What rhymes with FUN?: TFTP

Tinkerbell Inaugural Half Marathon
Distance: 13.1 miles
Time: 2:14


Um.... RUN?! Run rhymes with fun!  I know, I'm a dork.  I had so much fun this weekend. And did you know that my first Half-Marathon was also Tinkerbell's first Half?  We didn't actually see Tinkerbell (run Disney that was my only complaint)  but I'm guessing she was running  flying with Sean Astin (yes, Sean Astin was one of the 1,200 men running in the race--sans wings).

I don't have anything to compare it to but I thought Disneyland put on a really well organized event.  You can see from my bib that I was in Corral E because this was my first race.  My friends, Kim and Jill were in the first corral, they're fast runners. So we just took matters into our own hands and moved from the last corral to the first.  Thousands of women, 5:00 in the morning, costumes.... it wasn't hard to sneak my E into the A.  And this was one of the best ideas we had all weekend.

Kim, Me, and Jill ** ready to run

It was a super early start but the weather in Southern California was amazing, a Chamber of Commerce 81 degrees all weekend.  We were chilly waiting for the start but warmed up by Mile 1.

Waiting!

Most of the course was really fun.  After starting near Downtown Disney you take the long way through the back entrance of Disneyland.  We saw lots of the back lot props even though it was still pretty dark.  After stopping to pee at the first opportunity we were in the actual park pretty quickly.  And who did we see?  A whole bunch of princesses!  PHOTO OP!

We stopped about 6 or 7 times to take pictures with characters in Disneyland.  We ran through most, if not all of the park.  It was hard to tell because we cut through the back lots a couple of times.  My favorite was Fantasyland.  The Lost Boys were on the Carousel.  Smead and Captain Hook were hilarious.  And Sleeping Beauty's castle was so pretty at sunrise.

Our husbands did a great job of supporting us (they ran 5K keeping up with us).   The first time we saw them was at Mile 4 in Downtown Disneyland.  My Forever Friend Devre and her husband Steve were there cheering me on too!  And I'm sure there were all kinds of antics in between but they all made it to Miles 4, 8, 11, and 13.

Downtown Anaheim featured cheerleaders, dance teams, bands and lots of asphalt and buildings.  We stopped for another bathroom break at Mile 9 and that was our turning point.  My right knee completely locked up and Jill's left knee started screaming like a little girl.  We kept running but it was really tough.  We finally got to California Adventure and at that point we just wanted to find Mile 13. We really had to dig deep and support each other to get ourselves through the park and back out to the finish (we actually called our husbands at one point to cheer us on!).

But we did it!

And we got awesome medals for our trouble.

I'm really grateful for everyone who cheered us on (in person and otherwise).  I'm especially thankful for my biggest cheerleader, Kevin.  I'm very glad that I can still impress him.  And I'm forever grateful to Kim who convinced me to do it and coached me up on all things running (because I knew nothing!).  And thanks to my parents for watching my kids while I ran and ran and ran.  Thanks to Devre and Steve for being there for me!  And everyone who has continuously encouraged me. 

The official Disney time is HERE
Our GPS splits (every mile tells a tale!):

mi	Pace (min/mi)
1	10:41
2	10:42
3	13:06
4	10:58
5	9:57
6	9:34
7	9:42
8	9:27
9	9:58
10	10:20
11	10:04
12	9:49
13	9:48

Tapering: TFTP

1 Week until the Half Marathon
Distance: 4.02 miles
Time: 34:06 minutes
Avg Pace Per Mile: 8:29 minutes

I'm a swimmer, not a runner.  And I was a pretty good swimmer in my day. I considered myself a sprinter so my coach made me swim distance.  Lap after lap after lap.  I was pretty lazy and generally distracted.  So for me, the best part of the swim season was always the taper.  Tapering is the time during the season when you pull back on the frequency and intensity of your work outs and prepare your body for the big race.

Tapering is as much about your head as it is about your body.  Even a lazy swimmer like me felt strong during the taper.   I also was happy to get done early and not feel like my arms were going to fall off.

