WAW

It's too bad Wide-angle Wednesday didn't fall on Halloween, I'm sure to have more interesting photos tomorrow!  My week has quieted down and I have been able to get some much needed things done around the house this week.  Last night I had a fun time with my girl, we watched a live stream from Madison Square Garden.  Ed Sheeran was performing and even though the feed was blurry and not the best quality, but if I couldn't take my girl to see her favorite artist his first time at MSG, this was at least a way to experience it.  He was fabulous, as always.  Seriously talented.  We laid on my bed watching and singing along.  Ok, there may have been a few tears shed when he sang a new song no one has ever heard.  It was beautiful.

Eleanor is over today, the first thing the girls did when she got here was take their extra chains off the countdown chain.  It's been sorely neglected for days and days, so they were pretty shocked at how short it is already!  114 days until we leave...which means 116 days until I run!  Savannah's face, reflects how I feel about that! 

She's actually making the face because it seems to be coming so quickly and she doesn't think she has enough souvenir money saved up yet.   Since I've already shared a few of my Halloween shots from WDW, HERE, (why did I do that way back in August?? no clue) I had to search for a few more I could share since I think I should have a little Halloween spirit in this post! 116 days until I run through the castle!

A couple more Hallowishes shots: 

I'm excited for the 10K on Saturday morning but a little bummed that I'm going to be all alone.  It's early and the kids will be sleeping, Dallas decided not to run, and Rey is out of town.  Suddenly the free beer for finishers doesn't sound as fun if I'm going to be all alone.  I realized, talking to Rey, that someone has been at every single one of my races. I've never gone completely alone, so this will be a new experience for me!  I'm still pretty excited, I haven't raced since August and I was injured at the time AND, this is my Run-iversary!  This was my first official 5K race I did a year ago, and for my Run-iversary I'm running the 10K. 

Happy Halloween!  Anyone else have races this weekend?  Do you usually have your support with you or do you do some races completely solo? 

Blogging Funk

I'm kind of in a blogging funk.  I feel like I really don't have a ton to say and I repeat myself a lot...which isn't really any different than how I am in person, so at least I'm being genuine, right? ;) 

I just feel like I am having trouble finding the time or words to type out the things going on in my head with my training.  It's all good stuff, but I just can't seem to put it into words.  I guess sometimes it feels like you have to be EPIC every time you post and really, that's just not how life is, right?   Last week's training was great, I got in all of my runs, including a 6.2 in 1:08:07 on the treadmill. 

 I'm ready for my 10K on Saturday and pretty excited!  I don't think Dallas is going to run with me though.  Boo. Hiss.  He is not the type to do a race just to finish, he wants to better his time and feels like he has not trained enough longer runs to do a 10K.  He knows he can finish, but doesn't feel like it would be a strong finish, so doesn't want to run.  I have to respect his decision, but it will be a bit lonely this weekend without him.

Other than that, work has been insane on the weekends and I wind up exhausted by Monday and Tuesday, when I have other things I need to get done and can't really slow down. This past weekend was beyond exhausting, I had two sick dogs I was watching and without going into TMI, let's just say it was a really MESSY weekend! I also had a photo shoot for a doggy charity event and that was fun.  Not too many doggie costume shots, but here are a couple of the cuties!

 This guy just had a rope/bell around his neck and they said he was a COW!  LOL

 

I feel great about my training at the moment and I'm starting to think about the little details of the race like if I'll have any company on the bus to the race (anyone else staying at POP for the PHM/GSC???) and costume details,  I'm just all over the place in my head.  Welcome to my reality! 

WAW

I have no clue how it's Wide-angle Wednesday again!  That week flew by and I am really excited to see my training calendar with all the little red X's where I have completed each run I have scheduled.  I have a 6 mile run this Friday and then my 10K is the following Saturday.  I'm hoping to improve my 1:08:11 time just a bit so I can submit it to RunDisney.  In training I was doing 10K in 1:06, but my last 10K had a ton of hills, maybe I can shave those couple minutes off.  Anyway! On to WAW.  

