Friday Run

On Friday, August 19, I dragged (almost literally) Evan out to run with me...

"But Mommmm, I'm not in the mood to run."

Me: Oh, come on, you will feel so much better!

Our photographer was busy so we messed around with the camera and took our self-portrait:

And still messing, some of our supplies:

So Evan made it outside and he ran and ran and ... left me in the dust again!

It was hard for me to get out there, I must admit, after our successful 5k that past Saturday but we have to keep it up. Not only does it help physically but it really releases stress - Evan is the most talkative when he is running. I know all that tension is just dropping off him the faster he runs!

And fast he did on this rather hot evening - I made him wait in the middle of the hill - and there he was running up and down it. It's the same hill he doesn't want to run usually and with the smell of freshly mowed grass, dryer sheet and horse manure - I have to say, I was a bit queasy!

He did get on ahead of me so my stats are:
Time: 27:57
Distance: 1.098
Calories: 67.5
Steps: 2692
Pace: 2.3
Happy Running!

Mission 5K - the Big One

Evan, Aunt Dawn and I finished (in that order) Fleet Feet's Mission 5K on Saturday, August 13. Our personal cheerleaders were Eric, Tim and Gmommy!

This race was mine and Evan's second race together and like the first one, he did get ahead of both me and Dawn but he kept running all by himself! See for yourself:

And his stats:

Time	31:51
Gun Time	31:51
Chip Time	31:29
Overall	123 (out of 324 total finishers)
Gender rank (M)	79 / 124
M0-14 rank	3 / 11 (that's third out of 11 boys age 14 and under)
M0-19 rank	9 / 17 (that's ninth out of 17 boys age 17 and under)

Then there is Aunt Dawn, who came in second (out of our family):

Dawn's stats, yay, for her first one:

Time	37:25
Gun Time	37:25
Chip Time	37:04
Overall	203 (out of 324 total finishers)
Gender rank (F)	95 / 200
F35-39 rank	13 / 29
F30-39 rank	29 / 60

And then there is me who walked and ran and sprinted at the end:

My stats:

Time	43:02
Gun Time	43:02
Chip Time	42:40
Overall	275 (out of 324 total finishers)
Gender rank (F)	151 / 200
Masters overall rank	110 / 134
Masters Female rank	58 / 81
F40-44 rank	20 / 27
F40-49 rank	36 / 50

Evan (mommy bragging coming now...) received an award - a nice drinking glass with the race information etched on it. He came in third for the male 14 and under! Go Evan, Go Evan!!!

Accepting his award from the director of the Winston-Salem Rescue Mission. The race benefited that organization and Fleet Feet's shoes for people who are homeless. The race course was downtown Winston-Salem with lots of hills and different terrain. The rainy, drippy and humid weather with thunder kept it interesting!

Happy Running!

Run Two Before the Big One

 Here we go on Thursday, August 11
 - just two days before the Big One

Still going

and going ...












                                                                                                              and going ...

Our photographer is quite talented and always on the move!

Since this was Run Two Before the Big One, Evan actually slowed down to stay with me. We talked about Aunt Dawn and this being her first 5K on Saturday, August 13. We figured out how many 5K races we had each done (one for Evan, two for Evan; one for Dianne, two for Dianne). We discussed what we would eat on Friday night and Saturday morning - pasta for dinner; bagel with peanut butter, banana, sausage for breakfast with juice and water.

Evan did manage to get ahead of me but he jogged in place at a new house at the end of the neighborhood. We came back with the following stats:
Time: 28:39
Distance: 1.232 (Evan thinks he did 1.5)
Calories: 74.9 (Evan 100)
Steps: 3010
Pace: 2.6
Happy Running!

Run One Before the Big One

Well, here we are all happy before Run One on Monday, August 8 - just five days before the Big One!

It was a balmy 82 degrees with clouds on this evening and Evan started off with:

Mom, do we have to go down the big hill? I didn't get much sleep last night!

Me: Yes, only five days until Saturday and besides, we can walk up.

This happens to be our first run back on non-flat land, having returned from the flat beach two days before.

So we do make it down the hill and back up with not much conversation since Evan "left me in the dust," as he likes to remind me.

Our stats, well really, my stats:
Time: 21:39
Distance: 1.450
Calories: 104.2
Steps: 2989
Pace: 2.3
Happy Running!

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!