Two years ago today...

I was in a Charlotte hospital telling my husband that I absolutely could not handle another contraction, and I wanted that epidural now! I went into labor with a goal of not using any drugs. I don't really have anything against the epidural, I just wanted to be a bad ass. Well, reality set in and I caved. FAIL! Oh well. I got a beautiful son who actually kind of looks likes me. My daughter looks exactly like her father and some might even question that she's mine.

Big sis with little Bro

Tomorrow is my husbands birthday. He turns the big 3-0.

26 at 56

Yesterday my dear old Dad added marathoner to his already impressive list of hobbies and accomplishments. Oh, and did I mention that he beat my time by 3 minutes? I'm definitely going for a sub 5 in Chicago (under 5 hours).

Other things on his list of active activities include but are not limited to:

• Black belt in Karate
• Bare foot water skier (This however this is not what created my intrest in barefoot running)
• Snow skier (Dallas Cowboy starter jackets were all the rage in the 90's)
  

• Team Roping Champion, he won a horse trailer in '93
  

A lot of people list, "setting an active example to their kids", as one of the many reasons that they run. I can say with certainty that is absolutely effective. Even when we weren't participating in sports specifically, we weren't the type of family to just hang around the house watching TV. A day at the lake, camping, or going to various flee Markets, we were always out and about. In a society overrun with heart problems and diabetes, I'm thankful that my parents set the example for me and I continue to set the same example for my kids.

Confessional Friday

I didn't run much this week. That's my confession. Also, I just ate beef tongue.

Upon first taste the gag reflexes were intense. I couldn't get the above image out of my head. To get myself over this mental block, I told my husband that we would refer to it as beef and beef only. There would be no mention of tongue.

So after I stopped psyching myself out, I enjoyed what was actually a very delicious beef (beef only!) taco.

Oh! And I ran 3 miles today in my Vibrams. That's a 1 mile increase!

Got any confessions? Or did you eat anything bazaar?

Work'n late but not for long

I don't have much to say today. I didn't get up early enough to run before my husband went to work. I won't get to run when he gets home, because that's when I go to work. Oh, well. I'm went into this week knowing that I wouldn't be doing much.

Good news: After today and tomorrow I'll be done with my retail job.

Bad news: I didn't get that job in Dallas that I had been waiting to hear about, thus I will have no job at all after tomorrow.

Good news: After finding out that I didn't get the job, I went on a resume rampage. I also made lots of phone calls, not really expecting much in return. But to my suprise, one place did call me back! It was an alternative energy company that I have had, and will have, my eye on.

Bad news: No, they are not hiring right now.

Good news: The guy that called me back actually runs their location in Dallas. He told me that although they are not hiring now, there is a possibility that a position would be coming up and went as far as to give me some tips on how to get into the business. I thought it was very nice considering he didn't really have to call me back at all.

Meanwhile, I'm anxious to see more from Adam (The first person whom I didn't know at all and didn't force to follow my blog!). He's going to post some stuff about fartleks, intervals, and all that other stuff that I'm not very familiar with. I'm excited to know more about those aspects of training. Training for Chicago doesn't officially start until May, but I would really like to work on my speed between now and then.

My husband and I always talk about how we can't wait to humiliate our children. I didn't know that he wanted to start right away.

Where I've been

The Greenway!

It took

much longer than I care to admit to get this image uploaded. And it's not even a good one!

This is where I do most of my long runs. I don't care for running multiple circles through the same scenery and this stretch of flood planes takes care of all that. It forks into two separate greenways (Clarks, Mallard Creek) and if you run the whole thing out and back, you end up with about 14 miles.

The greenway is mostly paved and runs along a beautiful creek almost the entire way. The path is more than wide enough to accommodate my double jogging stroller and passing bicycles. There are 3, maybe 4, of these wooden bridges, trees everywhere, and you never see or hear a car unless you're going under one of the 5 over passes.

I'm lucky enough that I have a good 3 1/2 mile route from my house that puts me at an entrance to the greenway. That way I don't have to get in the car and drive to go run. If I do end up going back to Texas soon, I will very much miss my local greenway. If it weren't for this place, I don't know how I would have trained for my first marathon. My son was only 3 months old when I started running and with my husbands crazy work schedule, I had no choice but to take my infant and 2 yr old running with me. We came here at least 3 times a week with the double jogging stroller. I once ran 12 miles in the rain with both of my kids in front of me (I brag about that run a lot). Don't worry, the stroller has a rain cover.

