Funny how days never turn out how I plan them...

I was hoping to head straight to the grocery store after work tonight...but since Matt had a dentist appointment before work, he had to drop Liam off at his mom's house. That meant I had go over to pick him up after work. By the time we got back to the house it was only about 15 minutes ahead of when the girls usually get home from school so not enough time to run to the store. I started making my shopping list and getting some of the Primary Program parts ready to deliver.

I took those around while Liam played for a few minutes at a friend's house. Heidi's house was the last one I needed to drop off parts to so I spent a few minutes talking to her while waiting for the girls to come home. She had mentioned putting together a little race around Halloween time for her runner friends when we went trail running last week. I asked a bit more about it and told her that I would love to participate and help her plan it. My only problem is that I have my first timed 5K on the Saturday before Halloween, which also happens to be the day before McKenna's birthday. She might organize hers for either the week before or after that though, so hopefully it is a day I can go.

The girls got home from school while we were talking and ended up playing at Heidi's while they were waiting for us to finish chatting. They opted to stay there while Liam and I ran to the grocery store. It was so much easier only taking one child! We were in and out in less than 45 minutes! The bad part was loading up the all the groceries in the pouring rain.

We got home and picked up the girls then had a quick dinner so I could get the kids started on homework. At 6:30 it was still raining pretty hard and there was quite a bit of lightning. Since I was supposed to run tonight and I wasn't sure if the weather would clear up, I ended up deciding to go run on the treadmill at the gym for the first time ever. I have heard many people curse the treadmill so I wasn't exactly excited, but I really wanted to get in a run if I could. While I was telling the kids what my plan was I told them I was going to drive over to the gym and Liam pipes up with, "Mommy, you could just run to the gym...because you're the best at running!" Man, I love that kid!

I didn't have much time to run by the time I drove over there and got things all figured out so I only ended up running 2.68 miles. It was hot and stinky and I swear I never sweat that much even when running outside in the middle of the day! Yuck! I think I'd rather take my chances with the lightning next time.

The kids survived me being gone and proudly pronounced that they got along well with each other as soon as I opened the car door. It makes me suspicious, but since they all agreed to it, I guess I'll let it go. ;) We finished homework, got the kids through the shower and I finally got 5 minutes to myself to relax. I'm starting to get really nervous about the 5K on Saturday so it was a nice busy day to take my mind off it!

We are busy but boring people...

Ran 4.38 miles this morning! That's my longest run so far. It was really chilly outside when I left the house (around 6:15), but it is so much easier to keep running in the cooler weather. I didn't have the sluggishness that I normally do for the first mile or so (probably because my legs were numb from the cold!) and was able to just keep plugging along. It amazes me how much my mind wavers between the extremes of "I love running!" and "Why am I torturing myself?!" during most of my runs, but this morning it was just nice and peaceful watching the sun rise over the mountains. The most difficult part of the morning was running past Kneaders and smelling the bacon cooking!

After I got back from my run, we hurried to get everything ready for our neighborhood garage sale. While I put prices on all the things we had set aside over the course of the last two weeks, Matt hauled everything down to the neighbors house and got it set up. It felt great to get so many things we weren't using out of the house! We figured one way or the other, it wasn't coming back into the house so I was able to breathe a sigh of relief as every box went out the door. Matt stayed at the garage sale while I showered and got ready to attend the baptism of a young girl in our Ward.

Once I got back from the baptism, I spent the rest of the morning hanging out with Matt and the neighbors at the garage sale. We didn't sell at ton, but it was enough to make it worth the effort. There were a lot of sales in the area so I think we just didn't get as much traffic as we might have if there had been fewer. As the stream of people started dwindling we packed up the Jeep with the items that didn't sell and Matt took everything over to the DI to donate.

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Matt and I ended up going out for our date tonight since we had the work party last night. He said he was 'in the mood for meat' so we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. The fried pickles there are really good...and also REALLY addicting. I'm sure I ate way too many of them, but it was worth it!

After that we really didn't have much of a plan so we sort of bounced around between a bunch of stores and small errands. Matt found the stickers he wanted for the dice game he's working on.  I got a new pair of running socks and a water bottle (with a pocket) to carry as I start working up to longer runs.

We decided we wanted some dessert so we drove over to a local place that we heard was supposed to be on Cupcake Wars this weekend, but they had just closed so we decided on gelato instead. When we got over to the gelato place there was a live band and a big party on the little grass/park area next door. They had the street blocked off, several food trucks parked around and a TON of people. No idea what the party was for, but it was kind of fun to kind of stumble on it. One of the food trucks made crepes and I decided I really wanted a banana and Nutella one. We waited in line only to find out that something in the truck was broken and it was going to take 20-30 minutes until they had anything ready. Soooo....we ended up going back to the gelato plan. Matt got blood orange and I had a really amazing salted caramel.

