Phone dump

 Who would have ever thought that we could get a little hike in down at Caesars Creek on Dec 28th??!

This little girl is always cracking her Nana up!

Hubby playing Santa for the daycare my daughter works at...he looks pretty good huh?

 Christmas Eve jammies....oh how I love this time of year!

 My Ashley said YES!! 

I ran across this the same day that I had a really tough run!  I don't know why it was tough but it was. I haven't had that bad of a run in a while.  But when I seen this.....well it helped...just a little,  but it helped.  

I'm going to be having surgery on the 3rd of January and its going to keep me from working out or running for about 6 weeks.  Blah! I sure hope that I bounce back somewhat quickly!  I have major goals for 2014!  

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Merry Christmas!

Running, Chicago and Christmas

Truly do not know where the time goes.  Seems like it was just yesterday that I completed my half marathon and that was in September.  Here we are two and a half weeks until Christmas.  

Thanksgiving truly seems like a speeding blur!  We started our turkey day out with an 8k turkey trot in a nearby town.  I have ran this race before and just love the feeling you get knowing that you got up early, in the freezing cold ran with friends and family then celebrate the holiday.  I just love it.  There were lots of us running it too.  Me, Ashley, Calvin, Linda and Sarah were all doing the 8k and my husband, three daughters and two grandchildren did the one mile.  This was a new course from last year and was really fun!  I wanted to do this run in an hour and felt that it was pushing but not too bad considering that I was just coming back from my radiation crap!! I felt great the first 3.5miles then started to feel tired.  Wasn't too long and I was able to get back in the groove and take it on home.  I finished it in 59min.  Yes, I was good with that.

Other happenings have been getting ready for Christmas and doing a little road trip with Ashley.

Ashley had to be there for a couple days for training and wanted me to go with her....um ok! We were able to take the train into downtown Chicago and do a little Christmas shopping and then grab a bite to eat.  Even though the time was short it was so much fun and still was able to get in a run workout in the hotel's gym.

This gym was so small and was so hot that my run of 4 miles turned into interval runs.  My heart rate was really high and the only thing I could think for it to be that high was because it was so hot in the room.  

After my workout and was pretty sweaty even though the pic doesn't do it true justice.  Felt pretty good after all was done!! 

We arrived home Friday evening just as the snowstorm started hitting.  It was pretty bad and driving was super slow!

Saturday we were invited to a baby shower that involved three lovely ladies who were due the same month and were all related.  Was pretty fun and was a couples party and this is what I wore but opted to not do the boot socks! Not sure what I was doing here....guess I was trying to make sure everybody seen my socks.

Actually I had my daughter take this pic to send to Ashley to see if she liked these with the outfit.  Lol...we did like it but I opted to not wear them.  

With the new year coming quickly I have thought a lot of what I want to do for 2014 when it comes to my runs.  I have decided that I am going to do 4 half marathons.  Anybody who knows me, knows that is big for me.  But, I have sorta, kinda come up with a plan and I will be posting about that in my next post and with all the details of which races I decided upon.  

Do any of you have any plans or goals for the new year?  Tell me them....would love to know!

Feeling more like myself..

Now that I've come through yet another LID and my second radiation, I am starting to feel like my old self again.  I have been back to doing some short runs and working out with my trainer.  You truly don't realize just how much this knocks you down until you finally get your meds built back up and start to get your energy back.

This is me and feeling like my old self again.

Just finished my run on the treadmill and feeling pretty darn great!

Starting to see a teeny little definition in my arms again!

Ashley and I have still been walk/running and on other days I have been doing my own runs plus cross training with the elliptical and working out with Katy!  We have been doing anywhere from 3 to 5 miles outside.  With the weather being very cold here I wasn't sure how she would handle it but so far she has just been awesome!! We just bundle up and take off.

After our 4miles last night!  Even though it's still tough for her to get into a good groove, she sticks it out and still smiles at the end!

So for other things I have had plenty of energy for and thats for our annual deer day!

About 8yrs ago my husband thought he would add a few deer to our front yard for the holidays.  Well it has grown from about 30 deer(which is still crazy) to about 85 deer.  So about 5yrs ago my dad suggested we have a big get together to help us put out our deer.  We could do chili or pizza and snacks and just make a day of it.  Well, that we have done, and it has grown into about 25 to 30 people each year.  We either make several pots of chili with subs to having pizzas delivered with each of them bringing a dessert or a side that goes with what we are having.  And it never fails, each year when the neighbors around see us out there working we get tons of honks and waves showing us that they are excited for deer day also.   We have 85 deer, the house and all its lights, a big huge blue Christmas tree for fallen police officers, three big huge pine trees decorated, tons of bushes and trees, a decent size nativity and manger set,  and lighted candy canes lining the huge driveway.    It is nothing for us to look out the family room window and see a line(if not stopped) of traffic on our little country rd.  or to be coming home and can't get into our driveway due to people stopping and taking pictures.  We love it!! Here are a few pics of what it all looks like!

