Learning to live with the title.

I always tell people that they are not joggers but runners. I have no problem naming myself as a runner, but what I always like to add to that is "beginner". Well, I did some math while running today and I have been running for 24 months (and that doesn't count the time I took off while pregnant with Katrina). I also think that finishing up week 20 of 22 of marathon training kinda pushes me beyond the beginner level into runner.

Holy cow! I can't believe that I am actually a runner. I know that many people are inspired by my runs, and can't understand how I manage to get everything done both in a day and in the week, but somehow I do. I'm a bit nervous for the next couple of days since Steve is on a business trip and I will be a solo mommy for those days. I also need to run on Tuesday and Thursday and he comes home Thursday night so getting those runs in makes me a little nervous. I will most likely have to run at the crack of dawn (though Katrina is getting up at 5:30am lately so I may not be able to do that) or late at night. The night one makes me a little sad since that's the only quiet, me time I'll have all week. I guess I could try a post work stroller run. Guess that's what makes the difference between this me and the old me is that I will make sure I get my runs in even if it's hard for me to do.

So here is my list of why I am a runner!

• I will get up stupidly early to get it done.
• I will run when I'm sick.
• I will run when it's sticky, muggy hot out.
• I will run when it's cold, windy, raining or hailing.
• I have destroyed 4 pairs of running shoes.
• I currently am running in 4 pairs of shoes.
• I have more space for running clothes than any other type of clothes.
• I spend more allowance money on running stuff than anything else.
• I love to run!

The dreaded pinkeye.

The title says it all. Lillian got pinkeye on Tuesday and was home on Wednesday and today. Steve stayed home Wednesday and I stayed home today. Lillian is getting better and now Katrina has got it. We will be splitting the time home tomorrow. I will get up early and come home at lunch so Steve will have the morning baby shift and I will take on the afternoon.

So now I'm tired and am dealing with sick ladies before my husband goes to Boston on Saturday for his business trip. I'll just breathe and get through the next few days.

Training Tuesday - week 19 of 22

This week was my furthest distance I've covered in the whole training regimen.



My tempo run was delayed on the day due to a sucky baby, who got her shots the day before, so I had to run it on the treadmill instead of outside, but whatever! I rocked the run and was so proud that I pushed through it and finished all my hard tempo runs. I am one powerful and tough running mommy and I don't have to do tempo or speed for a while now, like, not until November! Woot!

My easy runs were just that. Nice and easy. I went a bit faster on Sunday than usual but my watch died half way through the run, but since I was running a standard route, I knew the distance.
On Wednesday we actually did a run after dinner with the girls in the stroller so we were a big family out on a run. It was really nice.

My long run on Saturday started out on a very negative note. I was packing my stuff and when I got to my water belt, I noticed the lids of my water bottles were black with mold. No wonder my water tasted off earlier this week. Steve assured me he's been scrubbing the lids but that didn't help me at that moment where I had to decide between using them or running with moldy lids since the scrubby brush was not working. I decided to run with a simple water bottle and Steve saved the day by packing up the girls and running to the Running Room. I barely made it 6km and he was back with new lids for my bottles. So I filled the belt and headed out again. I did a whole bunch of loops of a little road just off our street. It's 3.1km to run the whole thing both ways so I just did that a bunch of times in various combos to finish off 32km. Steve and the girls even came out and ran from 12-17k with me. It was nice to have them there for the middle bit. I got through the run without hitting a dark part, and when my legs started to hurt at the end I actually yelled at them to "suck it up" and keep going. I must have sounded like a crazy person during the run but I don't care because I rocked it!

Wonderful Hubby!

I have to brag about my hubby today. He is a wonderful man. He's understanding, compassionate, loving, selfless husband and an amazing father!

He saved my run on Saturday. I found mold growing on the inside of my water bottle belt lids. That was horrifying. I know we've been watching them but the last time I used them it tasted funky and now I know why. I was so upset and didn't know what to do. I knew I could run close to home and just keep getting water at the house, but on a 32km run it could have been disastrous. Steve was my hero and packed the girls up, drove off to Running Room and came home with new lids for the bottles. He then filled them for me and when I ran back by the house I snatched them and headed out. I don't like running without my water belt. It's kinda like my safety blanket. So the fact that he handled the situation and saved my run was a huge deal to me. He really put my needs before his own and I love him for it.

He is also a phenomenal father. He has spent these past 19 weeks of my training handling our daughters on Saturday which I run all on his own, and then taking extra care of them while I recover and is just being an all around awesome dad. He's been doing park runs with them, library visits, mall trips, shopping excursions, and they are just loving it. Their daddy-daughter days are going so well and I love seeing them spending this wonderful time together.

Adventures in Childrearing.

Steve showing off our home made finger paint!

This weekend was a CRAZY good time with my ladies! We took them out in the stroller on our runs, went to the park, Steve took them to the store, we made them homemade finger paint, let them finger paint a storm on the deck, made them pizza and baked an apple pie (which Lillian called wood chips and then later icky while asking for more)!

We had a marvelous time though we were running around all over the place and I was never sitting still for long. Steve was running errands and I was running around the house. Between all of this family stuff I still managed to pull off my Saturday morning 32km run. I managed to get through the long run and not hit a horrible dark place like last time. I pushed myself to do more and my legs didn't even hurt as much after this run as they did last time.

Showing her little sister how to paint right!

 Like I said we were one very busy family. But I love our weekends spent at home where we are doing loads of amazing family stuff and my girls are making the memories that they'll have for a lifetime.

