Tough Mudder 2

Some of you might remember I did Tough Mudder in Vermont a long, long time ago and swore I would never do one again.  I'm here to tell you that I lied.  I did it again...sans the mountain and, dare I say, it was enjoyable.  I mean, the whole time we were out there I felt really dumb for spending so much money to jump in freezing cold water, carrying really heavy logs to nowhere and purposefully running through live electrical wire.  But afterwards, I felt okay with myself.

"This water is freezing...literally.  Why am I doing this?"

"This is so stupid.  Why did I pay for this?"

"So we're supposed to carry this log around a loop and put it back where we found it?  Ummmm, okay."

Interested in running a Tough Mudder?  My best advice is for after the run.  Understand there will be hoses for you to wash the mud off your body but these are not there for you to shower. I got stuck behind a girl who brought her entire bathroom with her and took over 20 minutes.  Don't do that.  Someone behind you might have a 2.5 hour drive and care more about getting on the road than making sure your hair is properly conditioned after your mud run. 

My first run post-Ada

Your first run after a long break can be a great feeling.  Since running walking plodding through the Spring Chicago Half Marathon in May 2014, I haven't done much of anything (except, you know, have a baby).  Last month, I started doing Jillian Michael's "Beginner Shred"  which has been a great maternity-leave workout .  But it's nothing like actually hitting the pavement.  Now that I am back to work (shed single tear here), the one silver lining is that I can take a break and run during the day.

The other day, the weather was perfect and the timing was right.  I decided that it was the day to lace up my running shoes and hit the first mile of my 2015 running goal (which has yet to be determined).  I was so excited about getting outside that I decided to take Sota with me.  Between the baby and the weather, she has missed out on quite a few walks and was eager to join me.

In all my excitement, however, I failed to realize the challenges I was up against.

Challenge #1:  Sidewalks
I live in Southern Indiana and last week we got around 8 inches of snow.  I will admit, for this area, 8 inches is a lot.  I don't mind that it took a day or two to get the roads plowed.  I don't have kids in school, so school closings didn't affect me at all.  I do mind that only about 3 people on my entire street shoveled their sidewalks.  FYI, when it snows you are required to shovel the sidewalk in front of your house.  Yes, it is inconvenient.  But so is having to jump over ice banks because your neighbor is too lazy to go outside and shovel for 30 minutes.

Do I sound harsh?  I'm sorry.  But let me put this into perspective for you...in February, Boston was hit with one of its worst blizzards in history.  People were jumping off their second-story roof to get to their front door. Right after digging themselves out of their homes, THEY SHOVELED THEIR SIDEWALKS.  Snow banks might be over their heads, but Bostonian's walks are clearer than ours.  Doesn't this seem wrong to you?

Boston sidewalks after blizzard.

Challenge #2:  Sota
So, I mentioned Sota has missed some walks the past few months.  I recognize that and take full responsibility.  What I failed to remember was that every yard in the neighborhood is actually hers.  Not everyone respects her territory as much as I do, so it's important for her to reclaim her land after long absences.  This means lots of stopping.  With absolutely no notice.

You would think after 9 years of having this beast, I would know better. I should have named her Muttley.

Despite my neighbors and my dog being against me, I had a pretty decent run.  To celebrate, I ate four cupcakes and a bag Doritos.  Job well done, Allison.

A Manual for Visiting a Family with a New Baby

New babies are wonderful things.  They are cute and cuddly, so it's fair that you will want to see and hold the new baby as early as possible.  Some people get more leeway than others (like grandparents).  But no matter who you are, there are rules that you should abide by so your visit creates the least amount of stress for the new parents as possible:

• Wait for the new parents' permission to visit AFTER the baby is born.  Do not spend the months leading up to the birth asking when you can see the baby.  Unless you live really far away where your visit hinges on the purchase of plane tickets, leave the expectant parents alone and wait until they invite you over.  It may be less convenient for you, but they have other things to think about besides your schedule.  

• If the new family offers to cook a meal, the proper response should be "why don't we stop somewhere on the way over and grab food so you don't have to cook?"  If stopping for food is not an option, the next appropriate response should be "whatever is easiest."  If your host offers 3 menu options, don't say "all of it."  Most new parents stock their kitchen so they can limit the number of errands they have to run in the first few weeks of baby's arrival.  Asking them to cook a feast for you depletes their inventory and destroys their kitchen.

