Spring Breakin' It

The kiddos and I are visiting my parents for a rainy spring break. Yesterday we got some decent weather and took advantage with a trip to the local park for a bike ride and some hula hooping. Because we're that cool. If you look at this picture it actually looks like it could be spring here.

Truth be told, this March is almost twice as wet as an average March in Oregon. Nice.

I've been able to run outside by myself two days in a row (tomorrow will make three!) and even if it's been raining I'll take what I can get. As I've said in the past, I love running with my kids, but what I love most about it is how much it makes me enjoy running solo.

Days: 156, 157
Daily Miles: 3.25, 2.2
Total Miles: 327.65

I'm Green!

I hit Green (155 miles) with Nike+ today! I need to take my watch with me more often so I can actually reach Blue (620 miles) in this lifetime. Nike totally knows how to keep me hooked on using their stuff. This Nike+ thing is addictive!

This past week, the weather has been totally bipolar. We had snow (and the first 2 hour school delay of the year), some super cold rain, and two absolutely beautiful days with kids outside riding bikes and running around in shorts and t shirts.

I said back in this post that we weren't going to buy anything new for two months. Since then, we have run the the grocery store and Redbox more times than I can count. We've also decided to enroll My Babe at a preschool closer to our house for next fall so that I can run him in the stroller at least one way each day. We've only bought 4 things new (other than food) since the beginning of March as a family of five and I've only filled the tank on my sweet minivan 2 times since January if you can believe it!

My shoes needed to be replaced, can't really go used there. They're Brooks Ghost 4 and exactly the same as my last pair only blue. I love them!

My Bud got a new bike. His old one was the hand me down of all hand me downs. I don't even know how old it was (at least 15 years), but it's rusty and the tires only hold air for a day at a time. Plus it was too small for him. I did try to get this one used. I had been emailing people on craigslist for about a month with no luck finding the perfect bike (or something closely resembling perfection). So on Friday, with the beautiful sun shining, we gave up and headed to Target for his new wheels. He's already put in about 5 hours of riding time so I feel good about the purchase.

The Hubs got an iPad...because he "needed" one. Who can argue with that?

As for the fourth thing? Its a shiny new toilet!!! Exciting purchase, right?!

Today I went for an early run with a friend and it felt great. I am not a fan of getting up early. At all. But I do love the feeling of already having my run under my belt by 8am. Today is going to be a great day. We're getting a new toilet after all...

Days: 149-155
Daily Miles: 1, 2.48, 1, 1, 1, 3.14, 4
Total Miles: 322.2

Shamrock 15k Race Report

I can see why people do this race over and over. It's a fun Portland tradition...you get up early...stand around in the freezing cold with 33,000 other people...run...run uphill...run uphill some more...run downhill...drink...then drink some more.

After race. So cold!!! And looking freaking awesome? ;)

Overall, I enjoyed it. The route is pretty fun and really challenging. There were two things I disliked about the experience.

One. IT WAS COLD!!! As in, it was raining the whole time and started to snow around mile 6.5-7. Brr! It was so cold that I didn't even take two coats off the whole race. And I totally forgot to get a picture of what was supposed to be my race outfit (because it was covered up the whole time).

Two. It was full of people who don't train for the race. That's totally fine, but they need to start back farther in the pack. We figured we would run around a 9:40 pace, so we lined up behind the 9-10 minute mile pacer. Instead of being in the pack with other similarly paced runners, we passed people. The entire race. Thousands of people. If you look closely at my Nike+ route you can see that I ran back and forth around people the whole time.

It's hard to see, but the line is not straight. It squiggles all over the whole way up the hill (mile 2-6ish). According to my GPS we actually ran 9.48 miles. In 1:31:05 (that's a 9:36 pace and I'm happy with that)!

Here are our splits. Not bad... Not bad at all.

Mile one is fairly flat but you start making your way up the hill not long after that. Then it's pretty much a killer climb until mile 6.5 or so. It's Portland, so you're pretty much guaranteed to be entertained the whole time. There were guys on unicycles racing along with us the first couple of miles. Bagpipers along the course to cheer us on. A guy on a bike riding up the Terwilliger hill shouting race support and holding a huge box or Voodoo Doughnuts. People handing out cookies at mile 8 or so. And some seriously awesome race bling if you did the 15k.

After the race, you get a free beer (and some lukewarm salmon chowder if you want to wait in line for it). I've never been so cold in my life, so we chugged our beers and headed for the Paddy's tent to get some Irish Coffees and a Bloody Mary. The tent was huge and heated and like heaven.

