Not even close.....Bud

For the month of February, I set a goal of 45 miles to run. I'm not even close. Bud.

As of today, I have 20.3. :(  I did put in 3.5 today, and will put in another 3.5 tomorrow. I'm disappointed, but I'm not giving up. I'm setting 45 miles for my March goal.
There is also a race in March that I would like to run. It's the  St. Paddy's Day  5k/8k run/walk to benefit the Special Olympics. It's downtown Chicago and being run on March 20th. I've already requested the day off from work, so I really have no excuse not to run it. I'm just afraid to run it.

^FEAR

Function:
verb
Meaning:
1 [+ obj] : to be afraid of (something or someone)
2 [+ obj] : to expect or worry about (something bad or unpleasant)
3 [no obj] : to be afraid and worried
4 [+ obj] : to feel respect and wonder for something very powerful ▪ fear God

 I haven't had much time to work on my outdoor runs, and I'm afraid I won't finish. Give me a treadmill, and I'm good to go. Outdoor runs, are still by far the hardest for me. I recently downloaded the Bridge to 10K app to help me along the way with my outdoor runs but time, kids and coldness have put a stop on my outdoor training. Soooooo, for the month of March I'm also setting a goal of at least 10 outdoor runs of at least 3.5 miles. I have until March 17th (also known as my wedding anniversary) to register for this race. If I cannot run 3.5 outside by then, I'm not wasting the money to register. wish me luck! 

Date change!!!

Well, I was set out to run the Chicago half Marathon on June 4th of this year. Turns out there's two Chicago 1/2 marathons. The 1/2 on June 4th is not the race I thought it was. Dumb. The Chicago 1/2 marathon I want to run is August 14th! This is the race that I will be running. I guess it's good, gives me a little more time to train, but it's also bad, it's a lot hotter here in August! I do not like being hot.


The race on August 14th is the popular Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half . This looks like a good time! I'm a little relieved to have more time to train...I need it!  It also gives me more time to convince Ken to get a hotel room race weekend!! Race starts at 6:30 am. That's waaaay early. If I were to drive to the race, I'd have to leave by 4:30 to find parking....no fun. A little weekend in Chicago sounds very fun in my book right about now~

Running is like a box of chocolates...

 You never know what you're gonna get. Hard run, easy run, mediocre run, boring run, fun run, loooooong run. Yesterday it was 40* here in Chicago land. That's flip flop weather! I got home from church, put on my shoes and set out to run outside. My first outside run in a while. I learned a few things on this run.

1. Wind- it can be your friend or your foe. Running against it is hard. Running with it is easy! I like running with the wind, it pushes me ever so gently. :)
2. Hills- hills suck. the end.
3. My new shoes rock! No pain during my run made it so much  more enjoyable.
4. My fitbit is my new best friend. More on this little gadget to come. I love this thing and will never stop wearing it.
5. This blog is pretty much what I thought of while running. What will I say next? When will I get a chance to update? Will anyone let me try out there gadgets?? please?
6. Speaking of gadgets- I need sunglasses. Where does one go to get running sunglasses??
7. Back to those hills, I need to get outside more if I plan on finishing the Bunny Rock in April. those puppies were tough yesterday!

I ran 3 miles and didn't die! The first 10 minutes in I wanted to give up-but I didn't and I am happy that I just kept going. I passed my house at the halfway point and I said I could stop, but I didn't, I knew I would be angry with myself if I didn't keep going-so I did just that. I kept going. I thought of my friend, Mary, who had just said she had  her best run ever. She ran 9 miles. All at once! Wow!!  is all I thought, I cannot wait til I can say I ran 9 miles. She really kept me going. Thanks Mary!

Hard run

wow. that. was. hard.
Back from the good ol' gym. I never went last night. I wasn't feeling well. I was actually asleep by 9:30. So this morning, my plan was to get the 3 big kids off to school, bundle up Anni and hit the gym. hard. My intentions were warm up, run 20 minutes, walk 1 minute, run 20 minutes, walk 1 minute, run 20 minutes and cool down. yea well intentions were good, but it didn't happen. I'm not sure if it's because I only had an apple and coffee for breakfast or if it's because I'm still not feeling well but I only mustered 1.5 miles.

I was waiting, hoping the kid room would call me down to get Anni cause she pooped or was crying. nope. didn't happen. So I stopped the treadmill and sat in the sauna for 15 minutes and watched the old wrinkly, short, chubby men in speedos walking around the pool area. There's always tomorrow to add to those 45 miles this month, right?

