BoulderBOULDER 2008

YEAH! I accomplished my goal of running, and finishing, the BoulderBOULDER 10K on Memorial day. I also met my other goal of running it with less than a 10 minute mile average. I ran it with a 9.2 min. mile average. Here are my official race results. I am very pleased with my results. From what I figured I ended up in the top 22% of all racers, the top 20% of females my age, and the top 15%of all women. Two of my miles, mile four and five, were just a few seconds above 9 minutes, at 9:09, and 9:03. My overall time was 57:55:71.

My mom, Dan, and I all stayed at my mom's uncle Bill's house in Louisville, just outside of Boulder on Sunday night. We got up early and Bill drove us to Boulder. I was amazed at how organized the whole event was. There was a whole highway set up for runner drop off. Then you found your wave number along the roadside, and they marched you like a parade to the starting line. The first wave started at 7:00, the wave I was in started at 7:32:20. When you got to the starting line there was a person that played the song that is played at the beginning of the horse races; when I heard this I busted out laughing, because it summed up the feeling of the moment. When the gun shot off, off we went. It took my mom and I a while to wind through the people in the wave, but in no time we had some "knee" room to run. The course was great, it wound through some subdivisions, downtown, and then you rand into Folsom Field Stadium (where the CU Buffs play). All along the course there were musicians including The Blues Brothers, and Elvis, and lots of people cheering you on. Some houses had slip and slides out, and runners would stop for a minute and slide (too cold for me, plus it may have slowed me down). There were plenty of elevation changes making it more of a challenge for me than when I run 6 miles here. I now know what I need to work on to improve for next year!

The weather was pretty cool, as in cold, but excellent for running. It seemed to get colder and colder as the race progressed, and by the end I was sweaty, it was raining, and I soon became chilled to the bone. When you finish the race you get a goody bag, free soda, and get this, FREE BEER! It made me sick to even think of drinking a beer at 8:30 in the morning after a run, but lots of people were! There were also a ton of vendors giving out free stuff, like vitamins, popsicles, jerky, ect., but it was way too cold to go through all of them. When the racers are finished they have a big Memorial Day celebration in the stadium, with fly overs and everything, but again it was too cold to try and brave that. Instead we headed to a Starbucks to warm up inside and out! Bill picked us up there, and we headed back to his house.

We ended the trip with a family BBQ at his house. My family, my brother and his wife and daughter, my mom and Dan, and Bill and his wife Janette, had a great time!

I have some great pics of the event and will post them some time later.

Learned? It feels so great to work so hard towards a goal and to complete it with such great success. I can't wait to run another race....

WonderGirl 5K

For some time I have been meaning to write about the Girls on the Run season ending 5K, WONDERGIRL,race. The actual race was on May 3 at Longs Park. It was a very chilly morning, but all 60 of my girls showed up excited to accomplish the goal they have worked towards since February. I had never run in a race before so I didn't know what to expect. I was blown away with how exhilarating it was.

When the gun went off over 500 runners dashed across the starting line. Cheers, giggles, whoops, and hollers were heard through out. I had just gotten over being pretty sick and didn't think that I would run, but when the time came I just couldn't help it, after all I had worked towards this goal too! I was able to run with several of my girls including my daughter. My mom also helped out during the season and ran too. The three of us even ran together for a while. There were so many parents and friends lining the course making it so encouraging! All of my girls finished the race, I am so proud of each of them, they have come such a long way!

Learned? The Girls on the Run program is such a rewarding and enlightening event for all those involved. I can't wait to do it again next year!

here's some pics from the event:

Back in the Game-- (I mean race)

I have been working so hard to prepare myself for my first 10K (6.2 mile) race. Then I had a wave of several sicknesses that derailed my training plans. But I am happy to say that I am back on course. In the last week I have run a 4mile, 6mile, 4mile, and another 6mile run. To top it off I feel great. I will have one more 4 mile run Friday before the Memorial Day race. Then it is over the hills to Boulder! My one goal, besides finishing, is that I run it in less than 10 min. miles. I know that if I had not gotten so sick I could have aimed for 8-9 min. miles, but I am just happy that I can go that distance after all I have been through.

Learned? Don't stop, never give up, persistance pays.

My Happy Mother's Day

My Mother's day actually began last night when I was givent this from my kiddos. I absolutly love it! It has so many cool features that I can hardly wait to start playing with! We have another Nikon camera, but it is much larger and heavier, so not something I can carry around with me.

