Mother, Run, Hike

For years, maybe about 12, I have been lying to myself and saying that the holidays are blissful and full of joy, when every year, I was just finding ways to cope to barely get by.  One year, I made 12 different types of Christmas cookies, having an extra layer of chaos made me feel like there was a reason for me to feel like I was going crazy.  Another year, I made 2 handcrafted ornaments for presents for my family. I knew that was a disaster when I got glitter glue on a pair of work pants, while cookies burned in the over.  Last year, my soul finally gave in and broke down. As I was driving to Target after my run one cold evening, I started having a mild panic attack, followed by uncontrollable sobbing, hiccups and ugly face included. I turned off the Christmas music, drove home and buried myself under my blankets while listening to Brazilian Samba.  I have asked myself why does Christmas stress me out. And so many different answers came to mind.....

Most days I go around being ungrateful, and some days even daring to complain of all my fortunes. This year, I want to make it a point to know and acknowledge the things that I take for granted in my life, and recognize how grateful I am for having them.  1. The health of my son, my family and Roger - Growing up, my mom used to constantly remind us to be grateful for our health, my immature brain couldn't' understand why I should be grateful for something I couldn't see, or play with. But now I get it, each day that goes by and I know my loved ones are healthy, is a wonderful day.  2. My job - Yes, some days I do not act thankful to have a job that pays me fairly, because after all, it is called work . But I am ever so thankful for the amazing people I work with, and the friends that I share so much of my life with.  3. Music - It sounds so silly, but music makes my life more amazing. I am currently loving Anitta, J Balvin, Bunbury and Maluma... strange mix, I know,...

In most countries, the legal age for Voting is 18. I have been 18 for 18 years, and have not in my life participated in an elections. You cannot imagine how sad that statement makes me. But so is the life of an immigrant woman. I couldn't vote in my countries elections, because I don't live there. And I couldn't vote here until this year, because just this year I became a citizen. When people asked me what was I most excited about with being a new citizen, I said 1. Voting, and 2. Committing crimes without the threat of being deported ( I have no intention of committing a crime, but if I happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, an immigration court could make it their job to get me deported, despite it being a first offense. But again, no intention of committing a crime) Have I done my research on the candidates? For the most part. I know that my support is 100% behind Tom Wolf , our sitting Governor. He has moved the state forward in many issues, including...

Happy Halloween!! I really like Halloween and dressing up, the other day when I was discussing ideas for costumes, my sister told me that the thought it was weird that I put to much effort into dressing up. I laughed! because it is true, I put a lot of effort into it and I LOVE doing it! I started to think of why I dress up, and although I am not a train psychoanalyst, I can trace my need to dress up to an unfulfilled need from my childhood. Short story - While in Kindergarten I was not allowed to participate in the Spring parade and dress up with my classmates. The teacher designed the float and assigned costumes to all the kids. I had really long black hair ( Like the other 10 girls in my class), but my teacher wanted ME to be the witch. My mom said "No WAY, my daughter will not be the witch and will not be participating." The rest of my sisters got to participate when their time came, and I secretly envied them. And Now, I make up for that one time I wasn't allo...

Dear blogosphere, forgive me, for I have been a bad blogger. So, what is going on? A while ago, our office had 3 employees resign within the period of 3 weeks, leaving me to scramble to do a lot of extra work.  How did that affect the blog? In a few ways... I write my posts in the afternoons, when I get home; but for the last 4 months, I have had to bring work home, and have been so exhausted from work that I my body wants to do is Run the stress away, and when it's not possible to run, I want to sit in a dark room just recovering from all the extra human interaction. I'm an introvert, adding social interaction to my work makes my entire body tired.  I also used downtime to read and comment on blogs, but with all the extra work, I barely had time to stay on top of my work, and the extra work.  While I still have lots of catching up to do, with most of my fall races past, I hope to have more time to catch up with blogging; both reading and writing. I really do enjoy ...

Happy Sunday! Tomorrow I have off from work for Indigenous People Day... Ok, that's a lie... I have off for that other holiday that I don't acknowledge. Running This week, I slowly got back to higher mileage, and even did a race. I wanted to run 5 miles on Thursday, but the humidity was back and it was a hot and challenging run, my legs gave up at 4 miles. After work on Friday, I went for a tempo 5 miles at Wildwood. The sun as about to set when I finished, so I rushed to finish and got in my car and left... the park closes at dusk and I didn't want to be there in the dark. At the last minute, I signed up to run HARRC in the park 10 mile trail race. I had wanted to do this race in the past, but timing didn't quite work out, until this year. It was a very nice race, and I managed to place on my age group! Total miles for the week : 19 Mothering, and Wiving  As I mentioned last week, my son and I got into a little argument last week, by the time I pi...

