Wow! What a whirlwind couple of weeks!

As if having a child this year wasn't enough....

The husband is a person who loves his job, is good at his job, and has been super-devoted to his job.  He has worked at the same tirelessly in the same role year after year, change after change, since college.  We have crossed our fingers and rolled our eyes and felt elated and felt dejected at times during his tenure.  Working for a start-up company, in my opinion, has become harder as the years have passed, as we've grown up, as we've welcomed our family.  Unfortunately, about 6 weeks ago, the company's doors were closed and Dave was without a job for the first time in a long time and without much warning.  He worked like a crazy mad man, like it was his new full-time job, to find a new job.  He networked, he sent resumes, he interviewed and a short four weeks later he had several offers.  In the end he took the one that made the most sense to both of us and that would benefit our family.  I could keep my job.  His commute would be only about 15 minutes.  The pay was good.  And on Monday he starts his new job.

A year ago, before we had decided to move to California (and thank goodness we didn't!!!), we had started looking for a new house in the same city we live now.  We had wanted to downsize a little, have a bigger yard, more privacy.  We have been living in the same house for 10 years and just wanted something different.  We were ready to move on.  But then we had decided to move to California, then I got pregnant, and everything changed.

When Dave accepted his new job just a few weeks ago, I popped on Zillow for fun to see what was out there.  I was actually looking out a town just east of here that we have drooled over for a long time.  But after spending a time chauffeuring my son to and from my sister's house (who lives in the middle of NOWHERE!!!) we decided, no, we do not want to move that far.  So I started poking around in the current town we live in.  I was searching only by a certain dollar amount, but Dave clicked on one that was just outside of that range.  By the pictures it was cute and had potential.  We talked to our realtor and had him arrange a showing.  We viewed it and it was immediate: we were home.  This was the house in which we were supposed to raise Anderson.  It's a ranch, with a partially finished basement.  It has a big yard (almost an acre) with part of it fenced in.  It needs a lot of work but has tons of potential and all of the work is cosmetic.  And maybe my favorite part, it is on the bike trails through the town so we will be able to bike commute everywhere including work, which is less than 2 miles away.  We set up a second viewing with the realtor and took my parents with us.  They saw things that we didn't, but again, totally doable.  We thought about it for a weekend, called up on realtor on Monday and put in an offer.  By Tuesday afternoon, we had a counter offer.  We countered again on Wednesday, and this evening we found out they accepted our offer and we're in contract.  Holy cow!!!  Two weeks ago I looked at a house on Zillow and today we are in contract. 

Part of buying this house is the contingency of selling our house.  We only have 45 days to do so or the contract is void.  We have a great realtor and live in a neighborhood where houses sell quickly, so it's looking good. 

We are so excited.  It feels right.  It feels like fate. 

Columbus Half Marathon 2013

Where to start....where to start....???

This was supposed to be my "A" race where I was going to try for a 1:35 or better.  But I quickly found out that I wasn't getting my speed back post-baby any time soon.  Then I got injured and actually thought of pulling out of the race.  Finally I decided I would just do it for fun.

Because of increased security, the pre-race instructions asked all participants to be in the corrals by 7:00am for the 7:30 start.  We left the house at 6:00.  It usually takes 15-20 minutes to get downtown.  We knew exactly where we wanted to park and there were a couple different exits we could take to get to the parking garage.  We were a little nervous about some road closures so we took the most obvious exit, as did every one else.  For 45 minutes we sat in traffic at that exit, past 7:00am.  I knew they weren't going to shut out all those people, but I was nervous and antsy.  Once off the exit, Dave took a side road and I urged him to let me out so I could walk to the start.

And then I got so lucky.  I was walking to the start, found an open Subway, which had a clean bathroom with no line.  Score!

I got into a corral as close as I possibly could.  The starting gun went off and no one moved.  At all.  But there seemed to be commotion on the side of the corral.  I found my way over there and I see that I'm in the wrong corral.  I was in corral B and I was supposed to be in A.  So they let me in and I was one of the very last people to start in corral A.  I never saw Dave or Anderson before I started the race.

It was cold race morning and I went back and forth about what to wear.  I eventually went with shorts, a t-shirt, light long sleeve shirt, and gloves.  I have the gloves off by mile one.  I had the long sleeves off by mile 3.  I saw a lot of overdressed people.  Or I just overheat quickly while running.

