Keep those legs moving

In the past 5 days I've ran 10 miles, took a day off, then ran 3 miles, then kicked my butt at spinning at Flywheel, and now just finished pushing Mason in the BOB for a 2.4 mile run.

Whew. Talk about working out my legs a lot! I'm exhausted just typing it all out. Although my legs are still super sore from all the activity the past few days, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to spend some time outdoors today. It's finally sunny after a gloomy gray day yesterday. Plus it's 55 degrees which means I'm wearing running shorts. And I'm enjoying a refreshing Starbucks iced coffee. Life is good as my little monster naps away.






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Charlotte 10 Miler

On Saturday I ran the Charlotte 10 Miler.  I had set my alarm clock to 5:50am and was not thrilled to be waking up that early.  I started my race prep which included eating a granola bar and pumping breast milk for Mason's breakfast.  That's a normal step in everyone's pre-race to-do list, right?

As I sat in our home office pumping away, I couldn't help but hear the heavy rainfall outside.  Sigh.  I really wanted to crawl back into bed and forgo the race but something inside me (I think it was crazy Jess) told me to suck it up and head out there.

The race was 30 minutes away so I had plenty of time in the car to sike myself out even more.  It was so cold and the rain wouldn't let up at all.  I had a nice talk with God, in which I said, "God, if you could just stop the rain from 7:45-9:30 am I would be really happy and then you can make it rain the rest of the day." 




A quick blurb about my wardrobe for the race.  After asking Sarah (skinnyrunner) her thoughts on rain running gear, and reading her post, I tried my best to dress appropriately.  From top to bottom Nike running hat (like this), green long sleeve running top from Old Navy, half zip black long sleeve Nike top (kind of like this but mine doesn't have the cool thumb holes), Nike running tights (like these), these Pro Compression socks, and my awesome Brooks PureCadence shoes. On top of all of this I wore an old school wind breaker type jacket which ended up being a TERRIBLE idea.  Although it kept some of the rain off me, it also absorbed a lot of the moisture and ended up soaking me for the entire race.  I literally felt weighed down as I ran all 10 miles.  Oh and of course my Nike gloves.  All of my gear is a couple of years old so all of the links are the most recent examples of similar items.

mile 1 - 8:52
mile 2 - 8:21
mile 3 - 8:34
mile 4 - 8:45
mile 5 - 8:40
mile 6 - 8:46
mile 7 - 8:49
mile 8 - 9:33
mile 9 - 9:40
mile 10 - 8:12
10 miles - 1:28:08, 8:48 min/mile


Aside from the weather the race itself was great.  The majority of the race took place on trails, which ended up being a mix of gravel, mud, and wooden boardwalks.  The only negative I can think of is the last 2 miles ran through a really hilly neighborhood.  I always hate races that end with such a hard push.  I definitely walked those last couple of hills and hurt my overall time because of it.
No race would be complete without my cheeseburger dinner the night before.  We went to Kickstand on Friday night where I "designed" my own cheeseburger, complete with pimiento cheese, bacon, using an english muffin as the bun.  Oh my goodness this combination may be my favorite yet.  I totally think Kickstand should offer a contest where participants create their own burgers and then other diners can vote on their favorite.  The winner then gets their burger on the menu for a short amount of time ... and maybe a year's supply of free cheeseburgers.  You know something like that.  

Next race on the books is the Shamrock 4 miler on March 16th.  I'm proud of myself for driving out to the 10 miler race and giving it all I had, but am definitely looking forward to a shorter race distance.

Last run before the race

I was lucky to make it to the gym today for my last run before the 10 miler on Saturday.

Although my mind was ready to run, my legs really weren't feeling it.

So I started the treadmill nice and slow at 6.0 and 0.5 incline. Every minute I increased the speed by 0.1 until I reached 8.0. Then I kept the speed set between 7.5 and 8.0 until my run was over.



4.05 miles in 33:50 minutes

Hopefully my legs will be nice and ready for the race.

And here's a fun picture of Mason just because ...



Look at that one handed catch!

A successful run

I consider my run successful if Mason falls asleep during it and takes a decent nap.




He fell asleep as we got back to our house and is now sleeping on our front porch.




I ran a 5k around our neighborhood and finished in 28:40 minutes.



I got negative splits which always make me happy!

I'm faced with the dilemma of dragging the stroller inside so I can shower and possibly waking Mason up, or just sitting here in a sweaty (and now cold) mess. Decisions decisions.


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SNOW!

after enjoying a nice (warm) day in Charlotte yesterday with a high of 63 degrees, the weather gods decided to go in the complete opposite direction and bring a slurry of snowflakes to the queen city.

our street around 5pm

Honey braved the snow in her fancy coat

our backyard

snow still falling around 7pm

Ryan's car is that snowy blob in the lower right hand corner

I didn't think we would get any snow this winter and here we are getting inches upon inches of the stuff.  Sadly the temperature is dipping down into the low 20's tonight which I'm sure will cause lots of scary ice tomorrow. 

Friday Date Night

I had a really hot and sweaty date tonight with the treadmill at the YMCA. I hadn't run since Monday and knew I had to get a long run done before the 10 mile race next Saturday.

So after eating some delicious pizza and putting Mason to bed, I headed to the gym.



Lets just say eating pizza isn't the best pre running fuel, especially when it's eaten less than 2 hours beforehand.

