Let's get physical...

I haven't been doing much running this year as I've been focusing on my time in the CrossFit gym. I haven't completely given up on it and never will. Running is me alone with my thoughts. Or me with 10 of my favorite girlfriends telling stories for miles and miles. Although I'm not running another marathon in the near future, I'm still entering half marathons and log a few miles here and there each week.

Several weeks ago Jaime and I ran a marathon relay while two of our faves ran a full marathon. In increments of 1 mile loops. Jaime and I would trade off each mile... telling stories to the marathoners to pass the time on our mile loop, then cozied up in a sleeping bag cheering on the runners. Was such a fun morning.

 My most favorite moment was at the finish line when Meghan told us all that she and Jake got engaged (and had been for weeks, keeping the biggest secret to herself). We cheered, hugged, laughed, cried. Was a special moment that I won't soon forget.

Two weeks ago the Perfect Strangers ran in the Carmel full and half marathon and dedicated our miles to Boston. One of our very own happened to be at the finish line of Boston's marathon as her husband ran in the race. Meggie so elquently recapped her experience and I urge you to read about it here.

 Last year at this race I ran the half while Jaime ran the full. I followed her around the course on my bike after I crossed the finish line and then waited for her at the finish to see her crush her goal. Another memory I won't soon forget; screaming at the top of my lungs with tears in my eyes that she DID IT! This year Jaime finished the half ahead of me and was dancing at the finish with my medal waiting to cheer me on. Was so special and meant a lot to see her face waiting for me.

 Last weekend was my first ever CrossFit competition as an individual. No team to fall back on when things got tough. It was me against the barbell. Alone. A few friends from my gym also competed and we'd been training for this for 6 weeks with twice a week two-a-day practices with our coach. 

 Mikey brought the girls (which, btw, hearing your 5 year old yell GO MOMMY while struggling on box jumps makes you smile and go faster).

 Perfect Strangers came to support us

Kristi, Barb and Cari...team CFFINL 

 Jaime also competed for her gym and crushed it. Strong mama right there and I'm so proud of all she accomplished.

The first wod (workout of the day) was 3 rounds for time of 500m row, 12 deadlifts, 21 box jump overs. Twelve minute time cap. I had to modify the weight on the DL which put me into the modified division but I was so proud of myself that I made it through the entire wod in the 12 minutes. I had practiced this workout twice and never made it through. Goal accomplished on wod #1.

 Wod #2 & #3 were a bench press ladder (I made it up to #95 which is my new 1 rep max) followed by a 2.5 mile run on the Monon. Finished my run in 21:00 and was wiped afterwards.

Wod #4 was a 6 min AMRAP of 6 ground to overhead at #95 and 6 bar jump over burpees. Although I didn't beat my practice results I was still happy with  my performance.

Every athlete was guaranteed 4 wods then the top 10 in the modified division and prescribed division moved on to a 5th and final round.

I believe there were 44 modified athletes and after the 4th wod I was in 6th place. Which meant I was moving on to the finals. Yikes. Not only was I physically exhausted but I was also mentally exhausted. The entire day was an exercise in how well you've trained your body and how well you can manage fueling your body to perform. I drank pre-workout energy drinks and post-workout protein drinks. I ate protein-packed food all day. But no matter what I put into my body, the bottom line was I was drained. A fifth wod? Exciting that I made it but daunting that I had to do One. More. Wod.

 Had this workout been the only workout of my day, I could have crushed it. But it being my fifth...I definitely struggled. Thankfully my team and coach were there cheering me on and so was Jaime and her family. I had voices screaming that I could do it (while the voices inside my head told me I couldn't). And that's what got me through. My final 400m run Jaime joined me while I started choking up. I couldn't do it. Doubts crept into my mind. My legs hurt. My stomach hurt. I wanted to give up. But Jaime wouldn't let me. She reminded me that we had run 4 hours together in a marathon...that I could get through 400meters. Hearing her scream GO GO GO while I entered the final stretch gave me an extra boost to kick it into high gear. I didn't place last in the finals, that was all I wanted. And I did it.

I am more than thrilled with my results from that day. I met my goals and have already created new goals.. Was a LONG day but a fun one. Proving myself to myself.

 And finally, yesterday was the Mini Marathon. The country's largest half marathon (with a field of more than 35,000 runners). This was my 12th year participating (walking two of those years whilst pregnant). It's not the most beautiful of race courses. But it's truly Indianapolis tradition. And the best spectators a runner could ask for.

