So you want to be crazy like me?

Someone asked in the comments for tips on how to get into running, and I thought that would make a fun post!

Disclaimer: Please don't start any new workouts without checking with your doctor and I am not a licensed fitness professional.


I wasn't always a runner, in fact I could barely finish the mile in the maximum allotted time in high school. I just kind of fell into running because it was good cardio conditioning for martial arts. When I was big into Tae Kwon Do and sparred all the time, we had 3 two minute rounds in tournaments, so I needed some serious conditioning to not get winded during that. Running was a perfect way to build that endurance.

In my opinion, running is hands down the hardest cardio workout you can do. You have to keep your heart rate elevated for a long period of time and it's a high impact workout that can take a toll on your joints.

1. Start slowly. I hear great things about the Couch to 5K program but I think if you're already fairly fit from doing other workouts, it wouldn't take you 9 weeks to get ready to run 3.1 miles. Remember that rest days are your friend and that running is too hard on your body to do every day.
2. Drop the "all or nothing" attitude: Running is a lot like yoga. There are going to be poses you can't do (or hills you can't run) and there might be days when you can. Whether it's dropping down to child's pose in yoga or taking a walk break on a run, it doesn't mean your workout doesn't count or you should give up. Everyone has bad run days!
3. Invest in some gear. Don't go nuts and buy tons of stuff that you probably don't need yet, but don't start running without good shoes and socks. If you can, go to a running store and get fitted for running shoes. Yes, a good pair of running shoes is usually 100 bucks, but it's cheaper than a knee replacement. For socks, I recommend Thorlos for preventing blisters.
4. Set a goal: Find a race to enter or set a time goal (like lowering your mile time). I find that it's much easier to motivate yourself to get out there and run (even in icky conditions) if you have a race on the horizon.
5. Find a buddy: Maybe it's your spouse, maybe it's a coworker, or maybe it's even your dog, but running with someone else is a fun way to challenge yourself. Nothing is more motivating to get faster than to run with someone who is faster than you! Also, chatting while running makes the miles fly by. Well, maybe not so much with your dog. People will look at you strangely if you chat with your dog while running.

I think the most important tip is to be consistent. Once you get in shape, it's much easier to maintain it than it is to get back in shape. You don't have to workout every day, but don't go for more than 2 weeks without hitting the treadmill or the pavement.

If you are training for your first half, I recommend this training plan, it's designed for 1st timers and it's very popular for a reason!

Does anyone have any tips to add?


What was your first race? I did a Turkey Trot 5K when I was 20 and it was on the grass and I'm pretty sure it wasn't exactly 3.1 miles because I finished in 22 minutes. :)

Running on the grass made me feel like a horse

Baby bath time!

Ever since Faith has been crawling around, she gets really dirty. Before I used to give her a bath just for the sake of routine, but now she actually needs it. I only bathe her every other day or else she gets dry skin, but I think she'd like a daily bath so she can splash Mommy and chew on her rubber ducky.

The key to a happy bath time is lots of toys

It's so hard to say goodbye to rubber ducky at the end of bath time

I hope you don't think I'm going to let you put clothes on me

Empty lotion bottle? I LOVE empty lotion bottle!

I've been playing with this bottle and I didn't even notice that  Mommy put clothes on me

Getting the kid dressed has turned in a full blown cardio activity for me lately. She does these crocodile-like death rolls and squirms to crawl away and do something more fun than getting dressed. I have a select few items (like the stupid lotion bottle) that capture her attention and let me put a diaper on her without me having to break a sweat.

I remember when Faith was younger how I'd give her a baby massage after her bath, but now I'm lucky to slap some lotion on her as she scoots on by on her way to play. I guess a relaxing baby massage has no place in the life of an energetic almost 9 month old baby. :)

Today is a rest day for me from exercise and I'm pretty glad. My legs are really tired (but not sore?) if that makes sense. I need to do some research on how to taper correctly since that starts next week.

Faith slept in again today until 6:45 and if this is her new thing, I'm going to be very happy. :) That extra hour of sleep is fantastic, plus our day doesn't seem so long when we start it after the sun comes up a little.


Did you watch the Oscars last night? I saw a little bit of the red carpet show on E!, but none of the actual show.

10 + 12 = 20?

After yesterday's failed attempt at getting 20 miles done, I headed back out today to try to add more miles to my weekend. I didn't have a set goal other than running at least 10. I have never done a long run after a semi-long run, so this was uncharted territory.

I drove up the road out of neighborhood and parked a few miles up from my neighborhood. I did that because the strip leading out from my neighborhood only has a ditch next the road, so running on that is pretty dangerous.

As I started out, my legs felt pretty good. After about .5 mile, a cop car passed me and slowed down a LOT. I was worried that I was somehow breaking some sort of law (maybe running with headphones is illegal in MD? I have no clue), but the car kept going. Then a state trooper car came by and did the same thing. As I came around the corner, I saw both of the cars pulled over with their lights flashing. I was thinking "Well, this is overkill for a headphone issue" as I saw both the cops get out of their cars. Then the cops walked out into a farm field and I could see one of them draw his weapon. Then I heard a gun shot! I was a little freaked out to run by since I was imaging some sort of COPS-esque shoot-out, but as I ran I saw a deer on the ground. I felt better to know that's what they were doing, but it's still sad to see an animal die.

As I hit mile 2, I started to really feel those 10 miles I ran yesterday. My quads ached like they do at the end of a long run. I hit a bunch of hills and that really didn't help the pain in my legs. At least it was a fatigue pain and my ankle felt great!

