Mile 90 Photography of the 2018 Psycho Wyco 10 miler

You can't beat a race that gives free photos but you'd better bet if I know that Mile 90 is going to be there, the pictures are going to be AMAZING!  Here are a few for your viewing pleasure!

 She has always been a camera hog and when she saw Kristi, she totally hammed for the camera!

Charging up the hill in full pull mode!

I think she had the right idea.  Why run in the mess if you can balance on the side of the trail?  

 She was SO tired at the end and so was I!  Mel calling her got her back to pulling us both over the finish line!

Her second favorite human in the whole world.  On our weekly training runs, she is leashed up to Mel.  

 She was a little confused when the RD put her medal on but after he got it on, she looked like she was smiling for the camera.

I so love this picture and will probably get it framed.  Kristi at Mile 90 does an amazing job and Stella knows how to look right at the camera!  She is a big ham!!!!  This race was so special to me because the Alternate Chili 10 miler was our first big trail race a few years ago before her IMPA diagnosis and battle and this was a signal that we are back!!!!  Can't wait to do more with my baby girl, hopefully less muddy though! 

Week 10 of 18: Training for the Flint Hills 50 and Trail Marathon

Welcome to another week of Mother Nature needs her meds ASAP!  After a weekend of 50-60s we plummeted right back into winter with freezing rain, snow, and cold, cold, cold.  I am so ready for spring, but NOT ready for humidity.  Race on Saturday. Cue the freaking out and falling apart of the body. 

our project for the day.  Rose and Finn's plane

Monday:  Rest day.  Official day off of school for Andrew.  Day 5 of being in the house.  I have mopped, cleaned, cooked, and repeated x 5.  I need to get out!!!!  I kid though, I am loving being home with him and doing mom stuff that i really didn't' get to do till now.

Stella is famous!  She is being featured on the Honey Stinger FB page :)

Tuesday:  Snow day, day off.  Around 1 am, we had thunder, lightening, hail, and ice storm.  Luckily, I don't think we got as much as they thought we would, but we got enough that roads were a mess even with a 2 hour delay.  I am really glad that the school system called it, because even by 10 am the roads were still a big huge mess.  I knew that I was going to hit the mill, probably after work, but when i was forced to stay home, I figured I could hop on and get it done early.  I got all prepared, turned my watch on, and set out.  The first thing was I noticed my watch was back to being Kara Goucher, so my plan was post the warm up mile, I would have to hand time what I was doing.  Sigh.  Doable but not fun.  Well, about three quarters of the way in, I had shooting pain from my butt check up my lower back.  WTF????? I immediately got off and stretched and walked around a bit.  Got back on and walked some.  Was a little sore, but no more shooting pain.  I decided to scrap the speed work, but try and finish the mileage and walk if I needed to, unless there was pain.  Got 5 miles in, but had to hop off of the mill a few times and take care of business.

Wednesday:  I decided to venture onto the mill and see what I felt like.  I didn't think the speed work would be doable and with it being this close to the race and a pacing gig next weekend, I didn't want to push it.  About three miles in, I started feeling a little sore, so I got off and did some stretching, some rolling, and MYRTL.  I will probably do those three things religiously until the race and then after the race.  I finished Ozark.  WOW!  I can't wait to see season two, if my heart can handle it.   I am going to be very honest, the toe nail scene almost did me in for sure.  I couldn't watch and I almost couldn't listen either.  BLEH!

Ice, Ice baby

Thursday:  Another snow day.  I  am not complaining.  Who doesn't want to stay in their PJs all day and work out whenever you want?????  We had another round of ice overnight and after a 2 hour delay, the schools decided to just be out all together.  I decided today would be about stretching, rolling, icing, and MYRTL again.  We did get my shoes screwed.  The race reports coming out from the trails were saying that there was still significant ice and of course mud with more rain, ice, and mess to come, so since I had the ice spikes that I ordered like 2 years ago and a willing hubby, we got an old pair of shoes done and ready to go just in case.

