Thankful Thursday - Jersey Style

A few of the other blogs I follow do a "Thankful Thursday" post & I love this idea.  While reading theirs I'm also reminded of all the things I have to be thankful for.  I have been wanting to start doing it weekly here too & thought November is the perfect month to start doing it.  I had another idea for this first post, but events this week have changed my mind.

This week I am thankful to be a Jersey Girl!  While I haven't lived there full time in 18 years, I always consider it home.  Seeing & reading about the destruction Hurricane Sandy caused there has been heart breaking.  I am so sad to read about friends whose homes are destroyed & see the beaches & boardwalks wrecked.  Seaside holds so many memories for me, some are a little fuzzy but I hear I had a good time.  ;)

Now that may not sound like something to be thankful for, but here's the part I'm thankful for.  I'm thankful to see people reaching out to people, friends, family & strangers.  I'm thankful to see the NJ pride & strength.  I'm thankful that my friends & family are all SAFE & that the things they lost can be rebuilt & replaced.  I'm thankful for all my memories, which are now a little more sweet.  I'm thankful that Seaside will be rebuilt & will probably be nicer than it currently is.

Even though I don't live there now, I'm a Jersey Girl at heart, always will be.  I've been oddly homesick this week.  Hoping we can get back there again this summer.  Until the next trip, I'm thankful I got to take all my boys to see where I grew up.  Stay strong Jersey!!

Here is a picture of the 5 of us at Seaside.  The pier in the background is now destroyed.

One Moment in Time (1/2 Marathon Race Recap)

So it took me a few days to process the whole race & all the emotions I was feeling about it...then it has taken me a few more to find the time to sit down & write this.  Then yesterday at Zumba, the instructor played the Whitney Houston song "One Moment in Time" for our cool down & I started getting all choked up thinking about the race again so I knew I needed to make the time & get my One Moment out onto paper (so to speak).  This may be a little long, so bear with me.

Oct 21, 2012...Race day!  I walked 220 miles to train for this 13.1, I was ready..sort of.  OK, I wasn't ready, but I was doing it anyway.  :) 

The day started with the alarm going off 4:45am.  I had laid out all my gear the night before & was dressed, fed & ready to head out into the freezing cold by 5:30.

My shirt ready to go the night before

The race started at 7:30 & I crossed the start line around 7:50.  It was such a great feeling!  I was with about 6 other women I had trained with in my MIT group & we started out at a great pace.  There were tons of people lining the street cheering for us & different bands playing.  The first 2 miles flew by & I was so excited to see Adrian, the boys & my in-laws on the side of the street cheering around mile 2.  I got all choked up & was feeling great with the start of the race.

Everything was going along great until around mile 5.  I started to get really tired & a few of the people I was walking with started walking much faster than I was able to.  But then around mile 6.5 I again saw my family, now joined by my brother, sister in law & niece.  I cried again.  But seeing them plus my honey stinger chews gave me the jolt I needed & I kept on cruising.

That's me in the black (next to the girl in pink) approaching mile 6.5ish

 Then it was mile 9 & I was exhausted.  I honestly didn't think I could walk any more.  All of my training buddies had already moved ahead.  The course was closing around me & I was fighting with myself (& downtown traffic) to keep going.  I had decided I would get to mile 10, since I had done that twice in my training, and then I would stop & have Adrian come & pick me up.  Then I got this text from him "Go Mom!  We're waiting at the finish line for you!  We love you!"  I cried.  Again.  And I knew I couldn't give up.  I crossed mile 10 & convinced myself I could make it to 11 & then I'd quit.  :)

Somewhere between mile 10 & 11, I fell in step with 2 other women.  They were amazing!  We started talking & before I knew it we were at mile 12.  We met up with their friend who was on a bike for the ;ast mile or so with us & she cheered us on the whole time, especially up the huge hill on High St.  It was great to have company for those last few miles.  I don't know if I would have made it or not without them.  I know they wouldn't have been as much fun.

I finally made the last turn onto Nationwide Blvd.  Both sides of the street were filled with people & I could see the finish line.  I was excited!  I saw my family on one side cheering for me & I cried.  Then I saw my friends on the other side "screaming like crazy" for me (their words, not mine) & I cried some more.  I finally crossed the finish line, got my medal, chocolate milk & cookies & headed for the recovery zone!

Me looking good heading to the finish line...never would know I was ready to give up 3 miles ago

Me & my biggest supporter!

My brother Carl & I at the finish line - he helped me train, was at the race & cooked our recovery dinner!

My amazing family!  So glad they could be there to support me!!

