#deerporn

Another week down and another week closer to......ummmm......next week!!!

Contemplated a "thankful" or "gratitude" post since NO ONE on my FB is touching on any of the things they are thankful for this month.....

Jenn's quicklist ....family, running, health, friends, security, music, wine, sex, and candy. That pretty much sums it....and not necessarily in that order:)

It is WINTER in Minnesota! Snow on the ground. Cold, windy, slippery. According to my recent driving record, and in the words of my husband, I need to be CAUTIOUS in these conditions.....aka drive like an old lady..... I have ZERO incidents RUNNING on ice but slightly more than zero.. (or maybe slightly less than 10).. driving on ice...

It was deer hunting opener this weekend and I'm married to a deer hunter. He gets VERY excited for this time of year. SO excited that I receive texts like this from his deer stand.



Apparently things autocorrect to "porn" on his phone....Laughing as he just got this new phone and thinks he will just "talk" to text all of his text messages now.....I think NOT. My son LOVED spending the weekend out with his dad bathing himself in animal urine and talking about bikes and porn and corn?.....


If someone made a magazine like this, I would have one Christmas present out of the way....#deerporn

Hockey season is HERE. Oh my word, I have just finished my schedules and I seriously can't think past one day at a time. I have a daughter who plays for HS, a daughter in 14UA (no teams here so we have to travel to the metro-which is ONLY 6 hours away) and a son who's a Squirt A. I think it's like 14 practices a week at 3 different rinks ranging from 5:30 am to 9:00 pm and an ENORMOUS amount of games and travel. I'm super excited though!! Really really excited to watch them and travel with some super hockey families!!!

Running is going fairly well. I'm not running a whole lot of miles yet....Keeping things relatively unstructured until December when I will start Boston training!! I ran 10 miles at 7:39 pace earlier in the week which felt really good and then 8@ 8:08 pace which did NOT feel good at all and then 12 @7:50 with 30 minutes of that at 7:20 today. I think I will be in a pretty good place to start training. Not exactly sure of my goals other than I'm certain I want a PR:) I'm currently writing my plan so I have something official to throw away after about 4 weeks-ha! Those who know me will "get" that;) I'm going to jump back on Daily Mile here as soon as I figure out where my profile went!

I had a wonderful weekend filled with HS girls and hockey scrimmages and a little shopping trip with 2 good friends! Lots of laughs. Lots of coffee.....not much shopping as it seems we weren't the only people who thought it would be a good idea to go shopping on deer opener........just us and about 1,000,000,000 other women. No patience for this!!! My time is too valuable and better spent at Panera:)

Keeping with the random flowing randomness that is basically ALL of my posts.....

Really felt a spark when a very special friend ran a race this weekend:) A solid strong race that left me beaming for her!!! Excited to be training at the same time as her again:) And for BOSTON!

Reese had her CC banquet tonight! She received her Varsity letter as a 7th grader and just so proud of her!



So very excited to have a dear friend come to visit me in Minneapolis this weekend!!! Lots to catch up on and a chance to run around the lakes and suck down the Starbucks!!!

And that's a wrap:)

A completely random blog....7 things I'm loving right now!

1. The Brooks Utopia Softshell II. Now, I do believe this is a winter running jacket but according to Jenn's cutting edge sense of style, it also doubles as "evening wear" with a big scarf and cowboy boots:) Lots of running cowboys in Minnesota..... I haven't run in this yet in order to review it in that way but I LOVE the way it fits me and I love the print! Nice work Brooks!!


Attempted a photo here but taking a picture of myself into a mirror that is significantly shorter than me is hard-ha!



Factory Photo=Much better!!

2.HS Cross Country



What a joy this season of Cross Country was for me. My first experience with this sport!! I LOVE my daughter's spirit. Her team! Such a special year for her AND for me!



I learn a lot when I pick up the laundry and junk all over the floor in her room;) Inspired by my child when I find such treasures. I'm also laughing and thinking it's good she has fast legs since "beliveing" is not a word-ha!






3. This man.



Just enjoyed a date weekend with this guy:) 16 years of date weekends and they never get old.

4. Scarf, Hat, Mitten, Boot season!!!


I have carefully narrowed down my scarf collection to only a few that I think I will wear. I think I had some difficulty with the "narrowing down" part.....

