Running errands

I ran to do my errands today. Seriously. I ran to the mall, dropped off Beer Geek's watch at the jewelers, ran two more miles while the work was done. I picked up a razor at CVS, picked up Beer Geek's watch and then ran the .75 miles to the rental car place. So, a total of 4.2 miles run today, which made it so I'll hit 20 for the week and 90 for the month. Yay! And I got my errands done.

(Huge apologies to all the people in business suits standing in line near me at CVS. I can only imagine how unattractive and smelly I was as I dripped sweat on the floor.)

I spent the entire rest of the day loading the car and running around the house getting stuff ready. I was on my feet for most of the day and I lost track of how many times I went up and down the stairs. I had the kids with me for most of the day and they made sure that I ran a few extra trips up and down, sigh.

We leave bright and early tomorrow morning, so I'd better hit the bed. Assuming we really do have wi fi, I'll try to post about my race on Sunday. If not, "see" you on August 9th!

Sweaty four miles on very tired legs

I wanted to do a Wordless Wednesday post, but I don't have any great recent pictures. What can I say, it's been a quiet couple of weeks.

After I dropped Shoo off at camp this morning and Jones at a friend's house, I headed over to Old Navy to use up a rewards card. Usually, they send me $20 or $10 at a time, so I can easily use it, but this time, I got a $50 reward. This is good and bad. I mean, who's going to turn down $50? But unfortunately, it all has to be spent at once and this card expires on Friday. I got lucky and found a running bra, a running tank, and two running capris that I liked. Out of pocket cost: $4.18. Yay!

I raced home and headed out for a run in the incredibly humid weather. Luckily, it was cloudy. I aimed for a nice slow pace, but did a hilly route. My legs felt REALLY heavy after yesterday's speed workout (which surprised me as the workout didn't feel that hard yesterday when I was doing it...)

Now back to packing and organizing and getting ready. I'm going to really need a vacation by the time I'm ready to leave on this vacation.

Takin' what you can get

Jones doesn't have camp this week. Shoo only has camp Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Beer Geek is working like a madman so that we can go out of town Friday morning. This leaves me trying to pack, straighten up the house, and try to run a few miles, while also entertaining the kids.

Yesterday we went out to the Udvar-Hazy, a part of the Air and Space Museum. It's located out near Dulles Airport and houses all the big planes and space stuff that can't be displayed downtown. The boys LOVE this museum. I think we go there more often than we go to the zoo, even though the displays have never really changed. By the time we got done with that, it was time for Beer Geek to get home and for me to go to the dentist, so no running yesterday.

Today, Shoo went to camp and Jones and I took the metro out to the end of the line. He mentioned yesterday that he'd never been on the part of the metro that goes above ground, so that's what we did as our "mommy and Jones" activity today. Then we had ice cream. :o) Then we picked up Shoo.

You'll notice no mention of cleaning, packing, or running LOL. And then Beer Geek called and said he might be home late, which meant only one of us would get to work out. So, what was a girl to do?

Mile repeats on the treadmill, that's what. I set the boys up with lunch and Harry Potter (the first one, which Jones had been begging to see). I jumped on the treadmill and ran a fast mile. Then I ran upstairs, checked on the boys, had some water, and jumped on the treadmill again. Jones is almost 8, so I feel comfortable leaving them for a short while, but not long enough to run 4 miles straight through.

I ended up doing four miles that way (8:50, 8:42, 8:35, 8:20 with about 2 minutes in between as I ran up and down the stairs) and did a short cool down. When I checked on the boys, they were still doing fine, so I jumped back on for a half mile and then, after checking on them, one more half (4:25, 4:20). All still good, so I did two quick quarter miles (1:59, 1:57) and a short cool down. All in all, I managed 6 miles during Harry Potter, while never leaving the kids for more than 9 minutes!

Tomorrow and Thursday, Jones has playdates during Shoo's camp, so I can get two short runs in before we leave and then my race is on Sunday. Now the trick will be to get in 20 miles while we are on vacation...

