Go Ginger Racer GO!

No work out classes and only two runs this week, but one long run with both dogs.  I did have a better frame of mind but still have lots of questions like how and why.  I also feel like I have entered a season of rest.   It's weird to go from someone who never sat still to someone who loves the stillness.  I've been really loving a cup of coffee, a warm fuzzy blanket, and sweatpants lately.  I guess we all have seasons of life that we cling to at certain times.  I'm clinging hard to family, slowing down, and no guilt, even if it means a little weight gain. 

 

We had another dual this week and Andrew went 0-2. I am fine with it because he tried to take shots on both kids and while it almost worked out both times, he was too slow, and the other kid capitalized.  Again, don't care about the W or the L as long as he is trying, and I'm seeing lots of try.  I'm excited to see some success this year even if it's small.  I know i sound like a broken record but I am all about trying your hardest, whatever that might look like.

We had our end of year banquet for our track club over in Lawrence.  Last year we tried having it at a hotel so that families could just stay the night, and their kids could have fun swimming and dancing the night away.  It's a considerable cost to the club BUT this is about the kids, so their fun is what is most important.    I am so lucky that our neighbor could take care of the dogs for one night and morning so we could get away.  Just as a short synopsis, we run 15 races, take the best 10 and use that for final points tallies.  The kids get giant cool trophies for points and if they flip, they get flip awards.  We usually have bags to hand out that have candy and goodies, raffles for cool gas tanks, and shirts/sweatshirts.  The food is always good and the Dj plays fun dance to songs.  Andrew had locked into a 2nd place for Heavy Honda and a third place for Heavy 160 by 13 points to his good buddy and teammate Noah.  

The most special part of the whole night was the award Andrew received next.  The club had a period of time to nominate both a volunteer that they thought should win an award as well as the most improved driver.  The most improved driver award is named after Jerry Renchler, our beloved board member we lost last year suddenly.  If you've read any of my blogs you know what he meant to me.  If you haven't read them briefly, he was a mentor and a wonderful friend.  I could always count on him to be there for me and my family.  He was one of the first ones to come visit Tony in the hospital with his wife along with Lindsey and Kerry.  He loved our club and helped build our current track.  He worked tirelessly to make our club a safe and fun place for our kids to drive at.  When he passed unexpectedly, we knew as a board we wanted to do something for he and his family that would last a lifetime.  Brian our president came up with a great way to honor him by having a plaque in the tower with each recipient's name on it as well as letting them have a trophy to take home.  

Since I am on the board, I knew weeks ago he was nominated and that the board unanimously voted him as most improved.  I recused myself since he was my child, and I didn't want anyone to claim favoritism.  I had to keep a big secret and boy was it hard!  Andrew had somehow seen the plaque out and saw his name, but didn't' see the title of the award.  He was so surprised when his name got called and his buddy Shake and Bake got to hand him the award!  I didn't want to seem obvious about him getting the award, so I didn't get any pictures of him from the front :( I am hoping someone did, but no one has come forth yet with them.  

We had a ton of fun dancing the night away and watching football with some yummy beers.  They had all boulevard beers on tap including one of my favorites, nutcracker ale.  I never felt drunk but had some great conversations with lots of people that was truly genuine.  I love that for the most part, most of the people in the club have set their differences aside for the kids and are embracing a great family atmosphere.    

I will end on this thought.  We've had an amazing year of growth.  I hope it continues next year because let's all be honest, podiums are fun and trophies are fun!  We currently have four cars that if he can fit, we can drive.  We will probably just do 3 for cost sake.  We are going to have quite the heavy 160 class next year as we have several moving up to heavy.  We also will add some to heavy Honda and are going to bring back the unrestricted animal class.  We are hoping and praying the clash happens again as we really enjoyed traveling to the various tracks in our region.  We have heard there might be a series with Tulsa and now that Andrew loves that track as well, we are there for that!  NASCAR youth is going to have a race at our track as well so we will dip our toes into the national circuit so wish us luck.  Onward ginger racer!

Have a great week y'all!

Tulsa!

To quote Jelly Rolly, "I'm not okay."  I will grieve, I will pick myself up, and I will fight the good fight.  My new favorite saying is, "I'm not surprised, just disappointed." 

