I can and I will

It's time for a brain reset over here.  I need to take a step back and stop judging every run.  Because really, every run is a good run.  Why?  Because I got to run.  I'm trained *enough* to finish my upcoming half marathon.  I know I can finish it.  Will it be a PR?  No, but I never planned for it to be.  I have a few more long runs and they WILL get done, but I'm going to stress a whole lot less about them.

Yesterday I ran 6.5 miles in beautiful weather.  I spent the whole run with a stomach that threatened to empty in one direction or the other.  I made a pit stop at a 7-11 about a mile in and they didn't have a public bathroom, so I just kept running.  And I didn't worry about pace since I had to slow down when my stomach would rebel.

Last week, I would have called that an awful, no good run.  But it wasn't the run's fault my stomach hurt.  The weather was gorgeous.  I ran the second 3 miles faster than the first three.  My legs felt great.  It.was.a.good.run.

This week is going to be crazy with only two days of both kids in school, so I'm designating it a step back week.  I've hit 30+ miles for the last 3 weeks.  As long as I break 20 this week, I'll be happy.

Stay tuned for "A few of my favorite things" giveaway... as soon as I find time to take pictures LOL.

(Edited to add: I have a coupon code for Zooma Annapolis if anyone is still thinking about signing up. Email me at mom2shoo at gmail.com for the info.)

ABCs of me

What can I say? I'm lazy and this was easy. ;o)

Age: 40
Bed size: Queen (want a King - but it would take up the entire floor space in our bedroom)
Chore you hate: laundry, cleaning the bathrooms, changing sheets - ok, really, I *suck* as a "housewife"
Dogs: No thanks, I have enough "things" dependent on me right now.
Essential start of your day: coffee
Fav colour: green
Gold or silver: platinum/white gold/silver
Height: 5'3"
Instruments I play: piano - but I lack rhythm, so I'm horrible
Job title: mom, wife, maid, cook, coach, laundress, executive assistant, oh, and I used to be a librarian
Kids: two - Jones, age 9, Shoo, age 5 - they are 4 years and 21 days apart.
Live: Metro DC area
Mom’s name: Mary
Nicknames: none
Overnight hospital stays: two foot surgeries and Jones' birth (not Shoo's, Woohoo!)
Pet peeve: people who think their choice/answer is the best (or, even worse, the only) choice for everyone
Quote from a movie: Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. (Ferris Bueller's Day Off)
Right or left handed: right, but nearly ambidextrous
Siblings: 1 brother, 1 sister
Time you wake up: whenever I'm forced to get up, not a moment earlier.
Underwear: yes
Veg you dislike: beets
What makes you run late: my children - I was always early before kids, always on time once Jones came along, and barely on time/up to five minutes late with Shoo (I can't stand to be any later than that)
X-rays you have had done: toes, teeth
Yummy food you make: soup
Zoo, favorite animal: I'm fascinated by the big cats

Thanks for all the thoughts on my mental issues with running.  I decided 5 days a week is enough running days and took today off to drink barleywine.  It's a good compromise.  ;o)

Mental Sabotage

Yesterday I had a 12 mile run. It did not end well. I finished 12 miles, but it wasn't pretty. I fell apart around mile 9.5 and the remaining 2.5 miles sucked. While there was a physical component to it (I ended up with severe foot and calf cramps afterwards, so I'm guessing I had some sort of electrolyte imbalance going on), the biggest piece was mental.

I went into the run convinced it was going to be hard. I *knew* it was going to suck. And it did from the start. Let's just call that a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I'm not sure what's going on with me, but I used to not psyche myself out until the runs got longer than 15 miles. Lately, if I'm going out for more than four I don't know how I'm going to finish. I don't want to do it and I dread starting. Sometimes my body surprises me and the run goes really well, but just as often, my negative nelly is right and the run sucks.

