My flip flop running partner

Today I went to the school to run again. Alea went with me because Davin had to go to work for a little bit. As I took my first three running steps I knew I just wasn't feeling it and that it wasn't going to happen. I decided not to force myself to run and injure myself, so I just walked almost the entire mile and then stopped and went home. On my last lap Alea decided to join me so we ran a little bit. She started doing a funny run with her booty sticking out at me (I was running behind her). I realized how funny/sad it was that she was doing a goofy run with flip flops on and was still running faster than me. I know better than to compare my running skills to that of an eight year old though so I just smiled. I told Alea she had to show me her real running form so I could show you my cute running partner.

Forrest Gump

from google images

The last two days during  my run I have channeled my inner Forrest Gump. I keep picturing the scene where Forrest has been running for three years and he is now running through the desert. There is a look on his face where you know he is not thinking about anything except the road in front of him. He isn't thinking about life anymore, he isn't thinking about his running form, his physical pain, his mental pain he is only thinking about the next thing in front of him (this is my interpretation anyway). As I have been running I have tried to lose myself on the sight in front of me, letting my arms swing more freely, and just being in the moment and not thinking about how much further I can go before I have to walk, my pain, my pace/time, or anything else. I am just feeling the road under me and looking at the horizon in front of me. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not to the level of Forrest because I can only continue this frame of mind for 30 seconds at the most and then I go back to thinking about everything, but for those thirty seconds I am "running against the wind" (aka Forrest Gump's running song...Running Against the Wind by Bob Seger).

Today I convinced Davin and Alea to go to the track with me to train for our upcoming 5ks. Davin for the Heroes for Kids in November, my Color Run in two weeks, and Alea's Girls on the Run 5k in November. Davin and I ran/walked two miles. Alea walked one lap with Sparky and then went to play on the play equipment. I guess that is how you train for a 5k when you are an 8 year old. Davin did a 13:xx minute mile and then dragged himself around the track for mile 2 because he drank too much water between miles. I did two 14:xx minute miles. So total I did 2 miles in 29 minutes. That is great for me! I'm happy. I won't talk about my pain level because I know you are tired of hearing about it and because I don't want to jinx myself.

When I was on my last lap of the two miles I looked across the infield of the track and saw Davin cutting across the field to catch up to me. I took his picture so I could prove what a cheater he is! It doesn't matter how fast your first mile is Davin if you cheat on the second mile! Caught ya!

Runnin' with the devil

I left work today at 1:30 to go to the Wal*Mart doctor/clinic for my ear ache. I went to the school nurse this morning (thanks for the suggestion Becky) and had her look in my ear. She said it was kind of pink (I guess it is suppose to be white) and it looked like there was swelling behind the ear drum. As they day went on I felt like A.) my inner ear was going to swell so much that it was going to start hanging out of my ear for everyone to see or B.) my ear drum was going to bust. The WM doc gave me a prescription for amoxicillin. The pharmacist told me to take three doses a day including three doses today! Three doses between 3 pm and bedtime!? I hope to be feeling better by tomorrow!

Alea didn't have school today so Davin took the day off to spend it with her. I gave them the task of taking Sparky to the groomer. Doesn't he look so handsome now? His hair was so long he had to lift his head to see us from under his 'bangs'. 

At Wal*Mart today while I was killing time waiting for the meds to be filled I found a Danskin short sleeve workout shirt that is all white that fit really well. I am going to wear it as my white shirt for the color run. Guess what? It cost $4.96! That is total awesomesauce! I wore it tonight (since it is not recommended to try a different outfit/food/etc. the day of a race) and I loved it. I might even get a few more for those times when I'm not ready for long sleeves but it is too cool for tank tops. 

When we got home from dinner and picking up Sparky I decided to go ahead and work out since it was just my ear that hurt. I drove to the school to run the track. I did two miles in 30 minutes. Not bad! I have found that Pandora has a workout channel that has music from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s with a great workout pace. As I was running I heard the song "Running with the Devil" by Van Halen. I had to ask myself who was the devil I was running with. I thought I might have a little devil on my shoulder but then I bust out laughing (while running) because I realized the devil was me...my mind. My legs, arms, body were ready and willing to run but my mind had told me only 45 minutes earlier to eat a terrible dinner. I sure did have to give myself a pep talk three times during my run to not throw up that terrible dinner I just ate. If I could stop being my own devil running and losing weight would be so much easier. 

