Growing Girl and Running Mom

 

Hello from mom land!  I finally figured out why I never get to blog anymore, and I realized it is because my laptop died a while back and ended my ability to blog from bed.  Now I have to sit down at the PC to write, and the minute Isla sees me at the computer, she is crawling up my leg (or throwing the keyboard) for my attention.  But for tonight, Dave is off playing soccer, the dogs are snoring, Isla is sleeping soundly, and momma has a glass of wine.  It is blog time! 

Isla is turning out to be a smart, funny, and sassy little girl.  I love hanging out with her!  There are some hints of a girly girl emerging, such as when she cried because I took off her sparkly shoes that were too big for her.  It was a really big deal.  She proceeded to take the shoes and hide with them in a dresser drawer.  Yet, she is a little fearless athlete too.  Everything is her obstacle course, and she loves to throw and kick.  Hmmm...so we shall see. 

I am steadily returning to the race world.  My motivation is high, and I think it is because I am only up 1x per night now instead of 5-6.  I ran the 2nd RRS 5k this past Sunday and dropped 35 seconds off of my time from 2 weeks ago.  I don't believe I did this from any additional fitness.  I didn't have any key runs, speed sessions, or good mileage in the weeks before.  I honestly think it was just because I changed my strategy and tried to do a better job of racing the 5k.  That meant I had to go out faster than I am comfortable doing right now and be okay with suffering a little more in the race than I did 2 weeks ago.  Well, the strategy worked somewhat, and I am one step closer to learning how to push and hurt again. 

The task I also face now is continuing to race the series with reasonable expectations, improved fitness, and no injuries.  It is really easy to get caught up in the process of trying to go faster each race as the series goes on.  I am not sure that I really have the structural strength in my body to worry about speed right now, so I will have to keep myself in check and take a bird's eye view when planning and racing.  Ideally, I would like to be totally pain free in my back and put back on some muscle that I lost before really attacking my running times.  Interestingly enough, I am right where I was in 2010 post knee surgery in running pace....and that year turned out well in the end with an even better 2011.  So, I will be looking over old logs to figure out what brought me success.  (If I remember correctly...the key was patience!)

xo