Surprise, surprise...

I'm behind on blogging. Again.

So, here's the quick catch up.

Weekend before last, I ran a half marathon with my mom.  It was the same race where I ran my full last year. It was a hard run. Mom pushed our pace (thankfully) so we made my time goal. No pr, but it could have been much worse. Pretty sure the first 10k was one of my fastest. Just like the race last year, oranges were a God-send in that final stretch!

Then this past weekend, Mom had her 22-miler. Just like when I did a 20-miler, the whole crew took shifts. Dad ran 4 (or 5?), Carrie ran 7.5, and I took the last 6. Let me just say that woman is a beast! Her pace was so spot on, and she still managed to kick it into overdrive in the home stretch. And she recovered extremely well also!

We are finishing up the AdvoCare 24 Day Challenge this week. Trying to get back into my strength training and kick it into gear so we can finish strong.

Day 50!

Today marks day 50 of running at least a mile a day. And I'm done.

This started as the Runner's World winter streak from Thanksgiving to New Year's, and I just kept going. While I'd love to hit 100 days or even a year, my mind and body say it's time to stop.

This will give me the rest of today and all of tomorrow to rest before Saturday's half marathon. I feel so unprepared for this race. After breaking my tailbone/tearing tendons in September, I really didn't think this race would happen at all and thought I'd just be happy if I could run part of it. Now that I've actually run every day and run my long runs as scheduled, I'm disappointed that I'm not strong enough to really race it.

However, Mom and I are running it together so I'm looking forward to the run. Nervous though!

The weather is going to be about 20 degrees warmer than my last few long runs, and now I'm panicking on what to wear. Plus, my new shoes came in this week, so I'm debating on whether to wear then or wear the shoes I've been wearing on my long runs.

On top of that we are in the middle of an AdvoCare 24 - Day Challenge, meaning I'm not even sure what to eat these next two data before the race. It's been so long since I've done a half. Decisions, decisions.

Double digits!

Our local runners club has been having Saturday donut runs, and Mom and I actually had the same distance on our training plans for once.  However, we weren't sure we'd be able to run on Saturday due to freezing temps, but it turned out just fine. My dad, sister and one of her step-daughters ran 5k together while Mom and I tackled my first double digit run of 10 miles since almost a year ago.

It wasn't an easy run...Mom forgot to tell me about the hills on the route, but it was good. The temp was pretty chilly and there was a light misty. I got hot with my fleece vest under my jacket, so I had to  be creative and keep it zipped but pull it off my core. It worked.

I thought maybe that would be the end of my streak, but after using lemongrass oil on my foot that night, Sunday wasn't too bad. I ended up running a couple of miles on the treadmill. So the streak continues!

Happy New Year

Bye bye, 2014! Kind of glad to see you go!

2014 was just an off year for me. My running was a struggle. Organization was a bust. Projects didn't get finished. We did have some great times, so it wasn't bad. Not at all. But I'm ready for a new year!

Today marks the end of the Runner's World streak... but I'm not sure I'm done :)

I'm still mulling over this year's goals and plans, so stay tuned!

I hate PF!

Really? Is there any more to say than that? I hate PF. It's been an ongoing battle for about 2 years now. It has really flared up this weekend. What stinks is that yesterday's run was really good. I could have run several more miles even. But today, I can barely walk. And of course, today was our trip to Six Flags.  Wasn't that good timing? I survived though, but it hurts like the dickens.

I already have it taped, so tonight I'll either sleep in a compression sleeve or wrap it. And ice it. I hate icing when it's cold, but I know I have to. 

I've read about some essential oils that are supposed to help, so tomorrow I'm on the hunt for those. Can't hurt at this point.

But back to yesterday's run...

Mom was coming to town so we could help her run 18. I wanted 8 and Carrie was up for some too.  However, we woke to find some wet stuff falling from the sky. Not thinking it would last long, Mom and I took off anyway. We ran in the coolest snow ever! Snow! I ran in shorts on Christmas Day!  It was awesome though. We laughed about how crazy we are. We were fine most of the time and only had problems when the sleet hit our eyes and then when the snow turned wet.  The roads got slushy and we were worried we'd fall. But Carrie wanted her chance in the snow so we ran 1 mile with her before heading home to warm up with coffee.

Merry Christmas to me!

My gifts to myself were a run on Christmas Eve with my sister and sister-in-law and then another with my mom and sister in Christmas Day.

For Christmas Eve, we got up early and ran 4 cold miles (plus walked another). We were all in good moods and excited about Christmas.  It was a great way to start the day!

On Christmas Day, I fit in a Santa Hat run after lunch with my in-laws and before dinner and gifts with my husband and kids. We definitely felt like we were trudging the first mile, but the second felt better. I'm sure we looked silly, but hopefully we made the people who passed us smile.

I think it was the best thing I could give to myself.

Still in!

25 days of the #RWRunStreak and counting! Yes, I had to jump on the treadmill at 10:30 pm to get it done, but I did it!

We've had a sick little boy yesterday and today, so I've been all kinds of off.  On call doc says it's likely the flu, but it could be something else too. We are too late for Tamiflu so we ride it out unless something changes. I'm going we wake up to a fever-freekid tomorrow, but I'm fully expecting a trip to sick time in the next two days.

With us all being home for Christmas break, I'm going to have to try a lot harder than I did this weekend to eat well and keep my running on track. Scheduling a run for 7:30 in the morning was the first step (and maybe not the smartest since I just finished tonight's run).