Spring is Here!

It was hot and sunny.  Time to bring out the sprinkler! 

 No pool?  No worries!  We have Tupperware bins for that!

 Table Dancing?  Nope, I have no idea what they are doing.

Cute?  Yes, yes she is. 

 This just cracked me up. (And no, the one on the right is not mine.)

Oh, they were looking at a bird nest in the tree, hoping for baby birds. 

And hey, Levi needs a bath! 

He was not excited about it, but bore it well. 

Then he got his revenge!

Crescent City Classic 10k

I ran my first 10k race today.  That is 6.2 miles, in case you didn't know.  Dan is a rock star and drove out to see me at the end and take pictures.  I really really wanted to carry my little camera on the run, but I could not for the life of me find it!  I know I put it somewhere safe, but I cannot remember where that might be.  So I was camera-less.  No photos of my 11 best running friends at the start.

I love my running group!  I run with the Stroller Warriors, a running group for military wives.  They are wonderful and have become friends to me.  We had a van of 6 of us, and several other cars going out to the race at 6am this morning.  It was fun to be with a group of friends and nearly all of us wore our Stroller Warrior Shirts.

The race started at 8.  I was a little grumpy, because I tend to run at 6am, and all this week, it has been 43 degrees at 6am when I run.  Today, it was 65 by 8am and the sun was bright and warm. It was a sunny 70 by the end.   So, not my best conditions for a run.  Running in the heat and sun gives me migraines. But I'd hydrated well the last few days and this morning, and I'd come prepared with salt tablets.   I thought I was prepared with my Garmin gps watch, but the darn thing said it had no battery charge.  AAARRGH!!  I was so cross about that. But I'm a punk, I can take it.  I used my stopwatch to guestimate where I was and how fast I was.  Definitely not as good, but better than nothing.

Our group was separated by our seeded times, and there were only 4 of us in the red "E" group.  I knew one of them was a lot faster than me, and the other 2 I was pretty sure were slower. I'm not sure I mentioned how huge this race is.  There were tons of people.  Tons!  They sent us off in waves by corral every 3 minutes.  We did a lot of walking before we hit the start, and it was slow and clogged for the first mile.  It never did clear out, but you had less and less dodging to do as you went on.  They had shut down the streets in the French Quarter and runners ran on both sides of the street, and needed the room.  

I so wish I had been able to find my camera!  We ran right through downtown New Orleans.  The race actually started at the Super Dome.   We passed the vomity smelling Bourbon street and splashed through the waterlogged gutters, due to the nightly hosing down of the streets to clear out the alcohol and vomit.  I avoided the gutters at all costs.  My running friends were excited about the free beer on course.  And it was there!  There several spots where folks were handing out cups of beer to the runners.

We started slow, which I like.  I like a slow start and a faster second half.  We couldn't go faster the first mile, but as things cleared up a bit, my friends got faster too.  I finally had to let my speedy friend go and I dropped back with the slower 2.  They, however, wanted to do miles 2-3 faster than I normally would have.  My shins were angry about it. I think we were hitting 9 minute miles because at mile 3 we were at 31 minutes.  

I was ready to step it up at mile 5, but my one of my 2 friends was running out of gas.  I decided I'd rather stick together, especially since the sun was hot and I was feeling it. I thought I'd rather be slow and feel okay at the end, then to push it and keel over.  We got progressively slower, but I was getting progressively hotter and I could feel my internal warning system telling me I was in trouble later if I pushed it.  But muscles and breathing for miles 5-6 were great.

So we slogged out the last mile and it was okay that we didn't sprint the end, because there was nowhere to go.  The second you stepped over the finish line, it came to a standstill.  My only complaint is that finish.  5000 people in front of you walking along at the end of a race is bad.  We spent 10 minutes working our way through the chute at the end.  It was frustrating.  We finally got our water and our medals, and could relax in the enormous crowd.  It took 2 phone calls to meet up with Dan.

I could have gone to the after party.  It was suppose to be fantastic- all the free food and beer you want. But I was tired and worried about a migraine, so Dan and I just headed home.  It was a decent race, and I was happy enough.  My time based on my stopwatch was 1:05:01.  Hopefully the official results will be up soon so I can see how I compared.

Dan brought Rylee to meet me.  And Dan is the one who took all the pictures for me! 

Check out this girl!  BAREFOOT! 

There were a lot of tutus.

I can't imagine a full bunny suit would be fun to run in, but this guy did. 

Yep, another tutu. 

Yikes, not sure why one would run in a mask. 

 And I'm really not sure what this is all about!

Man in a turkey costume?  Why not?  This is New Orleans!  And the costumes are my favorite part of the races here. 

 Another tutu.... wait, thats me!  Yep, my friend Blair made me a tutu and I wore it for my race, and I rocked it.  Well, I liked it better before I saw pictures.  In my head, I'm totally 25 pounds lighter and way more svelte.  But I had a good time, so its all good!

