Boston confirmation and 4 months of mumbo jumbo!

4 months into one blogpost. Hmmm-where to start. Perhaps with what is even inspiring me to write a blogpost! I started my blog in the fall of 2009 after my first marathon-TCM. I was SO passionate about running at this point and about to jump headfirst into a training cycle for Boston!! My first Boston marathon. So much excitement surrounding that for me and I found that although I had a wonderful support system, I didn't really have many people to really share in my excitement here. Most people didn't "get" it.....this "running" thing... I was seeking a community of people with a similar passion to help keep me motivated through a cold Minnesota winter. I FOUND that here!! What a very special race the Boston marathon was for me in 2010.

Jumping ahead 4 years here! Wow-4 years. I am AGAIN looking to train for the Boston marathon. I feel equally as excited at this moment!! This will be my 2nd Boston! I will have a ways to go before I begin training here but excited to once again make my way to that feeling that I felt on April 19th, 2010.

A little recap of the last 4 months!

RUNNING!!

I trained HARD through April and May. My goal was the best half marathon I could pull of in a matter of 8 weeks time. My goal race was the Intrepid Dezine Half marathon in Manitoba where I hoped to somehow get around the 1:30 mark. For the first time ever I turned over my training to someone I trusted GREATLY. A friend I met through this blog while training for the 2010 Boston marathon and a friend I will now have for life:) She took time out of her very busy personal life to write my workouts for me, listen to my feedback and put me in the best possible position to reach my goals here....

I did some SUPER workouts for me. Without a doubt, even in that short period of time, I was running faster and pushing myself harder than I've ever run. One of my hardest workouts was a 3X5K on 2 minutes rest. I've never done anything like that before!! I averaged 6:57 pace over all 3 of the 5K's. I also worked up to 6X1 mile repeats on one minute rest at 6:31 pace. I was able to run fast finish long runs like this in the same weeks I was completing 2 other hard workouts:



I also ran a very solid 10K race PR for me in the middle of training.



I believe I was trained magnificently considering the timeframe and I was in an excellent position to run a solid PR HM but it was just not meant to be this time....Race anxiety among other things seemed to get the better of me in 2 attempts. No excuses and as a result I finished my goal race in a disappointing (for ME) 1:35.

The rest of my summer seemed to go downhill in terms of running.

I ended up here:


I gave birth to an unexpected but very beautiful bouncing baby.....or perhaps I tore my meniscus.....I had it scoped on August 15th. Just as I was recovering and getting back to running....


I actually got this beauty while spectating my husband's marathon. I fell off my bike and one of the marathoners had to check and see if I was OK. Very Classy. I am now recovering from this but unfortunately my fall marathon (set to take place in 3 weeks) is not going to be something I can do this year.

Since I am in the process of showing pictures of my misfortune, I contemplated taking a picture of the poison ivy that is currently all over my ass and posting it but then again.....I wouldn't want to lose the 2 people that might still read my blog-ha! My 3rd year in a row that I haven't learned my lesson about pissing in ditches......

Moving ON!!!

A quick recap of things OTHER than MY running!!!

I had a GREAT summer! My 10 year old son was really involved with baseball this year and I had an absolute blast watching him!!


We spent a GREAT deal of time on the lake:


My son ran his first 5K:


We spend a lot of time at the beach and with family!




A trip to the zoo!


Lots of great MN evenings with the kids! Only one of these kiddos is biologically mine but I claim them both:)



I had my 20 year HS reunion!!! WOW-OLD!!!!

I headed out to Asheville, NC for a girls trip with 2 of my closest friends. Girls I know I will have in my life forever! ONE of these days, we are going to get a good picture of the 3 of us!!!!

I also snuck in a trip with my hubby of nearly 16 years. Felt like my honeymoon:)

Another fun girls trip to the Women Rock HM in St. Paul in which I was able to complete a HM only 2 weeks after surgery. Very slow and my personal worst but really a fun race for me!!

This fall I am finding myself absolutely LOVING High School Cross Country!! My daughter is now in 7th grade this year so she can finally compete! She ran her first meet on the junior high team but quickly found herself moving up and competing at the Varsity level and is currently our High School's number 3 runner. SO proud of her as she's worked very hard for this. This is SO fun for me. So exciting to see one of my kids have a passion here.


She's the inside runner



My husband ran a marathon last weekend in which I got to cheer like a madwoman. He did not get his BQ goal but boy were we proud of him! Also got a chance to spend the weekend with another VERY special friend who I met through this blog as she opened her home to us over the marathon!!

So-this is mostly a poorly written random update dump post but it takes me to present day and I had to start somewhere!!! Perhaps I will begin again:)