Training, or lack there of

In January, according to my handy dandy runkeeper.com gizmo thingy on my iphone, I ran a total of 41.3 miles for the month. The over achiever that I try to be, set up a goal of 45 miles for the month of February. How many miles do I have you ask? This, the 8th day into the month: Two. Two measly stinkin miles. Why? I have four kids. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. 4 kids who each have their own type of activity that needs to be done. Yes, even my baby Anni, has an activity every week. I have four kids, who always seem to be sick lately. It started with Andrew, my oldest. Headache, high fever, body aches. Thankfully no puke or butt pees. Just fever and headache. Then came the SNOMG of 2011. The BLIZZARD of 2011. We were stuck in  the house for two days. My poor Abbi was sick then. The healthy kids played in the snow, while my little Abbi laid  on the couch, unable to move. Thankfully I bought Just Dance 2 for the Wii. That is by far the best arm workout I've done in a while! whew- Finally kids go back to school, and I can get my run on!! yeeeee Got 2 miles in, then got called to the kid room at the gym cause someone pooped in their pants (insert eye roll here) darn those babies that don't know how to go poo poo on the potty yet, don't they know momma's gotta get her run on? Oh well. 2 miles is 2 miles, I'll take it. I'm all set to go to the gym this morning, and wouldn't you know it, the same baby who poops in her pants is now sick. :( my poor little honey. You know she's sick when she passes out on the couch watching Caillou.

  So no gym this morning. The 45 miles for February ain't looking too good. Unless I suck it up and go to the gym tonight once my beloved husband gets home from getting our taxes done. I swear if we owe Uncle Obama anything this year, I'll scream. I have no idea how the unemployment or lack of jobs last year will effect the outcome of our return. We usually get a pretty penny back. This year, I'm afraid. very very afraid. I might just need to get my run on tonight, to let go of the aggravation of the outcome. We'll see.

I see I'm rambling again. I do that a LOT.

I do not like working out at night. I like to be home with my kids and Ken. I like getting things ready for the next day. I like sitting on my butt on my very comfy couch not doing anything. I like my workouts during the day. This gives me an excuse to NOT do laundry, empty the dishwasher, sweep the floors..."Whys the house look like a tornado hit it honey?" "Oh, I was at the gym all day, didn't get to that yet!" If I don't go to the gym during the day, that means I must clean house-booooooo.

Tonight tho, like I said, I might just suck it up and run a few miles. Gotta add to that mileage before this month flies by

A new beginning~

So, here I am day 1 of the rest of my life. I'm setting up this blog to track my progress and let whomever (or is it who ever) wants to, come along for the ride! My hope for this blog is help. I hope it helps me stay accountable to my training. Training for what you ask? The Chicago 1/2 marathon on June 4th, 2011.

First, a little bit about me. I'm Sue. Just Sue. Not Susan, Susie, honey, sweetie, darling. None of that. Some call me mom, or mommy, or even momma. Sometimes I'm even called bitch. I'm not upset with that name, because quite frankly, I am a bitch! I'm  a believer in Christ, a mom, a wife, a daughter, a friend. and a runner.

I've never written a blog before. I had a hard enough time writing papers in high school. The thought of writing a blog in the past scared me! I have no idea how to write, I sometimes don't know how to spell, and puncuation??? forgetaboutit-I suck at puncuation!!!!!!!!!!! I love the exclamation point. I always overuse it. Maybe it's beacuse I'm always so happy and chipper and EXCITED! Maybe it's because I just don't know what else to use. I don't know. I do know I'm getting away from what this blog is about. running. running.....r u n n i n g. Like writing, I've never been good at running. In grammar school and high school, it took me 35 minutes to reach a mile. I hated running. I remember in 8th grade we had a track meet and I was supposed to run one whole track, allll the way around. No way. I slept in. My team kept calling me and calling me. Finally I got up and went. I ran. People cheered. I have never run so fast or so hard in my life. I thought I was going to die. We still lost that meet even tho I ran so fast and so hard. My body cramped and hurt and I was full of sweaty grossness. I swore to myself from that day on I would NEVER run again. And I didn't

I never ran again after that meet, until after the birth of my 3rd child. My sweet Allison. I looked at a picture of myself and thought, "OH my god, I am soooooooo fat!" I was disgusted! I could not believe how heavy I had gotten. I swore I was going to do something about it. My husband, Ken, and I joined the  gym in March of 2007. At that time, it took me 20 minutes to complete a mile. Again, I thought I was going to die. I didn't. I kept going. By May of 2007 I was able to run, yes actually run, a half mile. I was so proud of myself! It took me 4 minutes and 27 seconds. The total length of Moby's "Lift me up" radio edit song. I was soooooo proud of myself. I said I can do this and was determeined to get to a mile by July.

