Wild card.

2013.
I just came here to update the settings of the blog and realized 2 things.
I need to ride my bike more.
We took our first family bike ride this past weekend!
So - boo and yay all in the same realization!  We were camping in the Horicon Marsh over Memorial Day and we rode on the Wild Goose State Trail.  The most difficult thing was that Bean is incredibly slow compared to the rest of us...making it difficult to go far.  In her defense, she lacked calories that day and she has the smallest legs, bike and wheels out of all of us.  Next time we may just put her in the Burley to speed things up a bit!  But it was a gorgeous day - about 55* and sunny.  The trail is an old railroad bed that runs between farm fields (at least the part we did).  We wish we could have done more, but it's a start =)  And today I am about to leave on a sort-of-solo ride for fun!  (I'll have Dewey, the foster 'baby' in the Burley.)  Pretty excited that I can come close to topping the last 2 year's mileages in about a week....not hard to do...still exciting...It's still not incredibly warm - tomorrow is June 1 and the temps are barely over 60* each day.  It creeps up to 70 for a day or so and then we're back into the 50s.  Blah.  I love WI weather but I do not love being cheated out of a 4th season!  Oh well - I'll just focus on the road...

DPP Day 4 or just an average day after school

Oops! Just posted this to the wrong blog! But feel free to visit the other one and see more of the December photo project...

Day by day

(Are you singing the song now?)
We were w/o internet for a while but I was out running 3x over the past week.  Saturday I went on the trail (bad idea!), then Monday and Wednesday was the usual route.  I don't see much progress on speed, but who cares!  My body seems to be recovering better, otherwise know as ability to actually walk the next day =)  I would really like to start adding some distance, since my goal is a 5K/3.2 miles, but pushing past the 2.2 miles is hard since I am pushing a stroller!  (<-----Excuses, excuses...!)  Kind of hoping I can get out at least once this weekend w/no kids.  Otherwise I need to start figuring out the Y thing w/child care.  I enjoy running outside but the treadmill is easier in the sense that I don't think I give up quite as easy.  And I'm not pushing a stroller!  We'll see...There's only 3 weeks left.  I guess I could just walk the last mile...but I don't want to.  I should probably also start looking for another 'race' to do after that one so I don't just poop out and quit...I think there are a few coming up nearby.  As long as there isn't ice - I don't mind snow flurries, just dress warm =)  What's funny is that the past few years it has been unseasonably warm for this upcoming race, which is after my birthday.  The couple of years before that, it snowed on my birthday!  Wisconsin is a funny place.  We own at least twice as many clothes as other people due to all the climate changes.  It will be interesting to see the weather this year!

Wind check

I ran the same 2.2 mile route in 25 minutes today.  I have been making excuses lately - mental health days, gassy tummy bugging me, I'm too old for this, no music, blah blah blah!  For some reason I got sucked into watching a bit of the hard core American Rangers (or something!) training on TV and I saw them pushing themselves and puking through a bunch of stuff.  And I'm whining!  I mentioned to Mo that I needed to get going and back to running and he was more than happy to ask me every 20 minutes or so if I was ready.  Task master!  So we went after dinner.  Not my favorite time, but no more excuses!  Tonight my dumb pony tail kept hitting me in the elbow.  I tried to ignore it but I kind of wanted to laugh - it's been a while since I felt that!  I felt pretty good but came back into the wind.  I think my hair was straight out like a crazy Pippi Slowstocking!  Oh well...next time if the wind is this bad, I'm picking a different route.  We'll see how that goes...=)

This is, after all, a bike blog...

It should be noted that I did not run today.  There were various reasons.  Instead, I biked.  2.0 miles, the first w/the wind and the second coming into it.  I forgot how many different muscles it uses from running!

Despite being plugged in all night, Dave's phone died about a half mile into my run today.  GRRR.  It's an older version of a smartphone and apparently as they age have problems holding a charge.  There's a parallel to my own version of aging bouncing around in my head but it's not making enough sense to make worth writing.  Can you hear me now?!  Anyway - I surprised myself today.  I ran the same route w/Mo on his bike again, so even w/o the phone it was pretty easy to compare this run to the last.  I felt sooooo tired and the thought of staying in bed crossed my mind.  But I love fall and this is a beautiful fall morning!  Wind is blowing, leaves are starting to wisp down, everything is wet w/dew and the temps are just under 60*.  I was sore and I thought I would be plodding along and just getting frustrated w/my slowness, but my body felt comfortable enough to pass the first marker w/o stopping.  Weird...so I kept going!  I ran almost all the way!  Must have been the $5 pizza from the Hut last night....BLECH!!!  I am not as fast as Mo (I doubt I ever will be!) but I was not nearly as far behind today!  One of the perks to having no music was that I got to hear my sweet son loudly singing hymns as he fartlekked at each block.  (It's a real word, click the link look it up!  Although I'm not sure you can just add an -ed for the past tense, but it is a real word!  I strongly encourage you to scroll to the bottom where it talks about the origins of the word.  From now on I will be proud to be gaseous in Sweden!)  So here I sit w/my runner's high, feeling like I can accomplish much...thinking about all the cool stuff I get to see as I run.  I passed a house where Hmong people live and they were having an egg roll making party (at 7am!).  More than one family was involved and all ages of people were busy.  (Maybe they were stocking up for the Farmer's Market or a party...?)  It's good to see people/families working together =).  I run past my church, too.  No one was up and around yet, but I pray as I pass the place.  Later today there will be many cars there...many people who have baggage and hang ups and sin and struggles...I pretend I'm laying a blanket of prayer over the whole place!  Mo and I also encountered a guy walking his dog.  Mo said 'excuse me' as he passed and I was so far behind that they didn't need to worry about me.  Later Mo waited at the corner and the guy said 'Hi again'!  This fartlekking happened more than once...the dog was overjoyed to play the little game =)  I also got to see the sun get higher in the sky, long shadows getting shorter...Happy Saturday!  I hope yours is off to as enjoyable of a start as mine is!

