Three Things Thursday

1. I am still doing a weekly pushup challenge with all my friends myself.  I am still improving so it is still fun. I will quit when I don't see anymore progress.  My goal is to get to 50.    If you want to so me do 40 pushups complete with sound effects, kids yelling in the background, and my spoiled house-cat Rocky Ballerina Walks-with-a-Limp One Dot cleaning his paws in the background, you can check it out HERE.

2. I went to a wedding last weekend for a co worker, the Coldplay song Yellow was sung at the wedding.  I have had it stuck in my head ever since. I had to go and buy it on iTunes so that I could get the words right when singing it to myself.  Want to get it stuck in your head?  Go ahead..listen to it.

I mentioned it at work and found out at least three other people had the same problem.  Catchy song!

3. I just finished reading Once a Runner by John Parker. If you haven't read it yet it is a great read.  Thanks to my Mom for getting it for me. Here a few quotes I picked out of the book that I liked


“He ran his hand up and down his left achilles tendon. Very tender; better pay attention to it and back off if it gets any worse. Maybe ice it. The old Injury Evasion Fandango. Did it ever end?” 

“Running to him was real, the way he did it the realest thing he knew. It was all joy and woe, hard as diamond; it made him weary beyond comprehension. But it also made him free.”

“The key was not how fast he could run, but how fast he could run while tired."

What song do you have stuck in your head lately?
Have you read Once A Runner?

I have no words for a title

I found the pictures from the 2 mile run I did with my daughter on Mother's Day.

Sadly this woman finished right in front of Avery and ruined her race pictures.  Boo.  Next time I will have to watch for that a little more carefully.  I will say these are the least painful looking finish line race pictures I have seen of myself in ..ever.  Of course we walked most of the second mile

 .  and I don't really consider what I did here a race, but whatever.

Since I am not running right now, still, again, it might as well be rainy out and it is.  I think the world is crying for me.  I am thinking of renting a backhoe and digging out the area that is a big puddle here and making myself a swimming pool for a little cross training.

Of course then it would stop raining and all I would have is a muddy hole.

I haven't been running, but I have been stretching.  Check out my amazing flexibility.

seriously..my fingers are past my toes and I can get my leg to almost 90 degrees while laying on my back.   Totally worth not running. 

Thanks to everyone who commented on my I hate life without running post yesterday, you are all awesome. It helps to read other people's I was injured and I came back stories.  I know this isn't a forever thing, it just feels like it.  and Kasey.. you are so on!

What's Beautiful..keeping my chin up

I am sponsored through Fitfluential by Under Armour for this post.  I have been participating in the What's Beautiful contest and having a lot of fun completing some of the challenges.  What is not fun and beautiful is that I set my goal as a 10k PR for a 10k that I have now decided is not going to happen for me.  I will get there someday, just not as soon as I had hoped, so I had to edit my goal a little.

 

What's Beautiful is a competition to redefine the female athlete, a little bit I feel like I am trying to redefine me right now as a person who is injured.  I can't be a runner right now.  Don't worry this is only temporary.  (That is what I have to keep reminding myself)

 

This is going to have to be my motto right now.

I am so impatient to get back to running and sweating and having that workout euphoria.  I can't believe how much I have taken it for granted the last couple of years.  I worked up a sweat on the elliptical Saturday and love how great it felt.  I should have taken it easy Sunday, since the goal was an easy run Monday if I was still feeling good.

I hopped on the elliptical Sunday.  Everything felt good.  I did some workout moves..including a couple that worked my quads.  It felt so good.  I forgot I had taken an Advil earlier that day for a stiff neck..I think that was helping cover up an discomfort, because Monday the uncomfortable burning was back in my right quad and when I tried to jog, it did not feel like it should have.  I called it a day after less that a quarter of a mile.

Such a bummer of a set back.  Over all I think it is getting better, but it is happening in such microscopically slow increments I am getting discouraged.  I am going on four weeks of barely any running/cardio sweat inducing exercise.  NOT MY STYLE!

Right now I need to NOT listen to the voice that wants me to work out through the pain and listen to the voice that I will heal I just need time.  Sometimes listening to what your body really needs is hard to do.  My body has done so much and I have pushed it so hard and right now my right quad is saying no.

