Happenings at our house...

I've just got to share what Cassidy just said. She has a little plastic Dora talking backpack that she got a plastic orange stuck in and we asked how in the world she got it in there in the first place she said "I just tried hard and I didn't give up!" Isn't that great! Then she started a song "Keep trying, Keep trying, Don't give up, Never Give up, Don't stop" from a cartoon Yo Gabba Gabba. Priceless I tell ya.

Well, my mom lived here in Lancaster for 1 year and 5 months and is going back to Urbana at the end of the month. She misses her friends over there and well honestly anything else I say about it won't be very nice.

Moving on....My brother was here for a visit this week. I think most everyone got to see him when he visited my grandpa at the nursing home. He stayed here at my house for 3 days. Kent and I (look at that, I called him Kent not brother) went to a goodbye party for mom that the residents held for her at her apartment building (again, holding my tongue!) on Tuesday and we went out to lunch with mom before the party. It's always nice to see him even if it's only once a year. But I talk to him weekly or bi weekly anyway so we are always in touch. We've always been close which is good for being 11 years apart. Ok, that's it for now. Gotta go run.

Awesome Running Shirts

#3 says "If found on ground, please drag across the finish line"

I love these shirts! These are all great contenders for my first race in May. Of course, I don't know if I have a certain shirt I have to wear for a race or not but if not #3 will most likely be the one I wear! I found these at the One More Mile online running store. "Slow is the new fast" describes me now as does the top one "running won't kill you, you'll pass out first". Man have I found that last one out when pushing myself to go a little longer on absolutely no breath left at all! I'll go too long on little breath and I'll start having shooting pains in my neck and that's when I realized I have to slow down and add more distance gradually. That and the fact that when I push myself too hard I have a migraine the rest of the day!

My running journey

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."- Confucius


"Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired in the morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired." - George S. Patton, U.S. Army General, 1912 Olympian


"I've never regretted going for a run, but I have regretted skipping one."


Now that school has started I'm running in the mornings after I drop the boys off at school. Somedays are easier to get out there than others. Yesterday was an easy day. I was ready to run and when I got out there I quickly found out that while my mind was ready, my body was not. I was only able to do two 1/4 mile running intervals before my calves called it quits. I didn't call it quits though. I did shave 1/2 mile off of the rest of the trip because my calves really hurt and I couldn't run and couldn't walk fast at all but I pushed through the pain, passing streets that I knew would get me home quicker but my mind and heart were in it to the end no matter how much my legs hurt. I came home after a little over 2 miles and immediately put ice on both shins and today they feel fine. Today though, my body is ready and my mind keeps saying "it's cold right now and I'll go out later". I'm still at the internal struggle with my running. That's why I put the quotes at the start of this post. I may have days that I don't go out and run but I will get back out there the next day. I haven't let myself quit and I won't. Just like the last quote says "I've never regretted going for a run, but I have regretted skipping one." I know I'm still at the very beginning of my running journey but I know in my heart that I've commited to running and I will continue. I have received words of encouragement in that last few weeks that really make me feel good about myself and my running. Thanks Tracy, Wendy, Kendra and neighbor across the street. You keep me going.


AFTERNOON UPDATE: So after writing the beginning portion of this post and reading more inspirational quotes I decided that groceries can wait and running can't. So no regrets for me today! I was feeling really bad about waiting to go out, feeling like I was a quitter and I refuse to give up. So today I did something for me. I put me first. And it felt great! I pushed myself harder in this run today and beat my record time by 4 minutes and added more distance in two running intervals. Yay Me!