Foto Friday

Dave took the day off work today and we took a family adventure.  First we set out for COSI, our local science museum.  Then we had lunch at the Spaghetti Warehouse (where my son ate every bit as much as I did).  Finally we wrapped up the day at the Columbus Main Library downtown where we met some friends.  There was a huge multi-level model train exhibit (remember, my son is OBSESSED with trains) in addition to a HUGE room for little kids where they could play with toys and read.  We spent about two hours at the library just hanging out.

I didn't get to take many pictures as I was either carrying Anderson on my back in the Ergobaby or I was wrangling him like a herd of cats.  These are my two favorite pictures of the day, though.

Both these pictures are from COSI, although the one with the trains was also what Anderson did at the library.  COSI has a space just for small children where they can play and learn.  Anderson loved the water and got mighty wet in the process despite wearing a smock.  And then we found the train table and it was full-on meltdown when we had to leave there.

We had thought about ending the day at the zoo lights but we were all just too exhausted.  It was fun to have a day to play as a family.  I wish we could do this more often.

Thursday Thoughts

We all have smart phones (except for my mom who refuses to get one) and we all have favorite apps that make our life easier or just more fun.  So this week I want to know what your favorite app is?

One of my favorite apps is called Lose It! 

Yep, I'm a calorie counter.  Counting calories has been the only effective way for me to lose weight.  I'm still on a mission to lose all those pregnancy pounds (seriously, it's been two years, are they ever going away?!).  There are several things I love about this app.  First, it works both on my phone and on my computer without ever having to sync anything. 

Another thing, I love that I can just scan a bar code and it pulls up the nutrition information for me.  One thing that bothers me, though, is that I don't think the calorie counts for exercise are entirely correct. 

For example, if I run 6 miles at a 9:00 pace it tells me I've only burned like 400 calories.  That's it?  Really?!

I also have the obvious favorites in apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, but LoseIt! has to be the one I use most often.

Help me out!  I am always looking for apps that are going to make things easier or just make things more fun.  What's your favorite?

Oh Black Water

It's been eye opening to have purchased an older home that needed some work.  We have uncovered termites and mold and lots and lots of pink/peach paint.  One of the hardest adjustments, especially for Dave, has been well water.  I grew up on well water, but overall our water at my parents' home is/was pretty good.  I remember my dad putting salt in the water softener but otherwise the water was good.  Here, it's been a little different.  We have put salt in our water softener but our water has continued to be disgusting.  We have rust stains everywhere.  I cannot keep the toilets clean no matter what I do.  Our laundry has been ruined with orange rust.  And the bath water for Anderson looks dirty and gross.  A few weeks ago we discovered there was a filter in the water system.  Dave took hours to figure it out and let me tell you, NASTY!!!  We put in a new filter, it helped for two days, and then it was back to gross.  Needless to say, I've been buying gallons and gallons of water for drinking.

As we've started the remodel on our bathroom, I've stated that I will not put in new fixtures until our water problems are solved.  Dave is busy all the time, so I took it upon myself to contact Culligan to hear about our options.  The Culligan Man checked out our equipment, smelled our water, looked at our fixtures, and inspected the back of our toilets (ick).  Then he did a bunch of tests on the water, like hardness level, iron levels, and drinkability.  As it turns out, our water is incredibly hard.  And that's before and after the water softener.  So basically, our water softener is doing absolutely nothing.  The problem we're having with iron is not actually the iron level, it's the bacteria that feeds off iron (ick). 

The recommendations were a new water softener, an iron-specific water softener type thing, and a reverse osmosis system since we drink so much water.  Unfortunately, that totaled up to over $6K, something we don't exactly have sitting around.  We've begun looking around at different companies and options and it looks like we may be able to do it ourselves for much, much cheaper.  Hopefully it is something we can fix and fix quickly.

Any of you out there on well water?  Anyone else have these same problems?  Found any good solutions? 

Momma Drama

The boy is quickly approaching the age of two and with that "the terrible twos".  He has certainly been asserting his independence and letting others know who is boss.  While I am totally behind this (I am woman, hear me roar!), it has caused us a bit of drama that I haven't been prepared to handle. 

We have been going to the library for Baby Story Time for several months now.  The age groups are broken down from 6 months to 18 months and 18 months to 3 years.  Anderson turned 18 months in the middle of this fall session.  Even at 18 months, he was bigger than the other kids.  The kid is a giant!  Anyway, at the end of each story time the instructor gets out toys for the kids to play.  As Anderson has gotten older, he's gotten a little more possessive of "his" toys.  He will yell at kids and at times has even pushed or hit the kids.

Twice this fall another mother has gotten a little snippy with ME about this.  This has been a bit of a surprise to me and I haven't known exactly what to do.  Usually I tell Anderson no and then remove him from the situation.  I've asked others for advice and so far, I guess I'm doing the okay thing.  The interesting thing is, it is only at the library that this happens.  At the Y he plays by himself despite there being often many kids in child care.  And at home, he is very creative about keeping himself entertained.

Let's be real, Anderson is most likely to be an only child.  I really don't see myself having another child.  I feel complete with Anderson and I cannot imagine spreading my love to another child. 

So moms I need your help.  How do I teach my child how to share as an only child?  How do I teach him to be polite to other kids and be giving?  Any advice is appreciated.

Dear Santa

Yesterday we attended a family holiday party for Dave's work.  It was crazy, loud, and crowded, but we still tried to have a good time.  We started with brunch, did some crafts, and then got Anderson's picture taken with Santa.  Anderson wasn't too cool with Santa this year.  He didn't like being with someone he didn't know and he DID NOT want to sit on his lap.  As you can see from this series of pictures, there was no trust with the old man.

 

 

 

And that's as good as it got.  I don't think we'll be trying out "mall Santa" this year to see if we can do better.  I think we'll leave this as a humorous memory and try again next year.