• Clean up after yourself.  If eating was part of your visit, offer to clean up the kitchen.  Rinse dishes, or at the very least take your dirty dishes to the sink.  New parents are not hosting you.  They are doing you a favor by letting you into their home to meet their baby. Offer to take the trash out when you leave.  

• Whether it is the family's first or fiftieth baby, try to be productive while you are in their home.  Even if a new mom has done it all before, giving birth is a lot of work and new babies are exhausting.  Having visitors come over only adds to the stress.  Try to provide food or help outside of just holding the baby. 

• Limit your stay.  Some family members will need to travel to visit the baby and will want to stay longer to make their trip worth it.  However, if you are not a grandparent, a single visit should not last longer than 4 hours.  If your visit is approaching the length of a work day, it's too long.  Even at work, we are all entitled to a break.  If you have traveled to visit, leave the house for a couple of hours and come back.  If you are staying overnight, try to find something to do to get yourself out of the house for a bit so the family can relax for a few minutes.  If you are local, your visits should be even shorter as you will likely see the baby more often.

• Most new mothers know you are coming over to hold her baby.  Don't make the first thing out of your mouth "can I hold him/her?".  There's probably no need.  

• A lot of new mothers will probably feel weird asking for her baby back.  Make it easier on her by offering if you've held the baby for more than 30 minutes.  If the mother does ask for her baby back, hand the child over.  Comments such as "you get to hold him/her all the time" are not appropriate.  Parents (especially moms) with new babies should be holding their babies all the time.

• Don't order the mom to rest while you are in her house.  If a new mom looks like she needs rest, you should probably leave.  It will be easier for her to relax if she doesn't feel like a hostess.

• If you know someone else is planning to visit the same weekend, schedule another day to come.  Don't make new parents host multiple days in a row.

• Finally - and this is a big one here - never, under any circumstances, suggest that the new parents should be well-rested because it seems like their new baby sleeps a lot.  First, you just met the baby and have no idea what he is like every day.  Holding my child for 20 minutes while he is asleep does not make you an expert.  Second, newborns need to eat every 3 hours.  So even if a baby sleeps every minute of the day that he is not eating, the mom is still only sleeping for 3 hours at a time.  Most babies (at least both of mine) wanted to be held while they were sleeping.  Even if you can fall asleep with a baby in your arms, it's not going to be good sleep.  And you will never be well-rested if you haven't slept longer than 3 hours at a time for 2 months straight.  

Having a new baby in the family is exciting, but exhausting.  Try to be respectful when you visit a new parent's home.  Even if they seem fine and feeling up for company, always proceed with the understanding that they are running on little sleep and are not operating at 100%.

Ada's Room: Project 3: The Fabric Kangaroo

Thankfully, Ada's room was completed before her arrival!  Micah finished the last project a few weeks before she was born.  His animal of choice was the kangaroo.  

The Fabric Kangaroo

Things You'll Need/Total Cost:

Wood - $7.50 (split between the cost of wood of the other projects)

Sandpaper - $0

Stain - $0 (used leftover stain from the elephant)

Paint Brush and Clean Towel (for stain) - $0

Fabric Scraps - $0

Staple Gun - $0

Total Cost: $7.50

Step 1: Draw/cut a stencil and trace onto the wood.

Step 2: Cut out the shape using a jigsaw or table saw.

Step 3: Sand all edges of the wood and paint or stain.

Step 4: Cut the fabric scraps into 1"x 1" squares.

Step 5: Staple the square pieces of fabric to your shape starting from one end and working your way over to the other.  The fabric pieces will need to be stapled closely together so they stand up to get a good textured effect.  Micah did this by placing the staple in the center of the piece of fabric and then folding the stapled piece up and stapling the next piece of fabric as close as possible.  

Step 6: Admire your finished product!

Adding the fabric took a lot less time than expected.  It did take a lot staples and pieces of fabric, but Micah did it all in one night while watching TV.  

The kangaroo completed our mismatched animal theme for Ada's room.  To bring it all together (or to confuse it a little more), I painted a safari-type picture with her animals together.

And here are some pictures of her finished room! 

