More Running Adventures

Life in the military is not always easy. It often seems that I find my running peeps just in time for another move, and it has happened yet again. In February I finally found my running groove here in VA. These groups always bring my running joy to a new high and is probably what is prompting all my running posts lately. All I can do is soak in every minute before it is time to find a new group as crazy (or often crazier!) as me. This new group I have found has introduced me to trail running. I have to say that it is something that I have stuck my nose up at before. Alas I am easily influenced and I found myself lately in environments like these...

How can one not fall in love with this?! It has brought a whole new freedom to my running. On the trail, there is no watching your watch and concern for your pace; a break from the pressures or road running. It is now the route I seek on my long runs where the scenery can truly carry me away from the worries of the day. Just a few weeks ago we ran through a field of blue bells so beautiful that I had to stop and take a picture!

Ahhh, the picture does not due it justice!

And your feet often end up looking like this. What a way to break in a new pair of shoes!

Meet Dora Elmore (rundominican.wordpress.com), the peep who introduced me to trail running. She is a RRC certified running coach, a Lulu Lemon Ambassador, very active on social media, and has blessed me so much by bringing me into her running world. She is the head of a Ragnar Trail Relay team, a team of 8 running a total of 120 miles overnight at Big Bear Lake/Campground in WV and somehow I have found myself on this team! It is no secret that I am not the biggest fan of camping but I guess we will be running instead of sleeping! Together we plot many training runs headed toward our Boston dreams. Somehow we both also managed to score free bibs for the Virginia Wine Country Half Marathon yesterday (thank you Integrated Sports Medicine and Physical Therapy of Loudoun County!) and used the run as a long training run (with some added warm up miles). Exactly a year ago, I had signed up to run this race with some dear friends but found myself in a leg cast instead. So it was awesome to finally conquer this one! I might have gotten just a "little" grumpy around mile 8 (which was mile 10.5 for us), and dear Dora stayed with me step for step. It was by far the hardest course I have ever run, 2 up hills for every down hill! But the route was amazingly beautiful and I am super thankful to have gotten to run it with a great group of gals.

 Some peeps from my Ashburn Mom's Run This Town running group before the race. MRTT is a great organization to find running support and encouragement, and people to laugh and cry with you along the way!

Finished with a time of 1:55.13...not a PR but still something to be proud of!

The Week's Happenings

My parents came to visit over Mother's Day weekend but I wouldn't say it was a "vacation" for them! We dragged them around to various kids activities but it was a lovely time together! They were able to witness Jesse's first time getting 3 hits during a baseball game and being awarded the game ball, participate in Grandparent's day at school, steal some snuggles on the couch, and make homemade ravioli and sauce with me!

 Grammie and Josie sounds asleep

 Could anything be cuter than this?!

Keeping the Italian traditions alive!

Then of course I feel like I have to keep you all updated on my running happenings now that I have professed my future goals out loud for the world to hear! I loved the feedback I received from you and the encouragement...it truly warms my heart and helps spur me on!

This past weekend I ran another 10K but was able to share my passion with my 2 older children. Asher has already shown a desire (and talent) for running and triathlons and he has been begging me to sign him up for a 5K this season. Anna got wind that a friend of hers was doing this particular race so she wanted in on the fun too! Why not, off to "Carter's Run" we go. This particular race meant something to me as a local family puts on the event to raise awareness and money for the Dandy-Walker Syndrome (a disease that their oldest son was diagnosed with). The mom is a member of my running group and her son use to take swim lessons with Jesse when she was planning the 1st Carter's Run. We would chase our babies and chat about her plans. This was only their 3rd year and it is amazing how organized and wonderful this event is-the most family friendly racing event we have ever attended. Such an honor to be a part of this fabulous event!

