Super Week

Three runs and one strength training work out this week.  Didn't get legs in this week, but you know what, I run so that should count for something strength training wise.  I am super excited to see daylight later into the evening for our runs.  Something about having light just makes me run a little lighter and faster.  Although it does also mean the return of humidity very, very soon.  Yuck.  This is going to be short because I have lots to do today including welcoming part of our racing family to work on Andrew's car!

I did have my yearly review with my boss this week.  I was dreading it, not because I did anything wrong or haven't worked my butt off all year, but because I hate hearing the things I need to work on.  I know my weaknesses already but hearing them from others just hits differently.   Learning how to be critiqued is part of science or any job for that matter so I guess I need to work on that (add it to my list LOL), but also, I put more pressure on myself than anyone else can.  There were no surprises other than we are going back to if this is your area, stay in your lane and do your best.  It seriously changes each year and that's fine.  I love staying in my lane!  My specialty is diet and calf milk replacer as related to how if effects our products and plating, and I enjoy that even though I can do whatever needs to be done in the lab including PCR and the in vitro system.  I'm a team player but (and I feel like I've written but way too many times) I do like to do what is comfortable to me.  Here is to hopefully another year of a job as I don't know how much longer they will have an RD department once they decide they are comfortable with their line up of products or the sell the company.  

The Soares and Wood's family came to town Superbowl Sunday to get the car put together.  They mostly got it done with maybe one more days' worth of work to do.  The boys Jaxen and Hank worked hard to get all of Tony's quarter midget stuff together to categorize and sell.  It's the end of an era and I am so sad to see it end.  It's also really weird to not hear anything from anyone about buying any of our stuff, but I have my theories on that that I shall keep to myself at this point.  This is around about the time last year we tried to get Andrew stuffed back in his cars and realized it wasn't going to happen so I am hoping people will be calling soon.  

Superbowl Sunday was spent with one of my most favorite people in the world Brandy, while the boys worked on the car.    We had the town all to ourselves since I guess everyone was at parties.  We had coffee and soup, did some shopping, and spent time at the brewery.  It was like 70 degrees outside, so we sat on the patio and had a few tasty beers.  I did watch the first half of the Superbowl, mainly for the commercials and the Bad Bunny concert as I am a Chief's fan and have no interest in either of the teams playing.  I had recently become a fan of Bad Bunny after I was curious about his music post grammy's.  I was instantly hooked upon delving into his albums, and I will say I absolutely loved the half time show and how they presented it.  Music doesn't need a language as it's music and it flows and moves and covers you up in sound and beats.  Andrew and I danced out butts off and thought that the way they moved through the scenery was amazing! Plus, Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin singing was just icing on the cake.   I would definitely go to a Bad Bunny concert in a heartbeat because the music just fills my soul and makes me want to move!  Congrats to the winner and the fact that the QB was a red head.  Go GINGERS!

Have a great week y'all!

Let's get it started

I went into this week full of dread.  Full of what ifs.  Lots of things going on that weren't great.  Got an unexpected bill that was super high that I wasn't ready to pay at this moment.  Cash flow in my hubby's business was severely affected thanks to the holidays.  Boss had to have emergency surgery and be out more after just getting back from being gone.  And then there was my thyroid journey starting.   I'm trying to be the brave strong person I've been for a while now, but I feel that person is slipping a bit.  Let's dig in, shall we?

