Goal Updates: Warrior Dash & Running

Over a month and an half ago now--wow, summer's flying and I have had this typed for 3 weeks now!--about twenty family members from the Clum side headed to Logan, Onio to participate in the Warrior Dash. (Basically a 3.5 mile obstacle course.) 


Now a year ago, I didn't really know anything about such run, but a friend of mine mentioned it in spin class and then Mister and I got to talking about it and before we knew it,the whole clan was signed up for it! And we decided since we were all going down, we should make a weekend of it--and so that's what we did. :-) Lodge was reserved, meals were planned, and costumes (White Trash Class, of course) was decided upon. 

White Trash Class Before Pic

As family trickled in Friday night, we settled in with much laughter and fun 'making' our costumes which culminated with my lovely brothers giving each other costume appropriate hair cuts.

My favorite part of this pic isn't my brothers,
although they are looking studly,
but rather it's everyone's facial expressions in the background!

Saturday morning we had a breakfast of pancakes and eggs before heading to the fair grounds close to where the Warrior Dash was being held. The excitement and comic relief of others' costumes left our group splitting up--half heading to the starting line and the other half settled in with the kids to wait to watch the finish. 

Mr. & Mrs. Classy with matching fu-man-chus

Mister and I decided that we'd run together figuring it'd be more fun to share the experience and so we stuck together the whole time--which was also good since he wore my time chip since I didn't have shoestrings to attach it too. At various times we crossed paths with other family members and enjoyed the challenges and humor of the course. My brother intentionally slid down his share of muddy slopes whereas my slides weren't as planned. :-) We weren't there to win--as my case in all runs--and wanted to just enjoy the experience. I'd say we successfully accomplished that goal. 

My younger brother celebrating his finish!

Mister and I caught up with my mom in one of the last obstacles as we climbed up and back down the cargo net. The next obstacle was jumping over a couple rows of fire, over which I squawked like a 10 year old and my momma was a bit afraid her workout pants would go up in flames. The final obstacle was a 2 foot deep muddy water that you had to crawl through under barbed wire. At this point, Chris was ahead of me and momma was just behind me. Well I thought it'd be a good idea to swim in the muddy water, which was until I heard my momma yell, "Rachel! You're splashing me right in the face!!" I turned to see how close she was and then decided to finish the course with a backstroke through the water and then slipped several times trying to get out of the pit. 

White Trash Class After

After cleaning up a bit aka rubbing dried mud off and throwing away old clothes, we headed back to the lodge for the remainder of the weekend. 

All the Clum Clan in attendance

Overall, the weekend was so much fun and my favorite part--even beyond my muddy backstroke--was spending time with extended family! We decided then and there that this needed to occur more often so a lodge is booked for another Clum gathering in September! And I may just have a list of possibilities for a beach/lake vacation next summer! *Clum Clan if you're reading this: We want YOU there even if you weren't able to attend the Warrior Dash weekend!!*


In other, similar news, another goal is confidently crossed of my list of 101 things to accomplish in 1001 days: 


13. Run 101 miles. 


After yesterday's Run to the Moon 10km, I've chalked 122 miles since I started this task about a year ago. If you'd look at my running tracker, you'd quickly notice that I'm awful at consistency. For example, I did great end of February/March, then fell off the wagon thanks to picking up an extra afterschool teaching assignment, and then this summer have done a bit better again. Which is good since Mister, Momma-cita and I are registered for a HALF MARATHON come October! I'm anxiously looking forward to it already, especially after yesterday's run. 


Now I've said it before and I'll likely continue to repeat myself for a while, but I am not a runner. Yes, I run, but I'm not what I consider a runner. [What to 'meet' a real, awesome runner?! Meet my friend, Sara, who is both a great runner and a great baker!! Order a dozen cupcakes if you don't want to take my word for it! ;)] Anyways, even with the half marathon we're registered for, I have/had no intentions of actually running for 13.1 miles straight. 


We've been following Jeff Galloway's training and suggestions and for our Sunday morning "long runs" have been following a 4 minute run/1 minute walk interval. It's comfortable and we've been keeping about a mid-11 minute/mile pace which isn't too far off from my typical mid-10/min to just under 11 min/mile pace for a 5k. Well yesterday as we embarked on our first race of a longer distances [previously I've only done 5ks (3.1 miles) and 1-4 mile race], I shared with Mister that my goal was to run the first half as if it were a typical 5k aka run as much as possible with a walk break if I felt like I really needed it, and then for the second half of the race, do a 4/1 interval.


Well we got started and it was a bit depressing since there weren't many people behind us, but we were   with the tail-end of the pack. When we crossed the 1/2 mile marker and our watches read 6:45, I turned to Chris and commented, "We suck!" Sure I felt slow, but I didn't think I was that slow! [Sidenote: I'll saw I a lot when it comes to pace or goals because Mister is a champ and goes along with what I feel comfortable with!] 


Thankfully we quickly came upon the 1 mile marker at 10:something and our suspension was confirmed: the 1/2 mile marker was misplaced! We ran the first half taking just one walk break of a few strides through the water station in order to rehydrate, and then we just kept going. Instead of intentionally taking walk breaks, we ended up running the entire race minus 3 water stations which in my book, doesn't really count as walking!


We finished overall with an 11:34/mile pace clocking in at 1:11:33 which was 3.5 minutes under our goal of an hour and 15 minutes. It was nice that the 10k course finished with the 5k course because it felt like more people were behind us than really were, but overall as I promised myself at the beginning of the run, I felt good because I did it. It doesn't matter how other's finish, it matters how I run the race. We met our time goal and even more accomplishing to my weak runner's self-esteem was that I ran for 6.2 miles which is over 2 miles longer than I have ever ran straight before. Even if we did place last in our divisions, I was proud!

Mister still ended up with a trophy,
signed by a real astronaut.
I ended up with a Moon Pie.

The only major downer of this run is that about 4 miles in when I took my sunglasses off to wipe them clean, the bottom of my rim caught my nose ring and pulled it out. It didn't hurt, but it was the second one I lost in 24 hours. Maybe it's a sign. Even though I have more nose studs, I don't really like them, so I'm thinking it'll grow shut.


