It’s the time of year where almost all of my runs are completed on the treadmill or in the dark hours of the morning/evening. I already talked about running on the treadmill, but running outside will always be my first love.

I have ran outside in the dark often but in the past I always ran with my husband or a group. Now that we have two little kiddos running together or with a group isn’t often an option.

Now that I am venturing out on my own I have really started to consider my safety while running in the dark. Here are a few of my favorites:

• One of my pieces of gear that makes me feel the most secure is my Run Angel. A Run Angel is a wearable safety alarm that is quite loud. If you set off the alarm then through your phone it will send an alert and your location to your angels (people you set up to get the alert). Wearing the Run Angel makes me feel much safer while out in the early morning hours on my own.
• This might be a given but I always run with my phone on me. I like the idea that I can stay in touch if needed. Also it’s great for run selfies and podcasts.

• Visibility is really important so I like to wear running gear with reflective tape and a reflective vest for extra visibility, I got this one for a really good deal and it doesn’t bother me at all while running.
• A good headlamp is also key. I really love my Petzl it has worked for me for years.
• I use an app called Glympse, it sends my location real time from my phone. I send my location to my husband when I leave for a run. This is great piece of mind for him knowing he can check in on me and be sure I am still moving in the direction I should be. This just gives me extra assurance if something were to happen someone would know about it.
• My favorite one that I currently don’t follow but hope to in the future. Run with a dog! Research shoes that you are much less likely to be attacked if you have a dog with you. I would love to get a breed of dog that can run with me, unfortunately the French Bulldog just isn’t down for morning runs.

It’s not fun thinking about what could happen but taking these precautions helps me enjoy running outside even when it’s dark.

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Happy Friday Everyone!!!

The last couple of days have been packed full of fun with these kiddos. Wednesday morning started early with a quick treadmill warm up then full body strength.

Then we packed up and went to our local library for story time. Cannon loves going and always helps me push Emerald’s stroller.

After lunch and naps we walked down to a park for some fun before Cory got home. It was colder than I was ready for but still worth it.

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Thursday morning was kicked off by 3 miles in the dark followed by stretching and good morning baby snuggles.

We were lucky enough to have a friend over for a playdate this morning. Cannon and his little friend are so cute together. They made a fort behind his chair and she “read” Good Night Moon to him.

Then Emmy had her nine month well check. A friend offered to watch Cannon so he didn’t have to tag along, he had a blast jumping in their indoor bounce house! I was excited to hear that everything looks good and Emmy is hitting all of her milestones nicely. The only shock is that she is so dang tall, still in the 91st percentile.

We grabbed Cannon and ran home for lunch.

I’m not sure if I should be ashamed that I had a frozen meal for lunch but this one from EVOL was so good and it’s nice to have something easy after juggling kids all morning. After naps Cannon seemed a bit frazzled so we decided it would be best to settle in for a movie as a storm rolled in. One of the best things in the world is to snuggle with Cannon, even if I have to bribe him with a movie. Boss Baby for him, snuggles for me, win-win.

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Do you run alone in the dark? Do you have any tips for staying safe?

Do you eat frozen meals, anyone old enough to remember calling them TV dinners? Haha!

Cannon is now 2 and 1/2 years old and I don’t even know where to start on an update for him. He is so fun, silly, sweet and moody, opinionated and his own little man. Cannon has strong ideas of what he wants and is definitely not a pleaser. As his mom that can make some things difficult and I do think that will serve him well later in his life.

Cannon is now 37.8 inches long (88% ) and 31 lbs 0 oz (68%).

EAT

Cannon is still a great eater. He will branch out and try some things although his diet is a very typical for a toddler. He loves pizza, mac n’ cheese, fruit, tomatoes, pouches, etc. There was a long stretch where Cannon would snack a bunch and eat little at meals. Luckily that has turned around and he is eating more at meal times. The most difficult thing about eating for Cannon is having to sit still. Whenever we go to play dates the other kids will eat snacks but Cannon is too busy playing to bother eating no matter how good the snacks are.

