500 Miles!

Did you notice in my mile counter that I have officially hit 500 miles?! How exciting!

I actually hit it on May 31st but am just now getting around to blogging about it. That run that day was awful too. It was so humid and since I had not been running I felt like a slug and also felt like I was going to pass out when I got home. 

On a side note, I just have to throw out there that I have run a lot more than 500 miles since I began running back in 2008. I only started keeping track of them with the dailymile.com tracker about 3 years ago (most of which was taken up with a pregnancy and a newborn).

These last 2 months have been really tough. Work has been crazy (like it always is at the end of the school year) and I just have not felt like myself and therefore have not been running. This week I have a little more pep in my step and have stepped it up on my Fitbit and also gotten more sleep at night. I feel better. I have also started eating better, which affects how I feel when I eat junk. The junk is extra hard to avoid these days because the end of the school year is a time when parents shower us with sugary treats. The faculty lounge is a deadly place. My solution has been to keep this awesome nut mix behind my desk and I snack on that when I feel a craving coming on. 

I have also really gotten into salads. This one I had the other night and it was so good! (I know ranch isn't really the best but it is the only dressing I really like.) Next week I plan on coming up with new salad recipes and ideas for the summer.

Last month I decided to keep better track of my running this summer. I still have my running journal but this calendar I came up with stays on the fridge and therefore in my face letting me know when I am slacking. You can see that May was not a great month...but I am determined to make June better!

And I started today by actually going for a run! My energy level has been better and since today was not too humid, I decided it was time to go. SO glad that we did! Not only was it fun and felt good, I got this cute picture too :-)


Only 2 more days until summer freedom! I can-not-wait.

Harbor Lights 5K

This past weekend J & A Racing had their inaugural Harbor Lights Half Marathon and 5K. My friends and I ran the 5K on Saturday. I have some strong opinions on this race. J&A usually does an awesome job and I have no complaints. This time though there were a few things left to be desired. 

1. The "expo". I've been to a fair amount of expos and packet picks ups and let me tell you they are VERY different. This was not an expo, this was a packet pick up. There is nothing wrong with a packet pick up, but I love to see the different vendors that an expo has and this had about 2 vendors and 4 other people just advertising stuff. It was disappointing. 

2. The J&A store is usually pretty good. They have great shirts, running gear, pint glasses and stemless wine glasses with the races' logo all over it. I was extra excited because the Harbor Lights logo included an anchor. They had a cute tank top I wanted to get for running with a big anchor on the front and also this really cute lightweight pull over hoodie with a big anchor on the front. This was the first day of the "expo" and they only had 2 hoodies left, both a size small. That was it. This made me so disappointed that I ended up buying nothing. 

3. It was in downtown Norfolk. If you've never been there, to be blunt, it is a bitch to get in and out of that place. 

4. It was FREEZING. Not that J&A could control this, but no one likes to freeze their butts off. Again, my fleece lined running pants are one of the best purchases I have ever made.

5. Since the course was through downtown Norfolk, it turned a lot. I actually really liked this because it kept it interesting. We also finished along the waterfront which was very pretty.  

6. Part of the race went down a cobblestone street. The cobblestones are actually ballast stones from old ships so they were way wonky. Most people moved to the sidewalks and since they were so crowded I decided to stay on the street since it was not all that long. I was good until the very end when we all turned back onto a regular street and I rolled my ankle. It still hurts today but I think it will be OK. It was fine for the rest of the race and did not start bothering me until Sunday.

7. The post race party was outside. We were comfortable for about 20 minutes after finishing and then the cold set back in. I did enjoy my Blue Moon, as pictured below. 

Cheers!

Before the race when we were still warm.

At packet pick up the night before. I thought the sailboats were too cute.

On a different note, I almost PR'ed. I ran each mile in under 10 minutes each and finished the whole thing in 30 minutes 51 seconds! I was so excited. I'm not gonna lie, it hurt. I had major cramps in my sides because I hadn't had enough water the night before but it was so worth it. I love running flat races. 

Next up??? Maybe the Surfin' Santa. I'm not sure yet. Stay tuned.

My weekend didn't end there though. Saturday night I was back in Richmond and had "friendsgiving" dinner with some old friends I had not seen in a long time. After dinner there was fun and late at night some deep chats around the fire pit. I wouldn't change a thing. Looking forward to the future :-)

Summer Kickoff 2014

Summer time and the livings easy!

So happy that it is finally summer once again. It is my favorite season of all time for so many reasons: it's warm (hot) out, I can swim at the river, I can wear flip flops and shorts everyday, no work...it's so fun. 

This weekend we went to the river and although I was unable to get a run in there I made up for it today. This summer is going to be a little trickier than I thought with not having B in day care and also not having him on my gym membership. I'm not going to get to use the gym like I thought I would and that makes me sad but I'm going to do the best I can. Anyways today I actually got up early and went for a quick run. The picture above is of the trail that I run almost every time I go out because it is at the end of my street. I got up early because it was going to be so hot today. Not only did I want to keep the kiddo out of the heat, I didn't really want to be in it either. The weather was great and it was getting pretty hot by the time I finished around 7:20AM. Unfortunately my hip decided to act up. It hurt to run on it about half way through and I had to stop and walk a bit. Then I decided to limp-run which I'm sure was a sight. After a few minutes of that I was able to run again without pain. Not really sure what changed or why it worked but it did. Now the outside of my hip is really hurting. I guess it's time to really start taking those PT exercises seriously again. 

