Here are some who like to run. They run for fun in the hot JULY sun.

[eksmom]

With apologies to Pumpkinseed and Dr. Seuss.

Welcome everyone to the July running mama thread. This thread is like a tempo run, or maybe some fast intervals, but we have all levels here, from walkers to ultramarathoners. Please jump in!

Below are the race list and the preggo list. Please let me know if you have anything that needs to be added, deleted, or otherwise updated!

Balancin1 - 5K - July 30
2babybees - Women's Only Triathlon - July 30
nancy926 - 5K - August 5
JenLove - 5 mi run for Copperman Triathlon team - August 5
ChamaMama - 10K - September
BBM - marathon relay (5 mile leg) - September
poppywise - 5K - September 9
kate~mom, nancy926, grnmtnmama, pumpkinseed, mr. pumpkinseed - Philly Distance Run (half) - September 17
Patti Ann & everyone else who would like to participate - Griffin Patrick 5K - September 24
cRebRun & 1jooj - Fox Cities Marathon - September 24
kpinny - half - September
lucenamama - half - October 1
Plady - half - October 1
wawoof - RNR Half San Jose - October 8
mamabeth - half - October 22
annelizabeth - half - October 22
kpinny - Marine Corps Marathon - October 29
Shantimama - half - October
Kerc - half - October
Runningmommy - marathon - October
eksmom - Suntrust Richmond Marathon - November 11

The Preggo Dingo List

HBM - September 6 - :
Patti Ann - October 12 - :
ND - December 5 -
BBM - December 30 - :

[babybugmama]

pretty eksmom!

I am tentatively doing a marathon relay in September...I will do the 5 mile leg, 3 other buddies will do the other parts.

[Runningmommy]

subbing.........good luck ladies!!!!

[poppywise]

nice, eksmom!

subbing...

[Plady]

Just subbing!

[annelizabeth]

Just wanted to say hey....

Have been lurking for a month or so and felt I should let my presence be known. I have started seriously running this spring since high school- I figure if I don't start on one of my life goals soon it will be to late.

I hope to do a half in October.... and in two weeks I will be doing a beginners duel- which I am completly unprepared for related to injury and a crap bike.
Anybody have a small bike in SW ontario to lend out. Can't afford to lay out serious funds. I know TWO other runners/active people.

[Geofizz]

:

[Balancin1]

I had one of those days where I felt like there was some supervillian foiling me at every turn. So no run, though my poor dog was like, "It's saturday, I don't care if it's 90 degrees" (though he would have after a mile or two )

So that I will at least have to be embarassed if I don't do it, I am telling you all that I am getting up early to go for a 7 mile run. I am. I am.

PS I love this page in One Fish, and have been secretly admiring pumpkinseed for her nifty signature...

[Plady]

Welcome Annelizabeth!

DrJen - How'd it go?

I was pretty pleased with my run today, 5 miles in exactly 1:01. Not that a 12 min pace is so fast but I felt good and strong. We had a nice all night rain last night so the track was packed but soft and everything was crisp and green and fresh looking. We had a herd of goats trimming the infield and skipping around each time we ran past them. I was trying to imagine where each of you run, on country roads, town roads, mountain trails etc and I thought you might like the image of my mexican track with goats in the infield and a little foal rearing and bucking as we passed him on each turn.

After that I had a playdate with my good friend and then took dd to the pool for a little cool off.
All in all a good day .

[wawoof]

annelizabeth -

balancin - good luck getting up for your run tomorrow. i'll be struggling with the same thing, since we're not doing family runs for a while (see below).

plady - on your strong 5 miler!

Well, today's run was a mixed bag.

The good: even though it was slow, I felt strong and ran 1hr35min without feeling like I was going to die.

The bad: Because it was a weekend, I wanted to try to do a family run. I GIVE UP on family runs after today. We watched the world cup game, and I told DH early on the game that I'd like to do a family run after. We both got ready, but near the end of the game E announced that he didn't want to go running. I asked him if he'd like to ride his bike while we run, not remembering a) how slowly he rides (not his fault, he's 3), b) that the pedal was broken on his bike, or realizing that c) his helmet was in DH's office. E did want to ride while we ran, but this required him and DH to go to the bike shop for pedals. Then we finally all got mobilized about 11am (when it was getting HOT), and realized we needed to swing by DH's office for E's helmet. But we forgot and drove to the park instead, unloaded kids, bike, and stroller, and then realized we were missing the helmet. So DH drove to get the helmet and I waited with the kids. When we started running, it was immediately clear that E couldn't come close to keeping up with even a slow jog, so DH helped him while I ran with G in the stroller. G fell asleep, and eventually E got tired, we locked his bike up, and DH and I ran with both kids in the stroller. But when were nearly the max distance from our car, G woke up and started wailing. Nothing made him happy, so we ran back with him wailing, the stress-reducing benefits of the run being eclipsed by the stress of feeling like a bad mom for running with a wailing infant in the stroller. When we got back near the car, I nursed G and all was ok. But DH and I agreed that it would be easier for each of us to run separately while the other keeps the kids at home, rather than incurring the stress of trying to get the kids mobilized and keep G happy on the run. It is totally unpredictable how happy/sad/sleeping G will be and it's really frustrating if we're actually trying to get a workout done. So no more family runs for us for a while (though DH and I will still run together from work while the kids are in daycare). Because I hate running alone (I just ruminate ), I need to find some new running buddies (IRL that is). Several local running groups have Saturday a.m. runs so I'm going to check them out starting next week.