Luckily I can still do some other things like yoga, pilates, and stretching.  Okay and things like core work, and upper body.  Anything but intense quad exercises.  I am trying not to sound like the big crybaby that I am a whiner, but I really miss running!

It is motivating to look at how other people are doing with the challenges see all the encouragement given to people. 

Tell me the longest you have ever had to take a running break and what kept you motivated.  Cheer me up!

Uni-T tank review

I was given a chance to review a shirt from a shop on Etsy called myuni-T, after browsing the selection, and there were a lot of neat inspiring shirts, I finally narrowed it down to this shirt.

sorry for the cheesy grin, I seemed completely incapable of taking a normal picture. Really there were worse ones. I think it is the result of all the time I have spent NOT running in the last three weeks.

I love the yellow color (I of course think that it goes great with my red hair) and for some reason I fell in love with this owl.  I think it reminds me of something my mom used to have hanging on the wall when I was growing up.

Uni-T is owned by Eujin Kim Neilan who is also an illustrator for children's books and magazines.  Her art work is amazing, some of it is shown on her Etsy site also. 

Here is some of what she has to say about Uni-T

Uni-T sounds like unity!
Unity is the basic philosophy of my line of hand-printed t-shirts. As a creative business, Uni-T cherishes art, music, health, a green environment, local farming, learning, and most of all happiness in one's life. Our interest and passion might be different but we are all in unity! My t-shirts are about being yourself and inspiring each other.

She started selling the shirts at local farmer's markets and flea markets and now owns her own boutique in a suburb of Boston. 

Here is a sampling if what some of her other shirts look like.

See the ones with the dragon?  They say dare more.  I almost went with one of those.  Other shirts say things like Dream more, dance more, walk more.  Besides tanks there are also short sleeve, long sleeve, and hoodies. 
Better yet check them out her shop HERE
The shirts are made out of a super comfy and eco-friendly bamboo and organic cotton blend. I ordered a size small and would say it is pretty true to size. This will make a great shirt to wear this summer.  I have worked out in it, lounged in it and even worn it to bed a few times.  Super comfy.



see another cheesy one

look my hair was even combed! no pony tail!

You can also find Uni-T on Facebook HERE

If you decide to order a shirt for yourself or a gift for a friend, Eujin was awesome and offered free shipping with the code 4FREESHIPPING when you check out.

Tell me you don't love this owl shirt. 
Do you shop much on Etsy?  I have started to in the last year, I love the idea of supporting small businesses.

I was given this shirt in exchange for a review. I was in no other way compensated for this post.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Three Things Thursday: Not running, What's Beautiful and kids

1. Let's see what have I been up to...still not running, but surprisingly I have reached some sort of acceptance on that.  I have come to realize the big picture shows that if I rest now I will be running happier sooner.  Trying to push it early was only stagnating and or reversing any healing.  A little frustrating that it happened now when it is so AWESOMELY nice out for running and not when it was wintry cold or later this summer when it is awfully hot.  In the end it is what it is. Truth be told it is kind of nice to take a break from it.  I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself to get the runs in, it can be a lot of work finding a babysitter, getting there, etc. 

Not that I will be whining when my leg is ready to run again.

I haven't charged my Garmin or my iPod in over two weeks.  I don't plan to for at least another week.  and maybe even longer as I get back into running.  I don't want to put any pressure on myself to run a certain pace.

2. This week seems to have been crazy busy so far and I haven't been able to update my What's Beautiful page, but I plan to work on that today.  So far I have done 20 of the challenges.  One challenge I have been taking on weekly is the pushup challenge.  I did it this week too, but didn't get it on video.  Last week I did 30 pushups in a row and this week..35.  I love progress.  That's beautiful.

3.  Tomorrow is the last day of kindergarten for my little cowboy.  That went so fast!  I am so proud of him.  He has learned so much and I love all the great things his teacher has had to say about what a nice and polite boy he is.  Makes me feel like I am doing something right.

Hard to believe my little cowgirl will be going to kindergarten in three months. 

Not running sux

Really I am feeling like I should rename my blog domain from christyruns.com to something like

• christyusedtorun.com
• christydoesn'trun.com
• christymissesrunning.com
• christyneedsanewrightquad.com

you get the idea.  I could go on and on. 

