Race Log: Cowtown 10K

The Cowtown 10K was a race I signed up for because my parents were going to be in town and could be there to watch me finish, but after running it, I would definitely do it again! It was cheap, you get a medal, there's great food afterwards, it was really well organized and the course was nice. The downsides were the start time (7am in Fort Worth) and the shirt (plain white cotton t-shirt). Maybe I'm left with such good feelings about this race because I did so well ; )

Once I crossed the start line I took off like a shot. I was dodging people left and right (including walkers who were way too close to the starting line in my opinion) and headed up the first hill. It was nice that it was right out of the gate while everyone was fresh. My goal was to run with a 9:10 pace. Mile 1 was 8:45, Mile 2 was 8:08! I was feeling good and didn't think I needed to slow down to conserve energy so I just kept going. Around Mile 5 I hit a bit of a wall with the wind, but just kept telling myself I had less than 10 minutes to keep running. I can do anything for 10 minutes. Even though it was chilly that morning, it turned out to be perfect running weather.

I rounded the corner for the finish and picked up the pace. I didn't know where my family was and wanted to look good as I passed them ; ) My goal was to finish in less time than my last 10K (58:35) and my hope was to finish in the 56s or 57s. I finished in 54:35!! My average pace was 8:45, over 30 seconds less per mile than my last 10K! When we checked the results I finished 24/402 women in my age group, almost the top 5%. I don't like to have a rank as a goal because you never know who you're up against, but I was thrilled with that!

I met up with my Julie when she finished about a minute later, then my parents and family as we waited for Rachel. This was a day of firsts for all of us: My fastest time, Julie's first 10K and Rachel's first race ever! We made our rounds of the vendors, got our medals and took loads of pictures. Celebratory pancakes afterwards! The best news was that my knee didn't bother me at all, maybe because of my new shoes and all the foam rolling that week. Whatever the reason, I was happy!

Race Log: Hot Chocolate 15K

It was race day!! I hydrated and laid out my clothes and gear the night before, took a benadryl and headed to bed around 9pm. Alarm went off at 5:30am, I checked the weather, got dressed, at cereal and drank tea and headed to Julie's house. I took ibuprophen for my knee and immodium for my belly before the start of the race. I ate a banana for energy. I gave myself a pep talk that went something like this: "This is just another run. Have fun with it. Just finish. Do not get left behind. There will be chocolate after."

It was cold. There was a .75 mile walk from the parking lot to the starting line, so all in we were moving for almost 11 miles that morning. This was by far the biggest race I'd ever done. The runners started in waves, spaced out by 90 seconds between each. Gun shot, we started. We set our pace at 9:20, which we were both comfortable with for that distance. It was a beautiful morning for a run, and I loved seeing the cold breath of all the runners like clouds in the air. The first four miles went by no problem. Around mile five there was a hill that it took everything in me not to ask Julie to walk up. I knew that if I stopped, she would likely keep going. This was a race afterall and I would probably have done the same thing. So I toughed it out and got up that dang hill, sounding like I had asthma the whole time. At one point, Julie looked at me and said 'take a deep breath!' That was the only mile that our pace was slower than we wanted (9:30). Our pace had been between 9:05-9:15, but there were two miles in a row that we were sub-8:50. I think we both thought we were trying to keep up with the other and ended up just running faster than we expected.

This race went through neighborhoods and there were several houses watching the racers. One house had four little kids hanging out the windows yelling 'Go Faster!' and 'You're almost there!' at all of us. You laugh so you don't cry ; )

Around mile 7 we could hear the finish line. It felt like such a tease to hear it so close and still have 2.3 miles to go. Around mile 8 my ear buds broke. Around mile 8.5 we finally passed a girl who had started in an earlier corral who bounced the entire course on pogo legs! At mile 9 we passed two girls who were walking and both wanted to yell at them 'what are you doing?! you're almost there!' When we could see the finish line we picked up the pace and ran as fast as we could. We finished at exactly the same time and it was amazing!!

