1st Half Marathon

Warning...before reading this post, there is some bragging going on, so if you dont want to read it, you better quit after paragraph 2. 

So, what made me decide to take the crazy leap and run a half marathon?  A very inspirational friend from church (who is now a dear friend!) has worked her little butt off the past year and half to lose 180+ pounds.  She was pressured by another crazy friend (ahem...Meghan) to walk a half marathon last fall.  And then run/walk another half earlier this year and then somehow got the genius idea to force pressure encourage several of us ladies from church to participate in a half marathon in Branson, MO (home of the Ozark hills!!) in May.  And being the type of person who doesnt have the word 'no' in her vocab, I readily agreed.  And then instantly regretted that decision.

But I dont back down from a committment, so after 12 weeks of training, our group of ladies hit Branson.  I was so nervous the night before!  I had trouble sleeping, but woke up ready to go.  A few other local friends were also down there to run the half and these girls are athletes- I was SO nervous then- I didnt want them to see me fail! 

We had 3.5 hours to do the race.  My goal was 3 hours.  In training, I had never actually run more than 6 miles and had never actually ran/walked over 9.5, so this would be the furthest I have ever gone.  I started off in the middle of the pack.  It was a bit chilly when we started out, but I was okay in my capris and tank.  I had to pee immediately after the race started, but figured once I started sweating, I would be okay. 

I started off strong.  I felt good, I had a running partner, the course was relatively flat....for the first mile or so.  And then the hills started.  Oh, the Branson hills.  The horrible horrible Branson hills.  But I did them.  I mastered them.  I told those hills who was boss!  I felt good.  I felt strong.  People were starting to walk and I started passing people.  I still had to pee, but was starting to sweat a bit, so I was hoping that feeling would pass. 

It started raining around mile 4.  The perfect kind of rain- light enough to keep you cool, but not heavy enough to drench you.  Then my back started hurting around mile 6.  I had really hurt my back earlier in the year and thought that it was going to be my downfall.  There was no way I could run 7 more miles with my back hurting.  Luckily though, the two women in front of me had shirts with this on the back, "I can do ALL things through Christ who strenthens me."  I stayed behind those two chicks for a while, reading their shirts over and over and praying.  And guess what?  My back pain stopped.  I even somewhat made a friend and had a nice conversation with another runner for about a mile.  I was back to feeling good.  I passed mile 7- further than I had ever run before.  Mile 8 was another short, steep uphill.  I stopped and walked just about a 1/4 of a mile up that hill, had a quick drink and was back to running. 

You know the part earlier when I said I hoped all the sweat would make my need to pee go away?  Yea, that nice, cooling gentle rain kept me from sweating.  At mile 9.5, there were outhouses and I had to go.  I went in and instantly regretted my decision.  I felt a little lightheaded and trying to get those wet spandex pants up and down was tough.  But once I started running again, I felt fine.  I walked a tiny bit at mile 10 and then was able to run again. 

I ran those 1st 10 miles like a rock star!  I felt good!  I felt like I was on top of the world and was planning on all my next races.  I waved to cars and bystanders.  I talked to the traffic cops.  It was great.

Then I hit mile 11...We had driven the course before the race, but had to stop at mile 10.5 or so, due to the fact that the route then went on a trail.  I hit the trail and suddenly felt like I hit a brick wall.  My upper body was starting to hurt.  I decided I was doing great on time, so I could walk a bit.  Bad decision.  My legs immediately started cramping, so I tried running again.  And then my upper body started hurting.  Mile 11 was a painful run/walk back and forth with my mental happiness gone.  I was worried I wouldnt finish.  I regretted my decision.  I was going to be embarrassed that I started off too strong only to fail at the end.

But I made it to mile 12.  If I could make it that far, I could finish.  I took off running again and although I didnt feel great, I didnt feel as much pain as during mile 11.  Remember when I said I hadnt driven this part of the race?  Well, apparantly no one had, b/c as we rounded a curve, we discovered one last STEEP hill.  I heard a LOT of bad words...words I cant share on my blog...everyone stopped to walk up that hill.  It was horrible.  But I made it up the hill and knew I only had about a half mile left. 

My goal was 3 hours.  I crossed that finish line in 2:25!!!!  35 minutes faster than my goal- even including a bathroom break.  It broke down to 11:08 minute miles.  I got a drink, my medal and wasnt sure if I should sit or stand.  I was worried if I sat, I wouldnt be able to get up.  I worried if I stood, I would fall over.  I kind of wandered around for a few minutes feeling like crud and made my way down about 100 yards before the finish line and sat.  And stretched.  And thanked God!  I did it!  I was able to cheer in the rest of my group and they all finished with great times! I even beat those athletes I was worried about at the beginning of the race.

I hit the 6 mile mark at 1:04:59- 10 minute and 49 second miles.

I placed 200 out of 631!

And I already have signed up for my next half...

Update!!

