Lightening Never Strikes the Same Place Twice

Lightening was going through my head this morning at 4 a.m.  That is when my alarm went off.  I woke up with surprising great ease.  Surprising because I was all wound for sound last night and could not get to sleep.  It was 10:30 last I looked at the clock.  I was looking at 5 1/2 hours of sleep.  I was wanting to run 10 miles this morning.  That is not promising conditions.  I slept unusually odd last night, yet awoke with great ease at the sound of my alarm.

In the time it took me to cross my bedroom to turn off my alarm I was well aware of the lightening, thunder and the pitter patter sounds of rain hitting the side of the house.  It wasn't anything of massive proportions, but I knew it was not ideal running weather.  This lightening was different.  This lightening was at best questionably safe and potentially "stupid to run in" kind of lightening.  Even though I woke with great ease, I also knew that I would go back to sleep without a second thought.  I hit the snooze, reset the clock and went back to my dream filled state for another hour or so.

I teach a pilates class at 6 a.m. on Thursdays.  When I say I "slept in" I mean I finally get up at 5:30 a.m.  Hardly sleeping in by many people's standard.  It's still dark outside.  Just on the verge of the sun peeking up into the sky.  Of course, on this morning with the weather conditions it was darker than usual.  Even at 5:30 it was still lightening, thundering & on/off raining.  When I finally forced myself out of bed I was struggling with guilt.  I should have gotten up earlier, I should have done SOMETHING!  Yes, I was feeling lazy.  (I know that's what you were all thinking as you read this!!  Haha, I'm teasing)

I convinced myself I would do some type of cross training/vigorous activity after my class.  The whole cross training concept filled my head as I haven't done it too much lately.  All I've done is run, run, run.  Or nothing.  Remember that all or nothing concept with me.  Then my mind moved to the 10 miles that I really wanted to run.  Obviously wasn't going to happen this morning.  I could have gone out after my class.  At this point though I needed to hurry and get dressed.  The prep I needed to do said 10 miles was not feasible.  So my mind wandered to my treadmill.  I own one, but have not been on it in MONTHS!!  I go through spells where I use it, but I don't like to.  I did nothing but treadmill run/train for YEEEEEARS!  Once I started running outside I was hooked....addicted.  I've even been known to run in sub zero temperature than take a step on my treadmill.  Especially our home treadmill. As much as I enjoy having the luxury, it faces a wall and it gets boring.  And the air is hot & stuffy.  Ugh, just thinking about it makes me uncomfortable.  I'm just not a big treadmill runner anymore.

I have figured out how to set up our laptop in front of the treadmill and watch a movie while I run.  So that is my plan.  Might as well kill two birds with one stone.  I'm horrible at sitting down and just watching a movie.  Why?  when you can be getting something done?  So that is my plan.  10 miles on the treadmill today, while I watch a movie.  I hope that putting it here will keep me accountable.  It will be a nice ending to my running week.  IF I don't get it done then I really need to push myself to add an extra day this weekend.  Which I don't want to.  I want to be EXTREMELY lazy and sleep in until, like.....7 or 8.  OH THE HORROR!

Not sure what to title this, but am going to post it anyway.....

Not sure if I came up with my exact post for today run.  I thought about it though.  Just no lightening bolt of ingenious. 

Speaking of lightening, when I got out to run yesterday I saw some lightening.  First let me back up to say that on Tuesdays  & Thursdays I always run to and from the Y.  I teach a pilates class at 6 so it keeps me in the area & when I am done I am ready to go for my class.  So I drove to the Y.  Just as I put my van into park I notice a flash out of the corner of my eye.  I let out a loud "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!" even though no one was around to hear me.  I stepped out of the van to survey said conditions and yep, indeed saw more lightening.  It wasn't the big bolt type of lightening so I convinced myself it was ok to head out.  By convince I mean I turned into a whiny 3 year old who literally said out loud in a quite annoying tone "but if I don't run, then I'll ruin my perfect week and I won't have time to run later, I'm spending the day at a water park, and then I'll feel fat and I HAVE AN ULTRA in 2 1/2 WEEKS!!!!!"  I saw another flash of lightening then decided to head out.  (No lectures please.  I'm still alive).  Once I got running, the lightening was to my back.  I felt a heavy presence behind me, but made sure I ran with my mouth open.  (I usually do anyway, but I once heard that if struck by lightening the charge needs a place to exit.  If it has no place to exit then you will surely die from said incident.  Who knows if that is true.  Makes sense to me).  As I wound my way around Carl Sandburg Dr. I came along side this peculiar weather system that was producing the lightening.  It appears the lightening was contained into 1 particular cloud.  And it never did have a big bolt effect.  Never heard an ounce of thunder.  It was interesting to watch the cloud light up and left me a little awe struck at the beauty of nature.

