the value of rest (and stretching)

I took 10 days off running.

My hip hurt. When my hip hurt, my knee hurt. And sometimes when my knee hurt, my ankle and toes hurt too. And most of my highly qualified internet diagnoses included the warning, "do not try to run through the pain."

So I finally listed and stopped. For 10 whole days, I thought about what was going wrong.

1. I suck at mid-week runs. I am busy in the evenings, the mornings are hard not that it's dark and when the hubs is out of town, I have to stick with Henry. When I don't do the mid-week runs I need to do and only do long runs, it's forcing my body to do way more than it's really strong enough for yet. Even though I can run nine miles just fine.

2. I don't like stretching. I do the obligatory ones at the end of my run, but I don't really stretch the way I should. So now, I have a trusty foam roller to help with my IT band and have spent more time doing the long, slow stretches my body needs to recover.

3. I don't cross-train regularly. It's starting to sound like I am a marathon training disaster. But, rewind to the busyness, it's really hard to get my runs in AND cross-train other than a long walk with the fam. I have a free gym membership with my grad student status, so I think it's high time I get acquainted with a gym.

I ran 8 miles Sunday on the most gorgeous fall day in Kansas City ever so I'm back on track, hopefully.

I'm getting excited for the North Face half marathon in just 32 days! KC Friends, if you haven't registered, the price goes up Wednesday.

oh my hip!

It came on slowly and ended with a big painful ache.

My left hip hurts. And when it was at its worst, my knee hurt.

I self-diagnosed IT band syndrome and stockpiled my foam roller, ice packs and ibuprofen. Still, when I got up from a long session of sitting at my desk, I cringed in pain.

The only thing that fixed it was a long hot bath and a glass of Pinot Gris.

All this means no running. Luckily(?) it happened on a step-back week when I was only supposed to run six miles. This next weekend though is a looming 11 miles. Tomorrow I'll be back at it with a slow three mile run to see how the ol' hip does. Then, hopefully, ramp back up to full training.

I have a sports medicine appointment for Oct. 25, which is the soonest appointment time AFTER my begging.

If a bubble bath and glass of wine are the only things that keep me on track for my training, so be it.

pushing new limits

I ran nine miles Saturday. When I trained for my first half two years ago, I was talking about stomach cramps, calf pain and adding more long runs to my training so I wouldn't lose confidence.

This time around, I ran nine miles, had breakfast with friends and took care of a hyper toddler for seven hours by myself. No stomach cramps, but some pretty annoying hip pain and sore feet.

This time, I am following the Higdon Novice 2 program. For a full marathon, which we aren't talking about yet. So by the time I run the half marathon, I will have already run 14 miles, and the half marathon will actually be a step down week where I am letting my body recover a bit.

The theme of the North Face Endurance Challenge is just to challenge yourself. Probably meant for the 50K folks who really push themselves to the limit, physically.

For me, the challenge is finding energy and time to run with our crazy life. So far it's working on weekends, not as well during the week. Yet I feel stronger and more confident than I did last time around.

The race has anything from a 5k to 50k. Ready to challenge yourself?

bye-bye summer

Tomorrow fall begins, and as much as we love pumpkin patches, pumpkin lattes and apple cider, we're still sad to see summer go.

We had lots of fun outside, traveling and enjoying KC. We celebrated a first birthday, endured horrific heat and moved into a new house. We signed up for Google Fiber, found a new cupcake place and began a new season of K-State football.

Life is good.

running for real + a cute tailgater

It feels good to be back.

I ran more than seven miles Saturday, which feels like I'm really training now. Running has become a family affair as the hubs took Henry in the jogging stroller for a run at the park while I set out for my long run. 

My running partner was out of town this weekend so I slogged through it solo. I am out of practice though and forgot to bring any sort of fuel or water. Luckily a local running group sets up water stations along my route, and I borrowed a cup. It still took me the rest of the weekend to refuel and hydrate.

I have 61 Days until the North Face Endurance Challenge half marathon here in KC. I feel stronger than I did two years ago. Last time around, I ran fast but had to walk routinely to catch my breath. This time, I've started at a slower pace and don't have to walk. Speed can come gradually, though I don't really care.

We jumped in the car after my run to head to a K-State tailgate where Henry hammed it up with the basketball team.

Another good weekend in the books!

on not having it all

I was offered a job that used my master's degree before I even had it in a tough to crack job market. It was more money, more freedom and a very cool title.

And I turned it down.

There was nothing wrong with the job, in fact I loved it, except its nearly an hour commute. It'd be earlier mornings and later nights. It'd be Henry at babysitters from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. if the hubs was on a work trip on some nights. It would be giving up the flexibility to attend Henry's doctor's appointments, our dates to music class and running his diaper bag to daycare because we forgot it at home.

It'd be figuring out how to do work, a commute, evening grad classes and you know, dinner, laundry and life. It'd mean Shea having to slow down his grad degree progress so he could do more at home.

I agonized about it. Cried a lot about it. Because deep down, I knew I couldn't have it.

My wise friend's first words after reading my long e-mail about the dilemma were: "You are right. You can't do it."

I flashed back to the recent Atlantic piece everyone and their sister wrote about on their blogs on Why Women Still Can't Have it All.

In all honesty, I could do it. I could make it work. But I wouldn't be a good mom, wife or employee. I have realized that sometimes the insanity of our life leads to a lot of stress and occasional resentment that I can't have it all. And sometimes I feel like watching Michelle Obama speak, not read about the Little Blue Truck (fantastic books by the way).

But that's not really the mom I want to be. I don't want to be unavailable because I am too far away. I know some women make it work, and I sing their praises.

For me, right now, this won't work. And I will mourn the freedom I once had to make decisions that didn't rattle all other areas of my life.

I'd rather experience the joy my life has to offer than always trying to find a way to make it work.

Mac the celebrity

This morning we were taking Mac the dog out for his morning potty break when he slipped out of his collar and bolted down the street.

Despite our driving around for nearly an hour calling his name, we both went to work Mac-less. I frantically posted on websites, including Craigslist, that our little furbaby was missing. When telling my coworker of the morning, I burst into tears - worried we'd never see the devil dog again.

Within 30 minutes of posting, Shea messaged me that Fox 4 News had our dog and to check out their Facebook page. Confused, I looked and there he was in all his hyper glory. 

Photo via Fox 4 News.

It seems a news station employee found him in the middle of an intersection and called him into her car. While at the TV studio he was given toys, bacon and helped himself to a running tour of the studio. We were quickly reunited and Mac returned to his kennel after a stern lecture.

His adventure wasn't unnoticed, however, and he has become a local celebrity. In fact, he (and his mom) will be featured on the Fox 4 morning news show Wednesday.

In the end, the story got more than 130 shares and almost 50 comments. People like happy stories.

I'm grateful for Craigslist, Facebook and our new Kansas City friend Laura who took the time to save Mac from a sad fate and reunite him with his family who loves him. Most days.