Friday:  Repeat of Thursday.  The side streets and rural areas that buses need to run on where still horrible.  We are suppose to have a warm up today, so we should be good to go next week for sure.    I was hoping we could at least make it town for Sylvan and a good old target trip.  I did get my 2 mile shake out run done.  Spent time either staring at the wall or the floor to practice for the 2 plus hours of staring at my feet tomorrow.

Saturday:  Trail race PSYCHO WYCO 10 miles.  Yep, I am a one looper.  The weather for this race has changed so many times that I quit looking.  The day of the race was cold, drizzly, MUDDY, and insane.  Check out my race report here!

Sunday: Rest day!!!!  I woke up super duper sore, as I knew I would be.  It's kind of stupid to expect anything else if you haven't done any trails, much less technical trails in a long long time, and then you go and do technical plus MUDDY trails.  I used muscles that probably haven't been used in a long, long time.  My feet were a mess from being wet and cold for so long, and I had five BIG blisters, two on my big toes, two on the balls of my feet, and one between my toes.  One had popped on its on but the other three hadn't and I really didn't want to have to pop them.  My plan for the day was active rest.  Grocery shopping, walking the dogs, playing outside with Andrew where all on tap! 

Have a great weekend and a great next week!  I will be pacing a half marathon, so I will be taking it super easy next week to avoid injury.  No speed work and probably low miles.  See y'all on the flip side!

Psycho Wyco 10 mile Trail race

Wow, this was one TOUGH race.  Let's start at the beginning shall we?  Mel, Pat, and I headed over around 6:15 am to catch the shuttle to the start.  The 50K racers were allowed to park at the start/finish area, but the rest of us had to go to a church and be bused over. Lucky for us, the weather driving up while foggy, was above freezing and all precip was rain.  Pat drove, and stella and I cuddled in the back.  I had been watching the weather all this week and I knew the trails were going to be a mess but honestly, i had no clue they were going to be as bad as they were.  Let's not get ahead of ourselves shall we?  

or maybe we shall get ahead of ourselves since blogger is being weird!

The 50K/20 mile runners started at 8 am sharp, and as we were getting off of the shuttle bus, they were taking off.  We got to see Lindsey and Cindy start off with a very large pack of runners.  I think I saw there were close to 300 runners in the 50K/20 mile distance.  We tried our best to stay warm and dry while getting our packets and getting our bibs pinned on and ready.  Stella had to wear a bib too, and I totally forgot to bring zip ties, so we had to get creative with her bib.  I ended up pinning her bib around her leash, while trying not to bend her timing strip.  It wasn't long till we were lining up to head out.  

I knew from the past that I was going to be at the back end of the runners, and that I would be walking for quite a while due to all of the runners in my distance.  I think we had pretty close to 300 runners just in the 10 mile run.  The first part of the race goes over a bridge, up a hill, and then turns onto a rocky single track trail, where you are basically single file for quite some time.  The advantage of being at the back?  You don't have to worry about too many people passing you.  The disadvantage of being at the back?  The trail gets destroyed before you even get to the hard parts.  I ran this trail a couple of years ago and it had muddy tough spots.  This time, I would say 80% of the trail was MUD.  Just when you thought you were going to be able to run, you would realize that you had 10 lbs of mud on your shoes or that the section you thought was runnable actually wasn't.  I fell twice, one going up a hill, and once coming down.  I managed not to go face first into the mud, by catching myself with my hands and of course got mud all over my gloves.  I quickly shed that pair and then fell backwards not too long after that and got that pair muddy too.  I was basically covered in mud by the end and so was stella.  I swear there was one hill I was on my hands and knees crawling up.  If Stella had not been there, I don't know how I would have gotten through some of that mud.  The fact that some of those 50 K super awesome ultra guys ran most of that, even slowly amazes me.  I had very few runnable portions.  Probably the road crossings and the part along the dam where about it.  

