Step away from the vodka...

I need to make a shirt that says...

Quick Mom needs her Vodka and Kettle Chips to calm her down! 

(BTW, I love vodka! especially absolut) 

Today was one of those days where I was trying to get work done and well, the kids are fighting. Most likely because they just want my attention. I thought working from home meant you get to play with your kids more? Boy was I wrong. 


Well Saturday I did get my 20 miler. My husband gave me a great piece of advice, "In a month, you won't remember how horrible this run was but you will reap the benefits of it in a month. Just get it done." I held onto that as mile 18 turned to a 9: 22 pace and mile 19 was a sad 9:45. Having said that it was 20 miles at 8:55 pace, not fast but not bad since I have not been longing long runs lately. 


Sunday I jogged out a 6.44 miler with 3 of them with a friend chatting. Yesterday I enjoyed a 3 miler with two friends and my two boys in the stroller and then a short 3 miler of negative splits with another friend. 


I notice that I run with my friends, a lot. I like to run with them, it's a great way to catch up on how they are doing and long my miles at the same time. That being said, I also enjoy solo runs once in a while. What about you do you like to run solo or run with friends? 


On the work front, check out the cute new hair-do's I've come up with. 

A squirrel with a gun and miles, what could go wrong?

Look at how cute he is. That's what he wants you to think. Do not go pet him. If you see Grover on your run, take a detour. He's vicious! 

My new dress from Goodwill $3.49 and I paired it with a polka dot top that a friend gave me for free. Paired with a green polka dot ribbon and one of my many hair bows. 

I know the slippers make this outfit. Once again ignore the messy room of my girls. Top was $2.49 at Goodwill and same polka dot ribbon and this time a black hair bow. 

A letter my daughter wrote to Marvel. She wants to work for Marvel, like right now. She's seven so said she would wait until she was a little older, if she had to. 

Yes we like books in our house. This is one of the two bookshelves in the boys room. 

Running, yet still running. Working, running, cleaning, working, running, dang it still cleaning. Managed 40 miles last week and should get 40 this week. Still slow and my ankle still hurts but I don't want to spend the $75 to have it looked at.

Being a mom inventor and self employed.

So  I invented a product called Hair Thingz. Most of my free time is working on that.

Back to the training part. I did get a 10 mile run in last night. It was cold, I had chest pains (from a cough I have had for the last week), a sinus infection, and a desire to stop after 7 miles. I pushed through and finished it. It may not have been pretty but it was done.

1-8:30 

2-8:42 

3-8:43 

4-8:40 

5-8:45 

6-8:59 

7-9:14 

8-8:49 

9-9:17 

10-9:10

Art, art, I cry for more art!

Today was a late start day at school. I took advantage of this free time to paint. Here are the girls painting.

Here is something I painted really quickly. It took maybe 20 minutes, if that. The finished piece has a sad purple owl the girls wanted on it. It was fun to paint again, makes me want to pick up the brush again. 

 Here is a Denim and Frills skirt I picked up for $2.99 and greyish top at D&F for $2.59. Teal tank from Target. Like my little Avery modeling?

Close up of the cute boots I found at Goodwill yesterday for $6.99. 

A necklace one of my daughters bought me for Christmas. 

I managed to get a 6 miler on Saturday. Then ran 7.75 miles yesterday because it was sunny. 

Peacock!

Check out this cool necklace I managed to get as a free gift when I purchased my red dress at Charlotte Russe store. 

It was the perfect match to a dress I found at Goodwill last week for $3.49. I paired it with a tank and black leggings. Cuteness!

I managed my run last night. Eight miles at 8:54 pace. I was supposed to run 8 at 9:10 pace so that was close enough. Ran with my good friend Ed, he pops into town about once a month and we run and catch up on what the kids have been up to. It's an on going joke in our house that Ed is one of my many running boyfriends. It's great to have such a solid marriage you can joke about such things. I think one of the reasons that is the case is because I take such good care of my husband and he in returns takes such good care of me. So do you take care of your spouse? 

Another cute outfit...

Goodwill black silk shirt $3.99, Goodwill polka dot dress $2.99. Going for 8 miles tonight on a run. Making  grilled chicken and tortellini con pesto with broccoli for the family for dinner. That's is.

I set my bike back up on a trainer. I have only used it once this week. Must remedy that on Friday. 