Two weeks from today I will be driving to Memphis for the Color Run. I have come so far since I first suggested to Haley that we do this run.

Pain free? Is that possible?

I have been enjoying being shin pain free during the day this week. With this cold I have had this week (I determined it was a cold when none of the sinus/allergy meds would work and then the cold meds did work) I took Tuesday and Wednesday off from exercise. Today was Girls on the Run and I was able to do four laps in the amount of time we had outside. I did two laps walking and talking with other teachers and Girls on the Run coaches but did run most of two other laps. I had some pain in my right leg/shin area but my left leg felt great! I am very happy about that. The Color Run in Memphis is in TWO WEEKS! Yikes! I need to start building my mileage back up so I don't collapse at the run or get left in the dust by Korienne and Haley.

Ace!

Alea did great at volleyball last night. Her skills are really starting to develop. Prepare for photo overload...

My little serving ace.

A P.E. day + Girls on the Run + volleyball = crazy hair day.

BUMP IT GIRL!

Waiting for her turn to get back into the game.

I love this girl!!

Tired of being awesome

I just reminded Alea that tonight was volleyball practice and a game. She started to whine so I reminded her how much the team needed her because she is the most awesome player they have. She started whining more so I told her I was going to walk away from her drama. She said she was only whining because she just gets tired of me telling her how she is the best and how she is so awesome at stuff. So I said, "FINE! You are stinky!" She looked at me and smiled and said, "Thank you! Was that so hard?" So much sass.

Throbbing Pain

Did I trick you? I bet you thought this post was going to be about my shin pain. Guess again! It is about my throbbing face pain. I think I have a sinus infection. It started last night about 7:30 and now I am seriously uncomfortable miserable. Do sinus infections go away on their own? I can't remember. Do I need to go to the doctor? 

Yes, we have no bananas today.

Remember last week when I bought two bananas and said it was my goal to eat both of them before they went bad...well, I did it.

This is what my banana looked like this morning. It is a little past how I like them to look but the inside was still great. I cut it up and added cut up apple to it and ate it for breakfast. I went to the store tonight and bought two more bananas. I am only willing to commit to two bananas at a time.

Does anyone else know the song/jingle that I put as my post title?

I know this post is pretty exciting. Try to contain your excitement about my adventurous life.

Listening

Sunday is suppose to be my long run day but as soon as I woke up this morning I knew I just wasn't feeling it. I have been reading a lot of running blogs lately and am learning how important it is to listen to my body. My problem is knowing if it my body talking or my lazy mind. After going out to breakfast and seeing how nice it was I was surprised that my body still was not telling me to go run. After working out all summer in the killer heat it is pretty easy to get motivated to run on a 70 degree day. I came and laid down in bed to read my new favorite blog: hungryrunnergirl.com. After over an hour of reading I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open so I continued to listen to my body and laid down for a nap. It has been a long time since I took a nap. I ended up laying in bed relaxing with my eyes closed for an hour and a half and then finally fell asleep for an hour and a half. The snuggling with my blankets was just as awesome as the sleeping. Around 6:00 Davin woke me up to go to Olive Garden. A few years ago I started having a block against Olive Garden. There was nothing that triggered it...I just didn't care for it anymore. I eat it about once a year now. Yesterday I mentioned to Davin that Olive Garden was sounding good and since he still loves it we were eating there less than 20 hours after I made that comment. I had the five cheese ziti and it was yummy. Nothing like carb loading on a rest day the day before a rest day. oops! I'll probably go out tomorrow since I moved my rest day to today. I was surprised this morning that I wasn't sore from the weight workout I did yesterday. However, after laying around all day and napping I now feel a few tender muscle areas. Alea told me if I keep working out my arms my muscle bump will be on the top instead of the bottom of my arm. Haha. I can laugh at that because I am the one who started that comment a few months ago. Alea has had awesome arm muscles for most of her life. Davin and I love to have her show us her bicep. She was asking to see my bicep a while back and I told her I couldn't show it to her because my bulging muscle is on the bottom of my arm instead of the top.

Alea and I both wore our KU shirts today for no apparent reason. Also, I have no idea why my KU shirt has Hello Kitty on it. Alea said it is because cats like to eat birds. True, but I don't think that makes for a good shirt for KU.

Checkout these jellyfish clouds in NWA tonight. Pretty cool.

Date night

Last night Davin was invited to a cookout at his former bosses house so Alea and I decided to go on a date. After the swim party we came home, showed and got ready for our date. Before we left we took this picture. I held the camera and she pushed the button. I love this girl!!