5. THIS chapstick


Who says you can't eat chapstick.....I'm going through this stuff faster than a pack of gum. My tongue is also raw from licking my lips. A torn meniscus and a big fat ankle resulting in a stretch of ZERO miles running left me thinking it would be a good idea to leave some of the ACTUAL cake out of my diet for awhile:)

6. Perfect fall running weather!!!

I LOVE fall! Other than the nasty wind, give me COLD and crisp any day!! I've been running consistently and seeing my fitness increase here over the past couple of weeks. My pace getting a bit faster and feeling much stronger at the end of longer runs! Getting excited about challenging myself through the winter and grabbing a Boston PR at 38! Planning to do a simple weekly training update through this cycle.

7. The RINK!!!

Hockey has officially started and as a mom of 3 hockey kids, this is my winter home! Really excited for a season of traveling with friends and cheering on my kids!!!

And I could list 107 more:) Happy Sunday!!

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:)

4 months.....Family, Boston, training, coaching, smiling!!

Wow, it's been FOREVER since I've written a blog post. Perhaps an 8 month break from any sort of race had something to do with that. Or work, or my insanely busy kids, or just the fact that I lost my desire for awhile:) Happens to the best of us. I read a lot of blogs, I've had less energy to write them these days.

Family updates:

* My oldest daughter Ryan played in the State Hockey Tournament in March which was an amazing experience. She's also played with Advanced 15 Reebok High Performance Hockey this spring which has been a great experience! Wow, some amazing talent here. She joined the track team this year and ran both the 100 and 200 and relays. We celebrated birthday #15 and also signed up for Driver's Ed. She's off to Cancun for an 8 day vacation next week, she's madly in love with a farmer (can one be madly in love at 15?). Three years and my biggest baby heads off to college! Ahh!

*My middle daughter Reese is a 6th grader who is now 1.5 inches taller than her older sister!! She had a great hockey season and was definitely my "most improved" child. She's hoping to fill her summer with 5k road races and babysitting jobs. For a 12 year old, she's doing well! Ran her personal best of 21:10 in May and only going up from here! She's heading to Carrie Tollefson's Cross Country Camp at St. Catherine's in July and is SO very excited about this! Any Minnesotan's familiar with this camp? Would love to hear what you think.

*My sweet little Max is 9 years old. He just finished his hockey season as he played for the Northern Wings team out of Duluth this spring after his regular season. He's now full boar into Cal Ripken baseball which I'm finding out is going to be as busy as hockey!! He LOVES the outdoors and spends most of his free time exploring and "protecting" our yard.


Ryan's confirmation

Personal update:

So much new for me since my last post in February! I'm still very busy with my job and my kids. I made a trip to Boston to spectate the marathon this year and spend time with some very special people in my life! I could write 5 posts about my experience there....My huge car wreck on the way to the airport to fly out, all the quality time spent with good friends, tracking people and spectating the race, my first crack at seeing Shalane and Kara in the flesh, seeing sweet Amanda's smile at mile 19 (which was truly the highlight of the race for me), the bombings and my experience with that, the weekend in general...I'll keep it simple! I stayed with my dear friend Ana Maria out in Arlington. My second trip out here SUCH a comfortable place for me to be!! Starbuck's every morning, runs on the beautiful bike path with no watches.....Lots of very special memories here for me..



Prior to Boston, I had been running, as always, but primarily easy pace and lower mileage. Just coming off an 8 month training break after a big PR marathon for me last October! NO racing and just soaking up the winter concentrating on my work and my kids!! I LOVED and treasured this time but I could feel a desire for a training focus coming back as spring was in the air!! I decided that perhaps I wanted to focus on a HM but was a little unsure of the approach I wanted to take with that.

