When I hit 4 miles I switched to walking (figured that would be a nice cool down).  I was at 46 minutes.  That is my best time to date for a four mile...  :)  So eve

I can finally say...

that I ran till I puked for once...  I have never experienced that before. I could not clear my nose and throat of mucus no matter what I tried. Jim and I ran out along T highway, down the big hill and into the neighborhood the back way.  I wanted to check the distance of that run (2.5 miles for future reference).  I think to make it 4 (which was the target today and I didn't make it) we would have needed to go straight back to T and then home. I thought the hills wouldn't be as much coming in the back way.  I wanted to see the distance so that I could work on running up the big hill on T when my sinuses were clear. The grade on some of those portions of the road back there was 22%!  I didn't realize they were that serious back there!  I filled up with mucous to where i couldn't breathe and threw up... started running again... and did it again. By the time we got back to the neighborhood I was done from straight up lack of oxygen.  What should have been my longest

Tired today....

But still training....  I went for a 3 mile run today.  Not including the warm up or cool down of course.  I managed to do over half of it at a 11:30 pace. Then I went to Hard to Resist and managed to make it through the class... It was tough today to make it through the class... After doing some research on my knee pain I think the problem there is a weakness in my quads, so I'm going to work on building them up. The toe burning, I think is just something I need to work through.  I researched it, and it is one of two things.  One of them is more severe, but that burning pain doesn't go away right after they stop running like mine does.  The other comments about it said they just rain through it and it went away.  Like my issue as soon as she stops running for the day the pain stopped.  She said it only happened as she increased the distance (which matches up with mine)... Well... I'm going to go hop in the shower and then take a nap to try and beat this sinus infecti

Race to the Rocker = BRRRRRRR

Oh my goodness was it cold this morning.  The wind chill was 28 degrees... That did not stop Linda and I from heading on up to Cuba anyway.  We got there around 7:30 or so (packet pick up was at 8).  We found the location with no problem and went to find the bathroom. The wind was blowing right through all of our clothes!  Freezing, overcast morning but at least it wasn't rain/snow/sleeting right??? Found the bathroom, got our packets and race bibs.  I got my Volunteer form signed for school and we went back to the car to warm up.  About 20 min before race time (which was 9) we got back out of the car and went to find a bathroom and warm up. Lined up for the race between the 10 min pace sign and the 12 min pace sign....  We did NOT hear the starting gun, but when the masses moved forward we did too.... It's hard to describe what it felt like to jog in a group of people that large (570 something).  Very quickly the pack thinned out, with the fast runners leaving us in the du

Week in review....

Now that I have had a few days to adjust to all that went on last week I can blog about more than just my running. So I met my biological father face to face last week.  Mike and I drove to New Mexico to meet Charlie on his home turf.  It went well... There wasn't any real tension or drama at all.  It was good getting to know him.  He is very straightforward, no bs.  He doesn't pretend to know how our lives would have been if he and Mom stayed together.  Life happened and he wasn't there by her request.  That simple... Mike and I decided on Monday that he was welcome to come back and meet the family so we drove back to Texas on Tuesday.  I cannot begin to describe what it felt like to see him interact with my girls and Mike's boys. He listened when they talked, and played with them.  He paid attention...  Jen got there and he welcomed her and the girls in with open arms too because I consider them family. He flew kites with the kids, and even went to the roller rink

End of vacation...

Tomorrow morning we will head back home to Missouri.  I am really happy that I managed to stay on track with my training this week. It was different running in Texas and in New Mexico.  I wasn't sure that I would be able to stay on track with my training.  I have to admit there were several days that I didn't want to go for my run.  I would much rather have stayed at home with the family and visited.  Jim was great though, he  ran with me every time I ran here in Texas.  He knew that I didn't want to go and he saw it as a way to spend time with me.  I'm glad he did So ran 3.5 miles on Saturday, Monday, and Thursday.  2 miles easy jog on Wednesday, and a 4.6 mile run on Friday morning.  No run today because of the dangerous dogs up the road and of course tomorrow I will be in the car all day so no run there either.  But I still think that's pretty good for a vacation training week. Longest run ever on Friday, and other than burning toes towards the end, and a tig

Dogs!!!

