.... is back! Where we've been and where we are going.

Sometimes "life" gets in the way of things. And so it goes. So I had to blow off a few cobwebs from our blog before beginning tonight. Where have we been? What have we been up to? I will try and give a quick summary!

Summer training continued fine. There was no real answer to my question "how will I get my runs in?" I took it day by day and jumped on any opportunity to get out there. Sometimes I took the baby with me when he got up early, other times I'd head out while he napped and my parents watched the other two. Josh and I might trade off, he would head out and I would be ready to go the moment he stepped back in. And our long runs became our date nights. We would have our baby sitter come and head out for 8, 10, 12 miles at 6 at night. Ah! The things you can do when it stays light out until 8pm! Not a romantic candlelight dinner but it was time alone together that we both really looked forward to. Don't we know how to have fun?

The end of summer, the start of school, and our trip to Yellowstone led us into a 3 week slump of little running. I've been having trouble with my back when laying down so this unintentional break allowed me the chance to evaluate if running was part of my problem - it wasn't. So when October 1st hit there were no more excuses and it was time to hit the pavement.

Squeezing in our runs continues to be a challenge. I don't know anyone who has "free" time, and neither do I, so I just made the decision to find "some" time. It is never ideal, you just need to make it work. We continue in the same fashion as we did over the summer. We take it day by day and if the week is getting ahead of us and we haven't gotten runs in then we make a more concrete plan. I run 3-4 times a week and Josh usually 4-5. Some weeks being better then others of course!

Josh spent the late summer and fall experimenting with "barefoot" running in Vibram Five Fingers. I also have a pair and have run up to 5 miles in them but am not the diehard Josh is. He wears his to work and everything. Hopefully we can get him to do a post of his own on this topic. It is a very interesting concept! They are particularly awesome in the rain.

We are now up to 18 miles. It is amazing how by adding a little bit each week you suddenly arrive at these huge numbers. It is almost a bit anti-climatic. When you have done 16 two weeks earlier and now you do 18 it is great, but I'm still the same old me. I don't feel like a different person. I don't feel like a "runner" all of the sudden. Just me. But that in and of itself is amazing too! That it is that ..... easy. We have continued with the Galloway method of run 4 minutes, walk one. We ran 18 miles yesterday and around mile 15 I started to feel the distance a bit. A little sore. Tough when you stop at a light because you notice the aches more. Ok so long as I'm walking or running. But every time the going got a little tough I just thought "ok, 4 more minutes - no problem."  And it isn't. And then we are done. We give each other a high five and a hug and walk up the hill to home hand in hand. Mission accomplished. We stretch, we are sore, but we did it. The next day we are ourselves again. Today I only feel a slight tightness in my right hamstring. I can walk, I can function. I don't feel how I imagined I would feel after running this far when we started this journey.

Hard to believe just two more long runs left before the big day! 

We have come so far. 

When we began this journey Josh was 54 lbs heavier, we could not run 3 miles in under 36 minutes (12 min/mile) and our long run was 5 miles. Today, we are eating healthier, are more fit (yet somehow I haven't lost a single pound!) we can do 10 miles in 94:60 (9:46 min/mile), our training run is 5 miles and our long run is 18 miles. 

WDW HERE WE COME!