Blueberry Picking

Happy Saturday! I'm excited to write my first post :)

This will be place for me to track my running, give advice, and provide motivation.  But I will also share tidbits of my everyday life.  My first post will be just that, me living my life. 

 We started our morning off by sleeping in til 7:30! Cole has been waking up between 5:45-6:15 every morning so it felt great.

Chris typically has practice every morning from 6-9 or10. It was nice to have him home this morning.  After a lazy morning and breakfast we got ready and headed out to a blueberry farm.

I cannot believe how cool it has been. It is only 68 today. I love this cooler weather.  Cole was loving picking blueberries for the first half hour but then decided sticks are more fun. He is such a boy.

So onto running..

I am currently training for the 2013 Chicago Marathon.  However, since having Cole I have been having hip/sciatica issues.  I have been doing lunges, squats, bridges, and leg lifts to help strengthen my hips but it's been a battle. 

I spent the past 6 weeks coaching endurance camp 3 times a week with beginning runners; ages 10-13.  I absolutely loved the 24 kids I worked with.   They were so motivated and so eager to get up and run.

Although, I think running at a different pace has been causing pain in my shins.  Three weeks ago I had an MRI because the pain in my right shin hurt to even walk. The MRI showed a lot of stress but the doctor said it was severe shin splits.  I was asked to come back for another MRI because my left shin showed what looked like a stress fracture. Odd. My right shin hurts not the left. I've been taking more rest days and stretching, icing and wearing compression. I'm a bit nervous of the 14 miler this weekend. We will see how it goes. I'll recap the run later.

Last Sunday (July 21st) I ran the Rock n Roll Chicago Half Marathon. I was nervous but used KT tape and wore my compression socks.   It went better than I thought, but I am still having pain. 
(official time:1:37:05)

This was my sister-in-law's first half marathon and she totally rocked it!  PS she has lost over 100lbs and is such a motivation.  So proud of her! 

My sister also ran.  This was her 2nd half marathon, and she PRed by a good 10 minutes.  It was a great Sunday morning. 

Chris ran too.  He brought a group of his high school runners to run their first half.  These girls and boys amaze me.  Chris ran with his top girl and she ran a 1:27!!  Amazing!

This past Friday:  

Chris took his team to run the Cross Country State course in Peoria for a night run. All schools in IL are invited to bring their runners to run. One of his girls was 1 second off from the First Place State time. For the 3 mile course she ran a 16:51. Crazy, huh?  His runners amaze me.

 The girls took 1st and boys 2nd. Great start to the season!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful rest of their Saturday!  I'll be back to recap my run:)