Where's Waldo? At the finish line!

Today was the Monster Dash Half Marathon. I dressed up as Where's Waldo. Or Walda if you're particular about things like that. My watch said 2:27, the clock said 2:32, and I haven't gotten my chip time yet. A far cry from the 2:08 I ran in grad school, but still, I ran it nonetheless. AND I met several of my goals. (I like to make a set of tiered goals so I'm assured of at least some success.)


1) General race goal #1: Don't finish last. Check. 
2) General race goal #2: Don't finish last in my age group. Check. (Technically I do not know that this is true, but general observation suggests that it is.)
3) Monster Dash goal #1: Don't be the last Waldo to finish. Check. 
4) Monster Dash goal #2: Run the race with 12 minute mile splits. Check. 
5) Secret Monster Dash goal #1: Run the race in under 2:30. Check. (According to my watch, that I started when I crossed the start and the finish. I believe my chip time will vindicate me.)
6) Over-achiever Monster Dash Goal #2: Run the race with 11 minute mile splits. Close, but no cigar. I was pretty close though, so I don't feel too bad about it. 


I managed to keep to my original plan of only walking through the water stations. I felt pretty good all the way through mile 12. Then I took my last walking/water break and the last mile stretch was pretty rough. My bones were starting to hurt. My hip felt fine, but my ankles, shins and humorous bones felt like they were cracking up. After finishing, stretching, and popping an Aleve I felt much better. 


Joe is the best husband ever. Not only did he watch Lily all day while I ran and recovered, he also brought me a humongous burger after and made an amazing gourmet dinner. I really don't know what I would do without him. 


I had forgotten how much I enjoy running in a race. Running with people makes everything easier. And it's nice to have people cheering for you. I don't know if I'll do another half marathon again, the training runs get too long for a jogging stroller, but I'm definitely going to compete again. Shamrock Shuffle 2012, here I come!

Fitness Fail

So we went on this amazing trip last weekend. That means I skipped my long run. And we ate amazing food for four days straight. And I gained three pounds. Boo. And I still have ten pounds that I want to lose. Double boo. Saturday is the Monster Dash Half Marathon. I am still planning to 'run' it, but it will not be pretty. After the race, I'm going to take a week to do nothing/research new exercise-y things to do. Then it's down to business. These last ten pounds WILL be gone by Christmas if it kills me. Hopefully it won't. 

Road Trip!

This weekend was Fall Break for Joe so we decided to go on a road trip to Southern Illinois. Originally, we were planning on camping for at least one night. We both LOVE camping and are super excited to take Lily. However, the reality of it all set in the night before we left as we were packing up. Camping with two adults is pretty straightforward and not too complicated. Camping with a 15-month-old is a completely different story, and one that we were unprepared for. We decided it was going to be too much of a hassle to be fun and hopped on Hotwire instead and found fun, cheap hotels on the road. 

After a long day of driving on Saturday we went to Lambert's Cafe, a restaurant recommended by one of Joe's law school friends, Nathan. There was a 40 minute wait, but it was totally worth it. The food was AMAZING. And the wait was actually just what Lily needed. After being strapped in the carseat all day she really just wanted to run around for a while. In front of the restaurant is basically a playground and there are kids running all over the place. So Lily got to get a bit of exercise before sitting down to eat. And eat she did. She had fried okra, a throwed roll (they throw the rolls at you), chicken and dumplings, baked beans, BBQ ribs, and beets. It was ridiculous. You would have thought she was a small elephant by how much she ate. Then, on a full belly, even after all day in the car, she slept great that night. 

They had a hay bale with fall decorations on it that everyone was taking pictures of their kids on. So of course, we had to as well. Lily sat there shaking her head no for a long while so I eventually gave up and this was the best picture we could get. 

Sunday we went to the Belmont-Columbus Civil War Battle Site, and hiked in the Shawnee National Forest. Great fun was had by all. 

All day Monday and Tuesday morning we explored Springfield, IL. We visited the Capitol, Lincoln's Home, played with leaves in a park, ate at some delicious restaurants, and went to the Illinois State Museum. Oh my goodness, it was so cool. They have this Play Museum in the basement where kids can touch and climb on a bunch of stuff. Lily played for a whole hour. And the museum itself is really kid friendly. The natural history section, called Changes, is all about Illinois basically from the beginning of time. It's really hands on and has really good explanations, so it was fun for the whole family. 

