IronGirl!

One of my goals during this pregnancy was to stay in better shape than during my previous pregnancies. I was a little nervous because in my experience being pregnant during this time of year has been difficult. In my pregnancy with Caley I found it difficult to stay active because during the summer I felt sick and in the winter it was so cold and dreary and I felt like a 30-week prego whale.

But this time I decided to try to continue running and the end of the running road would be the IronGirl race. And the race was today! So at nearly 19 weeks I ran a 10k with a friend and it was so fun! Exhausting, but fun. I finished in 1hour, 11 minutes (search for me here). Longer than previous races, but my goal was only to finish without having to walk.

God is so good and I feel blessed to have stayed healthy through this pregnancy. With his grace I may run (or walk fast) occasionally through the rest of the pregnancy.

Thank you Jesus for a healthy body, supportive family, fun encouraging friends and a beautiful day for a race!!

Running and Gardening

Today was a wonderful day. My mom was here and instead of taking just Caley back to Astoria for a few days, she took Amelia too at Caley's request. I know by Monday I'll probably cry because I miss them, but I very much enjoyed the afternoon off today. It was so peaceful. I think it's healthy to have time away from the kids, but I'm glad I get to spend almost every day with them.

This afternoon I went running at Edmonds beach. It was beautiful weather and the salty smell of the water perfectly complimented the scenery of the beach and ferry. I love running. It's so uplifting. When I'm running I feel free, strong, healthy, and I can get lost in my thoughts behind the cool music. Today I listened to "Lifter" from Podrunner. It's my favorite track. About 45 minutes in there is the best music and I always get a big smile on my face while running to that part. I can't even describe it.

After running I got some new plants for the garden, zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes, lettuce, and kale (seeds). I made a few more stops before home, and even then it was only 2:30. Usually if I need to stop somewhere it takes like 4 hours with getting the kids in and out of the car over and over.

I got home and planted the new plants. Here's what my garden looks like now. We have had a steady stream of spinach, red and green lettuce, and radishes the last few weeks. I'm very much looking forward to the sugar peas and tomatoes now. When the radishes are done, I hope to plant some more late summer crops.

Thank you Jesus for helpful parents who give us a break now and then. Thank you for your provision. Thank you for blessing us with the gift of children.

I'll leave you with a little surprise...a new widget to your right! :)

My first half!

Today I ran the Mercer Island Half Marathon. The various races (5k, 10k, kids dash, and half marathon) benefitted the awareness and prevention of colon cancer. I started running after Amelia was born and honestly never thought I'd be able to do this! I had heard the course was hilly, so I was fully expecting to crash and burn, even though I've been training a lot. The hills were more rolling and gradual which made it easier than I thought, but there were a few bigger ones that were challenging. There were water stations every mile or so and halfway through I had a Clif gel shot (which I don't recommend as a snack but only if you're doing a lot of activity and need a boost, it wasn't gourmet). The course was along Mercer Way, so it was fairly scenic. The only scary part was a disrespectful driver who was driving on the course behind people and wouldn't stop and turn around. I am very thankful no one was hurt. It just shows that even in official races I need to be aware of my surroundings when I'm running. I finished in about 2 hours and 20 minutes (official results here), which is what I expected since my pace is about 10-11 min/mile.

Bill and the kids came to the finish line and cheered me on. In these pictures I look a little funny because I got kind of emotional when I saw them on the sidelines. I'm so thankful to have a supportive family!

I hope this isn't my last half marathon, but I'm going to take it easy this week and recuperate for a few days.

From now on...

I'll remember to skip running on Tuesday, the night before garbage day in our neighborhood. 

Why, you ask?

Because Tuesday night this week I was running and ran into someone's GARBAGE!!! And not just garbage, but a huge pane of glass that was completely blocking the sidewalk. I was completely blindsided by it, and subsequently knocked it over, breaking it, and knocking over the garbage cans and recycle bins, and fell on the ground. Sure, it's probably not the smartest idea to run at night, but when it gets dark at stinkin' 4:30 it's hard to avoid running after the sun goes down. Thankfully I wasn't really hurt, I was wearing long pants and a sweatshirt so the glass didn't hurt me. But the last few days my upper body has really hurt because I caught myself after the fall and it was a shock to my muscles. 

This was an interesting way to meet our neighbors, to say the least. Wednesday I stopped by the "glass house" just to tell the guy what happened. He was very apologetic and nice, thankfully.

Learn from another of my mistakes: don't run at night before garbage day. (Doing stupid things for others to learn from is just a free service I offer.)

We do stuff so we can blog about it!

Not really, but it's fun to have things to write about!

We had a busy weekend. Saturday we got to march in the Mukilteo Lighthouse Parade because Caley was a Cutie Pie Finalist. She didn't win (sad) but it was still tons of fun in the parade and this past month with her picture in the newspaper and other places. Caley was very good at waving to everyone in the parade and so was Amelia! The winner was #6, who's grandpa works at Seattle Genetics with Bill. Such a small world!

Sunday morning I got up bright and early and ran the Iron Girl 10K at Greenlake! It was a great run, over 2,000 women ran and walked the 5k and 10k. It was also harder than I thought it'd be because I ran for a bit with my friend Cienna who's pace is a little faster than mine. I sort of lost steam at the end. But the important part is that I finished! My final time was 1:01:26, about a minute slower than my Run-A-Muk time.

Throughout the weekend we also did more touch-up painting on the house and Bill put up some shutters. It looks awesome!

Run-A-Muk

Today I ran my first race, a 10K, which was really exciting for me. It was the Run-A-Muk which is part of the Mukilteo Lighthouse Festival, check it out here. The race took me and maybe 150 other runners doing the 5 and 10K from the Rosehill Community Center north on 5th/Mukilteo Boulevard, to Harbourview Park (actually part of Everett) and back on the boulevard, through some neighborhoods and back to the community center. It was a fun race! In the last mile or so this lady passed me and I made it my goal to beat her to the finish line so I booked it to the end. It was a lot harder than my normal runs because I sprinted in the first half mile out of excitement and it wore me out. I am looking forward to doing more competitive runs and learning how to compete, not just run for fun and exercise.

I like living in a small town and getting involved in local events. I hope to run this race again for many years to come!

my SUPERSTAR wife

Ok, she's a superstar regardless, but last night she totally blew me outta the water. She went running last night and came back 90 some odd minutes later and had run 8.3 miles!!!!! I'm talking Mukilteo hills running. Addie, that's amazing.

I'm not worthy!!!!!!

Croci

Thursdays are one of my favorites days because we have playgroup and sometimes I get a sitter in the afternoon for some "time off." Today was great, we went to a playgroup field trip, got some yummy lunch, then the girls went to the sitter and I got to go running. It was a beautiful day, I rocked out to my Podrunner music and ran hard. Along the road I saw some beautiful purple crocuses (or is it croci?) and it was a wonderful reminder that winter is on it's way out and the days will soon be getting longer and warmer. The changing of the seasons is such a wonderful time, such a beautiful reminder of God's glory and love for us. I love the winter because snow is fun and the holidays are great, but it's such a relief to not have to always have the heat on and wear eight layers of clothing.

Thank you Jesus for the sun, that it warms us and lets flowers grow and add color to a cold world.