Marathon recap: The Pre-Race Photos Segment

This girl was born ready to rock and/or roll

On the downward slope, but still pumped and ready

Crazy excited

Before the race, I had everyone give their most excited looks to the camera. Jamie tried to jump up for hers but she was too fast for the camera so hers is more of a coming down picture.

Aw...who has a widdle bitty baby in there?

Connie decided to wear a fanny pack to store her food and other supplies in. This was a good idea until she realized that the fanny pack made her look pregnant. We were talking to a woman before the race who actually thought Connie was pregnant based on her profile. I almost busted a gut trying not to laugh. Seriously, it was so funny that I crack up thinking about it now.

As always, we took a pre-walk photo.

The line to go to the bathroom before the race was a mile long.

No, seriously, it was like a mile long. Check it out. We were in that heinous line when we realized that the race had started.

Good thing we were to start at the back anyway. If you look suuuuuuuper far off in the distance, you can see the start line. This is why it took us 7 minutes to get to the start line.

It was soooooo freezing cold! Columbus had its first frost advisory and we were stuck out in the middle of it! A lot of people wore tons of extra clothes. They then either stripped them off right as it started and then tossed them to their loved ones OR tossed them off onto the street as they got too hot. There were tons of scarves, gloves, hats, sweatshirts, EVERYTHING along the side of the road as we went along. I'm sorry to say I didn't get a good picture of this. A lot of people wore things they considered to be "disposable." You know, an old sweatshirt that you don't care for anymore or mittens that have a hole or two in them. Volunteers for the marathon then go and collect all these things in a "lost and found" truck at the end of the race. The uncollected items are then donated to a local Goodwill.

While the cat's away, the mice will play

Aron went out of town a couple weeks ago and lookee who decided to come inside for a little while...

Is this one tough SOB or what?

MyMy shows his scarier side.

Halloween teaser

I'm burned out on blogging for today. The next time I return I will post about Trick or Treat night.

With turning 3, comes big responsibilities...

Oooooo, yeah I'm excited bout pre-school!
I think the backpack is bigger than him!

Yes, fine, I'll help him. Quit bugging me about it.

Turning 3 means you get to start going to pre-school! Luke was back and forth about how he felt about going to pre-school but was mostly positive. Last Tuesday was his first day. We got there a little bit early knowing that the situation would be new to him and he would have to get used to everything. He cried a little while after we dropped him off (insert breaking heart here). His teacher said that it was like he just turned off the crying switch and turned on the having fun switch. He made a craft (think a cardinal), listened to some books, and had fun in general.

Grammie went and picked them up after school and said she felt both children needed soothing with some McDonald's (sucker!).

He went again on Friday. Again, we tried to get there a little bit early to help with making him feel better. On Fridays, the kids will be staying after pre-school for a couple hours until Aron and I are done with work. The extra couple hours mostly consists of lunch (think a PB & J sans J, a pudding cup, a juice box, and a fruit leather), a little bit of play time, and a nap. I made each kid a special pre-school nap pillow to make them feel special--Ella's is pink (surprise!) with little baby animals on it and Luke's is green with frogs on it. We got there at nap time so we had to try and find the napping room. The room was actually hard to find and we got lost several times but eventually we made it. The nap monitor said that Luke did pretty well. There was just a tiny bit of crying when we left. He flat out refused to eat his lunch, fell asleep at the lunch table, and had a little accident. Well, it wasn't really an "accident" so much as he tried to go peeps at the big boy urinal (the teacher tried to convince him to use the shorter potty but he declined her offer) but had trouble getting winkie up high enough. As a result, there was dribbling down his jeans. The nap monitor said he's a very sweet little guy but very independent. Do you think it's because his favorite thing to say is "Me do it!!"

He's only been there 2 days and they've already got him pegged.

Tunnel of love

If we hurry up and smile, we get to eat the cake.
There was probably some spit involved with candle blow out. Yummers.

Who doesn't love getting a tunnel for your birthday?

It wasn't a pick...it was a scratch.

Looks like a tunnel nap is in order

Is this thing really Poppy-sized?

How many people does it take to set up a tunnel...

We got Luke a large tunnel for his birthday. The kids had a blast crawling in and out of it for hours.

I'm so excited

Chase was so excited he fell asleep.

Aunt Robbie picked out this killer Monster Truck--Have you seen it? Have you seen it? Is she taken?

Will work for food

What's gonna work?

Teamwork! (exhibit A)
Teamwork! (exhibit B)

Aron always makes the kids rake leaves while we're having birthday parties. I know it's strange but the kids totally love it. They even ask to do it every year (I think Myles is usually the first one to ask).

Super cute.

Kids table

Here's a shot of the kids' table at Luke's birthday party. Let the crazy hijinx commence.

