Tag Archives: allergies

Random Thoughts about Some Pricks, a Strong Wind and the Runs

Posted on by Run DMT
6

For me, running has always melted the pounds away, but I honestly I had no earthly idea that it would melt so quickly in such a short amount of time.  I realize that most diet plans recommend only losing 1-2 pounds a week, so I hope that I’m not losing weight too quickly.  But I ain’t gonna lie.  It also feels really freaking good to be losing all this baby weight so quickly and to be squeezing into smaller dress sizes every week. With each pound, I’ve double my wardrobe by fitting into some of my old clothes.

 

Each Saturday, I weigh myself after I return from my long run.  I only expected to have lost about a pound this week, so you can imagine my delight when my scale said I dropped another 4.5 pounds for a grand total of….drum roll…16 pounds!!!   INCREDIBLE!

 

On Sunday, the ladies competing in my mom’s group Weight Loss Challenge (WLC) met at the gym where @jellisfl measured and calculated our loss for the first month.  I couldn’t be more thrilled with my progress!  I honestly don’t care if I win the WLC, because I’ve already won in my mind!  Here’s what @jellisfl calculated for me:

 

Inches lost- 18.7
Weight lost- 10.2
Body Fat % down 3
Fat mass down 9lbs

 

Last week, I went for my third round in three years of allergy testing to learn that I’m not allergic to oak any more but I’m allergy to some funky weed that doesn’t even grow in Florida.  WTF?  Whatever.  I’m not buying it or those dumb desensitizing drops for a year and pay a $35 co-pay every visit.  I’ll just stick with Zyrtec.  Thank you.  It seems to do the trick when my allergies flare up.

 

Because of that stupid skin prick test, I wasn’t allowed to run Thursday morning before the test.  So, Wednesday morning was the last morning I ran.  I had hoped to run on Friday morning but I had to complete a late phase of the skin prick test.  In other words, I had to walk around with rows of lovely bumps on my left arm and watch how the lesions developed in a 24 hour period.  Um…yeah…they developed into larger lesions and I looked like I had some bizarre fleshing eating disease.  So in 24 hours, I learned that I’m still allergic to EVERYTHING?!  Oh, except oak.  Duh!

 

Ironically from all the blood work I had done over the past few weeks, I’ve also learned that I have a Vitamin D deficiency which is so strange for such a sun goddess like myself.  I guess I need to scale back on the SPF 50 sunblock, eat more oily fish and eggs, and drink more milk.

 

Speaking of eggs…for the past week, the winds have been ridiculously strong as a result of all the arctic cold fronts making their way down south.  Have I mentioned how much I hate running in the wind?  Despite the wind, I still did pretty good.

 

5 miles

Time 58:55

Ave Pace 11:47

Max Pace 9:09

 

Saturday, I ran 10 lonely miles by myself because Tiffany flaked due to her foot giving her some trouble. The solitude must have made me run a better pace, because at 9 miles, I beat my 9 mile time (1:50:07) from the previous week (1:58:32).

 

10 Miles

Time 2:01:37

Ave Pace 12:10

Max Pace 9:27

Calories Burned 1010  :-)

 

The weather was so damp and yucky on Monday and I missed the Mom’s Mid-Morning Run at Suncoast Running.  Bad mommy! Or am I a good mommy because I didn’t take my baby out it that icky weather?  Either way, I’m a total slacker runner because I missed my Monday run and I’ve not done any yoga or Boot Camp stuff in weeks.  My BFF Sharon Mann is totally going to make me suffer when I see her next.

 

This morning, I fit 4 miles in even though the wind made me want to stay in bed.

 

4 miles

Time 44:37

Ave Pace 11:09

Max Pace 8:21

 

***Proudly submitted at The Un Mom’s Random Tuesday Thoughts, because when I blog about my runs, it’s usually pretty random.***

randomtuesday

Janathon Day 5, 6 and 7

Posted on by Run DMT
5

Janathon/JuneathonFor Day 5, I decided to do some Boot Camp strength training stuff.  It’s been awhile since I’ve worked out with Sharon Mann and I think she punished me for it.  She made me do at least 1000 squats and lunges.  I could be off with that number, but from the way my legs felt afterwards that number is darn pretty close.

 

My muscles moaned with each uppercut I threw.  Each push-up and squat felt like slow torture.  Every so often, I had to stop and shake out my arms just to make it through the work-out.

 

My youngest daughter snacked on Clementines while she watched me work-out.  Whenever I stopped to shake out the soreness and rehydrate, my little Clementine coach yelled, “Mommy, break time is during the commercials.”

 

After a 45 minute boot camp bruising, I ran a mile with my girls while I pushed Little Lion Man in his stroller.  I believe that may have been just as torturous as the work-out beforehand.  Seriously, why did I think that was a good idea?

