Got It Together

We finally got it together and all three of us were able to get together for a run today. I was a little apprehensive about the run because the winds were howling AGAIN and I was nursing a sore leg from my run the previous day. We took off from Cheese Park and ran to Copperhill down to Decoro on the bike path. From there we tried to take a "short" cut through the apartment buildings and ended up in what seemed like a maze. I love it when we go on these unknown adventures. Thankfully there were no fence climbing involved today and we were somewhat shielded from the wind and sun on our way back by running on the street back to the park. The pace was not great, but it was still good to run together. I'm hoping for another good day of running tomorrow with Patty. "C" has the day off for her birthday. Happy Birthday "C"!

A Good Thing

It's a good thing we never did go for a run today at 4:15. With husbands out of town, kids birthdays, driver's license tests, and life of a mom in general, we never got a run in together today, which really was for the better. I had a half hour opportunity to go for a quick run around 5:30 today and it was soooo hot, I couldn't have imagined what it would have been like at COC at 4:15. What were we thinking!

This week as I try to juggle the many responsibilities of being a mom, I came upon this study done on the value of our jobs at home. According to salary.com, when accounting for all the work that stay-at-home-moms do and compare it to industry standards, moms would make about $122,732 per year if they actually got a paycheck for what they did. While it would be great to have this money, we are richer in other ways. We enrich the lives of our family by doing our "mom" jobs and the payment we receive is love, something you can't put a price tag on. More info about the survey is at the link below. Salary.com has been doing this survey for the last nine years and I guess our "pay" went up this year even in this economic downturn.

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/life/what-is-a-mothers-work-really-worth-456608/

I Need Sudoko!

I have heard that doing sudoko everyday will keep your aging brain sharp and keep you from having those "senior moments" that are inevitable at a certain age. Since I am truly hopeless with numbers, unlike many of my family members, and most of my friends, I chose to run. I have heard the same thing about running, so I have been counting on reaping the benefits mentally. I enjoy running so much more than trying to figure out where to put numbers on a grid! Well I am afraid that the running is not doing the trick, I had a morning that would point to that fact, and to the fact that maybe I need to add some brain stimulation into the mix. My #4 son turned 17 today, and in keeping with our family tradition, I had planned a breakfast of his choice before he went to school. I jumped out of bed when my alarm went off at 6am, made sure he was awake and went down to prepare eggs, bacon, and hash browns for him. I was really in the zone, and getting close to having it all done, when I glanced at the clock on my microwave and noticed that it said 5:23! I checked all the clocks downstairs and they said the same thing, no power outage to blame. I ran upstairs and sure enough my clock was off by an hour and I had just noticed. Luckily, son #4 is an early riser, so he took it in stride, but his little brother was pretty funny when he came down and realized that he was up a full hour earlier than usual (he is not a morning person). The good news is that they loved the breakfast, and got to really take their time getting ready for school. The bad new is that I am going to have to do some real brain calisthenics to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Happy Mother's Day

A Mother loves right from the start.

She holds her baby close to her heart.

The bond that grows will never falter.

Her love is so strong it will never alter.

A Mother gives never ending Love.

She never feels that she has given enough.

For you she will always do her best.

Constantly working, there's no time to rest.

A Mother is there when things go wrong.

A hug and a kiss to help us along.

Always there when we need her near.

Gently wipes our eyes when we shed a tear.

So on this day shower your Mother with Love.

Gifts and presents are nice but that is not enough.

Give your Mother a day to have some peace of mind.

Be gentle, be good, be helpful, be kind.

Happy Mothers Day.

- Carol Matthews

Regroup

It was so nice to finally have all three of us (Patty, C, and I) running together. "C" and I decided at League finals that she would do a 5 miler while Patty and I put in 6 since she missed a whole week of running. We took the pace out slow from Peet's and headed into South Fork to the Wiley Bridge. For the most part, I think all of us felt pretty good although Patty was complaining about having sore legs toward the end. The only thing that bothered me was the heat. The nice thing about South Fork is that you do get relief from the sun occasionally with the many trees that line the trail. You just have to pay attention to the detours so that you take the shady route. We only had to backtrack a couple of times. Afterwards we found a nice shady spot outside the coffee spot and enjoyed catching up on everything. It was a good thing we found that table because Patty was ready to start re-arranging furniture outside of Cold Stone. It was a nice way to start our Mother's Day weekend!

