Back in Action

So, remember the time my one week foot injury running hiatus turned into a two week running hiatus?!?
(Ok, so I ran a total of 4 miles total the second week so that's basically a hiatus for me!)

UGH! does anyone else want to rip their eyeballs out cos they used "you" instead of "your"?!?!

I knew I was getting into a holding pattern if I didn't get my ass back out there!
So last week, I did the smartest thing I could possibly do!!
I hounded the girls I was just starting to run with and made them tell me when they were running so I could commit to being there.
Raise your hand if you need accountability!

Last Monday, a group of about 11 of us got together to run for 45 minutes.
It was a nice, slow, easy run and we got about 4.5 miles done in that time frame.

Tuesday night, our group diminished tremendously down to 3 as mile repeats were on the agenda.
We started out with a 10 minute warmup.
Then the 1st and 2nd miles were done at 10k pace (or less) followed by a 4 minute rest after each.
Miles 3 and 4 were done at 5k pace (or less) with a 4 minute rest after each.
Then about a 5 minute cool down.
All together it took about an hour and 6 miles total completed.

My Garmin went crazy funky town during my mile 3 so I have no idea what my splits were!
I was bummed since this was my first time doing mile repeats so I was anxious for that data knowledge!
Next time!!

or it just F's up all together!

Thursday, the girls weren't running till 8:15 pm, and I didn't want to miss bedtime with my baby boy, so I went out on my own and did 5 miles.

Friday, the only time I could get it done was at 3:30 in the afternoon.
It was hot as a bitch, but I got my 3.1 miles done.

And Sunday, I met up with 8 others for an awesome 10 mile run!

Total miles logged for the week (Mon-Sun): 28.5

Damn it feels good to be a gangsta back!!

I'll have 10 more...

...weekends just like this one!!

After the past couple of weekends and life lately, I was more than ready for a low key weekend!!

Friday night we went to our family friend's house with a pool to have a little birthday party for my mother-in-law with some of her closest friends.
It was a nice, relaxing night of drinking beer and chatting and laughing.
I went to bed about 12:30 am which is L-A-T-E, LATE for me!!

Saturday morning, I did some work from home and then went outside to give Royce some play time while my husband cut down some of the overgrown brush along our backyard fence.
It was then time for lunch!
So the hubs went to play golf and I gladly took a nap with my baby boy!
I slept for about an hour.
When I woke up, I laid there contemplating whether or not I should do Ripped in 30.
After going back and forth, I finally dragged my happy tail out of the bed and got ripped!

When Royce woke up, we got ready and headed back to the pool.

Royce is getting more and more confident swimming in his "Puddle Jumper" floaties and it makes me so proud!! :)
It started thundering after about an hour and a half of being there so we packed up and headed over to my mother-in-law's for the rest of the night and just hung around!

Around 3:30 am, Royce woke up bawling.
Poor baby is cutting his 2 year molars complete with plenty of tantrums and awful, awful diaper rash!
So from about 3:30 till 5 am he and I were both up!
And then my alarm went off at 5:45 am.

For a split second I thought about turning it off and going back to bed.
But I knew I was pretty excited about my plans...
I was meeting up with some of the running group to log 10 miles!

It started out pretty humid, but for about the last 3 miles it was looking like it was ready to storm, so the clouds covered up the sun and some breezes rolled in from time to time making it a little more tolerable!
I came home, downed some ibuprofen, put on my compression socks and iced my foot as my hubby walked out the door for his 20 mile bike ride!

Took another nap with my baby boy and then had the rest of the afternoon to catch up on my Runners World reading!

We ended our night by going over to my sister-in-law's house for a Back-to-School sleepover.
We weren't staying the night but went over for Royce to play with the other kids.
All 15 of them!

The girls were cracking me up singing all their little country songs!
They even let me dance to "Shake it for Me" (where there is video footage of that I hope never gets leaked into the social media world!) and taught me the wobble!

Ahhh....twas a relaxing, low key weekend where the farthest place I drove to was not even a mile away!

...YOU are a Triathlete!!

This post is a little late.
But here, nonetheless!!
Sunday, July 28th was my husband, Michael's first ever Triathlon.

He texted me one day in late May to say he was training for a Triathlon.
I scoffed at him!

He was barely running.
Didn't own a bike.
And loved sitting on the couch watching TV.

2 months later, we were up early on a Sunday morning watching him compete!!
(Take that, wife!!)

I am so proud of and inspired by the time, effort, and dedication he put into this event.
But not so proud of the money poured into it...
And to see him accomplish this fete and cross that finish line was nothing short of amazing.

The Tri was an hour and a half north of us in Richmond, Virginia.
We headed up around lunch time on Saturday to check into our hotel, then right back out the door to pick up his bib number and get Mama some Starbucks!

There was a mandatory meeting for all the first time course racers at the park where the event was taking place.
So while my husband learned all the A's to the FAQ's, I was pretty much Royce's bitch, chasing him all around.
I was exhausted by the time we left but at least I got to scope out the course to know where all the good spots were to spectate the event the next day.

We ate dinner, then went back to the hotel to call it an early-ish night.

Sunday morning started bright and early with my husband's alarm going off at 4:30am.
I said goodbye and wished him well and he was on his way at 5:15.
We were on our way at 6:15.

