Race for the Taste 10k

Yes, I did the Race for the Taste 10k! Want to be impressed? I did 17.2 miles in 2 days. Yes, I'm proud!

Let me back track ... Saturday Jenny and I did 11 miles with our Galloway training group, then she went to work and hubby and I went to April & Geoff's Celebration lunch. We had a great time, but had to leave early (before cake! Pout.), because Jenny and I needed to leave here by 3 and I wasn't even packed yet.

Santiago went to pick Alex up from my parents (he stayed the night with them) so that I could see him before I left. Alex was still running a fever, so I hated to leave him, but knew he would be fine with daddy.

Jenny and I headed for Orlando ... we were both exhausted, but really enjoyed the drive, chit chatting and catching up. With our busy lives, although we see each other 2-3 times a week to run, we don't get one on one time very much. We ate dinner at Carrabba's and headed for the hotel (love that place) ... once there, we both crashed in bed ... and decided that we would, at the very least, go to the race and walk it, if we got picked up (the have a 15 min pace limit), oh well ... at least we tried. That's what our game plan was when we went to bed at 7:30 pm.

We got up early and headed to the race ... once we got there, the loud, fast music woke us up, if the bright lights didn't. We quickly got in our groove ... we were excited about the race! As we were waiting for the start, we decided we would do our best ... my goal was not to be picked up. My training pace is around a 17 min mile ... 2 mins slower per mile than what the race requires, so I was pretty concerned about being picked up. Plus I'd already been picked up at one of Disney's races (not good!!).

Anyways ... we took off ... I could see Jenny until about mile 3, then I lost her. I ended up doing the 6.2 miles in 1:37:02, which is a 15:39 pace. WOW. I was very sore, but very proud. I cried. I was so overwhelmed. Jenny finished in 1:30:31, a 14:36 pace. She was there for me at the finish line, like she always is (what a great friend!). I'm tearing up just trying to type this. I'm not someone that has ever wanted to do a full marathon (26.2 miles) ... I'm happy with the half (13.1 miles) ... so I really never gave it much thought that I'd do more than 13.1 miles. And yes, it was over 2 days, but darnit, I did 17.2 miles, that's a lot for me. :)

Needless to say, we had a great time ... visited Downtown Disney afterwards and ate at Wolfgang Puck Express. I go there every time we're in the area for their mac & cheese. They've remodeled, which was nice .. but they changed the mac & cheese, it was still good, but not "OMG good" like it was before. (Picture is of Jenny showing off her medal while we were waiting on our lunch)

When I got home ... Alex had a fever of 103. :( It got up to 103.4, his cheeks were red and he was hot ... Santiago said he was cranky all night, didn't sleep well and had a fever since I left. I took him to Dr. Punger on Monday. Ya know, I'm not her typical patient, but I try! I'm not nursing (I did try), I don't make my own baby food, I don't co-sleep (we tried), I don't use cloth diapers, I don't EC ... I'm sure the list goes on. But I trust and like her, and she's tolerant of my, umm, not following her way to the "T". :) I do feed Alex organic baby food, and have tried to make better decisions for him ... and she and her intern help me along the way ... grin, I bought carrots for Alex to teethe on, and regular cheerios instead of the gerber puffs. And he eats Yo Baby Yogurt ... even though it's breaking out bank account! I tell ya, Alex eats way better than we do. But that's a whole 'nother post!

I'm thinking that the high fevers is just his way of teething. There is nothing else wrong with him. He's much happier today (Tuesday) .. and he has another tooth on the bottom ... so that's 4 on top and 3 on bottom now! :) And his fever is gone. But I had to make sure there was nothing else wrong, just in case.

(I took these pictures on Monday when we were home together ... it is so hard to get pictures of Alex these days, they turn out blurry cause he's always moving. Well, that and I can't find my "real" camera, so these were taken with my camera phone.)

Oh ... did I say that I brought my medal to Dr. P's office, daycare, work and my mom's school? :) Everyone gets to see it, even strangers! Yes ... I'm happy. :)

11 MILES!!!!

Oh. My. Goodness.