May 6th 2007. Day before my 30th birthday.  My dad, my brother my baby Allison (who had just turned 1) and I, went to a small little airport about 45 minutes away from the house. I put on a blue jumpsuit, jumped in a little propeller plane, strapped myself  in front of an instructor and juuuuuuuuuummmmppppedddddddd!  It was truly the greatest feeling in the world. floating, watching the earth. seeing my family waving at me. and then we landed. well, we crashed. I was smooshed between the earth and 220 pound man. We slid. I hurt. I cried. Ken was right. Something bad happened. I cried some more. The ambulance came. My dad said it was the biggest ambulance he had ever seen. I was loaded up. Transported to a hospital. Turns out I dislocated my hip. My right hip. I was sad. There would be no way I could get to my mile by July.

I recovered. I took it slow. My ortho doc, Doc. Lee said I could pick up running again, but to let my body tell me when to stop. By December, I was running again. I was able to finish that Moby song again. I was happy, again!

Fast forward to June 2008. My brother got married. I was running a whole 6 months by then. Still struggling to get to a mile tho. But I was running. 3 times a week. for 20 minutes at the gym. I had rock star legs! I was sooooo proud of my legs. I was still heavy, but I was able to wear a nice sexy little black dress to the wedding and not look like a whale (at least I thought so).  After the wedding I continued to run and finally was able to reach a mile and a quarter-woooooo hoooooo!

Then WHAM! BFP. bfp. bf to the mother effing p. I was pregnant. How the heck that happened, to this day I still do not know. Well, I know how it happened, I just don't know how it happened. We were done having babies after Allison. Now here I am pregnant with #4. I've always wanted 4 and now I have them. Thank you God! running was put on hold yet again. I still hit the gym, did the stepper, walked and did a little running, but with my busted hip and a little being growing inside, it wasn't easy, or comfortable. I will say this. I was lean. I had a big belly, but I also had a  great ass (cue Al Pacino, please). May 2009 my 3rd baby girl was born. My little Annelise finished off our family. As soon as she was 3 months old, we hit the gym. I started running. again. and again, it was hard. again, I thought I was going to die. I didn't.

Wow, took a minute to proof read.....this is getting long. Have I lost everyone already? Please don't leave. I promise to wrap this up-quickly.

I love my gym. We're members to Lifetime Fitness. I swear a person could live in this place. It has everything. I love it. love it love it love it. In April of 2010. Ken lost his job. We had to give up the gym. I was sad. again. How would I continue to run? Where would I go? What would I do? Ken suggested running outside. I looked at him like he was nuts. "Are you crazy?" I asked. Running outside is hard. hard, and people driving by can see you. I did not want to run outside, but I also didn't want to stay fat. So I started the C25K. Oh em geeee. I thought I was going to die. I didn't. I sucked it up, and kept going. I once got chased by a dog. I once wasn't watching my steps and stepped in a nice pile of horse shit. Highlight of my day that was, really. I once ran after a thunderstorm. It was the greatest run I had ever had. It was cool, misting, and God was putting on a great light show off in the distance for me. I ran 2.1 miles that night and felt freakin awesome.

Present day. February 8th, 2011. We're back in the gym cause Ken, the great guy that  he is, got up and got himself a jobby job. I'm back to running. I even got a new pair of runners. I got the Asics Kayano 16s from DNA Athlectics in Crest Hill. I love them. They're pink. I love them, they cushion my feet. I love them because I ran 2 miles the other day and I didn't realize I had gone that far already. I love them because now I am commited to this running game. June 4th of this year is the Chicago 1/2 marathon. I'm training for this race. Right now as it stands I can run 3.1 miles in 35 minutes. Back in 8th grade, I woulda died. Today, I can do it and you know what? I can run 13.1 miles in June, too. You know why? Cause I suck it up and run!