Motivation Monday

 Happy Halloween everyone!  Hope you all have a great one.  Though I would share some more great stuff that I found on Pinterest this weekend.   I love that site! I have been pretty good about not being on there obsessively like I thought I would.  I love this next saying.  I hate it when people drag themselves down and yes I am guilty of it too.  I think it is a great reminder.

 We should celebrate our strengths and the things we do love about ourselves instead of concentrating on the things we don't.  Especially the things I am not able to change.  I think I am usually pretty good about embracing myself and my body and loving it.  The older I get the easier I get, but I still have the areas I wish I could change. 

 Sometimes I think when I am having a great run it does feel a little bit like flying.  I love that feeling.  Yesterday I had such a great run.  I wanted to run all day, too bad I had other things I had to do too :) I do love the feeling of racing my heart out too. 

I am always having to remind myself that running is as mental as it is physical, if not more!  Good thing my mind is so in love with running!

Have a great Halloween everyone! What are some of your reasons to run?  What do you do when you hear someone degrading themself?  I try to remind them of all the great things about themself and give them examples of why it isn't so bad really. 

Finding Some "Super Speed" in Slovenia

I asked my little sister Jessica to write a guest post about her latest and 2nd half marathon in which she got an amazing new PR.  Here it is!

Almost a year ago I had a 6 month old plus a preschooler, along with the added stress of figuring out 2 kids (1 that didn't sleep well) I was lonely and NEEDED adult conversation especially during the day when my husband was at work.  To top it off I'm in a foreign country with no family around to help out.  Then one of the other American ladies here asked who was interested in training for a half marathon in Vienna.  At first I thought NO WAY, I hate running! My husband and sister both encouraged me to do it.  I obviously gave in, to be honest mostly so that I could be around other ladies and hopefully lose the last few pregnancy pounds!  I'm so glad I did, I now love running.  I love the way it makes me feel.  Strong. Capable.  Determined.  Alive. Healthy.  Happy. Ready to face my kids again :)

 

My first 1/2 was in April in Vienna, Austria.  Sadly I missed my goal time (under 2 hours) by 16 seconds, ugh, who does that?? 16 seconds!  I was pretty sure I'd be able to reach that goal this time and had a secret goal of closer to the 1:50 range as in 1:53'ish. Realistically I figured my miles would average about 8:30 to 8:45 minutes/mile.  I'm pretty sure the few days before the race my heart was speeding, I was a bit light headed and I obsessively checked the weather forecast.  4 days before the race was raining/snowing- ugh!  What to wear when it's cold and rainy?  I ended up following the guide Christy had posted earlier but I didn't have a vest so I wore an tight tank top under my top for added core warmth.   

One week before the race I realized I had forgotten to pay, yikes!  The kicker with this is in Slovenia you have to walk your butt into a bank to pay for everything; phone bills, preschool bill, marathon fees...  you can NOT pay online like most normal people living in this day and age.  My husband always pays the bills downtown during his lunch break; downtown is impossible to park plus I have a 1 1/2 year old with me.  I finally make it to a bank, wait in line with an impatient 1 1/2 year old only to have the guy tell me that it was not working.  Crap, maybe I'm too late!  F! F!  So I call the marathon people they first tell me that I'm late so I must pay 70 Euros instead of 30.  WHAT?!  I'm not paying that!  I respond with "How the heck am I supposed to pay if I've been in America??"  Oh they say, in that case it's OK only pay 30.  I get back in line and repeat the sequence of before only this time the guy sends me in to an office for them to help me.  This lady only rewrites everything that he did and sends me back to the line.  Same sequence.  He tells me that there is no such account.  Impossible, I have the confirmation printout with all the information on it.  I call the marathon people AGAIN, they confirm my information.  I get back in line AGAIN, my son is starting to throw a tantrum.  I finally realize that they must be fat fingering the numbers.  This time I make the person verbally tell me the numbers they are typing in as I recheck them.  Problem FINALLY solved 45 minutes later.  UGH!   