 I mostly had prayable portions.  Praying not to fall and hurt myself, praying not to fall on and hurt stella, or praying not to step on stella with my screwed shoes.

You can see my pace was pretty slow compared to what I normally can do.  I can usually get around the 15-16 minute mile mark on this trail.  Not today.  I did forget to start my watch, so my distance is a tad bit short.  Plus, well trails mess with GPS.  I learned after last time to use the distance on my watch as a suggestion, and not a be all end all.  I mainly judged my distances based on where the aid stations where.  I saw so many people fall, and I truly hope everyone is okay.  I know I am super sore, even after soaking in the tub for a full thirty minutes in epsoms salts.  This trail is SUPER fun and there were portions that I had a good laugh, like the hill I basically had to climb up on my hands and knees because it was so slippery, or the parts with the ropes, or when stella would pull my butt up the hills and then look back at me like, why am I doing all the work.  I also got a really good laugh at the guy that complained that running with a dog isn't fair.  Did you see my horrible finish time dude?  I really don't think she helped me win or anything like that, so don't get your panties in a wad.

Let's just say by the end of this race, we were both covered in mud.  I had mud on my shoes, in my shoes, all over my gloves, all over my face, and on my butt.  Stella was a giant mud monster as well.  Super thanks to my bestie for letting me transport stella in her jeep, and putting blankets and towels down so we could cuddle up and be warm on the ride home. 

Is this not the cutest medal you have ever seen?  The little tornado spins!

We got so much awesome swag though!  A full zip hoodie, a glass, a new PURPLE buff, and a medal with a spinning tornado, plus Stella got a new...something.  Not sure what it is, but it sure is pretty!

running it in!  I think my time was pretty close to 3:43-3:44

I did love this race and I do love the volunteers, but running in that mud for that period of time just did me in mentally and physically.   I really love that trail, and would love to do it when I am not swimming in mud, just to see what I could really do.  I can't wait to see the pictures that Mile 90 got as well!  You can't beat free pictures, and you especially don't want to miss Mile 90s AMAZING shots!   I will be back to avenge my horrible time with Stella ella by my side!

my running family

I do want to send a shout out to my super speedy running partners in crime.  Not only did they both kick ass on the course, they drove me to and from the race because I am a wuss, they were at the finish taking pictures, and they got me chili and beer post race and took Stella and fed her, so I could eat in peace.  Plus, they stopped at McDonald and got me some coffee for warming up and Stella a burger.  I don't know what I would do without them and love them dearly!  Next time maybe I can rope them into coming to my house and helping me wash the muddy beast know as stella ella!

Stella says night night all!!!!  Thanks Trail nerds for an amazing race!  See you down the line!

Let's have a beer....or February Runfessions!

Welcome to today's addition of let's have a beer or good ole February runfessions.  Grab your favorite cold one and sit down for random musings from Michelle's head.  This is going to be all over the place as usual, so buckle up!

Grab a cold one and let's talk about Andrew's issues with school.  Yeah I know, last runfession I was singing his praises with school.  Now we are back at square one, so let's start there so we can jog our memories.   See what I did there, jog???  At first he seemed to have a super hard time adapting to the rigors of kindergarten.  If you have been with me for a while, you know I was super torn about him even starting kindergarten since he is a young 5.  Since the majority of his pre-K class was graduating and going to school together, I felt confident that all would be fine. I am very honest in saying it has been very rough for him.    I am SO glad that his teacher is very communicative to the point where we have had so many meetings thus far that i don't even think we really need parent teacher conferences at this point.  If you remember, after Christmas, the behavior issues seem to get better and his behavior chart started being dominated by purple or green, the top two colors.  Then I heard the news that we needed to fill out a Vanderbilt test, that his issues with focus were not getting better, and needed to be addressed as he was falling behind on his reading and math.  I am not going to lie, I immediately researched the test and found it was a preliminary test for the path of ADHD diagnosis.  While I feel like that he could have some form of ADHD (Because honestly don't we all), I also feel like he is a super young 5, so how would we know the difference????  Plus, all the literature I looked at said 5 was way too young to even make a proper diagnosis.  When I have brought up maturity issues, I am always told that is not what is going on.  I am super confused, but I do feel like the teacher has Andrew's best interest at hand, and that i have to put away any defensiveness I have against labels. Now we are heading down the path of testing and tutoring, and let's make it rain money to get this taken care of.  How do people that are not blessed with financial stability or good health insurance deal with this????  As always, I will keep you posted.  At this point we are going to try Sylvan as it comes highly recommended, and also hold off on any ADHD specific tests to see if just the extra tutoring helps him improve.  If anyone has had a similar experience or has any advice, please let me know!

