The In Between Week 2 or is this Week One of 50 K training?

I need some clarification, so I will get back to you.  I thought I would be starting in June with my training, but this may be week one.  Anywho, thanks to the temperature starting to creep up, morning runs may become the norm.  Someone remind my stomach to not be so hateful.  Not sure why it is fine on the weekends for long runs and races, but not during the week. especially when I eat the same food as my long run food the night before.  Oh well, glad my gypsy runner shorts have huge pockets for carrying lots of toilet paper.

Monday:  Planned 6 miles.  Well, I had hoped to get to bed early since little red passed out around 6 pm.  My body had other thoughts.  I finally got up out of bed and took a melatonin, which helped me to go to sleep.  I was lucky in that I didn't have to get up till 5 am versus 4 am, but that time is coming.   As I type this, I am on my second cup of coffee.   Don't get my wrong, I LOVE getting up and being productive while everyone else sleeps, I just hate feeling like crap the rest of the day because I am so sleepy.  In a perfect world, I would be in bed and asleep by 8:30 pm every night, but the reality is, I have a hubby and a 3 year old that both are night owls.

Just a footnote (see how punny I am), I did see a new Dr/Chiropractor about my foot.  I was concerned that it just wasn't getting 100% better with the recent flare ups in pain, even if the pain was low.  I had heard about this guy that is suppose to be a miracle worker,  Dr. Richard Foveaux at Jointfit in Manhattan.  My boss had actually used him when she tore her plantar fascia in a freak accident when we were hiking on the beach last year at our UGM.  She loved him and I was intrigued hearing about his methods.  I have written a separate post about my first visit with him so check out this post!

Tuesday:  Strength.  I was instructed to not do any plyometerics, which is what I have been following, and continue on with my normal plan of attack.  3 rounds of my exercises.  I am really liking this circuit that Coach Jenny put together.  Hollowman (60 seconds), reverse weighted lunges, push ups, lateral lunges, single leg bridges, and kettle bell swings.  Simple, effective and fun!

Wednesday:  Planned 5 miles.  I have convinced Melly Mel that mornings are where it is at.  As long as she is done and home around 6 am, she is a go, so we headed out for 5 wet miles.  The thunder storms luckily had passed through, but it was still 95% humidity.  We felt like we were drinking the air and poor stella fluffed out like a stuffed animal.  Hello humidity, I did NOT miss you at all.

Thursday:  Ah, rest day.  Except we had quite the excitement. I work in a town about 15 miles away from where I live.  It takes about 20-25 minutes to commute every day, and is a pretty simple commute on a nice four lane highway.  Well, around 2 pm I start seeing people in my home town posting on FB that sirens were going off.   Then I start seeing reports of multiple tornadoes hitting my little town where my dogs and kiddo were.   Let's just say I was freaking out not being there.  My hubby had headed home from work as soon as he heard Wamego was being hit.  We luckily had no damage and the kiddos were very safe in their safe room at school.  My nerves were pretty shot though.  The tornado went a few blocks west of us, and only did damage to trees and cars.  The videos and pictures make me realize how truly lucky our town was.  Thank you GOD for taking care of my babies, both two legged and four legged.

Friday:  Planned 5 miles.  I hate you stomach.  That is all.  Other than that, flooded roads were the name of the game.  We were on pavement and got spooked by not only 1, but 2 black and white kitties, so headed to the gravel.  Pretty much every route I use is flooded at some spot.  May have to rethink long run route tomorrow.

I also had day 2 of needling hell. I know I am bitching about it, but everyone says it really, really, really works, so I am trying to suck it up and go with it.  I made Melly-Mel go with me, and I am SO glad I did because he did not one but three needles.  HOLY HELL that hurt SO bad, but apparently he found the right trigger point with one of them as my foot started twitching like crazy.  The electricity really hurt this time too.  I also had ultrasound therapy, and he added some exercises to my regime to try and work on my biomechanics.  He does want me to try a new shoe, but our local running store didn't have the women's version.  He is concerned about my mid-foot striking and this would help with this issue since it is a stability shoe, but stability in the front not in the normal spot.  I am willing to go down this rabbit hole with him, because I truly feel like he is invested in helping me run pain free and preventing me from having future issues.  Plus, bonus, he is covered by my insurance so after today, all visits are only 15 dollars for my copay YIPEEE!