If you remember last week, I had found a knot that ranged from golf ball sized at times to egg sized with swelling going all the way up to my ear and down to the middle of my neck at times.  I tried not to go to the worst-case scenario but if you know me, that is exactly where I went.  I do have amazing life insurance thanks to Barry Luck (Federated Insurance), so my family is protected and yes, I did just do a plug for him because he really helped me understand how important this is so that your family is covered. Plus, he runs and lifts and just gets me and my craziness, so he gets some flowers!  Our first step was to have an ultrasound done on my neck to see what we were dealing with.  At the time it could be anything from a nodule to just a pissed off swollen thyroid so no use freaking out till we knew.  Spoiler alert, I still did freak out, but it a much calmer way than I normally would.  I was lucky enough to get an ultrasound planned in Wamego so I wouldn't have to miss much work.  It was quick and painless and while I wanted to ask a million questions, I knew the tech couldn't truly answer them, so I kept them to myself.  My only thought was that she sure was taking a lot of pictures on all sides of my thyroid and when I could have my head tilted to the side she had the screen on, I sure could see what looked to be like some tumor/nodule things.  I hate when I am right.  According to the nurse who called me from my doctor's office, there are five nodules.  According to me reading the actual report from the radiologist, there are three nodules and two measurements of my actual thyroid lobes.  Sigh.  I am going with what I see on the report, not what the nurse claimed.  I really feel like she misread the report.  The good news is that they are all smallish and at this time not looking like cancer or ready for needle biopsies.  I am to follow up with an endocrinologist who of course is booked out till April, but she's really good and I am willing to wait.  I am putting my panic about needles and worry on hold till I need to bring it back out again :)

Outdoor work outs were done with the consideration of the cold.  I don't mind running longer in the cold when the sun is out but something about it being dark and cold just gets to me mentally.  I did an upper body work out and a lower body lifting session during the week and only one run.  I gave up one of my running days to go watch Andrew have his bass lesson which I will discuss next as I was blown away.  I got my other two runs done on the weekend even though the temps were subzero or very low.  Having the sun allows me to do hard things for sure and I got four done easily on the gravel.   There is still a lot of ice due to the freeze thaw going on and the majority of the snow hasn't melted yet so it's going to continue to get worse.  That just means black ice will continue to be a problem and it's one I hate.  

Okay Andrew and his music lesson!!!  Where do I start?  Holy smokes I was blown away.  The format was him and his two teachers jamming out.  Then they would stop and discuss technique or a certain way to play a certain song then right back to it. Yes, I was singing in the waiting room and no I don't think I will be missing anymore lessons.  They have a plan to work two lessons a month private and two lessons a month with another kiddo same age actually same school jamming with him and the teachers with them.  There is also a kiddo a little bit older that plays guitar and sings that if it's a good fit, they are going to mesh them all together at some point.  This is truly Andrew's dream come true and I am here for it!!!!

Have a great week y'all!  This will be a big one and pray for me that it is a good one. 2026 isn't being very nice right now and I need it to turn around!

Snow time!

This week has been all kinds of interesting.  Let's just start with the fun health stuff first and then go to snowmagedon.  I was getting ready to run, turned my body at a funny angle in front of a mirror and saw a knot in my neck area.  Upon further investigation, I found a very large squishy knot about the size of a small egg to the right of my thyroid.  No other symptoms luckily and labs all normal.  I've been following my thyroid very closely due to unexplained weight gain that I feel like is excessive and I know sometimes the thyroid can be a culprit.  Lucky or unlucky for me, it hasn't been.  Living in a small town has its perks as my doctor actually had several morning appointments the day after I found it, so I was able to quickly get in for an exam and to start planning how we are going to approach this whole mess.  Labs were first, then an ultrasound planned, and then talks of additional plans made once we knew more.  Spoiler alert: my labs were normal.  That made me feel a bit better about the C word.  I also posted on FB to get all the information I could, both good and bad about this kind of issue.  Mostly I've heard great stories of cysts and lymph nodes being pissed off and how easy the biopsies and surgeries have been.  I'll take the good.  As of typing this on Saturday, my body does seem a bit confused and seems to be mounting a response to whatever this is. I don't feel sick per se, but I don't feel 100 percent, almost like my body is fighting something off.  As always stay tuned.  

