Family Runs

Family runs are my favorite, especially on super nice 60ish degree days in January. 

It takes about a mile for the babies to get settled into the whole sitting in a stroller thing.  Blankets fall off, baby dolls get run over by the stroller, sippy cups go flying; but after a mile everything seems to settle in place and we can run accident free for a while.  We did a nice little jog from our house to downtown Bentonville and back. Five glorious miles that I loved every second of. Once again, I can't stress enough how awesome it is to live next to a path that goes super far. Soooooo nice.

I need to get my running butt back in gear.  I've been slacking for the past 6 weeks.  There are a couple races coming up we're going to do and I'm pretty excited about that.  There's a Valentines run on the 9th and I will be doing the 8K.  I've never run an 8K and don't actually know how far it is in miles......... but I guess I'll find out on the 9th.  Or just google it.  That's what they should teach in math classes- easy ways to remember how to convert Ks to miles.  Silly america making things all confusing by being different. 

The next race is the Bentonville half marathon.  I'm being told it may be a bad idea to run it since I'll be overseas the week before and won't get back home until Friday evening and the race is Saturday morning. Well Naysayers, let me tell YOU what I think. I think that I'm going to adapt a new motto starting right now: "If Dean Karnazes can...".  It's more like a half-motto.  And the "..." is a very essential part of the quote. I can't exactly say "If Dean Karnazes can, I can" because that would be a lie.  He runs 100 miles on a seemingly regular basis.  That is crazy.  I can't run 100 miles.  BUT maybe I can say, "If Dean Karnazes can run 199 miles at one time to raise money for sick children, then I can wake up in the morning after a week in Paris and run 13."  Positive thoughts and perspective. Yep.

All that being said, tomorrow I will be back on the running wagon. It's supposed to be sunny and 50-something.   Perfect weather.  I will just need to make sure I don't get too caught up in renovating the bathroom and run out of time to run. 

3 Steps Back and Glorious Memories.

I'm not sure if I've taken 2 steps forward and 3 steps back, or 3 steps forward and 2 steps back, or if I've just started walking backwards.  Either way, I was just humbled by a 2.6 mile run.

There are many factors (excuses? sometimes I'm not sure where to draw the line) that probably contributed to this backwards run.  Allow me to list:
1. I'm still trying to kick the cough from the upper respiratory extravaganza I was blessed (not!) with over Christmas.
2. I've only run once in what feels like a month, but is probably more like 3 weeks (it was an amazing run that I will chronicle once I'm done bitching about getting bitch slapped by 2.6 miles)
3. I'm stressed.  Normally, I would be able to run or go the gym after a stressful stretch of life and workout all my issues.  As it is right now, that is not an option. 
4. I am an ex-smoker, turned non-smoker, turned occasional-social-smoker and I fell off the bandwagon over Christmas. I'm actually not sure how much this had to do with the 2.6 miles-of-crap-run, but I thought it was worth a mention.

Ok that's all.  Now let me list the positives of this run (yes- there were some!)
1. It was almost 70 degrees outside and it was January 11.  This would be why I live in the south.
2. I just bought a much needed new pair of running shoes and wore them out of the store to go for my run
3. I was sporting my new Christmas present- GPS watch! And was beyond thrilled to use it! And my newly purchased shoes just happen to match the GPS watch perfectly.  No, I did not do that on purpose.  Everyone just seems to be putting out lime green and white colored runningly-things.

The next chance I'll have to go for a run will be Friday.  Let's hope the weather cooperates so I don't end up confined to the treadmill.

Here's the short story of the Super Awesome Chicago Run over Christmas:

 

It was Christmas Eve in Chicago and the weather was amazing.  My husband and I did a 45ish minute run around our old neighborhood. The houses are tons of fun to look at and it brought back sweet memories.  I felt great the whole time- like I could run forever- and we were going at a decent pace too.  It was glorious.  Some of my favorite memories are of running with my husband.  This particular day will be remembered and cherished, just like our run together around Central Park. And the one time years ago we ran together for over an hour in the rain.