I had a good run Friday, and by good I mean slow easy and slow for three point one miles.  Saturday I was feeling pretty good so I ran/walked 5.5 miles with my sister at a faster pace than I should have.  Afterwards my right quad yelled at me the rest of the day. 

So Sunday I did not run.  Today I did not run.  I did do yoga.  and some more yoga.  This is how I feel about that.

When I first was injured and I started in on the yoga, I hated it.  Too slow. Too boring.

I am slowly learning to appreciate it.  I am learning that I am as stiff and inflexible as I have ever been, especially in my hips and hammies.
 I am learning to enjoy the feeling of my muscles stretching and oddly enjoying the slow relaxed pace.

It has been a long time since I have slowed down.  I am thinking of taking off the rest of the month from running.  Not a happy thought, but if I want to get better...AND I DO!  I think I really need to  not run.

It is making me crazy. I see a road and I can feel me running down it.  I can see me on the road, one foot in front of the other, breathing in the clean fresh air and hearing my foot steps on the gravel.  I am at this point planning to cancel all races until at least July, possibly August.

The frustrating thing about this is, I can feel so good sitting here, just a slight burning in my quad, but as soon as I start running it just gets uncomfortable.  Not really painful, just not good in a way that I KNOW that if I keep running, keep pushing, I am going to regret it. 

Okay well enough of the wa wa wa story. 

Positives are..working on flexibility, taking up yoga, and more time to clean the house.  I tried a little retail therapy.  I was looking for something nice to wear to a wedding this weekend.  Apparently I no longer have those kind of skills.  I can shop for running things like nobody's business, but something dressy..I didn't try a single thing on, and I went to about 10 different stores in the mall.  Aack!

When the cat's away

As most of you know I work in the operating room at a surgery center.  I like to have my phone with me, but not neccesarily in my pocket so I usually leave it by my computer.  Nothing ever happens to it ever.  Until yesterday, at work when my sweet friends took it upon themselves to change my screensaver while I was off getting a patient.

I nearly dropped my phone and I may have shouted out something.  I did not however learn. Next time they were sweet enough to tell me I am number one. It was unanimous they all agreed!

after that I was a little more careful about leaving my phone in the room when I went out.  Although I did leave once without it and then ran back to get it, just in time.  They were all headed for it.  I seriously love my coworkers.  We have so much fun and we work too. 

As soon as I got home from work Friday I headed out into the rain for an easy 3.1 miles.  It felt heavenly!  You can't really tell from this photo, but I am soaked.  There were better pictures really, but this was the only one with Cola photobombing in the background.

Today my little sister and I went for what will probably be our last run together for a LONG LONG time.  She is leaving to move to Virginia next Saturday.  We did an easy run/walk for 5.5 miles.

My right quad is SLOWLY getting better.  Patience is a virtue I am lacking. 

I did do yoga twice this week and plan to do some more today.  What I am learning through all this yoga is that I am about as flexible as an old man. When did that happen?  I used to be really limber!

 

Three Things Thursday: Short and Sweet

1. Stir crazy, that is how I feel right now.  In the last 10 days I have ran 4 miles.  I did two of those yesterday.  I am trying to remind myself of the big picture and scaring myself by imagining never runner again usually helps.    The two miles felt good and I considered going 4, but in the end decided I better just take it easy.  which in my book equals boring when I am doing it day after day!

2. Okay, lets get away from running talk.  I have been doing the Under Armour What's Beautiful (I am sponsored by Under Armour for this competition)  and found this page which has great videos of some awesome training moves like walking planks, pistols, pushup jacks and so many more moves that I love and want to try. So if you are looking for a challenge, new moves etc I say check it out! 

3. Sometimes I can't help myself.  I see new flavors of Chapstick I have never tried before and I have to have them.  Cotton candy Chapstick!!  Yum, it was in a three pack with grape and fruit punch.  Grape is also yum, fruit punch is so so.  I always have loved the mint and strawberry.

 The strawberry reminds me of being a kid and the plain reminds me of my Dad since he always seemed to have it in his pocked when I was growing up.  Not so long ago I also won these two awesome flavors from Kiley, plus apple.

My husband really liked the apple and I ended up buying more in a three pack. I think I have 6 Chapsticks in my purse right now and several in my makeup bag.  YUM.  Not a sponsored post I just noticed I had a lot of Chapstick and since I am not running I don't have much to talk about. 

