Loser

I really had high hopes for the #100happydays project.

It isn't that I don't take photos everyday. I do. Tons of photos. But the steps in between taking them and posting them to the blog, describing them, blah blah blah. Sometimes it's all too much ;)

As you can imagine, a lot has happened since I posted last. That was April 14. I could post the 41 photos (1 photo for each day as per the #100happydays project) but I know that would bore you. There are some good ones though.

Ok, since I can't resist sharing photos, here are the highlights of the past 41 days. Between these and the ones in the post below this one, I'm at day 52. More than half-way through #100happydays!

April 19, 2014

Easter egg coloring. First time the girls colored eggs!

April 20, 2014

Brenna loved hunting for Easter eggs. But her shoes being on the wrong feet really weirds me out.

April 25, 2014

Girls night out to see Chelsea Handler. Hilariously disgusting. Love Chelsea.

April 28, 2014

The girls and I went to the Flower Fields with friends. The flowers were pretty but this was far more beautiful a sight!

Me and my girls!

May 2, 2014

First splashing of the summer!

May 3, 2014

First Padres game for all of us and first MLB baseball game for the girls. They played the Diamondbacks and put up a good fight in the last inning, but ultimately lost. Can't wait for our next game!

May 5, 2014

These girls are hilarious. Ellen sang "Timber" by Pitbull, while Brenna danced in a Hawaiian-inspired Wonder Woman outfit. Constant laughter with these two.

May 9, 2014

Mother's Day tea at the girls' preschool. They were grumpy about going because it was on a day they don't normally go to school. But it was still sweet, despite the grump.

May 10, 2014

Goal race for my 5K, 10K and Half Marathon runners. They worked so hard for 12 weeks and this was their celebration race! They did so well and I cried all morning as they finished :)

May 14, 2014

Almost a dozen different wild fires burned throughout San Diego County, one of which started a couple of miles from our house. This was a picture taken from our front yard of the fire that became known as Cocos Fire and San Marcos fire. We were evacuated from our neighborhood for 2 days and 2 nights. It was terrifying and I hope we never have to experience that again. I know it's a reality living here. The east coast has hurricanes and blizzards. The midwest has tornadoes. We have fires. It's not really a reality I like but need to come to terms with it.

May 21, 2014

School was a really big factor in getting us back to normal after the fires. Keller usually doesn't look forward to going to school but he did the week after we were evacuated. I think he needed to get back into the swing of things and feel safe and normal as much as we did. His class had been working on poetry for a couple of weeks and they were supposed to have a little poetry presentation for parents the Friday we were evacuated. It was rescheduled for this day. His teacher treated the "Poetry Cafe" as an old 60s-style beatnik coffee house where people would have poetry readings, people wore all black and audience snapped their fingers instead of clapped. Here's my cool cat reading his poem.

In the meantime, Keller decorated a poster thanking the firefighters for keeping us safe. After school, we drove up to the firehouse in our neighborhood and hung up the poster on the fence across the street. His poster says, "Firefighters you rock!"

May 25, 2014

Our new Memorial Day weekend tradition! We ran the kids races of the Vista Strawberry Festival. John and Keller did the 1-mile race and the girls and I ran the 1/4 mile race. This was the girls' first race they actually ran and weren't in the stroller. It was TONS of fun and Brenna has already asked to do another race :) I'm a proud mama, to say the least.

Everyday I Write the Book

OMG!

Ok, so I've become obsessed with text messaging. It started out all innocent and only every so often because we didn't have unlimited text messaging as part of our cell phone plan. But then every so often turned into once every other day, then everyday, then multiple times a day!

So I called up Sprint and signed us up for unlimited text. I am a text crack hound now. I will text anyone anything. I was texting John yesterday and he didn't know what the sound was, or where it was coming from, then he realized it was his phone and he had a couple of messages from me.

Text messaging is an ingenious way to communicate. As soon as a thought pops into your head, you can tell someone about it. I texted John on my way into work this morning because I saw that the gas station right by our house had 3.99 gas (which is pretty cool). I now just need to get a new phone so texting is easier. I really want an iPhone but I would not only have to switch service providers, but shell out a ton o'cash. Then they'll just go and update it tomorrow. I can never win with electronics.

In other news, I hit a HUGE milestone in my running this morning. So, I've been keeping my current running log since January 2006 and today I hit the 2000-mile mark. Well, technically, I'm at 2003. Wee hoo! Isn't that great? That means, since January 2006, I have run the equivalent of running from my house to just beyond Green River, Utah. I looked it up! I'm pretty proud of myself. In January 2006, I had a newborn baby and finding the time to brush my teeth, let alone run, was a feat in and of itself. Plus my identity was stolen and that was a horrible depressing time. Running was my only outlet. Since then I've run 5 marathons, a few 1/2 marathons, a bunch of 10-milers and some 5Ks & 10Ks. Not to mention partnering in starting a non-profit, coaching runners, and then going back to work full time. And of course taking care of my family. Not bad for a frumpy old mom! Sorry to toot my horn, but we all gotta do it every now and then. If we're not proud of our accomplishments, who else would be?

