My Favorite Shirt

I really really really like the Livestrong collection.

Running has been going well.   I have been having some pretty strong runs which is great because that means my stamina is increasing a little so I will take it.  I did an 8k in Bonney Lake this past weekend.  I had to walk the first mile with the kids because the hubby was late but he met me at mile one.  I really pushed hard to make up ground.  The course was hill after hill after hill.  So for me it was challenging.  Might not have been for others.  I knew I had over done a bit that night because my muscles were not happy with me.  Everything ached.  Aleve really helped but getting up early, getting the family out the door was draining.  I love going to these events.  They are so much fun.  My daughter and her best friend Kapri completed the 8k.  So did my 9 year old nephew who smoked it!  He came in minutes behind me barely sweaty.   My son got a little confused. He ended up taking a short cut to the finish line. It was an honest mistake.    Next time.  My finish time was 46.22.  Not bad for a very slow start pace.  I still have a lot of room for improvement.  There are no on line results.  It was not chipped.  So we took pictures of what place we came in.   My sister  Alyssa ran a great 8k.  It was her first!  That counts as a PR right?

Good Song

I am sharing this because it is one of my all time favorites. Good movie! Very inspiring. I moved the music up on the side tool bar so you can mute the music easily.

I love to run......

I love to run.  So much that I have been wanted to start the ever popular PX90 workout.  But I don't want to cheat on running LOL.  What if running gets mad at me.    Just kidding.  It will do me good to get some strength. I still fight pain in my heel.  It seems to be morphing into a different pain.  Almost like a sprain pain.  So I have backed off a bit.  I am going to commit to stretching and icing this week to get rid of the plantars facitius once and for all.   I need to shoes as well.  That might help.

I got the best present!  My sister and brother-in-law bought me the best shirt ever.  My maiden name is Armstrong.  I loved my maiden name.  You have to admit.  It is a powerful, kick-a$$ name!  So I am a big fan of Lance Armstrong.  I recently discovered his clothing line.  I feel in love with his Livestrong nike logo.   The shirt is black and written in yellow it says L I V E S T R O N G on the front.  When I put this shirt on, I can feel the force, the energy, the power running through my muscles.  It is very motivating.  You know how I feel about motivation.  Find it where you can.  I am thinking about going and having Armstrong put on the back with our family motto on it,   Invictus Maneo "I remain unvanquished".

PuLL Up

I learned a new running a race technique from my eight year old daughter.  It's called a Pull-Up.   I said, "a what?".   A  pull-up mom.  She proceeded to grab the back of my shirt and pulled herself up in front of me.  I got a good giggle out of it.  I made her let me try it on her.  Thinking of using it in my next marathon.  Don't think it will go over well.

AWESOME TEN MILES

I had the most excellent run the other night.  Ten miles.  I was feeling so strong.  I was wishing to be transported to a race right then and there.  I felt I could go 26 miles.  I felt like a Boston Qualifier.  : )  Now I doubt I was even close to that but it was great to feel that go.  I rarely have runs like that.  Where nothing hurts, I am not fighting my mind, my pace is great.  Like I said before, I didn't do it in stellar time or anything but WOW.  I love to run when runs go that well.  It went so well I didn't stop for a drink or take some steps to catch my breath.  I did a lot of hill work as well.  More!  I want more just like that.

This is my hill.  Think I have posted this picture before.  I imagine it coming alive and eating me whole.  That is why I must run up it fast as I can so it doesn't swallow me.

Henna Tattoo in honor of RUNNING

My husband and I were lucky enough to go to Seafair this weekend. So I splurged and decided to get one of the henna tattoo's.  It apparently is a skin stain that stays 2 to 3 weeks.  I decided to do a inspirational tattoo.  I ask them to write RUN HARD in the design.  As you can see from the picture there was a little miscommunication.  My ankle says RUN DRAH.  I thought "Oh well"  no biggie.  But it bothered me so I went back to the booth and ask them to fix it.  She got a little snippie with me.  "I asked you twice how you wanted it."  I explained or I would like to say I fired back, "you asked me the style of lettering I wanted, not if I wanted the word HARD written backwards.  Instead of admitting she messed up, I went ahead and asked her to just put stars over the word hard and all would be well.  It was.  I told her she did a great job.  Internally annoyed but that is prime reason I will never get a  real tattoo.    The henna dried and fell off.  It leaves a brown color stain.  I like it ; )  Makes me want to run.

