The 1/2...

Think about it- one half.  One half of 2 is only 1.  One half of my day dealing with whiny kids is better than the entire day. Sharing one half of a pizza pie with the hubby is better than eating the whole thing myself.  But lets think about one half in miles.  Half of a 10 K is a 5 K, which is only 3.1 miles.  Half of a 20 K is a 10 K, which is 6.2 miles- Half of a Marathon is 13.1 miles. So yeah, that's what I did last Saturday morning, ran a half marathon. And what was it that you did? If the answer is stayed in your jammies, had eggs and sausage and sipped on some hot cocoa while watching a little TV, I envy you.  If you envy what I did- let me explain something to you- it flippin hurt!

On Friday afternoon, 2 hours after I decided I was going to leave for Richmond, I finally left.  Much to my surprise- as if I haven't lived in the DC area my whole life- there was traffic.  So after calling everyone I haven't talked to in several months, checking facebook while stopped, and eating all of the candy I brought to last me the whole ride, traffic subsided and I finally make it down to the expo center and the pre race packet pick up.  I head over to my girlfriends house, who is putting me up for the night, and plop my happy butt right down on the couch.  Her dear hubby picked up some alfredo for me, and I scarfed most of it down- in record timing might I add.  I knew I needed my carb overload for the morning.

Speaking of morning, it came VERY quickly.  I didn't sleep very well the prior night because the vent was wide open and making a heinous noise- RIGHT ABOVE MY HEAD! I finally got out of bed, got dressed, and headed to Wawa for some water and some nutrition. Then I drove a couple of miles to downtown Richmond, but silly me, missed my exit and had to come in the back way. Scary!

I park, get everything I need, and say- where the heck do I go.  I had to walk an additional 4 blocks- there was no time for warming up, no time to go potty, I barely had enough time to check my bags.  I am glad I did find the bag check place, because my girlfriend was checking her bag at the same time.  Whew- I at least had someone to start the run with!

I'm tired, cold, and excited all at the same time.  I really don't LIKE running, but I do like racing.  I do like kind of intense situations where there are winners, awards, stats kept, etc. It's the thrill of competition.  I know I don't have a snowballs chance in hell to win any running event, nor is that even my goal, but I get excited for the people who pour their heart and soul into this sport and accomplish something they really want. (Like my friend who won a first place medal today in the 5 k we ran! In came in 4th place in my division- out of 4! HA!)

My girlfriend and I start out at a slower, but pretty moderate pace.  We easily pass the 1-2-3 miles, I start to get warm and the first thing I ditch are my gloves.  Every other mile there was water and powerade.  We quickly walked while we drank, but picked our pace back up as soon as we contributed to the litter pile of plastic cups. (I hope they were recycled and not just thrown away.)

Mile 4 I bust out the sweedish fish for that extra energy boost, and start to feel my arches. Mile 5 we go up a nice sized hill and enter a park.  I am wanting to stop and walk at this point, but our conversation about husbands, kids, being pregnant and giving birth kept me going.  We got to the 10 k point and I couldn't keep up any longer, the pain in my arches was so bad, I had to slow down.

My girlfriend was only slightly ahead of me, so I sprinted up to her and that was it.  Along with the arch pain,   there was an excruciating pain in 4th toe (next to the pinky) of my left foot.  I can continue to run through the arch pain, this pain, I can not.  I was barely at mile 7, and I had to walk for some time- slapping my heel down first and rolling to the balls of my feet.  After a swig of Coke and a gel pack, I start to hobble run again.  At this point my toe hurt so bad, I literally curled my toes under and ran/ walked for a couple more miles like this.

At mile 9, I have to take off my over pants as the sun was beating down on me and I was HOT!  I dropped my drawers for everyone to see! ha! I had spandex on underneath, and I tied my pants around my waist.  I looked pretty dumb, but I was no longer hot, and it felt really good to stop and stretch for a quick minute.  However, doing this KILLED my time, and I couldn't recover.

