Happy Thanksgiving

 I will have to admit, this week has been a little wonky only working 3 days, but here goes nothing!

Running was great thanks to the highs in the 50s and lows in the 20-30s.  This is what fall is suppose to be like!  We got a couple of 3s in and a longish run of 8, including our own version of a Turkey Trot at home with Rockin Robin and the doodle girls.  

Thanksgiving did not start out as we had planned.  Tony had a bad night with a puking headache and not much sleep and Andrew, who had had some boughts with diarrhea the day before, woke up with severe tummy pain and more diarrhea.  I kept telling myself that Thanksgiving doesn't have to be ON thanksgiving day and to not get upset and just focus on getting both boys well.  I wanted both boys to feel better and enjoy the day.  We watched the parade and the dog show together, something we never get to do as Tony is cooking,  before I headed out to run a 5K.  When I came back both boys were feeling much better and eating and drinking.  We ended up not having a turkey (which I am totally fine with, not a fan of turkey) but having all of the other good stuff instead for an early dinner.  Everyone got over whatever they both had and I didn't catch it, so it was a win win!  

It was so nice to have two days off but I still did some work on Friday just to stay a little caught up so that Monday wouldn't be too much of a cluster.  We also got Stella bathed at one of our local farm stores.  I don't have a great way to bath dogs as one tub is a whirlpool tub that just has a faucet that no adapter can handle and the tub downstairs has a shower enclosure.  The best I can do is basically be in the tub with them and use the shower on both of us which requires a ton of bending over for me and I ain't no spring chicken anymore.  Stella's groomer retired and now I know why LOL!  Stella is a big baby when it comes to baths and pretty much cries and barks the ENTIRE time.  Pretty sure the whole store had to come and see what was going on while we were in there.  It felt like a life time, but was probably only 10 minutes tops and I probably got as wet as Stella thanks to Andrew having the sprayer.   Luckily my hubby showed up, got this perfect shot, and then took over because I was barely tall enough to reach over the sides.  She got a great brush out post drying and looks a million times better even if I still have a lot of work to do with her pants.  Don't get aussies unless you are ready for lots of grooming!

The rest of the weekend was dominated by football.  We had the Red Raiders (our local high school) in the state championship.  The ending was not what we wanted and they fought so hard, but in the endna little rural high school has no chance against a giant, inner city private school that recruits players and hands out scholarships.  I am so proud of the Red Raiders for hanging in as long as they did.  The entire town came out to our little downtown to send them off.

Then we all hopped in our cars and made a huge caravan to the game.  I couldn't get a good picture of the cars behind us.  

We had a HUGE community tailgate in the parking lot.   So much Wamego pride!  First time EVER in the program's history of us making it there.  Something HUGE to be proud of.  

I think I had heard we had around one thousand people in the stands and at the game.  Not sure how accurate that is, but we sure did pack the stadium full!

This picture was taken before that outer edge filled up with middle school football kids.  Our business alone donated 100 bucks and challenged others to do the same, so that high school and middle kids could get tickets and be there to be loud and proud. 

I love what our current football coach has done for our program and our community.  I love that he has the kids volunteering in various programs around the community to make it better. I love the camps and the work outs he gives our kids to make them stronger and healthier.  We already had an amazing state winning coach in cross country and track, but to have another program going to state consistently only brings buzz, donations, and support to this little community.  

And bonus!  We didn't freeze to death and the rain stayed away!

Going to miss cheering with the two ladies in the back ground.  We still have kid's wrestling together, but we don't do as many tournaments as they do with their kiddos, so I won't get to see them as much.  We have braved the cold, the wind, the rain, and the extreme heat all in metal bleachers this year.  We have cheered, almost kicked some asses literally, and had fun in the parking lot.  This is why I love doing sports, it's not just making friends for the kiddos, it's making friends for us, which is sometimes hard to do as an adult!  Till next year ladies!

Second place is NOTHING to sneeze at and I know these boys are down right now, but we love them, we support them, and we can't wait to cheer many of them on next year both in the high school and collegiate levels!

After the game we headed to a brewery to drown our sorrows and get ready for the KSU vs KU game.  Usually KU is nothing in football, but the sunflower showdown was a big deal this year.  Both teams had started off the season really well and while both had kind of fizzled with some tough losses, it was still going to be a big game for both teams.  