I got a new watch a few weeks ago (I swear I'll blog about this sometime) so I wanted to test out it's GPS abilities against a measured course.  For the first 5 miles it was dead on.  After that it got a little off.  In the end I was at 13.2ish miles.  Not bad.

Anyway, against the GPS I wasn't really gaining any speed and wasn't really losing any either.  Really consistent but not really as quickly as I wanted to go.  I was having fun, though, and that's all that mattered.

Around mile 9 I saw Dave among the throngs of people and was able to toss my shirt to him.  It's hard to tend to the baby, grab my shirt, and take pictures.  Thanks for the effort, Dave.

Despite not going all that fast, I felt like my form was good and the effort seemed easy.  The miles never seemed to drag on.  I've done a lot of running since Anderson was born and it shows.  Before I knew it I was back on High Street, mile 11, and heading to the finish line.

My overall time was 1:47:08.  Eh, it is what it is.  I had hoped to run faster but I'm just not there yet.  It makes me a little sad that a year ago I was 11 MINUTES!!! faster, but I have done zero speed training this year and have spent most of the last couple of weeks on the elliptical machine.  I'll get my speed back.  Patience.

Decisions....ugh, I hate them

I have two more races on the calendar this year: a 4 mile fun run with the family on Thanksgiving and the big giant 50K in December.  I have been internally debating the 50K every day for weeks.  During the marathon and immediately afterward I said absolutely NO WAY!  That shit was hard!  But a few days later I thought, it can't be any harder right?  What's 5 more miles?  Sure, I can do it. 

But really what's holding me back is my shin.  Ugh!  That damn shin!  I have babied the heck out of it - icing, PTing, moving most of my workouts to the elliptical.  Then when it's feeling good I do one run on the treadmill or the trails and BAM! It hurts again.

I threw it out to Facebook a while ago about deferring to next year as that was an option for this race.  Every single person who responded said to defer.  I didn't want to defer, though.  Who knows what I'd be doing next year?  Plus, I'm already registered and already trained.  So, I didn't defer.  The money's already spent.

This is my last big week of training I could put in before the 50K.  I had hoped to put in a solid week of training including another 20+ miler on the trails this coming weekend.  Right now, though, I'm hanging out on the elliptical and doing some pool running. 

Truthfully, I'm really torn about this race.  I guess I'll just see how this week unfolds.

2014: The Year of FAST!!!!!

As the 2013 season comes to a close I've been thinking about where I want to go with my running next year.  I enjoyed the challenge of trail running this year and it was nice to get the monkey off my back with running a marathon (race report soon), but truthfully, I love to road run and I love to run fast.  I haven't done a whole lot of that this year and I want to get my speed back.

I declare 2014, The Year of FAST!!!!!

No more marathons, no more trail racing (maybe), no more long trudges.  Everything will be a half marathon or less.  I want new PRs in the 5K, 10K, and half marathon.  I want to get lean, get muscular, get fast, and be one BAMF!

And to do this I'm going back to working with a coach. 

Now if I could just get my stupid shin to heal...

Happy Halloween from the Gordons!

 

Priorities, Perspective, and Good Decisions

Dave did a half ironman back in September.  This race was brutal for him as he wasn't expected the hilliness of the bike course and then it was super hot for the run.  It was an equally unpleasant day for me as spectating this race was pretty boring plus I had to entertain the baby all day in the heat.  And he was too young for sunscreen so I was finding creative ways to keep him out of the sun.

At the end of the race, just at the other end of the finisher's chute, Dave picked up Anderson and held him.  One of the volunteers said, "and just like that, you're back to being dad."

I loved it.

Obviously, my whole world has changed since I had a baby.  And I truly love it.  My world seems more complete, more meaningful, more everything.  Waiting to have a baby until I we (were) was ready was one of the best decisions. 

I love coming home every day from work and seeing his smile.  I love watching him peacefully sleep.  I enjoy feeding him new foods and watching him discover the world.  But mostly I love how he has made everything else in my life less of a big deal.

Running has been meh since I had the baby.  Not good, not bad, just meh.  I've had some surprisingly good results, but I've been fighting injuries and haven't been able to run the way that I use to.  But every run I come home and it's baby time.  No time to dwell on the bad run; no time to bask in the great race.  It's time to be mom.