-Rachel


Note: I stole borrowed all Warrior Dash pictures from my great sister-in-law who was the official photographer for the weekend!

A Glimpse into the Future

Last night we had the joy of having our 4-year old niece and 1-year old nephew over for a little slumber party of sorts. With less than 3 weeks until our own little one is due to arrive, and with the list of things their mom needed to complete for their vacation next week, it was perfect timing to squeeze in a little quality time before our life gets a little more crazy!


One of the first things Sondra said after her mom left was, "So, where am I going to sleep? Where's my room?" Previously the nursery was called "her" room, so prior to this overnight stay, I was a little curious how she'd like the fact that "her" room was now going to be the "baby's room". After giving her all her options of where she could sleep, she was okay with giving up "her" room and letting Stu sleep in there and she'd sleep somewhere else. Whew! That went easily enough!


At suppertime, Sondra asked if we could go to the park so after eating and picking all the cold noodles and green beans off Stu's belly, we packed up and headed to the "volleyball park". [Last summer I took the kids with me to volleyball practice a couple of times so Temple's school playground was label "volleyball park" by Miss Sondra.] Because we received two strollers as shower gifts, it worked perfectly without persuasion for each of us to pick a stroller and pick a kid and begin our walk. Actually because Sondra is 4, she naturally fit in the jogging stroller better and because I'm a girl, I naturally should push Sondra's stroller. [There's some 4-year old logic for ya!] After explaining why we have two types of strollers even though we are not having twins and relating this to the same reason she has cowgirl boots and flip-flops, we made it to the parking lot and then to the playground.


Both Stuart and Sondra were excited to get out of the strollers and start climbin', swingin', slidin', and make believin'! At one point I was a green pirate that tasted like hamburger and Chris was Captain Black Beard leading the ship! Both kids were excited as they accomplished new feats, even if they needed a little assistance from us big kids!

She was contemplating her attack
on the pirates at this moment.
Hence the lack of smile!

How can you not love that lil' face and mohawk?!

Here's what I get when I ask for a smile.
Close enough right?!

With bathtime and bedtime shortly approaching we headed back to the house. We were only stopped once by a curious mowing neighbor. After looking at each stroller and then my stomach, "Ahhh, do you have one of each there?" Chris smiled and replied, "Yep, there's one of each but they are our niece and nephew. The only one we have is still inside!" As we continued on I thought though how easily this could be our reality in "child spacing". 3 years difference and then 14 months difference. Jake and I are 14 months apart and Zac is 3 years younger than me. Momma-cita said she would get comments when she had all three of us out and I'm not too surprised! :)


Back at the house, Sondra started out in the tub [it must have been a great bath because at one point I heard her comment "Ahhh, now this is what I call a bath!"] and then Stuart joined in the bubble fun. Two clean kids later with bubbles everywhere, it was time to wind down. Of course the next thing on the agenda was Monsters, Inc. [Sondra has 3 things that she does nearly every time she comes to our house: 1. Take a bubble bath. 2. Brush her teeth. 3. Watch Monsters, Inc. This visit was no exception.] Sondra laid and watched it as Stu danced in circles until eventually the movie was over and both were fast asleep. Chris and I were quick to follow in slumber!


An hour later, I was up. I just had to make sure both kids were contently sleeping. :)


An hour later, I was up. Stu was whimpering/crying. A quick diaper change and 10 second back rub and he was out again.


An hour and an half later, I was up. A bathroom break on my part and a water bottle fill up for Stuart and we were all asleep again.


5:40am, I was up. Stuart was a bit fussy, low on water, and had a diaper that weighed the same as a bag of bricks [note all the water I gave him :S ]. Within 5 minutes of a little chat, he was out and I was back in bed. I told Chris I was just hoping to make it to 6:45-7 before they were up for the day.


8:30am, Chris and I were up. Surprised the kids were zonked, we began our days. Both of us would walk by each of the sleeping beauties just to see their peace and contentment. I started breakfast and slowly everyone was up and ready to eat.

Little Sleeping Beauties!

After Chris left for work, the kids and I continued to play. Glow in the dark coloring, bouncing on the air mattress, dice, rolling on the exercise ball, Astro Boy. Mix in a couple nasty diapers and our morning quickly passed. [I even got a load of laundry washed, dried, and folded! That doesn't usually happen on a good day without any distractions!] Jake and Joie picked up the kids and now I wait for Chris to get off work. Tonight we're headed to a Dayton Dragons game with Mom, Dad, Zac, Jake, Joie, and the kids! More fun to come, I am sure!

Favorite Pic from the Park :)

So all in all, the last 19 hours with the Dynamic S Duo was quite fun! We enjoyed getting to try out many of our shower gifts and the glimpse into the future. Even more we enjoyed spending time with such cute lil' personalities! [Even if Chris commented as he was falling asleep last night, "I'm glad with just start with one!"] :)

Weekend Review: Quality Time with Chris & 3 Goals Accomplished

After spending 6 hours learning all about having a baby, I sent Mister the following text message on our 5-minute ride home:

"Your adventure, should you choose to accept it, is to pack your bags and get ready to head back out on the road. You will need to pack a bag including the following: change of clothes [nothing fancy!], swimsuit, toothbrush, flip-flops, older tennis shoes, and your pillow. Hopefully that's everything! Will you join me?!"

*I later realized that I put nothing in there about needing shorts to sleep in. Oops. Good thing our tent was secluded!*

He turned to me, smiled, and said I'll join ya!

Had this statement not be made, this weekend would've went to the toilet real quick!

Chris and I packed our bags and we were off in my preloaded car. I told him our ETA was about 40 minutes, but I didn’t really know because I’d been there maybe once and he didn’t ask many questions. [He’s much easy—better—to surprise than me! I’d been playing 20 questions the whole way!

Ten minutes into the trip: “Oh crap!"

“What’s wrong?”

“I forgot to pack something!” What’s that important “something” that I forgot… butter of course! J

As I thought a little more, I realized that I may have needed to pack a rubber mallet to drive in the tent stakes but didn’t want to ask because it would’ve given it away. [We ended up not needed a mallet.]

