London's Half Marathon Race Report

Woke up this morning at the butt crack of dawn.  Okay I don't think it was dawn yet, it was 5 am but that is early for this non morning girl.  Got dressed, carried kids out to the car in their jammies, packed quick bag of kid clothes, ate some toast with peanut butter and a activia yogurt.  Pulled out at 5:30am.

5:35 am Reece (5yo) declares he has to go to the bathroom.  Pull off into random office parking lot and he waters the asphalt while standing firmly inside the minivan.  Peeing for boys is so convenient. Boys have all the fun.  

Continue driving.  1 hour later moms' activia yogurt has kicked in and we make a quick stop at McDonalds' where mom uses the potty.  Yes, success!  Shouldn't be pooping having any trouble along the run today! 

Arrive at race at 7:10 am.  Make a B line to the packet pick up.  Get number, race chip, t-shirt, turn and make a B-line back to the car where I stay until 7:45 am.  

This is all part of my race strategy.  I seem to not do well mixing and mingling with other racers before races because they may say something to me that might bug me or throw me off during my race. 

 (I know, I know, I'm weak, I'm soft, I'm working on it.)

Dear other racers,
It's not that I'm anti-social I just don't want to talk to you.  Thanks for understanding,
 Sincerely, Adrienne

Travis thought it was funny so he took a picture.  I think it's hilarious.  Can't you tell by my face?

Sadie knows what I need.  She makes her way into my arms.  

 Eventually I did have to get out of the car.

If this little 2 year old could be surgically attached to my hip I think she would live happily ever after.

 Spotted my friend Julie who is also running this race.  

10 seconds to start of race and I try to find a nice spot near the back.  It's always nicer to pass people who started too close to the front rather than being the one that started too close to the front and having tons of peeps pass you.  At least that is the way I like to do it. Ready, Set, Go! And we're off.

 Meanwhile, back at the farm....literally, they had lots of fun activities for the kids and spectators

 (one of the reasons I chose this race)

Checking out a big turtle

....and alligator?  They had his mouth tied shut and let the kids pet him.  Yay for animal cruelty and kids keeping their hands!

 Seriously what 2, 5, 8, and 10 year old would not love getting a ride to sit in a police helicopter.

 Or ride a ferocious mechanical bull?

 Or rip it up on the bouncer?

Okay, okay, now that we have all of that out of the way let's get on to the Race Report.
Like I said I started out in the near back and the first few miles were okay and I was just going with it.  I was checking the watch to make sure I wasn't going too fast but I also wasn't trying to slow down too much and just let the energy carry me the first few miles.  I was also working on trying not to  hyperventilate and get myself too worked up mentally.  I think I did a good job with that.  I used Coach Dean's 3 R's A LOT during this race and this was one of those times.  Realize if your off task, Regroup, and Refocus. The first 2-3 miles of a race and last 2-3 always seem to be the hardest.  This race was no different.  The middle miles were great.  I don't remember too much about them so that is a good thing for me.  Since this race is in honor of London who lost her fight to cancer and the $$ they earn from the race is used to help local families in the community who have children who are battling cancer they had all these signs along the way with pictures of the kids and little sayings like "You can do it!", "Thank you for running!", "Keep going", "Hold on", "Be Strong".  Of course this immediately made me get emotional and I had to use the 3 R's again.  The first half of the race I honestly tried not to look too long at the posters because it would have taken my emotional energy and unfortunately I knew I wouldn't have any to spare.  The second half of the race I looked forward to these signs.  There really are so many hard things we all must face in life and running a half marathon isn't really on the list but it was inspirational that these families are so strong and move forward even if they have to say goodbye to loved ones and that is so much harder.  I digress.

