New Year....New Adventures!

This winter was a rough one. The cold weather always puts a damper on my routine, but this winter I have had more injuries than I've ever had before. One right after another: foot, hip, quad, hip, back, hip, ankle, hip. See the pattern yet?! Everything I tried seemed to have no effect or make the pain worse. So I started seeing a chiropractor to see if he could fix this blasted hip.  X-rays showed that my hip was way out of place. So after many session and lots of exercises to strengthen, and yoga to well.... just keep my sanity. I am feeling super duper ultra mega better. I have also found a new favorite, acupuncture. I know it sounds awful, but I LOVE it!!! 

This season has already been a bad one for wind and allergies in Oklahoma. My answer to this problem has been acupuncture for my sinuses. We have also tried it in the hip, calf, and shoulder for various other issues. But my favorite is the back and neck.  I just lie there like a human pincushion and it's glorious.

I'm doing everything I can to feel like a normal, functioning human being without caving in and taking a bunch of expensive medications. I'm not saying everyone should do this, and I'm not knocking people who have to take the meds. (So save your hate mail!) I am just trying to hold off as long as possible. I know that one day my Lupus may get the best of me and I may have no choice but to take all the medications. Until then I will explore other avenues that work for me. Is that enough of a disclaimer?!

Besides I like trying new things: new hairstyles, new makeup, new books, new exercise classes, new adventures. This year seems to already be chalk full of new things. I am starting a couple of new adventures here very soon. I signed the paperwork the other day accepting a new job. I'm very excited/nervous about it.    Hubs is taking on a new roll at work, which completely changes our routine at home. We have decided to try to do something new as family each month, whether it's a new restaurant, new festival, new craft project, etc.   But perhaps the biggest new thing that I'm going to try is the Idle Ironman this month. My crazy friend, Jess, has talked me into signing up for this thing, where you complete the distances required in an Ironman, but you have 28 days to do it. I'm good with the running and the swimming (even if I have to put on a bathing suit, EEK!), but the cycling... ugh the cycling! I've never been much of a bike person. It hurts my bum and sometimes my hoohoo and I just don't enjoy it. But I'm gonna give it the ol' college try!

Just felt like putting up a pic where I don't look like Pinhead. : ) 

I gotta run for now because...well I gotta go run! : ) Slow and steady may not win the race, but it keeps me sane. Until next time....

Peace, Love, and new adventures.

OMG!!!!!

I have had a pretty intense 5 months, but I still don't know where all the time went since my last posts. So much has happened that I don't even know where to begin. The beginning it is.....
the holidays and winter weather also put a crimp in my running style. Normally I can power through, but this year time just got away from me. Between my son's birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, my sister's birthday, my husband's birthday, my daughter's, Christmas, New Year's, final steps in the adoption, and my birthday. Time seemed like it has moved in warp speed. I am pretty sure that I even had a few races in there somewhere, but I can't remember what they are. : ) OOOHH... I remember!

I did the Hot Mamma's Race with some of my great friends. Three of us dressed up as super heroes. My hubs, who hardly ever gets to come to races, brought the kids out to watch.

 

Then I did the Run or Dye with my great friend, L, who just moved back after being away for a long time. It was nice to spend time with her, even if the weather was awful.

 

 

That's where it all just sort of blurs together. I broke my foot and the holidays swarmed me and the next thing I remember, it's January.

 

So here almost a month into the new year, I am already behind schedule. But I am taking better care of myself this time around. I have been to the doctor more times in the past 6 months than I think I have ever been. And for me that's saying a lot! But I'm trying to be proactive with my health instead of reactive. So far I'm about 50/50. I have been very faithful to yoga during this winter and hope to continue that while adding running and weights back into my routine. I want to be ready to run the OK Memorial half marathon this year. This year contains a new PR. I can feel it.

 

I have a great support system that has expanded this year with some great new friends with #run3rd.

 

My family is always my loudest cheerleaders. My kids hold me accountable (even though they are too young to realize that is what they are doing). My hubs is the all-time greatest.So I feel like this year is the year for great things.

 

 

 

Peace, Love, and a New Year!

Operation Titty Holepunch

   The following information may be TMI for some but I feel like I need to share! (Don't worry. It's not about poop.) Enjoy! 

  I am young. I won't say how young, because a lady never tells her age and I pretend to be a lady. But I'm young enough that I had not thought about something happening to me. Suddenly I had some issues pop up in the breasticles area. I didn't want to play around with that given my extensive family history of the big C, including breast cancer. So I made an appointment with my doc who referred me for my very first mammogram. That was a lot of fun. My breasts squished between two giant plates one at a time. Though I will admit that it didn't hurt nearly as bad as I had feared and they let me wear a cape. (Ok, so it was more of a caplet, but when I walked it flared out behind my like a superhero cape. So I'm going with cape.) Three mammograms later they found something that they deemed disturbing, which disturbed me. Thus began Operation Titty Hole-punch (a name that my mom rolled her eyes at and my doc didn't even crack a smile at). Had I had the time I would have made T-shirts, but I was scheduled for a biopsy that following week. I am happy to report that I have the results and it was benign. 

