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Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Vote for Malia!
Okay - I KNOW. It's been a LONG time. And what a time to throw up a post. For a selfish reason. Forgive me! ha ha
Just got an AWESOME photo shoot done by my photographer friend, and they are AMAZING! Shannon Gurney, you ROCK!
So I decided to enter them in the Gap casting call contest. I know - everyone thinks their kid is the cutest - that's why so many people enter! But, as Malia would say, PWEASE vote for her pic!
The prize is a family trip to Jamaica...where Mitch and I got married almost 7 years ago. It may be a long shot - the leader already has 1000 votes!
It takes just a minute to register, but then you can vote once a day until Nov 22! So PWEASE...vote for Malia :)
Just got an AWESOME photo shoot done by my photographer friend, and they are AMAZING! Shannon Gurney, you ROCK!
So I decided to enter them in the Gap casting call contest. I know - everyone thinks their kid is the cutest - that's why so many people enter! But, as Malia would say, PWEASE vote for her pic!
The prize is a family trip to Jamaica...where Mitch and I got married almost 7 years ago. It may be a long shot - the leader already has 1000 votes!
It takes just a minute to register, but then you can vote once a day until Nov 22! So PWEASE...vote for Malia :)
Friday, May 8, 2009
San Diego/Mesa vamily vacation
Wow - what a trip! I look forward to this every year, as we have now made this a tradition. This was our 3rd and best year. We decided on 2 days of Legoland since we have already conquered San Diego's other great things like the Zoo, Sea World, etc. Makai's birthday is next week so we wanted this to be something he really remembered for his 5th birthday. And since Legos are his #1 favorite thing right now, he could not have had a better time.
Mitch's parents drove from Mesa and picked us up after 3 days of playing in San Diego. We drove 6 hours to Mesa and spent 2 days with them. We even got to see my Aunt Carol - she lives about 30 minutes from them.
Boy are we tired, but we had SUCH a great time!
Look what Makai built! ha ha
Giant pancake with Snickers candy bar in it from Hash House
You Westerners don't know how good you have it
Driving to Mesa - you can see the fence along the Mexican border in this little town
Swimming with PawPaw
Riding Jasmine's horse in their backyard
Making S'mores at a cool restaurant Aunt Carol took us to - my beautiful cousin Jasmine
Mitch's parents drove from Mesa and picked us up after 3 days of playing in San Diego. We drove 6 hours to Mesa and spent 2 days with them. We even got to see my Aunt Carol - she lives about 30 minutes from them.
Boy are we tired, but we had SUCH a great time!
Look what Makai built! ha ha
Giant pancake with Snickers candy bar in it from Hash House
You Westerners don't know how good you have it
Driving to Mesa - you can see the fence along the Mexican border in this little town
Swimming with PawPaw
Riding Jasmine's horse in their backyard
Making S'mores at a cool restaurant Aunt Carol took us to - my beautiful cousin Jasmine
Monday, April 27, 2009
Marathon play-by-play
I did it!!! It feels great! I reached my goal of completing it under 6 hours. 5:37.37 to be exact. Woo hoo!!
Mitch was so supportive. He ran this with me, but you would think he just took a stroll in the park or something, ha ha. He drove all the way home the same day, and has been taking care of the kids and let me sleep until 10:30am - I JUST woke up! He said I could go get a massage today too - he's the best. He was so supportive during the whole race. He was "coaching" me and telling me how good I was doing. I love that guy.
The only thing I wish I could do differently could not be controlled - and that was the bathroom stops. There were port-a-potties all along the way (at all the wrong times for me!) but waiting in line and taking care of business sure does add those unwanted minutes to your time. Oh well - I guess you gotta do what you gotta do in 6 hours! TMI? ha ha
I had "mini-goals" throughout the race that helped me mentally stay on task. The first one was obviously to finish under 6 hours. The next one was to do the first 2 sets of 5 miles in an hour each. So the first 5 I was right at 1 hour. Second 5 - right at 2 hours. I hit mile 15 right at 3 hours, so I added one more set of 5 to my goal of 1 hour each set! Then we hit the lake. Lake Hefner - in OKLAHOMA, mind you - wow. That wind is something else. It was almost funny - almost. Running south, into the wind, on a lake - I could barely stand up in some parts. So that's where I slowed down quite a bit.
