Birthday Weekend

Friday was my birthday, turned 29, my last year that I can say "I am in my twenties"... Not that my twenties have been quite the ride I had anticipated they would be... At 20, I thought I had the whole world by the balls. At 21, I had my first child, my world became less about me and totally about her. At 22, I had my second daughter, too soon, but wouldn't trade her for the world. By the time I was 25, I was exactly where I was at 22... I was home raising my two baby girls, they were 100% my world... Then my world came crashing down... At 26, I was divorced, I was a single mom, a single working mom. My world changed, my view of everything and everyone in the world changed. At 27, I decided it was time to become a big girl and get my life back in order, but that took two full years, of almost nothing but hard hitting mistakes... So this year, after a year of meeting, dating and marrying the man of my dreams, I plan to enjoy being in my twenties again, as the final hurray of my 20s and the complete 180 that occurred in that time...

Starting that out... I will run the Portland Marathon in less than a week, hoping to PR that race, everything in my training looking like that will be the case. And on a good note, the weather for Portland looks like it should be perfect! This was a blurb from the Portland Marathon newsletter released this morning. 

Bill had a court hearing this morning that had mu stomach in knots, so no run this morning, tonight I will make that up and relieve some stress with an easy 5 miles. The rest of the week looks like this: Tuesday, bike or spin; Wednesday, easy four; Thursday, bike or spin; Friday, easy four & leave for Portland that evening; Saturday, rest; SUNDAY: MARATHON. 

Totally Down in the Dumpster So Far This Week

I do not have a good excuse for my laziness lately, my shitty mood or the fact that my taper week/carb loading has been taken to the extreme. One, I have hardly run this week, I have spun and gone on a bike ride... Two, I have eaten like shit... My piss-poor attitude seemed to pass this morning, and I am feeling much better... I think.

But today had a very productive day at work, catching up on a stack of paperwork. Nice meeting at noon, ultimately meaning I got a delicious free lunch. Off at three to hangout with my girlies. Going to convince my oldest that doing Pilates with me is a fun time. Tonight, I am going to run the bridges, make a nice healthy salmon dinner, with some broccoli and a salad. Take care of my foot and back and get out of the dumpster can. And drink a giant pot of coffee so I can actually stay awake and hang out with Bill, as I have fallen asleep super early every night this week.

Me...

First Run with my New Garmin

All I can say is AWESOME. So Bill gave me the Garmin Forerunner 110 a week early for my birthday and I FLIPPING LOVE IT. It tracks my time, my pace, my heart rate, my calorie burn (specific to me), my path and it is all done by satellite so it's extremely accurate. I love it. 

I also ran in the the UA shirt Bills mom got for me, it's a long sleeve, bright pink, extremely thin, and I think if it's under 65 for the marathon, I'm totally wearing it. :) woot. Weird mood today. Lots of things going on at work, lots of things going on with Bill... Just kind of in an off mood I guess. :-/

The Weekend

Two weeks from today... Portland Marathon. 

Yesterday we had some great friends over to watch the fights after a busy day with all the kiddos. It was nice to relax and visit with everyone. A couple I work with brought a delicious bottle of Moscato, that I drank, the whole thing, by myself. 

Today, slept in. Great big cup of coffee. Hung around with all the kids and watched football. Bill and his mom brought the boys home. I took the girls on a bike ride around the bridges, a nice little 5 mile loop, which about all their little legs can handle. 

Tonight, more football and getting ready for the week. (Last training week before the taper. Woot!!)

The Long One...

Well the longest run before the marathon is complete. :) I could not be happier with where my body is. 

My foot, did not hurt after the first half mile until walking up the stairs at the hotel. My back didn't hurt during the run at all. My endurance was great, my lungs felt good and at no point during the run did I feel like I wasn't going to finish.

My Nuun tablets really seem to work well, I was happy with the results. I used the same ol' power gels that I have used the last two marathons, since I bought a case of the a million years ago, and like always they were great, they taste horrible however. I was reading in Runners World that combining the gels and electrolyte drinks was becoming a "no-no" among runners, cannot see why that would be. Always very effective for me. 

At a very carb heavy dinner last night, and although I do not care for buffets, it was perfect for what I needed last night. And like an old married couple,  Bill and I returned to our room to watch the Philadelphia game last night, and I got a solid 10+ hours of sleep last night.  So everything definitively fell onto place for this final long run, so here is to hoping that the marathon goes as smooth. 

