I Have Run

I know there is still one day left in March, but I'm summing up the month a day early and posting my April goals now in hopes of motivating myself by putting in black and white what I need/want to do. Since I didn't have any specific running goals for March, other than to run as much as possible, I'll skip the running recap. Next month will be different though. There will be a plan and the plan will be followed. Current Book: The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon . The Shadow of the Wind was excellent, and Angel's is not disappointing. In fact, if I hadn't borrowed it from my brother, it would be marked up by now. And I am not typically a person who highlights and marks up her books, in spite of my English degree/background. I finally finished Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. It took sooooo long. It is a long book, but it just never drew me in. I would give it a 2.5 out of 5 stars. Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure: Putting the RUNNERD store together. O

I finished the Cupcake Marathon (in my case HALF marathon) last week. I forgot to send a photo of myself with my "bib" so I decided to post it on here. I am terrible when it comes to taking pics of myself; even worse when I attempt it with my phone, as you can tell from the pic. I never remember to take a picture post-run, so you get this instead. A very tired, post-allergic reaction (keep reading) shot. What allergic reaction? Well, I was diagnosed with chronic ear infections (yes, both ears) this morning and have an appointment next week with an ENT/otolaryngologist (say that fast three times; I can't even say it slowly once) . In the meantime, I was prescribed amoxicillin. About five minutes after I take it, my nose, eyeballs, throat and inner ears start itching like CRAZY, and it lasts about 20-30 minutes. I started to suspect an allergy to amoxicillin when I took it at the end of last year for an ear infection (of course). Then I really had to wonder when my B

The Princess has been walking around the house singing a mash-up of these two songs. The first one is great. The second, in spite of Jimmer crushes all around at our house, is a little disturbing. Especially the part about seeing him in his shorts. Yet hearing my girl sing: Teach me how to Jimmer. Teach me, teach me how to Jimmer. I love you Jimmer! = AWESOMENESS.

Today is about WINNING. And no, I'm not jumping on the Charlie Sheen bandwagon. However, can you believe his tour could put $7 million in his pockets? Who knew turning your life into a train wreck could be so profitable. Not that I'm suggesting it. Instead, just take up running. Anyhow, as far as WINNING goes, the person Random.org chose to take home some 2Toms booty (ha, ha, get it, booty ) is: Jen @ Why I Run Congrats Jen! Please send your mailing info to me at ihaverun@hotmail.com . And a big thanks to Kristin and everyone at 2Toms for hosting this giveaway and for making awesome products. Now the rest of you get out there and keep winning at whatever it is you do!

Since I've now told at least a dozen people why I spent just over 24 hours in Sacramento last week, you might as well know too. It's nothing amazing or mysterious. But it was supposed to answer some questions and help the hubs and me come to a decision. A work decision. I am totally grateful that my hubs has a good job and that the decision is just a matter of a potential job change, but that hasn't made the decision any easier. The new job would require a lot of travel, and it's hard to weigh the sacrifices and benefits of each offer. And while Sacramento didn't miraculously bring the answers I needed, it did bring a few other things. Our original travel itinerary had us traveling Friday/Saturday. That meant Friday doing work stuff and Saturday doing fun stuff. At the last minute, the plan changed to a Thursday/Friday itinerary. So Thursday meant going on a quick office tour followed by dinner and lots of talk. Shop talk. When we finally headed back to the hotel,

This past few months haven't been terrifically easy around my house. To say the past 90 or so days have tried my patience is quite the understatement. As a family, we've had some big decisions to make. And it seems each time a decision is made, new factors come into play that make us question our decision. Add that to the fact that Livingstons (my maiden name) are ridiculously bad at making decisions (we don't make BAD decisions, we just can't make them in the first place), and it has been quite the ride. I'm not trying to be vague; I'm just not ready to get into details. The reason I am sharing this is because the craziness of our lives is taking me to Sacramento this weekend. And I'm counting on my Saturday run to help keep me sane. So if you know any great places to run in Sacramento or live there and want a running buddy Saturday morning, let me know. In the meantime, be sure to enter my 2Toms Giveaway .