My favorite doctor in the whole wide world

Who's the best little patient?
Who would've rather stayed asleep in the car?

Recently, I took Ella for an exam at my favorite doctor in the whole wide world. For purposes of this blog, we'll call him Dr. S (remember I try to keep things anonymous just in case there are any crazy people out there). He's been my eye doctor for a bazillion years (probably since I was 15 or so). Aron and I wanted to get her eyes check out, not because she was having a problem, but just because my eyes went bad fairly young and we want to keep on top of this.

Her eyes were fine. Dr. S said that she's a little bit far-sighted as all children are supposed to be at this age. She is to go back in a year for a recheck. As a reward for being so good during the exam, Dr. S made both kids a balloon sword (hey, wait a minute. In all the years I went to him, I never ever got any balloon animals! I think I got robbed!). I think he may have regretted it once they started whacking the daylights out of one another in the lobby while I was paying. They stopped hitting each other once they realized they could rub their fingers on the balloon and make an awful screeching sound. Dr. S said that in the 23 years he's been making baloon animals for kids he's never had children do that before.


Way to be the first, kids.


Once we got outside and were walking to our car, the kids started beating on each other again with the swords. It was all fun and games until Luke tripped and fell on his sword in the parking lot. Darn.


Buh-bye balloon sword.

Are we not the winning team? Yes, we are the winning team!

Walking for nearly 7 hours does a little something funny to your head...

Clearly, Jamie and I have joined a rock band at this point because she appears to be singing into a microphone and I am waving my rock star gang sign around.

I look like I just had the Publisher's Clearinghouse Van pull up to my house.

I know that the clock says 7 hours and 4 minutes. However, there were so many people in the race that it took us 7+ minutes to get to the actual starting line (crazy, huh?). There were 11,000 people in the race.

I think we had the most fans!

Don't knock me over there, little guy. Mommy just walked for-ev-er!
See that lady in the white t-shirt and grey shorts in the background? Yeah, Jamie and I totally passed her while she was chucking in the street at mile 25. Score one for us!

Here are Aunt Robbie, Chase, Uncle Jeffy, and MyMy.

"Where are they? Where are they?"--My Mom and Ella

Clap-tacular!
Aron missed getting a photo of our other fans: Connie, Ray, Jack, and Sam, Jamie's family (I wasn't going to say anything but J's husband, Steve, totally cheered and raised his arms for me (and only me) around mile 24 1/2. I think he secretly wanted me to win. That's just one more reason why I *love* Steve!), and Aunt Annie and Uncle Kevin.

Best Damn Fans In The Land!

The kids did a great job cheering me along. Here's a little snippet of their practice session. I love it when Ella starts hitting herself in the face at the end. Doesn't seem to hurt her...should I be scared about that??

Looks like we made it!

I made it in 6 hours and 57 minutes. Jamie and I discussed and there will be no "let's try and better our time for next year." We are satisfied with the results and feel no need to improve them. Pix to follow this week. Right now I need to fall on the couch and sleep!

Let's see how far we've come...let's see how far we've gone

http://www.mtectracking.com:8080/Mtrack/Mtrack?raceid=3

If you would like to track my progress during the race, click on the above link. It will take you to the MapTracker that gives updates on where I am in the course while I'm racing (racing is a loose term). Put in my bib number and see how I'm doing. The race starts at 7:30 and we're estimating (hoping) that we'll be done around 2.

Click on in and check me out!

Your common marathon questions answered

1. How long have you been training? 6 months
2. How do you know how far to walk? We have a handy, dandy training guide from some random website I found. How could we possibly be steered in the wrong direction from something online??
3. What's the farthest you've walked? Between 20 and 21 miles. Multiple sources have told us that a majority of training guides tell you not to train more than this.
4. Seriously, you've only gone that far? How will you get to 26.2? Determination, adrenaline, and not wanting to lose face after telling every single one of my friends, family, and random strangers that I'm doing a marathon.
5. Do you think you'll make it? Yes.
6. Why are you doing this? For fun. Yes, that's what it's called in my world..."fun."
7. Do you get out much? Apparently not.
8. Your t-shirts are great. Where did you get them? Well, we got them locally and they were a steal at $13 plus tax. If you ever want to make t-shirts for some hair-brained scheme that you got yourself into, let me know and I'll give you the company's name.
9. Do you think you'll make it under 7 1/2 hours (which is when they take down the finish line)? We're committed to focusing during the race and finishing in under 7 1/2 hours.
10. Do you eat anything during the race? Yes. We try to for a combination of complex carbohydrates, protein, and electrolyte drink (this is known by non-elite athletes such as ourselves as "a peanut butter sandwich on multi-grain bread and Gatorade."). In addition to that, there's usually some sort of banana or protein bar that goes along with it.
11. Will you cry at the end? No.
12. Will Connie cry at the end? Very likely
13. Will Jamie? I'd say a moderate likelihood. She may fall to peer pressure from Con.