Today you have a task: be proud of who you are and what you've done.

The Frederick Marathon

Well, I can cross off Marathon #6.

Today was the Frederick Marathon. I'll try to give a good recap.

This was the goal race for the running group I've been coaching since January. There were about 35 people in the group, a nice mix of men and women. About half the group was training for the full marathon and the other half was training for the half marathon. It was a good group and we all had a lot of fun training together.

Friday night, we had about 25 people from the group over for a pre-race potluck. It was a great evening of getting out some of the anxiety before the race and hanging out in regular clothes instead of sweaty running clothes.

Saturday, we went to the zoo with the Gies family for a Dancing with the Animals class and a walk through the zoo. It was a lot of fun. Keller and Noah made a tambourine, they learned about the animals in the zoo, and sang some songs. Then we walked through the zoo and saw the cheetahs, zebra, emu, pandas, sloth bears, orangutan, elephants, and the hippo! Keller absolutely loves the zoo, so it was a lot of fun seeing him get excited over the animals.

After we got back from the zoo, I went up to get my packet. The expo was kind of lame. But it's a small race, so there really isn't much you can do about that. After I got back, we hung out and rested. Then we went over to the Gies' house for dinner. That was nice.

When we got home, our neighbors were having a party. The music was insane. I swear, if they don't stop with the music rattling the walls, I think I'm going to lose my mind. Anyway, I was able to get to sleep relatively early. I woke up at 1:00 AM to the sound of 800 kids outside. Thankfully I was able to fall back to sleep.

I got up at 4:00 so I'd have time to get things together so we can leave at 5:00. Kanayo, my assistant coach, came over at 5:00 and we were off. We got to the race at 5:30 and then just got ready for the race. We found most of our runners and were able to wish everyone luck.

Then the race started. I felt good from the start, though I was running a little faster than I wanted. I think I was averaging about 9 min/miles. And then...my stomach went berserk. I don't know what happened, really. I just started having cramps and needed to make a couple of stops. I think it all started around mile 6 or 7. I don't remember. I saw John and Keller at mile 14 and I seriously wanted to get into the car and go home. But John encouraged me to keep going (Keller just wanted my Gatorade) and I was running again. But by 16, I accepted the fact that I wasn't having the race I had originally hoped. So, I stopped at 16 and waited to see my runners. I was there a while before one of my runners came by, Karolina. She was also having a hard time. So we ran together for the rest of the race. I felt better after a little while, but I didn't want to leave Karolina. I know all too well how hard it is to get through a race when you're sick.

The second half of the course sucked. Really, it was so hilly. I couldn't believe someone thought this was a good idea. I think it was much hillier than other courses I've run. But, the other factors, such as the weather, were better than originally expected. Thunderstorms were in the forecast but it never rained. It was humid and windy (though not as windy as last year). But it could have been a lot worse.

I was really happy with how my group did. As far as I know, everyone but Karolina had a good race. And Karolina did great for not feeling well. I'm so proud of all of them!

And now it's some time off, then training for Chicago. I have to say I'm a little discouraged about my whole stomach issue as I try to qualify for Boston. I'm making an appointment with the doctor this week to see if we can get this figured out before Chicago.

What do people 'blog' about?

I started this blog for some reason, though now I'm wondering why. What do people generally write in their blogs? Is it like a diary? Should I begin each post with "Dear Diary..."? I guess I'll just do what I do best...blab.

I made the stupid decision to try and qualify for the Boston Marathon. I'm hiring a good friend, and fellow RRCA Running Coach, Mike Broderick (check him out here), to train me over the summer so I can run the Chicago Marathon and qualify for Boston. I'm taking the summer off from coaching running groups through Fleet Feet Sports (of Gaithersburg!) and will focus on my training.

Am I nuts? Why did I think this was a good idea? I haven't even started yet and I'm already nervous about it. I have a race this weekend (a 10K) that Mike wants me to "race" so we can determine what my training paces should be. I haven't raced since high school. That was a long time ago. I feel nauseous just thinking about it. I feel like if I'm too slow, Mike won't want to coach me.

Before I can start training for Chicago, I am finishing up my current training group. I'm coaching a group to run the Frederick Marathon and Half Marathon on May 4th. That's in 9 days. I'm excited for them. For most, this is their first marathon or half, depending on who you're asking. They're so nervous, it's cute. I remember being so nervous for my first marathon. I'm really glad to be a part of everyone's goal. It's nice to know I helped them.

In addition to all this craziness of running Frederick and then trying to qualify for Boston, I'm also trying to become a certified yoga instructor. My original training program was postponed, so now I'm going to take it in bits and pieces throughout the summer and fall, and into next year. But I'm hoping to hold a class sometime over the summer. I think it will be so much fun!

In true stream-of-consciousness fashion, I'm now changing the subject completely to Keller. He's two and a half going on teenager. This morning he was playing on the floor and I got down there with him. He told me to leave him alone and "go do something." Can you believe this? What is he going to do when he's 16? He'll probably have burnt the house down by then, so it won't matter.