Last week was all about Savannah turning 13, so we had a shoot in the freezing cold and got some beautiful shots.  She was a trooper, we kept going inside to warm up and then running back out to get more shots.  I haven't been doing many photo shoots lately, my petsitting business is just too busy, so it was fun doing this with her.  We've made it a tradition to do around her birthday every year. The first shot is her favorite. 

Sorry I don't have more scenic shots for WAW this week, but this is what's been going on and what I took the time to shoot this week was my girl.  Things are still crazy around here, despite thinking things were going to slow down after Savannah's Birthday.  

Do you have yearly photos of yourself or your children? Any photo traditions?  

What a week!

Is this Monday?  Where did the weekend go?  Shew!  It really was a crazy week around here.  Rey has been home, my mom came out to visit and my baby turned 13.  I had a busy weekend with petsitting on top of trying to get in a shoot with my new TEENAGER daughter and an Ed Sheeran birthday party...complete with a mouse! (more on that later) 

So, this post is just going to be all over the place just like my week was.  Running was fantastic, I got in all my training, including my long run of 5.5 miles on Friday. I did it in 1:00:52, just squeaking in at 10:59 pace.  I felt pretty good about that.   I had a bit of a cold as well but I got out there and did it.  My mom came to celebrate Savannah's birthday on Friday and we snapped some photos.  

My mom is a big Cardinals fan, if you can't tell.  She's also 81 years old...I hope genetics pays off for me b/c I don't think she looks it! 

Rey got the shot of us below and I LOVE it.  It's just one of those shots that you cherish.  

Saturday was full of petsitting but Savannah wanted to get her photo shoot done before turning 13 on Sunday.  Every year we do a shoot right around her bday, it's amazing how much she changes from year to year.  It was freezing but she found a way to pull it off.  I'll share more on WAW, but here's one of my favorites for now.

Yesterday was a whirlwind trying to get ready for her party.  It was Ed Sheeran themed, we even had a cardboard lifesize Ed.  She got a guitar for her bday, Dallas is going to teach her to play.

 One of her besties made a mini-Ed and mini-Savannah for the cake.  It was her favorite thing of the day.  She LOVED the cake. 

Fun time with her friends, they spent most of the evening outside.

 

 Birthday success!  After the boys went home, the girls all spent the night.  At 3am they woke me up squealing that the mouse trap I had set up in the kitchen had something in it rattling around!  Sure enough, caught him (this little guy had been eluding me for quite a few days) and a couple of the girls ran down the street with me in the middle of the night giggling (and in slight terror), so we could release our new friend far from the house.  I never did go back to sleep after that. 

It was a crazybusy week full of fun, but I'm ready for things to quiet down for the next few days before work picks back up for the weekend again.  Less than 2 weeks now until my next 10K, I'm getting excited! 

I would love to write more about how I'm feeling about being a mother to ONLY teens now, but I'm unsure exactly how to find the words and it's just not coming to me at this point.  I'm sure it will eventually, but for now I will say that I have adored every stage of my children's growth.  They are all fantastic and even though I'm sad for myself that my littles are big now, I enjoy them so much and the relationship I have with each of them. 

Did anyone else have a crazy week?  Races coming up?  Talk to me!  ;)

Wide-angle Wednesday

Hello, hello!  It's humpday!  Dallas & I just went for a run outside this morning, I tested out my 10K outfit since it's cold and I know my upcoming 10K on Nov. 2nd will probably be cold.  Outfit worked perfectly, I'm getting excited for the race!  A peek at what I decided to wear since it's WAW. 

Rey is home and we went out to dinner last night at our favorite Mexican restaurant.  Naturally I had a margarita (or two) LOL

 There are these rocks outside that I always make my kids sit on and let me take their photo, last night they were in true form and posed like pros.  

 Aaaand, since it's WAW, I thought I would share more photos of Savannah's room re-do now.  She actually took almost all of these shots, it looks like my girl has the eye!  She loves the room and how it came out, I do too. 

  We also emptied out one of the closets in her room that was being used for storage and let her put all HER stuff in there.  She loves it.