Week in Review

Alright.  First week back to training.  I started so well with the week and kind of faded out by the end.  There's a part of me that was so excited to get back to training and another part of me that was like, "uh, I just want to stay in bed."  Really, I didn't do that bad, but I'll try to do better next week.

Monday
Planned - 40 minute run with drills
Actual - I was on the track by 6:30am in the rain/snow and no, I was not the only crazy out there.  Got it done.  I was home by 7:30am and still had to wake everyone up.  4.5 miles

Tuesday
Planned - 1900 yards swim with drills, pulling, and fast stuff; 30 minutes of basic strength
Actual - That was a rough re-entry to organized swimming.  My arms felt like there were going to fall off.  Loved the strength workout.  1900 yards and 30 minutes of strength with 1/2 mile warmup/cool down.

Wednesday
Planned - 45 minute easy run
Actual - Ugh!  Some days you have it; some days you don't.  I had procrastinated all day and didn't get on the treadmill until after dinner.  I felt fat and slow and unmotivated.  I only did 3 miles in 28 minutes.

Thursday
Planned - 2300 yard swim with lots of pulling; 15 minute core workout
Actual - Um, yeah.  We'll move this to next week.

Friday
Planned - 30-60 minute spin
Actual - I'd better get used to riding my bike.  There will be a lot of it in the next year.  45 minutes of easy spinning (8.34 miles) while watching "The Wonder Years" on Netflix.

Saturday 
Planned - 50 minute progressive run; hip strength; ab strength
Actual - Again, lazy.  I'll move this to next week too.

Sunday
Rest Day

Totals:
Swimming - 1900 yards
Biking -  8.34 miles
Running - 8.5 miles
Strength - 0.5 hours

Foto Friday

It's going to be a random Foto Friday.  I get so lazy in the winter about taking pictures; it's hard when there are days you don't actually ever leave the house.  So, here's what I've got this week.

First up, the dog.  In Anderson's first year, the dog and the boy were not really friends.  Sloopy was insanely jealous of the baby.  She would snap at Anderson and bark.  I was so worried about it that I asked the vet for advice.  The last couple of months, though, Anderson and Sloopy have begun to play with each other a little more.  I'm not exactly sure Sloopy is really pleased about it, though:

Doesn't this looks say, "Are you kidding me, mom?"

Finally, we put our Christmas tree up this week.  Anderson "helped".  He doesn't quite understand "look, don't touch".  Most of our ornaments have migrated north.  There's about a two-foot gap at the bottom of the tree with no ornaments on it.  Maybe because of this:

Happy Friday.  Have a great weekend, y'all!

New Car!!

I didn't even have my Honda Element listed on Craigslist for three weeks when I sold it for nearly full asking price.   Quickly, we found ourselves down to one car.  It wasn't going to be a big deal.  We live right next to Dave's work (seriously, he rides his bike in the summer) so I was going to drive Dave to work and then have the car in case Anderson and I wanted to go anywhere.  

We had test driven everything - Toyota Rav4, Hyundai Santa Fe, Subaru Outback and Forester, Audi Q3, and the Honda CRV.  We had narrowed it down to the Subaru Outback and the Honda CRV, but we had test driven the 2014 CRV and really wanted to check out the 2015 as it was starting to hit dealerships.  Upon one test drive of the 2015, we were in love and knew we had to have that car.  Because the car was brand new and the dealership only had a few colors and models of it, we decided to go the morning we were leaving for Chicago for the Naperville Marathon and check out the choices, make a selection, and put it on hold.

Five hours and thousands and thousands of dollars later, we walked drove out of the dealership in our brand new car.  We didn't expect to have a new car that day, but oh my gosh, I love this car.  I LOVE THIS CAR!!!

It's all pimped out with leather and seat warmers and dual climate controls and back up camera and blind spot camera and Sirius XM and bluetooth stuff and and and......

The best part?  Somehow I roped Dave into letting me drive it every day even though he's the one that actually has to leave the house every day.  I flippin' love this car!!!!

Isn't This Interesting?

Thanksgiving morning I woke up to this email:

  

You have got to be kidding me?  I did ONE triathlon in 2014, which shouldn't even be eligible as a qualifying race, and I qualified for the national championships???   Well crap!  This puts an interesting twist in my 2015 plans.  I mean, how can I NOT do the freakin' NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS!?!?!

But, let's be real, I suck at biking.  And for me to get acceptable enough to even make a decent showing at a national race, I am going to spend every day between now and the race on my bike.  And even then, I'm still gonna suck at biking.  This causes concern for me because I still have big running goals for 2015.  Honestly, I moped around the house for a few days conflicted about all of this.  I really want my running goals, but how can you not do the national championships?  Finally, I sent an email to coach who straightened me out and let me know we can do both.  So, for now, the age group championships is on the schedule.  Guess you'll be seeing me on my bike a lot this year.

November Totals

After my marathon, I pretty much shut it down for the next couple of weeks.  I think I only ran twice the rest of the month.  To keep up my fitness, though, while giving my legs a break I got on my bike a couple of times and did some strength training.  Here's how November shook out:

Swimming - 0 yards
Biking - 33.18 miles
Running - 49.7 miles
Strength - 1.5 hours
Visits to the YMCA - 12
Cost per Visit - $7.11

2015

I've taken a few weeks off from running, a few weeks off from blogging, and now I'm back.  2015 starts today.  Well, training for 2015 starts today.  2014 was pretty good.  I spent the year getting back into shape and throwing down some good races, but I was left a little unsatisfied.  2015 is going to be epic.  I'm ready to give it my all and get after it!  I want PRs, I want podiums, I want scary paces, and I'm ready to put in the work.  2015....I'll see you at the start line!