As I was coming back to where my car was parked, I freaked out because I couldn't see it and I thought it had been towed. Luckily, I was just being silly and it was still there. :)

I was going to go further (in my mind before I started running), but I'm happy with getting 12 miles done on tired legs.

Mile 1: 8:52 (fueled by cop drama)
Mile 2: 9:07
Mile 3: 9:32 (this is when I began to question my own sanity)
Mile 4: 9:33
Mile 5: 9:23
Mile 6: 9:29 (Gu)
Mile 7: 9:25
Mile 8: 9:26
Mile 9: 9:12
Mile 10: 9:11
Mile 11: 9:00 (I thought I was almost back to my car, hence the faster pace)
Mile 12: 9:01

Total time: 1:51 (average 9:16/mile)

I came home and drank about 8oz of chocolate 2% milk (for the question of what I eat post-run) and I'll probably drink 20oz of Gatorade later since it was warmish (55 degrees) for my run and I sweat a lot. I don't really worry about eating back all the calories I burned today, it will all even out and I just eat to my appetite level, which usually means I won't be really hungry until tonight or tomorrow.

Faith is spoiling us because she let us sleep in until 6:40am this morning. Then she took a long nap while I was gone running, so my husband didn't have to deal with too much baby craziness.

Apparently Columbia makes baby coats and they are adorable

I'm probably going to take Faith for a walk later today since it's so warm (for February) and maybe go grocery shopping. I might put that off until tomorrow!

I'm pretty pooped from running 10 miles yesterday and 12 today, so hopefully it's going to count as my 20 mile run. The marathon is 2 weeks from today!

I plan on relaxing tonight with my husband and watching TV and probably going to bed early. I lead such a wild life! :)

Does your dog sleep in idiotic positions like this?

Why running is a humbling sport

I was all set to do my 20 mile training run this morning. I put out all my gear the night before like always:

Faith got us up at 5:30am like usual and I had a chocolate chip bagel with peanut butter for breakfast. I drove on base to do my run there, since there is a 10 mile loop that I could just do twice. I parked at the drill hall (military talk for gym) and hit the bathroom and then set off on my run.

From the start, it wasn't going well. I got a weird cramp in my lower abdomen and that lasted about 2 miles and then I got a side stitch that lasted another 3. It was a beautiful day to be running and I was on the water (with bald eagles soaring overhead like a postcard), so I was trying to just keep going and hope things got better. Then around mile 7 I started to feel pain in my left ankle. It was a new pain that I had never felt before and while it wasn't incapacitating, it was very uncomfortable.

Since I was running a loop and I was running on the shoulder, I was stuck running on kind of a slanted surface for most of the time. My left ankle started to really hurt on the inside part of my ankle and I had to make a hard decision. Do I keep going and do the loop again and potentially hurt myself or just call it a day and potentially screw myself over for the marathon?

I decided to do the smarter thing for my long term running and call it a day at 10 miles. I wasn't positive what was up with my ankle (I'm just guessing about the slanted road thing being the issue). I came home and took some Aleve and iced my ankle. It's feeling better now, so I think I was right about it being caused by the uneven roads and slanted shoulder. There are parts of the base that have a great flat shoulder, but by doing the loop I have to run on some uneven pavement.

I am more than willing to run through muscle fatigue and exhaustion, but if it feels like an injury or potential injury, I'm going to err on the side of caution. That's not to say that I wasn't extremely pissed off to have to cut my run short. This is the first time that I've ever not accomplished the distance I set out to do, even if that distance was just 4 miles. Luckily, I came home to a happy baby and supportive husband, so I'm in a much less pissy mood now. Otherwise this blog post would have a lot more cursing. :)

So the plan is this: Try to do a long run tomorrow. I'm not sure how I'll feel ankle-wise, so I'm just going to go as far as I can. Ideally, I can do 20 tomorrow. Realistically, I'm sure I'll be fine for the marathon if I can only manage a 10 mile run again tomorrow.Also, I just ordered a new pair of running shoes, just in case that was the issue. :)

Have you (or anyone you know) ever missed the last long run before a marathon and been fine or am I completely screwed if I don't make the full 20 tomorrow?


Anyone have any ankle pain tips?

A day in the life of Faith

Since some people might be interested (well, at least one person), I thought I'd share Faith's daily "schedule". I use that term loosely, but we do have a general order of things.

Note: Every baby is different and this is just what works at this moment for this particular baby.

• Faith begins the day usually by 6am and she drinks 6oz of formula
• Playtime from 6:15 to about 8am
• Nap time from 8-9am
• 7oz of formula at 10am
• Playtime!
• 1.5 servings of baby oatmeal at 11am
• Outfit change and playtime!
• Nap time from 11:30-12:30pm
• Play time!
• Jar of meat baby food at 2pm (sometimes 2-3 oz of formula too)
• Nap time from 2:30-3:30pm
• Playtime!
• Fruit/veggie baby food at 5pm
• Bathtime at 5:30pm
• Daddy time!
• 8oz of formula
• Bedtime between 6:30 and 7pm

Phew, I feel tired just writing that all out. So much playtime!As you can see, Faith is still taking 3 naps a day. A lot of other babies only take 2 naps by this age, but Faith marches to the beat of her own drummer. She's really good at independent play, which is usually when I blog (with my laptop in the playroom).

