Day with Thomas 2017

Okay super bittersweet post here.  Check out my previous posts about Day at the Thomas here (2016) and here (2015).  This will probably be our last Day with Thomas as Andrew seems to be outgrowing his Thomas toys and videos.  I honestly didn't even know if he would want to leave his birthday presents and go.  I was prepared to give our tickets away if need be, but he woke up and was super excited to go!

Our first ticket was for the 10 am Thomas train ride, so we headed out around 8 am to have time to catch the bus and get to the rail yard.  As always, the free parking was great, and the buses were plenty.  

We quickly said HI to Toby and got in line for the Thomas train ride.  We were too late to get onto the open air cars, but we rode in the regular cars with no issues at all.  It certainly was hot out, BUT there was a breeze that kept things manageable.  Let's just say when we headed back to the depot, and the engineer asked us to start yelling for Thomas to pull, I may have shed a few tears. I know, I am a super sap.

We did post- Thomas ride pictures and they got some super cute pics with the professional photographer.  We always buy a set of pictures, because they are so nice to allow us to take a million of our own.  

As always, we try and get our four stamps, so Andrew gets his free Thomas prize at the end.  We started out by getting a stamp at the gift shop, because I am an idiot and forgot a backpack or bag to put all the goodies in.  Our second stamp was at the Sir Topham Hat picture center.  Previously, Andrew had been pretty scared of Sir TH, but this year, he gave him a high five and a hug at the end!

As per previous years, there was tons to do including a petting zoo, the tattoo/play tent, video tent, and the magician/singer tent.  We visited the food trucks and supported the local concession stands there and played in the bouncy house.  It was so hot, even with the breeze, so we didn't linger any longer than we had to post riding Percy.  Again this year, Percy's cars were air conditioned and this year they even punched our tickets on Percy, just like on a real train.  

Leaving was hard because like I said earlier, I am afraid that this will be our last year.  It was fun looking at all three years of pictures and seeing how much Andrew has grown up.  

Thanks for all of the memories Thomas! Thanks to Midland Rail way and ALL of the volunteers that make Day at the Thomas possible!  Maybe we will see y'all next year!

Andrew's 5th Birthday party

Most of this blog will be pictures:)

This year Andrew wanted a party so we decided based on recommendation from other parents, to rent the local gymnastics gym and stay indoors and cool.

The gym was rentable for 2 hours and you could have 16 kiddos with supervision provided.  They could do pretty much anything in the gym and the upstairs could be used as a party room.  Andrew had decided to go with an angry bird's theme so we got all of our decorations off of amazon and from the dollar general store.

The cake came from Hyvee and I am so glad we got the bigger cake because it pretty much got all eaten!

We never actually played the game but it was a cute option :)

We let the kids play for about 30 minutes after arriving and then rounded them up for cake, juice, and presents.  We had kiddos from his class come and most all of them showed up.  I was super worried since it was summer and many of them had plans, but they mostly showed up and had a great time!

They all worked together to un wrap the presents and they all know him well because he got legos, pj mask, Thomas, and pokemon stuff :).

After unwrapping, we headed back to the gym.  Let's just say these kiddos left super hot and sweaty and tired!

I didn't get as many pics once the kiddos were playing, one because they wouldn't sit still and they looked like blurs in photos, and two because I was having so much fun talking to the other kiddo's parents.  We let them play till 5 minutes before the party time was over, and then took some very tearful kiddos out to cars with goody bags.  No one wanted to stop playing and I hated for it to be over so soon, but those were super tired kiddos.  I hope he will never forget his 5th birthday, not because of presents, but because of the awesome friends he has and what a good time they all had!  I love renting a facility that provides supervision so that we can hang out and get to know each other better!  Till next year!

Week 3 of training for the Chicago marathon

Okay so I wasn't paying attention to exactly when my plan started.  I guess I started two weeks ago with "official training", so this is week 3, yipeeee!  This week is going to be a bit cray cray.  Andrew's first ever big birthday party is Saturday and our probably last time at Day at Thomas is Sunday.

Monday:  Rest day.