At mile 10, I feel the intense pain in my feet, and now my hips have joined in.  Although I was in pain- I only had 3 miles left. The lady next to me who was running her 10th marathon said- hey, you can do ANYTHING for 35 minutes, right?  She was right! The spectators had picked up the cheering, and the signs were really inspiring.  I actually started crying at this point.  There are a lot of people who can say they have finished a half marathon, but more that can not say that.  I already have a pain prone body, my feet and hips were aching, but I had come so far, I was just going to keep on truckin'.

I ran a little more, walked through water stations a little longer, hobbled when I needed, picked up my pace when I could. Mile 11 was really hard for me because I had 2 more miles to and I couldn't see the end in sight.  Mile 12 was when I decided I'm going all out.  I have to run through this pain.  Instead of shuffling, I was actually jogging again.  I turned the corner and people were calling my name, encouraging me, and most of all, I could see the finish line.  I got half way down the hill and thought- Damnit- I'm going for it.  I sprinted as fast as I could straight through the finish.  It was a surreal feeling.  My legs didn't feel attached to my body, so there had to be something else that helped me sprint down that hill.  That wasn't me!

So, I did it.  My time wasn't great, a few minutes over 2 and a half hours, but I'm OK with that, especially since I was injured! Remember, I was someone who couldn't run 15 minutes without stopping, to someone who finished a 1/2 marathon about 5 months later- congrats me.  And congrats to all of my other running friends who finished that race.  Amazing.

12

12 miles.  My training schedule says 12 miles.  Now bloggyworld, I realize that the half marathon I signed up for, which is NEXT WEEKEND, is 13.1 miles.  That doesn't frighten me.  A training run of 12 miles frightens me.  At the half, I am hoping some of my adrenaline will get me through it. For the training, I literally have no time, besides late at night, to run 12 miles, and I ain't doing that!

This running thing is only one of my stressors right now.  And if you can see my face, the big red dots will clue you in as to how stressed I am!

Other stressors:
- A dance team who is pretty talented, but pretty mean, and talk trash about each other, and me.  I committed to coaching them for 2 years, and I'm only half way through my first year..... this will be a LONG two years.
- A son who can't stop coughing when he is playing outside, and has had several nose bleeds to boot.
- Me personally earning enough money to receive the child care tax credit.  Umm, I am a stay at home mom, and a VERY part-time substitute teacher.
- My dealing with fibromyalgia.  I won't get on meds for it because, quite frankly, I'm stubborn.  But I sure am in a lot of pain.
- The fact that my friends want me to read the Twilight Series.  Really girls, I would rather eat dirt than sit down to read a novel right now, let alone a series of novels.
- The pep rally, game, and competition all falling this weekend, which happens to be the same weekend my husband is in Richmond and my son has 2 soccer games.  UGH UGH UGH
- Did I already mention a 12 mile run?  Oh yeah, let me say it again.... 12 FLIPPING MILES!

- So to make myself feel better, I must raid my son's candy stash from Halloween the other night.

Til next time :)

Race, Run, and other Fun

Hey Bloggy World.  I have been so busy lately, thinking about all the things I need to do, that I didn't possibly have time to write this blog until now, midnight more than two weeks after my race! HA!

I am sure by now you have heard little snippets of all the crazy events that happened to us during our 2 day event! Readers Digest Version- go!

1. Rolled down window, window wouldn't roll back up, duct taped it.  NO JOKE.  We duct taped that mamma jamma and went on our merry way!

2. Went past our exit and arrived at the hotel much later than anticipated.  The five star hotel called Relax Inn- with the Knights Club, Bar and Grille right next door.  I slept for a grand total of 45 minutes that night. UGH!

