Am I Crazy?

I have gone and done it.......today I registered for the Oklahoma City 1/2 Marathon on May 1st! Am I crazy to attempt running two 1/2 marathons just 15 days apart?!?!?!

Crazy or not.....the money has been paid and the goal as been set. Knock on wood, I have stayed injury free and been a good girl stretching, icing and not over training while following my training plan this time around. It only took me 3 times training to figure out I REALLY needed to stick with my training plan....I have learned I tend to over train by running too much/too often which has led to fatigue and injuries in the past.

I am hoping to finish the OKC 1/2 marathon and then support/cheer on Chad as he is running the full marathon that day as well. We will be on the same course for the first 8 miles before full marathoners take to a different route. This will be an amazing accomplishment for him and I plan to stretch, recover and find him somewhere in the 20's miles to run again with and push him to the end if possible. I also included some fun pictures from spring break last week. We didn't leave Manhattan, but we had a some fun adventures during our time off! :) Using our Book It Certificates and making pizza bow ties at lunch! Collin at City Park in Manhattan

Mitchell and I bowling....he got his first spare!

Collin at Sunset Zoo....he loved all the animals and wanted to see more!

Time to taper

Angela's 1/2 Marathon Training Schedule: Week 14 Sunday: rest Monday: 30 minute run (easy) Tuesday: XT Wednesday: 2.5 mile tempo run @ 9:20 Thursday: 30 minute run Friday: rest Saturday: 5 miles (long) It's the end of March....which means I am now 3 weeks out from my next 1/2 marathon. Being off for spring break was awesome last week and I was able to get my 12 mile long run accomplished on Friday before leaving for a girl's weekend in Grand Island with some friends from high school. At's Shana's shower with Laura and Brenda....it was great to get together with them in Grand Island this past weekend! I had some issues with a sore right knee around mile 2, but I was able to work through it and it seemed to be fine once I had warmed up. This was my final long run before the 1/2 marathon on April 16th. The next few weeks I will taper off and hope to have a great run (in spring temperature hopefully) soon!

Spring Break and Week 13

Angela's 1/2 marathon training schedule: week 13
Sunday: 40 minute run (easy)
Monday: rest
Tuesday: 4 mile tempo run @ 9:20
Wednesday: xt
Thursday: rest
Friday: 12 mile long run
Saturday: rest

My beautiful flowers that Chad got for me this weekend... a great way to start spring break!

I have already completed my 40 minute easy run for week 13 of my 1/2 marathon training. This week will be my last long run before I start tapering before the race on April 16th. I am off this week for spring break and the boys and I have already enjoyed the warm spring weather today by playing at the park and having a picnic lunch with my parents. I have a feeling my days of rest and cross training will involve trips to the park, riding bikes and playing basketball in the driveway.

I placed 28th out of 67 runners in my age group Saturday which is an improvement over my 37th place finish from 2010. I'm hoping to continue to train strong and hopefully have a PR again next month during my third 1/2 marathon!

56:03=10K PR!!!!!

That's right.....not only did I finish the St Patty's Day 10K in under an hour, but I crushed my previous personal best of 1:00:40! Originally I was just wanting to finish under an hour, even if that meant a time fo 59:59. Chad was sure I would be able to finish in 57 minutes....and I thought he and was nuts!

Still, my biggest supporter was confident and after running 13 miles before the 10:45 start time on Saturday....he joined me to finish his 19 mile run by also running the 10K with me. After running for 13 miles, Chad was able to push me to keep a strong pace. There was no way I would have kept the 9:03 minute mile pace without him as my running partner. Once we hit the turn around point, it was cool, breezy and it had started to rain....not ideal running conditions. Chad pushed me through a brief mental block around mile 3.5 and I was able to finish the 6.2 mile course in 56:03!!!!!!!! Bettering my PR by 4:17 was a great feeling.....I'm still no speed demon, but I continue to get faster and stronger.

what lies underneath

I have always considered myself a bit of a neat freak.....I like things to be picked up and clean. I'm sure Chad would perhaps use other words to describe my cleaning ways over the years, but I feel like I have gotten better and let some things go as life has gotten busier with two kids, two careers and all that comes along with what was previously mentioned.

