The Family That Runs Together

 

3rd Annual Green on the Green! I love events that get us exercising together as a family. and this race is extra fun since it benefits the school and is full of people we know. 

We didn't really train much for this year, so expectations were pretty low, which led to all of us being pleasantly surprised.

 

Bean beat her time from last year by quite a bit, and almost tied her best time, which was the first year when she was in running club and had been training for the race for months. I think she's more determined to train for next year and get a personal best.

 

Bug was the surprise contender. After last year's disastrous "run"

 (quick version--Bug made me drag him pretty much the entire 3.1 miles and whined the whole 54 minutes and 34 seconds it took us to finish), I was very skeptical when he insisted that he was running with Bean and I. It was Daddy-o's turn to walk with the boys, but since Bean and I weren't really thinking that we'd be able to run fast, or the whole time, I figured we could at least let Bug start with us and then when he stopped running, Daddy-o would catch up with him.

Instead, guess who ran the entire thing? I don't know when he turned into a runner, but he stayed with me for the first mile or so, and then slowly started pulling ahead. He actually would have beat Bean if he hadn't been so concerned with staying close to me. I was so proud of him and excited for the possibilities now that he knows he can push himself to do something hard and really succeed. Good life lesson.


Bug actually forced me to keep running, which I had not been planning on doing. I haven't run much at all for over a year because of a couple nagging injuries, and my training for this race never got above running for 2 or 3 minutes at a stretch, so it was push for me to try to keep Bug in sight.

 

These two came in faster than we'd expected, too. Peanut only got out of the stroller to run to the finish line, but he got a taste of what racing is all about.

 

All in all, this was probably the best race we've ever done as a family. Good times with everyone at Corvian!

Divide and Conquer

This weekend was the church Father/Son campout, so we got to divide the troops. Daddy-o took these two boys camping Friday night (this is the after picture.)

This is only the second year that Peanut has gotten to go, and this year, a lot of his friends also came. I guess the fact that he HAS several friends this year is kind of big.

 If the dirty faces are any indication, they had a great time! They didn't sleep much, and as Daddy-o says, it's a lot of work for less than 24 hours of camping, but the boys absolutely love it. Peanut especially can't stop talking about it. He asks multiple times a day, "I want to go on that same trip again with." And he absolutely doesn't want me or Bean to come along.

But that is okay with us because while the boys  were gone, we had a lot of fun. Friday eveing, we read in the hammock for a bit and ate pizza and ice cream while binge watching Once Upon a Time. Saturday morning, Bean slept in (and I got a crazy amount of stuff done during those couple hours) and then we went for a run on the greenway and came home to make French toast with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

When Daddy-o heard about our time, he remarked that it sounded really relaxing. I think at the stage we're now at, I get the easier end of the Father/Son campout. I used to be left with a baby who woke up all night and a daughter who really wanted to have girl time, but was being thwarted by her little brother. But we paid our dues and now get girl time galore.  Bean is old enough for us to do things that are really fun for me, too, and only having one of the kids makes it so easy, and quiet. Totally different experience for Daddy-o as he tried to keep a 4 year old from drowning in the river, got kids to bed hours past their bedtimes, set up and cleaned up camp (including someone else's kids' pee who had an accident while playing on Daddy-o's bed), and has to function on 4 hours of sleep the next day. Yeah, I'll stay home with my girl.

It's Not Easy Being Green

Time for the second annual Green on the Green 5K. I love that the kids' school puts on this race. It's such an awesome family friendly, health focused activity, and the kids like getting to see all their friends and teachers along the way.

Peanut has done the race twice now in the stroller. Somehow, I have a really hard time imagining that he'll be able to do it on his own in 2 years which is when he'll be able to officially enter. Maybe because we have another kid who thinks he's going to die each year about 1 mile into it.

