Run, Run, Run . . . I guess it's what I do

It's official, running is my Hobby! Not sure why I didnt choose basket weaving or something a little less strenuous, but I didnt, so I supose I will continue to run . . . .

Less than a week after the LV marathon, I found myself on the starting line of the Jingle Bell 5K in Balboa Park. My friend Sara (who until Saturday was my Facebook/Blogger friend . . . you should totally check out her blog, Rookie on the Run, she is one of the funniest bloggers ever, and she shares our "meeting" story there) invited me and seriously, who could possibly resist such a festive event?? I was stoked Sara thought of me and even more thrilled she wanted to dress up! I have decided she is SO my type of amiga :)


I was a bit nervous when the alarm went off at 5am (after I hit the pillow at 2, oops) Saturday morning and the rain was still falling outside. I put on my festive colors and jingle bells and rushed out the door to meet my friend. Sara brought me an adorable elf hat . . . we looked pretty dang cute :) haha. We got to the race in plenty of time to register, look around, and even got a pict with good ol' Saint Nick! The rain stopped long enough for the event to take place. The run was beautiful, and the company was fantastic! I am thankful today for new friends and my few friends who actually enjoy running :)


So my next endeveor?? My sissys and I are putting a team together to run the Southern California Ragnar Relay in April! Shawna ran the relay in Las Vegas earlier this year and i was so, totally jealous. Our event will run from Santa Barbara to Dana Point (can you picture how beautiful that run will be?? awww, heaven for sure) We are looking for 12 people to join our team. The cost is $95 per person (plus later fees to rent cars and possible a night in a hotel)! It should be an amazing time. (Seriously, I cant sleep at night I am so excited) Over the course of approximately 24 hours, each team member runs 3 times for a total distance between 13 and 21 miles. This race is for all - beginners to crazy competitors!!

I am so , so very excited that I have convinced one of my bestest friends to start training and be on our team. She is fun and amazing and will be a great addition to our team! She isnt a runner yet, but I have great faith in her and know with a little training she will complete her legs of the race :) Love you Jess! (hope she is totally embarrassed, haha. . . .she is responisible for that birthday party post on my blog last month)


anywho. . . .if you want to join us (girls or guys), let me know - we would love to have you :)



http://www.ragnarrelay.com/losangeles/index.php

Christmas with the Addams family :)

It is amazing to me how intuitive my little Cayden can be . . . only 7 years old and he already has our family all figured out :) Neither mom or dad's surname is "Addams" . . . Cayden came up with that one all on his own! As we headed to our annual "California, extended family's Christmas Celebration" at mom's, Cayden decided we are just like "The Addams Family" . . . big and full of WEIRDOS! Ding, ding, ding!! I think we have a winner :) but I guess what family isnt full of weirdos? As always, we had a great time . . .the little cousins ran around like crazy and the big people had fun visiting, laughing, and eating (of course)! And Cayden is most definitely correct. . . the "real" Addams Family has some serious competition :)

-The Love of a Family is the Greatest Blessing -

Las Vegas Luck Needed

Luck was definitely needed (and in short supply) when we ran the Las Vegas Marathon last Sunday! Months ago, my sisters and I decided to run our first (and only) full marathon! I trained and trained for a good couple of months and then after officially paying the $100 fee, life got the best of all 3 of us and our training was somehow "misplaced."


Excuses, excuses . . . there are always excuses . . . Living in Indiana, Molly didnt love running in the cold, Shawna came up with a bum knee, and I got caught up in the kids sports and found myself running 60 mins, just 3x per week and eliminated the long Saturday runs from my life! All 3 of us arrived in Vegas knowing we were basically "screwed" and kind of avoided even talking about the event and the fact that we werent completely ready until the night before :)

The month prior to the event the Cayden, Aubrey, and Aub's friend Jamie trained and ran 25.2 miles. We tracked their progress and mileage on a chart, and early Saturday (in the absolute freezing cold), they competed in the kid's marathon race and finished their last mile. They did a great job and all 3 kiddos ran their complete mile without stopping. I have always said I am going to turn my kids into runners, and I think I am finally succeeding :)


We spent the rest of Saturday in Vegas being (cold) tourists! Cayden is infatuated with the Eiffel Tower and was stoked to march up to it. We also had yummy treats at the all famous Serendipity, played in the NYNY arcade (awesome games let me tell you) and made a trip to kid heaven, M&M world and the Coke Factory! It was a great day and we were definitely tired when we got back to Shawna's house.





