Teh HUUUUUUUGE Picture Update!

I haven't updated in a while, but a lot has happened in the last week or so! Adam tested and received his camo belt in Taekwondo! Yesterday was also Adam's 6th birthday, we're having his party tomorrow, so I'll post pictures another day. Tonight is Evening at the Opera. I'm not sure if I'll have any pictures of that, but if I do, I'll post those another day too!


So without further ado, here's a photo deluge. And yes, I purposely spelled "the" wrong in the title of my post.

Adam getting his hi-5 from Master Materi

Adam receiving his camo belt

Full group shot

And now, some pictures of my big day! I ran my first half-marathon today, the ND Roughrider. The weather was perfect (about 50F at the start), I ran the whole thing without stopping to walk or soil myself (hey, it was my biggest fear), and I finished in my goal time! I don't know my chip time yet, since the results are not up on the website yet. But.. my Garmin said 2:30:33 and the clock said 2:30:34, so it's close enough to my goal of 2:30 to make me extremely happy.

Me coming up on the family at Mile 4

Goin' in for the high-5!

And.. back to running away from nothing.

Talking with Dr. Debbie, my favorite chiropractor at the gear truck post-race.

This is the photo my mom took of me finishing the race. Yay!

And finally - the video of me finishing the race. Yeah that's me screaming "Woohoo!"

In Good Times And In Bad

So.. I had a really bad run on Saturday. It started out OK, but I started feeling nauseous in mile 3, which NEVER happens unless I'm racing my rear off in a 5K or something.

I saw my friend Sarah's dad Bill (well OK - I guess he is sorta my friend too!) right around mile 4, he was coming out of the tunnel as I was going in. I stopped running to chat for a few seconds. After that I never did get my mojo back - it's like my rhythm got screwed up or something.

I stopped for a Gu and some water when I turned around at mile 6.75 and walked for a while. I ended up walking again at mile 8.. and again at 8.8 - what the heck? I walked back through the tunnel and forced myself to run again. I thought I would run 4 miles, then walk the last half mile or so. Wrong again!

From mile 11 on, I kept trying to jog, but would only make it a minute or so before running out of juice and walking. When I would jog, I looked down at my Garmin to discover I was doing a 13-minute mile pace! I felt utterly defeated, and completely wasted. I did my 13.5 miles in a pathetic 2:50. UGH! So much for trying to get that done in my half goal time of 2:30.

I know everyone has bad runs sometimes. But I did learn a few things.

1. Do not have two martinis, a glass of wine and a Bulldog the night before attempting 14 miles.
2. Do not catch my son's stomach bug the day I attempt 14 miles.
3. Eat a breakfast consisting of more than a slice of toast and 1/3 cup orange juice before attempting 14 miles. HELLO?!
4. When attempting 14 miles, REAL Powerade is a better idea than Powerade Zero. HELLO?!
5. Bring more fuel than I think I need when attempting 14 miles. One Gu is not enough, especially on almost no breakfast. I was ready to gnaw my arm off at mile 11.
   

Darien had an awful stomach bug Thursday (poor kid was barfing in the bathroom at Taekwondo!) which kept him out of school on Friday, and I think I caught some of it. I felt just horrible all day Saturday and most of Sunday. We still went to the ATA picnic on Saturday evening though, and had a blast! I even rode the rides at the amusement park on a queasy stomach and did not hurl. Neither did Darien.

Here is Mason on his first day of preschool last week!



I stole this from Maria's blog, I need it.

The Terriblest Blogger EVER

That would be me, of course.

Since I last wrote, DJ started Taekwondo, DJ turned 8, both Adam and DJ started school, and I ran 12.5 miles. Does that about cover it? These pictures should help.

DJ blowing out 8 candles - notice how the other two are "helping"

DJ learning a low block with Miss Honey

DJ and Adam in front of Northridge on the first day

DJ and Mrs. Ward, his 3rd grade teacher

Adam sitting at his desk in Mrs. Towne's class

Proof that I did it. With a few long walk breaks. My half-marathon goal is 2:30 so if I cut out the long walk breaks, I should be able to do it.

And so Mason wouldn't feel left out... SUPERSTAR!!!

Mrs. Extra, Extra, This Just In

I don't like Britney Spears, really. But I will say, a few of her songs are good for running. For example, Piece of Me is good for mile 7 when you're telling yourself, just 3 more and then you can die on a park bench.

Who in their right mind gets up at 6 am on a PERFECTLY good Sunday, in 90% humidity, after only four hours of sleep, and spends nearly 2 hours running? WHO? NOBODY, that's who. Nobody in their right mind. Only insane people do that.

