Nothing much to say today so I'm just keeping it short and logging my miles.  Busy bee! 

SJHM Training Week 6

Only got in short runs this week.  Ran a 4, and two 3s. 

I had great intentions to run my long run on Sunday but it rained, my bed was feeling way too good, and then I had a ton of school work to do. Completed long run on Monday,  will include info in the next weeks post.

Total Miles this week: 10

Total Official Training Miles: 70.60

SJHM Training Week 7

Monday: Long run for previous week 8 miles

Tuesday: approximate 2 mile walk with a "field trip" to YaYa's- Pumpkin Pie Yogurt is a perfect treat on an amazing fall day!

Wednesday: 4.5 miles

Saturday: 10 miles- It just came easy today! 

Feelings-Great! Anxious for the race. 

Total Miles this week: 22.5

Total Official Training miles 90.6 

Keepin My Head UP

Man, this was one rough week... BUT I'm keeping my head up and looking forward to new and better days.  Tomorrow is fall break, Mondays off are always a positive! 5 weeks until Hawaii vacay and a whole week of down time with my awesome husband, and 4 weeks until the Avett Brothers.  Lots of fun times to look forward too and most importantly being blessed daily with a wonderful husband and amazingly supportive family and friends.  

Life is too short to forget about what really matters and what is really important.  I often get bogged down by the unimportant things that I forget to sit back and take inventory of my blessings and the love and support in my life.  One day this week when I was feeling down, God put a thought into my head.  He reminded me of all of my past worries and he showed me how he took care of ALL of those things.  It might not have been on my time, but everything has worked out just the way it was meant to be.  Why do I have such a hard time accepting this and taking comfort in the facts.  I am a SERIOUS worry wart and control freak... this often causes me way to much anxiety. One of my favorite quotes (shared with me a couple of years ago by my mother) says "Anxiety is an unproductive activity.  It doesn't accomplish anything positive.  Give your worries to God." I give way to much of my time to anxiety.   This quote helps to remind me to snap out of it.  

Here is to new beginnings! Brandon is taking classes to get his alternate route teaching license.  I am very happy for him and look forward to his new career changes.  Brandon loves cooking but he feels it has come time to only use his wonderful talents on myself and a few other lucky people.  He will have a license to teach 7-12 grade social studies.  I think he will really enjoy it and be great with his students.  The alternate route program seems to be swift and easily obtainable.  The first part of the program is to take an online class for the next 8 weeks and to complete 60 hours of observations.  The second part of the program will be getting an "internship" position, basically finding a teaching position for one semester and then getting his license.  Yay! :) 

On to running...

SJHM Training Week 5

Monday: 4 mile run

Tuesday: 2 mile run/strength

Wednesday-Friday: No workouts /:(

Saturday: 7 mile Long Run

Feelings: Pain.... My ankles and knee hurts... I need new shoes

Total running miles this week: 13

Total Official Training miles: 60.60... WOW!!!

About to head to Tupelo for a little quality friend time with my BFF Casey.  Much needed! Here is to better days ahead! 

Week 4

Because I want to keep up with my miles for this run I'm gonna go ahead and just post my Week 4 stats.  I'm sure I could find more to run my mouth about but I'm a little sleepy tonight! 

SJHM Training 

Monday: Rest day

Tuesday: 3.5 mile run and strength train 

Wednesday: 2 mile run

Thursday: 2 mile walk

Friday: 3 mile run

Saturday: 6.35 mile run

Sunday: 8 mile bike ride

Total Running Miles this week: 14.85

Total Running Miles during Training: 47.60

So far I'm still feeling pretty good about this race. I'm looking forward to the actual course being flatter than what I train on each day.  There are good days and some days that I am exhausted, sore, too busy to run, tired, on, and on, and on..... But usually I feel pretty good when I'm done! Each run is one step closer to the finish line! I always get emotional during runs.  Especially if it is something that I have trained for for a long time or if it's a "new goal" met for me.  I know this run will be especially awesome because of the cause that I am helping to promote.  I try to remember the struggles of the patients at St. Jude and the endurance and strength that they use to fight their diseases each day.  I have raised $275 dollars so far.  My goal is $500.  I read somewhere that it cost $1,000,000 to run St. Jude each day.  I know my $500 is pennies compared to that, but I hope it will make some sort of difference! You can visit my page to help out and donate.  

mystjudeheroes.org/alkhughes 

It's Fall Ya'll!

