Moms and Turtles

The Turtle could not be coaxed to run with the Princess for the second vacation run at Oak Island, NC.

So, the Princess walked, yes walked AND she was by herself, yes, she really was by herself. What a most awesome beginning of the day!

And just before this day, Wednesday, August 3, I learned that female sea turtles get a 20-year break after laying their eggs. Then they return to lay some more eggs and live to about 70 to 80 years old. The 20-year break is a bit long for me so I was happy with my 30-minute something break on this beautiful beach morning.

Here is a museum depiction of a female/mom sea turtle headed for her break with the babies coming out of the nest (to the left). It was at the Museum of Coastal Carolina in Ocean Isle:

Since I started thinking about the sea turtles (it's nesting season and information about them abounds in this part of NC), I was thankful to not miss 20 years - all those "firsts" like walking, talking, sleepovers and bathroom accidents; the vacations; the hugs and kisses every night before bed and, surprisingly, even the fighting.

Meanwhile, in my thoughts, I headed up to NW 1st St. then back down to NW 20th St. before going back to the beach house at NW 13th St., enjoying the iPod on shuffle and little humidity. Had I not been hungry, my break might have been longer - no quite 20 years - since it was nice to be in my own thoughts on flat land!

My stats (exercise stats, not birthing stats):
Time: 38:04
Distance: 1.667
Calories: 9.8
Steps: 4091
Pace: 1.2
Happy Running!

Vacation Run, Seriously!

Despite the major humidity, Evan and I made it out for a run on Monday, July 31 at the beach! Yes, I made him run even on vacation at Oak Island, NC.

Since I figured we would be massively hot after the run, here we are pre-run on the front porch of the house:

Our beach house was at NW 13th St. so we headed up to NW 5th St. then I sneaked us down to NW 21st St. before he figured out we had passed NW 13th St. The humidity was almost 100 percent at 7:30 a.m. but the path was flat and it was cool to have a sidewalk!

In between the complaining, Evan and I managed to have a decent conversation since he did stay with me this time. I again explained to him why Eric doesn't run with us and that sometimes it is nice for brothers to have their own interests and a little time away from each other.

I told him that one of my goals as their mom is make sure that they take care of each other when their mom and dad are gone and Evan's response:

Oh, you mean when you guys are dead?

Well, yes, Evan, but hopefully that will be a long time from now.

Yeah it probably will be, Mom. Can we go back now?

So the subject quickly changed to figuring out what street we were at (they all did look kind of the same) and where we needed to go to get back to the beach house.

Meanwhile, our stats were slightly different since we spent a lot of time talking including Evan complaining of knee pain. I think he didn't stretch well or he was having a real growing pain.

Here they are:
Time: 27:04
Distance: 1.793
Calories: 104
Steps: 4376
Pace: 1.5
Happy Running!

Two Hot Ones

Well, it's been hot and thunderstorms - typical for July in North Carolina - but the Princess and Turtle don't mind sweat!

Before our trip on July 31, Evan and I managed to squeeze in two brief runs on Sunday, July 24 and Tuesday, July 26.

Evan keeps telling me that he is not going to wear his pedometer with me until I reach my goal of two miles. Well, it has yet to be reached but (there always is one), I think HIS pedometer calculates faster than MY pedometer! We reached nearly two miles the first time we used HIS pedometer.

And honestly, while I enjoy the time with Evan, I think my body is made for walking while Evan's is totally made for running. Regardless, as Evan says, "I'm hanging in there with you, mommy" (until I reach my two miles)!

And "hanging" he did on Sunday, July 24 with stats from MY pedometer:
Time: 27:04
Distance: 1.212
Calories: 71.7
Steps: 2970
Pace: 0.6

The photo was taken a bit after our run since Evan quickly discovered his little brother playing a new Wii game as soon as we walked in the door; hence his "awwww, do we haaave to take a picture" face.

Our second run of the week on Tuesday, July 26 included a guest since Daddy was busy getting things together for our trip.

I keep telling Evan that Eric is too short to run with us (aside from the fact that the running is our time together) but of course kids are smart, especially mine :), and the bike sort of worked. Actually it would have worked well had Eric kept pedaling and stopped talking!

This run was a lot of stop and start and Evan, as usual, ahead of us most of the time but it did give Daddy a few minutes alone to collect his thoughts!

Again, stats from MY pedometer came in at:
Time: 20:19
Distance: 1.072
Calories: 80.9
Steps: 2207
Pace: 0.6

Happy Running!

Summer update

This Monday, July 25 will mark two weeks since Evan and I have done a run together.

Besides the very hot weather or the storms (like right now), our other reasons are: vacation, although we did lots of hot-weather walking at Hershey Park, Pennsylvania and Vacation Bible School.

But - we have to get back to it (in between the storms) since I just registered us for our next 5k on August 13. My goal is to always complete the race, no matter the time! Evan is the complete opposite - to win - but he is learning and I keep running!

Happy Running!

Hello, Maryland!