3. Got to the starting line, late (lost again...) Our injured runner was first up, and sprinted to the finish. AWESOME

4. First exchange went off without a hitch.

5.  Runner 3 waited her turn, said to us "you better be there waiting for me when I finish"

6.  We weren't there.  Damn directions had the ending point at the beginning of the directions, and we thought it was the starting point.  Waited forty five minutes for my turn, and then got a phone call saying we were at the wrong exchange.

7. Got to the right place, I jumped out full speed ahead, and went for it.  Girl beside of me passed me, then I passed her.  We said nothing to each other except, whew, glad that hill was over- then we saw the mountain. No JOKE- I could not see anything in front of me, except for dirt and hill.  Not a single female ran that whole thing.  I think I took 20 steps and decided I would join the other ladies.  I had to lean forward to keep from rolling down the hill.  I actually yelled "When is this ever going to end."  I got a thumbs up from the cute blond in a tennis skirt who was strugglin' just like me.

8.  Sprinted to the finish to find out we had a flat tire.  Kind runner stayed with us and helped put on our spare.

9. Meet Van 2 at the major exchange and watch three vans get stuck in mud, and wait for our runner in the downpour.

10.  Try to go to the next exchange, but had to reduce speed to 35 because our van was going wobbledy wobbledy woo!  Find a gas station with a shop, and dude wouldn't take our money.... Went a couple of miles down the road to some seriously nice people.  They "fixed" our spare- tightened it up.  We made it all the way to mcdonalds- which was literally over the small hill and the next turn- maybe 100 feet away- and the van was going WOBBLEDY WOBBLEDY WOBBLE.  Drove right back down and oh- tire is dry rotted. UGH!  Patched our hole, put the other tire back on, and didn't even charge us.  My sissy in law was THROWING money at them, and they wouldn't take it. They ended up paying us- we were fortunate enough to see their mechanic's crack.

11. Went to the school to sleep- HA- we waited, and waited, and waited, for the other team to arrive.  Saw poop on the floor in the stall.  Vomited a little in my mouth!

12. FOG FOG FOG- Couldn't see in front of my face it was so foggy. My 2nd run- slow and steady pace-middle of the night- twisted my ankle, stepped in water, scared to death because hardly anyone else was around and corn fields were right next to me. (Children of the corn, anyone)  Oh, and I was running ON the road- no shoulder, definitely no sidewalk.

13.More people ran.  We were tired, hungry, and cranky, and all just wanted some sleep.

14.  We got to the next major exchange, four of us slept in the van, three of us outside.  I got two hours of sleep on and off there.  The porta-potties were so far away, and it was so cold, I contemplated just peeing my pants and cleaning it up in the morning.  But Jules was sharing a seat bench with me, so that wouldn't work.

15.  Daylight came and we were all antsy to get the hell outta dodge, and get our last run over with.

16.  So we waited for van 2.  And we waited.  And we waited some more.  There were like 5 teams left, we finally see our team, and off we go!

17.  I think I cried when I saw everyone, including the very injured Jules run to the finish line. 

18.  We drive to the next exchange, and get a little lost.  Wait for our super fast, running buddy to get there.  And wait, and wait, and wait.  9 miles and another 45 minutes later, we finally see her. (she should have only ran 5 or so).  

19. And I cried a little again, when I saw Brittany with her hubby and two kids running with her.

20.  I wait a couple of minutes for my turn and sprint out of there.  My goal was to sprint til I couldn't anymore.  My plan was thwarted by a city, intersections, and traffic lights.  My last run was only 3.7 miles, but the signs were few and far in between, and there was literally not another Ragnar runner in my view in front or behind me.  We were one of the last groups because of all the setbacks.  My pace was great on this run- if you take out the three minutes where I had to wait, and wait, and wait for lights.  I may or may not have broken the law a bit and crossed streets before it was my turn.  Oopsie.  Again, may or may not.

20. Our last runner came in, but van 2 wasn't there because they had to start running before our runner finished her run, to keep things moving along.  But it didn't matter, because Mary's little girls and hubby were all at our finish line.  I really did shed some tears at this one.  FINALLY, it was over, for us at least.