Our first stop was to get pedicures. Alea has had her nails painted at a salon several times but she has never had the whole pedicure experience. She loved the massaging chair. She also got her fingernails painted. She had purple polish with purple and silver sparkles on her fingers. She had a different color polish on each foot. I got orange for fall on my toes.

After our pedicures we went to dinner at Outback. No originality there. 

After dinner we went to the bookstore for almost two hours of free entertainment. 

Last week we say a commercial for this movie, Frankenweenie, on TV. After the commercial was over Alea said, "That is offensive!" So funny! I didn't even know she knew that word. The story is about a boy and his dog. One day the dog dies and the boy brings him back to life like Frankenstein. The dog's name is Sparky...just like our dog. 

At Barnes and Noble I gathered a pile of magazines and Alea and I parked ourselves in the children's department to read and enjoy ourselves. I decided to try some running magazines. I didn't think I would enjoy them but they were actually really great magazines. Of course I had to throw in a couple of trashy magazines too.

Alea took a picture of me hanging out in front of the Winnie the Pooh wall reading my magazines.

Alea enjoyed her Barnes and Noble time!

Another picture of us together. Yes, I know my hair looks terrible. 

I am trying to grow it out and I can't stand it right now. 

I have recently started reading a blog called hungryrunnergirl.com. I love her blog! 

I was reading a running magazine and I saw her! So cool!! Way to go Janae!

When we were leaving B and N we found this American Girl section. Alea loves American Girl!

I told her to give me her "Vanna" pose. Can you believe we left the store and didn't buy anything! Yea us!

Boys are silly

Today Alea had a swim party at the Jones Center so I went to the gym there. I did 20 minutes on the bike, and several go rounds of the different weight machines. I had to work hard at not laughing at the boys (i.e., men?) who were using the weight machines. They would do two to three reps on a machine and then lift up their t-shirt sleeve to look at their muscles. Funny stuff! The machines were set up around the room in a circle with the cardio machines at the front of the room facing a wall sized mirror. I noticed they guys were also less likely to use a weight machine that didn't face the mirror. And guys think girls are vain! Wow! I had my music up pretty loud so I hope I didn't giggle out loud.

After a round of the weights I went upstairs to check on Alea. She was having a blast so I went back down the the gym and started my second hour of working out! That's right...I'm awesomesauce. I did another 10 minutes on the bike and another round of weights. I was so happy to have access to the weight machines because I need this type of workout but do not visit a gym. I tried to workout on the elliptical but there were a variety of issues here: 1. the machine faced the mirror and I realized that I need a firmer sports bra 2. there was a guy also working out facing the mirror...refer to #1 again 3. the machine was hard to figure out...I couldn't figure out how to get any resistance and there was rust on the machine (I wanted to take a picture to show you but refer to #2) so after 5 minutes on the elliptical I gave up.

 This is an example of where NOT to put your hand on a machine. It was a leg lift machine and when I lifted my legs this black handle came down and smashed my hand. I got a bruise right away and it my hand is kind of swollen now. Like I said...awesomesauce.

If you could live anywhere...

Davin, Alea, and I love to ask each other random questions, i.e., what would you buy if you won the lottery, which super hero would you date and why, what super power do you wish you had and why, etc. Tonight Alea asked if we could live anywhere where we would live and why. I love being an American and Davin is afraid of countries where English isn't the first (and only major) language so all of our choices were in the U.S.

Alea's list:
1. New York
2. Hollywood
3. Florida (i.e., Disney World)
4. Wisconsin (I told her she already lived there but I guess she doesn't feel like it since we moved when she was 3 months old)
5. Hawaii

Davin's List:
1. Alaska
2. Hawaii
3. Montana
4. Florida
5. Western Kansas (he stole this one from me)  

Jenny's List:
1. Colorado (near Colorado Springs)
2. Alaska
3. Western Kansas (I think western Kansas is beautiful...only a true Kansas girl would say that)
4. Tennessee (Blue Ridge Mountains)
5. Hawaii?? (It sounds great but I'm not sure I would love it everyday...too stranded)...Montana...something along those lines of beautiful land as far as the eye can see...I'm open to a #5

I kind of have this secret desire to move to Alaska and teach ESOL to the native Alaskans.

