Grin and Bear It

(Not) So Wordless Wednesday

Me, this morning, after my run doing my best it’s-cold-as-hell-out-here-I-thought-I-lived-in-the-south-why-in-the-world-am-I-doing-this face.

Sometimes you just got to grin and bear it.

Winks & Smiles,

My Super Bowl Stats

My Super Bowl Stats:

Packers: 31. Congrats, cheeseheads!

Steelers: 25. Sorry, Steeler Nation.

Christina Auguilera: 8. Sounded AWESOME, but she loses points for the missed words.

Black Eye Peas: 7. LOVE the songs, but Fergie was a little off – ahem.

Slash: 7. Kind of irrelevant but he gets points ‘cause he’s Slash.

Usher: 10+. Yup, I’m biased but he still rocked it.

Commercials: 8. Some made me laugh out loud for real; and some were just – dumb.

Beer: 3+. Gasp!

Tacos: 4. They were homemade lean ground beef.

Chips & Salsa: N/A. I plead the Fifth.

Cookies: 2. My first in a month.

Miles run: 0. It was a scheduled off day.

Tennis: 1 match, 3 sets. I was on the court for about 2 hours.

I probably burned off 1 beer, 1 & ½ tacos, 5 chips & salsa and ½ a cookie. Um, yeah ... I think I can live with that.

Winks & Smiles,

Four Things I Learned Shoveling Snow in ATLANTA

I walked by the window yesterday and saw my neighbor outside clearing her driveway, got excited and volunteered to go shovel ours. I live in an equal opportunity house, Husband had no objection, and I really needed wanted to get out for a minute. We’ve been snowed in since Sunday night. Enough said.

While it SEEMED like a good idea, I grew up in Connecticut and thought I knew everything about snow, I quickly learned a few things:

Don’t volunteer to shovel snow when its NOT snow. It was ice. Solid ice. Yeah, that’s different than the light, fun, fluffy stuff. I should’ve turned myself around when I stepped on it and slid 6 feet across the driveway.

Get yourself a BIG ASS shovel. And apparently some other tools – like an ice pick. Ok, I didn’t have an ice pick, or a shovel for that matter so I borrowed my neighbor’s and used a metal rake to break up the ice before I shoveled it. Hard core, right?

Shoveling snow ICE is a workout. I’ve been in Atlanta too long and forgot everything I learned in Snow Shoveling 101 like it’s a WORKOUT. I got two workouts in yesterday and I think the shoveling might have burned more calories than my dumbbells. Good for Project Me.

I was the ONLY fool out there taking pictures. Um, yeah. None of my neighbors are bloggers or apparently facebookers either 'cause not one of them were out there snapping any pics of the crushed ice they just moved. Now that I think about it, none of them were out there crushing ice. Hmm.

Speaking of pictures, Husband was kind enough to pry himself from the Playstation 3 and take some photos.

The driveway before

Me and the big ol’ shovel

Ice, ice, baby

The rake I used to break the ice

The driveway after

Even though the driveway is clear the kids still aren’t going to school. We’re on day three folks – gasp! I love spending time with my kids, but I don’t want to get in the way of their education. I’m just sayin’.

Winks & Smiles,

Christmas Tag

I used to LOVE tag when I was a little kid, even though I didn’t always get away. Apparently, not much has changed. The lovely Kerrie T at Mom vs Marathon tagged me with six, fun, get-to-know-you questions. Want to read them, here they go …

What is your FAVORITE time of day to run? Morning, definitely. I LOVE the beginning of the day, once the sun is out, ahem, and shining on my face. I like to make it one of the first things I do because the feeling I get after running leaves me ready to tackle my day.

If you could have ANY job in the world, what would it be? PG version? Just kidding. Sort of. Really, I’m not sure. I’m pretty close to doing what truly makes me happy already, but when I was younger I used to want to be a sportscaster. Watch out Hannah Storm.

Do you have a GUILTY food pleasure? (i.e. what’s your favorite empty calorie food?) Um, YEAH. Chocolate. And, beer. Do either of those count as food?

How and/or why did you START running? I’ve always thought running was sexy; and something I couldn’t do. I actually used to say, “I wish I could run.” One day I saw a television program about a marathon runner with prosthetic legs and I realized if he could do it without his own legs, I could do it with mine! I started walking and adding running spurts until eventually I was running through my neighborhood. Now I’m a marathoner.

Do you have any SPECIAL Christmastime traditions? Sure. We all get new pajamas on Christmas Eve; we have “table” gifts at dinner instead of using place cards; and we watch “Elf” together to kickoff the holidays.

What race/event are you MOST looking forward to in 2011? I’m still planning out my races for 2011 but I’m excited to do at least one race per month and to complete my second marathon in the fall.

My turn to tag …

YOU!

Seriously, consider yourself tagged by Wifey. I’d love to read more about you. If you want to answer the questions please leave me a comment so I can come and see your post.

Winks & Smiles,

My Secret to Surviving the Holiday Break

Today is the first day of my kids’ two week school break. While I am genuinely excited to slow down and spend time with them I’m also afraid realistic that some patience and quiet time will be necessary. Oh, and some prayer.