Post #300: by the numbers

In the 14.5 months it took me to write 300 posts, I've

• run 1200 miles
• participated in 14 races (1 marathon, 4 halfs, 2 10 milers, 1 12K, 2 10Ks, and 4 5Ks)
• raced in 4 new states (and run in two others)
• met 1 RBF

I've also

• been to 15 new brewpubs/breweries
• written 3 "drunken" posts
• tried more new beers than I can count

Over the next how ever many posts I write, I plan to

• break a 7 minute mile
• hit at least 4 new states per year (to hit all 50 by 50)and hopefully meet some more RBFs along the way
• finish a 10 miler in under 1:30:00
• run in the 3 beer related races I've found so far (and any others I find in the future)
• complete 0 triathlons (sorry guys, not jumping on that bandwagon)
• maybe, just maybe run another marathon

For now I'll just hang around, regaling you with kid stories and beer stories, ok?

I did manage to get in my 5.25 miles on Sunday at a 9:30 pace. Oh, how I'm hating summer running. Three more runs and I'll be in Maine, running in cooler weather. I can't wait.

Post #299

Which means tomorrow's post needs to be awesome.

I know you are thinking "what, two posts in one day?" Well, we went out to dinner to a brew pub (yeah, nothing new there) and I have to do an "Alkie Saturday" about one of the beers.

My first beer was a lovely Porter. Quite lovely actually.

Then I asked for the bourbon barrel aged Belgian triple. Now, I'm not a huge fan of bourbon, but I like it as an undertone in beers. In fact, some of my favorite beers are aged in bourbon barrels. This one, well, I gave it to Beer Geek.

Why? Because the bourbon walked up and smacked me in the face. In fact, I think the alcohol content may have been in part from the bourbon. I went to a college at a school where bourbon was the drink of choice. And I have no need to be reminded of college.

Thankfully, Berr Geek waas drinking a porter, so we switched. And he drank half the porter too. I wonder where all these typeos are coming ferom.

I'm going to blame tham on Jess.

War of posts

A while back, one of these guys wrote a post about his marathon plan and the war of posts. I thought about that method of running a lot during my 6.65 mile run today.

I planned to get up early and be out running by 8:00am at the latest. Shoo apparently had different plans and kept waking up during the night (his illness has turned into nasal congestion, sigh). When he woke me up at 5:21 am for what felt like the millionth time, I realized I was not going to be out running early. I finally pulled myself out of bed at 8, ate breakfast, and drank my coffee.

Beer Geek needed to get a haircut and the place opened at 9:00 am, so he went there and I waited until he returned to go out for my run. It was in the mid-70s and what felt like 100% humidity when I headed out. The first mile felt fine, so I decided to try some quarter mile repeats. The first one went fine (1:55) with a slow jog after. The second went ok (1:59) with a slow jog after as well. The third one was a horrid failure. About .1 of a mile in, my body just said no way. I had about 3.5 miles left at that point and I literally ran from corner to corner, telling myself I had to make it to each corner.

Eventually, I did manage to finish my hour of running (my ultimate goal) and had finished 6.43 miles. By the time I got home, I'd run 1:01:51 and 6.65 miles. I think this was one of those runs where I would have really benefitted from one of the handheld systems. But, yay, only 5.25 miles left for tomorrow. LOL

We leave for Maine in less than a week and I have about 5,000 things to do. Losing all of last week has me in a bit of a time crunch. Apologies in advance if I don't comment as much this week. On the WooHoo! side of things, though, we found out yesterday that the house we rented for the week has WiFi. ;o)

Long week = no long run

This week has pretty much sucked. Shoo ran a fever from Monday evening until sometime the middle of last night. His only real symptom other than the fever was crankiness. He pretty much wanted to be held and cuddled 24/7 and he's not light. He also threw up ibuprofen more than once, so he was warm. Very warm. So I had a very warm 35+ pound little person hanging on me for four days, whining. Did I mention that he didn't sleep much? And when he did, he wanted to be RIGHT.ON.TOP.OF.ME. Yeah, it's been a lovely week. (I took him to the dr. yesterday, where he tested negative for the flu and for strep, so it's apparently just a random virus. Fingers crossed that no one else gets it.)

