Volunteering and virtual racing

This has been a crazy busy weekend (but then really, what weekend in my life isn't crazy busy?) Friday I spent all day at Jones' school hosting a "book swap" where every child in the school got to take home at least one "new to them" book. Many of the kids in Jones' school come from comfortably well off families, but there are a lot of kids that are immigrants, children of immigrants, or from one of the local shelters. While I'm sure all the kids appreciate the books, it is awesome to see how excited the kids who may not own more than a few books are when they get to choose and keep a book all for themselves. This is my third year doing it and it's one of my favorite volunteer activities (plus spending a whole day surrounded by books makes the librarian and book lover in me happy).

Saturday Jones had an indoor soccer game, then my dad and I ran a fast four miler (8:54 average pace), and then Beer Geek and I went out to dinner without kids.

This morning I volunteered for my first race ever and had a BLAST. It was a new race, Love the Run You're With, and I had already run the race virtually (allowed because of a snow schedule change). Anyways, this morning, I arrived at the start bright and early. I helped set up the pre-race water and the post race snacks and then was sent with some of my running buddies to help at the water stop. The water stop was just before the turn around in an out and back race, so we had to walk almost 1.5 miles to get there. Why does that seem like a REALLY long distance when you are walking it, but not that big a deal when running? LOL

The water stop was being run by Potomac Runners and they had the situation well in hand, so all we had to do was follow their directions. After standing around in the cold for quite a while, we finally saw the front runners!! It was so cool to see the fast runners leading the pack! Unfortunately, they were on the opposite side of the road from where we thought they'd be, so the water stop ended up being before the turnaround. Despite the cold, quite a few people took us up on the water and shortly after the majority of runners passed, we picked up the tables and moved them across the street so that runners could get water on the way back.

After the last runner passed by and we cleaned up, a lovely runner from PR gave a few of us a ride back to the start, where we got to cheer in the last few competitors. All in all, it was an awesome experience and a very well organized race! There'll be another 5k in June that uses the same course, so if you are local and love a 5k, I highly recommend running it. Heck, I might even run that one (although I think I've caught the volunteering bug LOL). The only negative of the whole morning was that I didn't take the windchill into account when I got dressed and got so cold at the race that I didn't warm up until a several hours later and a couple of miles into my run.

I was supposed to run another virtual race this weekend, but I didn't realize I was supposed to run it yesterday. I ended up doing it with my dad today and while it didn't "count" it got me out there running when I was not at all interested in running. My dad and I ended up running 5.24 miles in 50:04, which I was quite happy with, considering I'd run hard the day before and been on my feet all morning. All in all, it was an excellent weekend!

Thanks for all the feedback on the ice baths. Seems like it definitely works for many. I plan to do at least a short one when I can, but I know of at least one 20 miler that will start and end at Shoo's preschool because that's the only way I'll get it done in time. Pretty sure our church isn't equipped with an ice bath LOL. As far as the "Ask Mama", it'll happen if a topic comes up that I want to research, so feel free to send some ideas my way.

Ask Mama*: Ice Baths

A few of my readers (and most of my Facebook friends) thought I was a bit crazy to be sitting in an ice bath. (I believe the comment on FB was along the lines of "WTF" LOL) Let me preface the post by saying I've never done an actual *ice* bath. Our water is super cold, even in the summer, so I am happy to just sit in a very cold tub full of very cold water. I also have no written record of doing them during my marathon training last time (except for a jump into my parents' very cold pool after a long run), so I'm not sure if they worked or not last time or if I did them after every long run.

The theory behind ice baths is that the cold helps decrease swelling and prevent tissue breakdown. Then, either as you warm up or as a reaction to the increased cold (depends on what resource you read), the blood flow increases and helps sweep the waste products from your system. This combined action decreases Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness and acts similar to icing to the minor tears and such that have occurred in your muscles.

But the big question, is does it work? There are lots of people all over the web who swear it does. Even some elites (Paula Radcliffe) use it and swear by it. However, the only actual scientific report I could find using my old friend google (this is a case where I really miss working)** was from the British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2007. A study concluded that ice baths do not make a difference. A quick reading of the article (while my darling children tried to talk to me) showed that it was a well conducted study from a scientific standpoint, but that their measurement was of pain, which we all know is a pretty subjective measure.

So, I will likely continue my rather hit or miss method of doing a cold bath when I have time and not doing it when I don't. If I see some exciting differences (or not), I'll be sure to share with you all. If you want to try it, here's a pretty good description of how to go about it.

*I am not a doctor or physical therapist or coach or... I am a research librarian. "Ask Mama" may or may not become a regular feature. Depends on if you all ask any questions I care about. LOL

** I just did some quick, very basic research without access to any of the databases I used to have when working. All of my analysis and writing were done with two kids vying for my time, so please forgive my lack of detailed, well-written analysis.

Thirty Things Thursday and we have a winner!

Jamoosh told me I should "woman up" and post a 30 things Thursday, so I've decided to accept the challenge. Most items will be stuff from my week, but I may include a few random tidbits that my new readers may not have read. Sorry if it bores you to tears LOL.