The Perfect Strangers agreed we were running for fun and not for time. Not one of us wore a watch. And we would all finish together. And take lots of breaks. And lots of pictures. That's my kind of running!

 We've all ran this race a billion times. We know the course like the back of our hands. But one thing none of us had ever done was kiss the bricks at the Indy 500 track (where miles 6-8 are run). We all dropped like a burpee onto the bricks and kissed those suckers. Sweet.

We had some heart-to-heart conversations on the track, planned our upcoming girls' trip miles 10-12 and crossed the finish line together. I got choked up at the finish (per usual) as I simply love that we friends finished together. We share this special bond we call running and have fun along the way.

 Not only do Kristi and I CF together, we also run together. Never get tired of being by her side.

Mike's cousin Steve and Amanda came in town to run this race again. But this time they trained :) And this time they both did amazing. We celebrated at the finish with some local brew. Proud of both of them!

Florida Spring Break 2013...

Last week we spent Spring Break in Florida...the third year we've been going to the same beach town and each year staying in a large, comfortable and fun house just steps from the sand. This year the Morse and Miller family joined in our adventures.

We mistakenly decided to leave on Good Friday, thinking we'd miss the weekend traffic. However, we didn't take into account that most people had that day off and were also trying to beat traffic. Ugh. We broke the trip into two days...and what is typically a 12 hour drive took a total of 18 hours. So there's that. Just made arriving in Florida that much more exciting.

Crossing into Louisville. I love this bridge and take pictures of it each and every time we cross over. Reminds me of an erector-set.

Day 2 we had gone through a bazillion movies, iPad games and every snack we packed. Izzy had some fun taking selfies on our home stretch. This girl. She can make me laugh!

As soon as we arrived we unpacked, organized coolers, then got into our swim suits to relax. This house had 4 BRs and 3BA, which fit all 12 of us perfectly. It was just 4 houses down from where we stayed last year...yet the backyard boasted much more living space (including Mike's favorite, the tiki hut complete with fridge, sink and flat screen tv). Vacation perfection. Exhale.

 After ordering a pizza we grabbed our drinks (and buckets) to trek it to the beach. The boardwalk is approximately 6-ish houses away from ours.

Arriving just as the sun was setting...

Shoes off at the end of the boardwalk...

Charlie loved running on the beach. He was such a great traveler and just went with the flow, always wanting to hang out with the big kids.

Bug on a beach

Saturday night Amy, Sandi and I filled a boatload of plastic eggs and had fun hiding them throughout the house. As soon as the kiddos woke on Sunday we had a hunt...and continued to find missing eggs all week long.

Running to the beach

Jason and Mike swam in the open water (much to mine and Jeff's dismay after watching videos of sharks migrating). I'd say they swam at least a mile. Sandi escorted them on foot along the beach and she said there were many a folk commenting on the crazy people swimming in the water. My sentiments exactly.

These pictures just never get old to me...they all just had such a fun time together. I can see them years from now walking this same path to the beach to sunbathe instead of building sand castles. My cousin and her family were also in Florida at this time (yet hours south of us) and she told me to cherish every day of our vacation with our Littles. Her oldest turned 18 last week and she was getting nostalgic for her little girl on the beach. 

Bathing beauties

Not a bad view

Lots of digging

Sweet Charlie

Daddy Jeff

Laney Bug waiting for her 362nd snack of the day

Girlies...we had some fun times on that beach

Izzy right after I thought I had lost her (she was sleeping under a blanket on a chair). That was a fun moment.

Chasing waves

Backyard selfies

Where the boys spent most of their time

Daddy digging (seemed the daddy's did more digging than the Littles!)

Sunset family photos

Ben's favorite: lizard hunting

Sisters. A rare, tender moment.

Can't. Get. Enough.

Daddy's making the most out of a dreary day: make a whirlpool!

Pool crew. And cross-eyed Izzy. What have I done to these girls?!

Weather was still warm but the clouds were out...so we took a long walk along the beach and did some serious shell hunting (as Laney called it all week long, "she-shells from the she-shore").

Buddies on the shell hunt

My lovey lou.

