many miles in between

There have been many miles in between blog posts. Time has gotten away from me since I started back to work!

Mixing training and going back to work, along with raising Elliot and catching up on various projects, has proven to be a challenge in time management. So far it's going....okay. Not fabulous, but okay. I haven't figured out how to work in a Monday run just yet. Tuesdays I think I'm going to schedule cross-training in the middle of the afternoon, as a break from work (it worked this week). Wednesdays I've accepted that I won't see my son very much, since I run when I get home. Fridays Meg and I are meeting at 4 to run. I lose a little bit of work time with this plan, but so far I've been able to make it up in the evenings at home.

I'm pleased about my return to mid-week workouts (aka speed workouts). Three weeks ago I went to a mid-week workout with the team. The week after that it rained and I had Elliot with me, so I skipped it. Last week and this week (today) I did the mid-week on my own. Tonight I ran a 1.25 mile warm-up then 4x800 followed by a brief cool-down. I ran each of the 800s in 4:15-4:20. I'm going to check my time from last year to see how that compares.

Long runs are coming along too. This past Saturday we hit eight miles. It was HARD, but part of that was the crazy humidity. We're doing eight again this weekend. I'm hopeful that it will be easier. We have only about a month to go until the race!

On the fundraising front, I had a yard sale a week and a half ago that raised $211. I am still working on selling some additional items, like a camera and a nice decorative bench. I expect the final amount to be closer to $300. I'm also planning a bake sale and we're working on a team fundraiser. So, it's coming!

In non-running news, I'm an aunt! Nadia Simone Paulson was born on September 15 at 10:48pm in Detroit. We are very anxiously awaiting pictures! Congratulations Kirsten and Dan!! The morning after Nadia's birth I wanted to send flowers. Not knowing a good florist in their area, I decided to call the hospital for a recommendation.
Me: "Hello. My brother and sister-in-law had a baby there last night. I'd like to send them flowers. Could you recommend a florist? Is there someone you work with?"
Receptionist: "You're calling for your brother? Is he a patient here?"
Me: "No, no. He and his wife had a baby there last night. I'm trying to send some flowers. Do you have any information on a florist I might use?
Receptionist: "What's her name?"
Me: "Kirsten Paulson."
Receptionist: "Ok, I'll connect you to her room."
Me: "No, no, I don't need to talk to her or bother her. I'm just trying to send flowers. Is there a florist the hospital works with?"
Receptionist: "Oh, you want to send flowers. I can give you the phone number for a florist."
Me: "Yeah, thanks."

Also, I am two pages (one spread) and a few captions away from being FINISHED with my wedding scrapbook (finally! three plus years later!). After I finish that, I will be moving on to baby albums for Nadia and Elliot. After that, I'll be knitting a Christmas stocking for Elliot. I have quite the agenda lined up! And I'm looking forward to all of it.

Best long run ever

Saturday morning was the best long run ever. I hit the six mile mark with no difficulty AND I got to see some of my old teammates. Two of my former teammates are coaches for the fall TNT Team and my old coach, Harley, is their mentor. The fall and winter teams trained together this Saturday, so I got to see them. A few other alumni I know were there too. I was in such a good mood on the drive to practice and then afterwards. It was great to see everyone. Well, almost everyone. MEG!

I started my fundraising effort in earnest this past week. I've already raised close to $300! Thank you so much to everyone who responded to my initial call for support!! For anyone interested in helping out, my fundraising page can be found here. I'm also organizing a yard sale. I think I'm going to push the date back to September 6 to give myself more time to find donations for the sale. If you're local and have anything you'd like to donate, please let me know!

In other news, it's official: maternity leave is over. Elliot goes to day care in the morning. Even while I feel good about the daycare provider we chose, I can't help but be a little bit anxious. I think it would be unnatural not to be. It hasn't quite sunk in yet that my daily routine of life in Mumford starts again tomorrow as well. Wish me luck!

Wedding/That'll teach me!

The Wedding

This past weekend we attended a wedding in Sabina (that's with a long i), Ohio. It was great to get to see our friends Kevin and Jamie and celebrate with them. The reception was at Jamie's parents' home just outside of town. They couldn't have asked for a nicer day for their wedding. It was just gorgeous! Here are some pictures.

Sabina is only about 4.5 hours from here, but travelling with baby meant that it took about 6 hours each way. Elliot was mostly pretty well behaved. Here are some family pictures from the wedding and the trip each way. The first was taken at the reception. The second and third were taken at rest stops on the way home.

That'll teach me

I did my weekend long run, about 4.1 miles, on Sunday night. It had been almost a week since I ran. I finished the run and it was fine, but it hurt a little bit that night and yesterday. I'm even a little bit tight this morning still. So, I'm back to the training schedule now! This weekend I'm going to try a six mile long run. Wish me luck!

It got easier!

This week's long run was 4 miles. It was easy!! I really feel like I've rounded a corner here. It was a fun route too. We started out at Hessel Park and ran through some nearby neighborhoods. I also met some of my teammates. I think they will be a fun group to train with. The full body workouts are still hard, but that's a good thing. I'm re-building muscle.

