You've been Booed!

As Halloween grows closer, the kids have been mentioning that we haven't been Booed yet.  Mostly Sydney saying "I can't wait until we get Booed!  When is someone going to Boo us??".  The Booing tradition started several years ago in our neighborhood and it's a fun way to surprise your friends and neighbors.  The doorbell rings, and a little bag of treats is waiting for you!    Well, it usually happens that way.  Last year we had some trickster drop off a bag of junk.  Boo indeed!  Luckily the real treats also did arrive, but not until later.

Guess what... it happened again!  While we were eating dinner our doorbell rang and Alan caught a glimpse of kid running away.  Much to our surprise there was a brown paper bag with the words "You've been booed" scrawled on it.  Inside was a hamburger bun, soy sauce packet, tea bag and a few other worthless treasures.  We all got a pretty good laugh out of that, especially the hamburger bun.

 

 

After dinner we settled in for a movie and about half way through the movie, the doorbell rang again.  This time, there really was a treat waiting for the kids (thank goodness!).  The people who Boo us are really quite generous and I'm always impressed with the selections.  This year was no different.  They got some candy and fun Halloween toys.   I did catch a glimpse of the vehicle as it was parking by our neighbors driveway, but didn't think anything of it at the time.  Darn I didn't pay closer attention to see who it was :)

 

With just one more day before Halloween, we've gathered up some treats for our friends and are delivering them tonight.  I'm not even sure who we are Booing yet!

Happy Boo to You too!

Columbus marathon - 2012

Hello blog, it's been awhile!  :)  Today's update will be all about the Columbus marathon.  The kids did not go to this event, they stayed at Grandma & Grandpa's house.  It was a date weekend!
We got to Columbus around 2pm and went straight to the expo.  The expo was super well organized this year and we got our bibs and shirts.  I had to upgrade my corral letter, because I was still in "D" and my goal was to get a Boston qualifying time, which would put me in the B corral.  We got to say Hi to Matt Folk and wish him well on his race this year.  He won last year at at time of 2:19.
After the expo we checked out our parking garage.  We prepaid and wanted to make sure we knew where we were going.  Last year we arrived late due to traffic congestion and were super rushed.  So stressful!  Our parking garage was right next to the finish line.  Perfect!
We met some friends for dinner at Bravo.  There were about a dozen people from the Runners World forum.  Nice to see everyone again - I had met them last year and see them posting all year long.  Of the group I am definitely the slow poke as these people are all Boston runners many times over.  In my defense, I am also not as dedicated.  Or maybe I'm just slow!  haha  ok, I'm probably just slow.

After dinner we stopped at Meijers for some treats and also to solve a fashion dilemma - what to wear for tomorrow!  We knew it was going to be around 40 degrees at the start of the race, and in the 50s at the end.  Normally I would wear a tank top and shorts for a 50 degree race, but Alan had me thinking that I should have brought along a short sleeve t-shirt (which I did not).  Problem solved - we got some over-the-knee socks and cut the feet off.  Viola!  Instant arm warmers!  A great solution since the arm warmers at the expo were $20!

Stylish, affordable, AND disposable!  The funniest part was that we bought a pair for Alan too (the same socks!).  He looked hilarious in his.  In the end he decided not to wear his.  Darn!

Surprisingly I slept very well that night, and we even had to time to watch our favorite running movie Run Fatboy, Run.  It is a pre-marathon tradition that we always look forward to.

I did wake up before the alarm on Sunday, at 4:45am.  This year I was determined not to be rushing around before the race.  We left the hotel at 6am, and got downtown with NO traffic.  We were at the parking garage by 6:20, and into the corral area by 6:45.  The corrals were supposed to close at 7am, so we were right on time.  While I was waiting in the corral there was a guy with a loud horn.  That thing was beyond annoying!!  I asked him if he was going to be blowing that thing for the whole race.  He replied "yes!!".  Then he told me he would be running 9 minute miles.  Since my goal pace was 8:54, I quickly relocated myself far away from him.

The race started at 7:30am.  By mile 2 I got rid of my long sleeve "junk shirt".  I kept my headband/ear warmers on until about mile 6.  The first half of the race was awesome!  The cool weather was perfect for running and I averaged 8:43 miles.  That was ahead of my plan as I was supposed to run the first 17 miles at 8:51.  I felt good though, and didn't feel like I was pushing it.  My plan was to run the first 17 at that faster pace, and then allow myself to fade and slow down a little at the end, which I knew would happen anyways. 