Windy day makes for perfect weather to fly kites

All of the kids did great flying kites, so did the big kids. Every one of us were flying kites. And every one of us smiled the entire time. Even when Buggy let go of her kite and it was swallowed into the ocean.

Group photo on our last night

Shout out to nanny Natalie...

IU !!!

We had a great time on vacation. Created memories and bonds...and funny stories. Like that one time when Amy ran along the beach front with her very large kite warning people she was coming through (at a pretty fast clip). Or all the delish pina coladas Jeff made for us. Or that squirrel the boys named Stewie who would come scarily close and eat our food. Or the time we waited for 30 minutes for the ice cream man (who seemed to come around every 5 minutes all week long). Or how Laney reeked havoc in the kids' room at night only to be quarantined to her parents' bed every. Single. Night. Or how that Jumping-Jack competition never happened (but will one day!). Or how we all got burned the very first day yet still went back out the second day ready for more. I could go on and on. And the memories will.

Pretty sure the kids loved it...most of them claimed the "bunkin' beds" were their favorite part of the trip. Mmkay. How about that ocean you played in every day?

By the end of the week we were ready to pack up and get the show on the road. Sleep in our own beds. Thankfully, the drive home was uneventful and we made it in around 13 hours. No meltdowns. Lots of movies. And a little Ben.adryl.

I'm chalking up Spring Break 2013 a success. And I can't wait to do it all again next year.

Master Mike...

Since the first day I met Mike, he has talked about his love/hate for the sport of swimming. He had been on a swim team for as long as he could remember with most of those years practicing twice a day (read: early mornings and late nights). Mike held many school and state records in high school which scored him a scholarship to a Division I university (where the two-a-day practices continued). He says by the time he graduated from college he never wanted to swim another lap in his life.

Throughout the last 10 years Mike has dabbled with the idea of swimming on a local Master's Swim Team. He had many friends and former rivals that swim in the Master's group but for some reason Mike never pulled the trigger. He took up running. Ran the Chicago Marathon in 2005. Retired from running when his back got bad. His surgeon suggested never to run again (the doctor claims running is the absolute worst sport for your back and Mike's training for just the one marathon could easily have done this to his disks). In fact, the doctor said the best form of exercise for Mike would be swimming. Huh. Wouldn't you know? He can do that pretty darn well.

Once the New Year hit Mike confessed that he had been researching the Master's program here in town; where and when practices were held, who else he knows that is doing it, and when future meets would be this year (including last year's qualifying times for Nationals). Oh, and by the way, Nationals would be held in Indy this year, so he thinks he can qualify and is going to attempt to do just that...because he had already signed up and paid his dues. He was ready to get back into the water.

Sometime in November/December Mike started clean eating in anticipation of his upcoming training schedule. He hit the intense practices in January and was serious with his training from the start. The girls and I would join him on Sundays while he swam his laps and we played. We'd snack and watch daddy swim gracefully through the water, back and forth. Flip turns. Intervals. Warm-ups and cool-downs. Watching him made me so proud of him. And also left my heart a little empty, as I'd envision him swimming in college and am sad I never got to see him compete in his prime. Breaking DI records. But I was watching him now, swimming pretty darn close to as fast as he was 20 years ago. And my pride would come washing over me again.

A few weeks ago was the Master's Regional event here in town where Mike swam in several relay events and several individual events (1,650 yard freestyle, 100 yard IM, 200 yard backstroke and the 500 yard freestyle). Mike's most notorious for his distance swimming and his best event was always the 1,650 yard free - A MILE!!! - (second to his 200 backstroke). Of course he swam the former on Saturday when I couldn't be there (I had a marathon relay with my girlfriends in Lafayette and the timing just didn't work out). And let me tell you something, Mikey smoked this heat. He won his age group and came in only second in the entire meet to a 20 year old Purdue (peeeeeyouuuu!) swimmer home on spring break. The bottom line, Mike qualified for Nationals and I'm pretty sure I've told everyone I know, I'm so proud!

Here are a few pictures from Sunday:

Mike says his times are slower than 20 years ago but from the sounds of it, just by a few seconds. Can't be by too much, as he is still able to hang with the younger guys. As I we were waiting for each heat I would ask his dad about swim meets when he was younger and I loved hearing how Bob could still recall his times on each events. Was so glad that the girls and I could watch him in his element. He did great in all events and is swimming a handful of them in May at the National Championship here in town.

Go Daddy Mike!!!!