And the last half was definitely harder than the first half, of course. I hit 13.1 at 2:37 feeling pretty good. But the last 6-8 miles were just brutal! Very hard, very, very windy. Everytime I would have to stop for a minute or two, it was excruciating to start running again. It was almost better not to stop, but my body had to have breaks very often toward the end.
At about mile 24, I realized that even if I walked...slowly...for the last 2 miles, I would still get there under 6 hours. But I still managed to do an ugly sort-of-running shuffle every 5 minutes so I didn't feel like I was quitting. We rounded the corner and into the shoot around 5:30-something and I decided to finish with every single thing I had left. So I sprinted. I'm sure that "sprint" was comical to anyone who might think that was a sprint, but to me, I was leaving smoke behind me, ha ha.
At the finish, Mitch scooped me up and hugged me and I had an emotional and physical release of everything I had just went through and the letdown of that last push. It was great!!
I can confidently say I will never do that again, but I am so glad I accomplished something so monumental before my 30th birthday. Now it's time to rest and get a massage and get ready for next week's vacation in San Diego!
Here are my averages, per my Garmin watch. I knew I would have to average 13-14 minute miles to reach my goal so I tried to stay close to that, speeding up when I had more energy, or running downhill to make up for times I knew I would need to rest.
Mile 1: 11.35
Mile 2: 12.12
Mile 3: 11.58
Mile 4: 11.59
Mile 5: 11.51
Mile 6: 11.42
Mile 7: 11.33
Mile 8: 11.25
Mile 9: 11.55
Mile 10: 11.40
Mile 11: 12.31
Mile 12: 11.44
Mile 13: 12.46
Mile 14: 11.29
Mile 15: 14.02 (This was the lake stretch with the wind)
Mile 16: 12.03
Mile 17: 11.42
Mile 18: 12.40
Mile 19: 12.38
Mile 20: 12.05
Mile 21: 13.13
Mile 22: 13.47
Mile 23: 13.45
Mile 24: 14.31
Mile 25: 12.48
Mile 26: 13.44
And 6 minutes for the last bit!
Before the race. With a Spongebob wristband from Makai. I look so hopeful and rested!
I only had my phone with me - the camera on it is not good. This is what it looks like before the sun comes up (I never knew). Standing in front of the beautiful OKC bombing Memorial just before it started - but of course you can't see.
I took this of myself with the camera phone at 13.1 - the half, while Mitch was talking to a fellow runner. Feeling *okay* at this point. It was SO humid - I was sweating at mile 5 unusually hard.
About mile 24 - the wind on this street was coming right at us, and was literally pushing me backwards at some times - I was ticked off!
Just after we finished - our friends took this pic.
The wind blowing my finisher shirt back at our friend's house.
Mitch was so supportive. He ran this with me, but you would think he just took a stroll in the park or something, ha ha. He drove all the way home the same day, and has been taking care of the kids and let me sleep until 10:30am - I JUST woke up! He said I could go get a massage today too - he's the best. He was so supportive during the whole race. He was "coaching" me and telling me how good I was doing. I love that guy.
The only thing I wish I could do differently could not be controlled - and that was the bathroom stops. There were port-a-potties all along the way (at all the wrong times for me!) but waiting in line and taking care of business sure does add those unwanted minutes to your time. Oh well - I guess you gotta do what you gotta do in 6 hours! TMI? ha ha
I had "mini-goals" throughout the race that helped me mentally stay on task. The first one was obviously to finish under 6 hours. The next one was to do the first 2 sets of 5 miles in an hour each. So the first 5 I was right at 1 hour. Second 5 - right at 2 hours. I hit mile 15 right at 3 hours, so I added one more set of 5 to my goal of 1 hour each set! Then we hit the lake. Lake Hefner - in OKLAHOMA, mind you - wow. That wind is something else. It was almost funny - almost. Running south, into the wind, on a lake - I could barely stand up in some parts. So that's where I slowed down quite a bit.