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SLEEP

I feel so so grateful that Cannon has always been a great sleeper. He typically sleeps from 7pm to 6am. If he wakes up earlier we leave him in bed unless he is crying or upset. One thing that helps a lot is that he is still in a crib. Most of my friends that have 2+ year olds have moved to beds but everyone says keep them in their cribs as long as possible so we are going with it. He can climb out of his crib but he doesn’t and that makes things so much easier.

The saddest update is that recently Cannon has started skipping his afternoon nap. About once a week he just won’t fall asleep. I cry thinking of him not taking a nap anymore. I was really hoping we would make it until he started school in August but now I don’t see that happening.

GROW

Cannon has grown so much in the last year and a half. Just a year ago he looked so much like a baby and now he looks like a boy.

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There was a teeny tiny worry that Cannon’s language was a bit behind. But his doctor always thought he would catch up by two years old. And of course she was right, his vocabulary exploded and he is right on track.

Now I am just looking forward to just spending as much time as possible with him before he starts school in August (cue all the mom tears).

PLAY

Play is everything to Cannon. Like most toddlers he is on the move all day long. Being outside is the best if you ask Cannon.

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Riding bikes, hiking, running, playing at the playground are all winners.

The biggest change in his life was the addition of his little sister last April. He is the best big brother ever, so gentle and sweet with Emerald.

I was really worried about how Cannon would handle switching from only child to big brother but he has done really well sharing attention and playing with Emmy.

I don’t want to paint an unrealistic picture, truthfully we are starting to deal with some big tantrums, it’s rare but this kid can let me know when he isn’t happy with what we are doing. The easiest way to get him to chill is to give him screen time and he LOVES it so I have to be careful that he doesn’t get too much.

He has grown and changed so much that sometimes I miss little baby Cannon. That said he is so much fun to be around and a helpful little boy.

Past Updates

1 Month

2 Months

3 Months

4 Months 

5 Months

6 Months

7 Months

8 Months

9 Months

10 Months

11 Months

12 Months

It was an exciting Tuesday around here…okay not really but it was a good day. It started out early with a run outside!

Just four miles but it was nice to be out even if I did feel cold for the rest of the day. Good news was I actually started to see the sunrise just as I was getting home.

After my run I headed to the optometrist. I have been a little worried about my eyes lately as they have been much more bloodshot than normal. I thought maybe I just needed more sleep or eye drops but they weren’t getting better. I was due for an appointment anyway so I went in to get checked out.

I was so relieved to hear that nothing had changed with my vision and that my eyes looked very healthy. No need for glasses (yet). I asked the doctor about the coloration in my eyes. He put some dye on them and gave me the diagnosis….very dry eyes. It was nice to hear it was nothing wrong with my health and the dryness is common here in Colorado and can be made worse from hormonal changes. So drops three times a day for me until they are better than maybe once a day.

After my appointment we ran some errands including a much needed carwash.

Cannon loved it so much, he kept yelling CAR WASH at me the rest of the day. Emerald didn’t cry and wasn’t upset by the experience so I call that a major win!

One of the kids current favorite things to do is get each other up from naps. Emerald loves hanging out in Cannon’s crib when he wakes up from his nap, he gives her hugs and it’s just the sweetest!

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With winter in full force and little daylight I have been running on the treadmill more often these days.

I am not as prolific a treadmill runner as some but I have put in my fair share of time on the treadmill. I think my longest treadmill run was 18 miles, and I actually didn’t mind it. I used to run on the treadmill much more and didn’t mind it much but lately it has been a bit of a struggle. So I thought about all the ways that I can make treadmill my best friend again.

• Just get on with it. Just a little tough love….but the more I run on the treadmill the less I dread it.
• Get your favorite drink – one of the bonuses is being able to have all your favorite drinks and snacks with you without having to carry them.
• Binge watch – Everyone loves a binge watch, right? I try to find a good show on Netflix or Amazon, then I only let myself watch it while on the treadmill. That way I can’t wait to get running to watch another episode. Right now I am watching Girlfriends Guide to Divorce.
• Change up your pace and incline – this one really helps me not to get stiff and bored. Changing up the pace and playing little speed games makes the miles fly by. Even if you are doing an easy run just changing the pace a little up and down keeps your legs fresh. Also changing the incline up and down (if your treadmill has a decline) just like running outside keeps my joints happy.
• Do workouts – treadmills are GREAT for workouts! it’s nice to be able to dial in the pace and know exactly how far you have gone. No staring at your watch to make sure you are hitting your paces, just set the speed and hold on tight!