After the half marathoners left, we went down High street into the OSU campus.  Well really it was UP High street because it was a slight incline. That was when my time started slowing down.  I felt OK because I knew it was uphill.  Mile 13 ended up at 9:00 mins.  Still OK because I had banked 1:30 ahead of my pacer.  By the time we hit mile 17, it felt like we kept going uphill and down.  Those slight "uphills" really sucked my energy.  My miles were now hitting 9:16.  bummer.  Off plan.  I realized at this point I was not going to make a BQ time.  oh well.  That was a super ambitious goal anyways and I still had other, more attainable goals.  My next goal was a sub 4 hr.  That would be huge since I did 4:14 last year.  I did finally peel off those arm warmers around mile 14 also.  Goodbye good friends!

We ran into the OSU stadium this year.  That sounded great, but we needed to go over a bridge (uphill) to get there, and then down a steep ramp - which of course meant UP a steep ramp. Oh, and then over that darn bridge again.  Ugggh.  It was killing me.  Then came the true uphill area of the course.  Around mile 22 I felt like just stopping.  I was making a few longer steps through the water stops now.  That felt OK to slow, but it felt twice as bad to start running again.  And I was getting a full belly feeling since I normally drink very little when I run.  So the plan was to now continue to run continuously, and the course was reaching the "downhill" portion.  Even though it was downhill I still felt like my legs weren't able to carry me any farther  :(  

 

I did get inspiration during my race from some sound clips that Alan had recorded for me.  He asked the kids to come up with motivational comments, and they did a great job.  So sweet!  Around mile 20 when I was really hurting, this one came from Zachary and it brought tears to my eyes: Zachary's words.

At mile 24, the 4 hr pace group came up right next to me.  Ugggh, what a total heartbreaker.  It felt like they were running so fast, and I couldn't keep up.  I knew I only had 2 miles to go, but it was killing me.  But I dug down hard and used all that I had in me to push a little bit ahead of the pace group.  Also to my dismay the loud horn guy caught up with me right about that time and kept tooting away.  Insult to injury!!  Luckily he ended up being a bit faster than me and he disappeared.  I kept the 4hr pace group at bay, and sure enough at mile 25 Alan appeared!!  He told me he would see me around mile 24 at the earliest and I was starting to wonder where he was.  He was limping along but he was determined to run with me.  

I was in such a cranky mood I just stuck my hand in his face and said "I don't want to talk!".  Geez, sorry about that Alan, it really was hard at that point!  Anyhow, I was watching my time and I only had 4 minutes left when Alan told me that we were down to the 1/2 mile marker.  I really did not think I was going to make it.  What a terrible feeling :(  As soon as we reached the corner, it was all downhill - the finish line.  I ran as hard as I could and crossed the finish line at 3:59:34.  Alan also crossed again (without his timing chip).  As soon as I crossed the line he hugged me and I buried my head in his chest and bawled!!  Racing is so emotional for me, and just drains me... and with that close finish I couldn't hold back.  So nice to have him there with me.  xoxo

We got a couple of finish line pictures taken and then I collapsed in the lawn with my space blanket and food.  I was so drained my lips were purple and I was shaking uncontrollably!  It took me about a half hour of resting in the lawn to finally get to the point were I could to walk to the car.  Thank god that garage was so close.  We both looked like the walking dead, barely able to move.

Alan finished in 3:12:16, which was 2 minutes faster than his PR.  Woohoo!!

After a shower at Urban Active we met up with our racing fans again to have a beer over race war stories.  Almost everyone got a PR at this race.  One of the girls even came in 9th in the womens group for the 1/2 marathon.  Dang, she is fast!  Of course she is only 27 years old :)  Those burgers and beer were so delicious.  It was fun to hear everyone's version of the race.

Great race day indeed!!

 

Women's Series 5K

We had an exciting morning today - Sydney ran her first official 5K! I say "official" because she has run in 5K's before, but they have only been Toledo Roadrunner club events. Although they are timed events, they are not quite the same as running under that inflatable finish line arch, wearing a number, and putting that D Tag on your shoe!
In the fall we had run in a club event. She did a great job then - running the first mile and half, and then taking several walking breaks as needed. Unfortunately they had measured that course incorrectly and she ran an extra half mile, but we figured she would be running around 40 minutes on this 5K.
We started out at a pretty good pace - I let her decide how fast to go the whole time. We surprised the boys, who were working at the first water stop, by coming in way earlier than they expected. We took a few steps through the 2nd water stop (at my request - I don't like choking down water at a race!), but other than that, we ran the whole thing.
We headed down the main strip of the mall, and the finish line was up ahead. I could see that the clock still hadn't hit 30 minutes yet, but Sydney got a side stitch that was just killing her. I know exactly how she felt as I have been getting a few of those lately myself. Poor kid, she was almost in tears from the pain. So I told her to walk a few steps to work it out. She did, and then when I mentioned there was only 30 seconds left until the clock hit 30 minutes, she took off in a sprint that I could hardly keep up with!! Our official finish time was 29:50. We are all so proud of her great race!!
I would say the only bad thing about this race is that we were judged in a "Mother/minor Daugher team" category which had no other age breakdowns. So we got beat by some teams with 15 year old daughters on them! Oh well, we still kicked some butt. :)



My little models...

