IMS Arizona Half Marathon 2011

Shannon is keeping Lilah busy this afternoon and I am literally parked in the recliner so it seemed like as good a time as any to write about my day.  It wasn't a typical day for sure and I am sure that it won't last too much longer either because I am WIPED OUT.

The morning started about 5:15 when Lilah muttering over the monitors woke me up with a start.  There was no way I was going back to sleep.  It was time to get up and get dressed.  The butterflies started almost as soon as my feet hit the ground.  My carefully planned (non-chaffing) outfit was carefully set out and ready to go.  I got dressed, made a protein shake (which was all I could stomach) and let Shannon know I was leaving.  I took the truck because I figured of all our vehicles it was the one I could leave the keys in the ignition (which I didn't by the way) and it would still be there when I got back.  The windshield wipers don't work well, and it was covered in rain that had passed recently.  So I could barely see as all the windows fogged up.  I pulled into the parking lot of Westgate at 6:30 and found the buses to take me to the start line.  I was barely off the bus when I ran into the mommas, friends that would be running the race too.  It was nice to hear some friendly banter to help with the butterflies, but I was having a hard time not focusing on what was about to happen.  8:01 on my watch the gun goes off and we are on our way.

The first mile I kept checking my pace.   I am really bad about starting fast and I wanted to take it slow.  Watching all the people sprint past me and then see them walking a few miles later made my morning.  Slow and steady, keep the pace, go forever kept going through my mind.  The few sprinkles we felt at the start line got harder and harder until we were running through steady rain.  It lasted from mile 2 to 4 but wasn't very cold rain and it was still, no wind.  I enjoyed it.   Mile 6 we hit the long stretch and the motivation came from the LONG line of runners stretched out in front of me.  Mile 7 was a rough one.  My knee was acting up, my ankle was starting to hurt.  The doubt sunk in for a minute.  Uh oh, only half way!  But then a cheering friend picked me up and the next couple of miles I just bared down and kept my feet going to the beat of the music in my ears.  Mile 10 was a bit of a wall.  I don't think it was any worse than the mile before it but I had not run more than 10 before in my life.  Could I do those extra 3?  I just need keep moving.  Mile 11 is getting harder and harder.  Both my ankles were feeling like some sort of cramping was going on so it just made sense not to stop and let that happen.  Then the worst.  A cold burst of air.  A few drops of rain.  All the sudden a strong wind cutting across me, my number was whipping around, and the rain started coming down harder and harder.  I put my hands out, not hail, but not rain - sleet?  Cold.  But numbing.  Hard to feel my legs now.  Keep going!  Mile 12 - one more to go!  A bridge.  A big, long tall bridge over the freeway.   Wow, I wasn't sure my legs were actually moving as I headed up.  Finally, downhill.  And into Westgate center.  Around the corner.  Ah, there's my support...Shannon and Lilah cheering me on the last little bit.  Turn one more corner.  The finish line.  Push, almost there, keep going legs.....YEAH!  A few tears.  Huge relief.  I did it.  The thing that has been haunting me for a couple months now is over and I did a good job.  2 hours, 23 minutes and under 11 minute miles on average.  

Now I am home, after a hot shower, and dreading the next time I might have to stand up and walk somewhere.  My legs are aching, mostly my knee and muscles surrounding it and my ankles.  Do I want to do that again? I don't know right now.  But I do know that memory of pain fades faster than the feeling of accomplishment so I guess we will see how I am feeling in a year.  

Tired of the rain - what are we waiting for?

Best cheerleader ever

My legs look like the are barely moving here- oh yeah, they were!

My arms still worked though

DONE!

The picture that matters the most!

For fun - the route as mapped by my running watch.  

Long time, no motivation, until now.

Well, I knew the pressure would be off a little not having Lilah's blog book motivating me to blog often.  It feels like forever since I have sat down to write something profound.  But every time I think I should, I have trouble coming up with some theme, or clever idea to get me started.  This has been a horrible winter for sickness for me and Lilah.  Shannon seems to be catching things here and there but never as bad.  Lilah's poor little nose has been running so much that I should have bought stock in Boogie Wipes.  And I just keep rotating between flu and cold.  I am ready to start feeling better, and have no choice but to feel better.  Because here I am, one day before the half marathon that is surely going to kick my butt.  But I will discuss my survival (or not) of that event when it is over. Needless to say, constant whining around our house, combined with lack of exercise and not much adult interaction has put me into a funk.   And I hate funks.  So this is where the story gets happy.