Somehow, what confidence I did have, has disappeared since the injury. (And apparently took with it what little speed I did have.) I don't trust my body to carry me as far as I used to. I find my "easy pace" not so easy. My long runs that I always used to run too fast are now a challenge at my long run pace. Was going from 0 miles a week to 30 miles a week over 12 weeks too fast? Or is it all in my head and my body could do more if my head wasn't holding me back?

So, is my problem all mental or (12 weeks out from my achilles injury) am I trying to do too much, too soon?

TTT: 12 miles, pink eye, MCM

1.  Today I have 12 miles on the schedule.  It'll be my longest run in months.  I'm ready for it, but I realized yesterday when I was looking at my calendar that Shoo gets out of preschool early today.  That means by the time I drop off kids, run, and get back to the house, I'll barely have time to shower before it's time to pick him up again.  I'm not a fan of days where I spend my entire free time running.

2.  My kids have shared a lot of different illnesses with their dad this year.  I'm not sure how I've escaped, but *knocking wood until my knuckles bleed* so far I have.  The newest thing that Jones shared was pink eye.  Beer Geek came home with it last night.  I'm just happy that I haven't caught it yet.  Running 12 miles in my glasses or not being able to see is not high on my list of activities!

3.  Sign up opened yesterday for the Marine Corps Marathon.  As my long time readers know, I started this blog to stop boring my family document my journey to that marathon in 2008.  It was all I could do yesterday to NOT sign up again.  It's such an awesome marathon.  It does, however, necessitate training during the summer when it's hot out and my kids aren't in school.  And did I mention, it's hot out?  I loathe Virginia summers.  I loathe them even more when I have to do 20 mile runs during them.  I just hope the darn thing sells out soon so I don't accidentally hit the register button.  ;o)

Bonus things:

I've updated my Virginia, Maryland, DC Running Bloggers page with all the blogs I read and/or got emails from.  If you aren't on there and want to be, email me at mom2shoo at gmail.com and I'll add you. (And if I accidentally missed you, sorry, life's been a bit crazy.)

Also, blogger says I'm nearing my 700th post - that shouts "Giveaway" to me.  So, the question is, should I giveaway one of my favorite running products or something beer related, hmm....

Last man standing

Everyone in my house, except me, is sick.  I feel fine.  *knock wood*  Thankfully, my boys are old enough that I can leave them home with Beer Geek, even in his "I feel like crap" state.  Otherwise, I think my head would explode if I couldn't leave the house.

How am I staying healthy?  Well, first, I ran 6 lovely miles today.  I hit my planned pace exactly, despite a few wicked hills.  I love being back to the point that 6 miles is relatively easy. 

Also, winter has returned, so I'm making my famous vegetarian tortilla soup.  Since I'm such a wonderful, generous person, I'm going to share that with you.  Now, I'm off to the grocery store to help Jones earn a part of his Bear badge.  Please think positive thoughts for me.  Also?  I am out of nuun and that constitues an emergency around here.

VEGETARIAN TORTILLA SOUP

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
3/4 c. chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 tsp. ground cumin
3/4 tsp. chili powder
5 c. vegetable broth
4 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
2 cans diced tomatoes with chilis
2/3 c. canned black beans, rinsed, drained
2/3 c. chopped zucchini
frozen corn
Tortilla chips
grated cheese (optional)
avocado (optional)
hot sauce (optional)


Spray large nonstick saucepan with vegetable oil spray. Add onion and garlic; cook over medium-low heat until almost tender, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, cumin and chili powder.

Add broth, diced tomatoes and 2 tbsp. cilantro.  Bring to boil. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer until flavors blend, about 15 minutes.

(I put it in a 4 quart crock pot instead of the above step. After about an hour, I added the below ingredients.)

Add beans and whatever amount of frozen corn looks good.  Cover and cook on high in crock pot for two hours or 4-8 hours on low.  If not using a crock pot, add zucchini at this point as well. Cover and simmer until zucchini is tender, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. If using a crock pot, add zucchini about an hour before serving or precook the zucchini.

