Dam Run Recap

28:54.  Not my best time but with the washboard, gravel road to run on, I will take it.

It was HOT at the 8am start, probably 75 and since Im usually done with my run by 630-645am,  I knew I was going to struggle with the heat.  And I did.  And I didnt drink enough water either, so the finish line seemed alot farther then 5000 meters away but that just makes my 28:54 time feel that much better.

I did get 2 more race entry forms in the packet...yeah!!!  They are this fall and in Ogallala, so nice and close. 

After the race, I hurried home, showered, changed, PACKED and Shawn and I headed off to Cheyenne to the Daddy of 'em All....Cheyenne Frontier Days!!  We had tickets to see Toby Keith and Eric Church in concert and it was awesome!!  The only downfall was that we had standing room only tickets and with running the race and then standing in my boots for 6 hours, my legs are done today.  So I had to skip my planned run this morning and Im not sure when Im going to get it in, but Ill figure out something.  I may just move on with the schedule as planned, it was a 5 mile long run today, which I know I can do without issue.  We shall see......

Week 1 of Training

DONE!

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, which worked out great since I made the decision to register and start training for a 1/2 on Wednesday and I had done the appropriate distance on Tuesday already.  So technically, I started before I knew what I was doing.

This week was three 3 mile runs and 5 miles for my long run on Sunday.  They all went really well, even today which was a challenge to say the least.

I found out yesterday that I was needed to help move some cows around today, horseback.  I knew I was going to have conflicts with my training coming up but I didnt think it would happen a week in!  Anyway, set my alarm for 5am, so I could leave the house at 530, get my running in and be done by 630.  It was a great plan till 330am when Thing 2 woke up, which was quickly followed by Thing 1 not long after.  So I moved the initial offender into our bedroom hoping the idea that mommy and daddy were both SLEEPING would make him sleepy.

No. Such. Luck.

B felt it necessary to have full on conversations at 4am this morning and mommy was not amused.  But how do you get upset at this face......

At 430 momma had had enough....hoping Sage was asleep enough that his brothers rambling wouldnt wake him, Thing 2 was relocated again into his own bed.

My alarm did go off 30 minutes later, and then again 5 minutes after that, and another 5 after that and finally at 515am I dragged myself out of bed and grabbed my stuff.  I was NOT going to back out of run my first week...NOT GONNA HAPPEN!!

My iPod, Garmin, shoes and I headed out the door....5 miles, 48:44 later I felt like I could accomplish anything.

Which was a good feeling knowing I had to shower, and throw on my jeans and boots, and go chase some cows around.

4 hours later, that task was done also.

Im exhausted.  And at 32 years old, Im counting down the hours till I can go to bed.....but I feel like after today, I can accomplish just about anything, maybe even 13.1 miles!! 

Day 2

Got it in, early but got it in.  Shawn had to leave at 6am this morning and since I am usually starting my run at 6 (or slightly after) I had to get up earlier then usual and run at 530am. 

At 5am, I thought I was insane. 

At 505am, I kinda wanted to pitch my phone against the wall but Shawn needed it for his alarm also.

At 510am I gave in, got up, grabbed by running stuff and left the comfort of my air conditioned bed room.

Sidebar: Shawn still wasnt out of bed....just sayin'

I followed my typical "its to freakin' early for this regardless of how much I love to run" routine of getting some water, turning on the computer.  I sat for a few minutes and looked out the window before it hit me...the sunrise. 

The sky was pink and purple, some clouds but not the nasty gonna rain like the acopolypse is knocking at the door, but the big, fluffy, nice ones.  And they were pink...hard to be wary of pink clouds.

That was really all I needed to get myself out the door...well, that and a shot of 5 Hour Energy....and tackle my 3 mile run.  What a gorgeous morning, and Im so lucky to live in a place where I dont have to look past buildings or listen to cars to enjoy nature.  Just me and my dogs, a couple deer and the sunrise.  It was pefect and my run kicked arse. 

3 miles in 27:49....PR. 

Its Official

I just signed up to run the Chris Jarvis Memorial Autumn River Run 1/2 Marathon on October 1 in North Platte. 

I have lost my mind....I blame my kids.

Baby Steps

Running has been good the past few runs!  Things are starting to come together...I have had negative splits for each mile the last 2 runs, both were also PR for 5K AND I had my first sub 9 mile (8:53 in the 3rd mile!).  If it wasnt so frickin' hot at 6am I think my times could be even better....but 70 degrees is better then 80 when I head out the door for a run.

Kiddos are good....B will be walking on his own soon.  He has gotten very good at walking holding on to one hand, and he has taken a few steps but as soon as he realizes he is doing it by himself....he sits his happy, perfectly capable butt down and looks at you with big blue eyes with questions that say "must I mommy?"  Yes, you weigh 24lbs, would be the answer to that. 

Sage, well...he is a holy terror most of the time but during those occasional moments of sanity in my house (usually when Sage is sleeping or entralled by PBS television) there is peace in the valley and the boys will actually sit happily together without any exchanging of teeth marks or screaming competitions.

Those moments are few and far between.

Take right now for example....Bran is in his crib, supposedly taking a nap, which is hard to accomplish when Thing 1 is playing with his cars right outside his bedroom door.  Did I mention its a glass paned door....

Riding is going good....things are starting to click and issues I would instinctively back down from a few months ago, I now willing take on and deal with.  Baby steps still get you to the finish line, right??? 

What a day!!

and its only 11am!!!

Lets recap shall we...

