I got an AWARD!

I got an award! Alanna at Running42km.blogspot.com nominated me for the above distinction and I accept it gratefully.


Here are the rules:

#1. Answer this question: If you had the chance to go back and change one thing in your life, would you and what would it be?

#2. The second thing you have to do is, pick 6 people and give them this award. You then have to inform the person that they have gotten this award.

#3. The third and final thing is, thank the person who gave you the award.

And here are my answers:

1.  Thinking back on my first Half marathon, I wish I wouldn't of set so many goals for it, then finishing it would of felt a lot better.  After all I deserved more credit from MYSELF for what I had accomplished.

2.  I give the award to........... the last 6 people who gave me comments on my blog!
    1. Ginny at http://ww-pjavajoggers.blogspot.com/
    2. Candice at http://ihaverun.blogspot.com/
    3. Stacy at http://stacyrunsagain.blogspot.com/
    4.  Sherry at http://littlebitintexas.blogspot.com/
    5.  Orange Blossom at http://catholicdomesticengineer.blogspot.com/
    6.  Robyn at http://wannabewriterrunner.com/

Thank you Alanna for bringing a smile to my day!!!!  That was very SWEET of you!   diana

Bum Run and New Patio

Cute pic's of my little gals and I enjoying our favorite pizza joint! 
First pic is My little Marigold, and second pic is little miss Georgia!

  Wednesday Mornings I have been getting up at the crack of dawn to meet a good friend for training runs.  With only about an hour to spare in the mornings we manage to get a quick run in and off she goes to work.  It sure is great having a set plan like this to hold me accountable.  That is what I need these days as I have been feeling like quite the BUM.  Another friend Kelly that is training for the You Go Girl team joined us this week.  We were on the road and met up on Ruston at 5:45am!   I was sure hoping I could hit the only bathroom at Starbucks and take care of business before we hit the road but no such luck! We took off running up Shuster parkway which is one of my favorite places to run!  This is You Go Girl territory, we travel it twice during the race, it is about mile 6 -7 and then at the end 11-13.  It has some rolling hills but nothing too tough.  This particular morning it contained 2-3 BUMS who decided to make a nice cozy bed out of leaves on the sidewalk we ran along.  As we approached the first BUM I was sure to quietly point to the right making sure me fellow runners saw the man and did not trip over him.  This brings me to an important question?  When you run early in the am or late in the pm, do you always bring a friend?  I am a little bit of a saftey nut, but really...... It proves to be a good warning on this day, where I am running around BUMS.  We headed down Dock street and of course my body was ready to do it's thing, so we took a little detour into down town T-town, I hit the Tully's for a quick visit and we were back on the road.  It was kind of nice running on the City streets bright and early, we didn't get stopped by too many lights, and it was nice to have the shade of the big tall buildings.  We continued back were we had run the first 2 miles, past the BUMS vacant pile of leaves only to find he had moved about a half mile down the side walk to a new residence.  I started to feel thankful that I do not live that life and just pondered for a bit on what it would be like.  I can't even imagine!  We got back down to Ruston way and I tried picking up some speed as we did a little tour of the new Chinese Park they have finally opened at the very tip of ruston way.  It was a great run, I am so glad I have people to keep me motivated and keep me SAFE!  6.25 miles at 1 hr 6min

  On a side note I took a whole week off from running last week!  Yikes!  Doesn't pose as the greatest idea 6 weeks before a half-marathon but I needed a break.  We poured a concrete patio last week which created quite the mess around this place.  There was a death in the family and the weekend was filled with family get togethers, the funeral and a welcome home day for my little bro who has been gone for 2 years on a mission.  Talk about being drained of all ENGERY!  To make matters worse I somehow manged to hurt my foot during all of this madness!  I have no idea what happened but it hurts right at the top of my foot before my toes.  It causes the most pain when I lift my foot off the ground after standing or walking on it. Hmmmm.  I have been using it a the main excuse for not running, until this week.  I ran 3 on tues, 6 on wed and 3 today.... it was a little sore but the running wasn't making it worse.  Today I set out for another run and at 1 mile I stepped on a rock, OUCH!  That hurt more than ever and now I am icing the darn thing for the rest of the day!  I HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE this doesn't stop me.  PLEASE PRAY that it is nother major!   The race is less than 5 weeks away and I WANT TO RUN!!!!  Notice I say WANT to RUN?  It's true!   I miss it, with a whole week off I felt like a BUM, in a different sent, but no less I was not able to get what I needed from life without it!  WHO AM I?

IN case you were wondering what it might be like to pour a concrete patio here is a quick couple of pictures of the process!   My husband in the Green shorts an his 12 firefighter buddies got the job done, for some reason it doesn't look like they were all working too hard!  But hey who can complain right?  =)  I am happy, and if I had the computer sticky thingy I would download one more picture of my patio set on the patio with me enjoying a nice cold one!  Maybe next time!

