Our beautiful girl and her amazing birth

Moments following the birth of Isabella I was absolutely elated. The high from giving birth has yet to wear off. Miraculous, amazing, fulfilling, exciting. Yes it was all that and more.
But the week leading up to the birth was filled with anxiety and fear. Previously I wrote about visualizing labor as a marathon, as a way to dispell any fear that I might come across. Sure that was a great way to think about the process and to see an end in sight, but after a foreboding ultrasound, I was anything but calm and meditative.
Four days past the due date, and ironically my birthday, I was strapped to a fetal heartrate monitor, and contraction monitor. Moments before I had seen the beautiful sonagram images of my baby girl. Healthy, and fully developed, our baby girl was measuring 9 lbs and 11 oz. The Dr. was alarmed and concerned that the baby would be too large to deliver. After some negotiating, and good results from the monitors, I set a date to be induced. The Dr. was giving me 4 additional days to go into labor on my own.
Those 4 days were excrutiating. I could only envision the worst case scenario. I would arrive to be induced, they would give me the horrible pitocin, I would labor for days, and after hours of painful contractions, I would end up with a c-section. Sadly I could not find the silver lining in any of it.
Fortunately I am married to a wonderful, calm and patient man. He talked me down from my crying hysterics. He walked with me to encourage labor. He took me for cold stone ice cream just to cheer me up. When the big day came, he held my hand and walked me into the hospital.
Once at the hospital two very important people visited me and gave me two wonderful gifts. Liz, a nurse at the hospital who was also our childbirth educator, came in and told me that it was time to surrender to the situation and accept what was going to happen. David, my pastor, came and prayed with me. His gift gave me reassurance that everything would be alright, and God was with us.
I am happy to go into detail about every moment of labor and delivery, but I will save it for another post. What I will say is that after 27 hours I was holding my daughter in my arms. She was 8 lbs 6 oz. (No where near 9 lbs 11 oz) and not a C-section. I wouldn't change a thing. It's such an amazing experience that I'm looking forward to having more children. I'm so blessed to have as many wonderful people in my life who really supported me throughout the pregnancy, labor and delivery, especially my husband, who is already an amazing daddy.

Three days after due date

Is it possible for me to feel more uncomfortable right now? Of course. Could I be feeling down that I'm three days after the due date and the usual 'warning' signs are no where to be seen? Sure. But what I want now is the same thing I wanted 9 months ago. A healthy and happy baby.

In the end all that matters is that this baby, whenever she decides to show up, arrives in the best of health. I can bare the sleepless nights, being uncomfortable at work, the achy pelvis, as long as it means that a healthy bambino is on the way.

What is more difficult to bare, than I had anticipated, is all the supportive inquiries about how I'm doing and where is the baby. I know people mean well, but I feel this tremendous, and overwhelming responsibility for the little one not arriving yet. Is it my mindset that's stopping her? Did I not eat the right things? Am I not active enough to move things along? I know there is no science to pinpointing the date. And there are no proven methods for naturally inducing labor. But everyone seems to have a suggestion. And in the end, I just feel like I must be doing something wrong if they're trying to encourage me to change a behavior.

My focus is on having a healthy baby, and I just have to be patient. In the mean time I have great friends and family that are trying to keep my busy and take my mind off things. Preventing boredom seems to be key right now. And hopefully I'll learn to just brush off all the "advise".

How running has trained my mind for labor

Joe and I attended our first childbirth class last week. I had convinced myself that I read all I would need to know about childbirth until the nurse gave the class an excellent comparison to focus on. The runner's high.

She was trying to convince the group that our bodies have natural endorphines that will help us through labor. I could see skepticism wash over the faces of those around me. Liz boasted that they're natural chemicals that our bodies would release into our systems to help us deal with labor.

To me, I truly believe that running will make all the difference in the labor process. Distance running is about controlling your breathing and focusing on the end goal. Not feeling all the aches along the way, but pushing through them as if they were mere obstacles on our way to a finish line.

