'Shine On' Award

RUNNING...

“This award is for the blogs that shine,
make you feel good and are inspiring
to the reader.

This morning I received my very first blogger award....from another blogger.  How great is that?  Someone out there, wasn'tjustthewinetalking.com to be specific, enjoys reading this blog and felt compelled to let me know.  Her note to me today; "Spreading a little love...thanks for the inspiration!" It literally gave me chills.  It's truly wonderful to be recognized and I am deeply honored.

Here are the details of this particular award:

The Rules
1. Visit and thank the blogger who nominated you.
2. Acknowledge that blogger on your blog and a link back.
3. Share 7 random interesting things about yourself.
4. Nominate up to 15 bloggers for Shine On Award, provide a link to their blogs in your post, and notify them on their blogs.
5. Copy and paste the award somewhere on your blog.


Random things about me:
1. I have never worn makeup and I don't know how to put it on.
2. I have never baked a cake from scratch, much to my children's dismay.
3. I have had 12 teeth pulled. (4 wisdom, 4 permanent, & 4 babies)
4. I am addicted to purchasing and wearing hooded sweatshirts.
5. Pizza is my favorite food.
6. When I was 10, I auditioned to be on a game show with my best friend.
7. I wish I could play the guitar.

Sharing the joy to:
~ ilikemargarine
~ The Thinks I Can Think
~ Pavement Runner
~ Running Starfish
~ Sounds that Matter

Again, many thanks to wasn'tjusthewinetalking.com for "spreading the love".

...AND MUSIC

Listen to this:
All I Wanna Do - SPLASHH  

Town Day Road Race: Recap & Top 10 List

RUNNING... 

The Trachsel crew; just before the start of the race.

On Saturday, our town reinstated the Winchester Town Day Road Race, an event that started back in 1997 but for some reason stopped happening in 2006.  Originally our local running club, the Winchester Highlanders, were planning to bring it back in 2014.  But after the bombings took place at the Boston marathon this past April, the plan changed.  The club was motivated to make it happen earlier in order to raise funds for both the Boston One Fund and the fund for Winchester resident Officer Richard Donohue, who was wounded during the shootout that took place with the suspects on April 19th.  The Highlanders, which I have run with on occasion, scrambled like nobody's business, got a boat-load of volunteers to help out and, within two months, magically pulled it all together.  Hats off to them as it is no small feat to hold a race....time crunch or not.  When I learned that this race would take place, I suggested that Rosie, my 8 year old, run the 2.5 mile loop with me.  She'd been eager to race with me this year and I felt like this would be a great distance for us to start with.  Up until this point, she'd run a little bit, but the most she'd cobbled together in terms of an actual "run" was probably about 10 minutes non-stop.  It would definitely be a challenge, but we could take our time and I was confident that she could finish.  As soon as my 6 year old caught wind of this plan, she let us know that she was doing it, too.  She's significantly smaller than Rosie, doesn't quite have the stamina or strength, and had never before tried to "go for a run", but nothing (and I mean, NOTHING) was going to keep her from joining us.  So on the morning of the race, after some quality stretching, the whole Trachsel family headed down to run the race.

Rosie & Grace doing the runner's lunge.

I had recruited my husband to run with my younger one in case some carrying was necessary (which it was...on the shoulders, no less).  It was hot as he** and all of us were dripping with sweat before the race even got underway.  The girls seemed to be melting as we stood and listened to the announcements, so I was not sure how it was going to all shake out.  But we lined up regardless, and off we went.  As you can see below, Rosie had a skip in her step as we headed out.  But as soon as we approached the first hill, I could sense a shift in her mental state and the ear to ear grin that she started with was nowhere to be seen.  She made it successfully through the first mile but then she began doubting whether she could get through the whole thing.  I told her to relax and walk whenever she needed to, to take water at all the stops, and that we'd get through it together.  She seemed okay with this and kept on.  She would pick it up when she saw people clapping and cheering for her (and for the photographer, of course) and then would slow down to a walk through the dead spots.  We chatted the whole time, enjoying all the excitement together and working through the tougher parts when the heat was getting to us and there was no water in the picture.  She made me laugh a lot and I tried to keep her motivated.  As we approached the finish line, she asked if I would stop and walk while she ran through as she wanted to come in before me.  I suggested we hold hands and go through together.  "No", she replied, "I'd really like to win, mom."  Fair enough.  She won on so many levels with this experience.  And so did I.  As a mom and a runner, it was one of the most amazing moments I've shared with my daughter to date.  I hope it's the first of many races that we do together.  And I'm pretty sure she does, too.

