What is wrong with this picture???

Uuhh, can you say HUMIDITY??? Kayla tried to take this picture of us outside after we returned from our 10 mile run tonight and the camera lens immediately fogged up because of the ridiculous amount of humidity (84%).
So we came inside, allowed the lens to clear up and she got this picture:

Don't we look so happy???? Really I was, just exhausted. We both ran good times and our babysitter had the boys in bed, which made me extremely happy. Having the energy to do something as simple as putting the boys to bed after a 1o mile run is a BIG deal! Especially when it is 9:30 pm, you are SOAKING wet with sweat and all you want to do is down a recovery drink and jump in the shower.
Note to self: Never leave so late for a long run that you end up on the pathfinder AFTER dark- - -creepy!

Bugs

Okay, I told Dalene I have never eaten a bug and I still haven't, but tonight. . . .wow. . . .they were everywhere but in my mouth- - -in my nose, in my eyes and when I got home, the girls said, "Eeeewww mom, you have bugs all over your chest!!" Yep, my chest looked like the front of a windshield after driving after dark. Numerous little bugs plastered to me in my HUGE amount of sweat. I am irritated that I didn't get a picture. I looked in the mirror, thought "YUCK!" and immediately jumped in the shower.
Tonights 8 mile run was a killer!! Amazing what ONE more mile does with 87% humidity. We waited until 7 pm to go, but it was STILL bad! We even took the pathfinder for almost 5 of the miles hoping the protection of the trees might lower temperatures. I don't think it helped- - -it only added to the BUG problem by being next to the river.
Cooper was standing outside when Jeff got back from the run and he said, "You dying daddy?" It was so very cute. He then asked me a bit later and I said, "yes honey, mommy is dying". He said, "men shoot you?". I laughed and said, "no, men didn't shoot me. . .I just ran too much".
A little bit later, we were in the house and I captured the below picture. He put on his headband and a hairband around his arm and said, "I go jogging mommy." This is how I look when I go jogging, a headband on and a watch around my wrist. I guess he thought he fit the part!! I LOVE THIS KID!!!

A Word From Jeff

I just have to get off my chest that my run tonight of 5 miles felt like I was being hit in the head with a bag of bricks the entire time. It was miserable. For those of you that don’t know I have had 2 left knee surgeries over the last 2 yrs and this is the leg that I thought would for sure cause me problems. Well, let me tell you that it is my right leg and it isn’t just the knee, it is the calf as well, shin splints and a tight hamstring. This was supposed to be training for a marathon with my wife and we leave together but we don’t finish together. So as I was running tonight (walking a lot as well) I was thinking, “Why in the heck am I doing this running?” I really ponder this and here is what I came up with, for the love of my wife and what this means to her and the reasons of why she is doing this herself. I’m just trying to make it through this for support. I really like being pushed out into uncomfortable positions right now and running for me is definitely not in a comfort zone of mine ( I know I’m weird for liking to be uncomfortable but oh well).I am also doing this for Marci’s dad and for Marilyn Williams, who both were tremendous people. What they went through touched so many lives and spoke to so many people through the perseverance of their struggles. Lastly, my reason was to get in better shape, but that one really didn’t matter much as I was thinking of the others. I just want to be able to be a good supporter and right now I’m am just an injured tag along.

PowerBar Gel

We completed our long run this evening- - -7 miles!! I thought it was going to be really tough, but it wasn't too bad. We did a lot more running this time- - -instead of doing the run/walk thing. I felt great at the end and actually ran my final mile the fastest- - -so I may have been saving too much for the end. OR it could have been the PowerBar Gel that we tried for the first time tonight. We have learned that for longer runs we will need some kind of energy boost with electrolytes to help with endurance. I did some research on this to see which ones were the best tasting and we found one of them at GNC- - Strawberry Banana- - -it was pretty good- - sort of tastes like thick warm yogurt. I took mine at the 5 mile mark and I felt GREAT the last 2 miles!!We are heading into WEEK 4 of our training and it seems to be getting a bit easier. I think our bodies are responding as they should be.If you want to check out the 16 Week Training schedule we are using, click HERE.

Staying On Schedule

Keeping our running schedule has been tough over the last week. We missed a 3 mile run Friday because it was the 4th and then we missed another 3 mile run yesterday because we have family in town. For some reason, I feel bad about telling friends/family to just hang out while we go get our run in. It makes me feel selfish and inconsiderate.Our 6 mile run on Sunday went pretty well. I just took it very slowly and my body felt pretty good by the end of it. Jeff completed his too and his calf still feels very tight, but much better. Maybe we have made it over that little hump- - - -until the next one. I am sure the whole training will be up and down with how our bodies feel.So today we are scheduled for a 4 mile run and it is raining and will be raining on and off most of the day. It looks like we are going to go to the YMCA to run on the treadmill (yipee!!) I am not a fan of the treadmill!

Hit The Wall

Training had been going great for me up until Thursday of this past week. You know, I am in WEEK TWO- - -how could things be so bad?? Well, my body is beginning to reject all of this running. I felt great on my Wednesday night run- - 4 miles in 40:28 (which is amazing for me at this point), but I think I must have pushed it too hard because ever since then my body from the waist down has been having all kinds of weird aches and pains. My feet hurt, my knees hurt, my hip hurts and my back hurts. I have had 3 days off now since I missed my Friday run because of the 4th July and my body still doesn't feel good. I am dreading our 6 mile run tomorrow.Now for Jeff- - his body started rejecting even sooner. He wasn't feeling well last Sunday all day (stomach issues), but completed the 5 miler. Then on Tuesday nights 3 mile run, he had major pain in his calf muscle- - -pain that was bad enough that he thought he couldn't even run. He thought he might have had a calf strain and he even thought his marathon might be done. He took the rest of the week off. Luckily, the pain has gone down tremendously and we don't think it is as bad as we thought. He is going to try to run tomorrow as well.