Life Lately

It has been a minute since I've done a post on all things life.  So here are a bunch of lately pictures!  

Bentz started second year preschool and has been rocking it this year.  Last year drop-off was always filled with tears, while this year I have to kiss him goodbye at the car because he takes off running once we are half way to the door! 

I always thought the teary eyed drop offs were hard, but man, I miss the teary eyed drop offs!  lol

Currently V.8.2019

Wearing:  Zella leggings & my Chicago Marathon shirt (it's pretty much all or nothing with me haha)

Eating:  chicken rice bowl and some tasty flavored water that I drink basically 24/7 out of a cute tumbler with a straw

Feeling:  I am tired today, but happy

Weather:  8675309 degrees, and sun

Wanting:  some weather that isn't so hot, or a monsoon

Needing:  a full time maid

Thinking:  I love when the boys are happy and play well together

Saving for:  a rainy day, and to pay for the boys' everything

Learning:  I just got a new piano book yesterday and am learning some of Yiruma's pieces.  I am starting to play the piano more these days, which is great.

Enjoying:  running more mileage

Reading:  Black Ice by Michael Connelly

Planning for:  NYC Marathon trip in 10 weeks!!  And a birthday party for the boys because they keep growing up even though I tell them to stop.

Watching:  Web of Lies on Investigation Discovery

Loving:  that work has slowed down a little bit, although it supposedly will change tomorrow

Listening:  I used to only listen to my running playlist while running, but that changed when I was out for my last injury this spring.  And I haven't turned back.  So I have been listening to a lot of dance type music:  Knife Party, Jim Yosef, Mike Emilio, Marshmello, TheFatRat, Cesqeaux, Itro, etc.

https://play.google.com/music/playlist/AMaBXyl9-XMgRxlxOREbVQyy0jP2nobLx4wacytfvowS6ApU8T9LSsi-6HR010hh_V6kGJoBUPsSGtI6S9G1vcE-qVTCYiow5w%3D%3D

Anticipating:  NYC Marathon, my first marathon (excluding my DNF) since I have started running faster

Thankful for:  my little family, running to give me a little solo time when needed

<3

11 Weeks to NYC Marathon!

As I sit here and eat my "snack" of brown rice, with Home Alone on the TV so that I can pretend it's not 113 outside, I am thinking about 11 weeks down the road...and NEW YORK CITY MARATHON!!!!

It's going to be so much fun.  Seriously a trip of a lifetime.  I haven't been in 13 years, Ben hasn't been EVER!

The marathon

The Expo

9/11 Museum/Memorial

One World Trade Center

Seeing Hamilton

Seeing Jersey Boys

Maybe going on some tours (NBC? Statue of Liberty???)

Oh my gosh, I haven't been this excited for vacation in possibly years.

So with 11 weeks to go, we still have a lot of training ahead of us, but one great thing is we're already running 45 mile weeks and for the first time we're running six days a week.  I am actually quite a fan of six days a week!

Marathon goals lie somewhere between running easy and racing hard.  Which I do hope will still yield a PR, because now a days my zone 2 effort running is faster than my marathon PR pace (which was a flat 9:00 for 3:56).  Speaking of flat, New York City Marathon is not.  It's actually quite hilly, but at least it won't be 113 degrees.

We've discovered that I am under eating for my high mileage running.  Like, by a lot.  After bonking hard in my last half along with bonking at mile 11 of my goal marathon in April, my coach has been really wanting me to track my food.  I figured by swapping out my regular salads for carbs was enough, but oh my I am so wrong.  I finally gave in and it has been eye opening.  It has also been SO MUCH WORK to eat the food my body needs.  I don't know how people do this all the time, but I'm trying to make it my new norm because I would like better performance.  I am actually quite jazzed about the fact that this may really help my running.  

Running with the sunrise...

Let me add that I don't weigh myself and I'm genetically wired to not be a foodie.  I would take a food pill if it would allow me the freedom to not eat meals during the busy work days.  lol  BUT I do like me all the sugary snacks.  Give me the candy!

I've already started thinking about our shirts.

80 days to go!

Now if it would just cool down even just a hair, that would be amazing!

Soon.  So soon.

Utah - Part Cuatro (The rest of the trip!)

I am not sure why I started these posts in Spanish.  lol  But I had to finish what I started, soooo...

Part cuatro.

The rest of Utah!  My grandma drove all the way to my mom's house to see us, which I was so grateful for!  I used to do a lot with my extended family as if they were my immediate family.  Heck, I used to WORK with my grandma, and before that she LIVED with us, so it's sad I never even see her anymore!!!

Utah - Part Tres (Lagoon, It's What Fun Is!)

I've been wanting to take the boys to Lagoon!  I had a season pass here for like 20 years, so obviously they needed to experience its goodness.  And after being away for awhile, it was definitely goodness!  

The trees are all mature and shading the rides, there are more thriller rides, and Lagoon has stepped it up a little bit.  In the kiddie land area, some of the rides had background music which kind of reminded me of Disneyland.  It was super fun!