Another oddity , I thought it was weird that you weren't assigned a starting block, you got to pick which one you thought you should be on based on your projected finish time.  Okay... I figured I would start in the back of block 4, which was for 1:48 and below.  Yes, a bit out of my projected time but hey, its Europe and these people can be pushy plus I was told that everybody crowds up a block or 2.  Only the blocks weren't marked and nobody wearing the official race vest seemed to know what was going on so I just crammed in there somewhere, maybe in the 3rd or 4th block... I really have no idea but I didn’t get trampled so it must have been ok.  

Saturday was the kids run which my 4 year old son competed in, wearing his batman cape for extra fast speed.  There were so many people crowding around I didn't even get to see him run :(  Afterwards he told his dad that he forgot it was a race and forgot to turn on his "super speed".  

 

I was thankful that for this race it was in the town in which I live, Ljubljana, Slovenia.  I know some, maybe most, of you are thinking "el, jub el ja.. what??"  It's pronounced loo- blee-ya-na.  It a beautiful country, if you've never heard about it you can check it out HERE .  Anyhow Sunday morning was game time!  It was a cool 45'ish, overcast with a slight misting a rain.  It was perfect for running, not so perfect for standing but perfect for running.  Before I left for the race my son reminded me over and over again to NOT forget it was a race and to make sure I turned on my super speed.  I think I got the message!  I did not take my sister's advice of starting slightly slow with 8:45 to 9 minute miles.  Oops, it just felt like I was running so darn slow but when I looked down at my garmin I was shocked to see my pace at 8 min/mile.  How the heck?  I figured I would not be able to keep that up as I NEVER run 8 min/miles.  I tried to slow it down a bit but failed... I just felt so darn good.  

 

Around mile 5 I passed by where I live.  My husband said he'd be out there with the boys cheering me on.  When I passed by the appointed spot and didn't see them I was so bummed, my whole momentum felt like it toppled over.  Then, just when I'd given up there they were at the end of the street and my adrenaline kicked in again.  At this point I ate a bag of sports beans.  The miles seemed to tick off quickly, I couldn't believe how good I was feeling.  In the back of my mind I kept waiting for the wall to hit me.  Mile 9 I ate another bag of sports beans and continued to burp up the orange flavor for miles 10, 11 and 12.  Mile 12 was when the wall came down on me.  My legs were tired, I was exhausted but I couldn't stop now.  I pushed ahead for my fasted mile which was under 8 minutes (holy cow)! I think I gave it everything I had to run through the finish line, I even forgot to stop my watch for a while.  My watch said 1:51.  I was amazed. Thrilled.  A bit shocked. I felt like collapsing :)  

 

I slowly made my way through the banana/water/tea/cookie line, got my clothes then found some kuhano vino (warm spiced wine, yummy) as I was wet and freezing.  By this time they were starting to post the official times.  I let out a little "woot woot" when I saw 1:49:51 next to my name.  I had beat my previous time by almost 10 1/2 minutes!!!  Hell ya!  But wait, if I can shred my goal time by that much, what am I capable of?  What will my goal be for next time?  I'll have to wait until we get to Africa as that is where by family is headed to live next!  Anyone want to come and race northern Africa with me? 

 

For my age group I was 65th and 354th overall.  Doesn't sound too impressive does it but, I'm still excited as there were nearly 2,000 women in the 1/2 marathon and around 14,000 people racing overall for the marathon, 1/2 and the 10k.  

Jessica and her family will be moving to Tunisia sometime next year.  Better than that she will be here in Montana for the month of December.  I am so excited!

Halloween Hustle 5k and a Winner

I ran a fun run today and had a lot of fun.  I ran with another nurse that I work with, her husband and one of her friends.  We were the three pigs and the big bad wolf.  We won the best costume prize.  You can't see it but we also had little piggy tails on. Dwight, the big bad wolf, chased us the whole way. We finished in 25:10.  Not bad for just running it for fun.  The weather was a perfect 48 degrees with a slight wind.

 We named ourselves Prosciutto, Pancetta, and  Serrano.  All types of cured ham, in case you didn't know ;)

My older sister ran it too, but she didn't dress up and I was really bad about taking pictures apparently as those were the only ones I got! They drew for door prizes and I ended up with I sweat shirt from the local high school cross country team.  It is warm and has a hood.  I was glad to have won it as the weather took a turn for the worse and is now super windy.  I ran three miles before the race to get in a total of 6.1 miles for the day.  