Jamie and I had a small Twitter conversation about mental health the other day.  I told him I am not ashamed that I needed help for my mental health issues.  I have suffered long enough and started medication in March and it was the best decision I could have made for myself, my baby, my family, my marriage.  I am so much happier now.  Things don't bother me the way that they use to.  I can cope with the stresses of life and having a 6 month old is certainly stressful.

My world has changed and it is so much better. 

Injuries Updates

Yep, it's been another two weeks since I've blogged.  Life with a baby is busy, obviously.  Throw in working and working out on top of that and there's barely enough time to get to the grocery let alone blog.  I used to do most of my blogging at work and then fill in the gaps at home, but I got moved to the "big boys" table and now I sit right next to my boss.  So, it wouldn't be exactly a great idea to continue blogging at work.

Anyway, here's a quick update on my endless list of injuries that are plaguing me this fall.

My left hip is doing much better.  I continue to do some of the physical therapy exercises assigned.  Except for when I do a big run, it really doesn't hurt anymore.

My right shin, on the other hand, is just a mess.  It has continued to hurt more and more, to the point where I saw the doctor because I had a stress fracture.  (I didn't really think it was fractured as the pain got better when I ran and the pain wasn't pinpointed on the bone, but I didn't really know what else to do.)  The doctor diagnosed it as posterior tibial tendonitis and assigned me more physical therapy, specifically ultrasound.  I scheduled my appointment and hoped for the best.

But I got the worst.  The office called me and informed me that my insurance claim was denied because I had just had a PT evaluation and they wouldn't pay for another one for six months.  Shit.  So I got on the internet and googled the heck out of my diagnosis.  I found some exercises and even found some ways to tape it up to make it feel better.  I tried both and it felt better for a while but it was still too painful to run.  I was starting to wonder if the rest of my season, the big races I've already paid for, was going to be awash. I sent my doctor an email rambling on and on about insurance, and my pain, and what can we do????  He quickly responded and I had an appointment the next day for ART (active release therapy).

ART is pure torture and hurt so badly I had to hold on to my head to keep from screaming while it was being done.  And immediately after it felt terrible.  The next day, though, the calf/shin had loosened up quite a bit.  I stayed on the elliptical for the rest of my short runs during the week and was able to get through a 17 miler on the trails on Sunday (I had hoped to go 20 miles but ran out of time due to a family commitment.)  Monday everything hurt really bad again and I was limping around like my leg was cut off.  Tuesday I felt good enough to run the 7 miles from my house to my parents for dinner.  Wednesday I was in terrible pain again and today was a little better.  I had ART again this afternoon which loosened my shin but my calf still feels really tight.

This weekend I am running a road half marathon which is going to hurt like hell.  As for the trail marathon and 50K I still have on the schedule, well, I hope to keep them on the schedule.  After this weekend I can switch to all trails, treadmill, and elliptical with no road running.  Once the 50K is done at the end of December I am going to take some time off and let the body heal and SLOWLY return to running.

Busy Babes Half Marathon 2013

My sister, who recently got into running, sent me the link to her 10K for which she had been training.  The race also had a half marathon and it was only $20.  TWENTY DOLLARS!  How can you not sign up for a race when it's only $20!!!

But things got complicated leading up to the race.  First, I found out Dave was going to be in San Francisco for work this week and would not be back in time for the race, which meant I somehow had to figure out how to run it and do something with the baby.  Luckily, my parents were going to spectate my sister anyway and agreed to watch the baby.  And because it was such an early morning, I just spent the night at my parents house.  Secondly, I had a really tough time recovering from the 40K last week.  I was so sore at the beginning of the week I could barely walk.  And by the end of the week I was still hobbling.  Lastly, I have been battling really, really bad shin splints that may or may not be a stress fracture.  Running on pavement was probably not a good idea.

I put on my big girl panties, sucked it up, and did the race despite all that.

The race was small, maybe about 30 people and totally laid back.  Like, the start finish line was a chalk line on the path.

But, for a small race in only it's second year, I thought it was pretty well organized.  The miles seemed spot on, there were a good amount of water stops (though understaffed and not at regular intervals), and pretty good swag (shirt, medal, grab bag).  The only down side I saw was there was only one port-a-john on the course and it was only at the turnaround for the half marathon course.  This was an all-women's race.  There needed to be more port-a-johns.

Anyway, the start of the race was almost a little too casual.  They didn't give us any countdown or any warning.  We were all just standing around talking, back from the start line, when the DJ (yes DJ) said, "3,2,1, go".  Oh!  Okay!  And then we were off. 