A quick $2.61 for butter and a bag of ice and we were back on the road.

It wasn’t until we pulled into Van Buren’s KOA that Chris knew what we were doing for the weekend! I patted myself on the back for this secret planning accomplishment! After parking, registering, realizing that everyone there hated their jobs and their kids, we were off to set up our campsite.

Later we would have to return to said hatey workers to buy wood from their empty wood storage which reiterated their passion for the job!

Campsite

 A quick tent set-up and change into our bathing suits, we were off to the swimming area. This pond likely had more chemicals and we were surprised our suits didn’t turn teal so we decided not to go under, but wading chest deep was refreshing and relaxing! They also had a big inflatable slide as well as a "spinning log", but you had to rent their life jackets to use them and it was pretty kid-infested attraction anyways. After relaxing in the water and on the "beach" we journeyed back to our campsite.

Snackin' on a pretzel after wading in the teal water.

For supper we made pizza pudgy pies. All carbon aside they were good! I think I should have taken some PAM along to help out the sticking to the iron and burning factor, but I thought butter is all we'd need. That's a downfall of trying to replicate what you did when you were 12. You don't always remember the details!

I had packed apple pie filling to make dessert pudgy pies, but because of the trickiness of preventing burning that we couldn't quite master, we stuck we the good ol' camping standard, s'mores. Toasted to perfection, they were delish! As we sat around our lil fire, Chris enjoyed a pipe or two and I decided to working on crossing another thing off my list. Borrowing his knife I went to carve my initials in a tree. It was difficult to find a tree in our little area with smooth enough bark to do this, and it ended up not being the prettiest of carvings, but I'm am amateur when it comes to vandalism so it sufficed!

Lighting his pipe, which was much more
successful than the last time he attempted.

Not beautiful, but it counts. :)

 We decided to call it a night and retreated to our tent for the evening. Isn't it amazing how the sun dictates your sleeping and waking when you don't have electricity?! I had borrowed a friend's air mattress [ours took electricity to pump and they had a battery powered one] so sleeping was quite enjoyable. [One question that Chris did ask on the way up was if we'd be sleeping on a mattress that night. I told him I was, but I didn't know about him! This confused him a bit which was perfect! Later he realized why I answered that way.] We rested well and I dreamt about being on a WWF tag-team with Hulk Hogan against his evil twin and another guy. Quite a night. :)

The next morning we rose with the sun, trekked to the mosquito infested hole in the ground toilets, and then enjoyed delicious banana nut muffins cooked over the fire from Meijers. I still have a scar on my finger from the one time I remember making breakfast while camping, so I decided to go with a safer option! After devouring these muffins, we took a little walk around the campgrounds. We were drawn to a jumping pillow [never heard of it prior to this weekend] and saw a handful of kids jumping on it. We walked over intrigued, but I assumed it was a kids only kind of thing. As the kids got off and we got closer, a lady said that she had just turned it off, but asked if we wanted to jump because she could easily turn it back on. After some debating back and forth, the next thing we knew we were kangaroos hopping all over that thing!

I didn't have my camera and don't have Chris' near
to get the pic off his, but this is pretty much
the same thing!

After jumping to our hearts calves' content, we headed back to our site. [Sidenote: As we were leaving and she turned it off again, there was a 3-year old and a 13-year old that came over to jump. "Oh, I'm sorry you can't jump. I've already turned it off!" I felt bad that she turned it back on for us but denied the ones it was likely designed for!] We played several games of Crazy 8 Countdown and then decided weren't really hungry enough to build a fire to cook lunch and both of us were more than ready not to sit in a pool of our own sweat so we would go ahead and pack everything up.

Chris won all but one game of Crazy 8 Countdown.
I let him win since this was kind of like
his birthday celebration. ;)

 After a quick tear down of our campsite and packing of the car, we were homeward bound. In the air conditioning! It felt ah-mazing! Since we returned to Lima early enough in the afternoon [church was actually just getting out as we drove by] we decided to head to the mall to check a couple things out.

On Friday, my momma-cita had asked me to pick up her eyeglasses from JCPenney's and in doing so I saw a "gazebo" [canopy] discounted up on the second floor. Chris and I had talked about wanting to make our back yard a little more livable and have plans in the works for what we want to do to it next summer, but this gazebo seemed like a good option for now! So I looked at it a bit and did some online review research when I got home. Then when our mail came Friday we received a coupon for JCPenney's for 20% off if you used your JCP Credit Card and 15% anything else. Every have a feeling that a sale was made just for you! Yeah, I was feeling that way. So this is what we were going to check out and see if Chris thought it was as much of a good deal as I did!

He agreed.

At checkout they asked if I had a JCP Credit Card, which I did from when I purchased all our bridal parties' attire there over 2 years ago, but I was pretty confident that it had since been cancelled. I am glad that it had because my re-opening it, we were able to save another 10%. We left we our new gazebo canopy saving $398 overall! Cha-ching!

It only took about an hour to set it all up and now we have our own little backyard oasis. Okay not really but we have a back patio that we will actually use! It doesn't fit perfectly this year, but after our planned renovations next year, it'll fit much better!

Back Patio Before

Back Patio After
It has a mosquito netting that can be pulled around it.

Now I have a bit more motivation to pull all the weeds back there so we'll see how that goes!

So in additional to learning quite a bit about the birthing process, having a great getaway time with Mister, and bettering our home a bit I was also able to cross 3 things off my 101 in 1001 list.

40. Plan a surprise get-away with/for Chris.

57. Carve my name initials on a tree.

60. Go camping--somewhere other than our backyard. 

The bad news is I had to start over for Goal #21 even though I was on day 11 of 14. Drats!!

Waterpark & Another 5k

Last Friday I chaperoned a field trip to the Columbus Zoo and its attached waterpark, Zoombezi Bay aka Wyandot Lake! On Tuesday at our teacher workday, my coworker who was heading up the trip mentioned that they needed more chaperones--they only had one who was able to ride the bus and stay all day--so I thought "What the heck?! Sign me up!" I didn't have plans and Chris was working all day and night so it wouldn't take time away from us either!

