Run Like a Mother




This is one of the funniest and most inspiring book I have read in a long time. Run Like a Mother is a must have for any mom who runs. Tonight you get a treat because RLAM (Sarah Bowen Shea to be exact) will be at Powell's Book store (the one of burnside) reading from their oh so funny and inspiring book tonight at 7:30pm. So grab the kids or get a sitter and come on down. You will not regret it. I'll be there with two of my kids, don't worry I'll bring enough goldfish for your kids, too. See you tonight. Laugh and run on, my friends!

Here's a little snipet of how funny these gal's are, and about the reading. (taken straight from their website because the kids were fighting and I didn't have any time to write something myself)



RLAM: The Tour!

Ultra-stud Dean Karnazes may be able to run 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days, but can he do this?



1. Give birth.



2. Continue running, shoving in workouts whenever there’s a sliver of time: during a soccer practice; in between breastfeeding sessions; hours before the sun rises; after jamming on a work deadline; before volunteering for the school auction.

(Our bet: We probably would’ve already lost him by now.)



3. Write a book.



4. Decorate a minivan.



5. Organize a house schedule—fill the fridge; organize the sitters; arrange for playdates; make sure laundry is done (extra points for it being folded); make lists of what goes in whose lunch; re-arrange the carpool— so that he can extricate himself for a night or two to go on tour.



6. Shave legs and pits, pluck eyebrows, don’t forget the under-eye concealer, put together a few outfits that aren’t stretched out, stained, or bought in a previous century, and hit the road.



Suddenly, 1,310 nearly consecutive miles sounds kinda easy, right?



Okay, maybe not.



Still the RLAM Reading and Running Tour (R&R for short)–20 or so readings and about 20 5ks in (you guessed it) 20ish cities, spread out over four months–is a feat of endurance.

More importantly, it’ll be a much, much better time. Spend a night listening to and laughing at essays you can totally identify with–think of it as your bedtime stories --then join us the next morning for a 3.1-mile fun run. Emphasis on fun: no pre-registration, no race clock, no finish line, no pressure. The best part? At the end, there will be prizes! The good kind! (Read: not an over-logo’ed, humungous T-shirt that goes directly into your rag-bag.)

House of Pain

Here was my workout today:

45 hamstring ups on step each side
45 double hamstring ups
45 lunge lifts each leg
45hamstring with ball- calf raises foot straight, foot in, foot out and then single leg straight, in and out. Total of 270 calf raises (my arch cramped)
2-1 min chair pose knees in perfect par to gound (ouch quads pissed here)
50 twist lunges each leg with 20lbs-
50 8count bodybuilders-
50 push ups

Now that's how we do it in the House Of Pain. Now you know why I call it that.

Today was a good day....

This morning I woke up at 4:50am to run hills with a friend. At 5am she showed up and we ran 1.25 miles to our hill o' fun.

This hill is long .48 to be exact. We start at about .20 miles (half way) down the hill and run two of them. 1:36-1:34 for me. Then we go about 425 feet down the hill back up four times :39-:44-:39-:37. It's not that steep of a hill, only raises 100 feet in the 425 feet of distance. Which I think is all in the first 250 feet. It's a good start. Last week my times were faster, but hey I'm still happy I got out and did them.

So after the hills and quick jog back it was mom time. Shower me (thank goodness I don't wear make-up. !0 mins and I'm showered and dressed) Feed, clean, and cloth four kids. Get girls to school take boys to grandma's so they can play while I play. Then drive to House of Pain and play for an hour. Here is what I did:
10-8-6 partner pull-ups
2 set's of 45 row's-V ups-snatch with 10 lbs
21 Bi-cep curls (called 21's because you do 7 half way up-7 half way down-7 all way up and down) Done with 15 lb weights
Recline bi-cep curls with 25 lbs (after I did 12 with 15lbs and my coach said it was too easy) one set of 21-15-9 = 45 total.
 ~300 sit ups~(25 at time in different postitions hard to discribe.
50 ab swing legs w/ partner throwing them
30 side leg lifts with partner help in side plank
21 side curls with 15lbs

So that was a great start to my day. Then pick up girls and boys. Eat lunch. Cottage cheese and peaches and carrots on side. Put Zander down for a nap. Take other three outside to draw with chalk and ride bikes. In which, I was hoping to read some more of my Run Like a Mother book. That didn't really work well. The kids would stop me every 2 mins with something. Oh well, I tried. I did get through a few more pages. I am caught up on laundry (which means I only have 2 loads to clean) so maybe tonight between practicing bass and talking with my husband I can read. Assuming the kids will stay in bed. Here's to hoping.

