This is important....

 I am growing a watermelon!

Isn't it cute? 

My garden has turned out to be a really fun endeavor this summer. Something about planting things and watching it grow and produce, and not killing them, makes me happy. I've come a long, long way since I killed two gold fish (Jimmy and Justin after Jimmy Buffett and Justin Timberlake) when I was 6 months pregnant with LB. I thought for sure my kid would not survive. And the garden I attempted two years ago that never even sprouted. But fast-forward to today and I have kept Lazy Dog alive for almost 10 years, my son is healthy and going strong for almost 8 years now....and now my garden! I have a watermelon people! And you've already seen the size of my zucchini! And I've had three more that same ginormous size!

During my night out with the girls last Friday a conversation came up comparing dating and men to gardens. I liked the analogy, but I wont run with it here...AH HA! Pun intended... That's for another time, or another blog entirely. This is a running and fitness blog after all.

So my training is going ok. I've been loosely following my 15k training plan. Thanks to J-Ninja, or I may rename her Captain Obvious for pointing out that the DC Army 10 Miler is going to be so crowded that any goal of a decent finish time is out of the question. She's right. So I've been hunting for another 15k and may have found one in September.

I'm having trouble with commitment lately. Yes, I've brought this up in therapy....I have found so many races that I think look great and I want to do but I just don't commit to them.  I used to call this last minute registration 5 Mile Style. But the difference now is that then I fully intended to run those races. I just didn't register early...now I have no intentions of running these races, or if I do it's only a 10% chance. I don't mark them on my calendar. I ogle over them then close the webpage never to return.

So my goal for the next couple of weeks is to commit. Fully commit. Find races and register...with the intention of toeing the line. 

You wanna ride bikes?

....um, yes?

I felt like a kid when I got a text this morning at 7:30 asking me, "You wanna go ride bikes? This is your 2 hour notice."  My reply, "My mom wont let me ride bikes with boys before noon."...because I'm 12 years old....and tired.

Two things were so wrong about this: 1) It was 7:30 AM on a Saturday morning after a very eventful girls' night and 2) It was 7:30 AM on a Saturday morning after a very eventful girls' night....oh, yeah, ok 3) It was raining.

Girls night out. Me and V. Not pictured is Jessica.

I don't do rain. I don't like to ride bikes and really don't like to ride them in the rain. I somehow finagled my 2 hour notice into a a 3.5 hour notice which allowed me and the girls to hit up iHop (or is it IHOP, somehow felt like it should be an apple hop).

After our completely unacceptable, unhealthy, ridiculously delicious breakfast my fellow PNW Transplant V headed home to face the day and Jessica, author of Deployment Divas, and I headed back to the house. She was headed to the gym...inside with no rain, where it was cool, dry, and safe. I, on the other hand, went through my collection of spandex and hot biking outfits to settle on a less than flattering pair of tri short and ridiculous bike shirt. Why do biking outfits have to be so, so corny?

I have to say, on the plus side, it was fun to put my bike in my new bike transporter.

Once I got there I felt like a complete noob. I haven't ridden in over a year. I din't know how to get my front wheel back on. My tires were flat. I couldn't work my pump. I didn't have a repair kit.  I threw my chain the first 8 seconds on the road. I guess that's good for a bull rider but not a bike rider. I couldn't unclip fast enough and barley caught myself. It was a disaster. I felt like a complete damsel in distress, which I can't stand feeling that way. Once I got it together we headed out. It wasn't raining at the time but it didn't take long for the sprinkles to begin. Then the sprinkles turned in to full-fledged rain. It was poking my eyes out. We decided to cut it short and do an out and back as opposed to the 30 mile loop. That was A-OK with me. My legs were already hurting, and my bottom (I hate biking). So we turned and headed back to the cars. My friend had been nice the whole way; I knew he was much faster than me but he stuck by me and didn't complain. We were going at least 4 mph slower than his pace.

The ride ended up not being too bad. I mean it wasn't great simply because riding my tri bike scares me and I just can't enjoy it. But it felt good and I was excited to have done it. Now I feel a little better and teeny bit ready for my sprint tri coming up in July. I might not die.

I need a plan....

Duh. It's not like I've had a Eureka! moment or anything. I've known this all along. I try to be a fly by the seat of my pants kind of girl but for the most part I don't like surprises, I like consistency, I like to know what's gonna happen. Yes. Life gets hard sometimes, ok a LOT of the time, because I can't always know in advance every single thing. People at work don't tell you, "Hey Amanda, tomorrow I'm gonna take your lunch from the fridge and eat it. Ok? Just giving you a heads up." That would be nice. But not as nice as them NOT eating my lunch.  But I digress....

