Boosterthon Fun Run

 The day before my induction was the big kids' boosterthon fun run.  (This was their school's fundraiser in lieu of asking people to order stuff from a catalog.)  The kids got pledges from neighbors and family members who pledged a certain amount of money for each lap the children would run in a set amount of time (the maximum amount of laps they could do was 35).  Emily and Christian were very excited!

The cheering section :-)

It was a HOT day and what was supposed to be a morning run, got changed to an afternoon run at the last minute.  I really wanted to be up there to support both kids (who were running at two different times) so it took a little bit of juggling on my part due to having to take Juliana back home for a nap half-way through Emily's run.  (Our sweet neighbor, Marcia, came over to sit while she slept so that I could go back up and cheer Christian on.)  It all worked out, but between walking up the big hill up to the school and the heat, I was TIRED that night.  Alas, it didn't put me into labor, but I did get a couple of contractions out of it!

 Back to the running though...the organizers of this type of fundraiser kept it lively and fun for the kids with music and special kinds of laps (see conga-line lap above.  Emily is in it.)

 In the time allotted for the 4-6 graders, Emily completed 30 of the 35 laps!  Then, it was Christian's turn (K-3 grade)!

 Christian is a great runner!  (All of that running for soccer really came in handy as he not only completed all 35 laps, he was the fastest 2nd grader and finished 2nd or 3rd overall!)  Yea, I was impressed!  Of course, if it's a competition, you can bet that Christian will go all out to win.

A post-race picture with Kari :-)

Overall, the school met their goal for funds, and the kids really felt a sense of accomplishment having worked hard to earn the money all while having a lot of fun and getting in some good exercise!

Great job, Emily and Christian!

First Half

Most of "Walnut Creek Running Club" group, pre-race (and pre-dawn).

Last Saturday I accomplished a goal of mine!  I ran my first half marathon.  I ran 13.1 miles in 2 hrs 12 min (10:05 min miles).  Not too shabby for a girl who was once afraid of running!

This goal had actually started brewing a couple of years ago.  I started the training, but then found out I was expecting Juliana and had to switch to a different exercise.  (My body does NOT like to run pregnant.)  So, fast forward two years and FOUR more races...it was FINALLY my turn!

Of course, I couldn't have done it without some awesome running buddies!  (Honestly, who would ever want to run without friends??  Solo training alone would make me want to poke my eyes out!)  It was an amazing experience and I'm so grateful that I stuck with it (the training, that is).  Here's a secret:  the race itself isn't hard.  It's the training beforehand that really proves you.

Some of us girls--all smiles!

About half way through the training, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do it.  Blisters, dehydration during the long runs, and stomach problems were really getting me down.  But, my sweet mother and Harvey came to my rescue and provided me some money for some new shoes (apparently, after running more than 5 miles your feet can swell an extra 1/2 size-1 size).  Good to know, right?  My new shoes are AWESOME.  I also ordered a hydration belt--also AWESOME.  With both of those, plus more than my fair share of prayers, I was now ready to tackle it all--and the runs became sooo much easier!

Love that reflector-ware glare!

After months of training, the big weekend finally arrived!  Our race was the Waddell and Reed Kansas City marathon, half marathon and 5k.  (We chose this one b/c it was on a Saturday.  All of the big races around here are on a Sunday...boo.)  This was a BIG race.  There were 12,000 runners and the city closed a lot of major streets in downtown Kansas City.  It was AWESOME to run with that many people and to be cheered on throughout the streets by complete strangers!  There was water/gatorade stations every 2 miles and there was also plenty of live music to keep us bopping along.  One of my favorite moments was around mile 6 and hearing a couple of guys playing some Dead (and doing a great job of it too!)

Here's Janene, looking awesome, down the final stretch!
She ran her first marathon!

The course was great.  There were a few big hills, but the biggest ones were in the first 5 miles.  Miles 10-13 were pretty much all flat or downhill; great planning on the race creators' behalf!  But, to our credit, we were well prepared for the hills.  Training in our neighborhoods and around town gave us PLENTY of hill-running opportunities!