In reality I haven't been through it yet, so I can't say if it's a fair comparison to make. But I will be using all my experience running to help get me through labor. My goal is to do this naturally without any drugs. If they become necessary (because a c-section is required) then I'll accept it. But going into it, I'm going to use everything I learned from the childbirth class, and from running to get me through labor. I want to be free of any drugs during the birth of my first baby.

Too busy to blog?

The excuse that one could be too busy to blog bothers me. It seems to me that the busier you are, the more blog content you must have. I'm finding that I have been busy, but perhaps the content that could fill this space, doesn't fit the main focus of this blog. But I suppose that's what life is about, right? It's about change. And perhaps a bit of a change could be good for this blog.
Confession, I haven't been running, or even trying to run. Besides going on some pretty fantastic walks with Willow, things have been pretty stagnant in the running department. Usually I would use this blog to track my successes, or lack of motivation. (Ironic how writing about having no motivation is actually . . . motivating.)
The other focus in my blog is Willow's training and how I've been trying to keep up with her. I'd love to take responsibility for how much she has change, but it's really attributable to her turning two years old. They say labs really mellow out between two and three. She's not all the way there yet, but I'm much more confident about bringing a baby in the house. After all, Willow doesn't stay in her crate at night, instead she roams the house freely. She has yet to leave a trail of destruction in her path. Not even so much as a chewed pen.
So what fits? I suppose the reason for the change in lifestyle should be the focus of the blog. My pregnancy. I have 8 weeks until the baby's due date. I'm thrilled that time is flying by, but I'm so nervous that if I don't capture all the great moments of pregnancy, I will have wasted the experience.
The daily changes I've seen are predictable, but surprising none-the-less. Every time the baby jabs me, or rolls, it's always exciting. Gentle little reminders that something wonderful is growing. I could do without the leg cramps, and the tightness in my lungs. But I wouldn't give up any of these experiences for anything.
I'm hoping to keep updating in the final few weeks, how I feel, and methods that I'm using to cope with all the changes. Prenatal yoga is just one example, but there is so much more.

Running on hold: Bugs at the farm

I'm 6 months along and I'm thinking the running, or desire to run, is just going to have to wait till after pregnancy. Willow and I still do intervals now and then, but this belly is not exactly aerodynamic.
Fortunately this leaves me more time to work on my other venture . . . the farm. Of course I knew that I would have to water the plot daily, and weed frequently, but I had no idea that I would have to combat blister beetles, squash bugs and vine borers (oh my).
It all started with a weeding overhaul on Saturday. I ripped vines and tall grass from the soil with fiery disdain. I moved arduously down the 40' sprawl of vegetation until I came to the grape tomatoes. I was removing the unwanted vines that had precariously wrapped themselves around the stalks of the tomatoes when I noticed the oddest gray and black bug I'd ever seen. We stared at each other for a moment, both assessing the other's threat level. It was then I noticed that it wasn't just one lackluster bug, but a colony of them. They were crawling all over my tomato plants leaving gaping holes in some leaves, and large piles of bug shadoobie on other leaves. (For those of you who don't know Chelsea Handler, she refers to poo as shadoobie, and it's become part of my vocabulary.) This was a code red situation. I picked up a couple of them and chucked them. Even with gloves on I can't bring myself to squish them.
After a the beetle mania subsided, I moved along to the next trouble area, the zucchini. The plant had produced several large delicious zucchini and I was so excited to see what had grown since the last visit. I noticed that the leaves weren't as vibrant as they once had been, and I was nervous that watering them while the sun beat down on them had taken a toll. To my horror, they were actually being mutilated by swarms of little white bugs with black legs. There were enough of these cruddy little things to decimate the crop. I killed what I could and called Joe.
He came down to help and saw all the bugs, but neither of us knows anything about bugs or farming for that matter.
This was a job for google. After a sleepless night of thinking bugs were crawling all over me I set out to dig up whatever information I could. Here's what I discovered.

