Let's Talk Costumes

Running costumes for the Wine and Dine half marathon that is. Yes, Halloween is coming, yes, I have 3 kids, and I'm sure they will be adorable, but this is my blog, not theirs.
Normally during training runs and non-Disney races, I don't get too fancy. Black Lululemon pace setter skirt and a tank top, or in the winter, black capris and a long sleeved tech shirt. I'm actually an introvert and I don't like drawing attention to myself, so the fun skirts and costumes sit at home during "normal" runs.
But Disney is not normal. It's perfectly acceptable to dress up while running Disney. Some people go all out, like DisBroads Amy, Patty, and Julie do, with full costumes.

But I discovered early in my training for my first half that I am a minimalist. I don't like all of these clothes on me when I'm running. Let's not confuse that with I don't like any clothes on me while running, because I've had 4 babies. I may look good for having 4 babies, but not good enough to ever run naked. But that doesn't mean I still can't have fun with my running outfit. I based my look on Minnie Mouse for the Princess Half Marathon this year.

A cute Sparkle Skirt, matching tank top, and some clip in Minnie ears. But even though those were light, my aversion to anything bothering me while I run won out, and the ears came off by mile two, as did the pigtails they were attached to. There I was, running towards the Magic Kingdom, yanking clip in ears out, stuffing them in a skirt pocket, taking out my pigtails and fixing my hair into one top knot. That was still one of my fastest miles during that race. And I still looked good when I finished.

For Wine and Dine, I thought of going for more of a costume, but ultimately I decided it would just end up irritating me during the race. Many of the girls I am doing this race with decided to go with a countries theme, since it is the Food and Wine Festival and since we will be finishing at Epcot. We've got Mexico and margaritas covered, Italy is there, the United States, Germany, lots of representations. I choose to do the UK, more specifically Scotland, for many reasons.

First, I have a heavy Scottish background. I spent a good part of last summer researching my ancestry and discovered that many of my family came over from England and Scotland. I'm even a descendant of the Blair clan, who are all related to John Blair. John Blair lived in Scotland over 700 years ago, and he was chaplain to William Wallace(think the movie Braveheart). I'm very proud of my heritage and it's something that fascinates me, so I figured what better way to pay homage than to represent Scotland during Wine and Dine, right? Second, my favorite Disney Princess, and also the newest Disney Princess, is Merida.

I love the movie Brave. Merida reminds me of me. Strong willed, stubborn, and independent. She's also Scottish. I decided to base my look around her. I started with the appropriately named Sparkle Skirt, called Destiny.

The Destiny skirt is a Sparkle tech skirt, with shorts underneath. The shorts have awesome pockets, pockets perfect for stuffing clip in mouse ears into when they start to annoy you. Or, you know, normal things, like Gu, a cell phone, or your camera for pictures along the course. It's a blue/teal color, matching Merida's dress perfectly. To go along with the Destiny skirt, I've got a top by Raw Threads Warrior shirt.

I have the tank top version and it matches almost perfectly with the Destiny skirt. I contemplated a red Merida wig, but seeing how annoyed I was with just Minnie ears, I knew that would never last. I'm still on the lookout for a matching Sweaty Band, but once I have it, I'll consider my outfit complete. Are you the type of person who likes to dress up during races?

Disney's Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend Countdown-37 Days