Wow, it has been a LONG time since I blogged.  I almost forgot I even had a blog!  I have taken up running and am a bit obsessed, so I wanted to start a running blog kind of as a diary to keep track of my races.

But since I found my original blog, before I start in on my running, I will give a family update!

Chloe- Chloe is now 6 and just finished her kindergarten year!  Oh me oh my!  She is one smart cookie and got the excellent reading award in her class.  She had a wonderful kindergarten teacher that we will miss dearly.  Over the course of the year, Chloe enrolled in gymnastics and loved it.  She really needed an activity to build up some core muscles, since the kid has broke her arm 3 times from leaping off play ground equipment.  I hoped she would learn how to stick her landing!  However, she also wanted to play soccer, so I told her one sport at a time, so we dropped gymnastics after a few months to take on soccer.  She was pretty meh about soccer the first few games, but really picked it up at the end of the season.  I was her coach (and was a horrible one at that), but we ended up placing 2nd in the season end tourney (out of 4 teams).  Chloe is now playing coach pitch softball/baseball.  They are using a baseball, but pitch underhand...weird.  Here team is 1st-4th graders, so she is about the youngest on the team.  She is playing as a leftie since she cant throw with her right arm to save her life!

Bg- Bg just finished her 1st year of preschool.  Bg won Wildcat of the Year, which is an award the entire school faculty votes on at the end of the year to present to a kid from each class who best exhibited Godly character traits throughout the year.  PROUD MAMA!!!!  She also took gymnastics this year and has done excellent.  We have dropped out for the summer just b/c our schedules get a bit hectic in the summer.  She really loves it and has made a lot of little friends, although she doesnt know a single one of their names.  Silly girl.

Both girls have a pig as well.  Leelee and Peppa.  The girls LOVE the pigs and play with them daily.  These are show pigs and they went to a show on Memorial Day.  Both pigs got last in their classes, but boy, I could not have been more proud of my girls.  They took care of their pigs all day, bathed them, fed them, watered them and cleaned up the pens at the end.  Bg had help showing her pig, but really did fine on her own.  Chloe went out on her own.  I am so happy my girls can follow in one of my favorite activities from my childhood.

Jeff- Jeff is happy working for an excavating company digging holes and tearing things down.  He has been busy with our garden and shed.

Me- I am still loving my job!  I have also taken up running and have recently ran my 1st half marathon and my first 5K.  I will post about those later!  I have been teaching Children's Choir and GA's at church, coached Chloe's soccer, am a Chamber board member and lots of other fun stuff.  I know how to keep myself busy!

Birthday's & Chloe-ism's

Life is (as usual) great right now!  We are having beautiful weather and spending as much time as possible outside!

We celebrated Bg's first birthday last month.  It was a bittersweet day for me.  She is starting to walk, but is pretty wobbly still.  Bg is the funniest little thing.  She is a bit of a biter, a huge pig and will put anything and everything in her mouth.  She is pretty onery and likes to harass her big sister.  Her favorite place to play is the toilet!  She keeps us on our toes for sure!

Chloe has some pretty funny sayings:
-She calls long sleeves "down sleeves" and short sleeves "up sleeves."
-We were in the bathroom the other day and Chloe had to poop.  She said, "I got three poops out but the 4th poop is stuck in my butt!"
-There was a dead fly in her room and she asked if it was going to come back to life like Jesus.
-We went to the Edward's baby shower the other night and I told her there was going to be a bounce house.  She asked what that was and I told her it was what she jumped in at church.  She replied, "I didnt know Jesus made bounce houses!"
-She was talking up a storm and told Jeff, "I am tired of talking."  So Jeff told her to just stop.  She replied, "oh, okay!" like the thought never entered her mind.
- Jeff and I were trying to figure out how we were going to move the swingset.  Chloe chimed in "I think we just just push it!"  Her logic was so right, but we werent strong enough!

I am sure there are more, but I cant think of them.

March Madness!

Yes, March has been mad and I am not just talking basketball! We have done some more work on the house and finally have a back patio and front steps! I have all kinds of crazy organizing plans for the inside but doubt that will happen very quickly.

So, since it has been a while, I will do an update on us!

Chloe: Poor thing has had a rough winter. She just got over strep for the second time. She was sick off and on with high fevers for over a week. She was absolutely miserable, poor thing. But other than that, my baby girl (yes, I still call her that) is growing up. She remembers the craziest things and amazes us daily with her smarts and her observations. She is such a great big sister, but Bg is starting to be rather annoying and wont leave Chloe or her toys alone. Chloe loves to play outside, but lately has started to become a bit of a chicken. She can ride her bike so well and I hope we can remove training wheels this summer! She loves dance class, but doesnt always listen well or pay attention (hmmm...must be my kid!). She is growing taller and is so skinny. I will be glad when she can wear shorts so she doesnt look like she is wearing high waters all the time.