Ready for the race! The race was a 5K loop that the 10K-ers did twice with the 10K starting 15 minutes before the 5K. So my goal was to catch my kids during my 2nd loop! Asher was too fast (he finished in 28 minutes on the dot...yes a talent in that boy!) but I saw Anna during my last half a mile and I truly believe it put a fire under my feet! I got another PR this season (47.38 10K time) and finished 2nd female overall! It was extra special being able to share the experience with my kids. Anna finished with her friend in 38:08. Then we all got to enjoy the family fun fest afterwards...we didn't leave the festivities until they were packing up the tents! There was face painting, moon bounces, prize wheels, a Redskins player who signed our shirts, and a trackless train. It was an awesome morning.

 Josie with Scooby Doo.

 Trackless train.

 Jesse won us some free desserts!

Fred Smoot signed their race shirts!

A heart to heart with myself

Goals...we all have goals in life, yes? Striving, reaching, challenging ourselves. It is one thing that keeps us motivated when days seem like running on a hamster wheel. The Lord has blessed me with running. I always tell people that I have always been a runner but I just realized that this isn't true. A dear high school friend of mine keeps reminding me of a time when we ran together in high school and I wheezingly kept begging him to stop at friends' houses for water. Granted, dear Brett Wolfe-it was hot that day!!! His story always frustrated me because "I have always been a runner!". But he is right-I most certainly was not. I liked sports, was athletic, and had goals. I have always had the desire to run a marathon and started running recreationly late in high school and into the college years. I held the marathon dream close. I got married and kept running. I had 1 kid and kept running. I had 2 kids and remember thinking "what am I waiting for?". I believe I was scared to make the commitment because that meant my dream was out there. Others would know and I could fail. But I committed. I ran my first half marathon during my training and then tore a calf muscle 6 weeks out from the first marathon I committed to...that was a sad sad day but only fueled the fire more. I ran my another half in New Hampshire and then my first marathon in Massachusetts in July (CRAZY) and it was 7 laps around a lake. Not the most glamorous of races but I DID IT! It was hard, miserable, and amazing. I became addicted to running. I kept having more kids but running gave me a peace, moments with God away from the chaos of being a stay at home mom, an outlet to express my emotions safely as they are pounded into the pavement mile by mile. I have never once regretted going out for a run. Now I have 4 half marathons under my belt, 3 marathons, and a handful of other races ranging from 5ks to 10 milers...meager numbers compared to the runners I have been blessed to know over the years. I use to think my numbers were special until I joined running clubs and heard their stats. But I have also learned that as competitive as we runners are...you compete within yourself and not others: against your PRs, against your mind not wanting to get out of bed that morning, against the side stitch as you see the finish line, against your body telling you to quit.

So I ran a local 10K this past weekend and was the 4th woman overall to finish and won my age group (GASP-this has never happened to me before)! And after 4 races in 7 weeks, I decided to sit on my rear for a week and evaluate my "goals" for next "training cycle". 

So here I am as an adult with my passion for running reaching an all new high. I feel like it has just been the past few years that have truly ignited something new in me and that is a passion for the competition side of running. It challenges my mind and body on a whole new level. I have realized I am capable of far more that I ever thought I was. I can not be afraid of putting my goals out there because a failure does not mean I am defeated. It means that I won't quit, that I can get back out there and compete again, that I can do my best, hold my head up high, and be proud of every step I accomplish. And I will see you at the next race! (BTW egats running races is expensive. I have been selling everything I can find in the house to pay my entry fees! and you would be shocked at the number of running shoes I have in my closet).

So as I sit on my rear (trying to truly recover from knee bursitis so I can hit the pavement again-no lectures Mom, please!!), I am debating a 10K next weekend, a relay race in June, a 4 miler, and praying that a dear friend of mine and I get into the Bridger Ridge run (a 20 miler in Montana) as our race to unite is this year...and I have come to terms with my ultimate goal and am going to put it out there for all to hear - I want to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I believe I can do it if I put the work in. I believe my time is now (basically because I am aging up a level which means I get 5 minutes added to the time I need to qaulify). This is scary - it takes commitment, it takes passion, it takes work. I could fail. I could try and try again. We have a move coming this summer. I have 4 kids. I could fail. I am blessed. I will try. Any marathon recommendations?! 