He seems to be better now. The fever is gone and he's a lot less whiney, but we've cancelled our weekend plans so he can finish recovering. I'm feeling a bit stir crazy as my life basically shrunk to the confines of our house for the last week.

I had originally planned a nine mile run this week. I'm not sure if I'll manage to accomplish that tomorrow. I have 12 total miles left to get in between now and Sunday, which may mean three four mile runs, two six miles, or I may just not hit my goal this week. Oh well, sometimes being a mom has to come first...

Sick kid and 7 traits

Shoo has been sick for the last couple of days. Not much in the way of symptoms, other than a pretty high fever, but he's been one cranky boy. Since he hasn't been sleeping well, I'm pretty tired, but thankfully, he seems on the mend today. I missed out on my long run yesterday, but I'll run 4 miles this evening and hopefully he'll go to camp tomorrow and I can get in at least six miles.

Marlene tagged me to list seven personality traits. I found it way harder than I thought it would be.

1. I'm really open-minded - I have friends ranging from the extremely conservative to incredibly liberal. While I may not agree with them, I enjoy hearing different viewpoints and try to take nuggets of wisdom from all of them. And it certainly makes the status updates on my facebook page interesting.

2. I'm a bit of a "crunchy granola chick". Shoo was born at home. I've done delayed vaccinations. I buy mostly organic. I've tried growing my own veggies in our postage stamp sized yard, but that's been not so successful. If there's a "greener" or more "natural" option, I'm likely to try it (see trait #1).

3. I NEED information. I research everything to death. I must know details. I hate "going with my gut" or making a less than informed decision.

4. I'm a night owl. While I can make myself function on a normal time schedule, my body would much rather stay up until 1 am (or later) and sleep in. Jones seems to have inherited this.

5. I'm really adventurous about food. I'll try just about anything once. I used to be more like this in general, but I've found that since I've had kids, I'm a lot less willing to try anything "dangerous".

6. I'm easily distracted. The book "If you give a mouse a cookie" is a pretty good description of most of my days. While writing this post, I've gotten up to get a snack, folded a load of laundry, read a book to Shoo, gone down to the basement to look for ingredients for dinner... Surprisingly, I do usually manage to complete everything I need to do in a day.

7. I'm extremely emotional and my emotions are generally right out in the open for every one to see.

I'd tag 7 people, but given trait #6, it's likely it would take me the rest of the day to finish the post. So, if you haven't done this, feel free to consider yourself tagged.

Another marathon?

Before the Marine Corps Marathon last October, I swore I'd never run another one. Training took a huge toll on our family and on my mind(surprisingly, my body held up quite well). I felt like I spent every moment of my free time running. I leaned heavily on my parents to watch the kids when I went to visit and Beer Geek took two days off work so that I could do my 20 mile runs without taking over the whole weekend. I spent a ton of money on babysitters so that I could get the longer midweek run in without conflicting with soccer or our normal evening routine.

As I crossed the finish line, I said to myself "I never have to do this again." A few days later, I promised Beer Geek I wouldn't run another one until Shoo was in school. I also knew I didn't want to do another fall marathon as I HATED doing long runs in the Virginia heat. I'd much rather run in freezing cold or snow than in hot humid weather.

In September, Shoo starts a three day a week program. He'll be at school for about four hours a day on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Beer Geek and I have agreed that the next two years are my "reward" years for surviving five years of minimal time to myself (really, 7.5 years, but I occasionally took mental health days back when I had a job). I get two years with a decent chunk of time each week to do whatever I want to do. Once Shoo starts kindergarten, I'll need to think about some kind of paid employment.

So, what is it I want to do? I'm not sure. I've made some commitments to both boys' schools. I have 1001 projects to do around the house. I've considered volunteering at a library to begin to bring my skills back up to date. I've also considered taking a few classes to make up for 5 years of being out of my career field, but I'm not sure I want to go back to what I did in the past (managing the technical services (cataloging, purchasing, electronic services contracts) for a large library) or if I want to find a library position that is more flexible/kid friendly.

