89 Degrees in April?

It’s getting hot. I am not ready for summer. If you’ve been reading my blog since last year, you know that I do not like the heat. I know. I know. I live at the beach. How can I not be in love with summer? Well…I just don’t love it. I love the beach and the ocean, but I do not like the heat and humidity. My biggest dislike of the heat…running. Give me snow, rain, sleet, thunderstorms, freezing temperatures and I won’t skip my run. 90 degrees and humidity make me want to sit in a pool and never move.

Last year I woke up before sun and tackled my runs before sunrise. With a baby that still isn’t sleeping through the night and also has a very unpredictable sleep pattern, I still value sleeping in until 6am. This year I tackle my week day runs during lunch.

Heat + Lunch Break Runs = Not Love at First Sight

It first hit me yesterday as I took a late lunch to run. It was 3pm and my thermostat on my car read 89 degrees. I am going to be running in the middle of the day all summer long. I have to find a some type of love for running in the heat.I tried to pick a shaded location to run, but it was still hot (and there wasn’t much shade). I know my body will acclimate to the temperature change. I also hope that I can become tolerant of running in the heat. If not at least I’m only tackling 2-3 miles during midday summer heat.

via pinterest

The good news from yesterdays run: It looks like I’ve comfortable found my 10ish minute mile pace even in the heat and up and over the Rudee Inlet Bridge (twice). Comfortable 9s can’t be too far away if I keep this up.

Mile 1: 10:23

Mile 2: 10:22

Final .11: 9:05 pace

Any suggestions for loving the summer heat? Woman’s running magazine posted an article today about tips for surviving.

Lucky for me tomorrows forecast only calls for a high of 63.

The Beginning of a Brotherhood

I find myself thinking about parenting a lot. Now that I’m back to working full-time and trying to make sure I carve a small chunk out of each day to focus on myself, I often think about how I can be the best possible mom to my boys. I have always tried to be the type of parent my child(ren) need(s) me to be. Cole’s needs are very different from Chet’s needs. Right now with almost 8 years separating the two, I feel like I am two completely different mom’s in the evening. One of my mom sides is juggling homework, none stop chatter, daily updates, more chatter, and a baseball schedule. The other side of my mom-self wants to sit and breastfeed (which Chet is happily doing again! Thank goodness!). I want to coo and caa with my sweet babbling baby. I want to read rhyming books and make up silly songs.

To live in the present moment is not easy, as we whirl through life balancing many things at once. As we practice Momfulness, we can pay attention to the moment we are in, finding the wholeness that exists below the busyness. We can come home – to ourselves, to our children, to our partner, to the many extraordinary moments in our every day life ~ Denise Roy

Tonight while my husband prepared dinner, I sat on Chet’s bedroom floor with both of my boys. They laid next to each other looking at each other eye to eye. Both boys chatted and babbled. Cole talked to his brother. Chet babbled back. Chet blew spit bubbles and laughed. Cole made up silly rhymes and laughed. For thirty minutes, I sat back and observed my boys creating a foundation for their brotherhood. I was afraid to move, to breathe too loudly, to interrupt this sweet moment between the two boys I love so much. I simply watched.

In those thirty minutes, the world was simple. Work didn’t exist. Homework didn’t matter. The eight years that separate Cole and Chet melted away. I saw both of my boys as they simply are: two happy loving boys. I was able to take in and absorb a sweet moment between two brothers. The love in the room was tangible. I know how quickly life goes by. Before I know it, Chet will be the one turning 8, and Cole will be getting his driver’s license. I hope the brotherly bond that they are forming now will carry with both boys as they age in spite of their age difference, but I know better than to interfere. Their relationship will evolve on its own as it is supposed to grow.

Today I sat. I watched. I didn’t interfere. I let Cole love Chet, and I saw Chet stare at Cole with so much love in his eyes. Being their mom is best thing that will ever happen in my life. The best gift I know to give them is my presences in each moment we share together. With such limited time with both boys in the evening, I hope I can remember to stay present in each moment even when the moments aren’t as loving as this moment shared between two brothers.

Another sweet moment between brothers - Chet giggling as Cole attempts to hold the wiggly baby

Over Thinking

via pinterest

I know I’m guilty of it. I tend to over think most situations. I can think a relatively easy process into something much more complicated. Sometimes it is hard to turn off my brain, quit thinking, and go with the flow. Who doesn’t want to know that everything is going to turn out alright? It always does even if I think too much.

The past two days/nights Chet has been showing signs of teething. Fussy? Yes. Drooling? Absolutely. He can soak through multiple outfits and bibs each day. Chewing? Yes. He chews on his pacifier. He naws at anything that comes near his mouth. His hands don’t stand a chance. I can handle all of these symptoms without much thought. And then a new symptom showed up last night. He refused to nurse. I thought he was just over tired so I tucked him into bed. He nursed through both his mid-night wake ups. This morning he woke up, and he refused to nurse again. I offered it to him several times, but he refused. Pumping and bottle feeding took over. It happened again on for his next feeding.