We had an uber busy week of wrestling and racing.  I did get three runs (yeah me) but no work out classes.  With wrestling being on both Tuesdays and Thursdays, I may have to take some time off. I hate that, I love the gains I have found taking classes.  I can't wait till life slows down and I can get back to working out with weights in a class format.  If anyone wants to start a weights class in Wamego or a cross fit class, I would be down ;)

Little red had two duals and a tourny for Wamego Middle school.  He is loving the dual format even though he got beat out for his position.  I love that it is fair, you either win or you don't and that is who gets the spot.  Andrew got to wrestle for exhibition and got to go against a giant 8th grader and almost lasted a whole minute with a great fight put in.  He also had a tourny in Manhattan and went 0-2, but again, he fought hard and actually tried to get a shot in again on a HUGE kid.  I am amazed at how old the older kids look.  Even my mom was like, oh you have high school kids wrestling too?!  Puberty is a big thing in middle school, and it hits all of them at different times.  I am hoping we get a growth spurt with the way he is eating, very soon.   One of the coaches talked about fake it to you make it, walk out with a chip on your shoulder and just go for it and he FINALLY after 8 years listened, went out with a big grin on his face and tried his hardest.  Keep going ginger racer!

The boys also went to Tulsa to race one of their points races.  Andrew had a little success when he was in junior Honda and junior animal years ago, but also some not great times (Saw a fist fight in the parking lot, watched people scream bloody murder at each other, had weird creepy guys drive through the parking lot and ask questions to drivers who are all kids).  Much of our club decided to go down and while I was stuck at home thanks to the dogs, our families that were there did live feeds and kept us informed of what was going on.  I don't want this season to end, but I do.  It's so bittersweet. It's been our best season of our 6-year career, and I really don't want this feeling to end.  We will have probably 2 different cars next year due to him growing, so who knows how it will go.  I am still praying he will fit in at least one of his cars he races this year, but we shall see.  It will really depend on how much he grows this season.  I would also LOVE to get him into a dirt car over the winter so we can start building his confidence in that.  We will have to transition at some point as he outgrows quarter midgets.  

Since the boys went down on race day leaving here around 5 am, they didn't get much practice time.  

Andrew went out and drove his heart out.  He got two third places in the heats which allowed him to have a wonderful starting position, and he ended up with a second in heavy 160 and a 3rd in heavy Honda after a BIG wreck.  I really thought he was done as the car was toast and he was hurt, but he sucked it up and the dads got the car back on the track for him to make two passes that were amazing to get that podium.  I am SO very proud of this kiddo and the grit he has found this year.   

While I am super sad, I didn't get to go, I am bursting at the seams at how ALL of the TKQMA drivers did in Tulsa.  We had many podium winners including Ash, Jaxson, Brinnley and Oliver.  Plus, we had several great performances from kids that came back from wrecks that should have ended their nights.  

Have a great week y'all!  I'm going to stay on cloud nine for a little bit with my kiddo before coming back to reality.  

Rain rain, go away!

It's been a busy week with no running and not a ton of working out. I had one really good work out class on Tuesday that left me sore all week, but no running.  The dogs are beginning to hate me.  

Life is super busy right now with racing and now wrestling and I am one tired momma.  My motivation to sleep is at an all-time high and my motivation to run is at an all-time low.  Just being brutally honest here.  Tony and I are both going to be traveling for work these next few months and running may just have to take a backseat.   We have wrestling on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.  I thought we just wrestled in duals once a week, but looks like we go to tournaments too.  Oh well.  

Halloween.  Sigh. Holidays in the middle of the week are bleh.  Andrew went trick or treating with his buddy Cole like he did last year.  They had a great haul going to some super nice neighborhoods in Wamego.  He had fun and of course was wide awake till almost midnight thanks to the sugar.  We stayed at home and handed out candy to a record 107 trick or treaters!  The older I get, the more I love seeing the little ones in their costumes.  We had a giant blow up ghostbusters car that played the theme song over and over again and to see those kids have dance parties to the music was precious.  We decided we need to go bigger next year and get more since the kids loved them so much.  We have the perfect corner lot to display those for all to see.  

Ollie stayed on the porch with us and handed out candy and did a wonderful job.  TO be so psycho at times, she has some really great qualities as well.  She is very gentle and kind with kids and also a wonderful reader of dog body language.  She befriended and older dog at the track that HATES all other dogs and now they are in love.

)

My work mates understood the assignment.  We all had variations of costumes that allowed us to still do science but have fun.  Of course we had to have a picture with Louisa.  Work even had bingo for the day with prizes which is always a fun thing for our company to do.  

I will end on racing.  We had a big weekend of the pumpkin race and the 100 lap shoot out with all kinds of fun things to go with it including trick or treating, chili cook off, and trailer decorating.  Mother nature decided to change all of our plans and rain all weekend.  We saw that there was to be a small opening on Sunday, so we changed the format to just racing the two 100 lap races and the rookie races.  This provides a huge challenge because if you guess your set up wrong, you are screwed because you don't have a heat race to tell you information to get your car right.  We didn't get any practice, so we just sent it and we guessed wrong.  While he got fourth and passed lots of cars and lapped several kids, we had hoped for a podium, and he was disappointed in his finish.  I told him he did great for what we gave him so he should be proud.  He's had such an amazing season, and I want to end it on a high.  Here are a few pictures that the photographer got.  LOVE THEM!