Righty Tighty, Left Loosey

Today for the first time in over a month my left shin didn't hurt! Amazing! When you have a pain you think about it constantly but since it has been so long since my shin didn't hurt I thought about the lack of pain constantly today. It was a nice change of pace anyway. My right shin still hurt but one pain is better than two. I was so happy to have the left shin feeling better because it has been the most painful lately.

Today was my day off from running but after eating terribly and being WAY over my calories for today I decided to go out and try to run my fastest mile. I was hoping to hit 13:XX but I only did 14:38. I'm still happy with that though. I know that with my shin feeling better I should have taken the day off but I just couldn't live with myself if I didn't do something to at least burn off 100 calories.

The great thing about starting back with exercise in July, and doing most of my workouts outside, is that my workouts are not only getting easier because I am getting stronger (lungs, legs, abs, etc.) but because it isn't as hot outside. I feels strange to run hard and barely sweat. I spent all summer swimming in sweat (a great visual I'm sure you enjoyed) and today was a nice cool run with a breeze.

Tomorrow Alea has a birthday swim party at the Jones Center's indoor pool. The Jones Center has a SMALL indoor track (13 laps equal 1 mile) and a small workout room. I'm thinking I'll skip the mommy small talk and do my workout during this time instead. Usually Saturday and Sunday are my long run days, but I am hoping I'll be able to ride a stationary bike or workout on an elliptical.

Pigtails

Out of the blue today Alea asked me to put her hair in pigtails for school. She hasn't let me put her hair in pigtails in at least three years. I have no idea what made her want these, but she was so cute I had to take her picture this morning before school. Happy pigtail day!

Fitness Day

Alea asked me this morning if today after school was going to be a 'fitness day' or a 'relaxation day'. I told her as much as I would love a relaxation day (she sometimes likes to give my arms and legs a massage with lotion...what mom doesn't love that?) it probably needed to be a fitness day. She said she would go running with me after school if she wasn't too tired. After P.E., Girls on the Run, volleyball practice, and a game yesterday she was rather sore in the abs and legs. When we got home today she took her scooter around the around the subdivision with me for one lap (1/2 a mile) and then took her scooter on the second lap and third lap around. I didn't do as much mileage tonight as I would have liked, but my shins were hurting (only when I walked...Dr. Web MD said if they don't hurt when you run it is most likely a fracture) so we stopped after three laps.

Yesterday at Girls on the Run I was able to do four laps around the track. The track there is about .44 of a mile. Normally we aren't outside long enough for me to do four laps so I was excited to get that much done.

My Girl

We went out to dinner tonight and Alea was sitting facing the sun so she asked for my sunglasses. I was just sitting there looking at her thinking how blessed I am to have this little lady as my daughter. She is so sweet, smart, and beautiful! 
I love you Alea!

Princess of Volleyball

The serving ace is ready to go.

 Tonight was a volleyball 'clinic' (i.e., practice) followed by a game of Team Blue vs. Team Red. Alea was AWESOME! She did a great job with all of her serves and during practice was bumping the ball right back to the coach like she was suppose to. She is doing so well and she loves being successful at things so she is very happy. She was smiling like crazy all night.

Perfect!

Alea with her new Ozark Juniors Team Blue t-shirt.

When we arrived at volleyball Davin opened the back of the car and pulled out these two bleacher chairs. We had some major tired butt syndrome last week after the practice along with sore backs. Davin apparently bought these today. He still won't tell me how much they were but I told him they were totally worth whatever he paid. We are so excited to be volleyball parents so we needed to complete the look of our new role with the awesome chairs. See how uncomfortable they guy next to me looks. Imagine sitting like that for two hours after a full day of work...not fun. It wasn't until after this picture was taken that I realized the chairs weren't attached....smooth move Davin. This is my new U of A volleyball shirt that I got free at the game last week. I love it and I love that I have three of them.

 Davin was recruited to be the score keeper for the game which left his awesome new chair available. He told me to offer it to a grandma there watching the game. The ladies granddaughter was on team red. The grandmother is a second grade teacher in a nearby town. She made me laugh with her stories of ESOL kids...inappropriate and funny.


During a water break Alea came over to get a drink and I told her she was the queen of volleyball. She said, "No. I'm the princess of volleyball. Kerri Walsh is the queen of volleyball." So true Alea, so true! I told her I was fine with her being the princess instead of the queen. Tonight when Alea was bumping and serving so well I turned to Davin and just said, "Scholarship!" He got a chuckle out of that one.

They were practicing their over hand serve.

