Thank You, 2015

Thank you for a whole bunch of post baby running PRs, a course PR, and a real PR!  So there is hope after all!

My first post baby PR of the year at the Little Rock Half Marathon.

Thank you for inspiring me to run a marathon after a 7 year lay-off, and rewarding me with a Boston Qualifier.

Ah.  Thank you for letting me cross this goal off of my list.  

Thank you for allowing me to serve on some wonderful teams as an athlete and ambassador:  Wattie Ink, Los Locos Racing, and Enell.  Thank you for so many amazing sponsors:  Breakaway Running, Outdoors Inc, Blue Seventy, Powerbar, MarcPro, ISM Saddles, and Herbalife24.  I have no right to any of this as a random age group athlete, but I sure am appreciative.

Thank you for bringing me new training partners that get up with the moon.

Thank you for new racing adventures.

A little Spartan Race to break from the norm.

Thank you for the health of my family.

Thank you for making this guy a part of my life for 19 years now.

Our 10 year wedding anniversary March 2015

Thank you for an accidental swim PR.  Sometimes I need things like that to keep me going.

I have no clue how I set a mile swim PR on this morning.  

Thank you for the hard races, and they were all hard.  It taught me that even when I am out of shape, miserable, and hurting beyond what feels healthy, that I am still not doing that poorly, and I just have to gut out the tough years.

Oh, Nola 70.3  This was such a miserable race for me.  Little did I know every race in 2015 would follow suit.  

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to travel a little bit this year.

The beautiful Elk Lake in Bend, Oregon.

Thank you for giving me opportunities to share so many things with Isla.  My heart is filled with joy when Isla reads books, talks about runners, spouts off the golden rules of kindness to animals, asks to help pick up trash at races, etc...  I treasure every single minute I get to spend with her.

Big plans for 2016!

Christmas 2015

The holiday season is over, and I need Dave to take the malt balls to work and get them out of the house!  I have had a seriously true off season (almost 3 months!) complete with weight gain, loss of fitness, and increased time spent with friends :). I seriously did not plan such a long off season and did not want to get so out of shape, but here I am and all I can do is go forward!  I am already looking forward to 2016 with some big plans and dreams.  Everything kind of snapped into place for me last week, and I am seriously getting excited about the upcoming year with a few goals in mind.   

(and I got a VERY unexpected Garmin 920xt for Christmas!!!!  Just when I think my family doesn't give a $hit, and I am pretty sure they really don't still, they do give me a little something to support my "hobby." )

But, the past week was a blast...

My favorite party of the season- with my GenerOWLs running group to celebrate Charles' BQ.  I don't even remember how many attempts he has had at a BQ over the years.  It was super inspirational.  But this is just an amazing group of people in and out of running.  I am the "nobody-just a PT" of the group.  Seriously.  These folks are just amazing individuals.  I am a better person for starting my day at o'dark thirty with them.

 And, how do you know when someone is a runner?  When they have reflective clothing on at a Christmas party?  LOL!  I have known 2 of these girls since we were 6, and another since high school.  I consider them my "good" and "smart" friends from high school.  (and yes, I have many friends that "didn't apply themselves" and "got into trouble."  I love them all equally.  And I wonder which category I belong....

 Somebody was excited to be Elsa on Christmas morning!

 At first Isla wanted dinosaurs for Christmas.  She then changed her mind to a baby doll.  (as if she doesn't have 5 already).  Looks like the baby doll did the trick! :)

 My Christmas girl :)

 We took Isla to the zoo lights with her godparents Sean and Jenny, along with their family from New Orleans.  Isla didn't want to ride the animals that go up and down at first and asked to sit on the bench.  That was followed up by a huge meltdown because she didn't get to ride an animal.  Oh my.  Of course we rode the merry go round, again, and this time on a Panda.  Life with a 2-year-old!

Isla's cousin Virginia (and the rest of the crew) came through Memphis on their way to see their family.  We got to have a wonderful breakfast with them during their pit stop- it was such a treat!  

Happy holidays to everyone-  thank you for all of the great Christmas cards, thoughtful gifts, and happy vibes.  With each passing year, it becomes more apparent to me that intentional kindness, goodwill, and positivity make a great life possible.  And I am certainly surrounded by some very awesome friends, so thank you!  

And I swear posting will get back to training and racing.  But I could hardly make it through this post without getting another malt ball.  Help!  LOL!!!!  Happy Holidays!!!!!!!

Santa Time

Isla is getting so pumped for "Christmas Day."  She is ready to open the presents under the tree, and I have to remind her that it is not actually Christmas Day yet.  The holidays are definitely more fun with a kid in the house.  

So, I did not heed Angela's advice- but I have stored it away in the back of my brain for future snack and lunch stress.  We made reindeer snacks for class.  It was actually a lot of fun for Isla, and she was really proud to hand them out to her class.  (There was nothing healthy about them, but I just let that go, and provided some bananas too to ease my conscience).  I managed to fit a run in that night as well, so really all turned out well, and I guess I just needed morning where I ignored the alarm.

It was finally time for us to go and see Santa Claus.  Last year, we didn't get a picture because she refused to sit in his lap and had a total meltdown.

This year we were ready.  Food in the belly...discussions on what Isla was going to ask Santa to bring her for Christmas (dinosaurs, if you are wondering)...and general excitement.

We looked at the Christmas trees and decorations.  

We prepped our smiles.  

There was some daddy and daughter love.

But...ha ha!!!! No good picture with Santa.  I couldn't even get her out of my arms to sit in Santa's lap.  She kept her head buried in my chest and cried, "I want my mommy!"  I had to force her head to turn out for the briefest of seconds.  What a joke!  Dave absolutely loves this picture and thinks it is so funny.  