10 miles. That's one thousand calories, people.

You wanna piece of me?

I got done with my run (nutrition consumed: 12 oz. G2, 1 Clif Shot and 8oz. water) and couldn't figure out why I was covered in sand. What the hell did I just DO? I mean, I know I was running along the river, but I don't remember jumping in to cool off.

Then I realized, it was salt. I'm used to getting salt on my forehead, but I had it all down my arms and legs.

I swear someday I will blog about things other than running again. Like my sick kitty who spent 3 days in the hospital for a UTI/blockage, or that my oldest kid turns 8 in just over two weeks.

The half marathon is 55 days away.

8 Miles

I discovered something after running the 10K. It's this:




I just got this car magnet from this online store. It makes me feel better about my ugly feet and black & blue toenails. Eh, who needs 'em?

So Saturday I ran 8 miles! When I put my Garmin on, it said low battery. Oh great! Well, I knew from looking at the marathon map that my parents' cul de sac was the 4 mile point, so even if my Garmin gave up the ghost, I knew generally how far to go. I can't believe I ran from Pioneer Park to my parents' house and BACK. I did take a couple of walk breaks when I needed a sip of water or G2, but never for longer than a minute.

Except for the one bathroom break I took.

I have no idea how long it took me, since my Garmin crapped out right after I turned around.

While I was out bustin' my ass running, kitty was doing this:

he says "I wonder what the poor people are doing today?"

Fishbowl... Martini?

Think this martini is big enough for me? I like the "olives" in the bottom. Actually this is our new fish bowl. Petsmart also had a coffee cup, a brandy snifter and a margarita glass, but this one fits me best.

I wonder what the proper ratio of vermouth to a half-gallon of gin would be?

Race Report

Well I did it! I ran my first 10K! Here's my detailed race report.

I got into Mandan around 7:25 am, and parked my car behind Central Market. Found the registration line, it was very long and slow-moving. I was chatting it up with an older guy who was run-walking the 5K.

Every person I talked to in line was doing the 5K. I saw a group of elite runner girls, and they too were running the 5K. I ran into my pals Sarah, Sarah's dad Bill, and Vance.. all running the 5K. Greeeeaaaat. I just knew I was going to finish dead last. I figured I could do the race in 1:20, but was hoping for 1:15 or maybe even 1:12.

I went back to my car to strap on my iPod & my Garmin, and take one last swig of G2, and headed into Central Market to go to the bathroom. Then it was time to start!

We started by going up a hill. No problem - Sarah had told me there was 1 hill in the beginning, which wasn't too bad, and then of course you get to run down it on the way back. Cool. Made it through that hill no problem. Then we turned.. and went up another hill. OK. I can do this. My pace was varying between 8:30 and 10:30. Probably too fast, but I felt good. Whoa - it's only 10 minutes into this race, and here come the 5Kers who have turned around. I still have an hour to go!

Then it was flat for a bit, but then up ahead was a long hill but not very steep. At the top was the 5K turnaround. I grabbed a cup of water at the turnaround, then kept going. I wondered why the hell I was running a 10K, when all these happy people got to turn around.

Corner time. Oh great - gravel! NO problem. I train on gravel. I love gravel. Me & gravel, we're TIGHT. But wait. This is not nice fine, smooth, grated gravel. This is washboardy-sandy stuff with huge rocks thrown in to make it an obstacle course. Sweet. No traffic control on this road, so when the cars would go by, I got to eat dust. Even better!

Another hill. I can do this. It looks huge. OMG. It's huge. I'm going to die on it. Here come the 10Kers on the turnaround, wow - they're really fast. I cave and start to walk about 2/3 up the hill. As I near the top, a dude going the other way says "You can finish this! Run! Come on!" I smile and think, yup, and start running again. Sweet, I made it. Cruuuuuuise down the other side.

Only to run up another one. Good lord, will these hills ever END?? But wait.. at the top is the turnaround! I made it halfway! And the back has GOTTA be more downhill than the out. I grab water from the dude, and think.. please. PLEASE let there be one more soul behind me so I'm not last.

I turn around and head down the hill. I'm not last! There is one more girl behind me. She looks to be in my age group. I'm not last!

The second half of the race was hotter, but faster. It's full sun the whole way, and at 65 degrees, I was feelin' it. I glanced at my Garmin only for pace, not for time. A few times there, I was going 11:30, and 12:00 is my projected half marathon pace, so I tried to cut myself a break.

I walked up the remaining hills. Yeah, I copped out. What of it? The uphills on the way back were much shorter though, so I didn't lose much time.

