All I Want For Christmas Is You

It’s Christmas Eve. I don’t know why you people are hanging around on my blog when you needs to be wrapping up the last of the gifts, drinking spiked egg nog and wondering which family member will be getting the cops called on them this year but I still appreciate it.

The Nog.

I won’t be around much over the next couple of weeks but I’ll be hanging on twitter, Instagram and facebook so if you’re interested in gems like these, feel free to add me!

In the meantime, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and here’s to 2014!

Jingle Bun Run Race Recap

On December 14th, 2014 I participated in a Half-Marathon put on by Schlotzky’s in Temple, Texas and I’m pretty sure my legs fell off at some point.

I was not as prepared for this race as I had thought I was going to be – which is, actually all my fault seeing as I didn’t get off my ass and put in the miles for it like I should have. Luckily, I was not alone in my faults – as my friend Courtney was in the same predicament!

This was the first race I’ve ever run with someone and y’all, it was pretty awesome. We talked prior to the race about our plan of attack and when realizing we had roughly the same pace, figured we’d stick together. It helped me through some of the later miles when my legs were like, “YOU DID THIS TO YOURSELF I SHALL CRAMP NOW! HAHA.” We chatted, talked, complained, and tried to keep moving as the wind was shoveling his skanky face down our, uh, face.

Temperatures were in the high 30s, with wind gusts up to 20 mph – so it wasn’t exactly pleasant but I managed to finish in 3:01:30. That’s about average for me, so despite not really putting in the time on my feet I still got-r-done.

We were pretty much all over the place with our mile times, there was stretching, walking & talking going on so we figured as much. The course was a loop we did twice (turns out I’m not a fan of loop races), so when we hit the 10k point I was like man, I’m feeling better than I thought – let’s do this thing! And uh then, mile 10 happened and yeah, well I was fucking done. I tried to just focus on pumping my arms, so my feet would move and telling myself that “I get to do this.” It helped just enough to cross the finish line.

I knew I was going to be pretty miserable and sore the second I crossed the finish line, so I was really looking forward to grabbing some food and taking a shower. Unfortunately, the daughter had other plans and we ended up going to the Urgent Care for a serious ear infection situation. I love that she can talk now, but hearing a kid scream “MAMA I NEED MEDICINE” for 45 minutes on the way to the doctor is no way to celebrate 13.1 miles.

We finally made it home with medicine and I hit the shower around 5pm that evening.  It was a long, cold day but really was a great race. Schlotzky’s & Temple Parks & Recreation did a great job organizing the run, and all the volunteers kicked ass motivating us to keep on trucking. I wouldn’t mind running this one again next year (better prepared of course) simply because the medal is pretty adorable. And incredibly tasty looking.

Mmm..medal.

My next race isn’t scheduled until the end of January (unless of course I get suckered into one – which happens) where I’ll be double medaling. Yeah, that’s right. DOUBLE MEDALING. Basically I’ll run the 5k portion on Saturday and the half on Sunday. In the meantime, the soreness I felt after this race and my mental attitude really has cemented the fact that I need to get fucking serious about this marathon training and stop letting excuses make my long weekend runs fall to the wayside.

Here’s to running over Christmas break and not dying!

Until we run again!

Lillie Lately v.1

Did you know this blog started out as a way to recap my adventure into mommyhood? I wanted a place to talk about/share my life as a triumphant mother. I had high, lofty goals as to how I thought things would turn out. Unfortunately, that first year didn’t go exactly as I envisioned and it was less about being triumphant and more about keeping my head above water.

So, I just didn’t really talk about being a mom. I couldn’t let people know I felt like a failure. I mean, clearly everyone else did such a great job at it per social media! One thing led to another and I somehow began this #runtamrun adventure and well, my blog became what it is today. Mostly training plans, high-fives, and talking about my fear of pooping myself.

God bless the internet.

And while I’m in a much, much better place than I was two years ago I still don’t post much about being a mom. But this time it comes from a different place. A place of privacy. Sometimes, I just want to keep our memories to ourselves. No need to blast them into the universe despite what social media tells us. When we had Lillie I purposefully did not post a picture on Facebook for, like, days. I wanted family and close friends to be witness to our blessing first. I was fairly hormonal and with not taking to motherhood like I thought I should have, odds were I would break down and tell you all to fuck off and never have kids. I was protecting you guys. I swear.

[Fact: That actually did happen. Ask Emilie.]