My kids thought I should take a picture of the kitten in the pumpkin bucket. I don't think Princess Lollipop Unicorn Rainbow (yes that is the poor boy kittens name) was as thrilled about being in the bucket as they were that he was in there.

Don't forget to enter my Running Divas giveaway if you haven't already. and the super lucky winner the the Gymboss Interval timer is...

Megan at Fit Crafty English Teacher!  Congrats Megan, send me your address in an email and I will get that off to you!  If I don't hear from you  by November 3, I will choose a new winner.

What is the best thing you have ever dressed up as for Halloween?

My husband and I went as belly dancers once. I don't know where the pictures went though.  I am not a huge Halloween fan though as I don't really have any super cool ones.

Running Divas Review and Giveaway

Yesterday I had a chilly morning run.  I hate to give up running in the morning even though I know it will be warmer later, this time of year it is also windier later and I prefer to get my run in first thing in the morning.  I ran 6.5 miles easy.  By the time I was done it was starting to warm up and my hands weren't so cold.

I don't know if you noticed but I added a new page at the top.  I know starting Body.Rock.tv can be a little intimidating so I am trying to sort through her workouts and separate them out according to what equipment she uses.  Obviously if you have no equipment the body weight ones would be the easiest place to start.   I am passionate about BodyRock for several reasons.

1. It is super easy to do at home.

2. I do not belong to a gym.

3. It requires minimal equipment.

4. I hate workout videos.

5. The workouts are rarely longer than 20 minutes.  (easy for a busy mom to fit into her schedule)

6. It works!

7. Lots of workouts to choose from alleviates the boredom factor.

8. I have learned so many fun new moves.

I could seriously probably go on and on, but you get the idea. The page is a work in progress as she has hundreds of workouts.  I probably will not add them all, but for sure my favorites!

I think this is a good time to remind you to enter my Gymboss interval timer giveaway.  You need some sort of interval timer  to do  Bodyrock.  Although there are free ones on the internet. I used one HERE until just recently.


I got a very fun package in the mail from Running Divas earlier this week. They had sent me some other clothes to review earlier this month so I am really loving the love!  You can check out the earlier review HERE.  THANKS RUNNING DIVAS YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!

  They sent me this XXS black thermal shirt. It is very warm and fits like a size small.  I was skeptical when I saw what size it was, but it fits perfect. The front says "pain is the test"

the back says "yes it hurts" and "running divas" along the bottom.

I also got this t-shirt. Front says "running is a good way to get outta here"

and here is the back.  I thought it went well with yesterdays post on being obsessed and addicted to running :)

I got this great skirt, but I could not seem to take a great picture of my face while wearing it so I cropped my head out of all the pictures.  They were that bad! Skirt is cute and super comfy with little shorts underneath.  I would wear them for shorter runs and did wear it today to do a BodyRock workout.
 The skirt says running divas and "flaunt it" in pink. It doesn't show up well in the pictures.

 Here is what you could win! A bright orange, this picture does not do it justice, tank.  Says "running divas" on the front. The tank is ribbed, long and stretchy.  Super cute! I really liked this shirt, but wanted to share the love with you guys.

 and this on the back.

 if you have not checked out their website before, you should! Running Divas has some seriously cute and functional running gear with some fun, quirky, and inspirational sayings on them. 
 It is a size SMALL.  Sorry if this is not your size but if it is, here is how you can win!

1. Be a follower of my blog, leave a comment.
2. Like me on Facebook HERE,
3. Like Running Divas on Facebook HERE
4. Blog, tweet, Facebook this giveaway, leave a comment for each that you do!
5. Check out their website HERE and tell me your favorite saying on a shirt that they have.

Linking up for Fitness Friday! Click here to check it out!

giveaway ends 11-01, the winner will have 48 hours to contact me otherwise I will pick a new winner.  I was given these clothes free of charge and was not paid for this.  the opinions are my own!

.

Obsessed. We all may need help!

