10 miles, A lost friend, and Lots of Laughter

So yesterday K and I went to join the Uncle Giuseppe runners group. They are group of runners that run a difficult and hilly BUT beautiful route at 7:30 each Sunday morning. They all run different paces and some run a longer route than others. I wish you all could have been in the car with us as we 'stalked' the runners being a bit nervous to join them, feeling a bit like shy kids entering a new school. I serioulsy may need a diaper when we are in situations like that. We finally got over our silly jitters and joined the group, trotting behind most of the 7 minute milers! One of the girls as she ran by shouted out the route to Kelly and I. Now if you know me, I'm not great at directions....remember this post??!!

GPS I am not
Running does not = me knowing where I am at all times. lol.

I have been stopped numerous amounts of times when running for directions. Really? Um, do they realize that I am the same person that put the wrong direction to my own home on a Garage Sale sign? I pretty much always walk up to the car laughing because these poor people have no idea....good luck to the woman who is probably in New Jersey now even though she was trying to find some D'Avanzo restuaurant in Smithtown...or was it Hauppauge? I hope you make it to the shower....or back home...whichever happens first!

So long story short, we ran and then we, okay I, got lost. At the time we were not running side-by-side and we just finished Cordwood Path in Nissequogue which is a enormously, long and hilly road. I turned and saw K and then about five minutes after running some more didn't see her. Okay I thought, let me eat a chew and run some more. I decide she must have stopped to catch her breathe at the top of the hill or took a drink break. Then after not seeing her after a long straight stretch I thought she must have taken a different route. That's fine, I'll meet up with her at this point I thought. I get to that point and no sign of her. Um...what the f&@k!

So instead of running back to Uncle Giuseppe's I run home to get my car...10 1/2 miles in here folks! Drive the route I took, then drove the one I thought she took. Then I went to Uncle Giuseppe's to find her sitting in the car all cozy lmao! What did we learn here? I'm not good at giving directions...or getting them.

She's On Va-ca-tion...

...and she was running.

I promise tonights post will be a bit more coherent. I am working on 4 hours of sleep. We went on vacation to visit family in Virginia and then headed on down to South Carolina. Now, I knew the weather wouldn't be exactly 'lay on the beach in your bathing suit weather' (although the kids did get in the paper for doing exactly that in February!) but I went anyway knowing the kids would be able to run around outside and not have to wear sixteen layers and I knew that I would be able to run and bike without freezing my butt off.

Big achievement for the vacation was that I decided to do a mock biathlon to practice what I will be doing in March in New York City. Its called March Madness and it will be my FIRST duathlon/biathlon. Am I nervous? Um, thats par for the course. It wouldn't be a race if I wasn't nervous. But at the same time its the positive nervous feeling and it brings on another challenge. What I'm a bit concerned about is that this year I did sign up for a lot of "firsts"...and I'm already thinking..."What the HECK am I going to do next year!?!"



So that was my big achievement. My not so big achievement is that the next day I couldn't help but eat the WHOLE bag of peanut m&m's that we got from the It's Sugar store. Okay so I have momentary lapses of reverting back to the old Annette's eating patterns...but lets say it out loud folks...PROGRESS NOT PERFECTION! (My new motto).

Mistakes = Learning

Long Island Half Marathon. My first!


Here are pictures from the first out of two half marathons that I ran in. Those two little ones are my biggest fans. It has to be the most touching and inspirational sound to hear your own child chearing you on and being completely and utterly proud of you. You could hear Brooke a mile away screaming "Go, Mommy, Go"...that's if her father brings her to the right route...(that's a whole different post...).

The Long Island Marathon was my first and I learned so much from it. I completely learned from mistakes with that race. I WAS what you could do wrong in your first long race. I went and bought new clothes for that day, I tried to eat differently,I worried about how fast everyone else was running, I didn't trust my training, I drank more than I used to, I stopped at least 7 times to go to the bathroom, you get the point. I could remember one of the ladies that I was running near yelling to me, "Its just a nervous pee you just went 2 minutes ago!". Seriously, I was running into the woods to squat and go...forget what they say that during childbirth you lose all shame...I completely lost all shame when running 13.1 miles. I had to pee...I'm going in that bush right there! I did not care how many thousands of people were running past me.

