10

I ran ten miles today.
Oh, I'm sorry maybe you didn't hear me.
I RAN TEN MILES TODAY!!!!

Four out of the six of us ran 10 miles through Lake Caroline this morning. It was a really pretty run and really I felt great. This was a big jump for me. I had only done 7 continuous miles before today. The others had done 9 the week I had to sit out.

I am beginning see a pattern in my running and I think that's good. I kind of know what to expect. The middle 3 miles are my hardest ones. At no point today did I think I wouldn't finish but miles 3,4 and 5 were slowest for me and I fell a good bit behind the others. I'm a slow walker and when we walked for a minute I fell behind and it took me awhile catch up. Ok so they stopped and waited for me and I caught up. I have good friends!

I also ate my first GU today and regrettably I will have to tell Shane that it wasn't that bad. That's another big set of words I'll have to swallow. We stopped for minute at mile 5 and had our GU and picked back up. We were all so loaded down with GU and jelly beans and gum and chews and whatever else we thought we might need that we might have shaved a minute off of our time if we weren't so weighted down.

I fell behind again at about mile 8.5 but I finished strong and felt great. I felt better after my first 10 miler than I did after my first 5 and 6 milers. I think that means I'm getting stronger. No shin splints, no hip pain. Only really numb feet but I'm getting used to that.

I had a whopper of a foot cramp when I got home so I have come up with a remedy for that this afternoon. I have to go now because.....

I have a pedicure appointment.

A girl has to do whatever is necessary to keep healthy you know!

Sent from my iPad

A comparison worth making

This is my husband Shane.

He is not only a natural born runner, he is a triathlete. He swims and bikes and then runs. It's a little irritating. And also amazing. He really does amaze me. After not running for several months he will decide to start training for triathlon season and wake up one morning and run 3 miles. Let us remember how many weeks it took me to run one mile.

It's a good thing he's cute.

Anyway, thought it would be interesting to make a comparison of our running habits and styles.

Shoes:

Shane's running shoes are stained from the red mud at the grueling Heart of Dixie triathlon held in the middle of July. In Mississippi.

My shoes are stained with a blob a chocolate cake I was eating in late

December. In Mississippi.

Hydration:

Shane's bathroom counter is littered with various sizes of water bottles.

My bathroom counter is littered with various sizes of Diet Coke.

Energy Replacement:

Shane prefers GU as his energy replacement on long runs.

I prefer something that makes thing I'm eating candy.

In order to even the score a little I have purchased my own GU to carry me through my first 10 mile run in the morning.

I'm taking my jelly beans though.

Sent from my iPad

Ready or not....Here I come!!

Look what came in the mail!!!!!

This means it is getting close!! In fact one month from today I will be leaving fir the race. I can not believe it is coming so fast! I can't believe we may actually do this! Christina said the other day, "I can't believe the only way we thought we could take a girl trip was to run a half marathon!" Well, I'm excited about the race, the trip, the challenge, ALL of it!

Ten miles is looming Saturday and I feel like if I can get past that I can do it. And whether or not I think I can do it is beside the point. Beacuse in one month Mickey is going to be waiting for me at the airport and I intend to be there....

Ready or not!!!

Words taste good!

Well, I have figured out why I have not lost very much weight on this little journey of mine.

It's all the words I have eaten. With the way I have been eating them lately, they must taste like Godiva Chocolate Caramel squares I have been sneaking this past week. (I bought them on Christmas clearance to give as gifts and rediscovered them cleaning out the pantry-major yummy!)

Today I took a big bite from the words : "I will NEVER run in the rain-NEVER!"

Today I ran in the rain.

Ok. Today I ran in a sprinkle. But it was still wet and falling on my head.

I did it to myself. I needed to run 3-4 miles yesterday, but my hip was aching and it was "spitting" at us on the way to school and I quickly talked myself into a trip to the gym. Me and that stationary bike are getting to be good friends. Too good. It's becoming a codependent relationship and I'm going to have to walk away I'm afraid.

Last night I decided do or die it was 5 miles today. Well, it wasn't spitting at us this morning. It was carpool is going to be crazy, wish I could crawl under the cover raining this morning, but I headed to the gym to do 5 on the treadmill. But first I decided to visit my friend the bike and then I did some weights and then I got on the treadmill.

I have an issue I need help with. When I run on the treadmill my earphone shock the inside of my ears. Am I just weird or does this happen to other people. I lasted about 30 seconds and hopped off. That is not fun!

I started to head back to the bike but began to panic. I haven't run since Saturday and now it's Tuesday. We are doing 10 on Saturday and I need to run today! A quick glance out the window and although threatening it was not currently raining. I drove home and grabbed my gloves and earmuffs and hit the road to try to do 1 or 2 miles before a meeting I had this morning. About half a mile in I began to notice the rain drops on the puddles. Then I noticed them on the screen of my phone. Then I noticed them on my head. But here is the thing. In that moment as rain was falling on my head I made the decision to keep going. My plan was to continue on around the lake and I decided to keep on that path. While rain was falling on my head. I'm proud of that moment!

