8,9,10

Mitchell showing Collin what potty training is all about....he's such a good big brother and of course, a silly little boy!

My little cheese Collin. At 22 months he can sing his ABC's and count to 10! Not always in the right order, but still pretty amazing for his age!!

As the time for the 1/2 marathon gets closer, the miles on my long run continue increase. I am now running distances that I never thought I would achieve in my running. Before the March snow storm hit last weekend, I was able to log an 8.08 mile run! More importantly, it felt good and I felt like I could have kept going at the end so I was able to finish strong. I'm not breaking any records, but for a girl that hasn't ran a day in her life past junior high track....averaging a 10 minute mile over his amount of distance was a satisfying feeling!!

Next up? You guessed it, 9 miles this weekend and 10 miles (gasp) the following weekend. Physically, I feel like this can be done. I continue to stretch and ice my foot....just ask my family and the ladies in the counseling center about how often I can be seen doing both of these!! The bigger conflict now is time. Balancing work, family, the house and finding time to run this distance is a struggle. We have wonderful family and great neighbors who are great with the boys and have allowed Chad and I to be able to do some long runs together which has been a huge blessing. At this point, I find myself planning for our long runs 2 weeks in advance!

It's hard not to feel like I am being selfish at this point. For Chad and I both to run separately, recover, stretch and ice....takes a huge chunk out of our day! We both want to spend as much time as possible with our amazing boys and I don't want them to feel cheated. But I also know that by staying fit and healthy, we both have more energy to play with them. And mentally, I have found running to be a great stress reliever from my sometimes very crazy job as a school counselor.

As I run out of fingers to count the amount of miles I am running each week in preparation for the 1/2 marathon, I also find myself feeling more and more like I am on a balance beam as well. Here is to surviving the long distance runs and keeping my mommy guilt in check during the coming weeks!!