At around mile 8 I had what felt like a rock in my left shoe.  Dangit.  I ran for a while but then finally just decided to make a quick stop, take off the shoe and free the rock.  I think it took about 30 seconds but I was annoyed I had to stop.  I didn't dwell on it too long and moved on.  Right about the 2 hour mark which was a little after mile 10 I started feeling really tired.  I had been checking my Garmin non stop so far and was trying to stay at a 10:30 pace but it was starting to slip.  I started talking to myself.  "Hey legs, I trained you to go at 10:30 pace so you better get your butt in gear" (bet you didn't know legs had butts)  "Come on neurovascular training, let's go."  They were handing out Gu, oranges and poweraid at the stations at 8 and then again at 10 and 12 but I have never used anything but water and so I was unsure if I should try it or not.  My thought was, if that is going to help me I think it should have been taken at mile 6 or 7 so I opted for the water and power aid and didn't go for the Gu or oranges.  Fueling is something I have wondered about but I didn't want to chance taking a Gu and then having it make me sick or something so I didn't.  I guess I need to learn more about that.  Do you Gu on a half marathon?  I was thinking marathon fuel, half marathon no. (I could be wrong, I have been before-twice)
So after the Gu, no Gu, dilemma I was thinking I had 2 miles left and was concerned because my right knee was starting to hurt and I was tired.  Then I almost lost it.  Another one of those signs came up.  It was a picture of London's family all together with her and I literally choked up and my mind went immediately to Kaylee Ann.  It took me several seconds to pull myself together after that one.  I just started chanting, Realize, Regroup, Refocus over and over. I swear, I'm such a freak!  My husband says my "emotions" and "caring for people" is one of my best qualities but I say "I'm trying to run over here stupid emotions!"  Next thing I know I see a sign saying Mile 12.  What?  I only have one more mile not 2? Yes!  I must have missed the Mile 11 somehow and maybe that is why I was feeling so slow and thinking I wasn't going to make my goal.  (Yes I have a Garmin but I was looking only at current pace and overall pace and wasn't paying attention to mileage or time)
I then checked my watch for time and I knew I was going to make my goal and I was a little stoked by that but wanted to see how much I could beat it by and tried to push harder but my legs were done listening to me.  They stayed at the same pace they had been going the last mile or two which was about a 10:45/11:00 pace.  The first 8 or 9 miles I was averaging a 10:20 pace so I was hoping the speedier at first would make up for the slower at the end.  My brain also stopped working.  I kept thinking I needed to run 13.6 miles instead of 13.1.  I don't know why, I guess I was getting delirious.  I kept saying things to myself like "just 4 more laps", when really I only had 2 (if I was on a track, which I wasn't but anyway). I saw my husband and the finish line and I saw he had a camera and I tried to look like I was running super fast and not shuffling but like I said my legs were done so these pictures are as good as it gets.  I also tried to smile and wave.

I hit my stop button as I crossed the line.  My goal was to try to come in around 2:30 but I was thinking my slower later miles and my "good as I could do right now, but not quite what I wanted training plan" was going to bring me in a little later but.......I came in at 2:20:28!

And I had the best fan club to meet me at the end.

Thank you to my family for all your support, especially my husband Travis for joining me for all my long runs and Landon for watching the little ones so much so mom could get her training in  AND of course all my peeps out there in bloggy land for all your kindness and words of encouragement.  They mean so so much.

Happy running (and Racing),

Adrienne

Warm feelings and What could possibly go wrong with racing?

One of the things I love about being a mother is sometimes late at night when the house is still and everyone is sleeping I hear the pitter patter of little feet.  They are always coming at a sprint to "my side" of the bed.  Little hands reach up and out for mama and I instinctively lift them up and over and they snuggle up in the crook of my arm and are instantly back to sleep.   

The other night this happened and as I was falling back to sleep I felt all warm inside....WAIT, WAIT, HOLD ON, that's not something warm on the inside that is something warm on the outside.  Travis must have felt the warmness as well because in a synchronized swimming type movement we both did a "up and out" type dive and then he stumbled for the light.  

TOO LATE

Our dear offspring was still sound asleep in the middle of our bed with a wide circle of pee surrounding them.  

AWESOME

Quick "washcloth" bath and change of PJ's later the little one was warm and asleep again in their own dry bed.  Travis snagged the available spot on the other "big" bed with one of the kids and I was left sleeping in a sideways U turn position for the rest of the night with the lovely smell of the urine/clorox quick cleaned mattress.  

$40 of dry cleaning later all is well with the world again.