I ran straight from the finish into the medic tent for my knee. I needed pain meds and BioFreeze, stat. I stretched and felt mostly ok. We got our chocolate mugs and were shivering from the cold, made worse from being sweaty. By the time we got inside our hands were burning like the early stages of frostbite. Ok, so I'm exaggerating... a little. We thawed out, took pictures, congratulated each other, shared stories, changed into dry clothes and started the long, cold walk back to the car. Celebratory pancakes for brunch and we were on our way, feeling accomplished and exhausted. My stomach held up, I ran the whole time, we beat our pace and my knee cooperated. Can't ask for more than that!

Final results: 1:26:08, pace of 9:15, 88th out of 477 other 30-34 year old women. Amazing!!

Race Log: The Back Story

Long ago, in a time before kids, I started training for a half marathon. I was home for summer vacation from teaching and Charlie was getting his MBA. I had nothing to do but workout or lay around, so I exercised. I did videos and ran and walked and started running 5Ks. One day it was drizzling for my training run so I wore my old shoes and that's where my troubles began. From then on, I've had knee issues. Related or coincidence I don't know, but what I do know is that I have a bad knee... and it doesn't like to be pushed hard. My half marathon goal was now impossible since I was in physical therapy for my knee three days a week. Running became a distant memory, and then we got pregnant. It had been 6 years of either being pregnant or nursing and I hadn't done much of anything physical that whole time. I was raising young people afterall! Dylan was 11 months old and all but finished nursing and I was ready to turn this ship around.

I started running again on April 15, 2013, the same day as the Boston Marathon bombing. I remember getting out there and running for the first time, willing myself to keep going by telling myself to run for the people who couldn't anymore and who would love to. I had a perfectly functioning, healthy body and was wasting it. I was annoyed that I was ok with that, and I was ready for a challenge and a change. My lungs were burning, my legs were tired and it was hard, but I ran for 2 miles.  From April to the end of December I ran just over 100 miles.

In January alone I ran 47.3.

My turning point came in January. I was supposed to run with three friends early in the morning. I had never run with them before and I let that, the time, the weather and my nerves talk me out of it. So I backed out that morning and felt like a total wuss for the rest of the day. THAT wasn't going to happen again, not if I could help it.

The next weekend I ran with my friend Julie for the first time, totally nervous before we started that I wouldn't be able to keep up. She had been running longer, farther and faster than I had. But I showed up. It was 28 degrees and dark when we started, but it was invigorating. I remember talking about how cold weather running makes you feel alive and kinda like a bad a$$.

We both thought we were running 7 miles, which would have been the longest I had ever run. I was nervous about that too! By the time we got back to her house, we had run 8 and I kept up the whole time, at a faster pace that I thought I could do (9:15/mile)! We ran 8 together again the following weekend with a 9:09 pace. I was pumped! That night a bunch of my girlfriends took me out for my birthday and gave me the race fee for the Hot Chocolate 15K, 9.3 miles that I had been so intimidated by that I didn't even really consider.... but now I felt ready and excited!

The weekend before the race we did a 9.3 mile loop around the neighborhood. It was awful. My stomach started giving me issues around mile 6 (when we couldn't have been farther from home), so we had to walk (a four letter word if you ask me!), but every time we walked my knee would seize up. It was a balancing act between running so my knee wouldn't hurt and walking so my stomach wouldn't erupt. It was cold and misty and I just didn't want to keep going. We still finished in less than an hour and a half, but I didn't enjoy it and was pretty nervous about running the same distance 7 days later. And my knee was killing me. For three days after.

Stay tuned to see how it went...

