6 weeks off...REALLY?!?

I have to take 6 weeks off from running.  Although this is a relatively new hobby (is it considered a hobby???) or rather, an addiction, I enjoy it, I enjoy the competition, the "me" time, I enjoy being able to eat whatever I want, etc.  So, to literally have to take a full 6 weeks off...is not my idea of fun!  I will miss my next 2 races that I have already signed up for and was SO looking forward to running them with friends ;-(

I had gone to the doctor back in October for pain in my right leg and was told to take a couple weeks off.  Which I did (from running), the pain was still there, but not as bad.  Then recently moved into my left leg, but getting worse.  So, after gimping around this weekend after my race, I made another doctor appointment for this morning.  This time he ordered X-rays. 

He came back & told me he had bad news...I asked if I was just a wuss and needed to suck it up?  LOL.  Then he showed me X-rays...very clear there was a nice break!  Yes, I have a fractured pelvic bone.  So, it does turn out that I do have a wierdly high pain tolerance.  He was amazed that I had been running on it for all this time.  Then he proceeded to tell me I was stubborn (who, me???) and crazy (what, me???).  So, I will follow his advice, unfortunately.  Guess my New Year's Resolution will be to lose the 20 lbs I will gain from taking 6 weeks off....LOL  ;-)

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Believe 10K Race

Cold doesn't even begin to describe how the morning started out!  It was a chilly 32 degrees when we arrived at the race!  Brrr.  It was so cold that 'Frosty the Snowman' made an appearance...

Have I mentioned that I am not a fan of the cold?  And especially not running in it.  Great idea of a race Kim ;-)  Just kidding, we had a blast!

We got lined up and started out a little fast, but I like running a fast (for me) first mile because it gives me a little leeway in the next 5 miles.  And at the start, a seasoned runner of this race told us how hilly it was.  And he wasn't kidding!  3 BIG long hills!  Ugh, hills....AND not to mention, the finish line is at the top of a hill.  Lovely. Check out these hills:

The green line shows the elevation change...YUCK!  Have I mentioned I hate hills?!? 

I went with the goal of finishing the race (#1), running the entire thing (#2), and hoping to do it in under an hour (#3).  I managed all those goals in addition to making this time my PR (personal record) for a 10k. 

Stats:

Average pace was 8:36 per mile.  Finished with an official time of 53:32.  Got some great stats from my Garmin, which I love love love having all these stats.  It amazes me!  Although I was constantly looking at my watch every couple minutes, it was a nice distraction from the cold, my numb feet, and my aching hip(s).  LOL.

Other stats:  I came in #74 our of 210 people (men & women).  #25 out of 111 female runners.  And #4 in my age group, I was almost a full minute behind the third place finisher, oh well!  Perhaps one day I will get some bling :)  LOL. 

After the race, we headed to a local coffee shop in downtown McKinney (which has some very neat little shops!).  So, once I got my delicious zebra mocha, I was in heaven.  Then, I couldn't pass up a donut.  Yum!  So worth running 6.2 miles ;-)

 

Despite the cold weather, hitting a bunny on the way, and the hills, we had a wonderful morning!  ;-)

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Happy Thanksgiving!

I got up and ran with Lesley this morning to do our own version of the Turkey Trot, we called it '10k on Turkey Day'.  It was cold and windy.  I decided to map out our 6.2 miles and include the 2 mile long  bridge in our course.  NOT such a great idea.  We only made it about a half of a mile on the bridge  before turning around, the wind on bridge was about 30 mph, not fun and not easy to run in.  So, we headed back and ran around my neighborhood, like usual.  This was the first time I got to use my Garmin watch on a real run.  I love that it tells me everything about my run!  Although I dislike how it tells m..e we started off pretty good, then slowed way down ;-)  Oh well, we still got in our 6.2 miles, I can't complain.   I just need to figure out how to use it correctly.  Me + technology = disaster!

 Then, I headed to Starbucks to bring us home some yummy drinks!  I figured I deserved some deliciousness.

Then onto the food.  Of course ;-)  It was pretty simple this year:

Turkey breast...

Cranberry sauce...

Delicious homemade rolls...