I finished WAY behind the rest of the pack, but when I hit the 5.5 point and saw 1:00 on my Garmin? Yeah. I didn't care. The rest was downhill and I cruised. I was so happy.




I finished in 1:06:42! WAY ahead of my goal! And I wasn't last. The last girl finished 1-2 minutes after me, and she didn't look like she cared too much about being last. I think my official time was 1:06:48 but I didn't pay too much attention to the girl when she said it, so until I hear for sure, I'm going with my Garmin time.

As I was leaving, I saw my mom drive by. She was going to take a finish picture of me, but oops... missed it. I guess I'm tooooo fast!

So I'm going to spend the rest of my 4th of July with my feet up, and not thinking for one little minute about the amount of calories I'll be consuming later on. Many will surely be in liquid form, as I make up for how crabby I was yesterday about not having any.

Running with the Cows

You've heard of people who run with the bulls in Pamplona, right? Well, not me! I run with the cows near Hawktree. At least there is no chance of getting gored. Here's what they do - I run past, and they watch me, just like this:





Chewin' cud, swishin' tails, and trying to figure out what's chasing me. I need to start taking my camera on runs, so you can see all the cows, squirrels, deer, bunnies, and bullsnakes I encounter. I need to brang me a bow'n arro & shewt me sum LUNCH all up in hurr.



The Y track is closed while they tear out the north wall and make our YMCA officially Freakin' Huge, so I have to run outside. I can't do it during normal hours because of lack of child care, so I got up early whilst everyone was still sleeping, and was on the road by 6 this morning.

Well. I knew this already, but it's very hilly where I live. At first it's fine - almost all downhills. So the out: good. The back: not so good. But that's ok. Hills are good for my training. Maybe not so much in 80% humidity though.





See this cute little bouquet of flowers? DJ made it for me with Legos. They got a bunch of oddly shaped Legos during their visit to LegoLand in Minneapolis a few weeks ago.

And now...

Seven-Year-Old Wisdom:
DJ: I just tasted myself, and I taste DISGUSTING!

Three-Year-Old Wisdom:
(while he was sitting on the potty, I noticed an eyelash on his face, so I grabbed it)
Me: OK, blow, and make a wish.
Mason: (blow)
Me: What did you wish for?
Mason: Ummm, a house.
Me: We already have a house, silly!
Mason: A door?
Me: We have lots of doors.
(pause)
Me: How about World Peace?
Mason: (looking excited) We don't have any of that!!

The Things They Say

Heard from my basement full of rowdy boys:

"Oh man, I'm gonna need a helmet!"

Not really something a mother wants to hear.




And tonight, while eating dinner:

Mason: There was this huuuuuuuuuuge lightning crash today!
Adam: And then Mason pooped in his pants.

It's true. He came running up the stairs for a hug after the loud thunder, then asked if I would check to see if he pooped in his underwear. I guess you could say today's thunderstorms scared the crap out of him.

Yellow and Blue

OTHER than running... haha... there are lots of things happening these days! The boys have started their summer sports, I'll try to get some pictures put up next week.

But this week, the focus is on ADAM! He graduated from preschool in May, and here's a picture of him receiving his diploma.



And - the last week of May, Adam completed Taekwondo testing and became a yellow belt! The first three pictures are testing-in-progress, and the last 2 are pictures of proud new belt level kiddos.

Half crazy

Look what I just signed up for! Have I lost my mind? Yes, I do believe I HALF. Because I've now registered for two half marathons, one month apart.

Hey, I'm just doing this one for the girly t-shirt and Tiffany keychain. A girl's gotta have SOME sort of motivation, right?

Been there, done that...

... got the T-shirt. I really just wanted to say that and have it be true!

That's my t-shirt, medal, and bib.

Well, I went 3.1 miles. The Fargo 5K Fun Run was on Saturday, May 17. I had a blast and can't wait to do it again! Next year I will be doing the half marathon (13.1 miles). My time was 34:12. I am OK with that, but not thrilled.

Mile 1 was basically darting around and weaving between the walkers (some with strollers). I really wish the walkers would be courteous and get to the back. The runners were really frustrated with this, especially when the walkers were in groups 8 across. Not nice! For some of it, I got so frustrated, I ran on lawns. I didn't look at my watch after completing that mile, but I know it took longer than I wanted. At least it forced me to start out slow, right?

Mile 2 I booked it. I felt great, passed a ton of people (not just walkers, haha). I looked at my watch at the end of mile 2 and it said 20 minutes. I was pretty happy with this, figuring I might actually bang this race out in 32 minutes.