There was an abnormal cold spell in Las Vegas and the night before the race long sleeve shirts, hats, mittens, and knee high socks were added to original short and tank top outfits!


4:30 Sunday morning we woke up, got dressed, and headed to the starting line! We ended up stuck in traffic and watched from the freeway the fireworks officially start the race. 20 minutes later, we bid farewell to mom and hopped out of the car and ran up the freeway off ramp to the starting line. As you can imagine, it takes a long time to get 20,000+ people across the starting line and we snuck in probably in the middle of the pack. The race started well - we "cruised" up the strip with no goal time and expectations other than finishing. We were pretty worried about Shawna - but at the 10 mile split (where the smart 1/2 marathon runners head back and the full marathon runners head off to the middle of nowhere) Shawna said she was fine to finish . . . I think that's where we went wrong :) We made it to mile 13 in a decent time (and if finishing - probably would have meet the under 2 hour goal)! At that time Shawn's knee was in pain and we stopped for a few mins (with mom and the kiddos) to apply some "magic knee strips" (but apparently not so "magic" if applied during the race and pain)! The last 6 miles were pretty much awful . . . nothing like walkiing 6 miles with a 3 year old (sorry Shawn) She most definitely hurt and we felt horrible for her. I at one point offered to carry her but thinking back I am pretty sure I would have collapsed if she would have taken me up on the offer. We ended up crossing the finish line and I am happy to have it checked off my bucket list! AND I swore I would never do it again . . . but only a week later I am already thinking about the rematch! Running is such a horrible game :)

Happy Birthday to ME . . . and my girlfriends too :)

The older I get, the quicker these birthdays seem to arrive. While i LOVE everything about planning birthday parties and wrapping fun, beautiful presents for others, my birthday is something I dont particularly care either way for. Some of you may laugh , but I dont always love the attention on me :) This year, #29 fell on a Saturday and was scheduled to be a HECTIC day from the start. I was hoping to start my morning off with a breezy 20 mile "happy birthday" run, but opted to sleep in after staying up way too late the night before.

Cayden had an early morning soccer game, followed by a pizza party on the field, organized by muah! Followed by Aubrey's soccer game, another soccer game for Cayden, and then a drive to Encinitas for the start (and end) of Aubrey's final softball tournament, with plans to head to dinner with friends after, and then head home for some good quality sleep :)

To further complicate my jam-packed day, sometime in that morning, a work "ordeal" came up and my phone was ringing and buzzing, and ringing and buzzing for Bonnie to find a "fix." I made it through Cayd's first game, pulled off the soccer fiesta, figured out who to pawn my kids off with, and (just a wee bit crabby) headed to work, where I "oh so cheerfully" volunteered to spend my birthday on a plane to Orlando :) . . . I smile in case my boss decides to read this weeks post . . . I was rewarded for my willingness to go and was able to get my package on an airplane without me. I then rushed back (missing Aubrey's game) to pick Cayd up from my mom and get him to his 2nd soccer game. As I got in the car to leave my mom's, she turned to me and with a strange grin and said, "Have fun tonight!" Huh?? What did that mean?? . . . . I thought and thought and then LIGHTBULB . . . i had a pretty good guess and wasn't thrilled but continued on with my day! We made it through Cayd's 2nd game and headed to the coast to watch Aubrey's game. The girls played crappy from the start, it was freezing, Cayden was driving me wacko, and I was sitting by these annoying people from the other team so I suddenly found myself extremely crabby. I wont go into extreme details of the "melt-down" that next occurred but I am pretty sure my friends will think twice before mentioning pizza to me :) I LOVE them!!