This time of the year is so hectic, but I love it so much.  I have 5 parties in the next 3 days....whoo hoo!  No complaints- I love it.  

The Morning Snooze

I have been pretty diligent about training in the early morning hours.  It is the only time I am guaranteed a workout.  My work days are not giving me much wiggle room for training.  And by the time Dave gets home at night, which is usually around 6:30 but sometimes much later depending on his soccer schedule, everyone is pretty tired and hungry and the nighttime routines need to begin.  So, it is morning or bust.

This morning was a bust.  I hit snooze for an hour.  I turned on my phone, saw the temps had dropped to 30, and closed my eyes again.  I bargained with myself that I could just do something today when I caught a break, even though I have a really crazy work day with no room for a break.  I ignored the dogs who were trying to get me up.  I got up and made a cup of coffee and then came right back to bed for some snuggle time.  I searched on pinterest for a holiday snack to take to Isla's class tomorrow that was healthy-ish and wouldn't take me forever.  (BTW- my least favorite thing about parenting is the damn school snacks, as well as fixing lunch.  I have ZERO creativity and I am trying to change that for Isla's sake, because I don't want to be that mom that doesn't care.  The kids KNOW me.  They know I am Isla's mom.  So, I actually do reflect on her now.  I am not seeking perfection in the creative mom department, but I do think she deserves some effort).

So no running or swimming this morning.  I decided I needed to just rest and not even worry about it.  What is one day off a week?  Why can't I take that without guilt?  It is the extra 10 pounds I am carrying?  (YES!)  It is the fact that Boston is now 18 weeks away and I am running 10 miles a week?   (YESSSS!!!!) I didn't think there was a chance I would run it, but now I probably will and I feel screwed.

I think throughout parenthood I have have been trying to find my reason "why" with sport.  I am not an exerciser.  I don't diet.  I have always just trained when I wanted to accomplish something.  So there is no satisfaction for me in just working out.  I need a goal.  I need a vision.  I need sports and games.  It needs to speak to me.  When I did the marathon this fall, that was the first time in a while I felt that I had really set a goal worth achieving, and I committed and executed.  But, now I need a new one.  I went to yoga for the first time last night since I had Isla.  (what?  2.5 years???) And she challenged me to think on what brought me to this place in my athletic life and why I am pursing athletics.  And for the first time in 37 years I don't think I had an answer.  My mind was just completely blank.  So maybe that is why I am in bed this morning....I don't have a "why" for getting up this morning thanks to my yoga class last night.

A little Los Locos Yoga night.  They lured me in with promised of green juices and local beer.  Got to the end of class, and only juice.  Where is the beer?????  Duped. Good times.  

(but I DID do my first back bend last night post baby.  That is actually a big deal given the complete crap health of my spine.  I honestly could not do any sort of back bend the past 2 years.  Oh, and I have been swimming pain free for 2 weeks.  Finally.  So, there IS that....)

I am honestly partly blaming this week and my existential crisis on Scott Weiland's passing.  I have no clue why I felt so sad about it, but I did.  I have been wallowing in STP albums all week.  I am listening to them cover to cover on runs.  I mean, I have been completely sad and obsessed.  I sent this heartfelt text to Dave at work the other day that we need to go see some more bands and live music...life is passing me by and I will regret all of the great bands I never took the time to go see.  And I swear I heard a drumroll and decided Scott Weiland's death was catapulting me into a mid-life crisis.  Because the bands of my youth are dying out, I never go see live music anymore, and I am getting much closer to 40.  Yup, mid-life crisis.

Okay.  Reindeer snacks found.  Blog time regained.  Mom sanity returned.  Training mojo revived.  (although I still need a lightening bolt to strike me with a worthy vision and goal).  2-year-old up and snuggling me.

And now that my hour of alone time that didn't involve an increase in heart rate is over, I do feel a bit better. I hate to take away from my training time, but sometimes I just need life to slow down for a minute.  I promise to swim tomorrow morning :)

December!

Christmas cards probably aren't happening this year.  I LOVE getting cards from my friends.  I fill my whole door up- it is such a treat and reminds me of all of the love there is in my life.  But alas, my computer is so out of date I can't even upload pictures to make a card on the typical picture/card sites.  So, I am not going to spend another minute on it.  Here are some holiday outtakes with an energetic and willful 2-year-old.  

Okay...a half smile in the leaves.  Not bad.

No, you cannot make me sit on the steps for a family picture.  I am going to sit right here in defiance!

Dave thinks we can somehow salvage the situation.  LOL!

I will bury myself in between you two...I refuse to sit on the steps!

This looks cute enough, even though my hair is being pulled from my head.  This picture is probably a good representation of our family's energy.  

I like the holidays, and they are even better with Isla because she is so dern excited about everything Christmas.  We open our advent calendar every morning.  She loves Christmas trees.  Oh, and guess what our new favorite movie is?  FROZEN! and you know what? I love it too.  Every parent I know hates Frozen.  And yes, I get that you have to watch it a million times and sing "Let It Go" every 10 minutes, but I still love it.  

The holiday season is also about the St Jude Marathon.  If you have not run the marathon or half marathon before, put it on your calendar.  There are lots of races that are for a cause, but nothing is better or more tear jerking than running through St. Jude campus and realizing that you are giving kids a chance to grow up.  You are really saving lives.  Thanks to donations and events like the St. Jude marathon, no family ever has to pay for treatment for their child.  There is nothing else like it.  So- please consider running it next year!  #Spreaglet loves loves love cheering at the marathon, and we will be your biggest cheerleader!