So Thursday night I laid out all my stuff and headed to bed. It was a good thing I did. Friday the bus was scheduled to leave at 8am and we were supposed to be there by 7:45 in order to eat breakfast prior to take off. I woke to my alarm reading 7:50. Awesome.

"Aaaahhhhhh!!! Chris! The bus leaves in 10 minutes!" I leaped out of bed and threw on the clothes I had laid out. Brushing my teeth, I determined my hair was a hopeless hot mess so I quickly grabbed a hat and was heading for the door. As I made the corner out of the hallway towards the door, Chris was standing there with his hands out. Keys in one hand and water bottle in the other. What a man!! A quick kiss and I was out the door. Lucky for me, I live a hop, skip and a jump away from the school. Unlucky for me, I hit all but two lights in that hop, skip and jump! Regardless, I pulled in at 8:02 and half the students were inside using the restroom one last time before departure. I plopped myself in the bus seat waited for everyone to load up and we were off.

When we arrive at the Zoo it was raining pouring and because of lightening, Zoombezi Bay was currently closed. Nevertheless we unloaded in the rain and headed to the entrance. Soaked by the time we got there, we huddled under every available covering. When it let up a bit, we were off to the zoo to check out the indoor exhibits. We managed to keep decently dry for a couple hours going indoor exhibit to indoor exhibit and eventually the rain let up.

After meeting up for lunch, Zoombezi Bay was open and that's exactly where we were headed. I had four students who pretty much stuck with me the rest of the day. We started off "tame" on the lazy river and then the students were ready for some slides. Now I recognize that I was nearing 30 weeks preggo, but that wasn't going to stop me from having a good time.

The first slide they went on I passed. It was like the burlap sack slide at the fair, but instead you laid on your stomach on a foam mat. Many people think I'm crazy for being as active as I am while pregnant, but fear not, I drew the line on this one.

I passed on this one. I'm sure the lil' one--
and my mom--will thank me!

That's the only line I drew. My students even saw the signs that said that pregnant people weren't to ride the rides and questioned me. I informed them I wasn't pregnant, just fat. You can imagine the interesting conversations and odd looks that occurred when the girls would start a conversation, "Well Ms. Massie, since you're fat..." :)

The anticipation to this ride caused the most fear.
Rightfully so. I was a bit scared as we dropped into the
giant toilet bowl! We were all smiles in the end though.

I rode and even held hands with shaky-nearly crying-15 year old girls and encouraged them to ride all the other slides. We had so. much. fun! It was fun to see and be a part of these teenagers' lives. One girl in particular said countless times that she's never done anything so fun, even though she was the fearfullest of them all. [I told her not to worry, we're at a waterpark, if she's scared and pees her pants, no one will know! :) ]

Despite the rushed and wet morning, the day turned out beautifully and everyone had a great time. And I managed to closely resemble a lobster.

The next morning my parents picked me up for 5k #4 of the year. Mister was unable to join us as he had to work that morning. We arrived at Harrod for the Pork Rind Festival 5k, registered and received my neon-highlighter yellow participants shirt. After waiting for the start time to near, we were off. There weren't very many participants but I was fairly certain there were at least some walkers so goal #1: Don't be last. would be easy to accomplish. They fired the cannon to start us and we were off. Less than a quarter of a mile into the run, the 10 year old daughter of a coworker of mine was walking back in tears. Her dad was a head of me and she sobbed to him, "I can't do it! I'm going to pass out! I'm going to pass out!" We both knew that she just started off too fast trying to keep up with the top runners, so we encouraged her to turn around and walk. I knew that her dad was willing to walk with her, but I could tell he wanted to run it as well. So I volunteered to walk with her. I told her and her dad that I'd walk with her as long as she needed it and then if she felt better we could jog again.

She dried her tears and agreed.

I explained to her that we could just walk as long as we needed and then when she felt good again we'd jog. If she got tired, we'd walk again. That's what I do after all anyways. After about 2 utility poles, she looked up to me and said she was ready to jog again, so I said, "Alright, let's do it!" Now I forgot that to a ten year old "jog" meant take off sprinting--a lot faster than my typical wogging! So I began to jog and she was off! [She ended up finishing in less than 30 minutes, and didn't pass out!]

I continued at my own rate and felt pretty good except the fact that my sports bra straps were bouncing on my freshly burnt shoulders. My goal is always jog the first mile and then I give myself permission to walk if need be. Well there wasn't a mile marker, but I thought I remembered where the 1 mile mark should be about from GoogleMaps so I jogged there plus 2 utility poles' distance. I noticed the water station was just ahead so I jogged until that point then walked as I drank my water and then got to the next house [I like to start and stop jogging and places that I can go back and find on GoogleMaps to be able to see how far I jogged/walked/wogged. I continued jogging, and only stopped to walk one other time towards the end.

In the end I finished with a 38:30 time. Which isn't my worst but wasn't too bad for 30 weeks pregnant. I think I would've been about 37 minutes had I not stopped with Kianna at the beginning of the run. I was proud of myself for two reasons though:

1. I have never only stopped 3 times to walk before--and that includes stopping with Kianna. I've never counted how many times I've stopped before, but I know it was much more than that!

2. When I went back and GoogleMapped my walking distances, it was less than .5 miles. I'm sure this was this least amount I've ever walked before as well.

So in the end I was proud of myself for the amount of time I wogged even though it was a slower pace and that I only walked 3 times. Oh, and I got a sweet door prize and a medal for getting 2nd in my age group!

Coming soon will be a post about our nursery that's nearing completion as we have less than 10 weeks left in the countdown! Craziness!

Until next time, friend.

A New Experience

Yesterday I embarked on an adventure that I had never done before: to mow our lawn.

Now hear me out. I have mowed grass before while living at home with my parents, not too often, but I did do it on [slim] occasion. Then obviously while living on campus, lawn care wasn't a part of my duties so there was 5 years of not needing to think about that. We've been in our house for a year now [which seems crazy in and of itself] and when it has come to pretty much anything everything outdoors, that's been "Chris' Job"! You see, I've *thought* about mowing, but it has never been more than a thought. Especially after Chris' first mow job and his comment about how much of a workout it is!