Foto Friday

Sloopy (our dog) had a vet appointment yesterday and for the first time I had to take the baby and the dog all by myself.  It was a bit crazy, but manageable.  And, they took a family picture.  How cute!

WHAT.A.FIASCO!

Dave and I purchased our new iPhone 6 Pluses at the end of September directly from a local AT&T store.  They were having a deal where you could turn in your old iPhone and receive money off your new iPhone.  By doing this we were saving about half off the new phones.  This was a great deal that we could not pass up.  The iPhone 6 Pluses were not available at the store and so we had to order them, being told we would have to pay for them up front and then we would receive a gift card for the return of our old phones (foreshadowing).  We were told they would be available in November or December.  A long time, but it's not like our current phones didn't work.  We could wait.

At the start of October I received an email stating the phones were on schedule to ship between November 7th and 14th.  Cool.  But the start of November came and I didn't receive an email stating the ETA on the phones.  This past Monday while driving back from Chicago we checked the status of the phones and they still said they were to be shipped between the 7th and 14th.  Patience, Meredith.  My head was all screwed up this week and I thought for sure that the 14th was Thursday.  When I still hadn't received an email from AT&T I went onto their website and saw our order had been cancelled.  WTF!!!!

Dave called AT&T.  (He's like my spokesperson.  I'm never calm enough to handle these situations without making it worse.)  They were unable to tell us why exactly our order had been cancelled but we could reorder the phones, still receiving our half off deal, but they wouldn't be ready for another month.  They also gave us another $25 for the hassle we had been through.  I was pissed.  I had waited long enough.  They told us we could check at local stores to see if any of them had them in stock.  We checked and some stores had the 6 Pluses but they weren't the storage size we had initially ordered.  But, our local Apple store had them in stock.  Dave got on the phone and started working his magic.  He's so good at customer service.  He called a local AT&T store, explained the situation, and they allowed us to buy the phones directly from Apple and then return our old phones to them still giving us our half off deal.  Sweet!

So, on Thursday evening we headed up to the mall to get this all worked out.  First we went to the AT&T store to check in and see if anything else was needed to be done before we went to the Apple store.  Nope.  Then we went to Apple.  Wouldn't you know they cut the line off for purchasing the phones 5 minutes before we got there?  Son of a bitch!  The mall was still two hours from closing!  At this point I was too angry to deal with stupid salespeople, so Anderson and I went down to the play place.  Dave started working his magic again.  First we consulted AT&T to make sure we could still do this dance tomorrow or a later date.  Then he went back to Apple to order the phones so they would be ready on Friday.  This time he spoke with a different salesperson who said that MAYBE if we ordered the phones that evening that they might be ready by the time the store closed.  So we waited.  We took Anderson to the food court and got him some dinner.  It was after his bedtime, he hadn't eaten, and we were still waiting.  Nine o'clock came and went.  The mall closed.  Our phones were not ready.  We were headed home empty handed.

Not even an hour later we received the email notification that our phones were ready.  Didn't matter.  We were waiting another day.  Friday after work, still with a sick baby, still without a babysitter, we headed back to the mall.  Our phones were ready, we set them up, went to the AT&T store and got our gift cards, and we were out of the mall in 20 minutes.  A big ol' mess but in the end we got what we wanted for the price we wanted.

Here's what happened.  The original AT&T salesperson was incorrect.  We were not charged up front for the new phones.  Our credit cards were charged when the order shipped.  Except, our bank had changed our credit cards in October and the credit card the order was under was our old one.  Instead of alerting us and asking for a new credit card number, AT&T just cancelled our order without warning and without notification.  Poor customer service, but in the end, I think we won.

Have you ever had a nightmare customer service/buying experience?

Foto Friday

Mr. Independent

Sadly, right after this picture was taken, he put down the spoon and started eating the mashed potatoes with his hands.  Utensils: It's a work in progress.

Pictures from the Naperville Marathon

Somehow there were only finisher pictures captured of me last Sunday.  Or at least, so far, those are the only I could find.  I'll keep looking through the lost and found. 

So here's my best finish line picture.  Gosh, this picture makes me look chunky.  (Yes I was wearing a water belt that squeezes the hell out of you, but no excuse!)  I've got some work to do this winter. 

Happy Anniversary!!!

It's hard to believe today is the 10th anniversary of this blog.  TEN y'all!!!  My very first post was written about how I got started in running and a basic introduction of myself.  In that time I've written something crazy, like, 1600 more posts, run about a million more races, introduced the husband to running and triathlon, oh and had a baby.  I know there are lots of people who read this blog and a few who comment - thank you for following my journey.  Here's to the next 10 years.

Naperville Marathon 2014

I don't know what to say about this race.  I executed a great race.  I had the kind of race people dream about.  I ran every step - didn't walk once.  I ran tangents.  I tucked in behind people in the wind.  I paced very well.  Unfortunately, though, I came up short of my goal.  It has left me sad, frustrated, angry, disappointed, and motivated.

Race morning started well.  I woke up before my alarm; I got myself ready; I ate a small, nervous breakfast; and we were out the door early.  We found a parking spot close to the start/finish and we were there in plenty of time for me to use the bathroom twice, get off my sweats, and spend very little time cold in the corral.  I lined up around the 3:55 pace group as I like to start slow and then we were off.

I got into my race plan early - start slow, stay relaxed, move into race pace, drink/eat.  I didn't feel really great, but I was doing okay.  The miles were not ticking off quickly but I didn't feel really panicky either.  My low point of the race actually came early, around mile 9, when I thought about dropping out at the half, but I got my head back in the game quickly when I saw Amanda at mile 11 and Dave at mile 13.