I decided to join up for the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge over at Run to the Finish.  Hopefully it will help stave off some of the usual holiday weight gain! Click on the link if you are interested too.  There are lots of fun prizes to be won! And who doesn't love winning prizes?

I recently came across on article on FitSugar talking about exercise addiction.  Basically it said that if you have the symptoms listed below you may need some help. 

• The intensity, duration, and/or frequency of your workouts are above and beyond the recommended 30 minutes a day.
• You're compulsive about getting in a workout, regardless of other commitments, the weather, or personal pains or injuries.
• You're fanatical about keeping track of your progress (distance, calories burned, mileage, etc.) in an exercise journal, and are obsessive about meeting or exceeding goals that are often above your physical abilities.
• You feel guilty or anxious when you miss a workout, and beat yourself up about it.
• You constantly talk, read, research, and think about exercise.

30 minutes a day is all you get before you are considered addicted? 30 minutes?  Really? Some days 30 minutes isn't even half the run. This whole list has me shaking my head really.  So, if you are training for a half marathon and logging your miles, researching how to run it the best you can, and (ahem) blogging about it, you are addicted? 

Anybody out there just read this and not fit into the description of addicted?

So then I had to do some further looking into it, surely I am not addicted by exercise.  I could quit if I wanted to.  So i felt better after  I found an article HERE about being addicted to running.  It was a lot more in depth and more geared towards runners.  I liked it a lot better and even came out as neutral on the self test to see if I was addicted to running.  I will spare you the details, you can go read it if you want.  I am happy basking in my not addicted status. The self test is at the very end of the article if you want to find out if you are addicted to running in a bad way!

So maybe not addicted, just obsessed, like my husband claims I am :) But really there are so many worse things to be obsessed or addicted to so I really don't feel bad.  Running keeps me in shape, not depressed, at a healthy weight, feeds my competitive spirit and can also be very social.  It is relatively cheap, or can be if you keep it simple. Really I only run four days a week I hardly think that qualifies as obsessed.  I carve 5 hours a week out of my schedule to make time for me.  Five hours.  Is that so bad?  I think not. There are not a whole lot of other things that I do for me. 

I also think it sets a positive example for my kids.  I could be sitting on the couch eating.  I still make time to do special things with them too.  Running is a priority in my life but I think I keep it in balance.  Meals still get cooked, dishes get done, laundry put away.  Not every second has to be about cooking, cleaning, and being a wife and mother.  Somewhere in there I need and deserve time for me.  We all do.  Running fills the need.  It gets me "me time". Time to destress, time to relax, time to focus on something I love to do and am passionate about.  Yes, I tend to read about running, write about running, and talk about running.  I am a runner.  If that makes me obsessed and addicted I guess I don't really care.  It makes me happy which makes me a better wife and mother.

What about you?  Addicted?  Obsessed?  Is it so bad really?
Do people tell you that you are obsessed with running?

Two for Tuesday

I love racing!

1. This year starting in March I ran 13 races!  

• a 5k mud run
• six 5k races
• two 5 mile races
• two 10k races
• two half marathons

I am hoping to do one more 5k and 1 mile race on Thanksgiving day.  Really excited about the 1 mile race, hoping I have enough gusto after the 5k to pull out the stops and see how fast I can race a mile. 

Ha! and I almost forgot! I am doing a 5k this weekend, but I am not racing it. (Truly) I am running it with a girl I work with her husband and another girl.  We are going to dress up for Halloween and have to run together for our costumes. Can you guess what we are going to be?

Last year I nine races and the year before only one!  I saw improvements on all the courses I ran this year over last years races. I set a new PB for every distance I ran. I am excited to see what more I can do. I read somewhere that you can expect to see PRs 5 to 10 years once you start racing.  That seems really incredible to me, but I am willing and wanting to find out how much faster I can be!  FUN!


I have learned so much about hydration, pacing, fuel, recovery, and more!  I love to race but more than just the competitive spirit I love the social aspect.  All those other people with the same obsession as me!  I love the 5k distance, but the more I race them the more I love half marathons.  Both 5 miles races I did this year felt really "on", so consequently I love that distance too, 10ks not so much.  Both of the 10ks I did I just felt off, tired, heavy legs, couldn't get my breathing under control.  I am going to sign up for them again next year.  I know it will be easy to PR them if I have an on day for one!


