Fall is by far my favorite season. I love the mild temperatures and the changing leaves (I could live without the dark mornings, but we can’t have it all). Yesterday it snowed here but I am still in the mood for everything fall.

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In the summer we had a bucked list of all the things we wanted to do and it was fun checking them off . I thought we should do it again for fall now that we are home from Europe (recaps coming soon!)

• Run a family 5k
• Go to a pumpkin Patch

• Drink Fall themed beverages from Starbucks
• Share hot chocolate with the kids
• Get lost in a corn maze
• Attend a fall festival
• Carve Jack-o-lanterns
• Get dressed up and go trick or treating
• Bake pies

• Make fun halloween themed snacks
• Go for a hike in the mountains
• Play in a pile of leaves
• watch a football game

What are your favorite things to do in the fall?

Currently Loving –Theses Adidas slides, they are great for the pool, yard, or even post run + compression sock sexy combo. (they are on sale!)

Currently Melting Over –  these two cuddling (heart eyes)

Currently Eating –  Lots of Zucchini Bread, our garden is producing lots of zucchini so we have been baking up multiple loaves. Some zucchini bread can be dry but this recipe is so good.

Currently Researching – Our trip to Germany, we leave next month!

Currently Shopping For – Back to school clothes + shoes. Emerald’s new floral Nikes are the cutest! She may not be going to school this year but she deserved new kicks too.

Currently Reading –  Finding Gobi by Dion Leonard. I am just starting this book, I really hope it has a happy ending. I can’t handle books with dogs that don’t have happy endings. Marley and Me just about did me in. Also “reading” is a bit of a stretch, I sometimes think that I don’t have time to read books but I guess it’s just that I choose to spend my time running or doing other things. I do have time to listen to MANY books, and I love it.

Currently Obsessed With- My airpods, I resisted wireless headphones for a long time. I didn’t think they would be comfortable or they would fall out. I didn’t like the idea of having to charge another thing. But they are so worth it. I love not wrestling with a cord, they are very comfortable and charging hasn’t been an issue. I do still carry an old pair of headphones for long runs in my pack, just in case they die. I am also a little paranoid of losing them.

Currently Consuming – Lot’s of Kombucha, this Raspberry Hibiscus if my favorite!

Currently Wearing –  Momentum Jewelry’s Brave Like Gabe Wrap from the website:

“We’ve dedicated this special design to the memory to Gabe Grunwald, who bravely and persistently she fought a battle that she didn’t choose. Selflessly taking on the additional burden of making that fight public with the hopes that her efforts would benefit others in the future.

25% of all sales of this special design will be donated to the @BraveLikeGabe Foundation in an effort to help continue the important work of researching cures for rare forms of cancer.”

Also wearing my Run Angel because safety first while running!

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What’s current with you?

I’ve talked a little bit about this on here but I balance work and being home with the kids (balance might be a stretch, maybe juggle is better). I teach math for a not so local university online from home. The classes are live but remote so I can chat with my students in real time. It really is a good opportunity for me to continue on with my career as well as spend a lot of time with my kids while they are so little. I do miss seeing other adults in person so who knows if this will be the path long term, but for now it’s working. So here’s a peak into what a “working” day looks like in general.

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Up early, before the sun =) you can see lot’s of options for alarms here but they are always between 4am-5am. My goal is to get out of the door before 5am.

If I will be out more than an hour I try to eat something simple, no matter what ALWAYS coffee.

Out for a run, and so happy it’s summer and not pitch dark!

I try to keep Tuesdays shortish so I can be home when the kids wake up between 6:00 and 6:30 am.

We often play upstairs in the loft and get dressed.

Cory usually makes breakfast and I pack the kids’ lunches while they play and drink milk.

Then it’s breakfast time and we finish getting ready. Cory tries to be out the door by 7:30 am to get to work. Most days he likes to ride his bike to work but on days I teach he drives to be sure he’s home in time to cover kid duty for my evening classes.

I play with the kids at home until it’s time to take them to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. My parents watch them while I am working and I couldn’t be more grateful. I drop them off around 8:50 am and rush home to get my virtual classroom set up.

I am so lucky my mom sends me photos of the kids having fun while I am working.

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I teach for three hours then go back to my parents’ house to get the kiddos. They eat lunch there so Emmy is all ready for her nap when we get home.

While Emmy is napping, Cannon has quiet time. I try to get some work done and then spend one-on-one time with Cannon.

We get Emmy up and decide what to do for the afternoon. We either play in the backyard or go somewhere to play indoors if it’s too hot.

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Today we played at home because Cannon got a sliver in his foot and by the time I got it out it was too late to head out. Instead we played at getting ready for school. We got the kids backpacks from Skip Hop Cannon has had his for a couple years and it has held up really well.

Cory usually gets home around 4:30 and we work on getting an early dinner on the table. My evening class starts at 5:30 and I like to eat with the kids before teaching. Tonight was chicken cesar salad.