Being the super exciting people that we are, we ended up coming home after that and watching lame movies on TV. Matt kept flipping back and forth between two horrible movies - one about astronauts going to rescue a bunch of other astronauts that were stranded on Mars and another one about a two headed shark attacking people that were stranded on a sinking atoll after it destroyed their boat. He has some sort of sick fascination with bad movies and bad disaster movies in particular. We ended up seeing how well we could lay out the plot of each one before things happened and were pretty darn close in predicting almost everything that happened. We finally decided enough was enough when yet another shark movie came on after the first one, but it was about a bullet proof GIANT shark with legs that was somehow managed to bring an entire oil rig down with two hits.

Hopefully I don't dream about lame shark movies all night...

Finally Friday!

Kris came over this afternoon to ask Matt some questions about work. He happened to be wearing one of his Ragnar shirts. When he came in the door I mentioned to him that if he ever did the race again, he should tell me because I really want to do it. After he talked to Matt and the kids for a while, he mentioned that his dad has done a team every year and might have an open spot on his team. I can't believe it! I'm so excited, albeit very nervous, about possibly getting to do a Ragnar. I had even looked up next year's Wasatch Back a week or two ago to see when they were opening 2013 registration and it was already sold out...for June...of NEXT YEAR. Crazy. I really hope that they need someone and that they don't mind if that someone is slow.

We had a babysitter come over tonight so Matt and I could go our for a date night. We didn't really do anything exciting, but it's nice just to have some alone time together since we don't get much of that during the week. We ended up going to MacCools for dinner and splurged on the Mud Pie. It's SO good - mint, chocolate and mocha ice cream all swirled and pressed together into a thick Oreo crust with chocolate sauce drizzled over the time. I don't even like mint or mocha and I love this dessert. It's probably good that they closed the one closer to our house because I think I might be eating it a lot more often.

We wandered through REI for a little while. I ogled the Garmin running watches for a few minutes, then wandered through the clearance racks. I found a really nice running jacket that would have been perfect for colder weather but at $85 on clearance I decided I could skip it. The need isn't urgent yet, so I'll keep looking.

Since we were fairly close to Toys R Us we decided to get some birthday shopping for Alyssa done since her birthday is in a couple of weeks. We bought her a few small things that she has been wanting or that we thought she would like. Now we just have to figure out which set of Legos to get her and find a diary with a lock on it and we will be set.

The last stop was Hastur Games so Matt could get some dice for a game he is working on. That store is always an adventure. :) There were lots of people playing different games so I kind of people-watched as Matt checked out the games and figured out what he wanted.

All in all, it was a nice relaxing evening and even though we were mostly just running errands it was so nice to have the time to talk without so many distractions. Working opposite schedules makes it really hard to get the time together that many couples get on a nightly basis so I feel really lucky that we have found a way to stay connected with each other like this!

Mmmm....curry

There is a little mom and pop Thai place that I've gone to with a couple of groups from work that I have been wanting both my mom and Matt to try. I was finally able to convince my mom to come with me today.
She had mentioned before how much she liked the Thai food her and Dad used to get the last time they lived in Hawaii, so I was really hoping this place would live up to whatever standards she had in her head. We both had the Masman curry and the Tom Ka soup. I think she really liked it since she mentioned wanting to come back again. It was such a nice break from work and a great chance to get to talk to her without any of the normal distractions.

Now I just need to convince Matt to go...

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I ran about 3 miles last night. I feel so good each time I go out. Today was supposed to be a rest day for running  though so I ended up doing strength training tonight and some Turbo Jam. I'm not wonderful at pushing myself very hard with the weights, but I'm better than I used to be. I need to work on getting my knees stronger, toning up a bit and reducing my body fat percentage. I'm down several pounds since I started counting calories and exercising again in July, so it's nice to see the progress that way. I'm always amazed at how well the body responds when you start taking better care of it.

Guessing Game

The kids are off track for the next three weeks starting today, so we signed them up for another round of swimming lessons. All three of them are in classes for the next three weeks. They seem to be having fun with it and it’s great to finally get that checked off the list. It’s something we have been meaning to do for them for a long time, the rec center classes just fill up so fast! The girls are pretty confident in the water now and I don’t have any qualms about letting them go to swimming parties with friends any more, which I’m sure they will appreciate.

