Hello?

It's funny that now that i have zero time to write and be present for my blog, I have so many readers now.  Welcome to my chaos dear readers!  Spoiler alert, running with a red did happen this week although it was Ollie and she isn't red, but boy have I been looking at red puppies lately and having some major FOMO.  

Also, I've probably said it a million times but I am SO READY FOR FALL.  I love lifting but I am ready to run and be outside and have cool crisp air in my face.   

I will be honest with you since this is space where I put crazy things in the universe.   I've been thinking about a few things, and I have several goals I am considering.  All of these things probably will take time and will probably be in the future, but I want it down on paper somewhere.  

1.  I am seriously considering getting a power lifting coach and doing some power lifting competitions.  I LOVE lifting and I love having goals.  I have found a few plans online that are only 3 days a week AND I would still need some running time for Ollie and I's mental health, so stay tuned.  

2.  I miss having horses.  My coworker has horses, and I didn't realize how much I had stuffed my horse loving self into a box and locked that away.  I am not going to rush into just owning any horse but if the right one comes along AND my coworker could board my horse at her place, that might work.  

3.  100k.  Sigh.  I miss running for hours on end and pushing myself.  I don't have two whole weekend days to give right now, but if I could find something that I could do in the spring and I could train all winter around Andrew's racing season then it's a maybe.

4.  Dog agility is always in the back of my mind, especially with Ollie being such a perfect size.  She still has a long way to go, but she's slowly gaining my trust.  The only problem is my trainer is in Kansas City now and that is a 2-hour drive one way.  I would need some help with ollie as she is very different than any dog I've ever trained.  

Okay back to reality now.  Two lifts and one run for the week.  I think the whole family is fighting something off and we all feel not quite right.  I felt like pure dog crap Saturday morning but had to go to work and then I had to get the mowing done and ran out of time for working out.  I know, excuses but it is what it is.  Sometimes rest is the best thing for you.  Plus, we had a lot of fun things come up towards the end of the week and I was all about having some fun. 

We went to Third Thursday in Manhattan and watched the big air guitar competition.  Yes, I typed that correctly and you read it correctly, AIR guitar.  It was so much fun and now Andrew wants to watch the documentary that was done on big air competitions globally.  We ended the night having some pizza at AJs with my coworker and just talking and listening to Bluegrass music.  

We also had another round of Friday night lights.  We lost a young man in our community last week due to an accident, and the community has rallied to stand behind the family and support them.  

The game was very emotional at several points we were all bawling.  Both teams had moments before and after the game that just made me glad we live in this tiny community.  We have firsthand been recipients of the love of this community when Tony had a brain tumor and had to have emergency surgery.  To honor this kid on both sides was truly amazing to watch and I don't think I've ever heard an entire football stadium FULL of people that quiet. We all left the game in silence and self-reflection.  That could have been any of us as parents losing a kid and being in their shoes.  

Overall, the band did improve which blows my mind with only technically 2 practices a week for an hour and half each.  They played Hard day's night/Magical mystery tour and added a new song minus marching sets, Elanore Rigby.  I can't wait to see this whole show come together.  They also marched at the State Fair this week and got all superior ratings.  

We ended the week racing again at Washington Kansas.  We've raced here several times this year and I feel like he is getting SO close to figuring this track out.  We have two more races this year, both at Clay Center and of course there is already lots of rain in the forecast.  Sigh.  I know he's a little frustrated at his finishes but there is improvement every single race.  

I am proud of his improvement and his ability to push this car a little hard each race.  I am also so proud that his little buddy for his heat race win as it was a BATTLE!  We also battled rain around the track all night and finally we got a huge shower that canceled the races.  I am glad we got some seat time, and I am thankful for all the friends that we got to spend some time with post-race.  

Keep your fingers crossed we at least get 2 more races and maybe 3 and end the year on a good note.  

Have a great week y'all!  It's ALMOST FALL!

Part Two: I am way too busy (and I never hit post)

Another race week and Andrew made the poster:) It helps that a big part of our racing family is the social media person now.