That is to say, I don’t judge any of you who do this – I’m a sucker for an adorable new born baby picture just like any ovary-laden woman is – this was just how we felt at the time. (If when we get pregnant again, I probably will post a picture much quicker this go-around. I’m in a different place now.)

I’m writing all this to basically say, every so often I will write about Lillie and I won’t judge you if you don’t read. Most of you have stuck around to cheer me on in my training (you guys are the bestest!) but y’all, she’s 3 now and fucking hilarious. I don’t want to forget these moments, so, I give to you Lillie Lately.

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[Walking down the hallway, Lillie comes up from behind & pulls my sweatpants to the ground]

Me: What the…?
Lillie: I SEE YOUR BOOTY. I SEEEEE IIIIITTTTTT!

She runs away laughing maniacally, I sigh loudly.

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Putting away laundry, I walk by the restroom where Lillie is “dooty”-fully sitting on the toilet. She’s unrolling the toilet paper while singing, “I’m getting paper for my booootyy. BOOOTYYY.”

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If you have asked her at any point in the past two months what she’s going to ask Santa for you would have gotten this answer, “A biiig yogurt.”

I know you’re probably thinking that we’re just not hearing her correctly, but I assure that is not the case. Perhaps she’s saying “Yogi Bear?” like one of our church members suggested, but no, she literally means a huge bowl of yogurt.

And yes, Santa assured her that was possible with a slight nod from mom when his eyes met mine at the request.

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A few weeks ago I set out early Saturday morning to get some miles in, I had hoped to be finished by the time she woke up – she wasn’t and with about 1 mile left in me, she & Alfred surprised me by driving up beside me. It was a nice little morale booster as I finished up and man, I felt good thinking about what a wonderful example I must be setting for her.

A couple hours later, she walked up to me and said, “Mama, you were running like dis! [arms moving back & forth beside her] but it was lot slower, like dis. [arms moving at a snail’s pace] I like to run faasssstt. Why you don’t run fast?”

Basically, my kid just called me out on being slow. And I couldn’t even argue with her because well, 1. It’s kind of true and 2. She’s three. You can’t out argue a 3 year old, it’s next to impossible. And if you somehow manage to find a winning argument, it won’t fucking matter because by that time they won’t care. They’ll be too wrapped up in putting shoes on Barbie or flicking a bug across the kitchen floor.

Anyone else have kid stories to share?
Please, for the love of sweet baby Jesus, let me know I’m not alone.

Underprepared 2.0

A few weeks ago I had written how I felt underprepared for a 10k I participated in. I didn’t think I was (obviously not, I mean I did PR – yahoo!) but I sure felt that way. Even though I had been following my training plan, I guess I was just nervous because it was the longest distance I had covered in months.

And tomorrow, I’ll be throwing down twice that with a half-marathon I signed up for on a whim.

But where I felt underprepared for that 10k, for this half – I actually am underprepared.

I haven’t ran anything in over a week (I have done a few other workouts though) and my longest run so far has been an 8 miler (done about 3 weeks ago). If you’ll look over most training plans circulating the internets they have you run at least one 10-miler and yeah, uh, oops.

I thought about bailing. (I couldn’t really since I have a friend running with me. Hi Courtney!) And who knows, I may get to mile 8 and just can’t go anymore, but I’m still going to go for it. If I didn’t, I think I’d really just be disappointed in myself. But I have no intention of trying to push the hell out of myself to PR. When I said I was going to run a marathon I planned on killing my training schedule, just knocking that shit right out of the park but other things have taken priority (one of the reasons I’ve been fairly absent around here) and like I said, the past couple weeks have been a struggle for me emotionally & physically. All of the races I’m participating in up until the big 26.2 are on my schedule with the understanding that they should be handled as a training run. (Just, like one with 300 other people.) Even though when I step up to that starting line the little bit of competitiveness I do have surges forward and I want to smash any of my old times.

This time last year I had just finished my first half in Vegas and completely stoked about it. Crazy where a year can take you. It almost feels like I’ve been lazy with my training simply because I know my body is capable of running 13.1 miles already.

I feel like this race tomorrow is going to be a massive failure on my running ego, but I’m still excited for it. Weird, right? It’s supposed to be in the 40s but with the wind chill, low 30s and for this Texas girl, that’s going to be um, interesting. Hopefully the rain will stay far, far away but even if doesn’t - been there, done that.

So, here’s to me – admitting my faults as a runner and saying, “Fucking shit. Sometimes I suck at running…and pig & cow shaped pancakes. Definitely suck at those.”