Ada's Room: Project 2: String Elephant

After llama-ing it up, my next animal of choice was the elephant.  I've seen a lot of string art floating around the internet lately, and thought an elephant would be fun to do.

The String Elephant

Things You'll Need/Total Cost:
Cardstock - $0
Wood - $7.50, I purchased 1/2" x 2' x 4' birch wood which is enough for the two projects, so I split the cost.
Sandpaper - $0
Stain - $7.80
Paint Brush and Clean Towel (for stain) - $0
11/16" Nails (2 packs) - $2.60
Embroidery Floss - $4
Total Cost: $21.90

Step 1:  Draw/cut a stencil. Finding an elephant silhouette was very easy.  I drew my elephant on extra cardstock I had in the house and cut it out for a sturdy stencil.

Step 2: Cut the wood to the size you need and sand the side and edges that will be stained.  My board was 24" x 17.5", which allowed for roughly 1-2" around my elephant on all sides.

Step 3: Stain or paint the wood.  I selected red mahogany stain because I wanted a darker color that would come close to matching the pig.  You can also add a polyurethane layer to make it shiny, but I preferred how the wood looked with just the stain.

Step 4:  This step is probably not necessary depending on how you want to do your elephant.  With a pencil, I traced my stencil onto the stained wood.  I originally planned to paint the inside of my elephant a dark color to really contrast the bright string but my stain ended up being dark enough.  I didn't change my mind about the painting until I had already drawn the elephant, which added a few steps for me.  If you aren't planning to paint, I don't recommend tracing your stencil.  Instead, mark on the stencil where you want your nails to go and use this guideline when you start nailing.  You could either nail around your stencil or mark the wood where the holes should go.

Step 5: If you traced your stencil onto the board, mark and/or tap where you want your nails (I spaced mine roughly 3/4" apart).  Then, go back and erase the pencil marks on the wood.  Be sure to erase with the grain to avoid messing up the look of the stain or paint.  Once all pencil marks are gone, add the nails to make the outline of your elephant.

A few tips for this portion:

• You could skip marking where you want the nails, but I wanted mine to be as uniformly spaced as possible.  
• Birch is a hard wood.  Consider purchasing something softer.  I had 156 nails and my hand (and thumb) was pretty sore by the end of it.  Watching Argentina lose probably didn't help...
• I'm not one to talk, but don't get too frustrated if your nails don't go in perfectly straight.  I took longer than I probably should have to do the outline because I was so obsessed with wanting it to be perfect.  You won't notice a few angled nails once the string is on there.
• Pay attention to the nails you are using.  I tried to toss any nails where the head of the nail wasn't completely flat (some of them had snagged edges), but when I added the string it was obvious that I missed some.  The string got caught on rough edges and would start to fray when I wasn't careful.
• If there is a fly that keeps landing on your foot during this process, don't use the hammer to kill it.  You will hurt yourself.  Just ask Micah to kung foo it out of the room for you.

Step 6: Add the string.  The greatest part about this step is you can experiment and just undo it if you don't like it.  I chose to make mine different colors and found that overlapping the previous color with the next made for the smoothest transition.

This project was easy and turned out well enough that there is a strong chance that I will do another one like it.  I will probably make the next project smaller so it requires fewer nails, though.

Ada's Room: Project 1: The Quilted Llama

Ada Renee is due on November 25, 2014 and I am in full-on baby planning mode.  This time around I don't have to worry about things like creating a baby registry, finding a daycare that costs less than our rent payment (which did not exist until we moved), or finding a new job.  All I have to think about it is how scary having a girl will be and if my belly size will ever surpass Owen's (not counting on it).  I also get to decorate our third bedroom.

If you know me, you know that I will not go "all out" on my baby's room.  I do not paint patterns on walls or go crazy with themes.  I do not do Pinterest.  Owen's room had a very subtle dinosaur theme, but the focal point in his room was the art that our family and friends created just for him.

We want to do something similar for Ada, but decided to do all the projects ourselves and keep it to a very general "animal theme," which was inspired by a pig that I made in junior high shop class (I got a 99/100).  

We decided to create three additional pieces that would have different textures and a variety of animals (we wanted to avoid getting stuck in a general "barnyard" or "safari" theme).  The pig is obviously smooth and hard, so my first inclination was to go opposite and think of ways to do something soft and fluffy, which led me to foam and fabric.  I searched the internet for some inspiration and came across this video.  I thought I could do a similar piece in an animal shape.

