Where have the past three months gone? Somehow, I’m only two weeks away from Cleveland Marathon Race Weekend! That’s right, I can see the weekend in my 10-day forecast – but refuse to truly look at it because we all know how quickly the weather can change. In looking back over the past few months of training, I know it wasn’t my best training cycle. I started off with an injury and didn’t start training until later than usual. Because of this, I didn’t do any speed workouts either, as in the beginning I was focused on just getting some slow miles in and testing out my hip … now I have no excus ..read more

For once, I have no complaints about my week! I feel like every single week I have some excuse – something interfering with my training. During this training cycle I’ve had injuries, a week in Germany, sick kids, no water, crazy weather, and more. But this week – somehow, there were no interruptions in my training. Was it perfect? No – I haven’t done any speed work. But I got in a weekend long run, a mid-week longish run, some walks, some core work and some light weights.  It was a busy week on our end – outside of work, we had a soccer game and family dinner on Sunday, ballet on Monday ..read more

Welp, there’s always something it seems getting in the way of my half marathon training. This week, after FW was finally feeling better (yay!) we lost hot water! What does hot water have to do with my running? Okay, not a lot. But not being able to rely on having a shower in my house actually made my workouts change somewhat. The idea of not being able to shower after a run, AND having to be in the office, made me think twice about my workouts. We were without hot water Sunday through Wednesday evening due to a problem with our water heater, but thankfully it got resolved (with a new heater ug ..read more

Wow, taking a week off from my usual weekly running update was strange! But I’m back now, and ready to share how the week went. The reason I wasn’t able to share last week was because we were out for spring break! B and I took the whole family – the 5 of us – to Berlin to visit my brother and enjoy the kids’ first plane ride and European vacation. It was great! If you haven’t read it yet, here’s my blog of a few trip highlights. But because I was out of the country, I didn’t get to write a full recap of workouts. So here’s the cliff’s notes (do young people even know what those are anymore?) a ..read more

Before kids, B and I made travel a priority in our lives. We both were brought up traveling abroad at a youngish age, and have a love for visiting foreign countries, exploring new places, and going on new adventures. After we got married, we did plenty of traveling together, going to Costa Rica, the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Ireland, England, Canada, Mexico City, and more places. Our passports were stamped regularly, and never expired. I swore that once we have kids, our lives wouldn’t change — what parent doesn’t think that? But after kids, our lives did change. Th ..read more

Happy Easter to those who celebrate! And Happy Spring break to us! In addition to my weekly update, this post serves as my (mostly) March in review post. I can’t believe that April 1 is TOMORROW.  March was an okay month for me. Total mileage: 112.58 miles – ish  (We’ll see if I get in a run today with everything going on) The good – Overcoming/healing from my hip issues and getting back into running. I’m still not 100% – I feel sore if I run too many days in a row or too long, but it’s not pain or debilitating like before. And I successfully started cross-training, which includes so ..read more

As happy as I am to back running (yay!) we had more snow (boo!) this week! And we had more snow than no snow this week: Sunday – snowed. Monday – snowed. Tuesday – snowed. Wednesday – snowed. Thursday – no snow, but high was in the 20s so it was COLD. Friday – snow. Saturday – snow, and this time it stuck to the ground. Now, I am lucky that it only flurried most of those days so we got minor accumulation, but it still didn’t help my running and made everything just a little more slippery and less manageable. The only day I really woke up to snow accumulation was Saturday. BUT I’m also happy to ..read more

It’s week 3ish of my return to running from my hip adductor injury, and I’m pleased to share that I’m feeling pretty good. I still don’t feel 100%, but I’m feeling so grateful to be back at running! We had some snow this week (ugh!) but on Sunday when it was snowy and a little slippery, I definitely had a change in attitude about running in the weather. I told myself, “I’m so lucky I can run in this!” Instead of “Ugh, I have to run in this” and immediately felt different. A few weeks ago, it would’ve been a different mentality for me. So here’s how my runs went this week – and also some ways t ..read more

Happy Friday! I’m joining the Fit Friday Five linkup today to share Five Fitness-related Favorites. Say that five times fast amiright?  Now that my leg is nearly recovered, I’m feeling like I am finally getting back in the groove of my fitness routine. I’m back to running (somewhat) regularly, doing cross training, planking daily (up to 2:30!) and fitting in push ups and other exercises. So here are five things that I’m loving lately, related to fitness: Note – there are some affiliate links below, but I really do love all these! A good pair of shoe inserts. These are my go-to orthotic in ..read more

Like my last blog post about cornbread a million years ago, I should start this post with two disclaimers: One: Like my last cornbread recipe, this is not “southern style” savory cornbread. I prefer my cornbread on the sweeter side, so that’s what this is. It goes great with a big batch of turkey or bean chili. Two: This is not a healthy recipe. (See butter in 1st ingredient) That said, I’ve made some swaps that help make it healthier than my last version, including adding yogurt for protein and flaxseeds for fiber, etc. Healthier Cornbread  Here’s what you need: 1/2 cup butte ..read more