(I'm never) Wordless Wednesday

I have been running, a lot.  My running hasn't all been the "for the joy of running" kind of runs.  With a lack of racing over the summer and dealing with my sore thigh issue which has mostly dissapeared Praise God! my conditioning needed some attention.  That much needed attention came last week in the form of fast double digit runs to reset my pace and quicken my turnover.

Thankfully this week I will be putting in more of the kind of runs I am in love with.  They will be more about getting back to a place of wanting to run and enjoying the time on my feet.

I can only hope that they will look a lot like this:

OMGosh!

Guys be warned. 

Everyone I promise to return to the normal running, life, family chatter you are used to reading but this I just had to share!

I know that I live in a town with more cows than people.  I realize that I haven't seen very much of our great big world but (taking a page from SUAR) this one was new to me.

With all the talk about Aunt Flo and dealing with such female issues while running and racing, I wasn't surprised to see the girls at Run Like a Mother  talking about the same issue on their TMI Tuesday.

Where my education came in was the comments...

And the DivaCup HERE

EcoStiletto's Rachel Breaks Down the Reusable Cup from EcoStiletto on Vimeo.

As a runner and a woman, I'm not sure if I think this is genius or gross.

You decide.

Weekend Wrap Up

LBM had to help

I ran before this and I was so glad I did because Friday evening my sister and BIL had the

BEST PICNIC EVER. 

Seriously, if you look up BEST PICNIC EVER there will be photos from our picnic! 

Unless you Webster's is really old in which case you'd oughta' get a new one.

Not only were there really cool wagon rides and more food than I could have taken photos of had I remembered to take photos before I eat it all, we also had a live DJ and light show.

My attempt to get a photo of S'ghetti Girl dancing in the lights

S'ghetti girl had a blast!  Okay we all did.  We eat and danced our night away!  So much fun.

With Irene potentially messing up our weekend plans, we played it safe and stayed in PA

much to the disappointment of my little kiddos

and got caught up on some much needed chores.

Where did all this stuff come from??

This mess is my room filled with all the junk we took out of my daughter's room!  Seriously!  I wish you could see this more clearly but my room was packed with junk! 

Maybe a little bit of me is glad you can't see it too well because it is down right embrassing

We worked all day Saturday as in we didn't stop until after 9:30 p.m.

p.m. that's night time folks! 

Good thing I got up early and ran...on the treadmill.  Not the great trail miles I was planning on.  Booo Irene!

S'ghetti Girl's favorite part of her clean room

The reward is that now we can actually see my daughter's floor!  The poor trash man is going to be in shock since I usually try to limit out trash to one bag a week and when he takes it on Tuesday we will have at least five! 

Again embrassing and completely not earth friendly!

Ready to watch a movie from the top of the bunk beds

The weekend might not have been what I had planned but we made great use of our time and by Sunday evening we were able to relax and enjoy our efforts!

 

p.s.  Mom Hint: 

What better way to make your kids ready to start back to school than a super big chore?!

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Someone push the reset button

This week I needed to reset. 

I have been needing to reset myself to find a few things I felt like I was losing.

Speed and Drive

After successfully completing my A goal in April of running my first trail 50 miler HERE at the Bull Run Run I began to look towards my next goal and the steps I'd need to get me there successfully HERE.  I had my eyes set on the Laurel Highlands Ultra a little 77 mile jaunt through the woods. 

HOWEVER, my family (READ: Hubbs) didn't feel that this was THE year to make the push towards another goal simply because I had been successful so early in 2011.  Due to the fact that I belong to a family and they all have feelings and desires too, I agreed that racing would go on the "back burner" and family fun would be the main event over the summer.

Well, summer is over and running uncharacteristically has been about training this week. 

Gone are the stress melting morning runs in the fog.  Forget about easy 9 minute miles pushing the jogging stroller.  Over are the weeks of less than 50 miles.  Don't even mention stopping during a run to visit with a neighbor.  This week has been spent on the new-to-me treadmill, dripping through 10+ mile runs every night this week.

and I am so glad they are almost done!

But I am so happy that I did them. 

The loss of a few evenings outside is well worth the reset that these runs provided for me. 