Mile 1: 8:59
Mile 2: 8:29
Mile 3: 8:25
Mile 4: 8:12
Mile 5: 8:16
Mile 6: 8:11
Mile 7: 8:17
Mile 8: 8:20
Mile 9: 8:18
Mile 10: 8:24
Mile 11: 8:15
Mile 12: 8:18
Mile 13: 8:23

After the half marathoners turned off I noticed how windy it was.  I found a guy running the pace I wanted and shadowed him like I was his Siamese twin.  I really pissed him off.  At one point he looked at me and said something (I didn't hear it) and all I said was "Sorry.  I'm using you to block the wind."  Really I was unapologetic.  This was my race.  He must have felt like I was pushing him as he dropped off the pace.

Mile 14: 8:18
Mile 15: 8:13

Then I saw Amanda again.  She let me know the 3:40 group was right ahead of me and that I needed to move up to the next group to block the wind.  I caught them and kept behind them for the next two miles.

Mile 16: 8:31
Mile 17: 8:33

But, they weren't running fast enough for my goals, so I let them go.  And for the rest of the race I was in no-man's land.  I was feeling strong and really pumping but the paces just weren't falling.  I would try to use others to block the wind but I just couldn't find any consistent runners.  I kept looking for the 3:40 pace group as I knew if I could just get up to them I could hang on and use them.  Unfortunately though, I never saw them.

Mile 18: 8:20
Mile 19: 8:25
Mile 20: 8:27
Mile 21: 8:24

In the later miles, I was getting tired and I wanted to walk, but I was so close, SO DAMN CLOSE to hitting my goals.  I kept saying, "NO!  ONE MORE MILE!!!"  I saw Dave at mile 22 and told him it was going to be close.

Mile 22: 8:27
Mile 23: 8:44
Mile 24: 8:30

And at some point I knew I wasn't going to get that 3:40.  I was at peace with it.  I had run Boston several times before and really I just wanted to go in 2016 to see Andrea and Danielle.  There are other races; there are other goals.

Mile 25: 8:43
Mile 26: 8:39

Finally, I made the last turn, headed uphill (cruel joke) and dashed to the finish line.

Total time: 3:43:08
Place: 9/101 in my age group.

I'm not going to lie, I cried after the race.  I had a GREAT race and just came up short.  Looking back there isn't a whole lot that could have been done differently during the race.  Sure, there are many things that could have been done differently with my training and nutrition, but what is done is done.  And IF I decided to do another marathon in the spring I will certainly try a little harder with those pre-race items.  For now, I don't know what the next planning stages will bring.  I was not intending to run a marathon in 2015.  I have other goals and races I wanted to run.  I will admit, though, that I'm hungry to get back to my marathoning form.  I'm better than a 3:43 and I want to prove that to myself.  These next few weeks I'm going to rest, enjoy the holidays, and spend time with my favorite little boy. 

Things I Love...My Apera Backpack

I admit it.  I'm a bag whore.  I love purses and backpacks and satchels and whatnot.  I used to buy lots, but honestly, I don't carry any of them.  So now I don't waste my money.  I now just carry my cell phone and a credit card.  For the last 5ish years I've been using a Saucony backpack as my running/gym bag.  It was alright.  It didn't have all the compartments I would have liked - like a water bottle holder, but it made do.  For some time, though, it's been falling apart.  One of the should straps came unsewn and the interior lining was ripping out.  It was time for a new backpack.

I don't like to spend a lot of money, on anything, but I had been admiring Apera and their line of backpacks for some time.  I debated and debated and debated and finally I just bought it.  I chose the Active Pack as it had shoe compartments, water bottle compartments, a place for my phone, a separate area for wet clothes, and a smaller bag included for wet swimsuits.  This bag was made for me.

When the delivery finally arrived at my house, however, they had sent me the wrong pack.  I was disappointed.  I tweeted them and sent them an email and they immediately responded.  They sent me a label to use for free shipping and sent me the correct pack before I had even sent the incorrect one back.  Their customer service was amazing!

Now I am in love with this backpack.  It's perfect.  It's compact but holds everything.  I regularly hold my swimming and running clothes at the same time in there.  In addition, I use the iPad compartment to hold diapers and wipes which keeps me from having to carry two bags to the gym.  I love having a separate compartment for my phone and keys at the top of the bag.  I use the shoe compartments and the water bottle holds simultaneously and it does not add volume to the bag.  And I LOVE the separate wet clothes bag.  I use it all the time for my swimsuits and/or sweating running shirts. 

This bag is terrific.  I love it.  I hope it lasts forever!

October Totals

October came and went so quickly.  I thought I would have done a whole lot more training but a small injury, life, and frankly a little burnout took hold of me.  I still had good training and ran a half marathon.  Here's what happened in October.

Swim - 5800 yards
Bike - 16.78 miles
Run - 88.05 miles
Strength - 1 hour
YMCA visits - 17
Cost per visit - $5.02

Foto Friday - Halloween Edition

Last night was trick-or-treating in our community.  Being that our neighborhood is only 12 or 14 houses, the neighborhood coordinates to get all kids together at once, exchange candy, take a group picture (didn't happen), and go together to the rest of the houses without kids.  This is all done before the "official" start time of beggar's night so the kids can go to other neighborhoods with their friends and family.  We also learned a lesson in our first Halloween at the new house: a regular bag of candy just will not do.  Because there are so few kids the neighbors go way out with prepared bags and giant candy.  We had just bought a bag and split it among the kids.  Next year we will be better prepared. 

After the neighborhood festivities, we went and surprised our old neighbors and also spied checked out our old house (they ripped out all of our carpet!!!).  Finally we ended the evening in my parents' neighborhood hitting up 6 or 8 houses.  Anderson got a ton of candy (that Dave and I will be eating) and looked super adorable in his costume.

Yes, I already owned the crab hat.

A Long October

It's been a long and sad October for my family. 