I finished week 5 of the C25K and it felt great! It’s getting easier all the time. I managed about 2.5 miles and I jogged for 20 minutes straight. It’s the first time I’ve ever gone that long. This gives me hope that I’ll be able to survive the 25 minute jog on the schedule for next week. I’ve been so nervous about leaving the walking breaks behind because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to make it.

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Over the last several years I've been having some fairly severe stomach pain off and on. At first I thought that specific foods were causing the problem so I started avoiding eating those things. The ‘attacks’ were fairly few and far between so I didn’t really worry about it. Lately though, they have been happening with increasing frequency and lasting longer. So a couple of months ago when I had one that lasted three days, I finally broke down and called the doctor.

She gave me a medication to try and they took a few tests to try to determine what it might be and so far, they haven’t been able to pinpoint what is causing the pain. I went in for an abdominal ultrasound last week and they didn’t find anything there either so I had another appointment with the doctor today to see if there might be something else that she was missing.

We went over the symptoms again and she is now theorizing that it might be a functional issue rather than some sort of inflammation or something like gallstones. So, I have a new medication to try to see if it will solve the problem. If this doesn’t work, it looks like I’m off to a specialist.

I think I'm half crazy...

Okay so...I haven't been running that long, but the thought of being able to go out and just run has always been appealing to me. I just never thought I could do it. Now that I've had some good experiences with it, I really want to make some goals that will keep me going and make this a lifetime endeavor.

With that in mind, I have spent waaaaay too much time today looking at and thinking about half marathons. It started with blog-hopping (as it often does) and I ended up reading a race report from the Utah Valley Half Marathon and deciding to look it up.

It looks like a great half for beginners, a slow and gentle down hill for the whole course that starts in the canyon and ends in Provo.

It's also fairly close and relatively inexpensive AND it's not until June so it gives me plenty of time to work up to the miles.

I feel like I'm crazy for even considering it, but I really want to have a goal out there to work towards and this seems doable in the amount of time that I have. The registration opens September 1st and there are limited openings, but I'm not sure how fast it fills up. Maybe I'll ask some of my runner friends and see what they think, but I'm getting really excited just thinking about it!

On again...

I've been thinking about restarting this for quite a while, but I have put it off because I wasn't sure if I wanted to start back up at my old blog address or what to say to start it back up again. I guess I was waiting for a perfect time and something perfect to say, but since that hasn't come along in a year or so of thinking about the whole business, I suppose I had just better start and get on with it already.

With that said, I guess I'll just jump right into things and hopefully it will all eventually make sense.

This morning I got up (semi) early to go "run" (still pretty sure I have no business using that word since I'm only in week 5 of a couch to 5K program, but it makes me feel more accomplished so I'm going with it). It felt great! I was a little nervous about the two blocks of solid 8 minute running since there is a slight incline for over half of the trail I run on, but I managed to do it and not die. Part of that might have been because there was a slight nip in the air this morning (HELLO FALL!! I've missed you so! Do stick around please!) But I think overall the whole thing is going rather well and I am really enjoying having the chance to get outside and push my body a little.

We had  a few things to get done before going to pick up McKenna from her first sleepover at a friend's house. We dropped off the trailer at his parents' house and went over to my mom's to cut a few more blocks for her raised garden bed. Just a couple more until we're done, then we need to get back to finishing ours.

I had high hopes of getting a lot of cleaning and organizing done around the house today, but it didn't really pan out. We picked up Kenna on the way home from my mom's, made a feeble attempt to get the kids to clean up, ate lunch and then laid around and talked for a little while until Matt had to go to work. Not exactly productive, but I'll trade the one on one time with him over cleaning the house any day. :)

I let the kids play with a friend for a little while, then we headed out to run a few more errands. I scored an awesome running jacket and tank for cheap, and bought a couple of pairs of jeans to replace the ones that have become increasingly annoying because I have to keep pulling them up every 10 seconds. I took the kids to get a treat because they were being (mostly) good and then spent the rest of the afternoon eyeing a couple of 5Ks that I want to sign up for.

The kids wanted to go to the park and Kenna wanted to try running a little bit so we headed out to a park by  our house that has a playground and 1/3 mile track around it. I told her we would start out easy and set my phone to tell us each minute that passed so we could run one then walk one. We had a little talk about not running at full tilt the whole time and even though she wanted to stop after two rounds of the track, she kept going and made it the whole way. She did so well! Liam and Lyssa made it around once and played at the playground the rest of the time. All in all, it was a good (if not entirely productive) day.