When I am running simply for the joy of running I sometimes find that I will allow my "normal" pace to slow as the weeks pass if I don't force myself to run a reset run.  Usually these happen when Biking Sherpa is along and she is chatting through an issue, we some times unknowingly put in speedy paces and Voila' my pace will reset.  This summer with a lack of Biking Sherpa runs my pace slowly headed south and for a little while I was okay with that.

NOT ANYMORE

This week I got serious again.  I don't have any smiling photos of my runs this week because there weren't any.  I don't have cute outfits or LBM's adorable face because that wasn't part of my runs this week.

And I figured I spare you the photos of the disgustingly drenched with sweat version of me.

If you follow me on Daily Mile you know that by the middle of the week I thought my 50 miles in 5 days was a stupid idea.  But you also would know that after a few days of putting in a max pace of sub 7s, I was able to run low 7s much easier and 8 minute miles felt conversational! 

I look forward to getting in some trail miles this weekend to see where my pace is at running off road.  While I my trail paces will be slower than treadmill paces, I know that my RESET will carry over to my offroad paces.  And this week's efforts will result in easier more enjoyable running as I run my way closer to my fall races.

So far registered for...

Fire On The Mountain Trail 50k - October 30th

Stone Mill Trail 50 miler - November 19th

How do you RESET your pace and drive?

Who Am I?

This is me.

I send my hubbs a 'Fun Foto for the Day' most every morning since he is usually waking up without us.  Occasionally I send him a photo of just me.  This was the photo I sent him yesterday morning when I wanted him to see my new shirt.
After sending the email, enduring my first earth quake (check Live through earth quake off my life list!) and finishing my day at work; I was taking photos of the kids with a new toy and I saw the above photo of myself.  I had just emailed a friend of my husband's who is getting ready for his first 50 miler and I wondered, who am I?
Not in the who-do-I-wanna-be-when-I-grow-up kinda way but in the who-the-he##-am-I-to-be-giving-ultra-running-advice-let-alone-running-ultras kinda way.  

Do you ever find yourself wondering, who the he## am I?

Apparently some times I do.

I'm not anyone special.  I'm just a girl who discovered that this running thing was a whole lot more than just a running thing.  The amazement I feel when I step back and see the things I have been allowed to accomplish at time surprises me. 

I caught myself watching the miles tick away on my odometer when we were traveling and thought, "Gee, I ran that far once!" as I saw 50 miles click away.  There must be some level of confidence within me because I am signed up for my next 50 miler in November

The Stone Mill 50 Miler

because I won't get past thinking, "Who the He## am I?
with a thought that ends in ONCE.

EQ in VA

LBM holding on for dear life!

Okay we didn't feel it quite that much but we definitely felt the earth quake that hit Virginia today.  Odd timing for such a big quake to happen nearly centered under where; after 8 years of stalling, our family may finally all reside together.  The lack of natural disasters is a big selling point of the wonderful area I call home. 

It just reminded me that we never quite know what the day will hold for us.  I often get caught up in my daily routine and miss out on the moments that life provides me.  But lately with so many big decisions being made, I have been noticing just how every day is really special.

Yesterday when I got home after work I was eager to jump on the treadmill while the kids played.  I have a couple days of double digit runs to put in and I really just wanted them done.  Since the little kids are so accustomed to my running they quickly went about their way playing.  But yesterday they decided to go through the boxes of "old" toys that are stored in my workout room.  They played as if I wasn't even there.  I turned down my headphones and eavesdropped on their imaginary conversations with each other via their dolls.

yes, LBM was playing with a barbie doll too

Their conversations flowed as if scripted, filled with kindness and fun.  Each one seeming to want to encourage the other to continue to play and keep their imaginary world going. 

I thought about how that was exactly what I had been doing for the past 8 years; keeping my imaginary world going.  An imaginary world where everything is safe and predictable as long as nothing changes. 

A world where I don't NEED anyone else.  But just like today's unexpected earth quake, sometimes a little shake up is exactly what we need to achieve the proper perspective.

Day # 471

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

The Cable Family Challenge ~ Week #2

As with many families, mine struggles to find an acceptable plan for diet and exercise or at least one that keeps the grownup and the children all happy and healthy. These issues stem in part from the differing parenting styles between my husband and myself. Whereas my husband doesn't seem to understand that our daughter is a young girl with feelings and opinions thus he takes a My-Way-or-The-Highway kind of parenting position, I tend to want to allow our children to at least voice their thoughts and feelings on issues. Neither one of us is right in our parenting style, merely different.