And off she goes!

Counting down the days!

So as of today I'm down to 23 days until my race! Wowza! I'm getting really excited about the whole thing now. I'm waiting until the weather network can try to predict the weather that day to start obsessing about what to wear. I'm sure my coach will have some great feedback for me on that one. I've gotten my thank you gift for the great lady who is letting us crash at her place so my coach and I don't have to get a hotel (frankly if you're friends with my coach I think it's just part of life with her friends) and she'll be feeding us dinner the night before. I can't thank her enough for this since I get the pre-race nerves and having my food figured out is a HUGE help, but I have a feeling that a Starbucks gift card and espresso beans will help! I know that would make me feel VERY appreciated (are you listening dear?).

Girls strolling around the deck and yard.

Tomorrow is my next long run and my final long run before my marathon. My next longest run is 16km before the race. On a random side note did you know I've eaten almost a whole jar of almond butter? Usually it takes like a year to finish a jar of nut butter. How crazy and unreal is that? Apparently eating toast every Friday night with almond butter puts a lot of it into my tummy and makes the jar run low very quickly.

Dress up time!

I decided that my big girl has too many clothes and so I needed to put a larger dresser into the closet. While I was doing that my little ladies managed to get get into some funny mischief which lucky for me Daddy had the camera on hand to capture!

Katrina got the ball bin on her head!

Lillian found Mommy's bra.

Lillian then found Mommy's boxing glove.

I got all the clothes put away and they fit (thank goodness). So in the end it all worked out and I am THRILLED with the new set up of Lillian's closet and Katrina has an extra chest of drawers in her room too. I spent the rest of my night on the couch with my tooting hubby and we had a wonderful time.

What real mommies do!

I've been told by many people at many times that I am an inspiration to them. I'm happy that I can inspire people and make them want to push themselves all while just being me. Even my husband asked me today as I was running uphill, pushing both babies in the double stroller and he was huffing and puffing behind me. He asked where I get the energy from. I just laughed and reminded him my legs were trained to do +32km now, and we were only at 4. But there are lots of things I do that really are not so special and are just what most moms do.

So I've decided to compile a big silly list of things that I do, which I think most or many moms do. I am using the term "real mom" to refer to mom's who are not hollywood celebrities and as such do not have a chef, trainer and multiple nannies to take care of the unpleasantness for them. So if you can check off at least 5 things from my list you are a real mom, and if you can check of 10 you're a super mom in my books, and if you can check most of them, then you're crazy just like me! Because honestly, all of these things are things that I actually do and people like me are crazy! So here we go!

Real moms ...
- get up at 5:30am to fit in a run so it doesn't interfer with family time or kids' routines.
- push over 50lbs of children up all the hills so that your hubby doesn't have to put too much pressure on his sore knee.
- do the dishes on their 'off' nights so hubby can go out to his function.
- spray and scrub all the dirty laundry and not just the nice, 'out of house' clothes.
- don't mind getting up to cuddle the sad or cranky baby in the middle of the night.
- can't go to bed without checking in all the children in the house at least once (but usually twice).
- take their baby to get a shot and sit in the room holding them when they are given it.
- set a bedtime and stick to it so the kids have a routine.
- always make sure there is milk in the house.
- bake cookies from scratch to make them healthier and avoid the bad stuff in store bought.
- make homemade meals as often as possible (19 or 20/21 meals here) to feed their kids the best food.
- give up the last cookie, slice of bread, apple, bit of cereal, etc... so that no one else has to go without.
- always have a kleenex for a runny nose.
- always have a minute for a hug and kiss when needed.
- always remember how each kid likes their sandwich, dessert, drink, etc...
- can get their kids to do things daddy can't (like put on their clothes, clean up their toys, try the dinner they don't like).
- will let their kids 'help' with dinner or a chore even if it means that it'll take twice as long.
- set a good example for their children, and admit when they were wrong (I lose my temper every now and then).
- go running (that's where Lillian thinks I am whenever I am not at home).
- stop to smell the baby.
- make time to go to the park, even if there is more work to be done.
- know when the baby needs changing before the smell gives it away.
- always have a snack, change of clothes and extra diaper handy.
- don't even flinch when someone smears snot on their shoulder (always the left side).
- can clean up spit up or spilled milk before it can be absorbed into fabrics.
- know what's wrong from the tone without needing to look.
- will always do what is best for the family, even if it makes things harder on her.
- love their family with all their heart!
- plan halloween costumes months in advance so that I can make a different one if my daughter changes her mind.
- plan simple but awesomely fun birthday parties to celebrate getting older.
- take time off of work to attend a play date so your kid can see their friend (granted mom and mom time is a pleasant side effect).
- sign up to be on the board of their daycare coop even when they are training for a marathon.

So that's my list! How many did you check off? What's your list?!

Training Tuesday - Week 18 of 22

This week was a pretty awesome week for running.



So my easy runs went well this week. On Sunday I had heavy legs, so the run was hard and took a lot of work to get through it. On Thursday I made the call to run a shorter distance to get home instead of going the full 9km. I am glad I made that call since I managed to run well on Saturday.

My speed run went really well on Tuesday. I rocked the full distance and went really fast. I managed to run faster than expected so it was a complete success. This was my last speed run before the marathon.

Finally my long run was amazing. I ran 12k to get to Cecillia's house and then we took a little adventure of two 8km loops. We had so much fun running that the time just FLEW by and it didn't hurt so much as when I run alone. So now I have one more monstrous run to handle before the taper comes up.ru