Race Log: Hotcake Hustle 10K

Deck the Trails may have been my first race, but the Hotcake Hustle 10K was my first real race. The Hotcake Hustle was much bigger (though all the racers still started at the same time) and it was a 10K instead of a 5K. I had run 6 miles before, but not often. It was chilly that morning, but not terrible for early January. The race was on the road and was a double loop of the 5K course, so at least you know what to expect the second go around. The second the gun fired and I crossed the start line, I pushed play on my running app and realized that I hadn't enabled GPS (shoot!!), so I ran the first .2 miles looking at my phone trying to get everything set up. My first two miles were faster than I was expecting, around an 8:45, and at that time that made me a little panicky, thinking that I would fizzle out by the end of the race. I tried to slow down but also let the hills get to me. There was a bridge in the middle of the course with a hill on each side and we ran it twice. My pace fluctuated from an 8:30 to a 9:45. I was all over the board and felt wiped out. My only goal for the race was to finish in less than one hour. I had never run a 10K before and thought that was a fair enough goal. I finished in 58:35 and was almost immediately disappointed. I felt like I could have run faster but was also having a lot of knee pain. I finished more than 3 minutes behind my friend, she came in 8th and I came in 17th out of 58 in my age bracket. At that time she and I had never run together because her speed intimidated me ; ) But I did it! First 10K under my belt and ready for more!

Race Log: Deck the Trails 5K

This was my first race in a long time, like 7 years probably. It was also the first time since we started having kids that I wasn't pregnant or nursing and was in good enough shape to actually run! Charlie had done this race for the last two years and this year we ran it together. The weekend before had been a crazy ice storm that cancelled my Dallas Marathon relay, so the ground was pretty muddy and disgusting. Did I mention this is a trail run?! All the participants start at the same time (there's only about 500 runners), so we spent a lot of the first mile dodging other runners and slowing down for the mud. I think our first mile was 10 minutes : / We picked up speed and ran the rest of the 5K (that turned out to be only about 2.8 miles) in around 28 minutes. It was freezing, we were on the clock for a babysitter, and we had a birthday party to get to, so we high tailed out of there and headed home. It wasn't until driving home from the birthday party that I got a text from a friend that I had placed! 3rd place for my age bracket!! We would have stuck around if I would have even thought that I could have placed. They mailed me my award, which turned out to be an awesome wood burned Christmas ornament with the logo of the race on it. I can't wait until the boys are old enough to start racing with us - what a fun way to kick off the Christmas season!

Owen & Eli Turn(ed) FIVE (2 Months Ago!)

This post is a LONG time coming, but I couldn't let a milestone birthday like this go by without a photo collage ; ) 

From the minute we found out we were pregnant, and then multiplied by two when we knew you were twins, we have love you both more than we knew was possible. Your love, concern and attachment for each other is amazing to watch - you're inseparable and both thrive together. You just want to be near each other all the time - it's a bond that we are so thankful to witness.

The last five years have been so full of excitement, milestones, memories and love. From the sleepless nights to the milk comas, from the first toddling steps to the first comprehensible words. From the first belly laughs and games of tag to the times we spend telling you about Jesus and His love for you, we have loved it ALL! You are both so special to us and we love love love you!

Happy (belated) Birthday Big Boys!!

Garrett turns THREE

Dear Garrett,

You are our spunky, chunky monkey! This was a big year for you - you did a lot of growing up from a toddler into a big boy and we're so proud of you. This year alone you transitioned into a big boy bed, were potty trained and stopped sucking your fingers. That's huge! We thought it would have been harder for you to quit the fingers, but you were a trooper and wore a glove to bed for a month and you never looked back. Good boy!

You are definitely our most dramatic son. You get excited easily and frustrated easily. Your tantrums are pretty epic, but we know that it's hard to be in the middle, especially when you're not quite as skilled as Owen and Eli and not the baby like Dylan. You have a squealy cry right now that drives us crazy and will say the same statement (I want some milk) ten times even as we're pouring it for you. You know what you want and when you want it, which can be a great quality to have... but we're hoping that the 2 year old drama that goes with it will be behind us this year : )

You're about to start preschool for the first time and you're really excited. Like anything, it will be an adjustment, but we're so excited for you to 'have your own thing' and some friends of your own. This will be your special time and we can't wait to see how to grow and develop this year.

