Potty Training Success!!

Well it was certainly a fulfilling weekend. Lots of running and fitness mixed in with lots of motherhood—the two things my whole blog is geared toward! We made strides in the whole potty training arena. Several weeks ago, we called it quits with diapers. Justin will be 4 in July and was still sleeping and pooping in diapers until Joe put his foot down and said NO MORE! Several weeks ago, we used our last diaper and said hello to a long week of getting Justin to agree to poo on the potty. He became constipated and the task became painful. Finally we got over the hurdle and poo on the potty became second nature. After that, we introduced sleeping at night with no diaper.  I read up on how to avoid accidents in the bed. I followed this plan:

• Limit beverages 2 hours before bed.
• Sit on toilet just before getting into bed.
• Wake him up to pee just before I go to bed.
• Wake him up one additional time during the night to pee.

I followed this plan for a few weeks until one night he woke up on his own and went into the bathroom by himself to pee like a big boy. I still limit beverages and have him pee before bed. I’ll wake him up before I go to bed too, but no longer will I wake him in the night. It’s been several days since a night time accident. The strides we made specifically this past weekend were doing away with the little potty. He was out with Joe yesterday and I got in a cleaning frenzy. I cleaned his Elmo potty so well that it was clean enough to put away—so I did. I told Justin I gave it to another little boy and since he is a big boy now, he could use the big potty. He took no issue and within the next hour was doing poo on the big potty. WOW! I’m feeling way accomplished. I don’t know if it was just good timing or what, but PHEW! What a feeling! He is getting so independent.  Now, when he can wipe his own ass, I’ll be doing cartwheels!!

Other wonderful things that happened this weekend were a very hilly half marathon on Saturday, and some serious gym time on Sunday. While I was doing these things, Justin and Joe were either at a birthday party or at the indoor golf place. We also met up with friends for dinner on Saturday evening and had Justin’s friend over Sunday afternoon. I guess you could say we got the most out of our weekend. 

My half marathon on Saturday was my first race since recovering from my hip injury. I had initially thought with proper training, I could do a sub-two hour race. Then I saw the topography of the race route. Talk about hills!! I later decided, at the risk of re-injury I would do this race “just to do it” and put no pressure on myself regarding a time. A great surprise was (literally) running into my step brother at the starting line. We chatted about pace and agreed to run together. I won’t bore you with details of every mile, but I will say it was a cold, misty, hilly run. No bells and whistles. No street closures even. Just runners running on country roads. Another treat was a little cheer section around mile 6. Fellow runner friends (and sisters) Jen and Kristin were there with water, signs and moral support. I stopped to say hi then quickly ran off. 

 race route topography, lol

Our cheer section!

Marky approaching the finish

Here I am just seconds after Marky!

We finished in just over 2:08. Not bad. 

I think my next half, which is in June (Iron Horse Half), I’ll do for time. I may shoot for 1:45. I did it last year in 1:58. It’s a beautiful, flat course in my favorite area to run in CT. Until then I have a few 5K and 10K races that I’ll be building up speed for. 

It’s not often I write on my blog. But I do like to keep it up to date. Who knows when my next entry will be. Hopefully not several months from now. 

Keep running!!

Ready As I'll Ever Be!

Here we are, the evening prior to the 2012 ING Hartford Marathon.  It's very exciting. I'm not the only one who is excited though. My step sister Missy is excited, as well as Justin and my nephew Isaiah. My sister Melissa is presumably also excited, as she plans to run with Missy for part of the half marathon. Justin and Isaiah will be running in the kid's 1/4 dash. It's quite the family affair.

Yesterday I went to the Healthy Lifestyles Expo. Not even for packet pick up, but on official business. I went with my boss to meet with one of the women who works for the Hartford Marathon Foundation. She is interested in having our event planning company produce her expo next year. It was interesting to say the least, discussing all that goes into such an event. My boss is certainly a local icon in the industry and it was pretty neat hearing them discuss all the things they would do to make the event better.

While I was there, I did walk around for my own personal benefit. I bought Justin a cute shirt that reads: "Future Marathon Runner" and I grabbed some temporary tattoos that say "26.2".  I was thinking about putting them on my arm but since it will be ONLY 30 DEGREES at the start of the race, I'm going to have to put them on my cheek.

So a 30 degree temp at the start of the race may scare some people but not me. Looking forward to chilly conditions. The temperature won't get above 55 all day. If there's one thing I hate, it's running in heat, so tomorrow's weather will be welcomed!

If there's anything October is good for, it's unpredictable weather.  The last two years I ran this race, it was warm. I wore shorts and a tank top.  After last year's race (repeat- in a tank top), we were greeted with a foot of snow the very next week.  Silly New England!

