Chilly Half Marathon Training: Day 3

I know some people may not find my training exciting, but it helps me stay accountable and helps me organize my thoughts since running is my stress relief and my way of fighting depression.

Today was a 4 mile run.  It was cold and windy.  Such a big change from the weather yesterday!  I'm not going to lie, it would have been easy to stay inside and go back to bed.  I had to get River out for a walk no matter what so I figured I should just do my run.

The first 5k felt great!  I was moving at a good pace and I felt relaxed.  Then my stomach started to revolt against me.  I was hoping this whole thing with the iron was settled.  Guess not.  River had to stop to go to the bathroom so I took some time to stretch.  That helped.  The other thing I'm going to try is taking my iron pill at night before bed.  I'm hoping it will be through my system by the time I run in the morning.  I'll know Friday if it works.

I was afraid that my legs would be sore after lifting weights yesterday, but they felt pretty good.  They were tired, but not sore.  River loved running in the cooler weather.  She was all smiles.  When we got home she was ready for her lunch though.  As you can see, she was not amused by our selfie.

I'm so glad I did this run.  I could feel myself losing my stress as I ran.  I took over the swim school part of the team I coach and we have our first mini meet tonight.  I'm nervous about how it will go.  I know it's out of my hands as I've done everything I can to get ready for it, but I'm still stressing about it. 

I'm also worrying about Christmas.  I've gotten almost all my shopping done so I can just do the baking in December.  I have ordered some really cute shirts from Snappy Kid (www.snappykid.com) and can't wait for them to get here!  I love that sight!  It has great geeky shirts for James and my neices and nephews.  I thought I was finished and then I saw this awesome Minion shirt that I got for James for Christmas.  He will love it!!!!!!

Tomorrow I'm in the gym for cross training and weights and Friday it's my long run.  Week one is almost in the books!  March 1st will be here before I know it!

Post Christmas and a Good Run

Christmas was really good this year.  We had a lot of fun leading up to it and yesterday was great!

Friday we went to the inlaws house for dinner because Mike's aunt and uncle were coming over.  It was a nice dinner and James opened his present from them as well as the present from Uncle Pat and Aunt Kristie.  He got Mouse Trap from Rick and Judith and spy gear from Pat and Kristie.  Both things had to be tried out when we got home.  We played Mouse Trap and then he tried his night vision goggles.

Christmas Eve we picked up the house since we had the wraping stuff and the dogs destroyed another tennis ball.  Everyone helped and we were done in no time.  We went back to the inlaw's house for our Christmas.  Mike's mom had to work so we did presents Christmas Eve.  James had a good time and loved all the Cars 2 cars he got and the new cookbook. 

When we got back home James found out that Nicholas went back to the North Pole but had left him new Christmas pjs that glow in the dark.

Christmas day was so much fun!  We were up early to open presents.

The animals even joined in the fun.

We went back to Mike's mom and dad's for breakfast.  When we got home we started setting up the Hot Wheels wall tracks we got.

Later in the afternoon we all kind of crashed.  James read a book that Great-Grandpa Vannette got him.  We all just kind of relaxed.

After we dropped James off at his mother's house, Mike and I went to Victoria Park and Waterloo Park with the dogs.  We had a good time and it was nice to get out and walk.

Today we are having a lazy day.  I did get out and go for a short run.  I ran just over a mile and I felt pretty good.  I haven't run for a month and I've been on the meds for just over a week.  I think they are helping.  I didn't feel dizzy at all.  I like that.  Now, we won't talk about how icky I felt after the run after not running for a month.  That's okay though, it will come back pretty quickly.  I run a 5k on Sunday and I know it won't be pretty, but that's okay.  At least I'm back out there and running.

Tomorrow it's back to practice and back to the grind.  I will be having everyone help me clean and James is going to make dinner for us.  It will be a lot of fun.  I'm really enjoying all the time with my family.

I miss running right now

I haven't been able to run and I'm really missing it.  I'm going through some testing to figure out what's wrong with me.  I haven't been able to run because when I do I get dizzy.  I know its my blood pressure dropping because I also get dizzy when I stand, sit, or do anything.  Hopefully the blood work will show what is wrong with me and I can be on the way to fixing it.

I do have a race on New Year's Day and that will not be pretty if I don't get some runs in. I'm really hoping that by this time next week I will know what is wrong with me and we will be working on fixing it. If not, I will have to go to plan B as soon as I figure out what that is.

Things have been really busy.  I've been doing my Christmas baking when  I can stay awake to do it.  Swimming is really kicked into high gear with meets before Christmas.  I was at a meet all last weekend and will be at one all this weekend.  Then it 2 more weeks of practice and we are on break.  Not that the kids won't be in the pool over practice, because they will be, but they won't have school to worry about.

James is getting excited for Christmas.  He helped bake cookied two weekends ago.  He loved it!  After he spent all day baking he made dinner that night for us.   Here are a few pictures from our cooking fun.

Nicholas, our Elf on the Shelf, arrived and James has been busy letting him know what to tell Santa. He loves trying to find Nicholas every morning

My Christmas shopping is pretty much done so that is one thing off my plate.  I have Monday off and my list keeps getting longer and longer of things that need to get done.  It seems that it never ends.

We just keep plugging along though.