Since I wasn't feeling 100 percent this week and we had a major snowstorm hit, I got one heavy lift for upper body and three runs in.  I cut one of my runs short thanks to not feeling great and the wind chill not being very nice.  One four miler and one 5K for the runs before snow and a 3.25 miler post snow in some really slick dry snow.     I also did a home work out with my BOSU ball and Tony's 30 lb dumbbell that he had at the house.  Holy moly batman, I can barely walk as I type this.  I used my Peleton app and just told it I had nothing other than my body weight and I added the dumbbell and BOSU in as I could.  Since it was legs, it was more just holding the dumbbell while I did lunges or squats but for upper body, I will have to make my way to the shop to my different weights and kettlebells for sure.  

She didn't love her little booties, but she left them alone once we got started and they did the job of protecting her tiny little feet.  I had Tony drop us off on the gravel and pick us back up after I hit 3ish.  In town they had bladed the roads which just makes them slick messes to run on.  I did wish I had put on my yak tracks as I had them with me but left them in the dang truck when Tony dropped me off.  I was able to kind of straddle the ruts and keep one foot on fresh snow while the other stayed in the rut made by the tire tracks.  As long as I have one point of stability, I seem to be okay.  Still had a couple of OH SHIT moments where one foot slid a little too much but overall, not bad, just slow. You forget how good a workout snow running is.  It works so many muscles you don't normally use for sure!  

Pretty sure she's going to murder me in my sleep.  We tried on a bunch of Stella's old winter stuff, and all of her dog coats and booties were just too big.  These blue booties came from non-stop dog wear I think, and they did the job of keeping the snow from balling up on the bottoms of her feet.  She has such a tiny foot!!!  I think I will invest in some better booties for her since she seemed fine with them once we started going.  I've been using a little coat for her that my mom found somewhere that has fleece in it.  She seems to tolerate it well as well and it keeps her nice and warm without her overheating.  

We ended up getting about 5 inches of snow and luckily no ice, but more than that we had super cold wind chills.  We spent all weekend under blankets and cozied up to stay warm with all outlets dripping and our laundry room with a heater going constantly.  I am pretty sure our gas and electric bill this month will be at least 400 dollars if not more each.  Sigh.  Hi winter, glad you finally showed up, I guess.  Kill all the creepy crawlies please and thank you.  We did get out when the snow was coming down to play a little bit but due to the fact that it was such a dry snow, you couldn't build a snow man or even make snowballs.  Oh well.  

Have a great week y'all!

Ollie takes over the blog year end post!

Hi hi hi hi hi hi.  I'm Ollie/Ollie gurl/Good golly miss ollie/Ollipop/Olive COLEMAN.  Mom said the other doggies got to make blog posts and it's my TURRRRNNNNN!  

Here are some things you have to learn about me.  I made a bullet point list because that's the kind of girl I am.

1.  I live life at 100 mph.  Nothing should ever be slow.  EVER.

2.  Cars are the devil.  I know this to be a fact.  I would like to kill them all because they are evil and I think they might try to get mom and me.  Mom doesn't appreciate the fact that I would like to catch and eat one no matter how she tries to convince me that they aren't the evil and we should just keep running and ignore them.

3.  Warm up?  Who needs that?  We start out at an 11 and we don't back down.  Every run is a speedwork work out thank you.

4.  Birds/Planes/leaves/other dogs are also see bullet point 2.  Anything that moves might get us and I need to get it first.  

5.  Puddles are 5 stars out of 5.  The muddier and yuckier the better.  Clean water in a cute little kiddie pool is for sissies.  Even on a hot day.  Mud, water, bleh = best.

6.  Squirrel watching is the best.  I MUST patrol the yard 24/7 just in case one of those furry terrorists drop into the yard.  I will annihilate them if so.  This requires my mom's assistance so that on days she is home and working at her computer that I go in and out a minimum of 150,000 times to patrol.  

7.  I love my daddy more than anything in this world.  He is my earth, and I am his moon.  I worship him.  Mom, eh, she feeds me and takes me on runs but my love is with my daddy.  