1. The princess and the clone trooper - Shoo has this picture of Beer Geek and I in his room. When his babysitter was putting him to bed the other night, he told her "sometimes I look at the picture and pretend my mommy is a princess." (Everyone say AWWW!) Pause. "and my daddy is a clone trooper". If you don't get the reference, well, let me just say that Shoo is obsessed with all things Star Wars LOL.
2. Teacherwoman asked where I got those "guns" if not at the gym. Shoveling all the %$^$ snow!
3. I've signed up to volunteer with the National Marathon. I'll be at Aid Station 05. Look for me if you are running. Or better yet, volunteer there as well.
4. I had my 6 month dental checkup on Tuesday. All was good, except I've got a chipped tooth that needs to be repaired. The dentist offered to do it on the spot, but I declined as I had no desire to run 8 miles with a numb face.
5. Somehow all three pairs of my running shoes are approaching 400 miles at the same time. This is colossal bad timing (or bad rotating) on my part. Thanks to a gift certificate and a coupon, I was able to replace one pair online. In a couple of weeks, I'll head to my favorite running store and check out the new models. I love new kicks, just don't love buying a bunch new at the same time.
6. It's auction time at Jones' school again. Once again, you guys will be treated to my planning of a beer basket (I did "local" brews last year, anyone got an idea for a different theme?) and a beer and food pairing dinner.
7. The best part about putting together a beer basket with 12 individual beers is that I am left with 12 5 packs of good beer. If you guys are lucky, I may share.
8. I've discovered I love shoveling snow. I don't, however, love the melting icky stuff that is currently left behind. Nor do I love the really inconsiderate people who couldn't be bothered to shovel, especially businesses.
9. My dad was the anonymous commenter on my "Inspiration" post. Just for the record, he and my mom will always be my heroes. If I can be as physically fit as them when I'm in my 60s, I'll be thrilled. (Go Mom for losing a bunch of weight and beginning to run/walk 5k's in her late 50s!) Also, I was talking to my mom the other day and she mentioned she's coming for a shorter visit than planned because she only wants to come the amount of time that my dad can come. They've spent a lot of their married life apart (my dad's retired military) and now that they are retired, she wants to spend more time with him. If I can say the same thing about Beer Geek when I've been married 40 years, I'll count my marriage a success!
10. One of my favorite brewers is about to open his own brewpub. I've already told Beer Geek that I expect a 40th birthday party there. Six months should give him enough time to manage it, right?
11. This week I'm in charge of a Dr. Seuss book swap at Jones' school. Next week I'm in charge of prizes for the Winter Festival at Shoo's school. Sometimes I think I volunteer for too many random things.
12. Beer Geek and I got married on the one year anniversary of our first date. Our first date was on a Friday the 13th. Good thing 13 is my lucky number.
13. I ran with an ipod for only the 2nd time ever on Tuesday. I can't stand earphones that fit in my ear (hate the feeling, plus hate being able to hear my heartbeat LOL), so I ran with Shoo's earphones that fit on the outside of my ear. I only wore one as I run where there is traffic, so I'm sure I looked quite goofy. But it worked.
14. I'm on the board at Shoo's preschool, which means I'm involved in the admissions process. Getting into preschool around here is like winning the lottery. I've already been offered a bribe LOL.
15. My first non-Budmilloor type beer was a McEwen's Scotch Ale. It's still up there as a favorite beer, although I mostly drink American Craft Beers now.
16. Beer Geek proposed to me as we were walking back to his apartment from the 7-11. Thankfully, I'm not a girl who needs roses, candlelight, and champagne.
17. I once got hit on by George Clinton. I didn't know who he was, which Beer Geek found hugely amusing. I also think he really just wanted my beer.
18. We've got tickets to Savor again. It's my favorite event all year. Apparently it sold out in less than two hours. The first year we went, I got two free cases of Palo Santo Marron for buying my tickets.
19. I've signed up for the Four Courts Four Miler. The "leprechaun" will be starting 6ish minutes after me. I've looked up his races and it looks like he'll still finish 10 minutes before me. Yeah, I'm slow. So what?
20. I've reached the point in marathon training where I am hungry ALL.THE.TIME. You'd think I ran 60 miles if you saw how much I ate after my run on Wednesday.
21. There's a fan page on facebook called "When I was your age, Dave Matthews played in fraternity houses." I haven't joined but it makes me laugh because I remember running into him in bars when I was in college. Gosh, I feel old now.
22. I started making my first playlist for running. I'm going to guess that the number of people who have Ace of Base, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Paul Westerberg, and Wilco on the same playlist is pretty small. I call my tastes "electic". Beer Geek calls them "odd."
23. I've lived in 9 different states and visited all 50. Before our current house, I'd never lived in one place more than three years.
24. Running down the street listening to "Gary's got a b#ner" makes me giggle. I'm sure I scare the people around me.
25. I still ended up doing my 16 miles completely without music. I couldn't be bothered to get the ipod out of my fuel belt.
26. Running for almost three hours alone can get kind of boring. Good thing I can spend the time writing blog posts in my head.
27. I spend 90% of my time in jeans or shorts and a t-shirt or fleece. It used to bother me that I wear the "stay at home mom" uniform. Then I remembered that before we had kids(when I wasn't at work), all I wore was jeans and t-shirts.
28. I tried to convince Jones to do Track and Field this spring, but he said he's not interested in running and it's too hard. Not sure what he thinks he's doing when he's playing soccer.
29. Beer Geek calls me his "Little Imelda" because of my shoe collection. It makes me sad that I don't currently have an excuse to buy new high heeled shoes.
30. Mom of three gave me the "Gorgeous Blogger Award". I'm supposed to tell you 6 things about myself that you may not know. I'm pretty sure I've covered that LOL. Usually, I'm good about passing on awards, but today I really need to get moving, so I'm gonna say I love all of my readers, but I especially appreciate those of you who comment on a regular basis. You know who you are, so consider yourselves tagged!