On another note, last Thursday night the hubby and I had a quick date night at a place down in the bottom called On The Rox. It is right across the street from Tiki Bob's and is owned by the same people. It is a bar though, not a club. They were having a special that night and they had Sly Fox beers on tap. Sly Fox is a micro brewery in Pottstown, Pa which is where my husband lived and grew up. One of the times I was visiting him we ate there and had a good time. On Thursday I had a beer with raspberries and blackberries and it was really good. If you are looking for a quiet scene though, Rox is probably not your place. It is more of a bar than a restaurant but we had a good time even though it was a bit noisy for us-I guess we are getting old??? 

My 2 guys over the weekend. Happy Father's Day!!

The end of the school year is always a little bittersweet, especially when you teach a resource in elementary school. As an art teacher I have the same students for 6 years. I get to see them grow from 5 year old babies to 11 year old big kids ready to tackle middle school. It is fun to see how they change and to get to know them. These flowers were from a student who came to us just last year from China. He quickly became one of my favorites. He learned English extremely quickly and is an amazing artist. He came up to me during his last art class and asked if he could come back and visit me in 10 years. I had to laugh, of course! 

I survived my first year as a working mom and now I get to enjoy this view for the next 3 months. It is going to be a great summer. 

7 month check up

I meant to post this when he turned 6 months but time totally got away from me, so here is my 7 month check up!

I can't believe my baby is 7 months old already! Time really does fly. No one lies about that.

It's been a good seven months, a bit stressful at times, but good overall. We have a really great baby. He sleeps through the night and is so amazingly happy. He has two teeth coming in and the weekend that they broke through was a little rough but it was not nearly as bad as it could have been-or so I have heard. He was just a bit more fussy than is normal for him. He chews on everything and is into everything. At restaurants he wants to sit up and look at everything and touch everything. He started crawling "army man" style-using his arms to drag his body. This week he started using a leg too. Seeing him grow and meet these little mile stones is such a joy. Being a parent is amazing.

I mean seriously, how do you get over that much cuteness??

He was a parrot for Halloween ;-)

How am I doing? I went back to work in mid-October and it has been an adjustment. Being at work is fine and it was a smooth transition since I already know all the students and most days it actually feels good to be back. The kids missed me and were so excited to see me, it made me feel pretty good :-) My body and brain can fully function with little sleep now and with the help of a cup of coffee I perk up pretty quick. Getting up early isn't so bad once you have the routine down. It is also nice to get adult interaction during the day that isn't limited to my husband or tied into baby things.

The hard part is not having time left in the day for anything else. It's a struggle to get normal things done like keep the house clean or do the laundry. And you can forget reading a book or a magazine, browsing the internet and running. I have been able to get out of work on time and head to the gym for a little bit here and there. I worked a little with a personal trainer and she gave me a good strength training routine that I can do on my own in the gym without being locked into a class time. Although I really enjoy the classes that my gym offers, I don't think I will be taking any of them anytime soon. My knee bothered me for over 2 weeks after the 8K. Of course I am thinking the worst but I really need to get to a doctor and figure out what is going on and make it better. I really want to avoid having knee surgery at any point in my life.

Speaking of the knee injury, because of it I have not been able to run. A big part of me is wondering if my running days are done and this gives me a myriad of emotions that I cannot even express. Running has become such a huge part of who I am, I cannot imagine who I would be without it. It would be like someone taking away my artistic abilities. I would be utterly lost.

So that's where I am at the moment. Gearing up for Christmas and hoping I can hit the pavement again soon. 

Wicked 10K 2013

Happy Fall! My favorite time of year to run :-)


The other weekend was the Wicked 10K in Virginia Beach. After 2 very hectic weeks I was totally not ready for this race and I made a lot of rookie mistakes.

1. I haven't run in 2 weeks. This used to not be that big of a deal for me, but I now realize that I am starting from scratch. I cannot run as far or as fast as I used to and I am certainly not 10K ready at the drop of a hat. Back in 2008 I injured my hip flexor when I fell on some stairs. It hasn't bothered me in years but at the end of the race I couldn't put any weight on my right leg for awhile. This didn't do well with my left knee which was hurting and has been giving me trouble as well.

2. No stretching or warm up. We had B with us so we left the hotel a little late and the convention center parking lots were full....C eventually had to drop me off with 10 minutes till the start of the race. I jogged over to the corral and stretched a little but not enough.

3. I forgot to cut my toe nails.

4. I ate too much breakfast. We stayed at Hampton Inn so at least it was included in our stay.

This race a good lesson for me. I learned that I really need to make time to run during the week even if it is one mile, and get that long run in on the weekends. It is going to take some serious work to get me back to where I was and ready for a marathon next fall.

Aside from my mistakes, it was a good race. Virginia Beach was doing something with the sand so they couldn't have the post party on the beach this year. So the powers that be changed the race course and the finish was at the convention center instead of the boardwalk. I actually really liked the course this year. In the past you went south first and then north, and this year they switched it so you went north first. It was nice for it to be a little different.

The first year I ran this race the weather was gorgeous. The past two years it has been awful with downpours at the end and then super storm Sandy last year. This year it was gorgeous again. It was cold when it started but bright and sunny and beautiful when I finished. We didn't go in the post race party but we hung out outside while I stretched and recovered.

Half of my race support team!

The other half. He didn't last very long but he did really good!

We got great swag this year too! I love my travel mug since I am now a coffee drinker and actually use these every single morning.

We had a great little overnight trip and got the experience of having a baby in a hotel room. It actually wasn't too bad. He slept all night but I was super tired. Running perked me up for a bit but then I slept hard on the way home. 

Next up: HCA 8K. Also need to post the 6 month check up.