Seafair Torchlight 8k RECAP

What a fun run!  Any excuse to get dressed up is my favorite.  Although we didn't win the costume contest, it was still fun.  We arrived early.  I have gotten to my last 2 races early.  It certainly does make it more enjoyable. There were no lines.  They were still setting up in fact.  It was a good plan that way because we needed to get walking to get the family seated for the parade.  Michelle fit right into our family.  She looked amazing.  It was so fun walking around Seattle dressed as a pirate.  It was fun as well to have another Mommie with kids around the same age.  She always had her eye on all the kids.  We made it up towards the space needle.  My hubby and the kids needed dinner.  Subway stop.  Michelle and I noticed a large group of people.  Most in costumes.  They were doing a judging contest.  Weird.  I thought you were suppose to dress as a pirate?  There were all sorts.  Well we didn't want to miss the contest.  We stood in line.  Introduced ourselves as the Cure JM pirates, blah blah blah.  Microphone, lots of people.  We stepped aside.  Suddenly someone got an award for raising money.  I looked at Michelle.  Did we miss the race?  To our horror we were in the wrong race.  Oh the humiliation.  OH WELL  we informed about 100 people about Juvenile Myositis.

After shaking our embarrassment off, and getting the kids settle on the parade route, we headed back to the start line.  It was crowded.  We had 5 or 6 different people ask to take our picture.  Lots of people telling us we looked awesome.

The Race


It was a little disorganized.  : (   No one new where to line up. The announcer was not on the started line but in the lot next to it so it was hard to here him from there.  We were jammed packed in at the starting line.  No one knew which direction to start.  There had roped off the start into two sections.  No one knew who was suppose to start on which side.  Not even the staff standing there.  We all kept asking and the kid shrugged.  The race started.  Everyone started moving so thats how we knew.  Of course I look down and my shoe isn't tied correctly.  LOL   I had to fix it while the crowd moved around me.    The run was easy.  Little up in the beginning.  We quickly came onto the parade route.  We realized we wouldn't be seeing the family.  They were sitting at the beginning of the parade.  : (   Next glich, a fire truck suddenly pulled out.  They actually stopped us.  We stood there in the middle of the parade while the truck backed out of the garage.  It was for an emergency I'm sure but still.  Good thing I wasn't bent to get a good time.  The course was poorly marked.  We suddenly had really fast runners heading towards us.  I got over to the other side of the street.  If there was going to be a collision, it was not going to be with me.  Our next stop was some costume alterations.  Michelles wig was not staying put.  We ditched it.  She had to hold on to it.  Such a trooper.  We came to 2 signs.  They were about 100 yards apart.  It vaguely said to turn around if you were doing the 5k.  Well we were the 8k so simple, go straight.  But more than one 5k's missed it.  Some turned back before the sign.  Some way after.  Not good.  We were treated to a rapid steep down hill then onto the viaduct.  Michelle was keeping good pace.  I kind of upped it to try and make up some time.  Out onto the Alaskan Way Viaduct.   Awesome!  Awesome view, nice and flat.   They race had already turned around at the end of the viaduct down by Qwest.  So we had the pleasure of trash talking those way ahead of us.  Well, motivate.  "Let's Go! Pick it up!  I'm right behind you!".  I was calling out number having a really great time.  This was fun race.  So I began asking aloud, "is it almost done, I don't want to get sweaty."   Although I was pouring buckets with my wig on.  We had a really fun pace going.  I continued to cheer runner's on .  Including a kid who was about 10 or 11.  Called his number out and yelled he was doing great.  I thought how great is that.  To think what it takes for us adults to get out there.  For a kid to be out there is amazing.  The same kid came and found me to thank me for rooting him on.  He needed to show me he finish.  I told him what a awesome job he did.   I lost Michelle around mile 3 and 1/2.  She was only minutes behind me though.  I crossed over the finish line and turned to concentrate on finding her.  If I lost her, it would have been hard to find her. Well, we were hard to miss.  A few times we had wondered away from each other.  Alls we had to do is look for big hair on each other : ).   I love my Michelle!   Our time wasn't anything to brag about.  I hope that Seafair Torchlight can get it together next year with being a little more organized.  : (   Sorry Seafair.  No worries, I will be back.  Too fun not too.

The Best Part

We didn't win the costume contest.  BUT we raised some serious awareness.  Two weekends in a row now. I couldn't be happier.  We entered as the CURE JM Pirates raising awareness for juvenile myositis.  It was the crowds decision with applause that decided the winner.  The winners were a family posing as Tinkerbell, Captain Hook, with there kids dressed up as the characters from Peter Pan.  We were ugly pirate wenches.  Next to a six month of baby being Michael Darling from Peter Pan, we had no chance, LOL.  That's ok though.  It was still fun.



My Favorite

My favorite was getting to go to the Torchlight Parade after the race. It was the first time that I can remember going to this parade in my life.  I was born and raised here so its kind of odd.  Everyone is always scared away by the large crowds.   The crowds weren't all that bad though.  My favorite in the parade was of course the pirates!  Gary did not care for them.  They are loud and scary.   Maybe this qualifies as the best part and my favorite:  I was waited for the pirates to notice Michelle and I, because we really played the part.  One of the last pirates of the float spotted me as he walked by.  It was perfect.  He paused, put his hand to his heart, acknowledged me and kept walking.  It was great.  Michelle got it all on video too.  What fun night.  We had no trouble getting back to our car.  The crowds were deeper in the parade.  The traffic was clear.  We will be back next year : )