Unofficial National Run Like a Mother Day

http://runlikeamotherbook.com/2010/03/23/unofficial-national-running-mothers-day/#comments


I think this is great idea. So to help support the idea I ran at 5am with a friend. We did 3 miles with 6 hill repeats. Fun. There is nothing like running with a friend. Thanks Amanda.

To top off the day, I'm going to hit House of Pain for an hour. So what are you doing today? What? Going for a run? I thought so. Have fun.

Run Like a Mother

My copy of Run Like a Mother written by Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea arrived Saturday. I've only been able to sneak a few mintues here and there to read it. So far, I must say I love it. My favorite so far is Sarah's ability to convey being a competitive runner...even if you are not a fast runner. She decribes how much fun it is to push yourself to the edge and then dive off. Please do yourself a favor, pick up the book. A full review to come soon. Right now I must go sit my kids infront of a movie and be selfish....I want to finish the book.

Hills oh hills, how do I love thee, let me count the ways

I love hill repeats. No you read that right. I love hill repeats. They hurt but they are over quickly. Today at 5 am my friend joined me in running hill repeats. We are starting slow. Only four. We ran 1 1/2 miles from my house to my favorite hill. Once there we picked half way up this hill. The hill is .43 long. First attempt 1:48 for .20 mile of hill. Not bad, but it hurt. Lung butter for a little bit. 60 second rest and we hit it again. 1:57. Not bad. More lung butter. Check the clock. Crap we don't have time to do more of the longer repeats. So we agree to do two more only on the really steep part of the hill. Which is only 395 feet of up hill, butt toning repeat. First one :41, second one :38. Now that felt too easy. Then we jog back the 1 1/2 miles back to my house. Where I forced my friend to strech. She hates it, but it's good for her. So I make her do it. I'm such a good friend.

Next week we home to make all four long ones and two short ones. Oh, yeah. I do love my hills.

After the my run I came home showered quickly and went about getting all the kids feed and the girls to school (which they hate because they say it's boring) Drop boys off at my mom's for 1 1/2 hours of playing with grandma while I go play more. That's right I played some more. I did the House of Pain. Here was my workout for today:
set's were 21-15-9 = 1 set


1 set turkish get-ups with 8lbs each side 2 set's dips on ball 2 set's push ups 1 rep of 21 kick backs with 15lbs and two handstands with push-ups. Nice! I heart my House of Pain workouts.
 
Grab boys from mom's go to grocery store quickly. Go to school and pick girls up from school. Feed kids, put Zander down for a nap. Work on computer and then clean. So I guess I should get back to cleaning, huh? Do I have to? Yep, must clean can't stand the mess any more. Laugh and run on, my friends!

Yeah, I lied

OK, so the whole babysitter thing didn't work out. (Mom what's the deal with you having a life? Come on now!) So Aric stayed home with the kids and I went to the race. (thank you honey. What a great husband I have)

My coach pressured me into running the 8K. Maybe it wasn't that much pressure because I did go down to the race in my running clothes. I was just going to jump in and pace my friend for a bit. Nope. I ran the 5 miles with bronchitis and all. I do have to say it was wonderful. I have never had such a relaxing race before. I loved it. Hill for 2 miles. Check. Loved it? Check. Not the best time for me, but not bad for running it with little to no hard runs and bronchitis.
Mile 1-8:36
Mile 2-9:02 (intro to hills)
Mile 3-8:57 (still on that damn hill)
Mile 4-8:10 (1/2 on the hill and then down we go)
Mile 5-8:03 At this point I was just ready to be done. Everytime I pushed the pace, I'd hack up some lung butter. Yummy. So I stayed relaxed and enjoyed it. Not fast, but it was fun. I can't wait to finally step up my training. I've been fully released from my doctor to do hard training now. Watch out hills, here I come.