Enter the running taper.  Tapering has been messing with my mind.  One minute I feel good about it, the next minute I'm sure that I'm going to have to walk the last 8 miles. But Sunday's run made me feel much better.  I ran fast and strong.  My body didn't seem to be objecting the way it has in the past and my head was in the game.   I love tapering (just for different reasons now!).

Part of the psychology of the swimming taper is the "taper and shave."  Shaving your arms and legs (girls and boys) the night before the race was a ritual.  As a shout-out to my aquatic roots I've been growing my leg hair (that's drag) and will shave down before the race.  There's nothing that says fast like shaving your legs after 20+ weeks of training!  Wish me luck!  See you after the race!

Organization: Crafts

My first task was to organize my crafts and the kids' crafts.  The challenge: space (we don't have much) and money (we don't have any).  I love all of the cool organization tricks on Pinterest but I no longer have the luxury of a walk-in closet for my crafts.  I have this:

My initial thought was to pull everything together.  Figure out what I had.  Try to figure out how to store it and eventually make it happen.  I figured I was in for the long haul because it would take some money to contain all of our crafting stuff.  I was wrong!  I made this happen in one day (the kids helped me finish after dinner) with no money. 

Here's the before:

Well now!  Aren't you the messy one!  Let's just close the door.  What's that?  You can't close the door? 

Remember last year I confessed that I have a lot of cleaning supplies?  Well I'm down to my last three bottles of Scrubbing Bubbles!

Here's how I usually craft.  Get an idea, purchase supplies, create craft (or not), throw leftovers on top of everything else, realize that I already owned everything I needed to craft, growl, REPEAT.

And here's the after:

This is my stuff AND the kids stuff!  I have a whole basket of assorted glue (what?).

PROBLEM #1 RIBBON
Dear Ribbons,
Stop jumping into my cart at Michael's.
Love,
Mama Lou

I bought these bins at Joann's a few years ago.  Good idea in theory but I'm too messy for this kind of thing to work.  So the bins graduated to craft storage and the ribbons went their own way....

My solution for my ribbons came from  craftystorage I kept the (surprising quantity of) unopened ribbons in one of my plastic boxes.  I wrapped the small cut pieces around clothespins. Then I unwrapped the already opened spools and rewrapped them around box tops.



 PROBLEM #2 ODDS AND ENDS
When I pulled everything out of the closet and added the kids' stuff I realized that I owned more do-dads than I knew (pompoms, googly eyes, grommets, glass beads, and on and on).  The clear jars of the inventory will help me see everything (although I will always be tempted to purchase googly eyes at Michael's).

I will finish the game room closet as I tackle Legos and crayons.  These two items (crayons and Legos) are attempting a whole house take-over.  I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!

In conclusion, the total cost of this project was $0.  I searched high and low for clear glass containers in my cabinets, cupboards and closets.  I mostly used old jam jars that were hanging out in 25 different places.  And  Kevin may or may not decide that he needs to start drinking his beer out of XXL beer steins (after 8 years).  At that point we will have to relocate the foamies and misc dollar store items. 

Green Smoothies: Life Change

 No lies!  We have struggled with Keith's horrible eating habits for a long time.  At one point he was existing on macaroni and cheese, McDonald's, cereal, milk, and the occasional piece of cinnamon toast.  Ok, that's an exaggeration.  Let's put it this way, months ago we cut him off from Mac and Cheese and McDonald's now he routinely skips dinner in favor of 3-4 breakfasts (eggs, cereal, yogurt, pancakes, toast).  The only vegetable he regularly eats is carrots.  Short of shoving healthy food down his throat we were at a loss and Keith was grumpy and hungry. 

Enter, the Green Smoothie.  I had heard about the Green Smoothie from several (mostly normal) people but it still kind of scared me.  I'm not a big smoothie person and a green one just doesn't seem appetizing at all.  It's basically a smoothies with spinach to make it green.  Allegedly it is delish. I'll subject my children to anything in the name of healthy eating so it was on.

