A New Spark

Oh, hey!

It's been (almost) two months.  My lack of posting has never gotten quite this bad, but I am really hoping to update here more frequently if at all possible.  For that, I'm going to have to make some new rules:

1.  Quick posts are better than no posts
2.  Lack of proper formatting is now okay
3.  Keep it real, yo

I have been occasionally throwing up stuff on twitter and facebook, but I think this ol' blog is still good for something.

I have some exciting new goals and news and I think it will be more important to just get stuff down and worry about the "pretty" stuff later.  So here goes unfiltered TST!  Hold onto your hats, kids!

First off: Mother's Day is pretty much awesome.  Woke up to breakfast in bed with my two kiddies and their awesome daddy that involved many different combinations of chocolate chip pancakes and lots of coffee.  I'm off to a Mother's Day spin class at Psycle (my fave indoor studio) soon.

What have I been doing lately?  In no particular order:

1. Being Mommy and Wife as best as I can
2. Being friend as much as possible
3.  Teaching my butt off

The APUSH test is Wednesday.  I will be very, very happy when it's over.  Possibly even happier than them.  They don't believe me, but I swear I worry about it more than they do!

What else have I been doing?  Here is a sample:

Mr. "Doc" Unger, a WWII-Veteran and former P.O.W., speaks to my students about his experiences

We heart play-doh

Bug and his little buddy Norah race for the ball

Hambone

Mom's Day

Easter Morning

Bean on her balance bike

Sunny girl

My homies in the 'Noog

Lots of fun training at CAMP this year!

 We are also in two weddings coming up soon:  my brother and my brother-in-law in June and July and Ohio and Mexico, respectably.  It will be ridiculously fun!

So things have been busy, but mostly good busy.  A few challenges thrown in for good measure, of course.  I've made a few decisions on racing that are still of course subject to change based on the way the wind blows, but right now, here's what I'm looking at.

Next weekend, I'll be leading the Pace Team for the sub-2 Half-Marathon group at the Cleveland Marathon!  I am super excited about this.  I love pacing and it's been a few years since I've done it.

I also am in the process of getting my Evotri Mommy Tris Too group going again.  I'm in the recruitment process right now so stay tuned on that!

Finally, I know I mentioned I lost a pretty big chunk of weight.  With that has come faster running times with the same effort.  I've been looking back through my log and its pretty remarkable and exciting, too.  Who knew, right?  This old dog might have a few new tricks up her sleeve.  So aside from racing a few local tris and attempting not to embarrass myself at Nationals this summer, I have officially changed my mind on Rev3.  I just, quite simply, do not have the money to race a 70.3 this year.  It is absolutely not possible.  So what's cheaper than a 70.3 but still a challenge within reach?

Here is is: you heard it here first, folks:  I will be racing the Columbus Marathon in October.  And I bet you can guess what my goal is.

I'm feeling really confident on my run lately and have been shocking the heck out of myself.  For example, last Tuesday, after Bug's soccer practice, I did a tempo run and beat a 5-mile PR I set at Malachi probably 7 years ago.  On a Tuesday night.  After dinner.  And soccer practice.

My long runs shock me almost weekly.  Yesterday I ran 12 miles with 4 of them at sub-8.

So the fire has been lit again for one more go at it.  The time is the same for me now that I'm in the 35-year range--back at 3:40--kind of wishing it was 3:45 like it used to be, but whatever.  Bring it.

It's good to be back, and I hope some of you want to come along for the ride.  Giddyup!