By the way, played the best golf game that I have ever played yesterday. It was a scramble, and we used more of my drives that anyone else's! My golf game is still pretty damn sad but I was happy I played as well as I did. Could it be I golf better without a bottle of wine in my cart??? 

Carbohydrate Junkie

Running the last long run before the marathon tomorrow, a twenty mile run, on marathon pace, through Spokane... I will admit that I am a total carbohydrate junkie, so the day before a long run, is a guilt free carb-fest chased with so much water it's ridiculous. This morning, whole wheat bagel with natural organic peanut butter, and coffee with almond milk. And now, as I sit here at the Qwest Casino in Spokane I gorge on Villa Fresh Italian Kitchen's Mac & Cheese and a Chicken Ranch Stromboli. And the best part of this, that guilt I usually associate with eating these two items is washed away knowing tomorrow I will burn roughly 3,000 calories from my run alone. :) 

Bill is in a meeting until 12:00, then I am going golfing with his boss, him, his co-workers and their managers. I will be the only non-employee, apparently someone couldn't come, and because I filled in at their last meeting, Bill's boss invited me to do the same. So it should be a good little time. And I can focus on drinking all the water I need to get down today. :) Then we are eating dinner at a Buffett, this usually totally grosses me out, but for what I will need to eat tonight it should work out pretty well. I am sure everyone will stay out and watch the football game tonight, but no alcohol for this lady... I'll be the one with the water, trying not to think about her foot.

While I am thinking about my favorite things such as carbs...

Favorite drink: Coffee, my secret love is a raspberry white mocha with an extra shot of espresso from Starbucks, but at over 600 calories a drink, I stick to coffee and almond milk

My Favorite Movie: Story of Us, god I love that movie

Favorite color: pink, duh

Favorite food: My grams used to make me the most delicious chicken enchiladas for my birthday every year and fried zucchini, I miss my grams...

Favorite TV show: long retired Friends, Breaking Bad is my currently airing favorite

Favorite book ever: She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb, I need to re-read this, it's been years

Favorite thing to wear: yoga pants and a sweatshirt that has been washed so much that it's see-thru

Favorite children's book: Where the Wild Things Are, although when my sister and I were little I used to read Clyde The Monster to her when she was scared, and she recently bought the girls a copy, and I love it so much.

I have no idea what that was all about other than I am sitting a casino filled with people that I don't know, needed to eat, too anxious to gamble alone and needed to kill an hour... Mission accomplished. :) 

Running In The Rain

Enjoyed a nice five mile loop in the rain this morning. Totally refreshing. Totally felt great. 

Stress fracture + heels = torture (duh)

I was supposed to go to this marketing lunch with some people from our corporate building and because I was a little nervous, I decided heels were a good decision, which it turns out they were not. My foot was aching by the time I left the facility. And I still hadn't run yet. It was storming out, with lightening, so a treadmill run was the only option, and honestly (and don't tell Bill this) exactly what my foot needed. A nice four mile tempo run on a soft, forgiving surface. 

Read several articles today about stress fractures, one thing they stressed over and over was icing the fracture after a run. So today, while my chores sat and looked at me while I iced my foot and sat and looked at them. 

I did find this excellent packing list for the marathon. Which is perfect considering I will be running my twenty mile run Thursday out of town and will want to run in everything just as I plan for the marathon...

And I stole this from another blog I read, because I love it. 

Everything hard for me can be handled usually between a good cry or a good run. And there is no where love more than the ocean. 

It all started with my husband recommending a chiropractor.

Started my morning after the girlies were out the door waiting for the bus, parked the car at the bottom of the hill, take my first Nuun Electrolyte tablet and start off on my morning run, about 1/4 mile in, I start getting an aura... The aura foretelling a dreaded migraine.  The aura typically takes over an hour, and usually makes it difficult to drive as it clouds my vision until it clears, so rather than skip the remainder of my morning run, I finished my run... I was disappointed to not know if my Nuun tablet had any effect on my run but by the time I returned to the car my aura had ended. 

Bill had decided that my migraine was a result of this tweak I've been struggling in my back... After an agreement I would give a chiropractor a chance if he greed that regardless of what the chiropractor said I would not stop running nor would I miss the marathon. With that (and this is the most important part of this story) Bill made me an appointment to see a chiropractor. To say I was skeptical would not begin to cover it. Bill sends me a text with a lady's name and credentialing, I google her, read her entire website, her education, her background, her beliefs surrounding chiropractic care and nutrition, I feel more confident that she's not a total flake... That is until we pull into her "office", which appears to be a house, in a residential neighborhood that is totally run down and plain flippin' sketchy. We walk in to see that the lobby area is separated from the "treatment area" by a mere room separator... With a man getting a treatment... And, there are cats, three I believe total... A cat promptly hops up to greet Bill.