But welcome yesterday. Chris started a new additional job this week, and so while we are getting used to his new work schedules, for the next couple of weeks while I am still in school, the time we are both home during the week is a bit slim. So I want to make sure that it's quality time! Well on Sunday/Monday, Chris commented that one day this week he wanted to trim the edging and another day he wanted to mow this week. Since I got home about 4:30 after getting a new tire for my annoying lovely car, I decided that if I mowed before he got home, then that would be an extra hour that we'd get to spend together once he got off at 6pm. [Secretly I was hoping it'd take me long enough that Chris would get home while I was still working on it, and then he could finish it up!]

And so I embarked on my latest adventure. Now we don't have a large yard, but we do have to make this more of an adventure is a reel mower. Notice I didn't say real but rather a reel mower.

Our real reel mower!

I began in the backyard because I figured that way, if I did an awful job, not too many people would see it. I also started in a little corner of the yard to "practice" a bit. I later learned after Chris got home that I started in what he refers to as the most difficult part of the yard thanks to unevenness due to tree removal before we moved in! Lovely!]

As I pushed this thing back and forth multiple times through the yard, I am just being honest when I admit that I thought about paying a neighbor to use their real non-reel mower so that I could finish in half the time! But I thought Chris may not like that idea since the whole reason we have the mower we do is to be more environmentally conscience. I also had a lot several other not so positive thoughts that went through my brain as I trudged along.

"Fake it 'til you feel it!"

Each time that I had those thoughts, and even became a bit bitter [which makes no sense since there was no one to be bitter against, since I was doing it on my own free will!] I reminded myself why I was mowing in the first place: more quality time with mister! That helped keep things in perspective. That's a lesson that I have to be taught many times--because I obviously haven't learned it yet--simply by doing an attitude check, I can make life, and that tasks in it, much more enjoyable!

I finished up the backyard, and the front yard, put everything away and then waited inside for Chris to get home. As I sat inside and drank even more water, sweat began to pour out of me. I even had a mental debate with myself--which is more of a work out: spin class, a 5k, or mowing?! A little after 6 when Chris returned, he was appreciative that I mowed simply because that meant he didn't have to, although my mow-manship wasn't quite to par.

Topped with cheese of course!

After relaxing just a few minutes, we headed back out to do some trimming. Thankfully about 3/4 of the way through trimming, it began to rain so we headed inside and decided it was supper time. Chris fired up the grill and we had some delicious, ginormous turkey burgers complete with the fixins and I tried my hand at steaming a whole head of cauliflower.

So big we even had to open up two hot dog buns per turkey burger!

Both were oh so yummy, and oh so fulfilling that it made it difficult to bend over and finish up the trimming when the rain let up. I could blame it on a real baby, while Chris' only excuse was the food baby he was growing!

Overall I got a little stinky, a lotta sweaty, a little grass-rashy/itchy, and a lotta time with Mister. So I guess I could say my first and likely last mowing job at our house was a success, and a workout!! :)

A Different Kind of Anniversary :)

Note: It's a long one!

Last Monday was an important anniversary, far more important than the one I’m able to type about, but nonetheless, today is an anniversary of sorts as well! Today is my 1^st 5k anniversary! After being motivated by my friend Leslie [I’m not sure I ever told her she was the reason I wanted to do a 5k in the first place], I decided a year ago January that I was going to do a 5k.

Now mind you running has never been my thing! I may have had the thunder thighs legs to be able to run, but I am also well-endowed elsewhere that has made running an unpleasant experience. But like I said, Les was a motivator, so I decided I was going to do it! I found the Hands 4 Haiti 5k in Shawnee, told my mom about it [she had already ran a couple 5ks] and we both signed up. I knew if I put my name on the dotted line and the donation was taken from my bank account, I’d be more likely to stick to my commitment. I also found the Couch to 5k training program which seemed applicably titled and doable.

So in January 2010 I started the program. It went quite well for about 5-6 weeks. And then I had a ton of dental work done… as in more cavities filled than I have fingers! And to be honest, while I was not in pain, I felt pretty crappy so I began to slack on my 3-day a week plan. I backtracked a bit, repeated a couple weeks, and was back at it. Then two weeks after my previous dental work, I had to have the other side of my mouth worked on. Ugh. Felt like crap for a week or so, and then re-motivated.

Welcome April.

Going into the second week of April, I was beginning to feel not-so-hot, but I knew it wasn’t still from the dental work.

Welcome Strep Throat.

Of course I put off going to the doctor for over a week and then had about as long of antibiotics, probiotics, and good-bacteria-filled yogurt being pumped into my system. Now we are to the end of April and I haven’t really gotten my 5k time down much at all as most of the training that I did in January was composed of walk/jog alternating on the treadmill. So when May 22^nd, 2010 came around here’s the math that I saw:

Dental Work + Strep Throat + Moving Residents out of Neufeld + Moving in a New House + Being in a Wedding = Less than 3 “Runs” over the course of 2.5 Months!

But I put my name on the dotted line and paid the money, so I was still going to do it.

Thankfully my mom and her co-worker weren’t out to win the race, so they did a walk/jog combo with me for most of the race until I finally felt bad and told them to go on without me! I definitely walked more than I ran jogged, but in the end I finished, and that was the goal in the beginning after all.

My time was 42.14 nothing that will go in any sort of record books, except my own. But hey, I did get a sweet medal and shirt!! J

Since my first 5k a year ago, I have done 4 others, and each time I have only done better. The one thing that hasn’t changed is that I don’t really run in between or to prepare myself for them. I enjoy the 5k races, not the training.

Race #2: Chris, my mom and I did the Freedom 5k last July. My time was a little under 40 minutes [I can’t find the results online any more so I’m not sure of the exact time]. It was hot, and I would’ve rather been by myself than with Chris because I was definitely holding him back! It was at that 5k that I decided that unless you train with someone else and you are at the same running level, it can be miserable to try to keep together. He knew he could go faster and was trying to be an encouraging husband, and I knew I wanted to go slower and was being an emotional wife. Ugh.

