Cross country season is here! My children had their first meet of the season last night. The weather was good for running and the course was beautiful. It was a wonderful start to the season! Along with my husband and I, the kids were cheered on by their favorite fans...grandma & grandpa. Grandma and Grandpa traveled 2+ hours to watch the races. I have noticed that they have two very important missions when they attend cross country meets. 1. They cheer for the runners. After the race, they always tell my children that they did great (even if it wasn't a great race). 2. They take pictures of my kids when they run. I am far too nervous to take pictures and cheer at the same time.
We are grateful for Grandma & Grandpa! Happy Running! -Stephanie
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Earlier in the week I'd shared that my running is going well these days. I am grateful to report that this week has gone at least as well and maybe better. Yesterday on my way home from work I heard a Dierks Bentley song that I've heard many times, but this time I felt like I should make it my theme song. Take a listen here. What a great sentiment to take on a run where the goal is to just run the best you can with no pressure. Got the sun shinin' on me like a big spotlight So I know everything is gonna be alright Ain't no tellin' where the wind might blow Free and easy down the road I go This morning on my 13 mile run, I started humming Fee and Easy, Down the Road I Go to myself for a while around mile 10 to keep my motivation going. We had an incredible run averaging 9:01 per mile which is about 20-30 seconds faster than I'd been going plus about three miles longer. Maybe Stella's Groove Run is really working!
Today wasn't my only "long" run this week. Thursday morning I met up with the other member of the staff running club at school at 6:00am for a 10 mile run. We enjoyed the Lake Wobegon Trail as an out and back course before coming back to freshen up and work for the day. The Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon goes along the same course we used. It's a great marathon and the 2019 registration has just opened. We are deep in the back to school frenzy at our house with the college kids already off and beginning classes Monday. I've been back to work for a while, but it starts getting serious now with more meetings and scheduled activities. I do enjoy a fair amount of flexibility in August to finish up appointments and errands as needed. My husband is a teacher and will head back for workshops on Monday, too. We did each get a couple of new clothes items for school--like Stephanie said, it's fun to get into the back to school frenzy. It's now two weeks until our half marathon and I feel like I can finish it and perhaps beat my time of 1:56 from my last two, but no pressure...Free and Easy Down the Road I Go! Happy Friday! It has been a very busy week in our house. Students in our school district return to school on Monday. That means that as a teacher, I have been back officially for a week of inservice and workshops. Unofficially, I have been back working in my room since the beginning of August. Along with classroom work, I am trying to fit in last minute appointments, run those errands that need to be done during business hours, and enjoy a few last long runs and leisurely cool down walks. However, my "To Do" list keeps on growing! When that list becomes too long and overwhelming, here are some ideas that help me. 1. Prioritize. There is no way that the list will ever be fully accomplished, so pick the most important things and let go of the non-essentials. I also like to put things on my list that are easily accomplished so that I can cross items off. It makes me feel like I am making progress. 2. Stop Comparing Yourself to Others. When I hear what other teachers, mothers, women accomplish, I start to feel that I should be doing that also. I have read somewhere that "Comparison is the thief of joy." (author unknown) How true! 3. Take Care of Yourself (Exercise, Sleep, and Eat Well). When we are feeling our best, we can give our best self to others. No matter how busy I am, I make time for running. There is something really great about this time of year. Students and families are shopping school supplies and brand new shoes. School staff have been busily getting ready for the students. There is excitement in the air! Happy School Year! Happy Running! -Stephanie
What do you do when your "To Do" list becomes overwhelming? Feel free to add your helpful suggestions below. Thanks! My running has been going very well the past couple of weeks. My Groove workout (from my last post) has made me feel more strong and capable than I have in a while. I did that workout again on Sunday and will see if Deb is willing to try it on our 6.5 mile run tomorrow morning. Last week, my total mileage was 33.5 which is higher than I've done comfortably in months. It is so tempting to ramp it up further, but is that a good idea? Many running coaches suggest increasing mileage by no more than 10% per week to prevent injury and burnout. Adding 10% to 33.5 would be an additional 3.35 miles or no more than 36.9 miles for this week. Since I want to lengthen my Saturday long run in anticipation of the half I'll be doing in 2 1/2 weeks, I'll be trying to keep my other runs pretty much the same as last week. I don't want to be tired and sore when I get to mile 10 of my run! I'm going to try my hardest to run happily and save my biggest effort for September 8th and most of all, enjoy every run from now until then. Stephanie shared that she runs six days per week. I run five days with a variety of distances...Monday is an easy run with a friend, Tuesday tends to be a harder effort, Wednesday is a medium-long run, Friday is shorter and easy and Saturday is long. Thursday and Sunday are walking days with Charlie or even a sleep-in day. I also do yoga 2-3 times per week. My husband and I got a new "status" today; we moved our youngest son into his college dorm making