Wow.

I'm a giddy.

I did it. I really did it. I did 11 miles ... Go ME! I'm a little achy, but nothing major. I just emailed our group, here's the numbers from our run:

Total Distance: 11.00 miles
Total Time: 3:11:28
Overall Pace: 17:24 (Previous weeks: 17:16, 17:06, 17:06, 16:58)

Calories Burned: 2,156 (with my weight of 270)

The overall pace is a bit off though ... we don't stop our watches for water/bathroom breaks, so really we were going faster than that during our runs. I'm frustrated with my Garmin. Of course it's not the newest, I bought it in 2006 when Jenny & I started running. But since Jeff Galloway changed our running ratio to 30:30 (seconds) instead of a 1:1 (minute) ... there are only 99 "laps" you can program. Argh. So on the 9 mile run, we didn't get an accurate pace and such because the Garmin stopped after it got to 99 laps. So for this run we set it to 'alert' us every 30 seconds ... which doesn't keep track of your running/walking pace ... which annoys me terribly. I like to know that info! So I'm annoyed with my Garmin. Maybe the newer ones don't have this limit. Who knows.

Anyways ... I'm thrilled ... I'm drinking some gatorade right now and I just had a bagel (I'm sure my gastric bypass readers are cringing at the bagel part!) ... I'm gonna go chill for an hour then time to get ready for April & Geoff's celebration, then off to Orlando with Jenny.

Oh, and I checked on Alex ... he did fine last night, slept till 4:30 am or so ... he was outside playing with my mom when I called. My dad was giving me a play by play of what Alex was doing, it was cute, I could hear the smile on my dad's face as he was telling me. Alex is so lucky to have them so close by.

One last thing ... Go ME!!!!!! :)

It's early!

It's way early in the morning .. and I've already taken a shower, gotten dressed and eaten breakfast. I think I'm crazy.

And I miss Alex. The computer is in his room and it's odd being in here and him not crawling around. :(

I'm outta here .... YAY! :)

Friday Evening

I should be in bed by now ... but I'm excited, nervous, anxious ... all rolled into one. Tomorrow is our 11 mile run. I'm planning on waking up at 3:00am, leaving by 4:00am, to be at Fleet Feet by 5:00am to start our run. I'm guessing it'll take us around 3 hours. 3 hours. Can you picture it? I can. I'm looking forward to it. :)

Jenny watched Alex for a bit today, she said he wasn't his usual self, he had a slight fever. He is staying the night at my parents house ... he's not feeling well though, I think he's teething. He had a fever, 102.1, this afternoon but he's been really happy and playing, so I'm hoping it's nothing serious. My mom called, Alex is already asleep, yay! Santiago is working late tonight, so he won't be home till around midnight.

When I get home from the run, Santiago & I are going to April & Geoff's celebration lunch, they got married a few months ago and are now having a 'reception'. They're also doing the Galloway training, so they're doing 11 miles tomorrow too!

Then Saturday afternoon Jenny and I are leaving for Orlando, we're doing Disney's Race for the Taste 10k on Sunday. A 10k is 6.2 miles ... laugh ... yeah, it's going to be an interesting weekend.

I better get to bed ...

Pictures!

Yes, I know I've been missing ... sorry! I'm sure you're all dying to hear about my 9 mile run :) I'll try to do better about posting.

Here's some long awaited pictures ... you can click on any picture to see it larger. They're a bit out of order.

9/5/08 - Alex fresh out of bed on our new couch.

9/18/08 - Look, you can see my bottom teeth ... eating prunes and happy!

9/24/08 - Daddy and Alex walking towards the swings.

9/24/08 - Our first trip to the playground, Alex had a great time swinging. It's hard to do a 'self' family picture!

9/24/08 - Alex giving daddy kisses at the park.

9/2/08 - My lame attempt at being creative while taking pictures of Alex. He was playing with his toys and could care less that I was taking pictures. See his full lil belly? He just ate dinner. Such perfect little toes. :)

8/24/08 - Grandpa & Alex in the rocker our family friend, Mikey & his sister gave us, it's their family heirloom. We love it.

