Strawberry 5000

Sunday morning I ran my second 5K race.

Shortly after the Run Like a Mother race I started looking online for more events to enter so that I'd have motivation to keep going.  Especially now that Matt is home, I don't have that desperate urge to do something just for me.  I don't crave the time at the gym away from the kids.  I'm not angry about my situation and I no longer have that to fuel my fire.  But I've  made so much progress that I don't want to stop now.  

I chose this race because it was in the town I used to teach in before Peter was born, because the entry fee was low and because not only was there a shirt, but there was a medal for all finishers.  Not going to lie, I really really want those medals.  I'm finding it pretty rare that there are medals for the shorter distance races unless you finish at the top so I thought it might be nice to have one that came from one of my early races... assuming I keep at this.  

I have another 5K scheduled in June and am trying to really hard to convince myself to sign up for a 10K on Independence Day.  I'm still trying to fill my calendar for the couple of months after that but some friends and I are planning on doing a Mud Run in October and The Color Run in November.  I'm also hoping to get a Thanksgiving or a Christmas race in there too, but we'll see.  All this, in the hopes of probably, maybe, attempting to do a Half Marathon in January.

We'll see.

So anyway, yesterday.  Matt stayed home with the kids to get them ready for church and I went up by myself.  The race was early enough that I had time to run and still be back in time to join them at mass.

Before hand, I was pretty nervous again.  I passed the time until the start casually chatting with another lady who appeared to be around my age and to be there alone as well.  She seemed to be kind of experienced and mentioned that she hoped to finish right around 25 minutes.  This surprised me a bit and I wished her luck as I told her that this was only my second event and that I was still just trying to break the 30 minute mark.

As soon as we started she disappeared ahead of me.  

I had some trouble getting my watch going, and there was quite a large crowd so the first half mile or so, which weaved through the roads of a shopping center, were just the normal spacing out as everybody tries to fall into their pace.  I kept checking my pace on my watch (wanting it to be under 10 minutes/mile, but finding it somewhere around 8:40) and trying to settle in, slow down and identify that "group" of folks who were going to settle into a similar groove as me.  

By the time we made the first corner and set off for a long, roughly a mile, out and back stretch I wasn't finding myself slowing down much but I felt okay.  I identified some people around me who seemed to be going the same speed as me and just tried to stay with them.  Right around then the race leaders (AKA, the CRAZY PEOPLE) who were running 5 and 6 minute miles and had already made the first u-turn were passing us on their way back.  

For the next mile and a half or so things were good.  Then we made a right turn onto a the back half of the course which started with a decent uphill and I started to feel it.  I didn't want to loose all the progress I'd made and I kept pushing myself.  Then I realized I had just about a mile left to go and I still hadn't seen a water stand.  Crap.  They apparently weren't going to have one.  And I was so so thirsty!  The gum that I regularly chew while I run to keep my mouth from drying out while I run was rapidly starting to feel like a rock in my mouth.

I kept going.  

We ran passed a couple of booths set up for the festival later in the day and I saw random bottles of water sitting out.  I desperately thought about taking one.  We made another turn to another bit of an uphill and I started to see spots. As I accidentally  bumped into some random guy, I slowed to a walk for the duration of that hill and then made myself start going again because I was so close to the end.

We ran past a donuts place and a Sonic.  I seriously considered throwing up.  

We rounded another corner back into the main street of the festival.  There were lots of spectators and I wondered if I was going to be that idiot lady who passed out in front of everyone during the 5 K.  The finish line had to be around here somewhere!  I increased my pace a bit and rounded another corner.  There's the end right?  Wrong.  Two more corners.... and roughly 50 yards and I saw it at last.  

I pushed myself harder so that I wouldn't be finishing right behind two gentleman running with double jogging strollers and I was done.

As I crossed the mat I noticed my former teaching mentor's daughter (a professional photographer) taking pictures at the finish.  My legs stopped and I caught my breath and stopped my watch.  

Everything is a bit of a blur for a minute and the next thing I remember I was sitting on the curb with the finisher's medal around my neck, cutting the timing chip off my shoe.  As the pounding in my ears subsided I heard my new friend from the start coming up to me all excited.

