Another year older (and maybe wiser)

So here I am just a little bit older than before. My birthday was on Sunday. I had a really nice weekend and the best part was, I didn't have to wash any dishes! :) My fun started Friday evening. The hubby had to run out to the store and was going to just wait until little lady was sleeping, but somehow things worked out that he took her with him to the store. That meant that I got to sit at home and enjoy a quiet, empty house. That hasn't happened in forever and I loved it. I had a stack of magazines piling up so I starting catching up.

Saturday morning we slowly got ready to go to Frederik Meijer Gardens to see the butterflies. I love just spending time as a family so I had a great time there. Little lady loved looking for all the butterflies and hubby loved showing her off. I feel like we don't go out as a family as much as I would like. I think once it's nicer out, we will have to get out with her more. We are also horrible at taking pictures while we are out so I asked the hubby to get a few pictures of me and little lady. I occasionally remember to snap some pictures of him and her, but I feel like I have very few photos of me with her. One of the pictures turned out pretty cute and the hubby actually printed out a nice copy of it for me for my birthday.

My little lady loves to make silly faces.

I also had a long run scheduled for Saturday. During little lady's nap time, I prepared for an 8 mile run! I decided that I needed to start fueling during longer runs. My 7 mile run had been rough and I thought maybe mid-run fuel would have helped. I decided to bring 2 Clif shot blocks with me and a can of coconut water. (I didn't have a good way to carry water with me on my run and I wanted something that at least once I drank it, I didn't have to carry it back.) I also ate a kids Clif bar before my run since I hadn't eaten since my oatmeal breakfast.

I hit the trail and felt pretty good. I was focusing on not letting the mentality of "8 miles!!!" get to me. I knew that I had run 7, so why not 8? At just past 2 miles, I felt a horrible cramping on my right side. It was like runner's cramp, but much worse than I have felt. I slowed down and was trying to figure out what to do. The cold can of coconut water pressed into my ribs offered a bit of relief. I contemplated turning around, but I have read other runner's that had felt an odd pain and it would go away just as quickly as it came on. I decided that I would continue until 3 miles and then turn and head back if the pain was still there. I took 2 walking breaks and would stretch out my side as I walked. I kept my pace slow while I ran and by the time mile 3 rolled around, the pain was gone. I was relieved!

My next issue came with trying to figure out a mid-run fuel point. I purposely brought things with me that I would not have to bring back, but I also wasn't sure if I would find a garbage can along the trail. I kept my eyes out while I ran. At mile 3.5 I passed along a nice park/parking lot to access the trail that I was on. There were a few garbage cans at the park's entrance to the trail. Perfect! I didn't feel like fueling yet so I ran to mile 4, turned around and got back to the garbage around 4.5 miles. I stopped (and of course paused the Garmin) for about 2 minutes since I am not coordinated enough to eat, drink, and run. I got back to running and thankfully continued to feel great. Just before mile 6 I felt like running became easier. It's odd because when I checked my Garmin stats later on I noticed my heart rate was around 165 for most of the run and then around mile 6 it dropped to 158. I felt good!

I think fueling helped because my run didn't feel tough until mile 7.25. I felt sore in my hips, but otherwise just fine. I was so proud when my watch beeped for 8 miles! I finished in 1:32:16 That is an average of 11:30 minutes/mile! I was so happy with that. It included my walking breaks during the odd rib pain, but not the fueling stop. I think finishing my half marathon in under 2.5 hours is doable. I felt so proud of my run. I think it was the first run that I felt like a runner.

The only downside of my run was when I went to see how many calories I burned. I have always heard it's about 100 calories/mile. Usually I burn just a bit more than that, but close to 100/mile. I thought I would have burned about 850 calories, but according to my Garmin only 630 calories. I didn't let that get me down for long though! :)

Sunday was my actual birthday and it was wonderful. My hubby made me coffee and my baby knocked on my door yelling "happy birthday mommy!" The hubby had flowers for me along with some nice wine (for later) and some 10 pound weights. I was realizing my weights were getting much to easy for me. (I tried the 10 pounds out on Sunday and it was killer- in a good way). We went out to lunch and had friends over for dinner and cake/ice cream. It was a wonderful weekend.

Although I guess the celebrating didn't end there. I had to go to the dentist today. I decided to bring little lady with me for the first time just to start to get her used to it. She did a good job there! I was a proud momma! Although my dentist discovered signs that I am starting to grind my teeth. I have never been a teeth grinder so I don't know what to think about this. I am supposed to go back to get fitted for a bite guard. After settling things with the office lady, little lady and I walked out to the lobby. I was trying to wrestle put little lady back into her coat and the receptionist said something like, "oh, and one more thing..." and I looked up and they had a cupcake with a candle for me and said they wanted to celebrate me on another year younger. It was so sweet of them! They are so friendly there and go out of there way to make everyone feel special,. hey seriously send out birthday cards and texts as well as Christmas cards.

cupcake from my dentist's office