I need a plan.

I do much better with a training plan in front of me. Much like with a To Do list I love to mark off the days and the completed workouts. The sense of accomplishment when you look at the completed plan is undeniable.  I haven't had a hard copy plan in front of me since Big Sur Marathon...OVER A YEAR AGO. What the heck!? That is awful.  And this training with no plan is obviously not working out. So tonight as I was am procrastinating going to bed (because going to bed at 9:00 makes me feel old) I decided to find me a nice 10 Mile race plan. I haven't technically trained for this race distance so I thought it would be a nice change up to focus on that distance, not to mention I do have the Army 10 Miler in DC coming up in October. 

My good buddy Hal never fails. I hit up Google and of course I was directed straight to Hal. He is always there for me....he has the perfect 15 k (9.3 miles) training plan all laid out nice and simple for me. I looked over the Novice plan and thought, Yeah, I can do this....no biggie. Then something inside me said No! Intermediate! So of course I clicked and there it was....the Intermediate plan with all its tempo runs and 800 repeats. Then, curiosity got the better of me....I clicked the Advanced plan. Um, yeah...ok. 400 repeats, 800 repeats, running 6 days a week.  Lucky for me I have enough time to go through two of the plans before the 10 Miler in October. 

Which two? 

I've printed out the Intermediate and the Advanced plans and now I have a plan(ish)....Just what I need. I will begin with the Intermediate plan and work my way through it. If I can I will move on to the Advanced. If not I will repeat the Intermediate. Whala! Plan. Done and done. 

 I found a few quotes about planning that seemed pretty appropriate for me....I thought I'd share them with you. 

“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.”
― Mike Tyson

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!”
― Benjamin Franklin

"I'm not making any plans. I'm just going to let the universe surprise me.” 
― John Cusack

“Spontaneity is one of the joys of existence, especially if you prepare for it in advance.”
― Alan Dean Foster, Nor Crystal Tears

So how about you? Do you like to plan? Or do you let the universe surprise you?

Color My Run 5k Recap

Oh yes....my run was colored. And then some.....

LB came and woke me up bright and early this morning (actually it was a reasonable time considering the race start was 9 AM).  He jumped in bed with me and whispered in my ear "Get excited to race mom!" We got up and around.  There was only one small hitch when LB refused to wear the "bib" because "bibs are for babies." Are you kidding me son?  It took about 15 minuets of convincing, showing him all my old bibs, demanding he put it on or stand by and watch me have fun. Finally I convinced him that it could also be called a tag or a race number. That worked. I pinned it on and we headed out the door.

We got to the race site with about 30 minutes to spare. LB had his first Porta Potty, or Honey Bucket, race line experience then we headed to the start.

Once at the start we danced around and dodged flying beach balls. As soon as they said go LB was off. He has no pacing ability, two speeeds: fast and walk.  We ran along, waiting for the first color station. It was a good while before we hit it. LB was getting antsy and began thinking we got ripped off. I told him to be patient and sure enough eventually we came to the Blue station. I got pegged...LB did not. He was bummed and wanted to loop around. I told him to just keep going. Next we came to the yellow station. This time I told him to run to the outside so he could be sure and get hit. It worked. He got pegged with a blob of yellow....next we came up on green. Again LB and I stayed to the outside and the air was thick with the colors and I could feel it in my nose. The last color was pink...my favorite.

The race seemed really short. I think we cut off a few out and backs but I'm not sure. I didn't wear my garmin. At the finish they handed out more color packs and we headed over to the DJ and waited for "The After Party". It was wild alright. During the songs that followed the DJ told the crowd to throw the colors in the air....It went everywhere, eyes, ears, mouth, nose....hair....down my back!

I'd say this was a great, family-friendly race! It was a good one to get LB hooked on racing. He did ask about a medal and was a bit disappointed when he didn't get one but that just opens the door for another race. Another one with medals!

So we did it!!  And if you look closely there was an acrobat show going on in the background! Double SCORE!

I took a cooler with soapy water so we could wipe off. I also brought sheets and towels to put over my (brand new car) seats. LB stripped down in the parking lot and I did too...as much as I decently could. It was a family event after all....

Even after getting home and showering and after swimming some laps I've still got color stuck to my skin and scalp. But I'd say it's totally worth it!