Rosie and I in the first mile. Yep, she was skipping.

Top 10 Comments from my 8 year old during the Town Day Road Race

1. Okay, this is a little different from my expectations. 
~ she said this at about half a mile as we trudged up a hill in the blistering heat.  I let her know that the heat was making it much harder than it usually is, which seemed to help a little.

2. Wow, there are a lot more hills in this than I wanted.
~ "Yea", I said, "we never really 'want' hills.  But they are hard to avoid, especially in our town."  Silence from her end and a slight eye roll.

3. How many more minutes now?
~ This was after the first mile, which we ran in about 11 minutes.  I didn't have the heart to tell her we had another 20 minutes to go, so I said, "just a little while."  Thankfully, she bought it.

4. I wish there was water for us and sprinklers to run in at each one of these houses that we're passing.
~ "Yea, that would be AWESOME."  That's all I could offer on this one.

5. Hey mom, look at this leaf, it's heart shaped.
~ At this point she stopped and picked up the leaf and completely lost sight of the fact that she was in the middle of a race.  I tried to gently remind her that we needed to keep going.

6. UGH!! More hills, mom?
~ "Yea, Rosie.  Sorry about that."

7. I really wish I had brought music for this.
~ I nodded and told her I understood how that might help.  Fortunately, I was carrying my iPhone so we played music out loud for the rest of the race.

8. I can't wait until this is over and I can tell my friends that I ran like 10,000 steps.
~ And you do that, hot shot.  You've earned the bragging rights. (I thought this to myself)

9. I want to win so when we get to the finish line, you walk and I'll run. Okay?
~ Umm....okay. Sure. Go for it.

10.  Is THAT the finish line?
~ "Take it home, girl!"

A few hours later, we were driving to a birthday party and I said, "So, what do you think, Rosie.  After your experience today...did you like it or not so much?"  I had no idea what to expect in terms of her response.  Her answer;  "Oh yeah.  I loved it."  I smiled.  And so it begins....

...AND MUSIC

Listen to this:
Beautiful World (Original Mix) - Paul Oakenfold & Disfunktion Ft. Spitfire

Beat the Heat (& Yurbuds winner)

RUNNING...

Well, folks, it's unofficially summer here in the Boston area.  Yesterday's high was 92 degrees and at 8:00 this morning we were already at 85.  Sweeeeet.  By the time I was getting ready to head out for a run, I had already broken a sweat multiple times doing simple tasks like making coffee and dropping my girls off at school.  This one was not going to be pretty.  My neighbor stopped me as I was heading off and said, "I hate to tell you this, Rebecca, but you should have been doing this about 3 hours ago."  "I know, I know", I replied.  But 3 hours ago I was asleep and then from 7-9 I'm on "mom" duty so, it was 9:00 or bust.  There is no sugar coating it...running in this heat is rough.  The air is thick as molasses and, personally, my legs tend to feel like they weigh about 50 lbs each.  These are the days when it's better to leave the watch at home.  And for those of you who run with music, it might be time to heavy up on those playlists because on a day like today, I find that I need all the extra motivation I can get.  Music is a no-brainer in this situation.  Fortunately for all of us, I have dug up some fantastic gems over the past couple days.  I realize all of you may not run with music, but I'm assuming you do something that requires you to beat the heat, so hopefully these inspire you for whatever that 'something' is.  These are not necessarily fresh off the press, but they are worth a listen if you are so inclined.  The heat is on, baby.  Enjoy.

