The Marathon Day......

......that was not meant to be.

Today is the day of the Frankenthon marathon that I thought I'd be running this year.  I even planned my eldest daughters birthday party around the race. (She'll be celebrating tomorrow instead of today).  But about 5 weeks ago my training fell apart.  My body and mind revolted at the idea of long distance runs and I threw in the towel.  Today, I am extremely disappointed.  The weather is perfect for 4 hours of running and I am insanely jealous of the people who are out on the trail today.  Instead, I'm sitting in my kitchen staring at un-carved pumpkins, drinking coffee and writing this post.  Boo-hoo.  Ok, that's enough self-pity.  I am a runner and as runners know, we do not give up.  Just because I life piled up too many negatives for this race doesn't mean I won't be lacing up and running 26 at some point.  I haven't looked at the race schedules for my area lately because the family has been in a "transitional" period.  We are waiting to find out if we will be moving out of state or not.  Since I don't know where we might be in 6 months it's hard to choose a particular future race.  But I will still be entering races as they pop up.  In fact, we will be spending Thanksgiving in Little Rock, AK, this year and (although the Hubs doesn't know it yet) I'm hoping to do a turkey trot while we are there.  

Anyone else doing a Turkey Trot this year?

So much fun!

I finished one of my funnest races ever on Sunday, the Cedar Park 5 Miler.  First of al,l I have to say that I am disappointed with how I finished (4th in my age group) but the 3 ladies ahead of me were just faster than I was(my competitive side has a hard time admitting this).  My overall time of 40:45 was respectable and my overall fitness felt great. Following the race I had several people (mostly men) tell me how great my stride/pace were and that they tried to keep up but eventually had to just let me go.......compliments are always appreciated.  Even though I've been nursing some pain in my right inner shin it seemed to flee while I was running and I think I had a grin on my face the entire time.  The weather was beyond perfect and the company around me was GREAT.  The event was sponsored by our local YMCA where I coach gymnastics part time.  This meant that I knew a lot of the people participating and it was really fun to wave at one another as we passed.  I even teamed up with a few ladies who, like me, are Body Combat enthusiasts and we wore matching tshirts.  We didn't run together but it was fun to watch for one another on the course and to team up for a group photo.  I'm not one for running with teams but if you're gonna do it, this is definitely the way to go.  I felt stupidly giddy during the race waving at the policemen who were manning the intersection but they seemed to appreciate my excitement.  Unfortunately, we don't have any photos of this fun run.   My husband was in charge of the 3 bugaboos while I was running and asking him to also keep track of a camera and shoot some candids was just too much :-) 

I'm buried in there somewhere!

So this is how running is supposed to be.  Since I let my marathon training and plans fail a few weeks ago I've had sort of a disgust with running.  I've enjoyed the few miles I've logged but it's taken me a lot more coaxing to get out the door for a run that it used to.  I don't have any long races in sight at this point but with the cooler weather here I still plan to get in some nice jogs and enjoy the sport.  

How was your weekend?

Coconut Oil

I'm sure you've all heard of coconut oil by now.  It's become very popular and mainstream.  I fell in love with the stuff when I was pregnant with the twins and discovered that it soothed the overstretched skin on my tummy without the sticky, over-scented goop like it's cousin.  I've also been using it more frequently in cooking recipes.  So overall, I'm a fan.
Last week when my hairdresser told me to put al little a coconut oil on my dry scalp I thought "why not?"  But as I started searching for my scalp through my enormous amount of hair I realized there was no way I was going to be able to target just my scalp with the creamy oil.  This meant that the root of my hair got coated in the oil too and I began to worry.  Let me just tell you, I didn't worry enough!  I let the coconut oil set for 4-5 minutes and then headed to the shower to wash it out.  But it didn't wash.  In fact it has now been 4 days and 12 shampoos later (this is usually the number of time I shampoo in a month) and I can still feel the greasy slick of coconut oil in my hair!  I am miserable and so darn mad.  I was trying to combat a little dry scalp and I now have a greasy scalp and very dry ends!  Just a week ago I was loving my hair now, I'm considering baldness! Needless to say, my love affair of coconut oil has ended.

Gala Season! (in my dreams)

While we in DC I was reading up on local culture and found that the weekly newspaper for  Georgetown was entirely dedicated to Gala Season for the fundraising elite.  For fun, I read the newspaper with desire and fantasy.  I imagined would it would be like to stroll into an elaborate evening Gala on the arm of a DC Noble and look like a regal queen.  My reverie was broken by the sounds of squabbling preschools and I was plunged back into my reality.  But since then, every time I see a picture of a glorious dress I add that to my imaginary Gala wardrobe.

If I were indeed invited to such an event I have decided that my dress would likely come form Ruche or ModCloth.  Both retailers offer such whimsically vintage and femanine dresses I know any woman would look beautiful and feel like a queen wearing them.
I just found out that ModCloth now had a new private label (ModCloth Private Label) with the brands; Bea & Dot and Myrtlewood.  Just so pretty.  Maybe this year we'll throw an adults only Christmas Cocktail Party and get to play dress up for a few hours........ok, it's more likely we'll host a cookie decorating party for kids and dress up will included icing covered aprons.  But it's fun to dream!
Do you get to gussy up for anything pretty this season?<a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=532051&u=757878&m=43745&urllink=&afftrack=">ModCloth Private Label</a>

Home from DC

We finally made it home from our long trip to DC.  We had a great time, despite the city being in full shutdown mode. It's nice to sleep in our own beds and have our normal routine back in swing.

While we were there, I had a fun time running the Clarendon 10k.  I got to see Arlington Cemetery while with a crowd of people.  My eldest daughter also got to do a kids dash and has a pretty fun medal to show for it.

Had to support ATX while I was running in DC

In other events at our house; my oldest bugaboo broke her wrist falling off the monkey bars!  Yep, seems like everyone knows a kids whose experienced this.  She's healing well and doesn't seem too fazed by the brace she has
 to wear.

I'm in love with the cooler fall weather and am in full pumpkin mode.  Yum!  I've also been able to fill my lungs with fresh air during my runs this week and that has felt GREAT.