My Summer in Pictures

Since I've been on a little hiatus, just thought I'd post some of what I've been up to using pictures. 

Caught this while 4x4ing in early spring...wild horse against the backdrop of the Sierra Nevada Mountains

Memorial Day 10K

BBQing with family

Reno Aces baseball!

June hike with son...rainy, misty day, but still beautiful

Picnic in the park...waiting for fireworks

Camping

Road Trip (this is Yellowstone); took 2 weeks in July to drive to the Midwest and back

Visited some nieces and nephews who I miss sooooo much!

2nd Annual Anna Rogotzke Memorial Kickball Tournament - Sanborn, MN

Me with one of my brothers and one of my sisters...if you're wondering about the red faces, we were playing kickball in 90 degree temps and about 300% humidity (OK...maybe I'm a whiny baby from a dry desert climate, but it WAS pretty bad)

The heat didn't stop my husband, Bill, from doing what he does best...BBQing! 

Brother and nephew in Illinois... a little baby girl was added to this family a couple of weeks after this picture. 

Avon, CO (I could live here)

Somewhere in UT

Fishing by the Truckee River

Another hike with son (Spooner Lake by Lake Tahoe....GORGEOUS!)

Even impressive to a 17-year-old

Yes, I made him do this.  It only took about 5 tries to get it right!  :)

Just barely a glimpse of Lake Tahoe

I hope we never get rid of the Jeep because I sure love the places it can take us. 

Nevada Wolf Pack football!! Battle Ready...Battle Born!!!

7 Months Ago.....

...was my last post!  That's pathetic.  While I have been keeping up on reading all of the blogs I follow, I just haven't been very good at posting or commenting.  I also started wondering why I was blogging at all.  Who cares?  It was getting stressful just keeping up with my one or two posts per month.  But, a few days ago, I went back and read some of the posts I had written and remembered that the main reason for doing this was to have a journal for myself.  Yes, I wanted to have something to keep me accountable to running, but I realize as I look back that it became so much more.  It's a place where I could honor people or remember special days or serve as a reminder later on about those life experiences that sometimes get forgotten.  And, of course, as the title indicates, it is a place to always remember Anna, my niece who was taken from us way too soon.  So, I'm back.  I'll still talk about running, but I'll also write about other things.... the things that mean the most to me so I don't take them for granted.  It doesn't matter if anyone reads or nobody reads ...  this is for me.  

Where do I begin?  When I left off last, I was about to run a 1/2 marathon.  My goal was 2:15.  My time?  2:16:00.  I would have taken 2:15:59.  Oh well!  I don't do well in temps above 60 degrees and, by the end, it was well over 70.  I crossed the half-way point at 1:06 and I thought I was well on my way to reaching my goal, but the "heat" (it was hot for that time of year) got to me in the end. 

In May, my son, my husband, and I ran a 10k on Memorial Day to raise money for disabled veterans.  It was awesome to participate in this even with my family, and we just had fun.  Then.....

I kind of fell out of love with running for awhile.  I was just too hard on myself for not being faster.  My goal was never to be the fastest runner, but my competitive side does come through occasionally, and it was causing me grief.  The weather just kept getting hotter and I kept getting slower.  I kept hearing about people who just started running and were already much faster than I.  An article come out in "Runner's World" about that time (which was perfect!).  The author wrote about taking the summers off because he just didn't enjoy running in the summer.  He hiked, kayaked, biked, etc., instead.  When he started running again in the fall, he felt energized and running wasn't boring or hard anymore.  So, that's what I did!  I took the summer off.  I worked out to Jilian, went hiking, and just generally participated in activities that I normally don't get to do. 