Nap times are harder than bedtime: the baby isn't as tired and often they don't want to stop playing. Not everyone may feel comfortable with my method, but I just change her diaper and put her in her crib and just walk away. Sure she cries, but not for long. I don't let her cry for more than 15 minutes and I can hear the difference in her cries, so I know if I need to go back there. The whole "cry it out" method is such a heated topic that I've never brought it up before, but yes, my dirty little secret is that I let Faith cry. Honestly, I think sometimes she just needs a good squawk before she can settle down. In Faith's ideal world, someone would hold her for every nap. :)

Nothing makes you have to pee more than holding a sleeping baby

Also, I don't usually wait for her to get sleepy for naps, I just put her in her crib after she's been awake for about 2 hours. If I wait too long, then she gets overtired and won't sleep for long.

Going out of the house can mess up her naps because she sleeps in the car, but I have found that as long as she gets that first nap, she's good to miss the middle nap. It really depends on the day, babies are like adults and have bad mood days too.

Car seat sleeping doesn't seem to be as restful as crib sleeping

I am not expert at baby sleep by any means, but if you were at all wondering what a day in the life of an 8 month old baby looks like, here you go!

Also, today is Faith's 2nd day of taking no reflux medications at all! Woohoo! :)

Everyone loves a quietly sleeping baby

For those with babies: Are they good nappers?
For those without babies: How much would you kill for 3 nap times a day?

Rest day shenanigans

Throughout this marathon training, Fridays have become a rest day filled with trepidation about the next morning's long run. I find that I enjoy rest days after a hard workout much more! It's hard to not think about how long 20 miles really is and how I'll be finding out how painful that will be tomorrow! I even dreamed that I ran a marathon last night. The best part was that in my dream I was sleep running and didn't wake up until mile 23. :) It made sense in my dream! Also, in my dream I finished the marathon in 4:14, even though I seemed to do the last 3 miles running circles in someone's living room (maybe I shouldn't eat chocolate right before bed?).

Faith and I are going to bring my husband a Chipotle lunch today. Faith loves visiting his office, especially if she can get anywhere near his keyboard.

This is the kind of fancy food blogging photo that I never take

Our other wild plans include me taking a nap when she does and possibly cleaning the house. Judging by the amount of crud that sticks to the baby's PJs when she's crawling around, it wouldn't hurt to clean the floors.

Hot yoga was great last night! My friend Abby came for the first time and we saw Roselyn there too (it was her first time too!). The class wasn't too packed and we listened to fun music like Madonna while we went through the flows.

My husband put Faith down for the night last night and I'm not exactly sure what he did, but she slept in until 6:30 this morning. That's the first time in 2 weeks she has slept past 5:30am! She also woke up in a really happy mood and hasn't fussed all morning. Maybe she prefers Daddy at bedtime? Maybe she's sucking up to me now so I won't make her have a Daddy bedtime again? :) Who knows!

This is Faith's latest shenanigans:

I feel the need for danger

Cords! I can chew on cords!

Quick! Before Mommy stops us!

So close to victory

My main activity when the baby is awake is trying to keep her away from things like this and then constantly moving her away from hazards (like the dog's water bowl and the air freshener plug ins). I think electrical cords will always be her favorite, at least until she realizes that her kitchen cabinet opening skills can lead to so much trouble.

Do you have any fun plans for the weekend?

The lunch of champions

Brown rice veggie sushi and a beautiful doughnut of the sprinkle variety

Alternative Post title: Reason #20394 that I don't post my daily eats (see that beautiful plating job?)


Subtitle: Why running out the grocery store to grab two things at lunchtime can lead to unusual meals.

*feel free to disregard this post and go on imagining me to be the type of blogger who has greek yogurt sprinkled with chia seeds and a banana for lunch.

Dogs and babies

Most days, Faith is this bunny

There are many things that Peanut is not good at (like being calm when anyone comes over or not making a huge mess), but she manages to tolerate Faith's antics. Before we had Faith, I would have never told anyone that Peanut is a good dog (unless I was defending her against my husband's accusations that she's the devil).

I like jumping on strangers

Peanut still has to be in her crate when we leave her alone and it hasn't been too long since she ate my cell phone. She is often an embarrassment to take out in public (if anyone makes eye contact with her, she just starts wiggling and acting like that person is her long lost real owner). She is a hound mix, so she's also very vocal. She's woken Faith up from a nap on more than one occasion.

Despite all of this, Peanut is a great dog to have with a baby. She is endlessly patient and calm and gentle around Faith. So when the day comes and my husband finally agrees to a second dog, how do I know if the next dog will be as good with Faith as Peanut? My first choice would be to find another dog about the same age as Peanut, but the thought of introducing an unknown element to the house is scary (so I guess I know why my husband hasn't said yes yet)!

These are the kind of thoughts I have while running. :) I did an easy 4 miles with 2 other women in my neighborhood. I'm so proud of one of the women. She's like 17 weeks pregnant and pushes her 4 year old and she is rocking these runs! I want to be like her the next time I'm pregnant.

Tonight is hot yoga! I'm excited because my IT bands are pretty tight from all the running I've been doing and hot yoga always helps. I need to use my foam roller more often, right now it's become more of a baby toy than anything else. :)

The Marine Corps Marathon is at 90% capacity, so if you're on the fence about running it, just do it!

