This Photo is the Best Thing Ever

The End.

What I Did on my Summer Vacation... So Far

Over the past two months I've had a bajilion blog posts pre-formed in my head that never made it onto the screen so instead of slogging through them all one by one (which face it, will never happen) I've decided to do a a "Summer Recap" of sorts to bring everything here up to date. I feel like so many things have happened the past eight weeks that if I wait until the actual end of summer to recap it will go on for days and days. Now, where did we leave off? Marathon time? Ok, ok, here we go:

The Great Milwaukee Race

The scavenger hunt race that Fit Milwaukee organized with InStep was rad. We had 50 teams (nearly 200 people) sporting our colorful shirts as they ran to various downtown landmarks, solving clues and playing games. Sure, it was a hot, miserable day but it ended with beer at the Ale House! The race itself drew lots of attention and we're already planning for it to be many times larger next year. It looked so fun that I actually kind of wished I could have run in it- but luckily a similar-style race has since been announced and the all of us GMR organizers are planning to participate. The Beer Runner wrote a really nice recap of our race if you are so inclined to check it out.

Chicago Mini-Trip

Because my sister-in-law Michelle is a saint who apparently loves having her house overrun with children, she offered to take my kids not for one week but TWO weeks this summer. The first week was in June and though Jason and I didn't plan a large vacation for this one we did spend a few days in Chicago. I drove in and met him at the Google office and we headed down to Millennium Park to catch a free show by The Books. The next day I got to spend a little time shopping on Michigan Avenue where I bought toys for the girls. Because when I finally get a break from my children I immediately miss them and need to buy them stuff. We also spent some time at the Lincoln Park Zoo. But the highlight of the trip was a meal at Graham Elliot. We had seen him on Top Chef Masters and were excited to finally make it to his restaurant. We had heard that in addition to offering a more laid back, accessible way of fine dining, he also likes to incorporate thing like candy into his dishes. Yes, weird but intriguing. I actually had pea and mint marshmallow soup and it was divine. I also ordered a lovely Alaskan Halibut dish and some sorbet for dessert. Yum, yum and more yum. AND, the restaurant had rock and punk music playing the entire time. Win!



*Photo by Rebecca Anne.


San Francisco


I am so lucky. Not only did I get treated to an excellent dinner in Chicago but in July we planned an entire weeklong vacation around food! Good thing I packed my running shoes. Michelle took the girls for week number two and we headed out to California. I have to say that this was probably the best vacation I've ever taken. Since the girls were born we've only ever gone away for a few days at a time without them and those vacation have always seemed sort of rushed. It's always go-go-go-hurry-and-fit-everything-in. (And truthfully, before they were born we were probably just too poor to travel anywhere.) This week we were able to take our time and lounge our way around San Francisco. We visited the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Cartoon Art Museum, shopped in the Haight, ran through Golden Gate Park (well, I did), and had fabulous food and drinks while visiting fabulous friends every night. (Recommendations: Michael Mina, Fleur de Lys, Bourbon & Branch, and Comstock Saloon.) Heaven. I can't remember when I felt so relaxed. I even found time to work out every day but since I wasn't trying to squeeze it in alongside a thousand other things I still felt at ease. Then for the weekend we headed out to:

Wine Country!

See now why this is the best vacation ever? At the end of the week we trucked up to Geyserville, CA to stay at a bed and breakfast. We were given probably the most embarrassingly large rental car in California and we tackled the long, winding road up the coast, We even stopped at the beach in Point Reyes National Park where I got my first look at the Pacific Ocean. Yes, ever! The Hope-Merrill Inn in Geyserville was adorable and we spent the weekend touring a winery, going to local tastings and yes, eating. I'm tempted to say that I had the best meal of my life at Cyrus in Healdsburg- and that's saying a lot because I'm a spoiled brat who eats a lot of good food. I even went for a beautiful (although HOT) 8-mile run on Saturday alongside the fields of grapevines. This all led up to Sunday and the


Wine Country Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon

What's this? A race I didn't run in? Well, a bunch of my bestest running buddies were at this race. They were a part of Team Challenge Wisconsin and fundraised for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America for months, culminating with the half marathon in Napa. My awesome friend Amy, who just began her fitness/weight loss journey in January ran/walked the entire 13.1 miles- her first big endurance event- and since we were "in the neighborhood" I was dying to come cheer her on at the finish. I have to say watching all the walkers finish after three or four hours out in the heat was kind of more inspring to me than seeing the runner who won. Not that running a half marathon in 1:04 isn't impressive (because Holy WOW!) but I found myself tearing up seeing the back-of-the-pack runners and walkers who were completing the distance for the very first time. Plus, the large presence of Team Challenge for CCFA got me all worked up to join the team for the next round in Las Vegas.