"YOU DID IT!!!" She said.  "You were almost 2 minutes under 30! Great Job!  She went on to tell me how she'd barely made it back to the end to see me finish  in time.  

I was secretly surprised that she'd come back to look for me and embarrassed for a moment about the poor shape I'd been in at the end but she didn't seem to have noticed so she led me over to the water and the strawberries and exchanged phone numbers for the future.  

Several strawberries and about 5 cups of water later and I was feeling back to normal.  I bid my new friend Patty goodbye and headed off to the car to call Matt and try to get back in time to meet him and the kids at church.

When we got home from church Matt took this photo of me.

If you're wondering about my somewhat lengthy and probably excruciating description of my thoughts and feelings during the race, well, you know I'm all about honesty.  I hear other runners talk all the time about how good it feels but the fact of the matter is that's only half the story.  Because AFTER you run it does feel awesome.  But EVERY runner I've ever talked to about it seriously admits that there are moments (sometimes A LOT of moments) WHILE they run that absolutely suck.  When they can't breath.  And everything hurts.  And it's the story about how they make themselves keep going through it that really interests me.  It's certainly a lot more real than just focusing on the finish line all the time.

If somebody reads this who is thinking about starting to run I couldn't stand it if I just went on and on about the greatness at the finish line and ignored all the stuff about the actual race.  Because then that new runner is going to go out there and expect those AWESOME feelings right away and not realize, perhaps, that the HIGH can't really be realized until you work through the pain and the sweat on the way.

Or something.

Does that make any sense?

It's like parenting.  Parenting is absolutely the best thing I've ever done.  It's also the straight up hardest.

So anyway, when I shut my watch off, this is what it read:

It showed a time of 28 minutes and 31 seconds (definitely my fastest ever) with an average pace of 8 minutes, 57 seconds per mile.  But then again, since my watch works on the steps I take, it also said I ran 3.19 miles instead of the official 5K distance of 3.12 miles.  I'm assuming the extra distance is due to all the weaving in and around the other people that I did.

Still, I'm completely surprised and 100% proud of that time and pace.

Later that day, the official results were posted online. According to the website I finished 21st in my age group.  I was the 109th female to finish and I was 342nd overall.  My official "chip" time was 28:35 with an official pace of 9:12.

Obviously the chip time is only judging the official course distance and not any weaving I did adding extra distance for myself along the way which is why my pace is so much slower.

I was frustrated about the difference in my pace for... I don't know, about 2 minutes.  Sure, the official results are not as impressive as those on my watch but they are still a HUGE improvement in only 2 weeks from my last event.  Also, my watch is far more sensitive than the timing chip to what actually goes on during the run so I feel those results are more valid for my purposes anyway.

So yeah.

Go me.

My next race is June 16.

Disney Mini-cation (Day 3): One Final Surprise

For our final "Hurrah" in Anaheim, Matt and I decided to give the kids one more treat.

From pretty much the first moment we'd set foot in Downtown Disney two days earlier wed noticed kids driving remote control cars.  That first afternoon as we'd walked to the Rainforest Cafe for lunch Peter had immediately spotted the shop where the cars were coming from and had wanted to go in.  We'd walked through briefly, noticing that it enabled people to build their own "custom" remote control cars.  You could choose from a huge variety of body types, wheels, rims, sound chips, lighting affects, decals and other assorted "muscle car" type features.

All of this seemed pretty cool to us of course, but also, a bit expensive seeming so we'd headed on our way.

That evening, after dinner when we'd once again been exploring the various shops, Peter had dragged us in there once more.  And alright, I'll admit it... he didn't really have to drag us too hard since both Matt and I thought it was pretty fun and cool and we didn't mind going in again to take a closer look.

Of course, what interested Peter the most was that you could  make characters from the Disney Pixar movies Cars and Cars 2.  They had 3 or 4 different paint job styles of Lightening, a few different Maters, Fernando, Finn, Holly and of course a couple choices for Sally.  

"I neeeeeed one Daddy," Peter kept saying.

We'd continually steered him away.  He settled briefly on some non-Cars cars, like regular old hot rods mustangs and corvettes and, I don't know... regular "cool" cars like that.  Daddy joked that maybe Mommy needed the Audi one.  Mommy wondered secretly why they didn't make Honda Odysseys.  Peter just kept begging.  