You are the sweetest little boy. You wanted to tell everyone you met all about your baseball birthday party and invited most people too (even people like the men at Home Depot). You are really great at sharing with your brothers and love to help Dylan by finding his paci or giving him more cereal. Even when Owen or Eli wrongs you in some way, you're always the first one to want to give a hug or a high five and will go along with any idea or game that they come up with. You take your job as a little and big brother very seriously.

You're adventurous and brave! You do things earlier than Owen or Eli (like edging your way around the swimming pool) and do things that they still don't do like getting pushed high on the swings. You rode two roller coasters at Sea World this summer before you were even three!

You love cereal, Octonauts, riding your tricycle (pushing with your feet), swimming, Amy, wrestling with daddy, doing puzzles with mommy, baseball, rolypolies, checking on the garden, anything little (like the little lego man), legos, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, singing and dancing and being included in anything by Owen and Eli. You give great hugs, still love naps, only like peanut butter (not jelly), hate taking potty breaks, wear the same size clothes as Owen and Eli and only weigh 1/2 a pound less than them. You're our little chunker monker GareBear, and we love you so much!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Big Boy!

Dylan: 12-14 Months

Oops! I'm feeling exceptionally bad that I just pulled a stereotypical 'he's the 4th child' move and forgot to update my blog with Dylan's birthday stats and milestones. Ugh, now so much has changed in the last two months that I'm sure I'll get things confused, but better late than never!

Dylan started cruising around the house using furniture and walking toys around 9 or 10 months but it wasn't until around 13 months that he officially started walking on his own. He's now a champ at sliding down the stairs, standing up without holding on to anything and changing directions. My favorite thing is how he doesn't even take a break on each step, he just lays his body at a 45 degree angle and slides the whole way down on his belly.

He had been back to sleeping like a champ, 7pm to 9:30am, but we knew that couldn't last long. Now he's back to sleeping 7ish-pm to 6:45ish-am. The bad news is that unless we give him motrin, tylenol or benedryl, he wakes up multiple times in the night. Not sure what that's about, but he's had a runny nose for a LONG time now, so maybe they're related.

I wonder if he *might* be getting over his milk allergy because he can tolerate things like mac and cheese and frozen yogurt, but I haven't tried him with cheese or milk lately and the almond milk is a big hit with him. I might give it a little longer. His favorite food right now is cheeseburgers. Healthy, I know : )

He's waving and pointing now, goes to bed every night holding two links and a paci, eats a banana and cereal every morning for breakfast, loves to lay his head on my shoulder when I pick him up and laughs at anything his brothers do. He and Garrett like to hold hands in the van and Garrett says to me all the time 'I love Dilly.' He has six teeth, is tall and skinny, still wears 12 month clothes and is just starting with separation anxiety.

He's amazing and we love him : )

Dylan - 11 Months

The countdown is officially on! This past month was another great one with Dylan - he's so fast crawling around, cruises along everything, pulls up to stand and will let go for a few seconds and can keep pace with our walking toy too! We're having a little bit of trouble with food, I think, and it seems that he might have a bit of an intolerance to something, but we don't know what! Most nights this month he was sleeping from 7pm to sometimes 9am! Now we're having a bit of a regression and he's waking up hysterial once or twice a night. I think it has to be food related because he seems to be in pain when he wakes up. Hopefully we can figure this out soon and all get back to a full night sleep.

Dylan is unofficially around 21 pounds and wears mostly 12 month clothes (but can still fit in his 9 month things too). He's not picky at all with food and will eat anything you put in from of him. His favorites are graham crackers, town house crackers, cheese cubes, bananas and cheerios. He's still nursing three times a day (wake up, before nap and before bed) and will pop out his paci and start making kissy noises and smacking his lips when I hold him in a cradle hold.