Sleepers assume the position.  Just picture the black part as my body and the yellow as...well, you know.

..........................................................................................................................


More Pre Race thoughts:
I got an "urgent" email from the Race director about some changes in this Saturday's race course.

Dear 1/2 Marathon Participant,
Due to forces out of our control, we have had to change the 1/2 marathon course at the last minute. The course is still USATF certified and has been checked and double checked for length accuracy. We appreciate your patience in this matter!

My 1st thought:  "Oh great, they have turned the 1/2 marathon into a full one and made it all uphill."

So I clicked on the link to check out the new course and this is what I found.

Now I realize I'm not a seasoned runner but good grief this route seems a bit of a loop de loop. Actually it's perfect.  Jacked up course for a jacked up racer.

    "Put your right foot in, put your right foot out, put your right foot in then run a mile or two then shake it all about......"

Hey, whatever works.  Even with the changed route I think things should go well as long as I don't run into any of these problems these other runners had.

Ouch.  That's going to leave a mark.

Happy Running and good luck to all those Racing this weekend.

Adrienne

Moving from Clueless to finding answers

I know from the title many of you are assuming this post is going to be about our good friend "Bob" and his attempts to ask out the girl at the gym but unfortunately for my readers it's just about me.

This is one hot Toga Dude! For the record I tried to go out with this guy but he turned me down.  So what if I have 4 kids and I'm happily married.  He had his chance.

Realization:
It has come to my attention that I am completely clueless about racing.  I guess being the Non Race Runner  can do that to you.  Saturday will be my first official 1/2 marathon race for me.  London's Run.  I came up with a great training plan several months ago when I signed up for the race and after about 3 weeks into the training plan I adjusted the training plan to be more in sync with the realities of my life and now here I am just a few days out from race day.
Racing:
This morning I read Chicago runner Kovas's post on Why do we Race and I found myself  asking myself,  "Why are you running on Saturday?"  I want to run the race yet I feel apprehensive about it at the same time.  It's definitely uncomfortable for me to run races.  I try to present myself like a strong, confident person and yet racing is a tough one for me.
Example:
 I've never run in an official 10K race before.  I've signed up for one, paid my money, I showed up, and when everyone lined up at the starting line and the gun went off, the racers went one way for 6.2 miles and I went the opposite way for 16 miles.  True story.  So why did I do that?  Why was it so much more stressful for me to be in a 6.2 mile race than a 16 mile run on my own?
Rewind to 2 days ago.....
I have the opportunity to volunteer on a regular basis for different things in my community, kids schools, and church.  Sunday night I held a meeting in my home for a banquet that I'm heading up that is coming up in 2 weeks.  Everyone at the meeting is there on a volunteer basis.  We had our meeting and I thought  everything went well and felt good with things being prepared and organized for the banquet.  Later that night I got an email from one of the volunteers expressing how they were unhappy about the meeting and the words/thoughts they expressed were directed towards yours truly.  Funny, I thought things went well.  So after getting this email I went back through the meeting in my head and suddenly I became aware of all these little things that could have gone better or maybe I should have done differently. So after one email I now feel like the meeting was a failure.  Nothing physically had changed except perhaps my perception because of somebody else's opinion.
Others Evaluations:
I think I'm getting closer to answering Kovas's question about why I race.  Stay with me here.
A little history:
The first race I ran was a marathon.  I didn't have a clue about running.  I signed up, found a training plan and did my best. There were many things I could have done better and differently but at the end of the race I had accomplished the goal I set out to do.  Finish a marathon.  I was happy and proud of myself.  Later others would ask me about the race and I had several people that felt the need to tell me all the things I could have done better and should have done differently.  So I had a great experience with my first marathon and then it turned into a bad one, nothing physical had changed except my perception.  This seemed to happen with following races.  Eventually I became the "Non Race Runner" because I was tired of other people "ruining" racing for me.
Observations:
Back to my little meeting experience.  I thought about this for a while (longer than I should have) and decided to take a closer look at things.  I'll give you the short list of what I discovered.
#1 All things that needed to be accomplished at the meeting were accomplished.
#2 Did I do the best that I could?  Yes.
#3 The person that sent the email has a history of "complaining" or being "frustrated"
My new conclusion:  The meeting was a success and it's unfortunate that someone chooses to look for the faults instead of the successes.  I can't do anything about that.
Putting yourself out there:
I love runners.  They are generally positive upbeat people.  We all come from different backgrounds, belief systems and types of families but we all have a common interest in running.  Some are fast, some slow(er), some skinny (with rockin abs), some not so much.  But we all rally together for each other.  But even in our little running blog world there are the ones that like to give their little jabs.  I'm not talking about the jabs in jest between friends but the "real" jabs that are meant to hurt.
You know the ones, like how EMZ isn't a real runner?  HA!  Seriously?
Or I seem to remember a lot of stabs directed at the funny and talented  SUAR.
Or how about the anonymous emails that some of us bloggers get saying they won't follow us anymore because "You're a mormon".  Those are always fun.  (Funny, I don't remember asking you to follow in the first place.)
I'm sure there are many more out there that you personally have maybe experienced that I don't know about but those are a few examples that come to my mind right away.
Point is....
There are always going to be these types of people in our life.  EVERY ASPECT OF OUR LIFE.  We still have the power to choose what to do with them or with what they throw at us.
I've been hiding behind the name Non Race Runner because I thought other people were "ruining" my races but I just need to learn how to better deal with these kinds of people in all aspects of my life.
FINALLY--the reason I am going to race:
In case any of you are still reading you can learn the reason why I am going to start racing more.  It's because I want to get better--pretty simple.  Running is great but racing pushes you to do more than you would do on your own.  At least in my case.  I have a lot to learn and I've enjoyed running but I want to get faster and stronger (especially mentally) and I haven't been able to do that with just "running" so I need to do something more and racing more is part of that plan.  I have to learn that other peoples opinions are not going to determine what I do AND more importantly how I feel about what I do.
When you put yourself out there you are going to get stomped on sometimes.  Hopefully it is unintentional most of the time but the reality is that sometimes it is very intentional.  Remember the good things of why you do things and throw away the bad things.

