Victorious!

Any of you who have never run the Blue Mountain 5K should.  It's a real treat.  Beautiful trail.  Popsicles and ribbons for all the kids who finish the one-mile run.  Door prizes at the end.  Awesome. If you had participated this year, you would have seen Mimi (yes, my seven-year old) run the mile in 6:51.  Amazing.  And John ran his fastest 5K since high school.  I was so proud, I nearly burst into tears.  (Which wouldn't be the first for me at the end of a race, but usually I'm crying from pain and exhaustion, not delight.)

Mini Marathon

Olivia and recently completed her elementary school's mini marathon!  It's a little shorter than a marathon (26.2 miles--my sister's running one this weekend), of course.  It's even a little shorter than the Indianapolis Mini Marathon (at 13.1 miles).  However, it's still a tremendous 2.0 miles, and we are very proud of ourselves for finishing, along with these other runners from Mrs. Heiner's class.

 I had my stroller, with two little girl passengers, and my agreement with Olivia was that we would run five minutes and then walk two minutes.  (She's never run two miles at once before).  She kept meticulous track on her watch, counting down the minutes until we could walk, and then watching every second before we'd have to run again.

 Her friend, Tayri, (in the blue) ran with us the whole way and these two finished as the 5th and 6th place girls from the whole third grade.  I was pretty darn proud of them.  (I was also proud of me--coming in first in the "moms-with-strollers" category, although my competition was not particularly fierce.)

Chicken Run

Well, actually, it was a Bird Run, even though Bella has a hard time remembering if she's a chicken, a chick, or a "canawy."  The cross-country team has a "Spook Scoot" as an awesome fundraiser, and you know I love me a good race.  However, my foot was really hurting in our training for a 5k at the end of the month, and I couldn't be sure how it would feel, so I just sent the big girls out with the wolves to run by themselves.

Their costumes were a big hit.  You can see the swan, the peacock (whose tail was not yet attached--to hard to run with a tail), the canary, and the grumpy, screechy owl.  

Olivia was nervous and intense at the starting line.

Naomi wasn't sure she could make it.

"One mile!  That's a really long way."

My parents and brothers were in town, so we stationed a cheer squad at the corner of each block, to make sure the little birds would keep going.  Olivia did awesome, stretching her long bird legs out and really running.

Naomi alternated between fits of slow-walking despair and manic fist-pumping "power bursts" (as she calls them).  They both did awesome, finishing in the top ten and winning a fancy medal.

I'm so proud of my little runner birds.

Triathlon-ing

South Bend Parks and Recreation puts together the most amazing Kids' Triathlon every year. The kids swim 25 meters, bike 1-1/2 miles, and run 1/2 mile. Last year, Olivia was eligible to participate, but being the cautious soul that she is, she was not excited about the prospect. However, since Mimi could join in this year, the two sisters were triathletes-in-training through June and most of July.
I was incredibly grateful that my brothers Mike and Pete and my sister-in-law Kelly could join us for the day of the big race because John was on call, and my 8-month pregnant self was almost incapable of getting three kids and two bicycles to the race site, to say nothing of helping the two girls transition between the separate parts of the race. With Pete assigned to help Mimi, and Mike on Olivia duty, we were set. All I had to do was document the event.(Unfortunately, I got so caught up in the "cheer like a Mom" part of spectatorship that the "take pictures and videos" part of my duties were somewhat neglected. Poor John didn't get much of an idea of the excitement from what I snapped. )
We arrived at Potowatomi Park at 6:15 a.m. And the rain was a-pourin' down. We were soaked after just putting the bikes in the racks and returning to the pavilion at the pool. SOAKED. As evidenced below.

But the weather cleared up just long enough for both of my girls to swim-bike-run without too much dripping on their little heads. (It started pouring again as we were heading back to our van to go home, so it was perfect timing for us. Not so perfect timing for the 13- and 14-year olds that were still competing at that time.)Mimi was in the first heat of swimmers. She's not very large, but there was an even tinier little girl in the same heat that ended up winning the 5-6 division.

The rules kept parents at one end of the pool while the kids lined up to swim. Mimi chatted with her guide. . .

. . . and slipped casually into the pool.

She was determined to be in the "no-lifejacket" category of participants, and I had some concerns about her making it the full length of the pool, but she (in typical Mimi style) was determined and trimphant. (At this point in the post, I need to disclaim that all these videos are terrible.  If you are not a grandma, you may not wish to subject yourself to the pain of watching them.  However, everything was moving so quickly that I didn't take both stills and movies, and so this is all the pictorial evidence I have of the triathlon.  Too bad.)

She made it, and Pete helped her get her helmet, shorts, and sneakers on quickly to start on the next leg of the race. (Which I videoed quite poorly.)

I ran to check on Liv, waiting for her heat to be called. As we were standing there, I saw five- and six-year olds finishing the bike portion, so I ran to cheer Mimi through the end of that part.