The Quilted Llama

I selected a llama as my first project because I love them.  When we hit the lottery, I will own a farm and have a herd of llamas.  They are great animals and are good with children, but you need more than one to keep them happy as they are herd-dependent.  I know this because I Googled it.  Naturally, I want Ada to be comfortable with them and thought this was the perfect way to introduce her.  

Items Needed/Total Cost (items that cost $0 were things I already had):

Cardstock - $0

Regular Density Foam 2" x 15" x 17" - $6 (found in upholstery section, on sale for 50% off)

Sharpie or other marker to draw on foam - $0

Bread Knife or Electric Kitchen Knife - $0

Ruler - $0

Fabric Pieces: $0

Fabric Glue: $3

Foam Board: $1.80

Total Cost: $10.80

Step 1: I found some llama silhouettes to create a stencil.  Since I would be cutting the llama out of foam, I wanted to make sure I could draw one that was recognizable without needing too much detail.  I drew my llama on extra cardstock I had lying around and cut it out.

Step 2:  I traced the llama onto a 2" thick piece of upholstery foam I found at Joann Fabrics with a Sharpie.  Using a bread knife, I cut the llama shape out of the foam.  Some online forums said next to a legit foam cutter, an electric knife is the best tool, so I recommend this if you have one.  The bread knife will work fine if you don't.  Don't worry about having some rough edges, as it will be covered up with fabric.  I found that starting the cut was the hardest part, so try to cut as much at one time as possible.  The hardest part was keeping the knife straight up and down to get a good 90 degree angle.

Step 3: Draw and cut the square pattern on to your llama.  I drew 3" x 3" squares, but you can do whatever size you want.  Try to place your squares so you can avoid having too many odd shapes around the edges that will be hard to cover.  Cutting the straight lines with my bread knife was very easy.  I eyeballed the depth of the cut based on the size of my knife.  You should go about halfway through the foam.  This should be enough so the tucked fabric is hidden, but not so much that it feels like it's going to fall apart.

Step 4: Gather your fabric and start covering.  I recommend having an idea of the pattern/placement of your fabric, if possible.  I did not have a plan going into it, so I had to do a lot of re-cutting and replacing because I didn't like the way my fabrics looked together.  You can combine the squares to make it look less uniform and to help with the smaller triangles that ended up around the edges.  For fabric, I used some old t-shirts to give it a personalized look and filled in the rest with scraps that I scored from the Family and Consumer Science teacher who works with my mom.  

Step 5: Once you have all the pieces placed, start gluing the edges.  Wrap the fabric around the shape like a present, being careful to cover all the foam.  I recommend using a tee-shirt or other type of "giving" fabric when doing the more difficult edges, like the ears, feet and butt.  Also, try to do the more difficult areas first.  The fabric glue I used was not very forgiving and it got really messy when I tried to adjust a fold after I had already glued it.  Doing the more difficult areas first will give you more room to mess up so you don't accidentally get glue all over the completed portions of your llama.

Step 6: To hang: Trace another llama onto foam board and glue it onto the back of your foam for support.  We cut two pieces from a wire hanger (about 2" long) and wrapped it with hanging wire.  We poked holes where we wanted the wire to come through and hid the hanger pieces between the fabrics.  The wire went through the foam and the board backing. It's pretty sturdy and the hanger pieces will keep the wire from tearing the foam.  There is probably a better/more professional way to do this, but we like to MacGyver things up at the Silletto household and this seems like it will work.

 

And now Ada has a quilted llama for her room!  Not to be confused with a llama wearing a quilt.  If I did this again, I may select an easier animal - perhaps a dolphin or whale - to avoid the very tricky legs and ears.

Enjoy!

********
Does anyone have any other ideas for soft wall hangings for a baby's room?  Most of the ideas I found online were small quilts, but I'm not sure I could pull off a quilting project.

Top 4 Reasons Why I Run

The past few months, I have spent a lot of time thinking "I should really get outside and run some."  The past few months, I have spent very little time actually running.