Ashton got lots of awesome pictures of Andrew.  I feel like I am going to spend way too much money with him.  I know, I'm a sucker and photographers know it.

Unfortunately, rain spoiled our plans to race at Clay center.  Hard to believe just a year ago this weekend we were putting Andrew in Bo's car for a test drive.

Still trying to find sponsors for Andrew's car.  I suck at asking people for money.  This is why I am not in sales or business for that matter.  I struggled with asking people to pay the bills they owed for work we did for them.  

Since it was a home football game, we got to do a band pub crawl, or should I say we parked our butt at Manhattan Brewing Company and listened to the pep band when they came through.  Then we headed over to the new pizza place Ziggy's and had pizza and more beer before heading down to the Aggieville bar district for dessert.  My coworker is now living in Manhattan so we can steal her away and make her go with us.  Minus the crazy driving and the already drunk kiddos, it was a fun night and the energy was infectious.  Oh to be young and dumb again.

Saturday night was a rainout at our racetrack but further South, it wasn't.  The boys headed to Salina Speedway for a night of racing and rain.  This popped up as they were leaving and then the bottom fell out later at the track and drenched them all.

Have a great week y'all!

Part One: I am way too busy

 I know, I know, I'm two weeks behind!!!  SO much has happened so let's dive in!

Both weeks had three workouts, an upper body workout, a lower body workout, and a push workout.  In addition to lots of working out, I am also working in a lot (see what I did there).  We are working out butts off but getting good data and that makes me very proud.  Plus, several of overtimes hours per check never hurts.  

We had our marching under first Friday night lights.  Andrew was so very nervous with all the unknowns, but he powered through and got through a few sets in his first field show.  Here are some pictures that various people got.  The band doesn't travel so we will only have home games, but I will cherish each one.   Beatles songs are the best!

Yes, he has to hold his music because his new trumpet doesn't have anywhere to stick a lyre.  I did find a different way to attach his music so for the next game, he will be set.  I still think it's weird that he doesn't have to have his music memorized by now but I guess they do things differently in this day and age.  His marching was a little sketch, but he always figured out he was out of step quickly and corrected it quickly.  Marching takes time and they practice so little compared to what we did in high school.  In some ways it frustrates me but also, it allows not only football players but cheerleaders and dancers to be part of the band.  I have to be at peace with the fact that their method is so widely different than the way we did field shows and competition.  

Then we raced.  

This is one of Andrew's old quarter midget buddies.  We call them the Red Headed Racing club.  One has grown significantly and one hasn't.  

We had our first two-day show.  We are still very much in the learning phase and figuring out how to do this as a team.  He gets better every time he goes on the track, but he is also getting frustrated with lots of last place finishes.  We are missing our marks and he's getting beat every weekend by kids much younger than him.  We've talked about the fact that these kids have been on dirt for a few years, so they are light years ahead of him even though they are younger.  The top three race every weekend, sometimes twice a weekend at different tracks.  We have a long way to go before we get there BUT we will get there.  

Night two was again a lot of learning.  We had so many people helping us.  That is what racing families do.  They have kids who compete against us, yet they jump in, work on our cars, and help us learn. It's no fun to race against kiddos that have messed up cars so might as well have them all ready to go and let the race be against the best drivers.  

Every night is more learning even if it's slow.  There is improvement.  His times get better, his starts get better, his confidence grows.  This was the year for us to dip our toes in and we sure did.  I am super proud of his 4th place finish in his heat of 6 on Saturday, but all of his runs were good.  I am sure going to miss racing when this season is over.  I know, I know, much different tune than the beginning of the year.  

We did try renting an AIRBNB again and this time we have 10 of us all in one house.   Never knew the town Scandia existed and it sure is super cute!  It's kind of fun being a part of a HUGE family.  We cooked, we drank, we laughed, and we stayed up way too late.  This must have been a retirement home or something because each room had its own half bath and number.  I am now very curious as to what it could have been at one time.  