8.  3 am is the most acceptable time to wake everyone up.  It's time to rise and SHINE family.  For some reason they don't ever seem to want to get up at that time, so I opt for chewing one of my bones right next to their heads for the next 3 hours till their alarm goes off.  It's how I show my love that I would let them enjoy chewing as well if they wanted to.  

9.  Cats are the best to terrorize.  Heck, they remind me of just a bigger version of a squirrel.  My cat Elvis can dish it as well as he can take it, so we are cool.  Sometimes we like to lie right next to each other and stare at each other to see who will make the first move.  He wins mostly because he has claws and I don't.  I've really worked hard to relax more around cats because they do really set me off.  Mom says Elvis is the perfect dog training cat and he has trained me well.  

10.  I am a racetrack dog.  Mom almost named me checkers because of my black and white spots.  I thought it was dumb at first that the little cars went in a circle and made it easy for me to catch them but then I understand why they went in circles and mom said I couldn't bark at them anymore.  

11.  I am so glad that my original family realized I am a bit too much for the average family.  I have a lot of crazy energy that is best kept for a family with dogs like me and people who can expend that energy daily.  The biggest sacrifice of love that a family can do is find a better fitting home for a dog and while I miss and still love them, I am where I need to be.  Mom shares photos all the time so my original mom can see what I am up to.  

Mom says we "may" do some races in 2026 if she can find some dog friendly ones that are suitable for me.  I also plan on going to some dirt races with Andrew this year as hello, I'm a racetrack doggie.  Mom says we are also going to start doing long runs again on the weekends and that I will at least get up to 10 miles on a run meaning I need to slow my happy butt down.  Mom says our word for the year is adventure so let's see what we can get in to!  Here's to more miles, more puddles, and more adventures!

Running, lifting, hormones and rock and roll!

A blank page to write all of my weekly goings and my heart is heavy.  I hate what is going on in our country.  While I would love to write pages and pages about my feelings about what is going on and how sad I am for my fellow countrymen, I'm going to keep this about running, working out, and my kiddo.  I will still write, keep it in my drafts, and keep my thoughts and feelings close to the vest.  Just know that I think about these things a lot and I quietly do what I can when I can.  

Work outs this week included a killer lower body and upper body work out with three 4-mile runs.  I am getting to the part where I am seeing really good gains especially with upper body and nice definition in my arms and shoulders, and because of that, I've talked to Tony about helping me further define specific muscles.  I love the Peleton strength plus app and how it generates work outs for me so I don't have to think and I will still be using it for ease of warm ups and overall work outs, but I am going to get Tony to start looking at my work out before I head out and switching out exercises that will benefit me more in what my goals are.  I would also still love to work with someone to get back into a strength cycle because while I am stronger and fitter, I'm not seeing an increase in the plates I am putting on the bars.  I realize these are two very different goals and I need to figure out what is most important to move forward but I'm just putting it all out there.  I'm just excited to be so excited about a goal, any goal.  I also mentioned last week, I want to move my "base mileage" back closer to five.  My body isn't loving increasing my mileage.  Since I am very prone to injury and I want to keep my running to three runs a week so I can continue to at least get two lifts a week, this is proving to be a little tricky and my body is not happy. To be continued.

I still haven't gone to the doctor about my hormones and moving forward with a plan.  If you remember I had been doing the testosterone pellet implants and had completed two rounds of that.  I was scheduled to get round 3 right before Christmas, however I didn't want to spend the money when I wasn't seeing any big results that truly were helping me.  I need to go in and have a consult with her to see what my options are, but at this point, I am just taking the progesterone, gaining weight for no reason, and living my anxiety filled life helped along by an amazing therapist that just wants me to go back and get more information.  This is another to be continued.