 

The Great Zoo Stampede 2013

I still have a couple other race recaps to get to (Electric Run 5k & Color Me Rad 5k) but I wanted to skip ahead to the 10k (6.2 miles) I ran this past Saturday first.

Despite being in week 4 of my marathon training and having successfully completed 5 miles the previous weekend - I felt oddly underprepared for this race.

It was really disconcerting because I’ve never felt that way about a race. Sure, I’ve felt nervous before crossing a start line but this time it almost felt like I knew I was going to fail. It was inevitable. I don’t know what brain-munching-you-can’t-do-nothing worm crawled into my ear and laid its you-ain’t-shit eggs but it wasn’t cool.

You know how people are always preaching that “running is mental” blah-blah crap? Well, it can go either way. You either tell yourself you can do it, or you tell yourself you can’t for whatever reason.

Sometimes it’s really fucking annoying.

I can’t complain too much though because I woke up determined to put my sour stomach behind me & just keep pushing my two amazon feet in front of me – and guess what, y’all?

I GOT A PR!

Also, I got a toothbrush. It was in my swag bag with my t-shirt. Nothing else. So, I don’t know if the race coordinators were trying to tell me something or if they just had a serious deficit in sponsors. Either way I got clean teeth and fast feet. Can’t beat that.

My previous 10k PR (personal record for those that aren’t up to speak in runners terms) was at the same race in 2012 with a time of 1:21:56. Roughly a 13:13 mile per minute pace.

This 10k time – 1:20:17! I was slightly miffed at myself that I didn’t get below 1:20 (it was my not-said-out-loud goal) but then as I was comparing from last year, that means my mile per minute this go-around was around 12:20 – dudes, I’m almost down a minute per mile! That is HUGE. And exactly the type of progress I should be celebrating instead of being bummed about because of 17 measly seconds.

 

I’m not even close to being what I consider fast, but I don’t care. Because for me, this is fast and ultimately, that’s who I’m competing with. Myself. Chalking up another #nonscalevictory. (Are y’all tired of hearing that? I feel like I’ve been extra preachy with it lately.)

Also, that up there is a nice reminder to any non-runners who think “Oh, just 2 minutes faster? not a big deal. Anyone can do that.” Because it is.

And then double also, comparing my splits from this race to my splits for the 5 miles I ran by my lonesome the weekend before (which were closer to my 10k speeds in 2012) – just proves that you really do always go HAM on race day.

Basically, what I’m saying here is I’m fucking awesome. Or at least I felt that way after the race. But now I have an 8 mile run planned for this weekend and well, my 2.5 miles I did on my lunch break today took their toll on me.

So…my fucking awesomeness may be coming to a halt. But for now? I’m basking in all its glory. All its beautiful, shiny glory.

Until we run again! 

Underprepared

Have you ever studied your ass off for a test but when the day comes you just can’t shake this feeling like you didn’t do enough?

Or you’ve done a ton of mock interviews, studied a company’s entire profile, only to walk in on an interview like a deer in the headlights?

OR have you been running fairly consistently for the past two years and already completed a distance beyond what your race that is coming up for tomorrow is for only to feel like you’re going to shit yourself?

Please, for the love of sweet baby Jesus, tell me I’m not alone in this feeling. This underprepared nonsense that engulfs your whole body in ways that aren’t lady-like to talk about in a public setting feeling.

I am not a fan.

I’m gearing up to run a 10k tomorrow. One that I ran last year (and PRed on) and that when I registered for was very excited about. It set up nicely in my marathon training – I’m in week 4! And it just seemed like a good fit.

It also doesn’t hurt that I get to run through a freaking zoo. But what does hurt? The hills that are involved.

This is from my Garmin last year. So yeah. There’s that.

My time last year was 1:21:56, roughly a 13:13 minute per mile pace. I was way excited about that considering the difficulty of the course and I had done no hill training whatsoever prior to that. All I was concerned about was pooping. As in – not pooping myself and not having any monkeys throwing poo at me.

#runnerproblems, am I right?

The competitive part of me really wants to push to try PR (Personal Record, just in case you weren’t aware) but the logical, sane part of me that’s trying to hold its own concerning this marathon training I’ve gotten myself into is saying “This is just a training run. Nothing more. You don’t want to be injured before you even get to the starting line come March 2nd. Just chill.”

Maybe that’s where this feeling of dread and not being prepared is coming from – is not knowing which way I want to go? Or maybe I’m not actually prepared? Or maybe I am prepared but I just ate too many nachos today for lunch claiming I was carb loading and now my stomach is just getting me back?