So with that said I'm going to need a new name to my blog.  I was thinking about changing it to  "Busy mom of 4 kids doing the effing best I can and if you don't like it than you can kiss my friggin A** you stupid stupid dum dum head!"  But that may be a tad too long.

Since I haven't said enough already here is a closing thought:

"Sometimes the kindest thing you can say to somebody is the unkind word you don't say" 

 I feel I shouldn't close this post without giving some advice to my friend "Bob".   Maybe it's cliche but I want to tell him to just be himself.   Any girl that takes a minute to get to know "Bob" will fall head over heels for you.   Put yourself out there.  You never know what will happen.

Happy Running Everyone!
Love the,
 BMO4KDTEBICAIYDLIYCKMFAYSSDDH
(formerly known as NRR)

The Stylish Blogger Award

I was nominated by Chris K over at BQ or Die for the Stylish Blog Award and I'm not sure whether I should take this as a compliment or insult.  After all he did pass up the lime green shirt that Jill suggested while he was in Colorado and in my closet you will find this

I see nothing loud about this shirt and no I don't have buyer's remorse.  What is that anyway?

Before I get  into the 7 things about me can I just quickly note that my 5th grader has been learning about the metric system in school and if the course doesn't end soon I may just lose my mind.  


Everyday it's:
Hey mom how many grams in an ounce?
How many quarts does it take to fill a 40 gallon tub?
How many miles in a kilometer?
Does a $5 bill weigh 1 gram or 5 grams?


Dear Landon, I'm American!  I don't care!  
Thank goodness for Google.  What did mom's do before google?

Okay, here are the 7 things about me you never wanted to know :)

1.  I'm a Cub Scout Pack Trainer for the Boy Scouts of America.
 Cub Scout Motto:    Do your Best
My Motto:         It's easier to build a boy than fix a man.
My other Motto:  If at first you don't succeed. Try doing it the way your wife told you to in the first place.