Elliot has two new-ish tricks. He has started to intentionally and consistently roll from his back onto his tummy. He can't roll back to his back though, which sometimes frustrates him. The other trick is that for the last week or two he's taken great joy in his favorite new game--kicking off a blanket.

The D

Last weekend in Detroit was a lovely time. Kirsten had a nice shower. I got to see their new place. I was exhausted when I got home, but it was worth it.

On Sunday Kirsten mapped out a 4.1 mile loop for me to run through nearby neighborhoods. I was a little bit apprehensive, since I didn't know the area and would be alone, but it went smoothly. I ran, map in hand. The neighborhoods all had sidewalks, which isn't always the case here. I had a lot of shade from the trees along the streets. Most importantly, I finished the 4.1 miles and it didn't feel as hard as my "long" runs have the last few weeks. I think I'm starting to turn a corner. When I got back from the run I found Dan (my brother) cleaning my car. The man just can't stand a dirty car. It makes me laugh in that familiar, familial sort of way. I'm enjoying having a clean car!

This week has been hectic. I fit in a cross-training day, but haven't been able to run. I'm planning to run in the coming days. After this weekend I should be able to get back to the training schedule.

On the scrapbooking front, I'm starting to collect patterned paper, ribbon, and accessories for my niece's album. I'm finding such fun things! Last night I bought a pack of pink fabric brads, among other things. I'm starting to think about how the pages will come together. I'm determined to finish my wedding album first (which I'm slowly closing in on), but I'm so anxious to get started on the baby album!

Something of a routine?

This Saturday I repeated my 3.7 mile run. It wasn't any easier, as I'd hoped, but it happened. Yesterday I dutifully ran my 25 minute EZ run. Sometime in the last year my subdivision has added a significant amount of sidewalks, making a trail around the entire subdivision. It's a nice little route.

It's amazing what two months can do. When I was pregnant someone told me that the first month after birth is all about survival, and she was right. Now at the end of two months, though, I feel like I can sort of anticipate how the days will go. That makes running SO much easier! My husband has been phenomenal at working with me to mesh our schedules so that I have time to run and he still has time to do his things. I still worry that it's going to be very difficult to mix parenting with the training schedule once the miles get longer, but so far so good.

This week I'm starting to use a diet plan. Over the weekend I wrote out meals for the week. I'm doing this to help myself eat well, which can only make running easier, and to help myself lose more of the baby weight. I'm using old eDiets menus and some that I got from Dannon's website a few years ago. I will probably post a link to my FitDay account at some point, if anyone is curious. It's nice to eat things I don't normally eat. For instance, last night we had teriyaki salmon, steamed carrots, and sweet potatoes. Yum!

I'm headed to Detroit this weekend for my sister-in-law's baby shower. I want to try a 4-miler for this weekend's long-run. Not sure if I'll try it there or on Sunday when I get back. Wish me luck!

ch-ch-ch-changes, and I'm crazy

I was encouraged today by my friends Lisa and Dorie to feel like I can use this space to blog about my crafts projects and the rest of life. I never have because originally this blog was devoted to training and fundraising for my first race. But life has gone on and I'm realizing that this would probably be more interesting for everyone involved if I widened the scope. So here I am.

First though, an update on running. This past Saturday I ran 3.7 miles!! I wasn't sure I would make it that distance, since my longest run before that had been 2.8. The weather was in my favor, which helped, and I was feeling good. I'm starting to feel like maybe I can do this again. But I'm also crazy. I'm going to attempt to run the Disney Marathon in January. I'm working with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training again. This time around I will need to raise over $3,000! Be warned that there will be lots of fundraising in the months to come! So, wish me luck. I might be crazy to try this. All of a sudden, the Indy Half in October has become a training run. I'm really excited about Indy, but still intimidated about Disney. I might just be crazy, but I'm going to give it a try.

In other news, yesterday was Elliot's two month well-baby check-up. It went really well. He weighs 11lb. 11oz. and measured 22.5 inches. He got his immunizations, screaming as all babies do. I planned to feed him right after the shots, which soothed him a lot. After he finished eating he had forgotten the pain. I think the day wore him out though. Last night he slept better than ever. He slept from 11pm to 4:10am, then from 4:40 until almost 9am. It was so nice to get so much sleep!

On the scrapbooking front, I discovered something nifty a few days ago. Some background: a while back my friend N gave me a white pigment ink pad. We both thought it would be great to stamp white shapes onto colored paper. Not so much. Turns out the ink fades about 90% when it dries on regular paper. So for a while I wasn't sure what I could do with my white ink pad. Over the weekend N and I were scrapbooking together. We came up with a layout that involved a printed vellum background page. Unfortunately, I had only one sheet of the printed vellum and I needed two for the two-page spread. I went to the local crafts stores but couldn't find another sheet. On a whim, I tried to "paint" a pattern onto plain vellum using q-tips and the ink from ink pads. I tried a few colors of ink on a test strip to see which looked the best. Much to my surprise, the white ink works beautifully when applied to vellum. Here's a picture of the result. And yes, I'm just now getting around to scrapbooking my 2005 wedding.