It's building, can you feel it? You know that excited feeling you get in your stomach as your Disney trip approaches? Like you are a child and Christmas is getting closer? Yes, of course you know that feeling. Well I'm happy to report, it has arrived. But April, you say, you kind of have another half marathon halfway across the country 13 days before Wine and Dine, shouldn't you be focusing on that? Yes, and I am. I rocked out an 11.22 mile run this past Saturday. I actually got out of bed at 5:30 in the morning(and if you know me at all, you will realize that even with 3 kids, I am not a morning person) to get my training run in before my son's 9 am soccer game. The official Jeff Galloway training plan put out by runDisney called for 11 miles, but I felt like an overachiever that day and added almost an extra quarter of a mile, and I still made it to the soccer game, with the team snacks in hand. I am a rock star mom. But let's be honest. While I am excited for the Rock N Roll half marathon in St. Louis at the end of this month, excited to set a new PR, excited to visit family, it's not Disney. There won't be fireworks when I start, there won't be a character along the way, and I won't be running through the most magical place on earth. I will actually be running through the city of St. Louis, which many years has been voted the most dangerous city in the US, so you can see where the hesitation comes in. But the training plan calls for a 14 miles run that weekend anyway, so I might as well drive 700 miles and earn a medal to get those training miles in right? Plus the medal is pretty awesome.
Yes, RnR is but a training run for the big show. I only have the Princess Half Marathon under my belt, and the Wine and Dine half marathon is a different ballgame. In a lot of ways, it's bigger than PHM weekend for me, and that's saying a lot, because PHM weekend was EPIC for me this year. Unfortunately, in order to convince the boss man, aka my husband, that I NEEDED to run this race, I needed to cut down on costs(especially because I'm still looking forward to the Tinkerbell Half in California in January and the Glass Slipper Challenge in Florida in February). I had to make this a quick trip. I'm flying down on Friday morning and flying home on Sunday afternoon. But that doesn't mean that I am not going to pack every waking minute with magic, oh no, every second will be sprinkled with pixie dust.

The first big part of my trip is Magical Express. Yes, Magical Express. Magical Express is Disney's complimentary shuttle service to their resorts. A big wonderful bus that runs on hopes, dreams, pixie dust and Dole whips. I've never take Magical Express. Living within 500 miles and having 3 children, we usually find it cheaper to drive, but this time, with me on my own and my ability to score a killer deal on plane tickets, I am flying down. This means I will need to get from the airport to Disney, so lucky trip #7 earns me a ride. I can't wait. My Magical Express ride will drop me off at a new to me resort, Port Orleans French Quarter.

There are so many awesome Disney resorts to choose from, so with each trip, I like to stay at a different resort. I've only stayed at the same resort twice, Coronado Springs. We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside in 2009, and enjoyed it, so I'm looking at staying at the resort right next to it. First stop will be the famous beignets. Everyone talks about the beignets, and I am running a half marathon that weekend, so we are going to ignore the large amount of sweets I plan to eat, and call it carb loading. The best part of where I am staying is who I am staying with. Wine and Dine weekend is one big Disbroad party. The Disbroads is a small group of ladies who love Disney and running Disney. I will be reunited with my BRF(best running friend) Patty. Patty is pretty much entirely responsible for my love of runDisney. At PHM this year, she introduced me to two of her BRFs, Amy and Julie. Us, along with a few other girls I will talk more about later, call ourselves the Disbroads, and we know how to rock Disney. Patty is staying at the resort, as are all of the other ladies. Amy, Julie and me(along with one other girl) are rooming together. Sleep over!! Friday evening we have dinner reservations at Liberty Tree Tavern. To me, this is the best place for a pre-race meal. It's just like a good Thanksgiving dinner, so you get your lean protein(turkey) and plenty of carbs. It's delicious to boot. While this did have to be a trim weekend for me, we did score tickets to the opening night of Mickey's Very Magical Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom. I think this is what I'm most excited about. I. Love. Christmas. Like really, really love Christmas. I keep this up year round for the countdown.

Aside from really loving Christmas, it's an obvious fact that I really love Disney as well. Put the two together, and I'm in heaven. I've never been able to get down that way around Christmas time, so this will be my first. Characters dressed in festive wear, Christmas carols, snow, hot cocoa and I'm excited. We get to ride rides and have dinner and just have a merry time. This is also the first time I have been since the new FastPass+ system went into testing, and I've already reserved FastPasses to meet Rapunzel and Cinderella at the Fairytale Hall . While many people love the rides at Disney parks, I love the characters. I love being able to book a fastpass to check out the attractions I want to check out in advance. All of that excitement(including the Expo, which I didn't even mention!) is reserved just for Friday. Saturday will be just as jam packed. Beignets for breakfast, more time with the 'broads, more time at the Expo(I do have to score an I Did It Shirt and a medal for my Vinylmation runDisney Mickey after all), lunch at Kona, all before the pre-race festivities and the race, that starts at 10pm. I know a lot of people are concerned with the night race, but not me. As I mentioned above, mornings and I aren't exactly besties. I seem to do my best when running at night, so I think I will do much better with a 10pm start, opposed to the 5:35 am start I faced at PHM. This race takes a different route than PHM did, including different parks. PHM went through Magic Kingdom and Epcot, while Wine and Dine goes through all park except for Magic Kingdom. This includes Hollywood Studios, and if you aren't familiar with Hollywood Studios at Christmas, then you don't know about the Osborne Lights. I have looked at pictures and watched Disney specials featuring these lights, lights that would put Clark Griswold's house to shame. I'm in love.