We ended the night with two more bars.  No, we are not bar hoppers, but one bar closed at half time so we had to change to another for the 2nd half.  The cats came away victorious after a very back and forth game and the Vols also ended the season with a win routing Vandy.  All in all, a great weekend for football.  

The glorious holiday weekend came to an end with more football in the Chiefs playing (and winning) and then our annual football banquet.  This year the boys won the league so they got rings.  Since Andrew hasn't even played in a traveling team where rings are a common thing for winning tournaments, he was pretty PUMPED about getting one.  Our head coach's wife Cassie even made a season ending hype video with almost every kid featured in one play, but all of the BIG plays being on it and it made the whole room get  super excited!

It just feels so good to have football back in our lives.  I lived it and breathed it when my brother played JR high ball, high school ball, college ball and NFL.  Football is one of my favorite sports  with baseball being a close second tied now with wrestling.  We went to every one of his games including games home and away, went to every play off game and every bowl game except the national championship we won, as my parents went without me.  I regret not getting to see any of my brother's NFL games in person, but I watched on the tv every.single.week.  I missed it.  Big time.  Glad it's back and glad my kiddo is slowly finding his love for a sport I so love thanks to great coaches and great friends who believe in him.  

I am also looking forward to starting the Joy to the Run program offered through Another Mother Runner again this year and starting my training for my next race, a  12 hour timed loop event, since I officially signed up for the race in March of 2023.  Yes, I have lost my mind, but I couldn't pass up a great black Friday deal (I know, I am a sucker) and I know I can get at least a 50K in 12 hours if not more, so maybe another 50 is coming if I play my cards right and train smart?

Have a wonderful week y'all!

 

 

Relief

 

I really like this and when a friend on Facebook posted, I had to steal.  I am really bad about picking "it" up and snuggling with those bad words/actions and I just need to step over and go around.  Great words by Brene Brown!

I got four runs in this week, three 3 milers and one 7 miler.  Boom and I are LOVING this cooler weather and our run stats show it.  We had one day of not intentional speed work and one day of intentional speedwork with fartleks.  We have been having issues with lose dogs again with one even coming after us, growling with hackles up, and NOT backing down.  The kids were out with the dog and the dad came out after he heard all of the hollering (I was screaming GO HOME).  He's an ausshole like Boom, so I sympathize.  You never know when I might be running through, but how about just get a fenced in yard or walk him on a leash?

It was a mishmash of other activities this week for sure.  Our high school football team played in sub state and WON!  We are heading to state to play in Topeka the weekend after thanksgiving.  Thank goodness we don't travel to TN for the holidays, so we can go and cheer!  We almost froze to death Friday night, but looks like the state game is a day game and it will be much warmer.  

We also celebrated my birthday a little early by heading over to Topeka to Happy Bassett to play bingo and then drink some yummy beer.  

I think that is when you know you are in the right group of friends when they just know what you like, like the time Melly bought me pumpkin coffee and an aquaman ornament or when Rockin' Robin bought me a 12 pack of my favorite beer.  I got beer, coffee, coffee cups, chai latte, and beer ornaments for my Christmas tree!

Have a great week y'all!  Going to enjoy celebrating my birthday and having a few days off for Thanksgiving.  Gobble till ya wobble!

Summer + Fall +Winter

 

Fall is here, but also winter shortly after.  The seasons are so confused lately.  We have summer days, fall days, and then winter days all in one week.

Andrew got to celebrate his team's victory with his teammates at school after a day off.  They seem to have lots of days off now a days, which makes  no sense to me, but is super fun for the kids.

Saw my first eagle of the year.  Too bad I haven't seen any on my running route yet.  This was across the street from the industrial park.  I have heard others say they have seen Frankie and Gracie on my running route, but I have yet to see them.  

We finally had our first practice 5K for our GOTR girls.  Originally the girl's basketball team was going to run with our girls, but they got delayed with practice running long.  They ended up driving our route, honking their horns and cheering us on as we ran.  Then they met us at the finish line and cheered every girl in till the last runner got there.  The girls LOVED it and this makes me further love the community I am in!  We are building a culture of empowerment of each other up from the youngest athletes to the high school kids, and it makes so many great memories for all of us.  