 

1 mile

Time 12:52

Ave Pace 12:56

Max Pace 10:37

 

Day 6 was less eventful.  A thunderstorm rolled in the early morning hours, but it didn’t allow for any extra sleep because Little Lion Man slept poorly during the night, therefore I slept poorly.  On top of that, my allergies are kicking my ass.  With a sore throat and a sore body from the day before, I was in desperate need of some sleep.  Since I missed my window of opportunity to run in the morning, the rest of the day was shot and so are my chances of winning the Janathon.  No physical activity of Day 6.

 

Allergies and cranky babies totally bite.

 

I redeemed myself on Day 7.  Little Lion Man woke me up at 4:00 a.m. and I decided to stay awake.  I was not going to lose another day!  Once Little Lion Man drifted back to sleep, I quietly snuck out the door to run 3 miles.  Although I was beating myself up for missing a day during the Janathon, I believe my body needed the rest and thanked me for it with a decent run.

 

Distance 3.1 miles

Time 38:35

Ave Pace 12:28

Max Pace 10:08

 

Tomorrow I plan to run 6 miles.  Wish me luck!

Plan B for Spring Break

Posted on by Run DMT
7

Since the campsites at Anastasia State Park for spring break book so quickly, I reserved our campsite for back in August.   Typically, when booking that far in advance, there’s no way to predict the weather but we could never have predicted that pollen levels would have forced us to cancel our highly coveted camping spot.

 

Of course, we were all greatly disappointed as we had been anticipating the trip for months, but the girls took the news the worst.  Even though Allana’s eyes swelled shut and her snot ran green due to the amount of pollen in the air, she still was willing to suffer through it for the sake of some s’ mores . However, Allan and I simply could not allow anyone to endure the elements that would trigger an asthma attack or a severe allergic reaction.  So, to make it up to the girls, we promised four fun-filled days.

 

Thursday, we spent the day at Busch Gardens.  It had been years since we last visited the park.  Allan and I couldn’t believe how much had changed, but it was all new to the girls and they loved every inch of it.

 

 

Friday, we visited Dinosaur World.  The girls and I had been several time before, but this was Allan’s first time and he really enjoyed this outdoor dinosaur museum.  The weather was perfect but being outside under the shady cypress and oak trees was all anyone’s allergies could handle.

 

 

Saturday, we took a road trip to St. Augustine.  The girls loved climbing the Castillo de San Marco and exploring the oldest city in the U.S.  They especially liked stopping for a refreshing root beer at the A1A Aleworks and for homemade ice cream and fudge at Kilwin’s.  Before we left to head back home, we stumbled upon a beautiful wooden park and I think the girls may have enjoyed it more than the fort.

 

 

On Sunday, Grandma treated the girls to How to Train Your Dragon in 3D while Allan and I rested to recover from our exhausting excursions.

 

PhotoStory Friday
Hosted by Cecilyand Caitlin

Photobucket

The Happy Campers Strike Again

Posted on by Run DMT
13

Now, that I’ve crawled out from under my never ending pile of laundry, I can write about our camping trip.  Of course we had a fabulous time!

 

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This was our second camping trip to Hillsborough Rive State Park, which I feel is the perfect campground for families.  Our friends and we reserved campsites in the second loop which circles the playground.  Our children played all day on the playground while we sat around and drank beer always staying in our line of sight.  The restrooms are also located in the middle of the loop, which is very convenient too.

 

The moderately sized campsites offer a decent amount of shade provided by large pine and oak trees.  With our camping limited supplies, my family and I don’t require a lot of room.

 

Hillsborough River State Park always offers a number of hiking trails, with the Florida Trail being the longest at approximately 3.6 miles.  Saturday morning, I woke up with an obsession to run one of the trails at the park, but I really don’t know what possessed me to run the Florida trail by myself without my camera or mace.  Along the path, the trail narrowed and I found the uneven terrain very challenging since I am used to running on flat paved surfaces.  With several steep inclines, lots of overgrown weeds and trees roots, this trail definitely seemed to be the trail less traveled.  The Florida Trail followed the river with an occasional rickety bridge to run across and some trees bent over the trail required a limbo move while I ran.  The scenery was gorgeous, however, I couldn’t really enjoy the view because I was too busy watching my step as I stumbled over tree roots.

 

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As I ran along the overgrown trail, I cleared the path for the next hiker or runner by running through spider webs.  At one point, I completely lost my footing and wiped out.  I fell to the ground and rolled.  Fortunately, I suffered minor scrapes.  I bounced back up, shook it off and kept running.

