August 17th – 23rd – 6.56 Miles Total & A Swim

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.”







If you speak with me for more than 5 minutes, you will learn 5 Things About Me:








1) You will learn that I believe Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world.

2) You will learn that I believe my husband is the sexiest man alive.

3) You will learn that I believe my father is the best pastor in all the world. No offense to any other pastor. My Dad’s just better

4) You will learn that I believe the only real athletes are runners. Everybody else is just playin’ with their balls.

5) And you will learn that I believe that Michael Jackson is THE GREATEST ENTERTAINER WHO EVER LIVED!!!!!!!


You will learn these things because I am passionate about them. Therefore I am always talking about them. Seriously, don’t get me started on my husband! Or my Dad! Or Michael Jackson!!!

But we’re here to talk about running.

But just wait! I have to tell you! A friend of mine won at auction 8 (count them EIGHT!!!!) Limited edition Michael Jackson Lithographs with certificates of authenticity!!!!

And he just GAVE them to me!!!! I couldn’t believe it!! When his wife (my good friend Cynthia, who I used to work with many moons ago and who is also a survivor. Diagnosed at about the same time I was) showed up at my door with this TREMENDOUS gift, I screamed so loud, I triggered a hot flash!

I *love* them!!!! Can’t wait to get’ em all framed!!

Now, off to the Run.

August 17th – 3.51 Mile Run

This was a BEAUTIFUL run! I was visiting my in-laws in Camarillo and on the way to their house, Chris dropped me off 3.5 miles away from the house and I ran it in.

Camarillo is a Runner’s Paradise. Always temperate. Wide, smooth sidewalks. Miles and miles of running trails. Beautiful homes in quiet neighborhoods. Well lit streets. Very little crime. And hills.

Lots and lots of hills.

But there’s also the agriculture, so if you’re looking for something flat and easy on your knees, run the beautiful strawberry fields. It’s lovely.

I took my time on this run. It felt great. The only problem I had with this run is that it wasn’t long enough.


August 19th – 3.05 Mile Run
This was a regular Maintenance run. Nothing to report, really. My legs felt heavy after the hills of Camarillo, so I was just happy to get out there and get the miles in.


August 21st – Swim

I usually track my distance but I didn’t this time, so I’m not sure how many laps I did. I met my friend Kathy at the pool. She is training with her family for a Tri next month. She’s awesome! I have no idea how she got her entire family to train with her!! She’s my hero.

I am still dealing with shoulder impingement issues, so swimming is a little rough for me but it was great to be out there and I plan to do more of that!

I love Kathy!!

QUERY!

About socks: Do you always wear socks when you run? Ever since I started wearing Under Armors, I stopped wearing socks, they feel so good on my naked feet and I've never had any issues with blisters. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with running without socks, but for some reason I tend to think running without socks is something only naughty girls do.


I still tape my toenails on long runs, though. After all, a Pastor's Kid must have *some* decorum! And I'm not hardcore enough to not care if I lose toenails!

August 11th, 2014 – 3.30 Mile Run

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 just a regular Maintenance Run, except I got to take my BIG Boy with me!!!! It was so fun!!!

For me…. Not Him.

He’s grounded. I won’t go into the details out of respect for my little man, but it was enough to generate some residual consequences and repercussions!

Usually this means he has to go running with Mom! Mom *loves* having Jordan as a running partner. He really is the greatest. I have a mad crush on him and for the moment, I’m faster than him, so he stays with me the whole time.

One day very soon, he will overtake me and I will be thrilled to pieces. But for now, I have to slow my roll pretty significantly if we’re going to actually run “together”.

Anyway, he hated it. It took us an hour to complete the 3.30 Mile loop. I had to wait for him to catch up many times. During those times, to keep my heart rate up, I would dance to whatever jam was being pumped into my brain.

But then when he caught up to me, he had to dance vigorously with me for at least 60 seconds. Often longer. He had to shake the hips, raise at least one hand and sing at least one refrain… Loudly.

We sang “Hungry Like The Wolf” by Duran Duran, “Roar” by Katie Perry, “Kokomo” by The Beach Boys and a myriad of Michael Jackson Tunes.

And we don’t live in out in the country. We live in the decidedly middle-class bedroom community of Simi Valley, where people walk their dogs, ride their bikes, visit parks and run on the streets. So we had an audience for most of our performances.

It. Was. AWESOME!!!

His humiliation was just so….. Delicious!!!

Don’t get me wrong, I want my son to behave properly in all situations, but if he’s going to act a fool when he is away from home, then he’s just going to have to dance with his Mom on street corners. It’s unlikely that I’ll ever get tired of it.

And the lesson is: “If you don’t behave in school, instead of making your own rules, you will spend the rest of your life being told what to do. And sometimes it’ll be humiliating.”


That is solid parenting! I love my boy!!!

August 9th, 2014 – Strides for Breast Cancer 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.”


It has been quite some time since I’ve posted and there really is no excuse for that. I should be posting after every run. It’s much easier to identify tends with consistent documentation.

Also, it is easier to keep track of goals. Here are a couple I’ve been kicking around:

2014 was supposed to just be about getting used to being a runner again. Making it a priority and pretty much just staying in my jeans. But we all know that running is a seductive lover and the more you do it the more you want it….. Whether or not you actually do more, you always want more.

Ooooh, yes Baby! Right there. YES!

Ahem! 'Scuse me. Where were we? Goals, right!

Goal #1: Get the miles in. I’d like to get to a point where 4 miles is my regular maintenance run and 6 or 8 is my long run that I do at least once a week.

Right now, 3 miles is my regular maintenance run and I have no designated long run.


Goal #2: Run every day that I can. Being a busy wife and mom, it doesn’t work out every day. But there are plenty of days when it could work out but I still don’t go for one reason or another: I ran the day before, I’d just had a race, I’m not feeling super well, Grey’s Anatomy is on, etc.

Enough of that!!! I need to be at least walking every day that I have the time. It never fails that when I think I’ll be able to run the next day, something real comes up and I can’t go.


Goal #3: Do hills. I am hesitant about this one. The last time I claimed that 2013 would be The Year of the Hills, I got diagnosed with Cancer. I’m not superstitious, but any excuse to skip doing hills is alright with me. I hate hills. Still, that’s the goal.


Goal #4: Start looking for races. In 2015, I would like to do one organized race a month for the entire year. I did that in 2011 (and part if 2012) and I *loved* it.


Goal #5: Blog more. It helps.


Now, on to the Race!!!

This was not really a “race”, but a Walk. A fundraiser for Breast Cancer Research. I’m all for running for a cause but this one is, of course, very dear to me. Many of the organizations that helped me with my journey were represented there. So I was happy to be there with many other Supporters and Survivors.

I ran it. Most people walked it. It was an out and back course, which is not my favorite but it was a beautiful day in Thousand Oaks, so you can’t really mess it up.

The run felt good. It wasn't super well marked but there was plenty of support staff so there was no chance of getting lost.

There were beautiful people there and it was a lovely way to spend a Saturday morning. I kept it around a 12-min pace, which is good for me, and finished in decent time.

All in all it was pretty good.