So this race almost felt like 2 races for me.  I loved the first half, hated the second half.  I was upset that my training partners left me behind & also that the course was closing around me.  I am still confused why that happened, the website said I had 4 hours, I finished in under that.  But it also said you had to do a faster than 16:00 mile, I didn't do that.  I know everyone else that did this race loved it, so I would recommend it.  I won't be doing it again...until I can be under that 16:00!!

My final stats:
Finish time:  3 hours, 40 minutes, 16 seconds
Average pace:  16:49/mile
Overall place:  9790 out of 9931
I passed 31 athletes overall

Now, what's next??  I am already signed up for the CapCity 1/2 marathon the first weekend in May.  I spent all week going back & forth if I would do it.  I have decided...I will!  I'm going to take off the next 2 months from official training & start back up around Jan with the New Albany Walking Club.  My goal is to go faster & finish in 3:30.  For the next 2 months I will continue with my exercising, including doing the 30 day shred with Adrian in November.

Thank you all for reading & supporting me on this journey!!  I could not have done it without all of you!!

Daniel Update

Daniel continues to be a typical 3 year old, loving & fun one minute, in time out the next.  :)  He has had the same 3 big things going on that AJ has:  school, Disney World & Uncle Carl's wedding.  He also says some of the funniest things in this house.

Daniel has been loving going to Eastpoint Church's preschool.  This is a new program so we weren't sure how it would go, but it has been amazing.  He loves his teacher (so do I!) & is learning a ton.  He's able to recognize his name & a lot of his letters already.  His favorite times at school seems to be snack & recess since those are the only things I hear about.  He's especially excited when he gets fruit snacks for snack since that means he gets more than his daily allowance of them.

Daniel had a blast at Disney World despite being 39 3/4 inches tall & missing a few of the rides he was excited for.  He was especially bummed to miss the Star Wars ride at Hollywood Studios but thankfully a show started soon after we sat down so the crisis was averted.  His favorite ride by far was the Haunted Mansion, it even inspired his Halloween costume of being a ghost.  He also really enjoyed Goofy's roller coaster & Toy Story Mania.  Daniel really enjoyed all the parades & shows & meeting all the characters.  He especially liked meeting Jake from "Jake & the Neverland Pirates" while wearing a shirt with a picture of Jake on.

Finally, here is my favorite Daniel story from the past month.  He had "homework" to bring in something that represented what his Mom and/or Dad do for a job.  So we sent their toy laptop because "Daddy's job is to play with computers all day."  And we sent a pair of Mr Potato Head arms because "Mommy's job is to use her hands to talk to dead people."  :)  Good thing I sent a note to tell the teacher what I really did!

Daniel in his tux at the wedding.  It appears he grew a little from when we tried it on.  Bet he makes 40 inches now!

AJ Update

Since I've missed the past few months, I thought I'd just give you a quick update on AJ & hopefully one on Daniel tomorrow.  There have been 3 big things that happened for AJ the past few months:  school, the trip to Disney World & being a ring bearer in Uncle Carl's wedding.

AJ seems to be doing great in Kindergarten & I'm amazed with how much he's learning.  We have parent teacher conferences next week so I'll have a more accurate picture of his first 2 months then.  He loves doing his math homework every night (no surprise there since Adrian & I are both very good at math) & is getting better with his writing practice.  AJ is also starting to learn how to read.  He can recognize around 10 sight words & he's adding 2-3 per week.  He can read short books to us & that really makes me so happy.  AJ also seems to have inherited a love for reading (again no surprise) & I love watching him develop those skills!

Disney World was an amazing week for AJ!  I still hope to blog our trip, or at least get our pictures up on Facebook soon.  For now, a few of AJ's favorite parts of the trip.  He loved meeting all the characters & getting his autograph book signed.  His favorites were Goofy & Donald.  He also loved every single ride we went on.  His favorites were Everest at Animal Kingdom because "the gorilla (yeti) came out & broke the tracks so we had to go backwards," Splash Mountain at Magic Kingdom, Haunted Mansion at Magic Kingdom & Toy Story Mania at Hollywood Studios.  I think he also enjoyed watching the shows, especially the one at the castle in Magic Kingdom, & the parades, especially the Animal Kingdom one.  He is still using most of his souvenirs & asking when we can go back.

