Could you do this? And Giveaway Monday...

I had to share this photo and story, it's about four runners who ran the God's County Marathon in Pennsylvania this weekend, tethered together with a 12 foot rope!!! They beat the previous record for this feat by 12 minutes and might be Guiness Book of World Record holders.  And the very cool thing is, one of the runners is my friend Brad!!! Go BW!!!!

Can you imagine staying the same pace as four others the entire 26.2?? Love it.



There is one day left in my Mega Giveaway, but in the meantime, I'm going to declare today as Giveaway Monday.  I reached out to various vendors to help me hold giveaways to benefit The Children's Tumor Foundation.  Instead of holding another Mega Giveaway, I figured I would do one item per week.  So without further ado, here is the first one:

Do you have a RoadID?  I didn't for a long time, which wasn't the smartest thing. For the most part I run in my neighborhood, and if I go longer distances I'm usually with friends or a group.   But that doesn't matter, even with friends, accidents happen, and the more info you can give when help arrives, the better.

I now have the Sport ID, in a cheery shade of pink.  At first I didn't want to put another thing on my wrist, but it's a lightweight band, with two reflective strips to help keep you visible in the dark.  I wear it on my right wrist, with G-unit on my left, so now I feel balanced  : )

It was easy to order, I just typed in the info I wanted to include on the band which is the year I was born, the town and state I live in, Mike's phone number, my sis in laws phone number, and my blood type (I'm O neg, universal donor, in case you need some).  I also put a little line of inspiration, which comes from Yo Gabba Gabba.......Don't Stop. Don't Give Up.

I've worn it on several bike rides, and on two runs, and it's a comfy addition to my running gear.

Would you like a RoadID of your very own?  Well, here's how to get one, please leave a separate comment for each:

1. Be a Friend of my blog
2. Make a donation of any amount (even $1!) to my fundraising page for Children's Tumor foundation, HERE.
3. extra entries if you have already donated (Thank You Again!!!)
4. tweet, blog or facebook this giveaway
5. like RoadID on twitter here or  facebook here

I'll choose a winner using random.org on Monday June 13th.


Note, I was provided with a RoadID for the purpose of this review, the opinions on the product are my own.

Do You Know What This Is?

Do you know what these are?

They are molds of my feet. I had inserts made seven years ago, and for some reason the Doctor gave them to me and I kept them.  I had new ones made yesterday at my new podiatrist, for my running shoe inserts.  Still no running until I get them.....in three weeks.

Do you know what this is?

What's left of our patio umbrella.  We brought it onto the deck when Mike was grilling in the rain.  We had a very windy day Wednesday, and the wind blew it up, and smashed it into the deck railing. Crunch.


Have you seen this book?

It's hilarious.  Mike read about it online, and my friends are all talking about it.  It's a book for adults, made to look like a children's book of poems, but the point of the poems is that the child won't go the F&#$ to bed.  If you have kids, you'll love it.

Do you know what this is?

It's a website called Breadfish that my teen aged nephew showed me.  You click on it, and all it is are a bunch of fish swimming to a song called Breadfish.  At first I thought it was stupid, but now I turn it on and the kids and I sing along with it.


I know you know what this is:

THANK YOU to everyone who voted for my blog on Circle of Mom's! I made the cut, and I'm part of the great group of Mom Bloggers on the Top 25 list!


There are a few days left to enter my giveaway here where you can win the following:

Please check it out here, your entry will benefit:

National Running Day! (and, final weigh in)

I'm so happy that the weather has changed.  It was 94 degrees yesterday, and this morning I'm wearing my favorite $5 skirt from Old Navy, which I would wear every day if I could.  Over the weekend I had a bunch of "Firsts" of Summer, first iced coffee, first clams on the grill, first time beach towels were drying on the deck, first mosquito bites.  It was lovely.

Can you see my patchy sunburn?  I used a spray sunscreen for the first time while we were at the lake yesterday (hey, another first!), it worked great for the kids, but I need to stick to lotion for myself.

Yes, today is National Running Day, but no running for me. I do need to run around today and tackle my huge To Do List, and tomorrow I go back to the podiatrist to have an impression made of my feet for my orthotics.  I'm still secretly hoping I can run my 5k on Saturday, so we'll see what the Doc says tomorrow.

