300 (it's long, but there's a giveaway at the end. Natch.)

I'm psyched.

I ran three miles Sunday, with NO hamstring pain or tightening, AT ALL!!!  I was nervous beforehand, and kept myself in check to run a 10:15 minute mile pace, even when Lil' Wayne's Knockout came on my ipod and I wanted to just let loose.  It felt like a walk in the park, so I'm confident that I didn't lose any fitness with my time off, but I'm going to force myself to take it slow, so I don't undo any of my progress.

Yahoo!!!!

It's my 300th post, and to help write it, I used all the suggestions given to me.....

I've been running for years, but as Kristin suggested, here are some of the highs of the races I've done since I started my blog:.

1. The Marathon, obviously.  I knew I would do it someday, and I did.  I know I'll do it again. And maybe again.
2. St. Patricks Day Four Miler. This race covers a course with some steep hills, and aside from the fun of the race itself, were the training runs I did every Saturday morning with my running group, Lake Effect.  After the race, it was fun to be social with the group over beers in an Irish bar.
3. The Chilly Chili 5k this past February.  This was the first winter that I ventured outside, away from the comfort of my treadmill, to keep up my winter runs.  Race day it was 15 degrees, and it snowed during the run.  And I had a ball.

Tortuga Runner suggested I write about who I am, and Iron Mike thought I should go back to my first post, and see how far I've come. This is a snippet from my first blog post:  "For 32 years I knew who I was. And I still do, but it comes and goes. I feel like I'm still searching for something, and what that is I honestly don't know. I'm hoping that by putting my thoughts into this blog, I can get myself to where I need to be."

I've struggled since I became a stay at home mom, but I've learned that I don't necessarily have to define myself in terms of what I do for a living.  When you think about it, we all do lots of things, and each one of those things help to define us.  I've learned that as long as I keep challenging myself, I'll continue to evolve, and there is no end to what I can do.

So here is a bit of who I am:

I'm a Mom.  Here we are, all cleaned up on Easter Sunday:

I'm a wife. I met Mike when I was 18, and we've been married for 11 years. The Black Knight thought I should take a look at my 100th and 200th posts, and I just so happened to write about Mike in post number 100.

Here is us in the summer:

and in the winter:

I have a great family.  I love my brother and sisters dearly, I know I bug them sometimes, and sometimes they bug me.  I don't see my parents often, but talk to them all the time.  I hate the phrase "in-laws" because I'm lucky to have all of mine as my family.  I have fabulous girlfriends, some of which I'm hoping aren't too pissed off at me for bailing on our 20th reunion this past weekend. 

I was thinking of changing my header to my dancing in the kitchen photo.  Angie thought so too, so I did.

Mighty M suggested I do a giveaway of some of my favorite things.  Well, I figured I could do a small one of items that I always have on me:

*I have chocolate once a day, so I'll start off with a bar of chocolate from Newman's Own Organic.
*Coffee is a necessity, a $5 gift card to Starbucks should be good for a cup.
*Tic Tacs are needed after coffee, for fresh breath.
*GU.  During marathon training, I always had GU on me.  I like a bunch of them, but these two tend to cleanse my running palate the best, one Lemon Sublime, and one Strawberry Banana.
*Blistex Lip balm. I figured I should go unisex on this one, since Mark is always bitching that my giveaways are more for the gals than the guys.

Since Mighty M and Erika both suggested a Q and A, to enter this little giveaway, in your comment, ask me whatever question that's been keeping you up at night.   The giveaway will end at midnight, one week from today, Monday November 1.  I'll choose the winner with random.org, then answer the questions in another post.

I made you wait long enough....congrats to Liz, at Quiltz n Hoez, the winner of the CSN Stores giftcard (I used random.org to pick the winner)  send me an email, and I'll get you hooked up!