That's what runners do; they run. If you're not feeling well, you run; if it's lousy weather, you run, and if you're under stress, you obviously go for a run. You run to clear your head. You run to ease the ache in your muscles, and you run just so you can breathe a little fresh air.

No matter what else is going on, there's always time for a run.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Vacation --Stir crazy

Since I work for a university, I have the the week between christmas and new year's off every year.  Having the week vacation is great because it is typically much needed, however since I do not have much planned this vacation I am starting to get a little stir crazy.   If you haven't noticed, I am not a person who sits still well, between me and my husband we are always on the go.  

Monday was nice because my husband, SIL SB, and  I got to run some errands together and exchange/return somes gifts.  Tuesday was also nice because I met Heather and SB for a workout at the gym.  I did 8 miles on the bike and a little under a mile  on  the stair stepper thingy and abs workout (much needed).   Then I did some clean-up around my house and finally met my Dad and SIL for a run in the late afternoon.  Today, I had absolutely no plans and didn't know what I was going to do all day at home however my sister came to the rescue and asked if I wanted to go the Beagle club with her and hike around as her two beagles ran some rabbits.  It was a pretty cold and windy day but it felt nice to be outside in the fresh air.   After the beagles were done running rabbits, Heather and I met up with my Dad and SB for a late afternoon run.  The afternoon run felt really good, it was alittle chilly and wind but more fresh air  

The only plans, I have for tomorrow are to go to the gym at 8 am with SB other than that I am not sure what I will get into yet.  My little sister mentioned that I could always go up and visit her and my cutie pie niece, which does sounds pretty tempting.   My niece said on the phone earlier today, that she wanted to go shoppin'.   She is soo cute!!!    

QOTD:  What do you do to help with being stir crazy? 

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Merry Christmas (belated)

Merry Christmas!!  Hard to believe that Christmas has already come and gone.  It is a busy time for Mister and I.  Christmas Eve Eve, we had the "Gang" annual Chrismukkah party so we drove to Bloom for that and stayed the night since we didn't go to bed till 4 in the morning.  Christmas eve with spend the evening with his family to celebrate christmas.  We did appetizers for dinner, exchanged gifts and went to Candlelight service, went to visit Mister's Aunt, and then we drove home. 

Christmas morning we woke up and went to church which was surprisingly empty.  Then we were off to my parents house for the annual Christmas breakfast tradition and my parents were hosting dinner.  My niece was adorable for christmas.  The first gift she opened was a wooden train the my pap made for her.  She LOVED this train, she didn't want to open any other gifts she wanted to play with her train. She kept call it is a Train Truck but she loved it. 

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Christmas Cookie Tradition

After we did the train ride and the boys were done hunting, we got together for the annual cookie baking night.  Everyone brings the batter or ingredients for a cookie or a couple types of cookies.  Then we get started with getting them on cookie trays and start making and continue the assembly line of cookie making until we are out of cookie dough. 

Check out our big helper while making cookies:

Yes, I was taste tester and ate some cookie dough to make sure it was safe for everyone

She wanted a scrapper in every color to use

Only two of the 4 or 5 different kinds we had.

We had another successful cooking baking night and have gotten to enjoy them the past week.

Christmas through the eyes of a 2 yr old

Wow, time sure does fly!  Well things have been busy around there for November and so far into December.  Thanksgiving came and went to quickly and I didn't get a chance to reflect and write down how thankful I am for my amazing husband, family and friends.  God has truly blessed me and my family and friends.

Well it has been hunting season since the Monday after Thanksgiving.  It has been a long 12 yers for my husband however he finally shot his first doe and on the last day of the season he actually shot his second doe.  His hunting luck is finally changing.  My SIL, SB also has her luck change for her as well and she shot her first huge doe. Use this link to read more about her hunting story.  So we have been busy processing the deer to make into hamburger, steaks, jerky, bologna, and canned some too. 

To get into the christmas spirit we took my neice on the Polar Express train ride.  She loved it.  She loved looking out the window and she loved seeing Santa however her was a little diappointed when he didn't give her a Jingle when he came throught the train. 

Here are some pictures from our train ride.
Eating some popcorn while we are starting out and sitting on Auntie HeyHey's lap

Enjoying the train ride

Handing her ticket over to be punched

Fun on the train ride with Great Aunt Evie and Auntie HeyHey!
Overall, everyone had a great time on the train ride and will do it again next year.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Happy Feet

It was a short week for me this week. I took Thursday and Friday off as vacation. Thursday and most of Friday, I watched my beautiful niece, she is soo much fun. Then it was Friday Family Fun Run with just the girls (HeatherSue, Scuba, SB and Ella Beans) since my dad was on vacation and out hunting.

It was a chilly and windy day so we did the normal loop around my apartment but backwards. As we were running the loop, I told my is Heather Sue that she has happy feet. She laughed at me and ask when did her feet start talk to me. I don't know what it is about her feet (stride) but they always keep happy when we run on Friday's, maybe its the fact that is the weekend they are so happy. She also probably laughed at me because this is was not the first time I told her I thought she had happy feet when running. I may be going crazy/gone crazy already (..for years) or I enjoy having more footsteps running with me. I love having my sisters and dad interested in runnning, they are my motivation to keep running and to stay in shape.

My feet were happy again this weekend with another road race. My SIL is a Girls on the Run (GOTR) Coach and another local GOTR chapter was doing their 5k race of the year so we went down to support that and help her get ideas for their Spring 5k. Scuba and I ran and placed first and second respectively in the race. I also started off the race with my SIL's girl until she caught up to us on the roller blades. It was a pretty nice easy course with some hills.