My doc says that with my family history I should have started mammograms a couple of years ago. However, insurance probably wouldn't have paid for it unless I had the issues that I just had. And thank goodness for self exams. So ladies, please be vigilant, be aware, and don't be afraid to get tested or ask questions. 

 

Hopefully, we won't have to re-up Operation THP anytime soon. And I'm ecstatic that I have been released to exercise. Yay! Maybe I can shake some cobwebs off and get back on track. 

Until then... Peace, love, and self-breast exams. 

Feeling So Guilty

I have heard over and over that you taking time for yourself can improve the quality of time that you spend with your family. That by making time for exercise is leading by example. But I'm here to tell you that THAT is easier said then done!

Hubs has been working out of town. Like WAY out of town, which makes me a suddenly single mom. I work a full-time job that requires me to be away from my children for 9 hours a day. Then we come home, do homework, cook, clean, play, visit, do sports (baseball, soccer, track, and now dance), and bathe and the envitable bed time story. At the end of the day, I'm exhausted. I could push through that if I needed to, but it's not like I can leave the kids at home by themselves while I go for a run.

Sure I have some options. I can check them out of one daycare and then check them into the daycare at the gym. I could ask my awesome running buddies to watch them for me. I could even drop them off at my mom's and go. That's when the guilt comes in. I am away from them so much and the rest of the time is spent working toward some goal (dinner, baths, homework, sports) that I don't feel like I have time to SPEND with them. So running has fallen to the wayside until I can figure out a good balance for me.

I know I have the weekends, but I miss my husband so much that I can hardly pull myself away when he is home.

I'll figure this out, I know. But until then my pace times are taking a beating.

Peace, Love, and Family.

New Beginnings

Today is Independence Day, July 4th, the birthdate of my great country. So I find it only fitting to talk about starting over and new beginnings.

I haven't posted in quite some time. I always try to take some time off after a big race and focus on my family. So after the OKC Memorial, I took some time off from runHers and sort of running in general. I wanted to rededicate myself to my family. And then all hell broke loose. I have had some scary days in my life. The day my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. The day my daughter was born. The day the doctor said that my husband may have a brain tumor. But May 20th was the scariest day of my life to date.

I had went home early sick, but because of the weather went ahead and picked the kids up from school. We were at the house when the weatherman said to get the hell out of there. Grabbed the kids, the dogs, and the important papers and took off. I was on the highway headed north when it hit my neighborhood. By the time that I got to the shelter that we usually go to, they were showing my area on tv and I knew that my house was gone. My sister's first words to me where "Sissy, you don't have a house." Miraculously, I do have a house. Half a block more to the south and I would not. Half of my neighborhood is gone. Friends homes are gone. Our park is gone. But we have a house.


Entrance to our neighborhood

We had some structural damage and lost all of our fence and trees. But we were lucky. I know people are probably tired of hearing about this, but I need to say it. I haven't had a time to mourn. Mourn for my neighbors, my friends, my city, my state. My husband was sent out of town for work three days after the first storm. I had to handle everything on my own. Then the next storms hit, affecting a huge part of the state and hitting my house again, my city, my parent's house. And me. I was in my car with the kids and the hubs, who thank goodness was back for the weekend. And we were hit by a tornado in our car. It scooted us a little and the wind and flooding that followed ripped my wheelwells off of my Jeep. How we weren't washed away I have no idea.

Hubs is back out of town. We are fighting with insurance company and still doing repairs. Tball season has started and I am coaching this year. We are spending 4 nights a week at the ball field. I have 2 kids to take care of. I don't have time to think let alone mourn.

While repairs are being made, my bestest furbaby gets out and has been missing for over a week now. Every day I look for him and wait for that dreaded phone call, but nothing.

So today, my hubs (who's home for the holiday) suggested, nay, pushed me out the door to run. I haven't run in almost 2 months. It was a horrible run. Slow and sad. I hurt in places I forgot that I could hurt. But it felt like a new beginning. Like cleaning a slate. I got to mourn while I ran. But instead of cry, I sweat out my grief. I feel lighter. So here's to a Happy and Safe Holiday! I hope it is so for everyone. Much Love to you all!

Thank you to all the amazing volunteers that have helped get my city on the road to recovery.

Peace, Love, and New Beginnings. 

2013 Memorial Marathon

One of my favorite races is the OKC Memorial Marathon. Not just because it is my home. Not just because I know people whose lives were changed forever that day. Not just because the people are always so incredible. It's one if my favorites because the enduring message of hope that permeates from everyone and everything around you.

 If you've never ran the OKC race, we begin very near the memorial site. In the early morning dark, you can't help but notice the glow of the chairs sitting there to commemorate the 168 lives lost. There is a palpable energy that only intensifies as we observe 168 seconds of silence. This year 3 seconds were added to remember the 3 lost at Boston. Besides the Oklahoma wind, the only sounds are the whispered prayers and muffled tears of those around you. One might think that after a few years that this tradition would not be as poignant as the first time, but the opposite is true. Each year it affects my heart a little differently. This year was no exception. There was a cohesiveness, an inclusion this year among the runners that I had never felt before.

