18 miles

It was rough. I struggled. I'm not feeling especially proud of this run. My arms felt exhausted, legs felt like jello, my back hurt, I ended up with blisters on my hands but I did it. That's the important part, right?

Eric had to rescue me at mile 13. I was starting to lose it (pathetic, I know) and ready to give up but he took Ethan and the jogger and encouraged me to finish what I had set out to do. Thank you honey!

But I did it. And I can say that today I ran 18 miles. Yay.....

I was all jazzed about this route that I chose because it was an actual loop (I've been doing mostly out-and-backs), it was totally doable with Ethan in the jogger, and I have been carb loading since Wednesday. More like Tuesday. Oh gosh, who am I kidding, I have been carb loading since signing up for this marathon. Mmmm....I'm suddenly hungry for a bagel.....

So anyway, this route seemed perfect. The first nine miles were mostly flat and then I'd have a slight downhill, then I would head up a serious hill (about a mile of the most nasty, beast of a hill) and finish off with a mostly flat five miles. Sounds great, right?

I don't know what I did to screw up preparing for this run. Maybe I just started out too fast and burned out quickly. Running with the jogger might have something to do with it, the warm weather might have played a part, maybe I wasn't hydrated enough. Luckily at mile 13 I was close enough to home that I could just drop in, freak out a little and have Eric get me back on track. That last five miles was much easier and I did reach lucky number 18.

Sweetness

Ethan just came over to me and put an arm around my shoulders, leaned his head to mine and said "I wuv you".

Completely out of the blue, without responding to it being said to him.

Needless to say, it made my evening.

And if that isn't cute enough on it's own, I have more to share. Rian started brushing his teeth and Ethan (who is obsessed with brushing his teeth right now) ran into the bathroom shouting "Brush teeth! Brush teeth!" Rian happily got the toothbrush all set for Ethan and they are in there giggling and brushing.

Ahh, savoring this sweet moment. I know any second it could (most likely will) change from giggly fun to arguing and inevitably, Ethan screaming.

Yup, there it is. :)

It's On

I finally did it. I registered for my very first marathon!!

It's official. No turning back now.

(AND, I'm getting it done before I turn 30!! YAY!!)

My confirmation email had a message from the race director that says, "You have just registered for one of the most scenic and demanding marathon courses around." Yikes. Isn't a marathon demanding enough by itself??

This should be fun!! All my former ambitions of finishing under so many hours have been thrown out the window. I'm just focusing on finishing now (ESPECIALLY with that whole "demanding course" part). Running my 26.2 miles and getting my butt across the finish line alive.

I started training and ran 14 miles last weekend. I thought I'd be all proud about it because that's that farthest I've run so far in one run. (Dude, from here on out every long run will be the farthest I've ever run, HA!) I'm kind of embarrassed about it though because it took me forever and I ended up walking some of it. I hadn't run that much that week, Ethan came along for the ride and I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before so I had a few strikes against me. Oh well. This weekend will be better!

It has to be. I have 5 weeks and 3 days left!!

Feels like something is missing...

This morning Ethan and I drove Rian to his first day of SECOND GRADE.

Holy cow.

HOLY COW!! I can hardly believe we have such a big boy.

He was darling. I almost cried. You'd think I would be used to this. This year was different though. He actually ran into his classroom. Ran. Didn't even say goodbye, just took off for Room 1. Last year he cried and didn't even want to go in (it was AWFUL). Today I got teary just thinking that it'll probably be like this year from here on out. He is becoming so independent and it makes this momma want to snuggle him and keep him little for a while longer. (Haha, although I must say it is nice to be able to hear myself think this morning...)

I gave him a few minutes and just watched through the window. I seriously don't think he would have noticed if we just left right then. I watched his face light up when he recognized fellow classmates from last year and then (with great enthusiasm) hug them. He's such a sweet boy.

We finally headed in and helped him get settled at his table, which was also super exciting. Ethan actually tried to join the group at Rian's table by sitting down at an empty seatand grabbing a pencil. Rian pointed out the few new faces and already knew their names, giving one girl a little wave. (Remember how this is the first day of school?!)

Yesterday Rian expressed some nervousness about starting school again and how difficult the work would be in second grade. This morning, however, I saw an independent, completely confident, enthusiastic boy.

Second grade, watch out!! Rian is ready!

Dang, I miss him already.

Recap

We did it!

