Running Liv's Life

Workout:  3.7 easy miles - random mileage, I know. My niece, Grace, is in town from southwest Florida for Christmas break.  My kids are obsessed with her, and so I pretty much made her come stay the night at my house for one night.  Grace is a runner so when she packed her bag to come stay with me I told her to bring her running shoes.  I wanted to take her out on a winter run!  Plus, she had just got the Garmin Forerunner 10 for Christmas and I thought this would be the perfect time to give her a little tutorial on how to use it. All I can say is, poor Grace!  Poor, poor, Grace!!  Here is how the morning started for the girl: Me:  Here, Grace, throw this on for your base layer. Grace:  What's a base layer? LOL!!!!  I was dying!!!  I know she lives in a land where the "cold" temps are around 45-50....and even that isn't too often.  But, I seriously can not even imagine not worrying about layers for running!  This made me chuckle for quite some time.  It took

Workout:  None Thanksgiving morning my husband and I ran a 5K in his hometown of Evansville, IN.  I truely had no clue what to expect or how to set a goal due to the following: *knee pain *ankle pain *2 weeks of no running prior to the race *crazy cold temps Originally I wanted to break 24 minutes.  But now I didn't know if that was possible.  I have to admit that I was most concerned about the weather.  I don't run well in extreme cold and southern IN, just like the rest of the midwest, was FREEZING...I think about 18 degrees that morning.  I slept awful the night of the race because I kept trying to figure out a realistic goal.  I finally decided sometime during the night that if I could keep it just under an 8 minute pace I would be happy.   Then, morning came, and I realized I forgot to pack my Garmin.  Crap!  Now I was going to have to run by feel.  And instead of freaking out I reminded myself that I ran that way for the first 16 years of my running life.:)) Ah, yes, the

Workout:  1.5 miles easy - don't judge until you read the post. By reading the title it is pretty safe to assume that I am injured.  I have had some crazy knee injury for almost 3 years now that doctors can't figure out what is going on.  It is extremely frustrating to deal with this.  Even more frustraing that I have spent hundreds of dollars on rehab that didn't do jack squat!   Okay, so I had been training hard core for  a Turkey Trot I am running down in Evansville, IN.  And by hard core I mean I found an advanced 5K training program that I pretty much followed to a T!!!  The only thing I didn't do was have my long run be 8-9 miles.  What??  It's a freaking 5K!!  So, I was doing awesome, feeling great, totally ready to go....and then it happened.  My knee started hurting.  Like really really bad:((  So, I did the smart thing and backed off.  I decided to rest my knee.   Now, when most people have an injury they can still "train".  Hop on the elliptical

Workout:  3 easy miles on a beautiful sunny, but COLD morning I don't know if I mentioned it enough in my last post that I love Door County!!  Love, love, love!! When Matt and I win the lottery we will definitely be buying a place up there:)).   Ok, so fall fun-what we did... Tried out a new coffee shop in Fish Creek.  We got a few frappacino type drinks that were delicious! It was nice to get out of the rain for a bit, and you can't really tell in this picture, but the view of the bay was gorgeous.  And a little bonus; we actually had cell service here! Seaquist Orchard.  If you ever visit this place in the fall get there early!!  Like, right when they open early.  And thankfully we did because within an hour it was packed.  Crowds flock here because there are actually activities to keep the kids entertained. Because my time is limited I will now fill your screen with just pictures.  After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, right???  So why bother with words at a

Workout: 3 miles easy in the hot humid rain:))  I will take that for Halloween day in Illinois! A few weeks ago we took a family fall getaway to Door County, WI.  The trip was so seriously fun, and I took far too many pictures.  And because I don't want to give you snapshot overload I decided to break up the vacation into two posts. Apple picking!!!  There are so many orchards up here I'm not sure how we decided on this one.  But, we got lucky and chose a good one!  When we went to purchase our bag the lady told us that the Honey Crisp were all picked.  I almost cried.  No, but I was  SUPER bummed. Here we are starting out.  It was the perfect day, and no one was out so I felt like we had the entire orchard to ourselves.  (The market/store was packed because there was free wine tasting so I guess that seemed like more fun to the adults.) Monster size apples!!  And I just loved how low the trees were.  It made things simple for the kids! Is it normal to have

Workout: 30 minutes strength training Look who wants to start running: She asks me EVERY time I head out the door if she can go with me.  I always say no, and then I feel guilty, and then I think - I'll take her out tomorrow.  Of course, "tomorrow" never comes.  So finally, I  decided to plan a day for us to go running together.  When I picked her up from school I told her we were going to go for a run, and she started to jump up and down!  Pretty sure that is not the reaction out of most people;))  So as soon as daddy got home we headed out the door and went over to the park. And, we're off!!  The loop around the park is exactly 1/2 mile.  I thought this would be the perfect distance to start.  Can you see the smile on her face?  LOVE it!! I made sure we went at a slow pace.  She did get tired so I would point out an object to run to and then we would walk 10 steps.  Before long she was saying, "Okay, run to the tree.  You can do it."  Listening

Workout: 4 miles easy I ran a 5K back in mid August, and since then I have been taking it easy peasy!!  I have not done any speed work, tempo runs, timed runs, or any type of run that would force me to push myself in any way.  Well, unless you count the other day when I realized I wasn't going to make it home by 7:20 which is when Matt leaves for work.  I did have to kick it into high gear the last half mile or so...oops, sorry hon! I don't have another race scheduled until Thanksgiving so I don't feel the need to do anything but cruise along and look at the gorgeous sun rise. Every other day I get to watch the sun come up.  Living in a small town totally has its benefits!!  Out here in the country there is nothing to block your view - I LOVE IT!!!  I am getting too comfortable with this "taking it easy" thing so next week I am going to try to get back into the grind of hard workouts once a week.  Until then, I will Keep Calm and Run Easy;))

