Longest run yet

I could say that about each progressing run since they are getting longer. I really didn't want to leave the house to run tonight. Really didn't want to. I had a headache. I was sleepy. I didn't think I could run for 50 minutes. 50. Minutes. 10 minutes short of an hour. Plus walking. And intervals. But, I drank a cup of coffee. I ate a banana. I went to the track and met Katie. We walked for almost 11 minutes and then ran for 50. Walked for another 10. Ran 4 100-m intervals. We covered 5.69 miles tonight. 5.69. That's 0.41 away from a 10K. It got easier about 2 miles in and then got tough again towards the last few minutes. Averaged a 12:15 mile for the 4.08 we covered in the 50 minutes of running.

I'm excited to continue reading Marathoning for Mortals by John "The Penguin" Bingham and Coach Jenny Hadfield, M.A., C.P.T. I started it at Lin and LeeAnna's house the night before the Palmetto 5K. Katie owns it and has loaned it to me. She also brought me Runner's World Complete Book of Women's Running: The Best Advice to Get Started, Stay Motivated, Lose Weight, Run Injury-Free, Be Safe, and Train for Any Distance by Dagny Scott Barrios. (Wow, that's a loooooong title. I'm looking forward to reading that one too.

I love conversations while running. Yes, I still have a hard time talking, but I do it anyway. It pushes me to do 2 things at once. Some things we talk about are the mundane, every day things. Others are TMI (and I have a bad habit of doing that sometimes). Others are spiritual. For instance, I wrote about the verse in Psalms that Katie sent me Wednesday night while we were under a tornado watch. I felt like I had failed God by not trusting in Him to give me peace that night while I slept. How? Because I didn't sleep. But, He gave me peace in my waking time. While at church that night, I felt that old panicky, bad things are going to happen feeling come over me. I got home and looked up the verse and instantly, I was at peace. Even if I had to stay up to monitor the weather, I was peaceful. I never got panicky. Yes, once when the wind was blowing and it sounded like someone was trying to get in the front door, I freaked out a little, but it also freaked the cat out somewhat. We both got over it, though. I felt better tonight knowing that I wasn't the only one who stayed up until 3 a.m. or later waiting for our watch to be lifted. I'm very thankful that I have a friend I can talk to about pretty much anything that comes to mind, whether it is God-stuff, every day stuff, or even TMI stuff. (She may not be thrilled about the TMI stuff, but sometimes you just gotta talk about it...)

I could so use a nap right about now. I've been up since 7:30 this morning and have been going ever since. First stop was the church to work on cleaning up the gym. We tackled the kitchen area and the "canteen" area. We also hit the bathrooms and got the windows on the first floor. Gym floor was swept, but not mopped. Next stop was Belue Farms for some strawberries and raw milk. Yeah, I'm jumping on that bandwagon just to try it. Finally, I came home and started cleaning my living room. I now have a floor that you can actually see, although now that it's not covered in toys you can see the stains. Light colored carpet is not good when you have kids. We either need a steamcleaner or have someone come in and clean it for us. I've got supper almost ready to be thrown together for the rest of the family to eat. They may not be eating at home, though. They've been gone all day to my mother-in-law's parents' house and they apparently haven't left yet since I haven't gotten a phone call. At the moment, I'm just biding my time until I need to change clothes and go meet Katie at the track for a training run. Today is a 10 minute walk, 50 minute run, 10 minute walk, and then the 100-m/30 sec intervals x 4. I'm hoping to be able to run it all after running yesterday. Yesterday, run was 40 minutes and I covered 3.5 miles in that time.

Psalm 4:8 - In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You alone, O LORD, make me to dwell in safety.

Many thanks to my friend, Katie, for sending me this verse earlier tonight. I tend to get anxious when there is the threat of "weather." And by weather, I mean tornadoes. We are currently under a tornado watch until 2 a.m. I've been keeping an eye on the weather all day because it is bad. B-A-D, bad. Not here, though. It's been bad in Alabama and Tennessee all day. It's still bad. I'm not excited. Now, I've lived here for almost 12 years now and have yet to experience a tornado. Praying it stays that way. My husband is working tonight, so I'm here with the kids by myself. Yes, I'm sure I will still be up for quite a while tonight waiting for the weather to pass. I'm hoping to have the TV on and just sleep on the couch for the duration.

