The mall is like being in a half marathon.

We took the kids to get their picture taken with Santa. Then one of my girls and I went to go find a dress for the nutcracker ballet we are attending tomorrow. While my hubby and three other children went to the pet store to get crickets for our frogs.

While we waited to see Santa we played the A,B,C game. We go around in a circle and have to name an animal (or whatever the category we are doing) that starts with that letter. It's more fun to play it when my husband joins he finds the most unique animal for his letter. For Q he said Quetzal Bird and for E he picked Echidna. I love being married to a walking dictionary. 

I did manage a quick 3 miles yesterday in the sunshine, sure it was cold but so pretty. Today I am hoping for a run. We shall see. 

At least I look cute if I can't run.

In this outfit I went crazy and paid $6.99 for the shirt at Goodwill because I had the teal tank to put under it. Pink ribbon is from another shirt, leggings from FM $8.99, Black socks from FM $2.99, and black boots Target $15.99 (spendy for me) Hair in french twist with cute hair pin. (photo taken by one of my seven year olds.) 

 With my free grey sweater from a friend. (Thanks Christina) 

  My five year old was the photographer on this one. 

 My other seven year old took this one. 

My three year old took this one. 

No run today. My ankle is still swollen and hurts. Insert big old sad face here. Instead I spent the day at the school helping with the holiday's around the world in both of my girls class. Then I took the boys to grocery shop, had lunch with hubby and boys (this involved a few grapes and a few jo jo's because I was not hungry today). Back to the school to do more work for the 2nd grade cluster. Home to clean and cook a yummy chicken teriyaki dinner with lots of broccoli and grilled chicken. Now it's off to read books to the boys. 

A twisted ankle is gonna make me fat!

I did manage to get out for a run on Saturday, however, my ankle hurt the whole 5 miles. Oh well, at least I was able to chat with a few friends so the run was a success.

Boots, skirt, and top all from Goodwill, thank Target and leggings FM. Love this outfit. 

My friend's set up at Crafty Wonderland. Love her stuff! Check her out here at Studio Acorn. 

Today we went shopping for a new dress for the girls. My mom and I are taking them to the Oregon Nutcracker Ballet. This is one of my favorite skirts because it twirls. Top and skirt from Denim and Frills and new top from goodwill $2.99. Cute good tooth and dad tooth earrings and squirrel from a cute place at Crafty Wonderland. 

Now to go ice my ankle because no running for me today. :( 

Shoes Goodwill $4.99, Skirt $3.49 Denim and Frills (it's a kids gap), Jacket free from my awesome friend Christina, Socks $2.99 Fred Meyer, Silver tights (Skirt Sports free from sample line), white long sleeve shirt $8.99 Kohl's, HairThingz in white and sparkle red. 

Whenever I wear this outfit I get stopped all the time with complements and smiles. 

Goodwill Sweater $6.99, tank under sweater $6.99 Target, Jeans $1 at denim and Frills (They are see thru soul jeans), Hat is from my favorite hat place Old Man's Pants,$34.  I bought as a must have last year, fell in love with it not something I usually pay that much for but so happy I did. Great for bad hair days!

Goodwill dress $4.99, Brown leggings $8.00 Fred Meyer, Socks $2.99 Fred Meyer, Boots were from Target about 3 years ago (my favorite shoes ever), Lace brown turtle neck my mom gave me because she was bored with it so Free! 

Don't mind the mess in the background it's my little girls' room. They have the only full length mirror in the house. 

On the running front I managed a mile yesterday but my ankle hurt so I figure give it one more day. Tomorrow I hope to run a long run. 

I'm still alive and running.

I know it has been awhile since I have posted. I figure I am the only one reading this anyway so I don't feel bad about the delay. I have been busy running and sorta racing, raising my four crazy kids, finding time to spend with my husband, and help out at the school.

I did get to run this last weekend and get my miles back up to were I want them. I have signed up for two marathons next year and most likely will be doing a third if not 6th. I have two neat ladies from school that are going to run the Vancouver BC half marathon and I am going to run the full. This race isn't until May so it gives me ample time to get my miles up to 28 miles by April. Why 28 you ask me? Well when you train for a 5K you don't run 2 miles and hope to get the last mile just fine? Same for a half you run at least a 15 miler if you really want to PR. So why do people only run 20 or 22 miles before a marathon and expect to smash their PR? I don't get it. I believe that's why people hit a 'wall' at mile 20 or 22 because they are in uncharted territory with the final miles. I have my training mapped out for the next few months. Speed work on the track, hilly runs, easy runs, and longer runs. Lots of longer runs, some at race pace and some at slower depending on how my body feels.