They say it's your Luke-Day!

Aunt Robbie and Luke (with little Ella)
Daddy and Luke
Look at how little his bum is--it fits in Aron's hand with room to spare!

Mommy and Luke
Poppy and Luke
Lindy and Luke

That's right! This is little guy is 3 years old today.

He is due to start pre-school next week. He wasn't allowed to go until after he turned 3. If you ask him, he'll tell you he's ready, willing, and able to go to pre-school like a big boy. If you ask me, I'd probably tell you that there may be some separation issues. He's had a bit of a hard time transitioning to not having Ella around all the time. Don't get me wrong--he definitely enjoys his one-on-one time with Grammie, Lindy, and me but he misses his Ella.

He's been gearing up for pre-school. He has his Lightning McQueen lunchbox, Lightning McQueen back pack, and everything else needed to start. He knows his ABCs, counts to 15, and can shake his booty like it's his job. What else is there to know?

Not. Ready. For. This. Period.

My Mom and Luke went to pick Ella up from pre-K the other day. My Mom's version of events goes a little something like this.

"So Luke and I went to pick Ella up. Some little boy came up to Luke within 10 seconds of our standing there and punched him in the face. He didn't cry or anything but just turned to look at me like he didn't understand what had just happened."

My poor baby! The boy that hit him was a little younger than him but probably is double his weight. I've seen him around story hour a couple times and he definitely has what I'll politely term "boundary issues" that his Mom doesn't do much about. I'll have to teach Luke the 2 F's of bullies: Be Fast and Be Funny. I can't tell him to hit back for 2 reasons: #1 It feels wrong to advocate violence #2 Luke's skinny--who's he going to hurt?? Please.

We were able to turn it into a lesson for Luke, though. I laid down with him that night at bedtime and we talked about how it feels when you get hit, how it's not nice, and not the right thing to do. Luke has been known to hit in the past when he doesn't get his way.

Pre-K update

Ella's been having a great time at Pre-K. I feel very out of the loop with the whole process, though, because I only go there one time a week. On Tuesdays, Aron drops her off on his way to work (I'm already at work at that time) and then my Mom picks her up. On Fridays, Aron and I both drop her off on our way to work and my Mom picks her up. I don't feel like I've made a connection with where I take her yet. I'm hoping this will change once Luke starts going to pre-school there, too, and Aron and I will start picking them up on Fridays.

Everytime she goes, I quiz her on what she did that day. She usually hangs out with Elizabeth and Maci who I understand are her new BFFs. One of the first times she went to pre-K, she came home and said "Mommy, Mommy, I have a best friend! Her name is Elizabeth but sometimes people call her Beth and she asked me if I would be her best friend and I said YES!" She said that when they go to the bathroom Elizabeth gets her paper towels to dry her hands(truly they are meant to be together forever, right?). Ella says that Maci is kind of quiet but she likes her anyway.

She really likes her teacher, Mrs. Lori (I'm still working on getting a picture of her but as previously mentioned, I'm not there much). Ella even made her a craft and took it to school for her. So sweet.

They've done all kinds of crazy fun things at pre-K this year. They got to ride a school bus (they even let little brothers come along, too, if you know who I'm talking about). We're responsible for a snack every few months so we've taken pretzel rings, grapes, and Trader Joe's nutri-grain bars. This Friday is fun little occasion called "Daddys and doughnuts." The kids get to invite their Dads to come for a couple hours to eat doughnuts, sing songs, and get crafty. Have a good time, Aron!

Come one, come all

Come and watch these elite athletes in action this Sunday, October 19 starting at 7:30 AM in the Columbus Marathon. We're hoping to finish by 2:30 or so. I understand that they take down the finish line at 3:00 so as long as I am physically able I will be at that line by then. Stay tuned for the results on my sister blog http://www.thatsrightamarathon.blogspot.com/

On the mend: Aron style

There's a tiny little Luke between the columns of the Harding Memorial if you look closely.
Back in the saddle again: He ate 4 pieces
Follow in my footsteps, little guy
No more yuckies for this guy (well, unless you count the Browns record this year--yikes!)
Aron is finally on the mend. He's starting to get his energy back and feel good most of the day. He still has little periods, mostly in the afternoon, where he feels pretty drained and yuck but they are becoming less and less frequent and less and less intense in nature. I can speak for the kids and myself when I say that we're so glad to have him back.


Over the weekend, Luke and Aron went to the Harding Memorial while Ella and I went shopping. Aron's wanted to go for-ev-er but I have been resistent because it doesn't really interest me. After they went to the Memorial, we grabbed a pizza and went to a new park which was very nice.

Sorry that this is sideways--clearly I wasn't thinking when I took the video. Whoopsies!