Life happens.

Work.

Cook.

Laundry.

Dishes.

Drive kids places.

Clean bathrooms.

Balance checkbook.

Grocery shop.

Cut coupons.

Youth church activities.

Vaccum

Repeat.

I shouldn't complain, but these are the main reasons that I didn't get the 83 mile challenge completed during the month of October.  I had GREAT intentions, but, as we see, intentions aren't everything.  I need to make more time in my life to run and not feel guilty that the laundry isn't done or that dinner will be late.  Easier said than done.  Add to the mix a weekend in the mountains, a sore throat, and a morning that I slept through my alarm by one whole hour (!), and my grand total was 61.01 miles run. 

November will be better.  Either a new challenge will be issued by Tall Mom, or, I'll continue on and try again for the 83 mile challenge on my own.  I'm off to a good start with November 1st happening and I'm up one 4 mile run! 

And, November brings a couple of fun events... my church is sponsoring a 5K on November 20th - (free!) and then my family always runs in the Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot... not free but always lots of fun (think straw bales to leap over and mud puddles to either jump or leap over!)

Our mountain weekend proves that there is fall happening somewhere...
But, also contributed to my not finishing my 83 miles for October!

Here's to a more balanced November!

As the day began, my family found ourselves standing at the start line of the annual Get Moving Tucson 5K and 10 mile run.  The weather was crisp, fall weather, still shorts and t-shirts, but this is the desert we live in.  Any temperature below 80º is crisp and fall!  I was very thankful that it was a good twenty degrees cooler than at the same time last week when I was doing my final long training run. 

Son wasn't too happy to have his picture taken, but I know he was pretty excited to be there.  How?  He got out of bed *willingly*... which is a feat and a half if you take into account the attitude of a 13 year old boy!  He was also pretty excited that it wasn't 100º out, which seemed to be the case for almost every cross country race he was in this fall. 

My friend Ann was also in town visiting this weekend, so, even though she wasn't sure about doing this event, she signed up at the last minute after her kids decided to get up at an insane, predawn time.  I'm even more impressed since she is pregnant, due in April, running on very little sleep, and still turned out to do the 5K.  I'm not sure I would have done the same.

All runners started at the same time, but split off in different directions about a quarter mile into the race.  Philip was out like a bunny and finished in under 20 minutes.  He was 17th overall.  Pretty good for a field of about 400 people!  He was disappointed that they divided winning age groups into five year increments, except for the under 20 crowd, so, his time wasn't all that fast when you're running against college kids, but, if he had been in a normal under 14 age group, prizes would have been going his way!  As you can see from the picture, he and Ann finished in plenty of time to take advantage of the yummy treats at the finish line.  I was still out running.

My goal was to finish in under 1:30.  I did 1:29:11.  Yay for me!  I was exact middle of the pact, eleventh in my age group, nothing special.  It was lots of fun being on a new run though.  We went through lots of warehouse type districts just south of downtown.  I saw some funky brick walls that it would be fun to take photos of my kids in front of someday.  I figured out what the Basket Bridge is after having heard about it for years.  Not only did I run under it, I ran over it as well!  Then, I looked up at one point when I got to the part of the run that was at the turn around of an out and back, and downtown looked SO far away.  It didn't help that my left butt cheek was sore.  Not horribly, but I could feel it with every step I took.  That and I drank too much water before the race and needed a porta potty.  By about mile 7, I had succumbed to the fact that porta pottys were not going to materialize at any point in the last 3 miles, my bum was going to be sore no matter what I did, so I just sucked it up and enjoyed the view and running in the middle of a normally busy street.  Would I do it all again?  Yes... just hopefully this next time I would be smart enough to empty my bladder before I began.  I'll let you know about the bottom soreness... it still is today. 

Finished!

Special thanks to Daughter who came and took pictures and watched Ann's kids while we were off running to fame and glory... or at least some well deserved pastries!

Race day is almost upon us!

I'm excited for tomorrow to happen.  Mostly.

I'm excited because this race is part of a much larger festival that is huge for this city.  I'm excited to be racing in an event with Son.  I'm excited that it's going to be a beautiful morning weather-wise here.  I'm excited that I get to run on streets that will be closed to traffic.  I'm excited to go try some yummy ethnic food after the race. 

I will soon be able to wear my newest t-shirt!

I'm not excited that I have had a sore throat this week.  I'm not excited that I only ran on Thursday morning because that was the first day I actually felt like getting out of bed.  I'm really not excited that my voice sounds like someone who's smoked a pack or two a day for the last 50 years.

Cool socks, but could his bedroom be any messier??