 

Then, I heard some rustling behind me and out of the corner my eye, I spotted a long bushy tail.  After reading flyers posted around the park with warnings about coyotes, I became nervous that I was being followed by one.  After being spotted, the fluffy tail creature hopped into a tree.  Now, I worried that whatever creature I saw would pounce on me and drag my bloody carcass through the woods never to be found again.  Thankfully, that never happened and I lived to tell my tail trail run tale.  (Later, I learned from my friend John that I probably encountered a Red Fox.)  But I had to laugh about all these silly events during my run which made me think of my running partner, Tiffany, who detests nature and running through it on our Starkey Trail runs with the Striders.  I felt a bit like that as I ran along the Florida trail on my own.  I had nature all over me!

5 Miles

54:12

Ave Pace 10:50

 

Later that morning, everyone went canoeing.

 

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Our friends headed south down the river but we went north in the wrong direction.  Our little detour led us to some small rapids which we may have missed if we followed the crowd or if a Park Ranger caught us.

 

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The scenery along the Hillsborough River is much like the scenery along any Florida river with large canopies of large Cypress trees and Cypress knees popping up along the river banks.  We saw a few large hollowed Cypress trees in the middle of the river which reminded us of something from a fantasy novel.

 

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There were also these beautiful overgrown lavender wildflowers that I had never seen before and they attracted a variety of butterflies.

 

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Of course, during our canoe trip, we spotted the usual Florida inhabitants such as turtles, gators and several herons.

 

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Eventually, we caught up to our friends.

 

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One set of friends had white knuckles as it was her first canoe trip and rumor has it that they flipped their canoe.  Their faces have been blacked out to protect their identity.

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Like, I said in my Mr. E’s Beautiful Blue’s post, this year’s camping trip was something out of a bad slapstick comedy film.  Later that evening, one friend stumbled into a fire pit.  We believe her fateful fall may have been caused by her blood alcohol level and the Benadryl another camper slipped her to help with her allergies.  Before she plummeted face first into the fire pit, another friend caught her, but not before she singed some of her hair.  Thankfully, she was fine and didn’t suffer any burns, but it was still scary.  This photo was taken before the fateful fall into the fire.  Again, the faces have been blacked out to protect the identity of the fallen and her drug pusher.

 

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With all the ups and downs (literally), we had a great time.  We’re already planning our next camping trip with mace and minus the Benadryl.

 

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Getting Down to Bizniz

Posted on by Run DMT
5

“Half Marathon training officially begins tomorrow. Bring it on,” read my running mommy friend’s status update on Facebook.

  

Her status update startled me like a loud buzzing alarm clock waking me from a sound sleep.

  

What the?! What half marathon?!  Which half marathon is twelve weeks away?! 

 

Is the Women’s half only 12 weeks away?

  

I opened my Outlook calendar to count the number of weeks until the Women’s Half on November 22.  Counting this Sunday, the race is only 11 weeks away.

  

ELEVEN WEEKS!

 

 Holy pacing, Batman!  I need to get back into the game!

 

I thanked Laura for the reminder and the motivating update to help me focus and rev up my training again.  I downloaded Hal Higdon’s Intermediate Half Marathon Training Plan, posted it on my fridge and e-mailed a copy to Tiffany with the subject line “we are so screwed” to prepare her as well.  Considering that Tiffany and I ran 6 miles last Saturday albeit pathetic at best, we still attempted it and it starts us right where we should be according to my almighty Hal.

 

The upside to this sudden and urgent desire to get training again will also get me on track with the Longleaf Triathlon International Relay, which is only 6 weeks away.  As the runner on the relay team, I need to finish a 10K in less than 50 minutes to place at least third according to last year’s stats.  And for the simple fact that my team is relying on me, I need to pick up the pace for sure.  Then, there’s also the Race for the Cure 10K in 3 weeks, which will provide me with an opportunity to determine how I will perform at Longleaf.

 

So this morning, I jumped out of bed at 6:00 a.m. to run 3 miles.  No more lying in and complaining about time off from my injury, the dark, allergies, asthma, my DH’s new schedule or my kid’s school schedule!  It’s time to get serious and down to bizniz!  With that, I decided to run my “race pace” in the dark.

 

3.16 miles

Time 30:54

Ave Pace 9:47

 

Not exactly my race pace, but it’s an improvement from Monday’s run.  I’ll run another 3 miles tomorrow morning and then, Tiffany and I will go for 6 miles again this Saturday with the Striders.

High on Weed and Grass

Posted on by Run DMT
1

Before you jump to any conclusions, I’m referring to the pollen count around here.  Grass and weed have been high, but mold has been extremely high lately and this morning during my 3 mile run, I had an asthma attack. When I returned home, I took a hit off my recovery inhaler and made a mental note to myself that I need to start using my inhaler about 30 minutes prior to running.

 

It’s not my best performance, but not too shabby despite not being able to breathe.

 3 miles

Time  28:21

Pace  9:27

 

At least it inspired me to add a couple new songs to my iPod.   

 

 

I should try to doing the chicken while I run.  It might help with the breathing. 