The rain didn't last long and I actually ran out of time and had to cut it a little short. Beside I was feeling kind of full.....

From all the words!

This is the Stuff

Well.... I feel like I am back in the game now and things are back on track. After my victorious 2 mile comeback I was able to do 5 miles last Wednesday. I was scheduled to do 8 solo miles on Saturday but Regina invited me to run with her and 2 of the other girls going. I decided 6 miles with friends was as good for the soul as 8 would be for my body. We had a beautiful run on the Ridgeland trails along the Natchez Trace. Beautiful but extremely hilly. I am feeling it today!!

Yesterday was so much fun! I so enjoyed being with Regina, Chyna and Jennifer. We even followed up with lunch with some other friends. A great day. I have gained some serious perceptive over the last few weeks. The Lord has really been teaching me patience and contentment. I have much to be thankful for. Francesca Batcelli has a new song that really has fit what the Lord has been teaching me. If you get a chance check out "This is the Stuff". It is a fun song with a great message!
Sent from my iPad

Schizophrenic Playlist!

Today was a victory! It has been 9 days since I last ran. I have had to lay low because my hip pain. I have done the stationary bike enough to take me to Orlando and back and have done weights to try to strengthen my hips and 9 days later things seem somewhat back to normal. I was able to run today pain free!! I only did two miles but was so happy with that. I feel so good tonight and am thinking again that I might actually be able to do this race. I am planning 5 miles tomorrow so we will see how that goes.

Most of my runs since Christmas have been solo runs. Jill's and my schedules have not matched up the last few weeks and I had to lay off and miss the last group long run. My iPod and I have gotten reacquainted over the last few weeks and I have made a discovery.

It's possible I'm schizophrenic. At least where music is concerned. Here is a list of the songs I listened to in the 25 minutes it took me to run 2 miles (that's a 12:46 pace-just in case you were wondering).

1. Popular from the Wicked soundtrack

2. Trumpet of Jesus by the Imperials circa 1978

3. Showstopper by Toby Mac

4. Dancing Queen from Mamma Mia

5. Nineteen Something by Mark Wills (funny little country song)

6. Hold on by Toby Mac (This one was torture and is probably what made me run faster-trying to outrun this song. This one has got to go! One Toby Mac song too many!)

And to round out my 2 victorious comeback miles......

The Training Montage from Rocky IV

Humility and hilarity at the gym

I'm still nursing my hips so I hit the gym today instead of running. I did a variety of things including the stationary bike. I did that for about 30 minutes and moved onto doing some weights. I went to the machine that works your quads in which you slip your legs under a pad and pull it up. I adjusted the machine to fit my short legs and sat down. Glancing at the weights, I moved the pin to the desired amount and moved two of the three 5 lb. donuts over to make it heavier. I did my reps and headed back the stationary bike. About that time the sweetest looking old lady came behind me to the leg machine. She was little bitty and had a puff of silver hair on her head. She looked exactly like Sophia from Golden Girls. I thought to myself, "I hope she is gonna be ok." She checked the placement of the seat and the leg bar. It seemed fine to her and she sat down. She glanced at the weight and then did a double take. She then moved the third 5 lb. donut over. The old lady bested me by 5 pounds. Humility!

I then moved to the elliptical machine. I really enjoy the elliptical. I also was enjoying the show I was watching about woman criminals! There are some bad girls out there! After about 20 minutes I decided to head back to the bike to finish up. The only available bike was next to Sophia who was done with her heavy lifting. I was a little nervous to turn my tv back to my woman criminals show as it was a little grisly and I didn't want to disturb her. I sat down and turned back to my show, but decided to glance at what she was watching, honestly thinking it was probably Matlock. It took me two glances just to be sure, but Sophia was watching Teen Mom on MTV. Hilarity!

Sent from my iPad

Patience is a virtue! Repeat as necessary!

My kids both ran the one mile fun run in the Mississippi Blues marathon Saturday and they did a great job! I was a proud mom and Shane and I ran the mile together which was nice. It proved to be a poor judgement call on my part but in the moment it was great to run together.

It has been a frustrating month and half or so over here at the Huff house. It is just one of those seasons of life when nothing seems to go right. Don't misunderstand me, there hasn't been anything tragic or particularly life changing. Just small irritating things. The things that will be day ruiners if you let them. It started with a new couch for the playroom that arrived with a rip and moved on to a new washer and dryer that had to be sent back, a cell phone that arrived broken, two calls to the dishwasher repair guy, and many phone calls to internet people, repair people, etc. Like I said, nothing life altering, just irritating. Running has been going about the same for the last 2 weeks.

