Mondays in Love: Humbled, Thankful

I have some great news: my Garmin is back in working order! It seems I had a two-fold problem: the device's software was way out of date and the wall-charger had become non-reliable. The software issue meant it was never entering power save mode, and the wall charger issue meant that once it turned off, I could no longer charge it. Thank goodness for Garmin customer service, which I am so impressed with!

With the Garmin back, I've finally been able to do a pace check. The results? Humbling.

that says 10:23 average pace over 2.19 miles, if you can't read it. Sometimes I swear blogger decreases my photo quality somehow.

Going back through my training log, this is the fastest I've run since December 8th, when I was about 5 months pregnant, and I ran only a few seconds slower in mid-January, at 6.5 months pregnant. It's humbling to know that I was still (much) faster at 5 months pregnant than I am now. It's humbling to be winded after 2 miles. It's humbling to expend such effort to run 1.5 minutes/mile slower than I did a year ago. 

And I'm thankful. Mostly, that my Garmin works again and I don't have to replace it. Score! But thankful too that getting disciplined and setting a schedule that allows me to run seems to be working. I got in two runs last week and am on track to do it again this week.  

Losing the weight, finding the time, and actually running post-baby are hard. But one of the things I love about running (and, truthfully, about my profession) is honing the discipline that it takes to improve. My upcoming 5k is starting to feel like a great venue to start setting goals again, one week at a time. 

Mondays in Love: First race!!

I have big, BIG news:
I've signed up for my first race post-baby!!

On August 31 I will be running the Torchlight 5k. Not only is this my FIRST RACE BACK (just in case my enthusiasm wasn't obvious already), but they will have food trucks at the finish of this early evening race. Know what that means? I can bring my whole family and they can dig in and enjoy while momma's out running her booty off. That's a win for everyone as far as I'm concerned!

You may remember that I discussed the possibility of doing a 4th of July 4-miler. What I'd forgotten was that we'd previously purchased tickets for Six Flags and a Cards game for that same day. Also, it was 104 degrees out. So....that race really didn't happen. No biggie. I can't run 4 miles yet anyway.

Ok ok, so back to the good part--my upcoming race (eeee!! So happy I can't stand it!). I have about 6 weeks until race day. That's long enough to shoot for a better goal than "finish alive." I ran 1.85 miles on Saturday without stopping, so I know I can do the distance with a bit more training. But, with 6 weeks, I also have a little opportunity to work on starting to get my pace back in check. Current pace: slow. Goal pace: less slow. Ha, sorry--with my Garmin still busted (more on that later), that's about all I know for pace right now.

The big question right now, how am I going to find the time to run more frequently? 'Cause right now I'm at about once a week, on Saturdays. I've decided to pick one day a week that I can consistently be in bed ridiculously early, letting me get up and run in the morning before work. It's not much for someone who ran a marathon 14 months ago, but it still means doubling my weekly mileage, and I'm gonna take that for now.

Mondays in Love: Winning

http://www.thesuperficial.com/charlie-sheen-is-tila-tequila-now-03-2011/0307-charlie-sheen-winning-00

Wait..that's not right. Runners don't have tiger stripes. So why am I winning? 

WIN: The heat wave has broken. I could have gone running midday today! The rest of the week is supposed to be lovely, especially for July. Some days we have highs in the 80s!!

WIN: Last time I weighed myself, I was back to my Christmas 2010 weight!! This was my first goal in weight loss post-baby and it makes me so happy. I can now wear most of my pants. The "4th trimester" is over. So far, 16 down, 14 to go. Next goal: another 4 pounds.

WIN: Yoga. I'll explain: So, I've had a really hard time finding minutes in the day to sneak in a run, and I'm neither apologizing nor feeling bad about it. And baby is still too young for a jogging stroller, so I can't run during the day with him. But yoga? Yoga I can do at home during the day while baby is sleeping (I'm still home two days a week). And holy cow but I need it. I remember this from after Big Brother was born, too. In the last week or so, suddenly I'm realizing how crazy stiff I am. My knees hurt. My calves and hams are stiff. My back is creaky. So yoga? Hells yeah. Bring it.

HOPEFUL/POTENTIAL/FINGERS CROSSED WIN: Baby brother is to the age that he should start sleeping through the night any time now. When that happens, it will become much easier to get a good night's sleep and hopefully get in more of those morning runs. I can't wait!!

Mondays on Notice: More Gear Questions

After being at home for 2 months on maternity leave and being home now 2 days per week (I'm back to work part-time through the end of this month), I've made HUGE progress on getting my house organized. You know, simple things that adults should be on top of, like getting all the birth-related medical bills and corresponding insurance statements organized, paid, and filed. Getting the house cleaned a bit more frequently than before. Well, among my culling of items to organize or pitch, I've collected an impressive pile of old running shoes.

no, not actually. http://livebare.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/img_2633.jpg

I kept them hoping to donate them to one of those shoe programs it seems like I'm forever reading about. The Whole Foods here was collecting them for a while, but when I went to donate mine their collection had ended. This seems to be the story of me and running shoes. What do you do with yours?? Help! I don't want to pitch them, but they've gotta go.

