13.1 Success and Surprises

I did it!! I really really did it! I actually succeeded in running my very first half marathon!

The day started out nice. I woke up early...partly due to the new mattress while mostly due to nerves. I had a tough time eating and the butterflies in my stomach were getting worse the closer I got to the event! Once there, I found my group and we made our way to the start line. We decided it would probably be best to try and use the restroom which was insanity. As nicely put together as The Woodlands Marathon was, that was one of the major downfalls - lack of restrooms! The lines were absolutely ridiculous and left us starting with the wrong pace group. The weather was quite nice in the beginning. I had arranged for Matthew and Dad to meet me at the 6.5 mark so that I could pass off my sleeve warmers and of course give hugs and kisses! I was so happy to see them and at that point, I still felt okay - just a little sluggish. I gave a quick hug to my man and I was off again. Out of nowhere, I realized I had to use the restroom again - which is very unusual for me seeing as it's never happened during training. I ignored the first stop and saw my pace partners drifting further and further away. I knew at that point that I wouldn't want them to stop just for me to use the restroom - so I let them go. Finally, a bathroom with only 4 people in line. Holy cow - it took nearly 5 minutes to get into the restroom and then I was off again. Trying to make up time for stopping, I began running a bit faster and darting in and out between racers. I hopped up on the curb to get around someone and when I came down, all my weight went to that bad foot and bam! PAAAAIIIIN!!! I was NOT going to be defeated. I managed to push through the pain, the mental war going on inside my head telling me to stop, and again the urge to go potty...I pushed on. I was never so happy to see that finish line! I came through and collapsed onto the ground next to my pace partners. I saw Matthew walking up so I limped my way over, gave him a HUGE hug and said - I will NEVER do that again. Ever. 

Despite my potty break, running (aka - limping) on a bad foot and just not feeling up to par - I finished my first half in 2:20:25 which is only 10 minutes after my goal time. I am proud of myself. Proud that I had the courage to start and the determination to finish. As far as never doing it again, I actually think that I will just not any time soon - here's where the surprise comes in. But FIRST - here's a pic of my amazing pace partners that I wouldn't have ever made it without.

And here's a pic of Brycen and I proudly displaying the 13.1 sticker on the swagger wagon!

Now for the surprise...after all was said and done - I finished my race and I finished it while PREGNANT! That's right folks - baby number 3 is on their way! HUGE SURPRISE!!! I'll explain how we found out in a later post. We are blessed. 

13.1 bound

This Saturday will mark the day of my very first half marathon and I am just a whirlwind of emotions. At times I feel so excited to finally be doing something that I've always wanted to do and other times I'm just relieved to have it almost over. That's terrible right? Well, when you're going from one injury to the next it can kind of take the wind out of your sail. This Thanksgiving I ran the "Run Thru the Woods" and it was a blast. This run is what actually stirred the desire for the half marathon in the first place. However, this run was 5 miles NOT 13.1 miles! Here's a pic for your viewing pleasure:

We really did have fun. And all of the above girls except 1 (she's now preggers) are part of the half marathon team which is made up of about 30 women. So I wasn't the only crazy one to sign on the dotted line. The first of my injuries consisted of achilles issues which was not terribly painful but just a pain in the you know whats it! Then came stomach issues which was easily fixed by me learning what worked and what didn't. For example a banana and half of a yogurt is good whereas a protein shake and oatmeal bar is NOT GOOD! Like I said - that was a pretty easy fix. Then came back issues which actually stemmed from the stomach pains. I think that my stomach would begin hurting and I would (subconsciously) over compensate by hunching over trying to take some of the impact off my stomach but now putting a terrible amount of strain on my back. Again, easy enough fix. And finally - this was the real kicker - plantar fascittis. A mouthful huh? Here's the gist - when you run depending on what type of runner you are...do you have high/flat arches..do you oversupinate or overpronate...blah blah - depending on all of those factors, you're feet take on a ton of impact. If you don't know in advance how you run, you can really hurt yourself. This is me. I was fitted for shoes (highly recommend Lukes Locker - they KNOW what they're talking about) but I never really used my shoes for what they're intended for - high arches! In the midst of training for a half, I decided to take on a wallpaper removal project (see earlier posts) and only added more damage. Back to the injury - it's basically the ligaments that connect to your heal and down into the arch of your foot start to tear and over time the ligaments become so stretched that they either rip away completely (not me) or the ligaments are just very tender and need adequate rest and support to keep from tearing (me)! Once I found out how to tie my shoes (there really is a specific way with running shoes), began stretches, icing, and KT Tape (the best thing since sliced bread), it's been an easier time on my foot. That's not to say that the pain isn't still there and that after my long runs I don't want to curl up any cry sometimes but it's getting better.

Sigh. What a whiner huh?? Now that I've got that out of the way - I really AM excited about running. Really. Despite injuries and all the mental games that go along with them, I've made some pretty amazing friends and discovered that our bodies are capable of doing the unthinkable - if we only challenge them. What's in the future? Not sure at this point. Running will continue on but I will be taking some rest. I think my body will thank me for it. My ultimate dream would be to run a full marathon and maybe even one day take on the "big kahuna" - THE BOSTON MARATHON! A girl can dream, right? Stay tuned for an "after-the-race" post where I can proudly sport my 13.1 sticker on my swagger wagon!