My ankle after running back on it forabout 6 or more miles. 

My ankle this morning. Still hurts but more upset that I can't run tonight than anything else. 

So my new hobby is Goodwill and consignment shopping. I bought the above top at Goodwill for $2.99 and the jeans at my favorite consignment shop Denim and Frills for $1. Nope not a typo, got those See Thru Soul jeans for a dollar. Sweet huh? 

This is a picture of me with a cool jacket a friend gave me. Free baby, free! 

I thought it might be fun to post my outfits as I get comments while I'm out all the time. Today was a mellow outfit. You'll see. Just wait. 

One on One time with my boys

I was heading out for a run tonight (OK delaying it) and as a last minute thought I told my four year old to lace up his shoes. He jumped up and down ran to get his 'running shorts' on and put on his shoes. He did not want a shirt because daddy doesn't run with a shirt. So out the door we went and I had so much fun. We did .85 miles and he was chatting the whole time. I took lots of photos because well we had to stop for 'walk' breaks for him.

Then of coarse Zander, who is three, wanted to run. So he put on his running pants and ran naked like dad. He did 1/5 of a mile and said he was cold, lol. 

With the boys 'runs' done it was time for me to get my run in. I just decided on 6 miles. I have lost so much speed that my legs do not know how to turn over any more. Tonight's run just makes me want to work harder again. It was a good run. Here are my sad splits (I let myself cool down for the last two miles)
1-8:48 
2-8:38 
3-7:56 
4-8:04 (a jerk cut me off and I had to stop .03 from finishing this mile on a hill. I did not stop my watch but I'm calling this a 7:57, ok not really but I was on pace for it until the guy pulled in front of me.) 
5-8:49 (started my cool down) 
6-9:15

Vancouver USA Marathon

Here  I sit at my table drinking coffee and relishing being a marathon finisher. I do have a small confession to make, this is my second marathon in 16 days. I ran the Newport Marathon on June 4, under a friends bib (because she was injuried and couldn't run it. I couldn't let a free race entry go to waste). Courtesy Angela KeithShelly, Teresa, Angela, Sonya, Holly, Kris, Trisha ... the running sisters!

Since I had never run a marathon I was nervous, and wanted to make sure I could enjoy the inuagaural Vancouver USA Marathon on June 19th. I hoped that by running a pre-marathon marathon, I could ease my nerves. You know what? My plan worked. Sure I felt like an adulterer, cheating on my reliable hometown with that flashy Newport, but it meant nothing to me. I had so much stinking fun on June 19th! 

My goal was to have a great time running with my friends, and Vancouver USA did not disappoint.  Vancouver, you are my true love. I will run you every year from here on out. I can't wait to watch our relationship blossom each year. I can't wait to smash my time next year, too. So let's get to the down and dirty of the race, shall we?

Angela KeithThe 4:40 pacers for the 2011 Vancouver USA Marathon.

I had to wake up at 4:30am to make sure my hubby made it to the pacer area by 5:45am. After dropping him off I was off to Starbucks to meet up with my friends. Friends is not really the right word ... my running sisters, and our token running husband. We have a rule for any male who runs with us: he is the token husband and must be to blame for any mishaps along the run. Marty was kind enought to take on this role. Since he's a husband in real life, it was easy for him. He had a lot of abuse to take from us, since the day before he had run the Epic Oregon Relay as part of a team of ultra runners. So after 24 hours and 32 miles he was worn down and ready to run a li'l marathon with us.

 

We all lined up behind the 4:20 pace group, determined to just enjoy the race. Pace groups were courtesy of FitRight Northwest, who did a great job rounding up pace-leaders. After teasing the pace leaders (who are all kind enough to volunteer for this abuse) my running sisters Teresa, Kris, Laura, Sonya, Shelly, and I (and of course Marty) took off. 