At the beginning of the month my parents' neighbor, Sue, passed away after a short battle with Leukemia.  Sue has been our neighbor since we moved there 30+ years ago.  Sue was like a second mother to my sister and me.  She was our regular babysitter.  I remember good times of eating spaghetti-os, playing with all her cats, and having the bajeebers scared out of me watching Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  Walking past her house tonight while trick-or-treating with Anderson made me sad.  Her funeral is this weekend.  She will be missed greatly by my family.

Just two weeks ago we lost my paternal grandmother.  My grandparents live in Kentucky, about 5-6 hours from home, so we don't get to see them very often.  Therefore, I am not as close with my paternal grandparents as I was with my maternal grandparents who just lived a few miles from us and we saw all the time.  Saying goodbye, however, was not easy.  The funeral was filled with tears and great stories.  Mostly, I'll miss my grandmother's laugh.  She had a great laugh.

Yesterday, two years to the day that my beloved grandmother left us, my uncle passed away.  It wasn't unexpected; he has been sick for quite a while.  My mom and her sister are very close and I spent a lot of my childhood with my aunt and uncle.  They are big sports fans.  They used to take me to many Cincinnati Reds games when I was really young.  Then in high school they would take me to the summer league basketball games where I got to see many college and professional basketball players play on small high school courts.  The last several years my aunt and uncle had a seat license at the Schottenstein Center and would invite us to many Ohio State events including all of the women's basketball games.  We will say our final goodbyes this weekend.

An Unexpected Monday

I texted my mom early yesterday hoping they were or had gotten home from vacation early so that I might get an hour to grocery shop on my own.  Instead we had a fantastic day at the pumpkin patch.  We went to Pigeon Roost Farm in Hebron, which is about a 30 minute drive from our house.  This place was much more than just a pumpkin patch (in fact, we didn't even come home with a pumpkin), it was a giant farming playground!  There were slides and farm animals and farm equipment and mazes and all kinds of things.  Anderson's favorite thing was a covered wagon that was filled with corn kernels (instead of sand).  He played in there for at least a half hour until I had to physically remove him from it.  After our time on the farm we enjoyed a great lunch at Clay's Cafe also in Hebron complete with ice cream.

Here's a few of the pictures from the day.

This was like a giant hamster wheel.  I was terrible at it and Anderson hated it.

Yes, my child has Hand, Foot, and Mouth.  We've been to the doctor already.

Good Job, Columbus Marathon Peeps!

I had my half marathon medal within a week of the race.  It arrived in the mail last Friday.  Good job, Columbus Marathon.

Foto Friday

As I mentioned yesterday, we attended the Creepside Festival last night.  Our little guy dressed in his Halloween costume - a crab or a lobster.  Whatever.  He was cute.  Expect more Halloween costume pictures next week.

Thursday Thoughts

Last night we went to the Creepside Festival at Creekside in Gahanna.  (Pictures tomorrow for Foto Friday.)  Basically, it was a community-wide trick-or-treat and Halloween festival.  It was nuts.  There were people everywhere!  We waited in line for trick-or-treating for a good hour for just a few pieces of candy.  And my boy doesn't even eat candy!  I noticed that most vendors were giving out Tootsie Rolls.  Not bad, but not a great candy either.  My favorite Halloween candy is probably Reece's Cups.

So, what's your favorite Halloween candy to steal from your kids?

Pictures from the Half Marathon

Dave was unable to get any pictures of me as he had the baby and didn't know where the new course went to be able to get in any position to get any action shots.  So, I "borrowed" a few from the official photographer.

Does this face say, "I'm squeezing my buns so I don't poop on myself"?  You can read about that here.

I'm going to be completely honest here.  It's my blog and I can.  I hate this picture.  This picture makes me mad.  This picture screams, "I'm 10 pounds overweight; I'm not even trying to lose the baby weight; I am never going to be the runner I once was or should be."  It's just gross.  It makes me sick.  I want to try harder.  I've got to try harder.

I wish I had more pictures from this race.  I wish I had more flattering pictures.  I wish I felt better during this race and then maybe I would have looked a little better.  :)

Columbus Half Marathon 2014

**WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING**

Well, that was a real shit show.

Literally.

I'm starting to think the Columbus Half Marathon hates my guts (pun intended).  Last year we had problems sitting in traffic and this year was a whole other mess.

We left the house with about an hour and a half before the race start and made it downtown in plenty of time.  With forty minutes left until the start of the race I got into a port-a-john line.  The line was long but having done this and other major races, I knew these lines moved fast.  Except it didn't.  I noticed that our line was merging with another line.  Crap.  Literally.  So, with 15 minutes left until race start I jumped out of line, gave Dave all of my warm clothes, and got into another line.  Hey, I was wearing a chip.  I'd be okay.  I HAD to go.  And with three people in front of me in line, the gun went off for my wave.  I was in corral A, hoping to run a fast half marathon, and I had missed the start.  I got my business done and took a "warm up" run to the corrals.  Luckily, they had a gap open for the front waves, and I was escorted into the correct corral. 

Except now I was in the back of where I wanted to be and no one was running my pace.  Sure, I like to start slow and work into my pace, but this was ridiculous.  Columbus Marathon and Half have gotten huge and there was nowhere for me to get around anybody.  Short of me pushing people (and I did some), I wasn't moving up. 

Mile 1 - 8:26
Mile 2 - 8:07
Mile 3 - 7:57

Now I was starting to get things going and I was feeling great.  I was passing people all over the place.  The average pace was dropping and I had a good feeling about this race.

Mile 4 - 8:01
Mile 5 - 7:46
Mile 6 - 7:38

Then something happened.  My stomach wasn't bothering me.  I mean, I wasn't crampy, I wasn't feeling sick, my stomach wasn't doing flip flops, but I needed to find a port-a-john and quickly.  The buns were locked and loaded.  Luckily I found one and was able to do my business quickly.