What are your best tips for loving the treadmill? Please share!

BIG NEWS from us! Emmy pulled herself up and stood on her own for the first time today!

Okay, I know this is really only big news to Cory, me and my Mom but I had to share, she is growing up SO fast! Also she was properly motivated to stand so she could mess with Cannon’s train table, he looks very worries (as he should).

I got up at 5am to get a run in before the kids woke up. Emmy is getting better and sleeping closer to 6am now (score). I ran a couple miles on the treadmill before doing some lower body and core strength training. Doing shorter runs and leaving time for strength might be the only way it gets done.

I tried really hard to get Cannon to smile at me for this picture but apparently his Cheerios were much more interesting. Emmy went down for her morning nap so Cannon and I played with his Legos.

When Emerald woke up we packed up and drove down to The Bounce Place in Boulder to meet some friends and burn off some energy. It was our first time going to the Bounce Place and I really liked it. It’s an indoor play space that has a bunch of blow up play houses and padded floors. Cannon could run wild and jump all over. It’s so nice this time of year to have places to go to run around and play when it’s not warm enough to be outside.

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Once home we all ate our lunches and then it was nap time.

I have been working hard to get both kids to nap at the same time and today it actually worked, I got an hour and a half to myself and it was amazing. I made many appointments, bought tickets for an upcoming trip and cleaned a little.

After naps it was a quick run to Target to return a toy that wasn’t working and buy 6 more things we didn’t need (always target!) Then it was the dinner, play, bath, PJs, read, snuggle, bed hustle.

I actually cooked tonight! Something simple but I was proud of myself for doing it. I am not the best cook and never really took the time to learn but I have felt really motivated to learn to make good healthy food for my family this year. Baby steps are still steps. This is a good transition point to talk about my January Goals.

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I talked about my word/intention for the year already but I think it’s important to set short term goals as well. Everything in my life that I would consider an accomplishment (masters degree, finishing an Ironman, planning a wedding, etc) has started out as a big impossible dream, then I have just worked it backwards into smaller attainable goals and tasks. So here are some goals for this cold, dark month to keep me moving in the direction I want to go:

• Run everyday in January, I talked about this more here.
• Write 6 days a week – hopefully this one will last for more than just January. You may have noticed that posts have been a lot more frequent here on this ‘lil old blog. One of the best ways to get better at something is consistent practice. So writing most days of the week will hopefully help me improve as well as create a fun way to look back at this time in life. We have such a fun adventurous year planned I want to capture it all.
• Cook dinner at least three days a week – Cory has always been our main cook, he is better at it and enjoys it more. But it’s nice for him to come home from work and get to play with the kids instead of start cooking straight away. Again hopefully practice leads to improvement.

So that’s it, pretty simple. RUN – WRITE – COOK.

Do you love setting goals? Any good ones for January?

It’s the first week of the new year and it really does feel like a fresh start. After taking WAY TOO MANY days off over Christmas from being sick, etc. I took last week to ease my way back in. I have learned from past mistakes not to jump back into training with big miles. I just end up too sore and headed straight for an injury. It’s so tempting to try to “make up” for the miles that have been missed, but it’s not a good idea. I started with just two miles and added about a mile a day until I felt like my running legs were coming back. I can say that after not running for 10 days (YIKES) this process worked well for me AND after my first week back my legs feel pretty good.

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Monday: New Years Eve, no running still.

Tuesday: Was supposed to be our annual New Years Day half but my dad had a bit of a medical emergency so couldn’t watch the kiddos. I could have ran on my own but I was worried that it would be too much after so much time off. Instead I did 2.2 easy miles on the treadmill.

Wednesday: Another early morning run on the treadmill. This one I played little progression speed games to keep myself entertained. After warming up I would increase the speed by .1 each .1 mile until I got to the next mile then I would start over again at a comfortable pace and increase again. For me this makes the miles FLY by.