I'll tell you, I love races, love the idea of family ones, and like supporting this community in this way, but doing a 5k while essentially dragging a 60 pound person along behind you who keeps telling you that he's dying and he can't make it, really isn't my favorite. I wasn't even feeling all that competitive and hadn't planned to run it at all, but when there are 3 and 4 year olds passing you, and we can't even sprint the final few yards, it's painful. I have a lot of empathy for Daddy-o, who got that job last year. Love my middle child, but I don't think we'll ever be running partners :)

Post race festivities included rock climbing, a bounce house, and free pizza. Add in some warmish weather and lots of sunshine and it made for a good Saturday afternoon.

My Foam Roller is My New Best Friend and Other Running News

13.1 miles. That is how far I ran today. Or, mostly ran. I get to cross that one off my bucket list. After my painful 11 mile run two weeks ago, I had to give up my goal of 10 minute miles and just pray that I'd be able to finish it, preferably without walking the last 5 miles.

And I did it. At the four mile mark, I told my friend, Flori, that I was feeling good. Of coure, that meant a few minutes later, my stinkin' knee had to start acting up. But the Advil I took right before the race helped take the edge off and I was able to keep going with only 3 or 4 walking breaks throughout the whole thing.

(Here's Flori passing me up in the last couple miles. And notice the "Stop Ahead" sign on the right--I was wishing I could oblige.)

One of those walks was for this monster hill (I think it was worse than it looks--it was longer, too):This course was WAY hillier than I'd realized it would be and in the last 2 miles, there were a couple really brutal ones. From the sounds of it (and the people I saw), hardly anyone managed to run up this thing. Even at the beginning of a run, I would have a hard time, but this was over 11 miles into the race.

And then there was the hill at the finish. We hit the 13 mile mark, and the last tenth of a mile was straight up a hill to the finish. We'd seen it before we started, and my heart had sunk. I just really wanted to finish strong and sprint into the end, but with that hill at the end, I figured I'd be lucky to even be walking across the finish line.

But when I saw the small crowd of people cheering everyone on, and my neighbors, who had just watched their wife/mother finish her first half marathon were still standing there to cheer me on as well, and I realized there was no way I could walk up that hill. So I pushed past. And then I saw the course timers looking down at their papers, and when they looked up and started yelling, "Come on, Kimberly! You can do it! You're right there!", I got so choked up I could barely see the finish line. It is so amazing what having a few people to encourage you can do when you are totally spent, have been in pain for 9 miles, and just didn't think you had anything left in you. I sprinted to that finish--it was probably slower than my running in the beginning, but I felt so powerful!

I didn't make 10 minute miles, but I finished in 2:22:34, which was less than 11 minute miles, and I'm pretty happy with that. I have to say thank you to my awesome running partner, Flori, who has kept me going these last few months even when I would have rather rolled back over and gone back to sleep. And to my equally awesome husband (who would have been there at the finish line if we hadn't had a schedule conflict with Bean) who stayed up until 2 a.m. last night fixing my iPod which at 10 p.m. wouldn't sync with the computer and then got stuck in an unusable state. I was really upset at the idea of not being able to run with my newly organized playlist. There were a few hills out there that I did run up that I owe to Coldplay, U2 and EMF--I really did feel unbelievable!

And now, I just feel like taking a long nap.

Will I ever do this again, I have no idea--the high at the end was close to what I felt after my second, drug-free, childbirth. I can't believe my very human, flawed body is capable of such amazing things and there's a part of me that just likes to keep finding ways to push it and prove to myself that it can do so much more than I'd ever thought.

And then there is another part of me that would still like to have these same knees when I'm 40.

Run, Kim, Run

I didn't realize how long it was going to take me to update about our trip! So, I still have 3 more posts to go (I think that's all), but I had to take a little break here to just say that I ran my 10K yesterday!

The weather was perfect and the course was pretty nice--through some of the nicer neighborhoods of Charlotte and not TOO hilly, all though there were some good ones in there, including one towards the end that really did me in. But I made it in 1:02:48, which was only 18 seconds slower than the 10 minute mile pace I was hoping to keep, so not bad. And compared to the 5K I ran 13 months ago, I did much better--twice as far in almost 4 minutes less than double the time (if that makes any sense. . .), so I've increased my distance and speed in the last year. I'm totally hooked and want to find more races now.
And if we hadn't come home and spent the next few hours shoveling dirt and gravel to prepare our garden beds, I don't think I'd be too sore this morning.