"Best night sleep of your life?" Not hardly!

Last weekend Matthew decided he had enough with our old mattress and that it was time to replace it. This has been an ongoing discussion at our house with me always convincing him that now is not the time. Well, we both have been having a tough time sleeping over the past couple of months and upon inspecting the manufactures tag on our old mattress we found that the poor thing was about 11 years old! Yikes. I finally gave in (not that I had a choice anymore) and the search began.

One of the things that I truly love about my husband is that he is a researchin' fool! He doesn't go out and make a blind purchase - well, at least not on BIG purchases. Nope. He will read reviews, watch videos, get other family members or friends opinions and then he'll make his decision to purchase or not! So in researching something like "what type of mattress will give me the best sleep of my life?" of course temper-petic comes up. I mean, isn't that their slogan pretty much? He researched each type of bed and read each review and watched each video of people demonstrating their levels of comfort or concern. Finally, he picked "the bed" and off to the mattress store we went!

After trying out a few beds, we did end up going with the one he originally picked based on reviews. Before we left, our salesperson said "just make sure to let the kids kind of bounce around on it as it can be kind of firm when it comes out of the warehouse." Understatement of the year. This brings me to today. I feel as if I've been sleeping on our kitchen table all night and I have a nice aroma that is now stuck in my hair. Matthew and I both laugh over why they give you that "100 day money back guarantee" because it probably takes that long to break the sucker in! And the smell?! It's terrible. I would think that with enough people complaining about the smell and firmness of the brand new mattress (no, we're not the first to complain) that they would develop some method of letting it air out and then having a machine to stomp on it a few hundred times, achieving the customers desired softness.

We both know that it's going to take a couple of weeks to "break it in" and then we will finally have the "best sleep of our life." In the meantime we are freely allowing our kids to jump on the bed and putting the "no more monkey's jumpin on the bed" on the back burner. Hey, whatever it takes right?

Hungry Man

Since the day he was born, Brycen has had an insatiable appetite. Which aside from the mother/son bond you often hear about, I knew he and I would get along great so long as he didn't try and steal my plate of food. I can still remember the day he was born and how quickly he latched on and how next to impossible it was to get him to stop eating! Not much has changed in the eating department. He no longer breastfeeds but at every meal time, he is the first one at the table and the last one to leave. I often times joke that Skylar is so skinny because Brycen waits till she's not looking to steal some of her food.

It's because of this hearty appetite that we've given him nicknames such as chunk, tugboat, squishy, and bubba. I know "bubba" doesn't really fit in with the other chubby names but for me, it has a much better ring to it when you see this blond-haired, blue-eyed, tank come running up to you! It's funny because Matthew and I always said that we wouldn't ever call our son "bubba" and yet it's the name we most often use in calling him. I don't know that he'll always be a big boy or that he'll always love food so much...something tells me he will...but either way, we are soaking up every moment of this chunky, squishy, hungry little man!

Because every one needs play time!

These days my kids are b-u-s-y and I have a really tough time trying to keep up. Our schedule during the week is usually pretty busy but here lately, the weather has been so unpredictable and it seems at every turn we're dealing with some kind of illness. Last week it was strep - for ALL of us. So now that we are back to good health, I think my kids have suffered from slight bits of cabin fever and are just bursting with energy! This is no good to a mama who has herself knee deep in a gazillion projects (see earlier posts) but I often times try to remind myself that I am a mama first.
So we headed out with our first stop being Toyota! Kids dream, right? Okay, so I desperately needed to get the oil changed on the van and figured it wouldn't take too long. When we pulled up, I was informed that it would take about an hour and fifteen minutes...breathe...okay, well it has to be done so we'll wait. We go inside, sans stroller, and made our way into the play area. The kids seemed entertained for about 15 minutes and then Brycen proceeded to start chucking lego's outside of the room into the "normal" customer waiting area and Skylar found a set of stairs that she kept trying to dart up. My time was spent diving after lego's, running stairs, and then of course - 3 bathroom runs. First was me. Then Skylar who I asked at the time I went if she needed to go and she said no. I asked three more times "are you surrrrre?" Exasperated she said "mama, NOOOOO!" Okay fine. Remember I said that I did all of this without a stroller which meant while I was using the restroom, Brycen was very rapidly unrolling the entire roll of toilet paper in the bathroom and then trying to crawl into the adjoining stall which thankfully was unoccupied. So alas, we finally made it out of the bathroom and back into the play area where Skylar waited just until I had everything set up to now block off the entrance so hopefully I could contain the thrown lego's and runaway children, to say..."um mama, I need to go potty." I would normally ignore her knowing that this is probably her attempt and just trying to meander through the building except she had the "potty stance." You know the one I'm talking about - legs crossed as tightly as possible, hands guarding any possible leaks, and a face that says you have about 3.2 seconds until this becomes a real problem. Back to the bathroom we go. I don't need to remind you that again, I have no stroller so just repeat steps 1 thru 3 of our last bathroom trip and you get the idea. Again we get back to the play area when I notice that Brycen hides in a little corner behind a table. Grrrrreat. I lean over to see his face and sure enough - it's bright red as he continues pushing and leaving mama a nice surprise. And there you have it - bathroom trip number 3!