Do you have a local green space? For the Texans: Plano has a really good bike path. I rode there a lot when I lived in Frisco. There's not as many trees though. :(

Sunshine, oh lovely sunshine

It could not be a more beautiful day in Charlotte North Carolina. The thermometer reads just below 75 and the kids are playing in the yard. I skipped my long run this weekend. The kids have been sick all week and I was feeling like it might be catching me too. So I took it easy all weekend, relaxing on the back porch and having a little wine. Today I went for a short 2 mile Vibram fun run. They felt really great today. The best run that I've had in them so far. Maybe next week I'll up the Vibram mileage by a 1/2 mile. I tend to stress out about my mileage even though I'm not currently training for anything. I do want to get faster before May, when training for Chicago will officially begin.

In other news, our new neighbors don't like that our dog gets out and roams around in the woods behind our houses. It makes their dogs bark (poodles) which upsets the girlfriend because "she had a bad experience with a dog" when she was younger. Ok. Fair enough. We've been getting away with it for 2 years, but I guess it had to end sometime. So I took Lucy (our dog) out on a leash yesterday and guess what? As soon as we were out into the yard their dogs started going nuts. I'm not a fan of frilly dogs. They generally suck. Overpriced, yappy dolls for the owner to decorate with bows. Anyway... maybe I'm just on the defensive but I think my dog isn't really the problem here. Our yards are very close together so whether or not our dog is in the woods or in our yard, their dogs will be going crazy. And just for the record, their dogs going crazy doesn't bother me at all.

Trust Fall

I wasn't going to post anything today but then something amazing happened. My husband and I have had a revelation in our marriage. It came in the form of your classic trust fall.

Our yard is an odd one. It has three levels, each one supported by railroad cross ties. Today is the perfect day for the kids to play in the yard. All was grand until I spotted both kids on level 3 headed toward the woods. They weren't going very far very fast so I trotted out to apprehend them. Both of the kids love jumping off the cross ties into our arms. I jokingly say to my husband "I'm gonna jump! Get ready to catch me!" to which he replies "Do it! Close your eyes, trust fall!". He was serious. Just jumping would be ok. It really isn't very high. But he requested that I close my eyes, hold my arms out... and just fall. I'll be honest. I really didn't like the idea and I really didn't think he could hold me. Not that I'm really that heavy, but I'm not a 3 yr old either. I got the feeling that he was going to be offended if I didn't do it and that this little trust fall was about more than just a fun jump from level 2. So I took a deep breath, braced myself and went for it.

This is a reenactment of actual events

I guess my massive body was too much for my poor husband to handle, because we both went crashing to the ground. I hit my head. It hurt, but we were both laughing.

The moral of the story: It doesn't matter if he successfully catches my fall. It only matters that he tried and we went down together.

Blah, blah, blah, fart

Yeah, I snuck the word fart into the title. I'm at a total loss for blog topics and viewership is slightly down, so I thought I'd take a page from the book of SUAR and tell you one of my most embarrassing fart moments. This post will no doubt shame my father.

Enjoy

1. It was the tenth grade. The fifty members of my sophomore class were divided into three groups of quiet, pencils ready, TAAS test takers. It's a state assessment test. A good friend of mine, Elaine, was sitting directly in front of me. I had barely been able to sign my name to the testing packet when it happened. It was loud, very loud, and it was shocking especially to me. I never even saw it coming. Elaine's head snapped toward me, her eyes wide open like somebody had stomped on her cat. I immediately went into damage control. What is the first thing to take the fall for a fart noise? That's right, your shoe. But Elaine wasn't buying it. Mostly because I was wearing a pair of Old Navy foam flops. When I saw that that excuse wasn't going to fly, I actually tried to turn the fart back on to her. "Was that you?" I asked desperately. She didn't even dignify it with answer. The look on her face was enough to finally break me. I accepted responsibility for what I had done and we spent the next 10 to 15 minutes unable to suppress our inappropriate, test interrupting laughter.

Got any fart stories that you want to share? Probably not. Wanna laugh at/with me? Go ahead.

Where I've been... Mentally

I started this day in a bad mood. I had a bad run yesterday morning. My daughter drew on the window with crayon and put orange toothpaste all over her pillow. My son is sick and blowing snot all over the house. I hadn't heard any new news about my job prospects in Dallas, and did I already mention that my house is disaster area? So where have I been today? Mostly in my own head feeling sorry for myself and crying a little. Don't feel bad for me. It's almost time for my monthly gift and therefore all of these little issues have the emotional catastrophic equivalence of the Hindenburg.

So, short story long, I was so busy feeling sorry for myself that wasn't even in the mood to run. But I figured with all the things out of my control, this four mile run was at least something that was 100% up to me. And a great run it was! 10 minute miles with no walking on a 60 degree evening.

