Family Run

Now that M is in tapering for his marathon he's running low enough mileage that we can get out for a family run. 

 I love how we are modeling healthy habits for our boys.  I hope they will grow to love running as much as their father and I do.

Today we ran 4 miles together.

L loves to run down our street at the end of the run.  I can't wait until he runs races with us! 

After we finish our run the boys always stretch with us.  It cracks me up how they know the routine already.

Marathon #4

M ran his 4th marathon this morning - his third one in 8 months.  He registered for the Mountains 2 Beach Marathon.  It followed a route from Ojai down to Ventura beach.  The race began early at 6am.  M's dad drove him to the starting line.  I got the boys up early and we were out the door with M's mom to catch him along the route.  I drove up highway 33, looking for a good spot to see him.  It was hard to see where the race was going to go.  I finally saw a volunteer at an intersection and asked her what mile marker she was at.  She told me she was at mile 9.  I looked at the clock and saw that it was 7:10am.  I figured if M was running 7 minute miles then he would have already passed through there.  She assured me though that only 3-4 people had run through.  I was skeptical but we parked anyway and waited. 

After about 15 minutes we saw him coming.  He wore his bright green Half Moon Bay International Marathon shirt so it stood out in the distance. 
 
I figured the race must have started late because I knew he wasn't running that slow.  L gave Daddy a high five as he passed.  Poor E was so excited to see Daddy but then didn't understand why Daddy didn't stop and kept running.  He started crying as soon as M ran by us and kept saying, "Daddy" over and over.  We piled into the car and headed down the road to catch him again.

I saw a bunch of cars pulled over the side of the road and stopped with them.  I don't know what mile we were at but figured he hadn't run through yet.  There were some rocks by the side of the road that the boys climbed on.  L was so good about cheering on the runners.  He was yelling "Good job!" to them as they ran past.  Even E started trying to say good job.  It was really cute.

Pretty soon though we saw him come running by. 

L got another high five.  E seemed to understand the drill now and didn't cry when M kept on running. 

We drove further down.  I wasn't sure if we'd be able to see M again.  I was concerned about making it to the finish line in time.  I didn't know exactly where it was or what the parking situation was like.  We saw a water station and it looked like I'd be able to get back onto the freeway pretty quickly so we decided to risk it to stop one last time.  This was at mile 19.  We saw M come running through.  He was consistently about 1-2 minutes behind the 3:05 pace group so I knew he was on track to hit a PR and a possible Boston Qualifier.  I was so proud of him already.

We made it easily to the finish line and there was plenty of parking.  We met up with the rest of the family who was there to cheer M on.  We saw M pass through around mile 21.  L would get so excited when I would tell him Daddy was coming.  He'd have his hand out ready for his high five.
 
It was sunny now and the last stretch was in the full sun.  It was definitely warming up.  I can imagine how disheartening it was to see the finish line but know he still had 5 miles left. 

I got to the finish line. 

Everyone else went down a way to wait for him to approach it.  I wanted to be right at the finish line.  I kept staring at the marathon clock.  I was so nervous for him.  When I saw the 3:05 pacer group pass through my stomach was in knots.  But then a minute or so later I saw him approach.


He did it.  He crossed through at 3:07:32.4.  He was 97th overall.  He PRd and qualified for Boston 2014.  I was so incredibly excited and proud of him.  He trained so hard, 6 days a week for this and all of his hard work paid off.  He was spent after he finished (rightly so!).

We all met up in the reunion area.  M signed up for a massage.  While we waited for his turn the boys played with everyone. 

L got a ride from his uncle.

E mooched Daddy's food from him.

M finally got a well deserved massage. 

Congratulations!  We are all so proud of you!  We love you!

Reservoir

I haven't been running as much as I'd like to these days.  I just haven't been feeling it.  I'm still staying active though.  I'm doing either the 30DS or Ripped in 30 5-6 days a week most mornings at 4:15am.  I'm also trying to get in some walks.  Lately I've been headed to the Lafayette Reservoir.  It's 2.75 hilly miles around.  I love the rolling hills and how pretty it is.  Hopefully soon I'll get back my desire to run but for now I'm happy doing this.

Temptations

There have been a lot of temptations this week around me.  I gave in to some.  This one wasn't a good one to give in to.  I didn't even like it that much yet I ate all of it.  One thing I need to work on is not finishing things that I'm just not enjoying as much.  Just because I have a donut in front of me doesn't mean I need to eat all of it.  I would have rather ate 2-3 bites of a donut I really liked than eat a whole one I thought was meh.

