Ben and James

Today was the usual day of laundry, dishes, VT (yeah, i know I'm a slacker..very last day of the month) naps, stories. James has finally really gotten letters down and now notices them everywhere. He spells ever sign he sees and I love it. Today I was reading a Dick and Jane book to him and he spelled come and then he read that word everytime we got to it in the book, which was about every other word in that book. It was fun. He was really excited about it. Anyways, after naps we had planned to go swimming and so it was off to the Lagacy Center. I have taken James swimming there several times and I have been telling Ben that he needed to come swimming with us sometime because James loved it so much. This was the first time though that I took Harrison. And let me tell you what, he hated it! He was terrified of the water. he just clung on to me the entire time. So after about 30 min of him crying and freezing I took him out and we went and changed and then sat and watched James and Ben have a grand old time. It was so fun though! I loved watching those two play so much. I swear it is the greatest thing to see your husband be the funnest dad ever. Ben took James down the big slide about 50 times, and james never got tired of it. Ben was so much more fun with James in that pool than I ever am. So I was rally glad to see them having such a grand old time. Then after the swim we went to a little place called Emmetts. They have shakes and hamburgers and that sort of thing. I got onion rings and oh my heck, those are the best onion rings I have ever had. the hanburger was okay. But those onion rings were amazing. I could have eaten about 10 lbs of those things. Anyways, then it was baths, a lesson, scriptures and finally bedtime. After that I got in a serious cleaning mood. I super cleaned my kitchen, the fridge, the rugs, the cupboards, swept, mopped, washed the curtains, and now my kitchen looks really good and I am enjoying a nice bowl of oatmeal. I love oatmeal, and I love good days like today.

Back on the Road Again

Warning, this blog is 100% about running, so if you would rather not read about that....stop reading. and don't worry, I won't feel bad.

To start off I would like to say that today I ran 16.42 miles in 2hr 40 min. My pace was pretty slow, but soon you will find out why. I have been extremely nervous about this run since I found out that my foot was injured a few weeks ago. I was worried about it because I was having to take 2 weeks off from running and then this would be my next long run. The farthest run I have done in a while is 13 miles and that was a month ago. So I was freakin out that I would be running 16 miles so soon. I started running last Sat but I only ran 7 miles. It was a test run to see how my feet felt and everything and while my legs were shaking at the end, my feet felt fine. Then this week I ran 4 miles, 8 miles, and 4 miles again. I as really excited to run again but after my 8 mile run I was so discouraged. it was so hard!!! While my foot was healing I went swimming, biking, Elliptical, everything I could think of that would help keep my legs strong without re-injurying myself. I worked mysefl pretty hard and was confident that I was keeping up. obviously I was wrong. THis week has been the hardest week of training I have ever done including the short runs. my legs absolutely killed all the time and my breathing was terrible. I felt like I was starting over. So when I was getting ready for this 16 miler today I was very nervous.
I started out like I always do with a 5-10 min brisk walk and then started jogging. As soon as I started jogging my legs were burning, worse than they ever have...ever! By the time I got up to 2 miles I was huffin and puffin and thought my legs were going to fall off. But I kept thinking to myself "don't worry it'll go away soon just keep pluggin along" and I did. When we hit mile 4 I seriously wanted to turn around and go home. At that point I really wondered if I would be able to even finish the run. I felt light headed, I had the hardest time breathing and my legs were aching even worse. But I knew that if I didn't finish this run, that there would be no way that I could finish the Marathon. So I kept running and hoped that I would soon "get in my groove" and finish the run. The difficulty of the run never changed. My legs killed the entire time, my breathing finally kicked in gear and became somewhat easier. When we hit mile 8 we stopped at gas station for a potty break and then I bought a pack of life savers to suck on...to save my life ya know. I stretched out quickly and then it was back on the road. At this point it had started to get very windy and rain somewhat. I was freezing. (that was my own fault though, I was in shorts) But once again I knew I couldn't quit. For some reason the song "oh when the saints come marchin in" popped into my head and I started singing it in my head, that got me through a couple miles. Anyways, I ran, and ran and ran. every part of my legs killed. But the good news is, is that my feet never hurt once...hooray. Okay so at the end of my run there is one last hill, the course we ran today was a slow but steady uphill for about 8 miles and then down, but at about mile 14.5 there was one last hill. I have run that many many times and it always kicks my butt, and I wasn't really sure how I was going to get up it, but I knew I would. the funniest thought came to mind as I was about to go up. I thought, okay I am one of those wind up toys and I am about to run out, so lets wind me back up good and tight so I can make it up this hill. Then the song "we are the champions" popped into my head and I booked it up that hill. then ran the last 3/4 mile at a 8 min mile. I was pretty darn proud of myself for finishing todays run. Every part of me absolutely kills at the moment and I can't bend over to save my life, but that is okay. Nothing a nice Ice bath can't take care of. However, at this point I am 100% confident that I will finish that marathon. If I could run today with my legs killing the entire way and wanting to give up from the very beginning, but still finishing. Then I can run the marathon. Oh yeah, one thing I wanted to remember. Near the start of our run a service truck with some guys in it passed by and cheered us on and then several miles later we passed them again and you could see the look of surprise on their faces that we were still running. They cheered us on again. I love it when cars drive by and give us a thumbs up or wave or cheer for us. It always give me that extra boost I need. I am glad to be running again.