We have one more road race coming up next week, the Turkey Trot then I am think I will have a couple weekends off from races before the Frostbite 5Miler in December. It will be nice and strange not having a race after next weekend since I have been running a 5k race every weekend since the beginning of October.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

That never happens for me.

Today my Dad, Mister and I ran the annual Habitat for Humanity 5K race sponsored by the local college.  It is not always the most organized race but we like the course so we do it every year.   It was a beautiful fall day for the race.  SB was there to cheer us on while she is taking some time off to let her injury heal and she was our photographer today.  

During the first loop and half I was 4th female finisher then the one Dr.'s Wife passed going up the one hilll while  was stuggling with my breathing.  However, I stopped briefly to recover my breathing and then picked up the pace again because I wanted to hold on to my 5th female finisher (other than the other weekend when I was the 4th female finisher but there was only 35 runners and walkers.....being in the top 5 female finisher never really happens for me).  I pushed it hard to keep my 5th place and was able to finish the race in 25:22.

My Dad went back to bring Mister in and he was doing very well.  He finished the race in 30:35, which is pretty darn good for not training ever!

The other that never happens for me that I got first in the 20-29 Age group for female finishers.  I believe this is my second first place award I have ever gotten....So its been a good day and a good race. 

P.S. I was 15 seconds faster this year then I was last year and two minutes faster then 2 years ago. Mister was 1 minute and 20 seconds faster than last year. 

Now its time to get cleaned up and off to eat a late lunch/early dinner with the in-laws.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Big question: Why?

The big three letter word....Why?  It is one of the first questions we learn in life and continue to use it all the time.  We also question: Why is the sky blue?, Why is the grass green?,  and Why does bad things have to happen to good people?

The last question is the one that I am struggling with the most right now.  And the reason I am struggling with this question is accumlation of several things:  5 years ago, Mister (my husband) lost his mom to leukemia, a week before our wedding my husband's sister's fiance was killed in a car accident, a third cousin of my husband passed way last weekend and just yesterday we got the news that my husband's uncle was killed in a work accident.   

So the new question we have been asking is: has become hasn't this family being through enough death and loss of loved ones in the past 6 years?   Myself, family and friends are asking ourselves and Our Creator this very question.   I think my husband has a good response to this questions: 
Yes we have weathered many storms as a family...
But with God as our rock and friends and family as our shelter, we will continue standing as we always have.

Please keep the Mowery family in your thoughts and prayer while they are going through this difficult time.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Sucker...

....for family time. I must say that I am big on spending time with my family anyway I can get it. I have been blessed the past two weekends to get lots of sister time in. Two weekends ago now, I got to run a 5k Race with my SIL, Sarah, it was her first race since her seizure. After the race, we had brunch together and did some retail therapy. When I say retail therapy for most people it would mean going out and purchasing whatever they want not depending on cost however, for me retail therapy is about finding some good deals and we were able to do that. We got nice compression capri's for cheap and free running sleeves.

This past week and weekend I got some extra older sister(HeyHey) time in. I was having a new washer and dryer delivered last Tuesday so I worked from home (one nice perk about my job) and I was able to meet her and my dad for an early run (earlier than normal run time with my travels to work). And then again on Friday, we (my dad, my sister and sil) meet to do a stretch our run before our race. Saturday, was our Monster Dash so my sister, sil and I arrived at the same time and all had a very nice race. Then we went back to my sister's place and got cleaned up and went to have lunch and watch Footloose and did some more window and sale shopping. Our husbands/boyfriend are all hunters so we were "hunter's widow" for the next month or so. I don't have any problems with that since I love get my sisters time.

Also this past weekend, my husband and I traveled with my parents to see my little sister(Scuba); bil and beautiful, silly niece (love that little girl). We traveled to a middle location to have a late lunch and celebrate my mom's birthday again. We got to sit and chat and enjoy the time with my sister, bil and niece. We even is a walk around town and my husband and I walked with my niece between us and would swing her every so often, she even got into counting for us and let us know when she wanted to swing.

Since it was my mom's birthday on Friday, my brother thought it would be a good idea to take some dinner and dessert out to my parent’s house to celebrate my mom. So my brother and sil ordered and picked up the Chinese for dinner and mister and I picked up the ice cream cake.

Looking forward to the upcoming weekend, when my little sister, niece will be down for the weekend so even more family time....YAY!!!! Hopefully we can get a campfire in and we will have another 5k race this weekend tooo.

A sister is a gift from God, sent from above to make life worthwhile here below.

I <3 my sister more than all the swedish fish in the world and to the moon and back. They have been with me through the good, the bad and the ugly.  I hope they know that I am there for them just the same they have been for me. 


QOTD: Do you take family time anyway you get it?

Saturday, October 22, 2011

New to Blogging

Hello!! I am a newbie to blogging. I have been following my sister and my sister in law for around a year now on their blog's and many other blog’s and thought about creating one too, however I never feel like I have anything to say. But I finally gave in and created my blog.  I figured I would use it to tell family and friends about some of my running, life and family adventures.

A little bit about me: I am a newlywed got married to my wonderful husband on 9.10.11. My husband and I have been together for 6 years hard to believe it has been that long already. I am an instructional designer for the World Campus. I design and maintain online courses that students take all over the world.

I got hooked on running when I was in high school and my older brother and I signed up to do cross country. I have never been the fastest runner, however I enjoy it. I have been through many injuries (patellofemoral syndrome, stress fracture, broken toe and shin splints) but I have been able to overcome and recover from those injuries. The best part of running is that many of my family members enjoy it as well (hence the blog name). My Dad would run our training runs with us in high school and was hooked from then on.  We even got my little sister hooked on running too and later my older sister caught the running bug too. My little sister met my SIL in college on the cross country team so she fit right in with us.