First, before I get to exercise, I’ll share an awesome picture that the photographer at my brother and SIL’s wedding got of Lu, as a flower girl.

[source]

There’s a few more pictures of the wedding at http://www.danieljireh.com/blog/.  I can’t wait to see them all.  I love that picture.

Now, exercise! In the past year I haven’t exercised as much as I used to.  I stopped because I was having disordered thinking about it.  I was exercising to burn calories.  I wasn’t having fun, I wasn’t enjoying it-I was exercising to eat more. No bueno.

What I’ve come to realize is that I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY like to exercise.  It makes me happy, like REALLY happy.  Got that yet? Exercise makes me REALLY happy . I no longer use a heart rate monitor to track how many calories I burn (I haven’t in about 5 months) and I exercise because I want to. 

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m doing The Artist’s Way and one part of it, are the “Artist’s Dates”.  Artist’s Dates are 2 hour chunks of time where I’m supposed to do something for myself with myself (and no one else) that foster’s my creativity. Some of my dates? Going to get my make-up done and getting a lesson (and buying said make-up).

A recreation:

Going shopping for myself and only myself.  Wandering the aisle’s of art stores to see if anything catches my eye, trying soccer for the first time, RUNNING.  Yes, running.

When I run, it’s my “me” time.  It’s when I reconnect with me and talk to myself.  A LOT gets done in my head when I run.  It’s one of the reasons I love doing it so much and by myself.  I really like to run by myself.  I like being stuck in that ‘ol brain of mine

How about you?  Do you like to exercise?  If you don’t, do you do it anyway? Do you find other ways to be active?

“You are beautiful. You are strong.” That was my mantra while running yesterday.  I went into the race with a goal of running 12 minute miles.  I finished with an average of 12:02 minute miles.  YAY!

Here I am before the race with Shaun and Lu:

and Luke and Megan:

I was confident I could do it but worried about my hip.  I had started to have some twinges of hip flexor pain on the left side earlier in the week.  The last time I ran a half marathon without swimming and biking beforehand (Half-Ironman Distance Triathlon) I hurt my right hip flexor.  I got bursitis and tendonitis in my right hip after the 2005 Nike Women’s Half Marathon and was in physical therapy for months.  I thought I’d never get to run again. Of course I did run again and even did the Ironman 2 years later. 

Running exclusively has always been hard for me and I’ve learned that I can only run 3 times a week.  The rest of my training has to be cross training or I hurt myself.  I’ve attempted to train for 2 marathons and both times, I hurt myself.

ANYWAY, I was worried.  I did a ton of stretching and tried to think positive thoughts.  I didn’t think about my race much but the morning of I started really worrying that my hip would fail me.

I tried to put that thought in the back of my mind and lined up to race!  First, let me say that this is the smallest race that I have ever been a part of.  We drove up and parked right across the street.  I got there 45 minutes early and I could have arrived 15 minutes early.  It was crazy how cozy and not stressful it was-CRAZY.  At about 8:55, they announce, we’re starting in 5 minutes, make your way over to the start!

Start we did! There I go!

My first mile was my fastest and most painful.  My hip REALLY hurt and I was feeling VERY discouraged.  When my phone announced that I ran the first mile in 10:50, I decided to slow down and massage my hip a bit.  By the 4th mile I was feeling pretty good and by the 6th mile I was in my groove.  The course started off pretty, then was UGLY, then was really pretty again.  Around the time that it got pretty again (mile 11) I was starting to feel it.  I slowed down (and had my slowest mile at mile 12) and got discouraged again.  Then I told myself that ANYONE could run 2 miles and that that it was less than half an hour of pain.  Thankfully my awesome cheering squad (Luke, Megan, Lissa, Tessa, Shaun, and Lucy) had set up camp just after I heard that I had run an almost 13 minute mile.  They almost missed me because the girls were having so much fun playing.

I saw them yelling and running towards me and I though “Ha! Those people almost missed the person they’re cheering on. That’s funny. OH wait, those are MY people!”  They came running and I got cheered on by some of my favorite people in the world.

Here’s Lu and Megan cheering on other runners and giving them fives:

They were seriously at the right spot!  It was all I needed to light a fire under my butt and make me run!

When I hit mile 13, I started crying-they were happy tears.  At some of my lowest times after Lu was born and I was being so hard on myself, I thought my racing days were over.  They’re not!  I finished strong and my cheering squad was right there at the finish line!