There are lots of variations on the recipe on the Internet, after a lot of pinsearch (that's research on Pinterest!) I found this one.  Once I bought the ingredients I forgot about looking at the recipe and just rolled with it.  Here's the "recipe" and pricing for my first batch.
A couple of handfuls of fresh spinach (0.29)
Some OJ (.10)
Frozen peaches (.50)
Frozen pineapple (.52)
Banana (.28)
Total $1.69

That's a Daddy serving.  All three kids can split one and be satisfied (or so they've been told).  I still think it's a little pricey so I tried a Costco version and got it down to less than $1 per serving.  I also froze about 30 servings. 

The verdict is in: they love it. We call them Shrek smoothies and they beg me to make them every day!

Variations:
Protein powder: I mostly make them for snacks after school. If I know Keith isn't eating what I'm cooking for dinner then I add some protein powder and milk.
Yogurt: They liked the vanilla yogurt addition.
Cucumbers!: My large freezer batch also included cucumbers and strawberries. You can use any light colored fruit.  Dark berries will make it an odd color (if green isn't already odd enough).
Sweetener: There were a couple of batches that needed a squeeze of honey or agave.

I have yet to drink one.  I've tasted it as I was making the smoothie and it's good.  I just have no desire to consume that concoction or really any smoothie for that matter.  I also don't really like ice cream and fried food so there you go!

The longest mile(s): TFTP

3 Weeks until the Half Marathon
Distance: 13.95 miles
Time: 2 hours 14 minutes
Avg Pace Per Mile: 9:40

Last long run! There is really nothing that can test your dedication like running 14 miles (almost, I think my GPS was whacked) with a very, very, very upset stomach. There's a stomach flu going around. My sister-in-law and her whole crew came down with it last week. I haven't been around them but the power of suggestion? Who knows. What I do know is on Saturday I wondered if I was going to be able to complete my Sunday run. Then Sunday came along and I felt fine in the morning. By the time Kevin woke up I was once again questioning my ability to run.

The two reasons I made it: 1) I had to come back here and tell you about it; 2) My stomach was completely empty.

I'm still not 100% but impressed Kevin with my ability to "eat my way out of the stomach flu." And according to MyFittnessPal, if every day was like this one I would lose 25 pounds in 5 weeks! Well, if that's all it takes! Bring on the salmonella and 15 milers.

Funny things my kids do

 The transition back to school was a little rough on the boys.   After two weeks of playing together hour after hour, four days of separation was hard.  When they did have a few minutes together they alternated between enemies and BFFs.  Case in point, a few minutes to play before homework time and they start constructing Legos.... on the same chair, even though we have six, they share a chair. 

 Lauren rarely gets juice and if she does it's prune juice (no further explanation needed.).  This morning the baby also needs her prune juice.

All three kids are currently having a wild rumpus in Patrick's room.  At some point I need to break it up and get the day going.  For now I'm laughing at their interactions and happy that they all love being in the same place at the same time.

Happy New Year

Kevin and I came to the collective and shocking realization that this year (2012) Keith. starts. Kindergarten.  I've known that this was going to happen, I even have a countdown to Kinder ticker on my phone (236 Days 20 Hours 31 Minutes 50 Seconds).  But to really KNOW it and own it and say that it is this year.  Floored.  So, we'll file that under "Things I Can't Control."

So I am focusing instead on the things I can control.  First of which is the clutter in my house.  Last year at this time I was just trying to keep my head above water.  Now I can conquer this thing (with make-up on and everything).  Kevin is still working a ton of overtime so I feel challenged to keep up with his pace.  I have a class that I finish teaching early next week.  Then I have at least three weeks to take care of business before my next class starts.

Goals:

1. Organize the craft closet shelf
2. Organize Legos
3. Filing, scanning, filing, scanning
4. Organize kid crafts
5. Print photos, frame photos, hang photos, REPEAT
6. Find Keith's glasses
7. Taxes (yay.)

And I need to do a better job of keeping up with the housework.   I'll let you know how this all goes.