Dec Runs

The cold has finally gotten to a place I remember from last year. Last night the wind chill was 23 degrees. I love it. Bring on the cold weather for running! I am in love with all the Christmas lights. What will happen in January - deep depression? They are especially beautiful in Cherry Hill Village. The holiday food is taking a toll though and running doesn't seem to be enough. I think January will also bring a need for major pilates. Maybe it is lack of a goal. For the first time in a year, I have no plans for a race. It is weird!

Turkey Trot

Would it be thanksgiving without one? We are running the trot in Canton. So bummed that Leo can't run. We are having his irregular heartbeat looked into, but the Dr said he shouldn't run until we know what is going on definitively. We are going to walk to kids mile together, then I'll run the 5K with Will & Wendy. Just glad we can all be together.

This morning's short run was beeeeee - u - teee -ful! Serious sunshine out there. Though it wasn't even 40 degrees, I will take this day over any in the summer. Just love the crisp air and the sun. It is a great combination. And at Thanksgiving this year, I will be thankful for not only my wonderful family and friends but also all that running has given me. It is a life changer for sure.

Festival of Lights

SO I told Jamie I was not running this race this year. I had a terrible time of it last year - cold, pouring rain, solo run. But I couldn't resist and the day before the race, Jamie had us signed up. What a beautiful night - 56 degrees, we were sweating! Wendy jumped on board with us and we had a great time. I am super proud of Jamie. This was the farthest he has run and it was an accomplishment for him. Glad I could be part of that. I am so fortunate - my friends are great and so is my family!
Last night's run was a different monster all together . 33 degrees with a wind chill of 23. Brrrr. Will said he is not running again this year - and Wendy called him a name I won't write. It was a good run though. Now my throat is sore and I am afraid a cold is coming on. Yuck

Life and running

So I ran 3 miles last night solo. This has been the standard length of my weekly runs since the Freep half - and well it seems to suit me jsut fine. It was one of those runs I needed and new I needed it as soon as I started running. I needed the air and the pace and the moon (which was full). I was sick over the Penn State sex abuse scandal yesterday. It is horrible to say the least. I take this stuff to heart and it can fester and fester. By 8pm last night my blood pressure was HIGH. During mile two, the significane of it hit me (the name of the youth club where these boys went was called the second mile). Well once that hit me so did the tears. I cried and cried, yelled at the universe for its cruelty and cried some more. After about a half mile I was able to slow down and maintain my thoughts...it was in a way healing I guess. I ran for those boys and sent every ounce of good energy I had to them. I felt the reality of evil in this world. I hate that my boys live in a world where this type of thing can happen. But in the end, this is life and I will run and I will prepare my sons to live the best lives they can, because in the end we survive and we grow.

Opps, Run of the Dead

So I forgot to write about run #2, last weekend on Oct 30th I ran the 10K Run of the Dead in Southwest Detroit with Amy and Wendy. Last year this was the first 10K I ever did. Last year my time was 10:37, this year 9:47. I am super proud of this and it was a great run.

2 runs later...

Well being it a half month after the half, I should really ahve posted earlier - but life gets busy and time gets sparse.
The Half on Oct 16th was awesome. I can't really name everything that was so awesome but I will try...
Beautiful morning (Wendy's Dad dropped us off downtown, super nice Peanut!)
Was with Amy and Wendy (Wendy dropped us at mile 10 and completed the full marathon)
Ran with my iPod and it was better, not that I had realized what it would be like previously.
The Ambassador Bridge - phenomenal is all I can say. truly beautiful running up and over into Canada. I think this is the whole point of running this race. It was gorgeous. I forgot we were running uphill. I even screamed "Down river baby" as I crossed and looked to the south.
The energy of the runners was over the top!
Canada was nice all along the water with a view of the city. Someone had the best sign I have ever seen, it read "Your feet hurt because you are kicking so much ass".
We went through the tunnel at mile 6/7. Hot as Hades in there - ugh. I hated coming out too - it was like being sucked into a vacuum.
I started to tire out around mile 12...as always my confidence shakes toward the end. I have no idea why this happens, but I need to work on it. Amy had kicked into overdrive at this point. We ran around Campus Martius and crossed the finish line in 2:21. Whoo, beating my Chicago time by 4 minutes.
The very best part of this race was that Dominic and the boys were there at the end. Leo was holding a sign that said "Go Mom" and my heart melted. I love them all so much. it was the perfect ending.

We headed over to Tina's in Allen Park for breakfast with Amy/Fen and their kids. Relaxed a bit. Wendy and Will came by later in the afternoon and I got to hear about her run. What a rock star! 26.2 for her.

Later in the week, Amy called and asked, "hey next year, we do the full?"
So this blog may need to be renamed!

2 days

About this time Sunday i will be finishiong the half marathon in Detroit! the weekend is finally here. Amy and I are very excited. I don't have the anxiety this time that I did in Chicago...just hope I can do my best. It would be great to improve my time. I did 2 short fast runs this week and the awesome run on Sunday. I feel ready. Will do some pilates today and call it good.