Counting calories is never a good idea.

Since yesterday's run was a 7 miler, I decided to do our favorite trick of driving to the half way point, stocking the car with Gatorade and then 'butterfly'ing' out in each direction. It would have been the perfect plan if I hadn't read the pedometer calorie count instead of mile count for my turn-around in the u-district and in Ballard. Once again (just like in Seabeck) I added about an extra mile to my run by reading my calories as miles - woops.

It was the first time I have run a long run on the Burke Gilman on the weekend. I made some important observations of things that people should NOT do on a busy weekend on the trail.
1. Ride a Segway
2. Let their dog poop in the middle of the trail
3. Stop walking in the middle of the trail to point something out to your friend
4. Schedule a scavenger hunt where a bunch of hungover college students do #3

There are many more, but Sam is crying and it's time for ballet. Good thing today is a 'rest' day according to the training schedule.

Wind Sucks.

Today ended up being only 3.5 miles, which is about what it was supposed to be based on the training schedule...except for the fact it was my first run since last Sunday's long run. A mix of Zoe with the flu (and apparently a raging case of preschooler-pms), mom in town and rain provided a variety of excuses for not running this week. I do think that I made up my miles walking to and from all of Zoe's 'time outs' this week though.

Today's run was at my slowest pace ever, even though I almost made myself trying to keep pace with some runner on the other side of the road for about a mile. I would like to blame it on running into the wind all the way home, except that would mean that the wind was at my back for the first half....maybe it was just the stack of pancakes I ate before I left....

Crossing over

Today was the big day - not only 'crossing over' to the other half (where the long runs are longer than running half the race) but also crossing over to Magnolia to do a little exploring. I didn't bring my camera since it was a 6.5 miler, but I should have - the views on the other side of the locks were really pretty. Not only that but it was a beautiful sunny day...tank top, shorts (I didn't even know that I owned shorts!) The only tough part was weaving through all the tourists at the locks. I was going to use that as an excuse for my time, but it was my best pace ever - under 9 minute miles (according to my pedometer).

New World Record!

After a morning and afternoon of set backs including a rain delay, feeding delay and a nap delay, we finally went for it and ended up having an amazing run.

Not only did the sun come out, but according to my pedometer, we did 4 miles at under a 9 minute mile. This is about a 2 minute improvement in pace which is especially shocking since I had both Sam and Zoe. Chances are that there was some error with the pedometer but I'm still taking credit for it. Hooray!

Some runs just aren't meant to be.

Feeling so lazy today that I'm just copying and pasting my Facebook status:

Today's 3 mile run = Run 1/2 mile, break for 15 minutes to pick Zoe up from school, run another 1/2 mile and realize I forgot to feed Sam. Now I've got a passed out, food coma baby, only one-third of my run done and a dog wondering why we're all just sitting here. Think I'm done for the day.

3 for 1

Fortunately I have been better at keeping up with my running than I have at keeping track of them, so I'm doing a quick recap of the last 3 just so I can remember that I actually did them.

Last Thursday was a rainy 2 mile run with my cutest running partner, Jackson. He hates the rain...and the dark....and running....so he only made it about one mile, being drug by his leash, squinting his eyes from the rain the whole time. And in true Jackson form, he picked the perfect spot to poop in order to maximize the amount of time that I had to carry the bag around.

Sunday was our family fun run - We ended up doing 4.7 miles although it ended up it was only supposed to be 4. The Burke Gilman makes for a very scenic run - except the graffiti train end of it. The area along the canal in Fremont made for some nice boat and duck viewing for Zoe and we even got to pass by Gas Works Park where we had such a fun kite-flying day last summer. Do need to remember to bring a tire pump with me though - running with a low tire is not fun.

And last night was a great run with Hillery. It's amazing how having a fun conversation can make you almost forget that it is pouring out. It was supposed to be a 3 mile but ended up closer to 3.5.

I think I was supposed to do something tonight, but after being called in as an emergency sub for preschool today, schedules were a little off the rest of the day. My work out instead consisted of scrambling up green eggs for St Patricks day celebration at the preschool and scrounging through the kitchen for something that would look like Leprechaun treasure for Zoe's Leprechaun 'trap'.

Back to it tomorrow!

Carbo load

Tuesday marked 2 successes. I did my first solo 3 mile stroller run and Amazon Fresh delivered all my implements for my new obsession with bread-making (need to carbo-load to run, after all).

The run was much easier along the Burke Gilman this time - mostly because there were no headwinds and also because my trainer, Zoe was at preschool. Not surprisingly having 45 fewer pounds to push made things quite a bit easier.

Sam and I enjoyed our run to Fremont and back. I was amazed how close we are to Fremont and kind of ashamed of us for not exploring the Burke Gilman sooner. It will be a lot of fun when the kids are older and we can all ride our bikes along it.

Note for future runs - I need to remember by iPod since Sam sleeps the whole way anyway. Notes for the city of Seattle - the first .6 miles of the Burke Gilman trail could use some serious beautification efforts. Here's a photo that summarizes both thoughts.

Here's hoping some fresh baked bread boosts my pace a little.