All About Jesse

Happy Birthday to Jesse!! Despite his fears of being forgotten, Jesse had a wonderful birthday. His actual birthday on Monday included his choice for breakfast, his favorite dinner (cheeseburgers and watermelon), Zinga for dessert and family presents. BUT THEN it was also his year for a "real" party so he counted down all week to his laser tag birthday party on Friday night. It was special to meet all his friends from school and see them interact. It sure was a rowdy group of boys but laser tag is the perfect place to let them lose.

 Chocolate cupcakes along with a chorus of "happy birthday"...the boys barely paused to scarf them down. They had way more important things to do!

 Some of that importance included arcade games.

 Looks like a nice group of kids right...

The niceness disappears! They were on a team against another birthday party and are proud to say they emerged as the winners!

Jesse is still our "stealth" child, independent and disappears causing our heart rates to rise as we search for him...always finding him calmly sitting somewhere doing his own thing. He has done amazing in kindergarten conquering reading (his favorite books are Splat the Cat and the Elephant and Piggy series by Mo Williams) and even single digit math. However he drags his backpack along the sidewalk as he heads to the bus stop because "school is just work work work...soooo boring". He is all guns, and sports, and at the moment lost in his halo men surrounding himself in a battle as he sits on the back porch. The boys dimples make our hearts melt. Yet he just said to me the day after his birthday "Mommy, please don't call me Jesse Bear anymore"....GASP! Can we just freeze time? He has to stay my Jesse Bear!

Before I talk about Jesse...

What a crazy weekend we have had! Yes, today is Jesse's birthday and he is being spoiled rotten today. But I need to spend today's post catching you up on the weekend activities and my next post will be Jesse focused!

On Saturday, Asher was baptized by our Pastor at Broadlands Community Church. Even though he accepted Jesus into his heart a few years ago (as well as Anna and Jesse), we didn't want to push them to be baptized until they understood the decision and what it meant with their walk with the Lord. We were thrilled that Asher believed it was his time and we knew through many discussions that this was a step he understood and truly wanted to make. What a blessing to witness the pure joy on his face! His testimony was that he wanted to be baptized so that he could be closer to God and he wants to obey God. Then he ran to the baptismal! Afterwards we enjoyed Carrot Cake at home (Asher's favorite) and Jesse was very worried about why I was making a cake for Asher and not him...

Way to go Asher! We are so proud of you!

Then on Sunday, I ran the Nike Women's Half Marathon. Yes, I have already run a lot of races this season but this was the one all the others were working up towards. I have been dreaming about this race for a year and had time goals in mind! It was an amazing event. Joel even took a day off and spent the day in Georgetown with me enjoying all the expo festivities.

Yes, that is my name on the wall!

We had an amazing date day including eating at our favorite restaurant "Farmer's, Fisher's, and Baker's" and cupcakes at "Georgetown Cupcakes".

My name even lit up on the wall when I walked into the expo!

Race Day! 15,000 women (and a few men). 

The route was amazing...around the capitol, all along the DC monuments, over the Arlington bridge, and through a tunnel twice with drums going to motivate you. The race was so well organized with lots of entertainment. I LOVED it!

 And waiting at the finish line were these men with my finisher's medal...a Tiffany necklace engraved with the Nike swoosh, and the race name and date!

Also waiting for me at the finish line were my amazing family! My husband who never misses a chance to support my passion. I met my race goal with a time of a Personal Record of 1:45.02. I couldn't be more pleased! It hurt, it was hard, but I still love the sport all the same and will do another :).

As soon as I crossed the finish line, I see Joel smiling from ear to ear, my kids cheering, and Jesse screams "Mommy we need to go buy my birthday presents!". I think Jesse was very concerned that we had forgotten him in all this activity of Asher and Me...but he is not forgotten. He woke this morning to balloons and streamers, Cookie Crisp for breakfast, dinner planned for him, and yes presents wrapped on the counter. My next blog will feature him and his party planned for later this week. 

