RunForBoston5k Recap

So today we went to a great cause runforboston5k.  It was V's first official 5k with a bib. If you remember he did one Easter Weekend. So this event was a bit far from us. When I saw the weather this morning, I thought about bailing however, I am SOO happy we didn't. The park was so beautiful (and huge). I wish we lived closer, because we would go back there for many activities.


We got there early, and crashed the volunteers. We took a quick picture of them, grabbed our packets, went to find bathrooms and put our packets in the car.

Here are the volunteers. I realized later, we didn't get everyone in the picture. There were a lot of volunteers at this event.

Here is V all ready to run (this was before the rain started)

Then we had to apply a tattoo...

 

 

Not too much later, the sky opened up and we were getting wet. It wasn't too bad for the most part, but we were chilly. I debated on going back to the car and getting our sweatshirts, but I am glad I didn't, we would have been too hot.

 

 

Then we were off, the views were amazing, there was at least one lake, maybe it was connected, I think I ran over 3 bridges, the course was rolling, nothing too steep. It was an amazing course. The signs were clear too, so it would have been really hard to get lost.

 

About a mile or so in, V took off. I was seeing him run with a woman, and he was chatting it up. I couldn't keep up, but I could see him from time to time. (More on her later)

 

So finally one of the volunteers told me not too much further.

 

I came around the corner to see Maggie from http://www.magmilerunner.com/ (so thankful that the volunteers were willing to watch for him) carry V over to the other side of the finish line, where he cheered for me to "keep going and don't give up"

 

 



I love this picture. This was taken and posted on runforboston5k facebook page, for us to use as we want. Talk about nice!

I am sure you would like to see how V finished... ;)

He does look tired.

So after I finished, we got some food. They had pizza and beer, not to mention all kinds of other things. Pizza and beer is my kind of food, if all 5ks would have pizza and beer, you can bet I would be at more of them.

So I was asking V while he was eating his pizza who the woman was he ran with. He didn't know. I looked around for her and couldn't find her. Some people were standing near us, and overheard us talking and asked me what she was wearing and I said a white running skirt. I joked that she might have been an angel. V said she wasn't an angel and then the strangers we were talking to said, there she is.

So I went over to thank her for running with V. She came over and I got a picture of the two of them.

 

 

Then she started telling me how she was doing one race for each of the Sandyhook kids. And today she picked the runforboston5k for Chase, a little boy whose dream was to run the Boston Marathon. She said V inspired her and he looks a bit like Chase.

 

Then she was asking me if I knew if she could get another shirt to send to Chase's family. I told her we would ask Kelly who blogs at http://www.kellytheculinarian.com/ and was one of the people who organized this race. When Kelly heard her story, she didn't hesitate, she took her own shirt off and handed it to her to give to Chase's family.

 

I wanted to cry at the generosity, but I was to be in a photo for the Chicago Runner Bloggers.

 

 

I was finally able to meet more of bloggers I stalk. :)

 

 

So my take away...a very well organized race! This was my very first MuddyMonk race, and I would do it again.

 

There was plenty of parking, the directions were great. The venue was beautiful. Clean bathrooms with running water. Great fuel at the end (aka pizza and beer). Official photos posted on their facebook page.

 

I am sure I am leaving some stuff out, but it was so well done.

 

Now you can find V like this

 

We have a party to be at later, so this is good.

 

Local bloggers, what was your favorite part? If you were a volunteer, thank you.

 

Did you race today? If so, how far did you go?

 

Have you ever gotten pizza and beer at the end of a race? I think it was the best pizza I have eaten in some time.

How do parents do it? But first something happy

Tomorrow is V's very first "official" (his second but first time with his own bib, don't worry you will see a lot of photos) 5k. We are doing the Run for Boston which is an amazing cause. We hope to see you there.

So anyway..I am stepping onto my soapbox, feel free to drop down and leave me a comment of what you are wearing so we will see you tomorrow. I haven't decided, so no outfit to help you with, just remember V is cute and he is probably one of the youngest people with a bib.

So onto my rant.

As you all know too well, V is in camp. He must bring a HUGE LIST of things with him daily. I get it, but trying to do it all gets a bit wearing.

So day 1. He loses a new bottle of sunscreen from Costco.

On day 3 he loses a sock. And we were headed for running club.

Wednesday, he comes home in one week with the new bottle of sunscreen that I sent on day 2, and it is empty. One week, he used a regular bottle of sunscreen, not trial size, not from Costco.

So I spoke with the counselors yesterday morning, as it concerns me that sniffing in aerosol is bad. Right?? Parents of teens, isn't this a valid concern?? So yesterday, he "forgot". Today, he only put it on his belly, and his burned on top of his burn from yesterday. Ok..I understand there are a lot of kids. I understand he needs to be responsible, but he is barely 6. I have always put it on for him (yes probably a huge part of the problem). I did email the camp in the beginning of the year requesting he gets assistance from a counselor, as I didn't think he was ready for the responsibility. We are very fair, and there is a lot of cancer in my family.

I emailed the camp tonight. I explained everything, and tried to be nice.

Do you think a barely 6 yr old is capable of covering all of their body properly?

Do you think I am overreacting about the amount he has breathed in?