21.  We eat pizza (first MEAL we had all day,) do a little shopping, catch up with the rest of the team, put our boa's on, and wait for runner 12 to come running in.  I can't tell you how giddy I got when I heard 143 coming in- there we see Tammy and her husband Ed running towards us.  The gals all pass through the finish line.  We did it.  We made it.  I will never do that again.  Ever.

22.  So I signed up for a half marathon in November.

HAHAHAHA!  So, do I still hate running?  No!  Do I LIKE running?  NO, not at all.  Running is still very hard for me.  I actually ran 4 miles today, and had a terrible pace.  But the fact that I might be able to run/walk for 13 miles, is quite intriguing to me.  I just want to see what excuses I will try to come up with while trying to talk myself out of finishing the race.

King and Queen

Trying to figure out what this blog post is about?  I'll give you a hint, sike, I will just tell you.

BURGER KING and DAIRY QUEEN

Yes, in the same day!

I had to sub a half day today, and I was hungry.  In fact, I have been hungry since I ran that 10 K on Saturday morning.  Not my normal, I want junk food, hungry.  I mean, I am craving a fatty steak, burger, or an extra meaty and extra cheesy burrito, hungry. (And before you ask, NO, I am NOT prego!) And I am not counting calories, either, I am just hungry.

Saturday afternoon, and Sunday morning pass me by and although I ate every meal, plus snacks, my insatiable hunger had not subsided.  Left overs Sunday night, eggs Monday morning, sandwich and pizza Monday afternoon and evening, but I was still craving something.

I walked into my principal's office, just chatting it up with her and another friend, and I decided I wanted a greasy, full of fat and probably toxins, burger.  Prior to going home, I went to Burger King and ordered a California Whopper Jr.  I think that just might have become my new favorite burger. The guac and bacon and cheese are delightful!  Yummmmmmmmmm

My mom babysat today, so she made dinner, that I didn't particularly care for, so I didn't eat seconds. I did, however, remember my baby daddy (my husband for you lay folk), try to threaten my son by not allowing him the ice cream he was promised if he didn't behave. Oh yeah!  The hubby went off to soccer practice, and I scooped up (pun intended) the kids and took them to Dairy Queen.

It was a great idea, at the time, until moments after consuming a large small kiddie cone, he was face to face with kids on the playground. We only got about 30 minutes of playtime in before it was time to go home because Big Boy was out of control. So we left, came home, and the tenants unleashed their kids to wreak havoc on my house.  I said 30 minutes. It was only 20 before they had to go downstairs because someone was screaming bloody murder due to an ankle and eye injury.  I felt bad for the kid, (I actually like this particular one) but I can't say I was upset that playtime was over.

After having BK and DQ in the same day, I think I will eat healthy tomorrow.  HAHHAHAHAHA!

I can't stand it anymore

I am in a bad mood, so I apologize in advance.... so away we go.

I woke up after only having 6 1/2 hours of sleep last night, ready for ANOTHER 10 K.  My youngest was awake before I left, and my significant other wasn't trying to wake up.  I waited til I HAD to leave, dropped my son off on the bed next to his daddy, and ran away before he could chase after me while having a tantrum.

I showed up to the "race" with two thoughts- 1- I wanted to finish without walking, and 2- beat my time from the last time I did it. Number 1- fail. I had to walk twice, for a very brief moment of time, but 2- success! I shaved two minutes off of my time!

I came home to my little one yelling "mamma," with a big snaggle tooth smile, and my big guy was glued to an angry birds game with his dad. After eating lunch, yes, at 10:35 am, and putting my little one to bed, I finally showered. Thank goodness, my smell was even offending me.

A couple hours, and a few knocks on the door later, I decide to rearrange the toy room, for the 4th time in two years.  I guess I can't leave well enough alone! In the process of doing so, the shoddy bookshelf falls apart. Now, a simple rearranging of furniture has become a big undertaking involving heavy books, broken cases, and insufficient storage space for toys.  Grrr...

