Strain of Training

I know that I have been MIA recently.  Life has been busy.  I now have a one year old walker who just cut another tooth.  She's growing up very quickly ;)  I'll post some pictures soon about her birthday party, and just tease you a bit with this one :)

Training-wise, I feel like I am struggling a little bit.  I strained my knee a little over a week ago while exercising and that has not been good for running.  I missed my 8 mile run last weekend because of my knee and that was very disappointing.  I'm also a bit wary of the idea of 8 miles.  Why?  I'm not sure, but for some reason it seems like it is such a long distance.  Mind over matter.  Just do it, right? Right.

So I was going to race in North Park tomorrow, and run the 8.1 mile race, but I never actually signed up! What the what?  Mommy brain at it's finest, I guess.  I had exchanged emails with someone on the planning committee about switching races (at one point, I wanted to be able to race the 1/2 this weekend), but I never registered.  Guess what?  All races are full.  And I'm not registered.  blah.  dumb mistake.

Ok. New plan.  Steel City Road Runners are running tomorrow morning in the city and along the river trail.  They have a 7 or 9 mile loop that I can do with them.  hmm... 9 miles?  I'll let you know what I decide :)

Blessings! and Joy!
nicole mArie

impossible until when? oh, ok.

I feel this way about about, well, about more than one thing in my life.  I am off to the gym with the littles in tow to cross train.  What this quote doesn't mention is when that which seemed impossible is done/finished/completed, it feels pretty. darn. great.
And I want that great-ness today.


Blessings! and Joy!
nicole mArie

DIY Saint Patrick's Day Wreath

A super quick and easy and cheap Saint Patrick's Day wreath!

-wreath from Pat Catans for 3.97
-shamrocks cut from a foam pack purchased at the dollar store. (so about 20 cents)
-scotch tape to attach shamrocks. really ;)

I'll use this wreath form for an easter wreath as well.

See!  Simply. Easy. Cheap. Cute.


Blessings!  and Joy!
nicole mArie

Wait, what do you want for breakfast?

A glimpse at what the day might bring us...

Me: What do you want for breakfast, Ben?

Benjamin: Dinosaur bites!  (smiling. he said this. big. smile. gleam in eye. smile)

Me: No, we aren't having dinosaur bites (popcorn shrimp), for breakfast, so what would you like?

Benjamin: Fishy kisses! I was fishy kisses for breakfast!

Me: Really? You want fishy kisses?  I think you are silly.

Benjamin: Fishy kisses!!!!

Me: hmm... No, no we aren't having fishy kisses (hershey kisses) either.  Those are not breakfast.

We settled on PBJ on a Kung Fu Panda plate ;)

Happy Thursday!
Nicole mArie

Oh! 7.42. What a number!

Oh, so I ran 7.42 miles yesterday.  Dude.  :) You can't see my face right now, but I'm grinning widely and quite excited thinking about this.


This is what my smile looks like, both surprised and excited all at once.  I don't look nearly as sweet or cute  :)                              -------->


I dropped all the littles off at my parents so that they could visit and I took off down the hill and into downtown Pittsburgh.  It was a beautiful day for a run!!!!!

I ran through the Strip District and over two bridges and along the North Shore near the stadiums, and down to Point State Park, through PPG Place (where people were ice skating!), and all over the place and finished in Market Square.  As usual, the first 2 miles were tricky -- I don't think my body is fully warmed up until around the 2 mile mark.  That's what it seems like, anyway.  Once I hit 2 miles it seems like I can just run and run and run.  The last mile was rough, and I was certainly ready to quit and was glad that I did when I did.  I didn't realize that I had tacked on that extra .42 of a mile until after the run, and if I had known, I probably wouldn't have run it ;)  I didn't have my google tracks app set up properly so it didn't announce when I reached each mile.  Oh well.

All in all, it was amazing.   I am amazed at what my body is strong enough to do right now.  I ran well over HALF of my half marathon yesterday.  YES!  I am a little sore today, but nothing that some good yoga and stretching can't take care of later...after I clean this house a bit a lot :)

Blessings! and Joy!
Nicole mArie


Also, I'd like to say that I am still raising money for my charity, Women's Choice Network.  I've got $780 more to raise to reach my final goal.  Please consider helping me out today!  You will be blessed abundantly for your generosity and kindness! Visit my fundraising page for details!

