12 more months

Thanks Michele! They're all doing well. Ha! Jocelyn lately has said she wants to throw daddy and the babies out the window so she can have mommy all to herself...I guess it's probably normal. She had a ton of attention from me before they came.  The babies are 5 mos/4 adjusted next week.

Julie wrote:Thanks Michele! They're all doing well. Ha! Jocelyn lately has said she wants to throw daddy and the babies out the window so she can have mommy all to herself...I guess it's probably normal. She had a ton of attention from me before they came.  The babies are 5 mos/4 adjusted next week.

My husband has been having some of those same thoughts since I took up running.    In all seriousness he's very supportive now that he can see how much better I feel when I'm able to get my runs in.  Not sure I could have made it work when I still had kids at home though...especially kids as young as yours.

I admire your commitment!

Thanks Nancy! My husband is really supportive. He pretty much understands how important running is to me and that I really want to return to pre-preg wt and condition.

4 mi run yesterday, 30 day shred this a.m.

The next 2 days I"ll probably be running outdoors at my parents' home. Really windy out there in the country and some hills. Then we'll be home Christmas evening so maybe I'll run that night, I don't know yet...

My wt fluctuated the wrong direction! Gotta be more careful with my eating. We got some really great pineapple yesterday so it's not like I'm eating really processed food but too much is still too much.

it's tough to not gain a few pounds in the holiday season. Nice going on the running and desire for consistency, it's good to see you back at it!

JohnP wrote:it's tough to not gain a few pounds in the holiday season. Nice going on the running and desire for consistency, it's good to see you back at it!

+1

Wait till after New Year, that is if you are not a Chinese. The Chinese New Year is late January. Luckily we don't do much here.

Thanks John!

Not Chinese, Jerry but there is an idea....

This week has been interesting with travel but I did exercise in one form or another every day in spite of sub zero windchills or actual temps until yesterday.

Sunday XT/shred
Mon 2 mile walk DVD with my mom
Tue Shred
Wed 4 mi run at home
Thurs rest/sick child (she's feeling better now but I took my running break to make her cookies since she didn't eat all day and had no appetite)
Fri 6 miles, beautiful beautiful 50s sunny weather now a little cooler when I went but it felt great.

And thanks to some tummy troubles I've lost all my Christmas weight already.

Sat - 6
Sun - 6
Today - haven't run yet but plan to 5 or 6 this evening. Fortunately the sidewalks are clean. More wintry mix to come and snow so I better get out while I can.
Sunday was very cold and 30-40 mph winds supposedly. My friend tried to cancel on me but I didn't get her message so we both toughed it out.  Ready for spring already.

Josiah and Noah are now 5 mos old. Time for a photo update.



My dad and Josiah



My dad and both babies



Noah



family

Love the pictures, Julie!  Everyone looks fantastic.

Thanks Michele!

Looking at this marathon training plan I'm supposed to be starting, do you think it would be beneficial enough to split the long runs into morning and night while I can't leave my babies that long? I know it's not the same but it's time on my feet. This is just for a training 26.2 to prep me for my 50K training.

Since you are experienced, it is not for a PR, you have family obligations which are extremely important, I'd say sure I think it is absolutely fine to do.

Thanks Michele, I'll take your advice and just keep chipping away at miles and do doubles for the long runs.

Last evening 5 miles in -7 windchill

This morning 6 miles with a friend, very nice run although below zero again again snow fall but really good to see her and good pace pushing it a bit. She's running the IL marathon in April.'

I hope you all have a good start to your new year. I have 14 lbs to lose, I'm continuing to work at it and happy to see progress now and again...finally definitely I think I've lost my Christmas weight so ready to get lower instead of just settling at pre-Christmas wt which I've been at the last few days. I am hoping my little guys let me eat dairy again soon, too. I'm used to not eating it by now but it would be nice to add it back in.

Had to edit my 4 yr old's emoticons out. She sure loves them.

Great job with the running, Julie! You're an inspiration! These are for J:                        

Thanks Lisa! She loves  the emoticons. She was really excited, especially for the flower.

Finally into official marathon training. Left Brian with permission to give babies a bottle if needed to tide them over and ran 8 miles tonight with my friend who plans to run the 50K with me, They didn't need one anyway but I felt better knowing they had that option and I'm sure as the runs get longer they will need it. So yay for week one of intermediate marathon training complete.

Yeah!!

Congrats on getting started for your 50K.  Tough running weather lately but you're plugging away. Great job.

My Dad's health issues have totally consumed my time the last few weeks but I wanted to drop in and let you know that it was your blog and your determination to get back to running that convinced me that I needed to take a few minutes for a short run on Sunday and again yesterday.

Thanks!!

That IS a lovely picture.

I guess I haven't checked in for a bit as I don't recall seeing the pictures but they are very nice, the babies are really growing. You seem to be doing well with your training, keep it up. I can't imagine running one step more than 26.2K, good luck with the training!

Thanks Michele and Alex - things are coming along.

Nancy thanks so much, I am so happy I could inspire you to get out and run during a really hard time with your family. I hope your dad starts doing better.

Jerry -thank you.

John - thanks. You know, during my 50K it was 3 loops and around 26 miles I thought it would be a great place to stop.   

This week has been pretty uneventful. I'm following Hal's Intermediate training program which I've never done before. I've followed his programs for the long run distance but never for the daily runs. Tomorrow I plan to run 9 miles and that will finish week 2. Today was sunny and I think we hit the 40s. A lot of snow melted and the trail wasn't too bad for my 3 miler. Earlier this week I ran 3 and 5 miles on the TM. Learning to embrace the TM and vary the speed a bit to keep it a little more interesting. Yesterday I took a needed rest day and glad I did bc it was good to get outside today vs TM yesterday.

9 miles while the kids napped and Brian was home. Nice 40s, cloudy with my friend Jen who plans to run the 50K with me. 

This coming week is a step-back week. I can't say that I feel like I need it but I really want to avoid a knee injury so I'm just playing by the schedule and trust that this will get me to the 26.2 distance without injury vs blasting ahead and blowing out my left knee again.

The best time to take a step-back week is when you don't feel you need it. That way, you NEVER feel like you need it!

Nice to be up to the 40s! Makes it a lot easier to get out there, I bet.

(Great photos, BTW. So cute!)

Thanks Mark! I take so many pics of my children. They grow so fast!! My boys will be 6 mos in a week. That's hard to believe.

I wrote my week in the week in training thread but pretty straightforward step back week. Today was especially beautiful weather, 50s and 15 mph winds. I only ran 6 miles but it was very pleasant and the added bonus was I got to run during the daylight. I've been really tired from the babies waking up very often and can get in a pretty rotten mood/really stressed out and the run really helped.

Oh, how I would love for the weather to be back in the 50's again! (But you can keep the lack of sleep due to the babies - I'm so glad those days are long gone, but I still remember them.)