Long time, No write!

WOW it's been since 2009 that I last wrote? Shame on me! So much has happened in this time, where do I begin? Well since this blog was born with a newfound passion for distance running, let's recap what has happened since that first marathon in January 2009!

* Have since run 2 additional full marathons, Delaware in May 2010 with a time of 4:27, and Disney in January 2011 with a very nice PR of 4:08. Delaware was a disaster of epic proportions, but I despite many problems I still managed to hobble across the finish line with a better time than previous. Disney '11 was amazing... a strong and memorable race to which I can truly say I enjoyed tremendously.

* Have run several half marathons, including the Disney Princess in 2010, setting a new PR of 1:46, and followed that up at Gasparilla 2011 with a time of 1:48.

* Started swimming! Took a real swim lesson and have been working very hard to perfect this very difficult and technical sport so I can move onto my next athletic challenge... triathlons!

All training will be put on temporary hold for new life circumstances... more details to follow! :0

Anthony is now 4 and in pre-K. He is a smart, handsome, polite, and amazing boy. I am so lucky to have him! He always makes me smile, and his hugs and kisses are the best parts of my days. The pic is of me and my boy at Adam's sister's wedding this summer... what a suave little man!

Anthony's First Disney Trip!

We're going to Disney World!

Anthony has passed an important milestone in a child's life... his first trip to Disney World! We took him to the Animal Kingdom with MiMi for Mother's Day. It was a surprise for MiMi. Somehow Sheramy, Adam, Dad, and I managed to keep it a secret for a couple of months. We had MiMi convinced we were taking her to the beach for the day. I videoed Anthony saying "we're going to Disneyworld!" for her and we surprised her the night before the trip by showing her the video. As she said, it was one of the greatest surprises of her life!

We had a great time. Anthony was dazzled by everything about the Animal Kingdom, especially the big African drums! He spent two 20 minute sessions doing nothing but running from drum to drum, excitedly pounding away. He even got his own souvenior drum that MiMi bought him, luckily a lot smaller than the ones in the picture! At one point he got a drum show from two teenage boys who brought their own sticks and were there to dazzle the crowd. He continued to pound in awe, watching as they drummed. Later in the day, MiMi took him to watch a street band performance while Sheramy and I rode Everest (p.s.-- yes Sheramy got on a roller coaster. No, she didn't like it!) Apparently they just sat and watched the band for about 10 minutes, then the drummer was so impressed by Anthony's interest that he gave him his own sticks! Anthony has his own pair of "real" drummer's sticks which he calls his "d-sticks".

When we first arrived he said "WOW! Jungle!" as we passed through the gates. He couldn't have been on better behavior. The whole day he watched, participated, played, and never once got fussy or cried. We took him on the animal safari ride, and on the train. I also took him to the 3D movie "It's a Bug's Life", but unfortunately we only spent about a minute in the theater before the 3D images frightened him and we had to leave. I felt so guilty (still do actually) because the last two days he'll randomly tell me (or someone else) that the movie was "so scary" and he "doesn't like the spider". I hate to think the image of the giant spider is replaying in his head! Though I'm sure I haven't scarred him for life I hate that he had his first scary experience.

We watched the parade and left the park a few minutes before it closed. He missed his nap but stayed awake the entire day, finally falling asleep for a little bit on the way back to our cabin at Fort Wilderness. I couldn't believe how good he was! It was a very special experience taking him to Disney for the first time. We're saving the Magic Kingdom though for when he's a little older and will remember the experience. What a fantastic Mother's Day!

Still running... though much less!

Anthony dazzles the crowd at Holmes Beach

I realized it's time to change my blog picture and header information three months after the marathon is over! Hey, I have priorities with my free time, ok? It's hard to believe after all the hard work the marathon came and went. No more 40 miles-a-week training; I'm back down to running a comfortable 15 miles or so a week. That is combined with my part-time work as a fitness instructor, where I'm teaching classes about 10 hours per week-- yoga, pilates, body sculpting, and soon, Les Mills Body Pump! I went through the intensive 3 day training last month and starting next week, I'll be team teaching with an experienced Pump instructor. Teaching classes is a great part time gig that I love, and that allows me to spend more time with Anthony. I've started studying to take the Personal Trainer certification exam later this year so I can broaden my career scope while still remaining in the fitness industry. I know now this is exactly what I'm supposed to do. Running wise, I don't know what my next goal will be because a long, hot summer is approaching and we may decide to get pregnant before the year is up. I'll just stick with my 15-20 mile weeks and just see how it goes.

