Lazy? Days of Summer?

There is something very wrong with the above statement. First it is May 29th in Minnesota and we have had nary a spring season for the most part and I am starting to have my doubts that we will see summer! Second the past days/weeks have been everything but lazy. Our lives have been ruled by the calendar and without its existence I surely would be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It feels like the entire family has been in perpetual motion and we are all sleep deprived. All you parents out there know it is bad enough when we ourselves are sleep deprived but then mix in a 9 1/2 year old and an almost 5 year old who are on sleep deficits and you have a recipe for disaster. That would be our house lately. Screaming, crying, stomping, door slamming and melt downs. And that is just Bill and I. (kidding) Bill has had work and little sleep at night, union duties, yard work and painting. I have had work, running class (done as of last week I am sad to say), house work and getting the kids outfitted for summer (shopping isn't always fun folks). The kids have had school, end of year celebrations, dance class, baseball and visiting and choosing a new school for Ryan to attend in the fall.

Here was how my evening went on Tuesday:
Leave work at 5:15 in a panic because I am already running late and the highway resembles a parking lot. Arrive home at about 5:50, grab the mail, take care of the dog, grab a can a pop and I am off (forgot to grab myself any food - something I will regret later). I race to Kim's house to pick up the kids. THANK YOU Kim for having Anna in her dance attire and Ryan all suited up for baseball. Time is now 6:15. Herd the kids into van and race off to dance. Arrive at dance at 6:28 with enough time to get Anna into ballet shoes and ask other moms if they will keep an eye on Anna and help her change to tap shoes while I run Ryan across town to a 7:00 ball game. Ryan and I race across town to ball field and arrive in plenty of time to . . . circle the parking lot for 10 minutes waiting for a parking spot to open up. Of course his game is at the furthest field from the parking lot. We scurry to the ball field with a few minutes to spare and I let the coach know that I have to pick up my daughter from dance so will be back in a bit. Back to my car I go. Now it it important to note that I am limping these days thanks to my pesky IT Band problems so I am not moving as fast as I would like and of course I am still in my work clothes and heels!

I race back across town to pick up Anna and arrive at 7:12 with 3 minutes to spare. Then I realize I have left her picture order and money in the car so I race back down to the car (three floors folks) and grab the form and money. I get back to her classroom just as the girls are emerging. Having forgot Anna's clothes in the car we opt to have her change there (vans are so great for things like this and tinted windows help). Then we race back across town to watch Ryan's game. Ryan tells me he has been playing well and scored two runs already. I can't wait to see him bat. Sadly he strikes out his next two times at bat and then the game is over. :-( So much for being super mom. By now it is 8:30 and I realize that I feel like I could fall over. A quick assessment reminds me I haven't eaten anything since lunch time. Duh!

Home we go. I inhale something for dinner (I don't even remember what but I think it was leftover chicken and some potatoes) and the kids have snack. The kids have a bath and I am convinced when I drain the tub that we have brought home half of the ball field and playground at Kerber Field where Ryan played. Yuck! Off to bed the kids go and I promptly fall asleep in Anna's bed waking after 11:00 only to drag myself off to my bed.

Now next Tuesday night will get even more interesting. Ryan has ball at 5:30 and Anna dance at 6:30. I suspect I will be doing the same loop only backwards this time! See this is why calendars are a good thing. Oh and also keeping food in one's vehicle. :-)

38:37

I DID IT!!!!!!!

I officially completed my first race this morning at approximately 8:22. I can't even begin to describe the high I felt this morning when I crossed my very first finish line. My IT Band wasn't the most cooperative and the minute I stopped running it HURT. I am sitting here having stretched on my foam roller, with a few Advil in my stomach and an ice pack on my leg. But despite the pain I am ready to do it again. Heck I might even be willing to take on a 10k next! Bill says he knows I have it in me to do a full marathon but he tends to believe in me more than I believe in myself most of the time (thanks honey!!). :-)

Here is a photo Bill snapped with his phone about 2 minutes before I crossed the finish line (I was just coming back into the stadium). It is pretty fuzzy because it is from his phone. I am in the bright pink shirt and black bottoms. I will post some other photos when I dump the camera.