Ladle soup into bowls. I put out bowls of cheddar cheese, cilantro, avocado, and tortilla chips so that people can add in whatever they want.  This is a very forgiving recipe and ingredients can be tweaked to make it fit your needs (for example, sometimes I add chicken or use chicken broth, sometimes I add hominy, sometimes I add more or less spices. I never make it the same way twice and it's always been awesome.) Ingredients can easily be increased to fill a 6 quart crock pot.

From horrid to the zone

I did not want to run today.  The thought of putting on running clothes just seemed overwhelming.  No reason, it was just one of those days when I hate running.

I put it off as long as I could and finally convinced myself I need to just "man up" and get out the door.  From the first step, I knew it was going to be rough run.  My legs felt heavy and everything felt tight.  I bargained with myself to finish the first mile.  My recovery runs these days are supposed to be three miles, so I convinced myself to keep going.  At the end of the second mile, my calves were so tight I could hardly run and I was having random other pains.  I started counting down by .01of a mile.  And then it happened.

I was hit by the "zone."  Suddenly my pace (10:27, 10:28) no longer seemed labored.  I felt like I was gliding along.  When I hit mile 3 (10:15) I decided to keep going as long as it felt good.  At mile 4 (9:56), I was still feeling awesome.  Seriously, I felt like I could run forever.  Near the end of mile 5, the zone ended as I hit a really big hill, but I still finished mile 5 in 9:30.  I did a slow .4 to cool down and hit 30 for the week. (Paces are only included to show that sometimes how good a mile feels bears little to no relation to the speed you do it at.)

Sometimes running surprises you.  The first two miles I was composing a post about how much I hate running sometimes.  Now running is my BFF.

Once again, running has reminded me that you'll never regret going out for a run, but you might regret not doing it...

That which does not kill you...

can still make you pretty darn miserable.  Oh wait, isn't there supposed to be something in there about "stronger".

My training plan (which is all in my head, not on paper LOL) called for 11 miles today.  I also had plans to meet friends for coffee.  In addition, temps here today were going to hit in the mid-70s.  While that seems like a great temperature, it's a little much in February when your body is more acclimated to 30s.

So, I decided to run 5 on the treadmill, take the boys to school, run 6 more and then meet my friends for coffee.  Technically, that's exactly what I did.

I got up at 5:45 and was on the treadmill by 6.  My body promptly went into shock.  Every muscle in my body hurt and my system, well, let's just say I got off the treadmill a few times.  I ended up finishing 5 miles at an 11:05 pace, which falls within reasonable for my long run pace, but it sure felt like I was running faster.

I walked the boys to school and then walked back home for a total of 1.5 miles of walking. Then I headed out with my friend for another five or so miles.  My pace was all over the place and my heart rate was acting like I was running sprints.  My legs felt like lead and we kept hitting hills.  At about 4 miles, my friend headed back to his house and I kept going to meet my mommy friends for coffee.  I timed it about perfectly, hitting 6 miles just outside the shop a few minutes after they all arrived.  Success (as long as you don't look at my pace LOL, which ranged from a 12 minute mile (stoplights) to a 9:40 mile and everything in between).  Then, after coffee, we walked the 2.5 miles home.

So, today's total was 11 miles running + 4 miles walking.  Add in a bit of dehydration still from giving blood and I'm completely wiped out. 

Is it naptime yet?

Three things Thursday + ALO winner

1.  I thought about becoming a streaker.  I ran eight days in a row, including a strong 10 mile run, 6 miles of hills, and a 4.5 mile speed workout.  Yesterday I gave blood.  I spent the rest of the day with barely enough energy to walk up the stairs.  I feel better today, but I know from past donations, my runs will be impacted for about a week.  Since I want to run a really strong 11 miles on Friday, I'm taking a rest day today. 

2.  Last night at Cub Scouts, Jones heard about a sleep away camp this summer.  He REALLY wants to go.  The catch is, he's never been away from us for more than two nights.  I'm leaning towards letting him go though.  He's one of those kids who doesn't want to try things until he's ready, but when he says he's ready, he's usually right.  Any thoughts from those of you with kids who go away to camp?

