Wordless Wednesday

River Run 2011 - Madelyn's First Race.

A while back my friend/running partner, Angelia, and I, decided we were going to run the 2 mile river festival  run with our daughters. Angelia's daugher, Hollee, ran 2 miles one time before race day and Madelyn only ran when she was running bases at softball. So they were going into race day with little to no training. There were over 2,000 people running the race and the start was a clustered mess as always. Angelia and Hollee went ahead of us early on and made it to the finish line in 22 minutes. Madelyn and I ran and walked the race and by the end she was one hot and tired girl. We crossed the finish line in a little over 30 minutes. I was super proud of her for finishing her very first 2 mile race and hope we run many more races together.

pre-race

 mothers/daughters on race day

 Me & My girl

 And she's off

At this point there were no smiles

 

Receiving a race medal brought the smile back

Eight is Great

 A family birthday party at Pizza Hut

Opening presents from mom & dad

 Lunch at Red Robin with a visit from the balloon guy

 Games at the All Star Adventures

 And saved the best for last ....horseback riding

Worldless Wednesday

The Past Week

Madelyn had her last day of school.....

 

Which was also awards day.....and Madelyn received awards for...

Exceeding the class advanced reading goal and being one of the top three readers in her class, the University of Kansas Reading program gold star award and a leadership award. This was also the last day that the kids will be in the old Lincoln Elementary because they will be starting in a brand new school in August.

Madelyn celebrated her 8th birthday a little early at a YMCA swim party with seven of her friends and then a slumber party with a couple of her friends.

 First cake and ice cream and then....

 opening presents....

Then a swim test (30 seconds of treading water and swimming the length of the pool) to determine if each girl could swim in the deep end. Of the eight girls, only two did not pass which only meant they stayed in the shallow end or an adult had to be in the water with them. Thankfully Ryan was a trooper and went swimming too.

 Then two hours of water fun.

Madelyn's fav place for her birthday dinner, Playa Azul.  She told every waiter that she was celebrating her birthday just to make sure she would get the whipped cream in her face.

 Then dressing as gangsters, with facial hair and tp stuffed shirts to taunt the 5th grade neighbor boy. Really??

And finished the night watching a movie and camping in the basement.

How is it possible that my baby is almost 8?!?!?!?

Mother's Day 2011

I started my morning by being woken up by some certain almost 8 year old requesting that I get up so I could open presents. I managed to ignore her a little while longer before I finally got myself out of bed. Once I got up I was greeted in the living room with flowers, handmade cards that made me cry, and a new baseball glove. We then all got around and headed to Tanganyika Wildlife Park just west of Wichita. Mom's got in free for Mother's day and I had a groupon so we all got in free. I actually prefer Tanganyika over Sedgwick County Zoo because it is a lot more interactive and smaller. We spent a couple hours there and then went to On the Border for lunch.Once returning home we all relaxed inside in the ac.

 Petting a python

 I'm gonna have to put a brick on her head...she is getting so tall!

 Feeding the Lorie's, where she barely escaped being hit by bird poop

 Thankfully this llama did not spit.

 I wonder how many fingers the tortoises bite on any given day?

 Riding Charlie the camel

Taking some time to play on the playground

 This girl so needs to live on a farm!!

 My fav.. the Lemurs

It was an enjoyable Mother's Day and I'm so thankful and blessed to be Madelyn's mama.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas out there!

Wichita 1/2 Marathon

This was my sixth 1/2 marathon and my ideal goal was to have a PR (personal record) and beat my previous PR of 2:00. I felt like I had trained well but wasn't sure I had trained hard enough. The weather was perfect for race day, overcast and cool. Start time was 7:30am, nice and chilly then. The first two miles were a clustered mess as people were trying to find their pace. I always struggle with the first 2 miles because I don't want to go too fast or too slow and my legs are always sluggish. Miles 3-4 I was trying to find my groove. Miles 5-8 I found my groove, and had negative splits. Miles 9-11 ho hum, miles 12-13 let's get this over, .1 sprint to the finish. My official time 1:58:32, that is my new PR!!!!!!. I was smiling from ear to ear when I crossed the finish line under 2 hours.
I averaged 9:02 minute miles, I came in 440/1067 overall and 37/119 for the 35-39 age group. I'm still giddy.

My friend and running partner, Angelia, completed her first 1/2 today. Her goal was 2:20 and she came in at 2:16. I was so proud of her. All her hard training paid off.

 Our camera set on some funky setting, hence the odd color.

We did it!!