Mom on the Run--Woman of Steele

Taking two weeks off from all exercise to go on family vacation was fantastic!  I loved not worrying about getting up early before the sun to get in a run or a workout.  I loved not worrying about what I was eating.  But I especially enjoyed all the amazing experiences I had with my family.  That was what mattered the most to me.   With that being said, I have been STRUGGLING to get my groove back with my workouts and my healthy eating. I have been finding it hard to wake up early for my training runs during the week and especially on the weekends.  Even weightlifting, which I am totally getting into lately, has been a struggle.  Part of that struggle has to do with marathon training.  I am feeling totally overwhelmed by it.  With EJ starting football and the potential for me to have more work responsibilities, it is going to be a challenge fitting in all my running.  I am trying to make running a priority right now and get my training runs done before I do any lifting, and I th

First off, let me apologize for being absent for so long.  It’s been an interesting and stressful few months.  From our oldest dog passing away in January to my grandpa passing in March and then an episode with my husband, it’s been quite a ride so far for 2017.  But that’s all for another blog.  This one’s about racing!! Here it goes! Over the Memorial Day weekend I ran my first 2 official races of the season.   Once again I decided to challenge myself and run the Conquer the Capital 45.5 challenge.  That’s the Twilight 10k/Half Marathon May 27-28, and then the Madison Marathon November 12.  I really must be crazy!   Anyway, my family and I drove up to Madison on Saturday to head to packet pick-up at Monona Terrace.  We should have left earlier as traffic was a little crazy due to Brat Fest being the same weekend!  Oh well!  We made it in time and Maddie and I quickly ran inside to get my packet.  We had hooked up the new DVD players in the back of the car for the kid

This is so hard to write. It’s not a blog I ever thought I would be writing. And it’s taken me about a month to come to grips with it enough to be able to put it into words.   It’s not fitness related, but family related. Some of you know what’s happened if you follow me on social media. On January 12 we had to put our oldest dog, Bosco down. He had just turned 12 years old on January 7. My husband was home for the day and had taken my truck to get the oil changed when he came back to see Bosco having a seizure in his crate.  I can only imagine how horrific that must have been.  He tried to snap him out of it by taking him out of his crate, holding him, putting him out in the cold, but nothing worked.  He called me frantically while I was at work.  Luckily, I was on my lunch break.  I didn’t know what to do.  He had tried to call our vet but they were at lunch as well.  I couldn’t find the emergency vet phone number so I freaked and just told him to get in the car and drive him

Since reading The Magnolia Story and my experience with my wedding rings, I have changed my mindset about so many things.  One in particular being my obsession with running and working out.  I know that my running and working out is time-consuming and a lot of our free time revolves around my running schedule because I have set these lofty goals to run races and a certain number of miles in a year.  This has also caused me to be ridiculously burned out from running.  I have lost my love of it a little bit.  So to gain that back, the first thing I am doing is to NOT set a mileage goal for next year.  I still want to train and race, but I am going to follow my plans more and not overdo it as much just to chase a number.  I am going to run more for feel and for the freedom it gives me.  I am going to run with friends more.  I am going to make running fun and enjoyable again.  I’m going to concentrate on getting stronger with more strength training and to work on my speed with shorte

It’s been awhile since I’ve sat down to write.  I’ve been non-stop busy with Christmas prep, family, and a busy work schedule.  Therefore, blogging unfortunately has taken a back seat.   I am finally sitting down to write about my last 2 races and what I’m doing during the off-season. After finishing the Madison Marathon in November, I took 5 days off afterwards to just walk.  I didn’t do anything else.  It was really nice and a nice break mentally and physically.  I started running short distances after that.  The farthest I’ve run since the marathon is 8 miles.  That seems like such a low number after training for 26!   Anyway,  I ran in my little town of Milton’s Turkey Trot for the first time this year.  It’s only taken me living in Milton for 9 years to run this race.  It’s an unofficial race and it’s free.  You just have to bring in a non-perishable food item for the food pantry.   So I woke up early on Thanksgiving morning to run up to the park where it began.  

You guys!!!  I ran my second full marathon!!!  And I beat my time by 7 minutes!!!  I am still in shock several weeks later that I actually did it!  (And that it’s taken me this long to write about it!)  I didn’t quite make my ultimate goal of under 5 hours, but I was super close with a time of 5:04:03!!!  Can you believe it??? Here’s how it all went down: The family and I drove up to Madison on Friday night to get my packet at the Expo.  We hung around the Expo looking at the different booths, hanging out with fellow runners, and making signs. My kids made the greatest signs for me for race day! Such a pretty sight! There signs are so cute!  I love how supportive they are! We went to Pizza Ranch for dinner afterwards which is always a nice carb-loading trip.  I tell ya their pizza and chicken are the best.  We recently went to Mac’s Pizza Shack which is a local restaurant and their pizza is good but just not quite as good as Pizza Ranch.  They have so many dif