Staycation!

Today is my last day of a mini staycation. The first few days were filled with some fun and activities for Emme including the pool, some friends time and a trip to Skyzone trampoline park for some jumping and flipping. Last night Jason and I had dinner at Outback and enjoyed some steak and crabs and a totally sinful desert.  Today is all about the yard and home and feeling productive.  I may make it to the pool for some me time or I may not. Emme is with her dad at the beach so she is taken care of, Jason is off to work and so it really is all about me and whatever I want to do today 😄  I don't get a lot of that and for a while so much alone time would have been a chore - but today, as I sit here sweating like a pig after mowing the lawn, I view it as wide open opportunity to think about only me and my needs.  I may need another cup of coffee or a run to Whole Foods or some sunning myself at the pool with a good book. As much as I love my kids and family I am finally discovering ways that I love myself, too, and that's a pretty great state of being I think.

This is Me

I was reading through some of my blog today and it made me smile. I cannot believe my baby is getting so grown up. The world keeps spinning.  Sometimes I wish it would just stop and sometimes I'm glad it keeps going whether I am holding on or not, I am happy for the constant that is the fact that all things change. 

I'm happy with my life. I am happy with the parent I am and the woman I have been growing into.  My house is filled with pets and love and now and again I am reminded that I'm doing it - even on days when I still feel like my world keeps falling apart I remind myself that I just have to pick up the pieces and keep going. 

I Beat Broad Street!!!

So, we did it.  It was a cold and dreary Sunday morning, the first day of May.  It was Emme's 11th birthday and my second running of the Broad Street 10 Miler.  Sam and I did it.  No one else that we had talked about running with was there with us, but Sam and I trudged down Broad Street, side by side, for 10 miles at a pace of between 11 1/2 and 12 minutes per mile.  We wore wicking fabric, hats and plastic ponchos.  We endured the rain, hit a couple water stations, one Gatorade station and stopped at mile 4 to give a hug or high five to my daughter, Mallorie.

I didn't train as well as I had wanted to -- the weather was a killer this winter/spring with plenty of cold lasting later into the year than I would have hoped, but in the end none of that matter because want it was time for rubber to hit the road, I did it.  I ran it.  I finished it and I am incredibly proud of myself.  I stayed basically injury free, I trained mostly on my own, with a run here and there with a friend, but when push came to shove I got out there and ran alone.  Yeah Me!!!!

This has not been the easiest year for me at times emotionally.  I still have an awful lot of work to do, but guess what -- I tackled and won Broad Street on May 1st.  I pounded pavement in the rain for two hours and 2 minutes and at the end, in the Navy Yard, I was beaming from ear to ear because I did this -- for me and for me alone.  I'll be back again -- at which time I will be even better because this time I will not back slide -- I will build on this momentum and will keep going forward.  Everyone else can catch up if they want to, but I'm a gonna keep on going...

Slow and Steady...

Hopefully wins the race.  The pickup for training has been a little slow -- but I'll keep at it.  I ran twice last week, I've been keeping moving, and I'm as determined as ever to get out there an run, chipping away at building up my endurance a little at a time.  The weather, however, is not exactly cooperating.  Saturday was a run day, yesterday was way too cold, today I really need to get some food in my house or the kids are going to revolt, and tomorrow it is supposed to rain (again/more/still).  It is supposed to be warmer tomorrow, so maybe running in the drizzle won't be so bad.

I need to get out there tomorrow and Friday to get two runs in, and possibly even Sunday to bump it up to three this week (and add a little time to it as well).  Saturday my prima ballerina as a competition, so that will take up most of my day.  Oh, the life of a working/running/trying mommy...

Let's get it started...

Sadly, some of our "team" of runners did not get picked through the Broad Street Lottery.  I guess it will depend on how much they really want to run -- there are other avenues for acquiring a bib.  This weekend the weather is supposed to break somewhat, so my plan is to get out there and run, at least a little, and get this training thing started.