Then I ran (awkwardly--again, remember the 8-month pregnant part, and I was carrying Bella the whole time) back to the pool to watch Olivia swim. Olivia is really a good smooth swimmer, and I knew this would be the best leg of the race for her. However, again in my excitement, I took no still photographs, and only captured about 5 seconds of her swim. I didn't even get the moment when she won her heat, and was the first out of the pool. I nearly cried I was so proud.

Mike took Olivia to the bike transition area to get her started on the next portion, so I dashed over to watch Mimi (through the fence) finish up her run, with Uncle Pete at her side. This video is the only clip I caught perfectly.

Bella and I jogged up to watch Liv finish up her bike ride (again, documented so very poorly--this is almost funny).

Then we met up with Pete, Mimi, Kelly, and Baby Ruth and sauntered down to be in position to see Mike and Liv finish their run. Which they did with panache.

I learned a couple things:

1)There are some hard-core parents out there. I'm naturally quite competitive, but I didn't even rate on the scale of some of the crazies there. I vacillated rapidly between thinking, "They should really calm down and just enjoy this race," and "Should I be more intense? Should my kids have slip-on running shoes and triathlon number belts?"

2) On the flip side, however, I learned that my kids are capable of great things when they are given the opportunity. I was worried when we were practicing that they weren't going to be able to complete the race (Mimi would usually lay down in the middle of the high school track after one lap, complaining of utter exhaustion.), but they did a great job in the end. Maybe I need to give them more opportunities to stretch themselves.

Flaky as a pie crust

Whew! It was a busy weekend. I went from one thing to the next to the next to the next, and I forgot my camera every time. (I am such a flake!) Doncha just love when that happens? So, even though I can't document it visually, I shall document it wordily. (Wordily? Well, it's a word now.)
1. Friday Morning 10:30: Primary Service Activity
I've been put back in with the children's organization in our church, and we had a service project cleaning up the zoo's park. It was lots of fun, once I got Mimi into the spirit of "treasure hunt" rather than "trash spotting." The kids all worked fast and hard, and we had that place spic and span in under 45 minutes.
2. 12:30: Pick up race packets.
I had registered myself, and 10 othe r people for different events in the Sunburst Marathon extravaganza, and I volunteered to pick up all the packets at the College Football Hall of Fame. (Any excuse to visit, right?) It was a madhouse, but an organized one. Find the bib numbers, find the packet, find the timing chips, find the t-shirts. Perfect.
3. 1:45: Film roast material.
Every year, when the outgoing residents graduate, the first and second years put together a little video tribute. Well, maybe it's less a tribute, and more a mockery. I don't want to spill the beans, but I laughed harder in the hour I was there than I have in a long time. And since most of it needed to be filmed in one take, my laughter is going to be immortalized in the finished product. It was hilarious.
4. 5:15: Go to Family Fun Walk.
Sunburst puts together a little Family Walk the night before the marathon. The Bradys and the Wellses jaunted our way downtown and walked a couple miles all together. The DJ at the end had all the kids dancing up on the stage, and I REALLY wish I had remembered my camera. It was fantastic.
5: Saturday Morning 6:30: Drop off kids and 7:15: 5k race.
Tracy volunteered to watch my kids while I ran my 5k race. (I thought briefly about the marathon, but then decided I needed to give someone else a chance to win this year. Maybe 2010.) I haven't run 3 miles in over 5 years (scary, eh?), and my training for this race consisted of exactly 4 runs of about 2 miles each. I've changed my ways, though. I had forgotten how much I love to race, and I want to run at least a couple more 5ks this year. (The best thing about all the Sunburst races is that they start at the College Football Hall of Fame, and they end on the 50-yard line of NOTRE DAME STADIUM. Can it get any cooler? In fact, the runners get to enter the stadium right under the "Play Like a Champion Today" sign. I raised my arms in victory as I passed under the sign, but none of my fellow runners joined me in celebration. Too bad for them. And, to show how very UNvain I am, click here to see pictures of me at the finish line.)
6. 8:30 : Watch Tracy's kids
Tracy, at 6-1/2 months pregnant, was not up for the 5k (wimp!), so I watched her kids while she dominated the other competitors in the fitness walk.
7. 11:30: Drive to Chicago
The Sandersons, Kindreds, and Galbraiths had headed out to the temple earlier, but they said I could join them and partake of the babystting swap. So, I loaded my sorer-than-usual body and three kids into the van and drove to Chicago. . .
8. 3:00: Temple session
. . . where I was able to attend my first temple session in Chicago. Delightful, as all temple sessions are. Is there any place with a higher concentration of perfectly cheerful and kind old people?
9. 6:00: IKEA stop.
Top off my productive day with an IKEA run. Feed the kids in that genius-of-an-idea IKEA cafeteria and pick up some fabric (for another reupholstery project) and curtains. Thank you, Kindreds and Sandersons, for corraling my children. This would have been impossible on my own.
10: 11:30: Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.
That Eastern-to-Central time change is so lovely when one is driving to Chicago, but it really bites you in the booty on the way back. 11:30 is just a tiny tiny bit too late for my little kids. It made our Sunday experience even more grumpy than usual. Worth it? Yes.