 Sure we are a running family. We encourage each other and cheer. But I have never felt such a strong connection among us all as I did on Sunday. I'll admit that the day of the Boston Marathon fear entered my heart . Lots of people said that OKC wasn't "high profile enough" to be a target. But we all felt that way before April 19, 1995, too. I knew that I would still run, but wasn't sure how many others felt that way. I didn't know if I was going to let my kids participate in the kids marathon. I didn't know how safe I was going to feel. But Sunday fear was nowhere to be found. I felt like the strangers surrounding me were my family and anyone of them would protect me and I, them. It was a beautiful amazing day.

I ran the fourth leg of a relay team. It was a first for me. We ran as team Tag It Forward. We ran to honor the memory of a young man who suffered from mental health issues and to bring awareness to the lack of mental health care in the United States. We ran for Boston. We ran for OKC and the 168. I ran for my friend who is battling leukemia. And I ran for the many dedications for my run3rd family. I ran for hope, happiness and peace.

 Now that I'm done sounding like an after school special, let me tell you how I did. I also want to tell you about some of the less poignant but just as awesome things that happened. Like I said, I ran the 4th leg of the relay.

It was a long 5k, which means it was over the standard 5k distance. The exchange was a little chaotic for my liking, with a mix of marathoners and relayers coming in at the same time. They would bellow out your bib number when your team mate was quarter mile out. However, there were so many marathoners coming through that we were cheering too loud to hear our bib numbers. So I didn't hear mine until my teammate started screaming my name as she came to the exchange point. My time was average for me. It could have been better and it could've been worse. I completed my section on 47 minutes. Not my best 5K time by far, but not bad with a still mending toe. Once I finished my leg, I hightailed it back to the finish line to meet up with my teammates. Your last leg was injured but soldiered on and we crossed the Finish together.

Two of my wonderful teammates and runhers ladies

Unbeknownst to me that while I'm racing my oldest child is being police escorted during his race. T (5 years old) got slightly overwhelmed by all the excitement and veered off his race course. A wonderful police officer scooped him up and pointed him in the right direction. Then a bike cop escorted him all the way to the finish. Only my kid! He was so excited to sit in the back of the cop car and that the other cop followed him on the bike. Thank you so much to the 2 OCPD officers who helped my son. You saved my husbands life. 😉 In all fairness to the hubs, he was expecting to get to run beside our kiddo, but was unable to. So our little boy ran his first 1.2 miles all by himself. They grow up so fast! And it better be his first AND last time in the back of a police cruiser.

I am so proud of my friends who participated in the races. I had several finish the 5K with new PRs.
All of my friends who did the half marathon PR'd. And my geek twin, Aubs, finished her very first full marathon. I was so proud and I love them all.

If you have never ran in OKC, you should. It's a beautiful race in a great city. And I don't just say that because I live here.

Peace, Love, and Unity.

So Much Has Happened.....

So much has happened since I last wrote ...

There is so much that I want to say about recent events, in my personal life, in the running world, in the world. I just don't know that there is anything that I can say that hasn't already been said and far more eloquently than I could ever state. So I turned to the thing that I have always found comfort in (besides my family and running of course!), music. There's not a theme or a lesson to be learned from the following playlist. It's just a list of good music that I enjoy running to. It's just one of the simple things that makes life more enjoyable. We should never take the little things for granted.

1. Just Keep Breathing  - We The Kings
2. My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark (Light Em Up) -Fall Out Boy
3. Champion - The Chevin
4. Animal  - Conor Maynard
5. Possum Kingdom - The Toadies
6. I Will Wait -Mumford & Sons
7. Home  - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
8. Suzie  - Boy Kill Boy
9. The Kids Aren't Alright  -The Offspring
10. Grace for Saints and Ramblers  - Iron & Wine
11. Insane In the Brain  - Cypress Hill
12. Now  - Paramore
13. Symptoms  - Atlas Genius
14. Run Riot  -Def Leppard
15. Love Bug - Baby Bee
16. Jump Around - House Of Pain
17. Girl On Fire  - Alicia Keys
18. Down With the Sickness  - Disturbed
19. Calabria 2008 (feat. MIMS & Natasja)  - Enur
20. New Slang  -The Shins
21. Rock and Roll - Led Zeppelin
22. The Phoenix  -Fall Out Boy
23. Little Talks  - Of Monsters and Men
24. Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) -Eurythmics
25. Ho Hey  -The Lumineers
26. Can't Hold Us (feat. Ray Dalton)  - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
27. Trains to Brazil - Guillemots  
28. Longview  -Green Day
29. Thinking 'Bout Somethin'  - Hanson
30. Excuse Me Mr.  - No Doubt
31. Low (feat. T-Pain) - Flo Rida
32. Sabotage - Beastie Boys
33. Home  - Phillip Phillips
34. Just Got to Be  - The Black Keys

Peace, Love, and Savoring the Moments.