Kicked off October with a fun "fall" filled weekend.  My mom and I drove south into the Delta to Merigold, MS.  We went for a long anticipated trip to McCarty. My mom has collected McCarty pottery for as long as I can remember.  She describes herself as a McCarty snob because that's the only pottery she really likes and keeps around the house.  I guess it's rubbed off on me too. I know there are people that have way more of this stuff then we do but we love every piece and it's always fun to treat yourself every now and then.  It's simplistic, useful, and deep rooted in southern charm.  I have collected quite a few pieces myself.  It's fun to actually go there and get it where it's made, to walk around Mr. McCarty's garden, and to be lucky enough to get to visit with him and hear his great stories.  Here are a few pics from our day trip.  

D and Mr. McCarty

My New Pieces...

Large Bowl, I love how it has the brown and jade colors. 

The Black Eyed Pea Plate

Isn't it cute!?!? It has small legs that raise it up a little when it's sitting flat.  It will make a fun serving piece and has a fun story to go along with it.  

Square plate and small bowl.  Once again, love the brown and jade.  They two little owls were just fun extras.  Thought they were too cute! 

The Gardens

So pretty and peaceful.  Could have sat here all day. 

I would love to have one of these giant planters! Very cool :)

It's everywhere! 

After we shopped we had lunch at the Tea Room.  Homemade veggie soup with cornbread, chicken crepes, Merigold tomatoes, sunflower spinach, and we couldn't help but share a piece of chocolate cobbler.  SCRUMPTIOUS! There isn't much else to do in Merigold so we made our way back up North and enjoyed our ride watching the farmers out picking and bailing the cotton.  It was everywhere! Fun, beautiful day with great company! 

Now, Let's Talk About RUNNING! 

This is week three of our training for the St. Jude half marathon.  I am up to $260 in my fundraising efforts! Thank you to all of you who have donated.  I still have $240 to go, so if you are looking for a good place to send $10 head over to my St. Jude Heroes page and donate to these awesome, brave kids! mystjudeheroes.org/alkhughes

Lindsey and I had our 6 mile long run today.  That's 10k distance and thanks to the wonderful weather and good vibes and energy, it went awesome! I was a little nervous because being sick last week I missed my 5 mile run.  I haven't run more than 4 miles since May (Gumtree) and was lacking a little confidence.  We did great! We even went a little further (6.25) by adding a little extra challenge.  Oxford is full of crazy hills for runners.  We thought our finish line was going to come at the top of the hill, but we actually finished at the bottom of the hill.  To build a little endurance and maybe just to show off, we went ahead and ran/crawled to the top of the hill.  Good times! We conveniently parked and started our run in the Baptist Memorial Healthplex/Big Bad Breakfast (ironic) parking lot, so we celebrated by enjoying a yummy breakfast with a few cups of coffee.  We are almost half way there! 

Week 3 of SJHM Training Stats

Monday: 3 mile run

Tuesday: 2.5 mile run

Wednesday: 2.5 mile walk/trip to YaYa's for a little treat (hey, you gotta have fun!)

Thursday: Rest (work/school)

Friday: 3 mile run

Saturday: rest

Sunday: 6.25 mile run

Feelings: Great! Excited! 

Total Running Miles this week: 14.75

Total Official Training Miles: 32.75

Fun with Mums! 

I love mums! and white pumpkins.  Wanted to make the porch fall festive so went and got a few today.  I'm gonna add some more giant orange pumpkins by next weekend.  I'm hosting our Halloween supper club next Saturday.  Should be a fun time! Hope everyone has a great week!