Marathon Training - Week 15

Monday: 3 miles
Friday: 1.5 miles
Saturday: 6.5 miles
Total for the week: 11 miles (35.2 miles to go!)

Maybe because it was rainy... Maybe because it was cold... Maybe because the sun doesn't rise before 7:00am anymore... Whatever the reason, I was a little bit of a slacker this week. I'm tapering though, right? I'm supposed to be taking time to relax and recoup. I've been doing pretty well at consuming my good carbs though. At least I have that going for me...

I did my Friday run at the gym on a treadmill at 6:15am. It was supposed to be 3 to 5 miles, but I started having stomach pains after about a mile so I called it quits at 1.5 miles. I wasn't too sad about it though, really. I was actually quite bored running on the treadmill. I did the "hill" setting to try and up the difficulty level, which was fine, but I couldn't keep from checking out the time/pace/distance constantly. I don't know why I don't feel a great need to do that when I'm wearing my Garmin watch, but I don't. I check it periodically, yes, but not constantly. I guess when it's right in front of your face, like on a treadmill, it's hard to avoid. It was an interesting discovery though, because I used to only run on a treadmill and hated running outside. But yesterday, the short mile and a half seemed to take forever on the treadmill. I could probably bust out 30 minutes (3 to 5 miles) on there just fine in the middle of a Michigan winter, but any more than that...I don't know.

The map above is the route we run for the marathon. (Looks fun, doesn't it? Don't you wish you were running it too?) :) One week to go!!! I try not to think about it too often because whenever I do, I get nervous. I don't even know why I get nervous. I'm not going for a specific time and I know I can finish. I get nervous before all of my races though.

Speaking of that... Since I ran my first 5k last December (it was technically my 2nd because I ran the Rex Lee Run at BYU in the spring of 2005, but that doesn't really count for me), I've run four 5k's, two 10k's, two half marathons, and one 30k. The marathon will be my 10th race in 10 months. So, yah, I think I'm addicted to races, not so much running. :)

Whatever works, right?

PS: I guess that, even though the Obamas and Oprah are among the most powerful people in the world, they must not be the most influential. I think it was probably good for their egos that Chicago didn't get the Olympic bid. Just my 2-cents.

Apple Picking 2009

Today I took the kids apple picking as part of our ward's Morning Out (aka: playgroup). You may note that I have inherited a kid this week... Brooklyn is staying with us for a week. She came on Monday and it's been great! She's so happy and easy-going (much like my kiddos). Age-wise, she falls smack-dab in the middle of my two: there's nine months between each of them. The kids have a great time and play really well together!

Since I have to do Brooklyn's hair, I was inspired to borrow her stuff to try my hand at Sydney's hair. What cute little pigtails!

It was COLD this morning (wind and all!) so we layered up. As we were waiting for Hayden and Andrea, the Brooklyn and Wes enjoyed some doughnuts!

Off they go to get some apples!

Each kid took a turn picking an apple. Here's Hayden!





Brooklyn's turn!

" Yummy!" says Sydney.

Good job, Wes!

Wes tried to use his huge muscles to carry the bag. It was a little heavy for him.

Brooklyn kept getting a little distracted, but she enjoyed herself! She picked a pretty dandelion on the way out.





This was my favorite apple. Doesn't it look like the perfect teacher apple? Now...what yummy things to make with the rest of them?

Marathon Training - Week 14 + Hippie Half Marathon

This week was the first of the two weeks of tapering before our big marathon day! Technically, I was supposed to run 9 miles on Saturday, but instead I decided to run a half marathon with Jonelle. It was actually part of a "festival" of races over the weekend in Pinckney, MI called Run Woodstock. All of the races were in the woods of Pinckney State Park. It's the same place we took the kids "hiking" back in April back on this post.

It was quite the run! We started out in a line running with a bunch of other people because the trails made it hard to pass anyone. There were times when the trail was about three-of-my-feet wide. Meaning, if I put my feet side-by-side-by-side, that was all the room we had to run. Since there were hills, I basically ran most, but hiked some. I also twisted my ankle in the first half mile. Then around mile 8 I tripped and slammed into the ground...and then I did it again at mile 12. What an adventure!

It was good though! I wasn't going for time, just finishing strong. I made Jonelle go on without me because I wanted to finish stronger than I did on my last half (the one where I felt like I was going to die) and she's tougher than me. :) She finished about 8 minutes ahead of me, so I didn't do too poorly!

Here I am coming in just before the finish line. This was the bonus of Jonelle finishing before me: pictures of me running!

We placed #4 and #5 in our age division and got the sweet peace sign medals. (Luckily for me, the person in the #1 spot was also #1 overall, so I got spot #5 by default!)







There was a live band to keep us entertained. We're making the "peace sign" since it was a Hippie Half Marathon.

My final time was 2:15:09 with a pace of 10:24 min/mi. Here are my stats:

Division Place: 5 out of 16
Sex Place: 19 out of 126
Overall Place: 56 out of 217

A special thanks goes out to our ever-supportive husbands, Steve and Brian! (As well as our kids who love playing with all of our medals.) :)

Monday: 5 miles

Tuesday: 7.5 miles

Thursday: 5 miles

Saturday: 13.1 miles

Total for the week: 30.6 miles (63.2 miles to go!)

Class of 2025

Notice the toast in his hand...eating breakfast on the way to school, just like I often did in high school and college!

I don't know if Wes would have been so excited on his first day of preschool if he understood that this was the first day of 20+ years of school he has ahead of him! (That's assuming he at least gets his undergrad, but I'm sure graduate school of some kind is in his future too.)

We decided to start Wes in a preschool run by a chica ("lady" feels too old, "girl" is too young; she's about my age, so "chica" it is!) in our ward. I thought he'd be too young, but there are a couple kids about Wes' age and then a few who are a full year older than he is. His teacher, Elizabeth, is so positive, optimistic, and easy-going though. I think it will be great for Wes. It will be good for him to have older kids as examples because he tends to be more of a follower than an instigator, even when kids are younger than he is.

Wes is such a social guy, too. He had no problem taking off and playing with the other kids. I had to remind him I was leaving! I did get a wee bit emotional...who the heck knows why? My little boy is growing up, I guess. It's fun though! He is at such a great age. He's definitely two, which can sometimes be hard, but other times it's just awesome.

Last week he said to me, "You're the best mom ever!" And this morning he was singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star with surprisingly good accuracy and pitch! He says funny things and is often quite polite with his pleases and thank yous. He calls Sydney "babe" which always makes me smile. ("How's it going, babe?" "Here's your bottle, babe.") He loves knowing where people are and what they're doing. He thinks it's funny to call me "Natalie" and his dad "Brian" because he thinks he's pushing our buttons. I could go on and on about things I love about that kid.

To sum it up: he's really great and I'm so glad he came to live with our family!