Hello Again

Once again, time got away from me. 

The summer was busy. And wonderful. And relaxing. I really did not want to return to work and it's taken me over a month to get back into a routine. It was hard this time. It's hard to believe that I have been teaching for 11 years now. Where did the time go?

A lot happened in August and September. Way more than I care to go into, so let's concentrate on the good!

My hubby had a birthday this week! "Happy Birthday for you Daddy!" as B said. He helped me make C a cake on Monday. 

Happy Birthday Daddy!

One good thing I did back in August was sign up to become an Origami Owl Independent Designer! I absolutely love their jewelry and when I started to research the company to figure out whether this was something I really wanted to do or not, I fell even more in love with them. They really are a good company, they care about their designers (direct sales, like Mary Kay) and have a lot of incentives and programs to help you succeed. For some people who sell it, it is their full time job. Will the title Work From Home Mom be in my future?? I have no idea. But for now, I enjoy telling people about it because I enjoy it so much. I would love to eventually earn the trip to Cancun though!

Check out what they have to offer and shop with me HERE! 

Now on to the topic that is the reason behind this blog! Running! 

I have not been on my A game lately. At the beginning of August we went to visit my in laws up in the mountains of PA and while they live right next to a biking trail that is great for running, I never got off my butt and got out there. All my running clothes and shoes went with me, but I never got them out of the suitcase. I was on a really good running streak prior to that and it totally sidelined me. I also get lazier as the beginning of school approaches and I do more sitting in a lawn chair by the water than anything else. Can you blame me really? Since I have been back at work I have been doing over 10K steps EVERY DAY. That did not happen in years past...

So that being said, I decided I needed some motivation, and the main motivation that has always kept me moving, has been races. So yesterday I signed up for the HCA 8K which is part of the Richmond Marathon. I would really love to be doing the Half Marathon that day, but I just don't have the time to train for a half and I'm really too close to the race date to start now anyways. But I am excited for the 8K! If I can keep the training for that consistent I will try to keep going and look into a spring half. Because I really, REALLY want to do a half marathon again. It's been too long.

One of the paths I run near my house. It had rained last night, and was cool, and it's beginning to look like fall. It was perfect.

So this week I got 2 runs in (and they hurt, man did they hurt) and today I did 2 miles. It did not hurt as much. This is how running works. Once you've started and been consistent for a good amount of time, to the point you call yourself a "runner", you can jump back in fairly easily after a break.

Not too bad!

Average pace: kinda slow. But that's OK! Improvement happens over time and it feels so good. I find that running without the jogger feels SO easy after running with the jogger a lot. I had to take B with me on Tuesday and Wednesday so today was a real test to see where I am. I'm at 'slow', but that's alright. It will be interesting to see how far I go in just a few weeks.

My laps

I love running with an app because it is so much easier than a watch. I do want to start running with my Garmin again though so I can keep an eye on time. I keep my phone in my FlipBelt so I can't really look at it while running. I started easy with mile one and when I heard "11:25" I decided to try and make mile 2 faster than mile 1. It wasn't exactly easy but I shaved one minute off my time! Start small with your goals and you will reach them, and they will grow.

Check back next week for an update on how training is going!

TTFN-Ta Ta For Now! (My son is watching Winnie the Pooh...)