...AND MUSIC

Listen to these:


Kid Astray - Easily Led Astray - EP




Tame Impala - Lonerism



White Arrows - Dry Land Is Not a Myth
 



The Boxer Rebellion - Promises




Fitz & the Tantrums - More Than Just a Dream



...AND

*CONGRATULATIONS* to 'deucedeuce', the winner of the Yurbuds giveaway.  Thanks to all of you for entering.  

Race Report: Johnny Kelley Half (with a twist)

RUNNING...

Locky & I smiling for the camera.

Several weeks ago, my sister-in-law and I signed up to run the Johnny Kelley Half Marathon over Memorial Day week-end.  She's a competitive runner and tends to fly through these races at paces I can't hold very comfortably.  I have been dealing with the aforementioned pain in my foot due to plantar fasciitis so I wasn't going to be breaking any records.  Thus, I suggested we run 'naked' (no watches) and just cruise it together, which she was totally up for.  As race day approached, my foot was getting worse and I began to doubt whether I would be able to pull off a half, even at 'cruising' speed.  I let my sister-in-law know that it wasn't looking good and that I would most likely have to bail which she completely understood.  The week before the race I started an intensive pain management plan and with the time off, the meds, and the stretching, by race day my pain was minimal.  Naturally, as any runner would, I began to think the race was, once again, a possibility.  I checked in with the doctor who told me that while it wouldn't help, running on plantar fasciitis does not make it worse.  One check in the "yes" box with that response. I then emailed my coach and gave him the low down.  I assumed would say "no" because the past couple weeks have been a bit rough from a training perspective.  But he surprised me by letting me know he understood my desire to run, particularly since I already paid and did not want to throw away the $50 reg fee.  In so many words, he basically said if I felt up for it, I should go for it.  Another check in the "yes" box.  There was only one check in the "no" box at this point and the "yes"s kept adding up...

• I wanted to hang and run with my sister-in-law as we always have a good time catching up while we're out on the road.  
• I wanted to be outside after spending the previous 48 hours inside watching the rain.  
• And, if I'm being totally honest here, I simply wanted to run.  

As you can imagine, the "yes" list won out over the single "no".  Sunday morning we got up around 6:30 and headed off to the race.  We got about 5 minutes away from the house when I realized I had forgotten my iPod.  GASP!!

WHAT?? NO MUSIC??

I asked my sister-in-law, who tends to run a sub 1:30 half, what her game plan was because if she was going to follow her usual routine of 'crushing it', then I needed to turn around and grab my music.  But, she claimed she didn't care about her time and was still happy to just chat and cruise.  We got to the race, grabbed our numbers, lined up and off we went.  As we always do when we run together, we jumped right into conversation.  We tend to have a plethora of subjects because we don't see each other very often but we share several similar interests including but not limited to, our children (her 3 and my 2; ages 11,9,8,7 & 6),

Katharine, Elizabeth, Rosie, Will & Grace

our love of running, our addiction to coffee, and our dread of packing (which we both do a lot of).  We ran 'comfortably fast' (her probably a bit more comfortable than me) through the entire race, chatting the whole time, much to the chagrin of the runners in front of us.  Before we knew it, we were running down the home stretch.  We crossed the line together at 1:35 and change; a time that we were both very pleased with.  We grabbed some snacks from the post-race table (really good selection), we posed for a photo with other runners; all of us holding the Muscle Milk drinks that we then enjoyed, and we stretched while we listened to "The Moonlighters" rock out to Pink Floyd and Zeppelin for a bit (that was awesome).  Then we grabbed coffees (given) and headed home...continuing to chat for another 45 minutes, savoring this last chunk of time before we jumped back into the chaos of our wild and crazy families.  Later that day, out of curiosity, I checked coolrunning to see what our official times and places were.  Turns out, her results were up but they had missed me completely.  My name wasn't even on the list.  It's as if I hadn't run.  I laughed and took it as a sign.  Because, in the end, it really didn't matter.  We ran for the fun of it and we didn't need numbers to tell us we had been successful with our plan.

...AND MUSIC

Listen to this:
The Mess - Kid Astray  


OH, AND...
Don't forget to enter the YURBUDS giveaway.  The winner will be picked this Friday.  Hurry. Go.