Donuts & Sports Bra's

I bought donut holes for the first time in a very long time yesterday. They just called my name as I walked by, and Lindsay was having a friend spend the night, so I thought it would be cool to have something fun for breakfast. I also knew I'd be leaving "early" for a run and wouldn't be around to actually fix breakfast. So, I bought one wonderful box of sugared donut holes.

I love donuts. I seriously have wonderful memories associated with donuts as well. Like in high school when we had early morning meetings on Tuesdays for YFC and my friend Jess and I would always get one at Tidyman's on our way there. Or when I moved back to Missoula after college and was studying the Bible with a great group of gals--it seems we always had donut holes for those studies. And somehow there'd almost always be a box of donut holes at the single women quiet time's we would have in my other friend Misti's duplex.  (Hmm, I'm finding a spiritual connection here, maybe eating donuts is sorta spiritual!? hee hee) And then as an adult with kids, sometimes the "be good at the grocery store and I'll get you a treat" treat was a donut or cookie.  Unfortunately, ever since I figured out how seriously unhealthy they are, I stopped buying them. They seriously are unhealthy! But even health food rules are made to be broken once in a while, and so I have enjoyed every single bite of donut hole that I've taken today. They are sooo good.

They are especially good when paired with a warm americano and eaten after running four miles, I've found. I got to run with my running gals this morning for the first time since my injury, and it was great. Once again, we were blessed with perfect weather, and my legs were happy, so it was all good. Oh, and what made it even better? The fact that I finally found a sports bra that is not only comfortable but also supports in all the right ways. I've been looking for quite some time for a sports bra. Actually I've been searching for both a sports bra and an everyday bra that I love. I may have found the everyday one, but the jury is still out. I have definitely found the sports one. Hallelujah! I don't know what it is, but I have a love/hate relationship with bras. Scratch that, I totally hate them. Hate that I have to wear one. Hate that they are always uncomfortable. Hate how much I have to spend to get a good one. Love when its time to put my pj's on and take the horrid thing off!

Anyway, I think I've found a good sports one. It's made by Moving Comfort. It's got no cotton in it, which helps reduce chafing. It's got adjustable straps that don't itch. It's got the hook/eye closure on the back so you avoid the "I'm stuck in my sports bra" entanglement of trying to pull some of them over your head. It's even kind of pink. I've worn it twice now for longish runs and its felt great and supported well. I'm so glad to have found a bra that works for running!!

Let's do this thing!

As said by Linguini in the movie, "Ratatouille" when he's ready to cook with Remy...can you hear it? "Look, I know it's stupid and weird, but neither of us can do this alone, so we got to do it together, right? You with me? So let's do this thing!"

That's how I feel about Bloomsday, and more specificallly the hill lovingly referred to as "Doomsday" hill. I'm as ready now as I'll ever be for it, I think. My running buddies and I ran today--half of us did 6 miles, the other half did 7 miles--all of us did the hills around our house, including a one mile long one that wants only to be Doomsday. It was torturous and I felt like throwing up but I did it. We didn't stop and we didn't walk, we ran the whole dang thing. And even better, we're all still alive to tell about it. That's two weeks in a row of this route and we're pumped that we can do it. We're gonna do it again next weekend, and then the weekend after that, well its the race. I can't believe it is so close, yikes! I get nervous just thinking about it--I've not ever run a race that is as big of a deal as this one. Running the half marathon is longer, sure, but its flat and it doesn't have over 50,000 runners. I walked Bloomsday once back in high school but that was so long ago its a miracle I even remember doing it, and besides walking is so different (for me) from running.

Even though I'm nervous, I feel ready. My running legs are in the best shape than they've ever been in and my lungs are too. And I'm grateful for my running buddies, they've been right there training with me and they are ready too. It's gonna be awesome to run with them. And its even awesomer (is that a word?) that two gals that are sort of new to my running group are doing it too. Neither have done a race this big or a distance this far. Today B ran the 6 mile hill route and it was her longest run ever and, honestly, she did awesome. I was so excited and proud of her. I love seeing women pushing themselves to push and realize how much they are capable of doing. It's so rewarding.

Oh, and that lovely pink camelbak? I am in love. I love it. I had water the whole time and it was wonderful. It tasted like plastic though, I would love advice on how to get rid of that! And I was able to carry my house key, phone and some powergel and the pak didn't bother me one little bit. I think next weeek I'll try putting my elekrolyte drink in there instead of water and forego the gel, it made me feel sick. I'm going to love that thing on longer runs, like when we start doing ten milers. Yay for new running gear that actually works! :0) I'm stoked and quite sweaty, time for a shower and a snack!

Smokin' Shoes

I found my new favorite store. It's a specialty store for runners and has anything & everything you could possibly want or need for running wear. I stopped by there yesterday with my sister to check out the sale that I'd gotten a postcard about. I hadn't ever been there before because its downtown and I really don't enjoy driving (but mostly parking) downtown, so I just hadn't ventured there yet. But, I'll need a new pair of shoes here any mile, and I had heard great things about how they help you find the right shoe for you, so that combined with the possiblity of the shoes being on sale was enough to prompt me to go.

It was pretty cold yesterday so there weren't too many folks around downtown, the traffic seemed dead and I could count the pedestrians on one hand, so I was feeling optimistic. Once we figured out where the shop was, I drove around the block in search of a parking space, which is the hardest thing for me about being downtown since I don't parallel park, at all. I pulled into an angled spot, but my sister complained about having to walk that far in the cold, so I continued around the block to the front and lo and behold, there, smack dab in front of the store was a spot! Not just one spot, but the whole side of the street was empty! WOOHOO! I pulled right up and we were in the store.

Inside we were greeted by snacks put out by teh door, sale racks and very helpful salespeople. The owner (who is really nice and I know his wife, who is a sweetheart) was right there to help me find the right shoe for me (which I learned is one with a bit of control to help keep me from getting shin splints!) at a really decent price--like almost half of what I paid for a similar shoe (actually same brand but without all the bells and whistles) at the mall. I was super excited. I walked around to check out the rest of the store and picked out a couple other items on sale, but mostly I fell in love with all the "special runner's stuff" I saw. For some odd reason, it kind of helped reignite an excitement in me for running again, well, that and the fact that since I've actually been running again, I can run 30 minutes again without dying. :-) I'm looking forward to doing some of the fun runs that they do around here in the spring and summer. I'm really tempted to make a goal that has something to do with the half or full marathon that will happen here in July, but am not sure if I want to attempt that much yet. I have failed at that goal twice already before (not at the actual race, but in my training) and I dont want to fail again, so I need to think it through a bit more before I shoot for that again, I think.

So, last night we got together with our family group and had cake for Erik's birthday (Jess made a killer wacky cake with cute four wheelers on top) and then played the game "Smoker's Wild". Its a weird game from the 70's that was produced in Canada and is all about anti-smoking. Players have to resist influence and advertising to stay nonsmokers as they move around a "life line" and deal with an insurance agent, tobacco company, doctor & undertaker. Basically, the game is over when someone "dies" and the winner is whoever is lower on the life-o-meter, which last nigth was a tie between me & Sonja. Woohoo. :0) It was pretty funny.

I will close this with an image from breakfast this morning. We all had eggs that Erik whipped up, but Kera, who chose instead to have cinnamon toast. Nothing says YUM like cinnamon toast...