Sigh.

I have no doubt I will cross the finish line tomorrow. That, to me, is not even question – it’s just being nervous that I won’t be able to report back that I am faster from this time last year (it is one of my resolutions, after all) and…

Fuck. I don’t know.

Tell me something good to get my mind off it. Or tell me something worse, so I can feel like a complete douche for being worried about something trivial.

Either way. Just tell me.

Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner

One of my favorites, Abbey from Finding my Forever, is doing an amazing thing & well, I’ll let her tell you about it but if you have it in your heart & wallet, it’s a great cause and for any donation you’ll get an amazing high-five picture from yours truly (just let me know in the comments whether you have donated!)

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Hello friends of Tamara! My name is Abbey and I blog over at finding my forever. I'm also a graduate student at the University of Kansas. Tam has graciously agreed to let me use her blog space today to solicit you... I mean, tell you about an awesome cause. :)

KU Dance Marathon (KUDM) is a twelve-hour, dancing-or-standing-or-zumbaing-or-shuffling-but-not-sitting-marathon that raises money for Children's Miracle Network. KUDM’s Mission is to unite the Lawrence and KU Communities with the goal of providing emotional and financial support to the children and families of KU Pediatrics, our local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital.

I became involved as an adviser after seeing the incredible passion KU students have for supporting these children and their families. And now, I'm fundraising for KUDM so that the children who we help will have a chance to grow up and be college students one day -- to get to this amazing period in their lives when they can make mistakes, learn, grow, and find their own passions. This Saturday, at the Marathon, I'll be standing so they have a chance to grow and change and become who they are. 

I hope you'll consider supporting these families. Every dollar donated is one dollar they didn't have before! Thanks for reading!

For more information about KUDM, click here.
To be amazing and donate (even $1 helps!) and receive an amazing high-five picture from yours truly, click here.

Fitness Age

I’ve been more active in the past two years of my life (since starting this running journey) than I had in the 26 years prior. Most of the time my focus and intent was on being healthier as opposed to losing weight. Not that I don’t want to lose weight, I just know how discouraging it can be when you don’t see the results you want right away – been there, done that – and thought I’d try a different approach with hopes that the weight would just come off with all the exercise/training I’m doing.

Well, it doesn’t. The only real way I’ve found that I lose weight is by changing my diet and to be honest, I’m not always that interested in putting forth the effort to eat ‘better’. I kind of like the fact that taking the time to enjoy my grilled cheese sandwich (extra cheese, please) with mayo & tomato doesn’t have to be the end of my life as I know it.

I started the year sitting at 190 lbs, proudly. I have no shame in that number because I worked really hard for it. I own that shit.

I’m currently hanging around 179 on a good day and 182 the day after a fun little binge fest. I’m owning that shit too. Because I don’t feel like I weigh 182 as opposed to when I did weigh 182 a few years ago prior to baby weight and definitely prior to any actual type of physical fitness.

My 182 from then is way different from my 182 now. Just goes to show you that that what they say is true – exercise does change your body, even if it doesn’t change the scale.

Oh, the days of bleach blonde hair – how I don’t miss thee.

I’ve talked about my Moj days where I do some kind of cross-training, death spiral into sweatiness ridiculousness with a good friend of mine, Mojgan. This was right before death by 45 minutes of stairs.I promise I never look that un-sweaty at the end of a workout with this lady. She’s not a personal trainer. Just a wonderful person who truly cares about other people. She’s always led a healthy lifestyle and has been weight training for 15+ years, she’s a great resource for information and inspiration for me. I don’t know if I would have pushed myself as hard as I have these past two years if it weren’t for her.

Anyway, she sends us articles from time-to-time (to keep up motivation) and most recently this is what hit my inbox -

What’s Your Fitness Age?

It’s a short article, so you have time to read it – promise! But basically, it goes on to tell you how a scientific study resulted in an online calculator that tells you what your fitness age is based on a couple of different items.

Fitness Calculator

I’m the Great 28 and since I tend to assume the worst on things of this nature, I figured my fitness age would be *hopefully* somewhere in the late 30s, probably early 40s. But I was ridiculously happy to find out, I’m 29! For the record, Moj’s fitness age is 20. I won’t reveal her biological age but I’m betting that’s at least half her real age (based on the ages of her kids and the fact that she’s a doctor, and that takes some time to complete!)