Bunch of Sickies

Luckily, its just the kids, so Daddy-o and I are in some kind of shape to keep things going around here. And boy has that been a chore. I've done 3 full loads of vomit covered laundry in the last 24 hours, and that doesn't include our normal loads of diapers and clothing.

Poor Bugaboo had a really long night Friday, and then a little revisitation last night. And Bean has had a fever and been coughing--pretty standard symptoms for her. Oh, and what looks like the start of pink-eye, but it hasn't gotten worse overnight, so we'll at least be able to wait until urgent care opens in the morning--so much cheaper than an ER visit (and do you go to the ER for pink-eye? I just don't know when I'm overreacting or when I'm being a careless mom). I just hope that none of the kids we were in contact with on Thurs and Friday come down with this.

Daddy-o really stepped up this weekend as well. Besides keeping the kids occupied all day Friday while I was playing baker, he also sat up with Bugaboo that whole night so I could try to get a little sleep before my crazy Saturday morning, and then took care of two sick kids while I ran and went to a bridal shower (where the cake was a big hit!). I am so grateful that I have such an awesome husband.

My run yesterday was actually the Rex Lee 5K--honoring cancer fighters and victims. I ran in my dad's name, and was happy with my finish. My goals were to not walk at all (although I think I could walk faster on the hills than I run) and to finish under 35 mintues--I wasn't sure about the second one after the broken sleep I'd gotten the night before, but I made it and ended up coming in at 33:21--a little faster than my normal daily run, so not bad. Now, to put that in perspective, as I was leaving, they began announcing the winners--and the second place 10K runner had the same time as me, LOL! I've never been a fast runner.

Cold, Cold, and Messy

Random events that give you a peek into our day:


*This morning, I went to the indoor track to run. Now, I am so glad that there is an indoor track because that's the only way I can run at 6 a.m. in the winter up here, but because it is so cold outside, the track is a pretty popular place (I didn't take this picture--I wish it looked like that but there are probably at least 100 people there each morning on the track and another 100 in the center area doing pushups and other drills--the ROTC trains in the a.m.) and the parking right in front of the building is all long gone by the time I get there. So, I get to make the mad dash from the car to the building in shorts and a sweatshirt. Most mornings it hasn't been too bad, but when its in the teens, like this a.m., it is not comfortable. I could wear pants into the building, but sadly, my tear-away running pants that were easy to get on and off over shoes were eaten by our washing machine at the end of the summer. I've actually been missing them quite a bit this winter, but not enough to go buy another pair. So instead I just run quickly and hope I don't slip on ice--at least it helps wake me up (and after last night, I needed it. Our kids have NOT been nice to us the last 3 nights).

*One of the nice things about Daddy-o being in school is the MBA Spouse Association--they have activities planned throughout the week for pretty much any interest or situation. We love the Thursday park days (in nice weather) and field trips. So far, we've been to Red Lobster where we saw the kitchens, made biscuits, and sampled our biscuits and popcorn shrimp and Krispy Kreme, where of course we ate donuts after watching the donut making process.
Today's trip was to the Cold Stone Creamery near campus. Bean was incredibly excited, of course, because it involved ice cream. Personally, when the temperatures are this low (ok, maybe it had crept up to the twenties by 10:30), ice cream isn't my first pick as a treat, but she's only 3--ice cream is always a good idea at 3.So, we got to see the freezers, watch them whip up a batch of sweet cream ice cream, and then make the kids creation--blue ice cream(I don't even know what flavor its supposed to be--why do kids always want the grossest ice creams) with sprinkles and gummi bear.
*And finally, THIS is why I think its impossible to have kids and keep a clean kitchen/dining room floor. Notice I didn't say its impossible to clean the floor--I sweep about 3 times a day, and even mop or at least wipe up spills somewhat regularly, but it seems difficult to get it clean in the first place and it only stays that way until the next meal, or snack, or knocked over box of cereal.And his eating habits don't help. This is his new favorite position at the table.