Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Getting ready for the New Year!!!


Hey everyone,
I hope your Christmas Holiday was enjoyable and again you got the opportunity to spend it with family and friends. My family had a great Christmas, we spent some of it in Orlando, Florida where we attended various amusement parks. It was Pika's first time going to Disney World and I can say that she had a blast. We meet Uncle Scott, traveled with the Wineberg/Gordon Family and really had a good time together. One fear that we had was how would Pika react to the characters at the amusement parks....ummmmm let's take a wild guess...she loved them right?......
No she actually didn't mind it too much except for getting to close to her and touching her. We attended the street dancing parade with a lot of the characters that stopped in front of Cinderalla's Castle and they had a Party in the Street. She liked to dance in my arms but oh no don't dare let one of those "things" come close to her. You could hear a loud shriek, followed along with her squeezing the daylights out of me. So we really helped her out by not allowing them to get to close after that, all in all it was a productive therapy session haha. We really did enjoy going to Epcot, Animal Kingdom and of course Downtown Disney. Before heading home I was able to connect with my cousin's the Oneal Family and Pika enjoyed seeing new faces. The highlight of the trip for both us was standing in line for 45 minutes and being number five in line to meet Princess Tiana. She was very pretty and Pika was not at all afraid of her. She realized that she wasn't in a huge costume except for her dress. I would highly recommend going to Disney for the Holiday's!!

So the juicy stuff now.....haha....many of you want to know did I work out and what did I do. Yes I indeed did workout and was happy to be in warmer weather. Whether it was driving into an unknown neighborhood or getting lost as we tried to find the ESPN Wide World of Sports "we did it" as Dora would say. Working out was definitely a priority and our family understood as we took off to train and they watched the Pika for us. I was able to do a 300 meter workout, some 150's also and yoga. The 300's were very good and they allowed me to see kind of where I am and what shape I may be in. The 150's were average, maybe because I had done so well on the 300's and my legs were worn maybe from too much walking around the parks. Chris was very proud of me for not using the excuse of...well I am on vacation. I would never use that because as you all know I Have Something to Prove!!!!!
Now that we are back in Cincy it is back to the regular routine and getting geared up for the indoor season. I can't wait until my first race which will be on the 15th of January. Talk to you all soon!!!!!

Monday, December 13, 2010

"Look in the Mirror, What do you see?"

So hello everyone,
How many of you wake up in the morning and as your brushing your teeth or washing your face look at yourself in the mirror? And no I don't mean that quick glance... but actually taking a moment to really see who is in the mirror! I ask this question because I have noticed that a lot of young girls have self esteem issues. They harp on all the negative things and when asked what is something positive about them...they often become speechless. Well I want to help end that now, so if you know of someone or may be slightly guilty of this.....always lift yourself up, be proud, and know that your a wonderful.
Just this morning I looked into the miror and said to myself, "Mary...you are a beautiful person on the inside and outside, you are a great mother, friend, daughter and mentor. I love my smile, my eyes and most of all I love being me! Don't worry I am not conceited about myself ha ha but just confident in who I am. And I want all my fans to be confident also, so promise me that at least once this week you will take a look at your self and be proud of the person in the mirror.

So last week of training was a little rough.....I went from being a fast Mary to being Mary whose legs were so full of lactic acid, and I could barely feel them move. So when ever you hear athletes talk about lactic acid in the legs, I promise you it is no joke. I actually told my husband/coach who coaches at the University of Cincinnati that I totally know what his athletes feel like. Imagine your legs are weighing 100 tons, shaking, and no matter what you do after each rep, you want to give up, but pride and determination keep pushing you forward. The tears even make an appearance but at the end of the day you thank yourself for getting the job done, and even if it wasn't a pretty sight. Wow...I can't wait to revisit those 300 meters again and to think hubby wants them faster, so urgghhhh more pain. That is why I love ice baths and then recovery days......
But hey everyone, thanks for continuing to read and of course follow me on twitter. Please let me know if there is something that you would like me to talk more about.
Until next time,
******Mrs. W

Monday, December 6, 2010

So Amazing......

Hi everyone,
I hope you are all keeping warm and getting into the Christmas spirit. Here in Cincinnati as I am writing this, it is 19 degrees.......brurrrrrrr!!! I could not believe how the wind hit my face today and sent an immediate chill to my bones. But I guess that I can't complain too much because it is indeed December. Which brings me to inform you all that it is one of my favorite months of the year. Ohhh they are playing Christmas music on Warm 98 and I enjoy singing along on my drive into the UC campus. So I know you all want to know how things have been going..well....

So this past week of training was a little difficult for me. I sort of.......slightly uummm hurt myself. My left upper hamstring was very sore. I woke up one morning and could not get out of the bed........well I could but it felt as if I just got hit by a MACK truck. I knew that it wasn't too serious but figured I would having the Training Room where I train check it out for me. BTW.....big shout out to Bearcat Sports Medicine at the University of Cincinnati. I love you guys, you help keep me healthy and trust that I know my body.

So they checked me out, nothing big, they put me on a PT plan, stem, ice, and pool workouts. And guess what, not to worry I am no longer hurt and so happy that I listened to the best advice given to me by a coach I use to work with. He states, "Rest is a key factor, if you feel as if you can't go 100 percent and your body has a little nag, then rest it. What is more important is what you have planned for the upcoming months and not that day!!! I am happy to say though that I will continue to do my strengthening exercises and ice bath daily. These are the type of things that will definielty help me along my journey. So with that said, again all I can say is that I am blessed. that it wasn't more serious. I slowly started back into training today and will update you all next week on a random week off base training for me. Now that we are in December Coach/Hubby will be uping the intensity of our runs and man will those be some killer days.

Thanks again for checking me out and let me give you all a brief update on PIKA..aka Brooklyn. She is 16 months old, and has begun to do her own exercise routine. Trust me this is nothing Chris and I started her on, she was at the track with us one day....saw us warming up and came out to join us. This girl has it down, she runs in place, does straight leg kickouts, touches her toes, squats (ha ha and even makes the grunt noise coming up, and best of all stretches her hands high above her head at the end and claps with joy. Man she has accomplished a lot, the first time she did this we could not stop laughing....our baby.....what will she eventually grow up to be? She is a proud product of two athletes and she is already very agile and loves to play soccer with a small ball in our house. Man it is amazing what kids can do and espicially as you watch your own grow and grow and grow. I love her so much and she continues to make training for the 2012 Olympics a possibilty and a reminder that "Anything is Possible"