I’m totally owning my 29 & Fine fitness age and throwing it out there for another non-scale victory. Maybe one of these days I’ll be more inclined to drop my extra weight (technically based on my BMI I’m considered overweight) but for now, I don’t think it’s necessary.

I feel good about me.

And that’s pretty fucking awesome.

Happy weekend friends!

The Great 28

A couple months ago, I celebrated my 28th birthday. I thought long and hard (that’s what she said) about posting something that explains 28 wonderful things I plan on doing in the coming year, or 28 thought-provoking revelations I’ve had in the past 28 years, or showing you my favorite 28 dance moves (hint: they all include the running man) – but it would have been completely forced.

This is another year for me, another year to push forward with my running, to try and be a better wife and mother, a friend and an overall person. This is just a continuation from the day before when I was only a young 27.

So if you’re hoping for something amazing and ground-breaking here, uh, my bad.

Instead, you get to hear me brag about how my little sister (who lives in Colorado) made it to Texas for the first time in 4 years. This means that she has never met my daughter and I have never met hers. To say I was simply excited – under-freaking-statement of the year.

Photo courtesy of my Aunt Shannon.

We offered up our guest room with the only requirement being that she had to hang out with me on my birthday. When I told her we were planning on riding 4 wheelers with some friends that night, she was more than down. We hung out during the day with our kids and then passed them off ever so gently to Lillie’s Godparents (who are also the wonderful people who took us in as teenagers) and got our birthday on.

Photos are minimal because 1. I was on a 4 wheeler most of the time &  2. I was enjoying my time with my baby sister and didn’t want to take photo breaks constantly. Sometimes real life takes the reins instead of internet fun, and it’s totally worth it.

Am is on the 4-wheeler that is sitting in the lake. I do not apologize for the crappiness of the photo.

Overall, it was a really wonderful way to ring in my 28th year by spending time with my sister and niece.

Tea time is very important business.

I was sad to see them go but grateful for the time we were able to spend together. Being sad didn’t last too long though – a few weeks later she decided she wanted to be closer to family and next thing I know the husband & I are hitting the road to Colorado! This was in Amarillo, Texas – home of the free 72 oz steak (that is if you can eat it in under an hour). I’ve never really had the luxury of being a small person (5’10 at age 11 can do that to you) so this is probably the closest I’ll ever get to feeling unlike an Amazon.

Except for when we helped Amber move to Colorado 5 years ago. We had also stopped in the same place when that happened. Oh look, a young Al & Tam. How precious we are.

Beyond having my sister back – here are a few other things that have happened in the past two months of my 28th year.

I decided to run a marathon. Like whoa, right?

I found a pink truck. With half naked girls on it. Then I forced the husband to take a picture of me with it because that’s the kind of juvenile things married folks like us tend to do.

I met a guy with a legit mullet, took a picture with the sexiest face I could muster and then posted it on this blog.

I mastered the side braid. and I painted pumpkins with the kid. So, the Great 28 is off to a fantastic start – here’s to keeping up the momentum!

Hot 2 Trot 5k 2013

I was weirdly looking forward to this particular 5k since my horrible experience with it last year. 

This race is in July, in Texas at that, and so it shouldn’t have to be said, but I’m going to say it anyway -

It’s fucking hot.

Last year when I went into it, I had grossly overestimated my abilities as a runner. Probably because I hadn’t even attempted to train in the heat since most of my runs were on the treadmill at that point. You live and learn. Needless to say, I was looking forward to going back to this course to see how much I’ve improved from one year ago.

(It says 2013 but it’s only because I snagged it off the website just a few moments ago, it’s actually the 2012 photo) Anything’s an improvement from this, right?

Nope, apparently not. (And yes, I did wear the exact same race shirt for both 2012 and 2013, I’m fancy in that way)

I may not have improved my race day photo skills (I hope you all appreciate how much strength it takes to post these gems for you) but I did improve my time!

2012 time: 42:45
2013 time: 38:29

I also made sure to drink water like a fish in the days leading up to the race (something I did not do last year) and last year I talked about not being prepared for a couple of hills in the race. Yeah, compared to what I did for the Bearathon those ‘hills’ that were such a battle then seemed like nothing this time. It was just a nice reminder of how far I’ve come in my training.

One of those non-scale victories I see people brag about from time-to-time.

Overall, definitely glad I signed up for this race again to prove to myself I can do better but I don’t know if I’ll run it next year. It’s not particularly scenic or have anything that just stands out. Unless of course I can convince someone to run it with me (I’ve done this solo both years) – then you know I won’t be able to back out.