Some postive things and some wallowing.

So I have been trying to see the upside to my quad strain...like how good the rest is for all my muscles and tendons and ligaments that I work hard year round with running and training.

 A runner can no more expect to train progressively year-round than a cornfield can expect to produce corn spring, summer, fall and winter. source

 I am adding some yoga in which is stretching out my stiff muscles like I haven't in a long time.  Feels good really, even if I am incredibly impatient with all the holding poses and breathing in and out.  I like fast workouts.  I am more of a HIIT type person so all this slow movement is a little bit of torture really.

I have been working on my pushups.  One of the What's Beautiful challenges is how many pushups can you do without stopping.  Last week I did 25 and this week 30.  Boom!  and I did 30 twice BOOM BOOM! with 5 minutes rest in between.  If you want to see the video it is on my profile page.

The What's Beautiful campaign has been very inspiring and a fun way to connect with even more fitness minded people.  I got into it because of Fitfluential and being sponsored by Under Armour through Fitfluential, but now that I am doing it I wish I would have started it sooner.  It is a competition, but it is also fun. There are a lot of neat challenges. I have been going out of my comfort zone a bit and I think that is awesome.

Today I am going to get reacquainted with the pull up bar in my kitchen doorway.  I learned about kipping pull ups so I might have to go outside and see if I can pull off some of those.  I don't think my doorway pull up bar will be able to handle them without dumping me on the floor.

I did also exercise on my elliptical yesterday for 15 minute intervals at a super easy level.  Boring and not at all the sweatfest I needed.

Injuries suck, they cause doubt to creep in.  Will I ever be able to run again, how long will it take to get back to where I was and will I just get reinjured right away.  Ugh.  Am I crippled for life? (yes I know I am not really, but I am feeling discouraged right now).

Having a quad strain increases the chances of having another one.  What does this mean?  I can't do any sprinting right now or jumping, lunges etc, anything that involves heavy quad stress.  Will I be able to in the future with the same amount on abandon I always have in the past?

It is getting better, just slowly.  It doesn't hurt right now it just doesn't feel right.  Things aren't normal.  I want to have that feeling of running for miles and miles and losing myself in the run.  I want to feel fast and powerful.  I want to love the run. 

It is so hard when it is your own body that is letting you down.  Your own body that has done such amazing feats of strength and endurance and let you push it so hard.  So hard I hurt it. and then I didn't listen so here I am.

AfterShokz Sportz M2 Headphones Review

When I was offered the chance to try out AfterShokz Sportz M2 headphones I was a little skeptical, but agreed to try them out.  I am not much of a tech type person and am generally happy with my the ear buds my iPod came with.  I usually run with one earbud in and the other one tucked into my bra so I can hear what is going on around me at least a little bit.

so what is AfterShokz claim to fame and uniqueness?

• They use bone conduction technology.  The ear pieces don't actually go in your ears, they go in front of them.  This leaves your ears open to hearing things like cars approaching, people talking, birds singing, and my little doggy's footsteps as he runs beside me.  Why is this so great?  SAFETY!
• How Bone Conduction Works
  Most of what we hear is due to sound waves traveling through the air to the eardrum, which then converts the sound waves to vibrations and transmits them to the inner ear. Sound waves can also get to the inner ear through direct vibration of the bones in the head which carry the vibrations directly to the inner ear, bypassing the eardrums. This is how a person hears his or her own voice, ans also how whales hear. This pathway of sound is known as bone conduction

What I really liked about them

• How much I could hear the world around me
• When I use them with my iPhone, I can take and receive calls through the headphones and the mic that is in the controller.
• Very comfortable and easy to forget I had on.  I never had to adjust them. They never fell off.
• Controller is easily clipped to shirt or bra.
• I had entire conversations with people while listening to music on these.
• Comes with an awesome carrying case.
• Works with my iPhone and iPod, and iPad.  I can use it as a hands free device in my car.
• The case they came in.  I also use it to store my iPod and the charging cable for my iPod now. Very handy!

What I didn't like

• Since they operate on a battery (it does last about 12 hours) it means another thing I have to remember to charge up.  So far I have only had it run out of battery on my once, and really that was my fault since I knew I should charge it and neglected to.