3.  I walked the boys to school today wearing my Vibrams without socks.  The air may have been warm, but the ground definitely wasn't.  I couldn't feel my feet by the time I got home.  Note to self:  if it's been cold out, don't wear the Vibrams or wear a pair of socks.

And the winner of the ALO capris is....

Beth from SwimBikeRunDC!  Shoot me an email at mom2shoo at gmail.com as soon as you can!

I could get used to this

Yesterday, it was warm enough to run in short sleeves.  I wore capris, but I bet I would have been fine in shorts.    I had a fabulous 6 mile run on really tired legs.   I ran a route that included the hill that will be in Pacers Four Courts Four Miler in a few weeks.  Since I plan to make that hill my beeyotch, I figured I should practice running it.  I hit a lot of red lights on the way up and, for once, I was ok with stopping.  I'm pretty sure that otherwise my heart might have exploded.

Today, I got the gift of time.  The nanny of one of Shoo's friends asked for him to go home with them.  So, I was kid free from 8:30am  until 3:45 pm.  What a glorious amount of time!  I ended up going to the gym where I did 4 miles of speedwork, did my alternative strengthening workout, and then ran .5 miles in my Vibrams.  After the gym (and a shower), I hit Costco.  By that time, it was still only 12:30!!  I did some contract work I needed to finish (woohoo, paid time!) and then dealt with a few of the annoying little things that needed to be done for my business and for our household.

Yeah, I think I'll do just fine once Shoo's in grade school next year.  ;o)  (Only a short bit of time left on the ALO giveaway!

Celebrating my successes

So far, February is treating me well in terms of hitting my goals.  I may just get my running back on track yet.

This week I:

• Ran a total of 30 miles.  I'm pretty sure I've never hit that number before when I wasn't deep in marathon training.
• Ran a great 10 mile run at an average pace of 10:30.  It was a touch faster than I was supposed to, but once the wind was at my back, I couldn't resist picking up the pace a little bit.
• Ran one awesome speed workout, but managed to keep all my other workouts at my goal slower pace (and sometimes even slower than that to accomodate others).
• Did 3 strength workouts.  That right there is virtually unheard of around here.
• Ran .5 miles barefoot on the treadmill.  I did it very slowly and focused on running lightly and aiming for the 180 cadence (I almost got there!)

The best part is that the only achilles pain I felt all week was when I ran with the inserts, which will be returned.  Also, the core workouts that my trainer designed have made enough of a difference already that I made it to mile 8 before I felt soreness in my lower back.  Woot!

So, what were your successes this week?

(Don't forget the ALO capris giveaway that ends tomorrow night.  Donating 5 little dollars to a really worthy cause will get you three extra entries!!  And don't forget that you have to be an MCM Mama follower AND a facebook fan of ALO to win.)

Love the Run You're With 5k Race Report

This morning was my first non-virtual race of the year.  The plan was to volunteer beforehand and then pace my clients.  I'm not sure I've ever had so much fun at a race!

I worked packet pickup, but ended up being the door holder with C.Mom at the entry to the restaurant.  Holy 1.5 hours of cold wind!  I was dressed a bit warm to run, but not nearly warm enough for where I was standing.  I had a great time and loved the opportunity to talk to C.Mom as I hadn't really seen her since I paced her at the half marathon last fall, but I was so cold I was shaking uncontrollably and I lost feeling in my feet.  I did get to see Dash and Emily (who totally rocked the race.)

I met up with my clients and my assistant coach, C, right before the race.  C was racing it and then going to swing back and finish with us.  The rest of us headed out at a nice pace and took the hill in stride (this is a great race for negative splits LOL.)  At about a mile, one of my runners was running really strong, so she and I forged ahead.  She held a great pace the whole way and kicked it in for about a 31 minute finish!  C grabbed the other two and they raced in just a minute or so behind us!  Woohoo!!!  I'm so proud of all of them!

