Running happy consistently 🎃 and happy Halloween

The last two days I have experienced a change in my running- for the first time in a long long time- I’ve actually enjoyed it- had fun on my runs!! I’m sure cooler temps and eye candy(aka fall foliage ) have a lot to do with it 

I am unsure why I had such a blah attitude when I ran- just felt it wasn’t fun anymore and I did it out of obligation to my health or identity - because I knew I should etc - but today and yesterday both run I felt a shift in my thoughts like hmm this isn’t bad- I’ll just float up this hill... 

where before I’d be like “oh God—- this sucks.”  Why do I do this to myself? Etc- soo perhaps it could be shift in thinking- and better fitness combined - who knows? All I know is I’m excited that the fun aspect has returned for me! 

I have been using both my garmin and my Apple Watch to track my runs- 

I’m excited to feel my appetite for running return and as Karl Meltzer told me when he coached me last year: “if running is hard for you, you need to do more of it for it to get easy.”  Pretty sound advice! 

Today is Halloween! We are very excited for trick or treaters! And to watch scary movies and have a taco bar!! 

Both kids just want to hand out candy this year! 

Here are some pictures from my run yesterday and a shot of me just finishing my run this morning : 

Yes I look sad  or traumatized 😂 but I’m not just was trying to breathe 😆 

Jack and Todd dressed up for school - Jack was a tacky tourist and Todd it was career day and he is a civil engineer 

Jack with his Veterans Day project he made for

School 

Pumpkin carving party!!!

As promised!! Here is my post about my Halloween get together I hosted!! We all had so much fun- it was such a great group of girls- and I’m so extremely lucky to have such amazing,  intelligent,strong,beautiful friends ♥️ we were treated to pretty views of the fall foliage and enjoyed each other’s company, and yummy fall foods! 

Me with vast majority of my favorite women of swva!!! Love you all 😘

Our pumpkins!! 

It’s an orb 😂 it’s really smoke but when I took the picture I claimed it was a ghost 👻 

Camille’s beautiful “la Luna e las Estrellas”

 Laura, robins and Kate’s handiwork 

 Beth’s executioner 

 Beth is the pumpkin carving wizard 

 Jack and Todd free handed their pumpkins as I did I 

Hard at work! 

 Me and mama bear!! 

 Gluten free pumpkin pie! 

Todd being edgey 
 

Me and my amazing friend Camille who handled hanging out with a cult of ultrarunning alpha females extremely well 

I had table decorations!! This was a swanky party 🎈 

End of the day I am just grateful I was able to share a happy evening with some really dynamic awesome ladies and definitely want to make us all getting together like this a regular occurrence♥️ mellow Monday day after masochist!! 

One of the coolest things I’ve done in 2018

 One of the coolest things that I’ve done this year was for my 40th birthday I did something I’ve never done before but always wanted to! I went snorkeling at a reef in the Florida Keys- to see “Christ of the Abyss” statue 

It’s located in John Pennekamp State Park in Key Largo, Florida 

http://pennekamppark.com/

I found out about it on Pinterest looking for ideas of things to do on our vacation and found tons of posts about the statue and decided that would be an amazing adventure! 

So- Brock and I went to a dive shop- bought some gear- nothing expensive- mask and snorkels and we rented out flippers - drove to the park-  

We looked around the park there were cannons reclaimed from some English ships(shipwrecks )from the 1700s 

We had stopped by the grocery store and got some things to make for a yummy picnic lunch 

And then we made friends with a friendly squirrel who wasn’t bashful in the least- I feel he was wanting to join in on the feast 

 was an hour boat ride out to the reef - we rode with about 50 other tourists- but it really wasn’t that bad- the tour guides gave a brief demo about how our vests worked and the rules and guidelines to follow for safety and to keep the reef as pristine and untouched  as possible  It was a little windy and choppy but I still found the experience very fun and enjoyable 

I took many pictures with my iPhone that had a plastic bag /pouche with a magnetic closure specifically for water sports - this worked beautifully for still shots- I found videos were a challenge ulitizing this method - we also used a go pro - 

Post dive we came back to our resort and cleaned up for an amazing dinner and beautiful sunset! Key sunsets are amazing ♥️

Another sunset shot from the gulf side- where our resort playa de largo was located 

 There was a manatee that would show up and swim with us everyday- we were careful to never touch him or give him fresh water etc- both are illegal did you know that? 


Us enjoying outside dining and watching the sun go down after an amazing day adventuring - this trip has made me definitely want to return to the keys to check out other dive locations and snorkel more- I’m

Completely happy I did something I had never done before- just went and did it- did I get boat sick?? Yes! But I didn’t hurl 😃

My obsession with decorating for fall

So this month I’ve been fully immersed in decorating for fall- more than I can ever recall?  

Its really just my front porch and dining room- but I think I enjoyed it as much as decorating for Christmas only more so! (Christmas triggers me like no other holiday I find it so stressful and hard emotionally (draining) so I’m def in the bah humbug crowd personally other than making sure my kids have an amazing time- and I enjoy going to my parents farm- other than that I’m counting the days until dec 26th so I can take the tree down and move on to New Years- (which I enjoy much better)  so I think that’s why I feel so good about fall- no pressure - it feels homey and safe 

Here are some of my fall decorations for this year 

Apologies for the non running content of this post- but it’s just something that makes me happy!! There are multiple

Facets that make up each individual So I wanted to share it- ♥️🎃
So call for comments: do you decorate for fall? Why or why not? Also what is your favorite season -and why? 

Band Mom and Date Night

We are having a busy weekend and I’m having a hard time sneaking in my workouts and runs- but that’s okay!!

My oldest son Jack is in band and it’s really kept us hopping this fall with games and competitions. He had a game on Thursday and today we travel to Pulaski, Va for jacks last competition of the season. It’s been so amazing to watch him grow and flourish just this year alone -

Here are some pictures from his game on Thursday 

And last night, because the game was moved to Thursday- Brock and I found ourselves with the rare opportunity to get to go to dinner together and have a date night!!  He works out of town pretty much Monday- Friday every week. Lately he has even had to work some weekends so it’s been - ugh- so freaking hard- I miss him terribly and the kids miss their dad as well. I completely appreciate how hard Brock works to provide an amazing life for us- and completely appreciative of the opportunities he has to make money but - we still miss him and want him home- over the moon happy when he comes home. 




I think we clean up just fine ♥️😁

Brock is tapering for mmtr 50 next weekend- and I’m so excited to get to crew for him and see all my friends at the race!! Going to Lynchburg ultras is like a big family reunion for me, as these ( along with WVMTR)are the first ultras I ran as a newbie ultrarunner and they are the ones I find myself going back to year after year because of the people and sheer positivity I experience running and crewing at their races!! 

Lastly and I know this will be a blog post later this weekend or Monday: I am having a party!!! I’m so excited- I decided I was isolating myself way too much and what better way to break out of that than to invite 5or 6 of the coolest chicks you know?! So Sunday afternoon- I’m hosting a pumpkin carving party- costumes optional (I’m dressing up!) and I can’t wait- all the ladies I invited are so unique and cool in their own rite- and best part each of them are my friends! Like real friends!  Like if I was hurt or sick or needed help I know I could call any of these women and they would be there without hesitation to help- and same me for them- So that feels soooo good to me- to gather a collective of people I adore like that! So I’ll keep you guys updated how the party goes and be sure to take pictures!! 

Hope your weekend is fantastic ♥️ hug your family, friends, dogs and kitties and tell them you love them- life is short!!