And the Winner of the nuun giveaway is: Michelle from "Let's Roll Mama". Email me at mom2shoo at gmail.com and we'll work out the details!

Thanks to everyone who entered. The "Beer is Good" giveaway will happen some time in May and maybe I'll come up with something else before then.

Change of plans

Didn't I just mention something about flexibility?

Shoo's dental appointment went faster and better than expected, so I was able to drop him off at preschool on time. Since I only had 16 miles to do (there's definitely something wrong with that statement) and I was worried about tomorrow's weather, I decided to do my long run today as originally planned. I raced home, ate half a PB&J, got my stuff together and headed out the door. I had 3 hours and 8 minutes until I had to pick him up.

2 hours 44 minutes later I had 16.1 miles done at an average pace of 10:11!

Mile 1: 10:17

Mile 2: 10:18

Mile 3: 10:04

Mile 4: 9:59

Mile 5: 10:06

Mile 6: 10:10

Mile 7: 10:44 (Gu)

Mile 8: 10:02

Mile 9: 9:53

Mile 10: 9:54

Mile 11: 10:12 (stoplight)

Mile 12: 9:47

Mile 13: 10:56 (Gu)

Mile 14: 10:09

Mile 15: 10:16

Mile 16: 9:57

Despite hills and a few stop lights, I felt like my pace was pretty consistent. With the exception of Mile 12 (where I pushed myself to see what I had left) and Mile 16 (where I was just plain tired), most of the miles were at an easy, not breathing hard pace. My legs got tired by about mile 10, but that didn't seem to slow me down too much. Unfortunately, 25 minutes from the end of my run, I had to pick Shoo up, so I only managed a couple minutes in the ice bath. I may regret that tomorrow.

But, it's done and it felt good! Woot!

Just a few more hours left in the nuun giveaway... Winner will likely be announced tomorrow.

Flexibility

When I decided to train for another marathon, I saw a sea of preschool days stretched out ahead of me, just waiting to be filled. I imagined I could easily run two days during the week and then two short runs on the weekends and hit my goal mileage, no problem.

I apparently didn't factor "life" into the equation. First, Mother Nature has definitely thrown some challenges my way. The snow not only cause Jones to miss 10! days of school so far this year, but has also made running a challenge, even when I can find time to do it. I've had to do such things as resort to running a 1.5 mile loop over and over and over and..., then hitting the treadmill to finish up. I've run as many as 10 miles on the treadmill and am praying that's going to be my PR. I've switched runs around and begged friends to take my kids for playdates. The other choice I made was to use a more aggressive training plan than I did last time. I'm only on week 7 and I'm already up to a 16 mile long run. I have in my future a 17, 19, and three 20 mile runs. Should I need to miss one of those runs for some reason, I will still be able to finish the marathon.

So far, it's paying off. I'm managing to hit my mileage goals every week. This week, I was supposed to run 8 today and 16 tomorrow. Shoo's dentist called and they can get him in to fix his tooth tomorrow, so now the 16 has been moved to Thursday. And Thursday, they are calling for snow. I will get the miles in. My current plan is to run as many as I can manage outside and finish up whatever is left on the treadmill or at the indoor track. Since I'll have a non-running day between the two runs, I tried to push my 8 miler a little faster today than this weekend. I finished the 8 miles with an average pace of 9:34. I ran the first mile at 9:49 and got progressively faster until mile 7 was 9:12. Mile 8 was a cool down mile at 9:38. All in all, a very happy run!

Don't forget to enter my nuun giveaway if you haven't already. It ends tomorrow!

An out of neighborhood experience

Thanks to all of the snow (did I mention it snowed here? Yeah, it did. Just a few inches. Like 30 or something.), I've done most of my miles since the beginning of February on my treadmill or on the less busy streets of my neighborhood. Today, I was desperate for some new scenery! I had to take Jones over to a friend's house, so on the way there and back, I scoped out the roads. I figured out an approximately 4 mile long route from my house so that I could accomplish my 8 mile run as an out and back.

All in all, the run went well. I had to run in the road a few times, but the lanes were pretty wide and there was a bike lane for much of it, so I only felt I was risking my life for a few moments here and there. I only had to climb over a small number of snow mountains and was lucky that, despite the nearly 50 degree weather, only one had melted to the point where I broke through the snow down to my knee.

Good things about the run:

1. It was OUTSIDE and the weather was beautiful
2. I maintained a good pace (9:47 overall), despite stoplights, major hills, snow piles, and idiot drivers
3. I did a great job on negative splits (10:00/mile for the first four; 9:34 for the second four miles)
4. The new Nike dri-fit half-zip that I was given recently rocked the run. Totally comfortable and just the right weight for the weather. It was so soft that I expect I will be able to wear it without another running shirt under it when it's just a bit warmer out. *

Bad things about the run:

1. I got a huge amount of sand/salt in my shoes when running. This does not bode well for my 16 mile run on Wednesday
2. There is still a lot of snow on any surface that was not shoveled, which made things tricky in a few spots
3. The most annoying thing about the whole run? The huge house I ran by that had 4! cars in the huge (completely shoveled) driveway where the entire sidewalk in front had never been shoveled! If you can afford that many cars (or have enough driving age children that you need that many), you have no excuse for not shoveling. Even more annoying was that he was outside washing the sand and salt off his cars. I wanted to strangle him with his own hose!
4. That Nike half-zip - it WAS white when I started out...

