Last 2 Weeks in Review

I don’t set New Year’s resolutions because I know that I’ll never stick to them, but this year I decided to make two and not share them until now because I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t stick with them. They were to update this blog more often and to send birthday cards to my family members. So far, I have failed miserably at both. The thing is, once I miss one card, I don’t want to send for the next birthday because what if that birthday belongs to a sibling of the niece or nephew that I missed sending a card to? Kids remember these things! Best to just skip the cards altogether…..

As for the blog, it’s my way of keeping in touch with my family and letting my poor parents know what we’ve been up to. We live so far away from my family and visit so infrequently that this little blog is pretty much their only way of seeing the boys grow. I’m also terrible about keeping in touch with my family unless it’s via texting mostly because I absolutely HATE talking on the phone.

So anyway, here’s what our last couple of weeks have looked like:

Seth bought clearance sweatshirts for the boys who decided that they were the best piece of clothing ever and they have literally only removed them to be washed. They have even been caught sleeping in them. Best $10 we ever spent!

To celebrate day 19 of being sick, Seth made me this delicious grilled cheese sandwich stuffed with sautéed mushrooms, onions and bacon with horseradish mustard on the side. It did the trick because I felt like a million bucks by the end of the week.

Ruger coped with his unplanned running break by taking lots of naps. If you ever come over to visit, please remember that this is his corner of the couch and if you dare to sit there, he’ll either sit on top of you or sit right next to you and stare until you are uncomfortable enough to move.

Once I finally eased back into some short runs, I reasoned that I could start out later which means that Tucker was already up watching the news (playing X-Box) with Daddy by the time I left in the mornings. It’s so hard to leave that sweet little face.

We met Seth’s parents at Ihop last Saturday and Jackson decided that he was big enough to order all you can eat pancakes. He made it a little over halfway through his first stack. Not bad for a first timer.

After Ihop, we drove up to RMNP and stopped in Estes Park for some candy.

As usual, the boys were not interested in the park, but completely consumed with the idea of stopping for candy.

I was in Calgary for 2 days earlier this week and my dad happened to be in town at the same time so he picked me up and we went to dinner. Sadly, I didn’t get a picture to prove it, but we had a great time! It isn’t often that I get my awesome dad all to myself!

As for running, I will start officially training for Steamboat on Monday and I’m a little nervous as I haven’t done much of anything in January to prepare. My longest run has been 8 miles and my cross training has slipped as well. Time to break out the Billy Blanks Insane Abs!

When I ran Steamboat last year, I had slacked off on several long runs by shortening or even skipping them while simultaneously cutting back on any cross training and really paid for it in the end. Even though I had planned to run it slow, walk through aid stations and just enjoy the scenery, I was still a tiny bit disappointed with my time of 4:11+ which was 10 minutes slower than my time at Rock N Roll Denver. So, this year I’ll post my training here each week to help me stay accountable.

Following is running and cross training for the past 2 weeks. Feel free to stop reading as it’s going to get pretty boring starting right now.

January 18-24:

Nothing Sunday-Tuesday, Wednesday:1.6 mile walk, Thursday: 2.03 miles @ 9:03, Friday: 0.6 mile walk, 10 minutes Insane Abs dvd, and squats (25 I think?), Saturday: 3 miles @ 9:38. I quit early on Saturday to make it to Ihop in time. Priorities.

January 25-31:

Sunday: 3.75 miles @ 4.7m/h (kids ride bike so dang slow!), Monday: 1.92 mile walk, Tuesday: I didn’t track it, but an estimate of 10 million miles through both the Denver and Calgary airports, Wednesday: This 10 minute body weight program. It was easy and I didn’t feel as though it really challenged me, but the guy leading the workout was super encouraging which I like and demonstrated modifications to make each exercise easier for beginners. Thursday: Nothing – I slept in. Friday: 2.31 miles @ 9:54 (Ruger had a lot of sniffing spots to catch up on). Saturday: 6.02 miles @ 9.25 pace followed by Yoga Practice for Runners. She sounds exactly like my mentor at work. Speaking of my mentor, she recommended this book and so far, I am loving it.

In other news, if you’re ever looking for me, just follow the trail of Ruger’s poop bags. I usually leave them if we are too far from a trash can and pick them up on my way back from a run. Only one neighbor has yelled at me so far thinking that I was leaving it in the gutter in front of his house for good.

After running and yoga today, I made sure to foam roll. My muscles seem to get tighter when I slack off on exercising and this seems to help immensely. The trick is to put a lot of pressure on the spot that hurts most. I promise that it will feel so much better afterward if you do!