There are a few connections I've made through blogs and a few people I've followed and been incredibly inspired by. Ana Maria is definitely one of these people. I "met" her through her blog prior to the 2010 Boston Marathon in which we were about the same pace (wish that was the case now-ha!!) and roughly the same age and training for the same race and I was IMMEDIATELY drawn to her work ethic and her matter of fact personality. I've since followed her as she trained through 2 HIM's, virtually trained with her through our own personal marathons, and watched her absolutely shatter her race times in every distance since 2010. Most fascinating to me being the progress she's made with speed and her ability to push herself to new levels there. Mark my WORDS, this woman will TEAR up the masters circuit should she decide this is something she wants. Anyway, I greatly respect her and her training knowledge. She's well researched and demonstrated and her personality type is one that can mesh with mine!! SO THEREFORE, in thinking of how I wanted to proceed with running this year, I found the only logical option was to drink too much wine in Boston and then beg Ana Maria to coach me and make me fast-ha ha! (I will say that I had thought of this 100 times before the actually intoxicated moment but was just easier to beg at that moment-ha!) Well, she said YES and herein started my current journey.

Training update:

I've been training for a HM for 5 weeks so far. I've been pushed pretty close to my limit which is SO good for me. I now sometimes carry an Ana Maria voodoo doll with me on my runs and prick her shins when I'm trying to hold long tempos.....:):) Ahh-I love that I can tell her I swear at her and she doesn't care-ha ha! That being said, I'm making PROGRESS and I can feel it!!! I LOVE the fact that I am only getting my workouts one week at a time and I LOVE that I can just trust and not think beyond the week right now. She knows me as a runner and I feel she knows what I can handle and she's been right on.

I'm running 3 key days. I have run a Hudson plan in marathon training before and definitely run some hard weeks but have generally switched to the "Jenn" plan part way through which means lots of miles but not so much quality.....Now, I'm definitely focusing more on quality. I'm running around 60 miles/week sometimes a little less.

I ran 6X1 mile at 6:31 pace this morning on 1 minute rest. This was a treadmill workout so perhaps a little different than the road (on 1.5% incline) but I've never run 6X1 miles at this pace in training ever! Booyahh. Sucked ASS while I was running it but dang, I feel good now-ha!

I've run 4 very quality tempos all outside the last 5 weeks. 6 miles@6:57, 6 miles@6:55, 7 miles@6:58 and 3X5K on 2 minute rest at 6:57 average-THIS ONE SO HARD FOR ME. I've had to dig deeper than EVER to make it through some of these runs. I've had it "in there" to run these before I think but never been able to consistently mentally push myself here. I'm finding the accountability to be SO AWESOME.

I am BEYOND grateful for this experience. Whatever happens here, there is absolutely NO DOUBT in my mind that this was the right thing for me to do right now. Amidst the shin pricking and the swearing, I've enjoyed myself immensely and I feel so blessed here!! Thank you AM:)

So, thereyahaveit:) Finally hints of summer in Minnesota and oh so ready for it!!! Bring on the next few weeks of this training and a summer of running with my hubby as he marathon trains for a BQ for 2014, and runs with my dad as he marathon trains for a BQ for 2015, and runs with my sister as we will BOTH run in Boston 2014, and runs with my daughter as I only have a couple of years left before she's too fast for me!!!! Hello family BBQ's, evening bonfires, family vacations, the lake with good friends, sister time, races, girl trips, new work adventures, yardwork!! Obviously, I'm high on endorphins from my morning run-ha! Happy long weekend all!

Wednesday thoughts on art, running, life, while attempting to stay out of the kitchen.......

No time to write a blog post but alas...here I am writing a blog post while my 9 and 12 year olds whip up dinner:) I believe shrimp lo mein is on the menu for tonight. Perhaps ambitious for these 2 but we'll see how it turns out! It's taking great restraint to stay out of the kitchen but I love having kids who can help out ....and love having a husband who will make sure it gets all cleaned up:)

Random news:

Reese's team won the district tournament this past weekend! Both her team AND Ryan's team have earned the #1 seed in their respective regional tournaments to be held in just 10 days. The winners, to STATE! Gosh, these kids have worked SO hard. Any parent of a competitive athlete knows how much WORK goes into a season. ANY competitive athlete themselves know how much work goes into a season or training cycle. It's not always easy doing all running around with these kids with their games and practices but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I'm so thankful for the life lessons my kids have learned through sports. For the way they've learned to deal with success and defeat, encouragement and criticism. For the healthy lifestyles they've adapted. For the bonds they've made with their teammates and coaches. Ahh-just really happy and thankful here today!!



