#RocknRoll Expo Photo Dump

Hi Guys,
            I went to the Expo yesterday to pick up my bib for the marathon tomorrow. EEEEKKKK How exciting.  I have a tour pass so I got in early and when your pushing a running stroller it helps. Here you go this is early in the morning and when I first walked in this is what I saw. I love that first feeling of ohhhh here we go !!!!!

Look at what our bibs say.. I put  Jack's mom on mine and Mike put for Jack n Gloria on his. We didn't know what the other person put so it was sweet to see our bibs. Do you know why they put your name on the bib ?? So when you run by people can yell Go Gloria …Rad stuff

Here is the official Rock Roll Shirt for 2014. I hear your not supposed to wear your new shirt to run in but I think I might. I am going to run in it today and see how it feels first. The shirt has balboa park on it. I like it.

Shopping at the Expo.. Super fun and Super expensive. The good part is if you spent over 150$ you get to use the special Rock Star Potty's. If you have ever used a regular potty during a marathon that has 30 thousand people running then you can understand why the a special potty is a good one. 

We had to get both of these shirts...

Brooks always has the best set up. Last year it was a carnival scene this year it was Run happy Island.

Little man won a little football that kept him busy for a while. Its so cute in his hand.

So thats it. I know this is not the best picture but the guy who took it said this is a great picture so there you go.. 'A great Picture'.  Tomorrow morning at this time I should be on mile 9. I am planning on running a 4 hour marathon and Mike is planning on running 3:15.. I will keep you posted and if you want to fallow my run it will be posted on twitter too. How exciting..This will be my 12th marathon and seven of those are SaN Diego Rock and Roll Marathons. Happy Saturday.

Practice Practice Practice

I am looking forward to this weekends Rock and Roll Marathon. Half the fun is the expo. I love big marathon Expos . There is so much to look at and so much to do. The other half is running 26.2 miles.
I am looking forward  to  this weekend . Life right now is about being a mom , painting when I get a bit of free time and going for a training runs. What I love the most about painting is that I know I will never tire of it. I see myself practicing 10 years from now. I see myself running 10 years from now and I will never tire of being a mom.. All good things.
Regina Lord is my Artist crush right now and this is from week 3 of her class. I highly recommend this class . I am so excited by her work. Its so colorful and beautiful.
I highly recommend finding your passion. My girl friend told me the other day that she really does not have anything she is crazy passionate about.. WHAT !!!!  I told her you need to try doing things your are interested in. If your keep trying you will come across that thing that makes you crazy happy inside.
Some times outside our comfort zone lies our passion and its up to us to find it.
I will be back soon with Expo Pictures..

My Thoughts

Its Wednesday morning and I am on my second cup of coffee. I have swim lessons for my little baby boy. I have one of my kids going on there first overnight to Catalina and another one leaving tomorrow. My oldest is camping with her friends. There is so much prep work to do when you kids go away. Life is busy around here. When I look around at my kids and take a deep breath that's when I understand and completely accept that its totally OK for me to go for a run everyday . Running is a great way to relax believe it or not. The best thing about it is after a run its easy to get a much better perspective on life. It actually feels good after you have done it for a while and its a great way to show yourself self love…
The best thing this sport has done for is made me stronger physically and mentally.. 

John Mayers new song

I had to share his new song..If you know me then you know I love John Mayer's music.

enjoy

happy Weekend

Do you have plans for this weekend ?
I am going to try and do a media free weekend. I am addicted to my phone and all the apps that come with that. So wish me luck and I will se you monday.
Happy Trails
happy Crafting
Happy You
G

Aloha Girl

It was just baby Jack and I this week so while he napped I painted. I had a good week and painting helped me just relax and rest. I find I have a difficult time resting or just being still . I really wanted to write about how much I am enjoying this art class The  Expressions E course . I had a difficult time in school . I did fine but learning was difficult for me. I think I know why, I am a visual learner. The best  thing about these courses is you can watch the videos as much as you want and you have these sweet teachers talking there way through there process. I love it. Its always nice when you find something that works for you .

I hope you like her as much as I do. She will be in my shop this weekend.
Aloha …( she looks a little Hawaiian to me )

We played hooky

Yesterday we played hooky from swim practice and we ended up at the beach.
The beach was calling us.

42 miles on my 42 Birthday

My Birthday run was a  huge success. 
It is a little crazy to me to think how scared I was. I kept think thinking what if I don't make it. Even though I knew I could in the back of my mind .  I ended up starting at 8:30  am. I thought at first I wanted to get up early but then Jack got up a couple times that night . So even though I was awake at 6 a.m. I decided that I would just take it easy and start at 8:30.