Hood To Coast was AMAZING. Oh my gosh, what an awesome, awesome race. I had such a blast running in this relay and I am already looking forward to running in it next year. I'm hooked!

The adventure started Thursday night with a kick-off, carb-loading dinner. Got to meet the entire team for the first time and get even more pumped about the race. We had two vans to decorate and some of the kids ended up doing it (something I think we all regret and won't allow to happen on whatever teams we all end up on next year...ok, ok, it wasn't too bad, we just weren't as proud of our vans as some teams probably were).

Van 1 started up at Timberline around 9am on Friday. I was in Van 2 and we drove up to Sandy to meet Van 1 and start our first runner around noon. I ran my first leg of the race Friday around 2pm. It was 4.55 miles and described in the HTC handbook as "easy". It also said that it was mostly downhill, rolling hills and limited paved shoulder. Definitely wasn't "mostly downhill" but it was a nice run, awesome weather, etc. I finished with a 8:14 pace which was a personal record!!

My second run:

Yeah. And on a gravel road. At 2:30am. Trucks passing on my right. I had to use my bandana a couple times so I didn't inhale all the dust. I was tired, dirty and ended up being passed by two guys while running on the first downhill. (Booo) It was crazy though because I was excited to be out there. It was so fun. Really fun.

Oh, a crazy little thing happened while being out there. I had gotten a side ache/stitch on my first leg but ran through it because, HELLO, this is a race. It ended up not going away all evening, even when I was all rested up. As I was ready to jump out of the suburban to start my second run I asked the group if they would just say a prayer that it would go away because it was going to be hell out there if it didn't. Started running and didn't even think about it until half-way through when I realized that I didn't have any pain!! In fact it didn't start up again until right after that leg. Pretty neat, huh?

My third and final leg was a "moderate" run but only 4.09 so I wasn't even worried about finishing. I was worried that I'd start running and my legs would turn to jello. I ended up getting behind this guy and liked the pace he was running so decided to keep up with him. I even tried passing him a couple times but he would speed up. Finally at the end I was frustrated that he was still in front of me and gave one last effort and passed him right before the exchange. I was pretty excited but even more excited when I learned I ran with an 8:04 pace!!! NEW PERSONAL RECORD. I couldn't believe it! First, this is really fast for me and second I felt a pang of disappointment that it wasn't under 8 min. So close and something to shoot for next time. :)

We met up with the rest of the team at Seaside and headed over to a team member's beach house to celebrate with showers and a yummy BBQ. Eric and the boys met me in Seaside and I was so happy to see them! I really, really missed all my boys. Eric did a great job holding down the fort here and I'm pretty sure he had the harder end of the deal. THANK YOU HONEY!! :)

So yeah, it was such an awesome few days and I definitely want to run again next year!!

Final Count

Roadkill: 54

Me being roadkill: 5

(yay!)

Packing Break

This past week Rian lost another tooth. Well, it was actually sort of knocked out but it was ready. When we go food shopping, Ethan sits in that front part of the cart and Rian will put his mouth by the handle bar and for some strange reason this is a fun game. I've pushed the cart from the other end, not looking, and ended up hitting Rian in the face with the cart. I feel bad but seriously can't tell you how many times I've told him not to do that. Not only can teeth get knocked out but IT'S SO GROSS.

So anyway, that's what happened Monday. He is pretty excited and proud of it. I love his smile!!

And just for the fun of it....

Aren't I the luckiest mommy ever?! I love, love, LOVE these boys.

Weekend plans

This is what I'm doing this weekend.

That's right. HOOD TO COAST 2010 BABY!!

I am really, really, REALLY EXCITED!! I've wanted to be on a team for the past three years but it didn't work out. Finally!! Muahahaha....(uhh, blaming that on the nerves)

I can't believe it's here already. We'll be running down Mount Hood on FRIDAY. We have twelve lucky peeps on our team. Each gets to run three legs. (*squeal* This is going to be so AWESOME!) Mine are legs 8, 20 and 32. This means I get to run the first leg Friday afternoon, second in the wee morning hours on Saturday (a little nervous about this one) and then the my last leg before noon.

Sooooo, yeah, I'll let you know how it goes....

I feel ready. I've been running all summer. I ran that half-marathon in July. I've run two mini HTCs on my own. My jogging stroller, Ethan and I have become good friends. Yup, I think I'm ready. Bring it on Mt. Hood.

Bring. It. On.

I'm nervous.