Saturday:  Planned 8 miles.  Woke up to rain.  Honestly, I just didn't want to run in the rain for 8 miles on wet, squishy, muddy roads, nor did I want to run on the pavement and battle skunks.  I went back to bed. Bad me.  As the day went on, I just couldn't get over how beautiful it was, and how perfect it was for running.  I finally decided I couldn't stand it anymore and headed out for a quick 8.  It was in the 80s, but a nice cool wind was blowing, and I had brought my Nuun to keep Stella and I hydrated.

Sunday:   Planned Strength.  We decided to head to our little zoo and have fun while it was still relatively cool out before getting the day started.  I am not looking forward to the summer heat as it got pretty hot towards the end of our visit.  We spent the rest of day grocery shopping, playing legos and hunting snakes in the yard.  We seem to have a snake boom this year and we have already re located 3.  Luckily they are just garter snakes but they are pretty big and can get kind of irritable and go after you.  I was pretty worn out from the day so did my physical therapy that my new dr prescribed and took the rest of the day easy.

24 miles total for the week.

It was a great week even though the heat and humidity was a little crazy already.  Am looking forward to the first official week (I think) of 50K training!!!!!

The foot Dr is in!

Source

I did see a new Dr/Chiropractor about my foot this week. I was going to put this in my weekly post, but it was running too long so I thought i would make it a special post and include more information.  As you know,  I was concerned that my foot just wasn't getting 100% better with the recent flare ups in pain, even if the pain was low.  My coach was really pushing me to figure out what the problem was before we started 50 K training.  I had heard about this guy that is suppose to be a miracle worker,  Dr. Richard Foveaux at Jointfit in Manhattan.  My boss had actually used him when she tore her plantar fascia in a freak accident when we were hiking on the beach last year at our UGM in San Deigo.  She loved him and healed nicely, and I was intrigued hearing about his methods that he used on her injury.  I was  told that he was very hard to get in with, so initially when my foot starting hurting, I didn't seek him out.  I went with the quicker route, and while I felt like it did help some, obviously we weren't fully finding out what the problem was.

He started out with a VERY thorough exam and a history of all the issues i have had in the past with my foot and my ankle.  He did a very long exam with the ultrasound of both of my feet top and bottom.  His initial thought was bursitis between my toes, but he also felt like there was something in there that needed to be tweaked, perhaps a small muscle.  He also double checked for stress fractures, and found none.

What he did find was a increase in the space between my fourth and fifth toe on both feet, suggesting that something is going on with my current shoes, thus the reoccurrence.  He feels like the sacouny kinvaras might have a too narrow toe box, and with the wonky way I run, that is causing my two last toes to slam together and slam against the edge of the shoe.  He did tons of measuring of the inserts and toe box, and my feet, but he hasn't fully said he thinks I should change shoes yet.

He also tried a technique called dry needling.  He kind of lied to me and told me it was not a big deal, even when I commented several times that I am not a fan of needles.  While I didn't watch, it still hurt horribly bad, and I hope I NEVER have to have that done again.  If you don't know what dry needling is, basically my understanding is that they stick a needle very similar to an acupuncture needle into a trigger point, and then look for a twitch in the muscle.  They then pass current through the needle into the muscle to help healing.  While I have had this done on my dogs, I have never had this done on myself, and I was not a fan.  I guess if it helps things heal, then it doesn't matter, I will continue to do it, but that was really painful and I have a very high pain tolerance.  My coach also has had this done on her IT band and glutes, and claimed it was not bad at all for her so maybe it isn't a big deal to others or it is site specific.  Just typing this makes me nauseous thinking about the pain. I was also given some strengthening exercises and am doing the double aleve again and icing till my recheck on Friday.