We ended up getting out of there and eventually Peter was satisfied with a milk shake instead.

But that night after the kids were asleep Matt and I talked.  Perhaps if we could limit our spending in the parks over the next couple of days we'd be able to get him one before we went home.  And also, if we were going to get one for him, A.J. would probably need one too.  She might not care that much about it NOW, but in another year... yeah... that was just bound to be a big fight.

So, after we left California Adventure, instead of heading back to our hotel to get our bags and head home, we made one final stop to build those cars.

Peter was just about beside himself with excitement.

A.J. was stuck to me in the baby carrier so I'm not really sure how she felt.

When we first went in to the store Peter seemed all confused.  Like, why were we back here again?  Then we told him he could pick out a car and he started right for the Cars cars.  He immediately selected a Lightening McQueen.  Matt and I gently steered him to a slightly different Lightening, that cost a couple of dollars more but that included Lights and Sound in the package rather than having to pay to add on any of these later.  

I selected a Sally for A.J. 

Matt really wanted to get her a Mater, but um, NO.  A.J. is a girl and Sally is a girl.  Plus, I'm no car expert but like, rusty tow truck or Porsche?  Please.  It's not even a question.

(I told Matt maybe I'd go back in the fall and get him a Mater for his birthday. Ha. As if I ever need an excuse to go up to Disney.)

For a few minutes everything was a blur while we filled our baskets with all the necessary parts... rims and wheels and sound chips.  Then we went over to the counter where one of the employees was helping people build.  

I love the set up they have.  To work the tiny little screws they have like a power wrench thing that comes down just like a real auto mechanic's or something.  Fun!

Laying out everything before starting to build.

Me and A.J. watching (and taking pictures.)

Putting on the wheels.

I asked Peter to smile for me and this is what I got.

After the wheels were one, the guy asked everybody to put their hands on their heads and listen while he explained how to put the engines in.

Ha.  I've used that trick before myself with kids.

Putting in the Engines.

Close up!

Finishing up the lights (I think.)

In case you're doubting our sanity in buying one for A.J.,
she kept reaching for her Sally.  As soon as she was done
being built, A.J, tried to pick her up and give her a hug.

All finished and checking that the remote and everything works.

Off to the registers to pay.

Our Sally and Lightening.

Best. Souvenirs. Ever.

I'd say, this was the perfect way to wrap up our trip.

Since we've been home, the cars have never been put away.  The batteries have needed to be recharged a few times already and my goodness if that wasn't just a truly, traumatic, torturous lesson in patience while we waited the  4 very long hours for the batteries to be full again so the driving could resume.

Fun times.

(Just don't look too closely at the bottom trim on my walls, um, ever again, as they has been rammed into so many times already I'm certain they will never be the same again. Aw well, it's for a good cause.)

Disney Mini-cation (Day 3): California Adventure, the rest

To wind up our day at California Adventure, the first step was to drag Peter out of the water area and get him into some dry clothes.  Matt did this, because, frankly, he's stronger.  He'd just finished changing A.J. into some dry clothes and she stayed with me while we waited for the boys again.  It was obvious to me that the water had done it's job to wear her out so I strapped her into her stroller and gave her the new Ariel doll to snuggle, hoping she'd fall asleep without much of a fight.

She gave Ariel a kiss.

And the next thing I knew, she was OUT.

With her asleep, we struggled to decide what to do.  Ordinarily we would have taken some time to shop for souveniers but most of the shops were closed due to the construction, we'd already gotten the kids some toys that day and we still had one more surprise planned for them.  We walked around with the kids in the stroller for a long time, basically making a loop around the park.  

We thought about going into the Wilderness Explorer area to let Peter play but he seemed tired too (he was laying his head back and closing his eyes when he thought nobody was looking) plus his shoes were wet and  it was sort of stressing him out.  I have no idea why the wetness of his shoes bothered him suddenly, last time he wore wet shoes practically the entire day but what am I thinking expecting a 2 1/2 year old to make sense?

We spent some time looking through the preview area about the new Cars Land that opens soon.  I'm hoping to bring the kids back one more time in the fall before my pass expires to see it but I'm also concerned that the attractions there will have height requirements above 40 inches and then I'd have a broken hearted little boy.  Hmmm.  Please don't let me down Disney Imagineers!