In the picture below you can see the controller clipped to my tank.

Side notes

• If you are looking for pristine sound quality this is not for you.  The sound is pretty good, but since it leaves your ears open.
• These retail for 79.95
• If you have the music up loud or put the earphones around your neck others around you can hear it too.  Which may be annoying for some, especially in a race.
• They are water resistant but not water proof, so they aren't good to wear in the rain.

I have been wearing them for about a month and am in love with them.  I listen to a lot of podcasts when I run and the sound quality is great.  I love being able to still hear the birds singing and vehicles approaching.

What the whole thing looks like in case you were curious.

Want to learn more? Check out their website HERE!
What do you think?

DNS and a 2 mile with my daughter and a THROWDOWN!

So if you have been reading my blog at all this week, you know I have been whining about my quad or possibly my adductor muscle being strained.  Maybe both.  eh  details.  whatever it doens't feel good to run and I HATE THAT.

I went to a chiropractor on Friday to make sure it wasn't anything he couldn't realign and magically fix..wishful thinking.  He pretty much confirmed muscle strain and while he wouldn't tell me I couldn't run, as did an orthopedic surgeon on Wednesday, but if I did run I wouldn't get better faster./

So I cried a little, felt sorry for myself A LOT and decided it would be better to sit out a race I have been so excited for since I did it last year and hopefully be up and running again sooner than later.  Right now it is a grade 1 strain and with any luck I can be healed in 10 or so days.

I of course did not do myself any favors with my long trail run last weekend and a 3.5 mile run Thursday, but other than that I have done NO RUNNING.  NONE.  I feel a little crazy and seriously lacking in appetite (at least compared to my normal voracious eat everything in site appetite) 

My plan is to continue resting this coming week until I feel no discomfort at all.  All the while doing some stretches, compressing, massaging and going back for another ultrasound treatment on Monday.  My chiropractor said it would help me heal faster. 

I will have to ease back into running and that might be the hardest part.  I know I will want to just pick up where I left off.  Ugh

SO instead of doing both the 5 and the 2 mile this morning, I just did the 2 mile with my daughter. 

I looked at the results this afternoon and I know I would have won my age group and placed high overall, bummer but no sense in worrying about what could have been. 

FORWARD PROGRESS!! 

My time for the two mile 33:58!   My daughter did really great for the first mile and ran a lot of it and then decided she was over it and when were we going to be done!!  She even got her own Beef shirt to wear.

 

Overall I am glad I didn't run the 5 today, I think it would have made things worse.  It still seems like little consolation right now as wonder what might have been.  Heal leg, HEAL

 

I just hope I use this as a lesson in taking time to recover.  As much as I want to believe I can do anything, my body apparently has limits.  Seriously doesn't fit in with my wonder woman self image.

 

What's Beautiful update...  17 lovely people have joined my team.  Thanks all.  I am throwing it down to you all to to the pushup challenge and see how many you can do without stopping, or try the burpee one and see how many burpees you can do in a minute.  See my throwdown challenge HERE on my profile page.  I might have ranted a little there.

 

If you want to join my team and I haven't invite you, go HERE and request an invite.  I would love to have you.  Feel free to post challenges and pictures of yourself there too. 

Three Things Thursday: Nurses Week, Injury thoughts, and MOM!

1.  Whew, a day off!  I don't usually work three in a row anymore so it kind of throws me for a loop.  I know such a sad story.  I really have only worked three days a week since I started nursing 12 1/2 years ago.  A great perk to being a nurse sometimes.  I worked 12 hour shifts until I had my first child and then I switched to 8 hour shifts.  That was a cake walk after working 12s.  Later I moved to the outpaitent surgery center when the hospital I work at opened one.  This has been so perfect for me with the kids.  NO call, no holidays, no middle of the night, and almost no weekends ever.  I love my job.

like holding a human heart in my hand

seriously nurses know these things!

2. I whined yesterday about a strained quad.  I am now thinking it is more like an adductor muscle.  The quad thing wasn't quite making sense and when I looked at the anatomy pictures, that is the one that was exactly where the discomfort is. Most specifically the Adductor Magnus along the distal medial part of it. More of an inflammation I think.  SO I haven't ran at all since Thursday and am compressiong, icing, and taking anti-inflammatories. It is feeling much better than it was, so at this point planning to run on Saturday for the Women's Run in Billings.