Source

Overall, I am still very sore two days out from all of the poking and prodding, but hope we are moving in the right direction.  I was intrigued to know that the muscle that he thinks is tweaked, the adductor hallucis, can mimic stress fracture pain or referred pain.  We still don't know what the initial injury was, but it seems healed. I also still feel like my abductor digit minimi might be tweaked as well so that may have to be gulp, needled as well.  I will have an update friday so keep your finger's crossed that we are on the right path!  I would like to be 100% pain free!!!!

The in between: Week One

Ah, here we are at the in between.  I am not technically starting my 50 K training till June and I still have two more PRs I would like to tackle, but these next couple of weeks are going to be about taking it easy.  Recovery is so important, and while I didn't do the hard work outs I normally do in a training cycle the last few months, I still have a bunch of miles on this body.  I have been mulling over what my fall will look like and at this point, here is my plan:

July 31st Hell Creek on Heels 25K
August 6th Brew to Shoe 10K
September 18th Konquer the Konza
Oct 2nd Hell Creek on Heels 50K
Oct 8th Trails for Tails 5 K
Nov 5th Tails on the Trail 5K
December Alternative Chili run 10 miler

I will not be racing all of these for sure, but would LOVE a PR in my 10K and Konquer the Konza.   The others are for finishing with a smile on my face, knowing I have accomplished them.  The July 31st 25K is simply to acquaint myself with the trail that will be similar to the one the 50K is run on.  If I don't like it, I won't enter that particular 50K, but will find another one to enter.  I am trying very carefully to match the 50K I do, with the training conditions I can find this spring/summer and highly technical is not feasible.

Monday: 5 miles planned.  Came home to pouring rain and MUD.  Decided to go anyway.  Got 2 miles out and decided to turn around.  The driving rain and wind was a little much.  Got 4 done overall and one very muddy happy dog.

Tuesday: Strength.  DONE.  Learned two new moves tonight, the kettle bell swing and the hollow man.  I will be sore tomorrow and the next day fo sho.  

Wednesday: 5 miles planned.  SUPER sore from my strength work out.  I assume it was the kettle bell swings.  Melly Mel came over to watch little red, since hubby had yet another union meeting to attend.  Actually got to see the sun set which was lovely.  

Thursday:  REST DAY.

Okay seriously, this is the WORST chaffing I have EVER had.  I have had to put bandages on it just to keep me from sticking to me.  I have spent the greater part of the week holding my arm out, so I can't stick.  I still haven't figured out what the heck did this.  The weather was not hot or humid and I was not sweaty at all.  Go figure.  

Friday:  5 miles planned.  Took Deuce for kind of a hot and humid run to see how he would do.  Well, he seems to really have come around with his wimpiness about the heat/humidity.  Granted it was only in the high 70s but still, he use to wilt like a flower on these runs.  I am itching to get him out on even longer runs soon!

K-S-U WILDCATS!  Willie really is the BEST mascot ever with kiddos

Bill Snyder Family stadium. Finish line.  Saw the STATE record for the half fall at 1 hour 4 minutes!!!

Saturday:  Booth for the Bill Snyder Half and 5K.  I found out that Doug, the RD for the Wicked Half and Full, needed someone to man the booth at this race.  Even though hubby had a class that day, I decided to volunteer and take my not so morning person kiddo to the race at 6:30 am to sit in a booth all day.  Luckily, there were bouncy houses, but kind of far enough from the booth that Andrew wouldn't go do them alone (even though I could see him clearly from my booth).  

Oh well, we made a fort under the table with some dog crate pads and blankets, and he pretty much stayed there the entire time watching netflix on my phone.  We took two short bounce house breaks when foot traffic was slow.  He really shocked me in how good he was.  We were there from 6:30 am-10:30 am, and he was perfect.  Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket?  