This past weekend we took Anthony to the beach-- the real beach, not that little crappy one near our house. He had a blast. This year he's not afraid of the water like he was last, so even though it was chilly he loved shuffling his feet around the waves. We had a moment of crisis when he missed a uneven spot in the sand and went face-first into the water... he was none to thrilled about that but he handled it well. The best part was watching him attract an audience with his uncanny drumming ability. I should've set out a separate bucket for him to catch spare change! Some kids on a nearby blanket donated their sand buckets to his cause, and before long he had a full bucket spread. With his beach hat and sunglasses, he looked like a Coral Reefer in training!

Everyday I'm amazed more as his vocabulary increases and he learns more about the world around him. He speaks in phrases and sometimes full sentences now, and has a very good handle on asking for what he wants. It's nice also he can tell us when something's wrong or hurts, though he still hasn't grown out of the whining phase yet, unfortunately. He's also very affectionate now, and has just learned to say "I love you!" Talk about making a mommy's heart melt!

Anthony's 2nd Birthday!

Well it's been a busy week in the DiMuzio household. We had Anthony's 2nd birthday celebration... twice. Last Saturday we had a party at the park for him and his friends. It was a great time, beautiful weather, and all his favorite friends came. We decided to make this birthday very low key. Last year I found planning a party with all the whistles and bells just more stressful than it was worth for me, so this time we only got a cake and refreshments, and other than that it was just a day at the park! The cutest thing was when Daisy arrived. Daisy, as everyone knows, is Anthony's little girlfriend. I had told him she would be there but Daisy's parents were running a little late, so when we first got there Anthony walked around looking for her. She arrived about 15 minutes later, and as soon as they saw each other it was like something out of a movie. They giggled and screamed and ran together to hug. Anthony's mood went from blah to elated-- apparently it wasn't a party until Daisy arrived!

This past Wednesday, March 18th, was Anthony's actual birthday. Adam went up to Atlanta the day before so unfortunately he wasn't home for it. I tried to make the day as special as possible for my big boy. I made him banana pancakes in the morning, then later on I had to teach a class at the gym so he went to the gym's childcare. I bought him a smoothie from the smoothie bar afterwards, which he absolutely loved. In the afternoon Auntie Sheramy came over and we took Anthony to EG Simmons Park. He must've been hungry because he whined the majority of the time we were there. After we went to Qdoba for dinner, his favorite place, and he chowed down on rice and beans. When we got back home he was running around, crazy silly... amazing what a little food can do! I try to tell him this but he insists on toddler anorexia.

He even took his very first pee-pee in his potty that night! What a milestone for his 2nd birthday. I've tricked him into sitting on his potty by showing him pictures on the camera while he sits on it. That night we were looking at the pictures as usual, and then he just started peeing! I freaked out (excitedly) of course and tried to help him tuck it in so pee wouldn't get all over the floor. Anthony just thought the whole process was hilarious... he just laughed and laughed. Sheramy and I made a very big deal of course out of his first pee-pee in the potty!

Thursday we had our biggest event of all: Anthony's first plane ride! I was super nervous about it, but everything turned out great. Anthony was such a little angel on the plane. he did not fuss, he did not whine, he just sat in his own seat like a big boy and enjoyed the ride. We had plenty of entertainment, of course, including books, letters, and his portable DVD player. I had business class vouchers so we got unlimited apple juice and coffee. I decided business class is the only way to fly. Too bad I usually can't afford it! We arrived in Atlanta for Grandma Chris's 65th birthday party this weekend. Anthony was very excited to see all of his Atlanta people.

It's amazing to me that my boy has grown so much! He's such a handsome, happy, and smart child. I'm so proud of him and everything he does. Hard to believe that just two years ago I was struggling to figure out which end was up, literally! Everyone in our little family has come a very long way!

I did it... again!