Running through these lights is going to be nothing short of amazing. I actually think I will enjoy this course more than I will the Princess course. After the race is an after party in Epcot. An exclusive party, with rides being open and food food food. Wine and Dine coincides with the Food and Wine Festival, and there are lots of treats to taste during the after party around the world at Epcot. We know I love Christmas, we know I love Disney, well I also love food, and I've been saving my pennies just to eat all the food!

Sunday will be my lazy day, sleeping until Mousekeeping knocks on my door at 11 am to kick me out. I will have to make the sad trip home, but I'll be ready to see my family. Plus, it'll be jjust two short months until I get to visit Disneyland for the first time, for the Tinkerbell Half Marathon, the first half of my pink Coast 2 Coast medal journey.

Davidson Run For the Green 10k-9/21/2013

I mentioned a week or two ago training for a local 10k and running the preview course(you can find that post here) During that preview run, I managed to run my fasted 10k, in 1:04:16. I was looking forward to this race, in hopes of coming close to that time officially, so I could submit it for my upcoming Disney races for better corral placement. The last official 10k time I have is from last October, when I ran one in 1:09 and change. Now that's still a decent time but for the "girl" oriented races like the Tinkerbell half or the Princess half, this is still rather middle of the pack. I did fine running in the middle of the pack this year, so perhaps it's a pride thing, wanting to be in an earlier corral. Just having an earlier corral on my bib was something I dreamed of. I will admit though, I had no idea this race would turn out the way it would(dun dun dun, foreshadowing). On Friday evening, I had a party to attend. Now remember guys, I'm 30, so when I say party, it doesn't involve drinking or dancing. It involves Pinterest and crafting. I did manage to pump out this beauty for my front door, pretty proud of my creation.

