Monday, October 20, 2014

Some Exciting News

I'm back for a bit to share some exciting news. I completed my 1st half marathon! This was a long time in the making as i trained last year and then failed to have the courage to sign up for one believing I wasn't ready. 


Before the race. I'm in all black....like a race ninja!

I feel really good about how I did. People are right when the say it's really a mental battle. You have to physically train of course but when it starts to hurt you will want to quit. At this time you have to run with your heart and call upon some mental toughness. I did this alot. I knew I would be far more disappointed with myself if I didn't push through than I would be in discomfort physically. 

My race goals were....
-just finish
-finish in under 2:10
-finish at 2 or just under.

These photos are taken just before the finish line. I really tried to finish strong since I knew I was so close to my goal time.


One of the things I kept thinking during the race, especially during the end is.... No way in hell I'm ever going to run a full marathon. No way! I just cannot imagine only being half done with my race at 13 miles. Just NO.



I did it! 

I finished in 2:00:30. My goal time! I could have done a bit better but I was in the wrong corral and had to pass a ton of people in the first mile to get in the right place. 

I figured up quickly in my head after that first slow mile (which is amazing considering I'm terrible at math) that to make my goal I would need to make at least half of these miles under a 9 min mile.....and I did!!



Here's the results emailed to me later that day. Pretty cool that they break it down to how many people you passed and how many people passed you. 


Afterwards I was hurting pretty good. My feet and hips ached as I limped back to the car. Today when I woke I actually feel good. My calves are a bit tight so I think I'll take a walk later and do some foam rolling. I should be good to go after that. 



Friday, September 19, 2014

Taking Some Time

I am temporarily taking a blog hiatus. Thank you for tuning in over the last 7 years. I will continue to enjoy motherhood and take pictures documenting our adventures and someday I'll pop back on here to fill you all in. In the meantime I'm taking a detox from all sorts of social media and focusing on what's really important.

Take care blog family.  

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

My Peeps


Seriously. This is my family. 
This is what happens when you have 5 children and they multiple. They provide an enormous amount of support for me and I love them. 


Sunday, September 14, 2014

Soccer Game #2

Thankful for a photographer mom/friend who takes great pictures during the game. Since i'm assistant coaching I'm unable to.





My job as seen below is to sit with the players on the side lines and try to keep them focused on the game. Olive's job is to just be cute. She's realllllly good at it :)
is

Other people think so too. Haha


Oh and they won by the way. 3-1. Go Zanesfield!

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Half Marathon Training


This made me laugh more than it should have. Mostly cause it describes my level of hunger on long run days AND on my late night at work. 



Sunday with the help of Brad we coursed out a new long run since i was getting bored with my usual route and because i also need to increase mileage at this point. The weather has cooled down some recently and that really makes my runner self super happy! 

This route was nice. A decent portion was shaded which is GREAT but it was also pretty hilly. That's ok though, it will help me get stronger.


Next run should be somewhere near 10 miles. 

Monday, September 8, 2014

Go Crew!

Zanesfield soccer was fortunate enough to be asked by the Columbus Crew to attend a game and have the kids walk the players onto the field. So cool! I love going to a Crew game. The stadium is really nice and clean and there really isn't bad seats anywhere but we just happened to have really awesome seats.

Crew won 3-0.  I think Dane had a great time.










Dane with a few of his fellow team members and 1st grade friends.




Joe and Dane. This Is the 2nd year these two have played soccer together and they also played baseball together in the Spring. This year they also got the same teacher!! 




Dane has now reached the 'I'm much too cool to have my photo taken esp with my mom phase'. What a goober. I'm totally cool ;)


Friday, September 5, 2014

Olive Goes To Preschool!

Olive had her 1st day of Preschool on Thursday morning. My dad is so kind to shuttle her to and from. I was able to block out my schedule and head over there to see her. To say I was a bit nervous is an understatement. Olive can be a bit dramatic, moody and shy so it could have been a disaster. However, it went GREAT! 

Fingers crossed for Tuesday when she officially gets dropped off. 



She really seems to like Mrs. Deb. I was happy to see her interacting with her. She didn't talk to any of the other kids which is pretty typical of her in group settings so I'm excited to see her grow in this area and learn to make friends.





Later this day Dane had his first soccer game. Zanesfield vs. Zanesfield.
 It was a tie. 1 to 1.



Monday, September 1, 2014

Coney Island

We took the long weekend as an opportunity to decompress and clear our minds. For awhile we'd wanted to check out Coney Island in Cincinnati. 

First stop was the water park. 



Then a giant pretzel snack.



After a few hours at the water park we headed to the amusement park stopping at this mini roller coaster first. Olive was so excited but screamed 
in terror the entire time. When asked If she wanted to ride I
it again she said "No Way". 



Coney Island was nice because they had a ton of rides that smaller children could do.








Paddle boats.


Glitter tattoos.












We stayed all day. Stayed in a nice hotel and ate at a yummy Japanese Steakhouse where i ate way to much sushi. The next day we had plans to go to the Childrens museum but decided not too. 

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Weddin' Day



 Yesterday my brother got married. It was a beautiful day. HOT but beautiful. Here are a few photos from the day. I have several more on my real camera but since I can't upload those to the blog still this might be all ya get. 


























Saturday, August 23, 2014

It's Wedding Weekend!

This is what Olive looks like 75% of the time. 




It's my baby brothers wedding weekend and i had alot to do around the house so i gave Brad a choice....fold the laundry or paint Olive's toenails. I thought for sure he'd choose laundry he didn't and then I couldn't resist a picture of the cuteness.


Olive was so thrilled. He did a good job too!



We had the rehearsal last night. I had to fill in for a bridesmaid that couldn't make it so i don't have any pictures to share but it went GREAT!  


Thursday, August 21, 2014

First Day of 1st Grade

Dane's first day was yesterday. It went pretty smoothly besides the minor disagreement about him wanting to wear pants. 

He came home excited and love it.





Busy weekend ahead as my baby brother is getting married and the kids are in the wedding. We're so excited, they are gonna look so cute!

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Boss Summer Fun Run 10k Recap

Last year at this race I did the 2.4 miler. It was my first race. This year I chose the 10k (6.2miles) and even PR'd it from my last 10k by almost 6 minutes! I'd say I've come a long way in just a year and I'm proud of that. There definitely is room for improvement too because I did stop to walk through a water stop so I know it can be done faster. 

Thanks for the great picture Brad. This was mile 6. Almost finished. Brad and Olive were my cheer leaders since Dane was gone at a sleepover with a buddy.







The below splits/pace aren't totally official because I forgot to shut my tracker off when I finished. Finish time was somewhere around 57 minutes.