8/29/08 - Alex showing he's a big boy and can hold on to the side by himself - or so he thought! He loves being in the water and splashing about.

9/3/08 - Jenny bought this backpack at our local Goodwill, what a find! Alex was comfy in it, she can't wait to take him on a hike! He loves the outdoors too, so she can teach him all about it.

8/30/08 - Such a happy lil boy, look at my first tooth!

9/17/08 - Yes, he's normal, he cries. And throws fits now, too. But he's usually smiling like in most of the pictures!

Will try to update soon ... 11 miles on Saturday! Go ME! Then 6.2 on Sunday. Yes, I'm crazy.

9 miles

Oh my.

Yes, I did 9 miles this morning. I've been up since 4am ... and I'm still on the go ... rush rush rush.

Watch your odometer next time you're in the car, it's far! I'm still a bit sick, so I had a hard time (breathing), and my body feels a little sore, just your typical "I did 9 miles" sore, nothing special. I did have to take a little break to catch my breath but otherwise, I did it. YAY!!!

I'm off to the La Leche meeting with Alex ... rush rush rush. Will try to write more later. :)

A step in the right direction

Alex and I went walking this morning with Jenny. The last time I was out doing any kind of exercise was 2 weeks ago. The week Alex was sick I went running with our group and did our usual 3 miles. Today we took Alex with us because I knew we were walking, not running. I'm still not feeling great. Still coughing and my voice sounds yucky. But we did 2.81 miles, so I'm not complaining! :) I don't feel the usual high right now, but that's ok.

I missed meeting Jeff Galloway on Saturday, that really bummed me out. Jenny said they had a great run and missed me. I miss my running, and my group. :( Wahhh. Yes, I'm whining.

Daycare called me yesterday, Alex wasn't feeling well. His ears are red, he had a low fever and he had the runs. :( Poor lil guy. Our Dr called in a new antibiotic for him. I'm hoping it knocks whatever he has out. He was a cranky lil boy last night too ... I think he has more teeth coming in, which I'm sure doesn't feel great.

Alex showed us he has learned something new ... he can go from laying down in his crib to standing up. We're in trouble now! Before, you had to sit him down and he figured out how to stand, now he's standing from any position. So in the middle of the night, he decided he wanted to stand ... and cry and scream. I slept through it, but Santiago said Alex was not happy and would only calm down with a bottle ... not a good habit, but I was sleeping, so who am I to say? Alex woke up at 4:45 this morning kinda cranky but then played for a bit ... he's at daycare now with little sleep. I hope his day goes better, he was happy when I dropped him off.

I'm jumping in the shower and heading to work .... yippeeeeeeeeee! (Faked enthusiasm) I need another day home. I just don't feel right.

Texas Hold'em Poker Tournament

I'm late in posting this ... but considering the cooties in my house over the last two weeks, I'm sure you guys understand.

The daycare Alex goes to, Sign with Me Child Development, is having a fund raiser.

Next Saturday, Sept 20th from 7 - 11 pm is a Texas Hold'em Poker Tournament. The grand prize is an all inclusive trip to Las Vegas to play in a poker tournament. Free Beer & Wine, Soda and appetizers. It will be held at the daycare, which is off Midway Road in Fort Pierce. Donation is $50.00 per person.

Santiago and I went in March with my brother, Robby. We had a fun time!!! We are not experienced poker tournament players, so we went more to support our daycare than to win. They taught the newbies how to play, which I greatly apprecaited. They gave away gift certificates (dinner, movies, etc.) in between rounds. There was a 50/50, I think the winner won over $500!

For the "real" poker players ... your donation covers a certain amount of chips. There is ONE chance during the night to buy a set amount of chips (I'm sure there is a name for this, but I don't remember what it's called).

If you're interested, please email me at Munch75@aol.com. Thanks!

Me - ugh.