Tuesday:  Speed work, 1 mile warm up, 2 minutes hard, 2 minutes easy, 1 mile cool down.  I for some reason was a little slower this week versus last week with lower humidity and lower temps.  It is what it is, and I am not going to stress about it.  Most of my repeats were in the 9:30 range and I will take it.  Okay, so found out that our algal lab got funded Monday for the next four years.  Our PI wanted to celebrate Monday night, but i pushed him back to Tuesday night, so I could actually have a drink or two.

Wednesday:  Strength and cross training.  I had plans of getting up early and biking, as I had been doing and consistently I might add, but a celebration the night before and getting in bed later than normal made that not happen.  No biggie, no sports to do post work, so grabbed Rocking Robin and we headed out.  We are both now (thanks to her) addicted to the podcast My Favorite Murder, so we talked about recent episodes and documentaries we were watching on Netflix. After our hour or so ride, I headed home, took my mat outside and did my MYRTL, and strength training.  I was one tired puppy before bed!

Thursday:  5 miles with 5 x 30 second strides.  Melly had a long night the night before, so I got about 45 extra minutes of sleep, and headed out around daybreak.  The sunrise did not disappoint.  It was so amazing that I had to stop a couple of times and just stare at it.

Friday:  Cross training and strength.  I actually managed to get up and get on my bike early morning and get my strength training in to counteract my log run meal of pizza:).  I still am at 5 lbs for lost weight, and still not fulling hitting my macros, but getting closer.  I do like getting those extra calories, even if I don't use them.

Saturday:  Long run 10 miles.  Up early to fuel and poop.  Seriously considered going back to bed post eating, but made myself stay awake.  The temperature was already 70 when I got up with humidity in low 80s.  Sigh.  Right on the borderline for it being too yucky to take the doggies. I decided to take Stella only, and warned Tony that I might be calling him to come and get her.  We made it, but it was borderline too hot and humid for sure.  I stopped every 2 miles and made her drink from her water bottle, and as soon as we got back, she got to play in the hose and cool down.  It makes me sad that they will be taking a hiatus from running with me, but that also means I get to go up to Konza lots more now!

Of course post long run, we had to get ready for the big party!  I will do a separate post for the party because my hubby took a thousand pictures and some of them are really cute (and that way if you want to skip over, you can :).  Andrew was so confused that we were celebrating his birthday on not his birthday, but he had so much fun and most of his class that we invited showed up!  I had 12 party bags made and we had 11 kiddos, whew.  We got invited over to a class mates house for some slip and slide post party, so we headed over to grill and chill.  Let's just say when we all got home that we were VERY tired!  I decided to not set my alarm clock and try and get some sleep and dread mill it the next day.

Sunday:  4 mile recovery and DAY AT THE THOMAS!  This was our third year at Day at the Thomas, and while we were weary from the festivities the day before, we were excited as well! I decided to sleep in and save my run for later and I am glad I did (even if it was feels like 100 later).  We had 10 am tickets for thomas and 12:30 tickets for percy.  I will also keep this for a separate post but we had SO much fun.  I was so worried he wouldn't like Day at the Thomas as much this year, as he has been moving away from Thomas toys and Thomas stuff in general and more towards legos.  We loved it and hopefully will get one more year in next year.  I had to run post the trip back and I just couldn't do the dreadmill, even with the feels like 100 temp outside.  I decided to take it easy, walk when I needed, run slowly when I could,  and just get it done.  I also ran with a sack of ice so if I needed to put some in my bra or on my head under my hat, I could.  Of course it melted after mile 2 so just had a bag of semi cool water to tote around but it was the thought that counts right?

I only went 4 miles and I kept it close to the house just in case, especially since I couldn't take any dogs.  It wasn't pretty but I did it and I don't want to do it again :)

What a great week!!!  We made it through Andrew's first big party that I had to throw without my mom's help (she did his first and second party) and another Day at the Thomas.  Not looking forward to the high heat we are going to have this coming week, but it is summer and there is nothing I can do about it.

Weekly mileage:  24

Have a great week!!!!

The third annual Seriously FUN Mud run

Okay when I saw that the Discovery Center in Topeka was having a mud run for kids, I jumped online and signed Andrew and I up.