Race # 3: Then last November, Mom, Chris, my friendly Leanna and I all did a Turkey Trot in Lima. It was cold and rainy/snowy. We were all way overdressed. I began running with Leanna until I told her I was about to walk and I’d meet her at the finish line and then I finished the race with my momma who we both encouraged each other the run for a bit, then walk, run then walk. It worked out well, and it felt good to have a workout in before piling food in our mouths for the holiday.

Pre-race pic.

My time was 37.09. [Notice nowhere in that blurb did I mention running with Chris? I told him from the beginning that he was to run his own race without me! Running 5ks together isn’t good for our marriage, ha.]

Race #4: Perhaps my favorite race so far was the Donations for the Nations 5k this past April. Not only did Mom, Chris and I run it, but my bro Zac ran it as well! It was Zac’s first 5k, and let’s just say he did quite well the little turd! He won his age division!! I think what made this my fav run so far was the fact that I ran all of the first mile without walking [a mental goal I have each race], I ran completely on my own [I like the company of others, but that’s added pressure which I don’t like], and my goal was to be under 35 minutes [which I made by a whomping 11-seconds! Woot! Woo!] In addition, the weather was nice for running and there were so many people along the race from Cornerstone Harvest Church with signs cheering the runners on. Now I’m a realist and know that many times there were cheering for the people around me that are from their church, but hey, I’ll take the encouragement too! What made it great overall was that out of the four of us racers in the family, all four of us made our goals! Chris, Zac and I all made our time goals and Momma-cita won a medal for her age group!! She thought it’d take her until she was 85!! Let’s just say that there was lots of cheering and a lil’ crazy dancing as she went up to receive her medal!! Wahoo!! J

What made Donations for the Nations for the Nations not so great was the fact that I had to pee about a half-mile in and the urge didn’t go away. the. entire. race! Thanks, 5 month fetus for attacking my bladder! [I debated about stopping at McDonald’s and at some guy’s house who was outside mowing his lawn, but I knew I wouldn’t make my time goal if I did.] The second not so hot part was the battle wound I ended up with thanks to being well-endowed. [I’m still working on a solution to that problem!]

Race #5: And that brings us to today! Race #5, my "anniversary race".  Chris and I rose early for a Saturday to meet my momma at Shawnee Methodist Church for their annual 5k & half-marathon. The weather is beautiful outside, which is great, and after the kids fun run and the half marathon start, it was our turn to embark on our 3.1 mile journey. I found the pacer for the 11-min mile which was my goal time, and was ready to go. Life was nice as we got started for about 3/4 of a mile, and then I was getting hot a bit warm! I could feel my face turning redder and my hands swelling a bit. I told my pacer that I'd see her later and my goal was to just keep her in sight. After checking to make sure that this momma-to-be was alright, she was off to continue at her appropriate pace. So I continued the rest of the race with my usually walk/jog or "wog" as I refer to it with my students, with more walking that usual. Finally at Mile 2 we had a water station which would've been much more enjoyable had the water not gone down the wrong pipe! Drats! I finished out the race, talking with other woggers along the way, and even an elderly spectator [I actually stopped for 15-20 seconds to finish up that conversation, I didn't need the break, but I felt bad not answering her questions!] The course ends by going up a decent hill, and I saw my mom in sight as I finished up. She had a water ready and was making sure I was okay, I said I was, and she jogged with me a few seconds before I looked at the clock. 37:53. I had 7 seconds to complete the 5k in under 38 minutes! So I pushed it and made it to the chip mat in exactly 7 seconds! Woot woo! :) Definitely not impressive, but not too bad for all the walking I did. I still had improved by over 4 minutes from last year!

Post 5k Pic

So overall the recap for today's 5k: Chris finished in 27:43, Momma-cita finished in 33:20, and I finished in 37:33. [Chip time versus gun time accounts for my 27 seconds under what I thought I was.] Mom was 4th in her age group, Chris was 5th in his, and I was 6th in mine.

One day shy of 6 months preggo!

A couple random thoughts to conclude with:

The pacer that I start with was at 10:40 for the first mile, 10:40 for the second mile, and then for the last leg [1.1 miles] her time was 15:something, and she didn’t change her pace!! Last year “real runners” had commented that the course was actually longer than 3.1 miles and since this lady is practically a professional, I’m going to trust her judgment and say that it likely is. An extra 4 minutes in the last 1.1 is quite a difference!

I'll be doing just a teensy bit of wogging at the 5k in two weeks and after that, I'm purely a walker until post-baby, expecially the July 4th one because MY DAD is walking with me!!

Oh and seriously the best part about being a year in to 5ks, I think I have found a solution to my well-endowed issue! No battle wounds this time!! Wahoo!

The "BIG Reveal"!

So as most of y’all know, yesterday we had our ultrasound to hopefully discover the gender of the lil’ one that has taken residency in my womb. Like I mentioned before, neither Chris nor I had a strong preference of the gender, but we just were really looking forward to knowing.

Wednesday night I baked cupcakes and hollowed out the middles. I had whipped cream ready in the fridge and blue and pink dye waiting on the counter. As soon as our appointment was over, we’d run home fill our cupcakes with pink or blue cool whip, ice them and then head to our ‘rents to reveal the gender of their third grandchild! First to Chris’ parents’, then drop Chris off at work, then to my parents’, I’d wait there until Zac got off give him a cupcake, and then hopefully stop by Grandma & Grandpa Cow’s for a few minutes before getting back to our house for Girls’ Night for the gender reveal and the Creamery. It was all planned out.

One little hiccup occurred: we had no idea whether to fill the cupcakes with pink or blue filling!

I didn’t even want to make the rounds, but as I mumbled “What do we do about all the cupcakes?!” Chris said, “We still do it.” *sigh* This wasn’t part of the plan. So instead our family and friends got to bite into green filled cupcakes.

Boy?! Wait that's green? Yep, we don't know what's in me!

Note that it was not by lack of effort that we were not able to tell the gender! Jodi poked, prodded, and shook my belly like it was her job! ;) Our child was not budging! I’ve heard of babies being cross legged hiding their business, but this child of ours had its knees locked together. Not of glimpse of light could’ve been seen between its thighs. As a result 45 minutes later, he may be a he or she may be a she.