Today was a wonderful, busy day. It started at 9:00 with breakfast at Brian's parents. Everyone was there, including the newest mommy celebrating her first Mother's Day, Brian's sister Carrie. My mom even came! Then we headed home for Maddox's nap, and we cleaned house. Yes, I actually did work on Mother's day. For my Mother's Day gift from Brian he washed and waxed my car! It looks amazing! I got to spend lots of time playing and loving on Madison and Maddox. Maddox rode his trike, mowed the lawn behind his dad with his bubble mower, Madison spent most of the afternoon relaxing as she is recouperating from some sort of stomach bug. (Maddox had it too, but there is no slowing him down.) I even managed to read several articles for my Colaboraive Action Research class, and write a 10 page literature review of them! WHEW! It has been a busy day.

Learned? Motherhood, I can't imagine my life with out my children. My children have a way of bringing meaning to my existance and joy to my heart!

Do you get it?

Knock knock?

Whose there?

Smell Mop....

Smell mop who... which sounds like: Smell my poo!!!

When Nature Calls

Maddox "Momma, momma! Potty! Side! Potty!"

Me "Did you go potty outside?"

Maddox "Show, show, potty, side." he grabs me by the hand and drags me outside, then runs to a wet spot in the yard and jumps up and down, "Potty! Side! Yeah!"

Me "Yes Maddox, you peed in the yard."

Twenty minutes later....

Maddox is standing at the sliding glass door "Poopy, side! Poopy, poopy" The rest of us at the dinner table are asking if he really pooped, then he moves and we see the evidence. Two turds on our deck, and the skid marks on his cheeks (tooshie cheeks, not face cheeks- thankfully). YUCK!

Learned? I guess this means I need to kick the potty training into high gear!

Maddox's 2nd Birthday

Last Sunday we celebrated Maddox's second birthday at Brian's parents house. The whole family was invited! All the grand parents, great grand parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins were there to share in this special day. Maddox had a great time playing with everyone. Enjoy the pictures.






Today is his actual birthday, and we did not do much to celebrate, as I am recuperating from a severe allergic reaction to something. He did get to have ice cream several times today, so that is pretty special!

I can not believe how quickly two years has gone by. Last night in the ER Brian and I were joking that we were here exactly two years ago, for something so wonderful and completely life changing, the birth of our son. It is one of the most wonderful memories I have. When the doctor came in and said it was time to push, it was as if time stood still, Brian and I looked at each other and both teared up! A few short minutes later (I'm sure that is an exaggeration as it is has been 2 years) our beautiful son was here. He was so long and skinny! It took no time for his weight to catch up to his height, and he continues to top the charts in both. As he has grown these past years, I am continually amazed at how much of a boy he is. He is always busy playing with cars, trucks, bats, balls, wrestling, or even ultimate fighting. He loves to be outside and we have to drag him in at night to bathe and get to bed. He is very persistent and determined, (a positive way of saying strong willed) which I think are good characteristics, he just has to learn that his mommy is even more persistent and determined. He loves his sister and his dogs and must give them each hugs before bed. He goes to bed so easily. He has been showing interest in potty training, and may have already been potty trained if I was home more to be consistent with it. We will tackle that one this summer. It has been an amazing two years watching my boy grow and learn. As hard as it is to see him grow up, I am looking forward to this next year!

Happy Birthday Maddox, I love you so much, more than I ever thought possible!

Learned? The past two years have brought me more joy than I could have hoped for.

HITCH

Last night I decided to go for a run after I dropped Madison off at soccer practice. As I was running I started to experience major allergy symptoms; itchy eyes, difficulty breathing, and I started to itch everywhere starting with my scalp, mouth, tongue, ears, neck. So I stopped short of my goal distance to head home. Once I stopped, the uncontrollable itching spread from head to toe, and my breathing became more labored. I started to panic, and when I got home I downed some benadryl and showered, with no relief. After my husband called the Dr. we headed to the ER. We walked into the ER and my eyes were swollen shut, I was covered in hives and bright red and hot. Once hooked up to the monitor, my pulse was extremely high at 120. They injected me with several antihistamines, a steroid to open my lungs, and a nebulizer treatment. After about 2 hours in the ER things started to calm down, the itching had decreased, my lungs were clear(er), so we were released from the ER still very puffy and red. I imagine I looked something like Will Smith in the movie HITCH. It has been 24 hours and I feel much better, though my eyes are still swollen....YIKES!

I still do not know what triggered the reaction, I did not eat anything new, I was not exposed to anything new... The only thing I can think of is I had salmon for dinner. I have had it before, but maybe this piece had larger amounts of mercury in it...All I know is that I do not ever want to experience that again.

I learned that I am so thankful that my husband and children and I do not have peanut or bee sting allergies, it was stressful enough going through this, I can't imagine going into anaphalactic shock!

MAY DAY???

So this post was supposed to be written on May 1, but as you can see I am a bit late...

Ahh, May 1, spring is here, warm weather on its way, flowers are blooming, the grass is turning green.... or so I thought.

This is the reality of my May Day!

One thing you learn living in Colorado, seasons are more of a guideline for weather than a guarantee of weather.