Due to these differences we were discussing his concerns for our little children and their diets and activity levels. Which lead to some frustration to say the least.

Having been a young girl who dealt (deals) with an eating disorder I may be guilty of treading very lightly on issues that might cause my own daughter to feel unloved, unaccepted or inadequate in any way. In an effort to make change as much fun as change can be we have decided to start

 

The Cable Family Challenge

Go here for Week One - Meals

Week One as you might have guessed everyone WON as in got their 7 points.  LBM chose a much needed foam axe and hammer I thought at a dollar each these might work their way into his Halloween costume for his reward.  S'ghetti girl got her Monster High book.  I just love that she is such a great reader!

Hubbs and I chose to "save up" our points for a nice evening out without the kids.

This week is,

Week Two - Movement

30 minutes of purposeful movement every day.

along with 1 fruit or 1 vegetable each day.

This week 14 points possible.

With back-to-school in full swing I purchased some classroom calendars and reward stickers to use as a visual aid to help the kids see their efforts.  Neither one wants to be the one without two stickers on each day.  So far this week the kids have used swimming, jumping on the trampoline, jogging/walking on the treadmill, running, the yoga ball and wiffle ball and it's only Thursday!  I am so excited that the kids are really wanting to eat better and move more.  Even if it is more out of competition with each other then understanding the long term benefits.  These habits are something I hope will become part of our daily lives and the only rewards needed will be a healthier happier family.

Will you and your family join the challenge?

What better time to start than with the new school year.

Add recording the family's food intake into homework time.

Make a cool refrigerator sign for each family member to mark the days they earn their points.

Make a rewards jar for the kids to pick out of when they "win" the week.

Send "trash talk" email between family members (a little bragging that they are going to beat dad is okay).

Come up with fun Team names. Maybe each family member has their own or girls vs boys.

How 'bout it?

A new school year of learning and a healthier habits before the Holiday Season and all those extra treats.

Join us.

Leave your email so we can share encouragement or trash talk and weekly ideas!

Link your challenge posts so we all can share in the fun.

Coming Up Week 3 - (Mind) Adding in Reading

Week 4 - Give me your ideas!

Three Things Thursday ~ Changes Edition

You remember when I changed out of my worn out kinda grey-ish no longer comfy ultra stinky Sauconys into my fabulous sea green bright white ultra light weight super comfy Sauconys, right?  I am convinced that retiring my worn out kinda grey-ish no longer comfy ultra stinky Sauconys was exactly what my form needed.  Since the switch my feet, ankles and thigh have been talking much much less.  And thanks (maybe) to some sweet Tommy Cooper gear review coming soon  I think my aches will soon be a thing of the past!


This is my last week of summer vacation.  S'ghetti girl goes back to school on Tuesday.  I know I complained about how I'd work out our routine when school ended in May but now I wonder how I managed with early morning buses and homework to fit in on top of everything else!  This week was to be a practice for the change in our routine.  Epic fail!  So far we have gone to bed late, eaten supper late, got up late, gotten home late...
I am hoping it's just nerves and we will pull it all together come that first 5th grade morning. 
It could get interesting.

Like many of you, I have a big girl job.  It is my place to be successful on my own outside of the roles I play in everyone else's lives.  But lately, I really don't want to be there.  I know it benefits my family to have my income but I keep thinking about all the things I am missing with the little kids and remembering having so much more time when my oldest was little.  I didn't really have more time.  In fact I worked much more back then.  Somehow I just squeezed more into those hours or so it seems. 
My husband would like nothing better than for us all to finally move and that would mean me quitting my job and being a SAHM.  So those of you who make it work with only one income, how do you do it?  How do you keep your own identity outside of your roles as mom and wife?  Do you feel you have given up anything with only one income?  I really would love your input because today, I really want to move! 
Today, I don't really like my Big Girl job very much.

(I'm never completely) Wordless Wednesday ~ A Day in the Park Edition

Our Hershey Park Adventure begins

There were candies to hug

Water to splash

Giant swings to ride...and ride...and ride

Non-mechanical runs to enjoy

A picnic in the park to break up the day

Waves to float on

Rides to get dizzy on

Good byes to say

Hershey Park is the Sweetest Place on Earth!

