OK Mom, Awesome Running Pants

Hello, Everyone!  So if you don't live in Wisconsin, we have had some AMAZING weather this week. I'm pretty sure my car told me it was 66 degrees at one point AND I was outside running in a tank top. Yeah! 66 in February and a tank top!  Welcome to Wisconsin! While part of me felt bad for my weird, sadistic friends who enjoy snow and cold weather, I also feel like maybe someone upstairs was listening to all my whining about, "It's cold....blah, blah..." and decided to do me a kindness..or shut me up for bit. Either way, I took it and literally RAN with it.   It was a GREAT week to get out and get in those training miles; be it for the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon, another event coming up, or just because you wanted to feel the sun on your face. However, in true Wisconsin winter fashion, this morning we wake up to 3" of snow, 35mph winds, and more snow to come. So today's 12 mile training run was done indoors. Fun. Back to waiting for Spr...

Happy February, Everyone! Woohoo! We're one month closer to spring! I don't know if you can tell, but being an avid runner who doesn't like the cold, I'm kind of not a fan of winter. It's slippery, it requires layering, it's unpredictable, the days are shorter...I could go on and on. But I won't because you have lives. So I'll just put a well-placed meme in here and we can move on.  My rant on winter is actually very well timed as I make my way outdoors this weekend to the Seroogy's Valentine 15k/5k Run Walk in De Pere, WI on Saturday. Left to right - My hubby Ross, me, and Uncle Jan  at a Seroogy's Valentine Run in 2011. My shirt says "Future Heartbreaker" as JD was in my belly. :)  Me at the Seroogy's in 2000 and something... Who cares, it was cold.. :)  Here's the link to their Facebook page in case you are interest in joining me: https://www.facebook.com/events/464541937087631 While it's cold (as in on...

Ugh...January in Wisconsin...Is anyone else sharing this sentiment with me right now? I know they say it's all relative or, "It could be worse." I get that, I feel that, but I want to have a little bit of a pity party. So if you could, give me, say, 30 seconds of your time? I promise, I'll suck it up after that. It's All Relative... This month has bit the big one! The stomach bug hit our house along with a cold and fever which led to multiple,  MULTIPLE days off of school for our Kindergartner, who happens to hate missing school. (Proud mom, struggling parent when it comes to explaining why we can't go to school and be Boogers-McGee sneezing germ goblins on our friends.) Add on top of that our little bug, Julianna, turning 3, (Ninja Turtle-themed birthday party had to happen of course) a busy 8-12 hour night work schedule for my husband (we're only half way through that one...), and just the general fun that is winter marathon training in Wisco...

As I'm writing this, I'm playing Playdoh, responding to emails, and planning how I will get my miles in today. It's a snow day, so both children are home, and I'm feeling the "hump day"effect on top of it all. (Okay, but seriously, this needs to be invented...) In fact, this is totally me today; albeit, "Doctor Who" needs to be swapped with anything on HGTV.  ----->  But as my wise beyond his years 5-year old, JD, once told me, "Once you get there and you get energies and you're running and working, you'll feel good! So let's do it!" With this in mind, it was off to the gym for another adventurous day of training for my second marathon.  My name is Jill, and I'm like any other small-town Midwestern, middle-class, and middle-aged women in many ways. Two kids, a house in the suburbs, married to my high school sweetheart and enjoying my work as a stay-at-home-mom as well as a small business owner (musician)....