In this picture Bill is texting me, apologizing for this disaster. And then the most amazing thing happened, the lady twisted me around, uncomfortably placed her body too close to mine, but made my back feel amazing. She put some icy hot on at the end and this amazing tape, called Rock Tape (I even got on their website and applied for their sponsorship after using this stuff). This combination is HEAVEN. 

We also discussed my foot... It boils down to this... My bones are weak, because of my lack of calcium. My foot isn't going to become any less broke, it needs to heal, which it can after the marathon. Until then Calcium with Vitamin D to help not further the bone issues... That makes my list of supplements to now be, Multi-Vitamin, Iron, Rhodiola rosea, Cordyceps, Echinacea, Vitamin C & 5-HTP... A pile of pills. 

On another note, Bill installed a new garage door opener tonight, and I could not believe it, who just does that!?!? It's so quiet compared to the old one, since its on a rubber track rather than a chain. Pretty cool!!!

The weekend...

Busy weekend... With NO RUNNING...

Saturday, went up for the WSU Cougar Football game, the game was great and the tailgating better.

These two guys below, that no one in our party knew, totally crashed our party... And were total creeps. 

Zach was stung by a bee, did a dance after being stung and dumped his beer all over DJ, and later, just as a reminder, another bee landed in his beer...

The Cougars won, and we went out for Sushi to my favorite little place up there, Red Bento. 

Sunday morning, Bill & I met with my AMAZING sister and her boyfriend to float the river. I just love being out on the water on our little boats. It was a good time. 

By the way, have I mentioned my sister is pregnant??? And I cannot wait to spoil this little child like crazy?!?! She is going to decorate the nursery in MONSTERS!!! How flippin' fun! 

I would talk about my beloved Niners, but it was a very very sad day for them today, against a team I cannot stand...

This weeks training plan, as I'll be out of town Thursday & Friday, have Bill's sons and mom here over the weekend, and my back is continuing to torture me it could prove to be a very stressful week. 

 Monday: 5 miles, bridges loop, morning run
Tuesday: 4 miles, tempo
Wednesday:  5 miles, bridges loop, morning run
Thursday: 20 miles, around Spokane
Friday: 3 mile recovery
Saturday: Rest Day
Sunday: depends on my mood...

Maybe I'm Getting Old...

Enjoyed another nice little morning run this morning. I had not thought about the fact that I have not had a single rest day since last Saturday, the day before my 14 mile run... Hmm... As I squirmed around in standup with a sore back and an aching foot I made this realization... There may be some reasoning behind the rest... When I was CrossFitting, I did six days all the time, only resting on Sunday... What is this all about?!?!? Maybe I'm getting old...

Anyways, a four mile loop this morning. My FASTEST four miles to date... 7:58, 7:53, 7:56 & 7:38!!!! I am never fast, ever, so this was pretty damn exception for me. :) My goal for the marathon is sub-4 hours, so hitting under 9:10 per mile is the goal... But for 26.2 miles. Which is much different than 4... I am feeling really good about my training, feeling faster than I was for my last one. Minus my foot...

My foot is still hurting... It aches the first mile or so, then it like dulls... Then once I stop it starts throbbing... And hurts off and on throughout the day, to where I am now walking on my foot with that part slightly tilted... Which long term I assuming is not healthy... Assuming, as I haven't seen a doctor about it... I have not been taking anything, hoping that if I only take ibuprofen the day of the actual marathon it won't hurt at all. Right? This foot thing is really a moot point, if its a stress fracture it'll just be a worse fracture after the race, they won't do anything except say "stay off it and let it heal". So I will do that..... Just not til October 7th. God, maybe I really am getting old...

And this is a pic of my girlies this morning... Aren't they the cutest???