I got pulled over again for like the 35th time this week. No lie.....I was driving to work and got pulled over for speeding....I got a written warning for a hotel validation parking slip covering the vin# on my dash (seriously??), my GPS obstructing my view by being mounted to the windshield near my rearview mirror. Of COURSE, I forgot my purse on the kitchen counter so I had no ID, and then couldn't find my proof of insurance in my pile of CRAP so written warnings for this too.... I'm thankful I didn't get a ticket!

I was able to meet a new friend this past weekend:) A very compatible running friend as she spanked out my 15 mile long run with me!! I'm so looking forward to training for the Twin Cities Marathon this year which I just registered for this week!!! Such an amazing race! First things first though as an October marathon is a long time away...I'm thankful for new friends, thankful I can run marathons!!!

I've not run for 3 days. My Achilles on my left leg has been bothering me and after Sunday's long run, it was more aggravated. I don't know why. I really don't know why. I almost never have problems on my left side. I'm wondering if maybe the treadmill aggravated it. I am not running high miles right now. Say like roughly 50 for an average but about 80-90% of those have been on the treadmill. (-42 Fahrenheit with the windchill this morning which explains why) Anyway, I haven't messed around with the incline or changed pace all that much in my long stretch of easy running here. I've been running at a 1-1.5 incline almost always....I do this to help compensate for wind resistance and make it more comparable to outside but now I'm wondering if even the very tiny little constant "up" grade is what's bothered me.... Hmmm-I don't know as it could be many things but I do know that this is a bit of a thorn here and I'm going to baby for a bit. Sore leg or not, I'm thankful I've had the opportunity to run on the treadmill this winter!

I recently received the most AWESOME piece of art in the mail EVER!!! I had commissioned the AMAZING Cher Odum to create a piece of ART for me to hang in my family room. A painting true to her unique and signature style!! I've been searching for something SPECIAL to hang on the wall! Not just a great big family photo that would date itself in a sense but a family portrait that I would hang right there ALWAYS and FOREVER! (Or if I moved to say somewhere warmer and more scenic, I would hang it THERE always and forever-ha ha!) Anyway, something that would constantly remind me of my family and the life we've LIVED and shared together. A conversation piece, a burst of color, a beautiful masterpiece it IS, and I couldn't be happier with it!!!!

I have yet to frame it as I JUST got it, so this is just a quick peek. My family in the center and the border filled with scenes of important things that represent our life!



You can read more about Cher's work at www.chertheart.com or find Chertheart on Facebook. There is great meaning behind her style. She does do commission work, is amazingly awesome to work with, surely an gifted gifted artist! I'm THANKFUL for the smile on my face every time I walk by and see this painting:)

So, just a few words before I go eat the masterpiece created for me for dinner! Thankful for food!!

Life, running, weather, perspective, gratitude.

Well, it's been awhile! A LONG while but I'm coming to the realization that this is just how I roll through the seasons of life....I write when I feel like writing and I don't when it becomes "work". Not that my blog is "work" but forcing words into an obligatory post is really not the direction I wanted to go with it...I've gone through many seasons with this blog. From deciding to eliminate it altogether at one point to feeling so VERY thankful to have had a place to just vent my thoughts on running, life!! This past week I've been doing a lot of thinking...about a lot of things.....because I think a lot....about things...a lot of things:) Ha! Anyway, I recently had the discussion about blogging with a new running friend who does not YET have a blog:):) She read mine which prompted me to read back through the archives myself. Wow, I really had a lot of fun with this. All this rambling about life in hickville, bragging about my kids, sometimes talking about my training, writing race reports, connecting with people with similar interests!! Making lifelong friends. It's been like a "not too personal" journal of events that I have documented!! This is actually pretty special! Although I don't have the time I once did right now, I sure have been blessed GREATLY through this blog and great for me to remember that! SO, tonight I feel like writing:) Or I feel like listing random bullets which developed as my style somewhere in 2011....