Dinner of Champions

This morning I saw a new low number on the treadmill so I decided I would be a good girl today and really try to stay within my calories. Becky and I went for Mexican food for lunch so that pretty much used up most of my calories. I wasn't hungry at dinner time so I decided to try to eat some of my potassium items. I added walnuts to my sliced up banana and then added a few chocolate chips to make it taste better. It was actually pretty tasty. I wouldn't usually call this dinner but for today it did the job just fine.

Two Good Runs in a Row

Friday and Saturday it rained all day. I wasn't feeling like running in the rain yesterday so I got on the treadmill. I only did 2 miles but my shins didn't hurt as bad as they have been so that was great! I even did a couple of 2 minute runs. I don't know how long I run outside but this 2 minutes seemed like a good workout. At one point I even had my heart rate up pretty high. I don't usually get my heart rate up that high but I was really working hard on the running. 

After the first mile I knew I wouldn't be able to run as much I did on the first mile so I was thinking how I would have to walk more. It was then that I had a 'duh' moment. I have been trying to walk faster but it didn't occur to me that I could walk faster on the treadmill by setting the speed higher. I was just doing my walking parts at a the pace I usually do outside. By walking faster and doing some running I think I got in one of the best treadmill workouts I have had this entire time. 

The weather channel said it was suppose to rain all day again so I planned on doing another treadmill workout. It turns out it has just been very cloudy and in the high 60s low 70s. I was thinking about running on the treadmill again since my shins hurt less on there but it was so nice outside I decided to go outside instead. I drove to a park that is about .75 miles away and ran/walked the trail there. I did a mile and a half loop, stopped at my car for a drink, and then did the mile and a half loop again. So this means that I ran/walked 3 miles today. I haven't done 3 miles since the first of September so it felt good to get back into the swing of things. I was only 1 minute over my 5k time from the race on Labor Day. I think that is great since I didn't have Haley giving me the pep talk the entire time. I am starting to figure out the running part a little better and am getting my rhythm in place. I also didn't listen to music at the Labor Day race and I did today. I think the music actually helped a lot. It helped me take my mind off of the running/distance/pain, etc.

My pain today compared to my pain on Labor Day was probably 92% less...meaning I had about 92% less pain than I had on Labor Day. That is awesome. I was worried with a good workout yesterday that I would be doomed to my good/bad/good/bad workout cycle with a bad run today. That was not the case and I am happy about that!

I wore my Bondi Band on my run and it did it's job of wicking away my sweat but I still can't make myself look fashionable in it like other people do. 

By golly!

I went shopping today for items with potassium in them. I am still not doing better at getting potassium into my diet. Last night at the game my foot was having pains and my shins still hurt most of the time. I finally found a potassium supplement but it only has 3% of the daily intake of potassium needed but it is a start. I saw that my favorite cereal that I have been having as dinner some nights has about 4% of the daily intake of potassium so that is a good thing. I bought 2 bananas. I don't like bananas so if I can finish these before they go bad I'll consider that a success. I also got a variety of nuts that are good sources of potassium. I think if I would get more potassium my legs would really start to feel better. By golly, I am going to do better!

September Rose

A September rose!

Kerri Walsh-Jennings

Alea's volleyball coach sent us an email this week telling us that the University of Arkansas was playing Florida on Friday night at Barnhill Arena in Fayetteville and that it would be a great opportunity for the girls to see volleyball played. We went to a game last year and loved it. We decided to make an evening of it and invited Becky along and went to dinner before the game. 

 It was free t-shirt night at the game so we were excited about that. When we got there they only had larges left. I didn't think that would fit anyone in my family but we each picked up one anyway. Turns out the shirt fits me perfectly! I now how three U of A volleyball shirts! Alea did claim one for a night shirt.

  Right before the game started Kerri Walsh-Jennings showed up! We didn't know she was going to be there so we were very excited. Olympic sand volleyball is the favorite Olympic sport for Davin and I (probably for different reasons though.) She has a killer body! Her abs and back were amazing! I know you could tell that at the Olympics but to see her in person in regular clothes really drove home that fact. Wow!

We all had a great time at the game. Florida is rated higher than Arkansas but Arkansas really gave them a run for their money. Arkansas and Florida both won 2 games and Florida only won the last game (best 3 out of 5) by 2 points. Way to go Lady Razorbacks!

Alea and Davin at the game.

Jenny, Alea, and Becky

She is always so cute!!