Until we run again!

Marathon Madness

Did you miss me? No need to answer, I already know.

I don’t have much of a reason or excuse as to why I haven’t been around much, other than life had me re-prioritize things for a bit (like hanging out with a lemur) and then I just got kind of lazy and thought…

“I’ll just post that tomorrow”

And then when tomorrow came, it was today and I had other things to do so I put it off until another tomorrow and now it’s a month later and I’ve somehow convinced myself to register for a marathon.

I wasn’t sure how to segue from not being around at all to being all like, “hey kids, I want to run 26.2 miles for fun! Who wants to join me?!” But I got to say -

Nailed it.

I’ve been somewhat willy-nilly with my training over the past couple of months – I’ll do great one week and then the next I’m lucky to get my running shoes out once. I just didn’t have anything to focus my efforts on and it all just went to the wayside. I had already planned on running a marathon (initially I thought it’d be the OKC Marathon) and with the registration for that not starting until September 1st – I’ve just been wandering aimlessly from one treadmill to the next.

Then, I got an email that mentioned The Army Marathon. It sparked a memory in me from all the way back to this past January at the Miracle Match 5k expo. I was checking out all the booths while I picked up my bib and happened to stop at The Army Marathon, it was their inaugural year this year, and they tried to convince me to sign up. Even though I had two half-marathons under my belt at that point I was not mentally ready to commit to the fact that I could run 26 freaking miles.

I started reading about dates/times and thinking how that would work with my current race schedule as far as training and y’all, I had no excuse. I couldn’t put it on the back burner any longer (much like writing for this janky ol’ blog y’all love so dearly) and I just said, “Fuck it” as I hit the register button.

And just like that, there was no turning back.

I still would really like to run Oklahoma but ultimately chose to go with this since it’s much closer to home for me (Killeen-Temple area). I traveled for my first half, and while it was an amazing experience, it also added a lot of extra stress I probably could have avoided.

Running 26.2 miles is no freaking joke and I want to be as prepared as possible come race day so cutting out travel seemed fairly logical. Also, this way I can force my family/friends to come & cheer me on along the way.

I’ve created a marathon schedule that I believe will work for me (please feel free to give me any and all your insights!) with my main focus simply being on finishing. My first official week was, uh this one. And I can already feel my focus on workouts coming back, it’s been a good week.

I kept stairs as a workout because I feel like that really helped prepare me other races – it’s hard work guys. Seriously, up and down stairs for 45+ minutes and you’re sweating like raccoon in a hat-making contest. Cross training with Moj is basically whatever strength workout Moj has cooked up for us to do. Today involved a lot of planks and incline push-ups. I seriously have no idea how I even put my shirt on after it.

I’m nervous but more than that, I’m really excited to push myself and see what I’m capable of. I can remember thinking there’s no way I’ll ever be able to run 3 miles and now, here I am ready to tackle 26. It’s a helluva feeling and I’m glad I get to share it with you guys.

So, you tell me – what’s something on your schedule you’re pumped about? I’ve missed y’all!

Magic

Last year while in Las Vegas (where I ran my first half!) we went to see David Copperfield at MGM.

Alfred, Sunny, myself & Blake hitting Vegas up in style.

Blake was actually chosen to be part of the show where David made him disappear. Blake says he has no idea how it was done (he’s a filthy liar) but it was still really incredible to have someone we know be in the show. And immediately afterwards we were all transported into 8 year olds convinced we wanted to be magicians. (We definitely recommend the show if you’re going to Vegas any time soon!)

So, of course, we had to stop into a magic shop and browse. If you bought a trick (no, not that kind you perv) they would take you into the back room and show you how it is done. We couldn’t really justify buying something until we realized we could use Lillie as an excuse. She’d simply love a magic trick!

Well, when we came home she was not even close to be interested. But now that she’s a little older, we thought we’d try again. And yep, she loved it.

Sorry for the poor lighting and uh, the no editing, but you get the gist.

Color Up 5k

Back in June I did a color run. They’re gaining a lot of popularity so there is a variety of them out there but essentially they’re all the same race – Color Up, The Color Run, Color Me Rad, Color Vibe – that’s not even close to all of them.

What it comes down to is you’re going to be thrown up on by a rainbow and dammit, you’re going to be happy about it!  I had initially registered with 3 other girls but due to situations beyond their control, none of them could attend. That meant I was all by my lonesome.