All or nothing

I think about blogging often. Almost always during my run. I plot it all out. I come up with some really .......

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!?!

I was just on a roll with this post.  I was a few paragraphs in.  I just did something.  I don't know what.  I'm multitasking....trying to watch CSI and blog at the same time.  What ever I did....I just deleted most of my text.  Ugh!  I know what I was saying, but trying to recreate it all.  It just never works!

Maybe it's a sign.  Or maybe just sometimes crap happens.

Usually it just leads me to the shortened version.  Cause we all know when I talk, I talk.  Or if you don't know that yet, consider yourself warned.

So shortened version.  I think about blogging all the time.  I had a post for yesterday.  Another post for today.  But then stuff happens and what I had in mind doesn't work out.  So I just don't do it at all.  I can be the same way with my running.

The two posts I had in mind are ones that can apply to more than one running experience.  My "The Hills are Alive" post from yesterday can be easily applied to next Monday's run.  Because Mondays are my hills day.  My "Playlist" post from today can be applied to almost any day since I almost always run with music.  I need to stop trying to create all these "perfect, ideal" blogging conditions and just blog.

Perfect Running Week

Last week I had the perfect running week.  By that I mean that I got up and ran everyday Monday - Thursday.  That is typically what I consider a training week.  I always take off Friday, Saturday & Sunday.  Sometimes I race on those days (and I did last Saturday), but that is not training, that is racing.  Not the same thing.  I stick to the M - Th week like gold.  On rare occasion I get up & do something on Friday, but really that is my sleep in on a weekday day.  I know you think I'm all crazy & hard core about my running & fitness.  I don't deny that one bit.  Really though,  I have my boundaries, my weaknesses, my I've had enough limits. (They are just usually far fetched from the normal ideal).

I looked back on my training records (I use Nike+ to track all my running.).  I have not accomplished this M - Th perfect running week lately.  In fact, not at all this year!!!!  See, I'm not so crazy/hard core after all.  *sticks tongue out at y'all while I'm sure you roll your eyes at me*.  Truth is, I cut myself a lot of slack.  I realize that  I try and fit in a full training regimen while being a full time wife and mommy.  Something has to give.  Oddly enough though, nothing gave on this perfect running week.  What makes it so odd, is that in addition to my usual crazy demanding life, it was tech & performance week for the musical All Shook Up. (Yes, that is me you see in the first and last picture)  I was strung to the MAX!  I only averaged 5 hours of sleep per night.  Yet every morning when my alarm went off I was up & going, pounding away the miles while I have songs & choreography running non stop through my head.

I didn't get a lot of miles in.  It was a bare minimum week of miles.  7 on Monday, 4 on Tuesday, 5 on Wednesday, 4 on Thursday.  20 miles.  THAT IS IT!  (Don't roll your eyes at me!)  If you want to count my race on Saturday then we can bump that up to 23.  Oooo, I have you all shaking in your boots now!  Considering that I have an ultra in 3 weeks....THAT SUCKS!  This does, but doesn't stress me out.  On one hand a year ago I was running a lot more miles.  Albeit full of nagging injuries that would eventually cause me to take a 2 month break from running.  So more miles, yet full of injury, led me to run 34 miles at this ultra.  Right now I am running less miles, but am for the first time in months injury free.  Yay!  INJURY FREE!  This adds even more to my "perfect week".

This week had not been even close to perfect.  Something had to give and I so gave, I might even say, collapsed after last week.  I purposely slept in on Monday, then we took off for Mandy's birthday get away and I spent Monday & Tuesday lounging at a hotel/waterpark.  That was just the recovery I needed!  Next week, is a new week and we'll see if I can reach said perfection.

P.S.  On Wednesday I got up to meet with a little running club that runs at Lake Storey.  One of the runners included me in his blog post.  You can read about it here.

Where in the world is Carmen SanDiego?!?!?

You know the song, right. It plays in my head all of the time.  Just substitue Peterson for the SanDiego.

Soooo *hanging head to ground while bashfully digging toe into dirt*, I'm sorry to leave you all hanging. I expected to check in and see that no one had even been checking my blog. Much to my surprise a few of you have been peeking in. Which, of course, gives me more guilt cause you took the time to come here and what did you find. NOTHING! ZIP! ZERO! ZILCH! Or at least nothing new.

I encourage you to subscribe to my blog. I am wanting to build this site more to reach other moms and people of interest, even beyond my circle of friends. I have dreams for this blog. They are totally different from my family blog. That one is to update family & friends about what's going on with us. This will be different. How? You may ask. I'm not sure if I can spell that out for you right now. It reminds me that I should come up with a mission statement. Hang with me, for now. It's all a work in progress. Rome wasn't built in a day!