My baby is a Gerber junkie

I can list reasons why I don't make baby food: it's a lot of trouble and mess, it takes up time, and it doesn't really save that much money, etc. The real reason why I rarely make baby food is that Faith doesn't like anything I make. The only thing she's tolerated so far has been sweet potatoes. If I open a Gerber container, she'll plow right through it and want to lick the container at the end! She'll eat this other kind (Earth something or other), but not with the same level of Gerber enthusiasm. It doesn't matter what flavor the Gerber food is (even things like spinach and potatoes blended together, yuck), she'll eat it.

Yesterday I tried to give her the chicken that I made. It took forever to make the chicken and the whole pureeing process was just gross. She loves the Gerber chicken and turkey, so I figured she'd like what I made as well. Wrong.

She spit out any homemade chicken that slipped into her mouth and clamped her lips shut. I have no idea why, my stuff was the same texture and consistency as the Gerber (well, mine is less gelatinous), but she wanted nothing to do with it. Now I have 4 more servings of the homemade stuff in the freezer and a baby who won't eat it. My mom told me to add a little ketchup and then she'd probably eat it, so I might actually try that. Sounds better than throwing it away!

I taped her eating the chicken, but then she threw up in protest (what, your baby can't throw up on command?) so that wasn't exactly blog material. After she threw up and I cleaned her up, I gave her some pasta to try to settle her stomach and get her to eat something.

You can see in this video that she is still displeased with me. Actually, I've been getting this a lot lately, I bet I'm not getting a good year end review.




Anyone have any tips on getting Faith to branch out from Gerber products? I have a strong premonition that she's going to be one of those toddlers who only eats three foods!

Marine Corps baby

Yay, Mommy got into the Marine Corps Marathon!

I'm trying to look tough

How cute is Faith's little Marine jumper? Yes, she is wearing ballerina socks with it, isn't that what all Marine in training babies wear?

So the event organizers were sneaky and opened up the registration about 15 minutes early, so by the time noon rolled around, I was like the 18,000 person to register! I actually think the website is down for now due to the high volume. I'm so excited that I'm going to be running this race! The race shirt looked really nice, so I ordered mine in my husband's size (since he deserves a nice shirt for all the hours of baby care he puts into my marathon training). If I end up going to the race expo, I'll probably get a hat for myself or something like that. :)

Faith and I (and Peanut of course) had a nice 6 mile run this morning. I ran part of the way with a neighbor friend and I actually forgot to grab my Garmin on the way out the door. It was nice to just run and not worry about pace and mile splits. I just went by RPE (rate of perceived exertion) and I had no problem feeling like I was really working hard. My heart rate gets so much higher running with the stroller than it does when I run alone!

I finally remembered to buy flour at the store, so I think I'm going to make some bread sticks to go with dinner tonight. Making bread is one of those things that I avoid doing because of the mess, but once I do it, I love eating the end product!

Do you like making your own bread, or do you always buy it?

Sitting on the edge of my seat

Registration for the Marine Corps Marathon opens in just 5.5 hours! Even if I'm sitting with a screaming baby on my lap, I plan on trying to get in right at noon. :) I'm also thinking about running with a charity, but the time commitment of training combined with raising money seems daunting.

The highlight of my day yesterday was watching Qaddafi's speech (if you don't know what I'm talking about, you're missing out) It was such classic Qaddafi, from the rambling and threats to the Bedouin garb. I did my master's thesis on charismatic leadership with Qaddafi as my main case study, so after that I almost feel like I know him. He is my favorite dictator: all female bodyguards, the crazy outfits, the tents when he travels...that's only the tip of the iceberg! I think Fareed Zakaria summed it up the best: "I think he is on drugs"

My favorite Lionel Ritchie impersonator

Do you think the Libyan people know that Justin Beiber's new haircut was a more popular news item yesterday than their struggles against tyranny?

I wasn't able to run outside yesterday, so I did my four mile run on the treadmill instead. Today looks like better weather, so I'm planning on doing my 6 miles outside with the baby and dog. Other than that, I have no plans for today. I was going to go grocery shopping at the commissary, but they are doing some kind of massive security drill on base today. They are even telling people who work on base not to go out to lunch because of the hassle of trying to get back on base, so that's enough for me to hold off on my shopping. :)

I made pureed chicken for Faith last night and I never realized how awful that would smell. Hopefully she likes the homemade stuff because she can't eat those little jars fast enough! I thought the jars were gross because it looked and smelled like cat food, but after I made my own pureed chicken, that looked and smelled like cat food too.

Maybe if I made the chicken with some seasoning (I didn't use any), it wouldn't smell so bad? I'm not sure when I should introduce any seasoning to Faith. I know all of her baby food that I buy is unseasoned. I don't really see why I can't season it a little, but I'm not willing to risk an upset baby stomach to test that theory!

Wish me luck getting a MCM bib today!

The ABCs of me

I've seen this floating around the blog world, and I thought it would be fun to do!



A: Age: 27

B: Bed size: Queen, even though I think we should have gotten a king size since my husband is too tall for the bed.

C. Chore you hate: Emptying the dishwasher. It's endless!

D. Dogs: Best pet ever (other than a horse, which really isn't a "pet"). I'd love to have more than one!

E. Essential start to your day: Getting something to drink. I'm a mouth breather at night, so I wake up super thirsty!

F. Favorite color: I like pink stuff, but purple is ok too :)

G. Gold or silver: I only like to wear silver. I do like the idea of stockpiling gold though.

H: Height: 5'5

I: Instruments that you can play: Violin, piano, flute and the recorder (I wonder whatever happened to my recorder? Do they still make kids use those nowadays?)