Mile 7 - 8:38

And then I was back and moving again.

Mile 8 - 7:53

It was short lived, though.  My fire buns were not cooperating and I was running squeezing it in.  I had to stop again.

Mile 9 - 8:38

I pride myself on being the fastest pooper in the midwest (self professed) and it was at least doing me good in this race.

Mile 10 - 7:38

One pit stop during a race is okay if necessary, two is ridiculous and yet, I needed a third one.  Good grief.  Unfortunately, as I swung by my third port-a-john of this race, some dude jumped in right in front of me.  He took a long time too (or what seemed like a long time).  I literally yelled from outside the bathroom "HURRY UP!"

Mile 11 - 9:20

At this point I didn't care what was going on back there.  There were only two miles left and I was going to book it to the end with no more stops.  I ran some of my fastest miles of the race in those last two miles.

Mile 12 - 7:43
Mile 13 - 7:24
Last 0.1 - 7:17 pace

Overall time: 1:46:49

Then to finish this whole mess off, there were no medals at the finish line.  I was disappointed until I read the reason behind it.  I have now requested my medal be sent to me.

If you look at my time, for most runners, this is a great time.  And honestly, it's a little humorous that I ran that time with all that happened.  But I am a little disappointed.  Between the bathroom stops and starting in the back, I probably wasted 4-5 minutes during this race.  I have been running for years.  I love the half marathon.  I'm so tired of running in the 1:40s.  I'm better than that.  This race was supposed to be a great race. 

So, what the heck was going on with my stomach?  Well, it could have been the chili I had for dinner the night before.  Sure, not an ideal pre-race meal, but we were hanging out with friends at their house and they already had it in the Crock Pot when we got there.  I couldn't say no.  It could have been the fact that I had been sick all week.  I had been fighting a pretty bad cold (Ebola?) since Tuesday and my body was full of snot and cold medicine.  Lastly, maybe it was stress.  My paternal grandmother passed away last Wednesday and we were leaving immediately after the race for a 5 hour trip down to Kentucky for her showing later that evening and funeral Monday morning.  It could have been any of these reasons.  It could have been all of these.  It could have been none.  All I know is I had a "crappy" race and I'm hoping in three weeks to have a much better marathon.

Foto Friday

Y'all, I have been waiting so impatiently to show some of these pictures!!!

When we were in Montana I hired Bethanne from Marianne Wiest Photography to take our family pictures.  It wasn't the easy session with a baby.  He wanted to play in the rocks and splash in the water and because we were in a public place, there were dogs and people who were distracting.  But Bethanne did an amazing job and the pictures were beautiful.  Here's a few of my favorites.

Please do not steal these images.  They don't belong to you.

#wcw

I love fast chicks!  Last weekend was such a great weekend of stalking fast women runners and triathletes.  (Nope, I personally do not know any of these ladies, but I do follow/stalk them on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, blogs.)  Let's review:

Rachel ran a 3:00 marathon in Chicago!  I got to see her run at the 2009 Nike Women's Marathon.  She is so tall!  And so fast!!!

Angela came oh so close to her Olympic Trial qualifying time in Chicago.  These chicks are FAST!!!

Sonja finished second (freakin' SECOND!!!) in her age group at the Ironman World Championships.

Katie ran an Olympic Qualifying 2:41 and finished second at the Hartford Marathon.

Danielle got her Boston Qualifying time at the Chicago Marathon.

And finally, a special shout-out to my girl Amanda who FREAKIN' WON the Ironman 70.3 World Championship (SHE'S A WORLD CHAMPION!!!) a few weeks ago.

Congratulations all!  You inspire me!

Worth The Money

In addition to car shopping this past weekend, we were also mattress shopping.  Our mattress is older than our marriage.  I bought it when I moved into my first solo apartment, about 14 years ago.  It has gone through its eight years of life and then some.  It is soooo uncomfortable.  I think I would sleep better on the floor.  I have been asking for a new mattress for ages but they're so darn expensive, so we never really shopped.  Recently though, I've been complaining, begging.  I sleep horribly.  Maybe it's because I nap during the day; maybe I nap during the day because I can't sleep at night.  I don't know, but I knew it was time to start shopping. 

Dave, of course, started his shopping online.  Shopping with Dave is a very tedious process, for which I have zero patience.  He had found a place called Bed in a Box which had great reviews and inexpensive mattresses.  So, we headed to two local stores to try out different types of beds to determine which type we should order.  At the first store we tried out 5 or 6 different mattresses, from coils to posturpedic.  There was one we both laid down on and were like "woah!"  "This is the most comfortable mattress I've ever laid on."  Then we went across the street to another mattress shop and tried out three more mattresses.  It was a little like Goldilocks: one was too hard, one was too soft, and the other was just okay.  We went back across the street and tried out a few more mattresses and then made a quick decision.  We got a good deal on a king, yes a GIANT KING, bed and bought it straight away.  Then we had to buy a new mattress pad, new, very soft sheets, and a new bed frame as ours did not expand to a king. 

You spend a third of your day in bed.  For me, it may be a little more than a third; I love to sleep.  It's worth it to spend the money to get exactly what you want when it comes to bedding.  Our mattress gets delivered on Friday and I CANNOT WAIT to sleep on it.

Week in Review

It was sorta a crap week.  Truth be told, I've been battling some bad shin splints/tendonitis.  It's been so bad that there are nights where it hurts to sleep.  So, I took a step back this week and rested.  I iced, I stretched, I strengthened, and hopefully I will be going into the last big week of the training cycle feeling a little better.