Dogs, dogs and more dogs... So every day that we have run here we have dealt with dogs.  One set of dogs has gotten more and more aggressive every time we have gone past their place.  Today (my long run day) they finally got brave enough to be stupid.  Going past there today on the way out one of them decided to try to bite me... He didn't manage to break the skin, just scratched the skin.  Jim gave him a swift kick in the face. There is no way to come back to the house without passing them again, so we picked up rocks right before we got close to their house.  When they attacked again Jim chucked rocks at them. I had planned on going for a two mile easy tomorrow but I am thinking I don't want to run past them again tomorrow. Regardless stats for today's run... 4.6 miles in 55 min.  Pretty good run, I got a stitch in my side about mile 2 and then at about 4.3 miles my toes started burning... I'm not sure what that's about but it was still a good run

Running in different places...

So I'm on vacation and diligently following my training plan anyway... So far I have ran twice in Texas and once in New Mexico.  The air is different here and much different in New Mexico.  My first little jog in Texas was 3.5 miles and my brother and my husband went with.  I didn't know that Mike hadn't been running in years so I felt a little bad when he was in severe pain later.   He picked the route though so not too bad.  Very hilly, and a little tough but it was good. Then we went to New Mexico to meet my biological Dad (which went well for those that are wondering)... I went for a 3.5 mile run there and wow the air was THIN!  I was sucking wind after about one half a mile but I just kept going... It was kind of funny, I was calling my brother to bring water outside to me.  But I was in the yard by the time he got outside. Then I went for another 3 mile run today back in Texas...  We ran the route we ran last time backwards, and the steep hill almost killed me.  L

Nursing Final...

and I am worn out from this morning's workout! Did 2.5 miles in 28 minutes on the treadmill at the gym.  Steady pace of 4.6 for the first mile then 4.8 for the rest of it.  I had it set to random so the treadmill was adding in some hills and valleys in there... No idea how much.  Running without my walkman sucked, no music made it hard to keep going.

Engineer Trail...

Today... Jim took me to the engineer trail on post to run.  Holy smokes!  Some killer hills to conquer on it.  The really sucky part was thinking we were done, and realizing we were one ridge away from our car.  So having to run again to get to it... and that was the steepest hill.  But we did it....  Not quite the distance I was aiming for today, but my leg cramped up at the top of that hill so I didn't want to do a second lap. Stats... 2.25 miles, 26:40 min, avg pace 12:26, max pace 5:48,  avg speed 4.8 mph, max speed 7.4 mph, 521 feet ascent, 585 ft descent Gonna go conquer it again the first weekend in April (won't have a chance before then)/

4 miles!!

And it felt SO GOOD!  Linda and I went out and around the neighborhood today.  4 miles in 57 minutes.  We did good!  I didn't have to stop and walk at all, and she only did a couple of short times.  Had some great hills in there too.... Now it's time to shower and head out for date night. :)

Out of sorts

and I do know why... I'm very out of sorts because I'm missing Mom. I wish she was still here. I wish I could call her up on the phone and hear her voice I wish just once more I could see her face or touch my Mom's hand.... Want to stay home today, but I do have class tonight. Can't miss it unfortunately.  I would like to run away I think... Just escape for a bit. Not going to happen, and it's not that I want to escape from my reality I just would like to have a vacation from emotion.

Week of Sickies!

Monday... went to the gym and got a good 2 mile jog (12.3 pace) in on the indoor track.  Wanted to jog outside but since I had planned to go to Hard to Resist after seemed better to just hit the track.  Finish my jog and head to class to recieve a phone call from school that Karah threw up on a classmate.  There went class... Pick her up and head home with her.  Lunch time rolls around and school calls to pick up Sammie... she threw up in the hallway. Yesterday they seemed to be doing better, I had planned on them going to school if their low grade temp was gone today. This morning... higher temps, crummy feeling tummies equals another day at home. For my sanity I gave the girls the walkie talkies and hit the treadmill in the garage.  2.5 miles (16 pace)... not as fast as my average, but I'm not really feeling all that great either.  Running a temp myself.  Just happy I got it in. Praying to God that they go back to school tomorrow.

3.2 miles outside

Jim and I went for a jog outside today... It was 43 with snow melting everywhere.  He paced off me.  We walked up the hill, then started jogging.  Jogged for a solid mile, then I walked for 1 tenth of a mile and started jogging again.  We looped around in the neighborhood which includes some small hills twice.  I was still feeling good after mile #2 so I decided not to drop it down to a walk.  I jogged solid till 3.1 miles :)  then walked back down to my house came in and stretched. 3.3 miles total in 40 min.  So average of a 12.3 min mile.  Feel exhilerated.  Longest I have EVER gone... :) Now off to shower and get dressed.  Lots of studying to do today...