2.  I usually make sure my kids make their beds and have clean rooms but I just shut the door to my room. :)

3.  Friendships are important to me.  Sometimes they take work and that's okay.

4. I was voted "Miss Clear Creek" by my 5th grade class at our overnight cabin trip because I brought candy and it was against the rules.  I was a rebel, even way back then.  Teachers were not happy I won. Hahahahahahaha!  In your FACE!

5.  I'm one of three leaders in my church over the children's organization (called Primary)  this takes up a lot of my time but that's okay.  It includes around 90 kids ranging in age from 18 months to 12 years old.  I. LOVE. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. OF. THESE. KIDS.  (Now you know what I do when I'm not blogging or sitting on the couch eating bon bons healthy snacks.)

6.  I'm really bad about answering texts or calls from my cell phone.  My cell phone is for me to call YOU not for people to bug me when I'm out.  This really bugs my husband and mom. It took me a year to set up voicemail on my cell phone.  Again, it's about me, not you. But feel free to call me anytime. :)

7.  I was a little offended that Chris K referred to the other Adrienne as "a damn fast one" and me as "the damn funny one"  so that is basically like saying I have a big butt?  Wow, thanks.  So I'm the girl at the club with the "sparkling personality?" " Nice face?"  "Beautiful on the inside?" So I did what any girl would do and clicked on Adrienne the damn fast one to check her out and HOLY SHNIKES he wasn't kidding!  She has a 5:32 mile and a Marathon: 3:05:20.  Okay, I'll stick with damn funny because what choice do I have.  Your forgiven Chris, I'll keep my sparkling personality.


So now to tag people:
1. Check out my friends new blog at Training Trio. (there are 3 of them so it counts for 3 tags)
2. See above
3. See above
4. New friend Reid over at Life Strides
5. Janice over at Run Far and Strong

This just in!!  

Hey mom, would you use Kilometers to measure the state of Kentucky?  

No Landon, I would use google to measure the state of Kentucky.  TGFG!

Thanks Chris for the tag.

Happy Running

Adrienne

FYTO Race Report--(The one you've all been waiting for)

Well as you know I'm the Non Race Runner and last Saturday it showed.  I showed up for the FYTO race and was happy to see my running camp buddy Christina, the Lazy Bones Running and also meet my friend Emily also known as EMZ.  Even though I hadn't met EMZ in person I felt like I knew her through blogging and emails.  

I guess I was really excited--hence the lovely face.

Anyway, the reason my non race running experience showed so much is my time-- 31:10, good grief.  I started out way too fast.  Like at 8 min mile speed and then after a couple of minutes I noticed this and pulled back from the crowd but I pulled back too much. Should have slowed to a 9:30 pace but it was more like a 10 ish pace.  Now we all know that EMZ could have taken home the blue ribbon but we were running together and were chatting the whole way.   Deep Deep conversation that you all only wish you could have heard...(.and learned from).  The good news is since this was my 1st ever 5k it's a PR.  So remember the above number because I likely won't.

In the picture below notice the hot guy on the left all in black?  That is my husband Travis.  He is such a good sport to run this race and the FYTO race actually counted as our "date night morning" for us. (Yes, old married couple)  I heart him.  

Here they are, the top 4 finishers.

So Travis is the mystery man you've all been seeing behind Adam.  He almost caught Mr. Boring but this time Adam is the victor.  Note to Adam:  He's coming for you!

Don't you love Adam's BIG smile and then Travis's face is like "why are you taking the picture with me behind!"  

I asked Travis after the race if he and Adam talked while they were running.  He looked at me funny like I was an idiot and said..."uh, no".

 So as the Non Race Runner I did learn a lot from this little race.  If you want to have a good time it's probably best to keep the legs a churning, the lips buttoned and pay attention to your time more.  So if I had to do it all over again I obviously wouldn't change a thing.

Thanks to Adam and Lauren for organizing this.  It was great to meet you and it was a fun race.

Thanks to everyone for all the goodies and it was so great to meet all of you.

Thanks to EMZ for freezing to death while I yapped your ear off.

Happy Running,

Adrienne  

An Old Married Couple and FYTO Race Preview

We are an old married couple.  Here is the proof.