The most amusing thing I saw on my run was a guy hanging out his bedroom window swinging what looked like a yo yo (but I'm assuming was some sort of weight on a string) attempting to break up a huge ice chunk hanging from his house. I'm sure he wasn't amused, but it did give me a giggle as I ran by.

I have my first really long run this week - 16 miles! If I complete all of my scheduled miles for the week, I'll break 35 miles for the week for the first time EVER! Gulp!

*The Nike half-zip was NOT given to me by Nike and was not given to me for the purposes of writing a review.

Inspiration

Welcome to my new followers! Thanks for helping me hit 100!!!!

I go to the county gym. It's cheap, nearby, and has a wonderful selection of equipment and an indoor track. It does not, however, provide much in the way of amenities and does not have daycare. Since I workout mid-morning during the week, the gym is mostly populated by seniors, predominantly men. Every time I've gone, at least one older gentleman has struck up a conversation with me.

Yesterday was no exception. I was lifting weights and a man I guessed was in his 60s struck up a conversation with me. We talked about running and lifting and trying to stay fit. He asked me for some running advice and how to build miles. Towards the end of the conversation, he told me that it was inspiring to see someone working out so hard and trying to get fit after having kids. I'm thinking "really? You're inspired by me?" Then he mentioned he was 80 and figures he's only got about 10 years left and he's going to make them the best he can. Holy cow! Talk about inspiring! I think I met my new hero!

I really needed that conversation. I've been pretty down about my running lately. It's felt harder and I've been running slower. Speedwork has been pretty much non-existant. But this conversation reminded me that running fast isn't the point and running far isn't the point. It reminded me why I run.

1. I run for mental health. I am a much nicer person and a better mom when I'm running.
2. I run for physical health. I want to be able to keep up with my kids.

I may not be the fastest kid on the block and I'm not running any where near the miles many are running. But I'm out there and I'm staying fit and that's what matters in the long run.

Giveaways:

My nuun giveaway ends 2/24/10

Marlene is giving away some cool gloves ends 2/22 at noon EST

Mel is giving away the running essentials ends 2/24

Running:

Today I did some speedwork - 3 x mile repeats. I did a mile warm up at a 9:30 pace and felt great. I was thinking I'd rock this workout. Then I turned around and discovered I'd been running with the wind at my back.

Mile 1 - 8:22 (into the wind)

Mile 2 - 8:10 (wind at my back, but more uphill)

Mile 3 - 8:48 (into the wind with tired legs)

Normally I'd call mile 3 a failure, but today I'm proud that I finished it. I pushed at least as hard in mile 3 as I did in mile 1 and I managed to beat my 10k pace, so I'm gonna call it good.

nuun giveaway!

I've been a nuun convert for a while now. I used it while training for the Marine Corps Marathon in 2008 and recently rediscovered it. I've found that drinking water on long runs does not work well for me, even if I'm eating gels on a fairly consistent basis. I used to drink various "ades", but really, who needs that many calories and all that sugar? I'm not a sports nutritionist by any means, but I've found that I feel better on my long runs when I fill my bottle with nuun. I've also started drinking a glass of nuun when I come home from shorter runs where I haven't taken anything with me. (Actually, I'm sort of addicted to the stuff and find myself making up reasons to drink it LOL) But, I'm not trying to sell you anything, every body works differently and what works for me may or may not work for you. And the things that taste good to me, well, I'm sure many of you consider my love of dark, strong beer just strange. ;o)

So, what is this stuff? Here's what nuun has to say:

nuun is:

portable

nuun comes in a tough tube that is water resistant and perfect for carrying in your hand, bike jersey, pack…wherever. 1 tube = 6 litres (~1.5 gallons) – enough for a good ride or a week at the gym. and if you travel, forget trying to find your normal drink or suffering the indignity of bags of powder bursting in your luggage, a couple of tubes in your bags will get there in one piece and get you through the week of training in colorado or the pyrenees.

balanced

we spent years researching the levels of electrolytes needed for the product to be absorbed the quickest and to provide optimal salt balance to prevent cramping and maximise hydration. an editor of a major triathlon publication used nuun and had “no cramping issues for the first time ever in an ironman”.

refreshing

designed for the active palate, nuun’s got a light flavour that’s not overwhelming when you’re on the go. if you’ve ever watered down sports drinks because they’re too strong, then you’ve made them less easy to absorb; this ultimately defeats the purpose of using them. some call the nuun taste ‘tart’ and that’s probably the best description we’ve found yet, other than ‘just right’!

simple

a bottle of water, 1 nuun per 500ml (~16oz) … doesn’t matter where you are, how windy it is, how much space you’ve got – drop in nuun and you’re good to go.

Thanks to the good people at nuun, you can have the opportunity to try it for yourself. They sent me a lovely sampling of their items to give to a lucky winner! Just for the record, all nuun I have ever consumed I purchased myself. All the freebies are going to you guys.

What you get:

Three tubes of nuun*

A nuun water bottle

Two stickers (assuming Shoo doesn't find them LOL)

How do you enter?