2. If you follow BodyRock at all, you might have seen that Freddy and Zuzanna broke up.  Sad.  I was a little bummed when I read it, but sounds like they have been working it out awhile and are ready to move on.  Freddy went back to Canada and Zuzanna is in Hollywood for now.

Just friends now

 My husband didn't get why I was so bummed out, but I have been following them for a year now.  A person gets attached! I just hope I like all the new changes that are coming.  They are still going to work together and be involved in it. Zuzanna doesn't want to film the workouts anymore so they are going to let other Bodyrockers get the opportunity to do that. 

I didn't run at all yesterday since I pushed pretty hard Sunday and ran 13.1 miles. I took it easy and spent an hour on the elliptical sweating and reading. It never is the same as running on so many levels! But it is better than nothing!

Music for Monday

I cannot get enough of this song right now.  Obsessed with it.

or this one

 seriously.  I play them over and over and crank it up and rock out while running, cooking, driving, cleaning. 
 They are such fun happy songs though I can't help it!

This comment on yesterdays post made me laugh so hard when I read it.  I never it thought someone wouldn't know what I was talking about.  It seemed to simple to me, but not everyone grew up on a ranch or around livestock so of course they wouldn't know.

Heather, a pill pusher is used to give cows, horses, etc pills.  You put the pill in the end then put the device in their mouth and down their esophagus a little and push the pill in so they can't spit it out.  Thanks for the laugh Heather!


What songs are you loving right now?

Long run and Fried Green Tomatoes

I have really been enjoying this awesome fall weather and am dreading the winter.  I am hoping fall hangs on for as long as possible.  So far the 10 day forecast is telling me that fall will continue to be awesome except for maybe a little cooler Tuesday and Wednesday, but the rest of looks great!

My little sister ran a half marathon today in Slovenia and managed to beat her super secret goal of 1:50.  So proud of her! She ran it in 1:49.   I heard the news about 9 miles into my 10 mile run and decided to complete a 13.1 in her honor.  It is the furthest I have ran since the half marathon last month.  Overall it felt really great.  I felt a little weak around mile 11, but by mile 12 felt better again. 

So happy to be still wearing running skirts and tank tops at the end of October!

The main tank top color matches the short on the skirt.  Not that most people will be seeing my shorts when I run, but it was a fun to know feature for me. Now you know too ;D

 

Found this in the road while I was running.  Do you know what it is?  A pill pusher for cows.

 

One reason why I am not looking forward to winter is what seems to be the inevitable weight gain.  I feel like I am just now getting back to the weight I like the best after gaining weight last winter. Though it seems like last winter I was dealing with not only less running due to the nasty winter, but also having weaned my daughter in August I was also dealing with not having that calorie drain also.  I am hoping to not gain so much this year.  I gained ten pounds last year despite what I felt were my best efforts.  I don't have a treadmill, so I have to content myself with the elliptical and BodyRock.tv  I also hate that this time of year starts the big calorie craze.  Everywhere you go people are pushing tempting savory bits of goodies at you.  I am not always very good at resisting.  When I was nursing my kids I could eat anything and do nothing but lose weight.  That was one of my favorite things about breastfeeding. (besides the bonding and how good it was for the kids part of course! )

So for now I am running outside every opportunity I get both for the mental health and the physical.  I want to maintain a good base through the winter.  Not sure how many miles a good base is considered, but I am trying to stay between 20 and 30 miles a week for now.  Any advice here?  My goals next spring and summer are no longer than half marathons.

Love this movie!

Last night my parents took the kids overnight and my husband found ourselves alone in a quiet house.  SO we went on a date!  We ate at the Montana Rib and Chop House.  We tried the fried green tomatoes with lump crab meat, a bleu cheese sauce, and some kind of a balsamic syrup drizzled over it for an appetizer (yes I know that is not good for not gaining weight, but occasionally a girl needs to indulge).  I am in love.  I want more.  Have you ever tried fried green tomatoes?  What did you think if you have?