just singed up for the 10K since I can actually do this race this year!

I also runfess  I super love racing and pacing races, but the training part is just not as fun as it use to be.  I am having super hard time getting motivated to go out and run, especially early in the morning, and during my long runs, I am counting down the miles till it is done.  This really scares me, because the weather lately has been pretty conducive to running, yet my mojo isn't where it needs to be.  Yet, I LOVE signing up for races and I keep looking at more and more.  I still am not ready to do a 50 miler and am at peace with the decision that I may never actually do one.  I am thinking about doing the timed race I did last year again and signing up for the 12 hour option, but just running as long as I can, not really going for a specific distance.  Anyway, I need to get that love for training back.  I am killing my speed work lately, but still not as happy as I use to be about getting hard stuff done.  It's almost like it is job right now, and I just am not interested in running as a job. I have never had motivation issues before, so this is all new to me.  I think part of the problem is in winter, I do have more flexibility with running because I don't have to beat the heat, so I end up beating around the bush at home instead of getting ready and getting out.  Maybe this will change once the heat and humidity comes back around as it always does in good old Kansas.

Momma I'm coming home!!!!

One last runfession here.  I am super excited to go home for spring break!!!!  Nothing like a trip back home to rejuvenate yourself.  Mom and Mom in law's good cooking, time with friends, and trips to see things that have been built since I have moved away are good for the soul!  Sad that I couldn't find a race to do while I am there but still holding out hope that a St. Pat's race pops up nearby.  I never really enjoy the 9 hour drive by myself with a toddler, but by breaking it up into two days and stopping and doing something fun, I can mentally manage.

Well, we are on day 3 of snow days here in Wamego, so hoping March showers bring April flowers and no more snow days!  At this rate, we may be going to school right up until school starts again LOL!!!!

Week 9 of 18: HALFWAY POINT!

Half way point of the training plan and i haven't even been on a trail yet.  BAM.  How is that for smart training????  Yeah, not going to lie, the trail run I am doing in 2 weekends is going to KILL me, but will be super fun too, so going to laugh and have fun with miss stella ella!  This is going to be one busy week with scheduling, with three meetings planned, one un-fun dental appointment for Andrew, a valentine's party, and a un-invited virus!  Let'get down to it!!

Monday:  Rest day.  Why can't I just sit and binge watch the Olympics?  Every night I get all excited about sitting and bingeing, and every night a thousand things come up and i don't get to.  Major sad face.  I was SO excited about watching curling this year, and I have seen one period in one match.  ONE.  URGH!  We did have Andrew's team meeting today at school, and I am super glad to get that done.  Basically, we met with the principal, the social worker, and Andrew's teacher to go over his Vanderbilt test scores (basically an unofficial first test for ADHD), and try and form a plan forward.  I felt like there were three opinions and none really agreeing, because we just don't know.  I feel much frustration from his teacher, as she knows knowledge is in there, he just isn't performing up to his potential.  His reading teacher wasn't present due to sick kids, but her scores were the highest (meaning the worst).  I kind of can see that, if he is struggling so much in reading, then he would have higher scores because he is probably having issues sitting still and behaving.  Overall, we are going to get him independently tested for ADHD just to try and see what is really going on from that end, AND we are going to get him in tutoring of some sort to build his love of learning and reading, before we get to a point where he hates school.  IEP was not mentioned just yet, which kind of surprises me that it wasn't an option.  If he needs help with time limits or needs help with staying on task, I think an IEP would be a wonderful option.  I am going to be honest, the words "daydreamer" and "anxiety" kept coming up, and those words scare me.  Especially since I put NO pressure on him to learn or be at a certain level.  I am super scared he has that pressure within, just like me, and that means school is going to be super tough.