1. Check out the nuun site. Then come back and comment on which flavor you'd like to try or what interests you in nuun.

Want additional entries? (Please leave a separate comment for each)

2. Become a follower or remind me that you follow my blog

3. Mention this giveaway on your blog or on twitter and come back and leave me a comment.

4. Tell me about a brewpub or race in your neck of the woods that I should check out on my 50 States travels. (I'm interested in non-US stuff too!)

Giveaway ends February 24th, 2010 at 9pm EST. Winner will be chosen using a random number generator or Shoo choosing a number, depending on my mood.

*nuun sent Lemon+Lime, Tri-Berry, and Banananuun. If the winner wants a different flavor and I can find it at Pacers, I'll be happy to switch out a flavor or two.

Three Things Thursday

1. Yesterday was one of "those"days. Nothing went precisely wrong, but nothing went smoothly either. My desktop and laptop would not talk to each other. Purchase of some very important tickets went wonky. Garmin went into bracelet mode on me. Shoo managed to mess up one of Jones' video games. On and on it went. It's amazing how exhausting a day like that can be.

2. Thank goodness this is a fallback week. I "only" had to run 10 miles yesterday. After discovering that Garmin's battery was dead, I headed out on as straight a route as I could manage, so that I could remember it and map it when I got home. A third of a mile in, I realized I'd left my water and Gu at home. Sigh, see #1. I decided to run 5 miles, then stop at home and then run 5 more. I "ran" the first five down the major hill into Rosslyn and back up. I need to remember to do that more often, as I have a race that involves that hill coming up soon. I finally got back home, picked up Garmin and my amphipod, and headed out again. This time I stayed in the relatively flat part of my neighborhood. My time was even slower than the first five. Darn good thing I only had 10 to do. (And to add injury to insult LOL, my quads are SORE today. Huh?)

3. I'm about to head over to the gym. I can't wait! Am I maybe, just maybe getting addicted to cross training? Nah. I just want to keep the "guns" now that I have 'em.

I'll be putting up the giveaway post this afternoon. I promise!

Morning miles, a little sunshine, and a giveaway teaser

You will not often hear the words "wake up early" and "run" in the same sentence in my life. I am not a morning person. I could easily sleep most of the day away. Even with kids, I often don't get up until 8am on the weekends and will sleep later when I can get away with it. (Those of you without kids may not realize that 8 is late, but it is.)

The boys went back to school today, but on a delayed schedule, so Shoo was only going to be at preschool for one hour and 50 minutes. When you factor in drop off and pick up time, that left about an hour and a half. Yes, I can run 7 miles in an hour and a half and maybe even get in a shower, but I just wasn't feeling like I wanted the pressure. So, this morning, I got up when Beer Geek got up at 5:45 and was on the treadmill by 6:10. I knocked out a 7 mile progressive run with an average pace of 9:43. It wasn't awesome or amazing, but it was ok and it was done right as Shoo woke up. Perfect.

I've received a little bit of sunshine from both Marlene and TMB at Racing with Babes! Thanks! I'm passing it on to the most recent 12 commenters on my last post. I honestly would like to give it to all my commenters, because you have truly helped me maintain my sanity while dealing with all this snow.

Deanna at The Unnatural Mother

Dorothy Beal at Mile Posts

Toni at My Life and Running

RunningLaur at When I get a little, run,run, run

Michelle at Let's Roll Mama

Bethany at Our Love on the Run

Sara at Rookie on the Run

Badgergirl at Adventures of Badgergirl

Heather at Junk Miles

Laurel at A Brand New Life as a Runner

Anne at Asthma and the Gift of Running

Christie at Cooking to Run and Running to Cook

Finally, a giveaway update! I am swamped and feeling a bit pressured these days. 10 days of barely leaving the house have really put me behind on some projects. Because of that, I've decided to postpone my BIG (ie Beer Is Good) giveaway until May. Why May? Because my 2 year blog anniversary, my 2nd marathon, and Beer Geek's and my 15th anniversary all happen within a few days of each other in mid-May. So stick around for what will hopefully be a really awesome giveaway.

To tide you over, I've got a little something. The good folks at nuun sent me a care package to share with my readers. I've mentioned my addiction in the past. I love this stuff!!! So, check back tomorrow or maybe Thursday (what can I say?, I'm indecisive) for the details!

Running: I'm not so into you

Thank goodness today is a rest day! I don't think I could run today if someone was chasing me. I might be able to run if my child's life was in danger, but I'm not even sure of that. I'm worn out, physically and mentally. The physical is obvious - I've been a shoveling fool and the snow is HEAVY! My quads and shoulders are screaming! (Guess I'm doing something right though - my back doesn't hurt at all.) I ran 7.1 miles yesterday at a 10:07 pace. I actually ran faster than that as I didn't stop Garmin every time I had to step aside for a car or stop to walk over ice. The entire time, my legs felt like bricks. I also hit 32.5 miles for the week. I've only gone over 30 miles in a week four times before in my life! So, yeah, I guess my body has a right to be tired.

But, dude, look at those guns!

Mentally, I'm not sure what my issue is. I'm sure having to choose between the treadmill or doing circles in my neighborhood is part of it. Not having my kid-free time to do as I please is part of it. Wondering which run will be the one where I fall on my rear or twist my ankle may play a part in it. Eh, who knows. All I know is that I am super thankful for a rest today and a fall back week for this week. Having 10 miles as my long run for the week makes me happy.

