Doughnuts ALMOST make it better!

Evan and I woke up to rain, thunder and wind Saturday morning, April 16. I laid in bed wondering if we should go to March for Babies. I kept checking AccuWeather on my cell phone in between preparing my protein shake and Evan's bagel.

With no change in site and after about 45 minutes, I decided I should call the number.

Unfortunately it said the March for Babies walk was cancelled but we could still turn in our money and get a doughnut at the office between 10am and 2pm. Now to break the news to Evan ... already playing on his computer.

Me: Evan, our walk March for Babies is cancelled because of the bad weather.

Evan: Oh, man!

Me: I know but we can still turn in the rest of our money and get a doughnut.

Evan: A doughnut! Oh, that's OK mom. I want to do that.

Me: Sure will, Evan. And I think I already found another walk for us to do in May.

Evan: That sounds good, mom.

After dropping off Eric at a friend's house and a trip to Walmart, I drove me, Evan and Tim to the office on Brookstown. The clouds did look scary and the wind was strong but we parked and walked in to a cluttered office full of doughnut and pizza boxes!

Evan managed to put his doughnut down for his t-shirt picture (he raised $50):

And here we are checking in as part of the Wake Forest Baptist Health/Carpenter Library team:

We left with no rain, an entire pizza, a couple of doughnuts, three stickers and one t-shirt.

Evan: Oh, mom, we could have walked in this; it's just windy.

Me: Uh, I don't think so, Evan, especially since there are tornado warnings everywhere and this wind has got to be at least 30 miles per hour.

Evan: Really? I guess not then.

After picking up Eric we arrived home to eat .... pizza for lunch! Even though Evan did not walk, he ate three pieces of pizza less than an hour after his doughnut. I guess he was mentally prepared to March for Babies!

Happy (sunny) Running!

Curious Evan

Wednesday evening before dinner on April 13 marked mine and Evan's "last" run before our first 5K together on April 16. It was a breezy but nice 70 degrees which is not the weather forecast for race day, so we will not be looking like this:

Since Evan likes to plan and needs to be mentally prepared, I was explaining our schedule for race morning which included pre-race activities, i.e. doughnuts!

After about five minutes into our run, I realized I should have eaten a doughnut...

Me: Well, we will eat a good breakfast, put on our race clothes including our waterproof jackets since it might rain.

Evan: Oh, I like the rain for a race, mommy, because then the water can cool us off.

Me: Well, yeah, it might but we still have to deal with the rain in our eyes and pelting our faces. We will just have to see what happens. But before the race, we have to stand in line to get our walker number and turn in the rest of our money.

Evan: Will we get to keep our walker number?

Me: Yes. After that we can grab a doughnut for energy, warm up with exercise dancing and then the actual race starts at 10.

Evan: Doughnuts, what kind?

Me: Krispy Kreme (of course!) and we can each have one to give us energy to run. We don't want to eat too many and of course, doughnuts aren't good for breakfast anyway.

Evan: Oh, I know, but I like them. Why do they give us energy then?

Me: It's called a sugar rush or burst of energy or quick energy.

Evan: What's all that?

Me: Well doughnuts will give us energy to finish the race but let's say you eat a doughnut before school and then three hours later you have an important test. Unfortunately, you wouldn't have enough brain power or brain energy to concentrate on the test because the burst of energy would be gone.

Evan: Hmm, but what if the energy leaves us before we finish the race?

Me: It won't because our body will be moving and producing more energy.

Evan: Well, what happens after the race when we are out of energy?

Me: They will have more food for us to eat to get more energy.

Evan: What kind?

Me: I think it is pizza but we can check when we get home.

Evan: OK, can we bring water bottles to the race?

Me: No, we can't bring them Saturday, but there are water stations where you grab a small cup and throw it on the ground or in a trash can.

Evan: But why do you litter?

Me: Sometimes people are at a good pace in their running and they don't want to stop, drink and find a trash can so they throw it on the ground?

Evan: Who picks it up?

Me: The volunteers, same people who handle setting up the station, keeping the cups filled.

Evan: Oh.

PAUSE

Evan: What if we have to go to the bathroom while we're running?

Me: Usually there is a Port-A-John so hopefully they will have some along the route.

Evan: Does the route have hills? Because we can run down the hills and then walk up the hills, mommy.

Me: Yes, I think it does have hills, Evan, but we will do kind of like what we are doing now - walking and running.

Evan: Well, mommy, you know I'm the only one in my entire class that is training for a race. My PE teacher, he runs 18 miles.

Me: Yes, Evan, that is cool and I enjoy training with you. Does your PE teacher run marathons?

Evan: Oh yeah, that race, how long are the marathons?

Me: All marathons are 26 miles and then sometimes people run half-marathons or mini-marathons which would be how many miles?

Evan: What?

Me: Well, what is half of 26?

Evan: Oh, PAUSE, that's 13, mommy.

Me: Exactly so does he run half-marathons?

Evan: Who?

PAUSE

Evan: Oh yeah, my PE teacher. No, he runs 18 mile marathons.

Me: Well then he doesn't run a marathon because all marathons are 26 miles.

Evan: How long is our neighborhood?

Me: Hmm, not sure, I think if you run it twice, it is around three miles but that includes all the cul-de-sacs.

Evan: Well, I just want to run down our street and then be done.

Me: OK, that sounds good, because I'm getting hungry now.

Evan: Me too.