The boys had been cooped up in the house all day by this point, so I took them outside to play.  Five minutes later, running full speed, comes the son of the tenant's son's girlfriend.  You got that? (We will call him the "friend" for now.) There is no parental/guardian/caretaker unit of his to be found.  Umm... I guess I'm watching over him.  There is one problem.  THIS BOY DOESN'T LISTEN. It's bad enough that I have to constantly keep my attention in two places at one time- making sure one kid doesn't fall off of the big wheel, and the other doesn't ride his bike in the street.  Now on top of it, I have to watch a child who ignores or doesn't understand rules and boundaries.

Here is an example- I just found out that the new anti-social neighbors are anti-social for a good reason!  They have a set of twins who will be two next month, and one doesn't walk or talk, and a small baby- only five months old. (Now I feel kinda bad for being upset that they didn't answer their door when we came over, twice.) The handicapped little boy was sitting on a toy rocket- made for kids under 30 pounds.  The "friend" (who is 5 1/2) sat on the rocket, twice, after my telling him no, and pressed the keys every chance he got.  He almost hit the handicapped square in the head with the big wheel (which is also made for someone under 30 pounds), and DID run over his foot.  I've had enough, but I keep my composure and say its time to go in.  My big boy asks if the "friend" can play inside, and I say sure. UGH!

So now we are back inside, but there are books in the living room and the toy room.  Now, I am not saying my son is innocent, but when he plays with the "friend," he acts, and talks, like the "friend," who is speech delayed, but his mom has never had him tested. He randomly asks for a popsicle, and juice, and a treat.  I politely tell him to go ask his mom, or mom's boyfriend, or mom's boyfriend's mom for a snack and drink.  I always give big boy's friends snacks if they are over here, but this kid comes up three times a week and asks for things.

Now comes the screaming.  Remember, I am already in a bad mood and hungry, nothing I eat is satisfying my hunger, and my body hurts.  So they, yes my son and his "friend" start screaming- every time they run past each other, every time they jump from couch to coffee table, every time they walk on lounge chairs and couch arms. And every time, I politely say "no screaming," or "please don't scream." Then, they scream some more. And the "friend" screeches as he goes up the stairs- which he has been told 115 times not to go up the stairs, and even got sent downstairs a couple nights ago because he couldn't follow that simple rule.

So as I am writing this, in all this commotion, and my little guy throwing a tantrum because I took away my cell phone from him, my big boy comes in crying saying "he punched me right in my eye." I asked him if he did it, he said sorry, and I discussed it with him in front of the stairs so the tenants could hear, then I told him it was time for Collin to eat, and he had to go downstairs.  My big boy starts crying and the "friend" starts crying.  He reluctantly goes downstairs and I actually hear his mom.  In two hours he has been in my care, and that's the first I have heard from her. Might that be a reason he acts the way he does?

I'm still hungry, my body still hurts, and I still want ice cream.  Dairy Queen, anyone?!

It's been a long time

It's been a long time
Glad to see your face
I knew we'd meet again
Another time, another place!

OK- well it hasn't been that long, but I feel like every time I sit down to blog, I have other things that need to get done.  The other things are usually resting, watching TV, or facebooking.  My husband says I'm addicted to facebook, and although its not a full blown addiction, I would agree that I have a slight problem.  I get updates on my phone, and it's so easy to just hit reply, and keep the conversation going!

Also on my phone, I have the Endomondo fitness tracker.  It uses GPS to get your location, to calculate your distance, duration, pace, and approximate calories burned.  I love it, because I can listen to music, and it chimes in and stops Katy Perry right in her tracks to tell me, in an English, female, robotic voice, "2 miles in 20 minutes 12 seconds, lap time 10 minutes 6 seconds" and then Katy continues, or Kesha, or GaGa, or Shania, or Beastie Boys, or even Journey (yeah, I like a lot of genre's of music.)

