Hello old friend…

Today I got reacquainted with a friend from the not too distant past….Sligo Creek Trail.  I spent many MANY miles running on Sligo while training for my marathon, but then after I got pregnant I stopped running outside (mainly b/c of my need to be close to a bathroom) so I neglected my relationship with my faithful trail.

But now that I am once again running towards a goal (currently a 1/2 marathon in March) I decided I needed to hit the trail once again for my weekend long runs.  Today I had 8 miles on the schedule.  That is the farthest I have gone so far since I got pregnant, and since I was going to be outside there would be no way to stop short.   Going into the run I was nervous…I knew I could probably finish, but I wanted it to feel good too.   Starting out was rough, the first mile always is.  But then I fell into a nice rhythm and the miles started flying past.  Next thing I knew I was at my turn-around point.  The way back was a little tougher, but there were more people around, and I know that influenced my pace so I sped up a bit.  Still, I finished 8.3 miles in 1 hour and 18 minutes.  Would have been faster but I stopped for a few lights, and to play with a 4 month old puppy that I saw.  I iced my one knee when I got back, and my hips are a little bit sore, but other than that I’m feeling great.

So that was today’s run.  Who knows what tomorrow will bring, maybe more Sligo, maybe my other favorite trail, Carderock, maybe a treadmill run, or maybe a rest day.  We’ll see how I feel in the morning!

Are you a tough chik?

Well I am!  In an effort to meet some new running buddies I joined Team Tough Chik.  Sounds exclusive right?  Well Tough Chik makes some pretty amazing work-out clothes, and since I am in need of a few new running shirts I decided to buy them as part of a team package.  There are 169 wonderful ladies in Team Tough Chik and I can’t wait to be in races with some of them!  We are sponsored by quite a few awesome companies including Luna bars, Reflect Sports, and the John Wayne Cancer Foundation.  This is just the beginning, but hopefully I will end up with some new friends out of this.  I’ll keep you all updated on team activities and maybe you will want to join next year!

As for running, that is going really well too.  I have now run 7 days straight, whether just 2 miles or 5.  This is a nice little streak I have going so lets see how long I can keep it up!  Unfortunately the cold that my husband and baby brought home from NY with them has caught up with me, so I’m feeling a bit out of sorts the past few days.  But running doesn’t make me feel worse, so I figure a few miles everyday certainly can’t hurt.  

Finally and the most exciting news is that my neighbor has finally had her baby boy!  I’m so excited for  my baby to meet her new BFF, but that will have to wait until she is feeling a bit better.  I went over to see little Sam tonight and he is just an adorable bundle of cuddles! 

 

its training time!

Now that the baby isn’t so new, and the holidays are over it is time for me to officially get back to training.  I had tentatively said that I would plan to run the Rock n Roll DC 1/2 marathon with some friends in March, but wasn’t really taking it seriously, so I decided to bite the bullet and sign up!  So now that I’ve paid my money, I better get my butt back in gear!

I’m following Hal Higdon’s 1/2 marathon plan for beginners. Yes, I know I am not a beginner, but after almost 9 months of not running, and now having a body that I’m a bit unfamiliar with, I figured it is better to start out slow.  Instead of tracking my miles the usual way (on paper), I decided to get with the times and track everything online.  You can follow my training by clicking on that nifty little “dailymile” badge on the side of my blog.  If you are on dailymile go ahead and friend me, or you can just send me some motivational love if you’d like!

I’m really excited to be back to working out again.  Yesterday I did about 4 miles, nothing huge, but I felt good anyway.  It is a bit tough trying to schedule my workouts right now.  The baby isn’t napping so well on her own, so I don’t have much alone time during the day to get things done and have to wait until hubs gets home.  I might try to get up before he leaves for work to do my running, but I’ve never really been an early morning work-out person, so it will be trial and error for a while.  Once it gets a bit warmer, and the little one is old enough to be in the jogging stroller it will be much easier!

In addition to running I’m also going to give cross-training some serious consideration this year.  I would like to get the little lady into swim classes as young as possible, so maybe if I find a good year round pool I can do some swimming.  We are also planning on getting a bike trainer from a friend, so even during the winter, or while I’m home watching the baby I can put in some biking miles.  In addition to those things I’ve found a couple of work-out DVD’s that I like well enough to do while the baby naps, and I’m hoping to find a mommy and baby yoga class to do.  So far I’ve only found things with babies that have started crawling, and we’ve still got a few months before that happens, but I’ll keep looking!

So those are my grand plans for my 2012 fitness…what are yours?

holidays part 2

After our awesome time in Ohio we hit the road for NY.  I was a little concerned how the baby would do on a 7-8 hour car ride but we only had to stop twice for her, and she slept the majority of the way.  I don’t have much time to write about what happened, so once again here are the highlights and pictures!

-The baby got to meet hubs whole side of the family for the first time.

-We went to Rockefeller Plaza to see the Christmas tree.