I did take Son to go pick up our bib numbers and shirts today.  Son decided that he would buy some new running socks while we were at the Running Shop today.  I think they look like a fun thing to wear in a race.  I hope he does well! (I hope I finish! GULP!)

My next hot run...

Will have someone running along next to me carrying this.  And if it happens to be next to a beach, all the better!  I got started later than I planned yesterday and it was hot.  Summer hot.  It wasn't so bad when there was shade, but that full force sun was killing me.  Did I mention it was only 8am?  I did manage to get in 9.7 miles (the 10 miler is in a week!), but those last few miles were laced with hallucinations of popcicles, ice cold sodas, and Icees.  I got home to none of that (not even any cold water in the fridge!), so I found some frozen cherries in the freezer.  Heaven.  It was better for me in the long run than the items in my dreams!

My new October total is 13.7 miles. :)

I need to quit finding cute shirts.



I hope someone is getting all of these cute shirts this week!



This has certainly been the week of me seeing cute shirts I want.  My bank account would really be suffering if I had ordered all of them at this point!  So, yes, I am back to tell you about *more* cute shirts.  If you have been getting them all, know that I am really jealous and want to come raid your closet.  I came across Running Chics today... and I really think this belongs in my fall wardrobe.  I would love to have one so much that I even found a blog giveaway for one.  Crossing my fingers that I win!



And, October is off to a great start with 4 sluggish miles run this morning.  Yes, they were horribly sluggish.  I won't even tell you what my pace was.  I prefer to call it "slogging". I then went off and found an 83 mile challenge to do for October.  Only 79 miles left! (It had better cool down LOTS soon!  It was 103ºF yesterday!).  Happy Friday and have a happy running weekend as well!

Running... a family thing!

Son just finished up his junior high cross country season on Tuesday.  He went out thinking he was going to do really well.... and, well, I was scared to watch!  So many scenarios went through my mind... nothing horribly bad, just him not doing as well as he wanted to for one reason or another.  In short, the mom in me didn't want him to be disappointed.  He ended up coming in 7th.  It was a pretty exciting eleven plus minutes (If I could only run 1.9 miles even CLOSE to that time!).  I watched with my eyes half shut.  Maybe scared if I watched I would jinx him?  I don't know.  He got a medal though.  The team came in second in the division... one point separated them and the champions!

Not a photo from this week's race, but I love the determination in his face!

Meanwhile, Husband is trying to decide whether or not to run a December marathon.  He's never done one before.  Neither have I, so I don't have a lot of advice to offer on the subject, other than spousal support.  It sounds intriguing.  Running a marathon is on my list of things I would like to do by age 40.  It will take a lot of planning to get one to work.  Getting the mileage in at this point would kill me.  Well, not kill me, but the laundry would pile up (not that it doesn't already!) and we would end up subsisting on processed food (have I mentioned my obsession lately with trying to eat more food that is less processed??).  Only 2.5 years to work it into my schedule.  Maybe we will come into some sort of inheritance during that time in which I can hire a maid and a cook.

I love this shirt.  I'd buy them for the whole family if Daughter was a runner!  I saw them on Mel's blog with her cute kids wearing them.  Too bad dancing is Daughter's thing or they would make for a great Christmas picture!

What is it about me finding cute t-shirts this week?

Five things...

That made my Sat morning 9 mile run worth it...

5. Feeling strong the whole time I was out.  While running along, I did my mental body check and realized that I felt great!

4. Knowing that this was a much better run than the ones that had happened all week long.  Monday's run was hot (85º @ 4:30am) and Wednesday's run was taken over by being followed by a dog.  Once I found out that it was not going to savagely attack me, it ran 2 miles with me.  But then I spent a half hour trying to figure out where it lived.  Friday, well, I was looking forward to the weekend and was not being as focused as I should have been!

3. I ate a whole bunch of York Mints when I got home.  The kind that are really bad for you.  These were probably especially bad since they were pumpkin shaped and artificial orange color for Halloween.  I earned the calories though!  Later my husband brought me home some mint chocolate fudge from his Saturday adventures.  I guess one day of bad nutrition won't kill me!

2. It was day light.  As much as I like running when the world is quiet, it is nice to see the sun and realize that there are other people out doing their morning runs as well.  I'm now normally getting home from mine now quite a while before the sun breaks over the ridge in the east, so it was nice to enjoy other people being around.

1. Nine miles.  I hadn't run that in quite some time and I have hope that this weekend's run will be even better.  I did it at my normal race pace without even trying that hard... it makes me want to think that if everything is as good as it was this past weekend on race day, that ten miles will just fly by!

And, I just came across this website in my inbox... it looks like they have lots of fun shirts... and the company was started by some running moms.  If anyone is interested in sending me one, well, I wouldn't complain! ;)