I started running again about the end of August, and it feels GREAT!  I wear my Garmin (to track mileage), but don't look at it for pace or time.  Running is to keep me healthy, somewhat in shape, and provide an outlet for the stress in my life...that's it.  There's nothing like starting out a day with a cool morning's run.  Not only that, but a few weeks ago, my son said he wanted to train for a 1/2 marathon!  I was a little shocked, to be honest, but very excited to impart all of my "wisdom" and "knowledge" to my 17-year-old.  We went and had him fitted for some shoes, and he's off and running (literally).  The only problem???  He wants me to run with him, and there's no way on this earth I'd be able to get him out of bed at 4:30 a.m. (my usual run time).  So, I made the EXTREME sacrifice of switching my running schedule to run with him after work/school.   Ugh!  At first, I hated this.  Too much traffic, too hot, and I'm not exactly motivated after a day at work to get my running clothes on and head out the door again.  But, the more we got into a routine, and the more the temps dropped, the better it got.  Now, I look forward to that time with my son, and I'm grateful that he actually still wants to do something with me.  It's something we can do together with the same goal in mind.  That goal, incidentally, is this:

in Davis, CA.  I CAN'T WAIT!  It will be so great to cross the finish line of this race with my son beside me (or very far ahead of me ... however it works out). 

Wait....what?

That's what I said yesterday when it fully dawned on me that my next half-marathon is next Saturday!  I knew in the back of my mind that it was, but, now it's just kind of THERE...in a week...7 days.  I haven't been too worried about it.  I have a loose goal of 2:15 or less, but it won't be the end of the world if I don't get it.  For the most part, I've been getting all my training runs in, and they've felt pretty good.  I've gotten away, though, from my 5 runs per week, and have consistently been running 4 times per week.  My body seems to like this frequency much better.  I don't feel quite so exhausted by the time my Saturday long runs roll around, and my runs feel like they're better quality.  I seem to be able to keep the hip pain away, also, with the decrease.

I continue to work on speed, but not as much as I was hoping to.  I get a little sidetracked while I'm running because I just enjoy the thinking time....the alone time.  From what I've been reading, track work is probably the best way to improve speed, and I'm just not motivated to do that right now. 

What I'm really working on is (don't laugh) a form of potty training.  I was really frustrated last year with all the pit stops I had to take both in training and in my races.  In reviewing my recaps from my October 1/2 marathon and my December marathon, it's pretty obvious where I lost A LOT of time.  I was trying to follow the advice to hydrate, hydrate, and hydrate some more in the days prior to those long runs, and I think I may have overdone it.  I've been experimenting with getting the water I need, but not so much where I'm constantly having to stop at those porta potties.  In doing so, I've run over-hydrated, a little dehydrated, and a lot dehydrated.  But, I think now I've found a system that works for me.  My only concern is that I've been used to running in cooler weather in the early morning, and it's supposed to be in the 70's at the 1/2 marathon next week.  That may throw me off a little. 

I've been looking for some more races to sign up for in the future.  These two are definitely on my radar:

Milwaukee Brewers Mini Marathon to benefit Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer (MACC)

and

the 2013 Cellcom Green Bay Marathon

I wanted to run this year's Cellcom Marathon, but Lambeau Field is being renovated, so their tradition of finishing up at the stadium was omitted.  That would be the biggest pull for me to run this, so I definitely want to run it next year. 

While most of my family lives in Wisconsin, I don't, so I'll have to think about travel expenses and see if I can swing one or both of these races. 

In other news, spring has definitely SPRUNG here in northern Nevada.  It is a GLORIOUS time of year when the valley is coming back to life against the backdrop of mountains still dusted or covered with snow (depending on their heights).  Some pictures from this beautiful season:

One end of  a HUGE rainbow I saw while running one day

The other end

The middle

If you look very closely, you can see a faint double rainbow

Easter sunrise

Yay!  The beginning of 4-wheeling season!!

A different form of new life...our new grandnephew Noah.  Welcome to the world, little one.  Kind of fitting to have a picture of Noah along with pictures of a rainbow, right?

Now, off to catch up on all of your blogs!  I've been a very bad follower lately...sorry!!  :)