I ran with a girl for about a mile, who eventually won it, and then I was all by myself for the rest of the race.  Like really alone.  The girl who won it went about 2-1/2 minutes faster than me and then the girl behind me went 5 minutes slower.

I hit the first mile in 8:30, which is right where I wanted to be.  Having done no speed work and having shown in my training that I still have no speed post-baby, I expected to be around a 1:50 for this race.  But then my second mile was low 8:00s and then I started flying.  I was actually dropping 7:30s pretty easily.  I was ecstatic!  I haven't hit paces like that since I had the baby!  This pace continued until maybe mile 9 or 10 and then I started getting tired.  My pace slipped to around the 8:00 range, but I was still doing good and knew I would be around a 1:45. 

My

My finish time was 1:44:19 for second place overall.  While I am happy with my placement, I am even more excited with my time.  I have had a hard time getting my speed back post baby, but this race was a great improvement.  Not where I was before baby, but certainly getting closer.

My sister and her friends had a great time at their first 10K and even invited me into their pictures.  I am so excited that my sister is enjoying running.  She has even hinted at maybe doing a half marathon next year.  It's so fun to share this experience with her and I hope we have more races together soon.

Hocking Hills Indian Run 40K 2013

We watched the weather all week.  It looked like it was going to rain overnight on Friday and maybe on Saturday morning.  What should we do with the baby?  Sure the race started at the lodge, but what fun would that be for either Dave or Anderson to be stuck inside the lodge during my race?  We would have to leave for the race around 6:00am; could we get Anderson over to my parents' house before we needed to leave?  Could we make a morning decision?

The day before the race I checked the weather one last time and it said 70% chance of rain race morning.  All morning.  Crap!  I called my mom and before I even asked her anything, she giggled.  She already knew that she and Dad would be watching the baby all night long.  We were leaving the baby all night at Grandma's and Grandpa's.  This was a big step for us and I wasn't sure I was ready, but it was really, the choice we needed to make.

And what a good decision it was.  I was awoken that night by POURING rain.  It didn't stop either.  I woke up and it was raining.  We drove to the race site and it was raining.  I lined up for the race and it was raining.  And it kept raining the ENTIRE race.

I mean, if you're going to do a trail race it should be in the mud, right?

 

 This wasn't a big race, maybe 40ish people, so I started conservatively in the middle of the pack.  But not a mile into the race I discovered I was running second female with first place right in front of me.  For the next couple of miles we traded places until we struck up a conversation around mile 5 or so.  And she was nice and I thought, "you know Meredith, you haven't made a whole lot of friends being super-competitive".  So we talked and we ran and talked and ran.  And before we knew it we were done with the first lap, refueling our packs, heading back out for our second loop, and sharing first place.

As I mentioned before it rained this entire race.  The ENTIRE race.  There were several races going on too: 60K, 40K, 20K, 10K, 5K, all of them sharing the same course.  So the second loop was more congested and more muddy.  This course had a lot of road running, something I was not expecting.  Mile 3 and 15 go down, down, down, down, down to the point it hurts and you'd rather walk downhill.  Then you make a left onto Steel Hill which goes up and up and up.  I hiked this hill both times.  You stay on the trails for a while which are fire trails, nice a wide, and my new friend and I could run beside each other and talk.  The last part of the loop is pretty technical with lots of single track and roots and switchbacks.  The second time around this was messy and around mile 21 I just kept sliding down a hill until I fell.  Thank goodness it wasn't a hard fall this time and my new running friend waited on me.

We ran the whole 24+ miles minus two uphills two times.  We crossed the finish line together in a time of 4:05:19 (9:54 pace) for first and second place females and 6th and 7th overall.  I asked if they could give us a tie, but they said no.  In the end I guess my time was a fraction faster, so I won the race.  But, really we tied. 

With the win in this race I set one of my "super secret running goals" from my 13 in '13 list, which was to win a race.  I'm kinda liking this trail running stuff.  It really suits my running style.  I'm looking forward to a few more longer trail races this year.

Tunnel to Towers 5K 2013

I have a goal to run a race, regardless of distance or type, in all 50 states plus DC.  Before we went on vacation this year we scoured the internet to find a race.  Of course, in Hilton Head there was a race the week before and the week after we were there.  But I was able to find a 5K in Savannah, Georgia, which was somewhat close by.  So, Dad, Dave and I signed up in advance.