Life is still bizarre here. I'm so ready to get back into normal patterns. I had to go to my "last resort" grocery store again today. I managed to get most of what I needed, but this store carries very little in the way of organic produce and doesn't have a bakery, so I had to make some compromises. Oh, well, it was worth not having to deal with the parking lots at the popular stores around here. I must have been hungry when I was there though as I had the weirdest urge to buy marshmallows (did) and beef jerky (didn't and WTF? I can't remember the last time I had jerky). No, I am not pregnant OR PMSing. Bizarre.

On a different note, I got a message on Facebook from Sean Potts today (gotta love a marathon that's small enough that the race director friends you on FB LOL). They are trying to get a racer from every state. We all know that Arizona has RunningLaur, but wouldn't you like to represent your state? If any of my readers want to join us, I'd love to meet you and heck, I'll even bring you a beer! Check out the Bob Potts Marathon website if you are interested.

Happy "Two More Days Till School" Day!

I could really use the combined positive thoughts of all my RBFs to ensure that Monday's snow is a non-event and the kids go back to school on Tuesday. Really!

I'm ready to have my "normal" schedule back. Shoo isn't in school for many hours a week, but I use that time to do my long runs and any errands that I prefer to do without kids. (Hello, Mama NEEDS a haircut!) While it has been nice having Beer Geek around more, I feel guilty asking him to watch the kids while I run, go to the grocery store, do other errands, AND have some quiet time. It's not him, it's me. He's actually very good about giving me the time, I just hate asking for it.

We don't celebrate Valentine's day. In fact, we usually avoid going out the weekend nearest the holiday because we are not big fans of crowds. However, yesterday our babysitter called and said she could watch the kids. We were all over that. After more than a week with the kids, we both needed a break. We headed over to Clarendon, figuring we'd try Harry's, but settle for any place we could get a meal. Thankfully, Harry's has a very nice bar area that's self-seating and most people actually had reservations last night, so we got a table near the bar and had a FABULOUS meal! I went a little crazy and had 2! Dark Starr Stouts and a Hot Nutty Irishman (coffee with baileys and frangelico).

I also got outside for a run yesterday. Four "fast" miles in the sunshine. The actual time spent running was at a good pace, but I had lots of stops to walk over ice and to step off the one lane roads to let cars pass. The roads around here are ok, but often stop suddenly in a mess of snow or big puddles. I also spent a couple of hours on "Operation Find the Azaleas", which involved a lot of shoveling with Shoo's Little Tikes shovel so as not to damage the bushes any more than they already were.

Thanks to dinner and the run, I think I might actually survive Snomageddon, but I am so ready for my regularly scheduled life to return.

Rescheduling, Volunteering, and Giveaways, oh my!

I am not running today. I am not snow shoveling today. In fact, if I have my way, I'll be doing a whole lot of nothing. Of course, I'm at home with two very active boys (Beer Geek got to go to work today), so I imagine I'll have to do something.

Rescheduling

My race calendar has gone a bit awry. The GW Birthday Classic was cancelled due to the snow. The Pacers Love the Run You're With 5K has been rescheduled to February 28th (Note to my non-local peeps: they are offering a virtual option and a really cool t-shirt. If you're interested in running virtually, let me know and I can find get your stuff to you.) I'll be volunteering at the rescheduled race, so stop by and say hi if you are running it. The Capital Hospice 12K has been rescheduled for February 20. I'll be running that, so hopefully I'll see some of you there. I'm really hoping we are done with the snow now and can get back to the business of running!

Volunteering

I'm trying to get more involved with my IRL running community this year. To that end, you'll find me volunteering at some of the local races this year. As mentioned above, I'm volunteering at the Love the Run 5k. I'll be at a couple more (at least) of the local races this year, just not sure which ones yet. I'm trying to balance racing and volunteering with marathon training and my family, so I may not know until a few days beforehand. I'm hoping Jones will go with me a few times when the weather is nice. I know they can always use more help, so let me know if you want to volunteer with me.

As I'm sure many of you have seen, the National Marathon is still looking for volunteers. I'm trying to figure out how I can volunteer. They actually have their list of needs up, so check it out. If you are coming into the area to volunteer (or run), shoot me an email and maybe we can meet up.

Giveaways

I'm still working on my giveaway. I should make it over to my LRS on Saturday to scope out some stuff. I'm trying to figure out if I should include anything beer related (I am, afterall, the running beer mama). What do you think? Also, I'm nearly to 100 followers. If I can get to 100 before the giveaway, I'll throw in something extra. So, if you're reading, but not following, c'mon and join the cool kids. ;o)

Meanwhile, there are a ton of cool giveaways going on out there....

Tea Marcia over at Running off at the mouth is giving away a spa treatment from Indigo Wild (I so need that at this point!)

Shut Up and Run is giving away an ENTIRE Champion outfit!

Her Name is Rio and She Runs is giving away a really cool coffee mug!

Stuart over at Quadrathon is giving away some entries to the Nashville Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and a new half marathon in Dallas.

And a few obligatory pictures of the crazy snow around here:

All that beer paid off

It comes as no surprise to any of my regular readers to hear that I like beer and I like to run. But it did bring me to the attention of someone else - The Beer Runner! Go check out my interview on his blog on Draft Magazine!!!

And for Three Things Thursday:

1. I hurt. All over. Who knew that shoveling snow could make every.single.muscle. in your body hurt? I've shoveled snow for a minimum of 1.5 hours every day since Saturday. On Sunday, I think I shoveled for five hours.