Courtesy Angela KeithAngela Keith and her running "sisters" (having a ball) in the first half of the 2011 Vancouver USA Marathon.

We had a great time chatting and taking turns jumping over cones. We giggled and laughed at every chance. It was the most fun I've had during a "race." I do believe between the seven of us we knew everyone on that course. Loved seeing Laura's dad and smiling for pictures at every chance, yelling "Hi, Dad" and having fun handing off to him anything we didn't want to carry anymore. When we didn't have Laura's dad we had Sonya's family or Kris' cheering section. I say "cheering section" but really it was a small town. They had the best energy and cheering I have ever witnessed. If you saw a wall of chalk cheering on Kris and her friends, you know what I mean. I loved that bright group of tie dye gals.

At about the 13-mile-mark my group was starting to slow a bit and I felt great so I pressed on. Marty, the ever dutiful "running husband", stuck with me. We chatted and I jumped a few more cones. At about mile 20 we hit the 'hill' on 5th. I have run this route so many times that I was ready to take the hill down! You might have heard me yell at the hill a few "Yeah! Take that you hill!" or "You're not so tough, Mr. hill!"  

Then it was down the quad-killer (a small steep downhill before the railroad tracks) and we were home free. Marty stuck with me for a few more miles. We slowed a bit because he was getting light-headed (uh, you just ran 32 miles yesterday I guess you can be a little light-headed). After I saw the land bridge it was go time!

 

Courtesy Angela KeithThe running sisters kissing their 2011 Vancouver USA Marathon finishers medals ... the first in a collection that will grow every spring!

I love that land bridge and the views it provides. I charged on over it and this wonderful barefoot runner, Leif (Rustvold), that I had been playing tag with said to me, "Do you smell that? It's the barn." I knew that feeling and pressed on through the beautiful Fort Vancouver area up our last hill and onto Evergreen. This horse was ready for the barn, baby. 

I heard the crowd and was so excited to see so many people cheering for the finishers. I love this city and am so happy that we get a marathon. I can't wait to run this with my kids some day. I do hope you will all support it next year because as with everything, it will only get better with age! 

Laugh and run on, my friends!

summer run

Man oh man, did you miss out on a stellar race! There were Cavemen (and cavewomen), a super 

Angela KeithThe prehistoric family with some pretty modern lookin' shoes ...

Man oh man, did you miss out on a stellar race! There were Cavemen 

family, a pirate, and a ballerina running in the Summer Solstice 3 and 6 miler last night. The costume contest started after 5 pm, before the actual race, with loud cheers from the crowd to determine the winners. 

After the contest, Sherri, owner of Northwest Personal Training, gave the lowdown on the course. She thanked her volunteers, and got the crowd pumped before the race. With 15 minutes before 'go' time Sherri led everyone in fun warm-ups, and then we lined up according to pace and were off.

It was the usual quick start and I did my best to not get sucked up in the pace since I had only done one run since the Vancouver Marathon, and I was (am) not fully recovered from two marathons in 16 days. I tried to settle into a relaxed pace to wait for the hills to try to pick people off. That strategy works well for me because I'm pretty strong on the hills, and it seemed to work this time, too. I was able to move up a few places as people faded. 

With three blocks to go I finally edged ahead of a girl I was chasing for over a mile. Around the block up the last push and dog-gone that girl pressed and we tied at the finish. That was fun. Humbling because she was 12, but fun because I can say, someday when she's world famous, that I tied with her.

Angela KeithSuperheroes ready to show off super speed ...

The only downer to the whole event? There were just not enough participants to enjoy such a fantastic race/party! The band was hot, the food was spectaular, and the volunteers were the best. In fact, I couldn't resist joining in the cheering after my race. I stood at an interection near the finish for an hour, and cheered everyone that passed. So mark your calendars for next year ... go ahead, I'll wait. Finished? Good. Now you will have to be there next year.

Laugh and run on, my friends!

2011 Vancouver Summer Solstice 6 mile full results
(Click on the race name to see full results)

Men's

1. David Sanders 40:30
2. Michael Burns 44:57
3. Brian West 46:48

Women's
1. Remy Maguire 43:11
2. Anne Anderson 44:49
3. Orpha White 46:48

2011 Vancouver Summer Solstice 3 mile full results
(Click on the race name to see full results)

Angela KeithAnd a very cute pirate!