I ran the first 4.16 miles in 35 minutes with an incline of 0.5. Then I ran 3.84 miles in 34 minutes with no incline. I walked out of the gym at 8:30 pm, 30 minutes before closing time.

I'm exhausted. I'm so glad I was able to knock out that run, even though I've been feeling under the weather the past couple of days. Mason is still battling his never ending baby cold so I think it keeps getting passed back and forth.




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Someone's First Valentine

Today Mason celebrated another first ... His first Hallmark holiday, aka Valentine's Day.

He started off the day by figuring out how to open his baby gate.


It was fun to watch him try to figure out how the latch worked.



Almost got it ...



And there he goes!

After his morning (and only) nap it was time to rock his "prince charming" tshirt and shoot some hoops.



Honey loved being Mason's valentine.



I found time to bake a red velvet cake during the late afternoon.



Dinner tonight was our attempt of a fancy steak house meal at home.



1.5 pound porterhouse cooking away.



Ryan's plate - the strip, lobster tail, baked macaroni and cheese, and asparagus. Mason had his first bite of macaroni and cheese and he's hooked.

Time to wrap up our holiday with some tv in bed.


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will I be ready?

It's funny to me that we're already in our second month of 2013 and I have yet to sign up for a running race.

{un}fortunately for me, my friend Elisa is doing the Charlotte 10 miler and suggested I do the same.  I still have a little over a week to continue preparations for this race, but is it enough time?  will I be ready?  chances are no.  

last saturday I ran 7.1 miles on the treadmill, monday I ran 3.11 miles on the treadmill, and yesterday I did another Flywheel spinning class.  my legs have definitely been worked out but I'm worried about my endurance for 10 miles.  

I've never ran the race before and it's the only 10 mile race that Charlotte offers.  Heck I've never ran a 10 mile race ANYWHERE before.  Slow and steady will be my mantra on February 23rd as I try to finish the race in a somewhat respectable time.  So far there are only 165 females signed up for the race ... with 10 days left I wonder how many more will be racing?

My new shoes!

I can't believe it's already Friday and I haven't mentioned my awesome new running shoes yet.

I think it was Tuesday that I took my hot pink Pure Cadence running shoes by Brooks out for a spin.



Although we (Mason, BOB, and I) only did 2.05 miles I loved how the shoes felt. I'm looking forward to running some more miles in them :)



As always Mason enjoyed his ride around our neighborhood.

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Changing up my schedule

Since having Mason, and him being old enough to be left at daycare at the YMCA, I've been doing most of my runs around 11:30am on the treadmill.

He still isn't 100% over his cold so I didn't feel comfortable taking him to the gym with me yesterday. Since it was gray and cold in Charlotte, an outdoor run was out of the question too.

So after eating an extremely early dinner of shrimp scampi with pasta at 5:30pm, I went through Mason's night time routine and put him to bed at 7:00pm. As soon as he hit the crib I quickly changed into my workout clothes and headed to the gym.

I really doubted my motivation at this point, and after waiting for a treadmill for almost 10 minutes I finally started my run.




I kept the incline at 1.0 for the first 12:30 minutes then lowered it to 0 for the rest of the run. I really had to talk myself into running, especially running 3.25 miles. As always I definitely felt better after I was done and am glad I dragged myself to the gym.

I don't like working out so late in the day and miss my late morning workouts. It was tough especially after eating dinner less than 2 hours prior.


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10 Months

Once again my days have slipped by and I am late posting this 10 month update on Mason.

Better late than never I supposed.  It's been a rough week since Mason is experiencing his first full blown cold ... complete with stuffed up/runny nose, coughing, and general fussiness.  It got so worrisome that I even took him to the doctor's office today, but we fortunately told that he did not have an ear infection and to wait out the cold.

These pictures were impossible to take.  Ryan was out of town and I had no one to hold him down while I snapped away.  Plus the whole "taping a cloth tie" to his onesie is not very effective. 

mmm lense cap to mommy's camera

Still no walking but lots of standing and taking steps along the coffee table, couch, and anything else he can grab onto.  

This month in review:

• 4 teeth total (those 2 top teeth finally came down)
• loves clapping his hands
• 23 pounds and 4 ounces (per his doctor's visit today)
• really fights that afternoon nap (but could be from feeling sick)
• still breastfeeding 4 times a day 
• eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the table with us
• introduced Cheerios and loves them
• prefers his food pureed and isn't a fan of solids

Not much else to report ... just waiting on those first real steps.  It's been really cold lately so our runs and walks outside have dwindled significantly.  It's hard being cooped up all day (for both of us).  Looking forward to warmer days and the end of this sickness so we can get back to our busy social schedule of music class, baby yoga, play dates, and anything new that comes our way!
 

Too much good eating

Thank goodness I made it to the gym this morning for a run.

For the first 10 minutes I had the incline set at 1.0 on the treadmill. The next 10 minutes I lowered it to 0.5. And for the final 12 minutes I ran at 0.0 incline. I completed 4.05 miles in 32 minutes.

Ryan said those magical words when it was time for lunch ... "Let's get a cheeseburger."

Today I definitely ran for my delicious Bad Daddy cheeseburger.






I ordered the Frenchie with a side of sweet potato fries. The turkey burger comes with garlic mayo, sliced apples, Brie, and bacon slices. So yummy!

And as if that wasn't enough delicious Charlotte food for one day, we ordered a pizza from Hawthornes.



Nothing says Saturday night like a pepperoni pizza washed down with some fresh beer from Noda Brewery.


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