July 15th & 17th, 2011 - Swim & Hike

The continued prayer is, “Lord keep me focused. Keep my mind stayed on You. Help me to bring You praise. I know You believe in me. Please help me in my unbelief. Amen.”

This was truly a “If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Join ‘Em” situation.

My workout schedule has taken a beating lately because the kids have swim lessons right in the middle of my running time allotment.

I would love to be one of those disciplined creatures who get up at the crack of dawn to get a workout in but I’m just not that girl. Never have been.

I’ll bounce outta bed at 4am to make it to a Start Line with no trouble at all, but in my everyday living, the morning just comes way too early.

I believe in the power of prayer and I believe that if GOD can raise the dead, He can raise my bones outta bed in the wee hours of the morn. I’ve prayed about it (half-heartedly), but so far, it doesn’t seem to be His will that I be one of your early risers.


July 15th, 2011 – 1 Hour Swim
So I decided to dress out and do some laps at the pool after the kids’ swim lesson. Jordan stayed with me and we got to swim for an hour before the life guard put on his soccer flops (clearly the “Get Out!” sign).

I was hoping to swim a mile and a half and possibly get private lessons from my boy on how to do a proper breast stroke, which I never learned how to do. Turned out he was more interested in doing aquatic hand-stands and riding on my back like I was the main attraction at Sea World.

Ah, well….. at least I got a pretty decent workout and some quality time with my boy.

Moving on....




July 17th, 2011 – 2 Hour Trail Walk
This may not seem like a great workout but it was a win in so many ways.

After church, Chris asked me what I wanted to do. I told him I wanted to take the whole family for a hike. I offered to go to a trail that was closer to our home, but he wanted to see some water, so we actually got to take a drive out to Malibu Canyon.

We didn’t have luck with the first site we went to because we had Sarah and they didn’t allow dogs. That was a bummer because they had a cool pond that we could swim in. So we loaded up the SUV (Beverly Hillbillies-style) and headed to another trail that did allow dogs.

It had some very cool old movie sets and trails that were smooth and flat so the kids had an easy time.



After a short time, we found a pond and there were no signs that said not to, so I told Jordan he could kick off his sox and shoes and jump in!



Turned out Jordan was not as adventurous as I thought he was. He was a little unsure about the bugs and the goop. Scared to death would be a more accurate term.

I knew that he would regret it if we left without at least giving it a try, so I did what any good Mom would do: I thought, “White, Banana Republic weekend shorts and leather Brighton belt be damned! My boy needs someone at his side for this epic rite of passage into young manhood!” So I kicked off my sox and shoes and walked right in… because I think every boy should know what it’s like to swim in a creek!

Once we got in and he saw that there was nothing to be afraid of, we splashed around and had a great time!



Sure, I could have said, “Get a long run in” when my hubby asked me what I wanted to do today, but this is what memories are made of. Bonding with my boy and showing him that he can face anything with someone who loves him by his side is worth a million 10-mile runs.



Well, maybe not a *million*... If I don’t get a long run in this week, I may have to hurt someone.

July 5th – 14th, 2011 – 11 Miles Total

The continued prayer is, “Lord keep me focused. Keep my mind stayed on You. Help me to bring You praise. I know You believe in me. Please help me in my unbelief. Amen.”

This is a rather strange hodgepodge of running activity. It’s been a little crazy scheduling-wise.

The kids have started swim lessons and I must say, they are fantastic little tadpoles. I love watching them do something that they enjoy so much. I always let them know that it’s important to stay active and maintain a healthy weight.

They know that I would love to have them as running partners but I support whatever they want to do. We have exposed Jordan to Soccer, T-ball, gymnastics and Tae Kwon Do. They were all disasters! We struck gold when we brought him to the pool. He loves swimming.

So far, he’s just done lessons. I’m concerned that once he’s on a team that requires more discipline, he may resist. In other words, once it turns into “work”, he’ll decide he hates it. He begged for TKD lessons for MONTHS. When we finally got him set up at a dojo and bought his gi and his white belt, three weeks in, he was whining and complaining to the point of tears whenever he had to go. Guh! We fought over it for a year. Finally, we put the whole family out of our misery and dropped the class and started swim lessons.

These are great lessons and both kids are doing very well. Here they are with their certificates after the first course. Cute!



Sunday, after church, we decided to take the kids to a local farm so we could pick our own strawberries. So much fun! The farm is about 5 miles from our house. I was supposed to go, hangout with the family, pick some strawberries then send the kids back home with Daddy while I ran home.