It's my turn. I'm sick. I hate being sick. Alex was sick all last week and is still sounding croupy. His fever broke on Saturday and he's back to sleeping through the night and playing/eating like the happy lil boy he is.

On Sunday I started having a sore throat. I cleaned everything down with Clorox wipes. You know, the door handles, light switches, remotes, cell phone, etc etc. I went to work on Monday, but left early, had a fever. I worked a full day Tuesday. After all, I only worked 1 full day last week, so I felt like I needed to be there.

By Wednesday morning, my throat was really killing me, I had a fever, sneezing, coughing, my ears hurt, just not feeling good. I went to see Dr. P, got some meds, and went home to rest.

This morning it hit me ... I'm very blessed. Yes, I'm sick. But, really, I'm blessed. Yesterday and today my dad took Alex to daycare for me. Santiago is taking care of Alex and me. My mom is picking Alex up from daycare today. Mom, dad, Robby, Jenny have all called to check on me, it's sweet. It feels good.

We're trying our best not to re-infect Alex. Poor kid is still coughing and sneezing, I don't want him getting it again. I need to break the cycle of cooties at my house.

When I got home from the drs yesterday, I took my meds, then I read the warnings on the bottle ... "May cause drowsiness" oops. I put on the radio (country) and sped around the house. Washed my hands a zillion times. Loaded & started the dishwasher. Threw the couch blankets in the wash. Boiled Alex's nipples (wouldn't have to do that if I nursed! argh) Wiped down everything with clorox wipes. Threw out my toothbrush. Emptied garbage. Finally I collapased on the couch and quickly fell asleep.

Who knows if I've killed the cooties. I know I'm trying. I'm praying Santiago nor Alex get them.

Jenny called me yesterday, she said I need to not worry about our 8.5 mile run on Saturday, she'll take care of our group. And she's right. But I was stressed over it. Jeff Galloway is going to be there, and I really wanted to meet him again. He's a nice guy with tons of knowledge and he's running with you, you get a chance to talk to him one-on-one. I really want to be there, but in my condition, there's just no way. The last time I ran was last Tuesday, we did 3 miles.

It's time for some more meds ... which means another nap. Maybe it'll be uninterrupted. I highly doubt it. Work has called a few times already ...

High Fever

Ugh. Alex had a decent day ... fevers stayed low, he was in a good mood, played almost all day ... didn't want his bottle, but drank pedalyte and ate food just fine.

He didn't sleep well, but he finally took a decent nap this evening on me ... but woke up with a 104.1 fever. Maybe it's higher because he slept on me (my body heat?), I don't know!

I think this is the highest it's ever been. I remember when I took him to the ER when he was 4 months old, it was 103.8.

He just had a short bottle of pedalyte and daddy is feeding him dinner right now ... he's eating it ... that's a good sign. I hope the fever comes down quick ...

If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open to them! We've done the cool shower, cool cloth, cool drinks, little to no clothes .... the a/c is down to 73 and now back to alternating the tylenol and motrin. Poor little guy.

Cooties, Cooties

go away!

Yes, that means Alex is sick. :( Monday afternoon he started coughing and had a fever. Santiago stayed home with him yesterday. I thought things were going good, until he called around 3:45 telling me his fever was up to 103.3. I freeked. I emailed Alex's (and my) doctor, Dr. Punger, and she said we could come in. I left work and met Santiago at the doctors office. When I got there, Alex was just in a diaper, buring up and just not happy. Danielle was also there with her daughter, Natalie, we got to chit chat a bit, that was a nice bonus.

Alex got a shot of antibiotics and some drops in his ear for an ear infection. By the time we were leaving, my parents were in the waiting room concerned about Alex. We all headed home ... Alex fell asleep on the way home and slept some when we got home, but only if he was being held.

