Monday, May 26, 2014

Weekend Wrap Up- There is no P in our OOL

 
Saturday after the Color Run I headed home to shower up and take L to the pool. Saturday marked the beginning of pool season and I was determined to get our pool pass money worth. We headed there about 2pm and stayed for about an hour. It was 73 out and the pool was not too crowded. We got our pool passes and due to their internet being down we also both got free soft serve ice cream. It is really nice because our town pool is heated and is a nice 83 degrees.

View of the pool from the concession area, the pool is zero depth entry

Two slides, a body and a tube

More pool
 
L did so good showing off her swim lesson moves. She dove for diving sticks and practiced her swimming. She also went down the tube slide with me a few times.
 
After the pool Saturday we headed home to have yummy Pot Roast for dinner.
First time they have sat on the sill together, right before one of them hit the other
 
 
 
Sunday we headed back to the pool around noon, again not too crowded. We swam more and went down the slide 4 times. We could only stay an hour since Grandma and Nono were coming over. When we got home we got there just in time to meet Grandma and Nono in the driveway. L took a bath for a bit then we went on a walk to the elementary school so she could play on the playground. Even grandma got in on the action on the see saw. I went down some slide and totally bashed my knee. Sometimes I don't realize some of the slides are not for grownups.
 
After park fun, we headed home and to the backyard to play bubbles and do chalk drawings. It was so nice outside and enjoyable. So nice I am actually going to get a hammock for the yard.
Nono and L reading Lady and the Tramp
 
We had yummy burgers for dinner and the kringle I got at the Color Run.
Yum!
 
 Monday was pretty low key, back to the pool again. Little Miss L was a bit additudey throughout the day. We stayed at the pool for 2 hours and enjoyed the 78 degree weather.
 
We just managed to escape the rain right after we headed home. When we got home we just did stuff around the house. L and Justin worked on telling time and counting money. We watched a few good baseball games and had cheese hot dog pigs in a blanket. All in all it was a great 3 day weekend. So glad the pool is finally open and the weather is warm enough to enjoy it. We are also very thankful for all the men and women who served and serve our country that we remember on this Memorial Day. Especially my cousin Caleb who is stationed in Korea for the Army. Thank you Caleb!
 
 
 

 
 


Color Run Racine Recap- Happiest 5k on Earth

Pre leaving the house selfie
 
Sat morning I got up bright and early to go pick up my friend Kelly and her friend Debbie for the Color Run in Racine, WI. Kelly and I had gone to Racine to get our packets. This year we got a shirt, headband, tattoos, messenger bag, and bracelet. I also bought some chevron knee socks and Kelly got some bandanas. I wore my tutu I made last week, you can read about that here. We got to the race about 8:15 and found good parking. The weather was gorgeous, much better than last year. It was bout 65 degrees or so and very sunny. Parking was a bit of a walk but in the end, very easy to get out of and worth the spot. We got to the corral around 8:45am and ended up being in the 4th wave. They had shorter waves this year which was much better than last.
Another pre race selfie


Corral selfie
 
Kelly in the corral


Kelly and Debbie ready to run

Looking at the beautiful weather, actually this was probably an accidental shot


We're ready for the Color Run!
 
Kelly headed out in front of us and I stuck with Debbie. She had a similar pace than me so it worked out great. We wound up running the entire race, minus through the color as you really can not see through some of the areas. First was pink, then purple (new this year), blue, and finally yellow. This year I ran with water since there is only one water station and it was pretty hot. We finished in 37:23, which was slower than last year, but I felt better and had a lot of run! Next year I think we will take the princess with us.


Finish line
 
Post race Kelly


Post race Debbie


Kelly and I post race


Me post race


Kelly and Debbie


I rocked one

Getting ready to throw the color


Letting the color go!


So pretty!


Color blowing in the wind

 
Got green this year, my favorite color!
All in all another successful, well put on Color Run. These races are fun and well organized. I hope they keep coming back to Racine. After the race we made our traditional stop at Mars Cheese Castle for meat and cheese. Always a good time!
 
Have you done a Color Run before?
 
 


Sunday, May 18, 2014

Weekend Wrap Up- Back on WW and A Running Skirt Project

Hope everyone had a great weekend, mine was not too shabby! Friday I decided I wanted to make a tutu for the Color Run Racine next Sat. So I headed out to Hobby Lobby and got tulle in white, green w/ sparkles, orange w/ sparkles, hot pink, and hot green. I also got some elastic to make the band. That night I decided I wanted to make my tutu, I found a bunch of good websites with instructions on it. First off, the glitter tulle made a huge mess on the couch. Probably won't be getting glitter tulle again. It only took about an hour to make, I'll take better pictures Sat at the race but here is a preview:
Doesn't he look hot?
 
