It was me!

I dug my Nathan water bottle out of the recycle can.  I was pretty sure it was me and last night's run confirmed it.  My running accessories are fine - it was me, the end user that was having the technical difficulties.  So sorry Nathan.  Please forgive me - I'm chalking it up to being a newbie and having several senior moments.

For some reason, last night's run was very hard.  I was breathing like a chimney on the way back.  I had used my inhaler about 15 minutes before the run but forgot to take my Advil in the afternoon and my knees were letting me know it.  So sad to be old and creaky!   

I'm considering wearing a pink tank for my 5K on Saturday - but then again, I think of the photographer that will be there and the thought of my upper arms makes me think twice :).  We'll see, I'll make a decision Friday evening when I hear what the temperature is going to be.  

Another beautiful day here!  Low humidity and plenty of sunshine - a top down kind of day!  Loving my convertible and all my worries seem to fly out the top when I get into it.

Have a wonderful Wednesday :)

Technical Difficulties

Saturday, our beginning running group met to run our last "long" run before our big race next Saturday.  I love my Nike GPS App on my IPhone but with all my new "accessories" like my spy belt, I had a bit of a technical glitch.  I hate when that happens..........I had my Nike app all set up so all I would have to do it hit the green arrow and put the lock in but somehow, with my car key, house key and key fob jammed into the pocket, I somehow never set it to go off.  Bev's Garmin worked well so according to her data, we ran 3.09 miles.  It was hot and humid out but we made it. Afterwards, we all went to La Madeline's for breakfast.  It was very tempting for someone like me who follows a low carb diet, but I had quiche and a diet coke.  I know, not the best thing (the diet coke) but I already had my two cups of coffee before I left the house.  I picked up some chocolate croissants (4) for my guys, a loaf of fresh baked bread (for my guys), some balsamic dressing and some croûtons (for me) on my way out.  My youngest ate three of the croissants shortly after I arrived home and my husband finished the last one off.  My oldest was at work so he got totally left out.  It was a lovely morning and they didn't seem to mind us at all - a large group of sweaty women!

    Sunday, I ran my home route at 9:00 AM.  Another hot and humid day (93 with 70 % humidity).  3.9 miles and I felt great.  I tried out my new hand held container.  My first one, a Nathan, leaked so bad.  So I splurged and paid $20 for this one.


It leaked too - most of my drink poured out throughout the run onto my left leg. (Well, it least it helped cool me down).  I barely had anything left toward the end of the run.  Now, totally frustrated, but so glad I am trying these things out before race day, think it's not the item, but me.  I don't think I had the round seal down all the way when I put the lid on.  So, tonight I will try it out again and see if my theory is correct.  I'm betting I'll be digging my Nathan container out of the recycle bin.

Well - the weather has changed for the good.  The humidity is very low and it's shaping up to be a beautiful Tuesday.  Too bad I will be at work.  Any how - just hoping for dry weather on race day which is now 5 days away.

Have a wonderful day!

Almost there...........

It's been such a long time since I last posted, it's been a bit busy and well, haven't had too much free time.  A lot a happened though, most of it good!  Let's see - I got a new car!  A convertible!  It's a dark green Pontiac Solstice and I love it!  I know, it probably seems like I'm going through a mid life crisis.  But - as I told my husband, if we wait another 10 years, I probably won't be able to bend down to get into it.  So it's now or never :).

I blame my Dad for all of this - when I was growing up I would go with him to his friend's house.  His friend had an old dark green MG that he was planning on restoring.  Well, I was about 14 at that time, and I fell in love with that car.  That was about 33 years ago.  Well, when you first learn to drive, a convertible is out of the question - too dangerous.  And then my hubby, my high school sweat heart, and I got married really young (I was 20 and he was 19) so we couldn't afford anything at that point.  After I graduated from Maryland, we decided to start our family and you know how that goes - a convertible is out of the question with kids.  And now finally, our boys are well, soon to be 20 and 17, and now seems to be a good time.  I still have my mini-van so I can be football / swim / lacrosse mom when needed.  But for the most part, I've been driving around in a huge mini-van that sucks down gas like there is no tomorrow with no one in it but me.  At the most, I usually have my youngest with me, so now we can ride in style!

Other things that have happened during this time period:  I turned 47 (OMG), my hubby and I celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary (wow - I feel really old), I completed a 2 month on-line LEED course (4 CEU credits), worked, had tonsillitis, my youngest son wrapped up his high school lacrosse season,

and still somehow, have kept training for my first 5K which happens on June 18th.  My running last month took a nose dive while I was sick - I ran a fever for 5 days and ended up getting a second antibiotic because the first one didn't do anything.  I think I took about 30 Tylenol's per day that week because my throat felt like I was swallowing knives.  Good grief - I hope that was it for this year with being sick.  I didn't run for 7 days and had to resume my running slowly.

So, I did get my certificate for the on line course (Yea) and this past week, have been back in the saddle with the running.  Anyhow, looking forward to catching up on all the blogs for inspiration and hope it will carry me through for the 5K.  I'm starting to get nervous - but this morning my running group - the Montgomery County Road Runner's Beginning Women's Running group - ran the race course in preparation of the Big Day.  Good news is - I made it!  My running buddies Bev and Subta have been great and the program has been wonderful.  Our coaches are awesome and I would highly recommend the program to anyone.  Bev, Subta and I are going to register to the 10K program that starts in mid August and hope to run a 10K in November.  I think the running thing has caught us and that is a great thing!

And if I can run it, a 47 year old mom, that got way out of shape - somewhere between year 27 and 46 - anyone can.  :) 

Have a great Saturday!