It's been about a year since I have been on a regular running schedule.  Most of that has to do with Owen - I would much rather stay home and play with him than go outside in the [fill in unsatisfactory weather here].  When we lived in the Boston area, I never felt like I had enough time with him.  We would wake up at the crack of dawn, drive almost an hour to get to the parking garage that was about 9 miles from our apartment, then get home after 6:30 and deal with dinner and bedtime.  I had roughly 3 hours a day during the week to enjoy him.  It wasn't enough and I couldn't bring myself to take 10-30 minutes out of that to go for a run.  Now that we live in Indiana, we have a much nicer balance.  Our mornings are less hectic and our evenings are much longer.  I would not feel guilty going for a short run every now and then.  My problem now is that there are so few places to run.  Sidewalks in Newburgh only exist in neighborhoods.  You either need to drive somewhere to run (which seems ridiculous), run the same mile route over and over and over until you die from boredom, or take your life in your hands and run on the shoulder of some precarious roads.  Put a little polar vortex sauce on top and this is a recipe for zero motivation to run.  While struggling through my first mile in weeks, I tried to list the things that I like about running that might help me get back in the swing of things.  The Oatmeal's list is also very inspiring.  Complete with Kraken slaying.

1.  Running is free.  You can go out and buy expensive running shoes, compression shorts, iPod arm bands, and all sorts of other gear to make running more pleasant/comfortable.  I have been lost in City Sports many times gently caressing the fancy running tights that promise to keep me warm, wick moisture, stabilize, and so on.  But, really, you could also go out there and look like my favorite never-nude:

http://www.tobiasfunke.com/tag/never-nude

There may be some chafing and people might point and stare but the point is you can run in whatever you want.  I don't like the perception that you have to have to have a (large) disposable income in order to exercise.  Crossfit and gym memberships are great if you can afford it, but I think we need to portray exercise and health living as something that can be done with all budgets.  While running isn't always "a favorite" for people, it's great exercise that doesn't have to break the bank.

2.  Running makes me feel better.  We all have days where we feel groggy or lazy or slow.  Running gives me more energy.  I never feel better about running before I run because I have to dress myself, which is hugely inconvenient.  But once I'm out there, I feel good.  Adrenaline is pumping and I'm happy to be staring at something other than a computer screen.  After running, I am usually in a better mood.

There's lots of science that goes in to explaining all of this, but I'm okay with just saying that running makes me feel better.  Unless I'm running on a treadmill.  Then I hate it.

3.  Running gets me outside.  I love to be outdoors, but sometimes it's hard to get myself off my butt to go outside.  Being a former mass transit user, I was guaranteed at least some time outside every day.  We lived a half mile from a T station, so if nothing else, I got a half mile walk any time I wanted to go somewhere.

Now, the only time I'm required to get outside is when I run an errand and have to walk through the parking lot to get to the store.  Especially now that I work from home.  I could feasibly spend multiple days in a row without ever stepping foot outside (this has happened).

4.  There is no number 4.  I just like even numbers.

Hopefully this list will help.  You know what I know will help?  40+ degree weather.  Have I mentioned I don't like winter?

My first official 5K...and other firsts of Owen's

I finally ran my first official 5K since Owen has been born.  It was a Thursday night event, on a flat course through a park.  And I was able to make it happen in what I consider a "reasonable" amount of time. Success!  And then it rained...for almost four weeks straight and now it's pushing 100 degrees outside. Not my kind of running weather.

So instead, I think we should focus on some exciting firsts of Owen's.  He's got his first teeth and more coming.  He's learned to spit and blow raspberries, which was cute at first but between the active spitting and the accidental drooling his shirts are usually pretty soaked.  And just recently, he showed us that he can crawl for real, but it only lasts a few steps.  But he's an amazing army crawler.  Sometimes it takes a lot of effort, but he makes it to his destination with the perfect mixture of determination and brute force.  When he was first learning, he gained his strength by screaming - much like a female arm wrestler.

The only difference between him and the arm wrestler is that he actually succeeded...

Running and Eating - my two favorite things

Owen is a champion runner.  We're starting slow, but our little family brigade is up to 3 miles and counting.  'Tis the season for races and we are ready to start signing up.

All Owen needs is a "Boston Strong" onesie and he will look legit.  

When we're not on the streets running, our lives revolve around eating.  I am fighting off cravings of Wendy's chicken nuggets and Chipotle burrito bowls and we're introducing Owen to fun solid foods.  Rice cereal has been a breeze, but some of the other foods have been a challenge.  Owen loved carrots but carrots did not love him (or his outfits).