Running Music

Yesterday I asked Facebook friends about music selections for workouts / runs.  I'm in need of some new tunes to help keep my motivated while training, and I was hoping for some inspiration from my friends.  My friends delivered.

My friend, Kellie, suggested jog.fm.  This site is really cool.  You punch in the pace you'd like to run/cycle/walk, and up pops the best songs for that pace :D  There are also some great play lists to pick from.   There's a great mixture of music too, from all spectrums of music.  just. great. music.

hahahahaha There's eve an "80s and 90s Sweat" playlist.  How can anyone be sad when BSB, Ace of Bace, La Bouche, Journey, EMF, and Run-DMC are all part of the same mix?  Like I said, great music.

A few friends mentioned that they like to pray while running, or listen to podcasts and be more calm about their run.  I totally get it!  Some of my best prayer over the last year has been during my runs, even when listening to music.

When I run outside, I am more likely to turn off/down the music and just feel the run, to pay close attention to my foot strike and breath, and to focus on nature around me.  When I'm in the gym, it's all  I can do to not fall off the back of the treadmill when I have to run more than 30 minutes.

Oh, and then there was Rob who was introducing me to Skrillex for the gym. Odd for me, but I'm not opposed to it.  And Patrick suggested Brittany, Whitney, and Cher.  Really?  Even as a joke, really?  (Oh my gosh, does anyone remember Celebrity Death Match on MTV from many moons ago?  hahaha I can only imagine that match up.  Skrillex v Brit, Whit, & Cher) Anyway.

I am off to fold laundry which is now "lava" on my living room floor.  (little boys idea, not mine)

What do you like to listen to when you run/workout?

Blessings! and Joy!
Nicole

mantra: babies, husband, family

Last Monday I only had a 40 minute run to do.  That shouldn't have been difficult.  I should have been able to hop on the treadmill and run, run, run, like it was no thing. For some reason, it was a thing. a big thing. a difficult thing. Quite honestly, it was one of the hardest runs that I've done so far.
Hardest. Run. Yet.

Why?  I'm still not sure.  Perhaps I wasn't all in.  Perhaps I was distracted.  Perhaps I really wanted to be running outside.  Perhaps it was all of the above.

There were more walking spots than usual (normally, in a 40 minute run, I'd do one or two 30-60 second "rest walks" to stretch my back out), and I stopped many times on the sides of the treadmill and tried hard to convince myself to jump back on.  My music wasn't exciting me, people watching wasn't helping, water breaks weren't good enough, nothing.  I really almost stopped running.  What would it matter?  Who would know?  Will it be that detrimental if I don't finish today?

I got to thinking about it -- thinking about what I was running for, why I was running.  For whom I was running.

I am running for babies. Babies who don't have a voice. Babies who don't have a choice. Babies who are tiny humans in need of someone to care for them, to pray for them.  I run for the babies and their mamas who need me, and who need you, to care for them and pray for them.  My running is my prayer for them.

I am running for my husband.  When we were married 4 1/2 years ago, I vowed to love him always, and to help get him into heaven.  Every time I run, every foot strike on the pavement (or treadmill), every breath I gasp for, these are all prayers for him. For us.

I am running for my family.  I run for my 3 littles, that I might learn to be a good mama for them, that they might grow in wisdom and joy and silliness always.  I run for the 5 of us, that we, as a family, brought together as part of the Divine Plan, might figure out what our mission is in this life even beyond the need to grow in holiness together.

And when I quickly went over these things in my head, my mantra became: babies, husband, family. babies, husband, family. Don't stop. Keep running, hard work, dedication. babies, husband, family.  And I got through the run. And I stretched. And I was never so glad to be done with a run.

I am thankful to be running for more than just myself.  I am grateful to be able to elevate my training and running to something for more than just me.  If I didn't have that, I'm not sure that I could have finished this particular 40 minute run.

I used the mantra during my runs (and cross training) the rest of last week.  I did much better in the moments when it got difficult.  Incidentally, on Sunday I ran my first 6 miles. There was a moment around mile 4 when I realized that I still had 2 miles to go and was frustrated, but I dug deep and just. kept. running.
babies, husband, family.
Woot!


Blessings! and Joy!
Nicole

announcements from the littles.part one.

Earlier today Max announced,  "This is the BEST time of my LIFE," while he was getting a bath. 

Makes me wonder if we don't bathe him often enough ;)

(this is a "part one" as I have a hunch that it's not the last great announcement from a little human in my house)