Last Race Day

The running series the girls were in finished up last weekend. We finally had a nice day for a race! We've had mostly rainy, muddy races that have been less than fun for the girls. They were really excited this week because they got medals at the end of the race. This was a nice introduction to running and I'm glad they made progress along the way.

On the walk home, Avery said she was feeling happy and proud of herself. :) That's all we can ask as the outcome for some of these experiences... is to expose them to something new and build their confidence that they can do things they've never done before!

Ready for the 5th and final race!

Stretching out before the race

Beckett is on the right here running his dash

Morgan giving me a high five on her run

Finishing strong!

Avery was right behind her!

Getting the medal

Morgan with her medal

Avery with her medal

Grayson running with no left shoe - lost it along the way but kept going!

Took turns on the podium

Race Day

Another wet, muddy race day is in the books. The girls did better at pacing themselves this week. They still ended up with mud all over!

Cousins!

So silly!

Girls race start line... MUDDY!

Finishing strong!

They do NOT like getting muddy! 

Race Day #1

I signed the girls up for this running club for kids called Healthy Kids Running Series. They have five races on Sunday mornings and the first one was this weekend. The girls age group runs a quarter mile race. The park where they run was a complete muddy mess due to all the rain we've had this past week. The girls ended up pretty gross by the end of the race!

Ready for the race!

Bibs on and ready to go!

Warming up with the volunteers

And the after shot of their backs... just a little muddy! :)

Morgan sprinted the race and got out of breath and did not like that feeling. She said she couldn't breath and it scared her. So, we're going to work on pacing and endurance. Avery did better at pacing herself; started out slower and even fell in the mud once, but didn't need to stop at all and ended up finishing right with her sister. We're hoping that the next race will be less muddy!

So glad it's a short work week

So, I finally felt better after that cold I had last week, but my ears were still full. Which is SO annoying, by the way! It's like having water in your ears and going to the top of the Sears Tower and them never popping. They feel like they could explode! Not good. After a couple of days with no improvement, I caved and went to the doctor yesterday. I really hate going to the doctor and I hate taking medicine even more. He gave me some drugs and I'm waiting for them to kick in. I took the first dose yesterday afternoon and it made me nauseous. It also made me kind of dizzy and not able to sleep. Awesome. This is why I hate taking medicine - it may fix your problems in the end, but getting there can be a pain.

Last night, Matt and I ran in the Bastille Day 5k with some people from work. It was HOT and HUMID, like running in a sauna. Basically, one of the more miserable experiences I've had outdoors. After about the 2.5 mile mark, I had to walk for a bit. The heat was killing me! Matt said he had a moment at the 2.5 mile mark as well, more of a "Will I keep this water down?" moment. Ew. Right as I finished, the rain started coming down hard. We went to RJ Grunts for a bite to eat afterwards. I was so happy to get home and take a shower after that! Gross!

This morning, Round 2 of boot camp started... and I was SO NOT READY for it, especially after that race last night and not getting enough sleep. I dragged myself to the gym and somehow made it through the class. We stayed inside today due to the rain. The gym was like a sauna = awful. We got to play a little basketball... actually we just had to run laps dribbling the ball. Since we were working out on the basketball court, I thought for sure we'd have to do suicide drills, but she spared us that. I was having flashbacks to my high school basketball practices... I used to dread the words "to the line". Nothing good ever followed those three words.

One more day and this week will be done! And Matt and I will start our 5-day weekend! : ) We're heading to Michigan on Sunday for Matt's family reunion. I'm looking forward to it!

Jam packed

This has been a busy week! I'm so glad it is finally Friday!

I'll start with Sunday night... Matt defeated me at bowling. It wasn't even close. I tanked in the last game. I was just totally wiped out from the weekend... that's my excuse. : ) Actually, our whole team was wiped out - Erin and I from the weekend in Lake Geneva, Brett and Ross from Ross' bachelor party. It was the first time we ordered a pitcher of pop for every pitcher of beer we had!

Monday morning (bright and early!), I dragged myself out of bed and went to bootcamp. Ugh. That was a rough one, because it's starting to get warmer and more humid outside and we workout on the roof of the gym. Plus, the a/c in the gym hadn't cooled the place off yet, so when we ran the stairs, it was like a sauna in there!

Then, I got swamped with a project at work and the next few days were kind of a blur of forecasts and spreadsheets. I'm amazed at how much I can get done while practically asleep! Just hope it's correct! ; )

Yesterday, another early morning at the gym for bootcamp. I think she was trying to kill us since we don't have class on Memorial Day. I was feeling a little nauseous by the end of class.

The JPM Chase Corporate Challenge (3.5 mile run/walk) was last night and our company had about 50-60 people participating. Matt and I both ran in it (along with about 20,000 other people!) The start of the race is kind of a free-for-all. People don't necessarily line up in their correct time slots. So, the first half mile I spent dodging slow walkers and runners and watching out for faster runners trying to pass me. I almost face-planted once when an over-zealous runner tripped me while he tried to snake his way through the traffic. I ended up finishing in less than 38 minutes. Matt did well and finished around 28 minutes. One guy we work with finished in 20:14 = super fast!

After the race, we hung out at our company's tent and had a few beers. We grilled out hot dogs and burgers. Yum!

By the time I got home last night, I was totally beat. I slept like a rock! I almost always wake up at some point in the night, but last night I don't think I even moved from the time my head hit the pillow! : )

Nice job, Erin & Brett!

Today was the Chicago Distance Classic half marathon. Erin and Brett got up SUPER early for the race, which started at 6:30am. Hany and I went to cheer them on. The weather was almost perfect, not too hot and there was a breeze.

On my way there, I took a couple of pics... here is the BCBS building, where they are building another building on top of the current one. Interesting.


I just love Buckingham Fountain -


Brett said he hit the wall about mile #9 and had some issues with his calf muscle, but he still finished at what he was targetting. Good job! He's actually grimacing in pain in this picture... I thought he was smiling at first, but nope.



Here's Brett a few minutes after the race taking a little break...



Erin ran and power-walked and finished almost right in front of us without us noticing. Luckily, we figured out that it was her (Brett said she was wearing a white shirt, but actually it was green. Not even close Brett!)



Congrats to the finishers!



Hany and I were the cheerleaders! : )



It got a little chilly afterwards because of the cool breeze coming off the lake.



After the race, Brett, Erin and I met up with Matt at Flat Top Grill for the breakfast buffet. I'm pretty sure Erin and Brett are going to be logging some hours on their couches this afternoon.

Chase Corporate Challenge

Wow... what a debacle of a "race". I think the "challenge" is managing to run the whole thing without tripping or running into someone! Besides the fact that it was freezing, I forgot to charge my IPOD, so I had no tunes to keep me entertained.

I started back by where I thought people would be running the same pace as me, but turns out more people walk this thing than run it... and they just start off walking, they don't even attempt to run. So, for the first mile, I was totally dodging people, slowing down, speeding up, trying to get around people, running up on sidewalks, grass... whatever I could do. It was like an obstacle course of people. Being that I am not in good shape, this totally wore me out. And after I realized I could walk faster than I was running, I just gave up and walked the rest of it. When I was walking, I actually passed people who were running. They were short, I have a long stride... but I thought it was funny nonetheless.

The best part of the race was afterwards... my company had a tent set up and we grilled out hot dogs, brats and burgers (and a few cookies ended up on the grill, as well). We had beer and water and snacks... all very good. It would have been better if it was warmer and we could have stayed there longer, but we were pretty cold and took off after we ate.