The race started at 7 am.
Swimming is the first leg.
650 meters.
The layout of the course was kind of tricky.
The river they swam in was actually at a lower elevation than the park so they had to run up a slight incline to get to the bike transition spot.

The only way we could spectate the swim was from up on a hill.
So this is the picture I got of my husband swimming!

That slight little wave that the arrow is pointing at is the first wave of swimmers!
I knew my husband was in the first wave so I just snapped a pic!

Then I went back to our spot where we could see all the swimmers as they exited the river and ran to the bike transition spot.

The swimming was my husband's weakest leg and he knew that going in.
He said the hardest part was not just swimming but maneuvering around all the other swimmers and getting kicked in the stomach, face, leg, arm...

After I saw my hubby exit the swim and head to the bike, I got my exercise in by running to the point where he would exit out and start on the bike leg of the race.


Once he was off, I knew we had about an hour for him to ride the 18 miles till I needed to be on the lookout for him again.

So I went back and took stake at our spot.

The place where they transitioned out of the water was also right where they transitioned off their bikes.

There is a line that you can't get on your bike to start until after you cross it and then another line at the end of the bike leg where you have to be off your bike before you cross it or you will be penalized.
We were at that spot.
And I hated every second of it.
Some would just barely make it off in time before the white line.
And others crashed and burned trying to get off before the white line.

It was like a train wreck.
As much as you couldn't stand to look, you couldn't tear your eyes away.
I was slightly nervous for my husband's transition after all I'd seen to that point.
But he did a fine job!!

Next thing I knew, he was off and running his final leg, a 5k.
There was one final spot right by where we were standing that I knew we'd see him run by.

After he did, we walked about 20 steps over to the finish line.

The emcee was fantastic.
He had all the printouts of participants and their numbers and would look at the incoming triathlete and call out their name as they crossed the finish line!
It was such a nice, personal congratualtions.
Followed by "...You are a triathlete!"

As I saw my husband turn the last corner into the finish line shoot, I was overwhelmed with such awe and pride!!

He crossed the finish in 1 hour and 54 minutes!
His goal was to finish in under 2 hours.
Well done, babe!! :)

I was truly inspired by each and every finisher.
What an accomplishment!!

My husband has already signed up for his next Tri the end of September!
And now guess who has the Triathlon bug?!?!?

Well, kind of...
I'm kind of terrified of the bike transitions! :)

Such a Slacker

Yes, I realize I am 100% slacking in the blogging department.
Life is just super busy!
And it really doesn't show much slowing down until October!
(And by October, I probably really mean January...)

This past weekend was another super busy one!
It was back up to Pennsylvania for a weekend full of pre-wedding festivities for a wedding I'm in on September 28th.

Royce and I set out for the 5 hour drive on Thursday afternoon.
That evening, my 2 siblings, sister-in-law, mom, and the 3 grandkids just hung out!

We may or may not have played the cup song from Pitch Perfect a million times to get our timing right on the singing.
Because we're that friggin' awesome.
And just because they're the sweetest...

 

Melts my heart. Cousins really do make the best friends!!


Friday, I got up and ran 2 miles.
And then the rest of the day was spent running all around town picking up last minute items needed for the bridal shower and bachelorette party.

Friday night, we threw a his & her "I Do BBQ" shower for the bride and groom!

And then Saturday morning, I was up to kiss my baby boy goodbye (lucky Grandma got to spend some time with that sweet little guy!) and head off for some bachelorette festivities!
We started out with brunch prepared by the maid of honor's parents.

Mango mimosas, egg casserole served with sausage and bacon, and homemade cinnamon rolls!!
(No picture of that yummy goodness...Mama didn't have time to take one as fast as I ate it!)

Then we were off to the local brewery!
This was probably my favorite part!!
We got a tour of the brewing facility...

And then, of course tasted the goods!!
I chose a flight of six beers and was in heaven!!

 

My favorites were the "Gobbler Lager" (which I will most definitely have a 6-pack of for Thanksgiving!) and the "White Horse" - a banana wheat beer....AMEN and Praise Jesus!!
So freaking delicious!

We then headed up to a cabin about 30 minutes out of town.
No cell phone reception whatsoever!
And I have to admit...it was nice to basically "unplug" completely.
(Even though I sometimes had to suppress the anxiety-ridden mommy moments!)

We relaxed a little and took a walk before heading out for dinner.
I had some of the best Garlic Parmesan wings in my life!
And finally got to try Sam Adams Cherry Wheat beer.
Both were incredibly delicious!
And, to be honest, I thought about taking a picture, but quickly squashed that idea cos I couldn't wait to dig in!! (#fatgirlprobs)

And since there wasn't much going on in the small town where we were, we actually decided just to head back to the cabin to drink and play "Cards Against Humanity"
- so much fun!!
I think we all discovered I have a sick and twisted mind!

Sunday morning, we woke up, ate breakfast, and lazed around some before heading back into civilization.
I could not wait to get back to my baby!!

I took a nap with him before heading back home to Virginia!

All in all it was a great weekend.
A little too fast.
I could've had an extra Sunday in this weekend to just do nothing...
But I definitely made some great memories!!