us officially Empty Nesters. (For the record, I needed only one Kleenex to get him settled into his room.) Since we've had 1-3 kids with us for the last 23 years, this is a whole new ballgame. All three of our kids are well-prepared to be fantastic young adults, so if we were skilled enough to get them going, we will figure out this next chapter for us as well. Can anyone say Runcation?!? We have taken a few race-related trips over the years to Boston and Vermont. I'd love to see more cities with a race and some tourism fun. The race swag makes awesome souvenirs, too. If anyone has a favorite destination race, please share! Another status change for me this week is back to work. I am a dietitian working in a small school district, so I get to spend a lot of time with my staff trying to plan meals kids will enjoy as well as getting to know kids and educating them on healthy food choices and mealtime behavior. I found this meme about school meals and feel like it really fits. I'm 100% in favor of more recess and P.E. time for kids to encourage the natural wiggles that kids have and help them enjoy moving their bodies to burn their energy and calories away. Too much sitting isn't good for kids or adults. What sort of "status changes" are you experiencing these days? Is anyone else sending students off to college or even kindergarten/middle school/high school for the first time this month? Don't forget that even positive changes are stressful to your body and mind. Give yourself a little running to get that stress off the brain! Happy running--Missee
As my running friend and I planned to meet for a Saturday run, I mentioned the idea of taking a "running field trip." She and I have known of people who recently purchased new homes in our town. We decided to abandon our regular route and run past some of these recently purchased homes. It was a fun adventure! We ended up running through downtown, past a few parks, and down a beautiful path. I wish I had brought my phone with me! If your running is getting a little mundane, try changing up your route. I found that the miles were flying by and we enjoyed new streets and scenery. We ended up running 7.3 miles with an average pace of 9:28 minutes per mile.
It was a perfect Saturday running field trip! Happy Running! -Stephanie Over the past year to 18 months, I've had a series of injuries and random aches that have put a damper on my running, particularly in regards to pace. The hamstring issues last summer made me really cautious and it's been difficult to get back toward my old self. This week, I started working on changing that--I've now got a new workout in my Garmin called "Stella's Groove Run." That may sound like a crazy name for a run, but there is some history here. First of all, there is the movie, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, which I have never seen, but like the title, it alludes to the fact that Stella was somehow off her game and is trying to restore her former self. That fits! Second, as a kid, our next door neighbor had a grandkid who lived pretty far away and didn't visit too often--thankfully! Jamie didn't have the best set of personal boundaries--he liked to come over during meal time and press his nose and mouth against our screen door and yell, "Can Stella come out and plaaaaaay?????" Since he was staring right at us eating, we couldn't exactly pretend not to be home. To this day, I still have no idea why he ever started or persisted in calling me Stella. I also don't know why he persisted in coming over to see if I could play. He once put gum in my hair and I pushed him down the stairs for it! Unfortunately, he died in a fire as a fairly young adult so I'll never know. However, I'm now trying to get my running groove back, so the fun name fits my run. Stella's Groove Run has three steps:
This week marks the beginning of fall sports in Minnesota. My niece and nephew will be doing cross country together this year. Before their first day, I texted them some good wishes and a photo of their cousins on their first day of practice five years ago. They were in grades 8 and 12. My how they've grown. If you are off your groove, make a plan. The plan itself might help you feel back on your game until you really get it going. After only two days, I am certainly feeling more optimistic. Deb and I signed up for the Granite Games River Run Half Marathon on September 8th in St. Cloud. We got $20 off for using code RUN20. Hope to see you there! Happy running--Missee
Where has August gone? It is already the 12th of August and it has been a busy month. Here are three things that I have been up to in August. 1. Audio Book Complete... I finished listening to Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Neg on Audible. I have a subscription to Audible in which I get one new book credit every other month. The books are easy to download onto an app on my phone. I enjoy listening to books while I run, walk, or drive. My next audio book will be another Hanna Swenson Murder Mystery (#11) by Joanne Fluke. 2. House and Yard Maintenance... In the summer, I love to work on the house and/or yard. Last week, I painted exterior doors to my house. I also have enlisted the help of my children in trimming of bushes around the house. 3. My Classroom... I have recently taken a different teaching position in my school district. I will be going back to full-time work after a few years of part-time teaching. Cleaning up a classroom and preparing a new classroom has kept me very busy in August. I am looking forward to my new job! I am still running on my regular schedule of running 5 miles six days per week with long cool down walks. When school starts, my mileage decreases to about 4.3 miles per day with a short cool down walk. During the school year, my running friend and I will try to run a little longer on Saturdays. Being consistent and keeping a running schedule is important for me. Even when I am busy, I find time for running. It helps me deal with whatever else is going on in my day.