Bg: Oh boy, this one is going to be the onery one! She loves getting into things. And she knows that she is not supposed to. She somehow managed to get the baby gate down from the bottom of the stairs. And she is learning to now come down the stairs without rolling. She is starting to let go of things when standing for just a few seconds. She gives the best, open mouth, drooly kisses. She waves and says mama. She loves to rock in our little wooden rocking chair. She loves to mess with her sister. She has three teeth. And her 1st birthday is less than 6 weeks away!

Jeff and I: We hope to plant grass seed this weekend. I am trying to get back into running, but I am so out of shape! In my mind, I could easily just right back into it, but my body (especially my lungs) are not willing. I am trying to convince Jeff to let me get chickens but so far he says no. I am also trying to convince him to let me get a housekeeper. He says no, but I think I am going to fight this one. Well, no fighting, I am just going to do it! I would like to get a garden started, but we may just have too much going on this spring to do so. I am also trying to convince Jeff to play softball with me this summer. Wow, it sounds like I am constantly trying to convince Jeff to do stuff- talk about wife pressure! I am also tryig to become some Martha Stewart type or something. I love baking in my new kitchen and am going to get some cake decorating help from Aunt Elaine and Aunt Krissy!

The Tigers: Ha ha, I cant believe I am updating about them, but I am a nut. They won the Big 12 tourney, which is awesome, as we are leaving for the SEC. I was sad about the move, but I am irritated at the Big 12 for the way they have treated the players, so I am ready to kiss them goodbye and move on to bigger and better things. Mizzou is a second seed going into the big tourney, but they should have been a #1 seed. They finished the season ranked #3 in the nation. I am proud of these boys and sad that the season is coming to an end.

So that is a quick summary of what is going on.

Blah....

The stomach flu hit our house last week. Hard. And it snuck in out of nowhere. I went from happily preparing pot roast to head in toilet in less than an hour. And when you have kids (one who is nursing) while you are sick, it just makes things that much worse. I did get a good chuckle (after the fact) once when I was puking. Chloe comes into the bathroom and asks, "Whatcha doing mom?" Like I could really answer. And then, "why are your glasses on the floor, here, put them on." And she tries to hand me my glasses as I have my head halfway into the toilet.

And of course, when mom gets sick, one of the kids has to get sick too. I got sick Tuesday night. I was looking forward to a recovery day at home on Wednesday, but Chloe started puking about 10 mintues after Jeff dropped her off at Miss Linda's. And when he brought her home, she proceeded to puke all over me. Three seperate times. I had one of those "you know you are mom when..." moments when Chloe is sitting on our brand new carpet and starts to heave. I stick my hands out and catch it. Gross, I know, but I didnt really want to try to clean puke out of brand new carpet either.

Chloe luckily got over her illness quickly. Mine however refused to let go and I was sick for 6 days. The good news was that I finally reached my goal weight! 125 pounds! Not quite the way I wanted to achieve it though.

Unfortunetly I was sick for our anniversary. Not that we would have done anything romantic anyway, but we had a nice home cooked dinner planned. Oh well, maybe next year.

Never had a doubt...

About my Tigers' ability to beat KU! It's kind of the end of an era I guess. MU is leaving the Big 12 for the SEC. I am not sure how I feel about that just yet, but I am glad that Mizzou has beat KU in football and now at home in basketball. They still have one more game to play in Lawrence, but the Tigers pulled off a last minute win at home on Saturday. We went to Heather and Gary's to watch the game. MU was ahead at the half, but trailed all of the second quarter, even letting KU build a 8 point lead. But we rallied in the last 3 minutes. Poor Bg thought her parents had gone mental. I was shaking and pacing the floor. Heather had to hold Bg so I wouldnt accidentally throw her across the room! Chloe saw a picture of a Jayhawk on Sunday and told me that, "we dont like those!" Good girl!

And yesterday was the SuperBowl. Boy, Superbowl party at Jason's sure has changed in the 10 years I have been with Jeff! Everyone is married with kids now. The party is much more family friendly! The girls had a blast. CHloe cried when we left.

February

So could this February possibly start off any different than February of 2011?? Remember the blizzard? Well, yesterday was sunny and in the 60's. Chloe and Bg were able to play outside all afternoon. Chloe's legs are bruised black and blue- from falling out of trees, to tripping over twigs and falling down hills. But she is loving every minute of country living. And in our backyard is the most fun dirt pile ever!

But all this crazy weather gave me a nasty sinus infection. So while my children were outside delighting in the beautiful weather, I was inside sleeping. Poor me, but enough of my sob story.

We had a scare last night. Dad called around 9 and said mom had been having chest pains all day and went to urgent care after work. They did an EKG and said these scary words: Heart Attack. They gave mom some nitroglycerin and said get to a hospital. Dad rushed mom to the ER and they did another EKG, but these results were better and they werent sure about a heart attack. So mom was admitted and is undergoing tests today. My mom is way too young for this! She already yelled at me for harping on her about her diet, but she does need to take better care of herself. And I say this out of love. I want my babies to have the kind of relationship with their grandparents that I had with mine and that means no heart attacks!!