On my where did Febuary and March go?

I know where they went... to training. Here is what I have been doing for the last month.

Yesterday : What? run for Vancouver USA M... 3.7 mi 08:22 pace

Fun run with 100 other people training for the Vancouver Marathon. Ran first mile with a friend at 9:36 next mile 7:59 (Damn big hill) next mile 7:53 (overpass hill) last .70 at 8:15 pace. Felt OK, weird things was when I was done I wasn't breathing hard. I did have to work a little for mile 2 and 3 but it felt good. Now to get more tempo runs in so I can get some speed back.



Tuesday March 22: Vancouver pacing 2.36 mi 07:52 pace and 30 mins swim in am (1200 yards)

2 lap warm up (7:53 pace felt easy and relaxed) Then I had to pace my people 300's --1:28-1:25-1:24-1:21-1:24-1:25-1:13 I told them if they ran it faster than 1:20 they didn't have to do 2 more 300's. :) They pushed, so proud. Then I did a cool down with one of the gals at 9:18 pace



Sunday March 20: great Recovery Easy Pace leading 12 mi 10:20 pace

Just Pacing in Vancouver today. I felt like I could have run 10 more miles my legs felt light and I really wanted to push the pace but my gals needed me to keep them going. I love this back to back long runs.



Saturday March 19: Portland Pacing 14 mi 02:10 09:16 pace

Perfect day for a run on Leif today. I pushed my gal who had 14 on her training plan. Everyone else in my group only had 9 miles so I made her push the last 5 miles with me. She did great! It felt really easy today. Can you please tell me why Leif is uphill both ways?? :)



Friday March 18 : 30 min swim



Thursday March 17: 30 min swim and 15-15-15 pull ups with 40lb assit



Wednesday March 16: Evening track was 1 mile (we just cheered on the group and did 1/2 mile warm up and cool down) However, during day I did..

day track for gflf 2.08 mi 00:16 07:37 pace



2 lap warm up

10 push ups

Run 100

20 jumping jacks

Run 100

30 Mt. Climbers

Run 100

40 squats

Run 100 Repeat and 2 lap cool down (I did 4 lap cool down) Cool down was 8:08 mile. Pretty easy and felt good. So happy to see my times come back down. I'm not a sprinter nor do I play one on tv. I can not sprint.



Before my day track I did this workout:

3 rounds of 1 min each

push ups

3way knees

plank

inchworm 8 ct.

crunches

then one round of

35knee raisers with 10lb ball between knees

35 dips

35 straight arm tri lifts

35 overhead arm press



Tuesday March 22: Fartleckish run 5.13 mi 00:39 07:34 pace

No track tonight but a few people still showed up. So I made them do a modified Fartleck. I made them warm up for 1/2 mile (10:30 was as fast as we went) Then we were on for 15 seconds I would give them 1 min rest of easy jog in which my group would jog back to the slower group. Then we would be on for 30 seconds, 45 seconds, 1 min. then a 15-30-45-1min again. We had to take a few longer breaks because of traffic so we could time the 'on' part to a non-stop light area. I was very happy with my 'on' pace. Everytime except the last 1min 'on' was sub 6min pace. My last 1 min 'on' pace was 6:20. I had to slow the inbetween jogs to catch up and keep my guys going. Must be the reason I hit such a good pace, I had a long recovery. All in all, I'm happy.



Sunday March 13:10 mile run

Sat March 12: 10 mile run

Wednesday March 9: 5 miles and morning weights

Tuesday March 8: 4.13 miles

Sunday March 6: 10 mile run

Saturday March5: 10 mile run

and so on and so forth....with a little swimming here and there and a sick kid or two or four. Trip to the hospital and such. You know the everyday stuff.



This weekend 16 miles on Sat and 14 miles on Sunday.

What? Recap

Last night was the What? run for Vancouver USA Marathon. If you were not one of the 100 people there last night, I'm sorry. You missed out of free race entries like:Rum Run, Earth Day Run, Ft. Vancouver Race, 1/2 marathon at the Vancouver Marathon and, of coarse, the Full Marathon. You also missed gift cards to Foot Traffic and Fit Right NW. Oh and I finally got my I'm training for Vancouver USA Marathon tech shirt. Sweet!