Rochelle, Sarah and Amy at the finish.

So, I'll say it again: I'm the luckiest of ducks and this summer isn't even over yet! We're headed to Maker Faire in Detriot this weekend and then in August it will be lucky anniversary #13 for me and Jason, followed by Juliana's 10th birthday. All the while I'll be training for the Lakefront Marathon in October. All I have to say is, keep it coming.

A Hard Lesson

Do you remember the first time in your life that you realized you had totally wasted your some of your hard earned money? Maybe you saved up for some hyped up toy with all kind of bells and whistles that turned out to be a piece of junk? Or maybe you simply bought an ice cream street from a street vendor only to drop it on the ground and watch it melt in a puddle of goo. I think many of us have an experience like this in our memory where we've built up something in our minds only to have it come crashing down before us. Yup, learning these lessons as a kid can be hard.

Case in point: Last week was the book fair at my girl's elementary school. Now, I'm not a fan of sending them with cash and an letting them let loose buying whatever they want. I find that at these book fairs (as well as most book stores) it's very easy to buy everything BUT a book. There are toys based on books, sticker books, trinkets and jewelry, journals, stationary and pens, and then my favorite- books about tv shows. I don't know about you but when I take my kids out to a bookstore I'm looking to buy BOOKS. However, it seems I always get harassed to buy anything but that.

But back to the story.

Ava kept asking me to give her cash to go to the book fair even though I had already stopped in with her after school one day and bought a small stack of books for her and her sister. Of course, this told me that she had her eye an additional non-reading material purchase that she knew I would not approve. After much whining, I said I would consider stopping in to look again as long as it was a BOOK that she wanted me to buy. This was followed by a big, dramatic *SIGH*.

That day when I picked her up from school she had a happy, yet somewhat suspicious smile on her face. As she packed all her things into her backpack I caught a flash of something pink stashed away with a Hello Kitty logo on it.

"What is THAT?" I asked.

Her head dropped. Suddenly a smudge of dirt on the floor became very fascinating.

"Weeellll..…….'" she trailed off.

"Let me see it! Where did it come from?" I asked again.

"……………. thebookfair." she said in the tiniest, mumbliest voice you can imagine.

Ava then reached into her backpack and pulled out a brightly colored Hello Kitty computer game. She handed it to me remorsefully, her head still bowed down and her lower lip sticking out.

"Ava, how on did you manage to pay for this?' I demanded.

"From my piggy."

From what I could remember, all she had in her piggy bank was a bunch of change- no dollar bills. Which led me to my next question:

"Uh, how much was it?"

"Seven dollars. I put it in an envelope." was her solemn response.

So now I'm picturing her going to the book fair, walking up to the mom who was volunteering that day and dumping a pile of quarters, nickels and dimes on the table and having her count it all up. This makes me stifle a giggle.

"Ok, well as long as you spent your own money I suppose it's ok. I just wish you would have told me. You shouldn't feel like you have to be sneaky, Ava. It's not nice."

"I know," Ava sighed.

I then take the game from her and turn it over in my hand, looking at the description on the back. I wonder what kind of computer game only costs seven dollars. I examine the front of the box again and then my eyes finally fall upon the little symbol in the lower left corner that read: "PC only"

We have a Mac.


Let's just say this is an incident she will not soon forget.

Long and Winded Race Report: Rockford Marathon

Ok, so I'm finally getting around to my race report. Honestly, I've been on this high since yesterday morning and I've just been soaking it in until now:

I have to say that the finish at this race was even better than my first marathon finish last fall. I don't know if it was because of the PR, it being in my hometown, all my friends screaming with their super awesome "Robot Lady" signs, or the fact that I ran it all alone and stayed mentally strong despite being pain for a longer amount of time than at the Lakefront Marathon. WHATEVER. All these things simply came together for me and made a moment that I keep replaying in my head over and over again. *Sniff*

THE BAD: PAIN. I had a good amount of lower back pain pretty much the entire race- I think from sleeping on an uncomfortable bed the night before. I stayed at my Dad's house so I wouldn't have to make a super-early drive to Rockford and he had this weird memory foam stuff on the bed i slept in ( which I initially thought would be nice.) Turns out I couldn't get comfortable all night. At first I thought it was a case of nerves but in the morning I woke up and my lower back was totally scrunched. Oh noes! I didn't want to freak out too much so I just stretched for a good twenty minutes or so and told myself that it would warm up once I started running.

