October (S)miles

Posted by hellyontherun in Family, Running and tagged with Costume, Costume Theme, Family, Halloween, Monthly Mileage, October November 1, 2017

How is it November already?!?

I love October. I know many do and yep, I one of ’em. The month is dear to me because like I mentioned in my previous post, it’s when I got married ❤ but I also love it because it holds my favorite holiday 😀

In high school, both when I attended and worked in it, I *lived* for spirt week. I absolutely love any occasion to dress up or use a costume. I think it’s largely due to my reading obsession where I really become attached to characters. It’s fun to become one every now and then! #nerdalert

When I had my first born, I was so excited to have a living breathing doll to dress. You better believe I took any opportunity to dress her up and when her first Halloween came, I was ready.

2012

I think I secretly hoped we’d continue a family theme, and when each year after that everyone was always on board with it I was the happiest mama on the block ❤

2013–Superheroes

My daughter wanted to be Minnie Mouse in 2014 so we worked around her 😀

2014–Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Daisy

The following year, my daughter wanted to be a witch, lol!

2015–Devils and Witches

It was our son’s turn in 2016 and he wanted to be a pumpkin ❤

2016–Classic Halloween (Ghost, Black Cat, Witch, Pumpkin)

Both kids are digging the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles so this year was easy peasy!

2017–TMNT Heroes in a Half Shell #turtlepower

Oh man, I never thought it’d be so fun!!! I love my family ❤

October Miles : 98 (nope, didn’t care to hit the hundred, lol!)

–Did your family do theme costumes growing up?

–Do you love dressing up? What has been your favorite/most memorable costume?

A Running Throwback Thursday

Posted by hellyontherun in Running and tagged with Family, Memories, Running, Throwback Thursday April 28, 2016

It’s been a week of reminiscing as I’ve been reminded of a lot fun memories that happened around this time of the year.

Two years ago , in a lot of ways spontaneously, my husband and I flew to Europe (Spain, Italy, and France). We ran Rock n Roll Madrid, Spain April, 27th as our first out of the country race.

It was an absolute blast and super interesting to see how races are somewhere besides the States. I wrote about it here, but one of the funner tid bits was that there were no portapotties!! Or like, very few. I remember as a I ran, seeing dudes just pull up to the side and do their thing, lol!!

Another interesting note was that the water stations consisted of water bottles, not cups. It pained me a bit to see people take sips and then toss the bottles but then remembering how expensive bottled water was in Europe, I decided to hoard some and run double fisted.

There were no waves. As soon as the horn blew, everyone just went. There were corrals but I wasn’t sure the purpose if everyone started at the same time, lol! And boy, was it crowded! Oh , and it was vastly men running and my bib had a big fat “F” for female.

One of my fave race pics — having fun doing what I love (and in Spain!)

Anyway, Miranda @ThoughtsAndPavement commented on my recap that she’d run the race this year and reignited the fun times I had during the race and my time in Europe. She also noticed many of the same things, most especially how crowded the race was.

************

This weekend last year , I flew to Ohio, also sorta last minute, to see my brother run his FIRST half marathon. He had been training hard, and I was so proud of him. I said out loud to my husband after reading one my brother’s training runs (he texted them all to me ❤ ) how I wished I could be there to see him. My husband immediately got me a plane ticket.

I’ve written about my brother before and his amazing transformation. A total non-runner, overweight, sedentary but awesomely good guy. Last year, he lost over 60 pounds and completely changed his life.

The Flying Pig Half Marathon last year was his first half, and he shocked the hell out of me by finishing in 2:10, smashing his sub 2:30 goal.

Me and the bro after his first half marathon

He ran a second half marathon later in the year with a lofty goal of snagging a sub 2 hour half. And you know what? He did it!!

Oh what fun to look back at such amazing memories. I sit here drinking coffee and typing and smiling…at how wonderful life is ❤

–What are some of your favorite running memories?

Hello. It’s Me.

Posted by hellyontherun in Family, Running and tagged with 2016, Brother, Family, Goals, Husband, New Year, Running, Team RMHC January 4, 2016

Hi 2016 and blogging world!!! I feel like I’ve been off the blogging radar when really, it’s been a week since I posted…right? A week? Lemme check…

Anyway, I’ve also haven’t been able to catch up on reading others and/or commenting–the holidays are so time consuming!

I hope everyone has been doing well. We’re in a new year and everyone has recapped their 2015 and discussed their 2016 goals and well, I’m not sure I have a whole lot to say about either just yet, lol!

2015 was a tough year for me running wise. I had my first DNF and zero PRs or AG placements. I started the year with a half marathon where I was less than 15 seconds from a PR, had two half marathons where I was less than 2 minutes from sub 2 hours, one marathon where I was again, seconds from a PR. Yeah, it was that kinda year. Don’t really have much else to say about that, lol!

HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR: Running for charity ❤

Looking back at last year, 2015 wasn’t about me at all. It was all about these two guys.

brother, husband

My brother had an absolutely amazing 2015 losing more that 75 pounds and finishing two half marathons and snagging a sub 2 hour one at that! There is no way that I won’t think of 2015 and not think about him and everything he accomplished. It means way more than anything I could’ve done.

My husband is on a rampage. He was never a long distance runner but has grown to love a sport I’ve loved for a long time. I’m so happy we can now share this amazing part of our lives. He completed his first full marathon in Chicago in October and improved his half marathon time so much this year, finishing with a 1:36:31 last month. He’s currently training for Phoenix full in February and I can’t wait to cheer him on ❤

I won’t look back at 2015 and be sad. Not one bit.

2016 is exciting. I have so much unknown as I don’t have a lot of races planned. I think this is good. With that lies so much promise. It’s nice to not have any idea of what to expect. The only thing we have planned is crossing the Grand Canyon (R2R2R) in May.

I’m home now, and I think that will help with my running–not having the stress of work and just being able to focus on family. I know that will be something positive for 2016 in many ways.

Like I said, I haven’t really thought about the future so I don’t have any “goals”. I think maybe this year I’ll just take it day by day and not put so many expectations on events/races/things.

That sounds like a pretty good goal actually 🙂

–2015 highlight?

–What are you looking forward to in 2016?

–Do you have any goals/resolutions?