OH and the snack bar is another entry..that pisses me off too.

so good for my ego

Saturday morning I was heading towards my pick up local for some farm fresh beef from WI. What I wasn't expecting was getting some fresh beef from a trucker. (Not sure if you call them here or anywhere, except from where I am from). A trucker is a semi driver. Anyway...if you were following along with me, I had done my homework with Dick Ponds and then showered and promptly put on more work out gear. I threw on a running skirt, etc. When we hit the highway, it was warm. I was driving and a trucker and I passed him he honked. I ended up stuck behind other traffic, and as soon as I passed him he honked at me again. He had to be able to see V as well as my legs...lol. But honestly, this was something I needed. I haven't felt pretty in forever.

Has this ever happened to you? I have had this happen a few times. The first time was a UPS semi driver who wouldn't let me get away from him as I was driving across the country. He never approached me, it was in jest per say.

Living in Denial

When I was preggo with V, someone told me to tell his caregiver to never tell me of a milestone, so when he did it, I thought I saw it first. This would help lessen the Momma guilt.

So this week, when V came home and told me he passed his swimming test at camp and then jumped off the diving board (first time ever and I missed it), I went into denial mode. Because I wasn't there, it didn't really happen right??

So today we went to the pool. Honestly it wasn't warmest day, but we went for the first time this year so I could get these photos.

don't mind my finger in there

Here he is in the water, he was too fast for my camera to get a good shot, and he said the pool was freezing, so I felt bad asking him for  a fourth time to try to get a picture. ;/

So did you ever live in denial too? Because if you ever ask me, the first time he jumped off the diving board was today. ;)

At what age did you first jump off a diving board? I think I was in my 20s. I didn't learn how to swim until I was an adult.

workout recap

V and I have been working out a lot this week.

Monday - 2 miles with the walk to run program with Dick Ponds
Tuesday through most of Thursday I was sickly
Thursday - 3 miles with the running group at Dick Ponds, thankfully they asked us on Monday to consider joining Thursday as well.
Friday - I took off, because the 3 miles Thursday was really hard and still felt  a bit off.
Saturday - homework for my walk to run program 2.25 miles in 30 minutes, then had a second workout with my friend, we walked for 60 minutes. I don't have an exact distance, but I am guessing at least 3.5. I had a super snappy pants of a 6 yr old, who kept complaining.

Tell me about your workouts this week. Do you ever work out twice in one day?

I really enjoyed having a second workout with a friend. Do you have a favorite person who you like to work out with?

I have to admit the treadmill this morning was super hard after getting outside runs in.

OH and crazy question, (sorry this is all over the place) do you ever have your feet go numb while your are out and running? How can I get this to stop?

the last few days

Well...I was sick yesterday. I initially thought I ate something that wasn't agreeing with me. I had horrible stomach pain, felt like things could happen at any moment, no end felt safe.

Unfortantely there was no relief, constant pain, no puking or the other. I only ate melon, raspberries and plain noodles yesterday. This morning I wasn't convinced I was really better so I ate a plain bagel and some melon. That seemed ok, so I ate half of my lunch. That seemed ok, then someone gave me a Twix..and it tasted sooo good going down...and then...gurgle gurgle.

Things weren't looking good for me.

I went to pick up V from camp. He had decided to run with the Dick Pond's group verses going to the end of the school year roller skating party. I wasn't feeling up to running. I went to pick him and he had one sock. ONE! Lost one "somewhere". We were already running late due to an accident.

I figured ok, I will buy him a pair of socks. We get there and no socks in his size. At this point, I figured we would have to go home. He could run 3 miles in one sock/no sock. No luck. The very nice worker at Dick Ponds gave him a pair that they use to try on shoes for him to wear.

So we were off. I explained to V that we had to start in the back of the pack this time, as it had many fast people who were running. He wasn't happy at all. I told him he was my trainer, and he had to pick out where we would run/walk. So he started picking out where we would stop running and start walking, etc. That seemed to help. We were coming around the corner (oh I forgot to mention they looped off a 3 mile and  4 mile route, and we took the 3 miler) and there was V's favorite guy Mike, from Monday's run. Mike came over, backtracking a bit and ran/walked with V as I struggled behind. Remember I am out of shape and recovering from being ill. My feet went numb. No joke.

About a half mile from the store, Mike gave me V back and he sprinted back to the store.

Honestly, V did a great job! We have a Run for Boston 5k coming up soon. You should come join us. This will be V's first official 5k and he really wants to run 10 minutes faster than the last one at 48 minutes. This will be stretch for me right now. Blah!

Anyway..sorry I haven't been around much. OH and talking about not being around..here is what we have going on at nights. Let me know if you want to hang out and join us.

Mondays - walk to run program
Tuesdays - T Ball
Wednesdays - library
Thursdays - T Ball
Fridays - Family night with his paternals

How does your summer look?

I told my mom we are super busy this summer and V said, it isn't summer until June 21.

Are you going to join us for the Run for Boston 5k??

Kindergartener no longer

Today was V's last day of school. I am not going to lie, I almost cried many times today. Where does the time go??

Here he is on his first day of Kindergarten.

This was today. I dressed him in the same shirt on purpose. Had I buttoned it, you could probably see a bit better how much he has grown. The shorts are different, the others were too small.

I hope this gets easier.

Welcome to First Grade V-man!