Unfortunately this was not the case. I was able to put it out of my head for a fair amount of time but it kept steadily getting worse after around mile 7 and every time my feet struck he ground I could feel it. Crap! In cases like this it makes me so happy that I practice yoga because I really felt like my ability to keep my breath slow and even and focus my mind. I was running this race by myself so I was able to crank my music, disassociate myself from the pain and focus on just moving forward. (Luckily, I didn't disassociate so much that my pace slowed. I must have checked my Garmin a hundred and fifty times through the race!)

THE AWESOME: My friends. They kept showing up again and again and it lifted my spirits each time like you would not believe. I first saw Amy and Emily (who got started driving at 3:45 even though they weren't even racing!) around mile 6. Then whole crew of girls showed up around mile 19 after they all had finished the half. I was pretty sure everyone would head back to the finish at this time but they surprised me by showing up not once, but TWO more times along the course and at one point even flew by me cheering out the window of the car! Plus, Krista and Rochelle jumped in and ran with me for a bit around mile 22 and when I heard about how ALL of them had PRs at the half it raised my spirits like you would not believe. After hearing this I headed into a mile long stretch of wooded trail where I was pretty much alone and I had kind of a rush where I ran with my arms out to the side and felt like I was flying. This was one of the high points of the race.

Then I got to mile 23. I was holding a pace between 9:10 and 9:30 all the way until this point but the pain in my back was starting to spread through my hips and down the side of my leg- especially on the left side where I'd been having some recent trouble with my IT band. I knew that even if I ran 10 minute miles until the end I would still make my goal of sub 4:15 so I didn't let it bother me that I had to slow up. Turns out I stayed at a sub-10 pace but it felt like I was trudging through peanut butter. Strangely enough I didn't feel out of breath at all but my lower body had had enough. I was thankful at this point for the volunteers along the path. Although I had my music pretty loud I could see their mouths moving with encouraging words and I thanked almost everyone I passed at this point (probably speaking way too loud because of my earphones. Ha.)

The last mile of the race I noticed so many people walking. It was strange because I felt like I was the only one left running at the point (even though I know it wasn't the case.) I was glad that I didn't overdo it so much that I had to walk as well but I could feel their pain every time I passed someone. As I came up to mile 26 I saw one guy who was walking stop and stretch as he got ready to make the turn around the corner to the finish. It made me laugh to think about "putting on a show" for the spectators at the end. But you've gotta finish strong, right? :)

THE PART THAT MAKES IT ALL WORTH IT: I had been thinking about this for miles. (Ok, months. I admit it but I kept visualizing it over and over during the race in order to get me through.) I had a cheesy, inspirational song blaring on my ipod (Melissa Etheridge singing "I Run for LIfe") as I entered the final stretch. I came around the corner and scanned the crowd in the distance until I saw my bright colored signs in the distance again. OMIGOSH. I won't lie, I totally started to cry. It kind of felt like a movie with the sweeping soundtrack blaring as I waved my hands around in the air. If I could have done so at this point I would have leapt, jumped up and down or done some kind of crazy dance. The finish was on a slight downhill so I got a huge burst of energy as I made my way toward the crowd. Whenever I finish a race I feel kind of disoriented by all the people so I didn't get a chance to take in everyone who was there but I do remember deciding to focus on Krista and Amy who were in the middle of the road cheering me on along with RANDOM STRANGE DUDE who joined in on the fun and started screaming my name like a lunatic. Thanks, random strange dude. I high-fived Krista and flew to the finish with a smile so big my face actually was hurting later. On top of my buds being there I also had my husband Jason and our two girls Juliana and Ava, my Dad, my Aunt and Uncle, my brother in-law Dan (who finished in 3:28!), my sister-in-law, mother-in-law and my three little nieces and a nephew. Whew!

I'm going to have a hard time topping this one. Of course, that doesn't mean I won't try. My next goal is to finish the Lakefront Marathon with my group of awesome ladies who totally rock my world like you would not believe. Everything I'm doing now is so different from where I was even a couple of years ago and I am so, so grateful. I always say that marathon running is similar to childbirth in that you are so elated with the result that you forget all the pain you had to endure and you tell yourself it would be an awesome thing to do again.