It was not a good night. His fever kept spiking ... it got up to 103.6. We were alternating tylenol and motrin every 4 hours. Sometimes being a first time mommy is for the birds. I hate not knowing what to do. I get online, look for ideas ... try them ... and I want them to work immediately, and I know that's not how it works. But it was just killing me to see and hear Alex so unhappy. He's generally a happy baby, and all he would do was whine and cry, even while being held. I sent so many emails to my dr, I'm sure she thinks I'm nuts. :)

We finally got him calmed down enough and decided to put him in bed with us. I asked Santiago if he was comfy, he said his comfort wasn't important, Alex's was (can you say "awwww"). Last night wasn't fun, but his fever broke around 3-4am ... we were thrilled!!!

Santago went to work, I'm home with Alex ... at 7am he had a slight fever, 100.4. He only drank half of his morning bottle, so I'll be watching him. He's much happier right now than he has been, so I'll take it. He's trying so hard to crawl like a big boy on all fours ... and he's banging stuff around, so that's all good.


Update 11 am - Temp is 98.8 ... quietly saying "yay!" ... he's cranky though, so we'll see ... hopefully the fever stays away. He's still coughing and crying when he coughs. On the bonus side ... I'm rocking him to sleep, which I enjoy ... and playing on the floor with him.

"Da Da" and 7 miles!

I'm a little late on posting this ... Thursday Alex said "Da Da" for the first time ... We are both so excited to hear him starting to "talk"! He still has the two teeth, the bottom one is coming in very sideways ... guess it'll straighten out as he grows. He's still not thrilled with textured foods. He just started eating organic yogurt, he loves it.

On to running ... I did 7 miles today ... I can't believe it! I'm feeling great, not sore, not tired (yet) ... here's the stats from today's run:

Total Distance: 7.05 miles
Total Time: 2:00:36
Overall Pace: 17:06 (Previous weeks: 17:16, 17:06)

Run Time: 1:00:36
Run Distance: 4.01 miles
Average Pace while running: 15:07 (Previous weeks: 15:19, 15:21)

Rest time: 1:00:00
Rest Distance: 0.04 miles

Calories Burned: 715 (with my weight of 270)

Again ... thrilled with how consistant we are being! Running with a group sure does make the time go by faster! I love it.

The FEMA rep just called ... so gotta get the place straightened up for his visit. Then we're headed to my parents tonight for dinner, I'm making lasagna, Robby & Rita are bringing garlic bread and mom is making salad ... a nice family dinner. I miss spending time with my family ... it'll be nice to catch up and if we're lucky, play some cards!

On top of that, I think my parents are keeping Alex overnight! It'll be the 3rd time since he was born ... we're excited to sleep in and they're excited to spend time with him! A win-win situation! :) A friend of mine, Ms. Carol, use to keep her grandkids overnight every Saturday night so she could spend time with them ... I always thought that was a great idea. She use to talk about cooking with them, going to the park, reading books ... just spending time together. I've always had a special place in my heart for my grandparents, but that's a whole nother post!

New tooth times two!

Saturday after my run, I noticed Alex's first tooth had finally broken through the skin ... his bottom middle one. Hubby and I both tried to take pics, and this is the best we could do. I know, I know, you can't really see it, but I promise, it's there and it's poking out!



Saturday was a filled day ... Alex and I went to La Leche League, then we all went to Babies R Us (their a/c was broken, ugh, hot.) and Walmart ... finally we got home and I crashed early, I was exhausted from my run.

Sunday daddy went to work, Alex and I stayed home. My parents came over and mom and I went through the boxes and bags of Alex's clothes. Some I'm sending to my brother in Texas for their upcoming baby girl, Myka Renea, who is expected in December. Some I'm sending to Boomerang Consignment, some I'm saving for our "future" baby (hopefully coming in the next year or two), some going to my sister-in-law in Texas who is due in November ... so yes, there was lots of clothes and lots of piles all over my bed. My best friend, Jenny, came over and helped too ... I was glad to finally get through them, it took us a good 2-3 hours! Way longer than I thought.