(oops...I had already eaten one before I could get a picture, it wasn't the last I ate before dinner!)

And then we had green beans & sweet potatoes too...

And of course, my favorite pumpkin pie....

And the whip cream...such a treat for the boys to lick the whisk...love this picture...

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Not enough toys? Really???

The boys have started getting out the silverware to make music.  Not really a fan of this, but it is pretty cute. 

But then I start thinking, don't they have toys that are more fun than spoons???

Obviously, we don't have a shortage of toys...especially not dinosaurs and animals...

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I caved & bought some hideous shoes...

Ugh!  I said I would NEVER EVER buy the boys shoes that:
1.  Have characters on them.
2.  That light up.

Apparently, I officially have lost my marbles!  Here is what I came home with the other day...

What is wrong with me?!?  They light up.  And they have several Toy Story characters on them.  Oh well.  They were so excited and are showing them off to anybody and everybody who will listen...it is pretty darn cute.  And sweet.  And funny.  And it makes it all worth it.

Here are 2 videos that I took of them.  I couldn't help it.  I had just put the shoes in their "shoe basket" and told them to go get their shoes as we were heading to the gym.  Connor was thrilled!

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Date Night...

With my favorite little 3 year old ever!  Yes, Connor & I had another date night.  He actually asked and I happily agreed.  And he even asked to go bowling.  Wow!  He knows what I like.  I love it!  He even picked out my shirt in my closet, how sweet!

Needless to say, we had the BEST time.

Connor truly had a blast and kept telling me how much fun he was having.  Every time he would knock down a pin, he would yell, "BINGO".  Not sure where that came from, but it was pretty cute.  We were nearly tied in the 3rd frame, I was thinking he was going to beat me.  Luckily I pulled out a win 131-70.  I would have been crushed if Connor would have beat me.  I don't like to lose!

And here is a video of Connor bowling...

We both had a both had a blast, just like last time.

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Ahhh, the beach & warmness...

The beach sounds wonderful right now...

Too bad these were taken this summer when we were back in Washington.  The weather is cool here, highs of 60's, which sounds nice, but it is COLD!  So, I enjoyed looking through these beachy pictures and the kids had SO much fun....

They had so much fun!  Which also got me thinking about Seattle and just how much I miss it.  So, here are a couple Seattle pictures from my trip that I just love....

Good thing I am going back for a visit soon :-)  I am so excited!

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Just a couple more pictures...

So, blogger went a little crazy on me...or I just post way too many pictures...you be the judge!  Anyhow, I ended up having to buy more storage for the pictures.  So, let's see how far 20 GB of storage gets me...hopefully pretty far ;-)

I just had to post these 2 pictures from Halloween...the kids faces are just too stinkin' cute!

 Connor & Dylan were THRILLED the kids stopped by for a quick visit & a quick trick-or-treat...and I just love the girls' dresses.

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Happy Halloween!

Here are a few more of our Halloween decorations.  I swapped out pumpkin pictures for our regular ones in the frames around the fireplace.  Love it. 

Then, here are the little pumpkins that the boys drew on with markers.  They both loved this!

We had fun at our Halloween Party on Friday afternoon.  We ate and played...

We even had a pinata at the party.  How fun!

And the food was plentiful and so creative!

The boys LOVED handing out candy to the trick-or-treaters

We headed out with some neighbors to do a little trick-or-treating...

This is what some of our neighbors houses looked like...the boys were not so sure about some, for good reason!  The first is a neighbor who had a walk thru haunted house in their front yard complete with smoke and several live people dressed up throughout it to scare you.

Then Lesley brought the kids by for a quick visit, as they got mobbed by all our crazy trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood ;-)  I have the cutest picture of all the kids, but blogger is not letting me upload it!

***Blogger is being really funky & telling me I am out of room and need to purchase addition storage space for my photos...anybody else have these problem?  Did you purchase more storage, did it work?  I will do some research and try and figure this out soon ;-)  Promise.

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Halloween around our house...

Just thought I would show you a bit of what Halloween is around our house...

I buy good candy for the trick-or-treaters...