I also like the first verse in this chapter:

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.

My prayer tonight is that my family and friends in Alabama and Tennessee stay safe throughout the rest of this storm system.

I am blessed

It's been going through my mind this morning about how much I am truly blessed. I have a husband and children who love me. More than that, I have a God who loves me. He has given me all things good and has allowed the struggles and sufferings to bring me closer to Him. He has given me my family. I have a comfortable home to live in (albeit messy most of the time). I have a nice quiet street to live on with cows, horses, and alpacas for neighbors. I have a nest of bunnies in my front yard. We walked outside this morning and the turkeys that belong across the street were in the neighbor's yard. The rooster that I hear when I run was just across the street and we could see it. On the way home from dropping Kristin off this morning, I saw geese and their goslings. I opened my front door after my shower this morning and looked across the street and saw 3 horses in the field. I have food in my pantry and in my fridge. More than we can eat this week. I have a job I love. There are just SO many ways God has blessed me and these are just a drop in the bucket (I'd go on, but I really have to get started working). How has He has blessed you?

Not my typical day

Today was supposed to start with a 35 minute run. Well, I couldn't find my Garmin last night to charge it and I've become spoiled with having it. I like to know my exact distance when I run. Searched for the thing for an hour last night; thought my couch ate it, but never could find it. I did end up finding the TV remote that's been missing for a couple months as well as Kristin's red Power Ranger she's been looking for. Anyway, skipped the run this morning and went back to bed. Just wasn't feeling it this morning and not having the watch was just one more reason to skip it. Fast forward to picking Andrew up this afternoon from school. I asked him if he knew where my watch was and of course he knows. Apparently when I threw clothes in a bag to take to Pop & Nona's yesterday I threw the watch in there, too. Not a clue why. Got all my work done and got the kids cleaning the living room. Clayton asked to be woken up at 5 so he could cut the grass. He's out there cutting the grass, kids are out playing, I'm washing dishes and getting ready to thaw shrimp for tonight's supper. All of a sudden Andrew comes running in hollering at me to come see what Daddy found. And just what did he find? A baby rabbit! We held it for a while and considered keeping it as a pet and had just about decided that one of us would stay here with it while the other took the kids to the pet store to get a cage and water bottle and whatever else we would need to keep it. About that time, we saw another come hopping across the yard from near where Clayton found the first one. We walk over to take a look and to see if we might be able to find their hole. I did and there was another one still there. So, we put the one we had been holding back into the hole and decided that we wouldn't keep it after all. After doing a little bit of research, it appears that they are probably about 4 weeks old and will be leaving the hole soon anyway.

My sweet nephew, Micah. He was watching the "big kids" play catch with Pop.








My silly Kristin.








My oldest, Andrew, doing what he loves to do.








Enjoying the nice breeze this Easter afternoon.


Today was a wonderful day of worship through music and message. It was a time of relaxing during lunch and all afternoon with the in-laws. In fact, we were having such a relaxing time, it was 6:00 before we knew it and after 7:00 before we even left their house. While we were enjoying spending time with each other, though, we were conscious of the fact that part of the family was not there. My husband, Clayton, wasn't there. He had to work last night, so he was sleeping today. Also not there was his middle brother and family. They are in the military and are currently overseas. We missed them all today.

Mixed day

Today has been a day of mixed emotions. Excitement, sadness, anticipation. The excitement comes from my run this morning. I decided to take a different route today...after I finally decided to get up and go. My plan was to be up at 8 and be out the door by about 8:15. Yeah, I slept until almost 9:30 this morning. Almost lost my left contact when I took it out of my case. I looked and looked and looked and couldn't find it. I finally got up off the floor and put my hand on the edge of the counter and it hit the floor. Very thankful that I found it. So, anyway, my run went well. 2.48 miles in 30 minutes. My pace was slower than it has been recently, but the new route had more hills than I am used to.