An Open Letter to My Oldest

Son,

Today marks a milestone for you and I .  21 years.  For you it probably means thoughts of going out with your friends and the new freedoms this age will bring.  For me this year means that you are now older than I was when you were born.  We no longer are growing up together.  I'll miss viewing things like that. 

I could go on and on about memories we have shared over your first 21 years but I would rather look toward the years that lay ahead of you and all the potential that they hold.  You have done so many things in life already and have made us so proud of the man you are becoming in life.  I want you to know that no goal is every too high and no job is ever too meager as long as you give them each your very best. 

Where ever the next 21 years takes you always know that I am so proud of everything you do that helps make you a person you are.  We are not simple a collection of past accomplishments or failures we are the product of what we do and continue doing after those accomplishments or failures. 

Happy Birthday Son!  Be good.  Be happy.  Be safe.

I love you,

Mom

Let me just say good thing I love my...car.

Part of my crazy busy week has been/will be all the hours spent in the car...again.

We just drove 4 hours back from VA on Sunday and Wednesday evening the kids and I were on the road again as I met my hubbs "half-way" between our place in PA and VA so that he could take the kids to his "work picnic" on Thursday.  Normally this would be cool except that we are going to Hershey Park on Friday - but Hubbs is not - so that means I'm in the car again Thursday night to get the kids to then drive to Hershey.

Let's look at the math.

Sunday evening - 4 hours driving

(let's forget the hours we spend stuck in the car running errands that day!)

Wednesday evening - 6 hours

Thursday evening - 3 hours

Friday evening - 4 hours

Sunday evening/Monday morning - 4 hours

4 + 6 + 3 + 4 + 4 = 21 hours driving

I just looove my car.

That does NOT factor in any time needed for, say potty stops.

Can we all wear diapers, eeeewwww!

 

I like to try and see the positive side of things and I realize that if we want to do stuff I have to be willing to put in the effort.  But 21 hours in the car mostly WITH the kids, is going to be a challenge.

At least the kids were away over night Wednesday evening.  I got to sleep by.my.self. all night long, I ONLY had to get myself ready in the morning, no one threw food or toys or attitude at anyone else, and I didn't hear how that little bird Pedro in Rio just sang the 'drop it low' song again for the zillion-th time. 

Gee, they were gone for almost 24 hours.  I'm sure I started to miss them.

at least I'll tell myself that when I want to leave one or both of them along the side of the road.

Let's not get all worked up.  I'd never actually drive away from them.

This weekend I doubt I will have any trouble wanting to go for my runs. 

Today is day # 460.  Anyone up for running through Hershey Park?

Can We Keep it G Rated?

Sunday evening I went for a night run.  Something that I will be doing a few times this week with yet another crazy busy week on tap. 

I am often a bit nervous when I start the practice of running in the dark.  As the seasons change I will have more and more p.m. runs that start in the day light and finish in the dark.  Those runs don't really bother me at all.  It seems like the gradually loss of light over the run allows me to still feel "safe" out there even with the jogging stroller.  However when I have to leave the light and safety of my house and head out into the dark the first few times are a bit nerve racking. 

That was until I remembered just how humorous running in the dark in the late summer early fall can be.

It's during this time of year that many in my rural community leave their doors and windows open.

Let's just say on a double out and back you can really get to know your neighbors!

Sound travels people!  Let's keep it G rated.

Come On and End Already!

The Streak.

Today is Day# 458.

I wonder some days if the Streak just needs to "end already!"

Take this past Sunday.  We were in VA and spent a lot of time in the car running errands which there are days when that is just unavoidable and typically not a big deal except when those errands don't go smoothly and you end up stuck in your car, quickly running out of gas, in a secure area that you can't leave and get back into without your super secret spy husband. 

So you and the kids wait.

and wait.

and wait.

in the heat.

After apologizes and excuses are made the kids and I were not excited about driving potentially 3+ hours back to PA.  Given the new Cable Family Challenge that would mean making the chose to not get less nurtitionally sound but very fast food but instead stopping and getting an actual meal which would add to our time.

But drive we did.

And stop for a healthy meal, we did.

Get home near 9 p.m., we did.

Knowing that I had not gotten my run in that morning.

UGH!

Lesley HERE recently posted about Crossing the Line. 

I wonder some days if I cross that line or even know where that line is.  I wonder if I'd even recognize that line if I saw it.

Because at 10:30 Sunday evening with bags still in the kitchen to be unpacked, washed and organized with another road trip pending for Wednesday night, I went for a run.