J: Job title: Trophy wife and baby bitch

K: Kids: One so far, but planning on more if nature allows!

L: Live: Southern MD, or as I like to call it, the middle of nowhere

M: Mom's name: Christine

N: Nicknames: None. If you can actually pronounce my name correctly, that's almost like a nickname.

O: Overnight hospital stays: When I had Faith and later that week when she was getting treatment for her jaundice.


P: Pet peeve: I have so many, but today my top pet peeve is when grown women want to be a "princess" on their wedding day (can you tell I've been watching TLC today?)

Q: Quote from a movie: "Do or do not. There is no try" Oh yeah, that's a Stars Wars reference. I'm a huge nerd.

R: Righty or lefty: Right handed, like all the non-freaks

T: Time you wake up: Whenever my short chubby little boss says so.

U: Underwear: Yes, you must wear it.

V: Vegetables you dislike: Peas gross me out

W: What makes you run late: I usually blame the baby, but the real reason is the internet.

X: X-rays: I've had a ton. I'm clumsy.

Y: Yummy food you make: I greatly enjoy when I take the time to make pizza dough from scratch.

Z: Zoo favorite animal: Tapirs. How can you not enjoy seeing such a funny looking animal?

I included this picture mainly for my own amusement

This totally reminds me of those emails that people send around when they are bored at work. :) Try it out, it's fun!

Book review and Marine Corps Marathon 2011?

I just finished reading this book yesterday and I loved it. I don't say that too often, so you know it has be good. I feel like I've read a ton of WWII fictions, but I've never read one from the perspective of a German woman. This book is incredibly well researched and it feels like the author is telling a personal story, rather than fiction.

When I first started reading, I was irritated at the two narrator format. Normally, I get tied up in one of the stories and I find it jarring to switch to another time and place, but in this book, it worked.

This is one of those books that is hard to put down and when you're not reading it, you find yourself thinking about it. I even read it while I was taking an ice bath after my 18 mile run on Saturday and it was so engrossing that I stayed in the ice water for 2 extra minutes (which is like 30 minutes of normal time!) I really need find/form a book club so I can sit around and talk about great books like this one (and eat tasty food...that's what people do at book clubs, right?)

Also, in other news, Faith has decided that she isn't going to let Mommy brush her hair anymore. I guess she prefers the wild look?

I want a mohawk!

Yesterday it was in the mid-50s in the morning and ran outside in short sleeves. By the afternoon it was raining and the temperature dropped significantly. Now it's predicted to snow today! The chance of snow is only 10% during the morning, so I'm hoping to still fit in my morning run with the other women in my neighborhood. The BOB weather shields are still out of stock everywhere, so if anything is falling from the sky, I'm stuck inside on the treadmill today.

Registration for the 2011 Marine Corps Marathon opens on the 23rd (tomorrow) and I'm hoping to get a bib. I'm assuming registration opens at midnight tonight (but I'm going to check and confirm that) and since it usually fills up really quickly, I"m thinking I should get up and register tonight. The thought of waking up in the middle of the night to register for a race sounds more nuts to me than running 26.2 miles, but I've wanted to run this race for a long time, so I guess it's worth it. :)

The only downside would be that if when I finish my marathon on March 13th, I never want to run that far again! Well, I guess if I'm already registered, then I'll just have to suck it up. :P

Also, I just realized that my marathon on March 13th is on daylight savings, so not only do I have to get up early for the race, I also lose an hour! Woohoo :)

Reading any good books lately? I need to find another good one to read!

edited to add: The MCM registration opens at noon tomorrow, so no getting up in the middle of the night required!

Stink eye worthy

First for those who asked, here's where I got the picture frame from this morning's post! I really like the way it looks and it's a great way to display a bunch of related pictures. I think Target sells similar stuff, but I usually order anything like this from Amazon because I use up all the baby and husband patience with shopping in the grocery section of Target. :)

So onto the title of my post: one of my biggest pet peeves is irresponsible dog ownership, especially if it puts other people in danger. Invisible fences are popular in this neighborhood, even though they don't work all that well (in my opinion). There is this one house on the corner of my street that has this little mean beagle mix and a bigger Lab mix. The little dog has gotten out on 5 separate occasions and chased me nipping at my heels as I was running by. Today both the bigger dog and the little dog got out and ganged up on Peanut.

Luckily I had left Faith at home with my husband, so I was able to fully concentrate on getting the dogs away from Peanut (she is such a pansy). They were nipping at her and growling at me. A few carefully placed kicks (hey, I'm still using my kung fu!) and yells made the dogs change their mind and let us pass.

I went on my run (3.5 miles in 26:30!) and when I came back into the neighborhood, the dogs were still out. Judging by the cars in the driveway, lots of people were home, but I guess no one cared about the dogs enough to check on them. I ran Peanut home and then ran back to their house to talk to them (nicely) about their dogs getting out. I didn't mention that if it happens again, I'm calling Animal Control (threatening seems so un-neighborly) but that is what's going to happen. Luckily, their dogs didn't break the skin when they bit at Peanut, but I was still pretty pissed off. Hopefully it won't happen again!

Definitely stink eye worthy

I will kick your mean dog into next week

Faith's version:

Peanut is my buddy, don't mess with her!

Do you have this problem in your neighborhood? I grew up in a neighborhood with real fences and I never had this problem before living here.