I had to start my spring break a day early as Mitchell is now home with a fever. I decided to get started on some of my spring cleaning on this Friday since I was home. Motrin seems to make a new man out of Mitchell (until it wears off) and he had a great time making a bubble wrap slide out of the steps this morning while I started working on the boy's rooms.

After stripping beds, washing all bedding, and flipping mattress in each room....I couldn't help but notice what looked like an additional toy box forming under each boy's bed! Listed below is what I pulled out from under Mitchell and Collin's beds this morning.

Mitchell's Room

1 sit and spin
1 large toy semi truck

1 inflatable Chuck-E-Cheese Crown

2 Highlights magazines

1 envelope

2 valentine's

3 bristle blocks

3 books

1 dinosaur

1 plastic orange

Collin's Room

1 foam sword

1 cab to a tractor

9 books

1 horse calendar

1 Cars slipper

1 train

3 pieces of track

2 airplanes

2 cowboy figures

3 horses

1 small giraffe

1 piece of paper money

I tend to go by the notion of there is a place for everything and everything has it's place....but maybe I need to revisit this notion with my son's! :)

I continue to clean and disinfect! Hopefully Chad and I will stay free of this virus! He will be running 19 miles tomorrow (gasp)...and is going to run with me during the 10K on Saturday which will hopefully push me to finish under an hour!!!

A story about a fox and speaking whale

Mitchell always comes home with lots of artwork and drawings that he has made at school. He loves to draw and is very expressive. This week on our way to have a speical treat from DQ after supper he showed me a picture he had made and started to tell me the story behind it....(notice what is drawn in the top left hand corner before you continue reading).




The story was about a fox....a girl fox for that matter. This girl fox did NOT make good choices (according to Mitchell) and was selling smoking and pills to other foxes! (His words of course) At this point I would venture to guess the look on our faces as parents in the front seat of the van was priceless. As the story continued and the side glances to each other got more frequent....Chad finally choked back his laughter and asked where he had heard this story. Mitchell proceeded to tell us there had been a book read about not using bad things like smoking and pills during his after school program. Where the girl fox comes into all of this.....no one is for sure!


Kindergartners can be SO serious when telling details of new information they have just learned...it is hard not to laugh at their interpretations of the new concepts of life they are learning as they explain them in their own words. The creative stories, pictures and play that Mitchell comes up with continue to amazes me.



Now on to Collin.......

Last week Collin was home with a fever most of the week. We watched "Spirit" and "Finding Nemo" more times than Chad and I would like to mention while he was sick. Now that he is back to his old self....he has started saying lines or singing songs from both movies. This morning Chad texted me that Collin was speaking whale and saying almost the exact lines like Dori while they were on the way to daycare. He is such a such a little ham!

I wonder where the boys gets this?

For those of you wondering....yes, I am wearing a wig! :)

Ran my 4 mile tempo run in 36:21 today....that's a 9:06 minute mile! I'm no speed demon, but pretty good for this girl. 30 days until the Wickedly Fast 1/2 Marathon in Olathe, KS!!!

33 years old and 33 days

Angela's 1/2 Marathon Training Schedule: Week 12

Monday: 40 minute run (easy)
Tuesday: XT or rest
Wednesday: 4 miles @ 9:20 (tempo)
Thursday: XT
Friday: rest
Saturday: 6.2 miles (long...and running 10K St. Patty's Day Road Race!)

Collin found his favorite part of Cico Park on Saturday right away!

We all enjoyed the warm weather on Saturday....now if we can only get two days in a row of this spring like weather, that would be wonderful!

The St. Patty's Day 10K Road Race in Manhattan lined up perfect with my training schedule. After running 11 miles this past weekend, my next week involves another killer 4 mile tempo run, but a shorter distance for my long run on the weekend.