 I know it's not the most exciting of things, but it's what's going on right now aside from training.  I'm feeling SO SO SO good about my running and I think the three runs a week is just enough to not injure myself but still be able to go longer and faster.  The rest of the week is pretty crazy, Rey is home, my mom is coming out to celebrate Savannah's Birthday, Dallas & I have a 5.5 mile run on Friday, petsitting, and then we have the big Birthday party/sleepover on Sunday. 

Weekly Wrap-up

Another fantastic week of training for me.  I needed it too, my runs really do help keep me sane.  My heel bursitis is mostly just a memory, but it was such a slow healing injury that I still am gentle with it and careful not to bump it or let it rub on the back of my shoe as I'm putting it on. 

 Monday I ran on the TM because Dallas wanted to go to the Centre, my 30 minute speedeeish run.  Tuesday I got a workout of a different kind.  Savannah is turning 13 in just over a week and she wanted a room re-do.  She's had bright blue walls, zebra print, and posters plastered all over her walls and decided she wanted something a bit more mature.  We had to prime the walls in order to paint the light peach color she ended up picking.  I started priming while she took the last of her posters down. 

 You only get a tiny sneak peek of the finished room because she wants her friends to see it in person and told me I wasn't allowed to share pictures all over the internet. (parents of her friends, don't show them this picture or I will likely get in trouble!!!)  Can you find the hidden kitty?

My legs and back got a workout with all that painting and moving furniture.  Fall has arrived and when Wednesday rolled around I couldn't stand the thought of the treadmill again (Dallas prefers the TM), so at the break of dawn, I threw on a long sleeve tech and ran out the door.  It was almost too cold!  I took a selfie afterwards, I sat outside for a bit after my 4 miles and was rolling in laughter b/c there were huge wafts (is that a word?) of steam coming off me.  I know, I already told you this but what can I say, it was worth mentioning again.  

I had promised Dallas that I would take him to the gym since he prefers the TM, so I changed my shirt after my run and off we went!  I did leg and arm strength training and then stretched/rested in the little alcove overlooking the pool.  It was nice!

Friday was my scheduled long run, I'm back up to 5 miles, and Dallas did not want to get up as early as I needed to do it.  This may be an issue in the coming weeks but I have to get these runs done early, partially because of my petsitting.  Anyway...I ran alone and on the nice paved trail we like to run.  It was crazy foggy but lovely out. 

It was a gorgeous run, I tried not to pay much attention to the Garmin and just ran at a comfortable pace.  Ran 1.5 out and back to the car, grabbed a drink and then out the other direction 1 mile and then back to make my 5 miles.  It was a fantastic run!!

 

My question for today is about pace, however.  Does your pace fluctuate on your Garmin wildly?  Sometimes I will look down and see 9:56 and then I'll look down again (when it feels like I'm going the same pace the whole time) and it will be 12:20??  In the end, lately, it always balances out to around 11 minute miles on long runs.  Does this happen to you?  It causes issues when I'm running with Dallas, he says my pace changes around too much and it frustrates him.  Suggestions? 

Wide-angle Wednesday

I told you I was busy!  I missed my weekly wrap-up all together.  I put in the training though, got all three runs in last week!  Some of the busy has been self-imposed.  Petsitting slowed down but then Savannah & I decided to totally redo her room.  She's turning 13 in a little over a week and apparently needed something more mature. ;)  In any case...I had a fabulous 4 mile run outside this morning.  The weather was awesome, I even wore a long sleeve shirt for the first time in months.  Normally I would share photos from my good camera, but I enjoyed taking a few on my run this morning with my phone, so you get camera phone shots!  

Oh and something I found incredibly humorous after my run this morning.  I was sitting outside with the dogs right after my run and I realized that I was STEAMING!  You know how when you breath in the winter and steam comes out?  My WHOLE BODY was steaming.  I was cracking up! 

How's everyone doing on this lovely hump day?  Has autumn arrived where you are?  Do you LOVE running outside in the fall?  Is there anyone out there that doesn't?  Is that even possible?  ;)