Okay, well I'm off to get my massage and then to Missy's for family pasta dinner. Looking forward to seeing my family, especially my sister and two of her kids who flew in from Vegas on Wednesday and I've not seen them yet.

Ramblings of a Prepared Racer

So two posts in two days! Wow. The excitement builds as each day passes and we get closer to marathon day. This is why I do what I do. Because I love the feeling of anticipation. Then subsequently I LOVE the feeling of completion!

In follow up to yesterday’s post, I did find a course map. There is a ridiculous amount of water stops which made it difficult for me to do my math and calculate which ones we should stop at and for how long. 

The goal here is to do the race in 4 hours and 25 minutes. That’s 265 minutes. When all is said and done, my group will have averaged a 10:07 pace, BUT not really. We will average a 9:55 pace and walk through our water stops. Knowing this, we can only spend 20 seconds at 13 water stops. I think I determined there are actually 18 water stops along the way. We will have to skip some. 

In my write up/bio thing in the newsletter, I suggested all runners come to the race with a water belt. This is because I don’t want them running any differently than they did in their training. Bringing your own water belt is good for a few reasons. Essentially, you become dependent on only yourself in the race. Let’s imagine for a moment that water stops at miles 20-26 actually ran out of water. If you had water in your belt, you’d still be able to hydrate.  It’s called preparation.

Last year, I did the Las Vegas half marathon. I ran without a belt and was fine, BUT a huge complaint from some back-of-the-pack runners was actually that the race ran out of water. Yes, they were pissed. I would be too, BUT in the end, you can’t always depend on the race. You must come prepared.

Another reason you should run with a water belt is that you may not realize how often you hydrate until you don’t have the means to do so. In your training, you may not calculate how often you sip from your bottles. You may just do it when you are thirsty. Makes total sense… but when you’re in a marathon and you leave your belt behind, you may find yourself feeling parched when you’ve gotten used to hydrating every 1 mile. 

By encouraging my group to keep things consistent with their training when racing allows for minimal surprises on race day. Don’t eat anything weird in the days leading up to the marathon. Don’t try new GU’s. Don’t even try a new flavor of Gatorade.  Assume your stomach will not like it. And make sure you’ve worn a new pair of shoes for at least 50 miles before race day, but no more than 300. No new clothes either. I’ll never understand how people wear the free race shirt fresh out of the bag on race day. What if you break out in a rash because it hasn’t been washed? What if the itchy tag is in the exact wrong place and chafes you the whole time?

Bottom line is STICK WITH WHAT YOU KNOW. You’ll be pleased by the close of the race when all goes as planned.  You'll be better off knowing you did all you could do to make it a successful race. You don't want to left saying at the end, "Oh I never should have worn those new socks. I never would have gotten blisters if I stuck with my regular ones."

So, in other thoughts… I’m trying to plan where “my people”, i.e. my family will go to cheer me on and give me things. LOL.  In previous years, my mom would be at miles 13 then 21 with food and big signs. I LOVE THAT!!! Not sure if she’s planning that again. My aunt lives at mile 15, so I’m going to ask her to throw me a PB sandwich as I run past. My dad and step mom, Joe and Justin are always at the finish line. Knowing I’ll see my son in 6 miles, then 4 miles, then 2 miles, then .25 miles is wonderful motivation. Maybe if I think I can grab him and take him over the finish line with me this year, I will. I always think I want to, then I get there and I feel like my arms wouldn’t be able to handle the weight. 

Oooooh, all this dwelling in possibility has me excited! 

I skipped the gym this morning. I had a double workout yesterday. Gym in the morning then Bikram in the evening. I figure I may walk this afternoon after work so I decided to sleep in. I certainly needed the extra 75 minutes in bed though.

Justin was up last night around 1:30 am. He came into our bed and was moving and squirming all over. I could tell he was miserable. Upon inspection, I realized he had peed through his diaper! Ugh. Very frustrating for two reasons… The end of diaper use is in sight. He’ll go all day in undies. He even poops on the potty now, which was a big hurdle to get over. I’d like to think he’ll be sleeping in undies soon, but then we experience something like last night.  That coupled with needing to fix a wet bed in the middle of the night makes for the act of sleeping in (until 6:00 am) much desired.

By the way, here a few links to check out:

Hartford Marathon Pace Team Leader Info 

and

The race route map which I swear was hiding yesterday and was unlocatable until now 

I beat the rain!

I have a usual 4.1 mile loop I do around my neighborhood. It's fairly hilly, but quick. Today I completed my fastest run time of the route, ever. I averaged an 8:03 mile, finishing the run in 33:02. I felt comfortable at that pace which is exciting, considering two years + ago I was averaging well over 10 minute miles. What's better is I'm still dry! A big storm is about to open up right over our heads and I beat it home.

Every day holds potential for accomplishment. Today I'm pleased with my accomplishment.