it's been a great fall

So it has been a while since i have written. We still have not fully figured out Indra's infection at this point. Her running has been sporadic as her foot is still a subject of concern. She did however participate in both the Gorge Apres Gorge and the Hot Chocolate Run. She was awesome and a trooper.

With solstice swiftly approaching and the cold winter running months firmly in place already, it seems a great time to reflect on the running and races and importance of moving throughout the year. After the Hartford Marathon i ran the annual run for Tara in Easthampton. I love this race because it is a great way to raise money for eating disorders and the families struggling to find care for their loved ones, and Tara's family are just a lovely group of people. The race is a quick 5k through fields and woods and a tiny bit of road. There were so many interesting people there this year. I met a very kind woman from CT who struggled with food in her teen years and drove up to participate in the race. After the race there is an epic raffle and a local chorus sings and we all sing happy birthday to Tara in order to remember her. Even though running is the ultimate solo sport it's amazing how it draws us all together to support and admire and share how great it feels to be alive.

I ran the Monson half marathon this fall and it was excellent. All hills, but nothing like the hills around my house. I had spent the whole time believing i would get a serious butt whooping only to be pleasantly surprised. The weather was unusually warm, the people were wonderfully friendly and the course was pretty and fun. Lot's of food, live music and lounging was shared by all after the race. I left feeling elated, pleased and looking forward to next year.

The Thanksgiving week held the Talking Turkey race and the Gorge Apres Gorge. Leslie and i ran the Talking Turkey 6 miler firmly believing that it was a 10k. Needless to say we were surprised and sprinting at the end. It was insanely windy and very packed. The top male finisher ran an average of a 4:50 mile i believe. It was fun to run with so many committed runners from the region. It almost felt like we were running by the ocean as we ran over the spits on the reservoir, there were little white caps from all of the wind. It was great to sprint across the finish line with a great friend holding hands. The following day was the best run of the season the annual Gorge Apres Gorge. Leslie's baby. So many people came out and ran and walked and strolled. This got both Leslie and i thinking how wonderful it would be to have a hill town race series.

I will find photos of these events and update about the Hot Chocolate race next time

Larch Hill Race

She did it! Indra and i ran our first race together on Halloween morning. It was warm and misty and a rather perfect day to be romping around on the Larch Hill property in true steeplechase fashion. There was plenty of mud to had. The costumes were excellent and the company could not have been better. Indra paced herself well and we chatted and ran for the first mile after that she got a bit more quiet and quite frankly she was a bit hot. Come mile three she was definitely parched and over dressed for the run, but she persevered and was rewarded with a great big cup of water at the end. There was plenty of food and fun to be had after the race. Indra went on to work at her school carnival for the rest of the morning and i think felt a great sense of accomplishment. I will let her tell her story later.

Unfortunately right now Indra has a rather enormous infection in her foot that we are all baffled by. She is lying in bed fighting a bit of a fever and trying to stay home and off of IV antibiotics. Let's hope she can do it.

motivate motivate

It has been hard to motivate for the past 2 days. Between work and procrastination, cold weather and general ennui we have managed not to run. Indra is running in pe today so i guess i will run as well. I have potatoes to dig and some presents to wrap up and general house cleaning along with real work and paper work...Sound familiar?

What i think will inspire me is writing about my annual birthday day of running. This year my good friend and superb running buddy, Leslie, gave me a fabulous and much desired birthday gift...a complaint free running partner for the day. Every year for my birthday i go on as many wooded runs in one day as i can fit in and my slightly arthritic dogs can handle. This year the number was 6. Leslie came over in morning and we got ready for our day of fun and running. We drove up to a beautiful state park around us and ran to the top of Spruce hill. You can see 365 degrees from the top of it. North Adams, Greylock, beauty and hills. It was lovely. We then moved onto a place called Tannery Falls within the same park. This was a lovely and short run complete with a fantastic waterfall in the middle of the run. In the summer the waterfall is so loud it is hard to hear someone speak when you are standing near. We then moved away from Savoy and into the Berkshires. In Dalton we ran and explored the Waconah Falls area. Again a small but lovely little run, again with some waterfall action. After that we moved on to Kennedy Park, a very cool running and cross country ski area in Lenox. Much fun was had there trampling through the woods trying to figure out where we were and if we cared. Next we drove to Stockbridge and ran up Monument Mountain. A totally beautiful place and a great hike for the family if you are ever out there. The views from the top are gorgeous year round. We finished with our final run at The Ice Glen in Stockbridge. Quaint pretty and fun. We got a little turned around at the end of the ice glen area and had to bush wack through some ones multi million dollar estate complete with gate and stone wall which we had to climb over. Our final stop was the Stockbridge elderly outpost of The Red Lion Inn. A must do is a beer on the porch watching people take pictures of each other in front of the ridiculously large pumpkins. We couldn't resist, we had to do it too.