Nothing like making a big goal and achieving it! I'm so addicted to road races because I just love the anticipation and the training of setting a goal and meeting it. I made my under 2 hour goal for the Gasparilla half marathon.... finishing in 1 hour, 56 minutes, and 45 seconds. It was a hell of a run. I could tell as soon as we started out that as long as I could pace myself in the beginning, I'd be able to turn it loose after mile 3 and hold the pace until the finish. It was warm and humid that morning with the threat of rain, but it held off until mile 12. The last mile I ran through a pretty decent downpour, but it felt pretty good at that point and I wasn't about to let a little rain slow me down! It was also very windy that morning. Around mile 7, the course turned straight on into the wind for three straight miles, like running into a brick wall! We turned the corner and headed back the other direction with the wind at our backs for the rest of the race though after mile 10. My greatest achievement in this race was catching up to Adam's friend Jon just after mile 10. Jon is a fast runner--he left us behind very early on, but as my pace increased over the distance I saw him ahead and on mile 9 and knew I had to catch him. I ran up alongside him, said hi, and the look on his face of sheer amazement that I had caught up to him was priceless! He paced ahead of me for the duration of the race and beat me by about 25 seconds, but it was well worth it just to catch up with him at all. At the super bowl party at his house I had told him one of my goals was to catch up with him at some point, not thinking I'd actually do it.

5 K pre-race pic above...

The 5K was fun too, though I'll take the wind and rain over the heat of that morning! My girls did great, they all finished strong and had a great time. We intended to stay together but with 8500 people running it was impossible. I lost them all early on, then just picked up the pace to the end. I finished in 0:28:44, a little slower than my half marathon time, but not surprising considering the size of the crowd.

Looking ahead to March 15th... a small community 10K race. It'll be less hooplah than Gasparilla or Disney but should be fun none the less. Shooting for less than 54 minutes on that one...!

First 5K for my girls!

Well it's been awhile since I've posted but I've been working like a fiend on my first great American novel, so blogging has taken a back seat. Besides, with the marathon over, though I'm still running I've shifted my focus more to my teaching. I've taken on almost 10 classes a week, teaching yoga and pilates, and I'm happy finding my with that. When I decided to do the marathon, a big part of it was because I felt so empty and unmotivated in my work, and I needed something to get me excited again. Now, every day I get to teach is exciting.

Anyhoo... I did have running news that I wanted to blog about. The Gasparilla distance classic is this weekend (!) and I'm signed up to run the half marathon with Adam on Sunday and the 5K with three of my former students from Baby Boot Camp on Saturday. I'm super excited for the 5K because this is the first race ever for two of them, and the other one has only run a small community 5K and has never been a part of a big road race before. I feel like a proud mama because it was me that motivated and encouraged them to do it, though they had never run before. I've watched these women evolve from new moms frustrated with their baby weight to healthy, active moms who are trained to run a 5K race. They're all so excited to run on Saturday, and we're even making plans to go to the fitness expo together on Friday. I remember the my first 5K-- this very same race 4 years ago-- and little did I know then how it would become so addicting to me and pave the way for the marathon I just completed. I love knowing that I've helped others get excited about running the same way I did. They're even bringing their families to watch them cross the finish line of their very first race! I'm so proud to be sharing in that moment with them.

As for me and Adam, we're still shooting to finish the half marathon in 2 hours or less on Sunday. I don't know if it'll happen for me or not. My training has been spotty on the time goals, I've run 6-7 at the needed race pace or faster, but I've struggled to keep it up for longer. My best training run has been a 9 miler at a 9:15 pace and a 12 miler at a 9:20 pace. Neither is good enough to make a 2 hour or less half marathon, but I'm hoping race day excitement and motivation will help propel me along. I decided NOT to wear the GPS watch... I've found obsessing about the time is putting a damper on my running and I really just want to enjoy this race, especially since it will likely be my last half marathon until the fall (or later, if we decide to get pregnant again over the summer!) I want to focus only on running a good race and if it happens in 2 hours or less, that's all the better.

Pictures of Anthony, Ladies' Man

Anthony introducing himself to Layla...
You got me on my knees, Layla... I'm begging darlin' please Layla...