3. Shout out to my Mom whose birthday was Tuesday, and it is Mother's Day this weekend and Nurses week. My Mom is a nurse too.  My Mom made some pretty big mommy shoes to fill with all that she did for us.  Thanks Mom for setting such a great example, encouraging me to be my best, giving me that extra nudge so often and being one of my biggest cheerleaders ALWAYS.  She was also my support crew for my first marathon last summer and I was so grateful for it.

a little throwback for Thurday.  Check me out in my FFA jacket.  I think I was a senior in high school here

We don't work at the same place in town, but it is because of my Mom I went into the operating room and am so glad I did. Sometimes we get to work together because she works for some plastic surgeons and they come to the surgery center now and then.  Everyone who works with her always talks about how nice she is and what a great nurse she is.

LOVE YOU MOM!

What's Beautiful and What is not

This week has been so busy already for me. Not a typical week.  I usually have Monday off and I use it to prepare for the week, catch up on blogs do laundry..but I worked Monday this week and I feel all off!   The upside to working Monday is that I have Friday off now so I can go to Parent's Day at kindergarten which is so worth having a bit of a messed up week.

I have been so in love with Under Armour's What's Beautiful movement to redefine the woman athlete.  I signed up for the first round, but never completed any of the challenges or followed it closely.  It seemed intimidating.  This time for their What's Beautiful 3.0 I am participating through Fitfluential.  Nothing like stepping out of your comfort zone right?!

I created a group called Team Work For It to work towards that next PR, and become faster, stronger and overall better runner in the end.  I would love it if you could join me there and work towards our next PR together or you can find my profile HERE and I would love a follow!   I am trying to find people I know but it is hard.

I already love Under Armour clothes so this campaign just makes me love UA all the more. 

What is not beautiful is that I overdid it last week after I ran Peaks to Prairie and am now nursing a bit of a quad strain.  I am going to talk to one of the ortho sports medicine surgeons about it today and see what he thinks. I am trying to baby it as much as possible this week.  I haven't ran at all since Sunday, when I think I made it mad when I ran across a freshly plowed field for about a mile. Really it was just the icing on the cake.

sometimes I am a genius. 

I have a 5 mile race and a 2 mile fun run with my daughter this weekend, I am keeping my fingers crossed I can still do them. If you have nothing better to do cross your fingers for me too.

Anyone ever had a quad strain?  I haven't.  My quads have always been like a rock.  Guess I pissed it off enough finally.

Weekend wrap up

 The weekend seemed to fly by with a graduation party for a cousin Saturday and my son had a birthday party to go to Sunday, but I did get in a couple of good runs. I ran Saturday morning in a bit of a misty rain and loved how good it felt.  Sunday I did a longish run, but wanted to make sure I kept the pace easy still after racing last weekend so I did a bit of a trail run.  It is hard to run too fast when scouting for cactus!

I just thought these rocks were pretty neat and liked they way they created a great lookout spot.

 
 Can you see the road I was on?

 I did take a few moments just to savor the views too.  Feels so good to have a relaxed long run and not be in a hurry to get back.  My kids were with my sister for the morning so I had hours to spare.  Such a rare treat!

 

I also took some time to update my Dailymile mileage.  I haven't been very good about doing it. I do like seeing my stats on it though.  Just seems like there are so many things to keep up with on social media anymore, gets a little much for me.

 

How was your weekend? 

Race Photos and branding

My race pictures from Peaks to Prairie were online finally yesterday. they always take great pictures so I was excited to see them.

I look so focused in the first one,  I didn't see the photographer at all, I am considering buying it for my motivation board.

 this one turned out slightly blurry which is a bummer I think it is a good one and I would have considered buying it.

 I saw the photogapher here and was thinking about smiling or doing something fun like putting my arms up, but apparently it just stayed half a thought.

I got off work early yesterday so I hurried home, not to run like I usually do.  This time I traded my running shoes for my cowgirl boots and headed down the road to help with branding. 

I missed roundup and the first bit, but managed to be there in time for most of it. 

Happy Friday!  What is your favorite thing to do when work gets out early?  Usually I would say running, but this was a pretty perfect way to spend a perfect Montana spring afternoon with my family.

