Monday MMM's

Another Monday~I hope everyone had a great weekend! Here is a summary of last week in Miles Muscles and Mommyhood style!

MILES:
Finally, some miles! I got in a long(ish)/long(er) run on Saturday--just 10.3 miles but it's better than the shorter runs that I have been logging since the 1/2 marathon. Now it is time to rebuild that base and work up to 16/18 mile long runs again.
The 10-miler on Saturday felt good-really good-I went out easy and just enjoyed the beautiful (cold) morning along one of my favorite beach routes, so serene, quiet and peaceful. I was even greeted by a bushy tailed red fox! Anyway, negative splits and the last mile I felt so good I was able to just GO! I switched from music on the iPod to listening to a podcast. I think that this change really helped me to keep the pace slow to start. Some days I am just so dang happy to be out running, I'll have some high energy tunes blaring and I am go out too fast.
I felt fabulous on Sunday. No discomfort. Nothing!
So running 5 days, getting in a "long run" and some speed work this week is making me happy!
I got in 5 days of running-3/6/6/3/10 miles
two days on the bike (short rides) 9.5/5 miles

Yesterday was WORLD RUN DAY** I had the pleasure of watching the ING NYC Marathon yesterday with Lola on my lap and it was awesome! I was super psyched to cheer on American runner Shalane Flanagan to her second place finish-2:28:40-and her marathon debut!! 

Lola did her share of cheering yelling RUN RUN!!

I am just in awe at the pace that these runners can hold for 26.2, especially the men. I cannot sprint at a 4:26 so to see them pulling out this pace at mile 18/20/24 etc is just unbelievable. I never had an appreciation for this until I started running myself. My favorite men's runner, Meb, finished 6th.
Retired NFL'er Amani Toomer ran the ING NYC Marathon starting dead-last and earning $1.00 for each runner he passed. Timex would donate those dollars to New York Road Runners Youth Programs. Toomer finished with a respectable 4:13 finish and estimates he passed about 20,000 runners.
Photo By Lisa Coniglio/Photo Run

**I did not get in my run on Sunday which was World Run Day but more on that in the Mommyhood!!

MUSCLES:
I had limited time in the gym this week so I had to make the workouts effective. As I mentioned in a previous post, I got my Tabata groove on and it did it's magic on my legs. I love me some DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) and I like knowing I worked hard enough.

I am still having a bit of discomfort with my left shoulder so I took it easy once again with my weights this week, keeping it light.

I dropped about 4lbs this past week and I can definitely feel/see a difference. My veins are popping in my arms a bit more (yes, I am totally into vascularity!!) and my arm appear leaner to me. I can also tell in the tummy area too. So I am going to continue cleaning up the nutrition, getting in some intervals and long runs and hitting the IRON.

MOMMYHOOD:
I love my daughter with all my heart. She is my joy and makes me laugh every single day.
Sunday, not so much laughing going on.
I had been planning on attending a Total Immersion swim clinic for 2 weeks and this was something I was really looking forward to doing. I need to learn SO much about swimming. Well...come Sunday morning I am literally up at 3:30 am because of the time change. I opt to get laundry done and clean out Lola's closets of outgrown clothes vs. running or working out since I am going to be in the pool for 1 1/2 hours later that morning.
Lola gets up and she is the velcro-kid and won't give me a moment to myself. Anytime I go down to the laundry room it triggers a full blown crying fit! Then we head out as a family to do yard work and she turns into a wild animal. Really...all over the place and very defiant. Before long she is soaking wet from rolling in damp leaves so we head inside. More defiance. Before I know it, I should be leaving for the swim clinic and family life if just not letting me get away.  So I continued on with the project in Lola's room and harboring some resentment that I am missing this clinic but looking forward to my run later. After all it is WORLD RUN DAY and I have to run right?? WRONG> let's just say things don't ever go as planned and the highlight of my day was watching the marathon.
Of course my friend, Dawn just had to call me later in the day and tell me how AMAZING the clinic was and how USEFUL this would have been for my horrible swimming skills (ok, so she did not say THAT but...) So yeah, I was feeling a upset yesterday about missing the swim. And then I felt even more upset for feeling upset--I thought it was really selfish of me to feel that way when obviously Lola was having a day. I got over it though. Oh yeah, did I mention Dawn is totally going to help clue me in as to what I missed? Also, she told me that Joel Friel is coming to Maine and doing a lecture in December so I am TOTALLY going to that!
NO MATTER WHAT.

Don't forget to check THIS out for a chance to win a pair of YURBUDS. Contest ends 11/11

World Run Day~ Who will you run for??

Runners are asked to celebrate the sport of running on the day by promoting the health benefits of running to others and running “their own course” by either themselves or with a small group. Many participants send a monetary donation directly to their favorite charity.The 2010 World Run Day Event Shirt was first unveiled in Boston at the Boston Marathon Expo. World Run Day takes place Sunday, November 7th this year. Registration is available now thru Nov 7th on active.com. Your event shirt will be mailed out to you as soon as possible. ~from Runday.com

To register for this event click HERE
 
 
 
 
Tomorrow is World Run Day-are you running??
I will be running in honor of my mother-in-law who has MS. I am lucky to have a very close relationship with her and I love hear dearly. So it will be an honor to run with her on my mind tomorrow.
 
This is a journal entry from early summer and I think it is a perfect reminder to be thankful for our legs that run!!
 
Yesterday I spent the day with my mother-in-law visiting her friend, Marilyn at her home on Hills Beach. It was a perfect day-sunny and warm. My MIL was excited to show off her granddaughter, Lola.
 
You see, my mother-in-law has MS (multiple sclerosis) and it paralysed from the waist down. She has been in a wheelchair since 1992. Her friend of many, many years-Marilyn-was in a severe car crash a while ago and she is now a paraplegic. Just watching these two do daily things we take for granted really got me thinking about how lucky I am. I am active and healthy. Today. This could not be the case tomorrow. I could be hit by a car. I could become ill. I could lose the use of my arms and legs.
So the four of us went for a long "walk" along the beach, of course since they are both in electric wheelchairs, our journey was on the road that follows the curve of the beach. We talked about life, admired the beautiful homes we passed. Marilyn told me about how fun it was raising her 3 children at the beach. She told me about her nursing career. Marilyn now works as an advocate for people with disabilities and assists others in obtaining the very expensive medical equipment needed for people who are paralysed.

We went out for lunch and although my MIL has control of her arms and hands, Marilyn is not so fortunate. She needs to use a special drinking cup and utensils. We had a delicious lunch and enjoyed more conversation. Lola showed off her eating skills as well and made many of the patrons laugh with her antics. Our day together came to an end and we parted ways with promises of doing the same again very soon.

Then I went for a vigorous run...because I can. The next time I am feeling like I don't want to run or work out, I will remember yesterday. And I will walk, run, bike, swim, whatever...because I am thankful that I can.