Lily did great with the whole hotel thing. I was a little worried about being in a weird place and what that would do to her ability to sleep, but it was like she barely noticed. One afternoon we stopped back at the hotel and Lily got into the bag I had a roll of paper towels in and proceeded to cover the whole room with them. This picture does not do justice to the havoc she wrought. This little girl makes me laugh so much. 

This was a really great trip. And exactly what we needed after the past couple of weeks. I was a little worried that we would all be just too tired to have any fun, but that was not the case. We had a lot of fun just hanging out together as a family. It was really nice to just do what we wanted and not have to worry about other people, household chores, or school. It feels great to be home refreshed, centered, and ready to tackle whatever comes next!

Crafting

Previously I've written about Lily starting to color. And I think I mentioned that she likes to finger paint, too. Her new favorite 'art' is to draw on what is essentially a Magna-Doodle but is called something else because it's produced by B. Toys. She loves to climb into her camp chair (a new skill!), and scribble away. Sometimes she concentrates really hard and puts her face like one inch away from the surface. She doesn't really get the animal shaped 'stamps' yet, but she likes to kiss them and then throw them on the floor.  

As Lily colors and paints, I've come to a dilemma: what to do with the stuff she makes. Part of me wants to be the mom who makes beautiful scrap books of all the important stuff she does so she can see it later. Part of me is a clutter-phobe that can't stand to have mail from yesterday sitting around. Part of me knows that these are not great works of art and she will make a million of them. And part of me thinks but she made this, how can I possibly ever part with it? 

I've come up with a couple of solutions. First of all, there's this blog. I've taken pictures of most things and written about it here so there is at least a record of The First Coloring and The First Painting. And on my phone there are pictures of the second, third, and fourth... 

The second answer is to create something from it. Like this thank you card we sent to our friends Jill and Jim in Duluth. After Lily was done finger painting, I took a picture of it, printed it on photo paper, traced a seahorse, cut it out, and glued it to some card stock. And tada! Instant art. I see many paint-photo cards in our future. 

Another example of this is our Halloween decorations. Lily painted with purple paint the other night while I did the dishes. Then today, after it dried, I cut out bat shapes from the paper and hung them in the window. The crinkly-ness from the paint adds to the bat-ness. 

I tried to have her paint a real pumpkin, but that was a disaster. So we have a fake light up pumpkin instead. Here's a picture of our full fall display. Amazing, I know.  

And finally, I also created a 'gallery' in our living room. We have this huge empty wall that we can't put anything on because we can't put any holes in the wall with nails. So last year I ordered these stick on removable and reusable frames so we could at least put something up there. They've been sitting in the to-do pile since then because I've been to lazy to print out pictures to put in them. I decided to finally put them to use and stick some of Lily's art in there. I have eight frames total, and when they fill up I will start taking things out and replacing them. It will be like an ever changing permanent display. 

It seems silly to be putting so much thought and effort into this art thing, but it feels like this is the first big test of our parenting values. It's hard to find the balance between valuing what your child has done and making too big of a deal out of it. I mean, sure, I think this stuff is cute, but it's clearly not anything special in the grand scheme of things. At the same time I want to celebrate the fact that she's doing it and encourage her to keep doing it. I also realize that absolutely none of this matters now because she won't remember it; I see it more as practice for the future. I don't want her to be one of those kids that thinks everything they do is special and give her a false sense of superiority. At the same time I don't want to 'squelch her spirit' (a quote from Parenthood, one of the best shows on TV) and make her feel like I don't appreciate her work. I'm not exactly sure what I'm trying to say here. So I'll end with a quote from Oscar Wilde: A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament. I have a feeling with Lily and my 'unique temperaments' we will be making great works of art together for a long while. 

The Longest Week Ever

This has been the longest week ever. Seriously. Joe has been busy, Lily has been sick, and I have been tired/impatient/frustrated/fill-in-your-favorite-negative-emotion-here. 


Joe has been super busy. This year he was invited to join one of the journals at school (kind of a big deal in the law school world). This week he had his first kind of big assignment due for it. So he has been working until midnight just about every night since last Wednesday. I saw him sometimes for breakfast and sometimes for dinner, but not usually both. It sounds like it has been a fun project to work on, but I sure have missed him. And not just for his baby-sleep-inducing skills. We have a lot of fun together and I have missed chatting about whatever and laughing at our ridiculous daughter. 