During my party night, I made my wreath, and I ate. I ate a lot. And it was all junk. Not exactly the best pre-race fuel. There was pizza, there were cookies, pumpkin cake, apple crisp, lots of fall goodies, and I ate it all. I did stay away from the soda and kept hydrating with lots of water. I tried to leave early, but I didn't end up getting home until midnight. I still had to get my race stuff ready for the following morning, since I didn't want to go rustling through the house at 6 am and chance waking up children, leaving a very unhappy husband. I didn't end up in bed until after 12:30, making the 6am alarm call rather unpleasant. But my choices had been made and the alarm went off at 6 am. I got up, drank a smidge of coffee, my Carnation Instant Breakfast, I took my Energy Bits and made sweet love to my inhalers. Here's another problem that I had run into before the race. Last weekend, my two younger daughters developed a lovely cough. No fever, just crud, but I caught it. I fought it hard during the week, pumping myself full of water and vitamins and by Friday, I still felt on the verge of getting sick. I wasn't officially sick, I'd wake up with a sore throat each morning, and had the smallest cough, just enough to make things annoying when running. I made it through my short training runs but the 3 miles I did Thursday evening had me a bit worried, as I had that little tickle I couldn't shake. I was worried so I started with my inhaled steroids and rescue inhaler that night. Friday I still felt a bit rough, but thank goodness when I woke up Saturday morning, my morning congestion wasn't there. I left my house at 6:30, race time was 7:40 and it was local. I met up with the local MRTT girls who were running, most were running the half marathon, but a few of us, including a fellow Princess in training(also going for proof of time), were running the 10k. The weather was a bit warmer than it had been earlier in the week and it was a tad muggy, but still somewhat comfortable. We did the usual group picture, the half marathoners started at 7:30 so we have time to line up and wait before we started with the 5k runners. At 7:40, no gun, no bull horn, just a shout of "GO!" and we were off. My goal was to keep up with one of our MRTT leaders, Heather(you can find her blog here), who runs at a slightly faster pace than me, for as long as I could. I stayed right behind and as we hit the first mile, my Garmin told me I had run it in less than 9 minutes. I "prefer" to stay at 10 minute miles and call that pushing it and normally when I see this kind of pace, I tell myself to back off, that I will kill myself early and really slow down after the first 3 miles. But I was in a different mindset yesterday. I decided not to back off early. I knew I was facing the uphill climb back up the Patrick Johnston hill, so I figured it would be best to keep going faster than I like to, until I hit that hill and was forced to slow down. I got the first 5k in, and was still moving in record time. I broke my personal best for the 5k by a minute. It was at this point when a thought entered my mind, something I never thought would be possible. One of my worst habits is short changing myself. Months ago, when I got left in the dust attempting to run with the main group of MRTT girls, I resigned to never being "fast" and was ok with it. But I kept going and I started keeping up with them. I always underestimate what I can do, and it's a pleasant surprise when I do do it. Another thing I never thought would be possible was a sub one hour 10k. I've seen others do it plenty of times, I figured I would be able to get down to 1:02, but never under an hour. Hitting the halfway point yesterday at 28 minutes and change, I started to wonder if it would be possible after all. I started calculating numbers in my head, where I'd need to be for each mile to get there. I was hot and sweaty by this point, but in the zone.

Somewhere between there and mile 4, I passed a very special woman, someone I'd been looking for. Her name is Margret. She was doing the half marathon and she is 90 years old. Yes, 90. A year younger than my frail little grandmother. She is the world record holder for being the oldest person to complete half marathons on all 7 continents. She did finish yesterday. Amazing.

As I passed her, I clapped for her and she smiled at me. I felt renewed. I doubted that this woman had ever told herself something wasn't possible. So why should I tell myself that a 10k in under an hour wasn't possible? I kept going. I passed water stations, not wanting to slow down. I reached the hill I had been dreading and I plugged away going up. I knew I was going to slow down and as I climbed by body, especially my lungs, screamed at me to stop. I had started wheezing and as I got to the top, I hit the first time ever when running that I'd wished I had my inhaler. I coughed things loose and kept running. As I hit the 5th mile, I noticed my music had started over. I have enough songs in my playlist to ensure that this doesn't happen. Music is a huge mental "thing" for me. I NEED my most beloved tunes to keep my mind going and I did not want to hear the same song twice. Sorry Selena Gomez, nothing personal. I kept running as I fumbled around with my armband and got tangled in my headphone wires trying to get new tunes going. I shut down my Nike app and found a song I could deal with on repeat for the last mile, put my phone back, untangled myself from the wires once again, and kept running. I was coming up on 56 minutes with a half mile to go. I knew I would have to speed up even more to get in under an hour, so I picked up the pace. My legs were dying but my spirit was not giving up. I hit the 6th mile and knew the finish line was close when I hit it. A hill. Seriously? I have to finish this up hill? While less than pleased, I kept pushing. I saw the finish line and and the gun time clock was ticking, 59:40, and climbing. I got closer, 59:50, 51, 52, 53. I crossed the finish line at 59:56. I tried my best not to completely burst into tears. My eyes filled but I held off crying. I realized that at the beginning of the Patrick Johnston hill, I had passed Heather. She didn't pass me again, meaning I finished before this woman that I have been trying to chase for a good year, even if she was taking it easy. She crossed the finish line less than a minute after I did and she was so proud of me for having done a sub hour race. We drank our water and our chocolate milk and waited for the half marathon runners to finish. I was beyond elated. There I was, fueled by pizza and assorted baked goods from the night before, with less than 6 hours of sleep, breaking a time goal that I hadn't even made because I didn't think I could come close. I couldn't wait to get home and download my splits.