Anyways, the big question is where does another marathon fit in. I figured out that I could do my long runs on Tuesday, do a hill workout Wednesday when Beer Geek gets home, do a shorter long run on Friday, and then do speedwork on Sunday. That would leave Thursday free to do the 1245987 things I need to get done.

Add in the fact that I haven't found a marathon that I really WANT to do and I'm sitting over here going "eh?"

I ran an impromptu tempo run today. It started off crappy because I was in a mood and apparently need to stop running in the shoes I had on. After a 9:36 first mile (which was fine, I was going for easy), I ended up doing an 8:57 second mile without noticing until Garmin beeped. I decided to push a little bit for mile 3 (8:35) and then slow it down for mile 4 (9:18). All in all, it was a nice run that helped pull me out of my funk.

Now if I could just figure out what I want to be when I grow up...

7:27 mile and an interesting discovery

I like to do speedwork on Saturday mornings. Instead of repeats or intervals, today I decided to see if I could run a mile at the pace Mcmillan calculated as my one mile speed based on my last 5K. According to the calculator, I should be able to do a 7:26 mile (interestingly, my suggested mile was only one second difference when based on my fastest half marathon).

I don't have an easily accessible track, so I headed to the flattest part of my neighborhood (still not very flat). On the way, I did a mile at a warm-up pace of 9:45. I picked up the pace and managed to run the mile in 7:27, despite some fairly long gentle inclines! I think I could have pushed a little harder as I wasn't near puking, but my legs said absolutely not. (I don't know how you fast girls do that pace for mile after mile!) At the end of the mile, I walked about .2 of a mile and then started jogging. I finished mile 3 in 10:18 and mile 4 in 8:57, for an overall pace of 9:07/mile. The last time I did a mile trial, it took me 7:45, so I've knocked a little over fifteen seconds off in the last few months.

After I got home and showered, we headed down to Roosevelt Island for a walk and picnic. Usually there's not a lot of parking on nice days, so we parked in Rosslyn and walked the rest of the way. While we were walking on the island, Jones and I did some speedwork. I made an interesting discovery - he's nearly as fast as me! I had to go into an all out sprint to get ahead of him and then I think I only succeeded because I've got a bit more stamina (thank you repeats LOL). All in all, we walked/hiked/ran over four miles, which means that Jones should be able to complete the 5K with me at the end of August (we'll do it at whatever pace he wants, which likely means we'll alternate sprinting and walking LOL).

Now we are all chilling out at home until Beer Geek and I go out for dinner at Dogfish Head Brewpub.

Body Confidence

I ran on the treadmill today because it was about 93 degrees out and humid. I just wasn't up for that kind of run. I ended up doing a "pyramid" where I keep increasing the speed until about the 2.5 mile point and then slowly decrease the speed for the next 1.5 miles. I ended up doing 4 miles in 36:52, with the incline at 1.5.

While running on the treadmill, I watched my usual Discovery Health show, X-weighted. Usually this show features women who have a LOT of weight to lose. Every once in a while, I learn something useful, but mostly it just reminds me how easy it is to allow a lot of small choices add up to major weight gain.

Today's show was about a woman who had decided she wanted to lose 30 pounds. Looking at her, I would have said she had a whole lot less than that to lose. Her whole goal was to look like the women in magazines and to be attractive to men. She had this attitude that you had to be seriously THIN to attract men. I found the whole show a bit bothersome. She followed an incredibly strict diet and worked out for two hours a day (oh and there was a small mention of some sort of metabolism enhancing drug that the trainer told her not to take, but she did anyways). Then, at the end, she managed to run 1.5 miles in just under 12 minutes, instead of the fifteen she had done the first time. She also got to do a photo shoot in a bikini.

I just felt like the show sent the wrong message. Usually it's about making healthy choices and regaining control over your life. Today, it felt like "eat nothing, take drugs, work out obsessively, and you too can look like a cover model." Bleh.

What a difference 8 degrees make

Today was only about 8 degrees hotter than yesterday, but the humidity is up and the breeze is gone. Luckily, this was expected so all I had on the calendar was a hilly 4 mile run. One of my mom friends BQs every year with only four runs a week and she told me that one of her "tricks" is to run hills the day after her long run. While I don't ever expect to BQ (even running another marathon is still up in the air), I decided I'd give hill running a try on my tired legs.

