I Have A Blog?!?!

I haven't posted in a looooong time, guess I just didn't have anything to say.
I have a marathon in less than 3 weeks that I half-heartedly trained for, read: slacked on.
But I didn't really slack, I started P90X in January and kept up with running 5 days a week.
I got in (2) 20 miler's, no speed work, a little bit of hills, but didn't get my weekly mileage
past 45.  I just didn't hit the mileage I wanted and really wanted to put some speedwork in this time around.

I love P90X, I love strength training, I've always been a weight person, way before running came along and I'm so happy to be back in the groove of things.
Running is so time consuming it was so easy for me to go weeks and weeks without any strength training.
I would like to do "before" and "after" photos but I'm 60 days into my first round of P90X and really don't have any "before" photo's, oops.I've also started eating much much cleaner. I really took the running to mean I could live off carbs and cake. Turns out you need protein too. I've increased my protein intake and am aiming for 100-120 grams per day. I've decreased my carbs by eliminating all the processed stuff, and I don't miss it!
I don't love meat so I've really been relying on egg whites, which works because I love them.

I would like to put on a little muscle which can't happen while also running 45 miles a week. So for now, I'm just focused on maintaining the muscle I do have and leaning out. After the marathon I'll cut back on the running, but not too much. Because I love running!
P90X + Marathon training is hard, but I really think they've worked well together and I feel my stamina has increased. I think I've lost some speed, but that's ok, I was never going to break world records anyway.
Right now my weekly schedule looks like this:
Monday:  Run (45 - 1:15) P90X - Ab Ripper + Chest, shoulders, tri's
Tuesday: Run (45-1:15) P90X - Plyo
Wednesday: Run (45:1:15) P90X - Ab Ripper + back and biceps
Thurdsay: Run (1:00 - 1:30)
Friday: P90X Ab Ripper + legs and back
Saturday: Long Run
Sunday: REST!

I've been very creative in the kitchen too. I've got all kinds of clean eat's recipes I can't wait to share.

With all of the stress of daily life, I'm really happy to be blogging again, I need an outlet to talk and think about something, anything other than work... which is something that will NEVER be mentioned on here! Unless it's complaining.

Do you talk about work on your blog?

Is work your blog?

How do you feel about strength training?

I've been loving all of the clean eating and fitness competition blogs I've been obsessed with lately. I dream of being cut.  These girls are dedicated, hard core, 100% bad a$$!!!
I love it.

Week in Review and Looking forward to 2012

I guess technically I am officially training for marathon #2. I don't have a training plan written down or anything, but I'm not good at following stuff anyways. I am going to increase my mileage and cut back every 4th week. I'm going to get in 3-4 20 milers and hopefully do speedwork once or twice.  To me, that sounds like a plan! 

Saturday was my first trail run ever! I met up with my wonderful running group and off we went for 10 miles around Kennesaw Mountain.  The first mile I was terrified, it was narrow, rocky, leafy, and steep. I was sure I was going to break a bone.  It got a lot better after that and I had a ton of fun.  It was a totally different experience than I'm used to.  Most of my running is on the treadmill, I set up my Google map and off I go.  The treadmill automatically adjusts incline and decline and I zone out.  It was really a change to pay attention to where I was running and not trip on a rock or branch.  The weather was perfect too.

So far December has been a good month both running-wise and other.  I would say I'm 60% done with my Christmas shopping #winning
Were heading to Florida for Christmas and won't be able to take all of the kids gifts down so I'm trying to be mindful of that and buy some smaller "stocking stuffer" items too.
I have no idea what to get hubby. None. 

I'm looking forward to some fun and festive activities with the kids this weekend.

What are your plans?

What do I buy for my spouse?  P.S. he has no interest or hobbies, makes it even tougher! Seriously.

Cold November Rain

I thought it was going to snow a couple of days ago, but no dice.
Oh well... I'm sure there is plenty of time for that.  What there isn't time for, apparently, is blogging!
No Thankgiving thankfulness post. No gobble job 10k race recap.  No pictures. Nope nothing!
I smell a new year's resolution in the making.