We continued on to dinner and then back to Sarah's house for cake and "presents." I knew "something" was occurring at 930 but the friends did an excellent job at confusing my little head and before I knew it - I was in a car headed to Baskin Robbins for ice cream (after the cake) with a friend's husband . . . strange?? Yep, it was STRANGE! But Baskin Robbins again "sparked" the thought I had when my mom gave me the strange goodbye earlier that day. Just days earlier I was sitting eating ice cream with the same friend's husband (and other friends) when I casually mentioned Chippendales! Yeah, I'm an idiot!! . . . . . SO basically, there isn't more to explain. We returned to a dark house, where my suspicions were answered, and before I knew it - was blindfolded and "presented" a lovely fireman :) Below is the one and only decent picture to be shared. Honestly, I didn't know these events were so "hands-on/clothes off!" It was beyond crazy. My friends keep saying next time we will . . . . NOPE, NO WAY! NO NEXT TIME, PERIOD! I learned a valuable lesson. . . .next year when sitting in Baskin Robbins discussing "nevers" just days before my birthday . . . .a cruise with my best friends will slip out :) Wahoo, 30th birthday on a BIG BOAT :)

All Things Halloween

This year we engaged in a number of Halloween celebrations . . .

We started our celebrating with a surprise trip to Disneyland! The kids had a random weekday off school so I arranged a trip without them know where our destination was! Needless to say, they were thrilled when we arrived on Disney Way! We took Aubs good friend Jamie, who had no memories of her last trip to Disneyland. We had a long day, and tons of fun!!







The next day I hosted "Halloween" dinner club and asked everyone to arrive in costumes. I was prepared with a couple back-up costumes - sure that not everyone would follow directions, but to my surprise - all came dressed in their Halloween Holiday Best! It was a great night with friends!



And what would Halloween be without our annual trip to Bates Nut Farm?? Okay, okay. . . I am lying. Cayden informed me he had never been to the pumpkin patch. . . and searching my memory, I realized we hadnt been to Bates since he was 2. Our recent "Perfect Pumpkin Searches" have occured in those big boxes outside Home Depot and Vons!! Go ahead, call me a terrible mom! So this year, I gave in and took them to the "official Pumpkin Patch!"




My good friend Jessica decided to throw her husband a Spooktacular Halloween Birthday Bash! It was fun to dress up like we were kids again (although some of our costumes were not "kid friendly") and much to our kids dislike, have a much needed "grown up night!"





We also attended the kid's school Halloween Carnival, carved pumpkins, and dressed the kids up for the school parade!







And then there was Halloween Day! Poor Cayden ended up sick late Friday night. We thought maybe his stomach didnt agree with all the celebrating at school on Friday, followed by a night of junk food at the high school football game. But come Saturday morning, he had a pretty gnarly fever and was definitely ill. When I told him Happy Halloween his little lip started to quiver and tears ran down his cheeks, knowing he was going to miss out in the fun of the greatest kids holiday ever! He spent the entire day in my bed with a fever off and on. He was sure he had swine flu and has heard all the news hype and kept asking me "if he was going to make it?" It was so sad.



All day I hoped he would recover enough to go out tricker or treating for just a few minutes. He was happy with that plan, but every time I asked if he wanted to get dressed - he would tell me "in a little while." It was pretty sad. I told my mom we most likely wouldnt be making an appearance at their house :( Sad for broken traditions, but what more could I do to heal this poor little one. My friends changed their plans and moved "Halloween Headquarters" to our house so Aubrey and I could join in the fun. Everyone arrived, we had dinner, and were ready to go trick or treating. Last minute (the motrin must have kicked in) Cayd decided to throw on his costume and go around our neighborhood.




I called my mom to tell her Cayd was up and we would be by! Our crew carivaned to mom and dads neighborhood and to say the least "bombarded them." The kids rang the doorbell , did the trick or treat thing, and all proceded to let themselves in. It was funny - mom was trying to name them all as they walked by her . . . and soon the living room was full!



We stayed just a minute at mom and dads and then proceded to another neighborhood to make a couple more visits. We finished the night off with dessert and apple cider and a lesson in candy sorting and trading (I'm not sure where my friends grew up where they didnt learn how to do this??) Anyways. . . we had an exciting month of October . . . the Halloween decorations will be coming down as we prepare for Thanksgiving and Christmas! Hooray for the best time of the year!

Awesome Weekend despite my little OOPS!