Not my keep the streak going 2 miler which did you notice, went to 1 miler but 7 humid eavesdropping miles.

Did I cross that line? 

How far back because I don't think I'm gonna turn around.

The Cable Family Challenge

As with many families, mine struggles to find an acceptable plan for diet and exercise or at least one that keeps the grownup and the children all happy and healthy.  These issues stem in part from the differing parenting styles between my husband and myself.  Whereas my husband doesn't seem to understand that our daughter is a young girl with feelings and opinions thus he takes a My-Way-or-The-Highway kind of parenting position, I tend to want to allow our children to at least voice their thoughts and feelings on issues.  Neither one of us is right in our parenting style, merely different.

Due to these differences we were discussing his concerns for our little children and their diets and activity levels.  Which lead to some frustration to say the least.

Having been a young girl who dealt (deals) with an eating disorder I may be guilty of treading very lightly on issues that might cause my own daughter to feel unloved, unaccepted or inadequate in any way.  In an effort to make change as much fun as change can be we have decided to start

The Cable Family Challenge

Week One - Meals

Our goal for this week is to include 1 fruit or 1 vegetable each day.

7 points possible.

Sounds easy, right?

Well it is supposed to be.  It's week one.  We want every family member to be a

WINNER

the first week.

My hope it that getting all 7 points for the first week will help everyone be encouraged to want to continue.

What will we win, you might ask.

Well that's different for each family member.

S'ghetti girl is eyeing several books and those could be used for weekly rewards.

Hubbs might choose to 'save up' his points for a monthly reward, I think he'd chose me a dinner out together without the kids.

Me?  I don't need rewards.  But I want the kids to see everyone "working" towards change even if it really isn't an effort for me to eat multiple fruits and veggies every day I want them to know mommy's "doing it" too.

Week Two - Movement

30 minutes of purposeful movement every day.

along with 1 fruit or 1 vegetable each day.

This week 14 points possible.

I know these changes are things many of you might already do every day but that's the point.  Some of the things your family might already be doing right now may not continue as the years go by.  The foods and activities S'ghetti happily participated in just a few years ago ended when she discovered such a passionate love for learning.  And while I won't discourage that in any way, learning often takes place sitting on your butt.  By easing into an awareness that our simple daily choices have a life long impact on our health is a concept that few young people can grasp.  After all, a lifetime to a 10 year old is a "forever" kind of thing.

Will you and your family join the challenge?  What better time to start than with the new school year.

Add recording the family's food intake into homework time. 

Make a cool refrigerator sign for each family member to mark the days they earn their points. 

Make a rewards jar for the kids to pick out of when they "win" the week.

Send "trash talk" email between family members (a little bragging that they are going to beat dad is okay).

Come up with fun Team names.  Maybe each family member has their own or girls vs boys.

How 'bout it? 

A new school year of learning and a healthier habits before the Holiday Season and all those extra treats.

Join us. 

Leave your email so we can share encouragement or trash talk and weekly ideas!

Link your challenge posts so we all can share in the fun.

Coming Up Week 3 - (Mind) Adding in Reading
Week 4 - Give me your ideas!

Are You Afraid of Getting Dirty?

You may remember that I told you I got a new pair of Sauconys.

They are purple and nicely still resting in their box.

This lovely sea green pair have been waiting patiently in my closet for a way long time.  With the pace crushing thigh pain, I finally decided to switch out my running shoes. 

These beauties are so light and comfy and wonderfully white that I wore them Tuesday but when we were blessed with rain on Wednesday I decided I just couldn't get them dirty!  I wore the old completely worn out pair. 

Yes my thigh noticed.

I was happy when Thursday came and I could take these lovelys out for another run.  Since my sitter is on vacation this week and I have had to make other arrangements

I couldn't get anyone to spend the day with the kids despite having all my family live so close to me

I got to enjoy a day with the kids at work with me.

Webster Update:  Definition of Enjoy

enjoy, v to survive or otherwise struggle through a period of time under extreme stress

Having the kids at work with me meant we got home a little early.  However, I should have know something was at work when I still somehow didn't get out of the door until the usual time.  Which lead to me still being on my run with my fabulous sea green bright white ultra light weight super comfy Sauconys when the

DOWNPOUR

started.