-Seeing hub’s grandparents with baby T for the first time, so happy that she was able to spend some time with them!  The best parts were how excited they got when she would smile and giggle at them.  Unfortunately it was sad when we left as his grandma told me while holding back tears that I was the perfect match for her grandson

And then everyone (except for me) came down with colds.  So now we have a little one with rattly sniffles again, but she seems to be getting better already.  We are home now and its so nice to be back to our routine again!

holiday cheer

I always slack on my blogging around the holidays because we are usually traveling to spend time with family.   This year as always we took the week before Christmas and spent it in Ohio with my family, and then the week until New Years in NY with hubs family.  I haven’t had a chance to check out all of the pictures from our Ohio trip yet, but here are some of the highlights…

- The baby spent time with the Smith side of the family and met all her great-aunts and cousins for the first time.

-We took the baby for her first visit to Santa, where she did great and didn’t even cry!

-Hubs and bro-in-law built an awesome cornhole set that we now need to paint with Steelers and Browns logos.

-We took a trip to the Natural History Museum in Cleveland, where the baby got eaten by a dinosaur!

-We went on a walk along the towpath so I could show the baby the scene of my first marathon.

-We went to Christmas eve service at church where the baby didn’t make a peep…such a good little girl!

And of course we spent lots of fun quality family time with her na-na and pop-pop and Aunt Denise, Uncle Aaron, and cousin Rowan.

Next up…NYC!

HBBC weekly roundup

RED=RUNNING
ORANGE=BIKE TRAINER
GREEN=AT HOME WORKOUT DVD’s
BLUE=WEIGHTS/STRETCHING
PINK=WALKING
BLACK=OTHER

SATURDAY 12/10 – 2 hour walk; fruits and veggies!  total points: 7.5

SUNDAY 12/11 – 1 hour walk; 1 hour low impact cardio; fruits and veggies! total points: 7

MONDAY 12/12 – 3.1 mile run; 20 minutes stretching; 30 day shred;  40 min. walking; fruits and veggies!  total points: 9.1

TUESDAY 12/13 – 30 day shred; 1.5 hours walking; fruits and veggies!  total points: 7.5

WEDNESDAY 12/14 – 1 hour walk; 20 minutes weights; fruits and veggies!  total points: 5

THURSDAY 12/15 – 1.5 mile run; Vinyasa Yoga; 45 min. walk; fruits and veggies!  total points: 6.5

FRIDAY 12/16 – 1 hour walk; 20 min. stretching; fruits and veggies!  total points: 5

giving

Giving is better than receiving….we are trying to teach this to baby T right from the start!  Here she is delivering cookies to our neighbors

HBBC weekly roundup

RED=RUNNING
ORANGE=BIKE TRAINER 
GREEN=AT HOME WORKOUT DVD’s
BLUE=WEIGHTS/STRETCHING
PINK=WALKING
BLACK=OTHER

SATURDAY 12/3 – 4 mile run; 1 mile walk; 20 min stretch; fruits & veggies!  total points: 7

SUNDAY 12/4 –  40 min stretch; 20 min weights; fruits & veggies!  total points: 4

MONDAY 12/5 – 30 day shred; vinyasa yoga (45 min); 1 hour walking; fruits and veggies! total points: 8

TUESDAY 12/6 – 3 mile run; 20 minute stretch; 20 min yoga; 40 minutes walking; fruits and veggies!  total points: 8

WEDNESDAY 12/7 – 30 day shred; 20 min. stretch; 40 minutes walking; fruits and veggies!  total points: 6

THURSDAY 12/8 – Vinyasa yoga; 20 min. weights; fruits and veggies!  total points: 4

FRIDAY 12/9 – 30 day shred; 20 min. stretch;  1 hour walking; fruits and veggies!  total points: 7

Another solid week.  I’d like to pick up the running total a bit more but I’m pretty happy with how I’m managing to fit working out into my daily routine.

cookies!

This year for the first time in a long time I decided to make some Christmas cookies.  Since I’m home on maternity leave right now I have a lot of time on my hands and thought it would be fun, besides, the little lady loves hanging out with me in the kitchen!

She also loves it when I sing along with the radio and dance with her.

Oh yeah, and last year we inherited a plate that reads “this plate will keep on giving with a little help from you, enjoy these treats then fill the plate and give to someone new!”  We’ve had it since last christmas, so its time for me to pass it on!

So tonight I made sugar cookies, and I think tomorrow I will make some gingerbread men! Here’s the goods

getting crafty

Every year my mom’s side of the family gets together the weekend before Christmas for a little holiday cheer.  All the cousins exchange small homemade gifts.  Of course life gets busy, so everybody doesn’t always do the homemade thing each year, but I always try, because its more fun to get a gift that someone put some effort into!

*****FAMILY STOP READING HERE OR ELSE IT WON’T BE A SURPRISE!!*****

In the past I have done various different things: an advent calendar, chocolate covered pretzels, etc., and this year I had a really good idea, but time got in the way and I never got started on it.  Which brought me to tonight, where I still had no clue what I would be doing.  And then I remembered an idea I had years ago to make everyone marble magnets!  It is the perfect gift for this year b/c it is super easy to do, and now that a lot of my cousins have kids I can personalize them with family pictures.

So here’s what they look like!  I think they turned out so well that I plan to make some for our fridge as well!

So the picture is a bit blurry b/c if I used the flash then there was a glare, and without the flash I can’t keep my hand still enough, but you get the point!  Some of them are just holiday themed, and some of them I used pictures of their kids.  I’m making 6 for each person, and they will fit perfectly into an Altoid tin.  Looks like I’ll be having minty fresh breath for quite a while