As soon as I finished and collapsed on the blanket, I felt in a fog. I kept thinking "what just happened?" I realized shortly after that the biggest problem was that I wasn't in the moment. I wasn't running it for the right reasons...I just wasn't present. I couldn't "trust my training" because everything was so scattered for me. As soon as I got home I signed up for my second half-marathon. The Hamptoms Half Marathon. I knew what I had to do.

The Hamptoms Half was my favorite run by far. I was so present, I was so prepared, I soooo loved it. Everything about it. I traveled there myself and when I arrived it was so peaceful and beautiful. I just felt so great and so psyched for the next morning. I never felt so proud of myself before and I hadn't even run the race yet. Being prepared and being confident is a beautiful thing!

In September I ran that race in 2:02:33 (9:30 min mile) a big change from the April race of 2:27:55 (11:16 min mile). Thats the difference a whole lot of training, enjoying the run and being in the moment can do. Do we think we can beat that 2:02:33? That's the type of thinking that keeps me going...argh or makes me crazy sometimes lol...but I can't lie...I love the challenge.



Loving the atmosphere before the race...loving the grub after!


So here it is. I am saying it out loud. I'm putting it in print. I am this weekend signing up for my first MARATHON. I am going to do the Hamptoms FULL MARATHON...oooh I'm nervous already! Nervous and so excited for the challenge. I can't wait for the experience and what lies ahead in the training....pull up your socks, tie your laces tight...cause you're coming with me!

Thriving!

What I love most about this 'lifestyle' change is that I am learning more about myself and my body. I found that I can no longer eat 3 bars of peanut chews and then go for a run (lol). Yes, it took me time to realize this. This may help you to understand how far I really have come!!! I was a regular at Wendy's (mmm spicy chicken sandwich)I really never ate well, didn't touch a vegetable, would stay up late, yada-yada. This list could go on and on.

I started eating better but just recently I found something that is meshing with me sooo well its making me THRIVE (Yes, Kelly...I said Thrive lol). I will explain that in another post. I started making Vega smoothies . It is made by Brendan Brazier, a professional Ironman triathlete. It is made from natural plant based whole foods. I buy it from Whole foods and it is around 45 dollars. Below you will see the berry mix and a small chocolate pouch. I prefer the chocolate one(duh).

Now, why a shake? Well first, I do not have ANY time in the mornings with two kids. I needed to have something quick. I was running to work with a box of cereal under one hand and a coffee in the other Second, I wanted to eat healthier but I'm not much of a veggie chef, Marie can vouch for me...I just watched in amazement when she was here visiting. All she was doing was stir frying some simple vegetables lol. Third, it is so easy on my stomach. After my long runs my stomach would hurt soooo much. I think it was my body trying to break down whatever I ate before the run, which was usually a peanut butter sandwich. It was extremely painful and would occasionally have me curled in a ball moaning "my stomach". I've had two longer runs and I've been pain free with the smoothie...which makes me a happy camper! Two other bonuses are that since I've been drinking the smoothies I haven't craved coffee as much. I barely have one cup a week!!!What?! The second bonus...4 pounds just plopped right off of me..caputti!

So heres what I add:
1 scoop of mix (they suggest 2...I only use 1 and its fine)
1 banana
1 cup of yogurt (usually strawberry)
1 teaspoon of flaxseed oil
1 handful of fresh fruit
1 handful of frozen fruit (from trader joes)
splash of OJ

Then I mix it up in my Magic Bullet and drink it up!!! Yummy.






For Lunch...a salad ( i throw anything that will allow me to in the salad) with my favorite dressing!






Then dinner...whatever I want!