And the last half was definitely harder than the first half, of course. I hit 13.1 at 2:37 feeling pretty good. But the last 6-8 miles were just brutal! Very hard, very, very windy. Everytime I would have to stop for a minute or two, it was excruciating to start running again. It was almost better not to stop, but my body had to have breaks very often toward the end.
At about mile 24, I realized that even if I walked...slowly...for the last 2 miles, I would still get there under 6 hours. But I still managed to do an ugly sort-of-running shuffle every 5 minutes so I didn't feel like I was quitting. We rounded the corner and into the shoot around 5:30-something and I decided to finish with every single thing I had left. So I sprinted. I'm sure that "sprint" was comical to anyone who might think that was a sprint, but to me, I was leaving smoke behind me, ha ha.
At the finish, Mitch scooped me up and hugged me and I had an emotional and physical release of everything I had just went through and the letdown of that last push. It was great!!
I can confidently say I will never do that again, but I am so glad I accomplished something so monumental before my 30th birthday. Now it's time to rest and get a massage and get ready for next week's vacation in San Diego!
Here are my averages, per my Garmin watch. I knew I would have to average 13-14 minute miles to reach my goal so I tried to stay close to that, speeding up when I had more energy, or running downhill to make up for times I knew I would need to rest.
Mile 1: 11.35
Mile 2: 12.12
Mile 3: 11.58
Mile 4: 11.59
Mile 5: 11.51
Mile 6: 11.42
Mile 7: 11.33
Mile 8: 11.25
Mile 9: 11.55
Mile 10: 11.40
Mile 11: 12.31
Mile 12: 11.44
Mile 13: 12.46
Mile 14: 11.29
Mile 15: 14.02 (This was the lake stretch with the wind)
Mile 16: 12.03
Mile 17: 11.42
Mile 18: 12.40
Mile 19: 12.38
Mile 20: 12.05
Mile 21: 13.13
Mile 22: 13.47
Mile 23: 13.45
Mile 24: 14.31
Mile 25: 12.48
Mile 26: 13.44
And 6 minutes for the last bit!
Before the race. With a Spongebob wristband from Makai. I look so hopeful and rested!
I only had my phone with me - the camera on it is not good. This is what it looks like before the sun comes up (I never knew). Standing in front of the beautiful OKC bombing Memorial just before it started - but of course you can't see.
I took this of myself with the camera phone at 13.1 - the half, while Mitch was talking to a fellow runner. Feeling *okay* at this point. It was SO humid - I was sweating at mile 5 unusually hard.
About mile 24 - the wind on this street was coming right at us, and was literally pushing me backwards at some times - I was ticked off!
Just after we finished - our friends took this pic.
The wind blowing my finisher shirt back at our friend's house.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Ready or not, marathon, here I come
Three more days until the big run! I must say, I'm a little nervous. I started my training very dedicated, doing every suggested run on the program I chose. But toward the end, I got sick of running, running, running for 18 weeks straight, so I have been slacking. I hope I've trained my body enough to get through this! Because I'm certain I will never done another one again.
My goal is to finish, #1. But my secondary goal is to do it under 6 hours, which, unless I WALK the entire time, should not be too hard. Well, yes, it will be hard, but I will be pretty disappointed in myself if I don't finish under 6 hours. At my slow 13ish-minute pace, that will be...carry the 1... hmmmmm...TOO stinking close! Cross your fingers for me that I get there - I don't think you get a finisher shirt unless you finish under 6!
Just for fun, I looked up some famous people who have run marathons and their times. You would be surprised! Some fit people take a long time and some unexpected people are crazy fast!