Life:

I'm working full time, MANY hours... I haven't exactly gotten a perfect system down here as far as balancing but I do feel like I've done a super job considering! I have 3 kids playing a traveling schedule of a combined 140 or more hockey games this winter. We have about 12 practices per week to haul kids to and from, we travel EVERY weekend, often in different directions and often at least a 10 hour round trip by car, usually more! Add in Confirmation, youth group, Junior volunteers, fundraising to name a few and I'm BUSY!! I still run, I manage to make some time (not as much as I would like) for those important to me and my kids sometimes eat something other than eggs and toast for supper! SUCCESS. I've been keeping my marriage TOP on my list of priorities and carving out quality uninterrupted time there. TODAY, even though I can't run anything with a 6 in front of it for fear of collapsing my lung and leaving my children motherless I feel very accomplished!

This past week, my sweet sister gave birth to a baby boy! My other sister and her husband legally became the parents of a little girl who is still in the Congo but now legally bears their last name!! Red tape red tape but SOON! And to top it off my baby sister just announced number three is on the way. I am the oldest of 6 girls and I absolutely LOVE coming from a big family. Constant excitement around here!

My kids start district playoffs this weekend!! Lots of nervous energy coming here in the next couple of weeks with my kiddos. Not putting the cart in front of the horse but both of my daughters teams have a very very good shot of making it to both the regional and then the state tournaments in their respective divisions if they play to their potential.....this means I am going to have to make choices as they are held the same weekend but in different venues. I don't want to think about missing these big moments in either of their lives! Ughh.

Running:

Since most people are more interested in running than whether or not I will get to wear a foam finger and drink concession stand coffee at Ryan's game?? or at Reese's game?? I'll move on:)

I've been running. Until last week I've been running all easy. No speed, no tempo, a little longer on the weekend but all just easy but CONSISTENT. Northern Minnesota has blessed us with some especially fun temps this winter as we've seen windchills of nearly -60 on some days and it has been BITTER much of this winter. Because it's no longer 2010 and I've gotten old and lost my BADass, I'm no longer willing to venture out into this:) The hours I have available to run are the COLDEST hours in the day and dark and icy. Finding myself blind because my eyelashes have literally frozen together solid or wearing my scary robber mask and duct tape on my shoes is just losing it's appeal....(I know, there are some of you playing air violin right now as you read this) ANYWAY, I've found myself on the treadmill A LOT. More than I like.

I've seen my pace improve since starting up after my break. I've not been wearing my Garmin much outside, (actually only 1 run on Garmin Connect in the last month!) but most of my TM runs have been averaging 7:40's now. Some slower, not many faster. I'm starting to see that my faster days are on the gym treadmills and my slower ones are on my home treadmill. Hmmm....

I'm realizing that I'm actually in pretty good shape even though I keep discrediting myself and telling myself I'm NOT. I'm not in "speed" shape yet because DUHH, I haven't run any speed, but I AM in good shape. I'm in a good good place! Last week I brought in both a little speed and tempo and will now be incorporating it regularly.

This afternoon we were blessed with 30 degree temps, a very light wind and a clear road surface which just seems so rare. Honestly, I don't remember the last time I ran with my feet touching pavement and not on ice. We don't have that nice firm packed snow that you can grip here either. No running paths in this rural country so the side of the road is either compacted ice or unpacked snow which is a problem as well (keep playing that violin:) Anyway, I started work before 5 am this morning so I would be able to run before dark and enjoy the beautiful day! I had run a double yesterday with some treadmill 1K's at the gym last night (I started but pulled the plug on a morning workout due to road surface and then a make-up workout-total miles only 9.1) so 6 miles easy on the schedule for today. I wore my Garmin, NO jacket and headed out into the sunshine!!


*I LOVE this new little weather feature on GarminConnect! COOL!*

OK-I think my home treadmill might be slow. I was running what felt comfortable and I wasn't pushing until the last 600 meters or so and my pace felt so much easier outside than it does on the treadmill. This was a great run for me. A really really great confidence builder to feel this good and look down when it was over to see these splits. I'm not comparing with the past, I'm looking at the present and this is AWESOME Jenn for how you felt! From here on out my running will change as I'm moving to a little more higher intensity, slower recovery instead of all this same pace stuff.

I've been fighting and am fighting a slight Achilles aggravation on my left leg (all my injuries before this niggle have been on my right side). It's not affecting me too much in running right now but my eye is on it and I'm thinking it's a good thing I will be moving into some warmer weather and getting off the treadmill!