I planned to do lots of Halloween crafts this year...didn't work out, luckily a friend had this cute hand print bat craft all set-up for the kids.  Love it.

I did break out the sewing machine and whip up this adorable table runner that I have on my island in the kitchen...

Got the plan from here.  And that was the extent of any craftiness that went on.  Oh well, maybe next year...

On second thought, the boys costumes (well, really just Connor's) took a little creativity and craftiness.  The boys decided (okay, Connor decided) they were doing to dress up as Woody & Buzz from Toy Story.  Connor was dead set on being the cowboy, so I set out to make his shirt, which included finding a plain white button down shirt, dying it yellow, then hand drawing every single plaid line!  Talk about tedious.  But I think it turned out pretty cute.  And made the vest.  Well, actually Grandma did that part!  And love his hat, Wranglers, belt buckle, and boots.  He loves his costume.  So sweet.

Just look at him...

And here is our sweet little Buzz Lightyear...

So adorable. Both of them.  We had my MOMS Club Halloween Party this afternoon.  It was a huge hit and lots of fun.  I took pictures with my good camera, so I will upload those and post more pictures soon.  Promise.  But for now, camera phone pictures will have to do!

And tonight after eating tons of cookies and sweets, Dylan asked for a banana, so we sat at the table and here is what he did.  Love it...he cracks me up!  (Obviously from all my laughter from the video...again, sorry for the annoying loudness!)

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State Fair of Texas!

Obviously, I love love love the fair.  Nope, not for the rides, but for the FOOD!  I finally talked Chris into going a couple of weeks ago.  And for some reason, it ended up being late Friday afternoon.  It was full of teens!  And busy.  But I think it is always busy.  We hit up the Fletcher's corn dog stand right away.  So yummy!  We all shared a couple of delicious corn dogs.  Then, found some relatively cheap Shiner Bock on tap, gotta keep Chris happy while I eat my way through the fair ;-) We also had a blooming onion, some fries, and ice cream sandwhiches.  YUM.  But my FAVORITE thing was the deep fried Snickers bar!  It was the best treat ever.  If I could figure out to make it, I might have one everyday.  But since that is highly unlikely, I will just continue to keep my stash in the freezer!  Mimmm...I love frozen Snickers!

And you can't miss BIG Tex...

We walked through the chickens, the boys were fascinated with them.  And I couldn't help but want a chicken coop of my own!  Ahh, fresh eggs every morning!  And they were SO pretty too.

We got to see the Texas Tech semi truck pull in, we couldn't help but imagine the Cougars having a big truck like that, lol. 

Then a few minutes later we saw the Baylor semi truck.  Pretty cool.

And before we left, I had to take a quick shot of the Ferris Wheel.  So pretty lit up at night with the lights of the Midway below.  Love it.


The boys didn't want to ride any rides, so we just made it about the food this year.  Pretty sure one day they will be begging to go on the rides!

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St. Louis Pumpkin Brew 5K

Last weekend, I took a quick trip back to St. Louis to see some friends.  All by myself.  Traveling by myself was easy and painless.  But I felt like I was always forgetting something or someone.  And it was quiet.  LOL.  I had a great time.  

First of all,  I love St. Louis.  Just look at this amazing arch.  Love it.

And I talked Kelly & Cheryl into doing this fun 5k race with me.  I had never ran with either one of them, so I was excited.

Kelly wanted to finish in around 30 minutes and Cheryl had set a goal of 28 minutes.  I was just excited to run.  So, we set off and ended up running a lot faster than originally planned, but I felt great.  Kelly was thinking bad thoughts about me the entire race since I told her not to bring her iPod and that I would talk the entire race.  Oops, sorry Kel.  We got separated at the start.  However, Cheryl got to listen to me talk for the first 2.5 miles.  Here is how I finished: time of 25 minutes and 28 seconds.  I came in 6th in my age group, 68th overall out of 438 people.  It was a pretty flat course and a lot of fun. 

After the race beer...YUM!

Then I met up with some of my favorite girls for margaritas and Mexican food.  What a great night catching up with everyone.

 Such a fun weekend catching up with friends and hanging out.  I sure missed my boys though.

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