In the meantime I did run a 10k on Thanksgiving.  The course was a double loop of the 5k there were 2 hills (so technically 4).  My lungs started burning .02 seconds after I started running.  It was rough, I thought I was going to cough up a lung or that blood was pooling in my lungs.  Yep, I'm dramatic.
Anyways other than being insanely uncomfortable for the whole race, I finished in 51.10.  My goal was 50 min. After the race I came home, started the Thanksgiving cooking and somehow contracted some sort of food poisoning/stomach flu that kept me from eating Thanksgiving dinner and more importantly Thanksgiving dessert. Boo :(

I got a good amount of Christmas shopping done over the weekend and it's Dec 1! Where does the time go!
I had a fantastic run on Tuesday 5 miles sub 40 min (that's been my goal for awhile)!
And, a really crappy run yesterday.

All in all November was a good month.  Busy busy like the beaver's say!
I'm sure December will be much of the same.  I'm excited to go home for Christmas and be with my family.  I'm trying to enjoy Christmas shopping and not stress about it.  Although I had  big fat fail at Toys R Us yesterday.
I'm having a great time running and feeling good.  Except for a spot on my left calf. 

I really truly have no real complaints.  This year has been unimaginably good. Really and truly better than I could have even hoped for.  I hope for more of the same!

I'm jealous of everyone going to Vegas!  I can't wait for the stories and race recaps!
Annnnnnd now that it's December it's time to start baking cookies!
Recipes to follow...

Friday Fav's

TGIF, it has been a loooooooong week!
I have lot's of things to be happy about though and in the spirit of being thankful, here goes:


Preschool! not for me, for him.  It gives him a chance to burn off some energy and he learns a lot of new things.  My daughter gets to play with toys without them constantly being snatched away and I get 3 1/2 hours of uninterrupted work. 

Smoothies! Especially when I get to drink them out of my Atlanta Marathon cup!  It's really cold so I have on a sweater, jacket, and scarf so I can drink it and not freeze! Weird?

 And remember how I wanted to bake something sweet? Well that very day my neighbor brought over these babies!  Amazing! She makes the most amazing cakes and cupcakes, I am such a cake snob now and cannot eat anything but her cakes!  They're gorgeous too... she is super talented.  She has a cake business Cake's Caboodle

 She did my son's and daughter's birthday cakes:

Aren't they amazing?!?!?!  You like the the shadow of me standing over the cake taking a picture!

I've got ridic photography skills (with my iphone)

Anyways she is local to Atlanta, too bad for you guys!  I've got all of my friends hooked.  Since I only have 2 kids and that means cake like this only twice a year I had to make sure all of my friends with kids got cakes from them too.  So now it works out that I get to eat it at least once a month! #winning.

I plan of running 15 miles tomorrow... My longest run in 2 weeks.

Happy Friday!

An extra hour of sleep it is not...

Fall back has not been good to me.
Although my kids still goto sleep at the same time each night they have been waking up exactly one hour earlier every day.
I like waking up and having it actually be light out, but I hate that it's dark by 6 pm, it really shortens the day. 

I've been running almost my normal running schedule. I have noticed that after some longer runs I get sore, that didn't used to happen. I am assuming it is because I didn't allow enough rest time after the marathon.  I just don't know how I'll feel to run a half two weeks from now. 
I ran Saturday morning on a beautiful trail that follows the Chattahoochee River, it was cold but warmed up nicely after about an hour.  The fall leaves were beautiful and littered the and the river had a light fog over it. I wish I would have remembered to take pictures. This one is from the Silver Come Trail. 

Where did the Year go?

Seriously, where is it?
The older I get the faster time goes by.
I cannot believe it is already November. I'm excited for the Holiday's they seem to take on new meaning once you have kids. Right now my kids are young enough that it's still enjoyable.

I've been consistently running for a little over a year now, I know to most of you that's nothing, but prior to this I literally couldn't run more than a mile at a time (I was a walk/run girl/ elliptical lover). I'm so excited for the future as far as running goes I can't wait to see more progress and get more and more races under my belt. I have a lot to learn as far as running goes, I'm still navigating race day fueling (I suck at it right now), speedwork (I hate it right now), finding the perfect shoe (maybe next pair?), and actually sticking to a training schedule.

