"girl, you huge."

I’m a little too worried about hills and valleys lately. There are hills where there weren’t before and valleys where there shouldn’t be valleys.

I have heard, “you JUST had twins!” several times. But now they are three months old. Do you understand what that means? It means that I have had to stand in front of my closet for almost 100 days and look for something to put on that doesn’t fit. That’s 100 days in a row that I have been a frustrated woman. And that’s not counting the time that I actually had two babies inside me. Yes, yes, I have needed time to heal, blah, blah blah. But now I want to feel like me again.

This morning after I fed the babies at 5 to 5:45am, I didn’t go back to sleep. I put on my running shoes. They were still all loose-laced from when my feet were swollen and I walked out of a hospital without my babies. I tightened them up and as I tied the bows I was grateful that at least my sneakers fit like they used to.

Pasty eyed and cotton tongued, I took to the street. Breathing in the morning air, I was glad to take the first step toward health. Was it really just a year ago that I was running this road to train for a half marathon? Yes, yes it was. And it will be this street that will help me move mountains (if you know what I mean).

Big Lake 1/2 Marathon

The short version:

Yay! We did it! I did it! I finished a half marathon – I ran 13 miles and lived to tell about it!



The long version: (and I won’t be offended if you skip this—it’s mostly for myself to look back on in the future and track my many improvements:)



The good stuff:
-It was a beautiful run—winding along Lake Winnipesauke
-The weather was beautiful
-It was so cool to be one of over 1500 runners

The mistakes:
-I wore a long sleeved light weight capilene shirt and long pants (I thought it was going to be cold, raw and perhaps rainy but it cleared up and we had lots of sun and fair weather)
-I didn’t wear my fuel belt (I thought 8 drink stations would suffice)
-I didn’t train seriously enough

The stuff working against me:
-I was cursing my Reeve gene (the one that makes me sweat like a fat man in a sauna and makes my body temperature run hotter than most people at any given moment of the day or night.)
-The race was in the mountains, which means that I was running uphill at least half of the time
-I was running into the wind the first few miles and then the wind died leaving nothing to cool me off

The stuff I’m thanking the Maker for:
-Gu
-The people at mile 9 who lovingly gave me a 17 oz. bottle full of ice cold water and probably saved my sorry life
-That my sweet husband was there waiting for me at the end and somehow had the strength to let me lean on him while I walked

The stuff I learned:
-Wear as few clothes as possible. When we got there, I was all chilly and I was looking around at all these people in these tiny shorts and tank tops and I was wondering what the heck they were thinking. Somewhere along mile 3 I came to the understanding that they were much smarter than me.

-I dehydrate quickly. Even though I thought 8 drink stations would be plenty, now I know that I need to be sipping water the entire time. I couldn’t picture it before, because I had never been in a race, but now I know: you’re running and some people are gathered together with paper cups with about a half a cup of water in it. You grab it as you’re going by, take a mouthful and drop it in the trashcan and then you’re done for another mile and a half or so. It takes all of 10 seconds. That’s just not enough for this body.

-Runners apparently don’t care if they get their cups in the trash can. I was so surprised to see hundreds of cups all over the ground. I guess the volunteers are used to it and know that’s part of their job – to pick up all the cups littered on the run. I couldn’t do it. I had to carefully put it in to the proper receptacle. In fact, there were parts where the wind threatened to blow the cups into the Lake, so I was stepping on all the cups as I ran so they wouldn’t blow as easily. Silly, I know, but I couldn’t stop myself from caring.

-The people in the back (which is where I ended) are much nicer than the people in the front (which is where I started). Their goals are different: personal best/competitive vs. finish the race – just please let me finish! The people in the back were all congratulating each other and talking to each other even though we were strangers. “You’re doing a great job!” “this is farther than I’ve ever run before!” “Congratulations!”