A case of the Mondays

When Faith started squawking at 5:25am this morning, I did NOT want to get up. When are they going to come out with babies with snooze buttons? My husband has today off, so he just grunts and rolls over when she's crying (see this study if you want to know why). It's enough to make me wish we had a leaky faucet. :)

We had a relaxing Sunday yesterday. I ended up not running because my legs hurt so much from Saturday's run. I felt like I had gone to the gym and maxed out legs! I decided that even though most marathon plans call for a recovery workout the next day, this time I was going to listen to my aching body and just take a full rest day. I normally take Monday off, so I'm just going to run today instead.

We went to Target for groceries yesterday and even though Faith had just woken up from a long nap, she was Cranky Pants McGee in the store. It was the first time she has ever fussed in Target, so I guess that was a good streak for while. She passed out on the way home, but wouldn't even put her head back, so she slept like this:

You can't tell me how to sleep!

Check out my new picture frame for the front hallway:

You wouldn't believe what a pain in the a** this frame was to put pictures in.

Even though my husband has off from work today, he still has class tonight, so it'll be a solo night for Faith and I. At least we ordered pizza last night, so we can just have leftovers tonight. :)

Here's a random question for all you moms out there (and other smart people): How do you keep a crawling baby out of the dog's water bowl? I have to keep water down for Peanut at all times because her anti-seizure medicine makes her really thirsty. Faith seems to want to go swimming and since it's in the kitchen, she can get over there so fast on the smooth floors!

Also, what do you think Peanut would do if I put her in a swing? Something like this? :)

The Faith and Peanut show

Who needs baby toys when you have dog toys and a dog to play with?

Fire burning

We had some excitement on our street yesterday afternoon! The house up the street had a fire in the yard, which was scary because we still had wind gusts up to 50mph and we haven't had rain for a month or more, so everything is really dry.

The guy running up the street with a shovel is my husband :)

After about 20 minutes, the firetrucks finally showed up

It was pretty freaky seeing flames out of my window, even if it was across the street! I don't know what started the fire, but I'm betting it was either a smoker or a kid playing with matches. We've had a fire warning all week to not burn any leaves or anything, so it wasn't a purposeful fire that got out of control. While my husband helped control the fire, I stayed inside with the baby (it was so smoky outside!) and she had some prunes. She's having some "issues" and I was hopeful that prunes would do the trick.

It looked like she was eating BBQ sauce

After the fire was put out, we had a calm rest of the day. I made meatballs and we had pasta and meatballs for dinner. Once dinner was over, I was only able to stay awake about 45 minutes more before I had to go pass out in bed! The combination of the 18 mile run and the 4:45am wake-up call caught up with me. :)

Today has been uneventful so far. We went to church where Faith squealed during the sermon (normal) and then we came home and I made biscuits (and bacon for my husband) for breakfast. Faith had a new finger food, pasta!

Am I supposed to eat this?

Come on...throw that pasta on the floor

Yum! I like pasta!

I'm all dressed to run, so as soon as Faith finishes her oatmeal, we're all going to go for an easy 4 mile run. At least today isn't windy at all! After that, I have to go grocery shopping, but at least my husband agreed to go with me so I don't have to juggle the baby and all those groceries alone. :)


Have you ever seen a fire in your neighborhood before? Did you panic? (Make me feel better, I was like 5 minutes away from putting the baby in her car seat, lol)

Gone with the wind...and the hills!

I learned some important lessons on my 18 mile run today:

1. If there is a wind advisory stating that the wind is gusting up to 50mph, it will add a  new degree of challenge to your run.
2. If you haven't driven a road before, it's probably not a smart idea to run it.
3. 18 miles is no joke.

 Faith woke us up at the ungodly hour of 4:45am today, so by 6:45, I was ready to head out for the run. I drove to another neighborhood and did about 4.5 miles before meeting up with 2 other women from my running group. I did 6 miles with them and that's when the wind really started picking up.

My pace slowed down when I was running with the other women, but that's ok, because we were talking about things like Brazilian blowouts and other girly stuff and that makes the miles go by quickly.

Once I parted ways with the other two women, I decided to leave the neighborhood and run on the road, just for a change of scenery. I had never driven that way before, but I figured it would be fine and probably less boring than staying in the neighborhood. All I had to do was run 4 miles out and then turn around, how bad could that be?

Have you ever driven on those country roads that are so hilly that you almost feel like you're on a roller coaster when you're driving? The kind of hills that are hard to even walk up without leaning forward? That is exactly what this strip of road was like. For an added bonus, I had to run by a llama farm (and I think they smell worse than pigs, but better than chickens) and that smelled stayed with me for a while, thanks to the wind.

It was just hill after hill. I would run up one, only to see another right after it. Once I got to my turnaround point, I did a quick downward dog stretch because my hamstrings were on fire. I almost felt like crying because I knew I had to do all of those hills again on the way back. At least on the way out, I kept telling myself, "I'm sure it flattens out right around that corner" but I knew better on the way back. I think those last four miles were the most painful miles that I have done to date.

The wind was insane, and if I wasn't running a hill, I had a wind gust making me feel like I was running in place. I was in so much pain when I stopped running and drove home that the ice bath actually felt good.