I ran 4 miles on Wednesday at a 9 min pace and felt great, ab work too. I did a circuit training exercise video and ran 5.5 miles at an 8:40 pace and am really hurting today. I don't know if it was the running or the jump squats but my knees are just not happy. I'm going to take today off from running, I'm running with my running group on Saturday morning and I need fresh legs.
Atlanta has a Thanksgiving half marathon and I REALLY want to run it. I've got a couple things holding me back though:

1. price. It's $75 and I don't know if it's worth it.
2. It's Thanksgiving and I don't know if I want to drag my poor family out (plus it could be super duper cold)
3. My husband is having a procedure on his leg on Tuesday, It's outpatient, no biggie, but who knows how he will feel.

I'm really unsure, but I think if I don't do that I at least want to do a 5k or 10k.

What are your plans for the weekend?
I don't have any (except for my Saturday run) I'm thinking a day trip, but where???

Do you love Christmas music?
I LOVE it. I adore Trans Siberian Railroad and I actually had some on my playlist for my marathon.

Have a great weekend! Good luck to those running RnR Savannah and NYC!

Atlanta Marathon Recap

The race started at 7:00 am. and as I said earlier I woke up at 5:30, that was not the start to race morning I was hoping for. I had coffee and nothing else (not a good fueling plan) my stomach just wasn't up to it, not eating seemed like the lesser of 2 evils. It was cold and I was glad to arrive late because that meant less time standing around in the cold. I wore shorts, compression socks, a long sleeve dri-fit, with a sports bra and sleeveless tank underneath (just in case I got hot). Once we started running I warmed up pretty quickly, except for my hands. My hands were cold for most of the race. They were red and swollen and completely numb. I think I have bad circulation.
The first few miles were a blur. It was dark, I hadn't really grasped that I was running 26.2 miles yet.
I had no plan as far as paces or a goal time. My training didn't go as planned and my paces were all over the place. I planned to run by feel and just hope for the best.
I hit the half way mark at 1:57, but it was all down hill from there (time wise). I stopped to use the bathroom at mile 16 and lost a ton of time. Between trying to rush, my handheld, my head phones that kept falling out of my ears, I was a mess. I was trying to be quick and ended up taking like 3 minutes. I didn't want to put my hand held down!
I took gels at mile 5, 9, 14, and 20. But, I didn't eat breakfast or a whole lot the night before and I think it really affected how I felt. I've really never felt so fatigued, I wanted to sit down and rest!
After the 18 mile mark I got very emotional. Someone in the cheer zone was speaking and he said:
"This isn't your first run, you've been training for months. It's not easy, it hurts, but today
YOU will finish a marathon!"

That's the first time I realized I was going to finish a marathon! I didn't care about the time, I just wanted to finish!
I started to get very emotional the rest of the way. I went back and forth between wanting to cry because I was tired to being excited about finishing a marathon.
My right knee and ankle really started to hurt the last few miles. All of that treadmill training did not adequately prepare my body for running 26.2 miles on the road. The soft surface of the treadmill is great and I love it, but I think when I run outside it really takes a greater toll on my body. I did most of my long runs outside, but my last 20 miler was at the Silver comet trail and there are no hills there!
As I was rounding the last corner to the finish my hubby and kids were there cheering me on. It was a great surprise I gave them high five's and finished my first marathon in 4:18:21.
Here are the stats:
Overall Place
483 of 1124
Gender Place
138 of 427
Age Division Place
35 of 86

I'm still on a runner's high and can't wait to run another race. It was a great experience and I wouldn't change anything about it. I learned a lot and know training wise I have a lot of room for improvement and that's exciting, I can't wait till the next one!
I'm already signed up for the Publix Georgia marathon in March and I think I'm going to do the St. Louis one in April. We have a half for Thanksgiving, I would love to run it, but I'm not sure what our Thanksgiving plans are yet.

I'm so thankful for all of the blogger's out there. I love reading the race recaps and I am so motivated by everyone's honesty and running talents.
I don't have any race day photos. Well actually I do, but I don't plan on buying them and I can't save them to the pc. Oh well...

I can't wait to read everyone's (who's running it) NY reacap!!!