Ten years ago when I was pregnant with Jenny she found a nice comfortable spot to sit for 9 months. Right on top of a sciatic nerve. More than one morning Shane had to practically carry me to the bathroom. My hips never quite recovered and it flares up from time to time. And right now is that time. For the past 2 weeks or so I have been battling some pretty serious pain that has sat me out at least 2 runs. Saturday was a long run-7 miles- the farthest so far. Because of crazy schedules this one was going to be a solo run. I was excited about it and felt mentally ready. Then I decided to run the fun run. Probably not the best idea.

A few hours later I started my solo run at a park nearby. After 1 1/2 miles I had to stop. I sat down at a park bench and was near tears. I decided to stick it out and run 2 minutes then walk 2 minutes. I did that for 4 miles and worked up to run 3 minutes, walk 2 minutes. This was not how I had planned to run this 7 miles. I'm working on a strategy for the race and this was not it. It was a long 7 miles, but I did it.

I was at Walmart this morning returning something that I had ordered online that had arrived damaged. I had left my credit card at home so they were going to have to give a gift card. Then the computers crashed and I had to leave with my broken toaster oven. I was thinking about how this was par for the course these days when I began to realize that maybe the Lord was trying to teach me something.

We live in a world in which we don't have to wait for anything. Our cell phones and internet are lightning fast and when they are not it makes us crazy. We want movies on demand. We want internet banking so we don't have to stand in line. We want quick easy ways to loose weight. We want it fast and we want it now.

It think maybe the Lord is telling me that the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace and PATIENCE. Be patient, wait on Him. Don't let "stuff" not working (including my body) steal your joy. I think He's also teaching me to rely on Him. I have been discouraged with my hips hurting. I want to run and I want to run fast and I want to run fast now! But I'm going to have to be patient and take care.

So tomorrow I'm going to go back to Walmart with a smile on my face, I'm going to call someone to repair the blinds in Jenny's room, and I'm going to call the doctor about my hips. I'm going to be patient and wait on the Lord.

My verse for last week was Philippians 1:6 - Be confident of this! He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

I'm claiming it for this week too and I am going to be confident that with patience I can run this race.

Gaining information from a nine year old

******First of all, I mentioned before that Santa had been good to me this year. It was actually Shane who was good to me and surprised me with a much coveted iPad!!! I was (and still am) so very excited! I need it you see to blog from Disney World at the race! I am trying out several things on it today so if it looks a little weird, hang with me as I figure this out!

My daughter Jenny,who is 9, is running the 1 mile fun run at the Mississippi Blues marathon tomorrow. Shane and I have always thought she would be a good runner. She is pretty fast and she is very internally motivated. She has what I lack, that internal desire for competition. She is not a team sport girl, but I think track might be right up her ally.

I needed to get a short run in yesterday and she wanted to practice for the race so we decided to go together. I told her we could run a one mile loop and she could stop a when we got back home and I would keep going. Not to be outdone she decided she could do 2 miles. So off we went.

If you are looking for information from a nine year old just take her on a jog! She's a talker anyway but gracious!

Here we are about to leave. Please ignore the multiple rolls on my neck. It's the way I was standing. It's the way I was standing! IT'S THE WAY I WAS STANDING!

Here is the information I gained yesterday:

-One mile is the same as 4 times around playground one at school and she already did that once today.
-Every class room now has a recycle been in their room and when it's full you dump it in the big trashcan at the end of the hall. It's her opinion we need one of the big cans for our house "cause we have so many cans in our recycle bin- we drink a lot of stuff in cans". By "we" she means "you mom". The resolution to decrease diet coke is not going so well.
-Something fell on Grants hand and a screw went all the way through his hand. (This I never could figure out completely but I feel the need to check on Grant!)
- Her side hurts
-Her birthday is only 7 weeks away and that's good because if she forgot to ask for anything for Christmas she can still get it in.
-It seems like everyone who works at school is either Shania's cousin or uncle.
-She can't wait to get her race packet. Hope it's good stuff (lots of good stuff by the way)
- Her side really hurts!
- She's planning on selling like a bazillion girl scout cookies

-You're not supposed to look but she peeked at her report card on the bus. She didn't tell anybody what it said but she did yell "YES!" with accompanying fist pump.

-Can we just walk home please?

This just a small sampling of the wealth of information I gained yesterday. When she is 15 and doesn't want to talk to me at all I'm going to make her go jogging with me!

Cause the girl can talk!