Thursday: Decided to run outside to get a break from the treadmill. It was cold and the sun didn’t come up until long after I got home so no photos from the run. Also the cold makes my phone die and I hate that. 4.15 miles and almost feeling back to normal.

Friday: I was up late on Thursday so I slept right through my alarm an was busy busy busy with the kids all day. We had so much fun going to a new indoor play place but there wasn’t any time for me to get a run in until after the kids went to bed. After making a grocery list for the week I slogged down to the treadmill, I really didn’t want to but I committed to this streak so I did it, just 1.12 miles.

Saturday: It was a beautiful day and I knew Sunday would be busy so I moved my long run up a day. I didn’t want to jump up too high in miles so just 10 miles around the neighborhood. It didn’t feel great and was slow but it was better than I feared. Onward!

Sunday: Again slept right through my alarm, clearly I need more sleep…snuck in a couple miles and that was it.

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Total Running Miles: 23 miles – Not great but a solid start to my base. I am hoping to take the next few weeks to build my base miles slowly and get used to running more days per week so I can start training for that 50 mile race!

Happy Running Everyone!

One of the things I have been thinking about a lot lately are my goals and dreams for 2019 and beyond. I have tons of lofty, can’t tell anyone or they would think I am crazy, dreams for my life. This year and going forward I really feel motivated to only say a big hearty YES to things that will get me closer to these goals and hopefully a confident NO to things that seem good in the moment but won’t move me in the direction I want to go.

2018 was all about being kind to myself and having a lot of grace as I welcomed my little girl into the world and adjusted to life as a family of four. Things are different for 2019, I want to chase these big dreams. I toyed around with lots of words that I wanted to help guide me as I made my way through the year, something that would help me make decisions and stay on track. Some options I considered were phrases some were words:

• Decide
• Grit and Grace
• Commit
• Consistency
• Show Up
• All In

But the one that really resinated with me for this year was Believe.

This may be very cheesy but the reason that believe really resonated with me for this year is my daughter and her growth this year. Lately she has been working on crawling and she has made so much progress, now she can really get around and can move anywhere she wants especially when she is motivated to get to her puppy. Watching her work on new to her skills is so inspiring. She had no proof that she would be able to crawl, she didn’t know how or have the muscles to do so just a few weeks ago. No one told her she could or gave her external motivation she just believed that she could do it and worked every single day to be able to get to her hands and knees, then rocking back and forth, then moving her arms. Every day she would work on crawling until one day, boom, she just got it. She didn’t seem to question if she was “good enough” to crawl or if she would ever be able to do it, or if she was getting there fast enough or was as good as the baby down the street. She just believed she would and worked on it every single day. Now she is loving her new found freedom and practices getting into everything.

What if I learned this important lesson from my daughter, that if I believe that I can, that I will and just did the work?

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Do you have a word or phrase for 2019? If so please share!

This morning I actually set my alarm, got up and ran outside! There is no photo evidence because it was pitch black the entire time. It was finally warm enough (17 degrees) to get outside so I was excited to get out even if it was still pretty cold. Four cold miles later and the third day of the run streak, check! There was still some snow but it wore my trail shoes and had no issues with slipping.

Yesterday my dad had to have a small surgical procedure done, I got to hang out with their super cute golden-doodle tucker while they were at the hospital.

Luckily Dad got to come home last night, sleep in his own bed and start recovering. I hope that his recovery is fast, please send him good vibes!

I am still trying to figure out my 2019 race calendar, usually I have races for the next year figured out by the fall, but this year I keep bouncing around on what I want to do, I think it’s an issue of wanting to do it all (work on speed with shorter races, run all the ultras, and run a bunch of marathons) I know better than trying to accomplish more than one goal at a time. I am leaning towards a 50 miler sometime this year. I was set on running one in the summer of 2017 and training was going pretty well but I broke my toe on the 4th of July and missed the race. Then I was pregnant with Emmy so this is my first chance to try again. I have been toying with an early or late summer race. In June there is the North Fork 50 Mile, I ran the North Fork 50k in 2017 and LOVED it.