Since we had all trained so hard, most of us had our families come down with us for the big day!  Yup, my whole family, plus my mom and Harvey, all drove down to see me finish the race.  It was tough to travel with all of the kiddos, but worth it to share this accomplishment and big day with them!  I think Cubby deserves a medal of his own for getting the kids dressed, fed, and down to the finish line before I finished!

Here are Jenn (blue shirt), Jessica (pink), and me (far right, white shirt) trucking along!

Such a, um, stellar picture of me running...no idea when they took this, but it looks like I was power-walking, which, ahem, I wasn't.  Just caught me mid-switching of the feet, I guess.

Here's Jessica, just ahead of me, looking tough!

Here's Liz, the gal who started us all on our paths in distance running!

Here are Marjorie and Mike, finishing the marathon hand-in-hand!  Aren't they the cutest?!  Such an amazing couple!

Slowing down after our big finish!  (The clock doesn't reflect our true time...there were so many runners that we didn't get up to start line exactly when the timer started.  We were all chip-timed for a more accurate time.

Here's me with my finisher's medal!  Yeah, I'm proud of myself for sticking with the training and doing well in my first long race.

One of my favorite parts of the race was, naturally, the END of it!  Mostly because I could stop running (my knees and quads were a tad tired by then...absolutely no desire to do the full at this point!), but also because I got to see my family cheering me on at the finish line!  It was REALLY crowded, but as I ran by, I could see Emily's smiling face and hear her yelling, "Go, Mommy!!!"  She later told me how proud she was of me :-).  It was a happy moment for me as I hope to be a positive role model to her by having set a goal to do something hard that made me stronger and helps me to stay healthy!

Jenn, Me, and Jessica--my training (and racing day) friends!

One more finishers picture, with Liz (and all of of food stash that they give you at the end :-)).

Overall, it was a difficult, but amazing experience.  (Anything worth doing is usually difficult, right?)  I am so glad I was FINALLY able to complete this goal!  I will definitely plan on doing another one!

Back in the Saddle

This past Saturday morning, I ran in the Monster Dash held at (you guessed it!), Vala's! (It's a popular place, I tell you!) This was my first race since Kari's been born and, despite the air being a tad chilly!, was a lot of fun and very fulfilling for me. I was supposed to have done a run waaaayyyy back in April, but my milk supply went way down and I had to back off until around September when she started eating more baby food and nursing less.

Jessica was very festive and was such a cute bee! I didn't think about a costume until 6:30 that morning and so I guess I'll dress up next year :-). One guy out there even painted himself completely blue and was only wearing his blue shorts! (He looked a bit cold, but he was also one of the super-fast runners and so he wasn't out there for too long!) Thankfully, it wasn't as cold as it could have been--it turned out to be such a gorgeous day!

Since the air was so chilly (and will only get chillier!) Jessica and I will wait to do another race until spring. Maybe this winter I'll try putting the treadmill on an incline so those hills won't be so killer!

Emily's First Road Race!

Today Emily ran in her first road race! It was very exciting! In September, I had seen a flyer at the YMCA for the "Race for the Kids" run downtown in the Conagra Foods Plaza. They had different heats for the different age groups--preschool up through 6th grade. A parent had to run if a preschooler was running, and, since I'm not really able to run much these days, I thought it would be a fun thing for Emily and Cubby to do together!

For preschoolers through 2nd grade, the race is just a 1/2 mile so I knew it would not only be something Emily would be able to do, but she'd enjoy as well. I really want to start her running early so that she learns that it's fun and not something to be scared of (like I was for so long!).

It went fantastic! They had all kinds of activities for the kids to do both before and after the race. There were also many local mascots present (and they even ran their own 50 yard dash race, which Christian really enjoyed since one of the mascots was a big green dinosaur).

After Emily and Cubby got their racing numbers...

It was time for "warm ups"...

Christian got cozy....

As Cubby and Emily got ready to run!

Here is a video of them finishing. (Yes, I realize it's sideways...I didn't realize that you couldn't rotate the video like you can a picture! Ugh! Still, it's pretty cute.)

And, here are the big racers!! Emily was so happy with her ribbon! Way to go, Emily! We're so proud of you!