After I got back, I felt far less irritable and I got some news about the job. The house is still an issue for haz-mat, but that's ok.

Sorry for such a dull "Where I've Been", but... well, I haven't been anywhere lately. How about I add a fun picture? Well, I don't have any saved to this computer and I couldn't download one from facebook...so... too bad.

Vibrams and a stick shift

Good news! We got our car back from the repair shop yesterday! It took two trips. The first time, we noticed that there was still some air whipping between the door and the frame. So we took it back, waited a few hours and then picked it up again. For almost two weeks I have been driving a Chevy HHR. It was an automatic and I did not enjoy it at all.

• After mashing the gas pedal, the car would then decide when it wanted to speed up.
• Putting the car in "Park". This is an unnecessary step in a stick.
• The car was constantly locking it's doors without my knowledge.
  
• What is my left foot supposed to do?!?! I nearly threw myself through the windshield several times.
• The car also decided when to turn off the radio. There is a secret combination of key, ignition, and door position.
• Daytime running lights. WTF?! My lights aren't really on?!

Now the benefits of my base model, manual transmission Honda.

• I down shift to pass a truck before my lane ends.
• Roll into the drive way, kill the car. That's it. No "Park". (However, you should NEVER forget the e brake. See below for why.)
• I lock the doors!
• An occupied left foot.
• I turn the radio off. Or I turn the car off... whatever.
• Only two types of lights. On, and Off. (and high beams)
  

I feel like similar arguments can be made of high tech running shoes vs minimalist running shoes. The high tech shoes do many things for me that I could just as well do myself. Here's what I love about the Vibrams so far

• I land on my mid foot every time
• Pinky toes are now separated from the #4's. Usually they are bent up underneath the #4's causing #4's to lose circulation and go numb.
  
• My feet don't slide off the edges of the traditional shoes platform. My feet always slide toward the outside edge of my shoe.
• No knee pain. (But I didn't have any knee pain running in the Free's either)

Always use your emergency brake
When we were in high school Shanon had an awesome (not awesome, hilarious!) Pontiac sunbird. One fateful day, she pulled into work at Old America as usual. Being a manual transmission, she left the car in gear and fulfilled the call of duty within the craft giant. At some point whilst ringing up patriotic wreaths, she noticed her car to be missing. Of course! I'm sure there were tons of people who were after the bird. Wrong. The sunbird was in the ditch at the edge of the Old America parking lot. About a 12' ditch that was overlooked by the main "drag" back in those days. Shanon was a bit embarrassed. She wanted to consider it a final resting place and just hitch a ride home. What's amazing is that it rolled through a parking lot full of cars and managed to not hit anything. And so lives the legend of the Sunbird.
I found this picture online, but I think this is what hers looked like.

Saint Valentines Day Poetry Massacre

Early this morning I rose from bed
Didn't run, but did this instead
Made hearts out of waffels, paper and grapes
For Hubs and fam, as they slept in late
I'll get a run in, in the evening I suppose
But before that I'll need to run through Trader Joe's
This poem isn't going quite the way I'd like
Kids keep whining and picking fights
what the heck happened to my poetry knack
My poetry mojo is under attack
See! Terrible! Keeps getting worse!
This whole thing is crap, every single verse.
This poem is over, I'm giving up
I'm sure you loved it, if you like things that suck
Roses are red, violets are blue
I hope when I run, I don't step in dog doo.

I challenge you to to add to this poem. Let's see whatcha got.

Confesional Friday

It's Friday! I don't know why I use and exclamation point for that. Fridays don't really mean much to me. I'm working all weekend.

This week I have two confessions. 1st, on Thursday, I ate an entire medium pizza by myself. Will power? I wouldn't know what that is.

2nd, I confess that I am now a part of the barefoot revolution. Revolution might be a bit dramatic, but you have to admit that it is a growing culture. I purchased my Vibram Sprints at Sun & Ski Sports last night. I know, I know, most people think that the minimalist shoe is just a recent trend that will soon fade out, but the Nike Free's have really changed my running style for the better. I no longer land on my heel which has eliminated the knee pain that would always plague me after long runs. So why not take it a little further? I won't say that it comes at no cost. Whatever the muscles are below my calf and all around ankles are continually sore. I never used these muscles with my previous heel strike.

Anyway, my first run in Vibrams was short, but it went really well. It didn't feel that much different from the Free's. It takes me a little while to put these shoes on, but I'm getting better at it every time. The Vibrams won't be going on any long runs for a while, but I feel that they have a bright future with me.

What do you have to confess this week?