You can see the mile that involved Captain Johnston, and it is still faster than normal. This just means I've been holding back. I've been told I should reevaluate my half marathon goals, and I think I will. The biggest thing for me is purely not liking to push myself. I don't like being uncomfortable and going all out. I want to keep something in my tank. But after yesterday, seeing the payoff of pushing myself to the point of misery, it definitely seems worth it. Final results were posted last night, and my chip time was a tad lower, officially 59:46. I've already submitted all of this new info to runDisney, natch. I came to the realization that if estimated finish times break down in a similar fashion to this year's PHM corrals, this time is good enough for Corral A. Me. A Corral A runner. As hard as yesterday's race felt, the idea of that makes up for it.

Rock N Roll St. Louis/Wine and Dine Half Marathons Training

I'm sure I've mentioned this, but in the coming weeks, I am registered for not one, but 2 half marathons. As the Princess Half approached this year, I could already feel the post race blues coming on, and I hadn't even done that race yet. I needed something else on the books to keep me going after PHM. I will admit, my motivation to run isn't super high, and if I don't have something to train for, I really think running would be sporadic. I don't love running. I love a lot of the side effects of running, but the actual activity itself, well if I have the choice to sit and veg or run, I'm sitting and being lazy. It's something I still struggle with after a year of running. So during the cold winter months, registration opened with a good discount code, and I registered. Boy was that cheaper than a Disney race. At the time I had no hopes of doing another Disney race until Princess 2014. But March and the Wine and Dine half registration came closer to opening, and I got caught up in the frenzy, registering the day registration opened. The interesting part is that they are 13 days apart, with RnR STL on Oct 27 and Wine and Dine on Nov 9. Now plenty of people do half marathons close together, no big deal. But I barely made it through my first half. I was injured for a good chunk of training and I slowly chugged along. I only got up to 10 miles before that race and many factors contributed to me slowly finishing that race. The weather was ugly and I was hurting in a bad way. The last couple of miles felt like death and I didn't ever want to do it again. That didn't stop me from keeping up with my plans for 2 half marathons in 13 days in the fall. I did my time in physical therapy for my knee, I threw my money at every massage therapist and chiropractor I could and by May I was finally doing better. I still kept my miles low until July rolled around and I started on a more regular training plan for these races. The good news is, according to the Jeff Galloway training plan, I am supposed to run 14 miles two weeks before that half, so a half marathon will do. I'm also rather curious about what time I can really run a half in, now that I'm not injured, with conditions not as sweltering, and fully trained. I plan on taking the Wine and Dine half kind of easy, I want to enjoy it, so RnR will be my race for time. I finished PHM in 2:48, which was still decent given the conditions and the fact that I did stop for 4 pictures. I've been climbing in miles well and I'm thrilled with how well training is going. By the time I got to 6-7 miles in PHM training, I was hurting, so when I did 8, 9 and 10 miles, it was slow and ugly. I limped for days after each run. It's so refreshing to see how well longer runs go now when I'm not hurting. 2 weekends ago, I climbed to 8 miles. This was only the 4th time I've gone to 8 miles or higher. My speed has improved over the months and I am finally able to keep up with a lot of the local girls, albeit barely. But months ago, I couldn't keep up for even a quarter of a mile, so I will take the improvement, even if they are chatting away and I'm just trying not to die. It was warm and muggy outside and a hilly course. The course was a preview course for a 10k I am doing next weekend. I added on miles since I needed 8. The course has one ugly part, and when I say ugly, I mean ugly. Locals call it Captain Johnson.

As you can see, it's a short hill. Maybe .15 miles. Going down is great, going up is not, as it's a steep climb. I slowed to a crawl going up this hill, but I made it running. Even with having to climb what I felt like was Mount Everest, I still finished that run averaging less than 10:30 per mile over the 8 miles.

I also set a new 10k PR, shaving over a minute off of the previous PR I had set two weeks before.