2. I knocked out 7 miles on the treadmill today. It may have been the hardest run I've ever done. Between the snow shoveling and taking the boys sledding, I was wiped. It took me the entire first mile to loosen up enough to run, as opposed to trudge along. I thought I'd stop at mile 2 for a break, but somehow kept making myself keep moving. I ended up doing all 7 at a slightly below 10 minute pace, with negative splits. Go figure.

3. Jones doesn't go back to school until Tuesday. I love my kids, but I've spent way too much time with them this week. I'm going to need a vacation when this is all over.

Mostly Wordless Wednesday: Deja Vu

Just in case you are wondering, no, these are not pictures from this past weekend. These are from the new storm. Even Jones has asked to go back to school.

Woohoo! Endorphins!

I woke up early (as in before 6am) this morning because I was stressed about today's storm. I needed a to do a real grocery shopping trip, which I hadn't done in almost two weeks. Beer Geek suggested I head to the store right then. So, I put on my big girl panties and went out in the dark on the just barely icy roads. I got there by 6:25 am and it was empty of people and full of food, so the win goes to me!

After I got home and put away the groceries, I decided I needed to try and get as much of my run in outside as possible. I found a loop that was approximately 1.5 miles long that was moderately safe (only slightly icy and not terribly heavy traffic). I did it 5 times. I was getting really strange looks from the people shoveling out their cars by the time I did it the 5th time. I was horribly slow and I had to stop many times so as not to get run over, but it totaled 8 miles. I came home, shoveled snow for an hour, fed everyone lunch, and then hit the treadmill. An hour later (with a last mile at a sub-9 pace), I'd finished 6 more on the treadmill, which left me with a total of 14 for the day! Woohoo!

I'd promised the boys I'd take them outside and PLAY with them, as opposed to shoveling while they played, so I quickly showered, walked to the store for a prescription, and then suited them up to head out. We had a snowball fight, built a fort, and generally raised a ruckus. Then we left our marks in the snow and headed in as the flakes began to fall again.

Shoo (I love that the tassel on his hat left a mark):
Jones:
Me:
The car is already covered in two inches of snow and the winds are picking up. I'd be stressing about losing power, but instead I'm drinking an Anchor Christmas beer. No school for the boys tomorrow and Beer Geek's office is closed again. Will life EVER return to normal?

I've lost track of...

• what day it is
• how many hours I've spent shoveling
• how many snow plows I've seen that have NOT gone down my street
• how many more inches we are supposed to get this week
• how often I've checked the school website to see if there is school tomorrow
• the number of counties around us that are out of school at least until Thursday
• the number of times the kids have asked to play Wii
• the number of times I've let them

I should be thankful for...

• heat
• power
• LOTS of cross training in the form of shoveling
• my treadmill
• a brewpub we can walk to
• a grocery store we can walk to
• a fully stocked refrigerator and pantry (both beer and food)
• kids who are being generally well behaved
• a husband who has worked his tail off removing snow
• the fact that hubby did not have to go to work today
• my awesome neighbors who've worked with us to clear the street and have provided chances for conversation with other adults
• my current training plan which is mileage heavy enough to tolerate a totally blown week (although I may do 14 on the treadmill in 2-4 mile increments on Wednesday)

It's been a long four days and I expect it's not over yet. I will be absolutely shocked if Jones goes back to school tomorrow. And there's another snow event coming on Tuesday night. And I'm just worn out. Maybe someday I'll be able to talk about beer and running, instead of snow.

Snow Snow Go Away PLEASE Don't come another day!

The weather today was beautiful! If there had not been 20+ inches of snow on the ground, it would have been perfect for the 7 mile tempo run that was on my marathon training schedule. Instead, I spent most of my day with a shovel in my hands. In fact, I'm now having difficulty moving my right hand from clutching the shovel for so long and I don't want to even think what my shoulders and back will feel like tomorrow.

Before we started shoveling:
After we shoveled for more than two hours:

After lunch, we headed out and continued shoveling. We can now easily get the jeep out if we need to and we've cleared the driveway enough that we can get the jeep to the driveway if need be. My car is parked for the foreseeable future as I discovered the day before the storm that I really need new tires. Based on the weather forecast which is calling for more snow Tuesday night and possibly more next weekend, my honda will be hanging out at home for a while.

Since four hours of shoveling is unlikely to prepare me for a marathon, I ran 4.3 miles on the treadmill in just under 40 minutes. I'm hoping to get out for a run on the snow tomorrow since it's looking really likely that my 14 mile run this week will be on the treadmill.

Whose bright idea was it to train for a marathon this winter?

Post #400: Snowmageddon

I couldn't come up with any really exciting topic for #400, so Mother Nature took care of it for me. Yes, all my East Coast peeps, I am to blame for the 16 inches of snow (and counting) LOL

Yesterday morning, Beer Geek and the boys pounded some 28" stakes into the ground along the edge of our walkway so that we would be able to shovel it. I made fun of him. Obviously, we'd be able to find the walkway.

I took a picture last night before we headed to bed. OK, maybe it wasn't such a bad idea after all.

This is what it looked like when we woke up and the snow is still coming down. We've now shoveled it down to the path several times and it is again covered.

The road that goes through the middle of the picture is a snow emergency route. That's the worst it's gotten so far between plowings, but I absolutely would not want to be trying to get somewhere today.

I've shoveled for two hours so far today and am planning to head out again soon. Rumor has it we'll be getting more snow on Tuesday and then some next weekend as well. I see a lot of treadmill running in my future. (I actually ran yesterday, which was a rest day, so that I could get one more outside run done.)