When Santiago got home from work, we ordered pizza, Mom and Dad stayed and hung out ... after they left I got to looking in Alex's mouth, stuck my finger in and I felt it ... a second tooth! The tooth next to this top middle tooth has broken through ... no wonder he's been so danged cranky!! Poor little guy was working on two teeth! He's been grabbing at his ear since Saturday, I'm thinking he may have an ear infection, he's never had one before. Santiago agreed to take him to the Dr when he gets off work ... his first time. I'm sure they'll do just fine.

6 miles!

WOW, I did it! :) We had a good run this morning, although it was pretty hot and humid. Since I'm a pace group leader, I email my group the results of our run today ... this is part of my email:

Total Distance: 6.08 miles
Total Time: 1:45:02
Overall Pace: 17:16 (last week was 17:06, so right on target!)

Run Time: 53:00
Run Distance: 3.46 miles
Average Pace while running: 15:19 (last week 15:21 - talk about being consistant!)

Rest time: 52:02
Rest Distance: 2.62 miles

Calories Burned: 653 (with my weight of 270)

I'm happy with how consistant we are being with our pace. I think that is so very important. I'm happy I did 6 miles, without pain. Especially since I didn't run this week, I was a bit scared.

I added a new spot on my sidebar where I listed all of the races I have done ... that really made me feel good doing that. It shows me how far I've come and that although I don't look like a runner, I am. And it feels great. I love the line of "Runner Girl" stuff ... stickers, mouse pads, magnets ... I love it. I love running. I'm so happy that I've made it part of my life. I've met some awesome people along the way too. :)

Ok, Alex is taking a nap, I need to take a quick shower and head to the LLL meeting then ... who knows! :) Hubby is off today, so we'll spend it together ... probably at Wally World, we need groceries.

Storm aftermath

Tropical Storm Fay hit this area on Tuesday as you can see from my earlier posts.

When I was getting ready to head to the office on Wednesday, I made our bed. Santiago puts his "decorative" pillow on the floor while he sleeps .. I picked it up and it was soaked! But we didn't know of any leaks, we didn't see any water coming in at all. We soaked up the water with towels, he pulled up the carpet and pad and put fans on it. I went to work, he stayed home with Alex half a day then brought him to my parents house for a few hours. That night we slept with the fans on and our bed pulled out and left it that way the next day (Thursday). We both went to work on Thursday and took Alex to daycare, a regular day.

I walk in the door Thursday night and I smell something is off, way off. By this time, Santiago has put our room back together, everything is dry. Santiago has a cold, so he really didn't smell anything too bad. I did. I went to Alex's room and knew the smell was in there ... got on my hands and knees and felt around the carpet and smelled it ... all over his room I did that. I get to our computer desk and it's stronger ... but I can't find where it's coming from. Santiago gets down on the floor ... and finds it.

Under our chairmat is a huge wet spot ... which is now mildewed and stinking BAD. It's around 9 pm by now and Alex is usually asleep, but there was no way I was putting him in this stinky room. Santiago cut out the affected carpet and pad area. I went to my parents house to pickup Alex's playpen, came home Alex was already asleep in our bed ... transferred him to the playpen in our room and we went to sleep.

We woke up to a stinky house. Our place is a small 2/2 condo, maybe 900 sq feet, so it's not like we have lots of place to move stuff around. We both called in to work, my parents took Alex to daycare then helped us move everything out of his room and rip up the carpet.

Apparently it got wet from a hole in the frame of the window, we can't see anything else. The corner of the carpet was still wet, the baseboards are damp, but drying out. It just killed me to have to rip it all out. The carpet was pretty new, berber carpet with blue and green in it ... we installed it and painted it blue before I got pregnant, it worked out great for Alex's room.

We worked all day, got the room emptied, carpet/pad gone, swept, lowered Alex's crib (necessary since he's standing up in it now) .... put everything back and "cleaned" the floor. Ugh. Not the best day.

We're going to keep Alex in our room for the next few days to see how his room airs out. It's still somewhat stinky in here, but not nearly as bad as it was. I don't want him in here if there's still issues though.

The storm just screwed with our week ... My office was closed Tuesday, Santiago didn't work Tuesday or Wednesday ... plus I have a 6 mile run tomorrow and I wasn't able to get any of my two runs in this week, so I'm probably going to struggle. Whine.