Survived Week 1

Last Thursday I had a much better night run. It was better because it was a neighborhood run vs going straight up 24th, but mostly because it was with my friend Hillery. It seems appropriate that Hillery would be my running partner now since we met through seemommyrun.com almost 3 years ago, but haven't actually done much running together (or otherwise) during that time. We made it 3 miles winding around the neighborhood taking advantage of the darkness to peek into people's houses and to not have to worry about people seeing how slowly we run.

Yesterday was the big 'Sunday' run - 3.5 miles. Fortunately Chris came with me so we could share stroller-pushing duties. We did the path down at Golden Gardens - but were immediately reminded of the pros and cons of running by the water...pros= view, cons = fierce gusts of wind that practically make you run in place (especially when the stroller acts as a giant 50 lb kite), plus it's cold, cold, cold....a day and 3 cups of tea later I've still got a bit of a chill from it.

Despite a lot of grunting and complaining (from me) we made it 3.7 miles and had the added benefit of ending up at a beach/park where Zoe could run around after being trapped in the stroller for much longer than it should have taken for a 3.7 mile run. Sam, once again, spent most of the run alternating between napping and looking at us with the most confused face you have ever seen. You've got to wonder what's going through his little 5 month old head..."why is mommy all red and sweaty and breathing heavy and occasionally cursing under her breath?"

Hopefully he'll learn to enjoy it more...that goes for me too...

'Over the hill' training

Tonight was my first night of solo-night-running. I'm sure my mom will read this and IM me tomorrow about how I shouldn't be running alone at night so I have devised a route to put her mind at ease. The good part is that it's a safe, well lit, heavily trafficked route. The bad part is that it's down (and back up) the most deceptive hill in all of King county.

Some hills like Queen Anne or Dravus are obvious - you can mentally prepare for them (or avoid them). But to the naked eye 24th Avenue 'looks' like a fairly flat route. You don't have to downshift to drive up it or set your emergency brake when you park on it and there are no sweeping views of the city from the top of it...but make no mistake...24th Avenue is a HILL.

Which explains my insistence upon returning home that my pedometer must be broken. How could that leg aching, lung burning, sweat pouring, run have only been 2.13 miles? I'm sure the group smoking outside the Viking would have rated my effort at a 10 even though at times it felt like one of those dreams when you're running as fast as you can but you're not moving. Upon returning home, Run.com confirmed my believe that 24th Avenue is a hill (the ascent of my run was 207 feet) but it also unfortunately confirmed that my run was 2.08 miles (ouch, even shorter than I thought!)

Oh well - I'll keep the route. It's well lit, lets me make some of the bar hoppers feel guilty for drinking and not exercising, but most of all, I feel like a superstar while I'm descending those 207 feet.

That crazy roadtrip-astronaut-diaper-lady wasn't ALL crazy.

So I traded in yesterday's scheduled 3 mile run for a 4 mile walk. I also traded in Zoe for a much lighter trainer, little Andres, a friend's son who I watch on Tuesdays. He was much less vocal, so instead of taunting my speed, all I got from him was the occasional 'uht oh' whenever he saw a blown over trash can.

There is no better inspiration to get out with the stroller than having the alternative being trying to entertain 2 kids under 2, one of which is on a nap-strike for the day. So despite some pretty gusty winds and about 20 minutes of walk-prep coordination, off we went.

I don't think that in my adult life I will ever know any sensation as comfy and relaxing as being pushed around in a stroller on a early spring day while being tucked in with a big cozy blanket. Kids really have it made.

The first stop was the Sunset Hill lookout which was especially lovely and peaceful since that is the point where Sam decided to finally fall asleep. It was unfortunately also the point when I realized that this was going to be a loooong walk since it had only been 12 minutes and I had 75 minutes to kill and a full bladder. I decided to pass the time by swinging by to pick up Jackson. Unfortunately all his potty stops just added insult to injury so he got dropped back off at home where I did a few very tempting glances between the bathroom 5 feet away and the two kids in the stroller on the sidewalk. Of course the kids won out....barely.

It's not very often that I'm jealous of kid's diapers, but this was one of those occasions.

Like I said - kids really have it made.

Are we running yet?

Yesterday was our first day of training for the Rock and Roll half marathon in June. We = me, Zoe (4.5) and Sam (.5) and a double-wide Bob stroller.

We started by setting out to explore the Burke Gilman trail by our house. The trail starts, at all places, at a Fred Meyer parking lot, which seems appropriate since the only thing I hate more than running is the Ballard Fred Meyers.

The most challenging aspect of training this time around is trying to coordinate runs with preschool, naps and most importantly, Sam's feeding time. So, by time Sam woke up from his nap yesterday, the clock was already ticking for his 4:00 meal. By time I packed up 2 kids, a giant stroller in the van and put together a shopping list (might as well make use of being at Fred Meyers), and ran to a friend's to pick up Sam's cloth diaper we left at a dinner party 2 nights before, well, let's just say there wasn't much time left for a run.

As it happens, that wasn't a problem, because running with a stroller is challenging enough, but running with a double stroller loaded with a 4 year old, a 95 percentile infant (complete with infant car seat) makes for a pretty short first run. It apparently also makes for a pretty slow run because even once I got in my groove and was pretty proud of myself for huffing and puffing along, Zoe turned around and looked at me and said "are we running yet?"

So, I thought that would be an appropriate name for our little journal documenting our quest to train for a half marathon while on mommy duty. But if she says it again, she's getting out and pushing.