Struggles of a working mom marathoner

I was due for a 14 miler this Sunday.... then, last minute, my hubby decided we needed to go to the beach one last time before we settled into fall. I got up super early the day we were to drive to the beach, went to the gym and did arms and abs.....



       Because we decided last minute ad I could not get a dog sitter we had to take our dog with us. I found a dog-friendly hotel and we were all set. Look at his yummy little face. 

                           Knowing we would probably be eating crap the whole vacation I gathered some veggies to make juice.   


                 I absolutely adore Rehoboth Beach. First, it's the location to my favorite marathon, the Rehoboth Beach Marathon in the early winter every year. In fact, I already have a room reserved at my favorite hotel for this year's marathon.... My hubby has not yet decided if he's running his first half at Rehoboth this year....if not, I will run the full. When you have kids only one parent can run a race at a time.... the other watches the kids. 


Shoot!! this picture is just gorgeous....and it also makes me so sad....my kids are growing so fast!!


My sweet guy.... nowhere exists a man more gentle and sweet. 

         Rehoboth at night on a Holiday is super fun. This is around 9pm Sunday. I knew fairly early on that I would not be getting my long run in during this vacation. 


The hotel offers free breakfast. Here is my son making himself one of those amazing waffles....The picture after is of him AFTER the waffle.....hi.la.ri.ous. 

My daughter trying to convince me to buy her another sweatshirt she does not need..... nope, we did not buy this one. 

The Local bookstore had this book.....for all you Walking Dead fans...

Came back home to find my watermelon plant had grown quite fast. Now it's the size of a lemon....


So when is this run going to happen? Ready? It's going to take me 4 hours at the gym..... I will go before work tomorrow and need to be done by 6am to get my kids' and my lunch ready for the day. If I get all this done tonight, including my coffee brewing BEFORE going to bed I may be able to get in another half an hour of sleep. So I will be running from 2:20am-6:20am! Don't worry, when we got home from the beach today I took an obligatory 2-hour nap and been resting in bed all afternoon, as well as hydrating with only water. Running at the gym is as boring as runs go....therefore, I have also been charging my iPad so that I can watch a few movies while I get this run in. Wish me luck!!

14 baby!!!

Completed 14 today....I have two 14s planned in a row so hoping next week's 14 is much nicer. I am planning to go to the beach so I will have to figure out a plan that most likely includes running them all in a gym, for safety, seeing as I do not know the place. 



I come home and little momma is cooking up a storm. I decided to make some juice. Ginger, cabbage, beet, carrots, peppers and dandelion; keeping me 7 years sick free so far. 





and here is my juice....I love these containers....they do not leak and you can carry your juice in your purse!



Dinner was shrimp tacos.....with rice and grilled veggies.....

new flower in the garden


Oh and I scheduled a tattoo.... it's going to be a lot like this one....but of dahlias. 


Took a hike with little momma the next day and it was right after it had rained...the entire forrest was lush, smelled amazing, and we happen to be the only ones there. 







Burke Lake trail has a ton of these physical challenges stations....

....and of course, our dog Brad came along. 



My daughter wanted a second set of earrings and both my hubby and I agreed. We went to a place in Arlington called Craig Pokes You. We had Blake pierce her and he was absolutely great! 


More flowers in the garden 









Me leaving the gym at midnight.... working moms have to do what working moms have to do. 

Celebrating 4 years of no antibiotics, no strep throat and no flu or flu shots.

          While making my juice today I came to the realization that this is the 4th year I have been juicing vegetables and fruits. I am celebrating four years in which I did not get plagued with my twice-a-year illness of strep throat chased by strong antibiotics. Four years of not getting the flu or even needing a flu shot. I have to confess though, I have never had the flu shot, neither has my hubby or my kids...ever! I strongly believe that although my kids do not drink the juice as often as my hubby and me, they still reap the benefits from our juicing. I can only credit that to them benefitting from perhaps a raised family-wide immunity that stems from our our juicing.  I now juice about twice a week and generally make my juice from apples, carrots, ginger, celery and beets. Here is a pic of my mom's Breville juicer. To make a giant pitcher I used 2 cored apples, 2 lbs. of carrots, a thumb-sized piece of ginger, 2 medium beets and 1 lbs. of celery. I took pictures of everyone in the house at the time drinking it. I had two 8oz. glasses. When home we too have our own Breville juicer. 

Tastes best with some ice!!

Totally enjoying my juice!!

My beautiful mami drinking her glass of juice.

My son tasting it.....when he was a toddler he'd drink tons of it. He's become a bit more picky with age. 

              My daughter drinking her juice....she will have a glass usually IF she helps make it. 

Build Your Best Body- entry 10

I took my Franken-sneakers out for my first run, a total of 4 hard non-stop miles and it did great. I even PR'ed for the mile and the 5k for this year.........I need to strengthen a few stitches on the sides, but otherwise, the sneakers worked out beautifully. 

A PR smile!!......I guess it helped that I ran a flat-ish course and did not have any street crossing to stop at or a dog to drag around. 

I made juice of course.....slowly running out of supplies. We have not driven anywhere since Friday due to the storm....maybe tomorrow I will get the nerve and drive to the veggie store 3 miles away.....but for now we have enough left for maybe one day's worth of juice. I make about 50 ounces of veggie/fruit juice daily and my hubby and I share it evenly. If I don't make it he will pick up the ask. 

Making curry chicken dinner with steamed rice, I can smell it simmering as I type.... Dinnertime in 15 minutes. 

Oh, and of course....red wine to celebrate my PR......LOL. 

Snowcation

Today I ran 4 miles and walked an additional 2.6 miles. 

Here are kids sledding in my neighborhood. In walking a few blocks this morning to go peel my son from this fun, fun place made me realize I could run in this!! yes!! All I needed was my Yak Trax. Not one fall, not one slip while running in these. So far in two days I've logged 8 miles in these,  and I've had them for 3 winters now, so they hold up fine. Want to feel invincible? buy one of these and run in them. 

            After 4 miles of running in the snow I got back home pumped! My daughter had wanted to go walking to the supermarket (1.3 miles away). We geared up, grabbing reflectors and a flashlight and walked. This was the gorgeous sunset we saw on the way there. We walked back in the dark. I am a huge believe in reflective wear and flashlights now...I am pretty sure my life has been made tons safer by just wearing them. My daughter thought the reflective vest looked like I was wearing a bra over my jacket. "Safety over fashion", I told her.

Amphipod Xinglet Reflective Wear

It was getting dark....but after my 4 miles, Mamacita and I walked to the market and back, a total of 2.6 miles. She was a real trooper. 

Got back home and made the family some Seared Lemon Shrimp. 

We had to make a triple batch of Amy's Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies, they go pretty fast. Here is the online link to the blog that has the recipe. Granted mine have a "rough" look to them, probably because I had to substitute some items seeing as I could not go out and get them in the storm. But the cookies are delicious. Thank you Amy's Heathy Baking Blog at http://amyshealthybaking.com 

Looks like the snowcation will continue.....