This picture is everything to me.  A year ago, we were in the hospital having brain surgery.  And I say we but i mean this man.  A year later, you can't even tell.  Just a blip on the radar.  He is thriving and improving and taking control of his health. I am so proud of him!

Have a great week y'all!   

 

Hi fall, can ya stay a while?

So much to do, so little time.  Working out = one class and two runs, with those runs being a 4 and 6 thanks to cooler weather.  

Overall, the weather is still all over the place but trending towards colder at night and not as hot during the day (although we did have a 90-degree day this week).  I am just praying we have a little bit of fall before we plunge straight into winter.  Although, both fall and winter are my favorite times to run, but I do like a period of time where we can have the windows open and sit on the deck and enjoy the day.  Ollie and I did a four miler on Saturday and a 6 miler on Sunday.  While she is still having issues with freaking out and losing her mind about birds and cars, she was able to hold it together for 6 with minimal blowing up.  We still had mud and puddles from a mid-week storm that helped cool her down.    

Homecoming parade and WHO YA GOING TO CALL.  We had no choice on the homecoming parade since it was downtown where the theater also was located to watch Andrew and I's favorite 80s movies GhostBusters.   Andrew goes through cycles where he watches the same movie or same series of movies over and over again and this is one he had hit pretty hard multiple times in his young life.    I am glad I took off early from work to go downtown, as we had a blast!  Seeing all of the car groups at KSU in the parade really inspired Andrew and yet again, I heard him say something about wanting to go to college at KSU (SCORE).  I've never pushed college on him as he doesn't strike me as the kind of kid who would love or thrive at college BUT if it's his dream and his idea, then I know he will make it work.  

The movie was perfect with their cute light effects, and we enjoyed cheap popcorn and beer.  Plus, Andrew had quite the haul of candy from the parade to snack on.  We ended the night with Culvers fish dinners, one of my most favorite place to get fish.  

Concert.  We had our first of the year joint choir and band performance.  I was SO excited to hear both groups play and sing.  Andrew has been loving both of his classes and was so pumped for us to hear what they had been working on.  I tell you I was blown away again by how well they sounded for the first concert of the year.   Their blending this year was so much better as several kids had dropped out and the band was overall much smaller.  

They still have 9 trumpets, but we didn't have one person trying to out play and be brassy compared to the other ones.  I am excited to see where this band goes this year with their competition concert pieces.  Their sound is really maturing, and I am so over the moon with how good they sound for 7th graders.  

KSU/KU game.  Tony and I wanted to go to Manhattan to watch the game somewhere since we didn't get tickets.  Much like the Chief's game on Sunday with the Raiders, things were way too close.  We played cards, had pizza at Ajs, and drank some yummy beers from Manhattan brewing company.

I so love fall in Manhattan!

The outdoor patio areas have become my favorite place to eat and talk.  Too bad they didn't have TVs or we would have stayed for the entire game.  True fall is so amazing in Kansas.  

Y'all have a great week! I am looking forward to cooler temps and hopefully our last races of the year IF the weather cooperates.  

We race for Jerry

It's been a light week for working out with one class and two runs.  That's it.  We are officially done with football and are seriously debating wrestling.  He doesn't want to do it, but I feel like he needs to try a sport a season and then next year if he isn't happy with any of the sports, we can stop and just race.  It kills me because I feel like sports help his racing in many ways and I am worried he won't be able to do summer work outs without sports in the fall.  We have several wrestling tournys on Thursdays and Saturdays and we will miss some for racing.  I do love the person they have coaching and would love to have him coach Andrew and see what he can get out of him.  To be continued.

Racing was amazing.  We had our last race of the points season and the Jerry Renchler memorial trophy race.  If you haven't read my blogs in the past, Jerry was on the board and a big part of building our club to what it is today.  He helped build our current track and loved it with all of his heart and soul.  He loved the sport, and he wanted the kids to live their best lives racing their butts off.  Jerry really helped me become a better board member and encouraged me to stay and keep fighting rather than walk away when I was mentally done with the constant attacks.  Often, he would text me during board meetings or we would call and talk post club or board meetings to discuss rules and votes and procedures.  I want to be right and do things correctly since our board was accused of not doing so all the time my first two years (spoiler alert we were), and he was a rules guru who helped me with that.  When Jerry unexpectedly passed away, we were one of the first people to know and we were devastated for his wife and daughter and extended family that we race with. I don't have a single picture that I can find with Jerry.  He was my rock on the board, the reason I even showed up to meetings and races when Andrew wasn't doing so well.  He protected me and kept me safe.  I have missed him every single day that he has been gone.  