• Blister beetles can actually cause blisters. Their bodies are covered with a chemical called cantharidin which causes adverse reactions with human skin. Which explains why I had little red welts on my arm after handling the bugs (ok chucking them as far as I could) with my gloves on and them brushing my arm with the glove.
• Squash bugs have several damaging stages of their putrid little lives. They leg eggs on the leaves (easiest thing to remove), then hatch into the little white bugs that start destroy the leaves. Once they mature they become larger brown flat bugs that terrorize the leaves.
• Both bugs, as adults, can be killed by submerging them in a bucket of water. The larva stage of the squash bug, however, can be erradicated by spraying them with soapy water. It's supposed to be the most organic method.

Armed with the knowledge of how to combat these garden pests and the vengence to destroy what was ruining my favorite summer vegetable, I arrived at the farm at 7am. With a spray bottle in one hand, and pail of water in the other I sprayed and plucked bugs till they had all scurried away. Not to be outsmarted by something that doesn't have a brain, I showered the plants with the hose. Several more bugs crept to the tops of the leaves to escape drowning, only to be plucked from the leaves and submerged in the red pail of death.

Only time will tell if the zucchini can be saved, but I'm much more hopeful for the tomatoes.

Did you know dogs sweat through their paws?

I was once told by a trainer that dogs sweat through their paws, and if that's the case Willow and Dakota must have awfully soggy paws. I've been working with Willow on leash and she has been a pleasure, but now that we're in the middle of a heat wave, I can barely coax her outside.

Just like me, Willow needs her exercise or she'll start to pack on the pounds. Pre-pregnancy, if I went a week without exercise, not only did my mood suffer, but the numbers on the scale were sure to creep up. I don't have a veterinary scale installed in the home, so I have to judge her weight visually. Apparently I hadn't been doing a good job because at her recent vet visit she tipped the scale at 80 lbs. 80 lbs! Last year she was down to 65 lbs. Even 5 lbs is a lot of extra weight for a dog to carry. So you can imagine the guilt I felt as I saw the numbers illuminated on the digital reader. We went for a walk that evening. But she just crawls along once the temperature hits 85.

So without exercise, trust me I know how important it is, I have to rely on food management. She was getting 3 1/2 cups of food; enough for a 60 to 80 lb dog. I cut her back to 2 1/2 cups, but the hubs is having trouble following that. He thinks she isn't getting enough. I'd prefer to give her 3 cups and make sure she gets plenty of exercise, but it doesn't seem to be an option at the moment. She's just a girl who doesn't like sweaty paws.

Willow's 45 minute adventure

A new record of 2.5 miles in 45 minutes! What? That’s not impressive? Well it is for Willow. I’ve been warned by vets, trainers and breeders not to run my little lab until she’s 18 months. If she has hip displaysia, then it will only exacerbate the condition. So I’ve been very cautious about the length and intensity of activity.
This week we’ve been on several walks, but yesterday was by far the best. After 20 minutes I decided to try out some intervals. I haven’t worked on running with her much, so I usually try to do it at the end of our walks, when she’s good and tired and doesn’t feel like mouthing her leash and darting off after squirrels. The first interval was slow and calm. I found that I was giving her little correction and plenty of praise for following directions. By the third interval she had the hang of it, even though she needed a little encouragement to pick up the speed.
We faced the real test at the end of our walk. My neighbor’s children visit every so often and they bring Mikey, their beautiful golden lab. He’s never on leash but responds to all their commands. My concern wasn’t focused on Mikey dashing up to us for a visit, it was Willow’s inability to greet another dog calmly. I didn’t want to ruin the first 44 minutes of our work. I just kept talking to her to keep her attention. I even had a conversation with the neighbors while Willow calmly (or perhaps because she expended all her energy) stayed by my side. Mikey stayed in their yard, and there was no barking. SUCCESS.
I learned so much from Willow in those 45 minutes. I learned what she could handle, and that I need to show I trust her more. And the biggest discovery was that having a running buddy made me work harder. I’ve been afraid to run since I found out I was pregnant, but having my buddy with me to push and work with actually motivated me to do better. I think I’ll give her the night off, but we’re heading out tomorrow morning for more fun running.

