For the Love.....

There's nothing like the feeling of packing to run a race.  I typically over pack.  Only because I need to dress specific for the weather.  Weather in Missouri is known to change in a 12 hour period.  I like to be prepared.  On a race that is an hour away, I find myself traveling with my running girls to stay in a hotel.  Once we've checked into to our hotel we head to the Race Expo.  Packet pick-up.  We're handed a number to pin on our shirt.  A timing chip.  And a brand new shirt with the race logo emblazoned on the front telling the world we were participants in said race.  A shirt worn with pride.  Between the expo and falling asleep there is usually a bit of shopping.  And of course, eating.  Eating something that won't feel like a heavy rock sitting on the gut the next morning, but rather something that will fuel the fire already in our bellies to perform as desired.  After dinner, but still before hitting the pillow, comes the discussion on what to wear.  Shorts?  Capris?  Tights?  Short sleeves with arm sleeves?  Long sleeves?  Jackets?  Laying it all out in an organized fashion.  Making sure iPods and Garmins are properly charging.  Timing chips laced between shoe laces.  Bib numbers pinned onto shirts.  Gu packets at the ready.  Then finally, sleep.  Fitful sleep.  Excited butterflies in the belly sleep.  Alarms usually ring simultaneously.  Early.  Giving us a good hour and a half before we need to be at the start line.  Enough time to fuel ourselves with the proper amount of carbs and protein.  No fiber.  And not too much to drink.  Dressed.  Body Glide applied.  Fueled.  Then the nervous bladder episodes.  I find myself going at least 3 times before walking out of the hotel.  And then again at the port-o-potties.  Once I'm in place at the start line I find myself thinking I need to go again.  Only I know that I've already squeezed everything possible out of my bladder.  It's what we've dubbed "phantom" feelings.  My knee hurts.  Phantom pain.  My hip is tender.  Phantom pain.  I have to pee.  Phantom feeling.  More often than not I experience a variety of phantoms near a race day.  Enjoying the feeling of packing for a race is nothing compared to standing near the start line of one.  Packed like sardines around people locating satellites on wrists, stretching limbs, starting iPods for energizing motivation.  So many people.  All wearing bibs and timing chips.  I'm usually standing with 2 or 3 girls from my local running group.  But.  I feel a common bond with everyone I see.  I can easily strike up a conversation with any person in my space.  And most likely will.  Butterflies.  Excitement so abundant it can be touched.  And then?  We are prompted to start running.  We'll stay packed like sardines as we cross the start line which notifies our timing chips we have indeed started the race.  Usually near the end of mile one we've started to spread out.  Faster people off in the distance.  Slower people stopping to take walk breaks.  I take notice of those around me and try to find my zone.  Sometimes I'm keeping cadence with a friend.  Sometimes I'm flying solo.  If solo I turn up my ipod and just enjoy the scenery. Sometimes I just enjoy the fact that I'm running.  Sometimes I think about the course and the giant hill looming in the distance.  Sometimes I don't even notice the hill.  Sometimes I think about how grateful I am for the body I have with legs that can carry me any distance.  Sometimes I'm hard on myself because the run feels hard and I'm frustrated that it can't always just be easy.  Sometimes?  I'm just indifferent.  I feel, well, nothing.  I'm just out on the road running.  There just happens to be 8,999 people out for a run as well.  The nothing kind of run?  That's the kind I had yesterday.  I'd never experienced a nothing kind of run before yesterday.  Hospital Hill 2013.  The 10k race.  My favorite distance even.  With girls I really enjoy.  With good food and laughter the night before.  Only.  I was indifferent the entire time.  No race butterflies.  No excited packing.  I actually just threw something in my bag hoping I had remembered my socks after pulling out of the driveway.  Not caring what I really wore.  No fitful sleep due to nerves.  No anticipation.  Still a nervous bladder.  But I always seem to have that kind of bladder.  At the start line I felt so indifferent.  Not excited.  Not frustrated.  Not scared.  Just.....nothing.  After the race one of my friends kept asking if I was okay.  Because I'm usually going on and on about every curve, hill, downhill, and mile of the finished course.  But this time I was just quiet.  Like I'd just left my driveway, ran around town, and finished back in my driveway again.  Just another run.  The other girls were so excited wearing the shiny medals and track jackets with the 40th anniversary logo.  I just felt like it was another day on another road.  I'm not sure what happened.  Why I felt like this.  It saddens me a bit to think that I felt that way.  Like maybe I'm over the racing.  Is it because I've just "been there, done that" and need a change?  Is it time to hang up my running shoes and just stop?  That just seems wrong to me.  For the last four years that's become my identity.  Runner Jayne.  Who am I if I don't run races anymore?  Running has become an actual part of me.  Like another child.  I don't think I can ever just stop.  I've just never been so attached to something and then just all of a sudden felt so indifferent about it before.  I'm treading in unknown territory.  I think I need to start training for triathlons again.  A change up.  To remind me why running is my favorite endurance sport.  Maybe I'll find that running was needed for that specific time in my life, but now it needs to take a back seat to make room for something else.  Discovery.  Learning.  Growth.  Who said that the older you were the easier things became?  Nobody.  Because if someone did say that, they were complete morons.