As with any down pour, it gave me little warning as I was running up a steep hill it just chose to start.  Once already drenched at the top of the hill I struggled with the half heat fused together weather shield to get LBM and the stroller covered before it soaked up 10 pounds of rain water.  FAIL

All while my fabulous sea green bright white ultra light weight super comfy Sauconys got drenched and quickly became my fabulous sea green dull white not so light weight super squishy Sauconys.

I just can't stand getting new shoes dirty. 

But by the time we got around the loop they had lost that I'm-new look and weighed a ton. 

They will dry out and I'm sure they will still be super comfy compared to my old trashed ones but the honeymoon is already over. 

Two runs and we are an old married couple no longer worried about our appearances. 

How do you get over that I don't want to dirty my beautiful new running shoes feeling?

WIWTW

What I Wore This Week 

In a effort to change my habit of wearing the same thing day after day

Sunday p.m. run ~ 7 miles

Monday's crazy p.m. run ~ 6.5 miles

with Biking Sherpa and the Anti Sherpa

followed by Insanity

Tuesday's p.m. run ~ 6.5 miles

in my fabulous new sea green Sauconys

followed by Insanity

 

Wednesday's p.m. rainy run ~ 6.5 miles

followed by family time

Thursday's p.m. downpour run  ~ 6.5 miles in my not longer so new sea green Sauconys

with Little Bug Man and the hundred pound jogging stroller

followed by Insanity and nearly death from exhaustion 

Friday's a.m. run ~ 3.5 miles

Ignore my crazy dog sneaking in the photo

That's my week so far.  Mileage-wise I'm just not where I need to be.  Hopefully next week will be the beginning of a new relationship...with a treadmill in my house again.  fingers crossed

I am doing a decent job of keeping up with the much needed cross training so that makes me happy.

I did wear my Fire on the Mountain Trail 50k shirt (Here & Here) 3 days in a row but sadly I was forced to do laundry every day since Gamer Son got a job and only ONE uniform so at least my shirt was fresh each day.

after Insanity there would be no way to "re-wear" a shirt!

It was a good running week and I am eager as I look forward to a GREAT running week coming up.

New treadmill just can't come soon enough!

What did you wear this week?

Feel free to link your own WIWTW post to mine.

and not washing it nearly enough

I bring you WIWTW to help keep me accountable.

It's a LIFEstyle

Could you say No?

I didn't. 

There was a day when chooses like those lovely iced cinnamin-ie pastries would have caused a disastrous domino effect of thoughts and actions for me.  Happily today I am closer to living the lifestyle I want to have for the rest of my life.  Of course I didn't eat all of those yummy buns, they were for sharing over a hot cup of coffee but I did enjoy some sweets from the newest bakery in town;
The Hot Buns Bakery Company.
This may be a no-no for some of you but my life is about inclusion not exclusion.  I want to experience and enjoy (most) everything.  When it come to my daily eating I would rather eat things closer to nature and farther away from preservatives and cardboard.  I find that allowing everything a place in my diet removes the feeling of giving up.  Because my life is not about giving up.  In my work, in my running, in my marriage, in my parenting, in my eating there is no room for giving up.
I also believe that so much of what we do is directly controlled by how we feel or think about a situation that when we tell ourselves we can't have that sweet or fried or fattening food choice, we end up only wanting it more.  (And who chooses which foods are "fattening."  All foods are fattening if overeaten.) 
Our daily eating is to be enjoyable otherwise we would all be eating a caloric and nutritionally formulated mush and be okay with that.  But we don't.  We want to enjoy our food.  We want to gather around it and share it with friends and family.  Our daily eating is to be nutritionally sounds first and then caloricly, not the other way around.  There are thousands and thousands of over weight people who are grossly undernourished. 
So I say allow it all.  The green, the yellow, the red, the grilled, the poached, the fired, the sour, the sweet, the savory and even the icing covered.  Every once in a while.
Maybe being on the other side of an eating disorder helps me see that moderation IS the best and healthiest way or maybe I use moderation as an excuse to eat those things that are caloricly heavy.  I guess that is for you to decide for yourself at your own dinner table. 
Just remember that there should really be room for everything that enriches your daily life.

So tell me, do you forbid foods...for yourself or your family?
Is food really only fuel for you?
What do you think about the problem of malnutrition in America's obese?

No I Didn't Tell You

My thigh.  My left thigh.

