Did I give up?

No, I didn't. In fact, I just completed my 4th 1/2 Marathon this last weekend. So why the long break? I really do not have a good excuse. I was pregnant. Actually, 2 days after my last post in 2009, I had a misscarriage. It was somewhat hard on me, and I will admit that I somewhat blamed all the training (running, swimming, biking) for it. However, within the next month, I was pregnant again. This one went well and I delivered a little boy in March of 2010. He was 6 weeks early and ended up staying in the NICU for a month and having two major surgeries. I started running again, seriously last summer, and started training for my 1/2 marathon in November of 2010. The training this time around went really well. It was not as much of a struggle to get out the door and get the miles in. I don't know why exactly, but there were not the tears that accompanied the training I did after I had my little girl in 2008. That was somewhat surprising to me, especially considering that this time I was pushing a double stroller with over 50lbs of little ones in it for most of my runs. I decided to run the Myrtle Beach 1/2 marathon. 2 reasons: It gets my hubby back close to home for a visit, and it was the first 1/2 I ran (5 years ago). The race went well and I was actually only about 20 secs slower that the first time I ran it (and I think I really could have beat my original time if I had not had some serious GI problems that required me to visit a few of the porta potties (waiting in line) along the route). Now I am in the process of trying to find another 1/2 to run, hopefully with the month. The problem is finding a Saturday race, somewhat local. I do not run on Sundays. I truly believe in a day of rest (both for religious and personal reasons). I am also looking at some more sprint triathlons. I have a friend who will be running a marathon at the end of May, but then would like to try a triathlon. It will be a lot of fun to do one with her.
So, I plan to start writing a little more (if anyone is even interested :0 ) I will also get my mileage uploaded from my Nike+ so that you can see that I really am not slacking :)
Oh, side note. The person who won the Myrtle Beach marathon was a 39 year old woman. I am so impressed. Although I do not have grandeur of winning a marathon, it makes me think of the possibilities, even at 39 (which I still have a few years to get to it), with some training and dedication.

We did it!!

We rode a little over 21 miles in one morning. My sister, her husband and I met about a quarter to 6am to go. We actually didn't get on the road until about a quarter to 7. I started out on my new road bike, BIL took my mountain bike with the pump and drinks in the toddler seat, and my sister was on my dad's monster bike (my dad is 6'7" so his bike is a big bike, but is is quite light and oh, so comfy). We road like that about the first twelve miles, where we switched. I took the mountain bike, BIL took the monster bike and sis tried the road bike. The mountain bike was making some noises when I first started out, so I yelled back to sis that I had to stop. I guess that she didn't hear me, because I could tell from her reaction that my slowing down to stop was surprising her. I decided to do some quick pedals to get a little more ahead of her before I stopped so that she wouldn't run into the back of me. As I was stopping, I heard BIL yell that they needed some CPR back there. I looked back and sis was on the ground. It seems that when she hit her brakes she only hit the front ones, causing her to go over the handle bars of the road bike. She landed in the ditch. When I got back there, she was laughing. I made her stay on the ground until I could snap a pic with my phone. {Sis had an accident!!!}

She rode the road bike a little more and then switched back to the oh so comfy monster bike.
When we were about 2.5 miles from home, mom met us with BIL's and Sis's two oldest girls who were dying to ride with us. They did an awesome job riding their bikes the rest of the way home with us.{one of my speedy nieces}
BIL and Sis were great sports, especially considering they hadn't done any riding before that day. We were of course a little sore the next day, but it really was a beautiful ride. the weather was nice that morning and it was pretty relaxing. It was also nice to ride my road bike for that long to be able to know that I could go that distance on it before the triathlon on Saturday.

I haven't been slacking, I promise

I know there has not been a lot of activity on my blog this last week, but it doesn't mean that I haven't been active. I have been running, biking, and swimming. On Monday, I talked my cute cousin into riding bikes with me. We did a little over 9 miles. Tuesday, my brother and the FLTP went riding with me and then my sister went for a jog with me. {FLTP fell asleep on our ride, that is my little brother behind her}
Wednesday, I came and used the rec pool here in Kansas where we have been spending a little time with family. I then ran to the high school track and ran a few laps. It was really nice (especially since my hometown does not allow the public to use the nice high school track). The morning was beautiful. And there were about a dozen other runners/walkers, so I had some company for a little.
Today I took off running on a country road that you could literally run a marathon on without ever having to turn. The road is straight and flat and goes for over 40 miles. I only ran a couple.{corn field and harvested wheat fields for as far as the eye can see}
I then headed into the pool for a few laps.
Tomorrow in a big biking day. I will be riding 20 miles with my brother and sister. My brother has to do it for a merrit badge type thing, so I said I would do it with him. We are starting as soon as it is light in the morning. Should be fun {:

Back in the Saddle Again

With this Tri for Your Cause just over 2 weeks away, I have put the focus back onto training for it. I have been out on the bike (both mountain and road) at least a little everyday this week so far. I also hit the pool nice and early this morning (5:30am) for some good ol' lap swimming. I am happy to say that my pool time was about 2 minutes faster this morning. I really concentrated on not taking breathers between laps and to just keep moving, even if I had to do a frog kick to do so :) I would like to be in the pool at least twice each week until the race and on the bike at least 3 times a week. Running will stay the same as it has been, hopefully. I just cannot believe how fast this tri in creeping up on me.

{She DID IT!!!}

Melissa did it!! She ran her first 5k race!!! Way to go girl!!! We ran the Undy 5000 together. This was the inagurual race in here in Denver, but it had a great turnout. And yes, there were people in their undies. I was on the lookout for the team called "Real Men Wear Thongs" but I didn't see them. Most of the undy wearers were high school/early twenty gals. I did see a guy in just his tighty-whities. {Not the best picture, but what can you do}
Melissa had great 1st mile, chopping an entire minute of her training pace. We did great until the end of the 2nd mile where it was uphill for awhile. She has not had the opportunity to train on a hill like that yet, so it took a lot out of her. Luckily, we got to run down that same hill, allowing her time to recover and finish the race well. She finished in 47:14 (by my watch time, I have not found the chip results yet). That is a 15:15 mile which is well under her training mile times.
I cannot tell you how much fun it has been to train her for this race and then to see her complete it. I feel such a sense of accomplishment (and yes I am so proud of her). Her next goal in to increase her speed. I will keep you posted on how we do that. We will be taking the next few weeks easy since we both will be doing a little traveling and I am preparing for the Tri For Your Cause. But once that is done, we will be back in full force and faster than ever :)

Tri For Your Cause

I went and bought a road bike yesterday (one I saw listed on Craig's List that is actually tall enough for me). Why? Because I am doing a triathlon in July. I have chosen to do the Tri For Your Cause at Mile High. I have a friend that is already signed up for this race and I had been undecided about it. I had looked through their list of charities and did not really recognize any of them. They had a little blurb that said you could email them about adding your charity to the list. I decided to try. I sent them an email with all the required information. They replied. "If you will be participating in the race, we will add your charity." So guess what, I am participating.

What organization did I choose? I chose Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep (NILMDTS). This charity is actually a Colorado based one as well. NILMDTS was first brought to my attention several months ago by a sweet digital scrapbooking friend who benefited from their services. NILMDTS provides an invaluable service to families who will not be bringing their precious baby home from the hospital. They offer gentle and beautiful photography services in a compassionate and sensitive manner that is the heart of this organization. The soft, gentle heirloom photographs of these beautiful babies are an important part of the healing process. They allow families to honor and cherish their babies, and share the spirits of their lives. And they provide this priceless service at no cost to the family.

I urge you to go check out the NILMDTS website. I will warn your that it is an emotional experience. Each time I visit this site I come away vowing to not take the everyday moments for granted because they are truly a blessing.

If you would like to donate to NILMDTS through Tri For Your Cause at Mile High, you can visit my race donation site HERE and make a donation. All money raise will go to NILMDTS to assist them in providing priceless memories for families.

300 Miles

I have logged over 300 miles of running since I started keeping track of them in mid January. I am amazed at myself for that. Especially considering the last month has not had as many running miles logged. I wonder how long it will take me to get to 400. I'm on my way.
I lost Melissa yesterday. I was actually 5 minutes early (I usually show up right at 7am). When I pulled up to our meeting place, I saw Melissa already walking up ahead towards our running trail. I unloaded FLTP and put her in the jogging stroller, then headed toward the trail. I thought I was going to catch her and I was even moving at a pretty decent pace, but I never did catch her. I knew she was ahead of me because I passed a couple from church that were out for a walk and they said, "You are behind girl." I am guessing Melissa had other stuff going on that morning so she needed to get running over with. I hope her run went well since it was the longest distance she has done so far. One week to the Undy 5000.