Me and my buddies at the end!  

Super awesome medals, too.  The little runner.... it spins!

Look what I found!  A Pre race photo from one of my group.  I'm the one in the tutu!

(And yes, we are standing in front of THE Super Dome. Or, as my kids call it, "The Mega Pie".)

And the results are posted.  I apparently can't tell how fast I am running for anything.  I so need my GPS watch!

There were 17,546 runners total.  I came in #6,051.  There were 9, 365 women and I was # 2070.  My official time was 1:04:57, and the pace was fairly consistent with times ranging between 10:13 (mile 3) and 10:30 (mile 1). So, we ran about the same pace, but it just felt better and worse at different times!  Bah.

Stuff that Happened

Marian received some super-awesome paints and brushes for her birthday.  She was really excited to try them out and painted this awesome chicken!

These paints are especially nice as they dry quickly and can be painted over.  A detail Marian was quite pleased about.  Why a chicken?  I don't know.  She googled pictures and settled on the rooster.  And I think she did a marvelous job!  (Thanks Grandma White!!)

For school, Callie had to do a "Living Museum".  She was suppose to choose a job , or what she wanted to be when she grew up.  She was suppose to research this job and write up a 2 minute shpiel on it.  On Thursday, parents were invited to go see the kids present it.  The children each had a sticker on their shoulder for you to "push".  Pushing their button made them give their prepared speech about the job. 

Some kids got way into it.  Callie did not want to stop playing outside and come in to work on it.  Her reporting was sparse and not as well done as it could have been.  Some kids had poster boards and awesome dress ups.  Callie brought her little dog and used it as a prop, and had some details that were not necessarily based on fact or research.  She did a dang good job for the amount of work and preparation that went into it! I went, I poked her and heard her shpiel (for the 10th time!!) and saw some of the other kids before Rylee and her antics necessitated leaving.  Callie said she enjoyed it and it was fun.

This is just an awesome cake I wanted to remember.  One of my running friends made this for another. It is a Pinata Cake!  She said she cooked 2 cakes in 2 bowls that were the same size and shape, to get 2 half circle cakes.  (Or, and Delaney corrected me.... "spheres".)  Then she scooped out the middle of the 2 cakes and filled them with easter candy.  Yep, all kinds, from jelly beans to rolos to peanutbutter cups.  She then covered the hole filled with candy with parchment paper, flipped one half onto the other and slid the parchment paper out.  Then she frosted it and amazed us at a get together!

This?  Well, this is just a picture of a cute kid I know!  She had her very first field trip this week.  It was so exciting she actually woke up an hour early to be ready.  It was kind of nice to not be hurrying her up to get ready for once!   She had a marvelous time and was so excited that she finally got to ride on a bus.  And the Children's Museum was great.  She had a really good time.

This is Levi.  I went to the park with some friends on Friday morning.  Since it was a 1/2 mile walk, I took the dog.  Sadly, he was not very well behaved while we hung out at the park.  I may need to reassess the value of him getting a walk vs the value of my peace and quiet. 

Rylee had a marvelous time at the park!  She had a good time running around.  It was a glorious day.  After a week of chilly temperatures, it got up to 75 and Rylee ended up with pink cheeks.

There's a WHAT in my back yard?!

I may have mentioned that we live in an alligator infested swamp.  Oddly enough, all my friends and neighbors see them all the time, but in the 19 months that we have lived here, I have only seen one other alligator, outside of the zoo.  Today was my lucky day!

Yep, we saw this little guy in the canal that runs in front of our house.  Granted, he was a lot further down the canal and nowhere near the front of my house, but I finally saw an alligator!. 

 The little pipe there is his home.  My friend said he's there all the time on either side of the pipe.  That pipe goes under the road and exits in the other canal right by the playground. Yippee.  There's an alligator living right by the playground!

He really is just a little guy.  Maybe 4 feet long.  I let Levi go up to check him out.  I know, one of those things that in hindsight is really bad when things go south.  The alligator waited till the dog was a foot away and then made a spectacular splash and disappeared into his hidey hole. 

I can't wait to see him again!

She takes after me

I think we all know that Delaney is a character.  A very fun one at that. She also has a very vivid imagination.  A friend once said that her mind must be like an amusement park.  I expect it is.  I don't know where her unique personality comes from.  Probably not me!  She is so interesting and creative.  Recently, my favorite thing is the names she gives her favorite stuffed animals.  Most notably, her panda bear.  His name is "Mr. Miggins".  Who comes up with stuff like that?!  Certainly not me.

My family has a history of dull names for our pets that lack imagination. Rylee takes after me.  She has a favorite stuffed poodle, and its name is "Poody the Poodle".  Her other favorite is a little black beanie baby dog and his name..... "Black."