Healthy Momma, Healthy Baby

Just got back from a routine prenatal Dr. visit and I'm thrilled to report that I'm healthy and all factors indicate the baby is healthy too. When you can't see what's going on inside your, or verify every little twinge of pain or movement, it's comforting that the doctor can give you an all clear. We met our fourth doctor of the group, there are six total, and he seemed to be the comedian of the bunch. He commented that I had the blood pressure of a 10 year old (a good thing). He also gave Joe a laugh when he pointed out that I left the M (medium) tag on my shirt. "Yup, she's pregnant," he retorted.
But back to the blood pressure and other good healthy stuff. Another healthy point? I've gained 11.5 lbs. in 22 weeks. I'm within the averages and not worried about gaining too much. I attribute that to a healthy diet and plenty of exercise pre-pregnancy. I have been worried about not exercising enough during the pregnancy, but never realized how important a healthy body before hosting this little miracle could be.
After such a positive visit, I'm determined to focus on fitness again. It's not just the goal of having less weight to drop post-baby. It's the thought that every positive choice I make for my diet and fitness directly impacts my little one. And if her frequent activity is any indication of her energy level, I'll have a running budy before I know it.

Is it the weather?

It's day three of cloudy, rainy weather here. I'm starting to wonder if my heightened sensitivity and general miserable disposition has something to do with the weather, rather than being pregnant.
In the previous weeks we've been really fortunate to have sunny days and cool breezes. On those days I feel like I can conquer my ever-growing task list, and my ever-growing belly won't weigh me down. Today, after three dreary days, I'm feeling overwhelmed and sad. I felt this way during the winter, but not during my pregnancy. My usual dose of medicine would be a nice run in the rain to wash away the frustration. Lately I haven't been able to muscle up the desire to do that. I thought maybe if I start small, with 1 mile dog walks, I'd eventually want to push harder and run. I'm still hoping the desire to run will come back, but it's been a few weeks and I'm still just walking.
The sun is forecasted to return tomorrow, so I'm hoping my generally cheery disposition will also return.

More about me, less about running

The purpose of this blog is to focus on my toils to balance my life while keeping running in the picture. Today I'm going to diverge a bit because something has been bothering me. Without going into too much detail, I'm having trouble staying close to a few of my family members. By no means is this an admission of guilt. In fact, this is my record stating I'm trying to stay close and not lose important people. But I have recognized something interesting.
Since my relationship with these relatives is out of whack, I find that I've been trying to become closer to other friends and colleagues. Perhaps it's an attention thing, but I'm reaching out to friends I haven't spoken to in a while. I'm calling relatives that I normally wouldn't have a phone conversation with. I'm trying to be more social at work and not distance myself as much from the "chatty Kathy's". Perhaps it's because I'm a hormonal wreck from the pregnancy and I have this constant desire to be needed. Or maybe I'm just trying to fill the hole that others are leaving behind.
Whatever the reason, I don't dislike this behavior. I find that I'm being nicer to everyone around me. And for the first time I'm trying to be more inclusive. I'm not keeping secrets from everyone, and I'm letting the world in. I can only hope that this is just a transition time and people who are being distant will come around. But if they don't I will have made stronger connections to others in the meantime.

One of the most exciting days . . .

It was anatomy scan day for baby G. I was a little nervous, ok maybe a lot nervous, on the way to the doctor's office. It had been 10 weeks since the last ultrasound and now that the baby has grown so much, the tech would be taking all sorts of measurements to see how the baby was doing. I had faith that the baby would be healthy and normal, but I was still a little concerned that there would be some surprise along the way.
All measurements were in the average range; we saw the four ventricals of the baby's heart, the two hemispheres of the baby's brain, the lengths of the arms and legs. It was so exciting to see all the wonderful features of our baby. I was in tears the entire time. I had to keep my joyous laughter to a minimum because my stomach would shake from the giggles causing the image on the monitor to shake.
At the end of the appointment, the tech was ready to finish up and we hadn't found out what the sex was yet. Clearly dismayed that we asked to find out, the tech turned the monitor back on and started searching for the right position. Once we could see the two thighs on the screen the tech. explained that there was a void between the two little legs and that she was fairly certain that it was a girl. Baby G is a girl. True it's not 100% but I'm making paint choices for the baby's room based on her level of certainty.
Seeing the baby wiggle around and toss her arms about was such an exciting experience. I've been feeling a lot of the movement lately, but seeing it on the screen just added a new level to the excitement of having a little one. 20 more weeks until we are due to welcome our little girl home.