Mile 3 I don't know WHAT happened. I must have thought I could just cruise through this mile with no effort. I was relaxed and happy, and not really in "race" mode. I think I was just enjoying the sights and sounds of the race, chatting with people, getting hi-5'd by the crowd. I forgot I was racing, really. I felt well and happy when I finished though, instead of worn out.

The finish is the best part. Well, except for when you think you're done, and then you realize, oh, we have to run around to the other side of the Dome! But that part gets over quickly, then before you know it, you pass the JumboTron camera, then you're heading into the Dome, which is DOWNHILL (thank you, thank you) and I sprinted it. Bit of a problem.. as I was entering the Dome, I took my sunglasses off and hooked them on my shirt. Started sprinting, and they fell off! I checked to make sure there was nobody immediately behind me, stopped, and picked them up. Then ran to the finish line. Embarrassing, but funny.

Anyway, I had a blast. The crowd and entertainment are the BEST. Thank you, Fargo! My friend Sarah finished the half in 2:07 and my cousin Kari finished it (her first race EVER!) in 3:18. WAY TO GO! I think my mom, aunt, and other cousin (who is pregnant, yay!) decided to walk the 5K next year.

Yesterday I registered for the Roughrider half marathon, and began my training program. Here's to 17 more weeks of training! I started a week early in case I get temporarily derailed for vacation, illness, injury, or "I think I'll wait an extra week to run 12.5 miles"-itis. I figure if I finish it "on time" a week before the race, I'll just take an extra taper week.

Gadget!

As if my Nike+ and Polar F4 weren't quite techie enough, here's what I got for Mother's Day:






It's a Garmin Forerunner 205! A GPS for my arm. I love it. I've only gotten the chance to use it a couple of times, but I think it'll be coming in handy as I train for the half marathon.



Also, in other news, this woman is THE DEBBIL.






If you see her, run. Run far, far away. If your legs haven't been reduced to jelly.

She is out to kill you. Or at least give you thighs of steel, washboard abs, and shoulders that would put the fear of, well, Jillian, into your average person. I'm pretty sure I called her a nasty word beginning with B about eight times during LEVEL ONE. There are three levels. I was shaking trying to wash my hair in the shower after it. This is a 20-minute workout, people. 20 minutes. I was strength training for 40 minutes 3 times a week.

Next update will be after my race on Saturday. Wish me luck!

Circles

I think Lance Armstrong has a li'l crush on me. Oh yes, I do. Why, you ask? Because he lovingly told me this morning, "Congratulations, you've just achieved a new personal best in the mile". I wonder if Nike+ knows that hearing his voice is pretty much the only thing keeping me running some days? He's like the proverbial carrot.

So I have officially outrun myself.





This is the funniest darn book I have EVER read. I highly recommend it if you've ever considered training for a race of any sort. It will at least keep you laughing at yourself.

Now if Nike+ can just get Lance to say "Congratulations. You've just run a buttload of circles. You are apparently fantastic at turning left." or "Congratulations. You've run 10 miles and thwarted death."

Five-Year-Old Wisdom

Another Adam-ism for you. First - look, he's an angel!




Adam: Mommy? What if you dropped a grape or a berry on a bug. Would it die?

Me: What? Um... I don't know. I don't think so...

Adam: What if it was a not-strong bug?

My three cuties

Adam getting a medal at tournament

Mason and mom!

Races

There's one really good way to get back into the running swing of things that I know of. What's the secret? Signing up for races, of course.

Yesterday I decided to do four races this spring/summer. All 5Ks because I know I can do that. Being a slow runner, my goal is to run at least ONE of these races in 30 minutes or less.

5/18/08: Fargo 5K Fun Run

5/31/08: Bully Run 5K

7/4/08: Mandan 4th of July Road Race 5K

7/16/08: Tour da'Park 5K


And one more race this year. THE HALF. Can I do it?

Je regrette beaucoup

That's French for "I'm very sorry". Aren't I a fun blogger?? I'm a bit swamped right now with Broadway stuff, but I will update after the fat lady sings. I'm not sure who that would be, but if you come to Evening on Broadway, you could decide for yourself!

To tide you over.. some childhood wisdom:

--

Adam: God made the first person on the EARTH and it was Adam. Not me though.

--

(while getting ready for bed last night, Mason, 3 years old, wearing big-boy underwear for the first time - there is a black mark on Adam's sheets, it's been there since last year, won't wash out, Mason was sitting on the edge of Adam's bed)

DJ: Mason, what did you do?
Mason: I didn't do that! (pause) I don't think I did.
DJ: (looking at Mason's butt) I don't see anything.
Adam: I'll smell it.

--

Adam is so brave.