If I had all the money in the world I would just spend my take taking pictures (and hanging them around all of my vacation homes!).  But I don't, so every once in a while I make the kids humor me and let me take their pictures.  This year it was quite hot at Wildwood when I took these (what, 90+ degrees in July??  unheard of!).  At least they were well behaved- and if they weren't, I made Alan go along with me to be my kid wrangler and keep them entertained and in line.  I took a gazillion shots, and these were my favorites....

This is a re-creation of a shot I took many years ago of the kids.  They've grown so much!!

I took along some bubbles as a prop.  The bubbles were a special kind that hardened up in the air, and one got stuck on Sydney's face! 

Aren't they cutie pies??  :) 

Ohio Michigan 8K

Last minute Alan decided to sign up for this 8K race, since everyone in his training group was attending.  And it was going to be an instant PR since he hadn't run one yet! :)
It was held over at the Centennial Terrace, which has a large music area & stage, and also the quarry for swimming.
The kids ran the 1 mile "fun run".  We had some serious technical difficulties though - we had no idea where the run was starting!  In fact we were still walking over to the area when we heard the start gun go off.  But they were troopers and just started running when we got there.  Sydney came in first...  I like the look on this picture, she's thinking "what the heck, get this kid off the course because here I come!!"

Zack did a sneak attack on this kid.  They had a fight to the finish.  I didn't get to see with the camera in my face, but Zack said he beat him!

The big issue with the kids run (outside of not being in the right place at the right time...) was that at the end there was a guy with a bunch of award medals.  He had a big group that said "1st place" and he was just handing them out as they crossed. As far as I could see he was just giving them out, even if two kids in the same age/gender came in.
By the time Sydney got there another person was helping out and he had the 2nd place medals.  He gave Sydney one.  When Zack came in later, the other guy gave him a medal that had 1st place on in.  That of course made Sydney feel pretty bad, and I can relate.  :(   The thing that matters is that they are both did a great job and really put effort into it.  I'm proud of them both!















Next came the 8K race.  Alan did a great job and finished in 33 something (we don't have the official time yet!)

After the race we had dinner.  It worked out well because the dinner tickets were $10 (Alan had one included in his race fee).  I bought one and they gave us a free one for the kids.

The big fun came when we went swimming in the quarry after dinner :)  We weren't going to go, but then I convinced Alan that we should go since we were right there and had our suits.

The water was a pretty good temperature, although it smelled a little fishy.  It was of course super deep, but the kids did a great job of getting from one side to the other.  We went on the "log roll" (look in the picture, it has yellow ends on it and some kids are standing on it..) and battled.  The center connector rolled when we walked on it, so it was quite challenging.

We swam until they closed, which was around 9:20 that night.  It was a fun, late, summer night!

Fun day Sunday!

We started out our day with a trip to the Doughnut Box. A breakfast of donuts is always a great way to start the day! Then we went over to Rivercrest Park and tossed around Zachary's new football. He is actually quite good at football, I was impressed.

Next we spent the day lounging by the pool. When I heard the ice cream truck drive by I thought it was a great time for our annual purchase. It certainly was a great treat on this hot day!

Birthday Boy Zachary!

Happy Birthday Zachary!!  Today Zachary is 7 years old.  Wow, 7 years old!  I can't believe my baby is that old now.  Luckily he is still my little snuggler when his friends aren't around, and will willingly give me hugs and kisses and hang out with me still :)

He is totally crazy about Legos, especially the Ninjago series.  So we made this Ninjago training center cake.  I think it turned out pretty good.  The flag holders were a big pain because they were heavy.  I was looking for a rolled cookie to make those out of, but I didn't want to pay $6 for a container!

 Look at this guy... not having a good day!

 This blue Ninja (is it Kai, or maybe Jay.... I can't remember) is waiting for the next attacker, just in case.

