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Saturday, August 2, 2014

The Color Run

Today we did the Color Run!  I laid out all of our clothes yesterday because we have enough trouble getting out of the house on weekdays, I knew the weekend crankiness wouldn't be much different and I was right. Once the girls were actually awake they were good to go but that takes a bit of time most mornings.  L is far more of a morning person and N not so much.  Thankfully my preparedness paid off and we got everyone wrangled and the running stroller in the car we were off on time. 







After parking a bit further away than we would have liked we got to the start of the race about 10 minutes after it was supposed to start.  We weren't too concerned because they release the runners in waves for 45 minutes so we got in line and were ready to go.  After counting down from 10 about 5 times we were part of the 5th wave that went out.  By then L was fit to be tied.  She was frustrated from all the hurrying up along the start line and then waiting.  So it took a couple blocks of running and two packs of fruit snacks and she was back to her cheery self, which was just in time for the first shots of color.  N was riding in the stroller during this bit of chaos but she hopped out and they sure enjoyed getting shot with the color.  After that they hopped in the running stroller together and hopped out for the next shot of color.  From there on they RAN most of the rest of the run with us.  They hopped in the stroller briefly a couple times but really they were troopers and enjoyed getting doused with color at each of the rest of the stops.  My favorite line from the run was towards the end when N looked at me and said "mom, when we get home, I need to take a shower!"  She was right! We were a mess!




  


 








 
On a side note, I want to add that today was a HUGE non scale victory day for me.  When we set out goals to get healthier and lose weight sometimes we get focused on the number on the scale instead of the overall progress.  I've lost a little more than 40 pounds and been frozen there for a couple weeks.  I'm not really sure why but I've decided to focus on how great I am doing in other places.  First, for this race I ordered a size medium shirt for the first time for a run and it fit comfortably!  Second, as I looked through these pictures on Greg's phone I realized I don't hate any of the pictures with me in them.  For years, I've really disliked being in pictures because I hate the way I look and today I didn't.  I'm proud of the progress I've made so far.  This year hasn't been easy for us on a number of levels but our focus on running and our health has really helped us power through.  So even with the scale frozen in place, progress is being made and I am very proud of us and the example we are setting for our kids. 

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Two people, four months, four races

Our running plans appear to be very fluid this year!  However, I think we've finally hammered out the races we plan to do for the rest of the year so we can meet the goals we set in January.  Here goes:

August 2nd:  The Color Run 5k.  This is actually more of a family event because we are so invested in our training that we want to make sure we include the girls in the fun.  We've been talking about it for about a week and the girls are psyched!

September 20th:  The Hudepohl 14k.  Umm, you can't go wrong with a run that celebrates beer and Oktoberfest in Cincinnati!  This is after I get back from a trip to Madison for work so hopefully I'm not too far off my game!

October 19th:  The Cincy Half Marathon Too.  This is a no frills run in Loveland.  It's supposed to be fairly flat which sounds great since flat is tough to find in Cincinnati.

November 15th: The Honor Run Half.  I think I am most excited about this one since the proceeds benefit the Honor Flights that take WWII & Korean Vets to Washington to see the War Memorials. One of my grandfathers fought in Korea so this organization has a special place in my heart.  

So that's it!  I told Greg no more looking for races, we are in the middle of our training schedule and I'm not moving it around anymore.  We have already started think about what we will do in 2015 and we are debating setting a new running goal that will take some time to complete (years likely).  More on that later! 
  

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Dance Recital

The girls had their second dance recital in May.  I have to admit I was a little apprehensive about continuing dance classes at school after N refused to dance at the Christmas recital.  But both girls said they liked dance so I decided to continue it.  I'm glad I did.  They were great in their recital.  N was not as tuned into the ballet portion but she really shined when it came to tapping.  L was a little more tuned into the ballet portion of the recital so as usual they balanced each other out.  I asked their teacher afterwards how they do in class and she said great, they are really tuned in, much more so than they were for the recital.  So I think we will do another year of dance at school since it is so convenient.  I love that their teacher comes to them weekly  and we don't have to worry about getting anywhere after a day of work.  I also love that the recitals are held at the school, it makes it so convenient for us and the kids.  I'm not sure if they had to do a recital in front of a big crowd at this point that they would participate, so this option works well for us and the kids. 

As usual I have some pictures to share from the big day:















Flower Girls!

The girls were recently in the wedding of one of their Godmothers as the flower girls along with another one of her nieces.  We've known Brittany and Russell for years and they both worked for me back in my McDonalds (gasp) days long, long ago.  I hired Russell so I like to say I introduced them.

It was a beautiful day!  We took tons of pictures at the wedding because we wanted to make sure they had lots of pictures of all that happened, even though they had a great photographer.  I loved all the extra snappies I got after my wedding so I wanted to share the same with her.  Unfortunately, we really didn't get many good ones of the kids, lots of blurriness in most of them - but here are a few good ones that we can share.  












Sunday, July 6, 2014

Four year pictures

We decided to do four year pictures with a local photographer that I used to work with.  We haven't actually gotten the pictures back from her yet but if the sneaks on facebook were any indication, the pictures are going to be awesome.  I've already decided where on the wall I am going to hang the canvas prints I am going to order.  

Greg brought the camera along and he snapped a few pics over her shoulder as she was taking pics and we stuck around and took a few on your own afterwards, so I thought I'd share a little bit of the cuteness.