What family traditions do you look forward to each year?

Look who's running

Yes!! This girl! My Ashley! My baby my oldest girl! She has been on a journey of wanting to lose some weight and get into fitness.  She joined her local gym and set out on the Advocare 24 day challenge back in August.   She dropped 11lbs in that 24 days and was totally excited.  She has signed up for the 8k Turkey Trot and wants to beat her time from two years ago.  I don't think she will have a problem at all.  Just in our walk/run 5 miles last week while on vacation in Florida, she beat her time by 6min.  When she ran the Turkey Trot 2 years ago her time was 1hr 17min and was 20lbs lighter.  So she was so thrilled with our time and is now very motivated to beat this time even if by only 3 min.  

Needless to say this has me absolutely thrilled that she has picked this running thing up and wants to live a healthy and fit active lifestyle.  

We went on a run last night after she got off work.  The goal was to do 5 miles but that if she was too tired or if the weather was too cold we would just do 2.5.  I could tell this run was pretty rough on her because it was not only cold the wind was pretty strong as well.  Well not only did we finish the 5 miles we went a little farther and in pretty decent time.  5.10 miles in 1 hour and 13min.  Not bad considering it was after a long day of work and it was cold!  Switching from vacation running in Florida to good ole cold winter Ohio running is a big switch!  

Love this!

Hanging in there...

Hey guys!! Just a little update to what I have been doing.  I have finished my half marathon.  I beat last years time by 10 minutes!! I was lucky enough to run this with my son Christopher.  This was his very first half marathon and he had done very little training.  Hmph!! However, I might have done a whole Summer of training and building up the miles while he just went out and ran it, I wasn't the sore one afterwards...he was =)  But either way it was truly fun and I loved every minute of it.  

So this year I completed two 5k's, a 10k, and a half and finishing with an 8K Turkey Trot.  The Turkey Trot will be just for fun with no time limits on me due to me just coming back from my LID and radiation for the last 4 weeks.  

Speaking of all that, I am so glad that is all done with and I can now be back on my medicine and start to feel better and enjoy my vacation and the upcoming holidays.  

This time around wasn't as bad as the first time around.  It just truly sucks going off the Synthroid for so long and being on that low iodine diet.  But I didn't have to go into isolation due to not having to take as much radiation as last time.  So that was exciting! After my radiation two days later I did the full body scan and was immediately told everything looked really great and I was able to start my meds immediately and can get back to a normal diet.  Yay!!

That was all a week and a half ago and since I have been back on my meds I have felt so much better with each passing day.  I have started back with my workouts, slowly, and that feels wonderful!! My runs of course have been anywhere from 1-3 miles but have felt good.  Slow but good.  My goal for now is to just run and build up my miles and speed just a bit.  

So that is pretty much where I am at and I'm pretty good with it all too! 

I have loved reading and keeping up with everybody and their marathon training and all the runs too.

Today I ran outside in this beautiful Fall weather for 2.3miles and loved every step!! No time, no watch, just me, my footsteps and the music! 

Feels good to feel good again!

Wordless Wednesday

Long run Saturday...

Every week I feel a bit nervous about my long runs.  I've really tried to just be nonchalant about it but easier said than done.   I think a lot of it is the humid and hot weather that we have been having.  I just have such a hard time breathing in this that even my inhaler sometimes doesn't help.   This past Saturday my long run consisted of 11.5 miles with a dew point of 71 and humidity 90something percent and 74 degrees!! At 6:30am!!!  I know!!! You guys know I'm slow and I have learned to embrace that.  Especially in the hot weather and knowing that I will be out there for a while.  Once I let go of the of the fact that I'm never going to be fast, I have felt so much better about the long run.  Me and the hubs started out around 6:30am and you could already feel the thickness in the air.  On my long runs he will ride his bike while I run keeping me company.  I felt really good throughout the first 9.5 miles.  Stayed within my pace, hydrated and fueled often.   At about 9.5 miles my legs started to really feel tight and heavy!!! We stopped for a minute so I could stretch and hydrate.  I literally sat on the bike path and stretched.  But it must have been a good idea because when I started back running my legs felt so much better and I was able to ROCK the last 2 miles!  I felt like this girl!  

That long run was exactly what I needed! It was tough and my body ached for the biggest part of the day but I didn't hate my life!  I needed this to know I am strong and I can do it! My goal is to get across my half marathon finish line and feeling strong.  Yes, I want to do it under last years time and I think I will.... if even by a minute!

I'm going to get better at taking pics for you guys!

My Summer in pictures...

 Enjoying morning coffee on the porch

 Loving my home

 Taking care of this little girl

 And loving every minute of it too!

 Trips to the amusement park

 Running a 5k with my girls

 Running my first 10k

 Going for a training run

 Picture break in the middle of a run

 New shoes

 Enjoying

 All 

 The

Beauty 

So how has your Summer been?