Sage shoved a pretzel up his nose.  I didnt know this until he started sneezing it out, in chucks, all over my kitchen.  It was one of those mom-moments when you have to inspect the junk coming out of your childs face and you really wish you could pass the job off to Dad but he happens to be working.  Yeah...it was just a pretzel but it must have been a big one cause those were not small pieces and there were alot of them.

Then, Sage (aka Thing 1 for the rest of this post) crawled into a cupboard, and got himself stuck.  Even though while he was in there he was screaming for help it must have been screams of joy instead of fear cause no sooner do I have him out (which took some doing...the human body is not meant to fit into spaces like that) he tired to help Brannon (aka Thing 2) into the same space.  Holding his head down and trying to lift the leg of your younger brother only works if he isnt bigger then you.

Thing 1 then starts dancing in circles with the telephone cord, which I am using at the time to talk to my mom, gets to running around the kitchen but thankfully someone up above was watching out for him cause his little cros just stopped moving, causing him to fall out of them, and miss face planting into the oven door by CENTIMETERS. 

During this time Thing 2 crawls onto a box, that is all of 2 inches tall, and gets stuck.  Screaming in fear and agony, I got him down, only for him to, of course, go right back up.  This time Thing 1 chose to "help" his brother out.  Im sure he ment to gently guide his litle younger brother out and that it was gravity taking effect that caused Bran to go crashing off the box and end up hitting his head on the floor.  It certainly wasnt a shove or anything like that. 

This was the time when I realized I had ZERO caffiene in my house and if I didnt get some, it wasnt going to be pretty.  So I loaded Thing 2 into the car, chased Thing 1 around the car, strapped them both in a shut the doors.  Yes, eventually I also got in but hey, the air was going so it was cooler in the car then outside and frankly, I needed a few moments to gather my wits. 

Its gonna be a long day........

Crazy times

One of my favorite quotes is "life gets in the way".  I love it because more often then not, it just sums things up.

Quick synopsis....

B is starting to walk!!  Just last night he took a few steps to grand dad!  Then he gets to excited he cant stand still so our success was short lived but he is getting it!  At 9.5 months old, he is 2 lbs heaver then his "big" brother, my lover cuddler boy and as sweet as can be!

Sager Danger is W.I.L.D.  and crazy and a one man 20lbs wrecking ball.  He is just finishing up his first round of swimming lessons and he really loves the water.  Only took him 3 classes to stop crying and only 1 class did he cry for longer then he laughed. 

Piper is 9 now, and having a very good time in Michigan with her dad for the summer.  She is playing baseball, shortstop, and really liking it.  I did go out and spend sometime with her around her birthday, just my little girl and I and we had a great time.  I miss her so much everyday and count the days down till she is back home with us.

I am doing good.  Summer is always a busy time for us, and Im loving it.  I can FINALLY get out and RIDE!!  I caved to Shawn's pressure to ride our sorrel gelding Tig for barrels and Im so happy that I did.  He and I just work well together.  I dont have any issues catching him, I switched up saddles and reins and thanks to help from my mother in law Karen (who has run barrels for years!) friends and Shawn, I am starting to feel like I know what I am doing.  It certainly doesnt hurt that Tig apparently really likes to turn around a barrel.

Shawn is good...as good as he can be haying, but he is good. 

Summer time brings us a different routine and atfter calving and branding, the 8-5 work day is nice. 

Im running more and more all the time.  Used to be that I would feel so accomplished and proud of myself after making it 3 miles.  Yet  now, if I only run 3 miles I feel like I didnt push myself far enough.  Im going to run the Lincoln 1/2 marathon next May so Im slowing starting to up my miles so that I can start training for that, officially, in the fall, once it cools off a bit.  Then I can keep a decent plan during winter and be ready to go in Spring.

I promise to keep up with my blog now.  To keep the updates on my kiddos going and my running.  And my horse.  And anything else that happens that might be blog-worthy.

First Official Race - Nebraskaland Days 5K - June 18, 2011

Nebraskaland Days 5K is over, a week ago...how sad that it was such a great race and I am only getting around to posting about it now.  *sigh* 

Life gets in the way, doesnt it?

So the day started off early...like 400am!!  The start time was 730am CENTRAL time...I live in MOUNTAIN time.  Since we were dealing with a tim change and 90 miles between us and the starting line....I didnt really want to think about it.  But we didnt have a choice so we had to do it.

And we did!  WE is myself, my brother in law (who makes it sound like I head a gun to his head while he signed up but that isnt quite how I remember it) and good friend Sammy (who happened to be in the wrong place and the right time for me to say "Hey...wanna run a 5K with me??")

We got there, got our packets and proceeded to rip the botttom little tag thingy off....like I said..FIRST race.

Then we killed time for 45 minutes.  I guess I could have taken into consideration the lack of traffic and breaking the speed limit "guideline" when waking up at 4am.

Race started....and ended for me 28:42 LATER!!!  I had a goal of less then 30 minutes and I did it...as far as I am concered I blew it away.  Yes, anything over a minute, for me, is blowing it away.

Cory and Sammy both did great also...Cory at 22 minutes (annoyed he didnt get below 20 but he may have to run more then 2 times before the race to meet that goal) and Sammy around 34 (which is great considering she had 2 weeks to get ready for it). 

I felt even better finishing the I thought it would, and I knew I would feel great!!!

THEN I got the offical results......14th in my age group out of 37 and 33rd over all out of 260!!!  Yippee!!!!
Next race, the Dam Run in Ogallala on July 30....cant wait!!!!