On the bright side, Alex is happy at the moment. :)

Ok .. gotta get to bed .... wish me luck on my run ... hoping I make it to the La Leche League meeting tomorrow!

Alex is getting busy!

This video is from Sunday of Alex 'crawling'. This is the closest he is coming to crawling at the moment. He'd much rather be in his walker running through the house. It's so funny, he runs then lifts his feet up and rolls the rest of the way.

Today I put Alex in his crib to play, which is rare, because we're usually in the living room or our bedroom playing. But I needed to get online for a few minutes and daddy was sleeping. So I put him in his crib, sitting up, with some toys ... a few minutes later I heard the crib moving, I turned around, and to my utter surprise, Alex was standing up just smiling at me! I was like, OMG. My first thought was, ok, time to lower his mattress since it's still on the highest position. I put him back down in a sitting position and watched him ... pretty easily he pulled on the bumper, then on the rail and pulled himself up. I was amazed. I grabbed the camera and he did it a few more times ... and yes, I woke daddy up to watch too!

Ok, enough posts for today ... glad I got them up though. We have a lot of family that isn't local that is enjoying the pictures and hopefully now videos of Alex.

Rain Pics

I wasn't as productive as I thought I'd be today ... sigh.

Here's some pics of how Tropical Storm Fay affected our neighborhood.

The community pool, right outside of our front door ... it hasn't overflowed during this storm, which is surprising.





Parking lot outside of our building ... everyone else moved their vehicles to higher ground.


Our pond ... it's usually way lower than the fence.



Our roads drain to the pond ... which is why they're flooded. Santiago's car is safe!



Santiago & Alex during the storm ... Alex was happy to be out of the house for a few minutes.

Rain Rain Rain

Tropical Storm Fay is in the process of drenching our area with lots and lots of rain. I won't complain. :) We're all home together, which with Santiago's schedule, isn't the most common occurance in our home.

Area schools closed, which means Alex's daycare closed. I'm very grateful that our office closed as well. The county is still open, which means Santiago was expected in to work, but he used a vacation day to stay home. I feel more comfy having him home with us, plus all over the news they are saying to stay inside, don't drive. I understand some people feel like this is just a thunderstorm, but you never know what could happen, and I'd rather be safe than sorry.

I just made blueberry muffins, don't cheer me yet, they're Jiffy, but hubby is still thrilled, and now the house smells yummy. I've been working on cleaning off our computer desk, it's a mess. I'm backing up our hard drive, I try to do it once a month. We have so many pictures, I would hate to lose them. I also need to update the pics on my thumb drive we keep in our safetly deposit box. And I'm going to try to upload a video of Alex today ... see, lots to do on my "day off" and I'm sure there's much more to do, there always is!

Daddy is feeding Alex his bottle ... so let me working on my projects!

Little sleep

I'm guessing Alex is teething ... the last 3 nights he hasn't slept well and has had a fever. Sunday it was 102.3, last night it was 101.6 ... but tylenol took care of it and it stopped. He's been so cranky and whiny. He's not usually like that, he's a really good baby, doesn't fuss much at all. So this is a real change for us. I hate seeing him in pain.

I think Santiago and I got maybe 4 hours of sleep last night, and that's not solid, it's 30 mins here, 45 mins there ... ugh. Finally, after searching online last night for ideas to try, he liked the paci with frozen water in it. That seemed to help his pain and let him sleep. He wanted nothing to do with the teething ring, cold or frozen washcloth though.

I remember my eyes last shutting at 4:17am, knowing my alarm was going off at 5:00am because today is Tuesday ... running day. I hit the alarm a few times and finally got up, racing around to leave the house. I brought Alex to my parents (they're keeping him all week since daycare is closed), he was still in his jammies, but suprisingly happy and alert.