By the time I got home, one of my clients had already emailed us all about running another race in early March.  Welcome to endorphins, my drug of choice. ;o)

Remember that good run?

Yeah, yesterday's run was not that.  Because it was so cold out, I decided to run 6 instead of 10.  I met up with a friend and we headed out.  I felt like I was running with brick legs and the cold wind made it hard for me to get a deep breath.  It was one of those runs where you are running along and then look at Garmin and think "WTF?  How can I be moving that slowly? I'm working way harder than that. "  In the end it was 6 miles at a 10:41 pace that felt more like I was racing.

What I learned:  Don't get cocky about how good running feels and how "speedy" you are one day.  It's only a matter of time before running reminds you that it demands respect.  ;o)

After my run, I did the strengthening circuit that my trainer designed for me.  I can do all the exercises at home in my basement, which is cool, but it's kind of a pain to run into a wall after about 4 steps of walking lunges.  I did a pretty decent job with it, but I only did two circuits instead of 3-5.  And I didn't quite hold the second plank as long as I was supposed to.  I still felt like I got a workout, but not as intense as Tuesday.

What I learned:  When I don't have my (young, male) trainer watching me workout, I'm a bit of a slacker.  ;o)

Run well this weekend, my friends.  I have two soccer games with Jones, packet pickup, a tea party with Shoo, date night with Beer Geek, volunteering at a race,  running a 5k with my clients, and a ten mile run, all between Saturday at 8 am and Sunday at 3:00pm.  I'll be back Sunday evening.  ;o)

Three Things Thursday

1. Earlier this week, I went to Road Runner Sports because I had a gift certificate.  I didn't find anything I needed, but I did end up getting a gait analysis done.  Interestingly, my arches are so high that when they did an impression of my feet, no connection at all showed between the ball of my foot and my heel.  She also showed me a bit of collapsing of my right arch when I run (the foot with the achilles issue) and convinced me to try the custom inserts.  Verdict so far (after one run)?  I hate them.  They force my foot to land in an unnatural way.  I'll run in them one more time, but it's pretty likely I'll be returning them.
2. I have a 6, a 10, and a 3 mile run left this week.  I prefer to run my long run during the week, but right now I have a choice of running the 10 in 29 degree (feels like 12) weather or running it this weekend with temps in the high 40s/low 50s.  Needless to say, I'm trying to figure out where I can shoehorn a 10 mile run into an already over packed weekend.
3. This Sunday I'm running my first race of the year - the Love the Run You're With 5k.  I know there are going to be a lot of bloggers there, so look for me.  I'll be doing packet pick up before the race and then running with my clients.  I'm really excited to have them experience their first race!  Next up is a 10k training group starting in about two weeks.

Don't forget my ALO Capri giveaway!  (If you've donated to BOMF prior to the giveaway, I'll give you  the extra entries based on that.)

ALO capris and jacket review + capri giveaway

Recently, I did some research for a blog post on “greening” your workouts.   One of the companies that popped up during that research was ALO.  ALO stands for air land ocean and the company tries to provide customers with a "choice that is respectable of the environment with out sacrificing fashion.”  According to their website, their vision is to

Produce high quality lifestyle wear through processes that mitigate our carbon footprint by utilizing reclaimed and recycled materials, maintain a sustainable office environment and most impact fully, pass this knowledge along to our customers so they can make easy green decisions. Any act of  "green-ness" is helpful to our planet.

Check out their video:



I think their goal is awesome and I let them know that.  They offered me the chance to review a couple of items and give away an item.  I agreed and they sent me two items to try.