Well, that didn’t work out. I was bested by the idea of a strawberry shake, so I went home with the family and stopped by the grocery store for some vanilla bean ice cream to go with my strawberries. Yum!

Here we all are at the farm. Fun stuff!




On Saturday, Jayda and I got to hang out and have some girl time at the mall while Jordan went to go see a musical with his grandmother. I told her I would buy her a new purse with some things to go in it.

She decided she wanted a lunchbox and would use it as a purse. I am not one to stifle a budding fashionista's sense of style, so I bought her a lunch box in her favorite shade of purple and a pair of sunglasses, lip balm, facial tissue, a pencil and note paper (also in purple) to put in it.

Then we went to The Cheesecake Factory for a snack. A wonderfully busy and highly caloric weekend.




Now, about the running…

July 5th, 2011 – 3.54 Mile Run
This was an OK run. It was the day after the Independence Day 5k. I was feeling a little down about that race, so felt like I needed a win. I figured I could get a win if I ran it in my 5-fingers.

What ended up happening was I injured myself. I should have taken a few days off, but….


July 6th, 2011 – 2.38 Mile Run
This run was mind-numbingly boring. I just ran laps around my cul-de-sac because I was home alone with the children and couldn’t be too far away from them.

.75 miles in, I got this excruciating pain in my right AT and knee. This was new because I never have knees issues. I ran through it, thinking I could work it out. By the 2 mile mark, I was in some serious pain, so I wrapped it up and went home. FAIL!


July 12th, 2011 – 3.00 Mile Run
It had been about a week since my last run. I had allowed the time off because my right AT and knee were killing me and the kids’ swim lessons were right there in my running slot.

I asked Chris to drop me off at the BGC so I could run home. The goal was the get home in time to make it to their lesson. I ran up the driveway as they were loading into the car. I was sweaty and a little gross, but Mission Accomplished!

Felt good.

July 14th, 2011 – 1.00 & 1.08 Mile Runs
These runs were great. We still had to get the kids to swim lessons. I decided that even though it was only a mile away, I should go ahead and run over there. Otherwise, I wouldn’t get a run in at all. Jordan decided he wanted to go with me so it became a walk. But that’s OK. Spending time with my boy is always a win even if the pace is slow slow slow.

I also wanted to run back home after class. By then, Jordan was wet, cold and exhausted, so I was able to sprint it. I maintained my 5k pace, even including the traffic stops. SCORE! It was the exact same route, so I don’t know where the extra .08 came from, but I’ll take it.

Swim lessons go on for another week, so it’s likely that my training will be a little spotty for the next couple days but I’ll get it in where ever I can.

July 4th, 2011 – Independence Day 5k

The continued prayer is, “Lord keep me focused. Keep my mind stayed on You. Help me to bring You praise. I know You believe in me. Please help me in my unbelief. Amen.”

This was kind of a disappointing race. I have been experimenting with several energy drinks trying to find one that can boost my run without giving me night terrors or anxiety attacks.




These are a few I have tried.





I bought a 6 pack of the BAZI online because I got a sample at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half in Los Angeles. I figured if they were present at a major event, they must be fantastic. Well, not so much. Or not for me anyway.

I tried it and got the worst stomach cramps and some pretty weird dreams. Also it caused me to have heart palpitations while I was sleeping which was very scary.

Today, I wanted to try the 5-Hour Energy shot. The grape flavor. First of all, I don’t know how they came up with “grape” but it was nothing of the sort. I can’t even describe what it tasted like but it was awful.

I’m not opposed to drinking yucky things if they will enhance my run, so I chugged it and made my way to the Start Line.

I started out pretty strong but I immediately started to feel my heart rate increase. My muscles weren’t tired but regulating my breathing was becoming an issue so I slowed my pace a bit. When my heart rate still didn’t come down I had to stop.

STOP!!! During a 5k?!?!?!?

WHO WALKS A 5K?!?!?!?

Well... Lots of people actually. This was a fun run and there lots of families and pets and friends and it was a really great event. But for me to have to stop and walk the rather gentle inclines of this race was a major defeat for me.

When I couldn’t regulate my heart rate, I started to panic. And if I couldn’t pull it together, I was going to hyperventilate. Passing out at a Family Fun Run would be the height of humiliation.

So I shelved my pride and started walking up the inclines. Whenever I felt like my heart rate was back to normal, I tried to make up some time but in the end, I finished in 36:16, which 5 minutes off my best time.

Yuck!

So the moral of my story is that energy drinks are not for me.

This was the first race I've ever done that I thought was a flat failure. I knew there'd have to be one. The best thing to do is not obsess about it and move on.

*sigh*

Here we go. See ya the next race.