Well, since you're probably tired of reading about my bitching and moaning, here are my mile times (the ones in bold are the ones I ran with the other women):

Mile 1: 8:59
Mile 2: 8:58
Mile 3: 9:01
Mile 4: 8:58
Mile 5: 9:11
Mile 6: 9:37 (Gu)
Mile 7: 9:49
Mile 8: 9:41
Mile 9: 10:01
Mile 10: 10:02
Mile 11: 9:18
Mile 12: 9:09 (Gu)
Mile 13: 9:09
Mile 14: 9:20
Mile 15: 9:03
Mile 16: 9:07
Mile 17: 9:02
Mile 18: 9:10

Total time: 2:47 (average pace 9:19)

My gluts are mad at me about the hills. I hardly ever run hills because it's so flat in the areas around my neighborhood and I usually do long runs in flat areas or by the water (which is also flat). Carrying the 20lb baby up and down the stairs is going to hurt! I took an ice bath for 15 minutes when I got home, so hopefully that will help. At least my 20 mile run next week will be flat because I have a route picked out that I've done before I know it's not hilly. :)

The good news is that I'm getting used to taking a Gu and the Camelbak worked out perfectly. I hardly even knew it was there and I didn't run out of water.

Is it hilly where you run, or do you try to avoid running hills (like me)?

You can bring a baby to a park...

But you can't make her smile! Faith was really good for her first park visit, she lasted 2 hours!

I felt like a creeper for taking a picture of a park

She was so overwhelmed by the noises of the other kids and the bright colors of the park that she just stared at the commotion for most of the time. I had her try the slide (with me holding her) and she liked that more or less and then she went in the baby swing a few times.

At first she really didn't like it

This is not cool Mommy

Then she started to warm up to it a little bit, but not enough to smile

I guess this is ok

The park was pretty crowded for a weekday and even though it's warm, it wasn't sunny. Faith got so pooped from the excitement that she fell asleep in the car and didn't even wake up when I brought her inside. She's still asleep now!

I was really impressed at how cool the playground was! They had little rock climbing walls and big boulders for the kids to play on, in addition to a high tech teeter totter. I totally want to go back there at night and play on the equipment myself. :)  I can't believe kids have obesity issues with such cool parks to play in, I never had rock climbing options in the parks of my childhood!

I have no plans for the rest of the day, other than probably dragging my husband out for a walk. Technically this is my rest day, but I don't count walking as exercise, at least not on a rare nice day in February. :)

Tomorrow I'm tackling 18 miles, wish me luck!


What was your favorite piece of playground equipment? I always liked the swings and the monkey bars!

Spring for a day

I guess that fat little rodent was right, huh? Maybe spring is coming early this year! The high today will be....wait for it....72 degrees! The high for Tuesday is 36, so we plan on fully enjoying today. :)

Does this little hat make my cheeks look big?

My husband has off today (he has every other Friday off because he works a compressed schedule), so it feels like the weekend has begun. Bonus, he has Monday off too, so it's even a long weekend!

This morning Faith is going for her first trip to the park with other kids. The women that I run with are bringing their kids to a local park and we're all going to meet up. Faith is too little to enjoy playing with the other kids, but she does like watching them play, and I'm pretty sure she'll like the baby swing.

I went to hot yoga last night and it was pretty awesome. I was so, so sweaty by the end and my arms are sore today! The class is cool because it has both beginners and other teachers take the class. Some of the instructors (who weren't teaching, but taking the class) got into some crazy poses last night that I only dream about doing one day. I knew I should have taken gymnastics as a kid! :)

What yoga move is one your bucket list? I really want to be able to do a handstand one day!

Is it beautiful weather where you are, or are you still stuck in winter?

It takes two to mango...

At the grocery store last weekend, I picked up a mango for Faith to try. I love mangoes, but I hardly ever buy them because they are so expensive. I figured it was worth it since it was for the baby :)

Last night I peeled and cut up the mango and my husband and I both tasted it...it was one of the best mangoes I have ever tried. Perfectly sweet and ripe! So I chopped it up, steamed it, and then pureed it. I gave Faith her first taste of mango this afternoon and here is her reaction:



Before I tortured my kid with fresh fruit, I took her for a fantastic four mile run this morning. Why was it fantastic? Because it was already 47 degrees at 8am! I ran in short sleeves and it was glorious. Now it's 66 degrees and sunny and when Faith wakes up from her afternoon nap, I think we're going to go for a walk!

Tomorrow is predicted to be 70 degrees, so I'm already excited about that! :)

Are you a fan of mango?

Marathon worries

I think everyone hits a point in their training when they start to worry about the race, whether it's a 5K or a 50K. I'm getting close enough to my marathon (March 13th!) that I'm starting to think about things like:

• What should I wear? 
• 26 miles is a long way...
• Only 136 people are running, I wonder if that means I can place in my age group?
• 26 miles is a long way...
• How many Gus should I take?

I'm doing 18 miles this weekend and I think it's probably time to up my packets of Gu from one to two (ugh). I wish the tastier options worked as well as the gooey Gu!

Running a race in early spring presents a wardrobe challenge. It will likely be chilly at the start and four and half hours later, it will be warmer. My tentative plan is to wear an extra layer and drop it at the start line. I'd rather be cold while running than too hot.

I plan on carrying my own hydration so I don't have to slow down for water stations, plus I like being able to drink whenever the mood strikes! I am going to take the Camelback on my 18 miler this weekend because I think that's what I want to race with...I think :)

I have a lot of thoughts during my long runs like "I'm tired. It's only been 8 miles. If I'm this tired already, how will I ever run 26.2 miles?" It's hard to quiet that self-doubting voice. I try to think of this Nike ad I saw once, it said "I used to run with Doubt, but now she can't keep up"

Also, this race is small. There won't be spectators cheering, there won't be bands playing. I won't even be able to have my iPod because they aren't closing the roads and it's too dangerous to allow the racers to have headphones. It's also small enough that I may even be running by myself most of the race.