They had two options, option one meant your kid ran the course by themselves OR you could run with them but not do the obstacles.  I knew andrew would need help, so I signed up for the second option, which was the family run, in which you ran as a family unit together and got to do all of the obstacles together.

We got to the center about an hour early (OOOPS:) so had to wait outside until the closer till time for the run.  They had closed the center down for the day for the run, as the earlier waves had finished and we were the last to go.

As we drove over, the storm clouds kept building and building.  The bottom fell out right as they opened the doors.  Here is a tip for next year if you want to do this race.  Get there early and be one of the first to go in.  They assign the numbers just by where you are in line, and the early numbers go first, so it is worth it to get an early number.  We got our t shirt and bib first, and then waited for the storms to pass by.  Luckily since you are at the discovery center, there is plenty to do.  As it became apparent that we would be on rain delay for a while, they opened all the exhibits to let the kiddos paint and build and do whatever they wanted to.  

Finally after an hour or so, the rain let up and they herded us outside.  Andrew and I were the second team to start, and after they checked our bibs, we were off!  It was still sprinkling, which made it even more muddy and fun.  The first obstacle was a water curtain and then we hit the trails.  We had to go over logs, under logs, and through the woods, and speed demon andrew took off like a shot!  The second obstacle was running around the play area where people were shooting us with high powered water guns!  Next, we hit up a patch of mud that we were suppose to roll down.  Andrew said NOPE, so I got down and rolled for him.  He tried running on it, and the mud almost got his shoes off!  We hit the mud pie area where we got to make mud pies and then smash them on our heads.  Once again andrew was NOPE, and I kind of didn't want mud in my hair anyway so we played with the mud and then headed on.  Next was another big patch of mud to crawl through, but andrew just ran over it and I crawled.  

We had to walk on hay bales next and we did so hand in hand.  We headed up the hill to get bowls of muddy water to carry over our heads down the hill to the muddy pool.  

We dumped our buckets in the pool (that had mud in) and then had to jump in the pool and transverse the pool.  Once again andrew said NOPE, but I did what I was told and almost face planted.  We crossed the finish line with him ahead of me and got our goody bags.  The course was maybe 4 tenths of a mile if that long.  We headed over to the park where the fire men had hoses spraying for us to rinse of in.

I pretty much had mud in every crevice even after the hoses, so it was easier to just strip him down for the ride home and sit on towels for me.

We will be back next year.  The entry fee was I think 22 bucks per person, but the money goes to a very good cause in the discovery center.  Even though we had a delay, we got to play in the discovery center and one of the activities was building a track with black track, PVC pipes cut in half, and little wooden balls.  You could make whatever type course you wanted and Andrew LOVED it!  They even had an engineer present that would help you design your course OR help you trouble shoot why your ball wasn't making it on the course.  I so wish we had a place like this in Wamego/Manhattan!

Overall, much fun had by all, even in not doing the obstacles as is.  I feel like next year, we will rock out this course and have a ball yet again!

Chicago Marathon Training 2017 Week 1

I think we have officially started our training for the Chicago Marathon, as we are 20 weeks out. Summer is here and humidity is here to stay.  BOOOOO!

Monday:  Rest day.  Well, I woke up to a glorious day, which meant I couldn't not do anything.  I headed out on my bike and got over 13 miles in as well as my MYRTL exercises.  I need to be more diligent about doing these exercises on top of my strength training and my cross training.  I feel like I am doing really well with my cross training but the rest, well,  I am a work in progress.  Just doing 12 minutes of MYRTL kicked my butt and felt so good.  In fact I could feel my hip kind of release during and felt much better the rest of the day.

Later we attended andrew's best friend's birthday.  These kids are party animals!  Just in case you were wondering, they are frogs in a pond AKA a water table :)

Tuesday:  My first speed work session of the training cycle.  1 mile warm up, 2 minutes hard, 2 minutes easy x 8 and then one mile cool down.  Coach gave me lee way on what hard was.  I didn't program a number on my watch, but just went by feel and just let whatever happen, happen.  Post running, the 2 minute hard was kind of all over the place.  I had some as low as 8:51 minute miles and some as high as 9:33.  I will take it because the humidity was high and was affecting my breathing.