Don't forget to enter my Gymboss Giveaway if you haven't already!

Gymboss Interval timer review and giveaway

I first started following BodyRock.tv the day after Halloween last year.  I have almost been a BodyRocker for a year now.  I have seen improvements in my running as well as more defined arms and abs. Until now I have been using an interval timer I found on the internet, which worked okay but was not always convenient.  No one else could use the computer while I was working out and  it isn't as easy to pack around.  Lucky for me the folks at Gymboss sent me one of their interval timers to review and lucky for one of you, they sent me an extra one to giveaway.

Actual size of the timer is smaller than this

What I love about it:

• It is small and easy to carry with me
• I can clip it to my shirt, shorts, etc
• It is super easy to set and change the intervals
• It is loud enough to hear over my music but not too loud
• I can switch it to vibrate if I want
• It makes it easier to do my BodyRock workouts anywhere
• It can also be used as a stopwatch

Jeff Galloway even has his name on the green one.

 I was not so impressed that they never once anywhere that I could find mentioned Bodyrock.tv on their website.  But they did list a bunch of other websites I was not so impressed with including a link to a blog that had no posts on it.  If you follow BodyRock at all you know Zuzanna is always mentioning her Gymboss, that ought to be worth a link  in my opinion.

Overall I love my interval timer.  At 19.95 they are pretty affordable and I think reasonably priced.  They come in pink, silver, green, black and camo.  I think the camo is the coolest.  Mine is black  and so is the one I have to give away. 

Want to win one for yourself? Leave a comment for all that you do.

1. Be a follower of this blog
2. Like me on FB here or follow me on Twitter
3. Tweet, blog, or Facebook about the giveaway
4. Tell me how you would use your Gymboss
5. Are you a BodyRocker, if you are what is your favorite workout from Zuzanna? 

Giveaway ends 10-29
Although Gymboss sent me this interval timer to review free of charge the opinions expressed in this post are my own.  I was not paid to do this.

Catching up and Run for Cupcakes Virtual Race

 Life seems to have been busy this week!  Today I am off and finally have a little time to sit and blog and catch up on blogs.  Tuesday I ran up to High Point.  Out and back to my Grandmother's house was just short of 10 miles.  Lots of cows along the way.  A perfect fall day.  Love the view from up here. Peaceful.

There is an old survey marker up there. 

and just a little more of the view.  I could sit here all day and enjoy the view.  So good for the soul.  You can't really see it from here but my Dad and one of his friends were down there riding.  They passed me in the horse trailer on my way back.

Today I ran in the rain.  I did a mile warmup then did 3.7 miles for Run For Cupcakes and about 1.5 miles into the run, it started pouring.  I was soaked by the time I was done running. I didn't even get any pictures.  Mostly by the time I was done running I just wanted to get into some dry clothes and get warmed up.  It was about 50 degrees out with a little bit of wind.  When dry it is great running, but wet not quite as good!  Of course by the time I got done running it also quit raining.

 and my official time.  I was amazed I stayed so consistent.  I put my Garmin in my pocket once it started raining hard so it wouldn't get to wet.  Not too bad for running in the rain and wind :)











Now I am hoping I win a cool prize!

My little sister is running her 2nd half marathon this weekend in Slovenia.  So excited for her.  Good luck Baby Sis!

I do have another giveaway coming up so stay tuned!

I won!

I just wanted to say that I just got an email from the folks at Team Refuel and it had great news!

I WON the  Team Refuel grant! 

Thanks so much to everyone who voted, I am so thankful and this means so much to me! I would not have won it without you!

There may have been some screaming and jumping around and I most definitely did my happy dance!

Now I have to go back to work!  :)

I just had to post this since I posted earlier I thought I did not get it and some people had been asking!

From Pinterest and a little help please.

 I love this saying

 but sometimes I feel like this.

 But then I remember the choice is mine.

Which really I think you can insert any word word(s) into the feel sore part and make it your own.

Anonymous left me this message yesterday 

Thanx for that work, sustain the great operate Excellent operate, I'm likely to commence a modest Weblog Engine program perform utilizing your website I really hope you appreciate running a blog together with the common BlogEngine.web.Thethoughts you express are actually brilliant. Desire you may correct some a lot more posts.   