I don't even know what I should title this one

Kids do the weirdest things. My son is almost two and just recently started showing some interest in the potty. In the early stages of potty training, I let my kiddos run bottomless periodically throughout the day. I've found that pants can complicate the process of "going potty", and a diaper flat out stops it. So last night I removed a dirty diaper and then let my son just "hang out" for a while. He then took my phone off the table to play with it. That's not unusual. He loves to play with phones, always acting out some kind of conversation. It got weird when I saw him putting the phone down by his, well, you know. Then he took his hands away and the phone was still there. He clipped my flip phone to his junk! He thought it was awesome, and I couldn't yell at him for it. But I was itching to call my friend Karen and tell her about it so I asked if I could have the phone and he handed it over. I called Karen, but not until after I gave the phone a good once over with wet wipes.

Does it get weirder as they get older? I know I'm not alone in this sort of thing. Jo Koy's son colored his "ting ting" green with a permanent marker.

Where I've Been; Loretta Lynn

Here's something you may not know about me (unless you're a close, or distant, or just facebook friend). I love Loretta Lynn! Coal Miners Daughter is one of my favorite movies. It's right up there with Best In Show, Spinal Tap, and Lonesome Dove. I also love her honesty and her, "life ain't now bed of roses" so toughen up, outlook on life.

I first spotted the signs pointing the way to Loretta's Ranch on our very first trip down I40 when were moving to Charlotte. Unfortunately our 26' Pensky truck with car hauler kept us from visiting that first time. But I made a mental note and knew that the next time we were on that highway, I would have to stop in and get 1 or 8 souvenir coffee mugs. My family and I have actually been there three times now. Anytime we are headed to or from Dallas we make Loretta's our lunch stop. It's kind of like Graceland for me.

This is a re-creation of Loretta's childhood home in Butcher Holler Kentucky that was used in the movie. Also, these pics were taken a long time ago. About 2 or 3 months after my son was born and just as I had started running.
This is just one of, I think, three shops on the premises. They have a gift shop with lots of Loretta stuff and then two other shops with western wear.
I'm not really sure what this is for, but it's in the courtyard where there is also a little BBQ stand and a nice view of the river and mill. If you want you can pay for a tour. It takes you all over the ranch, and even inside the mansion that she lived in on the hill. She now resides in another house back behind the mansion. She was slaughtering some chickens, suddenly there was a crowd of onlookers, a chicken got loose, a fan passed out... anyway, she felt that she needed more privacy and built another house behind the mansion. It's all in her book.I like visiting the ranch even more now, since I read her book. Her family runs the ranch and back when Doo (Doo Little Lynn) was still alive, he would go around visiting and getting drunk with the campers.

They have cabins and campsites at the ranch, Loretta performs here regularly, and they hold a large motocross event every year. I broke two of my mugs so the next time I head to Texas I'll be stopping in for a replacement.

A burning sensation

Yesterday my ipod was on my side and took me on a magically magnificent run. Today, that wasn't the case. It wasn't a terrible run but it also wasn't awesome like yesterday. I would have thought that the weather was perfect today. It was sun shiny and only a few degrees cooler. Sun shiny equals dry which equals me hacking for the rest of the day.

Also, the necklace that I've been wearing has a little brass charm and a little copper charm. These little charms seem to always find there way around my ear buds and since I clip my nano to my collar, the charms were also hitting the screen and changing the songs. Then, as I started mile 3, I could hear my right ear bud crackling and felt the charms bouncing around on that side. Then I caught a wiff of something burning. That's when I decided to cut the run off at two miles. I also decided that I would no longer wear my new necklace while on a run. I still don't know what was burning. The ear bud still works fine, my bandanna doesn't show any discoloration, and as far as I know my hair is all there.

Weezer Pool

I had a fantastic run today. The weather is in the mid 50's so for the first time in a long time I got to ditch my pants and wear a skirt to run in. I love running skirts! My friend Shannon thinks that they are a hideous fashion faux pas, but I think they are hands down the most comfortable thing to run in. Getting to wear my awesome skirt also meant getting re-acquainted with an old friend, Body Glide. Another great product that I love. I did 4 miles in around 40 minutes. It was a 4/1, run/walk repeat. I had an entire press full of coffee shortly before my run which I'm sure didn't hurt. Another thing on my side this morning was my ipod. As soon as I stepped out the door, Drowning Pool's Bodies began to play. Something about screaming and violent lyrics really gets me in the mood to pound some pavement. I pushed the last half mile in hopes of reaching the 4 mile mark before my last set was over. I ended the last 4 min stint in 3:36. I had a little help from Weezer's Buddy Holly. A feel good song about two people being shot at and losing their shoes is always a favorite. I'd like to say that I'm a hard core rock fan and that everything I listen to is deep and soulful, but that's not true at all. It's shameful, but Miley Cyrus's Party In The USA can get me moving every time. And just about anything by Lady Gaga (yet another thing that Shanon hates) is a must have on my playlist.