Luckily in the middle of all of this, a weekend in Tahoe with (some of) my best friends from college.  Last weekend we rented a cabin in Truckee and headed to snow.  I love getting together with my college "family."  It is so easy and comfortable, and a place to just be myself.  Which I don't think I have allowed myself to do in a long time.  However, there were some definite and noticeable changes with this visit.  Namely the cries of little ones.  Three babies, all under 18 months, in the same house for an extended weekend.  Hilary and Jeff and Tegan (9 mos) and Kevin, Van, and Makenzie (17 mos)  made the trip up from the Bay Area. And poor Sara and Aub, down from Portland, were in the middle of the chaos and trying to find the humor in an endless stream of meltdowns. Can you say GOOD birth control ;)  Luckily none of  the kids seemed to reach breaking point at the same time, so it was usually just one kid at a time that was being hustled off to try and get down for a nap or bed.

The worst part of the whole experience was realizing that my child was the brat of the group.  Both Tegan and Mak have spent a lot of time around other kids and apparently I have been lax with Lilah and getting her playing with other kids because she not only did not want to share but she didn't want the other two to have any toys, sit on stairs she might sit on, stand and hold any chair or ottoman that she might need to use, and would get very angry when they weren't following her very vocal demands.  But she finally started to relax a little just as it was time to pack up and go home.

The snow condition were not great.  They hadn't had a fresh storm in awhile and it was warm and sunny.  So it was icy, packed snow.  Nothing powdery about it.   The snowboarders made it up to Northstar one day and stayed on the groomed runs.  They came back a little sore and feeling like that they hadn't been in a few years.  But had a great day.  The kids got out and played in the back yard a little but it was icy and hurt when they fell down, so they would only be out for a few minutes at a time.  And there was the fateful cross country trip that was worthy of the camera crew for Jackass.  We decided to go to the local center that was only a few miles from the house.  It is a well know cross country center, but unknown to me was on the side of a hill.  (Hills, or lack there of, are why I cross country ski and NOT downhill).  After trying to pull ourselves up the hills in the icy conditions, we didn't quite reach the top when we tried to turn around and go back down.  Needless to say we came off the mountain with some glorious crashes to give some aches and pains, (hopefully Sara's tail bone has recovered), the first aid snowmobile guy's help to get Hilary off the ground, and I was walking with Lilah on my back while the others carried my skis back to the lodge.

And now for the best part, the pictures.

Lilah's first experience with snow, she was indifferent :)

Tegan was always smiling

"Hey, whatcha got up there?"

The Babysitter and her brood

The Snowbunnies

Jeff and Kevin - grill masters

The girls enjoy some relaxing and wine

The fateful cross country crew

Lilah after her first fall on Daddy's back - not too happy

A rare moment of calm playing

Hilary and Tegan

Lilah, Tegan, Makenzie

Sara in the kitchen again - thanks for all the yummy meals.

The Happy Cabiners

Thank you friends for meeting us in Tahoe.  It was a wonderful trip and worth the lack of sickness recovery, extra bugs at our house!

For Lilah's Grandmas

When you are having a bad day here is a video of your champion spaghetti eater to make you laugh...

My Sunshine

So I could probably blame Lilah for the enormous pile of oats on my floor this evening, but I won't.  I am a klutz.  And I could blame Lilah for the fact that there are oats spread through the entire house, but I won't.  I probably should have cleaned it up immediately.  It was just too darn cute to watch her first play in them and then help me try and clean them up.  I think I need to get her a smaller broom.  I love my baby!

Keeping it Positive...with pictures

I have been aware that I have been slacking on writing.  But every time I thought I would sit down and write something profound, all the ideas flowing through me seemed so negative that I just couldn't do it.  Between vomit and mucus, the past couple of weeks have been rough around our house and I know that a lot of you are having the same problems.  So in a vain attempt to bring a smile to my face, and hopefully yours, I decided that I would post pictures from this past month of the one person who constantly brings a smile to my face and laughter to my dark days.

Why is the image of a messy face so adorable?  I get to see it several times a day and have to clean it up.  Yet it still brings a smile to my face.  This meal was french toast with a homemade berry syrup.

A look at the fun that a 14 month brings to my daily life.... I keep finding her in more and more "interesting" places.  These were just the few that I had a camera handy.

And of course this month's pictures would not be complete without the pictures from Lilah's first haircut.

Running...for fun?

So as most of you probably already know I am currently in training to run a half marathon in February.  Why, do you ask, would I decide to do such a thing and my answer is I am not quite sure.   I am not a runner - or so I used to tell myself.  After running 3 or 4 miles in Body Back and finishing the 5k with much better results than I expected, I apparently decided that I am now a runner.  So why the half?  I know several other Moms that will be running the race too and I am inspired by all of them.  The final straw was actually watching last season of Biggest Loser where the final four run the marathon, if they can do that, I can run half that far!