Sunday:  Let me preface Sunday with the fact that Melly-Mel's bachelorette party was saturday night.   I didn't go wild and crazy, but I did have a few more than I normally would, and also partook in a shot.  When I woke up from sleeping in (huge thanks to my wonderful hubby for being a DD and letting me sleep it off), I threw around ideas like a 6 miler or strength training, but those just didn't happen.  We worked in the back yard all day long and just enjoyed the weather.  I felt guilty for about 4 seconds and then thought, why?  Training doesn't officially start till June, and this was technically a recovery week anyway., so not going to beat myself up about the lack of a long run. 

Total Miles for the Week: 14

Pretty excited about next monday.  Seeing a new doctor to try and see if we can diagnose my foot issue and help me rectify what is wrong.  May just get the same answer I have been getting, no clue, but willing to plunk down the co pay and try and figure it out.  He is a legend around here when it comes to athletes and foot problems, so I am so hoping he can help me.  To me this is just at this point a little nagging thing, but I want it gone before I train for a 50 K if at all possible.  I would love to get back to my speed work sessions.  

Have a great week!

Heartland Series Recap 2016

Time for a short recap of the Heartland Series.  Of course if you want a more in depth review of each, click on the name of each race and it will take you to my recap.  If you have been with me for a while, you know that I have battled a mysterious foot issue since February 1st.  While it has gotten better, it still flares up and I have to manage it.  Once I got the green light from Ortho that nothing was broken or going to break, we made the decision to go ahead with road miles versus pool and bike miles and just no intensity.  Because of the lack of intensity, I had to move my A race goal to the last race, which is the toughest course in my opinion.  I want to say a HUGE thank you before I start to several people.  Doug at Body First kept my body happy through some tough massage, and talked some good sense into me several times.    My coach, Coach Jenny listened to me lament through this whole injury and constantly helped me change my training plan.   Lastly, my BRF Melly Mel for also listening to me research and obsess about what this stupid foot thing could be.  I can be persistent when I have a hunch, even if it is wrong, and I will try ANYTHING to make it better, right or wrong.  These three kept me sane and yelled at me when I needed it, and for that I thank you all dearly.

Rock the Parkway:

Normally my A-race because the course, in my opinion, is super flat compared to the other three, and has nice wide, closed roads for running.  I would say this is a beginner friendly course for sure.  The race is an out and back, but on different sides of the parkway, so you at least get different views.  The weather is always iffy, since it is early spring.  This year it was freezing cold, but it has been really super hot.  The parking is really nice and easy, since they have a nice big parking garage right behind the race start now.  This is a race I will continue to do even if I don't do the Heartland Series next year.  A perfect race to try and meet your race goals for the spring (I ran a 2:10 this year, but got my half PR last year of 2:06).  Great post race food and drink and music.  Beautiful LARGE medal that you can have engraved onsite.  Free downloadable pictures that were put up quickly, and are searchable by bib number or name.

Garmin Half and Full:

Not going to lie, in the past this was not my favorite race.  The past two years I had done this race had hail and thunderstorms hit during the race.  Not the race's fault at all.  The post race was always kind of puny, and they had even run out of stuff for runners post race pretty quickly.  NOT so this year.  I am not sure what they will do next year (i have heard they will move it back to it's original location) but I LOVED the location and the race course this year.  Challenging hilly course, GREAT post race food and party, and a much bigger expo for packet pick up.  I really liked the new RD and his desire to make this a great race, and hope even if they change the course next year that they still at least have packet pick up at the hotel again so they can have the big expo.  Mel and I loved the new challenges that the course brought this year, so will kind of be sad to see it change again (possibly), but many runners complained and said they wouldn't be back if it didn't change:(.  We hung around afterwards and just enjoyed the post race party, something we never do, and even got cool finisher's certificates printed for free. Yeah, parking was kind of bad, not because there wasn't any, but only because the lots closest to the race start/finish were blocked in until the race was pretty much over.  That was totally our fault for parking there, there were many lots away from the start/finish that had a shuttle bus.  We had no where to go so we just stayed until they started letting cars out, no skin off of our back.   This year we had free downloads of pictures, where previously we had to buy the pictures, or they didn't have a photographer at all.  There was no searchable function and the pictures were NOT in the albums based on time, but I managed to find a couple of me after several hours of searching (and I am NOT kidding).  Overall, I think this race changed for the better, but I have no clue what they will do next year. My time was 2:12, and I think that was reflective of the heat and challenging course, but the fact that my foot let me complete this race made me happy for whatever time I got.  