I'm really looking forward to it.  This is "the year of Pam" and I am completely and totally embracing the idea of doing things that make me feel strong and confident and, basically, just all around amazing about myself.

I am 49 years old.  I have been through highs and lows and sometimes even the pits of life, but I'm still standing and I'm still growing and still making improvements along the way.  I am a work in progress and I have finally reached that point in my life where if something isn't bringing me happiness, adding joy or at least bringing me a sense of accomplishment, making me feel good about me and what I am doing with my life I just don't find it necessary.  I love my kids and my family and my friends and they love me back and that's a good thing.  People are complicated and I am no exception to that.  The trick is surrounding oneself with those whose complexities make life interesting and stimulating and rewarding.  Dull is just not an option.  Life is way to short to not enjoy the everyday, to find something to laugh about and spark a little bit of joy.

This was the first organized race I ever ran -- it was cold and my attire was a mismosh of things intended to keep me warm.  I still really don't care what I look like when I'm running -- comfort is the main objective.  I also had no idea they snapped pictures along the race route -- not that that would have probably had much of an impact either way.

Tonight I am going to the gym to get going on the treadmill and design my training plan for Broad Street -- I made it last year, I ran the whole thing and I finished, but this year I want to do better, be better.  I don't want to be fighting off injury and hoping to just finish -- I want to really DO IT, enjoy it, embrace the whole experience. 

I'm hoping some of my friends/family will be there to cheer me on or see me cross the finish line.  Knowing me, the me over the last 49 years, it is impressive that I completed this event last year and simply amazing that I want it again so badly.

The countdown has begun.

In with Finn...

I'm in!!!  Again this year I have been selected through the Broad Street Run lottery, as well as some of my running buddy friends, Sam, Leon and Elaine Finn.  Elaine, Sam and I started this whole running thing in September 2014.  We ran a couple races and felt so good about ourselves that we signed up last year for Broad Street and we all got in.  We ran, we trained, we completed the race and we celebrated afterwards.  It was awesome.  Elaine is moving home to Ireland this summer, in either May or June, so running Broad Street together again will be kind of our last big thing to do together.  I'm psyched that we will do this together again and that I will have this as a lasting memory of our friendship.

RunnerGirl is back at it and I couldn't be more pleased.  Ten miles down Broad Street makes me feel a little bit like a warrior princess, I must admit.  I've never been athletic, but this is an accomplishment I am so proud of and I am so happy I get to repeat.

Fat Thursday...

I know that normally people have Fat Tuesday and that I am kind of cheating -- but today was the day already established to celebrate my birthday with friends at lunch, so it was my Fat Thursday.  We had lunch, we celebrated, I enjoyed a Starbuck's Molten Chocolate Latte :-) YUM.  It's all good and now, tomorrow, we run, we get back on track, we start the training for Broad Street.  Today I have also been tempted to sign up for the Philly Rock N Roll Half - Hmmm, I think I can, I think I can...

Run run run just as fast as you can...

Okay -- it's that time of year again.  I signed up for the Broad Street Run Lottery and I hope that my luck is as good as it was last year - fingers crossed that I and all of my closest running buddies will be selected for the 2016 Philadelphia Broad Street Run.  It's time to dust off my running playlist, lace up my shoes, and start running again.  I'm really excited to get back in to the RunnerGirl mode.  Last year I kind of felt obligated because of all the trash talk we did to get each other motivated and going, but my heart wasn't really, really in to it.  I had a couple injuries and set backs and kept going because I wanted to be able to say I did it, but this year I'm really feeling it.  I cannot wait to get back to it.  I'm going to start nice and easy, indoors on a treadmill to build up some endurance and then, once the weather breaks and it is bearable again I'm going to get back out on pavement and RUN again. Go me :-)!

Back in The Lane

So, finally, after nearly two months of healing, I ran again last night. It felt great to be back out ther with my running shoes on plowing away. I only ran about a mile and a half, but it's something to build on. Yeah Me!