Powered by Potatoes

Tomorrow is the first day of the training runs for the Mountain Goat, and I'm excited. I feel like I should be nervous or intimidated, but I'm not. I used to be afraid of the Boilermaker, but after running it for the past three years, I feel like it's a walk in the park. So I have a good mindset for this new challenge of mine, and it makes me realize how confident I feel about tackling my marathon training.

Speaking of marathons, the lottery winners for the NYC Marathon aren't going to be announced until April 7! It was supposed to be the end of March. But as I said before, I'm happy about my plan for Rochester in the fall, but I'm still anxious to see what happens with NYC.

Since I can't get enough of social networking sites, I joined Daily Mile. It seems pretty cool, and I've "friended" some local runners, as well as blogger friends, so look me up if the mood strikes!

I ran a quick 2.5 miles this morning on the treadmill while the kids played, and then we spent the afternoon walking and playing. I made them mashed potatoes to go with their dinner, and for some reason they were really watery. So I kept them on the burner to steam out some of the water, and after about ten minutes they were perfect! I wanted to get outside and calibrate my friend Jen's Nike + ipod, so when Mike got home I ran a quick mile. I'm telling you, I was zipping along like it was nobody's business. Those spuds were better than m&m's for energy. I might be onto something.

Oh Happy Day

Today was a wonderful day.

Before I dive into it, I wanted to see if anyone else on Blogger has issues commenting on Wordpress blogs. I follow some great blogs, and for some reason, when I try to comment on them (like yours Jon, at Chocolate Runner) it doesn't go through. I love connecting with fellow bloggers, so it drives me a little batty when I'm not able to comment.

I also wanted to mention that Marcia has a great Running Skirt giveaway going on, obviously I entered. I've been eyeing their plaid running skirt for a while now, and I just may have to treat myself and buy one to celebrate spring.

But back to my wonderful day.

I love St. Patricks Day, I love it even more when the snow is gone and the sky is blue and the sun is shining. I've loved it since I was a kid, when my Mom made her corned beef, and we always had a shamrock pin to wear to school.

Today I was able to get out in the sunshine, for a six mile run with my sis in law, Jeannine. I wore my friend Jennifer's Nike + ipod, whose sensor happened to fit quite nicely into the spot made specially for it in my Nike Zooms. I haven't had a chance to calibrate it, but it didn't matter, I just wanted to get out there.

We did a loop around my 'hood, which was so nice to do now that the snow is gone. Spring kind of sneaks up on you, one minute there's four feet of snow hanging around, then poof.....mud. I felt so good, we ran at a quick clip, I felt like I was pushing myself, but in a good way. We chatted, I listened to Jen's Central Park play list, breathed deep. I know it's bad, but I got a bit of a sunburn on my nose, that's how nice out it was.

In the afternoon I was the Room Mom for Luke's St. Patty's Day party. Nothing like a room full of five year olds, thrilled that you are there, and fighting for your attention. I told them that the Shamrock cookies I brought were made by Leprechauns, and they almost lost their minds.

The rest of the day centered around sitting outside, enjoying some beers, soda bread, veggies and not one, but two corned beefs. One was in the crock pot, the other, on the grill with onions. So. De.Li.ci.ous.

Like I said, it was a wonderful day.

God Never Blinks, a book giveaway

I had a chance to read the soon to be published book, God Never Blinks, by Regina Brett, a columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Pulitzer Prize finalist, and radio show host on NPR.

When she turned fifty, Brett wrote a column on the 50 lessons she learned in a life that included single parenthood, breast cancer, her relationships with others and with God. It turned out to be one of the newspaper's most popular columns, one that has been emailed hundreds of thousands of times over.

I read inspirational books like this every once in a while, that give reminders to appreciate life as I live it. Some of the lessons in God Never Blinks were ones I've heard before, Saving for Retirement, Don't Compare Your Life to Others', Growing Old Beats the Alternative. However, there were other lessons and phrases that jumped out at me, and really hit home.

The very first lesson talked about using the words "get to" instead of "have to." The last few hours of my day are always chaotic, with all the things I have to do, cooking dinner, giving the kids their baths, reading soon to be overdue library books. The great thing is, I get to laugh with my kids in their bath, I get to read them their books. I get to do so much in my life.

As a Stay At Home Mom, I appreciated Lesson 37, Your Children Get One Childhood, Make it Memorable. Brett felt guilty over being a single parent, until she learned to live in the moment, to find joy and meaning in it, instead of worrying about their happiness in the future. I think this applies if you are a single parent, have a partner, work or stay at home, it's a great reminder to be present for your children. I think to myself over and over, I only have one shot, they grow in the blink of an eye, so I'm going to enjoy them while they'll let me!