I've talked about obsession a lot lately and how I get totally stuck on things or obsess about things (ummm running and being a perfectionist).  My son is doing the exact same thing, and I am exasperated with him lately, but also totally recognizing myself in him.  I've had an issue at work that has taken me down lots of rabbit holes yet, we've almost got it fixed thanks to my obsession.  I know this will serve him well at some point in his life as well, yet it's hard to deal with both of us at times.  We've had some good laughs lately about our tendencies to obsess and how over the years what we obsess about changes.  We were looking at pictures of his trains and his train obsession and having a great laugh.  Right now it's playing the bass for him and also making custom lego designs that he finds plans for on the internet.  This requires lots of orders from pick a brick as he doesn't always have the exact right pieces in the 5 million pieces in his bedroom, go figure.  

I am glad that through Facebook we found lessons on the bass for Andrew.  He is loving playing but struggling with certain songs and how to do his hands. We have our introductory lesson this week with a teacher in Manhattan and I'm excited for him.  It's with the original music school he went to years ago when he was little but different owners and teachers.  I am praying this works, and he can finally find a guitar/bass teacher he can jam with.  She already has thought it was pretty cool he was playing Primus, Rush, and Red-Hot Chili Peppers.  He did have a great guitar teacher in Wamego that just wanted him to play classical music and that was not his jam at all.  If this works out, we may be able to switch it up to Zoom lessons moving forward so we don't have to drive as far.  

Okay enough writing :)  Have a great week!

Back in the Saddle again 2026 edition

Two works out and three runs.  Trying to get my base back up to 5 miles for an easy run but it may take a bit.  It would be nice to have 3 five milers in a week versus 3 three milers.  I remember thinking I hope I never go below 5 and now here am I, struggling just to get back to that.  Two four milers and a 3 miler.  Slow progress.  Also, my town is having a half marathon again this year in May.  IF they allow dogs, I might think about doing with Ollie for her first half marathon.  I vaguely remember asking last year and it was a NO so asking again just to make sure.  I would love to do another half in my own hometown, but I also understand rules and regulations.  I am not an ask for forgiveness person when it comes to races.  

A couple of things.  I saw this posted on someone else's FB page and I stole it.  I am so very lucky to have so many amazing women and men for that matter in my life supporting me and being my friend.  I get lots of claps. I am very, very lucky in those regards.  Not everyone does. My mom told me at some point you will hit this time in your life where you don't give a shit.  I am very lucky to be at that point in my life, and I am LOVING it.  I love this reminder anyway.  Find your tribe.  I have dog show friends, running friends, track friends, sports mom/school friends, work friends, and dog running friends.  I am surrounded by a lot of amazing women of all ages.  We lift each other up.  We help each other by listening, giving advice if asked, and supporting in any way possible.   Sometimes that might just be a text, a comment on a FB post, a messenger message or a reel on insta.  Sometimes it's a voice message, an in-person brewery or coffee date, or a phone call.   I am incredible lucky to have this support system in my life.  I wouldn't be where I am today without them.  Find your tribe!  It doesn't have to be huge but find them, love them, and don't let go!

Also don't mind the tears.  I'm just sitting here sifting through lots of photos trying to pick out Andrew's 8th grade baby photo and the photo for his slide show for promotion.  I feel like these last 9 years have FLOWN by.  Blink and it's gone.  I asked if he wanted input or if he wanted it to be surprised and he voted input.  He chose this one for the yearbook:

And this one for the slide show.  

I wanted one with his red hair showing like this one but it's his choice.

Or we could go with this one to totally embarrass him!

Have a great week y'all!

Living on Tulsa TIME!

Let's get the boring stuff out of the way first.  I only got two work outs, one upper body workout and one lower body workout done before we headed out to Tulsa to watch the Shootout.  We had an Airbnb, but the neighborhood was notorious for not being the safest, so no running for me.  A week off has never killed anyone and it certainly didn't kill me.  

Oh, and I cut my hair off and died it brown.  It was my birthday present from Tony and Andrew, and I wanted it short and the same color all over.  I got my wish. Now to figure out how to style it like she did.  I LOVED how cute it was when she worked her magic and used about 1000 products, a hair straightener to not only straighten it but also curl it, and some sort of finishing spray.  She's magical and I'm not and I need to learn her magical ways.  