1 MILE!!!!

So stoked right now... I'm on an adrenaline rush!  I just managed to jog an entire mile without ANY walking at all. I don't think I have done that since Junior High... not sure I ever even did it then honestly!  I used to hate to run even way back then. Nothing hurt, it felt good... I seriously considered going longer but the fumes from the Kerosene heater were making me light headed. Well... Off to lunch, so happy I hopped on the treadmill this morning. :)

Sick but still jogging...

Woke up during the night just feeling like poo... I was running a fever Monday night, but didn't think much of it.  Still went to spin yesterday (didn't feel feverish).  Made it through my day just fine.  I just felt nauseous and crappy...  My oldest woke up throwing up.  Yay for stomach bugs...  I haven't actually gotten sick. I hopped on the treadmill anyway this morning.  I didn't go for as long as I planned (stomach started cramping up at 30 min so around 1.8 miles). I did some good intervals though...  4 min warm up followed by a 5.0 jog for one song (not sure of the time), a 3.5 walk for one song, a 4.7 jog, a 3.7 walk, a 3.0 incline jog (as high as my treadmill goes), a 3.5 jog, and a 3.2 walk for a cool down. It felt good till my stomach started cramping up. Monday I decided to run on the track at the gym before my strength training class.  I discovered I really do need to hit the road/track more often.  I suck at pacing myself.  I just took off going real

The half marathon is on....

I am officially registered for the Hospital Hill half Marathon in KC in June.  I also signed up for a 4 mile run in Cuba at the end of March.  I don't have to officially start training for the Half until the last week of this month, but I am already starting. I got new running shoes Saturday, they are a minimalist shoe.  They are also... Hot Pink. I am liking them so far.  I'm up to jogging one whole song, and then walking the next.  Averaging about a 15 min mile right now.  That's a good enough pace to finish within the time limit of the event, but I'm very hopeful I can pull that down to a 12 min mile by the event.  Shaving off a minute a month would make it doable. We shall see. In other news... Having an emotional night, and feel like crap not a good combination.  Looking forward to burning some of it off at spin tomorrow.

23 January 2011

Well... So now I'm officially 35.  It was a great birthday.  I was woke up by Karah coming in my room to snuggle me.  Then she crept out and then Tessa made me breakfast in bed.  It was yummy... Then I received a snowflake crown from Karah (who crowned me the snowflake queen for my birthday).  Sammie gave me a book she made at school.  Then I opened the present from Pops, a necklace I really liked. Jim gave me the best present... He made me go out for a ski.  I was debating staying home and doing schoolwork and spending time with the family.  Jim made me go and I'm so glad he did.  I skiid for two hours.  Got right out in the middle of nowhere... spend a little time communing with God.  Thanking him for all of the blessing in my life...  I seem to do that best when I'm out in nature.  Love being out there... Came home and spent some time with my girls and then took Karah to a birthday party at an arena.  She loved the horseback riding part.  She doesn't remember ridi

5 January 2011

So happy the girls are back in school!!!!  Means Mommy can get back on track.  I fully admit that I let them consume me when they are with me.  I always put them first... add to that the car issues and I haven't been to the gym since school let out for Christmas.  I have done some exercises around the house but I miss Spin class... Did I really just type that???  I did.  I didn't get to go to spin yesterday because I was waiting on a repairman here at the house.  It ended up keeping me from volunteering and going to study group today too.  They are done with those repairs but nothing is scheduled for the rest of it.  I'm gonna have to call the builders tomorrow and find out when they are fixing the carpet and checking the septic... Tomorrow I will go to spin in the morning and then make that phone call.  Tessa is coming down with an ear infection and needs to go get antibiotics but she wants to go on the Honor Roll field trip so she wants to go after that.  I'm happy

1-2-2011

How weird it is to write that... Up waiting for the kids to drift off, but have been doing a lot of thinking.  This poem is the result for tonight anyway.... Straining, squinting, struggling through the fog of my mind puzzle pieces, fragments and dreams Fact or fiction or combo pieces whose truth do I find... misshapen puzzles close the door a nudge, a crack it opens wide again. Twisted by time or polished like a gem Middle ground picking through the pieces sifting for silver bits and pieces to carry on Trash the rest close the door, wedge it brace it, make it stronger Key to the lock just waiting for a memory. hn