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Emmy’s dress is from Boden and Cannon’s shirt and shorts are Cat n Jack from Target.

After dinner I get set back up to teach from our home office (I am still getting used to working from home, it’s weird). Cory takes over kid duty and figures out how to keep them busy until bedtime. Tonight because we didn’t go anywhere in the afternoon and it was still super hot he took them to an indoor playground. They played there for a little then came home at 6:40 just in time to get ready for bed. I always give my class a break around this time so I can kiss the kids good night and read one of them a story.

I go back to teaching my class until 8:30 PM (I use my iPad and apple pencil as a white board to teach, technology is great).

After class I enter attendance, respond to emails and wind down from class. Then it’s time to lay out my running gear for the next day and get ready for bed. That 4:30 AM alarm come fast!

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What is your day like?

Have you ever worked from home?

It’s not feeling much like fall here at all, but the sun is taking it’s sweet time to rise in the morning. The weather around here doesn’t show it but it will be fall running season soon (my favorite!)

One of the best ways to be sure of your safety is to run with other people. We have started a run club in the mornings and will run with them a couple times a week as a group. On mornings I can’t run with others I like to take the following precautions:

• 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.

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Any tips for safety while running in the dark?

We had a very low key weekend. I love big epic adventures with the family but sometimes you have to do things like clean the windows and mow the lawn. We had some fun too, here are some highlights.

Saturday morning we went to Grand Rabbit’s to pick up some gifts for our friends’ boys who turned 2 and 4. I love this little toy store. If you are in the north Denver/Boulder area you really should go.

The mall also has a splash pad so we played there until it was time for lunch and nap time.

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After nap we went to our friends birthday pool party, it was super cute.

her boys’ birthdays are just 14 hours apart (different days) so they had a combined party. I think the kids are going to just live in their swimsuits the rest of the summer.

Our friend made the cake herself, it was very impressive!

Today was focused on cleaning and playing at home before we spent time at Grandma and Grandpas house. Later we had Cannon’s swim lessons.

Emmy loves playing in the pool too, such water babies.

Emmy seems to be going through a phase where she needs a bath after every meal.

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How was your weekend?

Up early this morning to get a run in before an appointment at 7 am. I have been getting up a little later while sick and hadn’t noticed the creep of the sunrise but this morning when I was getting ready to head out the door I realized I needed to grab my headlamp.

I have had my Petzl headlamp for years and it still works great.

It was a gorgeous morning for an easy 5 miles.

I love listening to podcasts while out running and it’s always fun to find new ones. Outside Online posted this list of outdoor podcasts, I haven’t heard of many of them but there looks to be some good ones on there.

After getting home from my appointment I decided we needed a treat we grabbed some doughnuts on the way to the park, something not on our bucket list but it should have been, the kids loved it.

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We spent some time playing before it got too hot and it was time to get Emmy down for a nap.

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Later we went to Cory’s work to have lunch with him and play a little. The kids had lots of energy but it felt much too hot to be outside so we went to the children’s museum.

We bought a membership to the museum back when Cannon was a baby and it has been a great place to take the kids year round. It’s great in the winter when it’s too cold to be outside and summer afternoons when it’s too hot!

We ended the day with tacos and peaches in the backyard, summer has been good to us this year.

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Do you run in the dark, stay inside or wait for the sun?

When does school start where you are?

Some highlights from our day were starting at a splash pad. I don’t have any pictures because we were there with friends and we were just having too much fun!

Emmy skipped her morning nap to join in on the fun so the kids were very tired when we got home. As part of our end of summer fun I decided to let them watch a movie while eating in the living room.

I think Emmy really loved being a “big kid” sitting on a stool at the table. She was much less messy than she normally is in her highchair.

After lunch Emmy took a good two hour nap, and I enjoyed some time with just Cannon.

Later we went to go get Cannon a haircut, he has needed one for so long!

I don’t LOVE the cut he got but he will not sit still so I don’t know if I can expect much.

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It was raining on the way home so we spent some time running in the rain while waiting for Cory to get home.

Since it’s Friday I thought I would share some of my favorites from the week.

I was so excited to get Cannon’s chalk board in the mail this week! We will use this for his first and last day of school for as long as he’ll let me. Maybe going off to College?

I have been adding salt tabs back into my long runs and after if needed. A few weeks ago I was feeling a little queasy after a long hot run. I remembered that my coach taught me while training for my first Ironman to take salt tabs when my stomach was off. Very quickly I started to feel better and I packed a baggie for my hydration pack immediately. Now for long runs I take two an hour when it’s hot out. I used to think because I was taking sports nutrition with electrolytes in it that it should be enough but it wasn’t for me in the summer. I have tried a few different brands but Endurolytes from Hammer Nutrition have worked best for me.