Sadness...I'll talk about it later. It's sadness for someone else.

Anticipation. We got a new dishwasher today! My husband talked to his dad this morning and mentioned that we were looking for a new dishwasher. So, my FIL was out looking for appliances today and found a contractor who was selling new appliances. He bought what he needed and then called me to see if I wanted him to go back and see if he had another dishwasher for me. He did! Brand new, still in the box Kenmore dishwasher for $40, retail $242. So, yeah, I'm anticipating using it for the first time and really hoping that it cleans my dishes better than the old one.

My cat

This is how I work every so often. The cat jumps up on the couch and drapes himself over my left arm and I type. It's not always easy, but I get stuff done while he's there. If you look closely, I don't actually have work up on the computer. I have a website pulled up about how to choose Real Food as opposed to fake, processed stuff. (Baby-stepping my way to healthier, more wholesome food for my family). Alright, I've taken a long enough break from working by snapping a pic of the cat and perusing the internet and posting yet another blog that I need to get back to it.

I did it!

Yeah! I finished the training run that I couldn't do yesterday. I had my friend, Katie, there with me to encourage me to keep going. (She's run some half-marathons and a full marathon in the last year). I've gotten used to training alone, but it was great to have a change of pace and have someone to run with and talk to. Yes! I actually was able to talk while we ran. Yeah, I was breathy and couldn't get an entire sentence out at a time, but I still did it. It also kept my mind off how much longer we had to run....right up until the last 7 to 10 minutes. I started getting really tired right around then, but we pushed through anyway. So, the accomplishment for tonight was as follows: 10 minute walk followed by a 45 minute run followed by another 10 minute walk. This was followed by 4 sets of 100-m runs and 30ish seconds of jogging. By the numbers, that is 0.58 of a mile, 3.71 miles, 0.52 of a mile, and 0.45 of a mile for a grand total of 5.25 miles logged tonight. Total walking distance was 1.1 miles (about my usual for 20 minutes) and total running distance was 4.15 including the intervals. It was a great evening for running. My truck thermometer read about 72 degrees, but there was a good breeze (storms coming in).

In other news, I hid 120 plastic Easter eggs in a Sunday School classroom for my daughter's class to find. I also helped some of the kids dye hard boiled eggs. All in all, it was an interesting morning at pre-k.

I know what I'll be doing for the next little while...


Starting with this:


They're SO sweet!

Different schedule

Since it's noon, I suppose I should get started on work. Usually my Thursday is spent grocery shopping and then working. Today, however, K had an Easter party at school. I apparently volunteered to help with this party. It took the whole time. Set up the tables, hide plastic eggs (inside because it rained this morning), and dye eggs. It was a pretty chaotic morning. Or at least it felt like it was to me. Anyway, it all got done and we came home and had lunch. I've still gotta work and go get groceries. And I thought yesterday was long...

It's done

I'm committed. Just registered for the White Squirrel 10K. I'm excited and scared all at the same time! Now, to finish work and decide which Road ID I want to order (in that order).

Yeah!

Going for that run again tomorrow with a friend! Maybe the extra motivation will help...especially since she's running the 10K with me in about 5.5 weeks.

I think I'm ADD today. I can't concentrate on work and a million things keep going through my head. I need to get a road-i.d. bracelet for running. I need some mace and a way to carry my phone when I decide that I don't want to run up and down my street or at the track. Would've run near the track this morning had I had those 2 things and I think I would've done better. Track running is almost boring since you're just going around and around and around and repeat however many times it takes to get done. Pffft.

I've got to get plowing through work because I'm all of 2 minutes into the file; 59 more to go! Yeah. I think it's gonna be a long day.