Once again, I'm training for a marathon! I have no problem doing the shorter 60 minute runs during the week, but I dread the long weekend runs! Running more than 60 minutes gets SO boring! Its nice to have someone to talk to and help pass the time away! So, with a 16 mile run "scheduled" for last Saturday, I put out a Facebook plea last week for someone to join me. I knew my immediate friends wouldnt be interested (although I got many sweet offers to follow me in a car) but I thought maybe some random "Facebooker" could hook me up with someone?? I got an unexpected offer Thursday night from my sister who lives in Las Vegas to come and join me. I promised her a fun weekend of running (of course), soccer games, softball games and maybe even a meal or two. The plan was quickly made, and she was in town on Friday night. Before bed, we discussed our early morning Saturday run. . . she showed up with a little bit of an attitude - and I compromised to shorten our fun run to 14 miles (she was hoping for 8). I mapped our course out on the internet and at 530 Saturday morning with set out on our way.

Being SUPER busy the last couple weeks, I havent had a chance to talk much with my sisters. Our run was a great time to catch up and gab! We lost track of time and quickly approached our 7 mile turn around point - - - except I couldnt remember the street name and before we knew it - we were at what I remembered to be the 8 mile turn around point! The 8 miles back seemed just as quick (with exception of the last 2 miles and poor Shawnie's hurt knee) but overall the 3 hours went super smooth and when we later went back to clock our run with the car - we found we ran 16.5 miles! Way to go team KELLY!! haha

We had a quick, enjoyable weekend together . . . 2 soccer games, washed cars, relaxed in the spa, dinner at Souplantation, a VERY good Saturday nights sleep, breakfast at IHOP, a litte shopping, 2 softball gamers and it was time for Shawn to head back home. I love my sisters!!






So, the little OOPS in title you ask?? . . . . so I had my planner out today scheduling out my October and noticed the 16 mile run was not on the schedule for this last Saturday. . . we were only supposed to run 8!! OOPS!! The 16 miles are to be ran on the 17th - a date I have stuck in my head becasue it is going to be a busy one. I knew I saw the #16 somewhere! MY BAD!!
I'm counting on Shawna coming back :) or Mol flying in! I love my sisters!!

The Happiest Run on Earth?? I think NOT!

My sisters and I competed in the Disneyland Half Marathon 2 weeks ago! By now - I am sure most have seen my sister's blog and rendition of the event - So I will make this short and sweet

Basically - all they said was true . . .we had a great day at Disneyland the day before our race (probably not the wisest of choices, but still fun) . . .we had the perfect carb-smart dinner . . .got back to our hotel early to mental prep and get a good nights rest . . . woke up on time ( 430am) and made our way to the starting line! We were ready for this to be over!





I was well trained and ready to go! We wanted to finish the race together and discussed our options the night before if "someone" decided to give up or get grumpy. I was the one OBSESSED with finishing this race in under 2 hours and took on the role as "team leader" (or maybe just bossy big sister)! I had the mile times mapped out in permanent marker on my forearm and was going to lead us to success. :) . . . Yeah . . . that was the plan at least! We wove in and out of "running traffic" like crazy, and somehow missed our first mile time by 20 seconds! I let the girls know we were "way" behind and took off . . . at mile 2 - we were still off, and by mile 3, I learned that Sharpie Permanent Markers aren't so permanent on the forearm when mixed with sweat! My anticipated mile times were now just a giant smudge mark! I was pretty bummed, and told the girls I was fine not making the 2 hour mark. We found a steady pace, and ran on together (and were now "allowed" to stop along the course and pose for picts - which makes me super happy now)!

By mile 5, I was dead! On any given practice day - 5 miles was basically an easy run . . .and here I was not sure how I was possibly going to complete another 8! At this point - Molly (the "someone" we expected to give up or get grumpy) was in the lead and pulling Shawn and I along. For the remainder of the race - this was basically our placement! Molly . . . .Shawna . . . .and Bonnie, as the caboose! In the end - it was Molly who had an amazing race and could have most definitely ditched her "well trained" sisters and gotten the much anticipated time! They both pulled me along, and together we crossed the finish line ( actually, I may have crossed first, oops) and finished our race at 2:09:22! My bummer time was quickly replaced with happiness knowing we were done! Oh well . . . there is always next race :)

2,749th place out of 11,643 ain't too shabby