Going to the Movies......

Yesterday I took four of my five kids to see the movie "The Croods".  Ethan was the one that stayed behind.  Now that he's 13, he tends to enjoy staying home playing games on the computer with friends rather than spend quality family time with the rest of us.  Jackson had an open house at school right before where he showed us the inner workings of his classroom.  We sped from there to the theater for the five o'clock showing.  I had the pleasure of sitting next to Presley.  Part way through the show she happened to have control of the popcorn bucket.  She leaned over to me and said, "Mom.  Please pass the salt."  To which I replied, "I don't have any salt."  She said again, "Just pass it please."  So.  I did what any Mother would do.  I passed her the pretend salt shaker.  She took said shaker, shook it on the popcorn, and then passed it back.  "Mom.  Pass the pepper now."  I passed the pepper.  She shook it on her popcorn and passed it back.  I was laughing to myself as I watched her "shake" this imaginary salt and pepper on the popcorn.  Then.  In a statement that can only be declared by Presley.  While waving a hand in front of her mouth to show her disgust exclaims, "Ugh.  This is gis-dusting! I put way too much pepper on it!"  And then she proceeded to pass me the popcorn refusing to eat any more.
I sure am enjoying this girl.  I don't know if it's because she's the youngest and I don't have a baby to occupy my thoughts, or if it's because she is just truly entertaining.  Probably a mix of both.  She definitely keeps me laughing.

Ultramax Duathlon.....

Back in January I was talking with a friend.  We needed some motivation to exercise.  I find that when I'm committed to do some sort of race it causes me to stress enough to hit the treadmill.  We decided since we didn't want to do a half marathon, our other option was a duathlon.  They were holding one in Columbia Missouri.  They were having both a long course and a short course.  The long course was 1.5 mile run, 15 mile bike, and a 3 mile run at the end.  During the summer when I'm outdoors training all the time, the long course would have been easy breezy.  So that's the one we signed up for.  Plans often change.  January and February were snowmagedon around here.  March was rainy.  Point being, my running was suffering and I'd only been on my bike twice.  That's two times.  And I only went 10 miles both times.  The long course was seeming, well, long.  We decided to switch to the short course.  1.5 mile run, 7.5 mile bike, and then finish with a 1.5 mile run.  That sounds so pansy to some people.  Myself included.  But let me tell you.  When you haven't trained for a race, regardless of the distance, it's kind of hard.  Add 20 mile an hour winds and it gets even more complicated.
When we arrived at the race course Saturday morning we were so grateful we'd switched to the short course.  The long course racers were hard core.  They were mostly men who ran 4 minute miles and had bike helmets so aerodynamic they looked like space aliens.  The short course people looked like us.  Just joe schmoes out for some exercise.  We started and I was running a pretty good pace.  The thing that was so weird for me was that I didn't have to really pace myself going slow and steady because it was only a mile and a half.  I was done before I had a chance to get too tired.  I have to say it was kind of awesome.  I spent too much time in the transition zone getting my bike though.  I was trying to put my gloves on and just as I went to strap them I realized I'd put them on backwards.  So I put them in my pocket.  I put my north face jacket on because the wind was fierce and I thought I'd be cold.  Wrong.  Five feet into the bike course I knew I was going to die of heat.  I tried to unzip my jacket to get a breeze.  I got it most of the way unzipped.  Which was great.  Until I was facing a headwind.  My jacket basically turned into a kite.  Lovely.  All the things bikers do to be more aerodynamic and here I am billowing like a kite.  Amatuer.  I tried to zip it back up but couldn't get it with one hand and didn't want to stop on the course.  So I managed to unzip it all the way.  It was irritating having it flap around me, but it was better than the kite flying effect.  After the bike was another run.  This run was harder than the first.  It was the exact same route as the first run, but my rubber legs took a bit to adjust.  My pace was quite a bit slower than the first go round.  But.  It was only a mile and a half.  Such a short distance!  When I was finished I realized that I just might actually get a medal.  Crazy.  I've never in all my races had a reason to stick around for the awards.  This time we stuck around.  Jennie placed third in our division, and I placed first.  It was crazy!  There were only 4 of us in the division.  But I finished 10 minutes faster than the 2nd place winner.  I'll take it!  (It's probably my only gold medal so I need to own it!)  I'm pretty sure I've found my new spring event.  This one is a keeper.