Splits!

9:18, 9:09, 9:12, 9:14, 9:20, 9:10, 9:02, 9:18, 9:14, 9:21, 9:16, 9:30, 9:25, 9:08, 9:30, 9:17, 9:30, 9:24, 9:32, 9:21, 9:19, 9:20, 9:42, 9:40, 9:58, 9:53

6 Miles- 55:57

13 Miles- 2:01.30

20 Miles- 3:07:45

26.2 Miles- 4:07:42

9:28 pace

Look how happy Krista is to see me!

For some reason the clock is wonky in this photo and it's missing the seconds. My official time was 4:07:42

Spring!

One of my favorite parts of spring is when our crabapple tree blooms. This was taken a few days before the peak. Since then the pink petals have already begun to drop. I only wish it would stay like this all summer.

*sniff*

Nine Years Later

Today is the ninth anniversary of my mom's death. The day she passed away I couldn't imagine what my life would be like nearly a decade later. Juliana was barely eight months old and Jason and I were scraping by somehow in our "charming" little apartment on Chicago's northwest side. I was finally getting into a good routine with the baby and really enjoying being a mom. I can remember that morning sitting at my dining room table while Juli napped. It was one of the first warm spring days of the year and I had the windows open as I sorted through the mail, paying bills. Mom had been in the hospital for a couple of weeks and they were trying to figure out what course of treatment to take next for her cancer but I had just seen her the day before and I really believed in my heart that she was going to get better. I remember sitting there next to the window and feeling the breeze flow through the room and I thought to myself, "Wow, life is really good."

Then I got the phone call.

Since then I have been very cautious about letting myself think, "Wow, life is really good." Of course, I KNOW that I have a good life. I am incredibly lucky. However, something about totally surrendering to that feeling and having that "perfect" moment is a little bit scary for me because I feel like the second I do it will all be taken away. I am GRATEFUL for what I have but very careful not to get too comfortable and start taking things for granted. Over the past year in particular, as I've started to develop new friendships in Milwaukee and begun to feel like I've found my place here I've been flirting with this feeling again.

When I was out running the other day I kept thinking about how amazed my mom would be if she could see what I am doing now. It's not that I was a couch potato when she was alive but even running a 5K was unthinkable for me back then so a full marathon? GET. OUT. She was always my biggest fan back when I was dancing in college and she came to see every last performance I was in, no matter how small it was. In fact, my very last show at Columbia College she wasn't feeling very well and called to say she wouldn't be making the drive in. I was ok with it but it turned out that she went back and forth about it all day- wondering if she had made the right decision- and then at the last minute ended up driving nearly two hours into Chicago to watch me perform. I think the piece I was in was about ten minutes long. However, it was my last performance before I left to have Juliana and she said she just wasn't sure if she'd ever get the chance to see me dance again. Turns out she was right. She wouldn't.

I'm not dancing on stage anymore but I know that my mom would be my biggest cheerleader at every race I run now. When I run the marathon in my hometown of Rockford, Illinois next month I'm going to picture her at the finish line and maybe for that one short moment I'll be able to close my eyes and think to myself, "Wow, life is really good."

Missing in Action.

Ah, yes. My poor little neglected personal blog. It's not that I don't have anything to say. In fact, if you search the internet for me you'll find I have much to talk about- to the point that I'm probably a wee bit annoying. I've mostly been blogging like a madwoman over at my baby, Fit Milwaukee. I'm also trying to keep up with about a bajillion friends on Daily Mile (where I'm an "ambassador") while still squeezing in a little love for Milwaukee Moms. And if you haven't heard by now, I'm helping organize a little shindig called The Great Milwaukee Race. Basically, on June 19th Fit Milwaukee and Instep Running and Walking Centers are going to be putting on a ginormous scavenger hunt through downtown Milwaukee and the Lakefront area. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit scared. Four of us are planning everything- from the locations and clues to the challenges and puzzles the participants will be performing at each destination. We've got a ton of interest so far and a handful of teams have already signed up so I'm hoping we can pull off something FUN for everyone. If all goes well I'm looking forward to organizing more Fit Milwaukee events and expanding our empire. World domination folks. (Or at least semi-local.)

Oh, and I was on television again. What is up with that?