And he was NOT a fan of cream of wheat...

But if you're looking for some asparagus, it's that-a-way.

With all this training, this kid's got to get on a runner's diet.  Next we'll try squash and then maybe some sweet potatoes.

Back in the Roundabout

I haven't been running much lately, but don't worry, I have been very busy.  Instead of running, I had a baby!  Yes, I know you can run and have babies (not at the same time, but you know what I mean) but it just hasn't worked out that way.  Maybe a little, but not really.  I ran last year through some of the pregnancy, but it was exhausting and not that much fun so I stopped.  The dogs and I walked while Micah learned to love running alone and with his headphones.

Once Owen was born, I tried to get out there and run but I was a) recovering from giving birth and b) not willing to battle out the ridiculous blizzards we had in January and February.  Instead, I enjoyed all of the firsts that mothers get to enjoy with a newborn, like...

rolling over from the belly to the back (first time on January 21, 2013),

laughing (first time January 19, 2013 - this video shot a few weeks later),

rolling back over from back to belly (first time March 19, 2013),

finding the humor in scary music,

learning to love raspberries,

being dedicated at REUNION church (March 17, 2013),

trying a first bite of rice cereal (which he learned to love...later),

and much, much more.  The first five and half months of Owen's life has been a fantastic blur.  I can't wait to see what else is in store for us.  And now that the weather is better and Owen is old enough to actually enjoy his BOB stroller, we will start running together.  Our family of three will soon be training for a marathon (not sure which) but this spring we'll stick with 5Ks and 10Ks to get back on our feet.

I Been Here For Years

My 64 days and (roughly) 8 hours of no running stretch finally came to an end this morning with the Winter Classic 5K in Cambridge.  Except I didn't run a 5K...I ran approximately 3 miles.  Despite leaving a full hour before the start of the race to get to Central Square which typically takes about 20-30 minutes to get to by the T we got there so late that we had to jump into the race with no bibs and without making it to the starting line.  We jumped in right behind the trailing police car...this was a come back race for Erin, Robbie, and I so we weren't really worried about the technicalities.  But we were able to run the entire course less the section we skipped.  And minus having to stop a couple times to put Robbie's mittens back on.  Oh, and to pick up the shoes and socks he threw off his feet.  Did I mention it was around 30 degrees out while we were running?  Not sure what you're supposed to do with a kid who is crying because he's cold while he is taking his second sock off.  I think he may need to catch up on some Dual Survival because after the crying I saw today, Cody Lundin would not be impressed.

tumblr_lntiv4t5xd1qgghixo1_400.jpg

The ankle didn't hurt when running, but there was definitely some achiness after the race.  Not so much a throbbing pain or anything that even remotely resembled the original injury but a very subtle radiating pain that would slowly fade in and out every once in awhile.  My ankle is elevated as I speak type, but I think I may slowly be getting back in the game.  But don't call it a come back 'cause, well, you know...

The Bourbon Chase October 7-8, 2011

9:00 AM on a Friday

"The Gang Goes to Jim Beam"

It was a beautiful Friday morning as Van 1 from team Fueled by >51% Corn drove from Lexington to the Jim Beam distillery in Clermont, KY to begin the journey that is the Bourbon Chase.  They arrived to shots of bourbon lining the bar.  And our full team ended on Main Street in Lexington, KY amidst booths of bourbon and (my personal favorite) Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale.

Our team of 12 runners ran this beautiful 200 mile relay course that stretched from Jim Beam all the way to Lexington, KY while hitting all the major bourbon distilleries along the way.  The adventure was filled with laughs, mishaps, and killer tunes (think Careless Whisper).  My van, Van 2, met up with Van 1 at Makers Mark.  We took a quick tour of the distillery where we came across one of the funniest scenarios ever.  As we were walking back to the transition point where our 6th runner would pass the baton...errr...slap bracelet to our 7th, we passed by a warehouse full of aging bourbon and two people locked in side.  Yes, you read that correctly, two people were locked inside. As we walked, the front door was being pounded on from the inside with a guy yelling "Excuse me!  Can you open this door?  We're locked in!"  In between fits of laughter, we informed the imprisoned that the door was padlocked.  One of my teammates answered, "Can't you just go out the way you came in?  How did you get in there?"  The gentleman answered, "It said self-guided tour!  So we came in!  Then they came behind us and locked the door!"  I ran to get someone from Maker's while the rest of my van stayed behind to laugh at them some more.  Well, walked briskly to get help.  I mean, I was crying from laughing so hard so my vision was too blurry to actually run.  After a couple of minutes, Maker's managed to get the door opened and the couple came out safely and in surprisingly good humor. 