HAPPY EASTER!

As you can see from my last post, we spent the week leading up to Easter with our good friends The Libby's. That means they got dragged into all our pre-Easter traditions dying eggs and making peep dioramas.

Dying Eggs

Explaining the peep dioramas takes lot of pictures so please stay with me! A shout out to Grandma Leslie Thorson who started this tradition for us 4 years ago! Since we had 8 children, we divided them into teams so we wouldn't be eating cake for the rest of the month. Each set of 2 got their own cake to decorate with a scene of the Easter story of their choosing. It was great fun watching the creativity and trying to figure out what each one was planning. As the older 2 boys started attaching Oreos to pretzels and marshmallows we were all a bit confused but then we were blown away with their presentation.

 Asher and Caleb's cake: Palm Sunday - Jesus riding the donkey over the palm branches (the fruit roll up and jelly beans) with all the people shouting praises. 

 Jesse and Josiah did Jesus dying on the cross, complete with the thief's crosses on either side, a crown of thorns on His head, and soldiers with spears. (Oh and I can not forget the torches...jelly beans on top of pretzels)

Hannah and Anna did Jesus rising out of the tomb (made of a circle of Oreos). The green jellybeans on top of pretzels are trees! HHmmm, I think Hannah has some candy in those cheeks of hers!

And I can not leave out Josie who got to do here own cake (since her and Jonas were not always friends). Not sure what her story was but she did keep saying "Jesus"!

 Easter morning our church had an Easter egg hunt for the kids. Do you see all those eggs?! All our kids buckets were overflowing!

 At one point Josie said "I don't want anymore eggs!"

 The egg hunt at Aunt Priscilla and Uncle Pat's house was a bit more challenging.

The Easter bunny is quite sneaky there!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter celebrating that Jesus is alive! What an amazing sacrifice for each one of us and because He lives, we can live this life filled with peace, hope, and joy. We pray our kids get that understanding with each passing day and in despite of some of our sillier traditions. As we were heading to church Easter morning, Anna said "Now what holiday is it that we plant magic jelly beans?" WHOOPS! Oh well, Jesus still LIVES!

Cherry Blossoms Time!

Our favorite time in DC is cherry blossom time! Of course it is everyone else's favorite time to visit too so enjoying DC at this time often involves lots of crowds. But as long as you accept this fact and face it, it is well worth the trip! However, I thought maybe I could avoid some crowds by signing up for the Cherry Blossom 10 mile run which has a route designed for the runner to enjoy such an amazing site.

However do our amazingly long and cold winter, the cherry blossoms were late blooming so this was the only tree I saw with blooms during the 1:20.51 minute run (Yes another PR for me!!). This tree was at the finish line. So still a great run, but disappointing. However just 6 days later...this is what they looked like...

A site that NEVER gets old!

We were super blessed this spring time because we got to enjoy with our friends, the Libby family from the Boston area. They are lifelong friends who are staying with us for a week. It has been fun being tourists with them (and we aren't done yet!).

 We became friends with the Libby's during our pre-kid stage. Now we have 8 kids between the 2 families! Made for quite an adventure in a crowded city-lots of stroller bumping, dirty looks from other tourists, potty detours (including port a potties with no toilet paper and one in the corner of a parking garage!), and counting off kids. Needless to say we all crashed at home and ordered pizza once we got there. The kids were such troopers and have paired off into amazing friends. Well, Josie and Jonas (the 2 youngest) do NOT get along. Josie keeps calling him "that baby" and they fight like an old married couple!

 After 2 years living near DC, this is the first time the reflecting pool has been open! It was awesome.

 The boys.

 The girls. 

Hannah Libby keeps having trouble remembering Anna's time. LOL.

Besties.

 The trip allowed for our kids first metro ride...they were beyond ecstatic. Us parents maybe not quite so much. We were squished like sardines and Asher's hands were literally black after he was done touching EVERYTHING. 

And I just have to leave you with this...taming the Thorson's is never easy but it sure is fun and makes for quite and adventure!