In case you don't know I'm one of the lucky ones that gets to run the FYTO race in person.  I sort of forgot about it until I got this email a few days ago from Adam over at The Boring Runner.....

and I quote "

You are receiving this email because you are currently signed up for the 1^st annual Freeze Your Thorns off 5K!  Below are the race details and final instructions.  Note that packet pickup, including race bibs, will start promptly at 7:30am and will close at 7:35am.

• Who: Anyone who is everyone
• What: 3.1 miles of the most fun you can have while wearing clothes
• Where: Papago Park, Tempe AZ
• When: Saturday January 8^th – 7:30 am packet pickup, 7:35 gun time
• Why: Because I said so
• How: A combination of horse steroids and fairy dust

I’ve attached two pictures that should help you plan your perfect PR race.  First, the parking directions – the Google map directions are from the 202 and Priest.  Since not many of the roads are marked, I’ve tried to give as much detail in the picture as possible.

Second, the race course itself.  The course will be 90% paved canal (suitable for bike riding….EMZ’s peanut)  9.5% botanical garden roads, and 0.5% botanical garden.  (You need to make a quick turn through 2 feet of gravel to get on the canal – no big deal).

So that I can get an accurate count of participants, please RSVP via email to confirm your attendance.  Everyone is welcome to attend.  In fact, I've received a few comments of other bloggers who are curious if they can attend in real life too, so I will keep everyone posted!

I’ll have my phone with me, so feel free to give me a call with any questions on race day – ***-***-****.

Love,

Your friendly neighborhood race director"

*****************************************************************************************

SO then I went to talk to Travis.

Me: Hey, remember that race thing I told you about a while ago?

Travis: Huh?

Me:  You know my blog friend "The Boring Runner"

Travis:  (half laugh) ya, he's funny.

Me: ya, ya, well remember I told you he was doing a virtual race thing except for those who live around here we are going to meet to do it together "real life".

Travis: And....

Me:  It's Saturday.

Travis: Okay

Me: So your going to run it with me too.

Travis:  (paying more attention now)  Huh? Wait, what was that again?

Me : (Repeat conversation up to this point)

Travis: So how long is it?  

Me: Just a 5K.  It's called Freeze your Thorns off.  Get it?  Arizona-Cactus-Thorns-Cold?

Travis: (No comment just looking at me)

Travis: So where is it.

Me: Someplace clear down in Phoenix, like an hour from here.

Travis: When is it.

Me: 7:30 am  

Travis: 7:30 in the morning and it's an hour away?

Me: Ya

Travis:  Why are we doing this?

Me: Because it's for "Anyone who is everyone" and we are someone. I think he meant to say "everyone who is anyone" but he has a newborn so the process has started so that by the time his son is in 5th grade he won't be as smart as him.  (okay I didn't really say all that)

Travis: So what are we going to do with the kids?

Me: Landon can watch them.

Travis:  I'll just stay home and watch the kids and you go.

Me: No way, I've never even met these people in real life, what if they are a bunch of weirdos.

Travis:  Who all is running?

Me: I don't really know.  I think EMZ will be there and obviously Adam.

Travis:  So EMZ is the one that likes to pack heat, machine gun style and Adam is the one who is constantly making sexual innuendos and likes to post naked pictures of himself online?

Me:  Ya, that's them.

Travis:  They seem perfectly normal, you'll be fine.

(This is the part that shows we are an old married couple because he has no concern about my safety)

Me: You're going.

Travis: okay, whatever 

Me: Oh, and I need you to win

Travis:  What?

Me: Ya, because I am SO not going to win.  So if you win and I'm last then really it's like were middle of the pack (this is how marriage works in my mind) 

Still Me: These people are crazy runners.  Really fast. And they run like 40+ miles a week or something like that.

Travis: How fast do they run?

Me:  Oh, I don't know, don't worry about that.  Anyway, I'll print you out the google map because the course isn't really marked so hopefully we won't get lost.

Travis:  The course isn't marked?

Me: No, it isn't a real real race.  Just a real virtual race, ya know, just for bloggers and friends.

Travis: Why are we going again?