 Finally AJ & Daniel were both ring bearers in Carl & Sarah's wedding.  They were adorable!!  They both looked great in their suits & were on their best behavior that day.  They started down the aisle & looked a little nervous, but then they saw me & calmed down.  They started out walking nice & ended up running/galloping down the aisle.  AJ threw his pillow at one point too, which was very cute.  Numerous people commented (& I agree) that their walk was totally "them."  :)

AJ in his tux at the wedding, with Grandpa's cake pop

Zachary - 8 months

I can't believe Zachary is already 8 months old!  He has had an exciting month.  He cut his first 2 teeth, the 2 bottom ones.  He also started eating a ton of finger foods including puffs, Cheerios, goldfish & wagon wheels.  He loves feeding himself, prefers it to us feeding him.  He is also crawling all over the place & getting into everything!  I feel like he's into more than his big brothers were, but then again he has 2 horrible wonderful role models showing him what to do.  Zak is doing great getting up to standing & back down to sitting & is even starting to cruise on the furniture & with our toy shopping cart.

I also had some emotional moments this month when we retired a few things.  After over 5 years, 3 kids & millions of miles, we finally retired our bucket carrier car seat.  While I have been struggling with carrying it recently, I am kinda sad to see it go & see all 3 boys in bigger car seats.  We also retired the baby bath tub since Zak is loving splashing around in the big one.  Finally we passed along all of our clothes that are size 6 month & pulled out the 12 month stuff.  The 6-9 month stuff is still being used, but not for long.

1/2 Marathon Training - Weeks 16-19

So those of you that have been following along have probably noticed that I haven't done an update about my training in awhile.  There are 2 reasons for that.  First, there hasn't been time. Since Aug I have had school start, Disney World trip, Mom's retreat weekend, Carl & Sarah's wedding, marathon training & fall activities.  I hope to blog about all of those one day, but realize that may never happen.

The second reason I haven't blogged is because I haven't been thrilled with my training recently.  I'm still walking, just not as much as I should.  I have many excuses, and there have been a lot of schedule disruptions, but the honest truth is I just haven't been getting it done.  I did do two 10 mile walks, which were exciting for me since they are my only ever double digit walks.  I have also got to walk with a lot of my friends recently, sometimes less miles or slower than my training plan suggested, but I will always take the great company over the training plan.

So now I'm just 6 days from the big day and I am feeling pretty much every emotion.  I'm first off excited...I'm going to walk a 1/2 marathon!!!  That is so cool.  And so many friends will be there with me at the finish line.  I'm also very proud.  A different Christa (like the one I knew 6 months ago) would have quit when all the disruptions started happening.  And of course I'm nervous...hello, it's 13.1 miles.  I have never even come close to walking that far!

I also have an injury I'm dealing with.  A few weeks ago after my first 10 mile walk, behind my right knee started to hurt.  I kept stretching & ignoring it, hoping it would go away.  It hasn't.  In my last training walk this past Sat (6 miles) it started to hurt again around mile 4.  When I finally finished up the 6, I went straight to medical (so thankful my Marathoners in Training group offers this!) & got a plan for the week.  The plan is to walk 2-3 miles every day & stretch...A LOT!  The therapist showed me some really good stretches.  She also suggested new shoes, which I had also realized I needed to get.  Sat I went & got the shoes & did a bunch of stretching.  Sun I cleaned all day & kept stretching throughout the day.  Today I walked 3 miles & have been stretching all day.  As of now, I feel great.  Hoping I stay that way for the next 7 days!

I'll do one final recap next week after the race.  Thank you all in advance for all the love & support you have given me through this training.  I could NEVER have done this alone.

My new shoes - they are pink & I love them!

1/2 Marathon Training - Week 15

This past week I was suffering from vacation hangover.  I remember when I started this blog I was talking about needing a "recovery week" from a vacation & this past week was exactly that.  Between me being lazy & the boys not cooperating, I didn't get in near enough training walks this week.

And I learned something...I need those training walks for the long weekend walks.  I did my 10 mile walk on Sat with my MIT group & I was in pain!  It was probably the hardest walk I have done.  Now it was also my first double digit walk (woot!) so I'm sure that was part of it, but I could feel it in my legs & they were tired.  I am recommitted to the training now, I will do whatever I have to do to get my walks in during the week for the next 5 weeks.

I am very proud to say that I am keeping up on my plank a day challenge though, I did them every day this week.  And today I made it for 1:00 in each position!  That's TWICE as long as I could do them only 17 days ago.  I plan to continue this even after Sept is over.  I'm thinking of adding an additional strength training thing next month, any suggestions??

Here's what I managed to do this week:
Mon, 9/10 - rest day
Tues, 9/11 - rest day
Weds, 9/12 - rest day
Thurs, 9/13 - 4 miles at Blendon Woods
Fri, 9/14 - rest day
Sat, 9/15 - 10 miles in Westerville with MIT
Sun, 9/16 - rest day