What gets you moving?

Confesional Friday

It's that time again! I don't have a whole lot to confess this week. I didn't get in as many runs as I should have, but I did get in a 7 miler yesterday. It wasn't a great run, but I got it done. That rhymed!

On the flip side, yesterday was a really good one. We found out that Nationwide is indeed on our side. It will only cost $100, they are coming today to pick the car up and they have already provided us with a rental car. Another good thing to happen yesterday was that my daughter popped my yoga ball with a thumb tack. Why is this a good thing? My other one was at least 6 years old and I had been wanting a new one anyway. The popping of the old ball conveniently coincided with the arrival of a cash containing birthday card from my mom. So voila! A new yoga ball for me! It has drawings of different core exercises around the middle. I'm particularly proud of this move that I have perfected. You start in the plank position and then roll up to kind of a down dog position. It makes my entire core really sore (another rhyme!).

My long run yesterday wasn't the greatest. Half way in, my stomach was telling me that it didn't want to be there. Maybe it was the french press full of coffee that I drank all by myself, or maybe it was the Chinese take out from the night before. Either way, there was a lot of walking.

How was your week?

Where I've been continued...

I had a great birthday. I had been thinking that the weather was going to be ugly, but it turned out to be a beautiful day. So the whole fam damiley and I went out to Linville North Carolina to Grandfather Mountain State Park.

We started out on hwy 421 headed toward Boone from Statesville. That's where we picked up the Blue Ridge Pkwy and we headed to Linville. Parts of the Pkwy have been closed due to dangerous road conditions, as is usual this time of year. The picture in top left corner of this blog is the most beautiful, most advertised, and most closed section of the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was warm, and I was hopeful that this section would be open today, but it wasn't. Oh well. We made a photo op of that same piece of roadway, but from the bottom side.
Grandfather Mountain costs $30 dollars to get in to. I'm not a fan of things I have to pay for, but this place does have some great things to offer. The views were some of the most amazing that I've seen in that area.
Another bit of bang for your buck is the CD tour that you are given upon entry to the park. As you drive forward they tell you where to start your disc. It was cool.
We made our way up the mountain through hairpin turns, past cliff side views. We had one objective. Mile High Suspension Bridge. When we finally reached the top, and to say that it was windy was an understatement. The wind was insane! They clock the winds on the bridge (the one that we were about to walk across) every hour and today they clocked at 57 mph. We intended to take the kids with us on the bridge, but after we went across the parking lot we decided to go one at a time while one person stayed in the gift shop with the kids.











In the above picture I'm showing the bridge who's boss. It was awesome. It's high, super windy, cold... it could have more swingy and unstable, but it was still really cool.

Two cool "Did you knows?" about Grandfather Mountain-

• Many car commercials have been filmed on the hairpin turns leading to the top of the mountain.
• One of the turns is named after Forest Gump. You know the running scene when people first begin to fallow forest? Well, that 's Grandfather Mountain.

• The mountain facilities run on solar power and re distribute the excess back out into the grid.

We did hit one sour note on our little day trip. As we were getting back into the car after our adventure on the bridge, a big gust of 50+ mph wind ripped the car door out of my husbands hands, causing it to pop as it flung backwards. We now have one business day for a claims adjuster to let us know if Nationwide really is on our side.

All in all, it was a great day.

Were I'm Going

It's my birthday today! This means that today the whole family does whatever I want to do! It also means that I pretty much get the day off of parenting.

My husband had suggested getting a sitter and going out tonight, but I wasn't in the mood to pay $40+ just to have a few beers. Instead we are headed to the mountains, because I LOVE MOUNTAINS! The last time that we went to Grandfather Mountain (just outside of Boone, NC) with the in laws, it was closed. It's a beautiful day today so we're giving it another try. I hear there is an awesome suspension bridge to walk across. I am also taking my running clothes with me. It's on my list to run through the mountains. I think it will be therapeutic.

Also! I have the best husband in the world! My birthday present from him was being entered into the Chicago marathon. Registration opened yesterday and he secretly signed me up. He even had to get into my email, forward all the registration confirmations to his email and then delete them from my inbox. He turns 30 next month. I need to start working on something great for him.

I'll re-post later with some pics from grandfather mountain!