Friday I also signed up for Weight Watchers for the 3rd time. The first time I did it was in 2010 and I was very successful. I lost 40 plus pounds. Well in 2011 and 2012 I gained back 25 of it. I tried it again last year and lost nothing. I totally cheated myself and was not as serious about tracking food. I would sneak treats and not record them. We just booked our return trip to Mexico last week and I am determined to succeed again. I am hoping with my running and healthy eating I can stick with it this time. Here was Friday's lunch:
Trader Joe's chicken sausage and a yummy salad in my TMNT bowl, don't judge
Saturday I ran my first 10 miles. Afterwards I had lunch and took L to the park. It was not too crowded so we had a lot of the park to ourselves, always a bonus. We had lots of slide races and a few rock wall climbs.
On the swinging bench
 
Enjoying the park
After the park we headed home to get ready for dinner at Chili's. We shared chips, salsa, and guac and I enjoyed the Lighter Choice 6 oz Sirloin.
 
Sunday was chore day. I reorganized our craft area downstairs.
Now L can easily get to her coloring and games. I surprisingly was not very sore today after yesterday. I managed to get 30,000 steps on the Fitbit yesterday, this was a first! After all chores were done, we headed back to the park for an hour. She got in trouble for climbing up the slide, since there are so many kids we need to just go down the slides, if not we might get hurt. When I asked her why she did it her answer was "I thought you were not looking." Honest yes, but wrong still. We headed home after the park and took a nice walk around the neighborhood before I cooked dinner. I made an excellent WW Shepard's Pie and Reduced fat crescent rolls. So good!!
 
Up next weekend is the Color Run, let's hope for good weather.
 
 
 
 


My First LONG Run- 10 Miles Down

In Sept of 2013 I thought I would be ambitious and sign up for my first half marathon after completing my first 10k (Brewers 10k). Well almost 8 months later, we are less than one month away to that race: the Rock N Sole Half Marathon. Where I hope to make it to the finish and earn this:
I'm going for the big blue one to the right.
 
So up until now I have not followed any training plan. Most weeks I have intended to run more than once, but something always came up. The furthest I had ever run was 6.35 straight and no offense but 6.35 is no where near 13.1. So this weekend I had to suck it up and finally smash 6.35 and go the distance, literally.
 
Sat morning I got up around 8:15 and totally was dragging, how would I ever run more than 6 miles thing morning, let alone 1 mile. But I knew I could not cop out, this was my last chance to see what I could do. I was so scared I would not make it 13.1 I was panicking this past week. Seriously, Friday I was wondering if I should drop down to the quarter marathon. But I was like NO, you signed up for the half, no excuses. I decided to try out my Salted Caramel GU, I would be close to home incase there was any stomach issues. I strapped on my water belt and headed out.
 
I decided to just run the neighborhood, there were so many people outside mowing the lawn I never felt alone. Just so you know my neighborhood is kind of small. I would say a big circle around it, without the side streets, is 1.5 miles tops. The day before I plotted out 8 miles on map my run, yeah totally did not stick to that at all. I headed through my neighborhood and could feel the GU kick in, I was feeling good. This was also my first attempt at Galloway method and I was doing 2 minutes run/ 1 minute walk. As I was running through the neighborhood I started getting toe pain about mile 4, which I think was due to my laces being too tight. I was seriously doubting I was going to make it 4 more miles! Some how I just kept going and going. Finally at 8 I said I would stop at 9, but then at 9 I just wanted to walk 10 to see what my pace would be, incase I had to walk at the half and needed to avoid getting picked up by the slow bus by walking less than a 16 min mile. I finished in 2:19:00, not too bad I thought.
 
 
Well I felt pretty good when it was over, that I finally did it! I walked in the door and "L" wanted to hug me, I stunk and hurt so that was not a good idea. First word out of my mouth was "Does it smell like pee in here?" Well I guess it was me, prob not pee but you get the drift. I also realized you see some odd things when you run the neighborhood like 15 times. I saw a house with a weird trail of bagels in the driveway. About 15 bagels all lined up, not sure what that was all about but they looked like perfectly good bagels. So when all is said and done I think I will make it 13.1 next month, come hell or high water I am trucking it over those hills and making it upright to the finish. I hope to run the first 2 miles then kick the Galloway into gear once the crowds have cleared.
 
Have you finished a distance run using the Galloway method? Any advice?
 


Mother's Day at Miller Park

 
Last weekend I had a wonderful first mother's day at Miller Park with the husband and princess. We headed up there about 10:30 to get good parking. It was packed already in the preferred lot due to gorgeous tailgating weather, Kyle Losch bobblehead night, and the Yankees being in town. Justin and I wore our Yankee gear.
Our seats were not too bad, I brought my Nikon D3200 and the long lens so I could take good pictures. I knew this would be the last time I would get to see Derek Jeter play. We had such a fun time at the game, the princess even seemed to enjoy it. Afterwards we got some Jimanos pizza before heading home. What a great first Mother's Day! Lots of pictures below, note we were in section 408, the zoom was that good on the lens.



Bernie and his mom

Love ya Jeter!

Not sure why Ryan Fraud gave Jeter his gift



Fluffy!


Rickie Weeks










Sausages getting ready




Go sausages!


Brat wins!




Storm is coming