this makes me laugh because his dad never takes him to school!!!!

Tuesday:  I have decided since my schedule tends to float so much, that I am not going to put a label on here as to what the work out is, but what I get accomplished.  5 easy miles.  It really helps that two of my running buddies are teachers and moms  I really, really appreciate them listening to my thoughts and ideas, and giving me more ideas to think about.  Even though it was feels like 13, there was no wind and no crazy woman sprinting past us at the rec complex.  I left the dogs at home to let stella's paw heal, so it figures sprinter girl wouldn't be there.  We had our next team meeting with Sylvan and are going to proceed with some tutoring at their center to build on what the school is doing as well.  We figure it won't hurt and they found some interesting holes that need to be filled anyway. 

Wednesday:  Unexpected rest day.  Andrew came home from school running a 101 degree fever.  Most of the night was spent cuddling, watching cartoons, and resting.  He would be fine for an hour or so, but the fever would crescendo up to 103, and he would shake and cry.  103 is my end point for stepping in and using fever meds, but it never went over that, thank goodness.  Then as quickly as it would come up, it would go back down to 99.5.  So weird.  He finally got good sleep around 1:30 am, but of course then my mind was up and awake and I couldn't get it to stop.

Thursday:    Decided to go ahead and get testing done for flu, even though we probably were not going to put any of us on tamiflu.  I  know I have nothing to fear with the anti-viral, but I have this irrational fear of it that I can't shake.  The doctor basically told us that the science really doesn't even have evidence that it buys you that much time off of being sick anyway, so why put him through it. In some ways, this was the best weekend to be sick, because he has a long weekend due to a Monday holiday.  I hate seeing him so sick, and being at home usually means i have to mill it to get my run in, but I am so deep into Ozark right now that I don't mind being on the mill at all.  I decided to do speed work that i skipped Monday, so 800 meter repeats x 6 with 400 meter recoveries was where it was at.  My watch for whatever reason, kept up better with the mill and had me running a titch bit faster than I had the mill set at, but not  Kara Goucher speed bad.

Happy Birthday to my BRF Mel!!!

Friday: Another night of broken sleep.  Andrew woke up around 2:30 am and told me he was super hot.  I took his temp and we were at 102.8.  That had been as high as we had gone thus far, so we cuddled up and tried to go back to sleep.  Then about 30 minutes later, he woke up crying and hotter than I have ever felt.  104!!!!!!  I popped up and ran a cool bath, then ran downstairs to get popsicles, ice packs, and advil.  Once we got the advil on board and got him in the bath, his temp went down quickly.  He still woke up at 101 and ranged all day long.  I did manage to get my strength training done, and seriously contemplated trying to get more done, but decided against it. I feel like i am on the edge of coming down with this mess, and I don't need both of us down for the count at the same time.