[Shantimama]

annelizabeth - Do you know I only live about 45 minutes away from you? I love going to Hanover to go to the Millenia bookstore. Woohoo! Another dingo to tell wild but true stories about Bruce County winters!

I am back home again. It is raining tonight so no fireworks for Canada Day - hopefully tomorrow.

So we postponed our departure time on Wednesday because the school phoned to say our kids would be receiving some academic recognition awards at the school assembly. The school is great at recognizing the work and virtues of all of the kids so we thought no big deal, but it'll be nice for the kids to go. And you know what? Both dd's received awards for the highest academic achievement in their grades and ds for most improved student in his grade and barely missed top marks - this is the boy who was "dropped" into French immersion after homeschooling until grade four and didn't even know what the teacher was saying for the first few months! I am so proud of them.

A few pages ago (oh yeah, last thread) someone asked me why we stopped hs'ing. We moved here 18 months ago and just could not find a good fit with any other local hs'ers. We were lonely and having a little too much together-time, if you know what I mean. And we are in a small town geared more towards seniors than children so there weren't many programs to join. And we had just come through the 2 or 3 years from hell. My mom was diagnosed with Alzheinmers and came to live with us - after we bought a bigger house and totally renovated it ourselves to accomodate her. We thought we'd be in that house forever, not a little over a year. dh is a minister and was nearly eaten alive by the congregation he was serving so we had to make some big decisions fast - while my mother deteriorated and we discovered that in addition to the dementia she has a severe mental illness that was coming out big time - I spent a lot of energy containing her and protecting the kids while dh was being sucked dry at work. Between my mom and our family I orchestrated/did 5 moves in just under two years. I was fried. When I realized there would be no great hs'ing community happening here I started looking into local schools, even though I really wanted to hs my kids a lot longer. We found a small Catholic (publicly funded in Ontario) school that I loved (I am Catholic so the kids enrolling wasn't a problem) - average class size of 14 and French Immersion to boot. It has had its ups and downs - pretty much what I expected for both the ups and the downs - but it meets our needs for now.

Our fewe days up north were good. Friends loaned us their cottage and it was so nice. Just a few feet away from a small inland shallow lake - great for the kids to play in and row around. One of my best friends and her kids joined us one day and that was a blast. Today we ran into some friends who live around the corner from us here and we spent the afternoon at their cottage. dh was great. I haven't been sleeping well and was pretty worn out and withdrawn a fair bit of the time and he put up with me and played with our kids.

[wawoof]

shantimom - yay for your kids! and about your mom - that sounds incredibly difficult to deal with.

wendy - do you know anything about the Menlo-Atherton Adult Soccer League? (www.maasl.com) i plan to play in the palo alto league you recommended in the fall, but would love to play more than one day a week. the san jose league is a bit annoying and expensive, based on my experience with it so far, so i'm looking into other options. thanks!

[2babybees]

subbing...:

[kate~mom]

:

anneelizabeth

just subbing. tired . . . long day today, beginning with a quick 3 mile run in the new kicks and ds in the jogger, while dh and dd played soccer. dh ran about a mile too - he's gearing up again after the stress fracture. then the farmer's market and THEN a drum circle at our friends' gallery.

getting up with ds (in probably 5 1/2 hours ) for an 8 mile run - i have never gone this far with him in the jogger. it is only a mile more than i did the other day, but it's a little intimidating : .

[CherylAnn]

Subbing...

Po6

[flitters]

hi!

oh! a race list!

if it's not too late, you could add me for a july 4 fun run (5K).

i did my last tempo run before the race this morning. it was pretty sluggish really. tomorrow i'll do a slow 2 or 3 miles, just to loosen up. then rest on monday and race tuesday morning! woohoo!

looking forward to chatting!

plady: i *love* running after a rain. glad to hear you enjoyed it. we don't get summer rain where i live and i miss it.

[babybugmama]

wawoof, wait until they get a little older and you may get that family run in yet

annelizabeth -

Plady - that was a really neat visual. On my long runs...I leave my door run in neighborhood that is old and haphazard, not upscale or downscale, just old fashioned plain neighborhoods. Hit the bike path which used to be a railroad and is surrounded by big overlapping trees. Cross a road where this old caboose is (was used as a bike rental place for awhile). Then on into the Glen, a nature preserve. I run a little bit before getting to the top of the stairs. They are these stones that are pushed into the hill into some semblance of organization, but look very natural. Get to the bottom, cross a bridge over a little river and on up another hil and past the yellow springs (a little waterfall that's orange b/c of the iron). Run a bit until you get to a bigger bridge over the cascades and then more running until you get to the pine forest. Then home.

shantimama - congrats to your babes! That's wonderful. And you have had a rough few years, I hope it's slowing down some and you are finding your peace.

