Busy Weekend

Saturday morning started as always with a long group run.  This week was a 'cut back' week, with only 14.5 miles on the schedule.  The run went great!  I felt good and even keep the pace under 10:00mpm for several miles.  I'm gaining a little confidence I can break the 2:10 barrier at the Air Force Half in a few weeks.  (Current 1/2 marathon PR is 2:10:06, Flying Pig May 2010...  6 freaking seconds!  If only I didn't have to stop to tie my shoe at mile 4.)

Other projects from the weekend included starting on the bathroom re-do.  The cabinet and shelves have been painted.  I'm loving the way they look, so much better than the 25+ year old wood stain on the cabinet and chipped, stained paint on the shelves.  The next step is to get the doors and drawers back on the cabinet and walls painted so the shelves can be hung.  Hopefully, I'll get some of that done tonight after Little Dude goes to bed.

Work In Progress

I also got a new sewing machine...  SO EXCITED!  Here's what I have been using for the last 10 years or so.  As you can imagine, I couldn't do much with it, thus didn't sew much.

My sad little sewing machine.

This is what I bought off Craigslist...

Much better!  (I still need to find a permanent/place table for it.)

 It's probably not the greatest, but so far I'm loving it.  (Maybe because it doesn't smell like melting plastic if I stitch more than 6 inches of fabric.)

Here are a couple of the things I've stitched up so far.

Hair Band based on the one below.

 

SweatyBand I paid $20 for at the Flying Pig Expo.

Tote bag for Little Dude with the fabric he picked out... 
Elmo, Cookie and football :)

A Good One, Finally

Wednesday night was running group night and we had mile intervals on the schedule.  I have been really struggling with the Wednesday night group runs lately, not only are they tough workouts but the temps have been well over 90 with nasty humidity.  (Gotta love summer in the Ohio Valley.)  Add in the trip to Cali and I've had a rough few weeks when it comes to training.  Last Saturday I managed to go 16.5 miles, but struggled with 3 on Monday.  I fully expected to be miserable doing 5- 1 mile intervals.

The run started with a 2 mile warm up to our interval loop.  We always go too fast on the way there, something about having faster runners all around makes you want to go fast.  Unfortunately when I start out too fast I usually crash too soon.  I averaged a 9:30 mpm pace for the warm up...  9:30 should be my interval pace! 

After a quick drink and letting the faster runners get started, I started with the 9:30 pace runners.  It was only about 85 with low humidity and a light breeze, finally some less miserable weather.  At the end of the first lap I checked my trusty Garmin and our loop was .85 miles (so a little less than the 1 mile on the schedule) and my pace was 9:30 on the nose! 

Another drink and off for laps 2-5. 

2 - 9:30, right on agian!
3 - 9:35, darn a little slow, but not bad.
4 - 9:24, nice!
5 - 9:09, WOW!

I was feeling great after the intervals, almost fast again.  (I think after this marathon I'll be ready to do a fast half in the spring.  Remember fast for me is anything under a 9:30 pace.)  The 2 miles back to the running store was a little tougher.  I still managed to keep the pace under 10:00, so I was happy with that. 

8.25 miles in 1:20, not bad

Shopping!

On Friday Little Dude and I did a little shopping.  The goal was to find some artwork or shelves or something to go in the hall bathroom I'm planning to re-do. 

Here's what the bathroom looks like currently, and has for the last 5 years...

Hall Bathroom - before

Hall Bathroom - before

Hall Bathroom - before

Since Little Dude is fully potty trained (YAY!!!), I decided to make the hall bathroom his without it being too 'kiddy' since it also serves as our guest bathroom. 

Here is my starting point...

Bathroom Re-do

I found the shower curtain at Big Lots for about $8, the rug at a discount store for about $5, the towels came from Home Goods and the soap dispenser and tooth brush holder came from Target $3 each.  So far, so good!

One of our first stops was my favorite thrift store.  We looked around for a bit and didn't find anythingfor the bathroom, but as we walked out I noticed some shelves sitting just outside the door on a table.  They were not marked with a price so we went back in to ask.  This set of shelves was $2!!!  They need to be cleaned up a bit and possibly re-painted, but I love the shape.  They are going to look great with the shower curtian!

Perfect for $2!

Now the plan is to paint the room the lighter shade of blue, with paint left over from our bedroom faux finish.  Then I'll paint the sink cabinet white, replace the faucet and add the accessories.  Now I just need the time to get it done!

 

Some other bargins I found while shopping...

Ann Taylor skirt $2.25 and American Eagle skirt $1

New with Tags!  Express pin stripe pants $5

    

Banana Republic pants $2.25

NY & Co Dress $1

Getting Back

Little Dude and I just got back from Cali.  I received word last Monday night that my BFF's mom passed away after a two year battle with cancer.  By Wednesday afternoon we were on a flight.  Needless to say it was an emotionally and physically draining trip.  We came home Sunday night on a red-eye and finally arrived home Monday afternoon.  It's all catching up with me now. 


Last night's run was tough for me, negative split run with the group.  I wasn't really in a mood to be around anyone and I was so tired.  Since I missed the last couple of group workouts I felt I should go.  I managed to run about 15 seconds a mile faster on the second half of the run, not bad considering I took a week off.  Anyway, it really was therapeutic. 

I'm just feeling a little disheveled since getting home.  

Hello World!

So this is my first attempt at blogging, forgive my inexperience. 


The one thing that has remained consistent in my life over the last 10 years or so is running.  That's sort of the glue that hold me together.  I'll talk a lot about that, my amazing 2 year old, my husband and our many other interests. 

Currently I'm training for the Air Force half marathon in September and the Marshall University Marathon in November.  We are also in the process of finishing a currently unfinished storage room of our basement.  It's going to be Little Dude's play room :).  In addition to that I have plans to re-do the hall bath and possibly paint the master suite.  I'm a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician (aka car seat junkie for our fire department).  I've also gotten back to sewing a bit and like to cook healthy meals with the foods we get at the local farmer's market.  My husband is a volunteer firefighter and currently obsessed with his 1972 Ford F100 that he had restored.
 
More on all that later...