Color Me Happy...

There's a Race Pile here for two!

It's pretty cool that LB has his own Race Pile tonight!  My Race Piles have been pretty lonely lately.

Have you ever done a color run? I've seen jillions of pictures of these seemingly fun races but as I sit here on the eve of my first color run I am wondering if it is such a good idea. Of course LB is pumped about "getting blasted" by colors and his plan is to come to the end with no uncolored skin showing. I'm sure he will have no problem with that. My plan is to not choke on the color dust, not get it in my eyes to irritate my contacts, and not lose him in the crowd (i.e. keep up with him).

I have to say I'm pretty excited that LB is getting more interested in racing, even if I did have to con him into it with this color run. We've been training together; running around the neighbor(ing)hood. I felt pretty bad since he was running in his skater shoes and tripping all over the place. His footsteps sounded like elephants. So we hit up Dick's and he picked out some super fast shoes...Of course he had to try them out.

I did do our local Army 10 Miler. I quickly remembered why I didn't do it last year. It was hot and humid and the course was less than entertaining. It wasn't my best run either. Truth be told I'm certain it was a Personal Worst for the 10 Miler. But at least I got to see my friends A and Heezie before they pack up and move back to the PNW....sigh.....

I've been back in the pool too. Man how I have missed that. My first swim I knocked out 1200 meters. The second day I hit 1500 meters with 25m and 50 meter sprints. It feels so good and I want to go every single morning.

I've met a couple of people who are training for tris and may have a biking partner...if I stop being a chicken and just get on the stupid bike. I traded my Altima in for an Outback...no more excuses, the bike will fit in this sucker, or on top, or on the bike rack....no way around it. I will be biking.

LB, New Car, NC Sunset, and Basket of Herbs.....

And in my spare time I've been working in my garden....and I grew the BIGGEST zucchini this side of the Mississippi!! Ok ok, I know...I've seen bigger too but this is the biggest I have ever grown and don't steal my thunder. I am proud!

Garden!

It's HUGE! 

There you have it. One week into summer and things are off with a BANG! I've got more pool time, races, beach trips, and zucchinis in the very near future! Now all I have to do is keep up with the blog! 

Happy Summer!! 

The World is My Oyster....

Sometimes I say things without really understanding or stopping to think what it means...and then something happens and it hits me in the face and I realize exactly what it means. For instance I never understood what the phrase "He wants to have his cake and eat it too." meant....I mean seriously, who doesn't want to eat the cake they have? I know if I have cake I certainly want to eat it. Duh. But then, there is that moment where you just look out and it is clear as day...yes. I get it. It's true, you really can't have your cake and eat it too...

So this weekend LB and I were chilling at the beach, it's that time of year again, and I was watching him jump wave after wave, getting braver and braver, going out farther and farther...How nice it would be to be 7 years old again. Or at least as carefree as a 7 year old. His biggest concern was the jellyfish that floated up and the fact that his swim trunks didn't have a pocket for him to put his collection of 57 billion shells.

As I sat there watching him I realized that I could be as carefree as him. I have been jumping waves and they just keep coming. Some waves are fun, no big deal. Then some waves slam into you and knock you over, throw you off balance and cause your swimsuit to nearly come off and then you lose your sunglasses and get salt up your nose....not that that happened to me yesterday. But I have been jumping waves, day after day, instead of just going with the flow, accepting them, and dealing with them as they come. 

It struck me, while sitting there in the sun, that I have been fighting metanoia. Despite fighting it and being unaware of the process it has been happening. Slowly. 

Now that I have realized what is happening I have come to understand that the world truly is my oyster. I can be, do, go, see anything I want. I can run as far as I want, as much or as little as I want. I can run any race I want. I can be who I am meant to be....But then I realized that I have been struggling to find just who I am meant to be. I've been trying to establish my own identity. I'm no longer a wife. I don't feel like the farm girl from Oklahoma anymore. Am I even a runner anymore? A triathlete? Maybe. Maybe not. There are a few things though I do know. I'm still a mom, a daughter, sister, auntie, friend.   

Now that I am aware of the journey I am on, the journey to change my mind, heart, and my self to truly reflect me, I can sit back and enjoy the ride while being an active and willing bird of passage. And in the end, I believe that birds of a feather flock together....

Not to worry, this will still be a running blog. It will just have a few extras included as I make my place in this world and figure out the next chapter of 5 Miles Past Empty. I've got a local Army 10 Miler on Thursday this week!