But waiting until the end of summer gives me more time to gradually build my base, and much more daylight to run on trails. I will just need to suck it up to run in the summer heat. I also am looking at Run Rabbit Run and it’s a very difficult course, not exactly a beginners course. The Leadville Silver Rush 50 was the race I was planning to do in 2017 and there are a few others still on the list….WHAT TO DO. So torn.

Once I have an A race picked out I can fill in the blanks, maybe a marathon and 50k as training races.

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How do you choose your races? Any big races in 2019 you are so excited about?

Today was a return to some routine at our house. My alarm went off at 4:30 am ( I allowed myself to sleep in 30 minutes extra) and Cory returned to work. My day started out with a three mile run on our treadmill and a little strength training.

I was worried that the kids would have a hard day since they have gotten used to slow mornings and Dad staying home.

But everyone had a great day and Cannon even took a nap. Recently Cannon has started refusing to nap at least once a week. I cry when I think of him not napping every afternoon but I think the end is near.

Also Cannon has been becoming more and more attached to Emerald. He started whining at her door this morning, saying he wanted Emmy. I don’t love the whining, but it’s just too cute that he always wants to be with his sister. One of his favorite things is to help me get her up after naps, and she squeals with delight when she sees him.

It’s officially goal setting season and I LOVE it, I love a fresh new year and all the motivation to reflect, dream and prioritize goals. I know some people are not into resolutions and all the new year hype but I am the biggest dreamer and I. AM INTO. IT.

I have been spending time reflecting and digging deep into what I want 2019 to look like. More on that soon, but one thing I knew I wanted to do this January was a run streak.

There are a lot of opinions about run streaks for and against, I fall in the for category but only within reason. My reason for wanting to do a run streak is to help myself reset habits. In December training wasn’t great because of illness, holiday hustle, cold, dark, laziness, etc, etc. When I do a run streak it feels easier, there is never a question if I am going to run or not I just get it done. When I run everyday for a month I feel like I set some really good habits to take with me into the rest of the year. I make my streak short and simple to avoid burnout and injury. Since it’s my streak I set my own rules and it’s simple run at least one mile (walking is allowed) once a day, everyday for all of January.

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Are you for or against run streaks?

Ever done one? If so what’s your longest streak?

Happy New Year Friends! I hope you had a wonderful night celebrating a new year, fresh possibilities and another chance to make a trip around the sun.

As for us we partied hard, at noon.

I took the kids to a noon years eve party at a friends house. It was so cute and so much fun. There were homemade (kid safe) party poppers, a Netflix countdown and a confetti/ballon drop at noon.

It was a great way to celebrate the new year because there was NO WAY I was going to keep these kids up until midnight.

In the evening, we stayed in, it snowed all day long and was about 5 degrees. I actually turned in around 10PM. A few years ago I wondered why people didn’t stay up until midnight to ring in the new year. But now I totally get it. In this season of life, sleep is precious and being tired just makes everyone miserable. These kids rarely sleep past 6am, they don’t care what day it is.

Cory and I had planned to run 13.1 miles on today to celebrate the new year. My parents had graciously agreed to hang out with the kiddos so we could run together. This is something we had done every year since 2010. The last three years we haven’t done it because of babies:

• 2015 = Pregnant with Cannon
• 2016 = Body wasn’t ready to run that far after having Cannon so we ran 8 miles instead
• 2017 = Pregnant with Emerald

*I know you can run 13 miles while pregnant, it just doesn’t feel good to me to run that far. We were so excited to get out and run together, something we rarely do. Sadly my father came down with a medical condition and has to have surgery sometime this week! Understandably they weren’t feeling up to watching the kids so we scrapped our plan. Since it never got above 15 degrees and was icy out it was likely a good thing we didn’t try to get out.

This morning I got up early with Emerald and enjoyed some cuddles and coffee before the boys got up. I often miss mornings with the kiddos because that is my time to run but since this was Cory’s last day of vacation I took advantage of him being home and waited until later to jump on the treadmill for a few miles. So grateful to have a treadmill in our basement on days like these.

The rest of the day we played in the snow, snuggled and watched movies. Pretty great way to start the year if you ask me!

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Do you always stay up for midnight on New Year’s Eve?

What is the coldest temp you will go outside to run in?