I drove to Oceanside and started at the train terminal there. I heard there was a bike path and I remember it from a long time ago but that does not mean I would find it. I asked a couple people and I finally found it.  I totally felt intimidated by the task at hand but I started anyway and after 3 miles I was like oh yeah this is why I wanted to run. I kept thinking to myself I really hope I can keep doing this all day because I love this  feeling.
  I felt free and it was awesome . Its really funny but I kept thinking about my grandmother telling me if you keep running your  uterus will fall out. I thought this would be the time that this would happen. 
The most important thing was keeping myself hydrated and taking 1 salt tablet every hour and making sure I had good posture . (Be light on your feet G ) My joints started to bother me a little but something always hurts for a little bit then goes away. The good thing to me about having pain is that it always brings me back good form. My dad met me at mile 11 and ran with me until 21. It was nice having his company. At 21 my little crew was there. They brought me snacks and Gatorade and signs. My heart felt full. The only time I felt hungry and tired was at mile 30 but I ate a sandwich and I was good to go. Mike and Jack ran the last three miles with me and one of my coolest friends just happen to be visiting her family about 2 blocks down the street from my finish and saw on Instagram so I saw her too. So except for a little chaffing it was a great day to run. 
Oh I almost forgot it took me 7:03 to run 42 miles. That is 10 minute miles. It was a good pace for me. Happy running and thank you for the kind birthday messages.

HELLO 42

So here I go .. I will be 42 in about an hour.
I will be running 42 miles in a couple of hours. I made a what I learned this year list . It was a little depressing so I erased it. So what i want to say about last year is . I feel very blessed and grateful that I had a healthy baby boy. I am grateful that I have my own house and that in this house everyone has there own bed room. I feel super blessed that everyone in this house is healthy . What i loved the most about last year is …There was no fighting in my house. There is no yelling and honestly I never raised my voice at my kids once .
All I want is to have a peaceful relationship and happy smart children and that what I have ..So good by 41..
HELLO 42

Do what you love

Do what you Love
Do what makes you happy
I read that all the time and the time. It would be nice if most of us had time to do what we loved all the time but maybe for some of us the fact that we have so much stuff to do and we have to make special time to do what we love that makes doing what we love so special. This is a fact about me. I fall in love with certain artist and I love there technique and I call it an artist crush. Let me see this year I have had 3 full on crushes. I am currently in full crush mode.
Want to know who I have crushed on this year.
Tascha
Danielle Donaldson

And currently I am all about Regina Lord at Creative Kismet and I am taking her course.
Expressions E course

This is a picture of Isabella I painted using her style. Its so fun and hey its super hot and there is fire everywhere so I am doing what I love while everybody sleeps around here. I am learning a-lot from this course. I started a painting journal and I am going to try and make one in the morning. I am feeling way more relaxed about drawing and painting. I am not sure why. I am not as tense and I am leaving all the self criticism outside. If you love drawing faces and painting girls try this course. its affordable and really good.. lots of videos. All the artist I have loved this year have really good videos. That works better for me that reading . I want to see how they do it so I can visually get it.
It helps to do what you love if you are feeling stressed or if you want to get better at it. I am a huge believer of practice practice practice. I am a little obsessed with running my kids and painting. I can see that now by looking at my post. I can't help what I love love to do. I just have to do it.
4 days until my Birthday. I will spend that day doing what I love too..

The running stuff I love

I have been wanting to write a post about the stuff I have found that makes running easier for me.
Roctane is awesome GU. I love this stuff its a little more expensive than the regular GU but it is totally worth it. It gives you the energy you need to keep going. Its easy to swallow and it really doesn't taste like much. I usually like to take one every 6 to 7 miles and it seems to settle my tummy and give me the energy I need to keep going. It really works well for long runs.

oh Nuun how I like you. This is the stuff I have as soon as I get  home. I used to get a headache after long runs in the heat but I have two tablets of this stuff in a glass of water and I seem to recover faster and no head ache. I love the no head ache. It taste really good cold.

My favorite water bottle ever is the Ultimate Direction Jurek Grip.  I like this water bottle because its simple. Simple is good when running. Its really easy to clean and it is not to tight on your hand. It grips perfectly.. 

GU brew..Yum this stuff is key for me . It keeps me going. I don't get that low when I drink it consistently. I always take a hand held with me no matter what the distance is. I feel better about having water with me always. What if your having an epic run and your kids are in school for 2 more hours and the baby fell asleep in the stroller and you have cut your run short because you don't have any water…That would be terrible
These are some of the products I have grown to love. I wanted to share them with you.

A look into yesterday

Mothers day came and went but it left me with some beautiful cards and very thoughtful gifts. I have to say that I do love a Holiday that is about loving your mom. I got hugs kisses and flowers. 

My kids know me so well. I even got a gnome candle. This cute mushroom card.

Jack got me this plate and I adore it. It seems to be a water color of an owl.

My son made me an I phone cake. I keep thinking maybe I am on the phone to much or maybe its just a great Idea. 

Early afternoon we headed to my brothers house for brunch. Here we are all the moms.

Here we are little man and me. Just hanging out on the beach. My others kids are all doing there thing at this point. That is the lovely thing about babies  they are always with you. 