So proud...

I'm so proud of my hubby. He has been such a hard worker. He run's not for some goal race, but just to push himself. I can't do that. He can push himself to run hard, by himself. Me I always push harder with friends or in a race. Sure I can push hard by myself, but it never seems as hard as I push when I'm running with or against someone.

Yesterday he set a PR on one of his 4 mile runs. 6:56 for four miles. And they were pretty even splits. Way to go hubby. He's been including 1200's on his Friday runs. It seems to be paying off. Now he's sure he could get down to 6:40 soon. I think he'll get 6:30's by the end of the summer easy.

Gasp! *Gasp*! Hack, cough, hack..

I just came back from an 8 mile run. My longest since rejoining the running world. I'm sure my surgeon would yell at me if she found out. So don't tell her.

I ran the first three miles hard. Well, hard for me right now. I was rather happy with the first three miles.
1-7:57
2-7:46
3:8:34
Not bad. Not great, but not bad. It seems that my cross-training is paying off. My lungs felt great, my legs just forgot how to turn over. After my first three miles were over I started hacking up a lung. This cold I've had is just holding on. My poor son, Ayden, was the first one of us to get sick. That was almost 4 weeks ago and he is still hacking. So I know I have a few more weeks before this coughing up a lung is over.

I muddled through my next 5 miles wishing I had a friend to run with. I hate running alone. I'm so spoiled. Oh, you misheard me. Being spoiled is a good thing. I like it.

Last night I had dinner with my old running buddy. I made whole wheat pizza's with red and orange peppers and olives. It was my first attempt at a whole wheat crust. It didn't suck. Then for dessert we had a chocolate pumpkin roll that I have modified so that it doesn't have so much sugar. Tasty.

On the weight loss side of things. I suck at it. I think I'm going to throw my scale out the window. I'm 144-147 pounds. Yet, my clothes fit a little loser. I know I have gain a lot of muscle. I just think about how much easier it would be to run without so much weight. My running buddy has lost seven pounds and is now running 7:30's for six miles. She was running 8:00-8:10's for 6 miles. So there must be something to that. I know, can you say I obess a bit too much? All in good time, I guess.

Should I bitch more?

I've been reading a few blogs that are very sucessful. I have found out that they just bitch and bitch about how hard it is to do this or that with kids. Really? You have one kid, or maybe two kids and a freaking nanny. Get over yourself. OK, sorry. Done bitching.

On the serious side, I'm sad that our society has come to that. Women only want to bond or read about other women who complain. What happened to picking yourself up by your boot straps and going on without complaining? I think we as a society complain about too much. We seemed like a happier society when we just dug in and did what needed to be done. Now it's all about entitlement. I deserve this raise, I should have more time off....blah blah. What happened to working hard and being happy that you EARNED something? Really?

I work hard. Not everyday. Someday's I'm lazy. It's true. But for the most part I bust my butt to do a lot. Take today. I woke up at 5am. Made lunch for the boys, gathered all the clothes needed for the day, did some laundry. Then the kids started waking up. Feed them, dress them, get them in the car. Take girls to school. Take boys to pool to swim. Swim and play with boys for 25 mins, go swim for myself 20 mins, go back and play with boys another 25 mins. Shower boys, dress boys. Feed boys in car on way back home. Put littlest down for a nap. Walk to get girls while grandma plays with other boy awake. Feed girls, shower myself (starting to get ripe). Take one boy and one girl to get hair cut. That place is closed. Go back get all kids and grandma, drop off poop sample in mail (teddy study another story), take all four kids and grandma to hair place. Get my hair cut and boys hair cut. Go to Freddie's get turkey bacon for black eye peas. Get roped into book section with kids. Play in store for 2 hours just having fun with kids. Come home make different dinner because I took too long playing with kids at store. Feed husband and kids. Clean kitchen, play with kids. Make them go to bed, pay bills, make kids go back to bed, pay bills, curse checking account for being so low, work on article for runoregon blog post, make bed time snack for oldest boy, get fed up paying bills and come type blog. So that was my laid back day. Full of fun. So what did you do today?