Links of the Week

• Am I the only person that didn't know Macca had a podcast?  Check it out here!  There is a great one with Jurgen Zach.  Love!!!!

• This is a wonderful interview with Meredith Kessler.  I have been feeling a little gloomy lately ( I know it is obvious) as I try to mis-juggle being a mom, employee, wife, and athlete.  After reading this article, I felt very KCCO-ish and really believed that I can keep balance if I continue to focus on being intentional.

• Team HPB's Julie Woods Shelley just won Ultraman Florida, placing 5th overall with the men included.  You can read a little snapshot about it here, and I couldn't be prouder of one of my teamies. 

Happy week of training and life to all!
xo

The Long Way, and A Half Marathon

This weekend I ran my second half marathon post-preggo.  I ran my last one at 4 months, and this one at 7 months.  I was not expecting huge results, but I was expecting to be faster.  After all, 3 months have passed, I am about 10 pounds lighter, and I am able to SBR a little more now than I was then.

On the way to the race, I saw something incredible.  For those of you that don't know, I have hawk eyes.  Seriously.  But only when it comes to animals.  I don't notice much visually with people as I move about my day, but for some reason I can spot animals out of the corner of my eye.    

So I am driving to the race and BAM!  A bald eagle!!!! I have never seen one in the wild.  It was amazing!  It had this really noticeable yellow, curved beak and was just looking around as if it was unfazed by everything going on around it.  I pulled over to stare at it.  I couldn't get close enough in my car to get a good pic, so this is the best I could do with zoom on the i-phone.  I hate that I couldn't get a good picture. 

On to the race- I couldn't find the start and showed up with enough time to jog about 2 minutes.  There were only 16 of us "racing."  It was a very recreational race in the forest where you basically ran the same 1 mile 13x, the variety coming in switching directions every mile. 

I finished in 1:49 officially for 13.29 (still can't run a tangent to save my life).  I should have been happy.  I am slightly faster than I was in November.  I finished with the last 2 miles being my fastest.  But, I finished feeling extremely unsatisfied.  I have not ever seen times this slow, even in my first year racing.  It is frustrating.  It scares me. 

I should be grateful, and I am.  Mostly.  Until I compare myself to all of my ah-mazing friends that just popped out babies and 6 minutes miles in perfect unison.  Until I think of my races lined up for the year, and realize that like the year of my knee surgery (2010), I now have the year of a abdominal surgery where I may struggle to actually "race."  And it is not totally about racing others.  I want to race myself and put some real, satisfying effort into my races.  I feel so far from that. 

It is clear that I will take the long way...again.  I will have to be a little turtle, again, just taking one tiny step at a time on the journey.  It is frustrating.  It is hard to see others do it so quickly and for it to not click for me when I work hard too.  This is real, though.  These are real feelings.  We all do this.  We compare ourselves to others, as non-productive as it is.  I think we all have a part of our brain that is quick to whine and cry that things are just not fair.  We have to work to override that part of our athletic make-up. 

And things aren't always "fair."  But they are good.  And I think things do even out over the long term, especially for us turtles.  We have to be patient and find the good in the slow moving of our journeys.  I ran another half marathon faster, I saw a bald eagle, and I met some new people.  It was a good day. 

Turtle on, my friends!

Where It's At

I am here to tell you, people, that 7 months is where it's at!  People threw out all kinds of numbers at us.  "Oh, it (babies) get easier at 6 weeks/3 months/4 months/6 months."   Everyone had a different number, and as time ticked by, we kept waiting for the magic to happen.  I am here to tell you that everyone else is full of sunshine, unless you have an "easy" baby.  And yes, there are "easy" babies.  If you have a "crazy, collicky, no-sleeping, can't figure out what is wrong"  buttercup, then 7 months is the magic number.  While she still doesn't sleep, our child is all smiles, love, and play now.  She is just the most fun little person I have ever met in my life.

This weekend we took her to the zoo for her first time.  I have many mixed feelings about zoos, but I will save that for a different post.  Isla, however, had a blast.  She was so focused on every animal!  We couldn't get her to look at the camera if there was an animal in her line of vision.  She is a definite animal lover like her mama!