Wednesday night we went to Science on tap at the Manhattan brewing company.  We learned about the science of baking cookies and what happens when things go wrong.  We sampled different cookies that had different issues and had some great beers and even won a drawing for tickets to the zoo.

I did get 4 runs in for once in a long time.  I got three with my girls, 3 with boom boom, a longish run of 5 with boom boom and 6 with Melly and HRH Cersei.  I meant to get in a 10 miler, but I spent the weekend catching up on sleep and cleaning the house instead of long running.  I am not in the mood to do deep cleaning often because well 2 dogs, a hubby and a kid who can't pick up after themselves, and make huge messes just beat me down on the regular, so when I am in the mood, I have to go with it.  At some point I hope to have someone come in and do a big cleaning (I am hoping Santa brings me a house cleaner at least once a month), but I am not holding my breath.  I bagged up four bags of toys and clothes from Andrew's room, got my hubby to donate some stuff that had been sitting around for years in our bedroom, and cleaned two bathrooms with bleach and lots of elbow grease. I should have taken some before and after pictures!  It feels so good to do these things but like I said, I have to have that burst of energy and nothing else on the agenda (which is super rare).  

Our Junior Raider season is over with, but our High school Raiders are still going!  We almost froze as it was pretty dang cold Friday night, BUT they avenged a really bad loss last year against a really good team and moved onto Sub State for the first time since 1975. WOW!  I can wear lots of layers and Carharts to cheer on a team that is hungry for a state title any day.   

We also celebrated this woman.  I can't say enough about Stefanie and her family.  I am still devastated we lost her at such a young age (same age as me).  What am I comforted about is that everyone that told stories had stories similar to mine as she was such a giver, a lover of all.  I am sad that I couldn't get up and share my stories as I was very overwhelmed with emotion as others shared.  We all wore our KSU purple and had mimosas and breakfast foods as brunch was her favorite.  I am still very gutted by her loss and saddened for her wonderful family and not sure how to proceed.  We as wrestling families are planning on gathering gift cards for area food places but I wish I could do more.  

I am going to end with this.  This upcoming week is going to be full of uncomfortable meetings and kill em' with kindness shall be my motto.  

Have a wonderful week (and say a little prayer for me as my therapist keeps saying walk away, walk away:).  

CHAMPS!

This week wasn't conducive to running and was actually suppose to be race weekend for the Sanders Saunter 25k trail race.  We were eagerly awaiting the brackets to see when we would play football and of course we found out our first game was at the same time that the race itself started.  I am not missing any of my kid's games this year for races, so I ate my entry fee and spent all weekend at a field in Lawrence not running, but cheering on my kiddo.  I wouldn't have it any other way.  

Let's start at the beginning of a very full week of craziness!   First we had Halloween on a Monday (God bless all teachers for this).  We participated in a trunk or treat at Andrew's school and then walked around our town and got candy door to door old school,  and then handed out candy for a few hours from our porch.   I was so happy to see so many trick or treaters actually going door to door as trunk or treats events are super popular now.    

Andrew had a few costume changes.  He went to school as a dinosaur (Blue from Jurassic Park) and then changed into his Michael Meyers get up from last year to hand out candy.  Why does this costume creep me out so much?

I did get one run in with boom boom (3)  and one run with my girls (almost 3) before my mom got into town.  She came over from Tennessee to watch Andrew play in the tourny and then go with us to the banquet for his race club.  My girls have their practice 5K coming up next week and while some are still pretty nervous, most are already running 3 miles in our practices!!!!!  I can't wait to see how they do Tuesday for their practice 5K because I know most of them are going to rock it, and a few will be in for a rude awakening, but it is what it is.  It's not like we haven't warned them that not giving their all in practice will bite them in the butt on practice and race day.  Some people just have to find out for themselves and can't be told.    

The rest of the week was about football.  We had the last two practices for the season and mom got to watch.  We had a beautiful sunset.  

We also had the second play off for the Wamego High school red raiders and it was a cold and rainy one for sure!  After kind of a sluggish start, the offense got going and we ended up winning, but hoping the next game goes a little better.