Getting it up...

my miles that it. I'm ramping my miles back up and am getting my grove back on. Tuesday's will be my only night to run once Aric is better so it will be my track/speed work. Tonight I would not say it was speed work as I have lost the very little speed I gained. I concentrated on negative splits.

1 mile warm up -9:42 
2-8:03 
1/4 mile jog 2:26 
3-7:52 
1/4 mile jog 2:36 
4-7:48 
1/4 mile jog 2:39 
5-7:46 
1/4 mile jog 2:05 
cool down 6-8:16 this last mile was really easy because a few new friends were at the track and we chatted so the last mile felt like a breeze. Funny how running with someone can make a run so much easier.

My dinner tonight. Carrots, Broccoli, red cabbage, peach, blueberry, and banana. 

Served in one of my favorite glasses. 

It's a new year.

 

The ankle has been bugging me on my runs making me take December easy and not logging many miles. Total of 79 miles for the month. Here is what my 2011 looked like for miles.

1. 73
   Jan '11
2. 63
   Feb '11
3. 137
   Mar '11
4. 131
   Apr '11
5. 111
   May '11
6.  110
   Jun '11
7. 168
   Jul '11
8. 108
   Aug '11
9.  108
   Sep '11
10. 84
    Oct '11
11.  92
    Nov '11
12. 79
    Dec '11
13. 11
    Jan '12
    
    
    
    

Now onto the fashion and family life part. 

My mother and I purchased tickets to the Nutcracker put on by the Oregon Ballet Company. I love this perticular ballet and enjoy taking my girls to watch. The choreography was wonderful, costumes were stunning, but one part of the 'dance of the snowflakes' was a let down as each ballerina had on different colored panties, it was tacky. It would have been cute if they all had red and green maybe but to have zebra print was tacky. Other than that it was lovely. I will be taking my mother to another production later in the year. We love it. Here is the dress that Lexi helped me shop for. $15 and I had the earrings and necklace that I purchased earlier in the year for $4.59 and $2.59 respectively. Cute I think, I did not wear those socks with it. :) Ingnore the very messy girls room as I pick my battles with them. They do clean it two times a day and mess it up within three seconds. 

 
Saturday I went on a short 3 mile run with my friend Christina and Marty. After the short and slow run (8:20 pace) we stopped at Starbucks and BS'd for a good half hour talking about everything from Archer (funny freaking weird show) to what new job Christina is searching for. We had fun.

 After the run, I came home to grab the kids and we headed to Powell's Bookstore (my favorite book store that is an ENTIRE city block and 3 stories high). My sister went with us and the kids picked out their Christmas book from Auntie Peggy Ann (thank you). We quickly looked through the running section and found my friends book. Run with me, in which I will be doing a book review this month on Run Oregon about it.

We stayed out of the house for awhile so Aric could record vocals. So off to Goodwill and I found this shirt/dress for $3.49. 

 Yesterday, Sunday January 1st, I ran in the morning with my friend Christina and her husband Brian for a quick 4.54 miles, from their house to the track 1.27 miles (10:41 minutes) then two miles on the track (7:18 and 7:48, wow I've slowed down with this extra weight) then ran back to their house 1.27 miles (10:14) Total pace was average of 7:56 and felt too hard for those miles on the track but it was a great start to my training for this year. After that run I came home and walked with the kids to the park and we played for about an hour (including the walk there and back)

They didn't want to go, so they were blocking me from leaving, silly kids.

Then home and more fun and lunch. This is a typical lunch for me. I am eating more veggies and trying to eat less meat. Mostly for weight loss and control. Because the less I have to lug around on a run the faster my pace is. I think that is the healthy reason to lose weight. I was doing great down from 155lbs to 138lbs. However, with all the Christmas pudding and prime rib I was back up to 146lbs. Back on the watch what I eat (other than watching it go in my mouth).

For the new year I will be lugging Zander in the stroller more for runs on Wednesday and Thursday's for a few miles, where I hope he will fall asleep snug and warm. If he is not asleep it makes for fun conversations and a few stops to look at any life we see out on the run. I have to remind myself that it's more important to stop and smell the roses with him and not always be on the go. Not easy for my personality.

Here is part of our trail we will be on during the week. I have Vancouver BC Marathon to get ready for. I picked an aggressive program and hope to break 3:30. That's only an 8:00 minute pace. Should be doable. Laugh and run on, my friends.