Today I'm Cinderella

When we registered for the race we had to fill out the usual information. Name, address, age (Blah!), estimated finish time (Ha!) and of course.....our favorite princess. Yep! Our favorite princess! How fun! I chose Belle. I've always liked her. I don't know if its because she wasn't born royalty and had to go through a lot of difficulty to be a princess or if it's because in the end she saves the prince instead of the other way around. Maybe it's because her brown hair and big blue eyes have always reminded me of my own little princess, Jenny. Whatever it is I have always found her to be a very relatable princess. Sort of the Diana of the Disney Princess world. Except not at all. Never mind.

Anyway..... School started back this week. We had a great holiday. Shane was home for the better part of the two weeks and all four of us barely got out of our pajamas. So Monday it was time to clean, and clean, and clean. This house was nasty. As I was scrubbing some leftover Christmas from the baseboards Monday morning I couldn't help but feel a little like Cinderella. Pre-fairy Godmother Cinderella. But no little mice to help.

By Monday night I had run 4 miles, cleaned 3 toilets and 6 sinks, vacuumed 6 rooms, mopped 1 kitchen and 3 bathrooms, done 5 loads of laundry and changed sheets on 2 beds. So here is my question.

How did Cinderella have the energy to go to a ball?

Cause I'm POOPED!!!

New Year, New You! Blah!!!

Happy New Year!

Last week I came across an article in a magazine that was about some celebrity I've never heard of. The title of the article was a quote from her: "You can be beautiful as a size 2 or a size 12!" That would have been encouraging if she hadn't been a size 0. I'm pretty sure she hadn't had a meal in several years. It just made me mad.

In the grocery line today I picked up a People magazine and on the cover were three ultra skinny people and the tag line : "Half their size! Learn their secrets!" I don't want to know their secrets.

Everyday I get emails or junk mail or something about how I can be skinnier. You can't look anywhere without it being shoved in your face that you are not good enough the way you are.

So I have made a new years resolution.

They can shove it! That is not very nice talk so don't tell my mom I said that but its how I feel.

I never worried about my weight until I was in my mid twenties. I have now gained and lost the same 15 pounds for the last 13 years. I'm done. I threw the scale out a long time ago because I tend to have an obsessive personality and I would wake up each morning with the my first thought being "What is it going to say today?" Not necessarily a very healthy way to start your day. But here's the thing. When you are really skinny people tell you how good you look. When you gain weight they don't. I've been in the position of having lost a good bit of weight post baby and have everyone tell me how good I look. So I began to think if I lost 5 more pounds I'd look even better and sure enough I got even more compliments. So if loose 5 more pounds, etc.... It is exhausting physically and mentally to keep that up.

So I have 2 new years resolutions this year:

1) To run this race and to run it well. I want to finish strong. I'm excited that this is the year I will run my first 1/2 marathon. It is not something I ever thought I would do.

2) To exercise self discipline. I have some specifics in mind but it's not the normal exercise EVERY day or loose a million pounds. But the overall goal is to be healthy. I am going to begin to limit my Diet Coke intake. Slowly but surely I want to be down to 1 or 2 a day by the race. Also, both of my children have Celiac Disease. This means in a nut shell that they eat Gluten Free. Although I tested negative for the disease I am not convinced and am going to eat gluten free for at least 8 weeks.

I want to memorize more scripture and to help my kids memorize more scripture.

I am also going to exercise self discipline in my way of thinking. Rely on prayer and scripture to remind me that while that no name celebrity doesn't really think a size 12 is beautiful, my Savior does and His desire is for me to honor him. And in being healthy I can serve Him and honor him.

2011 is going to be great! Starting with refocusing after the holidays and kicking training into high gear!

Happy New Year Y'all!!!!

Fun Run

Yesterday was great way to end 2010. Five out of the six of us who are going to Disney met at a nearby park to run. We have all know each other for a long time, but in everyday life our paths don't naturally cross. It was so fun to be able to all run together and catch up after the holidays and see each other's progress.

We are not all following the same training plan and 3 of the girls were scheduled to do 8 miles yesterday. I was not. I had done my 6 on Monday and ended up doing 3 yesterday. I could have done 4 or 5 but my shin splints were talking to me and I figured it was better not to push it. I wish I could have stayed though because I was really enjoying the company.

A very important decision was made yesterday also. Remarkably we may have all actually agreed on an outfit to wear for the race. We are going to wear the same thing so we can be team! Jill was describing the outfit to everyone and a girl ran by on the opposite side of the trail. Jill started pointing and saying thats it! The poor girl couldn't figure out was going on. When she finally got her ipod turned off, we told her we liked her outfit. She was really sweet and told where to get it and that it was on sale! Time to go shopping!

This run made even more excited about the whole trip. One fun thing was that even though we have trained fairly separately we were all basically at the same pace. This means we ought to be able to stay within shouting distance of each other in the race. Secondly, it's just a fun group of girls. We all have kids within just a few years of each other so we are all basically in the same place in life. We've known each other for years so we have lots of history together. It's also a comfortable group. No need to be anything but yourself.

I can't wait!