All By Myself…

GIFSoup

Fortunately, my husband is amazing and decided to at the very least ride along (still no luck in getting him to run with me). It was located in Temple, Texas at the Lions Park which was great because it gave the husband and the kid something to do while I was sweating color. She was not happy that I forced her to take a before picture with me when there was clearly more fun things to do.

I had registered for a 9am timeslot but had to be there by 8 to pick up my race bag, so I opted to jump into the 8:30 corral. We actually didn’t get started until 9am though because the EMT had not arrived yet and due to the weather (it was already 90 degrees) the race officials didn’t want to risk it.

Or at least that’s what was being said through the crowd.

They let the waves go every few minutes so everyone could get optimum time at the color points. For this race it was at every 1k point. Because of the weather, I told myself that I was just planning on enjoying the event and not trying to beat my 5k time. And that’s what I did. I helped people take pictures (there were a lot of families), I walked some, I randomly talked to people, I clapped for people who were literally rolling on the ground in the color and I just did the damn thing.

This isn’t a timed event so according to my watch: They had great aid stations and even had people with water hoses spraying us down – which felt freaking amazing. The husband got this candid* shot of me.

*definitely not candid

Those are what we like to call “fast hands”. We watched a movie once where the main character was running from something or someone that they should not have been able to outrun but they did. We assume it was because of the shape of their hands. It was distracting…and hilarious (you probably had to have been there) so there’s that. Fast hands, for the win!

I did a huge no-no for this race – I wore things I have never worn on race day before or trained in. If you’re a runner, or interested in running and have read over any article one of the things it always tells you not to do is try something new on race day.

I am apparently quite the rebel because I did the following and still finished:

Sunglasses: Overall, I didn’t like it. I’m not used to wearing glasses in every day life so by mile 1 they were sitting on top my head.
Sweatband: This came with the race bag and I’m so glad it did. It helped keep the ridiculous amount of sweat I was creating away from my eyes and it gives me hope that one day I will be able to wear a cute headband without it rolling up the back of my backless head.
New running skirt: I had previous run in a different skirt and it didn’t phase me (I’m a victim of chub rub), so when I received this one in the mail the day before I thought, “Eh, why not?” Well, here’s why not – it’s much shorter than my previous one and my thighs kept making out with each other from about the halfway point to the end. I really love the skirt – it’s Adidas – and I felt adorable in it, the shorts underneath are just too short and do not have grippies on them to keep in place. I still wear it to do other workouts in, so I count it as a win.

This is definitely not a race you go into looking to beat your time. Not because it’s hard, but because most people who have registered are looking for the experience of running through color and not running through their previous 5k time. A lot of people stopped to take pictures or were walking or would stop right in front of you to walk even though you were running right behind them.

Overall, I’ll end up doing this again. Except hopefully next time I’ll have my friends there. Maybe you? I’ll totally pick you up myself. No gas money required.

 

Until we run again!

The Tale of Two Sophies

“Mama. Maaawww-MUHHHHH.”

Sleepily, I push the hair from my face and glare angrily at the alarm clock realizing that it isn’t even 7am yet. The previous night I had high hopes that I could make it to at least 8am. I mean, it’s the weekend, right? People should not be mobile before 8am on the weekend – unless, of course, there’s a race to be had.

I began to scoot closer to the side of the bed hoping it was a false -

“MAW-MUH! MAW-MUHHH!”

Nope. Not false. I sit up, swing my feet to the side, and look up to realize the husband was already awake and dressed.

“I got her. Don’t worry about it.”

What kind of madness is this?

I quickly roll back into bed for fear this is a dream. Probably a little too over-enthusiastically I reply with a very generous “Thanks!”

Note to self: The husband deserves good loving – or at the very least a breakfast that includes both bacon and eggs.

I hear them both fumble around to the bathroom, to the kitchen for cereal (Berry Crunch, I’m sure) and settle into the living room. My eyes are closed; however, my ears are not. It’s too late for me, I’m fully awake and now, I’m just fake sleeping in an attempt to trick my body into thinking it’s well rested and won’t be exhausted at 11am from the terror of a nearly three year old.

Ah, parenting at its finest.

I hear the husband ask, “How do you like school? Do you have any friends?”

“I have TWO friends, daddy” she replies.

“Oh yeah, what are their names?”

“Sophie” She says this so matter-of-factly you would think she had said only one friend a moment ago.

“What’s the other friends name?” he prompts.

“Sophie”

“That’s only one friend.”

At this point, I’m staring down the hallway and into the living room – I know where this is going.

“NO. TWO.” She emphatically holds up two fingers to clarify.