Since all of us were awake before 7am on Monday, July 11 while on vacation, I made Evan explore Westminster, Md. for our one and only run the whole week! It is vacation, remember?

Our hotel happened to be at a rather busy intersection so it was twice around the huge parking lot, across the side street, down the hill and back up to the strip mall lot where we found two interesting things:

Starbucks - I totally managed to avoid the entire week and...

Car charging stations - lots of questions followed from Evan:

"What is that?"

Me, jogging in place: Well, I think it is a car charger for electric cars.

Evan: Well, gas hurts the environment more than electric, so why don't we have electric?

Me: Electric cars are a fairly new concept which is why we don't see many of these around North Carolina yet.

Evan: So, it's like my DS (handheld video game), you have to plug it in to charge it?

Me: Yes, I think so.

Evan: Oh, I know, we can plug in your car here.

Me: No, mine doesn't need charging because it is a Hybrid.

Evan: Why is that?

Me: Hmm, good question. I don't understand quite how it works except that over 44mph, it runs on a battery - electric. Perhaps when that battery gets old or stops working, it is replaced.

From there, we head down the hill to a restaurant that we want to try so my bribe to Evan was to go get a menu. Imagine his face and reaction when the restaurant is still closed - not quite 7:30 am when it opens for breakfast!

"Why did we come here if it isn't open yet? I don't wanna back up the hill."

Me: Well, I didn't know it was still closed and we have to go back up the hill. Besides, we have to get ready for Gettysburg (yes the real battle field in Pennsylvania).

Evan: Fine!

We do make it back up the steep but short hill in the very nice weather - a balmy, breezy 70 degrees with little humidity. I could have stayed out longer, but alas, Gettysburg was calling us!

A grumpy Evan in the hotel room after the run:

And of course, our stats:

Time: 24:29
Distance: 1.078
Calories: 65.3
Steps:2632
Pace: 2.6

Happy Running!

Red Flags = No Outlet?

To keep the interest, I changed the scenery a bit for our first July run on Sunday, July 3 at 7:30pm.

We had already been to church, ate brunch, waited out a storm playing with friends, swimming and cooking out with friends. It was hot and my headache was finally gone so tired was definitely in our vocabulary this evening.

Dad and little brother dropped us off at another neighborhood down the "big" road since this one was too far to cross and walk.

Here we are before our run and I told Evan to remember this sign so we don't get lost but it is rather ironic now:

He already looks nervous, doesn't he?

We head down the road, turning right and start talking about the different houses. I keep Evan on the inside since cars drive faster through here than our neighborhood = red flag one!

Meanwhile, Evan stops and leans over with a side stitch = red flag two! Unfortunately, I am "in the groove" at a most awesome pace and no headache! I jog in place, turn around and jog in place. Evan is still standing there.

I tell him to walk a little, run a little. He stops again. I jog in place again. The lady that was way behind us catches up and passes so I start walking with Evan while he starts imagining that we are at...

Bristol Motor Speedway but then decides it must be more like Pocono Speedway since I estimate that the road we are on circles about 1.5 miles. He quickly points out that neither have the hills that this road has until he sees dog number one = red flag three!

Dog number one has a collar but it is wandering back and forth across the street. We turn around and head back the way we came. In between speedway talk, we see more speedy cars, one sheriff's deputy car, one city police car = red flag four.

We arrive back at the sign, i.e. pickup location, with no sign of Dad and little brother. Not wanting to wait, we start walking along the "big" road where dogs number two and three greet us = red flag five.

At this point, I am just ready to get home. The owner calls for the dogs who didn't touch us, thankfully. Dad and little brother pick up Evan at the bottom of the first hill in our neighborhood and I sprint home.

Side stitches, dogs, police cars, speedy cars = five red flags = one wild run at:

Time: 33:09
Distance: 1.465
Calories: 88.9
Steps: 3576
Pace: 0.6


Happy Running!

Double the Handsome

The Turtle ran without his shell. Well, really without his shirt on Thursday evening, June 30. He enjoyed a bit of swimming and then he hit the road in his shoes, socks and swimsuit - watch out young ladies!

Of course Turtle's little brother had to get in on the act - so double the handsome!

E: Mommy, this is just like at the beach except - uh - what is this again? (pointing to the ground). Oh, I remember, this is asphalt.

D: Yes, and I'm running on the concrete, but how is this like the beach?

E: Well, except that this is asphalt and that is concrete and I have my shoes on but I ran in my swimsuit at the beach.

D: Yes, you did so it is similar to the beach and I bet your suit will be dry when we get home.

E: Yeah, probably.

Perhaps from swimming or seeing Cars 2 with his summer camp, but again, Evan was tired before me. He stopped and started.

His rest was checking out a house being built in the neighborhood - walls and sheet rock were in so we could label the rooms. And since the house is sold, there wasn't much debris to wade through.

A short and dry-swimsuit run but we ended with:

Time: 23:43
Distance: 1.048
Calories: 65.7
Steps: 2549
Pace: 2.7

Happy Running!