I'm going to try for a long wog this morning...we'll see how it goes.

[eksmom]

I'm up for ~8 this morning. Hello all you other morning runners! I hope my run today is better than yesterday. It's a gorgeous morning and I am looking forward to getting out there.

An update on my aunt: She saw the oncologist Friday. She is going back a week from Monday and will have a port put in for chemo. I'm not sure when her first treatment is, but she will have 6 treatments spaced 3 weeks apart. They said it is the T cell kind, but is in her lymph nodes, whereas the T cell is usually in the skin. They said they have about a 70% chance of stopping the spread - it is stage 2, they think it is in her neck and shoulder but hasn't spread to her abdomen/lungs/etc. I still haven't talked to her but she's in the middle of a really busy weekend so I may hold off until the week.

wawoof, I'm sorry the family run thing isn't working out.

Shanti, thanks for your post. I didn't fully understand how it all fit together with the moves and your mom until now. Wow. You really have had a lot on your shoulders. When reading about your kids' awesome achievements, I was thinking that it was also such a testimony to your work with them while hs'ing.

Welcome annelizabeth!!

Plady, goats! I am most impressed with you for doing longer distances on a track. I've never seen any goats while running, but I have started a bunny count. Yesterday I think I only got up to 3. My highest has been 5. The bunny cuteness helps to counteract the occasional squirrel/bird roadkill

[Geofizz]

Wawoof~ I've heard good things about the MA league. A lot of people in the PA league played there, too. I got the impression that it was more competitive than the PA league, but it's impossible to be less competitive than PAASL. Give Ethan 6 months on the bike. He'll suddenly be able to keep up.

I'll be going out myself as soon as E goes down for a nap. Hopefully it won't be too blazingly hot by then.

[doctorjen]

Well, yesterday sounds like a lot of us had one of those days that didn't quite go as planned!
To start with, I did run my race, but it turned into sort of an afterthought with the rest of my day. On 4 hours - which was interrupted - sleep, I got up and ran yesterday. Also, the race is at 8 am, so I slept as long as I could and then didn't get up in time to eat or drink anything before the race. As a result, I was pretty slow! I did manage to run 11 seconds faster than I did Memorial Day (and I've only run 7 times since then, so I feel like my training has slipped quite a bit) and fininished in 27:42. This is the race I ran 24:52 in last year, so that was kind of depressing. I had to walk twice though - my lips and tongue were numb most of the race (I think from breathing so hard since I was so tired) and when the numbness would creep up towards my eyes, I'd walk a little bit.
This is such a small race, though, that my poor time was good enough for first in my age group! So at least I got a trophy for my entry fee!

The reason I got 4 hours of interrupted sleep is that it was raining babies on me. The night before, I went to bed on time and had just drifted off when the phone rang telling me I had a mama in labor. She's a third time mom, with insulin requiring gestational diabetes. She's had a rough pregnancy for many emotional/social reasons and I'm particularly fond of her. I went to see her, and she was really in pretty early labor. She begged me to break her water for multiple reasons, and after talking about it, I agreed. Her water was broken at 11:25 pm. Her mild labor jump started pretty directly after that. We walked the halls some until her contractions were really intense, then she wanted the tub, so we filled it for her and she soaked with the jets on for a while. Although she was happy in the tub, our tubs are really too small and like most moms I take care of, she felt too closed in once she hit transition type labor, so she got out. She couldn't bear to lie down, but was getting tired, so we piled lots of pillows on the bed so she could labor on her hands and knees with most of her body supported. She cracked me up because during a contraction she would chant "This is not okay, this is not okay, this is not okay" and as soon as it was easing up she'd switch to "I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay." Finally, she was tired and wanted to lie down a little. As soon as she turned over she said "Is it seriously too late to get anything for pain because I just can't take this anymore?" I said I thought it was too late, but I'd check her if she wanted. She was 9 cms, with the baby very low. On hearing that news, she started to feel a little panicky, and said she was going to faint. We put cool cloths on her head, fanned her, gave her oxygen to breathe if she wanted, and she slowing calmed down, and then laid her head back on the pillow and actually dozed off for a couple minutes. She had not had a contraction since I'd checked her, and ending up having a break of about 10 minutes (it always amazes me how labor can be like that - when you can't do it anymore, sometimes you get a break.) Then she opened her eyes, reached out for my hand, and said very seriously "I'm going to push now." Shortly after she said that, she started a contraction (and I put gloves on because I tend to believe folks who suddenly say things very lucidly in the middle of very intense labor) Sure enough, she pushed seriously with that first contraction, and the baby was out by the end of it! Gorgeous little boy (he has 2 older sisters) with the most beautiful skin and dark hair. Lovely birth overall. It was 1:15 am.
So I was back home in bed by 2:30 or so, but had to wake up twice to answer the phone before I got up at 6:30am.

After the race, I actually had 2 more births yesterday - but I'll have to tell those stories later because I have to get to church to play the piano!