Easter Fun

Wow, well over a month ago James and I went shopping and got some easter decorations. We hung plastic eggs from the ceiling, got some easter placemats, all that fun stuff. He was so excited, however the next morning he was really disappointed that the Easter bunny had not come yet. Needless to say, it has been a very long month for James. On Friday we had a Easter party and Gma Robertsons. The boys were so excited they wouldn't eat breakfast and they didn't really sleep the night before. We had a pretty grand time dying eggs, making easter bunny ear hats (they looked hilarious) And eating lots and lots of candy. When it was finally time to go look for the eggs James and Aubrey ran on out there, but Harrison didn't seem to care very much. I showed him an egg and told him to put it in his basket and he wouldn't do it until I told him it was a ball. That got him going, he started saying ball and found 10 more eggs. On the way home James said "Grandma was so nice to make us these carrots (she made paper carrots full of candy....adorable) she's the best" So yeah I think he had a pretty great time.
Then came Saturday, we had a b-day party in the morning and then after that it was off to Gma Morrise's for another eggs hunt. Susan gets bags for each of us to gather candy in and she showed James the bags and he was really excited about it. James was really good at finding the eggs and got way more Candy than I thought he would. He was also really nice to find eggs and give them to thse who didn't have as many. good job James.
Then came Easter Sunday. We have always had the easter bunny come on Saturday but this weekend that wasn't an option really, so it was sunday this year. I was in the shower and James came bursting into my bathroom yelling "mom!! did you see all the eggs??? There are eggs everywhere!" He was so excited, and yes there were a lot of eggs, too many in fact. we have so much candy I think I am going to be sick, okay I am sick. I have been eating candy since friday and it shows. In fact I am eating a peep right now. What am I thinking? Anyways, James loved his easter bucket and gladly sat down to a good hardy breakfast of candy. mmmm. I was subbing for his class that day and it went pretty well. We talked all about Jesus' life and the resurrection and those kids are so sweet. After the lesson we glued popcorn onto paper trees, they all liked that....eating the popcorn I mean. But anyways, the next day (monday) when I asked James what we should learn about for FHE he said " I want to learn more about Jesus" sweet huh? So we did. Anyways, back to sunday, then we had a huge feast at Gma Morrises where I ate way too much trifle, it was just so good I couldn't help myself.. I think I will have that for my birthday cake this year. Oh and as we were leaving to Gma James grabbed his candy and said "mom when I need candy, I just NEED candy" yeah no wonder your teeth are so terrible! Anyways, it was a fun weekend, and now it is a gorgeous day outside, Ben and James are playing soccer in the backyard, and "fishing" with James' fishing pole and Harrison is asleep. He is really sick, Strep, Sinus infection, fever up the wahzoo, and has cried pretty much the past two days so I am going to go join Ben and James outside. 

The Fishing Pole

So, as I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, James saw a Lightening McQueen fishing pole at Target a couple months ago and really really wanted it. I told him he could do some extra chores for me and save his money and then buy it himself. I didn't think he would actually even remember it or save his money, but he surpirsed me. HE has been cleaning rooms, doing dishes (unloading the dishes and putting them on the counter) picking up this toy or that, helping with laundry and after many pennies, nickels, and dimes, oh, and few quarters, James saved up just over $7. That is pretty impressive for a 3 yr old. The pole cost $9 so we of course made up the difference and today we went to the store and bought the fishing pole. He was so excited about it. He took it from the cashier in its bag carried it the whole way home, and then proudly showed Ben what he got. We then played fishing the rest of the day. Tonight he is asleep with the fishing pole by his door where he can see it. Yep he loves that thing. Oh yeah, he also called his Grandpa Morrise to tell him that they needed to go fishing...now! I told him that we could just practice fishing for a while until We are able to go fishing. To tell the truth I have never actually been fishing. Ben's dad took JAmes last summer and that is where this all started. Apparently , he had a pretty good time. Oh yeah one more thing, he was so cute showing Harrison how to reel it in. They were sitting in the corner of his room and james had his hand over Harrison's and was reeling it in for him, my cute little boys!