I only did four workouts this week:

Swim - 1800 yards
Bike - 5.62 miles
Run - 11.25 miles

I did one 6.25 mile run on the treadmill which included the middle 27-1/2 minutes at a steady state of 8:30 pace.  The other run was a 5 miler outside that hurt so badly. 

It's been frustrating that the last two years have been plagued with shin splits/tendonitis.  I know my body shape and weight are not the same as pre-baby.  It's been frustrating for me, but it is what it is.  But, it affects my running.  I'm not as stable as I was and I don't have muscles where I once did.  I have always struggled with higher mileage (40+ miles) and this training cycle has been no different.  There's so many miles (and they're even tougher to do with a little one to work around) that often the strength routines go by the wayside.  Life balance is difficult, and I'm trying, and each day gets a little easier.  This has felt like a really long training cycle.  As with all marathon training, I'm ready for it to be over.  I'm ready for a break and I'm ready to work on new goals.  Hold on Meredith!  Only a few weeks to go.

Test Drive From Hell

I was able to do it.  I was able to talk the husband into at least looking at and test driving new cars.  Earlier this week we checked out the Honda CR-V (loved) and the Subaru Forester and Outback (loved).  Then earlier today we did a test drive of a Audi Q3 (beautiful, can't really afford).  All of these experiences were great.  We did not receive a sales pitch, the sales person let us test drive the cars by ourselves, we received great information, and overall had a great first impression.

Then this afternoon we went to a local Hyundai dealership.  We should have walked away right from the start.

As we took a collective deep breath and mustered the courage to get out of our car, we were met by a sales person barely outside of our car.  We were hoping to look around, get our bearings, and then ask for help, but instead we were ushered directly into his cubicle where he wanted to know why we were shopping, what we were looking for, what we wanted for our trade in (we didn't even bring the car with us), and what price we were looking to spend.  Woah, woah, woah!  We are just getting started.  We just wanted to look at and test drive the car.  Then we were escorted out to the two cars we were interested in: the Tuscon and the Santa Fe.  He showed us every minute detail of each car and then went on our test drive with us.  We only got to drive maybe two miles of city traffic (I would have liked to take it on the freeway and felt the pick-up of it) and he demonstrated their "On-Star" feature, which was dumb.  Something we would (a) never pay for and (b) never use.  Then once we returned from our short test drive he asked us no less than three times what he could do to drive away in one of the cars today.  Well, right from the start we told you we were just starting to look.  And, MAKE US AN OFFER!  We're in a position of power.  We have a perfectly working, low mileage vehicle that we do not have to get rid of.  Make us an offer we can't refuse.

The sad part is, we really liked the car.  We hated the dealership and the sales person, though, which makes us have to walk away for now.  There is another Hyundai dealership in town but I had such a HORRIBLE experience with them with one of my previous cars that I absolutely REFUSE to work with them again.  There's another location for this same dealership further away from us that I guess we can check out.  I don't know.  I just rubbed me the wrong way.

Do sales people actually believe this high pressure sales stuff actually works?
What's the worst sales experience you've ever had?

Foto Friday

Today I received our beautiful pictures we had professional taken while we were vacationing in Montana, but I'm going to keep you all in suspense for another week for those.  Today, I'm showing you pictures from Anderson's gymnastics class.  Yes Anderson takes gymnastics.  I think I swore to myself that no child of mine would take gymnastics, but well, whatever.  He loves it too!  And what does a 1 year do at gymnastics?  It's really all about motor skills.  He "jumps" on the trampoline, learns to grip things like a bar or a rope, walks across the balance beam, climbs under and over obstacles, and learns moves like forward rolls and cartwheels. 

 

"Jumping" on the trampoline.  He's too small yet to jump but he does know how to go up and down on his toes and jump-like.

Climbing in and out of the foam block pit.  Each weeks he gets a little braver with this one.  And it develops great core muscles.

Anderson always uses the wedge mats like slides.  At the end of this mat was also a rope he was playing with.

Climbing through the tunnel.  The kids loves tunnels.  He does this at storytime at the library too.

October Stitch Fix

Unfortunately, this is going to be my last Stitch Fix for a while.  It's a little on the pricey side, especially for a stay-at-home mom.  I've got enough clothes to last me a lifetime (thank you sample sales).  And I certainly have enough good pieces to mix and match a good wardrobe.

Here's what I received this month:

Black purse: This sucker was HUGE!  My gym bag and my diaper bag are smaller than this.  Don't get me wrong, I love purses, but really I only carry my cell phone with me.  If I'm carrying a purse it is tiny and is cross body so I don't even know I'm carrying it.  Obviously, I sent this back.

Blue polka-dot dress:  Yes, they already sent me a blue polka-dot dress, but this one was too gorgeous to send back.  It's a thick wool and fits beautifully.  I have no idea if I'll wear it on a regular basis, but I love it!

Blue sweater: Um no.  To me, this is just ugly.  It fit ugly.  Looks like something my mom or grandmother would wear.  I sent this back.

Black skinny jeans: These were a tad-bit short (or maybe that's where skinny jeans are supposed to hit), but they fit otherwise like a glove.  They're going to look awesome with my black boots this winter.

Burgundy blouse: Cute.  Fits well.  It's a keeper.

I want a new car

I know you all are reading this blog.  I've seen the stats.  Now I need your help and comments.

I want a new car.

The problem is, the husband is not exactly on board.  At all. 