This one wasn't as bad because it was just a nonfat latte.  I'd still rather eat 90 calories than drink them though (unless it's wine!).

Post It

This morning when I woke up at 4:15am to do the 30 Day Shred, I walked out to the family room and saw this Post It stuck on the TV:

I love my husband.  I'm so blessed to have him as a huge supporter of me in my efforts to work out.

Does it ever get easy?

I've really been struggling lately.  I have been waking up at 4:15am Monday thru today (with plans to continue through Friday) to do the 30 Day Shred.  It's one of the only times in the day I can guarantee get it done.  It also frees up my afternoons somewhat to squeeze in a run if I can.  But it's hard.  That's EARLY in the morning to wake up.  I'm exhausted by 9pm and back in bed. 

I've also been tracking my calories using My Fitness Pal and while I like how it holds me accountable to what I put in my mouth, especially days like today when I feel like snacking All.Day.Long it's annoying to constantly think about how many calories each item has.  I began to wonder when will it be easy?  When can I eat without thinking about how many calories it has?  When will I be able to sleep in until 5:30 and just get up and get ready for work (pretty sad that I now consider 5:30am sleeping in!)?

But then I realized I don't think it ever will get easy.  Even when I lose these last 12-15 pounds and I'm wearing size 4s instead of 6s, it won't be easy.  Because when it gets easy I stop working out.  I stop running.  I stop watching what I eat.  Then I will gain weight.  I will lose my ability to run 2-3 miles relatively easily.  Heaven forbid I might have to start back at the beginning of the Couch to 5K.  My muscles will grow soft again and I will no longer see definition in my arms as I am beginning to see now.

I think when I first started this process to get into shape after having E I saw it as something that had a finite time limit.  Once my tummy was flat, once I could run X distance, once I had a toned body, I could stop.  But it doesn't work like that.  That puts me right back to the beginning again where I would have to start again.

I need to see this as a lifestyle change.  This is something that I will be doing for the rest of my life.  Because I want to be healthy.  I want to be toned and confident in how I look.  I want to be able to always go out for a run.  I want to be a healthy role model for my boys so they see exercise and eating well as a way of life.  So no, it will never get easy.  But I now believe it will get easier.  I'm just waiting for that day.  :-)

Goals - Week of May 6

Update on last week's goals:

Exercise: 
30 Day Shred Monday through Friday at 4:20am.
*I did the 30DS 5 times last week.  I woke up at 4:20am Monday thru Thursday but because I skipped Friday I did it on Saturday morning before the boys woke up. 
Run at least twice but ideally 3 times.  Even if it is just a slow, one mile jog.  I want to start it up again.



*I ran once on Monday but only 2 miles and it was ROUGH.  I think the heat (it was close to 90 degrees) made it extra difficult.  I ran/walked the Reservoir which is 2.75 miles and hilly so that was pretty good although I walked more than I ran.  Thursday I met up with a friend to walk the lake (3 miles).  Not as many miles running but at least I got some miles in.

  Food:
I started tracking my calories today.  I want to track calories to really get an idea of what I'm taking in each day.  I hope it will hold me more accountable to those little bites I sneak every now and then.  Also I need to curb my sweet tooth a bit.
*Monday through Friday I did great with this.  I stayed within my calorie allotment each day even when eating out.  However M and I went out of town Saturday thru Sunday and drank a lot of wine and I definitely ate what I wanted.

Other goals:
I want to keep up the water intake.  It's supposed to be close to 90 degrees every day so I know this is important.  I also want to try and get into the chiropractor this week as well as get a massage to see if I can start healing my back pain. 
*Been doing well with the water intake.  I didn't make it to the chiropractor but I did get a massage Thursday and I really felt a difference!

Goals Week of May 6:

Exercise:
30DS Monday thru Friday at 4:20am.  I'd also like to see if I can do it one additional day on either Saturday or Sunday.  I also want to run 3 times this week even if it is only 2 miles. 

Food:
Continue to log my food and exercise intake with My Fitness Pal.  Stay on track even on the weekend when I'm more likely to eat out at least once.

Other Goal:
The massage really seemed to help me last week and my back pain has been considerably less intense so I want to try and get another massage this week.