 After that, we joined the race.  My van ran its first round with no problems - with the exception of the middle earth-type heat our first four runners had to endure.  

9:00 PM on a Friday

"The Gang Sees an Apparition" 

Our first round ended in Perryville, KY where Van 1 took over again and we left to grab dinner and head to the hotel for a nice 3 hour nap.  I should mention here that my van was unfortunate enough to have Cynthia, my GPS, as our navigator.  Cynthia has never liked me.  I'm convinced she is jealous of my relationship with Micah and is doing everything she can to get me lost for good.  Getting rid of me is one thing, but she put the other runners and our hero of a driver in peril as well which is absolutely unacceptable.  In looking for the hotel, she took us down a very dark, very scary road.  We knew something was wrong so Craig, the driver, pulled into a gravel driveway to turn around and figure out what our next move should be.  We were all tired, a little frustrated, and, quite frankly, afraid for our lives so when Craig said "well, that's a little creepy" the whole van was ready to overthrow Cynthia from her oh-so-powerful spot on the dashboard.  We looked up at the barn in front of us and saw something like this...

...Okay, maybe they weren't flesh eating ghosts...maybe it was more like a cherub angel statue watching our every move from the loft a very obviously haunted barn.  Either way, total creepers. Anyway, where Cynthia cannot be trusted good 'ole Google came to our rescue.  We made it to our hotel with a quick stop at Fazoli's for dinner.

3 hours and a nap later, we were on our way to Danville where we met up with Van 1 again to start our second round of runs.  It was the middle of the night so everyone got to enjoy a nice, cool run.  My van peeps blew their times out of the water, and then it got to my run.  

5:50 AM on a Saturday

"Sweet Allie Loses a Leg" 

I felt great starting out.  I knew Leg 23 was a hilly run, but I was ready for it and got off to a nice steady pace.  About 2 miles in, I heard my van cheering me as they passed.  Not 10 minutes later, I heard more vans coming up behind me.  At this point, the road was narrowed to about as wide as one lane and I was a little nervous about cars passing me.  I did my best to get over as far as I could.  With it being 2AM and about as dark as I've ever experienced, I couldn't see where the pavement ended.  I ended up getting over too far to let the vans pass and turned my ankle.  I got up immediately thinking that I could just run off the pain but after a few minutes running became nearly impossible because my foot was swelling so bad my shoe was cutting off the circulation.  As I ran, my arch got so swollen that my foot was actually convex and I was rocking from my heel to my toe.  Uncomfortable, to say the least.  About 3 miles later, I made it to the exchange point and begged for some ice.  Yeah, I said it, 3 miles.  Hardcore.  Not like I had much of a choice, but I was given the Beast Award for that one.  Here is a scientific portrayal of exactly what happened:

Clearly, with all the snapping, popping and ka-powing going on I was unable to run my third leg.  Luckily, our driver (a very handsome, giving man) ran the final leg for me.  

7:00 PM on a Saturday

"The Gang Finishes"

The Bourbon Chase is beyond words.  Never mind just trying anymore, in just over a year I have triumphed 2 half marathons, 1 full marathon, and completed a 200 mile relay race. What's the difference between try and triumph you ask?  Just a little umpf.  I may not be the fastest but I'm labeling this one as a success. 

Oops, I did it again...

I thought I learned my lesson after the Tough Mudder.  If you came up to me and said "hey, let's go run up and down a mountain," I would reply without hesitation "absolutely not."  Do you know why I would say that?  Because it's stupid.  But change the question to "hey, do you want to do a mud race?" the answer is always "YES."  Because, for some reason, that sounds like fun and not stupid at all. 