After a good hour of wandering around Peter was saying he was hungry again so we stopped for snacks again, including my favorite.... Mickey Mouse Shaped food again.

Mickey Mouse soft pretzels with cheese!  Love!

While we ate, parked on a curb in the shade of the Animation Building, near the entrances to Tower of Terror and the Aladdin show we were pleased to see Sully walk by.

I love Monsters Inc.  My kids are finally getting to a point where it doesn't
frighten them, but they still wanted to keep their distance.  

Finally, we decided to do one last attraction before bidding farewell to the park.

I've seen the signage for the Live Disney Junior show many times but I never really had any idea what it was all about.  Since the kids are so into the Disney Junior Channel these days (Peter seems to think he is entirely too good for PBS Kids in general) we decided to check it out.

I must say, officially, this was an excellent choice!

You go in and there is a little stage up front and then a wide open space on the floor for everyone to sit.  All the parents groan of course and then realize "Oh yeah, we're here for our kids and they'll be much more comfortable like this."

Our Family, before the show started.

Once the majority of us were in a Disney Cast Member led the children through some exercises and little movements to pass the remaining time until the show could start.  I'd imagine this is to help them to sit still(ish) once the show starts as well.

Peter doing some of the exercises.

Right before she was finished with the preshow she asked all the children to give a hug to their families and I caught this gem.

So sweet.  Also, you can see the scrape (mixed in with the sun) on his
cheeks and chin and the left side. Poor kid.  At least he's a trooper and he rolled with it.

When the show started we were all instantly pleased to see Mickey Mouse and all his friends pop up, right along with the clubhouse, there on stage.

As the show went on, other Disney Junior friends joined in the fun.

Handy Manny

The Little Einsteins

Have I mentioned yet just how cool this little show was?  Jake and the Neverland Pirates also came out and there was singing and movement for the kids and they even rained bubbles and streamers and  paper pirate gold doubloons down on us at different times throughout.  My kids collected a small treasure of the golden coins to bring home and basically, thought it was the best thing ever.  

Kind of a messy photo without the flash, but I *think* this was when the bubbles came down.

After the show, Handy Manny came out to greet some of the children.  I'm pretty sure Peter has watched maybe 4 episodes of Manny ever, but he didn't care.  He was ALL ABOUT meeting him.

A big hug.

And a smile.

With that, it was time for us to go.  There were a few more things to do of course, but we were all tired and hot.  It was about 4:00 and the evening crowds of Grad Night kids were starting to make everything crowded and we were just, frankly, a bit done.

The kids didn't even object at all when we told them we were leaving.  The both just sat in the stroller and looked around wearily.    Mostly, this just makes me wonder how exactly families with little ones manage to do the Walt Disney World Resort  as it is just SO much bigger with SO many more parks and things to do.  Makes me glad that we have Disneyland close now, while my babies are young and we can save the week long Disney World extravaganza trips for when we're all older, everybody can walk and has better stamina.  

Even still, Matt and I had one more thing planned for the kids:  their final fun experience which would get them some awesome souvenirs.

Disney Mini-cation (Day 3): California Adventure, the water

Alright, so, to catch everybody up we were like half way through the third and final day of our family trip up to the Disneyland Resort, currently in the midst of our fun at California Adventure.  We'd just finished riding on the Bug's Land Lady Bug spinners when Matt took Peter back to the bumper cars since they had broken down in the middle of their last ride.  Since A.J. had been very unhappy not to be able to ride before, I instead took her off to find something else to do beside *just wait* while the boys did their thing.

We ended up at the little water spray-ground.

I j just love that sort of thing... especially (of course) when its hot and my goodness, for the middle of May, it really was that day.  I'd even come fully prepared with a complete change of clothes in my bag for each of the kids, just in case of accidents or... you know, water fun.

So A.J. and I went on in and I explained to her that it was alright, she could go on in and play in the water get soaked if she wanted to.

She seemed... hesitant.

For a long, long time she stood on the outskirts.  She watched the other children there get wetter and wetter and she seemed to find joy in just watching the others.  But I could tell she wanted to play as well.  She wanted to but she was... hesitant.  Shy?  Scared?  I'm not sure.