We currently own a 2004 Honda Element in only 80,000 miles on it.  And it is paid off.  This car has been a great utility vehicle for us.  We used it to haul the photo booth around for five years.  We have used it for all our triathlon gear including throwing the bikes in the back of it.  And we have used it as a way to carry all kinds of stuff from home improvement stores for projects at our previous and new house.  Now that we have a baby, however, it is proving to be a difficult family car.  First of all, it has those stupid suicide doors (the back door hinges at the back) which are impossible to open in any parking lot.  We still have the baby sitting backwards in his car seat so to get him in his car seat we have to literally climb into the car with him.  Even if we turned the car seat around, I still think we'd have to climb in with him as the seats are so high that there is no way either of us could just reach into the car to buckle him in.  Because the height of the seats, it could be a very long time before Anderson could climb into his own car seat.  The Element is quite large which makes it great for using it as a truck, however, it only sits four people.  This means even simple trips to the ice cream shoppe with my parents cannot be done in this car and our little car (Toyota Prius) is a tight squeeze for five people.  Taking two cars to any short trip to the ice cream shoppe or wherever is just ridiculous.  Finally, the Element has ZERO luxury to it.  It's like driving a tank.  And frankly, I'm over it.

I've started floating the idea of a small SUV like a Honda CR-V or a Hyundai Tuscon to the husband.  It would be a much better family car with a little bit of luxury that would feel like driving a car and would get better gas mileage.  The husband is not really excited at this idea.  Why would he?  We have a perfectly good working car that has very little mileage on it and no car payment.  Our other car is also ten years old with 120,000 miles on it and no car payment.  We haven't had a car payment for years.  Why would we start now?  I get it.  I really do.  But, how long do we plan on keeping these cars, especially for a car that doesn't really work for us anymore?  We drive probably 5 miles a day (literally).  At this rate our cars will never wear out.  We may have these cars forever.  He may be okay with that.  I am not.  I want a new car.

I feel like the only option I have is to find a way to come up with all the funds and pay for this car with cash.  I would say, right now, I have about half the expense.  Coming up with the rest of it is going to be quite difficult considering I don't work.  Plus, we have very little expenses as it is.  We don't have a water bill, we don't have a gas bill, we don't have a sewer bill, we don't have car payments.  Basically we pay for our mortgage, contribute to our IRAs, have cable, cell phones, and trash collection.  And occasionally we have someone fertilize the lawn.  My latest ideas to save a few bucks are to cancel our Netflix subscription which we NEVER use.  And I mean never!  I also am going to cancel my Stitch Fix delivery as $200 a month on clothes is ridiculous for a stay-at-home mom.  I am also an avid coupon clipper (although not one of those freaks filling up carts of junk they'll never use even though they're getting it for free - yes I'm talking to you weirdo behind me in line last night at the grocery store).

So here's where you come in.

What's a good way to save and/or make money?
What small SUVs should I be looking into?
Help me!  Help me!

September Totals

Yeah, yeah.  I'm a little behind in posting my September totals.  Some weeks just get away from me.

I raced every weekend in September - I walked a 10K with my mom and sister, I ran a 5K for fun-ish, I ran a marathon I wasn't supposed to, and I won a 10K.  I also did some training in between those races.  Here's what was going on in September:

Swim - 2300 yards
Bike - 13.95 miles
Run - 120.62 miles
Strength - 0.5 hours
Trips to the YMCA - 15
Cost per Visit - $5.69

I really thought my miles would be more, but I basically took the week off after the marathon and the first week of the month was quite a dud too.  I do just fine on a low mileage plan, but sometimes I wonder how much better a high mileage plan might be.  It's too late to find out for this training cycle.  For now, it's on to October!

Second 20 Miler

My first 20 miler in this training cycle was the Air Force Marathon.  You can read the race recap here.

This past Saturday night my parents graciously watched the baby overnight so Dave and I could have a date night and then Dave could join me on my second 20 miler (riding his bike/providing support).  The plan was a 10 mile warm up (yes you read that right - TEN MILES!!), a couple miles of building, some miles at race pace, a few miles faster than marathon race pace, and then a cool down. 

I started off pretty well with the first 10 miles at an 8:45 average pace.  It was windy and cold, which is perfect weather for me, but I was struggling to get my pace down to what I thought it should be.  My build miles were at 8:31.  My race pace miles were an 8:24 pace.  I believe I need an 8:23 pace to get that elusive 3:40 Boston qualifying time.  Note, I wore a Garmin but did all of this pacing by feel.  Being able to "feel" an 8:24 is pretty darn close to race pace.  The faster miles were at an 8:02 pace.  I felt great during those miles, although, I'm not sure I could have managed that pace for a long, extended period of time - i.e. 20 freakin' miles!  Finally, my cool down miles were at an 8:45 pace. 

Overall, this 20 miler went great, albeit, not as fast as I would have liked.  One more and then it's time to fly!

Week in Review

Monday
Planned: 30-60 minute spin and a short 15 minute jog
Actual: 2.16 mile run before the sun even came up and a 30 minute trainer spin right before Anderson went to bed.  Plus I did 3 rounds of 21 reps cleans at 20 pounds and 7 dips off the weight bench.  I love Mondays!!!

Tuesday
Planned: 50 minute easy run; 30 minute strength
Actual: Easy treadmill run - 5.3 miles

Wednesday
Planned: 45 minutes of cross training
Actual: 2500 yard continuous swim.  The gentleman in the lane beside me even said I had a great rhythm and pace.  Nice!

Thursday
Planned: 1 hour hill run with long 8 minute incline intervals done at race pace; 20 minute run later in the day
Actual: One of the hardest workouts I have ever done.  I was even sweating from my legs!  I was only able to muster about 8:30 paces at 3-4% incline for the uphills.  7 miles total.  Second 20 minute run later in the day of 2.15 miles.

Friday
Rest day!!!

Saturday
Planned: 45-60 minute easy run; 30 minutes of core
Actual: I had breakfast with my friends.

Sunday
Planned: 20 mile run with last 6 miles at race pace and faster
Actual: Nailed it!!!  I will blog about it tomorrow.

Totals
Swim - 2500 yards
Bike - 5.56 miles
Run - 36.61 miles
Strength - 0.25 hours