No, I don't have another SFX, I just took a blog break!

So, it has been quite some time since I posted. In a bit of a blog funk which seems to happen to me every year around this time. Every year being last year since I didn't even blog before then but whatever......

Life:

*Just home from a little getaway with my family. We weren't able to get too far this year with our schedules but spent some time down in the twin cities area hiking, biking, fishing, swimming, running, eating, shopping, and of course watching hockey games! Man, I love the lakes down here. I would swim all the time if I had these lakes around! It was SO great to run on the paths and then barrel into the water to cool off right after. Everything is a contest with my kids so I had to kick their butts in underwater handstand contests, races to the floating dock, underwater breath holding contests.....Ahh! I love winning-even against 7 year olds!

Reese with her 10 second head start out to the floating dock.

Reese and Max getting ready to head to the beach!

Had to spend the week sharing a bed with Max. This is how he sleeps. I have bruises on my cheeks from his feet.

Ryan and I trying to take a picture of ourselves which really is not an attractive way to take a picture-ha!

Ryan and Max

*Went to the Mall of America. This is not my favorite mall-I don't love malls. I'm a specific shopper and like to walk in a store and buy what I want, not walk 100 miles around a mall. My girls were anxious to shop for school clothes though.

Some purchases at the mall:

Ryan: Miss Me jeans for $100. NO lie. 100 bucks for a 13 year old. She is a babysitting fool and packrats her money, so if she wants to spend $100 on jeans and doesn't expect me to buy them for her, who am I to deny her. To her credit, she has wanted these for 6 months. Almost as bad as I wanted a Cabbage Patch doll when I was 8. I told her to save her money and she did!

Reese: Shorts from Abercrombie Kids that could be mistaken for a thong. I took one look at these suckers and said "NO" You are not getting those even if they are only $20 which apparently is cheap in this store. Ryan kindly piped up that my running shorts are at least that short. She got a filthy look from me. (they are really not that bad...so I'm telling myself)

Max: fake doublemint gum that shocks you when you grab a piece. It is supposed to be a "little" shock. It is actually a taser. He generally stands behind me very quiet in public but once he got this gum, he literally went up to complete strangers asking them if they wanted a piece. Also, fake dog poop. I paid money for fake dog poop-HELP! He has ZERO interest in clothes which is fine with me. I can shop for him in 10 minutes.

Me: nothing-I know shocking.

Joe: 14 quarters worth of hot tamales while he sat on a bench WAITING.

*Ryan played in her final hockey tournament of her AAA season, the International Cup. She has been playing on an elite team all summer. It's been fun to meet so many other kids and parents from different cities since she is the only kid from our town on this team. The talent is also fantastic at this level and fun to watch!



Training:

*I'm somewhere in my marathon training plan but honestly my brain is fried and I'm not even sure what week or how many weeks I have left. I'm too lazy to check my plan at this moment.

*things have been going well. I've been putting in the miles and hitting almost all of my speed paces. I did my first real track workout last week. 2 sets 10X400 with one minute AR. I tell you one minute is not very long after you do a few of these. Anyway, I surprised myself a bit by how much I enjoyed these (after I was DONE them) I really like using the track for speed. I'm not sure if it's just because it's something new and different but regardless, it's working for me. I should mention I had a speed queen pacing and coaching me through these which is somewhat of a help. People who run 2:10 800's and 4:20 1500's are good friends to have when you're an aspiring runner:)

*I ran 14 straight days without a rest day. I did have one day that was only an easy 5 and then some spin bike on that day so not all intensive but still a lot of days in a row for me. This last week I had an easy run on Monday, 400's Tuesday, a 14 miler that turned into somewhat of a progression run, an easy day, a TH run and then an attempt at a 22 miler on Saturday. I decided to register on a whim for a HM so I could bring my pace up a little easier in the long run. My hope was to bring maybe 10 to MP-not viewing it as a race. I woke up EXHAUSTED. Lots of activity this week outside of running. Parked 4 miles from the race start with the logic that I would have no choice but to run the 22 miles this way. I ran the 4 miles to the start-felt absolutely terrible. Humidity was over 90%, temperature was already way up there and my legs felt just wickedly awful at a first warmup mile of 8:40!!!! Hmmmmm-MP for 10 miles was sounding really fun! Mentally, I started falling apart almost immediately. Anyway, made it to race start and took off with the gun (7:12, 7:18, 7:14, 7:15, 7:23, 7:08, 7:17, 7:24) My legs rebelled big time here and my mind just wouldn't cooperate. I walked right off the course just after mile 8. I QUIT the race. I could really get into all my emotions surrounding this but I really just don't have the energy. Needless to say, I was very unhappy with myself, and finished the day with a little over 16 instead of my planned 22.

*took a rest day on Sunday. Ryan had two big hockey games and then a 7 hour drive home so lots of time sitting on my butt. Monday morning (yesterday), I woke up early to run with Reese before I sent her off to camp. We ran 4 miles at roughly 9 minute pace. My legs were still tight and tired even after a rest day.

This is Reese before she left me for a week. If you wonder what I looked like when I was 10, this is it. NO kidding, if my scanner worked I would scan a picture because we are seriously twins.

Anyway, later yesterday afternoon I opted to head out on another run since my legs were feeling much better and I was ready to get back to the grind. Plan called for 6 easy with hill sprints at the end but because of the cutback on the long run and some mental crap I was dealing with I made an alteration. Ran 14 instead

*Ran 10 very slow easy miles today. Back at the track for 800's tomorrow. The temperature has dropped a bit and I've decided to do these after work instead of at 5 am.

*I've decided I need a good race before my marathon. It doesn't have to be a PR, it just needs to be a good race where I feel like I laid it all out there and pushed my limits both physically and mentally. I'm on the search right now but I'm considering a 10K in 2 weeks. I think I will adjust my plan as to run heavy the front half of the week and allow myself a little rest to go into the race. I'm not sure what I'm capable of here right now. Just need to do it.

OK-enough word vomit for today! I am trying to catch up here since I've only signed into my blog briefly and seen only the posts that were brand new on my blogroll. I'm pretty sure I'm about 200 posts behind in my google reader. I have caught some great ones though like Beth's recap of her HIM which was fantastic and I could not be happier for her after knowing EXACTLY what she came back from to get to this point. Happy Tuesday:)