I think I'll probably do the race again next year. Even though the whole time I was running it I was promising myself I would never do it again! I just need to remember to line myself up closer to the front of the pack and eat some food because that's a lot of early morning alcohol to consume on an empty stomach. Live and learn...

Day: 148
Today's Miles: 9.48
Total Miles: 308.58 (I broke 300 miles!)

Home Alone

I don't know what to do with myself. The Hubs took my little people to visit Gramma and Grampa for the weekend and I'm home alone. I think I'll work on perfecting tomorrow's Shamrock Run garb and call it a night. Well, I should probably have one green beer. I am a party animal, people!



I did take advantage of some alone time this afternoon and get in a quick(ish) run. It was actually sunny even if it was pretty cold. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain/snow for the race. Fun?

Day: 147
Today's Miles: 2.96
Total Miles: 299.1

I Am Momma...

Things on the homefront are pretty exciting for us right now. The littlest is (fairly hesitantly) learning how to use the potty! This is my third kiddo and so my  third time doing this, but somehow this time around it is proving to be much more difficult.

Bribery at it's finest...Ironman and Wii Sports Resort helping out.

So I was a little worried about heading out for a run with a diaper on his little tushie (just in case) because I didn't want to ruin our progress. Luckily, no "accidents" so far today. Score one for momma!

My (adult) running buddy just happened to have a day off today, so we loaded up the little man and headed out for a morning run after the big kids got on the bus. The best part? No rain so far today!

Last night I did my Wii Active 6 Week Challenge workout and then set myself up with an extra 12 minutes of Wii Active running. I'm sure I look super cool running in circles around my living room. At least I didn't have to drive to the gym.

2 more days until the Shamrock Run. I'm so excited to share my race day outfit with you all!

Days: 145 & 146
Daily Miles: 1 & 2.77
Total Miles: 296.14

I Still Run. Promise.

Wow, Nike + and I are having relationship issues. I forget the footpod. Or I forget the watch. Or I forget them both. I said something last week about Oregon being solar powered. Since then, we have had rain and snow. Just about every single day. YUCK! I want to live in one of the states where it is 80 and sunny right now. It's never nice here for spring break.

This is our 5 day Weather Channel forcast...

Barf!

Just for the sake of pointing out the obvious...It's St. Patrick's Day on Saturday. That means the Shamrock run (my 15k) is Sunday and that happens to be the coldest day on the horizon. Yay!

Oh, and just so you have this song stuck in your head, too. Enjoy...



Days: 140-144
Daily Miles: 2, 1, 1, 2.38, 1
Total Miles: 292.37

Oregon Is Solar Powered

Wow! What a difference a few days of beautiful weather makes for us water logged Oregonians! I know the 60 degree temps and lovely sunshine are scheduled to disappear tomorrow but it's been so fun to have a week like this in the middle of our dreary rain.

Here's me, happy to be in shorts at 7:30am (even if it was only like 30 degrees out at that time)!

The kids and I got up early on this no school day and ran to the store so they could get donuts and chocolate milk for breakfast. Mother of the Year, no?

Then we ran back home and had some neighbor kids join us for 2+ hours of bike/scooter riding. We have some serious racers working on qualifying for the Nascar Sprint Cup Series.

Now they are taking a break and watching Puss in Boots. My kids are finally at the age where it is easier to have more kids here than just my own. Yay! I hear the laughter of 5 happy kiddos coming from the family room as I type. Love this season of life!

My day 137 run was split up into two. The first half running My Buddy to a play date with My Babe in the stroller, the second half running back home. Just have to say...My run home was 1.41 miles with the stroller on hills and my pace was 8:49. WoooHooo!!! The other two days were both runs with all of my kids so they were painfully slow. Oh well, gave me more time to soak in the Vitamin D. :)

Days: 137-139
Daily Miles: 2.88, 1.34. 1.29
Total Miles: 284.99

Pit Stop

On Tuesdays, the babe and I usually volunteer to make copies and other such things for the girl's teacher. Today we were late getting out the door, but we would still have enough time for a little bit of productiveness. That was what I thought...Until I went out to start my van and realized that somebody had turned on all the lights (and left on all the lights) when I was vacuuming it out yesterday. That left me with a dead battery and no neighbors home. I would have just waited for my bud to get off the kindergarten bus and skip school altogether, but this is a beautiful day and that would be an opportunity wasted!

I threw the little man in his stroller (which he was not happy about because he wanted to ride his dang cooter) kicking and screaming and we took off for a run to school. The route there is about 1.2 miles uphill. With the stroller, I ran the first mile at a pace of 9:12. I'm cool with that. We picked up a very happy to see us buddy man and headed back out for our run home. After a (15:30 pace) mile, he stopped and asked, "Mom, I wonder why I'm so much faster than you?" To which my response was, of course, "Because you are awesome, bud." And off he ran before stopping for his 82nd walk break.