We live in an awesome neighborhood for this kind of running. If I run E/W, my run has very gentle hills. If I run N/S, especially in the southern part of the neighborhood, the hills are killer. So, I ran about a half mile east of my house and then ran the N/S streets in my neighborhood, slowly working my way back to my house. It ended up being four miles at a 9:25 pace. The heat, hills, and sun made it feel like I was running much faster than that, but it was definitely a good workout and my legs now feel like jello.

Now for a quick shower and lunch and then I'll pick up the boys from camp and head to the pool.

Nice 8 miles and random babble

Today is gorgeous here. It's currently in the mid-70s and breezy, which is virtually unheard of in Virginia in mid-July. I dropped the kids off at camp this morning and headed out for a nice, slow 8 mile run. Two of my favorite bloggers have recently gotten certified for coaching running and they both are endorsing the really slow long run. I'm not very good at staying slow, but I decided that today I'd do my best to stay near a 10 minute mile and see what happened.

9:28 (oops, but it was mostly downhill)

9:53

9:46

9:49

9:54 (walked to eat a gu)

9:45

9:43

8:58 (with a half mile left to go, I decided to see what I had left)

All in all, an awesome run.

Our cookout this past weekend was a blast. We had our "usual" group of close friends over. I indulged way too heavily in the cheese platter, but didn't drink as much as I sometimes do. I only had four beers, but they were some of my favorites: Dominion Baltic Porter, Harpoon Winter Warmer, Anchor Christmas, and Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout. My friends gave me a hard time because I wouldn't share any of the Baltic Porter. I'm usually very generous with my beer, but this was a seasonal that may not be made again, so I'm hoarding it.

The hardest part of having an event like that is not getting a lazy day the next day. Before kids, I would have spent most of Sunday lounging on the couch with a book. Instead, we got to go to the playground and shopping and played in the backyard. I'm still recovering.

Yesterday I was tired and cranky and Shoo didn't have camp. Beer Geek had a "late" conference call. When he got home at 6, he told me to just go out until bedtime for the kids. I thought about heading over to the library and reading or going to a coffee shop. Instead, I ended up heading to a store and bought myself an early birthday present: an Asus Eee Netbook. Now Beer Geek and I won't have to fight over who gets to surf the 'net LOL. Between my nice, unexpected break last night and the enjoyable 8 miles today, I'm in a much better mood today.

(Oh, and I called and emailed tfh and haven't heard anything back yet.)

Slow, speedy run

I needed to do six miles today to make my goal of 20 miles for the week, otherwise I'd have to run tomorrow. I also wanted to do a speed workout, which makes 6 miles a bit of a stretch.

I ended up doing 4 x half mile repeats at an 8:00 pace with slightly less than a half mile walk/run in between. With my mile warm up and a mile and a half cool down, I managed to do 6 miles in 58:57. I pegged all of the half miles at exactly 4:00, despite running in my hilly neighborhood (gotta love the garmin) and then walked for a short while after each one. I think it was a good pace to choose as I was able to manage it (barely) each time and my legs felt like jello by the time I was completely done. So, with four runs this week, I hit 20 miles and included a hilly run, a long run, speed workout and an easy run. Success!

Now I get to enjoy hanging out in the backyard for a cookout with friends, where we will hopefully finally finish the "holiday" beers we bought in December LOL. Maybe I'll be back tomorrow with a review for Glaven...

Some days you just NEED to run

Jones had a huge fit at camp drop off this morning. By the time it was all resolved, I was a wreck. Shoo got dropped off a half hour late to preschool and I decided I just didn't have it in me to deal with Costco. I had planned to push my run back until Beer Geek got home, so that I could get some other things accomplished during my kid-free time. Instead, I headed home and went out for a run.

I only ran 3 miles and not terribly fast, but it at least got me to the point that I could make some needed phone calls and stay calm during them. It's amazing how running can just release my stress and help center me.

Before we had kids, I ran for exercise and to be able to eat what I wanted. Now, I run because I have to in order to be a good mom.