Mondays in Love AND On Notice

I've got a two-fer for you today--Mondays in Love and Mondays on Notice.

Mondays in Love: Anniversary Edition

It's been a lot of things:

It's been 7 years, 3 states, 1 PhD, 2 houses, and 2 babies. 

It's been his support of me through fundraising, watching kids, and cheering me on through 

3 marathons, 6 half-marathons, and thousands of miles.

It's been me and my hubby creating a crazy, chaotic life that we love. <3

Mondays on Notice: Running Gear

I have not one, but two pieces of running gear I need to put on Notice today. I'm hoping someone can give me some insight on the first. 

That's right, my Garmin has died again. And this time, I can't get it to turn back on. WTH?!? I only got my Garmin two years ago and this one is already a manufacturer replacement for the first, which stopped recording maps. With this one, I could never get it to stop trying to find satellites, and I think it just finally killed the battery beyond what I can charge. Or not. I don't know. I'm going to call Garmin Support tomorrow, but does anyone have ideas of what I could do? I REALLY don't want to have to replace it.

Second, it took me a mere embarrassing two years to completely clear this spot of floor once we moved in. And once I got everything picked up and put away, I still had one stubborn pile left...my pile of Runner's Worlds. Am I the only person who doesn't get every page of them read and ends up with a pile? At what point do you commit an afternoon to reading through them or just pitching them? 

Run strong my friends! 

Mondays on Notice: Found Not Guilty

Blogger admission of truth: when I read (or write) posts about being too busy to run/train/exercise, I almost always (almost!) think the same thing--excuses. So it is with great hesitation (seriously, it's taken me all day to feel ok about this post) that I'm about to say this:

I have just been too exhausted to find the early hours to run more than about twice a week. 

Since this time last night, here's what my day has looked like:

• From 10-11pm I fed the baby, washed baby things and dishes, straightened up the bedroom, packed baby things for daycare today, and went to bed. 
• Woke up at 2am to feed the baby, take Big Brother to the bathroom.
• Woke up at 4:30 to soothe the baby and coax him back to sleep, then eventually feed him
• Woke up at 6:30 to soothe & feed baby
• 7-7:45, breakfast and being a mommy to my two boys, getting everyone out of the house
• 7:45-9:15, cleaning up the kitchen, packing up all my stuff, iron pants, shower, dress, out the door (how in the WORLD does it take so long?!?)
• 9:30-5:30, work, stopping 3 times to, um...prepare baby food (sorry dudes!) and once to run home and back because I forgot lids for the bottles
• 5:30-8, dinner, playing with Big Brother, and his bedtime
• evening, paying bills, writing blog post, and, believe it or not, working--I'm up against a deadline
• rinse and repeat, except tomorrow I have a work meeting that starts at 7:30am. 

As Kdot says, you can't work, have a little tiny baby, and keep up a serious hobby. Pick two of the three. That's the limit. 

Babies generally start sleeping through the night around 3 months. Some start a little earlier, some take well over a year. But until baby is on a somewhat predictable schedule, it's very hard for parents to be on a very predictable schedule. And we're exhausted. Exhausted. 

When I take a hard look at myself and ask if I'm making excuses, I have to find myself Not Guilty. I was a lot harder on myself when Big Brother was little tiny, and I learned the hard way not to be. So this is me saying heck yeah for starting back, however slowly. Saying heck yeah for fun runs, slow runs, and sleeping when I can. This is me putting guilt On Notice. 

Mondays in Love: Wisdom

This morning I filed Run #3 in the Run & Done folder and I loved it for so many reasons. Like my last run, I did a 3:1 run/walk. It's hard! It makes me really appreciative. 

Reason #1: It's humbling to remember how hard it is to start from scratch or close to it. I think when I'm really fit, it's easy to forget how hard this is for beginners. It's good to be reminded of that from time to time. I was out 11 weeks. It will help me be a better Running Big (get it, like Bigs in sororities and frats?) later on. 

Reason #2: I haven't felt like I was going to die. After Big Brother was born I thought I was going to kick it on my first few runs back. I 100% attribute the change to running wisdom. This time around I know how important it is to ease back into things and gradually build up. I know what I need to stretch to keep from hurting myself. I know how to manage hydration better. And this time around I know that the fitness will return, and in relative terms, pretty quickly. 

Reason #3: I barely beat the sticky sick weather and the rain today and got my run in during some lovely morning weather. I LOVE when I do that. Joanna 1, Summer 0. 

Reason #4: I saw a billboard advertising a 4 mile race on the 4th of July. Since I haven't felt like I was going to die, I'm considering making this my  first race back. What do you think? Is this reasonable? It won't be a PR--I'm not ready for that--but I think I can get up to that distance. Right? I'm at about 2.5 run/walk right now. 

In other news, my office move is...going. There is stuff EVERYWHERE. My new bookshelves didn't come with the hardware to install the shelves, so while I wait for Facilities to send them to me, all my stuff is still in the shrink-wrapped rolly cart that they used to move my stuff. And the giant cart is taking up the space I need for my appliances, reading chair, and coffee table. It's a hot mess. But it's a hot mess I'm still pretty thrilled to have.