Running with the Cows:

This race has always had my heart.  The course is challenging and usually the weather is slightly hot and humid.  That never has bothered me, because this race knows how to do it RIGHT!   The FB page is very active, the website is super fun to visit, and the merch they have pre race is AMAZING!  I  hope to follow their plan of getting people excited for race day for Wicked :)  The post race party is something unrivaled.  I also heard they had a carb party this year as well the night before.  This race is a fund raiser for the Catholic school and I think every grandma and mom bakes, cooks, fries, stuffs, makes something yummy for the after party.  I so wish I could eat post race, because I would go and stuff my face.  Parking is always easy, either by parking at the school, or parking in designated streets and being bused in.  They communicate it VERY well as far as what is going to happen.  This year, there was also some road construction and they made sure to let us know in advance.  We came super early just to avoid any snags, and had no problems.  The race course had changed to the course I did the first year of the Heartland Series in 2014, but it was equally as challenging.  The name of the game is HILLS.  The ONLY reason I got a PR was the weather was very cool, and there was NO humidity.  The medal was super cute, as the queenie medals always are, and the post race spread was amazing.  Melly mel ate some yummies, and I got my chocolate milk and a sweet roll.  I also got my Heartland Series Jacket, and yes, I almost slept in it last night.:)  As always, they have tons of picture opportunities, and even had a photo booth this year.  I assume they will have free downloads of pictures like always, and i can't wait to see them since i got a PR of 2:05:10.  I will be honest in that this is not a great course for your first time, but the pre race and post race may be worth it to erase the memory of the tough course.

Overall, I am not going to lie, the decision to do or not do the Heartland Series next year will be tough. I figured I would be done after this year, so I could do a marathon in the spring next year, but now I am on the fence.  I have gotten use to doing these series in the spring and may just have to keep doing them:)  Time will tell.  

Heartland Series Week 17, Week of Running with the Cows

Here we are, the final week of training for the Heartland Series. I honestly feel odd about this training cycle because there has been many months of just easy runs and no speed work.  While I am not a huge fan of speed work,  I am HUGE fan of PRs that come via speed work sessions.  I am kind of excited to get them back in my routine, even if they are way reduced till I get this foot thing figured out.  Coach and I haven't really discussed what the next few months are going to look like and honestly, I am getting pretty excited about a new training cycle and what it will bring.  Here is how the week went down, complete with my final half marathon of the Heartland Series.

The out take of the good selfie:)

Run Deuce Run!

Monday: Planned 5 miles with baby-D.  I will admit, that little 5 K I did beat me up.  I was super sore in several areas.  All i could think of was what in the heck?  It was a flat course, and I didn't push it as much as I could, and this is what I get?  Oh well, maybe the biking hurt, and didn't help, thanks to our hilly route we chose to bike on.  The wind was FIERCE from the south, which ended up being a good thing, because storms were building and the wind was pushing them North and away from our running route. I did see one lightning strike, but it seemed very far north.  I chose an east/west route to minimize running straight into that south wind.  Deuce and I enjoyed the cooling cross wind, and the crazy cloud scenery.

nothing like an extra 40  lbs while you are trying to do supermans

Tuesday: Strength.  I made it my goal to get back to strength no matter what, and I can say goal accomplished!!!!  My hubby had a meeting in topeka, so I had to get my kiddo busy enough that I could work out, and not have help.  Well, decided to clean some first and then work out, and I guess he got bored and had to help me.  Through much pleading and cajoling and "helping", I got through all three rounds of my exercises my coach sent me.  As always I felt so good getting it done, so why do I have so much trouble doing them????#noexcuses

Wednesday:  Planned 5 miles.  I woke up with my foot totally hating me.  I guess I STILL can't do anything that involves balancing on one leg.  In my exercises Tuesday,  I did three rounds of floating lunges, and three rounds of step downs, so one or both of those aggravated my foot.  I decided to be cautious and do a double dose of aleve and lots of ice.  Again, my foot does not bother me at all during my running, just when I am sitting around, so of course I ran.  5 miles done with Melly Mel.