Despite not really caring the result of yesterday’s appointment, I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t bummed. Chris and I drove separately as we were both coming from work, so we obviously had to drive separately home. I got into my car, pulled my new zebra shades down over my eyes, and pulled out. Just as a single tear fell down my cheek, Thisis the Stuff by Francsesca Battstelli. Now this song’s beat is mildly annoying, but it’s so true for my life. It speaks about how there are small things that don’t really matter that test your patience and such and because of all of that, we forget our many blessings. So true. It definitely wasn’t the song I wanted to hear at that moment, but nevertheless it was a good reminder.

So I guess we'll move on, not knowing if our first child will be a boy or a girl, and having a gender nuetral shower, and getting a huge surprise come August! Honestly, yesterday I was extremely bummed about not knowing, simply because I had the expectation of knowing, but now I think I *may* be able to last another 19 weeks before finding out!

Here's a little glimpes of the stubborn and in control modest lil one! I'm sure [s]he be perfect! : )

Face shot, with it's nubby right arm.

Spring-ish Winter Break

Last Friday at 1:30pm officially began my spring break. I was looking forward to it for a couple of reasons and obviously all my students were looking forward to it, so I embraced it with open arms. Leading up to the week, I had an unwritten to do list of what I wanted to accomplish:

1. Move the tv to the living room.

2. Organize the bedroom that the tv was in so it can start to become nursery-ish.

3. Put the crib together.

4. Organize the mounds of things in the garage by putting them into the new pantry area.

5. Do our state and local taxes. [I've had federal done since early February, but there's little motivation when we owe money! : ) ]

*Note: There is nothing listed about lesson plans or grading which is likely why I haven't done either and it's already Friday! Yikes!

By Saturday night, Chris and I had kicked butt and marked off the first 3 things on my to-do list. And now that it's Friday, I've got to re-motivate myself to get those last two done, and especially the little asterisk!

Here's the crib all put together! : )

So you ask what have I done with the last five days of not working on my to-dos?! Well I have been doing other enjoyable things that I will enlighten you on now.

MONDAY: Busy, busy, busy. Monday morning I woke up with a plan of going from one thing to another for the majority of the day. I had a meeting in the morning then a dentist appointment just before noon, then a doctor's appointment at 1:50. Spin [I thought] was at 5:30 and then TFC at 7. Well I was a bit nervous about my morning schedule as I was afraid the offices would be running behind and I was would be in a mad rush from one place to another. Thankfully that wasn't the case--actually the exact opposite was the case. I had a decent amount of time to kill between everything that morning. So I did what anyone would do, go from drugstore to drugstore and rack up some freebies!

Dentist Appt: I had a pinhole cavity that needed filled--I swear they just make things up in order to get more of our money-- so I get called back, and the assistant puts the topical numbing stuff on my gums. The dentist comes back with a needle and numbs my mouth. Not 3 minutes later--which it usually takes longer than that for the dentist to return--he's back with drill in hand and begins drilling. Did he check to see if everything was numb yet?! Of course not! Reminded me of the country song "Some Beach!" I grunted because it hurt--usually I try to tough it out but this hurt! And as he put the drill down he commented that he didn't give me much anaesthetic because he wasn't going to be doing much drilling. Gee thanks for the warning! To my surprise he was done with drilling and within 20 minutes of sitting in the dentist chair, I was back in my car with an hour and an half before my doctor's appointment.

Doc Appt: I arrived to the office about 15 minutes early because I was out of ideas to kill time, so I read a few pages of a new book and watched some Soaps while trying to understand the unfolding drama. I got called back a few minutes before my scheduled appointment time and when through the usual routine...Weight... Pee in a Cup... Nurse asks if I have any new symptoms or questions? Nope... Fetal Heart rate...144...[Don't get me wrong, that part is cool, but it wasn't as climatic as the first time and this nurse wasn't as bubbly/fun.]...Doc will be in a minute. Okay... Couple minutes of Soaps...Doc come in and asks if I have any new symptoms or questions? Nope... She feels around my stomach/uterus..."Everything looks good, and girls will schedule you for your ultrasound and upcoming appointments on your way out!"... The end. After scheduling appointments through the end of May, I was out the door. It was 2:10! I was in and out after only 20 minutes. Do I see the "necessity" of these appointments? Of course, but it seems like such a waste of time. Part of me was wishing I had a high risk pregnancy so that they'd at least be more interesting, but of course that's the senseless part of me and I'm thankful for a healthy-as-far-as-we-know pregnancy!

Spin was cancelled and then off to TFC. So my "crazy busy Monday" turned out to be pretty slow.

TUESDAY: A few weeks ago, Chris had planned a mini-getaway for my Spring Break. He kept it all a secret, except that he told me we were going to a Bed & Breakfast. [Well he thought we were going to a Bed & Breakfast, but after communicating with the owner he discovered that they actually didn't serve breakfast so we were going to a... Bed. : ) ] So we headed out later than planned thanks to sleeping in on Tuesday for Eastern Ohio for a mini-trip to Holmes County. The drive was nice and when we got there we went to a Cheese Factory. We bought 4 different kinds of cheese--who knew they made salami cheese!? With a cracker, it's just like eating a slice of cheese with a slice of salami on a cracker! Yum! Then we were off to a couple little markets/shoppes. They had tons of crafty things there, which we didn't buy but rather examined the things we liked closely so we can make them ourselves. By this time, we were able to check into our Bed & Breakfast so we headed there. It was a cozy lil' country decorated room that once we figured out the lock system we were all set! Shortly after getting there, an Amish neighbor lady came to door with peanut butter cookies for us. [These weren't just single pb cookies, but soft, delicious pb cookies that are made into "sandwiches" with  a pb frosting holding them together!] Chris answered the door and took the cookie jar with him. At first she piled 2 on there. Then she commented about it being a balancing act as she piled 2 more on! Thinking she was done, Chris thanked her, just have her put another two pb sandwiched on there! Holy moly! Who needs breakfast when you have the equivalent of a dozen homemade, fresh pb cookies!!