I have two reasons why I haven't update in over a week. A) total crazy life. Which, duuuuuuh, is nothing new. It's been even more so crazy though. And 2) my camera is broken. *Insert screams of pain & torment* NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Of course, I can blog with making it a vlog. But it wasn't quite the spin I was hoping for. The two combined has me at a stand still.

I will do what I can to keep posting. Fair warning though, I only have next week of calmness, quietness and a little less craziness. Then it's all going to hit the fan again and I'll be torn in a million different directions for about 2 weeks. Just when that is over school starts.

Anyway....do I look any different to you? I should. Since I am a recently turn THIRTY FIVE year old woman!!!! Now, you are either thinking....you're just a baby or geez, old woman. Either way, I'm happily another year older. I love life and getting older. Life should be about celebration, not dread. I've been blessed with 12,775 days on this earth. (Don't be too impressed, I whipped out the calculator for that number).

I sense that I am rambling and turning in all sorts of directions with the post. Are you still with me?!?! Again, I encourage you to SUBSCRIBE! Follow me. Be my friend. Whatever you want to call it. I'm all about making connections. Doesn't matter if you are a current friend (HI KARI, SUZIE, STEPHANIE, those are just a few that I know check in, I know there is more)) or a newbie stalker. Sure the little check in ticker on the side is nice. I'd love face to go with the location as to who is checking in. I want to give you a holler back, if possible. Leave me a COMMENT!

I bid you all a farewell. For now. I'm off to another direction. Family blog to update. House to clean. Etc. etc.

100 things about me?

Dont' worry.  I don't actually get through 100 things in this post.  Hello!  I'm limited to 15 minute videos.  You know THAT is IMPOSSIBLE for me to do such a lengthy list is such a short amount of time.  Let's keep it real people : )

So I only got through 2.  Yes, that is it!  Leave me alone...ppppptttttttthhhhhhhhh!



Here they are in writing.  If you want my long winded talk it all out version, watch the video.

1.  I love to take pictures.  I love to have pictures taken of me.  Which doesn't happen too often, but I am constantly encouraging my family to "here, take a picture of this!" and I jump in with whatever that is.  I'm still only in about 20% of the pictures I have taken.  This can be for a few reason.  I am very sentimental & memory driven.  What better than a picture to capture that moment.  I love my life and I love seeing & remembering each & every breath taking moment!

Posting said pictures would be hard, because I have thousands upon thousands pictures in my possesion.  Some actual photos, others in digital format.  That would be interesting to actually get a count of how many pictures  I do have.  Maybe someday when I have "nothing" to do.  So I guess when I die then I'll  have time to figure that all out.  Note: please bury all my pictures with me : )

2. I love to sing!  To support what I talked about in my video, here is some pictures of me from the Sound of Music last summer.  I was a nun.  How fitting, right.  (DON'T LAUGH!)  Now dont' I look so holy here. (what did I tell you about the laughing....no snickering either!)

Ok, so you know me too well and you know I can't help but have fun.  I'd never survive as a nun.  Not that nuns can't have fun.  That's not why I'd never pursue such a vocation.  First of all, I'm not Catholic.  That might help.  And since I have 6 kids you know I like to have lots of SEX!  (Oh my.....I just said that 3 letter "S" word!)

I don't have too many picures of me performing.  I did find these:

Singing at my senior concert with my good friend Jacob Neff:

A newspaper clipping:

A nice picture of the musical that I am going to be in next week:

Wanna see my six pack?

I tried to show you my six pack in my video.  Don't worry you won't be seeing any skin from the mid section of my body. I don't want to scare my readers away and I'm all for modesty & internet etiquette. (Disclaimer: not that showing your mid section is horribly immodest.   If you do; fine, great.   I don't.   It's just me.) So here is my six pack I was trying to show you : )

I tweeked my photo a little from what you see in the video. My great, wise friend Suzie helped me out in this area. (Thank you Suzie! I agree it looks much better & eye catching with all white letters.) And the camera card ran out of memory space so my video shut off on it's own. I think it's ok. If I need to, or must, I will do another hog call video. Just for you my loyal fans : )

Traaaaaaaaditiooooooooon! (sang in my best Fiddler on the Roof vocals)

Due to popular demand.....

Ok, so I'm adding another blog to my life.  Because....ya know....I have nothing else to do with my life.  My house is always perfectly clean!  My children are always well behaved!  So why not?!?!!?  I've been mulling this idea around.  Was hoping to work on it and reveal this grand new blog.  But my fans (all 2 of them *snicker*)....MAAAAAN are they relentless.  I just got home from vacation 30 some hours ago and they are already begging me for my first post.  So I got this started and will load the video which explains the beginnings of this blog anyway. 

So you have something to view for the time being, which should buy me sometime to work on the layout some more.