Sharing the road.........

  I had a run planned for Saturday morning, but my sweet little angel had a fever and we couldn't leave the house for obvious reasons.  I was bummed because I didn't get much running in this week.  So I called my mom later that afternoon and asked her if she would watch the girls if I came to Olympia to visit.  So NICE to have a mom to help out in the pinch.  I didn't really know exactly where to run, I did spend the first 18 years of my life in Olympia/ Lacey, but I was not a runner then.  SO I drove to the Safeway and parked my car.  It was raining and the roads were busy, so I just wanted to stay safe.  I felt really good as I warmed up, actually I think my first mile was at 9 min pace!  At mile 2.5 I took a shot block out of my water bottle pouch, I shared that pocket with my car key, and oh my goodness so glad I checked for my key!  It WASN'T THERE!  I quickly turned around with my eyes glued to the ground, found my key laying there alone about 50 feet behind me!  PHEW!  That was close..... SO I was feeling great and decided to get off the main road, I kinda knew where I was, but didn't know how much room was on the side of the road.  =)

When I decided I had to turn onto another road, I noticed there was NO ROOM on the side of the road.  I have never really liked running when there is NO Shoulder to run on, who does?  So I decided I would bail into the ditch if I had to, but to avoid that happening I would wave and smile really big every time someone drove by.  For the most part it was great, I must say I overcame some fears that the cars would just drive over me.  Some people really do share the road.

When I got to a sidewalk after about 3 miles of sharing the road with the cars, I saw a trail.... I almost turned onto it.... thought it looked like a nice trail to run on.  But then the Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin popped in my head and I heard " danger danger danger!"  I remembered that I was alone and decided I would save the trail for a day I had a running partner.  Next up some cows.... I was running past a cow pasture, with about 6 cows in it.  For fun, and entertainment I started "mooing" at them, I wondered if I could get them to moo back.  OK maybe I was lonely, but I did get the cows to look at me, I thought, I wonder if they know I have been running for 6 miles now?  Do they even CARE?  Shortly there after I found another main road that I knew would take me back to my car.  I really tried to pick up my speed, I felt like I was sprinting, but every time I looked at my watch it said over 10 min pace.  Oh well, in the end I did great!  SUB 10 min pace overall!  Felt great to get out there and get it DONE!!!  Thank YOU MOM!! 

7 miles done

1 hour 9 min 45 sec!

Just shy of a 10 min pace!!

On a side note.... Here are my two babes!  They both have birthdays coming up!

GK turns 2 on Sept 8!

MJ turns 3 on Oct 2!

Yes they will be 2 at the same time for almost 1 month!

So some big plans are in the works for a fun birthday party to celebrate BOTH girls at the same time!!!

10 Miler on the ORTING TRAIL!

BEFORE THE RUN: Me, Kim (from Oregon, on my team), and Stacy (A local blogger)

I had a great run Saturday!!! Another training run was set on the calender for the YOU GO GIRL team "Will Run For Ice Cream."  This one was 10 miles.... and to be completly honest I was not sure my body was ready for a 10 miler.  I just haven't been logging many long runs lately, so the confidence level hasn't been there.  SO I got up early met one of the Kim's on my team, picked up another Kim from out team, and headed off to the Orting trail.  Kim from Oregon had connected with a local Blogger Stacy and invited her to meet up with us!  It was pretty chilly out and I didn't wear a running jacket, but it was fine, my body warmed up pretty quick.  Turned out Stacy does a 7min run 1 min walk so we didn't get to hang out with her too long, but it was great to meet her.  It was really nice to have a couple of girls to run with, I was in need of conversation, it really gave me distraction which is what I NEED!  I think I am still trying to train my brain to run.  I just have those mental road blocks, I think about the running too much and let it stop me.  SO I was really happy to have Kim and Kim to stick by my side!  I tried a couple of gummy bears that Kim from Oregon brought, and I liked them.  By the time we came to mile 8 I felt a little bit of pain in my ankles, not too familiar with that pain.... thinking about it more I wondered if it was from running on a flat path.  I mean, I always have some elevation where I run and I think my legs, ankles, and muscles get to stretch a little bit more with the hills, so was that it?  I just got some new shoes a few weeks ago and I know they aren't the issue.  SO I pushed through and realized at mile 9..... I was fine..... and I might be setting a PR for my 10 miler.  SO I started to PICK IT UP..... increased the pace a little bit more and before I knew it my watched beeped!  10 MILES done!  I loved that ending..... because I wasn't dragging to the end.  I loved the company!!  I love talking to others about their running!  SO MUCH FUN!  I can't wait for another run like that! 

10 MILES

Time: 1 hr 44 min (my new 10 mile PR)

After the run:  Kim B., Stacey, Kim R. and ME

Silly Girls!