Thankfully, by the umpteenth time we finally made it to the play area my phone rings and it's Toyota saying my vehicle is ready! Whaaaat?!!!! My quoted hour and fifteen minutes was really only 30 minutes. Phew. And yes, all of the above really did happen in only 30 minutes! Can you imagine how long this post would be if I still had an hour left?! I was so relieved and instantly felt that God had a hand in this. I called my mom and told her that I think He must've been looking down and said, "I think I'll go ahead and extend a helping hand to Sarah today." Thank you, God!!! Much appreciated.

Finally - to the point of the post....After our fun trip to Toyota, I took the kids on a quick run and NOT because I'm a glutton for punishment (well maybe I am) but because I'm currently training for a half marathon (another post - I promise) and haven't been out running in a while so I needed to try and get some mileage in. We finished up quick and made our way inside Wonderwild which is one of my favorite places. It's basically an indoor gym with everything from a HUGE play structure for crawling, climbing, sliding, hanging etc to a blow up obstacle course to a smaller area with kitchen, ball pit, trucks and more! They also have an area where you can eat your lunch or quick snack with your kids. I promise I am not a salesperson for Wonderwild. I just love it that much. We barely made it inside before both of my kids were already yanking their shoes off. They were so excited to finally have some real play time and so was I. You'd think that I'd had enough exercise after chasing them around Toyota and then running 3 miles but no, I think there's a kid in all of us that longs for adventure and fun. So yep, I was crawling, climbing, bouncing and sliding. It was a good end to our crazy day.

Miss Priss

Oh my darling daughter. I don't even know where to start in trying to play "catch-up" here because honestly so much has changed and the difference between our 2 1/2 year old daughter and our 3 1/2 year old daughter is HUGE! I think at 2 1/2 we still kind of felt that she was a baby and even though we could see how quickly she grasped things, she was still our baby girl. But now, she's becoming more of a little girl each day. For starters she's HUGE! Well, tall that is. I don't know why this surprises me so much considering I'm near 6 ft tall and the Mr is over 6 ft tall but she's only 3 1/2 and she's already slightly over 41 inches tall! Isn't that crazy?!! Just this week in her ballet class it was brought to my attention just how tall that is. I was talking with some of the other mom's while also chasing Brycen all around the building and one of the mom's mentioned how nice it is that all the girls will be moving on to the next class together. This class is for 3 year and 4 year olds. I stated that Skylar wouldn't be moving until the following year because she is only three and it was just a dead silence followed by the sound of jaws hitting the floor. The other moms just couldn't believe that she was only 3 years old because of how tall she is and I guess I just assumed that the other girls in her class were also 3 but no, they're 4 and Skylar is much much taller. That's not to say that the other girls are short, they're probably right where they should be for 4. I am anxious to see how tall she'll actually end up being and of course we're all placing bets! Despite her being SO tall right now, I still think she'll be as tall as me which is 5'11 whereas my mom thinks she may actually get to be 6 feet tall. If that's the case I only hope there are more shops that cater to tall thin women because this is one of my greatest challenges - finding clothes that fit right!

So, speaking of ballet...Skylar has been a little prima ballerina now for almost a year and she loves it. I'm not sure if she loves it because it is so "girly" or because it's the one and only part of her life that she doesn't have to share with her brother. Either way, she seems to enjoy prancing around and then teaching me her newest moves. Here's my sweet ballerina with some of her friends:

Things that she has learned so far is toe tapping, chasse, plie, saute, and bowing. I'm sure there's more but these are the things she screams at me when she's trying to teach me the right moves!

9 Months and Rolling (a catch up post)

Here's one of those promised make-up posts. Funny thing about this one is that I actually started it back when Brycen was 9 months but never puplished it so here ya go! :)

Yes...just rolling. I always dread the ineveitable question that all moms/doctors/friends/neighbors etc seem to ask..."so, is he crawling yet?" Aye! No matter what I do or how I try, he is content on rolling and rolling only! There have been times that we were convinced that crawling was right around the corner...you know, when they put their legs in postion and do that rocking back and forth movement. With Skylar, once she did the rocking - it was only a matter of days till she took off. Not so much with Bubba. He is not a fan of the crawling. In his defense, he is a BIG boy so it's probably pretty hard to get all that weight off the ground! And why is it that we have "clocks" on our children any how! Either way, I was pleased to learn that crawling is NOT a milestone and for those that are "milestones" at his age...well, he's meeting them so ha!!

He recently had his 9 month check up and we're happy to report that he's a healthy baby! CORRECTION: he is a VERY healthy baby! He's a strapping 22lbs 4oz and growing like a weed! I am loving every minute of it! I've recently started calling him "squishy" and Matthew hates it! But oh well! Because each time I look at him that's all I see is just yummy squishy-ness bursting out every where! He's purrrrfect!