Perfect Morning Run

It is amazing to me what a difference running in the morning does to my mood. Amazing. Woke up at 5:30, made a little coffee, did my morning routine of chores (dishes, girls' lunches, load of laundry, wipe down bathrooms and sweep), went down to get the girlies up, who I must say are the most adorable in the early morning, they are so sweet and snuggly and nice. They were excited when I reminded them that we were going to Orofino tonight to go to Lumberjack Days, which secretly I am very excited about too. They love to have their little tiny backs scratched while I help them choose their clothes and get dressed in the morning, and they hate having their hair done, so it is a fair trade. Back upstairs for their breakfast and my second cup of coffee. Ate a bowl of oatmeal, so I would be ready to run within the hour. The girls go out to the bus at 7am, so I kissed them and Mr. Bill goodbye and headed out for a nice cool run. It was 61 degrees out, no breeze sun up. I felt like I could run all day, I mean all day. My legs felt great, my lungs amazing with the cold air, and my mood immediately uplifted. So although today is actually a "rest day", I ran a nice 5 miles, at a nice relaxing pace of 8:18 min/mile. Felt great. By the time I had made it home Bill had left for the day, he has big stuff going on at work, so instead of taking his morning calls at home, he had to meet a co-worker at his office at 8am. So the house was empty, and completely quiet. Turned on some music and got around for work, a perfect way to start the day. :) 

Earlier this week the medical director of our building was asking about my marathon, we had been talking about it earlier and my tendency to run a little anemic. I explained that I was thinking of getting an iron injection, and about some other health related things, and finally he said "Brandi, could it be you are a OCD?", he says this to me often, and I said "No, I just want to be in complete control," and he said "You can't control everything! I feel sorry for your husband!"... Ha, maybe I should too... I do just wish that I had complete control over my health and this marathon. My biggest fear is getting sick with the increase in my running, which knocks down your immune system a little... Increased my Vitamin C supplement and started Echinacea for the month... So here is to controlling what I can. :) 

Last night I ended up having to do my run on my treadmill. The girls were in and out of the house with the two neighbor girls. Haili made her way downstairs with the youngest of the neighbors and said, with complete and utter pride, "Look how fast my mom runs. When I am older I am going to do races with my mom." That little comment, her face so serious and proud just made me really, really thankful that she sees running as a healthy thing that she wants to be doing too, just like me. :)  

Tonight, running away to Orofino to see my mom, with my sissy, the girls and Mr. Bill. Going to be a late night, at least for an old lady like me, but totally worth it. :) My mom just came to see me at work actually, and brought me some of her amazing homemade cookies, don't tell her but I talked everyone else into eating them... Sorry mom!!!

My Schmister

I realize that not everyone has an amazing sister, or an amazing best friend or someone that they would trust their life, their secrets, their everything with. I have that. Not to brag. But my sister is amazing. My sister is better than your sister, no matter who you are reading this.

Ashley is one of those people that you meet, that are so interesting, so funny, so intelligent and so fiery that you just fall in love with her the moment you meet her. Men and women alike love my sister, they either want to be her best friend, become a lesbian, or marry her... For real. Luckily she is stuck with me, she will be forever, and I don't have to change my sexual orientation to keep her.

I have a bundle of recent pictures of her... But these are a few of my favorites. The one above is the day that Ashley and I went to Spokane for this Spokane River Run, we both got really sick like the week before, and were coughing and feeling like shit all weekend, we showed up that morning to the race, to realize we were at the WRONG Riverfront Park, the the RIGHT Riverfront Park was an hour away. So we took a picture in our running gear, that we did not actually run in and instead went out for breakfast.

As you can see in the above picture Ashley has an excellent "duck face" when she has been drinking. These pictures are from the Annual June Picnic Volleyball tournament that we go to. We always start out really strong, then we drink too much of the FREE BEER, and we get last place, every single year. My mom plays in this tournament with us as well, so we are lucky enough to see her get all worked up and call us "buttcheese", and other wonderful terms. You cannot see this from the pictures but my mom also wears these wonderful Starter brand windbreaker pants, that we tease her about them endlessly.

Ashley has interesting eating habits to say the least! Ha. In reality, Ashley is an excellent person to talk tp about food. She is currently finishing school at LCSC, in Kinesiology. Ashley would make the absolute best personal trainer and I really hope she ends up opening a CrossFit gym, with just ladies... Ha!

This picture just cracked me up so I had to add it. This is Ash and I "Indian Leg Wrestling" my step-dad (SD)... He may look like an old fart, but he kicked our asses. Over and over and over... I was bleeding bruised by the time we gave up... In this one, SD tried to flip us both, so he had no base, and he still won... WTF?

 Ashley is the only person in this world that can talk me into jumping into 8 degree water on New Years Day with a hangover... The only one... 

And our latest obsession has been Obstacle Runs... I won't bore you with the Spartan Pictures again, so these two are the Warrior Dash (the fire leap) and the Dirty Dash (in our 80's gear). 

She is just the coolest, most amazing person in the world... And sexy to boot. 