Joe does Ragnar, Rachelle gets motivated

I’ve been on a running hiatus, and I don’t have an excuse. That may not be completely true. I’ve been learning to balance a hectic work schedule, happy dogs, and my pet project, the farm. Being pregnant has been a delightful distraction from the guilt of not running. But after this past weekend, I just had to find the time to get back out there.
Ragnar Relay New England took place Friday and Saturday and my husband, his friends and my sister banded together to conquer the 190+ mile challenge. I volunteered at an exchange and had a great time, but felt slightly tortured to see teams welcoming their brave runners and sending off the next. I wanted to be them. I cheered everyone along, but it was a struggle not to be a little sad about missing such an incredible experience. They would bond over the difficult hills, the overnight running, and even pooping in the woods.
As they celebrated the end of the race their wary smiles left me with the desire to get back out there. So today, I finally did it. I was in Miami for work and had a rare hour to myself. At 7:00 a.m. I set out along the board walk of Miami Beach. About half way in I worked up the courage to run, with a promise to myself that I would just do 1 to 2 minutes at a time so that I didn’t over do it. After 30 minutes I was back at my hotel feeling pretty proud of myself. The distance and pace were nothing to brag about, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that I ran a bit, and I can’t wait to do it again.

Happy May: A garden we will grow

The first two days of May were absolutely beautiful. And on the first day of May I got to start my very own garden. With two dogs, it's hard to grow anything in the backyard, including grass. So we decided to take advantage of a community garden that is about 1 mile from the house. We spent Saturday morning picking out our plot and grooming it so that it's ready for planting next weekend. This week, while it's not so pleasant outside, I'm going to paint a sign for our lovely little piece of land. Provided we turn out to be ok farmers, we'll have a summer full of fresh veggies. Our farm plot neighbors were pretty awesome too. They've offered to put up a fence around our two plots to keep the rabbits out. If we fence them together, we'll have a neat little path down the center of our plots so that it's easier to farm. I'm so excited about it. I was even up to the challenge of toiling in the soil for a full 2 hours. Baby G was kind enough to let me. Perhaps Baby G won't mind a short run later this week?


I found this great little ticker at thebump.com. It'll stay current throughout the blog. When I posted this I was 16 weeks preggo.

Mini workout with Willow

After an encouraging Dr. visit last week, I decided to start stepping up my exercise. Taking Willow for walks has been a challenge, pregnant or not. She's super strong, and mildly obedient. But after a walk where both Dakota and Willow decided to prove that they can walk together without dragging me down the street, I decided I was ready to take Willow for a nice long walk and run at the park.
She was awesome. We walked the .75 miles to the park and then did some jogs across the field. The job felt more like a sprint to me. We would run the length together and then I'd stop and throw a ball for her while my heart rate went down and we walked back across the field. it's about three soccer fields in width and a good distance from the road. Perfect for a dog who has more energey than their owner.
Our jaunt out of the house may have only lasted 45 minutes, but it was great for me to be up and about that long without needing a nap. Willow was exhausted. When we got home she had a refreshing drink of water, immediately followed by a nap in the middle of the floor.
I'm hoping the rain clears out soon because I can't wait to head out again with the pup.