Thursday: REST.  More icing and aleve and praying.  One more race body, one more race (Well that is a lie, one more race till I start training for the 50 K:)

Friday:  3 mile shake out run.  Took the day off since we were leaving for KC for packet pick up for Running with the Cows.  Did an easy 3 miles with these two goofballs.

Saturday:  Running with the Cows half 2016.

Sunday: REST.  Slightly sore, tired, and still super duper happy:)

Running with the Cows: The FINAL race of the Heartland Series

Ah, running with the cows half marathon weekend.  The BEST race of the Heartland Series.  The final race of the Heartland Series.  The race I will ALWAYS do no matter what.  You honestly don't know what you are missing if you haven't done this race.  

This race does it RIGHT.  They pay attention to EVERY little detail, which makes it super fun to run.  

Packet pick up was at a new location.  It's a store called Scheels, and I had never heard of it.  It was like a sporting goods store on steroids.  This store had a ferris wheel in the store.  Amazing!  They had packet pick up well labeled and in a giant room with their uber cute merchandise.  I was a good girl this year, but I saw several pieces that I might have to get next year.  

We carb loaded the night before like champs.  We also fell asleep promptly after getting home.  I had a great night's sleep, which is unusual.  I work up prior to my alarm going off, and Mel was up too, so we loaded up and headed out.  We saw a beautiful sunrise sitting in the field in our car.  I had decided to change my pre race fuel from UCAN, that had previously caused me to have to pee shortly after starting the race, back to my old long run fuel, Belvita crackers.  I had talked to my coach about the possibility of a PR.  She told me to go for it.  The only reason I even remotely thought about a PR at all was the 40 degree weather at the start.  I LOVE running the cold, and this really was the perfect storm.  I pretty much have done 0 amount of speed work since January, so I had no clue what my body was capable of.

I think Joan of Arc helped me today:)  I didn't notice she was above us till I looked at these pics later.  So cool.  The course had changed from last year THANK GOD.  The route was back to the route it was two years ago, and I am so happy.  I am pretty sure that, the weather, and Joan all helped me get a PR, because I do NOT feel like I put in the work with my foot being so hateful.  I lined up with the 2:10 pacer, but felt good, so I just kept going with it.  Pretty soon I had caught up to the 2:05 pacer, and I hung with her the entire race.  She got ahead of me around mile 10 and I thought all was lost, but I then I caught up with her at the end. I kept telling myself I started behind her so I had a small bank of time built up.  I did not look at my overall time till mile 11.  The race honestly flew by.  I did have the odd man that was doing the weirdest breathing that stuck to me like glue the entire race.  In some ways, his rythmic breathing (think lamaze) kind of helped my breathing, so thanks odd breathing man.  I so love having an awesome pacer.  It's nice to not to have to think for an entire race.  I just stuck at her back and pushed.  I  did have to use a ton of self talk, as my music did not work the entire race.  Note to self, dig out old ipod for next year because there is 0 wifi signal the whole course.  I am glad I train without music, so this wasn't too bad for me.  With the self talk, I also sang a variety of Prince songs in my head.  Delirious kept coming up in my mind loop.  When I looked at my watch at mile 11, I noted that even if I did two 10 minute miles, i would have a PR.  I felt like I could accomplish that.  It feels so good when your body responds to what you want to do.