Random-I think my perspective on life affects me GREATLY with running. So happy and appreciative this week. Very thankful for the special people in my life. People who support and love me no matter what. Thankful for ME. Thankful for what I have to offer. Excited to meet a new friend on Friday:) Looking forward to the next crazy month and racing season approaching!!!

Thank you for reading. Whoever is left out there. I started my blog with 4 followers for quite awhile:) Jill, you were one of them and I'm off to comment on your blog:)

Cold...and not quite as slow....

Two blogs in one week! Almost unheard of for me these days but I woke up this morning in such a good mood that I felt like writing:)

I had an unexpected weekend at home this weekend while my husband took off for Duluth with my girls. My son's home games that were postponed due to the nasty blizzard last weekend, were rescheduled at the last minute for this afternoon.....the windchill or realfeel is -57 degrees today which is of course MUCH safer for the teams traveling here than the blizzard.....I went outside this morning to grab a shovel quickly and my wet hair froze into instant icicles. I sounded like a set of windchimes when I ran back in the house. My son thought this was cool and because I'm such a good mother I proceeded to do it 2 more times. Fortunately I don't have neighbors to see me running up and down my sidewalk in Ugg boots and a robe freezing my hair into windchimes to make my son smile...

Now, I've run in nasty temps and I actually love winter running but when the windchill dips to numbers that are actually Minnesota swimwuit temps if you drop the minus sign, it is just not worth it for me to be outside. I have no desire to be that tough. Proves nothing to me. SO, as much as I don't love the treadmill, I am married to the thing until I see a lovely 0 or higher for a temp:)

Yesterday I took to the treadmill for my longest run since my marathon last October. 14 miles which was to be simply an easy run as ALL of my runs are right now and a step up from last weekend's 12. I've come off a week of fighting a bug of sorts. It didn't hit me as hard as it hit my husband but I was overly fatigued and very low on energy most of the week. Found myself sleeping EARLY and still feeling rough during the day. I really struggled on a couple of my runs but I didn't feel like I was "sick" enough to want to skip them altogether right now. I did have to cut a couple short. Times like this are when I would really just like to just be "garminless" outside and run by feel......The hard part about running on a treadmill is you HAVE to set a pace to start. This leads to an annoyance when the pace you set feels tougher than you want it to which messes with the ability to enjoy any part of the run......

ANYWAY, I set out to run my 14 miles yesterday feeling MUCH better physically. I situated my water boy in front of the TV (again because I'm a good mother) and started running. I ended up starting at an 8:27 pace which is where my legs seemed to want to go in mile one. I really just wanted to get the 14 done, whatever the pace. Treadmills are SO monotonous and I have a most impossible time running a steady pace for anything longer than .4 miles......14 miles were not sounding overly enjoyable. I managed to run along gradually picking up the pace a little bit in the first 6 miles. (48:56 at 6 mile) I was beginning to feel really good which sometimes happens when you run slow-ha! I decided at this point that I would maybe try 2X10 minutes a little faster....like 7:30 pace to break things up. I started right at the 6 mile mark at 7:30/8.0 and was surprised at how good I felt here. Just kept going and told myself I would do 2X15 minutes instead and then changed it to 2X20 minutes and when it was all said and done, I ended up running 8 miles straight across at 7:30 for 14/1:48:49/7:46 pace:) Now, this is surely no amazing run but it did not feel hard and it did a great deal for my confidence yesterday to know that #1-I can run 14 miles and #2-I'm not that slow:) I won't add #3-there was no wind and I was on a treadmill at simply 1%.

7 more this morning at 7:53.

Now, all this treadmill running has allowed me to get some running clothes that generally stay buried, some use! I save my "going out" running clothes for the gym and my "mom" shorts for my home treadmill-ha! I never match at home and I wear whatever I can find. I sometimes look at something in the "stay home" pile and think, "these are cute, why don't I wear those to the gym". Then I run in them at home and remember why....

Not exactly the sweat pattern I want going on at the gym....

So-just a random Sunday update. Feeling really optimistic about the weeks to come! Excited to watch my boy play hockey this afternoon!!! Peace:)