It decided to start hurting.  I finally told you about this the other day.

It was one of those things that I could find an excuse for every little twinge.

Excuse #1 - I started a new program.

Excuse #2 - I'm not 20 any more.

Excuse #3 - I need new shoes.

Excuse #4 - I'm getting used to the new shoes.

Excuse #5 - It feels better after I run.

Excuse #6 - Running on the sand just changed my form.

Excuse #7 - It doesn't hurt that bad.

Excuse #8 - I'm not stretching enough.

Excuse #9 - I'm stretching too much.

Excuse #10 - It'll just go away.

But ultimately I know my body and my left leg was not on board with the new program.  So after almost 2 weeks of shorter easier miles with no cross training, I went to the doctor.

After a very complete once over he sent me to the hospital for a load of tests.  Only to find out the my leg does not have a stress fracture (Worry #1) or bone cancer (Worry #2 thanks to the doctor planting that concern!). 

I am back this week to my full schedule and cross training.  Stretching, ibuprofen and warm heat.  I put in my fastest 6.5 in weeks and my leg felt great afterwards and didn't make a peep during Insanity.  I will factor in the need to make sure I allow for a day or two each week of purposeful easy runs to allow my body some active recovery time. 
It is a reminder that I need to remember how my body responds to changes in my routine especially when I am under stress as I was over June and July with loads of traveling, activites with the family and the disappointment of not having the required support to make my push to 100 this year.  But armed with the knowledge that I haven't broken myself, I am charging forward towards an improved overall fitness level that will get me to and through my next goal in 2012

100 miles in the woods.
Wanna come along?

How Having Pharmaceuticals Can Inspire Others to Workout

Yesterday you were introduced to the Anti-Sherpa.  She is a wonderful girl who is admittedly a work in progress but Biking Sherpa and I will get her to come around to the dark healthy side.  We have our ways!

Take the other night, Anti-Sherpa was all in for biking with Biking Sherpa while I ran after a few text taunts.  And even though she didn't completely understand the biking sherpa rules, (I mean she didn't have time to read the Sherpa handbook after all) we still enjoyed her company and the extra target for some of our mile numbing fun. 

After our run Biking Sherpa joins me a few nights a week for Insanity.  This was explained to the Anti-Sherpa prior to the ride.  In all her big talking she said that she's done P90X.  Oh well, bring it!  There wasn't any way that we were going to let her off without joining us for Insanity after that comment.

We found the Anti-Sherpa back at my sister's house preparing to sneak away leave!  She was chatting away on her cell phone and had we been 2 minutes longer she would have made a clean escape.  She had gotten a call from her mom who needed her to stop by the drug store before they close.

THAT'S BE A NO GO!

It took quite a bit of prodding and promising and a teeny bit a fibbing but after vowing to provide her with the pharmaceuticals that her mother had requested we tricked motivated her into doing Insanity Cardio Plyo Circuit...we only told her that we'd do Cardio Abs and simply put in the wrong disk. heeheehee

We all did it.  We all laughed.  We all sweated like crazy.  Even the famous non-sweating Biking Sherpa!  It was the fastest 40 minutes of Insanity that I have ever done. 

In the end, I know the Anti-Sherpa was secretly happy that she had joined us in the workouts and in the celebratory popsicles. 

You just never know what things you have to use to encourage others to be more fit.

even....

Enter the Anti-Sherpa

Day # 449 ~ 6.5 miles

What a fabulous run I had last night!

  The famous Biking Sherpa joined me which couldn't have come at the better time. 

Since shortly after starting Insanity I have had a sore left thigh. 

Yes, I know I didn't tell you.

That's a post in it's self.

Not only did Biking Sherpa join me but a new friend came along too.  After a delay due to a crappy spare bike bike issues we were on our way.  I explained that my paces might not be where they should be due to my sore thigh but it quickly became clear that our new friend did not understand the rules of sherpa-dom.

She was continually way ahead of Biking Sherpa and I making us look bad and forcing me to push my pace.

She was the Anti-Sherpa!

Turns out a little push was all I needed.  My thigh felt loose again and I not only knocked off the extra time from my recently slower pace but shaved about a minute and a half off my 6.5 mile time.  So we all ended the run friends again and the Anti-Sherpa may be joining us again when a little extra speed work is needed.

Although next time we will give her the crappy bike!