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Fresh veggies from the garden have been a recent favorite. I am very excited we are getting anything. Our garden has been hit by a few hail storms this summer and they have taken their toll. I am not sure if out tomatoes will give us as any as past years but the zucchini are looking great.

Jennifer Garner’s Instagram account, She is so adorable and funny, it always makes me smile and she seems like a genuinely wonderful person.

Lastly we are loving this stroller from Kolcraft. The Kolcraft Cloud Umbrella Stroller is really light and folds down small. I have been searching for a good travel stroller to take with us to Germany and this one gets really good reviews, rolls easily and Cannon fully approves. The price can’t be beat! We got two, but I am not sure how much Cannon will use it.

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If you have kids where do you take them for haircuts?

How old were your kids when you stopped using strollers for them? Cannon doesn’t ride in one much anymore but with all the walking we will be doing while traveling it seems like we will need one.

I just can’t believe that it’s already August! We have a lot to look forward to this August. Cory has a big birthday this month, we have my dad’s birthday and Cannon’s very first day of school (tears).

I had some lofty goals for myself for July but with the demands of my new job, illness and injury I fell short. I do believe these goals are attainable for me with a little more focus so it’s time to stand back up and try again!

So here’s to failing my way to success, thanks Des for the wisdom.

This month I am going to try again to run 200 miles total and to do following everyday:

• Run (at least one mile) + (going for another 50 day run streak)
• Drink 100oz of water – Really want to focus on hydration during the summer
• Write – I want to blog every day to really build on the habit and share the day to day balance of motherhood, work and ultra marathon training.
• 10 minutes of core work – because two kids in less than two years.
• Full body strength train twice a week
• Meditate

We finished out July with our usual fun. Cannon told me in the car that it was too hot to go to a park so we went to the gym and played inside.

We enjoyed lunch at home, please note that Emmy is wearing an old cloth napkin as a bib. She tares everything else off but a cloth napkin tied at her neck she will leave on, go figure.

After Emmy’s afternoon nap Cannon asked for popsicles in the backyard, they are so cute, I couldn’t say no!

Poor babies got a bunch of bug bites while playing outside, there are a ton of mosquitos here this year and they think these kids are delicious. I might have to start putting bug spray on them.

We made Hawaiian chicken with rice and grilled veggies for dinner and enjoyed it outside, checking off an item from our summer bucket list, we only have 2.5 weeks until school starts!

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Anyone have bug spray that works and they like for their children?

Up and out early to run yesterday morning and was greeted with this amazing sunrise:

My last few runs have felt very difficult. I am still trying to recover from my cold and my lungs feel full of fluid. My breathing is shallow and wheezy and it never feels like I am getting enough oxygen. Anyone know ways to get over this kind of chest cold?

After the morning rush we headed to a friends house to play and splash in their backyard. It wasn’t too hot at 10 am maybe in the high 70s but I felt SO HOT in the in the sun. Full mile high sunshine is something else.

We made it home for lunch time (home made “lunchables”) and nap time.

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After naps we needed to make Costco run. I am getting good at collecting and giving out samples with one hand and pushing the cart with the other.

We love Costco for getting snacks for the kiddos. We buy these Natures Bakery Fig Bars multi pack.

They come in Blueberry, Raspberry and Fig. My favorite is the Raspberry, they are the prefect thing to eat in the morning if I am running more than an hour. They are easy to digest and always leave my stomach happy.

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Any suggestions for kicking the cold for good?

What’s your favorite pre run food?

After many setbacks lately it has become clear that I won’t be ready to line up for the Run Rabbit Run 50 Miler in September. This is the second training cycle attempt that I have had to abandon. Two years ago I was training for the Leadville Silver Rush 50 and a few weeks before the race I broke a toe.

When I signed up for the race I didn’t know that I would be taking on a demanding new job and I underestimated the amount of time I would need to dedicate to getting my classes up and running. Things are calming down now that I have prepped my three courses but at this point there isn’t time to make up for the long runs I have missed. Then dealing with another chest cold and now an injury. This isn’t a race you can fake your way through, and I have to be honest with myself that I will just not be ready…yet.

While I feel sad about not reaching this particular goal I find comfort in the fact that my goal is to finish a 50 miler not specifically Run Rabbit Run. There are other races and other opportunities to reach this goal.

I have my eye on Arches 50 mile in January, but haven’t settled completely on what my next attempt will be. I ran the Arches half marathon this year and had a blast going to Moab in winter and have a little idea of what the course is like. We shall see what the fall brings but for now I am thinking Arches might be my next target for a 50.

As for now, while I might not be ready for a graduate level 50 miler but I still have some endurance built up so I have decided to run the Breck Crest Trail Marathon. I have ran this race many times, completing the 10k and half marathon. This is one of my favorite races but I haven’t ever completed the marathon so I am pretty excited to jump in and finally get to see the full course.

I am excited about running in Breckenridge and feeling determined to eventually meet my goal of completing a 50 mile trail race.