Today is also the Final Weigh In for my weight loss challenge.  I did a happy dance around my scale, I'm down 2 pounds from last week, for a grand total of 6 pounds.  My weight loss goal was 10 pounds, as was my friend Heather's.  We talked about doing another challenge, because she didn't reach 10 pounds either, and we both want to get to that point.  I'll let you know what the plan is, but I'm hoping everyone else had some weight loss. I know one person in particular probably won the whole thing, so we'll see what you say in the comments!

AH! And I have the winner of my Wrightsocks giveaway....I was watching The Real Housewives of NYC while resting my foot, and the photo was a picture of Jill Zarin on my television.  I used random.org to pick a winner out of the correct answers, and it is Laura!  Send me an email with your address, congrats!

The time I went swimming

I am still in major Holiday Mode.  The kids don't have school today, they had an extra snow day to use up, so we have a four day weekend. The weather is sunny, and it's supposed to be hot and steamy today, so after I write this I'm heading out to Green Lakes with the kids and my sis-in law Jeannine for the day.

Well it happened, I got in the pool, and I didn't sink. The pool in our development opened on Saturday, the second the kids got out of bed they were asking to go to the pool.  There is a lap lane that I wanted to use, to see what kind of a swimmer I am.  I'm a swim for fun/cooling off/relaxation type person, so this was going to be interesting. 

I told Mike I wanted to swim 40 laps (600 meters) because that is the distance for my sprint triathlon.  I got in the pool, did two laps, and was out of breath! wha wha whaaat?  Mike was the captain of his swim team in high school, so he immediately gave me some tips on my form, then I was off again.  I don't know why, but I felt kind of nervous.  Mike swam with the kids, and I kept plugging away.  I got to lap 28, and a woman joined me in the lane.  She asked if we wanted to circle each other, or choose a side.  The lap lane doesn't have any lines painted on the floor to use as a guide when you swim, and I felt a bit intimidated about sharing a lane, so I told her I was finished for the day.  Although I felt like I could have completed the whole 40 laps.

Sunday I rode my bike, my foot is feeling a million times better, but there are moments where I step a certain way and it hurts.  I'm going to be good about this no running thing. 

Monday it was time for the pool again.  I got in, and thought of the advice Mike had given me:

• keep my rear end high in the air, and keep it dry
• keep my palms facing out, and when I bring them down towards my torso, push the water away from my body
• make some bubbles with my feet while I kick, to give power to my upper body
• and my favorite, find a rhythm. Just as I find a beat when I run, try and find a rhythm to my kicking.

I was moving along, having a good time, and at lap number 8, the same woman from Saturday showed up in the lane.  This time I said I would circle her, and it worked out well, she was faster than me, so I was able to keep my own pace.  She was a strong swimmer, I watched her after I was finished, and she was doing one armed drills.

So I did the whole 40 laps, I forgot to look at the clock when I started, but Mike said it took me about 25 minutes. Which is slow, but I also stopped a few times to catch my breath, and I didn't do kick turns at the ends of the lap lane.  The one and only time in my life that I tried to do that, I banged my head on the side of the pool, and that was that.

I'm pretty happy, my back is a wee bit sore today, but overall I feel good. I wasn't exhausted after the swim, and I know I can pull off a bike ride and run after swimming. 

I do need to find a good bathing suit, one that doesn't accentuate back fat.

: )

Me and my feet

Yay! My internet is back up!

Not so yay, because my foot is bandaged up.

I went to the Foot Doc yesterday, because even after resting, limiting my runs, and biking, the foot I injured a few weeks ago walking Frank was still bugging me.

Thankfully, it's not a stress fracture, and after looking at my x-rays, the Doc said I actually have good looking bones (I blushed).  My issue lies with the muscle between my third and fourth metatarsal, it was twisted when my foot rolled off the edge of the path. 

The Doc also watched me walk, and looked at my running shoes, and although I know that I over-pronate, apparently I'm an extreme over-pronator, my arches pretty much touch the ground when I walk. 

I've had issues with my lower extremities since birth, I was born with Tibial Tortion, my feet turned inward, and for several months after I was born, my parents had to put my feet into shoes that were attached to a board, in order to twist my feet the opposite way. 

Fast forward many years later, I've dealt with a bone spur on my heel, a bone growth on my big toe (from whacking the ball too much with my foot when I played field hockey), plantar fasciitis, pulled hamstrings, a broken toe, and twisted ankles.  I broke my left ankle not once, but twice. 