After all of that running fun my dog was exhausted and i was hungry for dinner with my wonderful family. What a great birthday. Thank you Leslie and thank you my spectacular family for making it possible for me to have so much fun and good times.

Indra talks

In after-school yesterday my PE teacher and three other kids from my class went on a two and a half mile run. We took off from the school and jogged on the trails of Bramble Hill Farm. The view was beautiful and the weather was perfect. We ran the two and a half mile loop in around 25 minutes matching everyones speed and ability. At times we walked and at others we sprinted. We told the rest of the class we were going to run a mile and we would be gone for 45 minutes to an hour. We ended up running 2 and a half miles in 25 minutes. overall it was a good day

Indra

another beautiful cold day

Today i raced home from a full day of prenatal and post partum appointments. My head full of babies and bellies and the stories that accompany them. As i was driving through the falling leaves i found i was getting excited for my run with Indra. My body is just starting to feel normal after the marathon and i want to move it. I raced home only to find that Indra had left on a rather long horse back ride by herself. No worries. I had to readjust my expectations. Tomorrow we would run together and today i would run alone...faster and longer than i would have with her. I have to remind myself that she is an athlete on her own and that while running is my number one horses are her number one. We both arrived home around the same time as the light was shifting to dark. The cold had settled in for real but our cheeks were red and our eyes were bright. I love that she loves to move.

why

As a mother running has been my salvation. I have a vacation in my future nearly every day. Even if i have only 20 minutes that 20 minutes belongs only to me. I can think ramble, rant, rave, laugh, cry, etc. all while running. It clears my head. When my children were babies i would stuff them into the jogging stroller and take off with our then singular dog. The freedom felt amazing. However if any of you have ever done this i am sure you can remember the times where there was no silence and the peace and freedom were replaced by a whiny child yelling about getting out or constant questions absolutely requiring an answer. I loved my children then and i love them now but how i wanted them to put a cork in it.

My running looks a lot different now. My son is in his senior year of high school and my daughter is 11. My job is full time and i am fulfilled. I have more time to run. I run with my dogs mostly, but i have a friend who i run with once or twice a week. We support each other through everything. So why, if i have used running as an escape and time for myself for so long, am i wanting so badly to run with my kids? Ahh they are growing up and i am already beginning to miss them and their baby cheeks and deep devotion and love.

and so we begin

My daughter and i have decided to start this blog as part of a resolution to run a marathon together. The idea came about after i finished the Hartford Marathon. We want to spend time together. Be powerful, have fun, and to put it simply...we want to run like girls.

TANYA:First let me tell you about my girl. She is 11 years old, smart, funny, spunky, and very strong. She is an athlete but running is fairly new to her. Indra rides horses and plays like a girl. And just to make it clear that means she kicks butt! I am going to let her tell you about me.

INDRA:My mom Tanya is 36 and just ran the Hartford marathon. She is fun, funny, talkative and like me, she likes to play like a girl! Tanya loves to run and has running since she was 12 years old. We both love animals and one of our dog's favorite things to do is to go for a nice long run.

TANYA AND INDRA: We would like to encourage any mom and daughter teams out there to join us and run like girls. It is a great time to play together and talk and be outside.

We started today with our first fun run. Indra is hoping to run a 3 mile race in about 2 weeks. We set the pace at comfortable and got a feeling for how long running a mile together would take. It was cold today and windy. We ran the first 1/2 mile downhill and the second up. We calculated that the race should take Indra about a half hour and still be fun.