Looking forward to hear anyone elses healthy eating ideas or recipes! I know my sister in law has been posting some yummy vegetarian/healthy recipes...what I need are some that I can put in front of my children that aren't so 'green' and 'healthy' looking lol....let me know if you have any!

Baby Steps

It all started with baby steps. When I first told my mom I was running in a 5k, she looked at me like I was losing my mind. I guess because when I was in elementary school I would ask for notes every time we had gym stating that my asthma was bothering me. All Mr. Ketcham was asking me to do was run around the circle 4 times! I'm pretty sure it equalled 1 mile. I couldn't, wouldn't do it. This would be why my mom looked at me like I was losing my mind.

I've never been lazy, or someone that sits on a couch all day but I've also never been someone to 'just go for a run'. So when did that change? It started on a treadmill with a little healthy competition. It was after I had Brooke and I couldn't get those extra pounds off. When I say extra...I MEAN extra! So we started on the treadmill walking. Just walking and talking. One day, I thought, maybe I'll just run for 30 seconds. I wanted to get the calorie counter higher and I knew the faster I went, the further I would go, which meant the higher the calories burned. It was all simple math. I could do this. So that is what I did and then that is what she did also (she being my gym partner at the time-which I highly recommend in the beginning). Each day we would jump it up a little. 30 seconds turned into 1 minute, which turned into 5 then 15 and so on, and so on. After about 6-8 months we were running at a SLOW pace for an hour. It took a long time. It wasn't easy. I wanted to quit some days. What made me not quit was always remembering the benefits of it. I wrote it down, I stared at it, I read it, I spoke it, I lived it. Then I got pregnant.

So, if you've ever been prego, you know it isn't easy to be motivated to run and it is easy to eat ice cream. This said, I didn't forget what motivated me and I was determined to continue it when I had Lucas.

After I had Lucas, I made it a point to sign up for a race. A 5k. Here is where I posted about it on my other blog First 5k after Lucas. It was hard, not easy. But goals my friends, I believe, no matter how big or small are what keeps us going. Achieving them is what makes us believe and feel good about ourselves.

So answer me this: What are your goals? Big or small!

Title and Idea

Well I have to thank two people. One person for the idea and the other person for the title.

The idea came from a blog named Causerie. Dina had the idea of putting together another blog based on pictures of "things forgotten" This Which Remains .What I loved about the idea is she had another place to go and do what she loves. Another place to show different side of her. That made me think. I originally started my blog to keep in touch with family and friends. To let them know how the kids and my family were doing. Over the years I started writing about other things...and lately I've been constantly wanting to blog about my running and other things I've been doing. I wanted to make it the readers option to go and read what I am doing, learning and loving about running. So thank you Dina for giving me the idea. I would love everyone to visit this blog but didn't want to force feed my running, excercise and food mumbo jumbo down your throat...so the choice is yours!

So after I came up with the idea...I thought and thought. What would I call it? I think ( I know) that everything comes to you in time if you -wait-wait-wait for it...So that is what I did. If you know me well enough, waiting, is not what I do best...so instead I kind of forgot about it. Until, I went to accupuncture. I love accupuncture. I love Dr. Liu. She has been someone that I have admired for a long time and someone that just "is" calming. I like to be around her and that is one of the reasons I admire her...wouldn't you love to be someone that someone else admires? Or that someone else is inspired by? So Dr. Liu is someone that has known me through some pretty rough times. Rough times to me being the loss of a baby at 10 1/2 weeks, infertility,  and just plain ole'being tired and wiped out from it all. I hadn't gone to her in about 7 months because of insurance crap. So two weeks ago when I went in she was so happy to see me, her face lit up, she looked me up and down, touched my shoulder and said "Annette, wow you look wonderful. You are NOW going in the right direction". That my friends is when I smiled...and said, "Thank you", (again)Dr. Liu.

So this blog will look back on how I started running, what I am doing, what I am looking forward to...I hope you'll join me for a read...or maybe even for a short run!

So answer me this: Who has inspired you? How and did you follow the inspiration?