Broken Feet

I realize that 95% of what comes out of my mouth these days has something to do with Running, and I apologize for that. But I have to say that I am absolutely addicted to it, I love it, and as the marathon gets nearer my excitement grows. So I tend to talk about it....all the time. So, Sorry to all that are quite tired of the subject. Perhaps one day I will get this out of my system and talk about more normal things. Anyways, so last week a few days after that 13 mile run my feet started to hurt...a lot. This concerned me because I have had all sorts of aches and pains but this was different and I was worried that something was really wrong. So I went to the running store, they suggested some inserts and see how that worked out for me. So I ran last week and 2 days this week. Lets just say that I am returning those inserts tomorrow. My feet were in a lot of pain last night and so this morning went to the Dr. He did X-rays, looked at my feet. Had me stand on a piece of paper and then traced my foot. He then showed me how much bigger my foot was than my current running shoe. They couldn't see anything wrong on the x-rays but they often can't and usually need a bone scan. There are a couple possibilities for my pain. #1-Stress Fractures...yeah if that is the reason I am going to be one upset person that no one is going to want to be around. #2 my shoes are ill fitting and are causing me this pain. as the doctor said "you are a little person but you have big feet and that is okay. get bigger/wider shoes" #3 some other ligament problem.
Hopefully it is reason #2. He told me to take 2 weeks off from running, but to do other exercises instead just no running no matter what, and keep off my feet when I can. Also, he told me a certain type of inserts to get, and to get new shoes. I did all this today and until March 25 I am not running. I don't know if I will be able to last that long, but if it means getting my feet taken care of so I can run this race, then it is worth it. I told him if he told me I couldn't run anymore I would start crying because I have been working and training so hard for this for several months now and I seriously would be heart broken if I couldn't do it. So I am doing everything I am supposed to and hopefully in a couple weeks I will back to training. however, if in a few weeks my feet are still in pain, then they will do Bone scans and if it is stress fractures.....well then life is really going to suck. Anyways, so that was my day today. I am really tired, got up at 4:30 am and ran 7 miles....so yeah, my bed is calling to me. So good night.

Big Munchkin

Tonight as I was tucking kids in Bed and kissing them good night I said "Good Night little munchkins" James said "good night BIG munchkin". I laughed at that. Today I bought him a new pair of Pajamas. While I was making lunch I noticed that I didn't here James playing so I called for him and he showed up in the kitchen wearing his new PJ's and said, "mom, look at my new Jammies, aren't they so cute? I am the cutest in these Jammies". Once again I laughed. He wore those Jams all day by the way. He wouldn't take them off. He just kept talking about his new cute Jammies and how cute he was in them. I think I must say the word cute too much. Oh well, it added some fun to the day.

Honest James

Okay, so as many of you know I have been running & training for a marathon for quite some time now. As many of you also know, that since I have started training I have gained six pounds. Now I know that i is most likely all muscle and all that, but it is still not very gratifying to be exercising way more than the average human being and dedicating several hours each week to just running, and then have to move up a jean size! Once again...I am no completely obsessed with weight, I love that I can run all these miles and do all this, I just wish that the scale would stop going up each time I stood on. It is not very encouraging. Anyways....so there is your background info for this little conversation here. So tonight after I had finished brushing kids teeth and James was doing his usual get ten thousand drinks from the faucet I was standing in front of the mirror, and said to Ben "Man, why do I always look so pregnant?!" To which James replied "Because you do" He then skipped off the step stool and hopped into bed. Yeah, thanks James. (and no I am NOT pregnant...just FYI)
Earlier that evening I had to run an errand and before leaving, went upstairs to try and do something with my hair. Last summer I chopped 14 in off my hair and gave it to Locks of Love. It is something that I always thought would be cool do to, and I was growing tired of my overly long hair (harrison loved it and never stopped pulling it out of my head...not so amazing) And I had always wanted to try really short hair. So I chopped it...short! And it was short. I kept it short through the summer and into the fall. However Ben loves my long hair, and used to make comments about my hair looking nice this way or that, since I cut it, he has not said a word about my hair except when we see pictures of me with long and he says "oh look...your long hair" Yeah okay I get the point, I will grow it back out. So I am now going through the unbelievably painful process of growing my hair out. It is always ugly, always. I can never make it look cute. But I am just biting the bullet and trying to ignore the mullet atop my head. So back to this evening. So there I was in the bathroom, I was excited because I could actually pull back part of my hair finally. So I pinned it up here and there and when I was done I thought it looked okay. I head downstairs, James meets me and with a look of surprise says "mommy, what your hair look like?" and moments pause "did you cut it? comb it" I responded "does it look good or bad?" he hesitated and said something like this "bbbbbaagggggooood" and then quickly turned around so as not to get caught in his deceit.
I had to blog these little stories so I wouldn't forget them. James makes me laugh all the time. I laughed my head off both times he was "honest James". The joys of being a mom.