I wore orthotics in my street shoes while I was getting over my PF, but I've never worn them in my running shoes, aside from the inserts that I've bought at various running stores.  I showed the Doc the ones I currently wear, and he said they were pretty much useless, and that I need custom orthotics to run in, if I want to keep running.

At this point I'm going to take his advice, I'm going back next week to have them made, but they might not be ready for three weeks.  Oh, and I shouldn't run until I have them.  Which bums me out for two reasons, one, I was going to run Paige's Butterfly 5k Run next weekend with a friend who started running, because she said I inspired her.  I wanted to run it with her, but that's out.  And two, I have to stay in training mode for the Boilermaker 15k, my favorite run of the year, which is in July.  I don't know if I can pull that one off. 

At any rate, I'm lucky that it wasn't worse. 

Since it's a Holiday Weekend, I thought it would be fun to do a short giveaway!  If you look at the above photo, and can tell what show I was watching when I was resting my foot, leave me a comment saying what it is.  I know Blogger is still acting up, so if you can't comment, send me an email.  I'll pick one winner from the correct responses, and you'll receive a sweet pair of Wrightsocks!

And don't forget my Mega Giveaway! Check that one out here....


Have a Happy and Safe Holiday Weekend!

Weigh In Wednesday, One Week Until Final Weigh In

I just realized I've been walking around the past few hours with a price tag stuck in my hair.  Sounds about right.

I haven't been able to post comments on a few blogs, but I've been reading!

I'm not going to bore you with the details, but I've had some things taking up space in my mind that haven't gone away.  One issue has been resolved after waiting for about three weeks, and on the plus side I know the numbers on the scale will definitely go down when I weigh in next week.  This week however, I've stayed the same, no gain, no loss.

I've also been thinking about my foot.  It's still feeling weird, but oddly enough, not when I'm running. I've been able to ride my bike and run, in fact I went back to the Nature Center on Monday, as well as  today, and was able to do 4 mile trail runs.  Since I'm facing a summer of races and a fall marathon, I sucked it up and made an appointment with the foot doctor, I'll see him tomorrow so I'm hoping I can get some answers.  

Thanks for the feedback on which bike I should use for my training and race, I think I'm going to stick with my mountain bike, and get a tune up and some road tires for it. 

I can't seem to get enough salsa, it might be time for an intervention.  I've always loved it, I gave up for Lent one year which was a big mistake.  This is my new favorite way to eat it, this was yesterday's lunch:

It's a whole wheat wrap topped with steamed broccoli, spinach, black japonica rice, black beans, salsa, and a bit of provolone.  I added more salsa on the side.  I just can't get enough.

Thanks for voting for me at Circle of Moms!  Please help me stay in the Top 25, you can click HERE to vote daily....

And have you checked out my Fundraising Giveaway to benefit The Children's Tumor Foundation? 

You can find that HERE. 

This week's weight loss factoid is courtesy of the May issue of InStyle magazine:  "To curb your appetite, inhale deeply before each bite.....when you smell food, your brain interprets it as if you've eaten already, so you feel fuller faster." 

One week to make goal weight, I have a feeling I'm going to be buying Heather that gift card to Fleet Feet, but I'm not giving up!!!



Nishiki vs. GT

I am "officially" in Triathlon Training Mode. 

I'm surprised at the number of women I know who are doing their first triathlon this summer.  We had a birthday party this weekend for Luke and his friends at a local nature center, and during the pond dipping portion of the party, one Mom friend of mine told me she has her first Sprint coming up in just a couple of weeks.  I picked her brain about some of the things I've been curious about, what gear I need, and don't need.  I think I'm going to forego a wetsuit, the race is in August, and I think the temperatures might be too warm to wear one.  I'm used to cold Adirondack lakes, and the chilly Long Island Sound, so I think I can get away with wearing bike shorts and a sleeveless top to swim in, then bike in, then run in.  I still can't believe I'm doing this.


My biggest dilemma is the bike.  I've had my mountain bike for ages, I love it, but it's rather large and heavy, and not built for speed:

Please ignore my mess of a garage, it's still not back to normal since the garage sale.

A couple of years ago, my Dad in Law found this Nishiki at a garage sale.  It's even older than my mountain bike, but it's more of a racing bike, which is what I need for IronGirl.  Is it worth fixing up for training, and ultimately, the race?

Please ignore the creepy hand prints in this basement storage room.  They were already there when we bought the house. 

Well?  Should I stick with my GT?  Or give the Nishiki a try?