Item #1 was their Hi-Neck Warmup Jacket in white.  It's 44% organic cotton, 43% cotton, and 11% spandex, which equals a really soft, comfy jacket.  I've only worn it once, but it did get thrown in the wash.  Despite a label that says to hang dry, we accidentally sent it through the dryer (on high with the other whites, oops).  It shrunk just a bit, but it still looks like new.  The shrinking actually works for me as the medium was just a touch big on me and the shrinking was totally user error, not the company's fault.  All in all, it's cute and comfy and very well made but I'm pretty sure white won't last long around here.  I'll keep you posted on how long it takes my boys to stain it.  ;o)

Item #2 was a pair of the Mesh Inset Capris.  I LOVED these!  They are low rise without being too low and they worked great.  I wore them on the treadmill once and I was never overly warm.  I then had a surprise nice day and wore them outside and again they were perfect. The mediums were a touch big in the waistline for me, but I didn't have any issues with them falling down while I was running.  In Virginia, capris are perfect for much of the year, so I'm sure these will get used regularly.

Final verdict?  ALO clothes are awesome.  I'm quite thankful for the opportunity to review their clothes and I'm very excited to get to offer one reader the chance to win a pair of the capris.

Want a chance to win?  Here's how (unfortunately, you must be a US resident to win):

Mandatory entries (separate comments for each, please):
1. Become a follower of MCM Mama AND
2. Become a facebook fan of ALO

Want extra entries?  Do any or all of the below and make sure to leave a comment on this post for each.

1. Visit Alosport.com and “like” your favorite item (come back and tell me what you liked).
2. Follow Aloclothing on twitter.
3. Share the above ALO Sport Fall video on Facebook.
4. Tweet about this giveaway.
5. Donate to Back on My Feet, DC.  One extra entry just for donating, another two entries for each $5 you donate.

Giveaway ends at midnight on Tuesday, February 15, 2011.

Disclaimer:  ALO provided me with a jacket and capris to review and a pair of capris to give away.  Opinions are my own.

In for a penny, in for a pound

If you are reading this post and I'm your coach, move on. Nothing to see here.

Yesterday I went out for a recovery run.  My recovery pace is supposed to be 10:30 and I expected that I'd barely manage that after Sunday's 10 miler.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that my legs and achilles actually felt great, so I just motored along at what felt like a pretty easy pace.  First mile: 9:25.  Oops.

Hmm, well, let's turn this into a tempo and go for two more at that pace.  Second mile: 9:02.  Oops.

Screw it, let's call it a progressive run and see what the legs have left.  Third mile: 8:18.  Woot!

I love days when the weather is just right (45 degrees and sort of grey), you dress just right (ALO capris and two lightweight long sleeves), and your body cooperates.  I needed to know that my legs can sometimes remember speed.  And sometimes, it just feels good to push it a bit.

Today I hit up the gym with a running coach I work with who is also a personal trainer.  I figure if I'm going to be recommending him to people, I should see how he works.  Umm, I might not be able to lift my arms tomorrow and I'm 100% sure that I will be rolling out of bed instead of sitting up in the morning.  He showed me two different 30 minute routines (the amount of time I told him I normally have) that pretty much hit all the major muscles, with focus on core and hips. 

And *whispering* the rodent reign of terror may have come to an end.  Just sayin'.

Double Digits and Races2Remember Winner

This weekend I ran 10 miles for the first time in 2011.  In fact, it's the first time I ran a double digit run since the Army 10 Miler at the end of October.  I was supposed to run on Saturday, but it was a drizzly, cold day and I just could not find my motivation.  Instead, I spent the day trying to get my house back to normal, which meant thousands of trips up and down my two sets of stairs.  I called that  my "recovery run" and moved my 10 miles to Sunday.

Sunday was beautiful!  It was sunny and a little over 40 degrees.  My dad and I met up with my friend and headed out.  The first mile was super slow, but then we hit a nice rythm and the rest of the miles were pretty steady.  In the end, despite some hellish hills and walking to eat a Gu (Orange Burst with caffeine, yum!), we finished 10.12 miles at an average of a 10:45 pace.  This is exactly where my charts say my long run should be, so I'm pretty happy that I hit it right on.   Several times during the run I actively chose to slow us down to stay on pace (which I find harder mentally than speeding up).