I met Jenny and Christina at our usual spot ... Jenny said we needed to do atleast 3 miles, the route we were taking was 2.66 miles. So I said ok ... we'll just run to Macedo instead of Manville. Well. I messed up. We ended up doing 3.99 miles. Christina wasn't dressed for that distance, and Jenny nor I really had the extra time, but what can you do? You're already out there, you can't magically stop and leave. It showed we burned 449 calories. Yeah. I was dripping so much sweat, ick ... glad I bought the covers for the van seats.

My mom is taking Alex to a playgroup for infants at the Tot Room in the PSL Community Center today. I'm sure he'll love it. I took him there for an "Itty-Bitty Signers" playgroup last month and I think he liked it. They have mats on the floor and soft foam pieces for him to stand up on. Sometimes I really wish I was a SAHM, so I could take him to these activites. I'm glad my mom is able (and wanting) to. Time to get ready for work ...

Magic Mile

Yesterday was our group running day ... part of getting everyone into the correct pace group is doing a "Magic Mile" or "MM". We go our with our usual group and then do a one mile run as fast as you can. It's a timed event, everyone starts at the same time and runs one mile. There are people at the 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 mile marks to call out your time so you can gauge how you are doing.


I started off doing great ... as most runners do ... especially because everyone else around you is speeding by, well, that's my life anyways! I know I'm a slow runner, this is nothing new to me. You'd think by now, I would accept it and move on. And I'm trying to. But it's not working this time as well as it did last time I was training. When I was training in 06, I was running 3 times a week and going to my trainer twice a week ... yes, this makes a difference. It does! When I was training in 07, I was a few months pregnant, so noone really expected me to be fast, and I wasn't. But now, here I am ... post-baby, still carrying my pregnancy weight .. and trying to run.


My Magic Mile time was 14:54. I was the last person to finish. The LAST.

I'm down, feeling disappointed in myself ... and I remember I did a spreadsheet in 2006 charting my runs ... I wonder if I can find it? I start looking through my computer, there's lots of files ... and I find it ... "walksNruns" ... I want to know, but I'm scared to be disappointed in myself more than I already am.

Ya know what it says?!?! :)


My very first 5k (3.1 miles) ever, on January 7, 2006 in Disney ... I finished in 60:00. ONE HOUR! That's 19:35 per mile. I scan down, how good did I get on my chart ... my fastest time I have listed (Sadly, I only kept track for a few months) is the Disney 5k Women Go Red event in May 2006, where I did 15:36 per mile.


I need to shut up and feel good at my starting point. And I will.


Since I'm going down memory lane about my running ... here's some of my race pictures I was able to find ...




Our first 5k .. Disney, Jan 2006. It was COLD. L-R: Me, Mom, Jenny, Belle




May 2006 - Disney 5k Women's Go Red. Me, Mom and Jenny



Memorial Day, May 2006 - Run for the Pineapple 5k. Me, Mom, Logan and Robby. Logan won an award for his age division!


December 2006 - Palm Beach Half Marathon. Before the race, Jenny, me, Gina, and Bucky. Me finishing my first ever half marathon, 13.1 miles!!! What a great feeling!

January 2007 - Disney Half Marathon. Robby & I at mile 4. Jenny & mom at mile 8 . Jenny & I after the race, aren't we cute, we match.

December 2007 - Palm Beach Half Marathon. I promised Jenny I would be there, no matter what, and I was, although I didn't do the race. Bucky and I cheered Jenny on along with her hubby Randy. Alex was born exactly 2 weeks later. :)



Wow ... that made me feel really good ... looking at all of those happy pictures. I've had lots of fun doing the local 5k races. Even if I am almost always in the last 10 to finish. My best friend, Jenny, has done almost all of them with me, I think she was sick for the Pineapple one, otherwise, we're together at the start. Bucky did Palm Beach with me and will again this year. My brother ran the Disney Half Marathon with me, but doesn't have the time to train for another one right now. My mom has come to cheer us on a few times ... she loves it and she gets so many thanks from random runners after the event, it makes her day. I'm sure she helped make theirs too.

Having family and friends supporting and encouraging me really means the world! Thanks!