I have my mother-in-law to thank for these words of wisdom which quietly lets me know she understands and Husband must’ve been a little terror loads of fun when he was little, ahem, but that’s another post.

May the force be with you and may you survive enjoy your holiday break.

Winks & Smiles,

Who IS this Dude?

Ironically, that same doubtful darling is the only one at Wifey’s house who still believes in Santa four years later.

I LOVE this time of year.

Winks & Smiles,

Run Wifey’s Kids, Run!

I took my kids running yesterday to get them ready for the Atlanta Track Club’s Mashed Potato Mile kids fun run on Thanksgiving.

One of them loved it …

She’s such a ham and wants to run like her mommy.

And one of them not so much …

Um, yeah. His face says it all.

Would I be wrong if I bribe him with a Turkey leg?

Winks & Smiles,

I Believe in Running for My Sanity, Lying to My Kids, and Santa Claus

I believe in running for my sanity, lying to my kids and Santa Claus. Not that they have anything to do with each other – except for this morning.

Long story short – I’ve been having a wonderful, but busy week. I spent the past three days with some of the smartest and savviest women I know at Coca-Cola’s Live Positively Social Media Conference; then, last night, I was honored with 11 other of Atlanta’s social media mavens at DigitiniATL as a part of Social Media Atlanta week. While it’s all GREAT stuff I’ve been on the go and have neglected one thing – getting my run on.

GASP!

Yeah. I kind of need that for my sanity. Sometimes I’ve been known to turn into a “crazy lady” when I don’t make the time to run. I also don’t think clearly and can’t stay on my game which causes me to drop the ball completely fumble when my 9-year-old know-it-all son decides to torture my 7-year-old daughter.

We’re driving to school this morning and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” came on the radio in a commercial.

“That’s true,” Milan said.

“What?” I asked.

“Santa Clause IS coming to town,” she replied so sweetly.

Enter my own personal Grinch.

“No it’s not. Santa Claus isn’t real. Santa is YOUR PARENTS!”

GASP! (that was me)

GASP! (that was Milan)

“MILES! Why would you say that?”

Don’t ask me why I asked him that subjecting myself poor Milan to more.

“Santa and you have the same handwriting AND you use the same marker.”

“What?”

Yes, y’all that was the best I could come up with. See what no running does.

“Come on, Mom. I’m getting older.”

Here’s where the lies come in.

“Miles, that’s so NOT true and Milan DON'T listen to him. I am NOT Santa Claus and I still believe in Santa.”

Thank goodness I didn’t get struck by lightening and my baby girl is not ready to let go of the fantasy. She’s used to Miles trying to torment her so she believed me over him.

While the end is fast approaching for good ol’ Saint Nick I would love to keep his magic alive for one more year. Apparently, I’m going to need to slip in a few white lies and stick to my running schedule if that’s going to happen.

Winks & Smiles,

Random Running Thought #202: Am I the Only Fool Who Gained Weight on Marathon Day?

When you train for a marathon you have lots of time to think. Six months of training and almost six hours running the damn thing my first marathon gave me ample time to ponder several random nuggets of knowledge that I figured I would sporadically share with you.

I’m still trying to recover from this first one.

Random Running Thought #202

“Am I the only fool who managed to gain weight on the day of her marathon?”

Fortunately, since having this thought I’ve found out that I am not alone and that tapering can be your friend or foe. Don’t get me wrong, overall I have slimmed down since I started training for a marathon and the health benefits are outstanding – per my doctor my blood pressure and circulation are "stellar." Got to love that. My weight loss peaked about one month before the big race when I was logging long runs (18 milers +) and I was careful about what I was eating to fuel those runs.

Then came the taper (*insert dark, daunting music here*). I cut back on my running but not on my eating hence some of those lost pounds found their way home. For most of us weight loss is pretty transparent. If you eat more calories than you burn you gain weight – even if you are training for a marathon.

The outcome of this lovely thought – running is an excellent way to get healthy and to lose weight but you still have to be conscious of what you eat … and drink. Ahem. Oh, and if you want to fit into your running pants the day of your marathon don’t consume everything in sight during your taper.

Winks & Smiles,

Friday’s Confession: Sometimes I get on Husband’s Nerves

Friday’s Confession …

Sometimes I get on Husband’s nerves.

GASP!

Or so he says. I know I can run things into the ground be a bit repetitive but sometimes that’s necessary when you have nothing else to say to get your point across.

Ever since my first child was born I’ve strategically used that to my advantage. Ten months of pregnancy, 24 hours of labor, and two hours of pushing is a great comeback when you want to get out of something and don’t want to sound like a wimp. When all else fails it’s my favorite and most frequently used comeback line. Let me show you how it works:

Husband: “Are you going to help me clean the garage?”

Me: “Dude, I gave you a son. Not today.”

And, once my daughter was born and I had two births under my belt it was really on.

Husband: “Let’s get the backyard done today.”

Me: “I bore your children; I’ve done enough hard work for this decade.”

Ok, my success rate is not too high (about 25 percent) but still you would think Husband would be grateful that after nine years of hearing the same ol’ comeback I whipped out a new line on him this week.

Husband: “Are you going to the grocery store today?”

Me: “Um, I just ran a marathon.”

I wonder how long I can milk this one …

Winks & Smiles,