As it turns out, Savannah might be close in miles to Hilton Head but it takes a whole hour to get there and you have to cross this monster.

This was a pretty big 5K, in a state and place I've never raced, but wouldn't you know I was lined up right next to a former Trakkers teammate?!  What a small world.

As soon as the race started my legs said no.  It was like my brain was saying run and my legs were saying, "are you crazy!"  But things started moving and I was feeling okay.  I missed the first mile mark so I have no idea what was my pace.  The second mile was so cool.  You ran down this really long road and there were tons of boy scouts and girl scouts out there all holding pictures of firefighters who had died in 9/11 and everyone was waving little American flags.  Because I wasn't taking the race all that seriously, I made sure to slap high-fives with all the kids.

The third mile was full of twists and turns through the cobble stone streets and all the different squares.  Somehow I made it back to the start line where Dave was waiting for me and we waited for Dad.  My finish time was exactly 23:00. 

There was quite a good (not nutritionally) spread at the finish: hot dogs, beer, soda, etc. Of course, at 8:30 in the morning it tasted amazing.  The results were quickly posted.  Dave finished 5th or 6th in his age group.  I was fourth, and dad won his age group.  We stuck around for the awards.  I thought I might have a chance to get pulled up into the age group awards since the winner of my age group finished second overall.  Wouldn't you know they only gave first overall and nothing else overall?  So, I finished 4th in my age group.  Shucks!  And my dad, well, he didn't really win his age group.  I guess when I signed him up I accidentally signed him up as a female.  Woops!  We waited an hour for the awards and got nothing.  We could have been sitting on the beach.  :) 

Overall, it was fun and I picked up my 16th state!!!

Running on Vacation

No rest for the weary when training for long races and on vacation.

Our very first full day of vacation I wanted to get in another 20 miler.  My only rule for vacation is that I got to sleep in and well, that was pretty stupid as I didn't start the run until after 10:00am and it was already hot!!!

 This is my, "I'm hot and it's only 8 miles" look.

Dave was my navigator and carried all my water and gels for me.  (My parents were watching the baby.)  It was so nice to have company.  I miss him riding with me during my long runs.

Lots and lots of refreshments.  Late in the run I actually stopped at McDonald's and added a lot of ice which I put down my shirt and into my water.

The run was long and I suffered through a lot of it.  I might pacts with myself that I could drink every half mile, or that I could stop when I reached the next mile marker.

When I reached the unexpected bridge I stopped, turned around and declared, NO!  I'M NOT GOING!!!  But I sucked it up and went anyway.

At 18-1/2 miles we were in Coligny Square where there were dancing fountains, and well, I joined all the kids in a refreshing dance through them.

Finally we were back in the neighborhood where we were staying.  We got a little lost, I finished the run, and then jumped on the back of Dave's bike to ride back to the house.  I did not want to walk one more step.

Jen Harrison-ing after the run.

I did a 10 mile run a few days later and had a great run.  At least it was redeeming from this sub-par 20 miler.  And then I ended the week with a 5K race.  More on that in another post.

TFL and Shin Splints

You would think after 12+ years of endurance racing that I would be a little smarter.  I thought because I ran through my pregnancy and kept myself mostly in shape that I would have no trouble transitioning back to running.  I guess I forgot that my body had changed shape; I'm still carrying around 10 extra (stubborn) pounds; and really I was walking 10 miles a week, not running.  And for a while I took it slow, but then I quickly ramped up my miles and I started to get aches and pains, niggles and jiggles.  The pains have not gone away and my mileage has started to slip.  I've got big, long races coming up and I'm a little nervous.

I first started noticing some pain in my left hip.  This pain is pretty usual when I reach higher mileage (40ish miles per week, for me) and I had been to the doctor and PT before about it so I kinda knew what to do.  I would ice and do some exercises, but the pain wasn't going away.  So I went to the doctor who sent me to PT (duh) who told me I had a weak TFL muscle.

I went to a session of PT and was given a better explanation of exercises and stretches.  I've been doing them and the old hip seems to be getting better.

However, I kept running through the hip pain which means I was favoring one side, which of course means things started to hurt in other places.  And that's how I developed some bad shin splints in my right leg.  Further complicating the pain in my shin is the fact that I got a bad calf cramp in the same leg while I was running on vacation.  So, I basically have pain from my ankle to my knee on my right leg.  Awesome.