Dylan thinks we are all the funniest people on Earth. The boys can get him giggling about the silliest things and all Charlie and I have to do is smile at him when we catch him looking at us and he breaks into a huge smile. The cutest thing he does right now is dance to the Hot Dog Dance on Mickey's Clubhouse. He rocks and waves his arms and bounces while standing up at the tv.

I have to admit that I'm a little sad that we're so close to the one year mark. It's hard to believe that our last baby is so rapidly moving out of the baby stage! Next up, Dylan's first birthday!

Dylan - 10 Months

Hard to believe we're so rapidly approaching the one year mark with Dylan. He is so full of joy and laughter and continues to fill us up with the same. He loves to eat, snuggle and sit up in carts. He now has 6 teeth, pulls up to stand (and has let go a few times, but not consistently), sleeps for 13 hours straight at night, usually takes two naps but can survive on one, squeals with delight when he sees me or Charlie, puts everything in his mouth, still goes through multiple bibs a day, climbs the stairs any chance he gets and can't get the hang of a cup (which is making me a little nervous for the day when we stop nursing!). 

From his 9 month well visit, he weighed 18 lb 12 oz (35%) and was 29" long (75%). The day after we left his well visit with a clean bill of health he started getting pink eye symptoms. I waited another two days to see if it would clear up with the drops we had, but it kept getting worse. Turns out he had a double ear infection and a pink eye virus. Yuck! He's back on track now and back to sleeping, thank goodness.

We love you Dilly!

Dylan - 9 Months

Dylan made huge progress this month in so many categories! He's now a crawler - and a power crawler at that! Just a few days after he turned 8 months he decided that sitting still was for the birds and he got his move on. I forgot how much I love the sound of little baby hands slapping on the floor as they crawl around. He quickly transitioned to standing too, while holding on of course, but hasn't yet figured out how to sit back down. This is especially an issue when he stands in his crib and hangs over the rails, exhausted, but can't lay back down.

He started drooling up a storm again, and when I finally checked in his mouth I found a top tooth! The other three had their bottom teeth as of 7 months but didn't get their tops until their first birthday. As the month progressed it's clear that he's actually sprouting all four top teeth! So weird to see such a small baby with so many tiny teeth! It is helping with the table food transition though. He's eating real bananas, sweet potatoes, pancakes, cheerios, yogurt, green beans, carrots, cheese and crackers. He loves the textures and all the new tastes. I'm working on a sippy cup, but right now it seems like more of a chew toy.

He has been sleeping like a champ all month, going to bed around 6:15pm and sleeping until 7am... FINALLY!! I feel like a new woman with uninterrupted nights of sleep. He's napping pretty great too, usually with two 1 1/2-2 hour naps, unless he misses the first one and is over-tired, then the whole day is a bust.

His 9 month well visit is next week, stats to come.

Dylan - 8 Months

Getting bigger every day! This was a big month for Dylan with lots of firsts. He tried lots of new foods and we found out that he's allergic to either apricots, blueberries, or both (by a rash that broke out all over his face). He tried a cup with water, unsuccessfully. He now inhales puffs, which the boys call baby pups, and they love to be the one to give him more. He's up to three meals a day, breakfast and dinner with oatmeal, lunch is just a fruit or veggie, and still nursing, though he has entered the severely-distractable-stage, which is just annoying.

He learned how to go from his belly to sitting, then from sitting to crawling all this month too. He has just started to attempt to 'stand' by putting his hands up on the bottom stair, but hasn't gotten his legs into the action yet. He took his first brother-less trip with me to Michigan too. We also found out this month that the second tear duct probe didn't work, so we could potentially be looking at surgery to put in a stint when he's a little older. As of now it only seems extra teary when he's congested, so I would consider that a huge improvement to where he started anyway. 

He loves watching his brothers play and is content to do that any time they are around. He has the cutest belly laugh that he breaks out when we sing D is for Dilly (to the tune of C is for Cookie). Hopefully I'll get that on video soon. Also on the horizon: his first haircut.