 

I hope you enjoy the next video, because I can’t watch it.  Prodigy look like scary, evil clowns to me.

 

 

I also like Kayne West’s Breathe In, Breathe Out, but I couldn’t find a decent video on youtube.  If you have any other suggestions for breathing theme-related songs, I am all lungs ears.

Will Run for Beer

Posted on by Run DMT
6

Next Friday, I will be running in the Oldsmar Tap House 5K.  My 5K time has been slowly improving with today’s run being the fastest yet.  Have I mentioned that the first 30 finishers for the 5K get “das boot”?  Now, you know why I am so motivated to run fast these days! 

 

 

Before this morning’s run, I felt very light-headed and dizzy, which I know is allergy related.  I haven’t popped a Zyrtec in a while and I ran out of Nasacort some time last week.    Despite the dizziness, I still ran pretty well.

Distance: 3.0

Time: 27:17

Pace: 9:06

 

While running this morning, I crossed paths with another running neighbor who told me about a running club that meets at Starkey Park early Saturday mornings.  She told me that they really help keep her driven and focused.  I think I will check it out this Saturday.

 

For the past couple of Saturdays, I have been running 3 miles and swimming ¼ mile to train for the Faces of Courage triathlon in August (formerly known as Babes and Bums).  My swim time was terrible, but my run time was pretty good.

Distance: 3.26

Time: 30:01

Pace:  9:12

However, I haven’t hopped on my bike yet due to scheduling conflicts with my hubby’s work schedule.  Once our schedules jives, I’ll be spinning my wheels again.

 

So, if I meet with the running club this Saturday, I may be switching my long Sunday run to Saturdays and my triathlon training (swim and run) to Sundays.  Unfortunately, I still don’t know what day I will be cycling.

A Camping We Will Go

Posted on by Run DMT
18

camping-collage2

 

We had a fabulous time camping with our friends at Hillsborough River State Park this past weekend.  I didn’t lose any children.  I dodged an allergy attack.  I even avoided being attacked by a wild boar or rabid raccoon or pecked to death by a hungry hawk.

 

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Unfortunately, an asthma attack was unavoidable for my poor little Emmalynn and like fine neglectful parents, we forgot her nebulizer.  Luckily, the campground was only about 30 minutes away from home and since Allan had to restock his beer, he found it in his heart to swing home to grab her “cloud machine”.

 

With each camping trip, my family and I are becoming old camping pros.  We were far more organized for this trip than past trips.  I honestly don’t know how we pulled it off!  We arrived at the site around 1:30 with plenty of time to pitch the tent and get settled.  Even our good friends, Erika and John were amazed with our efficiency. 

 

Maybe it was the combination of Zyrtec and beer or the fact my youngest is growing up, but I felt so relaxed.  Since we added Emmalynn’s potty chair as one of the essential items for the trip, she peed on the potty and stayed dry throughout the day and night.  But most importantly, my little Houdini didn’t perform any disappearing acts by wandering off into the woods and she minded the camping rules. 

 

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Even Allana seemed to understand the rules a bit better for our third family camping trip.  Perhaps it was the threat of staying in the car the entire time that helped modify her behavior.

 

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Somehow, even the weather seemed to cooperate, with warm sunny days and cool evenings.  It was the perfect weather for camping.

 

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On Saturday, after Allan returned with the much needed nebulizer and beer, we hiked on a short mile or so trail along the Hillsborough River.  We spotted a turtle, an armadillo and a huge golden orb spider.  I gave each of the children paper bags to collect items while on our hike and after the hike, they made gorgeous collages with the items they collected.

 

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When we returned home on Sunday, we picked up a hitchhiker on the way.  We discovered this little lady hanging out on ceiling of my car.

 

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I really enjoy camping but I truly cherish the memories we create for our children.  These are the simple times that they will look back upon with delight and want to replicate for their children.

 

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Freaking Fay and Five Minutes for Fitness

Posted on by Run DMT
1

Although we managed to avoid Tropical Storm Fay, an allergy attack brought on by the winds of Fay has been unavoidable.  Her strong gusts seemed to have stirred up all kinds of nasty bits of dust, pollen and mold which triggered my allergies and I feel like I’ve been run over by a bus.

Despite waking up this morning with a nasty sore throat and nasal drip, I managed to roll out of bed and run 5 miles.  The winds were strong again today, which meant more unplanned resistance training.  Fortunately, I couldn’t smell a darn thing with my nose all congested.

Alas, it’s Thursday and time for this week’s 5 Minutes of Fitness.  Today brings another 5 minute dance party with your children.  I highly recommend these songs to get your heart rate pumping:

Move Your Feet by David Weinstone (2:58)

The Freeze by Greg and Steve (2:13)

I realize it’s about 30 seconds too short, therefore to make it a solid 5 minutes, simply do a plank exercise for 30 seconds.  Your core will thank me.