 Wow do they even understand english? At least they think I am brilliant.

Now for the help part.  I am no fashionista.  I am rather a little fashion awkward and mostly don't even care. I recently bought this scarf and I love love love the color, but I haven't really figured out how to wear it yet. Should I wear it like this?

 More like this?

 Or open like this?  This one is not my favorite

 Any other ideas?  I have never had a scarf like this before.  i was also excited to post these pictures because I actually have my hair done, and not in a pony tail.


Okay and to throw in a little running.  I ran 8 hill intervals yesterday.  1 minute of hard up the hill followed by 1 minute down easy, repeated  8 times and then an easy three miles for cool down. Felt AWESOME!

Which scarf look is the best? 

What else can be done with it? 

Do you wear scarfs?

What to Wear, A Sparkly Soul Winner

Did you know the Runner's World website has a tool that will tell you what you should wear based on the temperature outside, how windy it is, conditions like sunny, snowing, etc, and if you like to run cool, warm or in between?  I didn't but I found it this morning.  Fun!  I played around with it for awhile.  I hate being too cold when I run so often I will overdress and about a mile into it get hot and start shedding clothes. Often I will just leave them on the side of the road and pick them up on my way back.  This is of course is better than getting a mile in and being too cold!  It is always easier to take off clothes than it is to put on what you don't have.  I hate cold hands and ears so I will run with a hat on if it is even close to being below 50 degrees.  Same with the gloves.  If my hands get hot I stuff the gloves in my bra if I am not wearing something with pockets.  You can find the tool HERE.  Speaking of Runner's World I finally got around to reading the November issue last night. This is what they recommended I wear today to run for 35 degrees, sunny, calm, and I like to run "in between" that is not cool or warm.

A jacket. A hat and gloves.

and a long sleeve shirt and tights.  I thought about waiting until this afternoon to run when it would be warmer, but then I might just run out of time and I want to have the run done before the family gets home!

Rance and the kids will be home later today.  I am enjoying the peace and quiet but am missing my little family too!  I can't wait to see their happy little faces when they get home and hear about all their adventures.  Being a Mom can be so much work, thankfully there are also those moments  that make it all worth it! I don't think I ever appreciated all my mom did for me growing up until now.  I bet I am just starting to scratch the surface.  Being a parent is truly a sacrifice.  You give up so much!  Quiet mornings with a cup of coffee -gone!  Clean house all the time  - gone!  Watching a tv show uninterrupted- gone!  A full night's sleep- GONE! I really miss those.  But then there is the laughter!  Oh the laughter. The sweet little faces all lit up with joy at the simplest things.  The excitement they have over the holidays makes it exciting and fresh for me again too.  Laughing at the silliest things.  Games of tag and hide and go seek.

I fear cooking shall be the bane of my existence forever.  Some people enjoy it.  Ugh not me.  It is a chore, something that has to be done.  A job I don't get paid for.  The best thing about this weekend was not cooking.  Not a single meal.  I bought Lean Cuisine freezer meals and ate them all weekend.  :)   I try to always make food from scratch for my family, because I want us to be healthy.  This weekend me and the stove took a vacation from each other. AWESOME.

I am guessing I did not win the Team Refuel grant :(  I have not heard from them and the next round of people are up for voting.  A little bummed, but that's how it goes so thanks to everyone who voted for me. I appreciate the time and effort you spent on my behalf. 

and finally the lucky winner of the Sparkly Soul giveaway is...

who is Running Jennie

Jennie, email me your info and I will get you hooked up!

Didn't win, but want to order one? 
Enter the code CHRISTYRUNS when you check out for 15% off your order!
 Discount code is good until midnight on October 16th.

Saturday Quickie

Today is the last day to enter my Sparkly Soul giveaway!

I am sitting here watching the sun come up and enjoying a cup of coffee.  My house is so quiet right now.