Giveaway planning in the works. It will definitely include some of my two favorite running products (Gu and nuun) and maybe some of my favorite socks or something. This all hinges on me someday being able to leave my house...

Three Things Thursday

1. I got my 13.1 miles in today. The roads and sidewalks weren't bad and my pace was ok. I think I averaged a 10:08 pace, which is acceptable for FIRST and fast for Higdon. Garmin went funky on me for a bit, so I don't have good splits, but I did the last mile in 9:49 and felt pretty good during it. I definitely have to figure out what and when to eat before running though. I had breakfast (a peanut butter and honey sandwich) at 7:00 am and then a gu at 9:00am right before I started running. I was STARVING the whole time. I think I may need to eat more the night before.

2. They are calling for snow here AGAIN. Really? Really? Our county sent out an alert warning everyone to be prepared to shelter in place for 3-5 days. Really? Beer Geek took tomorrow off because he doesn't want to deal with commuting home in the snow with all the freaked out drivers. The grocery stores are insane. I had to go to Costco today (should have gone yesterday, but it seriously never occurred to me to take Shoo and go LOL). It was so insane that I had to park at a parking garage next door and only bought what I could carry because getting a cart back there would be insane. What did I buy? Nothing I couldn't live without for another week and Wii Active. Yeah, I have my priorities straight.

3. I just got listed as one of the "Top Ten Fitness Blogs for Moms" on UpSpring Baby's blog. I don't know how they chose, but I'll take my 15 minutes of fame LOL. They have a product called "Milkscreen" that checks the amount of alcohol in a mom's breast milk. Hmm, that might have been useful back when I was nursing the boys. I'm just sayin'.

Next post is #400. There will be a giveaway in the near future...

Semi-Wordless Wednesday: View from my windows

Now this is snow I can handle. It's gorgeous, but as you can see in the middle picture, the roads are already down to pavement. THIS is typical Virginia snow. Of course, this is still Virginia, so the kids have no school today. Whatever. I decided last night that if they didn't have school or started late, I'd just move my 13 miles to Thursday. It's supposed to be above freezing all day today and tomorrow, so I should be able to run on the neighborhood roads pretty easily (as long at that UPS guy doesn't run me down.) Instead, I'll spend today "cross training" by shoveling snow, building snowmen, and throwing snowballs.

Edited to Add: I have a coupon code for the SunTrust National Marathon and Half Marathon for $10 off if you register before February 10th. Email me at mom2shoo at gmail.com if you'd like it.

I'm done.

With this winter, that is. They are calling for more snow tonight and then snow this weekend. Did I somehow move north without noticing?

I had a decent 6 miler again today at a 9:43 pace. Nothing spectacular, but I'm ok with the pace given the slippery slushy sidewalks I had to run on.

I was apparently channeling my inner beeyotch while running. Things that ran through my head:

• Hey, fat lady who insisted on blowing smoke in my face as I ran by, give up that nasty thing. Oh and hit the gym while you are at it, 'kay?
• Lots of curses at the many, many residents and businesses who didn't shovel their sidewalks. Yes, Gold's Gym, I'm looking at you.
• And thanks so much Mr. UPS driver who not only couldn't wait the few seconds while I went around a parked car, but also had to blow his horn at me. BTW, this is a residential neighborhood, slow yourself the heck down!

I have 13 miles planned for tomorrow. It will likely happen in one of three ways 1) treadmill run while the kids play too much Wii, 2)run around the indoor track 5,431 times if they actually go to school, or 3)attempt to run in the snow without killing myself for as many miles as possible before giving up and hitting the treadmill. I think God is laughing because I had the audacity to think that training for a marathon during the winter would be easier.

Why, yes, I am a bit crabby. Is it that obvious? ;o)

Maybe, just maybe

I think I may have found my legs again. My tempo run on Friday was more of a progressive run for the first five miles and then two easy miles, but it felt pretty good. It was darned cold out though. It "felt like" 10 degrees. I wore running tights and running pants and still couldn't feel by butt at the end of the run. I also couldn't feel my nose, which was lovely, since it was running. It's a good thing I'm married 'cause I certainly was not at my most attractive out there.

Saturday I did a major carbo load with beer, chili, and cornbread. There's a fine line between that and umm, overdoing it and I luckily managed to stay on the right side of the line. Thanks to the seriously cold temps and the snow, a treadmill run was required. That actually worked out well as I had speed work planned - 6 x 800 at 8:07 pace. I had to extend my last two slow intervals to close to three minutes each, but I hit EVERY.SINGLE.800! I didn't even feel like I was all that near to an all out sprint. Woot!

Today was a rest day, so I "cross trained" by pushing Shoo in his stroller two+ miles in the snow. I have a feeling my shoulders are going to feel that tomorrow. I'll be doing 6 miles outside tomorrow and I've got my fingers crossed for no more snow 'cause I don't think I can handle 13 on the treadmill on Wednesday. I'm also supposed to race on Sunday and they are calling for more snow this weekend. Sigh. I used to think I liked winter, but it turns out, I really only like the typical Virginia winters and this is not it.

Lots of other random stuff going on in my life, all good, but all in the "unofficial" stage. Hopefully some will be official soon and I can share some cool stuff here on the good old blog. I'm also approaching 400 posts and 100 followers, so I may have to come up with a giveaway soon. Stay tuned!