Wednesday early we headed out to Tulsa for four days of watching dirt racing.  It's hard to explain how much fun it is to sit in a building listening to cars screaming, breathing in dust and fumes, and having your eyes burn all at the same time.  We decided this year to get an Airbnb versus a hotel, and it was SUPER cute, and I will never stay in a hotel again LOL!

It was a garage behind someone's house turned into a little apartment that was just perfect for the three of us.  I had experienced the beauty of staying in an Airbnb during my work trips to Wisconsin, but the boys had never experienced it.  Even though it's just someone's house, it was like a whole new world to them and watching them getting excited about silly things was super cute.

It's so nice to have a washer and dryer and a whole house to just sprawl out in.  We cooked, we showered, we watched Stranger Things, and yes, we cried happy tears.  We had hoped to spend more time with friends, but we all had our own houses, and we were all so tired every night that we chose to go home and spend time in our family units.  I strangely enough was wide awake every night till 1 or later, go figure.  

The Shoot Out is basically days and days of watching racing in a dusty stinky environment with vendors to take you money and amazing concession stand food.  We use the trip to get gear that Andrew needs where he can try things on and make sure everything fits correctly.  It's weird to call sitting in a dusty arena fun, but we've had friends who have raced for the last few years that we love to come and cheer on.  There are heat races, lower mains, last chance qualifiers, and A mains.  It's all very thrilling to watch and basically you have 12-year-old kids racing against grown ass NASCAR champions which adds a whole new level to things.  I loved every minute of it and am sad we are going to miss it in 2026 due to Disney trip with the band.  

We cheered on Hank and Bo and watched our favorite NASCAR drivers race with their kids or watch their kid's races.  Heck Kyle Larsen even sat beside me at one point to watch his kid race junior sprints.

 

It's crazy to me that Andrew will be doing this in 2026. I think quarter midgets laid the foundation and now we have fun with the rest of his racing career on dirt.  This is a sport he can do for the rest of his life and if he doesn't, I know my hubby is itching to race as well.  It's good family fun and I am excited to start this new chapter together.

We also tried to do a couple of extra things outside of racing.  We took a trip to the aquarium first and boy was it amazing!  It may be a small aquarium compared to the others I have been to (think Scripps Howard in San Deigo), but the exhibits are nicely done, and the experiences were cheap or free, so everyone gets to do them if they wanted.  My favorite experiences were feeding the turtles and petting the sting rays.  

They had a sting ray named Goof who loved to be petted and even though I jumped a few times when he rubbed on my hands, I learned he was jumping out of the water to look at me better and that made me so happy that he wanted to see me.  She said that they were like cats, sometimes they loved being petted and some days they just didn't.  The shark tunnel was amazing, and I could have sat at the octopus exhibit all day.  They are such fascinating creatures that I could just sit and observe and never move.  The sea turtle was also super people friendly and posed for pictures with everyone.  The boys had an amazing time, and we all learned something about a lot of the animals.  

We also hit up a place called Slick City on the day we drove back.  It was something that had popped up on my Facebook and Andrew saw it and was dying to go.  It is an indoor park that has slides that you slide down on your stomach on a mat.  I didn't think Andrew would love it as it seemed geared towards smaller kids, but he did, sliding so much he was drenched in sweat.  We got there right as it opened so avoided big crowds and he slid for the full 90 minutes till we had to leave. I highly recommend this place for big and little kids alike because adults can slide as well!

All in all, it was a great weekend.  All of our drivers had some sort of success and met goals they made for themselves.  Cheering Hank on in the Last Chance Qualifier was the most fun and even though he didn't make it out to the A, we are super proud to support him!

It is also so cool that so many former TKQMA drivers are hitting the dirt next year.  

Till 2027 Tulsa!  Ready to live on Tulsa time again in a few years and maybe actually have a kiddo that gets to race!

Have a great week y'all!   Welcome to 2026 and back to the grind!