Wednesday:  Real rest day.  I went to bed Tuesday night feeling VERY tired after a full day of running, coaching the kids at track practice, and then driving back to town for something tony needed for work.  I had decided since I rode my bike monday, to skip my bike ride, get some extra sleep, and strength train with the kiddos at track club.  We had SO much fun talking about the exercises and what they do for your running.  I am so going to miss these track kids!

Thursday:  5 miles with 5x30 second strides.  This was the morning of no good.  I had a beer before bed that was a huge bad idea.  My tummy was off from the minute i woke up, PLUS my stupid iphone decided to die and play possum the one morning i didn't have a running partner.  I seriously considered not running, but it was cool (though humid) and I just needed to get my run done no matter what my tummy and or phone wanted.  Got through the run, but it was tough.  Bleh.  Of course my phone isn't on any plan and is 6 months away from an upgrade so I guess I will be buying a phone off of someone and or using my mom's old iphone for now.  You don't realized how connected you are to your phone till you don't have one.  Mark my words, my damn van will probably break down now, since I won't have a phone. (p.s. it did not and my phone miraculously starting working normally again although we do think it is a bad battery and are leaving it out of the case for now meaning I probably will shatter the screen soon).

Friday:  Cross training.  I had taken the day off to take Stella in for her one year visit post IMPA.  I am really happy to say that she is disease free and off of all meds other than allergy meds.  I am holding my breath and praying this sticks!  I am really enjoying having her back with me running and being pain free.  After getting done at KSU vet med, I headed out on my bike and got a nice long bike ride with Rocking Robin and finished up with a full three rounds of my strength training.  I have to laugh, strength training gives me extra calories since I am tracking calories, so it is a motivator to get that done :) . Whatever it takes right?

Saturday:  4 mile recovery run.  Well, was suppose to do my long run BUT hubby had to work.  I am not going to complain, over time is a great thing and steady work is a great thing. I can adjust my schedule no problems.  Saw a beautiful sunrise that made me forgot for a few minutes how horrible the humidity was.  Came home and did my MYRTL exercises.  Post running, andrew and I kidnapped my grad student and showed her the lazy river/splash park in front of the discovery center,  the insect zoo and KSU, and the KSU gardens.  We also had lunch at subway at Andrew's request.  Daddy worked most of the day but we did get to go to the street dance post work.  Our little town has a band come in and play and blocks off the downtown area for everyone to come down and put their chairs and blankets down to watch.  This year they had kid's activities and art and more food and a bigger beer garden.  We had so much fun but i had to watch it since I was heading out for a long run the next day.  The band played some great 80s and 90s classic rock and I could have hung out all night but had to head back so I could get in bed at a decent time.

 Sunday:  10 miles.  I knew this would be tough because i just didn't get into bed as early as I had hoped.  Plus, I had 2 beers because it was just a perfect night for a beer.  I had drank 2 bottles of water post street dance, and then had some more water when I got home, so I had hoped I would be okay.  I woke up later than normal, fueled with coffee and food, and promptly went back to bed to wait out digestion.  I then drug myself back out of bed an hour later, and headed out way later than normal.  I was blessed with some nice cloud cover that at least kept me from baking in the sun, but the humidity was ouch.  I had decided since I am still not acclimated yet and it really affects my breathing, that I would allow myself a walk break every 2 miles.  I also decided to just carry stella and not drag deuce along, as the humidity was so bad and she typically handles humidity better.  The run went well with walk breaks intact.

Post long run, we got ready for our very first mud run.  The discovery center in Topeka KS was holding the mud run at their place and it was called the Seriously FUN Mud Run.  I will do another post with pictures and the low down.  While Andrew would not do ANY  of the mud themed obstacles correctly (he just ran through the mud versus crawling or rolling), he RAN the whole time and left me on the trail part.  Maybe I have a trail runner on my hands?  I pretty much was covered in mud from head to toe, but the fire fighter's hoses got us a with a little less mud on the ride home.

Great week of training!  Gaining calories is helping me get ALL of my work outs in but whatever it takes!

Have a great rest of your week and next!