10 Miles Tomorrow

I've been working on my iTunes playlist for tomorrow - big 10 mile run.

I'm kinda nervous about getting into the double-digits...

I figure with the right mix of music...

it just might go by in a flash. (?)

I'll let you know.

8 Mile Sunday (I am in Detroit after all)

I'm back home in Michigan now - fitting since today I had to run 8 Mile(s).

When I was in Ohio, I borrowed a book from the library, a really good book, but was unable to finish it before I had to leave to come home. Today I had mapped out a run that would be 8 miles long and end at my library. My husband and the kids were going to meet me there so that I could pick up a copy of the book I had been reading - then catch a ride back home. As an after thought, (thankfully I thought of it at all), I hopped online to see what the library's hours are on Sunday... thinking it is probably 1 -5pm... turns out the library is closed on Sunday! I am so glad I discovered that before I hit the pavement. I would have been really p.o.ed when I got there.

So instead I headed to the gym and their trusty treadmills. I did all my running outside in Ohio. I'd take this opportunity on the treadmill to make sure I was staying on pace. However, much like a few too many laps around the track might make you crazy... a few too many miles on the treadmill can do the same. No iTunes playlist is good enough for 8 miles on a treadmill. OK, I kept pace, but nearly lost my marbles doing so. Any run that takes longer than an hour just needs to be done in the open air! When the people running beside you come after you've started and finish their workout long before you... you feel like strangling someone or something. You just keeping putting one foot in front of the other and counting hundreths of a mile.

~ok, 13 paces is 1/100 mile,

that means 130 paces gets me 1/10 mile,

that means 1,300 paces gets me 1 mile,

that means 10,400 paces gets me 8 miles.

whoa! 10,400... wait, how many have I have run so far?~

You run,

you watch the seconds tick,

the minutes tick,

the mileage tick

and you just keep running...

Running in Ohio

I'm in Ohio, spending the week at my parent's house. My sister from Virginia is also in town with her three kids... Already living in this area are the rest of my siblings with 5 more little ones amoung them. You can only imagine the amount of fun the "11 cousins" have been having together on this little vacation to Nana and Jagi's house...
I was due to run 3 miles this past Friday and it is a little more than a mile (~1.1 miles) around my parent's block. I decided I would just do three laps around the block. Well, I left with all the kids playing in the front yard under the watchful eyes of my mom and sister. How fun it was to come back up on my parent's house to all the kids lining the sidewalk and cheering me on!
So awesome!

Carb Loading

I'm wondering if the carbs in that beer I drank last night qualify as "good carbs"?
Hhmmm?

The Jogging Stroller

My husband and I made a last minute decision to make the 3 hour drive into Cleveland to spend the 4th of July holiday with our family. Thankfully, Saturdays are "rest days" for me... However, I was due to log 5 miles on Sunday.

Whenever we're back home on a summer weekend, my husband heads out for a round of golf with his father early on Sunday. Me, not wanting to hit the pavement in the midday heat, was left to figure out someway to get my miles in with the kids. Normally my Mom is more than happy to watch them. Unfortunately, she was suffering from a pulled muscle in her neck and wouldn't have been able to chase my 13 month old around... he's destruction on 2 feet. My older 2 would be no problem to leave behind... but what to do with Logan???

I got it!! I came up with this brilliant idea of borrowing my sister's jogging stroller. I'll take the baby with me!

Who the hell ever came up with the jogging stroller?

It is completey akward to hold onto the handle of the stroller while running. So, I'd hold this strap which is attached to the handle (so you can give the stroller a big push and not let it get away from you) and give the stroller a push then run, run, run - catch back up to it - push again - run, run, run - catch back up to it - push again - run, run, run.

Who the hell ever came up with the jogging stroller?

Why not just run with a twenty pound brick in your hands?

A Marathon?? Insanity or stupidity??

At 32, with a husband and 3 kids, I have decided to run the 2009 Detroit Marathon...
I must be crazy...

I was a runner in high school - but that was quite some time ago. I began running again this past March. Mostly to lose the baby weight I was holding on to after my 3rd child. (He's now 13 months old.) I ran a 5K in April with my girlfriend Shawn. We ran another 5K with our husbands in May.

Racing again, the fun of competition, that jittery ~I think I might puke~ feeling I always get at the starting line are addictive! So, I have set my sights on a marathon. Completing a marathon has been on my bucket list - an idea I have held in the back of my mind since my high school cross country days... it has always been "someday, before I die, I am going to run a marathon."

Well, I have taken the bull by the horns and declared that day now. I am officially in training for the Detroit Marathon which will be run on October 18th. Three days before my 33rd birthday.

I have a training schedule laid out and it began this past Tuesday. My schedule started off with an easy 3 mile run on Tuesday and a 4 mile run today. I'll be logging miles every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Putting in the big miles on Sundays.

On the outside and if you asked me, to your face I'd tell you I am excited about it. On the inside, however, I am tangled, anxious and down right nervous. I hope to use this blog to release some of that anxious-ness... and possibly entertain.

Attempting this feat will be no easy task - so I leave today with the question...

A Marathon?? Insanity or stupidity??