Happy August! Happy Running! -Stephanie .Yesterday was Bobby and my wedding anniversary. We've now been married 24 years. Wow! That sounds like a long time. Since we'll be officially "empty-nesters" in about two weeks, it all makes sense, but I don't feel old enough to be married that long. I took a trip down memory lane yesterday with our wedding album and candid photos from that day and thought our readers might get a good giggle out of some. First of all was the pre-wedding run with a friend on the left. The other friend is wearing sandals in the photo, so she didn't run with us. The first thing I noticed in this photo is that I still have a little bit crazy wavy, curly hair on my runs. The other thing that puzzled me was that we were wearing long sleeved shirts in August...and we'd had a pool party the night before: And here are Stephanie and I--she was the Maid of Honor: An updated family photo as of 1994. In 2018, we are now eleven members strong, and for the record, there are two people that are shorter than me, unless Henry has passed me up already! When looking through the photos of the reception, it was apparently a very aerobic affair so it was fortunate that there were so many runners in attendance who had the stamina to keep on dancing. There are action shots of many of the guest dancing including grandmas, little kids and everyone in between all rocking out to the Chicken Dance and the Hokey Pokey for that's what it's all about! I found a these fun dancing pics. Stephanie looks very nimble going under the limbo stick. Thank you for joining me on this short run down memory lane. It was a super fun day as evidenced by all the photos of friends and family dancing the night away; I'm quite confident everyone's feet were too tired to run the next day, even if they wanted to. Congratulations to everyone who is celebrating anniversaries this month and happy running! Missee
I really liked Missee's post about gratitude (and her reference to Little Orphan Annie). Her post got me thinking about being grateful and looking on the bright side as we enjoy another beautiful August in Minnesota. I am grateful for so many things, including running. I find that running gives me peace and a time to reflect. Whether I am running with someone or running alone, I have to time to breathe and think. I also have time to truly appreciate all that is around me, especially the beauty of nature. My son and I headed out for a short run this morning. (I'm always grateful when my children will run with me.) It was hot, but we had a great time. The bike path behind me is one of my favorite running spots. It is about a half of a mile around and connects to additional bike path that borders a county road. Although difficult to see in the photo, the wildflowers are in full bloom. Our mom texted Missee and I this gorgeous photo of her morning exercise today. Beautiful scenery for a morning walk! Summer vacation is ending in a few short weeks and we will soon begin another school year. In the meantime, we will be grateful for our slower schedule, more time with family, sunshine, and summer running.
Happy Running! -Stephanie A great attitude is so refreshing. Nearly everyone has many things in their life that are going good to great and a few things that are fair to poor. We all know (and probably try to avoid) pessimistic people who always focus on those negative things. What a drag to only see what is wrong. People who can look on the bright side are a breath of fresh air! Think of this famous optimist: Annie had a lot of challenges living in an orphanage with the nasty Miss Hannigan. She had a sunny disposition and a great singing voice belting out that, "The sun will come out, tomorrow." We can all agree that Annie's great attitude won the heart of the weathly Daddy Warbucks and a great life. This morning the weather looked a little iffy after getting around 5 inches of rain overnight. Deb and I took off figuring we could adjust our route to stay closer to home if needed. We got a short shower around Mile 1, but by the time we needed to make a decision, the weather had largely cleared. Around Mile 6, we started talking about how the weather had stayed pretty nice. That conversation turned to the weather we've had for our runs over the summer. We could think of only one day that we postponed due to lightning and thunder and there was the day that was very warm that we ran through a sprinkler...look back to the post titled "Busted" for that tale :-) Deb mused that God must know how much we need our runs and gave us good conditions to get it done. I agreed and wondered if God would say that we have relatively simple requests of Him and that good running weather isn't too big. Regular runs, especially with good friends, are like medicine for the soul. Here's to hoping you are finding good conditions to get your runs done whether you meet a friend, go alone or take your best running dog with you. Besides pondering the weather, Deb and I were debating the merits of signing up for a half marathon in September. She is going to check her calendar and if she can work it out, I agreed to do it if she does. If you are looking for a half in September, check out this one: https://ggriverrun.com/ . Hope you are getting nice weather for your runs--August can be challenging if it's humid where you live. Happy running--Missee
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AuthorMissee and Stephanie are two Minnesota sisters and moms who love to run. We are not experts in running, parenting or anything else, but we do have years of experiences that may be helpful or entertaining to others. Archives
May 2020
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