Running for two

It's finally time to make a big announcement. I am having a baby, due October 21. This huge moment in our lives (speaking for my husband too here) has had a tremendous impact on our every day routine. I had to stop running for a while, and it seems as though Joe has picked up where I left off.
140 BPM. That's all I can hit in order to not exert myself. Eight weeks ago I went for a run and wore a heart rate monitor for the first time. I have to say, I was surprised to see that I was topping out around 160 after running for only 2 minutes. I thought it was of little significance that I was pregnant and all the books and websites warned me to keep it under 140. A few days later I got a bit of a wake up call and the doctor asked me to refrain from strenuous physical activity, like running, during my first trimester.
I've resorted to walking for the past few weeks, but even that has proven to be too much. Never in my life have I been this tired. I haven't napped this frequently since my freshman year of college. The overall exhaustion seems to be waning a bit, and I've been able to get a few more walks in. Perhaps because it's the beginning of the second trimester. I've also started to get my eating under control. For the past two plus months all I could stomach was pizza, cereal and ice cream.
I dropped out of the Ragnar Relay I was scheduled to run with Joe and his friends. I feel a little guilt for leaving the team, but it's just such a joyous time in my life it's hard to feel that bad. Joe, on the other hand, has been working hard to get daily runs in. I'm so thrilled that he'll be running with a great team of friends in such a cool race. And I'll (or should I say we'll) be perfectly happy to cheer for him on along the sidelines.
So this blog may take a turn in a different direction for the next several months. It will still focus on fitness, but a pregnant woman's fitness, with maybe a little of Joe's trials and tribulations with running peppered in for flavor.

Too many gadgets

As I left for my first 2010 outdoor run, I felt weighed down. No this was not a mental or emotional weight from being so overwhelmed. It was 2.5 lbs of electronics that were part of my running gear.

• MP3 player: I've been running with my sansa for 3 years now. I have a subscription to Rhapsody and making a new playlist is much cheaper and quicker than with an iPod.
• Garmin: A big clunky watch that tracks distance and pace like no other gadget.
• Heart Rate monitor strap and watch: I never tracked my heart rate during a run. Certain life events have made it necessary for me to track it, so I borrowed my husbands Nike watch and monitor.

I had a watch strapped to each wrist, a strap around my ribcage, an old school sansa secure around my bicep and the most cumbersome headphones known to man around my ears. (I refuse to wear earbuds, they fall out constantly.) Should I be concerned that there are so many electronic pulses and waves being emitted wirelessly around my body?

Now I'm aware that I could get a Garmin with a heart rate monitor, but since I already have a working one, why would I spend the money? Am I reliant on the Garmin to tell me my pace? Absolutely. It pushes me to pick it up when I see numbers I'm not fond of.

Is there an all in one device out there? I'm really fond of my Garmin, and if it could store all my music, and track my heart rate . . . it would be perfect. Oh and while I'm wishing for a new gadget wireless headphones would be awesome.

Back on track

Just as I'm getting used to a running routine again, one of my sisters is deciding she may want to join her high school track team.

My sister Sarah was the ultimate athlete in high school. And even after her D3 collegiate soccer career, she still plays soccer and hockey. If envying my sister could have been a sport in high school, I would have been the MVP. I attempted to join track so that I was part of a team. Each practice began with a half mile warm up around the track. Each warm up ended with me walking to the finish line while everyone else was stretching. I became a "thrower" because . . . admittedly I was just lazy.

Now my younger sister, freshman in high school, is thinking of joining track this spring. How can I convince her that running with the team will be one of the best decisions she can make? Should I tell her all the cool kids are running? Seeing what running has done for me in my adulthood makes me wonder how much better off I would have been in my teen years if I were running. I could have worked with a coach who would have pointed out strengths and weaknesses. Now in my late twenties I'm struggling to get back on track, and I hope to somehow convince my sister to get on the track team.

Roll with it

So this morning I posted how happy I was that I was learning how to fit in my workouts. Well it's Wendesday evening, and I have yet to go to the gym. The plan was to go with the hubs when he got home. Instead, I find myself plowing through work in front of one of my fav. TV shows (NCIS) and two sleeping pups next to me. Sure I'm frustrated that tonight didn't go as planned. But I can appreciate the fact that the dogs are very sweet, and I'm being productive. What's the saying when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
Perhaps I can try to make it to the gym for 5am. Fingers crossed.

