Didja Miss Me?

I'm back, Peeps!

This has been the longest break I've ever taken from blogging (and writing in general).  The more days I let pass without writing, the harder it was to get back into the routine.  Hmmm. . .sounds like problems I've had with fitness routines, too!

I've been in Myrtle Beach and Florida for the past three weeks.  With all the chaos in my life, I decided to pack my bags (and my kids' bags, too), and run away from trouble (see what I did there?).  Just so nobody can accuse me of vagueposting, I'll give you a rundown on the chaos-part.  If you're not interested, just skip it.

The Trouble I Ran from:

1.  End of school year craziness (for both me and the kids)

2.  Adjusting to the Kabyle Chef's new schedule and how it plays into our lives

The wine will eventually help us adjust.

3.  Death of my grandmother

4.  Death of my kids' beloved godmother, Beebah

We love you, Beebah.

5.  The anniversary of my father's death

I love you and miss you, Dad.

6.  Prince's death (It counts.  Believe me.)

What I Ran to:

1.  My best friend who lives in Myrtle Beach.  I hadn't seen her for two years. She and her husband own a fabulous restaurant in North Myrtle Beach called Martini.  They have the best happy hour ever--check it out!

This is my soulmate.

We made Grammy hit the dab.

2.  My mother, who lives in Venice, FL
































3.  My sister, my three nieces, and my nephew, who drove in from Orlando

My sister won the trophy at our Cheeseburger in Paradise contest.

4.  My brother, sister-in-law, and my two nieces who live in Naples, FL

Ben holds his newborn cousin.

5.  HARRY POTTER WORLD, Peeps!  OMG!!!!

We got our wands from Ollivanders, of course.

The only fixed goal on my schedule was Universal Studios.  As I am a driven person, it was highly unusual for me to take a vacation with no real plans in mind.  This was really good for me.


Those of you who know me know that I am very good at expressing rage (shut up) and joy and all of the emotions between those two.  I am NOT good at expressing grief or sadness; I tend to hold it all in and push through whatever is going on in my life.  I don't want that to be the example for my kids, so we had a talk about grief and missing those we love.  I explained about how I deal with sorrow, and I told them that however they choose to deal with it is the right way.

Then I ran.  I ran so far away.  (Bonus points to the peeps who are old enough to get this.)

Oh, and I literally ran. I didn't think I'd be able to stick to my schedule, but except for a few runs, I pretty much nailed my training.  The bonus was the workout room at my mom's clubhouse; it was TRICKED OUT, Peeps.  Because of the heat, I tended to run a few miles on the treadmill, do some kettle bell, run again, more strength training on those incredible machines, run again. . . well, you get the picture.

The part of the training that I epically failed was the eating.  And drinking.  I have gained some weight, Peeps, but I know how to take care of that now.  The interesting thing is that I'm not panicked about it.  I know that I can get back to where I need to be; I just have to stick to it.  And I will.

This has been a vacation of healing for me.  I was able to spend time with the people I love, and I was able to let go of my control a little bit.

But now I'm back, and I'm fierce.  I've got goals to crush, and I can't do that by sitting on my dupa.

Well, I can sit on my dupa if I'm wearing BondiBand recovery socks.

This post was supposed to be a short jump back into writing, but look what I've done!  And I haven't even described my training during vacation!  I will spare you this time, but stay tuned for my next post.

Just one last thing:  you know my signature running look ALWAYS involves a Bondiband headband. I LURRVVV them!  If you would like to order your own headbands, you can get a discount by using my code: TroubleRun.

We are a Bondiband bunch of Turtles!

This one says, "Training with a hangover."

I would love to race my husband.  I'd beat him without even trying.

Until then, run happy, Peeps!

Like what you read?  Follow me on Twitter @itibrout!

Run away from Snapping Turtles!

Today ends week 1 of marathon training.  I feel pretty successful with my runs this week.

On Monday, instead of doing yoga, I wheedled The Kabyle Chef into walking/running three miles with me.  We definitely did more walking than running because The Chef has not been taking his daily walk/runs on the treadmill lately as he has switched to a mostly evening schedule.  He was feeling the pain, so I hope he realizes that he has to get back on the horse. . . so to speak.

This was before.  He wasn't so happy after.  He's cute though, right?

Shelby and I finished the week with twelve miles on the Towpath.  Twelve sweaty, humid, muggy, and sometimes rainy miles.  The first nine miles were almost effortless; we chatted so much that we didn't feel any sort of discomfort.  Then, at mile 9 it kicked in.  Suddenly we were very quiet. . .too quiet.  Shelby likes to run ahead of me in the last miles; she calls it "smelling the barn" (Horse people are weird).  I think this is a great challenge for me because my energy tends to lag big time in the last miles.  Luckily for me, Shelby knows what I'm thinking when I stop talking, and she turned to me in the last mile and shouted back, "This is not one of those runs where you think about running a marathon later."  Thank you.  That was EXACTLY what I was thinking, as in, "How in the HELL will I run 14.2 MORE MILES on marathon day?"  So, I listened to the boss and stopped thinking about it.  Instead I thought about ginger beer.

Highlights:

A nice breeze in the last miles as it started to cool down a bit.

A huge snapping turtle.

This is not EXACTLY the snapping turtle we saw.  I was afraid to stop and take his picture because he was telling me he would bite my toes off if I did stop.

As a Bondi Band Ambassador, I was lucky enough to receive my first pair of compression socks.  I'm wearing them now to recover.  The first time I tried them on, I was in heaven!

It's like a thousand fingers massaging my legs!  And they are animal print!

I love these socks.  I wear them after my intervals, tempos runs, and long runs.  I already knew I love Bondi Band headbands, but now that I know I love compression wear, I may be their best customer.  If you want to purchase any Bondi Band products, use my code (TroubleRun) to get a 10% discount.  Check out the cool designs on the compression socks--argyle! pirates!

My real challenge starts next week, Peeps.  I'm going down South to visit the family, and I've got to keep up the training. Will I survive the heat and humidity?  I know I can do short runs in that kind of weather; I'm worried about my long runs.  We shall see.

Until then, run happy, Peeps!

Like what you read?  Follow me on Twitter @itibrout!