Hello there, how are you? I'm a little late with my post today, I had a rough day on Sunday and it carried over into Monday. Everything is fine, I was just emotionally not well. Running I tried to pick up on my miles this week, because I signed up for the Hershey Half Marathon... I have been a race repeater this year, and couldn't miss out on running Hershey again. However, a few Maternal obligations kept me from fully committing to my running. However, I did get around doing 2 days of weights!! Go me! Mothering On Tuesday I attended my first ever PTO meeting. I have volunteered with my son's school for many years, but never once attended a PTO meeting... it answered so many questions! My son's school had their annual Race for Education, where the kids run around the school for sections of the day. After their running, they had a silly string battle. It really did look like a lot of fun! On Saturday we traveled to Lititz, PA. We were hoping to ...

Happy Monday! I hope you had a fun weekend fun of rest and relaxation. Running  Right after I got home from the Philadelphia RnR half marathon, I started to feel really tired and worn out, more than normal post half marathon tiredness. By the time went to bed, I was all stuffy and tired. I spend Monday to Thursday recovering from a light cold, all stiffly and tired. By Friday, I was ready for a short out of breath run. I felt tired, but a lot better by the next day. My longest run this week was a 6 miler on Sunday, and by then my lungs were almost done being mad at me.     Mothering and Relaxing After a few weeks of being really busy, this week finally slowed down and we had a chance to rest and catch up with sleep.   Last Sunday when we got back from the Half Marathon, I was setting up the Blu-Ray Player, and I bumped my toe on of Roger's weights. It hurt a lot, but it didn't feel broken. I was sore from running, and my toe was in so much pai...

Happy Sunday! how are you today? I hope you are having an awesome day! We had another busy week, lots of moving around and lots of adventures. Running  Between completing the half marathon at Bird in Hand and being behind on sleep, we took it easy this week. I did three days of 3 miles,  two of those were super easy. Roger having a conversation with the geese in Hershey And Sunday was the Philly Rock and Roll Half. I said last year that I wasn't going to run this race this year, but my sister asked me to run with her. My sister ended up getting sick the week before, and couldn't run. But they came with me to cheer me on, they are amazing! I love their support! Des Linden was running this race, and as we were running, I got to see her run by, more like flying by!! She looked so amazing! She won the race, of course. Mothering and Other Fun  On Friday my son and I went to target to explore Halloween Costumes. We are leaning towards being a Har...

Happy Show Us Your Books Tuesday!  Today I'm linking up with  Jana  and  Steph  for Show Us Your Books. This was my slowest month for reading, between training for the Half marathon, traveling and repeat books, I haven't focused on any books. Ghost by Reynolds I really enjoyed this book! Between the conversation of running, and the YA elements, I really enjoyed the book. I will be reading with my son, and hope that he will also enjoy it. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling How many times can one read Harry Potter and still find little treasures? I don't know... this is my 8t.. or 9th round and I'm still finding gems! I put everything aside to listen to Harry Potter, and it was well worth it. In Conclusion, Don't Worry About It by Lauren Graham This was a short book, and like a summary of her other book. Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey My son wants me to read this series, it's his current favorite series...

Good Morning! What a great week it was! With the holiday and an unexpected school day off, this week was busy, but it felt really short. Running Race week is here!! I tried really hard to taper, knowing it would not do anything for how fast my race would be, but wanting my legs to be rested. Labor Day Miles - We went to Swatara State Park for a quick 8 miler. We were going to go to Hershey, but I suggested Swatara on our way and Roger went for it. But I wasn't prepared to run in the blazing sun with no water. I finished my run around 7.80 miles, when we got back to the car and called it a day. On Thursday I went to try out Brooks Levitates at the local Fleet Feet Sports. They were very cushy, I think they would be good for long runs... but I'm not in the market for shoes right now. Friday was the Bird In Hand 5K . My sisters all love this race, and we met there for run it together. We love the hot air balloons, and the food. This year, because of the weat...