Poor soccer ball is now covered in saliva

It is HARD to not over think Chet’s refusal to breast feed. I love nursing my baby. He is the baby that refused to take a bottle for weeks because he loved nursing too. I cried my way through seven weeks of cracked bloody nipples so I could continue to nurse my baby. In hopes of easing my fears that Chet now prefers the bottle over the breast, Christian did some research online. He found several websites that state that the latch required for nursing can cause discomfort for teething babies. I certainly hope this is true. I can’t let my brain think about pumping exclusively and not nursing. I don’t even want that to be an option, but I do know one thing about my child. He tends to not follow my plans. He is, after all, the baby I had to induce labor for despite all of my dislikes.

Fortunately the day didn’t want me to sit around over thinking my non-nursing baby. Our kitchen sink plumbing decided to crack and leak water all over our kitchen floor. I also had a running date with my friend Heidi.

I left Christian with a hyper 7-year-old, a teething 3 month old and a broken kitchen sink, and I headed to the trails to meet Heidi. Did I mention that I love my husband? Although Heidi and I talk quite a bit, I haven’t seen her since high school. I was definitely looking forward to catching up with her, but I was also had first-date jitters. Bring on the over thinking. I don’t normally run with people. Would I run too slow? Would I hold her back? Would I talk too much? What if she doesn’t like running with me? Fortunately the teething baby and the broken kitchen sink kept me distracted so I couldn’t over think the run until I got in my car.

Guess what? Just like it always does, it turned out just fine. In fact, it turned out better than I had expected. We fell into a rhythm of running together. We shared laughs about over thinking the entire process. I’m not the only one who has first running date jitters. Before I knew it, we had run 2.5 miles to the next trail head. We tackled a 2 mile loop that kicked my butt with all the ups and downs. We then ran the trail back to our cars for a total of 6.25ish miles. (Guess whose Garmin didn’t work at all on this run. 100% battery life means my watch will die .5 miles into our run). It was great running with a friend. I enjoyed my run this weekend in such a different way than I enjoyed my run last weekend. There is something therapeutic about being stride for stride with a friend. Hard doesn’t seem so unmanageable when you’re tackling it with someone else.

What was I so worried about? (via Pinterest)

Sometimes I wonder why I over think life so much. I know that it always always always works out how it is supposed to and sometimes it even surprises me by turning out even better than I thought. But that is as far as I’m willing to go with that thought process.I’m not even going to begin to over think over thinking.

(I can’t believe I didn’t take any pictures today!)

Revamping my Running

A few weeks ago, I was in a running slump. I wasn’t achieving things at the pace I wanted to be achieving them. I felt like I was I wasn’t “good” at anything I was doing. It was a rough few days in our house for me.

On a Friday morning before work, I stared into my closet crying (yes! big girl tears!). None of my clothes fit. I still have at least 10 lbs to lose and 2 pant sizes before I can even consider putting on pre-baby clothes. I had an adult size temper tantrum, slumped to work, and pouted for the rest of the day.  Clearly this was one on of my more difficult days.

That same day, my husband decided to go for a run. My husband, who has run a handful of times his entire life, set out to knock some dust of his running shoes in order to prepare for the Color me Rad 5k next month that I convinced him to run with me.  Guess who ran faster than any of my post-baby runs? Keep in mind, he is a huge cyclist. He also has leg muscles I’d pay money for.  Even though I know how strong he is, it was still a blow to my ego. My clothes don’t fit and my non-running husband just made me doubt my running ability (unintentionally).

After pouting for 24 hours, I knew something had to give. If I wasn’t happy with the progress I have made so far, I need to do something to change it. I need to suck it up and buy new clothes so I can feel good when I get dressed because it is okay that I still need to lose 10 pounds. My body grew a pretty amazing baby. I need to celebrate what it has accomplished. If I want to run faster, I need to run more than once a week. I can’t be mad at my results when I’m not putting forth the effort.

This new attitude gave birth to my brilliant idea of running during my lunch. Thanks to the a little friendly competition with my husband, I beat the time of his first run.

And then my husband decided to run again – twice in one week! He killed my time averaging  9:55 per mile for his run. This time I was so excited for him. I’d love for him to enjoy running as much as I do. I also knew there was no way I would beat his time in the next few months. I was happily running in the 10s and planned to stay there.

New clothes and a refreshed attitude about my running! and a new plan to tackle weekday runs! I’m back on track to keep plugging away at life.

How is running on my lunch break working for me? So far, so good! On Monday, I ran in the late afternoon on my way to last recreation center for the day.  Today I ran while working at the oceanfront. Has running on trails for my long runs made my short runs faster? I don’t know if one has to do with the other, but I can’t argue with the numbers. They are getting smaller with each run.