-I would rather run the 13 miles again than be as sick as I was after the race was over. When we got on the bus that took us back to our cars, something snapped and my body revolted. For the next 3 hours I was wishing for unconsciousness. In these pictures you see here, I was pretending to be happy. Really I wanted to puke my insides out and die. I didn’t want Matt and Liz to worry about me, but I guess they worried anywayJ I knew Jake would worry enough, he knows the many flaws that my body has to work with all too well. History suggests that if something can go wrong, it probably will with me, so as I was catatonic on the bed in my sweaty clothes and salty body, he was surfing the net to see what he needed to do for me. So sad and embarrassing, but it is what it is. Sigh.



-I would do it again utilizing what I’ve learned and now I can cross something new off my life list/mondo beyondo list. Yay me!

grateful friday

Last night I took some pictures for my friend for a mother’s day gift. (I don’t think she reads my bloggie, so I’m posting some.) It felt so good to be at the beach. The weather was beautiful, the company was fun and energetic. I got to be creative. I love taking pictures!



I finished The Host late last night. I love a good book. I’ve been thinking about it all day. It was a great read, very thought provoking. (But don’t expect it to be like Twilight, it’s totally different.) I've decided that I think Stephenie must be a genius.



My awesome neighbor just dumped a bunch of 8-yr-old manure into my vegi garden. (she’s got 2 horses.) (and apparently lots of extra poop that she’s willing to share;)



New things are blooming every day.



I’m going to bed early tonight and Jake and I run our first half marathon in the morning! (with Matt & Liz, too) Wish us luck – I’m afraid we’ll need it, the forecast is for rain. (thanks for watching the wee ones, Jess!)

runner's high

There are several factors that contributed to my very first runner’s high. I’d like to acknowledge them here and now…

1. My husband who made me feel brave by telling me after running 7 miles this morning that “after running toward death for the first couple miles, your body just gets in the groove; it wasn’t that hard.” *please note that when he started his run it was only 30 degrees outside – that really does feel like running toward death just in case you were wondering.
2. Thinking about my hero, Kara who can run 7 minute miles while pushing her two littles in a stroller.
3. Feeling the pressure of the half marathon that is only one month away that Jake signed us up for—I haven’t been training very hard and it shows.
4. The weather was beautiful and sunny (by the time I started my run it was 45 degrees and climbing), the birds were chirping (although I couldn’t hear them very well with my headphones on), and I noticed that more things are starting to bloom.
5. I got into my “running gear” and for the first time decided to use my fuel belt which I’ve decided that I adore. There is a little pocket for “fuel” (in my case, double chocolate Gu that my family thinks is a sin because it contains caffeine (doesn’t ALL chocolate?)) and ended up holding my wedding rings when my fingers swelled after a few miles. It held my ipod steady and the little baby water bottles were the perfect size and shape.
6. I was a little late getting started and realized that I only had an hour and 15 minutes before I had to be at the school to pick up my son. So I put on the timer on my ipod and decided to go as far as I could in 35 minutes and then turn back for home.
7. Amsterdam by Guster is my power song. It gives me a bolt of energy every time and sets my pace and lengthens my stride
8. When my timer said “35:08” it was a straight-a-way and I could see the stop sign that if I made it to would mean that my loop would be 7 miles. So I went for it and made it in 3 minutes. It meant that I was going to have to book it home - six minutes can make a big difference in my life.
9. The fact that my 8 year old made me put High School Musical on my ipod—when I heard Troy singing “Bet On It” it made me giggle and put me in an even better mood. I flew down that hill imagining Troy dancing on that golf course in New Mexico. Who knew something so cheesy would come in handy at such a time?
10. My mailman passed me twice and gave me a hearty thumbs up (the first time he passed me I was 3 miles away from my house).
11. I prayed when I got to the last mile that I could run swiftly so I wouldn’t be late for my boy (and by extension, my girl).
12. My neighbor passed me to go to the kindergarten pick up line when I still had a half mile left.
13. A couple houses down from my house there was one of those things that the police set up to show you how fast you’re going and it suddenly flashed my speed “5” (wow, I’m going really slow) “6…7” (that’s better…almost. home. so. tired) “…5”
14. Home: 7 miles, 1 hour 12 minutes, first runner’s high - can’t wait to do it again!