Three Things Thursday

1. When I got up yesterday morning it was 27 degrees out.  Ugh, it is May and I want warm!  I can take the cold in October through March, even April a little but at this point I am really over it. Although when I saw pictures of snow in Colorado and Minnesota I felt a little better.  It did also warm up to nearly 50 degrees and I had a pretty great run.

those little black things in the distance are cows

My legs are still a little sore from Peaks to Prairie Sunday, but once I got warmed up they felt really good and the last three miles of my run were all sub 8s without meaning too.

 2. The kids got out of school early yesterday. I don't really know why.  They seem to have so many early out days and no school days it is crazy.  Why teachers don't just do all that stuff in the summer is beyond me.  (not that I am dissing teachers, I think they are already crazy for liking being around kids so much, glad someone wants too) (not that I am a kid hater, but I worked in a daycare once and that cured me of ever wanting to be a teacher, or a pediatric nurse) 

Any way we had a couple other cousins over and they decided painting boxes would be great fun. It kept them busy for almost an hour, with minimal fighting..win!


yes I know my lawn is pathetic, the cut worms are trying to finish what the drought and the grasshoppers started which is turning my lawn into a dustbowl.  I am trying to convince my husband we need a "roll a lawn" or astro turf

3. I got a shirt from Gap Fit a little while back on a pretty awesome sale and although it was a style I usually wouldn't pick out I decided wth and bought it.  I didn't love it, the back was cute but the front BUGGED me, so I cut off the part I hated most and while we still aren't besties, I can at least stand to wear the shirt out in public now.

sorry it is so fuzzy, it looked a lot better on Instagram.  squint your eyes a little it looks better.

thanks for all the well wishes on Rocky yesterday

kind of over cold weather and how Rocky ended life number 2.

It has been over 72 hours since I got done running Peaks to Prairie and I still have stiff sore legs. Running down a hill for over 9 miles is nothing to laugh at. Every time at work I would have to bend down to pick something up off the floor I would just cringe. 

Monday I ran an "easy" four miles.  I was thinking after the first quarter of a mile that I might just turn around and go home, but I warme up after a bit and it felt good to shake it out a little. It took me nearly 40 mintues to do the 4 miles.  I did laugh about that, what a difference from Sunday when it took me less than 28 minutes to do the first four miles of the race.

Monday I was also insatiably HUNGRY.  I didn't feel like I could eat enough food.  Especially salty food.  I craved potato chips, sadly I didn't have any in the house to eat.  I did eat an entire jar of pickles, several of them I ate wrapped in cheese. 

Thankfully Tuesay my appetite returned to normal.

It is cold out again this morning.  Kind of over that.  I want to be at least a little warm, not hot.  It just seems like we haven't had very many super awesome spring days and it is May 1.  I woke up to it being 26 degrees outside this morning.

I have put on a few pounds this winter... not sure really what to think about it.  I was worried the extra weight would slow down my running, but it hasn't appeared to have that effect.  My 5k a couple of weeks ago was 10 seconds away from a PR and my race Sunday was faster than I did it last year when I was 7 pounds ligher.

Not sure what approach to take with the weight gain.  I had lost several pounds in January when I did a month of Paleo eating.  all the weight I have gained has been since then so if I cound the weight I regained from January I have gained more like 10 pounds.  WTF.  I don't eat any different.  At least I don't think I do.  Is this some weird rebound effect from trying Paleo?

I do think some of it is muscle since I have been SO GOOD about doing strength training since January, but I don't think it all is.  I hate to whine about weight, but this is my blog.

Remember this little guy that I rescued last August and bottle fed, got up nights to bottle feed and help poop and pee?

Rocky Ballerina Windsheild One-Dot aka Puddy

who helped nurse Cola after he got hit by a truck last fall and broke his pelvis?

He somehow got ran over by my husband, who felt awful, and it ripped all the fur off his abdomen, broke some ribs, and I think his hip/pelvis/leg on one side were pretty messed up.  I thought he was going to die. 

But nearly three weeks later he is doing good.  He walks with a bit of a limp, but other than that there don't seem to be any lasting effect.  I guess that means he is on his third life now since his mom left him for dead and he got ran over by a truck.