After two lame, pathetic, lackluster weeks of running, I woke up excited to run yesterday. And today, I wore my running clothes all morning in anticipation of my nap time run today. Even in spite of sore glutes and tired quads from getting in some P90X Core Synergistics last night, I couldn't wait to get moving on Millie. I am a planner. Today I had a plan to get my run in while my girls slept, and my day was organized accordingly. I am also a creature of habit. The first thing I do when I roll out of bed every single day is make my bed and my girls' beds. If I do something else first, it throws off the entire morning. I am a creature of habit when it comes to my running routines as well. There are a few things that differ depending on whether I am running on Millie or outside, whether my girls are asleep or not, and whether or not they are joining me in the jogger. Yet, no matter when, where, how far or with whom I run, some things are always the same. My hair goes into a pon

The other day, someone asked me if I am a runner. I replied yes, and then said, "I know I don't look like a runner." Ummmm, what? As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I wanted someone to slap me. And I am not one for violence. In fact, our house is a no spanking, no slapping, no hitting zone. I don't have abs like Shalane Flanagan's, a booty like Kara Goucher's or legs like Paula Radcliffe's. Because of running, I do have a smaller booty, sweet definition in my legs and am working on the abs. But what really matters is I am blessed with a strong, healthy body that allows me to be a runner. And for the record, I do look like a runner. If you've spent much time wandering around the running blogosphere or have lined up next to hundreds (or thousands) of runners at the starting line of a race, you've seen proof that I look like a runner. And you look like a runner. So if those words ever come out of my mouth again, someone please slap me. A

Is it Wednesday yet? For some reason, I had in my mind that the giveaway would end today. So sorry for the delay. I hope none of you waited up until all hours of the night for this post. Welcome to the new followers! I'll be checking out your blogs ASAP! And I hope you'll stick around, even though there aren't awesome arm sleeves up for grabs anymore. You can however get a pair from INKnBURN right now . And if you haven't checked out their shirts yet, do that now . In fact, you can get free shipping and two free glow in the dark RUN or DIE bracelets with your order this month by using the checkout code MarchMad. Now for the the moment you've patiently been waiting for (since yesterday). I stopped by Random.org this morning and let it do the difficult job of selecting the winners. So here's what Random.org decided.... Winner of the "HIS" sleeves: Iron Mike Winner of the "HERS" sleeves: RunKnitRun Winner of the bracelet: Sara Than

It's my turn to do the ABC's that have been making their way around the blogosphere. So here goes... A- Age [of The Princess after yesterday]: FIVE!!! (I'm in denial about my own age) B- Bed Size: King. We tried to go back to a Queen, but Rowdy made sure that didn't last. C- Chore you hate: Doing our taxes. And it's that time again. D- Dogs: Rowdy. Boston Terrier. Not sure he's a dog though, or at least he thinks he is a person. E- Essential Start Your Day Item: Seeing my girls. F- Favorite Color: Pink, of course. G- Gold or Silver: White gold or platinum H- Height: 5'7" I- Instruments you play: Piano & flute J- Job Title: Freelance writer/editor, Mom K- Kids: Two beautiful, amazing girls L- Live: Utah M- Mom’s Name: Mom or Grandma N- Nicknames: Mom, Candi (unless you want me to respond), Runner Barbie (courtesy of Tall Mom Mel) O- Overnight Hospital Stays: Two [when my girls were born] P- Pet Peeve: Hearing people chew their food Q

Thanks to Lady Gaga for that reminder during my run this morning. Five years ago, I became a queen when I was entrusted with my princess. Happy 5th Birthday to my Princess!!

Monday I tried out the P90X Core Synergistics after a short 3-mile run. When I finished, I wasn't too tired and didn't suspect I would be too sore. I don't know if it is because it works such a large group of muscles, but I just wasn't sure it was going to do its job. I was wrong. My inner thighs hurt the day after, I didn't even really remember doing much to work them. I felt a little soreness in my glutes during my Tuesday run. And my abs are still a touch sore today, three days later. I think I'm going to be revisiting that P90X workout often. I didn't end up running yesterday because The Princess had a program at school so I spent my usual running time making myself presentable to be seen in public. Then nap time was spent getting caught up on some work. I will run today though, even if it means I don't get around to cleaning the toilets until midnight. I did get some crosstraining in already today though. I spent an hour with my girls at Jump On