This excites me, because it's been so long since I've had an official 10k time to report. If I can manage this during a training run, I'm confident everything goes well and I can repeat during the 10k next weekend. My previous official 10k was from last October and my time was over 1:09. This will be a much better time to submit to Disney for better corral placement. After those 8 miles, my runner's high quickly worn off. I will admit that in the 2 weeks since then, my motivation tank has gone from full to nearly empty. I have been skipping one of my weekday runs since we've had some soccer interruptions and it's still been hot. Last weekend, I shamefully admit that I skipped my long run altogether. I know I can't lose steam this late in the game, when I'm so close to being done. I went out Friday morning, and this lead to a bad run, but at least a run where I met my goal. I had 9.5 miles on tap for this weekend. I scheduled my long run with other local girls, the girls that I huff and puff keeping up with. I knew I needed to run with other people to keep me going for 9.5 miles, but part of me was dreading trying to keep as close to a 10 minute pace as possible for that long. But I prepared my body for that mileage today, knowing I'd need it. I headed out early this morning to meet up with the group. Lucky for me, a couple of other girls who take things a bit slower had showed up and we decided to set out. They were doing run/walk intervals as one girl, in the middle of marathon training, had been battling injuries, and even if it was slower than I normally do, I was ok with chilling out a bit. My body thanked me for it. I. Felt. Great. I did a lot of miles with these girls during training for PHM so it was nice to catch up with them. Good conversation made the miles go by quickly. I didn't find myself begging for the end. I actually decided to run a bit longer, and ended up doing over 10 miles. Our pace was over 11 minutes, I could have gone faster, but I was comfortable and I felt like I could have kept going.

I felt great after, and have all day. I'm not sore, no aches or pains, I'm not limping. This is one of the rare moments where I actually enjoy running itself. I took a look at the last time I did 10 miles, 2 weeks before PHM. My pace was much slower and even though I was with a group of girls, it couldn't have been over fast enough. I felt ready to die and I was miserable. I was not comfortable during and I wasn't comfortable after, like I was during both today.

I'm very pleased with the progress and looking forward to my 10k next weekend, and climbing to 11 miles the weekend after.

30 Is The New 20

Or is it? What does that mean really? Turning 30 has given me the chance to reflect on this statement, and it's made me realize that 30 is not the new 20. I certainly don't want to be a 20 year old again. After I turned 25, the age thing became a down hill slope for me. Ugh, I was closer to 30 than I was 20, and time seemed to speed up as I raced towards 30. Turning 28 and approaching 29 left me less than thrilled. What had I really done in life? But then 29 came and things started to look up. 30 was not going to be knock knock knocking on heaven's door. 30 was going to be awesome. It was at age 29 that I decided I was not going to limp sluggishly into the following year. When I turned 29 it looked like that's exactly what would happen, but I became determined not to let that happen. Let's look back at age 20 for me. I had my first child young, I was only 19. He was born 5 months before I turned 20. He only lived for 2 months and 12 days, so at the ripe old age of 19, I became a mother and experienced the loss of my child, a loss that would ruin a woman of any age. For a long time, it did ruin me. 20 was not a good year for me. I spent that year trying to drown my sorrows in whatever I could. I lived hard and partied harder. I didn't go into mourning, I was in full on self destruct mode. I had absolutely no direction and did nothing with my life that year, and didn't do much in the following year either. I straightened up and got on track a bit more when I got pregnant with my 2nd child, whom I gave birth to just before turning 22, but even after that it took me a good amount of time for my head to settle on my shoulders. It wasn't until I turned 23 and met my now husband that I realized my life was going nowhere, and that wasn't fair to me or my son. I went back to school, worked and graduated before our family grew again and we moved halfway across the country. After I turned 29, I made the choice to take more control in my life. Things were great, I had an amazing husband, 3 wonderful, healthy children, we had a nice home, lived in a nice area, what more could I want? Well for starters, to be my own person. I'd spent the previous few years playing wife and mother, and I felt like nothing more than an extension of my family. I wanted to do something big, something for me. Because I wasn't paying enough attention to me, while I was absolutely happy, I wasn't completely satisfied. This might sound selfish, but it's the truth. I didn't take enough care of myself. This reflected in the way I looked.