Back to the race.  Several race teams sponsored a trophy memorial race in Jerry's honor.  The trophies were huge, the racing was hard, and we walked away with 2 second places in some tough races.  Andrew had great starts, great passes, and raced his butt off, and for that I am so super proud.  It's just so very cool to see him believe in himself and drive his heart out.  I am so excited for next year and what we can accomplish but also scared because he will have to be in new to him cars since he is getting so big.  Mom is going to need a third job to pay for all of this :)

We ended the week going to one of the local pumpkin patches with about 5K other families.  Boy, this one surely needs beer. I think they do wine slushes, but they are missing out on an opportunity.  They could even have pumpkin beer!  It was hot, the lines were long, but Andrew got to do a few things that he actually could still fit on and we called it good.  It's hard sometimes seeing him be stuck between still wanting to be a little kid yet growing up and starting to look and act like a big kid.  

He's grown so much lately, and it won't be long before he is towering over me.  Big difference between the above photo and this one:

Have a great week y'all!  I am looking forward to Andrew's first choir and band performance of the year!!!

 

Mom, mom, mom

Last home game of the year!  One of the moms got great pictures on the field and several of Andrew.  We of course had tears again, not because of playing time, but because he felt like he just didn't do a good job.  Several times they told him to get off of the field and he ran to the sidelines only to be told to get back on the field and he either didn't make it or barely made it.  He thankfully got to play his position but again, messed up a few times and was very down on himself.  I will tell you that they were very discombobulated on subbing, and I do like that he held his self-accountable, but I don't put 100 percent of the blame on him.  I know baseball is way different, but I always when I was coaching had a scripted sub plan for all of my coaches so there was no confusion.  I feel like this could be done in football as well, but I digress.  

I am glad the season is winding down and we have only one more away game before we are done.  I won't be able to travel to see the game, but Tony is going to give me a play by play :) Work is cranking up and I am going to be working lots of weekends and late nights, but we need the overtime money with the traveling we want to do anyway.  Of course, wrestling starts this week, so more practices and more tournaments.  Oh well, this is the year we try everything and see what sticks.   

I only got two runs in this week and one class but again, that is okay.  It's the season of life I am in and I will take whatever I can get.    I took one run with just Ollie and she gassed out pretty quickly.  She still can only do about 3 miles before she is overheated, even when it is cooler.  Not sure how to help her with this as I don't think increasing her mileage is going to slow her down like it did Deuce.  She is seriously a nut job.  Every bird, every car, ever thing that rustles makes her go ape shit.  She does better with Boom with her but they both get super excited at times and attack each other, and I worry they are going to pull me over.  They really make running not fun right now and this is my favorite time of the year to run.  To be continued.  What am I going to do if running with reds stops entirely :(

Mom came out and spent the week with me when I wasn't working.  We didn't have a race but I had an experiment planned so Sunday was mostly working.  She also helped in the tower for our annual arrive and drive fundraiser for the club on Saturday.  Sad that she has helped so many times that she is an old pro.  

We had a couple of new club members step up and help but it was mostly the same old people.  Not sure what is going to happen to this club when we move on due to Andrew being too big to race.  They seem to think we will be there forever.  No one has stepped up to learn my position which includes taking minutes (easy) and doing points (not as easy).  No one has stepped up to learn how to do the arrive and drive (also easy, I have an SOP) or score in the tower.  I guess I will just have to help this club till I die?

Have a great week y'all!  Last points race of the year, cooler weather, and last football game!

Hey Hey Hey

I feel like a broken record.  I have so much to say but I feel like I am just writing the same thing over and over again.  Another blow out win, another night of a few plays and not even in the position he usually works on in practice, so he was clueless.  Another car ride home of tears and not understanding why he couldn't just get in to play is position and show them what he could do.  Another week of working his ass off in practice just hoping to get some sort of playing time and not getting any.  This is a hard life's lesson he is learning, and it sucks to be a mom and have to watch and know that you can't fix it.  Life sucks and it isn't fair but hey, that's life.  

Two runs and no work out classes thanks to meetings/events at night and me not being able to get up early and run.  I did get a morning run on Friday thanks to being up early to take Andrew to film and I hope i can continue that for the upcoming weeks.  That truly is the only way I am able to get in runs right now other than on the weekends.   

 

I will end on racing.  Wow.  What a weekend.  Two second places to two very awesome and fast racers.  We finally got a go pro in his car and it's so much fun to watch him drive his butt off!  You can hear him keeping his foot in the gas and you can see his lines.  We also caught some fun stuff in the hot chute and after the races.  One of the dads gave him a great pump-up speech post-race and I have played it like 100 times because I just love it.  I think this is the first year I don't want racing to end for the year!

Have a great week y'all!  Let's go Chiefs and Let's go Royals!

And how bought a throwback picture to my first 10k, stella as a puppy, and me as being pregnant and not knowing it :)