We only have two more What? runs left.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011 - Tommy O's

Tuesday, May 17, 2011 - The Rock Wood Fired Pizza



Don't miss out on some great giveaways and make some new friends. I'm glad I was able to go last night. I saw two friends I haven't seen in months and made a new friend. Laugh and run on, my friends!

Out, out, damn flu, out, out!

My great training has been sidelined by Mr. Flu. He really is a jerk and never asked to come over to visit. I guess he was mad that we didn't invite him and decided to hit both my husband and I at the same time. Leaving us defenseless against our children and their devious plans.

I purchase three new cute bathing suits to wear for my swims and have yet to get to try them out this week. I did manage three runs and one workout in the House of Pain this past week which may have something to do with me being laid out on my back for the last three days. Oh well, you can't take the stubbornness out of the mule but you can make the mule sick and stay in bed.

All I see and think about is all the fitness I am losing while sick. How hard it is going to be to drop those 15lbs I want to lose to improve my times. How I am once again turning to food to cope rather than working out as my stress reliever. So I ask you, how do you cope with being sick? Especially when you workout twice a day, 6 days a week?

I'm in full training mode. How about you?

I am in full training mode for the Vancouver Marathon. I'm also getting started on my training for an Ironman, crazy I know. I'm not sure I'm in my right mind to think that I can train for a Marathon let alone an Ironman with four small kids. Really do I have time to train? Here is what my last week looked like:

Monday-Rest day, also called clean the house because you let a lot slide during the week. Laundry is an all day event and I do at least one load a day during the rest of the week. Two parents who run and one who is obsessed with working out = a lot of laundry.

Tuesday- Get up at 5:00am drive to pool. Swim at 5:30 with my friend Brian (he's the one to blame for the Ironman idea) Get out of pool at 6:00am rush home to shower before hubby leaves for work at 6:18am. Tuesday Night pace lead Vancouver group in cold wet dark while the family is home eating a hot dinner I made for them. Typically I get 2-4 miles pacing. I do try to throw a few in for me at the end if I can.

My friend Brian who is to blame and thank for the Ironman support.

Wednesday-Pool again 5:30-6:00am. At night pace lead for Portland group with hubby (my mom is kind enough to come watch play with kids while we do this together) This means he arrives home at 4:50 we jump into his car and I drive while he eats dinner. Meet our coach and good friend to car pool to Duniway track. Get at least a mile warm up (if we don't hit traffic) and then pace lead and get another 2-4 miles of running in.

Thursday-Yep, pool again 5:30-6:00am. Thursday evening when all kids are in bed I jump on bike trainer for 30 mins (right now only 30 in Feb I will bump it up to one hour) while hubby does his school assignments.

Friday- Pool from 5:30-6:30am (hubby has Friday's off) Work in school for an hour. Rush home so hubby can run while I get boys ready to go to Ayden's speech class (it's working so well ) Then go get girls from school and if I'm luck a run or bike ride on trainer.

Saturday-Up at 5:30am (sometimes I get to sleep this late) Take kids to my mom's so hubby and I can pace lead in Portland. Right now I get 6 miles in.

Sunday-The relaxed slow day. I don't have to leave the house until 7:30am to pace lead in Vancouver. Another 4-6 miles right now. When weather is a little nicer I will bike to pace lead and back, hence killing two birds with one stone. Today I didn't get to pace lead because my mom has been very sick. So I pace lead yesterday and Aric did today. I did a solo run of 7 miles and feel really out of shape. It sucked. Didn't help that it was all hills, so at least I know I put some good hard miles in the bank. Aric was kind enough to make dinner so I could ride my trainer for 30mins tonight. What a good man!

My IT Band seems to be holding up just fine. I still take the butter knife to it and stretch it like crazy. I don't want to go back to no running. I want to add so much more to my training but I know I tend to do 'too' much. I would love to do CrossFit 4 times a week or even get back to House of Pain again. However, HofP is in evenings I can't take another night away from Aric. He is going to school full time while working full time. He only has limited time to do homework. So in 1 1/2 years I can be greedy again on evening workouts. Until then I make do with what I have and I'm happy with what I do have. Laugh and run on, my friends!