I feel like running a marathon is more of a mental exercise than physical! Once I can get my head in the game, I'm sure it won't be as hard as I'm imagining...right?


Anyone have any words of wisdom or advice to give someone in the last few weeks of marathon training? Also, please share any lessons learned from your racing experience!

So you want to run with a baby...

When I was pregnant, I had fantasies of myself running effortlessly down the road with a smiling baby in a jogging stroller and a well behaved dog by my side. I ran before I had a baby, so it seemed logical to me to continue on.

Now where is that book with tips for jogging with a baby....

Since bringing a baby complicates everything (even grocery store trips), here my tips for a successful stroller run with a baby:

1. A jog in the stroller shouldn't be your baby's first stroller experience. Usually the earliest clearance you can get to run with a baby is 3 months, so you have those 3 months to get the baby used to sitting in the stroller. It doesn't matter if you use a jogging stroller or a normal stroller, but the baby needs to be exposed to daily walks (weather permitting). Plus, it's good for you too!
2. Consider the time of day. Remember when working out was all about you? Questions like, "Do I like working out in the morning?" or "Can I have a cup of coffee first?" well, now it's more like: "What's the baby's best time of day?" and "When is the weather the best?" If you want an actual chance at finishing a jogging stroller workout, the baby needs to be full, rested and dry. You have a window of time to get the run done, so you can't dawdle around, you have to just go!I find that Faith is more likely to nap in the stroller if she just had a nap at home and cry in the stroller if I take her out during her normal nap time. Babies don't follow our logic :)



Faith after our 1st run together

3. Start small: Pushing that jogging stroller is no joke, so you need to start with short runs for yourself and the baby.
4. Be prepared: You never leave the house without diapers, so don't jog without them either. No one wants to do a field diaper change, but it sure beats pushing a screaming baby for the 2 miles home. Also, I used to bring a bottle with pre-measured water and some formula to ease my fears of being stuck miles from the house with a hungry baby.
5. Have a sense of humor: Running with a baby isn't like running alone, but try not to get aggravated with having to stop to fix a kicked-off blanket or drooping hat. If you have to stop often, just think of it as interval training :)

The other women I run with would like to add one more: Don't start with snacks! They run with older kids (3 and 4) and their kids are pretty relentless about snacks during the run. This means that their moms have to fish out the snack, open it, and hand it to the kid....all while running. After the kid is done eating, they want to hand the empty wrapper or bag back to Mommy, and then wait 3 minutes and ask for more snacks :)

Both women I run with say that they wish they had never started with snacks during runs. Although, the promise of a Dum-dum lollipop seems to have great powers if you add "If you're good, you'll get it at the turn around point!" :P

Faster Mommy!

Also, if you going to add a dog to the running mix, you're going to need extra of #5 and for number 4, add poop bags to your stroller. I find that if you tie the full bag to the handlebars of the stroller, it shields the baby from the stench and frees you from carrying it while running. If your dog isn't used to running with you alone, taking it out with a stroller probably isn't advisable. Just like the baby, the dog needs to get used the jogging stroller, but the dog should already be trained for running with you.

If I don't get to go on runs, I'm a bad dog at home

 Does anyone have any tips to add? Do you take your dog with you on runs?

The wind kicked my butt

What a great discussion on this morning's post! For me, I think I'm going to treat Disney princess stuff like junk food: meaning I'm not going to buy it for my kids, but I'm not going to freak out if they have it at a friend's house. Maybe it's because I never went through a princess phase, but I think Faith will be just fine without it and will have plenty of other toys to stimulate her imagination. I know my husband would really enjoy if she went though a long Lego phase. :)

Faith has had a fussy, fussy morning. Her second top tooth is just pushing through (I can see it) and she still has the tail end of a cold. Because of this, we had a late start to our morning run. Also, I like to wait until after the baby takes a dump (sorry if that's TMI) before we go, because well, do I really need to explain why? :P

I eat a lot of oatmeal and I even lick the bowl clean

We finally left at 11:30am and it was 44 degrees and sunny. I know how to dress for hot runs and for cold runs, but the in between runs are hard! Especially dressing Faith: I don't want her to be cold, but if she's hot that isn't good either. The general rule of thumb is to put one extra layer on the baby (from what you're wearing). That doesn't work for running though, as I wore just a long sleeved tech t-shirt and running leggings. I think I could have left a layer off for Faith, but she fell asleep and didn't seem too hot.

She sucks on that zipper thing the whole time, every time

The weather report online didn't mention the crazy wind! It was fine at first, but then it really picked up. When the wind hits the stroller, it is so hard to push it! The combination of the wind and the dog acting like a putz (she just kept stopping for no reason), it was a frustrating run.

Pay attention to me

I think I need to not take my Garmin on my stroller runs anymore, it's so hard for me to see slower mile times, even though I know it's because I'm pushing the stroller. Plus, I know the route, so it isn't like I need it to know when to to turn around.

I did 6 miles in 56 minutes (9:24 average pace) and now we're back and I'm stretching while Faith is playing:

Caterpillar mustache!

I'm looking forward to watching more of Watson on Jeopardy tonight (yes, I'm a dork). Are you watching?