I'm taking my running slowly and carefully.  I'm icing and stretching and strengthening and doing some cross training.  My running has moved to the elliptical and treadmill for softer surfaces.  Hopefully things will improve soon so I can keep up with my training and racing schedule this fall.

A&F Challenge 5K 2013

My sister has recently taken up running.  This, of course, makes me so excited!  So when she asked if we were doing the A&F Challenge and if she could run it too, we jumped at the chance.  The thought was that I would race it, Dave would run with the stroller since he had just done his half ironman, and Amy would probably run with Dave.  But when it came time for the race, I was just feeling like I wanted to have fun, so I decided I would run with the stroller and with Amy. 

 

I didn't wear a Garmin and there were no mile markers, so I have no idea how we were doing.  I was talking Amy's ear off and in her own way I think she was telling me to shut up.  :)  We stayed together until maybe a quarter mile left.  I tried to get her to race me to the finish, but she was not having any of it.  I finished the race in 29:05, which was just fine and fun to push the stroller and hang out with my sister.  Amy finished closely behind me with a new PR of just under 30 minutes.  And Dave, that daggone Dave, went out and blasted another PR of 20-something.  Anderson just hung out in the stroller feeding himself a bottle.  He's a pro at racing already.

I'm Back

Because of the nature of my job, I spend a lot of time on social media and can easily get sucked into it.  I try, very hard, to watch what I say online as you don't know who is reading it and how it might affect others.  However, social media is a tricky thing as everything is written/typed and sarcasm, anger, happiness, etc. cannot always be easily interpreted.  A few weeks ago I put a comment on a Facebook status that was meant to strike up conversation and not controversy, but instead I got a nasty little email from the person basically, in a word, bitching me out for everything I've ever written.  What was said was very hurtful and kinda shook me.  I needed a break from social media.

I had planned to write every day in September.  I had/have lots to talk about.  I needed a little break and I think I will continue to kinda stay away from Facebook and Twitter (although I love me some Instagram), but I love my blog.  I love to write about my adventures and my little peanut.  So, I'm back.  And I have lots to write about.  Stay tuned for race reports (I'm running 4 races in September!!!), something I'm calling Operation: BAMF, a little injury I'm nursing, and pictures and stories from our vacation.

He Blinded Me With Science

Confession: Dave and I are big Mythbusters fans. 

We are so lucky to have an amazing science museum in our town, COSI.  We don't go very often but every once in a while there is an exhibition there that we really want to catch.  Last year it was the 3D movie about tornadoes that was filmed during Stormchasers.  Unfortunately, we didn't go and see it.  This summer COSI hosted a Mythbusters exhibit and gosh darn it, we were going!  Luckily, I won tickets through a contest at work, Dave took the afternoon off work, and we spent Thursday at the science museum.

The Mythbusters exhibit was pretty awesome as we got to see the actual props and experiments used in the show.  There were 11 experiments that you could try yourself.  I really sucked at dodging a bullet.  My brick house I built was blown over by the winds.  And I couldn't change into a super-hero in a phone booth under a minute.  We did enjoy the experiment in which the myth was if you getting wetter walking or running in the rain.  Our results were you got wetter by walking.

You can't really see it in the picture.  Dave and Anderson walked through the rain and I ran.  They had more wet spots on them in the black light.

Dave and I did some experiments in the human body exhibit.  We got to measure our resting heart rate, active heart rate, flexibility, and strength.  I absolutely crushed Dave on the active heart rate.  This is why long distance running is a great sport for me!  I also crushed him in the flexibility (I guess those 8 years of gymnastics were good for something).  And I utterly failed on building a nutritious meal.  More on this in the weeks to come.

Another exhibit we did was called "Gadgets" and involved a lot of physics.  Being that we were at the museum late in the day, on a weekday, on a school day meant we practically had the whole place to ourselves.  We basically went wild in the Gadgets area and Anderson loved it.  Admission, I did cry when I watched do the experiments.  

Anderson absolutely loved this.  We might have to get a smaller version for his room.  Our little mad scientist.

Our last stop was the Water exhibit.  Anderson absolutely loves water.  Bath time is actually quite enjoyable for us (minus getting peed on nearly every time).  We let Anderson play and play without letting him get too wet.  And yes, I cried then too.