Fitting it in

I'm a few weeks from claiming I'm back in shape. But what I can say is that I've been doing a much better job at finding time to work out. I'm up to 4 consistent workouts a week. I find that when I push too hard to go in the morning, it just doesn't happen. Lately I've been going as soon as I'm home from work. That means that the dogs are stuck in the house an whole hour longer. If I've been stuck at work longer than I'd like, then I work out at home. I take the dogs for a super long walk, and then give Willow a stuffed kong. I head to the basement and do a little kickboxing. I've taken enough classes and can keep moving for 45 min. Willow isn't quite comfortable with it yet. She checks in on me frequently. I know it's not running, but at least it's something.

Willow improved!

For the last 18 months, Joe and I have been living in terror. Every day we push our favorite items to the far recesses of the counter so that Willow, the surfing monster, can't steal our valuables. This past year she has been responsible for the loss of a blackberry, multiple socks, and has damaged countless electronic. (Please see exhibit A, the remote control.)

So you can imagine my shock when I was able to recover my snow boot, fully intact. I have been trying to leave less valuable items, within the theif's reach, as sort of a temptation. Astonishingly she has been ignoring most things. Today the urge to nab my boots must have overwhelmed her because I could hear an awkward scuffle in the kitchen. I could tell she had made off with something bigger than normal. Remaining calm, I called to her. Immediately she came to me, boot in mouth with a devious grin. Normally it's at this moment where she thinks the chase is about to begin, wags her tail feverishly, and when she can't contain herself anymore, she dashes away. Not so on this wondeful morning. I quietly asked her to "drop it," and with that my boot fell to the floor and she eased back into a sit. She waited motionlessly while I leaned forward to scoop up by boot. I might be a little embarassed to admit that I showered her with praise and high pitched squeals of how proud of her I was.

Gym buddy

Nothing is better than having someone to motivate you. The hubs accompanied me to the gym last night. We were a good team. Joe couldn't bring himself to get in the car, which is where my nagging skills come in handy. And parked outside the gym in our toasty warm car was where he pushed me to go inside. Even inside the gym all I wanted to do was get on am eliptical and glide my way through the work out. After exiting the locker room I spotted him on a treadmill with an open machine on either side. Side by side we pushed each other through a 45 minute work out. I focused on speed and tries to catch up to his distance since he had been on for 5 min. Everytime he increases his pace, I sped up too. At the end, we had each done just over four miles. What could have been a casual jaunt on the eliptical turned into a heart racing workout with my gym buddy.

New year, new sneaks

Today is the first day back on the treadmill in 2010. My new kicks accompanied me for a 3 mile walk/run. I wanted to take it slow today with the hope that I'll start training for speed next week. The new sneakers made such a difference, especially since the cushioning has that new springy feel to it. My last pair were Asics kayanos, and after 600 miles, I had matching holes on the toe box. These were my first asics and I decided to stick with the brand, and bought a much cheaper shoe, the gel 1150. So far so good.

What I want in 2010

I know most people fear the resolution because it's more of an ideal than an action item. It's a nice thing to talk about, but it's usually pretty scary to think about accomplishing. I enjoy the new beginnings of 2010. It's a fresh start and a chance to do things differently. Here is what I want out of 2010.
Focus on running all year
Last year I got really serious about running for the half, and then I kind of let things die down. I'm going to push to make running an all year goal. I've already put together a short list of races for 2010.
March - simple 5k
May - Ragnar Relay
End of June - Half Marathon
October - Half Marathon
December - Vegas Marathon
This may be a bit ambitious, but I'm just in the planning stage. I know that I'd like to run a full marathon, and now that I have a group of friends to train with, it seems this might be the best year for it.
Take Willow to Agility
Willow has more energy than my husband and I combined, and we've had the trainer come to our house several times. Her newest suggestion is to take Willow to agility classes. It'll teach her to be aware of her body, and suck up some of that crazy energy. If she likes it, we can even get some equipment set up in the backyard so she can go through the exercises at home.
Find a dance class
It's been too long, and I've made too many excuses, there is no reason I can't find a dance class.
Work on the house
The hubs really wants to finish the basement, and I really want him to have a space to call his own. After almost three years in the house, it's time to focus on making it a home. We had only planned for this to be our 5 to 7 year home, but after the market took a turn, we're thinking we'll be there a little longer.

So if I focus on these goals, 2010 might just turn out to be a pretty great year.