I knew going into tournament that Andrew might not play that much.  I also knew that we might get our asses handed to us.  We are not a club or elite team.  We aren't bad mind you and undefeated in our league, BUT we only had 2 teams that really challenged us all year AND we don't travel every weekend to play out of town teams in big tournaments.  

We had a guarantee of two games at least, one on Saturday and one on Sunday.   Like I said, it's not that I doubt our kid's abilities, I just had no expectations of how it would go.  Our first game was a good one, very evenly matched.  Andrew got to play one offensive series and that was it, but again, I get it, it's his second year playing and he is still learning a ton.  I don't want my kid's mistake causing us to lose any game since he is still so much in learning mode.  

The picture above is him and his wrestling partner double teaming a kid for a block.  Again, I think my kid is much better suited for offense overall, but I get them wanting him on the defensive line because of his size.

Winning meant we came back for a second game in the afternoon.  We played a team called War Chief Dynasty and I was super worried that this would be a blow out.  They came on the field chanting and waving flags, and making all kinds of noise.  As soon as the game started it was MASS chaos with multiple coaches on the field, screaming about every play, accusing us of cheating, and screaming bloody murder at their kids.  Even the kids themselves were screaming obscenities at each other when they screwed up.  I have never in life seen kids and adults act the way this team acted.  Well, I will be honest, it kind of reminded me of the race track for all the wrong reasons, but I digress.  Their kids played dirty, constantly trash talking our kids, calling our kids the N word, and punching and kicking our kids when they were down. At one point a kid was on top of one of our best players and he was slamming his head into the ground repeatedly for no reason.  It was very hard to watch and I will admit my PTSD put me in survival mode.  At times I wanted to puke and several of our kids came out crying and didn't want to go back in.   As a parent it was incredibly hard to watch.  We ended up winning and they didn't even shake our hands at the end.  Sigh.  It's just a kid's sport people.  We had multiple parents go talk to the tournament directors, we called the cops, and two of their coaches were ejected while their entire sideline continued to taunt us.    I honestly feel bad for their kids the most because you know this isn't the first time they have acted this way or done this.  I have never seen a coach accuse us of cheating that much in my life.  We all walked away very upset, very scared that retaliation was going to happen, and not wanting to come back the next day when the tournament was clearly not doing anything about this horrible behavior that they themselves witnessed in person.  

Sunday dawned with a later start time and an old foe.  We were playing Manhattan for the championship and that was the ONLY team that beat us all year, luckily not in league play.  I noticed that several of the BIG kids weren't present which makes me wonder if they were not 5th graders and that they played kids down to beat us in the regular season.  Again, I digress, random ramblings.  It was a close game but we ended up on victorious and champions!   The below photo is Andrew's principal celebrating with her boys!

Final scores: Wamego 12 Elevate 0

                     Wamego 12 War Chief Dynasty 6

                      Wamego 14-Manhattan 6

So proud of these kids for an amazing season of hard work, improvement, and grit.  They were both mentally and physically tough all season and it was beautiful to watch so many kids develop and reach a level they didn't know they had.  Andrew has had an amazing year, filled with ups and downs, but so much growth.  I even heard him say this weekend that he was going to miss football so much.  He won't have much time to rest as wrestling and wrestling conditioning starts soon thank goodness!

I am still very sad to see yet another sport where parents act so horribly and walk away without any remorse.  Adults truly are ruining kid's sports and it makes me sad that we can't seem to find any event where we don't see it.  But I don't want to end on a bad note.  We truly are proud of our kids for keeping their head's held high, not dropping to any low levels or playing dirty, and for coming back even stronger.

We also barely made it to our racing banquet.  We walked in just as awards were starting so Andrew got to get his trophies still in his football pants.  We stuffed our faces with yummy BBQ, got trophies, talked for a few minutes with our friends, and headed out.  I had had enough drama and tension for the day and I just needed to be away from all people and decompress.  The board did an amazing job of decorating, getting prizes donated for door prizes, and finding a space within our budget.  I truly think we could make it bigger and better next year but we are going to need to at least double our budget to get what our club members want.  I could go on and on but I am going to stop and wrap up and think about all of the positives this week instead.  Andrew finished the year 7th in points in Sr Honda and 5th in points in Sr Animal.  

Have a great week y'all!