When Anderson gets bigger we're definitely going to have to get an annual membership and enjoy all the fun stuff more often.  Plus, COSI has programs for kids beginning at 6 months old.  I participated in a Young Scientist program there when I was a kid and learned a lot.  We will most definitely be enrolling him in these programs.  I still have two more free passes to COSI that we are going to use at later date and try more experiments.

Do you have a science center in your town?  Do you watch Mythbusters?  Did you enjoy doing science experiments when you were a kid?  How about now as an adult?

Foto Friday

The Bug turned 5 months old this week (and I swear I will take some pictures and post those soon).  We decided it was time to start introducing some new foods.  I had purchased some rice cereal awhile ago but hadn't used it, not even in a bottle, because the baby sleeps like, well, a baby.  The doctor suggested feeding it to him using a spoon so this week we tried it.  He didn't love it; he didn't hate it; he didn't eat much. 

Without giving too much information, because our child is formula fed we battle some constipation issues.  Yeah.  We have tried giving him some water but haven't had a whole lot of success.  I had read that apple juice was good (read it on the Mayo Clinic website), but was made nervous about it after reading crazy mom forums (stay off the internet!!!).  Instead we decided to introduce fruit straight up.  I'm not ready to give him food "meals" but instead I got one of those mesh food thingies that I've heard good things about.  We started with a peach, which he enjoyed, and we've done a cantaloupe, which he liked too.  Fingers crossed that it helps his belly.

Tune in tomorrow for more baby awesomeness.

Hacked

This morning my phone popped up the password verification for my Apple ID.  I didn't really think anything of it until I opened my email and had two emails from Apple.  One said my Apple ID had been changed and the second one was a notification that a purchase had been made on my account.  Now, I get a lot of junk and phishing emails so I sent those emails to Dave to see if they were legit emails.  He called me right away and they were.  It seemed my account had been hacked.

Shit.

So yeah, I had $90+ in gift cards in my account along with my credit card tied to that account.

I called Apple and started talking to a customer service rep.  She wasn't very understanding of what was going.  She thought my phone was stolen.  No, I was talking on the phone.  I, luckily, had the email of the hack as it had been sent to me when the fraudulent purchase was made.  She saw that it was my account but with a different email but was didn't really know what to do from there.  Thank goodness she transferred me to a supervisor who spent the next hour on the phone with me trying to get everything straightened out.

In the end no money was taken from my account.  The fraudster couldn't access my credit card because he/she was outside the country and needed the CCV code to use the credit card.  He/she was trying to use my gift cards but somehow only managed to download a free app, which I had the customer service rep deactivate.  I got my account email changed along with my password which I made way more difficult.  In addition, we created a two step verification where questions would need to be answered exactly for any purchases to be made. 

I don't mention what I do for my real job very often.  My title? Fraud Analyst.  Dude messed with the wrong bitch on this one.

Week in Review

Lots of miles; not many days.

Monday - 5 miles, 0.25 hours strength training
I started this run on the road and finished it on the treadmill.  In between I did five rounds of 5 squats on the BOSU with 45 pounds, and 100 jump ropes.

Tuesday - Off

Wednesday - 13 miles treadmill

Thursday - 0.25 hours strength training
Warm up of 100 jump ropes
21-15-9-9-15-21 of deadlifts (85 pounds), mountain climbers, BOSU situps (10 pounds)
Cool down of 100 jump ropes

Friday - Off

Saturday - 20 miles trails
I met up early with Bridget and ran the first loop with her.  Then the rest of the group came and I was all alone for the next lap and a half.  Bridget finished out the 20 miles with me after everyone else had left.  I did this 20 miler 6 minutes faster than the previous one.

Sunday - 2 miles treadmill, 0.25 hours strength training
Strength training was 5 x clean and jerk (45 pounds), bicep curls (10 pound dumbbells), 10 knee pushups, 15 squats on BOSU (45 pounds).

Totals:
Run - 40 miles
Strength Training - 0.75 hours

Foto Friday

I ran a 13 mile run on Wednesday night and had horrible mommy guilt about spending that much time running and not with the kiddo.  So, I made it up to him by taking him to the park during lunch on Thursday.  We did a little swinging, a little sliding.  He didn't necessarily love it, but he didn't hate it either.

Thursday Thoughts

Epic.  I'm thinking I need to do something epic.  I can't get it out of my head that I want to try ultras...50K, 50 miler, 100 miler???? 

What's one epic adventure you'd like to do?