Saturday: Another night of less sleep than ideal, but my body is getting the hang of it now.  I actually had stayed up late watching figure skating, and was up when his fever initially spiked.  I gave him some meds and got him comfortable, but 30 minutes later when I rechecked him, he had gone up more and that scared me yet again.  The meds should have kicked in by then and they hadn't.  Up we went to get a cool bath, ice packs, compresses, and our normal Popsicles.  Of course once my adrenaline gets to flowing, I am wide awake, so even after we got him comfortable, I was still awake feeling of him and taking his pulse.  My two options for the day were 6 easy miles or a long run of 12 miles.  My hubby had to be at both of his big customer's plants all day, as both of his teams were working on Saturday, and he had no indication of when they would be done.  I really, really wanted to be outside for a run for a couple of reasons, one being that the dogs are about to go NUTS not running.  The second reason was we were suppose to have crazy wind gust with the worst being on Sunday.  The weathermen were saying up to 35 mph!!!!!!!  He came home a little after lunch and I geared up to head out and get my 12.  My coach had some faster miles built in from 6-9 but I got to 6 and had 0 amount of gas to give to do speed work.  Even though the wind was only around 15 mph, it was still pretty tough running west.  I didn't want to do my whole out and back and back tracking so I did an out and around and then went through town, visited the house for a potty break, and then headed back out to finish.

Sunday:  Easy 6 miles.   Nothing like 35 mph wind gusts to add excitement to our run.  I seriously thought about running on Millie instead, but it was just too nice outside to not get some vitamin D.  I had an east/west route i could do that would just have some cross wind so decided to head out.  Let's just say my legs got sandblasted a few times and a few times I ran backwards with deuce's head in my middle section to protect his eyes.  Yes, that took major coordination.  Usually i listen to podcasts but today was all about Prince Pandora channel and it didn't disappoint.  At one time when we had a brief jog directly into the wind, You Dropped a Bomb on me started playing and I just had to laugh.  It was the perfect song for running headlong into horrendous wind. 




As this goes live, I am still illness free and I hope it stays that way.  Andrew's fever broke Saturday night and is still 99 or below.   I actually have two races coming up, one for me and one for pacing for Smart Edge so I need to be healthy.  Looks like this coming week may have some rain forecasted, and I am really hoping they get it wrong because I don't want mudfest 2018 again on the trails.  I guess it will be what it is and there is no use in worrying.  Have a great week and see you next week where I will hopefully still be Flu/virus free!!!!!

Week 8 of 18: Training for the Flint Hills 50 and Trail Marathon

Lots of external stressors going on in my life right now.  Trying to feel blessed and not stressed. It's effecting my sleep and I LOVE sleep.  Welcome to the all most half way point in my training!!!

Monday:  Rest day.  Recharge day and get ready for some crazy speed work day.  We decided to repeat last week, since I didn't get to it due to having that stupid cold.  BTW, so many kids and their parents are so sick in our community right now, and I am SO glad we have thus far dodged that bullet (knocking on every piece of wood in our house).  I hope we can continue to dodge it, because between the flu and this mystery virus, our town is getting hit super hard.  I am hoping since Andrew is mostly eating better and taking both vitamins and probiotics, that we have boostered our immune systems more to handle all of this mess.  Hope these aren't famous last words.....Maybe I should delete this paragraph!

Minecraft legos are all the rage right now.  I love them because it keeps him super busy!

 Tuesday:  Speed work.  1 mile repeats.  Since we were suppose to get snow, I figured I would hang close to the house and catch up on Coleman Electric work and hit the mill.  Our roads were still snow covered from the last go round, and running in the dark + snow/ice is just not a great combination.  I cued up Ozark and got er done.  6.6 mph for my miles at 1% incline and 3.2 for the recoveries.  For years I have run at 5 mph but here lately, 4.8 seems to be my jam and I am embracing it.  That work out kicked my butt and wore me out, but I was happy to get it done.  Believe me, when it was getting close to a mile, the feeling to just call it good kept creeping in, especially on that last repeat.  My mantra was "I can do anything for 9 minutes".  I commonly use that in races, and for some odd reason, it always works.

These two have become big buddies and I just love it!