I know a 50 second PR isn't much to most. but I have been trying to get this PR for 2 years now.  I didn't know whether to laugh, or cry, or shout.  This means SO much to me.  So much hard work over the course of really 3 years.  

I sort of negative split.  The hills caused my pace to be all over the place, but I didn't really look at my watch.  Those hills are NO joke.  Don't let anyone tell you this course is a)easy or b)flat.  It is challenging and hilly.  We got lucky with the weather because, well, spring in Kansas is all over the place.

Wow.  I also got my third year jacket.  I LOVE it.  I may just wear it 24/7 for a few days:)  It's a little fitted, but that is motivation to loose a little weight I think.  I have lost 13 lbs lately just from training, so if I can get my nutrition down a little better, I might loose some more.  Not today though, because I am only craving sweet stuff, and I am food rewarding like a BOSS today.

I chaffed HORRIBLY under my arms.  Oh well, it was ALL worth it.  I am still floating on cloud nine.  Another great part about the day, I had a reader find me in the sea of people post-race.  That just makes me so happy.  Sometimes I feel like my mom and mel and robin are the only people who read my blog, so it makes me feel pretty awesome that I have at least one other reader out there!  I didn't get your name but seriously, you made my day!!!!

Little red got to go fishing today, while I was gone.  I just love this pic.  You can see the dutch mill in the background.  I truly love our tiny town and it's beautiful city park.  

I ran with the Cow in 2016 and I got a PR!  I also drank lots of chocolate milk too:)  I will be back in 2017 to Run with the Cows!!!!

Heartland Series Week 16

Almost time for my favorite half of the YEAR and of the Heartland Series and my 3rd year finisher's jacket!

I am begging my body to hold on for just two more weeks and then it can have a break, if  it so much desires.  Here is how the week went down.

Monday:  Rest day and last day of t-ball.  T-ball has been a love hate kind of relationship.  I guess we will call it an overall win, as Andrew stayed mostly on the field for three out of the four dates.  Last night was kind of tough.  After last week, him coming off the field screaming bloody murder, and then him staying on the bleachers for the rest of the night, I had no clue what we would be able to accomplish.  I asked him if he wanted me to be on the field with him and he said yes.  I don't want to be the helicopter parent that is always with their child holding their hand and helping them, but I wanted him to try to stay on the field for much of the night.  We started by running the bases together and then after that, we broke into groups.  I think some people don't realize that andrew is actually still 3, because he is as tall as some of the 5 year olds in the group, so they treat him like an older kid.  After we broke into groups, he actually put his glove on and participated in the activities with me staying back a little bit.  I actually had fun helping the kids, and told tony I wouldn't mind coaching t-ball if they needed coaches, when andrew is old enough(our town starts t-ball games at 5 years old).  After the drills they participated in, they were given certificates, free ice cream cone coupons, and fruit snacks.  Andrew seemed pretty happy, and we headed to McDonald's for a celebration dinner (remember the bribe has been a beloved cheeseburger).  We will try again next year, since he can't do official t-ball till he is 5, and will probably do soccer again this year  since he liked kicking the balls more than throwing them sometimes :)

Tuesday: Planned 5 miles.  Mel and I ran together and just talked.  It is starting to get hot and was pretty warm, but no humidity and little to no wind.  I dread having to go back to early morning runs, but the day will come soon when I have to switch over to beat the heat:(  I did try carrying my body bottle in my pocket of my space shorts that I got from Gypsy runner.  It fit, although made me look super funny, but oh well, it works.  My only complaint is no matter what I put in that bottle, it always tastes super nasty coming out. I keep thinking this will pass over time but it hasn't.  Anyone else have a body bottle from ultimate direction and having the same issue?  Any advice?  Is it just the plastic that the bottle is made of and I am destined to drink nasty tasting liquid?  I am sure when it gets hot, I won't care what it tastes like, but even with my grape flavored Nuun tablet dropped in, the liquid tastes horrible.

She was super worried about me and I felt horrible for letting her down on her birthday.  I had planned lots of frisbee and a burger from Mcds.

