Getting into the Christmas spirit

We've had a super busy week FULL of Christmas activities! Last weekend, we took the kids out to Sarasota Bay for a picnic dinner before watching the lighted boat parade. The kids LOVED the boats and with the mild weather and beautiful sunset, it turned out to be a really enjoyable evening for us.


On Thursday, Brian took the day off from work so he could attend Todd's school Christmas program. Todd was super excited to perform....
... but totally ready to ditch his lipstick red nose!
Hayley had Track and Field Day at her school, so she'd already had an active and full day when we picked her up to surprise the kids with dinner out to eat before our big adventure to The North Pole!
If the kids look nervous, it's because we first told them that the surprise was that they were spending the night here:
Should we be concerned that they seemed to enjoy "jail" so much? The kids were super excited to be on our way to see Santa.
Hayley thought the actual North Pole was awesome. Todd was less then enthused about, well, a pole!
After finally getting to tell the big man all about their Christmas dreams...
We enjoyed some hot cocoa and cookies by the campfire before heading back to "Florida" on the train.


Friday night, we took the kids down to Main Street and ran the Jingle Bell Run together as a family. It definitely wasn't a fast race, but the kids enjoyed it and Hayley was so proud for running 1 mile straight without taking any walk breaks. She says now she is ready to try 2 miles! I think it was that darn race adrenaline talking, but all us runners know that this is how the addiction begins!

Here's video from Todd's school Christmas program as the kids do The Reindeer Pokey!

November

The month of November offered beautiful weather and as I hobbled around for a bit, we spent a lot of time playing outdoors.

We took the kids to the Children's Garden where they had a great time exploring and enjoying the beautiful setting.


Todd spent lots of time playing with his new remote control car.

And Hayley got to join me at Todd's school to celebrate his Thanksgiving Feast together where Todd chose to be "Indian Darth Vader!"

Endurance Adventures

At least this time I have kind of a good excuse for the recent blogging hiatus. Brian and I were both off accomplishing our endurance goals for the year. I headed to Savannah at the beginning of November to run my second marathon and first Rock N' Roll race. It was a girls weekend as 11 of the local IRunMommies traveled together to Georgia. For some this was their first half or full marathon.

We enjoyed the expo... always one of my favorite parts of a race. While some women can spend hours shoe shopping, I think I could spend hours running shopping. No wonder an expo is my idea of bliss!

The race started at 7:30am, but it was a waved start so we didn't start running until close to 8am. After spending the summer with 4:30am training runs, I was worried that it would be awful running for 5 hours in the hot sun. Luckily, Savannah was worlds cooler than Florida and while the morning started off chilly, the weather was almost perfect for a marathon. I say almost... a nice strong wind caused a lot of grief late in the run!
Unfortunately, the race course turned out to be a bit disappointing. I've never been to Savannah, and I still don't feel like I've really seen Savannah... even after running 26.2 miles through the city. The first part of the course we did get to run down some beautiful, historic streets near Forsyth Park. But, once we made the turnoff at mile 11 for the full marathon, things got UGLY. And by ugly, I mean about 10 miles on this:
And as if the marathon isn't humbling enough, at about mile 12 we passed the lead runners at their mile 24 and on the way to the finish line. I still cannot even imagine how anyone can possibly run that far, that fast! Once we realized we weren't going to place (haha), we took our time and tried to make the best of it...
... but the final 6 miles (which are already incredibly painful), were uphill, on this interstate, and INTO the wind. It's amazing the type of mental games and tricks you come up with to get yourself through something like this. To me, the mental game is the allure of the marathon.
In the end, I finished about 25 minutes faster than my last marathon time and felt "good" for the most part of the race. Don't get me wrong... I was more than ready to sit down (or collapse), but I felt worlds better than I did at the end of the Disney Marathon. (It was super nice to be able to feel my toes this time around!)
While I was recovering from Savannah, Brian was gearing up for his big race, The Tough Mudder.
He participated with his brother and really enjoyed the race course and the organization of the event. He's already talking about next year's race and almost... almost has me considering it. But I'm a realist. I mean sure, it's all smiles...
until you have to dunk your entire body in ice water.
And it's supposed to be a team event. Which means your teammates are supposed to help you with the obstacles that are challenging...

... but I do have some concerns about that. Brian tells me he was trying to "help" this guy! Me thinks the picture tells a different story!
And then at the end, you get electrocuted!!
Sounds like... not my idea of a good time! But... I'm still considering it! Because for some reason, getting super dirty and being in pain makes you feel accomplished. The kids already think we're crazy.

Books of the New Testament

Hayley has been burning through her Awana book. The little gal is incredibly motivated by plastic rubies and emeralds! Last night she recited ALL the books of the New Testament along with several verses. Here's a practice run!

Halloween Activities

Pumpkin patches, pumpkin carving, trick or treating, oh my!

Fall Activities

We've been in school for over 2 months now, and I'm still in denial that Halloween and Thanksgiving are just around the corner. Luckily, we had a blast of chilly air last weekend to open my eyes and remind me that the holidays are approaching... as is my next marathon. Truth be told, I've been in a tizzy about some recent knee pain I've been having and the impact it's going to have on my next running adventure on Nov. 5th. Those who've marathon trained know that the taper is a rough experience in itself. Combined with worries of a knee injury and I've been left wallowing in self pity and fruitless efforts to keep myself from anxiety eating everything in sight! I really have no idea what is going on with my knee, but I suspect it's a result of a 20 mile run out on Siesta Key where the roads are very sloped and likely lead to some tendon strain. (Ah, the pitfalls of training in paradise.) While I don't think it's anything serious, it is enough pain to completely effect my running gait and give me heartburn about whether this marathon will be feasible. Right now, I'm sticking with it will be feasible (slow, but feasible).

The kids have been busy with school activies. Todd had a visit to his school pumpkin patch, complete with storytime with the Pumpkin Fairy. You can tell he was doubting the feats of the pumpkin in this story.He was happy to pickout his very own pumpkin.

But the smile turned to a frown when he thought his buddy Alex had taken his pumpkin. He let Alex know that pumpkin said "T-O-D-D!!"
We had a visit from another one of our slow, prehistoric looking turtle friends.
I'm terribly afraid he was sent as an omen for my upcoming marathon.
Todd has been playing football at the YMCA. And his buddy from school, Bamboo, came to stay with us for a weekend.
We continued our annual, family tradition of the Creaky Bones race. This year Todd got to race!
But not before a quick warm up and some stretching.
This was Hayley's third year to participate in the race. But, the race has grown tremendously since our first year. The picture below is the start of Hayley's race which was for 5 and 6 year olds. The poor kids, like Hayley, who were lined up at the back didn't stand a chance. And, the lack of organization proved to be a major obstacle for Hayley as many of the kids did not follow instructions and were twice the size of Hayley which resulted in Hayley getting knocked down at the turnaround point. She got a minor scrape on her knee and was SO upset about the whole thing. When she calmed down, she let me know that she was most upset that she didn't finish the race... and she didn't think she "earned" her medal. She then told me that she was trying to run the race the way "God wanted her to." She was trying to follow the rules and turnaround at the right spot AND be considerate of the other children racing. I could not be more proud.

More to come as gear up for Halloween festivities!