Crazy day

I feel like I've been running pretty much all day. It's after 10 and I'm just now doing fun stuff on the computer. My day went basically like this: take Jones to camp, take Shoo to camp, run 7 miles, start a load of wash, shower, eat lunch, pick Shoo up from camp, go to playground, pick Jones up from camp, water all the plants in the yard, take the boys to the pool for two hours, give kids baths, make dinner, make lunches, take out recycling, put kids to bed, fold laundry... I could keep going, but I'm exhausted. Tomorrow will be a bit calmer. I only plan to run 4 miles and we will be chillin' at home after camps. I can't handle the pool two days in a row.

I had a pretty decent 7 mile run today. It was a bit cooler (high 70s) and I purposely ran slow. I average 9:43 per mile and all of my miles were within 10 seconds of that speed. I borrowed an idea from RunningLaur. Sun just saps my strength, so after the first three miles, I walked about .08 and then ran the rest of the mile, with a goal of each mile being faster than 10 minutes. It worked really well and I didn't feel as exhausted or dehydrated as I usually do during hot weather running. Not sure if I'll keep doing that for my long runs this summer, but it definitely helped me today.

I'm sure I had more to say, but suddenly I'm too wiped out to remember...

8 hour drive for a 10K?

Would you drive 8 hours each way to run in a 10K?

I'm not sure I normally would, but the one I'm want to do is a) in a state I haven't raced in yet, b) sponsored by a brewery, and c) on a weekend that is four days, thanks to Jones' school schedule.

The race is on Sunday, so theoretically, we could drive partway on Friday and stop someplace fun. Drive the rest on Saturday and still be there for an associated event. Run on Sunday and then head home - with the potential for stopping if we didn't want to drive the whole way. Guess I need to pull out a map and figure out what fun stuff there might be on the way to and from.

Summer started for real here this week. I'm not a big fan of summer, so having to entertain two boys when all I want is to stay in the AC is not my idea of fun. It's not ridiculously hot yet, but hot enough I don't like it. Today, Shoo had camp for three hours, so Jones and I went mini-golfing and then to the library. Tomorrow they both have camp, so I actually have about 2.5 hours to myself. I have a 7 mile run planned (in the heat, bleh) and then I need to figure out what groceries we desperately need. Once I pick up the kids, we are heading to the pool. We don't have a neighborhood pool and I'm not a big enough fan of swimming to pony up the money for a pool membership (they start at $400 for the season and go WAY up from there, plus most have waitlists), so we are hitting the regional pool. Hopefully it won't be too insane.

I did a very hilly four mile run today with an average pace of 9:20. I wasn't planning hills, but I was trying to stay in the shade and that meant the hilly part of the neighborhood. It wasn't bad for an 86 degree/high humidity run. I'm so not looking forward to the weeks when the heat goes above 90!

Did I mention I'm not a fan of summer?

Amazing 4th of July!

As I mentioned, we had the opportunity this year to go downtown to watch the fireworks from a rooftop. As it turns out, it was one of the best rooftops in the area to watch from. As you can see in the picture, we weren't far from the Washington Monument. Slightly to my right, behind me in the picture, is where the fireworks went off.

We felt like we could practically touch them (in fact, Shoo asked if he could grab one LOL). The view was at least as good as from the Mall, but we had bathrooms with running water and a very small group of people. We won't get the chance again for another couple of years (if ever), so we really made the most of it.

After the fireworks, we walked back into Arlington to where our car was parked (about 2.5 miles). We had a stroller for Shoo, but Jones walked most of it. We did let him ride in the stroller across the bridge, while I carried Shoo. Cross training?

Today, I put on my big girl panties and took the boys to the National Zoo. I don't drive in DC, except to the zoo, and even that gives me major anxiety. I also get a little anxious taking the two out by myself, but Shoo is no longer the runner he used to be and Jones has grown up a lot this year, so I decided I could handle them. I'm proud to say I got there without getting lost and we spent 4.5 hours walking around. Then I managed to get us safely home. Go me LOL. Maybe someday soon I'll be brave enough to take them on the metro downtown.