Lily has been sick. As I posted on facebook, Lily has been on the BRAT diet all week. I was starting to get worried about her being dehydrated so we even made a trip to the doctor. As of yesterday, things are looking up. But for the previous five days, oh man was she a wreck. Unless she was a) asleep, b) eating a popsicle, or c) in the bathtub, she was i) crying, ii) screaming, iii) hitting and throwing things at me, or iv) all of the above. For five days. Poor little critter. She seemed to rally when other people were around so we spent a good deal of time visiting grandparents.


Two things have been particularly difficult during this week: eating and sleep. Lily is used to eating whatever Joe and I are eating, just cut up smaller or with a teeny less spice in it. So it was killing her to see us eating regular food and her having to force down another banana or some more applesauce. When it's just me I've been trying not to eat other things in front of her so she doesn't feel so bad, and if I never see another banana again that would be ok with me. Sleeping has been an issue because we can't give her a bottle of milk at bedtime. Instead, I have to lie down with her and she nurses until she falls asleep. Then I very carefully try to creep out of bed without waking her up. This works fifty percent of the time. This means that I haven't been able to keep up with the nightly household chores like I usually do adding to my general state of unease. 


I have been tired/impatient/frustrated/fill-in-your-favorite-negative-emotion-here. Last week I only worked on Wednesday so I've had Lily full-time for most of the week. And I mean 24-7 full-time. It's been really draining to not have a moment alone. I am a true introvert in the sense that I draw my energy from and am refreshed by spending time alone. I like people, I like socializing, but what I need to feel relaxed and calm is some time alone. Usually to clean. I have really come to cherish the two hours after Joe takes over in the evenings and my couple of days at work each week. 


I feel like I haven't had a chance to collect my thoughts and that forces me to think as I lie in bed and that keeps me up and that makes me tired and then I can't exercise the next day because I'm too tired and then I'm more anxious and I still can't clean anything. This is the downward spiral I end up in. Not good. 


But it's almost done. At this moment I'm thankful for family nearby, doctors on call, and Mott's 100% Juice No Sugar Added Ice Pops. I'm looking forward to work tomorrow and camping for the first time with Lily this weekend. Lily is feeling better, I went for a run this morning, we decorated for Halloween, and in a few hours Joe will be home again. 

4 Weeks To Go!

There are only four weeks left until the Monster Dash Half Marathon. And things are starting to get scary. For some reason I'm starting to really psyche myself out. I'm afraid of the cold. I'm afraid of the distance. I'm afraid of getting stuck out someplace with the stroller. 

All of these things are ridiculous. It is not cold. It's PERFECT running weather.  The distances are doable. I have run a half marathon before, I'm doing the miles each week, my body is not going to spontaneously stop working. Getting stuck with the stroller is a reasonable fear, but I don't have to go run the super long ones with Lily. 

I really don't know why I'm freaking out so much. But it's not good. I missed my long run this weekend because of other things that were going on, but that's no excuse not to run today. Sometimes I feel like if I'm not doing eight miles, then it's not even worth it. That's so dumb! A short four mile run is better than no run at all. 

I just need to remember that I never regret going out for a run. I think I may have found the sweet spot interval that will get me through the half marathon. If I run 1.5 miles and then walk for 2 minutes I can go forever. Seriously, it feels great. And that roughly coincides with the water stations along the course, so that's great. 

I've also been experimenting with adding some Gatorade in along with water. I've read that if you're an average person, you only need water for the first hour of exercise but that after that you should add in something with some electrolytes. The problem is I'm allergic to Splenda and just about everything out there has Splenda in it. I can tolerate it in small amounts, so I'm trying to build up a tolerance. I would just drink some apple juice or something, but I absolutely cannot run while holding anything. I've tried several different kinds of water waist bands and backpacks and it just does not work for me so I'll need to rely on whatever is available on the course, which will mostly likely be Gatorade. So far so good. 

As for losing weight, I've been stuck at 161 for three weeks in a row. Part of the problem has been having Joe around for essentially four day weekends. That's two more days each week of eating lots of food than I'm used to. Now that school's back in session that should be less of a problem. The other problem is that as the weather gets colder all I want to eat is warm cheesy food. If I'm REALLY good for the next four weeks and throw in a couple of extra workouts in the evenings, I should be able to still reach my goal of being under 150 by the race. So, here's to running more, eating less cheese, lifting more, and not being afraid!