My husband took the kids up to see his parents yesterday and won't be home until tomorrow afternoon sometime.  I miss them so much and yet it is  nice to have some quiet time to reflect and relax!  No cooking, no mediating fights, no trying to find someone to watch the kids while I run.  A little mommycation if you will.  The funny thing about a mommycation I have discovered is that normally I am in bed by nine, if not earlier, but when they are gone I stay up late!  There is no reason to go to bed early.  No one is going to wake me at the ass crack of dawn wanting breakfast and a snuggle. I can sleep in (if I could, but my internal alarm clock still hauls me out of bed at 5 am!) I can take a nap when I feel like it. I can watch what I want on TV, uninterrupted!  If I want kipper snacks and an apple for supper, no one whines.  I will clean the house this morning and it will stay clean until 2.2 seconds after they get in the door. I can sit and read a book for hours.  Rejuvenating!

Of course when their happy to see me little faces show up tomorrow I will be so happy to see them and glad they are home.  I will hold them close and be thankful.  Thankful I have them and thankful for my awesome husband.  Our 6 year anniversary is coming up soon!   I will have to tell the story of how I met my husband sometime.  It is a I saw him and I knew kind of story.  :)

I have almost been following BodyRock.tv for a year now!  They use a Gym Boss interval timer for a lot of their workouts.  I have been using a free interval timer on the internet this whole time which at times can be very inconvenient.  No more!  Gym Boss sent me one to try out and one to send to a reader!  So be watching for that coming up.  I am so excited to try it out today.  Speaking of Bodyrock.tv  I did the Give Me a Reason workout Wednesday night and due to the insane amount of jump lunges still cannot move without pain.  I really love that workout though! It is short but when you are done you are ready to be done.  I did throw in an extra set of the pushups and knee raises. 

I am up and running on Pinterest!  I have found a few people but am having a hard time finding you guys.  I tried friend finder through twitter but it never seems to work just keeps thinking and thinking..  It was been working on it for about an hour now.  A little frustrating!  So help!  or find me! I am loving all the stuff I am finding on the site though.

I am planning to clean the house this morning, run, BodyRock, and then?  I am betting I will be spending some time catching up on blogs, figuring out Pinterest, and reading.  I also have some movies on the DVR I have been wanting to watch.

Enjoy your Saturday!  Good luck to all the racers out there this weekend!  Go get em, though I bet some probably already are hard at it!

What do you like to do when you have a mommy or daddycation?

Three Things for Thursday

1. I am about four weeks out from my my last race and am now starting to think about next year finally. It feels good to be not training, just running to maintain.  Running for me.  I am starting to formulate a plan to get me through the winter.  It won't really be set in stone as it will always depend on the weather.  I am thinking I will keep my long runs between 7 and 10 miles.  I will start doing aggressive hill workouts once  a week to build strength and the other two days I run will be whatever I feel like.  If I want an easy run, a progressive run, fartleks, intervals, whatever  I feel like that day.  I only usually run four days a week because the days I work tend to be to crazy to fit in running unless I get off work early so that is always a bonus run.  I am also going to try to fit in three BodyRock.tv workouts a week to keep my core strong and maintain my pipes :)  The days it is too nasty out to run I will have to make do with my elliptical machine.  Not the same but it seems to get the job done and I can read at the same time.  (Bonus!) Not an extremely detailed plan I know but I think around the first of the year I will start refining it a little more. My first race next year will be a 5k on St Patrick's Day

2. I finally gave in and checked out Pinterest (like I really needed another time suck) but I am loving it, even though I can't just join I am on a waiting list to get invited.  What is up with that?  Oh well like I said I don't really need to be wasting more time on the computer.  I did find some cool running inspiration though!  I hope my invitation comes soon!  Anyone know how long you have to wait to get on?

3. If you haven't already entered my giveaway for a Sparkly Soul headband you have until Saturday to do so.  I have the blue narrow and the wide green band.  I love them both.  You can also get 15% off your order until 10-16 bu using the discount code CHRISTYRUNS when you check out. Pretty sure I am going to get a black one next.  Or maybe gold.  Such a hard decision, I want them all! Check out the giveaway HERE.  you can get a bonus entry every day for voting for me HERE on Team Refuel! I am so ready to quit begging for votes and find out if all my  begging is going pay off :)