Easter.....

This year Easter was super low key.  I'm finding that the older my kids get, the lower key holidays are. Presley had an Easter egg hunt at her preschool.  It's always fun to watch 3 and 4 year olds discover that there is candy in the plastic eggs.  They would probably be thrilled just finding empty plastic eggs.

I did dye hard boiled eggs with my kids.  This is one holiday activity I would like to ban for the rest of eternity.  It's messy.  And nobody in this family will eat hard boiled eggs except me.  And I'm not a huge fan.  So it becomes wasteful.  But I did it anyway.  And I'll probably do it every year until my kids leave the house.  Because that's just what mom's do.

The perk of being the youngest child?  The only one to get new Easter clothes.  Which she picked out herself.

Easter Sunday the kids did get baskets full of copious amounts of chocolate.  And I did hide 10 plastic candy filled eggs for each kid in the basement.  No pictures for proof.  But it happened.  My kids aren't as deprived as it might appear.

Pinewood Derby....

Jack took home grand champion at the pinewood derby this year.  Second year running.

Trouble might occur next year.  Landon will also be competing.  This could get interesting.

Honor Society....

Ethan was offered the opportunity to join the Junior Honor Society this year.  Good grades, service, and positive nature all required.  I imagine this is only the first of many of these types of events I'll be attending for this particular child of mine.

I feel the need to mention that he was also offered the chance to attend Joseph Baldwin Academy this summer.  It's a 3 week class at Truman State University in Kirksville (our old stomping grounds).  He'll be taking a computer class.  The students live in the dorms and attend class daily.  In order to complete admission for this opportunity, he was required to take the ACT.  As a 7th grader.  Scores came back.  He got a 25.  Yep.  25.  This kid is crazy smart.  Shawn and I are making big plans for him to achieve a full ride college scholarship.  He totally has all the makings.

Ombre.....

Kennedy told me a few months ago that she wanted an Ombre.  (I was hoping she didn't mean a Spanish male.  She didn't.)  It's actually a hairstyle.  Or a specific way to dye ones hair.  Where it goes from dark to light.  The pictures I saw made it look like someone had lightened their hair and let their roots grow out.  To each his own, right?  My friend Nikki happens to be a hairstylist.  She agreed to take on this task.  

This is Kennedy's before shot:

 During the process:

After:

Nikki did such a great job!  She blended it well.  It didn't look like the horrid pictures I had seen online. I loved it.  And decided I wanted it myself.  Only.  Kennedy and I having the same hairstyle?  Not.  Cool.  So.  I'll wait.  Probably until it's completely out of style.  I have to say that Kennedy looks way too grown up in these pictures.  She's growing up so fast.