No running today. I ran a fast four miles yesterday (needed to squeeze it in before I took the cat to the vet) and then walked all over the very hilly zoo today. Now I'm tired and the boys are having "quiet time" (which probably means that one of them has fallen asleep LOL).

Happy Birthday Mom! and happy Fourth of July to everyone!

We like holidays around here. Mom's a fourth of July baby and Shoo's a Halloween baby. They get parties every year on their birthdays even when we don't have one specifically for them. LOL

I ran a sweaty 6.3 mile run today (that's what I finished in an hour). We are going to see the fireworks from Beer Geek's office building tonight, so I needed to go park a car near enough that we could avoid the metro on the way home. I dropped off the car and ran the two miles back to my house and then ran my usual 3 mile loop. At the end, I decided to run more and make today my "long" run for the week.

Now I need to shower and go hang with the boys until it's time to head downtown. Hopefully I'll have some awesome pics for you all tomorrow.

Happy Fourth!

Home again home again plus monthly goal review

We flew home yesterday on one of the easiest, "no issues" flights we've ever had. Our luggage even came so fast that the boys and I were already waiting outside when Beer Geek called to say he was on the way back from the airport with the car (he cabs home and picks us up so we don't have to travel with carseats). We planned to head to our favorite Mexican place, but they had long lines, so we hit Rock Bottom Brewery instead. We had a beer that was a mix of their brown and porter and aged in bourbon barrels. Wow! It had just enough bourbon flavor to be interesting, but not so much that I couldn't stand it (bourbon is not an alcohol I like. Blame it on college...). It seemed more alcoholic than the usual beer, which was confirmed when Beer Geek asked me to drive home. ;o) Good thing I'd only had part of one beer at that point.

Yesterday before we left, dad and I went for a run. I was really tired because Shoo hadn't slept well, so the first 2.5 miles sucked. At about mile 3, I realized I was slouching because I was tired and that was affecting my breathing. I paid more attention to my posture and we were able to do mile 5 at an 8:29 pace. Wonder if that was part of my problem on Saturday? We did 5.5 miles total.

We are halfway through the year and some of my goals have already been met. Some have totally fallen by the wayside. I've run 503 miles so far, so 1000 for the year is still a possibility.

1. Run the Army 10 miler in under 1:30 (won't know until October). This replaces the already met 3 halfs/sub-2 goal.

2. Run in 6 new states this year (goal was 3) Done: Delaware, Florida, Wisconsin, Minnesota; Planned: Illinois (Run from the Cops in Itasca), Maine (Lobster Festival Run in Rockland). I think I can squeeze in one more state in October when Jones has a long weekend.

3. Work out 5 times per week. Totally blowing this one. I managed to run 4 times a week during June, but I did pretty much nothing else. I'm planning to continue running four times a week, but hopefully I can swim enough on one day with the kids at the pool that I can call that a workout.

4. Stop stressing about my weight/lift weights. I'm not stressed about my weight, but I do need to keep paying attention. I managed to only gain one pound at my parents' house, which is pretty amazing considering I usually drink 2-3 beers a week and almost never eat sweets and while I was there, I averaged a beer a day and we celebrated Beer Geek's birthday and my mom's birthday. I also need to get back into strength training. My parents have a really cool weight machine in their basement and I didn't even touch it. Sigh.

5. Run at least 8-10 races this year. I've already done 8 and have four more planned races and a couple of weekends that I think I'll race with my dad, so I'll blow this goal out of the water.

I'm done "training" until September when the boys go back to school, but I do plan to do some hill and speedwork this summer. My only real plan is to keep my mileage close to 20 miles per week and to try to run at least one 8+ run per month.

Semi Wordless Wednesday: Dress up

My dad is retired from the Air Force, where he used to be a radar navigator for B-52s.  Today, he pulled out his old flight suit and helmet to show the boys.

It still fits!

Jones could barely hold his head up with the helmet on.

When I was about Shoo's age, dad came home from Thailand with my very own flight suits!  I LOVED them.  I don't remember Jones ever wearing them, but we'll be taking them home with us for Shoo to wear when he plays dress up.

Shoo rockin' the "flight suit" look.

Woohoo, gotta love camouflage!