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

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!

Running is fun!

That's right I said running is fun. Oh and it makes me happy, too. I've been back running for two weeks now. My husband say's I'm so much nicer and the kids are happy to be running, too. Today while the hubby ran his 5 miles, I took the kids on a walk/run. Alexis, Avery, and Alexander ran 1 mile. Ayden ran at least 1.25 miles if not more. He would run ahead and then run back, run ahead and then run back. When we turned around at the 1/2 mile mark he said he was not done. He declared he wanted more miles. The other kids clamored that they wanted at least 3 miles. I smiled and had to break their little hearts with a, sorry we only have time for 1 mile. Whoever thought I would have to argue with my kids that they can only run a mile today? When we arrived back at the car, Ayden demanded that he needed more miles. I relented with you can do hill repeats on that .10 hill while we wait for dad. That kids never stopped. Then when dad came back he ran another one just to show dad how fast he was. Cute.

(If you look in the distance you will see my oldest three way ahead of the baby)

I'm spoiled. My mom plays with the kids while I run or get my workouts in. My husband and I have arranged our whole schedule so I can pace lead in Portland on Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings. Vancouver on Tuesday nights and Sunday mornings. How spoiled am I? So when asked what I want for Christmas all I can say is... to run with my family. That's all I need and want. I'm very blessed. My kids beg me to have one more minute reading. Or they beg me to go workout with me. Or they beg hubby and I to run with us. Yep I have a rough life. NOT!

Why do I run?

There is a contest at Run Like a Mother that begs the question:

When I run, I feel…. (They had four ellipsis' when you only use three grammatically speaking)

I said that it makes me feel like me. Running is the one time it’s all about me, Angela. Not mom, not wife, not blogger, not friend. Running is where I get to be me, just Angela. It's refreshing when I run, bike, swim, or workout, I get to demand only what I can give. I'm the only one asking me what can I give of myself. This might sound a little strange or coincided. Let me attempt to explain.

My life revolves around taking care of my husband and children, which I love! Please don't ever think I'm one of those mom's or wives who runs away from their family. I really enjoy playing with my kids all day. I have, however, made a small shift this last year to focus on me, too. By this I mean to focus on my athletic abilities. To push myself and see what I can do. The problem has become that I am meeting a lot of resistance to achieve this. I like to think of myself as a giving person and I really do love doing for others. So when I changed to do something for me, it's not surprising that a rebel force has joined together to squish that goal. I can see the land mines placed before me each day to derail my training plan. So far the land mines and hand grenades have out witted me.

I started a training program on June 14th. Do you know how many day's I've been able to stick to that training program? 10 days. None of them the running days. All were cross training days.  It's stressing me out. The training program is easy. Very doable. That is unless you have four children to take care and a husband who is working full time and going to school full time. Oh, and he plays in a band. Now don't get me wrong I don't want my husband to stop doing any of those things. He needs to do those things. Don't forget moving into a small house that we own and have to fix up because the renters didn't do the house any justice. The last two months have been the most stressful months since I was a kid and I am unable to workout to relax. I think I'm more upset that I was letting other people place their problems and expectations on me and my family. Free help is never free and it's never worth the strings attached. I know that but I think someone else had to learn that and still has not learned that lesson. So they are stressed and waging a battle with me. Here's the thing. I'm not playing in that sandbox anymore. I'm done fighting the wrong battle. It's not worth it. So here's where I am going from here on.

I'm getting back on my training program. Getting back my upbeat outlook on life. Life is far too short to stress about the little things. Who cares that I'm living in limbo in a really small, smelly house? The upside? A ginormous back and front yard that is a clean palate to design as I wish! The children have a very safe and fun place to play outside! My husband is busy and needs the evening to do homework. I am changing to working out in early morning again. I enjoy the cooler and quieter hours of the am anyway. The girls will be in school next month and that means I can run during the mornings with my friend Laura. I'll find a double stroller and run with my boys. This will give me more outside quality time with them. I'm going to get a sub 4 hour marathon next June. Hopefully better, but that won't happen if I fight the wrong battles. Besides I think I'm someone worth fighting for not against.

So I run to remember me. Not to run away from things but to come back me. Fun, optimistic, sarcastic, sexy, hard working, me. Angela! Laugh and run on, my friends!