 For his birthday party we went to QZar to play laser tag.  Alan and I both got to play because several friends couldn't make it to the party.  Lots of vacations this time of year!  I actually did a good job playing.  I was ranked 3rd on my team of 20 for the first game.  I swear my laser gun wasn't working properly for the second game.  Yep, that's my story.

 Lucky Sydney even got to invite her BFF Morgan to the party.

 Yum!  Pizza and cake, the ultimate party food.

On Sunday, we invited the grandparents over for some more cake and ice cream.  Grandma Willford brought over these fun bubble guns which really cranked out the bubbles. 

Note how Sydney is watching over Zachary's every move as he opens his presents....  geez, give the boy some space! 

 He was super thrilled to get some new Lego sets.  One of which included a glow in the dark skeleton horse.

Catching up... just a little, and huge sundaes at Generals!

I'm not sure why, but posting to my blog seems like such a chore!  I mean, I take some picture on my camera that I want to share, and then I need to copy them off my camera, to an editing folder.. and then pick the ones I want, and then upload, and then write about them...  and it seems quite a pain that I can only pick one picture at a time to upload!  There must be a better way.  If there is, pleast let me know what it is.  I guess that's why I hardly ever do it anymore.  So much easier to shoot a picture up to Facebook :)

As I have been rolling through summer here, I ran across some fun pictures on my iPhone that I thought I'd just upload.  I have a fun new app called Incredibooth, and I just love making pictures with it.  Here are some of me and Sydney...

Here is me and my Mom from when we were camping together a couple of weeks ago.  I guess I like to finish with the "tongue" shot!  haha

Last night we celebrated the longest day of the year with some ice cream.  It was actually a double treat because we were also celebrating the great job the kids have been doing on their summer workbooks.  Yep, I'm one of "those" Mom's that make their kids do homework during the summer.  It's really two fold - it's good for them to keep up on their skills, and if they start to bug each other (wrestling, punching, fighting) to the point that I can't take it anymore, it's a great productive distraction!  The worksheets are part of a book that is focused on their particular grade, so it's really just a review of what they did at school, and it doesn't take long at all to do one page.  Last year we only got maybe the first 20 days done, so I'm hoping to keep up with it more this year.

 We went to Generals Ice Cream in Whitehouse.  We had bought a Groupon for 4 large sundaes (only $7!).  Wow, those sundae's were huge!!  The kids both got dirt sundaes, complete with gummy worms.  Zack pretty much ate almost the whole thing.  I don't know how he did it because he is usually the one who can't finish his dessert at home.  My boy is growing up! :)

 I'm not sure how they managed it with a spoon, but both kids got chocolate syrup all over their face.  It was a nice treat on this 90+ degree hot summer day!!

New Normal Music

Just in case the audience of my blog has exceeded 3 people (haha!), I'm just getting the word out about my new favorite music station - New Normal Music.  It plays all the newest alternative rock.  Great selections, and when the DJ is working, he'll play your request right away.  So awesome.  What a great way to pass the hours here at work in front of my computer :)

First Grade Farm Field Trip

First Grade Farm Field Trip... that's a lot of F's!  Here's another to describe the day... FUN!   It was also a hot sunny day on the farm, but no worries, it was mostly all fun.
Here's the class getting ready to explore the farm...

 This baby lamb was just the cutest!!  I could have taken him home with me :)

 The kids got to feed the lamb and goats with a bottle.  The goat practically climbed out of the pen trying to get the bottle!

 Here is Zachary and some classmates.

 They got to hold a super soft bunny.

 They fed some bigger goats and horses graham crackers.

 But perhaps the best thing about the field trip was a ride behind a tractor.  Not a slow tractor, but a gator!

 This train went ripping down the dirt roads.  The kids had a blast. 

 A beautiful peacock strolled around, not really noticing all of the visitors.

 We got to milk a cow... yep, I was in line for that too!  Why pass up an opportunity like that?

 Here is a group shot.  Miss Millenbaugh is so nice, I just love her. 

 The barn had a straw maze in it and at the end were two slides.

We also got to hold some chicks, eat snowcone/slushies, and learned about honey bees.  What a fun day indeed.

Sprinkler fun

 It's starting to get a little warm around here.  Beautiful weather - time to think about yards, yard work, and sprinklers!  Tonight was the night we turned on the sprinklers and made sure everything was working.  This is a favorite event for the kids to join in.  Doesn't matter that it's only 70 degrees out, they want in on the action!

I'm not sure how they could stand it - I was cold just watching them!

It was especially fun since Alan had just mowed the grass an hour earlier! 

Success!!  We helped! :)