For those that are hungry for stats, grab a doughnut and see here:


Time: 26:44
Distance: 1.732 miles
Calories: 123.2
Steps: 3523 
Pace: 3.9


Happy (phew) Running!

Money at Work

Tuesday, April 12 was "bank day" at work - the day to turn in March of Dimes money and, in our case, get a t-shirt with the new name and logo on it if $25 or more was raised for the walk on Saturday.

But the hallway is what I will remember most about this day. I so wished Evan could have seen it - the portable bed with rails and machines. Beneath the blankets and cords, a toddler with no hair. The sight brought tears to our eyes (two coworkers). I said a prayer for the toddler and another prayer of blessing for my two healthy boys.

THAT is our "money at work"  and so is THIS:


Her pacemaker issue (knock on wood) is good. She's been doing fine with it, and you would never know she has one...So needless to say, we still go to the cardiologist every 3 months, but in my eyes, she's perfect!


From a friend, fellow librarian and first-time mom who donated money to me.


So no running today or sadly in the last week since we have been super busy with soccer, Saturday school and funky weather. I will end with this, again from the friend:


With all the birth defects out there, it's amazing that anyone can have a healthy baby - so good luck on your March of Dimes event - the babies need you!


And thank you to all those who have supported me and Evan.

MOD update

Evan remains excited about the March of Dimes walk on Saturday, April 16.

He wanted to know who is "winning," i.e. who has raised the most money, on the Library team. Right now, it is a coworker but Evan is second and I am last :(.

Evan has raised $40, as of today, April 7, and thanks to his assistant principal! I have raised $20 with help from a former intern!

There is still time to donate toward Evan or Dianne.

Here's for healthy babies and Happy Running!

Musical Man

Once again, North Carolina's crazy weather provided another opportunity for me and Evan to run on Wednesday, April 6 after work/school. School was canceled Tuesday due to a severe storm early that morning but it was sunshiny and nice by Tuesday evening. And then comes Wednesday with a light breeze and 70 degrees!

Evan, who does not like to sing in front of a crowd (unless it is Morning Star at our church), was prepared, as you can see here:

Headphones from Radio Shack, arm band and iPod from me and, perhaps most importantly, we rigged it so the band went all the way around his skinny arm. It also managed to stay on while we ran. Evan was cute though, he didn't move that arm at all even though I kept telling him (loudly) that it was OK to move it.

We passed the lawyer couple running with their dogs, a couple of walkers and another neighborhood runner - all the while Evan "not" singing. I think he attempted it but decided he was too loud and it was hard to run, breathe and sing.

I chose not to listen to music because I can't seem to find headphones or earbuds that will stay in my ears and I have tried different ones. I also felt I needed to hear Evan when he did speak which was when he decided where we were going (skip the cul-de-sac or not) and when to walk. So, I enjoyed the sounds of nature in between yard work and vehicle sounds, but mostly I enjoyed the silence - a rare occurrence in my world.

While I enjoyed the silence and no bouncing ball, I did miss conversing with Evan but I could tell he felt like a real athlete! And we did manage to have a decent run:

Time: 24:10
Distance: 1.064 miles
Calories: 63.6
Steps: 2596 
Pace: 2.6


Happy Running!

Pull Out the Sunglasses!

I am not sure if turtles heal fast but this one sure did because Sunday, April 3 found us back outside around 5:30pm in perfect-70-degree weather for another run!

Besides some company and each other, we also enjoyed this:

SHORTS!! Our first run wearing them - yay! And not one word about skin complexion, please. Evan inherited his Dad's darker, i.e. "easy-tanning" skin, while me and Eric just become lobsters :(! So please pull out the sunglasses - I couldn't get Evan to wear his.

Evan might have been healed but he was super tired after skating for about two hours at a birthday party so he was quite the trooper today. He again bounced his soccer ball but that fell away when we came upon Eric and Dad leisurely riding their bikes while our neighbors walked. There were mom and dad pushing baby and toddler in their strollers and the four-year-old riding his bike.

They were headed to the bottom of our neighborhood to feed the horses, a regular destination since the four-year-old lives and breathes horses and cowboys. That meant my boys had to do it so Evan and I took a horse break. The boys to fed them and brushed Gypsy when her owner arrived to do some grooming.

Evan walked back while I cheered for Eric going up the hill: "I can do it, mommy, yes I can. I can do it, I can do it..."

So my conversation with Evan was a bit light - he was lagging behind - although he attempted to explain some game about bouncing the ball a certain way but he couldn't remember the name. And, most importantly, he let Eric beat everyone back to the house.

While we took the horse break, I kept my pedometer on so here are the results, albeit slightly skewed:

Time: 37:45
Distance: 1.620 miles
Calories: 104.5
Steps: 3862 
Pace: 2.6


Happy Running!

Wrapped and Windy

And that is why the "Turtle" and "Princess" did not run on Saturday, April 2. Evan experienced a mild soccer injury at his game (which they won) that morning. He came limping off the field with tears. Nurse Dad took a peek, a fellow soccer Dad offered ice from the cooler full of team drinks and after about five minutes of rest, Evan hopped up and told Soccer Coach Dad that he was ready to go back in!

No ice needed, just some Gatorade and some rest that afternoon! So while he was recovering, we did hear the wind - up to like 25 miles per hour - which is just as well we didn't run since it might have pushed us down a hill leading to possibly another injury!

Happy Running...'er Recovery!