And now comes the part where I admit that I have NO idea what I am doing.  I have never been an athlete.  Not to the degree that running requires.  I am feeling ill equip for this challenge and it is quickly losing its appeal.  I WILL continue to train and I WILL finish the race, even if I have to walk, but at this point I am not sure I will ever set such a high goal again.  I am thinking a 5k or 10k sound great right about now.  Last weekend was the tipping point.  I tried my first 10 miler.  I made the first 5 no problem.  6 was hard simply because I knew it was just the start of the turn home.  And by 8 I thought I was going to fall over and die.  My hips ached, I had stabbing pain in my ankles, shin splints, my chest was burning, and I never want to feel like that again.  I made it home but cut the run short - 9.5 miles - and I was practically walking the last mile.  I made it in the door and burst into tears.  I was just worn out and feeling frustrated that I was going to fail this crazy goal I had set for myself.    Add to that all the things that I never realized were going to be a problem.  I have chaffing in odd places including my poor boobs which look like they have been through a war zone from all the bouncing in what I thought was a great bra.  I have a rash all over my body from what I am assuming is being in sweaty clothes pretty much 24/7 these days.  I am exhausted.  I have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning because my feet are stiff and sore.  Today I can barely walk, can't bend over at all and feel like it is a first day of working out all over again after only 6 miles.  But to be fair I was sore before I left on my run thanks to a good workout yesterday at Stroller Strides.

So now comes the plea.   For all of you runners that follow this blog, I need advice and encouragement.  What are the secrets to running that I don't know that will keep me going and allow me to finish this half marathon?  What are the must have products, gizmos, and gadgets that I should not be running without?  And how do I keep myself motivated to try not only that 10 miler again but keep going through 13.1?

2010 and beyond

So I started this blog a couple of days ago, just home from a trip and still on the Christmas high.  I was having trouble remembering one single thing that went wrong in 2010 and was all set to write a blog for how perfect my life is.  And then reality struck.  10 AM, New Year's Day, on a below freezing morning, our heater which has been acting up for weeks, decided to stop working.  They came out, told us it needed a new part, and would be back to new soon.  BUT -  the parts store would not be open until Monday morning.  The coldest weekend Arizona has seen in decades and we had no heater.  Good news is that they came as promised this morning and got the heater working again.   It was just a reminder to me that things happen, lots of little things, that make life inconvenient for awhile.  But in the end, when I look back to remember my year, it is the good things that come to mind.  So now I will return to the original blog I intended to write.  2010 was a great year for us.  We had a great year in our comfortable little house.  We watched Lilah grow and change into an amazing little person and I am so excited for the next year of her life and more learning and discovering.  And, after two weeks with family, came the realization that Shannon and I are lucky to have two loving families, each with their own idiosyncrasies, that support and love us. I am hopeful that this year will continue on as last year did.  That I will be able to weather the little inconveniences so that they fade quickly.  And I will try and be better about taking care of things that need to be fixed - like heaters that are making too much noise!

And now for a look at our holiday season.

Lights going on our cute little tree

15 days later - finally decorated and presents were wrapped

We left the Valley of the Sun for rainy California the weekend before Christmas.  The car was PACKED with 2 adults, 1 child, 2 dogs, and a bunch of Christmas presents.  First stop was Visalia.  We stayed with Danielle and Kane in their very nice new house.   Lilah stayed with us half the week and with her Grandma Ya Ya the other half of the week.  It worked out very nicely for all of us.  Shannon and I even got out on a date night to a movie and beers afterwards.  Yeah for Grandma!

I did some running in the rain

Lilah the Explorer

She was helping wrap presents

Bath time with the girls

Heading down for dinner at Grandma Jeri's

Christmas Eve we opened all the presents and celebrated with Shannon's whole family.

The girls were not spoiled at all!

"Uhm..what am I supposed to do with all this stuff?"

Lilah, Rylee, and Peyton

Enjoying the Christmas Eve weather

Our Family

Then Christmas morning came with a visit from Santa and a car trip up to Modesto to visit my family.  My whole family was in the same house Christmas night and it was busy, loud and wonderful.  Next year I am hoping we can all do it again and I can be there a little longer with everybody.

Opening presents 

Grandpa's Great-Grandkids - what a gorgeous bunch!

"Why am I wearing this?"

Then the chaos died down, Shannon left to drive home with the dogs and head back to work, and Lilah and I spent four days in Modesto with just my parents and Grandpa.  It was a great trip overall, but I was worn out by the time we got home.  I am still debating which made me more tired - the 10 hour car trip or the 6 hour car to air to car trip.  We returned on New Year's Eve.  After Lilah went to bed I made it until 10 PM and then decided on a shower and bed instead of a ball drop.  We left the TV on in the bedroom and both murmured Happy New Year to each other when we heard the celebration.  And then turned off the TV.

All bundled up and ready to go to the park

New Year's Day stroll to the park in the new trike

"Is it time to get back in yet?"

"Thanks Rylee for my new chair!"

Where's Waldo?  She has been having a blast with all her new toys