I chatted with another mother and the Disney cast member staffing the the area.  The mother told me her kids had taken a long time to "get in" as well but by the time I saw them they were both wet right down to their gills.  The cast member just kept giggling at A.J.  He said something about how the little ones were always his favorite to watch as their reactions were always the best.

I couldn't help but theorize that part of her reistance was that her brother was not there.  She always seems more outgoing when she has his lead to follow and he is... outgoing at least.  To combat this, I went in with her a bit.  This got me soaked from the bottom of my shorts all the way down to my feet but she was still, largely dry.  She'd gotten hit a bit, but really, it was just a bit of mist and a few small splashes here and there. 

But she was growing bolder.  It was really just a matter of time before the odd pattern of water got her.

"Mommy come over HERE and get wet with me."

And then... it happened.  A.J. stepped forward onto one of the drains right as one of the spouts went off, hit her right in the face and soaked her.  

Don't acted surprised that I have a photo of that moment.
I snapped nearly a hundred photosin this area alone.

My girl was NOT happy.  She was just not prepared to get sprayed in the face and she reacted by freezing on the spot (leaving her there to get MORE wet) and screaming (which let water get in her mouth.)

Oops.

I put the camera down and swooped in to save her.

Just then I noticed Matt and Peter rounding the corner to join us.  They'd walked in just in time to see my daughter get it.  Ha.

So between the two of us, we comforted and calmed down our girl while Peter, (no surprise here) jumped right on in to join the fun.

Of course, the trouble was he was RUNNING around on all that wet pavement in his sneakers.  He called several times for him to slow down but he was too excited.  It wasn't until Matt told him to "COME HERE!!!" that we even caught his ear and then he turned on a dime to come to us and...oops... slipped and fell hard in the slippery pavement.  He landed on one of his knees, his hands and of course his face.

Yikes.

That Disney cast member must have had some real tales to share with his friends about us back in the break room later that day.  My goodness.

Peter was okay.  He complained about his skinned knee which was really just red and ignored the scrape on his cheek and split in his lip.  I just thanked God that he wasn't hurt worse and before long, both of them were right back out there again.   He did have sort of a puffy swollen cheek for the next few days, but probably, it was something only a mother would notice.

Back in the saddle again.  :)

Hmmm....

WET!

Even WETTER!

So refreshing!

I liked lifting A.J. up high above anywhere that the water could hit her.

Eventually, Matt too our soggy girl off to the bathroom to get her changed in to dry clothes.  I stayed with our boy and let him play some more in the mean time.

I love this one.  He's so... care free.  :)

Good and WET now for sure.

Jumping in the puddles between the sprays of water.

I'm pretty sure the water might have been my favorite part of the whole day.

The Disney cast member guy ended up giving Matt an "I'm Celebrating" button for A.J. and underneath he wrote "GETTING WET!"  Peter already had a button on of course, he'd gotten it from the ladies in the gift shop that sold us his bubble maker and A.J.'s Ariel.  When I'd shown my military ID card to use my pass member's discount they started thanking Matt for his service.  They gave him and "Honorary Citizen" button and then when I'd mention his return from deployment was sort of the reason for our trip they'd given Peter an "I'm Celebrating!" button then.  This worked out for the best, because I can only imagine what he would have written on Peter's.  Probably something like:  "Wiping out!" or "Getting back up!" Ugh.

I'm glad they're both such troopers though and they both ended up enjoying the water despite both have their own little "moments" there.

:)

Disney Mini-cation (Day 3): California Adventure, the first part

After finishing our Character Breakfast and successfully checking out of the hotel we used the hotel's back entrance into California Adventure.  Hotel Guests are allowed into the park about an hour before the front gate opens to obtain their fast passes for the evening World of Color show, to shop/dine, to ride my personal favorite: "Soarin' Over California" and also to enjoy The Little Mermaid ride.

Now, I was just thrilled not to have to walk clear around to the regular park entrance as it is still sadly torn up and under construction (they're completely redoing to front area of the park) and after you go in you have to walk clear back around the construction barriers before you can even see or do anything.  Skipping all of that saved us a good 30 minutes of walking at least.  

As much as we would have loved to stay for the show, it wasn't until later that evening and there was just no way we were going to last that long and then be able to drive home after ward.