Now I wasn't by any means obese, but I was overweight, especially for me. I had no desire to exercise and ate with little restraint. I was unhappy with the way I looked but constantly putting everyone else first, helping myself came last and usually not at all. I refused to turn 30 like that, not just with the extra pounds, but putting myself last. A few months after turning 29 I made the leap and registered for the Princess Half, with no training under my feet. I was determined to make that half marathon happen before turning 30 and I did. I lost a lot of weight a long the way but I gained a lot of confidence and a whole new sense of self. I made new friends and reached out to old ones. I took time to make myself happy, even if others call that selfish. If a bit of time and work on myself gives my kids a better mother, then I'm totally cool with being selfish.

So let's look at me at 30. I look darn good after having 4 kids. Probably better than I did at 20(I went through a blonde phase, it was a bad look for me). I have a college degree, I didn't at 20. I have direction and confidence, also things lacking at 20. I was smart at 20, had plenty of knowledge, but little wisdom to be found. Now I have both. I have a better idea of who I am at 30,I have more insight, more compassion. I make smart and healthy choices now at 30, definitely not the case at 20. I take care of myself, body and mind at 30. So 30 being the new 20? No thanks, I think I will keep my 30s, and if 30 is this much better than 20 and things keep going like they are, 40 is going to be amazing.

It's the Most Wonderfullll Time Of the Year

No, not Christmas time, although that really is the most wonderful time of the year in my book. It's coming, soon enough folks. The *other* most wonderful time of the year, at least for parents. Back to school. After weeks of "I'm bored." "What are we going to do today?" "She hit me." and the screaming and fighting and poking and looking at each other cross eyed, respite. I am extra excited this year, because my middle child started pre-k, which means she joins her big brother at the elementary school, for nearly a full day of school, 5 days a week. Last year she only went to preschool, 3 days a week, for 3 hours each day. It cost a pretty penny each month and gave me just enough time 3 days a week to begin to enjoy a bit of peace before going to pick her up. My youngest child is still at home, but she is a completely different child when her sister is not around. She's calm, she's focused, she's sweet and she's quiet on her own. Put her with her sister and she goes from zero to banshee in 2.7 seconds. Finally, a break. Monday was the first day of school for my oldest, but the real trouble maker my middle daughter didn't start until today, as they stagger the young kids in, a few each day. I was quite excited after drop-off this morning.

Yes, I was that mom, jumping for joy in the parking lot. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids, more than life itself, they are my entire world. But we all need a break. Time to grocery shop, and actually be able to buy what is on the list, instead of getting halfway through and giving up because the kids just aren't cooperating. Yes, I've chosen to do without milk for a day or so, because my only other option was taking all 3 kids to the store and well, moo juice just isn't worth that. Time to go to the bathroom without someone jiggling the handle, and heaven forbid I forget to lock the door. Time to fold laundry without wondering who is into what, time to shower AND shave, and most importantly, time to work. I am not a stay at home mom, I'm a work from home mom. Luckily my job offers the flexibility to work whenever I want. During the summer, with all of the kids at home, I had to work at night, staying up until 2 am to get things done. Now having to get up at 7 am to get the day started and kids ready for school, I can't stay up that late. With 2 of the 3 kids at school, I can get things done during the day now. But the school year starting isn't all roses. With the start of the school year also comes the start of fall sports. So not only am I juggling teacher meetings and homework, but also soccer practice and gymnastics. 3 out of 5 weeknights are spent on the field or in the gym with the kids. Since I am up earlier, I'm tired earlier. I am normally a night time runner, and during the summer it's much easier for me to run at night. I am not as busy and have more energy to run in the evenings after the kids go to bed, plus I am not up as early as I am during the school year. Now, getting up at 7 am, getting kids ready and off to school, spending the day working and playing with the youngest, getting the older kids from school at separate times, afternoon snacks, homework, laundry, dishes, dinner, gymnastics or soccer practice, well come bed time I really don't feel like going for a run. I will if I have to but it's not high on my list. I also have the option of running during the day with the baby in the stroller but pushing the nearly 30 pound toddler in the 20 pound stroller, regardless of how well it glides, is also not high on my list. But there are no excuses when it comes to getting my running and training in, and it has to be done. So I've improvised a bit. Typically my weekday runs are on Tuesday and Thursday, the days my oldest has soccer practice from 6:30-7:45. Last week during practice I sat with the other moms and stared at my smartphone. Last week I also only managed to run one weeknight. So this week I changed up my plan a bit. Instead of sitting, I decided to run. The soccer complex is huge and has great running trails, so after dropping my son off on his field, I laced up my running shoes, slapped my phone in my armband and did my miles.