T -1 to Race Day!

I can’t believe that I am only hours from my first official “ 5K Race.” I am very excited and very nervous. My left IT band is still giving me fits but after our class run on Wednesday night I am confident in my endurance. Fortunately my IT Band seems o.k. while running, presumably because it loosens up, and the pain doesn’t really set in for several hours post-running so I am also pretty confident in my ability to run pain-free. Maybe I just need to jog everywhere? ☺

For those of you familiar with (or not) Maple Grove, here is a link to the web site.

http://www.maplegrovehalfmarathon.com/

On the site you will find a link to the race route. We will start and finish inside the high school track/football stadium. Right now I am to be at the high school around 6:45 a.m. for a start time of 7:45 a.m. My running class (what is left of us) will meet and do a dynamic warm up together. We will start the run together and although we won’t finish together we will stay to cheer one another on. Given my slow pace I don’t know how much cheering I will be doing but I am going to do my best to have a decent finish time.

The preliminary plan right now is for Bill and the kids to take me to the high school. We figured we would grab the kids McDonalds for a treat and head to the high school. They can sit in the car and eat prior to the race start and be there to cheer me on at the end. Parking is to be at a premium so we figured the lesser of two evils (trying to find two parking spaces versus getting two kids up early) was getting the kids up early.

Stay tuned for a new post (hopefully tomorrow) complete with race photos and results. Say a quick prayer for me for a good race and cross your fingers too.

Twinkle Toes

I can't believe how fast this dance year has gone for Anna. It has been one with bumps along the way — can't recall if I posted last fall that Anna's dance school closed abruptly in November (right after I paid the tuition for the month mind you) after the owner was involved in a criminal investigation concerning mortgage fraud. We were only out $47 but there were families of competitive dancers out thousands of dollars as you got a discount if you prepaid your yearly tuition. After a few weeks hiatus the teachers of her old school quickly banned together and opened a new school. We are in a temporary space on the third floor of an office building but lucky for us it is closer to home. With the plethora of illnesses this year Anna fell short of her prefect attendance of last year. However you can certainly see how her age and it being her second year of dance have worked together to make her an even better dancer this year despite the challenges.

Recital is only a few weeks away (Saturday, June 14th) and last night was annual recital photos. This is an exciting time for both the parents AND dancers as this is the first time the girls get in full costume, makeup and hair. Anna was giddy with excitement when I arrived home from work. While I'm no where near a veteran, I certainly was far more relaxed than a year ago getting her ready. I had her makeup and hair piece from last year and easily got all of that on. For the life of me I can't remember the name of Anna's tap number but her ballet one is "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" so costumes this year are BRIGHT yellow. I thought Anna would protest because it wasn't pink but fortunately she loves it. She is already looking forward to next year when she will move up to the 5-6 year old class and have two costumes and three dances! So anxious to grow up but I know I was just like her so I just have to smile.

Here are a couple photos I snapped last night of her.

Humbling

Just a very quick post to update you on my running progress. The title says it all. This whole experience is very humbling to me. I love it I really do but I would be totally lying if I said I wasn't just a bit frustrated. You see since about week 2 it seems I have dealt with one bump in the road after another. Sore IT bands, sore knees, bad shoes, bad weather, hectic schedule making keeping up with my training a challenge, incredibly sore body needing a break thus affecting my training schedule. You get the idea. Humbling.

Last night at class I was still really nursing a VERY sore left leg. I never even knew I had an IT band before this class but apparently it is very important and VERY apparently my exercise/activities prior to running were not utilizing it. Well it sure lets me know of its existence now! Every time I get up from sitting, every stair I take and well pretty much every step too. Lovely eh? So last night we head out for our group run. I haven’t graduated to a faster group and last night as I was running I realized there is a reason why. I glanced back over my shoulder and saw . . . nothing. Yep you got it — the last one in the slowest group. Humbling.

None-the-less I will persevere and am all registered for my first 5k run during the early morning hours of Saturday, May 17th. I know I can do it, but all bets are off for how long it will take me. Humbling.