During the first part of my long run today, I felt so good that I took out at a pretty good clip (rookie mistake as Chad stated) and by mile 7, I was pretty much toast. But I slowed down, battled through and completed my 11 mile long run. I am still hoping to finish under 1 hour this upcoming weekend and set a PR on a 10K race...one of my goals for 2011.

33 years old and 33 days until my 3rd half marathon! :)

Press Your Luck

I am on my second day home with a sick little Collin....he's been out 3 days total this week and I think we finally have him on the mend. This crazy virus was accompanied with a high fever that had us pretty panicked on Monday night, but I am happy to report that we have been fever free since last night and hopefully we have turned the corner on the path to wellness. I jinxed myself yesterday e-mailing work too soon that I should be back for Tuesday (calling out "no whammies" in my e-mail)...but Collin's fever had other plans. I have been cleaning and disinfecting like crazy these past two days in the hopes that no one else will come down with this awful virus. I am looking for springtime to be here now more than ever!!!!

One of my favorite game shows growing up was "Press Your Luck". NO WHAMMIES!!!!

After having a great long run last Friday, I found it hard to get motivated to start my training schedule this week. The combo of Collin being sick and lack of sleep kept me out of my running shoes until yesterday. I finally broke down and got my 40 minute easy run out of the way using our treadmill at home. For whatever reason, I always seem to struggle when I have to run on this 6 year old piece of workout machinery. I'm sure most of it is mental....especially since I was able to run 10 miles less than a week ago at nearly the pace that I ran on this treadmill yesterday for just 40 minutes! The long run seemed like a breeze compared to the 40 minutes of torture that yesterday felt like.

I plan to get another quick 20 minutes of interval training done this afternoon while Collin is napping. I will save my 3 mile tempo run for tomorrow afternoon on a treadmill I have better mojo with. :)

The special horsie store

Angela's 1/2 marathon training schedule: week 11
Sunday: 40 minute run (easy)
Monday: rest
Tuesday: XT
Wednesday: 3 miles @ 9:20 pace (tempo)
Thursday: XT
Friday: rest
Saturday: 11 miles (long)

I decided to name my next blog after Collin's favorite store.....Orschlen's Farm and Home! He now calls it Oschlen's, but we still laugh about how just a few months ago he just called it "The special horsie store." :)

Anyone who has potty trained a boy can relate with me about this long journey. I have found solace from most mother of boys who have expressed the same previous frustrations and the sheer will that one little boy can have against the whole potty training process. Orschlen's has been our store of celebration for success with Collin and this past week there were extra special treats as you can see below. Definitely something that you won't find in most other stores! :)

Grandma helping Collin hold a baby duck


One giggly 6 year old trying to pick up and hold a baby chicken

Grandma and Grandpa Ammeter came along one night to see the baby chickens, ducks and turkey's.

Orscheln's wasn't just the best place to find horses this week, it was also a built in mini petting zoo. Petting the baby chickens was so much fun and FREE...something mommy and daddy like best of all!

Under an hour?

St. Patrick’s Day
10K/2 Mile Road Races
March 19, 2011 (Manhattan, Kan.)

10:45 a.m. — Open 10K

http://universityextras.com/letsgorun.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/10KMap.pdf

Chad and I will run our next race in just a few weeks. We both ran this 10K last year (and it was windy and cold!!) But it is also still my fastest 10K time to date at 1:00:04. I am really hoping I can get run this race strong and finally finish a 10K (that's 6.2 miles remember) in under an hour.

I just got back from running my long run on the Linear Trails of Manhattan. It has been years since I have been on them (they are not close to our house), but today I thought it might be a good place to run with the stiff north wind. Even though this isn't my first time entering double digit long runs....I am also so proud and amazed to accomplish running this far without stopping! The run felt good, the trail is basically flat, protected by the wind and I felt like I could have keep going at a strong pace even when I came to the end of the run. I averaged just over a 10 minute mile which is faster than my recommended pace during training, but it was good to know I could keep that pace very easily.

The craziest part about this long run is that I didn't see a single sole during my entire 1:40:37 of running 10 miles on the trail. Lots of time to think, listen to some great tunes on my MP3 Player and again just a great feeling to accomplish running 10 miles!