Vacation

Wow, summer is flying by! So much has happened since I last blogged I'm not sure where to start. I ran a half marathon, the Yellowstone Half on June 14. I planned on running it for fun, hoping to come in under 2 hours. I knew that we would have to run on a trail for part of it but I still thought I could keep a good pace. We started on a gravel road that was not flat and by mile 2 my knee was hurting, just a constant ache so I knew if I kept it easy I would be fine. Then we hit the 2 track road and the pain moved up my IT band into my hip. I slowed a little but kept running, we stayed on the 2 track for most of the miles with about 3 miles of more techinical trail. It was a beautiful run and I just tried to enjoy it, not worrying about time. The last 2 miles were hard and I just wanted to walk but I didn't. When I came around the corner for the finish J.R. said I was leaning to one side, I didn't believe him until I saw all the pictures and I was leaning a lot! Guess it's a good thing I didn't push the pace! My knee/hip took a few days to feel better but it didn't cause any major injuries. My sister also ran the half with a group of friends. I think we all thought the course was harder then we thought it would be, however if we had trained on trails it would have been fine. It is always fun running in new places, and we didn't see any grizzly bears while running (they did have bear spray at all water stops)!

After the half it was time to start our vacation! We stayed in West Yellostone for a week, visiting Yellowstone throughout. It was a fantastic trip, we ended up seeing 7 grizzly bears, 4 wolves, osprey, bison, elk, and a lot of other animals. I had never seen a grizzly in the wild before and it was as cool as you think it would be. We also visited the bear and wolf refuge in West Yellowstone. Here are our "wolves" in their den, walking down the 300 steps to look at the falls in Grand Canyon, at the bottom.

First Day of Summer Break

My kids finished school yesterday, today we picked up my niece and nephew for the weekend. We didn't even make it out of the driveway before my kids started arguing! Fortunately I had fit in a 4.5 mile run beforehand so I was able to calmly fix the situation. I just hope I can keep them occupied without spending all my time this summer keeping them busy. Now that my niece and nephew are here they are all happy. My kids are now 10 and 7 and my niece, Marlee is 5, and Brekken is 2, so my day changes when they are here. I sometimes forget how much work little ones are, mine are becoming so much more self sufficient. This morning I was able to run without worrying about them, I made a loop around my house so I was able to see them a couple times throughout my run, but I didn't have to be right with them. I will need to fit in a run sometime this weekend, but the rest of the time will be spent enjoying my family. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Running with a Friend

Yesterday was a great day. I had a 10 miler to do and my friend and running partner C joined me. We trained for the marathon together last year but have only done a handful of runs together since. She has only been running 3-4 miles a couple times a month, concentrating more on biking this year. She ran the first 4 miles with me and I didn't want the miles to end. The conversations you have on a run just don't happen as easily when you are doing other things. I have been doing all my runs by myself which I have enjoyed, I didn't realize how much I missed running with C. I am hoping to be able to run with her throughout the summer, we have plans to take the kids to the track. They are old enough now to run or there is a park next to the track, and of course plenty of hikes since she is also my hiking partner! After school my kids did the Hershey's track and field event. They both ran the 50 meter, 100 meter, and standing long jump. Neither one placed top 3 but they had a lot of fun and has spurred them on to do better next year. We started exercising in the morning about 3 weeks ago, (with about a week of when we got a new puppy). They have been loving it and Brooklyn gets right out of bed which is amazing, since all year I have had to drag her out of bed. We started back up this morning, they did a circuit of jumping jacks, dribbling a soccer ball, squats, box jumps and jumping buckets. They had a blast.

Changes

This past year has brought so many changes! I have become a group fitness leader, Insanity instructor, swim instructor, and a lifeguard. I am loving my job and teaching kids to swim has been so much fun. It's amazing to watch the progress that can be done in 8 sessions! I am also teaching Insanity 2 times a week. This has changed my running, and I am enjoying the scheduled cross training. I am currently training for a half marathon and I am only running 3 times a week. In the past I would run 5 days a week and still try to squeeze in cross training, at least until the weekly mileage added up and I would be to tired. Now that summer is finally here (yay 70* days!), gardening and work are keeping me busy. My kids will be out of school next week and my schedule will surely change again! Every summer seems to be better then the last. My half marathon is June 14, and then I will probably scale back running for the summer. I don't have the time or energy to train for a race and keep up with my kids. There will still be some shorter runs but also lots of biking, swimming, and hiking.

Back to Blogging

It has been over a year since I posted last! So much has happened in that time and I wish I had an account of all of it. Every time I thought about blogging I wasn't sure where to start. I have missed blogging though and want to get back into it. I am planning on writing a few times a week. Since I last blogged I have run another marathon, dealt with injury to my knee and am trying to figure out what's next. I ran a marathon in June and started training with so much excitement, however it ended up being one of the hardest training cycles I have gone through. I battled sickness and then my IT band started messing with me which hurt my knee. The marathon itself was great for the first half and the last half I just wanted to be over. I finished but it was way slower then my first. I wasn't able to run this summer and have been trying to strengthen my hips and legs. My knee is much better now, and I have been able to run short runs the last 2 weeks. Running is slow and hard now but I have missed it so much!

I Get To

I had a dermatologist appointment this morning. I was not nervous beforehand but during the exam I started questioning whether I should be. I have gone to the same doctor for 5 years now and this time he really made me feel like I need to be checking every mole everyday. I felt like I am a ticking time bomb just waiting for more melanoma. I am grateful he is so cautious, I just have to find that line of being aware without living in fear.

Afterwards I went for a 10 mile run, I must admit I was not felling it. I woke up with a headache(this is normal since my wisdom teeth have been pulled) and I just felt anxious. i struggled throughout the run, mentally more then physically. I thought about turning around many times, then I would be fine then I would struggle again. Finally around mile 7 I started praying, and just thanking God for the opportunity to run, that I get to run, not have to. That is something I have been reminding myself a lot lately. I get to raise 2 wonderful kids, I get to work, I get to take care of my family, I have a house I get to help remodel. And on that note, I get to go mop floors before my sis, niece and nephew arrive!

Recovering

I have gone on 2 runs since having my wisdom teeth pulled. The first was a 4 miler on Sunday, there was a little throbbing on my "complicated" tooth but it didn't hurt. The run itself was a slow one. Later that night I moved my jaw just right to send pain shooting all over. The rest of the night and following day I had a headache that I could not get rid of and tooth/jaw pain. After a massage from my hubby that night my head finally quit hurting. I held of running until yesterday when I couldn't take it any longer. I went for 3 miles and it felt hard! I was hungry which I am sure was part of it, I am still on a soft food diet so I am not eating as much as I normally do. My food choices have not been very good either, so today I am having a green smoothie and am going to add some more fruits and veggies into my food.

This morning I woke up to the right side of my head pounding and swollen. I went to the dentist and it is healing fine, since I had some of the bone removed with the tooth he said it would take 6-8 weeks to completely heal. He gave me some steroids to help with the swelling. I am going to keep running when I can and hopefully eating some more food will help my energy levels.