Me: (Ignoring his question)  So I guess just remember where we park and if we get lost we'll just meet at the car eventually.  Oh ya, looking at the map it doesn't look like a loop.  It looks like a straight out course.

Travis: Not a loop!?  How do we get back to the car.

Me:  I don't know.  I guess it might turn into a 10K for us.

Travis:  So just so I'm clear.  We are getting up around 6 am on a Saturday to drive an hour to somewhere to run a race that isn't a "real" race just a "real, virtual race" on a course that isn't marked so we might get lost and it's not a loop so we might have to run back to our car after the race, with people who might be weirdos but run really fast and I'm suppose to "win" even though they run way more than me all while leaving out kids home?

Me:  Uh,  huh.  Should be fun.

Travis:  Aren't you "The Non Race Runner"?

Adrienne: I know, it's getting complicated.

Wish me (us) luck!  I'm (we're) going to need it.

Happy Running,

Adrienne 

NRR

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Stop blogging for a minute already!!

I have this friend that I adore and we don't live near each other so every now and then I'll pick up the phone and give her a call to say hello.  An hour after I've said Hello I add my only additional words of the conversation which are something like this, "well it was so great to talk to you, we'll talk again soon, take care, Goodbye".  Yes, she talked the whole time and I didn't get a word in edgewise.  It's okay though, I know this about her and I like to hear what is going on in her life.  Do you have friends like this?  If not, then you are likely that friend.  I think I blog in the same way.

Which leads me to ask...

Are you a "checker then a poster" or a "poster then a checker?"

I'm definitely a blog "checker then a poster."  I do have great and witty things to post about I just don't always get to them   (If you could read my mind you would be laughing your head off )  

I log on and spend all my time enjoying reading everyone's blogs and then by the time I'm ready to post my hilarious, attention catching, informative words of wisdom, it's time to go do something else.

Well not today!  So listen up !  

(Just kidding-it's really nothing exciting I just wanted to sound dramatic.  Did it work?)

The Catch up.  

Christmas Eve reading some Christmas stories and THE Christmas story from The good book.

Followed by the traditional opening of one gift from mom and dad that are always pajamas!

Before you knew it's 5:30 am on Christmas morning and the kids were checking out their loot.  I'm thinking Santa only went over the list once and not twice or they wouldn't have made out so good.

Oh looky here what mom got.  This should help with the running.....

but there was also TOO, TOO, much of this....

Favorite gifts for mom are usually from the kids.  Recorded piano song from Landon.

Snowman picture frame from Reece man.

uggg, there it is again.....

Travis and I gave the kids a play set for Christmas so right after presents Dad and crew got busy building it.  (Sorry for you cold weather dwellers, it was nice and sunny Christmas day)

By the end of the day it was done.  Travis does not mess around.  

Which is good because the next day he had to put together his present.

December 31st Travis joined me for my 7 miler (after he had already played basketball for 2 hours that morning)  It was really nice to have his company for the run.  Jasper was also along for the run.  Don't mind him in this picture.  I think he saw a squirrel.

I've run outside more in the last 2 weeks than I have in the last few months and it has been invigorating.  I forget how much I enjoy it.  I know because of my life and the little ones I'll have to hit the treadmill again now that Travis is back to work and the older kids, also known as the free babysitters, are back in school but I'm going to make more of an effort to get outside.

 New Years Day Travis and I wrote our own personal goals and helped the kids write some goals for 2011, along with family goals.  I think between the 6 of us we should be good. We try to keep it simple around here, be happy they weren't written in crayon okay.

 Here are mine, feel free to read them if you can decipher my handwriting.

 Then it was on to the partying!  

 It was actually cold here in Phoenix which you've likely heard from other Phoenix area bloggers so we whipped up some hot chocolate and got out the blankets.

 Oh ya!  Happy New Year Baby!

 In addition to the above festivities we did some of this....

 Caught one of these....

Made and delivered (and ate) lots of this...

Played too much of this.....

 Missed lots of these.....

 And I'll leave you with one of my favorite new pieces

THIS

Happy New Year and Happy Running!

Adrienne

(You may now continue on with the blogging)