Rejection!

My little guy's birthday has come and gone. He's no longer "almost 1." He's a full-fledged 1 year-old!

We had a party with some of our terrific friends and family, and then my SIL from Mississippi and her family came up for a visit. We rarely get to see them so it was a real treat. While they were here, we toured a working farm about 45 minutes south of where I live. Horses, cows, acres of vegetables -- it was pretty cool.

We even rode in the back of a pickup truck:

That's me and the little birthday boy riding in the truck!

I got in a run on Saturday and one on Monday and since they both felt pretty good, I'm hoping I'm back. I don't want to bore everyone with my Lyme disease tribulations so I'll just say this: I am no longer accepting my symptoms. Instead, I am channeling my inner Marshall Ulrich who, while running across country and facing a debilitating foot injury decided not to accept the foot pain. As he writes in his book Running on Empty:

The morning after my MRI in Colorado, I sat on the edge of the bed and looked at my fat foot, so swollen it felt alien to me . . .

Turning to Heather, I disowned my foot. Instead of embracing the pain, I rejected it completely.

'This foot doesn't belong to me anymore. It doesn't fit in with who I am, what I'm trying to do, or where I'm going. This is not my foot.'

That's my deal. My symptoms don't fit in with who I am or what I am trying to do. I will continue to take supplements and do the right thing but I will reject the pain completely. So, there.

*     *     *

In the midst of partying and running and pickup truck riding, I also had that little Go Band giveaway going on. And, yuppers, I picked a winner.

Congratulations, Mackenzie from Wealth is Health!  Email me (felicehalf at yahoo dot com) with your address so I can send you your Go Band! You'll LOVE it, I am sure!

I know it is already Wednesday but I hope everyone had a great weekend. I'm in post-party, post-house guests catch up mode! Watch out . . . 


~ Felice

Five things Friday.

1. My baby turns 1 this weekend! Wowzer. Where did that year go?

Aww . . . li'l guy . . . 

My big almost-one-year-old!

2. Ugh. I have not run all week. Thanks, Lyme disease! I'm trying not to think about it but the problem with my Lyme disease is that it is causing major fatigue, joint soreness (hips, knees, fingers), and extremely odd and uncomfortable numbness, tingling and restless legs syndrome-esque feelings in my legs, arms and face.

I will go for a run this weekend. A full week off is more than enough. At least I hope it is.

3. If you have not entered my Go Bands giveaway, you really should!

4. We're having an early fall heat wave here. The forecast for Sunday is sunny with a high of 80 -- great for a backyard birthday party, not so great for all of my marathoning and half-marathoning friends. I'll be thinking cool thoughts for all of you!!

5. Boo! Hiss! I'm bummed that the Yankees couldn't pull it together and win Game 5. They're out. Baseball season, for this happy runner, is over. Oh, well!

I hope you all have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by.

~ Felice

Just. Keep. Going. (review & giveaway!)

Let's be honest. Sometimes, in the middle of a run or a race, you want to quit. Admit it. You've been there. I sure have.

Like here:

That's me, STRUGGLING up a hill in the Adirondack half marathon 10 days ago. 

Mile 8? Mile 9? Yeah, they kicked my butt and I totally wanted to quit. Many times. I kept hearing the quitting part of my brain tell the running part of my brain to "just stop and walk. This racing thing is too hard. Walk. Rest. Sit down. Whatever. Just, you know, don't run anymore."

But -- ha ha! -- the joke was totally on the quitting part of my brain because I had a secret weapon:

Go Band from Dailyologie

Yup. Words of wisdom: JUST KEEP GOING.

Donna from dailyologie sent me a Go Band to review and I decided to give it a true test and I wore it for my half marathon. 

That's me during the race. You can see the white of the band on my left wrist .

Those words helped me to quiet that quitting part of my brain. There were several times when I looked down at my left wrist and read the words and did as I was told.

Just. Keep. Going.

So simple. So important. Especially at mile 9.

I love my Go Band! It's a simple little canvas band with an image of a road and the words on one side, a color on the other side. It closes with one snap. The band is light and I didn't feel it at all when I ran. Seriously, it's great. 

The Go Bands are $14 each on dailyologie (an etsy site). Right now, there are only Just Keep Going bands in blue and green. But, there are plans for new bands with other motivational sayings and I can't wait to see them!

The giveaway:

Want to win a little dose of motivation? Well, I'm super happy to have one Go Band to give away! To enter, leave me a comment and let me know that you'd like to win.

Additional entries:

As always, you can gain extra entries. Remember, though, you must complete the required entry first! (Leave one comment per entry for the additional ones to count):

• Follow this blog, or let me know that you already do (leave a comment) 
• Become a fan of The Happy Runner on Facebook, or let me know that you already are (leave a comment) 
• Link to this giveaway from Facebook or Twitter (do as often as you'd like, just leave a comment each time) 
• Pop over to dailyologie on etsy and click the facebook "like" link (leave a comment)
• Link to this giveaway from your blog (leave a comment) 

This giveaway will run through Tuesday, October 11 at 11:59pm EST and the winner will be announced on Wednesday.

Good luck!

~ Felice

Recovery week and September recap.

After setting a new PR in the half marathon last Sunday, I took it easy and had a good recovery week. I ran 2.2 miles on Monday, 2.5 on Wednesday, 3.1 on Friday, and 4.8 on Sunday for a whopping 12.5 miles for the week. I also did two cross training sessions and went for a massage. Lucky me!

My runs felt fine, especially yesterday's run, and I think my body has recovered quite nicely from the half.

It has not, however, recovered so well from the Lyme disease. I completed my treatment 2+ weeks ago, but my Lyme disease appears to be back -- with a vengeance. So, that's fun. Or not.

The Lyme disease was one reason my September mileage was lower than I had planned and it will probably be a reason why October may end up being low, too. We'll see what happens. In the meantime, here's how September ended up:

September stats:


Running: 74.8
Racing: 1 -- the half marathon!
Out of town runs: 1 on Long Island
Cross training: 8

As Owen said, I didn't set out to run a million miles in September, I set out to run a strong half marathon. So what if my mileage was down?

Welcome, October! Hope you all had a great weekend.

~ Felice