Since Dash isn't yet two, I didn't buy him a park pass but rather just bought some individual kiddie land ride tickets (like $10 worth).  I think that was a wise choice because he was so content watching and looking around for the most part, and a park pass was $45 after a $10 discount.  One ride he almost fell asleep on.  lol

Utah - Part Dos

I work remotely, but my office is in SLC, so whenever I get up there I like to go in to the office, and my boss usually takes me out to lunch!  He's pretty much the best boss on the planet, and I am lucky that things have worked out so well!  I've been with my company for 13 years, and eight of them have been remotely.  

I am the only one who works remotely from the office, and I am also the only department that hasn't grown (hence my workload has increased a bunch).  I don't really want to grow my department because I work on a project basis, so if the economy goes through a recession soon, I would still have to share my projects/workload.  So for now I just bust out the work!

I always fail to take pictures of my work and co-workers, plainly because I forget to!  My office is unrecognizable from the days I worked in there.  In fact, we have been built around like crazy, I almost missed the building when I stopped by six months ago.  Our building has had some face lifts, and we've outgrown it and most likely will be moving soon.  I kind of am sad I don't get to work in there still, and have a fun office or something.  :)  My old window used to look out over a field, and now there's a tall building like three feet from it and no view at all.  Crazy how time changes things.

Utah - Part Uno

We went up to Utah for about 10 days!  After some chatting, Ben and I thought that we should do a yearly trip to Utah when the weather is nice there, and I can see friends/family and take the boys to do some of the things I always did growing up (Lagoon, parks, etc.).  It sounded like a good tradition to start ASAP, and a family Buhr reunion was the ultimate date deciding factor for this trip.  (We would have stayed longer and saw more people, but school starts pretty early down here in Phoenix.)

It's just over nine hours to drive to my mom's house, so it's not the shortest drive, but it could be worse.  This year we timed it to meet my mom and Jeff in Page, at the end of their Lake Powell trip, and then caravan the rest of the way.  It's close to half way, and it worked wonderfully!  The boys did awesome on the drive.

July, July, the apple of my eye.

July really isn't the apple of my eye.  :P  

We wrapped up our summer (school started July 24th!) with some hot weather, and a nice 10 day trip to Utah!  We did a lot up in Utah:  enjoyed the weather and greenery, I went to work in the office one day since it's in SLC, we went to Lagoon, I ran a half marathon with my dad, we watched fireworks for Pioneer Day, we said goodbye to my childhood home and hello to my dad and Laura's new house, and we had a [long] family reunion in Logan, where I probably logged 10 miles chasing Dash!  

Bentz missed his first couple of days of school, but started about 10 hours after we arrived back to Phoenix from Utah.  And it was also Ben's 41st birthday that day too!!!  It was definitely a jam packed month and I'm still recovering.  :)

June -- 1/2 way through 2019

Here are collages from June!  It was a good month, although I can hardly remember it because it feels like a century ago.  We had the best vacation ever to Newport Beach, had some swimming lessons which are taking a reallllllly long time for B3 to warm up to, it got hot around here, B3 had summer camp school, and we kept running the miles!  And I worked a butt load!  Maybe that is why the month is a bit of a blur.  

I will recap the boys in the next month with the July collages.  :)

Running a little 13.1 in SLC with my papa!

Hellllllllllo.  It's been a minute! 

Things I would like to blog post about:

• June recap
• July recap
• Trip to Utah
• School started!
• More Newport Beach (Fun Zone, game day, etc.)
• 4th of July
• LAGOON
• Running (because obviously!)
• Etc. 
• 24th of July Deseret News 1/2 (Utah's Pioneer Day)

First I will start with a little 13.1 I ran in SLC with my dad!  I was up in Utah for a Buhr family reunion, and figured might as well run a 24th of July race while I'm there in their beautiful weather!  The weather was really hot for everyone, mostly, but I thought it was gorgeous.  95 degrees in SLC is similar to 85 in Phoenix.  Phoenix doesn't have the trees and shade, we just have a lot of dirt and concrete that radiate heat, so when it's hot here...it's HOT.  So running in Utah's summer temperatures was pleasant.  :)  Even with the altitude, it was just easier than our summer running by a landslide.  

The 24th of July (Pioneer Day) was a Wednesday and Ben hadn't flown in yet (he stayed behind to work a couple more days), so I mentioned it to my dad and he was game to run a half!  He's just getting over a foot surgery and making his comeback!  (He had an extra bone in his foot that his posterior tibialis was connected to, and it was causing pain.  So they removed the extra bone and re-anchored the tendon, so that part has taken some rehabbing.)

5k PR on the Beach

Something weird is going on.  I swore I recapped the 5k from June, but I couldn't find the blog post anywhere.  So I searched my emails (I am signed up for emails from my own blog LOL), and I found the recap.  However, it's GONE from my blog!?  How?? 

A reason I subscribe to my own blog is because I like an extra back-up of the posts.  This time it is going to save me, because I'm going to literally copy and paste it below.  And repost.

So originally posted on June 30th:

Well we just got home from vacation and I'm sad as.  The days that follow a fun, family vacation, are days that ...blow.  :P  It's nice to get back to routine and life, but vacation is so nice and it always goes so fast.  Hopefully the withdrawals do not last too long!

This was our second year where we ran a 5k on the beach path in Long Beach on our last day of vacation.  Last year we dressed up, this year we intended too, but we ran out of time to go to Goodwill!