The eve before Hurricane Irene (dud) was scheduled to demolish the Greater Boston area, Micah and I ran the Spartan Race for the second time.  Last year we ran this race with a group of people.  It was our first mud race and if you were to take out the 32 hornet stings we endured collectively it was a lot of fun.  You ran up the mountain once, went through a few fairly easy obstacles, and ran back down.  Apparently, a lot of people complained that the course was too easy last year.  It seems the Spartan team took these comments personally.  This year was unexpected and ridiculous.  They took out the "girl-side" of the 8 foot walls you had to jump which was not good for Micah or myself since he had to help me over every single one of them.   The barbed wire crawl went from a nice and easy 5-minute army crawl to three sections of barbed wire about 30 yards a piece straight up hill, split up by 6-8 foot walls you had to jump. In mud and rocks.  As if that wasn't enough, they added obstacles.  One of which required us to take a 5 gallon bucket, fill it up with gravel (1/2 for girls, 3/4 for guys), and carry it up and down a hill.  Why do I pay to do this stuff?  The good news is, this is the first of the three mud races I've done where I didn't get stung.  Isn't it sad that this is the good news?

All in all this was a great race, but I wish I would have been prepared for it.  I expected to drive up to Amesbury, roll around in the mud, and have some fun.  Instead I returned home broken.  It hurts to get up, sit down, and breath.  And I know what you're thinking...the answer is yes, I will be back next year.

On another note, we learned Sota doesn't like earthquakes.  We knew that she wouldn't be pleased about Irene, but this is what we came home to after the earthquake the other day...

There are two windows in this bedroom.  The other set of blinds was completely torn down.  Our guest bedroom looked like a murder scene.  And look at Baxter sitting there like nothing happened.  Worthless.

St Pete Beach

Micah and I decided this year we needed a vacation, just the two of us.  So, as continued punishment for failing to complete the duties assigned to him as we planned our wedding and honeymoon, I left all the planning and booking up to him.  I vowed to do nothing but show up to the airport at whatever specified time necessary.  And that's exactly what I did.

Only it wasn't just the two of us.  We have a new friend that joined us on our trip.  His name is Möl, he is from Sweden, and he is a snake.  He first made an appearance in our coffeemaker when my mom came to visit.  Then, he managed to wrap himself around the vacuum cleaner and later slithered his way into a pitcher full of tea.  He ended up in Florida by stowing away in our beach blanket, surprising Micah our first day on the beach.

Not one to hold a grudge, Micah allowed Möl to join in our vacation fun and what says vacation better than Cheez-Its?  Nothing.

I decided Möl needed a taste of the high life and took him to Madfish where he rattled his way onto Micah's entree (with the help of two very bored servers).

And on and on it went.  At first, Möl was just a source of entertainment (and a really good way to annoy one another) but on the third day of our trip, he saved our lives.  Here's the story:

We were on the beach reading our books and decided it was time for lunch.  We had a couple of sandwiches and a box of Cheez-Its in our beach bag ready to go.  No big deal, right?  I mean, growing up we went on vacation every summer and I distinctly remember having a sandwich or two on the beach without incident.  Clearly, my parents never took us to St. Pete Beach.  This beach has the most aggressive, violent birds I've ever encountered.  (The duck at Burdette Park who chased me around the pond when I was 7 comes in a very close second).  As soon as Micah pulled out his corned beef sandwich he had a bird hovering over his shoulder waiting for the perfect moment to snag the lunch right out of his hands.  It looked something like this:

I screamed like a little girl, causing the people around us to laugh and the aerial attack to switch focus to me and my peanut butter sandwich since I was obviously the weaker human of our group.  One bird quickly became 100 (okay, maybe 8) and all I could hear was their evil cawing and the beating of their wings around my head.  I ducked and dove but couldn't shake them.  Micah used this opportunity of freedom to hide his sandwich back in the bag, but I wasn't so lucky.  Knowing I had a back up in the bag, I threw my sandwich as far away from our stuff as I could and curled up in the fetal position.  The birds followed the sandwich and left us alone.  Once the coast was clear and I stopped hyperventilating, we resumed lunch.  Only this time we had security.

Besides being attacked by flesh-eating sandwich-loving seabirds, the vacation was a good one.  We even went paddleboarding!  My experience was slightly more successful than Micah's.

And, for the record, we attempted to continue training but within the first mile running on the beach I stepped in a hole in the sand and twisted my ankle.  Oh well, vacations are meant for eating and lazing not exercising.