So my family all hung out and ate and watched our crazy kids play in the bay. It was a very good day. I hope you had a wonderful Mothers day.

On the Run

Happy Saturday Morning. 

I have 1 week until my big BIRTHDAY RUN. I am starting to get nervous . I have butterflies in my tummy. I hope its not as  crazy and hard as it sounds in my head. My old Hokas wore out after 400 miles so I got new ones yesterday. Thats a good thing . I won't be able to complain about my feet hurting in those shoes. After having a baby and having my hips hurt the way they did I really believe if it was not for the Hokas I would not be running. I am meeting my dad this morning and he is going to run part of my birthday run with me today. We are going to try and figure out some of the parts of the run that might need creative adjusting. We are pretty much going to find a path.. I am going to write a post about all the stuff I figures out along the way that works for me. Nutrition and GU ..Sunscreens and clothes and hats that feel good. That sort of thing. The picture above is the map of where I will be running. Point A to Point B. I was thinking how cool it was that I would be running to my dads house. He is so good to me and I really love him so its perfect.  Have a great morning and my count down has begun. 

7 days until I run 42 miles ..Running to my dads house !!!

John Mayer - Whiskey, whiskey, whiskey- Lyric Video

I close my eyes listen to this song and then I just let go. Its a beautiful thing.

A thought or two

I heard the saddest story ever today on Facebook.  I got up to write this because I felt I needed too. Life is so precious and delicate. We need to take it in. It doesn't have to be right or good and you don't have to feel Happy …. The thing you need to do is just take it in. Whatever it is try to stop and smell the flowers even if there dying. I am learning to work through whatever it is that's handed to me. Feel the good and the bad but feel it all.
I have lived with fear most of my life. My biggest fear is I don't want to be left again. I am scared that I am not enough . I know why I feel this way and its because my birth mom did not raise me. When she left she took my biggest love with her. She took what I loved the most away from me and that was her. She had good reasons and I understand that now but I struggle with being not good enough to keep.  That's my big hurdle to forgive myself and let go and let God. I work on letting go every time I go for a run. I was thinking about all this energy I put into this and thought to myself I need to to just focus on healing myself and being  the best mom you can be. It is short this life we have before us. In these 80 or 90 years I plan on being here I need to live and love and write love letters and stories. Paint and draw. Cook lovely meals for my family and go to church with my kids. I need to try and remember we all have a story. We would all like to be listened too. We would all like to be seen. I need to hug my little people everyday and tell them how wonderful they are. I want to build my children up and teach them to fly. I will pray with them.. I feel tired of hearing all the try and be your best you crap. I figure its more like lets just stop thinking about being the best me and just be a good person. Just be who I am. I don't want to waste time I want to put my hand in the whole of it and get involved and messy.  I want what makes my family good. Its that time ….

Practicing Bravery

I want to start this post by saying that running on trails is way out of my comfort zone. This morning I went to meet a group of runners that were  running 13 miles on a trail I had never run on before. I am going to run a half marathon on the same trail in a couple months so I thought this would be a good way for me to run the trail and hopefully get acquainted with it. I had to get up really early so I could go pick up my dad and be there by 7 a.m. I was really glad it was early because its so hot here right now. 

Trails for me are way more work than running in the street. I will tell you why.
First of all when God was handing out internal navigation systems he forgot to give me one. I am afraid of getting lost and being afraid makes it so that I get lost. That's why  never run alone on a trail. Second trails intimidate me. There an unknown.
 Third is I don't want to ever run out of water on a trail.
I ran out of water today.

Here I am mile 2. Baby it was hot out there. I felt great this morning. I was on time to everything , I had all my clothes ready I left with out anyone waking up. My car had a full tank of gas . See everything was a go. 

The reason I named this blog post practicing bravery is because I am doing things I would walk away from before. This morning me showing up to a meet up with a bunch of strangers and run 13 miles on a trail. (eek) I also ran hard today. I have this feeling all the time that if I try to run fast I will burn out before I finish and end up walking so I pace myself but of course there is always that feeling of what if I pushed and ran hard ? How far could I go ? Would I burn out ? My dad only went out 3 miles with me and then he decided to turn around so at this time the only group around me was the fast people. I did not think I could keep up but then again I didn't want to run alone. I told myself to try. 

Look I tried. I fell and I got back up..Literally
I was not able to keep up with the fast peeps but I ran my fastest 13 miles ever trying.
I pushed so hard I did not see the bridge and I fell on it. Thank God no one was watching.
I am fine its just a scratch . So I learned a-lot about myself  today.

I learned its ok to be scared but being scared does not give me permission to back out. Being scared is just a feeling and feeling are meant to be worked through . I do feel like I got my butt kicked out there and it was hard. I am so impressed with those amazing athletes that kick ass on trails. I hope to kick ass on trails one day but for now I just have to show up put in the work .