He also stopped for a little pit stop. On a semi busy road. Good thing he's a boy. This is a theme for my children and it's WAY easier (and slightly less obvious) when it's a boy. But I got a picture cuz it was funny...

Then of course the the little man had to get out of his stroller and run along behind his bro when we hit the path near our house. That made the last 1/4 mile of the run take just as long as the rest of it. Short legs. Then he fell and this his how we ended our run...

So, basically, I had a great 1.2 mile RUN and an equally great (yet totally different) 1.2 mile saunter.

Days: 134-136
Daily Miles: 1, 2, 2.38
Total Miles: 279.48

Portland's Little Red Book Of Stairs

Today was pretty much perfect.

First, I got up early and did an 8.5 mile run with Aimee...aka my favorite running buddy!

Then, we spent some quality time watching the gym rats play basketball. Both kids and their teams did an awesome job today. It's amazing how fast they get better at playing as a team with good coaching and great kids to play with!

Last, I took my girl to walk run some of the old stairs in the NW Portland Alphabet District. She can't walk on those stairs, she has to beat me up and down every one of them and I, of course, just couldn't let that happen. Well, she won most of our races, but who's counting?

If you're at all interested in the many, many stairs that Portland has to offer, there is an awesome book that is almost impossible to find. It's a floppy, spiral bound book called Portland's Little Red Book of Stairs by Stefana Young. I've been trying to find a copy of it for almost 10 years (it's hard to find an independently published, out of print book) and I just finally found it (used) at Powell's. I've checked it out many times from the library, but I'm so excited that I'm finally going to have my own copy!

Now for some pics of my girl from our adventure...

One of the coolest things about the stairways in NW Portland is the neighborhoods they're in. Many of the houses that line the staircases are HUGE and were built in the early 20th century (that's old for Portland). They are absolutely beautiful and did I mention HUGE?

Days: 132 & 133
Daily Miles: 1 & 8.49
Total Miles: 274.1

Running and ReUsing

I was reading this blog post today and decided that we're on the ReUseIt wagon for the months of March and April (she's ambitious and going for 6 months...we'll see how I'm feeling after the next two months, who knows?). I'm already pretty thrifty and crafty but this is a great way to push that even further. My kids are way into repurposing and recycling and we already try not to drive when we make short trips to the grocery store or the park. The hubs doesn't know about this whole thing yet, but I'm sure he'll be on board (it will save money after all and that's talking his language).

Here are our rules for March and April (and hopefully more months to follow, we'll have to wait and see)...

1. Nothing new-with the exception of food or medications.

2. No short trips to the grocery store in the car sweet minivan. If we need something we'll have to add the stop to an already planned trip or run there (two birds, one stone).

3. ABSOLUTELY NO TO PAPER AND PLASTIC! If I forget to take my bags in, everything goes back in the cart sans bag and rolls around in the back of the van until we get home.

4. If it breaks, we will live without or find a replacement at a thrift store, craigslist, freecycle (you catch my drift).

5. No household paper products-except toilet paper (I've been to places where people go without. It's gross).

Any rules you can think of we should add?

Click the pic for some facts about plastic bags. Yuck!

I hope to check back in periodically and let you know how well we're doing. And I'll use the blog to let you know if we slip up. I hope that doesn't happen!

In the meantime, check out reuseit.com and use code rcm1gvg for $5 off your first order. Better yet, search my favorite source for reusable inspiration Pinterest for ways you can make your own reusable stash.

I'll be back with a running post later today.

Wii 30 Day Challenge

We had to get a new Wii (my little babe decided our old one was a great place for coins and playing cards...turns out those do more damage than one might think). Fortunately, there are some great deals on Ebay and we got one with a whole bunch of Wii Fit and EA Active games. They are so much fun!

I started a 30 Day Challenge on EA Active and it pretty much kicked my booty tonight. I seriously rocked it with the trick rollerblade jumping.

You basically squat to go down the hill really fast and then jump up in the air when you get to the ramps to do tricks. It's a killer quad and butt workout (not that I need work in either of those areas).

I ran a quick mile plus the running with the game. It's harder than you would think to run in place kicking your feet to your butt. I felt very Jane Fonda running around that fake track in my living room.

I need to get back into the habit of using my Nike+ Sportwatch. I've just been so frustrated with its lack of accuracy lately, I decided we needed a break. I'll use it tomorrow.

Days: 130 & 131
Daily Miles: 2
Total Miles: 264.61