Workout: 3 miles easy Look who started kindergarten!!!  Even though we are almost a month into the year it still is hard for me to believe that our school days are actually here!   Lyla didn't go to preschool, and now she is in full day K!  Yeah, sink or swim, sista!!!  Thankfully she is swimming really well just as I knew she would. This little jumping bean was completely ready for school.  And I was completely ready to say adios, because entertaining her all. day. long. was getting to be exhausting!!  School is from 8-3:05.  I would say around 2ish I start to miss her.  I really didn't see that coming!!  But guess who misses her more than I do?? This boy is like a lost little puppy dog without his sister.  Aye, aye, aye!!!  He is really wearing me out! Usually by 1 p.m. I am ready for a nap.  But, Orlando quit napping last Christmas so usually I throw Max & Ruby onto the tv and try to catch a 10 minute cat nap. Oh, the cuteness!!!  As soon as we drop Ly

Workout: 3 miles easy That start line is totally for realz!!!!!  And that would explain the $15 entry fee for the Mahomet 5K.  And even though there wasn't fancy pants timing this turned out to be an amazing race!!  I went old school as well and decided to run with just an old fashioned stop watch.  I didn't want to focus on pace or mile splits.  I just wanted to run hard and not be bothered by numbers. There were just under 400 runners so I got a great start.  The course ran through town and there were people out everywhere.  For such a small race I was surprised with the amount of spectators that turned out.  There was even a drum line out on the course which was fun, and made me feel kinda cool for some reason.  Mile 1 was just a long steep slope, and although it made for a great first mile (7:16) I just kept thinking, "What goes down must go up, up, up!!"  Every hill I went up I just kept thinking about my poor hubby who had never run hills.  I knew he was

Workout: None There is so much from the summer that I never got around to blogging about - boo!!!  My plan was to blog once a week this summer but that clearly never happened.  So I decided to make one big end of the summer "life stuff" post. Orlando's 3rd birthday.  What type of mother puts her baby's birthday into the category of general "life stuff"??  Oh goodness.  It was a really boring birthday which is probably why I never blogged about it. But, he did get this awesome bike from his grandma and grandpa.  And much to our surprise he could actually ride it!! This is at the July 4th parade.  I LOVE this parade!!!  It just yells small town America.  Which means only those readers from small towns know how much awesome I'm talking about!;) Not the best picture, but this is a picture of the 8 cutest kids on the planet!!  All of the cousins got together for the day, and they had a blast!  Bowling was a lot of work for the moms.  A LOT of

Workout:  None Here are two facts about my husband - 1) He used to HATE running.  Totally hate!  2) He graduated from Indiana University.  He is one of the biggest Hoosier fans I know!  Matt started the couch to 5K running program this spring, and lucky for me he caught the running bug!!  In our search for his first 5K we came across the perfect race to be his first; the BTN Big 10K....except we ran the 5K;) Sweatshirt in July....WHAT!!! The race was in Chicago which was another plus.  Having lived in the city for 7 years we always enjoy going back to visit.  The race was held right along the shore line which made for a beautiful course! So here we are, looking so adorable and happy, just before the start!  Matt didn't really have any expectations for his run, this being his first race and all.  I on the other hand was hoping to run well.  And by run well, I was looking to run around a 7:40 pace.  That was my goal for last months race which I totally tanked.  I had

Workout:  Pop pilates: Total Body Workout and Butt Challenge; 10 minute HIIT challenge BEAUTIFUL!!  Right?!!  Okay, maybe it is more of a nostalgic beautiful (if there is such a thing).  But I think I got goose bumps when I stepped out onto that black beauty.  So many memories came rushing back, and I forgot how cushy a track's surface is, and the sun was shining, and there was a little cool breeze, and no one was there!!!  So I had the track ALL TO MYSELF!!!  I was a very happy lady! I did an easy mile warm up, and then decided I would do 6 x 400 repeats with 20 seconds rest in between.  This is kind of my standard go to speed work, but normally I run by pace.  I did something different this time.  I decided to run by feel.  Totally living on the edge, I know!! 400 #1: 1:46 - eek!  Too fast.        #2: 1:45 - Hmmm.  That felt comfortably hard.  But, that is too fast.        #3: 1:46 - Cool!  Must be having a good day because that felt great!        #4: 1:44 - Okay, ei

Workout:  Undecided as of now.  Working out tonight when hubs gets home, and I can't decide if I am going to run or do pilates. We were gone for 12 days in June taking a much needed family vacation.  We drove 18 HOURS to Ft. Myers, FL.  Actually, total drive time was 22.5 hours, but we stopped in southern IN on the way down and back to sleep!!  The kids did amazing and thankfully I have no nightmare stories to tell!!  We stayed with my sister and her family.  Just like old times;)  The week went waaaay too fast, and there is so much we didn't get to do.  But, we did have a great time.  Okay, so vacation highlights: 1.  Running!!!  I love to run on vacation.  I think it is just the change from my normal everyday scenery that makes it so enjoyable.  We were blessed with hot hot HOT weather, which is just what I wanted.  But, that also meant early morning runs were a must, feeling like you couldn't breathe was unavoidable, and diving into the pool was the only way to cool