Muffin Top

Running Buddies

I loathe running with a jogging stroller. So, I rarely do it. But, yesterday was so gorgeous that even the prospect of pushing 50+ lbs uphill couldn't deter me.

Here are my running buddies, ready to go.

 
Here they are, 3 miles later... "Mommy, look - Molly's snuggling on me!" They were so cute, I might have to start running with them more often. Maybe. Probably not. But it's tempting. Kind of.

I survived!

Well, here's the "before" picture.

(Please note: Race Start Time - 7:40 am. Sunrise - 7:45 am.)

And, the "after." (I am still alive. Woo hoo!)

Matt & Owen braved the cold to see me off at the start and cheer me in at the end. My friends Katie & Betty (and little Dylan!) came out to cheer for me, and Katie even ran six miles with me!

Definitely wasn't my fastest race ever, but hey, I did it.

"Tapering"

In case you forgot, my half-marathon is this Saturday.

Yep, that's three days from now.

Usually when you're training for a big race, you gradually build up in mileage over several weeks - and toward the end, like in the last week or so, you cut back your mileage quite a bit. This is called "tapering."

You could say I've done very well at tapering.

I started tapering about 3 weeks ago.

(Are you impressed with my denial about the fact that I am a complete slacker?)

Make it stop. Make it stop!!!

Okay, seriously - about to lose my freaking mind over here.

I wake up at 6:00 this morning to the sound of Owen crying, so I get up to nurse him. Quick feeding, and back to bed for the little guy because his day is not allowed to begin before the sun rises. Anyway, 6:30 and I'm crawling back into bed to catch another hour or so of sleep.

(Sidebar - crawling back into bed on a Friday morning is my reward at the end of a week of not crawling back into bed.) (And instead going running.) (In the dark.) (With my big German Shepherd.) (The training is going well - thanks for asking.)

So anyway, I crawl back into my warm, comfy, cozy bed, anticipating an extra luxurious hour of sleep and am welcomed by the sound of our neighbor's alarm clock going off. (FYI, we live in an apartment, and apparently our bedroom shares a wall with our neighbor's bedroom.) Mind you, the alarm was already going off when I got back to my bed at 6:30, so I really have no idea how long it had been going off, but let's just say I laid in bed and tried to will myself back to sleep but gave up at 6:45 when it was still. going. off. And we're not talking about an alarm clock set to the local country radio station. (No, that one goes off at 5:30 - I only woke up to that one the first week we were here. I sleep through the country music extravaganza now.) This alarm is the heart-warming beep. beep. beep. beep. freaking. beep!!

Oh, and might I add that this happened yesterday too!? Um, okay, I guess that requires the confession that I almost skipped my run yesterday. Yes, I tried to crawl back to bed after nursing my sweet son who just will not drop this ridiculous crack of dawn feeding, but after laying awake listening to my neighbor's alarm clock go off for ten minutes figured that clearly God was trying to help me stay on track with my training and I better get my hiney out of bed.

Apparently, today God is trying to help me have blog material?

*Update: 7:15 am. From where I'm sitting in the living room, just heard aforementioned neighbor return home from walking dog. Alarm has been silenced. (DUDE. Hitting the snooze button and then leaving your apartment is not okay.)

Lesson learned.

Want to know the best way to motivate yourself to run at 6:00 AM?

Go for a run at 6:00 PM.

Nothing like giving the humidity a 12-hour head start.