I'll Drink to That

No running today, and I can't say I am too sorry about that, I still feel like I am recovering from a long week and a lousy Wed. run. I am looking forward to our next, hopefully cooler run and the chance to get together with my friends. Runner's World of course reads our blog and sends me little tips to help with our running. I am attaching a link to an article about hydration, that I found very helpful. I have to say that my friends and I are pretty good about hydration, especially in the hot months when we know from experience that we just have to drink water, not just when we run but all the time. I think what may have happened to me, (I'll speak for myself) is that the warm weather caught me unprepared in the hydration area, and I may not have been properly hydrated. It was unseasonably hot, and I may have let my daily drinking slack off a bit when the days were cooler. I also have the embarrassing "sloshing stomach" as anyone who has run with me knows, and the article addresses this problem as well. As much as we don't like the sticky mess, it looks like we need to make sure and bring the gatorade with us on those longer runs! Hope this helps your running, and mine! http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-302--4814-0,00.html?cm_mmc=nutrition-_-2009_05_07-_-nutrition-_-HYDRATION%3a%20Energize%20Your%20Running

Oh Well!

We tried to run today. Our intentions were good, but it was just not in the cards today. That is how it goes some days when you think you have your day all figured out and then there's a last minute schedule change with you or your kids. That really is the story of our lives as mothers. I guess it's just as well since Patty and I were really beat. After our run yesterday, I took an Epsom salt bath because my legs were so sore and was in bed by 9 p.m. Patty was also complaining about how sore her legs were. She doesn't think it's from our long run on Saturday and blames it on the weather, but I think it was the long run. I still remember how horrible I felt the week after I ran the half marathon and how long it took my legs to come back to me.

Twin Day!

Today Marathon Mom and I showed up to run wearing the same outfit. If that wasn't bad enough it was the pink shorts, white top outfit, so it looked like we were wearing a uniform. It isn't like it was the first time we had worn the same thing (all three of us have the shorts) but since it was only the two of us running, (we were missing C), we looked like we had planned it. We started from Heritage Park and headed toward Bridgeport, trying to recreate the pleasant run we had last week on that route. We immediately knew we were in trouble while we were jogging our warm up through the park to the trail, and we couldn't breathe. I knew it was going to be a long 4 miles! The weather was downright hot, and the wind has been blowing like crazy. It all took a toll and though we made it through, (no bragging about our pace today) it was just plain hard. It was one of those runs, where you agree with your partner that if it always felt like that, we would quit. We will try again tomorrow and hopefully do better, but I have to say if it is going to be a bad run, at least I have someone to complain to "Misery Loves Company" To make our lousy run, and embarrassing outfits even worse, we saw two of the kids who go to the school where we both work. They looked a little scared of us with our hair up and our adorable matching outfits, I am sure we will hear about it tomorrow!

Hot, Humid, and Hilly

My running friends abandoned me today and so I was left to run with my husband. Patty is a little under the weather, but hopefully she is feeling better by tomorrow and "C" had a very busy weekend and is trying to catch up on her rest. My husband and I ran from home to the Helmer's switchbacks and into Northpark and back. On our way back, we managed to also tackle the water tower trail. The air was hot, humid, and stagnant the whole way and the only reprieve was the occasional sprinkler we came upon. I was prematurely feeling good about my 7 mile run on Saturday because today I had absolutely nothing left in my legs. My legs usually warm up after a while, but not today. Not only did my legs feel dead the whole way, I was having a hard time breathing due to the humidity. I should have sat this one out today just like my friends. I hope my husband doesn't think I run like this all the time.

No Eggs Please

Patty and I did a longer run today. "C" was busy this morning, but we're hoping we can get in a run together tomorrow morning. As Patty and I finished our 7 mile run from Peet's, I looked over at her and asked "Do you want to get an egg sandwich?" and the look on her face reflected what I was feeling. After a long run in the hot, humid air the last thing on your mind are eggs. The thought was just unappealing. I know that's what we're supposed to eat instead of those wonderfully delicious pastries at Peet's, but our stomachs just weren't in the mood. I'm sure the lattes were close enough with all the protein from the milk and we obviously got our carbs from the pastries. Can you tell I'm trying to justify our reasoning? Anyhow, it was a pretty good run. It got better when we turned around at the halfway point so that the breeze was in our face rather than at our backs. We managed a decent pace of 9.3 overall for the seven miles. It was comforting to know that we can go out and run 7 without too much trouble, but then I asked Patty if she felt like she could do 10, the answer was a very strong "no!".