Hitting a wall

Well, that run stunk. It was supposed to be 10 minutes walking, 45 minutes running, and 10 minutes walking. I managed to get all of 27 minutes total. So, I walked 10 minutes and then ran 17 minutes. I guess the good thing about the running is that in that 17 minutes I covered a mile and a half. I may try it again tomorrow. I can't today because I have over an hour of dictation to type plus pick up both kids when they're done with school and then be at church in time for supper.

Not a morning person

I am so not a morning person. My alarm goes off at 6:00 every morning. I promptly turn it off and roll back over and usually go back to sleep. I have the morning task of getting only one child to school and she doesn't have to be there until 8:00. Clayton generally has the task of getting the oldest to school, which allows me to go back to sleep. I really like sleeping...especially in the mornings. In fact, I'd really like to go crawl back into bed right now. Unfortunately, I can't because I have to get K to school in a few minutes. In the past when I have felt like going back to bed, I would. I'd get her to school and come home and go back to sleep until time to pick her up. Not so today. I have a training run to do this morning while she is in school. I don't like putting off a training run because it knocks my entire running schedule out of whack. So, on my way out the door, I'll grab a glass of water and a Gatorade. I would get a banana, but they're more suitable for drinking in a smoothie than eating right now. My go-to banana smoothie consists of 1 whole banana, a cup of milk, a handful of ice, a spoon of peanut butter, a spoon of cocoa powder, and honey drizzled over the top.

Some kind of record or something

Yeah, 3 posts in one day is a record for me. Anyway, let's talk Pilates. Hoo-boy. It was a tough 20 minutes because I'm not familiar with the exercises. I didn't feel like I was really *doing* anything, ya know? Muscles? Yeah, I've got 'em, but not really working them. Ay-yi-yi. I'm sitting still now and can feel ab muscles and butt muscles all nice and warm from that work out. I may really be feeling that tomorrow. I hope not because my run scheduled for tomorrow is the longest yet at 45 minutes. I'll be heading to the track for that one so the interval run will be easier to gauge (100-m x 4 plus ~30 sec jogging between each 100-m). Running has become something I actually look forward to each day it's scheduled. I'm not to the point where I feel like I can run every day, but 3-4 times a week is good. The best part is that I feel GREAT once I've completed a scheduled run. I love coming back home and transferring distance from my watch to the computer and seeing exactly how far I've run. I've come a LONG way since that first week in January where I was walking 90 seconds and running 60 seconds. I know now that I *can* run longer distances and feel good about it. I was inspired by the individuals that I watched finish running the half-marathon Saturday. I could see the exhilaration on their faces. I could almost put myself in their places and see myself crossing that finish line and receiving a medal. Just knowing that it's within my reach is probably going to be enough to push me farther and go ahead and go for it. So, a half-marathon is not out of the question. I would much prefer to tackle one in the latter part of the fall, winter, or early spring...when the weather is cool. Sounds like a commitment, no?

A "real" post

Now that the initial post is out of the way, it's time for a "real" post. And just what does a "real" post comprise of, you ask? We'll find out together...

I'm on a weight-loss journey. I started back in January with cutting back portions and eating stuff that's better for a body. I had planned to start the couch to 5K program that week, but we had 7" of snow, so I was NOT getting out of my house to start running. I started the following week. Since then, I've lost 17.5 pounds and have completed the C25K program and have moved on to 10K training. I'm up to running about 35 minutes regularly...that's right around 5K for me. I'm working on increasing my distance and my pace. My first 5K race in about 2 years was the Palmetto Half Marathon/5K this past Saturday in Columbia, SC. I am going to sign up for the White Squirrel 10K in Brevard, NC in the coming weeks. The race date coincides perfectly with the end of the 10K training. It should be interesting since Brevard is more hilly than my street, which is where I normally run. This picture is *not* where I normally run; it's my race photo from the Greer Earth Day 5K in 2009, the last race I did until this year.

As if...

As if I need another blog that I won't keep up with.
As if I have enough "interesting" things to post.
As if Facebook isn't enough.

Who cares? I want a blog separate from the other one so I can record random musings, pictures, or whatever. I know, it's all been done before. I'm not here to make a name for myself. I'm here to entertain myself.