Wet dog.

I ran the same route as yesterday...28:41.  I got to use Hubby's phone so I could use an app and have music =)  The app must have upgraded b/c it now talks over the music to tell me I had gone 1 mile and how long it had taken me.  It also tells the pace.  (Not fast enough!)  So that was pretty cool...I didn't even have to fuss w/the phone!  This time instead of pushing one kid in a stroller, I was chasing a kid on a bike.  And this time I ran in the afternoon.  Which I don't think I like, w/the exception of using the phone.  Tomorrow is a day off.  I sweat way too much this time and I feel really tired.  I might be asleep by 7 tonight!  So who's coming over to pack 4 lunches while I sleep?

Firing all engines

Run.

I've been waiting.

Today was the first day 3 out of 4 kids were off to school and I was able to.

Random:

- Running on trash day makes me ill.  So many people don't recycle!!  I know I've talked about this before...

- ...but running on trash day also brings out my hoarding tendencies.  (I'm casting this as a good thing here, work w/me...)  I saw a large stack of neatly trimmed, perfectly good boards tied up in bundles.  2 bags of clothes that could have been donated.  Pots and pans.  Toys.  Stuff that wasn't junk but could have been useful to someone.  I really hate our consumer driven society.  I'm hugely guilty - just buy a new one! - but trash day makes me ill.  People could use that stuff.

- I need to design comfortable, modest running clothes...

- Or start running in the country.

- And stop sweating.

- The jogging stroller pulls a tiny bit to the left...

- But it's also faster than me so when we get going it also pulls my behind.

- My wrists are not exactly comfortable pushing that thing!  Maybe I'm too short?  But thank God I have it!

- I have never paid more than $25 (the gifted strollers are an exception, but weren't paid for by me anyways!) for a stroller and this awesome jogging stroller needs to get much more use.  I love it!

- Finding out your iPod is not charged when you are all suited up and excited to go for a run after way too many months would be what the teens call an epic fail.

- Hearing the church bells play a whole hymn while you run totally makes up for the iPod...

- ...and either that's a recording or some church nearby totally has a lot of bells!  I was hearing chords and a melody.

- I need to find another way (besides hubby's phone, which he uses) to track my runs.  No internet on my phone.  I love seeing my splits and stuff.  I am way too analytical to let that go.

- I love fall.

(For the record, distance was 2.2 miles and the first 1.2 took about 13 minutes.  I walked the rest.  I tried to walk quickly!  But I was definitely dragging.  Not nearly as much as I will be tomorrow, I know!!)

I think I remember how to do this!

We rode the tandem bike to church tonight!  So add another 1.8 miles to our tally.  We haven't ridden that thing for a while, well, anything really, so it was an experiment of sorts!  I rode in the front, which is the correct way - putting the 'power' (Hot Hubby!) in the back.  I am slowly getting accustomed to steering, especially when the weightpower is in the back.  We were in a hurry to get there (like always, I know!) so Dave didn't know the seat needed to be adjusted.  Consequently he was realllllly low!  On the way back he was complaining of pedaling w/his knees so high and threatened to get off while I was riding.  We laughed a lot and at one point he shifted in the seat and I seriously thought he had gotten off and was pushing from behind!  I don't know if I can explain it but it was funny to us.  =D  We always seem to talk about getting rid of the tandem but I don't know if I could do it....
PS - I thought maybe I should halve the miles here since when you're on the tandem you're only doing half of the work.  However, that being said, I want to let you all know that it's actually a lot  harder!  Why?  I sure don't know!  Fatter tires?  Bigger bike?  Wider tire base?  So yeah, I counted all the miles, not half.

Simple machines

On Wednesday Dave and I rode our bikes to church for bible study - 1.8 miles!  It's been a long time since I was on my bike.  My knees reminded me why running is easier for me...but hopefully we can do this each Wednesday this summer!