Ladies Night Out

Friday night was ladies night out, there's a group of us from work that get together on a regular basis.  These ladies are wonderful and I'm so glad to have them as my friends.

Bowling isn't the same as it used to be - no way.  Today it's a smoke free environment, serving a gourmet menu, don't worry about keeping score (all automated) - just throw the ball and have a great time.  

It was Sandra's birthday (with the lei on) and Kristina (first row, right) and Ceil (back row, left) came up with a theme:  the Margarita's!  So Kristina, the crafty lady that she is, ordered these lime green t-shirts and added our names to the front left as well as our group name to the back of the shirt.

Check out the margarita (front right corner)!  We had a blast.  Sandra, the birthday girl, won with a total score of 98.  That's pretty sad, needless to say.  Catherine (front row, middle) had never experienced the joy of bowling.  We had dinner, bowled a game, enjoyed a margarita and had a wonderful Friday evening.   Oh, and one more thing just to let you know how bad we are at bowling, we had the gutters up.

Anyhow, it's been so busy but I've been continuing to work on my running efforts.  Our local road runner's group has a beginning running group that started on Tuesday.  I got my nerves up and took the plunge.  There was a pretty large turn out.  About 60 of us, ranging in age and fitness levels.  The coaches were wonderful and shared with all of us how they became runners which gave quite a few of us hope that just maybe, we might be able to become a runner after all.  Our BWR group meets Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings.  I couldn't believe it, but somehow I managed to get up and make it to the Saturday morning session.  We ran 10 minutes down and back and stretched.  They divided us into about 5 groups and we can switch back and forth as we want.  Then I came back home and did 5 miles on the treadmill. I was already dressed so thought I would get my work out in. 

A quick shower and off to my youngest son's lacrosse game.  Today I need to catch up on laundry and start doing some yard work.  Plus, make a quick trip to Costco and Safeway.  There just isn't enough time in the weekend - oh vey.

Birthday Bag

Here is the birthday bag I made for my best friend's daughter!  She turned 8 today! 

The pattern is by Sweetwater and it's so cute!  Perfect for a card and some goodies.

 

 I love their fabric, Sunkissed.  Just what is needed to bring Spring on.  

(Oh, and that's my really messy sewing table.  I need a new cutting board soon!)

My running efforts are continuing.  I need to find out how I can cut & paste my Nike Running log onto this.  I wasn't feeing too well this week, but I still was able to log 22+ miles.  Rain is in the forecast for most of next week - looks like I'll be using the treadmill a lot next week.  

A to Z or something like that:

(A) Age: 46

(B) Bed Size: Queen

(C) Chore You Really Dislike: Cleaning.  I'd rather be outside mowing the lawn or gardening.

(D) Dogs? Hannah, an American Bulldog.  She's 11.

(E) Essential Start Your Day: Coffee.  Must have.  Never drank coffee until after my second son was born.  Called my husband up on a Saturday when he was working and told him to stop at McDonald's and bring me home a cup of coffee and then proceeded to tell him we needed to go buy a coffee maker immediately.  I was never so tired in all my life after my son's were born but coffee saved me!  Now, I can't live without it.

(F) Favorite Color: Green

(G) Gold or Silver? Both - no need to choose.

(H) Height: 5’7” I was definitely this height when I was in my 20's and I'm sticking with it.

(I) Instruments You Play: Clarinet, guitar, piano.  Haven't played since I was in high school.  My son's played violin for several years and some piano.We own a lot of musical instruments.

(J) Job Title: Mom, MOM, PM, wife, daughter, maid, chef, etc.

(K) Kids: Two handsome athletically gifted sons.

(L) Live: Maryland

(M) Mom's Name: Lol

(N) Nicknames: don't

(O) Overnight Hospital Stays? A few, when I shattered my knee cap in high school, gallbladder surgery, when my son's were each born.

(P) Pet Peeve: When the men in my life don't rinse the sink.  Come on now............

(Q) Quote from a Movie: Don't have one or can't think of one right now.

(R) Right or Left Handed? Right.

(S) Siblings: one.

(T) Time You Wake Up? 5:00

(U) Underwear: My beautiful Hanes.

(V) Vegetable You Dislike: carrots

(W) What Makes You Run Late: Heading off to work with my house in disarray.

(X) X-Rays: Both knees, pituitary gland, mammogram

(Y) Yummy Food You Make:Quiche, Chicken Tortilla Soup and the best Italian baked meatballs

(Z) Zoo, Favorite Animal:elephants

Road Runner's Club

Well, I did it.  I joined my local road runner's club.  I mailed in my application on Saturday.  Yea for me.  They have a beginning women's running session that begins in April.  My new shoes came and boy what a difference.  I bought my last pair in June or July.  So it was definitely time to replace them.  Unfortunately, I have been doing mostly my running on the treadmill, I think it's been about 2 months.  However, we are in for a warming trend this weekend and the snow has finally melted off the sidewalks and paths on my route.  I may be able to get out this weekend.

The other great thing is that I finally believe I have diagnosed properly, only after 18 years...........I'm grateful I finally found a fantastic doctor.  Now I may get the adequate levels of hormones I need to treat central hypothyroidism, rather than just barely enough as if I had primary hypothyroidism.  I may be able to make it to menopause after all.  I may not need the D & C, hysterectomy and who knows what else they have discussed.  I may be able to wear more than black slacks at work. Imagine that.

Anyway, I really am grateful that I ditched all my previous doctors and found two wonderful, smart, caring doctors that LISTEN and don't hesitate to do the proper tests.  And, they are women.  I know that I am on the road to good health now.   Finally, after 18 years, 2 neurological events, wacko blood tests, and some other really unexplained symptoms.  I am so happy :)