Stats:

Mile 1: 10:50 min/mi
Mile 2: 11:36 min/mi
Mile 3: 12:09 min/mi
Mile 4: 11:56 min/mi
Mile 5: 12:13 min/mi
Mile 6: 11:48 min/mi
Mile 7: 11:50 min/mi
Mile 8: 12:08 min/mi
Mile 9: 12:06 min/mi
Mile 10: 11:58 min/mi
Mile 11: 12:33 min/mi
Mile 12: 12:50 min/mi
Mile 13: 12:33 min/mi

Finish time: 2:37:41 Average 12:02 min/mi

I mentioned above that I “heard” my pace and that my phone “announced” how fast I was going.  My Garmin broke about 2 months ago (it won’t turn on) and I downloaded a free app for my phone called Endomondo.  It’s awesome!  It tells me at every mile how fast I went and how long I’ve been running.  I just put it in one of the pockets on my fuel belt and I have a great training partner PLUS if I get in trouble, I have my phone to call home.  I will not be getting a replacement for my Garmin!  You can also set a “goal” time and it will tell you if you’re going too slow.

Look at the cool readout it gives me online:

I highly recommend it!  It works with: Works with: Nokia, HTC, iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG, HP, Eten, Palm, Motorola, as well as Garmin devices.

So, there you have it.  I did it!  I’m really proud of myself and can’t wait for the next race!

It’s been CRAZY busy since we last talked and now I’m in Virginia for work. 

On Sunday we watched Tessa so that my sister and her husband could go hunting and fishing.  My brother-in-law is a pilot and they take his plane and go to the “back-country”-you can’t get there with a car.  It was the first time in almost 2 years that they got to get out in the plane, just the two of them.  Tessa has always been with them.  I am SO happy that we got to help out and the girls were utterly adorable. This is why we moved!

Here they are in the morning, both sitting on the bird’s food containers, drinking water.  Right before this, they were scooting the containers around and squealing:

Yes, Lu is still in her PJs and yes that is a necklace around her neck.  Gram and Pop sent her a necklace for her birthday and it is now on her whenever she is awake.

Later that morning, we hopped on our bikes and took the girls to the zoo.  They had a blast!  I have all sorts of cute pictures but alas they are at home.  I did capture this shot on my phone from the ride home:

Poor Tessa was tired.  Lu isn’t quite sure how she feels about being a human pillow 🙂 (Do you see the necklace?)

Lu also always has her purse and “cell phone” with her.  Here she is taking a picture of Mommy with her “cell phone”-it’s an old defunct T-Mobile phone that her sitter gave her.  I was trying to get a picture of the hundreds of butterfly stickers on her chest and she, in turn, was taking a “picture” of Mommy:

Where did this girly-girl come from?  If there was ever a question in my mind about nature vs. nurture, there is no longer.  We have NOT encouraged this behavior.  We don’t discourage it either but purses, necklaces, and obsessions with shoes?  She is a girl, through and through.  That stuff is NOT learned.  Believe me!

~~~~~

How am I doing?  I’m good.  I’m really good.  I’m continuing to eat gluten, corn, dairy, and meat (sans fish) free. I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t helping.  It is helping.  At the encouragement of my doctor I tried some lamb (my favorite) last week-we were working under the assumption that I’m very allergic to corn so I should try truly grass fed animals.  Big mistake. Big. HUGE.  I got a stomach ache almost immediately and spent the night in the bathroom.  Lovely.

As for my energy level, I ran 10 miles this weekend in 1 hour and 59 minutes.  Like I said on Twitter, Ironman Chelsea would have cried because it was so slow.  Lucy’s Mommy?  Was really proud of herself.  I’m learning NOT to compare me to my pre-Lucy self.  I will get there BUT I was in the best shape of my life when I got pregnant, I had just finished an Ironman for goodness sake!  My half marathon is next weekend and I feel confident that I can finish with a 12 minute mile pace. The 10-miler didn’t make me sore! YAY!

Want to know what has made me sore?  Soccer and mountain biking.  Both of which, I am LOVING.  Absolutely LOVING.  Soccer is such a rush and I love playing on a team.  Mountain biking is fun and I love that Shaun and I have something to do together again.  Just the two of us.  We go during the week at lunchtime and it is awesome.

I love that our move has afforded me the possibility to be so active again.  I haven’t once missed my 2 hour commute.  I love that I get to work from home, see Lucy 20 times more, and work out during the time that I used to spend in the car.  Life is good, really good.

I’d better get to bed.  I have an 8 hour meeting that I’m leading tomorrow and it starts in 7 hours.  *Gulp*

I’ve been training for a half marathon on October 10th.  I’ve been running 3 times a week but I’ve been slow.  My pre-Lucy slow pace was a 10 min/mile.  I don’t even think my fast pace could be that now.  I’ve been averaging over a 14 minute mile on my runs which has been quite a blow to my ego.  I have to remind myself that I haven’t run regularly in almost 3 years and that I have to build up.  I know from past experiences that one day your body just seems to adjust and you get faster (or at least I do).  Today was that day! 

I jumped down to a 11:44 min/mile pace.  I’m super excited and proud of myself.  Yippee!!!!