Wednesday:  Planned strength.  Sigh.  Felt great in the am.  Foot was a little ouchy, so decided to take a big dose of advil.  For whatever reason (advil, virus, something I ate), I started feeling kind of sick to my stomach in the afternoon.  I had about an hour to go of work but I decided if it was going to hit, I would rather it hit at home.  Let's just say there was a lot of praying to the porcelain gods.  I am happy that it was a very short lived virus, or whatever and that I got over 12 hours of sleep, which I probably needed.  The dogs stayed in bed with me from the minute I got home till if finally ventured out of bed this morning.  They sure do love me although I have to remind them that smothering me is not a way for me to feel better.  No work out done.

Thursday:  Planned 5 miles.  I woke up well rested thanks to a massive dose of sleep, but my body felt weak due to the following day of puking.  While I am trying not to drink any soda during the week, water just sounded horrible, so I sipped on a soda throughout the morning.  I then did something incredibly stupid.  I had eaten little bits of things throughout the day, but nothing sounded good.  After I picked up little red, suddenly a milk shake sounded WONDERFUL, and my tummy started growling like crazy.  I thought, well, I will push back my run an hour, and I should be fine, it is after all warm out so pushing it back will be a good thing.  Well, I started out feeling fine, but the longer I ran, the worse the side stitch became, probably from my body digesting still.  So the answer is no, no you can't eat something and run 30-40 minutes later because I bought the milkshake around 5 but probably didn't get done with it till 5:20ish and went out at 6.  For the record it was a mini but fresh banana milk shakes take forever to suck down:)  Anyway, ended up doing 4 with lots of walk running in the 2nd and 3rd mile.

Friday:  Planned shake out run pre race.  My foot has suddenly flared up.  I should have known, any time I write anything about my foot, it decides to remind me that it isn't healed.  I am not sure what did it, the back to back runs last week, or the fact that I did my long run in my triumphs or something else.  I haven't been doing my weekly massage appointments because Doug has been out of town and well, they are expensive.  I just have one more week till my last race of the Heartland Series, and did not have a long run on the books this week anyway.  In the end I decided that I needed to head back to town to work on one of my machines, so no shake out run.  We instead did pizza at Pie Five, did a little bit of work, and then went to city park to play on a new to andrew playground post some insomnia cookies.

Saturday: Paw Valley 5 K benefitting the Lawrence Humane Society and a 6 mile run planned.  This is my first time doing this race and the 2nd annual running of this race.  Y'all know I am sucker for dog themed runs that also allow dogs to run with you.  I will post a review here.  I had toyed with the idea of a double, the race in the morning and then 6 at night but I was just too tired thanks to the heat.  After a full afternoon of laying around and being lazy, I just couldn't muster the strength to get up and get back out.  2.91 miles done because the race measured short on my watch.

Sunday:  Mother's Day!  My wonderful hubby had andrew and I doughnuts and coffee when we got up.  I had planned on a nice bike ride before the day started in full swing, but about 3 miles out, it started lightening and we (My BRF Robin) had to head back.  When it looked like we were socked in and the rain wasn't going to stop, my hubby suggested we go to lunch as a treat.

Since I got to pick, we headed to Tall Grass Tap house.  We had a few beers and then some yummy food before we went grocery shopping.  We even splurged and got a brownie sundae with peanut butter.  It was divine!!!!  Post grocery shopping, we went for a family bike ride and played some frisbee with the dogs.  All in all, we enjoyed a nice relaxing day and no work out per se really went down.

Total miles for the week: a little short of 12 miles

Well, I guess we will call this a taper week.  This whole training cycle has been, well, unique in how it has gone down.  Part of me is dying to get back to some speed work.  Part of me is really enjoying just logging some miles.  I am still thinking about two 25 Ks and the 50 K but nothing is set in stone.  I NEED to get back to my strength training.  I NEED to get back in the pool.  Sigh.  Oh well.  Next week is Running with the Cows and I am going to focus on my last half of the spring!!!!