My achilles was a bit sore afterwards, but feels fine this morning.  Hopefully I'll be able to continue to build to half marathon distance without re-injuring myself.

And now for the winner...

Number 5 is Marlene at Mission to a(nother) Marathon.  Congratulations, Marlene!  Now you can get that pace band you want.  Email me at mom2shoo at gmail. com.

My new baby

I have to admit that going from a 9 year old Civic and a 16 year old Jeep Cherokee to a 2011 Pilot feels a bit like going from the Flintstones to the Jetsons overnight.  And I'm most excited about the fact that I can fit 8! people comfortably.  (If you see my inner green girl someplace, can you send her home?)

Friday already?

Since I never had time to actually sit down and write a post yesterday, I'm going with Three Things Friday.  Maybe if I'm feeling really wild and crazy, I'll give you five things Friday.  We'll see.  ;o)

1. Jones has strep again.  We were supposed to see the ENT last week and then it snowed, so I need to reschedule that.  Luckily, we actually saw his doctor yesterday (she's way too popular, so we often have to see another dr. for sick visits) and she's fine with us putting off surgery until spring break or summer, even if he gets a couple more infections.  My crunchy mama side is having trouble with the thought of surgery and my "trying to stay sane" mama side is freaking out at the thought of my whiny child having something real to whine about for over a week.  
2. I'm trying to buy a Honda Pilot.  I was nearly ready to put pen on paper at two dealerships yesterday, but neither had the exact car in stock.  One says he can get it if I put a deposit down.  I'm not sure why I was ok with buying if I could walk out right.then. with a car, but putting a deposit was something I wasn't ready to do.  I'm sure a therapist would have a good time with that one.  There's one other dealership that supposedly has the exact car in stock, so I may still get my new car this week.  Or not.
3. Today I'm taking my clients and we are running the route of the race for next week.  I'm really excited to have them know the exact placement of hills and such.  I love that they think it's awesome to get a preview and they are really ready for this race.  So.very.exciting!
4. Do you live in VA or MD?  I'm putting together a page of all the "local" running blogs.  I have a mental list, but if you want to be included, shoot me an email at mom2shoo at gmail.com.
5. Huge thank yous to everyone who has donated to BOMF, DC!  I really appreciate it.  I'd love to give you some link love, so shoot me an email if you are ok with me sharing that you donated.  

Happy Friday!  Don't forget my giveaway!

Wordy Wednesday

I didn't have time to post yesterday, so there's no way today can be wordless.  Instead, I'm going to give you some bullet pointy goodness.  ;o)

• Beer Geek had to go to New Orleans this week, so I convinced my parents to come out and visit.  Beer Geek's flight was delayed yesterday and my parents were coming from Wisconsin, so you can imagine how worried I was about that.  At one point, I had flight tracker up in two windows, watching my parents' plane fly out of the north end of the storm, as Beer Geek's plane headed into the southern end of the storm.  Thankfully, everyone did eventually get where they needed to be safely.  Lesson learned:  don't have my parents and my husband fly on the same day.  I can't handle the stress.
• It was icy here yesterday, so I took my 5k runners to the local indoor track.  We discovered that one of the women had some hidden speed.  As in, I had to ask my "assistant" (a friend who qualifies for Boston every.single.year), to run the intervals with her.  Whoa!  After our track work out, I came home and ran intervals on the treadmill for a total of 4.5 miles for the day.
• I ran 93.3 miles in January.  Apparently I did learn from my injury though.  I really wanted to hit 100, but I had already run 3 miles that day and it was my third day in a row of running, so I just let it go.  Either that or I'm just inherently lazy.
• I've always known I have no style, but I pushed the limits even for me the other day when I ran in shorts and black socks...
  
  
• Welcome to all my new followers! I've enjoyed checking out all of your blogs.
• Don't forget my "Races2Remember" giveaway!

Today looks to be crazy busy again. Now that my parents are here, we are planning to paint the dining room, test drive some cars, and figure out a place to set up a home office.