I noticed several weeks ago, after a long run, on a really hot day, that there was something really wrong with my phone.  After my run was over, I took the headphones out, and the icon started flashing at me.  My phone was so confused! I couldn't figure out what was wrong til I took off the back cover and there was- we'll call it moisture- all over the battery. I took it apart, wiped everything dry, pieced it all back together, and it started to work again. From then on, I started to put a washcloth, or paper towel, between my arm and the armband, as to catch any extra moisture, before my phone got wet.  (OK- We all know that I am a sweat-er, and that I sweat buckets while running, so this moisture I speak of, is a down right downpour of sweat!  It's really nasty, actually!)

Today, I left my house around 7:25, that's AM bloggy world, to meet some friends before heading up to Burke Lake Park to run the trail.  I remembered my clif bar, water, extra t-shirt, purse, phone, headphones, arm band, and I even set out breakfast for my kids so the babysitters didn't have to do it!  What I didn't remember, was a wash cloth or paper towel.  Once I remembered, it really wasn't that big of a deal because we were running in the shade, and it was a cooler morning than usual.

Although I wasn't going too terribly fast, it was a great run and I didn't feel like stopping, until we got lost and had no idea how to get back to our cars, and had to change directions twice.  I started walking about a 1/4 mile before we found our car and our friends, and at that time I took my armband off. The phone came out of the case, and I unplugged the headphones, and lo and behold, the icon was flashing at me again.  I disassembled it, wiped it all off, put it back together, turned it back on, and immediately checked facebook.  I didn't want to miss anything in the hour I was running and stretching- that would be tragic, you know! I tried to respond to a message, and every time I pressed the n, an h would go in its place, and every 3rd letter would show up.  This is creating big problems for my internet social life.

I took everything apart- AGAIN- and put it back together- AGAIN, and it still didn't work.  So now, my phone is sitting in a container of rice.  Hopefully this time it will work, otherwise I will have to find a game other than bubble buster to play in my spare time. Maybe I'll go clean my house? Nah, let's see what's on TV!

Knees

As I am sitting on my couch that is already 8 years old and still VERY comfortable, in my jammie pants (don't judge, my jeans were so tight I couldn't sit down after my El Charro lunch), sitting Indian style, I can only think 1 thing- KNEES- OUCH!

While I am in the treacherous act of running, my knees don't actually HURT.  They crack and pop, but don't hurt.  They don't even hurt after I am done running.  They don't hurt when I am in bed at night.  They just hurt when I am...... walking, standing,bending, kneeling, crouching, stooping, jumping, etc. My knees just throb for most of the day, except when I am actually running. UGH!

I went to Zumba last night for the first time in forever! I was, of course, 20 minutes late, so I couldn't even push my way to the front.  As I am wayyyyy in the back, behind the man that was dripping sweat on the floor, and next to the young woman who was going the opposite way from everyone else, I see a brand new instructor get her music ready.  My knees were a little sore at this point, but I was OK to keep going.  During Zumba Kym's second song, when she decided we would samba at warp speed, my knees start aching, and by the end of the song, they were throbbing. I literally had to stop, and rub my knee caps- as if that was going to help!

I woke up this morning and went for a run in the beautiful weather we have had recently, and felt great.  Until I went up the hill of death in my neighborhood, at a pace that even my handicapped mom who uses a cane could walk, at which point my knees felt like they were going to pop out of place. I only finished 2 1/2 miles out of the 3 1/2 or 4 I had set out to do!  So much for my knees not hurting WHILE I run.  :(

 I really hope this is a temporary issue, and I haven't done any long term damage, because I am thinking about doing a half marathon in a couple of months.  OK- thinking about it is over! As my brother says- you only run that far and fast if you are getting chased. Now I shall rub my knee caps, in hopes that it will bring me good luck. Until I blog again, my bloggy world friends!