I have to say, it made me feel dedicated. It was hot. Ugly hot and humid, but I did it and will do it again tomorrow.

MRTT Running Mad 10k

I kind of hit the jackpot with my local Moms Run This Town group. Our chapter puts on some awesome events. A few times a year, the national group holds a virtual event. Most people sign up through them, they do their miles on their own time, get their medal in the mail. But my local chapter makes it a big deal. We set a time and place, and we all do it together. There is a well mapped course, great moral support, lots of local moms and swag. We did the Winter Runnerland in January, and our group got together this past Saturday to do the Running Mad 5k/10k. I went into this race hopeful. The previous week I had killed my 6 mile run. I knew I was looking at a PR for this 10k. Now to be fair, the last official 10k time I had is from last October, and I was still rather fresh from the running mother's womb. I've run that distance here and there, but not for several months and I had not beat the time of 1:09:54 that I had last year. I was so close last week during my weekend long run, but the end of my route stopped me 1/10 of a mile short, so I refused to count it. One thing was different from last Sunday though. It. Was. Nasty. Outside.

100% humidity without it actually raining. A few of the girls needed extra miles that day so they met for 5 miles before the race. When they came back, they were just soaked. I didn't think it felt that hot out there, but I was very glad that I decided to bring my water belt with me. I had hydrated well the day before, close to a gallon of water just to be on the safe side. Before the run I downed my Gu and my Energy Bits(Breakfast of Champions, yo) and some Powerade(which I normally try to stay away from). We set off and I could already tell I was coming out of the gate too fast. I looked at my Garmin and saw I was running at under a 9 minute mile, which is way fast for me on a cool day. I slowed down a bit. On a side note, I'm really pleased with the fact that I've learned to control my pace. It wasn't long before I was soaked in sweat. But I still felt ok. I managed right at 10 minute miles for the first 5k. The 2nd 5k brought hills. As my BRF Patty says, hills are our own personal Wil Wheaton. Hills are my arch nemesis.

For over a half of a mile, a slow and steady up hill. I was already hot and this long uphill climb was not my friend. But I kept climbing. Sure, I climbed slower than I had been going, but I kept going. This 5k was an out and back loop so it meant on the way back, I would be able to make up the slow ascent with a rapid descent. This gave me a bit of comfort. I made my way through the final 5k and even in the heat, I knew I was still looking at a PR, the only question was how much time would I shave off? That same hill coming back down, with the combo of the gummies I'd eaten and one of my favorite songs popping up on my IPhone, and I was feeling good. I made my way back to the finish, and I hit it, my PR. Here I am, checking my Garmin, and smiling in sweaty pleasure.

There it is, 1:05:26, exactly 4 minutes and 28 seconds better than my previous PR. I was hot, I was salty, I was literally dripping with liquid awesome. I have been advised by a fellow running club member that it is not sweat, it is liquid awesome. But either way, I was dripping, I don't think I have ever been so sweaty, er awesome, before. But I was happy.

Happy, yes, but satisfied? No, not completely. I know I can do better, given better conditions. So I have decided to sign up for another 10k at the end of September, the weekend before the Lungstrong 15k. While I will have to face climbing up Captain Johnson(this is foreshadowing people, you will have to wait until that race report to be formally introduced to the Captain), I still think I can make good time in this race. Until then, I'll stay awesome with this race.