One lesson was my favorite, Don't Save Anything for a Special Occasion, Today is Special Enough. Brett had a collection of candles that she saved, to use on the right occasion, until her breast cancer battle changed her perspective. She writes that we all have an expiration date, life is too short to waste doing anything joyless. So she stopped saving things for special occasions, because every day is special. I agree with her. My husband gave me a pair of diamond earrings when my son was born, I wear them every single day. They are beautiful, and special, so I celebrate every day when I wear them.

Lesson 31 is titled, No matter how good or how bad a situation is, it will change. Sometimes when life is going well, I get nervous that something bad is going to happen. And when something bad does happen, I just want to get through it and go on. Brett had a great analogy for living life with its ups and downs: ride life like a raft in a river, let it carry you through the white water into the still. Basically, good times come and go, and bad times come and go. Our job is not to cling to one or fight the other but allow them both to teach us and polish us. I might have to write that one down and put it on my refrigerator.

I found the lessons in God Never Blinks to be straight forward, and inspiring, one that I can see myself going back to when I need a lift.

You can read more about Regina Brett on her website, http://www.reginabrett.com/, a portion of the proceeds of God Never Blinks will help to support the Gathering Place, which offers free services for anyone touched by cancer.

For a chance to win a copy of God Never Blinks, leave me a comment, and tell me what your favorite book is. For extra entries (please leave a separate comment for each), you can:

1. follow my blog, or tell me you already do so

2. Tweet this giveaway on Twitter

3. link to this giveaway on your blog

Giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents, and sorry, no P.O. Boxes. Giveaway ends at midnight EST on March 24th.

fresh week, fresh start

I made some plans for this week, and they just so happen to include:

1. saying Thank You to my Great Grandfather William for coming to America from Ireland in 1906.

2. lovin' on my kids and hubs.

3. making more Irish soda bread, cooking up the corned beef and cabbage, pairing them up with a Harp or two, then making reubens with extra sauerkraut from the leftovers

4. Running. And some more running.

5. beginning 40 days of core work (thanks to Marcia)

6. looking forward to watching #1 seed SU in March Madness

7. trying not to wipe out on the stairs with a full basket of clean laundry like I did the other night.

8. staying far, far away from Red Bull......

......spring is getting closer every day.

Le Winner

Thanks to everyone who entered the Le Creuset Giveaway, there were over 200 entries!! To pick the winner, I threw darts at numbers tacked on a cork board......just kidding, I used random.org.


The winner was number 41, Julie at Sudden Spontaneity, congrats Julie!



I'll be posting a new giveaway next week, for all you Bookworms, so stay tuned.

I'm not my usual fun self

I'm bugging out a bit. I like to use my blog as a place to stay positive about things that are going on in my life, but sometimes things in life happen, and it's unavoidable that you're going to be sad.

Last week, a friend of mine had a heart attack, he's the husband of one of my friends of over 25 years. He's on the mend, but it was a shocker, a wake up call as to what stage of life we're heading into, one that I hoped wouldn't happen for years, if ever.

Then, I found out this morning, Mike, a friend from high school, a husband and father of three, died of a heart attack. I sat in front of his facebook page, wanting to write something, but didn't know what to say. I keep thinking of him in the back seat of our Drivers Ed car, making fun of my driving.

What is really upsetting to me, is today is the 15th Anniversary of the death of my friend Anna. She was one of my first great friends, the person I did my nails with, listened to Madonna with, shared my first beer with. She and Mike used to date, and in a strange twist of fate, he died on the same day, many years later.

I'm sure they're sitting together in Heaven.

All hyped up and ready to go

Tonight, within a time span of 30 seconds, I:

1. turned on the blender with the top not entirely on (this wasn't the first time)

2. had a pot of water and milk boil over, and it went all over the stove top

3. remembered that I had a bottle of wine in the freezer.

I was able to save the wine.

I'm feeling a huge sense of motivation towards my running. I've got 28 miles logged so far this month, and this morning I spent time online looking at various marathons.

Other than Tall Mom's Virtual 10k at the end of this month, my next race is the 10 mile Mountain Goat, on May 2. Training runs start for that on March 20th, and since it's my first time running it, I can't wait. It's a very hilly course, as evidenced by the elevation map above. I'm sure it will be hard, but a good hard.

I feel like I want to keep that training momentum going after the race, in order to tackle a marathon sooner than September. I've looked at different plans, I don't feel like I need to follow a 26 week beginner plan, but an 18 week seems a bit ambitious. My biggest fear is injury. Add in the fact that I'm going to start incorporating speed work into my runs, and all those hills, I'm sure I'll have plenty to keep myself occupied with.

Which brings me back to choosing a 26 mile race, which so far is going to be the Rochester full on September 12. It feels so far away, but in the grand scheme of things, it's probably the best bet. I don't even know how I'm going to physically handle the training, so I think I'm just over thinking and making this more difficult than it needs to be.

Don't forget the Le Creuset giveaway.....you have until midnight Friday to enter, so check it out here!