Fast Running Mommy

I broke 45 minutes today!!! I've got the "I've gotta beat the clock bug" and I feel great. It's a fun feeling to go fast although I realize that the pace I'm running is REALLY slow compared to what true runners train at...it still gives me a thrill.

Sasha gave me a great kiss today...nice when grandma is home with the babies and you can meet for a nice morning run. Except after that he kept getting in trouble with me for looking at his watch. I left mine at home and just wanted to run easy today after yesterday's race against the clock game. In some ways I think today should earn me more points than yesterday because I ran the 5 miles even when I was tired from the day before.

Well, I really wanted to do a semi fast run today. My time for 3.89 miles was 36:52 and then my watch stopped working ....and so did I. The worst was that I was sooo tired this morning that I had to rest. I hate taking naps because it messes up my to do list. Of course my kids actually like it when I'm tired because it's much easier to catch a mommy that isn't moving. I lay down in the middle of my beautiful living room...right on top of the oriental rug imported from somewhere that I can't remember (my mom bought it in Russia but I think it was made elsewhere...anyway)...AND I didn't move a muscle while my babies crawled on top of me and I drifted off to rebuild muscle land and felt much better when I got up. 

I probably ran the last mile in about 11:40 is my guess...I slowed down to a crawl..I've got to find a good balance. I don't like being wasted after a run but I guess  a little nap didn't hurt me or the carpet. 

So I thought yesterday's run was bad when I could only run 9 minute mile pace for most of the run...today's was worse..I had the courage however to not turn off the Garmin and face my time like a ...uh...woman...Anway....I didn't push myself at all and ran 12 minute miles the whole time. The deal Sasha and I have is that I keep the mileage up and go what pace I want. I couldn't be trashed again today like I was yesterday. I have a kinda busy schedule during the day and I want to be there for my kids...not falling asleep. So I feel good about my run today but kind of sad that I'm not in the shape to run 9 minute miles every day.

Well I am very happy to say that I've run  5 miles every day this week. It's actually been a goal of mine for a long time to get back to 5 miles a day. I was so excited by my times last week because I felt like I'd gotten back in the shape I was in before I had Julia. Before I had my third child Julia I was a bubbling young thing bursting with energy and usually pretty happy with life. I ran 5 miles a day averaging 9 min miles and didn't tire from it. I felt really good about life and didn't have many other goals beyond what I had.  After Julia was born I had a hard time.  I was definitely not happy with my life or my sudden change in my energy level. I dragged through my days and had a hard time finding the energy and desire to take care of three little kids.  I have learned a lot since then (Julia is almost 5)...one thing is that the energy problem was due to me having undiganosed hypothryoidism and  a personality that didn't know how to relax admist the serious responsibility of three little kids. I've learned how to manage my stress and I can usually deal with life when I have no energy without going into a serious depression over it.  So in a sense for me to be able to get back to that level that I was at before I had Julia would mean a lot to me personally and I'm excited that I'm half way there. I've figured out how to do 5 miles a day again but I can't figure out how to go faster without getting tired the next day..sigh...I guess 5 kids may slow me down a bit but I'm not ready to give up yet. 

Wow...it was kind of fun when I logged in and saw the calendar full of empty spaces to fill....I'm sure this next month holds challenges but it also holds excitement fun and of course miles to run and blog. We ran tonight because we took the kids to the zoo today after Sasha's victory at his race this morning. He is in really good shape. I'm happy to say that he only ran 90 more miles than me this week...okay okay it was really 91...help...what am I going to do with this man? He made the time to go to the zoo with us this morning although after only seeing the elephant show he innocently looked at me and said, "Should we go?" I talked him into seeing the tiger and the alligator and whatever we saw on the way...it was fun. Then we ran together tonight and had time for a 2 minute date on the the big swing someone set up on a giant tree limb. He also gave me a great kiss!! It made it feel like a date and was very romantic. So admidst 121 miles he still managed to go on an outing with his family(he also stopped by an educational store with the kids and bought them prizes for doing well on their runs lately) and have a date with his wife...what a man!!