 

Monday’s Run:

2.04 miles in 20:10.  Yes folks. That is a 9:54 pace. Good bye 10s. Hello 9s??? Guess who beat their husband’s pace again? (he ran 2.03 miles in 20:08; 9:55 pace)

Mile 1: 9:59

Mile 2: 9:49

Final .04: 9:02

 

Today’s Run (on incredibly tired legs and with a messed up Garmin AGAIN! Why can’t it find a signal anymore! errr!):

Mile 1: 12:25 (includes an additional .18 that my garmin didn’t include in distance but did keep the clock running!)

Mile 2: 10:42

Mile 3: 10:26

Last .32: 3:17

Total (on my watch): 3.32 miles in 36:52 at a pace of 11:06

Actual Total: 3.5 miles in 36:52 at a pace of 10:32

 

It feels so good to know that I can hang onto my 10ish mile pace as I push the distance past 2 miles.

I have a good feeling that I will beat my 10k PR ( Wicked 10k  – 1:32:48 – when I was 31 weeks pregnant) next month when I run the Elizabeth River Run.

One year of Blogging. and a Morning Mediation.

One year ago, my blog was born. In that one year time span, I discovered that I was pregnant. I had a baby. I recovered from a femoral stress fracture. I ran a half marathon 6 months pregnant. I ran a few other shorter races. I’ve practiced yoga and meditation for 30 days straight. I feel in love with prenatal yoga. I feel in love with child-birth. I’ve watch my older son mature into a pretty amazing boy. I continue to find new layers of love for my husband. A lot has happened to me and my life since starting this blog.

A year since its conception, I’ve found myself wondering if I’ve stayed true to my original intentions for starting a blog. Did I share too much about pregnancy? Do I talk too much about running? Should I continue to share about the life of my boys? Should I focus more on running? Did I share enough about yoga and mediation?

The simple answer to that first question is yes. My blog is about documenting how I find my breath in life. It is about how I strive to find balance in the day-to-day world while attempting to stay sane and present in all my endeavors. Pregnancy is something I fell in love with last year. Running keeps me sane. Yoga keeps me grounded. My life is me, my relationship with my husband, and my relationship to my two little guys. My entire life is about striving for balance, and each and everything I do is an important piece of the puzzle.

I’m Kristy! This blog is about my journey to find my breath in life. I’m learning to appreciate the inhales and the exhales of every day life. Through yoga and running, I’m finding balance in my world. My blog focuses on the things that help me breathe – motherhood, pregnancy, married life, running, yoga, nature appreciation, and healthy living.

Those worlds still ring true today (except I’m not pregnant anymore!)

Chet blessed me with 7 straight hours of sleep last night (a first for him and a huge improvement from our every 4 hour wake ups).  Feeling refreshed, I decided to start my day on my yoga mat.  While the house was quiet, I unrolled my mat. I put the Wednesday disc of the Blissology series into my DVD player. With the help of Mr. Finn, I focused on stretching my side body.

I followed up my yoga practice with a mediation. Today’s meditation focuses on manifestations. It was the perfect fit  for me today since I was already reflecting on how I’ve grown this past year and where I want to be. Anyone who has had a baby or knows someone who has had a baby, can recognize the emotional toll it can take on mental wellbeing. The first weeks of Chet’s life, the only purpose I wanted was to be Chet’s provider. Now that he is growing out of his newborn phase, it’s rejuvenating to reclaim the pieces of me that I love so much. It’s nice to think beyond his next feeding, his next nap, and his next diaper change. I feel like me again with a wonderful new privilege of being Chet’s mom.

“We are about to become all we are thinking,” is the wisdom here. Our thoughts shape our actions and the world we live in, so this meditation is about becoming clear about what we want to see manifest in our lives. At the very least, taking this time to become clear allows us to act according to what we really want to see in the world and not sway from our course. Maybe you will find as many others have, that by becoming calm and present, the universe actually open the doors to achieving what is really is our heart.

We start by getting very quiet and before we ask for anything, we just listen to the wisdom of our heart. Then we manifest things for ourselves and then take time to manifest something for someone else. It is a powerful meditation which will never to cease to amaze you.

As I sat on my yoga mat thinking about what I want for myself, all the same words from my life mission came flooding back to me. I want to be rooted. I want to feel a sense of community with the world around me. I want to love and be loved by my family. I wanted to pass all of these values on to my children. What do I want for someone else, for the rest of the world? Authenticity. I want to live in a world full of people who are true to their own life mission, who have put thought into what they want out of life, and who have found a balance between what they want and what they give to the world. I want to live in a world where differences are celebrated not destroyed. I will always be a hippy at heart.

An afternoon bike ride/walk with my boys in the neighborhood we love

I know that the past year of blogging has helped me feel rooted. It has helped me remain true to who I am at each stage of my life. It has kept me balanced. I also hope that it has helped inspire someone, anyone, to find their own breath in their world. Inhaling. And Exhaling. Breathing in the Sunshine that surrounds us.

Cheers to another year of blogging!