Ohh, and my run tonight, which is what I usually blog about, will be on the levee for 7 miles... No, I did not drag my ass down to my treadmill this morning... I was a lazy lazy lady...

Treadmill Here I Come!

Tomorrow will be the beginning of my morning runs on the treadmill to return, at least my weekday runs. By writing that here, I have committed, I don't commit half-assed so its done. The whole putting my phone in my shoe, with alarm set with "get your ass outta bed" on the screen with my favorite wake up motivation song, "Burn the Witch". It's too dark to run outside at 4:30am, it's too hot to run before my evening full of responsibilities begins, and by the time it's under 80, it's dark again... It's not that I don't love my treadmill, I just prefer to run outside. I ran on my treadmill tonight, an easy 4 miles, and my foot felt great. My back has been tweaked and that too didn't hurt as result of running. Woot. 

Prior to my run, Bill and I took the girls out on our little boats. It was a nice retreat from the world. 

Well, it was a Monday

The work day had plenty of ups and downs...

   The ups:

     - caught up on a lot of paperwork and assessments

     - the residents I met with were easy to please

   The downs:

     - one of the other managers on my team were let go today

     - one of my favorite residents is not doing well, and likely passing away soon 

Work was work, and all in all, a Monday...

I did get my Crosstraining in today, I have been so less than consistent on my scheduled Crosstraining days, so I was happy when I finished, although my legs were feeling fine after my sixteen miles yesterday, so they really wanted to run... They will be fresh tomorrow. So I spun, on my spinning bike, in the living room while watching Monday Night Football. Bill is a Philly's fan (I forgive him for this major flaw because he likes my fav college team) so he was watching the game too. I am going to walk a few miles too tonight, and try to drag the girls along. 

I read a great little article on the Runners World website, I enjoyed the overall message of overcoming pain with running, after all that's how I started running marathons. I am not religious however, so all the religious references were lost on me... Check it out: Bless Your Heart

Which got me thinking about when I started training for my first marathon. Three years ago, well four this December, the girls' father and I were going through our divorce. I was in so much pain, felt so deceived, and like this little world I worked so hard to build was falling down around me. I felt like I had no control, I felt so horrible about myself, and like I was a miserable failure. I remember going on that first angry run, the first run that I just ran because I was pissed and I was hurt. I ran hard, I ran fast and my lungs felt like they were going to explode. And I ran a long ways, and runnning. And I just kept running until I felt better and I went home and I slept. It felt good. It felt healthy. And for once, during these dark months, I had control over something, I could see that I would be okay, and for the first time, I found my peace. 

16 Mile Long Run & A Win for the 49ers!

Great day today. Got my run in, it was a touch hotter than I would've liked at 88 degrees, but it didn't feel horrible. My new running playlist was perfect, didn't skip a single song in the two hours I was out running. 

I made homemade protein bars last night, they taste pretty good and with 28g of protein per bar I am pretty pleased with the result. First regular season win for the 49ers against my least favorite time the Packers. Salmon thawing out. House clean. Bill's clothes all ironed. This is shaping up to be a good little Sunday. And the latest episode of Breaking Bad is tonight. Woot!

Lady Date Day

There are times that I just need time alone with my sister, time to talk to her, joke with her, just listen to her talk. Ashley has been my best friend since we were little girls, so much like my little girls that I just hope that they have a relationship like we do. My sister is funny, amazing, generous, thoughtful, kind, strong, gorgeous, crude with a sailors mouth (makes my mouth sound like a churchily saint). My sister is the one person that knows me, knows my past, my secrets, my insecurities, my flaws, EVERYTHING. So when I am alone with her, I am me. Very few people can make a person feel like that. Ashley can. The girlies and I went and got some Starbucks, went and picked her up, and headed to the little Vietnamese nail salon, that hardly anyone knows about. We talked about everything, her life, my life, the girls, our family, everyone else's family. Ha. 

Love this lady...

The girlies had a great time too, they are so funny. 

Tomorrow is a sixteen mile run... Yes, sixteen miles. Made some pasta with teriyaki chicken tonight, chugging the water after too much coffee... So will need to just have a good breakfast, probably oatmeal, and do gels and plenty of water tomorrow. Updated my iPod running playlist tonight, all set for morning. :) 

By the way, my sister is having a baby! I am going to be auntie, I cannot wait to have a niece or nephew! Here is a little sneak peak at that soon to be addition to our family. If you look closely you can see it carrying a little dumbbell, my sister is a bad ass, I expect nothing less from this little baby.