Okay going to do a part two because this is way too long already.  See ya in another post :)
 

Seek and Destroy

Three workouts this week, an everything push, an upper body and a lower body.  Fizzled out on Sunday thanks to a late night and not wanting to push myself to be stupid in the heat.  Yes, it's feels like 107 here and there is no part of me that wants to go outside and do anything, much less work out in a super-hot shop.  There are some weeks I feel so super strong and some weeks I just feel like my 20s are 50s.  This was one of those weeks, but I got it done.  Dependent on the exercise, I sometimes sub out some 12s or 15s, especially when my app wants me to do 12 reps.  Still loving weight training but itching to get back to some running.  

Another weekend and another race.  I am so proud of the progress he has made.  He's a very cautious kid and the fact that he is pushing the car and trying his best every single race makes me so happy.  I put the Go Pro in this week so check out his racing page Andrew Coleman Racing for that footage.  

I took a million photos of him and the crew, but Ashton Tackwell got several good ones on the track.  

Of course, I bought all of them because I had to.

We may have a few potential sponsors for the rest of this year so keep your fingers crossed.  We would like to end the year and do some fun things and visit some more tracks.  

We also got to see a few bands at one of our favorite venues, Switch Wicked.  We missed the first band but caught the second two Big Fat Cow and The Manhattan Project.  Both were amazing but Andrew finally got to go to a standing room only concert and truly feel the music.  He was so excited when they played Metallica Seek and Destroy and of course the whole place went nuts when they played the Phineas and Ferb theme song.  I smiled the rest of the night as this was such a core memory to share this with my kiddo.  We may not get to as many concerts now that football and racing are going to dominate our weekends, but I am SO glad we got to so many live acts this summer.  

Have a great week y'all!  It's football time EVERYWHERE!

Dirt slinging fun

Three work outs, all three lifts, lower body, upper body, and core.  Who am I?  Almost ran Sunday, but the 86 percent humidity stopped me.  Getting ever so close to FALL!  Here are some pictures from our week and I will end on racing.

Love the Flint Hills this time of year!  Heading out to Purebred barn to get rumen fluid and enjoying this view.

Got my teeny Tiny Stella back.  She is stunning and I love her! Agile dog art for the win.

Finally got Jon Snow back from his body work session.  I am loving my new headlights.  Almost 800 bucks for a hit and run that we never will know who did it.  

My thyroid has started swelling on the midline and the left side now.  Doctor said no concern since it isn't affecting my labs or my swallowing/breathing.  I just look like I swallowed a tire.

Had a steak dinner at Barleycorns thanks to our company saying thank you to all of our hard work.  Took Caitlyn down to the little murals to take some pictures.  I am seriously so lucky to have had some amazing coworkers lately.  Kind of trauma dumped on her the other day and her response to my tears made me laugh and stop crying.  She is one of a kind!  How I am so blessed with some super great co workers?

Why does my kid look so grown up now?  Freshman pictures for school ids.  Not sure when band pictures will be taken.  First week of school was rough and not a lot of sleep was had thanks to anxiety, but I think he is calmer now and ready to endure all the challenges.

We had another race weekend, and I honestly can't stop smiling.  He pushed the car more in the corners, got faster on his times, passed a car, and learned a ton.  We are getting this figured out, slowly but surely.  He's still struggling with the clutch and gears, but he put down some solid laps and got to race with a lot of old quarter midget kids.  

These two have grown up racing together and are HUGE.  I love this family and wish we got to spend more time together on the regular.  Andrew and Madden were such great friends when we started out racing quarter midgets, and I hope they can get back together to being good friends again.  Our families have such a great time together in the past.  

I also ended the week not feeling great.  I slept for almost 12 hours one night, got up and went to work and came back and slept some more.  Been dealing with some stuff mentally and even though I handle things way better lately, it still weighs heavy on my whole body.  Stress is stress and I think or I just hope that my body just needed a rest day to crash out.  

Have a great week y'all!