After coming up with a game plan for the rest of the evening--1/2 hour snooze, supper, jacuzzi, movie, bed-- we were set for the evening. We decided to go to Chalet in the Valley for supper because I read that they had cheese fondue! We ordered just that when we got there [which is all I was going to eat!] and when it came out it was huge and delicious!!

We ate most of this--which we later discovered was a pound of cheese! No bathroom breaks on our way home. ; )

Although we had all the cheese with yummy bread and Chris was barely able to eat half his meal, there was still a little room for dessert! We decided on a Matterhorn--layered baked meringue, pineapple, and ice cream covered in whipped cream--and to get it to-go. Now this dessert was huge as in 8 inches tall huge, so we gave the workers a bit of a challenge of making this to-go. Nevertheless they did it! And it was a-mazing!

Matterhorn Dessert

After supper it was time to roll ourselves back to our Bed & Breakfast to enjoy the jacuzzi. Note to self: Never let Chris put the bubbles in the tub for our future children. They made just get lost in the bubbles! He put an entire bottle of bubbles in the tub which ended up being a ton!!

The remnants of the bubble jaccuzzi--after all the water had been let out!

We watched Five People You'll Meet in Heaven [the book's better] and then drifted off to sleep!

WEDNESDAY: We got up, ate some pb cookies for breakfast, and headed to a Chocolate Factory before heading home from our adventure. After a decent drive home considering we hit rain, baby hail, and snow, we had a couple of hours before Chris had to go to work for the night. So since I knew I'd be on my own for the evening, I decided to embark on a couple new projects. Chris and I had been talking about the cost of baby bedding sets [which we had been saving our Swagbucks for so in reality it'd be "free"] and how you pay close to $100 for a fitted crib sheet and crib skirt and everything else is a safety hazard to actually use. So after a little surfing the web, I found some tutorials on making fitted crib sheets. With a plan in mind, I headed out to Hobby Lobby to buy the supplies. I picked out a light green fabric and some elastic as well as some remnant pieces. I knew what I'd use the green fabric and elastic for, but I now needed to come up with an idea for my remnants. Before I headed home, I stopped by Wally World to see if they had any fabric remnants I wanted which much to my surprise they didn't because they no longer really carried fabric. Then I was off to Walgreens to see if they had gotten in any money-making toothpaste and some Snicker Easter Eggs when I got a text from my Momma "I see you." She happened to be across the street waiting for my brother so they could eat some Lock Sixteen. So of course I joined them. : )

Project time! I decided that I would make a little pillow, and stuffed elephant, and a crib sheet out of my Hobby Lobby goodies! My game plan was first pillow, then sheet, and lastly elephant because I thought that would be the order from easiest to hardest. I forgot that I wanted to wash the sheet material first, so that became project numero tres. I busted out the sewing machine and not too much longer I was stuffing my pillow. Project Uno: Check. Then I found a pattern I wanted to use for the elephant. While I struggled a bit with the ears, the body was oddly easier and not too too much longer that project was done was well. The crib fabric was washed and dried so I was ready to start the fitted crib sheet. I laid it all out and began cutting when Chris got home. I showed him my first two projects then quickly got back to my mission of easily creating a crib sheet for half the cost of buying one at the store! As Chris went to bed, I continued to work on my sheet. Not too much longer, I broke my sewing needle on my last stitch of the sheet and I was complete! Wahoo!! It felt quite accomplishing! And for less than $4!



Crib sheet, pillow [it has the dot pattern on the back side], and lil' elephant!



The best part of it all--the sheet actually fit! : )

THURSDAY: BFer and her lil one came to visit for lunch on Thursday, so in the morning I had to do some picking up in the living room so Emma didn't get ahold of any fabric scraps! Then we spent awhile catching up which was quite enjoyable! We talked about babies, coupons, houses, life, and one interesting wives tale! Britney had a classmate tell her when she was pregnant with Emma that if you look on the inside of your feet, right under your ankle bone that whichever one is puffier is an indication of baby's gender. It was accurate for her and her classmate when they were pregnant, so she had me check my ankles! I had never heard of this before so I asked all the pregnant people I could think of who already know what they are having to check their ankles and it's 6 for 6 on accuracy, so in 13 days we'll see if it's accurate for me!

After BFer and Emma-bug headed home, I was going to head back to Hobby Lobby to get some more crib fabric when another friend text to ask if I was up for heading to OfficeMax. Well our trip to OfficeMax ended up being a trip there and then to the mall and then to Hobby Lobby and then to Big Bs and then to Super Wal-Mart and then back to my house. I was particularly excited about two parts of this run around: Hobby Lobby and the mall. At Hobby Lobby I got enough teal fabric to make 2 more fitted crib sheets as well as two super soft remnant pieces. As we picked up the pink minky fabric we noticed that it read "Type of Fabric: Dirty". So I wondered just how dirty is dirty! I asked the interesting lady working that section if she could open it up. I am glad that she did because not only did we discover that the dirtiness was confined to a small area and it appeared that it was easily washout, we also discovered that it was not a full yard like the label suggested. So after remeasuring the fabric and getting a discount for the dirt of course, it came out to be quite the deal!

Thursday's Goodies 

As we continued to chat and go from place to place I realized that I missed my spin class--I blame it on the lack of schedule this week! Crap! Today's spin is going to kick my butt as it has been since a week ago Monday! Yikes! Anyways I came up with the idea to go to The Melting Pot as Dani has never been and they have a special on Thursday nights! So without much convincing, we were tearing through my closet looking for ways to easily transform ourselves from hot messes to hot presentable without Dani having to run home! Not too much longer we were on our way to delicious food dipping goodness! Yum! Yum!

And now that brings us to today, which other than this post and washing/drying my additional crib fabric, I have not accomplished a single thing! On today's to-do list:

1. Lesson plans for the rest of my current geometry unit.

2. Make 2 more crib sheets.

3. Find a project to use the white fabric for! : )

We'll see how this goes, and if you are still reading this...Wow! Thanks!

Until next time! [Which will likely be sooner rather than later as I haven't blogged much because most of the things that I have wanted to blog about has centered around baby things and I haven't wanted that information to be on the internet before this past week!]