Wednesday:  5 miles or rest.  Today I chose rest.  I am wrestling with something that I will eventually write about, but right now I need to keep it close to my vest, and it was weighing on me all day.  Actually for the last couple of days.  Sorry, #vagueblogging.  I just need a night with my family with no pressure to be doing anything specific.  We did have plans to eat with one of Andrew's buddies from preschool, but hubby came home with some work stuff to talk about, and we decided to just have a nice family dinner and talk it out.  We all came home from salad bar and bread sticks much refreshed and ready for a good night's sleep.  I also had a phone call with one of my old students who is working in a lab in KC about some fun she is having and again,  I don't feel guilty just spending time with my family and friends and not working out or running.

Trying to warm up post run

Thursday:  Speed work or easy run.  Honestly, it was on the schedule to do speed work,  a progression run that was going to be tough.  Each mile was to get faster with no recovery.  EEEEK!  I was mentally prepared to get this beast done and then when we got to the track, which is usually clear post snow and ice, there were still large patches of ice on the concrete track.  We decided to take it easy and not fall, and wisely move the speed work to the mill later.  This will put me running 4 days in a row, so I am going to totally play it by ear and not injure myself. We are also suppose to get more snow on the weekend.  I am so done with this weather.  I don't know why I am such a wuss this winter, but dang it, I just am not handling the cold very well at all, even though I have some super awesome gear!

Friday:  Make up day.  Speed work progression run.  I am going to be super honest here, I am dealing with some things with my kiddo (testing for ADHD/learning disability/WTF who knows) and also finding out that our season in wrestling is done (with two tournaments left to go), and I am just not doing well with all of it. I am trying to be a strong momma and an advocate for my child, yet not defensive and bitchy about all of this, but I really just want to yell and scream and cry and stomp my feet like a toddler.  Anyway, I came home from work with good intentions of getting something done, and those intentions faded away as I got fired up and started doing more research and more digging.  I think I will write another blog post about my thoughts and then probably delete it because no one really wants to hear what goes on in my head, but it will make me feel better.  Somehow writing, even if it never gets seen by anyone but me, is therapeutic.

I think only runners will find this picture funny. I am commonly hangry.

Saturday:  Easy run or long run.  I had a 10:30 appointment at Sylvan to have Andrew tested for learning skills so we could see if they could be of any help.  My idea was to get up and and see how I felt and how the weather was and go from there.  Of course my brain, which is on overload right now, woke me up at 4:30 am.  I probably laid there for another hour before getting up.  I quickly fueled and drank coffee with hopes that maybe I could get my long run done, even thought it was feels like -2 out.  By the time it was light out (i have a weird thing about wanting the sun to be up on cold days before I run), it was too late for me to get an easy long run in, so I opted to do my five on the mill and call it good. #teaminsteadmill

  Had my hair braided and under a cap during my run and it turned it dreads that took forever to get out

Sunday:  Long run.  Lucky for us the snow missed us and we got barely a dusting.  It was still feels like 2, BUT there was little to no wind.  I knew this run wouldn't be the best, as we had a dinner party the night before with multiple courses of authentic french foods including galettes, crepes, pastries, and french candies.  I shouldn't leave out  the beer either.  We had a great time, learned a bunch of stuff totally by accident that is going to really, really impact my life in a great way (again yet another #vaguebook post), and I don't regret one bite or sip.  I drank 17 oz of Nunn when I got home, and went to bed with the intentions of trying to sleep in and get on the road by 9 or 10 am.  I woke up feeling good, just sluggish, and slowly got ready and headed out.  Took both dogs, enjoyed the predatory birds we saw out, peed in a ditch, and walked when I needed to so that I made it through. 

Glad this week is over.  Glad we have one more week of wrestling and one more tournament.  Glad to hear some great news I have been waiting to here for almost 18 years.  Can't wait till I can really tell my story on here and let y'all in on some of the crap I am struggling with right now.  Just keep me in your thoughts and prayers as we journey through this mess.  Glad that I have running to help me clear my head.  Glad I have super awesome running partners who have been with me all week and have listened to me obsess about all of the mess I am going through.  Glad I also have a blog where I can get the thoughts out of my head and onto paper.

Thanks for hanging with me this week and have a great next week!!!!