WBR 2010

Well, the day I've been waiting for has come and gone. Since finishing a half marathon in April, I have been training for the Wasatch Back Relay (188.2 miles, 12 runners, 2 days). My first leg of the race was very intimidating for me... 7.4 miles straight up a mountain. Every time I thought about the race during training, I wondered if I would be able to complete this leg without dying. Turns out I didn't die and I even made pretty good time at it. My other 2 legs went well, with me running my fastest pace ever in a race (since high school) on my final leg.

My sister, Tara and a bunch of her friends from Boulder, CO were my teammates (Team name Mind over Mileage). I loved this race because it presented such a unique challenge for each runner and her skill set. We finished in the top 3rd of the women's division. I came away from this race feeling very inspired by all the runners (including myself). I'm very motivated to work on my speed now, so watch out (August 14) Georgetown CO 13.1.

I had to share...

So, I was reading over an old post on my running team's blog and I found this link that was posted by one of my teammates... It really rang true to me and pretty much sums up everything I believe...
http://isnickelbacktheworstbandever.com
enjoy...

Three Little Kittens

Last Wednesday, we looked outside our back window and this is what we saw..

I called Animal Control to come get them, but they were really busy that evening and wouldn't be able to come until morning. So I fed the kittens that evening and was planning on calling again the next day. But the next day Jack was having so much fun watching them and yada yada yada... they still live in my backyard. Well, the two black ones do. The white one disappeared (very sad). Now I don't want to call Animal Control because they are just going to kill the cute little guys. I'm not sure what to do with them. Does anyone want one or have any suggestions?

Green Spring Cleaning

Since Jack was born, I've been trying to rid my home of toxic chemicals. The greatest offenders in my house are definitely my cleaning supplies. NOT ANY MORE! I've been reading about and talking to people who use natural cleaning products (and I'm not talking about Greenworks). I just wasn't convinced that vinegar and baking soda would clean as well as Comet and bleach. But this week I decided to just give it a try... I'm completely sold. I had hard water stains on my glass shower door that I had tried to clean with every chemical I could think of. Who knew that a little vinegar and baking soda would take those stains right off?
I am so excited about this. I got my recipes for my new green/non-toxic cleaning supplies from this website (I added some essential oils to the recipe to make the cleaner smell good too). My next project is homemade non-toxic weed killer for my yard...
Happy spring cleaning everyone...

Jack's One Year Portraits

Just thought I'd share...

Photos by Megan Bradley http://clandestineimages.com

Swimming Lessons

When I was a kid, I took swimming lessons every summer. At the end of the course all of my friends would get certificates with gold stars indicating that they passed that particular level and had could move on to the next. My certificate never had the gold star, but to spare my feelings, my mom would always put me in the next level so I could be with my friends. Needless to say, I've never been terribly good at swimming.

Michael, on the other hand, is a pretty good swimmer. He was even on the swim team in Jr. High :). A couple of years ago he tried unsuccessfully to teach me how to swim. It's not like I'm going to drown... I just really struggle with my technique.

All that changed this week. On Monday, I took my first swimming lesson as an adult. I've had 4 lessons so far and I feel like I'm improving. My breast and back strokes are alright, but I've been struggling with the free style. Well, last night, it just clicked...it's like everything just came together all of the sudden. I am now looking forward to swimming as a means of cross training. Maybe someday, I'll do a triathalon.

Happy Birthday to Jack

This post is long overdue... Jack turned 1 year old on January 22nd. Here are a few pics of his birthday party.



He is such a good little boy. He recently started using walking as his primary source of getting around. He can follow me so fast now. He is a happy and healthy little guy. His favorite things to do are play with anything round "ba" (ball), play with his light-up, noise making basketball hoop, play with cars "oommmmm" (vroom), read books with mom and dad, and hug and pat his stuffed animals.

I also recently discovered that he is quite a fan of chocolate milk... We were at Costco and he was enjoying himself with the smorgasbord of samples. One of them was a little paper cup of chocolate milk. I gave him a sip. He tasted chocolate milk for the first time and you would have thought he had died and gone to heaven. He grabbed the cup away from me, drank the whole thing, smashed the cup into his face and started licking what remained while saying "mmm...mmm...mmm."


It sure has been a fun year getting to know our sweet little boy. We love him so much and enjoy having him in our family.