We really wanted to go ride Soarin', but the kids are both still too short and while we could have done a child swap, it didn't seem fair to do stuff they that can't do no matter how much I might ADORE the ride.

So instead we headed off to what was about to become a new family favorite for us (and also the only other real option open to us that early:)

Quick:  family photo in our sea shell before we go on in and Mommy
has to turn the flash off!

After we rode, as we were exiting, A.J. took off running out the door and across the path towards the little gift shop selling Ariel dolls.  I scooped her up and noticed we still had 10 minutes until the rest of the park's attractions would be open so we turned around and went right back in to see Ariel again.

After our second go around, A.J. did exactly the same thing, running towards the dolls. Only this time she added an enthusiastic "ARIEL!" and a finger pointed at the dolls as she ran. Obviously, I was sold.  It was over.  She needed one.  Period.

Daddy took a bit more convincing.

And while I was convincing him, Peter picked himself out a bubble gun.

Peter's selected souvenir happened to be just the same price and A.J.'s Ariel doll.

Done.

:)

From there, we headed towards Paradise Pier towards our next destination.  Ariel swam along with us in my daughters arms and a steady stream of bubbles trailed behind us from my son.

Toy Story Mania was next!

The line was already 20 or 30 minutes and the park had been open for all of about 5 minutes.  I suppose many of the other early guests had the same plan as us to knock this favorite out early.  The day was already a bit on the sweltering side, so waiting was a bit like torture but we kept reminding ourselves that the line  was growing longer and longer behind us and we didn't want to miss this ride no matter what.

Then of course, when we neared the end of the line we amused ourselves with our 3-D goggles until it was our turn.

And then it was time to ride!  I took A.J. on my lap and Peter went with Dad on the other side of our car.

After the games were finished, while we waited to get off the ride, I took photos to document our scores.

Mine (and A.J.'s)-77,000.  Not bad!

I wanted to know how our boys did on the other side of our car so I lifted my camera up and shot one blind over the back and got this one of them.

Zooming in, you can even see their scores:

Matt: 91,700.  Good job!
Peter: 3,000.  AWESOME!

Coming out of there, we saw Woody was out greeting friends.  We'd seen him last time but Buzz took his place before our turn so we hadn't yet gotten to meet him.  Obviously, it was time!

The PhotoPass photographer got a much better one of all of us that I've already
ordered.  Everyone is even looking at the camera in that one.  :)  The photos haven't
come in yet though so for now this one will have to do.

Then... obviously... we rode on Ariel's Carousel.

On our way out of Paradise Pier we saw some of the Toy Story Green Army Men doing a little show.

I guess this explains where they bugged out to at the start of the third movie.

Peter didn't care about the Army men.  He was much more interested in the Flying Zephyrs ride behind them.

Believe it or not, next it was already time for lunch.

A.J. and I had a fun time with Peter's bubble gun while Peter and Matt went
for our food.

For dessert, Matt picked up some of these Mickey
Mouse cookies  Oh how I do enjoy any treats that
come in the shape of my favorite mouse.

Peter seemed to agree.

After we finished eating, we headed to Bug's Land to ride some of the kiddie sized rides.  Of course, to Peter this meant he went STRAIGHT to the bumper cars (Tuck and Roll's) which was sad for A.J. because she's too little.  It was clear to me that she was really getting over having to sit out of things as she spent the whole time climbing on everything trying to get in there herself.

Finally we watched while Matt and Peter had their turn.

Peter just wanted to ram into the wall.

Unfortunately, mid-way through their drive the ride broke down.  All the cars expectantly came to a sudden stop and everybody had to get off while they fixed it.  Peter was NOT happy.  Not. At. All.

After a great deal of convincing we got him on the little train.

But as soon as out train ride ended he wanted to go back to the cars and they were still out of order.  Also, his bad mood seemed to be catching:

We hurried up and got in the short line for the spinning Lady Bugs to try to make everybody happy again.

Peter was doing his best not to cooperate. 

When we got on the spinning bugs A.J. was happy again too.  Peter would never have admitted it, but he enjoyed them too.  

By the time we were finished with that the bumpers cars were back up and running so Matt took Peter over to do that again while I took A.J. and tried to find something that she could enjoy despite her small size....