Meredith Baxter (Family Ties mom) 4:08 - Wow!
Will Ferrell: 3:56 - HOLY cow!
Mario Lopez: 5:41 (must have been flirting with the ladies a lot)
Freddie Prinze Jr: 5:50 - okay, I can hang with that
Oprah Winfrey: 4:29 - must've been skinny Oprah
Lance Armstrong: 2:47 - why did I even put this on here?
Ali Landry: 5:41
Katie Holmes: 5:30
My goal is to finish, #1. But my secondary goal is to do it under 6 hours, which, unless I WALK the entire time, should not be too hard. Well, yes, it will be hard, but I will be pretty disappointed in myself if I don't finish under 6 hours. At my slow 13ish-minute pace, that will be...carry the 1... hmmmmm...TOO stinking close! Cross your fingers for me that I get there - I don't think you get a finisher shirt unless you finish under 6!
Just for fun, I looked up some famous people who have run marathons and their times. You would be surprised! Some fit people take a long time and some unexpected people are crazy fast!
Meredith Baxter (Family Ties mom) 4:08 - Wow!
Will Ferrell: 3:56 - HOLY cow!
Mario Lopez: 5:41 (must have been flirting with the ladies a lot)
Freddie Prinze Jr: 5:50 - okay, I can hang with that
Oprah Winfrey: 4:29 - must've been skinny Oprah
Lance Armstrong: 2:47 - why did I even put this on here?
Ali Landry: 5:41
Katie Holmes: 5:30
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Happy Easter
Praying for:
Jason
Lynn
Jill's mom
Our US troops
Thankful for:
My two beautiful children
My too-good-to-be-true husband
Good friends
His sacrifice
Family
Health
Jason
Lynn
Jill's mom
Our US troops
Thankful for:
My two beautiful children
My too-good-to-be-true husband
Good friends
His sacrifice
Family
Health
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Spring Photo Shoot
I'll admit, I am not bragging on this one. It was colder than I expected. Malia had to wear Mitch's coat after her first few solo pics because her little lips were quivering. And me - well, it's obvious that the spray tan booth is working if you compare me to my vampire-like pale family.
Speaking of vampires, I was running around the outside track at our gym, listening to my new favorite thing, Twilight, on my Ipod (gotta love audiobooks when you're a busy mom). As cheesy as it sounds (more cheesy than listening to Twilight on an Ipod), I thought the track circled around a pretty wooded area, like Forks or the meadow in the book. So I drug my poor family here on a cold Spring day. Everyone was kind of grumpy by the end - not a particularly good photo shoot, but if you look at the cute kids in the images and not from a picky photographer's point of view, there are a few good pictures.
We usually do 2 photo shoots a year - Fall and Spring. I'm loving our last fall pictures so much anyway, it will be hard to top. But I love to take them two times a year because the kids grow so fast. Spring pictures are for Makai's birthday - these are his "almost-five-years-old" pictures. I can't believe it!
This is my favorite picture - almost of all time. I'm glad we did the photo shoot, just for this picture.
Speaking of vampires, I was running around the outside track at our gym, listening to my new favorite thing, Twilight, on my Ipod (gotta love audiobooks when you're a busy mom). As cheesy as it sounds (more cheesy than listening to Twilight on an Ipod), I thought the track circled around a pretty wooded area, like Forks or the meadow in the book. So I drug my poor family here on a cold Spring day. Everyone was kind of grumpy by the end - not a particularly good photo shoot, but if you look at the cute kids in the images and not from a picky photographer's point of view, there are a few good pictures.
We usually do 2 photo shoots a year - Fall and Spring. I'm loving our last fall pictures so much anyway, it will be hard to top. But I love to take them two times a year because the kids grow so fast. Spring pictures are for Makai's birthday - these are his "almost-five-years-old" pictures. I can't believe it!
This is my favorite picture - almost of all time. I'm glad we did the photo shoot, just for this picture.
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