“That’s only one.”

“TWO!” her frustration is rolling in like a freight train. It’s at this moment, I decide my body is well-rested enough and I need to come to life before this hits head on.

I roll out of bed, catch the husbands eye and say,

“Identical twins. There’s a set of identical twins at school – one’s name is Sophie, the other Grace. So, technically she’s right – she does have two friends.”

And that, my friends, is the Tale of Two Sophies.

I can trust no more

Something has happened to me.

Something big.

Like, I-don’t-even-know-if-I-can-ever-trust-the-world-again big.

Intense.

I have an office job in higher education. I’ve worked here for 8 years (3 in my current position, 5 in Financial Aid Office – yeah, I was that person you loved to hate as an Undergrad) and I love a lot of things about my job but one of the main things I’m grateful for - that the summer is so laid-back. Most of the students and faculty are gone, which means it’s a lot quieter, parking is easier and there’s not as many distractions when it comes to getting my work done. There are some days when no one even walks into my office.

Those are glorious, glorious days my friends.

One of the other great things about no students is I don’t have to time my bathroom breaks. I refuse to go at certain times when classes get out in the fall & spring because it’s a madhouse out there in the halls. Like a bunch of gazelles being chased by lions madhouse. Especially in the first few weeks of fall as the incoming freshman are figuring everything out. But the summer is bathroom freedom on my bladders will.

Again, glorious, glorious days my friends.

One of the things that I get pumped up about is when going to the bathroom I’ll luck out and see the toilet seat raised up. This is a wonderful indication that housekeeping has cleaned the bathroom and I am the first, the first, to sit on a newly cleaned toilet seat (it’s the small things in life).

I don’t know why I get so excited about this but it makes me feel better for not being one of those people that insist they hover over every public toilet and never sit on the seat.

If that’s you, you’re a dirty filthy liar. We all know you sit on the seat. WE ALL DO. 

Anyway, I walked into the restroom and as I turned to the right a small, dark-haired woman was coming out of the first bathroom stall. I glanced over (this is typically my stall because I had read once somewhere that the first bathroom stall is usually filled with less germs) and you know what I saw?

She put the toilet seat back up – like she never used it at all!! The toilet was still flushing and the door was open, and she was standing there with her back to me and, and, and…

WHY WOULD SOMEONE DO THIS TO ME?

My glorious, glorious summer days have forever been lost. I will never be able to trust a raised toilet lid again. That dark-haired woman took that from me. She.took.it.from.me.

Training Tuesday 8.13.13

<a href="http://lehmannlaughter.blogspot.com/search/label/Training%20Tuesday" width="200" src="http://i1286.photobucket.com/albums/a611/Tamara0827/2f34edc7-7101-4a2c-bcab-611d13987963_zpsa1b488d9.jpg" height="200" /></a>

This link-up is just a way to talk about training [in any way, for anything] to help hold ourselves accountable and possibly brag a bit. I mean, you ran 1 mile without stopping – you totally deserve a chance to brag about it! That shit is hard. You did 10 push-ups in a row, HOLLLEERRR.

My Training

I did Insanity a couple times last week and then Lillie had – get this – a 104.5 fever at daycare and the remainder of my week was focused on nestling her back into her sweet-natured self. You know, the self that chases the cat around, somehow manages to catch her & then force her to lay still underneath a blanket on the recliner. You can just see the love in Smokey’s face.

I started working on marathon plans, but was getting stupid overwhelmed. So I’ve decided that I will just focus on each upcoming race that I have already in the books and base my plan(s) off that. I have a pretty strong base already when it comes to 5ks since I’ve been running fairly consistently for the past year at that distance. So I haven’t created a 5k plan, I just jumped right into the 10k.

Last year when I created a 10k plan I was just focused on the miles to put in. I wasn’t concerning myself with time since no matter what I did I was going to PR (the joy of racing a distance for the first time!) But this year, I want to be faster so I’ve actually incorporated tempo runs. This is totally new to me, so I’m excited to jump in and complain about it all to whoever will listen. (Read: You guys)

You’ll also notice Manic Moj Monday – if you’re new here you’ll hear me talk about Mojgan on occasion. She is a beast in the gym and has been an amazing inspiration to me when it comes to working out and (trying) to eat better. She loves running stairs & I think it will only help me be stronger when it comes to to the hills of the 10k I’m running (and for the half in January that follows a similar course – HILLS & MORE HILLS). 

If you have any suggestions on the plan above or just want to say hello, comment below!