And, fingers crossed, this is the week that the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee will announce their volunteers for the year.  I hope to be one of them! 

What else happens at 7 months?

• I am now swimming at masters again.  I can only go a couple of mornings a week because it is so hard on both Dave and I with a no-sleeper, but this is still progress!
• I went over 10 hours of training last week.  This absolutely could not be done without Dave being 100% in and helping.  There is nothing like a kid to really pull you together as a team to help everyone win with their day. 
• Hillary must think things are looking up, because she has put a few things on the training plan that would otherwise be absurd, but I guess in my sleep deprived state they seem to make sense. 

Back to the day- have a great one! xo

LOVE

Happy Valentine's Day!

My earliest Valentine's Day memory with Dave is from college days when I decided to clean his dorm room as a surprise. (not sure why I thought that made a good Valentine's Day present?)  It was disgusting, and he was wearing clothes off of his floor.  12 loads of laundry, all of my money, and an entire day later, and I had that nasty room spic and span.

Funny that I hardly remember any other Valentine's Days.  I have no clue where we were or what we did.  One thing I have always loved getting from Dave are love letters.  I recently decided to put them away in an album so I will have them forever.  It is too bad I did not start doing this sooner, because he gave me some good ones that I have misplaced over the years.  I was always impressed when he tried to write me poems. :)  This year I got another love note- I never take them for granted, and I always appreciate them. 

I decided to start a journal of love letters to Isla.  It is a book where I can just write down all kinds of loving thoughts to her.  One day she will be able to read it and and can keep it forever, knowing how much her mom loves her and always being able to look back through my eyes.  I just don't think you can ever tell someone that you love them too much.  I started the journal today...what a better day than her first Valentine's Day! 

Pink Twinkies

Weekly Lessons

There is the old saying that the same lessons will be repeated in life until you learn them.  I have recently felt that each training week was looking the same.  The good sessions were good, and then there were the missed workouts or the sub-par workouts.  The ending to each week seemed to reflect the same themes:  struggle and lack of progress.

But tonight I tried to really see if I could learn something from the training that was more than the physical lesson.  Time to turn on the good ol' brain!

Here is are some take away lessons for me:

I cannot control the following things, and I need to stop stressing about them and just let it roll.  These things will interfere with training, and I just have to smile and move on. 
-being sick
-lack of sleep
-logistical things that are just going to come up with taking care of Isla

 Random Isla picture thrown in the middle of the post.  I have no other pictures on my phone to share.  :)

Where I can improve:
 - Planning.  I have had some PPP (piss poor planning) moments every week that could have been avoided.  I have missed/cut short/done improperly a few workouts simply because I didn't take a few extra minutes somewhere else in the week to plan better.
-Guilt.  Let it go.  It is not too much to ask to get a daily dose of exercise.  My family will be better for it.  If Dave says all is good, I need to let the guilt go and get the workout in.  

So, until I let go of the things I cannot control and do a better job of improving in the areas that are within my power, my weeks are going to stay static.  Time to learn my lessons!

Can anyone resist this face?  OMG!!!!!  LOVE HER!!!!  kiss kiss kiss!!!  This was after a playdate with our friend Sullivan.  She was totally tuckered out. 

7 In

We are at the 7 month mark in our love affair with our daughter.  She is turning into a little girl so quickly!  She is at a great age right now.  She loves exploring toys and being active.  She can even play by herself for 30 minutes or so.  < This is a big deal as I don't think we were able to put her down at all for 6 months!  Now I brush my teeth more often than not.  Go me!

Life is completely awesome with little Diggles around.  No, we don't sleep.  Yes, everything else suffers on some level.  I have reached levels of tired that I didn't even know existed.  I am now unorganized and can't even keep up with a simple blog.  It is all totally worth it.

Here are some outtakes from our 7 month pictures:

I see you dad! 

Ooh ooh mom, rub RIGHT there.  Yes.  Oh that feels so good to my new little teeth!

I don't want to sit for pictures!  I am coming to get you!!!!

Okay, I am going to try to be more active on my blog.  I love to blog and I love reading your blogs!  I hate that blogging is starting to fizzle out.  I learn so much from all of my blogging friends.  So, I am going to get back on track with the blog.

Over and out!  Stay warm!  xo