Running Army Wife

I made myself a paracord nametape bracelet. I've had a lot of people ask me about it, so I thought maybe it would be cool to show how I did it. Yeah, it's a little cheesy. That's okay with me. Maybe when I'm living near base and I'm a more sophisticated Army wife, I won't wear such things. Maybe. But for now, I'm living in an area with hardly any other MilSOs (I've looked) and I'm proud to wear this. This one that I'm showing for the tutorial says "U.S. Army." The one I wear actually does say his/our last name. I think it's a bit more affectionate that way. But since I'm trying to remain a bit anonymous here, I made a U.S. Army one especially for this tutorial. And I think this one is pretty cool too. Things you need: Nametape Paracord.  You can get all different colors on amazon. And you think you won't need 100 feet, but you can pretty much use this stuff for anything. Otherwise, you can get it by the foot at...

I ran 14 miles yesterday. My longest run ever. Cray cray! I was thinking to myself, oh it's only .9 miles past what I've run before. But since I ran it much slower than my usual half marathon pace, it actually ended up being a good 20 minutes longer than I've ever run. And I decided to pick a trail with zero shade. Good idea, Amy. Next time, I'm gonna make the drive out to a better shaded trail. It was such a good feeling to get done with it though. A little over 2 months until Chi Marathon. I'm gonna be ready! The other day was officially 3 months since I said goodbye to James at the end of R&R. Another month down. Thank God. The past month or so has been especially hard for me. It's kind of just a hard spot in the deployment. It's been 3 months since I've seen him, but we've still got over 4 months until he comes home. Dangit. But I've been incredibly blessed over the past couple months. A navy girlfriend in my area started a Military S...

Hipster shot. :)

Well. I have been posting race recaps for all my races, but I am not as excited to write this post. The good news is that I finished the race without passing out or dropping out. The bad news is that I had to walk a couple times, which is the first time that has happened since my very first cross country race during my freshmen year of high school when I totally didn't know what I was doing. Yeah. What I did wrong: Sleep . I went to the midnight Dark Knight Rises showing on Thursday night. Then I didn't sleep well on Friday night because, well, I never sleep well before a race. Something I need to work on, I know. Honestly, I was exhausted. I knew it was a bad idea to go to that movie, but I did it anyway. Water.  It was hot, hilly, and humid. I was sweating like crazy. There was water every 3 miles and I got some at every stop, but I think I should have tried to drink more at each stop, because I felt a little better each time I drank. I think I should have brought my cam...

Kissy picture! Sorry, I couldn't help myself. The sun kind of sensors it a little bit though.  This is from our honeymoon. Sorry, this is pretty late but it's still technically Wednesday in Chicago. One more week down! Thank goodness, it's been a tough one. <3 A

It's been exactly 1 year since I started this blog while James was at Ranger School (and actually, I think that most of my hits still come from Ranger School searches). But holy cow, has it been that long? So I want to take this opportunity to say.. I have to say that I feel honored that people out there read my ramblings. Whether you found me because you're a runner, a military significant other, both, or neither, your comments are so uplifting and I really do appreciate you.

My husband finally got a treadmill at his location in Afghanistan. FINALLY. We're over half way through the deployment now. He's a runner and he's gone over half a year without being able to run, with the exception of a few times during R&R. Running a race pre-deployment. I know that my husband is having to do without a lot of things by being over there. Although I'm not sure he actually expected to be able to run while he's over there, it's been really wearing on him that it's been this long. That's why I was so so excited for him when he told me that they finally got a treadmill! Goodness, he deserves these little pick-me-ups. My mom told her friend about this and she had a hard time understanding why my husband is so excited about a treadmill. It kind of made me laugh. Apparently she is not a fan of running herself. I recently finished "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall.  It's now one of my favorite books ever. He talk...

Hiking in Washington  Something we'll be doing more of when he gets back. <3 A.

Just under 13 weeks to go til Chicago Marathon! Here is last week's training: Thursday was supposed to be a 6 mile day.. I ended up getting a really bad stress headache and just having a pretty bad day in general. So I started my run but didn't finish it.. hence the 2 mile run. I did have a good run on Sunday though. It's been crazy hot (as I'm sure you noticed) but Chicago got a "cold front" in on Sunday and so the temperature dropped to being only in the mid-eighties. It's kinda funny to use "cold front" and "mid-eighties" in the same sentence but dang it felt nice to run in the low-70s in the morning. I decided to run on this 10-mile trail loop. It's a little farther away from my house but I had more time than usual Sunday morning so I felt it would be worth it. There isn't much water along the path (and when there is, it's like those stupid pumps that require someone to pump it while you drink and there was just m...

Well. I tried. Kind of. I will say I tried about as hard to continue train as I tried to relax. I knew I wasn't going to be able to totally keep up with the schedule , but I didn't know what to expect so I didn't have a set mileage goal. The vaca was just under two weeks long. Total mileage that I was supposed to do: 51 Total mileage that I actually did: 24 Yikes. Less than half. Florence The excuses: It was crazy hot.  I was staying in close quarters with my family, which made it pretty impossible to go to bed early so I could get up earlier.  Not all the areas that we stayed at were safe for me to go running by myself.  I wanted to enjoy my vacation without having to stress about centering it around running.  One of the two weeks was a "recovery" week with only 6 miles as the "long run." So I kind of just extended the recovery week to two weeks in the plan.  I still have over 3 months til the Marathon so it's still pretty da...

Happy 4th of July! And of course, a special thanks for all our troops (past and present) and their families. We live in the Land of the Free because of the brave.. and I'm so so proud that my husband is one of those brave!  Also.. I know you can't see but I'm wearing a stars and stripes bikini in this picture. I just thought the one with my hubby was happier than the one that shows off the stars and stripes by myself. :)  FYI: In case you're just stumbling across this and don't know.. I am posting a "Happy Picture" (almost) every week on Wednesday during the hub's deployment to help keep things positive despite the separation. And we're over half way there, so less than 26 pictures to go! <3 Amy